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Bush to Hold News Conference; Spying 101; Return Policy Tips

Aired December 19, 2005 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Says it's released several formally high-value Iraqi prisoners from detention, including two top female weapons experts nicknamed Mrs. Anthrax and Dr. Germ. A military spokesman says they're no longer under investigation for any crimes. Some of the Hussein loyalists have been held since the Iraq invasion. Aneesh Raman will have a live report from Baghdad on the prison releases in just a few minute.
Doctors say Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will stay in the hospital another day to rest after suffering a mild stroke. They say he never lost consciousness and should make a full recovery. Sharon is running for a third term in March.

New York transit workers are back on track to paralyze the entire city with a subway and bus strike at midnight tonight. Today there is a limited strike on two private bus lines that serve Queens. More talks between the union and Transit Authority are expected today. So far, though, they have failed to come to an agreement on wage any benefit increases.

Today the Supreme Court justice once nicknamed "the maverick" is marking 30 years on the bench. Justice John Paul Stevens was appointed by President Ford and there's no indication the 85-year-old is ready to retire. Early on, he was described as a moderate conservative, but his decisions have shown a liberal streak.

Good morning to you on this Monday morning. I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta.

Following his address to the nation on Iraq last night, President Bush holds a news conference this hour. We'll bring you live coverage from the White House when the president begins speaking.

Also, we are expecting to hear from our team of correspondents at the White House, in Baghdad, from Los Angeles and also New York City. The president's appearance in the East Room is being billed as his year-end news conference. Let's check in with CNN's Elaine Quijano at the White House.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

President Bush is expected to field some difficult questions at that news conference set to take place, as you mentioned, within this hour. In about 30 minutes or so. Among them, questions about whether or not the president acted lawfully in authorizing the National Security Agency to monitor the international communications of Americans inside the United States without a court order. Now also on the agenda, of course, Iraq. His news conference today coming on the heels of that Oval Office address last night in which the president struck a more conciliatory tone, reaching out to his critics and saying he understood the consequences of his actions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know that some of my decisions have led to terrible loss. And not one of those decisions has been taken lightly. I know this war's controversial, yet being your president requires doing what I believe is right and accepting the consequences.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Mr. Bush also held fast to his position that setting a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal would be a mistake. That to pull out too quickly would undermine the progress that's been made so far. But the president also highlighted the recent parliamentary elections in Iraq, which by many counts are dubbed a success. That story, though, as we know, has been overshadowed by the revelation of these secret NSA program. That is why the administration made available today the attorney general, Alberto Gonzalez, speaking on the morning television shows. Also making him available to reporters today at an off-camera briefing.

We can expect the president today, in answering some of the questions about that program, to echo what the attorney general has said so far. That the president did have the authority to act in the way that he did and that civil liberties, at the same time, were protected.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Elaine Quijano live at the White House. Thank you.

Now let's go live to Baghdad. Our Aneesh Raman is standing by live there. We're going to hear about the president's speech and how that was received in Iraq, but also other news coming out of Iraq today.

Aneesh.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning.

The U.S. military announced earlier today the release of eight high-value detainees. The release took place on Saturday. For the security of those that were let go, they did not release names. But we know from a lawyer of one of them, that in those that were released included Mrs. Anthrax. Viewers will recall, she was in the 55 most wanted Iraqis deck of card. She was the five of hearts, number 39, a top weapons expert in Saddam's regime. She was taken into custody May 5, 2003. She turned herself in.

At the time, of course, all the talk was on WMD, potential weapons programs in Iraq. Also released on Saturday, we understand, a woman that was dubbed Dr. Germ, Rihab Taha. She was not in the 55 most wanted. A British-educated weapons expert. These two were the two female high value detainees. Their release, Daryn, of course, will once again bring into focus the pre-war intelligence that was a pretext for war in Iraq centered around Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction and its program.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Aneesh, and what about the Bush's speech last night? How was that received? Of course, it wouldn't have been prime time in Iraq. It would have been kind of a strange time for people to hear it. But are people reading about it in the morning papers or did they?

RAMAN: Well, I think Iraqis will really hone in on what President Bush said, when he said that Thursday's vote would not be an end to the violence but is perhaps an important start for a permanent government here. Iraqis in millions went to the polls and they are putting a great deal of faith in this four-year government. And a lot of responsibility will now fall to whoever emerges as the country's prime minister early next year.

Iraqis want immediate action on basic services, on security, on economic development. And as the president said, next year will be a critical year for Iraq. How efficiently this government is able to take control of the country, train Iraqi security forces. And the first test, Daryn, will be early next year. How quickly can they form a coalition? How well are they at the compromise, if you will, within the political game.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Aneesh Raman live in Baghdad. Thank you.

Now I want to welcome in our CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider. He's in Los Angeles. And John King is in New York City today. You guys can run, but you can't hide. I will track both of you down.

Bill, let's start with you since you got up extra early in Los Angeles to talk with us. The president's speech, we heard a different tone last night than we've heard from previous speeches from the president.

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he did reach out to his critics. You know, at one point in his speech he said, to my opponents, I have heard your disagreement. And the thought that went through my mind the minute he said that was Cindy Sheehan. Remember the mother of the American who was killed in Iraq who's been trying to meet with the president. The thought came through my mind, this is an effort to reach out to her. He said, heard your disagreement. And he made a distinction between those who are constructive critics of the war and those he described as defeatist who said the United States can't win. But I thought the president paid a lot more attention to the criticism and to the critics in that speech than he has in the past. KAGAN: John, the president talking about critics of the war, but there's kind of another scandal or difficult situation for this White House to deal with and that is the domestic spying situation.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Daryn, the president needs to tell the American people today why. Why without going to this secret court that they have, why they are sometimes eavesdropping on conversations here in the United States that Democrats in Congress have raised questions. So have many Republicans, and that is critical. There will be some tough questions from the Congress in both parties on this.

The administration team was out over the weekend, including the attorney general this morning, talking about what they believe to be constitutional authority. What they believe to be legal authority. Remember how much trouble Al Gore got into by using the words "no controlling legal authority." What the White House knows the president needs to do is explain why to the American people.

After 9/11, the president said he would do whatever it takes and the American people gave him great latitude. Right now there is a question as to whether they are still willing to give him these very broad presidential powers. There is a fight between the administration and Congress. The president has a tough challenge today, Daryn.

KAGAN: And then, you know, with the fight with The Patriot Act as well.

KING: Well, it was held up in part because of that. A filibuster in the Senate in part because of the reports about this secret spying program.

And let's step back just a minute. That's The Patriot Act off the rails right now. The president hopes to get that compromise back. He had hoped at this year end news conference to say, I have signed fundamental Social Security reforms into law this year. We are beginning a debate on fundamental tax reform. Instead, he is still explaining an unpopular war and now he's explaining and trying to defend his broad use of presidential power in the war on terrorism.

KAGAN: Well, and Bill, let's get back to the topic of the war. Because as you were saying, the president did acknowledge his critics and did change his tone on certain respects. But his critics still coming out afterwards and blasting him and saying, well, that's all well and good but you're not given enough specifics about how the U.S. is going to get out of Iraq.

SCHNEIDER: Well, the critics are saying they want, if possible, a timetable, but at the very least, benchmarks that will give the American public some idea that there's a light at the end of the tunnel, that we'll be able to begin to withdraw our forces. The president indicate (ph) that under the right condition, withdrawal would take place, but he didn't give anything approaching a timetable or even benchmarks. The president was saying that, you know, the victory is happening. We are winning this war. Americans aren't quite sure of that and one of the reasons is that they don't believe it really depends on the capabilities of U.S. forces. Americans have a lot of confidence their capabilities, especially after they saw what happened almost three years ago when they overthrew Saddam Hussein. But victory in Iraq depends, first and foremost, on the capability of the Iraqi security forces. The Iraqi military. The Iraqi police and the Iraqi political leaders that now has to form a new government. And I think most Americans don't know exactly what to think about their capabilities.

KAGAN: Well, victory for me this morning is defined by letting neither one of you go very far and we'll have you stick around and be with us after the president's news conference. John King and Bill Schneider more from you after the president wraps up.

This is something that John was talking about, the president's address last night made no further mention of his domestic spying directive. On Saturday, Mr. Bush acknowledged a policy has been in place since October 2001. He said he authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on international phone calls and e-mail of people in the U.S. That monitoring has gone on out warrants from the courts. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez defended the policy a short time ago on CNN'S "American Morning."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERTO GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL: There were many people, many lawyers within the administration, who advised the president that he had an inherent authority as commander in chief under the constitution to engage in this kind of signaled intelligence of our enemy. We also believe that the authorization to use force, which was passed by the Congress in the days following the attacks of September 11th, constituted additional authorization for the president to engage in this kind of signals intelligence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Both Democrats and Republicans have called for congressional investigations into the president's program. Senator Russ Feingold had this reaction on CNN's "Late Edition" with Wolf Blitzer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD, (D) WISCONSIN: I believe that what we're seeing today with the announcement about the National Security activities and the efforts that were made with regard to wiretapping, gives me every reason to believe that this administration is exploiting all the laws that it can and now making up its own laws. I believe that this is an abusive situation and we don't even know the extent of it, Wolf, because so much of this is in secret. So I think this is dangerous. The administration has shown us they're willing to take provisions and expand them beyond their meaning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: The domestic spying story was first reported by "The New York Times" on Friday. So how exactly would the National Security Agency spy on Americans? CNN's Tom Foreman got a scoop on the snoop from a former NSA worker.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Privacy advocates say the door opened wide for domestic electronic surveillance a dozen years ago and fear of international terrorism and crime prompted a new law. Phone companies, Internet providers and others had to give police ready access to their networks, which handled virtually every call and e-mail in America. And while members of the intelligence community say once those domestic communications were considered off- limits to them, times have changed.

STANSFIELD TURNER, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Today the emphasis is more on getting the information because we're so determined, of course, to defeat the terrorists.

FOREMAN: So how does tapping into a phone or computer work? Very well, says a former NSA employee and author of the book "Spice Among Us," Ira Winkler.

IRA WINKLER, FORMER NSA EMPLOYEE: Depending upon the methods going in and the specific communication provider, it can be a very, very quick thing.

FOREMAN: Winkler, while admitting he has no specific knowledge of what is allegedly going on at the NSA right now, says it could work like this. Imagine a terrorist captured overseas has a cell phone and a laptop showing suspicious communications with someone in the U.S. With the right authorization, Winkler says an NSA employee could simply type a command into a computer, which would link to the networks handling the calls and e-mails from that targeted address. Then the NSA computer would begin watching that phone number and that computer digitally recording everything that happens on the way, perhaps, targeting other phones and other computers within America for the same treatment.

WINKLER: Technologically, this is simple, it's fast, it happens automatically. There doesn't necessarily have to be a man in the loop.

FOREMAN: Analysts would later decide which communications should be examined more closely.

The technical ability of police or intelligence officers to read e-mails or listen to phone calls is, of course, never supposed to be activated without the proper authorization.

And it is always highly sensitive work. The NSA and the White House will not talk about any particular methods that may or may not be in use right now. SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Because they're classified, I'm not able to get into discussing those issues from this podium.

FOREMAN: But there will certainly be more talk in days to come about when spying for Americans means spying on them.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Once again, we're standing by for a news conference from President Bush. We'll bring that to you as soon as it starts.

First, though, on a lighter note. Figure your family can just return the holiday gifts they don't like? It might not be that easy any more. But Gerri Willis is here to give us some tips on how to ease that process.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And we're standing by. We expect in about 12 minutes a news conference to begin in the White House with President Bush. You'll see live coverage right here on CNN. We're back in a moment.

Actually, we're back to Wall Street. Checking the markets. They've been open not even close an hour. The Dow is up 26 points. The Nasdaq, though, in negative territory, down five. Investors thinking perhaps the year-end rally came a little bit early more in November rather than in December.

Because here we are in December, I know a lot of you are still thinking about doing your Christmas shopping, here's something else to consider on top of everything else that you're thinking about when you're out there buying. What happens if the gift needs to go back to the store? Take note, rules are changing and making a return isn't as easy as it used to be. Here's our Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis.

Hi, Gerri.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Daryn. Good to see you.

You know how this is, you always get something that you don't want. Maybe it's the hair trimmer. Maybe the fruitcake. You want to take it back. Retailers are making it hard and they're using technology to do it. There's something called the return exchange. It's a national tracking system that monitors people who return stuff all the time to the store.

Now the idea here, according to consumer advocates, is they're going to stop you from doing that. So if you're one of those people who continually think, take things back to the store, be careful out there. The phone number for this organization, the return exchange, is 800-652-2331. You can find out if you're one of these repeat offenders. Keep in mind, though, that other retailers have their own systems to track this to. Home Depot, Costco, Wal-Mart. It's getting harder to return.

KAGAN: And now we're finding out too, that when you do return, some of these stores are charging you to take their stuff back.

WILLIS: Well that's -- well, you've always heard of restocking fees with electronics. You know, if you return the big TV, they charge you some amount of money to put that right back on the shelf. But now it's being expanded to other kinds of goods, other categories. Sears, for example, just instituted a 15 percent restocking fee for home improvement items. I mean, come on here. It's appalling what they're doing. And I think people out there are going to be surprised when they try to return. You've got to get this information up front.

KAGAN: And it's also a matter of when you return.

WILLIS: Yes. You think 60 days, 90 days to return those goods. Perhaps not. Some electronics have to be returned in two weeks, Daryn. Just 14 days. So if you got started shopping early, you're really going to have to watch those return periods.

Now some people are doing a good job of that. Some are saying, well, look, we're going to expand it over the holidays because we know you might have bought early and the people who received the gift are getting it later. But keep in mind, these 90 days, in some chases it's being whittled back quite a bit. And if you think you can now wait until that January vacation to get it back to the store, think again.

KAGAN: And if you're even thinking perhaps you don't want to keep the polka Christmas CD, better keep it in the package.

WILLIS: Yes, if you open the package, really difficult to return it. They may not let you return it at all. Or they may give you only half of the value of the good.

KAGAN: And then, finally, you've got to keep the receipts. They look at you like you're robbing the store if you try to show up and return without a receipt.

WILLIS: You've got to keep the receipts. Well the beauty of this is, a lot of retailers are giving you a receipt that's a gift receipt, so you don't really see the number if you're getting the goods, which is nice. But if you want to return it, you've got to have the receipt. You may have to settle for an exchange. If you don't have it, you may not be able to return it at all if you don't.

Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Gerri Willis, thank you.

WILLIS: Thank you.

KAGAN: We're standing by for a news conference. President Bush will be speaking. This is the morning after his address to the nation last night. You will see that live here. We expect that to begin in under 10 minutes. First, though, U.S. troops in Iraq get a pre-Christmas surprise visit from Vice President Dick Cheney. We'll talk about some of the feedback that the vice president received. That's still ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Reports are seated and primed ready to go. President Bush should be out in about five minute as the presidential news conference gets underway at the White House. You'll see live coverage right here on CNN.

Meanwhile, some other news for you. The world is waiting for election results from Iraq. Afghanistan took a major step toward democracy today. Vice President Dick Cheney was on hand as Afghanistan inaugurated its first popularly-elected parliament in more than three decades. The vice president is on a Middle East tour to bolster support for the war on terrorism. Yesterday Cheney made a surprise visit to Iraq to highlight elections there. He met with Iraqi officials and spoke to U.S. troops.

Now that the elections in Iraq are over and the ballots are being counted, a lot of American are counting the days for American troops to return home. In a BBC interview, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said that he thinks that U.S. troops will begin a gradual withdrawal from Iraq next year. But he warned against an immediate withdrawal as some war critics are calling for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: To essentially just walk away, to say we're taking all of our troops out as fast as we can, would be a tragic mistake. It would be a disaster for us to do that and it would be unconscionable after we took out that horrible regime. And let us all be glad that Saddam Hussein is standing trial and that his regime is gone. That is a major success for the world. And now the challenge is to make sure the Iraqi people get the opportunity to decide how they'll be governed and not let the insurgents dictate it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Powell says the U.S. will likely have a military presence in Iraq for years to come.

Once again, we're standing by, President Bush has decided to hold a news conference today in about five minutes. You'll see live coverage here on CNN.

While we stand by, we will take a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We're getting pretty chose to the half hour. I'm Daryn Kagan. Let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

The Bush administration is responding to congressional criticism over a domestic spying program. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez tells CNN's "American Morning" that Congress gave the president authority for such intelligence following 9/11. The program allows the National Security Agency to monitor international e-mail and phone calls from people inside the U.S. without obtaining warrants.

Members of the House pulled an all-nighter to pass legislation on budget cuts and defense spending. Lawmakers voted to slash nearly $40 billion from federal spending over five years. Social welfare programs were targeted in those cuts. The defense bill includes provisions for oil drilling in Alaska and aid for hurricane victims. The House is now in recess until January.

There a new study out that shows teenagers are smoking less, but they are more at risk of abusing prescription painkillers. Results are just out from a national survey on drug use by 8th, 10th and 12th graders. The survey found alcohol use down for all three grades.

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