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American Morning

Update on the Crisis in the Middle East; Ad Campaign Unveiled Targets Continuing Violence in Iraq; Wind vs. Rain; Rwandans Have Hope in the Fight Against AIDS

Aired August 16, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Israeli troops moving out, Lebanese troops poised to move in. The peace process moving forward with some high-level negotiations today, we'll get you up to date.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Signs of the times in Iraq. An ad campaign to convince Iraqis to pull together in the face of bloodshed.

And a ruling for Katrina victims, a judge tells an insurance company they don't have to pay for water damage, but the victim's lawyer says the ruling will mean money in the end.

O'BRIEN: And a new line of clothing from a rich and famous NBA star. What's going to surprise you about this one is the price of the Starbury. That's ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

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

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

O'BRIEN: Day three of that Middle East cease-fire and the French foreign minister is calling on Israel to lift its blockade of Lebanon. That comes as Lebanon prepares to send some troops into the southern part of that country within hours. Anthony Mills joining us from Beirut with more. Anthony?

ANTHONY MILLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles. The foreign ministers of France and Turkey, Pakistan and Malaysia will be meeting throughout the course of the day with Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. And yes indeed the French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy has called for a lifting of that blockade saying that it is now no longer necessary given that the U.N. cease-fire resolution appears to be being implemented. Also on the table in these talks, will be the composition of the United Nations, the international United Nations force that is supposed to deploy into the south of the country, 15,000 strong, to in conjunction with 15,000 Lebanese troops, take control of that area from Hezbollah. It's a fairly sensitive topic though, because in the past, multi-national forces here in Lebanon notably in the 80's have been seen as part of the problem by warring parties, as taking sides. And of course back in the early 80's, both France and the United States contingents of a multi- national force took hits on their barracks and suffered dozens of deaths and then pulled out. So France, for example, doesn't want that repeated here, doesn't want to be seen as part of the problem to be taking sides and to have to battle it out with Hezbollah militants in the south under those circumstances. Miles? O'BRIEN: Really, what's key here, they say the devil's in the details. But exactly this case, this peacekeepers, the rules of engagement, how they're positioned, all that is so crucial. Isn't it?

MILLS: It is crucial, Miles, and, in fact, it appears as though that is the subject of some debate behind the scenes of the Lebanese government. Publicly there has been unity. But behind the scenes according to high ranking government sources I've spoken to, there is disagreement about as you say the details of the implementation of this agreement. A cabinet meeting that was supposed to discuss those details was postponed for days. We have confirmation that it will be held this evening and it may be stormy because Hezbollah has two ministers in the government but at the same time, there are other ministers who even before this conflict kicked off, were saying that Hezbollah should be giving up its arms to the authority of the state. So they'll be disagreement there probably Miles and it's not entirely sure at this state what exactly is going to happen when the Lebanese army is deployed down south, in conjunction with the international forces. And whether or not of course Hezbollah really is going to move out of that area in the south and hand over its weapons or at least move them out of sight. Miles?

O'BRIEN: Anthony Mills in Beirut, thank you. Carol?

COSTELLO: And as Lebanon tries to pick up the pieces, the violence rages on in Iraq. At least nine people were killed, dozens more wounded when a car bomb exploded in central Baghdad today. It happened in the middle of a crowd of day laborers who were looking for work. Today's violence, yet another reminder of just how dangerous it is in Baghdad. So much so, that many shopkeepers have shut their doors for good. But now the government has launched a new public relations campaign aimed at getting businesses bustling again. CNN's Harris Whitbeck joins us live from Baghdad to tell us more. Hello Harris.

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol. The acts of violence like the one that occurred this morning have left many wandering, particularly in Baghdad, about the effectiveness of what some people consider unorthodox ways of dealing with it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The Mansour neighborhood of Baghdad is, or was, one of the nicer shopping districts of the capital. In better times, its streets would fill with afternoon shoppers out for a stroll. These days, those shops are all closed, shuttered windows, heavy locks on doors, one of the signs of the times. Mansour used to provide a comfortable living for its shopkeepers. Now they spend their time sitting outside their closed stores, lamenting just how much their lives have changed.

MOHAMMED ADNAN, FORMER SHOPKEEPER: Every day is the same for me now. I used to have a shop but I closed it because of the security situation. I can't open another for the same reason.

WHITBECK: The only new signs of commercial activity around here are billboards, part of a public service campaign aimed at inspiring confidence in the new Iraq and aimed at stopping some of the violence that has had such a devastating effect on among so many other things, the economy in Mansour. This sign says the military patrols and convoys are here for everybody's protection. This one appealing for unity reads, one hand, one heart, we're all Iraqis.

And on television, more graphic messages, like this spot which tells Iraqis to be on the lookout for suicide bombers. Ironically, it was filmed by a U.S. production company on a movie set in Los Angeles. The shopkeepers of Mansour aren't very convinced of the campaign's effectiveness.

ADNAN: What is the point of spending millions of dollars on advertisements that have no effect on the situation? They should start to rebuild the country, fix the electricity, improve our security, otherwise these advertisements are useless.

WHITBECK: Locals in Mansour say the PR campaign seems trite, even irrelevant in the face of so much bloodshed.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

WHITBECK: And that bloodshed only seems to be getting worse. The morgue in Baghdad reported that it saw nearly a 20 percent increase in the number of bodies it received last month. Vis-a-vis, the number of bodies it received in the month of June. Carol?

COSTELLO: You know, so they're trying to put these ads out and it does make you wonder what -- I mean you know, probably a lot of people in our audience would say that those ads aren't going to be very effective, but what would work? I mean they've increased the security in Baghdad by bringing in more U.S. troops. Right? I heard a man in your piece say restore the electricity. That's going slowly. Isn't it? What needs to be done?

WHITBECK: Well, a lot of people are asking themselves that question, Carol. The military officers, U.S. military officers on the ground, say that they are seeing progress. Particularly now that they've started these patrols in some of the more violent Baghdad neighborhoods, patrols that they are conducting with members of the Iraqi military as well. But politicians and members of the U.S. administration or representatives of the U.S. administration in Baghdad have said that they can put all the patrols out there in the world, but there has to be more political will from Iraq's leaders to try to end the differences between the different groups here, between the Sunnis and the Shias in particular.

COSTELLO: Harris Whitbeck live from Baghdad this morning. Thanks.

O'BRIEN: In Great Britain today a judge to focus on some of the men linked to that alleged plot to blow up U.S.-bound airliners. Prosecutors trying to convince a judge to hold the suspects without charges for a little while longer. CNN's Deborah Feyerick live now from London with more. Deb? DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The fact there is no bomb per se, not that they've found, but they have found other things that they're sending to forensic labs for analysis. Specifically household chemicals which if mixed together could have been what the suspects planned to use as the explosive device. Also there's electronic surveillance, like audio tapes and videotapes, so it does seem that prosecutors do have enough relevant evidence to talk to the judge as to why they should hold these guys longer. Now we spoke to one expert yesterday who said it would be a very, very, very dangerous mistake to believe that Osama bin Laden is America's only enemy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): It's the face of the enemy. A face that has come to symbolize the threat against America. The terrorism did not start with Osama bin Laden, and experts say it will not end once he's gone. Some people think, get rid of Osama bin Laden and you get rid of terror.

SAJJAN GOHEL, TERRORISM EXPERT: Terrorism has gone beyond one individual. It doesn't actually now matter whether bin Laden is captured or killed.

FEYERICK: The reason it doesn't matter, says security analyst Sajjan Gohel, is because Al Qaeda is just one of dozens of groups determined to attack the United States. The State Department has identified some 40 known foreign terrorist organizations that have targeted U.S. interests in the last five years. Stephen Emerson is an authority on Islamic extremism.

STEPHEN EMERSON, TERROR INVESTIGATOR: There's no doubt that bin Laden was ultimately responsible for 9/11, and therefore, needed to be villain number one. But we did this at the expense of ignoring other terrorist groups.

FEYERICK: Indeed, in this latest threat, the jetliner plot, intelligence sources on both sides of the Atlantic pointed to potential Al Qaeda connections. Those sources telling CNN two of the British suspects traveled to Pakistan to meet with a suspected Al Qaeda explosives expert. Another appears to have trained at an Al Qaeda camp.

EMERSON: After every attack, the U.S. government tries to find out whether it was Al Qaeda or not. Somehow believing that if it was not Al Qaeda, there's a certain sigh of relief that they can breathe. This is a false distinction. If it's not Al Qaeda, it's another group with the same ideology.

FEYERICK: Officials believe as many as 20,000 men from around the world visited Al Qaeda camps, but only very few took bin Laden's loyalty oath. That may explain why as in the alleged airliner plot in Britain, officials believe America's biggest threat is likely from within. What Gohel calls, do it yourself terrorism.

GOHEL: You have groups that act independently that will sometimes try and adopt their own type of mass casualty spectacular attack.

FEYERICK: In the last year, U.S. authorities have uncovered plots in Illinois, Florida and California, all allegedly conceived by men born in the USA.

GOHEL: We're now witnessing stage two of what Osama bin Laden has envisioned, groups throughout the world that have their own capability of launching attack.

FEYERICK: The face of the enemy, perhaps even more dangerous now because authorities are no longer sure what it looks like.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: And Miles, one of the faces that you saw at the end of the piece there that is Adam Gadahn. The reason that he's so interesting is that he's from California. Authorities believe that he is actually the production manager who helps Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants put out their videos that we see from time to time. So, again, that's the inner threat. Now as for the men who are here, they are scheduled to be present effectively for a court appearance, they won't be in court, they'll be a video link, and prosecutors will not file charges today. However, they also don't want to rush and file anything too soon before they've put all the pieces together. Miles?

O'BRIEN: Well let me ask you this, if they do have this evidence that they claim, why not file some sort of charges so that they don't have to -- or is it okay, has the court system typically allowed them to be held pending such charges?

FEYERICK: No. The court system definitely allows them to be held and actually its new laws that were put into place after September 11th, which basically gave investigators a longer period of time in which to develop evidence in which to question suspects. So no, they're not under an obligation to file charges but what they do have to do is keep going back to court periodically, just so the judge can evaluate whether in fact they're being held for a reason. What the judge doesn't want is to find out that in fact, the investigators are running cold on leads and they're just holding these guys because perhaps they'll make them crack in some way. So that's what the balance is.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. Deborah Feyerick in London, thank you. Carol?

COSTELLO: Wind versus water. In the wake of hurricane Katrina we told you about families who thought the damage to their homes was covered by insurance only to find out it wasn't. Many sued and now there is a verdict in the first such lawsuit. CNN's Sean Callebs is in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Sean, this is really complicated. So break it down for us.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Break out your number two pencil, take notes, because it is somewhat complicated. It is a very passionate issue all along the gulf coast. Basically if you look you can see the gulf right there. When hurricane Katrina came in, a storm surge simply devastated a lot of homes. Behind me you see a slab where a house used to be. A lot of these people had purchased insurance through their homeowner's policy and they had hurricane coverage, and thought they were covered. But there is an exclusion clause in the homeowner's policy that says the insurance companies aren't liable for any kind of flood, thus the storm surge. So the insurance companies have always maintained they don't have to pay for damage caused by the storm surge. So that's what it comes down to, what was devastated by wind and what was devastated by water because they do pay for damage by wind.

COSTELLO: So that (INAUDIBLE) the obvious question in and we've talked about this before. If the wind causes the storm surge to come through your home and wipe it out, why isn't that covered?

CALLEBS: It simply it is not. This has been argued at length in court, but what is significant at this latest ruling is, the judge in this case said the exclusion clause that big insurance companies use to not pay homeowners when there was storm surge is ambiguous. And they can't just have a blanket policy that says look if water comes in we're not going to pay you for damage. That is the significance of this. But we should point out that people could buy federal flood insurance, but even that is limited. They can only receive about $250,000. It's complex. People need to read their policies who live along any kind of water area.

COSTELLO: Yeah but there's a twist in here too, because the attorney representing the families is claiming victory as well. Why would that be?

CALLEBS: He is quite a character. He's the guy that took on big tobacco in the 90's and won billions of dollars in settlements. Now he's saying he won because the judge did say the plaintiffs do win. They sued for $130,000 plus legal fees, they got $1,228, I believe. So I mean it's just simply a drop in the bucket. However, the significance, Scruggs is going to be having a number of legal battles coming up in the next several months involving this wind versus water issue. It's going to be before a jury, he's going to be arguing this case before people who were affected by Katrina and he's going to be battling against Washington lawyers. So it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out. And when you talk about Dickie Scruggs, I remember reading a quote about Mikhail Gorbachev a long time ago, it said, he has a very nice smile but never forget, he has teeth of steel. Meaning Scruggs is very disarming, a very country gentleman, but he's tough in the courtroom and he wants to win.

COSTELLO: Well, we're going to talk to Dickie Scruggs coming up in our next hour to see what more he has to say, and why he's claiming victory when the poor Leonard family only won what, $1,200 for the loss of their roof when they lost their entire house.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, young Muslims with a special role in protecting America. We'll tell you why these college students are the FBI's eyes and ears in the war on terror. COSTELLO: Also a soldier kicked out of the army while doing a critical job in Iraq. He'll tell us why one military policy is a waste of time, talent and money.

O'BRIEN: And there are lingering signs of genocide in Rwanda. More than a decade after the killing stopped, but now, maybe some new hope. Dr. Sanjay Gupta with that. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: An urgent need in the war on terror. Americans who can speak fluent Arabic is colliding with the pentagon policy known as don't ask, don't tell. Now a soldier with an invaluable skill is being told his country no longer needs his service. Here's CNN's Joe Johns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wanted, a few good men and women who speak Arabic. For the U.S. military in Iraq, Arabic translators are absolutely vital. In some cases, Iraqis are preferred because they understand a lot more nuance, but there aren't enough to go around, plus Iraqi civilians generally cannot qualify for top secret clearances. So as of last year, the army had by one estimate about 1,850 Arabic speakers in uniform. That's right, fewer than 2,000 to translate for the tens of thousands of people it had on the ground in Iraq.

IAN FINKENBINDER, FORMER ARMY TRANSLATOR: I was collecting information on the streets with Iraqi civilians.

JOHNS: At the start of the war, Ian Finkenbinder was in the army. A trained cryptologic linguist, intercepting and interpreting intelligence information, doing critical work in Baghdad.

FINKENBINDER: Location of weapons, caches, locations of insurgent headquarters, who was insurgents, et cetera, et cetera.

JOHNS: He was so good that when his tour in Iraq ended, everyone wanted him to stay. So if Arabic speaking soldiers are so essential, why are we meeting Finkenbinder in this Baltimore coffee shop instead of a forward operating base in Iraq? If you guessed the answer, it's because Finkenbinder is no longer trying to hide it.

FINKENBINDER: I said that I was a gay soldier and would like to continue serving in the army as an openly gay soldier.

JOHNS: And that decision to come out and finally say what everyone in his unit knew or suspected, forced his commander to kick him out.

FINKENBINDER: It's really a waste -- a waste of time, talent and money.

JOHNS: Over a ten-year period, it happened to about 11,000 U.S. military personnel a study shows, at a cost of more than $363 million. Under the so-called don't ask, don't tell policy, gays in uniform have to keep their sexual orientation a secret, or they're out. Researcher Nathaniel Frank tracked this issue for years, he says a lot of people fired under the policy held sensitive jobs.

NATHANIEL FRANK, U.C. SANTA BARBARA: 800 of those have been mission-critical specialist. Over 300 have been linguists and over 55 of those have been Arabic linguists and we have a dire shortage of those. So we're really causing a brain drain here.

JOHNS: The policy has always been controversial, but even now there are many who say there should be an outright ban on gays in the military.

PETER SPRIGG, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: It's not just a matter of prejudice. It's a matter of not wanting to be put into those intimate situations with someone of the same sex who may be viewing you as a sexual object.

JOHNS: Finkenbinder says many in his unit knew he was gay and there were never any problems, but there is a problem for the military. The policy is costing hundreds of millions of dollars and leaving the military short of Arabic-speaking soldiers in a region where understanding the language can mean the difference between life and death. Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Joe reported that first on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." You can catch that program each night at 10:00 eastern. Coming up on our program, the fight against AIDS in Rwanda. Doctors say the disease is a remnant of genocide in that country, but now, there's new hope. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will tell us why ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: Scientists attending the International AIDS Conference in Toronto have encouraging news. They say the future looks bright for AIDS vaccine development. One of the areas hardest hit by AIDS is Africa. 12 years ago in Rwanda rape was used as a weapon of war. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta traveled there last year, and as he discovered, there is hope.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is how it looked in 1994 on CNN. Refugees streaming out of Rwanda to camps across the border in Congo. In fact, the killers were among them. Militias fleeing the rebel army led by Rwanda's current president, which stopped the genocide. Behind the stampede, the country was devastated. The stories are horrible. During my visit I came across this former church being turned into a memorial. 12 years ago, this house of God was turned into a living hell. The bones of massacre victims are still inside.

(on camera): Thousands fled here for safety and were murdered, along with nearly a million other men, women and children, in 100 days of plotted brutality. The country is now at peace, but in a sense, the genocide continues.

Is there a relationship between the genocide and the rising rates of HIV now in Rwanda?

JEANETTE KAGAME, RWANDAN FIRST LADY: It's definitely there, in the sense that rape was used as a weapon.

GUPTA: This is the wife of Rwanda's president.

KAGAME: Infected people raped women knowing that they were HIV infected, purposely to infect their victims.

GUPTA: I was in Rwanda to see what the country is doing about AIDS. It turns out, quite a lot, but health care must compete for attention with other urgent needs. This was a meeting of one local AIDS association.

(on camera): How many people had a full meal today? How many people know somebody who's died of HIV? Wow. Everybody. Just about every single person.

(voice-over): Despite the daunting challenges, there was hope. This one tiny village has a first-class hospital, funded by the Rwandan government, the Clinton Foundation and a Boston charity called Partners in Health. A country once left for dead lives on.

TRANSLATION OF UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me tell you, AIDS, I know you. I can fight you. I can fight you, because I know you.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, (INAUDIBLE), Rwanda.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And still to come, the first verdict in an insurance lawsuit over Katrina damage. We'll tell you why both sides are claiming victory and how it will affect you.

And later, a critical role for young American Muslims in the war on terror. How they're helping the FBI nab terrorists. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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