Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
Are Reporters Getting Enough Access to the War in Afghanistan?
Aired November 27, 2001 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again, everyone.
Serious stuff on page two tonight. The attorney general went before reporters today in an impassioned defense of the Justice Department's actions since September 11. He defended the decision to detain hundreds of people, defended the decision not to name them, defended the decision to have agents, federal, state or local, interview -- perhaps "interrogate" is a better word -- thousands of others, none of whom were suspected of a crime, and no evidence that they have any specific information about a crime.
It was an important moment on an important issue, and we'll hear what the attorney general had to say tonight. It's one of two sensitive issues we're going to deal with that may rankle some of you. Because we're also going to look at the Pentagon restrictions on the press.
Now, here's the point to make. We're not going to take sides here, but before you start sending your e-mails, at least understand how we see it. It's important, essential, to have these discussions. These are debates that make the country strong, and in many ways, unique.
It is not un-American to have these discussions, as some of you have written. It is very much pro-American. And so we'll talk about them tonight, and we suspect, not for the last time. We'll answer the e-mails tomorrow.
There's a lot else to cover as well, and we begin this way. The U.S. today ordered a strike on a leadership compound near Kandahar, after getting intelligence that the Taliban founder, Mullah Mohammed Omar, may -- we underscore "may" -- have been inside.
In the north, the U.S. continued to bomb the fortress where a few dozen Taliban seemed to be listening to their leadership, fighting to the death. The Northern Alliance continued to battle them on the ground.
And not all the images out of Afghanistan were so fierce today. At least one we saw was just a head-scratcher. In Kabul, workers, Russian workers, the former enemy, building a field hospital. What a world.
We'll also look at the issue of Iraq, and the possibility the war could come there next. And yes, I'm told there is another mystery guest tonight, a guest the producers of this nightly effort have not told me anything about -- proving only that, if nothing else, we are determined to make the program different. Hard to imagine a mystery guest on "Face the Nation."
The whip first. We want to begin with CNN's Nic Robertson, on the Afghan-Pakistani border. Nic, the headline, please.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Increasing indications, perhaps, that the Taliban are beginning to lose their grip on the key province of Kandahar. A Taliban commander defected to Pakistan yesterday. He came up to us, told us that fighters under his command would not fight. He'd been told let them go home.
Travelers inside Afghanistan, also telling us they're seeing fewer Taliban around -- Aaron.
BROWN: Nic, thank you. To Mazar-e Sharif, CNN's Alessio Vinci, who's on the videophone. The headline from you, please.
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, Northern Alliance officials here now say that the uprising at the prison is now over. But they were saying that also Sunday night, two days ago, when the uprising began. We do have reason to believe that it is coming to an end, because the vast majority of the 400-plus Taliban soldier -- prisoners inside the fortress are now dead.
And we also understand that the Red Cross will begin to bury some of the dead. It took almost three days for the Northern Alliance, with the support of the U.S. and the U.K. special forces, to bring this uprising to an end -- Aaron.
BROWN: Alessio. Now to the White House, senior White House correspondent John King. John, the headline from you, please.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, leading Arab diplomats warn tonight that any U.S. military strikes on Iraq would destroy the coalition against terrorism the president has spent so many weeks trying to build.
Still, administration officials say Iraq remains prominent on the list, as the president considers future fronts for this war. Those same officials, though, say no strikes are anywhere near imminent, when it comes to Iraq. They say targeting al Qaeda cells outside Afghanistan would be the next goal. They mention countries like Somalia, Yemen and Sudan, if you ask them where the war might go next -- Aaron.
BROWN: John, thank you. And, as we said, the attorney general made news today. CNN's Eileen O'Connor working that story. Eileen, the headline from you, please.
EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the attorney general says he believes the dragnet the Justice Department has cast in its investigation has yielded a significant catch: members of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, al Qaeda -- Aaron. BROWN: Eileen, back to you. Back to all of you shortly.
But we begin with a development that holds the possibility, however remote, of a major victory tonight in Afghanistan. There is talk around the Pentagon that a U.S. smart bomb or missile may have hit a major target, a hiding place for the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar. It is talk now, but it is the first talk of its kind.
More from CNN's Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pentagon sources say as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was touring the headquarters of the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida, an intelligence report came in, identifying two locations where Taliban leader Mohammed Omar and other senior al Qaeda and Taliban officials might be.
While Rumsfeld looked on, commanders quickly ordered airstrikes, which were carried out by U.S. Air Force jets, including a B-1 bomber, which dropped a 2,000-pound satellite-guided bomb.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: There has been an attack on, from the air, on a leadership compound southeast of Kandahar.
MCINTYRE (on camera): Any word of any notables were hit there?
RUMSFELD: Again, we're not physically in the compound. And whoever was there is going to wish they weren't. But in terms of their names, I don't have them.
MCINTYRE (voice-over): Pentagon sources say two sites southeast of Kandahar were reduced to rubble, according to pilot reports and surveillance imagery. U.S. intelligence had already identified the area around Kandahar as one of two likely locations for Omar and Osama bin Laden, the other being a corridor south of Kabul to the Khyber Pass, an area that stretches south to Tora Bora.
GENERAL TOM FRANKS, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND COMMANDER: We have been able to watch a variety of terrain, and undertake review of a whole variety of imagery, and talk to an awful lot of people over time. And it, just very simply, factually, is that those are the places right now that we have been led to pay very close attention to.
MCINTYRE: The Pentagon believes if Omar survives U.S. airstrikes, he will likely fight to the death in Kandahar. And while sources say the more than 1,000 U.S. Marines, now 65 miles southwest of the city, will move closer to Kandahar in coming days, there are no plans for a direct assault on the Taliban stronghold.
FRANKS: Their very presence does, in fact, provide pressure. But I will not characterize the intent of them being there as a force to attack Kandahar. That simply is not the case. That's not why we put them there. MCINTYRE (on camera): While the Pentagon is hopeful that Tuesday's quick reaction airstrikes may have dealt another death blow to Taliban and al Qaeda leaders, commanders here are well aware of the difficulty of targeting an individual with a smart bomb. Pentagon officials say it may be days before they find out for sure if anyone of significance was killed on the ground.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: If it's a fight to the death for the Taliban leaders, many Taliban foot soldiers don't necessarily share the sentiment. Funny how that works. There's a long Afghan tradition of switching sides instead of fighting, and the pressure is building to do just that.
Once again, CNN's Nic Robertson on the Afghan border. Nic, good morning to you.
ROBERTSON: Good morning, Aaron.
That pressure does appear to be building, just across the border inside Afghanistan, the border town of Spin Boldak. Local tribal commanders, we understand, have been negotiating with the Taliban, for the Taliban to surrender that town.
Late yesterday afternoon, a Taliban commander came into Pakistan here. He told us that the 25 or 30 fighters under his command had refused to fight, and that he had been told to stand them down. He paid them off, and they put their guns down, and have gone back to their homes inside Afghanistan. He, himself, was going to go see his family inside Pakistan.
This is an indication, perhaps, of the favorable terms that the tribal commanders here are offering Taliban fighters, to try and encourage them to defect -- lay down your guns, you can go home. There will be no fight to the death, if you just put down your weapons.
Not clear if that's going to be the case in Kandahar. Taliban officials -- senior Taliban officials indicate that there could be a much stiffer resistance put up there. But it is a indication, perhaps, of the grip that the Taliban are beginning to lose on their power hold in this whole area.
We've talked to travelers coming out of Afghanistan, and they say they're seeing fewer and fewer Taliban around. The main highway appears not to be in the Taliban's control anymore. The grip does appear to be loosening a bit at the moment.
Still, even if we just talk to one commander that defected to Pakistan, it still perhaps is a little too early to put too much emphasis on that. But from where we stand, it is an indication.
BROWN: Nic, thank you. Nic Robertson on the border tonight, with word of the Taliban and their morale. Thank you.
In the north, a taste of how tough mopping up the Taliban may turn out to be. This is a cautionary tale, and it would pay to keep it in mind in the days ahead. The bloody battle for a prison compound near Mazar-e Sharif may now be coming to an end, but it took three days and some very vicious fighting. Some American casualties, as well.
Once again, CNN's Alessio Vinci joins us from Mazar-e Sharif on the videophone. Good morning to you.
VINCI: Good morning, Aaron.
We do believe that uprising is really coming to an end, because first of all, we haven't heard any fighting or any explosions coming from that direction. We are about 50 kilometers away from the fortress. And we do also know that the Red Cross is planning to go there and collect some of the bodies today, and then bury them.
So these are all indications that this uprising may be coming to an end. It took, as you said, almost three days of intense fighting, support from the air of the United States Air Force. But inside that fortress, a handful of Taliban prisoners were holding up inside a basement and sniping at Northern Alliance soldiers who tried to advance and get close to their position.
We managed to enter the fortress later yesterday, on Tuesday, and we have seen the evidence of the intense fighting that has been ongoing there for the last couple of days. We have seen dozens and dozens of bodies lay on the ground. Most of them were mutilated, and the majority have been there, now, for several days, since the beginning of the uprising on Sunday.
We also saw several unexploded ordinances, including mortars, on the ground, indicating that all kind of weaponry were used during this uprising. Throughout the day yesterday we saw special U.S. and British forces going in and out of the fortress. We know they have been here for quite some time now. They have helped the Northern Alliance support the military advance towards Mazar-e Sharif, and other strategic towns here in the north, as well as in the south.
We do also understand that they help coordinating the effort to quell the uprising, and perhaps to retrieve the body of one of the CIA operatives that is believed to have been killed on Sunday during the first day of the uprising, in the military convoy that entered the fortress, carrying U.S. and British special forces.
We noted (AUDIO GAP) inside, and we do believe that that may be the reason why they may be going in there, to try to retrieve the body of that CIA operative.
Another note, Aaron, we know that General Abdul Rashid Dostum, the top Northern Alliance commander here in Mazar-e Sharif and northwestern Afghanistan, was not at the compound at the time of the attack. That's where he lives, that's where his headquarters are. He returned last night from Konduz, where he oversaw the hand-over of more Taliban prisoners.
The convoy that he was traveling in passed through our hotel here, and it was an impressive scene, Aaron. Two AP-Cs were heading this convoy. We counted at least 20 pickup trucks filled with armed soldiers, and then another AP-C behind it. IT was an impressive scene. I haven't seen, even President Gorbachev or Reagan or any other top war leader traveling under that kind of security -- Aaron.
BROWN: Alessio, thank you. Alessio Vinci in Mazar-e Sharif, on the prison uprising that now appears to be over.
Back here at home, as we said at the top of the program tonight, the attorney general made considerable news today with his defense of the Justice Department's roundup of Muslim men -- mostly immigration violators. But according the attorney general, perhaps members of al Qaeda, as well.
Officials have been very guarded about who they've got. How the government is acting, though, is being sharply debated. And this debate does not fall so easily into conservative and liberal camps, which is something to keep in mind.
We go back to Washington and CNN's Eileen O'Connor, who is covering developments there. Eileen, good evening.
O'CONNOR: Good evening, Aaron. The attorney general says, by locking up some that have been suspected of terrorism, he believes some other attacks may have been thwarted. But critics still say the Department of Justice is casting too wide a net, trampling on civil liberties to ensure safety.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): From the attorney general, no apologies, to critics who charge people are being held illegally and in secret.
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Department of Justice is waging a deliberate campaign of arrest and detention to protect American lives.
O'CONNOR: Still, he did give out some numbers: 104 people have been charged with a federal offense stemming from the investigation into the September 11th attacks. Of those, 55 are in custody. Some have appeared in court, a few released on bond, others are still being sought. Five-hundred and forty-eight more are in the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service for possible visa violations.
ASHCROFT: We believe we have al Qaeda membership in custody.
O'CONNOR: In addition, a nationwide effort is under way to talk about September 11 to some 5,000, mostly young, Middle Eastern men, in the U.S. on temporary visas. The Justice Department says some of the areas to be covered are: their possible involvement in armed conflicts, knowledge of terrorism, and familiarity with weapons.
In Michigan, letters of invitation were sent out. Arab-American groups say it's nothing short of racial profiling and harassment.
IMAD HAMAD, AMERICAN ARAB ANTI DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE: I don't think that guilt by association will bring any justice to anyone, or bring us safety the way we are trying to ensure.
O'CONNOR: The attorney general says these measures, and a refusal to release more information, are steps designed to protect law-abiding people.
ASHCROFT: And the question has to be asked: are people going to accept their responsibility to help us prevent additional terrorist attacks, or not?
O'CONNOR: But some legal scholars say the question is not that simple.
DAVID COLE, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY CONSTITUTIONAL SCHOLAR: Here you have the government locking up hundreds and hundreds of people, and no opportunity for the people to assess whether the government is, as the Justice Department says, doing the job right, or, as many are concerned, overstepping its legal authority.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'CONNOR: The attorney general says there will be public scrutiny, via Congressional hearings -- Aaron.
BROWN: I want to go back to -- excuse me, Eileen -- one of the numbers. The 55 people charged with crimes, do we know what the crimes are?
O'CONNOR: Well, it's 104 actually charged with some federal offenses. Fifty-five still are in custody. Now, the 104 offenses range from things like making false statements on driver license applications -- we've actually seen some of these people in court. Some of them actually helped the hijackers obtain false documents, like Virginia driver's licenses. Things like that.
But some of them, we're not being told specifically. We're getting right now a few more documents on those charges.
BROWN: Any suggestion that any of these 104 who are charged, or 55 who are in custody, or whatever numbers we're working with here, have any direct connection with September 11?
O'CONNOR: So far in the charging documents that we've seen, they do not seem to have any direct links. There is one person who has been brought before the court, but there's been some problems with his lawyers. He does look like he had a connection with, perhaps, Mohammed Atta, and another person who's being sought, Sahid Binalshibh, in Germany. Now, that connection may have linked him all the way from Germany to the United States.
One thing to remember, Aaron: We still don't the numbers of those material witnesses that are being held. We have no idea how many there are of those people, because those indictments are under seal. They are being held by a federal judge as a material witness. But again, it is under seal -- Aaron.
BROWN: Eileen, thank you. Eileen O'Connor in Washington, nice to see you again.
Coming up next on NEWSNIGHT, shaping the postwar Afghanistan in a way that prevents another war. And still later, another mystery guest. NEWSNIGHT continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Today we saw some pretty brutal pictures out of Afghanistan, apparently Taliban soldiers killed in Mazar-e Sharif, which is something to think about as you look at this pictures out of Bonn, Germany, where the different Afghan factions met to begin figuring out who will lead the country, run the country, at least short term.
Lots of hugs and optimistic talk today. But it clearly will be very hard to keep anything together on the ground, where nerves remain quite raw. What did come out of today's meeting, the international community is ready to pour billions of dollars into rebuilding Afghanistan, if the factions -- dominated now still by the Northern Alliance -- can prove there won't be a repeat of what happened when they were in power a decade ago, which was total chaos, which helped to create the Taliban in the first place.
Yesterday the president made news when he appeared -- OK, he more than appeared -- to threaten Iraq. Today, wonder why the media spent so much time on that, a senior official did, and not, let's say, on the financial side of the war on terrorism.
Sometimes you just have to smile at what people say in Washington. The president rattles the saber and it's news. With a war going on, it's big news. It certainly was at the White House today, like it or not. Senior White House correspondent John King has been working the story. John, good evening.
KING: Good evening to you, Aaron.
Arab diplomats, among those who did not like it at all. They put the White House on notice today. Any military action against Saddam Hussein would destroy the international coalition. Among the president's guests here at the White House tomorrow, the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
The main focus of that meeting is the ongoing humanitarian crisis in and around Afghanistan, but it also offers the president an important test. He is debating now, when and where to expand the war beyond Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): "First things first" is the administration motto, even after the president's new tough talk about Iraq. But there are ongoing deliberations about the war's future fronts. Goal No. 1 is rooting out al Qaeda cells outside Afghanistan. Somalia, Sudan and Yemen are major concerns. So are the Philippine and Indonesia, because of local terrorist groups the administration says have at least loose ties to al Qaeda.
DANA DILLON, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: This is already a second front in this war. It's just now, we're going to be paying a lot more attention to it, because Afghanistan is winding down.
KING: A key administration debate now taking shape is how to eventually expand the campaign to nations long-accused of sponsoring or harboring terrorists, like Iraq, Iran, Syria and Lebanon.
LEE HAMILTON, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: We really will have very little support for action against Iraq, or any other country, if we're not able to link that country with the September 11 attacks.
KING: One idea gaining favor in the White House is to dramatically expand the focus of the campaign, and demand new international inspections in nations suspected of developing biological, chemical or nuclear weapons. Iraq tops this list. But it also includes Iran, Syria and Libya. And Mr. Bush says North Korea should allow inspections, too.
Iraq gets the most attention because of the history.
SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: But I don't think any of our friends want to see a helicopter raid at midnight, and rockets going in there, without some sense of coordination and coalition building that is, I think, vital. Because then you have to ask the next question, always: what happens next?
KING: Gaining international support for inspections would be an uphill fight. And in any event, such an approach would take months, if not years, with military power as a last resort.
HAMILTON: If, after the sanctions, after a refusal to let inspectors in, you still don't have action, it might very well be at that point that the United States would have to consider a preemptive strike.
KING: U.S. officials say internal deliberations about future fronts are in the early stages.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And these officials insist the overwhelming focus now, and for the foreseeable future, is on finishing the job in Afghanistan. As one senior official put it, how we deal with Iraq and a lot of other nations around the world is a riddle that remains to be answered -- Aaron.
BROWN: John, thank you. John King at the White House tonight.
We're joined now by someone who knows the difficulty of dealing with Saddam, and the trickiness of building a coalition. He has more than a passing acquaintance with nation-building, as well. Bill Richardson served the Clinton administration in a number of key jobs, including ambassador to the U.N. And he joins us from Washington tonight.
Mr. Secretary, it's nice to see you again.
BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER SECRETARY OF ENERGY: Thank you, Aaron.
BROWN: Tell me, why is it different now, in terms of building a coalition, than it was 10 years ago, when all these moderate Arab countries were more than happy to join in?
RICHARDSON: Well, right now, Aaron, I think -- while I'd be supportive of the president if he went into Iraq, it would cause enormous problems. First of all, within the United Nations, the key supporters within the U.N. Security Council that we have -- Russia, China and France -- would oppose us moving into Iraq. That would shatter the coalition.
Secondly, I think you see a lot of the countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, many other Muslim countries that have been supportive in our direct efforts on al Qaeda and Afghanistan. I think the Arab streets would really go quite wild if we moved ahead, particularly at a time when there has been no direct link.
Now, if something relating to the anthrax letters, or there's something more concrete with that intelligence meeting that took place, then I think there's more justification, and you can keep a coalition a little better than we would with proceeding ahead.
So I'm very wary about this. I think we should concentrate an al Qaeda, I think, Somalia. Taking those steps with Sudan, Yemen makes sense. The positive side though, Aaron...
BROWN: Mr. Secretary, if I may, I know you want to be careful on how you say this, I appreciate that. But do you think, to some extent, the president perhaps misspoke yesterday? Went a little farther than policy would dictate at this point, when he rattled the saber pretty clearly?
RICHARDSON: Yes, the president may have gone a little too far. You know, if you look at your talking points -- I remember reading those talking points. One also says that our objective is to root out weapons of mass destruction. He may have gone a little too far.
But on the other hand, Aaron, he may have done something inadvertently that helps our interest, and that is pressure countries like Russia to help us develop some stronger and smarter sanctions at the U.N. The sanctions regime at the U.N. against Saddam Hussein has collapsed.
So maybe if the Russians and a lot of other countries are worried that we're going to bomb, we get some leverage in building some stronger sanctions, perhaps, some ways of getting inspectors in there -- although I think that's a long shot. But maybe we're scaring Saddam, and Saddam will get advice from some of his friends -- "hey, you better do something," and...
BROWN: Mr. Secretary, is there any evidence, honestly, do you really believe Saddam is scared of us at this point?
RICHARDSON: No, he's very tricky. But if he gets pressure and he sees that we were successful, as I think we will be, with al Qaeda and the Taliban, and he sees dramatic support for the president domestically, for an effort, I think he had to think twice about taking some step. Even, Aaron, if he just allows limited inspections of the weapons of mass destruction, that's a plus.
For three years, we've had no inspections. So maybe in a week, this whole saber rattling will end up in a positive note. But I worry about saber rattling too much, to the point where our coalition not just talks about deserting us, but actually starts doing it.
BROWN: Right. Just, again, on the subject of Iraq and what we might find, if in fact, the weapons inspectors had free rein there, which seems an unlikely possibility at this moment -- do you have any doubt in your mind that Saddam is building these weapons of mass destruction, the chemical, the biological, perhaps more?
RICHARDSON: Yes, Aaron, I think there's no question that he has severely increased his possibility of chemical and biological. He's built up a lot of the ammunition and research areas that, in the Clinton administration, were taken out militarily. I don't think there is any evidence of a nuclear component, as some say. But there is no question, he is stronger in that area.
BROWN: And at this moment, short of rattling the saber and threatening, there isn't a whole lot we can do about it.
RICHARDSON: No, but I would concentrate, Aaron, on building internal Iraqi opposition against Saddam Hussein, as opposed to feeding support for those outside Iraq. I think that if we have a good insurrection there, with Shiites and others, build carefully with other Arab states, we would have more success than going outside and getting some of the outside exiled groups with stronger support.
So I think there are ways that we can put more pressure on Saddam, short of a military strike, which I think has too many diplomatic and political risks, like hurting the coalition that President Bush so successfully assembled.
BROWN: Mr. Secretary, it's always a pleasure to talk to you. We look forward to the next one. Thank you.
RICHARDSON: Thank you, Aaron.
BROWN: Former Secretary Bill Richardson with us tonight. Just ahead, a look at the local papers in Afghanistan. Uh-oh.
Also, my first look at the mystery guest. This must be NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Every so often, in between the pictures of the fighting, we've been trying to show you bits and pieces of life in Afghanistan as it slowly returns to normal. Tonight, another sign, small in a way, but also, literally, front page news. Here's CNN's Harris Whitbeck.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): ... newspaper editor proudly shows off the cover of what he says is a revolutionary edition. For the first time in five years a newspaper shows a picture of a living being, and the subject is a woman's right demonstrator in downtown Kabul. Things are rapidly changing in this country, and the printed press, albeit controlled by the new rulers of the city is catching up.
"We have good content now," says the editor of Anis Newspaper, so it is obvious that people want to read us.
(on camera): Do they have the freedom to write whatever they want now?
(voice-over): These reporters say they now have about 50 percent more freedom to report what they want to. And they hope to eventually write whatever they like.
(on camera): But with printing facilities virtually in ruins and paper and ink scarce, Afghanistan's revamped newspapers are hard to come by.
(voice-over): The sole printing press in the country is a burnt- out hulk. Machines have been destroyed and tons of newsprint turned to ash. While papers like Anis and "The Kabul Times" are able to put some 5,000 copies in circulation every two weeks, even people like Mohamed (ph) Bakhhshi (ph), who runs the printing press, resort to electronic means to get their news.
On this day, he is listening to news about the conference in Bonn that he hopes will result in a new government for Afghanistan. And in a country hungry for the news, one of the fastest-selling items here are these improvised satellite dishes made from tin cans.
Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Kabul, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: That's something isn't it. Coming up, one man's disappearance attracts national interest, not for who he is, but for the secrets he holds. Are we going to say this again? And who will be stopping by in a few minutes, I'll be the last to know. NEWSNIGHT continues in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: There are a lot of still unsolved mysteries we have been trying to report on over the last 11 weeks. Suicide attacks, anthrax letters, a plane with its tail falling off. Tonight another puzzle that might have ultimately have nothing to do with the with the others or with terrorists of any kind, but catches our attention because of the small facts that we do know. The top American scientist, a man with expert knowledge in the most deadly toxins known man, has literally vanished. Here is CNN's Martin Savidge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 57-year-old renowned Harvard University biochemist Dr. Don C. Wiley disappeared in the early morning hours of November 16 in Memphis, Tennessee. He had gone to Memphis to attend a scientific meeting at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and to visit with family.
At 4:00 in the morning his rental car was found abandoned on the Hernando Desoto Bridge, spanning the Mississippi River. The car doors were unlooked, the keys still in the ignition, the tank full. He hasn't been heard from since.
WALTER CREWS, MEMPHIS POLICE DEPT.: We began this investigation as a missing person investigation, from there it went to a more criminal bent.
SAVIDGE (on camera): Memphis police are looking into a number of theories, including suicide, or that he was the victim of robbery and murder, or that he was the victim of a crime but that whoever did it wasn't interested in what was in his wallet, but what was in his head.
(voice-over): Dr. Wiley is seen as one of the world's leading researchers of deadly virsuses. Among them, AIDS and the Ebola virus. Ebola is one of the most frightening diseases known to man, highly contagious it kills 50 to 80 percent of its victims, there is no vaccine. Reportedly some nations outside the U.S. have experimented with the virus as a possible weapon of war -- or terror.
Memphis police have no evidence to suggest that the doctor's disappearance has anything to with his expertise. But his family says it is just out of the question that he committed suicide. Married with two young children, he was at the pinnacle of his career. Dr. Wiley was last seen at a banquet at the Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis the night he vanished. Those who saw him last, say he showed no signs of a man contemplating his own death.
WILLIAM EVANS, STOUFFER: . JUDE'S CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL: It's inconceivable to us. We were with Don that night and the day before that , you know, there was any possibility he would do any harm to himself. I mean, we have simply dismissed that as a possibility.
SAVIDGE: Wiley left the hotel around midnight. The bridge where his car was found is only five minutes away, and in the wrong direction from where he was staying. Leaving authorities with a baffling four-hour unexplained gap, until his vehicle was found.
This scanning surveillance tapes from late night convenience stores and gas stations. Memphis police say there are a number of interesting elements to Dr. Wiley's disappearance, not the least of which is his background.
Martin Savidge, CNN, Memphis. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, trying to cover a war with blinders on. Reporters push to see more of America's new war. That story -- and a clue here -- and a guest that has something to do with war reporting. We'll see who it is in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: An interesting moment today in the latest Pentagon update. General Tommy Franks told one persistent reporter, when all else fails, perhaps I'll just tell you the truth. It was a joke. But laughs aside, reporters have some real concerns -- complaints, not complaints that we're being lied to, but that we're not told enough, not getting enough access. Complain is something reporters do a lot during wartime and always have.
We reporters, as annoying as it can be, are taught a basic rule of journalism early in life: If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out. It's not that easy if your mom won't let you in the house. Frank Buckley tonight, on the war you can't see.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some of the images of this war, spectacular. U.S. Rangers jumping into Afghanistan among the most memorable so far. But look closely at what's about to appear on the upper left side of your screen: Department of Defense video, it says. Because these images were shot by a military combat photographer. Not a single reporter or photographer from any news organization was along for this operation. Or, until now, any other ground combat operations.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Because the nature of this conflict is so different from previous ones, I suspect that old models won't work, and that what we'll have to do is to work together and find ways that do make sense as we go forward.
BUCKLEY: That was more than a month ago. And since then, more than one Pentagon correspondent has complained about the ongoing lack of access to forces in the field.
TERRY BOWMAN, MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, "BALTIMORE SUN": It's incredibly frustrating for all of us, I think. We can't tell the story adequately unless you have eyes and ears on the ground.
WALTER CRONKITE, BROADCASTING LEGEND: The importance of their being there is that the American people have the right to know, they have the duty to know, what their boys and girls are doing in their name and it must be recorded.
BUCKLEY: To be fair, the U.S. military has provided access where it says it is feasible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(on camera): Frank Buckley, CNN, aboard the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt in the Arabian Sea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(voice-over): I'd been among those who travelled with the U.S. Navy, and there are daily briefings at the Pentagon at which gun camera videos chronicle the exploits of pilots fighting the war.
(on camera): Video, like this, over Afghanistan, reminiscent of video like this, over Iraq. The gun camera video first made its mark in the Persian Gulf War, 10 years ago. Both versions from then and now, focusing on the successes of U.S. military might.
But in the case of the Gulf War it was not, say critics, a true reflection of reality. Patrick Sloyan won a Pulitzer for his reporting on the Gulf War and its aftermath, in which he exposed incidents of friendly fire that had never been reported.
PATRICK SLOYAN, FORMER SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, "NEWSDAY": They extended this false public perception to the families of soldiers who were killed during the Persian Gulf War. They lied to them for months about what happened to their sons, their fathers.
BUCKLEY: And already in this war there are questions about Pentagon truthfulness. The "New Yorker's" Seymour Hersh reporting that this operation was, contrary to the Pentagon's view of it, a near disaster, one that resulted in more casualties than the Pentagon reported.
The Pentagon refuses to characterize the accuracy of the article. But the confusion could have easily been avoided, say many journalists, without compromising the mission.
CLARK HOYT, SENIOR EDITOR, KINGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS: I think it was unrealistic to expect journalists could have gone in with those troops on that mission. But there could have been a very rapid debriefing of them afterward, with journalists speaking to the people who actually went in and were involved in the operation, and questions such as that could have been cleared up.
BUCKLEY: It may all sound like a lot of unnecessary grousing from reporters, nothing new. But without them, says Tom Bowman. Who will tell of the massacre at Mi Lai? Of the bravery of the average soldier? Who will capture the raising of the flag over Iwo Jima?
BOWMAN: We take our job very seriously and it's important for us to be there, not only as a check on government, but for national memory.
BUCKLEY: Memories in the making of a conflict whose history is already being written.
Frank Buckley, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: OK, I have a clue about the topic now: The press during war time, but honestly, I do not have a clue who this guest is to talk about it, so here we go. Just roll the prompter so I can get the name here who the mystery guest is -- c'mon, roll it, thank you, here we go. Come on -- joining us now, journalist and former CNN correspondent Peter Arnet, for weeks -- that's a good one -- for weeks he was the only TV reporter in Baghdad during the Gulf War. It's nice to meet you.
PETER ARNETT, JOURNALIST: Aaron, good to see you.
BROWN: Have a seat.
ARNETT: Thank you.
BROWN: We haven't met before, have we?
ARNETT: No, we haven't.
BROWN: I have certainly talked about this. I thought you were you in Afghanistan, honestly.
ARNETT: Going next week.
BROWN: You are? And you are going to be going there for who, doing what?
ARNETT: Broadcast News Network, and doing the same old thing with a field crew and producers, camera people, and doing it this time for a more selected audience. CNN we were recording to the world. This time for contract companies from New Zealand to Norway.
BROWN: Do you think that it is possible, likely, that the work that you and the Morley Safers and the David Halberstams and the John Lawrences did in Vietnam now a long time ago, is the foundation for the policy of restricting reporters today?
ARNETT: If it is the foundation, then it is certainly not justified. I was thinking before I came on the show, you know, Norman Schwarzkopf is very proud of the picture of himself carrying a wounded South Vietnamese during a siege of a fire base in the highlands of Vietnam in 1965. And it was in his book. I took that picture.
And I'm thinking of future generals that will come out of the Gulf war and the Afghan War, the Americans, they won't have any pictures like that because they won't have any pictures in the field.
BROWN: But with due respect, you are not going over there, none of us is going over there, to necessarily take a picture simply of heroics, or going where we can to report the good, the bad and very often as you know better than most of us, the ugly that war provides. So, we at least need to be, it seems to me, honest about that point that we are trying to report at all; fair?
ARNETT: But this does not prevent us from getting the kind of pictures that bring the war home to Americans. What has intrigued me about the Afghan coverage so far, and I am not going to make any difference in this, this is a war fought by Americans, bombing of Americans, American advisers calling in those airstrikes, American special operations people on the ground.
I watched CNN coverage tonight, the only American I saw was Donald Rumsfeld the secretary of defense. And what worries me is that just as the Gulf War, the same Norman Schwarzkopf who was a hero in Vietnam because of coverage, he emerged as the only hero of the Gulf War along with Colin Powell.
What about all the soldiers that fought those tank battles? And what about these GIs in Afghanistan now who are totally anonymous, will not be remembered, but Donald Rumsfeld and maybe couple of generals will come out and do major speech tours and benefit from the work that all these soldiers on doing. They will be forgotten.
BROWN: You took an enormous amount of heat for work you did in Baghdad during the Persian Gulf War. I remember Alan Simpson virtually -- Senator Simpson -- virtually calling you a traitor, he may have used that word, I may be remembering it wrong, would you interview Osama bin Laden if the opportunity presented itself?
ARNETT: I did four years ago.
BROWN: Would you now?
ARNETT: Of course I would.
BROWN: Is there a circumstance you can conjure up where would you not, I always hate to use World War II analogies, because I think they are a bit over the top, would you have interviewed Hitler?
ARNETT: Of course I would have, you know, in as long as I had the opportunity to watch the kind of questions the world wanted answers to. In fact, when I interviewed Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War and I was taken in secrecy to this makeshift headquarters, and he said well, do you have a list of questions, and I said, I want to ask you the questions the world wants answered. He said, fire ahead.
An hour and 30 minutes later, I came off with all these rolls of videotape. It played on CNN and I think what he said was pretty instructive.
BROWN: I'm not disagreeing on that. I'm just -- on a philosophical matter, is there -- as long as you can ask the questions you want to ask, is there anyone under any circumstance would you not interview?
ARNETT: No one. And there is no one that hasn't been interviewed. Look at the most rapacious criminals in American history, there's always that jail side interview. If you can interview, you know, a mass murderer or a serial killer in the United States, why can't you interview the equivalent overseas? I don't think that words kill. I don't think that questions kill.
BROWN: Mr. Arnett, it's nice to meet you and very gracious of you to come in tonight under these circumstances. Thank you. Peter Arnett -- hell of a correspondent too. Coming up on NEWSNIGHT, remembering those who lost their lives in New York when we continue in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Finally from us tonight, the flag. Because of the thousands of innocents who died eleven weeks ago today, this American war will always be different. It will be different for those of us lucky enough to be at home and different for the soldiers who have the job of righting a wrong committed against the country. They get it. Don't think for a moment they don't. And for many, the fight is personal.
Remember those messages written on the bombs early on: For NYPD; For WTC; some just simply carrying the name of a victim they knew. Now, those forces are getting some new messages from back home. Here's CNN's Beth Nissen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the size of a small room, 12-by-18 feet of stars and stripes and heartfelt emotion. An American flag carrying hundreds of messages inspired by the September 11 attack. The flag was one of many that appeared within days of the attack, hanging from almost every free-standing structure at ground zero.
LT. JOHN DURKIN, NYPD EMERGENCY SERVICE UNIT: The flag was found fluttering from the side of One World Financial Center. This one just so happened to be looking like it was starting to fall. It was brought back here to the command post and set up on tables.
NISSEN: For several weeks, the flag lay near the work maps of ground zero that noted the last known locations of the 23 NYPD officers killed at the World Trade Center. One day, someone, no one remembers who, marked the names of the lost officers onto the stars of the flag. Gradually, people inked in messages on the red and white stripes.
DURKIN: People started signing it. It was signed by the victims' families, their parents, their husbands and their wives and other police officers and law enforcement officers who were here. They came in. They signed it.
NISSEN: How many of you signed the flag?
Workers who came through the command post, NYPD and Port Authority police, officers from the Department of Corrections, added their thoughts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had written, "We mourn for you as we mourn for our own."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prayers and blessings to all the families and victims.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "God and country", I wrote, and New York City Department of Corrections.
NISSEN: The lost were memorialized in magic marker. "God bless all men and women who gave it all", wrote one contributor. "I will miss my brothers", wrote another. "I will hate their takers forever." Many of the messages were angry, demanded payback for the attack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We help everybody across the world and, you know, this is how we get repaid? Shame on them.
NISSEN: Several messages were addressed directly to Osama bin Laden. "There are no 70 virgins waiting for you, bin Laden", wrote an FBI agent. "It's go time."
This message was in the form of a wish: Benny, may the last breath you take be spent looking at this flag. Many messages called for God's blessing on America, wished godspeed to America's fighting forces. Unleash hell boys", wrote an NYPD detective. The words Semper Fi appeared several times.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Semper Fidelis -- always faithful -- former Marine.
NISSEN: Three of the 23 NYPD officers killed at the World Trade Center were former Marines, Sergeant John Coughlin, Sergeant Mike Curtin and Officer Vincent Danz. Someone suggested that in their honor, the flag be given to the Marines, and it was. The Marines are sending the flag by special courier this week to the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Afghanistan.
MAJ. DAVID ANDERSEN, U.S. MARINE CORPS: I believe this flag is going to remind the Marines of why they're fighting. We're sending the flag to Afghanistan to close the loop. It started here in New York. The messages appeared on the flag. And now we're going to bring the flag and the messages back to the people that caused this.
NISSEN: Many who signed the flag say they want it presented to Osama bin Laden in a very specific way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'd like to see him in his coffin with our flag on top of his grave.
NISSEN: Use of the flag will be up to the Marines.
ANDERSEN: They will most likely fly it on the ship. They may take it ashore. They may put it over a camp. They may just keep it folded and keep it in their command post and just keep it under wraps until they feel that it's time to fly it and fly it proudly.
NISSEN: Beth Nissen, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: That's our report for tonight. A lot of ground covered tonight. Good to have you with us. We are back tomorrow at 10:00.
Until then, I'm Aaron Brown. Good night from all of us at NEWSNIGHT.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
