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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
U.S. resolution on Iraq passes in Security Council; Malasian Prime Minister Makes Controversial Remarks Today; Pope Celebrates 25th Anniversary
Aired October 16, 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And good evening again, I'm Anderson Cooper. Aaron Brown is off.
Today the leader of the largest Muslim nation in the world got up on stage and said everything wrong with the world is wrong with the world because of the Jews. You'll notice religion on a scale biblical or Quranic factors into tonight's program several times.
An American general's comments about a holy war, the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's reign, the possible schism in the Anglican Church, the destiny perhaps biblical of Chicago being a city of losers, and the miracle of the day Apple Computer doing something for windows users.
We'll get to all that shortly but first the whip and more on the investigation into a terrible ferry accident in New York yesterday, Deborah Feyerick on that again tonight, Deborah a headline please.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, alcohol tests are back on the ferry pilot who tonight remains in intensive care after trying to kill himself.
COOPER: Next, a big victory for President Bush at the United Nations today, Richard Roth with the headline.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: For much of the day it was the only score that seemed to matter but this was in Manhattan not the Bronx and the U.S. pitched a shutout 15-0 in favor.
COOPER: To Rome now where the day was dedicated to the quarter century of service of the pope, Jim Bitterman there with an early morning headline. Buon Giorno, Jim.
JIM BITTERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Buon Giorno, Anderson. Pope John Paul II made it through his 25th anniversary mass but for those who remember the day he was elected 25 years ago it was a bittersweet occasion.
COOPER: All right, more on that later.
Back to the Pentagon, questions of what is in a resume, Jamie McIntyre with that, Jamie a headline.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark released his entire military record today and it is impressive, very good on paper but the question is why did he rub so many people the wrong way during his last tenure at the Pentagon?
COOPER: All right we'll try to look into that tonight.
Also ahead tonight on NEWSNIGHT, did Chicago come out ahead even though the Cubs lost? Some thoughts on why number twos try harder.
Later, another of our series "On the Rise" and a couple of iPod DJs, that's right iPod DJs.
And Segment 7 tonight, a teacher who just keeps on ticking into her late 80s, an amazing tale, a lot to cover.
We start off tonight with the investigation into what sent a crowded ferry slicing into a concrete pier. Ten people died. Many more were hurt some of whom have lost their limbs. At the center of it all tonight is one man, the ferry's pilot who left the scene then tried to end his own life.
Here again, CNN's Deborah Feyerick.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK (voice-over): The mangled ferry sat draped in New York Bay. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board picking through the wreckage trying to reconstruct moments before a crash that killed ten people sending dozens more to the hospital.
ELLEN ENGLEMAN, NTSB CHAIRMAN: What we do is rule out as much as we rule in.
FEYERICK: Investigators are looking into the possibility that the 55-year-old man steering the ship passed out.
MICHAEL MCMAHON, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL: The assistant captain who was piloting the ship at the time of the accident collapsed and collapsed onto the controls and thereby prevented the other captain from getting control of the ship before it crashed.
FEYERICK: The assistant captain, Richard J. Smith is in critical condition at a Staten Island hospital.
COMMISSIONER RAYMOND KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE: It appears that the captain tried to take his own life.
FEYERICK: Law enforcement sources say he went home, slit his wrists and shot himself in the chest with a pellet gun. Police would not say what the distraught Smith said to his brother in a phone call after the crash.
Smith has steered the ferry back and forth between Staten Island and Manhatten for 16 years. Coworkers call him safety conscious and transportation officials say he had a good record.
IRIS WEINSHALL, NYC TRANSPORTATION COMMISSIONER: As a matter of fact he had two letters of commendation in his personnel file.
FEYERICK: Those letters praised him for the way he handled two previous mishaps on the same ship, one a propeller failure, the other a mechanical failure. Neighbors describe Smith, a grandfather, as compassionate.
CHERYL SYVERTSON, SMITH NEIGHBOR: He's just been a nice gentleman, nice neighbor really you know friendly, quiet, works around the house, the yard.
FEYERICK: And neighbors say he must have been devastated by what happened.
STELLA LOBIANCO, SMITH NEIGHBOR: When he realized what had happened on the ferry boat that he had to be totally overcome by that.
FEYERICK: Smith is in an intensive care unit and unable to speak. His attorney said: "His family offers condolences and prayers to all those who have been affected by this tragedy."
The NTSB says the damaged ship will be moved to a secure location in the next few weeks. The investigation and final report will take at least a year.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Results of the alcohol tests came back negative. No results yet on the drug tests. New York City's mayor is asking everyone not to rush to judgment -- Anderson.
COOPER: Deborah, last I had heard there were some reports about one person still missing. Do you know anything about that?
FEYERICK: There was that report. We are told by law enforcement sources that person did turn up. As a matter of fact, they were in Brooklyn visiting a friend.
COOPER: All right, good news I suppose in all this. Deborah Feyerick thanks very much tonight.
On to the vote at the United Nations and a big victory for President Bush, after a lot of back and forth over language members of the Security Council who didn't support the war in Iraq agreed today to help out with the peace and on the U.S. terms.
Here's CNN's Richard Roth.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROTH (voice-over): The unanimous vote was a diplomatic success and a surprise.
JOHN NEGROPONTE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Clearly, some of the amendments that we discussed yesterday with the Russian and French and German co-sponsors of the amendments that had been put forward earlier in the week I think was the turning point. ROTH: Later, those three nations, which opposed the resolution for weeks, exited together in a show of diplomatic muscle. Some of their ideas were put in the resolution but they failed in their main goal to establish a concrete schedule for the U.S. forces to hand over control to the Iraqis.
GUNTER PLEUGER, GERMAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We missed the clear signal that the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis will be accelerated. The role of the United Nations and, in particular, of the secretary-general, could have been strengthened even more.
ROTH: Because of those concerns the big three gave their vote but not their troops for Iraq.
JEAN-MARC DE LA SABLIERE, FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: The conditions are not created for us to envisage any military commitment and any further financial contribution beyond our present engagement.
ROTH: The resolution sets a December 15th deadline for Iraq's Governing Council, appointed by the U.S., to set their own timetable for a new constitution and election but the U.S. still calls the shots with sovereignty returned to the Iraq people as soon as practicable. It authorizes a multinational force whose mandate expires when an Iraqi government is elected but few countries are expected to rush troops to Baghdad.
MUNIR AKRAM, PAKASTANI AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Pakistan will not be able to contribute troops for the multinational force in Iraq. Mr. President, there are widespread concerns that the security situation in Iraq may deteriorate.
ROTH: With so much skepticism why did council nations drop their objections?
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: It's because the situation in Iraq is dangerous and concerns our security interests, all three of us just like many other countries first of all the neighbors of Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROTH: With this newfound unity, the Security Council likes to believe it can influence world events around the globe but it may be facts on the ground in Iraq, whether it's bombings or elections, that will really determine how interested countries are in rushing in -- Anderson.
COOPER: On the face of it, it is a huge victory for the Bush administration. This was done on U.S. terms but when you actually, I mean the devil is in the details, no troops from France, from Germany, from Russia, from Pakistan. Has anyone come forward saying they are going to give some troops?
ROTH: No, nobody yet and Secretary Powell even said today he doesn't expect this resolution to open the door. This was the one area in this arena that the rest of the world could still duel it out with the United States on Iraq. The U.S., the coalition still calling the shots but the beginning of the light at the end of the road for some sort of handover of power is sketched out but it's months away.
COOPER: All right, Richard Roth, thanks very much tonight.
Well, as grip and grin pictures go here is one for the mantelpiece. You can't get much more A-list than the president and the governor of California, both seemingly a little star struck. They made their first joint appearance today outside Los Angeles. No lobbying the president today for federal aid said the governor, the governor-elect we should say. This was just an opportunity to get acquainted.
President Bush's visit came on the eve of his trip to Asia. Among the stops will be an economic summit in Thailand and among the Asian leaders he'll be meeting there is the prime minister of Malaysia who opened his mouth today and set off a storm.
Here's CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The largest gathering of Muslim leaders since September 11th, a controversial prime minister stepping down this month after 22 years. Mahathir Mohammed of Malaysia steps to the podium and leaves little room for interpretation.
MOHAMMED: The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million but today the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them.
BLITZER: The general theme of Mahathir's speech, which opened the organization of the Islamic Summit in Malaysia, is a call for Muslims to unite but even as appeal for an end to suicide bombings is laced with references to Jews as enemies.
MOHAMMED: Is there no other way than to ask our young people to blow themselves up and kill people and invite the massacre of more of our own people? It cannot be that there is no other way; 1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews.
BLITZER: Mahathir has made anti-Semitic remarks throughout his tenure as prime minister at various points blaming Jews for his nation's economic problems but these remarks seem to provoke a new level of outrage.
ABRAHAM FOXMAN, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: For him to call for a victory, final victory against the Jews by 1.3 billion Muslims is, in fact, a call for religious war.
BLITZER: State Department reaction was swift.
J. ADAM ERELI, DEP. STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: The remarks were offensive. They are inflammatory and we view them with the contempt and derision they deserve. WOLF BLITZER CNN, NEW YORK.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Oh, one late note to add. Just a short time ago, Malaysia's foreign minister issued an apology saying that no offense was intended. I also misspoke earlier on in the program. I said Malaysia was the largest Muslim nation in the world. Of course it is not. It is Indonesia. I apologize for that mistake.
But you don't have to travel to Malaysia to meet a leader who can spark a controversy with what he says. There's a U.N. Army general who is in hot water tonight for words that are offensive to some and in a war on terror may be counterproductive.
Here's CNN's Barbara Starr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lieutenant General William Boykin a former head of Army Special Forces has been involved in operations from the failed hostage rescue in Iran to the hunt for warlords in Somalia. Now, as a top Pentagon intelligence official he helps track Osama bin Laden.
In recent speeches before Christian prayer groups he has expressed religious views about the war on terrorism. As reported in the "Los Angeles Times" Boykin said in June that radical Muslims hate the U.S. "because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and roots are Judeo-Christian and the enemy is a guy named Satan." He has also said when dealing with a Muslim Somali warlord: "I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We do not fight against Islam.
STARR: President Bush insists the U.S. is not in a war against Islam. Boykin's comments have raised questions of judgment and appropriateness.
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: At first blush it doesn't look like any rules were broken.
STARR: An Islamic-American group is offended.
NIHAD AWAD, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN ISLAMIC RELATIONS: I think putting such a person with extremist views in a highly sensitive position and a policymaking position hurts our image around the world and sends the wrong message to the Muslim world which is already skeptical about America's intentions and motives.
STAFF: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is staying on the sidelines for now.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: There are a lot of things that are said by people in the military or civilian life or in the Congress or in the Executive Branch that are their views and that's the way we live. We're free people.
STARR (on camera): Muslim groups already want General Boykin reassigned. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says it's not clear what will happen next.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We want to add a footnote to this story. An administration official tells us the generals says he has toned things down, some in light -- in his -- excuse me, in light of his position. General Boykin hasn't commented directly on the controversy but other sources tell us senior officials would like him to make a public statement at some point to try to calm the waters.
Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, Anglicans move closer to a split.
And up next, a celebration in Rome of the pope's 25th year, we'll have a live report.
Also later on why it's not so bad to be number two, the good side of losing in Chicago.
This is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: When a Polish cardinal named Karol Wojtyla looked down from his window in the Vatican 25 years ago he saw a very different world. In the years since he has traveled that world, changed that world and changed the church that made him its leader 25 years ago today.
Here's CNN's Jim Bitterman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BITTERMAN (voice-over): A quarter century after one of the popes in modern history emerged on St. Peter's Square, that same Pope John Paul II was wheeled out to meet the crowd.
St. Peter's is the Vatican's front yard, a place where volumes of church history have been written before the eyes of the faithful and once again they came by the tens of thousands to witness another passage in the pope's long and increasingly painful journey.
John Paul told the crowds he trembled when he accepted the job 25 years ago. Now he trembles from the effects of his ongoing struggle with Parkinson's Disease.
But if there is speculation, and there is even among some of his own college of cardinals, about John Paul's possible retirement, the pope is having none of it. "Knowing my human fragility" the pope said, "God encourages me to respond with faith and he invites me to assume the responsibilities that he, himself, has entrusted to me." Evidence that he was not neglecting those responsibilities came just hours before when the pope signed an instruction manual for his bishops. In what was widely interpreted as a reference to the church's sex abuse scandals, the pope told the bishops that when confronted with priestly crimes they must be firm, decisive, just and impartial, qualities the pope himself often exhibits, along with many others over the years detailed by one of his main allies.
Cardinal Joseph Ratsinger (ph) sang John Paul's praises during the anniversary mass. The pope looked on emotionally as did many in the crowd. For 25 years John Paul's life has played out before the cameras and crowds. His supporters say the theater skills he learned as a young man have served him well.
But every actor knows the advantage of a well timed exit. The pope must too but on his anniversary he made it clear that no director on earth would give him cues.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BITTERMAN: And, Anderson, just two other notes from here tonight. There was no provision at that mass for the pope to mingle in the crowd, something that's been symbolic of the pope's ceremonies throughout his reign and is now evidence of the decline in his health.
And the second is that this is going to be a tough week for the pope, a kind of Catholic trifecta here with tonight's ceremony, the beatification of Mother Teresa on Sunday and a consistory next week to create 31 new cardinals, a real test of the pope's stamina -- Anderson.
COOPER: The event on Sunday for Mother Teresa is she the only person being beatified?
BITTERMAN: Yes, that's correct and kind of on the fast track toward canonization after just about six years since her death.
COOPER: How large an event is it? I mean is it equivalent, sort of equivalent in size to what we saw today?
BITTERMAN: In fact people think it's going to be larger. The Vatican is expected a quarter of a million people for that event on Sunday. We've talked to a number of people in the crowds today who said while they wanted to be here for the anniversary more important to them is the beatification on Sunday.
COOPER: Interesting. All right, Jim Bitterman, thank you very much tonight.
No celebration tonight among members of the Anglican faith who have been grappling over the naming of an openly gay bishop within the American branch of the church. After two days of meetings behind closed doors today came a statement from the head of the faith.
Here's CNN's Sheila MacVicar.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROWAN WILLIAMS, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY: It has certainly been anything but easy. It has not been without pain.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Pain was a word the Archbishop of Canterbury used a lot and after two days of crisis talks the pain is not over yet.
What happens next is up to the American church which plans to consecrate this openly gay man, Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire in November in just two weeks.
Aired October 16, 2003 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And good evening again, I'm Anderson Cooper. Aaron Brown is off.
Today the leader of the largest Muslim nation in the world got up on stage and said everything wrong with the world is wrong with the world because of the Jews. You'll notice religion on a scale biblical or Quranic factors into tonight's program several times.
An American general's comments about a holy war, the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's reign, the possible schism in the Anglican Church, the destiny perhaps biblical of Chicago being a city of losers, and the miracle of the day Apple Computer doing something for windows users.
We'll get to all that shortly but first the whip and more on the investigation into a terrible ferry accident in New York yesterday, Deborah Feyerick on that again tonight, Deborah a headline please.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, alcohol tests are back on the ferry pilot who tonight remains in intensive care after trying to kill himself.
COOPER: Next, a big victory for President Bush at the United Nations today, Richard Roth with the headline.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: For much of the day it was the only score that seemed to matter but this was in Manhattan not the Bronx and the U.S. pitched a shutout 15-0 in favor.
COOPER: To Rome now where the day was dedicated to the quarter century of service of the pope, Jim Bitterman there with an early morning headline. Buon Giorno, Jim.
JIM BITTERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Buon Giorno, Anderson. Pope John Paul II made it through his 25th anniversary mass but for those who remember the day he was elected 25 years ago it was a bittersweet occasion.
COOPER: All right, more on that later.
Back to the Pentagon, questions of what is in a resume, Jamie McIntyre with that, Jamie a headline.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark released his entire military record today and it is impressive, very good on paper but the question is why did he rub so many people the wrong way during his last tenure at the Pentagon?
COOPER: All right we'll try to look into that tonight.
Also ahead tonight on NEWSNIGHT, did Chicago come out ahead even though the Cubs lost? Some thoughts on why number twos try harder.
Later, another of our series "On the Rise" and a couple of iPod DJs, that's right iPod DJs.
And Segment 7 tonight, a teacher who just keeps on ticking into her late 80s, an amazing tale, a lot to cover.
We start off tonight with the investigation into what sent a crowded ferry slicing into a concrete pier. Ten people died. Many more were hurt some of whom have lost their limbs. At the center of it all tonight is one man, the ferry's pilot who left the scene then tried to end his own life.
Here again, CNN's Deborah Feyerick.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK (voice-over): The mangled ferry sat draped in New York Bay. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board picking through the wreckage trying to reconstruct moments before a crash that killed ten people sending dozens more to the hospital.
ELLEN ENGLEMAN, NTSB CHAIRMAN: What we do is rule out as much as we rule in.
FEYERICK: Investigators are looking into the possibility that the 55-year-old man steering the ship passed out.
MICHAEL MCMAHON, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL: The assistant captain who was piloting the ship at the time of the accident collapsed and collapsed onto the controls and thereby prevented the other captain from getting control of the ship before it crashed.
FEYERICK: The assistant captain, Richard J. Smith is in critical condition at a Staten Island hospital.
COMMISSIONER RAYMOND KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE: It appears that the captain tried to take his own life.
FEYERICK: Law enforcement sources say he went home, slit his wrists and shot himself in the chest with a pellet gun. Police would not say what the distraught Smith said to his brother in a phone call after the crash.
Smith has steered the ferry back and forth between Staten Island and Manhatten for 16 years. Coworkers call him safety conscious and transportation officials say he had a good record.
IRIS WEINSHALL, NYC TRANSPORTATION COMMISSIONER: As a matter of fact he had two letters of commendation in his personnel file.
FEYERICK: Those letters praised him for the way he handled two previous mishaps on the same ship, one a propeller failure, the other a mechanical failure. Neighbors describe Smith, a grandfather, as compassionate.
CHERYL SYVERTSON, SMITH NEIGHBOR: He's just been a nice gentleman, nice neighbor really you know friendly, quiet, works around the house, the yard.
FEYERICK: And neighbors say he must have been devastated by what happened.
STELLA LOBIANCO, SMITH NEIGHBOR: When he realized what had happened on the ferry boat that he had to be totally overcome by that.
FEYERICK: Smith is in an intensive care unit and unable to speak. His attorney said: "His family offers condolences and prayers to all those who have been affected by this tragedy."
The NTSB says the damaged ship will be moved to a secure location in the next few weeks. The investigation and final report will take at least a year.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Results of the alcohol tests came back negative. No results yet on the drug tests. New York City's mayor is asking everyone not to rush to judgment -- Anderson.
COOPER: Deborah, last I had heard there were some reports about one person still missing. Do you know anything about that?
FEYERICK: There was that report. We are told by law enforcement sources that person did turn up. As a matter of fact, they were in Brooklyn visiting a friend.
COOPER: All right, good news I suppose in all this. Deborah Feyerick thanks very much tonight.
On to the vote at the United Nations and a big victory for President Bush, after a lot of back and forth over language members of the Security Council who didn't support the war in Iraq agreed today to help out with the peace and on the U.S. terms.
Here's CNN's Richard Roth.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROTH (voice-over): The unanimous vote was a diplomatic success and a surprise.
JOHN NEGROPONTE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Clearly, some of the amendments that we discussed yesterday with the Russian and French and German co-sponsors of the amendments that had been put forward earlier in the week I think was the turning point. ROTH: Later, those three nations, which opposed the resolution for weeks, exited together in a show of diplomatic muscle. Some of their ideas were put in the resolution but they failed in their main goal to establish a concrete schedule for the U.S. forces to hand over control to the Iraqis.
GUNTER PLEUGER, GERMAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We missed the clear signal that the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis will be accelerated. The role of the United Nations and, in particular, of the secretary-general, could have been strengthened even more.
ROTH: Because of those concerns the big three gave their vote but not their troops for Iraq.
JEAN-MARC DE LA SABLIERE, FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: The conditions are not created for us to envisage any military commitment and any further financial contribution beyond our present engagement.
ROTH: The resolution sets a December 15th deadline for Iraq's Governing Council, appointed by the U.S., to set their own timetable for a new constitution and election but the U.S. still calls the shots with sovereignty returned to the Iraq people as soon as practicable. It authorizes a multinational force whose mandate expires when an Iraqi government is elected but few countries are expected to rush troops to Baghdad.
MUNIR AKRAM, PAKASTANI AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Pakistan will not be able to contribute troops for the multinational force in Iraq. Mr. President, there are widespread concerns that the security situation in Iraq may deteriorate.
ROTH: With so much skepticism why did council nations drop their objections?
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: It's because the situation in Iraq is dangerous and concerns our security interests, all three of us just like many other countries first of all the neighbors of Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROTH: With this newfound unity, the Security Council likes to believe it can influence world events around the globe but it may be facts on the ground in Iraq, whether it's bombings or elections, that will really determine how interested countries are in rushing in -- Anderson.
COOPER: On the face of it, it is a huge victory for the Bush administration. This was done on U.S. terms but when you actually, I mean the devil is in the details, no troops from France, from Germany, from Russia, from Pakistan. Has anyone come forward saying they are going to give some troops?
ROTH: No, nobody yet and Secretary Powell even said today he doesn't expect this resolution to open the door. This was the one area in this arena that the rest of the world could still duel it out with the United States on Iraq. The U.S., the coalition still calling the shots but the beginning of the light at the end of the road for some sort of handover of power is sketched out but it's months away.
COOPER: All right, Richard Roth, thanks very much tonight.
Well, as grip and grin pictures go here is one for the mantelpiece. You can't get much more A-list than the president and the governor of California, both seemingly a little star struck. They made their first joint appearance today outside Los Angeles. No lobbying the president today for federal aid said the governor, the governor-elect we should say. This was just an opportunity to get acquainted.
President Bush's visit came on the eve of his trip to Asia. Among the stops will be an economic summit in Thailand and among the Asian leaders he'll be meeting there is the prime minister of Malaysia who opened his mouth today and set off a storm.
Here's CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The largest gathering of Muslim leaders since September 11th, a controversial prime minister stepping down this month after 22 years. Mahathir Mohammed of Malaysia steps to the podium and leaves little room for interpretation.
MOHAMMED: The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million but today the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them.
BLITZER: The general theme of Mahathir's speech, which opened the organization of the Islamic Summit in Malaysia, is a call for Muslims to unite but even as appeal for an end to suicide bombings is laced with references to Jews as enemies.
MOHAMMED: Is there no other way than to ask our young people to blow themselves up and kill people and invite the massacre of more of our own people? It cannot be that there is no other way; 1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews.
BLITZER: Mahathir has made anti-Semitic remarks throughout his tenure as prime minister at various points blaming Jews for his nation's economic problems but these remarks seem to provoke a new level of outrage.
ABRAHAM FOXMAN, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: For him to call for a victory, final victory against the Jews by 1.3 billion Muslims is, in fact, a call for religious war.
BLITZER: State Department reaction was swift.
J. ADAM ERELI, DEP. STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: The remarks were offensive. They are inflammatory and we view them with the contempt and derision they deserve. WOLF BLITZER CNN, NEW YORK.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Oh, one late note to add. Just a short time ago, Malaysia's foreign minister issued an apology saying that no offense was intended. I also misspoke earlier on in the program. I said Malaysia was the largest Muslim nation in the world. Of course it is not. It is Indonesia. I apologize for that mistake.
But you don't have to travel to Malaysia to meet a leader who can spark a controversy with what he says. There's a U.N. Army general who is in hot water tonight for words that are offensive to some and in a war on terror may be counterproductive.
Here's CNN's Barbara Starr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lieutenant General William Boykin a former head of Army Special Forces has been involved in operations from the failed hostage rescue in Iran to the hunt for warlords in Somalia. Now, as a top Pentagon intelligence official he helps track Osama bin Laden.
In recent speeches before Christian prayer groups he has expressed religious views about the war on terrorism. As reported in the "Los Angeles Times" Boykin said in June that radical Muslims hate the U.S. "because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and roots are Judeo-Christian and the enemy is a guy named Satan." He has also said when dealing with a Muslim Somali warlord: "I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We do not fight against Islam.
STARR: President Bush insists the U.S. is not in a war against Islam. Boykin's comments have raised questions of judgment and appropriateness.
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: At first blush it doesn't look like any rules were broken.
STARR: An Islamic-American group is offended.
NIHAD AWAD, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN ISLAMIC RELATIONS: I think putting such a person with extremist views in a highly sensitive position and a policymaking position hurts our image around the world and sends the wrong message to the Muslim world which is already skeptical about America's intentions and motives.
STAFF: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is staying on the sidelines for now.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: There are a lot of things that are said by people in the military or civilian life or in the Congress or in the Executive Branch that are their views and that's the way we live. We're free people.
STARR (on camera): Muslim groups already want General Boykin reassigned. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says it's not clear what will happen next.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We want to add a footnote to this story. An administration official tells us the generals says he has toned things down, some in light -- in his -- excuse me, in light of his position. General Boykin hasn't commented directly on the controversy but other sources tell us senior officials would like him to make a public statement at some point to try to calm the waters.
Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, Anglicans move closer to a split.
And up next, a celebration in Rome of the pope's 25th year, we'll have a live report.
Also later on why it's not so bad to be number two, the good side of losing in Chicago.
This is NEWSNIGHT.
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COOPER: When a Polish cardinal named Karol Wojtyla looked down from his window in the Vatican 25 years ago he saw a very different world. In the years since he has traveled that world, changed that world and changed the church that made him its leader 25 years ago today.
Here's CNN's Jim Bitterman.
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BITTERMAN (voice-over): A quarter century after one of the popes in modern history emerged on St. Peter's Square, that same Pope John Paul II was wheeled out to meet the crowd.
St. Peter's is the Vatican's front yard, a place where volumes of church history have been written before the eyes of the faithful and once again they came by the tens of thousands to witness another passage in the pope's long and increasingly painful journey.
John Paul told the crowds he trembled when he accepted the job 25 years ago. Now he trembles from the effects of his ongoing struggle with Parkinson's Disease.
But if there is speculation, and there is even among some of his own college of cardinals, about John Paul's possible retirement, the pope is having none of it. "Knowing my human fragility" the pope said, "God encourages me to respond with faith and he invites me to assume the responsibilities that he, himself, has entrusted to me." Evidence that he was not neglecting those responsibilities came just hours before when the pope signed an instruction manual for his bishops. In what was widely interpreted as a reference to the church's sex abuse scandals, the pope told the bishops that when confronted with priestly crimes they must be firm, decisive, just and impartial, qualities the pope himself often exhibits, along with many others over the years detailed by one of his main allies.
Cardinal Joseph Ratsinger (ph) sang John Paul's praises during the anniversary mass. The pope looked on emotionally as did many in the crowd. For 25 years John Paul's life has played out before the cameras and crowds. His supporters say the theater skills he learned as a young man have served him well.
But every actor knows the advantage of a well timed exit. The pope must too but on his anniversary he made it clear that no director on earth would give him cues.
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BITTERMAN: And, Anderson, just two other notes from here tonight. There was no provision at that mass for the pope to mingle in the crowd, something that's been symbolic of the pope's ceremonies throughout his reign and is now evidence of the decline in his health.
And the second is that this is going to be a tough week for the pope, a kind of Catholic trifecta here with tonight's ceremony, the beatification of Mother Teresa on Sunday and a consistory next week to create 31 new cardinals, a real test of the pope's stamina -- Anderson.
COOPER: The event on Sunday for Mother Teresa is she the only person being beatified?
BITTERMAN: Yes, that's correct and kind of on the fast track toward canonization after just about six years since her death.
COOPER: How large an event is it? I mean is it equivalent, sort of equivalent in size to what we saw today?
BITTERMAN: In fact people think it's going to be larger. The Vatican is expected a quarter of a million people for that event on Sunday. We've talked to a number of people in the crowds today who said while they wanted to be here for the anniversary more important to them is the beatification on Sunday.
COOPER: Interesting. All right, Jim Bitterman, thank you very much tonight.
No celebration tonight among members of the Anglican faith who have been grappling over the naming of an openly gay bishop within the American branch of the church. After two days of meetings behind closed doors today came a statement from the head of the faith.
Here's CNN's Sheila MacVicar.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROWAN WILLIAMS, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY: It has certainly been anything but easy. It has not been without pain.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Pain was a word the Archbishop of Canterbury used a lot and after two days of crisis talks the pain is not over yet.
What happens next is up to the American church which plans to consecrate this openly gay man, Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire in November in just two weeks.
