Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Crisis in the Middle East

Aired July 26, 2006 - 06:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Rockets raining down in the northern Israeli city of Haifa again this morning. Fighting is intensifying on both sides of the border in what may be the deadliest day yet for the Israeli military.
And the diplomatic push to end the violence. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Rome right now and talks are under way to try and find a way to stop the bloodshed.

Good morning. Welcome, everybody. It is Wednesday, July 26. You're watching a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Soledad O'Brien in New York this morning.

Hey, -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.

From Haifa, Israel, Miles O'Brien, where the escalation continues, the fighting both sides of the border. We're told Israeli troops engaged in and around Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon suffering heavy casualties.

Meanwhile, no less than two dozen rocket firings and rocket explosions all across northern Israel. None in the exact city proper of Haifa, but we're told there are upwards of 12 injured, 1 seriously, among the Israeli civilians.

This, as the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, is vowing to extend the reach and to fire off missiles which could go much farther than Haifa, perhaps farther to the south, maybe even as far as Tel Aviv, so lots of bluster and talk and a lot of heavy fighting.

And in the midst of all of this some diplomatic activity going on fairly far away from here in Rome as the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice continues her efforts to try to push a U.S. peace plan. She's meeting with European leaders and some moderate Arab leaders now, as well as the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

For more on that, we turn it over to CNN's John King -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And, Miles, the violence you just described, those defiant statements by the leader of Hezbollah all on the minds of the leaders as they gather here at the Italian Foreign Ministry. Eighteen nations and major international organizations represented in all from the United States to the World Bank. Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. Secretary of State, as you noted, is inside trying to broker a compromise. And, frankly, she is outnumbered as the talks intensify here this morning.

The United States comes to the table looking for what she calls a comprehensive solution, a cease-fire agreement, but one that includes a commitment by Hezbollah to disarm, to pull back from the southern Lebanese border, and a commitment by the government of Lebanon to send its army in to contain Hezbollah.

In addition to that, Secretary Rice and her counterparts here also want to come up with a new international peacekeeping force. But the most significant difference is this, the United States wants a comprehensive plan. Again, that includes some proposal, some agreement to get Hezbollah to disarm.

Many of the other diplomats here, including the U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan, say stop the bloodshed, agree simply to a 60 to 90-day cessation of hostilities and then deal with all the -- excuse me -- the difficult diplomatic questions, including the question of whether Hezbollah will disarm.

So it is a question of Secretary Rice's negotiating skills here this morning, also a sense of urgency though. All of the leaders here know they do not want to walk away with nothing. So we do know they will announce a major humanitarian package and they are trying to come up with at least a statement of principles that they hope, Miles, can get them to a cease-fire, some cessation of the hostilities.

But while they are meeting here in Rome today, no one expects the violence to stop tomorrow. Even if things go perfectly here, no one quite expects that. But even if things go perfectly from the view of diplomats, they still think it would be a week or more before you could implement any agreement -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: John, Israeli -- the Israeli Air Force bombed a location in southern Lebanon and mistakenly killed four U.N. observers there. The Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, pretty upset about that, sort of almost laying blame at the foot -- at the feet of Israel, saying they did it almost deliberately. Any talk of that in Rome right now?

Apparently we've lost John King. We're sorry about that.

I believe we're headed to Tyre, is that right? OK. We're going to move our sights. We'll get John King back in the program a little bit later.

In the meantime, there are still Americans inside Lebanon. Three hundred Americans, it is estimated, in southern Lebanon who have been unable to make their way to safety. We've told you about upwards of 12,000 to 13,000 Americans who have arrived safely, mostly via Cyprus. And now we have word that some 300 Americans are trying to make their way through Tyre to a vessel there and on their way to safety.

CNN's Karl Penhaul is in Tyre -- Karl. KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, that's correct. Throughout the morning the U.S. Embassy has been arranging safe passage for small convoys of cars to allow American passport holders to get from the war torn parts of south Lebanon to Tyre so that they can go out.

Now I want to introduce you to 17-year-old high school student, Hussein Saleh. He goes to Newtown High School in Queens, New York, and he's trying to get back there now. He came from a town just one mile from the Israeli border this morning. And he's described -- what he's described is basically a journey along the highway to hell.

Tell us a little bit about that journey, Hussein, how was it for you this morning?

HUSSEIN SALEH, EVACUATING SOUTHERN LEBANON: Well, it felt like hell. As I was going down from Yaroun to Ramash (ph), I see cars going down and people crying for family members lost. And I see kids, they're all crying without no food, nothing. As I go out from Yaroun I see all the houses, they're all broken down. I see kids like half cut down and people dying.

And if somebody wants to help them, they can't help them, they just shoot at them. They kill them right away. They can't do nothing.

And as I came, 10 cars came from the U.S. Embassy for passport holders from United States. As -- so they took us. As we went down to Ramash, we see cars, they've been shot at, missiles on the floor that haven't been blown yet. See many different things that make you want to cry.

PENHAUL: And over the last 14 days, because you were there for the full 14, 15 days, how did you get through this conflict alive with you and your family?

SALEH: Well, we stayed at a house in Yaroun under -- it was a basement. We stayed under there for 14 days, but there was 32 kids with us. They all want -- they all hungry food. No, there was no food, no nothing. We managed to support ourselves like with what was left around the house and apples, bananas. Whatever we had left, we managed to support ourselves with it.

PENHAUL: Now we know that the town you've come from, Yaroun, is very close to Maroun al-Ras, one of the first villages to be taken by the Israeli Army.

SALEH: Yes.

PENHAUL: Close to Bint Jbeil where the Israeli Army now. Did the Israeli Army come through Yaroun? What did you guys see of the fighting?

SALEH: They didn't come through Yaroun, but as -- if we -- if you look up, you could see the tanks, you could see the airplanes, you could see mostly everything from there. You could see how they fire at you and everything. It was right like this is Maroun al-Ras right here and this is Yaroun, so it's like you could see everything in the middle.

PENHAUL: Now there is, in fact we're told right now, a ship in the port of Tyre. And what Hussein and his family are now going to be doing is to leave here just in the next few moments. They'll be escorted by the Lebanese Army to the port of Tyre. They'll go through the registration process and then they'll be off to Cyprus and back on the way to Queens -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Karl Penhaul reporting to us live from Tyre.

There's been a series of recriminations, apologies and demands for apologies after the Israeli Air Force bombed a United Nations observation post killing four U.N. observers in el-Khiyam in southern Lebanon. The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, indicating he believes it was a deliberate action.

For more on this we go to Beirut and Anthony Mills -- Anthony.

ANTHONY MILLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, within the last few hours, I've been told by a U.N. official here in Lebanon from the Noqoura base, the U.N.'s Noqoura base in the south of the country just next to the Israeli-Lebanese border, that at around 1:30 p.m. yesterday a missile struck within 200 meters of the U.N. base in el- Khiyam that was subsequently bombed directly.

And over the next six hours or so, between eight and nine further missiles struck between 1 and 400 meters from that base. Every time, the official told me, the U.N. got on the phone to the Israelis and told them what was happening. They were told it would be sorted out.

At 7:30 p.m., the U.N. lost contact with the base. And it was subsequently confirmed that it had indeed taken a direct hit, causing four casualties among the U.N. observers there. He concurred as well with the statement by the U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, saying that he agreed that it did appear to be a deliberate strike -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well what is the Israeli explanation? They, clearly, number one, have apologized. And number two have said that it was not deliberately targeted.

MILLS: It's open to question at this stage. And of course there will be an investigation launched which will no doubt shed more light on what exactly happened. It appears that it is a question between whether or not it was deliberate or whether it was what is so often termed collateral damage.

But at this stage, Miles, it's really not clear what exactly it was of the two. The investigation will no doubt tell us more. But at this stage, as I say, the U.N. and the U.N. official I spoke to here agreeing with Kofi Annan, the U.N. Secretary-General, in saying it appeared to him to be a deliberate strike -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Anthony Mills live for us from Beirut. Just to update you, Soledad, on the figures right now, we're now told by Israeli official police spokesman in this region 37 rockets have rained down on northern Israel today. This day 15 of this conflict, 13 slight injuries, 1 serious injury just outside of Haifa. So the rockets continue on this side, the heavy fighting continuing north of the border -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles, thanks. We'll check back in with you in just a little bit.

The first relief flight from Jordan has landed in Beirut. It's the first plane to land at that battered Beirut airport and it's bringing in medical supplies and those include a field hospital. The relief plane won't be leaving empty, it's going to be carrying about 150 injured civilians out of Beirut.

U.S. Special Operation soldiers were the first to bring relief supplies into Lebanon. They did so in heavily armed helicopters that landed well north of Beirut's airport at the U.S. Embassy. CNN was the only news organization to ride along with that humanitarian mission.

And CNN's Barbara Starr has our exclusive report this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the first U.S. military humanitarian relief mission into Beirut. Two heavily armed Air Force Special Operations helicopters leave Cyprus for a 90-minute flight into Lebanon. One ton of emergency medical and healthcare supplies are on board, enough to care for 10,000 people over a three-month period. CNN is the only news crew here.

Under extraordinary security measures, which CNN agreed not to show, the helicopters land at the U.S. Embassy compound and Marines instantly begin unloading. When one helicopter approaches the landing zone, it's easy to see how vulnerable the U.S. aircrew might be. As we approach southern Beirut's coastline, the tail gunner knows we are just a couple of miles from Hezbollah's turf.

The Israelis have agreed to hold their fire while the Americans are here delivering aid, but within hours the bombing begins again.

For the Marines on the ground, the risk is put aside for the job at hand.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just glad to be here to help.

STARR: After the boxes of supplies are unloaded, there is one more job, another American family that needs to get out and Marines are there to help carry the youngest the last few steps to safety.

(on camera): The emergency supplies delivered here today by the military are just a very small part of what the people of Lebanon now so desperately need, help.

Barbara Starr, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr with an exclusive look at that mission.

Ahead this hour, we're going to talk to the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, get more on those efforts to get more humanitarian aid into that country. Also, we'll ask him about the evacuation of Americans who are still stuck in southern Lebanon.

Then what would you do if you were suddenly caught in the middle of a war? We'll hear about one student's terrifying escape from the Middle East. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Latest now in the Middle East crisis.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Rome this morning with talks with other world leaders. One of the key issues of course is how to put together that international peacekeeping force along the Israeli-Lebanese border.

At least 12 people wounded after more Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel happened this morning. More than 300 Israeli civilians have been wounded since the fighting began.

And a Jordanian plane carrying relief supplies landed at Beirut's airport early this morning. It is the first flight to land there since Israel bombed the runways there earlier this month.

In Washington, D.C., Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki heads to Capital Hill this morning. The Iraqi leader will address a joint meeting of Congress in about five hours from now. President Bush says there are plans to bring more U.S. troops into Baghdad to battle the rising sectarian violence.

In Baghdad, Saddam Hussein says if he's convicted, he wants to go before a firing squad. The former Iraqi leader made the comment after he returned to court today. He says he was taken from his hospital bed and forced to attend today's session. Hussein is being treated for the effects of a hunger strike. Closing arguments are now under way in his trial with seven other former members of his regime.

Happening in America this morning.

Police say a 17-year-old has confessed to the Indiana sniper shootings. Zachariah Blanton was arrested in the highway attacks that killed one person, injured another. Later they found a rifle in Blanton's home similar to the one used in the shootings. The teen now faces murder charges.

Jurors in the Andrea Yates murder retrial will be at it again today. It's day number three. Jurors deliberated for 11 hours on Tuesday. Yates says she was insane back in 2001 when she drowned her five children in a bathtub.

Princess Cruise is blaming human error for that incident off the coast of Florida last week. Dozens of passengers, you'll remember, were injured, some of them seriously, when the cruise ship, the Crown Princess, tilted severely to one side. The company says personnel changes have since been made. Still, a federal investigation into the matter is continuing.

Firefighters making slow but steady progress containing California's largest wildfire. The Horse Fire (ph) is what it's called is burning east of San Diego. It's grown to more than 16,000 acres. Fire officials say the flames are still a threat to some of the homes nearby.

The death toll from California's searing heat wave continues to climb. The state has struggled through 10 days now of triple-digit temperatures. Authorities are now investigating at least 56 possible heat-related deaths, most of them of elderly people.

Power is expected to be almost completely restored in the St. Louis area today. About 600,000 people lost electricity after last week's violent storms, thousands still in the dark there. Meanwhile, residents have had to throw out more than 60 tons of spoiled food.

Good news here in New York City, ConEdison now saying that power has been restored to all customers in Queens. Tens of thousands of people were left without power for days, some of them longer than a week.

Chad Myers is at the CNN Center with the forecast for us this morning.

Hello, Chad, good news for the folks in Queens.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Boy, what a mess there, huh?

MYERS: Finally. You know it was kind of heat related, then it rained and water got down there. And, man, those guys had a job, didn't they?

Good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thank you.

MYERS: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, it looks like home sales are dropping. Is it finally a buyer's market? Carrie Lee is going to join us with the business headlines coming up.

First though, what you can learn from a Harvard University student's escape from Lebanon. Expert tips for staying safe while you're traveling overseas.

That's next on this special edition of AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Welcome back live from Haifa.

The air raid sirens have blasted once again this morning, no visible signs of any rockets landing on the city proper so far, but there have been no less than 37 rockets that have landed on northern Israel this morning, causing 1 serious injury, 13 other minor juries.

We've been talking all along about the evacuation of foreign nationals from Lebanon, in particular Americans. And there are still Americans inside Lebanon who want to get out. We just heard from Karl Penhaul in Tyre and an effort to get 300 Americans out from there.

CNN's Dan Lothian caught up with one young American who has a harrowing tale about his escape and word on how other people are turning to private agencies for help.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JADE JURDI, ESCAPED WAR ZONE: We saw the bombed out bridges and the city took fire around us.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twenty-one-year-old Jade Jurdi back at his family's southern California home describing his terrifying escape from Lebanon.

JURI: Probably the scariest part of the trip, two rockets hit a building about a block away from our car.

LOTHIAN (on camera): Jurdi, a Harvard senior working on his thesis, wasn't rescued by the U.S. like thousands of others. Instead, as the crisis intensified, the university sent in a private company to pull him, its other students in summer programs and staff out.

JURDI: They really made all the difference. They were the ones that took us the entire route.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): The security and medical company, International SOS, not only evacuated students but also employees of U.S. firms. In all, more than 200 people.

DAVID CAMERON, INTERNATIONAL SOS-AMERICAS: I think we have conducted three discreet evacuation operations, taking clients from northern Beirut through to Damascus, Syria, and then taking them on to destinations beyond, particularly Larnaca and Cyprus.

LOTHIAN: Harold Coyne, a risk management consultant, says when trouble happens overseas, an increasing number of people and companies aren't waiting for government help to arrive.

HAROLD COYNE, COYNE CONSULTING GROUP: It takes a long time for official government channels. LOTHIAN: He says private security firms act quickly, quietly and have the resources to be effective on demand.

COYNE: And whether we use people in country to help us get people out or whether we have to send a team in, it just all depends on the environment.

LOTHIAN: Of course the ticket out will be more expensive, and these companies are better equipped to handle modest numbers, not thousands at a time like the flood of people evacuated to Cyprus. With so many hot spots in the world and with the constant threat of terrorism, security experts say anyone going overseas should always check in with the U.S. Embassy and have an escape plan.

COYNE: We tell people plan pretty much the same as you would do for a hurricane.

CAMERON: It's about being informed about your destination and understanding, you know, the different threat factors that are there.

LOTHIAN: Jurdi is now following the conflict on his computer and television, thankful he had a quick exit, but thinking about those still trying to find their way home.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: That same organization Dan Lothian profiled in that piece also got two Princeton students back out to safety.

And it's worth pointing out, the country of Lebanon, prior to this war, was on the State Department list of countries that Americans should be extremely cautious traveling to. When you're traveling anywhere, you should pay attention to that list and prepare accordingly -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Good advice. All right, Miles, thanks. We'll check in with you in just a little bit.

And of course we'll have much more on the Middle East crisis just ahead.

First, though, some business news, stocks up again, plus GM reports some second quarter earnings later today.

Carrie Lee has got a look at business headlines.

Good morning.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad, thank you.

Let's do a quick recap on yesterday. After losing some ground intraday, Dow Jones industrials managed to add about 53 points at the close yesterday, so putting the Dow up 234 points over the past couple of days.

A couple of things happening to drive the gains, sharply lower oil prices, once again, and an unexpected rise in consumer confidence telling us how people are feeling about the economy.

However, for this Wednesday morning, so far it is looking like a weak start on Wall Street. In fact, this is what we've seen, kind of erratic swings in the market, a lot of variables, interest rates, Middle East conflict, not really giving the markets a clear direction.

Now one thing we're keeping an eye on today, profit report from General Motors. The shares were up about 3.3 percent yesterday in anticipation of the news. Analysts do expect the company to earn more money on an operating basis.

However, GM is going to take about a $4 billion charge to pay for buyouts and early retirements. So that's pretty much factored into GM. We'll see what the numbers have today and see what they say potentially about their product line going forward.

And then finally one more sign that the housing market is slowing, sales of existing homes fell for the eighth time in the last 10 months. Median home prices did rise, but by less than 1 percent compared to a year ago, and that is the smallest gain since May of 1995.

But, Soledad, in this market a sign that the housing market and some of the economy not growing so fast seen as good news because that means the Federal Reserve is less likely to keep raising interest rates, so kind of a counterintuitive market.

S. O'BRIEN: But it makes sense.

LEE: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, -- Carrie.

LEE: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: A look at the morning's top stories straight ahead, including the talks going on about the Middle East crisis as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other world leaders try to end the fighting there.

First, though, new attacks to tell you about in Haifa in Israel this morning. Miles is reporting from there live. That's ahead. Stay with us. You're watching a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com