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Oil Oozes Onto More Beaches in Gulf of Mexico; Saving Wildlife From the Oil; Israel's Raid Affects U.S. Military
Aired June 02, 2010 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to everyone. We are live from Studio 7, here at our CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. These are the big stories we are keeping an eye on this Wednesday, June the 2nd.
It is not just Louisiana anymore. We have this nasty, gooey, chocolate-colored stuff showing up in other places. You know, it's from the BP leaking oil. Well, it's showing up in some places like Alabama and Mississippi now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't swim in it personally. I wouldn't let my kids swim in it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In this area, there's just so many. And just to think what's coming behind this is just horrible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: It's just horrible. Here we are 44 days into it.
Also, the efforts under way to rescue Gulf wildlife from an oily death without doing more harm to Louisiana's delicate wetlands. This is a delicate balance here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You walk on a marsh area, you can really damage the habitat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Also, take a look at this picture. It almost looks fake, but this is what happens when nature creates a perfectly round hole in the earth. Take a look at that. Curiosity and concern now over this Central American sinkhole.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Our group of firefighters is very small. We're being overwhelmed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Hello to you, everybody. I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in today for my good friend, Tony Harris.
Those stories and a whole lot more, including your comments, right here, right now, in the CNN NEWSROOM.
And here we are, day 44 and counting into the oil leak in the Gulf. Every minute of every day for the past month and a half this stuff has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.
We are keeping count, and we are keeping an eye on the very latest in the Gulf.
BP, meanwhile, all these attempts to try to stop this leak, well, the latest one hit a bit of a snag in this latest attempt. Oil makes its way now, as we know as well, to more of the coastline.
Again, these pictures we've been keeping an eye on for some time now.
The latest plan by BP involves cutting away the damaged riser pipe on the well. Engineers trying to make a custom cap, trying to put that cap on top of it after they cut the riser away. Possibly, they could have that cap in place today.
Now, even if this thing goes without a hitch, even if it works perfectly and goes on top, it could actually increase the flow of oil for a short time into the Gulf. Now, the government's point man, Admiral Thad Allen, he was talking just a short time ago, and he says crews are dealing with another snag -- a stuck saw.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADM. THAD ALLEN (RET.), NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: Over the night we were successfully able to do a shear cut of the marine riser pipe. That is that 5,000 feet of pipe that's crumpled on the ocean floor that used to connect the wellhead to the mobile drilling unit.
We are in the process right now of trying to do the second fine cut with a diamond wire saw. That saw blade has become stuck inside the riser pipe. They're working to move the riser pipe to set it free.
Anybody that has ever used a saw knows every once in a while it will bind up. That's kind of what's happening there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, another problem, another issue, as you just heard him talking about that saw, this is just one of many tools that are being used. Let's show you some of them.
That diamond saw he's talking about got stuck. It's been described as looking like a giant deli slicer.
The saw is being used after the initial cut was made by a large pair of metal shears. Now, once the final cut is made on the damaged pipe, crews will try to install a cap. You heard the name, the lower marine riser package cap. There it is.
They're going to try to put that on top. Even if it goes on top, we are told it's not going to capture all of the oil that's leaking out, but it should take in most of it.
We're going to head down to the shoreline now. Our John Zarrella is live from Dauphin Island. John is in a place -- John, we had hoped no oil would show up where you are, but we heard Thad Allen a short time ago talk about the threat is now moving to Mississippi and Alabama.
What are you seeing?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, T.J., it's not just the threat. It's the reality.
Mississippi, some oil along the shoreline. Here in Dauphin Island, yesterday, our all-platform journalist Patrick Oppmann was here and saw a lot of oil.
And these are not tar balls. This is literally gooey, brown oil that you're finding in chunks that are a couple of inches long, two, three inches long. Some of them the size of half-dollars, silver dollars.
All different sizes and shapes all along the section of the beach here on Dauphin Island. And this is a beautiful, wide beach.
You k now, from where we're standing, it's probably three football fields all of the way down to the water. And you can see there's a fishing pier here.
To the right of the pier, it's interesting, there was no oil. But to the left of the pier, that's where we saw all the oil today. I took a walk down there a couple of times, and you're literally, T.J., going one, two, three, here's oil, there's oil, there's oil. All of these little pieces of oil all clumped along the beach there.
And, you know, while all of this was happening and being found yesterday on the beach, there were people who were out sunning themselves, and there were people who were out in the water. And a lot of the folks that were out here on the beach are really, really upset.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just doesn't seem like there's a lot of urgency, because, I mean, you can see, it's all big blobs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And people don't even know. There are people just a few feet away getting in the water. They haven't informed them that this is going on right here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELLA: Now, you know, today has not been a great day for being at the beach. We had some big thunderstorms roll through here earlier.
And a little while ago I took a ride down the road, and there were two huge trucks loaded with orange boom. So, clearly, the plan is -- and we talked to the Coast Guard a little while ago. They're planning to get crews out here, cleanup crews out here to the beaches, to start the work and the cleanup on Dauphin Island, but the reality is more could be coming ashore here.
And like dominoes, T.J., you've gone from Louisiana to Mississippi to Alabama, and we know what's next -- Florida -- T.J.
HOLMES: We've been hoping it wasn't going to show up, but it's there already. And it looks like it is on the move.
John Zarrella, we appreciate you, as always. Thanks so much.
And a lot of people have seen the pictures of the boats out there skimming this oil up, and the booms are absorbing this oil. So, exactly what's happening to that oil, what's happening to all that waste?
Our Ines Ferre is looking into this and will tell you exactly what's happening coming up a little later.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Welcome back.
As you know now, we are on day 44 of this oil leak in the Gulf, and counting. It doesn't appear it's going to stop anytime soon.
BP is trying several different options, several different methods. They have all, to this point, failed. There's another one under way right now, not to stop the leak, but at least to capture a good majority of the oil. But in this latest attempt, they have hit a snag as well.
You're seeing this live picture. This is happening right now, as we speak, and has been happening every single day for the past 44 days, every minute of the day, this oil leaking out into the Gulf.
Well, the latest, this lower marine riser cap package, this latest plan was, essentially, cut away the riser pipe and then put this cap on top. Well, the saw they had been using to try to cut away the pipe, we're told that saw is now stuck. It is stuck in a part of that damaged pipe, so now the crews are going to have to free that saw, try to finish the cut, so they can begin to try to put that cap in place in the first place.
So, again, so many options have been tried and failed. And it looks like we're hitting another snag right now.
We'll keep you posted there.
Meanwhile, wildlife teams are working to save animals from all that oil.
The story to us now from CNN's Rob Marciano.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, through the cut, and start working through, around some islands, and it takes (ph) us up to the point.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Their job is to find and save oiled wildlife. And around here, these guys are busy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got a complaint, about 10 oiled birds. That's about the extent of the complaint. Our location is top of South Pass, (INAUDIBLE). There's supposed to be 10 oiled birds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger that.
MARCIANO: The main tools are boats and binoculars.
JANE LYDER, DEPT. OF THE INTERIOR: We're very careful though in these marsh areas that you walk on a marsh area, you can really damage the habitat.
MARCIANO: So they search by foot only when they spot something significant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over on the beach we thought we saw a dead pelican. Not dead, but maybe heavily oiled, a very stressed pelican. So he even walked over there to check it out. It turned out to be two clumps of glass. I guess the good news is no oiled birds.
MARCIANO: When they do find oiled birds, they are brought to rescue centers like this one in Louisiana.
(on camera): This warehouse has been turned into a bird rescue facility. The oiled birds are washed and rinsed here. Then they are placed in these containers, where they rest, they're rehabilitated, until they are ready to be released.
The number of live birds coming in here, well, they are all accounted for. But the number of deaths attributed to this oil spill, well, that's a little less clear.
(voice-over): The fact is, many birds killed by this oil spill will never be found. The wetlands too vast. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has 20 teams that scour the spill-affected area every day. Responding quickly is key, so they sleep on barges right in the marsh.
RHONDA MURGATROYD, BP, WILDLIFE BRANCH DIRECTOR: This is the living quarters for the recon and recovery team. They live on the barge 24/7.
DUANE TITUS, INTERNATIONAL BIRD RESCUE RESEARCH CENTER: It sleeps six, capable of sleeping six in each of these 12 by 12 rooms. It's crowded, but at the end of a long day it's --
MURGATROYD: Much better than a tent.
TITUS: -- it's home sweet home. I'll tell you what, we sleep very well.
MARCIANO: As long as there's oil in the water, the battle to save the Gulf's wildlife goes on.
BOB FORD, U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE: I believe U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will be here for a while. Right now we have crews, we have staff rotating in and out of here on a two-week basis. And yes, we're here for the long haul. We'll be here a while.
MARCIANO: Rob Marciano, CNN, Venice, Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And fishermen involved in the oil cleanup say it's making them sick. At least nine have received hospital treatment. Others say they've gotten ill with symptoms ranging from nausea to headaches to respiratory complaints.
Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, talks with a wife of one of those sick men.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KINDRA ARNESEN, SICK FISHERMAN'S WIFE: It's a nasty cough. I literally woke him up over and over again.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: And had you ever seen him like that, short of breath?
ARNESEN: Never. No.
COHEN: He doesn't have asthma or anything like that?
ARNESEN: Nothing. No breathing problems.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Elizabeth Cohen investigating there the complaints of illness from that oil leak. Here report coming your way next hour, here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Also, one of the chemicals BP is using in the Gulf is banned in other countries. So why are chemicals that are prohibited in other countries allowed in everyday products here in the U.S.? Watch "Toxic America," a two-night special investigation with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta. And it starts tonight, 8:00 Eastern.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're seeing more fallout from Monday's raid by Israel. You know you've seen this story certainly by now.
The ships that were headed to Gaza, that raid that took place, nine people were killed when those Israeli commandos got aboard those boats.
Now, we've gotten some fallout now we're seeing. And Turkey is now signaling it's not going to take part in the upcoming military exercises with the U.S. and Israel.
Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, is here with us.
Barbara, hello.
Any indication here? This is simply the U.S. got caught in the middle of this. Turkey is upset with Israel. We were all supposed to be taking part in these military exercises.
So, the U.S. just kind of caught in the middle?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Well, indeed, T.J. And, in fact, it's exactly what you say, the first military fallout, the first real implications of what has happened here with this Israeli raid on this convoy of ships.
Turkey now privately informing the United States that it will not participate in an upcoming exercise that was supposed to happen in August in the eastern Mediterranean, an exercise with the United States, Israel and Turkey, and, get this, humanitarian relief at sea. The three countries practice this mission every summer, and now Turkey has privately informed the U.S. it's going to pull out of that exercise.
Nothing official has been announced yet, but the word is quietly going out, we are told. U.S. officials are aware that Turkey is now going to pull out of this operation in the eastern Med, and it's the first real military implication we've seen of what's going on. Admiral Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, now has spoken to his counterparts, the chiefs of staff in both Turkey and Israel, to get a sense of how the militaries in both countries are coping with this crisis -- T.J.
HOLMES: And Barbara, I want to make sure I heard you right there, that they do this once every year. I'm just trying to get a sense of these military exercises, if they don't take place, these rehearsals, these exercises, if you will, it doesn't hurt military readiness for one country or the other, if you will. Certainly, we could use the practice, but essentially this is done once every year.
STARR: Yes. I mean, let's be clear, this is an exercise practicing humanitarian relief and search and rescue at sea.
It's a little ironic, given the circumstances that are forcing Turkey to back out of this. But most navies, including the United States, Turkey and Israel, are very experienced in these matters. So the real message being sent here is one, perhaps, of diplomacy.
Turkey and the Turkish military, the Turkish government, is so distressed at what has happened, they don't even want to participate in this exercise. I think it was expected that Turkey would make some sort of military statement about all of this, and this might just be that -- T.J.
HOLMES: And lastly here, just around the Pentagon, what are U.S. military experts saying about what they saw the Israeli military do?
STARR: Yes. You know, you look at that video that we've shown on our air so many times of the military commandos rappelling down those ropes from helicopters onto the deck of that ship, and people around here are scratching their heads saying, you know, what on earth were the Israelis really thinking here?
This is a military tactic, if you will, to fast-rope down a ship. The U.S. Navy knows how to do it. They board ships, suspect ships, not infrequently around the world, to inspect suspicious cargo and that sort of thing. So this is known that this is a military tactic about how to do it.
But to do it at night, on a moving ship at sea, on a ship which has a declared a humanitarian mission, in international waters, is a little bit odd. People are wondering what the military commandos thought they were going to do and how they thought they might avoid getting into the very problem they got into of such opposition from the people on that ship -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Barbara Starr from the Pentagon.
We appreciate you, as always. Thank you so much. Good to see you.
STARR: Sure.
HOLMES: To our viewers now, I want to give you an update on the CNN oil alert, if you will.
BP now trying to cap that leaking oil well today. This is the latest attempt, of course. As we know, the rest has failed.
This is now on the 44th day that this oil has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Slimy gobs of oil have now reached beaches as far east as Alabama.
Some other stories we're keeping an eye on today.
West Virginia, a team of federal and state investigators hopes to get to look inside the Upper Big Branch coal mine. If the air quality is acceptable, they'll begin reconstructing the accident that killed 29 miners in early April.
Also, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer gets a White House meeting with President Obama. She's getting it on Thursday. The president has criticized Arizona's tough new immigration law as misdirected. His administration is considering a legal challenge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, HOST, "JOHN KING USA": When you sit across the table from the president of the United States, what is your number one -- I don't know whether to call it a demand or request. What is it?
GOV. JAN BREWER (R), ARIZONA: I think that it will probably be, "Mr. President, we need our borders secured. How can we work together to get it done? We need your help."
We've been putting up with this for eight, 10 years. We need it now. We can't tolerate it any longer. We cannot tolerate it. America can't tolerate it any longer.
KING: And if his answer is, I'm going to do what I announced, but your law is misguided and my Justice Department might sue you?
BREWER: I would say, "Well, will meet you in court." I have a pretty good record of winning in court.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Now in the news, a lot of you, I'm sure, have heard by now Al and Tipper Gore separating after 40 years of marriage. They made that announcement in an e-mail to friends, and a lot of people are certainly shocked by this.
It was a marriage that a lot of people looked at, pointed to as one that was certainly working, survived so many years and years of politics and being in the spotlight. People called it rock-solid.
We're hearing from a lot of you about it on our blog, on Twitter as well. We appreciate those comments. Keep them coming. But go to CNN.com/newsroom or send a tweet at TJHolmesCNN. We're going to be sharing some of your comments a little later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: At the bottom of the hour here now and we are on Day 44 of this Gulf oil disaster. BP using underwater robots right now to try to cut pipes around that busted well head. There a live picture of it. Sometimes hard to make out, but you get the gist of it. Something is gushing out into the Gulf of Mexico.
The saw they are using right now to make these cuts to do this lower marine riser cat package, well, it's stuck right now. We got that word just a short time ago from admiral Thad Allen. Now, they are trying to get the saw freed up so that they can complete this cut. Once that cut is done, BP plans to lower a tight-fitting cap on top of the well. Not a perfect tight fit, but still, something a little tighter there. A mile-long tube would funnel much of the escaping oil to ships. We don't know exactly how much, but we're told most of it.
Meanwhile, crude from the leaking oil well has now spread as far east as Alabama's beaches. A sheen has been spotted several miles off the coast of Pensacola Beach, Florida. Wind patterns are expected to continue to push oil toward the sunshine state.
Attorney General Eric Holder says if a crime has been committed in the Gulf oil leak he's ready to make a federal case out of it. Already a long paper trail is emerging on the corporate players.
CNN's Joe Johns takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS (voice-over): Internal BP documents obtained by congressional investigators show the warning signs of an impending disaster began well before fluid started leaping uncontrolled from the well's blowout preventer, just hours before the explosion.
In fact, the documents say BP was dealing with well-control issues as far back as March 10, when a BP official wrote an e-mail to the MMS in New Orleans reporting, "We're in the midst of a well control situation," and went on to explain plans for dealing with the problem. What troubles a lot of people is that BP apparently did not stop to assess the situation.
MARK HAFLE, BP SENIOR DRILLING ENGINEER: No one believed that there was going to be a safety issue with bumping that cement job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you all did discuss your concerns, right?
HAFLE: Absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you went ahead and proceeded with the job anyway?
HAFLE: All the risks had been addressed. All the concerns had been addressed.
JOHNS: But an expert on wells and drilling who has reviewed the document said putting on the brakes is what BP should have done.
GREG MCCORMACK, PETROLEUM EXTENSION SERVICE: It's standard operating procedure when you have a problem, to stop whatever you're doing and resolve the problem before you move on to the next step.
JOHNS: BP did not respond to CNN inquiries for this story. But on ABC over the weekend, a BP executive said the answers about well control issues in March will have to come from investigators.
ROBERT DUDLEY, BP MANAGING DIRECTOR: There were issues of well control, signs out there, and there are strict procedures that are written to rig owners to walk through well control. That's what the investigation will take minute by minute and investigate that.
JOHNS: Apparently, this wasn't the only time BP had ignored or departed from standard practices.
One unsigned document released by the House Energy and Commerce Committee shows that in May of last year, someone at BP asked for a dispensation or departure from BP's own rule book on drilling and well operations policy.
(on camera): One month later, the issue was the well casing. That is the pipe that keeps the well-hole open. In June of 2009, according to the "New York Times", BP engineers were expressing concerns that the metal casing the company wanted to use might collapse under high pressure.
The paper reports that BP went ahead with the casing only after getting special permission, because it violated the company's own safety policies.
(voice-over): Why anybody would do that is a mystery. Experts we've spoken with dismissed the idea that the company was choosing profit over safety because they argue everybody in the business knows the down side to doing that is potential disaster.
MCCORMACK: There definitely is a profit motive or they wouldn't be drilling for oil, and there's always a pressure, a constant pressure on a drill rig to drill faster. But there's also the same pressure to deal safer. It's a dangerous business. And if you don't drill safer, then the profit goes away.
JOHNS: A costly accident for sure. BP has only begun to feel the financial pain.
Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And at this point there are countless victims along the Gulf Coast right now, with all they have to deal with with this oil spill and the recovery and the years and years, quite frankly, of recovery they have to go through. What else do they have to worry about right now? Con artists. Some of them out there posing as BP employees. Also federal regulators are warning investors about stock scams linked to the oil leaks.
CNN's Christine Romans, always good to see you from New York. Hello. And you know, it never fails. No matter what disaster we see, no matter what tragedy, somebody out there is trying to take advantage.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Scum always rises to the top, doesn't it? Rises to the top of a crisis and that's exactly what's happening here right now, T.J.
BP issuing a warning saying if anyone comings up to you in Louisiana, or Alabama, or anywhere along the Gulf Coast and says, for a fee, I will train you and put you on the payroll and you'll be part of the cleanup crew, that is a scam.
You do not have to be to pay to be hired and trained for anything related to the Gulf Coast oil disaster and the cleanup. BP, it says, does not charge to train and hire applicants. Legitimate jobs are listed and can be found at deepwaterhorizonresponse.com. I'll say that again, deepwaterhorizonresponse.com. And you don't have to pay anything.
Other scams to be aware of, remember we saw this after Katrina, after Rita, after Hurricane Gustav, we see it after tornados. In Nashville, for example, after all of those floods. Charitable donations, people coming to you or sending you an e-mail, or a letter, or phone call asking you to give money to charity. Insurance claims. Cleanup services -- offering their cleanup services and saying you need to pay ahead of time. You hear this often with roofers during hurricanes. They stop by, they say for $14,000, pay me now, I'll be back tomorrow with my crew. You never see them again.
And then investments. Federal regulators last week said, be skeptical of unsolicited offers, either on the phone or via e-mail. Be very careful about these pump and dump penny stock scams. You're already starting to hear a few of these reports of companies that claim that they have some sort of a solution. You can get in on the ground floor. Buy this stock. You're going to see us help clean up the Gulf and we're going to make a fortune and then really somebody else is betting against you. Penny stock scams. So be very careful of those. Find out where the stock trades. Ff it's a small penny stock. Again, be very careful if somebody's trying to pump up the price of this stock. You buy it, and then they dump it.
So all of these things, just classic disaster kind of profiteering. Be weary -- T.J.
HOLMES: That's a way to put it. Classic disaster profiteering. We see it every single time. It never fails. But they're out again.
Christine, a good warning for everybody.
Thank you so much.
ROMANS: Sure.
HOLMES: One of the chemicals BP is using in the Gulf is actually banned in other countries. So why are chemicals that are prohibited in other places allowed in everyday products here in the U.S.? Well, we've got the answer for you. You can watch "Toxic America," a two- night special investigation with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta. That starts tonight at 8:00 Eastern.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Israel is right now expelling hundred of activists hauled off Gaza-bound aid ships during Monday's deadly raid. Officials say all of the international activists will be deported by the end of the day. 16 Americans were on board that flotilla, including former U.S. Ambassador Edward Peck.
He spoke earlier to CNN'S "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDWARD PECK, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: They posed no threat to anybody. We were unarmed and we were just escorting supplies into a badly mistreated and suffering people in Gaza, in the hopes that that would help them and call attention to the fact that they were, indeed, suffering.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": Ambassador Peck, it's John Roberts here. Of course, a situation like this you get very different sides to the story.
PECK: Indeed.
ROBERTS: The Israelis say, hey, there was a block Gaza. You were breaking the law by trying to run that blockade. He also said that when the Israeli forces boarded the other five ships, including one that you were on, was there no violence. You said there wasn't exactly a welcoming party there, either, But on the sixth ship there was a very different story.
Here's what he told me last night.
YULI EDELSTEIN, ISRAELI MINISTER OF INFORMATION: They are definitely not peace activists. They were a gang carrying axes, knives and baseball bats and so on. Some of them apparently guns because one of the soldiers was wounded. There was a gun that is not an Israeli gun. So the soldiers were brutally attacked. So saw the pictures. The whole world sees the pictures. They had to react. I mean, the soldiers felt in immediate danger.
ROBERTS: That's the Israeli side of the story from Yuli Edelstein, who is the Israeli Minister of Public Affairs. Certainly the IDF has video that shows their soldiers were being attacked.
So, what do you say to that side of the story?
PECK: Well, what I would say is that the people on the ship were defending. Here they are on a ship in international waters, 600 people men and women making a peaceful effort to bring humanitarian aid into their environment comes heavily armed - and they were heavily armed, don't go for paint gun thing, I was there.
And there was a scuffle on our ship. People were injured. But here come a bunch of guys, heavily armed to take over the ship forcibly and take it to Israel where they want to go. Now, who's attacking, John? And who is defending? They were defending their ship against armed people coming to do things to them that they didn't want done. I call that defense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: We are on Day 44 of this Gulf oil disaster, and counting. Oil from BP's gushing well has hit the Barrier Islands of Alabama and Mississippi. The latest effort to stop the leak actually hit a snag a short time ago when a blade of the diamond saw that's being used to cut through the pipe -- it got stuck.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: We've got some tar balls and some sheening in Alabama. We are deploying skimmers offshore to try to intercept the sheen and any emulsified oil out there as far offshore as we can. We're also redeploying boom to that the extent that it's required to support Alabama and Mississippi. It's required a lot of tactical moving and boom in the last seven to ten days as first, Louisiana has been impacted. And now the threat is shifting to Mississippi and Alabama. But we continue to work with the states through our local incident commander over there, who is headquartered in Mobile, Alabama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Other stories making headlines now. The Taliban attack a peace meeting attended by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and tribal leaders. Security forces killed two people and arrested a third in connection with that attack.
Sir Paul McCartney performing last night in D.C. He's going to be singing tonight, as well, at the White House. The President is going to be giving him the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for popular song.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Here we are, Day 44. You've heard these terms, "tar balls" and "booms" and "goo." You've seen the pictures of all of this stuff as well. The oil leak has been going on 44 days. But, of course, the cleanup has been going on, as well. A lot of people working hard to clean this stuff up. But what happens to all that gunk when it gets cleaned up?
Ines Ferre has been looking into this and it's a very curious question. You got to do something with all of that stuff.
INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, exactly. And all of that stuff is being treated as hazardous material so I called BP, and I said, where does all of this stuff go?
So they said, look, there's are a couple of things going on. First of all they do what's called skimming with skimmers. So they're basically skimming the oil off the surface. They separate the oil and the water and then whatever they can process and refine, they do.
Then the other part of this is emulsified oil. That's the stuff like tar balls that's the stuff, that gooey stuff that you're seeing on the side of the beach, as well. They try and recycle that for asphalt and power plants. And then you've got what are the booms. You're seeing those all in those images, those orange booms. They're using more than 3.7 million feet of boom, that's equivalent to about 700 miles, and there are two types of booms that they're using. There are containment booms whereby they take the oil and water off of those and then those can be re-used. And then you've got the absorbent booms. And those are the ones that you see that are absorbing all of the oil. And those are saying that they're putting into landfills.
So that's what they do with it. HOLMES: That's interesting to note. That they are actually using some of it. You said, some of it that they can capture and keep and they can actual some of this oil.
FERRE: That's right. And they're saying that that's to minimize the impact. That's what BP is saying. They're skimming that stuff off and separating it and refining whatever they can.
HOLMES: Well, that's a good point to make. It is better to use it than to have to send it off -- that's a very good point you make.
Ines Ferre, we appreciate that illustration. A lot of people like to know because they had that question.
Thanks so much.
As we know, we're dealing with oil there. But there are a lot of chemicals being used right now in this oil spill cleanup that are actually banned in other places. Would you believe that?
We have "Toxic America", a two-night special investigation with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta. It starts tonight at 8:00 p.m. He's looking into chemicals, many of them, they're being used right here in the U.S. but banned in so many other places.
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HOLMES: All right. Keeping an eye on what's still a big issue, big issue number one for a lot of people -- the economy. Of course, one of the best sources of news for you. Anything having to do with your money, CNNMoney.com. You can catch it on CNNMoney.com. (BUSINESS REPORT)
HOLMES: Of course, fishermen in the Gulf, they're getting sick. We've been hearing these stories now. Sick after the oil spill. But a BP gag order forced them to suffer in silence. But now a wife is speaking out. You'll hear what she has to say. That's coming up next hour.
Also, the Gores. They are saying good-bye, at least for now to each other. A separation that has been announced after 40 years of marriage. We've been asking for some of your thoughts on what really came as a surprise to a lot of people. We'll share some of the comments right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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