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Lou Dobbs Tonight
Cheney Launches New Assault on War Critics; Is Zarqawi Dead?
Aired November 21, 2005 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everybody.
Tonight, Vice President Dick Cheney launches a new assault on the critics of the war in Iraq.
Then Iraq's most wanted terrorist could be dead. We'll take you live to the Pentagon for this developing story.
Also, Thanksgiving week will be a key moment in reshaping the debate in Washington. How can you make a difference?
Plus, America's biggest automaker announces tens of thousands of job cuts.
And one lawmaker wants more jobs for middle class Americans, while keeping foreigners out of mix.
Tonight, Vice President Dick Cheney today intensified the attack on critics of the war in Iraq. The vice president used his strongest language yet, accusing some Democrats of corrupt and shameless behavior. But Vice President Cheney made a point of praising Democratic Congressman John Murtha.
John King has our report. John?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And Kitty, in those two very different tones, you get a sense of where the White House strategy is heading in the intensifying political debate over the Iraq war.
Let's start with the softer tone -- the vice president delivering a speech here in Washington today. A much softer tone when it comes to Democratic Congressman Jack Murtha of Pennsylvania.
The initial White House reaction when Congressman Murtha came out last week and said bring the troops home from Iraq within six months was quite scathing -- the administration likening his position to that of the liberal filmmaker Michael Moore.
Well, the president, while traveling in Asia, told senior aides he thought that was over the top. The vice president came out echoing the president today, making clear he thinks Congressman Murtha is wrong, but still calling him friend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Recently my friend and former colleague, Jack Murtha, called for a complete withdrawal of American forces now serving in Iraq with a draw-down to begin at once. I disagree with Jack and believe his proposal would not serve the best interest of this nation. But he's a good man, a Marine, a patriot. And he's taking a clear stand in an entirely legitimate discussion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Now, one of the reasons the administration does not feel it needs to attack Congressman Murtha so much is that so few Democrats have come out to embrace his timetable. Congressman Murtha says bring the troops home within six months or so.
A leading Democratic voice on Foreign Affairs, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, gave a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations today. And while he was harshly critical of the Bush Iraq policy, saying it was a failure from top to bottom, Senator Biden saying this is no time to rush the troops home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DE), FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: The hard truth is that our large military presence in Iraq is both necessary and increasingly counterproductive. Our presence remains necessary because right now our troops are the only guarantor against chaos. Pulling out prematurely, in my view, would doom any chance of leaving Iraq with our core interest intact.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Now, back to the vice president's approach, he was softer on Congressman Murtha but tougher on those who have suggested the president, the vice president, and others in the administration somehow cooked the books, hyped -- hyped and exaggerated the intelligence leading into the Iraq war debate. That has taken a significant toll on the president's credibility, his numbers when it comes to honesty and integrity. We have seen that in public opinion.
The vice president today escalating his attacks on that front.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHENEY: A few politicians are suggesting these brave Americans were sent into battle for a deliberate falsehood. This is revisionism of the most corrupt and shameless variety. It has no place anywhere in American politics, much less in the United States Senate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Now, Senator Biden, in his speech, saying at best he thought perhaps 50,000 of the 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq could be brought home next year.
2006 is an election year, Kitty. The president has said consistently he will make his decisions based on the facts on the grounds, not political pressure. But senior administration officials do tell CNN that if the Iraqi elections next month go well, perhaps as early as the State of the Union Address, early next year, Mr. Bush himself could embrace some reductions in the troop levels.
Kitty.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much, John King.
Well, Congressman John Murtha today predicted the vice president will eventually come around to his point of view on Iraq. Congressman Murtha is a decorated Vietnam veteran, and tonight he made a direct comparison between the war in Vietnam and the war in Iraq and the rising number of U.S. casualties.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA: In 1963, Senator -- or Secretary McNamara predicted that we'd be out of there in two years. We had 2,200 casualties in 1965, two years later after he made that prediction.
From that time on -- I'm talking about Vietnam -- from that time on, we had 53,000 casualties. I'm trying to prevent another Vietnam.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PILGRIM: Bush administration officials, though, repeatedly insist there are no valid comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam.
In Iraq today, five Iraqis were killed when terrorists set off a roadside bomb. The bomb missed a nearby U.S. patrol but killed Iraqi bystanders. At least 11 Iraqis were wounded. There were no American casualties.
Now, Iraq was the number one issue for President Bush as he traveled in Asia, but it wasn't supposed to be that way. The president's agenda was intended to highlight America's relations with Asian countries.
Dana Bash traveled with the president.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you all very much.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Reporters on the scene immediately dubbed this the "No Exit Strategy" press conference. Even the sheepish president couldn't ignore the obvious metaphor.
BUSH: I was trying to escape.
BASH: The hands down picture of the trip a snapshot of its theme, a week in Asia with no escape from the escalating debate at home over Iraq. The first stop, Japan, was supposed to be the easy one.
BUSH: Prime Minister Koizumi is one of my best friends.
BASH: But as the president took in ancient Kyoto sites, the Senate rejected a timetable to withdraw troops from Iraq but demanded a plan for success.
(on camera): Is that evidence that your party is increasingly splitting with you, sir, on Iraq?
(voice over): Off his message, but his talking points were ready.
BUSH: That was a positive step by the United States Senate.
BASH: Next stop, South Korea. Once again, Mr. Bush is distracted by red-hot Iraq rhetoric in Washington. This time it's his vice president ratcheting up the GOP campaign to discredit Democrats criticizing the war.
BUSH: I agree with the vice president. People are irresponsibly using their positions and playing politics.
BASH: Meanwhile, South Korea catches the visiting White House off guard, announcing plans to remove some of their 3,000 troops from Iraq.
But that was nothing compared to the bombshell surprise in Washington -- influential Democrat John Murtha calling for troops to leave Iraq in six months.
With that, the White House gave up any illusion of an Asian escape, releasing a blistering statement linking Murtha to Michael Moore. And Bush aides uncharacteristically released excerpts of this speech hours before to overcome the 14-hour time difference and make the news cycle back home.
BUSH: Setting a deadline for our withdrawal from Iraq would be a - quote -- "a recipe for disaster."
BASH: Seven days in, China presented the most difficult diplomacy, but Mr. Bush felt compelled to speak about John Murtha, a fine man, but...
BUSH: I disagree with his position.
BASH: Meanwhile, tough talks on human rights and economics with unrelenting Chinese leaders produced no concrete results, and a reporter asked the question on many minds.
QUESTION: This morning with President Hu you seemed a little off your game.
BUSH: Have you ever heard of jet lag?
BASH: Typical jet lag, perhaps harder to shake when the bruising Iraq debate is your constant companion.
Dana Bash, CNN, Ulan Bator, Mongolia. (END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: A two-day trip to China, hours of high-level discussions, and critics say President Bush has absolutely nothing to show for it. They say he has once again failed to win concessions from communist China that could have saved U.S. jobs and strengthened national security.
Christine Romans reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): President Bush returns from Beijing with plenty of "win-win" interaction, as the Chinese call it, but no real action on currencies, a monster trade deficit, intellectual property violations or human rights.
CARL WEINBERG, HIGH FREQUENCY ECONOMICS: As far as the stuff of which diplomacy and international economics are concerned, he came back empty-handed. You know, whatever we can imagine his agenda might have been, whether it was Taiwan, whether it was trade, whether it was intellectual rights, whether it was revaluation of the yuan, there were no agreements that came out of the trip to China.
ROMANS: The Chinese showing they are skilled diplomats and intent, naturally, on policies that put China first. President Hu again promised to protect copyrights from rampant Chinese piracy but offered no new concrete plans.
On currency, he said China will move "unswervingly" toward reform, yet at the same time promised to "follow the principle of benefiting both China and the world at large."
On religious freedom, President Bush worshipped with Christians at a state-sanctioned church and signed the guest book, "May God bless the Christians of China."
But...
ELIZABETH ECONOMY, ASIA STUDIES, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: We've come to expect that the Chinese will release at least one political dissident as a gesture of goodwill in advance of a presidential summit. In this case, they didn't release anybody -- in fact, had a crackdown immediately prior to President Bush's arrival.
ROMANS: On Taiwan, communist China did not give an inch.
HU JINTAO, PRESIDENT OF CHINA (through translator): We will by no means tolerate so-called Taiwan independence.
ROMANS: Still, many say it isn't fair to criticize America's empty-handed return from China.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: After all, this trip was billed as another confidence builder between the two leaders. And in fact, the president may have accomplished something after all. These two leaders stand together on North Korea, we're told, and promised to cooperate on avian flu. So folks say that's at least something that came out of those days in Beijing.
PILGRIM: Look, these are big issues, but the jury is still out on both of those issues.
ROMANS: It is indeed out on both of those issues. Folks also point to a big deal for Boeing, maybe a $4 billion aircraft order that's a little bit unspecified. Some people think that might have been in the works well before the president came. So he did come back with a Boeing aircraft order, but some skepticism about whether that really came out of this weekend.
PILGRIM: All right. Thanks very much. Christine Romans.
Well, we'd like to know what you think in our poll. Tell us, would you -- how would you rate the president's trip to Asia? And the choices are: success, failure or inconsequential. Cast your vote at LouDobbs.com. We'll bring you the results later in the broadcast.
Up next, Bob Woodward speaks out to CNN for the first time after testifying in the White House CIA leak investigation. We'll have the story.
This country's biggest automaker lays off tens of thousands of people. Why? And what it means next.
And then why the standard of living for many middle class Americans is not improving, it's getting worse.
And members of Congress are on vacation, but that doesn't mean that your voice can't be heard. Why Thanksgiving week is a good time to speak out, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: Tonight, devastating news for thousands of Americans who work for General Motors. The world's largest automaker says it will cut 30,000 jobs in North America. That's a quarter of its workforce. It is a stunning management admission that the company is in crisis and something drastic needs to be done.
Casey Wian reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Take a good look at these minivans fresh off the assembly line in Doraville, Georgia, because these vehicles, this plant, and these workers will soon be history.
DORIS GRAHAM, GM WORKER: We know we were like number one on the list to be closed. The economy is bad, so you just have to find something else to do. GREG LOTT, GM WORKER: It feels real bad, especially for some of the ones that are not going to make it.
WIAN: In Oklahoma City, where they make big SUVs, union officials had to break the news to workers.
BOB ALEXANDER, UAW: I'm not going lie to you all. This is really hard to tell the plant over there that they announced today that they told us that they were closing Oklahoma City plant.
WIAN: GM plans to cut nine manufacturing plants, plus three parts facilities and wipe out 30,000 jobs. It's a desperate move to keep the largest auto manufacturer in business.
RICK WAGONER, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, GENERAL MOTORS: This is tough medicine for us, and I think it's tough medicine for everybody involved with our company.
WIAN: GM employees and shareholders have already swallowed plenty of that. The company has lost $4 billion this year, and its stock has lost nearly two-thirds of its value since 2002.
Long gone are the days when GM's main worry was Japanese competition. Now it's struggling to fend off cheaper imports from Korea and soon China.
GM blames high labor and health care costs for its financial problems. Others say GM's wounds are self-inflicted.
PETER MORICI, BUSINESS PROF., UNIV. OF MARYLAND: The high price of gasoline this year certainly has hurt General Motors, but they should have been prepared for that. The reality is General Motors just doesn't make cars people want to buy.
These moves do not turn General Motors' problems around. They have been losing market share because of unimaginative and poorly- designed cars.
WIAN: Morici points out that Japanese and German automakers build cars in the United States at a profit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: GM's strategy for returning to profitability includes what it calls a product renaissance. Part of that will be an all new lineup of SUVs and more fuel-saving hybrids.
Kitty.
PILGRIM: Casey, are we expecting any more cuts, or indication on that?
WIAN: A lot of that depends on what happens with these new models they have got coming out over the next couple of years. A lot of analysts think that if those are not a success with consumers, that we'll be seeing these types of announcements again in two or three more years.
Kitty.
PILGRIM: All right. Thanks very much. Casey Wian.
Well, as GM workers face massive layoffs, a disturbing new report illustrates the war on the middle class. A new study says the living standards of middle class workers in Illinois fell by such a dramatic rate that their financial condition is no better today than it was in 1989.
Lisa Sylvester reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Joe Bresnahan and his family are learning how to stretch a dollar. He worked for Maytag in Galesburg, Illinois, for 16 years, but the plant closed -- his job shipped to Mexico, where the workers are paid in cents, not dollars.
JOE BRESNAHAN, FMR. MAYTAG WORKER: I'm not going to work for 58 cents an hour. There's no way that we can compete. It's got to stop. The gap -- there is no more middle class in my mind. You're either rich or you're poor.
SYLVESTER: Joe now works for a company packaging art supplies.
BRESNAHAN: I bring home every two weeks what I used to bring home in a week, and used to have good health insurance, dental, vision. And none of that now.
SYLVESTER: His story is being repeated all over Illinois. The state has lost more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs since 1990. Middle class families haven't just stalled on the economic ladder, they're being kicked further down.
A new study by the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability shows the state's median income of $46,000 is at the same level as it was in 1989. During the '90s, when the economy was booming, the job growth was in the lower paid service industry, and many high-paying jobs were shipped overseas.
RALPH MARTIRE, CTR. FOR TAX AND BUDGET ACCOUNTABILITY: We are truly feeling the impact of globalization, and it's not like the old days where maybe one high-paying wage sector would go away in the economy and another high-paying wage sector would jump up to replace it. That's not what's really happening now.
SYLVESTER: What's happening in Illinois is also occurring in the rest of the country.
LEE PRICE, ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE: Illinois a little bit more than the rest of the country. But the country as a whole, the typical family in the middle of the income spectrum is doing worse than they were five years ago. SYLVESTER: That's because middle class families like Joe's Bresnahan's have not only seen their paycheck shrink, they're also coping with rising costs of gas, housing and food.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: The workers who fared the best were college educated. Having a high school diploma is simply not enough to get ahead. And the authors of this study say this trend of shrinking paychecks is only going to get worse unless policymakers come up with different decisions.
Kitty.
PILGRIM: Disturbing report. Thanks very much. Lisa Sylvester.
Still ahead, a culture of corruption at the United Nations. The Bush administration is fighting for major reform, but critics say nothing can be done to save the corrupt world body. We'll look at what should be done.
Plus, inside jobs, smuggling conspiracies. And today it's drugs, tomorrow it could be weapons for terrorists. We'll have a special report coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: Tonight the United States announced it's banning all poultry imports from mainland British Columbia because of the threat of bird flu. Canadian authorities say a duck at a British Columbia poultry farm has tested positive for the disease, but not for the deadliest strain of bird flu that has been detected in 18 countries and killed more than 60 people.
Tonight a fierce battle over the future of the United Nations. The Bush administration is pushing for sweeping reform of the world body which critics say is hopelessly corrupt and incompetent. But developing nations are fighting our government every step of the way.
The United States now warns it could give up on the U.N. if reforms fail.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM (voice over): The U.N., a tower of corruption. The United States is fed up. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton in a speech said, "The corruption and mismanagement that we see in the oil-for-food program didn't emerge out of nowhere. It emerged out of the culture that existed in the U.N. in New York."
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan defends the reform efforts.
KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: We are going to learn from the lessons, take measures to strengthen the organization.
PILGRIM: But others disagree. Congress is outraged, threatening to cut off U.N. funding. A congressional Gingrich-Mitchell study on U.N. reform found deep problems.
Lee Feinstein, who contributed to that report, says the U.N.'s own report fell far short.
LEE FEINSTEIN, TASK FORCE ON THE U.N.: The U.N. suffers from some of the worst problems of an organization of 191 members. You have got lots of lowest common denominator activity at work.
PILGRIM: U.S. Ambassador John Bolton had a litany of U.N. corruption. The oil-for-food scandal, details released three weeks in the 1,000-page Volcker report. Findings to date have implicated 2,000 companies and tarnished top politicians in France, Britain and India.
U.N. peacekeepers who won a Nobel Peace Prize in the 1980s, yet routinely sexually abuse and exploit the people they are sent to protect. And despite the fact the sex scandal is public, "Week by week we hear additional examples of sexual exploitation and abuse by U.N. peacekeepers."
The U.N. farce continued. Tunisia, a repressive regime, was picked as the site of a U.N. conference on the Internet -- that power play put forward by such violators of free speech such as China, Cuba and Iran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Ambassador Bolton pointed out in his speech this week, even though the oil-for-food scandal has implicated thousands of companies and top government officials, "We still don't know the entire story." Three separate congressional committees are now actively continuing the investigation, and at least two grand juries in New York are pursuing additional leads.
We'll have more on the crisis on the U.N. later this hour. We're going to be joined by Edward Luck, who's a professor of international affairs at Columbia University. He's been working for years on U.N. reform.
Now an update on the plan at Northwest Airlines to outsource thousands of flight attendant jobs. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney appeared on this program on Friday, and she wrote a letter to Northwest CEO Doug Steenland, urging him to keep those jobs in this country. Ninety-nine members of Congress signed the letter. But Congresswoman Maloney has yet to receive any response from Northwest. Northwest, however, did comment on our story about its recent purchase of Airbus aircraft. Northwest says most of its 429 plane fleet, 60 percent, was built by American companies.
Coming up, Bob Woodward speaks out to CNN for the first time after testifying in the White House CIA leak investigation. We'll show you what he had to say.
Plus, is Iraq's most wanted radical Islamist terrorist dead? We're live at the Pentagon with the very latest for that. And also ahead, why some of the people trained to protect this country from terrorists could become a threat to our safety. And how can you personally reshape the debate in Washington over this Thanksgiving week. Bill Schneider will have that story coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: There's uncertainty tonight about the fate of Iraq's most wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Now, it follows unconfirmed reports Zarqawi was killed in a shoot-out with American and Iraqi troops in the city of Mosul.
Barbara Starr reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is all that remains of a house in Mosul where U.S. and Iraqi forces Saturday engaged in a vicious shoot-out with eight suspected al Qaeda insurgents. Two U.S. troops were killed and 11 wounded.
At least three of the insurgents blew themselves up rather than risk capture, leading to rampant speculation from Baghdad to Washington that one of them might be Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born terrorist and the U.S. military's most wanted man in Iraq.
What if Zarqawi were dead? What would it mean for the insurgency?
SAJJAN GOHEL, ASIA PACIFIC FOUNDATION: He's an important individual, but he is one person in charge of one group. And there are several dozens in Iraq. So it would lead to some problems for the insurgency, but it wouldn't finish it off.
STARR: DNA samples and a fingerprint from one corpse found at the site is being tested to see if it is Zarqawi. The White House said it was "highly unlikely and not credible" that it was Zarqawi. But a U.S. military official said senior commanders were still hopeful.
It would be surprising if Zarqawi was in Mosul. By all accounts, Iraqi intelligence in the city is good. Zarqawi would know he risked capture.
In Jordanian newspapers, Zarqawi's family renounced the terrorist leader, saying it is severing links with him until doomsday, following the bombing of three hotels in Amman earlier this month.
Zarqawi was recently also criticized by Osama bin Laden's chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, for his brutal attacks that turned Muslims against al Qaeda.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Kitty, the U.S. has long been offering a $25 million reward for information leading to Zarqawi's capture. U.S. military officials say these DNA and fingerprint tests are being done in large part to try and rule out the possibility it might have been him at that house. Kitty.
PILGRIM: All right. Thanks very much. Barbara Starr reporting from the Pentagon. Thanks, Barbara.
Well, my next guest has written a new book on U.S. strategy in the war. It's called "War Footing: 10 Steps America Must Take to Prevail in the World for the Free World."
Frank Gaffney wrote the book with many of his colleagues. He's the founder and president of the Center for Security Policy and joins me now. Frank, nice to see you.
FRANK GAFFNEY, AUTHOR, "WAR FOOTING": Great to see you today.
PILGRIM: You know, this book is interesting, because it really is a blueprint about what America should do going forward. It comes at a very important time when there is much soul-searching over what to do.
What do you think is the most important thing to do in the war on terror, a loose phrase, sort of, generic phrase that covers everything?
GAFFNEY: Well, the two main points are really actually in the title. And one of them goes to the thing you were just working with. It really isn't a war on terror, let alone a war on Iraq. I think it is correctly described and conceived of as a war for the free world. What we're up against is a political ideology. We've confronted them before. Bent as previous ones were on our destruction.
PILGRIM: Radical islamists.
GAFFNEY: I call it Islamo-fascism in the book. I think that describes it and distinguishes it from the normal adherence to the Muslim faith because it really is a political ideology. We have to go onto a war footing to confront it and to defeat it. Not only in places where we're confronting it today militarily, but around the world.
PILGRIM: We've seen the Bush administration shift their terminology, and start to use some of the phrases that you've been using for quite awhile, Frank. What do you think, specifically, should be done? One of the things that you say is form new alliances. How should we do that?
GAFFNEY: Well, that's tricky, because I think the moment you start departing from the basic principle that the free world has to stand together, and is most reliably likely to stand together. You start getting into sort of tactical arrangements that cannot always be counted on.
The classic example, of course, is the tactical arrangement we've had with the Saudis from the beginning.
PILGRIM: And also Turkey, during the beginning of the Iraq War.
GAFFNEY: Turkey is problematic. Pakistan is problematic. But just to focus on Saudi for a moment. This is really step one of this 10-step prescription is to recognize that unless the Saudis change their behavior, they really have to be considered a state sponsor of terror and treated accordingly.
They sell us oil to be sure, but much of that money that we use to buy the oil from them is translating into building the infrastructure of Islamo-fascism around the world, including in the United States.
PILGRIM: The great worry is here in the United States are we safe? And I'm sure as everyone sits around their Thanksgiving table, it is in the back of their minds even if they are trying to forget it for one day. Let's talk about border security. What do you think should be done there?
GAFFNEY: Well, we have three steps that address different aspects of the homeland security problem.
And one of the important ones, of course, is, you on this show understand very well, is trying to make sure that we both secure the border. We recommend a fence or really an obstruction across the southern border.
And dealing with the interior security problem, too -- most especially focusing on employment or workplace security. This is a critically important part without which we're not going to get our hands around that problem.
PILGRIM: What should we be doing in the workplace?
GAFFNEY: Well, I think the first thing is to ensure that employers have ready access to information that will enable, we estimate on at least 85 percent basis, them to determine right out of box, within seconds, that somebody presenting documents to them is, in fact, legally or not legally in this country.
PILGRIM: Let's talk about one thing that really fascinated me -- electromagnetic pulse attacks. You go into this in depth. It was the first time I had actually really considered it.
GAFFNEY: This is the most serious threat to the United States you have never heard of, and I venture to guess that most of your audience has never heard about it either.
There was a report that was done by a blue ribbon commission to Congress at the instigation of two people who contributed to the book, by the way -- Congressmen Curt Weldon and Roscoe Bartlett -- that looked at this problem. And the truth of the matter is that a terrorist with a ballistic missile able to deliver it to a high altitude of the United States, and detonate a nuclear weapon, not necessarily terribly sophisticated, could have a catastrophic, according to this commission, effect on the United States.
It's a terrorist threat, and a state sponsor of terrorist threats that we've got to come to grips with. PILGRIM: All the more reason to read this book. Very interesting. Thank you very much, Frank Gaffney.
GAFFNEY: Thank you, Kitty.
PILGRIM: Well, the "Washington Post" ombudsman has criticized reporter Bob Woodward's conduct in the White House CIA leak case. The ombudsman said Woodward committed deeply serious sin for withholding information about what he knew in the case.
Well, tonight, Woodward is giving new details of his role in an exclusive interview with CNN's LARRY KING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB WOODWARD, "WASHINGTON POST": The day of the indictment, I read the charges against Libby, and looked at the press conference by the special counsel. And he said the first disclosure of all of this was on June 23, 2003 by Scooter Libby, the vice president's chief of staff, to "New York Times" reporter Judy Miller.
I went, whoa. Because I knew I had learned about this in mid June, a week, 10 days before. So then I say, something's up, there's a piece that the special counsel does not have in all of this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PILGRIM: You can see more of Larry's exclusive interview with Bob Woodward tonight, 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
Today's "Quote of the Day" comes from Senator John McCain of Arizona. He said Republicans face key challenges leading up to the midterm elections next November from Iraq to higher energy costs to out of control government spending. McCain said -- quote -- "I think if this were not an odd numbered year, we would have great difficulties" -- unquote.
Well, tonight details of a new threat facing our nation. Concern is growing over inside job smuggling operations at our nation's international airports. Officials say workers who conspire to smuggle drugs into the United States could one day be persuaded to help terrorists smuggle in weapons.
Jeanne Meserve reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: An international flight lands at New York's Kennedy Airport and a score of people rush to unload, clean, restock and refuel it. It is the perfect opportunity for crime.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On it, it is written in a pink marker JJ123.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: JJ123.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
MESERVE: Wiretaps were key in busting up a drug smuggling ring at JFK in 2003. In Operation Snowstorm, 400 kilos of cocaine were seized along with hundreds of pounds of marijuana. Twenty-four people pled guilty or were convicted -- all of them airport employees, who had undergone background checks.
ROSLYNN MAUSKOPF, U.S. DISTRICT ATTORNEY EAST DISTRICT OF NY: This was a classic inside job. The defendants' status as airport employees gave them unfettered access, unlimited opportunity and the ability to act with virtual impunity.
MESERVE: Authorities worry that terrorists could use the same method and people to smuggle weapons of mass destruction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today narcotics, tomorrow it could be something much more dangerous.
MESERVE: As Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement try to plug this hole in homeland security, they study the smugglers' tactics. Sometimes conspiring airport workers switch luggage tags so a drug-laden suitcase looks like it came off a domestic flight and avoids Customs inspection. Drugs are concealed in cargo, cargo containers, even the aircraft itself.
MARTIN FICKE, U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: Your imagination is your guide. I mean, we have found it in the cargo holds, in the doors. We've found it under the floors. We found it in the lavatory. And on a few occasions we have actually found it in the cockpit.
MESERVE: A lawyer representing an Operation Snowstorm defendant thinks it is a leap to assume people who smuggle drugs would help terrorists.
STUART DAVID RUBIN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: They are desensitized, I guess, to the seriousness of the drug trade, but not desensitized to the seriousness of terrorism. So knowing participation in terrorist activities, unlikely.
MESERVE: But there is big money in smuggling, as much as $50,000 a flight. There is intimidation. And with 35,000 employees at JFK with access to as many as 200 flights a day, and with hundreds of thousands of workers at other ports of entry, no one thinks this problem is solved.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Today two California men pleaded not guilty to charges they tried to smuggle surface-to-air missiles into this country. The two Chinese-born U.S. citizens are accused of trying to import the missiles and sell them to a third country. The Chinese made QW2 missiles can be shoulder launched. Now the worry is they will target commercial planes. The charges are the first ever filed under an anti- terrorism law designed to protect airplanes from missile attack. The men could face up to 25 years in prison.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has yet to respond to a letter over Able Danger. It's signed by almost 250 Congressmen. Congressman Curt Weldon sent the letter to Rumsfeld on Friday. The members of Congress are asking Rumsfeld to allow Able Danger officials to testify before Congress.
Now, Able Danger is the U.S. Army Intelligence Unit that claims to have identified 9/11 terrorist Mohammed Atta and 9/11 radical Islamist terrorists more than a year before 9/11. And they say an Army attorney prevented them from sharing this information with FBI officials. They also say 9/11 could have been prevented if they had shared it.
Now, Rumsfeld was asked about Able Danger on the Sunday morning talk shows. He says the government has tried and failed to validate Able Danger claims. He says -- quote -- "the people in the Pentagon, I'm told, have spent just enormous numbers of hours digging into everything they can find and giving it to the appropriate committees of the Congress, and they have not been able to validate it. You can't prove a negative. We can't say it didn't happen, but we also don't have evidence that it did."
Now, you can read Congressman Weldon's letter to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld on our Web site LouDobbs.com.
Still ahead, why Thanksgiving week could be a crucial time in the congressional debate over Iraq.
And as Congress votes to expand the H1B visa program, one United States congressman is fighting back. He's hoping to save American jobs. We'll have his plan next.
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PILGRIM: Now members of Congress are in their home districts this week after Friday's political showdown in Washington over Iraq. It's time now for congressional members to see their constituents and hear what's on their minds these days. It could be Iraq. It could be prescription drugs or avian flu. It could be something completely unexpected.
Bill Schneider reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Members of Congress get feedback when they go home, from constituents and from contributors. It's the kind of feedback a politician can't get from a public opinion poll.
Polls count numbers, but they don't measure intensity. When members of Congress go home they feel strongly about issues. When they went home for the long Veterans Day weekend earlier this month, the issue voters kept talk about was the bridges to nowhere in Alaska. KEITH ASHDOWN, TAXPAYERS FOR COMMON SENSE: Thousands of people have been telling the Congress that this is not where we should be putting our money.
SCHNEIDER: Members came back all fired up about wasteful spending. And guess what? The bridges were dropped from the budget.
Win or get out is the way most Americans feel about a war. And the public is no longer sure the U.S. will win in Iraq. Intensity seems to be on the side of the critics of the Iraq war, like Representative John Murtha.
REP. JOHN MURTHA, (D) PENNSYLVANIA: This is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion.
SCHNEIDER: This week, MoveOn.org will start running ads urging voters to -- quote -- "tell your representatives support our troops. Bring them home."
Any other issues members of Congress are likely to be hearing about this week? Seniors are never shy about making their concerns known to members of Congress. And right now, many seniors are confused and angry over the new Medicare prescription drug plan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: What about the upcoming battle over President Bush's nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court? Groups for and against Alito are running ads targeting key senators in that confirmation battle. But so far the issue doesn't seem to be generating a lot of passion with voters.
Kitty.
PILGRIM: Bill, how much impact do you think Murtha's comments will have at home?
SCHNEIDER: I think a lot of people identify with Murtha either because they agree with what he said, or because they thought he was unfairly attacked by Republicans. That was a big blunder by Republicans to allow various members of the party, various members of Congress to call him names. And I think distracted them from the message they were trying to convey.
PILGRIM: All right. Thanks very much, Bill Schneider. Thanks, Bill.
Well, a reminder now to vote in tonight's poll. How would you rate to President's trip to Asia: success, failure, inconsequential? Cast your vote, Loudobbs.com. We'll bring you the results in just a few minutes.
In Washington today, former aide to Congressman Tom DeLay pleaded guilty to conspiracy. Lobbyist Michael Scanlon admitted to plotting to defraud clients and bride public officials. It was part of a plea deal Scanlon reached with government in an investigation of his former partner lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Now, Scanlon and Abramoff are accused of defrauding Indian tribes, bribing Congressman Bob Ney of Ohio with trips, sports tickets, campaign donations. Scanlon now is expected to testify against Abramoff.
Well, turning now to a new effort to save American jobs and reform H1B visas. Tens of thousands of foreigners use those visas to come to this country for jobs, but one congressman has proposed legislation that would radically overhaul the system.
Bill Tucker reports from Patterson, New Jersey.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Congressman Bill Pascrell does not want to eliminate the H1B visa, he wants to reform it and create stronger enforcement provisions.
REP. BILL PASCRELL, (D) NEW JERSEY: Corporations are providing a glass ceiling for American workers in a trap of virtual servitude for low paying, overworked H1B employees. My friends, that is not an exaggeration, that is not hyperbole, I found this through research to be the truth.
TUCKER: The congressman held his news conference outside the unemployment office in Patterson, New Jersey, to underscore what he calls his commitment to the American worker.
Supporters of his bill include the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, who say the current H1B visa program has caused their members great harm.
HAROLD AMMOND, IEEE: It's been devastating. We have actually had companies where engineers were told they had to train new employees. The new employees happen to be H1B employees. And when the training was done, the engineers -- the American engineers were laid off.
TUCKER: Among the proposed changes, centralizing the oversight of the program under the Department of Labor. Currently at least four departments are involved in oversight. Require mandatory annual audits to enforce prevailing wage provisions. Companies would be required to notify employees of open positions where H1Bs were being considered to give American workers the first shot at the jobs. The visa would become a three-year visa, instead of the six years as it is now. The fee would triple to $4,500. And workers would get the right to sue their employers, offering a different kind of enforcement.
SHONA SHAH, DISPLACED IT WORKER: If there's a verdict or a settlement, then corporations will say let's use the visa for what it was intended, because if we don't, private citizens have the ability to bring action against us.
TUCKER: Bill Tucker, CNN, Patterson, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Coming up at the top of the hour here on CNN, THE SITUATION ROOM and Wolf Blitzer. Wolf, what are you working on?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Kitty. War of words, the vice president Dick Cheney coming out swinging again. We'll find out how he's answering back his critics.
Plus, Congressman John Murtha -- he's calling for an immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq and taking a lot of heat from the White House. He'll be our guest in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Also CSI: Iraq. Find out how the U.S. government is tracking terrorists with DNA.
Plus, plane crash scare. Three top Nike executives on a flight with no landing gear. We have the harrowing story with a very happy ending.
All that coming up on THE SITUATION ROOM, Kitty, at the top of the hour.
PILGRIM: All right. Thanks, Wolf.
Now, it's about to get downright crowded in the skies over Mars in the next few months. The NASA Mars reconnaissance orbiter is now halfway to the Red Planet after it performed a key maneuver. It will join three space probes already flying around the Red Planet in March. Now, this orbiter is loaded with some of the most scientific instruments ever sent into space, including a camera that will take some of the sharpest pictures yet of Mars.
Well still ahead, we're going to share some of your thoughts on the proposal to let non-citizens vote in this country.
And also ahead, the culture of corruption at the United Nations. I'll speak with a leading expert who's been calling for a reform at the U.N. for two decades.
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PILGRIM: There are new fears that the culture of corruption at the United Nations may never be rooted out. The Bush administration tonight is at odds with more than 130 countries opposed to U.N. reforms. Now, if this reform movement fails, U.S. ambassador John Bolton hints that the U.S. may simply give up on the U.N.
Joining me tonight in this growing showdown at the United Nations is Edward Luck, professor of international affairs at Columbia University. And he has worked on U.N. reform for more than 20 years. A lot more than 20 years, but we're not saying how many. Thanks for joining us, Professor Luck.
EDWARD LUCK, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, COLUMBIA NIVERSITY: Thank you.
PILGRIM: John Bolton. He does not worry about breaking the china. Will he get things done at the U.N.? Will there be reform? What's he trying to do for us? LUCK: Well, John has not been the miracle worker that a lot of people said. They said if he came up, and he got tough, all the other countries would sort of cave. It doesn't work that way. But, I don't think he's been a negative factor so far. He's working very hard behind the scenes.
But actually, at the end of the day, the real difference probably won't be in New York. It will be at the Capitol. Is the U.S. willing to work bilaterally with a lot of key countries to move this forward? Because what the U.S. is asking for is not a favor to the United States. It's good for the U.N., it should be good for all the member states.
PILGRIM: You know, you're just struck by the culture of corruption that goes on there. And they're trying to put in measures to help whistle-blowers point out wrongdoing at the United Nations without losing their job. There's just a conspiracy of not pointing things out at this point. That seems to be the underlying momentum, doesn't it? To getting things cleaned up?
LUCK: Well, it's very important. In the mid '90s, we were able to encourage the U.N. to put in, what one would call, an inspector generals. And they have made a difference and they had some reports about oil-for-food and solved some of the problems. The problem isn't so much that there's rampant corruption, but there's been a real tendency to look the other way. It's not so much bad management as no management.
PILGRIM: Wouldn't you characterize that as corruption? I mean, seriously.
LUCK: Well, in a sense. It certainly -- it's tolerant. We see no evil, we hear no evil, we speak no evil. And that certainly has allowed it to go forward. You know, there's an assumption around the U.N., we all do good work, we're all here to make the world a better place. So surely, none of us could be corrupt.
Now, I hope this wakes up a few people. But unfortunately, some of the smaller countries in particular are afraid that if the secretary-general has too many prerogatives, that they won't have control anymore. And it would be the U.S. behind the scenes, like a puppet-master, pulling the strings of the secretary-general's top aides. So, they're really treating it like a political issue, as opposed to a management issue.
PILGRIM: Kofi Annan is supposed to leave at the end of 2006. Is there any clear succession, or is that still up in the air?
LUCK: Well, it's still up in the air. The process is, first the Security Council has to recommend a candidate to the general assembly. That really means the five permanent members, including the U.S., have vetoes over that choice.
So when those five get together, they'll start coming up with one or two, three candidates, start working it through. And then probably the rest of the Security Council will say yes, and the General Assembly will say yes.
Normally that doesn't happen until the second half of next year. But this year, maybe with all of the problems, it will go a little bit earlier. And I've actually been arguing for some time, that we shouldn't be electing one person, it should be two. It should be a secretary-general and a deputy secretary-general, who can be a chief operating officer. Let one person be the diplomat and the spokesperson, let the other be the tough, hard-nosed day-to-day manager of the system.
PILGRIM: Well, hopefully, they're all listening to your advice. Edward Luck, Columbia University, thank you very much for being here, Sir.
LUCK: Thank you.
PILGRIM: And still ahead, your emails. How you voted in the poll tonight and a preview of tomorrow. So stay with us for all that.
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PILGRIM: Tonight, as always, we take a look at some of your thoughts.
So David in Colorado wrote in about the proposal to let non- citizens vote in the United States. He writes: "Would you allow someone to walk into your house and tell you how to raise your children? Why would you let someone who was in your nation illegally, walk in and tell you how to run your country?"
John in Japan, writes: "Tourists who visit the United States and even terrorists who've crossed our borders, pay sales tax when they buy most anything. Maybe these people should be allowed to vote, too."
Sam in Florida says:"Well, I think it's bull to call us racist because we expect people of other languages to speak English. If I were to go to another country to live, I would expect to learn their language and not them to learn mine. If a foreigner comes here to live, they should have to learn English and speak it well to live and work here."
We love hearing from you. Send us your thoughts, LouDobbs@CNN.com. And each of you whose email is read on the broadcast will receive a copy of Lou's book, "Exporting America." Also, if you would like to receive our email newsletter, sign up on our Web site at LouDobbs.com.
Now we have the results of tonight's poll. Two percent said that you would rate the president's trip to Asia a success, 67 percent a failure, and 30 percent said inconsequential.
Thanks for being with us tonight.
Please join us tomorrow, our nation's education in crisis. Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts tells us about his plan to save education in that state. Plus, "A Devil's Triangle". Author Peter Brookes joins us to talk about his new book on the threat of rogue states, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.
For all of us here, good night from New York. THE SITUATION ROOM starts right now with Wolf Blitzer. Wolf?
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Kitty.
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