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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
New al Qaeda tape released; Rumsfeld Heckled At National Press Club; Problems In Iraq Are Not Insurmountable
Aired September 10, 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, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
HBO had a special on recently for kids featuring kids talking about the attacks of 9/11. If there was one word you heard again and again from these kids it's why,? Why did this happen? Why did these people do this?
Today, as we saw the latest images of Osama bin Laden and the latest hate-filled words that may be from him on the eve of the second anniversary it became clear to us why kids keep asking why because their parents still don't know the answer either.
It's the latest al Qaeda tapes that begin the whip tonight, Mike Boettcher's beat. He's in Atlanta. Mike, start us off with a headline.
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, al Qaeda does not forget anniversaries and today they left behind a card of sorts. It was full of threats.
BROWN: Mike, thank you. We'll get back to you at the top tonight.
The White House next, efforts by the president to promote his record on fighting terrorism. Our Senior White House Correspondent John King on that tonight, John a headline.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, on the eve of the anniversary, the president promised the families of the victims that he was continuing to pursue "the serpents of evil" but this president's critics think those new tapes are simply proof to them that he should have focused on al Qaeda not Iraq -- Aaron.
BROWN: John, thank you.
And, on to the push by the government to stop cheaper prescription drugs from being imported into the United States. Ed Lavandera reporting that story from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Ed, a headline.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Aaron. Well, there's a store here in Tulsa, Okalahoma. It says that it has a simple mission statement to provide cheaper medicines for Americans but federal investigators aren't buying that sales pitch. They want the store and its affiliates across the country shut down -- Aaron.
BROWN: Thank you, Ed. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly.
Also coming up tonight on NEWSNIGHT that vicious cycle of attack and retaliation continuing to play out in Israel and the occupied territories. We'll talk tonight with the former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres.
Walt Rodgers with the troops in Iraq again tonight, the extremely delicate balance they must strike trying to secure the country without coming across as a conquering force trying to create an empire.
And, if tonight's news is not enough we have tomorrow's news as well in a concentrated, easy to digest, two and a half minute form. This sounds like the pitch for morning papers. All that and more coming up in the hour ahead.
We begin with the tapes. If nothing else they serve as a reminder the work since 9/11 remains incomplete, the wounds unhealed and the monster un-slain, not that anyone needs reminding especially not now.
Every day it seems soldiers are dying or being wounded. People, not just New Yorkers or Washingtonians are living vastly different lives as a consequence of a man whose image resurfaced on television this afternoon.
Our reporting tonight begins with CNN's Mike Boettcher.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOETTCHER (voice-over): There's no telling when this footage of Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri was shot. In the tape, which was aired first on Al-Jazeera, both men look in good health, bin Laden showing no obvious signs of the injuries intelligence sources say he suffered in the siege of Tora Bora in December, 2001.
Bin Laden also had an audio message, which offered no clues as to when it was recorded either. In it he praised the 9/11 hijackers and called for a continued jihad against the west.
OSAMA BIN LADEN (through translator): Those who don't agree with killing then let them step out of the way.
BOETTCHER: In his audio message, al-Zawahiri noted the second anniversary of 9/11 but his most fiery rhetoric was about Iraq. He said if the Americans stayed in Iraq they would be devoured there.
AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI (through translator): We recommend to the mothers of the soldiers if you like to see your sons then hasten to ask your government to return them rather than coming back to you in coffins.
BOETTCHER: Al-Zawarhiri's message was in many ways a repeat of what he said on a tape from several months ago as he specifically mentioned Afghanistan and Palestine alongside Iraq. AL-ZAWAHIRI (through translator): We would like to let you know also and emphasize that what you've seen so far are just the first skirmishes and the real battle has not started yet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOETTCHER: The major concern to coalition intelligence officials, in the past when we've seen these messages, these videos and audios often major attacks have followed -- Aaron.
BROWN: And I suppose that begs the question what the chatter level is these days as we approach the anniversary.
BOETTCHER: Well, you got to sort out the chatter level. Around the world it's up but it's people talking about this, expecting this. We've seen a pattern now over the past two years it goes up on the anniversary. The concern is really who is out there we don't know about?
There is a vacuum out there. There are black holes out there and the concern is the chatter level, yes, is up but who is out there we don't know about. They're expecting because of this tape a big attack coming up soon somewhere in the world. They promised it on the tape and intelligence and security officials and the coalition are trying to prepare for it.
BROWN: Mike, thank you very much, Mike Boettcher in Atlanta tonight.
The White House next where it is safe to say we assume that the emergence of this latest al Qaeda tape was a most unwelcome development on a day the president was promoting his fight against terror.
The day before the 9/11 anniversary the world hears someone claiming to be bin Laden looking to spill more blood. It doesn't sit well in a progress report that was delivered today.
Once again we turn to our Senior White House Correspondent John King.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): The president was told of the possible new al Qaeda tape just before a tour of the FBI crime lab. "Haven't heard it yet" he told reporters. Moments later his assessment of the war on terror two years later, a reminder of the unfinished business.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The enemy is wounded. They're still resourceful and actively recruiting and still dangerous. We cannot afford a moment of complacency.
KING: The new tapes were airing just as the White House released a 22 page progress report on the terror war. In the hunt for al Qaeda leaders it says nearly two-thirds have been taken into custody or killed but Osama bin Laden and his top deputy remain unaccounted for a point of contention with the president's critics, especially when Mr. Bush calls Iraq the central front now.
SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: If we are serious about protecting our country from terrorism it seems to me that the central front in the war should be the war on al Qaeda.
KING: In paying tribute to the victims of September 11th, Mr. Bush disputed those who say he has turned attention away from al Qaeda.
BUSH: We will never forget the servants of evil who plotted the attacks and we will never forget those who rejoiced at our grief and our mourning.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: And in that speech the president defiantly rebutted his critics on Iraq. Mr. Bush said that by toppling the regime of Saddam Hussein he had kept weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists. To that charge the president's critics tonight say, if that's the case, Mr. President why haven't you found any weapons of mass destruction -- Aaron.
Brown: John, the president today also, it seemed to me, called for an expansion of the Patriot Act either in whole or in part.
KING: In part is the strategy right now. The White House and the Justice Department had thought of sending up Patriot Act II, if you will. It's quite controversial. Many civil liberties groups, many Democrats, even some Republicans say, whoa, is the government getting too much power here.
So the president appealed for three things he says the Justice Department needs and three things they think they can get through Congress. One is added subpoena power for the Justice Department.
In some cases, it would not have to go to a judge or a grand jury, also the right to hold more terrorism suspects without bail and making more terrorist-related crime subject to the death penalty. Those are issues on which the president thinks he can win on Capitol Hill. He focused on those ones today.
BROWN: John, thank you very much, our Senior White House Correspondent John King tonight, good to have him with us.
It feels like we have crossed a small but important marker in terms of the war and the debate that's going on in the country about the war and post war Iraq. The marker was passed when people began accusing other people of being less than patriotic or even helping the enemy when they criticized how the war is being waged. These are serious accusations indeed and for those of us of a certain age they have an unmistakable ring.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN (voice-over): In the growing debate over post-war Iraq, fueled in part by the Democratic presidential hopefuls, these are by far the sharpest words spoken in response.
REP. ED SCHROCK (R), PENNSYLVANIA: I think all the sniping that we're hearing on TV about the president and how he's handling this does not help the situation. In fact, I think it plays into the hands of the enemy. I know that happened in Vietnam the visit by Jane Fonda and others.
BROWN: In case you have forgotten and we can't imagine that you have Ms. Fonda went to Hanoi in 1972 and posed for pictures by enemy antiaircraft guns, an act many called then and now traitorous. The Congressman today quickly added that he is not calling the nine Democrats traitors just playing into the hands of the enemy.
SCHROCK: It's all turned into a big political football. Those nine characters out there running for president are trying to make this thing look like the worst thing that's ever happened.
BROWN: Another Republican had this to say.
REP. VITO FOSSELLA (R), NEW YORK: For those who continue to criticize this policy without any basis in fact, I would just suggest respectfully to get a life.
BROWN: It may not be the '60s again but it is starting to feel a little bit like them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: With us now in Boston is a man, and as it turns out, a mouthful as well. Jim Walsh is the executive director of the Managing the Atom Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
The center, by the way, is part of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Walsh's expertise lies in the area of terrorism, the Middle East, and weapons of mass destruction, a mouthful but an essentially apt one.
JIM WALSH, BELFER CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND INTL. AFFAIRS, HARVARD UNIV.: That is a mouthful.
BROWN: And, in Washington tonight Robin Wright, the Chief Diplomatic Correspondent for the "Los Angeles Times," her title, though not her knowledge, pales by comparison. Welcome to you both. We're glad to have you.
Dr. Walsh we'll start with you. What do you make of the tape today?
WALSH: Well, the tape is always unwelcome. You know it always sends a shiver up the spine to see the tape and it's also unwelcome because, first of all, we have a pattern.
It's not an absolute pattern, predictive pattern but we do have an association that tapes are sometimes followed by attacks, so that always gets your attention and, of course, bin Laden is out there and he's basically saying to George Bush, I'm here. You haven't caught me. We're rallying the troops and he's being able to use the medium of TV and elsewhere to rally those troops to his cause, so I think it's unfortunate.
BROWN: Let me ask you both this. We'll start, Robin, with you. Does it or anything else tell us much about the state of al Qaeda today? What do we think? I mean the president talked the other day about two-thirds of the leadership of al Qaeda being arrested or taken or killed. What do we think the state of al Qaeda is today?
ROBIN WRIGHT, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Well, al Qaeda clearly is not just a single organization but a group of cells and quite a disparate array of forces that stretch from, you know, as far as Morocco on the Atlantic to Indonesia on the Pacific.
So, we're not talking about one movement. Clearly, there have been an enormous number of arrests, people held in Guantanamo, the top leadership, reportedly two-thirds of them captured by the United States or killed but that doesn't necessarily make a huge difference.
The elimination of even Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants would probably not have a huge impact on the movement. It is now so diffuse with so many different flash points, so many different agendas that it will continue even without its top people.
BROWN: Dr. Walsh, do you agree that if bin Laden were out of the picture the movement would be as strong?
WALSH: Well, Aaron, I do think that it would continue. He does bring something to the table in the way of inspiration, in the way of financial resources but I think if we step back and ask where are they today versus back in 2001, they did take a hit.
When they lost those permanent bases in Afghanistan, I think that did hurt their abilities in certain ways, reduced some of their capabilities but it's clear both from the attacks in Saudi Arabia and in Morocco that they have cash. They have bodies to burn and it would appear that the war in Iraq is helping their recruitment efforts. So, they have been wounded. They have lost some capabilities but in other areas they're just as strong as they were before.
BROWN: Robin, has Iraq become in a sense an al Qaeda dream in that you have all these Americans there. You have a chance not just to kill a lot of Americans if you're so inclined but to disrupt in a significant way American foreign policy?
WRIGHT: Sure and, of course, al Qaeda is trying to play to that vulnerability. It has in the past talked about the Palestinians, about the Iraqis, about the Pakistanis, but what's so interesting now is it comes at a time that the United States is vulnerable.
The Arab-Israeli peace process is - the roadmap is in real trouble. Iraq is not going well four months after the end of major combat and this is a time that those kinds of words that bin Laden and his top lieutenant used in the tape released today can resonate throughout the Islamic world. BROWN: Do we know, as opposed to believe, that Iraq has become a great recruiting tool for al Qaeda?
WRIGHT: I think there is a general sense throughout the region that there is enormous anger among the kind of militant wings of political movements and that, yes indeed, that there are dozens. I don't know numbers. I'm not sure anyone really does. I'm not sure they know who are attracted to fighting the United States.
In many ways, the United States in Iraq has the same kind of attraction that the Soviet Union did in Afghanistan. It's the same kind of lure, same kind of flash point.
BROWN: So, Dr. Walsh, two years later after the attack here in New York and Washington where are we in a sense with these Islamic fundamentalists, these terrorists? Are we significantly closer to their demise or just a wee bit?
WALSH: Well, it's hard to say. This is a business in which you can go after some and then in the process of going after some terrorists you create others, so it's a difficult job. In some ways we're ahead. Why do I say that?
We're certainly - it's a higher political priority to prevent terrorism. Homeland security is a higher political priority. We have the cooperation of other countries in this task, so in some ways we have made progress.
In other ways, we've made no progress at all. President Bush says that an attack with a nuclear weapon by terrorists would be the worst thing that could possibly happen and yet we spent $100 billion in Iraq and only one percent of that to secure nuclear material so they remain vulnerable and in some ways it is worse.
And, I think again I would agree with Robin that the war in Iraq gives al Qaeda a recruiting card. Whether they can make use of it or not we're going to have to see but it allows them to go to villages throughout the world, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and say, look, the infidel is there. Come join our cause and I don't think we want to help them anymore than we already have.
BROWN: Professor, thank you. Robin, always thank you. It's good to have you both with us tonight. Thank you very much.
WALSH: Thank you, Aaron.
BROWN: A quick programming note about our coverage tomorrow of the second anniversary of 9/11 here on CNN, 9/11 special coverage begins 8:30 in the morning Eastern time. Soledad O'Brien, Jack Cafferty in New York, Bill Hemmer at Ground Zero, Wolf will be in Washington to handle the coverage there and that will go on at least until Noon, perhaps a bit past noon tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow night on NEWSNIGHT our own special coverage. We'll look at how life has changed in the country, how schools have started teaching 9/11, what they are teaching about 9/11, how one family in one southern city have gone on after losing one of their own, that and much more in our coverage tomorrow here on NEWSNIGHT, 10:00 Eastern and we hope you'll join us for that as well.
Ahead tonight on the program we'll have more on Iraq, how administration statements have changed over time as well as a look at what's gone right these last weeks and months in Iraq.
Later in the program, the government takes on a company bringing cheaper prescription drugs into the country from Canada, lots to do yet.
This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Another on the list, 290 American troops killed in Iraq, 163 since Baghdad fell, 151 since the 1st of May. The latest to die, a soldier attached to the Army's 1st Armored Division, he died when a roadside bomb he was trying to diffuse went off.
There are also reports tonight, sketchy at best at this point, concerning an attack on coalition forces in the always difficult city of Fallujah. Locals say they heard a large explosion and saw a damaged American truck being towed away witnesses report seeing four casualties but, as of yet, no details or confirmation from Central Command.
A military spokesman did confirm the details of a suicide bombing in northern Iraq late yesterday. It happened in the predominantly Kurdish city of Erbil. The bomber tried to drive a truck loaded with TNT into an intelligence compound.
He came up short but got close enough that the explosion killed three locals and left four American intelligence officers with very serious injuries. Kurdish security officials telling the Associated Press they believe al Qaeda was behind the attack.
There are few more dangerous places in the world, in the figurative sense of course, than at the other end of Donald Rumsfeld's pointed index finger. The defense secretary engaged in rhetorical combat with gusto during the war but there's been a noticeable softening as things in Iraq haven't gone precisely as the Pentagon predicted.
A look at what he said then and what he says now from our Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the National Press Club, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tried a little self effacing humor to deflect his critics.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I so often have people say things I said that I didn't say or if I did say I shouldn't have.
MCINTYRE: But not all his critics were charmed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The war in Iraq is unjust and illegal and the occupation is immoral.
MCINTYRE: Rumsfeld shrugged off the hecklers while fielding questions about how the Pentagon's pre-war predictions squared with the post-war reality. Take the idea floated back in the spring that Iraq's oil revenues would largely fund its reconstruction.
PAUL WOLFOWITZ, DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon.
MCINTYRE: That was then, this is now.
RUMSFELD: Oil revenue is not the only answer. There are a lot of countries in the world that had oil that haven't managed it very well.
MCINTYRE: Then there was the White House downplaying economic advisor Larry Lindsay's cost estimate last September.
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: It is ironic to note that administration officials denounced Mr. Lindsay's estimate that the cost of the war before it was launched would be in the range of $100-$200 billion.
MCINTYRE: With $79 billion already appropriated and a new request for $87 billion that estimate now seems right in the ballpark. During the war, Rumsfeld said of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction: "We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad" but now...
RUMSFELD: I should have said I believe were in that area, our intelligence tells us they're in that area and that was our best judgment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you respond to Congressman Obey's suggestion that you resign?
RUMSFELD: I guess the short answer is I serve at the pleasure of the president.
MCINTYRE (on camera): For all his charm, Rumsfeld rarely admits he's wrong. More often he suggests his critics are simply not listening carefully enough to what he's really saying.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: It's safe to say we think our next guest didn't and doesn't take Secretary Rumsfeld at his word or anyone else's for that matter. Christopher Hitchens isn't wired that way. He's a contrarian, an iconoclast, can be a little bit grumpy. He's a terrific writer and reporter as well. So, he checked things out for himself, wrote about what he saw in Iraq for "Vanity Fair" magazine. The piece appears in the October edition. We're most pleased to have him with us tonight. He joins us from Washington, nice to see you.
Fair to say that what you saw in Iraq is a mixed picture, some progress, certainly lots of hope and some considerable problems that in your view are not -- well that can be overcome?
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR "VANITY FAIR": Yes or in some cases even have been overcome. I mean if you take the point that many of us who favored regime change were making years ago, it's already been demonstrated in northern Iraq in Kurdistan, in other words, that it can be done that you can create an open and relatively democratic and prosperous civil society even while Saddam Hussein is holding power in Baghdad.
In other words, not utopian, to say that could be extended to the rest of Iraq. Actually, Kurdistan is much better than anyone would believe until they went to have a look at it. So, to my surprise is a good deal of the south, the Shia neighborhood, where not that it particularly matters but American soldiers are still waved at and greeted as if they'd only arrived yesterday.
Much more to the point I think is that ordinary Iraqis can turn on the TV when it works, which it doesn't always I admit, but when they do they can see members of the governing council composed of people they know who represent them whether they're Kurds or Shia or urban dwellers in Baghdad.
So, these are people whose track records they understand. It's quite different from having around the clock life living under a psychopathic crime family and I don't think enough credit is given to the United States for having brought this about.
BROWN: One of the things I guess I've wondered for a long time is why the administration didn't make as its primary argument that this was an incredibly brutal regime that killed tens of thousands of its citizens.
HITCHENS: Yes.
BROWN: That that was...
HITCHENS: Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people.
BROWN: And that that in many way was not only the best -- that was the best liberal argument for the war and the best...
HITCHENS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I'm glad you mentioned it. In my "Vanity Fair" piece I say that I think it's a terrible thing that neither Bush nor Blair, though they were often pressed to do it, ever readied an indictment for war crimes or crimes against humanity against Saddam Hussein as they did, for example, with Slobodan Milosevic. All the research legally for that indictment would have to be taken only off the shelf. We had it. It could be wheeled into the courtroom with only further preparation.
I'll tell you why since you asked why not? I fear doing that would have exposed a bad time in the past British and American foreign policy when they were much more friendly to Saddam Hussein. They didn't really want to bring that up. Also, I'm afraid to say it's often easier and cheaper to scare people by threats of weaponry and other things than it is to educate them.
I must say that I think that there was an Iraqi weapons program and evidence of it is being dug up and analyzed all the time and it was a very dangerous one and I've always quarreled with the people who said let's give Saddam Hussein the benefit of the doubt. They were fools then and they're fools now.
BROWN: When you left the country and you're flying home and you're thinking about what you saw did you - what was your principal worry that the Americans would pull out too soon or that the whole thing would collapse or the American people would give up? What was in your mind?
HITCHENS: Well, I was trying to think about it very soberly. George Bernard Shaw was asked when he was 90 on his birthday well how do you feel, the usual journalistic foolish question? He said, well considering the alternatives. Let's consider the alternatives soberly in Iraq.
It's not going to go back to the Ba'ath Party. They're gone. They're beaten. They're defeated. They're still killing and fighting. They're still murdering. That's all they know how to do but they can't win nor is it going to become a Shia theocracy, largely because a large number of the Shia population and its very mature leadership don't want that, also because they don't have enough of a majority to get it.
There's no reason to think it will fall apart or implode either. People are quite good at working together. Most Iraqis are intermarried with one or another member of the other group.
So, it's quite heartening to think of what can happen, also of what hasn't happened. Think of the revenge killings and lynchings that were predicted before the war that didn't happen. There was looting that wasn't predicted that did happen. There was mass revenge that was predicted that did not.
In other words, you don't have to be Pollyanna to say that given the alternatives, Iraq has a fighting chance of recovering itself as a society and as a country.
BROWN: We're very pleased to have you with us. We hope you'll come back soon.
HITCHENS: I wanted just to say, you know, that the other sides are, as I say, rather bluntly in my piece the scum of the earth. It's true.
BROWN: Yes.
HITCHENS: This is where Ba'athism meets jihad in an unholy alliance with Mafia and criminal elements. Well, excuse me but I think we were already at war with those people.
BROWN: The people...
HITCHENS: So, there's absolutely no reason at all to even think about backing off and this tape, which I think you've been overplaying tonight if I may say so, Mr. Brown, only suggests to me what I've believed for more than a year, bin Laden is dead. They can't produce any proof of life on the part of this guy. Why can't they produce a picture of him holding a magazine or making a comment on Iraq?
BROWN: Mr. Hitchens, a conversation for another night. I got to go.
HITCHENS: OK, but I just wanted to (unintelligible) that in.
BROWN: Well, and you did.
HITCHENS: Thanks for having me.
BROWN: Thanks for joining us.
HITCHENS: Goodbye now.
BROWN: We'll invite you back. Thank you very much, Christopher Hitchens.
We'll take a break. NEWSNIGHT continues.
They may be cheaper but are they legal? The government cracks down on a major importer of prescription drugs from Canada, a break first.
This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: All around the country, there really are people who make a very simple choice each day: medicine or groceries, medicine or rent. With Congress locked in debate over prescription drug coverage for the elderly, those who need help right now have turned to Canada, mostly, where drugs are cheaper.
They're hoping busses -- they're hopping, rather, busses north for drug vacations or, more recently, getting Canadian drugs closer to home. It is that second option the Food and Drug Administration has decided to crack down on.
Here is CNN's Ed Lavandera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DAVID PEOPLES, CO-FOUNDER, RX DEPOT: Rx Depot. How may I help you?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This storefront building in a Tulsa, Oklahoma, strip mall might not look like much, but David Peoples believe he's revolutionizing the prescription drugs industry from this tiny space.
PEOPLES: People need help. People are crying for help. That's why our business is so successful. We have literally thousands of seniors coming through our front doors across the country every day, inside our businesses, to take advantage of savings.
LAVANDERA: Rx Depot says it fills people's prescriptions through Canadian government-approved pharmacies, where most medicines are sold at a much cheaper price than in the United States. But the Justice Department says it will sue Rx Depot and shut them down Thursday if they continue to do business the same way.
In a letter sent to the company, federal officials accuse Rx Depot of "causing the importation of drugs into the United States in a manner that violates federal law." The letter also says that the "medicines patients are buying through the company may not be safe and effective and put the health of the American public at risk."
PEOPLES: We, again, do our due diligence of making sure that, if we do connect with someone up there, that they're doing it properly and they're doing it under the guidelines of what the FDA has stated must be adhered to.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can get you 7.5 milliliters for $63.25.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. And all I need is a prescription?
LAVANDERA: That was Irene Griffith's (ph) reaction when she found how much she can save on glaucoma medication. Judy Simmons was paying $600 a month in prescription medication. Now she pays $300 for the same drugs.
JUDY SIMMONS, CUSTOMER: The quality is the same. The pills come from the manufacturers in the U.S. to the Canadian pharmacy. And they mail them to me.
LAVANDERA: Rx Depot has opened up 85 storefronts across the country, with plans to continue expanding. But the U.S. government wants to make sure that doesn't happen.
WILLIAM HUBBARD, FDA: These Web sites and storefronts sound very sincere. They argue that the patient is getting a good, quality, American-made drug at a big savings. The savings may indeed be there. But an unsafe or ineffective drug at a lower cost is not a bargain.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: Aaron, the Rx Depot company officials say they have no intention of closing down their shops on Thursday, essentially ignoring the order from the federal government. They say that all of this is being driven by politics. But the FDA warning is also just as simple, that people should be very careful about the drugs they buy through companies like Rx Depot because, they say, you don't really know what you're getting -- Aaron.
BROWN: And that right there, that's the debate and the dispute.
Ed, thank you very much -- Ed Lavandera in Tulsa, Oklahoma, tonight.
Still to come on NEWSNIGHT: more violence in the Middle East. Is there anything left of the road map? We'll talk with former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres after the break.
Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: One thing is almost certain tonight in the Middle East. There will be more violence tomorrow. Hamas today promised to target Israeli homes and buildings, this after Israeli forces flattened the home of a Hamas leader, who somehow escaped being killed. His son did not. And many on both sides of the conflict tonight are bracing for yet another round of bloodshed.
Israel's prime minister, returning from a trip to India, promised not to let up on the fight against Hamas. He also called on the new Palestinian prime minister to crack down on terror, something few are certain he is either willing or able to do.
With that as a backdrop tonight, we're joined in Washington by someone who has seen his fair share of difficult moments in the region, yet somehow always managed to salvage enough hope to get by and even carry on from day to day, Shimon Peres, the former prime minister of Israel. And we're always glad to have him with us.
Mr. Prime minister, is there anything left of the road map?
SHIMON PERES, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Well, the map is still much in existence. What we need is some vehicles to move on the map in accordance with the map.
BROWN: Well, look, it is clear, I guess, to most people -- certainly most Americans -- what the Palestinians have to do. They somehow -- the Palestinian Authority, if it's going to mean anything as a government, has to somehow get ahead of its security problems. And it hasn't done that.
In your view, is there anything the Israeli government has to do to get things back on track?
PERES: I think we have to negotiate. I think we have to begin to implement the road map. I think we have to be, as much as we may, generous to all the Palestinians, because we have to carry the initiative. I do believe that the new appointed prime minister, Abu Ala, is very serious man, highly intelligent, very sophisticated. I negotiated with him in Oslo. And I believe, if there is somebody capable to move things ahead, he may be the person. I would give him credit.
BROWN: Why might he be more successful than his predecessor, who clearly was not?
PERES: Well, I think his predecessor decided to resign. If he would ask me, I wouldn't have advised him to do so. As the British are saying, quitters don't win and winners don't quit. You have to fight.
There is nothing of importance that you can achieve without disappointments, without setbacks, and, clearly, without fighting for, even if it takes time, even if it has to go through a great deal of troubles.
BROWN: Former Secretary of State Kissinger said to us on the program the other night that -- we were talking about -- what had changed in 30 years in the region. He said, fundamentally, this has not changed, that too many Palestinians still believe that Israel, as a Jewish state, doesn't have the right to exist and too many Israelis still don't believe that the occupied territories have to be returned. Do you agree with that?
PERES: Well, maybe in their hidden dreams, that is the situation.
But the Palestinians and the Israelis understand something else as well. We cannot get rid one of another, even if this is our hidden dream. We cannot divorce the rest of the world. Both the Palestinians and us depend very much upon the international community for support, for financial help. Nobody today in the world is a totally free agent. So you cannot play just in according with your dreams, legal or illegal. You have to refer to new realities.
BROWN: And the new realities are that Israel isn't going anywhere and the West Bank eventually will have to be turned over to the Palestinians?
PERES: Let me say, there are some positive sides, too, one must realize.
First of all, we're out of war with Egypt. We're out of war with Jordan. We got -- or you got rid of Saddam Hussein, which is a major change. And, in a strange way, the Palestinians and us has today a common vision about the solution. Israel was split on the issue what is better, to have the greater Israel, all of Israel, or to enable to have it -- to build the Palestinian state. The right wing of the Israeli politics rejected the Palestinian state for the last 25 years. Now they agree to it. So you have unanimity in Israel about the need to have a Palestinian state.
On the other hand, the Palestinians understand that they must compromise on the borders of '67 and they do have to make peace. They don't have a choice. What is holding us back is not the solution, but the past, the mistakes we have committed in the past. And now we have to get out of those mistakes.
BROWN: That's a very difficult thing to do.
Quickly, a final question. There's been a lot of talk about expelling Mr. Arafat. Do you think that will happen?
PERES: I hope not. I think it will be a great mistake, because, if we try to expel him, you don't know if it would wind up -- we wouldn't like to commit any historic error and deepen the hostility between the Palestinians and ourselves. And Arafat outside (UNINTELLIGIBLE) will be more effective and more negative than he is today.
BROWN: Mr. Peres, it's always nice to see you, sir, and see you looking well. Thank you for your time tonight.
PERES: Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres.
Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT: Is it an empire or does it just look like one to some people? On the front lines with American soldiers as they try to prove to the Iraqis they are not imperialists.
A break first. Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: The author Robert Kaplan recently argued that, if America is to wield its enormous power responsibly, it needs more Joppolos. That was the hero of the World War II novel "A Bell for Adano" and the Army major who helped one Sicilian town recover from the war with quite a firm hand, a lot of resourcefulness, and the ability to keep people from feeling conquered.
It worked well in a novel. But as we've seen in Iraq, it's not always easy walking in Joppolo's boots.
Here's CNN's Walter Rodgers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lieutenant Colonel Hank Arnold, whose wife calls him the viceroy of Sinjar. He tours frontier outposts opposite the Syrian border, much as a British viceroy might have in Queen Victoria's empire 150 years ago. Drinking tea with an Iraqi major in an old fort, the parallels do not escape the colonel.
LT. COL. HANK ARNOLD, U.S. MARY: At the time that the British had empires, they were the most powerful military and economic country on the planet. And we have fulfilled that role.
RODGERS: A border guard shows off an antiquated rifle. Still, the colonel refuses to supply him the rocket-propelled grenades he wants, too much firepower in the hands of the Iraqis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy is left-handed. He would normally shoot left-handed.
RODGERS: In what some have called a new American imperialism, Iraqis are trained to patrol borders, just as the British trained Indians and Pakistanis to patrol theirs.
1ST LT. JOSEPH BUCHE, U.S. ARMY: This is the fun kind of police training that they're looking forward, smacking each other around.
RODGERS: With but six to eight days training...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go. Good job.
RODGERS: ... this is who U.S. forces hope can patrol Iraq's frontier to stop al Qaeda terrorists from crossing and attacking coalition forces.
Many Arabs recall the European empire's use of force to control regional factions. And some see these U.S. troops as the ramrods of a new imperialism.
(on camera): These U.S. soldiers now operate in an ethnically explosive environment; 30 years ago, Saddam Hussein evicted the native tribes from here, giving their land to his fellow Arabs. Now, with Saddam gone, the Yazidis and Kurds want their lands back and the soldiers are all that stand between the tribes and a bloodbath.
(voice-over): This tribal sheik told us, if the Americans depart, there will be civil war. Yazidi children shout, "Yes, yes, America." Their tribe was brutally persecuted by Saddam Hussein, and they welcome U.S. troops; 19th century empires exploited natural resources. So far, however, Iraqi oil is being used for Iraqis.
This oil will go to Syria, which, in turn, ships the Iraqis desperately needed electrical power.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had one of my generals one time who said: Hey, we didn't come here to take Iraq's oil. We brought our own.
RODGERS: Still, all soldiers travel with their own cultures, from sports to politics.
SPC. TIFFANY CRAWFORD, U.S. ARMY: All they know is Saddam's rule. They don't know about freedom or democracy or they have a choice in anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's naive to believe that every person in this village loves America just because we gave them a well. It's the right thing to do, so we're going to do it. RODGERS: The cost of this occupation is enormous. President Bush wants $87 billion for this corner of the world to spend on items like Iraq's entire wheat crop, which was purchased by the United States, even though U.S. Army sources say two-thirds was unfit for market. Many of Saddam's former soldiers also are now on the U.S. payroll, still looking for bandits and brigands.
And U.S. troops certainly share the private burdens that occupation demands.
SPC. NICHOLAS ADCOCK, U.S. ARMY: I haven't seen my new son, which, he's almost 6 months old. He was born when we got here and I haven't even seen him yet, except for pictures that my wife has sent me.
RODGERS: Still, U.S. troops here do not see themselves as soldiers of empire. Most say they're here to make America safer.
Walter Rodgers, CNN, Sinjar Province, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: We'll take a break.
Morning papers for 9/11 when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(ROOSTER CROWING)
BROWN: Okeydokey, time to check morning papers from around the country and pretty much around the country on -- as newspapers -- well, we're going to try and run through a lot of them tonight, look how they deal with 9/11. But they don't all deal with 9/11.
Let's start with "The Dallas Morning News." Good headline, too. "9/11 Two Years Later: A World Transformed," two stories dealing directly with it. "An Emotional Toll Lingers, But Have Some Forgotten Too Soon?" I wonder about that, too, sometimes. The other major headline there, "Al Qaeda 2.0: Network Reinvents Itself, Employs Allies." "Dallas Morning News," very good front page there.
"San Antonio Express." "Two Years Later, On Eve of Anniversary of America's New Day of Infamy, the Top Two Men in Struggle Over Terrorism Make Their Presence Felt." President Bush and Osama bin Laden are the two stories on the front page there of "The San Antonio Express-News."
"The Boston Herald," a very simple and stark headline tomorrow will tomorrow on your doorstep or in the news box there. "Reflection," it reads.
"South Bend Tribune," South Bend, Indiana, has a rather small story on the front page on airport security. The big story in Indiana, however, is not 9/11 today. It's the stroke suffered by the -- Frank O'Bannon, the governor of the state. "Kernan Takes Helm," the lieutenant governor now the new governor there. And that's the big story in South Bend.
"The Oregonian" in Portland, Oregon. "Bush: Beef Up Security Act." And that dovetails nicely with another big feature on the front page. "Security Battles Privacy in World After 9/11." I continue to believe that's one of the great stories out there these days. Also on the front page, we should mention this. "GOP Defectors Help Block New Overtime Rules," the administration wanting to remove -- it depends on who you believe -- 800,000 to eight million workers from being eligible for overtime.
"Cape Cod Times" up in Cape Cod, of course. Where else? "Empty Sky, Empty Sky, I Woke Up This Morning to an Empty Sky," Bruce Springsteen, September 11, one of the most famed pictures of the aftermath of 9/11 on the front page of the "Cape Cod Times."
"The Athens Banner-Herald." This would be Athens, Georgia. Their big story, "Dogs Center Thomas Off Hoops Team." And their other big story, "Outdoor Couches: Eyesores Not Sitting Well With Commission." Hey, it's their town and their paper.
"The Detroit News." "Bin Laden Taunts U.S. on Eve of 9/11," the big headline.
And the "Chicago Sun-Times." "Osama Video Proof He's Plotting to Attack." The weather, stunning.
We hope 9/11 will be stunning, as we remember it tomorrow. We'll see you tomorrow night, 10:00 Eastern time.
Good night for all of us.
END
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Press Club; Problems In Iraq Are Not Insurmountable>
Aired September 10, 2003 - 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.
HBO had a special on recently for kids featuring kids talking about the attacks of 9/11. If there was one word you heard again and again from these kids it's why,? Why did this happen? Why did these people do this?
Today, as we saw the latest images of Osama bin Laden and the latest hate-filled words that may be from him on the eve of the second anniversary it became clear to us why kids keep asking why because their parents still don't know the answer either.
It's the latest al Qaeda tapes that begin the whip tonight, Mike Boettcher's beat. He's in Atlanta. Mike, start us off with a headline.
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, al Qaeda does not forget anniversaries and today they left behind a card of sorts. It was full of threats.
BROWN: Mike, thank you. We'll get back to you at the top tonight.
The White House next, efforts by the president to promote his record on fighting terrorism. Our Senior White House Correspondent John King on that tonight, John a headline.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, on the eve of the anniversary, the president promised the families of the victims that he was continuing to pursue "the serpents of evil" but this president's critics think those new tapes are simply proof to them that he should have focused on al Qaeda not Iraq -- Aaron.
BROWN: John, thank you.
And, on to the push by the government to stop cheaper prescription drugs from being imported into the United States. Ed Lavandera reporting that story from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Ed, a headline.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Aaron. Well, there's a store here in Tulsa, Okalahoma. It says that it has a simple mission statement to provide cheaper medicines for Americans but federal investigators aren't buying that sales pitch. They want the store and its affiliates across the country shut down -- Aaron.
BROWN: Thank you, Ed. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly.
Also coming up tonight on NEWSNIGHT that vicious cycle of attack and retaliation continuing to play out in Israel and the occupied territories. We'll talk tonight with the former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres.
Walt Rodgers with the troops in Iraq again tonight, the extremely delicate balance they must strike trying to secure the country without coming across as a conquering force trying to create an empire.
And, if tonight's news is not enough we have tomorrow's news as well in a concentrated, easy to digest, two and a half minute form. This sounds like the pitch for morning papers. All that and more coming up in the hour ahead.
We begin with the tapes. If nothing else they serve as a reminder the work since 9/11 remains incomplete, the wounds unhealed and the monster un-slain, not that anyone needs reminding especially not now.
Every day it seems soldiers are dying or being wounded. People, not just New Yorkers or Washingtonians are living vastly different lives as a consequence of a man whose image resurfaced on television this afternoon.
Our reporting tonight begins with CNN's Mike Boettcher.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOETTCHER (voice-over): There's no telling when this footage of Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri was shot. In the tape, which was aired first on Al-Jazeera, both men look in good health, bin Laden showing no obvious signs of the injuries intelligence sources say he suffered in the siege of Tora Bora in December, 2001.
Bin Laden also had an audio message, which offered no clues as to when it was recorded either. In it he praised the 9/11 hijackers and called for a continued jihad against the west.
OSAMA BIN LADEN (through translator): Those who don't agree with killing then let them step out of the way.
BOETTCHER: In his audio message, al-Zawahiri noted the second anniversary of 9/11 but his most fiery rhetoric was about Iraq. He said if the Americans stayed in Iraq they would be devoured there.
AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI (through translator): We recommend to the mothers of the soldiers if you like to see your sons then hasten to ask your government to return them rather than coming back to you in coffins.
BOETTCHER: Al-Zawarhiri's message was in many ways a repeat of what he said on a tape from several months ago as he specifically mentioned Afghanistan and Palestine alongside Iraq. AL-ZAWAHIRI (through translator): We would like to let you know also and emphasize that what you've seen so far are just the first skirmishes and the real battle has not started yet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOETTCHER: The major concern to coalition intelligence officials, in the past when we've seen these messages, these videos and audios often major attacks have followed -- Aaron.
BROWN: And I suppose that begs the question what the chatter level is these days as we approach the anniversary.
BOETTCHER: Well, you got to sort out the chatter level. Around the world it's up but it's people talking about this, expecting this. We've seen a pattern now over the past two years it goes up on the anniversary. The concern is really who is out there we don't know about?
There is a vacuum out there. There are black holes out there and the concern is the chatter level, yes, is up but who is out there we don't know about. They're expecting because of this tape a big attack coming up soon somewhere in the world. They promised it on the tape and intelligence and security officials and the coalition are trying to prepare for it.
BROWN: Mike, thank you very much, Mike Boettcher in Atlanta tonight.
The White House next where it is safe to say we assume that the emergence of this latest al Qaeda tape was a most unwelcome development on a day the president was promoting his fight against terror.
The day before the 9/11 anniversary the world hears someone claiming to be bin Laden looking to spill more blood. It doesn't sit well in a progress report that was delivered today.
Once again we turn to our Senior White House Correspondent John King.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): The president was told of the possible new al Qaeda tape just before a tour of the FBI crime lab. "Haven't heard it yet" he told reporters. Moments later his assessment of the war on terror two years later, a reminder of the unfinished business.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The enemy is wounded. They're still resourceful and actively recruiting and still dangerous. We cannot afford a moment of complacency.
KING: The new tapes were airing just as the White House released a 22 page progress report on the terror war. In the hunt for al Qaeda leaders it says nearly two-thirds have been taken into custody or killed but Osama bin Laden and his top deputy remain unaccounted for a point of contention with the president's critics, especially when Mr. Bush calls Iraq the central front now.
SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: If we are serious about protecting our country from terrorism it seems to me that the central front in the war should be the war on al Qaeda.
KING: In paying tribute to the victims of September 11th, Mr. Bush disputed those who say he has turned attention away from al Qaeda.
BUSH: We will never forget the servants of evil who plotted the attacks and we will never forget those who rejoiced at our grief and our mourning.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: And in that speech the president defiantly rebutted his critics on Iraq. Mr. Bush said that by toppling the regime of Saddam Hussein he had kept weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists. To that charge the president's critics tonight say, if that's the case, Mr. President why haven't you found any weapons of mass destruction -- Aaron.
Brown: John, the president today also, it seemed to me, called for an expansion of the Patriot Act either in whole or in part.
KING: In part is the strategy right now. The White House and the Justice Department had thought of sending up Patriot Act II, if you will. It's quite controversial. Many civil liberties groups, many Democrats, even some Republicans say, whoa, is the government getting too much power here.
So the president appealed for three things he says the Justice Department needs and three things they think they can get through Congress. One is added subpoena power for the Justice Department.
In some cases, it would not have to go to a judge or a grand jury, also the right to hold more terrorism suspects without bail and making more terrorist-related crime subject to the death penalty. Those are issues on which the president thinks he can win on Capitol Hill. He focused on those ones today.
BROWN: John, thank you very much, our Senior White House Correspondent John King tonight, good to have him with us.
It feels like we have crossed a small but important marker in terms of the war and the debate that's going on in the country about the war and post war Iraq. The marker was passed when people began accusing other people of being less than patriotic or even helping the enemy when they criticized how the war is being waged. These are serious accusations indeed and for those of us of a certain age they have an unmistakable ring.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN (voice-over): In the growing debate over post-war Iraq, fueled in part by the Democratic presidential hopefuls, these are by far the sharpest words spoken in response.
REP. ED SCHROCK (R), PENNSYLVANIA: I think all the sniping that we're hearing on TV about the president and how he's handling this does not help the situation. In fact, I think it plays into the hands of the enemy. I know that happened in Vietnam the visit by Jane Fonda and others.
BROWN: In case you have forgotten and we can't imagine that you have Ms. Fonda went to Hanoi in 1972 and posed for pictures by enemy antiaircraft guns, an act many called then and now traitorous. The Congressman today quickly added that he is not calling the nine Democrats traitors just playing into the hands of the enemy.
SCHROCK: It's all turned into a big political football. Those nine characters out there running for president are trying to make this thing look like the worst thing that's ever happened.
BROWN: Another Republican had this to say.
REP. VITO FOSSELLA (R), NEW YORK: For those who continue to criticize this policy without any basis in fact, I would just suggest respectfully to get a life.
BROWN: It may not be the '60s again but it is starting to feel a little bit like them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: With us now in Boston is a man, and as it turns out, a mouthful as well. Jim Walsh is the executive director of the Managing the Atom Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
The center, by the way, is part of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Walsh's expertise lies in the area of terrorism, the Middle East, and weapons of mass destruction, a mouthful but an essentially apt one.
JIM WALSH, BELFER CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND INTL. AFFAIRS, HARVARD UNIV.: That is a mouthful.
BROWN: And, in Washington tonight Robin Wright, the Chief Diplomatic Correspondent for the "Los Angeles Times," her title, though not her knowledge, pales by comparison. Welcome to you both. We're glad to have you.
Dr. Walsh we'll start with you. What do you make of the tape today?
WALSH: Well, the tape is always unwelcome. You know it always sends a shiver up the spine to see the tape and it's also unwelcome because, first of all, we have a pattern.
It's not an absolute pattern, predictive pattern but we do have an association that tapes are sometimes followed by attacks, so that always gets your attention and, of course, bin Laden is out there and he's basically saying to George Bush, I'm here. You haven't caught me. We're rallying the troops and he's being able to use the medium of TV and elsewhere to rally those troops to his cause, so I think it's unfortunate.
BROWN: Let me ask you both this. We'll start, Robin, with you. Does it or anything else tell us much about the state of al Qaeda today? What do we think? I mean the president talked the other day about two-thirds of the leadership of al Qaeda being arrested or taken or killed. What do we think the state of al Qaeda is today?
ROBIN WRIGHT, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Well, al Qaeda clearly is not just a single organization but a group of cells and quite a disparate array of forces that stretch from, you know, as far as Morocco on the Atlantic to Indonesia on the Pacific.
So, we're not talking about one movement. Clearly, there have been an enormous number of arrests, people held in Guantanamo, the top leadership, reportedly two-thirds of them captured by the United States or killed but that doesn't necessarily make a huge difference.
The elimination of even Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants would probably not have a huge impact on the movement. It is now so diffuse with so many different flash points, so many different agendas that it will continue even without its top people.
BROWN: Dr. Walsh, do you agree that if bin Laden were out of the picture the movement would be as strong?
WALSH: Well, Aaron, I do think that it would continue. He does bring something to the table in the way of inspiration, in the way of financial resources but I think if we step back and ask where are they today versus back in 2001, they did take a hit.
When they lost those permanent bases in Afghanistan, I think that did hurt their abilities in certain ways, reduced some of their capabilities but it's clear both from the attacks in Saudi Arabia and in Morocco that they have cash. They have bodies to burn and it would appear that the war in Iraq is helping their recruitment efforts. So, they have been wounded. They have lost some capabilities but in other areas they're just as strong as they were before.
BROWN: Robin, has Iraq become in a sense an al Qaeda dream in that you have all these Americans there. You have a chance not just to kill a lot of Americans if you're so inclined but to disrupt in a significant way American foreign policy?
WRIGHT: Sure and, of course, al Qaeda is trying to play to that vulnerability. It has in the past talked about the Palestinians, about the Iraqis, about the Pakistanis, but what's so interesting now is it comes at a time that the United States is vulnerable.
The Arab-Israeli peace process is - the roadmap is in real trouble. Iraq is not going well four months after the end of major combat and this is a time that those kinds of words that bin Laden and his top lieutenant used in the tape released today can resonate throughout the Islamic world. BROWN: Do we know, as opposed to believe, that Iraq has become a great recruiting tool for al Qaeda?
WRIGHT: I think there is a general sense throughout the region that there is enormous anger among the kind of militant wings of political movements and that, yes indeed, that there are dozens. I don't know numbers. I'm not sure anyone really does. I'm not sure they know who are attracted to fighting the United States.
In many ways, the United States in Iraq has the same kind of attraction that the Soviet Union did in Afghanistan. It's the same kind of lure, same kind of flash point.
BROWN: So, Dr. Walsh, two years later after the attack here in New York and Washington where are we in a sense with these Islamic fundamentalists, these terrorists? Are we significantly closer to their demise or just a wee bit?
WALSH: Well, it's hard to say. This is a business in which you can go after some and then in the process of going after some terrorists you create others, so it's a difficult job. In some ways we're ahead. Why do I say that?
We're certainly - it's a higher political priority to prevent terrorism. Homeland security is a higher political priority. We have the cooperation of other countries in this task, so in some ways we have made progress.
In other ways, we've made no progress at all. President Bush says that an attack with a nuclear weapon by terrorists would be the worst thing that could possibly happen and yet we spent $100 billion in Iraq and only one percent of that to secure nuclear material so they remain vulnerable and in some ways it is worse.
And, I think again I would agree with Robin that the war in Iraq gives al Qaeda a recruiting card. Whether they can make use of it or not we're going to have to see but it allows them to go to villages throughout the world, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and say, look, the infidel is there. Come join our cause and I don't think we want to help them anymore than we already have.
BROWN: Professor, thank you. Robin, always thank you. It's good to have you both with us tonight. Thank you very much.
WALSH: Thank you, Aaron.
BROWN: A quick programming note about our coverage tomorrow of the second anniversary of 9/11 here on CNN, 9/11 special coverage begins 8:30 in the morning Eastern time. Soledad O'Brien, Jack Cafferty in New York, Bill Hemmer at Ground Zero, Wolf will be in Washington to handle the coverage there and that will go on at least until Noon, perhaps a bit past noon tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow night on NEWSNIGHT our own special coverage. We'll look at how life has changed in the country, how schools have started teaching 9/11, what they are teaching about 9/11, how one family in one southern city have gone on after losing one of their own, that and much more in our coverage tomorrow here on NEWSNIGHT, 10:00 Eastern and we hope you'll join us for that as well.
Ahead tonight on the program we'll have more on Iraq, how administration statements have changed over time as well as a look at what's gone right these last weeks and months in Iraq.
Later in the program, the government takes on a company bringing cheaper prescription drugs into the country from Canada, lots to do yet.
This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Another on the list, 290 American troops killed in Iraq, 163 since Baghdad fell, 151 since the 1st of May. The latest to die, a soldier attached to the Army's 1st Armored Division, he died when a roadside bomb he was trying to diffuse went off.
There are also reports tonight, sketchy at best at this point, concerning an attack on coalition forces in the always difficult city of Fallujah. Locals say they heard a large explosion and saw a damaged American truck being towed away witnesses report seeing four casualties but, as of yet, no details or confirmation from Central Command.
A military spokesman did confirm the details of a suicide bombing in northern Iraq late yesterday. It happened in the predominantly Kurdish city of Erbil. The bomber tried to drive a truck loaded with TNT into an intelligence compound.
He came up short but got close enough that the explosion killed three locals and left four American intelligence officers with very serious injuries. Kurdish security officials telling the Associated Press they believe al Qaeda was behind the attack.
There are few more dangerous places in the world, in the figurative sense of course, than at the other end of Donald Rumsfeld's pointed index finger. The defense secretary engaged in rhetorical combat with gusto during the war but there's been a noticeable softening as things in Iraq haven't gone precisely as the Pentagon predicted.
A look at what he said then and what he says now from our Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the National Press Club, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tried a little self effacing humor to deflect his critics.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I so often have people say things I said that I didn't say or if I did say I shouldn't have.
MCINTYRE: But not all his critics were charmed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The war in Iraq is unjust and illegal and the occupation is immoral.
MCINTYRE: Rumsfeld shrugged off the hecklers while fielding questions about how the Pentagon's pre-war predictions squared with the post-war reality. Take the idea floated back in the spring that Iraq's oil revenues would largely fund its reconstruction.
PAUL WOLFOWITZ, DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon.
MCINTYRE: That was then, this is now.
RUMSFELD: Oil revenue is not the only answer. There are a lot of countries in the world that had oil that haven't managed it very well.
MCINTYRE: Then there was the White House downplaying economic advisor Larry Lindsay's cost estimate last September.
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: It is ironic to note that administration officials denounced Mr. Lindsay's estimate that the cost of the war before it was launched would be in the range of $100-$200 billion.
MCINTYRE: With $79 billion already appropriated and a new request for $87 billion that estimate now seems right in the ballpark. During the war, Rumsfeld said of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction: "We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad" but now...
RUMSFELD: I should have said I believe were in that area, our intelligence tells us they're in that area and that was our best judgment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you respond to Congressman Obey's suggestion that you resign?
RUMSFELD: I guess the short answer is I serve at the pleasure of the president.
MCINTYRE (on camera): For all his charm, Rumsfeld rarely admits he's wrong. More often he suggests his critics are simply not listening carefully enough to what he's really saying.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: It's safe to say we think our next guest didn't and doesn't take Secretary Rumsfeld at his word or anyone else's for that matter. Christopher Hitchens isn't wired that way. He's a contrarian, an iconoclast, can be a little bit grumpy. He's a terrific writer and reporter as well. So, he checked things out for himself, wrote about what he saw in Iraq for "Vanity Fair" magazine. The piece appears in the October edition. We're most pleased to have him with us tonight. He joins us from Washington, nice to see you.
Fair to say that what you saw in Iraq is a mixed picture, some progress, certainly lots of hope and some considerable problems that in your view are not -- well that can be overcome?
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR "VANITY FAIR": Yes or in some cases even have been overcome. I mean if you take the point that many of us who favored regime change were making years ago, it's already been demonstrated in northern Iraq in Kurdistan, in other words, that it can be done that you can create an open and relatively democratic and prosperous civil society even while Saddam Hussein is holding power in Baghdad.
In other words, not utopian, to say that could be extended to the rest of Iraq. Actually, Kurdistan is much better than anyone would believe until they went to have a look at it. So, to my surprise is a good deal of the south, the Shia neighborhood, where not that it particularly matters but American soldiers are still waved at and greeted as if they'd only arrived yesterday.
Much more to the point I think is that ordinary Iraqis can turn on the TV when it works, which it doesn't always I admit, but when they do they can see members of the governing council composed of people they know who represent them whether they're Kurds or Shia or urban dwellers in Baghdad.
So, these are people whose track records they understand. It's quite different from having around the clock life living under a psychopathic crime family and I don't think enough credit is given to the United States for having brought this about.
BROWN: One of the things I guess I've wondered for a long time is why the administration didn't make as its primary argument that this was an incredibly brutal regime that killed tens of thousands of its citizens.
HITCHENS: Yes.
BROWN: That that was...
HITCHENS: Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people.
BROWN: And that that in many way was not only the best -- that was the best liberal argument for the war and the best...
HITCHENS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I'm glad you mentioned it. In my "Vanity Fair" piece I say that I think it's a terrible thing that neither Bush nor Blair, though they were often pressed to do it, ever readied an indictment for war crimes or crimes against humanity against Saddam Hussein as they did, for example, with Slobodan Milosevic. All the research legally for that indictment would have to be taken only off the shelf. We had it. It could be wheeled into the courtroom with only further preparation.
I'll tell you why since you asked why not? I fear doing that would have exposed a bad time in the past British and American foreign policy when they were much more friendly to Saddam Hussein. They didn't really want to bring that up. Also, I'm afraid to say it's often easier and cheaper to scare people by threats of weaponry and other things than it is to educate them.
I must say that I think that there was an Iraqi weapons program and evidence of it is being dug up and analyzed all the time and it was a very dangerous one and I've always quarreled with the people who said let's give Saddam Hussein the benefit of the doubt. They were fools then and they're fools now.
BROWN: When you left the country and you're flying home and you're thinking about what you saw did you - what was your principal worry that the Americans would pull out too soon or that the whole thing would collapse or the American people would give up? What was in your mind?
HITCHENS: Well, I was trying to think about it very soberly. George Bernard Shaw was asked when he was 90 on his birthday well how do you feel, the usual journalistic foolish question? He said, well considering the alternatives. Let's consider the alternatives soberly in Iraq.
It's not going to go back to the Ba'ath Party. They're gone. They're beaten. They're defeated. They're still killing and fighting. They're still murdering. That's all they know how to do but they can't win nor is it going to become a Shia theocracy, largely because a large number of the Shia population and its very mature leadership don't want that, also because they don't have enough of a majority to get it.
There's no reason to think it will fall apart or implode either. People are quite good at working together. Most Iraqis are intermarried with one or another member of the other group.
So, it's quite heartening to think of what can happen, also of what hasn't happened. Think of the revenge killings and lynchings that were predicted before the war that didn't happen. There was looting that wasn't predicted that did happen. There was mass revenge that was predicted that did not.
In other words, you don't have to be Pollyanna to say that given the alternatives, Iraq has a fighting chance of recovering itself as a society and as a country.
BROWN: We're very pleased to have you with us. We hope you'll come back soon.
HITCHENS: I wanted just to say, you know, that the other sides are, as I say, rather bluntly in my piece the scum of the earth. It's true.
BROWN: Yes.
HITCHENS: This is where Ba'athism meets jihad in an unholy alliance with Mafia and criminal elements. Well, excuse me but I think we were already at war with those people.
BROWN: The people...
HITCHENS: So, there's absolutely no reason at all to even think about backing off and this tape, which I think you've been overplaying tonight if I may say so, Mr. Brown, only suggests to me what I've believed for more than a year, bin Laden is dead. They can't produce any proof of life on the part of this guy. Why can't they produce a picture of him holding a magazine or making a comment on Iraq?
BROWN: Mr. Hitchens, a conversation for another night. I got to go.
HITCHENS: OK, but I just wanted to (unintelligible) that in.
BROWN: Well, and you did.
HITCHENS: Thanks for having me.
BROWN: Thanks for joining us.
HITCHENS: Goodbye now.
BROWN: We'll invite you back. Thank you very much, Christopher Hitchens.
We'll take a break. NEWSNIGHT continues.
They may be cheaper but are they legal? The government cracks down on a major importer of prescription drugs from Canada, a break first.
This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: All around the country, there really are people who make a very simple choice each day: medicine or groceries, medicine or rent. With Congress locked in debate over prescription drug coverage for the elderly, those who need help right now have turned to Canada, mostly, where drugs are cheaper.
They're hoping busses -- they're hopping, rather, busses north for drug vacations or, more recently, getting Canadian drugs closer to home. It is that second option the Food and Drug Administration has decided to crack down on.
Here is CNN's Ed Lavandera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DAVID PEOPLES, CO-FOUNDER, RX DEPOT: Rx Depot. How may I help you?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This storefront building in a Tulsa, Oklahoma, strip mall might not look like much, but David Peoples believe he's revolutionizing the prescription drugs industry from this tiny space.
PEOPLES: People need help. People are crying for help. That's why our business is so successful. We have literally thousands of seniors coming through our front doors across the country every day, inside our businesses, to take advantage of savings.
LAVANDERA: Rx Depot says it fills people's prescriptions through Canadian government-approved pharmacies, where most medicines are sold at a much cheaper price than in the United States. But the Justice Department says it will sue Rx Depot and shut them down Thursday if they continue to do business the same way.
In a letter sent to the company, federal officials accuse Rx Depot of "causing the importation of drugs into the United States in a manner that violates federal law." The letter also says that the "medicines patients are buying through the company may not be safe and effective and put the health of the American public at risk."
PEOPLES: We, again, do our due diligence of making sure that, if we do connect with someone up there, that they're doing it properly and they're doing it under the guidelines of what the FDA has stated must be adhered to.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can get you 7.5 milliliters for $63.25.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. And all I need is a prescription?
LAVANDERA: That was Irene Griffith's (ph) reaction when she found how much she can save on glaucoma medication. Judy Simmons was paying $600 a month in prescription medication. Now she pays $300 for the same drugs.
JUDY SIMMONS, CUSTOMER: The quality is the same. The pills come from the manufacturers in the U.S. to the Canadian pharmacy. And they mail them to me.
LAVANDERA: Rx Depot has opened up 85 storefronts across the country, with plans to continue expanding. But the U.S. government wants to make sure that doesn't happen.
WILLIAM HUBBARD, FDA: These Web sites and storefronts sound very sincere. They argue that the patient is getting a good, quality, American-made drug at a big savings. The savings may indeed be there. But an unsafe or ineffective drug at a lower cost is not a bargain.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: Aaron, the Rx Depot company officials say they have no intention of closing down their shops on Thursday, essentially ignoring the order from the federal government. They say that all of this is being driven by politics. But the FDA warning is also just as simple, that people should be very careful about the drugs they buy through companies like Rx Depot because, they say, you don't really know what you're getting -- Aaron.
BROWN: And that right there, that's the debate and the dispute.
Ed, thank you very much -- Ed Lavandera in Tulsa, Oklahoma, tonight.
Still to come on NEWSNIGHT: more violence in the Middle East. Is there anything left of the road map? We'll talk with former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres after the break.
Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: One thing is almost certain tonight in the Middle East. There will be more violence tomorrow. Hamas today promised to target Israeli homes and buildings, this after Israeli forces flattened the home of a Hamas leader, who somehow escaped being killed. His son did not. And many on both sides of the conflict tonight are bracing for yet another round of bloodshed.
Israel's prime minister, returning from a trip to India, promised not to let up on the fight against Hamas. He also called on the new Palestinian prime minister to crack down on terror, something few are certain he is either willing or able to do.
With that as a backdrop tonight, we're joined in Washington by someone who has seen his fair share of difficult moments in the region, yet somehow always managed to salvage enough hope to get by and even carry on from day to day, Shimon Peres, the former prime minister of Israel. And we're always glad to have him with us.
Mr. Prime minister, is there anything left of the road map?
SHIMON PERES, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Well, the map is still much in existence. What we need is some vehicles to move on the map in accordance with the map.
BROWN: Well, look, it is clear, I guess, to most people -- certainly most Americans -- what the Palestinians have to do. They somehow -- the Palestinian Authority, if it's going to mean anything as a government, has to somehow get ahead of its security problems. And it hasn't done that.
In your view, is there anything the Israeli government has to do to get things back on track?
PERES: I think we have to negotiate. I think we have to begin to implement the road map. I think we have to be, as much as we may, generous to all the Palestinians, because we have to carry the initiative. I do believe that the new appointed prime minister, Abu Ala, is very serious man, highly intelligent, very sophisticated. I negotiated with him in Oslo. And I believe, if there is somebody capable to move things ahead, he may be the person. I would give him credit.
BROWN: Why might he be more successful than his predecessor, who clearly was not?
PERES: Well, I think his predecessor decided to resign. If he would ask me, I wouldn't have advised him to do so. As the British are saying, quitters don't win and winners don't quit. You have to fight.
There is nothing of importance that you can achieve without disappointments, without setbacks, and, clearly, without fighting for, even if it takes time, even if it has to go through a great deal of troubles.
BROWN: Former Secretary of State Kissinger said to us on the program the other night that -- we were talking about -- what had changed in 30 years in the region. He said, fundamentally, this has not changed, that too many Palestinians still believe that Israel, as a Jewish state, doesn't have the right to exist and too many Israelis still don't believe that the occupied territories have to be returned. Do you agree with that?
PERES: Well, maybe in their hidden dreams, that is the situation.
But the Palestinians and the Israelis understand something else as well. We cannot get rid one of another, even if this is our hidden dream. We cannot divorce the rest of the world. Both the Palestinians and us depend very much upon the international community for support, for financial help. Nobody today in the world is a totally free agent. So you cannot play just in according with your dreams, legal or illegal. You have to refer to new realities.
BROWN: And the new realities are that Israel isn't going anywhere and the West Bank eventually will have to be turned over to the Palestinians?
PERES: Let me say, there are some positive sides, too, one must realize.
First of all, we're out of war with Egypt. We're out of war with Jordan. We got -- or you got rid of Saddam Hussein, which is a major change. And, in a strange way, the Palestinians and us has today a common vision about the solution. Israel was split on the issue what is better, to have the greater Israel, all of Israel, or to enable to have it -- to build the Palestinian state. The right wing of the Israeli politics rejected the Palestinian state for the last 25 years. Now they agree to it. So you have unanimity in Israel about the need to have a Palestinian state.
On the other hand, the Palestinians understand that they must compromise on the borders of '67 and they do have to make peace. They don't have a choice. What is holding us back is not the solution, but the past, the mistakes we have committed in the past. And now we have to get out of those mistakes.
BROWN: That's a very difficult thing to do.
Quickly, a final question. There's been a lot of talk about expelling Mr. Arafat. Do you think that will happen?
PERES: I hope not. I think it will be a great mistake, because, if we try to expel him, you don't know if it would wind up -- we wouldn't like to commit any historic error and deepen the hostility between the Palestinians and ourselves. And Arafat outside (UNINTELLIGIBLE) will be more effective and more negative than he is today.
BROWN: Mr. Peres, it's always nice to see you, sir, and see you looking well. Thank you for your time tonight.
PERES: Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres.
Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT: Is it an empire or does it just look like one to some people? On the front lines with American soldiers as they try to prove to the Iraqis they are not imperialists.
A break first. Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: The author Robert Kaplan recently argued that, if America is to wield its enormous power responsibly, it needs more Joppolos. That was the hero of the World War II novel "A Bell for Adano" and the Army major who helped one Sicilian town recover from the war with quite a firm hand, a lot of resourcefulness, and the ability to keep people from feeling conquered.
It worked well in a novel. But as we've seen in Iraq, it's not always easy walking in Joppolo's boots.
Here's CNN's Walter Rodgers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lieutenant Colonel Hank Arnold, whose wife calls him the viceroy of Sinjar. He tours frontier outposts opposite the Syrian border, much as a British viceroy might have in Queen Victoria's empire 150 years ago. Drinking tea with an Iraqi major in an old fort, the parallels do not escape the colonel.
LT. COL. HANK ARNOLD, U.S. MARY: At the time that the British had empires, they were the most powerful military and economic country on the planet. And we have fulfilled that role.
RODGERS: A border guard shows off an antiquated rifle. Still, the colonel refuses to supply him the rocket-propelled grenades he wants, too much firepower in the hands of the Iraqis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy is left-handed. He would normally shoot left-handed.
RODGERS: In what some have called a new American imperialism, Iraqis are trained to patrol borders, just as the British trained Indians and Pakistanis to patrol theirs.
1ST LT. JOSEPH BUCHE, U.S. ARMY: This is the fun kind of police training that they're looking forward, smacking each other around.
RODGERS: With but six to eight days training...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go. Good job.
RODGERS: ... this is who U.S. forces hope can patrol Iraq's frontier to stop al Qaeda terrorists from crossing and attacking coalition forces.
Many Arabs recall the European empire's use of force to control regional factions. And some see these U.S. troops as the ramrods of a new imperialism.
(on camera): These U.S. soldiers now operate in an ethnically explosive environment; 30 years ago, Saddam Hussein evicted the native tribes from here, giving their land to his fellow Arabs. Now, with Saddam gone, the Yazidis and Kurds want their lands back and the soldiers are all that stand between the tribes and a bloodbath.
(voice-over): This tribal sheik told us, if the Americans depart, there will be civil war. Yazidi children shout, "Yes, yes, America." Their tribe was brutally persecuted by Saddam Hussein, and they welcome U.S. troops; 19th century empires exploited natural resources. So far, however, Iraqi oil is being used for Iraqis.
This oil will go to Syria, which, in turn, ships the Iraqis desperately needed electrical power.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had one of my generals one time who said: Hey, we didn't come here to take Iraq's oil. We brought our own.
RODGERS: Still, all soldiers travel with their own cultures, from sports to politics.
SPC. TIFFANY CRAWFORD, U.S. ARMY: All they know is Saddam's rule. They don't know about freedom or democracy or they have a choice in anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's naive to believe that every person in this village loves America just because we gave them a well. It's the right thing to do, so we're going to do it. RODGERS: The cost of this occupation is enormous. President Bush wants $87 billion for this corner of the world to spend on items like Iraq's entire wheat crop, which was purchased by the United States, even though U.S. Army sources say two-thirds was unfit for market. Many of Saddam's former soldiers also are now on the U.S. payroll, still looking for bandits and brigands.
And U.S. troops certainly share the private burdens that occupation demands.
SPC. NICHOLAS ADCOCK, U.S. ARMY: I haven't seen my new son, which, he's almost 6 months old. He was born when we got here and I haven't even seen him yet, except for pictures that my wife has sent me.
RODGERS: Still, U.S. troops here do not see themselves as soldiers of empire. Most say they're here to make America safer.
Walter Rodgers, CNN, Sinjar Province, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: We'll take a break.
Morning papers for 9/11 when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(ROOSTER CROWING)
BROWN: Okeydokey, time to check morning papers from around the country and pretty much around the country on -- as newspapers -- well, we're going to try and run through a lot of them tonight, look how they deal with 9/11. But they don't all deal with 9/11.
Let's start with "The Dallas Morning News." Good headline, too. "9/11 Two Years Later: A World Transformed," two stories dealing directly with it. "An Emotional Toll Lingers, But Have Some Forgotten Too Soon?" I wonder about that, too, sometimes. The other major headline there, "Al Qaeda 2.0: Network Reinvents Itself, Employs Allies." "Dallas Morning News," very good front page there.
"San Antonio Express." "Two Years Later, On Eve of Anniversary of America's New Day of Infamy, the Top Two Men in Struggle Over Terrorism Make Their Presence Felt." President Bush and Osama bin Laden are the two stories on the front page there of "The San Antonio Express-News."
"The Boston Herald," a very simple and stark headline tomorrow will tomorrow on your doorstep or in the news box there. "Reflection," it reads.
"South Bend Tribune," South Bend, Indiana, has a rather small story on the front page on airport security. The big story in Indiana, however, is not 9/11 today. It's the stroke suffered by the -- Frank O'Bannon, the governor of the state. "Kernan Takes Helm," the lieutenant governor now the new governor there. And that's the big story in South Bend.
"The Oregonian" in Portland, Oregon. "Bush: Beef Up Security Act." And that dovetails nicely with another big feature on the front page. "Security Battles Privacy in World After 9/11." I continue to believe that's one of the great stories out there these days. Also on the front page, we should mention this. "GOP Defectors Help Block New Overtime Rules," the administration wanting to remove -- it depends on who you believe -- 800,000 to eight million workers from being eligible for overtime.
"Cape Cod Times" up in Cape Cod, of course. Where else? "Empty Sky, Empty Sky, I Woke Up This Morning to an Empty Sky," Bruce Springsteen, September 11, one of the most famed pictures of the aftermath of 9/11 on the front page of the "Cape Cod Times."
"The Athens Banner-Herald." This would be Athens, Georgia. Their big story, "Dogs Center Thomas Off Hoops Team." And their other big story, "Outdoor Couches: Eyesores Not Sitting Well With Commission." Hey, it's their town and their paper.
"The Detroit News." "Bin Laden Taunts U.S. on Eve of 9/11," the big headline.
And the "Chicago Sun-Times." "Osama Video Proof He's Plotting to Attack." The weather, stunning.
We hope 9/11 will be stunning, as we remember it tomorrow. We'll see you tomorrow night, 10:00 Eastern time.
Good night for all of us.
END
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Press Club; Problems In Iraq Are Not Insurmountable>
