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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

President Bush Delivers a Speech to the American People

Aired November 09, 2001 -   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.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again, everyone. They don't say it's the toughest job in the world for nothing, and I don't mean mine. Tonight in Atlanta, the president tried, as the administration has been trying for two months, to answer the question: How does the country return to normal when international terrorists continue to plan new attacks, and the anthrax terrorists -- be they foreign or domestic -- remain at large, the source of their weapons unknown?

It was, in so many ways, easier to prepare the country for the war in Afghanistan. The Trade Center and the Pentagon attacks were so fresh, the national desire to avenge those attacked, so great. But homeland security, a phrase unknown two months ago, is far more complicated.

An administration so strong on the international side of this crisis has struggled some on the domestic side, trying to find the right words, the right phrase. So maybe it was this one. "My fellow Americans, let's roll" -- a phrase spoken by the passenger aboard United Flight 93 just before he and others rushed the hijackers. "Let's roll," said the president tonight. Let's stop standing, stop worrying, stop being afraid. Let's roll.

Earlier at the Pentagon, the man running the war day to day, General Tommy Franks, met with reporters to deliver another familiar message: patience. All is according to plan, and the plan will work in time. But both the general and his boss, Secretary Rumsfeld, backed away from the wildly optimistic comment from one Pentagon colleague a while back, and had a good laugh, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I do not believe they have been eviscerated.

(LAUGHTER)

RUMSFELD: Of that, I can assure you.

GENERAL TOM FRANKS, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND COMMANDER: E-V-I...

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: And then there was this today. The first lady at the National Press Club, her own remembrances of September 11th, and of life in the White House today. The public tours stopped for security reasons, and the White House, said Mrs. Bush, is lonely.

The first lady today also recalled a day of infamy for her generation, ours, the Kennedy assassination. We'll have more on what she said coming up in a little bit. And throughout the broadcast tonight, we'll look at some new ads that are out to promote New York. They may be the most memorable part of the program.

But not necessarily. After all, we have some pretty fair storytellers to work with too, as we whip around the country for tonight's headlines. Beginning in Atlanta and senior White House correspondent, John King -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, tomorrow we are told the president will announce new measures designed to further enhance airport security, including an expanded role for the National Guard, military troops at those passenger checkpoints.

Tonight in his speech to the American people: part pep talk, stay upbeat, the president said, part update on the homeland security efforts here at home. The president said the government was doing all it could to prevent future terrorist attacks, and he told the American people they have new responsibilities, too. One, be vigilant. Two, don't panic -- Aaron.

BROWN: John. Now, here's a tough task. Our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield, in the whip tonight. Jeff, an analytical headline.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Apart from inspiration, apart from reassurance, apart from determination, to the sound of two new items: a little bit of defensiveness and a little bit of politics.

BROWN: And Jeff will be back in a moment. And now to Kandahar, Afghanistan, and CML's Kamal Hyder. Kamal, the headline, please.

KAMAL HYDER, KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN: Aaron, this morning again, allied bombers over Kandahar. All night and early morning, they were bombing positions in the heart of the city and in the adjoining area. Of course, using C-130s and fighter bombers -- Aaron.

BROWN: And we'll be back to Kandahar in a bit, too. Back to you all. We'll begin first in Atlanta tonight.

One political writer, someone sympathetic to the president, said to us not long after the president's speech, "I don't know why he gave it." There was hardly anything new in the speech, but the White House doesn't fly the president to Atlanta for a major prime time speech, fill the hall with police and fireman and women and postal workers, for the fun of it.

Clearly, the president's team believed they had to get the message out again, and that only the president now could get it right. Back to our senior White House correspondent, John King, in Atlanta -- John.

KING: Get the message out, Aaron, and reflect on how we got here to begin with. About 7,000 people in the audience tonight for the president's speech. People on the front lines in the war against domestic terrorism: policemen, firefighters, public health workers, some members of the military, some people from the Center for Disease Control, and some postal workers. The president called them the new heroes in America, too.

He looked back a bit on September 11th, saluting all the heroes, including, as you noted in the open, those heroic people aboard the hijacked jets. And the president also took some time to look ahead. And he said that the United States remains a target, and in his words, the stakes could not be higher.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have entered a new era. And this new era requires responsibilities, both for the government, and for our people. The government has a responsibility to protect our citizens. And that starts with homeland security.

KING (voice-over): A major Bush goal, convince Americans their government is doing all it can to win the war at home: putting 18,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide on high alert, tightening security at airports, harbors and nuclear power plants, and creating a new cabinet-level agency to coordinate the government's response.

BUSH: The moment the second plane hit the second building, when we knew it was a terrorist attack, many felt that our lives would never be the same. But we couldn't be sure of then, and what the terrorists never expected, was that America would emerge stronger, with a renewed spirit of pride!

(APPLAUSE)

KING: But there also are many lingering questions. No firm leads in the deadly anthrax mailings, security lapses at several airports, despite new precautions, and some criticism that vague government warnings about possible new attacks only served to alarm an already nervous nation.

BUSH: A terrorism alert is not a signal to stop your life. It is a call to be vigilant. To know that your government is on high alert, and to add your eyes and ears to our efforts to find and stop those who want to do us harm.

KING: Complicating the president's challenge are suggestions from both parties in Congress, that the White House is short-changing the war's domestic front.

REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D-MO), MINORITY LEADER: In our humble opinion, there are needs here that need to be addressed now, that need to be provided now, in order to maximize the safety of the American people. KING: Before the speech, this stop at the Centers for Disease Control, and a thank you for doctors, scientists and others, the president said saved lives by quickly dealing with the anthrax scare.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Now, the White House billed this speech as a major policy address, but there were no new major policy initiatives. Aides insisting it was never designed for such an announcement. But we are told, back in Washington tomorrow, Aaron, the president will step again into the debate over homeland security, because the legislation to create new measures at airports, still tied up in the Congress because of a partisan squabble.

The president will take some actions on his own, and we're told one of them will be to put more National Guard troops in the airport, and to move them to those front line positions where the passengers check in -- Aaron.

BROWN: But it doesn't solve the problem of whether those baggage screeners become federal employees or private employees under federal supervision. Any compromise emerging from the White House there?

KING: No compromise there at all. Yet, you heard the president, in his speech tonight, call on Congress to pass that bill. He said send a bill that makes those workers under federal oversight and supervision. That's why if continues. That's one of the reasons the president will act tomorrow on his own. But he will only go so far.

Some Republicans have urged him to just put aside a Congressional debate and issue a sweeping executive order. The president does not want to do that right now. There is more partisanship in Washington now than at any point since September 11th, but the president knows if he did that, the executive order, he would infuriate the Democrats. He will continue to press for a compromise -- Aaron.

BROWN: John, thank you. John King, our senior White House correspondent, in Atlanta.

Here with us in New York tonight, our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield. Did I get your title right?

GREENFIELD: I think so.

BROWN: There's a lot of titles here.

GREENFIELD: Senior just means you're kind of older, and you can't be called junior. But thank you.

BROWN: You're welcome. And from Chicago, author and syndicated columnist, Bob Greene, who's devoted every one of his columns since 9- 11 to exploring how life is different for ordinary Americans. And we appreciate you don't have title, Bob. Thank you for joining us tonight.

BOB GREENE, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE": Thank you. BROWN: Jeff, at the beginning of the program, you talked about a little defensiveness from the president tonight.

GREENFIELD: Not in a critical sense, but meaning that he had things to defend. John King already told us some of them. Go back to September 20th, there was just one job in that speech: pick a shaken nation up, put it on its feet, tell them, "by God, we're going to win."

But here, in the ensuing weeks, we have heard some criticism. Did you really give Tom Ridge enough power, or is he stuck in a bureaucracy? "Tom Ridge reports directly to me," he said.

As John King discussed, OK, we're having a fight about exactly how this airport security is going to happen, but the federal government will be in charge. Why did they issue those terrorism alerts with an unspecified target? Because it will make us all more vigilant.

And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It's appropriate. Presidents come into criticism. So he was defending without being defensive, and that's what the politics was doing in the speech, too.

BROWN: Before I turn to Bob, the White House talked a lot, earlier in the day, about the president will call on Americans to sacrifice. I didn't hear a lot of sacrifice in this speech.

GREENFIELD: I think what they're talking about is that maybe they would have had a slightly different word -- the idea that everyone should become a September 11th "volunteer." And he did something very interesting. He fused that notion with the broader and very familiar compassionate conservatism, help out in all kinds of ways, helping old people.

That doesn't have anything to do with homeland defense. But civil defense, going into AmeriCorps to replace police and firefighters who have been called up from the reserves, which John McCain and Evan Bayh suggested yesterday. He's kind of fusing all of that together, and saying we need all of you to do something helpful.

BROWN: Bob, you've been talking to people. Are Americans you've talked to in a mood to sacrifice, or do they see a need to sacrifice at this point?

GREENE: There's a phrase that was used during or parents' war, in our parents' generation, which was Eastern War Time. And everything was on Eastern War Time or Central or Pacific War Time. And it meant officially that the war was the context of their lives.

We have not used that phrase officially now. But it seemed to me, ever since September 11th, this country has been Eastern War Time, or Pacific War Time. Our lives are defined by this, and when we step away from it for a few moments, trying to get back to what we think is regular, we're all of sudden grabbed right back. You were talking about the airport security and the sacrifice. I don't know why this -- well, I guess I do know. I had dinner last night with John Glenn. And he told me that he had been walking through an airport about a week ago, and the metal detector went off. And they found in his pocket a little pen knife that he carries. So he took it out, but the wand kept going off.

So they asked John Glenn where the metal was, and they asked about his shoes. And he said his shoes -- he's 80, now. He's 80 years old. He said his shoes had rubber soles. But they asked John Glenn to take his shoes off, and at the airport, they put it through the metal detector. And it was some metal in the construction of the shoe.

Now, John Glenn sort of smiled when he told me the story. But the fact is, if you look back 40 years when we were facing another unknown enemy, and we needed someone to defeat that enemy, to take the high ground, and John Glenn symbolized so much -- had he been able to look forward in 40 years to find a world that is so screwed up that he, like all of us, is presumed to be, every day, a potential national security threat, it makes you wonder, where have we been and where we are going?

BROWN: We are all wondering that.

Jeff, sacrifice hasn't been much of a part of the political conversation for 20-some years. Are politicians afraid to really ask the country to sacrifice?

GREENFIELD: Yes, everybody likes that line from John Kennedy's inaugural, "ask what you can do for your country." But they realize that American citizens -- when asked -- it's just a very different context.

I vividly remember Ronald Reagan being asked in 1980, "who has to sacrifice what," and Reagan saying quite clearly, nobody has to sacrifice anything, except a few bureaucrats. It is -- it's a very unusual time, because you want to call on Americans to do something.

But if you told them, for instance: "You're going to pay more taxes, you might be poorer, your lives are going to be made tougher. It won't be as good a life as you thought" -- I think politicians of most stripes aren't comfortable with that.

BROWN: Bob, let me give you the last word. But I'm going to ask you the same question again. In your wanderings with people, do they see a need to sacrifice? I don't mean standing in line at an airport. That's an inconvenience, it seems to me. You've been out there. What do you see?

GREENE: Yes, they do. And yes, they know they're going to have to. And yes, they already are, in the little inconvenience of our lives. But I think what they've come to accept is a phrase that, all of sudden, you start seeing in newspapers in small towns, and hearing on the broadcasts, which is the phrase, "for the duration." All of a sudden, now, as then, "for the duration" has meaning. And"for the duration" comes from "to endure," and of course, it has no end. You don't know when the duration will be over. We always used that as a sort of historic term to describe past wars.

Now I'm not sure President Bush has used the phrase, but he certainly has implied it. We are in this for the duration, and we will not be the ones -- you and I -- will not be the ones to determine when that expires. And I think, as I speak to people, one of the confusing things is that when this war ends, who will sign the treaty for the other side? They can't -- they wear no uniform. If someone were to say, "we give up," we wouldn't trust it anyway. We won't know, because we don't know who they are. So people are sensing that, "for the duration."

BROWN: Bob, thank you. It's good to see you again. Jeff, thank you. We'll see you at about 11:00 tonight. Thank you very much.

In the audience tonight when the president spoke, servicemen, police officers, postal workers, firemen and women. We want to get their take on both what it was like (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the message the president had. So joining us now, Jeff Davis, who works for the post office in Atlanta. Captain Chris Wessels, of the Atlanta Fire Department. And Navy lieutenant, Michael Inzer.

Welcome to all of you. I hope I got your names right. Thanks for joining us.

Captain, let me start with you. Was it exciting to be in the room tonight? Was it tense in the room tonight? Inspiring -- what was it?

CAPT. CHRIS WESSELS, ATLANTA FIRE DEPT: I feel like it was inspiring, because for the past couple months, I think the nation has been shed a new light on what we do, in the light of the tragedy. And it's inspiring to see our leaders take the charge, and not only recognize our efforts, but recognize the efforts of the entire country to stay together as one.

And to fight for this cause and fight this enemy, and to keep our country at peace, and to keep our civilization -- excuse me, our nation, in a fashion where we can maintain our normal lives. That's our goal in the fire department, is to make sure that the citizens feel comfortable in our service delivery, and that we can do everything to safeguard anything in light of what may happen to them.

BROWN: And, Jeff, I wonder if, given all the controversy surrounding how the government dealt with the postal workers, as opposed to everyone else, it must have been nice to hear the president single out postal workers today.

JEFF DAVIS, LETTER CARRIER: It was more than nice, Mr. Brown. And thank you for having me here this evening. The president, as he stated tonight, he said, "Let's roll." You know, he talked about the new war, the homeland war that we're facing here in the USA. And he says, you know, none of us, postal workers or firemen or police department, volunteered for this war, but we're in it. And he said that he appreciates how we're standing tall, and how we're not -- how we're doing this with no fear. No fear at all.

BROWN: And, Lieutenant, is it different being a Navel officer today? Are you hearing different things from people? Are people warmer, more respectful, any of that?

LT. MICHAEL INZER, U.S. NAVY: I think it's almost a replica of Desert Storm, when American men and women go to arms and deliver whatever is necessary. The patriotism has always been there. It's just, in my opinion, exemplified now, with this new administration. And I felt the president's remarks were right on.

And the unity, just in the audience tonight, was pretty clear. And we're ready to do whatever needs to be done to fight -- you know, help defend the homeland for the first time in our history...

BROWN: I'm sorry to interrupt, but the fact is, that's your job to defend the country. I wonder if you think your fellow citizens, who aren't in uniform, are equally ready to do their part?

INZER: I think what the president pointed out clearly in his speech, is there are so many other ways to serve your country. Helping the community can certainly unite people together, and just be aware -- situation awareness, if you will, of what's going on around them. And help each other out, if there ever is, heaven forbid, an attack. So those kinds of things.

BROWN: About 40 seconds left. I want to ask both Jeff and Chris, essentially, the same question. Chris, you're a long way from New York, but do people look at firefighters in Atlanta differently than they did before?

WESSELS: I think so. On the street level, we always felt like we were appreciated, when we would go to peoples' individual homes. But now, just everywhere, people wave to us, give us the thumbs up when we're going down the road. Thank us, just arbitrarily thank us, when we're walking to the grocery store, or walking around in businesses and stuff.

So we get the feeling that, yes, people do show more appreciation.

BROWN: That must be a nice feeling.

Jeff, I'm curious too, with the postal workers. Are you getting, from people along the way, a different sense of appreciation, for what your job is and what you do?

DAVID: Yes, Mr. Brown. Just today, one of my customers walked up to me and they said, "I thank you for what you're doing." And then they said, "Have a safe day." It's usually, "have a nice day," but today she told me, "have a safe day, and I really appreciate what you're doing."

BROWN: Jeff, have a safe day tomorrow, too. DAVIS: Thank you.

BROWN: And thank all of you. Have safe days. We appreciate a lot your reactions tonight. Terrific job. Thank you.

Coming up next, we'll take a look at homeland defense. A pair of oceans used to be enough in the country. Now it's up to one man, Tom Ridge. He's been on the job a month. So how's it going -- when NEWSNIGHT continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A month ago today, the president created the office of homeland security. At the time, people were calling it the office of the impossible. And it's a fair concern, and a big headache for the man picked to run it. Tom Ridge is responsible for protecting everything against just about anything. And no room either, for grading on the curve, here. You've got to get it right.

CNN's David George now, with a progress report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID GEORGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): September 11th showed how vulnerable and unprepared the American homeland was. It took the administration less than a month to finalize plans for a beefed up homeland defense.

BUSH: Today I sign an executive order creating a new homeland security office.

GEORGE: Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge got the job, and his marching orders.

TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY DIRECTOR: ... detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, respond to and recover from terrorist attacks. An extraordinary mission.

GEORGE: Americans shouldn't have been surprised that such a mission was necessary. After all, terrorists had set off a bomb under the World Trade Center in 1993, and destroyed two U.S. embassies in east Africa five years later. And rammed the USS Cole in port in Yemen. It wasn't as though it was news that terrorists had U.S. targets in their sights.

Now that terrorism has our attention, things are starting to happen. The National Guard is providing added security at airports and train terminals. Fighter jets patrol the air over certain cities. The Coast Guard has launched the biggest port security operation since World War II. The U.S. Capitol is newly equipped with biochemical sensors. Blast-resistant Mylar has been applied to some of the windows. Guards stand at the Golden Gate Bridge, the Lincoln Tunnel, and atop a hydroelectric dam in Georgia.

The National Governors' Association says every state is reviewing security plans, with virtually every state appointing a head of homeland security. All this extra security has costs. Police officers across the land are working hours of overtime, threatening to bust their departments' budgets. Hazardous materials response teams are being run ragged checking out false anthrax alarms.

Governor Ridge, who promised the nation's mayors he would be their best friend in Washington, couldn't help when the cities asked for immediate emergency financial relief. Then again, when the postal service needed money to make post offices safer, Ridge came up with $175 million within hours.

That kind of bureaucratic oddity shows how Ridge has an unenviable, some would say, almost impossible, job: coordinating the efforts of the 46 federal agencies with anti-terrorist responsibilities with the more than 18,000 state and local authorities responsible for domestic security. All this without a budget, not even the prestige that goes with a cabinet seat.

And the most high-profile attempt to solve one of the most glaring homeland security weaknesses has gotten bogged down in all- too-familiar partisan wrangling. Both houses of Congress agree, airport baggage screeners should be higher paid and better supervised.

But the House and Senate don't agree on whether these workers should be federal employees or private hires. So, while politicians wrangle, travelers continue to attempt to carry an amazing array of weapons and contraband onto aircraft, and some of them get through a system that is still riddled with holes, two months after terrorists attacked America.

David George, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: When we come back, we'll update the war overseas. As we go to break, a quick trip to ground zero. We haven't been there at all this week. It's not a scene you want to forget. So these are live pictures from where the World Trade Center once stood. The steam or smoke from the fire still rising, the work still going on. Ground zero, eight weeks later.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: General Tommy Franks, the man running the campaign in Afghanistan, is known to say, "My business is a secret business." You don't need to tell that to Pentagon reporters, who practically compare the general to Greta Garbo.

But today Tommy Franks was very much in public, with the secretary of defense at his side. Both facing pointed questions about America's new war.

Here's CNN's military affairs correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: As heavy U.S. bombing of Taliban strongholds continues, reports from the northern front described modest success by anti-Taliban militias, and some retreat of Taliban troops.

But the Pentagon's consideration of dispatching the aircraft carrier John Stennis more than a month early to relieve the Carl Vinson is a clear signal it thinks the war is likely to last through the winter.

GENERAL TOMMY FRANKS, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND COMMANDER: I have described this as an effort that will in fact, take as long as it takes.

GEORGE: The four-star general in command of U.S. forces made a rare appearance at the Pentagon Thursday, explaining he's too busy to conduct regular briefings, the way General Norman Schwarzkopf did during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

FRANKS: I suppose I'd begin sort of at the end, by acknowledging that Tommy Franks is no Norman Schwarzkopf.

GEORGE: Franks also defended his methodical war plan, which has drawn fire from some generals in the Pentagon as unimaginative and too timid, with fewer than 100 bombing sorties a day.

FRANKS: To the specific of, do I believe this campaign plan was too timid? Absolutely not.

GEORGE: Franks' boss, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld...

AARON BROWN, ANCHOR: Kandahar, and for the first time, Taliban positions in the Safy Mountains, an area of strategic importance because it overlooks an important air base. Meantime, Army General Tommy Franks, the man in charge of the U.S. military campaign, says he's satisfied with the progress of the war. In his first Pentagon briefing, Branks says -- Franks,rather -- said he believes the campaign plan is aggressive enough but he can't say how long it will last, except to say "as long as it takes."

And the U.S. postmaster general told Congress today the postal service needs money, a lot of it. $2 billion immediately to cover lost revenues. And then it will need another $3 billion more to clean up and solve anthrax-related problems. Those are the headlines at 11:00 on Thursday night. We turn over to our senior analyst, our colleague, our friend.

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