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The Situation Room
Cease-fire Still Holding in Middle East; Lebanese Refugees Return Home to Devastation; Howard Dean Reacts to Criticism by Republican Party; Tzipi Livni Interview; Endorsements in Connecticut Senate Race; George Allen Apologizes For Racial Slur
Aired August 15, 2006 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: 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, troops on the move here in the Middle East, with a fragile cease-fire still holding. It's 11:00 p.m. in southern Lebanon, where Israeli soldiers are heading out and Lebanese forces about to roll in. We're tracking the truce and how civilians are trying to put the bloodshed behind them.
Also, provocative words from Iran and Syria. Will Israel take the bait? It's 11:30 p.m. in Tehran, where Iran's president is declaring a Hezbollah victory. I'll get reaction in an exclusive interview with Israel's foreign minister.
And targeting terror in Britain. A new arrest in the foiled airline bomb plot.
And in Washington, President Bush huddles with top terror fighters. It's 4:00 p.m. in the U.S. capital, where the political war over homeland security is getting hotter by the day.
I'm Wolf Blitzer in Jerusalem. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
First this hour, the march toward peace here in the Middle East. Defense sources say Lebanese troops now are under orders to start moving into southern Lebanon about 24 hours from now as part of the U.N.-brokered cease-fire plan. The battlefields on both sides of the Israeli/Lebanese border are mostly silent for a second day, except for some sporadic clashes.
The Israeli troops now are rolling out of southern Lebanon. The Israeli military says the pull-out should be completed within ten days. U.N. officials say peacekeepers now are patrolling the area day and night and more will arrive in the days ahead.
Thousands of Lebanese civilians, meanwhile, are trying to get back home. But safety is a serious issue, with bridges and roads destroyed by a month of Israeli airstrikes. Relief workers also are trying to make their way to hard-hit areas now that the fighting has stopped.
In Beirut today, a sign of continued support for Hezbollah militants and their campaign against Israel. Still unclear if Hezbollah plans to abide by the U.N. Security Council resolution calling for its forces to disarm. Iran's president today is claiming Hezbollah fighters defeated Israel, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared U.S. plans to reshape the Middle East have been ruined. Echoing that sentiment today, the president of Syria, another nation that backs Hezbollah.
CNN's Fionnuala Sweeney is in northern Israel, but first, let's go to our Beirut bureau chief, Brent Sadler. He's standing by with the latest -- Brent.
BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: Wolf, first of all, news coming out of defense ministry sources here in the Lebanese capital that the Lebanese army, some 15,000 troops in all, eventually will start deploying toward the south within the next 24 hours. This to try to prevent a vacuum building up. The clock very much against now international peacekeepers, who are also supposed to be joining those Lebanese troops.
Now, Wolf, countless -- tens of thousands -- of Lebanese have been heading south under difficult conditions, making desperate journeys. I should warn you that viewers may find some parts of this upcoming report disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SADLER (voice-over): A mass migration of Lebanese abandoned caution to make their way slowly home. It is a frustrating and perilous journey to south Lebanon, along uncertain routes. Israel says they should wait until Lebanese and international troops arrive. But no one, it seems, is listening.
Israeli bombs have gouged deep craters in roads they would normally use. Unexploded bombs litter their way, and vital bridges that Israel destroyed to cut Hezbollah supply lines have collapsed in ruins.
This is the Litani River, a strategic boundary for Israel during the fighting. No bridges are left standing here, but the desperation of people made homeless by more than a month of war turns into determination.
"Even if my farm is damaged," he says, "I just want to see it."
The river is narrow and shallow here, so one by one, they attempt to cross. Some vehicles splutter to a halt. But no one's giving up, as men join hands to muscle a truck, laden with family belongings, to safety.
Despite the setbacks and possibility they will find their homes destroyed at the end of this journey, they speak with one voice.
"God strengthen the resistance," he says. The resistance of Hezbollah, whose Katyusha rockets, like these scaled-down models, were damaged but not destroyed. For the first time since major battles stopped, it's been possible for Lebanese Red Cross teams to reach a line of bomb-blasted villages that faced Israel along what seems to be a lifeless border. They are looking for more of Lebanon's dead.
This is where Israel pulverized Hezbollah strongholds, reducing one village after another to rubble. It's still feels a dangerous place to be.
(on camera): This whole area has been heavily destroyed. This really is one of Hezbollah's front lines. They're now taking us to see what they say are civilian casualties as a result of the Israeli strikes.
(voice-over): They make a grim discovery: four decomposing bodies lie in the scorching heat; two men, two women. Killed, they say, when Israeli troops and armor punched through the village, facing a deadly storm of Hezbollah fire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SADLER; As of some five hours ago, Wolf, the total death toll, the official figures, 960 dead and almost 4,000 wounded. Of Hezbollah's casualties and deaths, we still do not really know a true record of what happened behind those Hezbollah lines -- Wolf.
BLITZER: So in your conversations with government officials, representatives of the government of the Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, are they confident now that Hezbollah and Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, that they're going to cooperate as these Lebanese army forces move south, backed up by a beefed-up U.N. presence?
SADLER: Yes, Wolf, I think you would not be seeing the deployment, at least the first phase of the deployment of Lebanese army, without the tacit agreement, at least, of Hezbollah. There does seem to be at this stage political will from Hezbollah and from the main parties involved, not least Israel, that now is the time to try to create some stability in the south.
But we still haven't heard an official statement yet from the Lebanese cabinet, of which Hezbollah is a part. So perhaps complications, but generally speaking, people are expecting a Lebanese army, international deployment, coming together in the next few days -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Brent, thank you very much. Let's get the latest now on the Israeli troop pullout from south Lebanon. For that, we go to CNN's Fionnuala Sweeney in northern Israel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Driving home, Israeli troops continue their pullout from southern Lebanon. The IDF are not saying how many will stay behind, but Israeli media reports suggest, by the end of the week, the army will have redeployed to a narrow security zone inside Lebanon. CAPTAIN DAN GORDON, SPOKESPERSON, ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES: The redeployment is going along smoothly, under the conditions of the cease-fire agreement. Israeli commanders are talking to their parallel commanders in the vastly expanded UNIFIL force. And, so far, the cease-fire is holding.
SWEENEY: The cease-fire may still be under probation. But, in the meantime, Israeli soldiers are content to be out of Lebanon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I'm not sure the war is over. But I am happy to be out right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Israel won the war, according to the agreement, again. If the agreement will -- going to be fulfilled, Israel won the war. If it's not going to be fulfilled, and Hezbollah were going to stay in the same places, then it -- then Israel didn't won the war.
SWEENEY: Debate rages within the country about how much Israel gained or lost in this war -- and, as the tanks are loaded up for the return journey to their barracks, varying opinions also among the soldiers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of Lebanon is kind of ruined. You know, they have nothing. We're still here. We're good.
GORDON: We know that in this particular campaign, we didn't cure the cancer that is Hezbollah, but we've put it into remission.
SWEENEY: A view shared by the Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who targeted Hezbollah for shooting at Israeli soldiers leaving Lebanon early Tuesday.
TZIPI LIVNI, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: It's in violation of the Security Council resolution. It's not only the spirit, it's the wording of the resolution. The resolution is binding, and it is clearly said that the meaning of cessation of hostility is full cessation of hostility and Hezbollah has to stop immediately his attacks, not only on Israel, but also on Israeli soldiers.
SWEENEY: Israel demands now that the international community step in to shore up the U.N. resolution.
(on camera): Two days into this cease-fire and these Israeli reservists are packing up to go home. The question on everyone's minds though, is for how long?
Fionnuala Sweeney, CNN, Northern Israel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Coming up, we will have much more from the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni. She has been one of the key decision makers in her nation's war against Hezbollah. I sat down with her today for an exclusive, at-length interview about the conflict, the cease-fire, her own promising political career. That interview with the foreign minister of Israel, that's coming up.
And there's new evidence of political fallout in Israel because of the war with Hezbollah. A new poll here of Israelis shows 52 percent believe the army was unsuccessful in its military offensive in Lebanon.
Sixty-six percent say the U.N.-brokered cease-fire agreement is not good, and 60 percent of those who voted for the ruling Kadima Party say they would not vote for that party if the Israeli elections were held today. The same goes for Kadima's coalition partner. That would be the Labor Party, and now good political news for Kadima and for Labor here in Israel.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah's main supporters, Iran and Syria today, are declaring victory against Israel on behalf of the militia group. The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, praised Hezbollah's fighters and mocks Israel and its allies while many Iranians cheered him on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRAN (through translator): America and England and Zionist regimes, with all the equipment, all the army they had, and they face a group of decent, devout young people, and those young people, by putting their trust in God and believing in God, fulfillment of his promises, stood against them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: And we're going to have a lot more from Tehran. Our Aneesh Raman is inside Iran right now, the only U.S. television representative in the Iranian capital. We're going to be going to Aneesh shortly for more on his exclusive reports.
The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, also spoke out in support of Hezbollah today, and he said Israel's failure to destroy the group has doomed U.S. hopes for a new Middle East. More on that part of the story coming up as well.
Meanwhile, let's go to another major international story we are following, one that hits Americans and our security very close to home . In Britain today, another suspect was arrested into the investigation into an alleged plot to blow up U.S.-bound airplanes.
CNN's Dan Rivers reports from London -- Dan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the police here in the United Kingdom have arrested one more person in connection with this alleged terror conspiracy in the Thames Valley area, which is about 30 or 40 miles west of London. Sources are telling me they are not seeing this as a major person in the conspiracy, but clearly they are searching lots of addresses across Britain, in High Wycombe, in Birmingham, and in London, and that may be a result of some of the leads that they've uncovered as a result of those searches. On one of the searches in London, they are saying that they have found household chemicals which could have been put together as a sort of kit of parts to make some form of explosives. Those household chemicals have been sent off to the forensic science laboratories here in London to check that what is on the tin is actually -- what it says on the tin is actually in those containers.
They have also found a number of weapons as well, and those are being looked at and a large amount of other material that they are beginning to work their way through. So this inquiry is continuing at pace. The police are also very anxious to talk to Rashid Rauf, who is the man arrested in Pakistan, a key person in this inquiry.
The extradition process is underway. No formal requests have yet been put in. We are being told that negotiations are underway for the Pakistanis and that it's a very complex process so it may take some time for him to get back here to London -- Wolf.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Dan Rivers thank you.
Let's go to New York. Jack Cafferty has got "The Cafferty File." Hi, Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, you want to know why the country is in the shape it's in? Check out some of these numbers. Almost twice as many Americans can name the Three Stooges as can name the three branches of government.
When it comes to Snow White's seven dwarfs, 77 percent of us can name at least two of them, 10 percent can name one, 12 percent of us can't name any. Compare that to how many American can name the Supreme Court justices. Twenty-four percent can name two justices, 15 percent can name one and 61 percent of us can't name any. Sixty-one percent of Americans cannot name a single person sitting on the nation's highest court, the court that rules on the laws that govern us all.
There's more. Twice as many Americans can name the most recent winner of the "American Idol" as can name the Supreme Court justice who was confirmed in January. That would be Samuel Alito.
So here's the question: What does it mean that more Americans can name the Three Stooges than the three branches of our federal government? E-mail your thoughts to CaffertyFile@CNN.com, or go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile. Pretty sad testimony, Wolf.
BLITZER: Certainly is, Jack. Thank you very much.
And coming up, President Bush makes a high profile visit in the war on terror and he's sending a strong message to voters in the battle for Congress. We will read between the lines.
And we will also find out how Democrats in Congress are fighting right back. But can they combat Republican efforts to portray them as soft on terrorists?
And later, did a top Republican senator and would-be presidential contender misspeak, or did he knowingly use a racial slur? We'll examine those questions, and the controversy dogging George Allen. All that coming up. We're live in Jerusalem. You are in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Coming up shortly, my exclusive interview with the foreign minister of Israel, Tzipi Livni. She's one of the most powerful women in Israeli politics right now, emerging potentially, one of these days as potential prime minister. That interview coming up.
President Bush today embracing his role as commander in chief of the war on terror. In the days since the foiled airline bomb plot in Britain was revealed, Republicans and Democrats have been fighting over the tough on terror mantle. It's a fight the president's party comes into with a certain advantage.
Our congressional correspondent Dana Bash is following the Democrats' counter punch, but first, let's go to our White House correspondent Ed Henry -- Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, today it was day two of the president's summer tour of all the national security agencies. You'll remember yesterday he was rolling up his sleeves at the Defense and State Departments, today huddled for five hours at the super-secret National Counterterror Center.
The point here, is that with the war on terror expected to be the defining issue of the midterm elections. The president was quick to take credit for foiling this terror plot to try to take over 10 airliners headed from U.K. to the United States.
And secondly, the president is trying to drive home the point that even while it's August, with all these hot issues going on, he's working this time. He's not on vacation unlike last summer when he took a political hit for slowly reacting to Hurricane Katrina. Take a listen to the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States of America is engaged in a war against an extremist group of folks bound together by an ideology, willing to use terror to achieve their objectives. Our most solemn duty in the federal government is to protect the American people and I will assure the American people that we're doing everything in our power to protect you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: And as we often see, the president makes the point and then Vice President Cheney goes out and tries to drive that point home with a partisan punch, almost like as tag team. So it was today that the vice president speaking to the Arizona Republican Party at a fund raiser and he said voters in November have a clear choice between Republicans tough on terror and what he calls the, quote, "Dean Democrats who have defeated Joe Lieberman." He said these Democrats favor defeatism.
And the point here is that there's a new "Newsweek" poll, 55 percent of Americans now approve of the president's handling of the war on terror, up from 44 percent in May. Of course an 11-point increase for the president. When you look at the numbers on issues like Iraq, the president does not fare as well, but when you talk about the broader war on terror the president's numbers are up, so between now and November, you're going to hear both the president and the vice president try to drive that home again and again, Wolf.
BLITZER: Ed, thank you very much. Let's check in and see how the Democrats are reacting to all of this, how they are fighting back. We will bring in our congressional correspondent, Dana Bash. Dana?
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, just this afternoon, the Democratic National Committee chairman, Howard Dean, spoke to the Iron Workers Union and he telegraphed what has been a consistent Democratic theme since the London terror plot, the alleged plot, became public last week in terms of the politics here.
Republicans, as Ed has just been pointing out, have been trying to show that this is proof that Republicans are in charge and they can keep Americans safe. But Howard Dean, like other Democrats tried to make the point that this is proof that they are Republican failures.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD DEAN, DNC CHAIRMAN: And homeland security means active screening at airports, but it also means taking care of our nuclear power plants. It means taking care of our chemical factories and our petroleum factories. It means making sure our train stations are safe. And it means putting real money as the Democrats proposed and the Republicans said no to, putting real money into intelligence inside the borders of the United States of America so we don't end up having what Britain had this past week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now what you just heard there is the Democratic Committee chairman trying to learn lessons from the past two elections since 9/11, which is when something comes up, which is a big national security issue, don't run from it, but try to take it on -- try to take it on head-on.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH (voice-over): Just as the president was using the bully pulpit to talk tough on terrorism, Democratic senators scattered across the country for summer recess were holding a conference call with reporters to say, not so fast.
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), MICHIGAN: It's like a broken record and the American people are not buying his effort to gain political advantage.
BASH: Democrats are working feverishly to make sure last week's blockbuster news about the alleged London terror plot doesn't turn into a summer surprise that helps Republicans in November. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released this Internet video depicting the menacing forces still threatening Americans and sums up with this bumper sticker line: "Feel Safer? Vote for Change." This is a Democratic Party trying to learn lessons from the two elections since 9/11 when most strategists lament, they let Republicans use the war on terrorism against them and win.
The most raw examples for Democrats, in 2002, allowing Republicans to beat triple amputee and Vietnam veteran Max Cleland, by calling him weak on national security.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry has not been honest.
BASH: And in 2004, allowing these swift boat ads against John Kerry to go unanswered for some time.
JENNIFER PALMIERI, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: Democrats are often scared off by the security issue because they think it's such a vulnerability for us. And the only way to deal with that is to show we have a different world view.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: And even before the news came out last week about the alleged terror plot in London, Wolf, Democrats were already trying to learn the lessons from the past couple of elections, trying to hit back fast when they're attacked on issues of national security.
For example recently, at the beginning this month, the Republican senator from Ohio, Mike DeWine, hit his Democratic opponent on the issue of national security, said he voted to slash national intelligence program and voted against the Patriot Act.
The Democratic candidate, Sherrod Brown, with the help of his committee in his state, and the Democratic Senatorial Committee, hit right back saying that Mike DeWine sitting on the intelligence committee failed the United States before 9/11. So that is something that had already been taking place before the news from last week and certainly has been stepped up dramatically because of that news, Wolf.
BLITZER: Dana, thank you very much. Dana Bash and Ed Henry are part of the best political team on television, CNN, America's campaign headquarters.
Still ahead, the woman who could be Israel's prime minister one of these days, talks about her country's war against Hezbollah. I sat down with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni for an exclusive interview about the crisis. What she says happened during the 34-day war and why it was the right thing to do.
And it's the comment heard around the Internet. But will it end up derailing Republican Senator George Allen's presidential hopes? Live from Jerusalem, you are in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to THE SITUATION ROOM, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting today from Jerusalem. Her name may not necessarily be familiar to Americans, but she has been one of the key decision makers in Israel's month-long war with Hezbollah.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And joining us now, the foreign minister of Israel, Tzipi Livni. Minister, thanks very much for joining us.
TZIPI LIVNI, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: Thank you.
BLITZER: I want to read to you what the president of Syria said today, Bashar al Assad, he said, "We tell them," referring to Israelis, "that after tasting humiliation in the latest battles, your weapons are not going to protect you. Not your planes or missiles or even your nuclear bombs. The future generations of the Arab world will find a way to defeat Israel."
LIVNI: They will not.
BLITZER: They will not, you say?
LIVNI: They will not.
BLITZER: Because this war, 34 days, against Hezbollah, a ragtag guerrilla outfit, showed that Israel is vulnerable.
LIVNI: Israel is vulnerable but Israel has all the power and Israel was attacked and Israel took a decision not to attack Lebanon back but to attack Hezbollah and there is a difference between attacking or between a war between two states, or between what Israel has done. And our decision was to target Hezbollah within Lebanon, because we didn't want to undermine the Lebanese government, and we tried to change the situation in a military operation in Lebanon against Hezbollah.
BLITZER: What -- well, what...
LIVNI: This is totally a different story when it comes to a war between states.
BLITZER: Is Syria...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: ... still rearming Hezbollah right now?
LIVNI: Yes. Yes.
BLITZER: Right now?
LIVNI: Yes, Syria and Iran, through Syria, with open borders. BLITZER: Do you -- are they -- do you have evidence they are doing it now?
LIVNI: We had evidence in the last few days.
Now the idea of 1701 is to stop -- is to close the international borders of Lebanon, in order to stop rearmament of Hezbollah. The idea is to dismantle Hezbollah at the end of the process. The idea is to take Hezbollah from the south part of Lebanon, and to reduce the influence of Iran and Syria on Lebanon, through Hezbollah, and through Hezbollah to Israel.
So, I think...
BLITZER: Do you have any...
LIVNI: ... that he is nervous, President Assad, but he will have to face the new reality.
BLITZER: He's nervous about what?
LIVNI: He's nervous because the situation is going to change on the ground.
I hope that the situation is going to change in Lebanon. The idea of Resolution 1701 is to reduce the power of Hezbollah in Lebanon, is to dismantle Hezbollah at the end of the process, is to change the region.
So, now this is a beginning of a process. And President Assad is watching. And he's nervous.
BLITZER: Did -- do you have evidence that the Syrians passed on to Hezbollah sophisticated Russian-made weapons?
LIVNI: We have evidence that weapons went, were transferred from some places through Syria to Hezbollah.
BLITZER: Including Russian-made weapons?
LIVNI: I don't want to refer to this...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Because there's some suggestion that you're concerned...
LIVNI: I know that.
BLITZER: ... that Russian weapons...
LIVNI: I know that.
BLITZER: ... found their way into Hezbollah.
LIVNI: I know that. And I really would like not to refer to this.
BLITZER: All right.
Let's talk a little bit about the whole Iranian connection. What evidence do you have that Iranians, whether members of the Revolutionary Guard or others, fought alongside Hezbollah during this war?
LIVNI: Well, this is the kind of facts that we know for years. I mean, the problem is, Lebanon is not only Hezbollah as Lebanese organization, but, also, in fact, there are members of the Iranian Revolution in -- in Lebanon. And they fought with Hezbollah against Israel.
BLITZER: Did you kill any of them?
LIVNI: I mean, this is not...
BLITZER: Did you kill any of them?
LIVNI: I really would like not to refer to these kind of facts.
But it is not -- you know, it is not a secret that Hezbollah is the long arm of Iran in the region. It is not a secret that Hezbollah wants to keep an open front with Israel for the Iranians, because we don't have a border, you know, between Israel and Iran. So, in fact, we are fighting Hezbollah. But, in a way, this is also a fight against Iran and against all the Iranian ideology.
BLITZER: There was a suggestion by one American investigative journalist, Seymour Hersh, the other day, writing in "The New Yorker," that this war that you had against Hezbollah was, in effect, a prelude to a strike against Iran, a coordinated Israeli-U.S. strike.
LIVNI: Well, I mean, the facts are that Israel was attacked about a month ago, unprovoked attack, by Hezbollah from Lebanon. And we had to react, because we wanted to send a message to Hezbollah and to Iran and to Syria and to all -- and the Hamas -- and to send a message that Israel is not willing to live with this kind of situation, in which these kind of attacks happen.
BLITZER: Was...
(CROSSTALK)
LIVNI: So, this was the answer. And this was the only answer that we could give.
BLITZER: Was it a mistake...
(CROSSTALK)
LIVNI: No.
BLITZER: ... for Israel to respond...
LIVNI: No, no, no.
BLITZER: ... the way it did on July 12, when those...
LIVNI: No.
BLITZER: ... two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped?
LIVNI: No. No, this was the right decision, because this is not only about the two Israeli soldiers.
And, on my way here, I just spoke with the father of one of the two abducted soldiers. It's about the threat, and not only about the incident. And the incident was one attack and the abduction of two Israeli soldiers. But it is more than that. And the threat is something that it's -- continues for years and years.
And it's not the first time in which Hezbollah abducted Israeli soldiers. Last time, Israel didn't react. And we believed -- and I do believe even today -- that this was the right thing to do.
BLITZER: Because those two Israeli soldiers are still being held some place in Lebanon.
LIVNI: It was clear to me since day first, that a military operation cannot bring back the soldiers. This was not the idea of the operation.
The idea of the operation was to send a message to Nasrallah, to Hezbollah, that Israel is not willing to live, as I said before, in a situation, in a neighborhood, in which terrorist organizations, like Hezbollah, enters Israel, attack -- unprovoked -- unprovoked attack, and kidnap soldiers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And we will have much more of the interview with Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister. That's coming up in the next hour, right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
There's a development happening in New Jersey.
Betty Nguyen is following what's going on.
Betty, update our viewers.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, we have some transit system problems to tell you about, this statement from Amtrak right here.
It has temporarily suspended service between New Jersey -- Newark, New Jersey -- and New York's Penn Station. Now, what has happened, they have discovered an unknown substance near the tracks on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River Tunnel. And, as part of the investigation, they have suspended the transit system in that line, until they determine exactly what is the source of this substance.
And they are urging, right now, passengers to call this number, 1-800-USA-RAIL, or visit Amtrak.com for more information, because, as we have been telling you, this service is disrupted as for now. It is not know exactly when it will be back up and running.
But, for those just learning of this, and you're heading down to -- it is about rush hour now -- to take the train, the transit system, Amtrak, is suspended, temporarily, between Newark, New Jersey, and New York's Penn Station.
So, you will have to contact 1-800-USA-RAIL or visit Amtrak.com to determine when that will be up and running, or make alternate plans.
So, we will stay on top of this for you, Wolf, and bring you the latest, when it becomes available to us.
BLITZER: That's an incredibly busy transit area, between Newark and Penn Station in New York.
Thanks very much for that, Betty. We will check back with you.
Is Joe Lieberman the White House's favorite to win Connecticut's Senate seat this November? After all, he's not the Republicans' official nominee. Alan Schlesinger would the Republican nominee. He has got an uphill battle for your vote. That's coming up.
And was it an innocent slip of the tongue or a deliberate slur? The controversy now facing Virginia Republican Senator George Allen that has got the Internet in an uproar.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back.
A week after his Democratic primary defeat, Senator Joe Lieberman is getting new help from Republicans. A veterans group with GOP ties is coming out in support of his independent bid to keep his Senate seat. And even President Bush is effectively giving Lieberman a helping hand.
Let's bring in our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield -- Jeff.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Well, Wolf, it was Ronald Reagan's famous commandant: Thou shalt not speak ill of any other Republican.
But the White House came awfully close on Monday. And therein lies a tale about party politics, some history, and a conspiracy theory of my very own.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GREENFIELD (voice-over): It seemed a simple enough question: Was President Bush endorsing the Republican candidate for senator from Connecticut. What spokesman Tony Snow offered was an admirable tap dance.
QUESTION: Does the president support the Republican candidate in the state in Connecticut?
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president support supports the democratic process in the state of Connecticut, and wishes them a successful election in November.
QUESTION: So, wait, wait, wait. I realize he supports democracy.
GREENFIELD: That was only the latest bit of bad news for Alan Schlesinger, the GOP nominee. He's short on campaign funds...
ALAN SCHLESINGER (R), CONNECTICUT SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: It says Alan Schlesinger on it.
GREENFIELD: ... is trying to explain why he used a false name to gamble at a Connecticut casino, has been sued over gambling debts in New Jersey casinos.
SCHLESINGER: I'm disappointed.
GREENFIELD: He now polls six percent in the most recent poll...
NED LAMONT (D), CONNECTICUT SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you very much.
GREENFIELD: ... behind Democrat Ned Lamont and incumbent Joe Lieberman, now running as an independent.
This is hardly the only case of party lines breaking down. That happens regularly in American politics.
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FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And it my belief that...
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GREENFIELD: Back in New Deal days, FDR won strong support from nominal Republicans, like New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and Nebraska Senator George Norris.
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RICHARD NIXON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I accept your nomination for president.
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GREENFIELD: Then Democrat Ronald Reagan backed Nixon in 1960. And, in 1972, many conservative Democrats, like Texas Governor John Connally, backed Nixon over McGovern. And, in 1966, Maryland's Spiro Agnew, then seen as a moderate, even liberal, Republican, won the governorship with the backing of many Democrats angered by their nominee's positions on race.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard a lot about those little old ladies in tennis shoes.
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GREENFIELD: And Agnew brings to mind one of the most remarkable examples of White House party politics. In 1970, the New York Senate race was a three-way battle.
Republican Charles Goodell, appointed to fill the seat of slain Robert Kennedy, adopted a strong anti-Vietnam posture, as did Democratic nominee Dick Ottinger.
Jim Buckley, brother of William F., was running as a conservative. The White House dispatched Agnew, now a fire-breathing, media-bashing conservative, to declare that he would not support a radical liberal of either party.
That drove enough liberals over to Charles Goodell's camp to deliver the Senate seat to conservative Jim Buckley.
CROWD: Let's go, Joe! Let's go, Joe! Let's go, Joe!
GREENFIELD: Which brings us to today's Connecticut race, and to Vets For Freedom, a group that backs Lieberman's independent bid.
Contributors include Dan Senor, who was spokesman for the Iraq Provisional Authority, and William Kristol, one of the prominent neoconservatives voices, who has recently advocated a U.S. military strike at Iran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GREENFIELD: Now here comes the conspiracy theory. Suppose you are part of the Bush White House political team. You know the Republican can't win. And you also know that the more conservatives, the more Bush administration people back Lieberman, the more likely that is to lose him votes in a state where both Bush and the Iraq war are massively unpopular.
Now, looking to 2008, who would you rather have in the Senate, a centrist Democrat with a reputation for independence, or a Democrat who you can try to paint as an advocate of retreat and a symbol of the leftward tilt of the Democratic Party?
If you see Dick Cheney say nice things -- nice things about Joe Lieberman, you are seeing the Agnew strategy of 1970 in reverse.
Just a theory, Wolf. BLITZER: That sounds like a pretty good theory. Thanks very much, Jeff -- Jeff Greenfield, part of the best political team on television -- CNN, America's campaign headquarters.
Coming up: It's hardly the best move, if you are hoping to run for the White House. A leading GOP senator, a possible 2008 contender, is being accused of using a racial slur. Did he mean what he said? That story coming up.
And, in the battle for the Senate, is one of the nation's most vulnerable Republicans playing catch-up? New poll numbers on our "Political Radar" today.
We are live from Jerusalem. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. .
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BLITZER: On our "Political Radar" this Tuesday, new tightening in one of the most critical Senate contests this November -- a new poll shows Pennsylvania's Republican incumbent, Rick Santorum, closing the gap with his Democratic challenger, Bob Casey. The Quinnipiac survey shows Casey now six points ahead of Santorum. Casey had an 18- point lead in the Quinnipiac poll back in June.
Another leading Republican senator, Virginia's George Allen, is saying he's sorry today -- at issue, the would-be presidential contender's remarks about an American college student of Indian descent.
Our congressional correspondent Andrea Koppel has more on what Allen said and the dustup afterward -- Andrea.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the campaign of Allen's Democratic challenger, James Webb has seized on this latest incident, e-mailing journalists video clips, during which and in which they say Senator Allen criticizes his opponent and makes a racial slur aimed at a campaign volunteer.
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SEN. GEORGE ALLEN (R), VIRGINIA: This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is, he's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere. And it's just great.
KOPPEL (voice-over): The fellow Senator Allen was referring to is 20-year-old S.R. Sidarth, an American college student of Indian descent, and, at least for the summer, a volunteer with the James Webb campaign.
Armed with this digital handycam, Sidarth had been assigned to track Senator Allen all last week, a common practice among some campaigns. But Sidarth says, it wasn't until Friday, during a speech near the Kentucky border, and with Sidarth's camera rolling, that Allen singled him out in the crowd, twice referring to him as macaca, the scientific grouping for a type of monkey, and, in some European countries, "makak" is used as a racial slur. ALLEN: So, welcome -- let's give a welcome to macaca here.
(APPLAUSE)
ALLEN: Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.
S.R. SIDARTH, VIRGINIA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE JAMES WEBB CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: I was disappointed that someone like a senator of the United States would use something completely offensive.
KOPPEL: Allen's communications director denies the senator was deliberately making a racially charged remark, telling CNN, the senator didn't know Sidarth's name. He said Allen staffers had nicknamed Sidarth mohawk for the young man's short haircut, and perhaps the senator was confusing that nickname when he called him macaca.
In an interview with "The Washington Post," Allen apologized, saying he didn't know what the word macaca meant, and that he would -- quote -- "never want to demean Sidarth."
But Sidarth says, he had introduced himself to Allen earlier that week.
(CROSSTALK)
KOPPEL (on camera): And you said, "My name is Sidarth"?
SIDARTH: Yes. And he shook my hand. He also is very good with names, legendarily, that he tries very hard to learn people's name when he's meeting them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOPPEL: Before Allen ran for governor in 1993, he was criticized by African-Americans for displaying a Confederate flag. And Webb's campaign wonders whether this latest incident could be part of a pattern.
Now, Wolf, just a half-an-hour ago, Senator Allen e-mailed around a statement, saying that he is concerned some of his comments have been "greatly misunderstood," in his words, by members of the media. In singling out the Web campaign's cameraman, he wrote, "I was trying to make the point that Jim Webb had never been to that part of Virginia. And I encouraged him to bring the tape back to Jim and welcome him to the real world of Virginia and America, outside the beltway, where he has rarely visited" -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Andrea Koppel, thank you very much.
And George Allen's comments at that campaign rally have received lots of play, largely thanks to the Internet.
Let's get a little bit more context and analysis from our Internet reporter, Abbi Tatton -- Abbi. ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, it was this cheaply produced video circulating online that set this whole story snowballing.
The buzz actually started online before the video even appeared -- one pro-Jim Webb blog promising damaging footage of Senator Allen would appear imminently.
After this video was posted onto YouTube yesterday, mainly liberal blogs started linking to it heavily. It has now been viewed over 38,000 times in just 24 hours.
Now, this didn't all necessarily happen organically. It was the Webb campaign that put this video online to the site YouTube. They also e-mailed 30,000 of their supporters, asking them to look at the video and also, at the bottom there, to contribute today.
Today, the blogs are discussing this heavily, everything from what the word macaca means, to what Senator Allen meant, to the haircut of this young individual here, Sidarth, whose video is now the -- one of the top 10 on YouTube today -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Abbi Tatton, thank you -- Abbi Tatton reporting.
Still ahead, we are keeping a very close watch on troops coming and going, as the cease-fire here in the Middle East continues for a second day. Will the truce hold?
At the top of the hour, we will have fresh reports from Israel and Lebanon -- much more coming up.
Stay with us.
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BLITZER: Still to come, it has become standard procedure for airline security, but are passengers safer because they take off their shoes? New questions today about terror-fighting tactics at America's airports.
And can you name the members of the U.S. Supreme Court? Jack Cafferty is riled up about Americans' knowledge of the branches of government, or lack thereof -- Jack coming back with your e-mail.
Stay with us.
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BLITZER: Check back with Betty Nguyen. She has been following that situation in New Jersey involving Amtrak.
What's the latest, Betty?
NGUYEN: Well, we told you just a little bit earlier, Wolf, that Amtrak has suspended service between Newark, New Jersey, and New York's Penn Station because of an unknown substance found near the tracks on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River Tunnel.
Well, it appears Amtrak has figured out exactly what that substance is. And what it is, is a drum of hydraulic fluid that fell off of a work train. So, the all-clear has been given. The trains are back up and running. But we do have to tell you that the trains are a little backed up, which is understandable.
So, all-clear -- the good news there is that it was -- it was nothing toxic or anything like that, and the trains are back up and running -- back to you, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, the words all clear always very good. Thanks very much, Betty, for that.
Jack Cafferty is standing by now with "The Cafferty File" -- Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: The question, Wolf, was: What does it mean when more Americans can name the Three Stooges than the three branches of the federal government?
Jon in California says: "It means we're screwed. It means that we will continue to fight worthless wars, like the war on drugs, the war on poverty, the war on terror, the war in Iraq, the war on whatever else we don't like, because the population is too stupid to do anything about it."
Thaddeus in Pennsylvania: "It means we should be very thankful that..."
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: "... only half the electorate shows up at the polls. Stop telling people to vote."
Kay writes in Memphis, Tennessee: "Americans should be familiar with the Three Stooges. They're Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld."
Joel in Festus, Missouri -- love that name, Festus, Missouri -- "It means they're learning about our government. Face it; the Three Stooges could do a better job than the stooges we have in Washington now. And Moe, Curly and Larry got paid a lot less and did a far better job."
Johnnie in Carthage, Texas: "It means we appreciate real comedy. The comedians in Washington are just clowning around. And what they're doing to this country isn't funny at all."
And Janice in Fort Worth, Texas: "These are the people who you ask every day what you think -- or they think we should do about the world's biggest problems. Remember what Winston Churchill said: The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
So, there you go -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Jack.
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