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Israel Keeps Eye on Iran; Marines Needed for Second Tours in Iraq, Afghanistan; Relationship Ends Between Tom Cruise and Paramount
Aired August 23, 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: No threat yet but it's getting stronger and today it has a name, Debby. Jacqui Jeras is real good friends with her.
(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: All right Jacqui, thanks so much.
Well the end of this month could bring a new faze of the showdown with Iran. Iran faces an August 31 deadline to stop its nuclear activities or face economic sanctions. Well it offered a written response yesterday, which includes an offer to resume talks, but European negotiators say it has to stop enriching uranium first. Iran says it's sending out positive signals and is urging the west to negotiate.
Israel is keeping its eye on Iran as the standoff unfolds. It's also keeping its finger on the trigger. CNN's Chris Lawrence has more from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Rockets fired from Gaza. Katyushas launched from Lebanon. But senior officials say Israel's ultimate enemy is Iran.
RAFI EITAN, ISRAELI SECURITY CABINET: We should be ready for rockets from Iran.
LAWRENCE: Iran has been refusing demands that it stop enriching uranium. Tensions with the United States have been escalating over its nuclear program. And a senior cleric says if the United States attacks Iran, Israel will pay the price.
(on camera): Rhetoric aside, do you really believe that Iran would directly attack Israel?
ERAN LERMAN, FMR. ISRAELI INTEL. OFFICER: I think Israel has to be worried.
LAWRENCE (voice over): Former Israeli intelligence officer Eran Lerman says Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made his intentions clear, the end of Israel. Iran says its uranium enrichment program is not designed to build bombs. But Lerman says Iran's missiles are designed to one day carry a nuclear warhead.
LERMAN: Shahab series was refitted and -- and made to reach Israel quite specifically.
LAWRENCE: Some Israeli officials believe the Shahab missile could reach as far as Tel Aviv.
EITAN: We have enough anti-missile missiles that we are able to protect the center, but not -- not all of Israel.
LAWRENCE: Just this week Iran test-fired another shorter-range missile. Iranian officials say they're designed to defend the country from an Israeli or American attack. But former spy master Rafi Eitan is warning Israelis to prepare for Iran's aggression.
EITAN: They should put the public on alert.
LAWRENCE: Israelis have been climbing out of their bomb shelters after the Katyusha attacks. Eitan is urging them to immediately reinforce those bunkers for what may be the greater war to come.
LAWRENCE (on camera): Eitan says Israel should be read if the U.S. hits Iran. He hopes that President Bush would give Israel advance warning to minimize the damage he is sure would follow. Chris Lawrence, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Firing off a cruise missile. A showbiz mogul sends Tom a letter saying future movie missions are just impossible. Go call your agent and meet us back here for more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well they're called ready reserves for a reason, but ready or not, hundreds, maybe thousands of U.S. marines who have gone off active duty are coming back because they're needed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here's CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Up to 2,500 marines will be called up in the coming months for service in Iraq and Afghanistan. They'll get five months' notice and then have to report for a tour of 12 to 18 months, including time for a refresher training. The troops would be part of deployments scheduled for next Spring and Summer. The Marine Corps says volunteers from the reserves will be taken before anyone is called back involuntarily.
The individual ready reserve is made of marines who are fulfilling their contractual obligation to the military after leaving active duty, usually an additional four years.
Marines who have been out for less than a year are exempt from the recall and Marines with recent or multiple combat tours will be the last called. The Marine Corps needs to fill high demand jobs, especially combat arms, military police, communications and intelligence specialists and engineers. This is not the first time troops from the ready reserve have been called back. Back in 2003, some 2,000 Marines were activated at the start of the Iraq war. And since September 11, the Army has called some 5,000 troops back, of which some 2,200 are serving now.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, most Marines probably look at the call-up as just another part of who they are and what they do. Here's a look at their history and traditions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Listen to the "Marine Corps Hymn" and you'll hear the history of this elite fighting force. "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, we fight our country's battle in the air, on land and sea."
Created by the Continental Congress in 1775, the Marines saw action in the Revolutionary War, and made their first amphibious landing in the Bahamas in 1776. Since then, the Marines have fought in every war involving the United States, including some of the most famous battles: Belleau Wood in France during World War I, Iwo Jima in World War II, the Inchon invasion in the Korean War, and siege of Khe Sanh during the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, and the war in Iraq.
The Marines' legendary esprit de corps is summed up in the Marine motto, "Semper Fidelis," always faithful. One of the Marines' longstanding monikers, leathernecks, dates back to the 18th century when Marines wore leather collars.
If there's one fact about the Corps that you'd probably never get a Marine to admit, it's this. The Marine Corps is actually a component of the U.S. Navy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: When Adam Galvez became a U.S. Marine, it was one of his family's proudest moments, but when two Marines came to their door on Sunday, it was one of the worst.
Reporter Amanda Butterfield of CNN affiliate KSL in Salt Lake City has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMY GALVEZ, MARINE'S MOTHER: You know what it is. There's no question what it is.
AMANDA BUTTERFIELD, KSL REPORTER (voice-over): Amy Galvez was hoping there was some kind of mixup when two men in uniform were at her door telling her Adam, her 21-year-old son, was killed in battle. AMY GALVEZ: But I had just talked to him the day before. So, you know, you hope. You hope that maybe there's a mistake, but of course there's not.
BUTTERFIELD: Adam was riding in an armored vehicle when it triggered an explosive buried in the ground.
TONY GALVEZ, MARINE'S FATHER: He took the brunt of the explosion. The explosion killed him, another Marine, and a Navy corpsman.
BUTTERFIELD: It was less than two years ago Adam became a Marine, and he didn't do it alone. He did it with his best friend, Robert Clark.
ADAM GALVEZ, U.S. MARINE CORPS: We played baseball since we were young, went to school, we've done everything together.
ROBERT CLARK, U.S. MARINE CORPS: We were really lonely when we first got here, and it was really nice having someone that was -- also that cared and could help you through it.
BUTTERFIELD: With his proud family watching, Adam and Robert were pinned with the eagle, globe and anchor, the sign of the Marine Corps.
A. GALVEZ: He's a marine now and he's trained and he's capable. I have a lot of confidence in him. He's a wonderful young man now.
BUTTERFIELD: And that's how he will be remembered.
T. GALVEZ: As a patriot, as a hero, as a Marine.
BUTTERFIELD: As for Robert, he's stationed at Camp Pendleton, and he will escort Adam's body back to Salt Lake City.
T. GALVEZ: They went in together, and Bobby's bringing him home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Marine Corporal Adam Galvez is one of 2,612 American men and women who have sacrificed their lives in the war in Iraq.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: She's one of America's favorite singer/songwriters, and tonight, you can hear Sheryl Crow's exclusive interview with our own Larry King.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, CNN HOST: How did they tell you? What did they tell you? You have cancer?
SHERYL CROW, SINGER: Well, I think -- God, you know, it's a little bit of a blur, but when she came in, she said, it's not what I hoped. And I knew at that moment that it was ...
KING: Not what I hoped.
CROW: Yes, it was not what we planned. And she said, I'm as surprised as you are. And then she said, but this is treatable.
KING: We hear about stage three, stage four. Stage one seems minor.
CROW: Stage one is very early. Yes, and, you know, it's funny because I immediately starting becoming known as a cancer survivor. And I've known so many cancer survivors who have really fought for their lives and have been in the test studies and, I mean, clearly Lance is one of those people. And some amazing people along the way.
And for me, initially I was a bit reticent to even come out and talk about it. But I think my story is -- at least for women in -- who are of my age bracket and younger, I think my story is celebratory in the fact that prevention is really the best cure. And if you're not getting your mammogram, if you don't know your family history, take responsibility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Sheryl Crow on life after cancer and Lance Armstrong. That's tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE," a special time, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.
No more Cruises in the Redstone arsenal, and I don't mean missiles. It's Tom Cruise. And Sumner Redstone's star arsenal at Paramount Pictures. But just who fired whom? We're going to launch into that topic, next on LIVE FROM.
(MUSIC)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: So did he jump or was he pushed? Depends on whether you ask Tom Cruise's camp or Paramount Pictures. In any case, the 14- year relationship has ended. In Hollywood years, darn near an eternity. Is it because the over-40 actor is losing box office clout? Is that it? Or the numbers just don't seem to show it in the past ten years, with just one exception: Cruise's movies have grossed more than $200 million. And just a couple of months ago, "Forbes" magazine dubbed him the world's most powerful star.
So, you got to wonder, how did TomKat, Scientology and that dust- up with Brooke Shields figure into the big split? Harvey Levin is the managing editor of the irreverent showbiz blog tmz.com.
Would you like a little Barbra Streisand there, Harvey? That was a little special tune just for you there.
HARVEY LEVIN, MANAGING EDITOR, TMZ.COM: Yes, you know what, I had to, like, hit my ear a little bit, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So what's going on? What's the deal? Is it less about dollars and more about Cruise's lack of sense?
LEVIN: You know, I think it's about both, Kyra. What I'm hearing is this. I mean, look, Tom Cruise is a hugely expensive proposition for Paramount or any studio. You know, he's getting around 25 percent of the gross on his movies before anybody gets a penny. And even though they make a lot of movie, Tom Cruise gets a whole lot before anybody makes a cent. So if he becomes risky because of his conduct, if he turns off fans, it's a problem for somebody who's that high ticket an item.
And, you know, on top of that, I have to tell you, my gut tells me he did something to really tick off Sumner Redstone. Because for Sumner Redstone to come out and not only say he's gone, but to say he behaved badly and Paramount's not going to have any of it, something happened here. We're trying to get to the bottom of it. But something was said to someone, and I think he ticked Sumner Redstone off.
PHILLIPS: All right, so you don't know exactly what it was, what was said. Because, you know, the thought is, hey, there's no such thing as bad publicity, as far as Hollywood is concerned.
LEVIN: You know, it's true. But nobody wants to get fired and basically be told that they acted like a jerk and that's why the studio is getting rid of him. But that's essentially what the titan of this studio did. Basically said, we don't want to have you anymore because of who you are, Tom. And, obviously, Tom's partner was outraged, said this is just unfair. She was talking about how much money they've made for Paramount. But this got personal, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Well, Cruise's camp, of course, says it was Tom's decision to sunder the partnership. Wouldn't it make sense for him to have more financial control?
LEVIN: Well, you know, yes, if he has options. But he had a really sweet deal at Paramount. And deals like this aren't to be had in many places. These are on the wane right now in the studios, because they're just too expensive and they're too risky.
So what I heard happen is this. That Paramount said to Tom Cruise a while ago, look, you can stay, but we're not going to offer you nearly the deal that we gave you before. He blanched at that. They started negotiating. They couldn't reach any kind of agreement, and that's when it blew up.
PHILLIPS: So what male stars stand to gain if Cruise's star falls? Do you see this as a generational deal in any way?
LEVIN: I do, to some extent. I mean, the studios are always looking for the next big star. I think, to some extent, Brad Pitt benefits here because he's got a squeaky clean image. But ultimately, what I think is going to happen here, Kyra, is that all of the studios are looking for a new star with the X-factor, that kind of unknown quantity.
In addition to that, I think they're going to look at the personality, almost like they do a background check on these people, to make sure that they're going to wear well with the public. Because they don't want to create and cultivate this huge star, and the media is looking at their every move, and it turns out they're not particularly likable. And I think that's the lesson learned here.
PHILLIPS: Do you know Tom Cruise? Do you like him?
LEVIN: You know, I don't know him. And I have mixed feelings about him. I mean, you know, I guess, in a way, Kyra, I think that the winner in this is his former publicist, whose name is Pat Kingsley. She managed this guy so well for so long, and he seemed so normal and so nice. And then he fired her a year ago, and Tom Cruise kind of went nutso. And, you know, he's jumping on couches and challenging morning anchors and showing a side that she kept under wraps for a long time. So, in some ways, this is vindication day for Pat Kingsley.
PHILLIPS: Harvey Levin, thanks for the scoop.
LEVIN: See you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, let's check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. He's standing by in "THE SIT ROOM" to tell us what's coming up at the top of the hour. My guess is, he's not talking about Tom Cruise.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: No, but you did a nice job on that subject. Thanks, Kyra.
Republicans traditionally win more of votes when it comes to issues of war and terror. But will that be true this November? We're out on the campaign trail with one race that might surprise you. And I'll speak live with Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean.
The Reverend Jesse Jackson says he's going to the Middle East. Will he do what he's done in the past, win the release of prisoners? Jesse Jackson will join us live in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
Plus, President Bush's visitor from New Orleans. Why did the president suddenly decide to meet with Hurricane Katrina survivor, at least one of them, this morning? All that coming up, Kyra, right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
PHILLIPS: Hey, Wolf?
BLITZER: Yes?
PHILLIPS: You're a lot better looking than Tom Cruise.
BLITZER: Hmm, thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right, let's move on.
Honey, I think Fluffy wants to go out. What the? This is not Fluffy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope you got a shotgun. There he is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE; You better get in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Here it comes. And watch the eyes. Oh! Oh! Is that frightening or what? Indeed, a Colorado homeowner got quite a shock last night when he discovered a mountain lion had gotten into his house. Well, he prudently ran next door to a neighbor's house, called the sheriff and he grabbed a camcorder. After about an hour, the mountain lion managed to bust through a screen window, as you can see here, without straining itself. No word on what the inside of the house looked like afterward.
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