Return to Transcripts main page
Lou Dobbs Tonight
Bush Security Scare; Congress Releases September 11 Report
Aired July 24, 2003 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Thursday, July 24. Here now, Lou Dobbs.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening.
Tonight: a dramatic security scare for President Bush. A Cessna single-engine aircraft flew over his motorcade while traveling in Philadelphia. The Secret Service said the aircraft was flying low and that it was flying erratically. The aircraft was intercepted by police helicopters and forced to land at a nearby airport.
The pilot was detained by members of the Secret Service, the FBI, and local police officers. The Secret Service said it appears the pilot was unaware he was flying in restricted airspace. The pilot was inspecting oil pipelines for possible damage. The White House says the president was never in any danger.
Our White House correspondent Dana Bash is traveling with the president. We'll have more on this developing story later in the show.
The police officer who shot and killed an assassin at New York City's City Hall was today promoted to detective. Officer Richard Burt, a nine-year veteran of the NYPD, said he did only what he was trained to do when he killed Councilman James Davis's assassin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD BURT, NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT: I don't consider myself a hero. I just did my job. I did what I was trained to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg credits Detective Burt's quick reaction for saving many lives. The mayor passed through metal detectors as part of increased security put in place at City Hall this morning.
In California tonight, Governor Gray Davis is facing that state's first ever gubernatorial election recall. The date of the election is set for October 7. That gives him just three months to convince voters he should keep his job.
Our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, reports from Sacramento.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That oncoming train is picking up speed.
LT. GOV. CRUZ BUSTAMANTE (D), CALIFORNIA: The date that I've decided to choose for this election is Tuesday, October the 7th.
CROWLEY: California's second in command is required by law to set the date for the recall vote on California's No. 1, but he is not required to like it.
BUSTAMANTE: Having a recall, in my view, is not the proper way of being able to do this. Just because you're mad at somebody doesn't mean you spend $35 million to oust somebody.
CROWLEY: Figuratively, maybe literally, that may only be the half of it. Between now and October 7th, the secretary of state's office has to mail informational pamphlets to California's 15 million registered voters. The state's 58 counties have to find up to 25,000 locations for people to cast their ballots and recruit 100,000 poll workers to oversee it all.
And oh, yes, some counties need voting machines. They threw out the old ones, and the new ones haven't arrived. Hear those alarm bells ringing? So does the state's top election official.
KEVIN SHELLEY, CALIFORNIA SECRETARY OF STATE: No one, obviously, wants a Florida-type election in California. And I certainly don't want that on my watch as secretary of state. It's a challenge.
CROWLEY: Beyond the logistical nightmare, there are the political machinations.
CROWD: Governor Davis must go!
CROWLEY: At least 12 different organizations are bringing cacophony to the chaos, including Rescue California, which wants Davis out, and Stand For California, which wants Davis to stay. The governor is not popular here, but the anti-recallers say that's beside the point.
ART PULASKI, CALIFORNIA LABOR FEDERATION: We need to educate voters that this recall is not about one man, whether you like him or not. It's about these issues that most of us hold dear.
CROWLEY: Davis and allies will frame the recall as an attempt by minority Republicans to win an election they can't win the old- fashioned way. In his brief, begrudging news conference, Lieutenant Governor Bustamante seemed to settle one of the outstanding issues. There will be two questions on the ballot. They boil down to this: Do you want to throw Governor Gray Davis out of office and, if so, who do you want in his place?
One of the pro-recallers says it will not be enough for wanna-bes to talk about what a lousy job Gray Davis is doing.
TED COSTA, RECALL GRAY DAVIS: You're not going to get by with just a few campaign slogans. They're really going to have to have a plan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: A little more about the political maneuvering, Lou.
State party Republicans are urging those Republicans who want to run against Gray Davis to wait until the very last minute before making it official. As of right now, no Democrat is going to put their name on that ballot. But if a Democrat should change their mind and go in and put his name on the ballot, the Republican Party would like to keep open the option that they can winnow down their field and make it a tighter race -- Lou.
DOBBS: This looks as though, Candy, it is wide open now in California.
CROWLEY: It is. But you know perfectly well how long it is until October 7. And so many things can happen. You've seen that the anti-recall people are now out there. Governor Gray Davis can play hardball with the best of them. And nobody is counting him out.
DOBBS: Just weeks ago, everyone was counting out the possibility that this recall election would ever materialize. And here we are. And I suspect, Democrat and Republican alike, somebody there better come up with a plan for that $38 billion deficit, Candy.
CROWLEY: Exactly. And that -- depending on who you talk to, that's what the recallers say is at the basis of all this, the $38 billion deficit.
DOBBS: Candy Crowley, thank you very much, reporting tonight from Sacramento.
Tonight, there is gruesome proof that Saddam Hussein's sons are dead. The Iraqi provisional authority released photographs of the battered and bloody faces of Uday and Qusay Hussein. But the attacks against coalition forces continue. Three soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division today were killed near Mosul.
Our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre has the report -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld says it was not a snap decision to release those photographs of Saddam Hussein's sons. But he says, after weighing the gruesome nature of the photographs against the possible good they might do, Rumsfeld says, for him, it wasn't really even a close call.
The photos show that Uday shaved his head and that both brothers grew beards, apparently to alter their appearance. And while the U.S. has protested angrily in the past when dead Americans have been publicly displayed, Pentagon officials draw a distinction between dead soldiers and dead dictators.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I honestly believe that these two are particularly bad characters and that it's important for the Iraqi people to see them, to know they're gone, to know they're dead, and to know they're not coming back. And I think that will save American lives and save coalition lives and be a great benefit to the Iraqi people to be free of that. And I feel it was the right decision. And I'm glad I made it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: Meanwhile, the military's grim prediction that attacks against U.S. troops would rise appears to have come true. There were three U.S. soldiers killed today, two yesterday. Four of the dead were from the 101st Airborne Division, the same unit that conducted Tuesday's raid in Mosul that killed Saddam's sons.
And while some Iraqis are questioning whether the bloated and scarred faces are really Uday and Qusay, the U.S. hopes the grisly images will dishearten the insurgents, dampen their recruiting efforts, and shake loose more leads in the hunt for Saddam Hussein.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL BREMER, COALITION ADMINISTRATION: I think, in the long run, it will also hopefully encourage more Iraqis to come and give us information about more Baathists. And that's really what we have to have happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: In order to overcome the skepticism of some of the average Iraqis, the U.S. also granted a request from the new governing council to inspect the bodies firsthand. The hope is that Iraqis will believe what they hear from fellow Iraqis, even if they don't trust the United States -- Lou.
DOBBS: Jamie, thank you very much -- Jamie McIntyre, senior Pentagon correspondent.
President Bush today said the death of Saddam Hussein's sons is proof that the former regime will never return to power. Vice President Dick Cheney also today strongly defended the decision to go to war against Saddam Hussein.
White House correspondent Dana Bash is traveling with the president, joins us live tonight from Livonia, Michigan -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Lou.
Well, the White House says the president certainly was informed about the decision to release these photos before it happened, but that he didn't sign off on it, per se. He didn't give the order. He let the defense secretary do that, as Jamie was just talking about, and also the coalition provisional authority in Iraq. But in a speech here in Livonia just a few hours ago, the president made it very clear, much as you're hearing from the Pentagon, that the reason to release these photos was to make it clear to the Iraqi people, so that they can see that the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein is gone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Two of the favorite henchmen of Saddam Hussein were brought to justice. They were discovered, and their violent careers ended in justice.
These two sons of Saddam Hussein were responsible for hundreds and hundreds of people being tortured and maimed and murdered. And now the Iraqi people have seen clearly the intent of the United States to make sure that they are free and to make sure that the Saddam regime never returns again to Iraq.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, the White House is calling this decision to release the photos a security measure, saying it was not about propaganda, but to make it clear to the Iraqi people that they no longer have to live in fear.
And what you just heard from President Bush is an attempt, a hope, to overcome the controversy that has surrounded the White House on the Iraq issue for the past three weeks. Of course, that is about the controversy about prewar intelligence, the case that the president made for war in those 16 words in his State of the Union address.
And the president was helped by his No. 2, by the vice president, back in Washington today. He came out and talked about the Iraq issue for the first time since the controversy erupted. He didn't specifically address the line in the State of the Union, but he did go back and make the case for war once again, talking about the intelligence that the United States had about Saddam Hussein and his weapons programs, biological, chemical programs, and also made it clear that that evidence has been around for some time, and said -- and he even asked rhetorically, could any responsible leader have ignored the threat that Saddam Hussein posed? -- Lou.
DOBBS: Dana, thank you very much.
What is the White House saying tonight about that security breach over the president's motorcade near Philadelphia today?
BASH: Well, the White House is sort of letting the Secret Service handle this one. And I spoke to a spokesman for the Secret Service just a short while ago, who said that the person who was flying the single-engine Cessna is still being discussed, talked to, by Secret Service agents on the ground in New Jersey. That is where he was taken by a police helicopter.
But what they said is that the president was not in any danger at all and that what they think at this point is that this guy was sort of doing his job. He was flying low, looking at some pipelines, as you mentioned earlier -- that is part of his job -- and that perhaps he just didn't know about the FAA regulations that closed the airspace. And, privately, what the Secret Service is saying is that it has happened before, that planes have gotten into the airspace that have been closed, but this is particularly questionable because this plane actually flew over the motorcade.
But they are still questioning him. At this point, they don't think it was anything intentional. They think it was an accident -- Lou.
DOBBS: Dana, thank you very much -- Dana Bash reporting from the White House.
Still ahead: the FBI and the CIA, missed opportunities to prevent the September 11 attacks. Bob Franken, Mike Boettcher report.
And buy American: Congressman Duncan Hunter says that's what American defense contractors and the Pentagon should be doing. Congressman Hunter is the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. He joins us.
Also ahead: "Rogue Nation," a new book that says the United States is on a dangerous path of unilateralism. Clyde Prestowitz is the author. He's our guest.
Please stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Congress today published the final report on the events leading up to the September 11 terrorist attacks. The long-awaited report says there was no single clue that could have prevented the hijackings, although it refers to missed opportunities by intelligence agencies.
National correspondent Bob Franken has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Although there was no smoking gun, the heavily censored new report places the blame on U.S. intelligence, most of it on the FBI and CIA. The community missed opportunities, the report said, to disrupt the September 11 plot.
SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The attacks of September the 11 could have been prevented if the right combination of skill, cooperation, creativity and some good luck had been brought to the task.
FRANKEN: According to the report, the best chance to prevent the attack centered on events during the year 2000 in San Diego: numerous contacts between an FBI informant and two hijackers, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi.
An FBI agent in San Diego told congressional investigators that, if headquarters had told him they were already on a government watch list, quoting the agent: "It would have made a huge difference. We would have done everything. We would have given them the full-court press."
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: These were not cryptic things. These were a couple of things that should have been more apparent to the intelligence agencies. These were leads that were not adequately pursued.
FRANKEN: Although much of the information in this report has been publicly discussed for months, some of it is new. For instance, there was intelligence that the so-called mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, traveled to and from the United States in May 2001.
However, a U.S. official now insists that never happened. And for years, there had been warnings about al Qaeda and threats to the United States, which the report says went unheeded. Summer of 1998, a memo suggests: "UBL, Osama bin Laden, is planning attacks in the U.S., redaction, says plans are to attack in New York and Washington. Information mentions an attack in Washington, probably against public places."
The individual author's name and his agency were removed. In fact, the Bush administration refused to declassify large portions of the approximately 800-page report, information, for instance, about the role of Saudi Arabia.
SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R), ALABAMA: There's a lot of stuff in here, but there's a lot of information that's not in here that should be, in my judgment. But we did the best we could.
FRANKEN: One question: What did President Bush know about the threat? The committee was denied access to any intelligence information shared with the president.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: The only evidence provided was a description of a so- called PDB, a presidential daily briefing, about the danger of an attack that was dated August 6, 2001, just over a month before the September 11 plot was carried out.
And, Lou, this evening, the FBI director, Robert Mueller, has put out a statement in which he says that many of the recommendations have already been carried out, that the FBI, he said, before September 11, 2001, was quite different than the one today -- Lou.
DOBBS: Senator Richard Shelby, the former head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, a Republican, strongly critical of the redactions, the elimination of material that he feels should have gone to the public. That's a rather remarkable position for Senator Shelby to take on this issue.
FRANKEN: Well, he's been critical of the intelligence community for quite some time. You know, of course, that he is particularly critical of the CIA director, Tenet. And this has just been consistent with his policy. He's always been quite outspoken on his belief that the intelligence community has not done its job, not only in this administration, but for years before that.
DOBBS: And he is building, I think, an empirical case that is larger, if not persuasive, certainly, over the past several years.
Bob Franken, thank you very much, national correspondent, reporting from Washington.
The congressional report fails, as Bob Franken reported, to answer important questions about the role of Saudi Arabia and its relationship to many of the hijackers. All but one of the pages in this report referring to that issue were blacked out; 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.
Mike Boettcher has that story -- Mike.
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, as you said, more than two dozen of those pages were redacted.
Sources tell us that's information about possible Saudi links to the hijackers. One section that the committee says they fought to get in there and got was information about a Saudi named Omar al-Bayoumi, who was in San Diego. Now, this gentleman, according to the report, had an unlimited supply of money. They didn't know where he got it from. But he helped two of the hijackers, al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi. get established in San Diego.
And they said that a further look should be taken into al- Bayoumi. Now, those committee members who talked afterwards, particularly Bob Graham, gave some indication of what might be in those redacted sections.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAHAM: I would note that the censored sections of the report points out that, despite public assurances from U.S. officials that Saudi Arabia has cooperated in counterterrorism efforts, the joint inquiry received testimony from Saudi officials that, in fact -- quote -- "had been uncooperative and often did not act on information implicating Saudi nationals."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOETTCHER: Now, the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. is taking great exception that al-Bayoumi had been named by an informant in the report as a possible agent of Saudi Arabia. He says that is just not true. U.S. officials are saying that there is no active investigation of al- Bayoumi right now and they believe that he had no information relating to the 9/11 attacks before 9/11 -- Lou.
DOBBS: As you pointed out, Senator Graham, Senator Evan Bayh, amongst others, have said that they will continue to press for the exposure of those elements that were redacted by both the White House and the CIA. Do you have this evening any sense as to how soon that might transpire?
BOETTCHER: I think that we're talking months down the road. And I don't -- no one's told me that, but just looking at the situation, Lou, out there and the delicate situation, we're entering into a political season as well.
The Saudis are conducting investigations of the Riyadh bombing with the U.S. That is a complicating factor. There are arguments that some of that information in there could perhaps affect the ongoing investigation. So I don't think it's anything that's going to be in there soon, although the committee promises it will be in there at some point -- Lou.
DOBBS: And, as you know, a further development in Iran: At least four high-ranking, so says Iran, al Qaeda members are being held in Iranian custody, and at least some of them Saudi.
Mike Boettcher, as always, thank you very much for that excellent report.
BOETTCHER: Thank you, Lou.
DOBBS: Still ahead tonight: driving down prices putting a dent in the bottom lines of this country's biggest carmakers. Bill Tucker will report tonight on an American automobile industry that is simply off track.
And many of you wrote in response to President Clinton's defense of President Bush and the words, 16 of them, that he uttered in the State of the Union. We'll share your thoughts.
And the United States is a rogue nation, according to the author of a new book. Clyde Prestowitz is the author. He is our guest. And he's coming up next.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: A congressman has upset the White House, the Pentagon, and quite a few defense contractors by proposing sweeping buy-American rules for the U.S. military. The congressman is a Republican. He is Congressman Duncan Hunter. He is also the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Congressman Hunter says, countries that fail to help the United States in Iraq should not receive U.S. contracts.
Lisa Sylvester reports from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): During the war with Iraq, a Swiss manufacturer that makes a key component of the joint direct attack munition, or JDAM, stopped sending shipments to the U.S. because the company opposed the war. The U.S. military ultimately turned to an American company for the JDAM part.
REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R), CALIFORNIA: If you rely on a foreign source that's not reliable, it may end up causing you deaths on a battlefield. SYLVESTER: Right now, half of every military aircraft and weapons system has to be built with U.S. parts. Under Representative Duncan Hunter's buy-America proposal, 65 percent would come from domestic suppliers.
SCOTT PAUL, AFL-CIO: Having a buy-American law ensures that U.S. tax dollars go to support U.S. tax jobs. We don't need to support European defense jobs.
SYLVESTER: The General Accounting Office, Congress' research arm, is also urging the Pentagon to give more contracts to U.S. manufacturers. The GAO warned in a report this week that the U.S. is losing control over sensitive technology in the $200 billion Joint Strike Fighter program, the Pentagon's largest aircraft project, that's being developed with U.S. allies.
But the Pentagon says, to restructure just the Joint Strike Fighter program to favor American businesses would cost taxpayers an additional $4 billion.
SUZANNE PATRICK, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE: Five hundred million extra dollars would have to be spent by Lockheed to implement just the reporting requirements on this program. And that's quite a burden, I think, to the American taxpayer.
SYLVESTER: Defense contractors also oppose the buy-America plan, arguing it risks alienating U.S. allies. According to the industry, it's a two-way street. If the U.S. stops buying military goods from other countries, other countries may stop buying from the U.S.
JOHN DOUGLASS, AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION: This could be the single biggest destructive blow to the American alliances that the president is trying to build around the world that we've seen in probably 30, 40 years.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: The Pentagon feels so strongly on this issue that, if the buy-American provision is in the final appropriations bill, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld may ask the president to veto the entire $400 billion appropriations bill -- Lou.
DOBBS: Lisa, thank you very much -- Lisa Sylvester reporting from Washington.
When we continue: more on buying American. We'll be talking with the man leading the effort. Congressman Duncan Hunter, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, joins us.
And caught on tape: A California jury is now deliberating the fate of a white police officer accused of assaulting a black teenager. It's all on tape.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) DOBBS: The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Congressman Duncan Hunter, wants the Pentagon to place more military contracts with companies in this country, as Lisa Sylvester just reported.
Congressman Duncan Hunter joins us now from Capitol Hill.
Mr. Chairman, good to have you here.
HUNTER: Good to be with us with you.
DOBBS: And the flak that you are getting from the White House, from the Pentagon, from our trading partners, from the aerospace industry in particular, pretty severe heat, are you going to be able to withstand it?
HUNTER: Well, Lou, that's what we're here for.
And these folks are having a tizzy. On the other hand, it's very clear now that we're down to what I would call onesies and twosies in the American defense industry, meaning, we have one maker left of the most capable and sophisticated machine tools in this country, one manufacturer. That's Cincinnati. We're down to one tire-maker in America which is American-owned which can make tires, for example, for military aircraft and land systems.
We're down to only three titanium manufacturers. So the question for the American people is, do you want to have your tires made by Michelin in France? Do you want to rely on your machine tools from Germany? And do you want to rely on maybe your most critical military material, that is, titanium, to be mined from Russia and made in Russia, rather than the United States?
And I have none of this in my district in California in San Diego. But on the other hand, I think we have to look above the horizon. And now is the time to say, we have a critical need for the important components of the American defense industry to be made in our own country, so we have a reliable source. Secondly, the average American taxpayer pays a thousand bucks a year out of his or her paycheck just for the defense function of government.
And that means, as in the Iraq theater, the United States is footing the bill. Now, if the American taxpayer pays the money for defense, they should be able to make the majority of that defense.
DOBBS: Congressman, I think most taxpayers would agree with you not only on the issue of defense. But on most other initiatives and responsibilities of the federal government, I think most Americans would like to have more of a voice.
You're articulating some concerns, important national security concerns. The response you're getting, though, is not in national security terms. You're getting responses in terms of economics, the fact that, if we do see your bill passed, it becomes law, there would be retaliation from countries abroad, other countries banning U.S. products. How do you respond to that on an economic basis? HUNTER: Well, first, every nation, Lou, has to maintain and does maintain the right to protect themselves, to have a national security apparatus. And every nation maintains for themselves the right to have critical military secrets and critical military components made in our country.
Let me just respond with what happened to the British in this Gulf War operation. They make their grenades in Switzerland. Switzerland had a law that says, if you go into Iraq without a U.N. resolution, we're going to stop your shipment of grenades. They stopped 10,000 grenades from going to the British. Those troops went in without their full complement of grenades. And our most important weapons system, the JDAM, that's that bomb, that precision bomb, that flies off our F-15s, F-16s. The Swiss make a tiny component for that, a crystal.
They refused for nine days to ship that crystal to the United States. Now, we didn't need it because it was a short war. But the idea that you rely on a supplier who has a rule that, if the United Nations doesn't sanction your war, they're not going to cooperate, that doesn't make good sense. That's not logical.
DOBBS: Congressman Hunter, you are, if you will, lobbing a grenade into a process on Capitol Hill, a well-established one, as you very well know, a very cozy relationship and a very important economic system of relationships, trade, the relationship between the aerospace industry and those contractors abroad.
What do you think is going to be the outcome? There are rumblings that Secretary Rumsfeld would ask the president it veto this legislation, the Pentagon budget, even, if you are successful.
HUNTER: Well, actually, Lou, I've had good conversations with the secretary. He's been working this Iraq thing furiously. He hasn't had much time to look at this. And he's engaged in looking at it. And I think, in the end, the secretary is going to agree on many of our major points on maintaining the critical military base.
Let me just tell you, on titanium, the deal is done. We just finished making a deal with Boeing where we're going to be able to build all 100 of those tanker aircraft with American titanium and not have to rely on Russian titanium. We're going to be keeping those titanium manufacturers going through that process. That's a big part of buy-American. We've made that agreement with Boeing. It's finished. And, surely, the Pentagon is not going to reverse it and say: We insist that you use Russian titanium for your military systems.
So they're seeing the common sense. And it's time for these boys to climb out of their BMWs and realize, the good old American taxpayer out there carrying a lunch bucket is paying for everything we do out here, and we're going to have to give them a little bit of the action.
DOBBS: Duncan Hunter, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, 12-term congressman from California, and some people might have even suspected, who did not know, a former Army Ranger, Vietnam veteran, you've got the heat coming at you. And one thing we definitely know is, you're equipped to handle it.
(CROSSTALK)
DOBBS: Duncan Hunter, thank you very much. Take care.
That brings us to the subject of tonight's poll. Would you be willing to pay higher taxes in order for the U.S. military to buy American? Yes, no, maybe, or I don't have enough information yet? Cast your vote at CNN.com/Lou. We'll have the results for you a little later in the show. The final results of yesterday's poll question: Do you think former President Bill Clinton was right to defend President Bush on the issue of the WMD intelligence that was in the State of the Union? Thirty-four percent of you said yes; 7 percent said maybe; 59 percent said no.
Refinancing and no-money-down deals offered by U.S. carmakers have inspired many to buy American. Those incentive packages played a big role in keeping this economy moving during the downturn of late 2001 and early 2002. They've since caught up with the carmakers, however. DaimlerChrysler now says its income dropped 90 percent in the latest quarter.
Bill Tucker on an auto industry going from worse to ugly.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Detroit is building them, but the buyers are not coming. And carmakers are hurting, as they struggle to cut billions in costs, while continuing to hand out money in the form of incentives to get consumers to buy their product, Chrysler posting an operating loss of more than $1 billion, kicking the bottom line at DaimlerChrysler squarely in the teeth.
The news comes on the heels of disappointments from General Motors and Ford only last week. It's been a bad year for Motown's big three, who continue to surrender market share from a year ago, begging the question, are incentives working?
PAUL EISENSTEIN, THE CAR CONNECTION: When you are marketing a company based on fire sales, you're hurting its image. It gives the perception that particularly the domestic brands who are most aggressive on incentives, what you're basically saying is that they have to compete on price because they aren't good enough otherwise to compete with the players who aren't giving, or at least aren't giving as much in the way of incentives.
TUCKER: An investor should brace themselves for the third quarter, the industry's traditionally weakest period.
If there is a bright spot, it's that the automakers have a lot of new cars in the pipeline aimed at capturing the buying public's imagination.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: And that's also the bad news. A lot of new products mean pricing competition and likely more incentives -- Lou.
DOBBS: Incentives are with us. They're not going away.
TUCKER: No, they're not. In fact, some 20-odd years ago, Lou, Lee Iacocca described incentives as dope. Guess who's hooked on them now?
DOBBS: Well, it's a big problem.
Bill Tucker, thank you very much.
In news "Across America" tonight: More than 50 wildfires are burning across the Western part of the country. Firefighters are hoping to gain control this weekend of at least one of them that's burned 22,000 acres in eastern Montana. Another fire in that state has all but closed the western half of Glacier National Park.
Millions of American families will soon receive a $400 tax credit for each child. President Bush today visited a federal check processing center in Philadelphia, where thousands of those checks are being printed. The tax credits are expected to go in the mail tomorrow.
And encouraging news from the labor market: The number of Americans signing up for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in more than five months and, for the first time, dropped below 400,000 this year. It is the second straight week that jobless claims fell.
Tonight's quote from an economist reacting to those jobless- claims numbers, saying: "I think this puts a stake in the heart of those that claim recession is still with us" -- that from John Lonski, chief economist at Moody's Investor Service.
Taking a look now at some of your thoughts, many of you wrote in about former President Bill Clinton defending President Bush on the issue of disputed intelligence.
Ev Lozano of Houston, Texas, said: "It is very appropriate for Bill Clinton to defend President Bush's State of the Union address. The mistake has been acknowledged. We need to move on as a nation."
Trisha from Meridian, Mississippi, said: "Bill Clinton's support of President Bush was very courageous. He's absolutely right. Let's get past the 16 words and take care of current needs."
Kim Kolvin of Atlanta said: "I do not agree with Presidents Clinton and Bush that it's time to move on. I think this country has a right to know whether or not the Bush administration knowingly misused and exaggerated the intelligence."
Many of you also wrote in about the Pentagon's decision to release those pictures of Saddam's sons.
Mike Potter of Colorado Springs said: "I believe it is appropriate to display the photographs and other evidence as needed by the Iraqi people to believe the two brothers are dead."
Robbie of Texas said: "Iraqi citizens may need to see the gruesome pictures, but I don't think Americans need to."
And, finally, Catherine Skelly asked about our series of special reports that we debuted this week on "American Classics": "How were the 'American Classics' companies chosen? Specifically, is there an promotional arrangement with AOL Time Warner? Did any of the 'Classics' agree to buy ads or anything of that sort?"
Catherine, you have a certain skeptical, cynical streak that, in this day and age, is understandable. Catherine, there are no deals, no agreements, no nothing. The only factors we consider in choosing these "American Classics" is that they have both a deep connection to our country and have become part of the American way of life.
We love hearing from you. Send us your thoughts at LouDobbs@CNN.com.
Coming up next: A former Reagan administration official calls the United States a rogue nation in his new book, Clyde Prestowitz. He'll be here to explain why he thinks the United States is on a dangerous course.
And then, yes, "American Classics." Our series of special reports continues tonight: Hollywood blockbusters that stand the test of time. Casey Wian will have the story for us from -- where else? -- Los Angeles.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: A jury in Los Angeles tonight is deliberating the fate of a police officer caught on videotape beating a teenager against a patrol car.
Dan Lothian has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is this the picture of an out-of-control police officer carrying out street justice or a display of law enforcement using reasonable force in an unpredictable situation?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lifting him to approximately shoulder level, slamming him down forcefully on the trunk of the car.
LOTHIAN: In Los Angeles, California, those were some of the questions before a jury, seven days of testimony in the videotaped beating case of then 16-year-old Donovan Jackson, former officer Jeremy Morse, charged with assault under the color of authority, and his ex-partner, Bijan Darvish, charged with filing a false police report.
It happened a little more than a year ago at this Inglewood gas station: Jackson, handcuffed, slammed onto a squad car, and punched. What started out as a suspicious car registration inquiry ended up in a controversial beating videotaped by a guest at this hotel across the street. The community was outraged. Jackson, his father said then, was left terrorized.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wake up, like, screaming. He's scared of police now. He's scared to go outside by himself.
LOTHIAN: Morse, through his attorney, has maintained he punched only after he was grabbed in the groin area. And, in trial, the defense presented a use-of-force expert and other witnesses who concluded the actions taken that day were reasonable.
JOHN BARNETT, ATTORNEY FOR JEREMY MORSE: Officer Morse followed policy and he was within that policy.
LOTHIAN: But prosecutors presented their own witnesses who said just the opposite and put Jackson on the stand, who testified he never resisted. In a community still angry, there have been fears about unrest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our message is,we want everyone to be calm, cool, and collected. And, really, we want to make sure there's no violence.
CROWD: No justice, no peace!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LOTHIAN: Some community activists say, along with police, they've identified some potential hot spots. The idea is that they'll put monitors in those hot spots, so, if in case people get angry over the verdict, they won't get out of control -- Lou.
DOBBS: Dan, the jury is deliberating tonight. Have they asked to review any of the evidence, any of the testimony?
LOTHIAN: That's right. They've been deliberating now for some four hours. And they have asked for some testimony to be read back to them. In fact, the court reporter is doing that at this hour, testimony from a prosecution witness who testified about the use of force.
DOBBS: The issue at the center of it all.
Dan Lothian, reporting from Los Angeles, thank you.
When we continue: "Rogue Nation." The phrase applies to the United States in a new book. It's the title, in fact, of that book, offering scathing criticism of U.S. foreign and economic policy. Clyde Prestowitz is the author. He joins us next.
And "American Classics," our series of special reports, continues. Tonight: blockbuster movies, the most memorable films to grace the silver screen and what makes them classics.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) DOBBS: The Coast Guard intercepted a dozen Cubans who were trying to reach the coast of Florida. They were in a boat of a most unusual kind, made out of a 1951 Chevrolet flatbed. The craft traveled more than halfway across the 90-mile strait between Cuba and Florida before the Coast Guard intercepted it. They took the people and returned them to Cuba on a Coast Guard cutter.
My next guest says the United States is on a path toward imperialism that is at odds with the basic founding values of this country. Clyde Prestowitz is a former Reagan administration trade negotiator. He also says the United States is a hypocrite when it talks about free trade. He's the author of the new book "Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions." He's also the founder of the Economic Strategy Institute.
Clyde, good to have you here.
CLYDE PRESTOWITZ, AUTHOR, "ROGUE NATION": Nice to be here.
DOBBS: A rogue nation? A strong title, very effective marketing. Are we really?
PRESTOWITZ: We're not a rogue nation in the sense of a Saddam Hussein's Iraq or a North Korea, but we're unintentionally a rogue nation.
Webster's dictionary defines a rogue as someone who doesn't belong, who separates themselves from a crowd. And our friends and allies in the world are increasingly feeling that we've separated ourselves. They're concerned because we can't find a treaty to sign. We can't sign the Kyoto treaty on global warming or the treaty to ban land mines. We adopt a policy of preventive war and of coalitions of the willing, as opposed to our longtime strategy of mutual deterrence and alliances.
We preach free trade, but we subsidize cotton farmers, which are -- and those subsidies are killing the cotton farmers of West Africa. We preach democracy, and yet some of our best friends are dictatorships, such as Pakistan or some of the countries in Central Asia.
DOBBS: The hypocrisy, certainly, that resonates whether we talk about Pakistan, whether we talk about Saudi Arabia, the expediencies that are necessary in pursuing national economic interests and geopolitical interests around the world. So we rationalize.
PRESTOWITZ: Right.
DOBBS: But when you talk about the United States on a course of unilateralism, what would be the ideal? Let's take the example of the Iraq war. In not finding allies, should we then recede from our own sovereign decisions? Or how does one deal with that issue?
PRESTOWITZ: Well, I think two things.
One is, there will be times when we have to act unilaterally in our own interests. But in order to do it and have that be acceptable, we need not to act unilaterally when we don't have to. But let's take the Iraq war as an example. I supported the Iraq war. I think Saddam was a threat. But it's clear that the immediacy of the threat was overblown. It's clear that there was time for us to sit down with our allies and to say, OK, how long shall we inspect? And I think we could have brought more along, had we been willing to be more patient.
DOBBS: In retrospect, I think all of that is fair to say. In terms of the Kyoto treaty, a great deal of -- the Senate, as you know, voted 95-0 against it. It was not only simply one administration saying it was a bad idea, but also at various levels.
PRESTOWITZ: But what happened was, the Senate voted 95-0 against a document that was produced in Kyoto. But what has happened is, from Kyoto, there have been further negotiations.
DOBBS: Right.
PRESTOWITZ: The treaty has been amended. It includes all of the things we wanted. And it would have been smart to have signed it in the fall of 2001. It would be smart to sign it now.
DOBBS: And to what end?
PRESTOWITZ: Because it would tremendously improve our relationship...
DOBBS: By the way, I understand it's fashionable to say Kyoto is a wonderful way to embrace the world. But, at the same time, to what end? What does it change for this country?
PRESTOWITZ: To the end of reducing the risk of global warming.
DOBBS: All right.
PRESTOWITZ: There is global warming. The causes of it are not well understood. But, clearly, part of the causes of it are, globally, greenhouse gas emissions.
DOBBS: And what's the solution here, Clyde?
(CROSSTALK)
DOBBS: What's your solution?
PRESTOWITZ: The solution is to go back to good old conservative, not neoconservative, but good old conservative values, alliances, institutions, working with our allies, and not squandering the goodwill that has been built up over years towards the United States.
DOBBS: Perhaps even building a little, huh?
PRESTOWITZ: Perhaps even building a little. It would be a great idea.
DOBBS: Clyde Prestowitz, you've always got great ideas. Thanks a lot. The book is "Rogue Nation." Very provocative. I'm going to have to assess a few of the things.
PRESTOWITZ: Please.
DOBBS: But, as always, a wonderful job. Thank you very much, Clyde Prestowitz, "Rogue Nation."
PRESTOWITZ: Thank you very much. My pleasure.
DOBBS: Still ahead here: the results of our poll question tonight. And our special report on "American Classics" continues, blockbuster films tonight, movies so timeless, they can only be classics.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Coming up next: Stocks today sold off on Wall Street, the rumor mill working overtime on Wall Street. Christine Romans will have the market for us, all of the day's activity on Wall Street, when we continue.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Wall Street, a tough day, the market down about 1 percent.
Christine Romans is here with the market for us -- Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of late futures- related selling. Also, that plane over the president's motorcade caused a few problems on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, people concerned about what that could be. And it was an 80-point rally that turned into an 80-point loss; eBay, though, will split its stock two for one.
Not only is this the most successful Internet company out there. This is the third stock split, shares up 70 percent this year. Meanwhile, AT&T was the best Dow gainer, up more than 2 percent. It reported earnings. It raised its dividend. Dividend increases also for AIG, MBNA, and Viacom, that company's first dividend in 16 years. Microsoft will add up to 5,000 jobs worldwide and raise research and development spending by 8 percent to almost $7 billion next year, Lou.
Bond prices fell. The dollar strengthened on that better jobless claims report, best levels since February.
DOBBS: A down day, but some pretty good news in there.
ROMANS: A lot of news today, really, yes.
DOBBS: Christine, thanks a lot -- Christine Romans.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
DOBBS: The preliminary results of our poll. The question: Would you be willing to pay higher taxes in order for the U.S. military to buy American? Fifty percent of you replied yes; 28 percent say no; 4 percent said maybe; 19 percent of you say not yet enough information.
And finally tonight, our series of special reports continues on "American Classics." Tonight: the blockbuster movie. From "Gone With the Wind" to "Jaws," American movies have captivated audiences around the world. There's just something about Hollywood.
Casey Wian has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When "Jaws" arrived on the shores of Amity back in the summer of 1975, the movie, like the shark, was bigger than anyone imagined. Universal Pictures took a bold chance, for the first time, placing expensive prime-time television ads in the days leading up to its release. Box office records were broken and the summer blockbuster was born.
The term blockbuster was first coined during World War II to describe bombs that would blow up buildings. And Hollywood used it to describe pictures that would blow up profits. Blockbusters have always featured epic themes, big budgets, and, of course, big stars. Many have stood the test of time, like "Gone With the Wind," "The Wizard of Oz," "Ben-Hur."
MICKEY ROONEY, ACTOR: The storylines are very important. It's something that the entire family, I think, can enjoy, by seeing pictures that have stories and have substance and a meaning, a meaning to the pictures.
WIAN: From Bollywood to Bangkok, Lisbon to London, nations around the world make movies. But throughout motion picture history, American movies have traveled, compelling stories and appealing stars trumping language and cultural differences.
KEN WLASCHIN, HISTORIAN, AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE: One of the things the Americans did was, they are making the movies for the mass market. They are not trying -- at least Hollywood is. They're not trying to make them to win prizes, to go to film festivals. They're trying to appeal to a common denominator, as many possible people at the same time.
WIAN: But blockbuster movies aren't necessarily memorable.
LEONARD MALTIN, FILM CRITIC: That's what bother me about the current trend of blockbusters, is, it's just about making the money. It's just about getting them in there. And it's not necessarily about making the best movie.
WIAN: Twenty-eight years after "Jaws" and Universal started the summer blockbuster trend, studios may now be learning there's a limit. Sequels don't always sell as well as their blockbuster originals. Theaters are saturated with the likes of "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" and "The Matrix Reloaded," yet overall box office revenues are down.
The summer's highest-profile flop, "The Hulk," was hyped as a blockbuster, but then fell flat after audiences decided it didn't live up to that billing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "E.T.")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: E.T., phone home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIAN: But many, many blockbuster movies do become American classics. When the box office buzz is over, they remain popular as videos and DVDs.
(on camera): Film pioneer Cecil B. DeMille saw the potential for mass entertainment, directing such epics as "Joan of Arc" and "The Ten Commandments"; 89 years ago, he shot the first American feature film, "The Squaw Man," in this Hollywood barn, humble beginnings for a blockbuster industry.
Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: Tonight's thought on what makes a good movie: "A good film is when the price of dinner, the theater admission, and the baby- sitter were worth it," from a man who ought to know, Alfred Hitchcock.
That's our show for tonight. Thanks for being with us. For all of us here, good night from New York.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Report>
Aired July 24, 2003 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Thursday, July 24. Here now, Lou Dobbs.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening.
Tonight: a dramatic security scare for President Bush. A Cessna single-engine aircraft flew over his motorcade while traveling in Philadelphia. The Secret Service said the aircraft was flying low and that it was flying erratically. The aircraft was intercepted by police helicopters and forced to land at a nearby airport.
The pilot was detained by members of the Secret Service, the FBI, and local police officers. The Secret Service said it appears the pilot was unaware he was flying in restricted airspace. The pilot was inspecting oil pipelines for possible damage. The White House says the president was never in any danger.
Our White House correspondent Dana Bash is traveling with the president. We'll have more on this developing story later in the show.
The police officer who shot and killed an assassin at New York City's City Hall was today promoted to detective. Officer Richard Burt, a nine-year veteran of the NYPD, said he did only what he was trained to do when he killed Councilman James Davis's assassin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD BURT, NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT: I don't consider myself a hero. I just did my job. I did what I was trained to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg credits Detective Burt's quick reaction for saving many lives. The mayor passed through metal detectors as part of increased security put in place at City Hall this morning.
In California tonight, Governor Gray Davis is facing that state's first ever gubernatorial election recall. The date of the election is set for October 7. That gives him just three months to convince voters he should keep his job.
Our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, reports from Sacramento.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That oncoming train is picking up speed.
LT. GOV. CRUZ BUSTAMANTE (D), CALIFORNIA: The date that I've decided to choose for this election is Tuesday, October the 7th.
CROWLEY: California's second in command is required by law to set the date for the recall vote on California's No. 1, but he is not required to like it.
BUSTAMANTE: Having a recall, in my view, is not the proper way of being able to do this. Just because you're mad at somebody doesn't mean you spend $35 million to oust somebody.
CROWLEY: Figuratively, maybe literally, that may only be the half of it. Between now and October 7th, the secretary of state's office has to mail informational pamphlets to California's 15 million registered voters. The state's 58 counties have to find up to 25,000 locations for people to cast their ballots and recruit 100,000 poll workers to oversee it all.
And oh, yes, some counties need voting machines. They threw out the old ones, and the new ones haven't arrived. Hear those alarm bells ringing? So does the state's top election official.
KEVIN SHELLEY, CALIFORNIA SECRETARY OF STATE: No one, obviously, wants a Florida-type election in California. And I certainly don't want that on my watch as secretary of state. It's a challenge.
CROWLEY: Beyond the logistical nightmare, there are the political machinations.
CROWD: Governor Davis must go!
CROWLEY: At least 12 different organizations are bringing cacophony to the chaos, including Rescue California, which wants Davis out, and Stand For California, which wants Davis to stay. The governor is not popular here, but the anti-recallers say that's beside the point.
ART PULASKI, CALIFORNIA LABOR FEDERATION: We need to educate voters that this recall is not about one man, whether you like him or not. It's about these issues that most of us hold dear.
CROWLEY: Davis and allies will frame the recall as an attempt by minority Republicans to win an election they can't win the old- fashioned way. In his brief, begrudging news conference, Lieutenant Governor Bustamante seemed to settle one of the outstanding issues. There will be two questions on the ballot. They boil down to this: Do you want to throw Governor Gray Davis out of office and, if so, who do you want in his place?
One of the pro-recallers says it will not be enough for wanna-bes to talk about what a lousy job Gray Davis is doing.
TED COSTA, RECALL GRAY DAVIS: You're not going to get by with just a few campaign slogans. They're really going to have to have a plan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: A little more about the political maneuvering, Lou.
State party Republicans are urging those Republicans who want to run against Gray Davis to wait until the very last minute before making it official. As of right now, no Democrat is going to put their name on that ballot. But if a Democrat should change their mind and go in and put his name on the ballot, the Republican Party would like to keep open the option that they can winnow down their field and make it a tighter race -- Lou.
DOBBS: This looks as though, Candy, it is wide open now in California.
CROWLEY: It is. But you know perfectly well how long it is until October 7. And so many things can happen. You've seen that the anti-recall people are now out there. Governor Gray Davis can play hardball with the best of them. And nobody is counting him out.
DOBBS: Just weeks ago, everyone was counting out the possibility that this recall election would ever materialize. And here we are. And I suspect, Democrat and Republican alike, somebody there better come up with a plan for that $38 billion deficit, Candy.
CROWLEY: Exactly. And that -- depending on who you talk to, that's what the recallers say is at the basis of all this, the $38 billion deficit.
DOBBS: Candy Crowley, thank you very much, reporting tonight from Sacramento.
Tonight, there is gruesome proof that Saddam Hussein's sons are dead. The Iraqi provisional authority released photographs of the battered and bloody faces of Uday and Qusay Hussein. But the attacks against coalition forces continue. Three soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division today were killed near Mosul.
Our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre has the report -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld says it was not a snap decision to release those photographs of Saddam Hussein's sons. But he says, after weighing the gruesome nature of the photographs against the possible good they might do, Rumsfeld says, for him, it wasn't really even a close call.
The photos show that Uday shaved his head and that both brothers grew beards, apparently to alter their appearance. And while the U.S. has protested angrily in the past when dead Americans have been publicly displayed, Pentagon officials draw a distinction between dead soldiers and dead dictators.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I honestly believe that these two are particularly bad characters and that it's important for the Iraqi people to see them, to know they're gone, to know they're dead, and to know they're not coming back. And I think that will save American lives and save coalition lives and be a great benefit to the Iraqi people to be free of that. And I feel it was the right decision. And I'm glad I made it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: Meanwhile, the military's grim prediction that attacks against U.S. troops would rise appears to have come true. There were three U.S. soldiers killed today, two yesterday. Four of the dead were from the 101st Airborne Division, the same unit that conducted Tuesday's raid in Mosul that killed Saddam's sons.
And while some Iraqis are questioning whether the bloated and scarred faces are really Uday and Qusay, the U.S. hopes the grisly images will dishearten the insurgents, dampen their recruiting efforts, and shake loose more leads in the hunt for Saddam Hussein.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL BREMER, COALITION ADMINISTRATION: I think, in the long run, it will also hopefully encourage more Iraqis to come and give us information about more Baathists. And that's really what we have to have happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: In order to overcome the skepticism of some of the average Iraqis, the U.S. also granted a request from the new governing council to inspect the bodies firsthand. The hope is that Iraqis will believe what they hear from fellow Iraqis, even if they don't trust the United States -- Lou.
DOBBS: Jamie, thank you very much -- Jamie McIntyre, senior Pentagon correspondent.
President Bush today said the death of Saddam Hussein's sons is proof that the former regime will never return to power. Vice President Dick Cheney also today strongly defended the decision to go to war against Saddam Hussein.
White House correspondent Dana Bash is traveling with the president, joins us live tonight from Livonia, Michigan -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Lou.
Well, the White House says the president certainly was informed about the decision to release these photos before it happened, but that he didn't sign off on it, per se. He didn't give the order. He let the defense secretary do that, as Jamie was just talking about, and also the coalition provisional authority in Iraq. But in a speech here in Livonia just a few hours ago, the president made it very clear, much as you're hearing from the Pentagon, that the reason to release these photos was to make it clear to the Iraqi people, so that they can see that the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein is gone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Two of the favorite henchmen of Saddam Hussein were brought to justice. They were discovered, and their violent careers ended in justice.
These two sons of Saddam Hussein were responsible for hundreds and hundreds of people being tortured and maimed and murdered. And now the Iraqi people have seen clearly the intent of the United States to make sure that they are free and to make sure that the Saddam regime never returns again to Iraq.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, the White House is calling this decision to release the photos a security measure, saying it was not about propaganda, but to make it clear to the Iraqi people that they no longer have to live in fear.
And what you just heard from President Bush is an attempt, a hope, to overcome the controversy that has surrounded the White House on the Iraq issue for the past three weeks. Of course, that is about the controversy about prewar intelligence, the case that the president made for war in those 16 words in his State of the Union address.
And the president was helped by his No. 2, by the vice president, back in Washington today. He came out and talked about the Iraq issue for the first time since the controversy erupted. He didn't specifically address the line in the State of the Union, but he did go back and make the case for war once again, talking about the intelligence that the United States had about Saddam Hussein and his weapons programs, biological, chemical programs, and also made it clear that that evidence has been around for some time, and said -- and he even asked rhetorically, could any responsible leader have ignored the threat that Saddam Hussein posed? -- Lou.
DOBBS: Dana, thank you very much.
What is the White House saying tonight about that security breach over the president's motorcade near Philadelphia today?
BASH: Well, the White House is sort of letting the Secret Service handle this one. And I spoke to a spokesman for the Secret Service just a short while ago, who said that the person who was flying the single-engine Cessna is still being discussed, talked to, by Secret Service agents on the ground in New Jersey. That is where he was taken by a police helicopter.
But what they said is that the president was not in any danger at all and that what they think at this point is that this guy was sort of doing his job. He was flying low, looking at some pipelines, as you mentioned earlier -- that is part of his job -- and that perhaps he just didn't know about the FAA regulations that closed the airspace. And, privately, what the Secret Service is saying is that it has happened before, that planes have gotten into the airspace that have been closed, but this is particularly questionable because this plane actually flew over the motorcade.
But they are still questioning him. At this point, they don't think it was anything intentional. They think it was an accident -- Lou.
DOBBS: Dana, thank you very much -- Dana Bash reporting from the White House.
Still ahead: the FBI and the CIA, missed opportunities to prevent the September 11 attacks. Bob Franken, Mike Boettcher report.
And buy American: Congressman Duncan Hunter says that's what American defense contractors and the Pentagon should be doing. Congressman Hunter is the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. He joins us.
Also ahead: "Rogue Nation," a new book that says the United States is on a dangerous path of unilateralism. Clyde Prestowitz is the author. He's our guest.
Please stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Congress today published the final report on the events leading up to the September 11 terrorist attacks. The long-awaited report says there was no single clue that could have prevented the hijackings, although it refers to missed opportunities by intelligence agencies.
National correspondent Bob Franken has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Although there was no smoking gun, the heavily censored new report places the blame on U.S. intelligence, most of it on the FBI and CIA. The community missed opportunities, the report said, to disrupt the September 11 plot.
SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The attacks of September the 11 could have been prevented if the right combination of skill, cooperation, creativity and some good luck had been brought to the task.
FRANKEN: According to the report, the best chance to prevent the attack centered on events during the year 2000 in San Diego: numerous contacts between an FBI informant and two hijackers, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi.
An FBI agent in San Diego told congressional investigators that, if headquarters had told him they were already on a government watch list, quoting the agent: "It would have made a huge difference. We would have done everything. We would have given them the full-court press."
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: These were not cryptic things. These were a couple of things that should have been more apparent to the intelligence agencies. These were leads that were not adequately pursued.
FRANKEN: Although much of the information in this report has been publicly discussed for months, some of it is new. For instance, there was intelligence that the so-called mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, traveled to and from the United States in May 2001.
However, a U.S. official now insists that never happened. And for years, there had been warnings about al Qaeda and threats to the United States, which the report says went unheeded. Summer of 1998, a memo suggests: "UBL, Osama bin Laden, is planning attacks in the U.S., redaction, says plans are to attack in New York and Washington. Information mentions an attack in Washington, probably against public places."
The individual author's name and his agency were removed. In fact, the Bush administration refused to declassify large portions of the approximately 800-page report, information, for instance, about the role of Saudi Arabia.
SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R), ALABAMA: There's a lot of stuff in here, but there's a lot of information that's not in here that should be, in my judgment. But we did the best we could.
FRANKEN: One question: What did President Bush know about the threat? The committee was denied access to any intelligence information shared with the president.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: The only evidence provided was a description of a so- called PDB, a presidential daily briefing, about the danger of an attack that was dated August 6, 2001, just over a month before the September 11 plot was carried out.
And, Lou, this evening, the FBI director, Robert Mueller, has put out a statement in which he says that many of the recommendations have already been carried out, that the FBI, he said, before September 11, 2001, was quite different than the one today -- Lou.
DOBBS: Senator Richard Shelby, the former head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, a Republican, strongly critical of the redactions, the elimination of material that he feels should have gone to the public. That's a rather remarkable position for Senator Shelby to take on this issue.
FRANKEN: Well, he's been critical of the intelligence community for quite some time. You know, of course, that he is particularly critical of the CIA director, Tenet. And this has just been consistent with his policy. He's always been quite outspoken on his belief that the intelligence community has not done its job, not only in this administration, but for years before that.
DOBBS: And he is building, I think, an empirical case that is larger, if not persuasive, certainly, over the past several years.
Bob Franken, thank you very much, national correspondent, reporting from Washington.
The congressional report fails, as Bob Franken reported, to answer important questions about the role of Saudi Arabia and its relationship to many of the hijackers. All but one of the pages in this report referring to that issue were blacked out; 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.
Mike Boettcher has that story -- Mike.
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, as you said, more than two dozen of those pages were redacted.
Sources tell us that's information about possible Saudi links to the hijackers. One section that the committee says they fought to get in there and got was information about a Saudi named Omar al-Bayoumi, who was in San Diego. Now, this gentleman, according to the report, had an unlimited supply of money. They didn't know where he got it from. But he helped two of the hijackers, al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi. get established in San Diego.
And they said that a further look should be taken into al- Bayoumi. Now, those committee members who talked afterwards, particularly Bob Graham, gave some indication of what might be in those redacted sections.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAHAM: I would note that the censored sections of the report points out that, despite public assurances from U.S. officials that Saudi Arabia has cooperated in counterterrorism efforts, the joint inquiry received testimony from Saudi officials that, in fact -- quote -- "had been uncooperative and often did not act on information implicating Saudi nationals."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOETTCHER: Now, the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. is taking great exception that al-Bayoumi had been named by an informant in the report as a possible agent of Saudi Arabia. He says that is just not true. U.S. officials are saying that there is no active investigation of al- Bayoumi right now and they believe that he had no information relating to the 9/11 attacks before 9/11 -- Lou.
DOBBS: As you pointed out, Senator Graham, Senator Evan Bayh, amongst others, have said that they will continue to press for the exposure of those elements that were redacted by both the White House and the CIA. Do you have this evening any sense as to how soon that might transpire?
BOETTCHER: I think that we're talking months down the road. And I don't -- no one's told me that, but just looking at the situation, Lou, out there and the delicate situation, we're entering into a political season as well.
The Saudis are conducting investigations of the Riyadh bombing with the U.S. That is a complicating factor. There are arguments that some of that information in there could perhaps affect the ongoing investigation. So I don't think it's anything that's going to be in there soon, although the committee promises it will be in there at some point -- Lou.
DOBBS: And, as you know, a further development in Iran: At least four high-ranking, so says Iran, al Qaeda members are being held in Iranian custody, and at least some of them Saudi.
Mike Boettcher, as always, thank you very much for that excellent report.
BOETTCHER: Thank you, Lou.
DOBBS: Still ahead tonight: driving down prices putting a dent in the bottom lines of this country's biggest carmakers. Bill Tucker will report tonight on an American automobile industry that is simply off track.
And many of you wrote in response to President Clinton's defense of President Bush and the words, 16 of them, that he uttered in the State of the Union. We'll share your thoughts.
And the United States is a rogue nation, according to the author of a new book. Clyde Prestowitz is the author. He is our guest. And he's coming up next.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: A congressman has upset the White House, the Pentagon, and quite a few defense contractors by proposing sweeping buy-American rules for the U.S. military. The congressman is a Republican. He is Congressman Duncan Hunter. He is also the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Congressman Hunter says, countries that fail to help the United States in Iraq should not receive U.S. contracts.
Lisa Sylvester reports from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): During the war with Iraq, a Swiss manufacturer that makes a key component of the joint direct attack munition, or JDAM, stopped sending shipments to the U.S. because the company opposed the war. The U.S. military ultimately turned to an American company for the JDAM part.
REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R), CALIFORNIA: If you rely on a foreign source that's not reliable, it may end up causing you deaths on a battlefield. SYLVESTER: Right now, half of every military aircraft and weapons system has to be built with U.S. parts. Under Representative Duncan Hunter's buy-America proposal, 65 percent would come from domestic suppliers.
SCOTT PAUL, AFL-CIO: Having a buy-American law ensures that U.S. tax dollars go to support U.S. tax jobs. We don't need to support European defense jobs.
SYLVESTER: The General Accounting Office, Congress' research arm, is also urging the Pentagon to give more contracts to U.S. manufacturers. The GAO warned in a report this week that the U.S. is losing control over sensitive technology in the $200 billion Joint Strike Fighter program, the Pentagon's largest aircraft project, that's being developed with U.S. allies.
But the Pentagon says, to restructure just the Joint Strike Fighter program to favor American businesses would cost taxpayers an additional $4 billion.
SUZANNE PATRICK, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE: Five hundred million extra dollars would have to be spent by Lockheed to implement just the reporting requirements on this program. And that's quite a burden, I think, to the American taxpayer.
SYLVESTER: Defense contractors also oppose the buy-America plan, arguing it risks alienating U.S. allies. According to the industry, it's a two-way street. If the U.S. stops buying military goods from other countries, other countries may stop buying from the U.S.
JOHN DOUGLASS, AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION: This could be the single biggest destructive blow to the American alliances that the president is trying to build around the world that we've seen in probably 30, 40 years.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: The Pentagon feels so strongly on this issue that, if the buy-American provision is in the final appropriations bill, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld may ask the president to veto the entire $400 billion appropriations bill -- Lou.
DOBBS: Lisa, thank you very much -- Lisa Sylvester reporting from Washington.
When we continue: more on buying American. We'll be talking with the man leading the effort. Congressman Duncan Hunter, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, joins us.
And caught on tape: A California jury is now deliberating the fate of a white police officer accused of assaulting a black teenager. It's all on tape.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) DOBBS: The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Congressman Duncan Hunter, wants the Pentagon to place more military contracts with companies in this country, as Lisa Sylvester just reported.
Congressman Duncan Hunter joins us now from Capitol Hill.
Mr. Chairman, good to have you here.
HUNTER: Good to be with us with you.
DOBBS: And the flak that you are getting from the White House, from the Pentagon, from our trading partners, from the aerospace industry in particular, pretty severe heat, are you going to be able to withstand it?
HUNTER: Well, Lou, that's what we're here for.
And these folks are having a tizzy. On the other hand, it's very clear now that we're down to what I would call onesies and twosies in the American defense industry, meaning, we have one maker left of the most capable and sophisticated machine tools in this country, one manufacturer. That's Cincinnati. We're down to one tire-maker in America which is American-owned which can make tires, for example, for military aircraft and land systems.
We're down to only three titanium manufacturers. So the question for the American people is, do you want to have your tires made by Michelin in France? Do you want to rely on your machine tools from Germany? And do you want to rely on maybe your most critical military material, that is, titanium, to be mined from Russia and made in Russia, rather than the United States?
And I have none of this in my district in California in San Diego. But on the other hand, I think we have to look above the horizon. And now is the time to say, we have a critical need for the important components of the American defense industry to be made in our own country, so we have a reliable source. Secondly, the average American taxpayer pays a thousand bucks a year out of his or her paycheck just for the defense function of government.
And that means, as in the Iraq theater, the United States is footing the bill. Now, if the American taxpayer pays the money for defense, they should be able to make the majority of that defense.
DOBBS: Congressman, I think most taxpayers would agree with you not only on the issue of defense. But on most other initiatives and responsibilities of the federal government, I think most Americans would like to have more of a voice.
You're articulating some concerns, important national security concerns. The response you're getting, though, is not in national security terms. You're getting responses in terms of economics, the fact that, if we do see your bill passed, it becomes law, there would be retaliation from countries abroad, other countries banning U.S. products. How do you respond to that on an economic basis? HUNTER: Well, first, every nation, Lou, has to maintain and does maintain the right to protect themselves, to have a national security apparatus. And every nation maintains for themselves the right to have critical military secrets and critical military components made in our country.
Let me just respond with what happened to the British in this Gulf War operation. They make their grenades in Switzerland. Switzerland had a law that says, if you go into Iraq without a U.N. resolution, we're going to stop your shipment of grenades. They stopped 10,000 grenades from going to the British. Those troops went in without their full complement of grenades. And our most important weapons system, the JDAM, that's that bomb, that precision bomb, that flies off our F-15s, F-16s. The Swiss make a tiny component for that, a crystal.
They refused for nine days to ship that crystal to the United States. Now, we didn't need it because it was a short war. But the idea that you rely on a supplier who has a rule that, if the United Nations doesn't sanction your war, they're not going to cooperate, that doesn't make good sense. That's not logical.
DOBBS: Congressman Hunter, you are, if you will, lobbing a grenade into a process on Capitol Hill, a well-established one, as you very well know, a very cozy relationship and a very important economic system of relationships, trade, the relationship between the aerospace industry and those contractors abroad.
What do you think is going to be the outcome? There are rumblings that Secretary Rumsfeld would ask the president it veto this legislation, the Pentagon budget, even, if you are successful.
HUNTER: Well, actually, Lou, I've had good conversations with the secretary. He's been working this Iraq thing furiously. He hasn't had much time to look at this. And he's engaged in looking at it. And I think, in the end, the secretary is going to agree on many of our major points on maintaining the critical military base.
Let me just tell you, on titanium, the deal is done. We just finished making a deal with Boeing where we're going to be able to build all 100 of those tanker aircraft with American titanium and not have to rely on Russian titanium. We're going to be keeping those titanium manufacturers going through that process. That's a big part of buy-American. We've made that agreement with Boeing. It's finished. And, surely, the Pentagon is not going to reverse it and say: We insist that you use Russian titanium for your military systems.
So they're seeing the common sense. And it's time for these boys to climb out of their BMWs and realize, the good old American taxpayer out there carrying a lunch bucket is paying for everything we do out here, and we're going to have to give them a little bit of the action.
DOBBS: Duncan Hunter, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, 12-term congressman from California, and some people might have even suspected, who did not know, a former Army Ranger, Vietnam veteran, you've got the heat coming at you. And one thing we definitely know is, you're equipped to handle it.
(CROSSTALK)
DOBBS: Duncan Hunter, thank you very much. Take care.
That brings us to the subject of tonight's poll. Would you be willing to pay higher taxes in order for the U.S. military to buy American? Yes, no, maybe, or I don't have enough information yet? Cast your vote at CNN.com/Lou. We'll have the results for you a little later in the show. The final results of yesterday's poll question: Do you think former President Bill Clinton was right to defend President Bush on the issue of the WMD intelligence that was in the State of the Union? Thirty-four percent of you said yes; 7 percent said maybe; 59 percent said no.
Refinancing and no-money-down deals offered by U.S. carmakers have inspired many to buy American. Those incentive packages played a big role in keeping this economy moving during the downturn of late 2001 and early 2002. They've since caught up with the carmakers, however. DaimlerChrysler now says its income dropped 90 percent in the latest quarter.
Bill Tucker on an auto industry going from worse to ugly.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Detroit is building them, but the buyers are not coming. And carmakers are hurting, as they struggle to cut billions in costs, while continuing to hand out money in the form of incentives to get consumers to buy their product, Chrysler posting an operating loss of more than $1 billion, kicking the bottom line at DaimlerChrysler squarely in the teeth.
The news comes on the heels of disappointments from General Motors and Ford only last week. It's been a bad year for Motown's big three, who continue to surrender market share from a year ago, begging the question, are incentives working?
PAUL EISENSTEIN, THE CAR CONNECTION: When you are marketing a company based on fire sales, you're hurting its image. It gives the perception that particularly the domestic brands who are most aggressive on incentives, what you're basically saying is that they have to compete on price because they aren't good enough otherwise to compete with the players who aren't giving, or at least aren't giving as much in the way of incentives.
TUCKER: An investor should brace themselves for the third quarter, the industry's traditionally weakest period.
If there is a bright spot, it's that the automakers have a lot of new cars in the pipeline aimed at capturing the buying public's imagination.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: And that's also the bad news. A lot of new products mean pricing competition and likely more incentives -- Lou.
DOBBS: Incentives are with us. They're not going away.
TUCKER: No, they're not. In fact, some 20-odd years ago, Lou, Lee Iacocca described incentives as dope. Guess who's hooked on them now?
DOBBS: Well, it's a big problem.
Bill Tucker, thank you very much.
In news "Across America" tonight: More than 50 wildfires are burning across the Western part of the country. Firefighters are hoping to gain control this weekend of at least one of them that's burned 22,000 acres in eastern Montana. Another fire in that state has all but closed the western half of Glacier National Park.
Millions of American families will soon receive a $400 tax credit for each child. President Bush today visited a federal check processing center in Philadelphia, where thousands of those checks are being printed. The tax credits are expected to go in the mail tomorrow.
And encouraging news from the labor market: The number of Americans signing up for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in more than five months and, for the first time, dropped below 400,000 this year. It is the second straight week that jobless claims fell.
Tonight's quote from an economist reacting to those jobless- claims numbers, saying: "I think this puts a stake in the heart of those that claim recession is still with us" -- that from John Lonski, chief economist at Moody's Investor Service.
Taking a look now at some of your thoughts, many of you wrote in about former President Bill Clinton defending President Bush on the issue of disputed intelligence.
Ev Lozano of Houston, Texas, said: "It is very appropriate for Bill Clinton to defend President Bush's State of the Union address. The mistake has been acknowledged. We need to move on as a nation."
Trisha from Meridian, Mississippi, said: "Bill Clinton's support of President Bush was very courageous. He's absolutely right. Let's get past the 16 words and take care of current needs."
Kim Kolvin of Atlanta said: "I do not agree with Presidents Clinton and Bush that it's time to move on. I think this country has a right to know whether or not the Bush administration knowingly misused and exaggerated the intelligence."
Many of you also wrote in about the Pentagon's decision to release those pictures of Saddam's sons.
Mike Potter of Colorado Springs said: "I believe it is appropriate to display the photographs and other evidence as needed by the Iraqi people to believe the two brothers are dead."
Robbie of Texas said: "Iraqi citizens may need to see the gruesome pictures, but I don't think Americans need to."
And, finally, Catherine Skelly asked about our series of special reports that we debuted this week on "American Classics": "How were the 'American Classics' companies chosen? Specifically, is there an promotional arrangement with AOL Time Warner? Did any of the 'Classics' agree to buy ads or anything of that sort?"
Catherine, you have a certain skeptical, cynical streak that, in this day and age, is understandable. Catherine, there are no deals, no agreements, no nothing. The only factors we consider in choosing these "American Classics" is that they have both a deep connection to our country and have become part of the American way of life.
We love hearing from you. Send us your thoughts at LouDobbs@CNN.com.
Coming up next: A former Reagan administration official calls the United States a rogue nation in his new book, Clyde Prestowitz. He'll be here to explain why he thinks the United States is on a dangerous course.
And then, yes, "American Classics." Our series of special reports continues tonight: Hollywood blockbusters that stand the test of time. Casey Wian will have the story for us from -- where else? -- Los Angeles.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: A jury in Los Angeles tonight is deliberating the fate of a police officer caught on videotape beating a teenager against a patrol car.
Dan Lothian has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is this the picture of an out-of-control police officer carrying out street justice or a display of law enforcement using reasonable force in an unpredictable situation?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lifting him to approximately shoulder level, slamming him down forcefully on the trunk of the car.
LOTHIAN: In Los Angeles, California, those were some of the questions before a jury, seven days of testimony in the videotaped beating case of then 16-year-old Donovan Jackson, former officer Jeremy Morse, charged with assault under the color of authority, and his ex-partner, Bijan Darvish, charged with filing a false police report.
It happened a little more than a year ago at this Inglewood gas station: Jackson, handcuffed, slammed onto a squad car, and punched. What started out as a suspicious car registration inquiry ended up in a controversial beating videotaped by a guest at this hotel across the street. The community was outraged. Jackson, his father said then, was left terrorized.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wake up, like, screaming. He's scared of police now. He's scared to go outside by himself.
LOTHIAN: Morse, through his attorney, has maintained he punched only after he was grabbed in the groin area. And, in trial, the defense presented a use-of-force expert and other witnesses who concluded the actions taken that day were reasonable.
JOHN BARNETT, ATTORNEY FOR JEREMY MORSE: Officer Morse followed policy and he was within that policy.
LOTHIAN: But prosecutors presented their own witnesses who said just the opposite and put Jackson on the stand, who testified he never resisted. In a community still angry, there have been fears about unrest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our message is,we want everyone to be calm, cool, and collected. And, really, we want to make sure there's no violence.
CROWD: No justice, no peace!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LOTHIAN: Some community activists say, along with police, they've identified some potential hot spots. The idea is that they'll put monitors in those hot spots, so, if in case people get angry over the verdict, they won't get out of control -- Lou.
DOBBS: Dan, the jury is deliberating tonight. Have they asked to review any of the evidence, any of the testimony?
LOTHIAN: That's right. They've been deliberating now for some four hours. And they have asked for some testimony to be read back to them. In fact, the court reporter is doing that at this hour, testimony from a prosecution witness who testified about the use of force.
DOBBS: The issue at the center of it all.
Dan Lothian, reporting from Los Angeles, thank you.
When we continue: "Rogue Nation." The phrase applies to the United States in a new book. It's the title, in fact, of that book, offering scathing criticism of U.S. foreign and economic policy. Clyde Prestowitz is the author. He joins us next.
And "American Classics," our series of special reports, continues. Tonight: blockbuster movies, the most memorable films to grace the silver screen and what makes them classics.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) DOBBS: The Coast Guard intercepted a dozen Cubans who were trying to reach the coast of Florida. They were in a boat of a most unusual kind, made out of a 1951 Chevrolet flatbed. The craft traveled more than halfway across the 90-mile strait between Cuba and Florida before the Coast Guard intercepted it. They took the people and returned them to Cuba on a Coast Guard cutter.
My next guest says the United States is on a path toward imperialism that is at odds with the basic founding values of this country. Clyde Prestowitz is a former Reagan administration trade negotiator. He also says the United States is a hypocrite when it talks about free trade. He's the author of the new book "Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions." He's also the founder of the Economic Strategy Institute.
Clyde, good to have you here.
CLYDE PRESTOWITZ, AUTHOR, "ROGUE NATION": Nice to be here.
DOBBS: A rogue nation? A strong title, very effective marketing. Are we really?
PRESTOWITZ: We're not a rogue nation in the sense of a Saddam Hussein's Iraq or a North Korea, but we're unintentionally a rogue nation.
Webster's dictionary defines a rogue as someone who doesn't belong, who separates themselves from a crowd. And our friends and allies in the world are increasingly feeling that we've separated ourselves. They're concerned because we can't find a treaty to sign. We can't sign the Kyoto treaty on global warming or the treaty to ban land mines. We adopt a policy of preventive war and of coalitions of the willing, as opposed to our longtime strategy of mutual deterrence and alliances.
We preach free trade, but we subsidize cotton farmers, which are -- and those subsidies are killing the cotton farmers of West Africa. We preach democracy, and yet some of our best friends are dictatorships, such as Pakistan or some of the countries in Central Asia.
DOBBS: The hypocrisy, certainly, that resonates whether we talk about Pakistan, whether we talk about Saudi Arabia, the expediencies that are necessary in pursuing national economic interests and geopolitical interests around the world. So we rationalize.
PRESTOWITZ: Right.
DOBBS: But when you talk about the United States on a course of unilateralism, what would be the ideal? Let's take the example of the Iraq war. In not finding allies, should we then recede from our own sovereign decisions? Or how does one deal with that issue?
PRESTOWITZ: Well, I think two things.
One is, there will be times when we have to act unilaterally in our own interests. But in order to do it and have that be acceptable, we need not to act unilaterally when we don't have to. But let's take the Iraq war as an example. I supported the Iraq war. I think Saddam was a threat. But it's clear that the immediacy of the threat was overblown. It's clear that there was time for us to sit down with our allies and to say, OK, how long shall we inspect? And I think we could have brought more along, had we been willing to be more patient.
DOBBS: In retrospect, I think all of that is fair to say. In terms of the Kyoto treaty, a great deal of -- the Senate, as you know, voted 95-0 against it. It was not only simply one administration saying it was a bad idea, but also at various levels.
PRESTOWITZ: But what happened was, the Senate voted 95-0 against a document that was produced in Kyoto. But what has happened is, from Kyoto, there have been further negotiations.
DOBBS: Right.
PRESTOWITZ: The treaty has been amended. It includes all of the things we wanted. And it would have been smart to have signed it in the fall of 2001. It would be smart to sign it now.
DOBBS: And to what end?
PRESTOWITZ: Because it would tremendously improve our relationship...
DOBBS: By the way, I understand it's fashionable to say Kyoto is a wonderful way to embrace the world. But, at the same time, to what end? What does it change for this country?
PRESTOWITZ: To the end of reducing the risk of global warming.
DOBBS: All right.
PRESTOWITZ: There is global warming. The causes of it are not well understood. But, clearly, part of the causes of it are, globally, greenhouse gas emissions.
DOBBS: And what's the solution here, Clyde?
(CROSSTALK)
DOBBS: What's your solution?
PRESTOWITZ: The solution is to go back to good old conservative, not neoconservative, but good old conservative values, alliances, institutions, working with our allies, and not squandering the goodwill that has been built up over years towards the United States.
DOBBS: Perhaps even building a little, huh?
PRESTOWITZ: Perhaps even building a little. It would be a great idea.
DOBBS: Clyde Prestowitz, you've always got great ideas. Thanks a lot. The book is "Rogue Nation." Very provocative. I'm going to have to assess a few of the things.
PRESTOWITZ: Please.
DOBBS: But, as always, a wonderful job. Thank you very much, Clyde Prestowitz, "Rogue Nation."
PRESTOWITZ: Thank you very much. My pleasure.
DOBBS: Still ahead here: the results of our poll question tonight. And our special report on "American Classics" continues, blockbuster films tonight, movies so timeless, they can only be classics.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Coming up next: Stocks today sold off on Wall Street, the rumor mill working overtime on Wall Street. Christine Romans will have the market for us, all of the day's activity on Wall Street, when we continue.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Wall Street, a tough day, the market down about 1 percent.
Christine Romans is here with the market for us -- Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of late futures- related selling. Also, that plane over the president's motorcade caused a few problems on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, people concerned about what that could be. And it was an 80-point rally that turned into an 80-point loss; eBay, though, will split its stock two for one.
Not only is this the most successful Internet company out there. This is the third stock split, shares up 70 percent this year. Meanwhile, AT&T was the best Dow gainer, up more than 2 percent. It reported earnings. It raised its dividend. Dividend increases also for AIG, MBNA, and Viacom, that company's first dividend in 16 years. Microsoft will add up to 5,000 jobs worldwide and raise research and development spending by 8 percent to almost $7 billion next year, Lou.
Bond prices fell. The dollar strengthened on that better jobless claims report, best levels since February.
DOBBS: A down day, but some pretty good news in there.
ROMANS: A lot of news today, really, yes.
DOBBS: Christine, thanks a lot -- Christine Romans.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
DOBBS: The preliminary results of our poll. The question: Would you be willing to pay higher taxes in order for the U.S. military to buy American? Fifty percent of you replied yes; 28 percent say no; 4 percent said maybe; 19 percent of you say not yet enough information.
And finally tonight, our series of special reports continues on "American Classics." Tonight: the blockbuster movie. From "Gone With the Wind" to "Jaws," American movies have captivated audiences around the world. There's just something about Hollywood.
Casey Wian has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When "Jaws" arrived on the shores of Amity back in the summer of 1975, the movie, like the shark, was bigger than anyone imagined. Universal Pictures took a bold chance, for the first time, placing expensive prime-time television ads in the days leading up to its release. Box office records were broken and the summer blockbuster was born.
The term blockbuster was first coined during World War II to describe bombs that would blow up buildings. And Hollywood used it to describe pictures that would blow up profits. Blockbusters have always featured epic themes, big budgets, and, of course, big stars. Many have stood the test of time, like "Gone With the Wind," "The Wizard of Oz," "Ben-Hur."
MICKEY ROONEY, ACTOR: The storylines are very important. It's something that the entire family, I think, can enjoy, by seeing pictures that have stories and have substance and a meaning, a meaning to the pictures.
WIAN: From Bollywood to Bangkok, Lisbon to London, nations around the world make movies. But throughout motion picture history, American movies have traveled, compelling stories and appealing stars trumping language and cultural differences.
KEN WLASCHIN, HISTORIAN, AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE: One of the things the Americans did was, they are making the movies for the mass market. They are not trying -- at least Hollywood is. They're not trying to make them to win prizes, to go to film festivals. They're trying to appeal to a common denominator, as many possible people at the same time.
WIAN: But blockbuster movies aren't necessarily memorable.
LEONARD MALTIN, FILM CRITIC: That's what bother me about the current trend of blockbusters, is, it's just about making the money. It's just about getting them in there. And it's not necessarily about making the best movie.
WIAN: Twenty-eight years after "Jaws" and Universal started the summer blockbuster trend, studios may now be learning there's a limit. Sequels don't always sell as well as their blockbuster originals. Theaters are saturated with the likes of "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" and "The Matrix Reloaded," yet overall box office revenues are down.
The summer's highest-profile flop, "The Hulk," was hyped as a blockbuster, but then fell flat after audiences decided it didn't live up to that billing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "E.T.")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: E.T., phone home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIAN: But many, many blockbuster movies do become American classics. When the box office buzz is over, they remain popular as videos and DVDs.
(on camera): Film pioneer Cecil B. DeMille saw the potential for mass entertainment, directing such epics as "Joan of Arc" and "The Ten Commandments"; 89 years ago, he shot the first American feature film, "The Squaw Man," in this Hollywood barn, humble beginnings for a blockbuster industry.
Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: Tonight's thought on what makes a good movie: "A good film is when the price of dinner, the theater admission, and the baby- sitter were worth it," from a man who ought to know, Alfred Hitchcock.
That's our show for tonight. Thanks for being with us. For all of us here, good night from New York.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Report>
