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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Will Truce in Najaf Hold?; Brits Arrest Alleged Terrorist; Floods Ravage Haiti, Dominican Republic

Aired May 27, 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.
At the risk of sounding too big for my britches I had dinner last winter with Tom Ridge, the Secretary of Homeland Security. Since this is the page in the program where opinion lives, I will tell you that I like the secretary a lot and I think he has the most important and impossible job in the government.

Most of what was said that night by agreement remains private but this I can say without violating any confidence. The secretary believes strongly it is necessary for the government to speak with one clear voice on matters of terror, one clear message.

The reasons are pretty obvious. Mixed messages lead to a lack of confidence. We stop believing. You stop believing, or worse, you start believing there are all sorts of nefarious reasons for the warnings, politics or something else.

That is what makes this week's alert so distressing. We can't expect the government to know everything. We can and should expect it to agree on what it does know and what it means. We'll get to that a little later in the program.

First though, Iraq, and what appears to be the end of the bloody fighting for the city of Najaf. CNN's Jane Arraf has been there for a while now on the videophone again tonight, Jane the headline.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, it's not quite a deal but it is the possibility that what could have been a total disaster possibly a civil war has been averted. An agreement between the radical Shia leader, religious leaders, and now possibly the U.S.

BROWN: Jane, thank you.

On to London and the arrest of another radical cleric the United States would like to see in criminal court. Walter Rodgers covered, Walt the headline.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Aaron. The British have alleged terrorist Abu Hamsa in jail. They want to get rid of him, deport him. The Americans want him, want him extradited but Abu Hamsa's lawyers are hoping to tie this up in British courts for at least another year -- Aaron.

BROWN: Walter, thank you. Next to the terrorism story and the confusion surrounding it. CNN's Jeanne Meserve worked it today, Jeanne the headline.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, if it sounded like the attorney general and the secretary of homeland security were on different pages yesterday talking about the terrorist threat, they were. Now the Justice Department has been taken to task but how did the mixed messages affect state and local officials and, as you asked, how did it impact the public -- Aaron?

BROWN: Jeanne, thank you.

And finally the flooding and the terrible loss of life in the Dominican Republican and in Haiti. Disaster seems too weak a word for it. Susan Candiotti is there on the phone, Susan a headline tonight.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Aaron from the Dominican Republic. In fact the government is planning an air assault of sorts tomorrow dropping disinfectant from the air over one of the hardest hit areas. And, in Haiti, one small village is under 10 feet of water -- Aaron.

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

Also coming up on the program tonight, Senator John Kerry lays out his plan for national security. How are voters responding to that?

The Olympic champion Marion Jones, three gold medals, caught up in a steroid scandal but did she actually use the drugs that could end her career?

And, as the morning papers go to press the rooster will crow. It will and we'll take a look at tomorrow's headlines tonight, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight in Iraq with the makings of good news for a change. For weeks now the fighters loyal to the cleric Muqtada al- Sadr have occupied the religiously and politically sensitive city of Najaf.

And for weeks American forces have been slowly closing in and killing them by the dozen, more than 350 so far, so many, so easily that morale was becoming a concern on the American side. Clearly, something had to give and today it did with the help of some very tricky negotiations and the fighting that set the stage.

And so we begin with CNN's Jane Arraf.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARRAF (voice-over): The U.S. Army's battle with Muqtada al- Sadr's militia in Najaf has threatened the stability of the entire country but it has perhaps been diffused.

The Shia cleric whose militia has waged war for almost two months against U.S. forces has agreed with religious authorities to disband his militia. The move follows increasing military pressure on Sadr, including the arrest of one of his chief deputies.

DAN SENOR, CPA SPOKESMAN: We view this as a very positive step.

ARRAF: Under the plan, militia members in Najaf would give up their weapons. Iraqi police would secure the city. U.S. forces would still have a strong role here. There's been a lot of talk of deals before but U.S. military officials are seeing signs this may be the real thing.

(on camera): This coalition base usually wakes up to the sound of mortar fire but in the past two days there have been no attacks. That's so unusual. Military officials say it could very well be a sign that Muqtada al-Sadr is serious.

(voice-over): Whether his fighters will all comply is another matter.

MAJ. GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, U.S. ARMY: One of the things we have to do is either confirm or deny that the militia is doing what he told it to. It's not entirely clear that he controls the militia to the 100th percentile, so we'll see.

ARRAF: As for Sadr, he'll no longer face U.S. threats to kill or capture him. The radical cleric could parlay his support on the street to political power in the new Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARRAF: And a footnote to that. One of the members of the governing council negotiating in Najaf over this agreement to try to bring peace to this troubled city was ambushed on the way back to Baghdad.

Her son and possibly three other people were killed when their convoy came under attack. Salama al-Khafaji had filled in, had been chosen to replace another female member of the governing council who had been assassinated -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jane, just before you get away what happens to the murder charges that Mr. Sadr was facing?

ARRAF: Those, Aaron, probably will go away. The feeling has been for a long time that it would be hard to make those murder charges stick. Now what he's charged with is giving the word that a rival Shia cleric should be assassinated.

There apparently, according to Iraqi legal sources, isn't really enough evidence to make a firm case against him and conveniently once he is turned over to Iraqi justice, which would almost certainly be the case, then the charges could be deferred or dropped -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jane, thank you, Jane Arraf who's been in Najaf now for a while. Terrorism next, two headlines, two clerics, one coming, one going. Federal agents today raided a mosque in Philadelphia detaining an Egyptian cleric who was already fighting deportation.

Officials say he violated the conditions of bail but declined to say how nor would they say what they were looking for. The local news radio station says the raid was connected with an investigation into fund-raising for terror groups.

The other cleric in question is a familiar one for his connection with the shoe bomber Richard Reed. Today in federal court in Manhattan, an 11-count indictment was unsealed.

It charges the cleric with trying to set up a terrorist training camp in rural Oregon and assisting in the kidnapping of two Americans in Yemen, more than enough for British authorities to arrest him, less than a slam dunk though for bringing him here to face trial.

From London tonight CNN's Walter Rodgers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RODGERS (voice-over): No stranger to British courts, the radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamsa al-Masri was back again this time fighting an effort to extradite him for trial in the United States on terrorism charges. Abu Hamsa's attorney is confident he can beat it.

MODDASSER ARANI, HAMSA'S ATTORNEY: My client is fine thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has he been questioned yet?

ARANI: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And will he be fighting the extradition whatever happens?

ARANI: Yes, we will be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On what grounds, can you give us an idea?

ARANI: I'm sorry (unintelligible) I can't. I've got no other comments to make. Thank you.

RODGERS: Abu Hamsa, known as "the hook" because he has a steel hook having lost an arm and an eye in Afghanistan, is already fighting a British effort to deport him on a separate legal track.

The home office wants to strip him of British citizenship, calls him a danger to society, alleges he has deep links to five different terrorist organizations including al Qaeda. He's openly praised the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States and preaches a holy war against the west.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It must comes with the gun and it will come through the gun. Always comes with the gun.

RODGERS: Across from the court this banner, popular sentiment, sling your hook translates...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get rid of him. Get rid of him. Somewhere else can take him.

RODGERS: Others prescribe more than extradition or deportation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hang him.

RODGERS: Hang him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, hang him.

RODGERS: The U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft flirted with the sentiment.

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The maximum sentence for hostage taking, the charges directed toward Hamsa, is death penalty or life in prison.

RODGERS: But criminal lawyers here note Britain already refuses to extradite three other al Qaeda suspects facing the death penalty and indications are the death penalty's already been waived in Abu Hamsa's case.

JONATHAN GOLDBERG, ATTORNEY: As a condition of handing him over, the British government, which by law is not permitted to impose the death penalty, will demand a guarantee from the Americans that it will not be imposed in America even though it might have been in another case in America.

RODGERS: Outside the court, Abu Hamsa's followers prayed. Inside the court said no bail, remanding him into custody for at least another week.

(on camera): Privately, more than a few in Britain would like to see Abu Hamsa extradited. Despite his virulent sermons castigating western civilization he and his eight children reportedly still live on British government welfare payments and the British taxpayer is still getting socked for Abu Hamsa's legal fees.

Walter Rodgers, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Attorney General Ashcroft, as you saw, was front and center on this one same as he was on the terror alert yesterday and all the confusion that followed. The attorney general said one thing. The secretary of homeland security said another. To many ears it sounded like a mixed message. The administration says no but problem or not today the fallout from it was very real.

Again, CNN's Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): On Wednesday morning before the Justice Department press conference an administration source says the president asked Attorney General John Ashcroft and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge if they were in sync. (AUDIO GAP) was referring to the release of lookouts for suspicious persons. But homeland was caught off guard by Ashcroft's dire interpretation of the current intelligence. On this they were not in sync.

ASHCROFT: This disturbing intelligence indicates al Qaeda's specific intention to hit the United States hard.

TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: I mean I can -- we could go back over the past two years and pick out threat reports of pretty much the same substance.

MESERVE: Thursday they still appeared out of sync with Ashcroft repeating his take on the threat reporting.

ASHCROFT: That it's multiply sourced, credible intelligence that's growing, that's a stream of intelligence that has been corroborated.

MESERVE: An administration official says the Department of Justice has been "taken to task" for not coordinating with homeland and other agencies. "All parties involved have been asked to ensure the greatest cooperation when announcing threat information" said the official.

One state homeland official says they could have told us ahead of time and homeland officials express concern that the lack of coordination undermined the department's relationship with state and local officials who were left, one official said, shrugging their shoulders and wondering what to do. Some say it left the public in the same state.

DAVID HEYMAN, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTL. STUDIES: I think it confuses them and frankly angers them because they don't know what to expect from their government and what's the credible thing that they're supposed to be responding to?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: Ashcroft's press conference has had one positive impact. Twenty-four hours after releasing photographs of seven people with suspected ties to terrorism, the FBI has received over 2,000 tips and it's asking for more.

BROWN: So, who's right in this? Was the attorney general right in this in his analysis or was Secretary Ridge right in this in his analysis?

MESERVE: Aaron, I'm sorry I missed part of that question. We were having some technical problems. Would you mind repeating it?

BROWN: Can you hear me now?

MESERVE: Yes, I can. BROWN: OK. I'm just trying to figure out who interpreted the data correctly, the attorney general clear and present danger, multiple sources, the whole deal, or the secretary of homeland security. Who was right do we know?

MESERVE: Well, you know what beat I cover, Aaron.

BROWN: Yes.

MESERVE: And the people who I talk to tell me that the intelligence community is more in accord with what Secretary Ridge had to say yesterday rather than with Attorney General Ashcroft. And let me say also, Aaron, that the Justice Department is denying that homeland was left out of the loop. One official told us today that they were consulted all along the way at every step.

BROWN: Jeanne, thank you very much, Jeanne Meserve in Washington.

Keeping the nation safe seems to make its way into just about every political speech these days, so no surprise the day after the attorney general's news conference, Senator John Kerry raised the issue on the campaign trail again.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee gave the first in a series of speeches designed to better define his views, the campaign hopes, on domestic and foreign policy. Speech number one was heavy on the broad strokes.

Covering the campaign tonight CNN's Kelly Wallace.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Kerry in a speech in Seattle tries to convince Americans his team can keep the U.S. safer than team Bush.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They bullied when they should have persuaded. They've gone it alone when they should have assembled a whole team. They made America less safe than we should be in a dangerous world.

WALLACE: It was a speech long on vision, short of details. Kerry would build stronger alliances, modernize the military and not be afraid to use force when necessary to deal with threats of new al Qaeda attacks.

KERRY: As commander-in-chief I will bring the full force of our nation's power to bear on finding and crushing your networks. We'll use every resource of our power to destroy you.

WALLACE: There are signs Kerry may be gaining ground on the Iraq issue. Asked who would do a better job handling Iraq in a recent poll, Mr. Bush led Kerry but by only six points. However, in that same poll when asked who do you trust more in a crisis, 60 percent chose the president over Kerry a decorated Vietnam veteran. Narrowing that gap is one challenge for the Senator, another...

AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Donald Rumsfeld ought to resign.

WALLACE: ...leading a Democratic Party where more liberal leaning members, like Al Gore, are demanding multiple Bush team resignations over Iraq while a coalition of 40 liberal groups is calling for a U.S. troop pull out.

A Bush-Cheney campaign spokesman blasted the Senator's speech saying it contradicts his votes in the Senate to slash defense and intelligence funding.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And the Senator arrived here in Green Bay a short time ago, stop number two of his 11-day focus on national security, his main goal trying to persuade Americans he would be a stronger leader. It is a debate the Bush-Cheney team says it welcomes -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well, it's an important debate. I assume they're both going to engage in it for the next months. Thank you, Kelly, Kelly Wallace in Green Bay tonight.

As she mentioned, Al Gore and a good number of other Democrats are calling for dramatic changes in Iraq policy in the bluntest terms, as you heard. In that speech that Mr. Gore gave yesterday he accused the president of incompetence and called for the resignations of Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice and George Tenet but these demands by his own party pose a problem for Senator Kerry.

Nina Easton is Deputy Chief of "Boston Globe's" Washington Bureau, co-author of "John Kerry, the Complete Biography" not to be confused with any others.

NINA EASTON, CO-AUTHOR, "JOHN KERRY, THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY": That's right.

BROWN: Good to have you with us tonight.

EASTON: Thanks for having me.

BROWN: It is a dilemma I suspect more for political reporters than, in fact, for the candidates. I think they know exactly what they're doing.

EASTON: I think it's a dilemma for the armchair strategists in the Democratic Party. I think Kerry's speech was, yes, it was very much stay the course in Kerry speak.

There's not a lot of daylight between where Kerry is on Iraq and where the president's gone on Iraq. Nevertheless, I think it's incredibly dangerous for Kerry to consider moving in the direction of Gore or Ralph Nader.

BROWN: It is dangerous because that is not where elections are won?

EASTON: A, it's not where elections are won. It's a scary time, you know, with the instability in Iraq, with killings, kidnappings on a daily basis, with a terrorist attack on the horizon potentially in this country. People are scared.

They want a stable, secure leader. They want somebody who they feel comfortable with. Al Gore, who gave a speech that made him looking like a bit like Howard Dean in the howl speech that came after the Iowa Caucuses, it's out of the comfort zone for a lot of people.

BROWN: Well, there's tone and there's substance. You could take those positions without sounding that way. I think the argument though is even taking the positions is dangerous that where the Senator has to win and frankly where the president has to win are those centrist, basically moderate conservative males mostly, right?

EASTON: There's that and there's also the question that's peculiar to John Kerry, which is he needs to look like somebody who's got a clear direction, who's staying with that direction.

As we show in the book, he's had some trouble in the past looking like he has a clear direction, particularly on matters of war and peace, particularly on the Persian Gulf War and now on the Iraq War.

And it's more important for him to look like he's got a clear direction that he's not, you know, listening to this audience or that audience or playing to this audience or that audience. He needs to look like he's confident enough to stay the course.

BROWN: Let me ask this slightly differently, hopefully. Is it in some ways helpful to him to have the Naders and the Gores out there clearly to the left of him?

EASTON: Right. I think it absolutely helps him. At the end of the day, the vote I think is going to be yes or no, particularly in Iraq it's going to be yes or no on George Bush.

BROWN: Yes.

EASTON: So, does he risk losing -- does Kerry risk losing some of that Nader-Gore vote? Yes, maybe, not a lot. I think but what he does have to do is make people feel comfortable, people in the middle feel comfortable at the end of the day and it doesn't -- it does not hurt to have Al Gore to your left.

BROWN: And if those people are chopping up the president, I mean from the Senator's point of view, so be it.

EASTON: The president, I really believe that people are going to hold on. There's a core of people that are going to hold on to this president at a time of war to the very end.

They're going to break lose at the very end and when they break lose they will want to break lose to somebody again who provides a sense of security, confidence and is stable and that's what you have to look at the Gore speech and worry a little bit.

BROWN: Good to see you. Thanks for coming in.

EASTON: Thank you.

BROWN: I'll see you soon, I hope.

EASTON: OK.

BROWN: Thank you.

Ahead on the program tonight, the death toll rises. Survivors begin to clean up the deadly floods, devastating flood in the Dominican and in Haiti.

And in the nation's capital a new monument on the mall right between Lincoln and Washington right where it deserves to be. We'll tell you about that later in the program.

From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: On the Caribbean island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic a reminder that not all disasters are manmade and that while nature's motives may be neutral that doesn't lessen the damage.

Fierce rains over the weekend led to major flooding which led to mudslides and now whole towns, whole families have been wiped out. More than 500 people are known to have died. Thousands more are missing, the death toll expected to rise.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is in the Dominican tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Days after Sunday's violent storm bodies are still being recovered from a lake, swept into the water when currents carried away entire homes with sleeping families inside.

Dominican Republican President Hipolito Mejia flew to the hardest hit town of (unintelligible) to see the destruction firsthand. The U.S. ambassador also on hand.

HANS HERTELL, U.S. AMBASSADOR: We've been told that some places like over 200 homes were just literally washed away near that water tower. Boats out by a lake recovering some of these bodies and it's pretty grim.

CANDIOTTI: In town, despair and disbelief.

"It's been four days" this woman says "and it doesn't look like my country."

Mud fills homes that defied the storm and for some meager belongings that were inside appear unrecoverable. In other cases, household goods are now cluttering the streets.

This man says people here have lost everything.

Parts of roads remain under water or damaged further isolating villages. Power is out. There is damage to crops, much of it sugar cane, and livestock has been lost. Immediate concerns remain drinking water, food, clothing and shelter. Up to 15,000 people are believed to be homeless.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: And to prevent a possible onset of disease from decomposing bodies that already have been buried, the government is planning to drop disinfectant from government airplanes tomorrow. It almost sounds like something out of a movie script.

And an equally troubling situation in neighboring Haiti where a small town called (unintelligible) about 30 miles out of the capital of Port-au-Prince that town is said to be under more than ten feet of water.

A U.S.-led international force is continuing to bring relief there but to make matters worse forecasters, Aaron, are predicting more rain in the next few days.

BROWN: Susan, thank you, Susan Candiotti in the Dominican Republic tonight. My goodness.

Coming up on NEWSNIGHT still the former archbishop of Boston gets called to Rome. Some feel such a reward is not in order.

From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Never let it be said that the Vatican worries much about how this decision or that will play in the papers. To risk irreverence here it answers to a higher authority and operates on a longer time frame than the average news cycle.

That said the church, all churches, not to mention companies and just about any public institution these days has to contend with public opinion and safe to say the Vatican's latest move has PR disaster written all over it.

From Boston tonight CNN's Dan Lothian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Cardinal Bernard Law has a new title and a new home, archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome. But, in Boston, the archdiocese he left in the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal not everyone is celebrating the pope's appointment.

JOHN KING, CLERGY ABUSE VICTIM: He did not defend the children. He defended the church.

LOTHIAN: Some victims of abuse are outraged that Cardinal Law, who was named in hundreds of lawsuits, was accused of protecting pedophile priests, and who, when the scandal first broke, blamed the messenger...

CARDINAL BERNARD LAW, FORMER BOSTON ARCHBISHOP: Let's call down God's power on the media.

LOTHIAN: ... is now blessed with a highly visible post.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do I, as a victim, begin to heal going through that, seeing this? I can't.

MITCHELL GARABEDIAN, ATTORNEY: It is a slap in the face to victims and also a slap in the face to the public.

LOTHIAN (on camera): Archbishop Sean O'Malley, who took over after Cardinal Law left, had no comment on reaction from some of the victims. But he did talk about the new assignment. In a short statement he said -- quote -- "We pray that God will bless Cardinal Law in the ministry he takes up as archpriest."

(voice-over): Cardinal Law, who had been serving as chaplain at a Maryland convent, also had no comment. His supporters say the largely ceremonial position is well deserved.

But as the church struggles to rebuild trust, Boston College theology professor Thomas Groome says even an honorary position can send the wrong message.

THOMAS GROOME, BOSTON COLLEGE: On one level, it is a token. On the other hand, it does show that Cardinal Law clearly has the approval of the Vatican and is still highly regarded by the Vatican. And this indeed may come as disappointing to American Catholics in general and to Boston Catholics in particular.

LOTHIAN: A ceremonial gesture now causing some victims of abuse to question the Vatican's understanding of their pain.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A few more items from around the country making news, beginning in Baltimore. Three young children in that city have been found decapitated. Their mother discovered them when she arrived home late today. Police are questioning a man who they call a person of interest, but are saying nothing else about the case at this hour.

The Defense Department today said a soldier killed early on in the war the first Sunday of the war did not die in battle after all. Officials now say Sergeant Donald Walters was murdered by his Iraqi captors after he and other members of the 507th Maintenance Company fell into enemy hands. No explanation why it has taken so long to learn this. After -- 40 years after the first surgeon general's warning, the warning is getting longer. A new report concludes that, in addition to lung cancer and heart disease, smoking also causes cataracts, leukemia, pneumonia, and gum disease. The message here is pretty clear.

Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, a top athlete fights back against allegations of drug use and we'll look at whether sports is the only place where performance-enhancing drugs are a national problem.

A break first. Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In all her years of competing, Olympic champion Marion Jones has never once tested positive for any banned substance. But that has not stopped the rumors of steroid use from dogging her. And now the fight to keep her good name and her expected slot in the Summer Olympics has gotten nastier. U.S. anti-doping officials say they may have evidence the track and field star used steroids, evidence taken from a San Francisco area lab that is at the center of an international doping investigation. Ms. Jones says she is ready for the legal battle, if it comes to that.

Here is CNN's Michelle Bonner.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARION JONES, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: When you're on top of a sport, as I have been for so long, you have to expect that your name will be drawn into good articles, bad articles, good topics, bad topics. And it is just the way it is.

MICHELLE BONNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The suspicion stems from documents that were confiscated during a raid at the bay area laboratory cooperative known as BALCO last September. USADA, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, is using those documents and testimony from others to determine whether or not athlete may have used illegal drugs. Exclusion from the Olympic team is a possible outcome.

JONES: If USADA does anything like that based on whomever says whatever, then USADA will have a huge lawsuit, I mean, and not only from me.

BONNER: On Monday, USADA give Jones' lawyers copies of several documents which came from the BALCO raid. Her lawyers have questioned the validity of the information contained in them and have said that anything short of a positive drug test should not prevent Jones from competing in the Olympics. Jones has never tested positive for drugs.

JONES: I can't spend a lot of my time worrying about what USADA is up to. I know that I'll get to the Olympic trials. I know I will compete to the best of my ability, hopefully win, and hopefully go to Athens. And if there is anyone that tries to stand in my way, well, then, I'll go through the legal process as well.

BONNER: The U.S. Olympic trials begin July 9.

Michelle Bonner, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well, clearly, there is a lot to talk about here.

Joining us from Durham, North Carolina, is Jim Coleman, a senior associate Dean at the Duke Law School. He helped create the U.S. Federation Track and Field Anti-Doping Program and has defended both the Federation and athletes in doping cases. And in Gainesville, Florida, tonight, former Olympic runner Marty Liquori. He was one the top-ranked miler and 5,000-meter runner in the world. He now covers Olympic track and field events for NBC Sports.

Welcome to you both.

Jim, let me start with you.

There is a fair amount of circumstantial evidence here, isn't there?

JAMES COLEMAN, SENIOR ASSOCIATE DEAN, DUKE LAW SCHOOL: Well, there are documents. I don't know that we should dignify it by calling it evidence, because we don't know what the documents are.

BROWN: Well, there is talk that there are initials next to drugs being passed out. We don't know if they were taken. There's checks that may have her signature on it. There are associations that raise questions. Is that the kind of thing that should be considered by the U.S. Doping Agency?

COLEMAN: I don't think so. The question is whether she has used performance-enhancing drugs. That is a question of fact. What we're doing is speculating about what documents mean, what notations on documents mean, and whether -- even if the documents refer to a particular athlete, whether that proves that the athlete in fact received the drugs and took the drugs.

BROWN: Marty, if the jury were made up of fellow track and fielders, do you think the circumstantial evidence would be persuasive?

MARTY LIQUORI, FORMER OLYMPIC RUNNER: Well, not commenting on the Marion Jones case in particular, but in any case with the Kelli White case getting a ban and not having failed a drug positive test, that opens up a new way of catching people who are using illegal means. So I think the athletes would welcome other ways to catch athletes than the rare instance when an athlete fails a drug test.

BROWN: Do you think the athletes care more about this than fans do? Do you think fans actually care about this?

LIQUORI: Two things.

I read an article by a person much younger than me when the baseball players first were being talked about have taken steroids. And they're saying, why would you expect us to get upset about this? We have been listening to music for 40 years from people who are on drugs. So I don't think the fans do. The athletes do. The athletes who spend their life getting ready for the Olympics want to go to the Olympics and be on the starting line with people that they know don't have an advantage over them. They have devoted their lives to them.

So the athletes are very serious about it, have no problem giving urine tests and having their doors knocked on in the middle of the night and giving urine tests because it protects their investment in the sport.

BROWN: Jim, is there a danger -- first of all, in Ms. Jones' case, that the damage is already done, that once your name comes up in these sorts of things, you are considered a cheater no matter what the evidence?

COLEMAN: I think that's the problem.

As soon as her name comes up as an athlete who is suspected of taking drugs, much of the public believes that in fact she must take drugs. And there is no way for her to clear her name. These proceedings are intended to be confidential until a finding has been made that the athlete in fact has used a prohibited substance. In this case, we're speculating in public, in the press primarily, about what documents mean and whether they mean that a particular athlete has committed a doping violation.

BROWN: And, Mary, let me give you the last word on this. Do you think that in terms of how these Olympic Games in Athens are seen this year, and to a certain extent I suppose how you cover them, because you will, that the doping story is going to be a big story, or will this still be an Olympics about who jumps the highest, runs the fastest and all the rest?

LIQUORI: Well, I think it will still be about the performances there.

If anything, the athletes of the world feel now that after perhaps 10 years of track and field being on the cutting edge of testing for drugs, the light is at end of the tunnel, that they are more confident that these will be the fairest Games that have happened in many years.

BROWN: Gentlemen, thank you, both.

I hope that this is one of those stories that you do worry that just talking about does some damage. But it is an important story. And we appreciate your efforts. Thank you very much.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Still on the subject of drugs and athletes, if you don't mind questions without answers, we have a few for you tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BROWN (voice-over): Why is what's good for the average Joe or Jane bad, more than bad, actually, illegal, if Joe or Jane wears track shorts or a team uniform? The rest of us are relentlessly encouraged, to the tune of many millions and millions of advertising dollars a year, to go down to the doctor or the drugstore for a cure to what ails us.

Do you have allergies, phobias, heartburn, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, low self-esteem? Want to stop smoking, lose weight, gain weight? Are your toenails a terrible sight? There is something in a bottle or tube to take care of every problem. Whether it is a real illness, thank goodness we have these options, or just something unsightly, we turn to the medicine cabinet. It is the American way.

As for athletes and performance-enhancing drugs, well, it sort of depends what kind of performance you mean and where. In the bedroom, baseball players endorse Viagra. The NFL suggests Lavitra, PGA golfers, Cialis. This means what, that drugs are OK when you're completely out of uniform, but absolutely not OK when you suit up?

As we say, we don't have any answers to these questions, any more than we have an answer to this last one. Isn't this sport and drug thing a bit more than just about sports?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Ahead on the program tonight, it has been a long time coming. But this Memorial Day, World War II veterans get their memorial.

This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: For Veterans of World War II, this Memorial Day weekend has special significance. In Washington, a national memorial honoring their sacrifices will be dedicated on Saturday. Coming nearly 60 years after D-day, it is recognition delayed. Twelve million Americans served in World War II. More than 400,000 were killed.

Of those who survived, fewer than four million are alive today. Time is running out for the greatest generation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): They are your father and your grandfather, old men now. Some need help just to stand, others in wheelchairs. A few cannot hide their tears. A handful where old uniforms. And nearly all say they are grateful that a permanent memorial to what they endured has finally been built.

AL SIMPSON, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: I just had to come. I had to come because of my buddies that are not here. It is a beautiful edifice and it is something that I'm proud of. And I hope the people of the United States will enjoy this. BROWN: Thousands of veterans like former Marine Al Simpson are in Washington for the official ceremonies that will open the World War II Memorial. Authorized 11 years ago, built for $190 million in private money, the wonder, of course, is that it took so long to build in the first place.

BETSY GLICK, WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL: Of course, the most common comment is, well, it is about time. And we agree. We really have worked a long time to build this tribute to the World War II generation.

BROWN: And it is not, of course, meant just for them.

BOB DOLE, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Maybe the kids will recognize that some time in your life, you may be called upon to make a sacrifice for your country. That's what this is really all about. It is symbolic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "SAVING PRIVATE RYAN")

TOM HANKS, ACTOR: We're here looking for a Private James Ryan. He's part of your outfit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: But it was a movie about war, "Saving Private Ryan," that jump-started the fund-raising, that and the best-selling book by TV anchor Tom Brokaw called "The Greatest Generation," a book that somehow made it OK for Army Rangers like Charles Osbourne to talk about their war for the first time.

CHARLES OSBORNE, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: I was in the North African desert. I was in Italy. And I was captured. I was in a prison camp, a German prison camp. And I was wounded. And I just thank God that I got out of there.

BROWN: The memorial is also a reminder that women served in World War II.

THELMA ROBINSON: Cadet nurses supplied 80 percent of the service -- nursing service in World War II because the registered nurses were in the military and overseas.

BROWN: And a reminder as well that all was not equal for all soldiers.

ERNEST JETT, WORLD WAR II: I was trained as a combat infantry soldier. (INAUDIBLE) But I wasn't qualified to fight. That's pretty sad, isn't it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want you to notice all the branches of the service.

BROWN: Schoolchildren will come flocking to the memorial. They will hear history from their teachers. And if they are lucky, they will hear history, too, from men like Al Simpson. SIMPSON: There is not much good about war. I myself have never talked to my children about the war, because it is -- I put it way back here those things I want to forget.

BROWN: But forgetting is not on the agenda just now. Now is about remembering.

DON ROBINSON, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: It does make you reflect back on those times. And, of course, we never forget those times. To us, that's the most important part of our life, was during those times. To us, it is fantastic. It's a part of our life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: CNN's coverage of the dedication of the memorial 2:00 Saturday afternoon. Paula Zahn anchors. Former President George Bush and Senator George McGovern, both war heroes of the Second World War, join in. That's Saturday afternoon.

Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: OK, time to collect morning papers from around the country, around the world. Lots of good ones today. Do I say that every night? Sometimes I do and I don't mean it.

I love this. It just tells you so much about Miami. "The Miami Herald," two top stories speak to the cosmopolitan nature of the city. "Venezuela Owns Stake in Ballots." The Venezuelan government has a 28 percent ownership in the company that will help voting results in future elections. I'm sure that makes everyone feel comfortable. And they also put the flooding in the Dominican and Haiti on the front page. "Devastated Town Can't Get Flood Aid" is "The Miami Herald."

I should actually say that to the end, since it's the Chicago paper, shouldn't I? That's how we do this every night.

"The Santa Rosa News" in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. They have helped me out by putting that on the front page. It is just graduation. And that's why I liked it. The kids in Santa Rosa are graduating. And that should be front-page news. It's not everywhere, but it's nice to see it here.

"The Cincinnati Enquirer" leads local also. Actually, almost the whole front page is local. "City Cancels 'Cops' After Two Days." That's the TV shows that's on one of those other networks. "Infighting at City Hall Leaves Streicher" -- that's Tommy Streicher, the police chief -- Tom Streicher -- "To Halt Filming." That's lead in Cincinnati. Also this weekend, it is the taste of Cincinnati. I love those things when all the restaurants come out in Cincinnati. It is like 1,000 different kinds of chili over noodles and with -- you know, the Cincinnati chili. "The Detroit News," good front-page story there, too. "Michigan Abortion Ban Revived. Voters Petitions OKed That Will Let Lawmakers Bypass Granholm." She's the governor, vetoed the partial-birth abortion ban. They also put sports on the front page. Game four can seal it up for the Pistons. That would be the Detroit Pistons.

I like this story in "The Detroit Free Press." "U.M.'s" -- University of Michigan's -- "Next Class Looks Whiter. Why Is Debated." That's a very good story. We should look at that.

"Chicago Sun-Times," just the headline. "Alderman Tricked By Her Gang Lover." You just can't get a better headline than that. The weather in Chicago tomorrow, please...

(CHIMES)

BROWN: Thank you, "Chirpy." How appropriate.

We'll wrap up the day and look ahead to tomorrow after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A quick look ahead at what's coming up tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING. Here is Soledad O'Brien.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Aaron. Tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING," the Michael Jackson case going back to court. Will the judge drop a $3 million bail demand. And why are defense attorneys already fuming? Jeff Toobin is with us in the morning breaking down that case, CNN tomorrow 7:00 a.m. Eastern -- Aaron, back to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Soledad, thank you.

We're back here tomorrow at 10:00. It's Friday. That means the tabloids and all the other good things that makes NEWSNIGHT, NEWSNIGHT. We hope you will join us then.

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 May 27, 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.
At the risk of sounding too big for my britches I had dinner last winter with Tom Ridge, the Secretary of Homeland Security. Since this is the page in the program where opinion lives, I will tell you that I like the secretary a lot and I think he has the most important and impossible job in the government.

Most of what was said that night by agreement remains private but this I can say without violating any confidence. The secretary believes strongly it is necessary for the government to speak with one clear voice on matters of terror, one clear message.

The reasons are pretty obvious. Mixed messages lead to a lack of confidence. We stop believing. You stop believing, or worse, you start believing there are all sorts of nefarious reasons for the warnings, politics or something else.

That is what makes this week's alert so distressing. We can't expect the government to know everything. We can and should expect it to agree on what it does know and what it means. We'll get to that a little later in the program.

First though, Iraq, and what appears to be the end of the bloody fighting for the city of Najaf. CNN's Jane Arraf has been there for a while now on the videophone again tonight, Jane the headline.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, it's not quite a deal but it is the possibility that what could have been a total disaster possibly a civil war has been averted. An agreement between the radical Shia leader, religious leaders, and now possibly the U.S.

BROWN: Jane, thank you.

On to London and the arrest of another radical cleric the United States would like to see in criminal court. Walter Rodgers covered, Walt the headline.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Aaron. The British have alleged terrorist Abu Hamsa in jail. They want to get rid of him, deport him. The Americans want him, want him extradited but Abu Hamsa's lawyers are hoping to tie this up in British courts for at least another year -- Aaron.

BROWN: Walter, thank you. Next to the terrorism story and the confusion surrounding it. CNN's Jeanne Meserve worked it today, Jeanne the headline.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, if it sounded like the attorney general and the secretary of homeland security were on different pages yesterday talking about the terrorist threat, they were. Now the Justice Department has been taken to task but how did the mixed messages affect state and local officials and, as you asked, how did it impact the public -- Aaron?

BROWN: Jeanne, thank you.

And finally the flooding and the terrible loss of life in the Dominican Republican and in Haiti. Disaster seems too weak a word for it. Susan Candiotti is there on the phone, Susan a headline tonight.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Aaron from the Dominican Republic. In fact the government is planning an air assault of sorts tomorrow dropping disinfectant from the air over one of the hardest hit areas. And, in Haiti, one small village is under 10 feet of water -- Aaron.

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

Also coming up on the program tonight, Senator John Kerry lays out his plan for national security. How are voters responding to that?

The Olympic champion Marion Jones, three gold medals, caught up in a steroid scandal but did she actually use the drugs that could end her career?

And, as the morning papers go to press the rooster will crow. It will and we'll take a look at tomorrow's headlines tonight, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight in Iraq with the makings of good news for a change. For weeks now the fighters loyal to the cleric Muqtada al- Sadr have occupied the religiously and politically sensitive city of Najaf.

And for weeks American forces have been slowly closing in and killing them by the dozen, more than 350 so far, so many, so easily that morale was becoming a concern on the American side. Clearly, something had to give and today it did with the help of some very tricky negotiations and the fighting that set the stage.

And so we begin with CNN's Jane Arraf.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARRAF (voice-over): The U.S. Army's battle with Muqtada al- Sadr's militia in Najaf has threatened the stability of the entire country but it has perhaps been diffused.

The Shia cleric whose militia has waged war for almost two months against U.S. forces has agreed with religious authorities to disband his militia. The move follows increasing military pressure on Sadr, including the arrest of one of his chief deputies.

DAN SENOR, CPA SPOKESMAN: We view this as a very positive step.

ARRAF: Under the plan, militia members in Najaf would give up their weapons. Iraqi police would secure the city. U.S. forces would still have a strong role here. There's been a lot of talk of deals before but U.S. military officials are seeing signs this may be the real thing.

(on camera): This coalition base usually wakes up to the sound of mortar fire but in the past two days there have been no attacks. That's so unusual. Military officials say it could very well be a sign that Muqtada al-Sadr is serious.

(voice-over): Whether his fighters will all comply is another matter.

MAJ. GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, U.S. ARMY: One of the things we have to do is either confirm or deny that the militia is doing what he told it to. It's not entirely clear that he controls the militia to the 100th percentile, so we'll see.

ARRAF: As for Sadr, he'll no longer face U.S. threats to kill or capture him. The radical cleric could parlay his support on the street to political power in the new Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARRAF: And a footnote to that. One of the members of the governing council negotiating in Najaf over this agreement to try to bring peace to this troubled city was ambushed on the way back to Baghdad.

Her son and possibly three other people were killed when their convoy came under attack. Salama al-Khafaji had filled in, had been chosen to replace another female member of the governing council who had been assassinated -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jane, just before you get away what happens to the murder charges that Mr. Sadr was facing?

ARRAF: Those, Aaron, probably will go away. The feeling has been for a long time that it would be hard to make those murder charges stick. Now what he's charged with is giving the word that a rival Shia cleric should be assassinated.

There apparently, according to Iraqi legal sources, isn't really enough evidence to make a firm case against him and conveniently once he is turned over to Iraqi justice, which would almost certainly be the case, then the charges could be deferred or dropped -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jane, thank you, Jane Arraf who's been in Najaf now for a while. Terrorism next, two headlines, two clerics, one coming, one going. Federal agents today raided a mosque in Philadelphia detaining an Egyptian cleric who was already fighting deportation.

Officials say he violated the conditions of bail but declined to say how nor would they say what they were looking for. The local news radio station says the raid was connected with an investigation into fund-raising for terror groups.

The other cleric in question is a familiar one for his connection with the shoe bomber Richard Reed. Today in federal court in Manhattan, an 11-count indictment was unsealed.

It charges the cleric with trying to set up a terrorist training camp in rural Oregon and assisting in the kidnapping of two Americans in Yemen, more than enough for British authorities to arrest him, less than a slam dunk though for bringing him here to face trial.

From London tonight CNN's Walter Rodgers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RODGERS (voice-over): No stranger to British courts, the radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamsa al-Masri was back again this time fighting an effort to extradite him for trial in the United States on terrorism charges. Abu Hamsa's attorney is confident he can beat it.

MODDASSER ARANI, HAMSA'S ATTORNEY: My client is fine thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has he been questioned yet?

ARANI: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And will he be fighting the extradition whatever happens?

ARANI: Yes, we will be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On what grounds, can you give us an idea?

ARANI: I'm sorry (unintelligible) I can't. I've got no other comments to make. Thank you.

RODGERS: Abu Hamsa, known as "the hook" because he has a steel hook having lost an arm and an eye in Afghanistan, is already fighting a British effort to deport him on a separate legal track.

The home office wants to strip him of British citizenship, calls him a danger to society, alleges he has deep links to five different terrorist organizations including al Qaeda. He's openly praised the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States and preaches a holy war against the west.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It must comes with the gun and it will come through the gun. Always comes with the gun.

RODGERS: Across from the court this banner, popular sentiment, sling your hook translates...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get rid of him. Get rid of him. Somewhere else can take him.

RODGERS: Others prescribe more than extradition or deportation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hang him.

RODGERS: Hang him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, hang him.

RODGERS: The U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft flirted with the sentiment.

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The maximum sentence for hostage taking, the charges directed toward Hamsa, is death penalty or life in prison.

RODGERS: But criminal lawyers here note Britain already refuses to extradite three other al Qaeda suspects facing the death penalty and indications are the death penalty's already been waived in Abu Hamsa's case.

JONATHAN GOLDBERG, ATTORNEY: As a condition of handing him over, the British government, which by law is not permitted to impose the death penalty, will demand a guarantee from the Americans that it will not be imposed in America even though it might have been in another case in America.

RODGERS: Outside the court, Abu Hamsa's followers prayed. Inside the court said no bail, remanding him into custody for at least another week.

(on camera): Privately, more than a few in Britain would like to see Abu Hamsa extradited. Despite his virulent sermons castigating western civilization he and his eight children reportedly still live on British government welfare payments and the British taxpayer is still getting socked for Abu Hamsa's legal fees.

Walter Rodgers, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Attorney General Ashcroft, as you saw, was front and center on this one same as he was on the terror alert yesterday and all the confusion that followed. The attorney general said one thing. The secretary of homeland security said another. To many ears it sounded like a mixed message. The administration says no but problem or not today the fallout from it was very real.

Again, CNN's Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): On Wednesday morning before the Justice Department press conference an administration source says the president asked Attorney General John Ashcroft and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge if they were in sync. (AUDIO GAP) was referring to the release of lookouts for suspicious persons. But homeland was caught off guard by Ashcroft's dire interpretation of the current intelligence. On this they were not in sync.

ASHCROFT: This disturbing intelligence indicates al Qaeda's specific intention to hit the United States hard.

TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: I mean I can -- we could go back over the past two years and pick out threat reports of pretty much the same substance.

MESERVE: Thursday they still appeared out of sync with Ashcroft repeating his take on the threat reporting.

ASHCROFT: That it's multiply sourced, credible intelligence that's growing, that's a stream of intelligence that has been corroborated.

MESERVE: An administration official says the Department of Justice has been "taken to task" for not coordinating with homeland and other agencies. "All parties involved have been asked to ensure the greatest cooperation when announcing threat information" said the official.

One state homeland official says they could have told us ahead of time and homeland officials express concern that the lack of coordination undermined the department's relationship with state and local officials who were left, one official said, shrugging their shoulders and wondering what to do. Some say it left the public in the same state.

DAVID HEYMAN, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTL. STUDIES: I think it confuses them and frankly angers them because they don't know what to expect from their government and what's the credible thing that they're supposed to be responding to?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: Ashcroft's press conference has had one positive impact. Twenty-four hours after releasing photographs of seven people with suspected ties to terrorism, the FBI has received over 2,000 tips and it's asking for more.

BROWN: So, who's right in this? Was the attorney general right in this in his analysis or was Secretary Ridge right in this in his analysis?

MESERVE: Aaron, I'm sorry I missed part of that question. We were having some technical problems. Would you mind repeating it?

BROWN: Can you hear me now?

MESERVE: Yes, I can. BROWN: OK. I'm just trying to figure out who interpreted the data correctly, the attorney general clear and present danger, multiple sources, the whole deal, or the secretary of homeland security. Who was right do we know?

MESERVE: Well, you know what beat I cover, Aaron.

BROWN: Yes.

MESERVE: And the people who I talk to tell me that the intelligence community is more in accord with what Secretary Ridge had to say yesterday rather than with Attorney General Ashcroft. And let me say also, Aaron, that the Justice Department is denying that homeland was left out of the loop. One official told us today that they were consulted all along the way at every step.

BROWN: Jeanne, thank you very much, Jeanne Meserve in Washington.

Keeping the nation safe seems to make its way into just about every political speech these days, so no surprise the day after the attorney general's news conference, Senator John Kerry raised the issue on the campaign trail again.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee gave the first in a series of speeches designed to better define his views, the campaign hopes, on domestic and foreign policy. Speech number one was heavy on the broad strokes.

Covering the campaign tonight CNN's Kelly Wallace.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Kerry in a speech in Seattle tries to convince Americans his team can keep the U.S. safer than team Bush.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They bullied when they should have persuaded. They've gone it alone when they should have assembled a whole team. They made America less safe than we should be in a dangerous world.

WALLACE: It was a speech long on vision, short of details. Kerry would build stronger alliances, modernize the military and not be afraid to use force when necessary to deal with threats of new al Qaeda attacks.

KERRY: As commander-in-chief I will bring the full force of our nation's power to bear on finding and crushing your networks. We'll use every resource of our power to destroy you.

WALLACE: There are signs Kerry may be gaining ground on the Iraq issue. Asked who would do a better job handling Iraq in a recent poll, Mr. Bush led Kerry but by only six points. However, in that same poll when asked who do you trust more in a crisis, 60 percent chose the president over Kerry a decorated Vietnam veteran. Narrowing that gap is one challenge for the Senator, another...

AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Donald Rumsfeld ought to resign.

WALLACE: ...leading a Democratic Party where more liberal leaning members, like Al Gore, are demanding multiple Bush team resignations over Iraq while a coalition of 40 liberal groups is calling for a U.S. troop pull out.

A Bush-Cheney campaign spokesman blasted the Senator's speech saying it contradicts his votes in the Senate to slash defense and intelligence funding.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And the Senator arrived here in Green Bay a short time ago, stop number two of his 11-day focus on national security, his main goal trying to persuade Americans he would be a stronger leader. It is a debate the Bush-Cheney team says it welcomes -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well, it's an important debate. I assume they're both going to engage in it for the next months. Thank you, Kelly, Kelly Wallace in Green Bay tonight.

As she mentioned, Al Gore and a good number of other Democrats are calling for dramatic changes in Iraq policy in the bluntest terms, as you heard. In that speech that Mr. Gore gave yesterday he accused the president of incompetence and called for the resignations of Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice and George Tenet but these demands by his own party pose a problem for Senator Kerry.

Nina Easton is Deputy Chief of "Boston Globe's" Washington Bureau, co-author of "John Kerry, the Complete Biography" not to be confused with any others.

NINA EASTON, CO-AUTHOR, "JOHN KERRY, THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY": That's right.

BROWN: Good to have you with us tonight.

EASTON: Thanks for having me.

BROWN: It is a dilemma I suspect more for political reporters than, in fact, for the candidates. I think they know exactly what they're doing.

EASTON: I think it's a dilemma for the armchair strategists in the Democratic Party. I think Kerry's speech was, yes, it was very much stay the course in Kerry speak.

There's not a lot of daylight between where Kerry is on Iraq and where the president's gone on Iraq. Nevertheless, I think it's incredibly dangerous for Kerry to consider moving in the direction of Gore or Ralph Nader.

BROWN: It is dangerous because that is not where elections are won?

EASTON: A, it's not where elections are won. It's a scary time, you know, with the instability in Iraq, with killings, kidnappings on a daily basis, with a terrorist attack on the horizon potentially in this country. People are scared.

They want a stable, secure leader. They want somebody who they feel comfortable with. Al Gore, who gave a speech that made him looking like a bit like Howard Dean in the howl speech that came after the Iowa Caucuses, it's out of the comfort zone for a lot of people.

BROWN: Well, there's tone and there's substance. You could take those positions without sounding that way. I think the argument though is even taking the positions is dangerous that where the Senator has to win and frankly where the president has to win are those centrist, basically moderate conservative males mostly, right?

EASTON: There's that and there's also the question that's peculiar to John Kerry, which is he needs to look like somebody who's got a clear direction, who's staying with that direction.

As we show in the book, he's had some trouble in the past looking like he has a clear direction, particularly on matters of war and peace, particularly on the Persian Gulf War and now on the Iraq War.

And it's more important for him to look like he's got a clear direction that he's not, you know, listening to this audience or that audience or playing to this audience or that audience. He needs to look like he's confident enough to stay the course.

BROWN: Let me ask this slightly differently, hopefully. Is it in some ways helpful to him to have the Naders and the Gores out there clearly to the left of him?

EASTON: Right. I think it absolutely helps him. At the end of the day, the vote I think is going to be yes or no, particularly in Iraq it's going to be yes or no on George Bush.

BROWN: Yes.

EASTON: So, does he risk losing -- does Kerry risk losing some of that Nader-Gore vote? Yes, maybe, not a lot. I think but what he does have to do is make people feel comfortable, people in the middle feel comfortable at the end of the day and it doesn't -- it does not hurt to have Al Gore to your left.

BROWN: And if those people are chopping up the president, I mean from the Senator's point of view, so be it.

EASTON: The president, I really believe that people are going to hold on. There's a core of people that are going to hold on to this president at a time of war to the very end.

They're going to break lose at the very end and when they break lose they will want to break lose to somebody again who provides a sense of security, confidence and is stable and that's what you have to look at the Gore speech and worry a little bit.

BROWN: Good to see you. Thanks for coming in.

EASTON: Thank you.

BROWN: I'll see you soon, I hope.

EASTON: OK.

BROWN: Thank you.

Ahead on the program tonight, the death toll rises. Survivors begin to clean up the deadly floods, devastating flood in the Dominican and in Haiti.

And in the nation's capital a new monument on the mall right between Lincoln and Washington right where it deserves to be. We'll tell you about that later in the program.

From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: On the Caribbean island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic a reminder that not all disasters are manmade and that while nature's motives may be neutral that doesn't lessen the damage.

Fierce rains over the weekend led to major flooding which led to mudslides and now whole towns, whole families have been wiped out. More than 500 people are known to have died. Thousands more are missing, the death toll expected to rise.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is in the Dominican tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Days after Sunday's violent storm bodies are still being recovered from a lake, swept into the water when currents carried away entire homes with sleeping families inside.

Dominican Republican President Hipolito Mejia flew to the hardest hit town of (unintelligible) to see the destruction firsthand. The U.S. ambassador also on hand.

HANS HERTELL, U.S. AMBASSADOR: We've been told that some places like over 200 homes were just literally washed away near that water tower. Boats out by a lake recovering some of these bodies and it's pretty grim.

CANDIOTTI: In town, despair and disbelief.

"It's been four days" this woman says "and it doesn't look like my country."

Mud fills homes that defied the storm and for some meager belongings that were inside appear unrecoverable. In other cases, household goods are now cluttering the streets.

This man says people here have lost everything.

Parts of roads remain under water or damaged further isolating villages. Power is out. There is damage to crops, much of it sugar cane, and livestock has been lost. Immediate concerns remain drinking water, food, clothing and shelter. Up to 15,000 people are believed to be homeless.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: And to prevent a possible onset of disease from decomposing bodies that already have been buried, the government is planning to drop disinfectant from government airplanes tomorrow. It almost sounds like something out of a movie script.

And an equally troubling situation in neighboring Haiti where a small town called (unintelligible) about 30 miles out of the capital of Port-au-Prince that town is said to be under more than ten feet of water.

A U.S.-led international force is continuing to bring relief there but to make matters worse forecasters, Aaron, are predicting more rain in the next few days.

BROWN: Susan, thank you, Susan Candiotti in the Dominican Republic tonight. My goodness.

Coming up on NEWSNIGHT still the former archbishop of Boston gets called to Rome. Some feel such a reward is not in order.

From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Never let it be said that the Vatican worries much about how this decision or that will play in the papers. To risk irreverence here it answers to a higher authority and operates on a longer time frame than the average news cycle.

That said the church, all churches, not to mention companies and just about any public institution these days has to contend with public opinion and safe to say the Vatican's latest move has PR disaster written all over it.

From Boston tonight CNN's Dan Lothian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Cardinal Bernard Law has a new title and a new home, archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome. But, in Boston, the archdiocese he left in the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal not everyone is celebrating the pope's appointment.

JOHN KING, CLERGY ABUSE VICTIM: He did not defend the children. He defended the church.

LOTHIAN: Some victims of abuse are outraged that Cardinal Law, who was named in hundreds of lawsuits, was accused of protecting pedophile priests, and who, when the scandal first broke, blamed the messenger...

CARDINAL BERNARD LAW, FORMER BOSTON ARCHBISHOP: Let's call down God's power on the media.

LOTHIAN: ... is now blessed with a highly visible post.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do I, as a victim, begin to heal going through that, seeing this? I can't.

MITCHELL GARABEDIAN, ATTORNEY: It is a slap in the face to victims and also a slap in the face to the public.

LOTHIAN (on camera): Archbishop Sean O'Malley, who took over after Cardinal Law left, had no comment on reaction from some of the victims. But he did talk about the new assignment. In a short statement he said -- quote -- "We pray that God will bless Cardinal Law in the ministry he takes up as archpriest."

(voice-over): Cardinal Law, who had been serving as chaplain at a Maryland convent, also had no comment. His supporters say the largely ceremonial position is well deserved.

But as the church struggles to rebuild trust, Boston College theology professor Thomas Groome says even an honorary position can send the wrong message.

THOMAS GROOME, BOSTON COLLEGE: On one level, it is a token. On the other hand, it does show that Cardinal Law clearly has the approval of the Vatican and is still highly regarded by the Vatican. And this indeed may come as disappointing to American Catholics in general and to Boston Catholics in particular.

LOTHIAN: A ceremonial gesture now causing some victims of abuse to question the Vatican's understanding of their pain.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A few more items from around the country making news, beginning in Baltimore. Three young children in that city have been found decapitated. Their mother discovered them when she arrived home late today. Police are questioning a man who they call a person of interest, but are saying nothing else about the case at this hour.

The Defense Department today said a soldier killed early on in the war the first Sunday of the war did not die in battle after all. Officials now say Sergeant Donald Walters was murdered by his Iraqi captors after he and other members of the 507th Maintenance Company fell into enemy hands. No explanation why it has taken so long to learn this. After -- 40 years after the first surgeon general's warning, the warning is getting longer. A new report concludes that, in addition to lung cancer and heart disease, smoking also causes cataracts, leukemia, pneumonia, and gum disease. The message here is pretty clear.

Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, a top athlete fights back against allegations of drug use and we'll look at whether sports is the only place where performance-enhancing drugs are a national problem.

A break first. Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In all her years of competing, Olympic champion Marion Jones has never once tested positive for any banned substance. But that has not stopped the rumors of steroid use from dogging her. And now the fight to keep her good name and her expected slot in the Summer Olympics has gotten nastier. U.S. anti-doping officials say they may have evidence the track and field star used steroids, evidence taken from a San Francisco area lab that is at the center of an international doping investigation. Ms. Jones says she is ready for the legal battle, if it comes to that.

Here is CNN's Michelle Bonner.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARION JONES, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: When you're on top of a sport, as I have been for so long, you have to expect that your name will be drawn into good articles, bad articles, good topics, bad topics. And it is just the way it is.

MICHELLE BONNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The suspicion stems from documents that were confiscated during a raid at the bay area laboratory cooperative known as BALCO last September. USADA, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, is using those documents and testimony from others to determine whether or not athlete may have used illegal drugs. Exclusion from the Olympic team is a possible outcome.

JONES: If USADA does anything like that based on whomever says whatever, then USADA will have a huge lawsuit, I mean, and not only from me.

BONNER: On Monday, USADA give Jones' lawyers copies of several documents which came from the BALCO raid. Her lawyers have questioned the validity of the information contained in them and have said that anything short of a positive drug test should not prevent Jones from competing in the Olympics. Jones has never tested positive for drugs.

JONES: I can't spend a lot of my time worrying about what USADA is up to. I know that I'll get to the Olympic trials. I know I will compete to the best of my ability, hopefully win, and hopefully go to Athens. And if there is anyone that tries to stand in my way, well, then, I'll go through the legal process as well.

BONNER: The U.S. Olympic trials begin July 9.

Michelle Bonner, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well, clearly, there is a lot to talk about here.

Joining us from Durham, North Carolina, is Jim Coleman, a senior associate Dean at the Duke Law School. He helped create the U.S. Federation Track and Field Anti-Doping Program and has defended both the Federation and athletes in doping cases. And in Gainesville, Florida, tonight, former Olympic runner Marty Liquori. He was one the top-ranked miler and 5,000-meter runner in the world. He now covers Olympic track and field events for NBC Sports.

Welcome to you both.

Jim, let me start with you.

There is a fair amount of circumstantial evidence here, isn't there?

JAMES COLEMAN, SENIOR ASSOCIATE DEAN, DUKE LAW SCHOOL: Well, there are documents. I don't know that we should dignify it by calling it evidence, because we don't know what the documents are.

BROWN: Well, there is talk that there are initials next to drugs being passed out. We don't know if they were taken. There's checks that may have her signature on it. There are associations that raise questions. Is that the kind of thing that should be considered by the U.S. Doping Agency?

COLEMAN: I don't think so. The question is whether she has used performance-enhancing drugs. That is a question of fact. What we're doing is speculating about what documents mean, what notations on documents mean, and whether -- even if the documents refer to a particular athlete, whether that proves that the athlete in fact received the drugs and took the drugs.

BROWN: Marty, if the jury were made up of fellow track and fielders, do you think the circumstantial evidence would be persuasive?

MARTY LIQUORI, FORMER OLYMPIC RUNNER: Well, not commenting on the Marion Jones case in particular, but in any case with the Kelli White case getting a ban and not having failed a drug positive test, that opens up a new way of catching people who are using illegal means. So I think the athletes would welcome other ways to catch athletes than the rare instance when an athlete fails a drug test.

BROWN: Do you think the athletes care more about this than fans do? Do you think fans actually care about this?

LIQUORI: Two things.

I read an article by a person much younger than me when the baseball players first were being talked about have taken steroids. And they're saying, why would you expect us to get upset about this? We have been listening to music for 40 years from people who are on drugs. So I don't think the fans do. The athletes do. The athletes who spend their life getting ready for the Olympics want to go to the Olympics and be on the starting line with people that they know don't have an advantage over them. They have devoted their lives to them.

So the athletes are very serious about it, have no problem giving urine tests and having their doors knocked on in the middle of the night and giving urine tests because it protects their investment in the sport.

BROWN: Jim, is there a danger -- first of all, in Ms. Jones' case, that the damage is already done, that once your name comes up in these sorts of things, you are considered a cheater no matter what the evidence?

COLEMAN: I think that's the problem.

As soon as her name comes up as an athlete who is suspected of taking drugs, much of the public believes that in fact she must take drugs. And there is no way for her to clear her name. These proceedings are intended to be confidential until a finding has been made that the athlete in fact has used a prohibited substance. In this case, we're speculating in public, in the press primarily, about what documents mean and whether they mean that a particular athlete has committed a doping violation.

BROWN: And, Mary, let me give you the last word on this. Do you think that in terms of how these Olympic Games in Athens are seen this year, and to a certain extent I suppose how you cover them, because you will, that the doping story is going to be a big story, or will this still be an Olympics about who jumps the highest, runs the fastest and all the rest?

LIQUORI: Well, I think it will still be about the performances there.

If anything, the athletes of the world feel now that after perhaps 10 years of track and field being on the cutting edge of testing for drugs, the light is at end of the tunnel, that they are more confident that these will be the fairest Games that have happened in many years.

BROWN: Gentlemen, thank you, both.

I hope that this is one of those stories that you do worry that just talking about does some damage. But it is an important story. And we appreciate your efforts. Thank you very much.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Still on the subject of drugs and athletes, if you don't mind questions without answers, we have a few for you tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BROWN (voice-over): Why is what's good for the average Joe or Jane bad, more than bad, actually, illegal, if Joe or Jane wears track shorts or a team uniform? The rest of us are relentlessly encouraged, to the tune of many millions and millions of advertising dollars a year, to go down to the doctor or the drugstore for a cure to what ails us.

Do you have allergies, phobias, heartburn, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, low self-esteem? Want to stop smoking, lose weight, gain weight? Are your toenails a terrible sight? There is something in a bottle or tube to take care of every problem. Whether it is a real illness, thank goodness we have these options, or just something unsightly, we turn to the medicine cabinet. It is the American way.

As for athletes and performance-enhancing drugs, well, it sort of depends what kind of performance you mean and where. In the bedroom, baseball players endorse Viagra. The NFL suggests Lavitra, PGA golfers, Cialis. This means what, that drugs are OK when you're completely out of uniform, but absolutely not OK when you suit up?

As we say, we don't have any answers to these questions, any more than we have an answer to this last one. Isn't this sport and drug thing a bit more than just about sports?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Ahead on the program tonight, it has been a long time coming. But this Memorial Day, World War II veterans get their memorial.

This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: For Veterans of World War II, this Memorial Day weekend has special significance. In Washington, a national memorial honoring their sacrifices will be dedicated on Saturday. Coming nearly 60 years after D-day, it is recognition delayed. Twelve million Americans served in World War II. More than 400,000 were killed.

Of those who survived, fewer than four million are alive today. Time is running out for the greatest generation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): They are your father and your grandfather, old men now. Some need help just to stand, others in wheelchairs. A few cannot hide their tears. A handful where old uniforms. And nearly all say they are grateful that a permanent memorial to what they endured has finally been built.

AL SIMPSON, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: I just had to come. I had to come because of my buddies that are not here. It is a beautiful edifice and it is something that I'm proud of. And I hope the people of the United States will enjoy this. BROWN: Thousands of veterans like former Marine Al Simpson are in Washington for the official ceremonies that will open the World War II Memorial. Authorized 11 years ago, built for $190 million in private money, the wonder, of course, is that it took so long to build in the first place.

BETSY GLICK, WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL: Of course, the most common comment is, well, it is about time. And we agree. We really have worked a long time to build this tribute to the World War II generation.

BROWN: And it is not, of course, meant just for them.

BOB DOLE, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Maybe the kids will recognize that some time in your life, you may be called upon to make a sacrifice for your country. That's what this is really all about. It is symbolic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "SAVING PRIVATE RYAN")

TOM HANKS, ACTOR: We're here looking for a Private James Ryan. He's part of your outfit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: But it was a movie about war, "Saving Private Ryan," that jump-started the fund-raising, that and the best-selling book by TV anchor Tom Brokaw called "The Greatest Generation," a book that somehow made it OK for Army Rangers like Charles Osbourne to talk about their war for the first time.

CHARLES OSBORNE, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: I was in the North African desert. I was in Italy. And I was captured. I was in a prison camp, a German prison camp. And I was wounded. And I just thank God that I got out of there.

BROWN: The memorial is also a reminder that women served in World War II.

THELMA ROBINSON: Cadet nurses supplied 80 percent of the service -- nursing service in World War II because the registered nurses were in the military and overseas.

BROWN: And a reminder as well that all was not equal for all soldiers.

ERNEST JETT, WORLD WAR II: I was trained as a combat infantry soldier. (INAUDIBLE) But I wasn't qualified to fight. That's pretty sad, isn't it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want you to notice all the branches of the service.

BROWN: Schoolchildren will come flocking to the memorial. They will hear history from their teachers. And if they are lucky, they will hear history, too, from men like Al Simpson. SIMPSON: There is not much good about war. I myself have never talked to my children about the war, because it is -- I put it way back here those things I want to forget.

BROWN: But forgetting is not on the agenda just now. Now is about remembering.

DON ROBINSON, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: It does make you reflect back on those times. And, of course, we never forget those times. To us, that's the most important part of our life, was during those times. To us, it is fantastic. It's a part of our life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: CNN's coverage of the dedication of the memorial 2:00 Saturday afternoon. Paula Zahn anchors. Former President George Bush and Senator George McGovern, both war heroes of the Second World War, join in. That's Saturday afternoon.

Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: OK, time to collect morning papers from around the country, around the world. Lots of good ones today. Do I say that every night? Sometimes I do and I don't mean it.

I love this. It just tells you so much about Miami. "The Miami Herald," two top stories speak to the cosmopolitan nature of the city. "Venezuela Owns Stake in Ballots." The Venezuelan government has a 28 percent ownership in the company that will help voting results in future elections. I'm sure that makes everyone feel comfortable. And they also put the flooding in the Dominican and Haiti on the front page. "Devastated Town Can't Get Flood Aid" is "The Miami Herald."

I should actually say that to the end, since it's the Chicago paper, shouldn't I? That's how we do this every night.

"The Santa Rosa News" in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. They have helped me out by putting that on the front page. It is just graduation. And that's why I liked it. The kids in Santa Rosa are graduating. And that should be front-page news. It's not everywhere, but it's nice to see it here.

"The Cincinnati Enquirer" leads local also. Actually, almost the whole front page is local. "City Cancels 'Cops' After Two Days." That's the TV shows that's on one of those other networks. "Infighting at City Hall Leaves Streicher" -- that's Tommy Streicher, the police chief -- Tom Streicher -- "To Halt Filming." That's lead in Cincinnati. Also this weekend, it is the taste of Cincinnati. I love those things when all the restaurants come out in Cincinnati. It is like 1,000 different kinds of chili over noodles and with -- you know, the Cincinnati chili. "The Detroit News," good front-page story there, too. "Michigan Abortion Ban Revived. Voters Petitions OKed That Will Let Lawmakers Bypass Granholm." She's the governor, vetoed the partial-birth abortion ban. They also put sports on the front page. Game four can seal it up for the Pistons. That would be the Detroit Pistons.

I like this story in "The Detroit Free Press." "U.M.'s" -- University of Michigan's -- "Next Class Looks Whiter. Why Is Debated." That's a very good story. We should look at that.

"Chicago Sun-Times," just the headline. "Alderman Tricked By Her Gang Lover." You just can't get a better headline than that. The weather in Chicago tomorrow, please...

(CHIMES)

BROWN: Thank you, "Chirpy." How appropriate.

We'll wrap up the day and look ahead to tomorrow after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A quick look ahead at what's coming up tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING. Here is Soledad O'Brien.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Aaron. Tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING," the Michael Jackson case going back to court. Will the judge drop a $3 million bail demand. And why are defense attorneys already fuming? Jeff Toobin is with us in the morning breaking down that case, CNN tomorrow 7:00 a.m. Eastern -- Aaron, back to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Soledad, thank you.

We're back here tomorrow at 10:00. It's Friday. That means the tabloids and all the other good things that makes NEWSNIGHT, NEWSNIGHT. We hope you will join us then.

Until then, good night for all of us.

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