|
CNN LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE
U.S. Believes Al Qaeda Behind Riyadh Attack with 8 Americans Confirmed Dead
Aired May 13, 2003 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU DOBBS, HOST: Wolf, thank you very much, and good evening, everyone.
Tonight, uproar in the Middle East. Suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia kill seven Americans.
Rising opposition to the Israeli-Palestinian road map. We'll be joined tonight by Middle East expert, Rashid Khalidi.
Spurring the economy, the trade deficit is skyrocketing as the United States exports dollars and jobs. President Bush is on the road pushing his tax cut.
And sweeping the Street. Conflicts of interest persist on Wall Street. Tonight, our special guest, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, William Donaldson.
Tonight, U.S. investigators believe the al Qaeda terrorist network is responsible for the coordinated bomb attacks against housing complexes in Saudi Arabia. Seven Americans were among the 29 people killed. National security correspondent, David Ensor, has our report.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Lou, the U.S. officials I've spoken to at the White House, the State Department, and in U.S. intelligence all say that while they are not sure who is behind these attacks, all the evidence that they've seen so far leads them to think it's probably al Qaeda.
And they are still -- obviously, there's a lot of evidence still to be collected, and there's a hope that the Saudis will be working with U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials to try to get to the bottom of it. These are early days yet.
But again, as I say, they are -- their belief is that al Qaeda is the most likely suspect, is suspect number one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): From the president on down, administration officials say they are not sure yet who planned the attacks in Riyadh, but al Qaeda is suspect number one.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, there's a lot of suspicion that it is al Qaeda. Al Qaeda's a group of people that they don't care about taking innocent life. And obviously these killers didn't care about innocent life.
PETER BERGEN, CNN ANALYST: There is just no other group that carries out these kinds of coordinated attacks, multiple targets, suicidal.
ENSOR: Furthermore, a week earlier, Saudi authorities captured 800 pounds of explosives, RDX, and weapons in a house just a quarter of a mile from one of the bomb sites and launched a manhunt for 19 suspects.
A Saudi newspaper said Tuesday it had received an e-mail from a man calling himself Abu Mohammed Al-Ablaj, also known as Abu Bakr, who says "The execution of this plan was not hampered by the recent announcement by the Saudi authorities of the seizure of large quantities of arms and explosives in the kingdom and the hunt for 19 people." The e-mail says al Qaeda's strategy now will be operations "in the heart of the United States, Gulf countries, Egypt, and Jordan." U.S. intelligence officials say the message appears credible.
ALI AL-AHMED, SAUDI DISSIDENT: The bombings in Riyadh is an announcement of the second version of al Qaeda, al Qaeda 2.
ENSOR: Saudi dissident, Ali al-Ahmed, says his information is that the Riyadh suicide bombers were part of a new offshoot from al Qaeda that is homegrown Saudi, not taking orders from Osama bin Laden, but adopting his ideology and tactics and that these killers were young.
AL-AHMED: Our guy who spoke to the -- one of the guards there, he said most of them didn't have beards. Very young. Very young. Most of them under 25.
BERGEN: We're seeing more local homegrown kinds of things, but obviously at a minimum, inspired by al Qaeda and, in some cases, directed by al Qaeda.
ENSOR: Al Qaeda, or some affiliate of it, has now apparently directly attacked the Saudi kingdom by going after the ex-participates who keep its infrastructure running.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
In response, U.S. officials are hoping the Saudis will finally go all out to stop al Qaeda recruiting and fund raising in their country. This attack was about them as well as us, said one U.S. official, and they know it. Lou?
DOBBS: David, indeed, that may be the case. Seven Americans are, however, among the 29 dead. The Saudi government has for too long, far too long in the estimation of many, supported both the Wahhabi sect that supports radical Islamist terrorism that is now clear around the world.
Is there, in the offing here, a change in the way the United States administration is going to view Saudi Arabia, the way it deals with terrorism, and ultimately the indirect, at least the indirect, support of radical Islamist terrorism?
ENSOR: Well, there's going to be less and less tolerance for indirect support of Islamic terrorism.
There is a problem for Saudi Arabia, though. You mentioned the Wahhabi sect. I mean, that is the sect that the royal family is part of. That is the part of Islam that is embraced as the official religion in Saudi Arabia. So they really -- there is a sort of a bit of an identity crisis there that the Saudis may now have to face up to, and the question is whether they will or not. Lou?
DOBBS: David Ensor, our national security correspondent. Thank you, David.
Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah today issued a strongly worded statement condemning the bombings. The crown prince said the attacks were carried out by monsters that are pursuing bloodshed and terrorizing innocent people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAUDI CROWN PRINCE ABDULLAH (through translator): If they believe that they are shaking the stability and security and safety in our countries, then they're dreaming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: A team of FBI agents is now on its way to Saudi Arabia to investigate the bombings. They are hoping for the full cooperation of the Saudi authorities, and cooperation has not always been easily found in Saudi Arabia. Several previous investigations hampered and obstructed outright by strained relations between the FBI and Saudi Arabia.
Justice correspondent, Kelli Arena, with the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The latest explosions are reminiscent of the 1996 truck bombing of the Khobar Towers military barracks in Saudi Arabia. That attack killed 19 Americans. Then, officials say, the Saudi government prevented FBI agents from interrogating some suspects. Officials are hoping for a different outcome this time.
ROBERT MUELLER, DIRECTOR, FBI: My expectation is we will get full cooperation from the Saudis. I will tell you that, in addition to American citizens killed, my understanding is there were citizens of a number of other nationalities, as well as Saudi citizens.
ARENA: The FBI is sending a team of agents and technicians to Riyadh, but because the attacks were against Saudi-owned complexes, the kingdom gets to call the investigative shots. Even though top brass insists the Saudis are cooperating in the war on terror, there is still concern. SENATOR BOB GRAHAM (D), FLORIDA: This will be another test, and it comes in a climate of a very mixed Saudi role in the war on terror, which we know, and they know we know.
ARENA: Some field investigators say even after September 11th, the Saudis made work difficult. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers in the Pentagon and World Trade Center attacks were Saudi, and officials say requests to interview some Saudi citizens or get access to records were denied.
More tension during a money trail investigation involving two of the hijackers and the wife of the Saudi ambassador to the United States. The Saudis refused access for an interview with the princess. One former FBI counterterror official says the Saudis have to walk a fine line.
SKIP BRANDON, FORMER FBI COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICIAL: It can virtually inflame the radical adherents of Islam if the Saudi government is believed to be cooperating with the United States.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: Which means that public cooperation could also be dangerous for the Saudi royal family. So the U.S., too, officials say, must strike a delicate balance. Lou?
DOBBS: This hardly sounds like an investigation. It sounds like a diplomatic initiative, Kelli. When you hear FBI officials, either former or current, talking about concerns about inflaming the terrorism, it is a war against terrorism, is it not?
ARENA: Well, it is a war against terrorism, and the FBI is fully aware of that, and we heard from, as you saw, FBI director Robert Mueller, who said that there have been great improvements made over the years with the Saudis.
Today Saudi officials said that part of the problem is that they're not very public about their cooperation on the terror front and that perhaps they need to change that strategy so that the world knows what it's done. They promise that they'll be more public in coming days. We'll see what they have to say.
DOBBS: Indeed we will. Kelli, thank you very much. As always, Kelli Arena, our justice correspondent from Washington.
President Bush today called the bombings "ruthless murder." Bush said the killers will be found, and they will learn the meaning of American justice. President Bush made those remarks during a speech on his economic package while in Indiana.
White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The White House reaction to the Saudi bombing was swift and strong. BUSH: These despicable acts were committed by killers whose only faith is hate, and the United States will find the killers, and they will learn the meaning of American justice.
MALVEAUX: The vice president weighed in as well.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The only way to deal with this threat ultimately is to destroy it.
MALVEAUX: President Bush was in Indianapolis to promote his tax cut plan and later in Pierce City, Missouri, to see the tornado damage there firsthand. But the Saudi bombing prompted him to reassure Americans that fighting terrorism is still a top priority for the White House.
BUSH: The war on terror goes on, and this incident in Saudi Arabia shows the country that we still have got a war to fight, and we will fight it, and we will win it.
MALVEAUX: The Bush administration has been frustrated with the Saudi leadership, that it has not gone after terrorists, particularly al Qaeda, more aggressively. But some critics question whether the Bush administration's focus on Iraq and toppling Saddam Hussein has limited its own ability to go after al Qaeda, the whereabouts of its leader, Osama bin Laden, is still unknown. The White House argues it is successfully fighting the war on terror on two fronts.
BUSH: A free Iraq will make the world more peaceful because, you see, when people are free, they're less likely to promote terrorism.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now, White House officials say, since the beginning of the war on terror, that al Qaeda's abilities have been severely disrupted. They could not carry out the type of massive attack that we saw on September 11th, but they also say that the war on terror is obviously far from over. Lou?
DOBBS: Obviously far from over, Suzanne. The president talking about American justice. FBI investigators on their way to Saudi Arabia. What is the last success on the part of the FBI in investigating terrorism abroad?
MALVEAUX: Well, you know, this certainly is a critical task for Saudi Arabia and U.S.-Saudi relations, just how they work together when it comes to this investigation on the ground. As you know, the White House was frustrated on previous occasions, particularly when you take a look at the Khobar Towers, how that was handled. Since then, U.S.-Saudi relations have dramatically improved.
But the Bush administration says that, essentially, they are everywhere, that they point to the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, they point to arrests that have been made in Pakistan, they point to all the al Qaeda in the deck of cards that have been seized.
They say that these are signs that, yes, that the war on terror is working, it's moving forward, but at the same time, do not be surprised if you see these type of isolated attacks.
DOBBS: Suzanne, thank you very much. Suzanne Malveaux reporting from the White House.
The United States is withdrawing most of its forces from Saudi Arabia. Only a few hundred will remain to train Saudi forces. Senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers housing complex in Dahran, which killed 19 U.S. airmen, the Pentagon relocated almost all American troops to the remote Prince Sultan Air Base in the Saudi Arabian desert, 50 miles southeast of Riyadh. There, under tight security and with little interaction with the Saudi people, some 5,000 troops, mostly pilots and air crews, continued to enforce the no-fly zone over Iraq until last month when the victory in Iraq ended the need for air patrols.
On a visit to Saudi Arabia, Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, announced the U.S. would move its command center from the Prince Sultan Air Base to neighboring Qatar and send almost all its planes home.
During the war the number of U.S. troops doubled to nearly 10,000, but already, sources say, the number has dropped to below the pre-war level of 5,000 to roughly 4,400, and within a few months, the U.S. will be down to just several hundred troops, mostly a caretaker staff, along with some military trainers to help the Saudi air force.
Getting U.S. troops out of Saudi Arabia has long been a stated goal of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, but the U.S. insists it's leaving on its own terms, not as a response to terrorist attacks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: The attack on the civilian housing project may, in some respects, be a reaction to the tighter security provided to U.S. troops. When primary targets are hardened, terrorists often turn to softer targets, but the Pentagon says the only defense against terrorism is to keep the terrorists on the run. Lou?
DOBBS: Jamie, thank you very much. Jamie McIntyre, our senior Pentagon correspondent.
Turning now to North Korea, a U.S. official today said North Korean armed forces may have fired a laser against a U.S. helicopter in South Korea. The helicopter sensors detected an unknown type of laser in March when it was flying near the demilitarized zone that divides the two Koreas. No one reportedly was injured, no equipment was damaged.
"The Washington Times" reported two Apache helicopters were fired upon by a weapon that could have been a Chinese-made laser gun. No indication as to why it has taken two months for that report to surface from the Pentagon.
Still ahead here tonight, sweeping up after corporate crime is a big job. Our next guest is the man in charge. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, William Donaldson, will join us to talk about the clean up efforts on Wall Street and across corporate America.
Later, as Secretary of State, Colin Powell, tours the Middle East to promote the road map to peace, Rashid Khalidi at the University of Chicago joins us to tell us why he says U.S. efforts for peace fall well short. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: We have just received word that the death toll in the Saudi bombings has risen. Eight Americans now killed in those explosions, and 17 Americans injured and are in the hospital. David Ensor, our national security correspondent, will be updating us on that story later in the broadcast.
Turning now to Wall Street, stock prices fell after a rally that had lifted them to the highest levels in months. The Dow Jones industrials fell 47 points, and the Nasdaq dropped just under two points on the day. The S & P 500 down almost three points.
Christine Romans here now with details on what was sort of a -- sort of a moderate move in the market.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Moderate's a good way to put it, Lou. Average volume, tight trading ranges, declining stocks just barely ahead of advancing issues on the big board.
Wal-Mart the biggest drag on the Dow after saying second quarter earnings would just match first quarter's. And Wal-Mart called its $56 billion plus in sales "disappointing". Disappointing. Some perspective. One quarter of Wal-Mart's sales rivals the total annual economic output of many nations from Algeria to Hungary to Peru. So...
DOBBS: Peru?
ROMANS: Peru. Yes. Disappointing, $56 billion.
Anyway, analysts also making some calls that are still moving stocks. Today it was the semiconductor sector. Joe Osha at Merrill Lynch cut five stocks to neutral, said the semiconductor index deserved to be 20 percent below current levels. But money manager Gary Kaminsky said ignore analysts' upgrades and downgrades. They are, he said, just noise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY KAMINSKY, MONEY MANAGER, NEUBERGER BERMAN: Where there were no sales at all in 1999 and 2000, now you've got a lost sales, a lot of neutrals, a lot of buys. It's almost worse than it was then because at least the professionals knew that everything was a buy, and it didn't mean anything. Today the investing public, the viewers here, don't really understand. You don't create wealth, you don't maintain a long-term capital appreciation, by buying and selling every time there's a 10 percent or 15 percent move.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Kaminsky said he ignores the sell side analysts on semiconductors, individual investors should ignore them, too. Lou?
DOBBS: Absolutely. If they're trying to invest on some sort of weird short-term basis, somebody didn't catch a lesson over the course of the last three years.
ROMANS: And he said, you know, I don't care where some of these are going to be in two months, I care where they're going to be next year and the year after that, that's what's important.
DOBBS: The semiconductor, if you look at that index, I think if there's anything worth looking at and investigating, maybe we can talk with Bill Donaldson, the chairman of the SEC about it. That is a remarkable amount of volatility there.
ROMANS: Absolutely.
DOBBS: Christine, thank you very much.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
DOBBS: I'm glad I finally figured out the word that described the move today, moderate. That was original, wasn't it?
ROMANS: It's got a ring to it, a ring to it.
DOBBS: Christine, thank you very much.
Well, let's update our corporate America criminal scoreboard. It has now been 526 days since Enron filed for bankruptcy, 65 executives in corporate America have been charged, 15 of them from Enron. No one is in jail.
When we continue, SEC chairman, William Donaldson, joins us to talk about the clean up efforts under way on Wall Street and in corporate America.
Later, striking back. One of the students suspended in the Illinois high school hazing incident is hoping to put the law on her side. Her parents apparently joining in. We'll have a lot on that story.
Much more still ahead here. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: SEC chairman, William Donaldson, has already established himself as the man leading the clean up of Wall Street and corporate America. While new on the job, he has a long history of shaking things up on the street. Jan Hopkins has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAN HOPKINS, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Bill Donaldson and fellow Harvard MBAs, Dick Jenrette and Dan Lufkin, rode into Wall Street in the late 1950s they were young mavericks. They borrowed $250,000 to start Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette. Ten years later, they shook up the street by announcing they wanted to take DLJ public.
DAN LUFKIN, CO-FOUNDER, DONALDSON LUFKIN JENRETTE: It was quite a risk we took at that time because 70 percent of our volume, 70 percent of our income, was based on income received from the New York Stock Exchange. And to the extent we were outside the laws of the stock exchange when we filed for public ownership, we would have been expelled.
HOPKINS: It took a year, but they won. Now almost all Wall Street firms are public. DLJ was sold to CSFB in 2000 for $12 billion. CSFB is part of the Wall Street settlement.
Late last year, President Bush decided Bill Donaldson, who also once headed the New York Stock Exchange, was the man who restore investor confidence, assigning Donaldson...
BUSH: To vigorously enforce our nation's laws against corporate corruption and to uphold the highest standards of integrity in the securities markets.
HOPKINS: So far, Donaldson has been using his bully pulpit to chastise CEOs about their pay, a subject he knows firsthand. He headed Aetna for a little over a year and was compensated $14.5 million according to the company. Now Donaldson is making 1/100 of that as chairman of the SEC.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And so far, Donaldson says that his biggest surprise on the job is how prevalent examples of malfeasance are in the economy. Lou?
DOBBS: That's not the surprise any of us wanted to hear.
HOPKINS: That's right.
DOBBS: Jan, thank you very much. Jan Hopkins.
Joining us now, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, William Donaldson.
Mr. Chairman, it's good to have you here.
WILLIAM DONALDSON, CHAIRMAN, SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION: Nice to be here, Lou.
DOBBS: Let's start with that surprise, the malfeasance that is crossing your desk. Are you suggesting corporate America has not learned its lesson yet?
DONALDSON: Well, no, I think that quote is a little out of context there. A number - there are 15,000 companies in the United States and I think the great bulk of them are very honestly managed and so forth. There have been a few - a number of people that have had egregious fraud and so forth. There has been a general loosening of morals across the board. What I was referring to in that quote you have was the number of cases we see day in and day out at the lowest levels, scams and so forth, where considerable amounts of money are being made and lost by relatively small investors.
DOBBS: Is the investor today, in your judgment, secure?
DONALDSON: Well, I think that the marketplace is becoming increasingly secure. I think a number of the reforms that have come, via the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and a number of things that we have done at the SEC are basically making everybody take a new look at how their performing their duty as a director, how they're performing their duties on audit committees, and compensation committees. And on Wall Street, I think the reforms that came as a part of the large settlement are going to change the way research and investment banking are done to the betterment of the individual investor.
DOBBS: And some people are surprised, and I might even add pleased in this city, that your SEC has been quick to react when Philip Purcell of Morgan Stanley made a statement that your SEC didn't think, and that you didn't think, expressed appropriate contrition when Bear Stearns stepped out of line in the view of the SEC. It wasn't a polite phone call quietly made either from your enforcement division or from your office, it was rather public. Is that the way you're going to operate?
DONALDSON: Well, Lou, we're deadly serious about bringing reform into the marketplace. We're deadly serious about some of the actions we've taken. And when we see people who don't appear to be taking it too seriously, we're going to get to them right away.
DOBBS: And I think perhaps no one more surprised than some of the people running those firms on Wall Street. You have also expressed concern about excessive executive compensation, particularly CEO compensation. Is there really anything that can be done about this problem?
DONALDSON: I think so, Lou. I think the real next step here is for compensation committees to spend a little more time than they do on what they're really compensating for. I think there's been too much emphasis on performance defined strictly by stock performance and earnings per share. I think there are a number of other measures that tell how - or indicate how well somebody is doing running a company. And I think corporation boards need to spend more time on that dimension.
DOBBS: And with you as chairman of the SEC, exercising your bully pulpit, one assumes that they will start listening. One of the remarkable flaps that has developed in this town, as you know, is the compensation of New York Stock Exchange Chairman Dick Grasso: $10 million, perhaps more in annual compensation. Yet Mr. Grasso stands in a somewhat similar position to yours, a quasi-regulatory role. What's your view?
DONALDSON: Well, I don't want to make any comments on the absolute dollars involved in Dick's compensation. That was the judgment of his board and the judgment of his compensation committee. I think that as I've asked the stock exchange several months ago, they're taking a good, hard look at the way their board is organized. I hope the way the compensation structure is organized and we'll see what they come up with.
DOBBS: Well, Mr. Chairman, I have got to ask you this, is it safe to say he is making a little more than you were when you chaired the New York Exchange?
DONALDSON: I left the job too soon.
(LAUGHTER)
DOBBS: Well, you took this one up, it looks like, at exactly the right time. Bill Donaldson, chairman of the SEC, good to have you with us.
DONALDSON: Nice to be with you, Lou.
DOBBS: Thank you.
Turning now to our nightly check of the national debt, tonight it stands at more than 6 trillion, $460 billion. Your family's share just under $70,000.
You may have noticed the debt falling recently. The Treasury Department says that's because it's seeing a seasonal increase in tax receipts. You and I are doing a good job.
The government today unveiled a new $20 bill. The new version adds a splash of color to the traditional green and black. This redesign adds a faint blue eagle along with peach, copper, and metallic green ink. I don't know what I'm describing here. The changes are aimed at cutting down on counterfeiting of the most copied bill in this country.
Now, $50 and $100 bills are next in line for a makeover. And yes, if you're curious, that's the reason the current currency was altered a few years ago, to stop counterfeiting. It seems that they have leapfrogged the Treasury once again. It's now the Treasury's turn.
Turning now to our poll, the question tonight, how much confidence do you have in the FBI's investigation into the Saudi bombings? A lot? Some? Or little to none? Cast your vote at cnn.com/moneyline. We'll have the preliminary results coming up later in the broadcast.
And we have the final results of yesterday's poll question, do you believe too few corporations own too many media outlets? I have never seen a margin in the poll like this. Ninety-six percent of you said yes. Four percent said no.
Coming up, our thought of the day on peace and what it takes to achieve it.
And the road map for the Middle East. Progress on the road complicated by a series of events across the region. Kitty Pilgrim will report.
And later, News Corporation chief, Rupert Murdoch, and his relationship with the Chinese government. Could profit be a priority over principle? Perhaps.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: More now on those bomb attacks on housing complexes in Saudi Arabia. The State Department has just released new information about the number of American casualties.
State Department Correspondent Andrea Koppel joins me now and has more - Andrea.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Lou. Grim news, the State Department has just increased the death toll from seven to eight Americans. They also say that there are now 17 Americans who are confirmed to be injured in hospital and they also say that some of those injuries are grave and so perhaps that death toll could rise.
Now, in a related move, the State Department is also expected either this evening or tomorrow morning to move to what's known as an ordered departure for non-essential U.S. personnel and their family members in the Saudi capital of Riyadh and also at two consulates, on in Jetta and the other in Dhahran.
What that means is that these individuals, the embassy, the ambassador would decide. They have to leave. They don't have a choice. The U.S. government will pay for them to get out and, Lou, obviously this is all linked back to last night's attack - Lou.
DOBBS: And, Andrea, these attacks last night, this order that you expect to come within actually hours, also follows warnings from the State Department to Americans to be out of Saudi Arabia, at least two of those warnings this year, is that correct?
KOPPEL: Absolutely right. The most recent one happened May 1st, a travel warning to all Americans to defer all non-essential travel to the Middle East. That happened and then there were other travel warnings of course before the war in Iraq began - Lou.
DOBBS: OK, Andrea, thank you very much, Andrea Koppel reporting the number of American casualties in the bombings in Saudi Arabia has risen to eight. Seventeen others are in the hospital with serious wounds, some of those wounded gravely so. Tonight's quote: "Terrorism strikes anywhere and everyone. It is a threat to the civilized world and even in this moment of sadness we will commit ourselves again to redouble our efforts, work closely with our Saudi friends and our friends all across the world to go after al Qaeda, to go after terrorists that will kill innocent people and to make sure this scourge is lifted from the earth," Secretary of State Colin Powell today speaking in Riyadh.
The secretary of state also said the United States will not rewrite or renegotiate its roadmap for Middle East peace. The roadmap has been accepted by the Palestinians but not by Israel.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict one of the many challenges facing U.S. policymakers, Kitty Pilgrim reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KITTY PILGRIM, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The secretary of state walking in the rubble of bombing in Saudi Arabia, an image that was not on the itinerary. Through a camera lens it would seem that the Middle East has descended into abject chaos.
The Iraqi capital of Baghdad still in chaos, looting, power shortages, sporadic gunfire, normalcy still a distant goal. Defiant rhetoric and demonstrations criticizing the United States presence in the area, satellite pictures of nuclear facilities in Iran, a regime defiant to the world community about its nuclear program, weekly violence against Israelis and Palestinians despite efforts to find a way out with a new roadmap.
MATTHEW LEVITT, WASH. INST. FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: Coupled with the fact that we've now seen a major al Qaeda attack after not having seen one for quite some time it leads people to believe that suddenly everything has gone for broke. In fact, this is pretty much the way things have been for a while.
PILGRIM: Consider five of the seven states that sponsor terrorism, Iran, Syria, Libya, and Sudan, even arguably still Iraq cluster in an area rife with radical Islamist terrorists who can melt across borders.
PETER BROOKES, THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: It's clear today that the war on terrorism is not over and that we do have to be very concerned about not only the transnational groups, such as al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda does not have a - belong to a state in particular but we also have to be concerned about Iran, for instance, which is a state sponsor of Hamas and Hezbollah and Palestine Islamic Jihad. So, we have to be very concerned about these other groups as well because they're deadly too.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Now the pressure has been turned up on many of the states, Iran and Syria to name a couple, and the United States has stepped forward into the leadership role but it is not clear how much cooperation will follow - Lou.
DOBBS: Kitty, thank you very much, Kitty Pilgrim.
Perhaps our "Thought of the Day" will shed some light on the answer to that question. It's on the subject of peace. "Peace, like war, can succeed only where there is a will to enforce it, and where there is available power to enforce it," those words from the 32nd president of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt.
A reminder now to vote in our poll tonight, the question: "How much confidence do you have in the FBI's investigation into the Saudi bombings, a lot, some, little to none?" Cast your vote at cnn.com/moneyline. We'll have the preliminary results coming right up.
Still ahead here, exporting America, tens of billions of dollars are flooding overseas every month taking American jobs with them. Peter Viles will have the report on what a lot of people in this country seemingly don't want to discuss. We will next.
And then, call it a bad sign for local business, one local government is dredging up a decade's law to find store owners who fail to obey the letter of the law. You got to love New York, New York. We'll have that story and more. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Like a lot of big cities in this country, New York City has some big budget problems and the city is reviving an old law. A new mayor is doing that and he's not winning any points for popularity.
Art McFarland has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ART MCFARLAND, ABC CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is simply too much information on the awning at the C&B Store, according to city zoning laws.
MASOODUR CHOWDHURY, STORE OWNER: I can not change the law. It's a city law. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) we need a business. We need a fix.
MCFARLAND: The law passed in 1961 reads: "Any commercial copy on such signs shall be limited to identification of the name or address of the building or an establishment contained therein."
(on camera): So, if you can only have the name of the store and the address on your awning, that means, you guessed it, most stores with awnings in New York City are in violation of the law.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say at least 90 percent of all the mom and pop stores in the City of New York are in violation.
MCFARLAND (voice-over): City Council member David Weckrit (ph) is proposing a bill that would make most awnings legal. This is a copy of the violation issued to one store. It grants just over 30 days to correct the awning. Failure to comply could result in fines up to $2,500. Enforcement is done by the Department of Buildings based on neighborhood complaints, which can be anonymous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can just complain about someone that you have a vendetta against and they legally come and they enforce the law.
MCFARLAND: Violations have gone up steadily since 1999. By last year there were just over 1,200 issued. Through early April of this year, there have already been 612.
CARL SILVERMAN, STORE ASSOCIATE: The city needs the revenue. I think that's the bottom line. As a matter of revenue and I think we're dealing with the letter of the law this time around, not really the spirit of the law.
MCFARLAND: The proposed new awning bill will be introduced later this year.
Art McFarland, ABC 7, Eyewitness News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: Taking a look at where the U.S. trade deficit stands tonight, our calculations put it at more than $185 billion so far this year, the trade deficit in March, the second biggest monthly deficit ever, $43.5 billion. Our appetite for imported goods remarkably strong, the trade deficit now running at five percent of our gross domestic product and it's turning into a drag on economic activity, as Peter Viles reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the president spoke today about boosting the economy, he did not mention the festering problem threatening American jobs, a huge and growing trade deficit.
Now, it's old news this country buys more abroad than it sells but the gap is widening. In 1992, the trade deficit added up to less than one percent of gross domestic product. It hit 4.2 percent last year and so far this year is running at a rate of 5.1 percent. Economic activity American buyers are shifting to overseas producers.
WILBUR ROSS, WL ROSS & CO.: To the best of my knowledge there is no country in the whole history of the world that has had a sustained five percent trade deficit and survived without a collapse. Severe deflation, severe consequences, disruption, unemployment, the whole thing as well as very serious erosion in kind of global position.
VILES: Now, for years economists and politicians have viewed a trade deficit as a byproduct of American wealth. Let the low cost producers make our sneakers and tee shirt. We'll handle the high wage, high tech stuff. But now some of those jobs are going overseas. ALAN TONELSON, AUTHOR, "THE RACE TO THE BOTTOM": Now we're seeing it in advance information technology products in semiconductors and telecommunications equipment, in aerospace parts, all of the high wage manufacturing jobs that folks like Bill Clinton, and to somewhat of a lesser extent George Bush, told us of in the future of the American economy.
VILES: Crude oil and automobiles drive the trade deficit but the U.S. now runs a deficit, albeit a small one, in what the government calls advanced technology products, also in computers and in some chemicals. The biggest deficits by country in March $7.7 billion with China, followed by Japan, Canada, and Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VILES: The Bush administration did take some action on the trade front today announcing it will challenge the European Union's ban on genetically modified foods. That ban costs U.S. corn producers about $1 billion every day - Lou.
DOBBS: Perhaps a correct step but it still doesn't start an improvement in trade, does it?
VILES: No, it doesn't. One person put it to me, pretty much every country on this planet with the exception of Cuba and North Korea has the same trade policy, sell as much to the Americans as you can.
DOBBS: And indeed they are and a weak dollar, we've got a number of news organizations talking about what a great thing this is for this economy over the last couple of days.
VILES: Well, this trade deficit puts further downward pressure on the dollar. Now one way to get out of a trade deficit is to weaken your currency so much you can't buy anything. That's probably not a very good solution here.
DOBBS: And it's probably an extraordinarily - no probably, it is a very painful solution.
VILES: It sure is.
DOBBS: Pete, thank you very much.
VILES: Sure.
DOBBS: There's still time to vote in our poll tonight, the question: "How much confidence do you have in the FBI's investigation into the Saudi bombings, a lot, some, little to none?" Cnn.com/moneyline is where you can vote. We'll have the preliminary results in just a few minutes.
When we come back, the Texas State House short of a full house tonight, more than 50 Democrats, well they ran for cover. They fled over the state line and went to of all places Oklahoma. Ed Lavandera will tell you why Texas Democrats prefer Oklahoma, at least tonight. And later, we'll share some of your thoughts on the bombing in Riyadh. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: In news across America, 14 diplomats from Cuba's United Nations Mission ordered to leave this country. The State Department say they engaged in inappropriate and unacceptable activities. They didn't say what that meant. The diplomats have ten days to leave New York and Washington.
Terry Nichols is already doing life. Now he may face death. A judge has ordered Nichols to stand trial in Oklahoma State Court on 160 counts of first degree murder. Those charges stem from the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building. One hundred and sixty- eight people were killed.
Sixty-two-year-old Biswanath Halder is being held without bail tonight in Ohio. His attorney says he needs psychiatric care. Halder is charged with killing one student and wounding two others when he went on a shooting rampage last week at Case Western University in Cleveland.
One of the Illinois high school students suspended for hazing is taking her case to court. A lawyer for 18-year-old student Marnie Holz says she was denied du process. Thirty-two students were suspended. They could face expulsion and criminal charges.
In other news across America, a story of politics Texas style, state Republicans want to redistrict some parts of the state and state Democrats certainly don't. The Democrats have high-tailed it across the border to Oklahoma, one step ahead of the Texas State Police who have been ordered to round them up and bring them in, Ed Lavandera with the story from Ardmore, Oklahoma.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the middle of the night, a group of about 50 Texas Democratic representatives jumped into two busses and headed north, out of Austin and out of state. They found refuge at a Holiday Inn in Ardmore, Oklahoma. It was the only way, they say, to keep Texas Republicans from passing a new congressional redistricting bill that the Democrats don't like.
BARRY TELFORD (D), TEXAS HOUSE OF REP.: This congressional redistricting map destroys rural Texas, utterly and completely destroys it.
LAVANDERA: Under Texas law, two-thirds of all House members must be present to conduct business, so this temporary defection across state lines has essentially shut down the Texas House. Republicans aren't amused by the political stunt and have even created a most wanted deck of cards with the missing Democrats' faces.
SUE WEDDINGTON, TEXAS GOP CHAIRMAN: Well, I have news for these Democrats. They may believe they're clever but the majority of Texans see them as childish and they may believe they're courageous, but the majority of Texans see them as cowards.
LAVANDERA: The Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and Texas Rangers were sent out to search for the absent legislators and they could have taken the legislators into custody and driven them back to the House if they were still inside Texas.
But the fleeing politicians are untouchables as long as they stay beyond state lines and that's where these Democrats will be until Republicans promise to throw out the redistricting bill.
JIM DURNAM, CHMN., HOUSE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS: And we decided yesterday that we were going to stay as long as it takes. I can't tell you right now how long it will take. It would take about two minutes if leadership in Austin would make the right decision.
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: Texas Democrats need to live up to their responsibility, their oath of office which simply requires that they represent the people in Austin for 140 days every two years. My Democrat friends, it's time to come back to work.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: And that is the big question when the Democrats will leave the Holiday Inn you see behind me here in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and drive down Interstate 35 back to Austin and show up to work, Democrats here saying that until the governor and the speaker of the house and the lieutenant governor of Texas and Tom DeLay in the U.S. House promise not to bring up this redistricting bill that they won't leave here.
They say they have until about Thursday at midnight or perhaps sometime Friday to shut down this legislation. They say they'll stay here until then to make sure that happens - Lou.
DOBBS: We're laughing about this. I'm sure in Texas it is an absolutely critically serious issue but I'm still going to laugh about it. Has there ever been a case as far as you know, Ed, of politicians having other politicians extradited specifically from Oklahoma back to Texas?
LAVANDERA: I don't know about Oklahoma but in 1979 there were 12 members of the Texas State Senate that locked themselves in one of the Senator's secretary's West Austin garage apartment, locked themselves up there to kind of protest the same thing from a bill that was being put through the Senate back then.
This only happened - the only other time that it's happened here and while it is serious on one side, Lou, you're very much correct to many people in Texas also getting a good chuckle out of this as well.
DOBBS: OK, well Ed thank you very much, Ed Lavandera. I don't know how long you're going to be there in Ardmore, Oklahoma, but...
LAVANDERA: Hopefully not until Thursday.
DOBBS: But you're in good company at least with all those good Texas politicians and Oklahomans. Thanks very much Ed.
From Texas politics now to Chinese censorship, China today blacked out a CNN interview that was critical of the Chinese government's handling of the SARS epidemic and of the country's healthcare system. China requires foreign broadcasters to use a Chinese satellite to serve their country and until last month it was routinely blocking almost all reports about SARS in China, a practice that has produced intense global criticism.
The British Broadcasting Company has also faced censorship in China. In 1993, Rupert Murdoch bought a controlling stake in China's Star TV satellite system. In 1994, the BBC world service broadcasts were pulled from Star. China was offended by the BBC's news content and demanded that Star TV remove it or lose permission to broadcast in China. A year later, Murdoch bought the rest of Star TV that he did not own.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has an extensive presence of course in this country. That presence may be expanding soon if the FCC eases some of its broadcast rules. Murdoch has lobbied hard for those changes. It would allow him to buy even more U.S. televisions stations. Next month the FCC is likely to accommodate him. Murdoch today promised that if the rules are changed he will limit future purchases to a few what he calls sizeable markets.
When we continue we'll have the preliminary results of tonight's poll and we'll read some of your e-mail, share your thoughts. Tonight, a number of you offered alternate ideas to stimulate the economy. I like a few of them. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The preliminary results of our poll tonight, the question: "How much confidence do you have in the FBI's investigation of the Saudi bombings?" Fourteen percent of you said a lot, 23 percent said some, 63 percent said little to none.
Taking a look at some of your thoughts now, Vincent of Gaithersburg, Maryland writing about those terrorist attacks asked: "Are we in denial of the Saudi link with terrorism? It seems they kill Americans almost every year and yet we say they are a friendly country to us. Please tell me what countries that are not friendly to us do?"
Many of you wrote about the shrinking number of companies that own media outlets. Mary Downes of Massachusetts said:
"Media concentration threatens democracy itself. The Founding Fathers made free press a priority for a reason. They knew our democracy depended on the unencumbered exchange of ideas. Concentrated corporate ownership of our media is suffocating those many voices and squelching the very Democratic principles our country was founded upon."
Lee George of Media, Pennsylvania had an alternate suggestion to stimulate the economy: "Why not give a tax write-off to say a minimum of $10,000 for home improvements? This assures that you get a break only if you spend the money and actually stimulate the economy." Lee, I like it. Write your Congressman, or better yet, call him or her.
Vernon Yeakley of Conroe, Texas has another idea: "If I pay off my $70,000 share of the national debt, can I stop paying taxes?" Sorry, Vernon, that one just won't work.
Dave Reynolds from Paradise, California wrote to say: "I greatly appreciate your mention of the debt clock right after the interview with Senator McConnell. Every fiscal decision we make should be made with the debt in mind," couldn't agree more.
We love hearing from you. E-mail us please your thoughts at loudobbs@cnn.com. Thanks for being with us, for all of us here, goodnight from New York.
"LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES" with Anderson Cooper is coming up next.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Americans Confirmed Dead>
|
