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The Situation Room
President Bush Says He'll Work With Congress to Try Guantanamo Bay Detainees in Military Tribunals; Israel is Holding Up Major Ground Operation in Northern Gaza; Daniel Ayalon Interview; Pro-Palestinian Hackers Attacking Web Sites Inside Israel; Shafiq Rasul Interview; Officials Beginning to Tally Flood Damage Along Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers
Aired June 29, 2006 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And to our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where new pictures and information are arriving all the time.
Standing by, CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you today's top stories.
Happening now, President Bush says he's the decider, but the Supreme Court sends him a stunning decision.
It's 5:00 p.m. here in Washington, where the court smacks back the hand of what some are calling an overreaching administration that deals with military tribunals for terror detainees.
Dodging a bullet while bracing for the worst.
It's 5:00 p.m. in the Northeast, where 12 are dead from days of rain, and the toll could be even worse as rivers rise.
And ominous odds. Very ominous. NASA says the Space Shuttle Discovery crew has a one in 100 chance of perishing in outer space, but they're still planning to launch anyway. We'll have an exclusive look inside the facility that's at the center of the debate.
I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
We begin this hour with major new developments in the Bush administration's war on terror. The president now says he'll work with Congress to get approval to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals. That comes hours after the U.S. Supreme Court strongly rebuked Mr. Bush, saying right now he's not authorized to do that. It stems from a case involving Osama bin Laden's former driver.
Our White House correspondent, Ed Henry, is going to go -- going to have reaction in just a moment, but let's get all the specific details on what happened today from our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, essentially the high court said if the president wants to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay before military commissions, those military commissions have to be brought in line with military -- U.S. military law and the Geneva Conventions. As you said, the case centers around Ahmed Salim Hamdan, a man who has supposedly admitted to being Osama bin Laden's driver and bodyguard. And today his attorneys said that they argued before the Supreme Court that the military commission process was unfair and the Supreme Court agreed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. COMMANDER CHARLES SWIFT, MILITARY ATTORNEY FOR HAMDAN: Well, the president, I think, has laid out the path right before this decision saying that he's committed -- and we're heartened to hear that, on behalf of my client and myself -- to holding fair trials. He was looking for the Supreme Court to give him guidance. Well, they've done that here today, and we're ready to defend him, I've always been ready to defend him in a fair trial.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: Now, writing for the majority, Justice John Paul Stevens said that the military commission process failed to grant some key fundamental protections, including the right to confront your accuser and the right to see evidence against them. And because of that, the Bush administration will have to go back to the drawing board and figure out new procedures.
But there's nothing in this ruling that prevents President Bush from holding detainees at Guantanamo indefinitely, and eventually trying them so long as the legal deficiencies are corrected. The administration says they've hard at work at that now, they're going to consult with Congress, and they hope to get these military commission back on track -- Wolf.
BLITZER: What's the general consensus, Jamie among military officers? Do they like having to deal with these detainees at Guantanamo, or would they just as soon shut down that facility?
MCINTYRE: Well, they would love to shut down the facility. It's difficult to manage and causes a PR problem for the United States. But they insist they're not going to do that until they have a legitimate way to dispose of these people either by repatriating them back to their country or finding a suitable legal process to go ahead and try them for the offense they say they've committed.
BLITZER: Jamie, at the Pentagon, thanks very much.
Let's go to Ed Henry at the White House. He's watching all of this.
The reaction there has been very, very precise, but spell it out, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the White House insists this is not a slap in the face for President Bush, but obviously this is a conservative-leaning Supreme Court declaring the president does not have a blank check in the war on terror.
The president was busy in a meeting with the Japanese prime minister when the decision came in from the Supreme Court this morning, so the president got a quick briefing, it lasted only about three minutes on his way to a joint press availability with Prime Minister Koizumi. This enabled the president to deflect questions about the real substance and details of this.
He said administration lawyers are still poring through it, trying to figure out the ramifications. And the president, though, quickly tried to shift this to more politically advantageous ground, talking about the broader war on terror and declaring he will make sure these detainees are not dumped onto the streets of America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The American people need no know that this ruling, as I understand it, won't cause killers to be put out on the street. In other words, there's not a -- as I -- it was a drive-by briefing on the way here. I was told this was not going to be the case.
At any rate, we will seriously look at the findings, obviously. One thing I'm not going to do, though, is I'm not going to jeopardize the safety of the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: The president and his spokesman, Tony Snow, also quickly latched onto the part of Justice John Paul Stevens' opinion that suggested Congress may be able to find a way out here to navigate some sort of legislative solution. The White House very eager to dump this right into Congress' lap -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Ed. Thanks very much.
Ed Henry reporting from the White House.
Congress is reacting to the ruling. The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, says he'll introduce legislation after the July 4th recess giving the president power to order those military tribunals. Frist says he doesn't think detainees belong in civilian courts, but the debate right now in Congress only just beginning.
And coming up this hour, my interview with a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, the British citizen Shafiq Rasul. He spent two years at Guantanamo Bay. He's going to join us here in THE SITUATION ROOM to talk about today's ruling.
Zain Verjee is joining us once again with a quick look at some other important stories making news.
Once again, hi, Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Wolf.
A suicide car bomber killed at least four people at a Shia funeral in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk this afternoon. Thirty- one others were wounded. The bomber drove his car into a tent where services for a slain Iraqi soldier were being held.
Not now, Iran's foreign minister says. Tehran needs until August to respond to an international incentives package aimed at getting Iran to give up its uranium enrichment program. Iran had been asked to respond by the 5th of July. Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki says Iran will raise questions in upcoming talks with the Europeans.
Disney officials and authorities in Orlando, Florida, are investigating the death of a 12-year-old boy on a Disney MGM Studios roller coaster today. The boy was found unresponsive at the end of the ride known as the Rock 'n' Roller. He was pronounced dead just hour ago at a hospital.
Now, there's no immediate word of the cause of death. Since last June, two other people have died after going on another Disney ride.
A key government advisory panel is now recommending that 11 and 12-year-old girls be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer. The advisory committee on immunization practices says the vaccine approved this month could be given to girls as young as 9. The recommendation is expected to run into opposition from some religious conservatives.
Almost 4,000 women die of cervical cancer in the U.S. each year -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Zain, you're working on a piece for the 7:00 Eastern SITUATION ROOM for this extraordinary exchange between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. Give our viewers a little preview of what happened.
VERJEE: Yes, something quite extraordinary, Wolf. We don't really see it when we see diplomats in front of a camera giving joint statements. What we tend to see are poised and polished speeches, smiles, a little bit of style. But there was an accident that happened at the G8 meeting in Moscow, and Secretary Rice and the foreign minister of Russia, Sergey Lavrov, were having a lunch meeting, along with their aides, and there was an accidental audio feed that went out to reporters, and there was a little bit of spatting, a little back and forth, a fairly testy relationship.
Where the two respect each other, they do have a love-hate relationship. And we're going to show our viewers what exactly they said to each other.
BLITZER: And our viewers will gain some insight after they hear it, Zain.
That's coming up in our 7:00 p.m. Eastern hour. Zain working on that piece.
Jack Cafferty joining us once again.
Jack, you're going to want to stick around for our 7:00 p.m. Eastern hour as well.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: I want to stay just to see if Zain shows up.
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: Berkeley, California, hard at work preserving its reputation as a strange sort of a place. The city council of the famously liberal Berkeley has decided unanimously to include a measure on November's ballot calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
The measure says the administration violated the Constitution with illegal domestic spying, justified the war in Iraq with fraudulent claims, and illegally tortured detainees. It is strictly a symbolic gesture, because only Congress, of course, can impeach the president.
The Republican National Committee says Berkeley's absolutely out of step with mainstream American voters. They're probably right about that.
Nevertheless, "The Cafferty File" is able too project the outcome of this election based on the following research. In the 2004 presidential election, President Bush got 4,010 votes in Berkeley. John Kerry got 54,409.
Here's the question. What does it mean that the citizens of Berkley, California, will vote on whether to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney?
E-mail us at CaffertyFile@CNN.com, or go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile -- Wolf.
BLITZER: You think those 4,000 are feeling lonely in Berkeley right now?
CAFFERTY: Yes. If you're conservative out there, you're in the wrong town.
BLITZER: Jack, thanks very much.
Up ahead, we're going to take you live to Gaza. There's late word of possible diplomatic efforts to try to end the violent confrontation between the Israelis and Palestinians over a kidnapped Israeli soldier.
Also, new developments in the case of that stolen laptop computer containing information about millions of American veterans and active duty military personnel.
Plus, the countdown is on to Saturday's space shuttle launch, but some say the foam that caused the Columbia disaster is still a huge threat. We're going to take you inside the facility at the center of the controversy. This is a CNN exclusive.
Susan Roesgen is there. We'll go there.
That's coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
Israel is holding up a major ground operation in northern Gaza, allowing more time for desperate diplomatic efforts to try to free a kidnapped Israeli soldier. But on the West Bank, the body of another missing Israeli, an 18-year-old settler, has been found shot in the head, adding new fuel to what's already a full-blown crisis. An Israeli military official says he was killed shortly after he was abducted on Sunday by Palestinian militants.
The region is on the brink of all-out conflict as Israel steps up the pressure with arrests and airstrikes.
CNN's John Vause is right in the middle of everything, and he's joining us from Gaza City.
John, what's the latest?
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf.
There's word tonight from Palestinian sources that Israel has postponed that military offensive in the north of Gaza, apparently after a request by negotiators from Egypt and Qatar for more time in the hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough in trying to secure the release of the 19-year-old Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. But still, the Israeli artillery continues to fire, more than 400 rounds today alone, mostly in the north, targeting open fields where Palestinian militants have launched rocket attacks.
And one of those artillery rounds may have hit a transmitter bringing in electricity from Israel. Much of Gaza has been without electricity since the only power plant here was hit by an Israeli airstrike. Now many more have been plunged into darkness.
Also, in Gaza City today, there was an airstrike. The target, a member of Islamic Jihad. He escaped, but Palestinian sources say two young boys were hurt in the explosion.
And there have been protests and outrage across the West Bank after Israeli officials round up more than 60 members of Hamas, including the eight cabinet ministers and 20 lawmakers. Now, Hamas says this is an attempt to topple their government.
Also, the 19-year-old corporal, there has been no word about his condition. No proof of life, no videotape, no photograph. And his captors seem to be taunting the Israelis, today saying there are three options: that he is now a missing corpse, the other option, that he is alive, but hurt and in need of medical attention. The third option, they say, he is alive and well, but, in their words, he could pay for Israel's crimes -- Wolf.
BLITZER: John Vause in Gaza for us.
John, thanks very much So how far is Israel prepared to go to get back its kidnapped soldier? Has it already set out to destroy Hamas?
Yesterday I spoke with Syrian ambassador to the United States Imad Mustapha.
Joining us now from New York is Israel's ambassador to the United States, Daniel Ayalon.
Mr. Ambassador, thanks for coming in.
First of all, what can you tell us about these latest diplomatic efforts to try to avoid complete catastrophe?
DANIEL AYALON, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: Well, Wolf, we have been very careful and we take our time. We are very mindful of densely populated areas, so we move very slowly. We do not want to create any damage, collateral damage, or to hurt any civilians or cause undue misery.
At the same time, we want to increase a political pressure on Hamas and basically the Palestinian Authority, because it is their responsibility to bring about the release of Corporal Shalit, which was kidnapped. It was an act of war. And we are willing to wait.
There is some respite. And we will give diplomacy a chance, as we have always been, but time is of essence. And, of course, we cannot wait indefinitely.
So the situation right now is that we are halting most major operations on the ground. We will give talks more chance, but if we see that there's no avail to that, we will continue.
BLITZER: When you say continue, what is the next step?
AYALON: Well, the next step is -- you know, it's a search and rescue operation. And if we do not get Corporal Shalit released, we will have to rescue him ourselves and we will continue until we find him.
BLITZER: What's the point of arresting all of these Hamas politicians over the past 24 hours or so?
AYALON: Well, Wolf, this was long overdue. They have been arrested according to the law, and we have consulted the courts and our attorney general.
There is this terror prevention act. And according to this, they are people who advocated terror, they financed terror, some of them even came with suitcases filled with dollar bills throughout the Rafah passage to give more money to terrorists.
They do not recognize Israel's right. And they were, in fact, directly involved with terrorism. So this is the case, and if it increases some pressure on Hamas and the Palestinians, well, that is secondary. The first thing is to bring them to justice. BLITZER: You say you didn't want collateral damage. What was the point of knocking out the electricity power plant, or, what, about 1.3 million Palestinians live in this small sliver of land that's called Gaza. Why, the accusation goes, are you engaged in collective punishment, punishing all these Palestinians in your search for this one Israeli soldier?
AYALON: Well, not quite. Near as I can tell, the latest report I have from a few minutes ago, only -- only 130,000 Palestinians are out of power. This is not our intention of collective punishment.
We are very careful not to hurt the power plants, although some transmitters were hurt. Some of it is also because of operational leads (ph) in the dark. I think some people are more safe. But the idea is not collective punishment, and we're very careful to keep the infrastructure intact, and certainly the big generators and the power plants themselves.
BLITZER: Some are criticizing Israel for flying warplanes over the summer residence of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, that this is escalating tensions not only with the Palestinians, but now with the Syrians.
Why did you do that?
AYALON: Well, the escalating of tension is because of Hamas, because of inability of Abu Mazen, and because of Syria. Syria is giving shelter to Mashel (ph), which is the head of Hamas which directly is involved with the kidnapping, also with the stepping up of launching of rockets from Gaza to Israel proper.
The Syrians are equipping him, the Syrians are giving him political support. They're giving him shelters, training grounds. And after 9/11, I think it is quite clear that we should not make any distinction between terrorists and those who give them harbor.
Syria today, unfortunately -- the Syrian regime today is involved in every bad spot in the Middle East, whether it's in Lebanon, whether it's in Iraq, whether it's in the territories. And I think the message should be that the Syrians should stop playing with fire.
BLITZER: Daniel Ayalon is the Israeli ambassador to the United States.
Mr. Ambassador, thanks for coming in.
AYALON: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: And we're getting reports that in response to the Israeli offensive in Gaza, some pro-Palestinian hackers are responding by attacking Web sites inside Israel.
Our Internet reporter, Jacki Schechner, has details -- Jacki.
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, it's being reported by "The Jerusalem Post," "Haaretz" and the hacker news Web site Zone H that after Israel launched its offensive on Wednesday, Israeli Web sites were attacked by what appear to be pro-Palestinian hackers.
Now, among the Web sites that were affected were banks, hospitals, car companies, even fashion Web sites. What we saw was something called Web site defacement. When somebody goes to the Web site, they get a screen that looks like this, very simple, with a message that reported said, "Hacked by Team Evil Arab hackers. You kill Palestinian people, we kill Israeli servers."
Now, according to reports, there were some 700 sites that were affected. We went to some of those today and they seem to now be functioning normally again -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jacki, thanks for that.
Jacki Schechner reporting.
Coming up here in THE SITUATION ROOM, he's a British citizen and a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who says he was tortured there. I'll ask him about today's U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Plus, the latest on the deadly flooding in the Northeast. Water receding in some areas but still rising in others. We'll take you live to the flood zone.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
Let's get more on our top story, the Supreme Court ruling saying President Bush does not have the power to order military tribunals for detainees suspected of terror ties at Guantanamo Bay.
So what are the other option for dealing with those detainees?
CNN's Brian Todd is joining us with that part of the story -- Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the options are diverse, complicated, and not limited to the courts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice over): Salim Hamdan avoids trial in a military tribunal for now, but the president is not admitting defeat.
BUSH: To the extent that there is latitude to work with the Congress to determine whether or not the military tribunals will be an avenue with which to give people their day in court, we will do so.
TODD: That's because the Supreme Court only ruled against military tribunals set up by the president, not those that could be mandated by Congress. Other options for trying detainees: courts- martial, trials with military lawyers, judges, juries used to prosecute American service members but also POWs and other suspects.
EUGENE FIDELL, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MILITARY JUSTICE: At least the court-martial system is there, it's established. It's known, more or less, to the American people. It's got a good appellate process. They wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel.
TODD: Under courts-martial, detainees would be able to see all the evidence against them, even represent themselves in court. That's not always possible in a military tribunal.
Another option, detainees could be tried in federal civilian courts. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has weighed in on that idea.
JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA, U.S. SUPREME COURT: War is war. And it's never been the case that when you capture a combatant you have to give them a jury trial in your civil courts. It's a crazy idea to me.
TODD: But U.S. officials and terrorism analyst Peter Bergen tell CNN another option outside the courts is being negotiated.
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: The repatriation of a lot of the prisoners to their home countries, where they may go into prisons, this is happening with the Saudis, the Yemenis, the Afghans, who are the largest numbers at Guantanamo.
TODD: If they're sent to their home countries and not imprisoned, experts say, detainees could be placed under heavy surveillance.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: One other option, release some detainees outright. But most experts believe that is the least likely scenario right now, even given the public debate over how dangerous many of those detainees really are -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Brian Todd at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Brian, thanks for that.
For more, we get some unique perspective from Shafiq Rasul. He's a British citizen detained by U.S. forces in Afghanistan back in 2001. He was held for two years at Guantanamo Bay, where he says he was badly mistreated.
In 2004, he successfully sued the U.S. government with the Supreme Court ruling that detainees have the right to challenge their detention in civilian courts.
Shafiq Rasul is joining us now from Birmingham in England.
What's your immediate reaction, Shafik, to what has happened in the U.S. Supreme Court today?
SHAFIQ RASUL, FMR. GUANTANAMO DETAINEE: I'm happy that something has happened. It's a step forward for detainees. Hopefully they can take their cases to a civilian court and represent themselves and know what they're -- what they're being held for, because the whole time that I was held in Guantanamo, I didn't know why I was being held.
I was just told that I'm a member al Qaeda and that was -- that was it. I was not given any evidence that -- why I was being held and how long I'm going to be there and what my -- what the evidence they had against me.
BLITZER: Did you meet Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who supposedly was Osama bin Laden's driver and is at the center of this Supreme Court decision today?
RASUL: No, I never met him when I was in Guantanamo.
BLITZER: When you were there for the two years you were there, how much interaction did you have with other detainees?
RASUL: When you're put in the cell blocks, you could talk to the detainees next to you. But further away, it's impossible to talk to because of the level of the noise that is there. And when you're put into isolation, it's impossible to communicate with anybody.
BLITZER: When you were allowed eventually to speak with lawyers, how did that work? How did that actually unfold?
RASUL: I never got to see any lawyers while I was in Guantanamo. The first time I saw a lawyer is when I came back to the U.K. in March 2004.
BLITZER: And once you came back to the U.K. after two years at Guantanamo Bay, what did the British government do? How did they treat you?
RASUL: Well, I was taken to a police station, and I spent two days there. And I was questioned, then released with no charge. And basically, I've just been living my life.
And it's been difficult, because when we came back, we had a lot of death threats. So we had to move out of our areas where we were living. And now, we've made a film, we've been promoting it all around the world. And every time that we come back into the U.K., we get stopped by the authorities and questioned. It's happened about seven, eight times now.
BLITZER: You haven't been charged with any crimes in Britain...
RASUL: No.
BLITZER: ... but do you suspect that you're being watched by authorities all the time?
RASUL: Yes, of course. We're being watched. That's how it feels. Every time we leave the country we get arrested. So they are keeping tabs on us.
BLITZER: And you suspect that they're monitoring your phone calls, monitoring the people you talk to, everything like that?
RASUL: Yes. They can carry on monitoring me because I'm not doing anything wrong. So it doesn't really make any difference to me.
BLITZER: Some of the detainees who are there, some have already been repatriated, like you, to their home countries, but other have not, including some who are from Saudi Arabia or Yemen, even a few from China.
Do you suspect they would be more anxious to go back to their home countries where they could be treated perhaps even worse than they're treated at Guantanamo Bay, or do you think they would prefer to stay under U.S. military control?
RASUL: Well, after about eight months -- about a year of being in Guantanamo, the Chinese people were told that they have no -- they haven't done anything wrong and they're free to go home, but they can't go back to China because the Chinese government are going to kill them.
And some have been sent to Albania. And what they going to do in Albania? The best thing the American government should have done was send them to America and give them new lives there instead of sending them to a country where they have nothing.
BLITZER: But presumably, though, they're going to be sent back to their home countries if, in fact, they're allowed to go anywhere.
RASUL: But they haven't done any crimes, so the American government have released them. But they know if they're sent back to their home countries, they're going to be killed. So it's the responsibility of the American government to do something about it.
BLITZER: Shafiq Rasul spent two years at Guantanamo Bay. He's now a free man in his home town of Birmingham, England. Shafiq, thanks very much for joining us.
RASUL: Thank you very much.
BLITZER: And coming up, bracing for more while breathing a sigh of relief. We'll have the latest on the days of rain across the Northeast.
And a CNN exclusive. How safe is the planned launch of the space shuttle Discovery? Even NASA's chief engineer argued against it. We're going to have an exclusive look inside the facility at the center of the current debate. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to THE SITUATION ROOM. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. High water is slowly receding in parts of the Northeast, but officials are just beginning to tally the damage from flooding along the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers. CNN's Mary Snow is joining us from New Hope, Pennsylvania, with the latest.
Where is New Hope, Mary?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: New Hope, Wolf, is right along the Delaware River, and this is one of the areas of concern today because the Delaware River crested earlier today. You might be able to hear those generators, very common sound as water is being pumped up -- pumped out, that is.
If you take a look down this road about a quarter of a mile covered with water. What happened earlier today is that the water crested about six feet above flood stage. It was one of the highest recorded crests. One of the areas of concern nearby here, we're told by county officials, water rescues have been going on throughout the day. The National Guard has stepped in.
Now, as the water had been rising today along the Delaware River, it had been receding along the Susquehanna River, which yesterday we saw all those pictures of flooding and damage. Earlier today, Governor Ed Rendell, the governor of Pennsylvania, said that he believed the state dodged a bullet, and he said while the pictures we saw were very dramatic, what was even more dramatic is places where the cameras couldn't go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ED RENDELL (D), PENNSYLVANIA: There were a total of 13 helicopters that went into operation in the north, central and northeastern parts of the state. Seven were National Guard helicopters, four were state police helicopters, two were from the Coast Guard. Those 13 helicopters made over 1,200 water rescues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Now, the governor says that there are at least five fatalities as a result of the flooding. He has asked for federal assistance in 34 counties of the state, this county being one of them where we are along the Delaware River.
Also, a mandatory evacuation order for more than 200,000 people yesterday has been lifted as those floodwaters receded, still thousands without power, thousands without water and many going home to clean up such a big mess -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Mary, I take it that water behind you, that used to be just a regular street where cars and people would be going up and down, and now it looks like a river.
SNOW: It certainly does, Wolf. And, you know, this is an artist community that's usually packed with tourists, especially in the summer season, the July 4th weekend. So this would normally be a pretty bustling street behind me. And, as you said, all underwater, and not really clear when it's all going to be cleared out. And the police say they have to wait for this water to recede before people can go back into their homes and businesses.
BLITZER: Mary's going to have a lot more coming up in 7:00 p.m. Eastern hour. Mary, thanks for that. Good luck it all the people who are in severe, severe problem -- having severe problems in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
Still to come, remember that laptop stolen from the department of Veterans Affairs that contained the personal information of millions of veterans and active duty U.S. military personnel? There's now a new development. We'll tell you what's going on.
And it's the "I" word somewhere whispering, some are screaming. That word being impeachment. What does it mean that a city in California might vote to impeach the president and the vice president? Jack Cafferty is standing by with your email.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. There may be an important development unfolding right now involving that Israeli soldier kidnapped over the weekend. Let's bring in Zain.
What's happen, Zain?
VERJEE: Wolf, in an interview with a pro-government Egyptian newspaper called Al-Ahram, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak is saying that Palestinian militants have agreed it a conditional release of that kidnapped Israeli soldier. But the interviews goes on to say that Israel has not accepted their terms.
Specifically, Hosni Mubarak says Egyptian contacts with several Hamas leaders resulted in preliminary positive results in the shape of a conditional agreement to hand over the Israeli soldier as soon as possible to avoid an escalation, but there has been no agreement reached yet with the Israeli side. We don't know more details, but we'll bring you when we get them -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Zain. Thanks very much. The Egyptians well positioned to try to negotiate some sort of deal. The Egyptian government has diplomatic relations with Israel as well as good relations with the Hamas-led Palestinian government. We'll watch this story, get you more information as it becomes available.
In the meantime, let's go to Ali Velshi. He's got the bottom line in New York.
Big numbers up in the markets today, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Huge numbers today. And it's not the thing you'd normally think about. Today was the 17th time in a row that the Federal Reserve raised interest rates another 1/4 percent higher. So the Federal Reserve's rate now stands at five-and-a- quarter percent. And that relates to the prime rate, which is usually about three percent higher.
So the prime rate now is eight-and-one-quarter percent. And as you know, Wolf, that's what banks charge their best customers. Now, for those of us who typically are not the bank's best customers, we have home equity lines of credit, home equity loans, credit cards, things like that that are tied to prime. So this increase means that once again, the cost of borrowing money in America for individuals and for businesses has gone up. Again, the 17th time it's happened. We've been speculating about this for a long time, and it was widely expected, which is why the minute the Fed those rates again, the stock market shot up.
This was one of the best days we've seen this year. The Dow gained 217 points to close 1190. The NASDAQ gained 62 points; 2174 was the closing number there. The Fed meets again, Wolf, in eight weeks. Not clear that they're done raising interest rates. But for now, the market's happy this one's over, and for the next eight weeks, we'll have to find something else to talk about, Wolf.
BLITZER: For now. Those are the key words, Ali. For now, the markets are happy. Because what goes up, unfortunately, goes down, as we all know, Ali. Thanks very much. Ali Velshi reporting.
It was lost; it's now been found. That laptop computer and external drive with the personal data of more than 26 million veterans and active duty military personnel. Today officials said both items have been found. They've been missing for more than a month, stolen from a Veterans Affairs employee's home. Officials say they're preparing themselves should the situation happen again. The FBI cannot yet say who stole the items, and no arrests yet have been made.
A preliminary FBI review of the laptop indicates the data had not been compromised. But what happens now? Let's get some more from our Internet reporter, Abbi Tatton -- Abbi.
ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, the V.A. has offered all those affected one year of free credit monitoring. Now, we spoke to a V.A. spokesman today who said it would be premature to speculate as to what happens next with that credit monitoring as an ongoing and deeper investigation is going on into that data and the laptop.
Another development today, V.A. Secretary Jim Nicholson before a House committee. At that committee, documents emerged which seemed to show that the employee who took home the laptop had permission to do so. A property pass here, which specifies a laptop computer. The V.A. has sought his dismissal for taking that laptop home. The V.A. wouldn't comment on these new documents today, saying that the employee's status is pending.
We should just also mention that they're also pending two lawsuits against the V.A. We spoke to the lawyers involved today. They said they still plan to go ahead -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Abby, thanks for that.
Lou is getting for his program that begins right at the top of the hour. He's standing by to tell us what he's working on -- Lou.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, thank you very much. Coming up at the top of the hours, we'll be examining, the legal, political, and constitutional implications of today's Supreme Court decision on military tribunals. And the United States Congress appears to have forgotten the lessons of the Dubai ports deal. Lawmakers today moving closer to approving a free trade deal that will allow foreign companies to control our ports. We'll have that special for you.
And the government of Mexico challenging U.S. sovereignty and our law by telling illegal aliens in this country to vote in Mexico's presidential election. We'll have that report.
And you won't believe how easy it is for hackers with simple wireless devices to alter votes in those e-voting machines. We'll have a special report tonight on the disturbing new threat to our democracy, and a great deal more coming up on 6:00 Eastern here at CNN. We hope you'll be with us.
Wolf, back to you.
BLITZER: We'll be with you. Thanks very much, Lou, for that.
Now, a CNN exclusive. The space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch Saturday. It's only the second shuttle flight since the Columbia disaster three years ago. But NASA's chief engineer argued against this upcoming launch because he's worried the falling foam problem that doomed Columbia still has not been fixed. CNN Gulf Coast correspondent Susan Roesgen is taking us inside the NASA facility that's at the center of the debate -- Susan?
SUSAN ROESGEN, GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is where the external fuel tanks are made. In fact, you can see the nose of one of them being built here behind me. When they're finished, they're 15 stories tall, and it's these external fuel tanks that power the shuttle into orbit. Now, it's the foam, the protective foam on the tanks, that is the big concern.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
The foam is sprayed on wet, and when it dries, it's about as stiff as Styrofoam. That foam cover is critical because that's what keeps the tank from getting too hot or too cold. Here at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, workers not only spray the foam on the tanks, they're now scraping some foam off the tanks for future shuttle flights.
The foam on the tank attached to shuttle Discovery right now also has had large sections of foam removed. On most of the external fuel tanks, the foam is only about one inch thick. But before Columbia, there were some areas of foam as much as a foot thick. And it's in one of those areas that some of the foam fell off, ultimately leading to the Columbia shuttle disaster.
These are two of the areas where large sections of foam had been removed from the tanks. NASA admits that some pieces of foam are still likely to fall off during the launch, but the hope is that any falling pieces will be too small to seriously damage the shuttle.
NASA expects to make more modifications to the external tank after the upcoming launch. And, in fact, NASA has ordered more than a dozen of these tanks to be made for flights between now and the year 2010 -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Susan, thanks very much. Excellent report from Susan Roesgen. And don't forget, Saturday, watch Miles O'Brien. He'll anchor our special coverage on the takeoff of this shuttle, 3:00 p.m. Eastern, Saturday.
Up ahead, were weapons of mass destruction actually found in Iraq?
And in our 7:00 p.m. Eastern hours, the private exchange that's become very public. Very sharp words exchanged between the secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and her Russian counterpart. We'll let you listen to those rough words. This is something you don't hear everyday. You'll hear it coming up 7:00 p.m. Eastern.
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BLITZER: So were weapons of mass destruction recently found in Iraq? There are new developments centering in on the debate. Let's get the details from our national security correspondent, David Ensor -- David?
DAVID ENSOR, CNN AMERICA BUREAU CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the issue is the 500 chemical shells that the U.S. has so far found in Iraq. And it's one of those areas where senior House Republicans and the Bush administration are disagreeing about how to proceed.
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ENSOR (voice-over): Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee brought defense intelligence brass before them to seek support for their view that the 500 chemical weapons so far found in Iraq are dangerous weapons of mass destruction.
REP. CURT WELDON (R), PENNSYLVANIA: So these 500 weapons that we found, contrary to all the spin, are weapons of mass destruction, in your mind as a professional military officer?
COL. JOHN CHU, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL GROUND INTELLIGENCE CENTER: Yes, I do, sir.
ENSOR: But two can play that game. Democrats asked whether the 500 weapons, all 1980 vintage Sarin and mustard shells from the Iran- Iraq war could be used as weapons today?
CHU: These munitions that were found were badly corroded in most cases.
REP. JIM COOPER (D), TENNESSEE: Have you order that more chemicals, protective suits, thing like that be sent to the region so that our troops can be prepared against these so-called weapons of mass destruction?
CHU: Not to my knowledge, sir. ENSOR: Former CIA Iraq weapons hunter David Kay told the committee he always expected old shells to be found. He said they did not prove Saddam Hussein had an active weapons program. The hearing is unlikely to satisfy some, like talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who is angry that the 500 shells are being played down. And not just by the media and Democrats.
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: It's very frustrating. Why in the world is there such a reluctance, even on the part of some Republicans and some Republican conservative media members, who downplay this?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: But national security advisor Stephen Hadley said the shells are old material from before the Gulf War. Clearly, the White House wants to move on -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And David, this not what administration officials like Colin Powell were talking about before the war in suggesting the Iraqis had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons.
ENSOR: That's right. The suggestion then was that they were stockpiling them, and that they were fresh, that they were ready to go. These are very old weapons, not something you could safely fire on an army and try to stop it.
BLITZER: David, thank you very much for that. David Ensor reports.
Up next, Jack Cafferty wondering about impeachment as residents of one city prepare to vote on whether to impeach the president and the vice president. We're standing by for "The Cafferty File."
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BLITZER: Here's a look at some of the hot shots coming in from our friends in the Associated Press, pictures likely to be in your hometown newspapers tomorrow. In Gaza, Palestinians stand inside a destroyed electrical appliance store after an Israeli air strike. Israelis say the shop is used to manufacture rockets and other weapons.
In Baghdad, a police graduation ceremony; 560 new recruits celebrate the completion of their training course.
In the Philippines, Greenpeace activists block the gates of the national oil company. They're protesting plans to build a coal mine and power plant.
And in Zurich, Switzerland -- look at this -- lightning over two churches. Some of today's hot shots, Pictures often worth a thousand words.
Jack Cafferty is worth a thousand words. He's joining us with "The Cafferty File." You got a thousand, Jack? CAFFERTY: I don't think there's that many, here. We'll count them as we go.
City council in Berkeley, California, that hotbed of liberalism, is going to include a measure on November's ballot that calls for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. It's non-binding, but we like to know what you think a question like that means, if they put it on the ballot.
Carol in Jamesville, Wisconsin, writes, "Jack, I think if the whole country could vote, those jokes would have been a long time ago. Even the ones stupid enough to vote for them are sorry now that they did."
Dave in Berkeley, California: "What they are trying to do here in Berkeley with this impeachment issue is what our elected representatives -- both Democrats and Republicans -- should have done long ago. The blatant abuse of power by this president is unimaginable, and our representatives are cowardly weasels." One of my favorite words.
Eric in St. Thomas: "I'm quite certain if the citizens of Berkeley had their way, not only would the president and vice president be impeached, but we'd send a letter of apology to Al Qaeda. Socialism is alive and well in this country, and its capital is Berkeley. If you have political opinions to the right of Karl Marx, you're not welcome."
Chase in Portland, Oregon: "It means the people of Berkeley are ahead of the rest of the country. Remember, they were telling us the Vietnam War was wrong long before the majority of Americans came to that conclusion."
Dale in Anadarko, Oklahoma: "If the cost of housing wasn't so high, I'd move there, just so I could vote."
And Paul in Ft. Worth, Texas: "It means those pot-smoking, walking-around-campus-naked, save-the-whales, organic-food-eating, hybrid-car-driving, coffee shop, beatnik hippies have infinitely more sense than the rest of us."
If you didn't see your email here, you can go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile and read some more of them. We post a bunch of them online. I can only read a few of them. We put a bunch of the rest of them on the Internet. So you can look for yours there. And if it's not there, we just didn't care.
BLITZER: See you back here in an hour.
There's a developing story. Very quickly, we'll go to Zain.
What's happening in Kuwait, Zain?
VERJEE: We always care, Wolf. In Kuwait, though, election officials have been counting ballots after nationwide elections today. For the first time, votes cast by women and for women are being conducted and counted now, as well.
A law passed last year gave women the right to vote and stand for election. Among the 250 candidates for parliament are 28 women. Women are required to cast their votes at separate polling stations from men. Many women said it's a beautiful day -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Zain, thanks very much. See you back here in an hour. Let's go to Lou in New York -- Lou.
DOBBS: Thank you, Wolf.
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