Mideast on the Brink; Looting Rampage in Gaza; U.S. Response to Hamas
LOU DOBBS, HOST: Tonight, President Bush and pro-amnesty senators trying to ram their so-called grand bargain illegal immigration legislation through the Senate and down the throats of the American people. The pro-illegal alien lobby once again ignoring the will of the American people. We'll have complete coverage. Also, a startling new example tonight of the dangers to our working men and women. The dangers of so-called free trade. Communist China is exploiting a loophole in NAFTA. We'll be telling you about where they want to build a massive new automobile plant to export to the United States duty free. We'll have that story. And worrying concerns that communist China is also supplying weapons to the terrorists killing our troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. We'll have a special report. All of that, all the day's news, much more straight ahead here tonight.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT, news, debate and opinion for Friday, June 15th. Live from New York, Lou Dobbs.</s>DOBBS: Good evening, everybody. There's chaos in Gaza tonight after the Hamas victory over forces loyal to the Palestinian president. Palestinians in Gaza went on a rampage of looting, ransacking buildings once used by the president's security forces. There were also outbreaks of violence on the West Bank as Fatah gunmen attacked Hamas supporters. Ben Wedeman has our report from the West Bank city of Nablus -- Ben.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Lou, the fighting has subsided in Gaza as Hamas has consolidated its control. But in the West Bank, fires are beginning to break out. (voice over): Fatah gunmen ransack Hamas' media office in Nablus. Destruction, the theme of the day. Fatah answers Hamas' rampage in Gaza with its own. In the streets below, Fatah fighters warn this is only the beginning. "We'll continue to do this until Hamas has been destroyed," says gunman Abu Askandar (ph). "This is the law here, delivered through the barrel of a gun." Blind rage smashing everything associated with Hamas. (on camera): This is a taste of the mayhem to come. Fatah is now taking revenge on Hamas, destroying everything it can, burning their offices, killing their members. In Nablus, killed, 31-year-old Anis Salus (ph). Relatives say he was grabbed as he left a mosque Thursday, bundled into a car and driven away. Mourners accuse Fatah of behind the killing. Specifically, they blame Mohammed Dahlan (ph), who was Fatah's strongman in Gaza before it was overrun by Hamas. "No one is investigating how he was killed," Anis' (ph) father tells me. "No one is investigating anything." A few hope the carnage will end soon. "God willing, this was the last killing, says Nablus resident Abu Mohammed al-Halibi (ph) at the funeral, "and we'll be brothers again." With anger on both sides, it doesn't look like the bloody conflict between Hamas and Fatah will be so easily buried. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Nablus, on the West Bank.</s>DOBBS: Hamas gunmen in Gaza tonight are struggling to restore order after what has been a day of chaos. Looters ransacking a compound used by Palestinian President Abbas. Hamas officials have ordered police officers to return to duty. Atika Shubert reports now from Jerusalem on the chaos raging in Gaza.</s>ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Hamas in charge. Photos show Hamas gunmen inside the Gaza residence of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Posing at his desk, making a mock phone call, saying, according to Reuters, "Hello, Condoleezza Rice. You have to deal with me now." But perhaps this is the most poignant photo for Palestinians, Hamas gunmen trampling on the portraits, not just of President Abbas, but of the late and revered Yasser Arafat, father of the Palestinian national movement. Hamas is in charge of Gaza, but can it govern? Even as mask gunmen trumpeted their authority to the media, looters had taken over the streets of Gaza, stripping down the empty homes of Fatah leaders. Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh insists that he is still prime minister of the Palestinian government. But Palestinian president and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas has dissolved the Hamas-led government and installed an emergency cabinet under the leadership of former finance minister Salam Fayyad. So, who is in charge? It depends on where you're at. In Gaza, Islamic militant group Hamas is the undisputed power. In the West Bank, the Western-backed Fatah is still in control. The dream of a united Palestinian state torn in two. (on camera): This is not just about a fight for power. It's also about what kind of a state Palestinians want, the Islamic militancy of Hamas in Gaza, or the weakened secular authority of Fatah in the West Bank? A stark choice for those who hoped for a united Palestinian state. Atika Shubert, CNN, Jerusalem.</s>DOBBS: The United States and other Western nations today expressing full support for Palestinian President Abbas. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Palestinian people must have an opportunity to return to peace. Officials kept President Bush fully briefed on the situation in Gaza as the president traveled to Kansas. Suzanne Malveaux, traveling with the president, has our report from Wichita -- Suzanne.</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, the Bush administration realizes this is a crisis situation. That is why they're trying to bolster the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and diminish Hamas. U.S. officials saying it was the right move to dissolve the government and to replace the prime minister. Scott Stanzel, White House spokesman, aboard Air Force One, telling us -- and I'm quoting here -- "President Abbas, we believe, has exercised his lawful authority as president of the Palestinian Authority and leader of the people, and we support his decisions to try to end this violence." Earlier today, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called her counterparts from the European Union, United Nations, as well as Russia, to try to figure out a way to help the Abbas government, including the possibility of lifting the embargo against the Palestinian authority. The big question, however, is what happens to the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza effectively under the control of Hamas? U.S. officials say they're not going to abandon them, but their fate is far from certain, as well as the fate of the Middle East peace process. On Tuesday, President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will discuss that at the White House -- Lou.</s>DOBBS: Suzanne Malveaux reporting. The United States appears to be powerless to influence events in Gaza after the Hamas victory. Officials say any U.S. military action is out of the question. It remains unclear tonight how much help the United States would give the Palestinian government. Jamie McIntyre has our report from Washington.</s>JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Could U.S. troops end up as part of a peacekeeping force in Gaza, or would the U.S. consider sending supplies or ammunition to the Fatah faction it backs? In Brussels, Defense Secretary Robert Gates pretty much ruled those out.</s>ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: A little out of touch here, but to the best of my knowledge, the answer to both questions is no.</s>MCINTYRE: While the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have pretty much exhausted the supply of U.S. ground troops, that's not really the problem. It's more that anything the U.S. does to aid the moderate secular Fatah government of Mahmoud Abbas against the militant Islamic Hamas could be counterproductive.</s>FAWAZ GERGES, MIDEAST ANALYST: The more the Bush administration stays out of it, the better for regional stability, and also for American vital interest in that part of the world.</s>MCINTYRE: So far, everything the U.S. has tried has had unintended consequences. The U.S. encouraged the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the subsequent Palestinian elections, never anticipating it would bring Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group, to power. It then engineered a boycott that simply increased local support of Hamas and fueled anti-American and Israeli sentiment. Even the delivery of non-lethal aid to forces loyal to Abbas just seemed to embolden Hamas to seize Gaza. So what can the U.S. do about the possibility of a militant Islamic semi-state on the border with Israel? Not much. In fact, the Israelis have no good military options either.</s>SHIBLEY TELHAMI, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: And if they reoccupy Gaza, they may weaken the current Hamas leadership as they did in the past, but it doesn't resolve the problem. Back to square one.</s>MCINTYRE: At the State Department, a spokesman acknowledged Mahmoud Abbas has lost control of Gaza and says the U.S. is now looking for ways to support president Abbas' new government without doing more harm than good -- Lou.</s>DOBBS: Jamie, thank you very much. Jamie McIntyre reporting from the Pentagon. Insurgents in Iraq have killed four more of our troops. Another soldier and an airman died in noncombat incidents. The airman was the pilot of the Air Force F-16 fighter jet that crashed northwest of Baghdad. That aircraft based at Balad Air Base. Forty-three of our troops have been killed so far this month, 3,520 of our troops killed since the war began. 25,950 of our troops wounded, 11,667 of them seriously. Coming up here next, disturbing new concerns that communist China is delivering weapons to terrorists who are trying to kill our troops in both Afghanistan and Iraq. We'll have that special report. And President Bush, pro-amnesty senators and socioethnic centric interest groups stepping up their aggressive campaign for, what else, amnesty. All of that and more when we continue.