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U.S. Hopes for Vote Today on Mideast Resolution; Terror Plot Foiled

Aired August 11, 2006 - 13:32   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get back to the newsroom. Fredricka Whitfield working details on a developing story -- Fred.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Kyra, we now have pictures of evidence of Israel saying it's living up to its promise of building up on its offensive measures there on the Israeli/Lebanese border. You're looking at pictures right now of an increased presence of the Israeli military presence.

This comes now after Israel has expressed some skepticism on the U.N. cease-fire deal that is still in the making. The government of Israel has decided to implement what it calls its own cabinet decision, which grants the army permission to carry out a massive offensive to deal with the Hezbollah positions in South Lebanon, from which barrages of missiles continue to be launched against the Israeli civilian population. Israel says it is still open to a negotiated solution as the U.N. Security Council, then tried to hammer out a deal, but for now the buildup of offensive measures continues there on the border -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Fred, thanks so much. We'll continue to follow all of the new video coming in, of course, out of the Middle East.

And is today the day? New hope at the U.N. for a Middle East peace resolution.

Let's bring in CNN SR. U.N. correspondent Richard Roth.

What do you think, Richard? Will it happen?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Oh, I don't know, I mean, people have been predicting thins endlessly here on this resolution, and it still remains quite elusive. U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan welcomed U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today. The two huddling for about 15 minutes to half an hour. It was Secretary Annan who, before Miss Rice arrived, said that it's time for an end to these discussions, time for a vote, too many people are dying, or being killed, in the Middle East during the fighting.

Rice's United Nations Ambassador John Bolton seemed cautiously optimistic that at some point today there could be a vote on the resolution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMB. TO U.N.: We've been having discussions here since earlier this morning, between the French and U.S. delegations. I would say we are now very, very close to agreement. And our aspiration is to have a vote at the end of the afternoon today.

Now, a lot still remains, but once again, I'd say that as our ministers converge here on New York, that we're getting very close.

OK, thanks very much.

QUESTION: Can you just about what "a lot still remains" means?

BOLTON: I think it's not so much in terms of issues, as it is the number of parties that will want to see and discuss the text. But our feeling is because of the importance to bring this to closure, that if, once again, France, and the United States and others can come together on a text, we can move forward expeditiously, which has always been our intention.

ROTH: The problem is selling this resolution to Israel and Lebanon, to make sure they accept it. Secretary of State Rice met with British Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett. They're expecting also the French foreign minister later today and it's not likely there will be a vote before the French foreign minister even arrives. A U.S. official saying on this resolution, there's still work to be done. Secretary Rice will keep working with the others to close the remaining items. And we are hoping for a vote today. The Russians have their own resolution, saying they don't think this resolution's going to do enough, quickly enough, to stop the fighting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VITALY CHURKIN, RUSSIAN AMB. TO U.N.: We, for the Russian resolution, we are prepared to put it to vote, if circumstances require that tonight.

But as I said yesterday, it is our priority also to have this big resolution adopted. So if they are prepared to put the big resolution on the table in a forum which is acceptable to the Lebanese government, certainly Russia is not going to stand in the way, we are going to support that.

ROTH: Now yesterday, the United States ambassador, John Bolton, called Russia's proposed 72-hour draft a distraction to the talks. It's not ruled out this resolution can be acted on, but the primary goal of the United States is the main resolution, to disengage the parties, to have Israel eventually withdrawal, but only after some type of muscular peacekeeping force in conjunction with Lebanese government troops, are in Southern Lebanon. The timing and the sequence, Kyra, stay tuned, it could be an all-nighter here for a vote.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, evidently -- we're getting word in right now. I'm just going to read the wire to you, Richard. It says -- the headline is "Key Security Council Members Reach Deal on Mideast Truce Draft." I'm looking through here. This is according to the British foreign ministry, Richard. Key Security Council Members Reach a Deal on the Mideast Truce Draft, the U.N. resolution, this according to British foreign secretary, coming through on Reuters wire service. So we're working to confirm this.

Is Richard still with me?

Richard, are you with me?

ROTH: Yes, unfortunately, I am, because that wire story is -- can be tantalizingly confusing, because the U.S. does not want the focus distracted with some type of truce. They've consistently opposed any type of emergency cease-fire, because they want to have the root causes and everything else established before any type of cessation is established. They don't want Israel to cease firing at the moment. There's little trust of Hezbollah.

Security Council consultations will resume in about an hour and a half, and we may know more there.

The British foreign secretary just arrived. We don't know what she's talked about with Russia. So we can't confirm the story about the other resolution, Russia's idea.

PHILLIPS: Got it. OK, we'll work it from both ends. Richard Roth from the U.N., thanks so much.

And of course we'll go live to all our reporters across the Mideast region to get reaction and get more information as this story continues to develop.

Meanwhile, one terror plot busted, but what about the next one and the one after that? Well, this plan hinged on getting past airport security. Would it have worked? We're going to have a man who knows, a former Scotland Yard commander, when LIVE FROM continues.

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PHILLIPS: Coming up next hour on LIVE FROM, CNN has just learned that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is going to hold a news conference at Reagan National Airport in Washington. We're going to bring that even to you live as soon as it happens.

Well, Britain's homeland security adviser says the plotters envisioned a second September 11th. Roy Ramm joins me now from London. He's a veteran detective and former commander of specialty operations at New Scotland Yard.

Good to have you with us, Roy.

ROY RAMM, FMR. NEW SCOTLAND YARD CMDR.: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: I first want to get your reaction to this tip from the Muslim community. Were you surprised that what we saw happen within the past couple of days came from a tip in the Muslim community?

RAMM: If that's right, it is both kind of surprising and very welcoming. I think it's beginning to show the Muslim community are prepared to give up the people who really are there to undermine them as much as anybody else.

But I think that there's a world of difference between an initial tip that may start police action and really what took place over the last couple of days here in London, and in the United States and in Pakistan. From that tip, a huge amount of work would have had to have been done to develop the kind of operation that we saw launched by the police and security services here.

PHILLIPS: Well, tell me about that mission that they encountered, the police and the security forces. Did -- how much do you know with regard to how they infiltrated in this community and really worked on getting to know the players?

RAMM: Well, there's two or three levels of what you might call infiltration. There is a level over -- bold level of engagement with the Muslim community here in the U.K., that the police service, the government has been promoting for a very long time. There are suggestions, and there are no more than that, that the security services may have had agents on the inside. If that's right, that in itself is a step forward because it means that they have now got people who are able to do that.

Those are the kinds of levels of infiltration that are necessary if we're ever going to understand what's motivating these small groups of people within the larger Muslim community.

PHILLIPS: Well, what do you think is motivating them? You were a commander. You had to deal with this, I'm assuming, on some level when you were active, yes?

RAMM: Well, I think no one has dealt with this before, and I certainly wouldn't claim it. What we're seeing here, and what we've seen since 9/11 is something completely different. And bear in mind that the U.K.'s had had a history of dealing with the terrorist groups, like the provisional IRA. But what we're looking at here is something completely different. We've never experienced suicide bombers before. We've never had the deep control, the deep influence, that seems to be emerging, from your reports and from others, of al Qaeda being able to influence the actions of British-born Muslims here in the U.K. We've never experienced that before. And we've certainly not experienced the kind of willingness to take life on such a vast scale.

So I think that great credit to the serving officers now and to the security services, because they are dealing with something completely new.

PHILLIPS: Well, what do you make of the suspect that apparently was an employee at Heathrow? There could be more that work there as well. Obviously, that probably makes you pretty nervous. How does that happen? how do you secure Heathrow? How do you make sure that doesn't happen again, or that there are other extremists working at that airport right now?

RAMM: Right. First of all, we don't know for certain whether someone was employed at Heathrow. We think it's probably right. We don't know the level or the depth of their involvement. We can't prove that yet.

But turning to the bigger point about securing an airport, you know, if we could ratchet back the clock, turn back time maybe 50 years, and we could plan our airports in a completely different way, then we wouldn't be putting them alongside cities. We would be putting lots more really constructional security measures into place. But Heathrow sits out there on the edge of London, just like Kennedy and just like Washington-Dulles, there they are, huge, huge areas. Heathrow employs something like 75,000 people. It so happens that a very large portion of those employees are Asian-Muslims.

How do you get into the mindset of those people and determine what tiny, tiny percentage of those employees just might be swayed by the conviction of terrorists who might choose to try to persuade them to give help? It is impossible.

So to say that we're ever going to see a situation where nobody who is arrested in connection with the terrorist incident has any relationship to an airport I think is pie in the sky.

PHILLIPS: Roy Ramm, former commander of Scotland Yard. Sure appreciate your insight, Roy.

RAMM: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Coming up, a possible draft resolution in the Mideast crisis. We'll get more from our Richard Roth, working his sources at the U.N., while Israeli leaders expand their ground war and more leaflets fall in the skies over Lebanon.

More LIVE FROM coming up next.

And a reminder to know your enemy. Watch a special CNN PRESENTS: In the Footsteps of bin Laden," Wednesday night, August 23rd, 9:00 p.m. Eastern. Our Christiane Amanpour reveals how Osama bin Laden trained legions of followers to do his deadly bidding.

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PHILLIPS: We want to get back to CNN's senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth for the latest developments on that possible resolution for peace that was coming across the wires. I know you're working your sources, Richard. What do we know?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Well, prospects for a vote may have increased. The United States and France and Britain have agreed on a text. Now they're going to go to the Security Council in about an hour or so and present this text for discussion. The British foreign secretary is quoted as saying, "while we hope Lebanon and Israel will accept, it's still a very influx, dramatic situation here." But the U.S. and France think they have agreement enough. John King of CNN is being told by a senior U.S. official in Washington they think they have enough confidence to go forward with this draft in its current form for a potential vote after review by the full Security Council, which will begin at 3:00 p.m. New York Time behind closed doors first. Back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK, we'll follow it. Thanks so much. We'll be checking in. I'm seeing some stuff come across our e-mail too from John King, Richard. I'll look into that, as well. Thank you very much.

Even with new hopes for a peace resolution at the U.N., the fighting does continue in Lebanon. CNN Beirut bureau chief Brent Sadler joins me live with more -- Brent.

BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: Thanks, Kyra.

To follow up on that story coming out of the United Nations, I was in the Prime Ministry earlier today and saw the U.S. Middle East envoy, David Welch, the ambassador here from the United States, and a whole range of Lebanese officials, running around, trying to get agreement on the ground here to what's been put up at the United Nations Security Council as Richard just reported.

Then I was able to catch for a few minutes Saad Hariri, who's the leader of the parliamentary majority here. He's a close ally of the Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora, and he said he was cautiously optimistic that this resolution that we are talking about will be voted on very soon. Let's listen to what Hariri had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAAD HARIRI, LEBANESE CABINET MEMBER: I think if you look four days ago where we were and where we are today, I think we are very close to a final status tonight.

QUESTION: So the beginning of the end of the war, do you think?

HARIRI: I think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SADLER: Now, the deal behind all this, Kyra, is pretty complicated, as you can imagine. There's by no means any genuine certainty that Israel and Hezbollah will agree to it. But fundamentally, what it will do, if the parties sign off on this, is to create a huge -- some 400-square mile -- weapons-free zone as far as Hezbollah is concerned.

It would see the deployment of the Lebanese army, which Israel is suspicious about, because it believes that local army here is weak, too weak, and too politicized to do a decent job.

So all eyes are going to be on the machinations and rules of engagement for an international stabilization force that will come in to try to create the conditions under which a second phase, creating a possibly longer-term peace solution, might kick into effect later.

There's a long, long way to go in this, Kyra, but certainly there are some positive signs here that a diplomatic solution is now hanging over the bloody battlefields of south Lebanon -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And if, indeed, those Lebanese troops are deployed and need to monitor that border, there's talk, Brent, as you know, from the U.S. for funds and support to build up that army, to train that army. Do you think that will happen with the U.S. forces or other forces?

SADLER: I think it's too early to say what those details are going to be. But, certainly, from my political sources on the ground here, you're talking about -- and these are still under discussions, these ideas -- you're talking about a force perhaps 10,000 strong initially, rising to 20,000, that will be led by French peacekeepers. Possibly Turkey will also have a major role.

But I'm also hearing of the possibility that if the Security Council reaches an appropriate vote on this and gives it the green light that you could, within days, see a rapid deployment of forces -- perhaps French and Turks will be, I think, the spearhead of what is going to happen on the ground here -- deploying very rapidly, just a few days after that vote.

So that's the kind of expectation I'm getting in terms of optimism that this plan will fly. But, you know, there are so many ifs and buts still, and let's not forget that the battlezone is still very much active.

And let's also not forget that Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has just approved the military going into a wider offensive. That's seen by many here as an attempt to put more military pressure on the Lebanese government to accept the deal if it's passed at the United Nations Security Council -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Brent Sadler in Beirut. Thanks, Brent.

Along with the missiles and rockets, more leaflets like these, like the others, from Israeli warplanes, but this time the message is different. Instead of warning Lebanese to get out or stay put, they accuse Hezbollah of trying to hide its losses. The leaflets list 93 names said to be Hezbollah members killed so far in the month-long offensive.

This is day 31 of the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, and this is the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre. Israeli forces also hit the southern suburbs of Beirut and a bridge to the Syrian border. All the while, more than 80 Hezbollah rockets hit northern Israel.

Israeli forces gear up for an expanded ground war, and Hezbollah rockets keep hitting Israel. CNN's Paula Hancocks is right there in the thick of it -- Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra. Well, that was just a couple of hours ago that the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, did give the green light for the military to expand the ground operation in southern Lebanon. Now he had a meeting for several hours with his defense minister this Friday to decide on this.

Now, at this point, we understand that the Israeli military can expand this operation. The politicians are saying that if diplomacy does win out, i.e., if this draft resolution from the U.N. gives Israel what it wants, then it can stop this ground offensive very quickly. So obviously, it's raising questions of the timing of approving this expanded operation.

Now, the security cabinet approved this a couple days ago, saying that the Israeli military could go all the way up to the Litani River, which is about 18 miles north of the Israeli-Lebanese border and it just was waiting for Ehud Olmert to give the go-ahead, which he has given now.

Now, the main thing that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is worried about is whether or not the timing of Israeli troops pulling out before this draft resolution and a U.N.-beefed up force will being in place, whether or not there will be a gap in between that Hezbollah would be able to use to rearm and reposition itself.

And also he's worried whether or not this U.N. force, along with these Lebanese troops, will actually be strong enough to repel Hezbollah away from northern Israel -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Paula Hancocks, thanks so much.

Coming up next hour of LIVE FROM, CNN has just learned that Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff is going to hold a news conference at Reagan National Airport in Washington. We're going to bring that event to you live when it happens.

Also, the death of a broadcasting legend. As we've been reporting this hour, TV host Mike Douglas has died on his 81st birthday. Memories of the man, including thoughts from our own Larry King.

And my interview with veteran journalist Mike Wallace, who just sat down with the president of Iran. More LIVE FROM next.

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