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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Debate Over Guantanamo Detainees Continues

Aired January 21, 2002 - 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: Larry, thank you. It wasn't breakfast without you today. Thank you very much. Good evening again everyone. We had an interesting debate around our offices today. It centered around Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

Most of you know the sound bytes from the speech. I suspect many of you can quote them. One phone company actually uses part of the speech in an ad. Goodness.

Anyway, the debate centered around how much of the speech to play tonight. The speech runs about 16 minutes and 49 seconds. In TV news terms, that is a lifetime. The average sound byte these days is eight seconds, so a speech that's 16 minutes and 49 seconds equals about 126 sound bytes, if you follow my logic.

Now the sound bytes became eight seconds because people who claim to know you really well decided that's what you want. No one will admit that's what they want, of course, but then no one admits they really like car chases either or Gary Condit, and no one admitted watching the Simpson trial.

So maybe those smart people really do know what they're talking about. We'll find out tonight, because we're going to run the whole speech. I wasn't sure we should, and then I listened to it and watched it, and so that's what we're going to do, but it's Segment 7.

We begin with the issue of the treatment of the detainees. Bob Franken begins our whip around the world, the correspondents covering it. Bob is in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba again. Bob, a headline.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the detainee population continues to grow. So does the controversy over their treatment. We'll report on all of that, plus show you some remarkable new video of Camp X-Ray at night.

BROWN: Bob, thank you. We'll be back with you. The reaction to what's going on in Guantanamo from Havana is an intriguing one from Fidel Castro. CNN's Lucia Newman is with us from Havana tonight. Lucia, a headline from you please.

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Aaron. Well, it probably falls into the believe-it-or-not category. Washington's old Cold War adversary, Cuba, is not jumping up and down about the arrival of al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners. On the contrary, it's actually offering the help the Americans on the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo.

BROWN: Well, we'll check back. I didn't hear it. Perhaps we got it. We'll find out when we get there again. In any case, we didn't lie when we said this is a whip around the world. We're going to Rwanda next, a frightening scene for the survivors of a volcanic eruption last week. Cross our fingers, and ask Catherine Bond for a headline please. Catherine.

CATHERINE BOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, yes tens of thousands of Congolese families have gone back into the town of Goma and that despite that there's still a river of lava that's flowing through it. It's got a hardened, blackened crust and they're walking across it. But underneath that, there's still a red-hot molten lava flow that's going into the nearby Lake Hebrew. So tens of thousands of families going back and that's what we're going to be reporting on. Aaron.

BROWN: Back with all of you in a moment. Also coming up on NEWSNIGHT, we'll look at the hidden costs of securing an American icon. Actually, it's not hidden at all. A lot of security can turn even a beautiful building into a bit of an eyesore. It's happened at your capitol in Washington, D.C. and we'll look at the efforts going on there.

Also tonight, a look at history and integrity. If Stephen Ambrose borrowed phrases from other historians, should his books be pulled from classrooms? We'll talk tonight with one historian who says yes, and let's just say he knows the details of the Ambrose case all too well.

All of that just ahead, but we begin with the detainees, the pictures of them, and how differently people are seeing their story. Well, we understand the desire to keep this one simple. They are evil, so who really cares anyway.

We submit tonight, it is a tougher question than that. What are they? Should they be treated as prisoners of war? Should they be given the protections of the Geneva Convention? It exists for a reason. Does the country's treatment of these men set up future American POWs for something worse, and then the country would find it has less of a moral leg to stand on when it protests.

And why are people overseas, people who also fear terrorists, upset? And why is a lawsuit about to be filed to get these men in Cuba lawyers and have them hear what charges they face? And the list goes on.

So we have three reports tonight, beginning with Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It is these pictures showing detainees on their knees, shackled and eyes covered, that has sparked and international controversy, forcing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to defend the U.S. against criticisms of inhumane treatment. DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We know they're not coming from people who are knowledgeable. That's clear, because the treatment has been certainly appropriate.

STARR: The Pentagon says the detainees are getting culturally appropriate meals, medical treatment, and are allowed to pray. A Muslim cleric will now visit Camp X-Ray. A sign has been posted, showing them which way to turn to Mecca at prayer time.

The detainees are classified as unlawful combatants, not officially prisoners of war. The Pentagon says that is because the Taliban and al Qaeda are more terrorists than soldiers.

Still, the U.S. legal position is that they are being treated in most instances as if they were POWs under the Geneva Conventions. But critics say the Bush Administration is playing nothing more than a world game.

WILLIAM SCHULZ, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: If it walks like a war, talks like a war, sounds like a war, has been called a war by the President and every network in the United States, then there might be reason to believe that those who have been taken into custody as a result of military action are, indeed, prisoners of war.

STARR: Amnesty International has expressed concern over the cells in which the detainees are being held, 8 X 8 chain link fence units, which some call cages. Many are waiting to see the results of the current inspection by the international committee of the Red Cross.

MICHAEL NOONE, CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY LAW PROFESSOR: If the Red Cross says that these measures are not appropriate under the circumstances, the U.S. has a major problem, not that a court can intervene, but simply that there will be a general consensus that what the U.S. is doing is wrong.

STARR: The detainees now will be interrogated to see what they may know about future terrorist attacks or the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. After that, they could face a military tribunal, the U.S. Criminal Court System, or deportation back to their countries. Some could be held indefinitely.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (on camera): On Tuesday, a Federal judge will consider a petition by former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and other civil rights advocates, challenging the government and demanding that the detainees be brought before a court to face specific charges. Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

BROWN: So that's the overview. CNN's Bob Franken was there when the first prisoners landed. He's back in Guantanamo tonight with another view, an exclusive view of their arrival. Bob, good evening again.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FRANKEN (voice over): This is the first televised look at Camp X-Ray at night, but it's as bright as day. Intense floodlights make it look like a sports stadium. But this is no game of course. Day and night, the detainees will live under bright lights, so their every move can be monitored 24 hours a day.

They spend almost all their time in 8 x 8 foot cells, which are slabs of concrete and a roof, surrounded by chain link fence. No one seems to know exactly why it's called Camp X-Ray, but it's been called that, at least since the Cuban and Haitian detainees were here in the mid-'90s.

It's an apt name now. Security officials can look into the dismal lives of their inmates constantly.

BRIGADIER GENERAL MICHAEL LEHNERT, COMMANDER, TASK FORCE 160: These individuals are dangerous people. They have taken up arms. They were captured on the battlefield. They were brought here, and we start out by showing them that we are actually in charge, and then begin slowly to relax the conditions, based upon the, you know, their own behavior.

FRANKEN: This is also the first independently shot video that shows the newly-arrived detainees being processed. Still disoriented from the long flight around the world, they are forced through a thorough processing, everything from medical exams to complete searches, and identification.

LEHNERT: The detainees themselves spend about 45 minutes in that particular compound. By the time they've been showered, they take their goggles off. The shackles are removed as soon as they get into the cell. None of the detainees are shackled in the cell. Their eyes, they're allowed to see whatever they need to see, but the reason we keep their blindfolds on for the movement across the base, is just to make sure that they don't know exactly where they are in comparison to the rest of the base.

FRANKEN: The newest group to arrive is being handled in a somewhat different fashion. Many came in on stretchers and will require immediate medical care before they too take up life here at Camp X-Ray.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (on camera): The detainees who arrived today came on stretchers. They will be processed. Meanwhile, American officials say that they're doing the best they can to provide humane treatment, in light of the fact that so many of the detainees are desperate to kill Americans. Aaron.

BROWN: Bob, quickly, why did they let you get a little closer with the camera today? Any idea?

FRANKEN: A very specific reason, we asked.

BROWN: Doesn't get better than that, does it? Thank you. We'll keep that in mind for the next time. Just ask. There's no shortage of irony in where these detainees are being held, of course. The base at Guantanamo is surrounded by a minefield that was laid by the Cuban Army, not to keep the American prisoners in, but to keep Cubans from fleeing to Guantanamo.

So you might think Fidel Castro would be all too eager to stir the pot a bit here. Admit it, it's nice when things aren't predictable sometimes. Once again, here's CNN's Lucia Newman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NEWMAN (voice over): From the outside looking in, Cuban soldiers observe every move inside Guantanamo Naval Base. But instead of jumping up and down with anger, Cuba is actually seeing the arrival of Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners as a golden opportunity to improve relations with Washington.

In a meeting with CNN, President Fidel Castro bent over backwards to explain that Havana is serious about fighting terrorism, even though Washington has refused to take Cuba off its list of nations that sponsor it.

"Cuba would never allow its territory to be used to launch any acts of terrorism against the United States or any other country" said Castro.

Earlier, the President's younger brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, was asked in Guantanamo what he'd do if any al Qaeda or Taliban prisoners escaped into Cuba.

"They'd be captured and our government informed," he said. "Then I can tell you that we would hand them back to the Americans."

Cuba has also offered medical and sanitation services to the Guantanamo base, this at a time when a revolving door of Congressman, Senators, businessmen and other influential Americans have been visiting Cuba, almost all of them anxious to begin normalizing relations with the only communist nation in the hemisphere.

RICARDO ALARCON, PRESIDENT, CUBA'S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY: What should happen is that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) would grow, it would expand, and it may help bring a change in the not too distant future.

NEWMAN: A long shot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWMAN (on camera): Nevertheless, Cuba remains cautiously optimistic as it continues to court American lawmakers and especially public opinion, this in the hope of changing not only the tone, but especially the essence of relations with its old enemy, the United States. Aaron.

BROWN: Lucia, is it being widely reported in Cuba that the detainees are there and what are you hearing when you wander around the streets of Havana? NEWMAN: It has been reported. At first it wasn't, but eventually it was and it's been given ample coverage, especially the comments by the Defense Minister Raul Castro. I must say though, most ordinary Cubans just don't get it. They don't understand. After 40 years of antagonism, why now it's a good idea for these guys to be here in Guantanamo? Aaron.

BROWN: Lucia, thank you. Lucia Newman in Havana tonight. Progress to report in the case against the accused shoe bomber, Richard Reid. Thanks to a quirk of high technology, it is almost impossible, you might keep this in mind, to completely erase e-mail from a computer.

Investigators have turned up a handful of messages Reid sent from several locations in Europe. Some were obviously intended to be read after his death, taking credit for blowing up an airliner. Another may help tie him to a larger conspiracy. For more on that, CNN's Jim Bitterman tonight in Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was at this hotel, near Charles DeGaulle Airport outside Paris, that attempted shoe bomber, Richard Reid, got his final marching orders. At the hotel business center, according to police sources, Reid sent an e- mail to Pakistan, explaining that security agents had stopped him from boarding his assigned flight. What should he do, he asked.

FREDERIC HELBERT, TERRORISM EXPERT: The answer coming back from Pakistan is saying that you have to go. You have to do it. This is your mission. You have to take the next plane going from Paris to Miami.

BITTERMAN: That next plane was the American Airlines flight that ended abruptly in Boston, after passengers overpowered Reid as he tried to set off the bombs hidden in his tennis shoes. Reid claimed he was operating on his own, but according to investigators, his e- mails prove otherwise.

He was a regular at two Paris cyber cafes. The owner of this one told me he remembered Reid as tall and dirty, but he was unsure which computer Reid might have used. So the police carted off all eight of the cyber cafes hard drives as evidence. Among other messages they reportedly found was a kind of last letter to Reid's mother, explaining why he wanted to blow up the jet and urging her to convert to Islam.

BITTERMAN (on camera): According to reports, investigators have now determined that Reid was constantly using the e-mails for communication, not only from this very room, but from elsewhere in France and Belgium as well, confirming what's long been suspected, that the Internet can provide terrorists with an efficient command and control system.

BITTERMAN (voice over): Thousands of web sites like this one, according to author Roland Jacquard, permit terrorist cells and their leaders to stay in touch.

ROLAND JACQUARD, "SECRET BIOGRAPHY OF OSAMA BIN LADEN": They can send information. Also they can spy on the next targets and send the video by the Internet. They can send an audio message.

BITTERMAN: But additionally, in the kind of tough neighborhoods from which Reid sent many of his e-mails, police sources tell CNN that at least 10 people were in touch with him, helping him with money and logistics.

HELBERT: They're convinced that there is a network. There is a logistic cell. There is an apparative cell, but they did not arrest anyone.

BITTERMAN (on camera): Police here predict there could well be arrests coming soon. But sources close to the investigation say that authorities remain very worried, because the cases demonstrated that the terrorist network which gave Richard Reid his orders and his help, still exists. Jim Bitterman, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Back home, Enron's top lawyer says the company is looking into the circumstances surrounding the destruction of documents, in essence the timing of it, whether shredding went on after the company learned it was under investigation.

One high-ranking employee says it did and may still be. She says they were shredding when she left the company last week. If it was, Enron's lawyer, Bob Bennett, says it went against the company's policy. He says in October, a memo went out warning that all documents should be preserved in light of the litigation that is in the works against Enron.

Just ahead, why thousands of people are going back to a volcano that continues to kill. This one isn't a case of neighbor helping neighbor. It is NEWSNIGHT back in New York on a Monday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: There's something a bit surreal, maybe more than a bit about what's going on tonight beneath an erupting volcano in Congo, surreal and very sad. Thousands of refugees who have fled across the border to Rwanda have decided to go home, even though there's nothing to eat at home, even though the water is contaminated and things are still catching fire, people still dying.

One refugee explained it this way. They, speaking of the Rwandans, they wanted us to die. When we saw the sky clearing, we said we might as well go home and die at home. On that note, we turn once again to CNN's Catherine Bond on the videophone from Rwanda. Catherine, good evening.

BOND: Good evening, Aaron. Yes, I think a history of bad blood here between Congolese and Rwandans. Rwandans took refuge in Congo in 1994 at the end of the genocide here in Rwanda, and when they passed through the town of Goma, they didn't receive much help.

As a result, they turned to drinking the water from Lake Kebu (ph) and there was a Colera epidemic, which killed about 30,000 Rwandan refugees. I think the Congolese remember that. They remember how miserable the lives were for refugees in the camps outside Goma for the two years that followed between '94 and '96, and they coming into here, don't want their lives to become as miserable as that. Aaron.

BROWN: There was an incident earlier today that I saw, where a gas station exploded and they were trying to sort out how many people had died. Do we know any more about that tonight, Catherine?

BOND: I think what happened, one version I got of the story was that there was a storage shed in which containers of gas was stored and looters came in and tried to siphon the gas out of the metal drums, and in doing so, the fumes ignited because of the heat from the lava flow which had surrounded the storage shed.

They don't know how many people died in that. It's cut off by the lava flow, and so there really isn't any access to emergency workers, even if they were up and running, which frankly they aren't, to go and find out.

They do know that two women and two children were hospitalized as a result of that for burns. So that's as far as anybody knows. The casualty figures seem to vary between 30 and 60, and we haven't really heard many more details than that, simply because there's no access to it because it's cut off by the river of lava that came out of the volcano last week. Aaron.

BROWN: Catherine, thank you. I'm not sure what that photographer is standing there doing. Thank you very much. Catherine Bond in Rwanda for us tonight.

Coming up, history under the lens, a professor who's decided to stop using the works of Stephen Ambrose in his class, one with a key supporting role in the Ambrose drama. This is NEWSNIGHT in New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JEFF GREENFIELD, GREENFIELD AT LARGE: What should Ground Zero look like in the future? Should all of it be a memorial? Some victims' families think so. But the new mayor says the city needs buildings there. Who's right? We'll hear from both sides tonight on "GREENFIELD AT LARGE" right after NEWSNIGHT.

BROWN: We're reminded today, as we remember Dr. Martin Luther King that history is serious business, and we like to think as journalists that we're writing the rough draft of history, as we like to say.

Professional historians are the one with the time and the expertise to fill it out, and how they do that can have an enormous impact on just not what we remember, but how we look at problems today. So when they mess up, it has to be addressed, which brings us to the case of one of America's best-known historians. We've talked before about the case of Stephen Ambrose. He's accused of copying sentences, whole passages from other authors in his new book about World War II bomber pilots, "The Wild Blue."

He apologized for what he called "omissions." That would be quotation marks. Ambrose is facing more accusations in his book, ironically enough called "Nothing Like it in the World."

And another historian is also facing scrutiny, Doris Kerns Goodwin. The Weekly Standard is out with a look at her book, "The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys." Many sentences are very similar to ones written by other people, though they are not quoted either. Goodwin told the Standard that her notes were taken in longhand and she didn't realize she was writing "a close paraphrase of the original work."

All of these revelations have sparked an interesting reaction on college campuses. Students say they'd be expelled for doing the same thing, and professors are now deciding whether to continue using the books to teach students.

One of them has decided to stop using books by Ambrose in his class, and it so happens that it was largely his work that Ambrose borrowed from. Professor Thomas Childers says the decision has nothing to do with spite. He teaches at one of the country's great universities, the University of Pennsylvania. We're delighted he's with us tonight.

Professor, over time here, your position seems to have toughened. Initially at least, you seemed to be cutting Steve Ambrose some slack. What's changed?

PROFESSOR THOMAS CHILDERS, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: Well, when I initially was made aware of these charges and Mr. Ambrose instantly apologized, I thought said Mr. Childers is right. "I made a mistake. I apologize." I thought that was a classy thing to do. He stepped up to the plate. He didn't try to dodge it. He took responsibility. And I thought, this is an isolated incident and was ready to move on.

BROWN: And that changed as you saw more examples? Is that what happened?

CHILDERS: Well, there was a response instantaneously at the University of Pennsylvania, where my students, I teach a large course in the second World War. My students raised this question. If this would have happened to us, we'd be failed for the course. We'd be expelled.

And then, of course, during that week after the story broke, there were more allegations of borrowing from other books and in that instance, I just finally thought it was time to make a decision. And then finally, Stephen Ambrose made a statement to the New York Times, in which he explained his method, which I found very disturbing. And it was, "well, I'm not doing a Ph.D. dissertation here. I'm telling a story. I'm not talking about my documents. If I find something in another book that fits the story or works with the story that I'm telling, I use it. I put it in there and then put a footnote in so that I'll know where it came from." And that I thought was simply not the right thing to do.

BROWN: Is there - I think this is an interesting argument, that somehow there is a difference between popular history books that I might read, and serious history books that you might teach with. Is there a difference in your mind there?

CHILDERS: Well, yes and no. I mean, I guess one of the things that has been most disturbing to me as I've read the subsequent stories about Ambrose's work is that I think actually one of the great obligations that professional historians, those that teach in the university have, is to address a wider reading public.

There's an enormous public out there that is interested in history, as Mr. Ambrose's books and David McCullough's (ph) books and so on, really illustrate. And so, I think it is not actually the case that people who write for this broader audience that some have called popular history as if there's something wrong with it, I don't see this as the problem. The problem, I think is working too fast and taking shortcuts.

BROWN: Do you think your colleagues - I don't mean your colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, but your historian colleagues around the country are nervous about every word they've ever written and whether inadvertently they may have done the same thing?

CHILDERS: Yes. I'm sure we all are.

BROWN: Yes. And do you expect that in some ways this is more common than perhaps we had all thought?

CHILDERS: It may be. I wouldn't go too far with that. I mean, there are cases of borrowing, of just outright plagiarism within academic writing, within scholarly writing. It's not commonplace. It does happen. I think in this instance, it's simply because we're talking about an author who has, you know, a very, very large readership and a very high profile.

BROWN: I hope this doesn't make you uncomfortable. Do you think that Mr. Ambrose is forever discredited by this? Is this just a huge mark against him forever an all time?

CHILDERS: Well, that's a hard thing to say at this point. I think -- for me -- I mean, Stephen Ambrose has done a great deal of very good work. During the 1990s, we've seen a huge shift in our attention away from the generals and the admirals, away from the statesmen, to the experiences of ordinary sailors, soldiers, airmen, and so on.

And Stephen Ambrose's work has been at the forefront of that, he's led the charge that moved -- shifted our focus away. And he's to be congratulated for that. And I've used his books with great profit.

I think this will, however, be a problem for him in the future. I think these stories, which don't seem to want to go away, will make life difficult for him. But I suspect the base of his readership will still be there.

BROWN: Professor, it's nice to talk to you, finally. We came close one other night. We appreciate your time tonight.

CHILDERS: Thank you.

BROWN: Thank you. It's an interesting case, and just -- I seem to have figured this out, but we did invite Stephen Ambrose to join us as well, and he hasn't said yes yet, but when he does, we'll talk to him too.

We have a breaking news story we need to deal with here. There's been a shooting outside the U.S. Information Service in Calcutta. On the phone with us is CNN Satinder Bindra. What do you know?

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on phone): Good evening, Aaron.

What we do know, and this is from the police, that unidentified gunmen opened fire, and they opened fire on armed guards outside the American Center in Calcutta, eastern India. Aaron, we also know that the incident happened at about 6:30 a.m. local time. Police are now telling us that three of these guards were killed, and several people there were injured. The injured include U.S. consulate staff. Now, the attackers rode up on motorbikes. They then rode away.

Aaron, I also know that the American Center in Calcutta houses the U.S. consulate's press office, the U.S. cultural offices there, and there is a library there as well. This office is located in a very crowded downtown Calcutta location. The U.S. embassy in New Delhi here is describing this as a, quote "shooting incident." They say they have no idea of the motivation of the attackers.

What is ironical is that this incident happens just as the FBI director, Mr. Robert Mueller, is in India to discuss counterterrorism measures with the Indian government.

Aaron?

BROWN: Satinder, thank you. We'll keep waiting for more information there.

When we come back on NEWSNIGHT, Dr. Martin Luther King, in his own words.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Segment Seven tonight, the speech. It was August 28, 1963. Hotels and lunch counters in the South were still legally segregated. Schools were segregated too, but not legally. It's just that there was not a whole lot of will in the country to enforce the Supreme Court decision.

John Kennedy was still alive. He believed there had to be change in the way the country dealt with race, but he moved cautiously.

The landmark Civil Rights Bill would come a year later, after Kennedy's death, and out of the sheer force of will of Lyndon Baines Johnson.

What role the March on Washington and the speech played is conjecture, but the speech itself from beginning to end is a wonderful piece of American history, thoughtful, peaceful, poetic, and true.

So here is the speech, the parts you know by heart and the parts you may have long ago forgotten.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.: I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand today signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope for millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land.

And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense, we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men -- yes, black men as well as white men -- would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ``Insufficient funds.''

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.

So we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nations until the bright day of justice emerges.

But that is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by quenching from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

And the marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is partnered with our destiny.

And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, When will you be satisfied? We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of traveling, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating, "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and the Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality.

You who have been the veterans of creative suffering continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi and go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal.

I have a dream that one day on the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners, will they be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope, this is the faith that I go back to the South with. And with this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the cravatial (ph) slopes of California.

But not only there, let freedom ring from Storm Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi, from every mountainside let freedom ring.

And when that happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: The speech. We got permission to run the speech from Intellectual Properties Management, which manages the King estate. We're grateful for that.

And our thanks too to the King Center for their help as well.

Coming up next on NEWSNIGHT, the price of safety. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Finally from us tonight, changes. September 11 changed a lot. There are the big changes, the skyline of the city. There are the changes that can't be repaired, the families who still grieve. Airports look different, so do many office buildings. Washington, D.C., looks so much different and jarring and necessary and sad.

Here's CNN's Kate Snow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Step back from this famous dome, this monument to neoclassical architecture, and here's what you see. Sewer pipes, concrete barriers, chain-link fencing, a slalom course of planters, all strategically placed for protection.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: You have to be careful when you're taking a picture what, you know, that you don't get all the barricades and everything else in it.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Kind of sad, because when I was here before, it was so beautiful, and now it's as if because of the terrorists, we've lost a lot of our beauty.

SNOW: Visitors say they understand the need for added security. September 11 was a powerful warning. But even security experts acknowledge this is not the look Frederick Law Olmsted was going for when he designed the Capitol grounds in 1874.

ROGER LEWIS, ARCHITECT: I think they've gone way overboard.

SNOW: Architect Roger Lewis says security doesn't have to be ugly.

LEWIS: I think what we need is a designed system of security barriers that become part of the landscape aesthetically, that make our landscapes and our buildings look good rather than look bad. And I think what you see here feels like a fortress.

SNOW: The fortress was built post 9/11, but the look of the Capitol landscape has been evolving for decades. As late as 1969, there weren't even guards posted at Capitol entrances. And just look at the contrast between 1917 and today.

LT. DAN NICHOLS, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE: The nature of the place is, once we've put security into effect, it's difficult to back down from some of the physical barriers we've put up, just on the chance that we're going to have the same concern in the future.

SNOW (on camera): These went in when? These...

ALAN HARTMAN, ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL: The '80s, in the '80s. And they're basically sewer pipes, is really what they are.

SNOW (voice-over): It's been nearly 20 years since these barriers were quickly erected following the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut.

HARTMAN: Aesthetically, the -- it's not the image for the Capitol. No question. You can see that one's just collapsed over there. There's a hole in it. So I don't know if that's going to stop a Toyota.

SNOW: Now, the official architect of the Capitol is finally getting rid of them. The new look, these less intrusive steel bollards.

HARTMAN: It's much more compatible with the landscape. We're trying to have them essentially be here as security elements but kind of disappear into the background. SNOW (on camera): The project was planned well before September 11. Bollards will eventually encircle the Capitol, and officials hope they'll replace most if not all of the concrete barricades they're using now.

(voice-over): Construction is also under way on a new visitors' center. When it's done, in three years, designers hope the beauty of the grounds will finally be restored. But in a bow to the times, the People's House may never look or feel quite as open as it once was.

Kate Snow, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: It's good to be home. We'll see you tomorrow at 10:00. Good night for NEWSNIGHT.

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