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American Morning

Cease-Fire in Middle East Holding for Now; Target: USA

Aired August 14, 2006 - 09:30   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The cease-fire in the Middle East holding for now. Eight hours into it, despite two skirmishes in Southern Lebanon to tell you about. Israel is keeping its air-and-sea blockade however. Thousands of Lebanese who fled Southern Lebanon are trying to return.
Lots of moving parts to this story. Who better to sort it all out for us than CNN's Wolf Blitzer who has brought "THE SITUATION ROOM" to Jerusalem.

And, Wolf, there's a whole political dimension as well on this. Let's talk about that first. Have we heard from the Israeli prime minister yet what he is saying about it and whether he's going to face a lot of criticism there the way this is all shaping up?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: He's addressing the Knesset, Israel's parliament, Miles, right now, delivering a very passionate speech, and declaring right near the top of the speech and I've been listening to it that he takes full responsibility for this decision, this Israeli decision to go to war. He's the prime minister of Israel, and he says it was his decision. He is not apologizing for it by any means. He knows there's an outrage, there's a lot of criticism coming from the left, from the right. It's being undermined to a certain degree even as he speaks in the parliament. You see some members of the parliament, 120 members of the parliament, some are heckling him, are some are even being escorted out of the chamber as he's speaking, registering their protests. They have some strict protocol requirements there. They have to be warned once, twice, and then the third time they're basically told they have to leave. There've been some of those incidents already.

But he's making the case that this cease-fire deal that went into effect a few hours ago is good for Israel, and he says Israel will abide by it, but it's up to Hezbollah right now to follow the terms that were laid out by the U.N. Security Council.

And as you know this whole issue of disarming Hezbollah, Miles, below the Litani River and the southern part of Lebanon, it's a hugely complicated, explosive issue and one which could trigger a resumption of fighting if they don't disarm.

M. O'BRIEN: So many people then in Israel, I gather, view this cease-fire as, in essence, a defeat, and could that lead to a political defeat ultimately for the prime minister, who really the first prime minister in recent memory without a strong military background, and that makes him a little vulnerable, doesn't it? BLITZER: Right, he was not a former chief of state of the Israeli army, not a general. He served in the Israeli army, as all men and women do have to have their service, but he didn't have a career in the military. And so there has been a lot of criticism that his lack of military experience, lack of military experience on the part of the defense minister, Amir Peretz, got Israel into a situation that they shouldn't necessarily have gotten themselves into, that these 33 or 34 days of warfare did not produce the breaking, the destruction of Hezbollah that had been promised at the start, once those two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped, eight other Israeli soldiers killed in the initial skirmish along the border between Israel and Lebanon.

So the defense minister and in his speech to the Knesset earlier today, he already said he will call for a commission of inquiry to look into some of the decisions that were made and draw the appropriate conclusions.

Given the parliamentary nature of this system here, there could be a collapse of the government, could be early elections. Anyone's guess. We do know that in the next few hours, the opposition leader, the former Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the Likud Party, will be addressing the Knesset, and he's already made it clear that he's going on the offensive in lashing out against this government for some of the decisions that were made. A lot of unhappy people in short, Miles, here in Israel right now.

M. O'BRIEN: This will be very interesting to see how it unfolds and how it affects events on the battlefield in Southern Lebanon.

Wolf Blitzer, with "THE SITUATION ROOM" in Jerusalem today. 4:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 p.m. Eastern, as well. He'll be there, I think, all week. And if you want to stay clear on what is going on in the Middle East no better place to go. Stay with CNN -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Target: USA now. The terror-threat level in Britain is down from critical to severe today, after an alleged terror plot to blow up planes was stopped. Another alleged terror plot was broken up in Canada just two months ago.

Is there a serious threat just across the northern border? Let's get right to CNN's Zain Verjee. She's in Toronto for us this morning.

Hey, Zain. Good morning.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad, from Toronto.

You know, the Muslim community here in Canada has always been very moderate. They were utterly shocked and dismayed to learn that there could be terrorists among them. We spoke to one Muslim leader who said this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAREK FATAH, FMR. SPOKESMAN. CANADIAN MUSLIM CONG.: Considering the fact that 17 young men have been arrested and more are being arrested, we do know that there is a problem here. These men may not be guilty of terrorism, but we do know that they are guilty of holding extreme views which are quite hateful of a Western civilization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: Many people that we spoke to here, Soledad, say that they don't think the threat is serious. They say, look, something like this is just an isolated incident, and it's not a case of a wider phenomenon here in Canada of home-grown terrorism. One of the questions that we did ask numerous experts was this, what is fueling any anger that exists here, more radical sentiments? And what they said basically is that you have young men. They turn on the TV. They see Muslims being killed in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Gaza, in Lebanon, and they get angry, they get frustrated, they get resentful; they direct their anger to the United States and toward the Canadian government, whose policies they view as backing Washington.

Also, another aspect is that a lot of people look at the Canadian government and say, look, they are sending their troops over to fight in Afghanistan. That's a bone of contention. And they also say the Canadian government backs Israel in its fight against Hezbollah, and they feel that that creates a scenario that is breeding ground for homegrown terrorists here in Canada, where predator imams can exploit them -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Zain Verjee in Toronto for us this morning. Zain, thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, if you fly you know the drill, shoes off, laptop on the conveyor belt, and now prove your bag is as dry as a bone. But when you go in the subway or bus, nothing like that, of course, and there is a risk involved in all of that.

AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho joining us live now from Grand Central Terminal here in New York City.

Hello there, Alina.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Miles. Good morning to you.

Yes, you are absolutely right. If you talk to security experts, they will tell you the major problem with mass transit is that there are no formal screening systems in place, unlike the airports,and that makes public transportation an attractive target for terrorists.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The usual suspects, the subways, the buses, even the ferry. We took a ride with transportation security expert Don Rondeau. He told us the alleged terror plot exposed in London last week is a reminder the U.S. remains vulnerable, and mass transit used by millions each day is a prime target. DON RONDEAU, TRANSPORTATION SECURITY EXPERT: The passenger underground would hamper rescue efforts. Some of the tactics used by terrorists take advantage of the fact there is not ventilation, that there is not substantial exits to evacuate people.

CHO: Rondeau says there's little that would stop a terrorist from getting on a subway and launching an attack. A briefcase like this one could easily hide a bomb.

RONDEAU: So it doesn't require a great deal of skill or the ability to obtain hard-to-obtain chemical. They can go in their five- and-dime and get what they need to get the job done.

CHO: The same line of thinking can be applied to buses -- lots of people, too little security.

RONDEAU: Here we have a place moving, contained, that would make rescue difficult, where people are virtually unscreened.

CHO: Look no further than London, July of last year. Suicide bombers killed more than 50 commuters in bus and subway attacks. The ferries are also exposed. Rondo says a strike there would leave people stranded at sea.

RONDEAU: It's at a distance from you. So your time to react to it is impacted., your ability to control the environment impacted, then the event that something we're to occur, well, it makes a rescue much more difficult.

CHO: So how can mass transit be secure? Rondeau says blast- proof seating made with Kevlar, new ventilation systems that would suck out contaminated air and inject clean air in its place.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says there's a lot of security measures in place we don't see.

MYR. MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), NEW YORK: Sometimes we have people, sometimes we have cameras, sometimes we have both. We're constantly changing our strategies so that they are not predictable.

CHO: Rondeau says nothing can replace vigilance.

RONDEAU: We're a busy country, we're a busy people, and I believe that somehow we've been sidetracked. We have yet to realize that we are a nation at war. There are people out there who've declared that they want to destroy America. They are showing that they mean business.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: And yet, the reality is, millions of people will continue riding the subways, the buses and the ferries each and every day.

Our security expert says the important thing to remember is to remain vigilant, always be on the lookout, and try to fight creativity with creativity. Miles, what that means is try to think like a terrorist and that may keep you one step ahead of the game -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Help me through this map. Because you spoke to that expert, I'm curious what he thinks about this. There are about two million people every day in this country who fly on airplanes. Tens of millions, 30 billion plus, who use mass transit. The percentage of money spent on planes is many billions of dollars for security there. Hundreds of millions at the federal level on mass transit. Is he concerned about that gap?

CHO: Well, certainly. He is concerned. But again, he doesn't want to create a panic. I mean, listen, the major problem, he says, is that there are not screening procedures. You don't go through a checkpoint like you do at an airport. And so what he says is there's really little (AUDIO GAP) getting on to a subway, getting on to a bus, a moving target, with a bomb hidden in something like a briefcase.

But remember, there are a lot of security systems in place that we don't see. As the mayor of New York says, cameras (AUDIO GAP)

M. O'BRIEN: All right. She's only a few blocks away, but we had some problems with that transmission. We're sorry about that. Alina Cho. We'll have her back a little bit later -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, it's been five years since 9/11. Are we any safer now when we fly? We're going to take a closer look at that and much more, ahead right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Got this word just in, and these pictures just into CNN. Take a look at that. That is a bus that has driven through a parking structure. This is taking place in downtown L.A., right near the Staples Center. Eleven people injured, we're told, as a collision between two transit buses happened in downtown L.A., happened just before 6:00 local time there, near Venice Boulevard and Olive Street. One of the buses drove up on the sidewalk right there. You can see it hit that parking structure. It doesn't seem to have caused any big damage to the parking structure, though.

Two of the 11 people have been injured. It seems as if they are moderately or seriously injured. None of the injuries life- threatening, we're told. And investigators believe that all the victims were either passengers or drivers. No word yet on what caused the collision. You can see firefighters on the scene, still trying to do their investigation and remove some of the passengers, as well, who have been injured on the scene.

So some pictures of two transit buses that have crashed in downtown Los Angeles. It happened just before 6:00 in the morning. So they've been on the scene for about 45 minutes. One bus running right into the parking structure. It seems as if that parking structure, though, looks like it's still not only intact, but also structurally sound, as well.

We'll continue to follow this story, update you, as things change -- Miles. M. O'BRIEN: Let's get back to our "Target: USA" coverage. Where are we most vulnerable? Is it in the air? Is it on the subway? Or is it at the mall? Should we be most concerned about porous borders or vulnerable oil refineries? There's a lot to worry about, and some would say if we are too worried, the terrorists have already scored a victory.

So let's try to calibrate the risk. Stephen Flynn is a security expert at the Council of Foreign Relations and the author of "America, The Vulnerable." He joins us from Old Lyme, Connecticut.

Good to have you with us, Stephen.

Let's talk about air safety for just a moment. This whole notion that liquid-fueled bombs were not a new idea. And, you know, suddenly after this foiled plot occurs, there are instant changes in the way security is handled.

I think a lot of air travelers walk away from that with not a lot of confidence in the system.

STEPHEN FLYNN, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Well, I think this is one of the biggest challenges that we face. It's not that we'll have perfect security, but it has to be quite credible security. And so if you're just reacting to the last incident, and then throwing everything in the kitchen sink at it and not dealing with the evolving threat, then the public is going to scratch its head.

I don't think the -- most of the public expects to have an entirely risk-free experience in the sky. You know, planes fall out of the sky for reasons that have nothing to do with terrorism on occasion. We get back on them because we have confidence in the safety system and the investigation system, and that have reasonable measures have been put in place.

And what we know with the issue of the liquid bomb problem, that goes back to '94. Wrestling wit quietly behind closed doors, not really addressing it too much up front. Then we have this foiled investigation, and then we're chasing it. So not a way to inspire confidence, I agree. What we need to do is get out ahead of these issues.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, so before we move on to other areas of vulnerability, when you talk about air travel, how vulnerable are we? Where do you see the key omissions in the way we try to make these flights secure for all of us?

FLYNN: Well, we really need to separate, I think, first of all, the difference between the 9/11 attack and the kind of scenario that we just saw foiled here in London. The 9/11 was converting a domestic airliner into a missile and targeting against the Pentagon and to the Twin Towers.

M. O'BRIEN: Right, and that's not likely to happen again, right? Because passengers aren't going to let that happen. I mean, that seems like a low-risk potential, right? FLYNN: Exactly. They're locking the cockpit doors, and the changing of passenger behavior was the biggest improvements we made in the security to address that scenario. Now we're really looking at the random act of terror, basically blowing up a plane almost arbitrarily out of the sky while it's flying around. This is devastating for everybody on the plane and not good for the air industry. But it doesn't have the same consequence, obviously, of using a plane as a missile.

If you look at one of the vulnerabilities, it remains air cargo. You know, passengers are all on the top deck of the plane. Most folks don't realize, but there's a second deck below it. And that's not just where your bags go, but also where a lot of air freight goes. And most of that air freight is just not well-screened. It's, in all practical purposes, is barely screened at all.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, so focus on air freight. That continues to be a concern. Doesn't make -- I mean, I get the sense sometimes as you watch this security unfold, if it doesn't have a visible effect -- in other words, if passengers don't see it, it seems as if the government is less interested in doing it. Is that true or false?

FLYNN: Well, it's no question -- I think the overarching problem here is that all our eggs are really in the traditional use of military force, directed at states who may sponsor or harbor terrorists. I mean, we're spending a half a trillion dollars this is year on traditional national security.

You know, the White House and the Pentagon have called Iraq a central front of the war on terror. What we saw this past week is that there is no central front. Al Qaeda is moving from an organization to a movement. It's in Canada, it's here in the United States, it's in Europe. And basically, we're not going to be able to use our traditional tools of power to direct it -- to direct out this adversary. We've got to think about -- what are soft targets and figure out how we make ourselves a more resilient society. And that we've really been doing in a very piece-meal fashion.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, let's talk specifically about that. We've been talking about mass transit this morning, we've been talking about shopping malls and the like. Those are the soft targets you speak of. Because they aren't hardened like an airport is. You're not taking your shoes off to go to the shopping mall. And I don't think anyone is suggesting we do that. But do you have some advice to share?

FLYNN: Well, yes. One is that we do need to take a deep breath. That, when we're looking at catastrophic terror -- that is, one that really is massive loss of life and massive economic disruption; and that's the bar that's been set with 9/11 for these radical jihadist groups -- that basically carrying out those operations can take two to three years to put together an effective strategy and approach. And there's very low tolerance for failure. A terrorist is not going to commit suicide if there's very little odds he's going to be successful.

So to the extent we make it more difficult for terrorist to take out things that are extremely valuable and currently quite vulnerable then they tend to go somewhere else. So it's not that you have to have fail-safe security. We don't have to look at everything, and do all play, kind of a Tom Clancy, or what if, you know, I could do this or that; you basically have to put in reasonable measures that would make it more difficult and unpredictable for terrorists to strike criminal systems we rely on.

M. O'BRIEN: Reasonable and using judgment.

A final thought here -- when you try to connect the dots here and all these responses, seems to me one of the things, a thread which goes through this all, is I'm not sure that this country fully gets, understand, the nature of the war it is in.

FLYNN: I certainly agree. But let me just say, we're also coming up on the anniversary of Katrina. One of the things that I've been looking at most of late is the need to build resilience, not just because of acts of man and in terms of terror, but also because of acts of nature. We're becoming a more brittle and fragile society, in the things we need and rely on, as we just saw with the heatwave this summer, the power goes out. This is a tempting target for terrorists, but it's nuts for a first-world society. So things that we can just focus on here at homes to make ourselves a more durable society, even if the terrorists weren't here, would be very constructive. We need to take a deep breath, and roll up our sleeves and tackle this kind of problem.

M. O'BRIEN: So what is standing in the way then? I think I know the answer to this, but I want you to say it. What stands in the way, in general, of making things safer here?

FLYNN: I think the biggest thing is that we have put our eggs in the basket of, if we do it over there, we don't have to do it here. It's not been a two-front war; it's been all-front war, and that's how we fought wars throughout the 20th century, we always did it on the soil of our adversaries or our allies, and we then pursued happiness here at home. What we're just not coming to grips with is that this adversary is going to increasingly look like us, and borders are largely irrelevant to how they operate -- not irrelevant, but largely irrelevant. So we have to change our tactics, and what we should be seeing here by our experience of the last five years is an overwhelming reliance on traditional national security is not going to rein in this threat.

M. O'BRIEN: Stephen Flynn, good insights, good words, good way to sum up our coverage this morning of Target: USA. Of course that's just the beginning for our day here at CNN. Stephen Flynn is with from the Council on Foreign Relations, by the way. Always appreciate your time -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: To Baghdad now, to Iraq, where the violence continues, we are sorry to say. There are sweeps over the weekend in Baghdad. They are trying to stop the wave of sectarian violence that has left literally thousands of people dead. President Bush heading to the Pentagon this morning. You can see right there he has started his meetings on Iraq, meeting with Secretary Rumsfeld, and also defense policy and program teams, then he's going to have lunch with experts on Iraq. You're looking at some of the first videotape made available as they get this meeting under way. Happened just about 20 minutes ago. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: Very important for the American people to know that we're constantly thinking about how to secure the homeland, protect our interests with all assets available to do our jobs.

I appreciate very much you and your team providing the very important briefing. We live in troubled times. But I'm confident in our capacity to not only protect the homeland, but I'm confident in our capacity to leave behind a better world.

One reason I feel so confident is because we've got a fantastic military. It's been an honor to travel the country, to meet those that wear the uniform. We are a blessed nation to have many men and women who volunteered during these difficult time.

So, Mr. Secretary, thanks for the briefing. Looking forward to it. Thank you all for giving us your insights. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: The president wrapping up the comments as he thanks Secretary Rumsfeld for hosting him there. He was saying we live in troubled times, and also said that one of the, I guess, the best parts of his job is to get to travel around the world meeting the fantastic military that is protecting the country and representing the country obviously as well.

Big problem, of course, is the violence that continues in Baghdad. A sweep over the weekend. They've been trying to go through about 4,000 homes, see if they can bring an end to some of that sectarian violence that many people have predicted could actually flow into some kind of civil war if it is not stopped.

Got to take a break. We're back in just a moment. Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECY.-GEN.: I'm relieved to note that the cessation of hostilities in Lebanon, called for by the Security Council, which came into effect at 0500 GMT today, appears to be generally holding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: You have been listening to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He was mentioning the cease-fire, obviously been monitoring how that cease-fire's been going on all morning. Eight hours and counting it's been holding together kind of. There have been some reports of sporadic shooting. However, we're going to continue to get an update on what's happening there.

Let's get right to CNN's Richard Roth at the United Nations for us.

Richard, good morning.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Those comments by Secretary-General Annan, released just minutes ago, videotaped by United Nations television, and the secretary- general ended the remarks with a very firm warning you don't always hear, with his videotaped televised statements. He warned both parties, or all parties involved in the conflict not to let down the millions of people who he said have hopes that this peace agreement will hold. He said neither side should have any reason to disappoint those hopes, and if either were to do so it would pay a heavy price in terms of world public opinion. Annan is now trying to get countries to contribute soldiers to that expanded U.N. peacekeeping mission, which will have to be there in Southern Lebanon. But obviously those countries have a lot of concerns about what type of violence will be in the environment -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Richard Roth. Let's hope his words have some sway, but there are many people who say it's a very tenuous cease-fire.

Richard, thanks for the update. Obviously we're going to watch it. We're out of time here on AMERICAN MORNING. Let's get right to Daryn Kagan. She's at the CNN Center. She's going to be with you for the next couple of hours on CNN LIVE TODAY.

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