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Crisis in the Middle East; U.S. Ambassador to U.N. Conflict Discusses Mideast Conflict

Aired August 09, 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: Once again we're keeping our eyes on Boston, Massachusetts, expect to hear any moment from folks at "The Christian Science Monitor," this in light of news that there's been four men taken into custody in Iraq in connection with the Jill Carroll kidnapping. We'll be listening in as they make their announcement about it.
In fact, let's listen right now.

RICHARD BERGENHEIM, EDITOR, "CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR": Good morning.

My name is Richard Bergenheim. I'm the editor of "The Christian Science Monitor." I've been asked to read our statement following the announcement by the U.S. military that they apprehended several of those involved with Jill's capture.

Jill Carroll and her "Monitor" colleagues are very grateful for all the efforts the United States government made to secure Jill's freedom after she was held against her will for 82 days. Like reporters everywhere, we are reassured to hear that several of those believed to have held Jill have been apprehended.

The daily threat of kidnapping in Iraq remains acute for all. Everything possible needs to be done to relieve Iraqis and others of this scourge. Many people have asked about Jill, what she's doing now and how she's doing. And Jill's detailed story about her kidnapping and release will be published in the "Monitor." It will appear first on our Web site Sunday evening, and then beginning on Monday morning. Jill is doing quite well. She's been working full time for the monitor since the beginning of July. She had finished this account of her experience shortly before she began working for us again full- time. That's the end of the statement.

We've received word that there were going to be -- the question was, when did we find out about the announcement about the arrests and when the arrests were made. I believe we heard first that they were going to make the announcement sometime yesterday. I believe they were in touch with Jill. We had had heard something to the effect that people had been apprehended before, but we really have not have had any details about that.

KAGAN: So, listening in to officials from "The Christian Science Monitor." The editor there responding to news that four men have been taken into custody in Iraq in connection with Jill Carroll's kidnapping. It turns out Jill Carroll is about ready to tell her story, and will do that on "The Christian Science Monitor" Web site and in the paper beginning on Sunday.

Breaking news out of Tampa, Florida, a landing gear problem.

Fredricka Whitfield has more on that-- Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, out of Tampa, apparently a Cessna, a private jet with about nine people onboard is trying to make a landing in Tampa International Airport about 15 or 20 minutes from now.

But here's the big problem -- somehow this plane upon take-off lost a tire. And so now what they've got to figure out is how will this plane be able to land without a tire. Our initial reports is that a left tire may be missing. That we don't know if it fell off, became disabled during takeoff, just that somehow it lost it on takeoff. So we don't know what that means in terms of landing or what kind of precautions are being taken.

But the plan was that this plane leaving Fort Myers, Florida, was en route to Tampa to pick up a couple more passengers. Again, there are nine onboard. The plan was to pick up a couple some more passengers in Tampa before carrying on to yet another location.

But as of yet, some measures are being taken to figure out just how this plane will be able to land by way of missing this one tire that it lost upon takeoff.

So, Daryn, when we get any more information about how they're able to manage that. About 15 or 20 minutes from now it's expected to land. But we'll see what happens and what kind of measures they'll be able to take.

KAGAN: That's my question, when are they going to try it? We'll be watching, out of Tampa. Thank you, Fred.

(NEWSBREAK)

KAGAN: Four weeks of fighting, mounting casualties on both sides, trapped in the line of fire. The Lebanese port city of Tyre is what you're looking at here.

Our producer Cal Perry has seen the fighting and devastation there firsthand. He is just back from Lebanon and with me here on the set this morning in Atlanta.

Hello. Good morning.

CAL PERRY, CNN PRODUCER: Good morning. How are you?

KAGAN: I'm doing fine.

I'm interested to see your pictures and your perspective. You blogged quite a bit for CNN.com talking about what you were seeing firsthand. And when I was looking at the photos and what you had to right, it seems the children in perspective really captured your eye and your heart of you learned in Southern Lebanon. PERRY: The kids there were a great way to sort of learn about the story, because they would gravitate to us. We would be a shock to them. They'd never seen Karl Penhaul or myself hop out of a car that says "TV" on the side, so we were kind of a novelty to them.

The other thing is kids don't lie. I mean, you can learn a lot from kids. You can interview an adult who's 40 years old and ask him how he feels, and you're going to get sort of a filtered view of what's really happening in Lebanon. You talk to these kids, they are truly incapable of lying. They'll you, they're scared, they don't know what's going on, they don't how this is all going to end, and they have never seen anything like this before. If you look at a 13- year-old or 14-year-old girl or boy...

KAGAN: Like this girl right here -- what was her story.

PERRY: Like this girl. She was on her way north with her family when her car was shelled by some kind of Israeli ordinance. She ended up in the hospital with her father, and Her father was more distraught than she was. She was totally willing to talk to us and tell us how she felt and what her wounds were like. And her father just had this blank stare on his face, almost incapable of talking to us. That's the incredible things about kids, is they can bounce back, they're so resilient, and they also don't have any historical memory of what's going on there, so they'll give you a very fresh look at just the past two week.s

KAGAN: You also talk a lot about -- or wrote a lot about the smell.

PERRY: Hmm.

KAGAN: Hmm was the response. And basically you are seeing the smell of rotting bodies, smelling the smell of rotting bodies.

PERRY: It's a huge problem in Southern Lebanon. It was when we were there. The morgues overflow. Some of them don't have power. So you go over these mass burials, and it's really -- there's two parts to the story. I mean, the one part is the very functional needing to get bodies into the ground, stop the spread of disease, clean out the morgues. There's that issue. The second is the sort of symbolic mass burial. What that is for the people of Southern Lebanon to go through these mass burials.

I was with Karl Penhaul. You're seeing shots of us there. This story really was, I think, one of the best ways to tell the suffering in Southern Lebanon, and what people are not only going through, but what people are seeing. Not everybody is affected directly by Israeli shelling, or the fighting or Hezbollah, but almost everybody is affected in that town because they see these mass burials. Eighty- seven people being buried at once is something that people come out and just gravitate to.

KAGAN: I have more photos and questions for you. We'll get to that in just a moment. First, though, let's go back over to Fredricka Whitfield. She has the latest on that plane that was attempting to land without a tire in Tampa, Florida -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And it's pretty amazing, because the pictures that we're about to show you, if this is indeed the right plane - and it seems to have the same tail number as the information we got earlier. You're looking at live pictures right now. But just moments ago, it did make a successful landing there at Tampa International Airport. And you can see the plane as it was coming in for a landing, when it touched down on the tarmac start to overcompensate to the right, because we reported a moment ago it was missing a left tire. And you see this is the result of some pretty darn good piloting there. There were nine people onboard. And they were making their way from Ft. Myers to Tampa. The plan is to pick up a couple more folks, but they lost the tire along the way.

Kelly Figley is the airport spokesperson. She's on the line with us now.

And, Kelly, while we look at the videotape of this landing, which really does look like a pretty picture-perfect landing for an airplane in trouble, explain what was going on on your end.

KELLY FIGLEY, TAMPA INTL. AIRPORT: Well, as you mentioned, the flight originated this morning from Ft. Myers, stopped in Tampa at Raytheon to pick up two passengers. And then on takeoff it did lose a left main tire.

WHITFIELD: And as the plane was coming in, how concerned were you that this pilot and this aircraft could handle this kind of landing?

FIGLEY: Oh, of course very concerned about the safety of the passengers. They -- the fire trucks were rolled, ready to respond to any situation.

WHITFIELD: And so based on the pictures, it seems to have gone well. Everything went right. We're looking at live pictures right now. It doesn't appear as though any of the passengers or crew have deplaned yet. It will take some time. What kind of dialogue is taking place now to make sure everybody is all right?

FIGLEY: Well, as you mentioned, the fire crews have responded. Airport operations will be inspecting the runway -- pardon me -- and just making sure everything is -- everyone is OK and that the facility is secured.

WHITFIELD: And so we see all the emergency crews there at the ready. Is it likely this plane will be towed in before they allow folks off the aircraft?

FIGLEY: That, I can't answer for you. I'm not sure what the plan will be, just depending on the situation that's happening out there now. WHITFIELD: OK. And Kelly, before I let you go, real quick, what did this do to stop or delay regularly scheduled air traffic there in the airport, knowing that this plane was coming in with some troubles?

FIGLEY: Well, we do have another main runway that commercial aircrafts can use, so...

WHITFIELD: OK. All right. Very good. Well, glad that everything went well. And it appears that everyone is fine. Kelly Figley of the airport at Tampa International Airport, spokesperson for it. Thanks so much -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Fred, thank you. We like the ones with the happy endings.

WHITFIELD: Yes. We like that.

KAGAN: Thanks for that.

WHITFIELD: Double thumbs up.

KAGAN: Yes. We want to welcome back in Cal Perry, one of our CNN producers who's just back from Lebanon and all that he saw there with his personal photos and accounts. You have an interesting perspective that we were talking about in the commercial break. Usually, you are running our Baghdad bureau. So your reality is even more intense than what you saw in southern Lebanon.

PERRY: It's a totally different conflict. I mean, I think the one thing that I relished about going to southern Lebanon was the ability to walk around and talk to people, and ask people what they were going through. I mean, we responded to a bomb at one point, and we were able to ask a shopkeeper, as he was shoveling glass out the front of his shop, what it was like for him to live in southern Lebanon. And in Iraq, you would never have this opportunity because you're very worried about your personal safety.

KAGAN: So even to respond to something like that in Baghdad would be too dangerous?

PERRY: Far too dangerous. Absolutely. We rely in Baghdad on a lot of local help, we rely on different agencies to get done what we have to do. We certainly do go out at times when we need to and do the story, but it's constant -- in Iraq, it's sort of risk versus reward. In southern Lebanon, at least so far, journalists have the ability to sort of freely travel and talk to people. It will be interesting to see if that changes. I hope it doesn't. But it will be interesting to see if the mood in southern Lebanon changes as sort of the conflict dragged on.

KAGAN: We're glad you went, and I'm glad you stopped by to share your stories and your pictures. Cal Perry, thank you.

PERRY: Thank you.

KAGAN: We're going to go to Phoenix, Arizona, ahead, get the latest on this serial killer case and the two suspects who are in custody there. You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We like to tell you the stories that have the good endings. One just happened in Tampa, Florida. A Cessna that had taken off from Ft. Myers, it blew a tire upon takeoff and it had to land in Tampa. And it did it safely.

Chad Myers was watching that with great interest -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Daryn, it really was an interesting landing, because all we got was -- from the wires -- was they lost the wheel, they lost a tire. Well, what does that mean? Did you lose the whole mechanism? Did you lose the whole wheel? Did you lose the landing gear, or did the tire just kind of come part and kind of flop around like you might see a piece of a wheel of a tractor-trailer on the interstate? And that seems like that's probably what happened, because there are two -- there are two.

It's a tandem unit, kind of like the back of a tractor trailer. One of those tires probably disintegrated on takeoff. But because there are two wheels there, two tires there, in fact, on both sides. So there's really four tires on back, like you're looking at the back of a tractor-trailer when you're driving down the interstate. Only one was blown, so the pilot was able to land on the tire that was still in place.

KAGAN: I know, but how about some props for this pilot?

MYERS: Absolutely.

KAGAN: That cannot be easy to do.

MYERS: Well, you want to put as much on the double wheel as you can. Because then, if you can do that, then you don't have to put too much stress on that single tire as it does come down.

KAGAN: Beautiful landing.

MYERS: Sure was.

KAGAN: Yes, absolutely. We're going to check in and get some weather from you in a bit, all right?

MYERS: OK, fair enough.

KAGAN: So don't go far.

First we want to go to Phoenix, Arizona, and bring you the latest on the two suspected serial killers that were brought up on 32 criminal counts, including two counts of murder. Police say more charges are possible. Dale Hausner and Samuel Dieteman were arrested on Thursday. They're accused in a year-long string of shootings that left seven people dead, and many more wounded. Police think the men took turns shooting at people from Hausner's car. Then this from the world of sports. Maurice Clarett, he became a teenage football star on the national stage. But the 2002 Fiesta Bowl has faded, and his troubles only grow. The latest incident: this morning in Columbus, Ohio, the former Ohio State star was arrested after a highway chase. Police say Clarett had four loaded guns and was wearing a bullet-proof vest. Officers used mace to subdue him because they couldn't get the stun gun to penetrate the vest. Clarett is already awaiting trial on several robbery and weapons charge.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: A developing story out of the Pentagon. We're getting word that a U.S. sailor has been charged with spying. Barbara Starr has more on that -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

Well, this story now really just coming to light, but it apparently has been going on for some time. The U.S. Navy today confirming that a 21-year-old sailor who deserted a year ago is now charged with espionage, and, in fact, has been held at the brig in Norfolk, Virginia since March, when he was taken into custody. He was assigned to the submarine Albuquerque on his first tour of duty when he apparently deserted about a year ago. Now they say that they believe he was trying to conduct espionage on behalf of Russia.

According to the charges filed against Ariel Weinmann, 21 years old, he -- there were three occasions when he attempted to pass classified documents to agents believed to be representing Russia. That was in March, 2005, in Bahrain, in October 2005, in Vienna, Austria, and March 2006 in Mexico City.

He was then apprehended in March when he was making his way back into the United States at Dallas Ft. Worth International Airport. And of course he came up in the records by U.S. customs agents as being a deserter from the U.S. military, and they took him into custody at that time. This young sailor now facing three charges of espionage, also charges of desertion, and of course in war time, especially desertion, as well as espionage, carries the possible of the death penalty. The charges have been filed against him and where it stands now is commanders are trying to decide how and when to proceed to a full court-martial proceeding -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Barbara, thank you.

Developments of what's happening in the Middle East coming up in a just moment. Right now a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Bent, but not broken. Defiant words from Georgia Representative Cynthia McKinney, even after a big defeat. She was soundly beaten in the Democratic primary runoff, losing to a former county commissioner, Hank Johnson. Despite that, McKinney delivered a fiery concession speech, blaming the media and taking a swipe at electronic-voting machines.

Just before McKinney's concession speech, more controversy. As the congresswoman and her friends and family were arriving, a scuffle broke out.

Rachel Kim with our affiliate in Atlanta, WSB, shows us what happens.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL KIM, WSB REPORTER: As Cynthia McKinney and her entourage arrive at the site of her post-election rally, take a closer look at the right-hand bottom portion of your screen -- one of McKinney's assistants gets physical with a local TV photographer. He's the same man who collided with our Washington D.C. Bureau reporter Scott McFarland in April, as Scott tried to ask Mrs. McKinney her about a run-in with a Capitol Hill police officer. Their scuffle was caught on tape.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to put your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) in jail next time you push me.

KIM: Sir, do you work for the Capitol police?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't for the Capitol Police.

KIM: Who are you a police officer with, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The man turned out to be a driver for Ms. McKinney. He ends up getting hurt in the confrontation last night and is treated by paramedics as Dekalb Police are called out to the scene to investigate what happened.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And we're going to go out of that. Here is U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton.

Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

JOHN BOLTON, U.S. REP. TO U.N.: ... work on trying to bring the resolution to agreement so we can have a vote as early as possible. And that's...

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BOLTON: I don't think I can fix that, to tell you the truth.

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: Ambassador, were the...

BOLTON: What I said -- you want me to speak louder?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BOLTON: Were you able to hear what I just said? OK. So why don't I answer questions?

QUESTION: Ambassador, to what extent were the speeches yesterday in that meeting a complicating factor -- and further complicated, perhaps, by the Israeli cabinet's decision today to move to the Litani River -- on your negotiations?

BOLTON: Well, there are a lot of things that obviously have affected the ongoing negotiations, but we're going to take them into account and continue to try and roll.

When we put the draft resolution down on Saturday, there were a number of delegations, including some of the other Perm 5, that said, "This is ready to be voted on," on Saturday.

And I think there's a lot of support for the substance of the resolution. There are some important issues that remain to be discussed. And that's what we're trying to take account of in the negotiations.

And we're moving as fast as we can. I've just going from one meeting to another.

QUESTION: Mr. Ambassador, you yourself have always said one day is a long time in politics. Obviously, the Arab and Lebanese opposition has changed the way (OFF-MIKE)

BOLTON: I'm not responsible for that, either.

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: Neither am I.

Obviously, the demands put forward by Lebanon and the Arab League have, sort of, changed the dimension. And the one issue that seems to be paramount is their demand for a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon once there is some sort of a cessation of hostilities and some recognition.

I expect they would like -- the fact that they have offered to deploy these 15,000 Lebanese troops and they believe that those troops, along with a beefed-up U.N. peacekeeping force, could actually hold the line.

BOLTON: Right. Well, we think there's no question but that the decision of the Lebanese cabinet to deploy the 15,000 is significant. And we are going to take account of that in the resolution, I think.

The strategic issue, however, remains the same as it has been from near the outset of this, which is that everybody wants to see this used to transform the situation in the region, which means fundamentally that we don't want Hezbollah to reinfiltrate the southern part of Lebanon.

So the question remains how to have an effective security presence in the southern part of Lebanon, as the Israeli forces withdraw, when that becomes appropriate.

And how you put that together, how you arrange that politically, how that becomes part of the overall transformation of Lebanon, the full implementation of 1559 and 1680, that's still the central point that we're trying to reach.

So although positions have changed and there are new circumstances, unquestionably, that do have an effect -- of course they do -- but it doesn't change the basic objective that we have. And what we're struggling to do now is to make sure that the resolution -- this first resolution goes as far as we can to accomplish those objectives.

QUESTION: Speaking about the differences between the United States and France, which apparently -- I don't know whether you talked about it or not -- basically, are the differences all, including (inaudible) resolution, the Lebanese proposal of 15,000 side by side with the U.N. forces, or there are other reasons for that difference?

BOLTON: Let me just answer it this way.

The draft resolution that France and the United States circulated to the council on Saturday was the result of a lot of intense negotiation, not just here in New York, but in capitals, phone conversations between ministers and security advisers, national security advisers and others.

And it was a very good-faith effort on both of our parts to try to balance all of the competing interests that are at stake in this conflict.

I think I said to you before, if we could write a resolution that would please every party to the conflict in every particular, we probably wouldn't be in the middle of a crisis.

So the question now to try and bring that resolution -- however modified -- to closure to get to a vote is not any easier than it was to get to the first draft.

But the point is that the objective remains the same, I think, not just for the United States and France, but for most of the members of the council, which is not to get ourselves into a situation where we fall back into the status quo ante.

And the disagreements, the areas of uncertainty, are things that we're work very hard on. And I don't think purpose would be served by exposing all of them in public.

QUESTION: Ambassador, why is the United States -- if it is, in fact -- opposed to any mention of an Israeli withdraw from Lebanon? And why is the United States -- if it is, in fact, opposed to -- is opposing a UNIFIL (inaudible), a UNIFIL? Do you have any other option, do you have any better alternative than that?

BOLTON: We're not opposed to either of those things. In fact, in the text of the resolution that was circulated on Saturday, both of those elements are referred to.

And, indeed, since then, the government of Israel has made it clear that when the security situation in southern Lebanon is addressed that it is, indeed, committed to withdrawing.

That's the basic strategic point we're trying to work out so that Hezbollah doesn't reinfiltrate as the Israeli forces leave and we recreate the conditions that bring us back to the status quo ante. That's exactly the point.

And how to beef up UNIFIL, in what respects, how to change its mandate, how to make it more of a force that can help participate in that new security structure is one of the elements we're talking about.

QUESTION: Are the architects of the resolution being, kind of -- not out-foxed, but you're having to deal with these diplomatic and military maneuvers from Lebanon and Israel. Is the council being overtaken, and your good work?

And what is the status of the relationship with the French at this moment as you work together?

BOLTON: We have a great relationship among other areas of our agreement and neither one of us are happy with the coffee at the French mission...

(LAUGHTER)

... of which we've been drinking quite a bit lately.

But we're continuing to work, events are moving. It's a bit of a moving target, I grant you, but we're still working hard to try and bring this thing to closure.

I just want to take one more here.

QUESTION: Mr. Ambassador, is there any way the United States can see in this resolution, the first one, a simultaneous cessation of hostilities, coupled with the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from Lebanese territories?

BOLTON: You may recall that when we started discussion of this issue, one of our concepts was to have almost everything wrapped up in one resolution so that we have the political solution, the creation of the enhanced multinational force, whatever that turned out to be, and the cessation of hostilities, all done at once. We felt that was the most appropriate way to create the basis for a sustained, long-term solution.

Now, we're not wed to the operational mechanics of how to do that in one resolution, which is why we've been considering two resolutions. There are a variety of ways we can do that. We're still exploring all those possibilities.

OK, thank you very much.

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