CBS Evening News (A block) - 2006-11-23

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:06] I'm Russ Mitchell. Is it civil war?

[0:08] Iraq's deadliest day yet? Baghdad is now

[0:11] under lockdown as the violence spirals

[0:13] out of control. Giving back. A

[0:15] high-powered banker switches careers and

[0:17] neighborhoods to set an example you will

[0:19] not believe. And Grover had his nose to

[0:22] the ground and Snoopy was on a short

[0:24] leash. But spirit soared even though it

[0:27] rained on America's most popular parade.

[0:34] >> This is the CBS Evening News with Katie

[0:37] Kuruk.

[0:41] And good evening. Katie is off tonight.

[0:43] As Americans celebrate Thanksgiving,

[0:45] Iraqis will remember this day for a very

[0:47] different reason. The deadliest attack

[0:49] since the US invasion. At least 160

[0:51] Iraqis were killed, mostly Shiites, in a

[0:54] series of car bombings and motor

[0:55] attacks. Baghdan is locked down under

[0:57] curfew until further notice. Its airport

[1:00] now closed to commercial traffic. And as

[1:02] 140,000 US soldiers spent another

[1:04] holiday thousands of miles from home,

[1:06] Iraq remains on the brink of civil war.

[1:09] Elizabeth Palmer begins our coverage in

[1:10] Baghdad.

[1:13] US soldiers arriving in the Baghdad

[1:15] Messaul this Thanksgiving morning were

[1:18] looking forward to generous portions of

[1:19] a holiday staple.

[1:21] >> We have turkey. We have fried turkey.

[1:23] >> Dedicated soldiers in a war zone far

[1:26] from family and friends, but still

[1:28] finding blessings to count.

[1:30] >> HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

[1:32] >> THANKFUL I GOT this roof over my head.

[1:34] You know, it could be worse. I could be

[1:35] sleeping in the desert under a tent or

[1:36] something. So, so

[1:38] >> especially thankful soldiers from the

[1:40] fourth infantry division. They headed

[1:42] home today, replacing them, soldiers

[1:46] from the First Cavalry Division who've

[1:48] just arrived in Baghdad for a year-long

[1:50] tour of duty. Less than 2 hours later,

[1:53] they learned just how savage a tour it

[1:56] could be. At least three car bombs and a

[1:59] mortar exploded in quick succession

[2:01] within a square mile of the poor Shiite

[2:03] neighborhood of Saturn City.

[2:06] In the mayhem,

[2:09] >> rescue workers sorted wounded from dead,

[2:14] >> but the deluge of casualties arriving at

[2:16] the Immali hospital swamped the medical

[2:18] staff

[2:20] and overflowed onto the floors. Many

[2:23] died where they lay.

[2:27] In the street, grief turned to rage.

[2:30] And gunmen of the Madi army, the Shiite

[2:33] militia, who policed this area, swore

[2:35] blood revenge.

[2:38] The Sunnis will pay, they screamed. By

[2:41] nightfall, shaken politicians from all

[2:44] parties appeared together, calling for

[2:46] calm.

[2:47] And to the music of an old patriotic

[2:49] song, Iraqi television showed soothing

[2:52] images of a more peaceful time.

[2:55] The government has now imposed an

[2:57] indefinite curfew and closed the

[2:59] airport. The slaughter today stunned

[3:01] Iraqis like never before with the tit

[3:04] fortat murder rate now spiraling up.

[3:06] Many believe that the civil war that

[3:08] everybody's been fearing has finally

[3:10] arrived. Russ

[3:11] >> Elizabeth, let's talk about that tit

[3:12] fortat fighting you spoke of this

[3:14] retaliation by the Shiites. What can you

[3:16] tell us about that?

[3:18] Well, almost immediately after the car

[3:20] bombings, mortars began raining down on

[3:22] one of the holiest Sunni shrines in

[3:25] Baghdad, apparently damaging it. It's a

[3:27] very famous and old mosque. Uh, at the

[3:30] moment, you can probably see things have

[3:32] gone quiet with the curfew. Uh, but

[3:35] everybody is braced very much against

[3:37] tomorrow. Russ,

[3:38] >> Elizabeth Palmer in Baghdad. Thank you.

[3:40] Meanwhile, President Bush was on the

[3:42] phone today sending his best wishes to

[3:44] US service members in Iraq, Afghanistan,

[3:46] and other duty stations. Cheryl Atkinson

[3:48] joins us now from Washington. Cheryl, a

[3:50] bloody day in Baghdad, obviously. Did

[3:52] the White House have any official

[3:53] reaction to it? Well, Russ, the

[3:56] president spent Thanksgiving at Camp

[3:57] David, and he made no public statements,

[3:59] but we did reach a White House official

[4:01] about the explosion of violence today in

[4:02] Iraq, and she told us, quote, "We

[4:05] condemn such acts of senseless violence

[4:07] that are clearly aimed at undermining

[4:09] the Iraqi people's hopes for a peaceful

[4:11] and stable Iraq." The United States is

[4:13] committed to helping the Iraqis. The

[4:15] spokesman also pointed out that

[4:16] President Bush will meet with Iraq's

[4:18] prime minister next week. That's a

[4:20] meeting that was already scheduled to

[4:22] talk about security problems, but surely

[4:24] takes on new urgency with the latest

[4:25] violence. Russ,

[4:26] >> sure. That meeting you talked about with

[4:28] the president and Iraqi Prime Minister

[4:29] Maliki, is that part of a new diplomatic

[4:31] push from the White House?

[4:33] >> Well, the president's meeting with the

[4:34] Iraqi leader happens in Jordan on

[4:36] Wednesday. And yes, that is part of a

[4:38] push. Let's look at some other things.

[4:40] Thursday, the Secretary of State Condisa

[4:42] Rice attends a M East conference. That's

[4:44] also in Jordan. And the day after

[4:46] tomorrow, it's Vice President Cheney

[4:47] meeting in Saudi Arabia with King

[4:49] Abdullah. Now remember, there have been

[4:51] a lot of important changes here in the

[4:52] US in the past couple of weeks. The

[4:54] resignation of Defense Secretary

[4:56] Rumsfeld, the Democratic control of

[4:58] Congress, all signal a shift in Iraq

[5:00] strategy may be coming very, very soon.

[5:03] >> Cheryl Atkinson reporting from

[5:04] Washington. Thank you very much. Turning

[5:06] to another part of the Middle East,

[5:07] there are new appeals for calm tonight

[5:09] in Lebanon. This as hundreds of

[5:11] thousands mourned a murdered cabinet

[5:12] minister and vented their outrage at a

[5:14] powerful neighbor. Sheila McVicker is in

[5:16] Beirut.

[5:19] >> The funeral of the sixth political

[5:20] leader assassinated in Lebanon in less

[5:22] than 2 years turned into a massive rally

[5:26] and a show of defiance.

[5:29] >> Pierre Jamiel was a Christian, a son of

[5:31] one of Lebanon's most powerful families

[5:33] gunned down on Tuesday. His father, a

[5:36] former president, led the morning.

[5:39] We will bring to justice all those who

[5:41] commit these crimes against our leaders,

[5:43] our sons, he vowed.

[5:46] >> The first leader killed was Prime

[5:47] Minister Rafi Herreri. An ongoing UN

[5:50] investigation has implicated neighboring

[5:52] Syria. This latest killing is unsolved,

[5:56] but this crowd thinks they know who did

[5:58] it.

[5:59] >> Are you convinced that this is the

[6:00] result of Syrian meddling?

[6:02] >> Yes, of course. Syrians. The Syrian

[6:05] regime did all the the kill. He killed

[6:09] all our leaders.

[6:11] >> Beyond the fingerpointing, there is a

[6:13] real threat to American ambitions. As

[6:16] surely as those bullets killed Pierre

[6:18] Jamiel, they also shot holes in US

[6:20] policy. Just at the moment when the US

[6:23] and its allies were beginning to reach

[6:25] out to Syria. The administration had

[6:28] hoped Syria might help stabilize Iraq,

[6:31] but this latest murder has complicated

[6:33] that plan immeasurably.

[6:35] >> We support the Lebanese people desire to

[6:37] live in peace to defend their democracy

[6:40] against attempts by Syria, Iran, and

[6:44] allies to fment instability and

[6:46] violence.

[6:47] >> Many Lebanese think this country's

[6:49] future may well be decided in the next

[6:51] few days.

[6:52] >> We're not talking government and change

[6:54] of government. We're talking about the

[6:56] existence of the country.

[6:57] >> Tonight, there is so much uncertainty

[6:59] that for their own safety, members of

[7:02] Lebanon's government are reported to be

[7:03] sleeping in the cabinet office building.

[7:05] Sheila McVicker, CBS News, Beirut.

[7:08] >> There is late worry tonight from London

[7:10] that a former KGB spy has died,

[7:12] apparently after being poisoned. As

[7:15] Richard Roth tells us, this is a cloak

[7:16] and dagger story with Cold War

[7:18] overtones.

[7:20] This is how former Russian spy Alexander

[7:22] Lit Venenko looked in the days before he

[7:25] died in a London hospital. And here's

[7:27] how he looked three weeks ago before the

[7:30] exKGB colonel had a series of meetings

[7:32] in London for tea and then lunch at a

[7:35] sushi bar and encountered someone he was

[7:38] convinced who wanted to kill him. The

[7:41] British say he was poisoned but don't

[7:43] know with what or by whom.

[7:46] Lit Veneco had accused his Kremlin

[7:48] bosses of corruption and fled Russia six

[7:50] years ago but hardly stayed silent after

[7:53] last month's murder of muckraking

[7:55] journalist Anna Politovskaya he pointed

[7:58] a very public finger at a fellow former

[8:01] spy Vladimir Putin.

[8:07] Somebody has asked directly who is

[8:09] guilty of Anna's death who has killed

[8:11] her

[8:16] And I can directly answer you. It is Mr.

[8:18] Putin, the president of the Russian

[8:19] Federation, who's killed her.

[8:21] >> It's pure fantasy, says the Kremlin, to

[8:23] think Moscow was involved in Lit

[8:25] Vanenko's poisoning. But in what

[8:27] novelist John Lare once called the

[8:30] ambiguity that was part of the Cold War,

[8:33] that sort of speculation's not just

[8:35] based on fiction. 30 years ago,

[8:38] Bulgarian dissident Gorgi Marov was

[8:40] murdered on a London bridge, stabbed

[8:42] with an umbrella tipped with the poison

[8:44] ryson. And two years ago, Kremlin critic

[8:47] Victor Yoshenko was poisoned and

[8:49] disfigured while campaigning for the

[8:52] presidency of the Ukraine. Whoever was

[8:54] behind those poisonings is as much a

[8:57] mystery today as the case of the late

[8:59] Alexander Lit Venenko. Richard Roth, CBS

[9:03] News, London.

[9:04] >> Back in this country, of course, it is

[9:06] Thanksgiving Day. Hey, we hope you're

[9:07] having a good one. New York's famous

[9:08] Macy's parade got off to a windy,

[9:10] soaking start, but right on time.

[9:12] However, a decision on whether the giant

[9:14] balloons would fly went right down to

[9:16] the wire. Michelle Miller was out in the

[9:18] cold, wet throng.

[9:22] >> They came from far.

[9:24] >> Yesterday, we drove 10 hours from Ohio

[9:26] >> and near.

[9:27] >> And where are you from?

[9:28] >> Now out in Long Island. Today, thousands

[9:31] of, well, you'd have to call them brave

[9:33] souls ignored the swirling rains and

[9:36] bitter cold to get a glimpse of their

[9:39] favorite star. I'm a big Santa fan.

[9:41] >> You still believe?

[9:42] >> Absolutely.

[9:43] >> But heavy rains and high winds almost

[9:46] grounded the biggest attractions

[9:50] on.

[9:53] Organizers of Macy's 80th Thanksgiving

[9:55] Day parade waited to the bitter end to

[9:58] allow Snoopy and 23 other 50-footers to

[10:02] take flight. They kept them on a short

[10:04] leash. What's your favorite balloon?

[10:06] >> Um the Scooby-Doo.

[10:08] >> Last year the average big balloon flew

[10:11] about 22 feet. Today they got no higher

[10:14] than 17. The balloons were so low

[10:17] Spongebob could barely see his toes.

[10:20] City rules restrict balloons from flying

[10:22] in sustained 23 mph winds or with gusts

[10:25] stronger than 34 mph. And while wind

[10:28] gust hovered just under those

[10:30] thresholds, city leaders aired on the

[10:32] side of caution.

[10:34] >> I'd like to see the balloons fly. I

[10:35] always like to watch them, but we're not

[10:37] going to run any risks.

[10:38] >> Especially after last year's accident. A

[10:41] 300lb Eminem balloon clipped the head of

[10:43] a street light and fell onto two

[10:45] sisters. And in 1997, a Cat in the Hat

[10:48] balloon hit a lamp post, injuring a

[10:50] 33-year-old investment banker. She

[10:53] suffered permanent brain damage.

[10:55] Thankfully, no serious mishaps this

[10:58] year, except if you count the drenching

[11:00] downpour

[11:03] that rained on three-year-old Charlie

[11:05] Zorba's parade

[11:06] >> and he was into it until it really

[11:08] started raining and then that was all

[11:10] she wrote.

[11:11] >> And it's all about the families and

[11:13] kids. And how's this for irony Russ? I

[11:15] invited up the entire family from

[11:17] Louisiana and Alabama to enjoy the

[11:18] parade while I worked.

[11:20] >> Guess what? The weather kept them in

[11:21] their rooms dry. Who was soaked out on

[11:24] the parade route?

[11:25] >> Uh, duty call. Duty call. At least

[11:27] they're going to save dinner for you. I

[11:28] hope.

[11:28] >> I hope so. Save dinner for me.

[11:32] >> See, Michelle Miller, thanks a lot.

[11:34] >> Happy turkey day.

[11:35] >> Thank you so much. There is lots more

[11:36] ahead on the CBS Evening News, including

[11:39] the final installment of our series,

[11:40] Giving Back. But first, with so many

[11:43] servicemen and women facing ever growing

[11:45] dangers in Iraq, we wanted to show our

[11:47] thanks by giving some of them the chance

[11:49] to send greetings back home to their

[11:51] families.

[11:52] My name is Adam Haymaker from the

[11:54] beautiful state of Virginia. Like to say

[11:56] happy Thanksgiving to all my family back

[11:58] home, mom, dad, Dustin, Madison,

[12:00] Harrison, William Mitchell. Love you

[12:02] guys and I'm thinking about you a lot.