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CNN Live Today

Crisis in the Middle East

Aired August 07, 2006 - 10:30   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush wrapping up his audio press conference coming to us from the western White House -- the ranch in Crawford, Texas. Let's get right to our chief national correspondent, John King. He's in Washington this morning. Also senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth is at the U.N. for us this morning and Ben Wedeman is in Tyre in southern Lebanon.
Let's begin with John.

John, what did you make of what the president had to say?

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, quite interesting, Soledad.

Obviously there are a number of obstacles simply to getting a cessation of hostilities. A let's not even call it a formal cease- fire. It is not as dramatic as that. A number of obstacles and the president laying out the case.

Interesting that he repeatedly stressed in his view that Hezbollah started this, therefore Hezbollah should be punished as part of any solution. I think it's also quite interesting, if you fly at 5,000 feet, if you will, we're about a month from the five-year anniversary of 9/11 and the president says we're just still at the beginning of what he called the war against Islamic fascism (ph). The president's term.

So there is an immediate problem here. Stop the fighting between Israeli and Hezbollah. But in the president's view, and this is the defining of his presidency, if you will, the other fight, which the president voicing some frustration with and many would say has not advanced as fast and as quickly as he might have hoped.

O'BRIEN: Well, that certainly brings us right to Richard Roth.

Thank you, John.

Richard Roth is at the United Nations.

It has been slow going. In fact, I know that there was expectation, in fact, that the council would meet today. Now looking like it's more like tomorrow. What's going on there?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The French ambassador, co- author of this new resolution with the United States, he just told reporters he's going to work today to improve the resolution. He didn't guarantee there's going to be a completely new text, but he's heard from Lebanon and others, Lebanon wants amendments to be included that would call for Israel to withdraw while Lebanese army troops move in. Also for some type of improvement for Lebanon regarding the disputed Shebaa farms region.

So France is saying more work today. Really ruled out any type of vote. They want to wait until the Arab foreign minister meeting, the emergency meeting taking place in Beirut, for that to finish. There may be a delegation coming from that meeting to talk to the Council tomorrow.

Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Richard Roth at the U.N. Richard, thanks.

And, in fact, we heard from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as well that they were taking into consideration some of the complaints from Lebanon. Let's get right to Ben Wedeman, who, as I said, is in Tyre this morning.

Hey, Ben, good morning.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Soledad.

Well, that was a fairly ambitious outline by President Bush and Condoleezza Rice of what the United States is looking for. Now the Lebanese, obviously, have reservations about the cease-fire, rather the Security Council resolution that was put forward. They are seeking an immediate cease-fire. They want to put other things on the agenda, like the status of the Shebaa farms which are a disputed area that Lebanon claims that the U.N. says is actually part of Syria but the Israelis are currently occupying.

Now we understand from Beirut that the Arab foreign ministers who are meeting there have agreed to put together a delegation to go to the United States, to go to the U.N. and put forward the seven point plan that's been proposed by the Lebanese to modify this Security Council resolution. The question is, how far will all the parties go? The Israelis have expressed satisfaction with this security resolution. We've heard from a variety of Lebanese political leaders that they are quite unhappy with it and would like to see major modifications.

Soledad.

O'BRIEN: They're all watching it. Ben Wedeman for us in Tyre, Lebanon, this morning.

That ends our coverage here for AMERICAN MORNING. Going to hand it right over to Daryn Kagan. She picks it up.

Hey, Daryn, good morning.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you Soledad and Tony. Thank you very much.

We are going to get started with our about hour and a half together now by taking a look at what we know right now about the Middle East crisis.

The Bush administration pressing the U.N. Security Council to approve a cease-fire resolution. That proposal is still awaiting a council vote. A short time ago, President Bush called the loss of civilian life open both sides of the Israeli/Lebanese border a great tragedy. So far diplomacy has done nothing to stop the fighting.

Israeli war planes and artillery are pounding targets in Tyre, Sidon, suburban Beirut and other areas.

And Hezbollah has been shooting dozen more rockets into northern Israel.

The Middle East, of course, a major concern for President Bush. He is vacationing at his Texas ranch. Not much of a vacation, though. He huddled over the weekend with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to discuss diplomatic efforts at the U.N. to end the fighting. Moments ago, Mr. Bush and the secretary talked about those efforts and here is what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The first resolution which the Security Council is now considering calls for a stop of all hostilities. 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.

We have been in touch with Syria. Colin Powell sent a message to Syria in person. Dick Armitage traveled to Syria. Bill Burns traveled to Syria. We've got a consulate office in Syria. Syria knows what we think. The problem isn't us telling Syria what's on our mind, which is to stop harboring terror, and to, you know, help the Iraqi democracy evolve. They know exactly what our position is. The problem is, is that their response hasn't been very positive. As a matter of fact, hasn't been positive at all.

In terms of Iran, we made it clear to the Iranians that if they would honor previous obligations and verifiably stop enrichment of nuclear materials, we would sit at a table. So there's a way forward for both countries. The choice is theirs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: That's President Bush. Let me explain a change in logistic, why things look different this morning. President Bush, as I mentioned, is on vacation at his Crawford, Texas, ranch. The way they do it, first we can hear the audio, then they're going to provide the videotape. When we get the tape, we'll show that to you and we'll cue it up and play the whole thing again.

Meanwhile, let's talk about what we've heard so far this morning and bring in our chief national correspondent, John King, joining me from Washington. John, so we heard the president and the secretary of state lay out this plan as they would like to see it presented to the United Nations. But already some rumblings from within Lebanon and Israel about things that both of those sides don't like about what's in the plan.

KING: Exactly right, Daryn, and that is what is going to hold up at least a vote in the Security Council probably at least for another day. And there's some things that Lebanon's chief complaint is, it wants the cessation of hostility. It says the Israeli troops should withdraw immediately.

And you heard the president quite firmly saying he doesn't want to create a vacuum. That if the Israeli troops pulled out right away, the president says who would be there to stop Lebanon from getting more rockets, more rocket launchers from its supplier. The president putting the blame there on Syria and Iran. So that's Lebanon's chief complaint. If there's going to be a cessation of hostilities, why would the Israeli troops stay in Lebanon.

Israel also has a number of concerns, and one of them is just the reason it says its troops will stay for an undetermined period of time. It doesn't want to pull out because it doesn't trust the small U.N. force that in the first resolution is designed to be the symbolic international force until the follow-on force can be assembled. And, Daryn, that will take weeks and weeks and weeks to get a bigger force into Lebanon.

There's still a debate, even though the president says progress is being made, still a big debate in the United Nations about that second resolution. They're not only debating about the first one, they're debating about the second one as well. And what would the powers be of that second international force. Some countries don't want to end up in a shooting war in Lebanon.

KAGAN: We'll have a chance to check in at the U.N. in just a minute with our Richard Roth. I thought it was interesting to hear the president mention Syria and acknowledge that Syria is a player in all of this.

KING: Syria is a player in all of this because, number one, it supports Hezbollah. Number two, it has traditionally exerted great power and influence, some would say occupation, over Lebanon. It is the land route into Lebanon even if it's Iranian missiles, which the administration and the Israelis say are being fired on Israel on a minute by minute basis now. They all say they come from Iran but they get into L:ebanon through Syria. So Syria is a key player.

And what the president is saying is, there will be no more face- to-face senior level conversations between the United States and Syria until he sees better behavior, better progress in relations with Syria. And that is one of the key frustrations of others around the world saying, Mr. President, you're not going to get along with Syria tomorrow. You've made that clear. But why can't you send Secretary Rice to sit down with them today, try to get a speedier resolution of this crisis. But the president's holding firm, Daryn. He says, no. KAGAN: All right, John King in Washington. John, thank you.

Let's take a closer look at the cease-fire resolution that's going before the U.N. Security Council. The measure was written by the U.S. and France. It calls for both Israel and Hezbollah to cease all hostilities. It does not, however, demand a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon. That is stirring a lot of grumbling from within the Arab world. Let's go to that world, to Lebanon, to Beirut. That's where we find Anthony Mills in the Lebanese capital.

And Anthony, while we're watching the U.N. in New York, the Arab league is meeting there in Beirut.

ANTHONY MILLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Daryn.

And in the run-up to their meeting, the complaints that were expressed about the resolution, the U.N. resolution, in its current form centered around a number of issues. Foremost among them, though, its failure to demand an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon. Now we heard the U.S. president, George W. Bush, there saying that he wanted to strengthen the Lebanese government and he wanted it to survive, but the suggestion being made here in the run-up to this Arab league meeting by Lebanese officials, also by Syrian foreign minister Walid Moallem, and also by the secretary-general of the Arab league, Amr Moussa, is that this resolution is unfair to Lebanon because it doesn't demand a withdrawal of Israeli troops from south Lebanon.

It doesn't address the issue of the disputed Shebaa farm regions in the south currently controlled by Israel but claimed by Lebanon. A there are a variety of other issues open to question. And indeed yesterday at least two Arab officials warned of the danger of civil war associated with the resolution in its current form. So for an idea of what a fairer resolution, at least from the perspective of the Lebanese government should contain, let's hear what Lebanese president, Fouad Siniora, said in the run-up to this meeting in the opening statement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOUAD SINIORA, LEBANESE PRESIDENT, (through translator): We need to close the Israeli aggressor, to stop the aggression and to withdraw to behind the blue line and to withdraw from the Shebaa farm and to exchange prisoners and to hand over the maps for the land mines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILLS: In his conversation with American officials, the Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora, will no doubt be saying, if you really want to strengthen the Lebanese government, if you really want it to survive, then these are elements that are going to have to be present in an amended U.N. resolution that is then put to the vote.

KAGAN: Anthony Mills live from Beirut. Thank you.

Let's go ahead and take a quick look at the two diplomat whose crafted the cease-fire plan. They are U.S. Ambassador John Bolton. He is known for his blunt, often sharp-edge diplomatic skills. Some lawmakers cited that as a concern during his confirmation hearings. The Bush administration has applauded what some call his plain-spoken style. Bolton's counterpart is the talks is the French ambassador, Jean Marc de la Sabliere. He is a career diplomat who has served as France's U.N. ambassador for nearly four years. And before that he was a diplomatic advisor to French President Jacques Chirac.

Let's go to the U.N., checking in with Richard Roth who is watching developments as we're looking forward to a Security Council vote at some point, Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's not going to be today. That was indicated a short time ago by the French ambassador you just referred to. The amendments that Anthony Mills was also just talking about, that's what's concerning some members of the Security Council as expressed by Russia following yesterday's permanent (ph) five-nation talk outside the U.N. about this resolution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VITALY CHURKIN, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We are discussing the situation. But, unfortunately, I don't think that there is a magic wand. One would hope that the Lebanese government and Lebanon, generally, and therefore they give very serious reading to this draft. And I think if they do, they'll see that there is much in it which is very much in the interest of Lebanon. And, more importantly, there is a clear cut call for full cessation of hostilities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: We'll hear more from Richard in just a moment. Right now I want to go live back to Beirut. The Lebanese prime minister, Siniora, making closing comments at the Arab league summit. Let's listen in.

FOUAD SINIORA, LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER, (through translator): decisions made that to go to the Security Council and alert them from making decisions, of taking decisions to force solutions that cannot be implemented and complicate the situation on the ground and does not take into consideration the interest of Lebanon in its unity and its stability that was expressed in the seven-point plan and to alert the consequences of that on the Arab countries. I think that this meeting that was held, and in which it was distinguished, with the full agreement of all point of views of all the Arab ministers who were present.

KAGAN: There's a little it of lost (ph) signal, but you get the idea the Lebanese prime minister being very frank. He does not -- he's not very enamored of the deal that's going to be presented to the Security Council at the U.N.

Let's go back to the U.N. and our senior correspondent there, Richard Roth.

Richard, how does what is said by the Lebanese prime minister, what is said at this Arab league summit, how does that affect what will happen at the U.N.?

ROTH: Well, it's slowing things down a bit. The French ambassador just came out and told the press that he is aware of the concerns of others. He's going to work together, he told journalists, to improve the text of this resolution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEAN-MARC DE LA SABLIERE, FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We have already registered some -- there are some indication what I have received information what is happening in this meeting and we look at it very, very, very carefully. It is an important meeting. And this is why we have decided yesterday, because this meeting was taking place, an important meeting, not to push the resolution. We could have done it, you know, before the meeting. And we have to listen, you know, to what is happening there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: That's the Arab league meeting that the ambassador from France is referring to. He says he wants to work to improve the text. The amendment, Daryn, that I have here, submitted by Lebanon. That key line about the cessation of hostilities, but Israel would only hold offensive military operations while Hezbollah must halt all. Well, the Lebanon offer says, calls further on Israel upon cessation of hostilities to hand over its positions in Lebanon to UNIFIL, the U.N. peacekeeping mission, and to withdraw its forces behind the blue line and then the U.N. will, in turn, hand over within 72 hours the area behind the Litani River and such to the Lebanese forces.

So they want Israel out faster. Bring in the U.N. and the Lebanese government forces. That's a change from what the existing resolution, the French and the Americans, have on the table so far. A resolution we heard earlier, Condoleezza Rice, President Bush, so far are sticking with. They say it gets at the root causes of the problem. That it's an important, sustainable cease-fire included in there. And at the moment there's no new complete draft of a resolution. But we might see some tweaking as the day goes on.

KAGAN: And to what end, Richard? We've seen other resolutions, like 1559, that called for Hezbollah to be disarmed. That's not carried through. So how will this one have teeth?

ROTH: Well, people always say to what end and teeth. It's up to the members of this organization that sometimes skid by because nobody -- there's no outcry, except for the people who are affected by the resolution. We'll find out on Iran on August 31 when there's a deadline on Iran to comply on the nuclear issue, whether there will be any teeth. This one, first, has to be accepted by Israel and Lebanon to see if it's going to float.

KAGAN: All right. And you'll be watching it for us. Richard Roth at the U.N. Thank you.

Much more to talk about with the Mideast. Our coverage continues after a break. Also, we've heard what President Bush and Secretary Rice had so say from Crawford, Texas. Very soon we will see it as well. We'll get back after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We have heard what President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have to say from Crawford, Texas. Very soon we'll be able to see it as well. When that videotape starts rolling, we will go to that. Meanwhile, let's check in on what's happening along the Israeli/Lebanese border and see what our senior international correspondent Matthew Chance has to say from northern Israel.

Matthew, hello.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, as well, Daryn.

There's been a lot of fighting continuing around the area of south Lebanon as Israeli forces continue to pour into that area. Trying to move from village to village to establish their control across it. There have been some clashes, though. The Hezbollah guerrillas are proving incredibly stubborn. Perhaps much more stubborn than the Israeli forces have anticipated.

Around the town of Bint Jbeil, where you may remember over the past several weeks there has been fierce fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas. At one point the Israelis actually said they had control of it. There's been more clashes there today.

At least one Israeli soldier killed. One is a soldier killed, rather. Another four injured. A number of Hezbollah fighters killed as well. But it's becoming increasingly clear that none of these areas in the south of Lebanon that Israel has inserted its ground forces into are actually safe at this stage and there continues to be guerrilla war being carried out between the two warring parties.

Daryn.

KAGAN: And what about this talk that you're hearing of Israel threatening to expand the ground operations?

CHANCE: Well, what the Israeli defense minister, Amir Peretz, has been saying, is that there is a military track that is running parallel to the diplomatic track at the moment. And unless there is some kind of diplomatic solution, like the ones we've been hearing about over the last few hours coming out of the U.N., that puts an end to this crisis, then the military track will move ahead. And one of the options, of course, is to expand the military operation further deeper into south Lebanon, perhaps as far as the Litani River or even beyond that important landmark in south Lebanon some 30 kilometers, 20 miles or so, in places north of the Israeli border.

If that happens, obviously it would be a major escalation. It would mean a lot more ground troops in order to invade that territory and to control it. And so it is something that's of a deep matter of concern at this stage amongst people watching this conflict KAGAN: Matthew Chance live from northern Israel along the Lebanese border. Thank you.

We do expect any minute to get the videotape in showing President Bush and Secretary Rice holding this news conference in Crawford, Texas. We'll show it to you when we get it. Right now another break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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