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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

President Bush Will Unveil New Economic Stimulus Package Next Week

Aired January 02, 2003 - 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, HOST: Good evening, again. I'm Aaron Brown.
There are those big issues that we talk about all the time these days. The war on terror, the likely war with Iraq, a sputtering economy, big issues all. And then there are those other issues that rarely lead the program and perhaps do not get enough discussion. We'll put one of them on the table tonight: drunk driving.

We assume no one is in favor of drunk driving. We're not. The discussion is about the national policy to stop it and what that policy has become.

Many States have adopted a blood alcohol level of .08. They have done so because the federal government has said adopt that or lose highway money. Advocates point out that thousands of people who die each year in alcohol related driving accidents and then rest their case. And they may be right. It may be that lowering the level to .08 is a smart and effective way to save lives.

This morning I thought so. Tonight I'm not so certain. Really uncertain, as in I'm just not sure. Is it possible that going after the .08 drinker is the wrong way to attack the problem? Might it be that attention to road conditions or car safety or prescription drugs or cell phones would save more lives at a far lower cost?

The critics argue that .08 drinker is hardly the problem. That all it does is increase the number of people arrested and prosecuted. A Minnesota legislator quoted in the "LA Times" the other day said .08 would cost his state up to $60 million in increased prosecutions. More than the federal highway money they would get.

So we'll take a look at this tonight. And while we are not certain we know who is right on this, we are absolutely certain you'll be surprised by the guest making the argument. That's later.

On to the news of the day first. And that begins on Wall Street, where all months are important, but January especially so. Allan Chernoff covered today's soaring start to the new year. Allan, a headline, please.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Investors threw a New Year's party at the stock market. They did exactly the same thing last year and ended up with a yearlong hangover. Could it happen again? History says no. BROWN: Allan, thank you. I wish you hadn't told me about last year.

On to a fascinating twist that's come out of the FBI's hunt for five men believed in the country illegally. Jean Meserve is following that. Jeanne, a headline from you.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Whose picture is that on the FBI Web site? A man who might have entered the US illegally last week or a jeweler who is in Lahore, Pakistan today? That's one mystery the FBI is still trying to solve -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jeanne, thank you.

The latest on the North Korean situation. Rebecca MacKinnon is at the DMZ on the videophone. Rebecca, a headline from you tonight.

REBECCA MACKINNON, TOKYO BUREAU CHIEF: Well, at this point, it is diplomats, not troops, that are immobilizing to try and get North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons development program. Here at Camp (UNINTELLIGIBLE) on the edge of the DMZ, it is completely business as usual.

BROWN: Rebecca, thank you. Back to you shortly.

And to West Virginia now and the surgeons refusing to work. Whitney Casey following that for us. Whitney, a headline from you.

WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, they walked out of work in protest to those high malpractice insurance rates, but they also took an oath of ethics, saying they would put the patient first. So have they -- Aaron.

BROWN: Whitney, thank you. Back to you and the rest shortly.

Also coming up tonight, as we mentioned, criticism for Mothers Against Drunk Driving and of the nation's effort to reduce drunks on the road. And, as we said, an unlikely person will make the argument.

A story about lives disrupted by the world on terror. Actually, love lives is a more accurate phrase. Men kept apart from their brides to be who live overseas.

In Segment Seven tonight, a comedian who wants to break down the stereotypes of Arab-Americans by making fun of them. All that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin with the economy. And if you're inclined to believe happy days are here again, there are reasons to believe that tonight. Manufacturers are making more stuff, or at least more stuff than they expected to make. A mortgage is as cheap as it's been since the Jefferson administration.

President Bush expected to announce more tax cuts next week, this time weighted more toward the middle class. And one columnist today even predicted a comeback for the dot-coms. Wall street is eating it up.

But if today looked like the first day of the great rally and recovery of 2003, bear this in mind: today is also the first day of the rest of the year and a lot of things are about to happen. Here again, CNN's Allan Chernoff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF (voice-over): Wall Street rang in the new year as if the three-year bear market were heading for hibernation. The Dow industrials enjoying its best opening year performance in history and its biggest one-day gain since October. All the major indices jumped more than three percent.

STEVE PORPORA: We sort of feel the market and the economy have made their lows. We're hoping that the geopolitical issues of Iraq are settled sometime in the first quarter of this year. We're all thinking that.

CHERNOFF: Traders said one trigger was a new survey of corporate purchasing managers, who pointed to the first pickup in manufacturing in four months. But the survey's director warns factories still have big problems.

NORBERT ORE, CHAIRMAN, INSTITUTE FOR SUPPLY MANAGEMENT: I would term this as very encouraging, but I think it's a little premature to pronounce this as the beginning of a strong recovery or anything of that type.

CHERNOFF: Investors are hoping the stimulus package President Bush plans to introduce next week will give a jump start to the economy and the stock market. Hoping because the bear market has ravaged investment accounts. A $100 investment made at the beginning of 2000 this morning would have been worth only $32.80 in the average Nasdaq stock. And just $72.50 in the average Dow stock.

Market historians claim the first few days of January often set the tone for the entire year in the stock market, but not last year. The Nasdaq soared five and one-half percent in the first three trading days. It ended the year down 31 and one-half percent.

NICK MOORE, PORTFOLIO MANAGER: I don't think we're about to go off on a big tear (ph) in tech stocks to the upside, particularly with war starting prospectively in around four weeks' time. I don't think we're going to get in a melt (ph) up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF: So one day a rally does not make. At least the stock market has one thing going for it, the law of averages. The market has not been down for four consecutive years since the great depression. And Aaron, let's certainly hope we're not making that comparison a year from today.

BROWN: Right. Part of the problem here is that the market had such a huge up-run (ph), such a huge bull (ph) run. CHERNOFF: And now we're feeling the flip side of that, the consequences of it.

BROWN: The other thing I wondered about today, when I saw the manufacturers report, is if the market, if investors were looking for reasons to celebrate after three very bad years.

CHERNOFF: It seemed that to me, because this was only one piece of data. It was a piece of data back from December. It wasn't something that was a Eureka. And I think the market needs plenty of Eurekas to really get it going.

BROWN: Well, we'll take a good day. We haven't had enough of them. Allan, thank you. Allan Chernoff with us tonight.

As we mentioned, the president, who remembers very well how his father's career ended, is promising to unveil an economic package next week. At the ranch in Crawford today, Mr. Bush made sure to mention there would be something in it for everyone. Congressional Democrats plan to press him on that. They're working on proposals featuring cuts in payroll taxes, the kind of taxes that hit lower income workers the hardest.

The economy is just one of the things the president talked to reporters about today. So from Crawford, Texas tonight, here's CNN's Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yes, that's the leader of the free world...

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I need somebody walking up here with me. I can't...

BASH: ... pointing out the wonders of nature at his 1,600 acre Texas ranch, giving reporters a brief glimpse of the place he says he comes to get away from it all.

BUSH: This is all us, all the way up to the very top of those cliffs.

BASH: But for a president dealing with crises brewing around the world, there's only so far you can get. On North Korea, Mr. Bush says he still seek as diplomatic solution. Shrugging off suggestions allies in the region, like South Korea and Russia, are reluctant to pressure Pyongyang.

BUSH: They may be putting pressure on it; you just don't know about it. But I know they're not reluctant when it comes to the idea of nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula.

BASH: On Iraq, more tough talk, restating his pledge to lead a coalition to disarm Saddam Hussein if he has to.

BUSH: For 11 long years the world has dealt with him and now he's got to understand his day of reckoning is coming. And, therefore, he must disarm voluntarily. I hope he does.

BASH: Then there's the homefront. Mindful of the perception his father focused on Iraq and not jobless Americans a decade ago, this President Bush says he'll unveil a plan next week aimed at jump- starting the economy.

BUSH: What I'm worried about is job creation. And I'm worried about those who are unemployed. I am concerned about those who are looking for work and can't find work.

BASH: That economic package, White House and congressional aides say, is likely to include tax cuts on dividends for personal investors, tax breaks for businesses, and a tax cut targeting lower income Americans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: And the president launched a preemptive strike of sorts against Democrats today, suggesting that they will intend -- they do intend to use this whole debate as class warfare. And he's sure that they will say that the president just wants to help the rich and no one else. But, Aaron, as Democrats jump into the race, state that they want the president's job, you can be sure that they are going to have a lot of criticism against the president for his stewardship of the economy -- Aaron.

BROWN: I suspect they will. The president just before the new year talked about extending unemployment insurance that expired on the first of the year. So we assume that's part of the package. What else do we know specifically, if anything, will be part of the package?

BASH: We think in addition to the unemployment benefits, he's going to talk heavily about cutting tax -- corporate tax dividends. He says that -- Bush aides say that that will help, particularly with the middle class. Help them with investment, and it will also help the economy and help corporations boost their stock prices. He's also going to -- he probably, we think, will accelerate some of the tax cut that passed in 2001.

About a week ago we were hearing that perhaps he wouldn't cut the top tax rate because he was worried about that criticism from Democrats that he was just trying to help the rich. But we are told now that he probably will have some kind of acceleration of the tax rates across the board -- Aaron.

BROWN: Dana Bash, thank you very much. In Crawford, Texas tonight.

Back to North Korea now. The president this weekend called it a diplomatic standoff, not a military one. And the administration is looking for a diplomatic solution, not directly with the North Koreans. The administration pointedly refuses to speak to that government.

Instead, it is trying to convince North Korea's few friends and most prominent neighbors to help. For the latest, we go back to CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon, who is in the DMZ on the videophone -- Rebecca.

MACKINNON: Hello, Aaron. Well, the diplomats are mobilizing into high gear for the next couple of weeks. We have South Korea's vice foreign minister just went to China to try and convince the Chinese to put more pressure to bear on North Korea to stop trying to move forward with its nuclear weapons program.

Now the Chinese did agree that a peaceful solution needs to be arrived at, but did not indicate specifically what they might do. We also have the South Korean envoy going to Russia today and trying to get the Russians also to put pressure to bear. The South Koreans have ministerial level talks with the North Koreans in the coming weeks, hoping again to seasoned the message to North Korea that simply the current ratcheting up of tensions will not be acceptable to South Koreans.

We also have three-way talks going on in Washington between Japan, South Korea and the US. At the beginning of next week, we have US envoy Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly coming out at the end of the week to make sure that US policy towards North Korea is closely coordinated with Seoul and that the message is consistent.

Now we have North Korea trying to take advantage of rising anti- US sentiment that has been apparent in South Korea over the past few months. A lot of protests because of a road accident that occurred in the summer, when a US military vehicle hit and killed two South Korean teenagers. There was a very large protest on New Year's Eve. Those protests do continue.

The president-elect here Roh Moo-hyun has just been elected, going to take office in February. He has been urging South Korea not to demonstration against the US, saying that this complicates the situation at a time when North Korea appears to be trying to drive a wedge between the United States and Seoul.

Meanwhile, as far as military deployments are concerned, there is no change from the usual level of troops here around the demilitarized zone. The US and South Korean troops, who train regularly around the zone, who are face to face with North Korean soldiers every day along the line of control, they say they're at their normal level of readiness, which is already the highest state of readiness possible. But there is no extra mobilizations going on here at the military front -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well, is there any plan at all that you know of for North Koreans to talk to Americans?

MACKINNON: Well, the North Koreans have said they do want to talk to the United States. And, in fact, they want the US to sign a non-aggression treaty with them as soon as possible. However, the administration has said, while it may be willing to talk, it's not willing to negotiate and give any concessions. The North Koreans, for their part, if the US were willing to give concessions, they're ready to talk at any time.

BROWN: Rebecca, thank you. Rebecca McKinnon in the DMZ between the two Koreas tonight.

Politics now. North Carolina Senator John Edwards, a first-term senator who looks closer to 25 than the 50 years old he is, formally announced he's setting up an exploratory committee to run for the presidency. That's the legalese. That means he's decided to run and now he can raise some money.

Critics say he's too young and too inexperienced. The kinds of things that were said about a couple of other southern governors over the years. One named Clinton, the other named Bush. Here's CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), NORTH CAROLINA: We are going to win the White House in 2004.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Last year he was talking generically, as in Democrats will win the White House. Now it's personal.

EDWARDS: Today I filed my -- the papers to set up an exploratory committee to run for president of the United States.

CROWLEY: The surprise would have been if he had decided not to run. This is February of last year. Politicians only tromp through New Hampshire snow for one reason: they're after the big one.

EDWARDS: It is a pretty place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. We think so.

CROWLEY: Turning 50 this year, the senator from North Carolina can be charming. That helps in the grip and grin world of a politician. He is articulate (UNINTELLIGIBLE) family to match. "People" magazine once named him sexiest politician, and he's from the south in a party that badly needs to regain its voice there.

EDWARDS: I'm a main stream North Carolinian. I think my views and my values represent the values of most people in this country. I don't make ideological decisions about anything.

CROWLEY: The Edwards story is of a boy raised in a home of modest means; the first in his family to go to college and law school. He became a hugely successful personal injury lawyer and is now a millionaire many times over. He will run as a "regular guy," quoting regular voters.

EDWARDS: What I believe I represent is somebody who understands them, understands their lives, and has real ideas. Substantive, specific ideas about how to make their lives better.

CROWLEY: He is the fresh face Democrats said they wanted. The down side is he's a fresh face because he hasn't been at it long. Edwards has been a senator for four years; his first and only political job. EDWARDS: If the American people want somebody who is a life-long politician to be their president, that's not me.

CROWLEY: He thinks the president is beatable, but to have a go at it, the junior senator from North Carolina must first take on other Democrats: Gephardt, Lieberman, Kerry, to name a few. All with greater stature and heftier credentials. Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

BUSH: One of these days somebody will emerge and we'll tee it up and see who the American people want to lead. And until that happens, I'm going to be doing my job.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: In truth, Edwards is no more or less schooled in governance than the current president, who had been Texas governor for four and a half years when he decided to run. But that was then and this is post 9/11. The question is whether voters now would prefer an old hand to a fresh face. Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Congressman Dick Gephardt also entered the fray today a bit accidentally, as it turns out. The last time he ran 14 years ago he got into the race the way most candidates do. This time it happened because someone hit a button just a little too soon.

A fax went around Washington today, including our bureau there, inviting people to a reception for the Dick Gephardt for president exploratory committee. A young aide apparently jumped the gun.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT tonight: an unintended consequence in the war on terror. Brides and bridegrooms kept apart. That's coming up later. Up next: the Pakistani who says the FBI is using his photo as an alleged terrorist. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: When the FBI released photos of five wanted men last week suspected of illegally entering the country for reasons unknown, we didn't quite expect any of them to step forward and say, yep, that's me, you got your guy. But a man in Pakistan has done just that. He says he's the one of the men pictured and his business is jewelry, not terror. Here's CNN's Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): Even a senior FBI official acknowledges that Mohammed Asghar sure looks like Mustafa Kan Uwasi (ph) wanted by the FBI for questioning. But Asghar, a jeweler in Lahore, Pakistan, says he has never been to the US, certainly not on the date authorities believe Uwasi (ph) and four other men may have tried to enter illegally.

MOHAMMED ASHGAR, PAKISTAN JEWELLER: I'm here and they're saying I'm in the USA. How can this be true? I don't know anything about the picture. Maybe someone gave it to them or someone had the picture on a Web site. What can I say about this? I'm here in Lahore, a resident of Pakistan. How can I be there when I'm here in Lahore?

MESERVE: The FBI is on the ground in Lahore to try and determine if Asghar and Uwasi (ph) are one in the same. And if so, how his photo showed up in their investigation. One possibility, Asghar admits to once using forged documents. Sources say information that led to the FBI photos came from Michael John Habdani (ph), arrested two months ago in Canada.

Investigators seized counterfeited travel documents, $600,000 worth of phony travel checks and forgery equipment. Records show Habdani (ph) is also wanted in New York on forgery related charges dating back to 1996. A former FBI official says it would be a mistake if the possible photo fraud eroded public confidence in the FBI and its information. Specifically the other four photos put out Sunday.

SKIP BRANDON, FMR. FBI COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL: I do not think that we would have gone public on a national and international basis without a lot of this information being vetted and carefully considered.

MESERVE: The FBI has not, however, distributed any additional names and photos, something that had been expected. Authorities still do not know how the five men might have entered the US, but one law enforcement source says there is a "distinct possibility" they were brought in through the St. Regis Mohawk Indian (ph) reservation, which straddles the New York-Ontario border and has a history of smuggling. There is no concrete proof, however, that that was the route.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: Though officials say they have no evidence the men are involved in terrorism, they clearly remain of high interest. The search for them and any associates is described as widespread and ongoing. But one official adds, no arrests appear imminent -- Aaron.

BROWN: Are they in fact any more certain today than they were last week or earlier this week that these guys are in the country at all?

MESERVE: No. They have always said that they believe they have entered the country. They have not said definitively that they have. They have said there's a possibility they came from Canada, but nothing definitive on that either. And, in fact, we had a conversation this evening with a Canadian official who wanted to underline the fact not only is there no proof that they came over the border from her Canada, there's no proof that they ever were in Canada -- Aaron.

BROWN: And back to our jeweler in Lahore. Does the FBI at this point acknowledge that they are one in the same? That the guy in the wanted poster and the guy in Lahore is the same?

MESERVE: No, they don't. And that's why they have those investigators in Lahore.

BROWN: OK.

MESERVE: They want to talk to this man, they want to eyeball him, they want to hear his story and question him about certain aspects of it. And they have told me that if the interview is not conclusive, they could take the photograph and do some additional laboratory analysis on that to try to determine the truth of the matter -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jeanne, thank you very much. Jeanne Meserve in Washington.

Tonight, a few stories from around the world. We start in Iraq. Five sites inspected today, including a state company that builds unmanned drones for the Iraqi air force. The head of the Iraqi agency dealing with the United Nations describes the inspections as intrusive and surprising. There have been 230 inspections over the last five weeks.

On to a crash in the English channel. A tanker loaded with two million gallons of oil slammed into a shipwreck. It had a double hull, though, and so only a small amount of fuel oil -- fuel oil -- spilled out. That's the good news there.

And a cyclone caused enormous damage in the Solomon islands in the mid Pacific. It's not clear right now how many people have been hurt in this. Communications have been cut to the nearly 4,000 people who live on the island.

Coming up on NEWSNIGHT: we'll meet one Arab-American who is trying to break stereotypes down by using humor. And up next: doctors walk away because they say they can't afford to practice. This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A few stories from around the country tonight, beginning with more proof of just how bad business is for the airlines. America West Airlines is going to charge passengers for meals on some flights. It's called "buy on board." It's a test. It will run for three weeks. It could become permanent. I think they do have to tell you what the meat is.

The on again, off again, on again, off again, on again, off again, almost on again, off again career of pro football coach Bill Parcells (ph) is on again. He announced tonight he signed a deal with the Dallas Cowboys to coach them for about $4 million a year for the next four years. We'll see how many years he actually does it.

And a story about Senator Bill Frist -- make that Dr. Bill Frist. The new Senate majority leader came upon a traffic accident in Florida and helped start treatment. You might remember that Senator Frist also assisted back in 1998, when a gunman shot two people on Capitol Hill. He is a trained surgeon. Here's a counterpoint to the story in Florida. No surgeon senators in this one, no surgeons at all. In fact, in parts of West Virginia's northern panhandle tonight, they've all walked off the job. The problem is a familiar one. They say they can no longer afford malpractice insurance.

In Pennsylvania this week, doctors went to the brink over just that issue, but stayed on the job. Pennsylvania's governor elect, as you heard on this program on Monday night, asked for more time to hammer out a relief package, and doctors in Pennsylvania gave it to him. West Virginia's governor is asking the same, but so far not getting it.

And as for patients in Wheeling and Whurton who need an operation and need it now, they're getting long ambulance rides instead. Here's CNN's Whitney Casey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY (voice-over): Affordability and availability, two sentiments echoed by doctors across the country. Doctors say their malpractice insurance is sometimes costing them more than they make. And more recently, surgeons that deliver babies, do brain, heart or even orthopedic surgery say they're having trouble getting insurance because the supply of insurers is swiftly dwindling.

So what are the doctors going to do about it? In addition to West Virginia, doctors in Las Vegas back in July walked out of their E.R. for ten days. In Eastern Pennsylvania Wednesday, doctors threatened to walk out but were bailed out by their governor-elect.

The doctors want lawmakers to put a cap on malpractice lawsuit payouts. They say no caps are the reason insurance premiums are sky high.

THOMAS FOLEY, ATTORNEY: They are looking for caps, because they want immunity from losses.

CASEY: The doctors' main opposition? Trial lawyers with ads like this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MORGAN, ATTORNEY: Your child's injuries may be the result of the hospital's failure to perform a timely C-section, thus depriving your baby of oxygen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOLEY: Persons have been sometimes seriously and irreparably harmed, and we think that their rights should be protected.

CASEY: Many still support the doctors. These billboards along the highway, paid by community groups, plead to get doctors back.

In West Virginia, this woman waiting in the hospital says she overwhelmingly supports the protesting doctors, but when I asked her...

(on camera): OK. Victoria's (ph) 18 months. Something horrible happens, you guys have to rush her to the E.R. right now, there are no surgeons working. Now how do you feel?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then, in that situation, I'd probably be upset.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY: Now, there were two scenarios that occurred today in this E.R. sans its surgeons. The first one started at about 1:45 this morning. A woman came in with nonlife threatening injuries. She needed surgery. She had to be transferred over 100 miles away.

Second tonight, later, a man came in. He had life threatening injuries. He needed surgery. In 15 minutes, a doctor was called, one of these striking doctors, showed up. The man was on the O.R. table and he was taken care of.

So tonight that Hippocratic oath that these doctors took, it saved a life. But in the end the patients are really the ones that suffer -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well, OK. Anybody got a plan to end this? I'm not precisely clear if emergency surgery is being done on an emergency basis, how extensive the problem is but has anyone got a plan to solve it?

CASEY: Well, actually the plan that really a lot of the doctors are saying is somewhat eutopic is the one out in California. Basically what they have there is a $250,000 cap and they have a sliding pay scale for those doctors.

So what that really involves is in those malpractice payoffs, all they can get for pain and suffering, those are non-economic losses, is $250,000 and that, they say, keeps those premiums down.

BROWN: Well, that's not the kind of thing that's going to happen overnight. Is there any plan to get these doctors back soon?

CASEY: Well, they hope to get bailed out, as you said earlier, by their governor. But as it looks today, they met with the governor and the governor did say that he was trying to do that but it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

What they could do is what those doctors did in Las Vegas. They walked out for ten days. The legislature then enacted a law. Now that law, though, interestingly is now being challenged by the lawyers.

BROWN: Thank you very much. Thank you.

Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, the unintended consequences of the war on terror. That's later.

Up next, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the war on drunk drivers. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: And next on NEWSNIGHT, the battle against highway deaths. Is alcohol being overemphasized? This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Getting back to where we began tonight, it's fair to say it's been one of the most visible campaigns of the past generation, the fight against drunk driving. And in many ways it has been hugely successful at changing attitudes.

But today critics are asking have we reached a point of diminishing returns, that lowering the legal alcohol limit not only will not significantly reduce the number of deaths, but it's too expensive to enforce and only clouds larger, more lethal issues.

In a moment we'll talks to the founder of MADD who may be fairly called the mother of the battle against drunk drivers. First, a little background.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD, was founded in 1980 on a tragedy, the death of Candace Lightner's 12-year- old daughter to a drunk driver.

CANDACE LIGHTNER, FOUNDER, MADD: After a time period you tend to lose the anger that you have after the initial death. And when I learned he was back out on the road and when I learned that he had been eligible to get his driver's license last year, it just brings that anger up all over again.

BROWN: The country's attitudes about drunk driving have dramatically changed over a generation. MADD has been a big part of that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See the tip of this pen? I'd like you to watch with just your eyes. Move it back and forth.

BROWN: But still in the year 2001, according to federal statistics, 41 percent of all traffic accidents involved alcohol.

GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK: It is now the law in New York state.

BROWN: With a push from MADD and others, Congress now requires states to adopt a .08 blood alcohol content level rather than the .10 that most states used in the past. Adopt it or lose some federal highway funds. Fourteen states have yet to lower limit, but the federal dollars are a powerful hammer.

JUSTIN MCNAULL, AAA SPOKESMAN: Point oh eight's an important component in our platform to try to save lives on our highways. It's not the end all be all when it comes to preventing drunk driving but it's an important aspect of it.

To really save lives, we also need to get in stronger some sanctions for repeat offenders and for the super drunks, people with high alcohol levels who go out and drive over and over again.

BROWN: One unlikely critic of the new law, the woman who started the movement more than two decades ago, Candace Lightner. A powerful and unexpected ally to have.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And Candace Lightner joins us now to talk more about this. It's nice to see you. Thanks for joining us.

Point oh eight. Do you agree that people who are -- who have that much or that little alcohol in their system are more dangerous than people who have none?

LIGHTNER: Oh, absolutely. I think there's no doubt about it.

I just happen to think that the focus on .08 is not where it should be. It should be on the high BAC drivers, those driving at .17 and above. Those to me are the most dangerous drunk drivers and I don't think .08 is a solution to the problem. I don't think lowering the BAC to .08 is the solution to the problem.

BROWN: Is it that you believe that by doing that, by simply lowering it to .08, that governments now sort of wash their hands of the problem and say look, we solved it?

LIGHTNER: I think that's partially true by the way. Legislators do that definitely. It's like, well, we passed this bill, what else do we need to do? And I think there are a lot of other things they need to do that to me are far more important. You can already arrest drivers driving at a .08, you can already prosecute them. Police already have the means to go out and do that, so you don't need to lower the BAC, you don't need to make it the focus of your laws. You really do need to I think increase the enforcement and focus on those that are repeat offenders and the most dangerous drivers, the high BAC. Drivers.

BROWN: I want to come back to what somebody described as the super drunks today in a minute. But there are other -- other things you would argue we can be doing quite apart from the drunk driver having to do with cars and roads and a lot of other things, right?

LIGHTNER: Well, I'm anti-cellphone so that would be my next cause if I took on another cause. Absolutely. I think there are a number of other issues that deserve the same kind of focus and the same kind of attention that drunk driving has been fortunate enough to have.

BROWN: Don't you think a decade from now, by the way, you won't be able to at least hold a cellphone in your car. That's a movement that's just starting but it does seem to be starting. LIGHTNER: And I applaud it, believe me. Because I've almost been run down several times by people driving with cellphones. I think they're very dangerous. I think people who use them in the car while they drive are very irresponsible.

BROWN: I want to go back to this category, the super drunk for a second. There is a belief, I think, in the community of people who deal with this issue that there's a disproportionate number of deaths and accidents are caused by a relatively small group of people who continue to do this again and again and again, and that the government really doesn't hammer them.

LIGHTNER: I think that's absolutely correct. And one of the things that I had lobbied for some years ago was tougher penalties, what we call graduated penalties or escalating penalties for the drivers driving with a higher BAC. The higher the BAC, the tougher the penalty. The more often they were arrested, the tougher the penalty again. And to me that's statistically I believe you're correct, they cause the majority of the crashes and the crimes. And also these are people, by the way, who have driven many times before under the influence drunk but they may not have been caught but they definitely have driven many times before.

BROWN: You described your former organization as becoming neo- prohibitionists. What do you mean?

LIGHTNER: Well, I think they're focusing a great deal of time on the alcohol industry -- the alcohol issue, excuse me, and I just think they need to get back to the focus on drunk driving and victims' rights and increased enforcement and roadblocks and things like that.

BROWN: And now that the .08 issue is largely settled, do you think that will happen? Or do you think they'll veer off in some other direction here?

LIGHTNER: Well, you mentioned earlier there are about 17 states that still haven't lowered their BAC to .08. I at this I think MADD will still focus on .308 in those 17 states.

BROWN: It's nice to talk to you. You're an interesting person to talk to on this perspective. Thanks for join us. Have a good New Year.

LIGHTNER: Thank you.

Thank you. Candy Lightner, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, wedding day delays caused by the war on terror.

This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: And next on NEWNIGHT, the unintended consequences of the war on terror.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We've asked ourselves again and again since September 11, 2001, what do we have to give up to stop it from happening again? There are the big stories, whether we're trading our civil liberties for more security.

But this is one of the small stories. Some American men who say they've had to give up something precious as a side effect of the war on terror -- their chance for love.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): Kevin Cook is a software engineer in Florida who at least once every day spend as lot of not-so-quality time with a recording.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're on hold to speak to the next available officer. Right now we are handling more calls than we have officers.

BROWN: He's a divorced father of three engaged for just over a year to a Chinese woman who is not here but there.

KEVIN COOK, SOFTWARE ENGINEER: Her name is Yon Lu (ph). I actually met her by chance one night on the Internet. We were using the same chat program.

BROWN: As strange as it may seem, there are thousands of American men in exactly the same predicament, men who either met Chinese or Russian women by chance on the Internet or through Internet dating services. Women now stranded overseas because the State Department toughened entry requirements from Russia and China last summer in response to terrorist threats worldwide.

COOK: I know for a fact that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) has 10,000 immigrant Visas sitting around waiting for the name checks to come back. And about 7,500 are just fiancee Visas.

BROWN: Those Visas would be handled here in China, the only place in the entire country that processes Visas for would-be brides, 3,000 miles away from where Yon resides.

COOK: I don't think there is any particular person in any position to blame. I think it's a byproduct of not investing the resources in our immigration system.

GENE EDWARDS, ATTORNEY: If I would to use word like aversive, disgusting, abominable, that would not cover the feelings I have about this.

BROWN: Gene Edwards is not nearly as charitable. He and two other men from Dallas agreed to talk to us about similar stories with their Russian fiancees and wives because they say they are fed up with everything.

BRUCE ADES, ELECTRICAL ENGINEER: Sandy Booker of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

BROWN: Sandy Booker was one of the two American citizens among the more than 100 hostages who died in that takeover of a Moscow theater by Chechen militants last October. Booker's friends say he went to the theater to celebrate that his fiancee had finally cleared her hurdles with the American government.

ADES: Had his visa been issued for his family as had been historically promised by the embassy, Mr. Booker would have never made that trip.

BROWN: Back in Florida, Kevin Cook has created this flow chart, a chart to explain to visitors that he admits to himself how the process works.

COOK: I did this a few months ago because the process to get the K-1 Visa approved has turned into such a complicated process, I kept getting lost.

BROWN: And as for the question of why go through all this trouble in the first place, delicately put, couldn't you find someone here to marry?

COOK: You know, I don't think true love is geographically isolated. Just because I'm an American doesn't mean my true love is in America. Mine happens to be in China.

BROWN: For its part, the Department of State says it understands everyone's frustrations. But it adds quote, "We've worked very closely with other agencies involved to improve this process so that we can expedite clearance without compromising security."

COOK: They're going to keep hearing from me until my fiancee is here. That is my mission.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Next on NEWSNIGHT, looking at Arab-Americans in a new way, through the prism of humor. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Finally from us tonight, the power of laughter. Even before the attacks of September 11, Americans had a fair number of stereotypes about Muslims and most of them weren't pretty. The tragedy just made it all worse.

All of which has made life for tens of thousands of Arab- Americans that much harder. The sideways glances, the talk show anger, the shocking statements by some members of the clergy. For many Arab-Americans, it's enough to make you cry or laugh out loud.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please welcome Ray Hananja.

RAY HANANJA, COMEDIAN: I got into comedy originally in the weeks after September 11. And I know it seems like an odd time, but I think it opened the door for me because I think Americans, for the first time, really wanted to know who we are.

Anyway, my name is Ray Hananja. I'm from the Middle East. I surrender.

You want to break through some of the barriers and stereotypes, you lighten up the situation.

So I'm Arab and I'm hairy. So I could be Hairabic.

I've always believed that Arab-Americans haven't done a good job in speaking to Americans and telling them who we are.

So, my name is Nazi Malak (ph) and I come from a big Egyptian- American family.

I think comedy was a way to kind of expand our definition, you know, as peoples, as Americans.

Arabs and Jews are killing each other because we're the only freakin people in the whole world who have that sound in our language. I'm sorry, ma'am. Hello to you. No, hello, hello. Go [bleep] yourself, no, [bleep] you!

No wonder they are can't negotiate peace, they're spitting at each other for three hours.

Jewish comedy is probably the common denominator that started every body off. And their response to tragedy was to stand up and say, You know, what? I'm going to make fun of us. I'm going to talk about us and in doing that people open up.

I really think I took a leaf out of, you know, the Borscht Belt, and hopefully we're forming our own Babab Gunush (ph) Belt.

My laundromat by my building, these guys were talking and one guy goes to the other he goes -- he's like, I think all Arabs are terrorists. I think we should just kill them all and let God sort them out.

I go up to the guy, I'm like, Sir, that's not nice. I'm Arabic.

He goes, You don't look it.

I'm like, Well, that just makes it easier for me to achieve the goals of my mission.

We need a lot of things in the Arab-American community and I think, not just Arab comedians -- I mean, I think Americans need to see us as something other than terrorists. I think the best thing about being Egyptian is that I have this ambiguous face where the average racist doesn't know what racial slur to call me.

I think we need a show like "Every body Loves Abdullah," where you can see an Arab-American doing the silly things that Italian- Americans do, that Jewish-Americans do, that -- ethnic humor is funny. And when people hear my ethnic humor, it;s no different than any body else. They go, Wow, you eat strange food, too? Your mother was overbearing? You know, you had to wear weird clothes? Wow, you're just like me.

You know, to me, that's the power of comedy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And that's the work of NEWSNIGHT producer Katherine Mitchell (ph). Good to have you with us. Reminder, for the first time this year, can you sign up for our daily e-mail. Go to our web site at cnn.com/newsnight and follow the directions. Tell us a few things and we'll tell you what's coming up on the program and all the behind-the-scenes gossip at NEWSNIGHT.

Go ahead and do that and we'll be back tomorrow at 10:00. We hope you'll join us. Until then, good night from all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

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Next Week>


Aired January 2, 2003 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening, again. I'm Aaron Brown.
There are those big issues that we talk about all the time these days. The war on terror, the likely war with Iraq, a sputtering economy, big issues all. And then there are those other issues that rarely lead the program and perhaps do not get enough discussion. We'll put one of them on the table tonight: drunk driving.

We assume no one is in favor of drunk driving. We're not. The discussion is about the national policy to stop it and what that policy has become.

Many States have adopted a blood alcohol level of .08. They have done so because the federal government has said adopt that or lose highway money. Advocates point out that thousands of people who die each year in alcohol related driving accidents and then rest their case. And they may be right. It may be that lowering the level to .08 is a smart and effective way to save lives.

This morning I thought so. Tonight I'm not so certain. Really uncertain, as in I'm just not sure. Is it possible that going after the .08 drinker is the wrong way to attack the problem? Might it be that attention to road conditions or car safety or prescription drugs or cell phones would save more lives at a far lower cost?

The critics argue that .08 drinker is hardly the problem. That all it does is increase the number of people arrested and prosecuted. A Minnesota legislator quoted in the "LA Times" the other day said .08 would cost his state up to $60 million in increased prosecutions. More than the federal highway money they would get.

So we'll take a look at this tonight. And while we are not certain we know who is right on this, we are absolutely certain you'll be surprised by the guest making the argument. That's later.

On to the news of the day first. And that begins on Wall Street, where all months are important, but January especially so. Allan Chernoff covered today's soaring start to the new year. Allan, a headline, please.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Investors threw a New Year's party at the stock market. They did exactly the same thing last year and ended up with a yearlong hangover. Could it happen again? History says no. BROWN: Allan, thank you. I wish you hadn't told me about last year.

On to a fascinating twist that's come out of the FBI's hunt for five men believed in the country illegally. Jean Meserve is following that. Jeanne, a headline from you.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Whose picture is that on the FBI Web site? A man who might have entered the US illegally last week or a jeweler who is in Lahore, Pakistan today? That's one mystery the FBI is still trying to solve -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jeanne, thank you.

The latest on the North Korean situation. Rebecca MacKinnon is at the DMZ on the videophone. Rebecca, a headline from you tonight.

REBECCA MACKINNON, TOKYO BUREAU CHIEF: Well, at this point, it is diplomats, not troops, that are immobilizing to try and get North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons development program. Here at Camp (UNINTELLIGIBLE) on the edge of the DMZ, it is completely business as usual.

BROWN: Rebecca, thank you. Back to you shortly.

And to West Virginia now and the surgeons refusing to work. Whitney Casey following that for us. Whitney, a headline from you.

WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, they walked out of work in protest to those high malpractice insurance rates, but they also took an oath of ethics, saying they would put the patient first. So have they -- Aaron.

BROWN: Whitney, thank you. Back to you and the rest shortly.

Also coming up tonight, as we mentioned, criticism for Mothers Against Drunk Driving and of the nation's effort to reduce drunks on the road. And, as we said, an unlikely person will make the argument.

A story about lives disrupted by the world on terror. Actually, love lives is a more accurate phrase. Men kept apart from their brides to be who live overseas.

In Segment Seven tonight, a comedian who wants to break down the stereotypes of Arab-Americans by making fun of them. All that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin with the economy. And if you're inclined to believe happy days are here again, there are reasons to believe that tonight. Manufacturers are making more stuff, or at least more stuff than they expected to make. A mortgage is as cheap as it's been since the Jefferson administration.

President Bush expected to announce more tax cuts next week, this time weighted more toward the middle class. And one columnist today even predicted a comeback for the dot-coms. Wall street is eating it up.

But if today looked like the first day of the great rally and recovery of 2003, bear this in mind: today is also the first day of the rest of the year and a lot of things are about to happen. Here again, CNN's Allan Chernoff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF (voice-over): Wall Street rang in the new year as if the three-year bear market were heading for hibernation. The Dow industrials enjoying its best opening year performance in history and its biggest one-day gain since October. All the major indices jumped more than three percent.

STEVE PORPORA: We sort of feel the market and the economy have made their lows. We're hoping that the geopolitical issues of Iraq are settled sometime in the first quarter of this year. We're all thinking that.

CHERNOFF: Traders said one trigger was a new survey of corporate purchasing managers, who pointed to the first pickup in manufacturing in four months. But the survey's director warns factories still have big problems.

NORBERT ORE, CHAIRMAN, INSTITUTE FOR SUPPLY MANAGEMENT: I would term this as very encouraging, but I think it's a little premature to pronounce this as the beginning of a strong recovery or anything of that type.

CHERNOFF: Investors are hoping the stimulus package President Bush plans to introduce next week will give a jump start to the economy and the stock market. Hoping because the bear market has ravaged investment accounts. A $100 investment made at the beginning of 2000 this morning would have been worth only $32.80 in the average Nasdaq stock. And just $72.50 in the average Dow stock.

Market historians claim the first few days of January often set the tone for the entire year in the stock market, but not last year. The Nasdaq soared five and one-half percent in the first three trading days. It ended the year down 31 and one-half percent.

NICK MOORE, PORTFOLIO MANAGER: I don't think we're about to go off on a big tear (ph) in tech stocks to the upside, particularly with war starting prospectively in around four weeks' time. I don't think we're going to get in a melt (ph) up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF: So one day a rally does not make. At least the stock market has one thing going for it, the law of averages. The market has not been down for four consecutive years since the great depression. And Aaron, let's certainly hope we're not making that comparison a year from today.

BROWN: Right. Part of the problem here is that the market had such a huge up-run (ph), such a huge bull (ph) run. CHERNOFF: And now we're feeling the flip side of that, the consequences of it.

BROWN: The other thing I wondered about today, when I saw the manufacturers report, is if the market, if investors were looking for reasons to celebrate after three very bad years.

CHERNOFF: It seemed that to me, because this was only one piece of data. It was a piece of data back from December. It wasn't something that was a Eureka. And I think the market needs plenty of Eurekas to really get it going.

BROWN: Well, we'll take a good day. We haven't had enough of them. Allan, thank you. Allan Chernoff with us tonight.

As we mentioned, the president, who remembers very well how his father's career ended, is promising to unveil an economic package next week. At the ranch in Crawford today, Mr. Bush made sure to mention there would be something in it for everyone. Congressional Democrats plan to press him on that. They're working on proposals featuring cuts in payroll taxes, the kind of taxes that hit lower income workers the hardest.

The economy is just one of the things the president talked to reporters about today. So from Crawford, Texas tonight, here's CNN's Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yes, that's the leader of the free world...

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I need somebody walking up here with me. I can't...

BASH: ... pointing out the wonders of nature at his 1,600 acre Texas ranch, giving reporters a brief glimpse of the place he says he comes to get away from it all.

BUSH: This is all us, all the way up to the very top of those cliffs.

BASH: But for a president dealing with crises brewing around the world, there's only so far you can get. On North Korea, Mr. Bush says he still seek as diplomatic solution. Shrugging off suggestions allies in the region, like South Korea and Russia, are reluctant to pressure Pyongyang.

BUSH: They may be putting pressure on it; you just don't know about it. But I know they're not reluctant when it comes to the idea of nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula.

BASH: On Iraq, more tough talk, restating his pledge to lead a coalition to disarm Saddam Hussein if he has to.

BUSH: For 11 long years the world has dealt with him and now he's got to understand his day of reckoning is coming. And, therefore, he must disarm voluntarily. I hope he does.

BASH: Then there's the homefront. Mindful of the perception his father focused on Iraq and not jobless Americans a decade ago, this President Bush says he'll unveil a plan next week aimed at jump- starting the economy.

BUSH: What I'm worried about is job creation. And I'm worried about those who are unemployed. I am concerned about those who are looking for work and can't find work.

BASH: That economic package, White House and congressional aides say, is likely to include tax cuts on dividends for personal investors, tax breaks for businesses, and a tax cut targeting lower income Americans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: And the president launched a preemptive strike of sorts against Democrats today, suggesting that they will intend -- they do intend to use this whole debate as class warfare. And he's sure that they will say that the president just wants to help the rich and no one else. But, Aaron, as Democrats jump into the race, state that they want the president's job, you can be sure that they are going to have a lot of criticism against the president for his stewardship of the economy -- Aaron.

BROWN: I suspect they will. The president just before the new year talked about extending unemployment insurance that expired on the first of the year. So we assume that's part of the package. What else do we know specifically, if anything, will be part of the package?

BASH: We think in addition to the unemployment benefits, he's going to talk heavily about cutting tax -- corporate tax dividends. He says that -- Bush aides say that that will help, particularly with the middle class. Help them with investment, and it will also help the economy and help corporations boost their stock prices. He's also going to -- he probably, we think, will accelerate some of the tax cut that passed in 2001.

About a week ago we were hearing that perhaps he wouldn't cut the top tax rate because he was worried about that criticism from Democrats that he was just trying to help the rich. But we are told now that he probably will have some kind of acceleration of the tax rates across the board -- Aaron.

BROWN: Dana Bash, thank you very much. In Crawford, Texas tonight.

Back to North Korea now. The president this weekend called it a diplomatic standoff, not a military one. And the administration is looking for a diplomatic solution, not directly with the North Koreans. The administration pointedly refuses to speak to that government.

Instead, it is trying to convince North Korea's few friends and most prominent neighbors to help. For the latest, we go back to CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon, who is in the DMZ on the videophone -- Rebecca.

MACKINNON: Hello, Aaron. Well, the diplomats are mobilizing into high gear for the next couple of weeks. We have South Korea's vice foreign minister just went to China to try and convince the Chinese to put more pressure to bear on North Korea to stop trying to move forward with its nuclear weapons program.

Now the Chinese did agree that a peaceful solution needs to be arrived at, but did not indicate specifically what they might do. We also have the South Korean envoy going to Russia today and trying to get the Russians also to put pressure to bear. The South Koreans have ministerial level talks with the North Koreans in the coming weeks, hoping again to seasoned the message to North Korea that simply the current ratcheting up of tensions will not be acceptable to South Koreans.

We also have three-way talks going on in Washington between Japan, South Korea and the US. At the beginning of next week, we have US envoy Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly coming out at the end of the week to make sure that US policy towards North Korea is closely coordinated with Seoul and that the message is consistent.

Now we have North Korea trying to take advantage of rising anti- US sentiment that has been apparent in South Korea over the past few months. A lot of protests because of a road accident that occurred in the summer, when a US military vehicle hit and killed two South Korean teenagers. There was a very large protest on New Year's Eve. Those protests do continue.

The president-elect here Roh Moo-hyun has just been elected, going to take office in February. He has been urging South Korea not to demonstration against the US, saying that this complicates the situation at a time when North Korea appears to be trying to drive a wedge between the United States and Seoul.

Meanwhile, as far as military deployments are concerned, there is no change from the usual level of troops here around the demilitarized zone. The US and South Korean troops, who train regularly around the zone, who are face to face with North Korean soldiers every day along the line of control, they say they're at their normal level of readiness, which is already the highest state of readiness possible. But there is no extra mobilizations going on here at the military front -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well, is there any plan at all that you know of for North Koreans to talk to Americans?

MACKINNON: Well, the North Koreans have said they do want to talk to the United States. And, in fact, they want the US to sign a non-aggression treaty with them as soon as possible. However, the administration has said, while it may be willing to talk, it's not willing to negotiate and give any concessions. The North Koreans, for their part, if the US were willing to give concessions, they're ready to talk at any time.

BROWN: Rebecca, thank you. Rebecca McKinnon in the DMZ between the two Koreas tonight.

Politics now. North Carolina Senator John Edwards, a first-term senator who looks closer to 25 than the 50 years old he is, formally announced he's setting up an exploratory committee to run for the presidency. That's the legalese. That means he's decided to run and now he can raise some money.

Critics say he's too young and too inexperienced. The kinds of things that were said about a couple of other southern governors over the years. One named Clinton, the other named Bush. Here's CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), NORTH CAROLINA: We are going to win the White House in 2004.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Last year he was talking generically, as in Democrats will win the White House. Now it's personal.

EDWARDS: Today I filed my -- the papers to set up an exploratory committee to run for president of the United States.

CROWLEY: The surprise would have been if he had decided not to run. This is February of last year. Politicians only tromp through New Hampshire snow for one reason: they're after the big one.

EDWARDS: It is a pretty place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. We think so.

CROWLEY: Turning 50 this year, the senator from North Carolina can be charming. That helps in the grip and grin world of a politician. He is articulate (UNINTELLIGIBLE) family to match. "People" magazine once named him sexiest politician, and he's from the south in a party that badly needs to regain its voice there.

EDWARDS: I'm a main stream North Carolinian. I think my views and my values represent the values of most people in this country. I don't make ideological decisions about anything.

CROWLEY: The Edwards story is of a boy raised in a home of modest means; the first in his family to go to college and law school. He became a hugely successful personal injury lawyer and is now a millionaire many times over. He will run as a "regular guy," quoting regular voters.

EDWARDS: What I believe I represent is somebody who understands them, understands their lives, and has real ideas. Substantive, specific ideas about how to make their lives better.

CROWLEY: He is the fresh face Democrats said they wanted. The down side is he's a fresh face because he hasn't been at it long. Edwards has been a senator for four years; his first and only political job. EDWARDS: If the American people want somebody who is a life-long politician to be their president, that's not me.

CROWLEY: He thinks the president is beatable, but to have a go at it, the junior senator from North Carolina must first take on other Democrats: Gephardt, Lieberman, Kerry, to name a few. All with greater stature and heftier credentials. Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

BUSH: One of these days somebody will emerge and we'll tee it up and see who the American people want to lead. And until that happens, I'm going to be doing my job.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: In truth, Edwards is no more or less schooled in governance than the current president, who had been Texas governor for four and a half years when he decided to run. But that was then and this is post 9/11. The question is whether voters now would prefer an old hand to a fresh face. Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Congressman Dick Gephardt also entered the fray today a bit accidentally, as it turns out. The last time he ran 14 years ago he got into the race the way most candidates do. This time it happened because someone hit a button just a little too soon.

A fax went around Washington today, including our bureau there, inviting people to a reception for the Dick Gephardt for president exploratory committee. A young aide apparently jumped the gun.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT tonight: an unintended consequence in the war on terror. Brides and bridegrooms kept apart. That's coming up later. Up next: the Pakistani who says the FBI is using his photo as an alleged terrorist. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: When the FBI released photos of five wanted men last week suspected of illegally entering the country for reasons unknown, we didn't quite expect any of them to step forward and say, yep, that's me, you got your guy. But a man in Pakistan has done just that. He says he's the one of the men pictured and his business is jewelry, not terror. Here's CNN's Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): Even a senior FBI official acknowledges that Mohammed Asghar sure looks like Mustafa Kan Uwasi (ph) wanted by the FBI for questioning. But Asghar, a jeweler in Lahore, Pakistan, says he has never been to the US, certainly not on the date authorities believe Uwasi (ph) and four other men may have tried to enter illegally.

MOHAMMED ASHGAR, PAKISTAN JEWELLER: I'm here and they're saying I'm in the USA. How can this be true? I don't know anything about the picture. Maybe someone gave it to them or someone had the picture on a Web site. What can I say about this? I'm here in Lahore, a resident of Pakistan. How can I be there when I'm here in Lahore?

MESERVE: The FBI is on the ground in Lahore to try and determine if Asghar and Uwasi (ph) are one in the same. And if so, how his photo showed up in their investigation. One possibility, Asghar admits to once using forged documents. Sources say information that led to the FBI photos came from Michael John Habdani (ph), arrested two months ago in Canada.

Investigators seized counterfeited travel documents, $600,000 worth of phony travel checks and forgery equipment. Records show Habdani (ph) is also wanted in New York on forgery related charges dating back to 1996. A former FBI official says it would be a mistake if the possible photo fraud eroded public confidence in the FBI and its information. Specifically the other four photos put out Sunday.

SKIP BRANDON, FMR. FBI COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL: I do not think that we would have gone public on a national and international basis without a lot of this information being vetted and carefully considered.

MESERVE: The FBI has not, however, distributed any additional names and photos, something that had been expected. Authorities still do not know how the five men might have entered the US, but one law enforcement source says there is a "distinct possibility" they were brought in through the St. Regis Mohawk Indian (ph) reservation, which straddles the New York-Ontario border and has a history of smuggling. There is no concrete proof, however, that that was the route.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: Though officials say they have no evidence the men are involved in terrorism, they clearly remain of high interest. The search for them and any associates is described as widespread and ongoing. But one official adds, no arrests appear imminent -- Aaron.

BROWN: Are they in fact any more certain today than they were last week or earlier this week that these guys are in the country at all?

MESERVE: No. They have always said that they believe they have entered the country. They have not said definitively that they have. They have said there's a possibility they came from Canada, but nothing definitive on that either. And, in fact, we had a conversation this evening with a Canadian official who wanted to underline the fact not only is there no proof that they came over the border from her Canada, there's no proof that they ever were in Canada -- Aaron.

BROWN: And back to our jeweler in Lahore. Does the FBI at this point acknowledge that they are one in the same? That the guy in the wanted poster and the guy in Lahore is the same?

MESERVE: No, they don't. And that's why they have those investigators in Lahore.

BROWN: OK.

MESERVE: They want to talk to this man, they want to eyeball him, they want to hear his story and question him about certain aspects of it. And they have told me that if the interview is not conclusive, they could take the photograph and do some additional laboratory analysis on that to try to determine the truth of the matter -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jeanne, thank you very much. Jeanne Meserve in Washington.

Tonight, a few stories from around the world. We start in Iraq. Five sites inspected today, including a state company that builds unmanned drones for the Iraqi air force. The head of the Iraqi agency dealing with the United Nations describes the inspections as intrusive and surprising. There have been 230 inspections over the last five weeks.

On to a crash in the English channel. A tanker loaded with two million gallons of oil slammed into a shipwreck. It had a double hull, though, and so only a small amount of fuel oil -- fuel oil -- spilled out. That's the good news there.

And a cyclone caused enormous damage in the Solomon islands in the mid Pacific. It's not clear right now how many people have been hurt in this. Communications have been cut to the nearly 4,000 people who live on the island.

Coming up on NEWSNIGHT: we'll meet one Arab-American who is trying to break stereotypes down by using humor. And up next: doctors walk away because they say they can't afford to practice. This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A few stories from around the country tonight, beginning with more proof of just how bad business is for the airlines. America West Airlines is going to charge passengers for meals on some flights. It's called "buy on board." It's a test. It will run for three weeks. It could become permanent. I think they do have to tell you what the meat is.

The on again, off again, on again, off again, on again, off again, almost on again, off again career of pro football coach Bill Parcells (ph) is on again. He announced tonight he signed a deal with the Dallas Cowboys to coach them for about $4 million a year for the next four years. We'll see how many years he actually does it.

And a story about Senator Bill Frist -- make that Dr. Bill Frist. The new Senate majority leader came upon a traffic accident in Florida and helped start treatment. You might remember that Senator Frist also assisted back in 1998, when a gunman shot two people on Capitol Hill. He is a trained surgeon. Here's a counterpoint to the story in Florida. No surgeon senators in this one, no surgeons at all. In fact, in parts of West Virginia's northern panhandle tonight, they've all walked off the job. The problem is a familiar one. They say they can no longer afford malpractice insurance.

In Pennsylvania this week, doctors went to the brink over just that issue, but stayed on the job. Pennsylvania's governor elect, as you heard on this program on Monday night, asked for more time to hammer out a relief package, and doctors in Pennsylvania gave it to him. West Virginia's governor is asking the same, but so far not getting it.

And as for patients in Wheeling and Whurton who need an operation and need it now, they're getting long ambulance rides instead. Here's CNN's Whitney Casey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY (voice-over): Affordability and availability, two sentiments echoed by doctors across the country. Doctors say their malpractice insurance is sometimes costing them more than they make. And more recently, surgeons that deliver babies, do brain, heart or even orthopedic surgery say they're having trouble getting insurance because the supply of insurers is swiftly dwindling.

So what are the doctors going to do about it? In addition to West Virginia, doctors in Las Vegas back in July walked out of their E.R. for ten days. In Eastern Pennsylvania Wednesday, doctors threatened to walk out but were bailed out by their governor-elect.

The doctors want lawmakers to put a cap on malpractice lawsuit payouts. They say no caps are the reason insurance premiums are sky high.

THOMAS FOLEY, ATTORNEY: They are looking for caps, because they want immunity from losses.

CASEY: The doctors' main opposition? Trial lawyers with ads like this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MORGAN, ATTORNEY: Your child's injuries may be the result of the hospital's failure to perform a timely C-section, thus depriving your baby of oxygen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOLEY: Persons have been sometimes seriously and irreparably harmed, and we think that their rights should be protected.

CASEY: Many still support the doctors. These billboards along the highway, paid by community groups, plead to get doctors back.

In West Virginia, this woman waiting in the hospital says she overwhelmingly supports the protesting doctors, but when I asked her...

(on camera): OK. Victoria's (ph) 18 months. Something horrible happens, you guys have to rush her to the E.R. right now, there are no surgeons working. Now how do you feel?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then, in that situation, I'd probably be upset.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY: Now, there were two scenarios that occurred today in this E.R. sans its surgeons. The first one started at about 1:45 this morning. A woman came in with nonlife threatening injuries. She needed surgery. She had to be transferred over 100 miles away.

Second tonight, later, a man came in. He had life threatening injuries. He needed surgery. In 15 minutes, a doctor was called, one of these striking doctors, showed up. The man was on the O.R. table and he was taken care of.

So tonight that Hippocratic oath that these doctors took, it saved a life. But in the end the patients are really the ones that suffer -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well, OK. Anybody got a plan to end this? I'm not precisely clear if emergency surgery is being done on an emergency basis, how extensive the problem is but has anyone got a plan to solve it?

CASEY: Well, actually the plan that really a lot of the doctors are saying is somewhat eutopic is the one out in California. Basically what they have there is a $250,000 cap and they have a sliding pay scale for those doctors.

So what that really involves is in those malpractice payoffs, all they can get for pain and suffering, those are non-economic losses, is $250,000 and that, they say, keeps those premiums down.

BROWN: Well, that's not the kind of thing that's going to happen overnight. Is there any plan to get these doctors back soon?

CASEY: Well, they hope to get bailed out, as you said earlier, by their governor. But as it looks today, they met with the governor and the governor did say that he was trying to do that but it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

What they could do is what those doctors did in Las Vegas. They walked out for ten days. The legislature then enacted a law. Now that law, though, interestingly is now being challenged by the lawyers.

BROWN: Thank you very much. Thank you.

Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, the unintended consequences of the war on terror. That's later.

Up next, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the war on drunk drivers. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: And next on NEWSNIGHT, the battle against highway deaths. Is alcohol being overemphasized? This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Getting back to where we began tonight, it's fair to say it's been one of the most visible campaigns of the past generation, the fight against drunk driving. And in many ways it has been hugely successful at changing attitudes.

But today critics are asking have we reached a point of diminishing returns, that lowering the legal alcohol limit not only will not significantly reduce the number of deaths, but it's too expensive to enforce and only clouds larger, more lethal issues.

In a moment we'll talks to the founder of MADD who may be fairly called the mother of the battle against drunk drivers. First, a little background.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD, was founded in 1980 on a tragedy, the death of Candace Lightner's 12-year- old daughter to a drunk driver.

CANDACE LIGHTNER, FOUNDER, MADD: After a time period you tend to lose the anger that you have after the initial death. And when I learned he was back out on the road and when I learned that he had been eligible to get his driver's license last year, it just brings that anger up all over again.

BROWN: The country's attitudes about drunk driving have dramatically changed over a generation. MADD has been a big part of that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See the tip of this pen? I'd like you to watch with just your eyes. Move it back and forth.

BROWN: But still in the year 2001, according to federal statistics, 41 percent of all traffic accidents involved alcohol.

GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK: It is now the law in New York state.

BROWN: With a push from MADD and others, Congress now requires states to adopt a .08 blood alcohol content level rather than the .10 that most states used in the past. Adopt it or lose some federal highway funds. Fourteen states have yet to lower limit, but the federal dollars are a powerful hammer.

JUSTIN MCNAULL, AAA SPOKESMAN: Point oh eight's an important component in our platform to try to save lives on our highways. It's not the end all be all when it comes to preventing drunk driving but it's an important aspect of it.

To really save lives, we also need to get in stronger some sanctions for repeat offenders and for the super drunks, people with high alcohol levels who go out and drive over and over again.

BROWN: One unlikely critic of the new law, the woman who started the movement more than two decades ago, Candace Lightner. A powerful and unexpected ally to have.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And Candace Lightner joins us now to talk more about this. It's nice to see you. Thanks for joining us.

Point oh eight. Do you agree that people who are -- who have that much or that little alcohol in their system are more dangerous than people who have none?

LIGHTNER: Oh, absolutely. I think there's no doubt about it.

I just happen to think that the focus on .08 is not where it should be. It should be on the high BAC drivers, those driving at .17 and above. Those to me are the most dangerous drunk drivers and I don't think .08 is a solution to the problem. I don't think lowering the BAC to .08 is the solution to the problem.

BROWN: Is it that you believe that by doing that, by simply lowering it to .08, that governments now sort of wash their hands of the problem and say look, we solved it?

LIGHTNER: I think that's partially true by the way. Legislators do that definitely. It's like, well, we passed this bill, what else do we need to do? And I think there are a lot of other things they need to do that to me are far more important. You can already arrest drivers driving at a .08, you can already prosecute them. Police already have the means to go out and do that, so you don't need to lower the BAC, you don't need to make it the focus of your laws. You really do need to I think increase the enforcement and focus on those that are repeat offenders and the most dangerous drivers, the high BAC. Drivers.

BROWN: I want to come back to what somebody described as the super drunks today in a minute. But there are other -- other things you would argue we can be doing quite apart from the drunk driver having to do with cars and roads and a lot of other things, right?

LIGHTNER: Well, I'm anti-cellphone so that would be my next cause if I took on another cause. Absolutely. I think there are a number of other issues that deserve the same kind of focus and the same kind of attention that drunk driving has been fortunate enough to have.

BROWN: Don't you think a decade from now, by the way, you won't be able to at least hold a cellphone in your car. That's a movement that's just starting but it does seem to be starting. LIGHTNER: And I applaud it, believe me. Because I've almost been run down several times by people driving with cellphones. I think they're very dangerous. I think people who use them in the car while they drive are very irresponsible.

BROWN: I want to go back to this category, the super drunk for a second. There is a belief, I think, in the community of people who deal with this issue that there's a disproportionate number of deaths and accidents are caused by a relatively small group of people who continue to do this again and again and again, and that the government really doesn't hammer them.

LIGHTNER: I think that's absolutely correct. And one of the things that I had lobbied for some years ago was tougher penalties, what we call graduated penalties or escalating penalties for the drivers driving with a higher BAC. The higher the BAC, the tougher the penalty. The more often they were arrested, the tougher the penalty again. And to me that's statistically I believe you're correct, they cause the majority of the crashes and the crimes. And also these are people, by the way, who have driven many times before under the influence drunk but they may not have been caught but they definitely have driven many times before.

BROWN: You described your former organization as becoming neo- prohibitionists. What do you mean?

LIGHTNER: Well, I think they're focusing a great deal of time on the alcohol industry -- the alcohol issue, excuse me, and I just think they need to get back to the focus on drunk driving and victims' rights and increased enforcement and roadblocks and things like that.

BROWN: And now that the .08 issue is largely settled, do you think that will happen? Or do you think they'll veer off in some other direction here?

LIGHTNER: Well, you mentioned earlier there are about 17 states that still haven't lowered their BAC to .08. I at this I think MADD will still focus on .308 in those 17 states.

BROWN: It's nice to talk to you. You're an interesting person to talk to on this perspective. Thanks for join us. Have a good New Year.

LIGHTNER: Thank you.

Thank you. Candy Lightner, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, wedding day delays caused by the war on terror.

This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: And next on NEWNIGHT, the unintended consequences of the war on terror.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We've asked ourselves again and again since September 11, 2001, what do we have to give up to stop it from happening again? There are the big stories, whether we're trading our civil liberties for more security.

But this is one of the small stories. Some American men who say they've had to give up something precious as a side effect of the war on terror -- their chance for love.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): Kevin Cook is a software engineer in Florida who at least once every day spend as lot of not-so-quality time with a recording.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're on hold to speak to the next available officer. Right now we are handling more calls than we have officers.

BROWN: He's a divorced father of three engaged for just over a year to a Chinese woman who is not here but there.

KEVIN COOK, SOFTWARE ENGINEER: Her name is Yon Lu (ph). I actually met her by chance one night on the Internet. We were using the same chat program.

BROWN: As strange as it may seem, there are thousands of American men in exactly the same predicament, men who either met Chinese or Russian women by chance on the Internet or through Internet dating services. Women now stranded overseas because the State Department toughened entry requirements from Russia and China last summer in response to terrorist threats worldwide.

COOK: I know for a fact that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) has 10,000 immigrant Visas sitting around waiting for the name checks to come back. And about 7,500 are just fiancee Visas.

BROWN: Those Visas would be handled here in China, the only place in the entire country that processes Visas for would-be brides, 3,000 miles away from where Yon resides.

COOK: I don't think there is any particular person in any position to blame. I think it's a byproduct of not investing the resources in our immigration system.

GENE EDWARDS, ATTORNEY: If I would to use word like aversive, disgusting, abominable, that would not cover the feelings I have about this.

BROWN: Gene Edwards is not nearly as charitable. He and two other men from Dallas agreed to talk to us about similar stories with their Russian fiancees and wives because they say they are fed up with everything.

BRUCE ADES, ELECTRICAL ENGINEER: Sandy Booker of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

BROWN: Sandy Booker was one of the two American citizens among the more than 100 hostages who died in that takeover of a Moscow theater by Chechen militants last October. Booker's friends say he went to the theater to celebrate that his fiancee had finally cleared her hurdles with the American government.

ADES: Had his visa been issued for his family as had been historically promised by the embassy, Mr. Booker would have never made that trip.

BROWN: Back in Florida, Kevin Cook has created this flow chart, a chart to explain to visitors that he admits to himself how the process works.

COOK: I did this a few months ago because the process to get the K-1 Visa approved has turned into such a complicated process, I kept getting lost.

BROWN: And as for the question of why go through all this trouble in the first place, delicately put, couldn't you find someone here to marry?

COOK: You know, I don't think true love is geographically isolated. Just because I'm an American doesn't mean my true love is in America. Mine happens to be in China.

BROWN: For its part, the Department of State says it understands everyone's frustrations. But it adds quote, "We've worked very closely with other agencies involved to improve this process so that we can expedite clearance without compromising security."

COOK: They're going to keep hearing from me until my fiancee is here. That is my mission.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Next on NEWSNIGHT, looking at Arab-Americans in a new way, through the prism of humor. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Finally from us tonight, the power of laughter. Even before the attacks of September 11, Americans had a fair number of stereotypes about Muslims and most of them weren't pretty. The tragedy just made it all worse.

All of which has made life for tens of thousands of Arab- Americans that much harder. The sideways glances, the talk show anger, the shocking statements by some members of the clergy. For many Arab-Americans, it's enough to make you cry or laugh out loud.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please welcome Ray Hananja.

RAY HANANJA, COMEDIAN: I got into comedy originally in the weeks after September 11. And I know it seems like an odd time, but I think it opened the door for me because I think Americans, for the first time, really wanted to know who we are.

Anyway, my name is Ray Hananja. I'm from the Middle East. I surrender.

You want to break through some of the barriers and stereotypes, you lighten up the situation.

So I'm Arab and I'm hairy. So I could be Hairabic.

I've always believed that Arab-Americans haven't done a good job in speaking to Americans and telling them who we are.

So, my name is Nazi Malak (ph) and I come from a big Egyptian- American family.

I think comedy was a way to kind of expand our definition, you know, as peoples, as Americans.

Arabs and Jews are killing each other because we're the only freakin people in the whole world who have that sound in our language. I'm sorry, ma'am. Hello to you. No, hello, hello. Go [bleep] yourself, no, [bleep] you!

No wonder they are can't negotiate peace, they're spitting at each other for three hours.

Jewish comedy is probably the common denominator that started every body off. And their response to tragedy was to stand up and say, You know, what? I'm going to make fun of us. I'm going to talk about us and in doing that people open up.

I really think I took a leaf out of, you know, the Borscht Belt, and hopefully we're forming our own Babab Gunush (ph) Belt.

My laundromat by my building, these guys were talking and one guy goes to the other he goes -- he's like, I think all Arabs are terrorists. I think we should just kill them all and let God sort them out.

I go up to the guy, I'm like, Sir, that's not nice. I'm Arabic.

He goes, You don't look it.

I'm like, Well, that just makes it easier for me to achieve the goals of my mission.

We need a lot of things in the Arab-American community and I think, not just Arab comedians -- I mean, I think Americans need to see us as something other than terrorists. I think the best thing about being Egyptian is that I have this ambiguous face where the average racist doesn't know what racial slur to call me.

I think we need a show like "Every body Loves Abdullah," where you can see an Arab-American doing the silly things that Italian- Americans do, that Jewish-Americans do, that -- ethnic humor is funny. And when people hear my ethnic humor, it;s no different than any body else. They go, Wow, you eat strange food, too? Your mother was overbearing? You know, you had to wear weird clothes? Wow, you're just like me.

You know, to me, that's the power of comedy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And that's the work of NEWSNIGHT producer Katherine Mitchell (ph). Good to have you with us. Reminder, for the first time this year, can you sign up for our daily e-mail. Go to our web site at cnn.com/newsnight and follow the directions. Tell us a few things and we'll tell you what's coming up on the program and all the behind-the-scenes gossip at NEWSNIGHT.

Go ahead and do that and we'll be back tomorrow at 10:00. We hope you'll join us. Until then, good night from all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

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