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Rick's List
Remembering Fallen Soldiers; Latest Attempt to Stop Gulf Oil Leak Fails
Aired May 31, 2010 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: All right. As we begin this newscast, on this Memorial Day, I would like to welcome all the troops that are watching us overseas on American Forces Network.
Here is your national conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Here is what is making the LIST on this day.
At least nine people killed, as Israeli commandos storm a fleet of ships loaded with food, medicine and supplies. Israel says it was defending itself.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: They were beaten, stabbed. There was even a report of gunfire. And our soldiers had to defend themselves.
SANCHEZ: Arab leaders are calling it terrorism. The U.N. Security Council calls for talks, and the meeting between Netanyahu and Obama canceled.
LYVONNE LIGHTFOOT, MOTHER OF FALLEN SOLDIER: That was my baby. That was my son. And part of me is gone.
Memorial Day through the eyes of those who have made the greatest sacrifice.
And radio host Glenn Beck reacts to the storm of criticism he's receiving for his relentless mocking of 11-year-old Malia Obama. You will hear it for yourself.
The lists you need to know about. Who's today's most intriguing? Who's landed on the list you don't want to be on? Who's making news on Twitter? It's why I keep a list.
Pioneering tomorrow's cutting-edge news right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And hello again, everyone. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Time to really pick up the pace of today's LIST for those of you just now checking in. Number one: killings at sea. I want to you watch this video released today by the Israeli Defense Forces. It purports to show civilian activists attacking Israeli troops, as the troops try and board their ship. The Israelis do open fire. They killed nine people, nine civilians.
Let's take now about 30 or 40 seconds just to get through the video. Hit this, Rog. Let's watch this together. It's kind of difficult to tell what's happening down there, but you can tell there's a bit of a melee. Again, this is video released by the Israeli Defense Forces.
There's other videos that I'm going to be sharing with you throughout this coverage, purporting to show that their troops are being attacked as they boarded this Turkish-flagged ship that had intended to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. The Israelis are saying the activists were armed with slingshots and metal pipes.
They're even saying that several Israeli troops had their weapons taken away. At least four Israeli troops were wounded. Here is an explanation now from Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: (OFF-MIKE) any war materials, and the rest will go through.
We succeeded doing this peacefully with five of the six ships. The sixth ship, the largest, which had hundreds of people on it, not only did not cooperate in this effort peacefully; they deliberately attacked the first soldiers that came on the ship. They were mobbed.
There were clubbed. They were beaten, stabbed. There was even a report of gunfire. And our soldiers had to defend themselves, defend their lives, or they would have been killed. And, regrettably, in this exchange, at least 10 people died. We regret this loss of life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Once again, Israeli troops opened fire, leaving nine people dead, some 30 people wounded. Let's take a look at some of that. Watch this video now.
All right, many of you obviously don't understand what's being said there, but the -- the -- the -- it seems like the crux of this story on this day is that there's a lot of conflicting information.
For those of you who may be able to speak Arab or Turkish, because both languages were being spoken on that particular cut -- they were different cuts coming from two different news networks -- I had it interpreted before I went on the air. And I was told by someone on our own staff that they were reporting at the time that the civilians were trying to give themselves up, even raising white flags, but that the Israelis continued on their assault, attacking, in fact even injuring, 30 and killing nine people.
I just spoke moments ago to the other side. I spoke to the ambassador for Israel, who said, no. He said, our soldiers went on there and they were using paintballs to try and stop these -- these people from taking their ship on there. But they were attacked. And, eventually, they had to take their weapons out, side-holstered, he said, and that's when they had to attack some of the folks, so two different versions of what appears to be the same story.
Ben Wedeman is our correspondent. He's joining us now from Jerusalem.
Ben, you heard the way I set that up. It does seem like we're getting two different versions of this event. What are we left to parse?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, Rick, I'm in Ashdod, which is where those activists are now being detained, and the six ships were brought earlier today by the Israeli navy.
And, really, at this point it's very difficult to sort out what precisely happened, because we are getting certainly a lot of opinion and information and video from the Israeli side.
But no one has had access to the approximately 800 activists who are somewhere behind me. There's been no press access. They haven't been able to meet with lawyers or anything like that. So we don't really know the other side of the story. Now, we do know that many of these activists had video cameras, had telephones to take pictures with. So there's probably a lot of material there.
But, of course, the question is, will the Israelis confiscate it? Will it become public? It's not at all clear. And, in fact, communications with this convoy, the flotilla, was cut just before the Israeli assault began. So, we don't really have both sides of the story. And it's going to be quite a few days, I suspect, before we know it.
Now, we know, for instance, from the Israelis that 25 of the activists are slated for deportation. Another 15 have gone to Israeli prison. Another 50 have refused to give up their identity. So, they're being held separately. And the Israeli authorities say that the activists are not going to stay here in Ashdod. They're going to be sort of spread around various facilities in the country.
And it's not until they are allowed to leave these detention centers, prisons, whatever, and get out that we're actually going to hear a full accounting of what happened -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Ben Wedeman following that story there for us.
And, obviously, as you can hear in Ben's tenor, this story is not yet complete. A lot of information still has to come in.
Now, you watched my interview just moments ago with the Israeli ambassador. When we come back, I'm going to be speaking to an -- a Palestinian official, and I'm going to tell them, if they didn't hear it for themselves watching us on air, what the Israeli ambassador said, to see if or how he will refute that.
So, the story continues. Here comes the other side of it. Stay right there. This is your national conversation, RICK'S LIST.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We have got what appears to be a developing story now. Just within the last hour, people started showing up on Times Square. We're told they expected something like 200 protesters. They are protesting the Israeli attack on this mission or this -- these ships heading to the Gaza.
I'm seeing these pictures for the very first time now. According to one of our producers who's there in the crowd -- I'm -- I'm reading what she has just sent to me. She says that she advises that over 200 people are attending the protest, but the crowd has now swelled to more than 500.
They are trying to guesstimate at this point, so don't -- don't treat the numbers as literally, but anywhere between 200 to 500 people showing up on Times Square. They are protesting against Israel in that attack that we have been telling you about.
We have been covering the story for the better part of the last hour or so.
And, as we watch these pictures of this protest, I want to bring in Ghaith Omari, former adviser to Mahmoud Abbas, advocacy director, American Task Force on Palestine.
Thank you, sir, for taking time to join us.
GHAITH AL-OMARI, ADVOCACY DIRECTOR, AMERICAN TASK FORCE ON PALESTINE: Thank you, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Did you -- did you get a chance to listen to my interview with Michael Oren moments ago, the -- the -- the Israeli ambassador?
AL-OMARI: Yes, I did. I did. I listened to that interview.
SANCHEZ: He seemed to be saying -- he was not at all apologetic. As a matter of fact, he said that his soldiers were simply defending themselves. They showed up on a ship. They tried to stop it first with warnings. It didn't stop. Then their soldiers went on board.
He said that they fired paintballs. The paintballs didn't work. They came under attack, so they had to return fire, and that's the reason those nine people were killed.
That's his story. You say what?
AL-OMARI: I think the whole operation was shoddy and badly planned from the beginning until the end. It was treated as a counterterrorism operation, while it's blatantly not. This is a crowd-control operation. They used excessive force. There was no preparation for it.
And what's even more galling, to some extent, putting aside the human cost of it, is the spin we hear afterwards, trying to gloss over these deaths, gloss over a tragic situation, and try to kind of divert the attention towards a concocted terrorism link.
I think it's important for Israel to face up to it, to do its own internal, credible investigation, to present credible information. Otherwise, Israel will find itself facing an international investigation, which would put it in a very difficult position and would embarrass many other U.S. allies in the region.
SANCHEZ: A lot of people are surmising from what they know in this case that this was in many ways a way of implicating Israel, in other words, that those folks on the ships knew that Israel had a chance to overreact, and they were going to be caught on video.
Was this in any way a setup, as far as you know?
AL-OMARI: I doubt -- and, of course, I don't have information on this, but I doubt that it was a setup. No one goes into this operation or this kind of aid mission expecting to be killed or wanting to be killed.
I think there is a matter to saying that this is a political provocation. However, you don't deal with political provocations by killing nine civilians. You deal with political provocation by political means.
SANCHEZ: Well, let me ask you about what Israel says they found on the ship. They said that, you know, it wasn't just humanitarian supplies.
AL-OMARI: Mm-hmm.
SANCHEZ: They said they found things that could be used as weapons, not necessarily weapons, per se, but everything from slingshots to lead pipes to marbles, things that could be used in the streets of Gaza, for example, and that's one of the reasons that they perceive this to be not a humanitarian mission or solely a humanitarian mission.
What's your response to that, sir?
AL-OMARI: Again, I'm -- we're not privy to all of the information. And that's why we do need a credible investigation to tell us all of the facts.
However, I still maintain that this kind of, if you would call it, weaponry does not warrant the degree of violence that the reaction unfolded in.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: So, you believe they -- you believe they overreached; you believe they overreacted?
AL-OMARI: No doubt.
SANCHEZ: You believe, even if it was OK for them to stop the ship, because they had questions with it, though some argue that's not the case because it was in international waters, once they went on and they began shooting and ended up killing nine people, injuring 30, that's where I hear you saying you believe they went too far.
Is that your argument?
AL-OMARI: Yes. I'm not condoning stopping this aid convoy.
But what I'm saying is, if that's where Israel wanted to go, it should have dealt with it in a more professional manner, in a more crowd- control type of way. However, ultimately, I believe that aid should get into Gaza. The Gazan civilians are suffering from this -- this siege. Hamas is benefiting from the siege,. unfortunately, the continuation of the siege.
And these kind of actions that we're seeing from the Israeli government strengthen Hamas and weaken those who are calling for peace and those who are calling for closer relations between the Arab world and the United States.
SANCHEZ: What comes of this at this point? I know, look, you -- I was just talking to my colleague Ben Wedeman.
AL-OMARI: Mm-hmm.
SANCHEZ: And he seemed to be indicating that there's a lot of information that still needs to be gathered in this case.
AL-OMARI: Mm-hmm.
SANCHEZ: But what would you expect the rest of the world to do? And, perhaps most importantly, if you could have a meeting with President Obama -- this has got to be a very sticky situation for him -- what would you tell him to do?
AL-OMARI: I think, in terms of advice to President Obama, the only advice I can give is, you have to continue the pursuit for peace. Unless we have peace, a two-state solution, Palestine alongside Israel living in peace and security, these kind of incidents will continue to happen. Palestinian civilians, Israeli civilians will suffer.
So, my advice is continue with the peace process with even more vigor.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: But does this...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: But does this push back the peace process? I mean..
(CROSSTALK)
AL-OMARI: Oh, most certainly.
SANCHEZ: It does?
AL-OMARI: Most certainly.
It will be the first serious challenge...
(CROSSTALK)
AL-OMARI: ... to the nascent peace process. And it's a test for American diplomacy here.
We have Senator Mitchell, who is involved in this. And this will be probably the toughest test so far to the success and to the efficiency of American diplomacy. And I think the president's and America's reputation in many ways and diplomatic credentials are at stake here.
SANCHEZ: You're very kind, sir, to take us through this and share with us your perspective on this, your side of the story as well.
Be well. Hopefully, we will have an opportunity to talk about this once again.
AL-OMARI: Thank you, Rick. Thank you for giving me the chance.
SANCHEZ: Now this: This is the meeting between President Obama and Israelis' prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that was supposed to take place, but is now canceled. It will not happen.
Tomorrow, we're going to drill down on the controversy in the Middle East, as we continue our coverage, including the latest pictures of that protest that you saw taking place there moments ago in Times Square.
And, if you haven't heard of the latest on the oil leak in the Gulf, folks, it's not good. This thing could be going until late August, and maybe even beyond that.
There is one more plan now. They're going to try and stop it, but even that one is dicey. I will take you through it. This is your national conversation. This is your LIST. I'm Rick Sanchez. This is RICK'S LIST.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right, remember last week when I questioned how top kill was killed for 16 hours, and BP shot back, saying, oh, no, no, no, no, this thing is -- it's just proceeding just as planned. This is -- remember Chad?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I remember.
SANCHEZ: This is exactly what...
MYERS: I was here.
SANCHEZ: This is exactly what we were doing.
Well, it wasn't. It wasn't going as planned, and we knew that then, and we know that now. And I'm kind of glad that we collectively called them out on it, because it's turned out that top kill was a big fat failure.
So, what are they going to do now? Well, now they're dealing with plan G. What is plan G? Well, it's called a lower marine riser package. But, really, folks it's an awful lot like -- remember top hat? Remember they told us about top hat?
Watch this. They're going to go in here. And, Chad, help me out, if you can. They're going to go in. They're going to cut it right there. Then all that oil is going to leak.
MYERS: More oil is going to come out.
SANCHEZ: A lot...
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS: Because the kink will be gone.
SANCHEZ: And there's the hat with the little pipe on top.
MYERS: It's not -- it's not -- no, it's not top hat.
SANCHEZ: I know. I know. But -- yes, yes.
MYERS: Top hat never even -- they never even tried top hat.
SANCHEZ: Yes, but you know what? It's getting to the point where we're making people crazy with all these names.
The fact of the matter is, they're putting this thing on top of the pipe, and they're going to trying and suck it all out by holding it in that -- in that place.
The fact of the matter is, Chad, this thing could end up being a bigger risk, a bigger problem than maybe not doing it at all. Do you agree?
MYERS: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
MYERS: There's no question because of the same thing that happens when you're washing your car and you don't want the water to come out anymore. You take the hose and you take it and you fold it and you hold it and then the water doesn't come out of the hose, right?
SANCHEZ: Right.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: That's the way we all do it.
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS: That's exactly -- this is the riser pipe. It goes all the way up to the surface. Well, it used to. Now it's fallen over. When it fell over, it kinked itself. That kink is stopping oil from coming out. Now they're going to cut off the kink. They're going to cut it off down here...
SANCHEZ: Yes.
MYERS: ... so that, all of a sudden, now we have got the big hole again. The 20-inch pipe is going to be...
SANCHEZ: So, a lot more oil is going to get out?
MYERS: You bet it is.
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS: There's no question it is.
And then they're going to try to put this cap on top of it, the lower marine riser package cap.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Well done.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: That's it right there.
SANCHEZ: I'm glad...
MYERS: They're building it right there.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: I'm glad somebody is memorizing all these things.
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: You know what? My son needs to go get some Tinkertoys and put some -- something together.
SANCHEZ: By the way, if -- if it's true, and if all this oil gets out into the Gulf of Mexico, even more than we think we have now, 678,000 barrels a day, I believe, or something like that...
MYERS: Gallons...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Gallons a day. Thank you.
Let's suppose we get a tropical storm. Let's suppose we get a hurricane, God forbid...
MYERS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: ... like the one that we're talking about that's coming across the Gulf now, not that that one would be the one that did it. What -- how big a problem would that cause? How big of a mess, a soupy mess could that create?
MYERS: It depends where it goes. If it hits Tampa, literally, for the U.S., maybe not...
SANCHEZ: Yes.
MYERS: ... maybe not for the Keys, but that's best-case scenario, because the wind is going to be coming down all the way from Louisiana and Alabama, and blowing across that spill, and blowing it into Central Gulf of Mexico...
SANCHEZ: Mmm.
MYERS: ... and then eventually into the loop current, and then eventually around up the East Coast. But that pulls it away from the marshes of Louisiana all the way from -- you know, all the way -- Louisiana, Mississippi, all the way, Dauphin Island. It's going to -- it would pull it away.
SANCHEZ: But if it comes from the west...
MYERS: You bet. It goes -- it goes left of Louisiana...
SANCHEZ: Oh.
MYERS: ... and it is all going to push every bit of that oil before they can collect it, because, once you get a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico, you can't put 1,000 ships out there trying to collect it.
SANCHEZ: Yes. Right.
MYERS: The waves are going to be 16 feet.
SANCHEZ: Too much...
MYERS: You can't...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Too much turbidity and too many waves. It's a pretty good word for a weather -- for a non-weather guy.
MYERS: You're right.
SANCHEZ: Turbidity.
Thank you. Appreciate it.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: We will -- we will be back in just a moment.
By the way, let me tell you about what's coming up.
Criticism of the president's children is usually off-limits to most people who consider themselves responsible members of the media. Radio host Glenn Beck apparently didn't get the memo. He went after 11-year-old Malia Obama, and it kind of gets ugly when you listen to it. You will hear it for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LYVONNE LIGHTFOOT, MOTHER OF FALLEN SOLDIER: They told me that Anthony had got hit by an improvised explosive, and then some rounds went off, and then a grenade just shot through their vehicle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: We often know so little about U.S. soldiers killed while protecting their country. So, we went out, our crew, and we profiled a fallen soldier killed in Afghanistan, and talked to his family, his mom, to give you a sense of his journey.
I want you to watch that with us on this day, especially, Memorial Day. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Who do you think is on the list you don't want to be on today? Stand by, because that's coming up. We will name it before we end this newscast, but, first, our roundup list.
Number one: Lightning, wind and heavy rain interrupt President Obama's Memorial Day. Instead of giving a speech at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Illinois, he told a crowd, take cover.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, I would ask everybody to very calmly move back to your cars. I'm going to move back to mine. We will wait to make sure that the thunder has passed. A little bit of rain doesn't hurt anybody, but we don't want anybody being struck by lightning, all right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Best laid plans, huh?
Also, because it's Memorial Day, because fallen American service members and their families are forward in our minds, I want to reintroduce you now to someone that I met last summer, someone who means a great deal to me. She's a mom. I spent a lot of time with her. She's a career Army veteran herself, and her own son died while serving in Afghanistan. When I met her last July, the news about her son's death was still painfully fresh. She allowed CNN, me, our camera folks, our producers, to show the sad return of her son's remains on national television.
This is very personal. She wanted to share. I wanted you to see it. So, here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Lyvonne Lightfoot is taking care of a fresh tattoo. It is not complicated, just a name and a couple of dates.
LYVONNE LIGHTFOOT, MOTHER OF FALLEN SOLDIER: I got my son's name, killed in action, the day he was born and the day he died.
SANCHEZ (on camera): What made you decide to do that?
LIGHTFOOT: That was my baby. That was my son. And part of me is gone.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): That part of me that she is talking about is a handsome 20-year-old, whose face in his mother's mind will never age.
LIGHTFOOT: Anthony, he couldn't find a job after he graduated. He put in for a couple of jobs. He couldn't find them. And then he said, "Well, mom, I think I'm going to join the military."
SANCHEZ: He did. First, boot camp. Then, infantry training.
LIGHTFOOT: I said, "Anthony, you don't want to go infantry," and sure as shooting, that's exactly what he did.
SANCHEZ: Deployment to Afghanistan came next.
LIGHTFOOT: The last time I heard from my son was June the 6th. And we used to talk by e-mail. And I used to tell Anthony, he used to tell me, "Mom, I'm OK, I'm doing all right." And he would say -- I tell Anthony, my last words, "Anthony, be safe."
SANCHEZ: Anthony, be safe. What a mother wanted but what war doesn't always allow.
LIGHTFOOT: They told me that Anthony had got hit by improvised explosives and then the rounds went off and then a grenade just shot through the vehicle.
SANCHEZ (on camera): Did they say that he died instantly?
LIGHTFOOT: I'm pretty sure he did die instantly.
SANCHEZ: Is that important to you?
LIGHTFOOT: Yes. He didn't -- I don't believe he suffered. He died instantly, because I was told he don't have his lower extremities. He told me, he said, "Mom, when I get off that plane, I want you there." I say, "Anthony, you don't have to worry about it."
And that was a promise. I was going to be there when he got off that plane.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): And she was there when he got off the plane but it was this way. Her son, Army Specialist Anthony Lightfoot, returned to the United States through Dover Air Force Base. Lyvonne Lightfoot allowed us to show you this scene, with her permission, is the only way we would see it.
LIGHTFOOT: Some people may want it private, but I want my son to be remembered. I want to share. I feel like my son didn't die in vain. So I don't feel like -- you know, I feel like I need to share this with people so they will know.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: So they'll know. How do you know that a parent has been notified? How do we know that someone has lost a son?
I'll take you through the somber process with an Army notification soldier, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: This is a very special day for us, so we wanted to bring you the kinds of reports that we think are special because they hit home on a day like this.
Just a minute ago, you saw a military mother tell me why she allowed the return of her son's remains to be shown on CNN. She said that she didn't want to grieve privately. She said she needed to share this moment with others. But the moment that she learned her son had died in Afghanistan was not one that she spent alone either.
Why? Well, I want you to watch this report now. This is part two. You're going to learn in this report how the United States Army delivers the absolute worst news imaginable.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Lyvonne Lightfoot's 20-year-old son, Anthony, was dead in Afghanistan. One of those improvised explosive devices killed him and three others in his unit.
The Army knew. Lyvonne Lightfoot didn't know yet. She was about to be notified officially.
(on camera): What was it like going to the door and having --.
(voice-over): A military chaplain accompanied by Sergeant First Class Alicia McCrae was coming to her door, because the Army has a rule: This is news that parents must get face to face.
LIGHTFOOT: I found out when they came and knocked on my door.
SANCHEZ (on camera): Did you arrive in uniform?
SGT. ALICIA MCCRAE, U.S. ARMY: Yes, Class A.
SANCHEZ: Class A?
MCCRAE: Yes.
LIGHTFOOT: I was looking at TV in the kitchen with the kids, my grandchildren.
MCCRAE: I was kind of shaking myself.
SANCHEZ: What do you say, "I am Sergeant McCrae"?
MCCRAE: Yes, and introduce myself.
LIGHTFOOT: Somebody knocked on the door. And I said to myself, now, who was this? It was -- who was this, because I don't really go nowhere. I look at TV with the grandkids.
SANCHEZ: I'm here to tell you --
MCCRAE: I don't remember exactly what I said.
LIGHTFOOT: Then, I saw two people in uniform. Sergeant McCrae and a chaplain. Then, I open the door. I say, "What's wrong? What happened?" I said, "Is Anthony all right?"
SANCHEZ: And that's how you told her.
MCCRAE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: When they first came to the door and you saw them, you immediately knew there was something wrong?
LIGHTFOOT: Right, because when they first came to the door, they asked me was my name Lyvonne Lightfoot and I said, yes. I guess, they say, when one person come to the door, they've been injured. But when two people come to the door, they've been killed. And two people came to the door.
MCCRAE: It is the most difficult thing that I have ever experienced in my life.
LIGHTFOOT: I think Sergeant McCrae, felt the same, she -- for a minute, she couldn't say anything.
SANCHEZ: How difficult is it to tell someone that someone they love has died?
MCCRAE: I'm thinking of my own child as I walk into her house.
SANCHEZ: It's that painful?
MCCRAE: I mean, that was, yes.
LIGHTFOOT: And then the chaplain told me to sit down. When he told me to sit down, I knew.
SANCHEZ: How do you say it?
MCCRAE: How do I say it?
SANCHEZ: How do you tell someone that they've lost a son or daughter?
MCCRAE: That's one difficult thing to do, sir.
LIGHTFOOT: They told me that Anthony had passed and I still can't really believe it but --
SANCHEZ: This is the first time you have ever had to tell a mother that her son died.
MCCRAE: Exactly. Yes.
LIGHTFOOT: I mean, it just -- I don't know. I just went out -- in my mind, I went out. I was in denial. I didn't want it to be my son.
SANCHEZ: How was she when you told her?
MCCRAE: How was she?
SANCHEZ: How did she react?
MCCRAE: She was distraught. That took everything out of her.
LIGHTFOOT: I thought they made a mistake. I was hoping that it was a mistake. I didn't think it really was Anthony. There was some way or another they could have just had a mistaken identity. But I didn't believe it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Merging on the highway can sometimes be a bit of a challenge, especially when the video looks like the one I'm about to show you.
Let's do "Fotos."
Merging with disaster. That is what ensued when a car veered on to an 18-wheeler in Addison, Texas.
The northbound truck jumped the median, took out a utility pole, and flipped on to its side on the southbound side of the highway. It screeched to a halt, cars dodging to miss it. You're not going to believe this, folks, but as you watch this, absolutely no one had life-threatening injuries of any kind.
All right. Now let's laugh. Ready?
This is rocky -- I mean rocker Ozzy Osbourne. He's known for shocking his audience, right? Remember the head, the biting, all that stuff? Well, he usually does it on stage, but this time he did it incognito.
He's at a wax museum. And one after another, people come up thinking they're going to take their pictures with him. Instead, he freaks them out.
Let's watch. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OZZY OSBOURNE, MUSICIAN: Hello.
(SCREAMING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God!
(SCREAMING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: He jumped to the surprise of all these unsuspecting visitors.
Great piece of tap. Glad we had it for you on this day.
You can see all "Fotos del Dia" on my blog at CNN.com/ricksanchez.
Radio host Glenn Beck goes after 11-year-old Malia Obama, and now has to issue an apology for it. It goes on for quite a long time, more than we can possibly show you. It's a relentless mocking. You have to hear for yourself.
I'll play it for you.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: People around the world have taken to the Twitter boards to share their thoughts on the Israeli raid on the aid ship, including Queen Rania of Jordan.
She is one of the people that we follow on our world leaders, and she tweets. By the way, so did Benjamin Netanyahu. But let's look at hers first.
This is Queen Rania. She says, "Shocked by killing of civilians in international waters at Freedom Flotilla. Humbled by courage and sacrifice of those on board in name of justice."
Queen Rania. And we got one just a little while ago as well that we had shown you from Benjamin Netanyahu. I don't know if we can put that up or not, but Benjamin Netanyahu is insisting, in fact, that this is something that happened as a result of the IDF defending themselves.
All right. Every ship that tries to break the blockade, another ship. We'll stay on this story.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has canceled his meeting with the president.
That story, and who do you think is on "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On"?
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back.
This is apparently what many of you've been waiting for. It's around this time every day when I tell you who is on my list that you don't want to be on.
Sometimes we debate this throughout the day with my staff, our producers. Just about everybody gets in on the conversation. We take this pretty seriously, because it casts the person in a rather bad light oftentimes.
There seems to be, today, no debate, not from my staff, not from writers, not from my producers. And judging from what I'm reading here throughout the day on Twitter, not from you. In fact, you could say today's is a slam-dunk.
We are talking about the Fox News host and the radio jock who has been known to take repeated shots at President Obama, most notably at one point calling the president a racist. Defenders of this popular TV and radio personality say it's simply part of his schtick, but now many of you on Twitter and on blogs that I've been reading have come to the conclusion around the country and are saying that in this one case, he has gone too far.
Glenn Beck went on relentlessly last week on his radio show making fun of Malia -- Malia, the president's daughter. It seemed to go on and on and on, while Beck seemed to be literally -- you'll hear it for yourself, folks -- cracking himself up at the expense of an 11-year- old.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GLENN BECK, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Daddy? Daddy? Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That is a grown man doing an impression of the president's daughter. Many of you are asking, shouldn't that be out of bounds? Beck is accusing, first of all, the president of the United States during his monologue of using his own children.
He continues.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BECK: "Did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?" That's the level of their education, that they're coming to daddy and saying, "Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?"
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Glenn Beck, as you just heard, is questioning Malia's level of education. That's what he just said. "That's their level of education," referring, obviously, to -- well, Malia.
The point many of you make is, why did he continue pouring it on, even after he made his point? I can't show you all of it, but you ask, why did he keep doing it time after time after time, making fun of her over and over and over again?
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BECK: Daddy, the best thing you ever did was get that BlackBerry, because, well, I can't -- I don't know how to reach you.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Michelle Obama has not yet commented on Beck's parody of her daughter. We don't know if she will. But many of you who are parents have commented.
You say you find what Beck is doing cringe-worthy, especially the chuckling and the snorting and the yucking it up with his radio sidekick, while he's making fun of her. And it just seems to go on and on and on, you say.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BECK: Daddy, you're a puppet. Did you know that? And we do a puppet show. Mommy said your presidency is like doing a puppet show.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Beck is now apologizing, but you'll notice in the apology that he again takes a shot at the president of the United States, almost as if he's implying it is the president's fault he was forced to do this.
"I'm discussing how President Obama uses children to shield himself from criticism. I broke my own rule about leaving kids out of the political debates. The children of public figures should be left on the sidelines. It was a stupid mistake and I apologize. As a dad, I should have known better."
What many of you say is that Glenn Beck has crossed the line. You say he's OK to criticize the president, but not the president's daughter.
And if it was just a mistake, a one-time thing, why did he continue doing it on and on and on, as you have written to me, seemingly relentlessly? That's what you say about a man making fun of an 11- year-old on the radio and laughing. It's why you say he deserves to be today's "List U Don't Want 2 Be On."
Ed Henry from the White House, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: This is the day when our peeps drop by. And there they are, by golly.
Get a shot of the folks over there.
Say hello, everybody. Welcome to RICK'S LIST.
There they are. And you know what? They're going to be here because they're big fans of Ed Henry.
You guys know Ed Henry, right, our Washington correspondent? He's one of the best looking guys in Washington, and he's good enough to join us now to talk about what's going on.
Hey, Ed, how you doing?
ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good, Rick. Are you trying to make up for the fact that right before the break "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On." Coming up, Ed Henry."
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: No. It was some other guy on some other network.
HENRY: All right. Good.
SANCHEZ: Hey, listen, this deal with the president of the United States -- and what we were all anticipating was this big meeting tomorrow with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
HENRY: That's right.
SANCHEZ: I mean, it's gone. It's not going to happen now.
How important is that from the president's point of view?
HENRY: It's really a disaster right now if you look at it, because this whole meeting, the genesis of it, was last week, the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, was in Israel on some personal business. They were celebrating his son's bar mitzvah. He decided to engage into some diplomacy, met with Prime Minister Netanyahu there in Israel, and personally invited him on behalf of the president to come to Washington, try to patch things up.
You'll remember when they met in March here at the White House, it didn't go very well, the last time they had a one-on-one. There was a lot of speculation that this relationship was deteriorating.
So, here, they tried to sort of warm things up tomorrow at the White House, and then this attack in the Mideast. And a lot of questions for Israel. You were putting them to the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. at the top of the show, tough questions.
They're insisting this was self-defense. But it now puts the White House in the position of trying to figure out exactly what happened.
There's competing versions of it, but the bottom line is, they're not going to have this meeting tomorrow with Netanyahu to try to patch things up. And secondly, I understand they just convened a conference call a short time ago here, trying to bring together some of their aides who were spread out on this Memorial Day. They're supposed to be not working, but they're trying to sort this out and figure this out.
It's a tough one, Rick.
SANCHEZ: What is the statement that's being put out at this point by the White House, if any? I know it's a little early, because we're getting two stories here.
Down to 30 seconds. What do we expect to hear from the White House?
HENRY: Right. They're being very careful.
White House spokesman Bill Burton basically put out a short statement saying, look, we're trying to get facts, because they don't have a lot of those right now. They obviously are mourning those who have been killed, at least nine people.
The bottom line is that at 6:00 Eastern, we've just learned the president is going to speak at Andrews Air Force base when he lands from Chicago to address the troops about Memorial Day. Now, whether he talks about Israel as well, we'll be watching very closely -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, Ed. We certainly appreciate it.
HENRY: Thanks, Rick.
SANCHEZ: That's it for us.
Time to take it now -- let's go from this shot. Let's go from the wide shot of the folks over here -- can you guys say, "Take it, Suzanne Malveaux"?
Ready? One, two, three. Go.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Take it, Suzanne Malveaux.
SANCHEZ: There you go, Suzanne. It's yours.
