CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2005-11-10

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.

[0:05] Just ahead, a clearer picture emerges of

[0:08] yesterday's triple hotel bombing in

[0:10] Aman, Jordan. David Hawkins has the

[0:13] details. Also, saving money on home

[0:15] energy bills. A consumer alert series

[0:18] begins with a look at the latest in

[0:20] solar power. And a wounded US war hero

[0:24] is reunited with his best friend from

[0:26] Baghdad. And wait till you see who his

[0:29] best friend is. It's all starting now on

[0:32] the CBS Evening News Online Edition.

[0:36] The toll in Aman, Jordan is well past 50

[0:39] now, including two Americans, but

[0:41] officials say it will surely rise as

[0:44] they continue to search through the

[0:45] wreckage of those hotels hit last night

[0:48] by suicide bombers. It was, as police

[0:51] suspected, the work of al-Qaeda

[0:52] terrorists who called them on the

[0:54] backyard garden for the people making

[0:57] war in Iraq. And even as they claim

[0:59] credit for that, the same group set off

[1:02] new bombs in Baghdad. We begin tonight

[1:04] in Iman with David Hawkins.

[1:08] The al-Qaeda claim came as no surprise.

[1:11] The one 123 punch in Iman near

[1:13] simultaneous attacks on three different

[1:15] targets is al-Qaeda's trademark. And

[1:18] they tried this before. US intelligence

[1:21] sources tell CBS News that last summer,

[1:23] Jordanian security forces arrested a

[1:26] number of people suspected of planning

[1:28] attacks on Western hotels here.

[1:30] Al-Qaeda's internet message said the

[1:32] hotels were targeted because they are

[1:33] quote a backyard garden for crusaders

[1:36] and Jews. But most of the victims were

[1:39] Jordanians. Their killers, police

[1:42] believe, were Iraqis. The bombers, they

[1:44] say, spoke with an Iraqi accent. The

[1:46] first and the worst attack happened here

[1:49] at the Rison Hotel. The bomber entered

[1:51] the hotel through this door. He walked

[1:53] through the lobby to the banquet hall

[1:55] behind me where there was a wedding

[1:57] party going on. Just before the bride

[1:59] and groom arrived, he blew himself up.

[2:02] Ashraf and Nadia Das had delayed their

[2:04] wedding so that family and friends from

[2:06] all over the Middle East could attend.

[2:08] Their fathers both flew in from Kuwait

[2:10] for this day. Both men were killed in

[2:13] the blast. Some German tourists nearby

[2:15] were saved by a thick concrete pillar.

[2:18] >> I was 5 m from this from from the

[2:21] explosion 5 m only behind this pillar

[2:25] and then we were my wife and we run out

[2:28] of the hotel went down to the parking

[2:31] place and then we hear only maybe 3 or 5

[2:34] minutes later we we hear or heard a big

[2:37] explosion from over there. Over there is

[2:40] another hotel, the Grand Hyatt. Yasmina

[2:43] McCarti, a New Yorker here on business

[2:46] on the sixth floor.

[2:47] >> I was quite sure it was a bomb. You

[2:48] could feel the whole building shake.

[2:50] >> Across town at the day's end, the

[2:52] suicide bomber never made it inside and

[2:54] instead blew himself up on the sidewalk.

[2:58] >> Today, hundreds of Jordanians marched

[3:00] through the streets to protest the

[3:01] attacks, chanting, "We are not afraid of

[3:03] the terrorists." Jordan's King Abdullah

[3:06] promised his people to hunt down those

[3:08] responsible. and said Jordan will not

[3:10] bow to pressure or blackmail.

[3:13] >> In a highly unusual response to the

[3:15] street demonstrations here, al-Qaeda

[3:17] posted another internet message tonight

[3:20] trying to justify the bombings and

[3:22] promising they won't hesitate to do it

[3:24] again. Bob

[3:26] >> David, clearly one of the reasons they

[3:28] did this was to intimidate the

[3:29] Jordanians. Do you think it may have

[3:31] backfired?

[3:32] >> I think it will, Bob. Prior to the

[3:34] attacks, about 60% of Jordanians saw

[3:37] al-Qaeda as a legitimate resistance

[3:39] movement. I don't think that's true

[3:41] today.

[3:42] >> And you're in front of the hotel where

[3:43] one of the attacks happened or people

[3:45] light they're lighting candles obviously

[3:47] behind you there.

[3:48] >> That's right. Uh there have been lots of

[3:50] street demonstrations today as I

[3:51] mentioned earlier and um many of them

[3:53] have ended up here where people have lit

[3:56] candles to express their sorrow for the

[3:59] victims of the attacks. This was the

[4:01] hotel where the wedding party was.

[4:03] >> That's correct. The Rison Hotel.

[4:05] >> All right. Thank you, David. Well, it is

[4:07] going to cost you a lot more to heat

[4:09] your home this winter if you heat with

[4:11] oil or natural gas. The energy

[4:13] department predicts that bills for oil

[4:15] customers will be 27% higher than last

[4:19] year. Natural gas, 41% higher. For some,

[4:24] the solution to high energy prices may

[4:26] be as plain as daylight. Here's Thalia

[4:29] Shurus with our consumer alert.

[4:33] >> Meet Barry and Anita Matthysse. Two

[4:35] kids.

[4:37] >> Big new house.

[4:38] >> My favorite feature of the house is the

[4:40] curved staircase.

[4:41] >> And a tiny electric bill. It

[4:43] >> was kind of mind-blowing when I first

[4:45] moved into this house because of open

[4:46] power bills and I would just start

[4:47] laughing because it just didn't make any

[4:49] sense that you could save this much

[4:51] money on electricity.

[4:53] >> It's not that the Matthyssees are energy

[4:55] sensitive. They have big appliances and

[4:58] of course air conditioning. The secret

[5:00] is on the roof. Look closely. Those

[5:03] shiny panels are solar energy pads.

[5:06] >> You almost have to show people where the

[5:07] tiles are that are solar. If it had had

[5:09] big Space Invader stuff on top of the

[5:11] house, definitely would have been a

[5:12] problem for me.

[5:13] >> I've never done an interview on a roof

[5:15] before. I have to tell you.

[5:17] >> This is a solar revolution in the

[5:19] making. Solar panels are now relatively

[5:21] small, fit seamlessly into a roof, and

[5:23] shrink energy costs. Are these solar

[5:26] panels going to pay for the energy of

[5:29] this house?

[5:29] >> They're going to offset 70% of the

[5:31] consumption of this house.

[5:32] >> My bill is 70% less.

[5:34] >> Correct.

[5:35] >> And as you can see, we're still doing a

[5:36] lot of work in here.

[5:37] >> Developer John Rston has built 150 solar

[5:40] homes in California. All have this

[5:43] unique feature. They can make so much

[5:45] energy they feed power to the electric

[5:47] company, literally making the meter spin

[5:49] backwards, reducing the bill.

[5:51] >> How's that possible? If you're creating

[5:53] more electricity than you're using, it

[5:55] will spin backwards and it will actually

[5:57] reduce uh your total kilowatts.

[6:00] >> So, I could get zero, couldn't I?

[6:02] >> You could have less than zero.

[6:03] >> You know the saying about a home's

[6:04] biggest selling point? It's all about

[6:06] location, location, location. Well,

[6:09] that's a major problem with this

[6:10] concept. Unless you live in a place like

[6:12] California with all this sunshine, it's

[6:15] just not practical.

[6:17] But builders claim that's going to

[6:19] change soon. They say these panels are

[6:21] so efficient they will be usable even in

[6:24] states with short days and less light.

[6:26] >> We are making electricity right now.

[6:28] >> Yeah, you can see it right here on the

[6:29] numbers.

[6:29] >> The state of California covers about

[6:31] half the cost and local power companies

[6:33] are required to give homeowners credit

[6:35] for the power their house makes.

[6:37] >> When we're away, we're making money.

[6:40] >> But don't think the matisters spend any

[6:42] time watching their meters.

[6:43] >> And that's really one of the pretty

[6:44] parts of the whole idea is that this

[6:46] happens without us knowing anything

[6:47] about it. It's just there. They just

[6:50] enjoy the house, bask in the easy money,

[6:53] and let the sun do the work. Falia Sher,

[6:56] CBS News, Roseville, California.

[6:58] >> And finally tonight, the kind of story

[7:00] we do not often get from Iraq. It is

[7:03] about an American soldier and the dog he

[7:05] found in the middle of a war. Here's

[7:07] Richard Slesinger.

[7:09] >> He inevitably goes out and gets himself

[7:11] in trouble. By the time Captain John

[7:13] Smathers got home from Iraq, he was the

[7:15] most decorated Army reservist of the war

[7:18] and undoubtedly a hero to one particular

[7:21] Iraqi.

[7:22] >> He was just a little puppy at that time.

[7:23] He was 2 and a half months old. And you

[7:26] know, I I immediately uh you know said

[7:28] we we got to keep this dog.

[7:30] >> He first saw a scout wandering the

[7:32] streets during the battle for the

[7:33] Baghdad airport. One of thousands of

[7:35] strays, but to Smathers, one of a kind.

[7:39] How long did it take for you to fall in

[7:40] love with this dog? Uh,

[7:42] >> first time I saw him, he was very

[7:44] vulnerable, but he put on a front like

[7:45] he was a tough guy, which uh which is

[7:48] probably how a lot of soldiers feel.

[7:50] >> Scout and John Smathers were together

[7:52] for a year.

[7:53] >> I was about ready to go off on a mission

[7:54] and I was uh you know uh saying goodbye

[7:57] to him there.

[7:58] >> But when Smathers was seriously injured

[8:00] and flown home for medical care, Scout

[8:03] was on his own and on the captain's

[8:06] mind.

[8:06] >> He's probably very confused. And so I

[8:09] knew I had to get him back.

[8:10] >> He spent months emailing troops who had

[8:13] taken over his unit's old house, begging

[8:15] for information about Scout.

[8:17] >> There's a bond with with he and I. As

[8:19] long as he was alive and it was within

[8:22] my power to get him here, I was going to

[8:23] try. I mean, I I owe him that.

[8:26] >> And almost unbelievably, one soldier

[8:28] wrote back. He knew Scout and agreed to

[8:31] take him to the Baghdad Zoo, where

[8:33] Smathers knew people who would care for

[8:35] him. It took one year more to get Scout

[8:38] out of Iraq. At one point, he was driven

[8:40] eight hours to the Jordanian border only

[8:42] to be sent right back to Baghdad because

[8:45] of paperwork snafoos. But finally, last

[8:49] August, it worked. Scout was flown to

[8:52] Washington. This moment was in Captain

[8:54] Smather's mind the successful conclusion

[8:57] of one last mission. And when when I saw

[9:00] him there laying at my feet, I was just

[9:02] smiling and I laid down with him and I

[9:04] felt like, "John, you're done."

[9:06] >> Scout has now taken up guard duty

[9:09] outside Smather's house. One more

[9:11] veteran home at last. Richard Slesinger,

[9:15] CBS News, West Friendship, Maryland.

[9:18] More stories are just a click away, but

[9:20] don't forget to join me on television

[9:21] for the on air edition of the CBS

[9:24] Evening News. Starting Monday, CBS News

[9:27] sets out on another of our cross-country

[9:29] road trips. This time, we'll focus on

[9:32] one of America's greatest health

[9:33] problems, obesity. for cbsnews.com.