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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Propaganda War Waged In Baghdad; Kobe Bryant Accuser Could Drop Charges; Radio Host Alan Keyes Enters Illinois Race Against Barack Obama

Aired August 04, 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.
I was talking briefly yesterday to a man who knows government well, who knows the intelligence community well and who knows the issue of terror very well. And, while I wouldn't normally add this, it does seem to help here to tell you he's a Democrat and not a conservative Democrat at that.

We were talking about the latest terror warning and at one point he said, "So, are you asking me if I think they are telling the truth with this latest alert?" "Yes," I said "that's exactly what I'm asking." And here is what he said. "They can't get away with lying even if they wanted to. The intelligence community wouldn't let them."

What he meant is this. If the intel side thought the politicians were simply issuing alerts to win elections they would rebel. They would leak. They would tell the world. They haven't. To this source that was worth noting and to me it was something worth passing along.

The whip tonight begins in Washington, terror on the agenda again, so is CNN's Kelli Arena, Kelli start us with a headline.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Aaron.

CNN has learned that there is new evidence suggesting al Qaeda operatives are here in the United States thanks to intelligence recently gathered in Pakistan.

BROWN: Kelli, thank you.

And to Islamabad with the developments there CNN's Ash-Har Quraishi on the videophone, so a headline from you tonight.

ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN ISLAMABAD BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, Pakistani intelligence officials say they have evidence of recent communication between suspected al Qaeda operatives here in Pakistan with those operatives in the United Kingdom and the United States.

BROWN: We'll pull those pieces together. Thank you.

Finally to Baghdad and a number of stories there tonight, not the least of which is playing out in the marketplace of ideas, CNN's Matthew Chance working that, so Matt a headline. MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron thanks. And behind the bullets and the bombs that we so often report here in Iraq another battle is being fought for the belief and the loyalties of the Iraqi people. We'll take a look at how the both the interim Iraqi government and the insurgent groups operating here are waging a propaganda war.

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

Also, coming up on the program tonight a conversation with Tom Ridge about this latest terror alert and politics and cynicism as well.

Also, new warriors in the war on terror doormen in New York apartment buildings keeping an eye out for the bad guys.

And even the doormen pause when they hear the rooster. They know, as do you, it is time for your morning papers, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight with the strongest evidence yet suggesting that al Qaeda is alive and operating in the United States. It goes a long way toward explaining why the latest terror alert was issued and why now and why such a palpable sense of urgency in just about everyone we talk to. We have two reports tonight from Pakistan and Washington, Washington first.

Here's CNN's Kelli Arena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA (voice-over): Two senior U.S. government sources tell CNN one reason for increased concern about a possible terror attack is evidence showing suspected al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan contacted an individual or individuals in the United States in the past few months.

The U.S. officials would not characterize that communication but two senior Pakistani intelligence officials went further telling CNN the evidence shows alleged al Qaeda computer expert Muhammad Naeem Moor Khan contacted at least six al Qaeda operatives in the United States.

TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We are exploring every conceivable potential contact that any al Qaeda operative anywhere in the world might have had with anyone in the United States.

ARENA: Sources say Khan also contacted alleged al Qaeda members in Britain leading to several arrests. The information lends credibility to the concern al Qaeda may have operatives in place in the United States ready to attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Certainly when you have actionable information with adversaries who are capable and intent on taking direct military loss of life action you can't have anything of greater consequence and more importance than this.

ARENA: Information about contacts between al Qaeda and someone in the U.S. follows criticism the Bush administration was touting old surveillance information found in Pakistan about al Qaeda targeting financial institutions.

But officials now say there was a separate stream of intelligence that surfaced last week corroborating the surveillance information.

RIDGE: Old information isn't irrelevant information, particularly with this kind of enemy. This is an enemy that plotted for years before 9/11.

ARENA: Investigators continue to scrub that intelligence from Pakistan. U.S. sources say it has provided leads for investigators working to uncover possible terror cells.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA: But still officials cite nothing definitive on the timing of an attack and they say there isn't any proof showing al Qaeda is ready to execute one -- Aaron.

BROWN: Kelli, thank you. You have a full day of reporting.

We'll turn this now towards Pakistan where a lot of this information is coming from. CNN's Ash-Har Quraishi has been working his sources in that country and joins us again by videophone from Islamabad. It has seemed to us here that events have moved actually quite quickly over a matter of days really.

QURAISHI: That's right, Aaron, but this has really been something that they've been looking into for the last few weeks and even the last few months. Now, some of these breaks have come in arrests that have come in the form of lower level suspected al Qaeda operatives in various cities, most of them coming from central Punjab.

But intelligence officials here in Pakistan are confirming to CNN that they have information from the interrogations, from the evidence, the computer disks and the computers and the documents that they have taken into possession that indicate that this man, Muhammad Naeem Moor Khan had been in what they called "recent communication with at least one high level al Qaeda operative in the United Kingdom."

They say it's that information that led to the arrest of more than a dozen suspected al Qaeda operatives there in the U.K. over the last few days. They also say that he had been in contact with what they called six al Qaeda operatives in the United States.

Now right now they're trying to find out what the nature of that communication was. Now, Khan, as we have been reporting has been called the computer expert. His role in this was to code messages from al Qaeda and get them out to operatives.

So, right now they say that while they know that he had recent contact with operatives outside of Pakistan the key is trying to find out what that communication was and whether or not it had anything to do with any type of imminent plot to attack the United States or the United Kingdom -- Aaron.

BROWN: What about the other side of the conversation? Do we know who in the al Qaeda hierarchy Khan was talking to, to pass these messages along?

QURAISHI: Well that is another question but, as we're learning from the evidence that's been gathered over the last few weeks that this has been a very long chain of messages, the source basically sending these messages by hand, by courier, that courier then passing it on to another courier and that continuing until it got to Khan. Khan would then code those messages and at some point transmit them.

It's unclear exactly how but it's assumed at this point by some officials that we've spoken to that he was transmitting them through the Internet, which is why he was based in some of the bigger cities but some of these messages may have come from other, more remote locations. Now who this source is they're trying to trace back. Of course at this point, Aaron, they just don't know.

BROWN: Ash-Har, thank you, Ash-Har Quraishi who is in Islamabad for us where it is morning.

We heard a bit from Secretary Ridge earlier in Kelli Arena's report. We spoke with him at length late this afternoon. We'll have that in its entirety coming up but here is a sample. We asked if he agreed that al Qaeda or al Qaeda affiliated cells are in fact at work in the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIDGE: We cannot afford to guess as to whether or not they're here or how many are here or when they might choose to attack. We operate, as you said, the working hypothesis is that those who would attack are here and they may use various forms of action but that's the way we operate within Homeland Security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Again, we'll have more from Secretary Ridge a little bit later in the program tonight.

First Iraq, which has faded from view, even if the story ought not to, the other night mortar shells rocked our camera position in Baghdad and our correspondent barely budged. Other reporters describe a kind of violence fatigue that is setting in so many car bombings and assassinations and kidnappings.

Fifty-six American soldiers died last month, 14 more than died the month before, the month of the handover in June. Seven more have died in the last four days. The number of Iraqi deaths, bad actors and innocents, is much higher and that fact makes the most important battle even that much tougher to win.

Here's CNN's Matthew Chance. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE (voice-over): The soundtrack of a nation in chaos. Behind the violence in Iraq, a propaganda war is being fought and these resistance songs, as they're called, set to images of the insurgency, of the ammunition.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Some of the CDs show tanks being hit or pictures of dead Americans. The songs in the background they make people hate the Americans. Many young men join the resistance when they see and hear them.

CHANCE: In stores the chants and ballads outsell Iraqi love songs, the violent lyrics not minority views but mainstream opinion openly discussed in this Baghdad coffee shop.

"In my opinion, every person with honor should resist this occupation," says Mehdi Sarhan. His friend, Mohammed, complains that the occupation has not really ended. Nothing good has come of it, he says, despite the promises.

On Baghdad streets there are billboards promoting the government but, for many, the country's new leaders have much to prove. But now the government does have a tune of its own, the musical theme for a government series of slick TV commercials, this one about reconstruction.

There's a soccer match featured too. The kids' names are Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni, all Iraqis on the same team, a vision for the country the government says it can deliver even if it's taking time for some to realize it.

MOWAFFAK AL-RUBAIE, INTERIM IRAQI NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We were blindfolded for 35 years. You came and suddenly removed that blindfold and now we don't know where the direction, we're confused. We can't see properly. We can't visualize things properly.

CHANCE: And in the chaos of the new Iraq all sides are now competing to get their message seen and heard and sung.

(on camera): If the popularity of these resistance songs is anything to go by then it seems right now the insurgents may have the upper hand and the challenge for the new Iraqi interim government is to get the people who are listening to this music to literally change their tune.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Matthew Chance in Baghdad.

Ahead on the program tonight, the criminal rape case against Kobe Bryant suddenly it seems in a whole lot of trouble and the finger pointing is underway.

Plus, two candidates in one city at the same time, they might as well have been on different planets. From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In the year and two weeks since basketball star Kobe Bryant was charged with rape, the case has taken many twists and turns in court and out. Today brought another, the lawyer for Mr. Bryant's accuser saying that his client may withdraw from the criminal case, filing a civil suit instead.

CNN's Gary Tuchman working the story for us tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Prosecutors say the Kobe Bryant criminal trial is still on track but they're being contradicted by the accuser's personal attorneys who say there may be a detour on that track.

CNN has been told the criminal trial might not occur. One of the personal attorneys of the alleged victim tells CNN it is up in the air whether she will go ahead with the criminal caser against the basketball star, saying she has "lost faith in the court system." The attorney says a civil suit against Bryant is now an active possibility.

John Clune's comments come after reporters gained access to what were secret transcripts in the case describing aspects of the woman's sexual history. On three occasions the court has made errors resulting in confidential information about the woman being made public.

CRAIG SILVERMAN, COLORADO TRIAL ATTORNEY: It's a little unfortunate that they're going to blame the judge and the court for the problems of this case. The judge indeed names the stakes but the judge did not make up the facts which are so damning to the prosecution in this matter.

TUCHMAN: The district attorney could pursue the case even if the woman did not want it to happen but practically it would be very difficult. A spokeswoman for the district attorney does say: "We have no indications that this trial will not proceed forward after conversations with Mr. Clune and the victim."

Clune does say that it's inappropriate to say she is definitely out but adds a decision has to be made within days with the trial scheduled to start in just over three weeks.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Jeffrey Toobin is here with us tonight to talk more about the issues raised, the fairness or unfairness of it all. Gary in his report talked about the damning evidence that came out. This was the evidence in the transcript having to do with her sexual history in the period right after the rape.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes.

BROWN: Or the sexual encounter.

TOOBIN: Right. It's a little unfair to talk about it as sexual history. What this really is, is evidence that explains her injuries, evidence that could explain her physical condition.

You know the judge did not say it was open season on her whole life. All he did was he said Kobe Bryant can look for alternative explanations in her life for the physical evidence in the case and that to me is only basic fairness.

BROWN: Just on that point did he or did he not also accept as an argument the defense contention that having sex eleven hours or 18 hours after you allege you had been raped is behavior that a jury at least ought to be aware of?

TOOBIN: You know not really. What he did was he said any sexual activity 72 hours before she was examined.

BROWN: Right.

TOOBIN: To explain the evidence. That includes that immediate afterwards. Those of us who live in the real world recognize that if the defense can show that this woman had sex eleven hours after an alleged rape, no one's going to believe it very much but his ruling...

BROWN: No one's going to believe that she was raped.

TOOBIN: That she was raped, right.

BROWN: Because?

TOOBIN: Because it just seems inconsistent with our commonsense understanding. It's not impossible.

BROWN: And, in fact, it actually tells us nothing about whether she was raped or not.

TOOBIN: It doesn't. It doesn't tell us -- well I wouldn't say it tells us nothing. I would say it is not directly related but I think in the commonsense understanding rape is understood to be an extremely traumatizing experience. Eleven hours later having sex with someone else seems inconsistent.

BROWN: Ever heard of anything like this before by the way?

TOOBIN: No, not like this. I've never seen a case collapse in this way and I've never seen, you know, so many confluence of circumstances, some of which are just random chance like the mistaken release of these names.

BROWN: Right. TOOBIN: But also I mean, you know, this is a tremendous tribute to Kobe Bryant's defense lawyers, you know, who had the resources to hire a DNA expert who really could -- who really could have turned the whole case around.

BROWN: One of the things that people say, I think, in moments like this is well he had a lot of money and he was able to hire really good lawyers, as if somehow that is unfair.

TOOBIN: Right. I mean what this case reminds me of, of how many poor souls are locked up who didn't have this kind of -- these kind of resources who couldn't get the analysis of the evidence that Kobe Bryant is getting. I don't draw the conclusion that Kobe Bryant shouldn't have those resources.

BROWN: Right.

TOOBIN: I draw the conclusion that other people should as well. But, you know, it is true that his money has made a tremendous difference in this case.

BROWN: They talked, the lawyers today talked about the filing of a civil suit, if they were to withdraw from the criminal case, two questions there. One is, I think we know from our O.J. experience actually the answer to the first part. Does an adverse decision in a criminal case necessarily lead to an adverse decision in a civil case?

TOOBIN: No, but the advantage of going for a civil case is that, you know, the proof beyond a reasonable doubt standard is gone. That's the criminal standard. She would only have to prove her injury by a preponderance of the evidence, which is easier to do.

BROWN: But the problem doesn't change in a way. If the problem here is that there are credible experts who are willing to say the DNA of Mr. X could only have gotten on her body after the rape or the allegation of rape, whether it's a civil case or criminal case, that question that you raised, the inconsistent behavior doesn't go away.

TOOBIN: No, and potentially false statements about that don't go away.

BROWN: Which is another thing we haven't talked about.

TOOBIN: Right.

BROWN: She's denied.

TOOBIN: She's denied that, so the DNA evidence is potentially doubly damaging to her but she doesn't -- the civil case has all the same problems, including disclosure of her identity and her sexual history. All those issues would come up in a civil case as well.

BROWN: Last question. Is this over?

TOOBIN: It's hard for me to think of a way this case can be revived. I think it's awfully close to being over. I don't understand why these lawyers would go forward saying it's almost over unless they were getting ready to pull the plug next week.

BROWN: Good to see you.

TOOBIN: Good to see you.

BROWN: Thanks for coming in.

TOOBIN: My pleasure.

BROWN: Jeffrey Toobin.

Coming up on NEWSNIGHT tonight we'll talk terrorism and homeland security with the man in charge of it. Secretary Tom Ridge joins us.

And later, in true NEWSNIGHT fashion, we bid farewell to one of the great photographers the world has ever known, a break first.

Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Outside of the presidency I can't imagine a harder job in government these days, a more stressful job than the one Tom Ridge has. Homeland security is a responsibility. It is a big and largely open homeland. It is difficult to protect. That is just the fact of it.

In the wake of this week's terror warning and the controversy surrounding it, we talked with the secretary late this afternoon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Mr. Secretary, is it the working hypothesis in the department and in the government that there are, in fact, either cells or individuals working in the United States associated with, affiliated with al Qaeda?

RIDGE: I think that's a fair statement, Aaron. We cannot afford to guess as to whether or not they're here or how many are here or when they might choose to attack. We operate, as you said, the working hypothesis is that those who would attack are here. They may use various forms of action but that's the way we operate within Homeland Security. That's the aggressive nature of the domestic counterterrorism effort of the FBI as well.

BROWN: Going back over the last couple of days, I know that some of this, because we've talked about, can get incredibly frustrating to you and that when to issue these alerts is not really a science. It's an art. You evaluate the evidence that you have.

As you look at it now would it have been helpful in getting people to understand what was going on to have explained the history of the surveillance that you talked about on Sunday so that it was all out there on Sunday and it didn't kind of bleed out over a couple of days? RIDGE: Well, first of all, just the fact that the casings occurred three or perhaps even four years ago in any context I don't think means that they're irrelevant. If you understand the nature of the enemy, this is a -- these terrorists are plotters.

They're planners and they're patient and, if you take a look at the planning that went into the 9/11 attack, the planning that went into the embassy attacks overseas and some of the other planning, their doctrine says, "We survey. We recon. We're patient."

And so the fact that it is old information is, as one of the executives of one of the companies said, is of little comfort to those of us who work in these buildings.

But it was updated as early as January of '04. It is consistent with the reporting stream that talks about undermining the democratic process. It is also not taken out of context because there are other pieces of information, even around that, that required the Sunday announcement.

And, if I recall correctly, when folks from the intelligence community briefed the people at the Sunday's briefing after I spoke, they alluded to the fact that some of the information was from 2000, 2001 but it's really immaterial. It's really irrelevant. It is relevant to have actionable information and that's what we have.

BROWN: I think that part of the problem for all of us on either end of these sorts of things is that we live in a highly political time, in may respects perhaps a cynical time. How frustrating is it to you when this stuff is dismissed, as it sometimes is, as pure politics?

RIDGE: I regret that there's an inference that this kind of public revelation of information that it took a lot of courageous people in the military to get and hundreds of analysts to analyze and literally welcomed information by the law enforcement community and by those responsible for protection of the employees and everyone else is viewed as political.

It clearly was not and it never will be. You're right. It's a judgment call when you go public but it was absolutely the right call to make and regardless of what has been said since I made the announcement, knowing that they would say it, I'd go out and make the announcement again on Sunday.

BROWN: Let's get back to the information, how we absorb it and deal with it in a city like New York or in Washington. Given the fact that we have this specific casing or surveillance of these buildings and yet we don't have specific ideas of a plan, at least not that I know of, how do these alerts ever end? How do you make a decision to say, OK, we can stand down a notch?

RIDGE: In the context of the most recent threat, we not only would review it in terms of the intelligence we gather about these casings and about these locations, but, also, we begin to review it after we go out to these individual sites to see what additional security measures they have taken, in light of the new information that they have been given.

And, again, it will be an assessment and a judgment call at that time.

BROWN: This is my final question. I try never to ask you to predict the future, but I'm going to a little bit here.

Do you expect, sir, that, between now and Election Day, at the very least, we're going to go through a series of days and weeks like the ones that we're in now?

RIDGE: Aaron, I cannot predict that, but I can predict , if we had the kind of information -- and, again, this was a quick turnaround. We picked up this information on Thursday and learned a lot more about it Friday and Saturday, and divulged it to America on Sunday.

If we receive that kind of information again, along with other bits and pieces of information, intelligence we have, that would lead to a consensus within the Homeland Security Council -- and that's a lot of principals in the Cabinet that I have to go out and explain it to America -- we would do it again. But we can't predict. It will be driven by information and intelligence solely.

BROWN: Mr. Secretary, we appreciate, as you know, the work that you do and the pressures that you're under and the time that you've given us. Thank you, as always.

RIDGE: Good talking with you, Aaron. Thank you very much.

BROWN: Thank you, sir.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, we talked to him late this afternoon.

Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, breaking news out of Illinois. Republicans have now found someone to run for the U.S. Senate. It's taken them a while. We'll go live to Chicago.

And three blocks and a world apart, as presidential candidates both land in Davenport, Iowa, today. CNN's Candy Crowley will report from there.

And all the front pages that are frint -- fit to print, or frint to pint, one or the other. Morning papers before we're done.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, Hunter Thompson once said that when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. Dr. Thompson, welcome to Illinois. Just stay away from the U.S. Senate race.

After the first Republican candidate dropped out in a sex scandal, the party has been casting about for someone, almost anyone, to run against Barack Obama. Today, tonight, they settled on Alan Keyes, whose own Web site had this to say about him. "Alan Keyes," it reads, "is capable of leading our country once all of America has a chance to see and hear firsthand his self-evident brilliance."

If your own Web site doesn't love you, who does?

From Chicago tonight, CNN's Keith Oppenheim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWD: Keyes for Senate! Keyes for Senate!

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Alan Keyes entered a race in a state where he does not live.

ALAN KEYES, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I do not take it for granted that it's a good idea to parachute into a state and go into a Senate race.

OPPENHEIM: But parachute he has. The former presidential candidate from Maryland landed in the hands of the Illinois Republican Party, which some say desperately needs help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now they're just trying to hang on, knowing they can't win and to look as decent as they can in the course of what's becoming an absurd situation.

OPPENHEIM: A quick history. In June, Republican challenger Jack Ryan dropped out of the race after allegations raised during his divorce case that he took his wife to sex clubs. But, even before that, the Democrats' rising star, Barack Obama, was far ahead in the polls.

BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child.

OPPENHEIM: And while Obama wowed crowds, including delegates, at the Democratic National Convention, the Republicans spent six weeks looking for a replacement.

MIKE DITKA, FORMER NFL COACH: It's something I can't do at this time, really.

OPPENHEIM: Former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka was among several who said no a race that looked tough to win.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an unprecedented situation.

OPPENHEIM: So, this week, 14 candidates vied to be chosen by a Republican state committee, which narrowed the field to two African- Americans. Keyes got picked.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for doing this.

OPPENHEIM: Keyes is known for his conservative views against abortion and gay marriage, a sharp contrast to Obama. He could be a tough sell in a state known for electing liberals and moderates from both parties.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OPPENHEIM: So, once again, Alan Keyes still hasn't accepted the offer to run. He says he is going to take a couple days to think about it and he will make an official announcement on Sunday, Aaron. So, ultimately, that means that the drama over who is actually in this Senate race isn't quite yet over -- back to you.

BROWN: Let me see if I get this now. He comes to Chicago, he throws his hat in the ring, they pick him, and he says, I'm not sure?

OPPENHEIM: Well, when he arrived today, Aaron, he said, I'm just going to consult with them.

He never made it sound like he was officially in. And he's apparently true his word that he isn't really sure whether he wants to do this. And we have to point out there have been many before him who thought about it and said no. So we won't know apparently until Sunday, if his schedule is accurate, whether or not he's officially in or whether they are going to pick the alternative candidate they had, Andrea Grubb Barthwell, or whether they will go to somebody else.

BROWN: And the Obama side is saying what tonight? Anything?

OPPENHEIM: Barack Obama did just respond to this news, because it's developed just in the last half-hour. And he says that he very much welcomes Mr. Keyes to the race and hopes that they are going to have a spirited exchange during the next 90 days. But, again, he's presuming in saying that that Alan Keyes will run. And he doesn't know yet for sure either.

BROWN: Keith, thank you very much. This thing gets stranger and stranger. But they always say they expect a spirited exchange. So we appreciate that they said that again tonight.

Thank you.

There were two big stories in Davenport Iowa, today. Three banks were robbed. That's one of the big stories. The other is that both presidential campaigns rolled through. We'll see if the robberies make the front page of the morning papers.

The campaign stuff tonight, we will leave to CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWD: Four more years!

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A summer slam in middle America. On one block, President George W. Bush

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a little difference of opinion about the heart and soul. Some of them think you can find it in Hollywood.

CROWD: No!

BUSH: I think you would find it right here in Davenport, Iowa.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CROWLEY: On another block:

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, what do you think about the president being down the street?

CROWLEY: Senator John F. Kerry, whose political career was rescued here.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I always think when I come to Iowa -- because of Iowa's importance to me in this election and the great listening that all of you gave me, I think of Joe Jackson coming out of that corn and saying, is this heaven? And Ray Kinsella says, no, it's Iowa. But it's one and the same to me.

CROWLEY: The day offered a look into the petri dish of 2004's experiment in democracy. Iowa's jobless rate is higher now than in 2000.

KERRY: The debt of our country is growing. We have deficits as far out as we can see. We just announced the largest deficit in history. We have lost in the last four years 1.8 million private sector jobs in America, 25,000 of them right here in Iowa.

CROWLEY: But statewide, there are signs things are getting better. The jobless rate has begun to fall.

BUSH: Because we acted, our economy since last summer has grown at a rate as fast as any in nearly 20 years. Because we acted, America has added more than 1.5 million new jobs since last August.

CROWLEY: The Davenport area is home to the 106th Aviation National Guard. Four units have been sent to Iraq.

BUSH: Because the dictator sits in a prison cell, the people of Iraq are better off. America and the world are safer.

CROWLEY: One of the units came home recently without two of its own. They were killed in a chopper crash. Others remain on extended stay in Iraq.

KERRY: I will do the diplomacy necessary, and I have heavy cards to play. I'm not going to lay them all out on the table. No future president or no president should ever negotiate this in public. But let me tell you, I have got big cards to play.

CROWLEY: The closest they came to one another was the slow roll the Kerry buscapade took past the Bush campaign event sight. By afternoon, they were both gone, two candidates, one town, different planets. Candy Crowley, CNN, Davenport, Iowa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Still ahead on the program tonight, introducing the new protectors in the war on terror, New York City doormen. And we aren't kidding. And a little bit later, Henri Cartier-Bresson through his own pictures, his life.

This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: One of the amenities New Yorkers, and others, we presume, look for in an apartment is a doorman, who, in truth, if he's any good at all, does more than open the door. He takes in packages. He brings up the dry cleaning. And these days in New York, he keeps an eye out for al Qaeda.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The most likely nuclear weapon is the dirty bomb.

BROWN (voice-over): They are, you might think, unlikely recruits in the war on terror.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are the eyes and the ears of your building, of your community. You are the eyes and the ears for law enforcement, period.

BROWN: New York City doormen. And in the new normal, they're learning to stand guard in a very different way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The community makes up the city. Your white-collar worker, your blue-collar worker, whatever it is, we all make up the city. So it's important that we all play a role in preventing terrorism.

LINDA NELSON, DIRECTOR, THOMAS SHORTMAN TRAINING FUND: The idea behind it is really to increase the eyes and ears of emergency services.

BROWN: Increase those eyes and ears in New York by 28,000 over the next year. The Building Workers Union, along with the New York Police Department, plans to hold training classes for almost every residential building employee in the city. This group squeezed into the playroom of a Manhattan apartment building to learn how they can help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Find out if there's been any terrorist activities in your area.

BROWN: They're asked to be more alert, to report anything out of the ordinary, suspicious vehicles, suspicious people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's almost like instinct. You know the people who are supposed to be around you.

BROWN: They also talk about what to do if their building becomes a target, what to ask the caller with a bomb threat, how to shut down the air ducts in case of a chemical attack.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kill switch, kill switch, kill switch.

BROWN: It isn't exactly what they signed on for.

PETER SANTIAGO, MANHATTAN DOORMAN: The training we have had is, open the door, be polite, the basic little things, not to be aware of your surroundings on the outside.

BROWN: Authorities say that by the nature of their jobs, the doorman are rich security resources. Peter Santiago has been a doorman for 23 years.

SANTIAGO: Doormen usually know a lot. We see things before anybody else does. And we use that as a tool to defend and protect our tenants.

BROWN: Santiago'S building has already made some changes, no photographs allowed, no loitering and no unexpected packages will be accepted.

SANTIAGO: Just today, we turned a package away because the tenant didn't inform us it was coming.

BROWN: So they see everything these days with a different eye.

SANTIAGO: Please move the truck back.

BROWN: An eye that says trucks or vans could be weapons.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't have to be a police officer. You don't have to be a FBI agent. You don't have to be the CIA or the Secret Service. You have to start with the citizen and work your way up, because we learn from each other. And if we don't learn from each other, this is not going to be a success.

BROWN: If this program is a success, it could expand to other cities, adding hundreds of thousands of additional eyes and ears across the country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: OK, time to check the morning papers from around the country and around the world, lots of good ones today. If you've been patiently waiting for a day when he have lots of good ones, this would be the day. "International Herald Tribune," published by "The New York Times." We've been talking about this for a while. It's gotten pretty nasty in Iraq. "Fierce Fights Erupt in North Iraq City." That part is a bit unusual. "Mosul Imposes Curfew as Clashes Stoke Fears of an All-Out Insurgency." The north had been, relatively speaking, calm. It's not exactly Davenport, Iowa, but it's been better.

"The Christian Science Monitor," a bunch of good stories on the front page, but this is the one that caught my eye. "Task for Olympics: How Not to be Ugly Americans in the Athens Games." I gather they are going through some, like, sensitivity training or something. Some of the staff here went through sensitivity training today. I honestly didn't notice the difference.

"The Quad-City Times." Can you name the quad cities and do you know how many there are? That's a trick question, isn't it, there? OK. "Worlds, Blocks Apart." The candidates were in town. "President Rolls Up Sleeve" -- "Sleeves" -- both of them -- "Campaign Is About Results. Kerry To Business Leaders: We Can Do a Better Job." And "Robbers Hit Three Banks." It did make the front page. "One Suspect Caught, Two Others At Large." This stuff strained Davenport cops during rallies, candidate rallies. That's "The Quad-City Times."

Bettendorf, Iowa, is one of the Quad cities. Moline, Illinois. Davenport. It's that fourth one that drives me nuts.

Let's see. I'm sure there was a reason I picked this paper. Oh, yes, it was down here. "President Has Iowa's Ear." This is "The San Antonio Express News." Get it? He's eating corn. I don't think you can run for president and be on the Atkins diet.

How much time? Oh, my goodness.

"Detroit News." On the front page, "More Young Men Now Take Viagra." That's on the front page. But you know what? The prove of this came from "The International Journal of Impotence Research." There's a magazine for everything. It's like a Web site.

Oh, we're running out of time. That's too bad.

Let's just go to the Chicago paper, then. Why not? Where is it? Oh, I've never had -- there it is. I told you it was great day. Here we go. "Republicans Offer Job to Keyes, But Will He Accept It?" They did a quick turnaround to get that on the first page of the paper, I've got to tell you. "Fed to Airlines: Fix O'Hare or We Will." FAA ready to cut flights because of all the delays. The weather in Chicago tomorrow is "harmonious."

And we'll wrap it up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The answer the question is Rock Island, right? That's what I said, Rock Island, Illinois.

Bill Hemmer with a look at tomorrow's "AMERICAN MORNING." (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Aaron, thanks.

Tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING," digging out from under a mountain of debt, it is probably the most important thing any person or couple or family can do for a better financial future. But most people don't even know where to start. Our personal financial coach, David Bach, back again, showing us what steps to take to get out of debt forever. He has some answers. we'll have it for you at 7:00 Eastern time tomorrow morning. Hope to see you then -- Aaron.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Thank you.

And, finally from us tonight, you press the button and we do the rest. George Eastman said it. But he said nothing about when. A good photographer chooses the right moment. A great one chooses the best. This leaves Henri Cartier-Bresson, whose death was announced today, somewhere between the best and something else entirely.

How do you describe a moment frozen in time that also suggests every moment yet to come? You can't. It's like dancing about poetry. The languages don't match. So, instead, just look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER FETTERMAN, PETER FETTERMAN GALLERY: Cartier-Bresson was probably one of the most important photographers that ever lived.

If you look through the body of his work, the number of truly special, inspirational -- quote -- "genius" images exceeds anybody else in the history of photography.

Henri was always swift on his feet. And the Leica was made for him. That was his instrument of choice. And when he walked around, he looked like an anonymous bank clerk. He always seemed to have a rain coat on. And underneath his rain coat, he kept this little camera that he would whisk out as and when he saw his decisive moment coming.

HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON, PHOTOGRAPHER: The difference between a good picture and mediocre picture, it's a question of millimeters, small, small difference, but it's essential.

FETTERMAN: It's the ability to previsualize an event before it actually happens. Cartier-Bresson had a restless personality and an intellectual pursuit of events and knowledge. And he actually went to places that photographers hadn't been to before and captured the essence of where he was traveling.

CARTIER-BRESSON: If I go to a place, it's try and have a picture which concretizes a situation, which at once glance has everything, and which has the strong relations of shapes, which for me is essential. For me, it's a visual pleasure. FETTERMAN: He did an amazing body of work in Russia in the '50s.

Cartier-Bresson was the first photographer from the West who was allowed to actually photograph in the Bolshoi Ballet. "Srinagar" is one of the most powerful I think of all his images, just the landscape, the back of the frame here, the people praying and this wonderful woman's gesture of looking up at one of the other praying women.

I would define him as probably the greatest creator of images in the history of photography. It's an innate gift that so few people are ever given. And he had it for this medium. He is the medium of photography.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And he was 95 when he died.

We'll see you tomorrow.

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 August 4, 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.
I was talking briefly yesterday to a man who knows government well, who knows the intelligence community well and who knows the issue of terror very well. And, while I wouldn't normally add this, it does seem to help here to tell you he's a Democrat and not a conservative Democrat at that.

We were talking about the latest terror warning and at one point he said, "So, are you asking me if I think they are telling the truth with this latest alert?" "Yes," I said "that's exactly what I'm asking." And here is what he said. "They can't get away with lying even if they wanted to. The intelligence community wouldn't let them."

What he meant is this. If the intel side thought the politicians were simply issuing alerts to win elections they would rebel. They would leak. They would tell the world. They haven't. To this source that was worth noting and to me it was something worth passing along.

The whip tonight begins in Washington, terror on the agenda again, so is CNN's Kelli Arena, Kelli start us with a headline.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Aaron.

CNN has learned that there is new evidence suggesting al Qaeda operatives are here in the United States thanks to intelligence recently gathered in Pakistan.

BROWN: Kelli, thank you.

And to Islamabad with the developments there CNN's Ash-Har Quraishi on the videophone, so a headline from you tonight.

ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN ISLAMABAD BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, Pakistani intelligence officials say they have evidence of recent communication between suspected al Qaeda operatives here in Pakistan with those operatives in the United Kingdom and the United States.

BROWN: We'll pull those pieces together. Thank you.

Finally to Baghdad and a number of stories there tonight, not the least of which is playing out in the marketplace of ideas, CNN's Matthew Chance working that, so Matt a headline. MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron thanks. And behind the bullets and the bombs that we so often report here in Iraq another battle is being fought for the belief and the loyalties of the Iraqi people. We'll take a look at how the both the interim Iraqi government and the insurgent groups operating here are waging a propaganda war.

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

Also, coming up on the program tonight a conversation with Tom Ridge about this latest terror alert and politics and cynicism as well.

Also, new warriors in the war on terror doormen in New York apartment buildings keeping an eye out for the bad guys.

And even the doormen pause when they hear the rooster. They know, as do you, it is time for your morning papers, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight with the strongest evidence yet suggesting that al Qaeda is alive and operating in the United States. It goes a long way toward explaining why the latest terror alert was issued and why now and why such a palpable sense of urgency in just about everyone we talk to. We have two reports tonight from Pakistan and Washington, Washington first.

Here's CNN's Kelli Arena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA (voice-over): Two senior U.S. government sources tell CNN one reason for increased concern about a possible terror attack is evidence showing suspected al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan contacted an individual or individuals in the United States in the past few months.

The U.S. officials would not characterize that communication but two senior Pakistani intelligence officials went further telling CNN the evidence shows alleged al Qaeda computer expert Muhammad Naeem Moor Khan contacted at least six al Qaeda operatives in the United States.

TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We are exploring every conceivable potential contact that any al Qaeda operative anywhere in the world might have had with anyone in the United States.

ARENA: Sources say Khan also contacted alleged al Qaeda members in Britain leading to several arrests. The information lends credibility to the concern al Qaeda may have operatives in place in the United States ready to attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Certainly when you have actionable information with adversaries who are capable and intent on taking direct military loss of life action you can't have anything of greater consequence and more importance than this.

ARENA: Information about contacts between al Qaeda and someone in the U.S. follows criticism the Bush administration was touting old surveillance information found in Pakistan about al Qaeda targeting financial institutions.

But officials now say there was a separate stream of intelligence that surfaced last week corroborating the surveillance information.

RIDGE: Old information isn't irrelevant information, particularly with this kind of enemy. This is an enemy that plotted for years before 9/11.

ARENA: Investigators continue to scrub that intelligence from Pakistan. U.S. sources say it has provided leads for investigators working to uncover possible terror cells.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA: But still officials cite nothing definitive on the timing of an attack and they say there isn't any proof showing al Qaeda is ready to execute one -- Aaron.

BROWN: Kelli, thank you. You have a full day of reporting.

We'll turn this now towards Pakistan where a lot of this information is coming from. CNN's Ash-Har Quraishi has been working his sources in that country and joins us again by videophone from Islamabad. It has seemed to us here that events have moved actually quite quickly over a matter of days really.

QURAISHI: That's right, Aaron, but this has really been something that they've been looking into for the last few weeks and even the last few months. Now, some of these breaks have come in arrests that have come in the form of lower level suspected al Qaeda operatives in various cities, most of them coming from central Punjab.

But intelligence officials here in Pakistan are confirming to CNN that they have information from the interrogations, from the evidence, the computer disks and the computers and the documents that they have taken into possession that indicate that this man, Muhammad Naeem Moor Khan had been in what they called "recent communication with at least one high level al Qaeda operative in the United Kingdom."

They say it's that information that led to the arrest of more than a dozen suspected al Qaeda operatives there in the U.K. over the last few days. They also say that he had been in contact with what they called six al Qaeda operatives in the United States.

Now right now they're trying to find out what the nature of that communication was. Now, Khan, as we have been reporting has been called the computer expert. His role in this was to code messages from al Qaeda and get them out to operatives.

So, right now they say that while they know that he had recent contact with operatives outside of Pakistan the key is trying to find out what that communication was and whether or not it had anything to do with any type of imminent plot to attack the United States or the United Kingdom -- Aaron.

BROWN: What about the other side of the conversation? Do we know who in the al Qaeda hierarchy Khan was talking to, to pass these messages along?

QURAISHI: Well that is another question but, as we're learning from the evidence that's been gathered over the last few weeks that this has been a very long chain of messages, the source basically sending these messages by hand, by courier, that courier then passing it on to another courier and that continuing until it got to Khan. Khan would then code those messages and at some point transmit them.

It's unclear exactly how but it's assumed at this point by some officials that we've spoken to that he was transmitting them through the Internet, which is why he was based in some of the bigger cities but some of these messages may have come from other, more remote locations. Now who this source is they're trying to trace back. Of course at this point, Aaron, they just don't know.

BROWN: Ash-Har, thank you, Ash-Har Quraishi who is in Islamabad for us where it is morning.

We heard a bit from Secretary Ridge earlier in Kelli Arena's report. We spoke with him at length late this afternoon. We'll have that in its entirety coming up but here is a sample. We asked if he agreed that al Qaeda or al Qaeda affiliated cells are in fact at work in the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIDGE: We cannot afford to guess as to whether or not they're here or how many are here or when they might choose to attack. We operate, as you said, the working hypothesis is that those who would attack are here and they may use various forms of action but that's the way we operate within Homeland Security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Again, we'll have more from Secretary Ridge a little bit later in the program tonight.

First Iraq, which has faded from view, even if the story ought not to, the other night mortar shells rocked our camera position in Baghdad and our correspondent barely budged. Other reporters describe a kind of violence fatigue that is setting in so many car bombings and assassinations and kidnappings.

Fifty-six American soldiers died last month, 14 more than died the month before, the month of the handover in June. Seven more have died in the last four days. The number of Iraqi deaths, bad actors and innocents, is much higher and that fact makes the most important battle even that much tougher to win.

Here's CNN's Matthew Chance. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE (voice-over): The soundtrack of a nation in chaos. Behind the violence in Iraq, a propaganda war is being fought and these resistance songs, as they're called, set to images of the insurgency, of the ammunition.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Some of the CDs show tanks being hit or pictures of dead Americans. The songs in the background they make people hate the Americans. Many young men join the resistance when they see and hear them.

CHANCE: In stores the chants and ballads outsell Iraqi love songs, the violent lyrics not minority views but mainstream opinion openly discussed in this Baghdad coffee shop.

"In my opinion, every person with honor should resist this occupation," says Mehdi Sarhan. His friend, Mohammed, complains that the occupation has not really ended. Nothing good has come of it, he says, despite the promises.

On Baghdad streets there are billboards promoting the government but, for many, the country's new leaders have much to prove. But now the government does have a tune of its own, the musical theme for a government series of slick TV commercials, this one about reconstruction.

There's a soccer match featured too. The kids' names are Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni, all Iraqis on the same team, a vision for the country the government says it can deliver even if it's taking time for some to realize it.

MOWAFFAK AL-RUBAIE, INTERIM IRAQI NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We were blindfolded for 35 years. You came and suddenly removed that blindfold and now we don't know where the direction, we're confused. We can't see properly. We can't visualize things properly.

CHANCE: And in the chaos of the new Iraq all sides are now competing to get their message seen and heard and sung.

(on camera): If the popularity of these resistance songs is anything to go by then it seems right now the insurgents may have the upper hand and the challenge for the new Iraqi interim government is to get the people who are listening to this music to literally change their tune.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Matthew Chance in Baghdad.

Ahead on the program tonight, the criminal rape case against Kobe Bryant suddenly it seems in a whole lot of trouble and the finger pointing is underway.

Plus, two candidates in one city at the same time, they might as well have been on different planets. From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In the year and two weeks since basketball star Kobe Bryant was charged with rape, the case has taken many twists and turns in court and out. Today brought another, the lawyer for Mr. Bryant's accuser saying that his client may withdraw from the criminal case, filing a civil suit instead.

CNN's Gary Tuchman working the story for us tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Prosecutors say the Kobe Bryant criminal trial is still on track but they're being contradicted by the accuser's personal attorneys who say there may be a detour on that track.

CNN has been told the criminal trial might not occur. One of the personal attorneys of the alleged victim tells CNN it is up in the air whether she will go ahead with the criminal caser against the basketball star, saying she has "lost faith in the court system." The attorney says a civil suit against Bryant is now an active possibility.

John Clune's comments come after reporters gained access to what were secret transcripts in the case describing aspects of the woman's sexual history. On three occasions the court has made errors resulting in confidential information about the woman being made public.

CRAIG SILVERMAN, COLORADO TRIAL ATTORNEY: It's a little unfortunate that they're going to blame the judge and the court for the problems of this case. The judge indeed names the stakes but the judge did not make up the facts which are so damning to the prosecution in this matter.

TUCHMAN: The district attorney could pursue the case even if the woman did not want it to happen but practically it would be very difficult. A spokeswoman for the district attorney does say: "We have no indications that this trial will not proceed forward after conversations with Mr. Clune and the victim."

Clune does say that it's inappropriate to say she is definitely out but adds a decision has to be made within days with the trial scheduled to start in just over three weeks.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Jeffrey Toobin is here with us tonight to talk more about the issues raised, the fairness or unfairness of it all. Gary in his report talked about the damning evidence that came out. This was the evidence in the transcript having to do with her sexual history in the period right after the rape.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes.

BROWN: Or the sexual encounter.

TOOBIN: Right. It's a little unfair to talk about it as sexual history. What this really is, is evidence that explains her injuries, evidence that could explain her physical condition.

You know the judge did not say it was open season on her whole life. All he did was he said Kobe Bryant can look for alternative explanations in her life for the physical evidence in the case and that to me is only basic fairness.

BROWN: Just on that point did he or did he not also accept as an argument the defense contention that having sex eleven hours or 18 hours after you allege you had been raped is behavior that a jury at least ought to be aware of?

TOOBIN: You know not really. What he did was he said any sexual activity 72 hours before she was examined.

BROWN: Right.

TOOBIN: To explain the evidence. That includes that immediate afterwards. Those of us who live in the real world recognize that if the defense can show that this woman had sex eleven hours after an alleged rape, no one's going to believe it very much but his ruling...

BROWN: No one's going to believe that she was raped.

TOOBIN: That she was raped, right.

BROWN: Because?

TOOBIN: Because it just seems inconsistent with our commonsense understanding. It's not impossible.

BROWN: And, in fact, it actually tells us nothing about whether she was raped or not.

TOOBIN: It doesn't. It doesn't tell us -- well I wouldn't say it tells us nothing. I would say it is not directly related but I think in the commonsense understanding rape is understood to be an extremely traumatizing experience. Eleven hours later having sex with someone else seems inconsistent.

BROWN: Ever heard of anything like this before by the way?

TOOBIN: No, not like this. I've never seen a case collapse in this way and I've never seen, you know, so many confluence of circumstances, some of which are just random chance like the mistaken release of these names.

BROWN: Right. TOOBIN: But also I mean, you know, this is a tremendous tribute to Kobe Bryant's defense lawyers, you know, who had the resources to hire a DNA expert who really could -- who really could have turned the whole case around.

BROWN: One of the things that people say, I think, in moments like this is well he had a lot of money and he was able to hire really good lawyers, as if somehow that is unfair.

TOOBIN: Right. I mean what this case reminds me of, of how many poor souls are locked up who didn't have this kind of -- these kind of resources who couldn't get the analysis of the evidence that Kobe Bryant is getting. I don't draw the conclusion that Kobe Bryant shouldn't have those resources.

BROWN: Right.

TOOBIN: I draw the conclusion that other people should as well. But, you know, it is true that his money has made a tremendous difference in this case.

BROWN: They talked, the lawyers today talked about the filing of a civil suit, if they were to withdraw from the criminal case, two questions there. One is, I think we know from our O.J. experience actually the answer to the first part. Does an adverse decision in a criminal case necessarily lead to an adverse decision in a civil case?

TOOBIN: No, but the advantage of going for a civil case is that, you know, the proof beyond a reasonable doubt standard is gone. That's the criminal standard. She would only have to prove her injury by a preponderance of the evidence, which is easier to do.

BROWN: But the problem doesn't change in a way. If the problem here is that there are credible experts who are willing to say the DNA of Mr. X could only have gotten on her body after the rape or the allegation of rape, whether it's a civil case or criminal case, that question that you raised, the inconsistent behavior doesn't go away.

TOOBIN: No, and potentially false statements about that don't go away.

BROWN: Which is another thing we haven't talked about.

TOOBIN: Right.

BROWN: She's denied.

TOOBIN: She's denied that, so the DNA evidence is potentially doubly damaging to her but she doesn't -- the civil case has all the same problems, including disclosure of her identity and her sexual history. All those issues would come up in a civil case as well.

BROWN: Last question. Is this over?

TOOBIN: It's hard for me to think of a way this case can be revived. I think it's awfully close to being over. I don't understand why these lawyers would go forward saying it's almost over unless they were getting ready to pull the plug next week.

BROWN: Good to see you.

TOOBIN: Good to see you.

BROWN: Thanks for coming in.

TOOBIN: My pleasure.

BROWN: Jeffrey Toobin.

Coming up on NEWSNIGHT tonight we'll talk terrorism and homeland security with the man in charge of it. Secretary Tom Ridge joins us.

And later, in true NEWSNIGHT fashion, we bid farewell to one of the great photographers the world has ever known, a break first.

Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Outside of the presidency I can't imagine a harder job in government these days, a more stressful job than the one Tom Ridge has. Homeland security is a responsibility. It is a big and largely open homeland. It is difficult to protect. That is just the fact of it.

In the wake of this week's terror warning and the controversy surrounding it, we talked with the secretary late this afternoon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Mr. Secretary, is it the working hypothesis in the department and in the government that there are, in fact, either cells or individuals working in the United States associated with, affiliated with al Qaeda?

RIDGE: I think that's a fair statement, Aaron. We cannot afford to guess as to whether or not they're here or how many are here or when they might choose to attack. We operate, as you said, the working hypothesis is that those who would attack are here. They may use various forms of action but that's the way we operate within Homeland Security. That's the aggressive nature of the domestic counterterrorism effort of the FBI as well.

BROWN: Going back over the last couple of days, I know that some of this, because we've talked about, can get incredibly frustrating to you and that when to issue these alerts is not really a science. It's an art. You evaluate the evidence that you have.

As you look at it now would it have been helpful in getting people to understand what was going on to have explained the history of the surveillance that you talked about on Sunday so that it was all out there on Sunday and it didn't kind of bleed out over a couple of days? RIDGE: Well, first of all, just the fact that the casings occurred three or perhaps even four years ago in any context I don't think means that they're irrelevant. If you understand the nature of the enemy, this is a -- these terrorists are plotters.

They're planners and they're patient and, if you take a look at the planning that went into the 9/11 attack, the planning that went into the embassy attacks overseas and some of the other planning, their doctrine says, "We survey. We recon. We're patient."

And so the fact that it is old information is, as one of the executives of one of the companies said, is of little comfort to those of us who work in these buildings.

But it was updated as early as January of '04. It is consistent with the reporting stream that talks about undermining the democratic process. It is also not taken out of context because there are other pieces of information, even around that, that required the Sunday announcement.

And, if I recall correctly, when folks from the intelligence community briefed the people at the Sunday's briefing after I spoke, they alluded to the fact that some of the information was from 2000, 2001 but it's really immaterial. It's really irrelevant. It is relevant to have actionable information and that's what we have.

BROWN: I think that part of the problem for all of us on either end of these sorts of things is that we live in a highly political time, in may respects perhaps a cynical time. How frustrating is it to you when this stuff is dismissed, as it sometimes is, as pure politics?

RIDGE: I regret that there's an inference that this kind of public revelation of information that it took a lot of courageous people in the military to get and hundreds of analysts to analyze and literally welcomed information by the law enforcement community and by those responsible for protection of the employees and everyone else is viewed as political.

It clearly was not and it never will be. You're right. It's a judgment call when you go public but it was absolutely the right call to make and regardless of what has been said since I made the announcement, knowing that they would say it, I'd go out and make the announcement again on Sunday.

BROWN: Let's get back to the information, how we absorb it and deal with it in a city like New York or in Washington. Given the fact that we have this specific casing or surveillance of these buildings and yet we don't have specific ideas of a plan, at least not that I know of, how do these alerts ever end? How do you make a decision to say, OK, we can stand down a notch?

RIDGE: In the context of the most recent threat, we not only would review it in terms of the intelligence we gather about these casings and about these locations, but, also, we begin to review it after we go out to these individual sites to see what additional security measures they have taken, in light of the new information that they have been given.

And, again, it will be an assessment and a judgment call at that time.

BROWN: This is my final question. I try never to ask you to predict the future, but I'm going to a little bit here.

Do you expect, sir, that, between now and Election Day, at the very least, we're going to go through a series of days and weeks like the ones that we're in now?

RIDGE: Aaron, I cannot predict that, but I can predict , if we had the kind of information -- and, again, this was a quick turnaround. We picked up this information on Thursday and learned a lot more about it Friday and Saturday, and divulged it to America on Sunday.

If we receive that kind of information again, along with other bits and pieces of information, intelligence we have, that would lead to a consensus within the Homeland Security Council -- and that's a lot of principals in the Cabinet that I have to go out and explain it to America -- we would do it again. But we can't predict. It will be driven by information and intelligence solely.

BROWN: Mr. Secretary, we appreciate, as you know, the work that you do and the pressures that you're under and the time that you've given us. Thank you, as always.

RIDGE: Good talking with you, Aaron. Thank you very much.

BROWN: Thank you, sir.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, we talked to him late this afternoon.

Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, breaking news out of Illinois. Republicans have now found someone to run for the U.S. Senate. It's taken them a while. We'll go live to Chicago.

And three blocks and a world apart, as presidential candidates both land in Davenport, Iowa, today. CNN's Candy Crowley will report from there.

And all the front pages that are frint -- fit to print, or frint to pint, one or the other. Morning papers before we're done.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, Hunter Thompson once said that when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. Dr. Thompson, welcome to Illinois. Just stay away from the U.S. Senate race.

After the first Republican candidate dropped out in a sex scandal, the party has been casting about for someone, almost anyone, to run against Barack Obama. Today, tonight, they settled on Alan Keyes, whose own Web site had this to say about him. "Alan Keyes," it reads, "is capable of leading our country once all of America has a chance to see and hear firsthand his self-evident brilliance."

If your own Web site doesn't love you, who does?

From Chicago tonight, CNN's Keith Oppenheim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWD: Keyes for Senate! Keyes for Senate!

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Alan Keyes entered a race in a state where he does not live.

ALAN KEYES, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I do not take it for granted that it's a good idea to parachute into a state and go into a Senate race.

OPPENHEIM: But parachute he has. The former presidential candidate from Maryland landed in the hands of the Illinois Republican Party, which some say desperately needs help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now they're just trying to hang on, knowing they can't win and to look as decent as they can in the course of what's becoming an absurd situation.

OPPENHEIM: A quick history. In June, Republican challenger Jack Ryan dropped out of the race after allegations raised during his divorce case that he took his wife to sex clubs. But, even before that, the Democrats' rising star, Barack Obama, was far ahead in the polls.

BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child.

OPPENHEIM: And while Obama wowed crowds, including delegates, at the Democratic National Convention, the Republicans spent six weeks looking for a replacement.

MIKE DITKA, FORMER NFL COACH: It's something I can't do at this time, really.

OPPENHEIM: Former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka was among several who said no a race that looked tough to win.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an unprecedented situation.

OPPENHEIM: So, this week, 14 candidates vied to be chosen by a Republican state committee, which narrowed the field to two African- Americans. Keyes got picked.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for doing this.

OPPENHEIM: Keyes is known for his conservative views against abortion and gay marriage, a sharp contrast to Obama. He could be a tough sell in a state known for electing liberals and moderates from both parties.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OPPENHEIM: So, once again, Alan Keyes still hasn't accepted the offer to run. He says he is going to take a couple days to think about it and he will make an official announcement on Sunday, Aaron. So, ultimately, that means that the drama over who is actually in this Senate race isn't quite yet over -- back to you.

BROWN: Let me see if I get this now. He comes to Chicago, he throws his hat in the ring, they pick him, and he says, I'm not sure?

OPPENHEIM: Well, when he arrived today, Aaron, he said, I'm just going to consult with them.

He never made it sound like he was officially in. And he's apparently true his word that he isn't really sure whether he wants to do this. And we have to point out there have been many before him who thought about it and said no. So we won't know apparently until Sunday, if his schedule is accurate, whether or not he's officially in or whether they are going to pick the alternative candidate they had, Andrea Grubb Barthwell, or whether they will go to somebody else.

BROWN: And the Obama side is saying what tonight? Anything?

OPPENHEIM: Barack Obama did just respond to this news, because it's developed just in the last half-hour. And he says that he very much welcomes Mr. Keyes to the race and hopes that they are going to have a spirited exchange during the next 90 days. But, again, he's presuming in saying that that Alan Keyes will run. And he doesn't know yet for sure either.

BROWN: Keith, thank you very much. This thing gets stranger and stranger. But they always say they expect a spirited exchange. So we appreciate that they said that again tonight.

Thank you.

There were two big stories in Davenport Iowa, today. Three banks were robbed. That's one of the big stories. The other is that both presidential campaigns rolled through. We'll see if the robberies make the front page of the morning papers.

The campaign stuff tonight, we will leave to CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWD: Four more years!

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A summer slam in middle America. On one block, President George W. Bush

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a little difference of opinion about the heart and soul. Some of them think you can find it in Hollywood.

CROWD: No!

BUSH: I think you would find it right here in Davenport, Iowa.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CROWLEY: On another block:

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, what do you think about the president being down the street?

CROWLEY: Senator John F. Kerry, whose political career was rescued here.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I always think when I come to Iowa -- because of Iowa's importance to me in this election and the great listening that all of you gave me, I think of Joe Jackson coming out of that corn and saying, is this heaven? And Ray Kinsella says, no, it's Iowa. But it's one and the same to me.

CROWLEY: The day offered a look into the petri dish of 2004's experiment in democracy. Iowa's jobless rate is higher now than in 2000.

KERRY: The debt of our country is growing. We have deficits as far out as we can see. We just announced the largest deficit in history. We have lost in the last four years 1.8 million private sector jobs in America, 25,000 of them right here in Iowa.

CROWLEY: But statewide, there are signs things are getting better. The jobless rate has begun to fall.

BUSH: Because we acted, our economy since last summer has grown at a rate as fast as any in nearly 20 years. Because we acted, America has added more than 1.5 million new jobs since last August.

CROWLEY: The Davenport area is home to the 106th Aviation National Guard. Four units have been sent to Iraq.

BUSH: Because the dictator sits in a prison cell, the people of Iraq are better off. America and the world are safer.

CROWLEY: One of the units came home recently without two of its own. They were killed in a chopper crash. Others remain on extended stay in Iraq.

KERRY: I will do the diplomacy necessary, and I have heavy cards to play. I'm not going to lay them all out on the table. No future president or no president should ever negotiate this in public. But let me tell you, I have got big cards to play.

CROWLEY: The closest they came to one another was the slow roll the Kerry buscapade took past the Bush campaign event sight. By afternoon, they were both gone, two candidates, one town, different planets. Candy Crowley, CNN, Davenport, Iowa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Still ahead on the program tonight, introducing the new protectors in the war on terror, New York City doormen. And we aren't kidding. And a little bit later, Henri Cartier-Bresson through his own pictures, his life.

This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: One of the amenities New Yorkers, and others, we presume, look for in an apartment is a doorman, who, in truth, if he's any good at all, does more than open the door. He takes in packages. He brings up the dry cleaning. And these days in New York, he keeps an eye out for al Qaeda.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The most likely nuclear weapon is the dirty bomb.

BROWN (voice-over): They are, you might think, unlikely recruits in the war on terror.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are the eyes and the ears of your building, of your community. You are the eyes and the ears for law enforcement, period.

BROWN: New York City doormen. And in the new normal, they're learning to stand guard in a very different way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The community makes up the city. Your white-collar worker, your blue-collar worker, whatever it is, we all make up the city. So it's important that we all play a role in preventing terrorism.

LINDA NELSON, DIRECTOR, THOMAS SHORTMAN TRAINING FUND: The idea behind it is really to increase the eyes and ears of emergency services.

BROWN: Increase those eyes and ears in New York by 28,000 over the next year. The Building Workers Union, along with the New York Police Department, plans to hold training classes for almost every residential building employee in the city. This group squeezed into the playroom of a Manhattan apartment building to learn how they can help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Find out if there's been any terrorist activities in your area.

BROWN: They're asked to be more alert, to report anything out of the ordinary, suspicious vehicles, suspicious people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's almost like instinct. You know the people who are supposed to be around you.

BROWN: They also talk about what to do if their building becomes a target, what to ask the caller with a bomb threat, how to shut down the air ducts in case of a chemical attack.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kill switch, kill switch, kill switch.

BROWN: It isn't exactly what they signed on for.

PETER SANTIAGO, MANHATTAN DOORMAN: The training we have had is, open the door, be polite, the basic little things, not to be aware of your surroundings on the outside.

BROWN: Authorities say that by the nature of their jobs, the doorman are rich security resources. Peter Santiago has been a doorman for 23 years.

SANTIAGO: Doormen usually know a lot. We see things before anybody else does. And we use that as a tool to defend and protect our tenants.

BROWN: Santiago'S building has already made some changes, no photographs allowed, no loitering and no unexpected packages will be accepted.

SANTIAGO: Just today, we turned a package away because the tenant didn't inform us it was coming.

BROWN: So they see everything these days with a different eye.

SANTIAGO: Please move the truck back.

BROWN: An eye that says trucks or vans could be weapons.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't have to be a police officer. You don't have to be a FBI agent. You don't have to be the CIA or the Secret Service. You have to start with the citizen and work your way up, because we learn from each other. And if we don't learn from each other, this is not going to be a success.

BROWN: If this program is a success, it could expand to other cities, adding hundreds of thousands of additional eyes and ears across the country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: OK, time to check the morning papers from around the country and around the world, lots of good ones today. If you've been patiently waiting for a day when he have lots of good ones, this would be the day. "International Herald Tribune," published by "The New York Times." We've been talking about this for a while. It's gotten pretty nasty in Iraq. "Fierce Fights Erupt in North Iraq City." That part is a bit unusual. "Mosul Imposes Curfew as Clashes Stoke Fears of an All-Out Insurgency." The north had been, relatively speaking, calm. It's not exactly Davenport, Iowa, but it's been better.

"The Christian Science Monitor," a bunch of good stories on the front page, but this is the one that caught my eye. "Task for Olympics: How Not to be Ugly Americans in the Athens Games." I gather they are going through some, like, sensitivity training or something. Some of the staff here went through sensitivity training today. I honestly didn't notice the difference.

"The Quad-City Times." Can you name the quad cities and do you know how many there are? That's a trick question, isn't it, there? OK. "Worlds, Blocks Apart." The candidates were in town. "President Rolls Up Sleeve" -- "Sleeves" -- both of them -- "Campaign Is About Results. Kerry To Business Leaders: We Can Do a Better Job." And "Robbers Hit Three Banks." It did make the front page. "One Suspect Caught, Two Others At Large." This stuff strained Davenport cops during rallies, candidate rallies. That's "The Quad-City Times."

Bettendorf, Iowa, is one of the Quad cities. Moline, Illinois. Davenport. It's that fourth one that drives me nuts.

Let's see. I'm sure there was a reason I picked this paper. Oh, yes, it was down here. "President Has Iowa's Ear." This is "The San Antonio Express News." Get it? He's eating corn. I don't think you can run for president and be on the Atkins diet.

How much time? Oh, my goodness.

"Detroit News." On the front page, "More Young Men Now Take Viagra." That's on the front page. But you know what? The prove of this came from "The International Journal of Impotence Research." There's a magazine for everything. It's like a Web site.

Oh, we're running out of time. That's too bad.

Let's just go to the Chicago paper, then. Why not? Where is it? Oh, I've never had -- there it is. I told you it was great day. Here we go. "Republicans Offer Job to Keyes, But Will He Accept It?" They did a quick turnaround to get that on the first page of the paper, I've got to tell you. "Fed to Airlines: Fix O'Hare or We Will." FAA ready to cut flights because of all the delays. The weather in Chicago tomorrow is "harmonious."

And we'll wrap it up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The answer the question is Rock Island, right? That's what I said, Rock Island, Illinois.

Bill Hemmer with a look at tomorrow's "AMERICAN MORNING." (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Aaron, thanks.

Tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING," digging out from under a mountain of debt, it is probably the most important thing any person or couple or family can do for a better financial future. But most people don't even know where to start. Our personal financial coach, David Bach, back again, showing us what steps to take to get out of debt forever. He has some answers. we'll have it for you at 7:00 Eastern time tomorrow morning. Hope to see you then -- Aaron.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Thank you.

And, finally from us tonight, you press the button and we do the rest. George Eastman said it. But he said nothing about when. A good photographer chooses the right moment. A great one chooses the best. This leaves Henri Cartier-Bresson, whose death was announced today, somewhere between the best and something else entirely.

How do you describe a moment frozen in time that also suggests every moment yet to come? You can't. It's like dancing about poetry. The languages don't match. So, instead, just look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER FETTERMAN, PETER FETTERMAN GALLERY: Cartier-Bresson was probably one of the most important photographers that ever lived.

If you look through the body of his work, the number of truly special, inspirational -- quote -- "genius" images exceeds anybody else in the history of photography.

Henri was always swift on his feet. And the Leica was made for him. That was his instrument of choice. And when he walked around, he looked like an anonymous bank clerk. He always seemed to have a rain coat on. And underneath his rain coat, he kept this little camera that he would whisk out as and when he saw his decisive moment coming.

HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON, PHOTOGRAPHER: The difference between a good picture and mediocre picture, it's a question of millimeters, small, small difference, but it's essential.

FETTERMAN: It's the ability to previsualize an event before it actually happens. Cartier-Bresson had a restless personality and an intellectual pursuit of events and knowledge. And he actually went to places that photographers hadn't been to before and captured the essence of where he was traveling.

CARTIER-BRESSON: If I go to a place, it's try and have a picture which concretizes a situation, which at once glance has everything, and which has the strong relations of shapes, which for me is essential. For me, it's a visual pleasure. FETTERMAN: He did an amazing body of work in Russia in the '50s.

Cartier-Bresson was the first photographer from the West who was allowed to actually photograph in the Bolshoi Ballet. "Srinagar" is one of the most powerful I think of all his images, just the landscape, the back of the frame here, the people praying and this wonderful woman's gesture of looking up at one of the other praying women.

I would define him as probably the greatest creator of images in the history of photography. It's an innate gift that so few people are ever given. And he had it for this medium. He is the medium of photography.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And he was 95 when he died.

We'll see you tomorrow.

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