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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

9/11 Commission to Release Report Thursday; Hassoun Speaks Out; Will Qorei Resign?

Aired July 19, 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.
One of the things to love about the news is that it is so many different things, big things and small things and interesting things, things that say a lot about the people involved and the rest of us.

Martha Stewart is that sort of story. Her conviction and sentence will not change the world. It may change a pretty good sized company. It's affected a fair number of people but her fate is hardly the stuff of "War and Peace," yet we are fascinated and we are.

Ms. Stewart has proven to be a tough cookie to the end. The other day she, at least, indirectly compared herself to Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandela for goodness sakes. One suspects even her biggest fans cringed a bit at that one.

She, to our ear, has mixed a pinch of self pity with a tablespoon of defiance and not a drop of contrition in the mix and it is interesting and it is fascinating and that makes it news, not the biggest news of course or the most important but news and it has a seat at our table again tonight.

But the whip begins with the big, not the small, Iran, the 9/11 Commission and its final report coming up, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux at the White House starts us off with a headline -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, the 9/11 Commission will officially release its report on Thursday but already there is one claim inside of it that is causing questions, as well as controversy, that is whether or not Iran played a role in the September 11th attacks.

BROWN: Suzanne, nice to have you with us tonight.

On to the Pentagon and the mystery of the Marine who disappeared from Iraq and reappeared in Lebanon; Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon with the headline.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, Marine Corporal Wassef Hassoun finally got to say publicly what he's been telling Marines privately that he did not desert his post and that he was captured and held against his will for 19 days. So, why is the Navy still investigating him? We'll look at that.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you. Jerusalem next where Yasser Arafat is facing perhaps the biggest political crisis in a career filled with crises, CNN's Alessio Vinci covering for us, Alessio a headline tonight.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Aaron. Chairman Arafat facing an unprecedented challenge to his authority in Gaza and the West Bank, his prime minister says he wants to resign. Twice the chairman has rejected those resignation demands. All the while, the crisis has taken a violent turn at times -- Aaron.

BROWN: Alessio, good to see you.

And whether you call it bad taste or clever strategy, Martha Stewart, as we said, seems to be leaving the contrition out of her comeback recipe. CNN's Mary Snow worked the story today, so Mary a headline.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, Martha Stewart may not be saying the words "I'm sorry," but tonight she did make some news on "LARRY KING" about her appeal and jail time -- Aaron.

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

Also coming up on the program tonight, in Iraq the government has changed. The violence continues. Car bombs, assassinations, security problems continue to drown out most everything else.

Also, one of America's best has a change of heart, why you probably will not see Marion Jones running, at least, not solo at the Olympic Games in Athens.

And, after a short vacation, the rooster is back tonight with a beak full of your morning papers, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin with a piece of the final report of the 9/11 Commission report, which is due out Thursday, one very intriguing piece at that involving Iran, a country President Bush has long called a sponsor of terrorism. What the report says and what that finding may mean has set off a new round in the terror debate.

So, we begin tonight at the White House and CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): Eight of the 19 hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11th safely passed through Iran. The details of how that unfolded will be released by the 9/11 Commission in its final report on Thursday. Emerging from an Oval Office meeting, President Bush was asked whether there was a link between Iran and the 9/11 attacks.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As to direct connections with September the 11th, you know, we're digging into the facts to determine if there was one. MALVEAUX: Mr. Bush's comment follows statements made over the weekend by the CIA's acting director that while Iran was used as a frequent route for traveling al Qaeda, it did not support the terrorist attacks.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There's no evidence that there was any official involvement between Iran and the September 11th attacks.

MALVEAUX: In fact, private administration officials say there is no new information that has emerged from the 9/11 Commission's investigation that would suggest otherwise.

BUSH: I have long expressed my concerns about Iran.

MALVEAUX: From his 2002 State of the Union address, Mr. Bush declared Iran, along with Iraq and North Korea...

BUSH: An axis of evil arming to threaten the peace of the world.

MALVEAUX: The Bush administration has designated Iran a state sponsor of terror, accused of pursuing nuclear weapons, supporting Hezbollah and harboring al Qaeda.

On Thursday, the 9/11 Commission is expected to release a critical report of the administration's handling of the terrorist attacks and it will address any aid offered to the 9/11 hijackers by Iran. The report will be an opportunity for those who question the invasion of Iraq to make their case.

SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: We focused so much energy on Iraq when other countries may have been more directly linked to 9/11.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Now, the Bush administration argues that each member of the so-called "axis of evil" should be examined individually that international pressure on Iran to get it to abandon its weapons programs is a more appropriate course of action than regime change -- Aaron.

BROWN: How nervous, if that's the right word, is the White House about the report coming out Thursday?

MALVEAUX: Well, it's very interesting because one of the things that the White House has done in terms of strategy is they have already started to talk about what the Clinton administration had done or not done when it comes to heeding warnings of terrorist attacks. They contend that it is not just the Bush administration but previous administrations that perhaps did not see the warning signs before the September 11th attacks.

But honestly, Aaron, a lot of the news has already come out before in its previous report that preliminary report from the 9/11 Commission citing a lot of those intelligence lapses and the intelligence community has already come out in response saying that they believe they have addressed many of those concerns.

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

On the subject of the Clinton administration an embarrassment, perhaps worse, for the last national security adviser in the Clinton administration, CNN has now confirmed that Sandy Berger is the focus of a federal criminal investigation stemming from allegations he removed a number of highly classified documents pertaining to the war on terrorism while vetting them for the 9/11 Commission.

The Associated Press is reporting that according to his lawyer, Mr. Berger stuck a number of documents in his jackets and his pants before walking out of a secure reading room.

He's since returned most of the documents but drafts of the report on the Clinton administration's handling of al Qaeda's millennium plots remain unaccounted for. FBI agents with warrants have since searched Mr. Berger's home and office.

In a statement given to AP tonight, Mr. Berger says he regrets his sloppiness but he goes on to say he had no intention of withholding evidence from the 9/11 Commission. The Justice Department has so far declined to comment on the story.

On now to Iraq, a general just back from there told a reporter the other day that we'd all be kidding ourselves if we believed the serious security issues would somehow disappear with a new government, worse before better was the message and many are wondering if better is on the horizon at all. Today was that sort of day.

Again, here's CNN's Michael Holmes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was 8:20 in the morning, the target an Iraqi police station. With fewer and fewer coalition troops on the streets in recent weeks, the insurgents are more and more hitting what they can, often poorly defended police stations manned by Iraqi security forces. Insurgents consider them collaborators in an occupation and a justifiable target.

Witnesses said a truck laden with explosives drove to the rear of the police station and detonated, the blast leaving a two meter hole in the ground. It's a busy street, crowded when the bomb went off. There were many dead and wounded.

After the explosion, a crowd of locals arrived and began chanting pro-Saddam slogans, "With our blood, with our souls we will sacrifice for Saddam," they said. Iraqi soldiers ordered the crowd to disperse, eventually firing warning shots to make that happen.

(on camera): Another favorite tactic these days assassinations of political and regional leaders, two such attacks today, first a ministry of defense official gunned down outside his Baghdad home in a drive-by shooting, while further north in Mosul, an official from the Turkmen National Front, a political group, gunned down in exactly the same manner.

(voice-over): The Iraqi prime minister, meanwhile, has allowed the reopening of a newspaper that supported the rebel Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The newspaper, "al-Hawza," was closed in March by the then civil administrator Paul Bremer who said the newspaper was inciting violence, the prime minister stressing Monday freedom of the press and allowing all voices to again be heard.

Also Monday, the last of the Filipino soldiers in Iraq departing their base at Hilla, south of Baghdad, after handing over their duties to Polish troops, the departure fulfilling a deal done with those holding the Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz whose fate has been so closely watched in his homeland.

The hostage crisis continues for some but has ended for one, an Egyptian man held by insurgents in Iraq has been freed. Truck driver Al Sayed Mohammed al-Sayed al-Garabawi (ph) reported captured on July 6th, released Monday after his employer withdrew his business from Iraq as demanded by the hostage takers.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A mystery that began a month ago in Iraq is still far from being sorted out tonight. When a U.S. Marine translator disappeared from his base camp outside Fallujah, he was initially listed as a deserter. The military later changed his status to captured.

After surfacing in Lebanon at the home of relatives, the Marine is now back in the United States at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia and today he gave his first public explanation of his disappearance, from the Pentagon tonight CNN's Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): The Marines say that Corporal Wassef Hassoun is upset that some official statements and some unofficial leaks portrayed him as a suspected deserter who may have staged his own kidnapping. So, Hassoun asked to make a public statement to put what he has told the Marines privately on the record.

CPL. WASSEF HASSOUN, U.S. MARINES: I did not desert my post. I was captured and held against my will by anti-coalition forces for 19 days.

MCINTYRE: And he indirectly denied the claim, made on an Islamist Web site that he agreed to leave the Marines as a condition of his release.

HASSOUN: Once a Marine, always a Marine, "Semper Fi."

MCINTYRE: While the investigation into his claimed abduction has begun criminal investigators have yet to question Hassoun directly, nor has he been charged with any wrongdoing or told he needs an attorney, something legal experts say could make his statements inadmissible in court if he should be charged in the future.

EUGENE FIDELL, MILITARY LAW EXPERT: If he hasn't been afforded his right to counsel, he would have a right at that point to have those statements and any evidence attributable to those statements suppressed as evidence.

MCINTYRE: Sources say investigators want an explanation for why it appears Hassoun left his base in Fallujah, Iraq voluntarily and Pentagon officials say they also are concerned about what information Hassoun may have shared with his alleged captors because, as an Arabic speaker, he helped interpret as the U.S. gathered intelligence from helpful Iraqis who could now be in danger.

LT. COL. DAVID LAPAN, U.S. MARINE CORPS SPOKESMAN: We're not in the position at this point to make a judgment either way. We are still gathering facts and information.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: While Hassoun is technically not a suspect yet, he could face some very serious charges down the road and, one defense attorney who is not connected with the case, said that Hassoun's failure to invoke his right for an attorney could make his defense more difficult later -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well, just in about a minute we heard both sides of that. On the one hand his not retaining counsel could make it more difficult for him and, on the other hand, the military is not advising him of his rights and his need for counsel could make it more complicated for them. So, where are we exactly?

MCINTYRE: Well, where we are is that the Marine Corps and the military is under the -- is creating the impression that they're not treating Hassoun any differently from anyone else who would have returned from being held captive.

But, at the same time, they have this investigation going on and one defense attorney who has defended a lot of people charged with wrongdoing in the military said he actually feels sorry for Hassoun. He believes he should have an attorney now before he says something that gets himself in trouble.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon tonight, a true mystery this.

In another corner of the Middle East, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is facing what may be the fiercest internal challenge of his career and there have been many.

In one sense its roots are those of countless rebellions, a younger generation fighting the old guard for control the cause. His latest political crisis has created turmoil in the streets of Gaza and in the Palestinian Authority's power structure, reporting for us tonight CNN's Alessio Vinci.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) VINCI (voice-over): Meeting school children, Yasser Arafat appeared un-phased by two days of unprecedented rebellion against his authority. His prime minister insists he will quit over chaos in Gaza. Ahmed Qorei urged the Palestinian leader to seriously consider demands for reforms. It is the strongest criticism ever of Arafat.

AHMED QOREI, PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I call on you and tell you that the time has come to reactivate all the security operators on a proper basis and the time has come to put the proper persons in the proper positions.

VINCI: Qorei spoke after hundreds of armed Palestinian militants went on a rampage this weekend in Gaza burning a police station, attacking the headquarters of the Palestinian Intelligence Service. Militants violently rejected as meaningful reforms Arafat appointing his own nephew as the new security chief.

BASSIM EID, PALESTINIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: By appointing Mr. Moussa Arafat yesterday or the day before as the head of the Palestinian security, the national security in Gaza, I think that Arafat proves by such kind of an appointment that he's still interested in the corruption.

VINCI: Prime minister Qorei appealed for calm saying the Palestinian cabinet appointed a committee to address the current crisis.

QOREI (through translator): Who is corrupt and who isn't corrupt? These are the questions that are being raised but this is not how corruption is solved.

VINCI: While Arafat clearly faces a growing challenge, some analysts predict the crisis may be resolved with new security officials but Arafat, they say, will survive.

MAHDI ABDEL HADI, PALESTINIAN ANALYST: Arafat has been and will continue to be a maestro of tactics and a survivor and this is one of the serious crises he has been facing since '83, like Lebanon. It's not a mutiny. It's not a coup d'etat. It's a real crisis between the old guards and the young guards and he has to know that it's time for the old guards to leave the stage as soon as possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VINCI: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to withdraw troops and settlers from Gaza by the end of next year. With the power vacuum that would follow, Aaron, this is that violence in Gaza is yet another reminder that over there as (unintelligible) withdrawal plan there are more than one power at this point ready and willing to take over -- Aaron.

BROWN: When we talk about the old guard and the new guard, to what extent is the new guard more willing or less willing to deal with the Israelis non-violently?

VINCI: Well, we do know that most of the militants who have taken to the streets are loyal to Muhammad Dahlan, which is one of the leaders of the so-called young guard, a 47-year-old man who has been tapped many times by both the Israelis and the Americans as one person that they could deal with in terms of the Palestinian crisis.

Or certainly should eventually one time or one day the young guard take over that would certainly make it, according to the Israelis and the Americans, perhaps a better negotiating partner. That's for sure -- Aaron.

BROWN: Alessio, good to see you again. It's been a while.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, she'll do whatever it takes to make sure her company survives even while she sits in jail, the many faces and words of Martha Stewart coming up next.

And later, a strange story out of China where a man hailed as a hero, as early as last year, now sits in jail.

Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTHA STEWART: My life is my business and my business is my life.

LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: Isn't that kind of sad in a way? I mean I know you love it and everything but...

STEWART: Sad?

KING: Your life is your business?

STEWART: Well, my business encompasses a lot of things that I do. I mean all the things I love is what my business is all about, so that's not sad. It's about child raising. It's about home keeping. It's about gardening, entertaining, cooking, all the things that I'm really interested in, the domestic arts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Martha Stewart tonight.

Once upon a time in old New England, someone who broke the village rules might have been asked to answer for it in public, something in the letter "A" perhaps to go with those scarlet pumps.

But these days in the global village, shame is out along with letters on shirts, which is not of course to say that Martha Stewart is Hester Prynne nor, of course, is she Nelson Mandela but facing five months in prison, her contrition started fading just minutes after the sentence came down.

She spoke to Larry King tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE" and she made some news, reporting for us CNN's Mary Snow. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (voice-over): After a weekend to think about it, Martha Stewart says she's still thinking about whether to press an appeal or take the shortest route to serving her sentence.

STEWART: We have a good appeal. We have -- I have not made up my mind one way or the other.

SNOW: That said Stewart isn't letting her pending prison sentence prevent her from making a very public appeal to boost her image. Her interview with Larry King is just the latest part of that effort since being sentenced to five months in prison, five months home confinement pending appeal. Part of Stewart's strategy is showing defiance, vowing on the courthouse steps not to fade away.

STEWART: And I'll be back. I will be back.

SNOW: But image consultants question how she's going about trying to gain public sympathy.

MATTHEW TRAUB, DAN KLORES COMMUNICATIONS: Her strategy seems to be to paint herself as a victim, presumably to set the stage for her appeal and to I think generate sympathy.

SNOW: Stewart said she's felt choked and suffocated and, on ABC's "20/20" Friday, shortly after the sentencing, when talking about people going to prison she seemed to compare herself to Nelson Mandela.

STEWART: There are many other people that have gone to prison. Look at Nelson Mandela.

TRAUB: She should show more humility. She should appeal to people on a very personal level that this has been an incredibly difficult time for her and for her family but then she should go out and live her life.

SNOW: A big part of Martha Stewart's life is her business that's built on her image and those who study consumers and brands say Stewart didn't help that image by putting in a plug for her business minutes after being sentenced.

STEWART: Perhaps all of you out there can continue to show your support by subscribing to our magazine.

ROBERT PASSIKOFF, BRAND KEYS, INC.: Well, it will help in the short run among the people who already feel that she's had wrong done to her, people who have already supported her, the people who were e- mailing to the site. It's not going to have much of an effect with the people who have defected over the past two years.

SNOW: While Stewart's legal fate was determined by a judge, it will now be up to the court of public opinion to seal the fate of her business and the image it was built on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: And when Martha Stewart does speak publicly she needs to be careful because if she does press ahead with her appeal her words could influence the court, so she needs to strike a balance between helping her financial interests and protecting her legal ones -- Aaron.

BROWN: Mary, thank you.

With us from Washington tonight is Eric Dezenhall, a crisis management consultant and the recent author of the novel "Shakedown Beach," good to see you. Good to see you again.

ERIC DEZENHALL, DAMAGE CONTROL CONSULTANT: Thanks for having me.

BROWN: You watched her on -- watched her with Larry tonight. To me it was a somewhat softer Martha Stewart that we saw on Friday night.

DEZENHALL: Well, there's nowhere to go but up at this point and she keeps getting better. I mean actually suffering becomes her and, you know, Martha Stewart's business brand is perfection but her personal brand is audacity and it's audacity that built her business and it's ultimately audacity that's going to lead to her redemption.

And, contrary to a lot of the things that you hear that you're supposed to go out and cry and apologize, this is not someone who is wired that way and, in the long run, her goal is not to convince 100 percent of the audience to love her.

It's to show a core audience what Americans really want to see, which is what crisis management is all about, is doing what's doable and showing how well you take your beating and she's showing that really, really well, much better than she used to.

BROWN: Let me play some of that back to make sure I understand it that this is -- for all those people sort of on the margins...

DEZENHALL: Right.

BROWN: Not the people who think she is a goddess and not the people who think she is a witch but the people on the margins there, why not show a little contrition here, soften up, a little humility, say, you know what, I mean now that I think about it I didn't handle this as well as I might have and I got to take my lumps? Why is that such a terrible thing?

DEZENHALL: Well, I don't know that it is a terrible thing, Aaron, but one of the things you find when you work with these clients is you have to do what is doable within their constitution. I mean people said that Gary Condit should have been softer but the guy was a cold fish. He wasn't capable of it.

And, Martha Stewart is simply not an Oprah kind of personality who can be overly soft. She's about as soft as she can get and you can't counsel a client to do what is beyond their own personal capacity.

In a perfect world, maybe she would show more contrition but one of the things that you have to understand is that if she starts doing what some of the pundits said is come out and apologize well then she's convicted two seconds later.

And so, a lot of these silly words of wisdom and I think that she was right in criticizing some of the pundits who said she should just apologize and it will go away. In 20 years at this I've never seen that to be true.

The other thing people said is she should just plea as if a plea is some magic thing. Well, if I said to you, Aaron, if you were accused of something just plead and part of that plea was never being able to be a broadcast journalist again, it's not such an easy choice.

BROWN: No. No, I'd fight on that one. Would you agree that the Mandela comparison, it wasn't a precise comparison, I wouldn't say that's what it was, but putting her in the same sentence as Mr. Mandela was it a mistake?

DEZENHALL: Well, you know, she can't win because I think the biggest problem she has is in this corporate scandal climate, which is like the French Revolution, Martha Stewart scandal is the only one that the public understands.

Nobody understands Tyco and WorldCom. They do understand Martha Stewart and insider trading, so sure the Nelson Mandela comparison was ham handed but I'm of the school that there's very little she can do to win in this climate.

BROWN: So, if you can't win, what you try and do is lose as little as possible?

DEZENHALL: Well, that's exactly what crisis management and damage control is about. You know, the term damage control comes out of the Navy from when a torpedo hit your ship. When a torpedo hits your ship there's damage and damage control is not the same thing as damage disappearance.

BROWN: Yes.

DEZENHALL: What she is doing is very decent damage control, better than she did before and I think that she has a pretty good shot in the long term, not the short term, at redemption and a comeback but it's not going to be achieved by putting on some false show. Tenacity is her personal brand and that's what will ultimately redeem her.

BROWN: Eric, good to see you again. Thank you.

DEZENHALL: Thanks for having me.

BROWN: Interesting thoughts.

A quick reminder, if you missed it or you just want to see it again, Larry's interview with Martha Stewart will run about an hour and a half from now, almost exactly, midnight Eastern here on CNN. It was fascinating.

Coming up on the program tonight it won't be steroids or lawsuits that keep track star Marion Jones from running any races in Athens. Instead, it will be something much more human it seems.

And later, Nissen revisits the burn hospital for soldiers where the scars are disfiguring but only on the outside.

Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: It's neither been a good year for track star Marion Jones, nor a very good few days.

This weekend at U.S. Olympic trials in Sacramento, Ms. Jones qualified in the long jump, but pulled out of the 200 meters after looking distinctly ordinary in a preliminary heat and missing the cut entirely in the 100 meters. She is, of course, also under investigation for using performance enhancing drugs, despite never having once failed a drug test, and firmly denies she's done anything wrong.

All the same, it casts a shadow and raises questions about a lot of things, including the fairness of her treatment. William Rhoden made the last question the heart of his writing this weekend in the sports pages of "The New York Times," where he's a columnist. We're quite pleased to have him with us tonight.

Welcome.

WILLIAM RHODEN, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Hey, Aaron.

BROWN: I suppose it is easy for all of us, any of us, to handle our successes. We're tested by how we handle our disappointments. And I think one of the points you were trying to make in the piece was how well, in your view at least, she's handled her disappointments.

RHODEN: Well, now, that's when I started to turn around with Marion.

We don't really know any of these people. I have respected Marion, don't really know her. But when everything was going well and she was sort of the glamour person, I was saying, that's fine. But what's going to happen when public sentiment turns against her or something, some adversity happens? How is she going to react?

And when she started to fight the Anti-Doping Agency and just said you know what, enough is enough, you know, that's when I really started to respect her, because she showed that she's a battler, she's a fighter, that she's really tough. She knew what sort of legal team to get. She waged a public relations campaign that I think caught even the anti-drug agency by surprise.

And I think, gradually, what she's also done was turn public attention -- or at least the public attitude in her favor, in that she's saying, I don't care what you feel about me personally, but all we ask for is a fair process. And, frankly, that's sort of my problem here with this. The process is a problem. I don't like the process.

BROWN: Part of the problem with the Doping Agency, USADA, is -- and I think most people who follow sports would argue that the steroid issue is a real issue. It needs to be dealt with. But USADA keeps changing the rules or at least moving the bar around, so it is hard to know what's in play.

RHODEN: Yes, you know, they're moving the goal posts.

First, they're saying, well, first, as of May, we're going to have beyond a reasonable doubt, which we could all live with. Beyond a reasonable doubt. Then in June, they move the goal posts back. They say, well, that's too hard for us, so we're going to say to make it comfortable, a comfortable doubt. Comfortable?

And I think at that point that's when a lot of people were saying that, you know, this is ridiculous and sort of a sort of weapons of mass destruction attitude that is sort of finding its way into track and field and maybe too many other places. Well, we're going to look here. Well, it's not there. We're going to look here. And, Marion, we're going to chase you until the end of the Earth until we justify our existence.

And that's unfair. Like you said, she's never tested positive. Now, maybe you got to find a better test.

BROWN: Yes.

RHODEN: Nobody wants drugs in their sport or in their workplace. They don't. But it's the way that you get there. You make it fair process, due process.

And if you can't do it, well, wait until next Olympics. You've already sent your message. We get the point. But don't ruin lives. Don't ruin reputations.

BROWN: Let me throw one more thing at you. In all this talk about Marion Jones and BALCO and drugs and all that, I wonder if a -- I don't know if it's a larger story, but a better story has somewhat been overshadowed, which is that the team that goes to Athens is going to about have a lot of good young faces in it that we haven't seen before.

RHODEN: This may be -- this may be the best team that we've sent to the Olympics since 1992. And you're absolutely right.

The young talent is phenomenal. Allyson Felix won the 200. And I'm sorry. Marion Jones would have never won the 200 again. Allyson Felix is 18 years old and won convincingly. You have got names like Crawford, Justin Gatlin, Alan Webb, people who are 19, 20, 21, 22, who are going to be around for the next two or three Olympics.

And kind of getting back to the drug scandal, what I don't want, or what the agency shouldn't want these young people to say is, wow, is this how you're treating Marion Jones? She's like an icon. We grew up watching her race. And this is how you're going to turn this into a witch-hunt and go after her? You don't want to turn people off to your sport, especially a sport that only has its day in the sun once every four years.

But you've got a phenomenal team that we're sending to Athens -- yes, to Athens. And, you know, that's the story. You're absolutely right. And that's the positive story. And by the leaks that -- you know, I think they've cut themselves off at the knees trying to achieve a purpose.

BROWN: Yes.

RHODEN: It is really distasteful.

BROWN: Good to have you with us. I hope you'll come back as this summer unfolds and on this and other matters, too. It's nice to see you. We're a big fan of your writing. Thank you.

RHODEN: Aaron, the pleasure's mine.

BROWN: William Rhoden of "The New York Times," sports columnist there.

A few more items that made news around the country, starting in Sacramento, where late today NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr. left the hospital. He went home a day after crashing his Corvette during a practice session at a track in Sonoma. He was treated for second- degree burns on his legs and his chin. My goodness, look at that.

Kobe Bryant case, the Colorado Supreme Court today forbidding the press from releasing details of a closed-door hearing that were accidentally e-mailed to seven media outlets by a court reporter. In issuing the ruling, the justices conceded that what the trial court judge did amounts to prior restraint, but that the circumstances justified. This will be an interesting set of appeals. Lawyers for the party, including the AP, CBS and Fox News have yet to say whether they will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. But prior restraint has no history in the country.

And the state of Georgia executed Eddie Crawford, who was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering his 2-year-old niece. Lawyers had argued that DNA testing on two strands of hair found on the girl might implicate someone else. Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a stay of execution without comment.

Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, a story from a country where being right often means angering your government, which can land you in jail.

And still later, all the news that's fit to read, tomorrow morning's papers tonight.

From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: With the exception of aeronautics and nuclear physics, communism and science haven't always gotten along so well. Joseph Stalin, who mistrusted the field of genetics, put a bumpkin in charge of it, a man who believed you can make rye grow in a wheat field by planting wheat. Hundreds of legitimate researchers were sent to the gulags.

Today, it is China and SARS and a doctor who, until recently, was leading the fight against the disease and by implication the government. These days, he's in custody.

Reporting from Beijing tonight, CNN's Mike Chinoy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Last year retired Chinese army doctor Dr. Jiang Yanyong was hailed as a hero in the media here after he exposed the government's efforts to cover up the SARS epidemic. Then he touched an even more sensitive nerve, the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, urging in February that the Communist Party admit it was a mistake.

HU JIA, HUMAN RIGHTS ATTORNEY (through translator): His letter was powerful. He has so much credibility. He was a doctor in 1989 and saw 80 people who died. When he spoke out, the government could no longer deny what happened.

CHINOY: The letter sent shockwaves through the Chinese Communist Party. Last month, on his way to the U.S. Embassy to get a visa to visit his California-based daughter, Jiang and his wife were arrested. His daughter then spoke out on CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are trying to use this detention to pressure him to admit something he did was wrong, especially the letter he wrote this year regarding the Tiananmen massacre.

CHINOY: After the CNN interview, Jiang's wife was released. But those close to the family say the government told her and her children not to talk to the media.

Human rights activist Hu Jia says he spoke with Mrs. Jiang by phone. He told me she spoke in guarded tones and left the impression there were security officers in her apartment. We asked China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman what was happening to Dr. Jiang.

"On this issue," she said, "I don't know anything. There's no way to tell how long Dr. Jiang will remain in detention."

(on camera): What is clear, though, is that no matter how modern or open China appears, the Communist Party still seems determined to silence anyone who challenges its authority.

Mike Chinoy, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BROWN: Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT tonight, a difficult tale to tell. We'll take to you the Army's burn unit in Texas, where they recover or they try to help men and women recover from the most excruciating of wounds. And morning papers still to come as well.

A break first. This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The people you are about to meet are American servicemen who have been burned, seriously, severely burned in Iraq. We mention this as a warning to the gentler souls among you, though in some ways the very idea of uttering such a disclaimer, of a warning about the way someone looks, is nearly as much an obscenity as a courtesy. Gentler souls we suspect already understand this, just as gentler souls understand that what war does to the bodies of young men and women, what it does produces neither martyrs, nor sages, nor saints, any more than getting struck by lightning does.

That's not what war is about. People went to war and people returned. The human forms are altered. Their humanity, we hope, we always hope, remains intact. It is reconciling that humanity with their physical circumstances that is the challenge for so many in the military these days, and that effort right now is centered at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. It is an effort for the patients and it is an effort for the staff.

These are their stories, their stories reported by NEWSNIGHT's Beth Nissen, who first visited the hospital last fall.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was Specialist Edward Stephenson in October. His lower legs were burned nearly to the bone after his convoy hit explosive devices near Tikrit. This is specialist Stephenson today, after five surgeries and eight months of intensive physical therapy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well, obviously, we had a problem. We'll take a break, try and fix it, and be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We're going to try this again, because this is important.

Some of the most difficult wounds of the Iraq war have been burns. They're always difficult to treat, the disfigurement that they cause. The work goes on at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.

And NEWSNIGHT's Beth Nissen reports the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NISSEN (voice-over): This was Specialist Edward Stephenson in October. His lower legs were burned nearly to the bone after his convoy hit explosive devices near Tikrit. This is specialist Stephenson today, after five surgeries and eight months of intensive physical therapy.

SPC. EDWARD STEPHENSON, U.S. ARMY: In my heart, I knew that I was going to walk again. I was going to do whatever it took.

NISSEN: What it takes for those with serious burns to recover is intensive medical care, skin grafts, reconstructive surgeries and time.

LT. COL. LEE CANCIO, DIRECTOR, U.S. ARMY BURN UNIT: Progress in burn patients is sometimes slower than you see for other types of injury. Oftentimes, I have thought about this process as a kind of battle that will take months or even years to win.

NISSEN: A battle first to close wounds and prevent infection. This was specialist Gabe Garriga last October with second- and third- degree burns over 53 percent of his body from a fiery collision of two Humvees near Baghdad. This is Specialist Garriga eight months later.

SPC. GABRIEL GARRIGA, U.S. ARMY: Everything is a lot better than it was before. I'm done with skin grafts. There's no more skin problems. It's just pretty much healing now.

NISSEN: Specialist Aaron Coates is healing, too. Coates, seen here last October, was badly burned on the face and hands when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the fuel truck he was driving near Kirkuk. This is Specialist Coates today. Like most oft longer-term burn patients here, he's fighting a new battle against scar tissue.

CANCIO: Scar tissue, even though it's intended to heal the wound, often causes complications. For example, the hands can contract into positions in which they can't be used.

NISSEN: Can contract into rigid claws.

SPC. AARON COATES, U.S. ARMY: There are a lot of things I can't do, like tie shoes. I don't have the grip to open containers yet because the joints in these fingers don't work.

NISSEN: Thick scar tissue has also formed on his face, restricting his facial expressions, his ability to speak.

COATES: They're going to do surgery to help fix that here pretty soon. They haven't started anything yet, because it is still maturing and still kind of young scars there.

NISSEN: Corporal Jose Martinez is further along in that process. More than a year ago, he suffered third-degree burns on his arms, hands, head and face when his Humvee hit a land mine in Karbala, Iraq.

CPL. JOSE MARTINEZ, U.S. ARMY: I heard people all the time saying that in a split second, your life can change. One minute, you were just a totally normal guy. And the next minute, you're disfigured with all these scars all over.

NISSEN: Martinez has already had 24 surgeries, skin grafts, fracture repair, plastic surgery, with more operations to come.

Sergeant Josh Forbess faces extensive plastic surgery, too. He was one of the few survivors pulled from the flaming wreckage of two Black Hawk helicopters after they collided over Mosul, Iraq, on November 15, 2003.

MAJ. SANDRA WANEK, BURN UNIT SURGEON: He had severe burns to his face and scalp that were down to the bone on his head. His eyes, the lids, both upper and lower, were burned. He had severe nasal burns.

NISSEN: Now an outpatient and hospital volunteer, Forbess knows his reconstruction will take two, even three years.

SGT. JOSHUA FORBESS, U.S. ARMY: They're going to try to take these scars away on the right side of my face. It's a slow process. But it will all be done.

NISSEN: He knows he won't ever look like the young man he was just a few years ago.

CANCIO: No procedure can return a patient with very deep burns to their former state by any means. There is no perfect solution to those problems.

NISSEN: A temporary solution, prosthetics. A few weeks ago, Sergeant Forbess was fitted with a prosthetic nose and ear.

FORBESS: I use adhesive. And they just stick on there. And at the end of the day, I take them off and clean all the adhesive off of them.

NISSEN: Eventually, surgeons hope to be able to rebuild a nose from Forbess' own skin, give Forbess a more permanent prosthetic ear.

FORBESS: They're going to actually put pokes in my head so I can actually clip it on from then on out.

NISSEN: A visitor to these physical therapy rooms has to look hard for anger, depression, self-pity, regret.

COATES: But it could have been a lot worse. I was sitting on a 1,000 gallons of fuel when we got hit. And a lot of people told me I shouldn't have walked away from it. And I did.

STEPHENSON: I still get moments like a lot of the other soldiers that are here, you know, hey, send me back. Let me do my job.

NISSEN (on camera): Would you go back to Iraq?

FORBESS: In a heartbeat.

MARTINEZ: I was going to follow any order that the president would give, and I followed that order. There's no regrets. There's no complaints at all.

NISSEN: No regrets?

MARTINEZ: No regrets.

NISSEN (voice-over): Beth Nissen, CNN, San Antonio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: There is all sorts of courage in the world.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: OK, time to check morning papers from around the country and around the world.

Those kids were amazing in that piece, weren't they? Man. I admire them.

"The Christian Science Monitor." "The Election That Won't Budge." "Democratic Convention May Defy History, Not Give Kerry a Big Bounce, a Sign of How Settled the Electorate Is." This is a series they've been doing. "Even In a Swing State, Views Are Hardened," looking at the state of Pennsylvania. That's "The Christian Science Monitor."

"The Oregonian" out West in Portland, Oregon. We love that paper and we love that town, Portland. "The Oregonian." "With Six Weeks to Go in Iraq, Dies in Blast, Klamath Falls' Lance Corporal Bryan Kelly," 21 years old, died in Iraq. And that deserves front-page treatment in any newspaper

Lots of good stuff in "The Philadelphia Inquirer." "Unlocking the Mystery of Amish Baby Death," big piece in the paper tomorrow. "Gene Finds Open New Avenue For Wider Research on SIDS." I didn't know that Amish kids were more likely to die of SIDS death than anyone else, but, apparently, that's the case. Also, "Pennsylvania's Representative Greenwood Considers Quitting." It would be a big blow to the Republican Party.

A couple more quickly. "Richmond Times-Dispatch." "Aspirin Efficacy Doubted. Study Suggests Pills May Not Aid Heart Patients or Hearts of Millions of Patients."

And let's end it -- you know, let's end it with "The Chicago Sun- Times." The weather tomorrow in Chicago is "bad hair."

We'll be back, good hair or not. We'll see you tomorrow night. 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 July 19, 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.
One of the things to love about the news is that it is so many different things, big things and small things and interesting things, things that say a lot about the people involved and the rest of us.

Martha Stewart is that sort of story. Her conviction and sentence will not change the world. It may change a pretty good sized company. It's affected a fair number of people but her fate is hardly the stuff of "War and Peace," yet we are fascinated and we are.

Ms. Stewart has proven to be a tough cookie to the end. The other day she, at least, indirectly compared herself to Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandela for goodness sakes. One suspects even her biggest fans cringed a bit at that one.

She, to our ear, has mixed a pinch of self pity with a tablespoon of defiance and not a drop of contrition in the mix and it is interesting and it is fascinating and that makes it news, not the biggest news of course or the most important but news and it has a seat at our table again tonight.

But the whip begins with the big, not the small, Iran, the 9/11 Commission and its final report coming up, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux at the White House starts us off with a headline -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, the 9/11 Commission will officially release its report on Thursday but already there is one claim inside of it that is causing questions, as well as controversy, that is whether or not Iran played a role in the September 11th attacks.

BROWN: Suzanne, nice to have you with us tonight.

On to the Pentagon and the mystery of the Marine who disappeared from Iraq and reappeared in Lebanon; Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon with the headline.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, Marine Corporal Wassef Hassoun finally got to say publicly what he's been telling Marines privately that he did not desert his post and that he was captured and held against his will for 19 days. So, why is the Navy still investigating him? We'll look at that.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you. Jerusalem next where Yasser Arafat is facing perhaps the biggest political crisis in a career filled with crises, CNN's Alessio Vinci covering for us, Alessio a headline tonight.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Aaron. Chairman Arafat facing an unprecedented challenge to his authority in Gaza and the West Bank, his prime minister says he wants to resign. Twice the chairman has rejected those resignation demands. All the while, the crisis has taken a violent turn at times -- Aaron.

BROWN: Alessio, good to see you.

And whether you call it bad taste or clever strategy, Martha Stewart, as we said, seems to be leaving the contrition out of her comeback recipe. CNN's Mary Snow worked the story today, so Mary a headline.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, Martha Stewart may not be saying the words "I'm sorry," but tonight she did make some news on "LARRY KING" about her appeal and jail time -- Aaron.

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

Also coming up on the program tonight, in Iraq the government has changed. The violence continues. Car bombs, assassinations, security problems continue to drown out most everything else.

Also, one of America's best has a change of heart, why you probably will not see Marion Jones running, at least, not solo at the Olympic Games in Athens.

And, after a short vacation, the rooster is back tonight with a beak full of your morning papers, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin with a piece of the final report of the 9/11 Commission report, which is due out Thursday, one very intriguing piece at that involving Iran, a country President Bush has long called a sponsor of terrorism. What the report says and what that finding may mean has set off a new round in the terror debate.

So, we begin tonight at the White House and CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): Eight of the 19 hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11th safely passed through Iran. The details of how that unfolded will be released by the 9/11 Commission in its final report on Thursday. Emerging from an Oval Office meeting, President Bush was asked whether there was a link between Iran and the 9/11 attacks.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As to direct connections with September the 11th, you know, we're digging into the facts to determine if there was one. MALVEAUX: Mr. Bush's comment follows statements made over the weekend by the CIA's acting director that while Iran was used as a frequent route for traveling al Qaeda, it did not support the terrorist attacks.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There's no evidence that there was any official involvement between Iran and the September 11th attacks.

MALVEAUX: In fact, private administration officials say there is no new information that has emerged from the 9/11 Commission's investigation that would suggest otherwise.

BUSH: I have long expressed my concerns about Iran.

MALVEAUX: From his 2002 State of the Union address, Mr. Bush declared Iran, along with Iraq and North Korea...

BUSH: An axis of evil arming to threaten the peace of the world.

MALVEAUX: The Bush administration has designated Iran a state sponsor of terror, accused of pursuing nuclear weapons, supporting Hezbollah and harboring al Qaeda.

On Thursday, the 9/11 Commission is expected to release a critical report of the administration's handling of the terrorist attacks and it will address any aid offered to the 9/11 hijackers by Iran. The report will be an opportunity for those who question the invasion of Iraq to make their case.

SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: We focused so much energy on Iraq when other countries may have been more directly linked to 9/11.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Now, the Bush administration argues that each member of the so-called "axis of evil" should be examined individually that international pressure on Iran to get it to abandon its weapons programs is a more appropriate course of action than regime change -- Aaron.

BROWN: How nervous, if that's the right word, is the White House about the report coming out Thursday?

MALVEAUX: Well, it's very interesting because one of the things that the White House has done in terms of strategy is they have already started to talk about what the Clinton administration had done or not done when it comes to heeding warnings of terrorist attacks. They contend that it is not just the Bush administration but previous administrations that perhaps did not see the warning signs before the September 11th attacks.

But honestly, Aaron, a lot of the news has already come out before in its previous report that preliminary report from the 9/11 Commission citing a lot of those intelligence lapses and the intelligence community has already come out in response saying that they believe they have addressed many of those concerns.

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

On the subject of the Clinton administration an embarrassment, perhaps worse, for the last national security adviser in the Clinton administration, CNN has now confirmed that Sandy Berger is the focus of a federal criminal investigation stemming from allegations he removed a number of highly classified documents pertaining to the war on terrorism while vetting them for the 9/11 Commission.

The Associated Press is reporting that according to his lawyer, Mr. Berger stuck a number of documents in his jackets and his pants before walking out of a secure reading room.

He's since returned most of the documents but drafts of the report on the Clinton administration's handling of al Qaeda's millennium plots remain unaccounted for. FBI agents with warrants have since searched Mr. Berger's home and office.

In a statement given to AP tonight, Mr. Berger says he regrets his sloppiness but he goes on to say he had no intention of withholding evidence from the 9/11 Commission. The Justice Department has so far declined to comment on the story.

On now to Iraq, a general just back from there told a reporter the other day that we'd all be kidding ourselves if we believed the serious security issues would somehow disappear with a new government, worse before better was the message and many are wondering if better is on the horizon at all. Today was that sort of day.

Again, here's CNN's Michael Holmes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was 8:20 in the morning, the target an Iraqi police station. With fewer and fewer coalition troops on the streets in recent weeks, the insurgents are more and more hitting what they can, often poorly defended police stations manned by Iraqi security forces. Insurgents consider them collaborators in an occupation and a justifiable target.

Witnesses said a truck laden with explosives drove to the rear of the police station and detonated, the blast leaving a two meter hole in the ground. It's a busy street, crowded when the bomb went off. There were many dead and wounded.

After the explosion, a crowd of locals arrived and began chanting pro-Saddam slogans, "With our blood, with our souls we will sacrifice for Saddam," they said. Iraqi soldiers ordered the crowd to disperse, eventually firing warning shots to make that happen.

(on camera): Another favorite tactic these days assassinations of political and regional leaders, two such attacks today, first a ministry of defense official gunned down outside his Baghdad home in a drive-by shooting, while further north in Mosul, an official from the Turkmen National Front, a political group, gunned down in exactly the same manner.

(voice-over): The Iraqi prime minister, meanwhile, has allowed the reopening of a newspaper that supported the rebel Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The newspaper, "al-Hawza," was closed in March by the then civil administrator Paul Bremer who said the newspaper was inciting violence, the prime minister stressing Monday freedom of the press and allowing all voices to again be heard.

Also Monday, the last of the Filipino soldiers in Iraq departing their base at Hilla, south of Baghdad, after handing over their duties to Polish troops, the departure fulfilling a deal done with those holding the Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz whose fate has been so closely watched in his homeland.

The hostage crisis continues for some but has ended for one, an Egyptian man held by insurgents in Iraq has been freed. Truck driver Al Sayed Mohammed al-Sayed al-Garabawi (ph) reported captured on July 6th, released Monday after his employer withdrew his business from Iraq as demanded by the hostage takers.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A mystery that began a month ago in Iraq is still far from being sorted out tonight. When a U.S. Marine translator disappeared from his base camp outside Fallujah, he was initially listed as a deserter. The military later changed his status to captured.

After surfacing in Lebanon at the home of relatives, the Marine is now back in the United States at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia and today he gave his first public explanation of his disappearance, from the Pentagon tonight CNN's Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): The Marines say that Corporal Wassef Hassoun is upset that some official statements and some unofficial leaks portrayed him as a suspected deserter who may have staged his own kidnapping. So, Hassoun asked to make a public statement to put what he has told the Marines privately on the record.

CPL. WASSEF HASSOUN, U.S. MARINES: I did not desert my post. I was captured and held against my will by anti-coalition forces for 19 days.

MCINTYRE: And he indirectly denied the claim, made on an Islamist Web site that he agreed to leave the Marines as a condition of his release.

HASSOUN: Once a Marine, always a Marine, "Semper Fi."

MCINTYRE: While the investigation into his claimed abduction has begun criminal investigators have yet to question Hassoun directly, nor has he been charged with any wrongdoing or told he needs an attorney, something legal experts say could make his statements inadmissible in court if he should be charged in the future.

EUGENE FIDELL, MILITARY LAW EXPERT: If he hasn't been afforded his right to counsel, he would have a right at that point to have those statements and any evidence attributable to those statements suppressed as evidence.

MCINTYRE: Sources say investigators want an explanation for why it appears Hassoun left his base in Fallujah, Iraq voluntarily and Pentagon officials say they also are concerned about what information Hassoun may have shared with his alleged captors because, as an Arabic speaker, he helped interpret as the U.S. gathered intelligence from helpful Iraqis who could now be in danger.

LT. COL. DAVID LAPAN, U.S. MARINE CORPS SPOKESMAN: We're not in the position at this point to make a judgment either way. We are still gathering facts and information.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: While Hassoun is technically not a suspect yet, he could face some very serious charges down the road and, one defense attorney who is not connected with the case, said that Hassoun's failure to invoke his right for an attorney could make his defense more difficult later -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well, just in about a minute we heard both sides of that. On the one hand his not retaining counsel could make it more difficult for him and, on the other hand, the military is not advising him of his rights and his need for counsel could make it more complicated for them. So, where are we exactly?

MCINTYRE: Well, where we are is that the Marine Corps and the military is under the -- is creating the impression that they're not treating Hassoun any differently from anyone else who would have returned from being held captive.

But, at the same time, they have this investigation going on and one defense attorney who has defended a lot of people charged with wrongdoing in the military said he actually feels sorry for Hassoun. He believes he should have an attorney now before he says something that gets himself in trouble.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon tonight, a true mystery this.

In another corner of the Middle East, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is facing what may be the fiercest internal challenge of his career and there have been many.

In one sense its roots are those of countless rebellions, a younger generation fighting the old guard for control the cause. His latest political crisis has created turmoil in the streets of Gaza and in the Palestinian Authority's power structure, reporting for us tonight CNN's Alessio Vinci.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) VINCI (voice-over): Meeting school children, Yasser Arafat appeared un-phased by two days of unprecedented rebellion against his authority. His prime minister insists he will quit over chaos in Gaza. Ahmed Qorei urged the Palestinian leader to seriously consider demands for reforms. It is the strongest criticism ever of Arafat.

AHMED QOREI, PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I call on you and tell you that the time has come to reactivate all the security operators on a proper basis and the time has come to put the proper persons in the proper positions.

VINCI: Qorei spoke after hundreds of armed Palestinian militants went on a rampage this weekend in Gaza burning a police station, attacking the headquarters of the Palestinian Intelligence Service. Militants violently rejected as meaningful reforms Arafat appointing his own nephew as the new security chief.

BASSIM EID, PALESTINIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: By appointing Mr. Moussa Arafat yesterday or the day before as the head of the Palestinian security, the national security in Gaza, I think that Arafat proves by such kind of an appointment that he's still interested in the corruption.

VINCI: Prime minister Qorei appealed for calm saying the Palestinian cabinet appointed a committee to address the current crisis.

QOREI (through translator): Who is corrupt and who isn't corrupt? These are the questions that are being raised but this is not how corruption is solved.

VINCI: While Arafat clearly faces a growing challenge, some analysts predict the crisis may be resolved with new security officials but Arafat, they say, will survive.

MAHDI ABDEL HADI, PALESTINIAN ANALYST: Arafat has been and will continue to be a maestro of tactics and a survivor and this is one of the serious crises he has been facing since '83, like Lebanon. It's not a mutiny. It's not a coup d'etat. It's a real crisis between the old guards and the young guards and he has to know that it's time for the old guards to leave the stage as soon as possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VINCI: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to withdraw troops and settlers from Gaza by the end of next year. With the power vacuum that would follow, Aaron, this is that violence in Gaza is yet another reminder that over there as (unintelligible) withdrawal plan there are more than one power at this point ready and willing to take over -- Aaron.

BROWN: When we talk about the old guard and the new guard, to what extent is the new guard more willing or less willing to deal with the Israelis non-violently?

VINCI: Well, we do know that most of the militants who have taken to the streets are loyal to Muhammad Dahlan, which is one of the leaders of the so-called young guard, a 47-year-old man who has been tapped many times by both the Israelis and the Americans as one person that they could deal with in terms of the Palestinian crisis.

Or certainly should eventually one time or one day the young guard take over that would certainly make it, according to the Israelis and the Americans, perhaps a better negotiating partner. That's for sure -- Aaron.

BROWN: Alessio, good to see you again. It's been a while.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, she'll do whatever it takes to make sure her company survives even while she sits in jail, the many faces and words of Martha Stewart coming up next.

And later, a strange story out of China where a man hailed as a hero, as early as last year, now sits in jail.

Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTHA STEWART: My life is my business and my business is my life.

LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: Isn't that kind of sad in a way? I mean I know you love it and everything but...

STEWART: Sad?

KING: Your life is your business?

STEWART: Well, my business encompasses a lot of things that I do. I mean all the things I love is what my business is all about, so that's not sad. It's about child raising. It's about home keeping. It's about gardening, entertaining, cooking, all the things that I'm really interested in, the domestic arts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Martha Stewart tonight.

Once upon a time in old New England, someone who broke the village rules might have been asked to answer for it in public, something in the letter "A" perhaps to go with those scarlet pumps.

But these days in the global village, shame is out along with letters on shirts, which is not of course to say that Martha Stewart is Hester Prynne nor, of course, is she Nelson Mandela but facing five months in prison, her contrition started fading just minutes after the sentence came down.

She spoke to Larry King tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE" and she made some news, reporting for us CNN's Mary Snow. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (voice-over): After a weekend to think about it, Martha Stewart says she's still thinking about whether to press an appeal or take the shortest route to serving her sentence.

STEWART: We have a good appeal. We have -- I have not made up my mind one way or the other.

SNOW: That said Stewart isn't letting her pending prison sentence prevent her from making a very public appeal to boost her image. Her interview with Larry King is just the latest part of that effort since being sentenced to five months in prison, five months home confinement pending appeal. Part of Stewart's strategy is showing defiance, vowing on the courthouse steps not to fade away.

STEWART: And I'll be back. I will be back.

SNOW: But image consultants question how she's going about trying to gain public sympathy.

MATTHEW TRAUB, DAN KLORES COMMUNICATIONS: Her strategy seems to be to paint herself as a victim, presumably to set the stage for her appeal and to I think generate sympathy.

SNOW: Stewart said she's felt choked and suffocated and, on ABC's "20/20" Friday, shortly after the sentencing, when talking about people going to prison she seemed to compare herself to Nelson Mandela.

STEWART: There are many other people that have gone to prison. Look at Nelson Mandela.

TRAUB: She should show more humility. She should appeal to people on a very personal level that this has been an incredibly difficult time for her and for her family but then she should go out and live her life.

SNOW: A big part of Martha Stewart's life is her business that's built on her image and those who study consumers and brands say Stewart didn't help that image by putting in a plug for her business minutes after being sentenced.

STEWART: Perhaps all of you out there can continue to show your support by subscribing to our magazine.

ROBERT PASSIKOFF, BRAND KEYS, INC.: Well, it will help in the short run among the people who already feel that she's had wrong done to her, people who have already supported her, the people who were e- mailing to the site. It's not going to have much of an effect with the people who have defected over the past two years.

SNOW: While Stewart's legal fate was determined by a judge, it will now be up to the court of public opinion to seal the fate of her business and the image it was built on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: And when Martha Stewart does speak publicly she needs to be careful because if she does press ahead with her appeal her words could influence the court, so she needs to strike a balance between helping her financial interests and protecting her legal ones -- Aaron.

BROWN: Mary, thank you.

With us from Washington tonight is Eric Dezenhall, a crisis management consultant and the recent author of the novel "Shakedown Beach," good to see you. Good to see you again.

ERIC DEZENHALL, DAMAGE CONTROL CONSULTANT: Thanks for having me.

BROWN: You watched her on -- watched her with Larry tonight. To me it was a somewhat softer Martha Stewart that we saw on Friday night.

DEZENHALL: Well, there's nowhere to go but up at this point and she keeps getting better. I mean actually suffering becomes her and, you know, Martha Stewart's business brand is perfection but her personal brand is audacity and it's audacity that built her business and it's ultimately audacity that's going to lead to her redemption.

And, contrary to a lot of the things that you hear that you're supposed to go out and cry and apologize, this is not someone who is wired that way and, in the long run, her goal is not to convince 100 percent of the audience to love her.

It's to show a core audience what Americans really want to see, which is what crisis management is all about, is doing what's doable and showing how well you take your beating and she's showing that really, really well, much better than she used to.

BROWN: Let me play some of that back to make sure I understand it that this is -- for all those people sort of on the margins...

DEZENHALL: Right.

BROWN: Not the people who think she is a goddess and not the people who think she is a witch but the people on the margins there, why not show a little contrition here, soften up, a little humility, say, you know what, I mean now that I think about it I didn't handle this as well as I might have and I got to take my lumps? Why is that such a terrible thing?

DEZENHALL: Well, I don't know that it is a terrible thing, Aaron, but one of the things you find when you work with these clients is you have to do what is doable within their constitution. I mean people said that Gary Condit should have been softer but the guy was a cold fish. He wasn't capable of it.

And, Martha Stewart is simply not an Oprah kind of personality who can be overly soft. She's about as soft as she can get and you can't counsel a client to do what is beyond their own personal capacity.

In a perfect world, maybe she would show more contrition but one of the things that you have to understand is that if she starts doing what some of the pundits said is come out and apologize well then she's convicted two seconds later.

And so, a lot of these silly words of wisdom and I think that she was right in criticizing some of the pundits who said she should just apologize and it will go away. In 20 years at this I've never seen that to be true.

The other thing people said is she should just plea as if a plea is some magic thing. Well, if I said to you, Aaron, if you were accused of something just plead and part of that plea was never being able to be a broadcast journalist again, it's not such an easy choice.

BROWN: No. No, I'd fight on that one. Would you agree that the Mandela comparison, it wasn't a precise comparison, I wouldn't say that's what it was, but putting her in the same sentence as Mr. Mandela was it a mistake?

DEZENHALL: Well, you know, she can't win because I think the biggest problem she has is in this corporate scandal climate, which is like the French Revolution, Martha Stewart scandal is the only one that the public understands.

Nobody understands Tyco and WorldCom. They do understand Martha Stewart and insider trading, so sure the Nelson Mandela comparison was ham handed but I'm of the school that there's very little she can do to win in this climate.

BROWN: So, if you can't win, what you try and do is lose as little as possible?

DEZENHALL: Well, that's exactly what crisis management and damage control is about. You know, the term damage control comes out of the Navy from when a torpedo hit your ship. When a torpedo hits your ship there's damage and damage control is not the same thing as damage disappearance.

BROWN: Yes.

DEZENHALL: What she is doing is very decent damage control, better than she did before and I think that she has a pretty good shot in the long term, not the short term, at redemption and a comeback but it's not going to be achieved by putting on some false show. Tenacity is her personal brand and that's what will ultimately redeem her.

BROWN: Eric, good to see you again. Thank you.

DEZENHALL: Thanks for having me.

BROWN: Interesting thoughts.

A quick reminder, if you missed it or you just want to see it again, Larry's interview with Martha Stewart will run about an hour and a half from now, almost exactly, midnight Eastern here on CNN. It was fascinating.

Coming up on the program tonight it won't be steroids or lawsuits that keep track star Marion Jones from running any races in Athens. Instead, it will be something much more human it seems.

And later, Nissen revisits the burn hospital for soldiers where the scars are disfiguring but only on the outside.

Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: It's neither been a good year for track star Marion Jones, nor a very good few days.

This weekend at U.S. Olympic trials in Sacramento, Ms. Jones qualified in the long jump, but pulled out of the 200 meters after looking distinctly ordinary in a preliminary heat and missing the cut entirely in the 100 meters. She is, of course, also under investigation for using performance enhancing drugs, despite never having once failed a drug test, and firmly denies she's done anything wrong.

All the same, it casts a shadow and raises questions about a lot of things, including the fairness of her treatment. William Rhoden made the last question the heart of his writing this weekend in the sports pages of "The New York Times," where he's a columnist. We're quite pleased to have him with us tonight.

Welcome.

WILLIAM RHODEN, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Hey, Aaron.

BROWN: I suppose it is easy for all of us, any of us, to handle our successes. We're tested by how we handle our disappointments. And I think one of the points you were trying to make in the piece was how well, in your view at least, she's handled her disappointments.

RHODEN: Well, now, that's when I started to turn around with Marion.

We don't really know any of these people. I have respected Marion, don't really know her. But when everything was going well and she was sort of the glamour person, I was saying, that's fine. But what's going to happen when public sentiment turns against her or something, some adversity happens? How is she going to react?

And when she started to fight the Anti-Doping Agency and just said you know what, enough is enough, you know, that's when I really started to respect her, because she showed that she's a battler, she's a fighter, that she's really tough. She knew what sort of legal team to get. She waged a public relations campaign that I think caught even the anti-drug agency by surprise.

And I think, gradually, what she's also done was turn public attention -- or at least the public attitude in her favor, in that she's saying, I don't care what you feel about me personally, but all we ask for is a fair process. And, frankly, that's sort of my problem here with this. The process is a problem. I don't like the process.

BROWN: Part of the problem with the Doping Agency, USADA, is -- and I think most people who follow sports would argue that the steroid issue is a real issue. It needs to be dealt with. But USADA keeps changing the rules or at least moving the bar around, so it is hard to know what's in play.

RHODEN: Yes, you know, they're moving the goal posts.

First, they're saying, well, first, as of May, we're going to have beyond a reasonable doubt, which we could all live with. Beyond a reasonable doubt. Then in June, they move the goal posts back. They say, well, that's too hard for us, so we're going to say to make it comfortable, a comfortable doubt. Comfortable?

And I think at that point that's when a lot of people were saying that, you know, this is ridiculous and sort of a sort of weapons of mass destruction attitude that is sort of finding its way into track and field and maybe too many other places. Well, we're going to look here. Well, it's not there. We're going to look here. And, Marion, we're going to chase you until the end of the Earth until we justify our existence.

And that's unfair. Like you said, she's never tested positive. Now, maybe you got to find a better test.

BROWN: Yes.

RHODEN: Nobody wants drugs in their sport or in their workplace. They don't. But it's the way that you get there. You make it fair process, due process.

And if you can't do it, well, wait until next Olympics. You've already sent your message. We get the point. But don't ruin lives. Don't ruin reputations.

BROWN: Let me throw one more thing at you. In all this talk about Marion Jones and BALCO and drugs and all that, I wonder if a -- I don't know if it's a larger story, but a better story has somewhat been overshadowed, which is that the team that goes to Athens is going to about have a lot of good young faces in it that we haven't seen before.

RHODEN: This may be -- this may be the best team that we've sent to the Olympics since 1992. And you're absolutely right.

The young talent is phenomenal. Allyson Felix won the 200. And I'm sorry. Marion Jones would have never won the 200 again. Allyson Felix is 18 years old and won convincingly. You have got names like Crawford, Justin Gatlin, Alan Webb, people who are 19, 20, 21, 22, who are going to be around for the next two or three Olympics.

And kind of getting back to the drug scandal, what I don't want, or what the agency shouldn't want these young people to say is, wow, is this how you're treating Marion Jones? She's like an icon. We grew up watching her race. And this is how you're going to turn this into a witch-hunt and go after her? You don't want to turn people off to your sport, especially a sport that only has its day in the sun once every four years.

But you've got a phenomenal team that we're sending to Athens -- yes, to Athens. And, you know, that's the story. You're absolutely right. And that's the positive story. And by the leaks that -- you know, I think they've cut themselves off at the knees trying to achieve a purpose.

BROWN: Yes.

RHODEN: It is really distasteful.

BROWN: Good to have you with us. I hope you'll come back as this summer unfolds and on this and other matters, too. It's nice to see you. We're a big fan of your writing. Thank you.

RHODEN: Aaron, the pleasure's mine.

BROWN: William Rhoden of "The New York Times," sports columnist there.

A few more items that made news around the country, starting in Sacramento, where late today NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr. left the hospital. He went home a day after crashing his Corvette during a practice session at a track in Sonoma. He was treated for second- degree burns on his legs and his chin. My goodness, look at that.

Kobe Bryant case, the Colorado Supreme Court today forbidding the press from releasing details of a closed-door hearing that were accidentally e-mailed to seven media outlets by a court reporter. In issuing the ruling, the justices conceded that what the trial court judge did amounts to prior restraint, but that the circumstances justified. This will be an interesting set of appeals. Lawyers for the party, including the AP, CBS and Fox News have yet to say whether they will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. But prior restraint has no history in the country.

And the state of Georgia executed Eddie Crawford, who was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering his 2-year-old niece. Lawyers had argued that DNA testing on two strands of hair found on the girl might implicate someone else. Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a stay of execution without comment.

Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, a story from a country where being right often means angering your government, which can land you in jail.

And still later, all the news that's fit to read, tomorrow morning's papers tonight.

From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: With the exception of aeronautics and nuclear physics, communism and science haven't always gotten along so well. Joseph Stalin, who mistrusted the field of genetics, put a bumpkin in charge of it, a man who believed you can make rye grow in a wheat field by planting wheat. Hundreds of legitimate researchers were sent to the gulags.

Today, it is China and SARS and a doctor who, until recently, was leading the fight against the disease and by implication the government. These days, he's in custody.

Reporting from Beijing tonight, CNN's Mike Chinoy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Last year retired Chinese army doctor Dr. Jiang Yanyong was hailed as a hero in the media here after he exposed the government's efforts to cover up the SARS epidemic. Then he touched an even more sensitive nerve, the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, urging in February that the Communist Party admit it was a mistake.

HU JIA, HUMAN RIGHTS ATTORNEY (through translator): His letter was powerful. He has so much credibility. He was a doctor in 1989 and saw 80 people who died. When he spoke out, the government could no longer deny what happened.

CHINOY: The letter sent shockwaves through the Chinese Communist Party. Last month, on his way to the U.S. Embassy to get a visa to visit his California-based daughter, Jiang and his wife were arrested. His daughter then spoke out on CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are trying to use this detention to pressure him to admit something he did was wrong, especially the letter he wrote this year regarding the Tiananmen massacre.

CHINOY: After the CNN interview, Jiang's wife was released. But those close to the family say the government told her and her children not to talk to the media.

Human rights activist Hu Jia says he spoke with Mrs. Jiang by phone. He told me she spoke in guarded tones and left the impression there were security officers in her apartment. We asked China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman what was happening to Dr. Jiang.

"On this issue," she said, "I don't know anything. There's no way to tell how long Dr. Jiang will remain in detention."

(on camera): What is clear, though, is that no matter how modern or open China appears, the Communist Party still seems determined to silence anyone who challenges its authority.

Mike Chinoy, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BROWN: Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT tonight, a difficult tale to tell. We'll take to you the Army's burn unit in Texas, where they recover or they try to help men and women recover from the most excruciating of wounds. And morning papers still to come as well.

A break first. This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The people you are about to meet are American servicemen who have been burned, seriously, severely burned in Iraq. We mention this as a warning to the gentler souls among you, though in some ways the very idea of uttering such a disclaimer, of a warning about the way someone looks, is nearly as much an obscenity as a courtesy. Gentler souls we suspect already understand this, just as gentler souls understand that what war does to the bodies of young men and women, what it does produces neither martyrs, nor sages, nor saints, any more than getting struck by lightning does.

That's not what war is about. People went to war and people returned. The human forms are altered. Their humanity, we hope, we always hope, remains intact. It is reconciling that humanity with their physical circumstances that is the challenge for so many in the military these days, and that effort right now is centered at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. It is an effort for the patients and it is an effort for the staff.

These are their stories, their stories reported by NEWSNIGHT's Beth Nissen, who first visited the hospital last fall.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was Specialist Edward Stephenson in October. His lower legs were burned nearly to the bone after his convoy hit explosive devices near Tikrit. This is specialist Stephenson today, after five surgeries and eight months of intensive physical therapy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well, obviously, we had a problem. We'll take a break, try and fix it, and be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We're going to try this again, because this is important.

Some of the most difficult wounds of the Iraq war have been burns. They're always difficult to treat, the disfigurement that they cause. The work goes on at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.

And NEWSNIGHT's Beth Nissen reports the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NISSEN (voice-over): This was Specialist Edward Stephenson in October. His lower legs were burned nearly to the bone after his convoy hit explosive devices near Tikrit. This is specialist Stephenson today, after five surgeries and eight months of intensive physical therapy.

SPC. EDWARD STEPHENSON, U.S. ARMY: In my heart, I knew that I was going to walk again. I was going to do whatever it took.

NISSEN: What it takes for those with serious burns to recover is intensive medical care, skin grafts, reconstructive surgeries and time.

LT. COL. LEE CANCIO, DIRECTOR, U.S. ARMY BURN UNIT: Progress in burn patients is sometimes slower than you see for other types of injury. Oftentimes, I have thought about this process as a kind of battle that will take months or even years to win.

NISSEN: A battle first to close wounds and prevent infection. This was specialist Gabe Garriga last October with second- and third- degree burns over 53 percent of his body from a fiery collision of two Humvees near Baghdad. This is Specialist Garriga eight months later.

SPC. GABRIEL GARRIGA, U.S. ARMY: Everything is a lot better than it was before. I'm done with skin grafts. There's no more skin problems. It's just pretty much healing now.

NISSEN: Specialist Aaron Coates is healing, too. Coates, seen here last October, was badly burned on the face and hands when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the fuel truck he was driving near Kirkuk. This is Specialist Coates today. Like most oft longer-term burn patients here, he's fighting a new battle against scar tissue.

CANCIO: Scar tissue, even though it's intended to heal the wound, often causes complications. For example, the hands can contract into positions in which they can't be used.

NISSEN: Can contract into rigid claws.

SPC. AARON COATES, U.S. ARMY: There are a lot of things I can't do, like tie shoes. I don't have the grip to open containers yet because the joints in these fingers don't work.

NISSEN: Thick scar tissue has also formed on his face, restricting his facial expressions, his ability to speak.

COATES: They're going to do surgery to help fix that here pretty soon. They haven't started anything yet, because it is still maturing and still kind of young scars there.

NISSEN: Corporal Jose Martinez is further along in that process. More than a year ago, he suffered third-degree burns on his arms, hands, head and face when his Humvee hit a land mine in Karbala, Iraq.

CPL. JOSE MARTINEZ, U.S. ARMY: I heard people all the time saying that in a split second, your life can change. One minute, you were just a totally normal guy. And the next minute, you're disfigured with all these scars all over.

NISSEN: Martinez has already had 24 surgeries, skin grafts, fracture repair, plastic surgery, with more operations to come.

Sergeant Josh Forbess faces extensive plastic surgery, too. He was one of the few survivors pulled from the flaming wreckage of two Black Hawk helicopters after they collided over Mosul, Iraq, on November 15, 2003.

MAJ. SANDRA WANEK, BURN UNIT SURGEON: He had severe burns to his face and scalp that were down to the bone on his head. His eyes, the lids, both upper and lower, were burned. He had severe nasal burns.

NISSEN: Now an outpatient and hospital volunteer, Forbess knows his reconstruction will take two, even three years.

SGT. JOSHUA FORBESS, U.S. ARMY: They're going to try to take these scars away on the right side of my face. It's a slow process. But it will all be done.

NISSEN: He knows he won't ever look like the young man he was just a few years ago.

CANCIO: No procedure can return a patient with very deep burns to their former state by any means. There is no perfect solution to those problems.

NISSEN: A temporary solution, prosthetics. A few weeks ago, Sergeant Forbess was fitted with a prosthetic nose and ear.

FORBESS: I use adhesive. And they just stick on there. And at the end of the day, I take them off and clean all the adhesive off of them.

NISSEN: Eventually, surgeons hope to be able to rebuild a nose from Forbess' own skin, give Forbess a more permanent prosthetic ear.

FORBESS: They're going to actually put pokes in my head so I can actually clip it on from then on out.

NISSEN: A visitor to these physical therapy rooms has to look hard for anger, depression, self-pity, regret.

COATES: But it could have been a lot worse. I was sitting on a 1,000 gallons of fuel when we got hit. And a lot of people told me I shouldn't have walked away from it. And I did.

STEPHENSON: I still get moments like a lot of the other soldiers that are here, you know, hey, send me back. Let me do my job.

NISSEN (on camera): Would you go back to Iraq?

FORBESS: In a heartbeat.

MARTINEZ: I was going to follow any order that the president would give, and I followed that order. There's no regrets. There's no complaints at all.

NISSEN: No regrets?

MARTINEZ: No regrets.

NISSEN (voice-over): Beth Nissen, CNN, San Antonio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: There is all sorts of courage in the world.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: OK, time to check morning papers from around the country and around the world.

Those kids were amazing in that piece, weren't they? Man. I admire them.

"The Christian Science Monitor." "The Election That Won't Budge." "Democratic Convention May Defy History, Not Give Kerry a Big Bounce, a Sign of How Settled the Electorate Is." This is a series they've been doing. "Even In a Swing State, Views Are Hardened," looking at the state of Pennsylvania. That's "The Christian Science Monitor."

"The Oregonian" out West in Portland, Oregon. We love that paper and we love that town, Portland. "The Oregonian." "With Six Weeks to Go in Iraq, Dies in Blast, Klamath Falls' Lance Corporal Bryan Kelly," 21 years old, died in Iraq. And that deserves front-page treatment in any newspaper

Lots of good stuff in "The Philadelphia Inquirer." "Unlocking the Mystery of Amish Baby Death," big piece in the paper tomorrow. "Gene Finds Open New Avenue For Wider Research on SIDS." I didn't know that Amish kids were more likely to die of SIDS death than anyone else, but, apparently, that's the case. Also, "Pennsylvania's Representative Greenwood Considers Quitting." It would be a big blow to the Republican Party.

A couple more quickly. "Richmond Times-Dispatch." "Aspirin Efficacy Doubted. Study Suggests Pills May Not Aid Heart Patients or Hearts of Millions of Patients."

And let's end it -- you know, let's end it with "The Chicago Sun- Times." The weather tomorrow in Chicago is "bad hair."

We'll be back, good hair or not. We'll see you tomorrow night. Good night for all of us.

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