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American Morning

Mideast Cease-Fire Still Holding Despite Isolated Clashes; Terror Money Trail?; U.S. Troops Back to Iraq

Aired August 15, 2006 - 06:29   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening this morning, Israeli troops have started pulling out of Lebanon. An Israeli official says the Lebanese army and U.N. forces will be deployed to the area in the coming days.
British investigators given another day to hold 22 suspects in that alleged plot to blow up jetliners over the Atlantic. The warrant extended until tomorrow. Two arrested in the case already have been released.

And in China, the death toll from last week's devastating typhoon now 295. The typhoon was the strongest to southeastern China in 50 years.

Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Carol Costello, in this morning for Soledad.

O'BRIEN: In the Middle East, that cease-fire is holding despite isolated clashes and falling mortar shells. Israeli forces are picking up the pace of their withdrawal today. Several troops left southern Lebanon yesterday. The military set to return captured positions to the Lebanese army when it deploys in the south, in a few days, perhaps.

CNN's Paula Hancocks joining us live from Jerusalem with more -- Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Well, we're just hearing from the Israeli Foreign Ministry that Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, is on her way to New York this evening, and she will be meeting with Kofi Annan, the U.N. secretary-general, probably tomorrow. We'll give you more details on that when we hear about it.

But this comes at a time when the troops are coming back to Israel. They are moving out of southern Lebanon.

Throughout this day, we are expecting the amount of troops coming out to speed up. We know that many reservists are coming out as well. There will be a step down by the end of the week, according to some reports.

Now, it's the timeline that everybody's looking at, at the moment. At this point, Israeli troops are in southern Lebanon and Hezbollah fighters are still in southern Lebanon. And we are seeing crashes and skirmishes.

We know that four mortar shells landed in southern Lebanon overnight. The Israeli troops, though, decided not to retaliate, saying it was inside Lebanese territory.

Now, according to some Israeli military -- media, we are hearing that between one and two days, we could see Lebanese troops on their way down to southern Lebanon. At this point, though, the official line from the Israeli military is, in the coming days they will be able to retreat completely out of southern Lebanon and give those positions that they fought hard for back to the U.N. forces there and also to Lebanese troops -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Paula Hancocks in Jerusalem.

Thank you very much.

Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, says the U.S. plan for a new Middle East has collapsed despite the current cease-fire. The Syrian leader also predictably critical of Israel.

Anthony Mills listening to that talk from his perch in Beirut. He joins us now with more -- Anthony.

ANTHONY MILLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, started out with some general rhetoric about the failure of the peace process in the Middle East. He blamed Arab countries. He said Arab countries hadn't delivered, but he also laid the blame squarely at the feet of this United States administration, saying that, with its strategy of pre-emptive war, he was not expecting peace from this administration. He also went on to say that this war had been a failure for Israel and its allies, and masters, and a source of pride for Arabs, millions of Arabs throughout the region -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Anthony, one of the key components of this whole cease- fire plan is Hezbollah disarming. We're hearing all kinds of mixed messages from the leader of Hezbollah about whether that might happen.

What are you hearing there?

MILLS: Well, Miles, it's not entirely clear at this stage whether or not Hezbollah will leave and disarm south of the Litani River. Now, that's a river that runs across Lebanon about 15 miles up from the Lebanese-Israeli border. That's a stipulation of this resolution. Even that is not clear, let alone Hezbollah disarming thoroughly.

In his speech yesterday evening, a television speech by Nasrallah -- Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, he said now was not the time for discussions about the disarmament of Hezbollah. So, certainly, as far as Hezbollah is concerned, any talk of total disarmament is not going to happen for the moment, and he said that should only happen, when it does happen, behind closed doors -- Miles. O'BRIEN: Anthony Mills in Beirut.

Thank you very much -- Carol.

COSTELLO: There are more details emerging this morning about last week's thwarted terror plot in London, including how it was financed. British investigators now say the plan may have been funded by a Pakistani charity involved in a money laundering scheme.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As Americans raised money to help victims of last year's deadly earthquake in Pakistan, the same relief effort was under way in Britain. The difference? British investigators now believe some of the money raised in the U.K. went not to victims, but to several of the terror suspects to carry out the jetliner plot.

The money was reportedly raised by a Pakistani charity that funds Islamic militants. A spokesman for the group, Jamat al-Dawat (ph), denies the charge and tells CNN they never sent anyone to Britain to raise donations.

John Conyngham spent years investigating money laundering.

JOHN CONYNGHAM, GLOBAL DIRECTOR, CONTROL RISKS GROUP: It may well be, of course, that many of the vast majority of funds that were raised for the earthquake donations were coming from genuine people with genuine motivations, wishing to help. We're talking about a very small percentage here, where -- who may have decided to divert some of those funds for very different reasons.

FEYERICK: And it's not just the money that's under scrutiny. Lord Nasir Ahmed, a member of parliament, is a leader among Britain's Pakistanis. He tells CNN at least four of the alleged plotters traveled to Pakistan, telling their families they were going to help the earthquake victims.

LORD NASIR AHMED, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: Anything could be possible. We don't have any facts.

What is truth is that these young people went to Pakistan to help with the charitable cause. They were young. They may have got involved with something which is illegal, they may not. So only god knows what happened.

FEYERICK: Experts on Pakistan say it would have been virtually impossible for the young Brits to avoid making contact with Islamic militants since they were the ones running many of the rescue operations.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: Happening "In America" this morning, Mary Winkler, the Tennessee minister's wife accused of murdering her husband, well, she could be released from jail as early as today. Winkler has a bond hearing later this morning. She's been in jail since March 23rd, the day after her husband was found dead.

A controversial New Orleans dump reopened after Hurricane Katrina was ordered shut down again by Mayor Ray Nagin. State regulators say its closure to delay the cleanup of the battered city by a year or more. The company that operates the dump has asked for a court order to keep it open.

As New Orleans tries to get back on its feet a new study shows something interesting about the people forced to flee. According to the study, people who left flooded areas on their own after Katrina are faring better than those rescued and relocated. The study was done by seven law firms listed by the nonprofit Appleseed Foundation.

Controversy over the new e-passport. The new U.S. passport is embedded with a computer chip holding personal data. Critics are concerned about privacy issues and its vulnerability to hacking. The State Department says it will better secure U.S. borders and make passports harder to forge.

Let's head to Atlanta to talk about something that may develop sinister.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Could be. Could be something off the Florida coast, and some of the computer models taking it -- making it into a depression. Not really a storm yet, and then kind of turning it up toward southern North Carolina. We'll get to that in a second.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: All right.

Bye, Chad.

Still to come, building up Iraq's forces. The security situation in Iraq remains dire, but one U.S. general says new uniforms and new equipment could help play a part in combating the sectarian violence.

O'BRIEN: Plus, new research, new hope, preventing AIDS in women with some gel and some help from the world's richest man.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Happening this morning, Israeli troops have started pulling out of Lebanon. An Israeli official says the Lebanese army and U.N. forces will be deployed to the area in the coming days.

Dell is recalling more than four million notebook computer batteries because they could overheat and actually catch fire. The recall includes April 2004 through July 2006 Latitude, Inspiron, Precision, and XPS models. And NASA can't find the original tapes of the 1969 moon landing. But officials stress the tapes are not lost. The tapes are actually believed to be stashed at a NASA warehouse in Maryland and they're lost somewhere in there. They say the tape archives were a low priority during the Apollo era.

O'BRIEN: Just temporarily...

COSTELLO: Misplaced.

O'BRIEN: ... misplaced, which is what I often say when I can't find my keys.

Anyway, we're going to talk more about that a little bit later, as a matter of fact.

While the cease-fire settles in, in southern Lebanon, the war in Iraq rages on, with few signs of hope for troops and their families seeking a speedy homecoming. In fact, get this, 300 Alaska-based soldiers who just got back to the U.S. a few weeks ago are getting a U-turn order. They're heading back to Iraq because their unit was redeployed.

The move comes as the president huddled with his defense secretary at the Pentagon yesterday, and that is where we find our Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At the Pentagon, a series of national security briefings for President Bush, including updates on the war in Iraq.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One reason I feel so confident is because we've got a fantastic military.

STARR: But the security situation remains dire, especially in Baghdad, and more indications that Iran may be playing a behind-the- scenes role in the violence.

MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, MULTINATIONAL FORCE, IRAQ: We, in fact, have found munitions manufactured in Iran that are of recent manufactured dates. That's not to say that the government of Iran condoned it or, you know, is associated with that, but it did come from Iran, the munitions and the weapons.

STARR: There are hopeful signs as U.S. troops turn over another area south of Baghdad to Iraqi counterparts.

COL. TODD EBEL, 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION: Well, today they have new equipment. They have armored Humvee vehicles, they've been receiving weapons. But what really makes them special is they're soldiers.

STARR: The U.S. has been stepping up training for Iraqi police units long infiltrated by militias and death squads. Now the Iraqis are getting a new police uniform.

MAJ. GEN. JOSEPH PETERSON, CIVILIAN POLICE ASST. TRAINING TEAM: This uniform, as you can see, is very difficult to duplicate.

STARR: The hope is it will be harder for what the U.S. says are death squads and extremists to disguise themselves as police officers.

(on camera): But little sign the troops are coming home any time soon. In fact, 300 Army soldiers from Alaska who had been home just a few weeks are now turning around and heading back to Iraq.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Barbara's report first aired on LOU DOBBS TONIGHT, which airs weeknights, 6:00 p.m. Eastern -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, women may be getting control of their own protection from HIV. We'll have a report on a new method that could save millions of lives.

And a closer look at the details in those tapes from al Qaeda's leaders. There could be hidden messages to terror cells right in front of our eyes.

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: People on the front lines in the fight against AIDS are now meeting in Toronto. Around the world, an estimated 6,000 women a day are infected with HIV. Sometimes because they're unable to protect themselves from the virus. But new research presented at the global AIDS conference is focused on AIDS prevention for women.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sacubi's (ph) story can be hard to hear. She says she was sold into sex work by her family at age 15 and she spent the last 20 years as a prostitute in Mumbai, India.

Health-wise, she's been relatively fortunate. She is still HIV negative, but she also lives in a world where she has to convince her partners to use a condom.

Life may soon change for Sacubi (ph) and many other women around the world. Sacubi (ph) has just found a couple of strong, new advocates. In fact, they're two of the richest people in the world, Bill and Melinda Gates, who are using the huge platform of the international AIDS conference in Toronto to talk about and fund what they believe is the most recent and biggest development in the fight against AIDS, microbicides. BILL GATES, GATES FOUNDATION: We believe that microbicides and oral prevention drugs can be the next big breakthrough in the fight against AIDS.

GUPTA: Now, microbicides is just a fancy name for gels or creams a woman can insert to block HIV infection. Large studies of their effectiveness are expected out next year.

DR. ZEDA ROSENBERG, INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR MICROBICIDES: If they're 30 percent effective, depending on how many women actually use it and how quickly it gets rolled out, but you could save several millions of lives in the first three years.

GUPTA: And already, newer, exciting products are being developed. One clever idea, make these gels out of medicines now used to treat HIV. One of the most intriguing is a drug called Tenofovir.

DR. JUSTINE JUSTMAN, COLUMBIA SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Using Tenofovir as a microbicide is a really interesting idea. As you probably already know, Tenofovir is now used as a pill, and it's part of the cocktail that patients with HIV take as part of their treatment.

GUPTA: And elsewhere, other researchers are testing the same medicine, Tenofovir, and some other drugs in a pill form to see if women who aren't infected can stay that way by taking a pill before sex.

Although the research on all of these approaches is still in the early stages, it's also steps closer to give control back to women, like Sacub (ph), keeping them from getting infected with HIV.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And along with Bill and Melinda Gates, former President Clinton is at the AIDS meeting providing a mix of science and star power they hope will be a magnet for world attention.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, a former CEO wanted for some questionable stock option deals is missing once again. The executive suite and the police blotters seem to go hand in hand.

Jennifer Westhoven will have that and more in our business report.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: This is a story where consonants are important. We're talking about Comverse, not Converse. Certainly the person we're talking about no all-star, if you know what I mean. Not a sneaker story.

Let's get this straight, right, Jennifer?

Jennifer Westhoven in for Andy Serwer.

JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a New York -- it's a new York telecommunications firm...

O'BRIEN: There you go. If you haven't heard of them.

WESTHOVEN: It's not as exciting as shoes.

O'BRIEN: Yes, well, not...

COSTELLO: But what is?

WESTHOVEN: But here is the exciting part. This head of this company looks like he took money and ran.

COSTELLO: Oh.

WESTHOVEN: He's in trouble. This is Kobi Alexander. His lawyer, Robert Morvillo, who you may remember from the Martha Stewart case -- he represented her then -- says that he thinks Mr. Alexander appears to be a fugitive.

He can't figure out where he is. He went to Israel, as he does every year for a trip. Mr. Alexander is actually Israeli, but he came to the United States about 30 years ago, back in his 20s. You know, was a big part of this company and has been charged in that big back- dating options scandal that has so many companies right now. But he took his regular trip to Israel, and then also, "The Wall Street Journal" says, transferred $57 million into Israeli accounts.

COSTELLO: How do you do that?

O'BRIEN: It could be a long trip. It could be a long trip. I'd say he's got some walking around money.

WESTHOVEN: Yes. And we've got good extradition treaties with them, but he's Israeli. And Israel tends to protect people -- not keep them hidden, but might say, for instance, maybe he would face trial there. I don't know, but it will be an interesting situation to watch. Certainly Israel maybe not the safest place to flee to right now.

O'BRIEN: It depends where you are.

COSTELLO: Well, parts of it are, yes.

O'BRIEN: It depends on where you are.

All right. Let's talk about HealthSouth now.

WESTHOVEN: We're just going to do Healthsouth quickly. HealthSouth, right...

O'BRIEN: As long as we're on this theme. WESTHOVEN: Yes. You know, maybe it brings to mind health care, but also maybe it brings to mind a $2.7 billion fraud and accounting scandal that happened there. But HealthSouth says they're having kind of a restructuring -- they're going to change some stuff around. But the point is, they say they're keeping their name.

O'BRIEN: They're not going to called it Scrushy World. That's a bad idea, right? You don't want to do that.

WESTHOVEN: No.

O'BRIEN: We're talking about the acquitted CEO...

WESTHOVEN: Right, former CEO.

O'BRIEN: ... ultimately. Former CEO. That's right.

WESTHOVEN: But they say $20 million would -- it would take them $20 million just for uniforms, signs, all that.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

WESTHOVEN: Let alone trying to rebrand themselves. You know what advertising...

O'BRIEN: People forget these things. They do.

WESTHOVEN: Yes.

But, you know, up next, we're going to talk about what to do for the cosmetically challenged, for people who are trying to fly these days.

COSTELLO: Oh.

O'BRIEN: Well, I think lipstick is back in.

WESTHOVEN: Lipstick is OK. I don't know, you've got about three of those, right?

O'BRIEN: I wear more wakeup than my wife, but that's another story entirely.

All right. We'll see you in a bit.

COSTELLO: Although, I must say, I accidentally got my lip gloss through. I didn't mean it, though.

O'BRIEN: Oh, you are so busted. I can't believe you did that, yes.

COSTELLO: I am so busted, but it was in my pocket. And they don't check your pockets, which could be a security breach. Maybe they will from now on. Who knows?

O'BRIEN: I think you just gave away a secret. COSTELLO: Yes, I think I just gave away what's really obvious, or should have been.

Let's head to Atlanta and check in with Chad.

Good morning.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.

O'BRIEN: The cost of war. Lebanese people rushing back to their ruined homes today, and we wonder, whom will they blame?

One day and holding, barely. The Middle East cease-fire rattled by rockets, but Israeli troops continue pulling out today.

COSTELLO: Liquid bomb materials can get right past current screening machines. Now there's a race to build a better terrorist trap. One company believes it has the answer.

And stop using that Dell laptop immediately. Check the battery. It could burst into flames. A history-making recall on this AMERICAN MORNING.

O'BRIEN: Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.

COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello, in for Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Israel's troop pullout from southern Lebanon expected to pick up pace today. The withdraw began yesterday shortly after a cease-fire agreement was reached. And the Israeli military says it could begin returning captured positions to the Lebanese army as early as today.

CNN's Paula Hancocks joining us live now from Jerusalem with more -- Paula.

HANCOCKS: Hello, Miles.

Well, the troops are on their way out, and at the same time, we know that the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, is going to be on her way to New York this evening. That's early afternoon your time. She'll be meeting with Kofi Annan, the U.N. secretary-general, talking about the implementation of this U.N. resolution.

Now, we also know from a U.N. spokesman over here that U.N. forces are starting to move in the area. They are trying to detonate explosives that haven't been detonated at the moment.

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