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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
Will U.S. Stay Course in Iraq?
Aired November 03, 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.
The weekend produced the inevitable. Thankfully, it wasn't on the scale of Beirut, not even close to that but it did seem inevitable that the anti-American forces in Iraq, whoever they are, would eventually get lucky or good and they were.
Sixteen families tonight grieve. Twenty young soldiers are in hospitals being put back together again. As the incident was inevitable, so too will be the questions that follow, here are a couple.
Will the country recoil against the policy or will it resolve to stay the course? Those questions take center stage in the program tonight as Iraq again leads the whip.
First to the Pentagon and CNN's Jamie McIntyre, Jamie a headline from you please.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said that Iraqi insurgents have fired surface-to-air missiles 15 to 20 times at U.S. aircraft but on Sunday one of those missiles found its mark. The president says the U.S. will not run from its mission.
BROWN: Jamie, thank you. We'll get back to you at the top tonight.
Next, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where so many of those victims were based, Ed Lavandera is outside the base, Ed a headline from you tonight.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN DALLAS BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, the effects of this attack are not only being felt here at Fort Sill but at several U.S. Army posts across the country and today we got a chance to learn a little bit about the soldiers riding on that helicopter. We'll share those stories with you in a little bit as well -- Aaron.
BROWN: Ed, thank you very much.
Onto Iraq and the people who celebrated as the American chopper burned, CNN's Jane Arraf has the watch, Jane a headline.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, here in Baghdad mortars or rockets landed tonight in the so-called Green Zone that supposedly secure area housing coalition headquarters. No injuries but a further reminder of the coalition's vulnerability here.
BROWN: Jane, thank you.
And finally the bishop and the consecration which some in the Episcopal Church view as a desecration, Susan Candiotti continues to cover this story for us, Susan a headline.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Aaron. For Gene Robinson and his supporters celebration on his first full day as a bishop, this is his former parish church in New Hampshire but negative reaction is pouring in from around the world, anger and disgust over his elevation to bishop.
BROWN: Susan, thank you. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly.
Also on the program tonight the home front, we'll talk with some of the nation's newspaper editors for a view on how the conflict in Iraq is affecting their readers, their communities.
Jeff Greenfield tonight weighs I on new regulations that force politicians to say some pretty silly things when they're asked to go on TV to get your vote.
And just in case you've forgotten what she sounds like, the rooster drops by. That's got to be a he, it can't be a she, can it, morning papers for a Monday, all that to come in the hour ahead.
We begin with Iraq with echoes of a very bad day for the United States and a successful one for those who would do the country harm. We also begin with an observation. It's getting tougher and tougher to refer to the period since the president declared major combat over as the post war period.
This isn't our observation alone. It is shared by civilian and military leaders in Iraq who now openly use the word insurgency to describe the situation. Not all Iraqis are involved, of course, not even most but enough to remind the government and the governed this is still a war.
We have a number of reports tonight beginning first with CNN's Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE (voice-over): As 16 of the 20 wounded in Sunday's helicopter downing arrived at Ramstein Air Base, Germany for medical treatment, President Bush was vowing the U.S. will not cut and run in Iraq.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A collection of killers is trying to shake the will of America. We will not be intimidated.
MCINTYRE: Sixteen soldiers died in the attack. According to eyewitnesses the second of two shoulder-launched missiles fired from a stand of trees hit the CH-47 Chinook twin rotor transport helicopter as it flew just a few hundred feet above the ground. It's not clear the missile actually detonated but it struck the rear engine and started a chain reaction that plunged the helicopter into a fiery crash.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We have been fortunate in Iraq that we've had any number of firings, 15 maybe 20 in recent months but this is the first one that actually caused casualties and, of course, our heart goes out and our prayers go out to the families and loved ones of those that were killed.
MCINTYRE: This infrared image of a similar CH-47 helicopter shows the hot spot on the rear engine that would have been a magnet for the heat-seeking missile. Still, knocking one out of the sky is not easy.
BRIGADIER GENERAL DAVID GRANGE, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It takes some training but, again, if it was a lucky shot, it if happened to be the right slant angle when the adversary engaged the coalition aircraft then he could have got a hit.
MCINTYRE: U.S. helicopters, like this one seen over Baghdad in April, routinely fly at low altitude to make them harder to target but in this case the low altitude gave the crew almost no reaction time to dispense flares or maneuver to evade the supersonic missile even if they saw it coming.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: Operating U.S. helicopters at night when they're harder to spot would make them harder to shoot down but the Pentagon says they still believe using helicopters to move troops across Iraq is the safest and fastest way to do that. They say there will be no ban on daylight flights. One thing U.S. commanders will do, however, is review the flight patterns to make sure they're not becoming too predictable -- Aaron.
BROWN: Is that part of what happened here that this flight, which was en route to the airport I believe in Baghdad, had made essentially the same run several times?
MCINTYRE: Well, I'm not sure that that's the case but that's one of the things they want to guard against. If you're flying the same route it would be very hard to just happen to be where one of these helicopters is but if they're flying a consistent pattern then it makes it a lot easier. So, they're going to review that, see if they need to mix it up a little more.
BROWN: Jamie, thank you very much, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon.
Now to Iraq where another soldier was killed today and one was wounded when their vehicle hit a landmine. It happened near Tikrit not far from Fallujah in geography or public sentiment. In that regard we were struck today by a scene Dexter Filkins described in his dispatch for "The New York Times." "American GIs in Fallujah today tossing candy from the back of a Humvee to children lining the road. Don't touch it, don't touch it the children screamed to one another. It is poison from the Americans. It will kill you." Children, of course, don't shoot down helicopters. Their attitude, however, speaks powerfully of why the guerrillas believe they could and get away with it.
Here's CNN's Jane Arraf.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARRAF (voice-over): It wasn't supposed to be like this, townspeople cheering U.S. blood, the hat a trophy from an attack in Fallujah that killed two contractors for the military.
While many soldiers are enraged and bewildered, the people they believe they've come to help could harbor the attackers. For many Iraqis in the so-called Sunni Triangle it's crystal clear.
"Make them leave our country" said Hadi Abbas Farhan (ph), a farmer near Fallujah. "They trespassed over our sacred values, entered our mosques, entered our homes."
Farhan, who has 11 children, complained the Americans had brought the most developed weapons in the world but didn't bring generators and seven months after the war couldn't restore all the electricity.
In this country of weapons it's still easy enough to get hold of rocket-propelled grenades and even missile launchers. Military officials and analysts say they believe the attackers these days are a mixture of foreign fighters, Saddam loyalists, common criminals, and Iraqi nationalists.
Saddam Hussein bankrupted the country by twice leading it into war but even with the terror of that regime many Iraqis in this part of the country tell us they took comfort in knowing for the most part how to avoid danger.
This fear and uncertainty is new. In areas like Fallujah, simmering anger against the U.S. occupation makes it easier for attackers to melt into the countryside.
Monday soldiers and investigators were still searching through wreckage of the crash strewn across the fields but they won't find many answers there into why the attacks continue.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARRAF: And in the last few hours news of more attacks, including what appeared to be mortars or rockets landing inside central Baghdad. Now, we went out to look for the impact and found mostly only dark and empty streets.
The coalition says they hit within the Green Zone that supposedly secure area housing the coalition headquarters, no injuries but a reminder that the attackers really can reach pretty well anywhere -- Aaron.
BROWN: Just, Jane, compare the attitudes as best you can of Iraqis in that part of the country we call the Sunni Triangle and all the way to the south, for example, or even farther to the north.
ARRAF: It's much more complex here and part of that is because in the south where it has been a lot more stable it is predominantly almost exclusively Shia with all of the hardship and all of the oppression that they've endured.
Now it's a more complicated, as I said area here and although Baghdad itself is majority Shia it's lumped in with that. But what you tend to find from people is that they feel they've been left out and particularly in Fallujah.
These are people who will tell you over and over we hated Saddam. We do not like Saddam and we don't like the Americans either. We just want to be left alone and, for the most part, that's a very popular sentiment. In the south they seem to still feel that gratitude of being freed from Saddam. Here that really has worn off -- Aaron.
BROWN: Jane, thank you, Jane Arraf in Baghdad tonight.
The soldiers, most of them who died over the weekend, were on their way to the airport in Baghdad. From there they would have gone to Kuwait and from there they would have gone back home for a couple weeks of R&R.
Home for them was Waterbury, Connecticut or Livingston, California; Peoria, Illinois. It was Crystal Springs, Mississippi; Houston, Texas but home was also Fort Hood and Fort Sill where another family, an extended family, grieves tonight.
Here's CNN's Ed Lavandera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Lieutenant Brian Slovenis (ph) died in the crash. He was a member of the Illinois National Guard. His father and two brothers also military men. They knew what was coming when they opened the door.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a classic scene from the movies done many times over, you know. When the uniformed officer comes to the door it's bad news, you know.
LAVANDERA: Mr. Slovenis says his son was piloting the Chinook helicopter at the time. They're a family who understands danger and even death is part of the job but that doesn't ease the pain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't think it's going to affect your family. Even, you know, you watch the news every day and you see the reports and you say, oh thank God it wasn't our family but eventually your number comes up. You know it's just bad luck.
LAVANDERA: Also onboard was Sergeant Ernest Bucklew. He was being sent home so he could attend his mother's funeral. The Pentagon has started releasing the names of the soldiers that were killed in Sunday's attack on a U.S. helicopter. The soldiers who died come from several posts across the country, like Fort Sill, Oklahoma; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Carson, Colorado; and Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Twenty soldiers were also injured in the crash. They have been taken to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. All the wounded are expected to survive but some are still in critical condition.
The military's rest and recuperation program is supposed to be a morale builder not a heartbreaker so the news of 16 soldiers dying on their way to vacation has left a stinging sensation at Army posts like Fort Sill where they say six of Sunday's victims were based.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you lost a soldier, you lose a member of your extended Army family, so regardless of how or when you lose them it's just a painful process that's tough.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: Today we learned the identity of ten of the 16 who were onboard that helicopter. We are now able to confirm the 11th victim and that is 21-year-old Steven Conover of Wilmington, Ohio, who was also based here at Fort Sill and his father says that he was on his way home for his two week vacation as well.
Military officials here at Fort Sill say that while they're not directly involved in the investigation of the helicopter crash that they do expect to hear a full report. Of course, they're not the only ones with questions. Many families and friends of these victims and the wounded have plenty of questions of their own we're told -- Aaron.
BROWN: Ed, thank you very much, Ed Lavandera tonight.
Congress today gave final approval to the president's budget request for Iraq and Afghanistan, $87 billion and change, $21 billion for reconstruction, none of it in the form of loans as a number of lawmakers had wanted, $64 billion will go to fight the war.
Senate approval came after hours of fairly tough words from a number of Democrats but in the end an agreement was reached to approve this measure by a voice vote, meaning no one had to go on the record as being for or against $87 billion in all.
That noted, we go back to Baghdad now. We're joined by Joshua Hammer who is "Newsweek" magazine's Baghdad Bureau Chief, good to have you with us tonight. How has the insurgency changed over the last couple of months?
JOSHUA HAMMER, "NEWSWEEK" BUREAU CHIEF: Dramatically, I think at the very beginning the American administration wasn't even really calling this a guerrilla war. Then you began to have a series of attacks, two, three soldiers killed a week.
You saw a steady escalation from that number to about six or seven. Then, of course, the proliferation of these attacks throughout the region, not just the Sunni Triangle but also up in Mosul, down in the south occasionally as well, and now of course you're seeing the next level of these attacks which is the use of shoulder-fired missiles, the bringing down of an aircraft and a large number of dead.
I think all along the guerrillas have wanted to move from these attacks that kill one, two or three soldiers to a big number that would deliver some psychological blow to the American administration, to the U.S. occupation forces here, and they've definitely succeeded.
BROWN: What are the American options here and what are the downsides of each?
HAMMER: The Americans keep saying that they have to get more intelligence that they don't know who the attackers are that they have some idea. Some people are coming forward but that they're really in the dark about this.
The problems is, as I witnessed myself last week when I was out with the 82nd Airborne Division in Fallujah on one of these night raids, is that the tactics that they're employing to ascertain who is trying to kill them are only serving to alienate the people further.
It's a classic vicious cycle that you've seen in Vietnam, that you've seen in Algeria, that you've seen in virtually any grassroots guerrilla war, which is that a beleaguered occupation force turns against the population in an attempt to gain information alienates it further and therefore feeds the insurgency. So this is the kind of difficulty that the Americans are facing as they try to figure out who is trying to kill them.
BROWN: The Americans, the American government speaks often, every day these days about once we get more Iraqis involved in Iraqi security a lot of these problems will melt away. Is that credible from where you sit?
HAMMER: This attempt to -- this version of Vietnamization that we're seeing is moving extremely slowly. I think the American military has succeeded in getting about 1,000 members of the former Iraqi military trained. That's 1,000. That's one battalion. That's nothing.
They're also attempting to turn security over to a certain extent to a police force but if you talk to people in Baghdad and if you talk to police in the hinterlands there's no money. There are no weapons. There is no communications gear. There's no equipment. There are no cars.
This appears to be sort of trapped in a bureaucratic morass and nothing is really happening on that front. So, it's a very, very slow cumbersome process and as this process drags on you're going to see many more Americans killed, so the American government is really in a race against time here and I think they're losing.
BROWN: Just one more. Is it your feeling that this anti- American feeling that we saw in the celebrations of yesterday's shooting down of the helicopter that that's genuine or are people more fearful of the insurgents than they are of the Americans in a sense?
HAMMER: Aaron, I spent a bit of time in the Sunni Triangle over the past few months and I don't -- the Americans will tell you that there's a tremendous fear of reprisal here that anyone who dares to collaborate, who gives them information risks death but when you go out there and you talk to these people you can sense it.
I mean you sense this exuberance. I was down at the site of this helicopter crash a couple of days ago and there was rejoicing, clear rejoicing at the deaths of all of these Americans from kids on up to adults and, you know, that doesn't come from being at the end of a gun. That comes from a growing hatred of the Americans I'm afraid.
BROWN: Joshua thanks for your time this morning for you. Thank you very much.
HAMMER: You're welcome.
BROWN: Joshua Hammer of "Newsweek" magazine in Baghdad.
Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the war here at home, we'll look at how the continuing violence in Iraq is playing out in several communities around the country.
And later, look at the effects of the California fires and one place where gambling profits are helping to pay for rebuilding.
From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: When Tip O'Neill famously said that all politics is local he was talking about dollars and jobs and laws and such, an observation that applies equally well in wartime with the difference being what's at stake.
With that in mind we want to take the country's temperature after a tough weekend and on the war in general. To help us we're joined by Joseph Perkins, a syndicated columnist for the "San Diego Union- Tribune;" Debbie Stevenson who writes about military matters for the "Daily Herald" in Killeen Texas; and in Grand Forks, North Dakota tonight Mike Jacobs of "The Grand Forks Herald," good to have all of you.
Debbie, let me start with you. It's been said that if Americans clearly understand the mission they will accept the casualties. You're in a military area. Do they accept the mission? Do they understand the mission? Will they be scared away by the casualties?
DEBORAH STEVENSON, MILITARY REPORTER, KILEEN "DAILY HERALD": No. This is a community that has seen many wars, both of the divisions that are based at Fort Hood and saw Persian Gulf action in '91.
This is three more deaths for us. It's very upsetting and, according to your report, I think there was one more outside of Tikrit so we're possibly looking at another. This community (AUDIO GAP). I very much doubt that that's going to change.
BROWN: Mr. Perkins out in San Diego do they understand the mission? Will they accept the casualties? Are they wavering at all these days?
JOSEPH PERKINS, "SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE": Well, I think there are some misgivings. I mean one of the service members who lost his life in this attack on the Chinook helicopter hailed from San Diego. That was Staff Sergeant Paul Velazquez and so it really resonates when one of your own has perished on the ground in the conflict.
And so there are some misgivings, yet I don't think that support has wavered to the point where the majority of people in this military town want to withdraw our forces from Iraq.
BROWN: And, Mike Jacobs in Grand Forks do you find that North Dakotans are asking more questions? Are they a little less sure of themselves?
MIKE JACOBS, EDITOR, "THE GRAND FORKS HERALD": I think the level of anxiety is ramping up pretty rapidly. I don't think that there's any sentiment that we ought to leave because frankly nobody sees a way out.
But there's a lot of anxiety about where this is going to lead and a lot of doubt and uncertainty about exactly how we got here. I think that the mission is not clearly understood and that means that there is a higher level of anxiety than we might have seen if it were otherwise.
BROWN: Perhaps as much if not more than any place in the country, North Dakota was Bush country. Would you expect it will be Bush country a year from now?
JACOBS: I think that support for the president is wavering. I don't imagine that the state would go Democratic but the Democrats around here are starting to wear pretty big smiles because they see the president's majority in the state coming down below 60 percent, maybe 55 percent and at that level you can start imagining electing Democrats locally.
BROWN: Mr. Perkins, you said to us today that you saw the war or you see the war as a war in slow motion. What do you mean?
PERKINS: Well, what I mean by that is that I think the level of concern rises when people think that, gee, we're going to see these attacks not in a fell swoop but these kind of daily attacks and the Pentagon acknowledged last week that they have risen to about 30 to 33 a day.
And, people worry that this will go on for some years, 33, 50, 75 attacks a day and not any large number of Americans dying in a fell swoop but ten here, 16 there, and pretty soon it adds up.
BROWN: You supported the policy of going to war.
PERKINS: Sure.
BROWN: You supported the president. What would you tell him these days?
PERKINS: Well, I think that he has to reassure the American people that there is an end game, that there is an exit strategy that this will not go on interminably.
You know there are a number of people who still have some concerns that we will get ourselves into, you know, I dread to even use the word a quagmire and that years after the fact that Iraqi will not be any closer to a democrat free market system than it is today and that hundreds of service members, men and women, will have perished for naught.
BROWN: Debbie, a couple things. When people hear, people in your community hear the wisdom of the policy debated do they take it personally?
STEVENSON: It depends on what's being said. I think if you start to question the progress that the troops are making I think you're going to get a pretty strong response from this military community, from the soldiers, from those who are waiting to go with the 1st Cavalry Division to those who are already over there.
There's this feeling that, you know, despite the bad news that's coming out of there we're doing a lot of good and for our sakes, you know, we need to tell the families this because it's really tough when you're loved one is gone for a year not to hear about the progress too.
BROWN: Fair point. Let me give you the last word in that case. Do they feel there in Killeen that things are a bit more complicated than they thought they would be?
STEVENSON: Oh, I don't think anybody is doubting that it was a simple thing from the get-go. I think everybody realized that this could be a long term affair. Most of the officers went in eyes wide open and said so privately to me.
BROWN: Thank you all for joining us in San Diego and in Texas and up in North Dakota, good to have you all with us tonight. Thank you.
Coming up on NEWSNIGHT still recovering from the devastating fires out west, Correspondent Jason Bellini visits a place where money for the rebuilding effort comes from a unique source, the gambling industry, a break first.
This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: A few words now on the California wildfires, no longer the lead story, and not just because of the news from Iraq. The weather stayed favorable over the weekend, allowing firefighters to get the upper hand. They expect to fully contain all of the major fires by the middle of the week. They spent much of today dousing hot spots and surveying the damage, considerable damage. The news also better when it comes to people forced out of their homes. More than 27,000 people remain in shelters or other temporary arrangements, but that's down from 80,000 last week.
On the other hand, the death toll is rising, revised upward today to 22. And among those who died, firefighter Steve Rucker, whose body made the journey home today from the San Diego area to Novato, California, up in Sonoma County. Funeral services for Mr. Rucker, who leaves behind a wife and two young children, will be held on Wednesday.
Last week, we talked a bit about this being a story of extremes of scale, on the one hand, three-quarters of a million acres, on the other, one precious memory. Both speak volumes.
Here's CNN's Jason Bellini.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With loss, you expect tears.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We lost a lot of things that we had from our family, old pictures that were just all of my great grandmothers and grandfathers.
And did you see the fire hydrant right there?
BELLINI: But Cheryl Calleck (ph) of the San Pasqual Tribe, who can salvage only this clay pot, sheds none.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll be OK. Everything's going to work out. Everything's for a reason.
BELLINI: Unlike most of us who use that expression, for a reason...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't worry about me. I'll be fine.
BELLINI: ... Cheryl is pretty sure of what that reason is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel that this is a warning for us. It's a warning for us to be aware that we come into this world without nothing, and that's the way we're going to leave.
BELLINI: In the last six years, the Indian tribes of Southern California have, in effect, struck gold.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The casinos and money that people have, Indian people, sometimes it's put before other things that are more important. And maybe, because it hit so many of our reservation, maybe there's a reason for us, because now we're all coming together. All our tribes are helping one another. And we're all becoming close from what happened here.
BELLINI: The eerie silence, normal to the scene of a destroyed home, on this day is interrupted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can burn us, but you can't get rid of us.
BELLINI: By the sounds of her neighbor. For Cheryl, they illustrate an irony. The same casino money she believes is taking Indians away from their traditional values is, in this circumstance, coming to their rescue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got aid from the tribe. The next day, we had something. And the money we got from the tribe is what you see right here. We're already using it, utilizing it to rebuild.
BELLINI (on camera): Since the fire destroyed her home, Cheryl's been staying at the hotel casino behind me, which is owned by the Pechanga Tribe. It's about 20 minutes down the road from where she used to live. Now just about everyone from her tribe has relocated to this hotel, where, for now, they're staying for free.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But that's what I'm talking about. When Indians come together, they all come together as a tribe. They're united.
BELLINI (voice-over): In the ashes, Cheryl finds a lesson from her ancestors.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Indian believes that everything that you have, you hold in your mind and remember and in your heart. You think of those every day and you'll never lose it. You may not have them right with you, materialized, but you will have them here.
BELLINI: Here, she'll leave no trail of tears.
Jason Bellini, CNN, the San Pasqual Indian Reservation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: In California, the losses are sharp and intense, a home in ashes, a lifetime of memories destroyed.
In Washington today, the outrage was over something more subtle, harder to see, money that no one realized was missing, millions of dollars that average investors should have received, but which went instead into the pockets of mutual fund managers and their biggest clients. This may not be as splashy as the Enron scandal, but it is a scandal just the same.
Here's CNN's Allan Chernoff.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Architect Tom Vail has made a pledge to himself: no more money into mutual funds. TOM VAIL, ARCHITECT: It's not right. There's got to be a better way. I haven't pulled out. I've just not added. And until I see those changes, which I think will come, I'm not adding.
CHERNOFF: Mutual funds are supposed to give small investors a fighting chance on Wall Street. By pooling their money together under professional managers, they can compete with the rich, or so they thought. It turns out, even at many mutual funds, the playing field is not even.
STEPHEN CUTLER, SEC ENFORCEMENT DIRECTOR: The feeling I'm left with is one of outrage. And I feel that not just as a prosecutor, but as a citizen and as a member of the investing public. It is intolerable when investment professionals, who are duty-bound to serve their customers' interests, instead serve their own.
CHERNOFF: The SEC has found half of the biggest mutual funds have allowed improper trading, granting the day's 4:00 p.m. closing price to favored clients, who place orders after the market close, and rapid trading in and out of funds, known as market timing, adding unnecessary expenses to long-term investors.
Worst of all, insiders have been doing it. Two portfolio managers at Putnam Investments, CEO Lawrence Lasser resigned today. And the founder of Strong Mutual Funds, Richard Strong, is giving up one of his executive position for excessive trading in his own account. Brokerage firms that sell mutual funds have also been cheating. One quarter of the top firms allowed late trading. Almost one of three permitted rapid trading. And they've overcharged investors $86 million in the past two years for buying mutual funds.
ELIOT SPITZER, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: There will need to be a disgorgement of all -- and I repeat the word all -- fees that were earned with respect to any fund during the period of time during which there was illegal behavior.
CHERNOFF (on camera): What's an investor to do? The mutual fund research company Morningstar says go one step beyond Tom Vail's pledge: pull money out of funds that have been violating their own trading rules.
Allan Chernoff, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Still to come on NEWSNIGHT: Closer to a split, will the Episcopal Church survive the installation of an openly gay bishop?
Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: And lots more NEWSNIGHT ahead: morning papers, of course; Jeff Greenfield tonight on political ads; and, up next, the fallout from the appointment of a gay bishop. Is a split the only answer?
We'll take a break first. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: If you take an historical view, it's not surprising that Episcopalians are arguing amongst themselves. After all, eternal division is their heritage. The Episcopalians broke away from the Anglicans, which Henry VIII split off the Catholics in the 16th century because, you'll recall, he wanted a divorce, several divorces, in fact. For those of you who don't remember, Henry was the one with eight wives.
But today's disagreement is unusually intense, even for Anglicans. And supports celebrated the first openly gay bishop. Opponents said it was a victory for the devil.
Here's CNN's Susan Candiotti.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My brothers and sisters in Christ, greet your new bishop.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As expected, thunderous approval from thousands of supporters, as Gene Robinson became the first openly gay Episcopal bishop. Equally expected, a roar of disapproval from a majority of Anglican leaders in Africa, Asia and Latin America, who frown upon homosexuality.
ARCHBISHOP PETER AKINOLA, NIGERIA: As long as they're not willing to see anything wrong in what they are doing and what they have done, and as long as we insist that what they have done is not welcome, is a violation of scripture, a violation of our connective will, then something has to happen.
CANDIOTTI: In England, home of the spiritual leader of the Anglican Church, there is resistance to openly gay priests.
NICHOLAS WYNNE-JONES, CHURCH OF ENGLAND: Homosexuals are very welcome, but on the basis that they need to learn to live celibate lives.
CANDIOTTI: American conservative Episcopal leaders who failed to stop Robinson from becoming a bishop are starting to form a network of parishes who oppose it. The American Anglican Council issued this stinging rebuke: "Heresy has been held up as holy."
REV. HAYS JUNKIN, DIOCESE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE: We'll be OK. I think we can get through this.
CANDIOTTI: In New Hampshire, where Robinson was elected to lead his diocese, a colleague pleaded for patience.
JUNKIN: That people around this country and perhaps around the Anglican communion will come to see the faith that is in this man and not define him in one aspect of his personhood, which happens to be his sexual orientation.
CANDIOTTI: The new bishop, acknowledging pain for some, predicted a stronger church in the long run.
BISHOP GENE ROBINSON, DIOCESE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE: I think this is a pretty terrific example of how a church can go into new territory and expand their own understanding of God and God's intention. This is an alive church. And it's exciting to be a part of it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: It is new territory, as Gene Robinson said.
And here in the parish church where he used to worship, there's a lot of joy, despite talk of a possible split within the Episcopal Church and the Anglican communion. But, frankly, Aaron, there's also a lot of surprise among people in this area, who can't believe that people are still so interested in the story. They thought all the fuss would be over with by now. We in the media know a lot better, because there's the possibility of so much more -- Aaron.
BROWN: Susan, thank you -- Susan Candiotti tonight.
A few more items, quickly, starting with two from the Supreme Court, which refused today to get into Alabama's battle over the Ten Commandments. Judge Roy Moore, you may remember, installed them in the rotunda of Alabama's Supreme Court building. The court's action today says nothing about the particulars of this case, only that the justices wanted no part of it.
However, the court will take on the question of whether patients can sue their HMOs for negligence in state courts. A federal law would seem to preclude this, but lower courts have been divided -- an important decision.
And not long after pulling out of the presidential race, Bob Graham, the senator from Florida, says he'll forego another shot at keeping his seat. He says a number of factors played a part in his decision not to seek reelect, including his health. He had heart surgery recently.
Ahead on NEWSNIGHT: standing behind the message, Jeff Greenfield on why political candidates make those strange claims at the end of their ads.
This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: People have been complaining about political ads for as long as there have been political ads. TV ads Ike ran were pretty tame stuff compared to the ads of today, those grainy black-and-white attack ads that reduce even the most complicated issues to something a 4-year-old would understand. This year, the ads will be different. Oh, they'll still be nasty. They'll still attack. And they probably will still work. They'll just end differently. Here's CNN's Jeff Greenfield.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)
HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm Howard Dean. It's time for the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST (voice-over): The political ads you'll be seeing this campaign season look a lot like the political ads you see every campaign season, earnest gazes into the camera, heartfelt interpersonal communication with demographically desirable voters. But there's a new twist this season that, to say the least, sounds a bit odd. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe the courage of Americans can change this country. I'm John Kerry. And that's why I approved this message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)
REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D-MO), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I approved this message.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I approved this message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)
DEAN: And I approved this message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD (on camera): Well, of course, they approved the message. They're the ones who just delivered the message. So why do they seem to be saying, more or less, I agree with what I just said? Because it's the law.
SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD (D), WISCONSIN: This is an important reform.
GREENFIELD (voice-over): Remember the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law that was passed last year? Until the U.S. Supreme Court says otherwise -- and they well might -- it's the law of the land. And the Federal Election Commission says that one of the law's provisions requires that -- quote -- "candidate-authorized radio and television ads must include an audio statement by the candidate approving the ad, and, in addition for television communication, a view or image of the candidate and a written statement at the end of the communication" -- unquote.
The rule is aimed at so-called negative commercials, where one campaign uses unflattering photographs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The issue to New Yorkers is trust.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD: Scary music, lurid lighting, all designed to convince you that the other guy can't wait to tax every last penny you have or to throw grandma out into the snow.
If your campaign is going to run these ads, the law says to candidates, you're going to have to say right out loud that you approved the message.
(on camera): But when a candidate wants to run a straight-on positive ad -- here is who I am, here's what I stand for -- the effect of this disclaimer is just plain silly.
I'm Jeff Greenfield, CNN, New York. And I heartily approve of everything I've just said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Before we go to break, a political program note to tell you about. At 7:00 tomorrow night, Eastern time, CNN presents "Rocks the Vote" with Anderson Cooper and the Democratic candidates for president. It will come to you live from Boston, an audience of 400 young voters, who will be asking the questions. And we'll have a full recap here on NEWSNIGHT at 10:00 Eastern time.
We'll have morning papers. That's what we call it, don't we? Morning papers after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(ROOSTER CROWING)
BROWN: All right, time to check morning papers from around the country. And they really are from around the country, all different locations. Sometimes, I just say things. I'm not sure why.
"The Killeen Daily Herald." Our guest tonight, Debbie Stevenson, wrote the story. Her editors wrote the headline. "Attack Claims Three Hood Lives" -- Fort Hood, that would be. The lead is very straightforward. "Three Fort Hood Soldiers Were Among the 21 Troops Killed When Their Helicopter Was Apparently Shot Down By a Missile in Iraq." That is the big story in that town. It's the big story in a lot of towns. "The Dallas Morning News" also headlines the attack in one form or another. "I Thought the Worst Was Over. Communities Nationwide Mourn Soldiers Killed in Chinook Crash, Including Fort Sill and Fort Hood, Where the Pain Hits Too Close." "Troops Look For Missiles. Armies Comb Iraq For Clues Be hind the Deadly Helicopter Attacks," so two stories on the front page of "The Dallas Morning News."
"The San Francisco Chronicle" plays the mutual fund scandal. Very Big, David. We were arguing about this earlier. Thank you. "Irate Lawmakers" -- he gets the final word -- "Call For Major Overhaul of Wall Street Industry." They also lost a soldier, Californian, Central Valley woman, one of 16 killed in the helicopter. She was on her way home for a surprise visit. Karina Lau was her name.
"The Oregonian," we haven't heard from them in a while, out in Portland, Oregon. "Supreme Court" -- state Supreme Court in this case "Hears Lively Cases on Sex Shows and Free Speech." Well, that's the lead. They also do a take, a feature, on "A Region on the Ropes," ranchers in the eastern part of Oregon losing their political clout, for whatever reason. You would have to read the paper to find out why.
"The Washington Times," the other paper in Washington. "Senator Says Democrats Tilt Too Far Left." That would be Zell Miller, I'll bet. I just saw this for the first time. They put a sports story on the front page. "Spurrier" -- as in Steve Spurrier -- "Losing Control of Team." This is only his second year, isn't it? Talk of firing him. I think he's making about $5 million a year. The big story in Washington is football.
Thirty seconds? Really? That's it.
"The Detroit News," nice idea for a story. "Metro Arabs" -- of which there are many in the Detroit area -- "Muslims Suffer Harassment and Hatred, Complaints of Bias, Abuse in Michigan and the Nation."
And "The Chicago Sun-Times." "Saddam Sure U.S. Attack Was a Hoax." This is "Washington Post" story. "Tariq Aziz Tells Interrogators the Deposed Leader Did Little to Prepare for the Invasion." That would be a mistake, wouldn't it?
That's morning papers. That's the program. No, it's not. We have to take a break and then we come back. Creature of habit.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Before we say good night, a quick recap of our top story tonight.
President Bush is promising to stay the course a day after a helicopter loaded with American soldiers on their way home for R&R was shot down in central Iraq; 16 soldiers died. Another 20 were wounded, many of them serious, all being treated at a hospital in Germany in Landstuhl.
Today, the Senate gave its final approval for $87.5 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan, none of it in loans -- more on that tomorrow.
Also coming up tomorrow: the convicts who are getting the chance to become cowboys and the wild horses they take care of -- that and more on NEWSNIGHT tomorrow.
"LOU DOBBS" coming up next. We'll see you tomorrow night, 10:00 Eastern time.
Until then, good night for all of us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 3, 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.
The weekend produced the inevitable. Thankfully, it wasn't on the scale of Beirut, not even close to that but it did seem inevitable that the anti-American forces in Iraq, whoever they are, would eventually get lucky or good and they were.
Sixteen families tonight grieve. Twenty young soldiers are in hospitals being put back together again. As the incident was inevitable, so too will be the questions that follow, here are a couple.
Will the country recoil against the policy or will it resolve to stay the course? Those questions take center stage in the program tonight as Iraq again leads the whip.
First to the Pentagon and CNN's Jamie McIntyre, Jamie a headline from you please.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said that Iraqi insurgents have fired surface-to-air missiles 15 to 20 times at U.S. aircraft but on Sunday one of those missiles found its mark. The president says the U.S. will not run from its mission.
BROWN: Jamie, thank you. We'll get back to you at the top tonight.
Next, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where so many of those victims were based, Ed Lavandera is outside the base, Ed a headline from you tonight.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN DALLAS BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, the effects of this attack are not only being felt here at Fort Sill but at several U.S. Army posts across the country and today we got a chance to learn a little bit about the soldiers riding on that helicopter. We'll share those stories with you in a little bit as well -- Aaron.
BROWN: Ed, thank you very much.
Onto Iraq and the people who celebrated as the American chopper burned, CNN's Jane Arraf has the watch, Jane a headline.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, here in Baghdad mortars or rockets landed tonight in the so-called Green Zone that supposedly secure area housing coalition headquarters. No injuries but a further reminder of the coalition's vulnerability here.
BROWN: Jane, thank you.
And finally the bishop and the consecration which some in the Episcopal Church view as a desecration, Susan Candiotti continues to cover this story for us, Susan a headline.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Aaron. For Gene Robinson and his supporters celebration on his first full day as a bishop, this is his former parish church in New Hampshire but negative reaction is pouring in from around the world, anger and disgust over his elevation to bishop.
BROWN: Susan, thank you. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly.
Also on the program tonight the home front, we'll talk with some of the nation's newspaper editors for a view on how the conflict in Iraq is affecting their readers, their communities.
Jeff Greenfield tonight weighs I on new regulations that force politicians to say some pretty silly things when they're asked to go on TV to get your vote.
And just in case you've forgotten what she sounds like, the rooster drops by. That's got to be a he, it can't be a she, can it, morning papers for a Monday, all that to come in the hour ahead.
We begin with Iraq with echoes of a very bad day for the United States and a successful one for those who would do the country harm. We also begin with an observation. It's getting tougher and tougher to refer to the period since the president declared major combat over as the post war period.
This isn't our observation alone. It is shared by civilian and military leaders in Iraq who now openly use the word insurgency to describe the situation. Not all Iraqis are involved, of course, not even most but enough to remind the government and the governed this is still a war.
We have a number of reports tonight beginning first with CNN's Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE (voice-over): As 16 of the 20 wounded in Sunday's helicopter downing arrived at Ramstein Air Base, Germany for medical treatment, President Bush was vowing the U.S. will not cut and run in Iraq.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A collection of killers is trying to shake the will of America. We will not be intimidated.
MCINTYRE: Sixteen soldiers died in the attack. According to eyewitnesses the second of two shoulder-launched missiles fired from a stand of trees hit the CH-47 Chinook twin rotor transport helicopter as it flew just a few hundred feet above the ground. It's not clear the missile actually detonated but it struck the rear engine and started a chain reaction that plunged the helicopter into a fiery crash.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We have been fortunate in Iraq that we've had any number of firings, 15 maybe 20 in recent months but this is the first one that actually caused casualties and, of course, our heart goes out and our prayers go out to the families and loved ones of those that were killed.
MCINTYRE: This infrared image of a similar CH-47 helicopter shows the hot spot on the rear engine that would have been a magnet for the heat-seeking missile. Still, knocking one out of the sky is not easy.
BRIGADIER GENERAL DAVID GRANGE, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It takes some training but, again, if it was a lucky shot, it if happened to be the right slant angle when the adversary engaged the coalition aircraft then he could have got a hit.
MCINTYRE: U.S. helicopters, like this one seen over Baghdad in April, routinely fly at low altitude to make them harder to target but in this case the low altitude gave the crew almost no reaction time to dispense flares or maneuver to evade the supersonic missile even if they saw it coming.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: Operating U.S. helicopters at night when they're harder to spot would make them harder to shoot down but the Pentagon says they still believe using helicopters to move troops across Iraq is the safest and fastest way to do that. They say there will be no ban on daylight flights. One thing U.S. commanders will do, however, is review the flight patterns to make sure they're not becoming too predictable -- Aaron.
BROWN: Is that part of what happened here that this flight, which was en route to the airport I believe in Baghdad, had made essentially the same run several times?
MCINTYRE: Well, I'm not sure that that's the case but that's one of the things they want to guard against. If you're flying the same route it would be very hard to just happen to be where one of these helicopters is but if they're flying a consistent pattern then it makes it a lot easier. So, they're going to review that, see if they need to mix it up a little more.
BROWN: Jamie, thank you very much, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon.
Now to Iraq where another soldier was killed today and one was wounded when their vehicle hit a landmine. It happened near Tikrit not far from Fallujah in geography or public sentiment. In that regard we were struck today by a scene Dexter Filkins described in his dispatch for "The New York Times." "American GIs in Fallujah today tossing candy from the back of a Humvee to children lining the road. Don't touch it, don't touch it the children screamed to one another. It is poison from the Americans. It will kill you." Children, of course, don't shoot down helicopters. Their attitude, however, speaks powerfully of why the guerrillas believe they could and get away with it.
Here's CNN's Jane Arraf.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARRAF (voice-over): It wasn't supposed to be like this, townspeople cheering U.S. blood, the hat a trophy from an attack in Fallujah that killed two contractors for the military.
While many soldiers are enraged and bewildered, the people they believe they've come to help could harbor the attackers. For many Iraqis in the so-called Sunni Triangle it's crystal clear.
"Make them leave our country" said Hadi Abbas Farhan (ph), a farmer near Fallujah. "They trespassed over our sacred values, entered our mosques, entered our homes."
Farhan, who has 11 children, complained the Americans had brought the most developed weapons in the world but didn't bring generators and seven months after the war couldn't restore all the electricity.
In this country of weapons it's still easy enough to get hold of rocket-propelled grenades and even missile launchers. Military officials and analysts say they believe the attackers these days are a mixture of foreign fighters, Saddam loyalists, common criminals, and Iraqi nationalists.
Saddam Hussein bankrupted the country by twice leading it into war but even with the terror of that regime many Iraqis in this part of the country tell us they took comfort in knowing for the most part how to avoid danger.
This fear and uncertainty is new. In areas like Fallujah, simmering anger against the U.S. occupation makes it easier for attackers to melt into the countryside.
Monday soldiers and investigators were still searching through wreckage of the crash strewn across the fields but they won't find many answers there into why the attacks continue.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARRAF: And in the last few hours news of more attacks, including what appeared to be mortars or rockets landing inside central Baghdad. Now, we went out to look for the impact and found mostly only dark and empty streets.
The coalition says they hit within the Green Zone that supposedly secure area housing the coalition headquarters, no injuries but a reminder that the attackers really can reach pretty well anywhere -- Aaron.
BROWN: Just, Jane, compare the attitudes as best you can of Iraqis in that part of the country we call the Sunni Triangle and all the way to the south, for example, or even farther to the north.
ARRAF: It's much more complex here and part of that is because in the south where it has been a lot more stable it is predominantly almost exclusively Shia with all of the hardship and all of the oppression that they've endured.
Now it's a more complicated, as I said area here and although Baghdad itself is majority Shia it's lumped in with that. But what you tend to find from people is that they feel they've been left out and particularly in Fallujah.
These are people who will tell you over and over we hated Saddam. We do not like Saddam and we don't like the Americans either. We just want to be left alone and, for the most part, that's a very popular sentiment. In the south they seem to still feel that gratitude of being freed from Saddam. Here that really has worn off -- Aaron.
BROWN: Jane, thank you, Jane Arraf in Baghdad tonight.
The soldiers, most of them who died over the weekend, were on their way to the airport in Baghdad. From there they would have gone to Kuwait and from there they would have gone back home for a couple weeks of R&R.
Home for them was Waterbury, Connecticut or Livingston, California; Peoria, Illinois. It was Crystal Springs, Mississippi; Houston, Texas but home was also Fort Hood and Fort Sill where another family, an extended family, grieves tonight.
Here's CNN's Ed Lavandera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Lieutenant Brian Slovenis (ph) died in the crash. He was a member of the Illinois National Guard. His father and two brothers also military men. They knew what was coming when they opened the door.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a classic scene from the movies done many times over, you know. When the uniformed officer comes to the door it's bad news, you know.
LAVANDERA: Mr. Slovenis says his son was piloting the Chinook helicopter at the time. They're a family who understands danger and even death is part of the job but that doesn't ease the pain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't think it's going to affect your family. Even, you know, you watch the news every day and you see the reports and you say, oh thank God it wasn't our family but eventually your number comes up. You know it's just bad luck.
LAVANDERA: Also onboard was Sergeant Ernest Bucklew. He was being sent home so he could attend his mother's funeral. The Pentagon has started releasing the names of the soldiers that were killed in Sunday's attack on a U.S. helicopter. The soldiers who died come from several posts across the country, like Fort Sill, Oklahoma; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Carson, Colorado; and Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Twenty soldiers were also injured in the crash. They have been taken to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. All the wounded are expected to survive but some are still in critical condition.
The military's rest and recuperation program is supposed to be a morale builder not a heartbreaker so the news of 16 soldiers dying on their way to vacation has left a stinging sensation at Army posts like Fort Sill where they say six of Sunday's victims were based.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you lost a soldier, you lose a member of your extended Army family, so regardless of how or when you lose them it's just a painful process that's tough.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: Today we learned the identity of ten of the 16 who were onboard that helicopter. We are now able to confirm the 11th victim and that is 21-year-old Steven Conover of Wilmington, Ohio, who was also based here at Fort Sill and his father says that he was on his way home for his two week vacation as well.
Military officials here at Fort Sill say that while they're not directly involved in the investigation of the helicopter crash that they do expect to hear a full report. Of course, they're not the only ones with questions. Many families and friends of these victims and the wounded have plenty of questions of their own we're told -- Aaron.
BROWN: Ed, thank you very much, Ed Lavandera tonight.
Congress today gave final approval to the president's budget request for Iraq and Afghanistan, $87 billion and change, $21 billion for reconstruction, none of it in the form of loans as a number of lawmakers had wanted, $64 billion will go to fight the war.
Senate approval came after hours of fairly tough words from a number of Democrats but in the end an agreement was reached to approve this measure by a voice vote, meaning no one had to go on the record as being for or against $87 billion in all.
That noted, we go back to Baghdad now. We're joined by Joshua Hammer who is "Newsweek" magazine's Baghdad Bureau Chief, good to have you with us tonight. How has the insurgency changed over the last couple of months?
JOSHUA HAMMER, "NEWSWEEK" BUREAU CHIEF: Dramatically, I think at the very beginning the American administration wasn't even really calling this a guerrilla war. Then you began to have a series of attacks, two, three soldiers killed a week.
You saw a steady escalation from that number to about six or seven. Then, of course, the proliferation of these attacks throughout the region, not just the Sunni Triangle but also up in Mosul, down in the south occasionally as well, and now of course you're seeing the next level of these attacks which is the use of shoulder-fired missiles, the bringing down of an aircraft and a large number of dead.
I think all along the guerrillas have wanted to move from these attacks that kill one, two or three soldiers to a big number that would deliver some psychological blow to the American administration, to the U.S. occupation forces here, and they've definitely succeeded.
BROWN: What are the American options here and what are the downsides of each?
HAMMER: The Americans keep saying that they have to get more intelligence that they don't know who the attackers are that they have some idea. Some people are coming forward but that they're really in the dark about this.
The problems is, as I witnessed myself last week when I was out with the 82nd Airborne Division in Fallujah on one of these night raids, is that the tactics that they're employing to ascertain who is trying to kill them are only serving to alienate the people further.
It's a classic vicious cycle that you've seen in Vietnam, that you've seen in Algeria, that you've seen in virtually any grassroots guerrilla war, which is that a beleaguered occupation force turns against the population in an attempt to gain information alienates it further and therefore feeds the insurgency. So this is the kind of difficulty that the Americans are facing as they try to figure out who is trying to kill them.
BROWN: The Americans, the American government speaks often, every day these days about once we get more Iraqis involved in Iraqi security a lot of these problems will melt away. Is that credible from where you sit?
HAMMER: This attempt to -- this version of Vietnamization that we're seeing is moving extremely slowly. I think the American military has succeeded in getting about 1,000 members of the former Iraqi military trained. That's 1,000. That's one battalion. That's nothing.
They're also attempting to turn security over to a certain extent to a police force but if you talk to people in Baghdad and if you talk to police in the hinterlands there's no money. There are no weapons. There is no communications gear. There's no equipment. There are no cars.
This appears to be sort of trapped in a bureaucratic morass and nothing is really happening on that front. So, it's a very, very slow cumbersome process and as this process drags on you're going to see many more Americans killed, so the American government is really in a race against time here and I think they're losing.
BROWN: Just one more. Is it your feeling that this anti- American feeling that we saw in the celebrations of yesterday's shooting down of the helicopter that that's genuine or are people more fearful of the insurgents than they are of the Americans in a sense?
HAMMER: Aaron, I spent a bit of time in the Sunni Triangle over the past few months and I don't -- the Americans will tell you that there's a tremendous fear of reprisal here that anyone who dares to collaborate, who gives them information risks death but when you go out there and you talk to these people you can sense it.
I mean you sense this exuberance. I was down at the site of this helicopter crash a couple of days ago and there was rejoicing, clear rejoicing at the deaths of all of these Americans from kids on up to adults and, you know, that doesn't come from being at the end of a gun. That comes from a growing hatred of the Americans I'm afraid.
BROWN: Joshua thanks for your time this morning for you. Thank you very much.
HAMMER: You're welcome.
BROWN: Joshua Hammer of "Newsweek" magazine in Baghdad.
Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the war here at home, we'll look at how the continuing violence in Iraq is playing out in several communities around the country.
And later, look at the effects of the California fires and one place where gambling profits are helping to pay for rebuilding.
From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: When Tip O'Neill famously said that all politics is local he was talking about dollars and jobs and laws and such, an observation that applies equally well in wartime with the difference being what's at stake.
With that in mind we want to take the country's temperature after a tough weekend and on the war in general. To help us we're joined by Joseph Perkins, a syndicated columnist for the "San Diego Union- Tribune;" Debbie Stevenson who writes about military matters for the "Daily Herald" in Killeen Texas; and in Grand Forks, North Dakota tonight Mike Jacobs of "The Grand Forks Herald," good to have all of you.
Debbie, let me start with you. It's been said that if Americans clearly understand the mission they will accept the casualties. You're in a military area. Do they accept the mission? Do they understand the mission? Will they be scared away by the casualties?
DEBORAH STEVENSON, MILITARY REPORTER, KILEEN "DAILY HERALD": No. This is a community that has seen many wars, both of the divisions that are based at Fort Hood and saw Persian Gulf action in '91.
This is three more deaths for us. It's very upsetting and, according to your report, I think there was one more outside of Tikrit so we're possibly looking at another. This community (AUDIO GAP). I very much doubt that that's going to change.
BROWN: Mr. Perkins out in San Diego do they understand the mission? Will they accept the casualties? Are they wavering at all these days?
JOSEPH PERKINS, "SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE": Well, I think there are some misgivings. I mean one of the service members who lost his life in this attack on the Chinook helicopter hailed from San Diego. That was Staff Sergeant Paul Velazquez and so it really resonates when one of your own has perished on the ground in the conflict.
And so there are some misgivings, yet I don't think that support has wavered to the point where the majority of people in this military town want to withdraw our forces from Iraq.
BROWN: And, Mike Jacobs in Grand Forks do you find that North Dakotans are asking more questions? Are they a little less sure of themselves?
MIKE JACOBS, EDITOR, "THE GRAND FORKS HERALD": I think the level of anxiety is ramping up pretty rapidly. I don't think that there's any sentiment that we ought to leave because frankly nobody sees a way out.
But there's a lot of anxiety about where this is going to lead and a lot of doubt and uncertainty about exactly how we got here. I think that the mission is not clearly understood and that means that there is a higher level of anxiety than we might have seen if it were otherwise.
BROWN: Perhaps as much if not more than any place in the country, North Dakota was Bush country. Would you expect it will be Bush country a year from now?
JACOBS: I think that support for the president is wavering. I don't imagine that the state would go Democratic but the Democrats around here are starting to wear pretty big smiles because they see the president's majority in the state coming down below 60 percent, maybe 55 percent and at that level you can start imagining electing Democrats locally.
BROWN: Mr. Perkins, you said to us today that you saw the war or you see the war as a war in slow motion. What do you mean?
PERKINS: Well, what I mean by that is that I think the level of concern rises when people think that, gee, we're going to see these attacks not in a fell swoop but these kind of daily attacks and the Pentagon acknowledged last week that they have risen to about 30 to 33 a day.
And, people worry that this will go on for some years, 33, 50, 75 attacks a day and not any large number of Americans dying in a fell swoop but ten here, 16 there, and pretty soon it adds up.
BROWN: You supported the policy of going to war.
PERKINS: Sure.
BROWN: You supported the president. What would you tell him these days?
PERKINS: Well, I think that he has to reassure the American people that there is an end game, that there is an exit strategy that this will not go on interminably.
You know there are a number of people who still have some concerns that we will get ourselves into, you know, I dread to even use the word a quagmire and that years after the fact that Iraqi will not be any closer to a democrat free market system than it is today and that hundreds of service members, men and women, will have perished for naught.
BROWN: Debbie, a couple things. When people hear, people in your community hear the wisdom of the policy debated do they take it personally?
STEVENSON: It depends on what's being said. I think if you start to question the progress that the troops are making I think you're going to get a pretty strong response from this military community, from the soldiers, from those who are waiting to go with the 1st Cavalry Division to those who are already over there.
There's this feeling that, you know, despite the bad news that's coming out of there we're doing a lot of good and for our sakes, you know, we need to tell the families this because it's really tough when you're loved one is gone for a year not to hear about the progress too.
BROWN: Fair point. Let me give you the last word in that case. Do they feel there in Killeen that things are a bit more complicated than they thought they would be?
STEVENSON: Oh, I don't think anybody is doubting that it was a simple thing from the get-go. I think everybody realized that this could be a long term affair. Most of the officers went in eyes wide open and said so privately to me.
BROWN: Thank you all for joining us in San Diego and in Texas and up in North Dakota, good to have you all with us tonight. Thank you.
Coming up on NEWSNIGHT still recovering from the devastating fires out west, Correspondent Jason Bellini visits a place where money for the rebuilding effort comes from a unique source, the gambling industry, a break first.
This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: A few words now on the California wildfires, no longer the lead story, and not just because of the news from Iraq. The weather stayed favorable over the weekend, allowing firefighters to get the upper hand. They expect to fully contain all of the major fires by the middle of the week. They spent much of today dousing hot spots and surveying the damage, considerable damage. The news also better when it comes to people forced out of their homes. More than 27,000 people remain in shelters or other temporary arrangements, but that's down from 80,000 last week.
On the other hand, the death toll is rising, revised upward today to 22. And among those who died, firefighter Steve Rucker, whose body made the journey home today from the San Diego area to Novato, California, up in Sonoma County. Funeral services for Mr. Rucker, who leaves behind a wife and two young children, will be held on Wednesday.
Last week, we talked a bit about this being a story of extremes of scale, on the one hand, three-quarters of a million acres, on the other, one precious memory. Both speak volumes.
Here's CNN's Jason Bellini.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With loss, you expect tears.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We lost a lot of things that we had from our family, old pictures that were just all of my great grandmothers and grandfathers.
And did you see the fire hydrant right there?
BELLINI: But Cheryl Calleck (ph) of the San Pasqual Tribe, who can salvage only this clay pot, sheds none.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll be OK. Everything's going to work out. Everything's for a reason.
BELLINI: Unlike most of us who use that expression, for a reason...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't worry about me. I'll be fine.
BELLINI: ... Cheryl is pretty sure of what that reason is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel that this is a warning for us. It's a warning for us to be aware that we come into this world without nothing, and that's the way we're going to leave.
BELLINI: In the last six years, the Indian tribes of Southern California have, in effect, struck gold.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The casinos and money that people have, Indian people, sometimes it's put before other things that are more important. And maybe, because it hit so many of our reservation, maybe there's a reason for us, because now we're all coming together. All our tribes are helping one another. And we're all becoming close from what happened here.
BELLINI: The eerie silence, normal to the scene of a destroyed home, on this day is interrupted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can burn us, but you can't get rid of us.
BELLINI: By the sounds of her neighbor. For Cheryl, they illustrate an irony. The same casino money she believes is taking Indians away from their traditional values is, in this circumstance, coming to their rescue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got aid from the tribe. The next day, we had something. And the money we got from the tribe is what you see right here. We're already using it, utilizing it to rebuild.
BELLINI (on camera): Since the fire destroyed her home, Cheryl's been staying at the hotel casino behind me, which is owned by the Pechanga Tribe. It's about 20 minutes down the road from where she used to live. Now just about everyone from her tribe has relocated to this hotel, where, for now, they're staying for free.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But that's what I'm talking about. When Indians come together, they all come together as a tribe. They're united.
BELLINI (voice-over): In the ashes, Cheryl finds a lesson from her ancestors.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Indian believes that everything that you have, you hold in your mind and remember and in your heart. You think of those every day and you'll never lose it. You may not have them right with you, materialized, but you will have them here.
BELLINI: Here, she'll leave no trail of tears.
Jason Bellini, CNN, the San Pasqual Indian Reservation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: In California, the losses are sharp and intense, a home in ashes, a lifetime of memories destroyed.
In Washington today, the outrage was over something more subtle, harder to see, money that no one realized was missing, millions of dollars that average investors should have received, but which went instead into the pockets of mutual fund managers and their biggest clients. This may not be as splashy as the Enron scandal, but it is a scandal just the same.
Here's CNN's Allan Chernoff.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Architect Tom Vail has made a pledge to himself: no more money into mutual funds. TOM VAIL, ARCHITECT: It's not right. There's got to be a better way. I haven't pulled out. I've just not added. And until I see those changes, which I think will come, I'm not adding.
CHERNOFF: Mutual funds are supposed to give small investors a fighting chance on Wall Street. By pooling their money together under professional managers, they can compete with the rich, or so they thought. It turns out, even at many mutual funds, the playing field is not even.
STEPHEN CUTLER, SEC ENFORCEMENT DIRECTOR: The feeling I'm left with is one of outrage. And I feel that not just as a prosecutor, but as a citizen and as a member of the investing public. It is intolerable when investment professionals, who are duty-bound to serve their customers' interests, instead serve their own.
CHERNOFF: The SEC has found half of the biggest mutual funds have allowed improper trading, granting the day's 4:00 p.m. closing price to favored clients, who place orders after the market close, and rapid trading in and out of funds, known as market timing, adding unnecessary expenses to long-term investors.
Worst of all, insiders have been doing it. Two portfolio managers at Putnam Investments, CEO Lawrence Lasser resigned today. And the founder of Strong Mutual Funds, Richard Strong, is giving up one of his executive position for excessive trading in his own account. Brokerage firms that sell mutual funds have also been cheating. One quarter of the top firms allowed late trading. Almost one of three permitted rapid trading. And they've overcharged investors $86 million in the past two years for buying mutual funds.
ELIOT SPITZER, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: There will need to be a disgorgement of all -- and I repeat the word all -- fees that were earned with respect to any fund during the period of time during which there was illegal behavior.
CHERNOFF (on camera): What's an investor to do? The mutual fund research company Morningstar says go one step beyond Tom Vail's pledge: pull money out of funds that have been violating their own trading rules.
Allan Chernoff, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Still to come on NEWSNIGHT: Closer to a split, will the Episcopal Church survive the installation of an openly gay bishop?
Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: And lots more NEWSNIGHT ahead: morning papers, of course; Jeff Greenfield tonight on political ads; and, up next, the fallout from the appointment of a gay bishop. Is a split the only answer?
We'll take a break first. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: If you take an historical view, it's not surprising that Episcopalians are arguing amongst themselves. After all, eternal division is their heritage. The Episcopalians broke away from the Anglicans, which Henry VIII split off the Catholics in the 16th century because, you'll recall, he wanted a divorce, several divorces, in fact. For those of you who don't remember, Henry was the one with eight wives.
But today's disagreement is unusually intense, even for Anglicans. And supports celebrated the first openly gay bishop. Opponents said it was a victory for the devil.
Here's CNN's Susan Candiotti.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My brothers and sisters in Christ, greet your new bishop.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As expected, thunderous approval from thousands of supporters, as Gene Robinson became the first openly gay Episcopal bishop. Equally expected, a roar of disapproval from a majority of Anglican leaders in Africa, Asia and Latin America, who frown upon homosexuality.
ARCHBISHOP PETER AKINOLA, NIGERIA: As long as they're not willing to see anything wrong in what they are doing and what they have done, and as long as we insist that what they have done is not welcome, is a violation of scripture, a violation of our connective will, then something has to happen.
CANDIOTTI: In England, home of the spiritual leader of the Anglican Church, there is resistance to openly gay priests.
NICHOLAS WYNNE-JONES, CHURCH OF ENGLAND: Homosexuals are very welcome, but on the basis that they need to learn to live celibate lives.
CANDIOTTI: American conservative Episcopal leaders who failed to stop Robinson from becoming a bishop are starting to form a network of parishes who oppose it. The American Anglican Council issued this stinging rebuke: "Heresy has been held up as holy."
REV. HAYS JUNKIN, DIOCESE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE: We'll be OK. I think we can get through this.
CANDIOTTI: In New Hampshire, where Robinson was elected to lead his diocese, a colleague pleaded for patience.
JUNKIN: That people around this country and perhaps around the Anglican communion will come to see the faith that is in this man and not define him in one aspect of his personhood, which happens to be his sexual orientation.
CANDIOTTI: The new bishop, acknowledging pain for some, predicted a stronger church in the long run.
BISHOP GENE ROBINSON, DIOCESE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE: I think this is a pretty terrific example of how a church can go into new territory and expand their own understanding of God and God's intention. This is an alive church. And it's exciting to be a part of it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: It is new territory, as Gene Robinson said.
And here in the parish church where he used to worship, there's a lot of joy, despite talk of a possible split within the Episcopal Church and the Anglican communion. But, frankly, Aaron, there's also a lot of surprise among people in this area, who can't believe that people are still so interested in the story. They thought all the fuss would be over with by now. We in the media know a lot better, because there's the possibility of so much more -- Aaron.
BROWN: Susan, thank you -- Susan Candiotti tonight.
A few more items, quickly, starting with two from the Supreme Court, which refused today to get into Alabama's battle over the Ten Commandments. Judge Roy Moore, you may remember, installed them in the rotunda of Alabama's Supreme Court building. The court's action today says nothing about the particulars of this case, only that the justices wanted no part of it.
However, the court will take on the question of whether patients can sue their HMOs for negligence in state courts. A federal law would seem to preclude this, but lower courts have been divided -- an important decision.
And not long after pulling out of the presidential race, Bob Graham, the senator from Florida, says he'll forego another shot at keeping his seat. He says a number of factors played a part in his decision not to seek reelect, including his health. He had heart surgery recently.
Ahead on NEWSNIGHT: standing behind the message, Jeff Greenfield on why political candidates make those strange claims at the end of their ads.
This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: People have been complaining about political ads for as long as there have been political ads. TV ads Ike ran were pretty tame stuff compared to the ads of today, those grainy black-and-white attack ads that reduce even the most complicated issues to something a 4-year-old would understand. This year, the ads will be different. Oh, they'll still be nasty. They'll still attack. And they probably will still work. They'll just end differently. Here's CNN's Jeff Greenfield.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)
HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm Howard Dean. It's time for the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST (voice-over): The political ads you'll be seeing this campaign season look a lot like the political ads you see every campaign season, earnest gazes into the camera, heartfelt interpersonal communication with demographically desirable voters. But there's a new twist this season that, to say the least, sounds a bit odd. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe the courage of Americans can change this country. I'm John Kerry. And that's why I approved this message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)
REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D-MO), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I approved this message.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I approved this message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)
DEAN: And I approved this message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD (on camera): Well, of course, they approved the message. They're the ones who just delivered the message. So why do they seem to be saying, more or less, I agree with what I just said? Because it's the law.
SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD (D), WISCONSIN: This is an important reform.
GREENFIELD (voice-over): Remember the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law that was passed last year? Until the U.S. Supreme Court says otherwise -- and they well might -- it's the law of the land. And the Federal Election Commission says that one of the law's provisions requires that -- quote -- "candidate-authorized radio and television ads must include an audio statement by the candidate approving the ad, and, in addition for television communication, a view or image of the candidate and a written statement at the end of the communication" -- unquote.
The rule is aimed at so-called negative commercials, where one campaign uses unflattering photographs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The issue to New Yorkers is trust.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD: Scary music, lurid lighting, all designed to convince you that the other guy can't wait to tax every last penny you have or to throw grandma out into the snow.
If your campaign is going to run these ads, the law says to candidates, you're going to have to say right out loud that you approved the message.
(on camera): But when a candidate wants to run a straight-on positive ad -- here is who I am, here's what I stand for -- the effect of this disclaimer is just plain silly.
I'm Jeff Greenfield, CNN, New York. And I heartily approve of everything I've just said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Before we go to break, a political program note to tell you about. At 7:00 tomorrow night, Eastern time, CNN presents "Rocks the Vote" with Anderson Cooper and the Democratic candidates for president. It will come to you live from Boston, an audience of 400 young voters, who will be asking the questions. And we'll have a full recap here on NEWSNIGHT at 10:00 Eastern time.
We'll have morning papers. That's what we call it, don't we? Morning papers after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(ROOSTER CROWING)
BROWN: All right, time to check morning papers from around the country. And they really are from around the country, all different locations. Sometimes, I just say things. I'm not sure why.
"The Killeen Daily Herald." Our guest tonight, Debbie Stevenson, wrote the story. Her editors wrote the headline. "Attack Claims Three Hood Lives" -- Fort Hood, that would be. The lead is very straightforward. "Three Fort Hood Soldiers Were Among the 21 Troops Killed When Their Helicopter Was Apparently Shot Down By a Missile in Iraq." That is the big story in that town. It's the big story in a lot of towns. "The Dallas Morning News" also headlines the attack in one form or another. "I Thought the Worst Was Over. Communities Nationwide Mourn Soldiers Killed in Chinook Crash, Including Fort Sill and Fort Hood, Where the Pain Hits Too Close." "Troops Look For Missiles. Armies Comb Iraq For Clues Be hind the Deadly Helicopter Attacks," so two stories on the front page of "The Dallas Morning News."
"The San Francisco Chronicle" plays the mutual fund scandal. Very Big, David. We were arguing about this earlier. Thank you. "Irate Lawmakers" -- he gets the final word -- "Call For Major Overhaul of Wall Street Industry." They also lost a soldier, Californian, Central Valley woman, one of 16 killed in the helicopter. She was on her way home for a surprise visit. Karina Lau was her name.
"The Oregonian," we haven't heard from them in a while, out in Portland, Oregon. "Supreme Court" -- state Supreme Court in this case "Hears Lively Cases on Sex Shows and Free Speech." Well, that's the lead. They also do a take, a feature, on "A Region on the Ropes," ranchers in the eastern part of Oregon losing their political clout, for whatever reason. You would have to read the paper to find out why.
"The Washington Times," the other paper in Washington. "Senator Says Democrats Tilt Too Far Left." That would be Zell Miller, I'll bet. I just saw this for the first time. They put a sports story on the front page. "Spurrier" -- as in Steve Spurrier -- "Losing Control of Team." This is only his second year, isn't it? Talk of firing him. I think he's making about $5 million a year. The big story in Washington is football.
Thirty seconds? Really? That's it.
"The Detroit News," nice idea for a story. "Metro Arabs" -- of which there are many in the Detroit area -- "Muslims Suffer Harassment and Hatred, Complaints of Bias, Abuse in Michigan and the Nation."
And "The Chicago Sun-Times." "Saddam Sure U.S. Attack Was a Hoax." This is "Washington Post" story. "Tariq Aziz Tells Interrogators the Deposed Leader Did Little to Prepare for the Invasion." That would be a mistake, wouldn't it?
That's morning papers. That's the program. No, it's not. We have to take a break and then we come back. Creature of habit.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Before we say good night, a quick recap of our top story tonight.
President Bush is promising to stay the course a day after a helicopter loaded with American soldiers on their way home for R&R was shot down in central Iraq; 16 soldiers died. Another 20 were wounded, many of them serious, all being treated at a hospital in Germany in Landstuhl.
Today, the Senate gave its final approval for $87.5 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan, none of it in loans -- more on that tomorrow.
Also coming up tomorrow: the convicts who are getting the chance to become cowboys and the wild horses they take care of -- that and more on NEWSNIGHT tomorrow.
"LOU DOBBS" coming up next. We'll see you tomorrow night, 10:00 Eastern time.
Until then, good night for all of us.
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