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Bombings Across Iraq Leave More Than Three Dozen People Dead; Israel Expands Ground Offensive in Lebanon

Aired August 01, 2006 - 11:30   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We'll turn to other news across the world. Bombings across Iraq today leave more than three dozen people dead. Many of the victims Iraqi soldiers.
Our Harris Whitbeck is in Baghdad with more of that -- Harris.

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT Hi, Daryn.

As you say, members of the Iraqi security forces were the targets in the violence in Baghdad today. In one incident, a group of soldiers who were near a bank in the Carata (ph) district of Baghdad, they had gone to this bank to cash their monthly paychecks, they were attacked with -- a suicide car bomber detonated in front of their path, and at least 10 people were killed there and about 15 were wounded.

There was also an incident north of Baghdad, on the road that leads out of the northern city of Tikrit. A convoy that carried a bus -- there was a bus carrying about 40 Iraqi soldiers in that convoy. That bus was hit by an improvised-explosive device, and there were several more Iraqi soldiers there, possibly up to about 40 Iraqi soldiers would have lost their lives in that incident. There was also an attack on a police patrol in which six Iraqi police officers were killed and nine were wounded. So it's been a very, very difficult day for members of the Iraqi security forces.

Meanwhile, members of the multinational force were not exempt from the violence today. One British soldier was killed when a mortar hit the multinational force in the southern port city of Basra. And a U.S. soldier was killed when the convoy he was traveling in was hit by an improvised explosive device. That happened south of the Iraqi capital -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Harris Whitbeck live from Baghdad, thank you.

Let's move on to elsewhere in the Middle East and what we know at the half hour. Israel widening its ground offensive in Southern Lebanon.

Looking at video that we just got into CNN here this morning.

Israel claims to have killed or wounded more than 20 Hezbollah fighters over the last two days.

Meanwhile, Syria, Lebanon's neighbor and Hezbollah's backer, is on alert. Syria's president has ordered troops to increase their readiness. Syria's ambassador, however, says his country does not plan to enter the conflict.

Our Karl Penhaul joins us live now. He is in Southern Lebanon in the town of Tyre.

Karl, hello.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, we have been following reports of that renewed fighting down in the border town of Aita Al- Shaab. That's about 15 miles southeast of where we are now, and just about a mile across the border from Israel. What we've seen from pictures coming out of there in the course of the day is that Israel is once again been pounding that village with artillery fire and also apparently with tank fire. There are also reports from the Hezbollah side that Israeli ground troops are on the ground in that area, and although Israel is saying that they claim to have killed Hezbollah fighters in that clash. Conversely Hezbollah fighters are claiming to have killed Israeli troops in that, but this village was one of the villages outlined and warned that the Israeli Defense Forces were warning about two days ago, that they'd called on the United Nations to pull all civilians out of there because they intended to bombard it. That's what's now happening. It's not clear if any of the civilians were still left in that area -- Daryn.

KAGAN: So it's unclear right now what percentage of the civilians took those warnings to heart and got out.

PENHAUL: Certainly over the course of the last few days it is quite clear that all the civilians that have been able to leave have left, but even in some of the hardest hit towns. I, yesterday, for example, was in Bint Jbeil. My colleague, Ben Wedeman, today was in the border village of Aye Taroun (ph). And again, in all these villages, there is still a hardcore of stragglers that have been left behind, because either there was just no fuel to leave, or they were just too poor and had no family anywhere else. So that is the danger there in these towns that are currently being bombarded by the Israeli military. And that is also going to be the danger going forward if the Israelis carry out this threat of carrying out a wider ground invasion.

What we also do know on that subject is that according to our teams that have been out on the ground in the course of the day, they have seen movement by Hezbollah militia fighters moving around ammunition, moving around fighters, and also moving around trucks loaded with either what appeared to be rockets or rocket-launching tubes, so certainly looks like Hezbollah fighters are preparing for a fight with Israeli troops if they do launch a widescale ground invasion -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Karl Penhaul, live from Southern Lebanon, in Tyre, thank you.

Ahead, a closer look at the Israeli military and how they're targeting Hezbollah. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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KAGAN: Hope to hear from you soon.

Picking a target and missing the mark. How and why did so many civilians die in the Israeli attack on Qana.

Barbara Starr reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After the Israeli airstrike on Qana that killed dozens of civilians, the prime minister apologized, but the question is how did it happen?

MARK REGEV, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN: I think we have to be that much more careful and I think we have to be very surgical, as much as we can be in fighting Hezbollah.

STARR: This Israeli military video shot before the Qana strike, shows flashes from a rocket fired from behind what the Israelis say is an apartment billing. Hezbollah's use of civilian areas, as the Israelis say happened in Qana, forces Israel to decide on the risk of killing Lebanese civilians every day. Israeli bombers and artillery quickly fire after a target is spotted, but that's a problem. Experts say somebody has to make the last-minute call that a strike should be called off if civilians are nearby.

MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: You're not going to eliminate Katyusha rocket stockpiles form the air and so therefore letting the occasional launcher go is okay, even longer-range rockets, if all you're doing is destroying a concrete pad or a small transporter vehicle, it may not always be worth the risk.

STARR: And the larger the weapon, the more likely civilians will be hit by the explosion.

BRIG. GEN. JAMES MARKS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): They dropped something that far exceed in terms of blast effects, of what was going to cause damage in the area. STARR (on camera): The U.S. military is on the sidelines, but watching all of this very carefully to see what it can learn about the tactics of both Israel and the Hezbollah.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Barbara's report first aired in "THE SITUATION ROOM." You can join Wolf Blitzer weekdays at 4:00 Eastern; in primetime, 7:00 p.m.

Hard pill to swallow for lawmakers in both parties. The politics of birth control. That's ahead on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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KAGAN: Saturday. That is the day that back-up test results are expected for the Tour de France champion. American Floyd Landis insists that a spike in his testosterone level was natural and not doping, but according to a report in "The New York Times" today, a source says additional testing shows some of the testosterone in Landis' system was synthetic. If this second test confirms that, Landis could be stripped of his tour title and banned from racing for two years.

The morning after pill known as Plan B is factoring into a Senate confirmation hearing today. Acting FDA chief Andrew von Eschenbach is the president's nominee to head the agency. The doctor sidestepped any mention of the controversial birth control pill. Yesterday, the agency suddenly said it would consider over-the-counter sales to women 18 and over. Several Democrats are questioning the timing of and sincerity of the FDA's announcement.

To get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news, a health library and information on diet and fitness. The address is CNN.com/health.

So the P.R. health of actor Mel Gibson has not been so good in recent days. He's trying to correct that. Tony Harris has the latest on that -- Tony.

TONY HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Did I show you this? I should have brought you a copy of this, Daryn.

KAGAN: I would love to see it.

HARRIS: Yes, yes, yes. There's a lot here that will probably lead to more questions. This is the statement from Mel Gibson, apologizing and admitting that he made anti-Semitic remarks to police during his Friday arrest for suspected DUI.

Here is what he is quoted as saying. Let's see the full screens of what he is quoted as saying. "[EXPLETIVE] Jews," "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." And this was directed at the arresting officer: "Are you a Jew?" OK, those are the comments quoted and attributed to Mel Gibson, and now he admits that he made anti-Semitic remarks and is asking the Jewish community to help him recover from his alcohol addiction. Gibson is asking for an intervention, kind of a one-on-one to, in his words, "discern the appropriate path for healing." Gibson going on to say "There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark."

Gibson is directing this apology to everyone in the Jewish community, going on to say, "Please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith."

And then there's this, Daryn. At the end of the statement, he writes, "This is not about a film nor is it about artistic license. This is about real life and recognizing the consequences hurtful words can have. It's about existing in harmony in a world that seems to have gone mad." That's how he closes this statement. What does he mean by that? We need another statement.

All right. Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: Mel. Send us another statement, Mel.

HARRIS: Yes, another...

KAGAN: Love to hear from you again. The story keeps giving and giving.

HARRIS: Yes, I'll get you a copy of this.

KAGAN: All right. Thank you.

HARRIS: OK.

KAGAN: Well, this fallout from Mel Gibson's arrest is hitting him where it hurts: in the wallet. Susan Lisovicz has the business angle of Mel Gibson's story.

Hello, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Daryn, and it's a story that the tabloids, the New York tabloids -- this is just one of them today.

KAGAN: Oh, dear.

LISOVICZ: Yes, they have had a field day with it. And you know, there is this old expression that any publicity is good publicity. Not so. It was just two years ago Mel Gibson was ranked by "Forbes" magazine, Daryn, as the number one -- the most powerful celebrity in the world.

Well, we're seeing some fallout where it hurts. ABC Television network has reportedly pulled the plug on a miniseries it was developing with his Icon Productions. The miniseries was to be based on a memoir, ironically enough, about a Dutch Jew during the Holocaust.

But Gibson's alleged anti-Semitic comments after his arrest Thursday night prompted criticism from Jewish groups, Hollywood executives, lots of other folks as well, with one prominent agent calling for a boycott. Despite axing the miniseries, Disney says it will still distribute Gibson's next movie, "Apocalypto," about the ancient Mayan empire, which is set to be released in December -- Daryn.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

KAGAN: We have more news coming up after this. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Much of the unrest in the Middle East is about land, and boundaries and centuries of history, so whose land is it?

Delia Gallagher looked at the issue for AMERICAN MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN FAITH & VALUES CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Jews, the claim to Israel begins with this -- God's promise to Moses in the Bible, and Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt into Palestine.

ALON BEN-MEIR, CTR. FOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS, NYU: There's no doubt there is a written history that goes back 3,500 years -- that is a written history -- of Jewish presence in Palestine, which is called today Israel.

GALLAGHER: Arabs, too, have a history in the land, since the seventh century.

RICHARD BULLIET, MIDDLE EAST INST., COLUMBIA UNIV.: There was a desire to repossess this land that some Jews feel was given to them by God, but, of course, the Arabs said we have been here for 14 centuries, and that's not nothing.

GALLAGHER: Central to the history of this land for Jews, Christians and Muslims is Jerusalem.

BULLIET: Jerusalem becomes the religious center, because that is where the first and second temples were. Muslim leaders appropriated this sacred site at the beginning of Islam and built the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa mosque. And of course as the place where Jesus was crucified, Jerusalem has a very powerful meaning for Christians.

GALLAGHER: Despite the confluence and often competing interests in Jerusalem, the Middle East has seen periods of peace.

BEN-MEIR: Jews have always lived in our society since Islam came to be. And as a matter of fact, the Jewish, what they call golden era of Jewish -- when Jews wrote the literature and reach height in various sciences, said the relationship between Muslim states, the Muslim regime and the Jews were always good.

GALLAGHER: After World War I, the League of Nations, led by Britain and France, divided up the Middle East, and Britain declared its support for a Jewish home state by issuing the Balfour Declaration.

BEN-MEIR: That declaration of 1917 was basically promising the Jews to have their own home to build their own refuge, their own home.

FAWAS GERGES, SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE: It was a systemic attempt by Britain and the colonial powers to change the historical, and geographic and Democratic nature of Palestine that brought about today's current hostilities.

GALLAGHER: World War II and the Holocaust increased Jewish immigration to Palestine. By 1947, with hostilities grown, the United Nations partitioned Palestine, dividing it between the Jews and the Arabs, with Jerusalem remaining under international control.

On May 14th, 1948, the Jews proclaimed Israel an independent state. War broke out almost immediately as Arab countries invaded Israel. Attempts to resolve the situation have been going on ever since.

BULLIET: Here you have a question of a small piece of land, two people who claim rights to the land, and they're fighting it out. And it's simply a clash of two nationalisms, if you will, in the same area. And for those people they simply erase all these historical arguments and say they're unimportant. The problem is that the people who are actually fighting are strongly motivated by these historical arguments, and they don't give them up easily.

GALLAGHER: In the 1967 Six Day War, Israel captured Sinai, Gaza, East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Golan Heights, essentially creating many of the boundaries that exist today.

The land battle remained relatively calm until Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in 1973, which lead to a cease-fire within a month.

Subsequent peace agreements in Oslo in 1993 and at Camp David in 2000 have attempted to broker this land and set agreeable boundaries for living in peace. So far, all has failed.

BEN-MEIR: The problem here is dual claim. Both are right. Both have right to the same land. There's no solution. There's way you can resolve this, unless both accept each other's rights to exist on the same land.

GALLAGHER: Delia Gallagher, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: History of a complicated part of the world in three minutes. Not easy, Delia. Thank you for trying.

I'm Daryn Kagan. Keep watching CNN. "YOUR WORLD TODAY" is up next, with news happening around the globe and here at home.

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