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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
Secretary Powell Returns to U.S. Without A Clear Success; Federal Judge: DOJ Not Allowed to Stop Oregon Doctors From Helping Patients Die
Aired April 17, 2002 - 21:59 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. I'm Aaron Brown. For the first time in a couple of weeks, this page is not about the Middle East. It could have been. There is still plenty to say and a lot happened or didn't happen that's newsworthy today, and we'll spend plenty of time in the Middle East tonight.
But tonight the page is about confusion. Mine. In Oregon today, as we'll report in some detail later, a federal judge ruled the Justice Department, the Attorney General of the United States, can not stop doctors in that state from helping the terminally ill die if that's what they choose.
Twice, voters in Oregon have approved assisted suicide laws. There have been fierce and fascinating campaigns about the wisdom of this, and if asked to vote on it, I honestly don't know what I would do.
But that's not my confusion. This is. Why would a conservative administration, a conservative attorney general, tell the people of a state how to run their lives this way? Conservatives believe in less government intrusion. I believe that. Conservatives believe that the more decisions made outside of Washington, D.C. the better.
But in this case, the conservative position sounds awfully liberal to me, a judgment that Washington knows what's best for the people in Oregon, and that's confusing. Oregon may have been right or may not have been, but no one is being forced by the Oregon law to do anything.
Doctors aren't forced to prescribe the drugs. No terminally ill patient is forced to take them. Attorney General Ashcroft would not be happy to be called a liberal, but his decision to attack the decision made by the voters of Oregon, whether you like that decision or not, sounds awfully liberal to me.
On to the whip tonight and the first stop is Jerusalem. In an early read on Secretary of State Powell's mission, Wolf Blitzer is there. Wolf the headline please.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Aaron. Secretary of State Colin Powell came to this region some ten days ago, hoping to achieve an Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire to jump start the peace process. That didn't happen. We'll tell you what did happen -- Aaron.
BROWN: Wolf, thank you. You're up first. We'll get to you in a moment. Now the White House and the take there on the Secretary's trip and what comes next. Major Garrett has the duty. Major a headline from you please.
MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Aaron. President Bush granted Colin Powell maximum flexibility in the Middle East, but no one here at the Bush White House denies that when he returns to Washington, he'll bring back minimal results.
BROWN: Thank you. An arrest in North Carolina, that comes with a connection to a cave in Afghanistan. The possibilities here are tantalizing. Susan Candiotti has been working the story since early on. Susan give us a quick headline please.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Aaron. You know investigators have been finding all kinds of material in Afghan caves. This time a letter leads them to a Tanzanian man living in North Carolina, who is now being held on immigration charges. Investigators want to know whether he might have been targeted as a recruit by al Qaeda -- Aaron.
BROWN: Susan, thank you. And as we said at the beginning, a setback today for the federal government's effort to undo the Oregon State law permitting doctor assisted suicide. Rusty Dornin outside a courthouse in Portland, Oregon. Rusty, I've pretty much stolen the headline. Good luck.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, you said it. Attorney General John Ashcroft's bid to ban assisted suicides in Oregon failed. A federal judge here in Portland, Oregon told the federal government it has no business in this case.
BROWN: Rusty, we're back to you in just a little while, all of you in a moment. Later, we will talk a great deal about this decision in Oregon. Oregon Senator Ron Wyden joins us. Also tonight, political strategist Dick Morris, we'll talk about leadership and the White House.
And, what do you call it when people get together for drinks, canapes, an injection of a toxin made from spoiled chicken that can paralyze or even kill? It's call a botox party. It's a great story, sort of Tupperware party for people who want to keep their faces fresher longer, and after the last few weeks, we've all aged around here. We may need a botox party before the week is over.
That's where we're headed tonight. We begin in the Middle East. No one likes to talk about failure. We asked Israelis if the Powell mission failed and they said no to us. I asked a Palestinian spokesman today if it was a failure, and he too said no. No one likes to talk about failure and we're no exception, so let's put it this way. The Powell mission did not succeed.
Israeli troops are still in the West Bank, and unless there is a capitulation in Ramallah and Bethlehem, it appears they're going to be there for a while. The Palestinian side says no cease-fire without withdrawal, and while it also says it deplores the killing of innocents, a betting man might comfortably wager on more suicide attacks on Israelis.
No one likes to say failure, so we'll just say there is little in the way of tangible success. Two reports tonight, beginning with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice over): Following his two-hour meeting with Yasser Arafat at the besieged Ramallah headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, the Secretary of State returned to Jerusalem, where he had some strong words about the Palestinian leader.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: In my meetings with Chairman Arafat, I made it clear that he and the Palestinian Authority can no longer equivocate. They must decide, as the rest of the world has decided, that terrorism must end. Chairman Arafat must take that message to his people. He must follow through with instructions to his security forces. They must act to arrest and prosecute terrorists, disrupt terrorist financing, dismantle terrorist infrastructure, and stop incitement.
BLITZER: A shaken Arafat had emerged from the meeting appealing for an end to the Israeli siege of his headquarters.
YASSER ARAFAT, PALESTINIAN LEADER: I have to ask the whole international world, I have to ask his excellency President Bush, I have to ask the United Nation is this acceptable that I can't go outside from this door?
BLITZER: Powell, in wrapping up his ten-day mission to the region also offered a stiff rebuke to the Israelis.
POWELL: For the people and leaders of Israel, the question is whether the time has come for a strong, vibrant State of Israel, to look beyond the destructive impact of settlements and occupation.
BLITZER: It was the harshest U.S. condemnation of Israel settlement policy on the West Bank in Gaza since former President Jimmy Carter branded those outposts as illegal under international law more than two decades ago. Still, an adviser to Prime Minister Sharon sought to play down the rift.
DORE GOLD, SHARON ADVISER: We will address the issue of settlement activity over which we have disagreements.
BLITZER: From Jerusalem, the Secretary flew to Cairo for talks, but pointedly no meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Powell left open a possible return to the region, not only by CIA Director George Tenet, but also by himself.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (on camera): While the Secretary didn't make much headway in easing the tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians, he did score one major achievement. He did ease the tensions along Israel's northern borders with Lebanon and Syria, at least for now. Aaron.
BROWN: So, the Secretary goes home. Maybe Tenet comes there in a little while. And in the meantime, on the ground, are things in fact any different, any better?
BLITZER: The only thing that changes on the ground is the Israelis are going to be pulling out, they say, from the West Bank towns by this weekend, Monday the latest, with the exception of Ramallah, which the standoff around the compound of Yasser Arafat will continue in Bethlehem at the Church of the Nativity, where that standoff of some 200 armed Palestinians inside continues.
It doesn't look like there's going to be a whole lot of change, and the Israelis are also leaving open the possibility, the very real possibility they'll go right back in if they sense there's any potential terrorist threat.
BROWN: And, Wolf, when they talk about pulling out of these areas, other than Ramallah and Bethlehem, are they talking about completely getting out and going back to the Israeli border, or are they talking about a buffer zone of some sort that is still in the territories?
BLITZER: They're suggesting that there will be these buffer zones that will be in the territories, and that's further fueling the problem, because the Palestinians want the Israelis to go back to where they were a few weeks ago, out of this so-called Zone A area that they earlier had the Palestinian Authority control over those areas.
So the whole situation right now doesn't seem to be much of a change, much of a substantive change. The Palestinians remain furious. The Israelis believe that they're totally committed, that they're totally right, and as a result when George Tenet, the CIA Director, comes here and Powell returns a few weeks later, it doesn't look like the whole situation is going to have changed very much.
BROWN: Wolf, thank you. Nice job my friend. Thank you very much. The White House now, once again today, President Bush told both sides in so many words at least enough is enough. That said, it's not entirely clear where things go from here.
As Wolf just mentioned, whether the Bush Administration will stay focused on finding the solution for the Middle East or, as critics have said, move on to something else. We go back to CNN's Major Garrett. Major, good evening.
GARRETT: Good evening again, Aaron. The President wanted to report more progress in the Middle East today, but he couldn't, despite Colin Powell's best efforts.
So he grafted some rather familiar demands of the Israelis, the Palestinians, and neighboring Arab nations into a speech that had originally been crafted as a progress report on the wider war on terrorism.
But there wasn't anything particularly new or particularly promising on that front either. So the President fell back on some recent, but not necessarily late breaking, success stories.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARRETT (voice over): The White House billed the speech as an important war update, but the news was weeks old, the arrest of key al Qaeda operative Abu Zabeda (ph).
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's under lock and key, and we're going to give him some company.
GARRETT: The President offered no new anti-terror policies and repeated this warning to axis of evil nations, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea.
BUSH: We will defeat global terror, and we will not allow the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most dangerous weapons.
GARRETT: As for the Middle East, the President labeled Colin Powell's trip a success, even though there's no cease-fire and Israeli defense forces remain on the West Bank. Top aides pointed to a reduction in violence, and that they said, was at least a start.
Confronting critics, the President said the fight against terror in the Middle East was no different than anywhere else. Even so, the White House has, in the face of repeated suicide bombings in Israel, exempted the Palestinians from economic, diplomatic, or military sanctions.
BUSH: The Palestinian Authority must act, must act, on its words of condemnation against terror. Israel must continue its withdrawals, and all Arab states must step up to their responsibilities.
GARRETT: And to make sure there was no confusion about what those responsibilities are, the President spelled out exactly what he expects from top U.S. allies in the region, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.
BUSH: All parties have a responsibility to stop funding or inciting terror.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GARRETT (on camera): In surveying Powell's trip, one senior Bush adviser mused, "you know, this White House likes to be judged on its results, except for now." But the Bush White House knows results must come and they must come soon. The only problem is, nobody knows what those results will be or when they will be achieved -- Aaron.
BROWN: Very quickly, do we know when Tenet will go back?
GARRETT: Not definitively, Aaron. It's going to be a hot topic here tomorrow. The secretary of state arrives here 10:45. Big meeting with the President, all of his top advisers, the key question do they stick with the Tenet-Mitchell plans or do they go for something bigger and bolder, as many in the Arab world have suggested.
BROWN: Thank you, Major Garrett at the White House today. On to other things, there was one of those developments today that could either be a footnote or a Page One of a pretty substantial story. In all honesty, we don't know which it will be yet.
We are reminded of that moment the airliner landed in Boston with Richard Reid, the suspected shoe bomber on board. This one, too, with some very intriguing elements, a student pilot whose name, authorities say, is on a letter found in a cave in Afghanistan. He's in custody tonight. Susan Candiotti broke the story earlier today. She's back with us from Miami. Susan, good to see you.
CANDIOTTI: Hi, Aaron. It is one of those stories that, as you indicated, does have some intriguing links between a cave in Afghanistan, a licensed pilot living in the United States, and it has investigators wondering exactly what they've got.
Now here's what we do know. A Tanzanian citizen, who is currently living in Apex, North Carolina, is currently under arrest. Tonight, he's reportedly in custody in a North Carolina jail, while the FBI and INS and the Justice Department try to sort things out.
His name is Isayah Nambo in his early 40s, arrested Monday on immigration charges. Now U.S. government officials tell CNN his name was found on a letter in a cave in Afghanistan, congratulating him on completing flight school and obtaining a U.S. pilot's license. He's being held on those immigration charges for overstaying his valid student visa. It expired last August.
Now a key question, is there a terror link? Investigators say so far, they have not established any connection between this man and the al Qaeda terrorist network. Authorities are still trying to figure out how Nambo's name wound up on this letter in a cave in Afghanistan, and they are suggesting that he might have been targeted by al Qaeda as a recruit.
Now CNN has confirmed that Nambo attended a flight school in Titusville, Florida, which has since been bought out by another that is relocated farther south. Nambo's name appears on the school's website, which has now been taken down. But before it was, we captured its image. It reads in part: "Congratulations Issaya Nambo on completed your ATP, Airline Transport Pilot's License."
Now investigators say they're looking at a number of possibilities, including whether al Qaeda might have been looking for flight schools on the Internet, surfing the Internet and then came across his name and might have been trying to recruit him.
The bottom line is, the FBI does not yet know what it has on its hands. They're intrigued. So are we. In the meantime, Nambo has these immigration charges to contend with, and sources say it is the first time that they have been able to draw a connection, find a link between the name of someone found in a safe house or in a cave in Afghanistan, and someone currently living in the United States. Aaron.
BROWN: Susan, this is fascinating. Investigating to do and some reporting to do. Thank you for your efforts today, nice story. We have a lot ahead tonight, including their news. We'll take a look at both how Arab TV and Israeli news programs covered Secretary Powell's ending of his mission. Up next Dick Morris on George W. Bush and presidential leadership. This is NEWSNIGHT from New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: I suppose it's fair to say that Dick Morris is, in some circles, a controversial figure. I think it's also fair to say that no one, his friends or his enemies will argue that he is anything but a shrewd and smart political operative and observer of politicians and what they need to do. We're pleased to have Mr. Morris with us. He's just written a new book, "Power Plays, Win or Lose. How History's Great Political Leaders Play the Game."
DICK MORRIS, AUTHOR: See, Aaron, for me controversial is a promotion.
BROWN: There you go. I like them when they come with their own one-liners. I want to talk about leadership. We were kicking this around this morning. In comparisons maybe to Bush 1 and Bush 2, on the war, the President has led, right?
MORRIS: I think there are two George Bush's in the second George Bush.
BROWN: Yes.
MORRIS: There's a 49 percent President who isn't over 50, his domestic policy, and then there's an 80 percent President on the war on terror, and it's just like the British people felt about Winston Churchill during the war.
We don't like that you're against unions. We don't like that you're against health insurance. We don't like that you want India to be a colony. We don't like that you love the British Empire, but go win this war for us. And I think that Bush has these very high ratings on the war and not on anything else.
BROWN: And is there a parallel here or am I reaching, is there a parallel here between the 90 percent approval ratings that his father had during the Gulf War, and that he was unable to translate into love and affection from the electorate after the war?
MORRIS: No, I don't think there is that parallel. I think that Bush will keep those ratings for a long time. First of all, this war will go on forever, not forever but for several more years.
BROWN: Right.
MORRIS: But secondly, we didn't learn anything new about Bush, Sr. during the Gulf War. He'd been kicking around politics for 30 years. We knew a lot about him, and we learned a few things about him that were neat.
But George Bush, Jr., W. Bush, the President now, is so totally different, in fact different than what he was as a candidate or governor. This guy is growing before our eyes, and as far as I'm concerned, he has a one-way date with Mount Rushmore. Now that does not mean that he'll be able to control domestic politics, because we don't agree with him on most of the other stuff.
BROWN: There was -- I mentioned this earlier to you. There was in the Wall Street Journal today in the editorial page, a tough editorial on the President, taking him to task on his decision on steel terrorists, which they describe as a capitulation, on the administration's very mushy handling of Venezuela over the weekend, the Middle East, Iraq, you know all of it. The President is getting it a bit from the right and a bit from the left.
MORRIS: But just a bit. I think that Bush --
BROWN: Bush, the current.
MORRIS: Bush, the current. Bush, the younger, took his eye off the ball here for a minute going into the Middle East.
BROWN: Do you think it was a mistake?
MORRIS: He kind of felt he had to do it because of European public opinion, but if he listens to European public opinion, like his father did, he'll be a one-term president, and I think that basically --
BROWN: Wait. Wait. Wait. Is the object to be reelected or is the object to accomplish something?
MORRIS: Look, Bush is not going to solve the Palestinian-Israeli problem in a week, and when Europe talks about it, the only reason they're pushing is they're afraid of their own domestic Arab populations. It's a domestic problem for them, and Bush played his game. He gave at the office. He did what he was supposed to do. Now, get on with Iraq.
BROWN: And you think he can walk away from the Middle East?
MORRIS: Oh, yes.
BROWN: You think he should walk away from the Middle East?
MORRIS: I do. I think that the Middle East will be solved when Israel builds a wall, and when Israel gives up enough of the West Bank so that it has defensible borders.
One of the things I do in my book is that I compare how Bush's mobilizing America for this war with how Roosevelt and Churchill did in their war, and the failure of Johnson in his war, and I kind of have a checklist here of stuff. I call it his report card. And I think that Bush is telling us the truth. He's not lying to the people. He's not understating the magnitude of the task. He's not claiming premature victory. He's not being savage with his domestic opponents. He's avoiding all of Lyndon Johnson's mistakes.
BROWN: Thank you. It's nice to meet you finally. I'd invite you back, but I hear you got this other gig.
MORRIS: Occasionally, once in a while.
BROWN: Nice to meet you.
MORRIS: Thank you.
BROWN: Dick Morris. Good luck with the book. Thank you. We have more. We'll take a look at their news, Al Jazeera and Israeli TV coming up next. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Remember that lovely old Joni Mitchell song in which she says, "I've looked at life from both sides now?" Well, we've done that and we're about to do it again. The wonderful Ms. Mitchell had no idea we'd use that line to set the stage for tonight's bear news, but it does apply. So does an old Bob Dylan line, "you're right from your side and I am right from mine."
Old lyrics aside, here is how the end of the Powell mission played on TV newscasts in the Middle East. Israeli TV begins their news tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT (through translator): Good evening and happy Independence Day. The celebrations of the 54th Independence Day of Israel have taken place today, and in the diplomatic area, the failure has been noted of the mission of Secretary of State Powell.
The Secretary of State left after another visit to Arafat in Ramallah and President Bush has called on the parties to fight terrorism together.
Hundreds and thousands of people have barbequed to celebrate Independence Day. Two hundred and twelve new immigrants from Argentina have arrived in Israel, and two Israelis, one of them blind and deaf have won the international Bible quiz.
On the northern border, things are not quiet yet. Recently, a while ago, rockets were shot at IDF troops, but they vanished after firing.
Colin Powell concluded his mission this evening with an extra failure in trying to achieve a cease-fire and calm between the Israelis and the Palestinians. They are considering an international conference. UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT (through translator): Colin Powell in his second meeting with Arafat today, already knew that his mission was doomed to failure. He arrived less than a week ago with high hopes and a desire to achieve a cease-fire and withdrawal of the IDF from the territories. Neither of these aims has been achieved. There will be an attempt to restore security efforts.
POWELL: Chairman Arafat must take that message to his people. He must follow through with instructions to his security forces. They must act to arrest and prosecute terrorists, disrupt terrorist financing, dismantle terrorist infrastructure, and stop incitement.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: The Palestinians have defined the Powell mission as a failure. Yasser Arafat has called the meeting today a disaster.
ARAFAT: I have to ask the whole international world, I have to ask President Bush, I have to ask the United Nations, is this acceptable?
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: As far as Israel is concerned, finally the Secretary of State attained a time line for withdrawal from the territories. It's clear that Sharon also plays a part in the failure of the Powell mission.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: And at the same time, this bin Laden that we've heard about, him and his videos, there's another video that's been distributed. It's not new apparently. You don't know exactly what the date is, but there he specifically praises the attacks in Washington and New York and he talks about his pleasure after the damage inflicted on the U.S.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: All right. That's their news from Israel. What's sort of weird about this is that Israeli viewers saw bits of the Osama bin Laden tape. People who subscribe in the Arab world to Al Jazeera did not because of a kind of messy competitive issue with the Middle East Broadcasting Corporation. That said, here's how Al Jazeera covered the end of the Powell mission.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT (through translator): Egypt rejects a proposal for an international peace conference. Powell returned home empty handed and Bush talks about progress.
Israel is tightening its grip on Nablus and tens of thousands are dead. Tension over Bethlehem and Israeli-Palestinian talks continue to find a solution to the besieged Church of Nativity.
The Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has rejected the idea that was put forward by the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, for an international peace conference.
Also, Egypt has rejected President Bush's call for an Arab effort against what he called terrorism. In a meeting that took part in Cairo between Powell and the Jordanian and Egyptian prime ministers today, the Arab side insisted that Israel must stop its aggression against the Palestinian people. Powell was forced to meet President Mubarak, who canceled the meeting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It looks like Colin Powell has failed to reach an agreement to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. The Arab side, who met Powell today, condemned the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.
The Egyptian foreign minister said that no one could expect us to condemn resistance against the occupation. As long as there's occupation, the resistance will continue. It is not possible to put an end to acts of violence until the Palestinian people's rights are restored.
The Egyptian (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with Powell and his failure to pressure Sharon to pull his troops out of the occupied territories was evident in the press conference. The Egyptians and the Jordanians, who are close friends of the United States and the Middle East, have not disguised their disappointment over the American position, which is biased towards Israel.
As for public opinion on the ground, the Arab street is highly critical of the American position to what is perceived as bias towards Israel. There have been calls for Israel to severe its position with the United States.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Al Jazeera and their news tonight on the end of the Powell mission.
Coming up still, a pair of tough stories actually to grapple with when we come back. First, a cockpit tape from United flight 93 and the families who will hear tomorrow.
And then a little bit later, the confrontation between the state of Oregon and the Justice Department over doctor-assisted suicide. Much ahead. This is NEWSNIGHT from New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: This may have happened to you at some point in your life. You get some dreadful news that someone you were accustomed to talking to on the phone nearly every day has died suddenly. And then unthinkingly, because you don't really believe it yet, you dial that phone number anyway. And you find yourself hearing on the answering machine, the voice you were just starting to accept you would never hear again.
It is, to say the very least, haunting. And it may be haunting tomorrow when family members gather to listen for the first time to the recording made on September 11 aboard United Airlines flight 93.
David Mattingly has spoken to a woman who will be there tomorrow. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEENA BURNETT, WIDOW: I'll distinctly be listening for my husband's voice. I hope that I hear it, and yet, I don't know if I'm prepared to hear his voice.
DAN MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been seven months since Deena Burnett's husband, Tom, died along with 39 other passengers and crew of the hijacked United flight 93. And now with mixed emotions, she prepares to listen the cockpit voice recorder. A families only opportunity offered by the FBI.
BURNETT: And when I found out that plane crashed, I knew it was not in Tom's plan. I wanted to know what happened. And that was my first question, "What went wrong?"
MATTINGLY: But that is just one of many questions that could go unanswered. The identifiable sounds on the tape are reportedly sparse and inconclusive. FBI director Robert Mueller had resisted the idea of playing the 30 minute tape for the families, citing concerns it would not provide any comfort.
BURNETT: They think we're looking for peace of mind, when in fact, we do not expect to find peace of mind from listening to the last 30 minutes of that flight.
MATTINGLY: What Deena Burnett is looking for is an understanding of her husband's last minutes alive, that began with a series of cellphone calls high over Pennsylvania.
BURNETT: My husband called me four times that morning from the aircraft on his cellphone. He told me he was putting together to take back that aircraft.
MATTINGLY: As Tom moved through the aisles, Deena could hear him talking to other passengers, plotting a move. One passenger had already been killed. He was waiting, he said until they were over a rural area, before they stormed the cockpit, on a mission to reach the controls.
BURNETT: I knew that he was coming home. He instilled in me the confidence that he would be home later that day.
MATTINGLY: Leading the way for the families, Deena was pushing the FBI for access to the cockpit voice recorder two days before the device was even recovered. Two weeks later, she was in the White House with her three small daughters, appealing to the president for a chance to listen to the tape.
BURNETT: The president responded by saying, "I can see why you would want to." And from there it was it was condolences.
MATTINGLY: And that's more than the tape itself may offer. There are reportedly voices of nervous hijackers at the controls. Then the possible sounds of a struggle, ending with crash of flight 93 in the remote country side near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. BURNETT: I look into the sky and I see airplanes overhead. And I have to close my eyes because it reminds me of what it must have been like for him to be flying and then fall out of the sky the way they did.
MATTINGLY: Feelings amplified as I followed Deena on board on eastbound jet. This former flight attendant now afraid to fly, constantly thinking about flight 93.
BURNETT: I look at the aisle and I think about the passengers and crew charging down the aisle to the cockpit. I think about the movements they must have made on the airplane and their experience.
MATTINGLY (on camera): And as Deena Burnett comes to Princeton, New Jersey to listen to that 30 minute tape, she and her family join dozens of others in wondering if they are truly prepared to hear it.
David Mattingly, CNN, Princeton.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Up next on NEWSNIGHT, the court battle over Oregon's assisted suicide law.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: There's nothing simple or easy about a law that allows for doctor-assisted suicide. We suspect even some proponents of the law have some worry that the terminally ill may be pressured to end their lives early, because staying alive is expensive or otherwise burdensome to family members. But twice, voters in the state of Oregon decided that assisted suicide was right for them. End every time they've passed this, lawyers have stepped in and tried to stop it.
That's what Attorney General John Ashcroft did. And today, a court ruled he cannot do that. An appeal is certainly possible. And in the end, the Supreme Court may decide for the federal government and against the citizens of Oregon, but tonight at least, the law stands, for good or ill.
Here's CNN's Rusty Dornin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN (voice-over); Sandy Lupo never knew she was sick. Then in December, the doctors told her she would die of lung cancer within six months. 59-year-old Lupo says she immediately applied for Oregon's so-called "death with dignity drugs," ones that would allow her to end her life, at a time and place of her choosing.
SANDY LUPO: I get to decide when I've had enough. Nobody else will tell me that I haven't had enough, that I can endure more. Nobody else can define my level of "this is enough indignity."
DORNIN: Lupo was angry that somebody else tried to stop her from that decision. That somebody was the federal government, which last November tried to strike down the law. The government, which regulates prescription drugs, argued that assisting suicides is not a legitimate medical purpose. But a Portland federal judge told the the federal government it has no authority here.
GEORGE EIGHRNEY, COMPASSION FOR DYING FEDERATION: I think this is a victory for all terminally ill Oregonians who find a great deal of comfort and relief knowing that the laws in Oregon "death with dignity" law is available to them now.
DORNIN: On the courthouse steps, government lawyers still defended their case.
ROBERT MCCALLUM, ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY JOURNAL: I can tell you that I think that the arguments presented by the government in his case, on behalf of Attorney General Ashcroft, were compelling. And we regret that we were unable to persuade Judge Jones with those arguments.
DORNIN: So will his boss take it to the Supreme Court? Attorney General John Ashcroft isn't anxious to show his hand yet.
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We are digesting the opinion.
DORNIN: Oregonians voted twice for the law: once in 1994 when voters passed it, and then again when they defeated a ballot measure to repeal it in '97. Since then, 140 lethal prescriptions were written. 91 terminally ill patients decided to take the drugs. That means more than a third decided not to do it.
Cancer specialist Dr. Peter Rasmussen has written 100 prescriptions. He says people just want the option.
PETER RASMUSSEN, ONCOLOGIST: It's almost always just in case. Very few people say "I know I'm going to do this." Almost all say "I think I might." It depends on the situation.
DORNIN: A situation that Sandy Lupo says she will determine for herself.
LUPO: My preference would be to not use them. I would rather die in my sleep in the night, peacefully.
DORNIN (on camera): Advocates say of the right to die say they hope this decision will kick start the movement in other states. While others are standing back, fearful of more legal hassles until the Justice Department decides whether it will take it to the Supreme Court -- Aaron.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Rusty, thank you, Rusty Dornin in Portland, Oregon tonight.
One of the intriguing parts of the story for us as we've watched it is that a lot of people who oppose the initiative when it was on the ballot in the state of Oregon were outraged that the federal government tried to interfere.
At some point to them at least became a issue, not so much of the terminally ill, but about the right of the residents of the state to decide this difficult question. Senator Ron Widen is one of those people. He opposed the law, but he supports the voters in his state. Well, they supported him too as it turns out. Senator Wyden joins us from Washington tonight.
Senator, it's nice to see you. Do you expect that the government will appeal? Have you heard anything, one way or another?
SEN RON WYDEN (D), OREGON: Well, I don't think they have much of a case, Aaron. But certainly the president indicated in the last campaign that he wants to wipe out the Oregon law. And I think what really ought to be of concern for the whole country is that if the Ashcroft position prevails, and if they're allowed to twist the controlled Substances Act, so as to deny Oregon the right to carry out its law, it's going to make it tough for patients in every part of this nation to get pain relief assistance.
That's your mother. That's your brother. I don't think we ought to be stepping backward in terms of getting people pain relief.
BROWN: I want to talk about that in a moment, but let me ask you something about something you said just a second ago. How is this different from the case the Supreme Court ruled on, where dealing with medical marijuana, where states voted? They voted to allow, in certain situations, the use of a drug that is illegal in the federal code. And the court ruled that the federal code prevails.
Well, of course, Oregon has found a legitimate medical purpose here. And this is an area that's historically been left to the states. And that wasn't found in the other case you mentioned and a variety of other concerns.
WYDEN: I will tell you, Aaron, I've have reservations about assisted suicide. My background is working with older people. Before I went to the Congress, I was director of the Great Panthers, a senior citizens group for about seven years.
I saw an awful lot of older people, who don't have much money, don't have a lot of political power, pushed around and jostled around by the health system. So I've had reservations about assisted suicide. But with the steps that are required in the Oregon law, we just haven't seen those abuses.
BROWN: Actually, one of the things I think that to me, at least I think you know, I was out there a long time. And came out there to write about this several times, is that there's large number of people for whom just the option seems to be enough. They don't take the drug that will end their life, but they like knowing that they have the choice if they wanted. Has that in any sense changed your views of laws like this?
Well, first of all, even though I've had concern about assisted suicide, I think it's a mistake for elected officials sitting in Washington, D.C. to substitute their own personal opinions for those folks in the state level on a matter that's historically been left to the states.
And the irony here is you hear an awful lot of people in Washington, D.C. proudly proclaiming that they're for states rights. It seems to me what they're really meaning is that they only agree with the state if they think the state is right.
BROWN: All right. Now let me go to this issue you mentioned in the second part of your first answer, if that's not confusing, that somehow overturning this law would make it more difficult for doctors to prescribe legitimately drugs to ameliorate pain. Why is that?
WYDEN: The way John Ashcroft wants to proceed here is that he would reinterpret the Controlled Substance Act. That's a law that's designed to deal with drug pushers. So that in effect, law enforcement people could second guess doctors' decisions all over this country. So let's say you have a doctor who might, like me, be opposed to assisted suicide, but wanting to treat pain aggressively.
If the doctor wants to do that, that doctor runs the risk when they reach for their prescription pad, that several months or even years later, the federal government could come second guess their decision. If the federal government, after the fact says that the doctor was trying to do is to facilitate an assisted suicide, the doctor loses their license and essentially the right to practice.
That's going to have a chilling effect on pain management in every corner of the country. And finally, this nation is getting aggressive in terms of trying to make folks in their last days more comfortable. We shouldn't let Mr. Ashcroft turn back the clock.
BROWN: Sir, about a minute left. Isn't there or hasn't there been in Congress a proposal to deal with that, that basically I'm dramatically paraphrasing here, that gives doctors the right to prescribe what they want to prescribe. And even if ends in the death of patient, that wasn't the intent, that's OK, as long as the object was to eliminate pain?
WYDEN: Of course, there are a number of people in the United States Congress, in both the House and the Senate, who have looking for a back door approach to gut the Oregon law. In fact, they have named their legislation, in effect, after promoting a pain relief.
But when you really look behind that law, you see that virtually all the money, for example, is spent on law enforcement, sending law enforcement officials out to second guess the doctors, rather than putting it into real pain relief. For legislators who do want to promote pain relief, I've introduced bipartisan legislation, called the Conquering Pain Act, so that pain relief assistance would be available 24-7 in communities across the country.
BROWN: Senator, it's always good to talk to you. Thank you.
WYDEN: Thank you, Aaron.
BROWN: It's a great issue. Thank you, sir, very much.
Coming up next from Segment Seven, moving on to the search for eternal use. Go figure how we put these babies together. A Botox party, next on NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Consider this: someday you may have to explain to your grandkids what wrinkles were. "Really," you'll say, "people used to get these cracks and lines in their faces as they got older, and their skin would sort of sag and go soft, and they'd look kind of crinkly and mushy."
The little ones will be silent, and they'll look at you. And then they'll laugh. And they'll say, "Nah," you're kidding." Maybe I am and maybe I'm not. Come along now to a party organized, to be fair about this, by a woman who is a publicist for a doctor you will also meet.
And the guest of honor is a substance the FDA approved for use as a cosmetic just Monday. Oh welcome, brave new world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what's called a botox party. It's actually a situation where people can find out about Botox as a treatment. They can meet me and meet my staff. And if they want to have botox injections, they can have botox injections.
Are you interested in having it done?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most people know that it's a botox party. We find that we have people that come in and they don't really know even what a botox party is. So they're here for you know and hors d'oeuvres or a cocktail.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I honestly feel that these botox parties are sort of the Tupperware party of the new millennium, but with a cautionary aspect.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome, everybody. I hope everyone's comfortable. And (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I think there're going to be some other people straggling in, but I just want to talk a little bit about the procedure, because I'm kind of very serious about this stuff.
What we generally do is we give a little talk, just explaining what botox is, what it can treat, what it can't treat.
I know some of you have already had botox. And some of you are already patients of ours, but botox is botulism toxin, which is a deadly toxin, that if you inject -- you know, if you swallow it in large doses, can kill you. Botox, however, is very safe in the way we administer it, which is in very small injections to paralyze areas of muscle. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How much is too much? Could I have my forehead, crows feet?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can never get enough.
I think patients really appreciate the fact that the whole atmosphere is less medical, and that they can have a drink afterwards, but it's really the same equipment, the same stuff that we bring, the same level of sterility.
We bring ice with us, we bring alcohol pads, we bring needles, we bring everything that's necessary.
Don's having it first; right?
The patient comes in, and I'll usually discuss with them exactly their desires and explain to them what can and can't be done. We usually put some ice on them and keep it for a couple of minutes.
Hello, there, how are you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, you're all frozen? Let's take a look.
We'll do a series of injections which usually lasts about a minute. And that's pretty much it. Then they can go back and have a drink or do whatever they do.
See you right outside. Now you can have your glass of wine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, now I can drink.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Botox, actually, amazingly, given that it's the most -- one of the most toxic things you can inject into your body, and can kill you, is incredibly safe when used properly. The dangers of botox are mostly local side effects from the procedure. For instance, redness, you can get some bruising. In the area that gets paralyzed, if it migrates to a different area, you can get some drooping of the lid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When your face is frozen, I can't move anything. So I guess it's working.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you try to raise your eyebrows for us?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am trying to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're definitely youth obsessed. But we're also in different times now. It's not just that we're cosmetically oriented, it's that we're competitive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very like extremely vain. In the entertainment field, you kind of have to be. It comes with the territory. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was my first botox party, but gauging from the success or judging from the success of this one, we would certainly do it again, because absolutely, the demand is there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm here to tell all my friends, my clients. I'm going to tell everyone, my mom, but my mom's not like me. She's going to grow old gracefully.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She won't do it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. But I'll fight every inch of the way though.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: I look a little different tonight, don't I? We'll see you tomorrow. Good night for NEWSNIGHT.
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