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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
Politicization of War on Terror, Debate on Action Against Iraq Gets Heated; Gulf Coast Residents Prepare for Hurricane Isidore
Aired September 25, 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 again, everyone.
Political warfare broke out in Washington today. The Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle took to the floor in an impassioned, sometimes angry speech, accusing the White House, the president, of politicizing the war on terror and the possible war with Iraq. You'll hear all the back and forth in a few moments and, the context as well, but we suspect it can be all summed up in the profound words of a teenager a few years back: "Duh."
Of course the president has done this. So has every other president in every other war. Some more overtly than others, some with less success than others, but governing is political, and so what's the big deal?
The Republicans were handing out pictures of the president making big decisions on September 11 to political contributors. Was that political? Of course it was. And we have no doubt Democrats would have done the same.
The danger comes not when these issues become political, they are political. It is when one side or the other suggests that one side loves the country less, and that criticism and debate in a democracy are unpatriotic.
We are starting to hear talk like that on both sides, from people with power and from viewers with computers. And if that's where this is all headed, and Iraq will be a stern test, then it will prove we learned very little from the domestic failures of the war in Vietnam.
So, it is the politics of Iraq that begins The Whip tonight and tops the news. Jonathan Karl is on Capitol Hill, we are glad to say. Jon, welcome back, and a headline, please.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Aaron. Well the usually soft-spoken Senate majority leader seemed to be shaking with anger as he accused the president of playing politics with war.
BROWN: Jon, thank you. Back with you at the top tonight.
While the rhetoric flies, the preparations go on. Martin Savidge is working on that tonight from Kuwait. Marty, good to see you, and a headline please.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good evening to you, Aaron.. The Marines have landed here in Kuwait. It is part of the military exercise. The question being asked by everyone here is will it turn into something more -- Aaron.
BROWN: Thank you, Marty. Marty on the videophone tonight.
A dramatic evacuation tonight at a Christian school in West Africa. Jeff Koinange is on the videophone from the Ivory Coast, a long way away. Jeff, the headline from you.
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN LAGOS BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, U.S. and French forces in a dramatic rescue of some 200 schoolchildren. Among them, scores of Americans. Fighting rages on in the city of Bouake in the Ivory Coast -- Aaron.
BROWN: Jeff, thank you. Welcome to The Whip.
And closer to home, the latest on tropical storm Isidore. Ed Lavandera is in Lafayette, Louisiana. Ed, a headline from you.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN DALLAS BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Aaron, residents from Louisiana to Florida will be keeping a close watch in the overnight hours as tropical storm Isidore comes ashore. But the truth is, this storm isn't quite what it used to be, so we found a way to add a little spice to this story. That coming up later -- Aaron.
BROWN: Thank you, we appreciate the pun, because we know where it's going.
Back with all of you in a moment.
Also coming up tonight, someone who can address a whole range of things for us tonight, and we hope will, especially Iraq, the politics of today, what he sees as the necessity of action. Columnist George Will will join us in a little bit.
The one hot commodity left for Enron. The infamous "Crooked E." was sold today at auction. Fair to say this was an auction like no other. And it almost sounds like the title of a children's book: "David Gets a Bath." It's not a story for kids, though. It's direct from lovely Florence (ph). That's segment seven tonight.
All of that in the hour ahead.
We begin with a day that puts a strain on the idea that politics stops at the water's edge. That notion was the brainchild of a Republican Senate leader who reached out to a democratic president at the beginning of the Cold War. Not that the finer political differences over foreign policy should be forgotten, just that a consensus ought to be reached. So, would Arthur Vandenberg and Harry Truman recognize the landscape today?
The times are just as dangerous; politics just as fractious. But for the moment, at least, the search for consensus is looking a little ragged. Back to the Hill and CNN's Jonathan Karl
KARL: And, Aaron, up until now it's been Democrats who have had a hard time finding consensus among themselves about Iraq. But today, the Senate Majority Leader, Tom Daschle, found a unifying theme for the Democrats, accusing the president of politicizing the war.
What got Daschle riled up today was a story in today's "Washington Post" that quoted the president as saying that the democratically-controlled Senate is not concerned, not interested in the security of the American people.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: Not interested in the security of the American people? You tell Senator Inouye he's not interested in the security of the American people. You tell those who fought in Vietnam and in World War II they're not interested in the security of the American people. That is outrageous. Outrageous.
The president ought to apologize to Senator Inouye and every veteran who has fought in every war who is a Democrat in the United States Senate. He ought to apologize to the American people.
KARL (voice-over): Senator Daschle was referring to this speech by President Bush in New Jersey.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But the Senate is more interested in special interests in Washington, and not interested in the security of the American people.
KARL: But the president was not talking about Iraq. A point the White House seized on.
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president's remarks were about homeland security. Again, I think when you take a look at what was said, it was put into a context which did not match what the president said.
KARL: That prompted another angry response from Senator Daschle.
DASCHLE: I don't care whether you are talking about homeland security. I don't think you can talk about Iraq. You can't talk about war. You can't talk about any context that justifies a political comment like that.
KARL: Republican Senate Leader Trent Lott jumped to the president's defense.
SEN. TRENT LOTT, MINORITY LEADER: Who is the enemy here, the president of the United States or Saddam Hussein? That is who was attacked here this morning.
KARL: Although Democrats rallied around Daschle's remarks, they remain divided on the question of war with Iraq, with an increasingly vocal minority opposing military action.
SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: For the first time in the history of the republic, the nation is considering a preemptive strike against a sovereign state, and I will not be silent. (END VIDEOTAPE)
KARL: Not long after Daschle's speech on the floor of the Senate, Vice President Cheney was up here on Capitol Hill for the second time in two days. This time, giving a briefing to bipartisan group of senators on Iraq. A classified briefing that included several Democrats.
So, Aaron, despite all the hot rhetoric here, what you see going on is continued bipartisan negotiations between the White House on one hand and Democrats up here on Capitol Hill. And the big question is whether or not this Congress will give authorization to the president to use force on Iraq. The answer to that all along has seemed to be yes.
Those negotiations going on, going along we understand quite well, despite all the hot rhetoric out in public.
BROWN: Sometimes they'll say things on the floor and it is essentially for public consumption and it is just talk. Looking at Senator Daschle, it did appear it was perhaps a bit more than that. That he was genuinely angry.
Has this been building for a while?
KARL: Well, a little bit on that. Senator Daschle, and people who have worked with him for years, say they have never seen him that impassioned, that angry. He's usually a soft-spoken guy. Barely raises his voice even in the most hotly political debates.
But this one, I mean he really -- this seemed like a different Tom Daschle. This did seem heartfelt. There's been a frustration within the democratic party here, especially leaders like Daschle, who say they are trying to work with the White House on this issue of force in Iraq, but they also suspect the White House of using the issue to gain political points.
So, yes, I think it is something that's been building. And Daschle has been under lot of pressure from those liberals in this party that are uncomfortable with the idea of any war with Iraq.
BROWN: Jon, thank you. Jonathan Karl on the Hill. We'll have more on the senate majority leader a little later in the program and more on the flap as well. Jeff Greenfield will join us in a little while.
We'll continue on with the news of the day.
First, as the work goes on in Congress, the military preparations for a possible war in Iraq seem well underway. The Navy is speeding up maintenance for three carrier battle groups possibly to make them available for duty in the Persian Gulf. And Special Forces have been sent to work with the CIA.
The troops once again are getting vaccinations for anthrax. And today, U.S. Marines began landing in Kuwait. Now there's a bit of diplomatic wiggle room in much of what's going on. Some deniability. The Marines are part of a long-standing exercise, but the message is clear. And, as one officer said, the question isn't just what goes into the region, but what stays.
CNN's Martin Savidge is staying, and he joins us once again from Kuwait City -- Marty.
SAVIDGE: Hello, Aaron.
Yes, you can see the U.S. flexing its military muscles with the arrival of two U.S. Navy warships. That would be the USS Denver and the USS Mount Vernon. But it is what was inside those two ships landing here in Kuwait that has a lot of people wondering about what may be coming next.
That was 1,000 Marines plus all their equipment. This is the 11th MEU; that is, the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit as it was approaching into Kuwait. A Marine Expeditionary Unit is designed to be a self-contained unit.
It's normally about 2,200 troops. In this particular case, it's starting off with 1,000, expected to grow to 2,000. They will bring their armor, their aircraft and any other material that they need to support themselves initially for about 15 days.
However, as we saw in Afghanistan, MEUs are able to supply themselves, be self-contained for up to 30 days. This is an exercise called Operation Eager Maze (ph). It is taking place with the Kuwaiti government. It is going to be rehearsed on an island north of Kuwait City, known as Bobian (ph) Island. That is very close to the Iraqi border.
It goes on for one month. They're going to be using amphibious assault craft coming ashore. They will be using aircraft coming in, and they will be meeting up with the ground forces of the Kuwaiti military.
So this exercise here, as you point out, was planned a long time ago. It's part of longstanding defense agreement the U.S. and Kuwait have together. However, it comes at a most interesting time. And it's already been pointed out that, if it's needed, these Marines could remain here beyond the exercise period and, of course, have just been adequately properly trained and climatized (ph), ready to go into Iraq if that is indeed going to be the military option that's played out here.
So as you point out, deniability, that's the key here. The Kuwaiti government say, no, we are not beefing up here. The U.S. says, no, we're not beefing up either, it's an exercise. But it clearly could turn into something more -- Aaron.
BROWN: I'm curious if this is getting much attention in the Kuwaiti press and how the people in Kuwait City and elsewhere in the country are reacting to it. SAVIDGE: No, not getting a lot of attention at all in the Kuwaiti press or, really, not getting a lot of exposure anywhere else outside of the United States. Even the U.S. is being very controlled about this.
We're not allowed to witness the exercises, at least at this particular point. Not even allowed to videotape the convoys of Marines heading off to the exercise area. The Kuwaiti government would like to keep a very low profile on this, and the United States certainly would like to do that.
They don't want to do anything to agitate the Kuwaiti government. The official stand of the Kuwaitis, at this particular point, is they back any military action as long as it's endorsed by the United Nations -- Aaron.
BROWN: A caveat. Marty, thank you. Martin Savidge in Kuwait City tonight.
Other news tonight, U.S. and French forces collaborated to rescue the students and staff of a Christian academy caught in the middle of civil war. Most of the evacuees are Americans. This drama played out on the Ivory Coast in West Africa, where CNN's Jeff Koinange joins us once again on the videophone.
Jeff, good evening.
KOINANGE: Good evening, Aaron.
And they're calling this a good news day in an otherwise dreary week. French forces secured part of the city of Bouake, which is 250 miles north of where I am right now. They went into the school compound, where there had been reported fighting in the last five, six days.
The school has been sandwiched in between a rebel stronghold and government forces. They secured the school, rescued the kids (UNINTELLIGIBLE) children, about 100 of them American, others from countries around Africa. Pulled them out, put them in a convoy and drove them to the administer (ph) capital of this country called Yom Sucra (ph), about 60 miles from where they were.
And the kids were waving American flags and they were chanting "Vive la France. Vive la France." And here, Aaron, is what some of them had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, fine, thank you. Very happy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, how are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go USA.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we're OK. Don't worry about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love our moms (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going back home?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We might go to the state. We're actually very happy to (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOINANGE: Now, Aaron, I must add that none of the children were injured in the past five days of shootings. They're all in good health. A little shook up here and there.
They will be analyzed psychologically tonight and into Friday. And then they will be flown to neighboring Ghana, and from there to points beyond.
Now we must also add that there are U.S. forces on the ground in the capital. They are ready to rescue anyone who wants to be rescued. We understand there are about 300 or so Americans living and working in the area. They will be rescued in the coming hours, Aaron.
BROWN: And these Americans are mostly in the capital and they mostly do what, do you know?
KOINANGE: Yes, Aaron. Mostly missionary work. They've been in the area -- this school, where these kids were studying, has been around for about 30 years. It's a very popular school. Missionaries from all over Africa send their kids to this school because, again, the Ivory Coast was considered one of the safest, most stable countries on the continent up until Christmas morning three years ago -- Aaron.
BROWN: Jeff, thank you. Jeff Koinange in the Ivory Coast in West Africa tonight. Thank you.
Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the real Tom Daschle. And a little bit later, a famous Italian's first bath in a century. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(AUDIO/VIDEO GAP)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): ... so underestimated. After all, you don't rise to the top in a Senate teaming with ambition without knowing how to throw a sharp elbow.
DASCHLE: This has got to end, end Mr. President. We've got to get on with the business of our country. We have to rise to a higher level. Our founding fathers would be embarrassed by what they're seeing going on right now.
CROWLEY: And you do not survive as a liberal Democrat in one of the most Republican of states without knowing how and when to play the game. Daschle has been able to soft-talk his fractious caucus into something resembling unity, look and act like the loyal opposition when he can, and employ the velvet shiv when needed.
A measure of his success is the millions critics have spent trying to rough him up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On tax cuts, Daschle said, "No." On economic stimulus, Daschle said, "No." On limiting Washington spending, Daschle said, "No."
Now we have the Daschle deficits. Tell Tom Daschle to put our jobs ahead of his petty partisanship.
CROWLEY: Supporters call it the demonization of Daschle. He responded with a studied disappointment that has become a bit of a trademark.
DASCHLE: I think what you have to do is acknowledge it and accept the fact that there are some things that we are proud of the fact that we are not doing.
CROWLEY: Daschle is kind of the Clark Kent of politics; a mild- mannered, soft-spoken South Dakotan who can change quickly into a hardball politician with what one of his colleagues called a spine of steel.
This is a man who woke up this morning to a double-barreled headline blow: the president complaining about the Daschle-led Democrats and the Democrats complaining about Daschle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: And Daschle's response was a double-barreled pushback, putting the White House on the defensive and perhaps, for now, placating some Democrats who think Daschle has been too amenable on the Iraq issue. Never underestimate Tom Daschle. Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
BROWN: Well, quite a day for the politics of Iraq and more. Lots of players, competing interest. And Jeff Greenfield is with us tonight to help sort it out.
What do you make of all of this today?
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Well, two things: One, even politicians have genuine feelings. And when war and peace is on the agenda, it can get pretty testy emotionally. I mean this is not an airport in South Dakota, it's not a tax bill, it's not a farm subsidy.
The second thing is, this is all being played out quite unlike the Gulf War dispute in 1990, when the control of both houses of Congress are very much up for grabs.
Back then, there was no question. The Democrats were going to hold the Senate, hold the House. So the politics wasn't inflamed by the notion that a misstep here or a wrong move here could cost one party or another control of the House. That's the large part of it.
And the last thing I would say is that the accusation of playing politics with war is about as incendiary as it gets. And what we've heard in last couple of days I think is both sides of this kind of playing with that nitroglycerin of politics and then kind of trying to say, that no we're not.
BROWN: Well, I mean -- the Daschle argument today is not simply that the president is playing politics with the war, it seems to me. It's that he's questioning, and the White House disputes, in fact, the context of this, and we can get to that if you want. But he's questioning whether one party is as concerned about the security of the country as he is. That's a step ahead of handing out pictures to the president on September 11 to donors.
GREENFIELD: Sure. And it's also one that has resonance in the past. I mean you can go back to the McCarthy days; you can go back to what happened in the 1980s, when Newt Gingrich gained fame among Republicans and triggered fury with the then House speaker by suggesting that Democrats who weren't with Ronald Reagan on aid to the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) were giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
BROWN: Right.
GREENFIELD: So I agree that that's the nuclear version of playing politics. And I do think it's why not only did Daschle explode in a way that we've never seen before but, today, the Minority Leader, Trent Lott, came on the floor and gave the explanation that the president was not talking about broad security notions. He was questioning the Senate, not Democrats, the Senate -- that happens to be controlled by the Democrats -- on the issue of the fight over the Homeland Security bill, which is all tangled up in civil service and union issues.
BROWN: Right, but I'm not sure that I see the difference there. I mean if -- I'm not suggesting the president is saying this necessarily, but if the argument is it wasn't Iraq, it was whether you want to protect the homeland, that doesn't strike me as any less troubling.
GREENFIELD: What I think is that the president, who is not always as careful with words as other politicians, conflated what he meant. He wanted to say stop talking about special interests and let's get this bill passed.
BROWN: Yes.
GREENFIELD: I think, in fact, off the record -- our Jonathan Karl reported this earlier -- the White House acknowledged that perhaps the president wasn't as careful in his speech. But I think if you are the Democratic leader, as Candy reported, and you are simultaneously being told by your own people you're letting us down on this, we want to see a vigorous leader. And you're worried that your prospects for the control of the Senate are hinging on whether or not the country sees the Republicans as more solid on national security, you're not going to accept that explanation quite that easily.
Oh, it was just a careless turn of a phrase.
BROWN: Yes. Democrats seem to be struggling for footing to find their issues for an election, which is -- seems to me now to be racing towards us.
GREENFIELD: Well, it's really quite extraordinary, in which if you go back over the last 20 years -- and I'm not going to, you know, do it -- but basically the template is...
BROWN: Oh, come on.
GREENFIELD: Now in 30 seconds, as they say in the morning. The Republicans hold the high ground and have for 20 years on national security issues. It's been that way ever since the late 1970s or earlier, and the Democrats tend to hold the high political ground on the economy, especially now because the economy has tanked. Whoever's fault it was, it happened under Bush's tenure.
So you can see why both -- first of all, both parties are convinced that this election is coming down to a handful of seats.
BROWN: Yes.
GREENFIELD: I mean this is not like a national tsunami that's going to sweep, according to the people I've talked to. And, second, particularly with the Democrats, I think they are feeling incredibly frustrated politically that they think on the economy this should be a classic mid-term election, where the party in power gets clobbered.
But there is this small detail of potential war, and that tends to concentrate the mind of people wonderfully, if I can paraphrase (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
BROWN: As they say, we have about 30 seconds here, are they just being outmaneuvered, or is it just -- in another sense, it's just the way the issues shook this time?
GREENFIELD: No, I think it's more of the latter. I mean I really -- I know I'm a journalist, but I'm not that cynical. I think the folks in the Bush administration are -- there are conviction arguments here, whether they're right or wrong. But I don't think anybody is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) a war with Iraq for political gain. I mean I just don't.
This stuff is serious stuff. This is about biological and chemical and possibly nuclear weapons. And a theory of how you bring a whole new reign of peace to the Middle East. This a lot more important, I think, and a lot bigger than the lineup in the House and the Senate next January.
BROWN: I hope so. The political season is on, so we'll be seeing more of you in the next couple of months.
GREENFIELD: I guess so.
BROWN: Well you don't seem quite so excited about the possibility.
GREENFIELD: I'm real happy. This is -- we live for these -- this and the World Series in the same time of year. How can you beat that?
BROWN: It doesn't get better, does it?
GREENFIELD: No.
BROWN: Thank you. Good to see you.
Later, Isidore, not a hurricane yet, at least. Probably not going to become one. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) we'll show you the preparations, in any case, to protect the important resource. We'll tell you about that too.
Up next, we'll talk with columnist George Will about Iraq and lots of other things too. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: An intriguing moment tops our roundup of news from around the world tonight. It comes from Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, who's at the NATO conference in Warsaw.
For anyone with memories of the Cold War, the location is news enough.
The reporter there asked the defense secretary if he had evidence linking Iraq to al Qaeda. He answered yes, but refused to elaborate, so it's less than clear if this is new evidence, or something we've heard before.
The Iraqis, meantime, took another opportunity to show they have nothing to hide from inspectors, as they say in Baghdad. They led reporters on a tour of a chemical complex just south of Baghdad. The plant got a mention in the British dossier that came out yesterday, because it makes a chemical that could be used in a nerve gas. The Iraqis say it isn't, the reporters aren't experts and experts haven't been inside the plant for years.
In Pakistan today, another attack targeting Pakistani Christians. Two gunmen invaded the office of a Christian charity in Karachi. They tied up the workers, and shot seven of them to death and escaped. This is the latest attack in a number of attacks on Christian organizations since the government of Pakistan began supporting the United States on Afghanistan and cracking down on radical Muslim groups at home.
And in Afghanistan, the entertainer George -- Joan Jett in Kandahar meeting and greeting U.S. troops there. But she made the biggest splash when she came on stage hidden under a burka and then ripped it off and then lodged in her musical set.
Got to love that.
We confess, sitting down to do an interview with George Will is an intimidating assignment. For one, we've done it before a few years back and he slapped me around a bit on one question, the subject I have managed to forget. And we were colleagues then.
Mr. Will is a leading voice on conservative issues in the country today. And for quite a while, he is also, in our opinion, one of the few people who can actually pull off the bow tie look, even if he didn't tonight.
He has a new book out with a title that seems to sum up his kind of sober-minded optimism: "With a Happy Eye But..."
And it's very nice to see him again. Mr. Will, welcome.
GEORGE WILL, COLUMNIST: We may be colleagues again.
BROWN: Well, I read that.
WILL: ABC, CNN.
BROWN: You know, before it's all said and done, there will just be one giant news organization.
Does that bother you, by the way? Not the specific AOL thing but the conglomerate, you know? You know what I mean.
WILL: Getting fat.
BROWN: Yes, the news business getting fat.
WILL: No, I think their economy is scale and good for journalism.
BROWN: Let's talk about today's flap. What's your take on it?
WILL: Well, as Jeff Greenfield said, politicians do have honest emotions.
Mary Kenton, who is still in my judgment the greatest columnists we've ever produced, the late Mary Kempton, once said that the similarity between professional wrestling and American politics is the absence of honest passion. Well, that was honest passion today but I think part of it was displaced passion. Part of his anger with the president was directed really subliminally at Al Gore, who -- by the speech in San Francisco very much complicated the Democrats's main goal right now, which is to change the subject. They don't want to talk about Iraq in the last six weeks of the campaign.
And Al Gore is not looking at 2002, he has another year in mind. Made that more difficult.
Furthermore, I think Jeff was absolutely right. The president did not speak gracefully. He was talking about the homeland security bill and these technical matters, union rights that are being involved here. The president has never been confused with Flaubert, he doesn't always have exactly the right word at all time. But this too shall pass. This is a one-day wonder.
BROWN: I think the administration knows how it will get out of Iraq if it ends up going into Iraq?
WILL: Nope.
BROWN: You think it ought to?
WILL: We were in the Rhine long time after the end of the second World War. Still have some troops in Korea. In December of 1942, a year after Pearl Harbor, we didn't know what we were going to do with the governance of Japan, with the governance of Germany after the end of the second World War. Here you had Germany that produced Hitler, not a promising democratic electorate you could have thought. You had -- Japan had been ruled by a semi-military fascism for generations. Not promising. But, in fact, it worked and we're going to have to improvise.
Now, the president is going to have to eat some words he spoke in the campaign against nation building. It was a good conservative instinct on his part. Nations are organic, they grow, they're not built. These are conservative insights.
Don't care. The fact is we now know in this age when violence is leaked from the control of nations and to things like al Qaeda, and nations can be hollow entities like Afghanistan, we know what happens. Nature abhors a vacuum and al Qaedas fill it.
So, we have to build nations. So, we're going to be there for awhile. It's going to cost money. But some of our allies that don't want to hear shots fired within their pristine ears could come in right after the war and write some checks.
BROWN: The book is a compendium of columns you've written over the years. And you write on a wide range of subjects, so let me ask you about just a number of things I've always wanted to ask you about.
Who would you like to have dinner with, have conversation with you've never had?
WILL: That I've never had?
BROWN: Yes.
WILL: Has to be alive?
BROWN: No.
WILL: No?
BROWN: No. WILL: I think I'd like to -- Washington. George Washington. Because he came to our government at a time when it was completely soft waxed and he gave an impress to it that's lasted. An impress -- just manners. How did you address this man? Was a republican, small r, republican etiquette. Do you curtsy, do you bow, do you shake his hand?
And so, the whole ethos of free government developed around this extraordinary man. He's the -- we've had a lot of very important Americans, he's the indispensable ones.
BROWN: When's the last time you changed your mind on an important issue?
WILL: Term limits, I suppose. I was opposed to term limits and to make amends for that error I wrote a book about it. Sold in the dozens. It didn't -- I mean, it's another lost cause of mine, but I think term limits would be a very good idea.
BROWN: You do now believe it's good idea?
WILL: Yes.
BROWN: What -- was there a moment when you realized, I just -- I wasn't right on this or I didn't think it through correctly?
WILL: It was when I came to understand that term limits would be, I'd call it a Madisonian amendment. That is, a surgical change that would change the incentives for entering public life and for behaving in public life. Remove careerism as a possibility. Two Senate terms. Six House terms, 12 years. And you will change the way people respond to public pressures.
BROWN: Forty seconds or so, what do people who don't like baseball, who find baseball boring, what don't they get?
WILL: They don't understand that baseball, more than any other sport. Your enjoyment of the sport is the function of your knowledge of the nuances. That's why I wrote a book on it called "Men at Work," just to show people the little things going on out there.
You don't have to know a thing about basketball to enjoy the athletic splendor of a Michael Jordan. You have to understand baseball to understand what Derek Jeter is doing.
BROWN: I'm going to end up writing a story today for tomorrow. Who's your favorite baseball play-by-play guy?
WILL: Vince Scully.
BROWN: Nice to see you. Hope your book is doing well. And hope the new program, seems to be doing well. Good for you. Nice to see you.
Next time, more time.
WILL: Done.
BROWN: Thank you. George Will.
Still to come on "Newsnight": buying one very expensive vowel, Pat Sajak not involved.
Up next, protecting a precious national resource from Hurricane Isidore: the pepper plants that make tabasco sauce.
This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Isidore is a name thought by some to mean "strong gift." People in the southeast would probably agree with the strong part but certainly, tonight at least, not the gift.
The tropical storm that's already slammed the Yucatan Peninsula, is about to make landfall and residents today have boarding up and getting out. One message board in New Orleans said this: Go back Isidore, we don't want you.
Ed Lavandera is in Lafayette, Louisiana. Ed, good evening.
LAVANDERA: Good evening, Aaron.
Well, the latest indications are that Tropical Storm Isidore will be making its way on shore here, along the Gulf Coast in the overnight hours. Bringing lots of rain, about 65 miles per hour winds are expected. Of course, this isn't quite the storm that it was several days ago when it was Category 3 hurricane.
But the rain situation is what has a lot of people on edge, in the New Orleans area in particular as people have been packing their sandbags and trying to board up windows and also board the front steps to a lot of the popular bar and restaurants in the French Quarter area, as water has already started to trickle into that part of town.
And that is what people will be watching closely over the course of the next 24 hours. And of course people in this part of the country are very used to these types of storms and all the ruckus that these storms cause as they start heading for the mainland.
And when your job is to protect one of the nation's popular and most well-known brand-name products in the entire country, well then that makes times like this a very busy time for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): This bridge takes you across a small stretch of Louisiana marsh on to Avery Island.
PAUL MCILHENNY, PRESIDENT, MCILHENNY CO.: It's 2,300 acres of highland above the marsh and the swamp.
LAVANDERA: Cajun country gets its flavor here. It's the home of Tabasco Pepper Sauce. The company's president, Paul McIlhenny, gave us a tour around the island, showing how the main ingredient of this American icon -- 30 acres of sizzling peppers -- is protected when violent storms threaten.
MCILHENNY: See how pretty the bushes are.
LAVENDERA: Three major hurricanes blew threw her since 1957. To protect the fields, long row of pine trees were put in 50 years ago. The trees shield the pepper plants from the winds.
MCILHENNY: Before we had them, if a heavy storm came through, it could literally blow the Tabasco plants over and break them or make them unusual. So this helped a little bit. It's not -- as I say -- it's not a cure-all, but it's to try to minimize the damage.
LAVANDERA: McIlhenny dodged a bullet this time. But a strong hurricane could wipe out the pine trees and plants altogether. But he has a backup plan.
MCILHENNY: Actually, we picked seed pepper from this crop last week, knowing that the hurricane might come here.
LAVANDERA: Crews picked seeds that could be replanted, stuck them in airtight bags and locked them away in a bank vault.
(on-camera): Why did you do that?
MCILHENNY: Well, as an insurance policy, making sure that if everything else goes wrong -- goes wrong, we still have the prime -- primal resource of our product which is the pepper itself.
LAVANDERA: Just about every part of Avery Island was built with hurricanes in mind.
MCILHENNY: This is the Tabasco factory.
LAVANDERA: This building is designed to with stand two hundred mile per hour winds. A two and a half foot wall made of brick and concrete, reinforced with steel beams, shelter 60 drums of Pepper Sauce. Each holding 1,600 gallons, and just weeks away from making it to a restaurant table near you.
LAVANDERA: The island has held up well.
MCILHENNY: Yes, we've survived. Hope to continue to survive.
LAVANDERA: Do you feel like you're -- a lot has to do with protecting an institution?
MCILHENNY: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. It's the mother load. And that's what we're protecting, the tradition passed and present and future. This is where it all starts.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: Pepper Sauce production was shut down today because of the storm as people were getting the island there ready. And it appears likely the Tabasco plant will have to shut down tomorrow as well. But we're told on Friday, Aaron, everything will resume and go back to normal -- Aaron.
BROWN: And just quickly go back to the top. You're expecting lots of rain but certainly not at this point a hurricane?
LAVANDERA: That seems to be the indication from the forecasters. A lot of everything they've been talking about in the course of the last 12 hours is that this storm will have a hard time reaching a Hurricane Category 1 level.
So we're anticipating probably winds from 65 to 70 miles an hour, as much as 12 inches of rain expected in some parts -- depending where you live along the Gulf coast. So a lot of parts from this area from Louisiana to Florida will be watching this closely in the next -- for the next 24 hours.
BROWN: Well we've chased a few of those over the years. We know what you're in for. Stay dry and safe. Thank you, Ed.
Ed Lavandera in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Later on NEWSNIGHT, the story of a big Roman about a bath. Well, it's actually in Florence, but it is about a bath. Well sort of about a bath.
Up next, buying a vowel without Vanna. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Been good programs on "AMERICAN MORNING" this week. And Paula has preview of tomorrows -- Paula.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": Thanks, Aaron. On the next "AMERICAN MORNING," meet the parents. We're going to meet a family that worked to adopt five sisters who had been placed in different foster homes. And they got the girls only days after they won the Lottery. That story tomorrow at 7:00 -- Aaron.
BROW: And, thank you. Coming up on NEWSNIGHT, a chance to buy a piece of history. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: It's always a sad, isn't it, when some nice little mom- and-pop outfit goes under and has to sell off whatever bits and pieces might be left. Their paper clips and the Post-It Notes and the office supplies just to satisfy the creditors.
Well, that's exactly what happened today at an auction in Houston today, where shoppers showed up to pick over the bones of a local business that went belly up. OK, Enron wasn't exactly a mom-and-pop operation. Mother of all failures, possibly but not mom-and-pop.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BROWN (voice-over): Lot No. 1 at the auction, the big draw, was a 5-foot-high, stainless steel, lop-sided letter "e," the company logo that used to sit outside its Houston headquarters.
The "e" went for 44,00 bucks.. We don't know if that's a good buy or not because we haven't priced any giant metal letters, recently.
For the rest, what you had was a whole lot of computer stuff. Your laptops, your flat-screen TVs, your tables and chairs and other office furniture. This is what an empire -- a fallen empire comes to: bits and pieces, spare parts, doodads.
And then there are the odd lots. There was a sailing ship model. Would you buy something from Enron that's supposed to float?
There were beer can cozies and lovely clear plastic mugs. And caps -- just the ticket if you wanted field an Enron Little League team. You'll probably be seeing these on eBay soon.
There were Nerf balls. Those must have been powerful business tools back in Enron's haydays. We can almost imagine the conversation. All right, where that energy deal is concerned, we're not prepared to go any higher than $150 million. But we'll throw in a Nerf ball.
Nerf balls may have been the clincher in a lot of really big deals.
There seemed to be a pretty fair amount of excitement in the room during the auction. You'd think people were bidding on bric-a-brak from the Titanic.
Well, come to think of it, that's pretty much what Enron was, the corporate Titanic.
And by the way, no corporate ledgers went on sale.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: A few other stories around the country making news today.
The first involves a dispute involving the World Trade Center and how to pay for the rebuilding of Ground Zero. A federal judge tried to settle an argument involving insurance today. He said the towers were brought down by one single attack, not two separate incidents.
Bad news for the leaseholder, Larry Silverstein, who stood to collect more if the judge had decided it was two attacks. Quite a bit more -- the difference between $7 million -- billion and $3.5 billion.
In California today, the entire Angeles National Forest closed because of wildfire. Fire has burned about 22,000 acres so far, has left smoke hovering over the city of Los Angeles. Five hundred families have been evacuated so far.
A deadly accident in Nebraska: A TV tower nearly 2,000 feet high collapsed. Two workers who were trying to strengthen the structure died in the accident. The tower, just to give you an idea, was taller than the Empire State Building.
And a no-frills trip across the Atlantic in a balloon has ended. A British balloonist abandoned his attempt to make the trip in an open wicker basket. He was supposed to go from Pittsburgh to Portugal, but crash-landed in Connecticut. When asked if he was hurt, the balloonist said, "only my pride."
Next on NEWSNIGHT, a big guy in Italy gets his first bath in over 100 years.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Finally from us tonight: improving on what many think is already perfection.
To look at Michelangelo's David is to see that a piece of marble can take on not only the human form, but also the human ideal.
There's just one small problem: The ideal needs a bath.
Here's CNN's Alessio Vinci.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The meticulous and painstaking art of a $165,000 wash performed on one of Italy's most famous statues, Michelangelo's David, now almost 500 years old.
FRANCA FALLETTI, GALLERY DIRECTOR (through translator): It is a little bit like performing appendicitis surgery on the president of the United States: Even though the operation is not complicated and poses no great threats, the importance of the subject is such that it makes the work unique and, in some ways, dangerous.
VINCI: He hasn't been cleaned since 1873. In those days, they used acid to get rid of dirt, which experts now say did more harm than good.
This time, they're using state-of-the-art equipment, like this specially-built mobile lift.
Agnese Parronchi is used to this type of work, a challenge she, at first, wanted to turn down because, she says, she felt the icon- like image of Michelangelo's David has been somewhat inflated.
Yet once up there, closer to it, that feeling changed.
AGNESE PARRONCHI, ART RESTORER (through translator): It is something that attracts you in an irresistible way. It feels like having a friend with whom I can share all my psychological moments. From down here, he looks immense, so big. But up there he becomes tiny, very little, because being so close to it gives him a different dimension.
VINCI: The perfect shape and proportions of the statue clearly leaves an impression on tourists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I realized on my honeymoon that I need to take care of this structure, and maybe do a few more sit-ups to have a body like that.
But it's very beautiful, and I think the restoration is just part of keeping it beautiful.
VINCI (on camera): More than 1 million people visit the statue each year. Such is its popularity that the curators wanted to make sure that the public could still see it while it's being restored.
(voice-over): To the naked eye, it will be difficult to notice the difference, but art experts say the work will also give them an opportunity to study the condition of the marble in the hopes of preserving David for another 500 years.
Alessio Vinci, CNN, Florence.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: And that's all for tonight. Good to have you with us.
Join us tomorrow again, 10:00 Eastern time.
Until then, good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Iraq Gets Heated; Gulf Coast Residents Prepare for Hurricane Isidore>
Aired September 25, 2002 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again, everyone.
Political warfare broke out in Washington today. The Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle took to the floor in an impassioned, sometimes angry speech, accusing the White House, the president, of politicizing the war on terror and the possible war with Iraq. You'll hear all the back and forth in a few moments and, the context as well, but we suspect it can be all summed up in the profound words of a teenager a few years back: "Duh."
Of course the president has done this. So has every other president in every other war. Some more overtly than others, some with less success than others, but governing is political, and so what's the big deal?
The Republicans were handing out pictures of the president making big decisions on September 11 to political contributors. Was that political? Of course it was. And we have no doubt Democrats would have done the same.
The danger comes not when these issues become political, they are political. It is when one side or the other suggests that one side loves the country less, and that criticism and debate in a democracy are unpatriotic.
We are starting to hear talk like that on both sides, from people with power and from viewers with computers. And if that's where this is all headed, and Iraq will be a stern test, then it will prove we learned very little from the domestic failures of the war in Vietnam.
So, it is the politics of Iraq that begins The Whip tonight and tops the news. Jonathan Karl is on Capitol Hill, we are glad to say. Jon, welcome back, and a headline, please.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Aaron. Well the usually soft-spoken Senate majority leader seemed to be shaking with anger as he accused the president of playing politics with war.
BROWN: Jon, thank you. Back with you at the top tonight.
While the rhetoric flies, the preparations go on. Martin Savidge is working on that tonight from Kuwait. Marty, good to see you, and a headline please.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good evening to you, Aaron.. The Marines have landed here in Kuwait. It is part of the military exercise. The question being asked by everyone here is will it turn into something more -- Aaron.
BROWN: Thank you, Marty. Marty on the videophone tonight.
A dramatic evacuation tonight at a Christian school in West Africa. Jeff Koinange is on the videophone from the Ivory Coast, a long way away. Jeff, the headline from you.
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN LAGOS BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, U.S. and French forces in a dramatic rescue of some 200 schoolchildren. Among them, scores of Americans. Fighting rages on in the city of Bouake in the Ivory Coast -- Aaron.
BROWN: Jeff, thank you. Welcome to The Whip.
And closer to home, the latest on tropical storm Isidore. Ed Lavandera is in Lafayette, Louisiana. Ed, a headline from you.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN DALLAS BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Aaron, residents from Louisiana to Florida will be keeping a close watch in the overnight hours as tropical storm Isidore comes ashore. But the truth is, this storm isn't quite what it used to be, so we found a way to add a little spice to this story. That coming up later -- Aaron.
BROWN: Thank you, we appreciate the pun, because we know where it's going.
Back with all of you in a moment.
Also coming up tonight, someone who can address a whole range of things for us tonight, and we hope will, especially Iraq, the politics of today, what he sees as the necessity of action. Columnist George Will will join us in a little bit.
The one hot commodity left for Enron. The infamous "Crooked E." was sold today at auction. Fair to say this was an auction like no other. And it almost sounds like the title of a children's book: "David Gets a Bath." It's not a story for kids, though. It's direct from lovely Florence (ph). That's segment seven tonight.
All of that in the hour ahead.
We begin with a day that puts a strain on the idea that politics stops at the water's edge. That notion was the brainchild of a Republican Senate leader who reached out to a democratic president at the beginning of the Cold War. Not that the finer political differences over foreign policy should be forgotten, just that a consensus ought to be reached. So, would Arthur Vandenberg and Harry Truman recognize the landscape today?
The times are just as dangerous; politics just as fractious. But for the moment, at least, the search for consensus is looking a little ragged. Back to the Hill and CNN's Jonathan Karl
KARL: And, Aaron, up until now it's been Democrats who have had a hard time finding consensus among themselves about Iraq. But today, the Senate Majority Leader, Tom Daschle, found a unifying theme for the Democrats, accusing the president of politicizing the war.
What got Daschle riled up today was a story in today's "Washington Post" that quoted the president as saying that the democratically-controlled Senate is not concerned, not interested in the security of the American people.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: Not interested in the security of the American people? You tell Senator Inouye he's not interested in the security of the American people. You tell those who fought in Vietnam and in World War II they're not interested in the security of the American people. That is outrageous. Outrageous.
The president ought to apologize to Senator Inouye and every veteran who has fought in every war who is a Democrat in the United States Senate. He ought to apologize to the American people.
KARL (voice-over): Senator Daschle was referring to this speech by President Bush in New Jersey.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But the Senate is more interested in special interests in Washington, and not interested in the security of the American people.
KARL: But the president was not talking about Iraq. A point the White House seized on.
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president's remarks were about homeland security. Again, I think when you take a look at what was said, it was put into a context which did not match what the president said.
KARL: That prompted another angry response from Senator Daschle.
DASCHLE: I don't care whether you are talking about homeland security. I don't think you can talk about Iraq. You can't talk about war. You can't talk about any context that justifies a political comment like that.
KARL: Republican Senate Leader Trent Lott jumped to the president's defense.
SEN. TRENT LOTT, MINORITY LEADER: Who is the enemy here, the president of the United States or Saddam Hussein? That is who was attacked here this morning.
KARL: Although Democrats rallied around Daschle's remarks, they remain divided on the question of war with Iraq, with an increasingly vocal minority opposing military action.
SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: For the first time in the history of the republic, the nation is considering a preemptive strike against a sovereign state, and I will not be silent. (END VIDEOTAPE)
KARL: Not long after Daschle's speech on the floor of the Senate, Vice President Cheney was up here on Capitol Hill for the second time in two days. This time, giving a briefing to bipartisan group of senators on Iraq. A classified briefing that included several Democrats.
So, Aaron, despite all the hot rhetoric here, what you see going on is continued bipartisan negotiations between the White House on one hand and Democrats up here on Capitol Hill. And the big question is whether or not this Congress will give authorization to the president to use force on Iraq. The answer to that all along has seemed to be yes.
Those negotiations going on, going along we understand quite well, despite all the hot rhetoric out in public.
BROWN: Sometimes they'll say things on the floor and it is essentially for public consumption and it is just talk. Looking at Senator Daschle, it did appear it was perhaps a bit more than that. That he was genuinely angry.
Has this been building for a while?
KARL: Well, a little bit on that. Senator Daschle, and people who have worked with him for years, say they have never seen him that impassioned, that angry. He's usually a soft-spoken guy. Barely raises his voice even in the most hotly political debates.
But this one, I mean he really -- this seemed like a different Tom Daschle. This did seem heartfelt. There's been a frustration within the democratic party here, especially leaders like Daschle, who say they are trying to work with the White House on this issue of force in Iraq, but they also suspect the White House of using the issue to gain political points.
So, yes, I think it is something that's been building. And Daschle has been under lot of pressure from those liberals in this party that are uncomfortable with the idea of any war with Iraq.
BROWN: Jon, thank you. Jonathan Karl on the Hill. We'll have more on the senate majority leader a little later in the program and more on the flap as well. Jeff Greenfield will join us in a little while.
We'll continue on with the news of the day.
First, as the work goes on in Congress, the military preparations for a possible war in Iraq seem well underway. The Navy is speeding up maintenance for three carrier battle groups possibly to make them available for duty in the Persian Gulf. And Special Forces have been sent to work with the CIA.
The troops once again are getting vaccinations for anthrax. And today, U.S. Marines began landing in Kuwait. Now there's a bit of diplomatic wiggle room in much of what's going on. Some deniability. The Marines are part of a long-standing exercise, but the message is clear. And, as one officer said, the question isn't just what goes into the region, but what stays.
CNN's Martin Savidge is staying, and he joins us once again from Kuwait City -- Marty.
SAVIDGE: Hello, Aaron.
Yes, you can see the U.S. flexing its military muscles with the arrival of two U.S. Navy warships. That would be the USS Denver and the USS Mount Vernon. But it is what was inside those two ships landing here in Kuwait that has a lot of people wondering about what may be coming next.
That was 1,000 Marines plus all their equipment. This is the 11th MEU; that is, the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit as it was approaching into Kuwait. A Marine Expeditionary Unit is designed to be a self-contained unit.
It's normally about 2,200 troops. In this particular case, it's starting off with 1,000, expected to grow to 2,000. They will bring their armor, their aircraft and any other material that they need to support themselves initially for about 15 days.
However, as we saw in Afghanistan, MEUs are able to supply themselves, be self-contained for up to 30 days. This is an exercise called Operation Eager Maze (ph). It is taking place with the Kuwaiti government. It is going to be rehearsed on an island north of Kuwait City, known as Bobian (ph) Island. That is very close to the Iraqi border.
It goes on for one month. They're going to be using amphibious assault craft coming ashore. They will be using aircraft coming in, and they will be meeting up with the ground forces of the Kuwaiti military.
So this exercise here, as you point out, was planned a long time ago. It's part of longstanding defense agreement the U.S. and Kuwait have together. However, it comes at a most interesting time. And it's already been pointed out that, if it's needed, these Marines could remain here beyond the exercise period and, of course, have just been adequately properly trained and climatized (ph), ready to go into Iraq if that is indeed going to be the military option that's played out here.
So as you point out, deniability, that's the key here. The Kuwaiti government say, no, we are not beefing up here. The U.S. says, no, we're not beefing up either, it's an exercise. But it clearly could turn into something more -- Aaron.
BROWN: I'm curious if this is getting much attention in the Kuwaiti press and how the people in Kuwait City and elsewhere in the country are reacting to it. SAVIDGE: No, not getting a lot of attention at all in the Kuwaiti press or, really, not getting a lot of exposure anywhere else outside of the United States. Even the U.S. is being very controlled about this.
We're not allowed to witness the exercises, at least at this particular point. Not even allowed to videotape the convoys of Marines heading off to the exercise area. The Kuwaiti government would like to keep a very low profile on this, and the United States certainly would like to do that.
They don't want to do anything to agitate the Kuwaiti government. The official stand of the Kuwaitis, at this particular point, is they back any military action as long as it's endorsed by the United Nations -- Aaron.
BROWN: A caveat. Marty, thank you. Martin Savidge in Kuwait City tonight.
Other news tonight, U.S. and French forces collaborated to rescue the students and staff of a Christian academy caught in the middle of civil war. Most of the evacuees are Americans. This drama played out on the Ivory Coast in West Africa, where CNN's Jeff Koinange joins us once again on the videophone.
Jeff, good evening.
KOINANGE: Good evening, Aaron.
And they're calling this a good news day in an otherwise dreary week. French forces secured part of the city of Bouake, which is 250 miles north of where I am right now. They went into the school compound, where there had been reported fighting in the last five, six days.
The school has been sandwiched in between a rebel stronghold and government forces. They secured the school, rescued the kids (UNINTELLIGIBLE) children, about 100 of them American, others from countries around Africa. Pulled them out, put them in a convoy and drove them to the administer (ph) capital of this country called Yom Sucra (ph), about 60 miles from where they were.
And the kids were waving American flags and they were chanting "Vive la France. Vive la France." And here, Aaron, is what some of them had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, fine, thank you. Very happy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, how are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go USA.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we're OK. Don't worry about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love our moms (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going back home?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We might go to the state. We're actually very happy to (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOINANGE: Now, Aaron, I must add that none of the children were injured in the past five days of shootings. They're all in good health. A little shook up here and there.
They will be analyzed psychologically tonight and into Friday. And then they will be flown to neighboring Ghana, and from there to points beyond.
Now we must also add that there are U.S. forces on the ground in the capital. They are ready to rescue anyone who wants to be rescued. We understand there are about 300 or so Americans living and working in the area. They will be rescued in the coming hours, Aaron.
BROWN: And these Americans are mostly in the capital and they mostly do what, do you know?
KOINANGE: Yes, Aaron. Mostly missionary work. They've been in the area -- this school, where these kids were studying, has been around for about 30 years. It's a very popular school. Missionaries from all over Africa send their kids to this school because, again, the Ivory Coast was considered one of the safest, most stable countries on the continent up until Christmas morning three years ago -- Aaron.
BROWN: Jeff, thank you. Jeff Koinange in the Ivory Coast in West Africa tonight. Thank you.
Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the real Tom Daschle. And a little bit later, a famous Italian's first bath in a century. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(AUDIO/VIDEO GAP)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): ... so underestimated. After all, you don't rise to the top in a Senate teaming with ambition without knowing how to throw a sharp elbow.
DASCHLE: This has got to end, end Mr. President. We've got to get on with the business of our country. We have to rise to a higher level. Our founding fathers would be embarrassed by what they're seeing going on right now.
CROWLEY: And you do not survive as a liberal Democrat in one of the most Republican of states without knowing how and when to play the game. Daschle has been able to soft-talk his fractious caucus into something resembling unity, look and act like the loyal opposition when he can, and employ the velvet shiv when needed.
A measure of his success is the millions critics have spent trying to rough him up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On tax cuts, Daschle said, "No." On economic stimulus, Daschle said, "No." On limiting Washington spending, Daschle said, "No."
Now we have the Daschle deficits. Tell Tom Daschle to put our jobs ahead of his petty partisanship.
CROWLEY: Supporters call it the demonization of Daschle. He responded with a studied disappointment that has become a bit of a trademark.
DASCHLE: I think what you have to do is acknowledge it and accept the fact that there are some things that we are proud of the fact that we are not doing.
CROWLEY: Daschle is kind of the Clark Kent of politics; a mild- mannered, soft-spoken South Dakotan who can change quickly into a hardball politician with what one of his colleagues called a spine of steel.
This is a man who woke up this morning to a double-barreled headline blow: the president complaining about the Daschle-led Democrats and the Democrats complaining about Daschle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: And Daschle's response was a double-barreled pushback, putting the White House on the defensive and perhaps, for now, placating some Democrats who think Daschle has been too amenable on the Iraq issue. Never underestimate Tom Daschle. Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
BROWN: Well, quite a day for the politics of Iraq and more. Lots of players, competing interest. And Jeff Greenfield is with us tonight to help sort it out.
What do you make of all of this today?
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Well, two things: One, even politicians have genuine feelings. And when war and peace is on the agenda, it can get pretty testy emotionally. I mean this is not an airport in South Dakota, it's not a tax bill, it's not a farm subsidy.
The second thing is, this is all being played out quite unlike the Gulf War dispute in 1990, when the control of both houses of Congress are very much up for grabs.
Back then, there was no question. The Democrats were going to hold the Senate, hold the House. So the politics wasn't inflamed by the notion that a misstep here or a wrong move here could cost one party or another control of the House. That's the large part of it.
And the last thing I would say is that the accusation of playing politics with war is about as incendiary as it gets. And what we've heard in last couple of days I think is both sides of this kind of playing with that nitroglycerin of politics and then kind of trying to say, that no we're not.
BROWN: Well, I mean -- the Daschle argument today is not simply that the president is playing politics with the war, it seems to me. It's that he's questioning, and the White House disputes, in fact, the context of this, and we can get to that if you want. But he's questioning whether one party is as concerned about the security of the country as he is. That's a step ahead of handing out pictures to the president on September 11 to donors.
GREENFIELD: Sure. And it's also one that has resonance in the past. I mean you can go back to the McCarthy days; you can go back to what happened in the 1980s, when Newt Gingrich gained fame among Republicans and triggered fury with the then House speaker by suggesting that Democrats who weren't with Ronald Reagan on aid to the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) were giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
BROWN: Right.
GREENFIELD: So I agree that that's the nuclear version of playing politics. And I do think it's why not only did Daschle explode in a way that we've never seen before but, today, the Minority Leader, Trent Lott, came on the floor and gave the explanation that the president was not talking about broad security notions. He was questioning the Senate, not Democrats, the Senate -- that happens to be controlled by the Democrats -- on the issue of the fight over the Homeland Security bill, which is all tangled up in civil service and union issues.
BROWN: Right, but I'm not sure that I see the difference there. I mean if -- I'm not suggesting the president is saying this necessarily, but if the argument is it wasn't Iraq, it was whether you want to protect the homeland, that doesn't strike me as any less troubling.
GREENFIELD: What I think is that the president, who is not always as careful with words as other politicians, conflated what he meant. He wanted to say stop talking about special interests and let's get this bill passed.
BROWN: Yes.
GREENFIELD: I think, in fact, off the record -- our Jonathan Karl reported this earlier -- the White House acknowledged that perhaps the president wasn't as careful in his speech. But I think if you are the Democratic leader, as Candy reported, and you are simultaneously being told by your own people you're letting us down on this, we want to see a vigorous leader. And you're worried that your prospects for the control of the Senate are hinging on whether or not the country sees the Republicans as more solid on national security, you're not going to accept that explanation quite that easily.
Oh, it was just a careless turn of a phrase.
BROWN: Yes. Democrats seem to be struggling for footing to find their issues for an election, which is -- seems to me now to be racing towards us.
GREENFIELD: Well, it's really quite extraordinary, in which if you go back over the last 20 years -- and I'm not going to, you know, do it -- but basically the template is...
BROWN: Oh, come on.
GREENFIELD: Now in 30 seconds, as they say in the morning. The Republicans hold the high ground and have for 20 years on national security issues. It's been that way ever since the late 1970s or earlier, and the Democrats tend to hold the high political ground on the economy, especially now because the economy has tanked. Whoever's fault it was, it happened under Bush's tenure.
So you can see why both -- first of all, both parties are convinced that this election is coming down to a handful of seats.
BROWN: Yes.
GREENFIELD: I mean this is not like a national tsunami that's going to sweep, according to the people I've talked to. And, second, particularly with the Democrats, I think they are feeling incredibly frustrated politically that they think on the economy this should be a classic mid-term election, where the party in power gets clobbered.
But there is this small detail of potential war, and that tends to concentrate the mind of people wonderfully, if I can paraphrase (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
BROWN: As they say, we have about 30 seconds here, are they just being outmaneuvered, or is it just -- in another sense, it's just the way the issues shook this time?
GREENFIELD: No, I think it's more of the latter. I mean I really -- I know I'm a journalist, but I'm not that cynical. I think the folks in the Bush administration are -- there are conviction arguments here, whether they're right or wrong. But I don't think anybody is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) a war with Iraq for political gain. I mean I just don't.
This stuff is serious stuff. This is about biological and chemical and possibly nuclear weapons. And a theory of how you bring a whole new reign of peace to the Middle East. This a lot more important, I think, and a lot bigger than the lineup in the House and the Senate next January.
BROWN: I hope so. The political season is on, so we'll be seeing more of you in the next couple of months.
GREENFIELD: I guess so.
BROWN: Well you don't seem quite so excited about the possibility.
GREENFIELD: I'm real happy. This is -- we live for these -- this and the World Series in the same time of year. How can you beat that?
BROWN: It doesn't get better, does it?
GREENFIELD: No.
BROWN: Thank you. Good to see you.
Later, Isidore, not a hurricane yet, at least. Probably not going to become one. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) we'll show you the preparations, in any case, to protect the important resource. We'll tell you about that too.
Up next, we'll talk with columnist George Will about Iraq and lots of other things too. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: An intriguing moment tops our roundup of news from around the world tonight. It comes from Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, who's at the NATO conference in Warsaw.
For anyone with memories of the Cold War, the location is news enough.
The reporter there asked the defense secretary if he had evidence linking Iraq to al Qaeda. He answered yes, but refused to elaborate, so it's less than clear if this is new evidence, or something we've heard before.
The Iraqis, meantime, took another opportunity to show they have nothing to hide from inspectors, as they say in Baghdad. They led reporters on a tour of a chemical complex just south of Baghdad. The plant got a mention in the British dossier that came out yesterday, because it makes a chemical that could be used in a nerve gas. The Iraqis say it isn't, the reporters aren't experts and experts haven't been inside the plant for years.
In Pakistan today, another attack targeting Pakistani Christians. Two gunmen invaded the office of a Christian charity in Karachi. They tied up the workers, and shot seven of them to death and escaped. This is the latest attack in a number of attacks on Christian organizations since the government of Pakistan began supporting the United States on Afghanistan and cracking down on radical Muslim groups at home.
And in Afghanistan, the entertainer George -- Joan Jett in Kandahar meeting and greeting U.S. troops there. But she made the biggest splash when she came on stage hidden under a burka and then ripped it off and then lodged in her musical set.
Got to love that.
We confess, sitting down to do an interview with George Will is an intimidating assignment. For one, we've done it before a few years back and he slapped me around a bit on one question, the subject I have managed to forget. And we were colleagues then.
Mr. Will is a leading voice on conservative issues in the country today. And for quite a while, he is also, in our opinion, one of the few people who can actually pull off the bow tie look, even if he didn't tonight.
He has a new book out with a title that seems to sum up his kind of sober-minded optimism: "With a Happy Eye But..."
And it's very nice to see him again. Mr. Will, welcome.
GEORGE WILL, COLUMNIST: We may be colleagues again.
BROWN: Well, I read that.
WILL: ABC, CNN.
BROWN: You know, before it's all said and done, there will just be one giant news organization.
Does that bother you, by the way? Not the specific AOL thing but the conglomerate, you know? You know what I mean.
WILL: Getting fat.
BROWN: Yes, the news business getting fat.
WILL: No, I think their economy is scale and good for journalism.
BROWN: Let's talk about today's flap. What's your take on it?
WILL: Well, as Jeff Greenfield said, politicians do have honest emotions.
Mary Kenton, who is still in my judgment the greatest columnists we've ever produced, the late Mary Kempton, once said that the similarity between professional wrestling and American politics is the absence of honest passion. Well, that was honest passion today but I think part of it was displaced passion. Part of his anger with the president was directed really subliminally at Al Gore, who -- by the speech in San Francisco very much complicated the Democrats's main goal right now, which is to change the subject. They don't want to talk about Iraq in the last six weeks of the campaign.
And Al Gore is not looking at 2002, he has another year in mind. Made that more difficult.
Furthermore, I think Jeff was absolutely right. The president did not speak gracefully. He was talking about the homeland security bill and these technical matters, union rights that are being involved here. The president has never been confused with Flaubert, he doesn't always have exactly the right word at all time. But this too shall pass. This is a one-day wonder.
BROWN: I think the administration knows how it will get out of Iraq if it ends up going into Iraq?
WILL: Nope.
BROWN: You think it ought to?
WILL: We were in the Rhine long time after the end of the second World War. Still have some troops in Korea. In December of 1942, a year after Pearl Harbor, we didn't know what we were going to do with the governance of Japan, with the governance of Germany after the end of the second World War. Here you had Germany that produced Hitler, not a promising democratic electorate you could have thought. You had -- Japan had been ruled by a semi-military fascism for generations. Not promising. But, in fact, it worked and we're going to have to improvise.
Now, the president is going to have to eat some words he spoke in the campaign against nation building. It was a good conservative instinct on his part. Nations are organic, they grow, they're not built. These are conservative insights.
Don't care. The fact is we now know in this age when violence is leaked from the control of nations and to things like al Qaeda, and nations can be hollow entities like Afghanistan, we know what happens. Nature abhors a vacuum and al Qaedas fill it.
So, we have to build nations. So, we're going to be there for awhile. It's going to cost money. But some of our allies that don't want to hear shots fired within their pristine ears could come in right after the war and write some checks.
BROWN: The book is a compendium of columns you've written over the years. And you write on a wide range of subjects, so let me ask you about just a number of things I've always wanted to ask you about.
Who would you like to have dinner with, have conversation with you've never had?
WILL: That I've never had?
BROWN: Yes.
WILL: Has to be alive?
BROWN: No.
WILL: No?
BROWN: No. WILL: I think I'd like to -- Washington. George Washington. Because he came to our government at a time when it was completely soft waxed and he gave an impress to it that's lasted. An impress -- just manners. How did you address this man? Was a republican, small r, republican etiquette. Do you curtsy, do you bow, do you shake his hand?
And so, the whole ethos of free government developed around this extraordinary man. He's the -- we've had a lot of very important Americans, he's the indispensable ones.
BROWN: When's the last time you changed your mind on an important issue?
WILL: Term limits, I suppose. I was opposed to term limits and to make amends for that error I wrote a book about it. Sold in the dozens. It didn't -- I mean, it's another lost cause of mine, but I think term limits would be a very good idea.
BROWN: You do now believe it's good idea?
WILL: Yes.
BROWN: What -- was there a moment when you realized, I just -- I wasn't right on this or I didn't think it through correctly?
WILL: It was when I came to understand that term limits would be, I'd call it a Madisonian amendment. That is, a surgical change that would change the incentives for entering public life and for behaving in public life. Remove careerism as a possibility. Two Senate terms. Six House terms, 12 years. And you will change the way people respond to public pressures.
BROWN: Forty seconds or so, what do people who don't like baseball, who find baseball boring, what don't they get?
WILL: They don't understand that baseball, more than any other sport. Your enjoyment of the sport is the function of your knowledge of the nuances. That's why I wrote a book on it called "Men at Work," just to show people the little things going on out there.
You don't have to know a thing about basketball to enjoy the athletic splendor of a Michael Jordan. You have to understand baseball to understand what Derek Jeter is doing.
BROWN: I'm going to end up writing a story today for tomorrow. Who's your favorite baseball play-by-play guy?
WILL: Vince Scully.
BROWN: Nice to see you. Hope your book is doing well. And hope the new program, seems to be doing well. Good for you. Nice to see you.
Next time, more time.
WILL: Done.
BROWN: Thank you. George Will.
Still to come on "Newsnight": buying one very expensive vowel, Pat Sajak not involved.
Up next, protecting a precious national resource from Hurricane Isidore: the pepper plants that make tabasco sauce.
This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Isidore is a name thought by some to mean "strong gift." People in the southeast would probably agree with the strong part but certainly, tonight at least, not the gift.
The tropical storm that's already slammed the Yucatan Peninsula, is about to make landfall and residents today have boarding up and getting out. One message board in New Orleans said this: Go back Isidore, we don't want you.
Ed Lavandera is in Lafayette, Louisiana. Ed, good evening.
LAVANDERA: Good evening, Aaron.
Well, the latest indications are that Tropical Storm Isidore will be making its way on shore here, along the Gulf Coast in the overnight hours. Bringing lots of rain, about 65 miles per hour winds are expected. Of course, this isn't quite the storm that it was several days ago when it was Category 3 hurricane.
But the rain situation is what has a lot of people on edge, in the New Orleans area in particular as people have been packing their sandbags and trying to board up windows and also board the front steps to a lot of the popular bar and restaurants in the French Quarter area, as water has already started to trickle into that part of town.
And that is what people will be watching closely over the course of the next 24 hours. And of course people in this part of the country are very used to these types of storms and all the ruckus that these storms cause as they start heading for the mainland.
And when your job is to protect one of the nation's popular and most well-known brand-name products in the entire country, well then that makes times like this a very busy time for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): This bridge takes you across a small stretch of Louisiana marsh on to Avery Island.
PAUL MCILHENNY, PRESIDENT, MCILHENNY CO.: It's 2,300 acres of highland above the marsh and the swamp.
LAVANDERA: Cajun country gets its flavor here. It's the home of Tabasco Pepper Sauce. The company's president, Paul McIlhenny, gave us a tour around the island, showing how the main ingredient of this American icon -- 30 acres of sizzling peppers -- is protected when violent storms threaten.
MCILHENNY: See how pretty the bushes are.
LAVENDERA: Three major hurricanes blew threw her since 1957. To protect the fields, long row of pine trees were put in 50 years ago. The trees shield the pepper plants from the winds.
MCILHENNY: Before we had them, if a heavy storm came through, it could literally blow the Tabasco plants over and break them or make them unusual. So this helped a little bit. It's not -- as I say -- it's not a cure-all, but it's to try to minimize the damage.
LAVANDERA: McIlhenny dodged a bullet this time. But a strong hurricane could wipe out the pine trees and plants altogether. But he has a backup plan.
MCILHENNY: Actually, we picked seed pepper from this crop last week, knowing that the hurricane might come here.
LAVANDERA: Crews picked seeds that could be replanted, stuck them in airtight bags and locked them away in a bank vault.
(on-camera): Why did you do that?
MCILHENNY: Well, as an insurance policy, making sure that if everything else goes wrong -- goes wrong, we still have the prime -- primal resource of our product which is the pepper itself.
LAVANDERA: Just about every part of Avery Island was built with hurricanes in mind.
MCILHENNY: This is the Tabasco factory.
LAVANDERA: This building is designed to with stand two hundred mile per hour winds. A two and a half foot wall made of brick and concrete, reinforced with steel beams, shelter 60 drums of Pepper Sauce. Each holding 1,600 gallons, and just weeks away from making it to a restaurant table near you.
LAVANDERA: The island has held up well.
MCILHENNY: Yes, we've survived. Hope to continue to survive.
LAVANDERA: Do you feel like you're -- a lot has to do with protecting an institution?
MCILHENNY: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. It's the mother load. And that's what we're protecting, the tradition passed and present and future. This is where it all starts.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: Pepper Sauce production was shut down today because of the storm as people were getting the island there ready. And it appears likely the Tabasco plant will have to shut down tomorrow as well. But we're told on Friday, Aaron, everything will resume and go back to normal -- Aaron.
BROWN: And just quickly go back to the top. You're expecting lots of rain but certainly not at this point a hurricane?
LAVANDERA: That seems to be the indication from the forecasters. A lot of everything they've been talking about in the course of the last 12 hours is that this storm will have a hard time reaching a Hurricane Category 1 level.
So we're anticipating probably winds from 65 to 70 miles an hour, as much as 12 inches of rain expected in some parts -- depending where you live along the Gulf coast. So a lot of parts from this area from Louisiana to Florida will be watching this closely in the next -- for the next 24 hours.
BROWN: Well we've chased a few of those over the years. We know what you're in for. Stay dry and safe. Thank you, Ed.
Ed Lavandera in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Later on NEWSNIGHT, the story of a big Roman about a bath. Well, it's actually in Florence, but it is about a bath. Well sort of about a bath.
Up next, buying a vowel without Vanna. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Been good programs on "AMERICAN MORNING" this week. And Paula has preview of tomorrows -- Paula.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": Thanks, Aaron. On the next "AMERICAN MORNING," meet the parents. We're going to meet a family that worked to adopt five sisters who had been placed in different foster homes. And they got the girls only days after they won the Lottery. That story tomorrow at 7:00 -- Aaron.
BROW: And, thank you. Coming up on NEWSNIGHT, a chance to buy a piece of history. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: It's always a sad, isn't it, when some nice little mom- and-pop outfit goes under and has to sell off whatever bits and pieces might be left. Their paper clips and the Post-It Notes and the office supplies just to satisfy the creditors.
Well, that's exactly what happened today at an auction in Houston today, where shoppers showed up to pick over the bones of a local business that went belly up. OK, Enron wasn't exactly a mom-and-pop operation. Mother of all failures, possibly but not mom-and-pop.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BROWN (voice-over): Lot No. 1 at the auction, the big draw, was a 5-foot-high, stainless steel, lop-sided letter "e," the company logo that used to sit outside its Houston headquarters.
The "e" went for 44,00 bucks.. We don't know if that's a good buy or not because we haven't priced any giant metal letters, recently.
For the rest, what you had was a whole lot of computer stuff. Your laptops, your flat-screen TVs, your tables and chairs and other office furniture. This is what an empire -- a fallen empire comes to: bits and pieces, spare parts, doodads.
And then there are the odd lots. There was a sailing ship model. Would you buy something from Enron that's supposed to float?
There were beer can cozies and lovely clear plastic mugs. And caps -- just the ticket if you wanted field an Enron Little League team. You'll probably be seeing these on eBay soon.
There were Nerf balls. Those must have been powerful business tools back in Enron's haydays. We can almost imagine the conversation. All right, where that energy deal is concerned, we're not prepared to go any higher than $150 million. But we'll throw in a Nerf ball.
Nerf balls may have been the clincher in a lot of really big deals.
There seemed to be a pretty fair amount of excitement in the room during the auction. You'd think people were bidding on bric-a-brak from the Titanic.
Well, come to think of it, that's pretty much what Enron was, the corporate Titanic.
And by the way, no corporate ledgers went on sale.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: A few other stories around the country making news today.
The first involves a dispute involving the World Trade Center and how to pay for the rebuilding of Ground Zero. A federal judge tried to settle an argument involving insurance today. He said the towers were brought down by one single attack, not two separate incidents.
Bad news for the leaseholder, Larry Silverstein, who stood to collect more if the judge had decided it was two attacks. Quite a bit more -- the difference between $7 million -- billion and $3.5 billion.
In California today, the entire Angeles National Forest closed because of wildfire. Fire has burned about 22,000 acres so far, has left smoke hovering over the city of Los Angeles. Five hundred families have been evacuated so far.
A deadly accident in Nebraska: A TV tower nearly 2,000 feet high collapsed. Two workers who were trying to strengthen the structure died in the accident. The tower, just to give you an idea, was taller than the Empire State Building.
And a no-frills trip across the Atlantic in a balloon has ended. A British balloonist abandoned his attempt to make the trip in an open wicker basket. He was supposed to go from Pittsburgh to Portugal, but crash-landed in Connecticut. When asked if he was hurt, the balloonist said, "only my pride."
Next on NEWSNIGHT, a big guy in Italy gets his first bath in over 100 years.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Finally from us tonight: improving on what many think is already perfection.
To look at Michelangelo's David is to see that a piece of marble can take on not only the human form, but also the human ideal.
There's just one small problem: The ideal needs a bath.
Here's CNN's Alessio Vinci.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The meticulous and painstaking art of a $165,000 wash performed on one of Italy's most famous statues, Michelangelo's David, now almost 500 years old.
FRANCA FALLETTI, GALLERY DIRECTOR (through translator): It is a little bit like performing appendicitis surgery on the president of the United States: Even though the operation is not complicated and poses no great threats, the importance of the subject is such that it makes the work unique and, in some ways, dangerous.
VINCI: He hasn't been cleaned since 1873. In those days, they used acid to get rid of dirt, which experts now say did more harm than good.
This time, they're using state-of-the-art equipment, like this specially-built mobile lift.
Agnese Parronchi is used to this type of work, a challenge she, at first, wanted to turn down because, she says, she felt the icon- like image of Michelangelo's David has been somewhat inflated.
Yet once up there, closer to it, that feeling changed.
AGNESE PARRONCHI, ART RESTORER (through translator): It is something that attracts you in an irresistible way. It feels like having a friend with whom I can share all my psychological moments. From down here, he looks immense, so big. But up there he becomes tiny, very little, because being so close to it gives him a different dimension.
VINCI: The perfect shape and proportions of the statue clearly leaves an impression on tourists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I realized on my honeymoon that I need to take care of this structure, and maybe do a few more sit-ups to have a body like that.
But it's very beautiful, and I think the restoration is just part of keeping it beautiful.
VINCI (on camera): More than 1 million people visit the statue each year. Such is its popularity that the curators wanted to make sure that the public could still see it while it's being restored.
(voice-over): To the naked eye, it will be difficult to notice the difference, but art experts say the work will also give them an opportunity to study the condition of the marble in the hopes of preserving David for another 500 years.
Alessio Vinci, CNN, Florence.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: And that's all for tonight. Good to have you with us.
Join us tomorrow again, 10:00 Eastern time.
Until then, good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.
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Iraq Gets Heated; Gulf Coast Residents Prepare for Hurricane Isidore>
