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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
Girl's Body Found in Southern California; World Trade Center Plans Unveiled; Anti-Mafia Pasta Made in Corleone
Aired July 16, 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: Good evening to you all again, everyone.
Tonight was nothing short of glorious here in New York. And it was hard not to look out from our building here, looking south, and remember what was once there, and what will be there again someday. It's been said that in Mandarin Chinese, the words for crisis and opportunity are one and the same. And perhaps that's true in the language of New York too now,at least after September 11.
You could say that the city is facing an unprecedented opportunity to remake itself, to restore its brutally damaged skyline. And the debate began for real today after the release of six design drafts for what might go where the Trade Centers once stood, 16 of the most important acres in the United States.
In this space last night, we talked of our concern that the process is moving far faster than our emotions can process. So, there's no need to do that again. But we do think that the final decision is hugely important to the families to be sure, to the city of New York, and to the country. But most especially, to the future. The statement ought not be that we can rebuild the Towers. Of course we can do that. The statement should be much grander and bolder than that, much more vision.
After looking at the six ideas, we could say only that today was but a start and nothing more, we hope.
We begin tonight with the case in "The Whip" of the girl abducted in southern California, Orange County, California yesterday. Thelma Gutierrez is covering that for us. She's in Stanton, California tonight with a late development -- Thelma.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the body of a small girl who matches the description of five-year-old Samantha Runnion has been found in a rural area in Riverside County, about 80 miles away. But authorities say at this point, it is premature to say that it is in fact Samantha Runnion -- Aaron.
BROWN: Thelma, back to you in a moment for more detail there.
On the rest of "The Whip" we go. More now on the efforts to prevent further terrorist attacks. The president detailed his homeland security plan today. Kelly Wallace from the White House. Kelly, the headline from you please.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, this is it, the new national strategy for homeland security. President Bush sent this report to Capitol Hill today urging lawmakers to act quickly. The president though is not likely to get everything he's looking for.
BROWN: Kelly, thank you. One part of the fight of the terrorism that's causing some considerable controversy tonight. Kelli Arena covering that part of the story for us. So, Kelli, the headline from you.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's called Operation Tips. The government says it's an effort to engage millions of ordinary citizens in the war on terrorism. Critics say that is fancy talk for snooping -- Aaron.
BROWN: Kelli.
And after a month of relative calm, a bloody day in Middle East today. John Vause reporting from Jerusalem for us. John, the headline from you tonight.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the search continues on the West Bank for three Palestinian gunman who ambushed an Israeli commuter bus. Seven Israeli settlers were killed, more than 20 injured. And as you say, it has been a period of calm here. But now what was a growing sense of security has now been shattered -- Aaron.
BROWN: John, thank you. Back with you, all of you, in just a moment.
Also ahead on the program, quite a bit tonight on the half-dozen design drafts for what should be done with lower Manhattan. And we are always pleased when Paul Goldberger the architecture critic for the "New Yorker," joins us. For our money, he is the best there is on this subject.
It's also hard to imagine how a new Muppet on the South African version of "Sesame Street" could get a bunch of American politicians upset. It has to do with the sometimes ugly politics of AIDS. We'll hear from Gary Knell (ph) of the Sesame Workshop tonight.
And, making a stand against the mob just by ordering a big plate of linguine. We're not kidding. It's possible, at least in Corleone country. Alessio Vinci tonight with his own Sicilian adventure. So, there is a lot of ground to cover.
We begin with the story of Samantha Runnion, the five-year-old California child who was abducted yesterday, kicking and screaming outside her apartment in Orange County. A child's body was discovered today in a rural area about 75 miles from Samantha's Orange County home. Police say it is too early to identify the body. The investigation, the search for Samantha, goes on.
According to police, Samantha was playing a board game with a friend when a man drove up in a light green Honda. The man got out, asked them -- the kids for help in finding his dog. Witnesses said Samantha talked to the man before he grabbed her and drove off. A law enforcement source tells CNN a man who possibly matches the description of Samantha's abductor was being interviewed by authorities. And just moments ago, a brief press conference by the sheriff in Orange County detailing the latest development.
If we go back now to CNN's Thelma Gutierrez. Thelma, lay it out.
GUTIERREZ: Well, Aaron, you're exactly right. It happened nearly 24 hours ago, just right behind me. The two little girls were playing right out in front. A man drives up, asks the little girl to help him find his puppy. The man takes the little girl kicking and screaming, pushes Samantha into the front seat of the car and then speeds away.
And a short time ago, as you had mentioned, Aaron, very bad news. They had said that they had found the body of a child, a small girl between the age of four and six. Samantha is five years old. They say that the body matches the description of five-year-old Samantha Runnion, who was abducted here yesterday. They say the body was found in a rural area, about 75 to 80 miles away from Stanton. They found the body in the Riverside County area.
Investigators would only tell us that they are working this case as a homicide. They say that it is premature to actually identify the child as Samantha Runnion, but they say that they will have positive identification by tomorrow morning -- Aaron.
BROWN: Well, at least as I was listening to the sheriff, I thought, without going any farther than we ought to here, the best clue as to what police believe is that the Orange County Sheriff's Department, according to the sheriff, will take the lead in the investigation of the body that was found, a body that was found in the neighboring county, in Riverside County, that is a pretty good indication what police at least believe they have.
GUTIERREZ: Well, Aaron, earlier, the sheriff's deputies came out and they said that they did find the body, that apparently it had been found by Riverside sheriff's authorities, and that authorities here were going to go out and assist people who were out in the scene. And here's what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE CARONA, ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF: There has been a body of a young girl, approximately four to six years of age, in Riverside County. I have been in contact with Sheriff-Elect Bob Doyle (ph) out of Riverside County. He has given us the ability to take our investigative teams to the scene and, in fact, take the lead in the investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTIERREZ: And, again, the body of a small girl between the ages of four and six years old who matches the description of five-year-old Samantha Runnion found in a rural area in Riverside County, about 75 miles from here.
Police say -- they would only say at this point that they are working this as an homicide investigation. Aaron, back to you.
BROWN: Well, we can see from the -- or at least could see for a moment there from the aerials you have a fair amount of police activity at the site. They are processing it, obviously, as a crime scene. And we will just wait until tomorrow morning, I guess, to find out what they know. Thelma, thank you. Thelma Gutierrez, on a story that's breaking on our watch here.
On now to the president's homeland security plan. We've known the outline of this for some time, many of the details as well. But it's another thing to see it all at once, laid out. It is formidable. To find a parallel, you have to go way back to 1949, when Harry Truman then created the Department of Defense. Five decades later, the challenges look almost identical.
There are colossal changes to be made, turf to rearrange, lawmakers to woo, new machinery to create. And there are questions about civil liberties and Big Brother and, of course, ultimately, will this make us safer? From the White House tonight, CNN's Kelly Wallace.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE (voice-over): President Bush came to the Rose Garden armed with his long-awaited anti-terror plan.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All of us agree that protecting Americans from attack is our most urgent national priority.
WALLACE: The 70-plus page report includes a series of new proposals such as setting minimum standards for state driver's licenses, developing better sensors to detect nuclear weapons and having secret teams of intelligence experts act like terrorists to identify the country's vulnerabilities.
TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY DIRECTOR: Protecting ourselves require that we be just as flexible and just as nimble with the ability to quickly spot the gaps in our defenses and just as quickly fill them.
WALLACE: Another idea, possibly using federal troops to enforce a quarantine in the case of a biological attack. The most controversial part of the plan, unveiled last month, the creation of a new federal agency consolidating the work of 22 different federal departments.
But just last week, a number of Republican-led House committees amended the president's proposal, voting to keep the Coast Guard, the Secret Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency out of the new department. Lawmakers raising questions such as... REP. MARTIN FROST (D), TEXAS: Should the new department include FEMA? And does that threaten FEMA's effectiveness in responding to natural disasters like hurricanes and floods?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE (on camera): And there continue to be questions about the cost of the proposed new agency. The White House says it will have an annual budget of about $37 billion, and that it will not require any additional federal spending. But some lawmakers of both parties are shaking their heads, saying that expectation is unrealistic -- Aaron.
BROWN: Well, that was actually my question, does anyone in Washington actually believe that it won't cost any more money? And I gather not a whole lot of people do?
WALLACE: Not a whole lot, especially down the road, when you might have one building, housing all these agencies, the transition cost alone are likely to be enormous. But members of both parties really saying once you increase the analytical capabilities, and, again, just consolidating all these agencies, the White House says there will be cost savings. But, again, both parties say the price tag likely to be higher and are calling for the administration to come forward with more details about exactly how it expects to hold costs down -- Aaron.
BROWN: Kelly, thank you. Kelly Wallace from the White House tonight.
One other aspect of this proposal, it's called Operation Tips. It's a plan in the making at the Justice Department to put a million eyes and ears on the street in the war against terrorism. That's how it's likely to be sold, as a kind of nationwide neighborhood watch program. See something suspicious, dial a toll-free number.
But unlike the neighborhood watch program you're probably accustomed to, the neighbors don't do the watching here. The mailman does or the train conductor or the power company. Maybe the guy who reads the water meter sees something fishy, or maybe he just thinks he sees something fishy when he comes into your house. This, we are told, is the new normal. Here's CNN's Kelli Arena.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA (voice-over): Some critics liken it to "1984," George Orwell's novel and the subsequent movie. They warn "Big Brother" will be watching.
REP. BOB BARR (R-GA), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Why do we need to have a government pushing and pushing and pushing people and now funding a program to encourage people to snoop and to report? I think that's a very slippery slope.
ARENA: What has critics riled is Operation Tips, a nationwide program to recruit your neighborhood mail carrier and millions of other Americans -- including truckers, train conductors and utility employees -- to report suspicious activity. It is part of the government's fight against terrorism.
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We actually need the citizens of America to be active participants in developing information so that we learn in advance. We have the ability to prevent, not just to reconstruct, a terrorism attack.
ARENA: The Justice Department is not saying much. Limited information can be found on some government Web sites. Justice officials say that's because the first stage of the program won't be launched until late summer or early fall. But critics already have lots of questions.
RACHEL KING, ACLU: Say some, you know, bogus tip got into some file somewhere. How may that come back and haunt you later on?
ARENA: The program will utilize workers who have set routes and routines which positions them to notice anything out of the ordinary. They will call an 800 number, and their information will be entered into a database made available to state and local law enforcement. Some argue that could inundate the intelligence community with useless tips. Supporters say it could save lives.
PAUL ROSENZWEIG, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: The ideal aspect of this program, if it works the way it's conceived, will be to bring that first tip in in a way that the FBI can recognize it and use it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA (on camera): The Justice Department did release a statement stressing the program is merely meant to allow workers to share information they receive in the regular course of doing their jobs. The strong reaction to the plan caught some justice officials by surprise, but it underscores the fine line the government has to walk in fighting the war on terrorism while not violating civil rights -- Aaron.
BROWN: Kelli, this is an interesting one because you have got the ACLU on one side and you have Bob Barr, among the most conservative of Republicans in the House on the other side. It does gives you the sense of sensitivity of any suggestion of snooping, for lack of a better word.
ARENA: You're right, Aaron. We had critics from both ends of the aisle here. This is the -- the real problem here is that there aren't a whole lot of answers. Justice is just not providing answers about possible safeguards or how the database will be used, where all the information is collected. How long does the information stay in the database, who gets access to it. So, lots of unanswered questions, causing a great deal of concern.
BROWN: Kelli, thank you. Kelli Arena working the Justice Department for us this evening.
A quick note about the accused terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui. He was reindicted today. The charges amended to make doubly sure a death sentence, if he is convicted, would survive any legal challenge. The recent Supreme Court decision complicated the equation a bit on the death penalty in the federal system. The new indictment is intended to address those concerns.
On to the Middle East, and we guess we should have expected this. A grisly equation seems to taken hold in the fight between Israel and the Palestinians, that every push towards peace, no matter how small, must be derailed by some act of terror. The last deadly attack on Israelis was back on the 20th of June, just as the president planned to lay out his blueprint for getting the peace process back on track.
And today, just hours before an international meeting was to start here in New York, Palestinian militants struck again, this time at an Israeli settlement on the West Bank. CNN's John Vause joins us again from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The wreckage of bus 189, armored metal left twisted and buckled, riddled with holes from automatic weapons. Racheli Gross was on sitting up front, a teenager on her way to visit family in the West Bank settlement of Emmanuel.
RACHELI GROSS, ATTACK SURVIVOR: I saw one people. I was sure she was dead. I couldn't look at her. It was my first meeting with death.
VAUSE: Clearly in shock, but otherwise unharmed, Racheli told me that after the initial blast, the passengers took cover under their seats, and then came the gunfire. She says it lasted for almost 20 minutes.
GROSS: It was a long time. We didn't know why there was no one helping or something to come for us.
VAUSE: When help arrived, Eitan Ben-Zachai was the first medic on the scene. The bus, he says, was awash in blood, so many beyond help.
EITAN BEN-ZACHAI, MEDIC (through translator): Terrible wounds, in particular, a woman who was trying to defend her baby with her body. The baby was screaming under her lifeless body. It was terrible.
VAUSE: Among the dead, a grandmother, her son-in-law and grandson.
(on camera): According to Israeli police, this ambush was well planned and well executed. First, a bomb by the side of the road, detonated as the bus drove by. And then, three Palestinian gunmen came down from these hills and opened fire. They were dressed as Israeli soldiers, a deliberate ploy, say authorities, so they could get close to the passengers, and, in their words, kill as many people as they could. And then they threw three grenades inside the bus. None of them exploded. (voice-over): The gunmen escaped into the rugged hills. Israeli soldiers searched on foot and by air, but with no success. Three Palestinian groups have claimed responsibility for the terror attack, and this isn't the first on bus 189.
SHAHAR AYALON, WEST BANK POLICE CHIEF: We had such an ambush a half a year ago, here on the same road and this is what we call terror.
VAUSE: Then, 10 people were killed. Hamas claimed responsibility. And, once again, as the settlers of Emmanuel mourn their dead, there are calls for an eye for an eye.
RON NACHMAN, MAYOR, ARIEL: They will be smashed by the Israeli army. Believe me, this is not a problem of the army and a problem of security. This is a problem of political decisionmakers.
VAUSE: A not-so-subtle reminder that these settlers blame not just the terrorists, but their own government.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera): Aaron, this is the first serious attack here since June 20. Back then, five settlers were killed by Palestinian gunmen. But this lull had, in fact, been creating a sense of security amongst Israelis. People were back out on the streets. Some newspapers here were even crediting the Israeli prime minister with bringing peace, ending the terror attacks.
All that, of course, very premature after this ambush. It has also shattered the illusion that reoccupying the West Bank and placing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians under curfew had effectively ended the militant's ability to strike -- Aaron.
BROWN: Well, at least ended there -- all of their ability to strike, it may have curtailed it in some respects. John, thank you very much. John Vause in Jerusalem tonight.
Still ahead, as we go along in the hour, a special Italian recipe on how to fight the mob. That's coming up at the end.
Up next, what to do with ground zero. What should be built there? This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Now, at ground zero comes something very hard. What next?
The range of ideas goes something like this: do nothing there but a memorial, a 16-acre remembrance. On the other side there are those who say replicate, as much as possible, the towers themselves, the best revenge.
Neither is going to happen precisely. Something else will, but what? We do not know yet, but we have six ideas, a starting point now in a very important discussion.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Don't fall in love with anything you're about to see, and don't hate anything you're about to see either. These are only starting points commissioned by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and drawn up by an urban planning firm.
Everyone understands or ought to understand that there has to be a lot of talk, a lot of back and forth, before this matter is settled. For starters there will be a meeting this Saturday at the convention center in Manhattan. Planners think as many as 5,000 people may show up, and some are already unhappy.
Critics say the Port Authority, which owns the Trade Center site, has been high-handed, has hijacked the planning process, has favored business and bigness. Ultimately by mid-September the six plans will be boiled down to three, and then to one maybe by the end of the year. These proposals all include memorials, of course, and three of them set aside the plots on which the towers themselves actually stood, the foot prints.
This will be an uncomfortable fight for a city badly wounded 10 months ago. But this is no longer just New York's site. It is not just the victims' families' site either. What happened here happened to the entire country, and today was just a beginning for all of those who care.
Paul Goldberger, who is the architectural critic for the "New Yorker" is with us and -- as he has before, he's come to talk to us about what next down there. It's good to see you.
PAUL GOLDBERGER, ARCHITECTURAL CRITIC, "NEW YORKER" MAGAZINE: Good to see.
BROWN: I'll now betray my bias on this. I looked at them and I said "The fix is in," that the Port Authority has taken the process over in some ways.
GOLDBERGER: I think you're absolutely right. They have. In fact, we were told we were going to get six different visions for ground zero. What we have instead is six versions of one vision.
BROWN: Yes. And that vision is the Port Authority -- the Port Authority, we go through this, owns the site, or owns control of the site.
GOLDBERGER: Right. Port Authority owns the land.
BROWN: And their vision is -- at least in a revenue way or a commercial way -- to restore the site to what it was?
GOLDBERGER: That's exactly right. They want to put back not literally the Trade Center buildings, but they want to put back the economic engine that the Trade Center was, at least in the last couple years. It hadn't made much money for most of its long -- or not so long life -- but it did at the very end, and they want to get back to revenue producing.
This whole process, unfortunately, is being driven not by thinking with a blank slate, what is best for the city. It's being driven by what Port Authority says it wants.
BROWN: Is that how it was supposed to be, by the way?
GOLDBERGER: I didn't think so.
BROWN: Oh. What was it supposed to be?
GOLDBERGER: It was supposed to be what is best for the city. What is best for the city, what is best for the country, what is best for world on this incredible piece of land that is being watched as no 16 acres ever has been watched before.
BROWN: Do these designs deal simply with ground level and up or do they deal with that -- those seven stories that were below the Trade Center that were a very vibrant shopping center of sorts?
GOLDBERGER: Actually, they do deal below ground, too. And one of the few good things that came out today is the commitment to build a kind of new transit hub pulling together the trains under the Hudson, the various subway lines, and all the transit possibilities into one much better organized center, maybe with a big space as well -- people were calling it Grand Central for downtown.
That's actually the only thing that I'm totally enthusiastic about that came out today, and it's part of all six proposals in various different guises, but essentially the same.
BROWN: Listen, I can't draw a good stick man, so it's not like I'm the one who should be defining any of this, but as I looked at it -- none of them is, to my eyes, unattractive. What I thought is that they lacked a kind of grand vision to me.
GOLDBERGER: They're all OK conventional things. But this is not a situation that calls for the conventional. Here is a place in which, first, we once had great boldness -- maybe not boldness we all liked, but an incredible power and boldness that the world paid great attention.
Then one the most extraordinary events in the history of our country and of modern civilization happened there, that stunned the world, that still a year -- not yet a year later, continues to stun us, and we respond with a kind of, you know, OK bunch of towers that are not in any way particularly special.
BROWN: I want to talk about a couple of them in specific, particularly how the memorial aspect of the designs is dealt with, and little bit about what -- where the process goes. I want to take a break first. We'll run some spots. We'll come back and do that.
This is NEWSNIGHT. We'll continue with Paul in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: Six draft designs for ground zero. Paul Goldberger, the architecture critic for the "New Yorker" magazine is with us. All of them, of course, have memorials.
GOLDBERGER: Yes.
Do you like any of them?
GOLDBERGER: Well, they're not really memorials, so much as space set aside for memorials which have yet to be designed. And they do intend to do an international competition for a design for a memorial.
So we really can't say much, except about whether we like the idea of a square space in one and a triangular in another, and a long one in one and a short one in another.
BROWN: Did you see -- concepts, then, I guess is what we're really talking about -- concepts that you liked?
GOLDBERGER: Yes, I did see a couple. The Memorial Promenade, which was the last of the six -- number six. I think it's probably the best.
The idea is making the memorial both a kind of ovoid shape right adjacent to Ground Zero, and then extending from it a great avenue or boulevard, almost -- it would be Memorial Boulevard that would bring you out -- the view right on access to the Statue of Liberty.
So it would tie together the symbols of liberty of the statue itself, lower Manhattan, and Ground Zero which, I think, is, in fact, a very compelling idea.
BROWN: I agree. I mean, I've said this before, I think, on the program, that one of the things in the post-9/11 period is that I notice that when I look south, the Statue of Liberty much more than I ever did before.
GOLDBERGER: Absolutely.
BROWN: And I think five you sort of liked...
(CROSSTALK)
GOLDBERGER: Five was also done largely by a firm called Peterson/Littenberg, who were sort of consultants to the consultants. They weren't the prime consultants.
But they actually came up with, I think, the most creative work. And that one is a variation of it. It's got more of a square. They, however, did not honor the footprint. They used the footprint. And that may be one reason they're a little bit better, in that it gives you much more space to play with.
BROWN: Yes, but that creates...
GOLDBERGER: But it creates a whole other problem. I agree. (CROSSTALK)
BROWN: ... whether he meant it precisely or not, said long ago that he didn't think anything should go in the footprint at all.
GOLDBERGER: That's right, he did. And a lot of people think that. And it's, in fact, a very powerful and compelling view.
BROWN: I was watching this spin around.
David, how are we doing in time here?
The process goes big-time public now. The opinion-makers start to weigh in. They have always said this is going to be a public process. They have always said they are going to listen and respond.
What happens if it goes south?
GOLDBERGER: Well -- and I think it's going to go south because I've heard nobody respond with enthusiasm in the last 24 hours.
And what they are going to do is going to be very interesting to watch, because I think they're going to have two choices: They will either have to make significant changes; or they will have to say, we didn't really quite mean it about a public process, and we're going to do what we always wanted to do.
I don't think either of those are so easy for them. Obviously my hope is that they'll make big changes.
BROWN: There's a complicated political dimension to this. The governor is very much involved; it's a campaign year. The victims' groups needs to be heard and respected, but they can't own the site in a way -- it's more important than that.
What do you think the chances are that this is going to end with a bold, visionary, beautiful, smart, 16 acres?
GOLDBERGER: Well, right at this moment...
BROWN: Yes.
GOLDBERGER: ... it looks pretty grim, actually.
However, the attempt to satisfy everybody and, most of all, satisfy the Port Authority with a very sort of commercially oriented project that just has a sort of token memorial is not going to do so well.
So I think it's going to go in a different direction.
BROWN: I expect you'll come back -- I hope you'll come back, and we'll talk some more.
GOLDBERGER: Thank you.
BROWN: It's always good to see you Paul. Thank you, Paul Goldberger from the "New Yorker."
Still ahead on the program: What's all this fuss about an HIV- positive character on "Sesame Street"? This is a good little story coming up.
And up next, a political story: political ads out of California -- where else?
This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Some political theater now in one the most important political races in the country come November: the race for governor in California. The incumbent Democrat Gray Davis, whose name is often said by sniping op-ed writers, fits his personality quite well.
And then there's the unexpected challenger, businessman Bill Simon. Simon stunned and, yes, embarrassed some of the Republican Party this spring by beating the guy everyone assumed would win the primary -- had all the backing, including that from the White House -- former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.
Some thought Riordan's defeat in the primary guaranteed that the general election, while still important, wouldn't have much in the way of, oh, let's say drama or fireworks.
Never underestimate the power of the attack ad.
Here's Jeff Greenfield.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Election Day is three-and- a-half months away, but they're already off and spending in the biggest battle of the fall, the race for California governor.
And what the air wars reveal are two very different strategies: one quite traditional, the other with links to a more untraditional tradition.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, Gray Davis Commercial)
NARRATOR: Duty and service have always been the guiding principles of his life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD (voice-over): This ad for incumbent Governor Gray Davis starts out as a conventional bio spot, then quickly wheels and fires on Republican challenger Bill Simon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, Gray Davis Commercial)
NARRATOR: Simon didn't vote in 13 of 20 elections. He won't release his tax returns to show he's paid his fair share. Bill Simon inherited a fortune.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD: And this Davis ad not only plays on the growing resentment of the rich, but at the now-tarnished image of the corporate big wig.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, Gray Davis Commercial)
NARRATOR: The bail-out for Simon's mistakes cost taxpayers over $120 million.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD: The ads for Bill Simon take aim at Gray Davis, but instead of shadowy images and graphics, these ads use humor and actors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, Bill Simon Commercial)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Hello, I'm a teacher here to see Governor Davis.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: I'm sorry, you haven't given enough money to see Governor Davis.
Oh, you go right in. The Governor will definitely want to see you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD: And in this ad two maids start to clean the governor's office. Only to find...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, Bill Simon Commercial)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: But why so much money?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Well, that's Governor Davis. All he ever does is fund-raise for his campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD: The commercial ends with a not-so-subtle reminder of California's recent energy woes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, Bill Simon Commercial)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Oh, there goes the power again!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD: This is hardly the first time political campaigns ads have resorted to the dramatic. Back in 1984 Mitch McConnell won a U.S. Senate seat from Kentucky, in part thanks to this humorous ad that showing hunting dogs trying to track down the whereabouts of his opponent.
The so-called "Harry and Louise" ads helped erode public support for Bill Clinton's health care plan in 1993.
And here's the granddaddy of all such political media.
In 1934, the Hollywood movie studio staged newsreels, complete with actors, to undermine the gubernatorial campaign of radical author Upton Sinclair.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going to vote for Mr. Sinclair because he's a little too radical.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sinclair is too radical.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't wish to see Upton Sinclair elected governor.
GREENFIELD: It worked. He lost.
(on camera): People often complain that there's no real difference between the political parties, but you sure can't say that about those ads for California governor. There is a very clear choice here between the sledgehammer and the rapier. The victor will be decided in 112 days and tens of millions of dollars from now.
Jeff Greenfield, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: The season is on.
A number of other stories making news around the country tonight, beginning with the testimony of the Federal Reserve chairman. Alan Greenspan on Capitol Hill today, telling lawmakers the economy should return to healthy growth, although the wave of accounting scandals may end up weakening the recovery. Investors, as we mentioned a few moments ago, were not exactly delighted to hear all this. The Dow ended down 166.
A story about a different Allen tonight, this one with lots of trouble. NBA All-Star Allen Iverson turned himself in on charges that he forced his way into his cousin's apartment with a gun while looking for his wife. Iverson was arraigned on closed-circuit TV from a holding cell at police headquarters in Philadelphia. He was released a few hours later. His lawyer said he plans to plead, quote, "a strong and definite not guilty."
And we had hoped today, all of us, I think, for some resolution to the sad saga of Ted Williams' remains. No such luck. His 1996 will, which was released today, clearly states that he wanted his body cremated. But the executor of the estate, Albert Cassidy, who calls himself a lifelong friend, said Mr. Williams later changed his man and agreed to have his body preserved, frozen. This goes on and on.
Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, fighting the mafia down on the farm. That's next.
Up next, fighting AIDS on children's TV. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: If "Sesame Street" proves anything, it is this: Sometimes it takes a monster to help kids deal with the really scary things in life, things like illness and loss and people who look different, which can stir up a fuss from time to time. The concern being, are these appropriate subjects for a three-year-old?
In a nutshell, that's seems to be the objection to a new Muppet making her debut in the fall. She, the Muppet, has HIV. She'll be appearing only on the "Sesame Street" that airs in South Africa, where AIDS is such a problem, it would be hard to find a child who doesn't know someone with the disease, which does not mean that adults aren't squabbling over it, though, interestingly, the squabblers are not South African. They are American politicians, a handful of whom have written a letter protesting the introduction of an HIV character.
We raised the issue with Gary Knell, who's the president of Sesame Workshop, the producers of the program, when we talked with him earlier tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Talk for a second about what the idea here is to introduce to the program, which is really many programs, an HIV character, right?
GARY KNELL, PRESIDENT, SESAME WORKSHOP: It is. Aaron, you know, "Sesame Street" has been around now for 33 years, and we've always used media to try to help kids reach their highest potential. We introduced the show here to do that and it was a huge success. And then, internationally, a lot of public broadcasters and others around the world over 30 years ago decided to do the same thing, in Germany, in Mexico. We now took the show into places like China and Russia, Egypt, South Africa.
And in each one of these countries, it is not the U.S. show being dumped in, so to speak, teaching American values. But it's really an indigenous set of criteria, an indigenous set of curriculum. So, in Egypt, we're teaching girls education in a land that has female illiteracy, very high rates. And in South Africa, our partners there from the department of education and child development experts felt that we had to address the issues around HIV and AIDS, which are just rampant in that country.
BROWN: So, this character, it's a she?
KNELL: It is a she.
BROWN: Once she's developed, will end up in the South African version of the program, but not necessarily the German or the American version of the program?
KNELL: That's exactly correct. There are no plans to take her, once she's developed, and she doesn't even have a name yet, outside of South Africa.
BROWN: And is that because the issues are different or because you're concerned about political reaction if you did?
KNELL: It's not really a political decision. We go into each country and try to determine what the right thing to do is there. And teaching preschoolers in Russia -- you can imagine the Russians coming here with the shoe on the other foot trying to teach preschoolers in America. We have to really be seen as an organization that transfers technology, that has developed a way using the magic of puppets and the magic of writing and music to engage and entertain kids and educate them at the same time in each country.
BROWN: One of the arguments that critics make is that, look, these are two, three, four-year-old, five-year-old kids, six-year- olds, I guess. They don't need this.
KNELL: Well, the issue in South Africa is really about stigmatization. We're not teaching sex education to four-year-olds. We're teaching issues around stigmatization, about humanization. These are real problems. You have got places in South Africa where there are many children who are HIV infected that they got through childbirth, where mothers in certain parts of South Africa, there's 40 percent HIV infection rates.
This is a way of having a character introduced on to "Sesame Street" or "Takalani Sesame" in South Africa, who's lively, fun, huggable, has a sense of humor, is active and not sickly, but also happens to be HIV positive, which many people are. And it's a way to humanize the disease and to humanize the people who are being stigmatized in that country.
BROWN: Does it surprise you that there is a political fuss of some dimension about this in the United States?
KNELL: Well, it's a political fuss. I think the issue of sex education is a political fuss. That's not what we're addressing here. "Sesame Street" is dealing with two to four-year-olds in this country, and there's certain issues that are appropriate to talk to little kids about, and there are issues that are not particularly appropriate to talk to little kids about.
BROWN: Do you ever wish sometimes people would go -- just, you know, we know what we're doing here. Trust us. Trust us to be sensitive. Trust us to do it right. Trust us. There seems an absence of trust out there in the world today.
KNELL: Yes, well, I think that may be true. But I have to tell you in our case, we have got a 33-year history of trust with parents. We're a not-for-profit organization that's worked around the world, and if fact even the announcement of this South African muppet has received praise from people all across the political spectrum, from Kofi Annan on the one side to Jerry Falwell on the other side.
BROWN: People sometimes jump to conclusions, I guess, is what it is. Anyway, we look forward to the character. It's interesting to take on and to see how you will do it, and whether it airs in South Africa or anywhere, we'd like to see it, so thank you for coming in.
KNELL: Well, it's our pleasure, and thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Gary Knell.
A couple of other items making news around the world today, beginning in Northern Ireland. Extraordinary this, the Irish Republican Army today apologized at least in part for creating scenes like the one you're looking at. A full apology for all the civilians who lost their lives. Understanding, but not an apology, of course, for the families of soldiers and police officers who were killed over the last 30 years.
Saddam Hussein says a war on Iraq would be a war in all Arabs -- no surprise that, but the interview was. He doesn't do many. If war comes, Saddam says, he is ready to fight with all available force. The choice of words an interesting one. If the translation is accurate, United States uses similar phrasing to telegraph a readiness to use nuclear weapons.
And it's good thing there's golf. Tiger woods practicing at Muirfield in -- for the British open starting on Thursday. If he wins he's three-quarters of the way to a grand slam. Grand slam, at least in the pros, has never been done. Bobby Jones did it when there were just amateurs playing the game, and Tiger's won the first two and he'll probably win these two because he is the best in the world.
Next on NEWSNIGHT, the Italian town where you don't want a mob for dinner.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: We're determined to get a favorite line from "The Godfather" in here, even if it's a bit of a stretch to do that. It's what Clemenza says to Rocco after bumping off the rat Paulie: "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."
OK, our spin on this for our final story: eat your spaghetti, fight the Mafia. Pretty much the premise of Alessio Vinci's piece tonight, and you'll understand if it's a little hard to get to the dateline here. He is, after all, reporting from Corleone, Sicily.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: In the movie "The Godfather," nobody could say no to the Corleones, but in the real Corleone village, just outside Palermo, Sicily, the story is much different. On this land, once owned and controlled by Cosa Nostra, and seized by the Italian government, a group of farmers who produced the first ever anti-Mafia pasta and the brand name Libera Terra, or free land.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We want to prove that these fields, no longer controlled by the Mafia, remain profitable, says one of the farmers, and can generate revenue and give people jobs so that all can benefit from it and not just a selected few.
VINCI: But working on land once owned by the Mafia has its risks here. Finding people willing to do the job is difficult. The operator of the combine did agree to work the field. Still, he prefers not to talk about it on camera.
Chef Salvatore Saparito (ph), owner of Corleone's best restaurant, says he did not know about the new anti-Mafia pasta. Difficult to believe in a small village where everything is known.
Few residents here like to talk openly about the Mafia. But there seems to be plenty of customers ready to make the anti-Mafia pasta a big success.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): If it is cheap and good I will buy it, says the owner of the newspaper shop.
VINCI: Fear of Mafia reprisals? No, answered the butcher. The Mafia, he says, goes only where there is big money at stake.
(on camera): "Toto" Riina was the Mafia's most powerful boss, a man feared and respected by many here in Corleone. Riina is now in jail, serving a series of life sentences, including one for ordering the killing of two top Italian anti-Mafia magistrates. Before his arrest, investigators believe, Riina spent months inside his old farm house, hiding from the police.
(voice-over): The farmers plan to turn the farm house into a country hotel.
(on camera): So the people will be able to sleep in the same bedroom where the boss of bosses of the Italian Mafia used to sleep.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We hope so.
VINCI (voice-over): It will take some time to repair this place, time, people here say, better spent fighting the Mafia than working for it. Alessio Vinci, CNN, Corleone, Sicily.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: That's it. We'll see you tomorrow at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. Join us.
Good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.
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