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CNN LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE
Bush signs tax cut into law
Aired May 28, 2003 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, thank you very much. Good evening everyone.
Pushing for peace, President Bush makes his biggest commitment yet to the Middle East peace process. Chris Burns reports from the White House.
Middle East expert Stephen Cohen and Naseer Aruri will be here to assess the chances for success.
And, two more people have died of the SARS virus in Toronto, Canada. The virus may also have spread to the city school system. Toronto's public health commissioner Dr. Colin DeCuna (ph) is my guest tonight.
And, we continue our series of special reports on healthcare in this country. Millions of middle-class Americans have no medical coverage. The Democrats say they have at least a few solutions but those solutions could cost more than a quarter of a trillion dollars a year.
But first tonight, the White House said President Bush will hold his first summit with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers next week. The summit will be held in the port of Acuba in Jordan. The president will also hold talks with Arab leaders in Egypt.
White House Correspondent Chris Burns joins us now with the story -- Chris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well hi, Lou. Both of these summits are extremely important, the president looking for support from Arab leaders as he meets with them in Egypt and then the next day he is going to be meeting with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers, a three-way summit.
Both of those meetings are extremely important to see how much commitment there is both on the Arab and on the Israeli side, President Bush becoming directly, personally, flesh and blood involved in this process, going to the Middle East to talk about this.
This was a plan just in the last few days, made public just in the last few days and his National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice talked about how important this is, also however watching out for possible changes in conditions that might actually prevent these meetings from happening. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We're watching the circumstances. We're watching to see if the parties are moving forward. It is after all the case the parties have to be dedicated and devoted and moving forward, but we believe that they -- that we're at a place where this meeting is likely to be very helpful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: Now, what are these conditions and what is the White House looking for? The White House is looking for Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister to go begin with this roadmap for peace, begin carrying it out by easing restrictions on the Palestinians.
And, on the Palestinian side, the new Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas that he begin to reconstitute his security forces and try to get the militants under control, try to prevent more militant attacks from happening. They're looking for 100 percent effort, not necessarily 100 percent effectiveness.
The White House has said in the past they don't want to see the militants hijack this process but they also don't want to go back into a situation in the Middle East where there would be a lot of violence. The president obviously would not see that as serving, if he did have that meeting, the summit at the time.
So, very key what happens in the next few days. These meetings will be June 3rd and 4th and then he goes on to Doha to congratulate the U.S. troops at Central Command for their job in Iraq -- Lou.
DOBBS: Chris, as you say, a historic mission for the president. Thank you very much Chris Burns from the White House.
BURNS: Thank you.
DOBBS: U.S. peacemaking efforts in Iraq are facing different challenges. A senior Pentagon official today said the United States has asked nearly 50 countries to send police officers to Iraq to help maintain security there. The number of U.S. military and police in Baghdad is being doubled to 4,000.
Our Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre joins us now with the story -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, the attacks against U.S. troops continue, the latest occurring in northwest Baghdad where a convoy of humvees was attacked by an Iraqi apparently who threw an explosive device. Three soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division were injured. We don't know how seriously.
It was the third attack so far this week in which four U.S. soldiers have been killed and in response the U.S. is continuing what it calls aggressive patrols by U.S. troops often accompanied by Iraqi police. In the past 24 hours, soldiers and Marines have conducted over 2,700 patrols in Baghdad and launched a dozen raids. In one of those raids they think they captured the ringleader of a group that is thought to be responsible for a number of attacks on U.S. convoys. The bottom line is that Baghdad remains a dangerous city. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld insists that is to be expected at this stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The estimate is something in the neighborhood of 100,000 criminals were let out of these prisons and they're roaming the streets and where many of the regimes' enforcers are still at large.
When the army was approached we found that a number of the units fought and then surrendered. We found that other units just took off their uniforms, left their equipment, and went into the countryside. So there are folks that are still out there who obviously do not wish the coalition forces well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: There are two problems really, a rash of street crime and then the guerilla-style attacks against U.S. forces. One of the things the U.S. is looking for is any sign that Saddam Hussein or his enforcers are mounting a sort of rear guard action to destabilize the U.S. reconstruction effort.
So far, the Pentagon doesn't see that but if they could capture Saddam Hussein or his sons or prove that they're dead, it might go a long way to discouraging Ba'ath Party loyalists from carrying on the fight -- Lou.
DOBBS: Is there anything deterring the Pentagon from adding forces in Iraq here, The number of attacks against U.S. forces rising markedly as you've reported Jamie, the security of our forces of course preeminent in our concerns?
MCINTYRE: Well, right now they say that they are providing U.S. commanders with all the forces that they need. There are about 46,000 troops in Baghdad. About half or a little less than half are dedicated to security.
But you know one of the real effects of this is that the troops who fought their way into Baghdad and who originally would have gone home by now are having to stay and it is very difficult work. It's hot in Baghdad. It's thankless.
They were thinking that they'd be home by now. Every day we hear from commanders that they are asked by their troops when they can go home and right now they don't have an answer for them.
DOBBS: Jamie, thank you very much, Jamie McIntyre our Senior Pentagon Correspondent.
The attacks against coalition forces did not in any way affect British Prime Minister Tony Blair's visit to Iraq. Today, Blair arrived in Kuwait on the first stage of a visit to the Persian Gulf.
Tomorrow he's scheduled to visit British troops in Basra and Umm Qasr to thank them for their role in removing Saddam Hussein from power. Blair will be the first foreign leader to visit Iraq since the war.
And, a reminder, I'll be talking with the United Nations newly- appointed representative to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello later in the broadcast about his mission to Iraq.
Coalition leaders have been hoping to find proof of Saddam Hussein's program to develop weapons of mass destruction. Now they may have the strongest evidence so far that Saddam Hussein did use mobile biological weapons labs, National Security Correspondent David Ensor reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While U.S. forces still haven't found any weapons of mass destruction, the new CIA-Pentagon report says officials are now confident the mysterious trucks filled with high tech equipment found in Iraq are indeed mobile, biological weapons production facilities just as Secretary of State Powell predicted and presented to the United Nations before the war.
RICHARD BOUCHER, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: It's very important to recognize that programs that we had said existed do exist.
ENSOR: Though no trace of biological toxin was found in the trucks, U.S. intelligence officials say they have largely eliminated any other possible use for the fermenters and other equipment. Not everyone is convinced.
JONATHAN TUCKER, FMR. U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: They could very well be biological weapons production facilities but I don't think the intelligence community has made an open and shut case.
ENSOR: The CIA-Pentagon report admits the trucks were not an efficient way to produce biological weapons but officials argue the point for the Iraqis was to produce some and not to be caught doing it.
TUCKER: This was clearly a very inefficient way to produce anthrax and the question is why did they invest such resources in a mobile facility if they could have simply hidden a fixed production facility in a very difficult to find location?
ENSOR: Some outside experts also argue that it is simply a mistake for the administration to have the U.S. military and the CIA doing the searching since, like it or not, the U.S. is not trusted on the matter by many around the world.
AMY SMITHSON, STIMSON CENTER: I have strongly urged in the past and will continue to urge this administration to include in this evaluation in the hunt international inspectors. ENSOR: The administration is urging patience saying finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is likely to take time. Officials declined comment to reporters on whether any of the high profile Iraqi weapons officials are talking, people like Huda Ammash known as Mrs. Anthrax.
SMITHSON: The people that were genuinely involved in this program are still probably scared out of their wits, not just for their own safety but the safety of their families.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: U.S. intelligence officials say the trucks contain ingeniously simply bioweapons production facilities that have been cleaned up or possibly never used. Critics say that does nothing to prove what the Bush administration did predict before the war that at least 100 metric tons of weaponized chemical and biological agents would be found inside Iraq -- Lou.
DOBBS: David, obviously great skepticism will surround any declarations here that these are weapons of mass destruction, these laboratories, chemical and biological warfare instruments. But the skeptics, what else could they -- do they assert these could be used for?
ENSOR: Well, they say, I mean there are a number of arguments. Some Iraqis have claimed that they were designed to produce hydrogen for use in weather balloons. Intelligence officials say that just doesn't bear scrutiny that there are a number of characteristics of the equipment that show that that is not likely to have been the case.
There are a lot of different arguments about what they're really for. The problem is they could be dual use facilities. They could have been used for a number of things and there are no traces of biological agents in the equipment, which as I mentioned earlier lead some U.S. officials to say it may have been brand new and it may have never been used or it may have been cleaned up just before they found it -- Lou.
DOBBS: David, thank you very much, David Ensor from Washington.
Progress of a different sort in the war on terror, authorities in Saudi Arabia today arrested 11 more suspects in the investigation of recent suicide bomb attacks against housing complexes. The bombings killed 34 people including eight Americans in Riyadh. Three of those arrested were Muslim clerics.
In Morocco, the suspected ringleader of the terrorists who carried out five suicide attacks in Casablanca has died while in custody. A prosecutor said the man died of heart and liver problems.
In Indonesia, the man accused of masterminding the bomb attacks that killed 200 people in Bali said he knows Osama bin Laden well but he said the al Qaeda leader did not help him organize the bombings.
Weapons of mass destruction still the focus in the North Korean crisis. This week six members of Congress travel to North Korea to discuss the nuclear standoff with Pyongyang.
It will be the first high level U.S. visit to North Korea since the beginning of the nuclear crisis. The leader of the delegation, Republican Congressman Kurt Weldon, said they will try to convince North Korea to end its nuclear program unequivocally.
Still ahead here, President Bush will join the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers for a summit on Middle East peace and we will be joined next by Middle East Expert Stephen Cohen and Naseer Aruri. They'll be here to tell us whether the president must play an even larger role to secure peace.
And, two more people have died of the SARS virus in Canada. More than 6,000 people are now quarantined. The public health commissioner, Dr. Colin DeCuna, is our guest. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: President Bush's decision to hold a summit with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers is his biggest commitment to the Middle East peace process since he took office.
Joining me now two experts on the Middle East, Stephen Cohen, a national scholar of the Israel Policy Forum, and Naseer Aruri is the author of "Dishonest Broker, America's Role in Israel and Palestine."
It is good to have you both here. Let me begin with the first question. Are you more hopeful that a success will result from this peace process than any other that's preceded it and I'll begin with you if I may?
STEPHEN COHEN, NATL. SCHOLAR, ISRAEL POLICY FORUM: Yes. I am more hopeful. I'm more hopeful because the United States has taken on a role not only to design things but actually to be on the ground as the monitor and that presence where the United States is going to be deciding whether the Israelis have met their requirements, whether the Palestinians have met their requirements rather than let the Palestinians decide whether the Israelis have met their requirements and Israelis have met Palestinian requirements, that makes a huge difference.
DOBBS: Do you agree Naseer?
Well, I should like to really be more hopeful but maybe I'm not given the legacy of a failed peace process that has been going on really since 1968 under U.S. tutelage. I mean the United States had played the role of catalyst for peace and honest broker but after so many plans sponsored by the U.S., I mean every single administration has a plan named after its president or secretary of state but nothing really came out of it.
DOBBS: Or a Senator or a CIA director.
ARURI: Yes, exactly. I mean there's the Zinni plan and the Mitchell plan and so on but I mean none of these things have worked. So, I think that unless we answer the question why these things did not work and what can be learned from the past, maybe the road ahead will be difficult.
DOBBS: Well, you threw in an admiral as well, professor, as I would expect you to be comprehensive in this. Let me ask you why in the world do we have to look back? We have seen administration after administration, Republican and Democrat, fail at this.
We have a very big difference to consider it seems to me this time. U.S. troops are in Iraq. This administration has made clear it is intending to influence Middle East outcomes. It is an expression of the will of the state that we've never seen before. Does that in any way change things professor for you?
ARURI: Well, you see, Lou, I think that the question here is that the facts on the ground are to me far more important than the rhetoric and the words and as Amir Haas (ph) wrote in today's (unintelligible), the Israeli daily, I mean she talks about the facts on the ground, particularly the wall that is being built.
They call it the separation fence but it's really more of a wall that has taken much of the farmland in the West Bank. I mean that's the fruit basket. That is the vegetable basket. It sits on top of 80 percent of the water resources.
So, the question is that if the roadmap has a vision for a state, the question is where is this state going to be established? I think that at best it would be a fragmented collection of Bantustans that are three in the West Bank and one in Gaza (unintelligible).
DOBBS: Can we stop the -- can we reserve the Bantustans as Naseer suggested?
COHEN: I think that Naseer is not hearing the music of the way this thing is starting.
DOBBS: Right.
COHEN: The fact that the prime minister of Israel uses the "O" word, occupation, to describe Israel's situation in the West Bank, this is not something that he has seen before or that I have heard before. We know this is different and what is different here is that the United States has decided that from the start it's taking away from the two parties the methods of pursuing this conflict that they've used all along.
The Palestinians are not going to be able to use their violent methods. The Israelis are not going to be able to use their settlement construction. Both of these have to stop in the first part of the roadmap. Therefore, you're going to have a different kind of negotiation, not a negotiation where each side is able to take its bat and hit the other one over the head the first time there's trouble.
DOBBS: You disagree, Naseer?
ARURI: Well, I'd really like to agree. I mean after all there are many people who are involved in this and many people's lives are affected by this. But you see when Prime Minister Sharon talks about occupation for the first time, and I know that occupation never appeared in 800 pages of Oslo documents, this may be a good sign.
However, yesterday he received a lot of complaints and flack really from his colleagues and he assured them that this does not really mean any more than he does not want to rule over 3.5 million people. So, if Sharon says there's an occupation, a legal concept, it has to end, et cetera, then well and good but I don't think that he's really saying that.
DOBBS: Well, Naseer, you are a student of this process. Few are as knowledgeable certainly Stephen in your ranks. But you do have to take it as remarkable, one that for the first time an Israeli government has said that it will recognize a Palestinian state; and secondly, you talk about Sharon taking on considerable flack, Mahmoud Abbas is also taking on considerable flack. Flack will be a condition of this negotiation, will it not?
COHEN: Absolutely, there's no question that Abu Mazen, Mahmoud Abbas, is going to run into very heavy weather. There's no question that Sharon, if he does it, is going to run into heavy weather. But that's exactly the role that the United States has to be playing.
The United States has to be saying to the parties this is the necessity that the international community requires at this time. This is a necessity for your peoples and this is the necessity for the international community.
DOBBS: Naseer, let me ask you and Stephen both, the fact is you talked about the facts on the ground. The facts on the ground are this that the death continues for both Palestinians and Israelis. The Israeli economy has been devastated over the course of the past better than two years now. The devastation to the Palestinians already in a desperate state has been -- is awful.
With these facts on the ground is it perhaps a benefit that the United States is acting with greater will in the region and could well in effect impose its will on this process?
COHEN: What I think the United States is doing is finally creating an imposing process. What I mean by that is it's not telling the parties exactly what the solution is but it's telling them no more delays. You have to solve this problem and you have to do it now and you have to do it in the next few years as a final agreement.
That is the (unintelligible). It is forcing the parties to finally make decisions because these parties are both very wary of each other, very suspicious of agreements.
DOBBS: Do you think the United States will be tough enough on Israel to demand enough is enough?
COHEN: I think that what Bush showed last week when the prime minister wouldn't come to Washington and that he said I'm not going to be stood up for this date. I'm going to go ahead and he stood up and he called Abu Mazen himself and got the process going and by the end of the week he had the agreement of the Israeli government. That's something different. That's the president saying I'm working on my time table and my time table is the international time table of getting this problem solves.
DOBBS: Naseer, you have the very last words.
ARURI: If that is the case then I would be really very optimistic. I mean if there is going to be an imposed settlement. But I mean I think there's a history here of 36 years where that phrase, imposed settlement, was problematic I think politically and otherwise.
Now, whether Mr. Bush is going to do what he didn't do a year ago when he asked Sharon to get out of the occupied -- of the cities in the West Bank and Sharon did not do it, I mean that's a different matter.
DOBBS: Naseer.
ARURI: There is also just one very quick question and that is will the 14 amendments that the Israeli cabinet proposed be taken into account and Sharon says yes.
COHEN: I don't think so. Those 14 amendments are going to turn out to be very unimportant.
ARURI: I hope so.
COHEN: If the Palestinians can do one thing stop the killings.
DOBBS: And the conditions for progress here remain as much as they have been and perhaps we should all be focusing, and Naseer if I may, I did not and I don't -- I feel a little concern here, imposed settlement. My word is imposing its will. If that should result in a settlement, I think all of us would be delighted but imposing the will of this government in the region I think is the direction this administration has chosen to follow.
COHEN: Getting them, forcing them to make a decision of their own, not telling them what that decision is but telling them that they have to make a decision, that's what he's doing. He's bringing them together and he's doing something else.
DOBBS: Quickly.
COHEN: He's bringing the Arabs together. The Arabs are going to be in Acuba. Israelis and the Palestinians are going to be -- in Sharm El Sheikh. The Israelis are going to be in Acuba with the Palestinians. He's got to make a bridge.
DOBBS: Naseer, I promised you the last word. Stephen took it away. I got to give it back to you. You get the last word quickly please.
ARURI: Well, OK, let's hope that the meetings in Acuba of the Arabs will be more than actually putting pressure on the weaker party here because I mean let's not forget that one of the conditions that Israel has is that the basis will be (unintelligible) but not the plan of Saudi Arabia that seems to reflect the global consensus. I think that if that really is set aside things may not develop as well as we want them to and we hope that things will develop in a more positive direction.
DOBBS: Naseer Aruri, we thank you for being here and I even detected a little building of positiveness about the whole process as we wrap up here. It's great to have you with us. Stephen Cohen, thank you very much.
COHEN: Thank you very much.
DOBBS: You're both terrific, come back soon, and hopefully we'll be discussing progress.
That brings us to our "Quote of the Day" from an Israeli official on what will end tension in the region: "If they would put an end to terrorism, it would ease the lives of the Israelis. It would give us the opportunity to ease the lives of the Palestinians as well, and that is what we are expecting the Palestinians to do in the next couple of days," that comes from Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.
Still ahead, President Bush signed a big new tax cut into law. We'll tell you what that tax cut means for you. Jan Hopkins will report.
Two thousand high school students have been quarantined in Canada tonight because of the SARS virus. Two more people have died. Ontario's public health commissioner Dr. Colon DeCuna joins us to tell us what's being done to contain this outbreak. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: President Bush today signed into law the third largest tax cut in U.S. history. President Bush said the $330 billion package will fuel an economic recovery by ensuring that Americans have more to spend, to save, and invest.
This tax cut package means the average American won't have to work as long to pay off the federal government for all those taxes in coming years, but before you spend that tax cut all at once, you may want to save some to pay for the other taxes that are likely to be rising, Jan Hopkins reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAN HOPKINS, CNN CORREPONDENT (voice-over): The president is betting the tax cut is just what the economy and the American people need right now.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can say loud and clear to the American people you got more of your own money to spend so that this economy can get a good wind behind it. HOPKINS: By signing the tax bill into law, the president has just rolled back one day that we each work for Uncle Sam. This year you stopped working for the federal government on April 18th according to the Tax Foundation.
The tax cuts next year will take two more days off the calendar but before you start making vacation plans remember your state and local tax bill may be getting bigger.
SCOTT MOODY, TAX FOUNDATION: A lot of states are raising taxes. I know New York has raised taxes. California is proposing to do so. A lot of those tax increases are going to sort of undo what's been going on at the federal level.
HOPKINS: That Tax Foundation figures we now work 74 days to pay federal taxes, including Social Security. We work 61 days to pay for housing. This year we worked 35 days to pay state and local taxes. Compare that with 30 days of work to pay for food.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOPKINS: To put things in perspective at the turn of the century Americans only worked until January 20th to pay federal taxes. The peak was in 2000. We worked until the end of April to pay the IRS. But think of it this way, with the Bush tax cuts we each get an extra two-week vacation that we aren't working for Uncle Sam -- Lou.
DOBBS: Well, that puts it in perspective. By my count 109 days we all work just to pay off taxes.
HOPKINS: Uh huh.
DOBBS: Does that include sales taxes?
HOPKINS: Yes, it does and in fact it was last week that we ended and it was my birthday, May 22nd.
DOBBS: Well, happy birthday and we all celebrated.
Jan, thanks a lot. Jan Hopkins.
That brings us to tonight's poll. The question, do you think your portion of the tax cut signed into the law today is just right, not enough, too much? Cast your vote at cnn.com/moneyline. We'll have the results later in the broadcast.
Turning now to "Our Thought of the Day," it was written in 1775, and it holds true today. "All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act is founded on compromise and barter." That from Edmund Burke.
Our nightly check of the mounting trade deficit, tonight it stands by our estimate at $205 billion growing at an almost $1 1/2 billion a day.
Still ahead here, a new SARS scare in Canada. We'll be talking with Ontario's health commissioner about what's being done to stop the outbreak from spreading.
The rising cost of health care is squeezing middle class Americans. Tonight we'll tell you how several Democrats are planning to cut health care costs as we continue our series of special reports on "Middle Class Ills." Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: In Canada tonight, concerns about SARS forcing the closure of a Toronto-area high school. More than 6,400 people have now been quarantined in Toronto. Canada also reported two more SARS death bringing the country's total to 29 for the country.
Dr. Colin D'Cunha is the public health commissioner of Ontario, Canada. Dr. D'Cunha joins us now from Toronto. Good to have you with us.
DR. COLIN D'CUNHA, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, ONTARIO: Good evening.
DOBBS: This, I know, has got to be extraordinarily troubling to you. It appeared that you had the SARS virus under control. What happened?
D'CUNHA: Well, there was one case that was below the radar screen, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is the word we'd use, that was responsible, unfortunately, since the middle of April, very specifically since the 19th of April, infecting at least four other patients and one health care worker who in turn over the course of this month infected a few more.
Right now, today's numbers are 34 probable and suspect. And we have about 50 persons under investigation. And we have approximately 5,400 people in home quarantine. And a whole bunch of health care workers in working quarantine.
DOBBS: Does it appear to you, Doctor, that the disease has now spread beyond the medical community?
D'CUNHA: At this point, looking at our cases, the disease is very much a disease of health care workers and close household contacts.
DOBBS: And close household contact. I know concern that at the high school that the child of one of those health care workers may have been infected. Do you have any word on that tonight?
D'CUNHA: No further news in terms of the child other than the child is admitted hospital. All the school children and teachers going to that high school are in quarantine.
DOBBS: Toronto's North York General Hospital appears to be the source of the great deal of the trouble that you're experiencing. Did you, did the Canadian health officials, did the hospital itself, its management let its guard down too soon?
D'CUNHA: No. Essentially we were in a state of provincial emergency through Saturday of the Victoria Day weekend which would have been the 17th of May. These cases were sitting in an occurred capacity. And in retrospect of chart review, we determined these were cases of SARS.
DOBBS: You're responsible for the area in which there have been greatest number of the cases outside of China. What lessons have you learned? How serious a threat do you think SARS remains to the rest of the world right now?
D'CUNHA: Well, the lessons that we in Canada have learned in an ongoing basis is this is a disease that acquires good infection control practices in the absence of treatment and in the absence of a vaccine. We very clearly have to isolate all close contact so that if they become symptomatic with the disease they don't transmit it onto other people.
In terms of the challenge we on the planet face, as long as there's SARS activity somewhere in the world and as long as the contacts are not isolated, the potential exists for SARS to continue to spread. And which is why here in Ontario, Canada we will throw, once again, everything we have at it to control and contain the disease.
DOBBS: Doctor, I know that this is a difficult question to answer, probably no one has the answer. But a number of doctors have talked about the seasonality of SARS as common to other viruses. Do you believe that there's a marked risk that we will see an uptick again in the SARS virus as we approach fall and winter?
D'CUNHA: Well, our Science Advisory Committee asked us to consider four possible scenarios in the world. One scenario is that SARS is completely eradicated. Certainly the World Health Organization is aiming towards that goal.
The second scenario is to be prepared here in North America for the ongoing potential for importation from areas of the world in which SARS activity likely to continue.
The third scenario is an outbreak-like scenario which is where we find ourselves in.
And the fourth scenario is let it go and let run wild.
We have no desire to even look at scenario four. We are in three and our goal to go back to two which is where we thought we were in April and in early May.
DOBBS: Doctor, we thank you very much for being with us here and we wish you all the best of luck in what I know is a very troubling and difficult fight there.
Tonight, we continue our series of special reports looking at the health care crisis squeezing in country's middle class. Eleven years ago, then-President Clinton suffered a political set back when he proposed a massive overhaul of America's health care system. But this spring, Democrats are back and they have major proposals to insure the uninsured and bring down, at the same time, the cost of health care. The leaders so far, Congressman Richard Gephardt whose plan was first and is by far the boldest. Peter Viles reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One of the great political lessons of the 1990s, health care reform is a nonstarter. And yet, Democrats this spring rediscovered the issue without apology. Congressman Gephardt was first, rolling out a bold plan in April.
REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D-MO), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Access to quality health care is the moral issue of our time. And claiming the moral high ground while others go untreated is something that only God can sort out.
VILES: Within a month, Democratic presidential hopefuls Howard Dean and John Kerry followed suit. And Joe Lieberman will announce a plan this summer.
STEVEN FINDLAY, NATL. INST. HEALTH CARE MGMT.: I think there is some bravery involved here and Gephardt deserves some credit. But, I also think that it was somewhat inevitable that the Democrats would raise this issue again, particularly to use it as leverage with respect to the president's tax policies.
VILES: Democrats are responding to sobering figures: 41 million Americans without health care insurance, soaring premiums, tens of millions of middle class Americans with jobs and families caught without adequate coverage.
RON POLLACK, EX DIR., FAMILIES USA: Over the course of the last two years, almost one out of three nonelderly Americans were uninsured for some period of time. So, this reaches very deeply into the middle class.
VILES: Gephardt's plan is the most expensive. It would cost the government nearly $200 billion a year mainly in tax credits to businesses of all sizes. So much federal spending it would in theory stimulate the economy.
The Dean plan has a price tag of $88 billion, and would create two new federal programs, insurance for children, and insurance for the unemployed, self employed and small businesses.
HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This covers every hard- working person who is scraping by at the bottom of the middle class hoping not to sink any further guaranteed health insurance for everybody.
VILES: Kerry's plan at $72 billion a year focuses on holding down insurance costs and would also allow individuals and companies to buy into the same plan that now covers Congress and nine million federal workers. SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Allow all Americans to buy into the same plan that the president and members of Congress give themselves, with subsidies to make it more affordable.
VILES: The most radical plan comes from dark horse Democratic hopeful Dennis Kucinich. He calls it the single-payer system. Most of us would call it the Canadian plan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VILES: Common thread in the Dean, Kerry and Gephardt proposals is that unlike the Clinton plan, they build on the existing employer- based system and they do not call for major surgery in the market for health care insurance itself -- Lou.
DOBBS: And how are the Democrats paying for it?
VILES: They are going to roll back the Bush tax cuts, which may be popular with primary voters, but in the general election, the president will be able to truthfully say, these guys want to raise your taxes, so there is some risk here for the Democrats on this.
DOBBS: Absolutely. And a serious problem requiring some serious answers.
VILES: Sure does.
DOBBS: Peter Viles, thank you.
Tomorrow, we continue our series of special reports on middle class ills. Kitty Pilgrim reports on what Republicans in the Bush administration are proposing to do now to fix health care problems in the country. It's their turn tomorrow night.
A novel approach to another health care issue at a California clinic, using dogs to detect cancer in humans. The dogs are being trained to help detect cancer by scent. One of the dogs has a 87 percent accuracy rate in identifying lung cancer. Dogs have also been able to detect cancer in cases in Florida and the United Kingdom, but the American Cancer Society is cautious, saying more research needs to be done before the use of dogs can be recommended for early detection or prevention of cancer.
The "New York Times" is investigating the work of Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Maureen Dowd. "New York Daily News" columnist Dave Shapetz (ph) today accused Dowd of misusing an ellipses when she quoted President Bush in a column two weeks ago. The quote Dowd used was, "Al Qaeda is on the run. That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly but surely being decimated -- dot dot dot -- they're not a problem anymore." But the actual quote was -- "Al Qaeda is on the run. That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly but surely being decimated. Right now, about half of all the top al Qaeda operatives are either jailed or dead. In either case, they're not a problem anymore." Dowd is the latest figure "New York Times" figure to come under scrutiny in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal, the reporter who made up parts of dozens and dozens of stories.
Still ahead here, the new U.N. envoy to Iraq has a big task in front of him. Sergio Vieira de Mello will tell us how he intends to restore order to a country where chaos seems to often to break out. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: In news across America tonight, suspected serial killer Derrick Todd Lee is back in Louisiana. He was captured in Atlanta last night. The 34-year-old is a suspect in the deaths of at least five women who were killed over a two-year period in the Baton Rouge area.
Six hikers missing since Monday have been rescued in Washington state. The hikers spotted in an area not far from Mount Saint Helen's. They were airlifted to safety by a Coast Guard helicopter. None of the hikers was seriously injured.
Colorado's Patrick Roy today retired as one of hockey's greatest goaltenders. Roy leaves the game with the winningest record in the history of the NHL, producing 551 victories over an 18-year career.
Next week, Sergio Vieira de Mello will arrive in Iraq as the new envoy of the United Nations. His mission, a daunting one, to assist the country in humanitarian relief, reconstruction, legal reform and other issues as he works with the coalition authority. I asked him earlier what his top priority would be upon arriving in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SERGIO VIEIRA DE MELLO, U.N. ENVOY: My first priority will be twofold. One will be to establish as many context, as broad context with representatives of the Iraqi people as I can. Second, to establish the best possible working relations with the coalition, with what the Security Council calls the authority; that is essentially the United States and the United Kingdom representatives in Baghdad.
DOBBS: Daily, we have reports of unrest and further violence. How difficult will this make your task?
DE MELLO: I think it will make our common task extremely difficult. Clearly, until such time as law and order has been restored, all the rest will remain very very difficult -- and, in some areas, impossible.
You know, that's a precondition for the rest to unfold. And I do hope, based on my own experience, that appropriate measures -- urgent measures -- will be taken to restore law and order, particularly large urban centers such as Baghdad.
DOBBS: You've carried out successful missions in Kosovo, East Timor. How would you compare the challenge in Iraq?
DE MELLO: Oh, I never compare different situations. What I would say is that some of the lessons we've learned in Kosovo and East Timor -- particularly, when it comes to reestablishing law and order and restoring public services -- could apply in the case of Iraq. But Iraq is, needless to say, far more complex -- much more difficult a challenge than the other two.
DOBBS: Who will be your working counterpart and the authority in the coalition in Iraq?
DE MELLO: Well, essentially, Ambassador Bremer, but also the special envoy Prime Minister Blair. I think they will be my two main counterparts.
DOBBS: And you have written extensively about the need to establish the human rights. Certainly there is no background for human rights in what was Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
What will be your first step to establish a culture of human rights?
DE MELLO: Well, you are absolutely right. For the last 24 years, Saddam Hussein has turned a country that can be proud of 6,000 years of history -- which we tend to forget -- one of the cradles of our civilization into one of the darkest tyrannies in the world.
It will be very, very difficult to create that culture of human rights in Iraq. However, as I have seen in other situations -- in other similar situations -- depriving people of democracy and of human rights is a means of increasing their thirst for something radically different.
So I'm sure the Iraqi people are ready for democratic institutions that are based on the full respect of their individual, as well as economic, social, and cultural rights.
DOBBS: And, at this point, would you support the additional troops to maintain law and order in Iraq?
DE MELLO: Well, let me tell you again, based on experience, that soldiers -- and they would agree with me -- are not the best policemen or policewomen.
What I think is necessary, as a matter of urgency, is to create -- to revamp -- the Iraqi police, to train new or old police in Iraq to perform those tasks. Foreigners, even foreign policemen and policewomen, cannot do the job on their behalf.
DOBBS: We appreciate your taking the time to be with us. A considerable challenge, and we wish you all the very best.
DE MELLO: Thank you very much, Lou.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: Sergio Vieira de Mello. Tonight's poll question: Do you think your portion of the tax cut signed into law today is just right, not enough, or too much? Cast your vote at cnn.com/moneyline. We will have the results for you in just a moment. Just ahead, the Nasdaq now at its highest level in almost a year. Christine Romans will be here with the full market report.
Their favorite pastimes include reading and more reading. Spelling champs from all over the country converge in Washington for the National Spelling Bee Contest. We will have the story of one fourth grader who made it to the finals. This is one of my favorite events of the year. Hope it will be yours. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The Nasdaq today at it's highest point in almost a year. The Dow up 12 points. The Nasdaq up 6. The S&P 500 up almost 2 points. For investors, strong chain store sales seem to over come a drop in durable goods orders. Christine Romans here to sort it out for us -- Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT: And barely I guess. Five days in a row higher now for the Dow and for the S&P. Only four days in the row for the Nasdaq. Retail and housing stocks pretty strong here today. Retail stocks rally on earnings and the data mentioned with chain-store sales better for seven weeks in a row now. Volume at just above average at one and half billion shares. Lou, the breath and the new (UNINTELLIGIBLE), I feel like broken record, again really impressive, 178 names at highs for the year. Only three stocks at lows.
Meanwhile, the man for home loans remains red hot. Mortgage demand up for the fourth week in a row. For financing demand up almost 6 percent in the last week. And that's fueled a two-year-long home building rally. Those companies continue to raise their targets and report record earnings and the stocks following suits. And in case you are wonder, rates excluding fees on a 30 year home loan hit a record low for a third week in a row, Lou, 5.31 percent. Three weeks in a row record lows.
DOBBS: That's amazing. And as long as it's continuation of those new highs, you may sound like a broken record.
ROMANS: OK.
DOBBS: Thanks a lot, Christine Romans.
The national debt, surpassing it's previous limit of $6.4 trillion. President Bush signed a bill to raising the debt level to $7.3 trillion. Tonight, the debt stands at 6.5 trillion. There's almost $900 billion to go until a new limit is reached in the national debt.
Only eight-years-old but he can call himself among the finalists in the national spelling bee. The Texas native is one of the youngest finalists ever. His winning word, here we go, deipnososphist or something like that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: D-e-i-p-n-o-s-o-s-p-h-i-s-t, Deipnososphist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Well, I may not pronounce it, but I have been told what it means. It's a person skilled in table talk, otherwise known as chitchat. The final round tomorrow, in the national spelling bee tomorrow, we'll have you, we promise you, the final results tomorrow.
Coming up next here, the preliminary results of the poll.
We'll share your thoughts on my interview last night with FCC Chairman Michael Powell.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Our poll question tonight, "Do you think your portion of the tax cut signed into law today is just right, not enough or too much?" Six percent said just right, 52 percent said not enough and incredibly, 42 percent said, too much. Good for them.
Now a look at your thoughts. We received many e-mails about FCC Chairman's Michael Powell's appearance here discussing the looming decision on whether to ease restrictions on media ownership.
Daniel Hestand of Huntsville, Alabama, wrote, "Thanks for pointing out that control of the news is in the hands of a few already. This is already a dangerous situation for our democracy, and will be even more dangerous when Mr. Powell changes the rules as he surely will do no matter what the public thinks."
Mike McKibben of Florida, wrote, "The though of more Fox News Stations scares me to death. There is enough distortion of the truth out there now. The FCC wants more?"
Dan Leahy of California, wrote, "If Powell is correct in saying the 18 month long procedure has been completely open, once again, it is the media itself that has failed to give this issue the coverage it deserves."
And on the poll, trusting the media, Pam, from Seattle, said, "Your poll on reporting stuck a chord, my grandfather was a newspaper reporter and eventually owned his own small town paper. he taught us, 'never believe what you read in the paper and only half of what you see with your own eyes.' I've always trusted his opinion."
We thank you for your thoughts. E-mail us any time, loudobbs@cnn.com. Thanks for being with us tonight.
Tomorrow, we continue our series of special reports, middle class ills. We take a look at the administration and the Republican proposals to help Americans who can't afford health care. For all of us here, good night from New York City.
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