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Lou Dobbs Moneyline
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Aired December 21, 2001 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE for Friday, December 21. Here now, Lou Dobbs.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening.
We're just hours away from a historic transition of power in Afghanistan. The new 30-member government will be headed by Prime Minister Hamid Karzai. It has six months to try to unite a country that has been at war for more than two decades. And that war may be far from ended.
The Pentagon today saying U.S. fighter jets and AC-130 gunships struck a convoy believed to be carrying al Qaeda leaders southwest of Tora Bora. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says, quote, "A lot of vehicles were destroyed and a lot of people were killed." A local tribal leader says the convoy was bringing prominent Afghans to witness the swearing-in ceremony in Kabul. A spokesman for the U.S. central command says officials have checked. They found the convoy was indeed composed of Taliban leaders.
The Pentagon confirmed what we reported to you last night, that U.S. forces will be sent into the mountains of Tora Bora searching for Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda fighters. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld says U.S. forces and coalition forces will be going cave to cave, looking for individuals as well as evidence. Rumsfeld says intelligence information already gathered has helped thwart terrorist attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: There has been information that has been gathered in Afghanistan that has directly resulted in the arrest of people across the world in other side of globe and undoubtedly have presented other terrorist activities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Rumsfeld says a number of senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders have been captured, but he would not disclose any names nor their number.
The first peacekeeping troops have arrived in the Afghan capital of Kabul. About 80 British Royal Marines traveled more than 200 miles from Bagram Air Base to Kabul this morning. They will watch over the swearing in of the interim government that will take place tomorrow. But that group of British Marines will not take part in disarming local soldiers or militia. The British Marines will make up a much larger multinational force that is estimated to reach some 5,000 in number when the full complement is in place in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon says the U.S. military will not be a part of that force, but will offer assistance. Nic Robertson is in Jalalabad tonight and he joins us now with the latest out of Afghanistan -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, there is warplanes that struck the convoy just a little ways south of here in the next province. Hosts have taken off from the USS Stennis. Now that ship had been in the Arabian Gulf now for just over a week.
There has been three days of reconnaissance flights and three days of ground missions by U.S. special forces around the Tora Bora area, trying to get more information about al Qaeda members and the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. And as the Pentagon has said, the targeting of this convoy was based on specific information they had received, but Afghans here on the ground say that these were tribal elders on their way for the inauguration ceremony of the new interim government in Kabul. It's already Saturday here and that ceremony due to take place in several hours.
It will be a formal ceremony whereby the outgoing president, who has not held real power in the country for about six years, Rabbani will hand over the power to Hamid Karzai, the new head of the interim government. Hamid Karzai is a Pashtun. He is of the main ethnic group here in Afghanistan. And the six deputy first ministers, if you will, beneath him represent the broad-based ethnic makeup of the rest of Afghanistan. There will be Tajiks, Hazaras and others in those positions immediately beneath him.
The aim of this government is to bring stability in the next six months, in which time there is supposed to be convened a Loya Jirga, a grand council that will more broadly represent the interests of the nation. And perhaps that will have some 200 to 300 members which will be the final governing body of Afghanistan.
And as well, as you say, Marines -- British Royal Marines arriving in at Bagram Air Base traveling to Kabul. They will be there to provide protection for politicians and that interim government, they will be there to provide protection for politicians in that interim government. They will be there as well to provide security and safety on the streets of Kabul. Their remit, at this time, does not allow them to go very far beyond Kabul. They are there operating under the U.N. -- under the auspices of the United Nations.
And they are operating under what is known as chapter seven, which does get them robust rules of engagement, which does allow them to fire back if fired upon. But at the moment, the defense minister inside Afghanistan wants the U.N. troops kept to a bare minimum, kept out of sight and kept off the streets as much as possible -- Lou.
DOBBS: Nic, thank you very much. Nic Robertson reporting from Jalalabad tonight. Thank you, Nic.
Well, we have new developments tonight on that controversial videotape of Osama bin Laden released by the White House and Pentagon. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today said there was no intent to conceal any information, even though parts of the videotape were not translated in the version released to the public.
On that videotape, bin Laden refers to several of the hijackers involved in the September 11 attacks. The references include Mohamed Atta, who flew the first jetliner that slammed into the World Trade Center. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld today said the Pentagon has no intention releasing a full translation of the entire videotape.
The United States has put together a coalition of non-democratic countries to support the war against terrorism. Some of those countries not only endorse terrorist activity, they in fact sponsor it. But these arrangements are nothing new. And they have done nothing, or perhaps little, to further the cause of democracy around the world.
Richard Perle is the chairman of the Defense Policy Board with the American Enterprise Institute. Richard, good to have you with us.
RICHARD PERLE, CHAIRMAN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: It's a pleasure to be here.
DOBBS: The role of this coalition, at this point -- we are starting to see references and the videotape creating some controversy because they were excerpted. The Saudi Arabians making clear they do not like the attention and the scrutiny they are receiving now. What is your best counsel here?
PERLE: Well, we have a coalition. It is largely left to the United States to do the serious work. So it is useful to have help. We have had some help. It isn't essential and, therefore, we can afford to be -- I think we must be candid with others in the coalition where we are not happy with what are they doing and where we think they can be of greater assistance.
DOBBS: Are we happy? Should we be happy with what, for example, Saudi Arabia is doing?
PERLE: I think the Saudis have a real problem. It is a country in which the distribution of wealth is monstrously lopsided. Per capita income has declined in recent years. It was roughly $13,000 a few years ago. I think now it is five or six. And yet, the elite in Saudi Arabia lives on a lavish scale. So there is discontent in Saudi Arabia. There is discontent in other similarly situated states in the region and one of the responses to that discontent has been to export dissidents and export opposition by financing them elsewhere. And unfortunately, some of the opponents of this Saudi regime have wound up opponents of the United States as well.
DOBBS: Unfortunately indeed. And as we sit here, you and I analyzing this, discussing it, the fact is that real people have paid with their lives as a result of that terrorism that was exported and funded, whether through sanction or just simply support or a blind eye turned by a number of governments.
What is the appropriate U.S. response, because it seems singularly unsatisfactory to simply say that is the way the world is.
PERLE: I think we have to say, we want an end to the practices that have placed Americans in jeopardy and, indeed, have already taken American lives. What I do mean by that? I mean the Saudis should stop funding institutions, often religious institutions that preach hatred of the West and hatred of the United States and celebrate holy war.
In Egypt, a country to which we give major assistance to and a half billion dollars a year, I think we should be saying to Egyptian leadership, we don't want to hear those sermons on Fridays in mosques all over Egypt that call for death to Americans. Those imams who preach that hatred are on your payroll. So if you want to be regarded as a friend of the United States, you will stop that practice.
DOBBS: Stop that practice -- it is highly unlikely though, isn't it, Richard, that they could -- and in point of fact, it is a direct, if you will, intrusion in the affairs of a sovereign state -- but in terms of our foreign policy here, in which we will treat Pakistan, which until the events of September 11, was considered to be certainly a repository of hardly goodwill toward the United States, Iran, the Sudan, these countries -- we seem to be, if you will, treating them all as if they are just simply variants of one form. That is they are a nation state, deserve certain respect and we can ignore their colors, if you will.
PERLE: Every one of these countries, of course, is different. Musharraf in Pakistan, when the time came for a decision, made a quite courageous decision. And he has been rewarded for that. He's more popular now than I think he has ever been.
It is not unreasonable to ask the Saudis to show similar courage and put an end to the subsidy of groups that would destroy America given a chance. It is not unreasonable to ask Mubarak in Egypt to stop supporting people who are preaching death and destruction against Americans. And if they are not prepared to do that, then we have to be prepared to alter fundamentally our relationship to those regimes.
DOBBS: On the basis of -- I would infer, on first the basis of pure self-interest, and then on somewhat higher and appropriate moral ground.
PERLE: Well, the moral ground is obvious; self-interest is often more compelling. And we need to adjust their self-interest. For example, it is very much in Mubarak's interest to continue to receive the 2.5 billion a year. I don't see why we can't say to him: If the practice of supporting the preaching of hatred against the United States doesn't stop, the money will stop. And I think whatever his moral convictions, his self-interest will lead him to the right conclusion.
DOBBS: And on the issue of conclusions, no conclusion vis-a-vis Iraq. What is your best judgment about that tonight? PERLE: Well, we can't win the war on terror and leave Saddam Hussein, who has used terrorism the whole of his life, in place. He has weapons of mass destruction, he has anthrax, he has the other biological weapons. We know that. He is working frantically to acquire nuclear weapons as well, and he will. And even now, he is in a position to distribute biological weapons to terrorists, and we would never be able to prove that he was the source.
So the question is do we wait and hope for the best, or do we take preemptive action? I think that at the end of the day we will have no choice but to take preemptive action, so that we don't find ourselves on -- as we did on September 11, having waited too long to take action against a known threat.
DOBBS: Richard Perle, as always good to have you here.
PERLE: Good to be here.
DOBBS: Well, after a bloody revolt that claimed 25 lives and toppled a president, Argentina tonight is looking for a new leadership. Argentina's Congress today named the Senate president as interim leader of the country, as it tries to come to grips with a political and economic crisis. Meanwhile, the United States, along with Canada and Mexico today, urged Argentina's leaders to stop the country's economic collapse. Lucia Newman joins us now from Buenos Aires with the latest -- Lucia.
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Lou. Well, at this moment, Argentina's largest political party is debating two very crucial things, and that is the future political leadership and economic course of this country.
Now, as you said, there is an interim president. He will have to step down on Sunday morning. And in the meantime, the Justicialista Party will have to pick a new interim president. This president will either call for new elections within 90 days, or he could stay on and finish the presidential period, the one left empty by President Fernando de la Rua; in other words, become president for another two years. It's unclear which way it will go, Lou, but one thing that does -- there does seem to be a consensus on one key issue, and that is a moratorium on Argentina's massive foreign debts.
It seems that almost everyone in what will be now the ruling party has agreed to call it quits, to say we cannot pay, appeal to its creditors for understanding, for more time and for what they call here a more reasonable debt schedule, so that Argentina can concentrate on its severe social problems.
The other thing we are seeing now is a tendency toward putting an end to what is called here convertibility of the currency; in other words, pegging the Argentine peso to the U.S. dollar. They say that that is that system has made Argentina completely uncompetitive with its neighbors, and it's time to bite the bullet and have some sort, even of a small devaluation of its currency -- Lou.
DOBBS: Lucia, thank you very much. Lucia Newman from Buenos Aires.
Well, just ahead, taking the war against terror to Iraq. Former U.N. Weapons Inspector Richard Butler will join us. He makes the case why Saddam Hussein is a threat we simply cannot ignore.
How the legacy of Jack Welch is working -- not for General Electric, but for companies who were lucky enough to take on the executives that Jack didn't want to run his company.
Also coming up, inside the CIA, how the war on terrorism is changing the way America's intelligence community is doing business. Stay with us.
ANNOUNCER: Coming up, Lou speaks with former CIA Director James Woolsey.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Iran's foreign minister today said his country would oppose a strike for the United States against Iraq as part of the war against terrorism. That brings us to the topic of discussion with former U.N. Weapons Inspector Richard Butler, who last night here talked about the extent of the war against terrorism, the need to look at Iraq seriously as the next target in the fight against world terrorism. Back with us, Richard Butler. Good to have you back.
RICHARD BUTLER, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Good to see you, Lou.
DOBBS: Where we left off most precisely was whether or not the United States could engage this war rather than sequentially against terrorism, but rather at the same time, a simultaneously number of thoughts and efforts -- your views.
BUTLER: Well, that's where we left it off, but, Lou, the news moves very fast. In the last 24 hours, we have had two major defector reports, that is Iraqi individuals of some importance who have left the country, gone West, and started to tell us what Saddam is about. One told us he is still making those weapons of mass destruction, but more importantly the other one this morning we learned here on CNN was that Iraq has a terrorist training school.
Now I knew that when I was there. But what this guy told us was so important to the point where it was not impossible, not proven, but you know, not impossible maybe likely that some of the people who drove those planes into the World Trade Center were trained in that school in Iraq. Now, you know there is a big debate in Washington about whether to attack Iraq or not. In the light of this kind of information, surely that debate heats up further.
DOBBS: It certainly adds weight to one side of that debate. I can certainly understand that, but we are still left with a large "maybe" in that.
BUTLER: Right. DOBBS: ... and with a lack of -- and again, we're not in a court of law. But the fact is, it does add weight to the discussion. But in terms of this war against terror, whether this administration, this government decides to move against Iraq or not, the question that you and I are discussing is, are we -- are we limited to one front at a time? Will it be Afghanistan in the fall, should it be Iraq in the winter? Why not engage terrorists who are a threat to this nation and to indeed the civilized world on as many fronts as you have the capacity, resources and resolve to do?
BUTLER: I take your point, and I think it's a fine question. We shouldn't fight too many wars in too many fronts. But the president has made very clear that there is a doctrine, that we are against terrorism and those who support them. OK? Indivisibility between the two.
Now, the evidence that is emerging suggests that Iraq is one of the countries that actually does support terrorists. Should we go for them? I suspect we should. Do we need a smoking gun from 9-11, or do we need other evidence? I think we have got abundant evidence that says that Iraq is a major player here, and something we should deal with.
Can we do it on several fronts? That's a military question that I'm not quite competent to answer. I think Iraq is -- sorry, Afghanistan is winding down. Should we move on? Yes. Should the next target be Iraq? I'm not sure. That is certainly under active discussion in Washington. Were they to decide that that should be the case, I mean, they'd get no argument from me.
DOBBS: In point of fact, they would have your support, a more affirmative form of expression.
BUTLER: Where do you want to go? Look at basics. You know, Saddam's regime is horrendous in terms of the Iraqi people and in terms of human rights, in terms of use of weapons of mass destruction, in terms of his stated hostility towards the very existence of Israel. And now...
DOBBS: Yet, he is in power, a decade after the Gulf War.
BUTLER: Yes, and now we have evidence today that he and his terrorist training facility has trained people of the kind that did the World Trade Center, maybe the actual people. I ask you, Lou, what more do we need?
DOBBS: Well, that answer to that question has to come from the member states of the organization you once worked for.
BUTLER: I guess so. But, I mean the case is there. The question is, you know, do we do it? In what way? Safely or not safely? It is out there. And I think it is a serious issue.
DOBBS: Richard Butler, good to have you here.
BUTLER: Good to see you. DOBBS: We'll take up this conversation again soon, I'm sure.
BUTLER: I'm sure.
DOBBS: Richard, thanks.
BUTLER: Have a good weekend.
DOBBS: You, too.
Is the American intelligence apparatus now being bolstered for more efficient operation in the war against terrorism in the months and years ahead? Attorney, former CIA director, James Woolsey, joins us tonight from our studios in Washington, D.C. Good to have you here.
JAMES WOOLSEY, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Good to be with you, Lou.
DOBBS: Let me turn first, if I may, to the issue that I was just speaking with Richard Butler about. The inordinately complex world of intelligence, in all that must be carried out before conducting military strategies, is it, in your judgment, necessarily the case that this country is limited to, if you will, a serial expansion of the war against terrorism?
WOOLSEY: I don't think it has to be country by country. The only other country I can think of where one might want to take military action against the nation itself, in a sense, or without the permission of the government, right now, would be Somalia, mainly because Somalia doesn't have a government. And there are terrorist training camps there.
But if you look at the other states that back terrorism, we would probably go a long way toward bringing them around to rational behavior if we followed Afghanistan with Iraq and were able to bring about a democratic regime in Iraq. A look at Gadhafi -- Gadhafi since September 11 has sounded pretty much like Tony Blair. I don't know whether it was the F-111s that President Reagan launched at him back in the early 80s or the B-52s in Afghanistan or a combination of the two. But there is at least some reasonable chance that if Gadhafi reached a settlement with the families of the victims of his terrorism in past and supported terrorism no longer, that we could reach an accommodation with Libya.
And it may be similar with some of the other states that have sponsored terrorism such as Lebanon, Sudan. Iran is the really interesting case because there have been demonstrations there recently, rather large demonstrations, by students that are pro- American. My favorite chant that they have is in Tehran these days is death to the Taliban in Kabul and in Tehran. They burn pictures of Khomeini and Khamenei and chant hooray for the United States. This is really quite something. The reason we are popular, Bernard Lewis says -- our greatest, I think, Western observer of Islam at Princeton -- is the reason we are popular in the streets of Iran and Iraq is precisely because we stand against the horrible regimes that are governing them now. DOBBS: Is Afghanistan a template for Iraq, for U.S. initiatives?
WOOLSEY: Not exactly. I think we have some very fine Kurdish fighters in the north that could be, if we worked out an arrangement with them and with Turkey and made sure everybody understood the rules of the game, could be of great help in. In the south, the Shi'a would require more organization. And Saddam, of course, has a much bigger army, 400,000 men under arms, than the Taliban did.
But on the other hand, his equipment, for conventional forces, is old and decrepit and is a sitting duck out there in the desert to our smart weapons, we use 90 percent...
DOBBS: Is there anything that would suggest that the expression in 1990 and '91, the Elite Republican Guard, is there any reason to think that they are today better trained, better equipped, and have yet earned the name elite?
WOOLSEY: They are probably elite for Iraq and they are more or less loyal to him, certainly much more so than the regular army, two or three divisions of them. They would have to be taken out, definitely. But they are not equipped with extremely modern weapons.
The -- Saddam has been spending his money and his resources on weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile work. He hasn't really reequipped his conventional forces that much. I would say his conventional forces were somewhere around half the strength that they were in the Gulf War. And you remember after a few weeks of bombing in the Gulf War, we had a number of Iraqi soldiers walking out with their arms up surrendering to American, unmanned aerial vehicles.
I think we would see substantial numbers of defection from the regular army, but I do think it would take American forces. Special forces, perhaps, you know, Marines, airborne, certainly not 500,000, the way we had in the Gulf War, but probably, somewhat definitely more than in Afghanistan.
DOBBS: And it's your clear judgment that that is the next step in the war against terrorism or should be?
WOOLSEY: I don't know whether it is or not. I think it ought to be a very prime candidate for the next step, but whether we move on several fronts, let's say, against Somalia, and helping friendly governments such as the Philippines, and take a few months to make sure we've got a sufficient stockpile of smart weapons, I wouldn't quarrel with that. Whether we do this, in January or March or June is much less important, I think, than that we do it.
DOBBS: Are we at a watershed moment in which the U.S. intelligence apparatus is being restored to the strength that will give both the nation its military and diplomatic leaders confidence?
WOOLSEY: They have taken some positive steps. I think they have gone back and got some of the retired guys who speak things like Farsi, which is very close to Dari, one of the languages in Afghanistan and Uzbek speakers and the like. I think probably a few of the heads over there in Afghanistan have been relatively gray ones, probably not quite as bald as me, but they brought a few older guys back. And they had some young wonderful men such as the officer who was killed there -- very talented.
They have done a good job in Afghanistan. And they have done a good job using that unmanned aerial vehicle, the Predator, particularly with weapons on it, but also for surveillance, working with the military, putting film, or rather images, from that unmanned aerial vehicle into AC-130 gunships so they can be use devastatingly from some distance away from the targets. The military and the CIA worked well together in Afghanistan, I think.
DOBBS: We appreciate you being with us, James Woolsey.
WOOLSEY: Good to be with you.
DOBBS: Thank you.
Well, the United States tonight is stepping up the pressure on Islamic militant organization Hamas, calling it -- calling on it to stop all acts of terrorism everywhere. Earlier today, Hamas said it would stop suicide attacks within Israel, but the group did not commit to ending violence in either the West Bank or Gaza. The White House says Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has taken some positive steps recently, but much more needs to be done.
Another stumbling block to any lasting peace in Middle East is the rapidly changing population in the Israeli settlements. A new survey finds the number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza is growing at the slowest rate in a decade.
Kitty Pilgrim has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Life in the Israeli settlements has become precarious, dangerous, and for many settlers, just not worth it. Government figures for September show the settler population continues to rise, to 204,000, a 4.4 percent increase during the first nine months of this year, yet far below the usual growth rate of eight percent in recent years.
Analysts say the Palestinian attacks on the settlers of the West Bank and Gaza and along the roads have made life in the settlements a lot less attractive to Israelis. And many are moving out.
MARTIN INDYK, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: From the beginning of the Intifada, life became very hard for people living in those settlements. A lot of people, it is not clear how many, but significant numbers simply made other arrangements because the danger of commuting from settlements to their jobs in major cities inside Israel became very problematic.
PILGRIM: One of the chief draws initially was economic. Life in the settlements came with many financial benefits, including tax breaks, lower mortgage rates and affordable housing prices and gorgeous vistas.
In recent years, many Israelis opted for the boost in lifestyle the settlements afforded. But now, as a result of the violence and also rapid development, there is a high vacancy rate in the area.
Many Israelis have dual homes, and they may have simply moved out of the settlements temporarily. Property values are falling, so buying as an investment is not as attractive to potential settlers.
PATRICK CLAWSON, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: It's kind of hard to sell homes in a neighborhood where there's bombs going off and where you are told that you have to travel in convoys with armored cars front and back. It's a pretty hard sell.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: The U.S. administration has declared the growth of the settlement population as, quote, "unhelpful," even, quote, "provocative." The recommendation of the Mitchell Committee demands the Israeli government freeze all settlement activity, and this decline in settlement growths may take a little bit of the pressure off of the issue -- Lou.
DOBBS: Although this issue will remain central to much Palestinians, until it's resolved.
PILGRIM: It's no easy thing.
DOBBS: OK. Kitty, thank you. Kitty Pilgrim.
Well, today on Wall Street, stocks moved higher following encouraging earnings news and a rebound in consumer confidence. The Dow Jones Industrials gained 50 points, and for the week the Dow gained an impressive 224 points. The Nasdaq up 27 points on the day, and for the week a relatively unimpressive but reassuring loss of only 8 points. The S&P 500 rose 4 points today, up 22 on the week.
Coming up next here, we'll have the very latest for you in the war against terrorism. That war did little to hurt the way consumers feel about the economy in the most recent report. That rising feeling of confidence helped lift stock prices as well. We will be talking about the possible future of this economy with our panel of perhaps experts.
And Jack Welch may be gone from General Electric, but his philosophy lives on in the CEOs he trained. We'll track the progress of some high-profile GE alums next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Tonight in the war against terrorism, the Pentagon says U.S. warplanes bombed a convoy believed to be carrying al Qaeda leaders in the eastern region of Afghanistan. The Pentagon says, quote, "lots of people were killed, lots of vehicles were destroyed."
Pakistani troops and tribal leaders and others are continuing to look for al Qaeda fighters, trying to slip into their country. Pakistani officials say they have caught almost 200 al Qaeda fighters over just the recent past few days.
The Pentagon defending its translation of the now controversial Osama bin Laden tape. An independent reviewer hired by CNN finds that the government translation left out the names of hijackers mentioned by bin Laden. Those hijackers, Saudi citizens. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says in cases where outside translators couldn't agree, they just left the translation out.
The 2002 Olympic torch made an emotional stop at the Pentagon, at the site where the airliner slammed into the building in September. The Olympic torch carried by Chief Officer Bernard Brown, whose son was among 189 people killed there.
In New York City, the death toll from the World Trade Center attacks has been revised lower, to fewer than 3,000. The death toll originally reported to be more than twice that number. New York officials say errors such as duplicate names have led to the revision.
Well, in tonight's corporate news, an update on the historic antitrust case against Microsoft. Microsoft asking a judge to push its remedy hearing back at least four months. Microsoft says it needs more time to meet the broad demands of nonsettling states. Microsoft says those states and their attorneys general oppose the request to delay the hearing.
Ted Turner renewed his contract as vice chairman of AOL Time Warner, the parent of this network. Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, had a number of -- well, disagreements with AOL's outgoing Chief Executive Officer Jerrold Levin. The move comes as AOL scraps the sporting event created by Turner, the Goodwill Games. They were organized after the Olympic boycotts of the '80s, aimed by Ted Turner at the promotion of peace.
In other sporting news tonight, a bidding war for the Boston Red Sox is over. A group led by Florida financier John Henry paying $660 million, that's double the record price for a baseball team. That's a high price tag for a team that hasn't won a World Series since 1918, but the owner also will receive an 80 percent stake in the New England Sports Network, and it also raises the question with baseball saying they can't make any money, why would anybody want to spend so much money trying?
Coming up next here, we'll track the progress of some of the country's top CEOs, men who were trained by a pretty good fellow, Jack Welch.
And coming to theaters this weekend, Hollywood singing the praises of patriotism. We'll have that story and more when we continue. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Well, we have just wrapped up the last full week of trading, and we'll take a look now at where do things stand on Wall Street.
The markets recovered from their September 21 lows, but are still down on the year. With only four trading days left in the year, the Dow down almost 7 percent, the Nasdaq down 21 percent. Not bad when you consider where it's been. The S&P 500 down 13 percent.
Susan Lisovicz, Greg Clarkin, Kathleen Hays join us now. Good to have you here. Let's start with the Nasdaq. Actually, 21 percent, which sounds terrible, it sounds a lot better than the 39 percent of 2000, doesn't it?
GREG CLARKIN, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: I was going to say, it's about half of that, exactly. And you know, you had a really interesting week this week, Lou. You had a week that a lot of fears were realized, you had profit warnings in some of the sectors that just soared -- networking stocks, semiconductor stocks -- and that was the area where people felt it was really vulnerable. They sold off big time. But, you know, when you tally up the numbers on this week, the Nasdaq lost 7 or 8 points. So, as Art Cash (ph) at the NYSE likes to say, they're in kind of a period of congestion right now...
DOBBS: Congestion.
CLARKIN: Congestion. Looking for some kind of a catalyst. A lot of folks seem to be very cautious, very content, they just let them sit where they are now for the time being.
DOBBS: And over at the Big Board?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Lou, there is a Santa Claus. It was a terrific week for the Dow Industrials, up 2 points, 4 percent on the week. And interestingly enough -- I'm sure Kathleen is going to mention consumer confidence -- that certainly...
DOBBS: Now she has to.
LISOVICZ: Well, she's the economist among the group. But certainly, it helped investor sentiment today. Then you had Nortel and Nike with better-than-expected outlook. So that really helped the investors end on a very positive week, the last full trading day before the Christmas holiday.
I want to mention one other thing. Airline, you know, the industry one of the hardest hit post September 11 rallied among the best today, despite the fact that business is still awful. Two encouraging reports from brokerage firms saying business is still bad, but it's improving sequentially. That was enough for investors to step in.
DOBBS: It's bad, it's improving, there's still going to be consolidation and bankruptcy. Buy the stock. Go figure.
LISOVICZ: They did today.
DOBBS: OK. Kathleen, as Susan pointed out, improving consumer sentiment. That's a big indicator.
KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. You know, this is the University of Michigan number, Lou. It had dipped as low as 81.8, it's back up to 88.8. Now it's this morning, saying oh this is so great. Kevin Burke (ph) on our staff, quickly reminded me, "But Kathleen, that's still not where it was before the attacks." It was up around 91.8. It has been sliding. But it's so encouraging to see the dip. At least you could say people have gotten through the worst of the attack.
That's so interesting. It's not just that they're looking at the economy; everyone says it's because we are making progress in Afghanistan. People are feeling better about the country, they're feeling better about the future.
DOBBS: And understandably so. But we are also moving into the final weekend of shopping in this holiday season. How important do you think it's going to be? As we look at the graphic of the national jobless rate.
HAYS: But this is the other good thing, though...
(CROSSTALK)
DOBBS: ... let's talk about the initial jobless claims...
HAYS: ... we can segue; we can make this work, Lou. We can always make it work.
(CROSSTALK)
HAYS: The jobless claims for the last two weeks have come down to a nicely lower level. They're back below 400,000. Just trust me.
DOBBS: But higher than March 1.
HAYS: Yes, but the direction. So maybe they are telling us things are not quite as bad as they were, one more reason why people say, I'm going to go out and shop. I see those jobless claims on MONEYLINE, and I feel better, I'm going to shop.
DOBBS: And this weekend, if I can just interject...
HAYS: Oh, go ahead.
DOBBS: What do you think will happen on this -- will it be enough if it's good?
HAYS: I think it's going to be good, and I think when we come in next week it's going to justify a lot of this optimism that Susan is talking about. At least in New York, the stores are full, and...
DOBBS: Terrific. Kathleen, thank you. Susan, Greg, thank you.
Just ahead, three minutes of patriotism from the capital of patriotism -- Hollywood, California. Hollywood joining the war effort with over 100 moments of great American film. We will share some of that with you next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Jeffrey Immelt has been at GE's helm for three months now, declaring GE will meet its ambitious targets next year, carrying on Jack Welch's legacy. Welch named Immelt as the successor just over a year ago, and that led to the departure of the two men who had been competing for that top job, and it's beginning to look as though Welch and GE had three aces to draw too. Peter Viles has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We wanted to check up on the General Electric class of 2000, Immelt at GE, Nordelli at Home Depot and McNerney at 3M. So, we started the way we always do, with stock charts and analysts. Home Depot has done just fine under Bob Nordelli, and Wall Street seems to like him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he's done an excellent job.
VILES: Same with 3M, a decent return in a terrible market. But then we said, wait a minute, let's ask the guy who gives it to you straight from the gut. What's the real story on these rookies? What's Bob Nardelli really doing down in Georgia?
JACK WELCH, GOLFER, AUTHOR: Well, he's become a great dresser. He's become very natty since he's become a CEO. And his golf always stunk. But his work ethic has screwed up his golf forever.
VILES: And what does Jim McNerney really bring to the table at 3M?
WELCH: Jim has movie star quality looks. He's always, you know, some sort of a matinee idol that you got to be sure that he never takes his eye off the ball, but he never has with me.
VILES: And finally, the tough one. How's Jeff Immelt doing cleaning up that terrible mess left by the old CEO?
(on camera): That's a real turnaround story. I mean, he picked up a situation...
WELCH: Oh, Christ.
VILES: ... that was falling apart.
WELCH: Falling apart. He got in there, and he has already made changes to get it back on track.
VILES: To remake that culture, make it performance-based?
WELCH: Well, it was just a party school that I think he's now got it focused on results.
VILES (voice-over): The truth is, it's been a terrible year to be a rookie CEO. Terrorism, war, a bear market and a recession. And the truth is, Jack Welch can't stop heaping praise on his old students.
WELCH: I love these three guys. So you're asking a very biased guy how he feels about some of the most wonderful people he's ever met.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VILES: Jack Welch is a good sport. But this is part of his legacy right now, not just what he did in General Electric in the past, but what these guys are doing at other companies in the future -- Lou.
DOBBS: They're off to a roaring start.
VILES: Yes, they are.
DOBBS: Thanks.
Hollywood trying to lift the nation's spirit during its time of need. The National Association of Theater Owners releasing a three- minute movie montage entitled "Spirit of America" over the Christmas time. This work features clips from more than 100 classic Hollywood films. The piece to be shown in about a quarter of the theaters all around the country.
And joining us now for our regular Friday look at the entertainment industry: Peter Bart, editor in chief of "Variety". Peter, good to see you.
PETER BART, "VARIETY": Hi there.
DOBBS: This is really remarkable, this three-minute piece. Hollywood really is stepping up and doing something, don't you think?
BART: I do indeed. And I'd like to see more of it, both around the world and in the U.S. I mean, I think it's particularly important to get the message overseas that this is not a war against Islam, it's a war against terrorism. And I don't think we have really effectively started to do that yet.
DOBBS: And it's also a war to safeguard democracy as well.
BART: Indeed.
DOBBS: In terms of the industry itself, movies -- it looks like a couple of blockbusters, "Harry Potter". What you think of what's coming out over this weekend and where the industry is?
BART: Well, it's funny. Despite the fact that "Lord of the Rings" will possibly roll up $80 million in its first five days, which is quite remarkable, it's another picture from AOL Time Warner, as was "Harry Potter" and "Ocean's Eleven". Nonetheless, you know, this weekend, Lou, it again shows the fact that Hollywood has not quite figured out the Christmas season as it has figured out summer.
DOBBS: And what do you mean by that? BART: Well, so many of the studios have pictures that are, at best, problematic. I mean, Fox is pinning its hopes on "Joe Somebody" and Disney on "The Royal Tenenbaums". And even films that are star- oriented like "Vanilla Sky" or "The Majestic" are very problematic. They are tough to market. The only company that really is coming on strong again this winter is Warner's.
DOBBS: And with Warner Brothers, is this, do you think, a defined strategy? They're taking the Tolkien series, they're taking Harry Potter series and turning them to cinema. Is that the stuff of great strategies going forward?
BART: Well, I hate to say it, but I think it is. You know, the summer has now been built around sequels. Everything has a Roman numeral after it. But what Time Warner is doing is building a series of very strong franchises that will characterize that Thanksgiving to Christmas corridor every year for several years to come. And that indeed is a good strategy.
DOBBS: And as we wrap up here, what do you think this year is going to look like for the entertainment industry itself? How do you think 2001 is going to be remembered?
BART: As a very, very difficult year, just as for every other industry. I mean, the film side of it is, again, counterrecessionary. Business will probably be up about 9 percent over last year. TV has really taken it badly because of the recession in advertising. And, by and large, the music industry has had a tough time. This has not been a banner year. Big hopes for next year, however.
DOBBS: All right. Well, we will see you in the new year, Peter. Until then, I wish you the happiest of holidays. Thanks for being here.
BART: You too. Thank you, Lou.
DOBBS: "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS" begins in just a few minutes. Let's go to Wolf now in Washington -- Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS": Thank you very much, Lou. The Pentagon says U.S. warplanes fired at a convoy killing scores of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters. We'll go live to the Pentagon.
A new government is only hours away in Afghanistan. We'll get a live preview.
And among my guests here in the CNN "War Room," the retired General George Joulwan, the former NATO supreme allied commander. It's all next. Lou, have a wonderful weekend and a merry Christmas.
DOBBS: You too, Wolf, thank you very much.
Coming up next here, we will take a look at some of your thoughts ahead of the curve as we prepare for that big Christmas vacation. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: A shortened holiday trading week next week. The markets will close at 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Monday, Christmas Eve. They will be closed through the Christmas holiday, of course. But we will have some reports, including durable goods orders, new and existing home sales, the December report on consumer confidence. So I guess we can get excited about next week and all those economic reports.
And please be sure to join us for a special holiday edition of MONEYLINE Tuesday focusing on life after September 11.
Now let's take a look at your thoughts. Many of you have written us about the devastating losses that Enron investors have suffered. Peter raises a question, a fellow -- and investors may well share, writing in to say: Is Enron stock going to zero as a result of bankruptcy or is it going to go up a little in the near future?
Well, it doesn't seem like the stock can fall much further, already losing 99 percent of it's value this year. One analyst we talked with said after a company files for bankruptcy, it often has difficulty meeting the basic listing requirements Enron qualifies. Enron may soon find itself in that position exactly. That analyst also saying you'd have better luck buying a lottery ticket than investing in Enron stock. Sometimes you hit.
Another viewer believes Enron employees were victims of their own naiveity, writing to say: I think everyone feels their pain and hopes that somehow their financial situation can be salvaged. However, I don't believe that additional restrictions need to be placed on how individuals choose to allocate their 401s. Perhaps more education about portfolio diversification is a better solution.
Well, there are no guarantees to keep people, of course, from losing their 401(k) money. There are, however, a number of proposals for legislation that would limit the amount of 401(k) money that an employee may invest in his or her own company. But I don't think anyone would argue with you, Brian, that diversification is always a very good idea.
E-mail us here at MONEYLINE at moneyline@cnn.com. Please include your name and address and we'd love to hear from you. That is MONEYLINE for this Friday evening. We thank you for being with us. We wish you a very pleasant weekend, a merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Good night from New York. "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS" begins right now.
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