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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

David Kay says more time is needed in Iraq to find WMD; Rush Limbaugh Resigns After Controversial Statement On ESPN; Arnold Schwarzenegger Apologizes For Past Behavior

Aired October 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, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
Aspin seems the word of the day. In Washington, there's an attempt to spin David Kay's weapons report. No weapons found but there is some interesting stuff there.

In California, Arnold Schwarzenegger confronted with a well- reported story of his serial groping of women apologized to the women while his campaign without a single fact that I saw blamed the Democrats for planting the story.

It's a bit harder for Rush Limbaugh to spin tonight. Oh no, not him again. We got in trouble over that last night. Yesterday's flap over a football player pales compared to today's allegations that he's under investigation for the use, addiction really, of powerful painkillers.

Mr. Limbaugh being who he is and politics today being what it is, we see a certain amount of gloating out there over this allegation as if addiction is somehow a punishment deserved, all of which sets up the whip, which begins with the weapons or lack thereof, David Ensor reporting that for us, David a headline from you.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, as you said, no weapons but the building blocks of weapons are there and accounted for in some quantities in this report including botulinum toxin live, biological weapons toxin in test tubes found at a scientist's house but Capitol Hill is not impressed.

BROWN: David, thank you. We'll get to you at the top tonight.

To the White House and the drip, drip, drip of the news on the leaked story, Suzanne Malveaux has the duty this evening, Suzanne a headline.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, it really is a fast-moving investigation sources telling us it could be as early as tomorrow that the Justice Department requires the White House to start turning over some of those records and may actually start conducting some of those interviews of White House employees.

BROWN: Suzanne, thank you.

Out to California where Candy Crowley's been following Arnold Schwarzenegger as he deals with the new uproar over longstanding allegations, Candy a headline.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, suffice it to say this is not how the Schwarzenegger campaign envisioned kicking off their four-day bus tour through California but there is something about taking well worn stories of six women who claim they have been groped and humiliated by the actor and putting it all into one big story as the "Los Angeles Times" did. Tonight, the Schwarzenegger campaign is still trying to deal with it.

BROWN: Candy, thank you.

And, finally to Miami and Susan Candiotti who is following a very strange twist to the life and times of Rush Limbaugh, Susan a headline.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Aaron. Rush Limbaugh hooked on drugs? A woman claims she illegally sold him painkillers and investigators say they are taking these allegations seriously.

BROWN: Susan, thank you, back to you and the rest shortly.

Also coming up tonight on NEWSNIGHT, we'll talk with one of the key reporters on the story of weapons of mass destruction. Judith Miller of the "New York Times" joins us.

Later a special report on the bloodiest day of the Iraq war and concerns that many of the American casualties that day were caused by friendly fire.

And, as always, we end the program with a look ahead at tomorrow's news tonight, morning papers ends it all, that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight with the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, an effort that $300 million and counting so far has largely come up empty so far and largely, two big caveats, this according to the administration's top investigator who went before Congress today and was quick to point out that not yet doesn't mean never and the search should go on, reporting for us tonight CNN's David Ensor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR (voice-over): No weapons yet found but evidence, says David Kay, that Iraq's unconventional weapons programs were still alive.

DAVID KAY, CIA CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: At this point, we have found substantial evidence of an intent of senior level Iraqi officials, including Saddam, to continue production at some future point in time of weapons of mass destruction.

ENSOR: Kay says his team has found a major effort to develop biological weapons including live botulinum toxin in these test tubes hidden in a scientist's home. Though much evidence had clearly been destroyed by the Iraqis, they also found a network of hidden laboratories for biological and chemical weapons research and a prison laboratory complex they suspect may be used to test biological weapons on prisoners. They have found evidence too that Iraq was plotting to get its hands on much longer range missiles, missiles that could hit targets 1,000 kilometers away.

KAY: That is enough to reach Ankara, Cairo, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh.

ENSOR: And, Kay said, they have 600,000 tons of artillery shells, bombs, and other ordinance that have yet to be tested to see if they contain chemical weapons. Still, no smoking gun thus far. Some Democrats said that shows President Bush should never have gone to war.

SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: There's plenty of blame to share on everybody but you just don't make decisions like we do and put our nation's youth at risk based upon something that appears not to have existed.

ENSOR: Even the Republican chairman was disappointed.

SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R), CHAIRMAN INTELLIGENCE: I'm not pleased by what I heard today.

ENSOR: I key House leader argues though that the new evidence only underscores that post-9/11 Iraq's dictator could no longer be allowed to experiment with such terrible weapons.

REP. PORTER GOSS (R), CHAIRMAN INTELLIGENCE: We didn't make the decision about going to war. The terrorists made the decision about going to war and if anybody doesn't understand that fact now and that we are at war and we are trying to do our best to win that war as safely as we can for all Americans, then you better read this report again because what this guy, Saddam Hussein, was up to was pretty bad stuff.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: Gruesome science experiments, illegal missiles efforts, and piles of shells that still may contain chemical weapons but no weapons. David Kay wants more time, six to nine months, to keep looking. The administration is asking Congress for hundreds of millions of dollars more to pay for it -- Aaron.

BROWN: There's a lot of information in the piece, David. On balance, are they disappointed in what David Kay had to say today?

ENSOR: The administration would like to have announced that it had found weapons of mass destruction at this point. They're now having to say that there will be at least another interim report before the final report. Obviously, they are very disappointed and some of the Republican Senators are also disappointed. That said they think they found the evidence that Saddam planned to reconstruct this program as soon as the world wasn't watching.

BROWN: David, thank you, David Ensor who's working the weapons of mass destruction beat. Judith Miller has literally spent weeks on the ground in Iraq covering the hunt for weapons, reporting sometimes controversial, appears in the pages of the "New York Times." We'll get her take on the Kay report a little bit later in the program.

On to the next spy story the leak in the investigation which is reportedly expanding to include the Departments of State and Defense.

Today, Tom Harkin, the Democratic Senator from Iowa called the affair a cancer spreading inside the administration, the words of John Dean 30 years ago and a sign that rhetorical heat is growing, but unlike 30 years ago, Democrats don't control the Congress and can't call for hearings or, at least, can't hold them so all they have is rhetoric.

Here's CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): The president maintained his official schedule celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month while the partisan bickering over the CIA leak investigation continued.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: You can put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig.

MALVEAUX: Democrats insist Attorney General John Ashcroft should appoint a special counsel to conduct the investigation or, at least, because of his close ties to the White House recuse himself from the process.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: The attorney general is so inextricably locked up with the people he's investigating he can't do a fair job.

MALVEAUX: But the White House secretary, while not naming names, implied it was Democrats and Ambassador Joe Wilson, whose wife was the subject of the leak, who were playing politics.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Unfortunately there are some that are looking through the lens of political opportunism. There are some that are seeking partisan, political advantage.

MALVEAUX: But the majority of Americans, according to a "Washington Post/ABC News" poll believe there should be an independent investigation with 29 percent who think Justice should handle the investigation, 69 percent who think a special counsel should. Republicans continue to rally around the White House.

TOM DELAY (R), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: The only reason that you would appoint a special counsel is if the White House has tried to cover up something or trying to obstruct justice. Nowhere -- that is not the case here and the Justice Department can handle it.

(END VIDEOTAPE) MALVEAUX: Well, for the most part Republicans are in lock step. There are some who are looking, taking a harder look at all of this, Senators Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter, while they are not calling for Ashcroft to recuse himself they say, of course, that is his decision to make. They are saying that it's something that he should consider -- Aaron.

BROWN: Given that this story has been really in play for less than a week, 69 percent of believing a special prosecutor is called for is a pretty stunning number to me. What sort of reaction to that, if any, at the White House?

MALVEAUX: Well, certainly, the White House realizes it has to do a better job of making its case. When you take a look at those poll numbers, while White House officials don't react directly to those polls, at least not publicly, they realize and it's been almost a daily basis now that White House Spokesman Scott McClellan has been really just barraged with these types of questions and, yes, he has been giving the standard line each day, realizes that they're going to have to come up with additional details.

I should let you know also, Aaron, that it looks like this thing is going to be moving forward that sources telling us that the Justice Department is going to be looking for those records as early as tomorrow, perhaps even conducting some interviews.

BROWN: Suzanne, thank you very much, Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.

I might add here that an awful lot has happened in the last week on this story. On the program tomorrow we'll devote most of it to looking at all of the different angles that have unfolded across the week, try and put them together in one package to make sense of what has sometimes been a confusing tale. That's tomorrow here on NEWSNIGHT.

Today seems to be the day vexing for all things at the White House, this one no exception. Ever since his capture, the case of Zacarias Moussaoui has bedeviled the administration, which has all along wanted to show that it can try and convict a member of al Qaeda without hauling him before a military tribunal.

At every turn, however, there have been two obstacles, Mr. Moussaoui himself and the Constitution as interpreted by the federal judge in the case. It happened again today.

Here's CNN's Kelli Arena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The judge has ruled. There will be no death penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui, no claim that Moussaoui knew about the September 11 attacks or helped plan them.

EDWARD MACMAHON, MOUSSAOUI ATTORNEY: The way we read the court's opinion is that it tried to balance the government's national security concerns against Moussaoui's fair trial rights.

ARENA: Judge Leonie Brinkema's ruling is a penalty for the government's refusal to let Moussaoui question three high-ranking al Qaeda detainees. Prosecutors have said interrupting interrogations could gravely harm national security but Moussaoui contends the men, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, have information to clear him of any involvement in September 11. Without the chance to prove that the judge said the government should not be allowed to even bring up 9/11. Legal experts say the ruling hamstrings the government but adds prosecutors could still find a way to prove a conspiracy.

ANDREW MCBRIDE, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: What the government does have is the fact that he trained in camps in Afghanistan. I think they can show some of his connections to al Qaeda people outside of 9/11 and the government has his own statements that he's made in court in numerous papers indicating that he is part of al Qaeda.

ARENA: In a statement the government said: "The Constitution does not allow Moussaoui, an avowed terrorist, to have direct access to his terrorist confederates" and it is expected to appeal.

RICHARD THORNBURGH, FMR. U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The government always has a right to appeal the judge's ruling but I think the government could also reconsider its decision not to put this case into a military tribunal where they would have a little more leeway with respect to trying the case.

ARENA (on camera): That is always an option but for now the government is determined to prove that even accused terrorists can get justice in U.S. courts.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: When Chaplain James Yee was arrested on suspicion of espionage those who know him called him a most unlikely spy. Now a journalist who interviewed him the day before his arrest calls him an unlikely chaplain and more than that an unlikely Muslim, which doesn't necessarily make Chaplain Yee a spy or an innocent man. It simply makes the story stranger.

Here's CNN's Mike Boettcher.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this his last interview before his arrest, Captain Yee was clear about how he wanted to be addressed.

ASHWIN RAMAN, JOURNALIST: So what name would you refer yourself?

CAPT. JAMES "YOUSEF" YEE, U.S. ARMY: Chaplain Yousef.

BOETTCHER: The man who conducted the interview, veteran journalist Ashwin Raman a German of Indian descent says he has his doubts that Yee is everything he's cracked up to be, fluent Arabic speaker, knowledgeable student of Islam, and possible spy. Raman says he had his doubts after the first handshake.

ASHWIN RAMAN, JOURNALIST: The tradition where greeting (UNINTELLIGIBLE) which means good morning, good afternoon, hello, and it's instinctively replied with (UNINTELLIGIBLE) but this man replied with (UNINTELLIGIBLE). So, this was a bit strange.

BOETTCHER: In the interview, Yee, who allegedly spent four years in Syria studying Arabic and Islam, admitted he spoke only broken Arabic.

RAMAN: So you don't speak Arabic or (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

YEE: I know a little bit of Arabic but that's necessary if you want to recite the Quran.

BOETTCHER: Yee said he had access to all the detainees but left it unclear how he actually communicated with them.

RAMAN: So then we'll be talking Arabic so that you won't need an interpreter, would you?

YEE: Yes. There is a whole section of interpreters here to facilitate communications between detainees and any U.S. military personnel.

BOETTCHER: Most puzzling to Raman was Yee's refusal or inability to say what branch of Islam he followed.

RAMAN: Are you a Shia or a Sunni?

YEE: I'm a Muslim chaplain serving in the United States military.

RAMAN: I kept on asking him if he was a Shia or a Sunni because you can't be a Muslim and be nothing, neither of the two. If somebody learns that he's a Shia he won't talk to him and vice versa.

BOETTCHER: Raman, who has worked extensively in the Islamic world says he was left with the sense that Yee was more a Muslim romantic than a fundamentalist spy.

RAMAN: I have a feeling that he's one of these kind of persons who has been -- who has got into Islamic romantic.

BOETTCHER: The day after this interview, Yee flew off to Jacksonville where he would later be arrested.

Mike Boettcher, CNN, Frankfurt.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the latest on the strange twists and turns in Rush Limbaugh's life. But up next the California recall has a strange turn of its own. Arnold Schwarzenegger confronted by charges of improper behavior towards a number of women.

And later in the program, we go back to the 23rd of March the bloodiest day in the war in Iraq and look at whether the number of American casualties that day were caused by friendly fire.

We take a break first. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Arnold Schwarzenegger today apologized for offending people, which isn't precisely what he's accused of. The verb in question is "grabbing" as in grabbing breasts and buttocks and generally behaving like a lout as recently as three years ago.

The accusations come in a front page story in today's edition of the "Los Angeles Times," a story the candidate for governor was quick to take issue with though not exactly deny.

Here's CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY (voice-over): The best laid plans of men sometimes go astray and politicians can count on it. In excruciating detail, the "Los Angeles Times" had the stories of six women who said they were groped and humiliated by Arnold Schwarzenegger as recently as 2000, this on the morning Schwarzenegger set out on a highly produced razzle-dazzle four-day pre-victory lap from San Diego to Sacramento.

It made for an unusual kick-off speech with all the phases of damage control, the push back.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I know that the people of California can see through this trash politics.

CROWLEY: The sort of denial.

SCHWARZENEGGER: Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. A lot of those what you see the stories is not true.

CROWLEY: The apology.

SCHWARZENEGGER: So, what I want to say to you is, is that yes that I have behaved badly sometimes. Yes, it is true that I was on rowdy movie sets and I have done things that were not right which I thought then was playful but now I recognize that I have offended people and those people that I have offended I want to say to them I am deeply sorry about that and I apologize.

CROWLEY: That settled he was off and rolling, Schwarzenegger on a bus dubbed the running man followed by busses of reporters, predator one, two, three, and four. By the time he got to Costa Mesa, supporters were rallying around the Arnold. Critics were trying out their new ammo and he was back on message.

SCHWARZENEGGER: When I get to Sacramento I will immediately destroy the car tax.

CROWLEY: By the time he rolled into San Bernardino it was just downright weird. He was doing the children thing as reporters tried to figure out the groping thing.

SCHWARZENEGGER: I don't remember so many of the things that I was accused of having done.

CROWLEY: You don't remember anything that was in the "L.A. Times," any of those instances?

SCHWARZENEGGER: I didn't say that. I just said that I don't remember things that I've done or said 20 years ago. I don't remember things that I've done 30 years ago and I said that many of the things in there are not true because that's not my behavior and then other things may be true and in case it is that's when I said I want to apologize if I offended anyone.

CROWLEY: Is it true or is it not true?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, I would say most of it is not true.

CROWLEY: It's going to be a long four days.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: The Schwarzenegger campaign continues to say that this looks like trash politics although asked directly they do not really blame Gray Davis, not exactly -- Aaron.

BROWN: But they did say, didn't they, I mean this was what I saw earlier today when I first say the story that this was Democrat, this was a Democratic plant. They seemed to be blaming Governor Davis. Have they come back from that?

CROWLEY: Well, from the name specifically, yes. They never put the name out there. You know what this is like. It's sort of a hint. This is we knew this was going to happen. We knew they'd come after us.

BROWN: Yes.

CROWLEY: Who's they? Well, you know this is the kind of trash politics. Well, are you talking about Gray Davis? Well, no. So, you know, it's that kind of thing. It happens a lot.

BROWN: And just one quick one here, how strange a day, on the one to ten scale did you find today out there?

CROWLEY: It was -- it was about a seven.

BROWN: Yes. CROWLEY: You know it's just, I mean here's this plan and really they're great at the -- you know, you saw the busses come out and we were inside a convention center and he's waving.

I mean, they get production, they really do. And yet you know here all these, you know, people were showing up at the parking lot saying, you know, I was, you know, 20 years ago he said he might rape me and then, you know, people come with signs.

So it's like these sort of parallel universes, you know. He's out there talking car taxes and then there's this undercurrent that keeps pulling at it. They'd really like to get the undercurrent to go away at least over the next couple of days.

BROWN: The election is Tuesday. Candy, thank you very much, Candy Crowley in Los Angeles.

So, is this merely a flesh wound, if you will? We're joined now by Elizabeth Garrett, political scientist at USC and our Senior Analyst Jeff Greenfield who's out west tonight as well. It's good to see you both.

Beth, let's start with you. Is this a serious problem for Mr. Schwarzenegger do you think or is it a kind of one day thing that passes?

ELIZABETH GARRETT, PROFESSOR OF LAW, USC: Well, it may not be a one-day thing but I'm not sure it's a serious problem. There are two groups of voters who might find this relevant to their voting decision.

First, undecided voters would be very interested in this kind of information but at least the polls suggest we don't have very many undecided voters right now. So, the next group of voters are those who decided to vote for Arnold but who might find this information so upsetting, so different, so startling that they'll change their opinion.

Now, notice they listen to this information through the prism of I already support Arnold and that's going to mean that they understand it in a different way than say someone who doesn't like Arnold to begin with.

My guess is this is not new enough information to change people's views. People knew there were charges like this out here. It's slightly different because you've got women now who are saying it. It's not that part.

You know it's not 20 years ago. It's a few years ago but it has to be startling enough to shake people out of decisions they've already made and I'm not sure that is going to happen here.

BROWN: Jeff, pick up on that and add this, and this may be a little off the wall. If he were a lawyer, a doctor, an undertaker or something would it play differently? But he's an actor and maybe with actors people just assume different things. JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: I think you're exactly right and I think that's why Arnold said in the apology. Arnold, listen to that. That shows you a perfect illustration.

BROWN: Yes.

GREENFIELD: I would not call a lawyer Arnold. Mr. Schwarzenegger apologized in saying, you know, maybe on a rowdy set. Now, to pick up on what Elizabeth was saying if people begin to look at this closely they're going to find a couple of things that might unsettle them if they were leaning towards Schwarzenegger.

First, this is not consensual sex. This is not an issue of whether it's OK with Maria Shriver then it's OK with me. The women who have come forward, and at least two of them were on the local news tonight, these are not anonymous charges anymore, were talking about something way beyond (unintelligible) language that we can't repeat here, suggestions and innuendoes and proposals that were really on the -- beyond vulgar and physical laying on of hands on people he'd never seen before, not just on sets but in a gym and in a restaurant.

And so, if they begin to look at it that way and you remember that Senator Robert Packwood of Oregon was basically kicked out of the Senate for less egregious but, you know, examples of kind of making passes at people, so that is part of it. But I do think it is true that an actor is expected to behave almost in ways that more "respectable professionals" don't.

BROWN: Let me ask you both then, the Packwood analogy is an interesting one to me. Much time and some interesting things have happened since the Packwood case. Have our collective values or morals changed over that time so where that when we get these accusations, and you're right some of them are quite vulgar, we just shrug them off, Beth?

GARRETT: Well, I don't know that our values have changed but we just heard more of this. It's not just Packwood but we also lived through the Clinton years and some of those allegations were non- consensual behavior as well as consensual behavior. I think people are a bit tired of it. They don't want to hear about this so they shut parts of this out.

There's a feeling also in California that this kind of negative attacking has been too long a part of our political process. You know, again, Gray Davis appears not to be behind this but he's known as someone who uses tactics like this. All of that environment, the Clinton years, and the Davis years are behind this and may make people dismiss it in ways that they did not when Packwood was sort of the leader of this.

BROWN: Jeff, has time changed our view of sexual issues in politics?

GREENFIELD: Well, there's no question in the broader sense, absolutely. I mean, you know, when Adelaide Stephenson ran for president in 1952, his divorce hurt him. Divorce is almost part of a curriculum vitae of serious candidates these days.

Consensual sex, I think the fact that the country heard a president of the United States who was literally caught with his pants down and said, you know, he's a pretty good president. That's up to him and her and Hillary and she can go into the Senate and, you know, he can get a lot of money on the lecture circuit and that's OK.

I've come back to the point, though, I'm not sure our values, morals, (unintelligible), customs have changed sufficiently to excuse completely non-consensual boorish and loudish behavior but where Elizabeth once again I think is right is that I think people treat politics so much in a, I'll use this obnoxious phrase, post modern way, that nothing is real.

It's all spin. It's all charge. You can't believe any of it that even credible accusations of pretty wretched behavior get filed away and it's politics as usual and that's why it's unlikely this is going to change the result but I would like to see how this plays out in the next 48 hours.

BROWN: We shall watch it play out. Jeff, thank you. Beth, thank you both for being here tonight.

Still ahead on the program morning papers comes up at the end.

We'll also be joined by "New York Times" reporter Judith Miller whose beat has been weapons of mass destruction. We'll talk about the continuing search, the failure and more.

Take a break first, around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Take a quick at some of the stories from around the world that are making news tonight, beginning in western Pakistan with a raid near the border with Afghanistan, dangerous place, that. Pakistani forces say they killed eight suspected al Qaeda fighters, arrested 18 others. They also found a large number of weapons, mines, and surveillance gear. All this comes on the day of a visit to Pakistan by Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state.

Indonesia next, and another death sentence handed down in the bombing last year in Bali, this time, an Islamic teacher convicted of ordering the attack. He says he'll appeal.

And they're celebrating in South Africa tonight. Novelist J.M. Coetzee has been awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature for his body of work chronicling the country's troubled history. And it has been that.

Back to the question we started with tonight. Where are they, those weapons of mass destruction? By some estimates, the search alone is expected to cost nearly $1 billion. That part of the story has been lost somewhat in the fog of postwar Iraq.

But the whole story, the search, what they found, what they haven't found, remains a vital one and certainly a central one for Judith Miller of "The New York Times." Ms. Miller joins us from Washington.

It's nice to see you.

JUDITH MILLER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": It's good to see you.

BROWN: We listened to David Ensor report earlier, at the beginning of the program. They found a little of this, some vials of that. There are suggestions of this. But, at the end of the day, Judy, do they really have anything?

MILLER: Well, obviously the Republicans, the administration, are very disappointed.

Senator Pat Roberts, who's the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, came out and said he was not pleased by what he had heard. And what he had heard was that they haven't yet found the weapons of mass destruction that the administration said had posed a clear and imminent threat to Americans, and which they repeatedly cited as a reason for going to war before the invasion.

So even though they did find some evidence of intent to produce these weapons -- they found evidence that the inspectors had been lied to and that the programs were deeply concealed. They even found some evidence of the ability to start up right away, if the order was given, once the inspectors were gone. They really did not find the -- quote -- "breakthrough" that they were looking for.

BROWN: How are these searches going? Are they -- is it your sense that the process has gone well, that it's a well-oiled machine, or not?

MILLER: No, quite the contrary, Aaron.

In fact, the report itself is interesting on that point. It said that the ISG -- that's the Iraq Survey Group -- had identified some 130 huge ammunition storage sites and that, thus far, 120 of them had not been surveyed, which means they've only surveyed 10 of them. And that is consistent with what my reporting has shown, which is, the ISG -- that is the Iraq Survey Group -- got off to a very slow start, and that it has been bedeviled by a series of problems, that include, by the way, the lack of an environment, what they call a semi-permissive environment, that would enable these experts to go out and really investigate in-depth, in areas where people are still shooting at them.

So they face tremendous obstacles.

BROWN: We are all cautioned to be careful here, that one good day for the inspectors could change all of this.

MILLER: Absolutely. Absolutely.

BROWN: And I think that's good and important advice. But do you have a feeling that, with the people that you're talking to, that they are becoming, daily, more pessimistic that what they expected to find will be found?

MILLER: I think that there was certainly a difference in tone.

David Kay is an eternally optimistic human being. And yet he didn't repeat what he had said only a few months ago, when he said, prepare for surprises, and he was much more upbeat. Today, he was: Well, we're just taking a snapshot here. There's going to be another interim report. We need six to nine more months of this kind of investigation.

And he didn't say how much more money, but it looks like about $600 million. He was much more, I wouldn't say downtrodden or frustrated. But the enthusiasm, the energy was kind of much more low- key than I've ever seen him before.

BROWN: In our last minute here, what do you think happened? Do you think that the administration was snookered by people who had an agenda? Do you think it was just old intelligence that was improperly analyzed? Or do you think that they just haven't found the stuff that is there somewhere?

MILLER: Well, it could be all of the above or none of the above. I mean, I think we have to remain truly agnostic about this, because the ISG itself has come to no conclusions.

David Kay can't decide. They're exploring a lot of theories. At this point, we just don't know whether or not the weapons were totally destroyed after 1995 and 1998, whether or not they are still hidden, whether they were sent across a border someplace. The report does talk about some evidence of that, that people and material may have crossed borders.

Until the next interim report, I'm afraid we're not going to know.

BROWN: Judy, it's very nice to see you. It's been too long since you've been with us.

MILLER: It's good to see you. It's nice to be back.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Thank you. Come back soon, Judith Miller of "The New York Times." And assume she'll be filing for tomorrow's paper.

We'll take a look at that. Still to come on the program: Rush Limbaugh felled by the words he spoke on ESPN and now being linked to a drug investigation.

And later: an investigation into the bloodiest battle in the Iraqi war and whether friendly fire played a role on that horrible day.

A break first. On CNN, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: And plenty still ahead on NEWSNIGHT tonight: a question of friendly fire on the bloodiest day of the war in Iraq; the apparently worsening troubles of Rush Limbaugh; and, of course, morning papers.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A day ago, Rush Limbaugh was an opinionated talk show host trying to deal with a foot-in-the-mouth problem. Tonight, having resigned from ESPN, that problem is apparently behind him. But he's potentially facing one much worse.

Here again, CNN's Susan Candiotti.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Law enforcement sources tell CNN, Rush Limbaugh has surfaced in an ongoing probe into the black market sale of prescription painkillers, including OxyContin and hydrocodone, in Florida. The drugs only be legally obtained with a doctor's order -- for example, OxyContin.

JOE KILMER, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION: It's four or five times stronger than heroin, yes, like I said. And that's one of its selling points. People know what they're getting.

CANDIOTTI: Authorities say they became aware of Limbaugh when his former housekeeper Wilma Cline, who worked for Limbaugh at his oceanfront Palm Beach home, came to them with secretly recorded taped conversations she said she had with Limbaugh about drug buys.

A law enforcement source says investigators are convinced the voice on the tapes belongs to the conservative talk show host. Our law enforcement source says Limbaugh's former housekeeper claims she met with him at this gas station and other public places to make some of the drug deals over a four-year period. The woman claims she was paid about $200,000 for the pills.

Limbaugh issued a statement that does not directly deny he illegally bought drugs -- quote -- "I am unaware of any investigation by any authorities involving me. No governmental representative has contacted me directly or indirectly. If my assistance is required in the future, I will, of course, cooperate fully."

In 2001, Limbaugh talked with listeners about taking legally prescribed drugs to treat his hearing problem -- quote -- "You would not believe the medications that are flowing through me in an attempt to reverse this. I'm popping pills. I'm shooting up stuff. I've never done stuff like this before."

RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: It's such a tempest in a teapot.

CANDIOTTI: The drug allegations surfaced the same day Limbaugh talked about his split with ESPN. Limbaugh said he quit to blunt the uproar over his remarks over Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, suggesting he gets favorable press because he's black.

LIMBAUGH: It was not a racial opinion. It was an opinion about the media.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: Safe to say, this has not been a good week for Rush Limbaugh. It's unclear whether he'll be charged in the drug investigation. Law enforcement sources tell CNN that their overall probe is targeting suppliers and sellers. And, finally, a spokesman for the Palm Beach state attorney's office will not confirm or deny the Limbaugh investigation -- Aaron.

BROWN: Susan, thank you -- Susan Candiotti in Florida tonight.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT: the battle of An Nasiriyah. It turned into the bloodiest battle of the war. And questions are being raised as to whether friendly fire was a factor.

A special report when NEWSNIGHT continues from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: By any measure, the 23rd of March was the worst day of the war with Iraq; 31 Americans died that day, most of them in the vicinity of An Nasiriyah; 11 were members of the 507th Maintenance Company, Jessica Lynch's unit. But most of the rest, all Marines, were killed in a fierce battle, many of the details of which we are only now learning for the first time. It was a battle where confusion reigned and where that confusion may have led to a horrible mistake.

Here's CNN's Art Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ART HARRIS, CNN NATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): March 23, An Nasiriyah, U.S. Marines are told to take two bridges on the way to Baghdad. They drive up Ambush Alley, under Iraqi attack.

LCPL. EDWARD CASTLEBERRY, U.S. MARINES: They're coming from both sides of the street. They're not wearing any kind of uniforms. And they're just coming out from every corner and nook and cranny you can get at, shooting at you.

HARRIS: When Charlie Company reached the northern bridge, it was high noon. The Iraqis opened up on three sides and pinned down the outnumbered Marines.

CAPT. DANIEL WITTNAM, U.S. MARINES: We were taking artillery fire, mortar fire, heavy machine gun fire. HARRIS: Then, Marines say, an American plane appeared in the clear sky above, an Air Force A-10 jet like this, a low-flying tank killer.

(on camera): Did you see the plane or hear the plane?

WITTNAM: Yes. And to be honest with you, the first thought that went through my mind was, thank God an A-10 is on station.

HARRIS: And then?

WITTNAM: Holy cow. The earth went black from the dirt being kicked up and a feeling of absolute, utter horror and disbelief.

HARRIS: They were shooting at you?

WITTNAM: Yes.

CASTLEBERRY: I hear this big "waaa." And then all you see is the ground just explode.

HARRIS (voice-over): He saw a Lance Corporal David Fribley, who had enlisted right after 9/11, running toward his assault vehicle.

CASTLEBERRY: I'm turning around screaming at him, telling him to get in. And I see him trying to climb in. He's got one arm trying to get in. And then he just takes a huge round directly through his chest. And it blew his whole back out.

HARRIS: Another shot just missed Jeremy Donaldson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It came through my turret from an upper angle.

HARRIS: The Marines say they're certain it was a U.S. plane. The Iraqis did not fly a single combat mission in the war.

SGT. JEREMY DONALDSON, U.S. MARINES: I'm confident it was an A- 10 and a 30-millimeter cannon, unless Iraqi grew wings and hung off the clouds with a 30-millimeter cannon.

HARRIS: After the battle, one round was found intact inside a second AAV assault vehicle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We pulled a 30-millimeter round out which was fired. That's the actual round itself.

HARRIS: This is how it looked when I rode up that same road with the Marines two days after America's deadliest day in the Iraqi war; 18 Marines were killed fighting for this bridge. But just how many died from friendly fire?

SGT. TROY SCHIELEIN, U.S. MARINES: I know it's more than a handful.

HARRIS (on camera): More than a handful? SCHIELEIN: Yes, I would say five to 10 probably.

HARRIS: Sources on the battlefield that day say, the A-10 pilot, still not identified, was told there were no U.S. troops in the area. He reported back that what he saw was an Iraqi convoy heading for the city. So the ground controller, who was never told Charlie Company was there, gave the pilot the green light to fire.

(voice-over): Marines are bitter. They say the pilot should have recognized these as U.S. assault vehicles.

SCHIELEIN: There was nothing on the battlefield like an AAV, nothing. I mean, the biggest vehicle that the Iraqis even had was a pickup truck with a machine gun in the back.

CPL. MICHAEL BROWN, U.S. MARINES: Well, if I could actually find the A-10 pilot, the one that did the shooting, I'd probably break both his knees.

HARRIS: The U.S. Central Command says, its investigation is still open and has no comment. Its report may be out soon, possibly in the next few weeks.

Art Harris, CNN, Jacksonville, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: Ah, that's music to your ears, isn't it?

Time to check morning papers from around the country. We'll do this quickly tonight. Actually, we'll do it in the same amount of time we almost always do it, actually. I don't know why I said that.

"New York Times." Do the Moussaoui story on the right front. "Judge Rules Out a Death Penalty For 9/11 Suspect, Rebuke For Justice Department." Actually, I think this is a really interesting story, the dilemma of the government in how to try Mr. Moussaoui. And also above the fold on the front page, "Poll Shows Drop in Confidence on Bush Skill in Handling Crisis. Solid Majority Says the U.S. is Seriously on the Wrong Track." So that's probably got the attention at the White House, too. They also put Judy Miller and James Risen's story on weapons not found on the front page as well.

"USA Today" -- we haven't had "USA Today" for awhile, which is too bad, because we like that little paper, or big paper, as the case may be. "USA Today." "Rush on a Limb." They put Mr. Limbaugh on the front page. "For years, controversy has defined the radio giant's career, with racial comment and drug charges, now more than ever." Yes, I would say so. Also, a very good story over here. "Attacks on U.S. Forces Increase. Incidents in Iraq Averaging 17 a Day Now." "Boston Herald." Oh, my goodness. "He's Just Like Ted K." That would be Ted Kennedy. Mitt -- that would be the governor, Mitt Romney's -- defense of Arnold's antics. "He's Just Like Ted K." Yikes.

We choose now "The San Francisco Chronicle," because, unlike NEWSNIGHT, they spelled mea culpa correctly today. We spelled it wrong yesterday, but we quickly caught it, thanks to the 4,000 notes we got from you all. "Mea Culpa From Schwarzenegger" is their lead. Also on the front page, "Abortion Measure Heads to the Senate." The House today banned the procedure that opponents of opponents called partial-birth abortion, always a mouthful to say.

How we doing on time, Terry? Oh, my goodness. I can slow down.

"The Detroit Free Press." Why did I choose this? I'm sure I had a reason. "Iraqi Arms Hunt Comes Up Empty." I'm just sort of intrigued with the way newspapers are headlining the story to see if it gives us any clue as to sort of the politics of the paper, or doesn't. That was a pretty straight headline.

"The Washington Times," it's a little more right-leaning paper on its editorial page and some would say in its news pages, too. But I'm not saying that. "Evidence of Arms Intent Found" is the way "The Washington Times" headlined the story. And then their subhead is "Weapons Still Elude U.S. Team."

"The Detroit News" puts Rush on the front page -- Mr. Limbaugh on the front page. I don't know him. I shouldn't call him by his first name. "Controversy Bites Outspoken Rush. NFL Race Comment, Drug Use Waylay Right-Wing Gadfly." I like when anyone uses the word gadfly.

"The Times Herald-Record" of Upstate New York. "Will Arnold Survive the Gropes of Wrath?" Come on. I like that little paper, too.

"The Red Streak," which is the junior edition of "The Sun-Times." And it's like "The Sun-Times" for kids. "Is God a Cubs Fan? Local Jewish Author Says Yes." How would he know?

And, finally -- how much time? Oh, we're out of time.

Iffy is the weather in Chicago today. "Arnold Admits Groping. 'I Behaved Badly.'" I mean he behaved badly. I behaved pretty well.

We'll see you tomorrow at 10:00 Eastern. Good night for all of us.

END

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Rush Limbaugh Resigns After Controversial Statement On ESPN; Arnold Schwarzenegger Apologizes For Past Behavior>


Aired October 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, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
Aspin seems the word of the day. In Washington, there's an attempt to spin David Kay's weapons report. No weapons found but there is some interesting stuff there.

In California, Arnold Schwarzenegger confronted with a well- reported story of his serial groping of women apologized to the women while his campaign without a single fact that I saw blamed the Democrats for planting the story.

It's a bit harder for Rush Limbaugh to spin tonight. Oh no, not him again. We got in trouble over that last night. Yesterday's flap over a football player pales compared to today's allegations that he's under investigation for the use, addiction really, of powerful painkillers.

Mr. Limbaugh being who he is and politics today being what it is, we see a certain amount of gloating out there over this allegation as if addiction is somehow a punishment deserved, all of which sets up the whip, which begins with the weapons or lack thereof, David Ensor reporting that for us, David a headline from you.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, as you said, no weapons but the building blocks of weapons are there and accounted for in some quantities in this report including botulinum toxin live, biological weapons toxin in test tubes found at a scientist's house but Capitol Hill is not impressed.

BROWN: David, thank you. We'll get to you at the top tonight.

To the White House and the drip, drip, drip of the news on the leaked story, Suzanne Malveaux has the duty this evening, Suzanne a headline.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, it really is a fast-moving investigation sources telling us it could be as early as tomorrow that the Justice Department requires the White House to start turning over some of those records and may actually start conducting some of those interviews of White House employees.

BROWN: Suzanne, thank you.

Out to California where Candy Crowley's been following Arnold Schwarzenegger as he deals with the new uproar over longstanding allegations, Candy a headline.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, suffice it to say this is not how the Schwarzenegger campaign envisioned kicking off their four-day bus tour through California but there is something about taking well worn stories of six women who claim they have been groped and humiliated by the actor and putting it all into one big story as the "Los Angeles Times" did. Tonight, the Schwarzenegger campaign is still trying to deal with it.

BROWN: Candy, thank you.

And, finally to Miami and Susan Candiotti who is following a very strange twist to the life and times of Rush Limbaugh, Susan a headline.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Aaron. Rush Limbaugh hooked on drugs? A woman claims she illegally sold him painkillers and investigators say they are taking these allegations seriously.

BROWN: Susan, thank you, back to you and the rest shortly.

Also coming up tonight on NEWSNIGHT, we'll talk with one of the key reporters on the story of weapons of mass destruction. Judith Miller of the "New York Times" joins us.

Later a special report on the bloodiest day of the Iraq war and concerns that many of the American casualties that day were caused by friendly fire.

And, as always, we end the program with a look ahead at tomorrow's news tonight, morning papers ends it all, that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight with the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, an effort that $300 million and counting so far has largely come up empty so far and largely, two big caveats, this according to the administration's top investigator who went before Congress today and was quick to point out that not yet doesn't mean never and the search should go on, reporting for us tonight CNN's David Ensor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR (voice-over): No weapons yet found but evidence, says David Kay, that Iraq's unconventional weapons programs were still alive.

DAVID KAY, CIA CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: At this point, we have found substantial evidence of an intent of senior level Iraqi officials, including Saddam, to continue production at some future point in time of weapons of mass destruction.

ENSOR: Kay says his team has found a major effort to develop biological weapons including live botulinum toxin in these test tubes hidden in a scientist's home. Though much evidence had clearly been destroyed by the Iraqis, they also found a network of hidden laboratories for biological and chemical weapons research and a prison laboratory complex they suspect may be used to test biological weapons on prisoners. They have found evidence too that Iraq was plotting to get its hands on much longer range missiles, missiles that could hit targets 1,000 kilometers away.

KAY: That is enough to reach Ankara, Cairo, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh.

ENSOR: And, Kay said, they have 600,000 tons of artillery shells, bombs, and other ordinance that have yet to be tested to see if they contain chemical weapons. Still, no smoking gun thus far. Some Democrats said that shows President Bush should never have gone to war.

SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: There's plenty of blame to share on everybody but you just don't make decisions like we do and put our nation's youth at risk based upon something that appears not to have existed.

ENSOR: Even the Republican chairman was disappointed.

SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R), CHAIRMAN INTELLIGENCE: I'm not pleased by what I heard today.

ENSOR: I key House leader argues though that the new evidence only underscores that post-9/11 Iraq's dictator could no longer be allowed to experiment with such terrible weapons.

REP. PORTER GOSS (R), CHAIRMAN INTELLIGENCE: We didn't make the decision about going to war. The terrorists made the decision about going to war and if anybody doesn't understand that fact now and that we are at war and we are trying to do our best to win that war as safely as we can for all Americans, then you better read this report again because what this guy, Saddam Hussein, was up to was pretty bad stuff.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: Gruesome science experiments, illegal missiles efforts, and piles of shells that still may contain chemical weapons but no weapons. David Kay wants more time, six to nine months, to keep looking. The administration is asking Congress for hundreds of millions of dollars more to pay for it -- Aaron.

BROWN: There's a lot of information in the piece, David. On balance, are they disappointed in what David Kay had to say today?

ENSOR: The administration would like to have announced that it had found weapons of mass destruction at this point. They're now having to say that there will be at least another interim report before the final report. Obviously, they are very disappointed and some of the Republican Senators are also disappointed. That said they think they found the evidence that Saddam planned to reconstruct this program as soon as the world wasn't watching.

BROWN: David, thank you, David Ensor who's working the weapons of mass destruction beat. Judith Miller has literally spent weeks on the ground in Iraq covering the hunt for weapons, reporting sometimes controversial, appears in the pages of the "New York Times." We'll get her take on the Kay report a little bit later in the program.

On to the next spy story the leak in the investigation which is reportedly expanding to include the Departments of State and Defense.

Today, Tom Harkin, the Democratic Senator from Iowa called the affair a cancer spreading inside the administration, the words of John Dean 30 years ago and a sign that rhetorical heat is growing, but unlike 30 years ago, Democrats don't control the Congress and can't call for hearings or, at least, can't hold them so all they have is rhetoric.

Here's CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): The president maintained his official schedule celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month while the partisan bickering over the CIA leak investigation continued.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: You can put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig.

MALVEAUX: Democrats insist Attorney General John Ashcroft should appoint a special counsel to conduct the investigation or, at least, because of his close ties to the White House recuse himself from the process.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: The attorney general is so inextricably locked up with the people he's investigating he can't do a fair job.

MALVEAUX: But the White House secretary, while not naming names, implied it was Democrats and Ambassador Joe Wilson, whose wife was the subject of the leak, who were playing politics.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Unfortunately there are some that are looking through the lens of political opportunism. There are some that are seeking partisan, political advantage.

MALVEAUX: But the majority of Americans, according to a "Washington Post/ABC News" poll believe there should be an independent investigation with 29 percent who think Justice should handle the investigation, 69 percent who think a special counsel should. Republicans continue to rally around the White House.

TOM DELAY (R), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: The only reason that you would appoint a special counsel is if the White House has tried to cover up something or trying to obstruct justice. Nowhere -- that is not the case here and the Justice Department can handle it.

(END VIDEOTAPE) MALVEAUX: Well, for the most part Republicans are in lock step. There are some who are looking, taking a harder look at all of this, Senators Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter, while they are not calling for Ashcroft to recuse himself they say, of course, that is his decision to make. They are saying that it's something that he should consider -- Aaron.

BROWN: Given that this story has been really in play for less than a week, 69 percent of believing a special prosecutor is called for is a pretty stunning number to me. What sort of reaction to that, if any, at the White House?

MALVEAUX: Well, certainly, the White House realizes it has to do a better job of making its case. When you take a look at those poll numbers, while White House officials don't react directly to those polls, at least not publicly, they realize and it's been almost a daily basis now that White House Spokesman Scott McClellan has been really just barraged with these types of questions and, yes, he has been giving the standard line each day, realizes that they're going to have to come up with additional details.

I should let you know also, Aaron, that it looks like this thing is going to be moving forward that sources telling us that the Justice Department is going to be looking for those records as early as tomorrow, perhaps even conducting some interviews.

BROWN: Suzanne, thank you very much, Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.

I might add here that an awful lot has happened in the last week on this story. On the program tomorrow we'll devote most of it to looking at all of the different angles that have unfolded across the week, try and put them together in one package to make sense of what has sometimes been a confusing tale. That's tomorrow here on NEWSNIGHT.

Today seems to be the day vexing for all things at the White House, this one no exception. Ever since his capture, the case of Zacarias Moussaoui has bedeviled the administration, which has all along wanted to show that it can try and convict a member of al Qaeda without hauling him before a military tribunal.

At every turn, however, there have been two obstacles, Mr. Moussaoui himself and the Constitution as interpreted by the federal judge in the case. It happened again today.

Here's CNN's Kelli Arena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The judge has ruled. There will be no death penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui, no claim that Moussaoui knew about the September 11 attacks or helped plan them.

EDWARD MACMAHON, MOUSSAOUI ATTORNEY: The way we read the court's opinion is that it tried to balance the government's national security concerns against Moussaoui's fair trial rights.

ARENA: Judge Leonie Brinkema's ruling is a penalty for the government's refusal to let Moussaoui question three high-ranking al Qaeda detainees. Prosecutors have said interrupting interrogations could gravely harm national security but Moussaoui contends the men, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, have information to clear him of any involvement in September 11. Without the chance to prove that the judge said the government should not be allowed to even bring up 9/11. Legal experts say the ruling hamstrings the government but adds prosecutors could still find a way to prove a conspiracy.

ANDREW MCBRIDE, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: What the government does have is the fact that he trained in camps in Afghanistan. I think they can show some of his connections to al Qaeda people outside of 9/11 and the government has his own statements that he's made in court in numerous papers indicating that he is part of al Qaeda.

ARENA: In a statement the government said: "The Constitution does not allow Moussaoui, an avowed terrorist, to have direct access to his terrorist confederates" and it is expected to appeal.

RICHARD THORNBURGH, FMR. U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The government always has a right to appeal the judge's ruling but I think the government could also reconsider its decision not to put this case into a military tribunal where they would have a little more leeway with respect to trying the case.

ARENA (on camera): That is always an option but for now the government is determined to prove that even accused terrorists can get justice in U.S. courts.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: When Chaplain James Yee was arrested on suspicion of espionage those who know him called him a most unlikely spy. Now a journalist who interviewed him the day before his arrest calls him an unlikely chaplain and more than that an unlikely Muslim, which doesn't necessarily make Chaplain Yee a spy or an innocent man. It simply makes the story stranger.

Here's CNN's Mike Boettcher.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this his last interview before his arrest, Captain Yee was clear about how he wanted to be addressed.

ASHWIN RAMAN, JOURNALIST: So what name would you refer yourself?

CAPT. JAMES "YOUSEF" YEE, U.S. ARMY: Chaplain Yousef.

BOETTCHER: The man who conducted the interview, veteran journalist Ashwin Raman a German of Indian descent says he has his doubts that Yee is everything he's cracked up to be, fluent Arabic speaker, knowledgeable student of Islam, and possible spy. Raman says he had his doubts after the first handshake.

ASHWIN RAMAN, JOURNALIST: The tradition where greeting (UNINTELLIGIBLE) which means good morning, good afternoon, hello, and it's instinctively replied with (UNINTELLIGIBLE) but this man replied with (UNINTELLIGIBLE). So, this was a bit strange.

BOETTCHER: In the interview, Yee, who allegedly spent four years in Syria studying Arabic and Islam, admitted he spoke only broken Arabic.

RAMAN: So you don't speak Arabic or (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

YEE: I know a little bit of Arabic but that's necessary if you want to recite the Quran.

BOETTCHER: Yee said he had access to all the detainees but left it unclear how he actually communicated with them.

RAMAN: So then we'll be talking Arabic so that you won't need an interpreter, would you?

YEE: Yes. There is a whole section of interpreters here to facilitate communications between detainees and any U.S. military personnel.

BOETTCHER: Most puzzling to Raman was Yee's refusal or inability to say what branch of Islam he followed.

RAMAN: Are you a Shia or a Sunni?

YEE: I'm a Muslim chaplain serving in the United States military.

RAMAN: I kept on asking him if he was a Shia or a Sunni because you can't be a Muslim and be nothing, neither of the two. If somebody learns that he's a Shia he won't talk to him and vice versa.

BOETTCHER: Raman, who has worked extensively in the Islamic world says he was left with the sense that Yee was more a Muslim romantic than a fundamentalist spy.

RAMAN: I have a feeling that he's one of these kind of persons who has been -- who has got into Islamic romantic.

BOETTCHER: The day after this interview, Yee flew off to Jacksonville where he would later be arrested.

Mike Boettcher, CNN, Frankfurt.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the latest on the strange twists and turns in Rush Limbaugh's life. But up next the California recall has a strange turn of its own. Arnold Schwarzenegger confronted by charges of improper behavior towards a number of women.

And later in the program, we go back to the 23rd of March the bloodiest day in the war in Iraq and look at whether the number of American casualties that day were caused by friendly fire.

We take a break first. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Arnold Schwarzenegger today apologized for offending people, which isn't precisely what he's accused of. The verb in question is "grabbing" as in grabbing breasts and buttocks and generally behaving like a lout as recently as three years ago.

The accusations come in a front page story in today's edition of the "Los Angeles Times," a story the candidate for governor was quick to take issue with though not exactly deny.

Here's CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY (voice-over): The best laid plans of men sometimes go astray and politicians can count on it. In excruciating detail, the "Los Angeles Times" had the stories of six women who said they were groped and humiliated by Arnold Schwarzenegger as recently as 2000, this on the morning Schwarzenegger set out on a highly produced razzle-dazzle four-day pre-victory lap from San Diego to Sacramento.

It made for an unusual kick-off speech with all the phases of damage control, the push back.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I know that the people of California can see through this trash politics.

CROWLEY: The sort of denial.

SCHWARZENEGGER: Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. A lot of those what you see the stories is not true.

CROWLEY: The apology.

SCHWARZENEGGER: So, what I want to say to you is, is that yes that I have behaved badly sometimes. Yes, it is true that I was on rowdy movie sets and I have done things that were not right which I thought then was playful but now I recognize that I have offended people and those people that I have offended I want to say to them I am deeply sorry about that and I apologize.

CROWLEY: That settled he was off and rolling, Schwarzenegger on a bus dubbed the running man followed by busses of reporters, predator one, two, three, and four. By the time he got to Costa Mesa, supporters were rallying around the Arnold. Critics were trying out their new ammo and he was back on message.

SCHWARZENEGGER: When I get to Sacramento I will immediately destroy the car tax.

CROWLEY: By the time he rolled into San Bernardino it was just downright weird. He was doing the children thing as reporters tried to figure out the groping thing.

SCHWARZENEGGER: I don't remember so many of the things that I was accused of having done.

CROWLEY: You don't remember anything that was in the "L.A. Times," any of those instances?

SCHWARZENEGGER: I didn't say that. I just said that I don't remember things that I've done or said 20 years ago. I don't remember things that I've done 30 years ago and I said that many of the things in there are not true because that's not my behavior and then other things may be true and in case it is that's when I said I want to apologize if I offended anyone.

CROWLEY: Is it true or is it not true?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, I would say most of it is not true.

CROWLEY: It's going to be a long four days.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: The Schwarzenegger campaign continues to say that this looks like trash politics although asked directly they do not really blame Gray Davis, not exactly -- Aaron.

BROWN: But they did say, didn't they, I mean this was what I saw earlier today when I first say the story that this was Democrat, this was a Democratic plant. They seemed to be blaming Governor Davis. Have they come back from that?

CROWLEY: Well, from the name specifically, yes. They never put the name out there. You know what this is like. It's sort of a hint. This is we knew this was going to happen. We knew they'd come after us.

BROWN: Yes.

CROWLEY: Who's they? Well, you know this is the kind of trash politics. Well, are you talking about Gray Davis? Well, no. So, you know, it's that kind of thing. It happens a lot.

BROWN: And just one quick one here, how strange a day, on the one to ten scale did you find today out there?

CROWLEY: It was -- it was about a seven.

BROWN: Yes. CROWLEY: You know it's just, I mean here's this plan and really they're great at the -- you know, you saw the busses come out and we were inside a convention center and he's waving.

I mean, they get production, they really do. And yet you know here all these, you know, people were showing up at the parking lot saying, you know, I was, you know, 20 years ago he said he might rape me and then, you know, people come with signs.

So it's like these sort of parallel universes, you know. He's out there talking car taxes and then there's this undercurrent that keeps pulling at it. They'd really like to get the undercurrent to go away at least over the next couple of days.

BROWN: The election is Tuesday. Candy, thank you very much, Candy Crowley in Los Angeles.

So, is this merely a flesh wound, if you will? We're joined now by Elizabeth Garrett, political scientist at USC and our Senior Analyst Jeff Greenfield who's out west tonight as well. It's good to see you both.

Beth, let's start with you. Is this a serious problem for Mr. Schwarzenegger do you think or is it a kind of one day thing that passes?

ELIZABETH GARRETT, PROFESSOR OF LAW, USC: Well, it may not be a one-day thing but I'm not sure it's a serious problem. There are two groups of voters who might find this relevant to their voting decision.

First, undecided voters would be very interested in this kind of information but at least the polls suggest we don't have very many undecided voters right now. So, the next group of voters are those who decided to vote for Arnold but who might find this information so upsetting, so different, so startling that they'll change their opinion.

Now, notice they listen to this information through the prism of I already support Arnold and that's going to mean that they understand it in a different way than say someone who doesn't like Arnold to begin with.

My guess is this is not new enough information to change people's views. People knew there were charges like this out here. It's slightly different because you've got women now who are saying it. It's not that part.

You know it's not 20 years ago. It's a few years ago but it has to be startling enough to shake people out of decisions they've already made and I'm not sure that is going to happen here.

BROWN: Jeff, pick up on that and add this, and this may be a little off the wall. If he were a lawyer, a doctor, an undertaker or something would it play differently? But he's an actor and maybe with actors people just assume different things. JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: I think you're exactly right and I think that's why Arnold said in the apology. Arnold, listen to that. That shows you a perfect illustration.

BROWN: Yes.

GREENFIELD: I would not call a lawyer Arnold. Mr. Schwarzenegger apologized in saying, you know, maybe on a rowdy set. Now, to pick up on what Elizabeth was saying if people begin to look at this closely they're going to find a couple of things that might unsettle them if they were leaning towards Schwarzenegger.

First, this is not consensual sex. This is not an issue of whether it's OK with Maria Shriver then it's OK with me. The women who have come forward, and at least two of them were on the local news tonight, these are not anonymous charges anymore, were talking about something way beyond (unintelligible) language that we can't repeat here, suggestions and innuendoes and proposals that were really on the -- beyond vulgar and physical laying on of hands on people he'd never seen before, not just on sets but in a gym and in a restaurant.

And so, if they begin to look at it that way and you remember that Senator Robert Packwood of Oregon was basically kicked out of the Senate for less egregious but, you know, examples of kind of making passes at people, so that is part of it. But I do think it is true that an actor is expected to behave almost in ways that more "respectable professionals" don't.

BROWN: Let me ask you both then, the Packwood analogy is an interesting one to me. Much time and some interesting things have happened since the Packwood case. Have our collective values or morals changed over that time so where that when we get these accusations, and you're right some of them are quite vulgar, we just shrug them off, Beth?

GARRETT: Well, I don't know that our values have changed but we just heard more of this. It's not just Packwood but we also lived through the Clinton years and some of those allegations were non- consensual behavior as well as consensual behavior. I think people are a bit tired of it. They don't want to hear about this so they shut parts of this out.

There's a feeling also in California that this kind of negative attacking has been too long a part of our political process. You know, again, Gray Davis appears not to be behind this but he's known as someone who uses tactics like this. All of that environment, the Clinton years, and the Davis years are behind this and may make people dismiss it in ways that they did not when Packwood was sort of the leader of this.

BROWN: Jeff, has time changed our view of sexual issues in politics?

GREENFIELD: Well, there's no question in the broader sense, absolutely. I mean, you know, when Adelaide Stephenson ran for president in 1952, his divorce hurt him. Divorce is almost part of a curriculum vitae of serious candidates these days.

Consensual sex, I think the fact that the country heard a president of the United States who was literally caught with his pants down and said, you know, he's a pretty good president. That's up to him and her and Hillary and she can go into the Senate and, you know, he can get a lot of money on the lecture circuit and that's OK.

I've come back to the point, though, I'm not sure our values, morals, (unintelligible), customs have changed sufficiently to excuse completely non-consensual boorish and loudish behavior but where Elizabeth once again I think is right is that I think people treat politics so much in a, I'll use this obnoxious phrase, post modern way, that nothing is real.

It's all spin. It's all charge. You can't believe any of it that even credible accusations of pretty wretched behavior get filed away and it's politics as usual and that's why it's unlikely this is going to change the result but I would like to see how this plays out in the next 48 hours.

BROWN: We shall watch it play out. Jeff, thank you. Beth, thank you both for being here tonight.

Still ahead on the program morning papers comes up at the end.

We'll also be joined by "New York Times" reporter Judith Miller whose beat has been weapons of mass destruction. We'll talk about the continuing search, the failure and more.

Take a break first, around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Take a quick at some of the stories from around the world that are making news tonight, beginning in western Pakistan with a raid near the border with Afghanistan, dangerous place, that. Pakistani forces say they killed eight suspected al Qaeda fighters, arrested 18 others. They also found a large number of weapons, mines, and surveillance gear. All this comes on the day of a visit to Pakistan by Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state.

Indonesia next, and another death sentence handed down in the bombing last year in Bali, this time, an Islamic teacher convicted of ordering the attack. He says he'll appeal.

And they're celebrating in South Africa tonight. Novelist J.M. Coetzee has been awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature for his body of work chronicling the country's troubled history. And it has been that.

Back to the question we started with tonight. Where are they, those weapons of mass destruction? By some estimates, the search alone is expected to cost nearly $1 billion. That part of the story has been lost somewhat in the fog of postwar Iraq.

But the whole story, the search, what they found, what they haven't found, remains a vital one and certainly a central one for Judith Miller of "The New York Times." Ms. Miller joins us from Washington.

It's nice to see you.

JUDITH MILLER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": It's good to see you.

BROWN: We listened to David Ensor report earlier, at the beginning of the program. They found a little of this, some vials of that. There are suggestions of this. But, at the end of the day, Judy, do they really have anything?

MILLER: Well, obviously the Republicans, the administration, are very disappointed.

Senator Pat Roberts, who's the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, came out and said he was not pleased by what he had heard. And what he had heard was that they haven't yet found the weapons of mass destruction that the administration said had posed a clear and imminent threat to Americans, and which they repeatedly cited as a reason for going to war before the invasion.

So even though they did find some evidence of intent to produce these weapons -- they found evidence that the inspectors had been lied to and that the programs were deeply concealed. They even found some evidence of the ability to start up right away, if the order was given, once the inspectors were gone. They really did not find the -- quote -- "breakthrough" that they were looking for.

BROWN: How are these searches going? Are they -- is it your sense that the process has gone well, that it's a well-oiled machine, or not?

MILLER: No, quite the contrary, Aaron.

In fact, the report itself is interesting on that point. It said that the ISG -- that's the Iraq Survey Group -- had identified some 130 huge ammunition storage sites and that, thus far, 120 of them had not been surveyed, which means they've only surveyed 10 of them. And that is consistent with what my reporting has shown, which is, the ISG -- that is the Iraq Survey Group -- got off to a very slow start, and that it has been bedeviled by a series of problems, that include, by the way, the lack of an environment, what they call a semi-permissive environment, that would enable these experts to go out and really investigate in-depth, in areas where people are still shooting at them.

So they face tremendous obstacles.

BROWN: We are all cautioned to be careful here, that one good day for the inspectors could change all of this.

MILLER: Absolutely. Absolutely.

BROWN: And I think that's good and important advice. But do you have a feeling that, with the people that you're talking to, that they are becoming, daily, more pessimistic that what they expected to find will be found?

MILLER: I think that there was certainly a difference in tone.

David Kay is an eternally optimistic human being. And yet he didn't repeat what he had said only a few months ago, when he said, prepare for surprises, and he was much more upbeat. Today, he was: Well, we're just taking a snapshot here. There's going to be another interim report. We need six to nine more months of this kind of investigation.

And he didn't say how much more money, but it looks like about $600 million. He was much more, I wouldn't say downtrodden or frustrated. But the enthusiasm, the energy was kind of much more low- key than I've ever seen him before.

BROWN: In our last minute here, what do you think happened? Do you think that the administration was snookered by people who had an agenda? Do you think it was just old intelligence that was improperly analyzed? Or do you think that they just haven't found the stuff that is there somewhere?

MILLER: Well, it could be all of the above or none of the above. I mean, I think we have to remain truly agnostic about this, because the ISG itself has come to no conclusions.

David Kay can't decide. They're exploring a lot of theories. At this point, we just don't know whether or not the weapons were totally destroyed after 1995 and 1998, whether or not they are still hidden, whether they were sent across a border someplace. The report does talk about some evidence of that, that people and material may have crossed borders.

Until the next interim report, I'm afraid we're not going to know.

BROWN: Judy, it's very nice to see you. It's been too long since you've been with us.

MILLER: It's good to see you. It's nice to be back.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Thank you. Come back soon, Judith Miller of "The New York Times." And assume she'll be filing for tomorrow's paper.

We'll take a look at that. Still to come on the program: Rush Limbaugh felled by the words he spoke on ESPN and now being linked to a drug investigation.

And later: an investigation into the bloodiest battle in the Iraqi war and whether friendly fire played a role on that horrible day.

A break first. On CNN, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: And plenty still ahead on NEWSNIGHT tonight: a question of friendly fire on the bloodiest day of the war in Iraq; the apparently worsening troubles of Rush Limbaugh; and, of course, morning papers.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A day ago, Rush Limbaugh was an opinionated talk show host trying to deal with a foot-in-the-mouth problem. Tonight, having resigned from ESPN, that problem is apparently behind him. But he's potentially facing one much worse.

Here again, CNN's Susan Candiotti.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Law enforcement sources tell CNN, Rush Limbaugh has surfaced in an ongoing probe into the black market sale of prescription painkillers, including OxyContin and hydrocodone, in Florida. The drugs only be legally obtained with a doctor's order -- for example, OxyContin.

JOE KILMER, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION: It's four or five times stronger than heroin, yes, like I said. And that's one of its selling points. People know what they're getting.

CANDIOTTI: Authorities say they became aware of Limbaugh when his former housekeeper Wilma Cline, who worked for Limbaugh at his oceanfront Palm Beach home, came to them with secretly recorded taped conversations she said she had with Limbaugh about drug buys.

A law enforcement source says investigators are convinced the voice on the tapes belongs to the conservative talk show host. Our law enforcement source says Limbaugh's former housekeeper claims she met with him at this gas station and other public places to make some of the drug deals over a four-year period. The woman claims she was paid about $200,000 for the pills.

Limbaugh issued a statement that does not directly deny he illegally bought drugs -- quote -- "I am unaware of any investigation by any authorities involving me. No governmental representative has contacted me directly or indirectly. If my assistance is required in the future, I will, of course, cooperate fully."

In 2001, Limbaugh talked with listeners about taking legally prescribed drugs to treat his hearing problem -- quote -- "You would not believe the medications that are flowing through me in an attempt to reverse this. I'm popping pills. I'm shooting up stuff. I've never done stuff like this before."

RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: It's such a tempest in a teapot.

CANDIOTTI: The drug allegations surfaced the same day Limbaugh talked about his split with ESPN. Limbaugh said he quit to blunt the uproar over his remarks over Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, suggesting he gets favorable press because he's black.

LIMBAUGH: It was not a racial opinion. It was an opinion about the media.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: Safe to say, this has not been a good week for Rush Limbaugh. It's unclear whether he'll be charged in the drug investigation. Law enforcement sources tell CNN that their overall probe is targeting suppliers and sellers. And, finally, a spokesman for the Palm Beach state attorney's office will not confirm or deny the Limbaugh investigation -- Aaron.

BROWN: Susan, thank you -- Susan Candiotti in Florida tonight.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT: the battle of An Nasiriyah. It turned into the bloodiest battle of the war. And questions are being raised as to whether friendly fire was a factor.

A special report when NEWSNIGHT continues from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: By any measure, the 23rd of March was the worst day of the war with Iraq; 31 Americans died that day, most of them in the vicinity of An Nasiriyah; 11 were members of the 507th Maintenance Company, Jessica Lynch's unit. But most of the rest, all Marines, were killed in a fierce battle, many of the details of which we are only now learning for the first time. It was a battle where confusion reigned and where that confusion may have led to a horrible mistake.

Here's CNN's Art Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ART HARRIS, CNN NATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): March 23, An Nasiriyah, U.S. Marines are told to take two bridges on the way to Baghdad. They drive up Ambush Alley, under Iraqi attack.

LCPL. EDWARD CASTLEBERRY, U.S. MARINES: They're coming from both sides of the street. They're not wearing any kind of uniforms. And they're just coming out from every corner and nook and cranny you can get at, shooting at you.

HARRIS: When Charlie Company reached the northern bridge, it was high noon. The Iraqis opened up on three sides and pinned down the outnumbered Marines.

CAPT. DANIEL WITTNAM, U.S. MARINES: We were taking artillery fire, mortar fire, heavy machine gun fire. HARRIS: Then, Marines say, an American plane appeared in the clear sky above, an Air Force A-10 jet like this, a low-flying tank killer.

(on camera): Did you see the plane or hear the plane?

WITTNAM: Yes. And to be honest with you, the first thought that went through my mind was, thank God an A-10 is on station.

HARRIS: And then?

WITTNAM: Holy cow. The earth went black from the dirt being kicked up and a feeling of absolute, utter horror and disbelief.

HARRIS: They were shooting at you?

WITTNAM: Yes.

CASTLEBERRY: I hear this big "waaa." And then all you see is the ground just explode.

HARRIS (voice-over): He saw a Lance Corporal David Fribley, who had enlisted right after 9/11, running toward his assault vehicle.

CASTLEBERRY: I'm turning around screaming at him, telling him to get in. And I see him trying to climb in. He's got one arm trying to get in. And then he just takes a huge round directly through his chest. And it blew his whole back out.

HARRIS: Another shot just missed Jeremy Donaldson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It came through my turret from an upper angle.

HARRIS: The Marines say they're certain it was a U.S. plane. The Iraqis did not fly a single combat mission in the war.

SGT. JEREMY DONALDSON, U.S. MARINES: I'm confident it was an A- 10 and a 30-millimeter cannon, unless Iraqi grew wings and hung off the clouds with a 30-millimeter cannon.

HARRIS: After the battle, one round was found intact inside a second AAV assault vehicle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We pulled a 30-millimeter round out which was fired. That's the actual round itself.

HARRIS: This is how it looked when I rode up that same road with the Marines two days after America's deadliest day in the Iraqi war; 18 Marines were killed fighting for this bridge. But just how many died from friendly fire?

SGT. TROY SCHIELEIN, U.S. MARINES: I know it's more than a handful.

HARRIS (on camera): More than a handful? SCHIELEIN: Yes, I would say five to 10 probably.

HARRIS: Sources on the battlefield that day say, the A-10 pilot, still not identified, was told there were no U.S. troops in the area. He reported back that what he saw was an Iraqi convoy heading for the city. So the ground controller, who was never told Charlie Company was there, gave the pilot the green light to fire.

(voice-over): Marines are bitter. They say the pilot should have recognized these as U.S. assault vehicles.

SCHIELEIN: There was nothing on the battlefield like an AAV, nothing. I mean, the biggest vehicle that the Iraqis even had was a pickup truck with a machine gun in the back.

CPL. MICHAEL BROWN, U.S. MARINES: Well, if I could actually find the A-10 pilot, the one that did the shooting, I'd probably break both his knees.

HARRIS: The U.S. Central Command says, its investigation is still open and has no comment. Its report may be out soon, possibly in the next few weeks.

Art Harris, CNN, Jacksonville, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: Ah, that's music to your ears, isn't it?

Time to check morning papers from around the country. We'll do this quickly tonight. Actually, we'll do it in the same amount of time we almost always do it, actually. I don't know why I said that.

"New York Times." Do the Moussaoui story on the right front. "Judge Rules Out a Death Penalty For 9/11 Suspect, Rebuke For Justice Department." Actually, I think this is a really interesting story, the dilemma of the government in how to try Mr. Moussaoui. And also above the fold on the front page, "Poll Shows Drop in Confidence on Bush Skill in Handling Crisis. Solid Majority Says the U.S. is Seriously on the Wrong Track." So that's probably got the attention at the White House, too. They also put Judy Miller and James Risen's story on weapons not found on the front page as well.

"USA Today" -- we haven't had "USA Today" for awhile, which is too bad, because we like that little paper, or big paper, as the case may be. "USA Today." "Rush on a Limb." They put Mr. Limbaugh on the front page. "For years, controversy has defined the radio giant's career, with racial comment and drug charges, now more than ever." Yes, I would say so. Also, a very good story over here. "Attacks on U.S. Forces Increase. Incidents in Iraq Averaging 17 a Day Now." "Boston Herald." Oh, my goodness. "He's Just Like Ted K." That would be Ted Kennedy. Mitt -- that would be the governor, Mitt Romney's -- defense of Arnold's antics. "He's Just Like Ted K." Yikes.

We choose now "The San Francisco Chronicle," because, unlike NEWSNIGHT, they spelled mea culpa correctly today. We spelled it wrong yesterday, but we quickly caught it, thanks to the 4,000 notes we got from you all. "Mea Culpa From Schwarzenegger" is their lead. Also on the front page, "Abortion Measure Heads to the Senate." The House today banned the procedure that opponents of opponents called partial-birth abortion, always a mouthful to say.

How we doing on time, Terry? Oh, my goodness. I can slow down.

"The Detroit Free Press." Why did I choose this? I'm sure I had a reason. "Iraqi Arms Hunt Comes Up Empty." I'm just sort of intrigued with the way newspapers are headlining the story to see if it gives us any clue as to sort of the politics of the paper, or doesn't. That was a pretty straight headline.

"The Washington Times," it's a little more right-leaning paper on its editorial page and some would say in its news pages, too. But I'm not saying that. "Evidence of Arms Intent Found" is the way "The Washington Times" headlined the story. And then their subhead is "Weapons Still Elude U.S. Team."

"The Detroit News" puts Rush on the front page -- Mr. Limbaugh on the front page. I don't know him. I shouldn't call him by his first name. "Controversy Bites Outspoken Rush. NFL Race Comment, Drug Use Waylay Right-Wing Gadfly." I like when anyone uses the word gadfly.

"The Times Herald-Record" of Upstate New York. "Will Arnold Survive the Gropes of Wrath?" Come on. I like that little paper, too.

"The Red Streak," which is the junior edition of "The Sun-Times." And it's like "The Sun-Times" for kids. "Is God a Cubs Fan? Local Jewish Author Says Yes." How would he know?

And, finally -- how much time? Oh, we're out of time.

Iffy is the weather in Chicago today. "Arnold Admits Groping. 'I Behaved Badly.'" I mean he behaved badly. I behaved pretty well.

We'll see you tomorrow at 10:00 Eastern. Good night for all of us.

END

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Rush Limbaugh Resigns After Controversial Statement On ESPN; Arnold Schwarzenegger Apologizes For Past Behavior>