Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
The Al-Zawahiri Tape; 'Reporter's Notebook'; President Bush Signs Bill Protecting Children
Aired July 27, 2006 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, great swathes of northern Israel deserted.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer saw it today for himself when he flew over the region with the Israeli Armed forces. Here's his report from Haifa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT(on camera): I'm Wolf Blitzer in Haifa.
Earlier today, I had a chance to go up and take a look at ways going on in the northern part of Israel, to literally get a bird's eye view. I flew in a Blackhawk helicopter with a top Israeli general. We flew from Tel Aviv, over the Mediterranean, up to Haifa, and then across all of northern Israel toward Kiryat Shmona and Matula, certainly over the upper Galilee, the lower Galilee. It was an opportunity to see from afar, from the sky, how this war has impacted.
And as General Ido Nehushtan, who took me on this tour, pointed out, it's almost like a postcard, beautiful, beautiful scenery, but no life. Most of this area has been deserted, especially here in Haifa, a city normally bustling with about 300,000 people. Most of the people are either living underground in shelters, or in fact have gone further south, whether towards Tel Aviv, or Jerusalem, or even to the southern most part of Israel, Eilat, where there's not a room to be had. All of the hotels are fully occupied in Eilat right now, and the same can be said for much of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, other major cities in Israel.
As I drove into Haifa from an Israeli Air Force base, having been here many times in the past, virtually no traffic, almost all the stores are shuttered, very few people on the street, and I assume this is going to continue for some time until the Katyushas stop coming in. They're coming today. They're been coming in for 15 days. And at least as of now, based on what the Israeli military suspects, no immediate end in sight.
Wolf Blitzer, CNN, Haifa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, a new call to arms from Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Al Jazeera television aired Zawahiri's taped message today, in its 10th message from al Qaeda's number-two man this year. In it, he issues a worldwide call for Muslims to rise up against Israel in a holy war.
He says, quote, "The war with Israel does not depend on cease- fires. It is a jihad for the sake of God and will last until our religion prevails, from Spain to Iraq. We will attack everywhere."
Zawahiri also discussed Arab and governments, saying, "You are alone on the battlefield. Rely on god and fight your enemies. Make yourselves martyrs."
Security plan? What security plan? That's what the angry residents of an upscale Baghdad neighborhood demand to know today, after their previously quiet enclave was rocked by rockets, mortars and a car bomb. At least 32 people are dead, and more than 100 are wounded.
CNN's Arwa Damon has more now on calls for less talk, more action in Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Through the thick smoke, the luckiest escaped. As the dust settles, those unharmed helped the walking wounded. Some carry the limps of bodies of the dead. Rescue workers rush to help others trapped beneath the rubble.
Dozens killed, over a hundred wounded after a car bomb, mortars and Katyusha rockets devastated a central Baghdad neighborhood. A complex attack. Its specific target is unknown. Attacks like this in commercial areas take not only a civilian toll, they also deal severe blows to Iraq's already failing economy. State-owned TV was the first to broadcast the devastating images and angry reaction from the scene.
"We are asking," this man says, "where is this security plan that the government promised us?"
It is being discussed an ocean away by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The prime minister advised me that to support this plan he and General Casey have agreed to deploy additional American troops and Iraqi security personnel in Baghdad in the coming weeks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, reporting from a war zone, the daily battle to tell you the story while staying safe. Our Miles O'Brien talks about this straight ahead on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: CNN's Miles O'Brien has been a steady presence for us in Israel. But behind every live report, unseen colleagues and a fair amount of danger. Miles takes us behind the scenes in this Reporter's Notebook.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): It's 8:20 Sunday morning, and welcome to our world. We certainly don't travel light. About 40 pieces of luggage, some of it pretty big. Look at what it takes to keep me on the air -- two producers, Justin and Tracy, and two cameramen -- well, one is actually a camerawoman, Pelin, and Dave.
Our driver is Yaniv (ph), his English -- metsa metsa (ph).
Now Dave is my kind of guy. He likes gadgets a lot. Watch what happens as he and Pelin play with some new walkie-talkies there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two, testing, one, two, one, two, one, two. Can you hear me?
TRACY SABO, PRODUCER: I can just hear you. There's a problem. Let me try...
M. O'BRIEN (on camera): That's because he's sitting right next to you. I have complete faith in this team.
(voice-over): We're on our way to meet Shlomo (ph) Yosefberg's family. They lives in Haifa. And they're living in fear right now. Pelin met his brother, Elan on the plane coming in, and we're going to meet him first south of Haifa, out of harm's way.
ILAN YOSEFBERG, ISRAELI RESIDENT: When you hear the siren, actually you have about 45 seconds to go to shelter. So it's like lottery. We don't know where it's going to fall, it's going to fall on your head, on your neighbors, or any other place, and just wait, see it and hear.
M. O'BRIEN: Now as we drive nearer to Haifa, Ilan calls with word there's trouble ahead.
SABO: John Roberts is on the ground in Haifa from the hotel overlook, and he said from their location they could hear nine explosions in the neighborhood.
JUSTIN DIAL, PRODUCER: Ilan said that when his brothers called, when they bombed -- when the air-raid sirens were going off and while they were on the phone with them in the shelter, they could hear the explosion.
M. O'BRIEN: So let's go right there.
DIAL: So maybe that doesn't make sense they we're driving directly there.
M. O'BRIEN: Not long after getting to Shlomo's house, we heard our first air-raid siren.
(on camera): Justin! Justin! Justin?
OK, so we're inside the house. We're headed up to the safe place. Where is it? Over here? I don't know where Justin is. Do you know?
(voice-over): Justin was on his own. The closer we got to Haifa, the more we heard the sirens. Several times we heard them. Several times we had to stop and take cover.
Now, for Pelin, these were moments worth recording in her journal.
PELIN SIDKI, PHOTOJOURNALIST: You have to get the dialogue, you know. The dialogue's real. When it's right there, that's when it's most open, and that's when it's most believable.
M. O'BRIEN: Real is what we're all about.
(on camera): It's now 5:23 Eastern Time, which means it is 12:23 here, and now we're going to go out and do about four hours of live television, AMERICAN MORNING, which over here is Israeli afternoon. Wouldn't be bad living here in this time zone. Would get a lot more sleep, that's for sure.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
PHILLIPS: We're going to take you back to the White House. John Walsh, stepping up to the microphones. As you know, the president of the United States signed a very important piece of legislation involving pedophiles and how they affect our children. One such child, John's son.
JOHN WALSH, HOST, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": ... so this is a bittersweet day. But on behalf of all the parents of missing and murdered children and children that were recovered, like Elizabeth Smart, we're proud of the work of this bipartisan Congress. We're really honored that they would name this bill after our son Adam.
But it was really a long, hard battle to get this bill passed, almost two-and-a-half years, but I think it's a tough piece of legislation with a lot of teeth. It will change the way this country and the criminal justice system deals with the rapists of our women and the molesters of our children.
The Justice Department says there are over 100,000 convicted sex offenders at large, in non-compliance with their parole or probation. This will establish a national sex offender registry that every mom and dad can access to see if a convicted sex offender lives next door. It will put 500 marshals, new U.S. marshals, on the street, tracking sex offenders that are violators. Thirty-five new FBI agents that will deal with Internet crimes. It will mandate the collection of DNA of every convicted sex offender, which will probably solve thousands of old cold cases and free innocent people from jail. It establishes a national child abuse registry, where people now who want to be foster parents will have to pass a background check, and that will be accessed nationwide.
So it is a really -- I say a really tough bill with oversight, with money. It was written by our congressman, Mark Foley, from Florida; passed the House of Representatives three times. James Sensenbrenner championed that bill. On the Senate side, Bill Frist was the quarterback for this bill. Orrin Hatch introduced it, our old friend from Utah. Joe Biden carried the weight on the Democratic side. Senator Kennedy and Senator Grassley, Senator Feinstein. Senator Patrick Leahy was a sponsor of this bill. and Arlen Specter got it through the Senate, through the Senate Judiciary.
So it really was a bipartisan piece of legislation. And it was a real honor for President Bush to sign it today. He was very gracious to us. And it -- really, we, for all these years, never could understand how anybody could hurt a child. But this family has said many times we tried not to let Adam die in vain, to make sure he didn't die in vain. So it's a big day for us.
REVE WALSH, JOHN WALSH'S WIFE: Today is truly a family day for us. Adam's presence is felt here with us today. This is all about children. This tells children in our country that they are precious and are cared about, even though they don't have any money or a vote or a lobby, that we will take care of them, and that we are the adults and responsible people in this country.
And I believe that in years to come, children will grow up feeling valued, more valued than they have in the past. And I think it will be a good thing for society. I think it's a good day for our country.
J. WALSH: Thank you all for coming today. We appreciate it. Questions? We'd be glad to take any questions. OK, thank you so much.
PHILLIPS: Pretty powerful day for the Walsh family. It was 25 years ago today that the Walshes lost their little son, 6-year-old Adam. He was kidnapped from a shopping mall in Hollywood, Florida. He was later discovered dead in a canal. His murder remained unsolved. From that point on, this family has spent every breathing moment trying to get the president to sign the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, and today it happened. That legislation will create a nationwide sexual criminal Web registry, listing photos, addresses, physical descriptions, employment and other pertinent information.
John Walsh, as you know, went on to host "America's Most Wanted," and has devoted his life to protecting children against that type of violence. Big day for the Walsh family. Big day for parents and for children that constantly are at risk from pedophiles.
You can join the Walsh family live on "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight, 9:00 Eastern.
Also, straight ahead, a new Tour de France champ, but some of the post-race scrutiny now. Is the victory by American cyclist Floyd Landis now in question? We're going to have more on that, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: The president of the United States right now speaking live before the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington, D.C. If you want to watch him right now, you can go to CNN.com/Pipeline. Meanwhile, we're monitoring it as well.
Well, still sizzling in St. Louis. It's even worse for about 46,000 homes and businesses whose power was knocked out by storms last week, and the crews trying to restore that power. Well, health officials blame the heat for 14 deaths statewide. Four of those victims were found in homes with no electricity.
Just how hot is this summer? Here's some of the numbers. On average, heat kills more than 400 people in this country each year. That's generally more than from floods, hurricanes and tornadoes combined.
About 10,000 people fell victim to the scorching heat in the summer of 1980. Fifteen years later in Chicago, 739 people died from the extreme heat in a matter of days. And just three years ago, a heat wave killed more than 30,000 people across Europe, nearly half of them in France.
Well, new ammunition in the battle against skin cancer. The FDA has approved a powerful new sunscreen. Experts say that Anthelios SX blocks the type of UV rays associated with wrinkles and skin cancer. Until now, its active ingredient has only been available outside the U.S. Anthelios SX has a sun protection factor of 15, and is made by L'Oreal.
Well, she came to Israel to start a new life -- a dream shattered in an instant. Her story straight ahead on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Two-and-a-half weeks after a Big Dig tunnel gave in, the head of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has given in, too. Matthew Amorello has been under pressure to quit ever since a tunnel ceiling panel fell on a car, killing a passenger. Today, Amorello finally agreed to step down, effective August 15th. Michigan (sic) Governor Mitt Romney calls the resignation good news.
As it turns out, a Big Dig safety officer warned his superiors about that ceiling panel several years ago when the tunnels were still under construction. John Keaveney, wrote a two-page memo in 1999 expressing doubts that the bolts being used to hold the panels were strong enough.
That memo, obtained by the "Boston Globe," includes these chilling words: "Should any innocent state worker or member of the public be seriously injured or, even worse, killed as a result, I feel that this would be something that would reflect mentally and emotionally on me and all who are trying to construct a quality project."
Keaveney told the "Globe" that he really began worrying about the panels while giving a third grade class a tour of that project. Listen to this. He says one of the children pointed to the bolts in the ceiling and asked if they really would hold up that roof. Considering what happened, Keaveney says it was like the old fairytale where a child points out that emperor has no clothes.
Well, the prices are low. So are some of the wages. Do you have a problem with that? They sure do in Chicago. A living wage or a crying shame. You be the judge, when LIVE FROM continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
