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CNN Live Today
Hezbollah's Connections to Iran; Small Plane Crashes in Maryland
Aired August 09, 2006 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hezbollah may be homegrown, but its support comes from Iran and Syria. Let's get more now on the Iranian connection. Our Aneesh Raman joins me via broadband from the Iranian capital of Tehran.
Aneesh, hello.
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning.
Here in the capital, demonstrations continued. We've seen them on a near daily basis. We have some video from one that took place this morning. A couple of hundred demonstrators protesting in support of Hezbollah. They chanted, "down with Israel, down with the USA." As well, they burned both U.S. and Israeli flags.
Also prominent there, pictures of Hassan Nasrallah, alongside the religious leaders of Iran. It's something we saw similar pictures of back in Syria, when I was just there, showing Nasrallah the Syrian president and his father. It is a sign of Nasrallah's popularity and eagerness within both of these countries to embrace him.
Now, Iran is responding in some sense to the Israeli video that was put forth of a Hezbollah militant that says he was trained by Iran. Iran has from the start denied that they are offering any arms to Hezbollah, says that they support the group spiritually and morally, but that Hezbollah is essentially an offspring of the Shia resolution that took place here and does not need any arms from Iran.
But a few days ago, in an interview done by a reformist paper here in Tehran, a man who was the envoy -- the Iranian envoy to Damascus in 1982 when Hezbollah was started -- said while he there, some 30 camps were set up, that he oversaw each of them training some 300 Hezbollah fighters. So you get a sense -- and that was the firmest sense we got -- of what sort of connection exists. That amid continual international claims that Iran continues to support Hezbollah more than morally and spiritually, but with arms -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Well, and how does all this play into charges that Iran is trying to develop its own nuclear weapons?
RAMAN: Yes, it's interesting. Iran, of course, facing an August 31st deadline to suspend its uranium enrichment. It has faced a similar deadline before. It has refused before to do that. What we're seeing is a scenario where unless Hezbollah is completely decimated, which would be a very large task for the Israelis, Iran will gain some clout within the region, because of its relationship with Hezbollah. Something similar to what Syria will gain as well.
But we're also hearing from Western diplomats that have been dealing with the Iranians on the nuclear issue that there's a growing sense of division within the Iranian government as to what they should do. Should they accept a deal or should they accept no deal and continue with their nuclear program, and as we've heard before, after they face that deadline, face sanctions that will likely come?
That is something, perhaps, new that we are seeing, and it is unclear right now -- the Iranians -- how it will play out. The Iranians are saying in the next week or two, they'll have a revised plan for the nuclear issues. So we'll wait to see what they say -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Aneesh Raman, live from Tehran. Thank you.
More live pictures coming into us now from southern Lebanon, from the city of Tyre. This has been the subject of quite a bit of activity by the Israeli military. Today we're hearing more word of shelling. Actually, do we have live pictures? Let's try to get those up. Yes. Let's go to those first. There we go. OK.
Here's our live picture. Tyre, Lebanon, the southern part of country. This has had quite a bit of activity from the Israeli military. Shelling and also previous to this, leaflets that were dropped telling Lebanese who live there, especially by nighttime, to stay out of their cars, because anybody and anything moving, a car would be considered somebody who was trying to move missiles and ammunition for Hezbollah. More on that in a bit.
Let's take a closer look now at some of the players in the Middle East crisis. Talking about Hezbollah. The group was formed in 1982, in respond to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Hezbollah has close ties to Iran and Syria. It has built support among the Lebanese people by setting up schools, hospitals and other social services. The group now controls 23 seats in Lebanon's parliament. The U.S. and Israel consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization.
Hezbollah has long been Israel's sworn enemy. What isn't clear, a complete picture of what drives the group's leader.
CNN's Joe Johns takes a look at that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He has called the Israeli leadership stupid, arrogant, ignorant; called the Israeli army gigantic and blind, capable only of killing old men, women and children.
Though his speeches can be as subtle as they are direct, the supporters of Israel charge that Hassan Nasrallah's harsh view of Israel is part and parcel of a larger hatred of Jews.
David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Politics sees a man who scapegoats the Jews for almost every catastrophe. DAVID MAKOVSKY, SENIOR FELLOW: Nasrallah's discourse is virulently anti-Semitic, on virtually every level.
JOHNS: What's impossible to dispute is that one of the aims and goals of Hezbollah is destruction of the Jewish state. Why? Hezbollah would call it the return of the land to its rightful owners, the Palestinians.
Seth Jones is an analyst for the Rand Corporation who says it can be explained as a fight against Zionism.
SETH JONES, ANALYST: It's less that Jews should exist and more that they should not exist on that territory that is what we call Israel. So it's really a fundamental opposition to the establishment of a Jewish state, where it is located. Less so to I think Jews in general.
JOHNS: Which is why it's so difficult for many analysts to see a clean diplomatic solution when Israel says it's fighting for peaceful coexistence, and the other side refuses to acknowledge Israel's right to exist in the first place.
But how could a man like Nasrallah, who is thought of as part pragmatist, part ideologue and pure politician, actually believe this stuff? Probably not, says Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations.
STEVEN COOK, FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Does he believe that he can wipe Israel off the face of the map? It's unlikely that he does believe that he can actually do it. Would he want to do that? Certainly. That's the case with many leaders of these types of organizations throughout the Middle East. They are anti-Zionist, anti-Israel to the core.
JOHNS: Meanwhile, there's another dynamic at work. In some ways, it's as simple and complex as grassroots politics. The tougher Nasrallah sounds, the more he bolsters his own case among the people who matter most. Especially when there's been collateral damage.
JONES: This has worked to Hezbollah's favor. So by going on the record to argue for the destruction of the state of Israel, I think that has -- Hezbollah believes it has supported its message rather than anything else.
JOHNS: But how all of that gets unraveled into a livable peace in the Middle East remains for the analysts an open question.
Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Her husband is at the center of an international crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can feel him in my heart. I know that he is still alive, because we have a special communication between us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: The wife of an Israeli soldier held by Hezbollah looks for help here in the U.S.
And speaking of being held, they held her captive in Iraq 82 days. Now Jill Carroll's suspected kidnappers are behind bars as she gets ready to tell her own story. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: We're getting word here at CNN of news of a plane crash in Maryland. Fredricka Whitfield has that for us -- Fred.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, strained situation, Daryn, in Taneytown, Maryland, Carroll County right now. Take a look at this. The plane flipped over. Apparently this small plane went down in a field near an elementary school there off Route 140. it's still unclear exactly what happened.
But what's really amazing about all of this -- you look at the plane flipped over -- there were two people onboard, and apparently they walked away uninjured. Right now officials are on the scene trying to figure out exactly what happened and why these two onboard are so lucky -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Incredible. That looks like one of these biplanes that some of these small airports you can get a fun ride on.
WHITFIELD: Yes, it's hard to know whether this was some, you know, tourist kind of, you know, flight or if this is someone's private plane or instructions. Not clear yet.
HARRIS: But the incredible thing is you said there were two people onboard and they walk away.
WHITFIELD: yes.
KAGAN: They're lucky day.
WHITFIELD: Absolutely.
KAGAN: OK, Fred, we'll learn more as we...
WHITFIELD: A good day and bad day for them.
KAGAN: Absolutely. Call it good.
WHITFIELD: Mostly good.
KAGAN: There you go.
Thank you, Fred. Suspected kidnappers having captured in the Jill Carroll case. The U.S. military announced that four Iraqi men were arrested at least a month ago. Officials say Marines in the volatile Anbar province identified a location where Carroll was believed to have been held. She was working as a journalist for "The Christian Science Monitor" at the time of her abduction. Carroll was held captive for 82 days, and then released unharmed.
In our CNN Security Watch, a simple question, no simple answer, though -- where are 11 Egyptian students who flew to the U.S. to go to college? They haven't shown up at this campus in Montana.
Our homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve takes a closer look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Montana State University was going to host 17 Egyptian students this summer as part of a cultural exchange program. But only six showed up in Bozeman; 11 of them disappeared after arriving at New York's JFK airport on July 29th and entering the U.S. on student visas.
The FBI has issued a "be on the lookout" alert or BOLO, urging law enforcement to approach with caution if they come across any of the students.
JULIE MYERS, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: We do want to talk to them, but at this point there's no reason to believe they pose any criminal or terrorist threat.
MESERVE (on camera): Federal sources say originally 20 Egyptian students were bound for Montana state, but three were denied visas. Now though, sources say, authorities are working with foreign intelligence to check out the 11 who have disappeared. Government sources believe they are still in the New York area.
(Voice-over): Because one of the 9/11 hijackers was in the U.S. on an expired student visa, the vetting and tracking of international students has tightened. Schools are now required to tell the government if foreign students don't show up. Montana State University did just that, even sooner than the law requires.
CATHY CONOVER, MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY: We're hoping that everything is OK and the students are doing something in terms of visiting New York City, instead of coming to Bozeman, Montana.
MESERVE: Some say it doesn't make sense to give so much scrutiny to students, and so little to others with visas.
VICTOR JOHNSON, ASSOCIATION OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATORS: We don't know where they are. We don't know what they're doing. Nobody knows, nobody particularly cares.
MESERVE: About a million foreign students are in the U.S. at any one time. Since 2003, thousands have been reported as potential visa violators. And about 1,800 have been arrested, including drug dealers and child predators. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not have the resources to check or find them all.
MYERS: We have to prioritize because we have 5,700 agents in this country and we have a wide range of responsibilities. But we are working hard to find those individuals who we deem to be of greatest risk.
MESERVE: That includes the 11 missing from Montana state. Whether or not authorities determine they are a security threat, they will be kicked out of the country if and when they are found.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: CNN Security Watch keeps you up to date on safety. Stay tuned day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
Coming up, the story of a woman whose husband is at the center of an international crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can feel it in my heart, I know that he's still alive because we are having special communication between us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: The wife of an Israeli soldier held by Hezbollah looks for help here in the U.S. That's ahead on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Some news coming out of New York City about a suspicious white powder that's been found in a mailroom. Let's go to Fredricka Whitfield with details on that -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: And, Daryn, that's essentially all we know, that in the New York Police Department headquarters there in Lower Manhattan, they are looking into this suspicious white powder found in the mailroom. You're looking at the tarp right now. Not sure if a good part of the investigation is taking place underneath that tent right now, but that's the only live picture we're being provided right now. But you see the scene there. A number of police personnel and others outside awaiting word or information about what they can learn of this white powder found in the mailroom not long ago in Lower Manhattan, in the New York City Police Department headquarters.
KAGAN: All right, we'll check back on that. Fred, thank you.
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: We have an opportunity right now to get more information on that plane crash in Maryland. Fredricka Whitfield has that -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: Well, quickly, just a refresher. This small plane went down in a field near an elementary school off Route 140 in Carroll County in Taneytown, Maryland. And miraculously, we are hearing reports that the two onboard were able to walk away uninjured.
Sergeant George Frazier with the Maryland State Police is on the phone with us. And Sergeant, what can you tell us about what happened out there?
SERGEANT GEORGE FRAZIER, MARYLAND STATE POLICE: Preliminary reports indicate that as the plane was attempting to land, the pilot encountered a problem and the plane did actually flip over.
WHITFIELD: And is it true -- our initial reports were that two people were onboard and they were both able to walk away uninjured?
FRAZIER: That's correct. No injuries are reported at this time.
WHITFIELD: And so this took place near an elementary school. Was there ever any concern about exactly where this plane was going to come down, in the proximity of that elementary school?
FRAZIER: It was rather close to Runnemeade (ph) Elementary School, but all the reports were that it did make it down in a field.
WHITFIELD: Was there any kind of S.O.S. call, any sort of mayday that this plane was in trouble?
FRAZIER: No. The first call we got was from citizens reported -- observing the plane actually crashing.
WHITFIELD: All right. Well, good news for the people onboard and everyone else around that when the plane did finally come down, the two people onboard were able to walk away virtually unscathed.
Sergeant George Frazier of the Maryland State Police, thanks so much.
KAGAN: Incredible. Fred, thank you for that.
A lot to get to on what is happening in the Mideast, plus other news of the day. You'll see that in just a moment. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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