Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

President Bush Calls For Quick Action on U.N. Resolution; Israel Strikes Crowded Street in Beirut; BP Oil Field Shut Down

Aired August 07, 2006 - 15:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: It was a neighborhood that escaped Israeli bombs until today. Here's what we know on day 27 of the Middle East crisis.
You're seeing the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a crowded street in south Beirut -- conflicting reports about the number of dead so far. Lebanese security forces say at least five were killed. And then Associated Press reports its photographer saw at least 10 bodies at a local hospital. That strike hit a building near Beirut's mostly Christian district.

Time to get off the streets. Israeli forces are telling people in southern Lebanon to stay inside. The warning goes into effect right about now. Israel says, anyone on the streets after 10:00 local time is a potential target. That is 3:00 Eastern, again, right now.

It has been a flash point in the almost month-old conflict. And, today, well, it's no different. An anti-tank missile killed two Israeli soldiers near the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbail. Israelis claimed, at one point, that the town was under control. But they are still clashing with Hezbollah militants.

Let's get more now on that Israeli strike on a busy Beirut street. There are conflicting reports, as we have been telling you, on how many people have actually died in this attack.

Our Brent Sadler filed this report about an hour ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, Betty.

Just over an hour ago, I heard two loud explosions and saw black smoke rising from an area of the southern suburbs. This is an area that has not specifically been bombed before. It's known as the Shia district of the southern suburbs.

And we can show you some live pictures now that are coming out in the aftermath of that strike. We understand, according to security sources here, five people have been killed and two dozen others injured. But they're still looking for either possible survivors trapped under that rubble or more bodies.

And, so, this, really, is a developing breaking news story, coming on a day that the Arab foreign ministers were here in Beirut, just a few miles from the scene of this strike, deciding that they would try to help Lebanon, at the United Nations, craft a new draft Security Council -- Council resolution more favorable to Lebanese demands, that Israel withdraw its troops from south Lebanon, in line with a cease-fire on both sides.

And now we have attention focused very much on more casualties on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital. Earlier, Fuad Siniora, the Lebanese prime minister, choked back tears when he was talking to the Arab foreign ministers, as he recounted the deaths of many Lebanese, more than 900 casualties in this near-month-long war.

And Fuad Siniora clearly bearing the nation's sorrows on his shoulders, as he appealed for help from Arab ministers, from their capitals, to throw their weight behind Lebanon's calls for what Lebanon believes will be a more equitable U.N. draft resolution.

So, there we are, Betty, the latest pictures coming out of Beirut, pictures that, again, show the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital -- Betty.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And, as you can see, this is a developing story. Our Brent Sadler is working his sources on this story. And he's going to join us again live in just a few minutes with more on that.

In the meantime, get off the roads, get inside, or you might get hurt -- that's the warning from the Israeli military to the people of southern Lebanon, effective right now, 10:00 p.m. Local time, 3:00 Eastern, as darkness falls on the 27th day of this Middle East crisis.

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

OK, so the deadline is here. What's happening now? Are you seeing any action?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, here, on the Israeli side of the border, there has been a buildup over the past several days of military forces.

And you can hear, behind me, the Israeli artillery continues to pound at what the Israeli military says are Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon -- but no sign, yet, of any ground advance into southern Lebanon, beyond the 10,000 to 12,000 Israeli troops that are already there.

But one of the things Israeli politicians have made clear over the course of the past several hours -- indeed, the past several days, since the deadliest rocket strikes on Israel since the beginning of the conflict -- is that, now, the destruction of these rocket- launching sites, the end of this threat from Hezbollah, who has been firing its rockets at towns and cities across northern Israel, is a priority for the Israeli government.

They say there's two means by which they can achieve ending this threat. The first one is diplomatic. They are watching the negotiations under way in New York at the United Nations Security Council. The hope is, that will produce some kind of cessation by both Hezbollah and, of course, the Israeli military.

But, if it doesn't, the Israeli military, the Israeli government say quite clearly, there is a militarily track that they are prepared to follow through. They say the order has been given to prepare for a wider expansion of military operations in southern Lebanon.

Obviously, if that happened, it would be a major escalation. And the Israeli forces would have to go in, in much stronger numbers, to battle the heavily dug-in, very well-trained Hezbollah guerrillas they have been confronting in on-and-off strikes over the past several weeks -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right, talk to me about what is going on right now, because...

(EXPLOSIONS)

NGUYEN: There you go. We hear the shelling.

And, then, just a -- just a few moments ago, we hear sirens. What kind of sirens were those? Is it something incoming?

CHANCE: No. But we have been hearing those sirens here at this location from where I am speaking to you, in north Israel, go out -- go off every few minutes, really. It's -- in fact, it's a relatively quiet period right now.

But, as I mentioned, the -- the bangs that you can hear in the distance, or just behind me, are Israeli artillery shells, Israeli tank fire, as well, in support -- being fired into southern Lebanon, in support of those Israeli ground forces that are currently there.

It has been a bit of a deadly day for Israeli forces on the ground in southern Lebanon. They have been clashing with Hezbollah guerrillas. At least three Israeli soldiers have been killed in areas which the Israeli government , the Israeli military, had previously said were under Israeli control.

For example, the town of Bint Jbail, which is described as a Hezbollah stronghold, last week, it was said, by the Israeli military, to be under Israeli control. That does not seem to have been the case. Now there has been a rocket strike there by Hezbollah guerrillas. That killed two Israeli soldiers.

Another gun clash, gunfight with Hezbollah guerrillas left another Israeli soldier dead. So, these areas, even though they have been worked on by the Israeli military for some time, are still extremely dangerous -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right, Matthew Chance at the Israeli Lebanese border -- Matthew, thank you for that. Stay safe.

President Bush says Hezbollah started it. Now he wants the United Nations to end it. At his ranch today, he called for quick action on a U.N. resolution to stop the Middle East fighting. And he had his top diplomat with him. CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux has more now from Crawford, Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It certainly was a rare moment to see President Bush holding a formal news conference at the Crawford ranch, but, really, today meant to signal a sense of seriousness and of urgency to the matter in the Middle East crisis -- President Bush introducing not one, but two possible U.N. Security Council resolutions to put an end to the violence.

The first one calls for a stop of the hostilities, not a formal cease-fire, which has a legal meaning, but a stop to the hostilities, which allows Israel to continue to launch attacks in self-defense. The president also outlined what would be a second phase, or a second resolution, setting up the political conditions for what they call a sustainable cease-fire, and, also, the formation of a multinational force.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Under its terms, Hezbollah will be required to immediately stop all attacks; Israel will be required to immediately stop all offensive military operations. And, in addition, the resolution calls for an embargo on the shipment of any arms into Lebanon, except as authorized by the Lebanese government.

MALVEAUX: There have already been objections to this first U.N. Security Council draft resolution from officials from Hezbollah, from the Lebanese government, also from key Arab allies, all pointing to the same thing, saying, that, look, they want an immediate cease-fire. That is not in this draft resolution.

They also want Israeli troops to withdraw from Lebanese territory as quickly as possible.

Now, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice addressed that specific controversy, that issue.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We believe that the extant draft resolution is a firm foundation, is the right basis, but, of course, we're going to listen to the concerns of the parties, and see how they might be addressed. And that's really what's going to be going on today, particularly after the -- the Arab League meets and Prime Minister Siniora emerges from that.

MALVEAUX: So, the bottom line to this diplomatic dance, U.S. fears that basically, if Israeli troops pull out before that multinational force arrives, that Hezbollah again will gain a stronghold in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah is saying here today that they are not going for any kind of stopping of hostilities, or any kind of conditional cease- fire, until Israeli troops withdraw. And, quietly, what is happening here is that the United States, their officials, are trying to buy to reassure Lebanese officials, look, just hold on a little bit longer. We are trying to get that multinational force up as quickly as possible. In the meantime, try to stand down and stop these attacks.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Crawford, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Well, LAX is almost A-OK again, after a big-time landing delay is caused by the loss of a critical guidance system.

Now, earlier, we spoke to FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer about this glitch at one of the nation's business airports. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN KENITZER, SPOKESMAN, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Things are getting a lot better right now. It was about 9:17 this morning, part of the instrument landing system on runway 25 right failed. 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 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 -- who don't fully understand what that means, it's -- 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: I -- was -- 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 actually talking to you from Seattle.

NGUYEN: OK.

KENITZER: But that's one of the reasons we -- we do need an instrument landing system, is so that we can guide planes down during poor weather.

NGUYEN: I see. And, 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: So, there you have it.

Here's another problem to tell you about, the pipeline problems in Prudhoe Bay. How much do you know about Alaska's billion-barrel oil fields. We're going to give you a "Fact Check."

There's more LIVE FROM next. You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Oil prices, they are going up again, this time over a small leak, but a potentially huge problem in Alaska.

BP is shutting down parts of the Prudhoe Bay oil field, which is the nation's largest, to check for pipeline corrosion. BP says the company will replace 73 percent of the pipelines. Now, the trans- Alaska pipeline carries oil from the states' northern coastline to ice-free ports in the south for transport. BP says, the shutdown will reduce American oil production by 8 percent, or 400,000 barrels a day. And the company isn't sure how long it will last.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE MARSHALL, PRESIDENT, BP EXPLORATION ALASKA: Our employees focus 100 percent on the safe shutdowns of the facilities. Only when we are absolutely satisfied that those lines are in good condition will we bring those lines back into service.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Now, the federal government says it is willing to open the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, if refineries request it.

Well, the oil leak in Prudhoe Bay is just the latest problem for BP on the north slope.

Here's a "Fact Check."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The oil fields Prudhoe Bay, on Alaska's north slope, are the largest in North America.

Discovered in 1968, more than 10.8 billion barrels of oil have been pumped from 19 fields. Initially, daily production was a million-and-a-half barrels of oil and gas liquid. But that slowed down considerably. And now an average of about 680,000 barrels are produced per day.

Oil is moved from the north slope to Valdez, Alaska, by the trans-Alaska pipeline. Construction of the 800-mile pipeline was completed in 1977. The nation's largest oil spill occurred in the area when the Exxon Valdez tanker spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound in 1989, killing hundreds and thousands of birds and marine animals, and soiling more than 1,200 miles of rocky coastline. BP's move to shut down the Prudhoe Bay oil fields is the latest problem for the oil giant on the north slope. The shutdown comes six months after the north slope's biggest ever oil spill. Some 267,000 gallons of oil gushed from a BP transit line. BP has been criticized and fined on several occasions for maintenance lapses. Two years ago, state regulators fined the company more than $1.2 million after an explosion and fire at one of its wells.

BP has repeatedly denied that it skimps on maintaining the Prudhoe Bay facility.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Martha Stewart is tidying up some insider trader charges, at a cost. The domestic diva has agreed to pay out, oh, about $195,000, what the government says she would have lost in the stock market, had she not sold ImClone stock just before it tanked.

The deal settles a civil case filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. And it bars Stewart from serving as a director of a public company for five years. It has been almost a year-and-a- half since Stewart finished a five-month prison term for lying to investigators about her sale of that ImClone stock.

Midterm elections that could rewrite the script and shake up the cast on Capitol Hill, and they are just three months away. But a curtain-raiser comes tomorrow. Connecticut Democrats will settle a hugely suspenseful primary race between three-term Senator Joe Lieberman and upstart Ned Lamont. Once considered a shoe-in, Lieberman is on the ropes over his backing of the war in Iraq and a perception that he is overly partial to President Bush.

A new poll shows Lamont still leading, but by a smaller margin than last week, by about six points.

Well, here in Georgia, controversial Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney faces a runoff tomorrow. The feisty Democrat appears to have hurt her cause with her tussle last March with a Capitol Hill policeman. Now, the fallout helped little-known Georgian Hank Johnson deprive McKinney of a win in last month's Democratic primary.

He is still the Tour de France champion, technically, for now, that is. Floyd Landis told us today, one thing pushed him to victory. And that was hard work, nothing else.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLOYD LANDIS, TOUR DE FRANCE WINNER: I am 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.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Not so fast. Tour de France directors say Landis cheated. Landis has a theory. And we are going to hear it -- coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: The results are a mistake. The testers, they have an agenda. Time will prove him a true champion -- those words from the man who wore the yellow jersey on the winner's stand at the Tour de France. Floyd Landis told us, this morning, that, no matter the outcome of a doping investigation that has thrown his victory into doubt, he feels good about what he accomplished.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANDIS: I will tell you what. I am 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 am 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 -- I'm proud of the achievement that I have made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: So, will Floyd Landis keep his title? It doesn't look likely.

The Tour de France director says he does not consider Landis the champion.

If you have ever walked by a store window and thought, boy, I should buy that, but I just don't have time to do it right now, well, one retailer is making the buying process a whole lot easier.

Susan Lisovicz is live from the New York Stock Exchange with all these details.

Susan, OK. If they can buy it, that's one thing, but can they pick up the tab, too?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's...

(LAUGHTER)

NGUYEN: I would really appreciate that.

(LAUGHTER)

LISOVICZ: That's exactly my thought.

(LAUGHTER)

LISOVICZ: I don't think the technology is there...

NGUYEN: Darn.

LISOVICZ: ... quite yet, Betty.

Polo Ralph Lauren is taking impulse shopping to a whole new level. The Ralph Lauren flagship store on Madison Avenue, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is allowing passersby to purchase clothes they see in the window by tapping on the glass, just like that.

The store has a 67-inch image of tennis apparel the company is selling in connection with its sponsorship of the U.S. Open tournament, which begins here in two weeks. Customers can touch the products they want to buy -- just like that -- and then swipe their credit cards on a reader mounted to the outside of the window.

The option is open to shoppers even when the store is closed. The idea for this high-tech buying option came to senior vice president David Lauren -- yes, he's the son of Ralph -- after he saw the movie "Minority Report" with Tom Cruise. Polo Ralph Lauren plans to keep up the display until September 10, when it will decide whether to expand the technology to its other stores.

And, Betty, you are so right. This is not Target or Price Chopper.

This is...

NGUYEN: Right.

LISOVICZ: This is Polo Ralph Lauren.

(LAUGHTER)

LISOVICZ: You need lots of zeros with some of those...

NGUYEN: You're...

LISOVICZ: ... prices.

NGUYEN: ... going to need some money for that...

LISOVICZ: Mmm-hmm.

NGUYEN: ... and lots of it. It -- but it did remind me, like you said, of that -- that movie "Minority Report," where they are always moving things around like that.

(CROSSTALK)

NGUYEN: It's pretty cool, though.

LISOVICZ: Yes.

NGUYEN: Speaking of technology, it looks like the tech sector is leading a sell-off on Wall Street?

LISOVICZ: That's right. Yes.

The Nasdaq is the hardest-hit right now. And stocks, in general, Betty, as we have talked, I mean, they're -- they're lower, after more than a $2 jump in oil prices. They closed at $76.98 a barrel. That is five cents shy of the all-time closing high -- the surge coming, as we have been reporting, after BP said it will shut down the Prudhoe Bay Alaska oil field because of a corroded pipeline there.

BP said it will replace 16 miles of the pipeline, and that the oil fields could be closed for weeks, maybe even months -- investors also waiting to see whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates for the 18th straight time, when it meets tomorrow. Most traders expect the Fed to finally take a pause.

Right now, the Dow Jones industrials are down nearly 28 points, or a quarter of a percent -- the Nasdaq composite, meanwhile, down 14 points, or about two-thirds of a percent.

And Ralph Lauren, by the way, investors are not buying. Those shares, right now, they are down...

(LAUGHTER)

LISOVICZ: ... three-quarters of a percent.

(LAUGHTER)

LISOVICZ: Betty, that's the latest from Wall Street.

NGUYEN: They are saving their money.

(LAUGHTER)

LISOVICZ: Exactly.

NGUYEN: That's what they're doing.

Hey, let me ask you this, Susan. You ever run a marathon?

LISOVICZ: No way. I have watched plenty of them. And New York -- it's one of the greatest things New York City does.,

NGUYEN: Absolutely. It's great to watch, hard to do.

Well, you will want to stay around, because, if running a marathon sounds like a challenge, how about running 50 marathons in 50 days? Yes, that's a lot of running to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's definitely a challenge, but I pretty -- pretty much get up in the morning, run a marathon, and then ice, and get a massage, and take a shower, and stay off my feet the rest of the day.

(END VIDEO CLIP) NGUYEN: OK, again, folks, 50 marathons in 50 days, can you believe it? Well, that's what this man is doing.

You will want to stay with LIVE FROM to find out why he is pounding so much pavement.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right, fast-moving developments in this Mideast crisis -- we learned, just a short while ago, about an airstrike on south Beirut in a Christian neighborhood, in fact.

Let's go now to CNN's Brent Sadler, who joins us from Beirut.

Talk to us about this strike, Brent.

SADLER: Betty, it was in fading light at the end of a day which started with an airstrike, finished with another airstrike -- more bombs hitting a neighborhood that, until now, was thought to be relatively safe.

The first strike today hit a -- a familiar target and Hezbollah stronghold. But the one at the end of the day hit the Shia district of the southern suburbs, where there's a mix of community in there, some Christians, but mostly Shia Muslims. We are getting reports that at least five, possibly as many as ten people were killed as a result of this Israeli military action and dozens more wounded.

We were able to see clearly from the pictures in the aftermath of two blasts that Lebanese were using their hands to try to move rubble and get through concrete to reach people who were trapped inside the damage there. Some very difficult circumstances having to work with emergency lights and trying to listen to the sounds of people calling for help at one stage under some of that debris. Just to confirm official figures five dead at least two dozen injured.

NGUYEN: Brent, talk to us about this Shia neighborhood. Why do you suspect that was targeted?

SADLER: Difficult to say what the reason behind the air strike was, but we do know that some people were living there, not clear of the numbers. And we do know that some of the people who have been living in areas that have been heavily attacked and are now empty have moved to these districts, to these outer-lying districts of the southern suburbs. So it's impossible to say the reasoning behind the military strike but certainly the aftermath has, once again, raised questions about Israel attacking areas where there is a mix of civilian population in an area where, under normal times, it's densely populated and poorly-made buildings, badly constructed buildings.

So, at the moment the Lebanese government has just come out with breaking news, offering to send 15,000 Lebanese troops to south Lebanon as part of a deal that's being thrashed out at the United Nations. This offer of sending the Lebanese army down south is a significant offer coming at a crucial time in international diplomatic efforts to try to stop the fighting. Israel has yet to react officially to such a move. But it does come at a very interesting time. It will be an offer that's very hard to ignore, given that the international community, under a previous resolution, almost two years ago, had been pressing the Lebanese authorities to send the Lebanese army down to the south and push Hezbollah back from the border with Israel. Betty?

NGUYEN: All right, so reservists being called up. In the meantime, the video has been showing, people frantically digging in search of survivors in this Shia neighborhood in southern Beirut. Brent Sadler, our Beirut bureau chief, thank you for that report.

So they were sent to spread freedom and democracy. Instead a group of U.S. soldiers allegedly spread mayhem and death, unspeakable crimes against an innocent Iraqi family.

A military hearing is under way in Baghdad and CNN's Harris Whitbeck has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (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. 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 (ph) 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 are 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 investigator's 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 (ph), who was in is the same platoon as the accused, but was not involved in the incident, told the tribunal Green had told him what happened. And he said he had heard 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 happened. There's nothing I've read that says what to do if your buddies have raped and murdered a family.

(on camera): U.S. officials have sought to assure their Iraqi counter-parts the soldiers will be punished if convicted. Iraq has already asked for an independent investigation and that immunity from Iraqi prosecution for U.S. soldiers operating in the country be lifted. Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: 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 the battle that raged for more than an hour. Three Iraqis were killed and a U.S. soldier was wounded. The heightened American presence is meant to rest control of the capital from roving bands of militias.

A suicide bombing in Samarra. A truck loaded with fruit, but also explosives, leveled a two-story building north of Baghdad. Killed in that attack at least 10 Iraqi troops. The building housed Iraqi police commandos.

Well a year ago, Hurricane Katrina dealt a losing hand to the Gulf coast casino industry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really sad to, you know, to be able to go out there and drive down the beach and see emptiness but you can come inside here and it's like there's life again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: The gamble to rebuild, well it is paying off. We have that story for you coming up right here on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: How about that? There's a loud, brassy party in New Orleans over the weekend marking the 105th anniversary of the birth of jazz legend Louis Armstrong. While the hot jazz played, people prayed for the return of musicians who still haven't come home in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

It's not quite business as usual on the Mississippi but a multi- billion industry is making a comeback and making winners out of those who bet on the region's recovery after last year's hurricanes. CNN Susan Roesgen reports from Biloxi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ten months out of practice, Deborah Brady says her hands haven't quite gotten the rhythm of dealing Black Jack again. But after Hurricane Katrina forced her out of work, she couldn't wait to get back to Boomtown Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi.

DEBORAH BRADY, BLACKJACK DEALER: It's really sad to, you know, to be able to go out there, and drive down the beach and see emptiness, but you can come inside of here and it's like there's life again. ROESGEN: The artificially cheerful atmosphere of a casino isn't just therapy for employees like Deborah. It's big business for the state of Mississippi. Before Katrina the casino industry was the state's biggest employer, boosting Mississippi's tax revenue by half a million dollars a day. That was until the state's luck ran out August 29th.

The hurricane pushed a wall of water on the Gulf coast casinos, damaging some, wiping out others completely. The biggest, Beau Rivage, lost just one window, but the ground floor casino flooded, putting 3,000 people out of work. Today Beau Rivage is trying to hire new and former employees and helping them find housing, transportation, and child care.

ROGENA BARNES, BEAU RIVAGE HR DIRECTOR: Over 50 percent of the child care centers were destroyed as a result of the storm. So those are the kinds of issues that we've had to deal with.

ROESGEN: Beau Rivage is planning to re-open August 29th, the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. And Boomtown Casino is planning an expansion. More room to accommodate more gamblers today than it had before Katrina. But Deborah Brady says if a hurricane heads this way again, she'll start dealing cards in Atlantic City.

BRADY: I'm going to have to go up north to one of their casinos. I don't ever want to stay for another one.

ROESGEN: Mississippi casinos are betting that they won't get hit again. Gambling on life on the Gulf Coast. Susan Roesgen, CNN, Biloxi, Mississippi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: All right. On a somewhat related note, remember "Forrest Gump?" One day he started running and just couldn't stop? That's the kind of, I guess, marathon you'd say Sam Thompson is doing. He started running these marathons to raise money for hurricane relief on the Mississippi Coast. Not a couple of marathons, oh, no, or even several marathons, but 50 marathons in 50 days in all 50 states. He's already completed 39 of them. Sam Thompson joins me now from Washington to talk about all this running. And actually we have to correct ourselves right Sam, because you ran two within the past 24 hours, one at midnight and one again this morning?

SAM THOMPSON, MARATHON RUNNER: That's correct.

NGUYEN: Are trying to kill yourself?

THOMPSON: I hope not. I hope not.

NGUYEN: Well tell me, what caused you to think of this grand plan of running 51, 52 marathons in 50 days in 50 states?

THOMPSON: Well I initially had the idea several years ago, quite honestly because I thought it would be fun, believe it or not.

NGUYEN: Fun? OK.

THOMPSON: But I realized it would be a great way to raise money and/or awareness for a nonprofit. But kind of put the idea on the back burner for a bit. And I have been down on the Mississippi Coast since Katrina hit almost a year ago now, leading a volunteer relief operation there.

And so seeing them first hand, the huge needs that still exist there, I felt like this was the time and the place to bring the idea off the back burner and put it in action, so I decided to run.

NGUYEN: Well you have definitely put it into action, although I want to show a picture. This really is telling. It's of you just sprawled out on the grass after one these marathons, just exhausted. I have to ask, 37 so far, are you just feeling it now? I mean, are you really exhausted? How is your body holding up through all of this? I can't even imagine running one marathon, let alone as many as you have run just in the past 37 days.

THOMPSON: Well actually, I believe it or not I am feeling stronger as I go. My times by and large are going down each day, really. And I feel incredibly strong. The picture of me sprawled out was actually in Phoenix where there was 116-degree heat. That was a tough one.

NGUYEN: I imagine. And we have that other picture of you in the bath tub soaking in some ice after this marathon. Is your body holding up? Are you eating right? Have you lost any weight?

THOMPSON: I actually have not lost any weight. I have my girlfriend, who is a registered dietitian, with me on the cruise. So she keeps calories packed into me every day and makes me eat even when I don't want to.

NGUYEN: You have to keep up the energy. Now a lot of people watching this would do the math. Usually marathons are on weekend when everyone can participate in them, but you are running 51, 52 in 50 days. How is that possible in all these different states?

THOMPSON: Well I am running actual marathon courses, so I am running a marathon distance but not obviously on race day. So I have scheduled as many on race day as I possibly could. And all told I will have run seven on race day within this 50.

NGUYEN: Really.

THOMPSON: And everything else is just 26.2 miles on a race course, as is. I track it with a GPS watch and typically have folks come out and run with me, much like, as you mentioned "Forest Gump."

NGUYEN: Run Sam, run, and you have been. So how much money have you raised? Tell us about that and the sponsors, and where it's all going.

THOMPSON: Well I personally am sponsored by the North Face. And so that's a huge help and they have helped a lot with Katrina recovery in the past and continue to do so now. But in terms of money I raised, I am not actually raising money directly. I have on my Web site, which is 50in50in50.com, several places that people can donate that I recommend personally.

But my push is really just reminding people that everything is not fixed. And you can give to any charity that you choose to that's still active on the case. But my main thrust is just to tell people that everything is not fixed and it's a long haul, there is still a long way to go.

NGUYEN: I think you put it very well, it is a long haul and you have been right there with it raising awareness, doing your part in all of this. So I can't believe we got to sit down for just a minute or two because I know you've got to keep running. But when you get finally done with this, quickly, tell me what's the thing that you are looking forward to the most? What are you going to do when you stop running?

THOMPSON: Well, there's a much less publicized event which I am starting the day after this. And it's actually going to be 50 naps in 50 days in one state.

NGUYEN: Fifty naps?

THOMPSON: Yes.

NGUYEN: So you are going to sleep basically. All right Sam -- well you know what, by that time you will definitely have earned it. Sam Thompson, marathon runner who keeps running and running and running. We thank you for spending a little time with us today. Good luck to you.

THOMPSON: Thank you so much.

NGUYEN: Sure.

A hot train, an illegal immigrant and an arrival in the United States that one man will never forget. The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: New into CNN. Days after being arrested, one of the two serial shooter suspects in Phoenix, Arizona, is defending himself from behind bars.

Suspect Dale Hausner tells CNN affiliate KTBK he is not a monster and he wasn't involved in the shootings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DALE HAUSNER, SERIAL SHOOTER SUSPECT: I am so sorry. This is such a tragedy for -- and I hate -- I lost two kids in 1994 because my wonderful ex-wife (INAUDIBLE) gunned down in the desert. She fell asleep at the wheel of the car and killed both of my boys. And I know what it's like to suffer the loss of a kid, and I would never, ever, ever want anybody to go through what I went through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Hausner tells reporters his roommate, Samuel Dieteman, may have used his car and guns to carry out those attacks. But police say Dieteman told them he and Hausner took turns targeting victims over the past fifteen months.

It is amazing the risks desperate people take to reach the U.S. illegally. This man is lucky to be alive. He found himself locked inside a steel train car near San Antonio, trapped for two days in the South Texas heat with no food or water. Someone finally heard him shouting and called 911. The man told authorities he's from Honduras and paid smugglers $2,000 to get to New York City.

Twenty-two and it could be more. The number of deaths linked to last week's scorching heat in New York City. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called for an investigation to see whether the city could have prevented any of those deaths, and to see how it could prevent future deaths.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: It is time now to check in CNN's Wolf Blitzer. He is standing by Jerusalem to tell us what is coming up at the top of the hour in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Hi there, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Betty. Thanks very much.

We're monitoring all the latest developments in the Middle East crisis, including deadly new airstrikes on Beirut's suburbs just hours ago. Plus, the Lebanese government now pledging to send 15,000 troops to the border with Israel, but with one major condition, also.

The crisis prompts President Bush to break from his vacation and hold a rare formal news conference at his Texas ranch. We'll have all the details of what he's saying about the new unfolding diplomatic drama.

Plus the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad. He'll join us to talk about the violence in Iraq, as well as the war between Israel and Hezbollah. All that, Betty, coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

NGUYEN: All right, thank you, Wolf.

And this just into CNN. The Department of Veterans Affairs announces yet another laptop that is missing. This laptop contains personal information for 38,000 veterans, but the V.A. believes the records involved in this laptop are limited to people who received treatment at the two Pennsylvania medical centers during the past four years.

Now, if you'll recall, just two days ago, authorities arrested someone in an unrelated stolen laptop case, also information from the Department of Veteran Affairs. And, again, after that arrest, we are hearing news today, just into CNN, that another laptop is missing with critical information dealing with veterans. We'll stay on top of this story and bring you more.

Also, we're going to see what those problems with an Alaska pipeline did to oil prices today. Ali Velshi rolls out his barrel next. More LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Problems with the pipeline at Alaska's Prudhoe Bay oil field. Oil giant BP is shutting down the field to check for corrosion in the pipes. That will reduce production by 400,000 barrels a day.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com