CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2005-10-24

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm Bob Schaefer and welcome to

[0:02] the CBS Evening News online edition.

[0:04] Just ahead, Hurricane Wilma raced across

[0:07] southern Florida. Jim Maccasta has

[0:10] details. Also, two massive truck bombs

[0:13] target hotels in Baghdad. We'll have

[0:15] dramatic video of the attack as it

[0:18] happened. And part one of our series,

[0:21] Border Wars, shows why many illegal

[0:24] immigrants don't fear arrest. It's all

[0:26] starting now on the CBS Evening News

[0:29] online edition.

[0:31] Wilma hit Florida's southwest coast with

[0:34] a fury, but unlike New Orleans when

[0:37] Katrina hit, Florida was ready. Still,

[0:40] there was serious widespread damage.

[0:42] More than 6 million people lost power

[0:44] and there have been some deaths, but

[0:47] nothing like the toll from Katrina.

[0:49] Wilma's made its way across the Florida

[0:51] peninsula and is now blowing at

[0:53] hurricane strength out in the Atlantic.

[0:56] Our first report tonight comes from Jim

[0:58] Acasta in Naples on Florida's Gulf

[1:01] Coast. Jim.

[1:03] Bob. Hurricane Wilma may have raced like

[1:05] a bullet, but somehow most of Southwest

[1:08] Florida dodged it. Although that's not

[1:10] how it felt here this morning.

[1:14] Wilma pulled the hurricane trigger,

[1:16] blasting the southwest Florida coast

[1:18] with 125 mph winds. The category 3

[1:22] hurricane humbled the posh resort town

[1:24] of Naples, dumping buckets of rain on

[1:27] expectations of a milder storm. For

[1:30] anybody venturing outside, at times it

[1:33] was nearly impossible to stand. I lived

[1:36] here all my life. I ain't never seen

[1:37] nothing like this. Naples not only took

[1:39] a beating from the winds, but we can

[1:41] also see a storm surge creeping into the

[1:43] city's downtown. This road behind me is

[1:46] filled with water stretching back a half

[1:48] mile to the Gulf. Wilmaai hauled a big

[1:52] storm surge through remote Everglade

[1:54] City, swamping houses and turning roads

[1:56] into canals. Residents waited outside a

[1:59] police roadblock, unsure whether their

[2:01] homes survived.

[2:03] >> I got my wife and my dog. What else

[2:05] matters? Over in the nearby fishing

[2:08] village of Goodland, the storm's winds

[2:10] ripped the roof off this motel.

[2:12] >> That looks like a

[2:15] a roofless motel.

[2:18] >> But after all of the huffing and

[2:19] puffing, even most of Southwest

[2:22] Florida's mobile homes stood their

[2:24] ground.

[2:25] >> Much less damage than I thought there

[2:26] would be. It's a mess, but it's all

[2:29] stuff that can be cleaned up and

[2:30] replaced without destroying the homes.

[2:32] For a storm that took its time finding

[2:34] Florida, Wilma left in a hurry, blazing

[2:36] across the state in a matter of hours.

[2:39] The hurricane blew out the windows and

[2:41] office buildings and damaged houses in

[2:43] Miami, then knocked out power to more

[2:45] than 3 million homes statewide.

[2:47] >> Was 30 to 40 minutes of total intensity.

[2:50] I mean, just constant. And that was

[2:52] scary.

[2:53] >> Connie Roster rode out the storm on her

[2:55] fishing boat, reeling in a calming cup

[2:58] of sunshine after it was all over. was.

[3:01] >> And here you are now with your cup of

[3:02] coffee after the hurricane.

[3:04] >> Well, yeah. I mean, life goes on, right?

[3:08] >> Florida's eighth hurricane in 15 months.

[3:11] Wilma saved much of her wrath for the

[3:13] Everglades, which in the end may have

[3:15] saved the day, Bob. Well, clearly

[3:18] Florida was ready for this one this

[3:20] time, Jim. But was this different than

[3:21] covering these other ones that you've

[3:23] been involved in so far this season?

[3:26] >> It sure was. And and to be honest, Bob,

[3:29] this hurricane was nothing like Katrina,

[3:31] nothing like Charlie, really. Nothing

[3:32] like Dennis, which hit the Florida

[3:34] panhandle earlier this year. Uh this was

[3:37] the best possible scenario for this

[3:38] hurricane to go right into the

[3:40] Everglades. Thank you very much, Jim. In

[3:42] Baghdad today, suicide bombers driving

[3:45] trucks blasted their way past security

[3:47] walls and set off spectacular explosions

[3:50] near hotels where many journalists and

[3:53] contractors live. No Americans were

[3:55] killed, but the blast left 20 passers by

[3:58] dead in what is supposed to be one of

[4:00] the most secure areas of the city. Iraqi

[4:03] officials said it was part of a plot to

[4:05] take control of the hotels and use the

[4:07] journalists as hostages. Whatever the

[4:09] reason, the whole thing was caught on

[4:11] tape. Here is Kimberly Doer.

[4:15] This first explosion

[4:19] is just a warm-up for this.

[4:25] A massive truck bomb aimed at the

[4:27] Palestine and Sheran hotels, home to

[4:29] many foreigners, including reporters.

[4:32] >> Is it on the roof?

[4:34] >> I don't know. That's another one.

[4:36] Everybody clear the windows.

[4:38] >> It's also the famous square where

[4:39] Saddam's statue was toppled the day

[4:41] Baghdad fell. From this camera angle,

[4:44] you can see how one of the explosions

[4:46] breaches the hotel compound security

[4:48] wall. Moments later, a smaller blast

[4:51] creates a diversion, clearing the way

[4:53] for yet another attacker, driving a

[4:55] cement truck full of explosives.

[4:58] The driver tries over and over to ram

[5:00] the truck through a second barrier,

[5:02] trying to get closer to the hotels. The

[5:05] tiny flashes of light around the truck

[5:07] are apparently small arms fire as hotel

[5:09] guards try to kill the attacker. The

[5:12] guards must have taken the full brunt of

[5:14] this.

[5:18] Titan security since last week's

[5:19] referendum had kept most of the bombers

[5:21] at bay. But as before, the insurgents

[5:24] waited until their targets relaxed their

[5:26] guard. They attacked tonight just as

[5:29] hotel security men, like all Iraqis,

[5:31] were breaking their dayong Ramadan fast.

[5:35] This vicious attack shows the insurgents

[5:37] are studying their targets carefully,

[5:39] biting their time, and waiting for that

[5:42] moment's lapse that leaves their victims

[5:44] vulnerable. Bob,

[5:46] >> uh, Kimberly, what were they trying to

[5:47] do here? What were they trying to prove?

[5:50] >> Well, US commanders knew the insurgents

[5:52] had been planning a spectacular series

[5:54] of attacks. They thought this was going

[5:56] to happen before last week's referendum.

[5:58] So, ever since then, this whole city has

[6:01] essentially been holding its breath,

[6:03] waiting for the explosions. Um, the

[6:06] scary thing for people here is that even

[6:08] though security was high and even though

[6:10] the Americans could have anticipated

[6:12] that the Palestinian Sheran would have

[6:14] been a major target, they couldn't stop

[6:16] this from happening.

[6:17] >> Okay. Well, thank you very much,

[6:18] Kimberly. There is a lot of concern in

[6:21] this country about what's happening on

[6:23] our borders. In a CBS News poll out

[6:25] tonight, 75% of Americans said the

[6:28] federal government is not doing enough

[6:30] to keep illegal immigrants out. So, all

[6:33] this week, we're going to be reporting

[6:35] on the battle at the borders. For some

[6:37] illegals, the easiest way to get in is

[6:40] to get caught. Here's Lee Cowan with

[6:42] tonight's Eye on America.

[6:47] >> Call it a highstakes game of catch and

[6:49] release.

[6:50] >> They just give up pretty much. Uh, they

[6:53] don't run anymore.

[6:56] >> Make no mistake, the US Border Patrol

[6:58] still does the catching along the border

[7:00] of Texas and Mexico.

[7:02] >> Oh, these guys are going to be right in

[7:03] front of your vehicle.

[7:05] >> But these days, many of those they

[7:06] catch. Are they coming to you guys? Are

[7:08] looking to be caught. These are just a

[7:11] few of a group of about 35 from Central

[7:13] America that were taken into custody

[7:15] tonight just right across from the Rio

[7:17] Grand River. Now, 2 years ago, they

[7:19] would have run for their lives. But

[7:20] tonight, they actually surrendered

[7:21] because being taken into custody just

[7:23] like this is actually exactly what they

[7:25] want. That's because after they're

[7:27] filed, fingerprinted, and fed, most of

[7:30] them will walk away and simply disappear

[7:33] into the underground economy.

[7:35] >> The numbers are so staggering, and the

[7:37] dollars are not there to detain them.

[7:38] >> They're called OTMs, other than Mexican,

[7:41] usually Brazilian, Honduran, or

[7:43] Nicaragua. At this one crossing, agents

[7:46] told us they've seen a 200% increase in

[7:49] OTMs just since last year. They can't be

[7:51] busted back to their home country as

[7:53] Mexican immigrants can, and there's no

[7:55] room to hold them while their

[7:57] deportation hearings get underway. So,

[8:00] they're released with what's called a

[8:01] permisso, a paper promise to appear in

[8:04] court later.

[8:06] >> How many of these folks really do show

[8:07] up at their detention hearing? In a

[8:10] roundabout way, the figures kind of

[8:12] indicate that the majority will not show

[8:13] up. That's just the truth of the matter.

[8:16] >> We caught up with young Eli Romero, a

[8:18] furniture maker from Honduras, clutching

[8:20] his permisso like it was gold.

[8:24] >> I'm very happy, he told us. Now that I

[8:26] have it, I'm going to take full

[8:28] advantage of it. And the word is

[8:30] spreading fast.

[8:33] People have told us just how easy it is,

[8:35] this man from Honduras says. We decided

[8:37] to see if it was true. A new program

[8:39] instituted just last month has freed up

[8:41] more detention space, allowing

[8:43] immigration officials to send some OTMs

[8:46] home in a matter of weeks. The problem,

[8:49] >> this is uh marijuana, cocaine,

[8:52] methamphetamine.

[8:53] >> Tony Castanada is the police chief in

[8:55] Eagle Pass, Texas. He says he's so busy

[8:58] with OTMs, he has little time to focus

[9:00] on his real problem, drug trafficking.

[9:03] >> It's it's it's cutting us tent and and

[9:06] overwhelming in what we're doing. See,

[9:08] >> as for Eli Romero, well, he was headed

[9:10] for Baltimore. He promised us that he

[9:12] would appear at his court hearing, but

[9:15] officials later told us he never showed

[9:17] up. Just like most of those on this bus

[9:19] to freedom, who will likely never see an

[9:22] immigration official again in Eagle

[9:24] Pass, Texas, I'm Lee Howen for Eye on

[9:27] America.

[9:28] >> More stories are just a click away, but

[9:30] don't forget to join me on television

[9:31] for the on air edition of the CBS

[9:33] Evening News. On Tuesday's broadcast,

[9:36] they're called the Minutemen, and

[9:38] they've taken it upon themselves to

[9:40] patrol the US Mexico border. But they

[9:43] aren't stopping there. Where the

[9:44] Minutemen are going next when our series

[9:47] Border Wars continues. For CDSN.com,

[9:51] I'm Bob Shaver.