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Bush Vetoes Stem Cell Bill; Thousands Flee Lebanon

Aired July 19, 2006 - 14:30   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's bring in our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider to sort through the politics of the stem cell debate.
No doubt we'll be seeing this issue play out in 2006, Bill.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, certainly, we will. The Democrats see this as an issue that they can use in the 2006 campaign. There are a lot of Republicans who will have to defend their vote against this bill to allow more stem cell -- embryonic stem cell research.

I can think of Senate races in Pennsylvania and Missouri and Virginia where this is likely to be an issue. Most Americans, as Dana indicated from the polls, most Americans do not agree with the president on this. It's a very difficult choice, and we saw the president try to give it a human face.

He was surrounded by children who were born from left over human embryos at fertility clinics, essentially saying it's their life that he's trying to protect. But for many people, the lives that are at stake are those of the patients who have Parkinson's Disease, diabetes, spinal cord injuries, Alzheimer's Disease, including Nancy Reagan made a pitch to the president not to veto this bill because her husband suffered from and eventually died from Alzheimer's Disease.

PHILLIPS: We've got sound in from Senator Chuck Schumer, obviously taking the opposite approach, Bill. Let's go ahead and take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: It's very simple. Everyone knows someone who needs this bill. Everyone knows someone who has a child with juvenile diabetes. Everyone knows someone who has a parent with Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. Everyone knows someone who has some kind of injury. So, we don't have to do much work on this. It's going to speak for itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: But there are people divided along pro-choice, pro- life lines, right?

SCHNEIDER: Not strictly. No, they don't. As Dana indicated, there a number of abortion opponents, notably in the Senate, who voted in favor of this bill that the president just vetoed. I'm thinking of both senators, Republicans from Utah, Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett; Gordon Smith of Oregon, Trent Lott of Mississippi; John McCain, a potential presidential candidate; and most notably, the Senate majority leader, a Republican, Bill Frist, who also may run for president. He is a physician and last year he very dramatically departed from the president's policy on this issue, saying he did not think that there were enough stem cell lines that the president was talking about in 2001 -- that there were not enough stem cell lines to really allow medical research to advance. That was a very big blow to the president's case.

PHILLIPS: Bill Schneider, thanks so much.

(MARKET REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Well, six years of relative calm between Israel and Hezbollah fell apart practically overnight, and plenty of people with no dog in that fight are getting out of the way. What did you do on your summer vacation? Well, I'm going to talk with one American student with a harrowing tale. Her parents are in Washington, as well. LIVE FROM returns right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Crisis in the Middle East. Here's what we know right now. Rockets fired from Lebanon hit the biblical city of Nazareth today. Two children were killed. Israeli jets struck the Beirut airport again, as well as targets throughout the city. A U.S. Navy transport ship is en route to Beirut. The USS Nashville will help ferry 1,000 or so Americans to safer shores; in this case, Cyprus.

In Israel's other conflict, troops clashed with Palestinian gunmen in Gaza and the West Bank today. We're hearing a dozen or more Palestinians were killed.

Israeli missiles pound the Lebanese city of Tyre sand that means nonstop work for the city's main hospital. CNN's Karl Penhaul has a report you'll see only on CNN, but we should warn you, some of these images are pretty graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Assad Habbas' (ph) life is ebbing away. His left leg is almost ripped from his body; shrapnel has seared his brain. Doctors say Habbas was in his car about three miles away from here, trying to flee the ongoing Israeli assault, when a bomb dropped from the sky.

As doctors battle save to him, Habbas mutter softly, "Yela" (ph), Arabic for "quickly." With that, doctors race him into the operating room. The door swings shut as they work at fever pitch.

I head to the first floor to see other civilian casualties. Thirteen-year-old Zainab Haider's young body is pockmarked with shrapnel from what she says was an Israeli bomb. Like many of those wounded Wednesday, she says she was just trying to find a safe haven. ZAINAB HAIDER, BOMB VICTIM: They bombed the cars in front of our car, and we got down from the car and went to the -- to the -- we sat under the trees.

PENHAUL: Zainab can't understand why help is not arriving. She has a message to the world from south Lebanon.

HAIDER: Tell them to stop this right now because there is -- not everybody is terrorist. And -- and it's not our fault.

PENHAUL: Dr. Ali Tohme adds up the casualties from bombs.

DR. ALI TOHME, TYRE HOSPITAL: In the last 24, 48 hours, we have received about 16 to 20 were killed, and more than 40 were injured.

PENHAUL: I go to check back on Assad Habbas. His surgeon, Mahmoud Atyre (ph), blurts out the bad news.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We tried our best, but he gave way. He died.

PENHAUL: Dead at 45 years old, another life wasted in this vicious cross border war.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, Tyre, South Lebanon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, when the latest phase of the Middle East conflict flared, it caught plenty of people off guard: the diplomatic community, certainly the people of Israel and Lebanon, and thousands of foreigners working, studying and living in what is now a war zone.

Emily Higgs knows what I'm talking about. A summer program to study Arabic turned into something entirely different. Isn't that right, Emily?

EMILY HIGGS, EVACUATED FROM LEBANON: Yes, I was very unexpected. About eight days ago, I had no idea I would be here right now and heading back to the United States.

PHILLIPS: Did you get a chance to participate in your program at all, or were you there for a various -- you know, for an amount of time to absorb anything? Or did this break out and now you've been trying to get out?

E. HIGGS: The program itself is supposed to be six weeks. I was there for about three weeks. It included a trip to Syria and a trip up north to The Cedars in Tripoli. So I got to visit a lot of Lebanon, experience a lot of the country, and work on my Arabic, which is what I was there for. But it was definitely cut too short. It went by extremely fast. And I'm extremely sad to leave.

PHILLIPS: Well, tell me when you first knew that something was wrong. Was it something that you heard, felt or did someone come and tell you what was going on? Did you see it on the news? E. HIGGS: During lunch, one of the students said that they had heard about the soldiers being kidnapped. But it wasn't until Wednesday afternoon -- we had lectures every Wednesday, and this one was about Lebanese politics. And the speaker came and spoke solely on this issue and about the parties involved and was answering our questions, and then had it leave because we heard that there was bombing.

And at that point, I knew this was not something that was going to blow over, which is what we were expecting. And it quickly turned into something -- something more. And by Friday, we were evacuating the campus. So, within about 48 hours, we could be hearing bombing. Now whenever I hear a plane, I think of bombs. But, yes.

PHILLIPS: So did you get scared or was the adrenaline just rushing and you just did whatever you needed to do to get out of there?

E. HIGGS: I was scared, I was a little worried. However, the program, -- the people in charge of the program at Lebanese American University were absolutely amazing. Just very calming. And they've been through civil war, so this isn't, to them, as much as a big deal to start out as it is for us. And so -- but you trust them, because they have experience and they know what the situation is like on the ground. And the entire time, they kept us informed.

And then I was very happy to be evacuated finally on Friday. We went to Byblos, the northern campus. And that's the point where I started being scared, because when we were leaving, we heard that they were bombing the roads up north of us, right above the town we were heading to. So that was the first point where I realized that my life was -- things were getting a little bit more dangerous.

PHILLIPS: When was the first time you were able to make contact with your parents?

E. HIGGS: I had a cell phone, so I was keeping contact with them about every day. And it's the mix of not wanting to worry them, but at the same time, wanting to keep them up to date and trying to understand the situation fully. And so I spoke to them I think every day.

PHILLIPS: Well, we never had -- we now have the other part of this interview. We wanted to surprise you, but I know you connected during the break. We've got Roy and Marilyn Higgs, your parents, in Washington.

And I was listening to some of your discussion during the commercial. You guys are not only keeping a great sense of humor, but it's obvious you've been extremely worried about your daughter, as well.

Roy, it sounds like you've got a pretty tough daughter here. She's hammered this out.

ROY HIGGS, FATHER OF EMILY: Yes, I think she takes after her mother. I think that's basically what it's all about, Kyra, yes.

PHILLIPS: Well, Marilyn, no doubt, though, you're a strong woman. So is your daughter. That's obvious. But this must have been heart-wrenching when everything got pretty hairy over there.

MARILYN HIGGS, MOTHER OF EMILY: It was scary. It was -- but at the same time, I always knew Emily has a lot of good common sense. I have a lot of confident in the program. They were taking good care of her. And she really kept us calm.

PHILLIPS: Well, I know this is the first time you actually have seen her. How does she look, mom?

M. HIGGS: She looks just wonderful.

PHILLIPS: Dad, it looks like she's doing OK?

R. HIGGS: She looks absolutely fantastic. (INAUDIBLE)

PHILLIPS: Well...

M. HIGGS: And we're looking forward to having her home in a couple of days.

PHILLIPS: No doubt. Roy, did you school your daughter about how, you know, even though she was going over there for an educational program, that there was a possibility things might get a little -- I don't know, it's not really a normal way of life over there right now.

R. HIGGS: Right, yes.

PHILLIPS: Did you have an inkling that possibly some politics could have created something like this?

R. HIGGS: Well, we -- I have worked a little bit in Beirut and in the region at large. We are currently engaged in the region at large with our architectural practice. And I had said to Emily, yes, I thought this was a part of a world where things could change very rapidly and insisted she take that particular cell phone with her, which, fortunately, was sort of the lifeline for us to keep us posted as to more or less what's going on. So, yes, we tried to -- in fact, I bet she'll be back there sooner rather than later, I suspect.

PHILLIPS: Well, let me ask you that, Emily. Tell me the job that you're going to take that needed to get you brushed up on Arabic, and are you coming home with something far more than a little bit of a language lesson?

E. HIGGS: Definitely never expected things to turn out the way they have, but the people of Lebanon have been the most hospitable, welcoming -- they made the experience, as hard as it was, just a little bit more bearable. And I would love to come back as soon as possible, and just -- and experience the country a little bit more and explore a little more.

And luckily, I'm discussing details for a job I will be starting with the Center for Civic Education, where I'll be returning to help run civic education programs throughout the Middle East for young people, for students, and so they can work and get involved in their own public policy and become good citizens. So my hope is -- I'm actually -- I'm excited to be able to come back and hopefully stop these situations at some point.

PHILLIPS: Emily, you're amazing. Roy and Marilyn, any final words to your daughter before you see her in person?

R. HIGGS: Sweetheart?

M. HIGGS: Oh, we love you, darling. We'll see you soon.

R. HIGGS: Yes.

E. HIGGS: Thank you. I love you guys.

R. HIGGS: OK, safe travels. See you Friday.

E. HIGGS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Amazing family. Oh, Roy, Marilyn, Emily, thank you -- all three of you -- so much.

R. HIGGS: Thank you, Kyra.

M. HIGGS: Thank you.

E. HIGGS: Thank you very much.

PHILLIPS: You bet.

Well, some 1,500 Americans now out of Lebanon, out of harm's way, but what of the thousands of people still in Beirut, still in need of a ride? Well, I'll talk with the U.S. admiral in charge of the U.S. evacuation when LIVE FROM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well 25,000 Americans, give or take, were believed to be in Lebanon a week ago. Quite a bit fewer today and fewer still tomorrow. That's when a U.S. Navy ship joins the effort to evacuate Americans from a battle zone to the safe haven of Cyprus. Vice Admiral Patrick Walsh heads the naval force's central command. He joins me now from his headquarters in Bahrain.

Admiral, great to have you with us. A lot of assets in play, a lot of assets that you're in charge of, quite a big mission. You have had to deal with various responsibilities since you've been there in Bahrain. This is an interesting situation, to say the least. What do you think has been the biggest challenge thus far?

VICE ADM. PATRICK WALSH, COMMANDER U.S. 5TH FLEET: Kyra, well, first of all, thanks for the opportunity to spend time with you today. One of the most interesting aspects of the operation we're in right now was just how quickly the situation changed on the ground. I thought it might be helpful for your viewers to just talk a little bit about that so they can understand some of the complexities of what we're doing as well as the scope of operation and the level of effort.

PHILLIPS: Go right ahead. You think there's confusion about it or do you think people pretty much understand you're doing everything possible to get those ship there, to get those out that want to leave.

WALSH: Well, there's a number of very tragic human interest stories that people see repeated over and over again as the camera pans the pier in Beirut. So, I think it would be helpful to talk just a little bit about the event that, as they broke out with hostilities on the 12th and then just the steps that we would take in order to respond to a situation like this.

PHILLIPS: Well, let me ask you specifically, admiral, since we're talk about those that have been somewhat frustrated, we've been getting pictures and e-mails and even calls from Americans that are still in Lebanon, that can't get to Beirut. They're frustrated because they are trying to get out of there, but they're not sure how to go about it. Is there a strategic plan to try to get to those people, because, as you know, the roads are too dangerous to travel right now.

WALSH: Absolutely. That's the reason why we're bringing the marines and we have the ability now with the amphibious shipping that's with us and the marines who are embarked with us in order to respond to any contingency and that's the reason why we've built into the flexibility into the plan that we have today.

PHILLIPS: So, tell me what the marines are going to do. I know that you've got one of the best there, General Jensen and you're counting on him with the expeditionary unit. I know that the marine helicopters that are part of that, they even have special operations capabilities. I'm guessing that is a pretty strong asset.

WALSH: It's a strong asset to have and this is all part of the Io Jima Expeditionary Strike Group. So, this package is in place tomorrow night. We'll have all the assets that we need in order to respond to any change in the situation or the environment. The situation at the moment at the Port of Beirut allows us to bring in commercial carriers to ferry large numbers of people back and forth. If that situation would change, then we would change the disposition of our ships and the way we present ourselves on the beach, as well as the location of the marines themselves.

PHILLIPS: Got it. So, for the more, I guess, I guess for the tougher places to get into, you're hoping the marines will be able to get in with helicopters to get those individuals out, is that the plan?

WALSH: Well, the idea is that we have the capability to extract people, no matter where their location is. Without getting into a lot of detail, that's part of our planning effort now.

PHILLIPS: I know that that's where it can get hairy and that can get dangerous. Obviously, you have entered and will be entering into hostile territory. What are your rules of engagement, admiral, if something does get, if something turns into a high-threat situation? Have you discussed the rules of engagement? What will you be able to do to prepare for offensive operation?

WALSH: Well, we always have the inherent right of self-defense and that's the way that we would typically go about an operation and planning phases of where we are at this moment. So, the idea is that we would, we would take every measure in order to secure the lives and protect the safety of American citizens, as well as those citizens who are on the ground in Beirut.

PHILLIPS: Are you worried about Hezbollah? Are you concerned that Hezbollah could interfere with your mission?

WALSH: Well, it's not so much I'm worried about it, as it is that this is a very strong consideration that we have when we put in our planning factors that we, that we consider when we're putting together an operation like this. This is a threat that we have to honor and respect and we know that they have shoulder-fired missiles. We know that they have small arms and we know that they have more sophisticated surface-to-surface missiles. All of those elements are part of the calculations that go into how we present our ships and just how fast we can move people on and off the pier.

PHILLIPS: Admiral, are you talking to the IDF, the Israeli Defense Force? Are you working with them or at least communicating with them?

WALSH: We have a relationship with European Command. European Command is the one that has a relationship with the Israeli Defense Force. So, they have conducted the liaison work that needs to be done. Because our headquarters is in Bahrain, we have a completely different focus when it comes to the parties that we interact with, as well as the countries that we have exercises with, which is predominantly Arab. So, in an operation like this where we are in the eastern Mediterranean, the best way for us to facilitate the cohesion of the coalition that we have back in the Middle East, as well as work the operation in Lebanon is to work through our European Command partners.

PHILLIPS: Vice Admiral Patrick Walsh, commander of U.S. 5th Fleet, I know you have a number of interviews to tend to, plus a lot of business. I just appreciate your time today, admiral.

WALSH: Thank you, look forward to our next visit.

PHILLIPS: So do I.

Well, take a look at this. It's amateur video of a Norwegian chartered ship that carried 1,100 Europeans and 127 U.S. citizens to Cyprus. A college student from New Jersey described the 11-hour voyage to CNN's Soledad O'Brien.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY MARINACCIO, AMERICAN STUDENT: It was, unfortunately, a floating refugee camp. It was awful. There were people who, you know, they were leaving their homes and we were going home. So, we were trying to put that into perspective and I'm speaking on, you know, I'm speaking in we, saying like the students at LAU, the people I was talking to anyway. Yes, I mean, it was really, it was surreal to see and I don't think I have even processed all that information yet.

I think I'm still kind of shocked at what's happened and where I am and the fact that I got out with a bunch of people. Look at the evacuations from Katrina. We didn't expect to be getting out any time soon. And maybe, you know, I wish we had more faith, but that was the general feeling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, be sure to watch CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING" every week day starting at 6:00 a.m. Eastern.

Straight ahead we're going to check in with our own Barbara Starr. She's on board one of those evacuation vessels. The news keeps coming and we'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM coming up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FELIX BERYTUS, AMERICAN EVACUEE: This is the first opportunity to leave the country, so, anybody who wants to continue matters outside of the country, or ensure their own complete safety, this is the best bet.

BRENNAN BERRY, AMERICAN EVACUEE: Extremely chaotic, very disorganized. We got on the boat around 4:30 in the afternoon and we just got off now. So, it's good to be on ground, but, yes, very, and no food, too. So, could have gone better.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's pretty dirty, but, you know, could have been worse. It was fine. There were flies, but, you know, we lived.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The Middle East crisis enters its second week. Here's what we know right now. Hundreds of Americans due to arrive in Cyprus in about three hours. They evacuated Lebanon this morning on a U.S. chartered cruise ship. U.S. military ships and helicopters plan to take out thousands more by the weekend.

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