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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Number of U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq Reaches 1,000; Senators McCain and Lieberman Propose Legislation Addressing 9/11 Commission Recommendations

Aired September 07, 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.
This is a tough transition isn't it tonight? Much of the program tonight revolves around a single number, one number. The number is 1,000. Today the number of American deaths in Iraq passed 1,000, more than 20 in just the last week.

In the scheme of things, 1,000 isn't a very big number I guess but I am again reminded of something I was told after the 3,000 deaths of 9/11. Don't think of 3,000, a wise man said, think of one death 3,000 times.

Today, I think of one death 1,000 times and the impact is far more clear. Think of 1,000 sets of grieving parents. Think of 1,000 spouses left widowed. Think of 1,000 children, more no doubt, left without a mom or a dad.

Each one of the 1,000 is a separate story, a separate life cut too short. We ask a lot of questions around here and answer a few from time to time but here is one we can't answer. Are these deaths worth it? That is an answer you must find. It must come from your world view and your politics and not ours.

We can answer this one though. Today we reached a sad milestone, one death 1,000 times and it won't be the last sad milestone along the road we find ourselves walking down.

So, Iraq begins the whip, new plans, new battles, same problems, Jamie McIntyre has the watch at the Pentagon, so Jamie the headline from there.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, today at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said it was worth it. There is no free pass in the fight against terrorism, he said, and the deaths are the cost of being on the offensive and the U.S. has more offensive plans up its sleeve -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you, good to see you with us again.

On to Baghdad, not far from where a major battle was waged all day long, CNN's Diana Muriel has the duty tonight, so Diane a headline from you. DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that grim statistic was achieved in yet another night of violence here in Baghdad, one of the capital central police stations overrun by insurgents who freed all the prisoners and yet more clashes in the sprawling slum suburb that is Sadr City.

BROWN: Diana, thank you.

Moscow next. Harsh words from Russia's president and cruel pictures taken by terrorists, CNN's Jill Dougherty with the story, so Jill a headline.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, two days of official national mourning are over here in Russia and so are the demonstrations and rallies against terrorism but the horrible facts of this massacre in a school in the south of Russia seem endless.

BROWN: Jill, thank you.

And finally politics and what the election really boils down to, at least as Jeff Greenfield sees it at this moment, so Jeff a headline.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Aaron, the word is change. It tells us where we are. It tells us how we got there. Does it tell us where we're going, no, of course not -- Aaron.

BROWN: Thank you, Jeff. We'll get back to you and the rest in a little bit.

Also on the program tonight, acting on the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, Congress moves to a starting point but a house divided could prevent legislation from reaching its final destination.

Also with two hurricanes behind them and billions of dollars in damage, thousands of Floridians now have to deal with the burden of hurricane insurance and a third storm on the horizon.

And, from London to Los Angeles, not to mention the weather in Chicago, morning papers in two minutes, all of that at the end of the hour, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight in Iraq and at home. With the milestone reached today and what it signifies both there and here, a milestone by the way that was surpassed no sooner than it arrived, which says something about numbers and something yet again about war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): The great majority of U.S. military war dead, 86 percent, have been killed since May the 1st of 2003 when the president announced that the United States and its allies had prevailed in Iraq.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My fellow Americans major combat operations in Iraq have ended. BROWN: Another 146 American servicemen and women have died since June 29th when the U.S. officially turned over sovereignty to Iraq.

PAUL BREMER, CPA ADMINISTRATOR: The Iraqi Interim Government will assume and exercise full sovereign authority on behalf of the Iraqi people.

BROWN: Despite the handover, the mission is not over, not nearly. A hundred and thirty-seven thousand American troops are still in the country and have continued to fight and die, killed in firefights, in RPG and mortar attacks and by IEDs, the deadly improvised explosive devices that have killed at least 200 troops in Iraq and maimed hundreds more.

It took 10 months from the start of the war in March of 2003 until early January of this year to mark the first 500 U.S. military deaths. It has taken less time, eight months, to record the second 500.

This past spring and summer have been especially deadly as U.S. troops, mostly Marines, battled insurgents in Fallujah and Ramadi. April was the worst, 134 U.S. troops died, 64 in just the first ten days of the month.

In May, 81 were killed. In June, the number dropped to 43 but went up again in July, 53 died, 66 in August and just a week into September, one week, 23 have already died.

The number 1,000 military dead seems so high to Americans who remember the first Gulf War which claimed 382 American troops, 147 of them in combat. But the number is small in the context of America's entire war history, 58,000 lost in Vietnam, 36,000 lost in Korea, 400,000 lost in World War II.

Different wars fought in different conditions over different lengths of time, wars that ended, the dead totaled, a factor that does not yet apply to the war in Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Far from it. In Iraq, lights at the end of the tunnel have a way of receding into the distance killing the enemy while necessary hasn't been enough to carry the day, not yet.

Militias run entire cities. Saboteurs blow up pipelines. Kidnappers take hostages at will and all of it threatens elections coming up in January if, in fact, they happen at all, a distance light for now and a serious concern at the Pentagon.

Here's CNN's Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): The suicide bombing that claimed the lives of seven Marines Monday was part of a spike in U.S. casualties that has pushed the number of U.S. military dead in Iraq over 1,000 and the number of wounded close to 7,000.

But the Pentagon insists in almost every clash with the insurgents, such as Tuesday's fighting in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City, the U.S. is inflicting far heavier casualties on its enemies, killing as many as 2,500 insurgents in the last month alone.

GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: This is a pattern across Iraq, the more aggressive the tactics of the insurgency, the greater their loss of human life.

MCINTYRE: U.S. warplanes continue to pound Fallujah, the biggest of the enemy enclaves from which some U.S. commanders believe suspected terrorist leader Abu Musab Zarqawi may be directing elements of the insurgency.

Pentagon sources tell CNN that the joint U.S.-Iraqi plan is in the works to launch a series of offensives aimed at eliminating so- called no-go zones across Iraq, areas where the U.S. chooses not to patrol and the Iraqi government does not control.

But fearing that a heavy-handed U.S. offensive could make more enemies out of ordinary Iraqis, the strategy is to wait until the interim Iraqi government has enough forces to pacify what for now have become safe havens for insurgents.

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: For their country to succeed they simply cannot over a sustained period of time have areas that are under the control of people who are violently opposed to that government. They get it and they will find a way over time to deal with it.

MCINTYRE: But of the 200,000 Iraqi security forces, the Pentagon says only about 95,000 are trained and equipped and most are not battle tested.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: Pentagon sources say the plan is in the coming months for Iraqi forces, backed by U.S. troops, to move against first smaller areas where the insurgents have sway and then close in on Fallujah but U.S. commanders warn that with the elections set for January, time is running short for the U.S. to reestablish the rule of law in Iraq -- Aaron.

BROWN: Do they believe they have to have control of these places, Fallujah being a sort of catch word for a number of different places, before the elections in January?

MCINTYRE: I think the feeling of commanders on the ground is unless there are not large pockets of areas that are not under anyone's control they really can't have a legitimate election and that, of course, leaves two options. One is to take care of the problem before the elections. The other one is to delay the elections. That option is not one anybody really wants to see happen.

BROWN: And do they believe that Iraqi forces will be able to do the job prior to an election campaign?

MCINTYRE: Well, they express a lot of confidence on that. It certainly remains to be seen. It's also possible that the Iraqi government would again negotiate an end to some of these agreements. But in the cases where we've seen that, in Fallujah and in Najaf, those negotiated settlements have just allowed the fighters to go away and regroup and fight another day.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you very much, our Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre tonight, bigger picture from the Pentagon.

On now to the day in Iraq, which milestone or not was one of the roughest yet seen, again from Baghdad tonight CNN's Diana Muriel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MURIEL (voice-over): Taking on the Americans, militiamen armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles take up their positions. Hours of running battles with American forces in the sprawling northeastern Baghdad suburb of Sadr City have left dozens of Iraqi civilians dead and more than 200 wounded according to the Iraqi Ministry of Health, the Americans taking losses too.

Violence flared after peace talks between local community leaders and U.S. and Iraqi authorities stalled. Fresh from fighting American forces in a three-week battle in Najaf, many of these militiamen are members of the so-called Mehdi Army, loyal to renegade cleric Muqtada al-Sadr with their base in Sadr City.

But nowhere in Baghdad can be considered safe. Half an hour's drive from Sadr City this was the scene Tuesday morning after the city governor's convoy was attacked. First an explosion, then gunmen raked the vehicles with bullets according to eyewitnesses. The governor escaping unhurt but three of his bodyguards were injured.

Westerners too are targets. Gunmen in central Baghdad kidnapped two Italian female aid workers in broad daylight Tuesday. The two women, Simona Pari and Simona Torretta both age 29 are employed by Bridge to Baghdad, a UNICEF-linked project helping to rebuild schools.

Elsewhere on a highway west of Baghdad, a U.S. military truck was still burning Tuesday after coming under attack late the previous day. Monday had already claimed the lives of seven U.S. Marines nine miles north of Fallujah. The city itself has been a no-go zone for U.S. troops since April.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MURIEL: The already strained situation here in Iraq ratcheting up yet another notch then in the past few hours, insurgents not limiting their attacks to U.S. forces. Civilians, both Iraqi and westerners it seems, are the targets of their activities in ever increasing numbers -- Aaron.

BROWN: We're one week into September and there's already been 23 American deaths. Is that evidence of an increased effort by the insurgents or are they just, forgive the expression, luckier than they had been before? Are the number of attacks on Americans roughly the same?

MURIEL: Well, it's different in different parts of the country. Here in Sadr City there's certainly been a lull in that particular area of Baghdad ever since the end of the Najaf crisis.

A lot of the fighters are believed to be members of this Mehdi militia who came back from Najaf and have regrouped, many of them not handing in their weapons, as was required under the amnesty that was arranged by the Ayatollah al-Sistani in the peace talks that took place in Najaf.

They've kept their weapons. They've rested for a while and it seems that after the talks between the interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and representatives of the district of Sadr City stalled, they broke down, it seems that the violence has flared up in consequence of that.

Elsewhere, for example in Fallujah, Fallujah has been a very difficult area for the U.S. troops. They stopped all patrols in that city in April. They withdrew to the outskirts of it and they've been mounting long range attacks on what they claim are insurgent safe houses in that city.

That sparked a lot of violence from Fallujah in the outskirts and U.S. Marines, seven U.S. Marines, for example, were killed there on Monday. But it seems that there is now after a short lull another burst of energy from these insurgents -- Aaron.

BROWN: Diana, thank you, Diana Muriel is in Baghdad for us today and that is the scene from Iraq today where at this moment 1,002 Americans have died in the last year and a half. Almost all of the soldiers and Marines, of course, had loved ones back home. Most tried the best they could to stay in touch.

"Love has always gotten us through," writes a sergeant to his wife in Tennessee "and it will do so again," his final letter home. The sergeant was 54.

Tomorrow night on this program we'll try and put a human face on the numbers. This has been an enormous reporting effort on the part of NEWSNIGHT's Beth Nissen that and no small labor of love. So, tomorrow the people that make up the number.

On next to Russia, where the burials went on again in the town of Beslan, in Moscow marchers weighed in against terrorism, while at the Kremlin, Russia's president lashed out at the United States, all this while images of the atrocity that has turned a country inside out were being beamed around the world, reporting from Moscow tonight for us CNN's Jill Dougherty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGHERTY (voice-over): A videotape shot by the terrorists themselves shown on Russia's NTV. School children and their mothers huddled in gymnasium as masked men and a female terrorist brandishing a gun stand guard. Explosives strung on a basketball hoop. A terrorist with his foot on what appears to be a detonator, horrifying testament to what will soon become a massacre.

In Moscow Tuesday, a massive rally against terrorism organized by a pro-government trade union. The signs say it all. "Putin, we're with you. Hands off our kids" and "Bring the killers to justice."

"I never imagined people could do such a thing" this school principal says "exterminate children. It's terrifying. Something horrible is happening in our country."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They spit in our face and I'm here to say I won't permit you to demean me or my country.

DOUGHERTY: In the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin is angry too telling visiting foreign policy experts the west has a double standard on terrorism, demanding Russia negotiate with Chechen separatists who Mr. Putin considers terrorists.

"Why don't you meet with Osama bin Laden" he says, "invite him to Brussels or to the White House and engage in talks. Ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace. You find it possible to set some limits on your dealings with these bastards, so why should we talk with people who are child killers?"

One participant in that meeting tells CNN the Russian president was blunt.

EILEEN O'CONNOR, INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR JOURNALISTS: So, what he's basically saying to the United States is, look, don't play any more games. Don't call these people freedom fighters. Don't call them rebels. Call them terrorists just like you call bin Laden a terrorist.

DOUGHERTY: Mr. Putin also charges some U.S. officials are undermining Russia's war on terrorism by having contact with Chechen separatists.

RICHARD BOUCHER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: The United States has met with people from Chechnya who have differing points of view, including points of view that differ from the Russian government but we don't -- we don't meet with terrorists. We don't meet with people who are involved in violence or fomenting violence.

DOUGHERTY: Meanwhile in Beslan, Russia an unending series of funerals, children buried with their favorite toys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGHERTY: Don't look for any 9/11 Commission report here in Russia. President Putin says that the government will be holding an investigation but it will be an internal investigation and the results of it will not be made public. He says he doesn't want any political show -- Aaron. BROWN: And is there -- it's very difficult. So much of Russian media is state controlled or semi state controlled or under the influence of the state. Is it possible to tell if Russians are demanding more accountability than they're getting from their government?

DOUGHERTY: Yes, it definitely is because even though as -- you're right there is a lot of control, even the state-owned media, the state-run media have come out with some criticism and primarily about the information that came out. Remember there were, as they put it, lies told about how many people were actually being held hostage. It went from about 130 and then it was found out that it was actually 1,200.

Now whether this will go up the chain of command to President Putin is really the question but there is a lot of anger building and especially in that area around Beslan.

BROWN: Jill, thank you very much, Jill Dougherty in Moscow.

As Moscow deals with acts of violence in Russia, the United States tries to prevent future attacks at home.

Ahead on the program tonight, Congress moves on the advice of the 9/11 Commission just as the third anniversary of the attacks approaches.

And the war over words over the war in Iraq, the battle for the White House got a bit nasty today.

From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Congress returned from its summer recess today to a long list of unfinished business with just weeks to complete it before breaking again for the November campaign, at the top of the to-do list the 9/11 Commission's recommendations for improving U.S. intelligence agencies, reporting the story for us tonight CNN's Joe Johns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With time running out to act on the 9/11 Commission's recommendations before Congress breaks for the election, Republican Senator John McCain and Democrat Joe Lieberman, two key players on national defense and security issues, unveiled legislation that addresses all the commission's proposals.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: The recommendations of the 9/11 Commission have been embraced by virtually one and all, clearly with some reservations because it's not a perfect document but overall the overwhelming majority of Americans expect that we should act on this blueprint.

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: The commission's recommendations should be our starting point and I believe in many cases, probably most, they should be our ending point as well.

JOHNS: The bill would create a new National Intelligence Director and National Counterterrorism Center. It would strip power from the Pentagon over 80 percent of the nation's intelligence budget, improve information sharing throughout the intelligence community, set up a terrorism screening network at U.S. borders and ensure the protection of civil liberties. The bill won the endorsement of the 9/11 Commission co-chairs.

TOM KEAN, 9/11 COMMISSION CHAIR: This is a dream.

JOHNS: The proposal has bipartisan support but it also faces considerable resistance.

REP. ROY BLUNT (R), MISSOURI: The idea that we would just carte blanche accept everything the commission came up with I personally think would be a big mistake.

JOHNS: But a warning from the bill's backers that the political price for inaction could be severe.

SEN EVAN BAYH (D), INDIANA: For those who would seek to delay, for those who would seek to temporize, the burden will be very heavy.

JOHNS (on camera): The president is meeting Wednesday morning with top congressional leaders on how to proceed with the commission's recommendations. A senior Republican aide says Mr. Bush is expected to outline which proposals he wants Congress to pass and how quickly.

Joe Johns, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Senator Bob Graham, the Democrat from Florida, is serving his third and final term in Washington. He spent a decade on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, co-chair of the Joint House/Senate inquiry into the failures of U.S. intelligence prior to 9/11 and his new book is "Intelligence Matters," and we're pleased to see him tonight. Welcome.

SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D), FLORIDA: Thank you, Aaron.

BROWN: Let's see how much ground we can cover quickly. Congress needs to reform its own oversight over intelligence?

GRAHAM: Yes, particularly to streamline it. Today there are a dozen or more committees in the Senate that have some aspect of oversight of the intelligence community. That's too cumbersome. It takes too much time from the executive agencies in order to service all those committees.

BROWN: Is Congress likely to reform itself?

GRAHAM: I think so. I think that they will reform themselves in terms of focusing more responsibility on the intelligence committees, strengthening the intelligence committees' control over the appropriations for the whole intelligence community and making an investment in improving the training and expertise of members of the congressional intelligence committees.

BROWN: OK. A couple things from the book, you write: "Two hijackers had a support network in the United States, including agents of the Saudi government." What does that mean that the Saudi government knew or that the Saudi government, like Pakistan, is something less than pure?

GRAHAM: Well, probably some of both but I think the Saudi government was aware of the fact that they had set up an infrastructure. They had been requested through that infrastructure to support at least two of the terrorists. We laid this out in some detail in 27 pages of the joint inquiry report, all of which has been censured by the president. For that reason, I think that action verges on being a cover-up.

BROWN: Did they, did the Saudi government, you say they knew about these two terrorists, did they know what they were up to?

GRAHAM: I don't know if they knew what their specific goal was but they had been requested through their network, particularly in San Diego, to provide them assistance and they did.

BROWN: Why is the American government protecting the Saudi government?

GRAHAM: Well, I don't know. I think some of the reasons could be that there's been a long time close relationship between the Bush family and the royal family in Saudi Arabia. We've had a special relationship with Saudi Arabia since the end of World War II. We provide them security. They provide us oil but at this point in our nation's history...

BROWN: There's 3,000 dead Americans.

GRAHAM: I know and the fact that we are covering up the role of this so-called ally in facilitating that horrendous slaughter is absolutely stunning and unacceptable.

BROWN: On Iraq, you saw the prewar intelligence, do you believe there were WMDs there?

GRAHAM: I was suspicious but I was prepared to accept the statements of the president of the United States that he knew that there were weapons of mass destruction there but that wasn't -- to me that wasn't the basic issue.

The basic issue is there are many evils in the Middle East. Did we pick out the right one to go to war with? I think the answer is no. We should have stayed on task in Afghanistan and finished the war against al Qaeda.

BROWN: OK. But if tomorrow Osama bin Laden is caught or dead or whatever and his top ten guys are caught and dead or whatever does it actually change anything? GRAHAM: It's much less significant today, Aaron, than it would have been even two years ago. Al Qaeda was like a blob of mercury. We've slammed our fist on it. It's broken up now into dozens of small droplets, so the central control is much less significant than it was originally and yet we have not laid out a battle plan to go after all those droplets.

BROWN: Good to see you. The book is called "Intelligence Matters," Senator Bob Graham retiring but not retiring I suspect. Thank you.

GRAHAM: I've got a few other things to do.

BROWN: Nice to see you sir, thank you.

GRAHAM: Good, thank you.

BROWN: Always welcome here.

Coming up on the program, now that the damage and the destruction has been done the cost in dollars and dreams in rebuilding Florida. We'll take you down there.

Also, is Iran influencing the war in Iraq? We'll take a break first.

Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The former Hurricane Frances, now a tropical depression, is creeping north tonight, spreading heavy rains through Georgia and beyond. In Florida, meantime, the governor there, Jeb Bush, has asked his brother, who happens to be president, to declare 12 more counties disaster areas. Tonight, the dismal task of assessing the damage goes on.

Reporting for us, CNN's Jonathan Freed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And this is our retirement home. Good retirement, huh?

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Betty (ph) McCowan and her husband moved to Florida from Virginia about 10 years ago. Hurricane Frances did this to their home two days ago.

BETTY MCCOWAN, HURRICANE VICTIM: Every room in the house has a hole in the roof, except one bedroom in the back.

FREED (on camera): So you discovered this today for the first time?

STU MCCOWAN, HURRICANE VICTIM: Yes. FREED: You had no idea of the extent of the damage?

S. MCCOWAN: No, I had no idea. And I'm still flabbergasted, you know?

FREED (voice-over): That's Helen Buckley, the McCowans' insurance agent. She's helping them grab what they can and move them into an apartment while the roof and everything under it is repaired. It's going to take six months and cost about $30,000.

B. MCCOWAN: I don't know if I will ever be happy here again, because we tried so hard and it was such a pretty place.

FREED: In Florida, as a result of the devastation caused by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, hurricane claims come with a hefty deductible. For houses worth more than $100,000, it's anywhere from 2 to 5 percent of the insured value of your home. For the McCowans, that will mean $2,200 out of their pocket. They're not worried because they planned for this possibility. But their agent says, not every client does.

HELEN BUCKLEY, STATE FARM INSURANCE AGENT: We try to guide them as best we can. But we can only do so much. A client's going to decide what they want themselves.

FREED: The typical Florida homeowner's premium is steep, too. Insurance companies insist the premiums and deductibles are justified.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It has given the industry the financial stability to handle not just one storm, but two storms and three storms that might come back-to-back.

FREED: The McCowans say it's all worth it, because without insurance in this case...

B. MCCOWAN: I would have had a heart attack, because that's our whole life right there on that one little plot of ground.

FREED: Despite the storm, it's a plot of ground they refuse to abandon.

Jonathan Freed, CNN, Indian Harbor Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: One more quick note before we head to break.

Surgeons who operated on former President Bill Clinton said today, their patient was probably only weeks away from having a heart attack when he underwent a quadruple bypass yesterday. Mr. Clinton was alert and talking today and feeling what his doctors called the normal amount of discomfort. They said he was taken off of his respirator last night and that's a key step in the former president's recovery.

As the former president recuperates, the current president and John Kerry were barnstorming again today, traveling through those battleground states. Got a little nasty out there in the battle for the White House. Also, the campaign news in black and white, your local politics in morning papers coming up at the end of the hour.

This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: New York City, just off Central Park on this day after Labor Day, summer's official or unofficial end. It feels official to me.

Politics now. Both presidential candidates taking a moment today to acknowledge the fatalities in Iraq, then each one hammering the other's position on the war, in other words, business as usual. Less so was the vice president. How much less so is now in dispute. But it sounded to some like he said a vote for Kerry is a vote for another 9/11.

From the campaign trail, here's CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The battle in the battlegrounds turned into an interstate debate between right and wrong and choices to be made. To the vice president goes the day's headline.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And it's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today on November 2, we make the right choice, because, if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again, that we'll be hit in a way that'll be devastating from the standpoint of the United States and then we'll fall back into the pre-9/11 mind-set, if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are just criminal acts and that we're not really at war.

CROWLEY: His words upped the ante. But Cheney's office insists, he meant whoever is in office will face a terrorist threat. So the question is, who has the best policies, which is not how they heard it in the Kerry-Edwards' campaign.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What he said to the American people was, if you go to the polls in November and elect anyone other than us, and another terrorist attack occurs, it's your fault. This is un-American.

CROWLEY: While the No. 2s traded body blows, the two needled each other over Iraq. Certain they have hit pay dirt, the Bush campaign revisited Kerry's statement that Iraq is the wrong war at the wrong time in the wrong place.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And he woke up yesterday morning with yet another new position.

(LAUGHTER) BUSH: And this one is not even his own. It is that of his one- time rival Howard Dean. He even used the same words Howard Dean did, back when he supposedly disagreed with him. No matter how many times Senator Kerry flip-flops, we were right to make America safer by removing Saddam Hussein from power.

CROWLEY: Meanwhile, in Greensboro, North Carolina, John Kerry was singing his new refrain, "W. stands for wrong."

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Of all of the wrong choices that President Bush has made, the most catastrophic choice is the mess that he has made in Iraq.

CROWLEY: Still, when the U.S. military death toll in Iraq was announced, Kerry's tone changed dramatically.

KERRY: Today marks a tragic milestone in the war in Iraq. More than 1,000 of America's sons and daughters have now given their lives on behalf of their country, on behalf of freedom in the war on terror.

CROWLEY: It a fine line here, praising the cause, while criticizing the war.

(on camera): Kerry's balancing act continues here Wednesday with another critique of U.S. policy in Iraq from the same spot where George Bush offered his case for going to war in Iraq in October of 2002.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Cincinnati.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A lot has happened, it seems, in the race for the White House since the Republican Convention ended on Thursday, not the least of which where today's statements by the vice president, the polls, and more.

Jeff Greenfield's back with us tonight.

Tell me there is another way to look at the vice president's comments than the way the Democratic Party looked at him and, honestly, the way it sounded to me, which was, if you make the wrong choice, we're going to get hit again. And then he defined wrong choice.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Look, I think there is an implied if there, they're saying. The danger is, if we're hit again and it's devastating, we'll respond the way Kerry would, which is to say, it is not really a war.

On the one hand, the White House apparently said, well, we are upping the ante, but we didn't mean it to say, vote for Kerry -- because that's, if you think about that, that's a statement I think that, if that's what he meant, that there is going to be pushback on and real pushback. A vote for Kerry is a vote for another terrorist attack. So I think you could read it that he meant to say, the danger is, if we were to attacked, we will not respond strongly enough, which is consistent with what they've been saying all along.

But you're free to hear it the way you want. And certainly that's the way Democrats want the country to hear it.

BROWN: It's not necessarily the way I want to hear it. It's the way it sounded to me.

GREENFIELD: OK. I've got you.

BROWN: But there you go. Different people hear it different ways.

A lot of talk over the weekend particularly about the polls, the two newsweekly magazines showing similar polling results.

GREENFIELD: Yes.

BROWN: Mean much?

GREENFIELD: If you don't get obsessed with the numbers, which is always a mistake, oh, up two, down three, this got to mean something, I think everybody agrees right now that Bush is in front. Bush has the lead.

And I think the real question is, what happened? And basically all year, the country's been saying, we'd rather change than continue. That was Kerry's strongest asset. And what the entire Republican Convention was aimed at was to say, you can't afford to vote for change, given the stakes and given who John Kerry is.

In the most positive way, it was put by John McCain: Everything else pales compared to the war on terror and you can take it for me, because I disagree with this president on 25 things. It was said much more harshly by other people, most harshly by Zell Miller, but by Cheney and by Giuliani basically saying -- and I think not entirely fairly -- that he would only act if the United Nations branded it.

BROWN: Right.

GREENFIELD: Or that's what he thought at one time. Or he changes too often. You can't trust your instinct to change.

BROWN: Is it now or is it at this moment, not necessarily forever more, is it at this moment a one-issue campaign, then?

GREENFIELD: Yes, and that's what makes this so tricky, because we know that President Clinton advised Kerry to go and make the case for the economy and health care, and that's where the Democrats are strong.

But the one thing that 9/11 did do was to create this overarching issue. And I think what the Republicans have done successfully is to morph Iraq, the war on Iraq and 9/11. One poll -- these are the numbers that interests me -- more than 40 percent of Americans now think, still now think Saddam had a direct hand in 9/11.

BROWN: Still.

GREENFIELD: Even though the president says he doesn't think that.

And so, because the way the argument goes is, after 9/11, we must never again make this mistake and that's why I had to act in Iraq. And that argument has clearly gained traction.

BROWN: Thank you. Come back this week.

GREENFIELD: OK.

BROWN: Thank you, Jeff Greenfield.

Ahead on the program, as American forces do battle in Iraq, is Iraq's neighbor trying to influence the outcome?

A break first. This is NEWSNIGHT from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Back to Iraq now and another piece of the complicated story that it's become. Allegiances and animosities are big part of it. Distinguishing friends from enemies has been part of the challenge from the beginning of the war. It's only become harder as some of the power struggles have gone underground.

Here tonight, CNN's Walter Rodgers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWD: No more Bush! No more Bush!

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In eyes of more than a few Iraqis, these American troops are but one two of occupying powers in Iraq. The other is Iran. Some Iraqis see a subterranean and all-but-invisible Iranian hand influences events here.

Religious bonds between the dominant Shiite Muslims in Iran and the majority Shiites in Iraq create natural ties, but it is far more than religion that nurtures the Iranians mullahs' interest in Iraq.

ROBERT MULLER, ALLIANCE FOR SECURITY: Iran is looking at its Western border and sees well over 100,000 U.S. troops and a U.S.- installed regime. So they want a different situation from what they're looking at now, which is very threatening.

RODGERS: Iran now sees threats wherever it looks, to the east, additional U.S. troops in Afghanistan, to the northeast, a big U.S. air base in Uzbekistan, and President Bush has targeted Iran as part of the axis of evil.

But Iranians are not without assets of their own, some disguised as religious pilgrims. It's unknown how many of the tens of thousands of Iranian pilgrims who visit Shiite shrines in Iraq may be covert agents. But in Karbala this spring, a CNN producer reported seeing more Iranians than Iraqis. This growing Iranian influence and presence is worrying to Iraqi prime minister.

IYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI INTERIM PRIME MINISTER: Well, there are people who are using Iran to come to Iraq to further the call of terrorists in Iraq. We need to work more closely with the Iranian government to make sure that this is not used.

RODGERS: The difficulty in discerning the Iranian hand in Iraq is complex. Despite religious ties, there is also bad blood between these two Muslim neighbors, most recently, the Iran-Iraq War.

Iraq's prime minister says he does not believe Iran's president Khatami himself is making mischief. He was less sure of other Iranian clerics. During Muqtada al-Sadr's rebellion in Najaf, there were concerns Iranians were encouraging the fighting. The fingerprints were there. Captured weapons to be used against the Americans appeared to come from Iran. The crates were labeled in Farsi.

There have also been overt threats. Iran's defense minister recently warned the United States not to strike nuclear facilities in Iran, or Iran would launch a preemptive strike against the Americans.

Then this American counterwarning.

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, CMDR., U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: As far as any power in the region making a threat against the peace and stability of Iraq, they'd be well advised not to make those threats and not to interfere.

RODGERS: Simply bogging down the Americans in Iraq could be the Iranian strategy.

MULLER: The problem is that Iran really does think that there is a strong likelihood if the Bush administration comes back for a second term that they will go after them. And they've said, look, we'd rather fight the United States in Iraq, as opposed to waiting to fight in our own country.

RODGERS (on camera): For the moment, Iranian and American interests only occasionally rub up against each other in Iraq, but Iranians and Americans continue to eye each other warily in this part of the world.

Walter Rodgers, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: Okeydoke, time to check morning papers from around the country and around the world. Lots of good stuff. I have to move quickly tonight. I may cut out some words as I go.

"The International Herald Tribune," published by "The New York Times." Political story on the front page." "Bush Seems to Hit His Stride as Kerry Stalls But Contest Becomes Very Unsettled Now as Dynamics Change." Key paragraph to me comes from Mark Penn, the pollster, who says it is very hard to overturn a Labor Day decision. Once you get to Labor Day, this thing gets a little more set.

"The Christian Science Monitor." This is a really good story. It's an important thing to understand, I believe. "Global Terror, Local Wars. Terrorism is Not an Ideology. It's a Tool That Employs Fears as a Means of Political Coercion." We tend to think of it as monolithic, probably not the best thing to do.

How newspapers dealt with the 1,000th casualty today is something to look at, and so we shall. "The Philadelphia Inquirer." "U.S. War Toll Passes 1,000." Big headline on the front page. "Military Deaths in Iraq Stood at 1,001 With Nearly 7,000 Wounded." I think the number now is 1,002 and may have changed since I came up today. "Florida Has Eye on Third Storm." Man, that's been unbelievable in Florida this year.

"The Des Moines Register." "Sad Milestone. Iraq Tops 1,000." And a very powerful picture. Actually, we saw this truck burning early in the program. "Losses Touch America's Families, Communities and Future." And that is so absolutely correct, whatever you think about the war.

"Cincinnati Enquirer." "U.S. Toll in Iraq Tops 1,000." "Kerry's Nuances Fodder for GOP, Bush Oratory Less Equivocal." And up here at the top, "Chili Any Old Way." If you know Cincinnati, you get that, because they have a thing about chili, one way, two ways, three ways. They Put chocolate in it.

How we doing on time? Fifteen. OK.

"The Burt County Plaindealer," we haven't seen this in a while in Burt County, Nebraska, our good friends there. "Taxes Going Down. School Levy To Drop One Cent." So maybe we should all move there. But then it wouldn't be Burt County, would it?

"The Chicago Sun-Times." "Family to DUI Driver: Look Us in the Face." Man, that's a painful headline. The weather in Chicago tomorrow is a lot better.

(CHIMES)

BROWN: Thank you. "Luxurious." A high of 72. End of summer, folks.

We'll wrap it up in a moment

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The 1,000th casualty in Iraq is bound to dominate the news for much of the day tomorrow and perhaps beyond, certainly will on "AMERICAN MORNING." Here's Bill Hemmer with other things they are looking at.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Aaron, thanks.

Tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING," billions of dollars needed to rebuild Iraq, but how much money can really be spent on water, electricity and sewage when basic security cannot be guaranteed? Tomorrow, we'll talk to the general who heads the Army Corps of Engineers on where the priorities lie in Iraq and Afghanistan and whether or not rebuilding can work in a war zone.

We'll have it for you tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. Eastern time right here on "AMERICAN MORNING." Hope to see you then -- Aaron.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Bill, thank you.

It's not an easy task over there. We'll continue our reporting from Iraq and beyond. I'll hope you'll join us tomorrow, 10:00 Eastern time.

Good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

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 September 7, 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.
This is a tough transition isn't it tonight? Much of the program tonight revolves around a single number, one number. The number is 1,000. Today the number of American deaths in Iraq passed 1,000, more than 20 in just the last week.

In the scheme of things, 1,000 isn't a very big number I guess but I am again reminded of something I was told after the 3,000 deaths of 9/11. Don't think of 3,000, a wise man said, think of one death 3,000 times.

Today, I think of one death 1,000 times and the impact is far more clear. Think of 1,000 sets of grieving parents. Think of 1,000 spouses left widowed. Think of 1,000 children, more no doubt, left without a mom or a dad.

Each one of the 1,000 is a separate story, a separate life cut too short. We ask a lot of questions around here and answer a few from time to time but here is one we can't answer. Are these deaths worth it? That is an answer you must find. It must come from your world view and your politics and not ours.

We can answer this one though. Today we reached a sad milestone, one death 1,000 times and it won't be the last sad milestone along the road we find ourselves walking down.

So, Iraq begins the whip, new plans, new battles, same problems, Jamie McIntyre has the watch at the Pentagon, so Jamie the headline from there.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, today at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said it was worth it. There is no free pass in the fight against terrorism, he said, and the deaths are the cost of being on the offensive and the U.S. has more offensive plans up its sleeve -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you, good to see you with us again.

On to Baghdad, not far from where a major battle was waged all day long, CNN's Diana Muriel has the duty tonight, so Diane a headline from you. DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that grim statistic was achieved in yet another night of violence here in Baghdad, one of the capital central police stations overrun by insurgents who freed all the prisoners and yet more clashes in the sprawling slum suburb that is Sadr City.

BROWN: Diana, thank you.

Moscow next. Harsh words from Russia's president and cruel pictures taken by terrorists, CNN's Jill Dougherty with the story, so Jill a headline.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, two days of official national mourning are over here in Russia and so are the demonstrations and rallies against terrorism but the horrible facts of this massacre in a school in the south of Russia seem endless.

BROWN: Jill, thank you.

And finally politics and what the election really boils down to, at least as Jeff Greenfield sees it at this moment, so Jeff a headline.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Aaron, the word is change. It tells us where we are. It tells us how we got there. Does it tell us where we're going, no, of course not -- Aaron.

BROWN: Thank you, Jeff. We'll get back to you and the rest in a little bit.

Also on the program tonight, acting on the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, Congress moves to a starting point but a house divided could prevent legislation from reaching its final destination.

Also with two hurricanes behind them and billions of dollars in damage, thousands of Floridians now have to deal with the burden of hurricane insurance and a third storm on the horizon.

And, from London to Los Angeles, not to mention the weather in Chicago, morning papers in two minutes, all of that at the end of the hour, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight in Iraq and at home. With the milestone reached today and what it signifies both there and here, a milestone by the way that was surpassed no sooner than it arrived, which says something about numbers and something yet again about war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): The great majority of U.S. military war dead, 86 percent, have been killed since May the 1st of 2003 when the president announced that the United States and its allies had prevailed in Iraq.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My fellow Americans major combat operations in Iraq have ended. BROWN: Another 146 American servicemen and women have died since June 29th when the U.S. officially turned over sovereignty to Iraq.

PAUL BREMER, CPA ADMINISTRATOR: The Iraqi Interim Government will assume and exercise full sovereign authority on behalf of the Iraqi people.

BROWN: Despite the handover, the mission is not over, not nearly. A hundred and thirty-seven thousand American troops are still in the country and have continued to fight and die, killed in firefights, in RPG and mortar attacks and by IEDs, the deadly improvised explosive devices that have killed at least 200 troops in Iraq and maimed hundreds more.

It took 10 months from the start of the war in March of 2003 until early January of this year to mark the first 500 U.S. military deaths. It has taken less time, eight months, to record the second 500.

This past spring and summer have been especially deadly as U.S. troops, mostly Marines, battled insurgents in Fallujah and Ramadi. April was the worst, 134 U.S. troops died, 64 in just the first ten days of the month.

In May, 81 were killed. In June, the number dropped to 43 but went up again in July, 53 died, 66 in August and just a week into September, one week, 23 have already died.

The number 1,000 military dead seems so high to Americans who remember the first Gulf War which claimed 382 American troops, 147 of them in combat. But the number is small in the context of America's entire war history, 58,000 lost in Vietnam, 36,000 lost in Korea, 400,000 lost in World War II.

Different wars fought in different conditions over different lengths of time, wars that ended, the dead totaled, a factor that does not yet apply to the war in Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Far from it. In Iraq, lights at the end of the tunnel have a way of receding into the distance killing the enemy while necessary hasn't been enough to carry the day, not yet.

Militias run entire cities. Saboteurs blow up pipelines. Kidnappers take hostages at will and all of it threatens elections coming up in January if, in fact, they happen at all, a distance light for now and a serious concern at the Pentagon.

Here's CNN's Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): The suicide bombing that claimed the lives of seven Marines Monday was part of a spike in U.S. casualties that has pushed the number of U.S. military dead in Iraq over 1,000 and the number of wounded close to 7,000.

But the Pentagon insists in almost every clash with the insurgents, such as Tuesday's fighting in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City, the U.S. is inflicting far heavier casualties on its enemies, killing as many as 2,500 insurgents in the last month alone.

GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: This is a pattern across Iraq, the more aggressive the tactics of the insurgency, the greater their loss of human life.

MCINTYRE: U.S. warplanes continue to pound Fallujah, the biggest of the enemy enclaves from which some U.S. commanders believe suspected terrorist leader Abu Musab Zarqawi may be directing elements of the insurgency.

Pentagon sources tell CNN that the joint U.S.-Iraqi plan is in the works to launch a series of offensives aimed at eliminating so- called no-go zones across Iraq, areas where the U.S. chooses not to patrol and the Iraqi government does not control.

But fearing that a heavy-handed U.S. offensive could make more enemies out of ordinary Iraqis, the strategy is to wait until the interim Iraqi government has enough forces to pacify what for now have become safe havens for insurgents.

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: For their country to succeed they simply cannot over a sustained period of time have areas that are under the control of people who are violently opposed to that government. They get it and they will find a way over time to deal with it.

MCINTYRE: But of the 200,000 Iraqi security forces, the Pentagon says only about 95,000 are trained and equipped and most are not battle tested.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: Pentagon sources say the plan is in the coming months for Iraqi forces, backed by U.S. troops, to move against first smaller areas where the insurgents have sway and then close in on Fallujah but U.S. commanders warn that with the elections set for January, time is running short for the U.S. to reestablish the rule of law in Iraq -- Aaron.

BROWN: Do they believe they have to have control of these places, Fallujah being a sort of catch word for a number of different places, before the elections in January?

MCINTYRE: I think the feeling of commanders on the ground is unless there are not large pockets of areas that are not under anyone's control they really can't have a legitimate election and that, of course, leaves two options. One is to take care of the problem before the elections. The other one is to delay the elections. That option is not one anybody really wants to see happen.

BROWN: And do they believe that Iraqi forces will be able to do the job prior to an election campaign?

MCINTYRE: Well, they express a lot of confidence on that. It certainly remains to be seen. It's also possible that the Iraqi government would again negotiate an end to some of these agreements. But in the cases where we've seen that, in Fallujah and in Najaf, those negotiated settlements have just allowed the fighters to go away and regroup and fight another day.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you very much, our Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre tonight, bigger picture from the Pentagon.

On now to the day in Iraq, which milestone or not was one of the roughest yet seen, again from Baghdad tonight CNN's Diana Muriel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MURIEL (voice-over): Taking on the Americans, militiamen armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles take up their positions. Hours of running battles with American forces in the sprawling northeastern Baghdad suburb of Sadr City have left dozens of Iraqi civilians dead and more than 200 wounded according to the Iraqi Ministry of Health, the Americans taking losses too.

Violence flared after peace talks between local community leaders and U.S. and Iraqi authorities stalled. Fresh from fighting American forces in a three-week battle in Najaf, many of these militiamen are members of the so-called Mehdi Army, loyal to renegade cleric Muqtada al-Sadr with their base in Sadr City.

But nowhere in Baghdad can be considered safe. Half an hour's drive from Sadr City this was the scene Tuesday morning after the city governor's convoy was attacked. First an explosion, then gunmen raked the vehicles with bullets according to eyewitnesses. The governor escaping unhurt but three of his bodyguards were injured.

Westerners too are targets. Gunmen in central Baghdad kidnapped two Italian female aid workers in broad daylight Tuesday. The two women, Simona Pari and Simona Torretta both age 29 are employed by Bridge to Baghdad, a UNICEF-linked project helping to rebuild schools.

Elsewhere on a highway west of Baghdad, a U.S. military truck was still burning Tuesday after coming under attack late the previous day. Monday had already claimed the lives of seven U.S. Marines nine miles north of Fallujah. The city itself has been a no-go zone for U.S. troops since April.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MURIEL: The already strained situation here in Iraq ratcheting up yet another notch then in the past few hours, insurgents not limiting their attacks to U.S. forces. Civilians, both Iraqi and westerners it seems, are the targets of their activities in ever increasing numbers -- Aaron.

BROWN: We're one week into September and there's already been 23 American deaths. Is that evidence of an increased effort by the insurgents or are they just, forgive the expression, luckier than they had been before? Are the number of attacks on Americans roughly the same?

MURIEL: Well, it's different in different parts of the country. Here in Sadr City there's certainly been a lull in that particular area of Baghdad ever since the end of the Najaf crisis.

A lot of the fighters are believed to be members of this Mehdi militia who came back from Najaf and have regrouped, many of them not handing in their weapons, as was required under the amnesty that was arranged by the Ayatollah al-Sistani in the peace talks that took place in Najaf.

They've kept their weapons. They've rested for a while and it seems that after the talks between the interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and representatives of the district of Sadr City stalled, they broke down, it seems that the violence has flared up in consequence of that.

Elsewhere, for example in Fallujah, Fallujah has been a very difficult area for the U.S. troops. They stopped all patrols in that city in April. They withdrew to the outskirts of it and they've been mounting long range attacks on what they claim are insurgent safe houses in that city.

That sparked a lot of violence from Fallujah in the outskirts and U.S. Marines, seven U.S. Marines, for example, were killed there on Monday. But it seems that there is now after a short lull another burst of energy from these insurgents -- Aaron.

BROWN: Diana, thank you, Diana Muriel is in Baghdad for us today and that is the scene from Iraq today where at this moment 1,002 Americans have died in the last year and a half. Almost all of the soldiers and Marines, of course, had loved ones back home. Most tried the best they could to stay in touch.

"Love has always gotten us through," writes a sergeant to his wife in Tennessee "and it will do so again," his final letter home. The sergeant was 54.

Tomorrow night on this program we'll try and put a human face on the numbers. This has been an enormous reporting effort on the part of NEWSNIGHT's Beth Nissen that and no small labor of love. So, tomorrow the people that make up the number.

On next to Russia, where the burials went on again in the town of Beslan, in Moscow marchers weighed in against terrorism, while at the Kremlin, Russia's president lashed out at the United States, all this while images of the atrocity that has turned a country inside out were being beamed around the world, reporting from Moscow tonight for us CNN's Jill Dougherty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGHERTY (voice-over): A videotape shot by the terrorists themselves shown on Russia's NTV. School children and their mothers huddled in gymnasium as masked men and a female terrorist brandishing a gun stand guard. Explosives strung on a basketball hoop. A terrorist with his foot on what appears to be a detonator, horrifying testament to what will soon become a massacre.

In Moscow Tuesday, a massive rally against terrorism organized by a pro-government trade union. The signs say it all. "Putin, we're with you. Hands off our kids" and "Bring the killers to justice."

"I never imagined people could do such a thing" this school principal says "exterminate children. It's terrifying. Something horrible is happening in our country."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They spit in our face and I'm here to say I won't permit you to demean me or my country.

DOUGHERTY: In the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin is angry too telling visiting foreign policy experts the west has a double standard on terrorism, demanding Russia negotiate with Chechen separatists who Mr. Putin considers terrorists.

"Why don't you meet with Osama bin Laden" he says, "invite him to Brussels or to the White House and engage in talks. Ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace. You find it possible to set some limits on your dealings with these bastards, so why should we talk with people who are child killers?"

One participant in that meeting tells CNN the Russian president was blunt.

EILEEN O'CONNOR, INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR JOURNALISTS: So, what he's basically saying to the United States is, look, don't play any more games. Don't call these people freedom fighters. Don't call them rebels. Call them terrorists just like you call bin Laden a terrorist.

DOUGHERTY: Mr. Putin also charges some U.S. officials are undermining Russia's war on terrorism by having contact with Chechen separatists.

RICHARD BOUCHER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: The United States has met with people from Chechnya who have differing points of view, including points of view that differ from the Russian government but we don't -- we don't meet with terrorists. We don't meet with people who are involved in violence or fomenting violence.

DOUGHERTY: Meanwhile in Beslan, Russia an unending series of funerals, children buried with their favorite toys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGHERTY: Don't look for any 9/11 Commission report here in Russia. President Putin says that the government will be holding an investigation but it will be an internal investigation and the results of it will not be made public. He says he doesn't want any political show -- Aaron. BROWN: And is there -- it's very difficult. So much of Russian media is state controlled or semi state controlled or under the influence of the state. Is it possible to tell if Russians are demanding more accountability than they're getting from their government?

DOUGHERTY: Yes, it definitely is because even though as -- you're right there is a lot of control, even the state-owned media, the state-run media have come out with some criticism and primarily about the information that came out. Remember there were, as they put it, lies told about how many people were actually being held hostage. It went from about 130 and then it was found out that it was actually 1,200.

Now whether this will go up the chain of command to President Putin is really the question but there is a lot of anger building and especially in that area around Beslan.

BROWN: Jill, thank you very much, Jill Dougherty in Moscow.

As Moscow deals with acts of violence in Russia, the United States tries to prevent future attacks at home.

Ahead on the program tonight, Congress moves on the advice of the 9/11 Commission just as the third anniversary of the attacks approaches.

And the war over words over the war in Iraq, the battle for the White House got a bit nasty today.

From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Congress returned from its summer recess today to a long list of unfinished business with just weeks to complete it before breaking again for the November campaign, at the top of the to-do list the 9/11 Commission's recommendations for improving U.S. intelligence agencies, reporting the story for us tonight CNN's Joe Johns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With time running out to act on the 9/11 Commission's recommendations before Congress breaks for the election, Republican Senator John McCain and Democrat Joe Lieberman, two key players on national defense and security issues, unveiled legislation that addresses all the commission's proposals.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: The recommendations of the 9/11 Commission have been embraced by virtually one and all, clearly with some reservations because it's not a perfect document but overall the overwhelming majority of Americans expect that we should act on this blueprint.

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: The commission's recommendations should be our starting point and I believe in many cases, probably most, they should be our ending point as well.

JOHNS: The bill would create a new National Intelligence Director and National Counterterrorism Center. It would strip power from the Pentagon over 80 percent of the nation's intelligence budget, improve information sharing throughout the intelligence community, set up a terrorism screening network at U.S. borders and ensure the protection of civil liberties. The bill won the endorsement of the 9/11 Commission co-chairs.

TOM KEAN, 9/11 COMMISSION CHAIR: This is a dream.

JOHNS: The proposal has bipartisan support but it also faces considerable resistance.

REP. ROY BLUNT (R), MISSOURI: The idea that we would just carte blanche accept everything the commission came up with I personally think would be a big mistake.

JOHNS: But a warning from the bill's backers that the political price for inaction could be severe.

SEN EVAN BAYH (D), INDIANA: For those who would seek to delay, for those who would seek to temporize, the burden will be very heavy.

JOHNS (on camera): The president is meeting Wednesday morning with top congressional leaders on how to proceed with the commission's recommendations. A senior Republican aide says Mr. Bush is expected to outline which proposals he wants Congress to pass and how quickly.

Joe Johns, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Senator Bob Graham, the Democrat from Florida, is serving his third and final term in Washington. He spent a decade on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, co-chair of the Joint House/Senate inquiry into the failures of U.S. intelligence prior to 9/11 and his new book is "Intelligence Matters," and we're pleased to see him tonight. Welcome.

SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D), FLORIDA: Thank you, Aaron.

BROWN: Let's see how much ground we can cover quickly. Congress needs to reform its own oversight over intelligence?

GRAHAM: Yes, particularly to streamline it. Today there are a dozen or more committees in the Senate that have some aspect of oversight of the intelligence community. That's too cumbersome. It takes too much time from the executive agencies in order to service all those committees.

BROWN: Is Congress likely to reform itself?

GRAHAM: I think so. I think that they will reform themselves in terms of focusing more responsibility on the intelligence committees, strengthening the intelligence committees' control over the appropriations for the whole intelligence community and making an investment in improving the training and expertise of members of the congressional intelligence committees.

BROWN: OK. A couple things from the book, you write: "Two hijackers had a support network in the United States, including agents of the Saudi government." What does that mean that the Saudi government knew or that the Saudi government, like Pakistan, is something less than pure?

GRAHAM: Well, probably some of both but I think the Saudi government was aware of the fact that they had set up an infrastructure. They had been requested through that infrastructure to support at least two of the terrorists. We laid this out in some detail in 27 pages of the joint inquiry report, all of which has been censured by the president. For that reason, I think that action verges on being a cover-up.

BROWN: Did they, did the Saudi government, you say they knew about these two terrorists, did they know what they were up to?

GRAHAM: I don't know if they knew what their specific goal was but they had been requested through their network, particularly in San Diego, to provide them assistance and they did.

BROWN: Why is the American government protecting the Saudi government?

GRAHAM: Well, I don't know. I think some of the reasons could be that there's been a long time close relationship between the Bush family and the royal family in Saudi Arabia. We've had a special relationship with Saudi Arabia since the end of World War II. We provide them security. They provide us oil but at this point in our nation's history...

BROWN: There's 3,000 dead Americans.

GRAHAM: I know and the fact that we are covering up the role of this so-called ally in facilitating that horrendous slaughter is absolutely stunning and unacceptable.

BROWN: On Iraq, you saw the prewar intelligence, do you believe there were WMDs there?

GRAHAM: I was suspicious but I was prepared to accept the statements of the president of the United States that he knew that there were weapons of mass destruction there but that wasn't -- to me that wasn't the basic issue.

The basic issue is there are many evils in the Middle East. Did we pick out the right one to go to war with? I think the answer is no. We should have stayed on task in Afghanistan and finished the war against al Qaeda.

BROWN: OK. But if tomorrow Osama bin Laden is caught or dead or whatever and his top ten guys are caught and dead or whatever does it actually change anything? GRAHAM: It's much less significant today, Aaron, than it would have been even two years ago. Al Qaeda was like a blob of mercury. We've slammed our fist on it. It's broken up now into dozens of small droplets, so the central control is much less significant than it was originally and yet we have not laid out a battle plan to go after all those droplets.

BROWN: Good to see you. The book is called "Intelligence Matters," Senator Bob Graham retiring but not retiring I suspect. Thank you.

GRAHAM: I've got a few other things to do.

BROWN: Nice to see you sir, thank you.

GRAHAM: Good, thank you.

BROWN: Always welcome here.

Coming up on the program, now that the damage and the destruction has been done the cost in dollars and dreams in rebuilding Florida. We'll take you down there.

Also, is Iran influencing the war in Iraq? We'll take a break first.

Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The former Hurricane Frances, now a tropical depression, is creeping north tonight, spreading heavy rains through Georgia and beyond. In Florida, meantime, the governor there, Jeb Bush, has asked his brother, who happens to be president, to declare 12 more counties disaster areas. Tonight, the dismal task of assessing the damage goes on.

Reporting for us, CNN's Jonathan Freed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And this is our retirement home. Good retirement, huh?

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Betty (ph) McCowan and her husband moved to Florida from Virginia about 10 years ago. Hurricane Frances did this to their home two days ago.

BETTY MCCOWAN, HURRICANE VICTIM: Every room in the house has a hole in the roof, except one bedroom in the back.

FREED (on camera): So you discovered this today for the first time?

STU MCCOWAN, HURRICANE VICTIM: Yes. FREED: You had no idea of the extent of the damage?

S. MCCOWAN: No, I had no idea. And I'm still flabbergasted, you know?

FREED (voice-over): That's Helen Buckley, the McCowans' insurance agent. She's helping them grab what they can and move them into an apartment while the roof and everything under it is repaired. It's going to take six months and cost about $30,000.

B. MCCOWAN: I don't know if I will ever be happy here again, because we tried so hard and it was such a pretty place.

FREED: In Florida, as a result of the devastation caused by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, hurricane claims come with a hefty deductible. For houses worth more than $100,000, it's anywhere from 2 to 5 percent of the insured value of your home. For the McCowans, that will mean $2,200 out of their pocket. They're not worried because they planned for this possibility. But their agent says, not every client does.

HELEN BUCKLEY, STATE FARM INSURANCE AGENT: We try to guide them as best we can. But we can only do so much. A client's going to decide what they want themselves.

FREED: The typical Florida homeowner's premium is steep, too. Insurance companies insist the premiums and deductibles are justified.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It has given the industry the financial stability to handle not just one storm, but two storms and three storms that might come back-to-back.

FREED: The McCowans say it's all worth it, because without insurance in this case...

B. MCCOWAN: I would have had a heart attack, because that's our whole life right there on that one little plot of ground.

FREED: Despite the storm, it's a plot of ground they refuse to abandon.

Jonathan Freed, CNN, Indian Harbor Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: One more quick note before we head to break.

Surgeons who operated on former President Bill Clinton said today, their patient was probably only weeks away from having a heart attack when he underwent a quadruple bypass yesterday. Mr. Clinton was alert and talking today and feeling what his doctors called the normal amount of discomfort. They said he was taken off of his respirator last night and that's a key step in the former president's recovery.

As the former president recuperates, the current president and John Kerry were barnstorming again today, traveling through those battleground states. Got a little nasty out there in the battle for the White House. Also, the campaign news in black and white, your local politics in morning papers coming up at the end of the hour.

This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: New York City, just off Central Park on this day after Labor Day, summer's official or unofficial end. It feels official to me.

Politics now. Both presidential candidates taking a moment today to acknowledge the fatalities in Iraq, then each one hammering the other's position on the war, in other words, business as usual. Less so was the vice president. How much less so is now in dispute. But it sounded to some like he said a vote for Kerry is a vote for another 9/11.

From the campaign trail, here's CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The battle in the battlegrounds turned into an interstate debate between right and wrong and choices to be made. To the vice president goes the day's headline.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And it's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today on November 2, we make the right choice, because, if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again, that we'll be hit in a way that'll be devastating from the standpoint of the United States and then we'll fall back into the pre-9/11 mind-set, if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are just criminal acts and that we're not really at war.

CROWLEY: His words upped the ante. But Cheney's office insists, he meant whoever is in office will face a terrorist threat. So the question is, who has the best policies, which is not how they heard it in the Kerry-Edwards' campaign.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What he said to the American people was, if you go to the polls in November and elect anyone other than us, and another terrorist attack occurs, it's your fault. This is un-American.

CROWLEY: While the No. 2s traded body blows, the two needled each other over Iraq. Certain they have hit pay dirt, the Bush campaign revisited Kerry's statement that Iraq is the wrong war at the wrong time in the wrong place.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And he woke up yesterday morning with yet another new position.

(LAUGHTER) BUSH: And this one is not even his own. It is that of his one- time rival Howard Dean. He even used the same words Howard Dean did, back when he supposedly disagreed with him. No matter how many times Senator Kerry flip-flops, we were right to make America safer by removing Saddam Hussein from power.

CROWLEY: Meanwhile, in Greensboro, North Carolina, John Kerry was singing his new refrain, "W. stands for wrong."

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Of all of the wrong choices that President Bush has made, the most catastrophic choice is the mess that he has made in Iraq.

CROWLEY: Still, when the U.S. military death toll in Iraq was announced, Kerry's tone changed dramatically.

KERRY: Today marks a tragic milestone in the war in Iraq. More than 1,000 of America's sons and daughters have now given their lives on behalf of their country, on behalf of freedom in the war on terror.

CROWLEY: It a fine line here, praising the cause, while criticizing the war.

(on camera): Kerry's balancing act continues here Wednesday with another critique of U.S. policy in Iraq from the same spot where George Bush offered his case for going to war in Iraq in October of 2002.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Cincinnati.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A lot has happened, it seems, in the race for the White House since the Republican Convention ended on Thursday, not the least of which where today's statements by the vice president, the polls, and more.

Jeff Greenfield's back with us tonight.

Tell me there is another way to look at the vice president's comments than the way the Democratic Party looked at him and, honestly, the way it sounded to me, which was, if you make the wrong choice, we're going to get hit again. And then he defined wrong choice.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Look, I think there is an implied if there, they're saying. The danger is, if we're hit again and it's devastating, we'll respond the way Kerry would, which is to say, it is not really a war.

On the one hand, the White House apparently said, well, we are upping the ante, but we didn't mean it to say, vote for Kerry -- because that's, if you think about that, that's a statement I think that, if that's what he meant, that there is going to be pushback on and real pushback. A vote for Kerry is a vote for another terrorist attack. So I think you could read it that he meant to say, the danger is, if we were to attacked, we will not respond strongly enough, which is consistent with what they've been saying all along.

But you're free to hear it the way you want. And certainly that's the way Democrats want the country to hear it.

BROWN: It's not necessarily the way I want to hear it. It's the way it sounded to me.

GREENFIELD: OK. I've got you.

BROWN: But there you go. Different people hear it different ways.

A lot of talk over the weekend particularly about the polls, the two newsweekly magazines showing similar polling results.

GREENFIELD: Yes.

BROWN: Mean much?

GREENFIELD: If you don't get obsessed with the numbers, which is always a mistake, oh, up two, down three, this got to mean something, I think everybody agrees right now that Bush is in front. Bush has the lead.

And I think the real question is, what happened? And basically all year, the country's been saying, we'd rather change than continue. That was Kerry's strongest asset. And what the entire Republican Convention was aimed at was to say, you can't afford to vote for change, given the stakes and given who John Kerry is.

In the most positive way, it was put by John McCain: Everything else pales compared to the war on terror and you can take it for me, because I disagree with this president on 25 things. It was said much more harshly by other people, most harshly by Zell Miller, but by Cheney and by Giuliani basically saying -- and I think not entirely fairly -- that he would only act if the United Nations branded it.

BROWN: Right.

GREENFIELD: Or that's what he thought at one time. Or he changes too often. You can't trust your instinct to change.

BROWN: Is it now or is it at this moment, not necessarily forever more, is it at this moment a one-issue campaign, then?

GREENFIELD: Yes, and that's what makes this so tricky, because we know that President Clinton advised Kerry to go and make the case for the economy and health care, and that's where the Democrats are strong.

But the one thing that 9/11 did do was to create this overarching issue. And I think what the Republicans have done successfully is to morph Iraq, the war on Iraq and 9/11. One poll -- these are the numbers that interests me -- more than 40 percent of Americans now think, still now think Saddam had a direct hand in 9/11.

BROWN: Still.

GREENFIELD: Even though the president says he doesn't think that.

And so, because the way the argument goes is, after 9/11, we must never again make this mistake and that's why I had to act in Iraq. And that argument has clearly gained traction.

BROWN: Thank you. Come back this week.

GREENFIELD: OK.

BROWN: Thank you, Jeff Greenfield.

Ahead on the program, as American forces do battle in Iraq, is Iraq's neighbor trying to influence the outcome?

A break first. This is NEWSNIGHT from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Back to Iraq now and another piece of the complicated story that it's become. Allegiances and animosities are big part of it. Distinguishing friends from enemies has been part of the challenge from the beginning of the war. It's only become harder as some of the power struggles have gone underground.

Here tonight, CNN's Walter Rodgers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWD: No more Bush! No more Bush!

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In eyes of more than a few Iraqis, these American troops are but one two of occupying powers in Iraq. The other is Iran. Some Iraqis see a subterranean and all-but-invisible Iranian hand influences events here.

Religious bonds between the dominant Shiite Muslims in Iran and the majority Shiites in Iraq create natural ties, but it is far more than religion that nurtures the Iranians mullahs' interest in Iraq.

ROBERT MULLER, ALLIANCE FOR SECURITY: Iran is looking at its Western border and sees well over 100,000 U.S. troops and a U.S.- installed regime. So they want a different situation from what they're looking at now, which is very threatening.

RODGERS: Iran now sees threats wherever it looks, to the east, additional U.S. troops in Afghanistan, to the northeast, a big U.S. air base in Uzbekistan, and President Bush has targeted Iran as part of the axis of evil.

But Iranians are not without assets of their own, some disguised as religious pilgrims. It's unknown how many of the tens of thousands of Iranian pilgrims who visit Shiite shrines in Iraq may be covert agents. But in Karbala this spring, a CNN producer reported seeing more Iranians than Iraqis. This growing Iranian influence and presence is worrying to Iraqi prime minister.

IYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI INTERIM PRIME MINISTER: Well, there are people who are using Iran to come to Iraq to further the call of terrorists in Iraq. We need to work more closely with the Iranian government to make sure that this is not used.

RODGERS: The difficulty in discerning the Iranian hand in Iraq is complex. Despite religious ties, there is also bad blood between these two Muslim neighbors, most recently, the Iran-Iraq War.

Iraq's prime minister says he does not believe Iran's president Khatami himself is making mischief. He was less sure of other Iranian clerics. During Muqtada al-Sadr's rebellion in Najaf, there were concerns Iranians were encouraging the fighting. The fingerprints were there. Captured weapons to be used against the Americans appeared to come from Iran. The crates were labeled in Farsi.

There have also been overt threats. Iran's defense minister recently warned the United States not to strike nuclear facilities in Iran, or Iran would launch a preemptive strike against the Americans.

Then this American counterwarning.

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, CMDR., U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: As far as any power in the region making a threat against the peace and stability of Iraq, they'd be well advised not to make those threats and not to interfere.

RODGERS: Simply bogging down the Americans in Iraq could be the Iranian strategy.

MULLER: The problem is that Iran really does think that there is a strong likelihood if the Bush administration comes back for a second term that they will go after them. And they've said, look, we'd rather fight the United States in Iraq, as opposed to waiting to fight in our own country.

RODGERS (on camera): For the moment, Iranian and American interests only occasionally rub up against each other in Iraq, but Iranians and Americans continue to eye each other warily in this part of the world.

Walter Rodgers, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: Okeydoke, time to check morning papers from around the country and around the world. Lots of good stuff. I have to move quickly tonight. I may cut out some words as I go.

"The International Herald Tribune," published by "The New York Times." Political story on the front page." "Bush Seems to Hit His Stride as Kerry Stalls But Contest Becomes Very Unsettled Now as Dynamics Change." Key paragraph to me comes from Mark Penn, the pollster, who says it is very hard to overturn a Labor Day decision. Once you get to Labor Day, this thing gets a little more set.

"The Christian Science Monitor." This is a really good story. It's an important thing to understand, I believe. "Global Terror, Local Wars. Terrorism is Not an Ideology. It's a Tool That Employs Fears as a Means of Political Coercion." We tend to think of it as monolithic, probably not the best thing to do.

How newspapers dealt with the 1,000th casualty today is something to look at, and so we shall. "The Philadelphia Inquirer." "U.S. War Toll Passes 1,000." Big headline on the front page. "Military Deaths in Iraq Stood at 1,001 With Nearly 7,000 Wounded." I think the number now is 1,002 and may have changed since I came up today. "Florida Has Eye on Third Storm." Man, that's been unbelievable in Florida this year.

"The Des Moines Register." "Sad Milestone. Iraq Tops 1,000." And a very powerful picture. Actually, we saw this truck burning early in the program. "Losses Touch America's Families, Communities and Future." And that is so absolutely correct, whatever you think about the war.

"Cincinnati Enquirer." "U.S. Toll in Iraq Tops 1,000." "Kerry's Nuances Fodder for GOP, Bush Oratory Less Equivocal." And up here at the top, "Chili Any Old Way." If you know Cincinnati, you get that, because they have a thing about chili, one way, two ways, three ways. They Put chocolate in it.

How we doing on time? Fifteen. OK.

"The Burt County Plaindealer," we haven't seen this in a while in Burt County, Nebraska, our good friends there. "Taxes Going Down. School Levy To Drop One Cent." So maybe we should all move there. But then it wouldn't be Burt County, would it?

"The Chicago Sun-Times." "Family to DUI Driver: Look Us in the Face." Man, that's a painful headline. The weather in Chicago tomorrow is a lot better.

(CHIMES)

BROWN: Thank you. "Luxurious." A high of 72. End of summer, folks.

We'll wrap it up in a moment

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The 1,000th casualty in Iraq is bound to dominate the news for much of the day tomorrow and perhaps beyond, certainly will on "AMERICAN MORNING." Here's Bill Hemmer with other things they are looking at.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Aaron, thanks.

Tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING," billions of dollars needed to rebuild Iraq, but how much money can really be spent on water, electricity and sewage when basic security cannot be guaranteed? Tomorrow, we'll talk to the general who heads the Army Corps of Engineers on where the priorities lie in Iraq and Afghanistan and whether or not rebuilding can work in a war zone.

We'll have it for you tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. Eastern time right here on "AMERICAN MORNING." Hope to see you then -- Aaron.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Bill, thank you.

It's not an easy task over there. We'll continue our reporting from Iraq and beyond. I'll hope you'll join us tomorrow, 10:00 Eastern time.

Good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

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