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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Fighting Continues in Falluja; Scott Peterson Found Guilty; What Now for Middle East?

Aired November 12, 2004 - 22:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
Here's one of those uncomfortable truths about covering the war in Iraq. As the fight for Falluja rages on, the most important question about this fight is one we cannot yet answer.

It has nothing to do with the number of insurgents killed or whether the Marines and the Army units will take the city. Many hundreds of insurgents will die and U.S. forces will do their jobs with skill and bravery. Neither was ever in doubt and neither is the most important question.

The most important question is how the Iraqi forces will do, have done, are doing. We really do not know that yet and the future of that country and the future of the American effort to remake that country depends on the answer to that question. We will answer other questions tonight, important ones to be sure, but not the most important, not yet and perhaps not for a while.

We begin with the here and now, CNN's Karl Penhaul in Baghdad, Karl a headline from you tonight.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Aaron. As fighting goes house to house in Falluja, humanitarian aid workers ask about the fate of possible civilian casualties -- Aaron.

BROWN: Karl, thank you.

Next to Redwood City, California, the Scott Peterson trial which will soon enter the penalty phase, CNN's David Mattingly is there for us so, David, a headline.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, two lives were taken and now one hangs in the balance as Scott Peterson is found guilty of murdering his wife and unborn child, a verdict that drew cheers outside the courthouse -- Aaron.

BROWN: David, thank you.

Finally, back to the Middle East and the death of Yasser Arafat, CNN's John Vause with the day in Ramallah, John, the headline.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Officials here wanted a formal dignified service for the Palestinian leader. What they got was an emotional, passionate and, at time, uncontrollable outpouring of grief -- Aaron.

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

Also coming up on the program tonight, police increasingly using taser stun guns but surely not on 6-year-old children, why on earth the police in Florida do just that. You'll hear their side of the story.

We'll revisit same-sex marriage and couples who got married when it seemed the legal thing to do. Was it all a case of until the election do us part?

And morning papers wrap up the week, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight at the end of a difficult week in Iraq, difficult to be sure, decisive we shall see. As we said a moment ago, the most critical question remains unanswered.

What we can do tonight is gauge the progress made, the problems encountered and, of course, the number of dead and wounded, though even that is not always easy information to come by.

We begin with the view from CNN's Jane Arraf on the phone embedded with the Army's 1st Infantry, Jane, good evening.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF (by telephone): Good evening, Aaron.

As the country has entered what's expected to be the first day of the Muslim ceased, the battle still raging in Falluja. Aaron, the Army troops that we are with retook the south. In fact, this is the first time that troops have been here since April.

They took the southern sector of the city and, as they came through, they came into almost constant fire from what are still isolated cells of insurgents out there hiding in bunkers, hiding even in tunnels that have been dug between buildings. They are quite entrenched here.

What the Army and Marines are doing is continuing their sweep through the city, in some cases block by block and one of the mysteries still in this sector in the north and south side of the city on the east there are no civilians.

Not a single one has been found by Iraqi forces going through the city on this night looking for them. They say there's no evidence -- there's evidence that people have left a long time ago -- Aaron.

BROWN: What does the city look like? Is it just destroyed?

ARRAF: In the part that we're in it's taken quite a beating. You have to remember it's been five days in the city of being pounded by artillery, air strikes and all sorts of other means, so essentially what it looks like here, we're sitting here and the sun is just coming up and we're in a residential district. It's really very eerie.

It's a typical Iraqi neighborhood in the sense that it's full cinder block houses, some of them still under construction, some of them now with large holes in them, some of them completely destroyed from this bombing and bombings in April and afterwards as troops launched air strikes, nothing in the streets except for a few dead bodies here and there and stray dogs and every once in a while from these buildings gunfire coming from the insurgents.

BROWN: Jane, just one more before we lose you here tonight. Has the fight gone the way your Army unit thought it would go?

ARRAF: It's probably gone a little bit differently and they really thought there would be more of an organized insurgency. There was a lot of hype about this, you'll recall, that this was where insurgents would make their last stand, where they would blow themselves up, where they would launch an organized resistance.

In fact, they seem, according to the commander we're with, they seem to have been cornered in this part of the city and they are again in relatively small crowds but what we're finding as we go through is rather astonishing, a series of booby trapped streets, for instance.

In another part of the city a house believed to have been the place where hostages were killed. There have been no U.S. forces here since April and the insurgency had a lot of time to transform parts of this city.

BROWN: Well, Jane, hang in there. Stay safe, OK, and our best to the guys you're with.

ARRAF: Thank you.

BROWN: Jane Arraf embedded with the Army in Falluja tonight.

A bit later in the program we'll look at the entire sweep of the week as seen by a collection of embedded reporters and photographers. For now, though, a tighter focus on the moment, a moment at times terrifying, others terrifyingly empty. The pictures are from "The Los Angeles Times" and photographer Luis Sinco. He's embedded with the 1st Marines 8th Regiment Charlie Company.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUIS SINCO, "THE LOS ANGELES TIMES" (voice-over): Early Thursday morning, Charlie Company were supporting a raid by Iraqi Special Forces troops on what the Marines called the Al Jinadi (ph) Mosque. I understand there were snipers in the minaret. We made it in there after the Iraqis raided the place and then we spent the night there.

In the morning we looked around. All the glass was broken and there was glass and pieces of plaster and cement all over this huge Persian rug. One of the Marines I saw went by a window where they had placed several Qurans on book stands and he was leafing through the Quran and he was framed in the windows, which were pretty much shattered. Soon afterwards the shooting started up again and the mosque came under heavy fire from snipers so the Marines decided that they needed to make an escape plan. We quickly made our way to the city government complex where we are now. This morning, however, the fire continued.

A lot of the shots I took today were of Marines running from building to building to avoid sniper fire while conducting clearing operations. But the patrols go on and the raids go on day and night, so I think it is starting to wear a little bit. They are getting very fatigued but they are very motivated just by their accomplishments in the last few days.

The conditions are very difficult now without power and water. The destruction in the city is incredible. I think the Fallujans are in for a big shock when they come back and see their city in ruins.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Luis Sinco of "The Los Angeles Times."

On now to the question of civilian losses, in that respect the view from Falluja is a blinkered one, perhaps through no fault of anything save the fog of war. In any case, at some point the people who make it their business to count the dead and tally the damage and so on will know what they need to know.

Until then there are suspicions and allegations and, in Falluja, a hospital largely without patients, reporting tonight CNN's Karl Penhaul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL (voice-over): Falluja's main hospital, one of the first objectives seized by advancing coalition forces. It's still empty and out of action. The hospital compound has been taking insurgent fire and doctors say it's impossible for them to venture a few miles downtown to get the details of possible civilian casualties.

Before the assault started, Marine commanders estimated 50,000 civilians may be left inside Falluja. Iraqi Red Crescent officials put the number only in the hundreds.

During the previous assault on Falluja in April, controversy in Washington and Baghdad over the extent of civilian casualties forced coalition forces to call a truce. The U.S. military regularly blames Falluja doctors for exaggerating civilian casualties.

Since the fighting began in Falluja Monday doctors have nothing to indicate whether there have been few or many civilians caught in the crossfire. Iraqi Red Crescent officials say the relief workers have not been able to enter Falluja because coalition forces cannot guarantee their safety.

DR. JAMAL AL-KARBOLI, RED CRESCENT DIRECTOR: There are some families still living inside with their children facing a terrible situation, situation from fighting around them, from multinational activity, military from inside Falluja and they are in between. They don't have water. They are taking dirty water. (UNINTELLIGIBLE.)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL: Now, compounding the problem of getting information out of Falluja, initially all phone communications with the city were jammed. Now it appears that cell phone communications with the city have been destroyed in some shape or form. This makes it doubly difficult to gather information about possible civilian casualties -- Aaron.

BROWN: The other part of the problem is nobody really knows how many people fled Falluja before the battle started a week ago.

PENHAUL: That's correct. The coalition estimates were that possibly 50,000 civilians had remained inside of Falluja but the latest estimates that we have from the Iraqi Red Crescent were that possibly only 750 civilians were left inside of Falluja, so obviously a great disparity in the numbers there -- Aaron.

BROWN: Karl, thank you for your work this week, Karl Penhaul in Baghdad.

All week it has been Falluja and all the rest, all the rest covers a fair bit of ground. With the fighting in Falluja winding down, hopefully all the rest is elbowing its way back into the picture, with that from the Pentagon, CNN's Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As U.S. and Iraqi forces continue to hunt down insurgents in Falluja this purported audio tape from terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi surfaced on an Islamic Web site. The voice urges fighters in Falluja and across Iraq to press on.

The tape's authenticity has not been confirmed but Zarqawi, still on the loose, raises the question what has the Falluja campaign really meant for achieving stability across Iraq?

Pentagon officials say the primary objective in Falluja is not defeating the insurgency but instead terrain, getting the city under control before January's election. Insurgents got the message. Many fled and hundreds who stayed were killed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we leave now, somebody else will come in and we'll just have to come back later.

STARR: No U.S. official believes the insurgency itself is defeated. In fact, they say new attacks across Iraq indicate insurgents are trying to send their own message. The top U.S. commander in Mosul...

BRIG. GEN. CARTER HAM, U.S. ARMY: The enemy is pretty savvy and I don't want to underestimate their capability. They look for weakness and they try to strike that.

STARR: Some of the worst fighting this week in Mosul, air strikes and U.S. and Iraqi forces moving in after insurgents attacked and overran police stations. The entire Sunni Triangle is a problem, says one official, and Baghdad remains on the negative side of the ledger, he says.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You cannot defeat an insurgent by using sheer firepower. As I've said, it's a political battle.

STARR (on camera): U.S. officials say these new attacks around Iraq are not a second front in the war but brushfires they will be able to put out.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Ahead on NEWSNIGHT on this Friday, the sights and sounds, the terror of urban combat, the week in Falluja through the eyes of embeds. That's later in the hour.

Also the story that fascinated so many and actually affected so few, why the Laci Peterson murder case was irresistible. We'll take a break first.

From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: It says something about something that the most talked about story of this day has no great issue attached no larger meaning to be discerned. It is simply an awful tragedy, the sort of tragedy that happens all too often in far too many places, rarely noticed except by those it directly touches.

In the year Laci Peterson was murdered, 804 other women in America were murdered by their spouses, 804 cases largely unreported except in their hometowns and Ms. Peterson reported in great detail everywhere, the why of that in a few moment but first the end of the trial, the guilty verdict.

Here's CNN's David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY (voice-over): She was the beaming soon-to-be mom, the victim of what was reported as a sensational Christmas Eve abduction. He was the cheating husband seemingly prone to suspicious behavior. But now Scott Peterson is a convicted killer found guilty of the first degree murder of his wife Laci and second degree murder of their unborn child.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury, in the above-entitled cause find the defendant, Scott Lee Peterson, guilty of the crime of murder of Laci Denise Peterson. MATTINGLY: Scott Peterson sat almost motionless, showing no reaction as the clerk read the verdict that could bring him the death penalty. Laci Peterson's friends and family wept openly in court, the end of an ordeal that began in December, 2002.

JIM HAMMER, LEGAL ANALYST: There was a gasp in that courtroom. People have been waiting now for five months for the conclusion of the case and the two most dramatic outcomes were Scott Peterson walking free or facing the death penalty and that's what he's about to face. So, it doesn't get any more serious than that.

MATTINGLY: Outside the courthouse there were cheers as the verdict was announced.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ...find the defendant Scott Lee Peterson guilty of the...

MATTINGLY: In the Peterson's hometown of Modesto, patrons at a bar erupted into applause. And, at the house where investigators believe Peterson killed his wife, people expressed their emotions by leaving flowers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's good. It's good for the family, so I'm happy about that but I'm -- it's a closure.

MATTINGLY: Peterson's family exited the courthouse without comment. They had no reaction in court to the verdict and did not acknowledge the taunts as they walked to a waiting car.

People in the crowd snapped up copies of the local paper screaming a bold headline, the hottest souvenir on this fateful day in a long and painful trial.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Next is the all important penalty phase where Scott Peterson will literally fight for his life, as his attorneys attempt to prove why he should not receive the death penalty -- Aaron.

BROWN: Two or three questions. When does the penalty phase start?

MATTINGLY: The penalty phase will begin. The jury will come back a week from Monday. It will take a few days, split up by the Thanksgiving holiday. They expect a decision on that shortly after Thanksgiving.

BROWN: The principals here, the attorneys are still gagged, is that right?

MATTINGLY: That's correct. All the participants in this case were reminded not to speak to the media as they left. The jurors were allowed to go home. They're no longer sequestered but they are not allowed to speak.

BROWN: So, we don't know generally where the defense will look for appeal issues but there were juror issues in the case and that's one, I guess, logical place to start.

MATTINGLY: That is correct and there was some objections that were lodged during that. There was so much turmoil in the jury room. There are possibilities for appeal there. The judge himself did say during the trial that this seemed to be an appellate attorney's Petri dish, meaning that there was an awful lot here that could lead to some kind of an appeal.

BROWN: David, thank you for your work today, David Mattingly out in California.

Not all news stories are created equal but that doesn't always correlate to how much play they get. It's fair to say that we think many more Americans are likely more familiar with the details of Laci Peterson's murder than the specifics say of the crisis in Sudan but what drives their interest and how much responsibility do we in the media bear? A simpler way to put it how did the death of one young woman, tragic absolutely, historic no, become such a huge story?

Here's CNN's Howard Kurtz.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When bad things happen to famous people the media can be counted on to go wild, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jackson, Martha Stewart.

But then there are tragedies involving ordinary people that somehow get transformed into media melodramas. From the murders of Chandra Levy, who had a relationship with Gary Condit and Jon Benet Ramsey to the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart, the common thread is young, white and attractive. The latest, and one of the longest running media obsessions, involves Laci Peterson.

(on camera): When the pregnant California woman disappeared just before Christmas in 2002, no one had ever heard of her but by the time Scott Peterson was accused of killing his wife, the case was inescapable.

(voice-over): It was big on the network morning shows like "Today" and "Good Morning America" where Diane Sawyer interviewed Scott Peterson, big on "LARRY KING LIVE," big on Dan Abrams' MSNBC show, big on Greta Van Susteren's Fox program even during last week's presidential election.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have some new pictures of Scott Peterson from the courtroom itself.

KURTZ: The seemingly endless media coverage, as in the O.J. marathon, has played up the soap opera aspects, such as the other woman, Amber Frey. It's become a reality show with its own cast of characters, including celebrity lawyers like Mark Geragos and Gloria Allred.

Television also turns these cases into morality plays with a simple plot line and a natural climax and people rooting for or against a defendant and you don't need that many people rooting, just an extra million or half million makes cable executives very happy.

There's nothing wrong with covering the Peterson case. The question is whether major portions of the media are over covering it, overdosing on it to exploit the tragedy.

(on camera): It's been nearly two years now. Saddam Hussein was toppled. President Bush was reelected. Ronald Reagan died. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series. And still the media are talking about Scott and Laci Peterson. It almost makes you wonder whether all this is about the murder of a pregnant woman or about boosting circulation and ratings.

Howard Kurtz, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: In just a moment, has the struggle for gay rights gotten ahead of the country or just the legal battle for gay marriage?

And later, as Palestinians laid their leader to rest, a look at the opportunities and obstacles left to peace in the Middle East, a break first.

From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: It was for a while the argument over whether gay marriage played a decisive role in the election is perhaps the central issue. In the weeks and months leading up to the election in localities in California and Massachusetts and New York and elsewhere thousands of couples actually did get married, legally married or so it seemed. Then on Election Day, the residents of eleven states voted to restrict or ban same-sex marriage leaving a lot of couples in limbo.

So, from Oregon tonight, here's CNN's Jonathan Freed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mary Li and Becky Kennedy are married but they're not sure it's going to last. It's not their relationship. That's rock solid.

MARY LI, SAME-SEX SPOUSE: Until someone tells us otherwise we believe we have a legal marriage.

FREED: The trouble is their marriage certificate may have been printed with disappearing ink. Mary and Becky were the first of 3,000 same-sex couples to be married here in the Portland, Oregon area last spring when Multnomah County decided to allow gay weddings.

But on Election Day, voters approved Measure 36 amending the state's constitution defining marriage as being between one man and one woman. For gays it's one whole lot of frustration with those who voted yes. BECKY KENNEDY, SAME-SEX SPOUSE: The one piece of paper that guarantees them their right to practice whatever religion they want, gives them all their freedoms they're using to take away rights from us.

FREED: Constitutional experts say it won't be clear which rights, if any, have been taken away until Oregon's Supreme Court rules on the validity of the marriage licenses. Rulings could range from voiding the licenses to upholding them based on the federal guarantee of equal protection under the law. Some believe Measure 36 will cause the court to declare gay marriage dead in name but call on state lawmakers to extend the rights and privileges by other means, such as civil unions.

KELLY BURKE, SAME-SEX SPOUSE: No, I didn't fill that one out.

FREED: Kelly Burke might reluctantly accept civil union status, if it means financial stability for her family. Only since her wedding in March has she been able to use her spouse Dolores' health insurance, saving thousands of dollars. Burke believes the vote enshrined discrimination.

BURKE: I don't understand how people can feel that way and wish other people harm and then actually use their vote to inflict that harm. I don't -- it's not something that I can really comprehend.

FREED (on camera): You feel attacked?

BURKE: I do.

GEORGENE RICE, DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE COALITION: You know there's a lot of talk going on about how this election ended up the way it did.

FREED (voice-over): Georgene Rice hosts a Christian radio talk show and was a key voice in the anti-gay marriage campaign. Her sense is that any move toward civil unions would meet strong resistance and she's convinced the court can only see this one way.

RICE: We believe that because the people have spoken clearly on their view of and have amended Oregon's constitution that it clearly states that marriage will be between one man and one woman in this state.

FREED: Legal scholars suggest the Oregon battle could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Mary and Becky say that even if the courts take away their marriage, they'll always remember how empowered they felt when they said "I do."

Jonathan Freed, CNN, Portland, Oregon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Every state now that has voted on gay marriage has voted it down. None was especially close. That is a reality facing supporters of gay marriage. Matt Coles is the director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Lesbian and Gay Rights Project and he joins us here in New York.

Just listening to one of the people in Jon's piece there saying I don't understand how people can take these rights away from us and this and that, what do you -- do you think the people who, the 60 or 70 percent depending on where you are who vote against gay rights, gay marriage rather, are bigots?

MATT COLES, DIR., ACLU'S LESBIAN AND GAY RIGHTS PROJECT: I think they're people who probably sort of don't understand what the issue is really about. I think they think they're voting on an abstract question about marriage and don't realize that they're actually really voting on very, very important issues in people's lives.

BROWN: Do you -- would you agree that it is in some respects the word marriage that gives people so much trouble?

COLES: Yes. I think it's word marriage. And it's that this is change. And I think change makes people uncomfortable and it makes people nervous. And I think a change in a fundamental institution makes people concerned. And we haven't made the case for why it's really important.

BROWN: I think that's a fair point, that the case itself, or the issue itself, moved almost in a heartbeat, it seemed like. All of a sudden, Massachusetts, and then San Francisco, and this thing -- social change takes time, with no guarantee as to the outcome.

COLES: Right. Right.

And, in the United States, you can't make any kind of enduring social change unless you change the way people think. You can get great court rulings. You can get great laws. But we don't really make serious change unless you change the way people think. And I think this has gone so fast, we haven't really had a time to engage.

BROWN: So now you have to make judgments about -- essentially strategic judgments about how to or whether to challenge referendum and initiatives in various states. How are you approaching this?

COLES: I'm approaching it with the sense that our first job really is to get involved with the dialogue with the American people about same-sex relationships. I think the most important thing to do strategically is stop talking in abstract terms and start showing people real people and showing people that people -- same-sex couples build lives together and get treated very unfairly when the law treats them as strangers. And I think we have got to show people that to start a dialogue.

BROWN: How is that a legal strategy?

COLES: Well, I think that's what the cases have to be based on. I think cases that are based on sort of abstract claims of, these are the rights I want or this is the way I'd like to be treated don't provide a platform for change, the way that cases are about people who have been really hurt are. So I guess I would say, the most important thing, I think, in the legal strategy is not to attack constitutional amendments. It's to get cases that really can make people understand the problem.

BROWN: Does that mean you will ignore constitutional amendments where there may be flaws in the referendum itself?

COLES: No.

I think we will -- for example, about eight of these clearly go beyond marriage. Nobody is sure how much beyond marriage they go. Do they go to civil unions? Do they go to domestic partnerships? I want to find cases of people, for instance, who are on domestic partnership health plans and use those cases to say, we shouldn't read these any more expansively, because people will get hurt if we do.

BROWN: Barney Frank, when the Massachusetts case came down, somewhat to the chagrin of some activists in the gay community, said, this is the wrong time for this to happen. In retrospect, was Massachusetts the worst thing that could happen?

COLES: I don't think Massachusetts was the worst thing that could happen. But I think that Massachusetts and the San Francisco marriages happening not long after it, they caught us a little flat- footed. And we weren't really ready we were ready to -- we were ready to make the case in the courts. We weren't really ready to make the case in the court of public opinion.

BROWN: So that's where you head next.

COLES: Absolutely.

BROWN: Nice of you to come in.

COLES: Thanks. It's a pleasure.

BROWN: It's always -- wherever you are on these issues, it's interesting to watch social change and the tensions of social change play out. And this, which affects the most intimate parts of people's lives, is clearly one of them. So I expect it is going to be with us for a while.

COLES: I think so, too.

BROWN: Thank you, Matt.

Still ahead on the program, in death as in life, Yasser Arafat did not go quietly. We'll take to you Ramallah. Also ahead, stitching together the larger picture of a difficult week in Fallujah.

Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was laid to rest today, the logistics of the day a testament to his complicated place in history.

The day began in Cairo, where a brief military funeral was held this morning. It lasted but 25 minutes, was reserved for international dignitaries, the public kept out.

Later in the day, at a news conference in Washington, with Prime Minister Tony Blair at his side, President Bush offered his condolences, but also spoke of the possibilities ahead, of opportunities. Mr. Bush's remarks came hours after Mr. Arafat was buried in Ramallah, the place where he spent his final years a virtual prisoner, the place where he was considered a hero.

Here is CNN's John Vause.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Yasser Arafat one final, triumphant return. Thousands climbs walls, rushed security guards and pushed their way into the Ramallah compound, desperate to touch his coffin, to get close to the leader they called "The Old Man."

It was chaos. Police and soldiers fired wildly into the air. The crowd barely flinched. Palestinian officials pleaded unsuccessfully from the helicopter door for the mob to back off. Thirty minutes later, the coffin appeared. It was loaded on to a jeep and Arafat's personal bodyguards, the men who protected him in life, clung to the casket while the crowd surged forward.

Slowly, they moved towards the marble and concrete burial site. Officials had planned a formal service, marching bands and parading soldiers. None of it happened.

On this day, the Palestinian people claimed their leader for themselves. The funeral took on a life of its own.

Militants from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade made a show of force, while the Palestinian flag was ripped away, replaced by a kaffiyeh similar to the one which was Arafat's trademark. As the coffin was lowered, it was covered with soil from the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the place where Arafat wanted to be buried and where Palestinians hope one day he will be when there is a Palestinian state.

Amid all the chaos there was still ceremony, verses from the Koran and prayers. And finally, Yasser Arafat was laid to rest. A chapter in history had come to an end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And when Yasser Arafat left the West Bank two weeks ago, he said to those around him, I'll be back.

And now, as he said I'll be back, and as he slipped away in that Paris hospital, Aaron, those who knew him best said that this was the kind of homecoming he would have wanted -- Aaron. BROWN: Well, it was quite a scene to watch. How did Israeli television cover it?

VAUSE: Actually, we don't know. We didn't see Israeli television all day, Aaron. We've been stuck in Ramallah. In fact, at one point, we were stuck in the building because we were surrounded by mourners who wanted to get closer to the Muqata.

We do know that at least a few Israelis did the checkpoint, those were close to him, those from the Peace Now movement, for example, some Israeli citizens. They were allowed to attend. As far as the Israeli media coverage, I just can't tell you.

BROWN: That's -- I don't know is a good answer when one doesn't know.

John, thank you -- John Vause in Ramallah tonight.

Ahead on the program, police shocked a first grader with a stun gun. Was it excessive force? Is it ever not excessive force with a 6-year-old?

And the battle for Falluja, a look back at the week when U.S. soldiers began to take back a city one block at a time.

This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Necessary force is defined as the force a reasonable and prudent law enforcement officer would use under the circumstances. We bring this up tonight because of what happened in a public school in Florida. A little boy, a first grader, became violent. The principal called police. When the officers arrived, they reacted like they were trained to do. Unfortunately, they're trained to take down a violent adult, not a small child.

Here is CNN's Susan Candiotti.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A five-second 50,000-volt jolt from a Taser can drop a full-grown man in a heartbeat. It does the same to a 6-year-old child. Three weeks ago, police Tasered this boy in a Miami-area public school.

JUAN DEL CASTILLO, MIAMI DADE POLICE DEPARTMENT: It caused no injury to him, no injury to anybody else. It stopped the situation.

CANDIOTTI: A Miami-Dade police report described the youngster as mentally disturbed, highly agitated and smearing blood all over his face. Miami-Dade police say the first grader was holding a security guard at bay with a piece of glass.

(on camera): According to the police report, at least four adults were there, a school resource officer, a security guard, and two police officers. One of the two officers, says the report, called a superior and got clearance to Taser the 6-year-old boy.

(voice-over): When they did that to him, says the boy's great- grandmother, he fell to the floor and vomited. Police defend their actions.

DEL CASTILLO: Our main concern was that he was going to hurt himself with that piece of glass.

CANDIOTTI: A police official who did not want to be identified called Tasering a 6-year-old unbelievable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They could have restrained him with their hands or any other thing, not with that.

CANDIOTTI: Parents and child advocates are demanding answers.

BENJAMIN JEALOUS, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Why four grownups couldn't swarm that kid and grabbed him and restrained him, it just doesn't make any sense.

CANDIOTTI: "It's bad," says the boy's great-grandmother. "The police were only doing their job." Then she adds, "But they made a mistake."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taser!

CANDIOTTI: Tasers are being used in schools nationwide, in rural Putnam County, Florida, Tasers deployed five times this year in middle and high schools.

JAMAL CURTIS, TASERED STUDENT: It felt bad. It was -- it is just, like, downright pain.

CANDIOTTI: Jamal Curtis and his sister, honor roll students, among those jolted for alleged violent behavior. School officials insist a Taser is far less harmful than batons and pepper spray.

KAREN HUGHES, PUTNAM COUNTY: If they are not going to respect authority and do what they're asked to do, then force sometimes has to be used.

CANDIOTTI: Taser International maintains its weapons are tested as the safest way to subdue someone who weighs at least 60 pounds. But remain a controversial way of policing children, especially those of a very tender age.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Still ahead tonight, one story, many takes, the battle of Falluja as it played out in the streets over the week.

A break first.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: Back now to where we began tonight and most certainly will return for many programs to come, back to Iraq, in this case, Falluja.

We've said before, but it bears repeating that covering this story is extremely difficult. For reporters on the ground, it means risking their lives, not the way soldiers and Marines risk their lives. That's not the comparison we make. But it is tough and risky and necessary work. The day-to-day coverage can often look like a disjointed snapshot.

But string those shots together over the course of a week and you see something larger, clearer, the intensity of the fight, the power of the force fighting the insurgents, the tension, sometimes the fear.

Here now, a recap of the week past through the eyes of some of the embeds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The sky over Falluja seems to explode as U.S. Marines launch a much-trumpeted ground assault. Warplanes drop cluster bombs on insurgent positions and artillery batteries fire smoke rounds to conceal the Marine advance.

MICHAEL WARE, BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF, "TIME": As morning came and the first light of day, the attacks began. They came fast and furious and have been unrelenting. When they appear, the fighting is terrible. Everything is thrown at the U.S. forces. No one is giving an inch and no one is giving a quarter.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: You can hear behind us artillery and machine guns being fired at some of those pockets. Rocket-propelled grenades landed here a short while ago. But they are not finding resistance fighters or terrorists in their minds in any large numbers, not in the way they had expected to find them, not making their last stand against American forces.

LINDSEY HILSUM, ITN REPORTER: They're now laying down an enormous amount of fire, taking out the houses all along one road. And, yet, at the moment, nothing is coming back. We have heard the occasional crackle of AK-47s, but otherwise nothing. It seems they really are firing into empty houses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, he's wounded in between these two houses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We thought everything was clear. We had guys up on the roof and went over there go get them, pull them back with the squad. And another guy popped out, tried to shoot me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taking fire from the mosque just directly on top of us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ones we can see, yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The big one right there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go!

WARE: These men and, quite frankly, these boys who have led this assault from the beginning -- they were the first vehicles to enter the city. And they have been the tip of the spear from day one and tonight out there are now as we speak.

Their morale is high. They're dog-tired. They're hungry. In the early hours of the morning, they're freezing cold. They're almost falling asleep on their feet. Yet, the insurgents attack them in the moments you least expect. Nonetheless, they're banding together in a way -- it was a privilege to witness. Their hunger for the battle continues. Their grit and their resolve is amazing. And their fight is not finished. They still have a ways to go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: That was Michael Ware of "TIME" magazine, who shot many of those pictures.

Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: Okeydokey, time to check morning papers around the country and around the world. It was a day of, I suppose, three leads for newspapers. You could lead Arafat. You could lead Iraq, and I suppose you could lead Peterson. The advantage of a newspaper is, you can put them all on the front page. We can't.

"Washington Times. "Arafat Buried at Compound in Ramallah" and "Peterson Guilty of Laci's Murder" share the front page. And down here a bit down, "Iraqi Troops Rush to Mosul to Crush Uprising. Rampage Seen as in Support of Falluja Fighters."

This actually is today's "New York Post." We couldn't resist it. "The Arafat Lady Sings. Rich Widow's Farewell to Yasser." They're the best headline writers in the world. They're tough, but they are good.

"The Rocky Mountain News." "Burial of Grief and Guns." They lead with Arafat in "The Rocky Mountain News." They put Scott Peterson on the front page as a teaser item. And the story, in fact, is buried on 27-A.

"The Philadelphia Inquirer." "Chaos, Grief For Arafat." Peterson on the front page, also. Down at the bottom, "Ashcroft" -- that would be John Ashcroft -- "Rulings Put Nation at Risk," the outgoing attorney general blaming activist judges for putting the nation at risk in terrorism cases. He didn't specify what he was referring to, but we presume allowing lawyers for those people detained as enemy combatants.

Redwood City, California had no trouble figuring out the lead, nor should they. "Guilty. Crowds Cheer Verdict in the Scott Peterson Case."

And "The Times Herald" in Upstate New York led the same way. "Guilty. He Could Face the Death Penalty." But they also put a local story on the front, "Early Snow, Big Trouble." Yes, early.

"Chattanooga Times." Scott Peterson is just a tiny story down at the bottom there. They lead Arafat. "Arafat Buried Amid Grief and Chaos." Wasn't that somebody else's?

Whereas "The Des Moines Register," "Jurors Say Peterson Killed Pregnant Wife." So that's who they did it.

By the way, if you're wondering, the weather in Chicago tomorrow, "accommodating."

That's it for tonight. Have a great weekend. We're all back here on Monday. Until then, good night for all of us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired November 12, 2004 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
Here's one of those uncomfortable truths about covering the war in Iraq. As the fight for Falluja rages on, the most important question about this fight is one we cannot yet answer.

It has nothing to do with the number of insurgents killed or whether the Marines and the Army units will take the city. Many hundreds of insurgents will die and U.S. forces will do their jobs with skill and bravery. Neither was ever in doubt and neither is the most important question.

The most important question is how the Iraqi forces will do, have done, are doing. We really do not know that yet and the future of that country and the future of the American effort to remake that country depends on the answer to that question. We will answer other questions tonight, important ones to be sure, but not the most important, not yet and perhaps not for a while.

We begin with the here and now, CNN's Karl Penhaul in Baghdad, Karl a headline from you tonight.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Aaron. As fighting goes house to house in Falluja, humanitarian aid workers ask about the fate of possible civilian casualties -- Aaron.

BROWN: Karl, thank you.

Next to Redwood City, California, the Scott Peterson trial which will soon enter the penalty phase, CNN's David Mattingly is there for us so, David, a headline.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, two lives were taken and now one hangs in the balance as Scott Peterson is found guilty of murdering his wife and unborn child, a verdict that drew cheers outside the courthouse -- Aaron.

BROWN: David, thank you.

Finally, back to the Middle East and the death of Yasser Arafat, CNN's John Vause with the day in Ramallah, John, the headline.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Officials here wanted a formal dignified service for the Palestinian leader. What they got was an emotional, passionate and, at time, uncontrollable outpouring of grief -- Aaron.

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

Also coming up on the program tonight, police increasingly using taser stun guns but surely not on 6-year-old children, why on earth the police in Florida do just that. You'll hear their side of the story.

We'll revisit same-sex marriage and couples who got married when it seemed the legal thing to do. Was it all a case of until the election do us part?

And morning papers wrap up the week, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight at the end of a difficult week in Iraq, difficult to be sure, decisive we shall see. As we said a moment ago, the most critical question remains unanswered.

What we can do tonight is gauge the progress made, the problems encountered and, of course, the number of dead and wounded, though even that is not always easy information to come by.

We begin with the view from CNN's Jane Arraf on the phone embedded with the Army's 1st Infantry, Jane, good evening.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF (by telephone): Good evening, Aaron.

As the country has entered what's expected to be the first day of the Muslim ceased, the battle still raging in Falluja. Aaron, the Army troops that we are with retook the south. In fact, this is the first time that troops have been here since April.

They took the southern sector of the city and, as they came through, they came into almost constant fire from what are still isolated cells of insurgents out there hiding in bunkers, hiding even in tunnels that have been dug between buildings. They are quite entrenched here.

What the Army and Marines are doing is continuing their sweep through the city, in some cases block by block and one of the mysteries still in this sector in the north and south side of the city on the east there are no civilians.

Not a single one has been found by Iraqi forces going through the city on this night looking for them. They say there's no evidence -- there's evidence that people have left a long time ago -- Aaron.

BROWN: What does the city look like? Is it just destroyed?

ARRAF: In the part that we're in it's taken quite a beating. You have to remember it's been five days in the city of being pounded by artillery, air strikes and all sorts of other means, so essentially what it looks like here, we're sitting here and the sun is just coming up and we're in a residential district. It's really very eerie.

It's a typical Iraqi neighborhood in the sense that it's full cinder block houses, some of them still under construction, some of them now with large holes in them, some of them completely destroyed from this bombing and bombings in April and afterwards as troops launched air strikes, nothing in the streets except for a few dead bodies here and there and stray dogs and every once in a while from these buildings gunfire coming from the insurgents.

BROWN: Jane, just one more before we lose you here tonight. Has the fight gone the way your Army unit thought it would go?

ARRAF: It's probably gone a little bit differently and they really thought there would be more of an organized insurgency. There was a lot of hype about this, you'll recall, that this was where insurgents would make their last stand, where they would blow themselves up, where they would launch an organized resistance.

In fact, they seem, according to the commander we're with, they seem to have been cornered in this part of the city and they are again in relatively small crowds but what we're finding as we go through is rather astonishing, a series of booby trapped streets, for instance.

In another part of the city a house believed to have been the place where hostages were killed. There have been no U.S. forces here since April and the insurgency had a lot of time to transform parts of this city.

BROWN: Well, Jane, hang in there. Stay safe, OK, and our best to the guys you're with.

ARRAF: Thank you.

BROWN: Jane Arraf embedded with the Army in Falluja tonight.

A bit later in the program we'll look at the entire sweep of the week as seen by a collection of embedded reporters and photographers. For now, though, a tighter focus on the moment, a moment at times terrifying, others terrifyingly empty. The pictures are from "The Los Angeles Times" and photographer Luis Sinco. He's embedded with the 1st Marines 8th Regiment Charlie Company.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUIS SINCO, "THE LOS ANGELES TIMES" (voice-over): Early Thursday morning, Charlie Company were supporting a raid by Iraqi Special Forces troops on what the Marines called the Al Jinadi (ph) Mosque. I understand there were snipers in the minaret. We made it in there after the Iraqis raided the place and then we spent the night there.

In the morning we looked around. All the glass was broken and there was glass and pieces of plaster and cement all over this huge Persian rug. One of the Marines I saw went by a window where they had placed several Qurans on book stands and he was leafing through the Quran and he was framed in the windows, which were pretty much shattered. Soon afterwards the shooting started up again and the mosque came under heavy fire from snipers so the Marines decided that they needed to make an escape plan. We quickly made our way to the city government complex where we are now. This morning, however, the fire continued.

A lot of the shots I took today were of Marines running from building to building to avoid sniper fire while conducting clearing operations. But the patrols go on and the raids go on day and night, so I think it is starting to wear a little bit. They are getting very fatigued but they are very motivated just by their accomplishments in the last few days.

The conditions are very difficult now without power and water. The destruction in the city is incredible. I think the Fallujans are in for a big shock when they come back and see their city in ruins.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Luis Sinco of "The Los Angeles Times."

On now to the question of civilian losses, in that respect the view from Falluja is a blinkered one, perhaps through no fault of anything save the fog of war. In any case, at some point the people who make it their business to count the dead and tally the damage and so on will know what they need to know.

Until then there are suspicions and allegations and, in Falluja, a hospital largely without patients, reporting tonight CNN's Karl Penhaul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL (voice-over): Falluja's main hospital, one of the first objectives seized by advancing coalition forces. It's still empty and out of action. The hospital compound has been taking insurgent fire and doctors say it's impossible for them to venture a few miles downtown to get the details of possible civilian casualties.

Before the assault started, Marine commanders estimated 50,000 civilians may be left inside Falluja. Iraqi Red Crescent officials put the number only in the hundreds.

During the previous assault on Falluja in April, controversy in Washington and Baghdad over the extent of civilian casualties forced coalition forces to call a truce. The U.S. military regularly blames Falluja doctors for exaggerating civilian casualties.

Since the fighting began in Falluja Monday doctors have nothing to indicate whether there have been few or many civilians caught in the crossfire. Iraqi Red Crescent officials say the relief workers have not been able to enter Falluja because coalition forces cannot guarantee their safety.

DR. JAMAL AL-KARBOLI, RED CRESCENT DIRECTOR: There are some families still living inside with their children facing a terrible situation, situation from fighting around them, from multinational activity, military from inside Falluja and they are in between. They don't have water. They are taking dirty water. (UNINTELLIGIBLE.)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL: Now, compounding the problem of getting information out of Falluja, initially all phone communications with the city were jammed. Now it appears that cell phone communications with the city have been destroyed in some shape or form. This makes it doubly difficult to gather information about possible civilian casualties -- Aaron.

BROWN: The other part of the problem is nobody really knows how many people fled Falluja before the battle started a week ago.

PENHAUL: That's correct. The coalition estimates were that possibly 50,000 civilians had remained inside of Falluja but the latest estimates that we have from the Iraqi Red Crescent were that possibly only 750 civilians were left inside of Falluja, so obviously a great disparity in the numbers there -- Aaron.

BROWN: Karl, thank you for your work this week, Karl Penhaul in Baghdad.

All week it has been Falluja and all the rest, all the rest covers a fair bit of ground. With the fighting in Falluja winding down, hopefully all the rest is elbowing its way back into the picture, with that from the Pentagon, CNN's Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As U.S. and Iraqi forces continue to hunt down insurgents in Falluja this purported audio tape from terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi surfaced on an Islamic Web site. The voice urges fighters in Falluja and across Iraq to press on.

The tape's authenticity has not been confirmed but Zarqawi, still on the loose, raises the question what has the Falluja campaign really meant for achieving stability across Iraq?

Pentagon officials say the primary objective in Falluja is not defeating the insurgency but instead terrain, getting the city under control before January's election. Insurgents got the message. Many fled and hundreds who stayed were killed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we leave now, somebody else will come in and we'll just have to come back later.

STARR: No U.S. official believes the insurgency itself is defeated. In fact, they say new attacks across Iraq indicate insurgents are trying to send their own message. The top U.S. commander in Mosul...

BRIG. GEN. CARTER HAM, U.S. ARMY: The enemy is pretty savvy and I don't want to underestimate their capability. They look for weakness and they try to strike that.

STARR: Some of the worst fighting this week in Mosul, air strikes and U.S. and Iraqi forces moving in after insurgents attacked and overran police stations. The entire Sunni Triangle is a problem, says one official, and Baghdad remains on the negative side of the ledger, he says.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You cannot defeat an insurgent by using sheer firepower. As I've said, it's a political battle.

STARR (on camera): U.S. officials say these new attacks around Iraq are not a second front in the war but brushfires they will be able to put out.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Ahead on NEWSNIGHT on this Friday, the sights and sounds, the terror of urban combat, the week in Falluja through the eyes of embeds. That's later in the hour.

Also the story that fascinated so many and actually affected so few, why the Laci Peterson murder case was irresistible. We'll take a break first.

From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: It says something about something that the most talked about story of this day has no great issue attached no larger meaning to be discerned. It is simply an awful tragedy, the sort of tragedy that happens all too often in far too many places, rarely noticed except by those it directly touches.

In the year Laci Peterson was murdered, 804 other women in America were murdered by their spouses, 804 cases largely unreported except in their hometowns and Ms. Peterson reported in great detail everywhere, the why of that in a few moment but first the end of the trial, the guilty verdict.

Here's CNN's David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY (voice-over): She was the beaming soon-to-be mom, the victim of what was reported as a sensational Christmas Eve abduction. He was the cheating husband seemingly prone to suspicious behavior. But now Scott Peterson is a convicted killer found guilty of the first degree murder of his wife Laci and second degree murder of their unborn child.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury, in the above-entitled cause find the defendant, Scott Lee Peterson, guilty of the crime of murder of Laci Denise Peterson. MATTINGLY: Scott Peterson sat almost motionless, showing no reaction as the clerk read the verdict that could bring him the death penalty. Laci Peterson's friends and family wept openly in court, the end of an ordeal that began in December, 2002.

JIM HAMMER, LEGAL ANALYST: There was a gasp in that courtroom. People have been waiting now for five months for the conclusion of the case and the two most dramatic outcomes were Scott Peterson walking free or facing the death penalty and that's what he's about to face. So, it doesn't get any more serious than that.

MATTINGLY: Outside the courthouse there were cheers as the verdict was announced.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ...find the defendant Scott Lee Peterson guilty of the...

MATTINGLY: In the Peterson's hometown of Modesto, patrons at a bar erupted into applause. And, at the house where investigators believe Peterson killed his wife, people expressed their emotions by leaving flowers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's good. It's good for the family, so I'm happy about that but I'm -- it's a closure.

MATTINGLY: Peterson's family exited the courthouse without comment. They had no reaction in court to the verdict and did not acknowledge the taunts as they walked to a waiting car.

People in the crowd snapped up copies of the local paper screaming a bold headline, the hottest souvenir on this fateful day in a long and painful trial.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Next is the all important penalty phase where Scott Peterson will literally fight for his life, as his attorneys attempt to prove why he should not receive the death penalty -- Aaron.

BROWN: Two or three questions. When does the penalty phase start?

MATTINGLY: The penalty phase will begin. The jury will come back a week from Monday. It will take a few days, split up by the Thanksgiving holiday. They expect a decision on that shortly after Thanksgiving.

BROWN: The principals here, the attorneys are still gagged, is that right?

MATTINGLY: That's correct. All the participants in this case were reminded not to speak to the media as they left. The jurors were allowed to go home. They're no longer sequestered but they are not allowed to speak.

BROWN: So, we don't know generally where the defense will look for appeal issues but there were juror issues in the case and that's one, I guess, logical place to start.

MATTINGLY: That is correct and there was some objections that were lodged during that. There was so much turmoil in the jury room. There are possibilities for appeal there. The judge himself did say during the trial that this seemed to be an appellate attorney's Petri dish, meaning that there was an awful lot here that could lead to some kind of an appeal.

BROWN: David, thank you for your work today, David Mattingly out in California.

Not all news stories are created equal but that doesn't always correlate to how much play they get. It's fair to say that we think many more Americans are likely more familiar with the details of Laci Peterson's murder than the specifics say of the crisis in Sudan but what drives their interest and how much responsibility do we in the media bear? A simpler way to put it how did the death of one young woman, tragic absolutely, historic no, become such a huge story?

Here's CNN's Howard Kurtz.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When bad things happen to famous people the media can be counted on to go wild, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jackson, Martha Stewart.

But then there are tragedies involving ordinary people that somehow get transformed into media melodramas. From the murders of Chandra Levy, who had a relationship with Gary Condit and Jon Benet Ramsey to the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart, the common thread is young, white and attractive. The latest, and one of the longest running media obsessions, involves Laci Peterson.

(on camera): When the pregnant California woman disappeared just before Christmas in 2002, no one had ever heard of her but by the time Scott Peterson was accused of killing his wife, the case was inescapable.

(voice-over): It was big on the network morning shows like "Today" and "Good Morning America" where Diane Sawyer interviewed Scott Peterson, big on "LARRY KING LIVE," big on Dan Abrams' MSNBC show, big on Greta Van Susteren's Fox program even during last week's presidential election.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have some new pictures of Scott Peterson from the courtroom itself.

KURTZ: The seemingly endless media coverage, as in the O.J. marathon, has played up the soap opera aspects, such as the other woman, Amber Frey. It's become a reality show with its own cast of characters, including celebrity lawyers like Mark Geragos and Gloria Allred.

Television also turns these cases into morality plays with a simple plot line and a natural climax and people rooting for or against a defendant and you don't need that many people rooting, just an extra million or half million makes cable executives very happy.

There's nothing wrong with covering the Peterson case. The question is whether major portions of the media are over covering it, overdosing on it to exploit the tragedy.

(on camera): It's been nearly two years now. Saddam Hussein was toppled. President Bush was reelected. Ronald Reagan died. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series. And still the media are talking about Scott and Laci Peterson. It almost makes you wonder whether all this is about the murder of a pregnant woman or about boosting circulation and ratings.

Howard Kurtz, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: In just a moment, has the struggle for gay rights gotten ahead of the country or just the legal battle for gay marriage?

And later, as Palestinians laid their leader to rest, a look at the opportunities and obstacles left to peace in the Middle East, a break first.

From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: It was for a while the argument over whether gay marriage played a decisive role in the election is perhaps the central issue. In the weeks and months leading up to the election in localities in California and Massachusetts and New York and elsewhere thousands of couples actually did get married, legally married or so it seemed. Then on Election Day, the residents of eleven states voted to restrict or ban same-sex marriage leaving a lot of couples in limbo.

So, from Oregon tonight, here's CNN's Jonathan Freed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mary Li and Becky Kennedy are married but they're not sure it's going to last. It's not their relationship. That's rock solid.

MARY LI, SAME-SEX SPOUSE: Until someone tells us otherwise we believe we have a legal marriage.

FREED: The trouble is their marriage certificate may have been printed with disappearing ink. Mary and Becky were the first of 3,000 same-sex couples to be married here in the Portland, Oregon area last spring when Multnomah County decided to allow gay weddings.

But on Election Day, voters approved Measure 36 amending the state's constitution defining marriage as being between one man and one woman. For gays it's one whole lot of frustration with those who voted yes. BECKY KENNEDY, SAME-SEX SPOUSE: The one piece of paper that guarantees them their right to practice whatever religion they want, gives them all their freedoms they're using to take away rights from us.

FREED: Constitutional experts say it won't be clear which rights, if any, have been taken away until Oregon's Supreme Court rules on the validity of the marriage licenses. Rulings could range from voiding the licenses to upholding them based on the federal guarantee of equal protection under the law. Some believe Measure 36 will cause the court to declare gay marriage dead in name but call on state lawmakers to extend the rights and privileges by other means, such as civil unions.

KELLY BURKE, SAME-SEX SPOUSE: No, I didn't fill that one out.

FREED: Kelly Burke might reluctantly accept civil union status, if it means financial stability for her family. Only since her wedding in March has she been able to use her spouse Dolores' health insurance, saving thousands of dollars. Burke believes the vote enshrined discrimination.

BURKE: I don't understand how people can feel that way and wish other people harm and then actually use their vote to inflict that harm. I don't -- it's not something that I can really comprehend.

FREED (on camera): You feel attacked?

BURKE: I do.

GEORGENE RICE, DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE COALITION: You know there's a lot of talk going on about how this election ended up the way it did.

FREED (voice-over): Georgene Rice hosts a Christian radio talk show and was a key voice in the anti-gay marriage campaign. Her sense is that any move toward civil unions would meet strong resistance and she's convinced the court can only see this one way.

RICE: We believe that because the people have spoken clearly on their view of and have amended Oregon's constitution that it clearly states that marriage will be between one man and one woman in this state.

FREED: Legal scholars suggest the Oregon battle could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Mary and Becky say that even if the courts take away their marriage, they'll always remember how empowered they felt when they said "I do."

Jonathan Freed, CNN, Portland, Oregon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Every state now that has voted on gay marriage has voted it down. None was especially close. That is a reality facing supporters of gay marriage. Matt Coles is the director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Lesbian and Gay Rights Project and he joins us here in New York.

Just listening to one of the people in Jon's piece there saying I don't understand how people can take these rights away from us and this and that, what do you -- do you think the people who, the 60 or 70 percent depending on where you are who vote against gay rights, gay marriage rather, are bigots?

MATT COLES, DIR., ACLU'S LESBIAN AND GAY RIGHTS PROJECT: I think they're people who probably sort of don't understand what the issue is really about. I think they think they're voting on an abstract question about marriage and don't realize that they're actually really voting on very, very important issues in people's lives.

BROWN: Do you -- would you agree that it is in some respects the word marriage that gives people so much trouble?

COLES: Yes. I think it's word marriage. And it's that this is change. And I think change makes people uncomfortable and it makes people nervous. And I think a change in a fundamental institution makes people concerned. And we haven't made the case for why it's really important.

BROWN: I think that's a fair point, that the case itself, or the issue itself, moved almost in a heartbeat, it seemed like. All of a sudden, Massachusetts, and then San Francisco, and this thing -- social change takes time, with no guarantee as to the outcome.

COLES: Right. Right.

And, in the United States, you can't make any kind of enduring social change unless you change the way people think. You can get great court rulings. You can get great laws. But we don't really make serious change unless you change the way people think. And I think this has gone so fast, we haven't really had a time to engage.

BROWN: So now you have to make judgments about -- essentially strategic judgments about how to or whether to challenge referendum and initiatives in various states. How are you approaching this?

COLES: I'm approaching it with the sense that our first job really is to get involved with the dialogue with the American people about same-sex relationships. I think the most important thing to do strategically is stop talking in abstract terms and start showing people real people and showing people that people -- same-sex couples build lives together and get treated very unfairly when the law treats them as strangers. And I think we have got to show people that to start a dialogue.

BROWN: How is that a legal strategy?

COLES: Well, I think that's what the cases have to be based on. I think cases that are based on sort of abstract claims of, these are the rights I want or this is the way I'd like to be treated don't provide a platform for change, the way that cases are about people who have been really hurt are. So I guess I would say, the most important thing, I think, in the legal strategy is not to attack constitutional amendments. It's to get cases that really can make people understand the problem.

BROWN: Does that mean you will ignore constitutional amendments where there may be flaws in the referendum itself?

COLES: No.

I think we will -- for example, about eight of these clearly go beyond marriage. Nobody is sure how much beyond marriage they go. Do they go to civil unions? Do they go to domestic partnerships? I want to find cases of people, for instance, who are on domestic partnership health plans and use those cases to say, we shouldn't read these any more expansively, because people will get hurt if we do.

BROWN: Barney Frank, when the Massachusetts case came down, somewhat to the chagrin of some activists in the gay community, said, this is the wrong time for this to happen. In retrospect, was Massachusetts the worst thing that could happen?

COLES: I don't think Massachusetts was the worst thing that could happen. But I think that Massachusetts and the San Francisco marriages happening not long after it, they caught us a little flat- footed. And we weren't really ready we were ready to -- we were ready to make the case in the courts. We weren't really ready to make the case in the court of public opinion.

BROWN: So that's where you head next.

COLES: Absolutely.

BROWN: Nice of you to come in.

COLES: Thanks. It's a pleasure.

BROWN: It's always -- wherever you are on these issues, it's interesting to watch social change and the tensions of social change play out. And this, which affects the most intimate parts of people's lives, is clearly one of them. So I expect it is going to be with us for a while.

COLES: I think so, too.

BROWN: Thank you, Matt.

Still ahead on the program, in death as in life, Yasser Arafat did not go quietly. We'll take to you Ramallah. Also ahead, stitching together the larger picture of a difficult week in Fallujah.

Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was laid to rest today, the logistics of the day a testament to his complicated place in history.

The day began in Cairo, where a brief military funeral was held this morning. It lasted but 25 minutes, was reserved for international dignitaries, the public kept out.

Later in the day, at a news conference in Washington, with Prime Minister Tony Blair at his side, President Bush offered his condolences, but also spoke of the possibilities ahead, of opportunities. Mr. Bush's remarks came hours after Mr. Arafat was buried in Ramallah, the place where he spent his final years a virtual prisoner, the place where he was considered a hero.

Here is CNN's John Vause.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Yasser Arafat one final, triumphant return. Thousands climbs walls, rushed security guards and pushed their way into the Ramallah compound, desperate to touch his coffin, to get close to the leader they called "The Old Man."

It was chaos. Police and soldiers fired wildly into the air. The crowd barely flinched. Palestinian officials pleaded unsuccessfully from the helicopter door for the mob to back off. Thirty minutes later, the coffin appeared. It was loaded on to a jeep and Arafat's personal bodyguards, the men who protected him in life, clung to the casket while the crowd surged forward.

Slowly, they moved towards the marble and concrete burial site. Officials had planned a formal service, marching bands and parading soldiers. None of it happened.

On this day, the Palestinian people claimed their leader for themselves. The funeral took on a life of its own.

Militants from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade made a show of force, while the Palestinian flag was ripped away, replaced by a kaffiyeh similar to the one which was Arafat's trademark. As the coffin was lowered, it was covered with soil from the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the place where Arafat wanted to be buried and where Palestinians hope one day he will be when there is a Palestinian state.

Amid all the chaos there was still ceremony, verses from the Koran and prayers. And finally, Yasser Arafat was laid to rest. A chapter in history had come to an end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And when Yasser Arafat left the West Bank two weeks ago, he said to those around him, I'll be back.

And now, as he said I'll be back, and as he slipped away in that Paris hospital, Aaron, those who knew him best said that this was the kind of homecoming he would have wanted -- Aaron. BROWN: Well, it was quite a scene to watch. How did Israeli television cover it?

VAUSE: Actually, we don't know. We didn't see Israeli television all day, Aaron. We've been stuck in Ramallah. In fact, at one point, we were stuck in the building because we were surrounded by mourners who wanted to get closer to the Muqata.

We do know that at least a few Israelis did the checkpoint, those were close to him, those from the Peace Now movement, for example, some Israeli citizens. They were allowed to attend. As far as the Israeli media coverage, I just can't tell you.

BROWN: That's -- I don't know is a good answer when one doesn't know.

John, thank you -- John Vause in Ramallah tonight.

Ahead on the program, police shocked a first grader with a stun gun. Was it excessive force? Is it ever not excessive force with a 6-year-old?

And the battle for Falluja, a look back at the week when U.S. soldiers began to take back a city one block at a time.

This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Necessary force is defined as the force a reasonable and prudent law enforcement officer would use under the circumstances. We bring this up tonight because of what happened in a public school in Florida. A little boy, a first grader, became violent. The principal called police. When the officers arrived, they reacted like they were trained to do. Unfortunately, they're trained to take down a violent adult, not a small child.

Here is CNN's Susan Candiotti.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A five-second 50,000-volt jolt from a Taser can drop a full-grown man in a heartbeat. It does the same to a 6-year-old child. Three weeks ago, police Tasered this boy in a Miami-area public school.

JUAN DEL CASTILLO, MIAMI DADE POLICE DEPARTMENT: It caused no injury to him, no injury to anybody else. It stopped the situation.

CANDIOTTI: A Miami-Dade police report described the youngster as mentally disturbed, highly agitated and smearing blood all over his face. Miami-Dade police say the first grader was holding a security guard at bay with a piece of glass.

(on camera): According to the police report, at least four adults were there, a school resource officer, a security guard, and two police officers. One of the two officers, says the report, called a superior and got clearance to Taser the 6-year-old boy.

(voice-over): When they did that to him, says the boy's great- grandmother, he fell to the floor and vomited. Police defend their actions.

DEL CASTILLO: Our main concern was that he was going to hurt himself with that piece of glass.

CANDIOTTI: A police official who did not want to be identified called Tasering a 6-year-old unbelievable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They could have restrained him with their hands or any other thing, not with that.

CANDIOTTI: Parents and child advocates are demanding answers.

BENJAMIN JEALOUS, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Why four grownups couldn't swarm that kid and grabbed him and restrained him, it just doesn't make any sense.

CANDIOTTI: "It's bad," says the boy's great-grandmother. "The police were only doing their job." Then she adds, "But they made a mistake."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taser!

CANDIOTTI: Tasers are being used in schools nationwide, in rural Putnam County, Florida, Tasers deployed five times this year in middle and high schools.

JAMAL CURTIS, TASERED STUDENT: It felt bad. It was -- it is just, like, downright pain.

CANDIOTTI: Jamal Curtis and his sister, honor roll students, among those jolted for alleged violent behavior. School officials insist a Taser is far less harmful than batons and pepper spray.

KAREN HUGHES, PUTNAM COUNTY: If they are not going to respect authority and do what they're asked to do, then force sometimes has to be used.

CANDIOTTI: Taser International maintains its weapons are tested as the safest way to subdue someone who weighs at least 60 pounds. But remain a controversial way of policing children, especially those of a very tender age.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Still ahead tonight, one story, many takes, the battle of Falluja as it played out in the streets over the week.

A break first.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: Back now to where we began tonight and most certainly will return for many programs to come, back to Iraq, in this case, Falluja.

We've said before, but it bears repeating that covering this story is extremely difficult. For reporters on the ground, it means risking their lives, not the way soldiers and Marines risk their lives. That's not the comparison we make. But it is tough and risky and necessary work. The day-to-day coverage can often look like a disjointed snapshot.

But string those shots together over the course of a week and you see something larger, clearer, the intensity of the fight, the power of the force fighting the insurgents, the tension, sometimes the fear.

Here now, a recap of the week past through the eyes of some of the embeds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The sky over Falluja seems to explode as U.S. Marines launch a much-trumpeted ground assault. Warplanes drop cluster bombs on insurgent positions and artillery batteries fire smoke rounds to conceal the Marine advance.

MICHAEL WARE, BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF, "TIME": As morning came and the first light of day, the attacks began. They came fast and furious and have been unrelenting. When they appear, the fighting is terrible. Everything is thrown at the U.S. forces. No one is giving an inch and no one is giving a quarter.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: You can hear behind us artillery and machine guns being fired at some of those pockets. Rocket-propelled grenades landed here a short while ago. But they are not finding resistance fighters or terrorists in their minds in any large numbers, not in the way they had expected to find them, not making their last stand against American forces.

LINDSEY HILSUM, ITN REPORTER: They're now laying down an enormous amount of fire, taking out the houses all along one road. And, yet, at the moment, nothing is coming back. We have heard the occasional crackle of AK-47s, but otherwise nothing. It seems they really are firing into empty houses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, he's wounded in between these two houses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We thought everything was clear. We had guys up on the roof and went over there go get them, pull them back with the squad. And another guy popped out, tried to shoot me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taking fire from the mosque just directly on top of us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ones we can see, yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The big one right there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go!

WARE: These men and, quite frankly, these boys who have led this assault from the beginning -- they were the first vehicles to enter the city. And they have been the tip of the spear from day one and tonight out there are now as we speak.

Their morale is high. They're dog-tired. They're hungry. In the early hours of the morning, they're freezing cold. They're almost falling asleep on their feet. Yet, the insurgents attack them in the moments you least expect. Nonetheless, they're banding together in a way -- it was a privilege to witness. Their hunger for the battle continues. Their grit and their resolve is amazing. And their fight is not finished. They still have a ways to go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: That was Michael Ware of "TIME" magazine, who shot many of those pictures.

Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: Okeydokey, time to check morning papers around the country and around the world. It was a day of, I suppose, three leads for newspapers. You could lead Arafat. You could lead Iraq, and I suppose you could lead Peterson. The advantage of a newspaper is, you can put them all on the front page. We can't.

"Washington Times. "Arafat Buried at Compound in Ramallah" and "Peterson Guilty of Laci's Murder" share the front page. And down here a bit down, "Iraqi Troops Rush to Mosul to Crush Uprising. Rampage Seen as in Support of Falluja Fighters."

This actually is today's "New York Post." We couldn't resist it. "The Arafat Lady Sings. Rich Widow's Farewell to Yasser." They're the best headline writers in the world. They're tough, but they are good.

"The Rocky Mountain News." "Burial of Grief and Guns." They lead with Arafat in "The Rocky Mountain News." They put Scott Peterson on the front page as a teaser item. And the story, in fact, is buried on 27-A.

"The Philadelphia Inquirer." "Chaos, Grief For Arafat." Peterson on the front page, also. Down at the bottom, "Ashcroft" -- that would be John Ashcroft -- "Rulings Put Nation at Risk," the outgoing attorney general blaming activist judges for putting the nation at risk in terrorism cases. He didn't specify what he was referring to, but we presume allowing lawyers for those people detained as enemy combatants.

Redwood City, California had no trouble figuring out the lead, nor should they. "Guilty. Crowds Cheer Verdict in the Scott Peterson Case."

And "The Times Herald" in Upstate New York led the same way. "Guilty. He Could Face the Death Penalty." But they also put a local story on the front, "Early Snow, Big Trouble." Yes, early.

"Chattanooga Times." Scott Peterson is just a tiny story down at the bottom there. They lead Arafat. "Arafat Buried Amid Grief and Chaos." Wasn't that somebody else's?

Whereas "The Des Moines Register," "Jurors Say Peterson Killed Pregnant Wife." So that's who they did it.

By the way, if you're wondering, the weather in Chicago tomorrow, "accommodating."

That's it for tonight. Have a great weekend. We're all back here on Monday. Until then, good night for all of us.

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