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Your World Today
Israel on the Offensive in Gaza; Condoleezza Rice Travels to Kabul to Support Afghan President; More Than a Million Iraqis Displaced
Aired June 28, 2006 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I urge the Palestinian leadership to release our hostage.
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JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Israel on the offensive in Gaza. At stake, the life of a single soldier and the future of Israelis and Palestinians.
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The U.S. secretary of state walks side by side with a key ally in Afghanistan. Elsewhere, Taliban violence is surging.
CLANCY: Tears of joy and pain in North Korea. A mother meeting her long-lost son. Their reunion will be brief.
GORANI: And a new eye in the sky. The U.S. looks at the world.
Well, it is 8:30 p.m. in Kabul, Afghanistan, and 1:00 a.m. in Pyongyang, North Korea.
I'm Hala Gorani.
CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy.
Those are among the big stories that we're following this hour on YOUR WORLD TODAY, broadcast live across the globe.
GORANI: Welcome to the more than 250 million of you around the world and the United States.
Well, we start with this: Israeli troops pushed into Gaza overnight, destroying bridges, knocking out electricity, and cutting water from -- for some 1.4 million Palestinians.
CLANCY: Important to note, though, the ground troops haven't yet confronted the militants said to be behind their barricades.
GORANI: Instead, they are ratcheting up the pressure to recover a single captured soldier in a mission that poses serious risks for all.
CLANCY: Now, Israel launched air strikes on areas of southern Gaza.
GORANI: Explosions were heard in Gaza a short while ago.
CLANCY: Meantime, the Hamas-led Palestinian government calling for a prisoner swap with Israel to try to end the crisis. Corporal Gilad Shalit was captured over the weekend. That was in a raid by militants.
GORANI: Now, Israel calls that proposal a slippery slope. It says the country will do everything it can to bring its captured soldier home.
CLANCY: A lot of others weighing in. The White House says Israel has the right to defend itself, but it also urged Israel to make sure civilians are not harmed.
Official reaction to the Gaza assault now. Some Palestinians say the offensive is only going to trigger more bloodshed. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says Israel isn't going to be hesitating to take what he termed "extreme action" if it's called for.
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EHUD OLMERT, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Last night's actions are not the last. We will have to continue the military actions. We will also continue to thwart terrorism. And there will not be a personal immunity for anyone involved in terror. We have no intention of reoccupying Gaza, we have no intention of staying there.
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MUSHIR AL-MASRI, HAMAS LAWMAKER (through translator): What is happening in the Gaza Strip is state terrorism and a war crime against the Palestinian people that confirm the great failure of the Zionist enemy who continues to implement its plan. It is not related to any kidnapped soldier. We think that Olmert is endangering this soldier and all his other soldiers because Gaza is a time bomb.
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GORANI: Well, Palestinians are digging in behind walls and embankments and bracing themselves for the worst.
John Vause joins us via broadband from Gaza City with the mood on the ground -- John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Hala.
The Hamas government here says it is only natural logic that Israel swap Palestinian prisoners for one Israeli corporal. But the Israeli prime minister has ruled out any prisoner deal and warns this military offensive will only escalate unless Gilad Shalit is set free.
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VAUSE (voice over): This is not the all-out offensive Israel had threatened, only the first stage. Israeli forces have dug in around the southern city of Rafah, the area where it's believed 19-year-old Gilad Shalit is being held hostage.
The attack began in the dead of night. Air strikes on Gaza's only power station set it ablaze, cutting electricity to most of the coastal strip while Israeli fighter jets bombed two bridges, effectively leaving Gaza cut in two.
"This was the last bridge that connected the north and south," says this man. "There is no connection now. Ambulances cannot pass. Even firemen cannot pass. Nothing at all can reach any place."
And that's the immediate goal of Operation Summer Rain. Israeli officials say the order was given after intelligence reports suggested the hostage-takers may attempt to smuggle the Israeli corporal to Egypt. With diplomatic efforts led by a team from Egypt now all but over, Israel warns this military operation could soon escalate.
SHIMON PERES, ISRAELI DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: The moment that the soldier will be released, everything will stop and they can return to normal life. So they, too, have to decide which way they are going.
VAUSE: Gilad Shalit was kidnapped over the weekend in a deadly raid that began underground. Early Sunday morning, Shalit and several other Israeli soldiers were stationed near the Gaza border.
According to reports, seven or eight Palestinian militants entered Israel through a secret tunnel. When they emerged, the attackers were nearly a thousand feet into Israel and close to the army outpost.
The Palestinians opened fire on the soldiers. Two Israelis and three militants were killed, and Shalit was taken hostage. The military wing of Hamas, the militant party that governs the Palestinians, has claimed responsibility for kidnapping Shalit, but the orders seem to be coming from outside Gaza, in particular from the Hamas political director, the hard-line Khalid Mashul (ph), exiled in Damascus.
And Gilad Shalit may not be the only Israeli being held hostage. Palestinian militants claim to be holding an 18-year-old Jewish settler from the West Bank. They displayed the ID papers of Eliyahu Asheri as proof and warned he will be "butchered" if Israeli forces do not withdraw from Gaza.
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VAUSE: And today, Israeli air strikes were carried out in the north and the south of Gaza. And within the last hour, Israeli artillery has begun firing as well. But despite all of this, so far no reports of casualties on either side -- Hala.
GORANI: John, just a quick question. I'm trying to understand the purpose of this Israeli operation. Is it a rescue mission, or is it intended to just apply more pressure on the Palestinians so that they release this soldier?
VAUSE: The answer is, it's probably a little bit of both. The most immediate aim of this Israeli operation in the short term is to ensure that the kidnappers do not smuggle the Israeli corporal out of the Gaza Strip.
In the broader picture, it's also a warning to the Hamas government that Israel intends to be true to its word. And that it is now in place to ratchet up the pressure and to carry out what the prime minister has said could well be extreme measures -- Hala.
GORANI: John Vause, live in Gaza City.
Thanks very much.
CLANCY: And Hala, we'll have a lot more on this coming up in just a matter of minutes. Another eyewitness account of what's going on down there.
This crisis the subject of our inbox question for you today.
GORANI: Now, we are asking you: Is Israel's military action the best approach for gaining the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit?
Send your answers to YWT@CNN.com. We'll read some of your responses later in the show.
CLANCY: Turning now to the war in Iraq, soon after U.S. lawmakers slammed the new amnesty plan for Iraqi insurgents, Iraq's prime minister trying to clear the air a bit. The amnesty provision is part of a national reconciliation plan, much needed, all agree, but many in Washington are outraged at the possibility of detainees with the blood of U.S. troops on their hands would also be freed.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed that no one who has killed Americans, or, for that matter, anyone who has killed Iraqis, is going to be pardoned. He said this: "This is an international commitment and ethical commitment. Whoever kills is not included in the amnesty."
GORANI: Iraqi security forces say they've captured a key al Qaeda suspect in February's bombings of a Shiite holy shrine. They say a Tunisian man has confessed to an active role in the attack of Askaria mosque in Samarra.
Iraq's national security chief said the suspect was seriously wounded in a clash with security forces north of Baghdad a few days ago. Fifteen other insurgents were reportedly killed in that confrontation as well -- Jim.
CLANCY: Meantime, the United States going out of its way to show support for the embattled president of Afghanistan, where violence is on the rise and the Taliban showing new signs of strength. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice traveling to Kabul this day, meeting with a troubled ally.
Here is CNN Senior International Correspondent Matthew Chance.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Across a vast and hostile country, coalition forces battling a resurgent Taliban. Recent weeks have been the bloodiest in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion of 2001. Foreign troops, Taliban fighters and Afghan civilians have been killed.
So the visit of Condoleezza Rice to Afghanistan comes at a sensitive time. At home, the Bush administration has been accused of ignoring the Afghan militant threat. This was a chance to answer the critics.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: In a country that five years ago was still under the rule of the Taliban, the progress has been extraordinary in this country. There is still a lot of hard work to do, but the Afghan people need to know that we appreciate their (INAUDIBLE) and their sacrifice and how much (INAUDIBLE).
CHANCE: But is the sacrifice too much? U.S. and NATO tactics have been deplored by the Afghan president. Last week, Hamid Karzai condemned high civilian casualties and said the current focus on hunting militants doesn't address the root cause of the violence. With Condoleezza Rice at his side, though, he struck a more conciliatory tone.
HAMID KARZAI, AFGHAN PRESIDENT: We are tracking terrorism. They're trying to attack us where they can. But we have won. The very fact that Afghanistan is where it is today is principally to the fact that we have won. And we have won massively in Afghanistan.
CHANCE: But the U.S. is facing a potentially damaging rift between its most important allies in the war on terror. Earlier, in a visit to neighboring Pakistan, President Musharraf rejected Afghan criticism his forces are not doing enough to control the border region from which the militants are believed to operate. Keeping the two cooperating has become a U.S. challenge.
(on camera): Condoleezza Rice now leaves the region to attend a meeting of G8 foreign ministers here in Russia, a country that once had its own forces routed in Afghanistan by an insurgency. And just days before Rice's visit, Taliban leaders insist that U.S. and NATO forces were destined for a similar fate.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: A short break here on YOUR WORLD TODAY. When we come back, tears, hugs and political tension.
CLANCY: A South Korean woman gets a brief reunion with her son, but what happened to the man's North Korean family? We're going to look into the mystery after the break.
GORANI: And Italy has made it to the next round of the World Cup, but with its teams mired in scandal, could Italian football be down for the count?
Stay with us.
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TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The hostage-taking and the attacks by Hamas last weekend have precipitated the current events in Gaza. As we have said since the attack, Hamas should release and return the kidnapped Israeli soldier immediately. It's the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority to stop all acts of violence and terror. Hamas has done the opposite.
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CLANCY: All right. There was the words of the White House spokesman.
Welcome back. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY, a survey of the leading stories around the globe with the journalists of CNN International.
As we have noted, Israeli troops are inside Gaza this hour with tanks, armored personnel carriers and plenty of air support. Palestinian militants are at the same time manning some barricades, expecting an Israeli drive to try to recover a single soldier taken prisoner by militants Sunday.
As threats and demands escalate on both sides, moderates are scrambling to try to diffuse this crisis before it becomes a full- scale disaster. One of them joins us now from Gaza, where he has been for the past 11 days, Palestinian legislator Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi.
Thank you so much for being with us.
You've been there, I assume you've been out on the streets. How would you describe the situation in Gaza at this hour?
DR. MUSTAFA BARGHOUTHI, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATOR: It's very harsh and very difficult. Besides the fact that the Israeli army is invading parts of Gaza, this whole place is like a huge prison.
There are 1.4 million people who are completely stuck. There is no way out, no way in. Even us, as parliamentarians, even the president, the Palestinian president, is not allowed to get in or out.
We are all in one big prison. Nobody can move. Even patients who need urgent medical treatment cannot leave Gaza because this treatment is not available here.
And more than that, the Israeli airplanes have struck the most important electrical station in Gaza, and the outcome is the destruction of that station which provides 78 percent of the electricity for this sector, which means that there is a very big problem now. We don't know what to do with hospitals, with schools, with houses that don't have electricity. There is a very serious shortage of food supply.
It's a total humanitarian crisis with an act of what I can call a collective punishment. What is happening is simply an act of collective punishment on the Israeli side.
CLANCY: Collective punishment for Hamas tunneling outside of the Gaza and kidnapping an Israeli soldier. There have been threats and ultimatums on all sides.
What is a moderate to do in all this? What are you -- what can you tell us that President Abbas is trying to do right now? Are there some negotiations? Is there any hope of diffusing this?
BARGHOUTHI: Yes, there is hope. I came to Gaza, Jim, because, although I was prevented from the Israeli authorities from reaching Gaza for more than three months, although I am a legislator and elected -- democratically elected -- and, by the way, a presidential candidate as well.
CLANCY: And you're not a member -- let me make clear to the audience -- Dr. Barghouthi is not a member of Fatah or Hamas. He's an independent.
(CROSSTALK)
CLANCY: Go ahead.
BARGHOUTHI: I'm a representative of an important democratic alternative in Palestine. And I had to travel to Jordan and then to Egypt to cross through Al Arij (ph) and Rafah be able to reach Gaza. And for days now we are unable to leave.
Now I cannot leave. I cannot go home. I cannot reach my family.
CLANCY: But, Dr. Barghouthi, are there negotiations?
BARGHOUTHI: And we are stuck here in Gaza.
CLANCY: Are there negotiations...
BARGHOUTHI: About the negotiations, what -- well, let me say that our presence here was very important in contributing to finding -- to finding a way for all Palestinian groups to reach an agreement. And we found an agreement.
Now there is consensus about a two-state solution. Now there is an agreement by Hamas as well to concentrate all forms of resistance in the occupied territories and to concentrate on nonviolent peaceful resistance. There is an agreement to accept a two-state solution.
It's a big achievement. There is an agreement to have a national unity government which opens the door for peaceful negotiations, which unfortunately Israel does not accept. You have to put the most recent attack -- of course, we want this prisoner to reach his family, and from human point of view, he has to be released. But one has to remember that there are also 10,000 Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails.
One has to remember that during the last 50 days, Israel has conducted 77 air raids against Gaza. It has killed 94 people, including at least more than two-thirds of them were civilians, including 31 children and women. During the same period of time, Israel has bombarded Gaza with shells 4,000 times.
CLANCY: All right. It has been tough.
BARGHOUTHI: So this is the context...
(CROSSTALK)
CLANCY: Dr. Barghouthi, there's no doubt it has been tough in Gaza. I think a lot of people know that.
BARGHOUTHI: Yes.
CLANCY: But we also know as we look at the situation now and this operation, no Palestinians, no Israelis have been killed thus far. It could get a lot worse than this.
When can the Palestinians free this prisoner, free this young soldier? Will they do it?
BARGHOUTHI: That's why we are saying that the solution -- yes, I think it can be done. And I think the solution to this is to conduct what many people in the international community has called for -- have called for, which is a diplomatic solution through negotiations.
And a diplomatic solution, I am sure, can be found. I am sure we can get back to that point which we were in February 2005, when all Palestinian groups declared openly and clearly...
(CROSSTALK)
CLANCY: All right. So there's no talks right now, Dr. Barghouthi?
I'm about to lose your satellite.
BARGHOUTHI: Excuse me?
CLANCY: There's no talks right now between the Israelis and the Palestinians, or there are talks?
BARGHOUTHI: At the moment there are no talks. And this is exactly what we want.
CLANCY: All right.
BARGHOUTHI: What happened in Gaza proves very clearly that unilateralism will not work.
CLANCY: All right.
BARGHOUTHI: Only negotiations and accepting Palestinians as equal partners would work.
CLANCY: All right. Dr. Barghouthi -- Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, I have to stop it right there. I'm about to lose your satellite. I do appreciate you joining us from the Gaza Strip there...
BARGHOUTHI: Thank you. Thank you, Jim.
CLANCY: ... right now as the sun's going down -- Hala.
GORANI: All right. Let's turn our attention to this: And the question, what will be Iran's answer? Tehran could offer a response within weeks to an international proposal for talks on its nuclear program.
In an interview with the German news magazine "Stern," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Motaki says, "If all the goodwill is maintained, talks could begin soon."
The five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany are pushing for a response before the annual Group of 8 summit in mid- July. They are offering to Iran economic, political, also technical incentives to stop nuclear enrichment. Iran insists the enrichment is peaceful, but critics say it could be used to produce nuclear weapons.
CLANCY: Well, from one arms crisis to another, China's premier urging North Korea not to test launch a long-range missile. At a news conference in Australia, Wen Jiabao said he was closely following developments in this missile crisis, urging all parties openly to, in his words, refrain from taking measures that will worsen the situation.
These the first remarks by a senior Chinese leader on the test launch plans. China is, of course, a key provider of aid to North Korea, and one of the few nations to have significant influence over the Kim Jong-il regime.
All right. We've got to take a short break. There's much more straight ahead.
GORANI: All right. All the stories from around the world here on YOUR WORLD TODAY.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta. More of YOUR WORLD TODAY in just a few minutes.
First, let's check stories making headlines here in the U.S. For another day, floodwaters making a mess of much of the Northeast. Let's take a look at Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It's where some kids got a ride today. They were stuck in a building on the other side of this muck and rescuers put on life jackets and helmets and towed them through that dirty water to drier ground. A nice little rescue picture there.
Also, lots of boat and helicopter rescues. In all, at least six deaths are blamed on that storm.
To upstate New York now. Roads looking like rivers. Homes are flooded. Some major highways are closed. And a mudslide is even reported. Ten counties are under a state of emergency.
A life-long Virginia beach resident says he has never seen the water this high even during the hurricanes. Water where it shouldn't be, as much as a foot, covering some of the streets.
A successful rescue, though, turned to tragedy. The bodies of three young people found early today in Myersville, Maryland. The three were stranded in a car as waters rose all around them. A pickup truck came by and rescued them. But as they were riding away in the bed of the truck, it got caught in a flashflood and the three were swept away.
Searchers are back out in a creek in Keymar, Maryland. They are looking for two teenagers who told their parents they were heading to the flooded Little Pike Creek (ph) last night. They never came back. A bicycle and clothes have been found nearby.
So what does the weather picture look like at this hour? Reynolds Wolf takes a looks at that.
Reynolds, hello.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hello, Daryn.
In some ways, the situation is getting better. The heaviest rainfall is now beginning to edge its way out of the region.
However, now we have to deal with all of the runoff. All the water is going to move from the higher elevations down into the smaller creeks and into the larger rivers. The Susquehanna, the Rappahannock, the Delaware River, even places like in Sharpsburg, Maryland, down near the Antietam Creek, they're going to have some flooding they're going to be dealing with there as well.
Now, again, they've got that runoff, but then there is even more shower activity that is flowing back towards the great lakes. And as most systems do, this one is going to move from the west towards the east. We already have a severe thunderstorm watch in effect for parts of the great lakes states, and we're going to have to keep a very close eye on that system as it moves a little bit more to the east, because we will be dealing with those showers in those places that have been dealing with the flooding conditions. If you take a look, though, at the next five days in Philadelphia, for example, in Pennsylvania, here's how it's going to go for you. You're dealing with the rain today, the possibility of rain for Thursday. But then you'll notice a drying trend as we get into Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
So things are going to get better. The problem is, we really have to have that waiting game. We really have to be patient in that part of the country.
Meanwhile, in other places out towards the west remains very dry, very hot in the desert Southwest -- 100s for Las Vegas, 102 in Phoenix.
So, again, around the country in terms of that weather, in terms of the rain, it has been feast or famine.
Back to you, Daryn.
KAGAN: Reynolds, thank you.
Now to the western U.S., where fire crews are on the front lines of a tough battle. Wildfires have burned more than three million acres so far this year across the country, way up from one million acres this time last year.
In Grand Canyon National Park, the fire is only about 20 percent contained, but the tourists and park employees who have been stuck on the canyon's remote north rim since Sunday have gotten out. They were stranded after officials were forced to close a highway as the fire got closer.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And on this vote, the yeas are 66, the nays are 34.
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KAGAN: A single vote the margin of defeat for a flag burning amendment in the U.S. Senate. A two-thirds majority of 67 would have sent that issue to the state. Supporters say the amendment is necessary to protect our national symbol from desecration.
It's an attempt to overturn a 1989 Supreme Court ruling. The court declared burning the flag was a political statement, one protected by the First Amendment. Conservatives in Congress hope to use the issue to rally supporters in the November elections.
A U.S. soldier who was kidnapped and brutally killed in Iraq is being remembered today. A mass got under way last hour in Brownsville, Texas, for Private First Class Kristian Menchaca.
He'll be buried later today. Menchaca and PFC Thomas Tucker were abducted from a checkpoint earlier this month. Their remains were recovered four days later. Tucker's funeral is set for Saturday. A 3-year-old snatched from his mother, held at knifepoint. The standoff ends with a shooting. And now police want answers.
The incident temporarily shut down a security checkpoint at the Las Vegas airport yesterday. Police initially tasered the man. He let the boy go. Police say the man then charged officers, who shot and wounded him. The boy was not hurt.
The town of Greensburg, Indiana, is about to get a half-billion- dollar shot in the arm. Honda announced today that it's building an assembly plant nearby. The Japanese automaker won't say exactly which vehicle it plans to build there. It will be Honda's sixth plan in the U.S. It's expected to open in 2008 and provide about 2,000 jobs.
An American leading the forensic teams looking at mass graves in Iraq. His feelings on the victims and how they died on "LIVE FROM" at the top of the hour with Kyra Phillips.
Meanwhile, YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break.
I'm Daryn Kagan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Hala Gorani.
CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy, and these are some of the top stories we're following around the world right now.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledging long-term U.S. support for Afghanistan. Rice also promising victory against the Taliban, saying the country's enemies will not roll back the democratic gains in Afghanistan. She stopped in Kabul on her way to a G-8 summit of foreign ministers. That's going to take place in Moscow.
GORANI: Iraqi officials say a Tunisian man who played an active role in the February bombing of a Shiite shrine has been arrested. That attack triggered a wave of sectarian violence across Iraq that forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave their home. Officials say Abu Qudama operated under a terrorist cell leader who is still at large.
CLANCY: The Hamas-led Palestinian government calling now for a prisoner swap with Israel. That to end the crisis over a captured Israeli soldier in Gaza. Israeli troops and armored vehicles crossed into southern Gaza overnight. Meantime, a Palestinian group released pictures of a missing 18-year-old Jewish settler on the West Bank. It has threatened to kill him, butcher him, in its own words, if Israel did not stop its raid on Gaza. Now, there have been several reports that yet another Israeli may have been abducted, this time in central Israel -- Hala.
GORANI: Now, among civilians, reaction to the standoff is passionate on both sides. But while Palestinians are reacting with a mix of fear, anger and defiance, some Israelis see the offensive as a necessary response to the abduction of one of their own.
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HAIM SHLOMITZ, JERUSALEM RESIDENT: I think it's not enough. I think they have to go in with a lot more power and with a lot more force, stop worrying about the lives of Palestinian citizens as opposed to the lives of the Israeli soldiers. I think it's an abomination to Jewish identity and Jewish respect that they'll treat the lives of Palestinians who want to kill us more respectfully than the lives of the people that are trying to protect us.
IHAB JARIRI, RAMALLAH RESIDENT (through translator): If we had not committed this kidnap, we would have lost a lot, like damages and victims in Gaza. If we will not insist to exchange Palestinian prisoners with this soldier by negotiations, we are the ones who will lose.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLANCY: For Europe's perspective on developments in Gaza, we spoke a little bit earlier with the European Union's external relations commissioner. That would be Benita Ferrero-Waldner. She urged both sides to show some restraint.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENITA FERRERO-WALDNER, EU EXTERNAL RELATIONS COMMISSIONER: Both sides have really important responsibilities. They have to see that they cautiously use and know what their responsibilities are. But particularly I'm appealing now also to the Palestinians that they release Mr. Shalit. I think it's so important. And then hopefully it is possible also to come back. But the Israelis also will have to allow for a diplomatic solution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: You've heard reaction from both sides, from the European Union. We also want your perspective on this situation still unfolding between Israelis and Palestinians.
CLANCY: It is the subject of our in-box question this day. We're asking this: is Israel's military action the best approach for gaining the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit? Send your answers to ywt@CNN.com. We're going to be reading some of them out here in just a matter of minutes.
GORANI: Now we return to what many call the forgotten war. That is the conflict in Afghanistan. Taliban violence is on the rise, and tense relations between the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan not helping things.
Joining us with his perspective is Hussain Haqqani, director of the Center of International Relations at Boston University. Professor Haqqani, thanks for being with us.
You say Hamid Karzai, who hosted Condoleezza Rice this day, is in deep trouble. Why?
HUSSAIN HAQQANI, BOSTON UNIVERSITY: Well, he's in deep trouble because the United States is not putting its weight behind Mr. Karzai in putting pressure on Pakistan. From Mr. Karzai's perspective, Pakistan was only a reluctant supporter of the war against the Taliban. And Pakistan has to this day not arrested any of the significant Taliban leaders, many of whom have emerged in Pakistan.
So unless and until the United States decides to twist President Musharraf's arms in Pakistan and says General Musharraf, you have to do more against the Taliban, stop them from being able to launch attacks inside Afghanistan. President Karzai will certainly not be able to bring the situation under control.
GORANI: Five years after toppling the Taliban, we have insurgency that is still vibrant in several parts of the country. The Taliban coming back. Afghanistan on the verge of becoming a narco state again. What went wrong? What should the U.S. do?
HAQQANI: Well, Hala, the term "forgotten war" was coined by me three years ago on the basis of three major facts. One, the United States was reluctant to commit the resources that it had promised at the time of the toppling of the Taliban. The U.S. ended up going to Iraq instead. Second, it was reluctant to commit the large number of troops that Afghanistan needed for stabilization.
And third, when the Taliban decided to just wilt away, they were allowed to melt into the countryside, not realizing that at least some of them would want to come back, especially if some elements in Pakistan continued to support them. And those were the things that are responsible for what we are seeing today in Afghanistan.
GORANI: So you're saying lack of funds, lack of troops? Is this situation hopeless, then? Because those things aren't going to change any time soon, are they?
HAQQANI: I think the lack of money has changed, because in the last two years, the U.S. has invested a lot more money, which is why at least the northern and the western provinces of Afghanistan are stable. The lack of troops is basically responsible for the situation in the eastern and southern provinces, which is where now the opium production is at its height.
And then the last but not least is the problem of disarming various Afghan militias, especially the Taliban, and blocking off support for the Taliban from Pakistan's tribal areas and Pakistan's Balochistan province. And that can be done if the United States decides that that is the problem it wants to face.
GORANI: Professor Haqqani, you said you coined the phrase "forgotten war" three years ago. Can you coin a phrase now that we will be using three years from now with regards to Afghanistan?
HAQQANI: I think the phrase is not about Afghanistan, it's about Pakistan. I think the U.S. should stop thinking that it can make the Titanic turn around in a narrow stream. Pakistan was very deeply committed to the Taliban on the eve of 9/11. That commitment has not completely ended just because General Musharraf has changed his mind. And I think the U.S. needs to deal with the Pakistan problem...
GORANI: How?
HAQQANI: ... to be able to solve the Afghanistan problem.
GORANI: How should it deal?
HAQQANI: I think it needs to tell General Musharraf that we know your limits, but I think you have to push those limits. I think Pakistan has to change internally, Pakistan has to change its attitude towards various extremist groups within the country. As long as extremist groups are tolerated within Pakistan, the Taliban will continue to find refuge there and Afghanistan's problem will not be solved.
GORANI: Professor Hussain Haqqani, many thanks for your perspective on this issue. Hussain Haqqani of Boston University, joining us on...
HAQQANI: Pleasure to be here, Hala.
GORANI: ... YOUR WORLD TODAY.
CLANCY: Some interesting perspective there.
GORANI: Absolutely. There's a lot more ahead, also, on YOUR WORLD TODAY.
CLANCY: The U.N. report uncovers the truth about more than one million people forced from their homes in Iraq. We'll have an in- depth look at the faces behind those numbers.
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GORANI: A warm welcome back.
CLANCY: This is YOUR WORLD TODAY, seen all around the world, including in the U.S. during this hour.
GORANI: All right. Now to Iraq and growing concern about all of the people who've been forced to flee their homes because of sectarian violence there.
CLANCY: Iraq's U.N. mission says more than a million people have been displaced. Incredible number. That's 5 percent of the population.
GORANI: Now that is the dry number. Our Arwa Damon introduces us to some of the real people behind that figure.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A piece of paper forever changed Najia Hattan's (ph) life. On it, a threat printed in Arabic, delivered to her home. It says, "We refuse to have Shia in Burit (ph). Know that the people who took an oath to make you leave these lands are the Sunni Revenge Brigade." It was enough to make her flee the home she had built for her and her six children. Their new home is a tent with a mattress and two blankets.
But no matter how bad life here is, fear keeps Najia from making any plans to go home again. For if she does, the paper reminds her of her possible fate.
It reads, "If you come back, your destiny will be death, and rot will follow you to your grave."
Hundreds of other Shias who fled sectarian violence in Diyala province in Baghdad now live at two camps outside of Mundali (ph), about 90 kilometers east of Baquba.
SAN'AA, HUMANITARIAN AID WORKER: And they here are suffering some very difficult problems, like water, like food. And they haven't any -- really seen care.
DAMON: This Shia family fled Baquba, a town where Shia and Sunni had lived peacefully as neighbors.
Ahmed Halib (ph) says everything has changed. He left home with his teenage brother and four children because of the sectarian killings.
BAHIA SULEYMAN, SHIITE WHO FLED BAQUBA (through translator): We left because we were scared, all that's happening between Sunni and Shia.
DAMON: Dismal, desperate, suffocating. That is how these families describe life here.
SULEYMAN (through translator): They want homes. They want a lot of help. So we want a lot of -- we want all of the organizations, humanitarian accusation to help these people who are suffering here.
DAMON: Suffering, they say, because their own homes could no longer give them a sense of security.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.
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CLANCY: Well, from high in the sky, the United States has what it says is a new tool in the efforts to watch over some of its adversaries around the globe. The National Reconnaissance Office launching a classified satellite from the California coast on Tuesday night. Sources telling CNN it's a spy satellite that's going to help to gather intelligence from targets like terrorist groups or nations like North Korea. Officials aren't giving any precise numbers, but it is estimated there are between 15 and 20 official U.S. spy satellites currently up there in orbit.
We're going to take a short break here. We'll be back right after this.
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CLANCY: Turning once again to that standoff that continues this hour between Israel and the Palestinian authorities, we're going to open up our inbox and listen to what you have to say.
GORANI: Right, and the question was, is Israel's military action the best approach for gaining the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit?
CLANCY: And we got this in from Paul in Texas, writing "Sadly, I think Israel's incursion into Gaza is the inevitable result of Hamas coming to power. It's a struggle that has taken too many lives."
GORANI; Patrick in Canada, however, thinks "Releasing women and children held by Israelis, often without charge, seems to be both the obvious and humane end to this confrontation."
From California, Dennis writes, "Israel's emotional response is understandable, though I'm not sure that it will garner the results that they would like."
Judi in Massachusetts writes, "Military action is the only reaction that has a chance of working. Hamas has made it clear that it only understands violence."
CLANCY: Keep your responses coming. The address, again, YWT@CNN.com.
GORANI: Now in Washington, a proposed constitutional amendment to allow Congress to outlaw burning the flag has failed by a single vote in the Senate.
CLANCY: Conservatives in Congress hope to use that and other issues to try to rally supporters in the upcoming midterm elections in November.
GORANI: Right, votes touching on abortion, guns and religion are expected.
All right. Now we're going to switch gears, and for the first time in nearly three weeks, for some it's a big relief.
CLANCY: Yes, no World Cup matches today.
GORANI: But fear not, football fans. The tournament resume Friday with the quarterfinals.
CLANCY: Now, the first match featuring the home team, Germany, facing Argentina in Berlin. That should be a great game. It kicks off 15:00 hours Greenwich Mean Time.
GORANI: Friday's second match has Italy, fresh from its controversial win over Australia, facing first-time World Cup qualifier Ukraine.
CLANCY: Now, Saturday's action begins 15:00 GMT. A lot of people at home on the couch for this one, England versus Portugal. Who do you think is going to win?
GORANI: I don't know, and I don't really care, but I care about this one. In a rematch of the 1998 final, that year's winner France faces off with 2002's winner Brazil.
CLANCY: OK.
GORANI: I'm a little afraid for France.
CLANCY: You should be. You should be.
GORANI: All right.
CLANCY: Now, before Italy appears on the pitch again at the World Cup, some of the country's top football officials are going to be appearing in an Italian courtroom.
GORANI: Now, a tribunal convenes Thursday to begin considering match fixing charges against some of Italy's best-known teams, owners, managers and referees.
CLANCY: Alessio Vinci is there with a preview from Italy.
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ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Juventus, Fiorentina, Lazio, and A.C. Milan face stiff sentences that include relegation from the top division, and points penalties at the beginning of next season.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the point of view of the public image of Italian sport, I mean, that's -- it's a huge -- I mean, it's a huge blow to a kind of an already fairly tarnished image of Italian soccer. We've had, in the past few years various had scandals, usually at this time of the year, actually. Usually at the end of the season, and this would just cap it off.
VINCI: According to Italian media reports, documents leaked from the sports tribunal show that Football Federation prosecutors accuse Juventus managers of being the ringleaders of a system set up to fix games, A.C. Milan of attempting to set up a similar "system to counter the one of Juventus," "Lazio and Fiorentina of having benefited from the system on at least one occasion."
According to media reports, the leaked documents show that among those indicted is a former Football Federation president, Franco Carraro, who resigned in May after the scandal broke. The media reporting says football prosecutors allege he knew about the manipulation, but did nothing to stop it.
All of the accused deny any wrongdoing, but according to newspaper reports, the leaked documents appear to show that prosecutors have adopted a hard line against Juventus, accusing its managers of creating a widespread system of corruption based on referees' assignments and players being unfairly sent off from games.
The Italian media suggests investigators accuse Luciano Moggi, Juventus former general manager, of being the man controlling that system. Moggi resigned last month after wiretap transcripts published in Italian media show him discussing referees' appointments with federation officials.
But in a brief exchange with CNN, Moggi said he was being made a scapegoat and that he never asked referees for favorable treatment. "All he was doing," he said, "was to look after Juventus' interest by talking with France," some of whom, it should be noted, happen to be those appointing referees to football games.
"I never asked favors from anyone," he said. "I only tried to avoid finding myself in a disadvantage position. This was part of my duties of being a good manager," he said. Moggi refused to comment on the wiretaps, simply saying they were taken out of context.
Moggi may not have his day in football's court after all. Since he resigned from the Football Federation, his lawyers will argue that federation judges cannot try him. Meanwhile, he remains under investigation, facing possible criminal charges stemming from the wiretaps.
More than half of the Italian players currently competing in the World Cup in Germany play for clubs facing relegation. But Italy's sports minister says there will be no amnesty should Italy win the World Cup.
GIOVANNI MELANDRI, ITALIAN SPORTS MINISTER: No amnesty, because we need to have justice. And we need that -- the clubs that didn't behave properly, have to be punished in the supportive sense.
VINCI (on camera): The trial is expected to last just over a week with sport judges issuing the first verdicts as early as next Friday. But those found guilty will have a right to appeal, and a final judgment is not expected before July the 20th.
Alessio Vinci, CNN, Rome.
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GORANI: The scientific debate over reducing greenhouse gases is heating up.
CLANCY: Well, that's an interesting way of putting it, and the findings of a new study interesting as well, casting some European countries in a very negative light.
GORANI: Those findings could destabilize the E.U. carbon trading system and have implications for the Kyoto Treaty. Guillermo Arduino joins us for this week's "Changing Earth" segment. Please decrypt this for me, the implications for this, changes for that.
CLANCY: I'm surprised you tackled this one. It's so controversial.
GUILLERMO ARDUINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is very controversial. I get a lot of e-mails, you know, and it's a hot topic, a lot of hot air out there. But we are talking about a study by the European Commission Joint Research Center that says that government greenhouse gas estimates are extremely off target.
Now, this new study suggests that countries are releasing more greenhouse gases than they report they are. More than 150 countries have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol, a pact that commits them to reducing their greenhouse house emissions.
The study specifically cites -- listen to this -- the United Kingdom and France as grossly miscalculating how much methane gas and carbon dioxide they emit into the air. After meeting with French President Jacques Chirac, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer had this to say.
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ALEXANDER DOWNER, AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: I mean, this argument about the Kyoto Protocol is an argument about nothing compared to efforts that should be made. And in the end, that is only going to be sold through changes of technology.
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ARDUINO: The Kyoto Protocol was designed to let governments calculate their own emissions. In 1998, the United States signed the Protocol under President Clinton, but it was later reversed by President George W. Bush.
The study also points out that gas levels are highest in polluted and industrial areas and may vary with weather conditions. So without studies looking in, changes to address gas emissions may take place faster and for the better.
GORANI: Guillermo Arduino, thanks very much.
ARDUINO: Thank you.
CLANCY: And that has to be it for this hour. I'm Jim Clancy.
GORANI: I'm Hala Gorani. For our viewers in the United States, "LIVE FROM" with Kyra Phillips is up next.
CLANCY: For our viewers elsewhere, stay tuned. Another hour of YOUR WORLD TODAY is next.
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