Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

More Airstrikes in Israel Against the Palestinian Authority; The U.S. Government Has Frozen the Assets of the Holy Land Foundation Charity, as is Suspected of Being Related to Hamas

Aired December 04, 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. I hate to start this way, but over the past few weeks we've made a few editorial decisions that have come back to bite us.

Remember the fun we made of the endless cable news coverage of that truck chase in Dallas? Yes, the laugh was on us. Twice as many people watched the chase as watched us complain about the chase. Several viewers still haven't forgiven us for refusing to run the pardoning of the presidential turkey just days before Thanksgiving.

And abuse continues to pour in from people just a wee bit upset that we didn't show you the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. One guy actually wrote: "If Hillary Clinton was lighting that tree, you guys would have run it." No, we wouldn't have.

And today, no matter the cost, we're not running anything about O.J. Simpson. We don't care that police searched his home today. We don't care that he may have been stealing satellite television. OK, we'd care a little bit more if it were cable. But we don't care if he's arrested, booked, tried and convicted, or acquitted of this charge. Probably we should, but we don't.

And if the program tanks tonight, I'm getting out of the editorial decision-making business. So in that regard, as writer Marshall Arbitman (ph) noted, "We'll report. You'll decide." I've wanted to say that for a while.

There's a lot to report. More bombing in the mountains of Afghanistan, action on the ground as well. And, word that the man known as the brains behind bin Laden may have been wounded.

More airstrikes, too, in what Israel is calling its war on terrorism. Things going far beyond frustration on both sides. Grim determination seems the order of the day.

And Yasser Arafat faces diplomatic pressure as well, to rein in terrorist groups he says he has no control over. He says, "I'm doing everything I can." He's having trouble finding believers, even if -- if -- he speaks the truth.

We'll also report on a U.S. charity accused of funding terror. We'll talk to the governor of New York. And, perhaps give a new meaning to the saying "the gift that keeps on giving," we'll look at Philip Morris' decision to come out with a special brand of cigarettes, just for the holiday season. And they say those cigarette execs don't have a sense of humor.

All that coming up. We begin with our whip around the world and our reporters covering it all. First, terrorism and money, CNN's Tim O'Brien in Washington. Tim,the headline, please.

TIM O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Bush administration accuses a Texas charity of funneling millions of dollars to Hamas terrorists, and moves to freeze its assets. That's huge -- the administration extending its campaign against terrorism from Afghanistan and the Taliban to the ever-volatile Arab-Israeli conflict -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jim, back to you shortly. Afghanistan now, bombing goes on, growing pressure in Kandahar. CNN's Nic Robertson joins us. He's on the border. Nic, the headline from you, please.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, heavy bombing last night there, Aaron. Bombs falling actually inside the city of Kandahar. Also, the battle for the airport, the key strategic site that gives the military gateway to the city, now into its fifth day. News also a member of U.S. special forces on the ground injured, but Medevaced out OK. And tribal leaders tell us that Mullah Mohammed Omar is appealing to them to give him troops so that he can help fight the Americans -- Aaron.

BROWN: Nic, thank you. Back to you shortly. Developments as well on the anthrax front. CNN's Susan Candiotti working the story. She's in Washington tonight. Susan, the headline, please.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, tens of thousands of letters went through the same New Jersey sorting machine as those letters chock full of anthrax sent to Senators Daschle and Leahy. Should recipients be told that their mail was in that same batch, or would it create unnecessary alarm? We'll bring you the debate -- Aaron.

BROWN: Susan, thank you. Back with all of you shortly. We begin in the Middle East tonight. We asked an Israeli diplomat yesterday what had changed in the Middle East after the weekend suicide bombings. What's changed, he said, is we've had it. Enough already.

The Israelis have had it with the terrorist groups. They've had it with Yasser Arafat who, according to this diplomat, either doesn't want to control the terrorism, or can't, and therefore he is irrelevant. Those were words last night, they were deeds today.

The Israelis again took their war to Arafat himself. CNN's Chris Burns, covering the story from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An Israeli cobra rockets a police station next to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's office in Ramallah. The 'copters fire missile-evading flares as they head back to base. The station lies in ruins, punctuating the Israeli government's overnight declaration that the Palestinian Authority is a terror-supporting entity.

More pressure on Arafat. Israeli-armored personnel carriers and tanks roll into position a few hundred meters from Arafat's office. Nearby, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon consults with military brass at the Israeli Army headquarters on the West Bank. "I came here to listen, and to speak with the troops," he says. The symbolism speaks even louder.

(on camera): Prime Minister Sharon's visit to this base is a powerful statement, that Israel considers itself the dominating military force on the West Bank, and that Israel will hunt down extremists, no matter what Yasser Arafat does.

(voice-over): An official Israeli source says the government's new declaration tells the Palestinian leader that fighting terrorism is -- quote -- "our responsibility, it's not yours anymore."

Arafat's security forces say they've rounded up more than 100 suspects linked to terror attacks over the weekend, that left 25 Israelis dead. Sharon saw the roundup as too little, too late.

YASSER ARAFAT, PRES., PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: They don't want me to succeed. And for this, he's escalating his military activities against our people, against our towns, against our cities, against our establishments.

BURNS: But Arafat has had little support among his own people for the crackdown. "If you ask me about the attacks, this is something we should do," says this woman, "because it is our right. They are killing us. They kill our children." She speaks at an Israeli checkpoint outside Ramallah -- a constant source of frustration during a 14-month old Palestinian uprising.

Nearby, youths stone Israeli soldiers, risking sometimes deadly gunfire. One student argues with Israeli troops that she wants to go home. "The whole world talks about peace, and they want to make peace for us and fight terrorism. This is terrorism," she says.

(on camera): There are checkpoints like this one ringing towns across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinians here see them as collective punishment, cutting off families, workers, police and politicians.

The frustration and violence are likely to worsen if Israeli and Palestinian authorities fail to manage this ever-deepening crisis.

Chris Burns, CNN, on the West Bank.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: In the American war on terrorism, the soldiers today were the accountants. Federal agents went after a charity in Texas they say finances terrorism against Israel. It is perhaps less glamorous than a dispatch from the shooting war, but then "follow the money" has always been good advice for journalists, and others, too.

Back to CNN's Tim O'Brien in Washington. Tim, good evening.

O'BRIEN: Good evening, Aaron.

You may recall shortly after the September 11th attacks, President Bush promised to go after the terrorists and those who support them, wherever they may be. Well, today for the first time, a new campaign to freeze assets want beyond Afghanistan and the Arab to the Arab-Israeli conflict, and a charity right here in the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Shortly after sunup in Richardson, Texas, federal agents were closing up shop at the Holy Land Foundation for relief and development. The government has frozen the foundation's assets after concluding that much of the $13 million that Holy Land raised last year was funneled to Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The message is this: those who do business with terror will do no business with the United States.

O'BRIEN: It was last weekend's suicide bombing in Israel that triggered the government's action. Hamas has assumed responsibility.

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The suicide bombings in Israel over the weekend, and previous attacks claimed by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic jihad over the last few years, leave no doubt about the urgency of stopping terrorism in all its forms.

O'BRIEN: But the foundation, which claims to be the largest Muslim charity in the United States, denies funding Hamas or terrorism, and attributes the government's dramatic action to pressure from Israel.

SHUKRI ABU BAKER, HOLY LAND FOUNDATION: This is a black day. Terrible tragedy for the American Muslims, and for American civil liberties. This is evidence how foreign governments can shape and form domestic policies in this country.

O'BRIEN: Holy Land is registered as a tax-exempt charity. It has hired a high-profile national law firm to challenge the government's action in court. The State Department is on board, rejecting concerns it might offend Arab partners in the war against the Taliban.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

If the foundation has been funneling cash to terrorists, as the government claims, shutting it down could, over time, prevent tens of millions of dollars from falling into terrorists' hands. That would not only be disruptive, it could also have a significant impact in deterring terrorism and saving lives -- Aaron.

BROWN: Tim, thank you. Tim O'Brien in Washington tonight.

We have an American casualty to report in Afghanistan. A member of the special forces, hit by gunfire. The injury's not threatening, we are told, and no word yet on the circumstances, whether it was an accident, whether it was friendly fire, or possibly hostile action. But officials say it happened near Kandahar.

We're also getting word tonight that family members of Osama bin laden's deputy may have been killed in a U.S. airstrike. The deputy himself, Ayman al-Zawahiri, may have been wounded. We'll have a little bit more on that in a moment, but first, the big picture of the war from CNN's Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: From this heavily-fortified base southwest of Kandahar, U.S. Marines have begun patrols aimed at intercepting any Taliban forces fleeing Kandahar, or any Taliban supporters trying to bring supplies into the besieged city. But so far, the Marines have not had to engage any enemy forces.

GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF CHMN.: They are prepared for engagements. I mean, they're a robust fighting force and they're absolutely ready to engage, if that's required.

MCINTYRE: And for now, the U.S. has no plans to send the Marines to help take Kandahar. The Pentagon says there are two sizable groups of opposition fighters slowly squeezing the city: one fighting near the airport, southeast of the Kandahar, the other pressing from the north.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: In Kandahar, the hope remains that Taliban and al Qaeda forces will surrender. But we have reason to believe that Omar may have instructed his forces to continue fighting, which of course is putting the civilian population, in Kandahar and that region, at risk.

MCINTYRE: Meanwhile, on the other side of Afghanistan, U.S. special forces are also using proxy forces to press the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Several thousand Afghan fighters are scouring the hills in the area of Tora Bora, where the U.S. thinks bin Laden is holed up.

RUMSFELD: We have been actively encouraging Afghan elements to seek out and find the al Qaeda and Taliban leadership that we hope to capture, and stop from executing terrorist acts around the world. There is no question but that at various parts of the country, people have responded to that interest on our part.

MCINTYRE (on camera): Defense Secretary Rumsfeld continues to warn there will be casualties. And Pentagon officials said Tuesday, a member of U.S. special forces received a gunshot wound while helping opposition fighters near Kandahar. His injuries were not considered life threatening, and he's already been evacuated out of Afghanistan. Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Back now to Ayman al-Zawahiri. He's the one you may have seen speaking on the al Qaeda videos that came out the day the war started in Afghanistan, sitting just to the right of Osama bin Laden, the right hand man, some people say, the brains of the operation. In any case, he usually speaks first. And there are reports tonight there he may have been wounded, perhaps killed, we'll see.

More on that from Nic Robertson, who joins us from the border. Nic, good morning to you.

ROBERTSON: Good morning, Aaron. Very difficult at this stage to ascertain whether these reports are true. Ayman al-Zawahiri recently -- when Pakistani journalist had an interview Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri was apparently the translator at that interview. He is always there.

And as Mr. Hamid Mir (ph) told me after that interview, that Ayman al-Zawahiri, often helping Osama bin Laden, often giving him information and adding additional things to what he was saying. The two, clearly very close, but very difficult, as I say at this stage, to know no whether or not those reports are true.

The fact that anti-Taliban Mujahedeen forces are now engaged on the ground, as well as the U.S.-led bombing campaign, in the area of Tora Bora, will likely uncover more information about what happened or hasn't happened to Mr. Ayman al-Zawahiri.

But for now, the information is very, very limited -- Aaron.

BROWN: Nic, one question on this and we'll move on to something else. And I probable should know the answer to this, but I don't. Is the information that he may have been wounded coming out of Afghanistan, Pakistan, or is it coming out of Washington?

ROBERTSON: At this time, Aaron, as far as we know from here, this is information that is filtering out on of Afghanistan, through those sources on the ground. Quite exactly how it gets from Afghanistan, then relayed to Washington, or whether it comes -- whether it is first being released from Washington, isn't clear. But from the ground inside Afghanistan, Aaron.

BROWN: OK. Now, at the beginning of the program in the whip you talked about another heavy night of bombing . Tell us what you can about targets and areas that may have been hit.

ROBERTSON: Appears to be, overnight, a charge of targets. This time, bombs falling on the Kandahar city itself. We are in touch with sources in Kandahar. They are located in the southwest side of the city. About midnight, about eight hours ago here, they were reporting bombs falling very, very close to their location.

So far we've been unable to reach them this morning. It appears their satellite telephone is turned off. But the targets have continued to be in and around the airport. Now, the airport is a southeastern edge of the city. It is essentially the key gateway to the city. Once you control the airport, you control the highway. And you can more readily advance on the city.

And it does, once you do away with the airport, do away with a large base that was, once upon a time, home to a large number of al Qaeda fighters. Not clear if they're still there. But once you have the airport, you can approach Kandahar city.

And as you said also, there are anti-Taliban forces, tribal forces to the north of the city, who have taken up to three districts on the northern edge of the city. Now, the Taliban, late yesterday, claim to have arrested some anti-Taliban fighters. But this is very, very difficult to ascertain, whether or not this is the truth.

But the squeeze really is on Kandahar at the moment. And indeed, the new possible head of Afghanistan's interim government, Hamid Karzai, is in fact leading those forces on the ground just north of Kandahar at this time.

BROWN: Nic, thank you. Nic Robertson on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, with us tonight. Thanks again.

Coming up on NEWSNIGHT this Tuesday: unraveling two mysterious deaths from anthrax. And possibly thousands more people may have gotten contaminated letters. We'll tell you more about that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: There's a part of this next story, a story on the ongoing anthrax investigation, that will leave you scratching your head. The postal service knows which addresses in the country received letters that may have some anthrax on them. But because the risk is considered small that anyone will get sick, the postal service, along with the CDC, says it makes no sense to tell people.

This may, in fact, be the right and smart decision to make. But we learned of it the day after the government announced another terrorist alert, with absolutely no specifics. Scratching your head yet? We're not done. Once again, Susan Candiotti join us from Washington.

Susan, good evening to you.

CANDIOTTI: Good evening, Aaron. All the mail that might have touched the anthrax letters to Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy -- is it necessary to let people know their mail might have been contaminated with even a touch of anthrax? Is it a case of knowing too much information, or not enough?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The postal service estimates tens of thousands of pieces of mail were at risk for cross-contamination, because they were sorted through the same machines that processed those anthrax letters sent to Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy. Investigators know the exact addresses where all those letters were sent, but for now, nobody's telling the recipients.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that's a postal service decision. The postal service says -- quote -- "the CDC does not think it would be worthwhile."

PAT DONAHUE, POSTAL SERVICE CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: When you can't even really tell them what they might have received, all you know is that a piece of mail could have gone to that address, that may just cause a little bit more concern than is actually necessary.

CANDIOTTI: But Congressman Chris Smith, who represents the Trenton, New Jersey district where the anthrax-contaminated mail was sorted, wants full disclosure. In this letter, he's asked the FBI director to at least release the zip codes.

REP. CHRIS SMITH (R), NEW JERSEY: I think we owe it to the people. I'm not worried about panic. I think Americans are much more mature than, you know, to say oh, something may have come to my house, therefore I need to hit the panic button. No way.

CANDIOTTI: Investigators suspect, but cannot confirm, that cross-contaminated mail caused the deaths of New York hospital worker Kathy Nguyen and 94-year-old Otillie Lundgren in Connecticut. No anthrax was found anywhere linked to either woman.

However, thanks to postal service bar codes and time-stamps, investigators made at least two important discoveries. A letter sorted about 20 seconds after the Leahy letter was traced to this Seymour, Connecticut home about three miles from Otillie Lundgren's house.

Another letter, sorted within minutes after the Leahy letter, led authorities to this Bronx auto near Kathy Nguyen's apartment. But no letter was found.

LOUIS VIDAL, SHOP WORKER: They spent like four hours in the office, checking everything.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: The CDC is considering a new health advisory reminding people about handling suspicious mail. The postal service insists the mail is safe. Both agencies and the FBI are not ruling out visiting every address where possible cross-contaminated mail was sent. But they insist because there's a low probability it will lead them to the anthrax source, that effort is not high on their priority list -- Aaron.

BROWN: Susan, thank you. Susan Candiotti, working the anthrax story out of Washington. Thank you.

Am I the only one, by the way, who is amazed that the postal service can identify where a letter went 20 seconds before another letter passed? Technology.

Coming up still on NEWSNIGHT: The president goes to a town meeting in Florida and takes on a tough question from himself. We'll explain in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The president went to Orlando today, one of those town hall meetings he likes to do and does well. It was a chance to urge Congress to pass an economic stimulus package. People did ask him about the economy. And it was a chance to talk about his personal reactions to the attack of September 11. People asked about that, too.

But clearly, the president had something else he wanted to talk about, and so he did what we'd all do in that situation, if nobody asked. He asked himself the question. And then he answered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: I'll ask myself a question: why are you having the opportunity to have a military tribunal? Now, I want you to remember that we are at war. The United States of America is under attack. And at war, the president needs to have the capacity to protect the national security interest and the safety of the American people. And so I ask...

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: ... I ask, what are all my options as your commander-in- chief? What are the options to protect America? What do I need to know about what might occur, to make sure that I can come in front of the folks in Orlando, Florida and say we're doing everything in our power, or we have every option in our power, to keep you safe?

One of those scenarios is military tribunals. No one has been tried in a military tribunal, except I, by executive order, provided myself with the option of having a military tribunal, which will be used -- no American citizen will go to a military tribunal. They would only be used for those who aren't American citizens.

And let me give you one example of why it may be necessary, why it may be necessary to use such a tribunal: what happens if, in the course of this war that we apprehend, or capture, an enemy, and we want to bring him to justice. In the course of bringing him to justice, what if the information necessary to bring him justice would compromise our capacity to keep America safe?

In a court of law there would be all kinds of questions that might compromise our ability to gather incredibly important intelligence to prevent the next attack from happening to America. It seems like to me that the president of the United States ought to have the option to protect the national security interests of the country, and therefore protect America from further attack.

(APPLAUSE) (END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The president in Orlando, Florida, this afternoon, defending his decision to allow military tribunals. Coming up: New York Governor George Pataki, when NEWSNIGHT continues on a Tuesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We found ourselves in a conversation today with New York Governor George Pataki about high school sports in his town and mine, and about state-mandated testing of eighth graders, an issue we're both interested in. And at one point we both smiled and seemed pleased that we were talking about something other than war and terror and those related things. Then our esteemed producer, David Bohrman, whispered in my ear, "tape is rolling," bringing me and the governor back to our respective realities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Let's talk about yesterday's terrorist warning first. Can you tell me one thing -- seriously, one thing -- the state of New York does differently these days after one of these alerts than the day before?

GEORGE PATAKI, GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK: Absolutely. One of the things we do is to instantaneously communicate the nature of that alert to every single law enforcement agency in New York State.

That wasn't the case in the past that we might get information -- the state might get information, New York City law enforcement officials might get information -- but the other agencies across the state sometimes didn't have that.

And now, putting together with Jim Towson's (ph) leadership our Office for Public Security, we are able as soon as we get any information to contact every law enforcement agency in the state so they know.

Now, in this instance, we don't have any specific threat. We don't have -- we can't advise people to be on the lookout for a particular individual or type of potential terrorist activity. But we have that capacity. And if we do get that type of information from Washington we now can communicate it across the various law enforcement officials from one end of the state to the other, and I think that communication is very important.

The other element is that we do get excellent information now from the federal officials, from the FBI, from the Justice Department, from Immigration. And that wasn't always the case in the past.

BROWN: Right.

PATAKI: We had some real gaps of information. We learned a lot, prior to September 11, by watching CNN. But now our -- our agencies find out early and we're able to disseminate that across the state. And I think it does have a very real impact. BROWN: Let me try a couple of others here. You're a Republican and there's a Republican administration in Washington. Just tell me if you are you as confident today as you were on the 12th of September, the 15th of September, that the state of New York and the city of New York will get the money it needs from the federal government to rebuild?

PATAKI: I'm totally confident. President Bush has said time and again -- to me and in public -- that whatever it takes to rebuild -- and he believes and I believe it's going to be more than $20 billion -- we will get.

And I think the American people have seen that President Bush is a man of his word. When he says New York will get whatever it takes to rebuild and if that's more than $20 billion, we'll get more than $20 billion, I believe that.

BROWN: Are you confident -- are you confident that Congress will be as generous as the president has been?

PATAKI: I think that the Congress recognizes, in a bipartisan way, this was an attack on New York. And we've had -- had no one in Congress say that in rebuilding New York and reconstructing what was there and cleaning up the consequences of the attack that New York is not entitled to federal reimbursement.

So I think that absolutely, I would be horribly disappointed and I think not just New Yorkers but the American people would be shocked and disappointed if any person in Congress said, "Well, New York legitimately needs this to rebuild but we're not going to give it to them."

The president has said he would be there. Gave us his word. If it's more than $20 billion we will get more than $20 billion. I'm sure it will be more than $20 billion, and I'm confident we're going to get it.

BROWN: You're off to the Middle East.

PATAKI: Yes. I think it's very important. You know, this past weekend I along with some millions of Americans saw these horrible attacks going on right in Jerusalem.

And my thoughts were just that Israel and Israelis have been subjected to this type of terror that is new to America and new to New York for years.

And it's important as the people of Israel and Prime Minister Sharon expressed their solidarity and came here and visited ground zero to support New York and America in our moment of crisis, that it's important that New Yorkers and Americans go to Israel to show that we will stand with the people and government of Israel.

So mayor-elect Bloomberg and myself, President Mort Zuckerman of the Conference of Major Jewish Organizations are all going. Mayor Giuliani is looking to see if he can rearrange his schedule so he can go as well, and I'm hopeful that he can.

And we will visit the sites, lay an appropriate memorial wreath and in all likelihood meet with Prime Minister Sharon and Mayor Olmert and -- and let the people of Israel know that the people of New York and the people of America condemn terror and understand that we must stand with the people of Israel just as the people of Israel have stood with us.

BROWN: Travel safely.

PATAKI: Thank you very much.

BROWN: It's good to see you again.

PATAKI: Nice to see you, Aaron.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BROWN: New York Governor Pataki. We talked with him earlier today.

Just ahead on NEWSNIGHT, a visit. I'm not telling you who's in the Bronco. I'm not saying his name. We'll go to the zoo. If this isn't, we'll go to zoo in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: It's not surprising that even the animals at the zoo in Kabul have a war story. One of them, a lion called Marjan, has become a symbol of survival.

He's 45 years old, in a country that has an average life expectancy of 46. Besides starvation and neglect, this lion has actually had a grenade thrown at him, after he ate the brother of a mujahedeen fighter. That's war for you. Now here's the rest of the animal story from CNN's Jason Bellini.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Zoogoing never made the Taliban's list of forbidden vices. But the zookeeper, Shar Aqa omar, says children didn't come in the last five years. He says parents knew the Taliban wanted children to study the koran, not waste time looking at animals.

Professors at the local university gathered donations, so Shar Aqa could feed these otherwise forgotten creatures. Now, at breakfast time, Shar Aqa attracts an audience.

The main reason I wanted to come here to the Kabul zoo was I wondered how animals -- which are of course oblivious to politics, and they don't choose sides -- how they have been affected by the turmoil this country has been in.

The animals live like many Afghan children: unaware of what's going on while a determined parent struggles to provide for them. "I keep working without pay because I serve my people and my country," he says. "This poor country has spent lots of money for building this zoo. And besides, if I didn't go there, what else would I do?"

Life may be getting better for Shar Aqa's animals, but some show signs of scars: physical and emotional.

Why does his nose look so funny?

"Small children coming to the zoo have injured his nose using sticks," he replies. "We don't have the medicine and equipment we need to fix it." The monkeys, at first glance, are enormously entertaining.

The monkey has the fuzzy thing that goes on the end of my microphone. He's teasing me with it.

But then I realized their reactions are a sign of trauma from violence, from taunting, from neglect.

"When you see the lion from the fence, please try not to throw stones at him," Shar Aqa tells these children. He likes to be out of his cave in this weather. But if you hit him, he will never come back to see you."

The children know the lion's story. He once killed a man. The victim's brother got revenge by hurling a grenade at the lion. It blinded him.

Why aren't you afraid of the lion?

"If you touch the lion's body, it understands that something is being brought to him," Shar Aqa says. "This lion is used to us. He won't hurt us."

The lion trusts because he has to. His master trusts others will help him to keep these animals alive. But like the lion, Shar Aqa can't see what lies ahead for his zoo or his country. Jason Bellini, CNN, Kabul, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BROWN: When we come back, the controversy over the tobacco company that wants to remind you, just 21 smoking days left 'til Christmas. This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: This is the time of the year that just about every company you can name comes out with a special version of their product for the holidays. Well, maybe not every company. I doubt that Caterpillar is making a Christmas earth mover. But you get the point.

The most unusual one we've seen this year comes from the Philip Morris company -- the people that bring you Marlboro -- which is offering a limited-edition cigarette -- we cannot make this up -- just in time for Christmas. It's called "M." The cigarette is described as "a special blend for a special season" by the company, which says it hopes to lure customers from rival brands.

You can easily imagine what the anti-smoking folks are saying about this, so we won't dwell on that. But we are interested -- fascinated -- by the marketing possibilities. So we asked Jerry Della Femina, a bigtime ad executive in this town and well known, to join us and talk about it. It's nice to see you.

JERRY DELLA FEMINA, AD EXECUTIVE: Good to be here.

BROWN: Listen, I never sell these Philip Morris guys short. They're very sharp. So what are they onto here?

DELLA FEMINA: They're onto something. "M" probably stands for money to them. It's going to do -- I think the cigarette's going to do very well. Because at this point, Christmastime, holiday season, I can go back a lot of years where you would see ads with Santa Claus with a cigarette dangling from his lip. Santa was a four-pack-a-day guy. You never knew that. It was ho cough ho cough ho cough.

But the fact is that they -- they had people convinced that this is it, this is the time to smoke. I think that people sort of let down their guards this time of year. They drink a bit more. They party a bit more. And I think that they're going to get people to take a try at a new cigarette. Good for them to sell cigarettes, bad for the people who buy them.

BROWN: One of the arguments they make, always, is that they're not trying to create smokers. They're really just trying to steal smokers from Winston or some other brand, in any case. Do you think that's what this does or is there something more sinister here?

DELLA FEMINA: I don't think there's anything more sinister. I think smoking -- young people smoking comes from peer pressure and seeing other people smoke. I don't think that advertising or seeing the "M" cigarette is going to do anything for -- for -- with young people doing that. Basically, young people see other young people smoke and they catch onto it and they do it and it's unfortunate.

But I don't think that there's any -- any opportunity here for people to -- for young people to say, "Wow, 'M', I'm going to try that. That's going to be my..."

First of all, they say they're going to stop selling it after the holiday. Next, how about the Easter cigarette? And then we're going to get to the Four of July cigarette where it's going to be red, white, and blue.

BROWN: Well, that's an interesting independence argument to make if you're selling a cigarette, isn't it? Look, again, I think these are smart men and women who work there. And one of the things they have to know that people like me are going to see this and make jokes about them and -- and be slightly outraged. Generally outraged. Do you think it matters? DELLA FEMINA: It doesn't matter because people who smoke want to -- want to smoke and they are going to continue to do so. They're not going to pay any attention to you or to me saying it's -- it's bad for them.

But the fact is that it will do -- they can do very well. Just consider there might be 30 million smokers, 40 million smokers. How about if every one of them tries one pack of these things at five bucks a pack? And the pack probably costs more than the tobacco for them. So they've got -- they've got a tremendous opportunity to suddenly look up and have $200 million in the month of December.

BROWN: In that -- in that sense does it -- is there such a thing as bad marketing for cigarettes? Does it matter whether it's good marketing, bad marketing, smart or not. Is there any downside to marketing cigarettes, beyond the product itself?

DELLA FEMINA: No, I think that the only thing they can do is waste money, because in Italy when they banned cigarette advertising, people smoked even more and they didn't have to pay for the advertising. The same thing happens now. I mean, I think the ban -- the ban on advertising has probably helped the cigarette companies just reap in more money.

BROWN: Certainly, I think Philip Morris executives -- some of whom I know -- would -- would agree that if you own the market, and they own -- Marlboro owns a huge amount of the market. If you stop advertising, you freeze the market at that number. So they would be delighted, I would think, to get out of the advertising business.

DELLA FEMINA: They would love it. They would love it. It's -- it's -- really, advertising is probably --certainly costs more than the tobacco. I think they want to get out. And most advertising agencies -- I won't do it. Most advertising agencies will not touch a cigarette brand. I mean, you just don't -- don't want to be part of that.

BROWN: It's nice finally meeting you, see you.

DELLA FEMINA: Good to be here.

BROWN: Thanks for coming in. Have a good holiday.

DELLA FEMINA: Thank you. You too.

BROWN: Thank you very much.

In a moment, remembering the heroes of September 11 who did their work out of the public eye. The people you have not yet met, when NEWSNIGHT continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A while back, a newspaper columnist was remembering what she was doing in Lower Manhattan a couple of days after September 11. She was in a crowd of people, she wrote, most of them yuppies, at a staging area near ground zero.

And as the hard-hats and the firefighters and the emergency workers came out, this crowd began to clap. They realized there was nothing else they could do, just clap, just applaud, just cheer. These were lawyers and investment bankers, millionaires, applauding people they hardly had paid notice to before.

But we notice them all now. We thought it was worth a moment to end the program on this Tuesday night, 12 weeks later, to pay special attention to some of the heroes you may have missed. Here's CNN's Beth Nissen.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For 11 weeks, they've been working alongside the fire department and NYPD at ground zero. But few outsiders recognize the PAPD, the Port Authority Police Department.

VINCENT ZAPPULLA, PORT AUTHORITY POLICE: It seems that we're the forgotten. They're advertising NYPD and FDNY and the EMS, how they're going to celebrate them, the heroes of New York. Well, we're there.

NISSEN: The Port Authority police are often overlooked, even though they have extensive law enforcement powers in both New York and New Jersey. They protect the major area airports, train stations, main bus terminals, bridges, and tunnels.

And they were responsible for policing the World Trade Center complex, owned by the Port Authority. PAPD officers in the Trade Center precinct were the first to respond on September 11. Officer Raymond Murray fielded desperate calls after the planes hit.

RAYMOND MURRAY, PORT AUTHORITY POLICE: I was getting calls from the 75th floor, 82nd floor, 96th floor, from both buildings. And just tell me that they, you know, they couldn't get to the stairs. And I kept telling them we were sending people up there as fast as possible.

NISSEN: Most of the Port Authority police officers who went up there were killed when the towers collapsed.

LT. MICHAEL BROGAN, PORT AUTHORITY POLICE: Our particular police department took the largest loss of life, I believe, in the history of the United States. 37 of the police officers from our police department were lost in that attack.

NISSEN: Their names are listed on a chalkboard at the PAPD ground zero command trailer. 37 lost from a force only 1,400 members strong, a loss significantly higher than that suffered by the NYPD, which lost 23 of its 40,000 officers.

Few know the stories of heroism behind these names. The story of Captain Kathy Mazza, the commanding officer of the Port Authority Police Academy. She is reported to have saved scores of people with her quick thinking and her 9-millimeter sidearm. ZAPPULLA: They were on the mezzanine level and the buildings were -- the building was falling down around them. They were getting trapped and stuff was piling up and they couldn't get out, so they -- they crammed themselves into a corner and she actually shot out one of the windows and those people got out. She stayed behind to help other people.

NISSEN: Port Authority Police Officer Joseph Navas raced to the burning towers from across the river in Jersey City.

MICHAEL KOLLIGOSKI: Through transmissions, we found out that he called the Holland Tunnel and told them to open up a lane so they can get there a little quicker. And the last transmission of him and his team was that they were working their way up in the 40's, somewhere around the 41st floor. And then Building Two came down.

NISSEN: Port Authority Police Officer Kenneth Tietjen rushed to the Trade Center from the Midtown Manhattan bus terminal.

BROGAN: Trains weren't running. The only way he and his partner could get down there is they commandeered a cab. They took a cab from the driver and drove down, I'm told, on sidewalks, through traffic and got all the way down there.

One of the first questions my kids asked me when I got home was, "did Kenny make it?" And I think it's the first time that my kids were aware of anyone that was actually killed, you know, that they knew.

NISSEN: Thousands more children might have known someone who died if it hadn't been for Port Authority Police Officer Walwyn Stuart. His fellow officers think of him every time they patrol the ruins of the PATH commuter train station under the World Trade Center.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was Stuart's post down here.

NISSEN: The first plane hit at rush hour that morning, when the station was jammed with commuters. Officer Stuart heard there was an explosion, and gave a crucial order.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He took it upon himself to stop the trains from coming in. He got people back on the trains, and ordered the motormen to take them back into New Jersey. One person, all by himself, got everybody out of there. Thousands of people. We didn't have one injury or death of any commuter that was coming to the Trade Center that day.

NISSEN: When the towers collapsed, they crushed the train tunnel, and the last train evacuated by Officer Stuart before he went up into the towers to evacuate others, and was killed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a true hero. I mean, if there's ever a -- any particular story of heroism, that is one of the 37.

NISSEN: The details of those stories may never be known. The bodies of those heroes may never be found. So far, the remains of only six of the 37 have been recovered.

But their fellow Port Authority Police officers are still working 12-hour shifts, six days a week, looking for them and the thousands of others buried in the wreckage. People who lived lives of service, and sacrifice. People who are -- and will be -- remembered. Beth Nissen, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BROWN: It's been 12 weeks. To ground zero for a moment. That's the scene 12 weeks later.

In about an hour, a very complicated, somewhat dangerous operation will begin there to clear out 800 pounds of freon under one of the towers. It's going to take a couple of days. That's going on at ground zero 12 weeks later.

We'll see you tomorrow at 10:00. Good night for 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