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Live From...

Crisis in the Middle East; The Fight for Iraq

Aired August 07, 2006 - 13:32   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: We are continuing to follow this developing story. Take a look at your screen right now. To the right of it, you see all of those planes in the air on this flightexplorer.com graphic. Well, basically, they are in a holding pattern. The situation at LAX is this -- an instrument-landing system has failed, and what this system does is it helps pilots line up with runways during foggy conditions, and that's exactly what L.A. is experiencing right now. Right around 10:00 a.m. their time in California, this system started to fail, which means they're down to one runway.
And as a result of all this, you're seeing the backup. Of course we're going to stay on top of this and bring you latest. But just so that you know how big of a problem it is, LAX usually lands 60 to 70 planes per hour. At this point, they're landing around 28. That's according to the president of the air traffic controllers union there. So we'll stay on top of the story and bring you more as it develops.

(NEWSBREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, get off the road, get inside or you might get hurt. That is the warning from the Israeli military to the people of Southern Lebanon, effective at 10:00 p.m. local time, 3:00 p.m. Eastern, as we mentioned, as darkness falls on the 27th day of this Middle East crisis,

CNN's Matthew Chance is on the Israeli/Lebanese border.

Matthew, what kind of developments have you seen?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that ultimatum that has been issued by the Israeli Defense Forces over the course of the past several hours for the residents of South Lebanon, south of the Litani River, to stay in their homes, not to use the roads, is a strong indication that there is some kind of military offensive, upswinging rather military offensive, being planned for the next couple of hours.

Obviously got a lot of concern among the people of South Lebanon because of that. But there's already been fierce fighting, Betty, across towns and villages in South Lebanon throughout the past several days. Even in towns where the Israeli Defense Forces have been saying they've been in control of. I've give you an example, Bint Jbeil, a place described as a Hezbollah stronghold some weeks back. There was fierce fighting here. At some point last week, the Israelis said they were in control of that town, but even today there have been clashes with Hezbollah guerrillas. At least one Israeli soldier killed, another four injured. A number of Hezbollah fighters killed as well. And I think that shows just how tough a guerrilla outfit Hezbollah are proving to be. They've had six years to really train, to dig in and to rearm themselves since Israel ended its occupation of Southern Lebanon in 2000. They've used that time very well, apparently, and they're proving a very stubborn enemy to dislodge, from the point of view of the Israeli Defense Forces -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right, Matthew Chance joining us from the Israeli/Lebanon border. Thank you for that.

And we do have this just in to CNN that we want to tell you about right now. We understand that Israeli airstrikes hit a crowded area in Southern Beirut, hit a neighborhood that really hadn't been hit before. But there are casualties. And we don't know how many, we don't know the extent of the casualties as of yet, but it was a crowded neighborhood, and an Israeli airstrike hit this neighborhood, which is located in Southern Beirut.

And we've got Brent Sadler in the area. We're hoping to get him on line very soon to tell us more details on this, but we do understand that there are casualties in Southern Beirut because of this airstrike. Once we get more information, we will bring it to you.

Well, in the meantime, more grim and graphic accusations aimed at U.S. soldiers in a hearing under way right now in Baghdad. The GIs are charged with raping an Iraqi teenager and killing her and her family.

Coming to us live CNN's Harris Whitbeck.

Harris, how did it play out?

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Betty, the authorities at that hearing heard testimony that pointed to what was, in essence, a gang rape and murder, allegedly at the hands of five U.S. soldiers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITBECK (voice-over): Testimony on the second day of the article 32 hearing centered around a description of events offered, investigators say, by this man specialist James Barker, one of five U.S. soldiers facing courts-martial in the alleged rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and the killing of her family in their house, near a U.S. checkpoint in Mahmoudiya (ph).

A military investigator described Barker's signed, sworn testimony in which he said, after the soldiers went to the family's house, he saw one of the soldiers, Sergeant Paul Cortez, push the girl to the floor, undress her and rape her. The girl, according to Barker's statement, was raped by at least two other soldiers, including Private First Class Steven Green, who Barker says first took the girl's parents and younger sister to another room, where he allegedly shot them. Barker quoted green as saying, "They're all dead. I just killed them." Green was honorably discharged from the Army last may because of what the army calls a personality disorder. He is facing a civilian trial on the same charges in the United States and has pled not guilty.

The investigators testified that Barker in his statement said at least three of the five soldiers had been drinking the morning of the incident. Another witness, Private Justin Watt, who was in the same platoon as the accused but was not in the situation, told the tribunal Green had told him what happened, and he said he had Green say before the incident, "I want to kill and hurt a lot of Iraqis."

Watt also talked about the stress of combat, and the stress he was under after he was told what had happened. "There's nothing I've read that says what to do if your buddies have raped and murdered a family."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITBECK: U.S. officials in Baghdad have sought to assure their Iraqi counterparts that the soldiers will be punished if found guilty. But the Iraqi government is calling for an independent investigation.

NGUYEN: Harris Whitbeck in Baghdad for us. Thank you for that, Harris.

Well, taking the fight to Baghdad, side by side, with Iraqi troops, the newly bolstered U.S. force launched an overnight raid on Shiite Sadr City. Here you see the aftermath of a battle that raged for more than an hour. Three Iraqis were kill and a U.S. soldier was wounded. This heightened American presence is meant to rest control of the capital from roving bands of militias.

Well, a suicide bombing in Samarra to tell you about. A truck loaded with fruit, but also explosives, leveled a two-story building north in Baghdad. Killed in that attack, at least nine Iraqi troops. The building housed Iraqi police commandos.

Coming up, the cyclist in the spotlight. Floyd Landis speaks out about the charges against him. Hear what he told CNN about the testosterone, the race and the win.

More LIVE FROM next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, check it out. We're continuing to monitor the back-up over LAX. And here's why there is such a back-up. And you can see dozens of planes flying over, waiting to land. Well, an instrument landing system failed around 10:00 a.m. this morning, which basically shut this airport down to one runway. There are some 60 to 70 planes that land each and every hour at LAX. Well, that has been cut in half because of this instrument landing system, which has failed.

And what the system does is helps pilots line up with runways during foggy conditions, and L.A. is experiencing some foggy conditions today, and thus the problem gets compiled. It's obviously a domino effect. And as you see, many planes are waiting to land at this hour. We'll have more information as it comes in on exactly when the glitch is going to be fixed. And when that does, we'll bring it to you live.

Well, it's the sports world scandal du jour. The Tour de France champ clinging to his title in the face of what looks like a slam-dunk against him. Floyd Landis says he has a new goal, and that is to prove himself innocent.

CNN's Chris Lawrence had a sit-down with Landis this morning.

Chris, so many questions. What's Landis' side of the story?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, just sitting across from him, he came across to me as very calm and fairly confident, considering everything that's going on. Now, the Tour de France already has said it no longer considers Landis its champion. And the final decision whether to strip him of his title will come down to the International Cycling Union.

I asked Landis if he's given any thought to what it would feel like to give back that title.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLOYD LANDIS, 2006 TOUR DE FRANCE CHAMPION: I'll tell you what, I'm going to take that yellow jersey that I wore on the last day and I'm going to hang it on my wall, because I'm proud of what I did. I won that race with determination and heart. And I think anybody that watched that race will agree with me in that everything I did was according to the rules, exactly the way the rest of the race went, and I'm proud of the achievement that I have made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: Up until now, Floyd Landis has never failed a drug test before. But, with two positive tests and the fact that scientists say they found synthetic testosterone in his system, there are definite major questions that people are asking about his performance now.

NGUYEN: Well, yes, and Landis is also asking some questions, too, Chris. Does he believe that he's been set up here?

LAWRENCE: Well, he said -- in his own words, he said he feels that the testing officials have, quote, "some other agenda." I asked him what he meant by that. He said that he feels that just last year, Lance Armstrong proved that this French lab had some problems with its testing procedures.

Now, these tests are generally considered to be very valid by most people in the field. They are done by number, not name. So the researchers don't know exactly whose sample they're working with. But Floyd Landis still accuses them of having some sort of agenda. And I asked him why these testing officials would do something to purposely cause further harm to the sport of cycling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANDIS: Had I just made this up out of the blue, that would be hard to believe. But considering their past and their history and the things that they've done before and the fact that the UCI admits that there's a problem with their procedure there and hasn't done anything to fix it -- if I just made it up and had no evidence of that fact, yes, I think it would be unbelievable. But this is a different story here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: Yes, and Landis told me that he feels that they broke their own rules by releasing this information to the public. He said in other cases, such as track and field stars, they were given about three months before these -- the results were made public. Landis said he was given about a day.

NGUYEN: All right, but then if you look at the evidence, Chris, 11-to -1 ratio when it comes to this testosterone level. That is tremendously high. What's his explanation for it?

LAWRENCE: I asked him that. I said, if we accept the fact that this is a valid test and you had synthetic testosterone in your system, how do you think it got there? I mean, are you saying that, you know, that the -- there was a flaw with the test, that a sample was switched or that perhaps even your team somehow got it into your system through a cream, or perhaps inadvertently? He said in no way does he suspect his team. He said he trusts them implicitly. And he would not specify how he thinks this positive test came about. He just kept going back and saying that he feels there's some sort of agenda, and asserted again that he feels he did not do anything to alter his natural production.

NGUYEN: Right. So the questions continue. All right, Chris Lawrence, we appreciate your time. Thank you for that.

A number of developing stories on LIVE FROM this afternoon. A backup of flights at Los Angeles International Airport. We have details on what is causing that problem. Here is a live look at LAX right now.

And new attacks on the city of Beirut. Our Brent Sadler is there. We'll check in with him live from Lebanon.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: We are still following the situation at LAX. One of the landing systems has failed today, putting it down to just one runway, which means there are delays, and plenty of them.

So let's find out how bad the situation is. And is it getting better anytime soon? Allen Kenitzer is an FAA spokesperson, he joins us by phone. Allen, talk to me about the delays. Have they gotten worse, or are they getting better? Is the situation being resolved with this glitch in the system?

ALLEN KENITZER, FAA SPOKESMAN (on phone): Yes, actually, things are getting a lot better right now. It was about 9:17 this morning, part of the instrument landing system on runway 2-5 right field, we're not exactly sure why at the present time. And our technical people are on the scene working the problem.

So in order to deal with that, we changed the landing configuration from landing planes to the west to landing planes to the east. And this has brought arrivals back to almost normal, the normal levels being 58. We're about 54 per hour right now.

NGUYEN: OK, for those of us who don't fully understand what that means, it's called turning around an airport. How does that help a situation like this?

KENITZER: Well it means that we have back the runway we lost, essentially.

NGUYEN: OK, because you're landing in a different direction?

KENITZER: That's correct.

NGUYEN: Was it the weather that was causing the problem because of the fog and the overcast that you needed this system, or has that cleared up as well?

KENITZER: Well, I'm not sure about the weather right now because I'm talking to you from Seattle. But that's one of the reasons we do need an instrument landing system, is so that we can guide planes down during poor weather.

NGUYEN: I see. As far as the backups, you say it's getting better. So you're having close to the 60 and 70 land per hour as is normal at LAX?

KENITZER: That's correct.

NGUYEN: All right. So what was the problem with the glitch? What caused that? Do you know?

KENITZER: We're not exactly sure. The most important thing right now is to get the problem fixed as soon as possible. Then we'll do an investigation to find out exactly what caused it.

NGUYEN: What kind of delays are people experiencing because it can't happen all at once?

KENITZER: I don't have the numbers on the delays right now.

NGUYEN: But it is getting better? There are more planes being landed and both runways are being used at this hour?

KENITZER: That's correct. NGUYEN: All right, Allen Kenitzer, the FAA spokesperson, we appreciate your time on bringing us up to speed on the situation there in L.A. and apparently it is getting better. Both runways are in operation, and delays are not anything where they used to be.

We want to go now to CNN's Brent Sadler in Beirut. Brent, we talked a little bit earlier about an Israeli strike there in southern Beirut which hit a crowded area. What do you know about that?

BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, Betty. Just an hour ago when we last spoke to you live from Beirut, I saw a couple of large heavy plumes of smoke coming out of the southern suburbs, two loud explosions. We can now show you what happened after that latest strike against the southern suburbs of Beirut. We can see there are pictures coming in live here down at the scene.

We understand the detonations happened in a crowded street. The timing of the strike about 8:00 local time. So it was the end of the day, kind of half light when the attack was engaged. And we're not clear of what the casualty figures are at this stage, but certainly Lebanese rescue services are on the scene there trying to find out if there are any survivors who have been trapped in that rubble.

This is the second time on the same day that Israeli war planes have struck the southern suburbs. This area is known as Shia, it's in the suburbs just on the edge of the suburbs, almost a demarcation line between the densely populated Muslim Shia suburbs of Beirut and along the line that really, in the old civil war days, backed on to the Christian part of the city.

So this seems to be a new target area, and at the moment we're waiting for details about any casualties or any attempts to rescue people. More people trapped under that rubble -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Brent, we say this is a crowded area. It was in southern Beirut in a neighborhood there. But what's in the neighborhood? Is it residential area? Are there shops? Are there restaurants? What would people be doing so that it's so crowded in that area?

SADLER: Well, at that time of the day, just after sunset, you know, people are normally heading for home. The city is pretty much quiet after 9:00, 10:00 at night. Hardly anybody starts moving around.

This area, again, is very much like other parts of the southern suburbs, densely populated. High-rise buildings, some of them not very well constructed, a myriad of shops and small side streets, some local reports are saying that this area there is a mall. Whether or not it was open at that time or closed I don't know. We'll have to wait for more information.

But certainly this is the area that was hit by those two strikes we saw earlier, and these pictures now coming out not so long after the Arab foreign ministers were meeting here in the Lebanese capital discussing ways of helping Lebanon at the diplomatic level at the United Nations to work out a better, more favorable draft resolution that the Lebanese government could accept.

So these pictures really -- you can see a car set ablaze by these latest strikes. This all coming in a day where Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Betty, said that really the international community must take account of what's happened to Lebanon's infrastructure, its rising number of casualties, more than 500 before this latest incident.

Fouad Siniora, the Lebanese prime minister breaking down in tears as he was speaking on behalf, he said, of a nation in sorrow, urgently seeking the help of the international community to stop this war in a fashion that will satisfy both sides -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Yes, he was very emotional today. And looking at those pictures coming in from the latest strike there in southern Beirut at a crowded neighborhood, Brent, we'll be checking in with you very shortly.

In the meantime, we invite you to stick around because there's much more to come right here on LIVE FROM. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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