Prime Example:
THERE IS A STARKLY different approach to this subject. The MSNBC article carries hope where the CNN article is inaccurate and contrived.
MSNBC
Woman saved after tug-of-war with gator
Fla. police, neighbor rescue landscaper grabbed by 12-foot reptile
The Associated Press
Updated: 9:12 a.m. ET July 22, 2004
SANIBEL, Fla. - A 12-foot alligator attacked a landscaper Wednesday behind an island home, dragging her into a pond before a neighbor and police officers yanked the woman from the animal’s jaws.
“It was kind of a tug-of-war,” said the neighbor, Jim Anholt, who heard Janie Melsek's screams and ran to help her.
Part of Melsek’s right arm had to be amputated later during six hours of surgery. She also was severely bitten on her buttocks and thighs, but doctors believe she will walk again, her family said. She was in critical condition late Wednesday.
Melsek, 54, was trimming a tree when the alligator lunged at her and grabbed her arm. “The lady was in the pond and the alligator had hold of her and just her face was showing,” Anholt told The News-Press of Fort Myers.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5486601/?GT1=4244
CNN
Alligator bites off Florida woman's arm
Thursday, July 22, 2004 Posted: 9:07 AM EDT (1307 GMT) SANIBEL, Florida (AP) -- A 12-foot alligator attacked a landscaper Wednesday behind an island home, dragging her into a pond before a neighbor and police officers yanked the woman from the animal's jaws.
"It was kind of a tug-of-war," said the neighbor, Jim Anholt.
Part of Janie Melsek's right arm had to be amputated later during six hours of surgery. She also was severely bitten on her buttocks and thighs, but doctors believe she will walk again, her family said. She remained in critical condition.
Melsek, 54, was trimming a tree when the alligator attacked. "The lady was in the pond and the alligator had hold of her and just her face was showing," Anholt told The News-Press of Fort Myers.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/07/22/arm.alligator.ap/index.html
Thursday, July 22, 2004
The Taunting to War by CNN assisted by The Christian Science Monitor
They always want to 'start' or 'continue' a war regardless of it's morality.
Jack Cafferty of the Christians Neocon Network AKA CNN on? American ? Morning literally had a 'hissy' fit because he feels the national priorities are eschewed. He is referring to the article in the N Y Times:
Army to Call Up Recruits Earlier
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/22/politics/22recruit.html?hp
WASHINGTON, July 21 - In what critics say is another sign of increasing stress on the military, the Army has been forced to bring more new recruits immediately into the ranks to meet recruiting goals for 2004, instead of allowing them to defer entry until the next accounting year, which starts in October.
----------
He cites the issue as if there is a reason for an escalation in the 'ILLEGAL' war in Iraq.
These people are very limited in their ability to see a direction of peace. That lack of ability rings loud and clear in the reporting on a regular basis. Both CNN and Fox never discuss peace but only further war. A viewer will never hear the words “PEACE INITIATIVE.”
Cafferty was ranting about reductions in the Federal Budget to better fund and enlist soldiers to continue a war that was ill conceived in the first place.
At no time does he take into account that if a war is ill conceived and ill deployed there is an aire of defeat that one has to face. I think a resigned general stated, any initative in Iraq requires 200,000 soldiers? Anyone remember that? If the defeat is known at the beginning of the invasion then DON’T GO !!! When the decision to ‘Go or No’ is being decided it is safe to say if the military deployment less a full one third of the invading force needed then the answer to the initiative is No, we don’t go ! Flying by the seat of one’s pants and making up the strategy as we go is not victory but only misguided wishful thinking guaranteed to fail.
CNN admits the 9-11 Commission, however, is correct in that the nation no longer is secure. Interesting, they admit the nation is less secure because a war effort has spawned more terrorists than is captured or killed but won’t admit the war is wrong or defeatist. Tell me that makes sense.
YET.
CNN continues their short-sighted view that the answer as a military front on Arabian soil.
That's incorrect.
The issue is NOT Arabia.
The countries of Arabia are not a security threat to the USA.
The 'terrorist networks' are the issue. A general war with Arabia is not going to accomplish anything except more destabilization of the area.
Indeed, if the USA honestly assesses itself in Iraq it would realize it is already defeated and a continued presence in Iraq only increases the resistance.
I cannot believe how they present this material. This program is chronically inflammatory in their demeanor to attempt to have feel people threatened and willing to be 'mindless' idiots ready to jump to the 'call of war.'
The Christian Neocon Network (CNN) has chronic issues with misplaced priorities.
Last night on NewsNight during Morning Papers once again an exclusive religious focus was the Christian Science Monitor. CSM is a troublemaker for the Neocons. It pretends to have an expertise in it’s religious endeavors no other news service can provide when in fact all the publishers of CSM provides is inflammation of a single fictitious issue as a reason for raising the hackles of the public with misinformation and hence driving the political structure to war by popular demand. The article below is as false as it comes. There is no association between Iran and al Qaeda except the one that every Arab nation has with al Qaeda’s ability to infiltrate the country and dominate the lower class to violence against it’s own government. They the West wonders why countries like Indonesia have such profound problems with domestic terrorism. It is not the leadership of these countries that are the issue it’s the terrorist networks that live among their people. One of Bush’s favorite expressions is ‘…countries that harbor terrorists…’ That is a hideous and open ended statement. Every country on Earth harbor’s terrorists, but, they don’t do it willingly. I would like to point some really lame insight by this 'sorry' publication:
Anti-Iran sentiment hardening fast
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0722/p01s03-wome.html
Critics in Congress finger Iranian ties to Al Qaeda and influence in Iraq as cause for a tougher approach.
By Howard LaFranchi Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – Iran's governing mullahs may feel uneasy at the prominent attention they are attracting in the US as the 9/11 investigations conclude.
But a bigger worry for them may well be the growing signs that the US Congress - even without the 9/11 reports of Iran's ties to Al Qaeda - is pressing for a tougher approach toward Tehran….
… In a report this week, a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) task force co-chaired by former CIA director Robert Gates and former Carter national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski recommended a Nixon-to-China approach to Iran.
Mr. Brzezinski notes that much of the American public and diplomatic community were skeptical of prospects for relations with China when President Nixon made his diplomatic move - yet Nixon set the stage for engagement with a global giant. "Recall that the statement of principles [the US and China initially signed on to] didn't solve any issues, but it pointed the way," he says.
And Mr. Gates notes that the presence of 140,000 US troops on Iran's western border has no doubt influenced Tehran's calculations for relations with the US.
A NIXON-TO-CHINA APPROACH?
There was no war that was a threat to China when Nixon opened relations there.
I THINK A WARRING USA FORCE IN IRAQ HAS THE IRANIANS A LITTLE UPSET. I think they have a right to be upset. I DON’T BELIEVE THE IRANIANS ARE INTERESTED IN TRADE RELATIONS WITH THE USA ANYTIME SOON??????????????
I agree with Mr. Cafferty in that all the incumbents should be thrown out, but, I disagree the reason.
Peace not War.
De-escalation for American Involvement in Iraq and not escalation.
Trusting the UN rather than unilateralism.
In other words, Mr. Cafferty sees the Republican incumbents as incompetent because they can’t FIND REASON, regardless the Christian Science Monitor’s hard work to point the direction for a further escalation of the war to further invade other countries. This is how the ‘electorate’ end of the stimulation to war begins and it’s with the Neocon Press. Right or wrong they lead the way without yet intention or reason by the government ‘to go there.’ Talk about the tail wagging the dog.
Jack Cafferty of the Christians Neocon Network AKA CNN on? American ? Morning literally had a 'hissy' fit because he feels the national priorities are eschewed. He is referring to the article in the N Y Times:
Army to Call Up Recruits Earlier
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/22/politics/22recruit.html?hp
WASHINGTON, July 21 - In what critics say is another sign of increasing stress on the military, the Army has been forced to bring more new recruits immediately into the ranks to meet recruiting goals for 2004, instead of allowing them to defer entry until the next accounting year, which starts in October.
----------
He cites the issue as if there is a reason for an escalation in the 'ILLEGAL' war in Iraq.
These people are very limited in their ability to see a direction of peace. That lack of ability rings loud and clear in the reporting on a regular basis. Both CNN and Fox never discuss peace but only further war. A viewer will never hear the words “PEACE INITIATIVE.”
Cafferty was ranting about reductions in the Federal Budget to better fund and enlist soldiers to continue a war that was ill conceived in the first place.
At no time does he take into account that if a war is ill conceived and ill deployed there is an aire of defeat that one has to face. I think a resigned general stated, any initative in Iraq requires 200,000 soldiers? Anyone remember that? If the defeat is known at the beginning of the invasion then DON’T GO !!! When the decision to ‘Go or No’ is being decided it is safe to say if the military deployment less a full one third of the invading force needed then the answer to the initiative is No, we don’t go ! Flying by the seat of one’s pants and making up the strategy as we go is not victory but only misguided wishful thinking guaranteed to fail.
CNN admits the 9-11 Commission, however, is correct in that the nation no longer is secure. Interesting, they admit the nation is less secure because a war effort has spawned more terrorists than is captured or killed but won’t admit the war is wrong or defeatist. Tell me that makes sense.
YET.
CNN continues their short-sighted view that the answer as a military front on Arabian soil.
That's incorrect.
The issue is NOT Arabia.
The countries of Arabia are not a security threat to the USA.
The 'terrorist networks' are the issue. A general war with Arabia is not going to accomplish anything except more destabilization of the area.
Indeed, if the USA honestly assesses itself in Iraq it would realize it is already defeated and a continued presence in Iraq only increases the resistance.
I cannot believe how they present this material. This program is chronically inflammatory in their demeanor to attempt to have feel people threatened and willing to be 'mindless' idiots ready to jump to the 'call of war.'
The Christian Neocon Network (CNN) has chronic issues with misplaced priorities.
Last night on NewsNight during Morning Papers once again an exclusive religious focus was the Christian Science Monitor. CSM is a troublemaker for the Neocons. It pretends to have an expertise in it’s religious endeavors no other news service can provide when in fact all the publishers of CSM provides is inflammation of a single fictitious issue as a reason for raising the hackles of the public with misinformation and hence driving the political structure to war by popular demand. The article below is as false as it comes. There is no association between Iran and al Qaeda except the one that every Arab nation has with al Qaeda’s ability to infiltrate the country and dominate the lower class to violence against it’s own government. They the West wonders why countries like Indonesia have such profound problems with domestic terrorism. It is not the leadership of these countries that are the issue it’s the terrorist networks that live among their people. One of Bush’s favorite expressions is ‘…countries that harbor terrorists…’ That is a hideous and open ended statement. Every country on Earth harbor’s terrorists, but, they don’t do it willingly. I would like to point some really lame insight by this 'sorry' publication:
Anti-Iran sentiment hardening fast
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0722/p01s03-wome.html
Critics in Congress finger Iranian ties to Al Qaeda and influence in Iraq as cause for a tougher approach.
By Howard LaFranchi Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – Iran's governing mullahs may feel uneasy at the prominent attention they are attracting in the US as the 9/11 investigations conclude.
But a bigger worry for them may well be the growing signs that the US Congress - even without the 9/11 reports of Iran's ties to Al Qaeda - is pressing for a tougher approach toward Tehran….
… In a report this week, a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) task force co-chaired by former CIA director Robert Gates and former Carter national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski recommended a Nixon-to-China approach to Iran.
Mr. Brzezinski notes that much of the American public and diplomatic community were skeptical of prospects for relations with China when President Nixon made his diplomatic move - yet Nixon set the stage for engagement with a global giant. "Recall that the statement of principles [the US and China initially signed on to] didn't solve any issues, but it pointed the way," he says.
And Mr. Gates notes that the presence of 140,000 US troops on Iran's western border has no doubt influenced Tehran's calculations for relations with the US.
A NIXON-TO-CHINA APPROACH?
There was no war that was a threat to China when Nixon opened relations there.
I THINK A WARRING USA FORCE IN IRAQ HAS THE IRANIANS A LITTLE UPSET. I think they have a right to be upset. I DON’T BELIEVE THE IRANIANS ARE INTERESTED IN TRADE RELATIONS WITH THE USA ANYTIME SOON??????????????
I agree with Mr. Cafferty in that all the incumbents should be thrown out, but, I disagree the reason.
Peace not War.
De-escalation for American Involvement in Iraq and not escalation.
Trusting the UN rather than unilateralism.
In other words, Mr. Cafferty sees the Republican incumbents as incompetent because they can’t FIND REASON, regardless the Christian Science Monitor’s hard work to point the direction for a further escalation of the war to further invade other countries. This is how the ‘electorate’ end of the stimulation to war begins and it’s with the Neocon Press. Right or wrong they lead the way without yet intention or reason by the government ‘to go there.’ Talk about the tail wagging the dog.
Peace not War
Just more 'stuff' written while under seige by the Neocon Bigots.
They are always wanting to 'start' or 'continue' a war regardless of it's morality.
Jack Cafferty of the Christians Neocon Network AKA CNN on ?American? Morning literally had a 'hissy' fit because he feels the national priorities are eschewed. He is referring to the article in the N Y Times:
Army to Call Up Recruits Earlier
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/22/politics/22recruit.html?hp
WASHINGTON, July 21 - In what critics say is another sign of increasing stress on the military, the Army has been forced to bring more new recruits immediately into the ranks to meet recruiting goals for 2004, instead of allowing them to defer entry until the next accounting year, which starts in October.
----------
He cites the issue as if there is a reason for an escalation in the 'ILLEGAL' war in Iraq.
These people are very limited in their ability to see a direction of peace and that rings loud and clear.
Cafferty was ranting about reductions in the Federal Budget to better fund and enlist soldiers to continue a war that was ill conceived in the first place.
At no time does he take into account that if a war is ill conceived and ill deployed there is an aire of defeat that one has to face.
CNN admits the 9-11 Commission (Which I am not necessarily willing to.) is correct in that the nation no longer is secure.
YET.
CNN continues their short-sighted view that the answer as a military front on Arabian soil.
That's incorrect.
The issue is NOT Arabia. The countries of Arabia are not a security threat to the USA. The 'terrorist networks' are the issue. A general war with Arabia is not going to accomplish anything except more destabilization of the area.
Indeed, if the USA honestly assesses itself in Iraq it would realize it is already defeated and a continued presence in Iraq only increases the resistance.
As apolitical as I would like to keep this it is prudent to point out that John Kerry wants to rebuild 'trust' in the USA with the rest of the world by offering new leadership that is NOT corrupt.
John Kerry wants to develop a trust with the countries plagued with the networks and help remove them from hiding.
That, Mr. Cafferty, is what 'peace' is all about and not war. I cannot believe how they present this material. This program is chronically inflammatory in their demeanor to attempt to have feel people threatened and willing to be 'mindless' idiots ready to jump to the 'call of war.'
The Christian Neocon Network (CNN) has chronic issues with misplaced priorities.
Last night on NewsNight during Morning Papers once again an exclusive religious focus was the Christian Science Monitor. I would like to point some really lame insight by this 'sorry' publication:
Anti-Iran sentiment hardening fast
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0722/p01s03-wome.html
Critics in Congress finger Iranian ties to Al Qaeda and influence in Iraq as cause for a tougher approach.
By Howard LaFranchi Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – Iran's governing mullahs may feel uneasy at the prominent attention they are attracting in the US as the 9/11 investigations conclude.
But a bigger worry for them may well be the growing signs that the US Congress - even without the 9/11 reports of Iran's ties to Al Qaeda - is pressing for a tougher approach toward Tehran….
… In a report this week, a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) task force co-chaired by former CIA director Robert Gates and former Carter national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski recommended a Nixon-to-China approach to Iran.
Mr. Brzezinski notes that much of the American public and diplomatic community were skeptical of prospects for relations with China when President Nixon made his diplomatic move - yet Nixon set the stage for engagement with a global giant. "Recall that the statement of principles [the US and China initially signed on to] didn't solve any issues, but it pointed the way," he says.
And Mr. Gates notes that the presence of 140,000 US troops on Iran's western border has no doubt influenced Tehran's calculations for relations with the US.
A NIXON-TO-CHINA APPROACH? YEAH. I THINK A WARRING USA FORCE IN IRAQ HAS THE IRANIANS A LITTLE UPSET. I DON’T BELIEVE THE IRANIANS ARE INTERESTED IN TRADE RELATIONS WITH THE USA ANYTIME SOON??????????????
I agree with Mr. Cafferty in that all the incumbents should be thrown out, but, I disagree the reason.
Peace not War. De-escalation for American Involvement in Iraq and not escalation. Trusting the UN rather than unilateralism.
They are always wanting to 'start' or 'continue' a war regardless of it's morality.
Jack Cafferty of the Christians Neocon Network AKA CNN on ?American? Morning literally had a 'hissy' fit because he feels the national priorities are eschewed. He is referring to the article in the N Y Times:
Army to Call Up Recruits Earlier
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/22/politics/22recruit.html?hp
WASHINGTON, July 21 - In what critics say is another sign of increasing stress on the military, the Army has been forced to bring more new recruits immediately into the ranks to meet recruiting goals for 2004, instead of allowing them to defer entry until the next accounting year, which starts in October.
----------
He cites the issue as if there is a reason for an escalation in the 'ILLEGAL' war in Iraq.
These people are very limited in their ability to see a direction of peace and that rings loud and clear.
Cafferty was ranting about reductions in the Federal Budget to better fund and enlist soldiers to continue a war that was ill conceived in the first place.
At no time does he take into account that if a war is ill conceived and ill deployed there is an aire of defeat that one has to face.
CNN admits the 9-11 Commission (Which I am not necessarily willing to.) is correct in that the nation no longer is secure.
YET.
CNN continues their short-sighted view that the answer as a military front on Arabian soil.
That's incorrect.
The issue is NOT Arabia. The countries of Arabia are not a security threat to the USA. The 'terrorist networks' are the issue. A general war with Arabia is not going to accomplish anything except more destabilization of the area.
Indeed, if the USA honestly assesses itself in Iraq it would realize it is already defeated and a continued presence in Iraq only increases the resistance.
As apolitical as I would like to keep this it is prudent to point out that John Kerry wants to rebuild 'trust' in the USA with the rest of the world by offering new leadership that is NOT corrupt.
John Kerry wants to develop a trust with the countries plagued with the networks and help remove them from hiding.
That, Mr. Cafferty, is what 'peace' is all about and not war. I cannot believe how they present this material. This program is chronically inflammatory in their demeanor to attempt to have feel people threatened and willing to be 'mindless' idiots ready to jump to the 'call of war.'
The Christian Neocon Network (CNN) has chronic issues with misplaced priorities.
Last night on NewsNight during Morning Papers once again an exclusive religious focus was the Christian Science Monitor. I would like to point some really lame insight by this 'sorry' publication:
Anti-Iran sentiment hardening fast
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0722/p01s03-wome.html
Critics in Congress finger Iranian ties to Al Qaeda and influence in Iraq as cause for a tougher approach.
By Howard LaFranchi Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – Iran's governing mullahs may feel uneasy at the prominent attention they are attracting in the US as the 9/11 investigations conclude.
But a bigger worry for them may well be the growing signs that the US Congress - even without the 9/11 reports of Iran's ties to Al Qaeda - is pressing for a tougher approach toward Tehran….
… In a report this week, a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) task force co-chaired by former CIA director Robert Gates and former Carter national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski recommended a Nixon-to-China approach to Iran.
Mr. Brzezinski notes that much of the American public and diplomatic community were skeptical of prospects for relations with China when President Nixon made his diplomatic move - yet Nixon set the stage for engagement with a global giant. "Recall that the statement of principles [the US and China initially signed on to] didn't solve any issues, but it pointed the way," he says.
And Mr. Gates notes that the presence of 140,000 US troops on Iran's western border has no doubt influenced Tehran's calculations for relations with the US.
A NIXON-TO-CHINA APPROACH? YEAH. I THINK A WARRING USA FORCE IN IRAQ HAS THE IRANIANS A LITTLE UPSET. I DON’T BELIEVE THE IRANIANS ARE INTERESTED IN TRADE RELATIONS WITH THE USA ANYTIME SOON??????????????
I agree with Mr. Cafferty in that all the incumbents should be thrown out, but, I disagree the reason.
Peace not War. De-escalation for American Involvement in Iraq and not escalation. Trusting the UN rather than unilateralism.
The Long Lived Religious Bigotry of CNN NewsNight's Morning Papers
Christian Science Monitor
Oregonian – two jets collide lance Armstrong
The Miami Herald Lance Armstrong
Detroit Free Press – 1.3 billion
Washington Times – terrorist – girl scotts
Chicago Sun Times - weather "ludicrous"
Oregonian – two jets collide lance Armstrong
The Miami Herald Lance Armstrong
Detroit Free Press – 1.3 billion
Washington Times – terrorist – girl scotts
Chicago Sun Times - weather "ludicrous"
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
35th Anniversary of Moon Landing; Berger the Focus of Criminal Investigation; Saudi Forces Move Against al Qaeda
35th Anniversary of Moon Landing; Berger the Focus of Criminal Investigation; Saudi Forces Move Against al Qaeda
Aired July 20, 2004 - 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.Thirty-five years ago tonight the most wondrous event of our lifetime took place. Men walked on the moon 35 years ago. In all the years since, history has been written again and again. Wars have been fought, elections held, great stories unfolded.We have cured disease. We live longer and better. Computers that once filled entire rooms now fit in our back pockets. We walk down the street chatting on phones smaller than cigarette packs. Cars get better mileage. Microwaves cook our meals in 30 seconds. The Internet has made information, much of it even accurate, available in seconds.But none of that compares to the sheer wonder of man walking on the moon. I was 20, the last week of boot camp. It seems like yesterday. My daughter at 15 has seen the world change in ways both good and bad but nothing so far in her lifetime, nothing can compare to looking up at that night sky 35 years ago, seeing the moon and knowing two men were up there right then walking around.It wasn't just science. Science was in some ways the least of it. It was the wonder of the last great frontier crossed and I and most of you watched it and we will again remember it tonight.First, though, the earthly concerns of a former national security adviser and, until quite recently, a consultant to the Kerry campaign. CNN's Kelli Arena working the story, so Kelli start us with a headline.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Sandy Berger says it was all an honest mistake. Still, he remains the focus of a criminal investigation for removing highly classified documents from the National Archives -- Aaron.
BROWN: Kelli, thank you, get to you at the top tonight.On to Saudi Arabia, another shootout in the war on terror, CNN's Nic Robertson in Riyadh tonight, Nic a headline from there.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, one of the biggest security operations by Saudi security forces in recent months killing two, wounding three al Qaeda members and capturing the wife of the new al Qaeda leader -- Aaron.
BROWN: Nic, thank you.Next to Iraq where today a kidnapped victim went free, good news if it ended there, but some fear it will not, CNN's Matthew Chance with the watch tonight in Baghdad, so Matt a headline.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, two weeks with the threat of brutal execution hanging over him ended when that Filipino hostage was released by his Iraqi captors but it's freedom at a very high cost coming as it does just a day after all Filipino forces were withdrawn from Iraqi soil.
BROWN: Matt, thank you.And finally to infinity and beyond, well to Washington at least and the moon, our Miles O'Brien reporting the story, so Miles a headline.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the real spaceman named Buzz got a little piece of moon rock, at least symbolically tonight. It was NASA's way of commemorating the 35th anniversary but for those that were there the fact that NASA is aiming toward the moon again is perhaps the greatest way they can honor their accomplishment -- Aaron.
BROWN: Miles, thank you, got a couple stories on that tonight. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly.Also coming up on the program tonight the bad news of prescription drugs that doctors and patients may need to know but do not have access to. Elizabeth Cohen reports on that.And when is heavy security too much security? For some when it surrounds a political convention.And finally tonight morning papers now and 35 years ago when astronauts were astronauts and roosters were jealous, all that and more in the hour ahead.We begin tonight with Sandy Berger who stepped down today as an adviser to the Kerry campaign. So far three broad kinds of questions are being asked. The first category what happened? Mainly that involves the professionals. The other two, who might have benefited from whatever Mr. Berger did or did not do and why is it being made public now? Each has political motives attached. At the very least they are being raised by Democrats and Republicans against quite a political backdrop. We have two reports tonight, first the facts the best we have them from CNN's Kelli Arena.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA (voice-over): Sandy Berger faced the cameras to say for himself what his friends and lawyer had been saying for him.
SANDY BERGER, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: (AUDIO GAP) documents. I made an honest mistake. It is one that I deeply regret. I dealt with this issue in October, 2003 fully and completely. Everything that I have done all along in this process has been for the purpose of aiding and supporting the work of the 9/11 Commission and any suggestion to the contrary is simply absolutely wrong. Thank you.
ARENA: Law enforcement sources say two classified documents are still missing, drafts of a critical review of the Clinton administration's handling of the millennium terror plot. In an earlier statement, Berger said he may have inadvertently thrown them out. Investigators say there are two issues here, the first the removal of classified documents, which Berger's lawyer says he accidentally put in a portfolio.
JAMES COMEY, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: We take issues of classified information very, very seriously.
ARENA: At the same time, Berger admits that he intentionally took handwritten notes he put together while reviewing the documents. He was supposed to get those cleared by archives personnel but did not.
LANNY BREUER, BERGER'S ATTORNEY: He knew it was a violation of archives procedure. It's not against the law. No one has suggested to him it's against the law. The Department of Justice has not been concerned with it.
ARENA: Law enforcement sources say archives staff told investigators Berger stuffed the notes in his pants and jacket. Those sources also say one archives staffer told agents Berger also placed something in his socks, which Berger associates heatedly deny and there was no camera in the room.
LANNY DAVIS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE SPECIAL COUNSEL: I suggest that person is lying and, if that person has the guts let's see who it is who made the comment that Sandy Berger stuffed something into his socks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: As for the September 11th Commission, a spokesman says members are reasonably certain that they saw all versions of those missing memos and sources say that this investigation is still active but there's been no decision made on whether to pursue criminal charges -- Aaron.
BROWN: Let me try two or three fairly quick ones. Walk away from any that you just don't know.
ARENA: OK.
BROWN: If archives staffers saw him stuffing things into his socks or whatever why didn't they stop him?
ARENA: I asked that question because it's a common sense question and I was told that the situation was perceived to be delicate. This was a high profile individual that was there that they alerted law enforcement instead.
BROWN: OK. Now, he says that last fall, 2003, about nine months or so ago this was all dealt with, with the Justice Department. Do we: a) have any reason to believe that is untrue and do we have any reason to believe anything new has happened since the fall of '03?
ARENA: Well, our sources tell us that he, Mr. Berger, has cooperated that he did provide voluntarily documents when he was confronted with the fact that some were missing. His home was searched. His office was searched. But this investigation has been going on for a long time, Aaron, and there's no indication that there's been anything new between the initial spurt of activity and today.BROWN: Got it. Kelli, thank you very much, Kelli Arena in Washington tonight.There is, as we already touched upon, a combustible political mixture swirling around this one, with more on that aspect of the story from Capitol Hill tonight, CNN's Joe Johns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Top congressional Republicans spent the day pounding away at the Berger allegations.
REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I am troubled to hear that one of the members of the Clinton administration, Sandy Berger, pilfered documents from the archives.JOHNS: House Speaker Dennis Hastert had already put out a statement asking, "Did these documents detail simple negligence or did they contain something more sinister? Was this a bungled attempt to rewrite history and keep critical information from the 9/11 Commission?" House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said the allegations, if true, could be a national security crisis.
REP. TOM DELAY (R), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: But it looks like to me that this is just a third rate burglary.JOHNS: Senate Republicans pitched in as well.
SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), GEORGIA: And I, as a member of the Intelligence Committee, I deal with classified documents every single day. We know better and Sandy Berger knew better.
JOHNS: Berger has been an informal adviser to John Kerry and congressional Republicans, as well as the Bush campaign, asked whether the Kerry campaign had benefited from any of the information on national security that Berger took. A spokesman for the Kerry campaign flatly denied it but Berger said he was stepping aside until the matter is resolved. Congressional Democrats fired back the furor was election year politics questioning whether the president's allies timed the leak to distract from the 9/11 Commission report coming out Thursday, their evidence an investigation going on for months is just now becoming public.
SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: I do think the timing is very curious given this has been underway now for this long. Somebody leaked it obviously with an intent, I think, to do damage to Mr. Berger and I think that's unfortunate.
JOHNS: Berger's former boss also cited the timing but gave him a vote of confidence.
BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that the innocent explanation is the most likely one, particularly given the facts involved and I know him. He's a good man. He's worked his heart out for this country.
JOHNS (on camera): Speaker Hastert has said the House of Representatives wants the truth. Besides the criminal probe that is now underway, a senior Republican leadership aide tells CNN a congressional investigation is a possibility.Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: We're joined now from Cape Cod, and we suspect his summer vacation, by David Gergen who is a colleague of Mr. Berger's and, of course, has been a distinguished adviser to four presidents, President Nixon, Ford, Reagan and President Clinton. Mr. Gergen currently teaches at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and we are always pleased to see him.Well, well, well, David, what do you think we have here?
DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: Well, Aaron, I must tell you to underscore it in the beginning, I am a friend of Sandy Berger's and I have utmost faith in his integrity and believe he has served this country enormously well. He's one of the heroes in the war on terrorism in my book. Let me just say I think this has been blown way out of proportion and it is much more innocent than it looks. Let's get a couple of things very clear. In late 1999, as the millennium celebration approached, the United States had a lot of warnings that terrorists were about to strike. Sandy Berger went into a bunker for three or four nights, 24 hours a day practically, working with a team and they thwarted that terrorism, those attempted terrorist attacks. One of them was going to be to take out the Los Angeles Airport and there were other strikes intended. They stopped those attacks.After it was over, he went back to Richard Clarke, yes that Richard Clarke, who was working on his staff and said, "Richard, write up a report on what we've done and let's have a self analysis on what we've done." That's the underlying document that's in question, this millennium report that's based on what he did to stop a terrorism attack.Now, when the 9/11 Commission came along and said, "Mr. Berger, we want you to come up here and be well versed in the documents surrounding your time as national security adviser regarding terrorism, go into, you know, review all the documents." He went into the National Archives and poured over these documents and in some cases lots and lots of pages. Now, he did make two mistakes and he admits this and he was sloppy about it. He took notes on what he was reading so he'd be prepared for his testimony and he stuck the notes in his pocket and walked away. That is a technical violation of archival rules.The second thing he did was he did, as he had all these papers on the desk, he did mix in copies of the original document and got them into his briefcase and, I'm sloppy too so I can appreciate this, he lost a couple of them.
BROWN: David.
GERGEN: So, but let me finish this one point, Aaron, which is critical.
BROWN: OK.
GERGEN: What he lost and what is missing now are copies of original documents and the originals are still there and they've been made available to the 9/11 Commission. There had been no break in the paper trail. There is no harm to national security here. Nothing has occurred which has impaired or threatened national security and there's no advantage to anybody because the documents are in front of the 9/11 Commission, the originals.
BROWN: Then, David, by implication you are suggesting that the puffery that we heard on Capitol Hill today was simply politically motivated stuff?
GERGEN: Well, I have to tell you, Aaron, if I were working on Capitol Hill for one of the Republicans, and I've worked for Republicans in the past, as you well know, I'm sure I would have wanted to join in the fray and pile on and make a whoop-de-doo about this because the 9/11 Commission is coming out and the campaign is coming out.I do believe, I've talked to his lawyer in this case and Lanny Breuer, Sandy Berger's lawyer, talked to the Justice Department months ago and said, "Gentlemen, let's respect each other here. I will respect your commission. I want you to respect us and be no leaks, especially" he said "just before the 9/11 Commission report."Now, 48 hours or so before the 9/11 Commission report, boom, you know, something which has been, you know, that Berger hasn't talked to the Justice Department since April suddenly this becomes an issue, is that not suspicious? I would submit it is.I do think, of course, we should have a full and frank understanding of what happened. We need all the facts on the table but at the end of the day it does seem to me there's a lot less here than meets the eye and this is a man of enormous integrity who ought to be thanked for what he did in stopping the attacks over the millennium.
BROWN: David, good to see you. Thank you much.
GERGEN: Thank you, Aaron.
BROWN: David Gergen from Cape Cod tonight.In other news, in Saudi Arabia another in a series of police raids aimed at members of al Qaeda and other Islamic militant groups. They have always been volatile but tonight even more so it seems.So we turn to Riyadh and CNN's Nic Robertson -- Nic.
ROBERTSON: Aaron, (AUDIO GAP) several hundred police (AUDIO GAP) antiterrorist forces (AUDIO GAP) national guard (AUDIO GAP) the northern city (AUDIO GAP) again saw (AUDIO GAP).
BROWN: All right. Well, obviously we're having a little videophone audio problem. We'll try and sort that out. We'll give you more details on what happened in Riyadh but three al Qaeda figures or terrorist figures at least were killed in the attack. We don't know how many, if any, Saudi security forces were wounded. We'll get more from Nic. Hopefully, we can sort that out as we go.Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT tonight, a hostage freed in Iraq, another one country complies with terror demands what that might mean for the rest of the coalition, a most disturbing story out of Iraq.And 35 years after man landed on the moon those who lived it and sometimes reported it remember it.Around the world and tonight at least out of this world as well this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: On to Iraq where one life has been spared and others perhaps put in jeopardy. That's the hypothesis being tested. Will giving into kidnappers lead to more kidnappings, more beheadings down the road? Not an easy question, for now simply an open question.From Baghdad tonight here's CNN's Matthew Chance.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHANCE (voice-over): For two weeks he had the threat of brutal execution hanging over him. Now this Filipino truck driver, looking tired and worn, is in safe hands delivered by his captors to the embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Baghdad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): At 10:30 this morning we were surprised with the handing over of the Filipino hostage and the kidnappers ran away. He is in good health and we've agreed to move him to Abu Dhabi for medical checks.
CHANCE: But this is freedom at a price. Angelo de la Cruz was abducted on July the 7th, one of many kidnappings of foreigners in recent months. His captors vowed to behead him unless Filipino troops in Iraq were withdrawn early few believed they would accept.At first the government in Manila resisted but on Monday the last of their small contingent of 51 soldiers on a humanitarian mission was pulled out. It was a blow for the U.S. led coalition, a setback for the Iraqi government it supports.
NOSHYAR ZEBARI, INTERIM IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER: This would be -- will repeat itself.
CHANCE: It is a bad precedent, said Iraq's interim foreign minister, and it sends the wrong message and rewards the terrorists. It's not the first time though that meeting kidnapper's demands has secured a release in Iraq. Earlier this week an Egyptian worker was set free after the company that employs him, a Saudi Arabian transport firm, ended its operations in the country. Others have done the same.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHANCE: The insurgents and the kidnappers are already starting to issue new threats on Web sites linked with the notorious Jordanian- borne militant Abu Musab Zarqawi saying they're warning all Arab and Muslim countries not to let their government send their armed forces to support the interim Iraqi government here, also giving a specific threat against the Japanese people.Japan, of course, has a small humanitarian contingent already here. The Web sites linked to Zarqawi saying that Japan should do the same as the Philippines and pull out their troops as soon as possible.
BROWN: Do we assume anything by the fact that they seem to target not countries, there aren't many countries with large contingencies there or contingents there rather but the Poles have several thousand, for example, but they tend to target those countries with really a handful of troops there.
CHANCE: Well, I think they're trying to target anybody they can get their hands on. I think it's pretty much a tactic that's really coming into fruition right now. People are on the lookout for possible targets to kidnap and obviously the westerners whose countries are involved in the coalition in some way are the prime targets.But even though citizens of countries who don't have anything to do with the coalition directly people perhaps who work for companies that are involved in Iraq they're also being targeted. It's just being used as a way, a means of exerting pressure on either countries or companies operating in Iraq.
BROWN: Matt, thank you, good to see you. Thank you very much.Coming up on NEWSNIGHT tonight, it seems like a new successful medical trial is announced almost every day, but barely a word about the unsuccessful ones and, to many, the bad news is important to know.And later, too much of a good thing in Boston as the city prepares to welcome a political convention and protect it from terrorists.From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.
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BROWN: There are certain leaps of faith we take where our health is concerned. You might assume, for instance, that your doctor has carefully weighed the pros and cons of whatever drug he or she prescribes for you but what if the cons are hidden from view? This, as it turns out, is not an academic question. Here's CNN's Elizabeth Cohen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Candace (ph) Downing's parents say the first hint they had that their 12-year- old daughter might be suicidal was when they found her hanging from her bedroom ceiling.
ANDY DOWNING: We called the paramedics and they tried feverishly to revive her and I was trying to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but I knew something was wrong because her body was cold.
COHEN: Mathy and Andy Downing blame their daughter's suicide on the drug Zoloft used to treat anxiety and depression. A psychiatrist prescribed it because Candace became anxious when taking tests at school. Her parents say she wasn't suicidal, wasn't even depressed before she began the medication.
MATHY DOWNING: She was very into sports, a ton of friends, probably the most social child I've ever met.
COHEN: Whether or not drugs like Zoloft really do cause suicides is a matter of medical debate with studies supporting both sides but now another debate has emerged. The Downings and other families charge that drug makers knew from pre-marketing studies that these drugs made some children and teens suicidal but hid the study results.Pfizer, which makes Zoloft, wouldn't comment on the Downing case because the family has filed a lawsuit. The company referred us to the corporate policy on its Web site which states:"Pfizer commits to timely communication of meaningful results of controlled clinical trials regardless of outcome."
COHEN (on camera): By law drug companies have to tell the Food and Drug Administration about all their studies when they apply for permission to put their drug on the market but the FDA, also by law, is not allowed to release those studies to the public.
DR. BOB TEMPLE, FDA: We're not allowed to release confidential commercial information. It's illegal. It's a crime.
COHEN (voice-over): Patients aren't the only ones feeling kept in the dark. Doctors also say they're deprived of information and are now pushing for a change in the rules. The American Medical Association says drug companies should be required to submit their study results, negative as well as positive, to a central registry accessible to anyone via the Internet.Dr. David Fassler, an expert on childhood depression wrote the AMA registry proposal. He says he was shocked by what happened when he reviewed data on young people and antidepressants at an FDA meeting six months ago.
DR. DAVID FASSLER, UNIV. OF VERMONT COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: I was given access to data from 25 clinical studies, most of which I'd never seen before or I hadn't hear about. There were maybe three or four major studies that were in the literature which we all knew about but we didn't realize that there were this many studies involving 4,000 children and adolescents.
COHEN: The pharmaceutical industry hasn't taken an official position on the AMA's registry idea but has some concerns.
ALAN GOLDHAMMER, PHARM RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA: We don't think that practicing physicians are going to have the time spent pouring through tens of thousands of pages of clinical studies.
COHEN: Dr. Fassler disagrees.
FASSLER: This is clearly something which is going to help people. It's going to improve the quality of health care. It's going to improve our ability as physicians to take care of people.
COHEN: Two months after Candace Downing's death the FDA, after further review of the research, urged doctors to closely monitor patients on drugs like Zoloft for suicidal behavior. The Downings say that's not enough and they're lobbying Congress to require drug companies to make all research public.Elizabeth Cohen, Laytonsville, Maryland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: One quick update on a story we did last night on the program on the Chinese doctor Jung Yung Yong (ph). He's the surgeon you might recall who first blew the whistle on the government's cover- up of the SARS epidemic and, then more recently, wrote a letter criticizing the crushing protests 15 years ago at Tiananmen Square. It made him a dissident in the eyes of the government and landed him in jail. Today, after seven weeks, the Chinese government let him go.Still to come on NEWSNIGHT tonight, 35 years after man walked on the moon the agency that put them there brings them back together.And also tonight a special edition of morning papers, a break first.From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.
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BROWN: Thirty-five years ago tonight, Neil Armstrong stepped on to the moon. To give you some idea of how long ago that is, consider this.On the 20th of July, 1934, 35 years before Apollo 11, manned flight of any kind, let alone in space, was just 30 years old. Today, 35 years after Apollo 11, the next moon landing remains far in the future, if it ever happens at all. Now, just as then, there's a war on, a global enemy out there, and others, some say better, uses for NASA money. In this at least, little has changed. And the 20th of July 1969 keeps getting farther away in time and space. Here's CNN's Miles O'Brien.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEIL ARMSTRONG, NASA ASTRONAUT: That's one small step for man.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirty-five years after that one small step, the right stuff icons of the space race gathered once again, older and grayer, to be sure, but by no means jaded.
BUZZ ALDRIN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: We need to send humans back to the moon on this stepping-stone approach to be able to go to Mars.
O'BRIEN: It was yet another pat on the back from NASA, this time in the form of moon rocks, tiny pebbles, really, technically on loan from the space agency, as federal law makes them the permanent property of all of us.
WALTER CRONKITE, FORMER CBS NEWS ANCHOR: Receiving a piece of moon rock is a newie for me because a lot of people already think we have already have a piece sitting on our desk.
O'BRIEN: NASA so honored 37 astronauts or their survivors and one icon from another arena. CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite covered the space program from its inception.
CRONKITE: I will say tonight that I feel that I am there to represent the press, all of those of us who followed the program through from the beginning and interpreted for the American people.
O'BRIEN: The celebration comes as NASA once again sets its sights on the moon as a waypoint to Mars. The Bush administration's initiative looms tentatively over this anniversary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very anxious to be here to bass the baton to the next young man or young woman who walks on the moon.
O'BRIEN: There will never be another event like it. Fueled by Cold War fears and the desire to meet the bold challenge of a martyred president, it was a 21st century technological achievement willed to happen ahead of its time.
SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: It was about a race. It was about coming in first. And the price for coming in second was catastrophic. Today, it's a journey. It's developing capacities with a plan, with a thought, with a longer-term set of objectives of what you can do and where you can go. O'BRIEN: That rush to be first to plant flags and footprints led to a disposable approach, with no thought of what the next goal might be. As a result, Apollo had an ironic result.
ROGER LAUNIUS, SPACE HISTORIAN: Because of the way in which Apollo was -- as a program that was built around a Cold War crisis, that accomplishing those very limited objectives set us back in the long-term exploration of space.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Over the years, as the space community gathered to celebrate Apollo anniversaries, the occasions became increasingly bittersweet. Many wondered with some sadness if NASA would ever live up to its storied past. This time, the space agency is officially trying and for the explorers of the space race, there could be no better way to celebrate their achievements than that. And, Aaron, incidentally, I was at the Air and Space Museum all day today. There were some sixth graders there. I asked them who the first person on the moon was and they all said Lance Armstrong.
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: Well, they got it half right.
O'BRIEN: I would give them 50 percent. BROWN: You're a fair amount I think younger than I am. Do you remember the day?
O'BRIEN: Yes. I was 10 years old in the basement of my house watching it on the only color TV we had. What was the point of that? It was black and white and grainy. And I also remember straining to stay up for the whole time they were on the moon. I fell asleep.
BROWN: I stayed awake. I was a fair amount older. Thank you, Miles, very much. It is a rare moment that stops the world in its tracks. Normally, we wouldn't use a phrase like that. It would ring of cliche. But 35 years ago today, when Apollo 11 hit its mark and set down on the moon, much of the world did indeed stop in its tracks, transfixed by the improbable made real.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARMSTRONG: Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed. BROWN: For those who lived it, the memories are vivid still, not so much for the grandeur of it all, but for the risks and the reality.
GENE KRANZ, FLIGHT DIRECTOR, APOLLO 11: The spacecraft was literally so fragile that if you took a screwdriver, you could poke your screwdriver right through the wall of the spacecraft.
ALDRIN: We extended our final approach to miss some rocks and craters.
CRONKITE: Those of us who knew the problems and were living with the problems realized that, with each one of those successes, there was in the immediate offing the imminence of disaster, utter disaster.
KRANZ: And as we got close to surface, we were running out of fuel. And during the last few seconds, we'd count down the crew to the seconds of fuel remaining. And we had 60 seconds, 30 seconds. And about the time that I was hearing 15 seconds, we got the indications that the crew was going through engine shutdown. And that was the first time many of us took a breath for those last two minutes.
BROWN: So much has happened in science and in the world at large in the 35 years since men walked on the moon first, but what happened that night still has an adhesive hold on our collective imagination.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, ASTROPHYSICIST: Since, at the time, only age 10, I knew that the universe was for me and that it was something that I would devote my life to study, at the time, I viewed the moon landing as just our next step. BROWN: Some, of course, didn't think it actually happened at all.
SPIKE LEE, FILMMAKER: I think I was in Macon, Georgia, visiting my grandmother's sister. And we said, sister, sister, a man walked on the moon. She said, I don't care what's on television. Ain't no man walking on the moon.
CRONKITE: Whew. Boy.
BROWN: But television proved it did, the nation's common denominator once again. And the man delivering the news to the nation that day is convinced that that anniversary will endure.
CRONKITE: July 20, 1969, I'm sure, is going to be perhaps the one historical date that children 500 years from now will recognize. And why can I be sure of that? I'm sure of that because think back 500 years now. It was a very important age in Europe. Things were developing there at some pace. And what is the date that is remembered? October 12, 1492.
BROWN: An experience so unique, so rare that the world became one.
HOLLY HUNTER, ACTRESS: We haven't had anything like that happen, you know, culturally. It's also fantastic that everybody in the world was watching that at the same time, you know, that it was happening at the same time, which means that everybody was tuned in and looking at this one man at the same second. We don't have that cumulative communal experience, that global experience anymore.
BROWN: You can argue, of course, that these days, with so many television channels, so much information, that all major events are global, but not in the way it was on that single midsummer's day in 1969. As they say, you had to be there. And for those of us who were, for those of us who looked up at that summer sky, for those of us, there will never be another feeling quite like it, a feeling of such discovery and pride.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Still ahead on the program tonight, unwelcome and some say unnecessary, new ways of protecting a political convention. And we promise it will be worth waiting for. It is always worth waiting for, tonight especially. Morning papers looks back 35 years ago.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Nearly three years after the 2001 anthrax killings, FBI investigators today returned to Fort Detrick in Maryland, where they searched part of a research lab for evidence in the unsolved case. The lab facility has been closed since Friday. Fort Detrick is home to the Army's biological warfare defense program. And it is where former Army researcher Steven Hatfill once worked. Mr. Hatfill was named by Attorney General John Ashcroft as a person of interest in the case. Mr. Hatfill also has strongly denied any wrongdoing and has never been charged with any crime. Next week in Boston will mark another first in the post-9/11 world. When Democratic delegates meet to nominate their candidates for president and vice president, they'll do so under unprecedented security for such an occasion, unprecedented and to some at least unwelcome. From Boston tonight, CNN's Dan Lothian.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): It's a massive security blanket covering Boston during the Democratic National Convention. In the harbor, armed Coast Guard units and new Boston Police speedboats.
KATHLEEN O'TOOLE, BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: Capable of heading off threatening vessels at speeds up to 70 miles an hour.
LOTHIAN: Across town for the first time at least 75 high-tech cameras wired into a temporary surveillance network. Manhole covers have been sealed. Garbage cans and newspaper stands, potential hiding places for bombs, have been removed.
THOMAS MENINO (D), MAYOR OF BOSTON: The people of Boston can feel assured knowing that our city is more secure than ever.
LOTHIAN: But that tight security grip troubles some residents, who worry too much of a good thing may cross the line.
PROTESTERS (singing): We are no more safe than in the streets of Boston.
LOTHIAN: These protesters recently took to the streets calling the city's plans to conduct random person bag checks on the train system during the DNC week unconstitutional.
CAROL ROSE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ACLU: It is going to violate the fundamental right to privacy while potentially bringing the entire system to a standstill.
LOTHIAN: Civil rights advocates are poised to file lawsuits to challenge searches and halt them once they begin.
URSZULA MASNY-LATOS, NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD: If we allow these searches to happen, what will be our next step? Are we going to allow searches of all cars? Are we going to allow searches of everyone who enters a mall? Where are we going to stop with this?
LOTHIAN (on camera): The ACLU is also concerned about all the surveillance cameras which will be keeping a close eye on activity across the city, raising questions about oversight and safeguards, fearful that they could be used for the wrong reasons. (voice-over): But law enforcement officials say they're just targeting criminals, not snooping on the general public, and that all the security measures, while inconvenient, are necessary.
O'TOOLE: This is a different world today. It's is post-9/11 world. We have to err on the side of caution.
LOTHIAN: Some residents are understanding.
RICHARD GROSSACK, BOSTON COMMUTER: You have to be somewhat sympathetic, no matter how much of a civil liberties person you are.
LOTHIAN: The law enforcement challenge, working to keep Boston safe and free. Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Steve Flynn is a retired U.S. Coast Guard commander and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He's directed the council's Independent Task Force On Homeland Security and also has written "America the Vulnerable." And he joins us from Washington tonight. It's good to see you. You said to us earlier that on a scale of one to 10, we've gone from one to about three. Just quickly, in an open society, can you ever get to 10 in terms of security?
STEPHEN FLYNN, AUTHOR, "AMERICA THE VULNERABLE": No. And the goal isn't to necessarily be at 10. But it really is to have adequate security to deal with the threat that's confronting us. And I worry that while we're protecting the conventions, the Democratic Convention, the story you just showed, and the Republican Convention, what we're not going to talk about inside those conventions is what are we really doing as a nation to address the vulnerability of our critical infrastructure that underpins our society. We've made the war on terrorism a war that we handle overseas, instead of addressing the core reality of 9/11, which were, the terrorists were here and they used our infrastructure against us, in that case, commercial airliners. We haven't dealt with the fact that we're a very soft target. And beginning to address that issue is something I try to call for in this book, is absolutely critical.
BROWN: Steve, let's talk quickly about some of the things that you believe should have been done by now that haven't been done. Port security anywhere near where it should be?
FLYNN: No. The port security situation is, we're basically in a wide-open situation. There is a lot of steps that have begun to be taken, but they're small steps, they're really baby steps, given the threat. The threat is that we have up to 18 million containers, for instance, for which a weapon of mass destruction could be put in and brought into society of which we check about 5 percent. Now, the problem isn't just that one could get in. It's that our response when something happens will be to shut down the system to sort it out. Why is that a problem? That's everything we get from a Wal-Mart. That's everything -- that's getting in pharmacies, prescription drugs. That's shutting assembly lines. Three weeks of shutting down our ports could shut down the global economy. That's a national security issue of the first order, but we're not treating it as such. We're treating it as a domestic security issue that we can plod along and hope for the best.
BROWN: Just give me again, as briefly as you can, your sense of why what would seem to be fairly obvious steps haven't been taken.
FLYNN: Well, I think one of the reasons why is because we've a bit deluded ourselves into thinking that we can handle this problem by taking the battle to the enemy overseas, when, in fact there is no central front on the war in terrorism. And it is not that we don't do an offense. It is that we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can deal with the offense and deal with the fact that we need a defense as well. Football games are sometimes won by good defense. The other side of it is, it's complicated. Is it hard. And we haven't drawn in, we the people, the civil society, the men and women of the society in the private sector into the solution. We've been told to shop and travel, that we'd be taken care of. And it's that lack of engagement that I think is creating the suspicion that people have about the government, the civil liberty concerns and so forth, because we're not being drawn in as citizens to address this problem. So, politically, it's an uncomfortable problem. It's a complicated problem. And we're seduced into thinking that, if we just work more vigilantly overseas, maybe it will all go away.
BROWN: Steve, there's a lot more to talk about. We'll have to have you back to do on a night when we've got a bit more time. It's nice to meet you. Thanks for your time tonight.
FLYNN: Thanks so much, Aaron.
BROWN: Thank you. Still ahead tonight, morning papers past and present.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(ROOSTER CROWING)
BROWN: OK, time to check morning papers from around the country, around the world, past and present. I'm so disorganized tonight, it scares me. Let's start with "The Manila Times." That would be in the Philippines. That's the "around the world" part. "Angelo Is Freed." That's a good lead for them; "14-Day Ordeal Ends For Filipino Driver." No, I'm sure somewhere in the paper, they get into the pros and cons of pulling out their troops, but it's not there on the front page.
"Chattanooga Times Free Press." "Emergency Room Shutdown." This is a good local story, isn't it? "Area Facilities Closed For New Patients Almost 450 Times in a Year." Also on the front page, "Report Won't Say 9/11 Was Avoidable. Members of September 11 commission say they want to present the facts and not allow their work to be used for political purposes." Lots of luck there, guys. A couple of them will be joining us next week.
"The Detroit News." Then we're going to go do some old ones. "Ford Makes $1.2 Billion But Trouble Looms Ahead." Talk about whether the cup is half full or half empty, my goodness.
All right, 35 years ago, this is how "The New York Times" headlined the night, the day. "Men Walk On Moon." I love that headline. I mean, it's just straight ahead. "Astronauts Land On Plan, Collect Rocks, Plant Flag. A Powdery Surface Is Closely Explored." And down in the corner, you can't really see this too well, but "The Times" published a poem by Archibald MacLeish called "Voyage to the Moon." That's what -- these pictures I suspect looked a whole lot better than they looked to us. But that's "The New York Times." One more quick look at it, will you, Chris?
"Men Walk On Moon." OK, "The Christian Science Monitor" on that day, a little more poetry here. "Mankind Embraces the Moon, a Milestone, Not a Finish Line. Humanity's greatest triumphs are those that come through peace, intelligence, inspiration, not war," part of the editorial in "The Christian Science Monitor" that day."The Courier-Post," I'm not sure where that's from. We Shine on the Moon" was their headline.
And here is "The Wapakoneta" -- I hope I pronounced that right --
"Daily News" in Iowa. "Neil" -- that would be Neil Armstrong, a hometown boy -- "Steps On the Moon." "Armstrong, Aldrin Set For Hazardous Return," 35 years ago. Do I love this story? Yes, I do. The weather tomorrow in Chicago, by the way, is "fiddlesticks." And I have no idea what it was 35 years ago. And this is what it looked like 35 years ago right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARMSTRONG: Although the surface appears to be very, very fine- grained as you get close to it, it is almost like a powder. The ground mass is very fine.And I'm going to step off the LEM. That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
ALDRIN: Oh, that looks beautiful from here, Neil.
ARMSTRONG: It has a stark beauty all its own. It's like much of the high desert of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)BROWN: Thirty-five years ago, our world changed. It grew larger. It seems to have grown smaller ever since.Good to have you with us tonight. We're all back here tomorrow. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" for most of you coming up. We're back 10:00 Eastern. Until then, good night for all of us.
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Aired July 20, 2004 - 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.Thirty-five years ago tonight the most wondrous event of our lifetime took place. Men walked on the moon 35 years ago. In all the years since, history has been written again and again. Wars have been fought, elections held, great stories unfolded.We have cured disease. We live longer and better. Computers that once filled entire rooms now fit in our back pockets. We walk down the street chatting on phones smaller than cigarette packs. Cars get better mileage. Microwaves cook our meals in 30 seconds. The Internet has made information, much of it even accurate, available in seconds.But none of that compares to the sheer wonder of man walking on the moon. I was 20, the last week of boot camp. It seems like yesterday. My daughter at 15 has seen the world change in ways both good and bad but nothing so far in her lifetime, nothing can compare to looking up at that night sky 35 years ago, seeing the moon and knowing two men were up there right then walking around.It wasn't just science. Science was in some ways the least of it. It was the wonder of the last great frontier crossed and I and most of you watched it and we will again remember it tonight.First, though, the earthly concerns of a former national security adviser and, until quite recently, a consultant to the Kerry campaign. CNN's Kelli Arena working the story, so Kelli start us with a headline.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Sandy Berger says it was all an honest mistake. Still, he remains the focus of a criminal investigation for removing highly classified documents from the National Archives -- Aaron.
BROWN: Kelli, thank you, get to you at the top tonight.On to Saudi Arabia, another shootout in the war on terror, CNN's Nic Robertson in Riyadh tonight, Nic a headline from there.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, one of the biggest security operations by Saudi security forces in recent months killing two, wounding three al Qaeda members and capturing the wife of the new al Qaeda leader -- Aaron.
BROWN: Nic, thank you.Next to Iraq where today a kidnapped victim went free, good news if it ended there, but some fear it will not, CNN's Matthew Chance with the watch tonight in Baghdad, so Matt a headline.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, two weeks with the threat of brutal execution hanging over him ended when that Filipino hostage was released by his Iraqi captors but it's freedom at a very high cost coming as it does just a day after all Filipino forces were withdrawn from Iraqi soil.
BROWN: Matt, thank you.And finally to infinity and beyond, well to Washington at least and the moon, our Miles O'Brien reporting the story, so Miles a headline.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the real spaceman named Buzz got a little piece of moon rock, at least symbolically tonight. It was NASA's way of commemorating the 35th anniversary but for those that were there the fact that NASA is aiming toward the moon again is perhaps the greatest way they can honor their accomplishment -- Aaron.
BROWN: Miles, thank you, got a couple stories on that tonight. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly.Also coming up on the program tonight the bad news of prescription drugs that doctors and patients may need to know but do not have access to. Elizabeth Cohen reports on that.And when is heavy security too much security? For some when it surrounds a political convention.And finally tonight morning papers now and 35 years ago when astronauts were astronauts and roosters were jealous, all that and more in the hour ahead.We begin tonight with Sandy Berger who stepped down today as an adviser to the Kerry campaign. So far three broad kinds of questions are being asked. The first category what happened? Mainly that involves the professionals. The other two, who might have benefited from whatever Mr. Berger did or did not do and why is it being made public now? Each has political motives attached. At the very least they are being raised by Democrats and Republicans against quite a political backdrop. We have two reports tonight, first the facts the best we have them from CNN's Kelli Arena.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA (voice-over): Sandy Berger faced the cameras to say for himself what his friends and lawyer had been saying for him.
SANDY BERGER, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: (AUDIO GAP) documents. I made an honest mistake. It is one that I deeply regret. I dealt with this issue in October, 2003 fully and completely. Everything that I have done all along in this process has been for the purpose of aiding and supporting the work of the 9/11 Commission and any suggestion to the contrary is simply absolutely wrong. Thank you.
ARENA: Law enforcement sources say two classified documents are still missing, drafts of a critical review of the Clinton administration's handling of the millennium terror plot. In an earlier statement, Berger said he may have inadvertently thrown them out. Investigators say there are two issues here, the first the removal of classified documents, which Berger's lawyer says he accidentally put in a portfolio.
JAMES COMEY, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: We take issues of classified information very, very seriously.
ARENA: At the same time, Berger admits that he intentionally took handwritten notes he put together while reviewing the documents. He was supposed to get those cleared by archives personnel but did not.
LANNY BREUER, BERGER'S ATTORNEY: He knew it was a violation of archives procedure. It's not against the law. No one has suggested to him it's against the law. The Department of Justice has not been concerned with it.
ARENA: Law enforcement sources say archives staff told investigators Berger stuffed the notes in his pants and jacket. Those sources also say one archives staffer told agents Berger also placed something in his socks, which Berger associates heatedly deny and there was no camera in the room.
LANNY DAVIS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE SPECIAL COUNSEL: I suggest that person is lying and, if that person has the guts let's see who it is who made the comment that Sandy Berger stuffed something into his socks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: As for the September 11th Commission, a spokesman says members are reasonably certain that they saw all versions of those missing memos and sources say that this investigation is still active but there's been no decision made on whether to pursue criminal charges -- Aaron.
BROWN: Let me try two or three fairly quick ones. Walk away from any that you just don't know.
ARENA: OK.
BROWN: If archives staffers saw him stuffing things into his socks or whatever why didn't they stop him?
ARENA: I asked that question because it's a common sense question and I was told that the situation was perceived to be delicate. This was a high profile individual that was there that they alerted law enforcement instead.
BROWN: OK. Now, he says that last fall, 2003, about nine months or so ago this was all dealt with, with the Justice Department. Do we: a) have any reason to believe that is untrue and do we have any reason to believe anything new has happened since the fall of '03?
ARENA: Well, our sources tell us that he, Mr. Berger, has cooperated that he did provide voluntarily documents when he was confronted with the fact that some were missing. His home was searched. His office was searched. But this investigation has been going on for a long time, Aaron, and there's no indication that there's been anything new between the initial spurt of activity and today.BROWN: Got it. Kelli, thank you very much, Kelli Arena in Washington tonight.There is, as we already touched upon, a combustible political mixture swirling around this one, with more on that aspect of the story from Capitol Hill tonight, CNN's Joe Johns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Top congressional Republicans spent the day pounding away at the Berger allegations.
REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I am troubled to hear that one of the members of the Clinton administration, Sandy Berger, pilfered documents from the archives.JOHNS: House Speaker Dennis Hastert had already put out a statement asking, "Did these documents detail simple negligence or did they contain something more sinister? Was this a bungled attempt to rewrite history and keep critical information from the 9/11 Commission?" House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said the allegations, if true, could be a national security crisis.
REP. TOM DELAY (R), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: But it looks like to me that this is just a third rate burglary.JOHNS: Senate Republicans pitched in as well.
SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), GEORGIA: And I, as a member of the Intelligence Committee, I deal with classified documents every single day. We know better and Sandy Berger knew better.
JOHNS: Berger has been an informal adviser to John Kerry and congressional Republicans, as well as the Bush campaign, asked whether the Kerry campaign had benefited from any of the information on national security that Berger took. A spokesman for the Kerry campaign flatly denied it but Berger said he was stepping aside until the matter is resolved. Congressional Democrats fired back the furor was election year politics questioning whether the president's allies timed the leak to distract from the 9/11 Commission report coming out Thursday, their evidence an investigation going on for months is just now becoming public.
SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: I do think the timing is very curious given this has been underway now for this long. Somebody leaked it obviously with an intent, I think, to do damage to Mr. Berger and I think that's unfortunate.
JOHNS: Berger's former boss also cited the timing but gave him a vote of confidence.
BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that the innocent explanation is the most likely one, particularly given the facts involved and I know him. He's a good man. He's worked his heart out for this country.
JOHNS (on camera): Speaker Hastert has said the House of Representatives wants the truth. Besides the criminal probe that is now underway, a senior Republican leadership aide tells CNN a congressional investigation is a possibility.Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: We're joined now from Cape Cod, and we suspect his summer vacation, by David Gergen who is a colleague of Mr. Berger's and, of course, has been a distinguished adviser to four presidents, President Nixon, Ford, Reagan and President Clinton. Mr. Gergen currently teaches at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and we are always pleased to see him.Well, well, well, David, what do you think we have here?
DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: Well, Aaron, I must tell you to underscore it in the beginning, I am a friend of Sandy Berger's and I have utmost faith in his integrity and believe he has served this country enormously well. He's one of the heroes in the war on terrorism in my book. Let me just say I think this has been blown way out of proportion and it is much more innocent than it looks. Let's get a couple of things very clear. In late 1999, as the millennium celebration approached, the United States had a lot of warnings that terrorists were about to strike. Sandy Berger went into a bunker for three or four nights, 24 hours a day practically, working with a team and they thwarted that terrorism, those attempted terrorist attacks. One of them was going to be to take out the Los Angeles Airport and there were other strikes intended. They stopped those attacks.After it was over, he went back to Richard Clarke, yes that Richard Clarke, who was working on his staff and said, "Richard, write up a report on what we've done and let's have a self analysis on what we've done." That's the underlying document that's in question, this millennium report that's based on what he did to stop a terrorism attack.Now, when the 9/11 Commission came along and said, "Mr. Berger, we want you to come up here and be well versed in the documents surrounding your time as national security adviser regarding terrorism, go into, you know, review all the documents." He went into the National Archives and poured over these documents and in some cases lots and lots of pages. Now, he did make two mistakes and he admits this and he was sloppy about it. He took notes on what he was reading so he'd be prepared for his testimony and he stuck the notes in his pocket and walked away. That is a technical violation of archival rules.The second thing he did was he did, as he had all these papers on the desk, he did mix in copies of the original document and got them into his briefcase and, I'm sloppy too so I can appreciate this, he lost a couple of them.
BROWN: David.
GERGEN: So, but let me finish this one point, Aaron, which is critical.
BROWN: OK.
GERGEN: What he lost and what is missing now are copies of original documents and the originals are still there and they've been made available to the 9/11 Commission. There had been no break in the paper trail. There is no harm to national security here. Nothing has occurred which has impaired or threatened national security and there's no advantage to anybody because the documents are in front of the 9/11 Commission, the originals.
BROWN: Then, David, by implication you are suggesting that the puffery that we heard on Capitol Hill today was simply politically motivated stuff?
GERGEN: Well, I have to tell you, Aaron, if I were working on Capitol Hill for one of the Republicans, and I've worked for Republicans in the past, as you well know, I'm sure I would have wanted to join in the fray and pile on and make a whoop-de-doo about this because the 9/11 Commission is coming out and the campaign is coming out.I do believe, I've talked to his lawyer in this case and Lanny Breuer, Sandy Berger's lawyer, talked to the Justice Department months ago and said, "Gentlemen, let's respect each other here. I will respect your commission. I want you to respect us and be no leaks, especially" he said "just before the 9/11 Commission report."Now, 48 hours or so before the 9/11 Commission report, boom, you know, something which has been, you know, that Berger hasn't talked to the Justice Department since April suddenly this becomes an issue, is that not suspicious? I would submit it is.I do think, of course, we should have a full and frank understanding of what happened. We need all the facts on the table but at the end of the day it does seem to me there's a lot less here than meets the eye and this is a man of enormous integrity who ought to be thanked for what he did in stopping the attacks over the millennium.
BROWN: David, good to see you. Thank you much.
GERGEN: Thank you, Aaron.
BROWN: David Gergen from Cape Cod tonight.In other news, in Saudi Arabia another in a series of police raids aimed at members of al Qaeda and other Islamic militant groups. They have always been volatile but tonight even more so it seems.So we turn to Riyadh and CNN's Nic Robertson -- Nic.
ROBERTSON: Aaron, (AUDIO GAP) several hundred police (AUDIO GAP) antiterrorist forces (AUDIO GAP) national guard (AUDIO GAP) the northern city (AUDIO GAP) again saw (AUDIO GAP).
BROWN: All right. Well, obviously we're having a little videophone audio problem. We'll try and sort that out. We'll give you more details on what happened in Riyadh but three al Qaeda figures or terrorist figures at least were killed in the attack. We don't know how many, if any, Saudi security forces were wounded. We'll get more from Nic. Hopefully, we can sort that out as we go.Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT tonight, a hostage freed in Iraq, another one country complies with terror demands what that might mean for the rest of the coalition, a most disturbing story out of Iraq.And 35 years after man landed on the moon those who lived it and sometimes reported it remember it.Around the world and tonight at least out of this world as well this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: On to Iraq where one life has been spared and others perhaps put in jeopardy. That's the hypothesis being tested. Will giving into kidnappers lead to more kidnappings, more beheadings down the road? Not an easy question, for now simply an open question.From Baghdad tonight here's CNN's Matthew Chance.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHANCE (voice-over): For two weeks he had the threat of brutal execution hanging over him. Now this Filipino truck driver, looking tired and worn, is in safe hands delivered by his captors to the embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Baghdad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): At 10:30 this morning we were surprised with the handing over of the Filipino hostage and the kidnappers ran away. He is in good health and we've agreed to move him to Abu Dhabi for medical checks.
CHANCE: But this is freedom at a price. Angelo de la Cruz was abducted on July the 7th, one of many kidnappings of foreigners in recent months. His captors vowed to behead him unless Filipino troops in Iraq were withdrawn early few believed they would accept.At first the government in Manila resisted but on Monday the last of their small contingent of 51 soldiers on a humanitarian mission was pulled out. It was a blow for the U.S. led coalition, a setback for the Iraqi government it supports.
NOSHYAR ZEBARI, INTERIM IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER: This would be -- will repeat itself.
CHANCE: It is a bad precedent, said Iraq's interim foreign minister, and it sends the wrong message and rewards the terrorists. It's not the first time though that meeting kidnapper's demands has secured a release in Iraq. Earlier this week an Egyptian worker was set free after the company that employs him, a Saudi Arabian transport firm, ended its operations in the country. Others have done the same.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHANCE: The insurgents and the kidnappers are already starting to issue new threats on Web sites linked with the notorious Jordanian- borne militant Abu Musab Zarqawi saying they're warning all Arab and Muslim countries not to let their government send their armed forces to support the interim Iraqi government here, also giving a specific threat against the Japanese people.Japan, of course, has a small humanitarian contingent already here. The Web sites linked to Zarqawi saying that Japan should do the same as the Philippines and pull out their troops as soon as possible.
BROWN: Do we assume anything by the fact that they seem to target not countries, there aren't many countries with large contingencies there or contingents there rather but the Poles have several thousand, for example, but they tend to target those countries with really a handful of troops there.
CHANCE: Well, I think they're trying to target anybody they can get their hands on. I think it's pretty much a tactic that's really coming into fruition right now. People are on the lookout for possible targets to kidnap and obviously the westerners whose countries are involved in the coalition in some way are the prime targets.But even though citizens of countries who don't have anything to do with the coalition directly people perhaps who work for companies that are involved in Iraq they're also being targeted. It's just being used as a way, a means of exerting pressure on either countries or companies operating in Iraq.
BROWN: Matt, thank you, good to see you. Thank you very much.Coming up on NEWSNIGHT tonight, it seems like a new successful medical trial is announced almost every day, but barely a word about the unsuccessful ones and, to many, the bad news is important to know.And later, too much of a good thing in Boston as the city prepares to welcome a political convention and protect it from terrorists.From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: There are certain leaps of faith we take where our health is concerned. You might assume, for instance, that your doctor has carefully weighed the pros and cons of whatever drug he or she prescribes for you but what if the cons are hidden from view? This, as it turns out, is not an academic question. Here's CNN's Elizabeth Cohen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Candace (ph) Downing's parents say the first hint they had that their 12-year- old daughter might be suicidal was when they found her hanging from her bedroom ceiling.
ANDY DOWNING: We called the paramedics and they tried feverishly to revive her and I was trying to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but I knew something was wrong because her body was cold.
COHEN: Mathy and Andy Downing blame their daughter's suicide on the drug Zoloft used to treat anxiety and depression. A psychiatrist prescribed it because Candace became anxious when taking tests at school. Her parents say she wasn't suicidal, wasn't even depressed before she began the medication.
MATHY DOWNING: She was very into sports, a ton of friends, probably the most social child I've ever met.
COHEN: Whether or not drugs like Zoloft really do cause suicides is a matter of medical debate with studies supporting both sides but now another debate has emerged. The Downings and other families charge that drug makers knew from pre-marketing studies that these drugs made some children and teens suicidal but hid the study results.Pfizer, which makes Zoloft, wouldn't comment on the Downing case because the family has filed a lawsuit. The company referred us to the corporate policy on its Web site which states:"Pfizer commits to timely communication of meaningful results of controlled clinical trials regardless of outcome."
COHEN (on camera): By law drug companies have to tell the Food and Drug Administration about all their studies when they apply for permission to put their drug on the market but the FDA, also by law, is not allowed to release those studies to the public.
DR. BOB TEMPLE, FDA: We're not allowed to release confidential commercial information. It's illegal. It's a crime.
COHEN (voice-over): Patients aren't the only ones feeling kept in the dark. Doctors also say they're deprived of information and are now pushing for a change in the rules. The American Medical Association says drug companies should be required to submit their study results, negative as well as positive, to a central registry accessible to anyone via the Internet.Dr. David Fassler, an expert on childhood depression wrote the AMA registry proposal. He says he was shocked by what happened when he reviewed data on young people and antidepressants at an FDA meeting six months ago.
DR. DAVID FASSLER, UNIV. OF VERMONT COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: I was given access to data from 25 clinical studies, most of which I'd never seen before or I hadn't hear about. There were maybe three or four major studies that were in the literature which we all knew about but we didn't realize that there were this many studies involving 4,000 children and adolescents.
COHEN: The pharmaceutical industry hasn't taken an official position on the AMA's registry idea but has some concerns.
ALAN GOLDHAMMER, PHARM RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA: We don't think that practicing physicians are going to have the time spent pouring through tens of thousands of pages of clinical studies.
COHEN: Dr. Fassler disagrees.
FASSLER: This is clearly something which is going to help people. It's going to improve the quality of health care. It's going to improve our ability as physicians to take care of people.
COHEN: Two months after Candace Downing's death the FDA, after further review of the research, urged doctors to closely monitor patients on drugs like Zoloft for suicidal behavior. The Downings say that's not enough and they're lobbying Congress to require drug companies to make all research public.Elizabeth Cohen, Laytonsville, Maryland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: One quick update on a story we did last night on the program on the Chinese doctor Jung Yung Yong (ph). He's the surgeon you might recall who first blew the whistle on the government's cover- up of the SARS epidemic and, then more recently, wrote a letter criticizing the crushing protests 15 years ago at Tiananmen Square. It made him a dissident in the eyes of the government and landed him in jail. Today, after seven weeks, the Chinese government let him go.Still to come on NEWSNIGHT tonight, 35 years after man walked on the moon the agency that put them there brings them back together.And also tonight a special edition of morning papers, a break first.From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Thirty-five years ago tonight, Neil Armstrong stepped on to the moon. To give you some idea of how long ago that is, consider this.On the 20th of July, 1934, 35 years before Apollo 11, manned flight of any kind, let alone in space, was just 30 years old. Today, 35 years after Apollo 11, the next moon landing remains far in the future, if it ever happens at all. Now, just as then, there's a war on, a global enemy out there, and others, some say better, uses for NASA money. In this at least, little has changed. And the 20th of July 1969 keeps getting farther away in time and space. Here's CNN's Miles O'Brien.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEIL ARMSTRONG, NASA ASTRONAUT: That's one small step for man.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirty-five years after that one small step, the right stuff icons of the space race gathered once again, older and grayer, to be sure, but by no means jaded.
BUZZ ALDRIN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: We need to send humans back to the moon on this stepping-stone approach to be able to go to Mars.
O'BRIEN: It was yet another pat on the back from NASA, this time in the form of moon rocks, tiny pebbles, really, technically on loan from the space agency, as federal law makes them the permanent property of all of us.
WALTER CRONKITE, FORMER CBS NEWS ANCHOR: Receiving a piece of moon rock is a newie for me because a lot of people already think we have already have a piece sitting on our desk.
O'BRIEN: NASA so honored 37 astronauts or their survivors and one icon from another arena. CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite covered the space program from its inception.
CRONKITE: I will say tonight that I feel that I am there to represent the press, all of those of us who followed the program through from the beginning and interpreted for the American people.
O'BRIEN: The celebration comes as NASA once again sets its sights on the moon as a waypoint to Mars. The Bush administration's initiative looms tentatively over this anniversary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very anxious to be here to bass the baton to the next young man or young woman who walks on the moon.
O'BRIEN: There will never be another event like it. Fueled by Cold War fears and the desire to meet the bold challenge of a martyred president, it was a 21st century technological achievement willed to happen ahead of its time.
SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: It was about a race. It was about coming in first. And the price for coming in second was catastrophic. Today, it's a journey. It's developing capacities with a plan, with a thought, with a longer-term set of objectives of what you can do and where you can go. O'BRIEN: That rush to be first to plant flags and footprints led to a disposable approach, with no thought of what the next goal might be. As a result, Apollo had an ironic result.
ROGER LAUNIUS, SPACE HISTORIAN: Because of the way in which Apollo was -- as a program that was built around a Cold War crisis, that accomplishing those very limited objectives set us back in the long-term exploration of space.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Over the years, as the space community gathered to celebrate Apollo anniversaries, the occasions became increasingly bittersweet. Many wondered with some sadness if NASA would ever live up to its storied past. This time, the space agency is officially trying and for the explorers of the space race, there could be no better way to celebrate their achievements than that. And, Aaron, incidentally, I was at the Air and Space Museum all day today. There were some sixth graders there. I asked them who the first person on the moon was and they all said Lance Armstrong.
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: Well, they got it half right.
O'BRIEN: I would give them 50 percent. BROWN: You're a fair amount I think younger than I am. Do you remember the day?
O'BRIEN: Yes. I was 10 years old in the basement of my house watching it on the only color TV we had. What was the point of that? It was black and white and grainy. And I also remember straining to stay up for the whole time they were on the moon. I fell asleep.
BROWN: I stayed awake. I was a fair amount older. Thank you, Miles, very much. It is a rare moment that stops the world in its tracks. Normally, we wouldn't use a phrase like that. It would ring of cliche. But 35 years ago today, when Apollo 11 hit its mark and set down on the moon, much of the world did indeed stop in its tracks, transfixed by the improbable made real.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARMSTRONG: Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed. BROWN: For those who lived it, the memories are vivid still, not so much for the grandeur of it all, but for the risks and the reality.
GENE KRANZ, FLIGHT DIRECTOR, APOLLO 11: The spacecraft was literally so fragile that if you took a screwdriver, you could poke your screwdriver right through the wall of the spacecraft.
ALDRIN: We extended our final approach to miss some rocks and craters.
CRONKITE: Those of us who knew the problems and were living with the problems realized that, with each one of those successes, there was in the immediate offing the imminence of disaster, utter disaster.
KRANZ: And as we got close to surface, we were running out of fuel. And during the last few seconds, we'd count down the crew to the seconds of fuel remaining. And we had 60 seconds, 30 seconds. And about the time that I was hearing 15 seconds, we got the indications that the crew was going through engine shutdown. And that was the first time many of us took a breath for those last two minutes.
BROWN: So much has happened in science and in the world at large in the 35 years since men walked on the moon first, but what happened that night still has an adhesive hold on our collective imagination.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, ASTROPHYSICIST: Since, at the time, only age 10, I knew that the universe was for me and that it was something that I would devote my life to study, at the time, I viewed the moon landing as just our next step. BROWN: Some, of course, didn't think it actually happened at all.
SPIKE LEE, FILMMAKER: I think I was in Macon, Georgia, visiting my grandmother's sister. And we said, sister, sister, a man walked on the moon. She said, I don't care what's on television. Ain't no man walking on the moon.
CRONKITE: Whew. Boy.
BROWN: But television proved it did, the nation's common denominator once again. And the man delivering the news to the nation that day is convinced that that anniversary will endure.
CRONKITE: July 20, 1969, I'm sure, is going to be perhaps the one historical date that children 500 years from now will recognize. And why can I be sure of that? I'm sure of that because think back 500 years now. It was a very important age in Europe. Things were developing there at some pace. And what is the date that is remembered? October 12, 1492.
BROWN: An experience so unique, so rare that the world became one.
HOLLY HUNTER, ACTRESS: We haven't had anything like that happen, you know, culturally. It's also fantastic that everybody in the world was watching that at the same time, you know, that it was happening at the same time, which means that everybody was tuned in and looking at this one man at the same second. We don't have that cumulative communal experience, that global experience anymore.
BROWN: You can argue, of course, that these days, with so many television channels, so much information, that all major events are global, but not in the way it was on that single midsummer's day in 1969. As they say, you had to be there. And for those of us who were, for those of us who looked up at that summer sky, for those of us, there will never be another feeling quite like it, a feeling of such discovery and pride.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Still ahead on the program tonight, unwelcome and some say unnecessary, new ways of protecting a political convention. And we promise it will be worth waiting for. It is always worth waiting for, tonight especially. Morning papers looks back 35 years ago.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Nearly three years after the 2001 anthrax killings, FBI investigators today returned to Fort Detrick in Maryland, where they searched part of a research lab for evidence in the unsolved case. The lab facility has been closed since Friday. Fort Detrick is home to the Army's biological warfare defense program. And it is where former Army researcher Steven Hatfill once worked. Mr. Hatfill was named by Attorney General John Ashcroft as a person of interest in the case. Mr. Hatfill also has strongly denied any wrongdoing and has never been charged with any crime. Next week in Boston will mark another first in the post-9/11 world. When Democratic delegates meet to nominate their candidates for president and vice president, they'll do so under unprecedented security for such an occasion, unprecedented and to some at least unwelcome. From Boston tonight, CNN's Dan Lothian.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): It's a massive security blanket covering Boston during the Democratic National Convention. In the harbor, armed Coast Guard units and new Boston Police speedboats.
KATHLEEN O'TOOLE, BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: Capable of heading off threatening vessels at speeds up to 70 miles an hour.
LOTHIAN: Across town for the first time at least 75 high-tech cameras wired into a temporary surveillance network. Manhole covers have been sealed. Garbage cans and newspaper stands, potential hiding places for bombs, have been removed.
THOMAS MENINO (D), MAYOR OF BOSTON: The people of Boston can feel assured knowing that our city is more secure than ever.
LOTHIAN: But that tight security grip troubles some residents, who worry too much of a good thing may cross the line.
PROTESTERS (singing): We are no more safe than in the streets of Boston.
LOTHIAN: These protesters recently took to the streets calling the city's plans to conduct random person bag checks on the train system during the DNC week unconstitutional.
CAROL ROSE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ACLU: It is going to violate the fundamental right to privacy while potentially bringing the entire system to a standstill.
LOTHIAN: Civil rights advocates are poised to file lawsuits to challenge searches and halt them once they begin.
URSZULA MASNY-LATOS, NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD: If we allow these searches to happen, what will be our next step? Are we going to allow searches of all cars? Are we going to allow searches of everyone who enters a mall? Where are we going to stop with this?
LOTHIAN (on camera): The ACLU is also concerned about all the surveillance cameras which will be keeping a close eye on activity across the city, raising questions about oversight and safeguards, fearful that they could be used for the wrong reasons. (voice-over): But law enforcement officials say they're just targeting criminals, not snooping on the general public, and that all the security measures, while inconvenient, are necessary.
O'TOOLE: This is a different world today. It's is post-9/11 world. We have to err on the side of caution.
LOTHIAN: Some residents are understanding.
RICHARD GROSSACK, BOSTON COMMUTER: You have to be somewhat sympathetic, no matter how much of a civil liberties person you are.
LOTHIAN: The law enforcement challenge, working to keep Boston safe and free. Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Steve Flynn is a retired U.S. Coast Guard commander and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He's directed the council's Independent Task Force On Homeland Security and also has written "America the Vulnerable." And he joins us from Washington tonight. It's good to see you. You said to us earlier that on a scale of one to 10, we've gone from one to about three. Just quickly, in an open society, can you ever get to 10 in terms of security?
STEPHEN FLYNN, AUTHOR, "AMERICA THE VULNERABLE": No. And the goal isn't to necessarily be at 10. But it really is to have adequate security to deal with the threat that's confronting us. And I worry that while we're protecting the conventions, the Democratic Convention, the story you just showed, and the Republican Convention, what we're not going to talk about inside those conventions is what are we really doing as a nation to address the vulnerability of our critical infrastructure that underpins our society. We've made the war on terrorism a war that we handle overseas, instead of addressing the core reality of 9/11, which were, the terrorists were here and they used our infrastructure against us, in that case, commercial airliners. We haven't dealt with the fact that we're a very soft target. And beginning to address that issue is something I try to call for in this book, is absolutely critical.
BROWN: Steve, let's talk quickly about some of the things that you believe should have been done by now that haven't been done. Port security anywhere near where it should be?
FLYNN: No. The port security situation is, we're basically in a wide-open situation. There is a lot of steps that have begun to be taken, but they're small steps, they're really baby steps, given the threat. The threat is that we have up to 18 million containers, for instance, for which a weapon of mass destruction could be put in and brought into society of which we check about 5 percent. Now, the problem isn't just that one could get in. It's that our response when something happens will be to shut down the system to sort it out. Why is that a problem? That's everything we get from a Wal-Mart. That's everything -- that's getting in pharmacies, prescription drugs. That's shutting assembly lines. Three weeks of shutting down our ports could shut down the global economy. That's a national security issue of the first order, but we're not treating it as such. We're treating it as a domestic security issue that we can plod along and hope for the best.
BROWN: Just give me again, as briefly as you can, your sense of why what would seem to be fairly obvious steps haven't been taken.
FLYNN: Well, I think one of the reasons why is because we've a bit deluded ourselves into thinking that we can handle this problem by taking the battle to the enemy overseas, when, in fact there is no central front on the war in terrorism. And it is not that we don't do an offense. It is that we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can deal with the offense and deal with the fact that we need a defense as well. Football games are sometimes won by good defense. The other side of it is, it's complicated. Is it hard. And we haven't drawn in, we the people, the civil society, the men and women of the society in the private sector into the solution. We've been told to shop and travel, that we'd be taken care of. And it's that lack of engagement that I think is creating the suspicion that people have about the government, the civil liberty concerns and so forth, because we're not being drawn in as citizens to address this problem. So, politically, it's an uncomfortable problem. It's a complicated problem. And we're seduced into thinking that, if we just work more vigilantly overseas, maybe it will all go away.
BROWN: Steve, there's a lot more to talk about. We'll have to have you back to do on a night when we've got a bit more time. It's nice to meet you. Thanks for your time tonight.
FLYNN: Thanks so much, Aaron.
BROWN: Thank you. Still ahead tonight, morning papers past and present.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(ROOSTER CROWING)
BROWN: OK, time to check morning papers from around the country, around the world, past and present. I'm so disorganized tonight, it scares me. Let's start with "The Manila Times." That would be in the Philippines. That's the "around the world" part. "Angelo Is Freed." That's a good lead for them; "14-Day Ordeal Ends For Filipino Driver." No, I'm sure somewhere in the paper, they get into the pros and cons of pulling out their troops, but it's not there on the front page.
"Chattanooga Times Free Press." "Emergency Room Shutdown." This is a good local story, isn't it? "Area Facilities Closed For New Patients Almost 450 Times in a Year." Also on the front page, "Report Won't Say 9/11 Was Avoidable. Members of September 11 commission say they want to present the facts and not allow their work to be used for political purposes." Lots of luck there, guys. A couple of them will be joining us next week.
"The Detroit News." Then we're going to go do some old ones. "Ford Makes $1.2 Billion But Trouble Looms Ahead." Talk about whether the cup is half full or half empty, my goodness.
All right, 35 years ago, this is how "The New York Times" headlined the night, the day. "Men Walk On Moon." I love that headline. I mean, it's just straight ahead. "Astronauts Land On Plan, Collect Rocks, Plant Flag. A Powdery Surface Is Closely Explored." And down in the corner, you can't really see this too well, but "The Times" published a poem by Archibald MacLeish called "Voyage to the Moon." That's what -- these pictures I suspect looked a whole lot better than they looked to us. But that's "The New York Times." One more quick look at it, will you, Chris?
"Men Walk On Moon." OK, "The Christian Science Monitor" on that day, a little more poetry here. "Mankind Embraces the Moon, a Milestone, Not a Finish Line. Humanity's greatest triumphs are those that come through peace, intelligence, inspiration, not war," part of the editorial in "The Christian Science Monitor" that day."The Courier-Post," I'm not sure where that's from. We Shine on the Moon" was their headline.
And here is "The Wapakoneta" -- I hope I pronounced that right --
"Daily News" in Iowa. "Neil" -- that would be Neil Armstrong, a hometown boy -- "Steps On the Moon." "Armstrong, Aldrin Set For Hazardous Return," 35 years ago. Do I love this story? Yes, I do. The weather tomorrow in Chicago, by the way, is "fiddlesticks." And I have no idea what it was 35 years ago. And this is what it looked like 35 years ago right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARMSTRONG: Although the surface appears to be very, very fine- grained as you get close to it, it is almost like a powder. The ground mass is very fine.And I'm going to step off the LEM. That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
ALDRIN: Oh, that looks beautiful from here, Neil.
ARMSTRONG: It has a stark beauty all its own. It's like much of the high desert of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)BROWN: Thirty-five years ago, our world changed. It grew larger. It seems to have grown smaller ever since.Good to have you with us tonight. We're all back here tomorrow. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" for most of you coming up. We're back 10:00 Eastern. Until then, good night for all of us.
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Monday, July 19, 2004
9/11 Commission to Release Report Thursday; Hassoun Speaks Out; Will Qorei Resign?
9/11 Commission to Release Report Thursday; Hassoun Speaks Out; Will Qorei Resign?
Aired July 19, 2004 - 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.One of the things to love about the news is that it is so many different things, big things and small things and interesting things, things that say a lot about the people involved and the rest of us.Martha Stewart is that sort of story. Her conviction and sentence will not change the world. It may change a pretty good sized company. It's affected a fair number of people but her fate is hardly the stuff of "War and Peace," yet we are fascinated and we are. Ms. Stewart has proven to be a tough cookie to the end. The other day she, at least, indirectly compared herself to Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandela for goodness sakes. One suspects even her biggest fans cringed a bit at that one.She, to our ear, has mixed a pinch of self pity with a tablespoon of defiance and not a drop of contrition in the mix and it is interesting and it is fascinating and that makes it news, not the biggest news of course or the most important but news and it has a seat at our table again tonight.But the whip begins with the big, not the small, Iran, the 9/11 Commission and its final report coming up, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux at the White House starts us off with a headline -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, the 9/11 Commission will officially release its report on Thursday but already there is one claim inside of it that is causing questions, as well as controversy, that is whether or not Iran played a role in the September 11th attacks.BROWN: Suzanne, nice to have you with us tonight.On to the Pentagon and the mystery of the Marine who disappeared from Iraq and reappeared in Lebanon; Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon with the headline.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, Marine Corporal Wassef Hassoun finally got to say publicly what he's been telling Marines privately that he did not desert his post and that he was captured and held against his will for 19 days. So, why is the Navy still investigating him? We'll look at that.
BROWN: Jamie, thank you. Jerusalem next where Yasser Arafat is facing perhaps the biggest political crisis in a career filled with crises, CNN's Alessio Vinci covering for us, Alessio a headline tonight.
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Aaron. Chairman Arafat facing an unprecedented challenge to his authority in Gaza and the West Bank, his prime minister says he wants to resign. Twice the chairman has rejected those resignation demands. All the while, the crisis has taken a violent turn at times -- Aaron.
BROWN: Alessio, good to see you.And whether you call it bad taste or clever strategy, Martha Stewart, as we said, seems to be leaving the contrition out of her comeback recipe. CNN's Mary Snow worked the story today, so Mary a headline.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, Martha Stewart may not be saying the words "I'm sorry," but tonight she did make some news on "LARRY KING" about her appeal and jail time -- Aaron.
BROWN: Mary, thank you. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly.Also coming up on the program tonight, in Iraq the government has changed. The violence continues. Car bombs, assassinations, security problems continue to drown out most everything else.Also, one of America's best has a change of heart, why you probably will not see Marion Jones running, at least, not solo at the Olympic Games in Athens.And, after a short vacation, the rooster is back tonight with a beak full of your morning papers, all that and more in the hour ahead.We begin with a piece of the final report of the 9/11 Commission report, which is due out Thursday, one very intriguing piece at that involving Iran, a country President Bush has long called a sponsor of terrorism. What the report says and what that finding may mean has set off a new round in the terror debate.So, we begin tonight at the White House and CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Eight of the 19 hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11th safely passed through Iran. The details of how that unfolded will be released by the 9/11 Commission in its final report on Thursday. Emerging from an Oval Office meeting, President Bush was asked whether there was a link between Iran and the 9/11 attacks.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As to direct connections with September the 11th, you know, we're digging into the facts to determine if there was one.
MALVEAUX: Mr. Bush's comment follows statements made over the weekend by the CIA's acting director that while Iran was used as a frequent route for traveling al Qaeda, it did not support the terrorist attacks.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There's no evidence that there was any official involvement between Iran and the September 11th attacks.
MALVEAUX: In fact, private administration officials say there is no new information that has emerged from the 9/11 Commission's investigation that would suggest otherwise.
BUSH: I have long expressed my concerns about Iran.
MALVEAUX: From his 2002 State of the Union address, Mr. Bush declared Iran, along with Iraq and North Korea...
BUSH: An axis of evil arming to threaten the peace of the world.
MALVEAUX: The Bush administration has designated Iran a state sponsor of terror, accused of pursuing nuclear weapons, supporting Hezbollah and harboring al Qaeda. On Thursday, the 9/11 Commission is expected to release a critical report of the administration's handling of the terrorist attacks and it will address any aid offered to the 9/11 hijackers by Iran. The report will be an opportunity for those who question the invasion of Iraq to make their case.
SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: We focused so much energy on Iraq when other countries may have been more directly linked to 9/11.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now, the Bush administration argues that each member of the so-called "axis of evil" should be examined individually that international pressure on Iran to get it to abandon its weapons programs is a more appropriate course of action than regime change -- Aaron.BROWN: How nervous, if that's the right word, is the White House about the report coming out Thursday?
MALVEAUX: Well, it's very interesting because one of the things that the White House has done in terms of strategy is they have already started to talk about what the Clinton administration had done or not done when it comes to heeding warnings of terrorist attacks. They contend that it is not just the Bush administration but previous administrations that perhaps did not see the warning signs before the September 11th attacks. But honestly, Aaron, a lot of the news has already come out before in its previous report that preliminary report from the 9/11 Commission citing a lot of those intelligence lapses and the intelligence community has already come out in response saying that they believe they have addressed many of those concerns.BROWN: Suzanne, thank you, Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.On the subject of the Clinton administration an embarrassment, perhaps worse, for the last national security adviser in the Clinton administration, CNN has now confirmed that Sandy Berger is the focus of a federal criminal investigation stemming from allegations he removed a number of highly classified documents pertaining to the war on terrorism while vetting them for the 9/11 Commission.The Associated Press is reporting that according to his lawyer, Mr. Berger stuck a number of documents in his jackets and his pants before walking out of a secure reading room. He's since returned most of the documents but drafts of the report on the Clinton administration's handling of al Qaeda's millennium plots remain unaccounted for. FBI agents with warrants have since searched Mr. Berger's home and office.In a statement given to AP tonight, Mr. Berger says he regrets his sloppiness but he goes on to say he had no intention of withholding evidence from the 9/11 Commission. The Justice Department has so far declined to comment on the story.On now to Iraq, a general just back from there told a reporter the other day that we'd all be kidding ourselves if we believed the serious security issues would somehow disappear with a new government, worse before better was the message and many are wondering if better is on the horizon at all. Today was that sort of day. Again, here's CNN's Michael Holmes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was 8:20 in the morning, the target an Iraqi police station. With fewer and fewer coalition troops on the streets in recent weeks, the insurgents are more and more hitting what they can, often poorly defended police stations manned by Iraqi security forces. Insurgents consider them collaborators in an occupation and a justifiable target.Witnesses said a truck laden with explosives drove to the rear of the police station and detonated, the blast leaving a two meter hole in the ground. It's a busy street, crowded when the bomb went off. There were many dead and wounded.After the explosion, a crowd of locals arrived and began chanting pro-Saddam slogans, "With our blood, with our souls we will sacrifice for Saddam," they said. Iraqi soldiers ordered the crowd to disperse, eventually firing warning shots to make that happen.(on camera): Another favorite tactic these days assassinations of political and regional leaders, two such attacks today, first a ministry of defense official gunned down outside his Baghdad home in a drive-by shooting, while further north in Mosul, an official from the Turkmen National Front, a political group, gunned down in exactly the same manner.(voice-over): The Iraqi prime minister, meanwhile, has allowed the reopening of a newspaper that supported the rebel Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The newspaper, "al-Hawza," was closed in March by the then civil administrator Paul Bremer who said the newspaper was inciting violence, the prime minister stressing Monday freedom of the press and allowing all voices to again be heard.Also Monday, the last of the Filipino soldiers in Iraq departing their base at Hilla, south of Baghdad, after handing over their duties to Polish troops, the departure fulfilling a deal done with those holding the Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz whose fate has been so closely watched in his homeland.The hostage crisis continues for some but has ended for one, an Egyptian man held by insurgents in Iraq has been freed. Truck driver Al Sayed Mohammed al-Sayed al-Garabawi (ph) reported captured on July 6th, released Monday after his employer withdrew his business from Iraq as demanded by the hostage takers.Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: A mystery that began a month ago in Iraq is still far from being sorted out tonight. When a U.S. Marine translator disappeared from his base camp outside Fallujah, he was initially listed as a deserter. The military later changed his status to captured.After surfacing in Lebanon at the home of relatives, the Marine is now back in the United States at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia and today he gave his first public explanation of his disappearance, from the Pentagon tonight CNN's Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE (voice-over): The Marines say that Corporal Wassef Hassoun is upset that some official statements and some unofficial leaks portrayed him as a suspected deserter who may have staged his own kidnapping. So, Hassoun asked to make a public statement to put what he has told the Marines privately on the record.
CPL. WASSEF HASSOUN, U.S. MARINES: I did not desert my post. I was captured and held against my will by anti-coalition forces for 19 days.MCINTYRE: And he indirectly denied the claim, made on an Islamist Web site that he agreed to leave the Marines as a condition of his release.
HASSOUN: Once a Marine, always a Marine, "Semper Fi."
MCINTYRE: While the investigation into his claimed abduction has begun criminal investigators have yet to question Hassoun directly, nor has he been charged with any wrongdoing or told he needs an attorney, something legal experts say could make his statements inadmissible in court if he should be charged in the future.
EUGENE FIDELL, MILITARY LAW EXPERT: If he hasn't been afforded his right to counsel, he would have a right at that point to have those statements and any evidence attributable to those statements suppressed as evidence.
MCINTYRE: Sources say investigators want an explanation for why it appears Hassoun left his base in Fallujah, Iraq voluntarily and Pentagon officials say they also are concerned about what information Hassoun may have shared with his alleged captors because, as an Arabic speaker, he helped interpret as the U.S. gathered intelligence from helpful Iraqis who could now be in danger.
LT. COL. DAVID LAPAN, U.S. MARINE CORPS SPOKESMAN: We're not in the position at this point to make a judgment either way. We are still gathering facts and information.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: While Hassoun is technically not a suspect yet, he could face some very serious charges down the road and, one defense attorney who is not connected with the case, said that Hassoun's failure to invoke his right for an attorney could make his defense more difficult later -- Aaron.
BROWN: Well, just in about a minute we heard both sides of that. On the one hand his not retaining counsel could make it more difficult for him and, on the other hand, the military is not advising him of his rights and his need for counsel could make it more complicated for them. So, where are we exactly?
MCINTYRE: Well, where we are is that the Marine Corps and the military is under the -- is creating the impression that they're not treating Hassoun any differently from anyone else who would have returned from being held captive.But, at the same time, they have this investigation going on and one defense attorney who has defended a lot of people charged with wrongdoing in the military said he actually feels sorry for Hassoun. He believes he should have an attorney now before he says something that gets himself in trouble.
BROWN: Jamie, thank you, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon tonight, a true mystery this.In another corner of the Middle East, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is facing what may be the fiercest internal challenge of his career and there have been many. In one sense its roots are those of countless rebellions, a younger generation fighting the old guard for control the cause. His latest political crisis has created turmoil in the streets of Gaza and in the Palestinian Authority's power structure, reporting for us tonight CNN's Alessio Vinci.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VINCI (voice-over): Meeting school children, Yasser Arafat appeared un-phased by two days of unprecedented rebellion against his authority. His prime minister insists he will quit over chaos in Gaza. Ahmed Qorei urged the Palestinian leader to seriously consider demands for reforms. It is the strongest criticism ever of Arafat.
AHMED QOREI, PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I call on you and tell you that the time has come to reactivate all the security operators on a proper basis and the time has come to put the proper persons in the proper positions.
VINCI: Qorei spoke after hundreds of armed Palestinian militants went on a rampage this weekend in Gaza burning a police station, attacking the headquarters of the Palestinian Intelligence Service. Militants violently rejected as meaningful reforms Arafat appointing his own nephew as the new security chief.
BASSIM EID, PALESTINIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: By appointing Mr. Moussa Arafat yesterday or the day before as the head of the Palestinian security, the national security in Gaza, I think that Arafat proves by such kind of an appointment that he's still interested in the corruption.VINCI: Prime minister Qorei appealed for calm saying the Palestinian cabinet appointed a committee to address the current crisis.
QOREI (through translator): Who is corrupt and who isn't corrupt? These are the questions that are being raised but this is not how corruption is solved.VINCI: While Arafat clearly faces a growing challenge, some analysts predict the crisis may be resolved with new security officials but Arafat, they say, will survive.
MAHDI ABDEL HADI, PALESTINIAN ANALYST: Arafat has been and will continue to be a maestro of tactics and a survivor and this is one of the serious crises he has been facing since '83, like Lebanon. It's not a mutiny. It's not a coup d'etat. It's a real crisis between the old guards and the young guards and he has to know that it's time for the old guards to leave the stage as soon as possible.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VINCI: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to withdraw troops and settlers from Gaza by the end of next year. With the power vacuum that would follow, Aaron, this is that violence in Gaza is yet another reminder that over there as (unintelligible) withdrawal plan there are more than one power at this point ready and willing to take over -- Aaron.
BROWN: When we talk about the old guard and the new guard, to what extent is the new guard more willing or less willing to deal with the Israelis non-violently?VINCI: Well, we do know that most of the militants who have taken to the streets are loyal to Muhammad Dahlan, which is one of the leaders of the so-called young guard, a 47-year-old man who has been tapped many times by both the Israelis and the Americans as one person that they could deal with in terms of the Palestinian crisis.Or certainly should eventually one time or one day the young guard take over that would certainly make it, according to the Israelis and the Americans, perhaps a better negotiating partner. That's for sure -- Aaron.
BROWN: Alessio, good to see you again. It's been a while.Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, she'll do whatever it takes to make sure her company survives even while she sits in jail, the many faces and words of Martha Stewart coming up next.And later, a strange story out of China where a man hailed as a hero, as early as last year, now sits in jail.Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTHA STEWART: My life is my business and my business is my life.
LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: Isn't that kind of sad in a way? I mean I know you love it and everything but...
STEWART: Sad?KING: Your life is your business?STEWART: Well, my business encompasses a lot of things that I do. I mean all the things I love is what my business is all about, so that's not sad. It's about child raising. It's about home keeping. It's about gardening, entertaining, cooking, all the things that I'm really interested in, the domestic arts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Martha Stewart tonight.Once upon a time in old New England, someone who broke the village rules might have been asked to answer for it in public, something in the letter "A" perhaps to go with those scarlet pumps.But these days in the global village, shame is out along with letters on shirts, which is not of course to say that Martha Stewart is Hester Prynne nor, of course, is she Nelson Mandela but facing five months in prison, her contrition started fading just minutes after the sentence came down. She spoke to Larry King tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE" and she made some news, reporting for us CNN's Mary Snow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW (voice-over): After a weekend to think about it, Martha Stewart says she's still thinking about whether to press an appeal or take the shortest route to serving her sentence.
STEWART: We have a good appeal. We have -- I have not made up my mind one way or the other.
SNOW: That said Stewart isn't letting her pending prison sentence prevent her from making a very public appeal to boost her image. Her interview with Larry King is just the latest part of that effort since being sentenced to five months in prison, five months home confinement pending appeal. Part of Stewart's strategy is showing defiance, vowing on the courthouse steps not to fade away.
STEWART: And I'll be back. I will be back.SNOW: But image consultants question how she's going about trying to gain public sympathy.
MATTHEW TRAUB, DAN KLORES COMMUNICATIONS: Her strategy seems to be to paint herself as a victim, presumably to set the stage for her appeal and to I think generate sympathy.SNOW: Stewart said she's felt choked and suffocated and, on ABC's "20/20" Friday, shortly after the sentencing, when talking about people going to prison she seemed to compare herself to Nelson Mandela.
STEWART: There are many other people that have gone to prison. Look at Nelson Mandela.TRAUB: She should show more humility. She should appeal to people on a very personal level that this has been an incredibly difficult time for her and for her family but then she should go out and live her life.
SNOW: A big part of Martha Stewart's life is her business that's built on her image and those who study consumers and brands say Stewart didn't help that image by putting in a plug for her business minutes after being sentenced.
STEWART: Perhaps all of you out there can continue to show your support by subscribing to our magazine.
ROBERT PASSIKOFF, BRAND KEYS, INC.: Well, it will help in the short run among the people who already feel that she's had wrong done to her, people who have already supported her, the people who were e- mailing to the site. It's not going to have much of an effect with the people who have defected over the past two years.
SNOW: While Stewart's legal fate was determined by a judge, it will now be up to the court of public opinion to seal the fate of her business and the image it was built on.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: And when Martha Stewart does speak publicly she needs to be careful because if she does press ahead with her appeal her words could influence the court, so she needs to strike a balance between helping her financial interests and protecting her legal ones -- Aaron.
BROWN: Mary, thank you.With us from Washington tonight is Eric Dezenhall, a crisis management consultant and the recent author of the novel "Shakedown Beach," good to see you. Good to see you again.
ERIC DEZENHALL, DAMAGE CONTROL CONSULTANT: Thanks for having me.
BROWN: You watched her on -- watched her with Larry tonight. To me it was a somewhat softer Martha Stewart that we saw on Friday night.
DEZENHALL: Well, there's nowhere to go but up at this point and she keeps getting better. I mean actually suffering becomes her and, you know, Martha Stewart's business brand is perfection but her personal brand is audacity and it's audacity that built her business and it's ultimately audacity that's going to lead to her redemption.And, contrary to a lot of the things that you hear that you're supposed to go out and cry and apologize, this is not someone who is wired that way and, in the long run, her goal is not to convince 100 percent of the audience to love her.It's to show a core audience what Americans really want to see, which is what crisis management is all about, is doing what's doable and showing how well you take your beating and she's showing that really, really well, much better than she used to.
BROWN: Let me play some of that back to make sure I understand it that this is -- for all those people sort of on the margins...
DEZENHALL: Right.
BROWN: Not the people who think she is a goddess and not the people who think she is a witch but the people on the margins there, why not show a little contrition here, soften up, a little humility, say, you know what, I mean now that I think about it I didn't handle this as well as I might have and I got to take my lumps? Why is that such a terrible thing?
DEZENHALL: Well, I don't know that it is a terrible thing, Aaron, but one of the things you find when you work with these clients is you have to do what is doable within their constitution. I mean people said that Gary Condit should have been softer but the guy was a cold fish. He wasn't capable of it. And, Martha Stewart is simply not an Oprah kind of personality who can be overly soft. She's about as soft as she can get and you can't counsel a client to do what is beyond their own personal capacity.In a perfect world, maybe she would show more contrition but one of the things that you have to understand is that if she starts doing what some of the pundits said is come out and apologize well then she's convicted two seconds later. And so, a lot of these silly words of wisdom and I think that she was right in criticizing some of the pundits who said she should just apologize and it will go away. In 20 years at this I've never seen that to be true.The other thing people said is she should just plea as if a plea is some magic thing. Well, if I said to you, Aaron, if you were accused of something just plead and part of that plea was never being able to be a broadcast journalist again, it's not such an easy choice.
BROWN: No. No, I'd fight on that one. Would you agree that the Mandela comparison, it wasn't a precise comparison, I wouldn't say that's what it was, but putting her in the same sentence as Mr. Mandela was it a mistake?
DEZENHALL: Well, you know, she can't win because I think the biggest problem she has is in this corporate scandal climate, which is like the French Revolution, Martha Stewart scandal is the only one that the public understands.Nobody understands Tyco and WorldCom. They do understand Martha Stewart and insider trading, so sure the Nelson Mandela comparison was ham handed but I'm of the school that there's very little she can do to win in this climate.
BROWN: So, if you can't win, what you try and do is lose as little as possible?
DEZENHALL: Well, that's exactly what crisis management and damage control is about. You know, the term damage control comes out of the Navy from when a torpedo hit your ship. When a torpedo hits your ship there's damage and damage control is not the same thing as damage disappearance.
BROWN: Yes.
DEZENHALL: What she is doing is very decent damage control, better than she did before and I think that she has a pretty good shot in the long term, not the short term, at redemption and a comeback but it's not going to be achieved by putting on some false show. Tenacity is her personal brand and that's what will ultimately redeem her.
BROWN: Eric, good to see you again. Thank you.
DEZENHALL: Thanks for having me.
BROWN: Interesting thoughts.A quick reminder, if you missed it or you just want to see it again, Larry's interview with Martha Stewart will run about an hour and a half from now, almost exactly, midnight Eastern here on CNN. It was fascinating.Coming up on the program tonight it won't be steroids or lawsuits that keep track star Marion Jones from running any races in Athens. Instead, it will be something much more human it seems. And later, Nissen revisits the burn hospital for soldiers where the scars are disfiguring but only on the outside.Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: It's neither been a good year for track star Marion Jones, nor a very good few days. This weekend at U.S. Olympic trials in Sacramento, Ms. Jones qualified in the long jump, but pulled out of the 200 meters after looking distinctly ordinary in a preliminary heat and missing the cut entirely in the 100 meters. She is, of course, also under investigation for using performance enhancing drugs, despite never having once failed a drug test, and firmly denies she's done anything wrong. All the same, it casts a shadow and raises questions about a lot of things, including the fairness of her treatment. William Rhoden made the last question the heart of his writing this weekend in the sports pages of "The New York Times," where he's a columnist. We're quite pleased to have him with us tonight. Welcome.
WILLIAM RHODEN, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Hey, Aaron.
BROWN: I suppose it is easy for all of us, any of us, to handle our successes. We're tested by how we handle our disappointments. And I think one of the points you were trying to make in the piece was how well, in your view at least, she's handled her disappointments.
RHODEN: Well, now, that's when I started to turn around with Marion. We don't really know any of these people. I have respected Marion, don't really know her. But when everything was going well and she was sort of the glamour person, I was saying, that's fine. But what's going to happen when public sentiment turns against her or something, some adversity happens? How is she going to react?And when she started to fight the Anti-Doping Agency and just said you know what, enough is enough, you know, that's when I really started to respect her, because she showed that she's a battler, she's a fighter, that she's really tough. She knew what sort of legal team to get. She waged a public relations campaign that I think caught even the anti-drug agency by surprise. And I think, gradually, what she's also done was turn public attention -- or at least the public attitude in her favor, in that she's saying, I don't care what you feel about me personally, but all we ask for is a fair process. And, frankly, that's sort of my problem here with this. The process is a problem. I don't like the process.
BROWN: Part of the problem with the Doping Agency, USADA, is -- and I think most people who follow sports would argue that the steroid issue is a real issue. It needs to be dealt with. But USADA keeps changing the rules or at least moving the bar around, so it is hard to know what's in play.
RHODEN: Yes, you know, they're moving the goal posts. First, they're saying, well, first, as of May, we're going to have beyond a reasonable doubt, which we could all live with. Beyond a reasonable doubt. Then in June, they move the goal posts back. They say, well, that's too hard for us, so we're going to say to make it comfortable, a comfortable doubt. Comfortable? And I think at that point that's when a lot of people were saying that, you know, this is ridiculous and sort of a sort of weapons of mass destruction attitude that is sort of finding its way into track and field and maybe too many other places. Well, we're going to look here. Well, it's not there. We're going to look here. And, Marion, we're going to chase you until the end of the Earth until we justify our existence. And that's unfair. Like you said, she's never tested positive. Now, maybe you got to find a better test.
BROWN: Yes.
RHODEN: Nobody wants drugs in their sport or in their workplace. They don't. But it's the way that you get there. You make it fair process, due process. And if you can't do it, well, wait until next Olympics. You've already sent your message. We get the point. But don't ruin lives. Don't ruin reputations.
BROWN: Let me throw one more thing at you. In all this talk about Marion Jones and BALCO and drugs and all that, I wonder if a -- I don't know if it's a larger story, but a better story has somewhat been overshadowed, which is that the team that goes to Athens is going to about have a lot of good young faces in it that we haven't seen before.
RHODEN: This may be -- this may be the best team that we've sent to the Olympics since 1992. And you're absolutely right. The young talent is phenomenal. Allyson Felix won the 200. And I'm sorry. Marion Jones would have never won the 200 again. Allyson Felix is 18 years old and won convincingly. You have got names like Crawford, Justin Gatlin, Alan Webb, people who are 19, 20, 21, 22, who are going to be around for the next two or three Olympics. And kind of getting back to the drug scandal, what I don't want, or what the agency shouldn't want these young people to say is, wow, is this how you're treating Marion Jones? She's like an icon. We grew up watching her race. And this is how you're going to turn this into a witch-hunt and go after her? You don't want to turn people off to your sport, especially a sport that only has its day in the sun once every four years. But you've got a phenomenal team that we're sending to Athens -- yes, to Athens. And, you know, that's the story. You're absolutely right. And that's the positive story. And by the leaks that -- you know, I think they've cut themselves off at the knees trying to achieve a purpose.
BROWN: Yes.
RHODEN: It is really distasteful.
BROWN: Good to have you with us. I hope you'll come back as this summer unfolds and on this and other matters, too. It's nice to see you. We're a big fan of your writing. Thank you.
RHODEN: Aaron, the pleasure's mine.
BROWN: William Rhoden of "The New York Times," sports columnist there. A few more items that made news around the country, starting in Sacramento, where late today NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr. left the hospital. He went home a day after crashing his Corvette during a practice session at a track in Sonoma. He was treated for second- degree burns on his legs and his chin. My goodness, look at that. Kobe Bryant case, the Colorado Supreme Court today forbidding the press from releasing details of a closed-door hearing that were accidentally e-mailed to seven media outlets by a court reporter. In issuing the ruling, the justices conceded that what the trial court judge did amounts to prior restraint, but that the circumstances justified. This will be an interesting set of appeals. Lawyers for the party, including the AP, CBS and Fox News have yet to say whether they will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. But prior restraint has no history in the country. And the state of Georgia executed Eddie Crawford, who was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering his 2-year-old niece. Lawyers had argued that DNA testing on two strands of hair found on the girl might implicate someone else. Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a stay of execution without comment. Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, a story from a country where being right often means angering your government, which can land you in jail. And still later, all the news that's fit to read, tomorrow morning's papers tonight. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: With the exception of aeronautics and nuclear physics, communism and science haven't always gotten along so well. Joseph Stalin, who mistrusted the field of genetics, put a bumpkin in charge of it, a man who believed you can make rye grow in a wheat field by planting wheat. Hundreds of legitimate researchers were sent to the gulags. Today, it is China and SARS and a doctor who, until recently, was leading the fight against the disease and by implication the government. These days, he's in custody. Reporting from Beijing tonight, CNN's Mike Chinoy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Last year retired Chinese army doctor Dr. Jiang Yanyong was hailed as a hero in the media here after he exposed the government's efforts to cover up the SARS epidemic. Then he touched an even more sensitive nerve, the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, urging in February that the Communist Party admit it was a mistake.
HU JIA, HUMAN RIGHTS ATTORNEY (through translator): His letter was powerful. He has so much credibility. He was a doctor in 1989 and saw 80 people who died. When he spoke out, the government could no longer deny what happened.
CHINOY: The letter sent shockwaves through the Chinese Communist Party. Last month, on his way to the U.S. Embassy to get a visa to visit his California-based daughter, Jiang and his wife were arrested. His daughter then spoke out on CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are trying to use this detention to pressure him to admit something he did was wrong, especially the letter he wrote this year regarding the Tiananmen massacre.
CHINOY: After the CNN interview, Jiang's wife was released. But those close to the family say the government told her and her children not to talk to the media. Human rights activist Hu Jia says he spoke with Mrs. Jiang by phone. He told me she spoke in guarded tones and left the impression there were security officers in her apartment. We asked China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman what was happening to Dr. Jiang. "On this issue," she said, "I don't know anything. There's no way to tell how long Dr. Jiang will remain in detention."(on camera): What is clear, though, is that no matter how modern or open China appears, the Communist Party still seems determined to silence anyone who challenges its authority. Mike Chinoy, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT tonight, a difficult tale to tell. We'll take to you the Army's burn unit in Texas, where they recover or they try to help men and women recover from the most excruciating of wounds. And morning papers still to come as well. A break first. This is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: The people you are about to meet are American servicemen who have been burned, seriously, severely burned in Iraq. We mention this as a warning to the gentler souls among you, though in some ways the very idea of uttering such a disclaimer, of a warning about the way someone looks, is nearly as much an obscenity as a courtesy. Gentler souls we suspect already understand this, just as gentler souls understand that what war does to the bodies of young men and women, what it does produces neither martyrs, nor sages, nor saints, any more than getting struck by lightning does. That's not what war is about. People went to war and people returned. The human forms are altered. Their humanity, we hope, we always hope, remains intact. It is reconciling that humanity with their physical circumstances that is the challenge for so many in the military these days, and that effort right now is centered at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. It is an effort for the patients and it is an effort for the staff. These are their stories, their stories reported by NEWSNIGHT's Beth Nissen, who first visited the hospital last fall.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was Specialist Edward Stephenson in October. His lower legs were burned nearly to the bone after his convoy hit explosive devices near Tikrit. This is specialist Stephenson today, after five surgeries and eight months of intensive physical therapy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Well, obviously, we had a problem. We'll take a break, try and fix it, and be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: We're going to try this again, because this is important. Some of the most difficult wounds of the Iraq war have been burns. They're always difficult to treat, the disfigurement that they cause. The work goes on at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. And NEWSNIGHT's Beth Nissen reports the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NISSEN (voice-over): This was Specialist Edward Stephenson in October. His lower legs were burned nearly to the bone after his convoy hit explosive devices near Tikrit. This is specialist Stephenson today, after five surgeries and eight months of intensive physical therapy.
SPC. EDWARD STEPHENSON, U.S. ARMY: In my heart, I knew that I was going to walk again. I was going to do whatever it took.
NISSEN: What it takes for those with serious burns to recover is intensive medical care, skin grafts, reconstructive surgeries and time.
LT. COL. LEE CANCIO, DIRECTOR, U.S. ARMY BURN UNIT: Progress in burn patients is sometimes slower than you see for other types of injury. Oftentimes, I have thought about this process as a kind of battle that will take months or even years to win. NISSEN: A battle first to close wounds and prevent infection. This was specialist Gabe Garriga last October with second- and third- degree burns over 53 percent of his body from a fiery collision of two Humvees near Baghdad. This is Specialist Garriga eight months later.
SPC. GABRIEL GARRIGA, U.S. ARMY: Everything is a lot better than it was before. I'm done with skin grafts. There's no more skin problems. It's just pretty much healing now.
NISSEN: Specialist Aaron Coates is healing, too. Coates, seen here last October, was badly burned on the face and hands when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the fuel truck he was driving near Kirkuk. This is Specialist Coates today. Like most oft longer-term burn patients here, he's fighting a new battle against scar tissue.
CANCIO: Scar tissue, even though it's intended to heal the wound, often causes complications. For example, the hands can contract into positions in which they can't be used.
NISSEN: Can contract into rigid claws.
SPC. AARON COATES, U.S. ARMY: There are a lot of things I can't do, like tie shoes. I don't have the grip to open containers yet because the joints in these fingers don't work. NISSEN: Thick scar tissue has also formed on his face, restricting his facial expressions, his ability to speak.
COATES: They're going to do surgery to help fix that here pretty soon. They haven't started anything yet, because it is still maturing and still kind of young scars there. NISSEN: Corporal Jose Martinez is further along in that process. More than a year ago, he suffered third-degree burns on his arms, hands, head and face when his Humvee hit a land mine in Karbala, Iraq.
CPL. JOSE MARTINEZ, U.S. ARMY: I heard people all the time saying that in a split second, your life can change. One minute, you were just a totally normal guy. And the next minute, you're disfigured with all these scars all over.
NISSEN: Martinez has already had 24 surgeries, skin grafts, fracture repair, plastic surgery, with more operations to come. Sergeant Josh Forbess faces extensive plastic surgery, too. He was one of the few survivors pulled from the flaming wreckage of two Black Hawk helicopters after they collided over Mosul, Iraq, on November 15, 2003.
MAJ. SANDRA WANEK, BURN UNIT SURGEON: He had severe burns to his face and scalp that were down to the bone on his head. His eyes, the lids, both upper and lower, were burned. He had severe nasal burns.
NISSEN: Now an outpatient and hospital volunteer, Forbess knows his reconstruction will take two, even three years.
SGT. JOSHUA FORBESS, U.S. ARMY: They're going to try to take these scars away on the right side of my face. It's a slow process. But it will all be done.
NISSEN: He knows he won't ever look like the young man he was just a few years ago.
CANCIO: No procedure can return a patient with very deep burns to their former state by any means. There is no perfect solution to those problems.
NISSEN: A temporary solution, prosthetics. A few weeks ago, Sergeant Forbess was fitted with a prosthetic nose and ear.
FORBESS: I use adhesive. And they just stick on there. And at the end of the day, I take them off and clean all the adhesive off of them.
NISSEN: Eventually, surgeons hope to be able to rebuild a nose from Forbess' own skin, give Forbess a more permanent prosthetic ear.
FORBESS: They're going to actually put pokes in my head so I can actually clip it on from then on out.
NISSEN: A visitor to these physical therapy rooms has to look hard for anger, depression, self-pity, regret.
COATES: But it could have been a lot worse. I was sitting on a 1,000 gallons of fuel when we got hit. And a lot of people told me I shouldn't have walked away from it. And I did.
STEPHENSON: I still get moments like a lot of the other soldiers that are here, you know, hey, send me back. Let me do my job.
NISSEN (on camera): Would you go back to Iraq?
FORBESS: In a heartbeat.
MARTINEZ: I was going to follow any order that the president would give, and I followed that order. There's no regrets. There's no complaints at all. NISSEN: No regrets?
MARTINEZ: No regrets. NISSEN (voice-over): Beth Nissen, CNN, San Antonio.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: There is all sorts of courage in the world. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(ROOSTER CROWING)
BROWN: OK, time to check morning papers from around the country and around the world. Those kids were amazing in that piece, weren't they? Man. I admire them.
"The Christian Science Monitor." "The Election That Won't Budge." "Democratic Convention May Defy History, Not Give Kerry a Big Bounce, a Sign of How Settled the Electorate Is." This is a series they've been doing. "Even In a Swing State, Views Are Hardened," looking at the state of Pennsylvania. That's "The Christian Science Monitor."
"The Oregonian" out West in Portland, Oregon. We love that paper and we love that town, Portland. "The Oregonian." "With Six Weeks to Go in Iraq, Dies in Blast, Klamath Falls' Lance Corporal Bryan Kelly," 21 years old, died in Iraq. And that deserves front-page treatment in any newspaper Lots of good stuff in
"The Philadelphia Inquirer." "Unlocking the Mystery of Amish Baby Death," big piece in the paper tomorrow. "Gene Finds Open New Avenue For Wider Research on SIDS." I didn't know that Amish kids were more likely to die of SIDS death than anyone else, but, apparently, that's the case. Also, "Pennsylvania's Representative Greenwood Considers Quitting." It would be a big blow to the Republican Party.A couple more quickly.
"Richmond Times-Dispatch." "Aspirin Efficacy Doubted. Study Suggests Pills May Not Aid Heart Patients or Hearts of Millions of Patients."
And let's end it -- you know, let's end it with "The Chicago Sun- Times." The weather tomorrow in Chicago is "bad hair."We'll be back, good hair or not. We'll see you tomorrow night. Good night for all of us.
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Aired July 19, 2004 - 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.One of the things to love about the news is that it is so many different things, big things and small things and interesting things, things that say a lot about the people involved and the rest of us.Martha Stewart is that sort of story. Her conviction and sentence will not change the world. It may change a pretty good sized company. It's affected a fair number of people but her fate is hardly the stuff of "War and Peace," yet we are fascinated and we are. Ms. Stewart has proven to be a tough cookie to the end. The other day she, at least, indirectly compared herself to Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandela for goodness sakes. One suspects even her biggest fans cringed a bit at that one.She, to our ear, has mixed a pinch of self pity with a tablespoon of defiance and not a drop of contrition in the mix and it is interesting and it is fascinating and that makes it news, not the biggest news of course or the most important but news and it has a seat at our table again tonight.But the whip begins with the big, not the small, Iran, the 9/11 Commission and its final report coming up, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux at the White House starts us off with a headline -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, the 9/11 Commission will officially release its report on Thursday but already there is one claim inside of it that is causing questions, as well as controversy, that is whether or not Iran played a role in the September 11th attacks.BROWN: Suzanne, nice to have you with us tonight.On to the Pentagon and the mystery of the Marine who disappeared from Iraq and reappeared in Lebanon; Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon with the headline.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, Marine Corporal Wassef Hassoun finally got to say publicly what he's been telling Marines privately that he did not desert his post and that he was captured and held against his will for 19 days. So, why is the Navy still investigating him? We'll look at that.
BROWN: Jamie, thank you. Jerusalem next where Yasser Arafat is facing perhaps the biggest political crisis in a career filled with crises, CNN's Alessio Vinci covering for us, Alessio a headline tonight.
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Aaron. Chairman Arafat facing an unprecedented challenge to his authority in Gaza and the West Bank, his prime minister says he wants to resign. Twice the chairman has rejected those resignation demands. All the while, the crisis has taken a violent turn at times -- Aaron.
BROWN: Alessio, good to see you.And whether you call it bad taste or clever strategy, Martha Stewart, as we said, seems to be leaving the contrition out of her comeback recipe. CNN's Mary Snow worked the story today, so Mary a headline.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, Martha Stewart may not be saying the words "I'm sorry," but tonight she did make some news on "LARRY KING" about her appeal and jail time -- Aaron.
BROWN: Mary, thank you. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly.Also coming up on the program tonight, in Iraq the government has changed. The violence continues. Car bombs, assassinations, security problems continue to drown out most everything else.Also, one of America's best has a change of heart, why you probably will not see Marion Jones running, at least, not solo at the Olympic Games in Athens.And, after a short vacation, the rooster is back tonight with a beak full of your morning papers, all that and more in the hour ahead.We begin with a piece of the final report of the 9/11 Commission report, which is due out Thursday, one very intriguing piece at that involving Iran, a country President Bush has long called a sponsor of terrorism. What the report says and what that finding may mean has set off a new round in the terror debate.So, we begin tonight at the White House and CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Eight of the 19 hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11th safely passed through Iran. The details of how that unfolded will be released by the 9/11 Commission in its final report on Thursday. Emerging from an Oval Office meeting, President Bush was asked whether there was a link between Iran and the 9/11 attacks.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As to direct connections with September the 11th, you know, we're digging into the facts to determine if there was one.
MALVEAUX: Mr. Bush's comment follows statements made over the weekend by the CIA's acting director that while Iran was used as a frequent route for traveling al Qaeda, it did not support the terrorist attacks.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There's no evidence that there was any official involvement between Iran and the September 11th attacks.
MALVEAUX: In fact, private administration officials say there is no new information that has emerged from the 9/11 Commission's investigation that would suggest otherwise.
BUSH: I have long expressed my concerns about Iran.
MALVEAUX: From his 2002 State of the Union address, Mr. Bush declared Iran, along with Iraq and North Korea...
BUSH: An axis of evil arming to threaten the peace of the world.
MALVEAUX: The Bush administration has designated Iran a state sponsor of terror, accused of pursuing nuclear weapons, supporting Hezbollah and harboring al Qaeda. On Thursday, the 9/11 Commission is expected to release a critical report of the administration's handling of the terrorist attacks and it will address any aid offered to the 9/11 hijackers by Iran. The report will be an opportunity for those who question the invasion of Iraq to make their case.
SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: We focused so much energy on Iraq when other countries may have been more directly linked to 9/11.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now, the Bush administration argues that each member of the so-called "axis of evil" should be examined individually that international pressure on Iran to get it to abandon its weapons programs is a more appropriate course of action than regime change -- Aaron.BROWN: How nervous, if that's the right word, is the White House about the report coming out Thursday?
MALVEAUX: Well, it's very interesting because one of the things that the White House has done in terms of strategy is they have already started to talk about what the Clinton administration had done or not done when it comes to heeding warnings of terrorist attacks. They contend that it is not just the Bush administration but previous administrations that perhaps did not see the warning signs before the September 11th attacks. But honestly, Aaron, a lot of the news has already come out before in its previous report that preliminary report from the 9/11 Commission citing a lot of those intelligence lapses and the intelligence community has already come out in response saying that they believe they have addressed many of those concerns.BROWN: Suzanne, thank you, Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.On the subject of the Clinton administration an embarrassment, perhaps worse, for the last national security adviser in the Clinton administration, CNN has now confirmed that Sandy Berger is the focus of a federal criminal investigation stemming from allegations he removed a number of highly classified documents pertaining to the war on terrorism while vetting them for the 9/11 Commission.The Associated Press is reporting that according to his lawyer, Mr. Berger stuck a number of documents in his jackets and his pants before walking out of a secure reading room. He's since returned most of the documents but drafts of the report on the Clinton administration's handling of al Qaeda's millennium plots remain unaccounted for. FBI agents with warrants have since searched Mr. Berger's home and office.In a statement given to AP tonight, Mr. Berger says he regrets his sloppiness but he goes on to say he had no intention of withholding evidence from the 9/11 Commission. The Justice Department has so far declined to comment on the story.On now to Iraq, a general just back from there told a reporter the other day that we'd all be kidding ourselves if we believed the serious security issues would somehow disappear with a new government, worse before better was the message and many are wondering if better is on the horizon at all. Today was that sort of day. Again, here's CNN's Michael Holmes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was 8:20 in the morning, the target an Iraqi police station. With fewer and fewer coalition troops on the streets in recent weeks, the insurgents are more and more hitting what they can, often poorly defended police stations manned by Iraqi security forces. Insurgents consider them collaborators in an occupation and a justifiable target.Witnesses said a truck laden with explosives drove to the rear of the police station and detonated, the blast leaving a two meter hole in the ground. It's a busy street, crowded when the bomb went off. There were many dead and wounded.After the explosion, a crowd of locals arrived and began chanting pro-Saddam slogans, "With our blood, with our souls we will sacrifice for Saddam," they said. Iraqi soldiers ordered the crowd to disperse, eventually firing warning shots to make that happen.(on camera): Another favorite tactic these days assassinations of political and regional leaders, two such attacks today, first a ministry of defense official gunned down outside his Baghdad home in a drive-by shooting, while further north in Mosul, an official from the Turkmen National Front, a political group, gunned down in exactly the same manner.(voice-over): The Iraqi prime minister, meanwhile, has allowed the reopening of a newspaper that supported the rebel Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The newspaper, "al-Hawza," was closed in March by the then civil administrator Paul Bremer who said the newspaper was inciting violence, the prime minister stressing Monday freedom of the press and allowing all voices to again be heard.Also Monday, the last of the Filipino soldiers in Iraq departing their base at Hilla, south of Baghdad, after handing over their duties to Polish troops, the departure fulfilling a deal done with those holding the Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz whose fate has been so closely watched in his homeland.The hostage crisis continues for some but has ended for one, an Egyptian man held by insurgents in Iraq has been freed. Truck driver Al Sayed Mohammed al-Sayed al-Garabawi (ph) reported captured on July 6th, released Monday after his employer withdrew his business from Iraq as demanded by the hostage takers.Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: A mystery that began a month ago in Iraq is still far from being sorted out tonight. When a U.S. Marine translator disappeared from his base camp outside Fallujah, he was initially listed as a deserter. The military later changed his status to captured.After surfacing in Lebanon at the home of relatives, the Marine is now back in the United States at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia and today he gave his first public explanation of his disappearance, from the Pentagon tonight CNN's Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE (voice-over): The Marines say that Corporal Wassef Hassoun is upset that some official statements and some unofficial leaks portrayed him as a suspected deserter who may have staged his own kidnapping. So, Hassoun asked to make a public statement to put what he has told the Marines privately on the record.
CPL. WASSEF HASSOUN, U.S. MARINES: I did not desert my post. I was captured and held against my will by anti-coalition forces for 19 days.MCINTYRE: And he indirectly denied the claim, made on an Islamist Web site that he agreed to leave the Marines as a condition of his release.
HASSOUN: Once a Marine, always a Marine, "Semper Fi."
MCINTYRE: While the investigation into his claimed abduction has begun criminal investigators have yet to question Hassoun directly, nor has he been charged with any wrongdoing or told he needs an attorney, something legal experts say could make his statements inadmissible in court if he should be charged in the future.
EUGENE FIDELL, MILITARY LAW EXPERT: If he hasn't been afforded his right to counsel, he would have a right at that point to have those statements and any evidence attributable to those statements suppressed as evidence.
MCINTYRE: Sources say investigators want an explanation for why it appears Hassoun left his base in Fallujah, Iraq voluntarily and Pentagon officials say they also are concerned about what information Hassoun may have shared with his alleged captors because, as an Arabic speaker, he helped interpret as the U.S. gathered intelligence from helpful Iraqis who could now be in danger.
LT. COL. DAVID LAPAN, U.S. MARINE CORPS SPOKESMAN: We're not in the position at this point to make a judgment either way. We are still gathering facts and information.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: While Hassoun is technically not a suspect yet, he could face some very serious charges down the road and, one defense attorney who is not connected with the case, said that Hassoun's failure to invoke his right for an attorney could make his defense more difficult later -- Aaron.
BROWN: Well, just in about a minute we heard both sides of that. On the one hand his not retaining counsel could make it more difficult for him and, on the other hand, the military is not advising him of his rights and his need for counsel could make it more complicated for them. So, where are we exactly?
MCINTYRE: Well, where we are is that the Marine Corps and the military is under the -- is creating the impression that they're not treating Hassoun any differently from anyone else who would have returned from being held captive.But, at the same time, they have this investigation going on and one defense attorney who has defended a lot of people charged with wrongdoing in the military said he actually feels sorry for Hassoun. He believes he should have an attorney now before he says something that gets himself in trouble.
BROWN: Jamie, thank you, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon tonight, a true mystery this.In another corner of the Middle East, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is facing what may be the fiercest internal challenge of his career and there have been many. In one sense its roots are those of countless rebellions, a younger generation fighting the old guard for control the cause. His latest political crisis has created turmoil in the streets of Gaza and in the Palestinian Authority's power structure, reporting for us tonight CNN's Alessio Vinci.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VINCI (voice-over): Meeting school children, Yasser Arafat appeared un-phased by two days of unprecedented rebellion against his authority. His prime minister insists he will quit over chaos in Gaza. Ahmed Qorei urged the Palestinian leader to seriously consider demands for reforms. It is the strongest criticism ever of Arafat.
AHMED QOREI, PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I call on you and tell you that the time has come to reactivate all the security operators on a proper basis and the time has come to put the proper persons in the proper positions.
VINCI: Qorei spoke after hundreds of armed Palestinian militants went on a rampage this weekend in Gaza burning a police station, attacking the headquarters of the Palestinian Intelligence Service. Militants violently rejected as meaningful reforms Arafat appointing his own nephew as the new security chief.
BASSIM EID, PALESTINIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: By appointing Mr. Moussa Arafat yesterday or the day before as the head of the Palestinian security, the national security in Gaza, I think that Arafat proves by such kind of an appointment that he's still interested in the corruption.VINCI: Prime minister Qorei appealed for calm saying the Palestinian cabinet appointed a committee to address the current crisis.
QOREI (through translator): Who is corrupt and who isn't corrupt? These are the questions that are being raised but this is not how corruption is solved.VINCI: While Arafat clearly faces a growing challenge, some analysts predict the crisis may be resolved with new security officials but Arafat, they say, will survive.
MAHDI ABDEL HADI, PALESTINIAN ANALYST: Arafat has been and will continue to be a maestro of tactics and a survivor and this is one of the serious crises he has been facing since '83, like Lebanon. It's not a mutiny. It's not a coup d'etat. It's a real crisis between the old guards and the young guards and he has to know that it's time for the old guards to leave the stage as soon as possible.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VINCI: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to withdraw troops and settlers from Gaza by the end of next year. With the power vacuum that would follow, Aaron, this is that violence in Gaza is yet another reminder that over there as (unintelligible) withdrawal plan there are more than one power at this point ready and willing to take over -- Aaron.
BROWN: When we talk about the old guard and the new guard, to what extent is the new guard more willing or less willing to deal with the Israelis non-violently?VINCI: Well, we do know that most of the militants who have taken to the streets are loyal to Muhammad Dahlan, which is one of the leaders of the so-called young guard, a 47-year-old man who has been tapped many times by both the Israelis and the Americans as one person that they could deal with in terms of the Palestinian crisis.Or certainly should eventually one time or one day the young guard take over that would certainly make it, according to the Israelis and the Americans, perhaps a better negotiating partner. That's for sure -- Aaron.
BROWN: Alessio, good to see you again. It's been a while.Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, she'll do whatever it takes to make sure her company survives even while she sits in jail, the many faces and words of Martha Stewart coming up next.And later, a strange story out of China where a man hailed as a hero, as early as last year, now sits in jail.Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTHA STEWART: My life is my business and my business is my life.
LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: Isn't that kind of sad in a way? I mean I know you love it and everything but...
STEWART: Sad?KING: Your life is your business?STEWART: Well, my business encompasses a lot of things that I do. I mean all the things I love is what my business is all about, so that's not sad. It's about child raising. It's about home keeping. It's about gardening, entertaining, cooking, all the things that I'm really interested in, the domestic arts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Martha Stewart tonight.Once upon a time in old New England, someone who broke the village rules might have been asked to answer for it in public, something in the letter "A" perhaps to go with those scarlet pumps.But these days in the global village, shame is out along with letters on shirts, which is not of course to say that Martha Stewart is Hester Prynne nor, of course, is she Nelson Mandela but facing five months in prison, her contrition started fading just minutes after the sentence came down. She spoke to Larry King tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE" and she made some news, reporting for us CNN's Mary Snow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW (voice-over): After a weekend to think about it, Martha Stewart says she's still thinking about whether to press an appeal or take the shortest route to serving her sentence.
STEWART: We have a good appeal. We have -- I have not made up my mind one way or the other.
SNOW: That said Stewart isn't letting her pending prison sentence prevent her from making a very public appeal to boost her image. Her interview with Larry King is just the latest part of that effort since being sentenced to five months in prison, five months home confinement pending appeal. Part of Stewart's strategy is showing defiance, vowing on the courthouse steps not to fade away.
STEWART: And I'll be back. I will be back.SNOW: But image consultants question how she's going about trying to gain public sympathy.
MATTHEW TRAUB, DAN KLORES COMMUNICATIONS: Her strategy seems to be to paint herself as a victim, presumably to set the stage for her appeal and to I think generate sympathy.SNOW: Stewart said she's felt choked and suffocated and, on ABC's "20/20" Friday, shortly after the sentencing, when talking about people going to prison she seemed to compare herself to Nelson Mandela.
STEWART: There are many other people that have gone to prison. Look at Nelson Mandela.TRAUB: She should show more humility. She should appeal to people on a very personal level that this has been an incredibly difficult time for her and for her family but then she should go out and live her life.
SNOW: A big part of Martha Stewart's life is her business that's built on her image and those who study consumers and brands say Stewart didn't help that image by putting in a plug for her business minutes after being sentenced.
STEWART: Perhaps all of you out there can continue to show your support by subscribing to our magazine.
ROBERT PASSIKOFF, BRAND KEYS, INC.: Well, it will help in the short run among the people who already feel that she's had wrong done to her, people who have already supported her, the people who were e- mailing to the site. It's not going to have much of an effect with the people who have defected over the past two years.
SNOW: While Stewart's legal fate was determined by a judge, it will now be up to the court of public opinion to seal the fate of her business and the image it was built on.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: And when Martha Stewart does speak publicly she needs to be careful because if she does press ahead with her appeal her words could influence the court, so she needs to strike a balance between helping her financial interests and protecting her legal ones -- Aaron.
BROWN: Mary, thank you.With us from Washington tonight is Eric Dezenhall, a crisis management consultant and the recent author of the novel "Shakedown Beach," good to see you. Good to see you again.
ERIC DEZENHALL, DAMAGE CONTROL CONSULTANT: Thanks for having me.
BROWN: You watched her on -- watched her with Larry tonight. To me it was a somewhat softer Martha Stewart that we saw on Friday night.
DEZENHALL: Well, there's nowhere to go but up at this point and she keeps getting better. I mean actually suffering becomes her and, you know, Martha Stewart's business brand is perfection but her personal brand is audacity and it's audacity that built her business and it's ultimately audacity that's going to lead to her redemption.And, contrary to a lot of the things that you hear that you're supposed to go out and cry and apologize, this is not someone who is wired that way and, in the long run, her goal is not to convince 100 percent of the audience to love her.It's to show a core audience what Americans really want to see, which is what crisis management is all about, is doing what's doable and showing how well you take your beating and she's showing that really, really well, much better than she used to.
BROWN: Let me play some of that back to make sure I understand it that this is -- for all those people sort of on the margins...
DEZENHALL: Right.
BROWN: Not the people who think she is a goddess and not the people who think she is a witch but the people on the margins there, why not show a little contrition here, soften up, a little humility, say, you know what, I mean now that I think about it I didn't handle this as well as I might have and I got to take my lumps? Why is that such a terrible thing?
DEZENHALL: Well, I don't know that it is a terrible thing, Aaron, but one of the things you find when you work with these clients is you have to do what is doable within their constitution. I mean people said that Gary Condit should have been softer but the guy was a cold fish. He wasn't capable of it. And, Martha Stewart is simply not an Oprah kind of personality who can be overly soft. She's about as soft as she can get and you can't counsel a client to do what is beyond their own personal capacity.In a perfect world, maybe she would show more contrition but one of the things that you have to understand is that if she starts doing what some of the pundits said is come out and apologize well then she's convicted two seconds later. And so, a lot of these silly words of wisdom and I think that she was right in criticizing some of the pundits who said she should just apologize and it will go away. In 20 years at this I've never seen that to be true.The other thing people said is she should just plea as if a plea is some magic thing. Well, if I said to you, Aaron, if you were accused of something just plead and part of that plea was never being able to be a broadcast journalist again, it's not such an easy choice.
BROWN: No. No, I'd fight on that one. Would you agree that the Mandela comparison, it wasn't a precise comparison, I wouldn't say that's what it was, but putting her in the same sentence as Mr. Mandela was it a mistake?
DEZENHALL: Well, you know, she can't win because I think the biggest problem she has is in this corporate scandal climate, which is like the French Revolution, Martha Stewart scandal is the only one that the public understands.Nobody understands Tyco and WorldCom. They do understand Martha Stewart and insider trading, so sure the Nelson Mandela comparison was ham handed but I'm of the school that there's very little she can do to win in this climate.
BROWN: So, if you can't win, what you try and do is lose as little as possible?
DEZENHALL: Well, that's exactly what crisis management and damage control is about. You know, the term damage control comes out of the Navy from when a torpedo hit your ship. When a torpedo hits your ship there's damage and damage control is not the same thing as damage disappearance.
BROWN: Yes.
DEZENHALL: What she is doing is very decent damage control, better than she did before and I think that she has a pretty good shot in the long term, not the short term, at redemption and a comeback but it's not going to be achieved by putting on some false show. Tenacity is her personal brand and that's what will ultimately redeem her.
BROWN: Eric, good to see you again. Thank you.
DEZENHALL: Thanks for having me.
BROWN: Interesting thoughts.A quick reminder, if you missed it or you just want to see it again, Larry's interview with Martha Stewart will run about an hour and a half from now, almost exactly, midnight Eastern here on CNN. It was fascinating.Coming up on the program tonight it won't be steroids or lawsuits that keep track star Marion Jones from running any races in Athens. Instead, it will be something much more human it seems. And later, Nissen revisits the burn hospital for soldiers where the scars are disfiguring but only on the outside.Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.
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BROWN: It's neither been a good year for track star Marion Jones, nor a very good few days. This weekend at U.S. Olympic trials in Sacramento, Ms. Jones qualified in the long jump, but pulled out of the 200 meters after looking distinctly ordinary in a preliminary heat and missing the cut entirely in the 100 meters. She is, of course, also under investigation for using performance enhancing drugs, despite never having once failed a drug test, and firmly denies she's done anything wrong. All the same, it casts a shadow and raises questions about a lot of things, including the fairness of her treatment. William Rhoden made the last question the heart of his writing this weekend in the sports pages of "The New York Times," where he's a columnist. We're quite pleased to have him with us tonight. Welcome.
WILLIAM RHODEN, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Hey, Aaron.
BROWN: I suppose it is easy for all of us, any of us, to handle our successes. We're tested by how we handle our disappointments. And I think one of the points you were trying to make in the piece was how well, in your view at least, she's handled her disappointments.
RHODEN: Well, now, that's when I started to turn around with Marion. We don't really know any of these people. I have respected Marion, don't really know her. But when everything was going well and she was sort of the glamour person, I was saying, that's fine. But what's going to happen when public sentiment turns against her or something, some adversity happens? How is she going to react?And when she started to fight the Anti-Doping Agency and just said you know what, enough is enough, you know, that's when I really started to respect her, because she showed that she's a battler, she's a fighter, that she's really tough. She knew what sort of legal team to get. She waged a public relations campaign that I think caught even the anti-drug agency by surprise. And I think, gradually, what she's also done was turn public attention -- or at least the public attitude in her favor, in that she's saying, I don't care what you feel about me personally, but all we ask for is a fair process. And, frankly, that's sort of my problem here with this. The process is a problem. I don't like the process.
BROWN: Part of the problem with the Doping Agency, USADA, is -- and I think most people who follow sports would argue that the steroid issue is a real issue. It needs to be dealt with. But USADA keeps changing the rules or at least moving the bar around, so it is hard to know what's in play.
RHODEN: Yes, you know, they're moving the goal posts. First, they're saying, well, first, as of May, we're going to have beyond a reasonable doubt, which we could all live with. Beyond a reasonable doubt. Then in June, they move the goal posts back. They say, well, that's too hard for us, so we're going to say to make it comfortable, a comfortable doubt. Comfortable? And I think at that point that's when a lot of people were saying that, you know, this is ridiculous and sort of a sort of weapons of mass destruction attitude that is sort of finding its way into track and field and maybe too many other places. Well, we're going to look here. Well, it's not there. We're going to look here. And, Marion, we're going to chase you until the end of the Earth until we justify our existence. And that's unfair. Like you said, she's never tested positive. Now, maybe you got to find a better test.
BROWN: Yes.
RHODEN: Nobody wants drugs in their sport or in their workplace. They don't. But it's the way that you get there. You make it fair process, due process. And if you can't do it, well, wait until next Olympics. You've already sent your message. We get the point. But don't ruin lives. Don't ruin reputations.
BROWN: Let me throw one more thing at you. In all this talk about Marion Jones and BALCO and drugs and all that, I wonder if a -- I don't know if it's a larger story, but a better story has somewhat been overshadowed, which is that the team that goes to Athens is going to about have a lot of good young faces in it that we haven't seen before.
RHODEN: This may be -- this may be the best team that we've sent to the Olympics since 1992. And you're absolutely right. The young talent is phenomenal. Allyson Felix won the 200. And I'm sorry. Marion Jones would have never won the 200 again. Allyson Felix is 18 years old and won convincingly. You have got names like Crawford, Justin Gatlin, Alan Webb, people who are 19, 20, 21, 22, who are going to be around for the next two or three Olympics. And kind of getting back to the drug scandal, what I don't want, or what the agency shouldn't want these young people to say is, wow, is this how you're treating Marion Jones? She's like an icon. We grew up watching her race. And this is how you're going to turn this into a witch-hunt and go after her? You don't want to turn people off to your sport, especially a sport that only has its day in the sun once every four years. But you've got a phenomenal team that we're sending to Athens -- yes, to Athens. And, you know, that's the story. You're absolutely right. And that's the positive story. And by the leaks that -- you know, I think they've cut themselves off at the knees trying to achieve a purpose.
BROWN: Yes.
RHODEN: It is really distasteful.
BROWN: Good to have you with us. I hope you'll come back as this summer unfolds and on this and other matters, too. It's nice to see you. We're a big fan of your writing. Thank you.
RHODEN: Aaron, the pleasure's mine.
BROWN: William Rhoden of "The New York Times," sports columnist there. A few more items that made news around the country, starting in Sacramento, where late today NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr. left the hospital. He went home a day after crashing his Corvette during a practice session at a track in Sonoma. He was treated for second- degree burns on his legs and his chin. My goodness, look at that. Kobe Bryant case, the Colorado Supreme Court today forbidding the press from releasing details of a closed-door hearing that were accidentally e-mailed to seven media outlets by a court reporter. In issuing the ruling, the justices conceded that what the trial court judge did amounts to prior restraint, but that the circumstances justified. This will be an interesting set of appeals. Lawyers for the party, including the AP, CBS and Fox News have yet to say whether they will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. But prior restraint has no history in the country. And the state of Georgia executed Eddie Crawford, who was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering his 2-year-old niece. Lawyers had argued that DNA testing on two strands of hair found on the girl might implicate someone else. Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a stay of execution without comment. Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, a story from a country where being right often means angering your government, which can land you in jail. And still later, all the news that's fit to read, tomorrow morning's papers tonight. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: With the exception of aeronautics and nuclear physics, communism and science haven't always gotten along so well. Joseph Stalin, who mistrusted the field of genetics, put a bumpkin in charge of it, a man who believed you can make rye grow in a wheat field by planting wheat. Hundreds of legitimate researchers were sent to the gulags. Today, it is China and SARS and a doctor who, until recently, was leading the fight against the disease and by implication the government. These days, he's in custody. Reporting from Beijing tonight, CNN's Mike Chinoy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Last year retired Chinese army doctor Dr. Jiang Yanyong was hailed as a hero in the media here after he exposed the government's efforts to cover up the SARS epidemic. Then he touched an even more sensitive nerve, the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, urging in February that the Communist Party admit it was a mistake.
HU JIA, HUMAN RIGHTS ATTORNEY (through translator): His letter was powerful. He has so much credibility. He was a doctor in 1989 and saw 80 people who died. When he spoke out, the government could no longer deny what happened.
CHINOY: The letter sent shockwaves through the Chinese Communist Party. Last month, on his way to the U.S. Embassy to get a visa to visit his California-based daughter, Jiang and his wife were arrested. His daughter then spoke out on CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are trying to use this detention to pressure him to admit something he did was wrong, especially the letter he wrote this year regarding the Tiananmen massacre.
CHINOY: After the CNN interview, Jiang's wife was released. But those close to the family say the government told her and her children not to talk to the media. Human rights activist Hu Jia says he spoke with Mrs. Jiang by phone. He told me she spoke in guarded tones and left the impression there were security officers in her apartment. We asked China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman what was happening to Dr. Jiang. "On this issue," she said, "I don't know anything. There's no way to tell how long Dr. Jiang will remain in detention."(on camera): What is clear, though, is that no matter how modern or open China appears, the Communist Party still seems determined to silence anyone who challenges its authority. Mike Chinoy, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT tonight, a difficult tale to tell. We'll take to you the Army's burn unit in Texas, where they recover or they try to help men and women recover from the most excruciating of wounds. And morning papers still to come as well. A break first. This is NEWSNIGHT.
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BROWN: The people you are about to meet are American servicemen who have been burned, seriously, severely burned in Iraq. We mention this as a warning to the gentler souls among you, though in some ways the very idea of uttering such a disclaimer, of a warning about the way someone looks, is nearly as much an obscenity as a courtesy. Gentler souls we suspect already understand this, just as gentler souls understand that what war does to the bodies of young men and women, what it does produces neither martyrs, nor sages, nor saints, any more than getting struck by lightning does. That's not what war is about. People went to war and people returned. The human forms are altered. Their humanity, we hope, we always hope, remains intact. It is reconciling that humanity with their physical circumstances that is the challenge for so many in the military these days, and that effort right now is centered at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. It is an effort for the patients and it is an effort for the staff. These are their stories, their stories reported by NEWSNIGHT's Beth Nissen, who first visited the hospital last fall.
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BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was Specialist Edward Stephenson in October. His lower legs were burned nearly to the bone after his convoy hit explosive devices near Tikrit. This is specialist Stephenson today, after five surgeries and eight months of intensive physical therapy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Well, obviously, we had a problem. We'll take a break, try and fix it, and be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: We're going to try this again, because this is important. Some of the most difficult wounds of the Iraq war have been burns. They're always difficult to treat, the disfigurement that they cause. The work goes on at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. And NEWSNIGHT's Beth Nissen reports the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NISSEN (voice-over): This was Specialist Edward Stephenson in October. His lower legs were burned nearly to the bone after his convoy hit explosive devices near Tikrit. This is specialist Stephenson today, after five surgeries and eight months of intensive physical therapy.
SPC. EDWARD STEPHENSON, U.S. ARMY: In my heart, I knew that I was going to walk again. I was going to do whatever it took.
NISSEN: What it takes for those with serious burns to recover is intensive medical care, skin grafts, reconstructive surgeries and time.
LT. COL. LEE CANCIO, DIRECTOR, U.S. ARMY BURN UNIT: Progress in burn patients is sometimes slower than you see for other types of injury. Oftentimes, I have thought about this process as a kind of battle that will take months or even years to win. NISSEN: A battle first to close wounds and prevent infection. This was specialist Gabe Garriga last October with second- and third- degree burns over 53 percent of his body from a fiery collision of two Humvees near Baghdad. This is Specialist Garriga eight months later.
SPC. GABRIEL GARRIGA, U.S. ARMY: Everything is a lot better than it was before. I'm done with skin grafts. There's no more skin problems. It's just pretty much healing now.
NISSEN: Specialist Aaron Coates is healing, too. Coates, seen here last October, was badly burned on the face and hands when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the fuel truck he was driving near Kirkuk. This is Specialist Coates today. Like most oft longer-term burn patients here, he's fighting a new battle against scar tissue.
CANCIO: Scar tissue, even though it's intended to heal the wound, often causes complications. For example, the hands can contract into positions in which they can't be used.
NISSEN: Can contract into rigid claws.
SPC. AARON COATES, U.S. ARMY: There are a lot of things I can't do, like tie shoes. I don't have the grip to open containers yet because the joints in these fingers don't work. NISSEN: Thick scar tissue has also formed on his face, restricting his facial expressions, his ability to speak.
COATES: They're going to do surgery to help fix that here pretty soon. They haven't started anything yet, because it is still maturing and still kind of young scars there. NISSEN: Corporal Jose Martinez is further along in that process. More than a year ago, he suffered third-degree burns on his arms, hands, head and face when his Humvee hit a land mine in Karbala, Iraq.
CPL. JOSE MARTINEZ, U.S. ARMY: I heard people all the time saying that in a split second, your life can change. One minute, you were just a totally normal guy. And the next minute, you're disfigured with all these scars all over.
NISSEN: Martinez has already had 24 surgeries, skin grafts, fracture repair, plastic surgery, with more operations to come. Sergeant Josh Forbess faces extensive plastic surgery, too. He was one of the few survivors pulled from the flaming wreckage of two Black Hawk helicopters after they collided over Mosul, Iraq, on November 15, 2003.
MAJ. SANDRA WANEK, BURN UNIT SURGEON: He had severe burns to his face and scalp that were down to the bone on his head. His eyes, the lids, both upper and lower, were burned. He had severe nasal burns.
NISSEN: Now an outpatient and hospital volunteer, Forbess knows his reconstruction will take two, even three years.
SGT. JOSHUA FORBESS, U.S. ARMY: They're going to try to take these scars away on the right side of my face. It's a slow process. But it will all be done.
NISSEN: He knows he won't ever look like the young man he was just a few years ago.
CANCIO: No procedure can return a patient with very deep burns to their former state by any means. There is no perfect solution to those problems.
NISSEN: A temporary solution, prosthetics. A few weeks ago, Sergeant Forbess was fitted with a prosthetic nose and ear.
FORBESS: I use adhesive. And they just stick on there. And at the end of the day, I take them off and clean all the adhesive off of them.
NISSEN: Eventually, surgeons hope to be able to rebuild a nose from Forbess' own skin, give Forbess a more permanent prosthetic ear.
FORBESS: They're going to actually put pokes in my head so I can actually clip it on from then on out.
NISSEN: A visitor to these physical therapy rooms has to look hard for anger, depression, self-pity, regret.
COATES: But it could have been a lot worse. I was sitting on a 1,000 gallons of fuel when we got hit. And a lot of people told me I shouldn't have walked away from it. And I did.
STEPHENSON: I still get moments like a lot of the other soldiers that are here, you know, hey, send me back. Let me do my job.
NISSEN (on camera): Would you go back to Iraq?
FORBESS: In a heartbeat.
MARTINEZ: I was going to follow any order that the president would give, and I followed that order. There's no regrets. There's no complaints at all. NISSEN: No regrets?
MARTINEZ: No regrets. NISSEN (voice-over): Beth Nissen, CNN, San Antonio.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: There is all sorts of courage in the world. We'll be right back.
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BROWN: OK, time to check morning papers from around the country and around the world. Those kids were amazing in that piece, weren't they? Man. I admire them.
"The Christian Science Monitor." "The Election That Won't Budge." "Democratic Convention May Defy History, Not Give Kerry a Big Bounce, a Sign of How Settled the Electorate Is." This is a series they've been doing. "Even In a Swing State, Views Are Hardened," looking at the state of Pennsylvania. That's "The Christian Science Monitor."
"The Oregonian" out West in Portland, Oregon. We love that paper and we love that town, Portland. "The Oregonian." "With Six Weeks to Go in Iraq, Dies in Blast, Klamath Falls' Lance Corporal Bryan Kelly," 21 years old, died in Iraq. And that deserves front-page treatment in any newspaper Lots of good stuff in
"The Philadelphia Inquirer." "Unlocking the Mystery of Amish Baby Death," big piece in the paper tomorrow. "Gene Finds Open New Avenue For Wider Research on SIDS." I didn't know that Amish kids were more likely to die of SIDS death than anyone else, but, apparently, that's the case. Also, "Pennsylvania's Representative Greenwood Considers Quitting." It would be a big blow to the Republican Party.A couple more quickly.
"Richmond Times-Dispatch." "Aspirin Efficacy Doubted. Study Suggests Pills May Not Aid Heart Patients or Hearts of Millions of Patients."
And let's end it -- you know, let's end it with "The Chicago Sun- Times." The weather tomorrow in Chicago is "bad hair."We'll be back, good hair or not. We'll see you tomorrow night. Good night for all of us.
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