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President Bush Speaks on Immigration Reform; Israel Raid Targets Hospital Believed to be Hezbollah Base

Aired August 03, 2006 - 15:30   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Even after five decades and a dozen Grammys, the best may be yet to come for the man behind the unmistakable voice. Anthony Dominick, better known as Tony Bennett, is 80 years old today. He's got a good-looking blonde with him, too, did you notice that? The big birthday bash in his hometown of New York tonight. Well, Bennett's record label today is releasing the first single from a new upcoming CD titled "Tony Bennett Duet, an American Classic."
And we also want to wish another special person a happy birthday, that's our copy editor, Walt Smith, he's not turning 80, though, I don't think. Walt, are you turning 80? He's just now realizing he's on camera. Walt actually turns 39 today, and, damn he looks good for 39, wouldn't you say?

Back-to-school shopping is a must for many families but it's not always easy to afford. Now some states are trying to help. Susan Lisovicz live from the New York Stock Exchange with that story. Hey Susan. Tony Bennett's 80, can you believe it?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN ANCHOR: He is one eternally cool cat. Don't you think? And Walt, too.

PHILLIPS: Walt Smith even cooler.

LISOVICZ: I believe it. He writes great copy, or he edits great copy I should say. Here's my copy for you Kyra, 14 states and the District of Columbia are giving millions of families an incentive to shop for back-to-school items, tax breaks. Back-to-school shopping of course is not cheap, as every parent knows. The National Retail Federation says the average family will spend $527 on school supplies alone this year.

The states are getting rid of sales tax in an effort to offset those costs and to help boost business. For many retailers, the back- to-school season is the second most important of the year behind only the Christmas holiday season. In some states, the tax holiday now extends beyond typical items like computers, clothing and school supplies. Georgia is exempting energy efficient products from sales tax, including everything from windows to refrigerators and in Massachusetts, all sales under $2,500 are exempt from sales tax. Consumers, of course, face rising gasoline costs, and higher interest rates and retailers are using the tax breaks as a way to drive business. Most tax holidays start tomorrow and go through the weekend. But it varies by state. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Well, retailers reporting their sales results for July. How did they do?

(MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, new threat in the Middle East crisis. Here's what we know right now. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is threatening a strike against Tel Aviv in retaliation for Israeli air strikes against Beirut. He issued the threat while speaking on Lebanese television.

And in northern Israel today, police say seven civilians died in a series of Hezbollah rocket attacks. That makes today the second deadliest for Israeli civilians since the conflict began.

U.S. State Department officials say they are working on a U.N. resolution to end the violence in the Middle East and hope to complete it by tomorrow.

A daring Israeli raid deep in the heart of Lebanon targets a hospital, believed to be a Hezbollah base.

CNN's Michael Ware reports from Baalbek, Lebanon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The newest front in Israel's ground war. The Israeli Defense Forces released video of their raid on Hezbollah far to the north of the battle lines. This time, with Israeli boots on the ground, 70 miles from their own border, sweeping in at night from the air, a classic Israeli commando raid.

The target, a hospital in the town of Baalbeck. An E.R. clinic. But to Israel's generals, it's much more than that. Claiming they had intelligence that it was a Hezbollah logistics base, a possible safe house for a senior leader, and perhaps where two captive Israeli soldiers were treated.

The hospital sits here in the Bekaa Valley. A narrow basin stretching along Lebanon's eastern border. It's Hezbollah country. And with Syria just 12 miles away, over these mountains riddled with smuggling routes. Western intelligence says it's a staging base and gateway for men and weapons. The deep strike raid was a covert success. The sound of helicopters descending shortly before 11:00 at night, the only alert.

Hospital staff say this male nurse was there. His identity and his story, like all others', impossible to verify.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The troops came onto the ground and started shooting at us. While we were trying to run away, I got shot.

WARE: Locals say Israeli commandos dropped onto the roof of the hospital from where they entered the building and began their search, while as many as 10 helicopters circled overhead.

(On camera): There's clear signs of the fire fight with shell casings scattered about the car park and fresh bullet holes in the walls of this compound and this service station. A brush fire was also started during the engagement. And you can see the shell of two burned out vehicles. Behind them, a four-story building that also bears the scars of the battle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): As the terrorists are firing here, this is the headquarters. The entrance to the hospital.

WARE (voice-over): In all, Lebanese authorities say as many as 16 people were killed. In Baalbeck, residents claim the dead were civilians, cut down in air strikes as the battle unfolded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There were seven martyrs, a whole family. Most of them were children, and a pregnant woman. One of them was a 3-year-old.

WARE: The Israeli military says it killed 10 people, all Hezbollah fighters. Israel says its videotape shows weapons and other evidence of a stronghold. It says it seized five men and took them back to Israel. Hezbollah's fighters, as the Israelis claim? Or just men in the wrong place at the wrong time? Michael Ware, CNN, Baalbeck, Lebanon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Michael Ware is part of the team covering the Middle East conflict for "AC 360." You can join it live from northern Israel tonight, 10:00 Eastern.

CNN continues to have the most complete coverage of the crisis in the Middle East. Our Larry King interviewed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just a little while ago. One of the first questions he asked her was if the United Nations is getting close to a deal that could end the fighting over there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: We're certainly getting close. We're working with the French very closely; we're working with others. We've wanted very much to see an end to this conflict. We need to end the hostilities in a way, though, that points forward a direction for a sustainable peace. And we are working -- we've worked with the parties, when I was in the region, to come up with those principles, with those elements. We're now working on a Security Council resolution. And hopefully we can get that passed. And I think it will certainly be within days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, you can see Larry's full interview with Secretary of State Rice tonight, right here on CNN. As always, Larry King gets started at 9:00 Eastern. A suicide bomber struck in southern Afghanistan today, killing 21 people and wounding 13 more. The bomb went off at a market area just south of the city of Kandahar, rather, in a market area. It's uncertain if the bomber was targeting people in that market or a NATO military convoy that was passing by. In two other roadside bomb attacks near Kandahar, one Canadian soldier was killed; another four were injured.

The top U.S. commander in the Middle East warned today the sectarian violence in Iraq is as bad as he has ever seen. Hours before General John Abizaid spoke to Senate committee, well, a bomb exploded at a Baghdad market. A dozen people were killed, 29 more injured. Police say a bomb strapped to a parked motorcycle exploded in the central part of the city. Several shots caught fire after that blast.

We want to take you live now to the president of the United States, speaking in Mission, Texas, about immigration.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... airplanes that can interdict people flying in drugs, fast boats to stop people trying to bring drugs or people up and down the coast of Texas. One of the things that you'll hear me talk about is the need to modernize the technology along this border. And that's what we're going to do.

I also recognized we needed more people to help the guard and to help the Border Patrol do its job. And so last May, I said we'll deploy up to 6,000 National Guard members to assist the Border Patrol. And I said we'd get it done by August 1st. Well, we got it done by August 1st. And I want to thank those in the National Guard who have joined us.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: It's good to look out in the crowd and see a lot of folks that I got to know over the years. And most of the folks that I got to know over the years realized that I married well. And so Laura sends her deep affection to the people of south Texas and our friends here in the audience. She's doing just fine, by the way. She's great first lady and..

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: I'm proud to be here with Congressman Ralph Hall, right out of the Dallas area. Thank you for coming, Congressman. He's a fine Texan who cares deeply about the people along the border here.

I'm traveling today with the commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Ralph Basham. Ralph, thank you for joining us.

So what happens when the -- when the president sets policy in Washington, like on the Guard policy. I said we need to get 6,000 members of the Guard down to help the Border Patrol. And then that order goes down the chain of command, and the first person's desk it landed on in the chain of command after Secretary Rumsfeld was Lieutenant General Steve Blum of the Guard bureau. General Blum said, Mr. President, we're going to get the job done. I said, that's good, General Blum, because come August 1st, I'm going to come down to the area and take a looksie. And he did. Thank you, General Blum, for a job well done.

David Aguire is the chief of the U.S. Border Patrol. And I don't know if you know this or not, but David's mother lives here in the area. And he made sure the first person I met when I got off the airplane, as far as he is concerned, was his mother. One reason he's advanced so highly in the Border Patrol, like the head of the whole thing, is because he has listened to his mother. Just like I have, listened to mine.

So, thank you for being here, David. Thanks for serving. Major General Chuck Rodriguez is general of the Texas National Guard, very instrumental in making sure we've got the troops here to help the Border Patrol. General, thank you very much.

General Allen Dehnert is the adjutant general for the Texas National Guard. General Dehnert, thank you very much as well.

General Mike Kastelnic (ph) is the assistant commissioner, Office of CDP Air and Marine, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. Look, he's the guy in charge of airplanes and boats.

We're here as well with Lieutenant Colonel Jose Carillo (ph). He is the Rio Grande Valley Texas National Guard Task Force commander.

So, in other words, when you got to bring people down from other states to help the Border Patrol do your job, you have to have an organization. You just can't send people down here. And one thing the Guard has done well is they've organized this effort.

I'm also proud to be here with Chief Lynn Underdown (ph) He's the -- she is the Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol sector chairman. Chief, thank you for being here. Thanks for serving.

I want to thank you Mayor Salinas (ph) of Mission -- is with us today. Mayor, thank you for joining us. Proud you're here.

Mayor Cortez McAllen (ph) is with us. Mayor, good to see you. Thank you very much. Yes! That's a good sign, mayor, it's a good sign.

Finally, one of my dear friends, I've known him for a long time. And it's Mayor John David France (ph) of Hidalgo. Mayor, it's good to see you.

John David told me just -- I got off the airplane, he said -- I said, how's your family? He said, my son has just enrolled in Westpoint. And you tell him thank you, John David, on behalf of a grateful nation.

And for those of you who've got a loved one in the United States military, you tell them the commander-in-chief is incredibly proud of the job they're doing to help secure this nation and to help bring peace to this world.

We've got a fantastic military, and it's a military that will have the full support...

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: I'm going to talk today about comprehensive immigration reform. I say comprehensive, because unless you have all five pieces working together, it's not going to work at all. It's an important debate facing our nation. And the debate is, can we secure this border and at the same time honor our history of being a land of immigrants? And the answer is -- absolutely, we can do both. And we will do both.

First, we've got to secure the border. We will keep it open to lawful trade and commerce. And we will work to secure the border to prevent people and goods and weapons from being brought illegally here. That's our job. It's the job of the federal government. It's the job of the -- working with the state government, to get the job done. That's what the American people expect.

All this strategy has got to start with more money. And so we've increased funding for border security from $4.6 billion in 2001 to more than $7.6 billion in 2006. In other words, you can't say to the American people we're going to make a commitment to secure the border unless you spend money to secure the border. And we're doing just that.

And I recently signed an emergency supplemental spending bill that provides an additional $1.9 billion in immediate funding for border security. And what does that mean? Well, it means we're going to give the Border Patrol, the people on the front lines of securing this border, better technology. And we're going to expand the number of Border Patrol agents that will be able to use that technology.

That's the strategy, put new resources in people's hands. And as a result of the hard work of our Border Patrol since 2001, federal agents have apprehended and sent home more than six million people entering America illegally. Those people are working hard. There's people doing their job.

But we can do more. There's more work to be done. And so we called for increases in manpower and technology. We're going to train 6,000 additional agents, so that you've got more people to help you do the job. And in the meantime, the reason we brought the Guard down here, was because we knew we had an immediate need to enforce the border. And so until those 6,000 are trained, we're going to be using National Guard units from over 30 states here.

And the plan's working. It makes sense. If we need more manpower, and the need for manpower's immediate, it makes sense to call upon our Guard troops to come and help the Border Patrol do the job. We're going to help build a virtual border by using infrared and motion sensors. We'll deploy unmanned aerial vehicles. In other words, we're going to leverage the manpower we have. It's amazing, the new technologies that are arriving. You know, people are -- these Border Patrol agents that they're seeing more and better equipment.

You've got heat sensors on guard stations that will enable people to detect movement. We got choppers that are able -- and to send real-time video streams back to Border Patrol command centers that will then enable a dispatcher to help an agent catch somebody who's smuggling people or drugs.

PHILLIPS: It seems like a long time ago when we saw those protests across the United States talking about the border security and the whole debate over immigration reform, but the president talking about it again today in Mission, Texas, talking about customs, the border patrol, the National Guard, all working to secure the borders.

He's there in Mission, Texas. Of course, he's talking about it across the U.S., and once again, just hitting home on this debate about he feels he's able to secure the border, in addition to honoring the history of this land, the land he calls of immigrants.

So we'll follow this. If you want to watch it, of course, in its entirety, go to CNN.com/Pipeline. We'll be right back after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

PHILLIPS: You can never get enough Elvis. Well, stuffing fluff and bear bits everywhere. The manager of a museum exhibit in southwest England is still in shock after a frenzied attack on dozens of prized teddy bears.

Nicholas Owen of ITN has the inside story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICHOLAS OWEN, ITN REPORTER (voice-over): Love me tender, love me do. Barney the hound dog certainly wasn't doing that when he went on the rampage and savaged Mabel, the 40,000 pound bear once owned by none other than Elvis Presley. She was the star attraction at a 500,000 pound collection of teddy bears at Wookey Hole Caves in Somerset.

The normally docile Doberman has been hired to protect the prized cuddly toys. Everybody knew it was not going to be a picnic, but nobody expected Barney to get all shook up and rip the head off the cuddly toys. It's thought the mutt was threatened by Mabel's superstar status and couldn't control himself.

GREG WEST, BARNEY'S HANDLER: What he was doing was tearing the bears. This is what Dobermans do. They rip and tear at things and I just couldn't stop him from doing it, you know, for my own safety, as you can see. So he's made such a mess at the moment that, you know, we were just all a bit upset about it. OWEN: There are certainly no suspicion minds about where the finger of blame is pointing. Mabel was not the only casualty. Many of the other bears fell foul of Barney's vicious temper.

What happens next to the this hound dog is uncertain. Could it be a case of "Jailhouse Rock"? It's reported Mabel's owner is considering legal action. One thing is for sure. It has certainly left him in "Heartbreak Hotel," and "Lonesome Tonight" without his cuddly creature.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: This footnote. Barney's handler says there may have been a rogue scent on the teddy bear that made him go berserk. Whatever that reason, well, Barney's in for more training.

Susan Lisovicz has the "Closing Bell" when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, the closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street. Susan Lisovicz live from the New York Stock Exchange with the wrap-up of the trading day. But I think our favorite number today was 80, right?

(MARKET REPORT)

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