U.S. Blocks France, Germany, Russia, Canada From Getting Iraq Contracts; Coalition Authorities Detain 41 Iraqis
Aired December 10, 2003 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again, everyone.I smiled that crooked half smile today when I overheard someone yelping about the administration's decision not to allow countries who opposed the war from getting any of the big rebuilding contracts.Now, I'll concede it may not be the smartest policy long term. People can disagree about that but really did the French expect they were going to get the goodies?Someone a long time ago said to the victor goes the spoils. It may not heal old wounds and it probably won't help get more international troops sent in but did you really think and did they really think it was going to play out otherwise?Iraq from a number of different forms tonight it is where the whip begins. We turn first to CNN's Nic Robertson who is in Baghdad tonight, Nic a headline please.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, 41 Iraqis detained just outside of Baghdad believed to have been responsible for the killing two weeks ago of seven Spanish intelligence officials. Meanwhile to the north, two more U.S. soldiers killed -- Aaron.
BROWN: Nic, thank you very much.Next to the White House and what some are calling hardball tactics over billions and billions of dollars for rebuilding Iraq, our Senior White House Correspondent John King with us tonight, John a headline.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the White House says it's simply common sense. If you are a country willing to shed the blood or take a political risk in Iraq you can get a contract for reconstruction but France, Germany, Russia and others say this president appears once again to be looking for a fight -- Aaron.
BROWN: John, thank you.On to the Pentagon and word of another tragedy in Afghanistan involving young children CNN's Jamie McIntyre with us again tonight Jamie a headline.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, the U.S. military likes to tout the fact that it takes every precaution humanly possible to avoid unintended civilian casualties which makes it even harder to explain that the human cost in Afghanistan has grown to 15 children with the disclosure that six more children were killed last week in a U.S. raid -- Aaron.
BROWN: Jamie, thank you. We'll get back to you.Finally the school, the drug raid and more repercussions, CNN's Gary Tuchman in Goose Creek, South Carolina, Gary the headline tonight.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the school superintendent here says he did not know about the controversial drug raid before it happened but he told us today he is sorry and it won't happen again as his school board and others are investigated and being sued.
BROWN: Gary, thank you. We'll get to you and the rest shortly.Also ahead on the program tonight a boy who was 12 years old when he was sentenced to life in prison without parole will get a new trial.Later, another in our series of still photography pieces, we visit two civilian hospitals in Baghdad to see what the doctors and the patients are struggling with these days.And, as always, we'll end the evening with a check of your morning papers for tomorrow, a journalistic tour de force, all that and more in the hour ahead.We begin with Iraq and a busy night for the troops of the 82nd Airborne. It was a night of cordoning off neighborhoods and kicking down doors in search of the bad guys. It is a practice some experts worry also alienates a lot of the good guys.But even the toughest critics concede that raids like this are sometimes called for and this one appears, at least for now, to have been especially fruitful. A CNN camera crew went along. Nic Robertson does the reporting.
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ROBERTSON (voice-over): As dozens of paratroopers crouch in a dark alley waiting in anticipation of possible trouble, a suspect is led away hands in the air. In the dark the CNN crew on the raid witnessed jubilation of the confirmation the intended target Ismail is captured.By dawn the massive nighttime raid just south of Baghdad under command of Lieutenant Colonel Pete Johnson beginning to wind down. The raid netting 41 Iraqis suspected of being behind the recent ambush that killed seven Spanish intelligence agents completed, according to coalition officials, without a shot being fired.Later in the day shots fired at U.S. troops in the northern city of Mosul, one soldier killed as he patrolled a fuel line. Civilian vehicles caught in the crossfire as troops responded to the attack. Not far away another U.S. soldier killed and three injured by a roadside bomb.(on camera): It is this daily toll that many here hope could abate if Saddam Hussein is captured although no one here is predicting when that could be. Iraq's Governing Council has moved one step closer to bringing him to justice forming a war crimes tribunal.(voice-over): In the courtroom where he may one day face justice for his crimes against the Iraqi people, members of the country's Governing Council announce the process to bring him to trial.
NOOR AL DIN, HEAD OF LEGAL TRIBUNAL (through translator): This tribunal will show how bad the former regime was. It will show which are the states that supported the former regime. This will have a great effect on the future of Iraq.
ROBERTSON: Immediate candidates for trial by the five Iraqi judges leading the tribunal could include Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known to many as Chemical Ali for his alleged role in gassing 5,000 Kurds in 1988. He is currently in coalition captivity although the tribunal will not limit itself to those already captured.Questioned on whether Saddam Hussein could be tried in absentia...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ROBERTSON: Despite the laughter, the hope that will not be necessary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: They are still looking for Saddam Hussein, as we know, every day. Maybe, Aaron, one of those raids that was witnessed last night will eventually turn him up. That is certainly the hope -- Aaron.
BROWN: There was, I've got a number of notes on this today, a demonstration or a number of demonstrations in Iraq today dealing with terrorism and public safety. What can you report on that?
ROBERTSON: There was a demonstration in Baghdad, one in Karbala, one in Najaf. These were demonstrations that were sponsored, if you will, by parties, political parties that at the moment are quite supportive of the coalition, the Iraqi National Congress, the Communist Party here to name but two.There was also in the city of Ramadi a demonstration of about 100 people. At the same time there was a counter demonstration again of about 70 people trying to counter that. Ramadi is in the Sunni Central Triangle. That town has a lot of anti-coalition activity. Perhaps that was why there was a counter demonstration.But what we're beginning to see here is not a ground swell of support coming out condemning the terrorism yet but these demonstrations were still quite small but it is an indication that perhaps some popular support beginning, just beginning to get behind the coalition's initiatives to target these anti-coalition forces -- Aaron.
BROWN: Nic, thank you very much, Nic Robertson in Baghdad tonight.On to the rebuilding effort and two impulses that seem to be at work within the Bush administration. The first is to get as much help as it can wherever it can as soon as it can. The second would seem to make the first a whole lot tougher.Here again our Senior White House Correspondent John King.
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KING (voice-over): The president welcomed members of the Iraqi National Symphony to the Roosevelt Room happy to talk music but not about another major diplomatic dust-up. At issue a White House decision to block Iraq war opponents from nearly $20 billion in U.S.- funded reconstruction contracts. Bush critics call it hardball retaliation. The White House prefers to call it rewarding allies.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: These are countries that have been with us from day one. These are countries that are contributing forces that have been making sacrifices.
KING: This Pentagon memo says restricting the big contracts to Iraq war allies should encourage the continued cooperation of coalition members but the administration also hopes the lure of big reconstruction contracts might convince other nations to offer troops or, as the memo put it, limiting competition for prime contracts will encourage the expansion of international cooperation in Iraq.Sixty-three countries were declared eligible for contracts worth $18.6 billion for major coalition allies like the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, Spain and Poland to Costa Rica, Latvia, and tiny Micronesia. Left off were opponents France, Germany, Russia and even Canada, which disagreed with the Iraq war but offered troops early in Afghanistan.Canada's incoming prime minister called the decision hard to fathom. France suggested it violated international law and Germany's foreign minister promised a protest.
JOSCHKA FISCHER, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We noted the reports today with astonishment and we will be speaking about it with the American side.
KING: Russia lashed back by saying it would not heed Washington's call to forgive $8 billion in Iraqi debts.
SERGEI IVANOV, RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: As far as the Russian government's position on this it is not planning any kind of write-off of that debt. Iraq is not a poor country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Now the president had telephone conversations today with the president of Russia, the chancellor of Germany and the president of France. All three complained about this new U.S. policy. Mr. Bush defended it but, Aaron, he also promised to "keep the lines of communication open."
BROWN: The Russians perhaps had the most interesting say in this because one of the goals of the administration is to get the Iraqi government when it's finally formed in a stable economic way and that includes forgiveness of a lot of debt, the Russian debt and others. Do you sense a backlash here?
KING: That is why some simply including Republican and Democratic members of Congress simply do not understand this. They say they think the president is eager to pick yet another fight over this at a time when he needs help, whether it is financial or diplomatic support in post war Iraq. France and Russia and Germany are never going to send in troops. The White House says that is not a precondition for the contracts. So many say why then pick another fight. This administration says the U.S. taxpayers will understand. If you shed blood in Iraq you should get the contracts.
BROWN: John, thank you very much, Senior White House Correspondent John King.Afghanistan now after an incident this weekend in which nine children were killed, another has come to light and with it six more young bodies. These are stories that break hearts here and there. They are stories that can make winning hearts and minds especially hard and they are, of course, the sort of horrible things that happen in war and always have.Here's CNN's Jamie McIntyre.
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MCINTYRE (voice-over): The U.S. was already investigating how nine children were killed in an air strike by U.S. A-10 aircraft Saturday at this Afghan village when it discovered a Special Operations raid the previous day also results in the deaths of children.The target was a compound in Gardez used by a local mullah said to have Taliban and al Qaeda ties. When the smoke cleared six children were found dead buried under a collapsed wall along with two adults.
LT. COL. BRYAN HILFERTY, U.S. ARMY: We don't know what caused the wall to collapse because although we fired on the compound there were secondary and tertiary explosions.
MCINTYRE: The news that six more children were killed came as Pentagon officials were already apologizing for the previous nine deaths and insisting everything possible was being done to avoid a repeat.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Our forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties and needless to say they and we deeply regret it.
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: I can tell you the kind of vetting that the process goes through from the beginnings of intelligence to the final operation is exquisite and we're not going to be perfect.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: Not perfect exactly and that imperfection appears to lie with the intelligence, which Pentagon officials say did not indicate that there were children at either site. Human rights groups have criticized the Pentagon in the past for being too quick to act on uncorroborated intelligence or even questionable tips. That's something that the Pentagon is denying but at the same time both of these incidents are under investigation -- Aaron.
BROWN: Aside from the obvious tragedy of it all that children are being killed this it would seem from here at least creates problems for a government in Afghanistan that in some respects is just holding on.
MCINTYRE: It creates problems for the U.S. military and, as you said, winning the hearts and minds and also for the Karzai government which is trying to extend its rule outside the capital.It has to be seen as taking a hard line with the U.S. about stopping these kinds of accidents in which a large number of children are killed. Now, the U.S. military has tried to reach out to these villagers but, as you can imagine, there's not much that you can do for a family that's lost as many children as has been lost in these incidents.
BROWN: Certainly not, Jamie thank you very much, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon tonight.On to the search for terrorists here at home, in Minnesota federal authorities say they have arrested a man allegedly tied to al Qaeda and are holding him as a material witness. He's said to have provided information about Zacarias Moussaoui, the al Qaeda operative charged as a conspirator in the September 11 attacks. It's not clear whether the two men knew each other. Moussaoui, you'll recall, was also arrested in Minnesota after a flight school told the FBI he wanted to fly a jumbo jet when he could barely handle a private plane.Ahead on NEWSNIGHT tonight the 12-year-old who got life without parole for murdering a playmate while pretending, he says, to be a professional wrestler will get a new trial.And, in South Carolina the drug raid at the high school and the superintendent who says he knew nothing about it.From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.
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BROWN: Someone once said you get justice in the next world. In this world you've got the law. And in Florida the law allows for a sentence of life without parole for killing a 6-year-old girl even if the killer happened to be 12 at the time even though the state was willing to offer a drastically lower sentence in exchange for a guilty plea, three years.To an Appeals Court in Florida the process that produced the sentence was an imperfect application of the law. To many the decision will likely be seen more simply, common sense.Here's CNN's Susan Candiotti.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How he looked at age 12 when he killed a little girl. How Lionel Tate looks at 16 after now serving a mandatory life sentence. His attorney described Tate's reaction to winning a new trial.
RICHARD ROSENBAUM, TATE'S ATTORNEY: I heard him scream yes and then I heard a bunch of the guards in the jail clapping for Lionel.
CANDIOTTI: A three judge Appeals Court did not mince words in ordering a new trial for Lionel Tate ruling it was a constitutional error not to determine whether he was mentally competent before trial."Questions regarding Tate's competency were not lurking subtly in the background but were readily apparent."
ROSENBAUM: We can't try people unless they're competent. That's just not fair. They can't assist in their defense.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Verdict, we the jury find as follows as to this indictment. The defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in the indictment.
CANDIOTTI: Lionel Tate was 12 years old in 1999 when a jury later found he pummeled to death 6-year-old playmate Tiffany Eunick. A jury found she suffered a fractured skull and injuries to her brain and internal organs. Part of her liver was detached. Premeditated murder said the state. The defense argued it was an accident. Tate was play wrestling.Not in dispute, according to the Appeals Court, Tate's IQ of 90 and his maturity that of a 6-year-old. Tate's lawyer says Lionel has dropped 40 pounds, suffers from an eating disorder yet is an honor student behind bars.Governor Jeb Bush may consider clemency depending on whether the state retries the case or seeks further appeals.
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: My hope is that young Lionel is progressing, that he's developing in maturity and that he's abiding by the rules.
CANDIOTTI: The state has 15 days to ask for a rehearing. As for ordering a competency evaluation now to apply retroactively, the Appeals Court says no can do.Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.
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BROWN: We have more tonight on the drug raid at a high school in Goose Creek, South Carolina. Some day all the facts on this will eventually come out. The police will explain why they stormed into the school, guns drawn, ordering kids around like common criminals. The principal will explain what he was thinking and what he knew about the plan but neither has really happened yet.What happened today was significant. The head of the school district, viewing the tape with us, said it would never happen again. The reporting was done by CNN's Gary Tuchman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): This video shot by police of the controversial high school drug raid was kept under wraps until it was acquired by CNN on Tuesday. Even the boss of the school system says he hadn't seen it until we showed it to him.So now that you're seeing this for the first time how hard is it to see it all?
CHESTER FLOYD, GOOSE CREEK SUPERINTENDENT: It bothers me greatly. It's just so unusual and something that I've never seen before.
TUCHMAN: Superintendent Chester Floyd's school district is the target of a class action lawsuit, along with the local police department and the city of Goose Creek, South Carolina for the raid which resulted in guns being drawn by police, students being handcuffed and no drugs being found.Are you sorry about it?
FLOYD: I'm very sorry that it happened.
TUCHMAN: One hundred seven students who were at the Stratford High School before classes began were detained in the hallway. The principal had asked for police assistance because he said there had been reports of drug related activity in the area where the raid took place. Students watched warily as a barking police dog sniffed around and tossed some of their book bags.
FLOYD: I don't think any of our school officials thought that there would be any guns that would be drawn.
TUCHMAN: So why were they? Police do not want to say much but did say off camera: "We would like to respond but our hands are tied because it's an ongoing investigation." The superintendent wasn't as shy.
FLOYD: Whether or not it's legal and right is for someone else to decide but I'm sorry that it happened and I don't think there's any likelihood or possibility that particular method of operation will be used in Berkley (ph) County schools ever again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN: Superintendent Floyd says he was not told by the principal this drug raid was going to take place but he says that's standard operating procedure for more conventional drug searches. This case is now being investigated by the South Carolina attorney general and the FBI.And, Aaron, I want to read one line to you on the class action lawsuit, it kind of sums up the atmosphere in the hallway that day. It says: "The Czechoslovakian shepherd which I guess is a cousin of a German shepherd, did not appear to respond to commands. The dog frightened the students who with their hands behind their heads or bound behind their backs felt helpless to defend against an attack -- Aaron.
BROWN: Well there are lots of interesting things here. You and I have been e-mailing back and forth on this. One of them has to do with the police department's own guidelines where the dog is concerned. Just because of the things you just mentioned their guidelines say that the room or the area where the dog is working should be cleared of personnel before the dog is brought in, something that clearly didn't happen there.
TUCHMAN: Well that's a major part of the lawsuit and that's what happens in these conventional drug searches is the dogs come in. They search lockers. They search book bags but with none of the students present and that did not happen this time.
BROWN: Gary, thank you very much, Gary Tuchman in South Carolina.Given truth serum even Lee Malvo's legal defense team might concede they've got a tough case on their hands, the sniper trial. Successfully conducting an insanity defense is difficult at best and harder still given the evidence already on the table, some of it from Mr. Malvo himself.Today the defense presented what's expected to be its final expert witness. The case is being covered by CNN's Jeanne Meserve.
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JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lee Malvo was legally insane at the time of the sniper shootings, according to two defense psychiatrists. In the words of Dr. Neil Blumberg: "Lee Malvo was unable to distinguish between right and wrong and was unable to resist the impulse to commit the offense." Legal experts say that testimony may not be enough to convince the jury.
STEPHEN SALTZBURG, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: The care and the planning and the leaving of notes, the drawings that Malvo left in the jail and his confession to the police, all of those things are going to speak I think more loudly than the psychiatrists are.
MESERVE: Under cross-examination from prosecutor Robert Horan the defense psychiatrist diverged on whether Malvo was insane when he shot Kenya Cook in Tacoma, Washington eight months before the sniper slayings. Blumberg said he was but Dr. Diane Schetky said she believed Malvo did know right from wrong at that point.
BARRY BOSS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It's damaging to the defense because it shows that at a point at which he was not indoctrinated he understood right from wrong yet he was still willing to kill.
MESERVE: Blumberg testified that Muhammad told Malvo, Cook's aunt Isa Nichols (ph) was an evil woman who he alleged had taken $1 million of his money, helped his ex-wife take his children and that she should pay by losing a family member every year for three years. Blumberg said Malvo, afraid of not complying, spoke with a friendly Kenya Cook for several minutes before shooting her in the face. But Schetky testified the murder left Malvo so scared and conflicted that he soiled his pants afterwards.(on camera): Schetky also testified that sniper victim Iran Brown (ph) was not shot in the head because, according to Malvo, he was conflicted about the shooting of a child. That would appear to contradict Malvo's statements to Schetky that he was the spotter at the Tasker Middle School.Jeanne Meserve CNN, Chesapeake, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Coming up on NEWSNIGHT tonight the missing student and questions of why the man arrested in the case in North Dakota was ever on the loose in the first place.We'll talk to Minnesota's attorney general.Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.
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BROWN: Today the sheriff of Grand Forks, North Dakota apologized to the parents of Dru Sjodin for saying he did not expect to find their daughter alive. The 22-year-old college student has been missing for 18 days now. Her blood and a knife we are told was found in the car of the man charged with kidnapping her, a man named Alfonso Rodriguez, a man convicted of rape with a history of attempted kidnappings and violent assaults, a man released from a Minnesota state prison last May after serving 23 years, his sentence.Which raises the question, why was the man classified as the most dangerous type of sex offender, and he was level three, not in treatment of any sort following his release? It's a question a lot of people are asking in the upper Midwest tonight, including Minnesota's Attorney General Mike Hatch who joins us from Minneapolis tonight, nice to see you sir. Thank you.
MIKE HATCH, MINNESOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Thank you.
BROWN: Minnesota like a good many other states has this civil commitment law which allows the state or counties I think as it's applied in Minnesota to hold sex offenders past their release date.
HATCH: Correct. The year before the release of a sex offender the Department of Corrections does an evaluation. If they determine it's appropriate to refer for civil commitment they will do so by contacting the county attorney and at least in the rural counties our office will then work with that county attorney in developing the civil commitment petition.
BROWN: Do you know, I gather in this case the corrections department and the people who, I don't want to convict Mr. Rodriguez here, he's entitled to a trial and a presumption but in any case he was on the loose. Do you know what their files said on him in terms of his likelihood to re-offend?
HATCH: Well, I think I can make the following comments by referring to what's already been in the media and that is, is that he had been charged with two separate rapes in 1974. I believe he was approximately the age of 20. He had been convicted, placed into a sex offender program in St. Peter. In 1978 he had been placed in a halfway house in Mankato. He then contacted Saint Peter, asked to be readmitted to the facility because there had been a number of rapes in Mankato and he thought he might be implicated. Prior to getting back into Saint Peter, he had been arrested for those rapes and charged. He had been acquitted. He had a hung trial and then an acquittal on the charge of rape in Mankato, completed his treatment at Saint Peter through 1980, was released back to -- released from the program, went back to Crookston in 1980, had abducted another woman, stabbed her, attempted, we believe, sex, was charged with kidnapping, convicted, received a maximum sentence of 20 years, plus three more years from the prior sentence. He had refused sex offender treatment in prison. He had refused alcohol, chemical dependency treatment, even though he had a history of that. And the two, alcohol and chemicals, are well known to reduce the ability of the individual to fight the impulse.
BROWN: Yes.
HATCH: So he was released. The only comment that I'm aware of made that was mitigating was that he was 50 years of age and, therefore, for reasons that I'm not clear, somebody thought he might be less likely to recidivate at that point. But we do know that, at least as an adult, he could not put 12 months together without having a charge, an incident.
BROWN: Obviously, in your recitation there, there were plenty of red flags to the corrections department, which, I read today, has now decided that all level three sex offenders -- that is the most serious level in the state -- will be referred to county prosecutors. Can the county handle the additional work -- counties handle the additional workload?
HATCH: Well, I -- you're raising a question that's coming up not only because of constitutional concerns, but also budgetary issues. But most important, it's common sense. The level three offender is classified pursuant to a community notification program. It's a different statute and different gradation of evidence, as related to -- as opposed to the sex offender program. In a sex offender program, you're looking at people. They're making a psychiatrist evaluation and determining that these people have an utter lack of ability to control their sexual impulse, that it's demonstrated by repeated sexual behavior that's aberrant, and that they're likely to reoffend. That's a strong standard. And those are the people who are committed. The Supreme Court, appropriately, has been concerned with the use of the civil commitment process, making sure that it's for treatment, not simply for punishment.
BROWN: Yes.
HATCH: And so it's important that those standards be adhered to. In a level three criteria, which you just described, it's a different criteria. There's probably, I'd say, three times the number of people who are referred out on a level three. The statutes in our state require the department, one year prior to release, to evaluate for commitment.
BROWN: Right.
HATCH: That's a different evaluation than the level three community notification, which is done three months prior to release. And what we're going to get -- what we need to watch here is to make sure we're adhering to constitutional standards and that the state is appropriately implementing and administering this program and not going to destroy the program by overzealous behavior.
BROWN: I assume that you and lots of residents in your state and, we, too, will be watching to see how it plays out. Thank you.
HATCH: Well, we're all upset.
BROWN: I'm sure that's true. Thank you very much, Mike Hatch, the attorney general in the state of Minnesota. Quick business items here, some signs of a bullish season out there. Computer-makers say they're getting strong sales since Thanksgiving. Retailers predict double-digit growth compared to last year. Encouraging words today from John Chambers, CEO of Cisco. He says business customers have started budgeting more for tech, the first time that's happened in several years. The FDA is phasing in regulations to require bar codes on hospital doses of medicine, this to prevent patients from getting the wrong drug by accident. Scan the drugs, scan the patient's wrist band, and there you have it. Right now, only a few hospitals have adopted the system because so few drugs are bar coded. A powerful voice in the business and especially the world of politics think is gone. "Wall Street Journal"'s Robert Bartley died today of cancer. As editorial page editor, he pushed mightily for tax cuts and supply-side economics, as well as the privatization of many government functions. Mr. Bartley was 66. The markets barely moved an inch today, all the indexes finishing the day down just a smidgen. Smidgen is a technical Wall Street term. We'll explain another night. Still to come, we'll address a couple of campaign issues, including campaign finance reform and the question of what now for the Democrats who aren't named Howard Dean. This is NEWSNIGHT.
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BROWN: Money and politics now and what could be fairly called the most significant ruling on the subject since Watergate on the role of money in politics. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a controversial ban on large unregulated contributions known as soft money. It also ruled in favor of limits on some political advertising. The justices split 5-4 on this one. And there were bitter dissents, as there tends to be in a court so sharply divided as this one is.Reporting the story, CNN's Bruce Morton.
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BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The court upheld 5-4 the two most important provisions of the campaign finance law: a ban on soft money and restrictions on so-called issue ads by independent groups that target a candidate. Soft money was the green flood that poured into recent campaigns, supposedly for activities like party building, but often for plain old campaigning, TV ads, whatever. Regardless of bans on union or corporate money, regardless of limits on individual contributions. Now, campaigns will have to rely on what's called hard money: limited contributions from individuals. The court ruled in effect the Congress can regulate money to prevent the real or perceived corruption of politics. As for the issue ads, the court noted that it was regulating this kind of expression, not banning it. Groups running issue ads will have to raise the same hard money that candidates will. They can't just spend union or corporation funds. The court, as on many issues was split 5-4, and Sandra Day O'Connor was the swing vote. John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer joined her in signing the majority opinion. Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented on most of the law. Anthony Kennedy said he would vote to apply a limited soft money ban. (on camera): The court's decision upholding the law means the 2004 campaigns will continue playing by those rules. The law was presumed to be constitutional, unless and until the court said it wasn't. Will this fix campaign financing forever? No. O'Connor and Stevens wrote for the majority -- quote -- "Money, like water, will find an outlet. What problems will arise and how Congress will respond are concerns for another day."Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
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BROWN: Over the last few days, we have talked a lot about the state of play among the Democratic candidates. Dr. Dean is the clear front-runner, but what of the rest? Most other programs would turn to other Democrats to get their assessment. We've done a little of that, but we thought, why not check the views of a respected Republican operative?Mike Murphy is that. He has run some important campaigns for Republicans, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and John McCain. And we're glad to have him with us tonight. Nice to see you.
MIKE MURPHY, REPUBLICAN POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Good to be here.
BROWN: Fill in a blank for me.
MURPHY: OK.BROWN: It's been a really bad week for...
MURPHY: I actually will be contrary to conventional wisdom and say Howard Dean. Even though I think he is going to be the nominee, the laws of gravity have now shifted in the contest. I think the Gore endorsement has made him the unquestioned front-runner.
BROWN: Yes.
MURPHY: It's made him the almost de facto nominee now. He has such advantage in money and polling in the early states. So now it's a very clear race for the next 40 days to Iowa. It's a referendum on Dean. And it has organized the lives of every other candidate around one principle, hurt Dean in Iowa. So Dean now has what he hasn't had for seven months, which is, he is now the guy defending high expectations.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Honestly, hadn't he sort of been in that spot for, I don't know, the last five or six weeks anyway?
MURPHY: Yes, I think he's been kind of getting in that position. But now with Al Gore, the nominee, coming forward to endorse him like that, the expectation leverage is all, for the first time, I think working against Dean. Now, I think he's going to overwhelm. I think he's going to run the table and win. But if there was ever a window now in a clear race, it's here.
BROWN: Who is position -- who is in the best position to take advantage of that window, if in fact it exists?
MURPHY: Well, I think the guy with the clear shot is Gephardt, because, right now, Gephardt has the most in the place where Dean could stumble early on.
BROWN: Iowa.
MURPHY: And I think now there is kind of a secret Gephardt fan club. Some of these other folks who are really hanging on by a thread are probably hoping Gephardt breaks him in Iowa and figures that Gephardt won't have the money to roll out. But the damage to Dean by Gephardt in Iowa could create opportunities in New Hampshire and other places. All these guys are grabbing at a thin hope now, because the Dean thing has become so muscular. Dean is interesting because, normally, the outside insurgent doesn't have any money. He has excitement and has all kinds of wonderful things, but no money. Dean has got the money and the outside sense of insurgency. We've never had one of those before. All of us McCain guys, like, wake up in the middle of the night screaming.
BROWN: Yes.
MURPHY: If we had had Dean's dough or his calendar, we would all be eating free food in the White House right now.
BROWN: Well, it might have worked that way. You never know. I hear, though, it was a close election.
MURPHY: Yes. Yes. Yes.
BROWN: Do you think that -- do Republicans still believe -- speak for all Republicans now, if you don't mind. Do Republicans still believe that he, Dr. Dean, is the George McGovern of our time? Or are they beginning to be a little less cocky?
MURPHY: Dumb Republicans think that. Smart Republicans are worried about the guy. I don't think he's the best nominee they could nominate. I think they got other, stronger people. But if we're complacent about Dean, we're making a big mistake. The economy is coming back. And that's good for the president; 70 days ago, I think the president was in some real serious trouble. But the economy is the thing that drives presidential elections. It's coming back. That's good for him.But we shouldn't underestimate Dean. There's one true fact about Howard Dean. He started at 3 percent, not a serious candidate. And he has beaten bigger folks than him all along the way. So I think we ought to be appropriately paranoid about the guy.
BROWN: Do you worry, as a Republican, about the -- there is a certain anger in Dr. Dean and in Dr. Dean's supporters that does seem to be -- that has touched a core out there.
MURPHY: Right.
BROWN: Does that worry Republicans?
MURPHY: Well, I think there is a passion factor that he has that people respect. But I think the big mistake Dean could make is -- he has run a brilliant primary campaign based on anger. He's kind of like an insult comic against the president. It's like, if they nominated Don Rickles, they would feel great about it. He's going to have to pivot when he is the nominee, because, otherwise, he's going to use the Internet and everything else he has to very well organize a losing 40 percent of the vote. And so the question is, is Dean a moderate faking it to be liberal now in the primaries and he will reorient himself and become more formidable after he's nominated, or will he keep the same shtick he has now and not change it? If he doesn't change, I think, if he keeps the same act going, I think we'll slaughter him.
BROWN: Will you come back from time to time and chat with us more about that?
MURPHY: Of course, yes. Absolutely.BROWN: Nice to see you.
MURPHY: Good to be here.
BROWN: Mike Murphy.Ahead on NEWSNIGHT: Iraq in still life, life in two civilian hospitals in Baghdad, seen through the eyes of a still photographer. Where else would you see it? This is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: We began in Iraq and we return there now. Something to consider from the World Health Organization, we found it sobering today. Before the first Gulf War, Iraq's health system was considered one of the best in the Middle East. Conditions rivaled those of other middle- or high-middle-income countries. The majority of Iraqis had access to an extensive network of health care facilities, well-equipped and staffed. That was then. Tonight, a picture of now, actually, a series of pictures that first appeared in the journal "Acumen." The photographer Eric Grigorian talked to us about what he saw.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIC GRIGORIAN, PHOTOGRAPHER, "ACUMEN": "Acumen Journal of Sciences" wanted me to photograph an Iraqi doctor to show what it is they go through daily as a doctor in Iraq. Now, I did two hospitals. One was the main Baghdad hospital, which I photographed in the emergency room. And the second with the children was in the children's hospital emergency room. As a journalist, I think, sometimes, you need to see many things to kind of really understand if this is the norm. I think the dedication the doctors have is up to the standards of, let's say, any doctor here in the states. But, at the same time, every doctor I spoke to was frustrated with what they were doing. Hussein (ph) is a doctor I photographed in the children's hospital. The picture of the infant was in the dying stages and needed an incubator, which the hospital was lacking. Hussein had to turn away the infant, knowing very well the infant was going to die and knowing that there are no other hospitals that had those incubators. The other doctor, Mohammed (ph), he had been working about six years as a doctor. And he was just going to get his certificate that he was a doctor. He was just going to pick it up, because, during Saddam's regime, he was not allowed to have it, because there was a fear the doctors would leave the country. Because of the lack of nurses, or no nurses in this instance, families have to kind of take care of their own patients at the same time. Things that a nurse should be doing ends up that the family has to take care of it, making sure the patient is cool, feeding the patient, changing the sheets sometimes -- again, a lack of nurses. The doctor is basically pumping the I.V. to get the patient stabilized, to get him into surgery. A nurse should be taking care of that portion of the procedure. The doctor ended up doing the nurse's job. And, meanwhile, there's patients that he could be seeing and doing other things. Iraq isn't just about whether they're liberated or not. It's what they're facing now and the lack of resources they have now and how that is affecting their daily lives.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: We'll check morning papers after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(ROOSTER CROWING)
BROWN: OK, time to check morning papers from around the country. I told viewers in our e-mail today I was in somewhat of a cranky mood. And this segment is about to prove it, because everything I'm looking at is making me annoyed. "The Chattanooga Times Free Press." "To Give the News Impartially, Without Fear or Favor." "Tougher Open Container Law Unlikely to Pass. State Lawmakers Say They Don't Expect Much Support For Efforts to Ban All Alcohol Consumption in Vehicles." Come on. Drink at home, OK? Or don't drink at all. Don't drink in cars. There ought to be a law. "Miami Herald." I would front-page this story anywhere in the country, and certainly in Miami. "Boy Wins New Trial in Killing." Told you this story earlier. An appeal court grants new trial to Lionel Tate, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing a 6-year-old girl. It was a terrible and sad story. I'm not sure that the outcome yet makes any sense. We will see if it does."The Boston Herald." "Flu Kills Teen. Fatal Virus Suspected." Wait a second. Did the flu kill the teen or did the fatal virus? Well, we don't really know, but that's the headline anyway. And also, up at the top, the national obsession with the Clintons continues. "Hillary Won't Real Out V.P." -- or "Veep," I guess.How we doing on time, Terry (ph)? Forty-seven."The Philadelphia Inquirer." I just like this story because I thought it was a really good story idea. "The Duel of Holiday Dances. Nutcracker Seem to Holding Their Own Against the Rockettes," I guess both going on in Philadelphia right now, though how the Rockettes got to Philly, I don't really know. "The Oregonian." Thank you. I guess they're wrapping up what has been a very good series for a very good newspaper, "The Oregonian." "Soothing the Tried Soul One Child at a Time." This is a series described -- or titled "A Place Where Children Die." That's "The Oregonian." Nicely done. "The Chicago Sun-Times." The weather in Chicago tomorrow, "Froze toes. It's winter coming." "Insider Wears Wire to Nail Gang Killer" is the headline in "The Sun-Times," and lots of other cool stuff on the front page. We'll take a break and wrap up today's top story and preview tomorrow after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: A quick update of our top story tonight. The military says, insurgents behind the killing of seven Spanish intelligence officers in Iraq have been caught. They were swept up in a night of raids across the country, more than 50 raids in all, involving the 82nd and 101st Airborne and others. Tomorrow night, right here on this program, a case of what appears to be homegrown terrorism involving a white-collar group, illegal weapons and deadly chemicals. That's NEWSNIGHT tomorrow.
"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" is next.Good night for all of us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.comIraq Contracts; Coalition Authorities Detain 41 Iraqis>
Aired December 10, 2003 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again, everyone.I smiled that crooked half smile today when I overheard someone yelping about the administration's decision not to allow countries who opposed the war from getting any of the big rebuilding contracts.Now, I'll concede it may not be the smartest policy long term. People can disagree about that but really did the French expect they were going to get the goodies?Someone a long time ago said to the victor goes the spoils. It may not heal old wounds and it probably won't help get more international troops sent in but did you really think and did they really think it was going to play out otherwise?Iraq from a number of different forms tonight it is where the whip begins. We turn first to CNN's Nic Robertson who is in Baghdad tonight, Nic a headline please.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, 41 Iraqis detained just outside of Baghdad believed to have been responsible for the killing two weeks ago of seven Spanish intelligence officials. Meanwhile to the north, two more U.S. soldiers killed -- Aaron.
BROWN: Nic, thank you very much.Next to the White House and what some are calling hardball tactics over billions and billions of dollars for rebuilding Iraq, our Senior White House Correspondent John King with us tonight, John a headline.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the White House says it's simply common sense. If you are a country willing to shed the blood or take a political risk in Iraq you can get a contract for reconstruction but France, Germany, Russia and others say this president appears once again to be looking for a fight -- Aaron.
BROWN: John, thank you.On to the Pentagon and word of another tragedy in Afghanistan involving young children CNN's Jamie McIntyre with us again tonight Jamie a headline.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, the U.S. military likes to tout the fact that it takes every precaution humanly possible to avoid unintended civilian casualties which makes it even harder to explain that the human cost in Afghanistan has grown to 15 children with the disclosure that six more children were killed last week in a U.S. raid -- Aaron.
BROWN: Jamie, thank you. We'll get back to you.Finally the school, the drug raid and more repercussions, CNN's Gary Tuchman in Goose Creek, South Carolina, Gary the headline tonight.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the school superintendent here says he did not know about the controversial drug raid before it happened but he told us today he is sorry and it won't happen again as his school board and others are investigated and being sued.
BROWN: Gary, thank you. We'll get to you and the rest shortly.Also ahead on the program tonight a boy who was 12 years old when he was sentenced to life in prison without parole will get a new trial.Later, another in our series of still photography pieces, we visit two civilian hospitals in Baghdad to see what the doctors and the patients are struggling with these days.And, as always, we'll end the evening with a check of your morning papers for tomorrow, a journalistic tour de force, all that and more in the hour ahead.We begin with Iraq and a busy night for the troops of the 82nd Airborne. It was a night of cordoning off neighborhoods and kicking down doors in search of the bad guys. It is a practice some experts worry also alienates a lot of the good guys.But even the toughest critics concede that raids like this are sometimes called for and this one appears, at least for now, to have been especially fruitful. A CNN camera crew went along. Nic Robertson does the reporting.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON (voice-over): As dozens of paratroopers crouch in a dark alley waiting in anticipation of possible trouble, a suspect is led away hands in the air. In the dark the CNN crew on the raid witnessed jubilation of the confirmation the intended target Ismail is captured.By dawn the massive nighttime raid just south of Baghdad under command of Lieutenant Colonel Pete Johnson beginning to wind down. The raid netting 41 Iraqis suspected of being behind the recent ambush that killed seven Spanish intelligence agents completed, according to coalition officials, without a shot being fired.Later in the day shots fired at U.S. troops in the northern city of Mosul, one soldier killed as he patrolled a fuel line. Civilian vehicles caught in the crossfire as troops responded to the attack. Not far away another U.S. soldier killed and three injured by a roadside bomb.(on camera): It is this daily toll that many here hope could abate if Saddam Hussein is captured although no one here is predicting when that could be. Iraq's Governing Council has moved one step closer to bringing him to justice forming a war crimes tribunal.(voice-over): In the courtroom where he may one day face justice for his crimes against the Iraqi people, members of the country's Governing Council announce the process to bring him to trial.
NOOR AL DIN, HEAD OF LEGAL TRIBUNAL (through translator): This tribunal will show how bad the former regime was. It will show which are the states that supported the former regime. This will have a great effect on the future of Iraq.
ROBERTSON: Immediate candidates for trial by the five Iraqi judges leading the tribunal could include Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known to many as Chemical Ali for his alleged role in gassing 5,000 Kurds in 1988. He is currently in coalition captivity although the tribunal will not limit itself to those already captured.Questioned on whether Saddam Hussein could be tried in absentia...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ROBERTSON: Despite the laughter, the hope that will not be necessary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: They are still looking for Saddam Hussein, as we know, every day. Maybe, Aaron, one of those raids that was witnessed last night will eventually turn him up. That is certainly the hope -- Aaron.
BROWN: There was, I've got a number of notes on this today, a demonstration or a number of demonstrations in Iraq today dealing with terrorism and public safety. What can you report on that?
ROBERTSON: There was a demonstration in Baghdad, one in Karbala, one in Najaf. These were demonstrations that were sponsored, if you will, by parties, political parties that at the moment are quite supportive of the coalition, the Iraqi National Congress, the Communist Party here to name but two.There was also in the city of Ramadi a demonstration of about 100 people. At the same time there was a counter demonstration again of about 70 people trying to counter that. Ramadi is in the Sunni Central Triangle. That town has a lot of anti-coalition activity. Perhaps that was why there was a counter demonstration.But what we're beginning to see here is not a ground swell of support coming out condemning the terrorism yet but these demonstrations were still quite small but it is an indication that perhaps some popular support beginning, just beginning to get behind the coalition's initiatives to target these anti-coalition forces -- Aaron.
BROWN: Nic, thank you very much, Nic Robertson in Baghdad tonight.On to the rebuilding effort and two impulses that seem to be at work within the Bush administration. The first is to get as much help as it can wherever it can as soon as it can. The second would seem to make the first a whole lot tougher.Here again our Senior White House Correspondent John King.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): The president welcomed members of the Iraqi National Symphony to the Roosevelt Room happy to talk music but not about another major diplomatic dust-up. At issue a White House decision to block Iraq war opponents from nearly $20 billion in U.S.- funded reconstruction contracts. Bush critics call it hardball retaliation. The White House prefers to call it rewarding allies.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: These are countries that have been with us from day one. These are countries that are contributing forces that have been making sacrifices.
KING: This Pentagon memo says restricting the big contracts to Iraq war allies should encourage the continued cooperation of coalition members but the administration also hopes the lure of big reconstruction contracts might convince other nations to offer troops or, as the memo put it, limiting competition for prime contracts will encourage the expansion of international cooperation in Iraq.Sixty-three countries were declared eligible for contracts worth $18.6 billion for major coalition allies like the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, Spain and Poland to Costa Rica, Latvia, and tiny Micronesia. Left off were opponents France, Germany, Russia and even Canada, which disagreed with the Iraq war but offered troops early in Afghanistan.Canada's incoming prime minister called the decision hard to fathom. France suggested it violated international law and Germany's foreign minister promised a protest.
JOSCHKA FISCHER, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We noted the reports today with astonishment and we will be speaking about it with the American side.
KING: Russia lashed back by saying it would not heed Washington's call to forgive $8 billion in Iraqi debts.
SERGEI IVANOV, RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: As far as the Russian government's position on this it is not planning any kind of write-off of that debt. Iraq is not a poor country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Now the president had telephone conversations today with the president of Russia, the chancellor of Germany and the president of France. All three complained about this new U.S. policy. Mr. Bush defended it but, Aaron, he also promised to "keep the lines of communication open."
BROWN: The Russians perhaps had the most interesting say in this because one of the goals of the administration is to get the Iraqi government when it's finally formed in a stable economic way and that includes forgiveness of a lot of debt, the Russian debt and others. Do you sense a backlash here?
KING: That is why some simply including Republican and Democratic members of Congress simply do not understand this. They say they think the president is eager to pick yet another fight over this at a time when he needs help, whether it is financial or diplomatic support in post war Iraq. France and Russia and Germany are never going to send in troops. The White House says that is not a precondition for the contracts. So many say why then pick another fight. This administration says the U.S. taxpayers will understand. If you shed blood in Iraq you should get the contracts.
BROWN: John, thank you very much, Senior White House Correspondent John King.Afghanistan now after an incident this weekend in which nine children were killed, another has come to light and with it six more young bodies. These are stories that break hearts here and there. They are stories that can make winning hearts and minds especially hard and they are, of course, the sort of horrible things that happen in war and always have.Here's CNN's Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE (voice-over): The U.S. was already investigating how nine children were killed in an air strike by U.S. A-10 aircraft Saturday at this Afghan village when it discovered a Special Operations raid the previous day also results in the deaths of children.The target was a compound in Gardez used by a local mullah said to have Taliban and al Qaeda ties. When the smoke cleared six children were found dead buried under a collapsed wall along with two adults.
LT. COL. BRYAN HILFERTY, U.S. ARMY: We don't know what caused the wall to collapse because although we fired on the compound there were secondary and tertiary explosions.
MCINTYRE: The news that six more children were killed came as Pentagon officials were already apologizing for the previous nine deaths and insisting everything possible was being done to avoid a repeat.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Our forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties and needless to say they and we deeply regret it.
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: I can tell you the kind of vetting that the process goes through from the beginnings of intelligence to the final operation is exquisite and we're not going to be perfect.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: Not perfect exactly and that imperfection appears to lie with the intelligence, which Pentagon officials say did not indicate that there were children at either site. Human rights groups have criticized the Pentagon in the past for being too quick to act on uncorroborated intelligence or even questionable tips. That's something that the Pentagon is denying but at the same time both of these incidents are under investigation -- Aaron.
BROWN: Aside from the obvious tragedy of it all that children are being killed this it would seem from here at least creates problems for a government in Afghanistan that in some respects is just holding on.
MCINTYRE: It creates problems for the U.S. military and, as you said, winning the hearts and minds and also for the Karzai government which is trying to extend its rule outside the capital.It has to be seen as taking a hard line with the U.S. about stopping these kinds of accidents in which a large number of children are killed. Now, the U.S. military has tried to reach out to these villagers but, as you can imagine, there's not much that you can do for a family that's lost as many children as has been lost in these incidents.
BROWN: Certainly not, Jamie thank you very much, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon tonight.On to the search for terrorists here at home, in Minnesota federal authorities say they have arrested a man allegedly tied to al Qaeda and are holding him as a material witness. He's said to have provided information about Zacarias Moussaoui, the al Qaeda operative charged as a conspirator in the September 11 attacks. It's not clear whether the two men knew each other. Moussaoui, you'll recall, was also arrested in Minnesota after a flight school told the FBI he wanted to fly a jumbo jet when he could barely handle a private plane.Ahead on NEWSNIGHT tonight the 12-year-old who got life without parole for murdering a playmate while pretending, he says, to be a professional wrestler will get a new trial.And, in South Carolina the drug raid at the high school and the superintendent who says he knew nothing about it.From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Someone once said you get justice in the next world. In this world you've got the law. And in Florida the law allows for a sentence of life without parole for killing a 6-year-old girl even if the killer happened to be 12 at the time even though the state was willing to offer a drastically lower sentence in exchange for a guilty plea, three years.To an Appeals Court in Florida the process that produced the sentence was an imperfect application of the law. To many the decision will likely be seen more simply, common sense.Here's CNN's Susan Candiotti.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How he looked at age 12 when he killed a little girl. How Lionel Tate looks at 16 after now serving a mandatory life sentence. His attorney described Tate's reaction to winning a new trial.
RICHARD ROSENBAUM, TATE'S ATTORNEY: I heard him scream yes and then I heard a bunch of the guards in the jail clapping for Lionel.
CANDIOTTI: A three judge Appeals Court did not mince words in ordering a new trial for Lionel Tate ruling it was a constitutional error not to determine whether he was mentally competent before trial."Questions regarding Tate's competency were not lurking subtly in the background but were readily apparent."
ROSENBAUM: We can't try people unless they're competent. That's just not fair. They can't assist in their defense.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Verdict, we the jury find as follows as to this indictment. The defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in the indictment.
CANDIOTTI: Lionel Tate was 12 years old in 1999 when a jury later found he pummeled to death 6-year-old playmate Tiffany Eunick. A jury found she suffered a fractured skull and injuries to her brain and internal organs. Part of her liver was detached. Premeditated murder said the state. The defense argued it was an accident. Tate was play wrestling.Not in dispute, according to the Appeals Court, Tate's IQ of 90 and his maturity that of a 6-year-old. Tate's lawyer says Lionel has dropped 40 pounds, suffers from an eating disorder yet is an honor student behind bars.Governor Jeb Bush may consider clemency depending on whether the state retries the case or seeks further appeals.
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: My hope is that young Lionel is progressing, that he's developing in maturity and that he's abiding by the rules.
CANDIOTTI: The state has 15 days to ask for a rehearing. As for ordering a competency evaluation now to apply retroactively, the Appeals Court says no can do.Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: We have more tonight on the drug raid at a high school in Goose Creek, South Carolina. Some day all the facts on this will eventually come out. The police will explain why they stormed into the school, guns drawn, ordering kids around like common criminals. The principal will explain what he was thinking and what he knew about the plan but neither has really happened yet.What happened today was significant. The head of the school district, viewing the tape with us, said it would never happen again. The reporting was done by CNN's Gary Tuchman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): This video shot by police of the controversial high school drug raid was kept under wraps until it was acquired by CNN on Tuesday. Even the boss of the school system says he hadn't seen it until we showed it to him.So now that you're seeing this for the first time how hard is it to see it all?
CHESTER FLOYD, GOOSE CREEK SUPERINTENDENT: It bothers me greatly. It's just so unusual and something that I've never seen before.
TUCHMAN: Superintendent Chester Floyd's school district is the target of a class action lawsuit, along with the local police department and the city of Goose Creek, South Carolina for the raid which resulted in guns being drawn by police, students being handcuffed and no drugs being found.Are you sorry about it?
FLOYD: I'm very sorry that it happened.
TUCHMAN: One hundred seven students who were at the Stratford High School before classes began were detained in the hallway. The principal had asked for police assistance because he said there had been reports of drug related activity in the area where the raid took place. Students watched warily as a barking police dog sniffed around and tossed some of their book bags.
FLOYD: I don't think any of our school officials thought that there would be any guns that would be drawn.
TUCHMAN: So why were they? Police do not want to say much but did say off camera: "We would like to respond but our hands are tied because it's an ongoing investigation." The superintendent wasn't as shy.
FLOYD: Whether or not it's legal and right is for someone else to decide but I'm sorry that it happened and I don't think there's any likelihood or possibility that particular method of operation will be used in Berkley (ph) County schools ever again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN: Superintendent Floyd says he was not told by the principal this drug raid was going to take place but he says that's standard operating procedure for more conventional drug searches. This case is now being investigated by the South Carolina attorney general and the FBI.And, Aaron, I want to read one line to you on the class action lawsuit, it kind of sums up the atmosphere in the hallway that day. It says: "The Czechoslovakian shepherd which I guess is a cousin of a German shepherd, did not appear to respond to commands. The dog frightened the students who with their hands behind their heads or bound behind their backs felt helpless to defend against an attack -- Aaron.
BROWN: Well there are lots of interesting things here. You and I have been e-mailing back and forth on this. One of them has to do with the police department's own guidelines where the dog is concerned. Just because of the things you just mentioned their guidelines say that the room or the area where the dog is working should be cleared of personnel before the dog is brought in, something that clearly didn't happen there.
TUCHMAN: Well that's a major part of the lawsuit and that's what happens in these conventional drug searches is the dogs come in. They search lockers. They search book bags but with none of the students present and that did not happen this time.
BROWN: Gary, thank you very much, Gary Tuchman in South Carolina.Given truth serum even Lee Malvo's legal defense team might concede they've got a tough case on their hands, the sniper trial. Successfully conducting an insanity defense is difficult at best and harder still given the evidence already on the table, some of it from Mr. Malvo himself.Today the defense presented what's expected to be its final expert witness. The case is being covered by CNN's Jeanne Meserve.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lee Malvo was legally insane at the time of the sniper shootings, according to two defense psychiatrists. In the words of Dr. Neil Blumberg: "Lee Malvo was unable to distinguish between right and wrong and was unable to resist the impulse to commit the offense." Legal experts say that testimony may not be enough to convince the jury.
STEPHEN SALTZBURG, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: The care and the planning and the leaving of notes, the drawings that Malvo left in the jail and his confession to the police, all of those things are going to speak I think more loudly than the psychiatrists are.
MESERVE: Under cross-examination from prosecutor Robert Horan the defense psychiatrist diverged on whether Malvo was insane when he shot Kenya Cook in Tacoma, Washington eight months before the sniper slayings. Blumberg said he was but Dr. Diane Schetky said she believed Malvo did know right from wrong at that point.
BARRY BOSS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It's damaging to the defense because it shows that at a point at which he was not indoctrinated he understood right from wrong yet he was still willing to kill.
MESERVE: Blumberg testified that Muhammad told Malvo, Cook's aunt Isa Nichols (ph) was an evil woman who he alleged had taken $1 million of his money, helped his ex-wife take his children and that she should pay by losing a family member every year for three years. Blumberg said Malvo, afraid of not complying, spoke with a friendly Kenya Cook for several minutes before shooting her in the face. But Schetky testified the murder left Malvo so scared and conflicted that he soiled his pants afterwards.(on camera): Schetky also testified that sniper victim Iran Brown (ph) was not shot in the head because, according to Malvo, he was conflicted about the shooting of a child. That would appear to contradict Malvo's statements to Schetky that he was the spotter at the Tasker Middle School.Jeanne Meserve CNN, Chesapeake, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Coming up on NEWSNIGHT tonight the missing student and questions of why the man arrested in the case in North Dakota was ever on the loose in the first place.We'll talk to Minnesota's attorney general.Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Today the sheriff of Grand Forks, North Dakota apologized to the parents of Dru Sjodin for saying he did not expect to find their daughter alive. The 22-year-old college student has been missing for 18 days now. Her blood and a knife we are told was found in the car of the man charged with kidnapping her, a man named Alfonso Rodriguez, a man convicted of rape with a history of attempted kidnappings and violent assaults, a man released from a Minnesota state prison last May after serving 23 years, his sentence.Which raises the question, why was the man classified as the most dangerous type of sex offender, and he was level three, not in treatment of any sort following his release? It's a question a lot of people are asking in the upper Midwest tonight, including Minnesota's Attorney General Mike Hatch who joins us from Minneapolis tonight, nice to see you sir. Thank you.
MIKE HATCH, MINNESOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Thank you.
BROWN: Minnesota like a good many other states has this civil commitment law which allows the state or counties I think as it's applied in Minnesota to hold sex offenders past their release date.
HATCH: Correct. The year before the release of a sex offender the Department of Corrections does an evaluation. If they determine it's appropriate to refer for civil commitment they will do so by contacting the county attorney and at least in the rural counties our office will then work with that county attorney in developing the civil commitment petition.
BROWN: Do you know, I gather in this case the corrections department and the people who, I don't want to convict Mr. Rodriguez here, he's entitled to a trial and a presumption but in any case he was on the loose. Do you know what their files said on him in terms of his likelihood to re-offend?
HATCH: Well, I think I can make the following comments by referring to what's already been in the media and that is, is that he had been charged with two separate rapes in 1974. I believe he was approximately the age of 20. He had been convicted, placed into a sex offender program in St. Peter. In 1978 he had been placed in a halfway house in Mankato. He then contacted Saint Peter, asked to be readmitted to the facility because there had been a number of rapes in Mankato and he thought he might be implicated. Prior to getting back into Saint Peter, he had been arrested for those rapes and charged. He had been acquitted. He had a hung trial and then an acquittal on the charge of rape in Mankato, completed his treatment at Saint Peter through 1980, was released back to -- released from the program, went back to Crookston in 1980, had abducted another woman, stabbed her, attempted, we believe, sex, was charged with kidnapping, convicted, received a maximum sentence of 20 years, plus three more years from the prior sentence. He had refused sex offender treatment in prison. He had refused alcohol, chemical dependency treatment, even though he had a history of that. And the two, alcohol and chemicals, are well known to reduce the ability of the individual to fight the impulse.
BROWN: Yes.
HATCH: So he was released. The only comment that I'm aware of made that was mitigating was that he was 50 years of age and, therefore, for reasons that I'm not clear, somebody thought he might be less likely to recidivate at that point. But we do know that, at least as an adult, he could not put 12 months together without having a charge, an incident.
BROWN: Obviously, in your recitation there, there were plenty of red flags to the corrections department, which, I read today, has now decided that all level three sex offenders -- that is the most serious level in the state -- will be referred to county prosecutors. Can the county handle the additional work -- counties handle the additional workload?
HATCH: Well, I -- you're raising a question that's coming up not only because of constitutional concerns, but also budgetary issues. But most important, it's common sense. The level three offender is classified pursuant to a community notification program. It's a different statute and different gradation of evidence, as related to -- as opposed to the sex offender program. In a sex offender program, you're looking at people. They're making a psychiatrist evaluation and determining that these people have an utter lack of ability to control their sexual impulse, that it's demonstrated by repeated sexual behavior that's aberrant, and that they're likely to reoffend. That's a strong standard. And those are the people who are committed. The Supreme Court, appropriately, has been concerned with the use of the civil commitment process, making sure that it's for treatment, not simply for punishment.
BROWN: Yes.
HATCH: And so it's important that those standards be adhered to. In a level three criteria, which you just described, it's a different criteria. There's probably, I'd say, three times the number of people who are referred out on a level three. The statutes in our state require the department, one year prior to release, to evaluate for commitment.
BROWN: Right.
HATCH: That's a different evaluation than the level three community notification, which is done three months prior to release. And what we're going to get -- what we need to watch here is to make sure we're adhering to constitutional standards and that the state is appropriately implementing and administering this program and not going to destroy the program by overzealous behavior.
BROWN: I assume that you and lots of residents in your state and, we, too, will be watching to see how it plays out. Thank you.
HATCH: Well, we're all upset.
BROWN: I'm sure that's true. Thank you very much, Mike Hatch, the attorney general in the state of Minnesota. Quick business items here, some signs of a bullish season out there. Computer-makers say they're getting strong sales since Thanksgiving. Retailers predict double-digit growth compared to last year. Encouraging words today from John Chambers, CEO of Cisco. He says business customers have started budgeting more for tech, the first time that's happened in several years. The FDA is phasing in regulations to require bar codes on hospital doses of medicine, this to prevent patients from getting the wrong drug by accident. Scan the drugs, scan the patient's wrist band, and there you have it. Right now, only a few hospitals have adopted the system because so few drugs are bar coded. A powerful voice in the business and especially the world of politics think is gone. "Wall Street Journal"'s Robert Bartley died today of cancer. As editorial page editor, he pushed mightily for tax cuts and supply-side economics, as well as the privatization of many government functions. Mr. Bartley was 66. The markets barely moved an inch today, all the indexes finishing the day down just a smidgen. Smidgen is a technical Wall Street term. We'll explain another night. Still to come, we'll address a couple of campaign issues, including campaign finance reform and the question of what now for the Democrats who aren't named Howard Dean. This is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Money and politics now and what could be fairly called the most significant ruling on the subject since Watergate on the role of money in politics. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a controversial ban on large unregulated contributions known as soft money. It also ruled in favor of limits on some political advertising. The justices split 5-4 on this one. And there were bitter dissents, as there tends to be in a court so sharply divided as this one is.Reporting the story, CNN's Bruce Morton.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The court upheld 5-4 the two most important provisions of the campaign finance law: a ban on soft money and restrictions on so-called issue ads by independent groups that target a candidate. Soft money was the green flood that poured into recent campaigns, supposedly for activities like party building, but often for plain old campaigning, TV ads, whatever. Regardless of bans on union or corporate money, regardless of limits on individual contributions. Now, campaigns will have to rely on what's called hard money: limited contributions from individuals. The court ruled in effect the Congress can regulate money to prevent the real or perceived corruption of politics. As for the issue ads, the court noted that it was regulating this kind of expression, not banning it. Groups running issue ads will have to raise the same hard money that candidates will. They can't just spend union or corporation funds. The court, as on many issues was split 5-4, and Sandra Day O'Connor was the swing vote. John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer joined her in signing the majority opinion. Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented on most of the law. Anthony Kennedy said he would vote to apply a limited soft money ban. (on camera): The court's decision upholding the law means the 2004 campaigns will continue playing by those rules. The law was presumed to be constitutional, unless and until the court said it wasn't. Will this fix campaign financing forever? No. O'Connor and Stevens wrote for the majority -- quote -- "Money, like water, will find an outlet. What problems will arise and how Congress will respond are concerns for another day."Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Over the last few days, we have talked a lot about the state of play among the Democratic candidates. Dr. Dean is the clear front-runner, but what of the rest? Most other programs would turn to other Democrats to get their assessment. We've done a little of that, but we thought, why not check the views of a respected Republican operative?Mike Murphy is that. He has run some important campaigns for Republicans, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and John McCain. And we're glad to have him with us tonight. Nice to see you.
MIKE MURPHY, REPUBLICAN POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Good to be here.
BROWN: Fill in a blank for me.
MURPHY: OK.BROWN: It's been a really bad week for...
MURPHY: I actually will be contrary to conventional wisdom and say Howard Dean. Even though I think he is going to be the nominee, the laws of gravity have now shifted in the contest. I think the Gore endorsement has made him the unquestioned front-runner.
BROWN: Yes.
MURPHY: It's made him the almost de facto nominee now. He has such advantage in money and polling in the early states. So now it's a very clear race for the next 40 days to Iowa. It's a referendum on Dean. And it has organized the lives of every other candidate around one principle, hurt Dean in Iowa. So Dean now has what he hasn't had for seven months, which is, he is now the guy defending high expectations.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Honestly, hadn't he sort of been in that spot for, I don't know, the last five or six weeks anyway?
MURPHY: Yes, I think he's been kind of getting in that position. But now with Al Gore, the nominee, coming forward to endorse him like that, the expectation leverage is all, for the first time, I think working against Dean. Now, I think he's going to overwhelm. I think he's going to run the table and win. But if there was ever a window now in a clear race, it's here.
BROWN: Who is position -- who is in the best position to take advantage of that window, if in fact it exists?
MURPHY: Well, I think the guy with the clear shot is Gephardt, because, right now, Gephardt has the most in the place where Dean could stumble early on.
BROWN: Iowa.
MURPHY: And I think now there is kind of a secret Gephardt fan club. Some of these other folks who are really hanging on by a thread are probably hoping Gephardt breaks him in Iowa and figures that Gephardt won't have the money to roll out. But the damage to Dean by Gephardt in Iowa could create opportunities in New Hampshire and other places. All these guys are grabbing at a thin hope now, because the Dean thing has become so muscular. Dean is interesting because, normally, the outside insurgent doesn't have any money. He has excitement and has all kinds of wonderful things, but no money. Dean has got the money and the outside sense of insurgency. We've never had one of those before. All of us McCain guys, like, wake up in the middle of the night screaming.
BROWN: Yes.
MURPHY: If we had had Dean's dough or his calendar, we would all be eating free food in the White House right now.
BROWN: Well, it might have worked that way. You never know. I hear, though, it was a close election.
MURPHY: Yes. Yes. Yes.
BROWN: Do you think that -- do Republicans still believe -- speak for all Republicans now, if you don't mind. Do Republicans still believe that he, Dr. Dean, is the George McGovern of our time? Or are they beginning to be a little less cocky?
MURPHY: Dumb Republicans think that. Smart Republicans are worried about the guy. I don't think he's the best nominee they could nominate. I think they got other, stronger people. But if we're complacent about Dean, we're making a big mistake. The economy is coming back. And that's good for the president; 70 days ago, I think the president was in some real serious trouble. But the economy is the thing that drives presidential elections. It's coming back. That's good for him.But we shouldn't underestimate Dean. There's one true fact about Howard Dean. He started at 3 percent, not a serious candidate. And he has beaten bigger folks than him all along the way. So I think we ought to be appropriately paranoid about the guy.
BROWN: Do you worry, as a Republican, about the -- there is a certain anger in Dr. Dean and in Dr. Dean's supporters that does seem to be -- that has touched a core out there.
MURPHY: Right.
BROWN: Does that worry Republicans?
MURPHY: Well, I think there is a passion factor that he has that people respect. But I think the big mistake Dean could make is -- he has run a brilliant primary campaign based on anger. He's kind of like an insult comic against the president. It's like, if they nominated Don Rickles, they would feel great about it. He's going to have to pivot when he is the nominee, because, otherwise, he's going to use the Internet and everything else he has to very well organize a losing 40 percent of the vote. And so the question is, is Dean a moderate faking it to be liberal now in the primaries and he will reorient himself and become more formidable after he's nominated, or will he keep the same shtick he has now and not change it? If he doesn't change, I think, if he keeps the same act going, I think we'll slaughter him.
BROWN: Will you come back from time to time and chat with us more about that?
MURPHY: Of course, yes. Absolutely.BROWN: Nice to see you.
MURPHY: Good to be here.
BROWN: Mike Murphy.Ahead on NEWSNIGHT: Iraq in still life, life in two civilian hospitals in Baghdad, seen through the eyes of a still photographer. Where else would you see it? This is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: We began in Iraq and we return there now. Something to consider from the World Health Organization, we found it sobering today. Before the first Gulf War, Iraq's health system was considered one of the best in the Middle East. Conditions rivaled those of other middle- or high-middle-income countries. The majority of Iraqis had access to an extensive network of health care facilities, well-equipped and staffed. That was then. Tonight, a picture of now, actually, a series of pictures that first appeared in the journal "Acumen." The photographer Eric Grigorian talked to us about what he saw.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIC GRIGORIAN, PHOTOGRAPHER, "ACUMEN": "Acumen Journal of Sciences" wanted me to photograph an Iraqi doctor to show what it is they go through daily as a doctor in Iraq. Now, I did two hospitals. One was the main Baghdad hospital, which I photographed in the emergency room. And the second with the children was in the children's hospital emergency room. As a journalist, I think, sometimes, you need to see many things to kind of really understand if this is the norm. I think the dedication the doctors have is up to the standards of, let's say, any doctor here in the states. But, at the same time, every doctor I spoke to was frustrated with what they were doing. Hussein (ph) is a doctor I photographed in the children's hospital. The picture of the infant was in the dying stages and needed an incubator, which the hospital was lacking. Hussein had to turn away the infant, knowing very well the infant was going to die and knowing that there are no other hospitals that had those incubators. The other doctor, Mohammed (ph), he had been working about six years as a doctor. And he was just going to get his certificate that he was a doctor. He was just going to pick it up, because, during Saddam's regime, he was not allowed to have it, because there was a fear the doctors would leave the country. Because of the lack of nurses, or no nurses in this instance, families have to kind of take care of their own patients at the same time. Things that a nurse should be doing ends up that the family has to take care of it, making sure the patient is cool, feeding the patient, changing the sheets sometimes -- again, a lack of nurses. The doctor is basically pumping the I.V. to get the patient stabilized, to get him into surgery. A nurse should be taking care of that portion of the procedure. The doctor ended up doing the nurse's job. And, meanwhile, there's patients that he could be seeing and doing other things. Iraq isn't just about whether they're liberated or not. It's what they're facing now and the lack of resources they have now and how that is affecting their daily lives.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: We'll check morning papers after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(ROOSTER CROWING)
BROWN: OK, time to check morning papers from around the country. I told viewers in our e-mail today I was in somewhat of a cranky mood. And this segment is about to prove it, because everything I'm looking at is making me annoyed. "The Chattanooga Times Free Press." "To Give the News Impartially, Without Fear or Favor." "Tougher Open Container Law Unlikely to Pass. State Lawmakers Say They Don't Expect Much Support For Efforts to Ban All Alcohol Consumption in Vehicles." Come on. Drink at home, OK? Or don't drink at all. Don't drink in cars. There ought to be a law. "Miami Herald." I would front-page this story anywhere in the country, and certainly in Miami. "Boy Wins New Trial in Killing." Told you this story earlier. An appeal court grants new trial to Lionel Tate, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing a 6-year-old girl. It was a terrible and sad story. I'm not sure that the outcome yet makes any sense. We will see if it does."The Boston Herald." "Flu Kills Teen. Fatal Virus Suspected." Wait a second. Did the flu kill the teen or did the fatal virus? Well, we don't really know, but that's the headline anyway. And also, up at the top, the national obsession with the Clintons continues. "Hillary Won't Real Out V.P." -- or "Veep," I guess.How we doing on time, Terry (ph)? Forty-seven."The Philadelphia Inquirer." I just like this story because I thought it was a really good story idea. "The Duel of Holiday Dances. Nutcracker Seem to Holding Their Own Against the Rockettes," I guess both going on in Philadelphia right now, though how the Rockettes got to Philly, I don't really know. "The Oregonian." Thank you. I guess they're wrapping up what has been a very good series for a very good newspaper, "The Oregonian." "Soothing the Tried Soul One Child at a Time." This is a series described -- or titled "A Place Where Children Die." That's "The Oregonian." Nicely done. "The Chicago Sun-Times." The weather in Chicago tomorrow, "Froze toes. It's winter coming." "Insider Wears Wire to Nail Gang Killer" is the headline in "The Sun-Times," and lots of other cool stuff on the front page. We'll take a break and wrap up today's top story and preview tomorrow after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: A quick update of our top story tonight. The military says, insurgents behind the killing of seven Spanish intelligence officers in Iraq have been caught. They were swept up in a night of raids across the country, more than 50 raids in all, involving the 82nd and 101st Airborne and others. Tomorrow night, right here on this program, a case of what appears to be homegrown terrorism involving a white-collar group, illegal weapons and deadly chemicals. That's NEWSNIGHT tomorrow.
"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" is next.Good night for all of us.
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