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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Mideast on Alert; Charitable Giving; Terror Investigation; Danger Zone; Port Security; Making Ports Safer; Least Guarded Border; After the Cease-Fire;

Aired August 14, 2006 - 23:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN GORDON, ISF SPOKESMAN: That's why it's imperative that the vastly expanded UNIFIL and the Lebanese army take up their positions as quickly as possible.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The commander of U.N. peacekeepers met with Israeli and Lebanese officials on the border. They expect a multinational force of 15,000 fighters to start deploying there by early next week.

GORDON: That buffer then makes the cease-fire hold.

LAWRENCE: Israeli officials say that until the United Nations takes over security, Israeli troops will engage Hezbollah guerrillas only if they're threatened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're calling upon them to leave their weapons and walk away, but even if they don't leave their weapons, we're not shooting them from the back.

LAWRENCE: In Northern Israel, the sound the mortars is giving way to the sound of mothers. Sigal Ifrach and her family evacuated last month. They've come back to Kiryat Shmona. Their hometown was hit by 242 rockets since they left.

SIGAL IFRACH, KIRYAT SHMONA RESIDENT: We hope there's going to be peace, but I not believe it. I think that it's not safe to be here.

LAWRENCE: Still for the first time in more than a month there was peace and life on Israeli streets. The country's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admits the operation was less than a complete success. Olmert claims that Israel pushed Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon. The promises to scrutinize the mission's failures. Skeptical Israelis already feel this war has made Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah more powerful than ever.

IFRACH: And I think that he is (UNINTELLIGIBLE), if you're asking me. I think that he win, he wins.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE (on camera): Bring you up to date on the breaking news from tonight, Israeli forces say those Katyushas were primary short- range rockets that fell primarily towards the western side of Lebanon and they fell close enough for the Israeli forces their to actually watch them land -- Wolf

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Normally when those Katyushas are going off in the northern part of Israel over these past 34 days, the sirens would start wailing. Did you hear any sirens from your vantage point?

LAWRENCE: We did not hear any sirens. We did hear some explosions, and that prompted us to call the IDF immediately. What they're telling me now is that the Israeli forces continue to search for unexploded rockets in southern Lebanon. When they find them, they destroy them. And that accounts for some of the explosions that we heard here earlier tonight. But this is in addition to the rockets that also fell there in southern Lebanon -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Once there was word that spread among the Israeli troops, where you are in the northern part of Israel, Chris, that Katyushas had been fired, landed in southern Lebanon, did you sense a higher state of alert, a higher state of readiness going on for those Israeli forces? Because earlier in the days, at least in the video, the live pictures I saw, it seemed those Israeli troops were beginning to step down and relax a bit.

LAWRENCE: It did seem that way, and I didn't really see much change here right here in northern Israel, but when I called and spoke with some of the Israeli officers, they said there shouldn't be any relaxing going on whatsoever, that they have never ratcheted down their level of readiness, because they expected these skirmishes to take place before those U.N. peacekeepers get in place and eventually take the place of Israeli forces there.

BLITZER: Chris Lawrence, reporting for us from northern Israel, thanks very much.

In Lebanon meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people were displaced by the war, a war that continued for some 34 days, at least until this morning when the cease-fire went into effect. Many of those people now are beginning their journeys back home against the advice of Lebanese officials, I should say.

More now from CNN's Jim Clancy in Beirut.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lebanon was one giant traffic jam from Beirut southward as people displaced from the fighting tried to go back to their homes over bombed-out roads and bridges.

At the same time Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah appeared on the television from an unknown location to claim that all the suffering had not been for nothing.

We are facing a strategic and historic victory, and this is not exaggeration, he told his audience. Nasrallah, taking special care of his support base, pledging immediate aid to those whose homes have been damaged or destroyed. Teams of Hezbollah activists were already scouring the southern suburbs just hours after the cease-fire, assessing damage and promising help.

A major unanswered question remains, whether Hezbollah fighters will leave southern Lebanon and pull back above the Litani River.

Who comes today asking Hezbollah to disarm and give up their weapons to the government, Nasrallah declared.

Senior political sources believe Hezbollah will not disarm in the south, even though that is required as the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers are to take over security.

Whether Israel will accept that remains in doubt.

Late-night celebrants in Beirut blared horns and chanted for Hezbollah and its leader. But the party was eerily in contrast to the casualty count and the economic toll the war has caused.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Jim, is there any reaction coming in from either the Lebanese government or from Hezbollah to this charge by the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces, that 10 Katyusha rockets were fired and landed in south Lebanon, presumably going after Israeli troops there?

CLANCY (on camera): First of all, there's no comment by the Lebanese government because they don't have any observers down right in that area I think that we're talking about, unless there's some police there that we don't know about. We haven't heard anything.

On the second front, we've tried to reach Hezbollah and get some kind of a comment from them. We have been unsuccessful in doing that. Their cell phones are switched off. Their offices, of course, are destroyed, Wolf. So, no immediate reaction there.

BLITZER: But you did point out that presumably maybe the -- if in fact Hezbollah did launch these rockets and they aimed against Israeli troops in south Lebanon, it could have been in retaliation for the Israeli killing of, what, six Hezbollah forces throughout this day as they felt threatened by them.

CLANCY: Well that's, you know, pure conjecture based on the circumstances. As we were looking at the problem here, one can only imagine if six Israeli soldiers were killed, there would be a response from the Israeli side that Hezbollah might have fired rockets carefully, not to go beyond the border into Israel proper, but into the forces in Lebanon. That's another issue, too.

One thing you have to remember, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, has said that he would engage Israeli forces so long as they remained occupying any part of Lebanon. Now, it would appear that Nasrallah's intentions right now are to respect the cease-fire, to see it implemented so that Israel and its troops will withdrawal voluntary.

BLITZER: Jim Clancy in Beirut, thank you.

BLITZER: Joining us now from Tel Aviv is Captain Guy Spigelman. He's a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces. Captain, thanks very much for joining us.

What can you tell us about the 10 rockets that were fired, I assume by Hezbollah, at least that's what the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman told us in the last hour. What can you tell us about this incident?

CAPT. GUY SPIGELMAN, IDF SPOKESMAN: I can confirm THAT there were around ten explosions in a couple parts of south Lebanon. We're still investigating the incidents. Apparently Katyusha or some other mortar fire, and we have yet to confirm exactly who fired those rockets.

But yes, the cease-fire has been in effect almost 24 hours, and we really -- after a massive military campaign, I think that we've seen actually quite successful reduction in the tensions.

The rules of engagement are very clear as far as the IDF are concerned. If our forces feel threatened, they do have the obligation, even, to respond to that threat.

BLITZER: We heard in the last hour from Dan Gillerman, the Israeli ambassador to the U.N., that his suspicion was that these Katyusha rockets were going after Israeli forces, and thousands remain in south Lebanon. Is that your suspicion as well?

SPIGELMAN: Look, I'm not going to speculate here, but what I can say is clearly the IDF would like to see all its soldiers leave south Lebanon as soon as the international force and Lebanese government are ready.

And when I say all soldiers, I'm referring also to our two kidnapped soldiers who we would also like to see returned from Lebanon as soon as possible.

BLITZER: What I hear you saying is that this incident, these 10 rockets, not enough to cause Israel to see this cease-fire that was brokered by the United Nations Security Council, passed unanimously on Friday, that this cease-fire would be null and void.

As far as you're concerned, the IDF, the cease-fire remains in effect?

SPIGELMAN: That's correct. The cease-fire remains intact, and now we're waiting for the next few days, together with the U.N. and the Lebanese government to start implementing that cease-fire's next stage, which is beyond the cessation of violence, the bringing of those troops, the Lebanese army troops, and the beefed-UNIFIL force down to south Lebanon, so that Israeli troops can withdrawal and we'll see a real change on the situation on the ground where Hezbollah can no longer threaten the lives of Israelis from the south of Lebanon.

BLITZER: Captain Spigelman, why did Israel kill those six Hezbollah forces earlier in the day? What were the circumstances leading up to that?

SPIGELMAN: The circumstances were that our forces, our troops on the ground, identified some Hezbollah terrorists. And I can tell you they were literally -- there weren't hundreds of meters away. They were literally meters away from the troops and they felt -- the forces did feel an immediate threat, which started that exchange.

And these incidents are bound to occur. We have a situation on the ground of quite a few Israeli troops on the ground, as well as a number of Hezbollah terrorists who are still armed and in and around the villages of south Lebanon.

BLITZER: Captain Spigelman, thanks very much for joining us.

Captain Spigelman's a spokesman for the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces.

SPIGELMAN: Thank you, wolf.

BLITZER: The toll from 34 days of fighting is staggering. Here's the raw data. Lebanon says that at least 908 people have been killed. Most are believed to civilians. At least 3,800 Lebanese were injured. Israel's death toll stands at 159. At least 114 of the fatalities were soldiers, 865 Israelis were injured.

Is there a connection between last year's earthquake in Pakistan and last week's alleged plot to blow up airliners in mid-flight heading towards the United States? British investigators are saying yes.

And "Target: USA," the most dangerous two miles in America. And many fear al Qaeda may know the address. All that coming up when 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The lessons of the past week is that there's still a war on terror going on and there are still individuals that would like to kill innocent Americans to achieve political objectives. That's the lesson.

And the lesson for those of us in Washington, D.C. is to set aside politics and give our people the tools necessary to protect the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That was President Bush, and there is a new twist to the terror alert here in the United Kingdom, that's thrown airline travel into chaos on both sides of the Atlantic.

Some of the funds the alleged terrorists have used may have been donated by people who thought they were given to charities.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Americans raised money to help victims of last year's deadly earthquake in Pakistan, the same relief effort was under way in Britain. The difference?

British investigators now believe some of the money raised in the U.K. went not to victims, but to several of the terror suspects to carry out the jetliner plot.

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

John Conyngham spent years investigating money-laundering.

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

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

LORD NASIR AHMED, GREAT BRITAIN PARLIAMENT: Anything could be possible. We don't have any facts. What is truth is that these young people went to Pakistan to help with the charitable cause. They were young, they may have got involved with something which is illegal, they may not. So only God knows what happened.

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

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: And joining me again now to talk about the investigation is Counter-Terrorism Expert Will Geddes. Will, how many more suspects are the police looking for? What kind of threat could they possibly be now?

WILL GEDDES, MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION PROTECTION: Well, I think one of the biggest indicators is this big capture at the moment. And again, it's going to be interesting to see this subsequently gets processed. It's probably the largest cell that's been discovered in the United Kingdom.

Now, this could be one singular cell or it could be a number of different cells that joined together. We'll clump together for this particular plot.

However, what's going to be interesting is all of the information filtration that's taking place at the moment to try and determine what other cells could be connected to them.

AMANPOUR: And we've heard that perhaps some of those have been arrested now in this dragnet originally may be released?

GEDDES: Well, they could have very, very detrimental effects. It could be for a variety of reasons. Maybe sufficient evidence hasn't been gathered, and therefore charges can't actually been brought.

Or secondly, there could have been individuals that were caught up in the whole sweep. And one's got to bear in mind that in these types of situations you've got to pick up not only the people you know directly could be involved, but anybody who could have some connection, like the facilitators connecting between Pakistan and the United Kingdom.

AMANPOUR: And we've also heard from the home secretary that there may be a couple of dozen plots that they're trying to figure out right now.

And we've heard from our Police Reporter Dan Rivers that there are about 1,200 suspects who are being sort of looked at by the British police. I mean, this is a huge burden on the services, isn't it?

GEDDES: It's massive. And when you consider the size of an operation that has to focus on even one individual, you could be looking at a very large surveillance team, very close to a reconnaissance, as well as obviously the information and intelligence officers who are filtering that information.

AMANPOUR: Now, we've been talking a lot in these programs for the last several hours about targeting potential vulnerable sites in the USA. You're an installation security expert. What are some of the risks here, for instance?

GEDDES: Well, there's massive risks. One of the things that the British government devised many years ago would be provisional (UNINTELLIGIBLE), was a thing called key point security, which is a way to actually review particular physical sites and look at how they could be targeted by terrorists. It's quite often known as red cell training, over in the United States. But it's something that the commercial and corporate sectors have to focus on.

AMANPOUR: There seems to be a lot of focus on it, and there's a possibility that anything could be a target, really, but what is the probability? When people get involved in this kind of security, these kinds of judgments are made. I mean, what is the probability that these sites could be attacked, whether they be malls, mass transit, that kind of thing?

GEDDES: Well, again, it's looking at the modus operandi that the terrorist cells, the terrorist groups have operated by before. And has to look at what maximum impact they're going to take. If we take a lot of the most current terrorist actions and plots which have thankfully been foiled, they have been looking at mass casualties, disruption to communications, as well as transportation infrastructure. But it could also bear in min a large, well-known organization which gives the good media coverage that they're seeking to achieve.

AMANPOUR: This dragnet originally in this alleged plot to blow up these airliners took in a lot of suspects. When you heard the number of people who were arrested, what went through your mind? Do you think this was all the suspects? Do you think this was just a big dragnet coming in just to be safe rather than sorry? I mean, do you expect a lot of these people to be released?

GEDDS: I don't expect a lot to these people to be released, although I won't be surprised if some are. Again, it comes down to evidence. And the police can only prosecute on sufficient evidence. That's the hardest job that they have.

And therefore their intervention before the plot materialized, may have meant that they didn't recover sufficient enough evidence to be able to prosecute some of these individuals.

AMANPOUR: We're watching the investigation. Will Geddes, thank you very much indeed.

And as we said, "Target: USA," the most dangerous two miles in America. It's a stretch of land where chemical (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and rail yards co-exist. But it also may be an open target for terrorists.

Plus, securing U.S. ports. A look at how America's waterways may be an easy way to launch a terror attack, when this special edition of 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: We're back from London and Tower Bridge over the River Thames. We've been examining the terror threat here in England and also "Target: USA.

CNN's in-depth look at the east coast, the west coast, and every place in between that could be vulnerable to terrorists.

Tonight, one of the most dangerous stretches of land in the country, home to chemical companies, railroad tracks, and a major international airport.

As CNN's Randi Kaye found out, it's a potentially lethal combination.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In New Jersey, the two-mile stretch from Newark Airport to Port Elizabeth has been dubbed by terrorism experts the most dangerous two miles in America.

RICHARD CANAS, DIRECTOR, NJ HOMELAND SECURITY: It's the consequence that frankly scares the pants off of us. When you think about what might happen in such a congested area.

KAYE: On this swathe of land, chemical plants, rail yards rail lines, refineries, an international airport, and the third largest port in the country.

(On camera): In all, there are more than 100 potential targets in this two-mile stretch, some more deadly than others.

New Jersey's Homeland Security Director says just one chlorine gas plant, if attacked, could bring lethal harm to more than 12 million people in a 14-mile radius.

(Voice-over): But the massive port, Port Elizabeth is Director Richard Canas's main concern. Why? Because more than 4 million containers arrive here each year. The problem is, what's really in them? After all, containers are inspected not on the way in, but on the way out.

CNN's Security Analyst Clark Kent Irvin.

CLARK KENT IRVIN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: First of all, we need more money. Secondly, we need more and better technology. Third, we need to have a requirement for better perimeter security.

KAYE: But Director Canas got only 10 percent of the $800 million he requested to secure the state. So the port relies on tips from the public. But the fact is this year, Homeland Security received one tip about a suspicious vessel at Port Elizabeth.

And when it comes to the chemical plants, Canas says only a fraction of the security requirements is mandated by the state of New Jersey. But most is left to the companies themselves.

(On camera): Why is the responsibility falling to them to protect their areas?

CANAS: I would say 90 percent of these companies have recognized and invested some of their own money into upgrading their security. Are they all complying? No, no, there are some that claim that it would break the bank to put up a fence or upgrade buffer without federal or state assistance.

KAYE: Many of the potential targets fall in Carney, New Jersey, where Jack Corbett is deputy chief of police.

(On camera): How many people do you have patrolling this area? And is it enough?

JACK CORBETT, KEARNY, NJ DEPUTY POLICE CHIEF: We have adequate patrols down there. Could we staff that area 24 hours a day with 100 people to try and keep terrorists away? I don't think that's possible.

KAYE (voice-over): IS it possible to protect against a terrorist attack? Even the railways are vulnerable, given the passenger train bombings in India and London. Director Canas has added rail marshals and is increasing training for transit police.

But is this enough to deter terrorism? There is a reason they call this the most dangerous two-mile stretch in America.

Randi Kaye, CNN, on the New Jersey Turnpike.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Security experts say that a terrorist strike against a major U.S. port could severely damage the economy. So why isn't more being done to protect them? We'll take a look at what some are calling gaping holes in security.

And we'll show the United States' least protected border. Hundreds of miles where getting into America is no trouble at all. So what, if anything, is being done to fix it? When 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Continuing our look at "Target: USA," terrorists working within the United States have focused mainly on attacking from the sky, but a serious threat could just as easily come across the water, as CNN's David Mattingly reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation's biggest container port. Forty-three percent of all the goods that come into the U.S. by water in shipping containers come through here.

(On camera): It is one of the single biggest engines driving the U.S. economy, a gateway to more than $200 billion in annual trade, with more than 5,000 ships unloading over 9 million cargo containers a year.

If the numbers don't impress you consider this -- without this port, store shelves would empty, factories would close and untold thousands would find themselves out of a job. (Voice-over): If terrorists inserted one of their agents somewhere into the long chain of companies involved in sending a product from a factory in south China to the United States, they would be in a position to get a nuclear device into a box, then onto a container, into the frenzy of commerce heading west, and onto a ship headed for California.

And the device would not have to detonate to blow a hole in the U.S. economy. If authorities got a tip about a nuclear device in one of these boxes, they might well shut down the port to find it.

STEPHEN FLYNN, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: And so if you shut down this port you're talking about -- these are the warehouses for the entire national economy. We don't have big warehouses anymore. It's in this transportation system.

MATTINGLY: Steve Flynn has banging the drum, raising awareness about Maritime Security he says is deeply vulnerable.

FLYNN: Most Americans that I meet are simply flummoxed by the fact that that while we can track -- FAA can track airplanes, it turns out we can't track ships.

MATTINGLY: He's not alone in his fears.

NOEL CUNNINGHAM, PORT SECURITY CONSULTANT: I worry a lot. Never in all my days that I thought in my lifetime that I would be concerned about dirty bombs and international terrorists.

MATTINGLY: Noel Cunningham is the former chief of operations for the Port of Los Angeles.

CUNNINGHAM: I really believe that somewhere in this country it will happen.

MATTINGLY: A dirty bomb blowing up in a port, threatening surrounding neighborhoods is one terrible possibility.

But there is one much worse. In this scenario, a bomb similar in size to those used on Japan in World War II comes into the L.A. port in a container, and is loaded onto a truck. The truck drives into downtown Los Angeles, and the bomb is detonated by remote control.

MATTHEW MACKINZIE, PHYSICIST: Thirty-two thousand people would die -- these people would die as a result of intense blast, high winds, intense heat radiation from the fire bomb. A further 160,000 people, though could die as a result of exposure to fallout.

MATTINGLY: Matthew MacKinzie is a physicist working for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Using the same special software that helps the federal government gauge the impact of a nuclear war, he can create a model for a catastrophe. Just enter the city, the date and the size of the bomb, a simple point-and-click for the ultimate terrorist attack.

MACKINZIE: What the code shows is a hole basically burned and blasted out of the center of Los Angeles.

MATTINGLY (on camera): What about the radiation?

MACKINZIE: The radiation, the fallout plume, impacts a much larger area of Los Angeles.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): But experts say it doesn't have to be Los Angeles. It could conceivably be any city in the nation's vast and ever-moving supply chain, anywhere linked by rail or road to one of the nation's ports.

David Mattingly, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: So earlier, I spoke to Stephen Flynn from the Council on Foreign Relations, who you just saw in that report. I asked him how to make U.S. ports safer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR (voice-over): Stephen Flynn, we just heard you in the report by David Mattingly talking about security, talking about the state of security at U.S. ports. How secure are they? What can be done to make they properly secure?

FLYNN: We have a very long ways to go. You know, the problem with ports are really two parts. First, ports are really just on ramps and off-ramps to the rest of the world. That's where we get the bulk of our goods come to us, whether it's the stuff that ends up in our -- the places like Wal-Mart and Target and so forth, or whether it gets into our manufacturing sector. A lot of this moves by ship. So we have to worry about what is coming our way.

The ports themselves make very attractive targets because they are basically a big part of our economic engine.

And finally, there's another element of our ports that's critical, which is their connection to the energy sector, refineries. We live in an era, as we saw up in Alaska, with the BP indent here, where a little bit of a disruption of the oil industry can shoot the price of oil up pretty high and cause real disruption in the global market.

AMANPOUR: So what do you do to make them safe?

FLYNN: Basically you try to push your borders out. You try to have a good idea what's coming your way. I think most Americans would just be amazed to realize that we don't track ships.

You know, if you're a plane that's coming into U.S. airspace and you don't tell us you're coming, you're likely to be met by an F-16 or something.

If you're a ship, we have basically an honor system -- 96 hours before a ship comes to the U.S. coast, they're supposed to tell us they're coming. And the only way we can confirm that is when they actually get here. We're still struggling five years after 9/11 with getting a common identity card system for the workers coming in and out of the ports. This is not a sense of urgency that the war seemingly would warrant.

AMANPOUR: So much emphasis is put on security in the air, in the skies. Which, in your mind, is more serious -- the issue of the skies or security at sea at the ports?

FLYNN: One is we start from such a low baseline on our seaports. And just to put the numbers in context, the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach is our most important port, arguably one of the most important ports in the world. It brings in about 40 percent of all the containers that come into the U.S. and about 25 percent of all the energy that comes to the West Coast, west of the Rocky Mountains.

That port has received a total of $40 million since 9/11 to improve the security. This is a port where we're literally talking 40 to 50 miles of waterfront to protect.

Now, that is basically what we spend on airline screeners every day at airports. So, what we have here is a system way out of kilter. Terrorists, as we've seen just again last week, are adaptive. They look for your vulnerabilities and try to exploit it.

AMANPOUR: I mean, it just sounds such a massive job. Is there the personnel, are there the resources to do the kind of security that you say is necessary?

FLYNN: We certainly can provide them if we're willing to -- this is about resources. I mean, you take a place like Seattle, which is really a city that's built around the waterfront. And when we look at Seattle, this is a place that has less port police today than they had on 9/11. That's a common problem across, I think, because these are paid by local payrolls and there hasn't been a whole lot of resources to hire people. So there's a lot more that we could do than we are doing.

And by comparison, we're spending half a trillion dollars on our traditional national security, on the war on terror. Well, the war on terror is not something that's just going to be won in the battlefields in Iraq, as we now see.

So, we've got to get on with making ourselves a more resilient society. And that's something that simply has not been dealt with the level of urgency that it must be.

AMANPOUR: And on that note, Stephen Flynn, thank you very much indeed for joining us.

FLYNN: Thanks for having me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR (voice-over): And finding the holes along America's borders may just be a matter of knowing where to look. Coming up, a report on one tourist town that's especially vulnerable.

And half a world away, returning home to southern Lebanon after the cease-fire. A look at refugees who are picking up the pieces, when this special edition of 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Tonight more of "Target: USA," CNN's in-depth look on where America might be vulnerable. We take you now to the northern border of the United States, between Minnesota and Canada -- 5,500 miles of land. Much of it unprotected.

CNN's Gary Tuchman shows us one border crossing where entering the U.S. legally or not is no trouble at all.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's late afternoon, rush hour in many places, but not here. On this desolate roadway in the Canadian province of Manitoba, where a monument separates Manitoba on the left from Minnesota on the right, a sign warns that you're about to arrive to the official U.S. border checkpoint. And then there it is, the Jim's Corner immigration customs reporting station, which looks like a shack and operates on the honor system. Two sheriffs on the American side are not happy about it.

(On camera): What percentage of people in general do you believe check in there?

SHERIFF DALLAS BLOCK, LAKE OF THE WOODS COUNTY, MINNESOTA: I believe it's less than 30 percent, maybe even far less than that.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): When we entered Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota, from Canada, we went through the rather unorthodox process.

(On camera): Push the call, push the American flag.

Inside the shack a video phone connected to a border agent 50 miles away.

Hello U.S. Customs. I'm at the Jim's Corner. My name is Gary Tuchman. I think you'll find a have a clean record.

The agent looks at you through the camera and you look at the agent. What is your name?

OFFICER JOHNSON: Officer Johnson.

TUCHMAN: Hello, Officer Johnson. Officer Johnson would have no way of knowing if people were just driving by the shack without stopping, which indeed often happens, because many honorable people can't be bothered with the video phone that often doesn't work. I'm going to hold you up my passport first. Can you see it?

JOHNSON: OK.

TUCHMAN: That's me.

(Voice-over): We were approved to enter the U.S. in a most unusual tourist town called Angle Inlet. It's actually an enclave not physically connected to the rest of the U.S. You have to drive 40 miles within Canada to the northern side of the Lake of the Woods to get there. There are far more deer than people who live here. The town is the state's only remaining one-room public schoolhouse.

But amid the charm of this tranquil town, the sheriff of Lake of the Woods County says drug dealers drive past Jim's Corner and then take boats in the summer or snowmobiles in the winter into the heart of the U.S. And he says there's even more.

(On camera): It is your professional opinion the terrorists have gone through Angle Inlet into the mainland United States?

BLOCK: Yes it is.

TUCHMAN: And that's through intelligence?

BLOCK: Yes, we have pretty accurate, pretty reliable intelligence that that has happened. I don't think Osama bin Laden is going to check in there, but so you're really on your honor system.

TUCHMAN: It's 6:00 p.m. on a chilly day, so most of the boaters have gone back to shore for the evening. This lake is very empty. But even in the summer in the middle of the day, it is very uncrowded on this lake which makes it easy for people who might be up to no good to go relatively unnoticed.

(Voice-over): Some of the year-round residents are concerned all this talk could scare away tourists. Jerry Stallock owns a restaurant.

JERRY STALLOCK, OWNER, JERRY'S RESTAURANT: I personally don't think this is as big a threat as some of the other people.

TUCHMAN: But the sheriff says in this post-9/11 world, one cannot be too careful, although he does admit to a transgression.

(On camera): Do you stop at the border station?

BLOCK: I do. Sometimes.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): U.S. Customs and Border Protection tells CNN its officers periodically visit this border area, will start making more frequent visits and better technology will be added, including cameras providing surveillance over the area, not just inside the shack.

We did encounter one man from Manitoba who did stop at the video phone.

Any luck?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No luck. TUCHMAN: But it didn't work so he called on a pay phone to report his arrival into the United States of America.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Angle Inlet, Minnesota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The new reality in southern Lebanon. Homes in ruins and much more, coming up.

But first, Tom Foreman joins us with a "360 Bulletin" -- Tom.

Hi, Wolf.

Fidel Castro made his first appearance on state-run television today, since stepping down as president of Cuba last week to recover from intestinal surgery. Castro was talking from his bed with his brother Raul, who has temporarily assumed presidential power. Also on hand, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who was in Cuba to celebrate Fidel Castro's 80th birthday.

Two journalists with FOX News were kidnapped today in Gaza. Fox News Jerusalem Bureau says negotiations are ongoing to secure their release. The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement calling for that immediate release.

The world's richest man and a former U.S. president today praised President Bush's plan for AIDS relief. Bill Gates and Bill Clinton are leaders in global anti-AIDS efforts. And they spoke at the first full day of the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto. President Bush's AIDS plan has been criticized for focusing on abstinence programs. Clinton said the program's positives outweigh the negatives.

And the hospital officials in Tel Aviv say the condition of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has gotten worse. Sharon was transferred to the hospital's intensive care unit three weeks ago. Sharon has been in a coma since suffering a massive stroke back in January -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Tom, thank you very much.

And coming up on this special edition of 360, southern Lebanon and the tough road home. With a cease-fire in effect, refugees make their way back.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: With the cease-fire in effect in Lebanon, people are mingling, they're trying to get their lives back in order. They're beginning to go home. The damage, though, from 34 days of fighting here in the Middle East can be found in many towns and cities. Now, with the U.N.-negotiated cease-fire in effect, many of those who fled are heading toward their homes -- or at least toward what's left of them.

CNN's Karl Penhaul has more from Lebanon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It looks more like the day after Armageddon than the first hours of a cease-fire. Fires still smolder. And a backhoe shifts rubble, a seemingly futile task when the whole village is in ruins.

Defiant Hezbollah guerrillas tell me Aita al-Shaab may have been destroyed by the Israelis, but it did not surrender.

We were hiding in the houses and lived on what food was available. We tell the Israelis they're welcome to try again, but next time we will resist forever, he says.

This poster of Hezbollah Commander Hassan Nasrallah hangs like a battle-scarred symbol of that resistance.

Most of the fighters are in village are now in civilian clothes and have hidden their weapons. They don't want to be filmed. Soror (ph) tells me he and 60 of his comrades held off Israeli tanks, aircraft and around 150 soldiers for a month.

(On camera): Hezbollah fighters told me the battle for Aita al- Shaab started here. Israeli troops were in buildings on this side and a group of Hezbollah fighters were holed up in a building on this side. There was only the street to separate them.

(Voice-over): This is the wreckage of an Israeli bulldozer. Hezbollah boasts they hit tanks too and killed scores of Israeli soldiers.

One Israeli soldier was wounded and he was shouting loud until he died on the spot, he says.

Most of the civilians fled while they had a chance. A handful stayed. Shell shocked survivor Muhammed Abdul Karim shows me his home, he says was destroyed by two Israeli missiles.

MUHAMMED ABDUL KARIM, CIVILIAN: Every minute when we heard the aircraft coming and bombing here, here, here, here, every minute we think now we will die.

PENHAUL: His father, Abdul Karim, is 101 years old, but escaped with just light wounds.

I was sleeping when the rocket hit, all the bricks from the house fell on us, but I was lucky because a wooden beam fell on me and protected me from the rubble, he says.

But his daughter's husband died.

After the first rocket, I dug with my bare hands until I saw my husband's face. I tried to help, but the next rocket hit and I couldn't see anything. In the morning, he was dead, she says.

Despite widespread destruction, refugees began flooding home to south Lebanon as diggers filled in bomb craters. Many flashed victory signs, a reflection of a common feeling here that Hezbollah may have won this war just by standing firm.

But a mile or so within Lebanon's borders, we found Israeli tanks still holding the high ground. These reservists soldiers said for now the cease-fire seems to be holding, but they're waiting for orders to roll home to Tel Aviv.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, Aita al-Shaab, south Lebanon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And more of 360 in a moment. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back.

And tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING," if your children listen to songs about sex, are they more likely to have it? The answer may surprise you.

Also, the latest on the cease-fire and the efforts to put a permanent end to the fighting in the Middle East.

Tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING," starting at 6:00 a.m. -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Christiane.

To our viewers, please stay with CNN for complete coverage of the crisis here in the Middle East. This is day one of a cease-fire, a very fragile cease-fire. We'll be watching every step of the way.

Thanks very much for watching our special edition of 360.

"LARRY KING LIVE" is up next with the latest on the terror investigation in London and threats at America.

Thanks very much for joining us.

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