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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Bush Defends Decision on Iraq; Dean Says he's out if he Doesn't Win Wisconsin

Aired February 05, 2004 - 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 news today is all about WMDs. The opposition in Britain called on Tony Blair to resign. Democrats in this country are doing their best to unseat President Bush and those WMDs Iraq had and hid or destroyed or never had are no small part of the case.

A year ago it was also black and white. The secretary of state said about the Iraqi weapons these aren't assumptions. They are facts. The president listed the amount of chemical and biological agents Saddam had. The defense secretary said we know where they are.

And had they found those weapons we suspect Iraq would be the president's ticket to a second term but they haven't, which is why WMDs top the program again and top the whip, which begins with the CIA director's defense of his agency and its work.

Our National Security Correspondent David Ensor, of course, covering, David start us with a headline.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the CIA and George Tenet have been under fire for months if not more, especially in the last couple of weeks, so George Tenet took them on, the critics, today especially his own former weapons inspector.

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

Over at the White House where the president was also out defending the war today, Suzanne Malveaux with the duty tonight, a headline from you please.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was at the heart of President Bush's case to go to war, the Iraq alleged weapons of mass destruction. Now the White House is in a very delicate position how to justify the war and their absence at the same time express some confidence in American intelligence.

BROWN: Suzanne, thank you.

And to the presidential campaign and questions of how something that looks so right could have turned out so wrong or at least so it appears, Jeff Greenfield with a headline on the Dean campaign tonight -- Jeff.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Aaron, what seemed impossible five, six weeks ago now seems all too possible. Howard Dean has pulled his troops out of Michigan. He is looking to February 17, the primary in Wisconsin, and he says in no uncertain terms he either wins or he's done -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jeff, thank you. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly.

Also ahead on the program tonight we'll talk with General Wesley Clark about his campaign moving into the latest rounds of primaries and caucuses this weekend and early next week.

We'll also have the story of the fallout of a pharmacist's refusal to fill a legal prescription for the morning after pill to a woman who had been raped.

In Segment 7 tonight, we spend some time with the First Lady Laura Bush and hear what she thinks about the campaign coming up.

And later the rooster will be here and so will your morning papers for tomorrow, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin with the messy debate over possible failures in U.S. intelligence on WMDs in Iraq. The administration played defense on two fronts today and this won't be the last time because unless or until those WMDs are found questions of trust will remain.

We begin with the CIA director's passionate defense of his agency reported by David Ensor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR (voice-over): George Tenet offered a combative defense of the intelligence from his analysts before the Iraq War.

GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: They never said there was an imminent threat. Rather, they painted an objective assessment for our policymakers of a brutal dictator who was continuing his efforts to deceive and build programs that might constantly surprise us and threaten our interests.

ENSOR: On specifics though there were some admissions from the director of Central Intelligence that the estimates have not always been proved right on Iraq's nuclear program.

TENET: We may have overestimated the progress Saddam was making.

ENSOR: And on chemical weapons.

TENET: We have not yet found the weapons we expected.

DAVID KAY, FORMER CIA WEAPONS INSPECTOR: To me it's clear Iraq had no large stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons at the time of the war.

ENSOR: David Kay, the former weapons inspector, made that assertion again after Tenet's speech. Tenet strongly rejected the general charge that the CIA has been weak on human intelligence.

He said a CIA spy led the U.S. to al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, that penetration of Libya's WMD supply network and the CIA telling Tripoli that the game was up contributed to Gadhafi's decision to give up the weapons, and that spies inside Dr. A. Q. Khan's black market nuclear network based in Pakistan led to its exposure.

TENET: So, when you hear pundits say that we have no human intelligence capability they don't know what they're talking about.

ENSOR: But David Kay said the CIA's capabilities, in Iraq for example, are still far too weak.

KAY: I had at the height of the Iraqi survey group under me exactly two case officers who were fluent in Arabic. I had to give those up because of a higher priority.

ENSOR: U.S. intelligence officials declined comment on that but they do point out that the Iraq survey group also has linguists and military personnel on it, some of whom speak Arabic.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats were quick to contrast the Bush administration's line with Tenet's comment that there was no imminent threat.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), MICHIGAN: His statements were much more cautious, possibilities, probabilities, likelihoods, beliefs, high level of confidence, medium level of confidence. That's not what the leaders of this administration said. Their statements were we're certain that he has this. We're certain that he has chemicals. We're certain he has biological weapons.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: Tenet's speech pleased intelligence professionals but by highlighting that U.S. intelligence never said the Iraqi threat was imminent it may provide ammunition for critics of the president's decision to go to war -- Aaron.

BROWN: It's a little off point but what do they think David Kay's gain is here? I mean -- I don't mean that pejoratively but they must wonder what -- why he's doing what he's doing so often.

ENSOR: I think a lot of people do. Those who like what he says say he's just a straight shooter but clearly he makes both the president's critics and the president nervous. There's some question in the air as to whether he's going to be appointed to this presidential commission.

He told me today he has not been asked. To be honest, if I may offer an opinion I'd be a little surprised if he's asked because he's a little bit of a loose cannon in the view of some in the White House -- Aaron.

BROWN: You may offer an opinion. Thank you and you did. Thank you very much, David Ensor.

We can't know this but we can only imagine how frustrating it all must be for the president as his campaign for reelection begins. Iraq should have been a victory lap, a chance to exchange political high fives over war fought quickly and well that most of the country supported.

But the post war has been messy and the WMD issue is, at best, unresolved. The polls on Iraq show some softening in public opinion and so that victory lap has become something else.

From the White House tonight, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): While CIA Director George Tenet takes on his critics over potentially faulty pre-war intelligence, President Bush continues his aggressive campaign to defend his call to war.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Knowing what I knew then and knowing what I know today America did the right thing in Iraq.

MALVEAUX: President Bush stands by the man who delivered him the pre-war intelligence regarding Iraq and continues to argue that Saddam Hussein posed such a threat that the U.S. had to go to war.

BUSH: We had a choice either take the word of a madman or take action to defend the American people. Faced with that choice, I will defend America every time.

MALVEAUX: In South Carolina where Democratic candidates held their primary just two days ago, Mr. Bush acknowledged the U.S. had not found stockpiles of banned weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but he emphasized there is still work to be done in the search. The White House strategy is simple, get this one message across.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: The president made the right decision.

MALVEAUX: But Democrats vying for Mr. Bush's job argue that the White House is still playing on Americans' fears to justify the war.,

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The White House used the words to the American people and to the Congress, urgent threat, imminent threat.

MALVEAUX: But Mr. Bush argues not only is his policy on Iraq sound, what sets him apart from his critics is that he gets it.

BUSH: America is safer when our commitments are clear, our word is good and our will is strong and that is the only way I know how to lead.

(END VIDEOTAPE) MALVEAUX: Now part of the White House strategy is for Mr. Bush to take his campaign message and his strategy, of course, to those places where he's been hit the hardest. That's where Democrats have been holding their primaries. A couple of weeks ago it was in New Hampshire, today South Carolina. Next week it will be Missouri -- Aaron.

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

A lot of talk today on a topic with potential political consequences, what about the words politics or not? Evan Thomas, Assistant Managing Editor of "Newsweek" magazine has written a book about the CIA and thought a lot about intelligence gathering and how we do it and we're always pleased to have him with us.

Who was George Tenet's speech to today? Who was the audience?

EVAN THOMAS, "NEWSWEEK": Well, a number of difference audiences and that's why it was so interesting. We got to see why Tenet is such a survivor because he had to -- couldn't sell out his own troops so he had to protect them.

At the same time, he wanted to get the press off his back. He didn't want to sell out the White House and he wanted to placate Congress and, finally, he wanted to convince the American people that they shouldn't lose faith in the CIA.

That's a lot of different audiences and I actually thought he did a pretty good job. We got to see his bluff charm, his confidence. He was good at conceding a little but not too much, being proud of his -- of his agency but not overly proud. He threaded a needle.

BROWN: As I listened to it and then went back and read it again tonight, he obviously presented a more nuanced case for weapons of mass destruction than the administration did a year ago.

The administration did talk specifically. I remember the president talking about how -- literally how much of one chemical and another Saddam had. The vice president was very black and white. The secretary of state talked about facts not assertions. Is the White House going to be unhappy with Mr. Tenet?

THOMAS: I -- they like -- well, put it this way George Bush likes Tenet. That carries a lot of weight and that carries more weight than anything else. Also, it would be pretty ugly to overthrow the head of the CIA.

I think everybody is sort of in this together. They don't want to have too much water between them as critics and pundits will look for the gaps and you just pointed out that the administration was a lot more certain about this than Tenet seemed today, so there is some open water between them but they're basically in this together.

BROWN: Let's step back a bit. Do all of us expect too much out of the intelligence community? THOMAS: Absolutely. The history of intelligence since certainly World War II has been pretty iffy. We've done great things with what they call national technical means, our spy satellites and our ability to eavesdrop has been really quite amazing, our spy planes and spy satellites.

But our human intelligence was never that great during the Cold War. We, for years we didn't really have very good assets inside the Soviet Union. Towards the end of the Cold War it got better.

And against al Qaeda and Iraq it's been pretty weak. It's not as if we have no assets, as Tenet pointed out today. Apparently we had a spy that got us one of the big al Qaeda fish.

But generally speaking, we're not really inside these very hard to get at -- I mean spying is hard to do and Americans have a distorted view from watching too many movies, you know, this idea that some guy, American looking guy in a trench coat is going to wander around Baghdad is ridiculous.

BROWN: Do you think the commission the president is going to appoint will fix the problem?

THOMAS: Well, that's a good question. I was talking about that today with a high administration official. There's always a risk to these commissions that they just make the CIA more demoralized.

You can make the problem worse if the bureaucrats just think, oh God, here we go again and more congressional testimony. I got to hire a lawyer again, more testimony. They can crawl back into their shell and Tenet is clearly worried about that and trying to rally his troops.

On the other hand, institutions can reform themselves and sometimes they need a push and the CIA doesn't seem to have really been able to reform itself. I think Tenet's been a pretty good leader but sometimes you need a kick from the outside.

And the military, you know, the military has done a great job of reforming itself since Vietnam. I think the intelligence community less so and maybe they do need a good commission but if it turns into a witch hunt it's going to be counterproductive.

BROWN: Evan, it's good to see you. Thank you.

THOMAS: Thank you.

BROWN: Thank you. On to another corner in the war on terror, the hundreds of detainees, more than 600 being held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay. This has all triggered legal challenges, as you know some international outcry as well.

But all the headlines notwithstanding it is the story, as we say in our business, that's short on pictures, news reports from and about Guantanamo tend to rely on file tape of the camp, a lot of exteriors, not much in the way of detail. That changed some today, from the Pentagon CNN's Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Defense Department is providing an unprecedented video look at the conditions in which some 650 detainees are being held at the naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, all suspected members of the Taliban and al Qaeda.

There are privileges for detainees who are deemed low risk. They get to kick a soccer ball as well as receiving other special treatment, such as living in 12-man dorms rather than isolation cells.

All detainees get to worship in their Islamic faith although there is no longer a Muslim cleric assigned to the camp. There is medical care. Depression, however, remains a concern, some detainees on anti-depression medication, about 30 suicide attempts in the last two years.

A look at the Islamic meals they are served, the video was shot last summer but only released after a lengthy security review. It comes as the Pentagon is preparing to release new guidelines that say conversations between a detainee and a defense lawyer may not be used during a trial.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A glimpse. Ahead on the program tonight what happened to the Dean campaign, once a high-flying frontrunner now 0-9 but up next, a conversation with General Wesley Clark about his candidacy and Iraq going into the weekend's primaries and caucuses.

And later, the broker's assistant who could bring down America's domestic diva, the latest in the Martha Stewart trial as NEWSNIGHT continues from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Busy day on the Democratic campaign trail today, votes in five states are looming, Michigan, Wisconsin and Maine this weekend. Tennessee and Virginia come Tuesday.

Today, Democratic Party sources said that Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt will endorse John Kerry tomorrow, a mystery solved and another boost for Mr. Kerry's campaign.

His opponents are keeping at it as well. Wesley Clark, the general, was in Tennessee, which he's flagged as a state critical for his campaign and where the polls tonight at least show Senator Kerry in the lead. We talked with General Clark earlier tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: General Clark, how at this stage do you overcome what is -- what seems at least to us to be the formidable momentum that John Kerry has? What is the issue? What is the policy difference that will propel you to that level?

WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, first of all, it's a matter of the voters making a decision and the voters have to look at the candidates. Elections are about choices and they're going to have to decide who they want to represent the party. It's about who can best defeat George W. Bush.

I think I'm the person who can best defeat him. I've got the most experience in foreign affairs. I'm a leader. I've done the actions that other people are just talking about doing. I've been in business. I know how to create jobs in this economy and I think based on my life experience, what I've been through, I think I'm the toughest person in this race.

BROWN: Your son the other day unloaded on us, all of us in the media and believe me you have not been covered fairly or appropriately, frustration some of it I assume. Do you agree with that though? You don't feel you've been covered fairly?

CLARK: No. I think I have been covered fairly. I love my son. He's entitled to his views. But, Aaron, what I was hoping we could talk about is, you know, almost a year ago you and I spent a lot of time together on this show.

BROWN: Yes, we did.

CLARK: And we looked at our troops go in and I was -- of course I'm very much in favor of our troops and I always want them to succeed. But, you know, today the president made a pretty astounding admission that not only is there no WMDs, he said but if he had known that there was no WMD in Iraq or basically words to that effect that he would still have gone ahead with this.

And, you know, I just don't think the American people would have supported. There was a sell on this. George Tenet said he never told the president there was an imminent threat. OK that's fine but the words, the gestures, the intonations, the implications were sold to the American people as there was an imminent threat.

I remember being on CNN and saying where's the smoking gun? And two or three weeks later this White House information group that was put together started using language like what if the smoking gun turns out to be a mushroom cloud over an American city and it was just unjustified.

And I think the truth is going to come out in this election. It's one of the reasons I'm running. I believe that people who are leading in public office have to level with the American people and tell the truth.

This administration hasn't. We're in a war that was a mistake. It was a strategic mistake. Now we have to make a success out of it. I honor the men and women who are serving but our president owes us an explanation of why we went to war. BROWN: You do not believe that it's simply that the intelligence was bad? Are you saying that you believe the intelligence was cooked or that we'll just do this in street language that the president lied?

CLARK: Well, I think what happened is the intelligence was always nuanced and, you know, it shows the pluses and minuses. I'd seen the intelligence, a lot of it, before I got out of the military and I never saw an imminent threat and nobody else saw an imminent threat.

George Tenet says there wasn't an imminent threat but somehow the administration built off the intelligence that was there to generate this fear and this anxiety and this need to attack preemptively.

The president, I remember, used the words gathering threat. Well, gathering threat is not exactly justification for attacking, not until all diplomatic options are exhausted and it turns out there wasn't any significant threat to the United States in what was there.

And when I have read all the statements that people have said, you know, and you've heard -- had Paul Wolfowitz say well weapons of mass destruction, at least that was something we could all agree on.

BROWN: right.

CLARK: As a reason for invading. Why did we invade? Why have over 500 American died? Why have we spent $180 billion there? What was the point of it? And that's what the president owes us an explanation about because the intelligence just didn't justify the action that was taken based on what George Tenet said today and what he said in the past.

BROWN: Just finally then do you believe as the president does that the Middle East is better off and that the United States of America is safer because Saddam Hussein is gone?

CLARK: Well, all things being equal, of course I'm delighted that Saddam Hussein is gone. He's a bad guy and he would have been, you know, within -- if I had ranked all the problems we had in the world, Iraq would have been in the top ten.

But the number one problem we had was Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda are still there. We did not finish the job and, Aaron, one of the reasons we didn't finish the job is the president himself and his advisers pulled off Special Forces people, intelligence people and refused to put in enough ground troops to bag Osama bin Laden when he was in Tora Bora or to pursue him afterwards because they were focusing on Iraq.

BROWN: General, you have a hugely important week coming up. I think we all agree on that. It's hard for us not to watch your campaign and good days and bad days and feel it all. We wish you nothing but good luck.

CLARK: Thanks Aaron.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: General Wesley Clark, we talked with him earlier tonight.

Howard Dean is heading into this next round of races 0-9. Today in an e-mail he told supporters Wisconsin for him is make or break. He appealed for cash, apparently has raised quite a lot, between a half and three-quarters of a million but cash is not the core problem for a candidate who in many ways defined the race that he now seems unlikely to win.

Here's our Senior Analyst Jeff Greenfield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GREENFIELD (voice-over): Victory, it is said, has a thousand fathers. Defeat is an orphan. To which we can add this, a campaign in trouble has 10,000 second guessers.

Last year was a straight up journey for Howard Dean from obscure ex-governor of Vermont to the $5 million man. That's how much he raised in 90 days.

HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really appreciate your help with the campaign.

GREENFIELD: Mostly through the Internet to the joint "Time/Newsweek" cover boy, to the candidate who drew huge crowds from a backyard in Manchester to New York's Bryant Park.

The insurgent who won the backing of Al Gore and Bill Bradley and who came into the new year with more money, better poll numbers and more super delegates than anyone else, Dean, the presumptive nominee.

DEAN: How the mighty have fallen.

GREENFIELD: That is putting it mildly. Dean is now without a win after nine primaries and caucuses. In Tuesday's results he placed second in only two of nine tests, won but seven out of 296 delegates at stake.

The one time Democratic fundraising king is now just about tapped out. His staff is bracing for more layoffs. He didn't put on a single ad this week. His legendary campaign manager Joe Trippi is out and Senator Kerry is now the clear favorite among Democratic voters. So, why?

(on camera): There are a lot of reasons for Howard Dean's decline, some bad strategy, some bad tactics, some bad luck, but there are two other reasons that are easy to overlook.

First, two of Howard Dean's rivals became a lot better. And second, a lot of Howard Dean's lead wasn't all that real to begin with.

(voice-over): Yes, it was probably a mistake to spend more than $30 million before the election year began, a mistake to advertise months early, a mistake to have paid staff across the country. The plan was to wrap up the nomination but there was no plan B.

Yes, there were missteps on the trail, a bad performance at the last Iowa debate when Al Sharpton hit him on his all white Vermont cabinet.

AL SHARPTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How you can explain not one black or brown working for your administration as governor.

GREENFIELD: An angry interchange with a critic, confusion on the day of the caucuses at an event to honor Martin Luther King and, of course, this...

DEAN: Pennsylvania, Ohio...

GREENFIELD: Whatever the reason for it, it just is not the way to present a candidate who has just taken his first hard punch. But there were other reasons. For one thing the other guys started getting better. John Edwards was strong at this debate and his stump speech was the best.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We still live in a country where there are two different Americas.

GREENFIELD: John Kerry dug in in Iowa at long town hall meetings and his ads made a powerful emotional case for his background and his ideas. In other words, this story may be as much about his rival's rise as Howard Dean's decline.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GREENFIELD: And finally the Dean on top story ignored one central political fact. Most real normal people, unlike (unintelligible) in the press don't even begin to think about a presidential vote until it is almost upon them. What little they knew about Dean was that he raised a ton of money and had enthusiastic supporters. Then the campaign actually started.

And while it isn't over yet, Aaron, the fact that Howard Dean has pulled his troops out of Michigan where he is trailing by almost 50 points to John Kerry, staking it all on Wisconsin, skipping Virginia, skipping Tennessee, even the Washington State caucuses which you would think Dean's message would be great in.

BROWN: And I guarantee you that six weeks ago it was.

GREENFIELD: Right. So, you know that's it. February 17 he says I win or I'm done.

BROWN: Saw some polling out of Wisconsin today. It didn't look very good for Governor Dean.

GREENFIELD: First poll out, Kerry at 35, Clark at 11, Dean at 8.

BROWN: So, is there a way to resurrect this?

GREENFIELD: A way? BROWN: Perhaps.

GREENFIELD: Yes, I mean there is a message that you could see working in that rather peculiar state of Wisconsin that has always been so friendly to insurgents from (unintelligible).

You got to Wisconsin and you basically say, you flatter them, you say this state can turn this campaign around. This state can send the message that we want real change the same way that Robert Kennedy said to Indiana, Indiana can choose the next president of the United States.

And you can hope to say do what you've done for a century and keep this process of reform alive. Would I bet? I wouldn't not only bet the farm, I wouldn't bet the tool shed but that's what he's got.

BROWN: Thank you.

GREENFIELD: Thank you.

BROWN: It's a great story. I mean it just is -- just is a great political story.

GREENFIELD: You know, you never know. That should be in brass above every political journalist.

BROWN: Yes, all of us.

GREENFIELD: You never know, all of us.

BROWN: Thank you.

Coming up on NEWSNIGHT, the uproar over an unfilled prescription, what happened when a pharmacist refused to give the morning after pill to a rape victim.

Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Sometime this month, the FDA is expected to decide whether to make emergency contraception, known as the morning-after pill, available over-the-counter.

An FDA advisory committee has recommended that change. But, as things stand tonight, in most states, not all, but in most, a woman must rely on a doctor to prescribe the pills and then a pharmacist to dispense them. That's how it's supposed to work. But when a woman was raped in Texas recently, that is not how things went. Her doctor wrote the prescription. The problem was getting it filled.

Here's CNN's Brian Cabell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For an Eckerd drug store in Texas, it was an embarrassment. For an unidentified rape victim who had gone to Eckerd to fill a prescription for morning- after pills, it was something much more. The pharmacist reportedly told her he wouldn't fill the prescription on moral grounds.

STEPHANIE BESTER, PROTESTER: After being raped and assaulted to come in to a pharmacy to get a prescription that is stocked there, that is an FDA-approved drug, and to be shut down, to me, that's a second assault.

CABELL: The woman eventually got her pills at another store, but outraged protesters took to the street in front of Eckerd. An Eckerd official called the Texas incident a violation of policy, saying -- "We do not support a pharmacist's denial to fill a prescription because of their personal, political, moral or ethical beliefs."

(on camera): The pharmacist, who was disciplined by Eckerd, didn't violate any laws, but he did commit an ethics violation, according to the American Pharmacists Association. When he refused the woman, he was obligated to refer her to another store. Planned Parenthood says he didn't do that.

(voice-over): Health officials say morning-after pills, which are also known as emergency contraception, are 75 percent effective at preventing pregnancy if taken within 72 hours after sexual intercourse. They've been sold by prescription in the United States since 1998.

DR. VANESSA CULLINS, PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Emergency contraception is safe and effective. And it fulfills all the requirements for it to be an over-the-counter medication.

CABELL: Even before the Texas case arose, that's precisely what the Food and Drug Administration has been considering.

Brian Cabell, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Here's a look at other stories that made news around the country today.

The Russell Building in the nation's capital was reopened today, but two other Senate off buildings remain closed, after the discovery in one of them on Monday of some white powder that proved to be ricin, poison. The Hart Building is scheduled to open tomorrow. The Dirksen building, in which the ricin was actually found, will likely be closed through the weekend.

As for where the poison came from and who sent it, an FBI spokesman said the investigation is -- quote -- "still in it's infancy."

California, the case of Robert Blake is on hold again, after the third lawyer to represent the actor was allowed to bow out today. Mr. Blake is accused of killing his wife three years ago. He's due back in court with a new attorney the end of February, jury selection in the actual trial delayed until sometime after that.

And, finally, Modesto, California, a strange twist of fate in the trial not yet begun of Scott Peterson, who faces charges that he killed his pregnant wife. Vivian Mitchell, a neighbor who was scheduled to testify that she saw Laci Peterson alive at the time the prosecution argues she was already dead, has herself died of natural causes. Vivian Mitchell was 78.

Later on NEWSNIGHT, of course, we'll check morning papers.

Up next, we'll catch up on the Martha Stewart trial as the cross- examination of the key government witness continues.

A break first. This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: There are lots of differences between a middleweight title fight and an obstruction of justice trial. In the ring, for instance, those throwing punches wear gloves. That perhaps gives you a sense of what the Martha Stewart trial has been like the last couple days.

With the latest, CNN's Allan Chernoff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Animosity between Martha Stewart and the prosecutor's star witness, Douglas Faneuil, came to light during cross-examination of the former assistant to Stewart's stockbroker.

In an e-mail from October, 2001, Faneuil wrote, "I've never been treated more rudely by a stranger on the telephone. She actually hung up on me."

Another Faneuil e-mail: "She yelled at me again today, but I snapped in her face and she actually back down. Baby put Ms. Martha in her place," Faneuil wrote, referring to himself. Faneuil also said Stewart had threatened to close her Merrill Lynch account unless the telephone hold music was changed.

The revelations highlighted a full day of cross-examination by David Apfel, attorney for Peter Bacanovic, Stewart's stockbroker and co-defendant in the obstruction of trial. In great detail, Apfel reviewed Faneuil 's misdemeanor plea bargain for having lied to government investigators in support of Bacanovic and Stewart's explanation of her ImClone stock sale.

Repeatedly, Apfel accused Faneuil of other lies, but Faneuil only once conceded, "My recollection has changed a bit," referring to the timing of two phone calls. Apfel did score two key points. Faneuil admitted he was not familiar with Stewart and Bacanovic's tax planning, nor was he in the office on December 20, 2001, the day Bacanovic printed this list of Stewart's holdings on which he claims to have written wrote a note to sell ImClone as he and Stewart were discussing selling losing stocks for tax purposes.

(on camera): Judge Miriam Cedarbaum appeared annoyed with the lengthy cross-examination, warning David Apfel not to repeat himself and ordering him at least a dozen times to move on.

On Monday, Martha Stewart's attorney, Robert Morvillo, is scheduled to cross-examine Faneuil. He's promised to take no more than two hours.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: To talk a bit more about the mess Ms. Stewart is in, we're joined by Henry Blodget, who was a Wall Street insider, before he agreed to settle SEC charges against him by bowing out of the business forever. He's now an outsider observing the goings-on for Slate.com.

Just real quickly -- I don't mean to blindside you by this -- but, when you were here the last time, got a lot of anger about you out there. Do you get that a lot?

HENRY BLODGET, FORMER INTERNET ANALYST: I can imagine so, obviously, given everything that's been said, written. I can certainly understand that.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Do you recognize yourself in all of that at all?

BLODGET: In what?

BROWN: In the way people characterize you. You see yourself differently, I gather.

BLODGET: Certainly. One's public perception is quite different than the reality, but, obviously, there are some similarities.

(CROSSTALK)

BLODGET: ... have some impact on.

BROWN: Let's go back to business.

How has he done? How has Mr. Faneuil done?

BLODGET: I think he's been great, relative to expectations. Obviously, he was coming in. He's an admitted liar.

That seems to be a gaping hole for the defense to attack. And yet, on cross-examination and on direct examination, he's been very credible and convincing and contrite, but very credible. And that's obviously hurt the defense.

BROWN: It seems to me there's a kind of multipronged strategy, first try and convince jurors that he's out there saving his own skin. Any -- how he's parried that?

BLODGET: He's been very clear that he was scared in the beginning. He didn't want to get hurt. He didn't want to get fired. He was certainly saying that he hopes doesn't go to jail.

But I think he's done a very good job of saying, look, the reason that I'm here now is that I agreed to cooperate and tell the truth, not to get slapped with a misdemeanor and so forth, although that was obviously part of it.

BROWN: Another part of this, I guess, is to show him as this incredibly flawed human being. And they've gone to extraordinary ends in that regard.

BLODGET: Extraordinary ends. And I don't think they have succeeded in that.

Really, obviously, you want to show that he's lying to save himself. I think what they've showed, in part, is that he, like anybody else, has memory imperfections here now and again, but, really, that's it.

BROWN: At the risk of something, tell us about the e-mail.

BLODGET: The...

BROWN: The animal.

BLODGET: Oh, yes.

Well, the court was going on. It was sort of a stupefying hour of intense cross-examination. And David Apfel, the attorney, said, well, isn't it true that you sent Peter Bacanovic an article about a man having sex with a goat? And it was immediately stricken from the record.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: I'm sure it's stricken from the minds of the jurors as well.

BLODGET: I'm sure, yes.

BROWN: Is he -- who does he hurt in this? Does he hurt Ms. Stewart or does he hurt his former boss?

BLODGET: He's much more damaging to Peter Bacanovic, his former boss, because, again, Stewart, even if she admits that he gave her the information that he says he gave her, she is still not -- that doesn't cook her goose, as it were.

It's not inside information, at least traditional inside information, and so she still wouldn't have lied. But Peter Bacanovic, obviously, has said that he didn't authorize this information and so forth. So it does hurt him. BROWN: Is that -- just in 20 seconds -- why the broker, Mr. Bacanovic's attorney seems to have taken an endless amount of time and Ms. Stewart's take a couple of hours and be done with it?

BLODGET: I think it's a different approach. Peter Bacanovic's attorneys really have to hurt Faneuil. And, again, they haven't.

I think Morvillo, Stewart's attorney, will take a softer approach. And that will probably be more appealing to the jury.

BROWN: Good to have you with us. Thanks again.

BLODGET: Thank you, again, as always.

BROWN: Thank you.

Martha Stewart is not the only corporate chieftain on trial in Lower Manhattan. Former Tyco international chairman Dennis Kozlowski and former executives of the company, another former executive of the company, dealt a blow today. Not surprisingly, the judge overseeing that case refused to dismiss the majority of criminal counts against them. The prosecution has rested, the defense scheduled to begin witness testimony next week.

Elsewhere, the nation's largest retailer said sales soared last month. Analysts attributed the good news in part to the bad weather, cold weather, which sent shoppers scurrying -- that's who they do this -- for winter clothes.

Investors also liked the strong sales report. The Dow was up, the S&P 500 up. And the Nasdaq, which had a horrible day yesterday, was up 5.5 points.

Next up on NEWSNIGHT, on the campaign trail with the first lady, Laura Bush.

A break first. This is NEWSNIGHT from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, the White House continues to say that, from its perspective, the campaign, its campaign at least, has yet to start. Perhaps it is our cynicism, but we take that with a large grain of salt. There are lots of signs the campaign is already under way, trips to important states, for one. Media access to the first lady is another.

Here's our senior White House correspondent, John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the road, not long after morning coffee with the president, the time they tend to talk politics.

Does he express any firm opinion about who he would like to run against or how he sees the campaign shaping up?

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY: Not that I would tell you.

KING: Talked to the first lady between stops in Georgia and Florida. And it's clear the president is paying much more attention to the Democrats than his top advisers let on. And clear she doesn't care much for attacks suggesting her husband went AWOL back in his National Guard days or deliberately exaggerated the case for war in Iraq.

BUSH: I take it personally. I don't think he takes it personally. No one likes to hear total things that are just totally not true about somebody they love, especially in a political race. Seems to me that they're spending most of their time saying terrible things about my husband. And no, I really don't like that.

KING: Fiercely protective of her husband and also of twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna and clearly nervous as they approach college graduation and think about a public role in this year's campaign.

BUSH: You know, I know they have a feeling of wanting to be involved because it is their father's last campaign but at the same time I worry about the pain that they might have because they didn't choose this life. You know, their dad did. Their dad and I did, actually. We want them to be able to live the life that they want to live. Not subject to, you know, mean remarks.

KING: Mrs. Bush says she relishes her role and makes a point of noting, she does things her way.

BUSH: You know, I'm his wife. I'm not his political adviser. That's the relationship that I value the most. It is the relationship that we have. Husband and wife. Sure, I give advice. But I also know that advice from your spouse can be quite wearying so I don't try to give too much.

KING: John King, CNN, Savannah, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: The first lady.

Morning papers coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: Oh, there you are.

Time to check morning papers from around the country and the world. I'm going to try and do a lot of them today, but I say that often and then I get sidetracked, like I just did.

"International Herald Tribune," published by "The New York Times" in France, if that affects your feelings about the paper. Leads with George Tenet in a series of pictures. I'm not sure what that's about. Looks like he's slitting his throat, though, doesn't he? "CIA Chief Offers Stiff Defense of Iraq Data." That's the lead. And down at the bottom, "Republicans Ready the L Word, the Line For Kerry Massachusetts Liberal." I'll bet it is, too.

If you're traveling in the United States, you'll find "USA Today" under your door in a fine hotel, or even a cheap one, actually. "Tenet: CIA Didn't Call Iraq Threat Imminent. Defense Agency Says Weapons Hunt Persists." Also this story, "Judge Lets Younger Players Enter the NFL Draft." I think you have to be like three years out of high school or four years out of high school, something like that. And the judge said, you can't do that. These guys are entitled to make a living, just like everyone else.

If you happen to be traveling in Taiwan, you will probably pick up "The China Daily." We did when we were there earlier today. No, we weren't. Come on. Anyway, nice kind of cool pictures. "Officials in Taiwan Confident Bird Flu in Check." Officials in Beijing are not so confident that bird flu is in check. And maybe that's why they put it on the front page there today.

"The Washington Times," "Bush Strikes Back With Defense of War. Tenet Supports CIA Data. Goes On the Defensive" -- this would be the president -- "Hits Leadership of Democrats." Also, a tough story on John Kerry. "Kerry Fought For Insurer That Donated to Him." That's out of "The Washington Times" tomorrow.

How are we doing on time? OK, one minute to go, ladies and gentlemen.

"The San Francisco Chronicle." This story is going to be on a lot of front pages, I believe. "Increased Carb Consumption Big Culprit in Obesity Epidemic." The latest study finds women getting fatter faster. OK. So all that Atkins stuff apparently is not baloney.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: I kind of amused myself with that one.

I like this one, too. "Copyright Dispute Turns Yoga Into Legal Exercise. Yogis Go to Court Over Poses." The guy copyrighted a series of yoga poses and now he's suing.

How much? Thirty? Oh, my goodness. All right.

"The Boston Herald." "Gay Wed Fury." This is the day after the Supreme Court decision in the state of Massachusetts.

"The Detroit News." "Car Issues May Slow Kerry in Michigan."

All right, let's just get to "The Chicago Sun-Times" and get you to bed, all right? "CIA Chief: We Didn't Drop Ball." "Alas" is the weather in Chicago tomorrow. I'm not sure what that means. But, when I'm flying over it, I'll figure it out. We'll wrap up the day in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A quick recap of our top story.

The director of the CIA and the president played double defense today on the issue of WMDs and prewar intelligence used to make the case for war in Iraq, George Tenet delivering his first public defense of the agency's work, a passionate speech from him after weeks of attacks, and the president saying he is sure his decision to wage war with Iraq was the right one, despite the failure to find WMDs, all this complicating the upcoming campaign.

Tomorrow, right here, what to do when the KKK wants to adopt a highway. It's a story out of Missouri. And we'll tell you that on NEWSNIGHT tomorrow, 10:00 Eastern time.

Lou Dobbs is next for most of you.

Good night for all of us.





Doesn't Win Wisconsin>


Aired February 5, 2004 - 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 news today is all about WMDs. The opposition in Britain called on Tony Blair to resign. Democrats in this country are doing their best to unseat President Bush and those WMDs Iraq had and hid or destroyed or never had are no small part of the case.

A year ago it was also black and white. The secretary of state said about the Iraqi weapons these aren't assumptions. They are facts. The president listed the amount of chemical and biological agents Saddam had. The defense secretary said we know where they are.

And had they found those weapons we suspect Iraq would be the president's ticket to a second term but they haven't, which is why WMDs top the program again and top the whip, which begins with the CIA director's defense of his agency and its work.

Our National Security Correspondent David Ensor, of course, covering, David start us with a headline.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the CIA and George Tenet have been under fire for months if not more, especially in the last couple of weeks, so George Tenet took them on, the critics, today especially his own former weapons inspector.

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

Over at the White House where the president was also out defending the war today, Suzanne Malveaux with the duty tonight, a headline from you please.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was at the heart of President Bush's case to go to war, the Iraq alleged weapons of mass destruction. Now the White House is in a very delicate position how to justify the war and their absence at the same time express some confidence in American intelligence.

BROWN: Suzanne, thank you.

And to the presidential campaign and questions of how something that looks so right could have turned out so wrong or at least so it appears, Jeff Greenfield with a headline on the Dean campaign tonight -- Jeff.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Aaron, what seemed impossible five, six weeks ago now seems all too possible. Howard Dean has pulled his troops out of Michigan. He is looking to February 17, the primary in Wisconsin, and he says in no uncertain terms he either wins or he's done -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jeff, thank you. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly.

Also ahead on the program tonight we'll talk with General Wesley Clark about his campaign moving into the latest rounds of primaries and caucuses this weekend and early next week.

We'll also have the story of the fallout of a pharmacist's refusal to fill a legal prescription for the morning after pill to a woman who had been raped.

In Segment 7 tonight, we spend some time with the First Lady Laura Bush and hear what she thinks about the campaign coming up.

And later the rooster will be here and so will your morning papers for tomorrow, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin with the messy debate over possible failures in U.S. intelligence on WMDs in Iraq. The administration played defense on two fronts today and this won't be the last time because unless or until those WMDs are found questions of trust will remain.

We begin with the CIA director's passionate defense of his agency reported by David Ensor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR (voice-over): George Tenet offered a combative defense of the intelligence from his analysts before the Iraq War.

GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: They never said there was an imminent threat. Rather, they painted an objective assessment for our policymakers of a brutal dictator who was continuing his efforts to deceive and build programs that might constantly surprise us and threaten our interests.

ENSOR: On specifics though there were some admissions from the director of Central Intelligence that the estimates have not always been proved right on Iraq's nuclear program.

TENET: We may have overestimated the progress Saddam was making.

ENSOR: And on chemical weapons.

TENET: We have not yet found the weapons we expected.

DAVID KAY, FORMER CIA WEAPONS INSPECTOR: To me it's clear Iraq had no large stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons at the time of the war.

ENSOR: David Kay, the former weapons inspector, made that assertion again after Tenet's speech. Tenet strongly rejected the general charge that the CIA has been weak on human intelligence.

He said a CIA spy led the U.S. to al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, that penetration of Libya's WMD supply network and the CIA telling Tripoli that the game was up contributed to Gadhafi's decision to give up the weapons, and that spies inside Dr. A. Q. Khan's black market nuclear network based in Pakistan led to its exposure.

TENET: So, when you hear pundits say that we have no human intelligence capability they don't know what they're talking about.

ENSOR: But David Kay said the CIA's capabilities, in Iraq for example, are still far too weak.

KAY: I had at the height of the Iraqi survey group under me exactly two case officers who were fluent in Arabic. I had to give those up because of a higher priority.

ENSOR: U.S. intelligence officials declined comment on that but they do point out that the Iraq survey group also has linguists and military personnel on it, some of whom speak Arabic.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats were quick to contrast the Bush administration's line with Tenet's comment that there was no imminent threat.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), MICHIGAN: His statements were much more cautious, possibilities, probabilities, likelihoods, beliefs, high level of confidence, medium level of confidence. That's not what the leaders of this administration said. Their statements were we're certain that he has this. We're certain that he has chemicals. We're certain he has biological weapons.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: Tenet's speech pleased intelligence professionals but by highlighting that U.S. intelligence never said the Iraqi threat was imminent it may provide ammunition for critics of the president's decision to go to war -- Aaron.

BROWN: It's a little off point but what do they think David Kay's gain is here? I mean -- I don't mean that pejoratively but they must wonder what -- why he's doing what he's doing so often.

ENSOR: I think a lot of people do. Those who like what he says say he's just a straight shooter but clearly he makes both the president's critics and the president nervous. There's some question in the air as to whether he's going to be appointed to this presidential commission.

He told me today he has not been asked. To be honest, if I may offer an opinion I'd be a little surprised if he's asked because he's a little bit of a loose cannon in the view of some in the White House -- Aaron.

BROWN: You may offer an opinion. Thank you and you did. Thank you very much, David Ensor.

We can't know this but we can only imagine how frustrating it all must be for the president as his campaign for reelection begins. Iraq should have been a victory lap, a chance to exchange political high fives over war fought quickly and well that most of the country supported.

But the post war has been messy and the WMD issue is, at best, unresolved. The polls on Iraq show some softening in public opinion and so that victory lap has become something else.

From the White House tonight, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): While CIA Director George Tenet takes on his critics over potentially faulty pre-war intelligence, President Bush continues his aggressive campaign to defend his call to war.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Knowing what I knew then and knowing what I know today America did the right thing in Iraq.

MALVEAUX: President Bush stands by the man who delivered him the pre-war intelligence regarding Iraq and continues to argue that Saddam Hussein posed such a threat that the U.S. had to go to war.

BUSH: We had a choice either take the word of a madman or take action to defend the American people. Faced with that choice, I will defend America every time.

MALVEAUX: In South Carolina where Democratic candidates held their primary just two days ago, Mr. Bush acknowledged the U.S. had not found stockpiles of banned weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but he emphasized there is still work to be done in the search. The White House strategy is simple, get this one message across.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: The president made the right decision.

MALVEAUX: But Democrats vying for Mr. Bush's job argue that the White House is still playing on Americans' fears to justify the war.,

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The White House used the words to the American people and to the Congress, urgent threat, imminent threat.

MALVEAUX: But Mr. Bush argues not only is his policy on Iraq sound, what sets him apart from his critics is that he gets it.

BUSH: America is safer when our commitments are clear, our word is good and our will is strong and that is the only way I know how to lead.

(END VIDEOTAPE) MALVEAUX: Now part of the White House strategy is for Mr. Bush to take his campaign message and his strategy, of course, to those places where he's been hit the hardest. That's where Democrats have been holding their primaries. A couple of weeks ago it was in New Hampshire, today South Carolina. Next week it will be Missouri -- Aaron.

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

A lot of talk today on a topic with potential political consequences, what about the words politics or not? Evan Thomas, Assistant Managing Editor of "Newsweek" magazine has written a book about the CIA and thought a lot about intelligence gathering and how we do it and we're always pleased to have him with us.

Who was George Tenet's speech to today? Who was the audience?

EVAN THOMAS, "NEWSWEEK": Well, a number of difference audiences and that's why it was so interesting. We got to see why Tenet is such a survivor because he had to -- couldn't sell out his own troops so he had to protect them.

At the same time, he wanted to get the press off his back. He didn't want to sell out the White House and he wanted to placate Congress and, finally, he wanted to convince the American people that they shouldn't lose faith in the CIA.

That's a lot of different audiences and I actually thought he did a pretty good job. We got to see his bluff charm, his confidence. He was good at conceding a little but not too much, being proud of his -- of his agency but not overly proud. He threaded a needle.

BROWN: As I listened to it and then went back and read it again tonight, he obviously presented a more nuanced case for weapons of mass destruction than the administration did a year ago.

The administration did talk specifically. I remember the president talking about how -- literally how much of one chemical and another Saddam had. The vice president was very black and white. The secretary of state talked about facts not assertions. Is the White House going to be unhappy with Mr. Tenet?

THOMAS: I -- they like -- well, put it this way George Bush likes Tenet. That carries a lot of weight and that carries more weight than anything else. Also, it would be pretty ugly to overthrow the head of the CIA.

I think everybody is sort of in this together. They don't want to have too much water between them as critics and pundits will look for the gaps and you just pointed out that the administration was a lot more certain about this than Tenet seemed today, so there is some open water between them but they're basically in this together.

BROWN: Let's step back a bit. Do all of us expect too much out of the intelligence community? THOMAS: Absolutely. The history of intelligence since certainly World War II has been pretty iffy. We've done great things with what they call national technical means, our spy satellites and our ability to eavesdrop has been really quite amazing, our spy planes and spy satellites.

But our human intelligence was never that great during the Cold War. We, for years we didn't really have very good assets inside the Soviet Union. Towards the end of the Cold War it got better.

And against al Qaeda and Iraq it's been pretty weak. It's not as if we have no assets, as Tenet pointed out today. Apparently we had a spy that got us one of the big al Qaeda fish.

But generally speaking, we're not really inside these very hard to get at -- I mean spying is hard to do and Americans have a distorted view from watching too many movies, you know, this idea that some guy, American looking guy in a trench coat is going to wander around Baghdad is ridiculous.

BROWN: Do you think the commission the president is going to appoint will fix the problem?

THOMAS: Well, that's a good question. I was talking about that today with a high administration official. There's always a risk to these commissions that they just make the CIA more demoralized.

You can make the problem worse if the bureaucrats just think, oh God, here we go again and more congressional testimony. I got to hire a lawyer again, more testimony. They can crawl back into their shell and Tenet is clearly worried about that and trying to rally his troops.

On the other hand, institutions can reform themselves and sometimes they need a push and the CIA doesn't seem to have really been able to reform itself. I think Tenet's been a pretty good leader but sometimes you need a kick from the outside.

And the military, you know, the military has done a great job of reforming itself since Vietnam. I think the intelligence community less so and maybe they do need a good commission but if it turns into a witch hunt it's going to be counterproductive.

BROWN: Evan, it's good to see you. Thank you.

THOMAS: Thank you.

BROWN: Thank you. On to another corner in the war on terror, the hundreds of detainees, more than 600 being held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay. This has all triggered legal challenges, as you know some international outcry as well.

But all the headlines notwithstanding it is the story, as we say in our business, that's short on pictures, news reports from and about Guantanamo tend to rely on file tape of the camp, a lot of exteriors, not much in the way of detail. That changed some today, from the Pentagon CNN's Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Defense Department is providing an unprecedented video look at the conditions in which some 650 detainees are being held at the naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, all suspected members of the Taliban and al Qaeda.

There are privileges for detainees who are deemed low risk. They get to kick a soccer ball as well as receiving other special treatment, such as living in 12-man dorms rather than isolation cells.

All detainees get to worship in their Islamic faith although there is no longer a Muslim cleric assigned to the camp. There is medical care. Depression, however, remains a concern, some detainees on anti-depression medication, about 30 suicide attempts in the last two years.

A look at the Islamic meals they are served, the video was shot last summer but only released after a lengthy security review. It comes as the Pentagon is preparing to release new guidelines that say conversations between a detainee and a defense lawyer may not be used during a trial.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A glimpse. Ahead on the program tonight what happened to the Dean campaign, once a high-flying frontrunner now 0-9 but up next, a conversation with General Wesley Clark about his candidacy and Iraq going into the weekend's primaries and caucuses.

And later, the broker's assistant who could bring down America's domestic diva, the latest in the Martha Stewart trial as NEWSNIGHT continues from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Busy day on the Democratic campaign trail today, votes in five states are looming, Michigan, Wisconsin and Maine this weekend. Tennessee and Virginia come Tuesday.

Today, Democratic Party sources said that Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt will endorse John Kerry tomorrow, a mystery solved and another boost for Mr. Kerry's campaign.

His opponents are keeping at it as well. Wesley Clark, the general, was in Tennessee, which he's flagged as a state critical for his campaign and where the polls tonight at least show Senator Kerry in the lead. We talked with General Clark earlier tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: General Clark, how at this stage do you overcome what is -- what seems at least to us to be the formidable momentum that John Kerry has? What is the issue? What is the policy difference that will propel you to that level?

WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, first of all, it's a matter of the voters making a decision and the voters have to look at the candidates. Elections are about choices and they're going to have to decide who they want to represent the party. It's about who can best defeat George W. Bush.

I think I'm the person who can best defeat him. I've got the most experience in foreign affairs. I'm a leader. I've done the actions that other people are just talking about doing. I've been in business. I know how to create jobs in this economy and I think based on my life experience, what I've been through, I think I'm the toughest person in this race.

BROWN: Your son the other day unloaded on us, all of us in the media and believe me you have not been covered fairly or appropriately, frustration some of it I assume. Do you agree with that though? You don't feel you've been covered fairly?

CLARK: No. I think I have been covered fairly. I love my son. He's entitled to his views. But, Aaron, what I was hoping we could talk about is, you know, almost a year ago you and I spent a lot of time together on this show.

BROWN: Yes, we did.

CLARK: And we looked at our troops go in and I was -- of course I'm very much in favor of our troops and I always want them to succeed. But, you know, today the president made a pretty astounding admission that not only is there no WMDs, he said but if he had known that there was no WMD in Iraq or basically words to that effect that he would still have gone ahead with this.

And, you know, I just don't think the American people would have supported. There was a sell on this. George Tenet said he never told the president there was an imminent threat. OK that's fine but the words, the gestures, the intonations, the implications were sold to the American people as there was an imminent threat.

I remember being on CNN and saying where's the smoking gun? And two or three weeks later this White House information group that was put together started using language like what if the smoking gun turns out to be a mushroom cloud over an American city and it was just unjustified.

And I think the truth is going to come out in this election. It's one of the reasons I'm running. I believe that people who are leading in public office have to level with the American people and tell the truth.

This administration hasn't. We're in a war that was a mistake. It was a strategic mistake. Now we have to make a success out of it. I honor the men and women who are serving but our president owes us an explanation of why we went to war. BROWN: You do not believe that it's simply that the intelligence was bad? Are you saying that you believe the intelligence was cooked or that we'll just do this in street language that the president lied?

CLARK: Well, I think what happened is the intelligence was always nuanced and, you know, it shows the pluses and minuses. I'd seen the intelligence, a lot of it, before I got out of the military and I never saw an imminent threat and nobody else saw an imminent threat.

George Tenet says there wasn't an imminent threat but somehow the administration built off the intelligence that was there to generate this fear and this anxiety and this need to attack preemptively.

The president, I remember, used the words gathering threat. Well, gathering threat is not exactly justification for attacking, not until all diplomatic options are exhausted and it turns out there wasn't any significant threat to the United States in what was there.

And when I have read all the statements that people have said, you know, and you've heard -- had Paul Wolfowitz say well weapons of mass destruction, at least that was something we could all agree on.

BROWN: right.

CLARK: As a reason for invading. Why did we invade? Why have over 500 American died? Why have we spent $180 billion there? What was the point of it? And that's what the president owes us an explanation about because the intelligence just didn't justify the action that was taken based on what George Tenet said today and what he said in the past.

BROWN: Just finally then do you believe as the president does that the Middle East is better off and that the United States of America is safer because Saddam Hussein is gone?

CLARK: Well, all things being equal, of course I'm delighted that Saddam Hussein is gone. He's a bad guy and he would have been, you know, within -- if I had ranked all the problems we had in the world, Iraq would have been in the top ten.

But the number one problem we had was Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda are still there. We did not finish the job and, Aaron, one of the reasons we didn't finish the job is the president himself and his advisers pulled off Special Forces people, intelligence people and refused to put in enough ground troops to bag Osama bin Laden when he was in Tora Bora or to pursue him afterwards because they were focusing on Iraq.

BROWN: General, you have a hugely important week coming up. I think we all agree on that. It's hard for us not to watch your campaign and good days and bad days and feel it all. We wish you nothing but good luck.

CLARK: Thanks Aaron.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: General Wesley Clark, we talked with him earlier tonight.

Howard Dean is heading into this next round of races 0-9. Today in an e-mail he told supporters Wisconsin for him is make or break. He appealed for cash, apparently has raised quite a lot, between a half and three-quarters of a million but cash is not the core problem for a candidate who in many ways defined the race that he now seems unlikely to win.

Here's our Senior Analyst Jeff Greenfield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GREENFIELD (voice-over): Victory, it is said, has a thousand fathers. Defeat is an orphan. To which we can add this, a campaign in trouble has 10,000 second guessers.

Last year was a straight up journey for Howard Dean from obscure ex-governor of Vermont to the $5 million man. That's how much he raised in 90 days.

HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really appreciate your help with the campaign.

GREENFIELD: Mostly through the Internet to the joint "Time/Newsweek" cover boy, to the candidate who drew huge crowds from a backyard in Manchester to New York's Bryant Park.

The insurgent who won the backing of Al Gore and Bill Bradley and who came into the new year with more money, better poll numbers and more super delegates than anyone else, Dean, the presumptive nominee.

DEAN: How the mighty have fallen.

GREENFIELD: That is putting it mildly. Dean is now without a win after nine primaries and caucuses. In Tuesday's results he placed second in only two of nine tests, won but seven out of 296 delegates at stake.

The one time Democratic fundraising king is now just about tapped out. His staff is bracing for more layoffs. He didn't put on a single ad this week. His legendary campaign manager Joe Trippi is out and Senator Kerry is now the clear favorite among Democratic voters. So, why?

(on camera): There are a lot of reasons for Howard Dean's decline, some bad strategy, some bad tactics, some bad luck, but there are two other reasons that are easy to overlook.

First, two of Howard Dean's rivals became a lot better. And second, a lot of Howard Dean's lead wasn't all that real to begin with.

(voice-over): Yes, it was probably a mistake to spend more than $30 million before the election year began, a mistake to advertise months early, a mistake to have paid staff across the country. The plan was to wrap up the nomination but there was no plan B.

Yes, there were missteps on the trail, a bad performance at the last Iowa debate when Al Sharpton hit him on his all white Vermont cabinet.

AL SHARPTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How you can explain not one black or brown working for your administration as governor.

GREENFIELD: An angry interchange with a critic, confusion on the day of the caucuses at an event to honor Martin Luther King and, of course, this...

DEAN: Pennsylvania, Ohio...

GREENFIELD: Whatever the reason for it, it just is not the way to present a candidate who has just taken his first hard punch. But there were other reasons. For one thing the other guys started getting better. John Edwards was strong at this debate and his stump speech was the best.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We still live in a country where there are two different Americas.

GREENFIELD: John Kerry dug in in Iowa at long town hall meetings and his ads made a powerful emotional case for his background and his ideas. In other words, this story may be as much about his rival's rise as Howard Dean's decline.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GREENFIELD: And finally the Dean on top story ignored one central political fact. Most real normal people, unlike (unintelligible) in the press don't even begin to think about a presidential vote until it is almost upon them. What little they knew about Dean was that he raised a ton of money and had enthusiastic supporters. Then the campaign actually started.

And while it isn't over yet, Aaron, the fact that Howard Dean has pulled his troops out of Michigan where he is trailing by almost 50 points to John Kerry, staking it all on Wisconsin, skipping Virginia, skipping Tennessee, even the Washington State caucuses which you would think Dean's message would be great in.

BROWN: And I guarantee you that six weeks ago it was.

GREENFIELD: Right. So, you know that's it. February 17 he says I win or I'm done.

BROWN: Saw some polling out of Wisconsin today. It didn't look very good for Governor Dean.

GREENFIELD: First poll out, Kerry at 35, Clark at 11, Dean at 8.

BROWN: So, is there a way to resurrect this?

GREENFIELD: A way? BROWN: Perhaps.

GREENFIELD: Yes, I mean there is a message that you could see working in that rather peculiar state of Wisconsin that has always been so friendly to insurgents from (unintelligible).

You got to Wisconsin and you basically say, you flatter them, you say this state can turn this campaign around. This state can send the message that we want real change the same way that Robert Kennedy said to Indiana, Indiana can choose the next president of the United States.

And you can hope to say do what you've done for a century and keep this process of reform alive. Would I bet? I wouldn't not only bet the farm, I wouldn't bet the tool shed but that's what he's got.

BROWN: Thank you.

GREENFIELD: Thank you.

BROWN: It's a great story. I mean it just is -- just is a great political story.

GREENFIELD: You know, you never know. That should be in brass above every political journalist.

BROWN: Yes, all of us.

GREENFIELD: You never know, all of us.

BROWN: Thank you.

Coming up on NEWSNIGHT, the uproar over an unfilled prescription, what happened when a pharmacist refused to give the morning after pill to a rape victim.

Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Sometime this month, the FDA is expected to decide whether to make emergency contraception, known as the morning-after pill, available over-the-counter.

An FDA advisory committee has recommended that change. But, as things stand tonight, in most states, not all, but in most, a woman must rely on a doctor to prescribe the pills and then a pharmacist to dispense them. That's how it's supposed to work. But when a woman was raped in Texas recently, that is not how things went. Her doctor wrote the prescription. The problem was getting it filled.

Here's CNN's Brian Cabell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For an Eckerd drug store in Texas, it was an embarrassment. For an unidentified rape victim who had gone to Eckerd to fill a prescription for morning- after pills, it was something much more. The pharmacist reportedly told her he wouldn't fill the prescription on moral grounds.

STEPHANIE BESTER, PROTESTER: After being raped and assaulted to come in to a pharmacy to get a prescription that is stocked there, that is an FDA-approved drug, and to be shut down, to me, that's a second assault.

CABELL: The woman eventually got her pills at another store, but outraged protesters took to the street in front of Eckerd. An Eckerd official called the Texas incident a violation of policy, saying -- "We do not support a pharmacist's denial to fill a prescription because of their personal, political, moral or ethical beliefs."

(on camera): The pharmacist, who was disciplined by Eckerd, didn't violate any laws, but he did commit an ethics violation, according to the American Pharmacists Association. When he refused the woman, he was obligated to refer her to another store. Planned Parenthood says he didn't do that.

(voice-over): Health officials say morning-after pills, which are also known as emergency contraception, are 75 percent effective at preventing pregnancy if taken within 72 hours after sexual intercourse. They've been sold by prescription in the United States since 1998.

DR. VANESSA CULLINS, PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Emergency contraception is safe and effective. And it fulfills all the requirements for it to be an over-the-counter medication.

CABELL: Even before the Texas case arose, that's precisely what the Food and Drug Administration has been considering.

Brian Cabell, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Here's a look at other stories that made news around the country today.

The Russell Building in the nation's capital was reopened today, but two other Senate off buildings remain closed, after the discovery in one of them on Monday of some white powder that proved to be ricin, poison. The Hart Building is scheduled to open tomorrow. The Dirksen building, in which the ricin was actually found, will likely be closed through the weekend.

As for where the poison came from and who sent it, an FBI spokesman said the investigation is -- quote -- "still in it's infancy."

California, the case of Robert Blake is on hold again, after the third lawyer to represent the actor was allowed to bow out today. Mr. Blake is accused of killing his wife three years ago. He's due back in court with a new attorney the end of February, jury selection in the actual trial delayed until sometime after that.

And, finally, Modesto, California, a strange twist of fate in the trial not yet begun of Scott Peterson, who faces charges that he killed his pregnant wife. Vivian Mitchell, a neighbor who was scheduled to testify that she saw Laci Peterson alive at the time the prosecution argues she was already dead, has herself died of natural causes. Vivian Mitchell was 78.

Later on NEWSNIGHT, of course, we'll check morning papers.

Up next, we'll catch up on the Martha Stewart trial as the cross- examination of the key government witness continues.

A break first. This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: There are lots of differences between a middleweight title fight and an obstruction of justice trial. In the ring, for instance, those throwing punches wear gloves. That perhaps gives you a sense of what the Martha Stewart trial has been like the last couple days.

With the latest, CNN's Allan Chernoff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Animosity between Martha Stewart and the prosecutor's star witness, Douglas Faneuil, came to light during cross-examination of the former assistant to Stewart's stockbroker.

In an e-mail from October, 2001, Faneuil wrote, "I've never been treated more rudely by a stranger on the telephone. She actually hung up on me."

Another Faneuil e-mail: "She yelled at me again today, but I snapped in her face and she actually back down. Baby put Ms. Martha in her place," Faneuil wrote, referring to himself. Faneuil also said Stewart had threatened to close her Merrill Lynch account unless the telephone hold music was changed.

The revelations highlighted a full day of cross-examination by David Apfel, attorney for Peter Bacanovic, Stewart's stockbroker and co-defendant in the obstruction of trial. In great detail, Apfel reviewed Faneuil 's misdemeanor plea bargain for having lied to government investigators in support of Bacanovic and Stewart's explanation of her ImClone stock sale.

Repeatedly, Apfel accused Faneuil of other lies, but Faneuil only once conceded, "My recollection has changed a bit," referring to the timing of two phone calls. Apfel did score two key points. Faneuil admitted he was not familiar with Stewart and Bacanovic's tax planning, nor was he in the office on December 20, 2001, the day Bacanovic printed this list of Stewart's holdings on which he claims to have written wrote a note to sell ImClone as he and Stewart were discussing selling losing stocks for tax purposes.

(on camera): Judge Miriam Cedarbaum appeared annoyed with the lengthy cross-examination, warning David Apfel not to repeat himself and ordering him at least a dozen times to move on.

On Monday, Martha Stewart's attorney, Robert Morvillo, is scheduled to cross-examine Faneuil. He's promised to take no more than two hours.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: To talk a bit more about the mess Ms. Stewart is in, we're joined by Henry Blodget, who was a Wall Street insider, before he agreed to settle SEC charges against him by bowing out of the business forever. He's now an outsider observing the goings-on for Slate.com.

Just real quickly -- I don't mean to blindside you by this -- but, when you were here the last time, got a lot of anger about you out there. Do you get that a lot?

HENRY BLODGET, FORMER INTERNET ANALYST: I can imagine so, obviously, given everything that's been said, written. I can certainly understand that.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Do you recognize yourself in all of that at all?

BLODGET: In what?

BROWN: In the way people characterize you. You see yourself differently, I gather.

BLODGET: Certainly. One's public perception is quite different than the reality, but, obviously, there are some similarities.

(CROSSTALK)

BLODGET: ... have some impact on.

BROWN: Let's go back to business.

How has he done? How has Mr. Faneuil done?

BLODGET: I think he's been great, relative to expectations. Obviously, he was coming in. He's an admitted liar.

That seems to be a gaping hole for the defense to attack. And yet, on cross-examination and on direct examination, he's been very credible and convincing and contrite, but very credible. And that's obviously hurt the defense.

BROWN: It seems to me there's a kind of multipronged strategy, first try and convince jurors that he's out there saving his own skin. Any -- how he's parried that?

BLODGET: He's been very clear that he was scared in the beginning. He didn't want to get hurt. He didn't want to get fired. He was certainly saying that he hopes doesn't go to jail.

But I think he's done a very good job of saying, look, the reason that I'm here now is that I agreed to cooperate and tell the truth, not to get slapped with a misdemeanor and so forth, although that was obviously part of it.

BROWN: Another part of this, I guess, is to show him as this incredibly flawed human being. And they've gone to extraordinary ends in that regard.

BLODGET: Extraordinary ends. And I don't think they have succeeded in that.

Really, obviously, you want to show that he's lying to save himself. I think what they've showed, in part, is that he, like anybody else, has memory imperfections here now and again, but, really, that's it.

BROWN: At the risk of something, tell us about the e-mail.

BLODGET: The...

BROWN: The animal.

BLODGET: Oh, yes.

Well, the court was going on. It was sort of a stupefying hour of intense cross-examination. And David Apfel, the attorney, said, well, isn't it true that you sent Peter Bacanovic an article about a man having sex with a goat? And it was immediately stricken from the record.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: I'm sure it's stricken from the minds of the jurors as well.

BLODGET: I'm sure, yes.

BROWN: Is he -- who does he hurt in this? Does he hurt Ms. Stewart or does he hurt his former boss?

BLODGET: He's much more damaging to Peter Bacanovic, his former boss, because, again, Stewart, even if she admits that he gave her the information that he says he gave her, she is still not -- that doesn't cook her goose, as it were.

It's not inside information, at least traditional inside information, and so she still wouldn't have lied. But Peter Bacanovic, obviously, has said that he didn't authorize this information and so forth. So it does hurt him. BROWN: Is that -- just in 20 seconds -- why the broker, Mr. Bacanovic's attorney seems to have taken an endless amount of time and Ms. Stewart's take a couple of hours and be done with it?

BLODGET: I think it's a different approach. Peter Bacanovic's attorneys really have to hurt Faneuil. And, again, they haven't.

I think Morvillo, Stewart's attorney, will take a softer approach. And that will probably be more appealing to the jury.

BROWN: Good to have you with us. Thanks again.

BLODGET: Thank you, again, as always.

BROWN: Thank you.

Martha Stewart is not the only corporate chieftain on trial in Lower Manhattan. Former Tyco international chairman Dennis Kozlowski and former executives of the company, another former executive of the company, dealt a blow today. Not surprisingly, the judge overseeing that case refused to dismiss the majority of criminal counts against them. The prosecution has rested, the defense scheduled to begin witness testimony next week.

Elsewhere, the nation's largest retailer said sales soared last month. Analysts attributed the good news in part to the bad weather, cold weather, which sent shoppers scurrying -- that's who they do this -- for winter clothes.

Investors also liked the strong sales report. The Dow was up, the S&P 500 up. And the Nasdaq, which had a horrible day yesterday, was up 5.5 points.

Next up on NEWSNIGHT, on the campaign trail with the first lady, Laura Bush.

A break first. This is NEWSNIGHT from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, the White House continues to say that, from its perspective, the campaign, its campaign at least, has yet to start. Perhaps it is our cynicism, but we take that with a large grain of salt. There are lots of signs the campaign is already under way, trips to important states, for one. Media access to the first lady is another.

Here's our senior White House correspondent, John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the road, not long after morning coffee with the president, the time they tend to talk politics.

Does he express any firm opinion about who he would like to run against or how he sees the campaign shaping up?

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY: Not that I would tell you.

KING: Talked to the first lady between stops in Georgia and Florida. And it's clear the president is paying much more attention to the Democrats than his top advisers let on. And clear she doesn't care much for attacks suggesting her husband went AWOL back in his National Guard days or deliberately exaggerated the case for war in Iraq.

BUSH: I take it personally. I don't think he takes it personally. No one likes to hear total things that are just totally not true about somebody they love, especially in a political race. Seems to me that they're spending most of their time saying terrible things about my husband. And no, I really don't like that.

KING: Fiercely protective of her husband and also of twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna and clearly nervous as they approach college graduation and think about a public role in this year's campaign.

BUSH: You know, I know they have a feeling of wanting to be involved because it is their father's last campaign but at the same time I worry about the pain that they might have because they didn't choose this life. You know, their dad did. Their dad and I did, actually. We want them to be able to live the life that they want to live. Not subject to, you know, mean remarks.

KING: Mrs. Bush says she relishes her role and makes a point of noting, she does things her way.

BUSH: You know, I'm his wife. I'm not his political adviser. That's the relationship that I value the most. It is the relationship that we have. Husband and wife. Sure, I give advice. But I also know that advice from your spouse can be quite wearying so I don't try to give too much.

KING: John King, CNN, Savannah, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: The first lady.

Morning papers coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: Oh, there you are.

Time to check morning papers from around the country and the world. I'm going to try and do a lot of them today, but I say that often and then I get sidetracked, like I just did.

"International Herald Tribune," published by "The New York Times" in France, if that affects your feelings about the paper. Leads with George Tenet in a series of pictures. I'm not sure what that's about. Looks like he's slitting his throat, though, doesn't he? "CIA Chief Offers Stiff Defense of Iraq Data." That's the lead. And down at the bottom, "Republicans Ready the L Word, the Line For Kerry Massachusetts Liberal." I'll bet it is, too.

If you're traveling in the United States, you'll find "USA Today" under your door in a fine hotel, or even a cheap one, actually. "Tenet: CIA Didn't Call Iraq Threat Imminent. Defense Agency Says Weapons Hunt Persists." Also this story, "Judge Lets Younger Players Enter the NFL Draft." I think you have to be like three years out of high school or four years out of high school, something like that. And the judge said, you can't do that. These guys are entitled to make a living, just like everyone else.

If you happen to be traveling in Taiwan, you will probably pick up "The China Daily." We did when we were there earlier today. No, we weren't. Come on. Anyway, nice kind of cool pictures. "Officials in Taiwan Confident Bird Flu in Check." Officials in Beijing are not so confident that bird flu is in check. And maybe that's why they put it on the front page there today.

"The Washington Times," "Bush Strikes Back With Defense of War. Tenet Supports CIA Data. Goes On the Defensive" -- this would be the president -- "Hits Leadership of Democrats." Also, a tough story on John Kerry. "Kerry Fought For Insurer That Donated to Him." That's out of "The Washington Times" tomorrow.

How are we doing on time? OK, one minute to go, ladies and gentlemen.

"The San Francisco Chronicle." This story is going to be on a lot of front pages, I believe. "Increased Carb Consumption Big Culprit in Obesity Epidemic." The latest study finds women getting fatter faster. OK. So all that Atkins stuff apparently is not baloney.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: I kind of amused myself with that one.

I like this one, too. "Copyright Dispute Turns Yoga Into Legal Exercise. Yogis Go to Court Over Poses." The guy copyrighted a series of yoga poses and now he's suing.

How much? Thirty? Oh, my goodness. All right.

"The Boston Herald." "Gay Wed Fury." This is the day after the Supreme Court decision in the state of Massachusetts.

"The Detroit News." "Car Issues May Slow Kerry in Michigan."

All right, let's just get to "The Chicago Sun-Times" and get you to bed, all right? "CIA Chief: We Didn't Drop Ball." "Alas" is the weather in Chicago tomorrow. I'm not sure what that means. But, when I'm flying over it, I'll figure it out. We'll wrap up the day in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A quick recap of our top story.

The director of the CIA and the president played double defense today on the issue of WMDs and prewar intelligence used to make the case for war in Iraq, George Tenet delivering his first public defense of the agency's work, a passionate speech from him after weeks of attacks, and the president saying he is sure his decision to wage war with Iraq was the right one, despite the failure to find WMDs, all this complicating the upcoming campaign.

Tomorrow, right here, what to do when the KKK wants to adopt a highway. It's a story out of Missouri. And we'll tell you that on NEWSNIGHT tomorrow, 10:00 Eastern time.

Lou Dobbs is next for most of you.

Good night for all of us.





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