[Soledad O'brien, Cnn Anchor:] Morning. It's Friday, August 4. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
[Rick Sanchez, Cnn Anchor:] And I'm Rick Sanchez. I'm in for Miles O'Brien. And here's what's happening this morning.
[O'brien:] Israel, once again, is pounding Beirut's southern suburbs. This time Israel is specifically trying to isolate the capital city by knocking out major bridges in the region. Officials in Lebanon say that more than 600 Lebanese civilians and soldiers have died in three weeks of fighting.
[Sanchez:] A senior Iraqi policeman has been killed by a car bomb in Mosul. There are reports this morning of heavy clashes between insurgents and U.S. and Iraqi forces there as well.
[O'brien:] May be a break this morning in that serial shooter case in Phoenix. We're hearing from our affiliate KPNX that police have arrested two people in Mesa on Sunday. You'll remember that's where police found what they believe was a sixth victim in that spree. Minimum wage is going to remain $5.15, at least for now. Late last night, the Senate rejected a more than $2 increase. It was a Republican-sponsored bill and it included a tax cut for the wealthy.
[Sanchez:] Nearly 2,000 residents in El Paso, Texas are being told to get out. There is concern a weakened dam could possibly break causing what El Paso's mayor calls a tidal wave of water from the Rio Grande to rush into his city. Tropical Storm Chris is loosing some more steam as it heads towards Cuba. Right now the storm's winds are about 40 miles an hour as it continues to push across the eastern Caribbean. Chris is expected to become a tropical depression before reaching the Gulf of Mexico.
[O'brien:] And the heat wave felt across most of the country this week finally breaking. There is relief today for places like Boston and New York and Washington. Finally! Chad Myers, finally.
[Chad Myers, Cnn Meteorologist:] Finally. Yes, although it's not quite to you yet. There's a cold front through central New York, central Pennsylvania. It will get through New York City later on today.
[O'brien:] All right, Chad, thanks. Let's begin this hour with the expanded bombing campaign by Israel happening in southern Lebanon. Israeli warplanes are now targeting parts of northern Beirut. It's outside of traditional Hezbollah hideouts. Reporters standing by with the very latest from both sides of the border, Paula Hancocks in Haifa this morning and Brent Sadler who is in Beirut. Brent, let's begin with you. Good morning, Brent.
[Brent Sadler, Cnn Beirut Bureau Chief:] Good morning, Soledad. Yes, Israel delivered on its threats the previous day by widening its air campaign against Lebanese infrastructure. Soledad, I've just come back from an area north of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, where there's been extensive damage to the main highway connecting Beirut to the northern border of Lebanon with neighboring Syria. One of these bridges, a four-lane highway, multi-lane highway, completely toppled, smashed to pieces a 200-yard span of bridge, really creating shock amongst those who live in this area. Now the population is Christian, primarily. This is the heartland of the Christian Lebanese. And for them to see their infrastructure destroyed in this way is really turning attitudes. Until now, Christians have, by and large, stayed out of the fighting in terms of the damage that's been inflicted by Israel against Lebanon. There have been some strikes in their area, but nothing on this scale. And there is now a sense that the Christians believe that Israel has made a tactical mistake by unleashing this fire power early this morning in the Christian heartland. And that the Christians really will have to rally around the defense of the country as a result of these strikes Soledad.
[O'brien:] So what exactly is the strategy here in trying to take out the bridges, Brent?
[Sadler:] Well Israel will argue that its military objective will be to knock out the main supply routes from Beirut, from Lebanon to neighboring Syria. Already we know they've systematically been destroying roads in the eastern part of the country connected to Syria, but this is the first time that the main highway has been toppled in this devastating way. It really is something on a level I haven't seen before over the many 25 years I've been reporting here. This really is a very serious blow not only to Hezbollah's capability to move equipment around, men and material, which the Israelis would argue, but on the Lebanese front, for the Lebanese as a whole, this really is a shocking development and it gives them a greater sense of unease and desperation that this siege of the country is being tightened each day Soledad.
[O'brien:] I'm going to ask you one more question, Brent, because we're looking at these pictures. And you're right, they're just unbelievable. You guys go back to rolling those pictures that Brent just shot showing that this highway completely, completely shredded. What are the implications, as you were talking about, of the Christian population now being targeted? And you're saying now they have to really turn their focus on supporting the government at this point. So what's the fallout from that do you think?
[Sadler:] Well the fallout is that until now Christians have been divided really about the Hezbollah action and the retaliation by Israel. But this level of destruction in their communities really means that those who would have liked to have seen Hezbollah disarmed, even if that meant paying a price in terms of infrastructure and so on and so forth, that now they are pushed into a corner. They have got no choice but to support the defense of this country, which, at this moment, is in the hands, it would be argued by many now, in the hands of Hezbollah, by retaliating against what Israel is doing. So it adds yet another complicated dimension to the way that this country is reacting to the systematic devastation of its infrastructure. I've seen, Soledad, coming back here, long, long lines of queues at gas stations. Again, I haven't seen anything like this on this scale of desperation, shortages, the sense of isolation under Israeli siege certainly compared to all that I have seen here in the last 25 years. And that has to be very, very worrying, if not giving deepening concern of a nightmarish scenario that could unfold as this goes on Soledad.
[O'brien:] Brent Sadler. Thanks, Brent, for the update. We're going to continue to check in with you this morning as we talk more about Israel's offensive in Lebanon. Really incredible pictures from there. Israel's offensive take a look at this. This is Tyre in Lebanon. You've been looking at live pictures now as those strikes continue. You can see smoke as we have often now in the many days of fighting there. Ongoing airstrikes happening this morning. We're going to, obviously, continue to talk about what is happening in Tyre. The stepped up offensive hasn't seemed to slow down Hezbollah, frankly. In fact, some predict it's having the opposite effect with more than 4,000 400, excuse me, 400 Katyusha rockets hitting northern Israel in just the past two days. Truly a barrage coming from Lebanon into Israel. Let's get right to CNN's Paula Hancocks. She's in Haifa in Israel today. Hey, Paula, good morning.
[Paula Hancocks, Cnn Correspondent:] Morning, Soledad. Well the Israeli politicians had claimed that the reason they are carrying out so many airstrikes on Lebanon, especially southern Lebanon, is to try and degrade Hezbollah's ability to hurt Israel. But Hezbollah has proved that it's more than capable of still hurting Israel. We saw on Thursday one of the deadliest days in northern Israel since this conflict began, more than 200 rockets fell across northern Israel. Eight people were killed. So it shows that Hezbollah still has the ability to hit Israel. In fact, the number of rockets, as you say, is far more than we have seen in the past.
[Hancocks:] Less than one minute after a Katyusha rocket hit, it's carnage. A car less than 10 meters from the point of impact burst into flames. The wounded lay where they fell, waiting for help. The man driving this car was hit by pellets packed into the rocket warhead and lost control. Emergency services managed to free him from the wreckage, but he dies on his way to hospital. Four more people died at the scene. A father and his 14-year-old daughter among the victims. [on camera]: It was late in the afternoon when the air raid siren sounded here in Akko. One of the rockets hit just down the road from here. And then the siren ended, so people started to come out of their houses to see what had happened. And this is when this particular rocket hit. You can see the point of impact. This was the most deadly rocket. Four people standing nearby were killed.
[Yuval Sabag, Israeli Ambulance Service:] While I treated the first one, I hear another explosion. And we go to there, to another explosion, the second one. And we saw a lot of people that lie on the ground not alive.
[Hancocks:] Charlie says he was standing in the street a block away when the rocket hit. He says he could see wounded and the dead lying on the ground. More fatalities in Tashiha, just five miles from the Lebanese border. Three Arab Bedouins jumped out of their car when the siren sounded, according to Israeli police, looking for shelter. It was a direct hit. More than 200 rockets fell across northern Israel on Thursday, more than 260 fell the day before, casting doubt on Israel's claim it has dealt Hezbollah a heavy blow.
[O'brien:] Paula Hancocks for us. Thank you very much, Paula. Despite three weeks of violence, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is confident, she says, a U.N. resolution aimed at ending the conflict will be passed soon. Listen.
[Condoleezza Rice, Secretary Of State:] We're certainly getting close. We're working with the French very closely. We're working with others. We have wanted very much to see an end to this conflict. We need to end the hostilities in a way though that points forward a direction for a sustainable peace. And we are working. We've worked with the parties when I was in the region to come up with those principles, with those elements. We're now working on a Security Council resolution and hopefully we can get that passed. And I think it will certainly be within days.
[O'brien:] That was the secretary of state appearing on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE." That of course airs every night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 6:00 p.n. 6:00 p.m., easy for me to say, Pacific Rick.
[Sanchez:] Turning to Iraq now, the growing instability there means American troops will not be coming home, at least not anytime soon. That was the consensus during a sometimes heated Senate hearing yesterday. At the center of the storm, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has the story.
[Barbara Starr, Cnn Pentagon Correspondent:] A day after agreeing to testify in public, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld took heat from his Senate critics but gave it right back.
[Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton , New York:] We hear a lot of happy talk and rosy scenarios. But because of the administration's strategic blunders and, frankly, the record of incompetence in executing, you are presiding over a failed policy. Given your track record, Secretary Rumsfeld, why should we believe your assurances now?
[Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary Of Defense:] My goodness. I have never painted a rosy picture. I've been very measured in my words. And you have a dickens of a time trying to find instances where I've been excessively optimistic.
[Starr:] Rumsfeld's generals used the opportunity to sound a warning about the rising violence.
[Gen. John Abizaid, U.s. Central Command:] I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I've seen it in Baghdad in particular. And that if not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move toward civil war.
[Gen. Peter Pace, Chairman, Joint Chiefs Of Staff:] Sir, I believe that we do have the possibility of that devolving to a civil war, but that does not have to be a fact.
[Starr:] Some committee members still pressing on the overall strategy and whether there are enough troops.
[Sen. John Mccain , Arizona:] Is the situation under control in Ramadi?
[Abizaid:] I think the situation in Ramadi is workable.
[Mccain:] And the troops from Ramadi came from Fallujah, isn't that correct?
[Abizaid:] I can't say, senator, I know they've been moved.
[Mccain:] Well that's my information. What I worry about is we're playing a game of whack them all here. We move troops, it flares up, we move troops there.
[Starr:] Even as the generals express their concern about civil war, they also said that they do believe the new Iraqi government will maintain control and will keep civil war from unfolding. Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
[Sanchez:] And we also have some pictures coming in now which seem to prove at least a certain confluence of events throughout this region. These are pictures that are in support of Hezbollah, but they're not coming from Lebanon, no, they're coming from Sadr City in Iraq. This is a Shia rally that's going to be taking place with the permission, we should add, of the Iraqi government. A rally in support of Hezbollah's resistance in Lebanon against the Israeli attacks as it's being worded by them of course. We're certainly going to be following this rally throughout the course of the day, again, in Sadr City, Iraq. Meanwhile, happening in America now. President Bush says the U.S. is going to help the people of Cuba work toward democracy. The president now vacationing at his Texas ranch says that the White House would support efforts to build a transitional government. It is the first public statement that Mr. Bush has made since ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro handed over power to his brother this week. New Orleans police believe this man and his brother are behind a quadruple murder. Eighteen-year-old Raymond Amison is under arrest. His brother, 21-year-old Kevin Amison, has been in contact with investigators and he's believed to be hiding in Alabama. Police are hoping that he will turn himself in. Those murders and others have one New Orleans lawmaker worried a crime rate is spiraling out of control there. Senator Mary Landrieu is calling for the government to send more federal agents and prosecutors to the city. Landrieu says a rise in violent crime is threatening hurricane recovery efforts as well. Republicans trying to remove Tom DeLay from the November ballot in Texas are taking their battle to the Supreme Court. A federal appeals court blocked the state's GOP effort to replace him. DeLay faces money laundering and conspiracy charges. Two missing Colorado Boy Scouts are safe this morning. The Scouts, ages 14 and 15, were found in Waterton Canyon yesterday. The teens got separated from their hiking troop in the mountains Wednesday and didn't show up for camp until later that night or, I should say, didn't show up later that night. I apologize. Also, a former New Jersey state trooper is promising to help authorities with their case against ex-hockey star Rick Tocchet. James Harney pleaded guilty to running a gambling ring allegedly with him. Authorities say that Janet Jones, wife of hockey great Wayne Gretzky, was among the betters, as well as a handful of current NHL players.
[O'brien:] Still to come this morning, Hollywood stars turning on Mel Gibson. We'll tell you which actors swear they will never work with him again.
[Sanchez:] Also Carrie Lee with some of the business headlines.
[Carrie Lee, Cnn Correspondent:] Good morning. Thank you, everyone. A big stock option scandal could force one tech giant to revise four year's worth of profits. We'll have that story coming up and a preview of the July jobs report on AMERICAN MORNING.