American Morning (CNN) - 2006-07-31 (partial) - 1 of 2

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Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

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[0:46] >> Happening this [music] morning, a

[0:47] pro-Hezbollah rally in Iraq. Take a look

[0:50] at some live pictures from Iraqi TV.

[0:51] Tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims are

[0:54] gathering in Baghdad's Sadr [music] City

[0:56] late last night. On another story, the

[0:58] voting

[0:59] in the US Senate voting on a bill that

[1:01] [music] could have raised the minimum

[1:02] wage, didn't happen though. It was voted

[1:03] down. Would have raised it by more than

[1:05] $2. The proposal included a tax cut

[1:07] [music] for the wealthy.

[1:09] You might want to turn down that AC a

[1:10] little bit today. The sizzling heat wave

[1:12] finally breaking [music]

[1:13] in the eastern half of the country.

[1:15] Expected relief

[1:17] from Boston [music] to Atlanta.

[1:19] All good news weather-wise. Welcome back

[1:21] everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

[1:22] >> And I'm Rick Sanchez filling in for

[1:24] Miles O'Brien. So good to be here again.

[1:26] >> And it's nice to have you. Thank you

[1:27] very much. Uh let's talk a little bit

[1:29] about this expanded bombing campaign by

[1:31] Israel in southern Lebanon. Israeli

[1:33] warplanes are now targeting parts of

[1:35] northern Beirut, taking out several

[1:38] bridges. Brent Sadler has done a tour of

[1:40] parts of that area. He's live in Beirut

[1:42] for us this morning. Talk a little bit

[1:44] Brent about what you saw when you did

[1:45] that tour.

[1:47] >> Good morning, Soledad. Yes, the Israeli

[1:49] air force uh bombed uh several bridges

[1:53] connecting Beirut to the northern

[1:55] Lebanese border with Syria. I just got

[1:58] back to the capital after surveying the

[2:00] damage and I can tell you seeing from

[2:02] these pictures the level of destruction

[2:04] of the main bridge about a 200-yard span

[2:08] was quite devastating. The attacks

[2:10] happened solid out in the Christian

[2:12] heartland of Lebanon north of the

[2:14] Lebanese capital and they haven't seen

[2:16] this sort of infrastructural damage

[2:19] since the start of this conflict more

[2:21] than 3 weeks ago and it really has had

[2:23] the effect of galvanizing Christians

[2:26] who've been split over the issue of

[2:28] Hezbollah's arms and Hezbollah's role as

[2:31] a resistance movement within this

[2:32] country. Now unifying Christians

[2:35] according to some politicians there

[2:37] because they have to stand as one as

[2:39] Israel continues to pound away at

[2:42] Lebanese infrastructure in this fashion.

[2:44] Officials here warning that the country

[2:46] already under state of siege is now

[2:49] being dragged to its knees day by day.

[2:52] Solid out.

[2:53] >> Brent, can you give us sort of a lay of

[2:55] the land especially in the north now

[2:58] about how many bridges are we talking

[3:00] about would would link you know,

[3:02] basically Syria and and the northern

[3:05] suburbs there and and and are you seeing

[3:08] devastation on all those bridges?

[3:11] >> No, the main bridge, the one that I was

[3:13] just describing that we've seen the

[3:15] pictures of at this multi-highway

[3:17] bridge, that's been completely cut,

[3:19] flattened. There's concern that there is

[3:22] somebody caught under that rubble

[3:24] presumably dead really given the

[3:27] scale of devastation according to

[3:29] eyewitnesses on the ground but there's

[3:30] still a rescue effort going on right

[3:33] now. There are three other bridges that

[3:35] were hit. They are still passable but in

[3:38] effect this is an attempt by Israel

[3:40] militarily speaking to cut once and for

[3:43] all the main supply routes from Syria

[3:47] from the north and from the east through

[3:49] the Bekaa Valley into Lebanon possibly a

[3:52] supply line the Israeli military would

[3:54] argue. But for the Lebanese as a whole,

[3:57] this deals another devastating blow to

[4:00] their psyche as they see day by day more

[4:03] of their infrastructure damaged. Already

[4:06] the bill for this attack on the

[4:08] infrastructure runs at over $2 billion

[4:11] and it's rising every single day.

[4:13] Soledad.

[4:14] >> Brent Sadler for us this morning. Brent,

[4:16] thank you. He's in Beirut today.

[4:18] Israel's assault into southern Lebanon

[4:20] had some deadly consequences. Arab

[4:22] networks are now reporting that at least

[4:23] three Israeli soldiers were killed in

[4:25] the fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas.

[4:27] Guerrillas. CNN's Matthew Chance joins

[4:30] us from northern Israel. Matthew, what's

[4:32] the latest from the border where you

[4:33] are?

[4:35] >> Good morning, Soledad. Well, the

[4:36] fighting is still as ferocious as it has

[4:38] been over the past several days with

[4:40] Israeli soldiers really battling with

[4:42] Hezbollah fighters in about 20 villages

[4:45] now, according to the Israeli military

[4:46] officials that we spoke into in southern

[4:49] Lebanon. They've really been pouring

[4:50] ground troops into that part of the

[4:52] country, possibly as many as 10,000

[4:55] ground troops in southern Lebanon right

[4:57] now fighting from village to village,

[5:00] from town to town to try and establish

[5:02] what Israel wants to call its buffer

[5:04] zone in southern Lebanon north of the

[5:07] Israeli border, a broad strip of

[5:09] territory which what's emerged out of

[5:12] the plans that have been coming from the

[5:13] Israeli government would be held on to

[5:16] by the Israeli forces or at least

[5:18] controlled by them until such times as a

[5:20] multinational force is decided upon at

[5:23] the United Nations Security Council

[5:25] watching very closely developments there

[5:27] in the negotiations and until it's

[5:29] actually deployed on the ground as well.

[5:32] And as you know, Soledad, that could

[5:33] take many weeks indeed for some kind of

[5:36] force to actually arrive there. And so

[5:38] we could see Israeli boots on the ground

[5:39] in southern Lebanon for some time to

[5:40] come and that will undoubtedly mean

[5:43] clashes with Hezbollah fighters and

[5:45] casualties that are mounting on both

[5:47] sides.

[5:49] >> Solid as a rock.

[5:49] >> Matthew Chance for us with an update on

[5:51] what's happening in northern Israel.

[5:52] Matthew, thanks. Rick.

[5:53] >> Some weather information that's turned

[5:55] into a serious story for many people

[5:56] around the country and there's finally,

[5:58] we understand, some relief from this

[6:00] wave of heat in parts of the northeast.

[6:03] Chad Myers is at the CNN center to bring

[6:05] us up to date. What's going on, Chad?

[6:06] >> Yeah, you picked a good week to go to

[6:08] New York, Rick.

[6:09] >> [laughter]

[6:10] >> Thanks, my friend.

[6:12] >> It has just been brutal all the way from

[6:14] Boston through New York and DC all the

[6:16] way down to Raleigh and not so much

[6:17] Atlanta because Atlanta is just always

[6:19] hot, but this was just a hot air mass

[6:21] that parked itself over the northeast

[6:23] including Detroit and Cincinnati. It's

[6:25] the same air mass that Omaha and

[6:27] Bismarck and and Pierre, South Dakota

[6:29] had last week and the same air mass that

[6:32] California had 2 weeks ago. Well, today

[6:35] it finally gets shoved offshore. 67 in

[6:37] Portland, 68 in Albany, 68 in Buffalo.

[6:40] That's where the cold air is already

[6:42] filtering in behind the cold front.

[6:44] Toronto, you only get to 81 today. New

[6:46] York, you get to 88. The cold front

[6:48] doesn't quite get to DC in time to make

[6:51] a perfect day for you because you're

[6:53] going to get storms in the afternoon and

[6:55] that's why your temperatures will be

[6:56] held down. Not so much that you don't

[6:58] have the humidity. It's still there for

[7:00] you, DC, today. And this humidity goes

[7:02] away tomorrow and your temperatures are

[7:04] exactly back to normal. 88 for DC, 86

[7:06] for Washington and then also into New

[7:08] York. Current temperatures across the

[7:10] northeast, though, you can see the

[7:11] cooler air across the Midwest. A

[7:12] beautiful morning shaping up in Denver.

[7:14] Not expecting too many airport delays in

[7:16] the morning, but all of the east coast

[7:18] airports could be under the gun for a

[7:19] thunderstorm or two and if you get one

[7:21] too close to an airport, that could make

[7:23] the delays possible. Back to you guys.

[7:25] >> You know, it's interesting. I grew up in

[7:26] Miami. I live in Atlanta, but I've never

[7:28] seen it or felt it as hot as it has been

[7:29] this week in New York.

[7:30] >> Absolutely right.

[7:31] >> Welcome to New York, Rick. [laughter]

[7:33] >> I picked a good week, as he says.

[7:34] Thanks, Chad.

[7:35] >> You're welcome.

[7:36] >> Well, happening this morning,

[7:37] researchers at the Colorado State

[7:38] University are saying that this

[7:40] hurricane season won't be as bad as

[7:41] earlier predicted and it probably won't

[7:43] include a monster storm like Katrina

[7:45] either. But they say [music] there is a

[7:47] good chance of at least one intense

[7:49] hurricane making landfall in the US this

[7:52] [music] year.

[7:53] More problems today for the flooded city

[7:55] of El Paso. Up to 2,000 people being

[7:57] asked to leave their homes because of a

[7:59] major dam in Mexico [music] is on the

[8:01] verge of breaking they say. The mayor

[8:03] says that if it happens up to 6 million

[8:05] gallons of water could rush [music] into

[8:06] the city. A 16-year-old Indiana girl got

[8:09] the surprise of her life when she

[8:10] crashed her SUV [music] into a tree.

[8:13] More than 80,000 angry honey bees

[8:16] suddenly came swarming out. Firefighters

[8:19] used water and foam to fight the bees,

[8:21] [music] but it wasn't enough.

[8:23] Two people had to be hospitalized.

[8:25] Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who's

[8:27] considering a run for the presidency in

[8:29] 2008, is already sounding [music] like a

[8:31] candidate. At a speech in South Carolina

[8:33] yesterday, Huckabee spoke on in favor of

[8:36] a ban on gay marriage. South Carolina

[8:39] voters will decide on the proposed

[8:40] amendment to the state's [music]

[8:41] constitution. That comes up in November.

[8:45] American Idol winner Ruben Studdard

[8:46] doesn't need a huge audience to sing.

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[8:57] met her idol through the Magic Moments

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[9:01] appropriately enough,

[9:02] I Need an Angel.

[9:04] Hundreds of people in Minnesota flipped,

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[9:41] >> Also a look at the growing Hollywood

[9:43] backlash against Mel Gibson. One actor

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[12:28] >> As the barrage from Hezbollah continues

[12:30] into Israel and Israeli aircraft

[12:33] launched dozens of air strikes

[12:34] overnight,

[12:36] the we continue to update on what's

[12:37] happening in the Middle East. In fact,

[12:39] one of the first targets on Israel's hit

[12:40] list was Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV. Israel

[12:43] says it's a propaganda tool for

[12:45] Hezbollah. Ibrahim Mousawi is a chief

[12:47] editor of foreign news for the Hezbollah

[12:49] station. Nice to see you, sir. Thanks

[12:51] for talking with us.

[12:55] Let's begin with some of the numbers if

[12:56] we can. The numbers that we have,

[12:58] roughly 644 Lebanese civilians and

[13:02] soldiers.