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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
Number of Victims in Bridge Accident Still Unknown; President Visits Italy; Poll Shows Half of Russia Thinks NATO is a Threat
Aired May 27, 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, NEWSNIGHT ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone, I'm Aaron Brown. Happy Memorial Day, and it does feel different this year, doesn't it. It's not that we never think of those who died in other years or that we spent all of this day thinking of such things. We didn't.
But we suspect like many, if not most of you, there were moments in between the golf course or the beach or the softball game and the barbecue when minds turned to Ground Zero and the Pentagon and those who died almost nine months ago. Maybe it was fleeting, but it was there and it was different and it made the day a little sadder and a little more important.
The program, as it always should, reflects the day. There are some unknown heroes of another war, some of them Native Americans, some of them middle Americans, and all of them patriots in the best sense of the word, and like most real patriots, they don't think in those terms. They just saw a need, understood why it was a need and then did it. You'll like them or hearing about them.
And there is just enough real news in the program to call it NEWSNIGHT, but in this case, the news is not the main course. It is the first course, and so we begin as we always do with the whip, which is a bit less far flung than usual because of the holiday.
We'll start with Jill Dougherty, a first time in the whip. Jill's in Rome with the latest on the president's trip to Europe, Jill, a headline please. That was such a smashing good introduction, too.
We'll go to Oklahoma, a terrible accident there, a bridge collapsed. Jeff Flock is working that story. Let's see if mikes are working here, Jeff a headline from you.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'll try, Aaron, it's been a day and a half now since that barge knocked out the Interstate 40 Bridge over the Arkansas River and we still don't know how many victims there are. That's because most of them are still at the bottom of the Arkansas River. We also don't know what caused the tow boat captain to go so far off course.
BROWN: Jeff, back with you shortly, back with Jill when we get things fixed, lots else coming up on Memorial Day. The veterans you may have never heard of, the Navajo Code Talkers, Native Americans with a code that the Japanese could not break, and it's the right of every American veteran to have taps played at their funeral. We'll look at one man who thinks it's his duty to make sure every one of them has a bugler.
We'll talk with author Bob Greene about one tiny corner of America, the train station in North Platte, Nebraska. This is one of the great stories of World War II, how the people of North Platte came out every day for every single troop train that passed through, and hundreds did, through the course of the entire war.
But it's not all war on Memorial Day tonight. We do have Dwight, the car guy. Yes, you saw him on Friday. That was just a preview of Dwight at the Indy 500, Dwight's day at the races, all of that coming up in the hour ahead.
We cross our fingers and we begin tonight in Rome, where in a few hours Russia will forge a tighter relationship with the NATO Alliance. That was its arch enemy for half a century.
It is no understatement to say that when NATO was formed in April of 1949, the world was a much different place than now. The Berlin airlift was underway, as the then Soviet Union tried to cut off the ally sector of the captured German capitol.
War between East and West seemed inevitable then. Fifty years later, the threat of a common enemy, terrorism, has brought the two sides closer than ever, though thorny issues do remain. Here's CNN's Jill Dougherty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Five years ago, there were high hopes that Russia and its former enemy NATO could cooperate. In May of 1997, President Boris Yeltsin signed a formal agreement with NATO, but it never really worked. Russia felt it had no real voice in deliberations with NATO's other members. It was 19 against one.
Today, a new poll shows more than half of Russians still think NATO is aggressive and a security threat. Here's how President Vladimir Putin put it last year.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We ask ourselves, is this a military organization? Yes, it's a military organization. It doesn't want us in it. No, they don't want us. It's moving toward our border. Yes, it's moving toward our border. Why?
DOUGHERTY: NATO's stanchion has always been the biggest single irritant in the Russian-NATO relationship, but in a major policy shift, President Putin has changed the equation. Improve Russia-NATO relations, he says, and the issue of NATO expansion will cease to matter.
September 11th and Mr. Putin's support for the war on terrorism was a catalyst. Now he's poised to sign a new agreement with NATO that some claim will bury forever the Cold War. Moscow will have a seat at the table on issues from terrorism to arms proliferation, and NATO promises that this time, Russia will have an equal voice. A former Russian general is dubious.
LEONID IVASHOV, RETIRED RUSSIAN GENERAL (through translator): It will be a big discussion club. They'll listen to each other, but I'm convinced they won't make any decisions on any serious matters.
DOUGHERTY: But in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, people are more hopeful. It used to be German territory, swallowed by the Soviet Army in World War II, right in the heart of Europe.
Many here say joining NATO could bring them closer to their European neighbors. NATO and Russia may have found a common enemy, but it may still be years before these new allies can erase their mutual suspicion.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: And that was CNN's Jill Dougherty reporting from Rome. Also overseas tonight, quickly from the Middle East, Israeli troops have moved back into the West Bank town of Jenin. It is the second time the army had pushed back into Jenin since it left a month ago.
Israeli jeeps and tanks are said to have entered the city from various directions, and at least two helicopter gun ships were taking part in the operation.
