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Lou Dobbs Tonight

Flu Vaccine Shortage; First Major Snowstorm Pounds Mid-Atlantic and Northeast; Editor's Circle Discusses Jobless Recovery

Aired December 05, 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.


LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight: The flu outbreak is nearing crisis levels in several states -- and adding to the public health concerns, word tonight that the two biggest manufacturers of flu shots have run out of vaccine.
The first major storm of the winter brings chaos to the mid- Atlantic states and the Northeast. Snow and freezing rain have disrupted airports, highways and schools. Lisa Sylvester reports.

"Jobless in America." The unemployment rate fell last month, but new jobs are being created at the slowest rate in almost 70 years. Peter Viles reports.

In "America's Bright Future," our special report on this country's most gifted young people, tonight, a remarkable young lady with an amazing talent for language.

And in "Heroes," tonight, the incredible bravely of a special forces soldier in the Army National Guard. Casey Wian will have his story.

ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Friday, December 5. Here now, Lou Dobbs.

DOBBS: Good evening.

Tonight, a massive winter storm is moving up the East Coast, bringing with it heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain across the mid- Atlantic states and throughout the Northeast. Forecasters say this storm could dump as much as a foot and a half of snow in many areas. Winter storm warnings are now in effect from eastern Ohio to Connecticut and from West Virginia all the way up to Massachusetts.

Lisa Sylvester reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The snow coming down might have made for a pretty picture, but it wasn't very nice if you had to drive in it. One radio reporter called it a $500 deductible day, with all the fender-benders and cars stuck in ditches.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Awful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Horrible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Messy.

SYLVESTER: The first real snow of the winter blanketed the country as far south as the Carolinas. Salt truck drivers tried to keep up, but the snow and sleet just kept coming down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're hanging in there and putting down the salt.

SYLVESTER: The storm dumped up to eight inches of snow in parts of Virginia and Maryland. Three to five inches of snow fell across North Carolina.

(on camera): But this is just the beginning. Right on the heels of this storm is another one. The East Coast is expected to feel the full brunt of that storm later tonight and into tomorrow.

JIM HOKE, NOAA METEOROLOGIST: NOAA is expecting a highly variable winter in the East this year. And I think that the snowstorms that we've had the last couple days highlight that effect, that the weather will be very, variable this winter. People need to prepare for the worst, but hope for the best.

SYLVESTER (voice-over): Boston is expecting 10 to 16 inches, New York City eight to 12 inches of snow, Philadelphia eight to 10 inches. And, overnight, Washington, D.C., is expected to get four to six inches.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's too early for snow. It should wait until January or February.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being from Florida, this is not fun.

SYLVESTER: But the day wasn't bad for everyone. The kids liked it. They got a get-out-of-school pass today. They had time to play in the snow, while their parents hoped the worst of the winter storm would miss them.

Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOBBS: The newly arrived harsh winter weather is, unfortunately, making an already-brutal flu season even worse. Today, the nationwide flu outbreak widened. And the two main suppliers of flu shots in this country said today they've run out of vaccine.

Aventis and Chiron produced a total of 80 million flu shots this season. But the two companies say the early, rapidly spreading outbreak of flu this year is simply too much to keep up with. The companies say it will take four months to make more flu shots. By then, of course, the flu season will have ended.

The flu outbreak has now killed at least 11 children in the Western United States, at least six of them in the state of Colorado. More than 6,300 people in Colorado have been infected with the flu. Texas and New Mexico are also among the hardest-hit states. We'll have much more on the flu outbreak later in the show, when I'll be joined by Dr. Gregory Poland, director of vaccine research at the Mayo Clinic, and Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the preventative medicine at Vanderbilt medical Center.

Turning now to the latest news on employment, the unemployment rate fell slightly last month to 5.9 percent. The economy created 57,000 new jobs in November. That is much fewer than economists had been expecting. But President Bush said today the economy is moving in the right direction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're growing. This economy's good. It can be better, so more people find work. One of the ways to make sure this economy continues to grow is to make all the tax relief we passed permanent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOBBS: While the president is optimistic about economic growth, there are rising concerns about the number of new jobs being created.

Employment usually increases at a much faster rate after a slowdown. And the number of new jobs is not even enough now to keep up with the growing population.

Peter Viles has the report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two years into the recovery, jobs are still the weak link in the American economy.

BILL DUDLEY, GOLDMAN SACHS: This has been the worst job performance in a recovery period that we've had since -- basically, you have to go back to the Great Depression for anything like this.

VILES: Since the recovery began, the jobless rate has actually moved higher, to 5.9 percent; 8.7 million people are unemployed. That's 500,000 more than two years ago. And two million people have been out of work 27 weeks or longer, that number also higher.

And the economy, according to the Payroll Survey, has lost 1.2 million jobs. During the first two years of the Reagan recovery, it added 7.2 million jobs. Why is this happening in a growing economy? Two key causes: higher productivity and outsourcing.

JOHN SILVIA, WACHOVIA SECURITIES: We are clearly exporting part of our economic recovery to workers around the world.

VILES: Silvia calls this the first post-NAFTA, post-WTO recovery and estimates that outsourcing, combined with rising productivity, is costing the economy 100,000 jobs a month.

SILVIA: What's happening is, you're reallocating production between domestic to foreign production. And, as a result, we've got good domestic demand, but a lot of the production is happening in other countries.

VILES: That trend dramatically illustrated in manufacturing, which has lost 2.6 million jobs since the recovery began.

ROBERT REICH, FORMER LABOR SECRETARY: The reason why this has been such an anemic jobs recovery, I think, is because all of the uncertainty out there and also the ease by which employers can basically respond to demand through technology and outsourcing.

VILES: There are new jobs in certain industries, education and health services, 1.8 million new jobs since the recovery began, and government work, 490,000 new jobs during the recovery.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VILES: Now, there are still economists who see cause for optimism here. They believe job creation is, in general, heading in the right direct. Still, there is no question, Lou, remarkably weak job creation for a remarkably long time.

DOBBS: There's no question that we're seeing improvement in these indicators. But the basic -- the basic statistic that we need to see improved is really about something that's not statistics at all. It's about people working. And it's why we've been reporting on this broadcast for months about exporting those high-value American jobs.

Peter Viles, thank you.

Apart from unemployment, one of the biggest issues facing the president next year is Iraq. Today, the president named former Secretary of State and Treasury Secretary James Baker. He will be the president's personal envoy on restructuring Iraq's $125 billion of debt. Countries such as France, Germany and Russia have been trying to use the issue to influence the political and economic future of Iraq.

White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Bush administration is working to establish a free and democratic Iraq as soon as possible, a big part of that, getting the war-torn nation out from under its crippling $125 billion debt.

DAN SENOR, COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY: Reducing Iraq's debt obligations, sovereign debt, private debt obligations, has been a high priority for both he and the governing council, literally since Ambassador Bremer arrived here.

MALVEAUX: So the president is appointing longtime family friend and international powerhouse former Secretary of State James A. Baker III to serve as his personal envoy to get the job done.

MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: He is extraordinarily effective as a diplomat. And he knows how to fashion an argument and also how to arm-twist. So he's good at both the Texas cajolery and also the old Texas pressure politics, when he needs to.

MALVEAUX: Baker headed up Bush's strategy team during the Florida ballot recount battle and, under Bush's father's term, won broad international support for the first Gulf War.

In a statement, President Bush said, "James Baker's vast economic, political and diplomatic experience as a former secretary of state and secretary of the Treasury will help forge an international consensus for an equitable and effective resolution of this issue here."

But the question is, how? Of the nearly $125 billion Iraqi foreign debt, nearly $40 billion is owed to a consortium, including the U.S., France, Germany, Japan and Russia and at least $80 billion more to Arab nations and others.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Analysts say, one way is for the U.S. to encourage each country to give up a portion of Iraq's debt all at the same time. That way, not one leader or one nation will be perceived as giving up too much too soon Lou.

DOBBS: James Baker is, Suzanne, taking on another remarkable challenge. Suzanne Malveaux, thank you, reporting from the White House.

Still ahead here: The flu brought outbreak has killed almost a dozen people. Thousands more have fallen ill. But there is a national crisis pending over the supply of flu vaccine.

And bloody Baghdad: another American soldier killed in Baghdad today. The top U.S. official in Iraq has issued a new warning about terrorism. Walt Rodgers will report from Baghdad.

And, in "Heroes," tonight, the remarkable story of a special forces soldier in the National Guard -- that story and more still ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: Insurgents in Iraq today killed an American soldier and three Iraqi civilians in a bomb attack on a military convoy in Baghdad. Two other soldiers and 11 Iraqis were wounded in the attack.

Despite the violence, 1,000 Iraqis today took part in a pro- American demonstration in Baghdad. The protesters, the demonstrators, denounced the insurgents and terrorists responsible for the attacks against the American troops and Iraqis.

Walt Rodgers reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a bad, bloody and violent day in Iraq. And the U.S. administrator here, Ambassador Paul Bremer, says, expect it to get worse. He says the Iraqi guerrillas, the insurgents, will try to sabotage any efforts to build a new Iraq, especially as the U.S. begins to transfer power next year to a transitional government here.

Still, a leading American general here in Iraq thinks he can thwart the guerrillas.

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. DEPUTY CHIEF OF OPERATIONS: We certainly hope that the offensive operations that are being conducted against the enemy in Baghdad have sent a clear message to the terrorists that, we will come after you, we will kill you or we will capture you. We're here to provide a safe and secure environment in Baghdad, for not only the coalition forces, but for the people of Baghdad as well.

RODGERS: The latest attack in Baghdad today was especially savage.

The target was a U.S. military convoy, three Humvees in southeastern Baghdad. This morning, a roadside bomb went off. It killed one American soldier. In the third Humvee, two others were injured. But an Iraqi civilian bus also passed through the blast path of that roadside bomb. And, aboard the bus, three people were killed; 11 Iraqi civilians also had to be taken to the hospital, once again, a brutal reminder of the indiscriminate nature of the violence perpetrated by the Iraqi guerrillas here.

Walter Rodgers, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOBBS: Suspected radical Islamist terrorists today killed at least 40 people in a suicide bomb attack on a commuter train in southern Russia. Another 150 people were wounded. That bombing was in a town near Chechnya. Russia's justice minister blamed Chechen rebels for the attack.

Ryan Chilcote reports from southern Russia -- Ryan.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, well, that death toll continues to rise. It now stands at 41, 155 Russians wounded, in addition to those 41 killed, many of them in the hospital behind me here in the southern Russian town of Yessentuki, two dozen of them in the intensive care unit.

I just spoke with the chief doctor. He said most of those patients have a 50/50 chance of surviving the night, most of them suffering from severe head wounds from that blast inside the commuter train. And I did speak with a couple of people in the trauma unit, a 15-year-old girl, who told me she was on her way to school when the blast happened, a 17-year-old girl, who, believe it or not, was in a similar -- in a train when there was a similar attack three months ago. That time, she got out just with some mental -- mentally scarred.

This time, she said it's a bit worse. The Russian president has appeared on national television. He said that this terrorist act was meant to interrupt Russia's parliamentary election. That parliamentary election is set for Sunday. And, as you said, the justice minister has appeared on TV. He said there's a connection to Chechnya. Chechnya is very close to here. It's just a two hours drive. And this area is no, of course, stranger to terrorist acts, terrorist acts almost every month here -- Lou.

DOBBS: Ryan, thank you very much -- Ryan Chilcote.

Tonight's quote is from a Russian official reacting to the commuter train bombing in the search for the terrorists responsible: "The ground will burn under their feet. These animals will never be able to feel safe" -- those the words of Russian Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov.

Coming up next here: It is one of the harshest flu seen in years. And makers of flu shots say they have run out of vaccine. I'll be talking with Dr. Gregory Poland of the Mayo Clinic and Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt. We'll be talking about what we can all do to protect ourselves against the flu.

And new developments tonight in the brutal murder of a prosecutor in Baltimore. Kelli Arena will have the latest -- that and much more still ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: Chilling new details tonight in the case of a prosecutor who was found brutally murdered. According to a law enforcement source, there are signs that Jonathan Luna was tortured before he was murdered. And, tonight, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Baltimore says the office is taking steps to assure the safety of other prosecutors in the office.

Kelli Arena reports now from Washington -- Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Lou, sources close to the investigation say that Luna left the Baltimore courthouse where he worked at 11:40 at night.

Now, they believe that they have been able to track some of his movements after that. But, still, there are more questions at this point than there are answers. Investigators say that Luna did not head home, but he took a nondirect route to Pennsylvania. Now, electronic records show that he made two stop along the way. It's not clear whether he was alone or exactly where he was stabbed.

Officials say that his car was found idling in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. That's about 70 miles away from Baltimore. His body was underneath the car. Money and Luna's cell phone were found in the car. The interior of that automobile was drenched in blood. Now, sources describe his killing as brutal. Torture wounds were found on his torso. And they say he was stabbed as many as 36 times. His lungs were filled with creek water.

Now, sources say that investigators are looking into past cases that Luna worked. They are conducting interviews to see if there could be any possible connection. And they are scouring video records. Investigators say, though, that, until they know more, they're pursuing all possible scenarios -- back to you.

DOBBS: Kelli, have they ruled out any connection to the current case with which he was involved?

ARENA: They haven't ruled anything out at this point, Lou.

But I can tell you that, privately, several investigators have expressed much skepticism that the people in this current case were involved. But again, they don't -- they're not ruling anything out at this point.

DOBBS: Are the prosecutors, the investigators, the law enforcement agencies now involved, are they expressing any great confidence that they'll be able to solve this case?

ARENA: Well, they are certainly trying. There is great determination, I can tell you, especially if this does turn out to be related to any of the cases that he was working on. They're looking into his personal background.

They're looking into -- as I said, everything is wide open at this point, Lou. But there's great determination -- no solid leads, though, at this point.

DOBBS: Kelli, thank you very much -- Kelli Arena, our justice correspondent, reporting from Washington.

All charges were dismissed today in the Utah Olympics bribery scandal. U.S. District Court Judge David Sam said the three years of litigation against Olympic officials Tom Welch and Dave Johnson offended his sense of justice. The Justice Department's 15 charges claimed the two men bribed Olympic dignitaries to choose Salt Lake City for the 2002 Winter Games. The judge complained about the cost of the case to taxpayers. And his ruling left prosecutors with no avenue of appeal.

Still ahead here tonight, "Exporting America." Tonight, we begin to share with you what is becoming a very long list of American companies exporting jobs to cheap overseas labor markets.

And coming next: This year's deadly flu seen has hit the nation earlier and harder than expected. Now two companies say they're out of flu vaccine. We'll be talking tonight with Dr. Gregory Poland, director of vaccine research for the Mayo Clinic, and Dr. William Schaffner, the chairman of preventative medicine at Vanderbilt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: As we reported, the two main suppliers of flu vaccine for shots in this country today said they simply can't keep up with demand. Aventis and Chiron said they have shipped all of the flu shots they were able to make.

That news comes as the deadly flu outbreak in this country is spreading. My guests tonight are at the forefront of the fight against the outbreak, Dr. Gregory Poland, director of the vaccine research at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, joining us tonight from Rochester, Minnesota.

Good to have you with us.

Dr. William Schaffner is the chairman of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt Medical Center, joining us tonight from Nashville, Tennessee.

Thank you both for being here.

Dr. Poland, let me start first.

The Mayo Clinic has been very forthright and helpful in bringing the public a considerable amount of information and projection on this flu outbreak. At this point, is it as bad as the Mayo Clinic had suggested just a couple of weeks ago?

DR. GREGORY POLAND, MAYO CLINIC COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Well, I think what we can say is, historically, whenever we see a virus like this type, we know that there's go to be widespread illness and an increased burden of hospitalization and death.

The other thing we knew is that the start of this influenza season was the soonest we've seen in about three decades. So, you sort of put all that together, a lack of immunity in the population, and that's sort of the explosive setting for something like this to occur.

DOBBS: And, Dr. Schaffner, what is your experience now? Are you seeing a considerable increase in cases?

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, VANDERBILT MEDICAL CENTER: Oh, Lou, the last week has been a big change here in Tennessee. All of a sudden, emergency rooms, doctors offices, nursing homes, we have had a day care center, all have had outbreaks of influenza.

DOBBS: And, Doctor, let me first ask you, in terms of your patients and likely patients in Tennessee, with Aventis and Chiron running out of vaccine for flu shots, how big an impact could this have?

SCHAFFNER: Well, a lot of people have gotten vaccinated. But we're urging people to use that vaccine which is still in the pipeline. There's still some in the doctors offices and in the clinics and in the supermarkets. So let's use that up.

And then, let's remember, healthy people, age five through 49, can use the nasal spray vaccine, which is new this new. It's reserved for healthy people. But, if they want to pay a little extra, that's still available.

DOBBS: And is there a generic version or are there brand names that they should look for?

SCHAFFNER: It's MedImmune's FluMist.

DOBBS: MedImmune's FluMist.

SCHAFFNER: FluMist, that's correct.

POLAND: And, Lou, I would just echo what Bill said.

We've got four million doses, about, nationally for FluMist vaccine. And we've particularly, in the early part of this outbreak, seen children get hit hard by this. And children, of course, are the ones that spread it to adults. So let's not forget that we not only have the inactivated vaccine, which is in shorter supply, but we've got a fairly plentiful supply of a new vaccine that can be used in children.

DOBBS: Doctor, we just saw the application of this, a young fellow getting it, actually rather gruesome looking. Is it -- this is -- let me ask you, is this painless? What should the patient expect?

(CROSSTALK)

SCHAFFNER: Go ahead, Greg.

POLAND: I'm sorry.

The nasal spray vaccine is painless to receive. It might be sort of an unpleasant situation, because most of us aren't too used to having something sprayed in our nose. And the aftereffect of the vaccine is that people can have a slightly sore throat and runny nose, but really very easy to receive.

DOBBS: I just wanted us to be able to point out that that hypodermic did not have a needle attached and it was a painless application.

(LAUGHTER)

POLAND: Right. It is a spray, not an injection.

DOBBS: Good.

In the outlook here for this disease, we have begun to take -- to hear from a number of doctors and medical agencies now about the fact that this strain of flu that is hitting, as you pointed out, our young people so hard, and fatalities in an age group that we're not used to seeing, the question arises, why did we not know about this particular strain of influenza? Because it is -- typically, it's fairly predictive, is it not?

SCHAFFNER: Well, the World Health Organization conducts surveillance for influenza around the world around the year.

And just when we were starting to produce our vaccine, the very first isolates of this Fujian strain were -- were recovered early in February. It was much too late for that strain to be incorporated in the vaccine. But the important thing to notice is that that strain is related to one of the strains called A-Panama (ph) that's already in the vaccine. So the vaccine will give partial protection. It will turn a more serious disease into a milder disease and prevent some of the complications.

So it's still important to get vaccinated if you can find the vaccine.

POLAND: I definitely agree with that. One sort of follow-on point is, while 80 percent of what's causing disease that is strain, the other 20 percent are strains that are contained in the vaccine. So there are several reasons to get this vaccine.

DOBBS: The fatalities that have been experienced already in this outbreak, as we said, unusual and the Mayo Clinic suggested that we may see the fatalities from this particular flu season double. Do you still believe that Dr. Poland?

POLAND: Well, I don't know that we said double. In a typical year, we have 35,000 to 40,000 deaths. I would not be surprised at all to see 50,000 to who knows 60,000, 70,000 deaths. That would not be atypical for a drifted strain like that, particularly when we see the level of illness that we've seen.

DOBBS: Doctor, I took that number of 70 and 36 and called it almost double and I realize that kind of precision isn't adequate for your profession. But we appreciate it very much. Dr. Poland, Dr. Scheffner, we thank you both for being here very much

SCHEFFNER: Our pleasure, Lou.

DOBBS: Thank you.

POLAND: Thank you.

DOBBS: Turning to another medical story, one about a parasitic skin disease that is affecting dozens of our troops deployed in Iraq. 150 troops are reported to are contracted the disease from sand flies. Hundreds of more troops could be infected without knowing it.

Soldiers in Iraq call the disease Baghdad Boil. It causes skin lesions that can take years to heal if left untreated. Doctors quoted by "USA Today" say the disease has an incubation period of six months and that means troops infected in September may not show symptoms until March.

Tonight's thought is on modern medicine, "formally when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine. Now when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic." Psychologist Thomas Szasz.

Coming up next here, "Exporting America," a look at what is becoming a long list of companies that you've told us about and that we have confirmed are outsourcing American jobs to cheap foreign labor markets. We'll be naming names just ahead. And tonight in "Heroes," the heroing story of an American soldier who left his wife and four children to fight in Afghanistan. Casey Wian will have the story of this American hero.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: Two nights ago we started asking for your help in identifying companies that are exporting American jobs overseas. And as you know, no government agency keeps track of the number of American jobs lost to cheap, foreign labor. When we receive word from you, and we are hearing from hundreds and hundreds of you, we work hard to confirm that those companies that you notify us of are indeed exporting America.

We received from you hundreds and hundreds of companies exporting jobs and we will update the list on this broadcast each evening. So far, these are the companies that we have been able to confirm are indeed exporting America. they include Accenture, which we include in the list not because it's an American company, because it is not, but because it is a consultant to business recommending the exportation of American jobs. AOL, American Express, Amphenol Corporation, which makes electronic connecters based in Wallingford, Connecticut, Bank of America, Circuit City, Citigroup, Dell Computer, Dupont, Electronics for Imaging, Eli Lilly, Emerson Electric, Ernst & Young, First American Financial, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, J.P. Morgan Chase, Metlife, Microsoft, Monsanto, Parker Hannifin, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, the Southerland Group, a consulting company based in Pittsburgh, New York, Texas Instruments, Verizon, Washington Group International.

And the list is going to get quite expensive, I can tell you. Our staff will be working for weeks and weeks to confirm the companies that you've already informed us about who are exporting American jobs. So, please, keep sending us the names of companies you know to be exporting America. We'll be updating that list here each evening. Please, send those notifications to us at loudobbs@CNN.com.

Another example of exporting America, this one not coming from American business, but actually by more than a dozen U.S. states that we've discovered are sending American jobs overseas. 19 stated, to be exact, have contracted with Citigroup to provide the U.S. Department of Agriculture food stamp recipients with electronic bank transfer cards.

Now these cards, which are after all funded by taxpayers, are used just like debit cards by some of our poorest citizens, many of them unemployed. But Citigroup has outsourced its customer service overseas for English speakers India, Spanish speakers, Mexico.

Several lawmakers in Wisconsin are outraged by this betrayal. And we want to on this broadcast compliment State Senator Judith Robson (ph). She's urging the state to require customer service jobs for food stamp recipients be located in the state of Wisconsin. And Governor Jim Doyle agrees. He says the only way he'll renew the state's contract with Citigroup is if those jobs are returned to the United States. Ironically, it was the Department of Workforce Development, under a previous administration that negotiated the contract. Yes, that's the same department in charge of finding work for unemployed residents of the state of Wisconsin.

Now let's take a look at some of your thoughts on "Exporting America. A number of you wrote about an e-mail last night that criticized me for asking for your help to collect names of companies shipping American jobs overseas. From Wittier, California, "why do these people not understand that we are a great nation because we have a strong middle class. These companies are subverting the nation. Who will buy their products if we have no middle class? Pay people a fair wage so they can afford your product? The greed we find nowadays is outrageous." That from John Stinson.

The good news, Mr. Stinson is nearly all of our viewers understand that this is an important task for us to complete, and we're all committed to doing so.

On the subject of our economy, from Gulf Shores, Alabama, "It doesn't take a genius to figure out that while GDP is up, there are still many people out of work. It's obvious to me, the companies are wringing more productivity out of fewer workers, yet no one has talked about the human costs to overworked families. Fewer laborers are working longer hours and spending less time with their families. Over time, our society will suffer as a result." And we couldn't agree with you more, Jon Ingram.

On whether the United States should resume sending astronauts to the Moon. From Farmingdale, New Jersey, "I firmly stand by the president's plan to restart the United States space initiative. This country has had to deal with immense hardship over the last few years and has been focusing only on the present. A new space initiative with high goals will give the American people a renewed sense of hope for the future." John Gordon.

And from Ridgecrest, California, "this country is too far in debt to even think about something so ambitious. Also, we need to spend more on education to have the next generation of space engineers available. Although space exploration is important, we need to pay our bills first." Jerileah Schaeffer.

From Southwick, Massachusetts -- easy for me to say, Massachusetts. "Why don't we just outsource our moon flights to China, like U.S. industries do for everything else and save huge U.S. tax dollars that could be used for much more direct needs right here on Earth." That from Jeff Snow.

We always love hearing from you. Send us your e-mails, loudobbs@cnn.com.

Wall Street is a week closer to its first winning year in the past four years. However, the market this week failed to reach some milestones that investors had been hoping for. Mary Snow is here and she has the story for us -- Mary. MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Lou. Well, you know, everyone thought by tonight we would be talking about the Dow reaching 10,000, the Nasdaq reaching 2,000. But the November jobs report is making investors nervous. Fewer jobs are being created than expected, and those who do have jobs are more productive, and companies are shipping work overseas.

That is not a good sign for consumers who are also being hit with higher gas and oil bills. Natural gas futures surged about 25 percent this week alone, because consumption was higher than expected. And this week, retailers reported modest sales.

Now, on the bigger picture, the dollar reached a record low against the euro, which makes investors nervous about foreign money not coming into the United States.

The standout this week -- commodities, gold, steel, metals. One commodity trader I spoke with said there's anticipation about the visit next week of China's premier to the U.S., to see if it will mean more demand for raw materials as China expands.

And finally, we've been talking a lot, Lou, about the investigations into mutual fund companies like Putnam, Janus and Strong Financial. The question is, how much are the scandals affecting these funds? Strong Financial is the latest to weigh in. Its CEO stepped down just this week. AMG Data Services says $2 billion was pulled out of Strong Funds in the month of November, that's more than twice the amount in previous months.

Overall, money going into all U.S. funds this past week showed modest gains -- Lou.

DOBBS: As usual, setting up some anticipation for next week. Mary, thanks a lot. Mary Snow.

Turning now to tonight's poll question -- how much are you planning to spend on your holiday shopping this year? The same as last year, more than last year or less than last year? I guess we could have included one more line here that said, I don't want to think about it. Cast your vote at cnn.com/lou. We'll have the result for you later in the broadcast.

Tonight our feature, "Heroes." Two months after September 11, Army National Guard Sergeant Layne Morris left for Afghanistan to fight in Operation Enduring Freedom. He was there in a firefight with radical Islamists al Qaeda terrorists that he lost the sight in his right eye. Now, facing the end of a highly decorated 20-year military career, Morris says he would do it again. Casey Wian has this story from West Valley, Utah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Layne Morris runs the city of West Valley, Utah's public housing authority, meeting with developers and allocating federal funds. It's much different than his other job, as a member of special forces in the Army National Guard. SFC LAYNE MORRIS, U.S. ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: I'm the engineer sergeant. So I blow things up. I jump out of airplanes. I mean, I do the whole -- the whole thing. So, yeah, there's not a whole lot of -- there's not a whole lot of dovetailing there between job skills. But the one's a great release for the other.

WIAN: In December 2001, Morris temporarily gave up his civilian job and left his wife and four children to fight in Afghanistan.

MORRIS: It was a thrill for me. It was a dream come true, it was an honor.

WIAN: It also nearly cost him his life. During a firefight with al Qaeda forces last July, he saw two fellow soldiers killed, helped rescue another wounded comrade, killed two enemy fighters before being hit in the face with shrapnel.

MORRIS: Just as I shot two guys with my grenade launcher, at the same time I took the recoil, something slammed into my right eye and kind of knocked me back a few steps. But I could feel, you know, this hot thing in my head. It felt like you eat those pop rocks, put them in your mouth and you can kind of feel that crackling sound.

WIAN: Morris was flown to Germany for surgery. His wife rushed to his side.

MORRIS: When my wife, who I've been married for what, 18 years now, you know, she finally walks through that door, that's -- you know, that's just something you don't forget, seeing your -- when you come that close to dying. I mean, I thought I was dead.

WIAN: While very much alive, Morris regrets the now-hidden injury will end his 20-year military career.

MORRIS: It really becomes a part of your life, a part of your identity. You get to to know the guys, you know, you've been dealing with for 20 years. You know, you blood, sweat and tears with those guys. And all of a sudden be told, you know, your time is up, that's tough.

WIAN: Morris' children say he's no longer the pushover he was before combat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a lot more strict.

WIAN: But at least he's home.

Casey Wian, CNN, West Valley, Utah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOBBS: And coming up, "America's Bright Future." Tonight, we introduce you to a young girl who mastered three languages before most children can even learn one language. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) DOBBS: With more attacks against American forces predicted in Iraq, soft job growth numbers and President Bush touting the effects of economic policies, we have plenty to talk about tonight with Jim Ellis of "BusinessWeek," Robert Lenzner of "Forbes" and Bill Powell of "Fortune." Good to have you here.

Jim, let's turn to this looks like a stellar performance for the president. Is the economy that (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

JIM ELLIS, "BUSINESSWEEK": Well, the economy's doing very well. I mean, we are definitely in a recovery. I think that the markets, however, are a little worried that the recovery isn't nearly as strong as we had hoped. We saw in the jobs number today that, you know, the -- there are only a third of the jobs that people expected came along.

But more importantly, if you look the at the unemployment rate, it actually dropped down to 5.9 percent, but the wide unemployment rate and the Hispanic unemployment rates both rose. The reason the unemployment rate overall went down was because black unemployment dropped. So a lot of people who will vote Republican are still going to say it hasn't helped us yet.

DOBBS: Doesn't feel like a recovery 24 months after being in one.

ELLIS: Right.

ROBERT LENZNER, FORBES: One of the positive things that happened because the jobs weren't as strong as expected was that the bond market went up, and interest rates went down. So in fact, it means that Greenspan doesn't have to increase interest rates. In other words, the economy is not expand...

DOBBS: Were we worried about that?

LENZNER: Yeah, there were a lot of people. I wasn't worried about it, but there were a lot of people who were.

DOBBS: Well, I'm worried about jobs. I'm with Jim on this concern. We're sitting here, as Peter Viles reported tonight at the outset of the broadcast, this is the worst job performance, the worst job formation performance since the Depression, for crying out loud, at this stage of the recovery. What's going on?

BILL POWELL, FORTUNE: Well, I think partly it's the inverse of the productivity boom or miracle, or whatever you want to call it, when you get a productivity number like that we had this week, you -- by definition, it's fewer inputs producing more stuff, more output.

DOBBS: You mean, we're overworking a lot of folks?

POWELL: Well, you know...

LENZNER: Like us.

POWELL: Partly it's... DOBBS: Is that what you're saying?

POWELL: ...overwork, it's efficiency, it's whatever you want to call it. But, this -- this needs to be said, there has never been a sustained productivity boom in this country that has not been followed by a sustained jobs boom. I don't see any reason why that will be the case now.

JIM ELLIS, "BUSINESSWEEK": I actually think, we never had an economy like this before because we've never had a China before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or an India.

ELLIS: Never.

ROBERT LENZNER, "FORBES": There is one thing, that the capital expenditures are picking up, I saw a chart this week that surprised me. If capital expenditures are picking up that means they're creating more jobs on top of that.

DOBBS: These are domestic?

LENZNER: Domestic capital expenditures right.

DOBBS: Well, let's turn to the other issue here and that is with an economy that is booming, with job formation still weak, we have Iraq and it doesn't appear that we're seeing a great deal of improvement there. And we have Paul Bremer saying it's going to worsen because of the progress that's sure to follow. How concerned are you?

ELLIS: I'm concerned simply because I think for the administration this is going to be a true distraction next year. I think, a lot of people are going to expect this to get better and unfortunately it's probably going to get worse before it gets better.

Moreover, we're going to have to start dealing with the fact that the costs are getting the of hand. I know that the president has appointed Mr. Baker to go over and basically try to grab money from our friends overseas. The problem is that the GDP of Iraq is only one-fifth of the debt that it owes. It owes $125 billion outside of its borders. It has a huge debt that has to be forgiven and I don't know what leverage we have to make people give that up.

DOBBS: Well, one piece of leverage, I would think, would be they're not going to get anything unless we say so anyway.

LENZNER: The problem is, that this business about the debt and the economy and selling businesses there, are cosmetics to the true story of security and a new government and stability, and stopping the deaths of our troops. That's what -- that's the way I look at it.

DOBBS: When I hear the French -- I don't know about you, but when I here the French talk about not forgiving debt and all of their concern about the approach that the United States has taken there's an old expression that applies on Wall Street to geopolitics. When they say it ain't the money it's the money. And they continue to prove that time and time again.

POWELL: I think it's absolutely right. It's an -- it's their bargaining position. The bargaining has begun and they and the Russians are both saying, no, we're not going to give an inch. Eventually I think they will.

I want to say quickly, the issue of Iraq being a distraction for the administration in an election year, if the administration treats and views Iraq as a quote/unquote distraction, then it's a nightmare. This is the central foreign policy issue of arguably of our lifetimes, Lou. They've got to get this right. If they view it as a distraction something to get off the front page, we're in trouble.

DOBBS: A PR issue rather than a genuine foreign policy issue?

POWELL: Absolutely.

DOBBS: Gentlemen, thanks for being here. We appreciate it very much. Have a great weekend. We look forward to seeing you next time.

A reminder to vote in our poll tonight. The question, "How much are you planning on spending on your holiday shopping this year? The same as a year ago, more than last year or less than last year." Or as I said earlier, you may even suggest that you don't even want to think about it. Cast your vote at CNN.com/lou. We'll have the results in just a few moments.

Also coming up, "America's Bright Future." Tonight we bring you a remarkable young lady were. She's publishing books at an age when most children are just learning to read. Susan Lisovicz will have her story I think you should see this. It's just a kid.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: The results of our poll: 23 percent of you saying you're planning to spend the same amount of money on your holiday shopping this year as a year ago, 6 percent say more, 71 percent say less.

"America's Bright Future," tonight the story of a remarkable young lady who is single-handedly helping the world communicate more effectively. This New York City Public School student says languages a critical window to understanding cultural differences and similarities. Susan Lisovicz has her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sherley Xu Wetherhold enjoys junk food and TV shows about dogs. She likes to surf the Web. In many ways, Sherley is a typical 10-year-old, until it comes to languages. Sherley picked up Chinese from her mother, English from her father and Spanish in school, a talent that was the foundation for what may be the world's first trilingual book by someone so young. She was 8 went her primer on vocabulary first came out.

SHERLEY XU WETHERHOLD, AUTHOR: Languages aren't really hard for me. I think they're fun. LISOVICZ: But Sherley's ear for languages is just one part of the equation. She's also interested in understanding the culture of people in different lands.

VICTORIA NESNICK, FOUNDER "THE KIDS HALL OF FAME": Her understanding is that the spoken and the written word is so important in creating effective communication and for an 8-year-old to realize that and then actually do something to put together a book to help people communicate effectively across the world, I think is -- it's just extraordinary.

LISOVICZ: 5,000 copies of Sherley's book have been published in China and the young author of something of a media celebrity at book signings there. Sherley plans to expand her repertoire.

WETHERHOLD: I want to be able to know all of the languages but, of course, that's not possible. But I would like to learn -- I would like to learn Latin, because Latin is very similar to Spanish and I'll understand many languages that came from Latin.

LISOVICZ: Sherley's parents say they encourage without pushing.

JOHN WETHERHOLD, SHERLEY'S FATHER: I don't think she'll win the Nobel Prize, I really don't. I think she has a very good gift and a very good sponge-like absorption of languages.

LISOVICZ: But Sherley has many passions.

S. WETHERHOLD: Right now I like cooking, I like art, horses and I like technology and science and stuff.

LISOVICZ: And always, language. One of the world's youngest authors says, another book may soon be in the works. Susan Lisovicz, CNN financial news, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOBBS: Good for Sherley. That's our show tonight. We thank you for being with us. Monday here, we'll be joined by the newly appointed Iraqi ambassador to the United States. And Tom Foley, the director of private sector development in Iraq will also be here. And we begin Monday a series of special reports, "America Works." We celebrate, next week, the men and women who make this country work.

For all of us here, we hope you have a very pleasant weekend. Good night from New York.

END

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Atlantic and Northeast; Editor's Circle Discusses Jobless Recovery>


Aired December 5, 2003 - 18:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight: The flu outbreak is nearing crisis levels in several states -- and adding to the public health concerns, word tonight that the two biggest manufacturers of flu shots have run out of vaccine.
The first major storm of the winter brings chaos to the mid- Atlantic states and the Northeast. Snow and freezing rain have disrupted airports, highways and schools. Lisa Sylvester reports.

"Jobless in America." The unemployment rate fell last month, but new jobs are being created at the slowest rate in almost 70 years. Peter Viles reports.

In "America's Bright Future," our special report on this country's most gifted young people, tonight, a remarkable young lady with an amazing talent for language.

And in "Heroes," tonight, the incredible bravely of a special forces soldier in the Army National Guard. Casey Wian will have his story.

ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Friday, December 5. Here now, Lou Dobbs.

DOBBS: Good evening.

Tonight, a massive winter storm is moving up the East Coast, bringing with it heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain across the mid- Atlantic states and throughout the Northeast. Forecasters say this storm could dump as much as a foot and a half of snow in many areas. Winter storm warnings are now in effect from eastern Ohio to Connecticut and from West Virginia all the way up to Massachusetts.

Lisa Sylvester reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The snow coming down might have made for a pretty picture, but it wasn't very nice if you had to drive in it. One radio reporter called it a $500 deductible day, with all the fender-benders and cars stuck in ditches.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Awful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Horrible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Messy.

SYLVESTER: The first real snow of the winter blanketed the country as far south as the Carolinas. Salt truck drivers tried to keep up, but the snow and sleet just kept coming down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're hanging in there and putting down the salt.

SYLVESTER: The storm dumped up to eight inches of snow in parts of Virginia and Maryland. Three to five inches of snow fell across North Carolina.

(on camera): But this is just the beginning. Right on the heels of this storm is another one. The East Coast is expected to feel the full brunt of that storm later tonight and into tomorrow.

JIM HOKE, NOAA METEOROLOGIST: NOAA is expecting a highly variable winter in the East this year. And I think that the snowstorms that we've had the last couple days highlight that effect, that the weather will be very, variable this winter. People need to prepare for the worst, but hope for the best.

SYLVESTER (voice-over): Boston is expecting 10 to 16 inches, New York City eight to 12 inches of snow, Philadelphia eight to 10 inches. And, overnight, Washington, D.C., is expected to get four to six inches.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's too early for snow. It should wait until January or February.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being from Florida, this is not fun.

SYLVESTER: But the day wasn't bad for everyone. The kids liked it. They got a get-out-of-school pass today. They had time to play in the snow, while their parents hoped the worst of the winter storm would miss them.

Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOBBS: The newly arrived harsh winter weather is, unfortunately, making an already-brutal flu season even worse. Today, the nationwide flu outbreak widened. And the two main suppliers of flu shots in this country said today they've run out of vaccine.

Aventis and Chiron produced a total of 80 million flu shots this season. But the two companies say the early, rapidly spreading outbreak of flu this year is simply too much to keep up with. The companies say it will take four months to make more flu shots. By then, of course, the flu season will have ended.

The flu outbreak has now killed at least 11 children in the Western United States, at least six of them in the state of Colorado. More than 6,300 people in Colorado have been infected with the flu. Texas and New Mexico are also among the hardest-hit states. We'll have much more on the flu outbreak later in the show, when I'll be joined by Dr. Gregory Poland, director of vaccine research at the Mayo Clinic, and Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the preventative medicine at Vanderbilt medical Center.

Turning now to the latest news on employment, the unemployment rate fell slightly last month to 5.9 percent. The economy created 57,000 new jobs in November. That is much fewer than economists had been expecting. But President Bush said today the economy is moving in the right direction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're growing. This economy's good. It can be better, so more people find work. One of the ways to make sure this economy continues to grow is to make all the tax relief we passed permanent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOBBS: While the president is optimistic about economic growth, there are rising concerns about the number of new jobs being created.

Employment usually increases at a much faster rate after a slowdown. And the number of new jobs is not even enough now to keep up with the growing population.

Peter Viles has the report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two years into the recovery, jobs are still the weak link in the American economy.

BILL DUDLEY, GOLDMAN SACHS: This has been the worst job performance in a recovery period that we've had since -- basically, you have to go back to the Great Depression for anything like this.

VILES: Since the recovery began, the jobless rate has actually moved higher, to 5.9 percent; 8.7 million people are unemployed. That's 500,000 more than two years ago. And two million people have been out of work 27 weeks or longer, that number also higher.

And the economy, according to the Payroll Survey, has lost 1.2 million jobs. During the first two years of the Reagan recovery, it added 7.2 million jobs. Why is this happening in a growing economy? Two key causes: higher productivity and outsourcing.

JOHN SILVIA, WACHOVIA SECURITIES: We are clearly exporting part of our economic recovery to workers around the world.

VILES: Silvia calls this the first post-NAFTA, post-WTO recovery and estimates that outsourcing, combined with rising productivity, is costing the economy 100,000 jobs a month.

SILVIA: What's happening is, you're reallocating production between domestic to foreign production. And, as a result, we've got good domestic demand, but a lot of the production is happening in other countries.

VILES: That trend dramatically illustrated in manufacturing, which has lost 2.6 million jobs since the recovery began.

ROBERT REICH, FORMER LABOR SECRETARY: The reason why this has been such an anemic jobs recovery, I think, is because all of the uncertainty out there and also the ease by which employers can basically respond to demand through technology and outsourcing.

VILES: There are new jobs in certain industries, education and health services, 1.8 million new jobs since the recovery began, and government work, 490,000 new jobs during the recovery.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VILES: Now, there are still economists who see cause for optimism here. They believe job creation is, in general, heading in the right direct. Still, there is no question, Lou, remarkably weak job creation for a remarkably long time.

DOBBS: There's no question that we're seeing improvement in these indicators. But the basic -- the basic statistic that we need to see improved is really about something that's not statistics at all. It's about people working. And it's why we've been reporting on this broadcast for months about exporting those high-value American jobs.

Peter Viles, thank you.

Apart from unemployment, one of the biggest issues facing the president next year is Iraq. Today, the president named former Secretary of State and Treasury Secretary James Baker. He will be the president's personal envoy on restructuring Iraq's $125 billion of debt. Countries such as France, Germany and Russia have been trying to use the issue to influence the political and economic future of Iraq.

White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Bush administration is working to establish a free and democratic Iraq as soon as possible, a big part of that, getting the war-torn nation out from under its crippling $125 billion debt.

DAN SENOR, COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY: Reducing Iraq's debt obligations, sovereign debt, private debt obligations, has been a high priority for both he and the governing council, literally since Ambassador Bremer arrived here.

MALVEAUX: So the president is appointing longtime family friend and international powerhouse former Secretary of State James A. Baker III to serve as his personal envoy to get the job done.

MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: He is extraordinarily effective as a diplomat. And he knows how to fashion an argument and also how to arm-twist. So he's good at both the Texas cajolery and also the old Texas pressure politics, when he needs to.

MALVEAUX: Baker headed up Bush's strategy team during the Florida ballot recount battle and, under Bush's father's term, won broad international support for the first Gulf War.

In a statement, President Bush said, "James Baker's vast economic, political and diplomatic experience as a former secretary of state and secretary of the Treasury will help forge an international consensus for an equitable and effective resolution of this issue here."

But the question is, how? Of the nearly $125 billion Iraqi foreign debt, nearly $40 billion is owed to a consortium, including the U.S., France, Germany, Japan and Russia and at least $80 billion more to Arab nations and others.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Analysts say, one way is for the U.S. to encourage each country to give up a portion of Iraq's debt all at the same time. That way, not one leader or one nation will be perceived as giving up too much too soon Lou.

DOBBS: James Baker is, Suzanne, taking on another remarkable challenge. Suzanne Malveaux, thank you, reporting from the White House.

Still ahead here: The flu brought outbreak has killed almost a dozen people. Thousands more have fallen ill. But there is a national crisis pending over the supply of flu vaccine.

And bloody Baghdad: another American soldier killed in Baghdad today. The top U.S. official in Iraq has issued a new warning about terrorism. Walt Rodgers will report from Baghdad.

And, in "Heroes," tonight, the remarkable story of a special forces soldier in the National Guard -- that story and more still ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: Insurgents in Iraq today killed an American soldier and three Iraqi civilians in a bomb attack on a military convoy in Baghdad. Two other soldiers and 11 Iraqis were wounded in the attack.

Despite the violence, 1,000 Iraqis today took part in a pro- American demonstration in Baghdad. The protesters, the demonstrators, denounced the insurgents and terrorists responsible for the attacks against the American troops and Iraqis.

Walt Rodgers reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a bad, bloody and violent day in Iraq. And the U.S. administrator here, Ambassador Paul Bremer, says, expect it to get worse. He says the Iraqi guerrillas, the insurgents, will try to sabotage any efforts to build a new Iraq, especially as the U.S. begins to transfer power next year to a transitional government here.

Still, a leading American general here in Iraq thinks he can thwart the guerrillas.

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. DEPUTY CHIEF OF OPERATIONS: We certainly hope that the offensive operations that are being conducted against the enemy in Baghdad have sent a clear message to the terrorists that, we will come after you, we will kill you or we will capture you. We're here to provide a safe and secure environment in Baghdad, for not only the coalition forces, but for the people of Baghdad as well.

RODGERS: The latest attack in Baghdad today was especially savage.

The target was a U.S. military convoy, three Humvees in southeastern Baghdad. This morning, a roadside bomb went off. It killed one American soldier. In the third Humvee, two others were injured. But an Iraqi civilian bus also passed through the blast path of that roadside bomb. And, aboard the bus, three people were killed; 11 Iraqi civilians also had to be taken to the hospital, once again, a brutal reminder of the indiscriminate nature of the violence perpetrated by the Iraqi guerrillas here.

Walter Rodgers, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOBBS: Suspected radical Islamist terrorists today killed at least 40 people in a suicide bomb attack on a commuter train in southern Russia. Another 150 people were wounded. That bombing was in a town near Chechnya. Russia's justice minister blamed Chechen rebels for the attack.

Ryan Chilcote reports from southern Russia -- Ryan.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, well, that death toll continues to rise. It now stands at 41, 155 Russians wounded, in addition to those 41 killed, many of them in the hospital behind me here in the southern Russian town of Yessentuki, two dozen of them in the intensive care unit.

I just spoke with the chief doctor. He said most of those patients have a 50/50 chance of surviving the night, most of them suffering from severe head wounds from that blast inside the commuter train. And I did speak with a couple of people in the trauma unit, a 15-year-old girl, who told me she was on her way to school when the blast happened, a 17-year-old girl, who, believe it or not, was in a similar -- in a train when there was a similar attack three months ago. That time, she got out just with some mental -- mentally scarred.

This time, she said it's a bit worse. The Russian president has appeared on national television. He said that this terrorist act was meant to interrupt Russia's parliamentary election. That parliamentary election is set for Sunday. And, as you said, the justice minister has appeared on TV. He said there's a connection to Chechnya. Chechnya is very close to here. It's just a two hours drive. And this area is no, of course, stranger to terrorist acts, terrorist acts almost every month here -- Lou.

DOBBS: Ryan, thank you very much -- Ryan Chilcote.

Tonight's quote is from a Russian official reacting to the commuter train bombing in the search for the terrorists responsible: "The ground will burn under their feet. These animals will never be able to feel safe" -- those the words of Russian Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov.

Coming up next here: It is one of the harshest flu seen in years. And makers of flu shots say they have run out of vaccine. I'll be talking with Dr. Gregory Poland of the Mayo Clinic and Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt. We'll be talking about what we can all do to protect ourselves against the flu.

And new developments tonight in the brutal murder of a prosecutor in Baltimore. Kelli Arena will have the latest -- that and much more still ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: Chilling new details tonight in the case of a prosecutor who was found brutally murdered. According to a law enforcement source, there are signs that Jonathan Luna was tortured before he was murdered. And, tonight, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Baltimore says the office is taking steps to assure the safety of other prosecutors in the office.

Kelli Arena reports now from Washington -- Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Lou, sources close to the investigation say that Luna left the Baltimore courthouse where he worked at 11:40 at night.

Now, they believe that they have been able to track some of his movements after that. But, still, there are more questions at this point than there are answers. Investigators say that Luna did not head home, but he took a nondirect route to Pennsylvania. Now, electronic records show that he made two stop along the way. It's not clear whether he was alone or exactly where he was stabbed.

Officials say that his car was found idling in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. That's about 70 miles away from Baltimore. His body was underneath the car. Money and Luna's cell phone were found in the car. The interior of that automobile was drenched in blood. Now, sources describe his killing as brutal. Torture wounds were found on his torso. And they say he was stabbed as many as 36 times. His lungs were filled with creek water.

Now, sources say that investigators are looking into past cases that Luna worked. They are conducting interviews to see if there could be any possible connection. And they are scouring video records. Investigators say, though, that, until they know more, they're pursuing all possible scenarios -- back to you.

DOBBS: Kelli, have they ruled out any connection to the current case with which he was involved?

ARENA: They haven't ruled anything out at this point, Lou.

But I can tell you that, privately, several investigators have expressed much skepticism that the people in this current case were involved. But again, they don't -- they're not ruling anything out at this point.

DOBBS: Are the prosecutors, the investigators, the law enforcement agencies now involved, are they expressing any great confidence that they'll be able to solve this case?

ARENA: Well, they are certainly trying. There is great determination, I can tell you, especially if this does turn out to be related to any of the cases that he was working on. They're looking into his personal background.

They're looking into -- as I said, everything is wide open at this point, Lou. But there's great determination -- no solid leads, though, at this point.

DOBBS: Kelli, thank you very much -- Kelli Arena, our justice correspondent, reporting from Washington.

All charges were dismissed today in the Utah Olympics bribery scandal. U.S. District Court Judge David Sam said the three years of litigation against Olympic officials Tom Welch and Dave Johnson offended his sense of justice. The Justice Department's 15 charges claimed the two men bribed Olympic dignitaries to choose Salt Lake City for the 2002 Winter Games. The judge complained about the cost of the case to taxpayers. And his ruling left prosecutors with no avenue of appeal.

Still ahead here tonight, "Exporting America." Tonight, we begin to share with you what is becoming a very long list of American companies exporting jobs to cheap overseas labor markets.

And coming next: This year's deadly flu seen has hit the nation earlier and harder than expected. Now two companies say they're out of flu vaccine. We'll be talking tonight with Dr. Gregory Poland, director of vaccine research for the Mayo Clinic, and Dr. William Schaffner, the chairman of preventative medicine at Vanderbilt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: As we reported, the two main suppliers of flu vaccine for shots in this country today said they simply can't keep up with demand. Aventis and Chiron said they have shipped all of the flu shots they were able to make.

That news comes as the deadly flu outbreak in this country is spreading. My guests tonight are at the forefront of the fight against the outbreak, Dr. Gregory Poland, director of the vaccine research at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, joining us tonight from Rochester, Minnesota.

Good to have you with us.

Dr. William Schaffner is the chairman of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt Medical Center, joining us tonight from Nashville, Tennessee.

Thank you both for being here.

Dr. Poland, let me start first.

The Mayo Clinic has been very forthright and helpful in bringing the public a considerable amount of information and projection on this flu outbreak. At this point, is it as bad as the Mayo Clinic had suggested just a couple of weeks ago?

DR. GREGORY POLAND, MAYO CLINIC COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Well, I think what we can say is, historically, whenever we see a virus like this type, we know that there's go to be widespread illness and an increased burden of hospitalization and death.

The other thing we knew is that the start of this influenza season was the soonest we've seen in about three decades. So, you sort of put all that together, a lack of immunity in the population, and that's sort of the explosive setting for something like this to occur.

DOBBS: And, Dr. Schaffner, what is your experience now? Are you seeing a considerable increase in cases?

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, VANDERBILT MEDICAL CENTER: Oh, Lou, the last week has been a big change here in Tennessee. All of a sudden, emergency rooms, doctors offices, nursing homes, we have had a day care center, all have had outbreaks of influenza.

DOBBS: And, Doctor, let me first ask you, in terms of your patients and likely patients in Tennessee, with Aventis and Chiron running out of vaccine for flu shots, how big an impact could this have?

SCHAFFNER: Well, a lot of people have gotten vaccinated. But we're urging people to use that vaccine which is still in the pipeline. There's still some in the doctors offices and in the clinics and in the supermarkets. So let's use that up.

And then, let's remember, healthy people, age five through 49, can use the nasal spray vaccine, which is new this new. It's reserved for healthy people. But, if they want to pay a little extra, that's still available.

DOBBS: And is there a generic version or are there brand names that they should look for?

SCHAFFNER: It's MedImmune's FluMist.

DOBBS: MedImmune's FluMist.

SCHAFFNER: FluMist, that's correct.

POLAND: And, Lou, I would just echo what Bill said.

We've got four million doses, about, nationally for FluMist vaccine. And we've particularly, in the early part of this outbreak, seen children get hit hard by this. And children, of course, are the ones that spread it to adults. So let's not forget that we not only have the inactivated vaccine, which is in shorter supply, but we've got a fairly plentiful supply of a new vaccine that can be used in children.

DOBBS: Doctor, we just saw the application of this, a young fellow getting it, actually rather gruesome looking. Is it -- this is -- let me ask you, is this painless? What should the patient expect?

(CROSSTALK)

SCHAFFNER: Go ahead, Greg.

POLAND: I'm sorry.

The nasal spray vaccine is painless to receive. It might be sort of an unpleasant situation, because most of us aren't too used to having something sprayed in our nose. And the aftereffect of the vaccine is that people can have a slightly sore throat and runny nose, but really very easy to receive.

DOBBS: I just wanted us to be able to point out that that hypodermic did not have a needle attached and it was a painless application.

(LAUGHTER)

POLAND: Right. It is a spray, not an injection.

DOBBS: Good.

In the outlook here for this disease, we have begun to take -- to hear from a number of doctors and medical agencies now about the fact that this strain of flu that is hitting, as you pointed out, our young people so hard, and fatalities in an age group that we're not used to seeing, the question arises, why did we not know about this particular strain of influenza? Because it is -- typically, it's fairly predictive, is it not?

SCHAFFNER: Well, the World Health Organization conducts surveillance for influenza around the world around the year.

And just when we were starting to produce our vaccine, the very first isolates of this Fujian strain were -- were recovered early in February. It was much too late for that strain to be incorporated in the vaccine. But the important thing to notice is that that strain is related to one of the strains called A-Panama (ph) that's already in the vaccine. So the vaccine will give partial protection. It will turn a more serious disease into a milder disease and prevent some of the complications.

So it's still important to get vaccinated if you can find the vaccine.

POLAND: I definitely agree with that. One sort of follow-on point is, while 80 percent of what's causing disease that is strain, the other 20 percent are strains that are contained in the vaccine. So there are several reasons to get this vaccine.

DOBBS: The fatalities that have been experienced already in this outbreak, as we said, unusual and the Mayo Clinic suggested that we may see the fatalities from this particular flu season double. Do you still believe that Dr. Poland?

POLAND: Well, I don't know that we said double. In a typical year, we have 35,000 to 40,000 deaths. I would not be surprised at all to see 50,000 to who knows 60,000, 70,000 deaths. That would not be atypical for a drifted strain like that, particularly when we see the level of illness that we've seen.

DOBBS: Doctor, I took that number of 70 and 36 and called it almost double and I realize that kind of precision isn't adequate for your profession. But we appreciate it very much. Dr. Poland, Dr. Scheffner, we thank you both for being here very much

SCHEFFNER: Our pleasure, Lou.

DOBBS: Thank you.

POLAND: Thank you.

DOBBS: Turning to another medical story, one about a parasitic skin disease that is affecting dozens of our troops deployed in Iraq. 150 troops are reported to are contracted the disease from sand flies. Hundreds of more troops could be infected without knowing it.

Soldiers in Iraq call the disease Baghdad Boil. It causes skin lesions that can take years to heal if left untreated. Doctors quoted by "USA Today" say the disease has an incubation period of six months and that means troops infected in September may not show symptoms until March.

Tonight's thought is on modern medicine, "formally when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine. Now when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic." Psychologist Thomas Szasz.

Coming up next here, "Exporting America," a look at what is becoming a long list of companies that you've told us about and that we have confirmed are outsourcing American jobs to cheap foreign labor markets. We'll be naming names just ahead. And tonight in "Heroes," the heroing story of an American soldier who left his wife and four children to fight in Afghanistan. Casey Wian will have the story of this American hero.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: Two nights ago we started asking for your help in identifying companies that are exporting American jobs overseas. And as you know, no government agency keeps track of the number of American jobs lost to cheap, foreign labor. When we receive word from you, and we are hearing from hundreds and hundreds of you, we work hard to confirm that those companies that you notify us of are indeed exporting America.

We received from you hundreds and hundreds of companies exporting jobs and we will update the list on this broadcast each evening. So far, these are the companies that we have been able to confirm are indeed exporting America. they include Accenture, which we include in the list not because it's an American company, because it is not, but because it is a consultant to business recommending the exportation of American jobs. AOL, American Express, Amphenol Corporation, which makes electronic connecters based in Wallingford, Connecticut, Bank of America, Circuit City, Citigroup, Dell Computer, Dupont, Electronics for Imaging, Eli Lilly, Emerson Electric, Ernst & Young, First American Financial, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, J.P. Morgan Chase, Metlife, Microsoft, Monsanto, Parker Hannifin, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, the Southerland Group, a consulting company based in Pittsburgh, New York, Texas Instruments, Verizon, Washington Group International.

And the list is going to get quite expensive, I can tell you. Our staff will be working for weeks and weeks to confirm the companies that you've already informed us about who are exporting American jobs. So, please, keep sending us the names of companies you know to be exporting America. We'll be updating that list here each evening. Please, send those notifications to us at loudobbs@CNN.com.

Another example of exporting America, this one not coming from American business, but actually by more than a dozen U.S. states that we've discovered are sending American jobs overseas. 19 stated, to be exact, have contracted with Citigroup to provide the U.S. Department of Agriculture food stamp recipients with electronic bank transfer cards.

Now these cards, which are after all funded by taxpayers, are used just like debit cards by some of our poorest citizens, many of them unemployed. But Citigroup has outsourced its customer service overseas for English speakers India, Spanish speakers, Mexico.

Several lawmakers in Wisconsin are outraged by this betrayal. And we want to on this broadcast compliment State Senator Judith Robson (ph). She's urging the state to require customer service jobs for food stamp recipients be located in the state of Wisconsin. And Governor Jim Doyle agrees. He says the only way he'll renew the state's contract with Citigroup is if those jobs are returned to the United States. Ironically, it was the Department of Workforce Development, under a previous administration that negotiated the contract. Yes, that's the same department in charge of finding work for unemployed residents of the state of Wisconsin.

Now let's take a look at some of your thoughts on "Exporting America. A number of you wrote about an e-mail last night that criticized me for asking for your help to collect names of companies shipping American jobs overseas. From Wittier, California, "why do these people not understand that we are a great nation because we have a strong middle class. These companies are subverting the nation. Who will buy their products if we have no middle class? Pay people a fair wage so they can afford your product? The greed we find nowadays is outrageous." That from John Stinson.

The good news, Mr. Stinson is nearly all of our viewers understand that this is an important task for us to complete, and we're all committed to doing so.

On the subject of our economy, from Gulf Shores, Alabama, "It doesn't take a genius to figure out that while GDP is up, there are still many people out of work. It's obvious to me, the companies are wringing more productivity out of fewer workers, yet no one has talked about the human costs to overworked families. Fewer laborers are working longer hours and spending less time with their families. Over time, our society will suffer as a result." And we couldn't agree with you more, Jon Ingram.

On whether the United States should resume sending astronauts to the Moon. From Farmingdale, New Jersey, "I firmly stand by the president's plan to restart the United States space initiative. This country has had to deal with immense hardship over the last few years and has been focusing only on the present. A new space initiative with high goals will give the American people a renewed sense of hope for the future." John Gordon.

And from Ridgecrest, California, "this country is too far in debt to even think about something so ambitious. Also, we need to spend more on education to have the next generation of space engineers available. Although space exploration is important, we need to pay our bills first." Jerileah Schaeffer.

From Southwick, Massachusetts -- easy for me to say, Massachusetts. "Why don't we just outsource our moon flights to China, like U.S. industries do for everything else and save huge U.S. tax dollars that could be used for much more direct needs right here on Earth." That from Jeff Snow.

We always love hearing from you. Send us your e-mails, loudobbs@cnn.com.

Wall Street is a week closer to its first winning year in the past four years. However, the market this week failed to reach some milestones that investors had been hoping for. Mary Snow is here and she has the story for us -- Mary. MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Lou. Well, you know, everyone thought by tonight we would be talking about the Dow reaching 10,000, the Nasdaq reaching 2,000. But the November jobs report is making investors nervous. Fewer jobs are being created than expected, and those who do have jobs are more productive, and companies are shipping work overseas.

That is not a good sign for consumers who are also being hit with higher gas and oil bills. Natural gas futures surged about 25 percent this week alone, because consumption was higher than expected. And this week, retailers reported modest sales.

Now, on the bigger picture, the dollar reached a record low against the euro, which makes investors nervous about foreign money not coming into the United States.

The standout this week -- commodities, gold, steel, metals. One commodity trader I spoke with said there's anticipation about the visit next week of China's premier to the U.S., to see if it will mean more demand for raw materials as China expands.

And finally, we've been talking a lot, Lou, about the investigations into mutual fund companies like Putnam, Janus and Strong Financial. The question is, how much are the scandals affecting these funds? Strong Financial is the latest to weigh in. Its CEO stepped down just this week. AMG Data Services says $2 billion was pulled out of Strong Funds in the month of November, that's more than twice the amount in previous months.

Overall, money going into all U.S. funds this past week showed modest gains -- Lou.

DOBBS: As usual, setting up some anticipation for next week. Mary, thanks a lot. Mary Snow.

Turning now to tonight's poll question -- how much are you planning to spend on your holiday shopping this year? The same as last year, more than last year or less than last year? I guess we could have included one more line here that said, I don't want to think about it. Cast your vote at cnn.com/lou. We'll have the result for you later in the broadcast.

Tonight our feature, "Heroes." Two months after September 11, Army National Guard Sergeant Layne Morris left for Afghanistan to fight in Operation Enduring Freedom. He was there in a firefight with radical Islamists al Qaeda terrorists that he lost the sight in his right eye. Now, facing the end of a highly decorated 20-year military career, Morris says he would do it again. Casey Wian has this story from West Valley, Utah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Layne Morris runs the city of West Valley, Utah's public housing authority, meeting with developers and allocating federal funds. It's much different than his other job, as a member of special forces in the Army National Guard. SFC LAYNE MORRIS, U.S. ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: I'm the engineer sergeant. So I blow things up. I jump out of airplanes. I mean, I do the whole -- the whole thing. So, yeah, there's not a whole lot of -- there's not a whole lot of dovetailing there between job skills. But the one's a great release for the other.

WIAN: In December 2001, Morris temporarily gave up his civilian job and left his wife and four children to fight in Afghanistan.

MORRIS: It was a thrill for me. It was a dream come true, it was an honor.

WIAN: It also nearly cost him his life. During a firefight with al Qaeda forces last July, he saw two fellow soldiers killed, helped rescue another wounded comrade, killed two enemy fighters before being hit in the face with shrapnel.

MORRIS: Just as I shot two guys with my grenade launcher, at the same time I took the recoil, something slammed into my right eye and kind of knocked me back a few steps. But I could feel, you know, this hot thing in my head. It felt like you eat those pop rocks, put them in your mouth and you can kind of feel that crackling sound.

WIAN: Morris was flown to Germany for surgery. His wife rushed to his side.

MORRIS: When my wife, who I've been married for what, 18 years now, you know, she finally walks through that door, that's -- you know, that's just something you don't forget, seeing your -- when you come that close to dying. I mean, I thought I was dead.

WIAN: While very much alive, Morris regrets the now-hidden injury will end his 20-year military career.

MORRIS: It really becomes a part of your life, a part of your identity. You get to to know the guys, you know, you've been dealing with for 20 years. You know, you blood, sweat and tears with those guys. And all of a sudden be told, you know, your time is up, that's tough.

WIAN: Morris' children say he's no longer the pushover he was before combat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a lot more strict.

WIAN: But at least he's home.

Casey Wian, CNN, West Valley, Utah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOBBS: And coming up, "America's Bright Future." Tonight, we introduce you to a young girl who mastered three languages before most children can even learn one language. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) DOBBS: With more attacks against American forces predicted in Iraq, soft job growth numbers and President Bush touting the effects of economic policies, we have plenty to talk about tonight with Jim Ellis of "BusinessWeek," Robert Lenzner of "Forbes" and Bill Powell of "Fortune." Good to have you here.

Jim, let's turn to this looks like a stellar performance for the president. Is the economy that (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

JIM ELLIS, "BUSINESSWEEK": Well, the economy's doing very well. I mean, we are definitely in a recovery. I think that the markets, however, are a little worried that the recovery isn't nearly as strong as we had hoped. We saw in the jobs number today that, you know, the -- there are only a third of the jobs that people expected came along.

But more importantly, if you look the at the unemployment rate, it actually dropped down to 5.9 percent, but the wide unemployment rate and the Hispanic unemployment rates both rose. The reason the unemployment rate overall went down was because black unemployment dropped. So a lot of people who will vote Republican are still going to say it hasn't helped us yet.

DOBBS: Doesn't feel like a recovery 24 months after being in one.

ELLIS: Right.

ROBERT LENZNER, FORBES: One of the positive things that happened because the jobs weren't as strong as expected was that the bond market went up, and interest rates went down. So in fact, it means that Greenspan doesn't have to increase interest rates. In other words, the economy is not expand...

DOBBS: Were we worried about that?

LENZNER: Yeah, there were a lot of people. I wasn't worried about it, but there were a lot of people who were.

DOBBS: Well, I'm worried about jobs. I'm with Jim on this concern. We're sitting here, as Peter Viles reported tonight at the outset of the broadcast, this is the worst job performance, the worst job formation performance since the Depression, for crying out loud, at this stage of the recovery. What's going on?

BILL POWELL, FORTUNE: Well, I think partly it's the inverse of the productivity boom or miracle, or whatever you want to call it, when you get a productivity number like that we had this week, you -- by definition, it's fewer inputs producing more stuff, more output.

DOBBS: You mean, we're overworking a lot of folks?

POWELL: Well, you know...

LENZNER: Like us.

POWELL: Partly it's... DOBBS: Is that what you're saying?

POWELL: ...overwork, it's efficiency, it's whatever you want to call it. But, this -- this needs to be said, there has never been a sustained productivity boom in this country that has not been followed by a sustained jobs boom. I don't see any reason why that will be the case now.

JIM ELLIS, "BUSINESSWEEK": I actually think, we never had an economy like this before because we've never had a China before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or an India.

ELLIS: Never.

ROBERT LENZNER, "FORBES": There is one thing, that the capital expenditures are picking up, I saw a chart this week that surprised me. If capital expenditures are picking up that means they're creating more jobs on top of that.

DOBBS: These are domestic?

LENZNER: Domestic capital expenditures right.

DOBBS: Well, let's turn to the other issue here and that is with an economy that is booming, with job formation still weak, we have Iraq and it doesn't appear that we're seeing a great deal of improvement there. And we have Paul Bremer saying it's going to worsen because of the progress that's sure to follow. How concerned are you?

ELLIS: I'm concerned simply because I think for the administration this is going to be a true distraction next year. I think, a lot of people are going to expect this to get better and unfortunately it's probably going to get worse before it gets better.

Moreover, we're going to have to start dealing with the fact that the costs are getting the of hand. I know that the president has appointed Mr. Baker to go over and basically try to grab money from our friends overseas. The problem is that the GDP of Iraq is only one-fifth of the debt that it owes. It owes $125 billion outside of its borders. It has a huge debt that has to be forgiven and I don't know what leverage we have to make people give that up.

DOBBS: Well, one piece of leverage, I would think, would be they're not going to get anything unless we say so anyway.

LENZNER: The problem is, that this business about the debt and the economy and selling businesses there, are cosmetics to the true story of security and a new government and stability, and stopping the deaths of our troops. That's what -- that's the way I look at it.

DOBBS: When I hear the French -- I don't know about you, but when I here the French talk about not forgiving debt and all of their concern about the approach that the United States has taken there's an old expression that applies on Wall Street to geopolitics. When they say it ain't the money it's the money. And they continue to prove that time and time again.

POWELL: I think it's absolutely right. It's an -- it's their bargaining position. The bargaining has begun and they and the Russians are both saying, no, we're not going to give an inch. Eventually I think they will.

I want to say quickly, the issue of Iraq being a distraction for the administration in an election year, if the administration treats and views Iraq as a quote/unquote distraction, then it's a nightmare. This is the central foreign policy issue of arguably of our lifetimes, Lou. They've got to get this right. If they view it as a distraction something to get off the front page, we're in trouble.

DOBBS: A PR issue rather than a genuine foreign policy issue?

POWELL: Absolutely.

DOBBS: Gentlemen, thanks for being here. We appreciate it very much. Have a great weekend. We look forward to seeing you next time.

A reminder to vote in our poll tonight. The question, "How much are you planning on spending on your holiday shopping this year? The same as a year ago, more than last year or less than last year." Or as I said earlier, you may even suggest that you don't even want to think about it. Cast your vote at CNN.com/lou. We'll have the results in just a few moments.

Also coming up, "America's Bright Future." Tonight we bring you a remarkable young lady were. She's publishing books at an age when most children are just learning to read. Susan Lisovicz will have her story I think you should see this. It's just a kid.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: The results of our poll: 23 percent of you saying you're planning to spend the same amount of money on your holiday shopping this year as a year ago, 6 percent say more, 71 percent say less.

"America's Bright Future," tonight the story of a remarkable young lady who is single-handedly helping the world communicate more effectively. This New York City Public School student says languages a critical window to understanding cultural differences and similarities. Susan Lisovicz has her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sherley Xu Wetherhold enjoys junk food and TV shows about dogs. She likes to surf the Web. In many ways, Sherley is a typical 10-year-old, until it comes to languages. Sherley picked up Chinese from her mother, English from her father and Spanish in school, a talent that was the foundation for what may be the world's first trilingual book by someone so young. She was 8 went her primer on vocabulary first came out.

SHERLEY XU WETHERHOLD, AUTHOR: Languages aren't really hard for me. I think they're fun. LISOVICZ: But Sherley's ear for languages is just one part of the equation. She's also interested in understanding the culture of people in different lands.

VICTORIA NESNICK, FOUNDER "THE KIDS HALL OF FAME": Her understanding is that the spoken and the written word is so important in creating effective communication and for an 8-year-old to realize that and then actually do something to put together a book to help people communicate effectively across the world, I think is -- it's just extraordinary.

LISOVICZ: 5,000 copies of Sherley's book have been published in China and the young author of something of a media celebrity at book signings there. Sherley plans to expand her repertoire.

WETHERHOLD: I want to be able to know all of the languages but, of course, that's not possible. But I would like to learn -- I would like to learn Latin, because Latin is very similar to Spanish and I'll understand many languages that came from Latin.

LISOVICZ: Sherley's parents say they encourage without pushing.

JOHN WETHERHOLD, SHERLEY'S FATHER: I don't think she'll win the Nobel Prize, I really don't. I think she has a very good gift and a very good sponge-like absorption of languages.

LISOVICZ: But Sherley has many passions.

S. WETHERHOLD: Right now I like cooking, I like art, horses and I like technology and science and stuff.

LISOVICZ: And always, language. One of the world's youngest authors says, another book may soon be in the works. Susan Lisovicz, CNN financial news, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOBBS: Good for Sherley. That's our show tonight. We thank you for being with us. Monday here, we'll be joined by the newly appointed Iraqi ambassador to the United States. And Tom Foley, the director of private sector development in Iraq will also be here. And we begin Monday a series of special reports, "America Works." We celebrate, next week, the men and women who make this country work.

For all of us here, we hope you have a very pleasant weekend. Good night from New York.

END

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Atlantic and Northeast; Editor's Circle Discusses Jobless Recovery>