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CNN Live Saturday

President Bush at APEC Summit

Aired November 20, 2004 - 16:00   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, HOST: It's 2:00 pm on the East Coast, 11:00 am out West. Good afternoon. I'm Fredricka Whitfield at CNN's Global Headquarters in Atlanta.
Ahead this hour, the election is over, but some serious questions about the role of the church in the political process still lingering.

And how can you find some hot bargains when holiday shopping season kicks off on Friday? We'll talk with an expert who can save you some big bucks.

But first, here are top stories now in the news.

Police in Michigan say charges could be filed by Thanksgiving in the basketball brawl that led to an early end of last night's NBA game between the Pistons and the Pacers. Fights broke out between players and fans with chairs and punches being thrown all over the place. So far, no word of any series injuries, other than the egos so far.

The leaders of the U.S., Russia and China head the list of international dignitaries at a summit of Pacific Rim nations in Chile. The leaders are seeking a united front against a possible nuclear threat from North Korea and Iran. President Bush is also meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Congressional sources say agreement has been reached on the 9/11 Intelligence Reform Bill. A conference committee is struggling to get the bill to a final vote before sending it on to the President, who is expected to sign it. The lame duck session has one more day to go.

Police in Michigan today are reviewing tapes of the basketbrawl during the NBA games between the Pistons and the Pacers. They say most of the people on the video have been identified. Police expect to make arrests and turn the case over to prosecutors sometime next week.

Let's get started this hour with CNN Sports Correspondent Matt Morrison. What a mess!

MATT MORRISON, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Oh boy! As ugly as I've seen an incident in professional sports. And there's very little precedence for this in American sports. It looked like a soccer hooligan situation from Europe. More than just a brawl, this was a riot. And any criminal charges could be directed at both the players and the fans involved.

And while the NBA hasn't made an official comment yet, you can expect heavy fines and suspensions. Ron Artest, after fouling Ben Wallace late in the game, was just kind of, chilling out as the action on the floor sort of, subsided. But that's when Artest jumped into the fans, jumped into the stands and started beating on a fan. Stephen Jackson, one of his teammates -- you can see him land a punch there after more beer is thrown -- chairs, beers, fans on the floor; punches thrown.

All around, just incredibly nasty. No winners in this situation, although the Pacers did take the game as police investigate this disgraceful episode in NBA history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY BROWN, DETROIT PISTONS HEAD COACH: I'm glad our team walked, because I was worried about Stephen Jackson and Artest, as silly as they were acting. I saw some people take punches at them as well.

Unfortunately, fans got involved. And that was the ugliest thing I've ever seen in my life as a coach or a player.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORRISON: When Larry Brown says that that's the ugliest thing he's seen in all of his years as a coach and a player -- we're talking about six decades -- you know it was nasty. And it was.

Pacers coach, Rick Carlisle, who used to be the head coach of the Pistons, said that he felt like he was fighting for his life out on the floor.

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh. It was a huge crowd.

MORRISON: It was huge. You could see a lot of fear in the fans' faces, in the players that were involved. What some of those fans were doing: coming down and challenging, not to mention the throwing and the pelting of anything they could carry, it's insane.

The players absolutely had no business doing what they did, in terms of throwing punches and attacking fans, but those fans that instigated a lot of this didn't have any business treating people the way they did.

WHITFIELD: And no matter how many times you look at the tape, it's still hard to figure out when and how it all got started.

MORRISON: They saw the foul late in the game, as a contentious game against two teams that generally don't like each other. Ben Wallace probably overreacted, but when that fan threw the beer onto Ron Artest, that's when it started. Artest elevated it to going beyond the boundaries of entering the stands to attack the fan.

And from there it just touched off.

WHITFIELD: Oh man! What a mess!

All right. We'll be finding out about those charges, which you know are coming, later on.

MORRISON: Yes, in addition to the police looking at tapes, the NBA is also reviewing as well and we'll be hearing about it.

WHITFIELD: All right. Matt Morrison, thanks so much.

We're going to talk about that case again in our legal segment coming up later on in the hour, as well.

Well, the venue is in South America, but the focus is on Asia as leaders of some of the world's most powerful nations try to deal with North Korea and their own economies.

We get the latest on the summit from CNN's Dana Bash, who's traveling with the President in Santiago, Chile right now.

Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredericka.

Well, President Bush at this hour, is attending one of the formal parts of the APEC Summit. He is at a leaders' retreat. But through the morning, he had a series of one-on-one meetings on the sidelines of the formal APEC Summit.

And among those meetings was with four leaders who were involved in the so-called Six-Party Talks with North Korea. And in those meetings, there was one main objective, and that is to try to get North Korea to come back to the table for talks on its nuclear program.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will not only speak with my friend, the Prime Minister of Japan, but also the President of South Korea, the President of China, and the President of Russia about making sure that our intention remains the same: that we work together to achieve the goal. And the leader of North Korea will hear a common voice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, North Korea pulled out of the last scheduled talks in September. And many believe that was because they were waiting to see what happened in the U.S. presidential election, to see if John Kerry won, because there certainly would have been a very different approach to dealing with North Korea. Senator Kerry made that clear during the campaign, but senior officials say that in all of Mr. Bush's talks about North Korea, those election results did come up.

And in a meeting with Chinese President Hu, it was discussed that he sent some Chinese officials to Pyongyang in recent weeks and came back, those officials came back understanding, or at least feeling that North Korea understands that the election is over and that they are going to have to deal with the Bush administration in their policy for the Six-Party Talks. Also saying that they believe that they're optimistic that those talks could happen even perhaps, as soon as the end of the year, but that is still quite unclear.

Now, this is, of course Fredricka, the President's first trip abroad since winning re-election. And although the outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell said right after the election that they believe that the results gave them a mandate for an aggressive foreign policy, Mr. Bush has been notably cautious in his meetings and at least, what he has said publicly throughout the morning; only taking questions for example, at one meeting, and that's what you saw talking with the Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi.

Now, one of those meetings where reporters were ushered out as quickly as they were ushered in was with Vladimir Putin, the Russian President. And the two certainly have had a warm friendship, a warm relationship, certainly differences over Iraq. But this meeting was notable because, according to senior officials, Mr. Bush had to press Vladimir Putin on his concerns about whether or not he really is committed to democracy in Russia.

Certainly in recent weeks and months, Vladimir Putin has stated that he was going to make some moves to consolidate power in the Kremlin. Mr. Bush said that he wanted to be sure that he is still dedicated to the checks and balances system, as the President said even publicly back in September.

We are told that Vladimir Putin said that he went through the history of democracy, saying that democracy has to happen in the context of Russia, even invoking Stalin. And U.S. officials say that this provides a basis for further discussions. That is diplo speak for the President was not necessarily satisfied.

WHITFIELD: All right, Dana Bash coming to us from Santiago, Chile. Thanks so much.

And we expect President Bush to address APEC CEOs later on this hour. And when he does, we'll be bringing that to you live.

Well, before members of Congress can head home for the holidays, there's still some work to be done. Both the House and Senate are in session today, preparing to vote on a $388 billion spending bill and a broad restructuring of U.S. intelligence agencies is now closer to passage.

Our congressional correspondent Joe Johns is with us now from Capitol Hill to explain. Hello again, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.

A tentative agreement reached by the conferees on that intelligence bill. Of course, this is a bill that has been deadlocked in the Congress for weeks. Yet, and again we are told, that some conservatives are not happy with at least part of the final product.

A meeting started around 12:15 Eastern time here in Washington, led by the Speaker of the House himself, among Republicans, to try to iron out any differences, or at least talk them through.

That bill, of course, would create a new national intelligence director and a national counterterrorism center, a key sticking point throughout has been strangely enough, whether or not people in this country who are illegal and from another country should be allowed to have driver's licenses.

Congressmen Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee has been saying no all along. A number of senators have been saying yes. Apparently the President of the United States himself, intervening personally with a call to Sensenbrenner last night to talk it over in a ten-minute telephone conversation.

Meanwhile, of course, the other big issue here on Capitol Hill, that $388 billion spending bill they continued to try to put together to get to the President's desk as soon as possible. Democrats and Republicans, as always, have their differences on this issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPRESENTATIVE MARTIN FROST (D), TEXAS: Perhaps while Republicans are enjoying their Thanksgiving vacation, they will take a moment to give thanks that they don't have to face the electorate for two more years. I don't think the American people would approve of this do-nothing Congress.

REPRESENTATIVE PETE SESSIONS (R), TEXAS: It's an opportunity for us to look the American public right in the eye and to say that we have done what we said we would do: that this is a lean package, it follows exactly what we said we would do in the budget earlier this spring.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: So this is, of course, the last bit of business here on Capitol Hill before the Thanksgiving holidays. A number of members of Congress looking for all of this legislation to get out of the hopper, onto the floor, so they can get home.

Fredericka, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Joe Johns on Capitol Hill. Thanks so much.

Turning now to Iraq: in Mosul, nine Iraqi soldiers were found shot to death, seven of them were also decapitated. A military spokeswoman says such killings are used by insurgents to intimidate locals, as well as Iraqi security forces. The U.S. has recently stepped up attacks against insurgents in Mosul.

Islamic militants have released a Polish woman they took hostage last month. The woman is back in Poland now and the Polish prime minister says she was treated humanely.

And the U.S. has hammered out a deal with Germany to forgive up to 80 percent of Iraq's foreign debt. The plan is designed to help stabilize Iraq. It will be presented to the international creditors for approval.

CNN's Jane Arraf is embedded with the U.S. Army in Fallujah, and she has the latest from there.

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Iraqi and U.S. military officials say that they are making arrests in Baghdad and in other cities, based on information collected in Fallujah, where soldiers and Marines have been going house-to-house, street-by-street, finding documents, weapons depots and other discoveries that they say will help them crack down on the insurgency.

Civilians seem to be just starting to emerge from their homes, seeking help after almost two weeks locked up. But the majority of the population, according to Marine officials, had indeed left, perhaps less than 5 percent of Fallujah's population is still in the city. Of those there, some of them are now beginning to seek help.

But Marine officials say the problem as well, is that insurgents still in the city are mingled with the civilian population. The Marines say that an incident involving a man with a white flag, a sign of surrender, a sign of peace, threw down that flag and opened fire on Marines. They will not talk about casualties.

Clearly, there are insurgents. The army is winding down its operations there. Task Force 22 of the 1st Infantry Division has been from the northeast to the southeast and has made some very interesting discoveries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. PETE NEWELL, U.S. ARMY: The area that we went into, what we saw, the civilians had been booted out, kicked out of their homes. The insurgents took over, planted mines in the yards, bombs next to the buildings, put rockets on top of the roofs, dug trenches next to the houses, moved into the industrial area and built bomb factories and vehicle-borne IED factories.

What we were finding is not just similar to any of the other units, but similar things all over Fallujah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARRAF: The southeast, apparently, was a stronghold, particularly of foreign fighters. According to the task force commander, there are no insurgents left in that sector.

Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from Fallujah.

WHITFIELD: And coming up, some pastors are in trouble for preaching politics from the pulpit. Is it time to change the law? Both sides when we come back.

Also, will the other woman, Amber Frey, be called to testify in the penalty phase of the Scott Peterson trial? How it could help or hurt his case, coming up.

Also a bit later:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL RUSESABAGINA, RWANDAN AND LOCAL HERO: What people see should be put in facts, not only in the words. If it is never again, they have to make it never again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And the bravery of one man saves thousands of lives in Africa. His heartbreaking and heartwarming story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well that Pistons/Pacers game last night which led to a huge brawl at the Palace: well, now some fallout. Apparently the NBA has suspended Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal, and Stephen Jackson of the Indiana Pacers and Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons indefinitely, for their roles in the Pacers/Pistons brawl last night.

CNN is now confirming that. Here are the pictures that you've seen run over and over again. And somehow, it all started shortly after Ben Wallace going up for a layup, and then was fouled by Ron Artest, and then apparently a fan threw a full cup of something, beer or a drink, and it actually hit Artest in the head. And then later on somehow, you had a brawl taking place, involving some of the NBA players, as well as the fans.

It was a real mess. Well, now the NBA says it is suspending Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal, and Stephen Jackson of Indiana and Ben Wallace of Detroit. But there could be some other charges that could follow later on in the week. We'll be updating you on that as it happens.

All right. Here we go.

OK. Now we're going to Rick Horrow. He's a CNN Sports Business Analyst and professor at Harvard Law School to talk a little bit more about what is taking place here.

Rick, when we hear suspended indefinitely, might that eventually lead to the actual firing of these players?

RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Well, there are contract clauses that require that players perform to a certain standard on and off the court. I think what you see is quick, decisive, and comprehensive action by the NBA.

I'm at a Franklin Templeton Investment sales meeting and all people are talking about is the effect of the NBA and the action on sports. And I think it was the NBA's need to move quickly and decisively, and of course, that's what they're doing.

WHITFIELD: And this is very quick, because we just reported moments ago that maybe there would be some criminal charges that could come out of this, but not particularly posted until later on in the week. But the NBA, I'm sure, is under a lot of pressure to do something quickly because this behavior is really inexcusable.

How can anyone justify it?

HORROW: Well, there's always been a case of where you draw the line between aggressive and excessive behavior. And this is clearly excessive. But then, where do you define what happens at a sporting event or not?

More important, by the way, NBA franchises are now worth about $300 million; league revenues have increased from $118 million to over $3 billion; and the television rights fees now average about $765 million annually. My point is: that image is very important to the NBA and they need to work very hard and very zealously to protect their investment.

WHITFIELD: And the NBA has been aware of that for some time now, though, right? Even before this brawl, that image certainly had been soiled, particularly in recent years with a lot of allegations, and even questionable behavior of some of the athletes, many of whom are very young. Even being criticized by a number of senior and veteran players, who have said that there seems to be no diplomacy anymore among a lot of the young players.

HORROW: Well, the interesting thing is what's true and what's not. Harper Collins had a book that reported that 40 percent of the 177 players on NBA rosters three years ago were linked to serious crimes through convictions, arrests or investigations. It was never proven. That may have been sensationalized to sell books.

The bottom line is, perception in this case, may be more important than reality. You have a lot of issues at work here. You've got alcohol sales, you've got security issues, you've got arena design issues, and player character is one of many. But this is a very, very complicated issue that's going to take a while to shake itself out.

WHITFIELD: All right. And we're just now seeing the beginning, then, of that with the NBA suspending indefinitely Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal, Stephen Jackson, as well as Ben Wallace.

All right, Rick Horrow, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

HORROW: See you guys.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, the campaign season may be over, at least for a while, but some of the legal niceties of the 2004 vote remain for 2005. One in particular, the pulpit's involvement in politics.

Here's CNN Correspondent, Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On any given Sunday in southern Ohio, Allen Temple is alive with praise.

But a few weeks ago, Reverend Donald Jordan did something surprising when John Edwards came to call.

REVEREND DONALD JORDAN, PASTOR, ALLEN TEMPLE: John Edwards is going to be the president of the United States.

FOREMAN: The Reverend backed Edwards, despite the fact that churches, as tax-free charities, are prohibited from endorsing political candidates.

JORDAN: We ask your support of him. I'm not worried about a 501- C-3; we're asking you to support him.

FOREMAN: 501-C-3 is a section in the IRS Tax Code that bans churches from supporting candidates. The IRS has been tipped off about Reverend Jordan and now he is lashing out at those who suggest he broke the law.

JORDAN: What I would say to them, you can't put on camera. There's another side of me that they haven't met. Tell them to call me at my office and I'll tell them what I would say.

FOREMAN: He may get a chance. The IRS is investigating 60 nonprofits for possible illegal political activity, and CNN has learned that a third are religious organizations.

Barry Lynn is the head of Americans United for the separation of church and state. He filed 10 complaints, including one against Reverend Jordan.

BARRY LYNN, HEAD, AMERICANS UNITED: It's a clear violation when somebody says, "Ignore the laws of the country that I don't like, including the tax laws I don't like, and I'm going to endorse candidate A or candidate B." And I hope some of those churches, Democrat and Republican, get in trouble for doing it.

FOREMAN: The IRS tax guide for churches says religious organizations may not intervene in political campaigns. And attorneys who specialize in this area say the law is black and white.

KEN GROSS, POLITICAL LAW ATTORNEY: The preacher, the rabbi, can't stand at the podium and say, "Vote for candidate X." Cannot use the facilities of the church, cannot use a publication or an organ of the church to advocate the election of one candidate over the other.

FOREMAN: But the law gets gray when church members work for a campaign.

Look at what the Bush-Cheney team was asking supporters: "Send your church directory to your state headquarters; host a party for the President with church members; spend time calling pro-Bush members of your church." And there is another catch: tax law says church leaders and their congregations may campaign on a limited basis for or against ballot issues, such as gay marriage.

REVEREND ROD PARSLEY, PASTOR, WORLD HARVEST CHURCH: We are the largest single special interest group in America. There is no reason for our values to be trampled underfeet.

FOREMAN: Reverend Rod Parsley's congregation of 15,000 helped collect a half million signatures to get a gay marriage ban onto the ballot in Ohio. Then they made a quarter million phone calls and mailed as nearly many letters to win, all legal, even though political analysts say one candidate clearly benefited from the conservative turnout.

PARSLEY: The church produced momentum. We initiated momentum. We shined the spotlight on moral issues. And when people in the Heartland of America saw what was actually going on, they stood up.

FOREMAN: There is a movement to change tax law and let churches endorse candidates. But for now, the law stands. And in the fever over this past election, tax authorities are asking whether some pastors bent the law up to the breaking point, and perhaps beyond.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And we're now waiting for President Bush to address the APEC CEO Summit. When that happens, we'll take you to Santiago, Chile live.

Also, Motor City becomes melee city. Breaking news on the NBA brawl in Detroit last night: four star players suspended indefinitely. Details coming up.

And later, making the most of your holiday budget. Some ideas you may not have thought about.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi. I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Weather Center. Here's your Cold and Flu Report for this Saturday.

States highlighted in green indicate some sporadic activity being reported into the CDC. That includes Texas, Arizona, California, Alaska, even Hawaii, where they typically have some pretty nice weather: flu being reported in that state. Also Minnesota, New York. Getting a little bit more widespread, more green states on the map this weekend.

Hope you're feeling well on this Saturday and enjoy the balance of your weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Bottom of the hour now, and our top stories. President Bush and nearly two dozen other world leaders are meeting face-to-face to discuss trade, global security, and other issues, including North Korea's nuclear program. The Asia-Pacific Economic Summit now underway in Santiago, Chile.

We're waiting for a news conference from this summit, and we'll bring that to you live when it happens.

More than a week after the death of Yasser Arafat, Secretary of State Colin Powell is getting ready to travel to the Middle East. He'll leave the APEC Summit and travel to the region tomorrow. Powell we'll meet with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a bid to revive the stalled peace process.

Suspensions after chaos on the court. The NBA has indefinitely suspended Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, and Jermaine O'Neal of the Indiana Pacers, along with Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons. Last night's game between the teams ended in a brawl. About a half a dozen people were treated for injuries after a confrontation between two of the players. Both benches then emptied, involving a whole lot of folks, dozens of folks it looks in that brawl.

Well, the Detroit brawl, Kobe Bryant's wife, and some unanswered questions about the Scott Peterson double-murder case headline our legal roundup today. Joining us in Cleveland, Civil Rights Attorney and law professor, Avery Friedman.

Hello, Avery.

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Hi, Fredericka.

WHITFIELD: And from New York, criminal defense attorney, Richard Herman. Hello to you, Richard.

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hi, Fredricka. How are you?

WHITFIELD: I'm doing pretty good.

OK. We're not going to brawl, nothing like what we saw last night in Detroit.

FRIEDMAN: I hope not.

WHITFIELD: But already some very serious charges are coming down, at least from the NBA. Indefinitely suspending four of the star players. And I imagine, Richard, after looking at the tape over and over and over again, it's still pretty difficult to determine how it all got started. But do you see that this is really just the beginning of what could lead to some criminal charges?

HERMAN: Oh, I expect this Artest and the other nut with the yellow headband on his team to get arrested today. I counted at least four separate counts of assault and battery that he's going to be charged with. They were cold cocking fans there. There's no excuse for this. These guys are making millions and millions of dollars a year.

If there's a gun -- if a fan is pointing a gun at a player, that may be enough provocation to jump into the stands. But a glass of water is not going to do it. It's just not going to do it. And this guy's going to be facing criminal charges; he's going to get sued civilly; he's going to have legal fees beyond belief; he's going to be suspended; he's hurting his team.

And he's lucky that he didn't get a beating jumping into the fans like that, because if I was there with my family and friends and this nut was throwing punches, we wouldn't be so gentle with him. I have to tell you that.

WHITFIELD: But Avery, what about the fans? How in the world are they going to try and narrow their focus to figure out, how do you chase some of the fans who were equally culpable here. They were involved, weren't they?

FRIEDMAN: Well, on one level, Fredericka, you got to understand that professional sports teams, at least from a civil perspective, have a plan b: they know how to deal with fans, and they know how to shut down misbehavior. The problem here is that the professionals are supposed to know how to handle it.

And so, what we have here, in addition to the criminal behavior, is that we have the beginning of profound civil liability by individual players, by fans, by the franchise, by the NBA. These are the sort of things that professional basketball should have to plan for, and if there's not a plan in place, and it certainly didn't look like it up in Detroit, there's going to be problems all over the place.

HERMAN: Come on, Avery. How can you protect this? There has to be that imaginary line between the players and the fans. You can't have security guards lined up there. It's unbelievable the situation.

FRIEDMAN: Well, wait a minute!

No one is justifying the behavior of the fans, but no one can justify, by any means, a professional basketball player, who should know better than to head into the stands and get into it. That's ridiculous.

HERMAN: I agree.

WHITFIELD: The four players: Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal, Stephen Jackson, and Ben Wallace, all have been suspended indefinitely. There may be some criminal charges to follow.

FRIEDMAN: Sure.

WHITFIELD: But, what about any kind of charges or allegations coming from some of the fans, who say it was up to the NBA, it's up to the Palace Arena, it's up to security there to ensure that every one is protected, even if something like this takes place?

FRIEDMAN: Right.

HERMAN: Have you been going to law school, Fredericka?

WHITFIELD: I've been learning from you guys.

FRIEDMAN: I was going to say, you exactly nailed the civil issues here. There has to be something that the NBA and these franchises are going to be able to have to show, and they won't be able to, on how fans are protected.

So, this is the beginning of a huge amount of trouble that will last from a civil perspective on what's going to happen with the individual players, the franchises, and the NBA.

WHITFIELD: OK. Let's move on now, another ballplayer case, even though it's no longer a criminal case, but, a civil case. And this is now involving the accuser's team is saying that they now want to interview the wife of Kobe Bryant.

FRIEDMAN: Sure.

WHITFIELD: To pursue their civil case against him. And Richard, how unusual is that? And who would need to agree to that, in the first place?

HERMAN: Well, she might be able to be subpoenaed as a nonparty witness, but I'm sure Kobe's attorneys would be able to quash that subpoena.

I don't know the relevance...

FRIEDMAN: Oh, no!

HERMAN: ... to ask her questions; what she's going to add to this case. But I tell you, she holds the key, as far as I'm concerned. If she tells Kobe, "Listen, pal, you settle this case now and let's move on with our lives." He settles it. If she says no, then he fights it.

She holds the key for his settlement here.

WHITFIELD: Avery, where do you see the logic behind this?

FRIEDMAN: I see it very differently.

First of all, she can be noticed for a deposition. She will have to testify and under the federal rules, the amended rules, anybody that wants to show up at the deposition, including the media, may be able to attend. Now, there's some exceptions to that.

HERMAN: They can't ask her questions.

FRIEDMAN: So, wait a minute, wait a minute.

It will not be quashed. And I think the bottom line on this, Richard on one level is right, but where she is important is what's going to happen with the disclosure is every detail that we've suspected occurred, we're going to have to hear about.

And I think she's important in saying to her husband, "Buddy, you better settle this case and we've got to move forward." This case will never go to trial. I don't even think we'll see a deposition of Mrs. Bryant.

WHITFIELD: Wow. OK.

FRIEDMAN: It won't happen.

WHITFIELD: Let's move on to our third and final case, at least for this hour, and move further out West to talk about the Scott Peterson case. On Monday, the sentencing begins, and I imagine Richard, that the prosecution really can't gloat, that they already have the kind of conviction they were looking for, or at least something in the realms of what they were looking for.

But now, how do they try to secure the sentence that they're looking for without coming across as shameful?

HERMAN: Oh, Fredricka. They sought the death penalty in this case, they were handed the victory on a flash verdict. They put Sharon Rocha on that stand, and there will not be a dry eye in the courtroom, or people watching at home.

If you have a pulse, if you have blood running through your veins, you're going to be crippled by her testimony. It's going to be devastating. If they follow that up say, with a forensic pathologist to testify to the pain that the baby was in before it died, and then you follow that up with the pictures of the remains of the body.

There's nothing that can save Scott Peterson right now, except Sharon Rocha saying to the jury, "Don't give him the death penalty."

WHITFIELD: Well, Avery, do you feel like the jury's already kind of, revealed itself in that they couldn't go for a death penalty and that they have kind of a mixed conviction of a first and a second- degree murder?

FRIEDMAN: Well, that's an interesting question. I actually, on one level, think that indeed they're the most intimately familiar with the facts. But unless there's dramatic testimony, and there will not be, to overcome what's happened, we're looking at, in legal terms, the death penalty, but in California you've got 600 people on death row, they execute one a year; he will never experience what they want.

But the bottom line is, I'm now hearing that Amber Frey is now thinking about testifying about keeping her alive. I think the only reason that's happening is because of Richard's favorite lawyer advising her that maybe she should want to testify. I hope the prosecution has enough sense to keep her away.

HERMAN: Fredricka, before Avery paid off the mechanics to turn off my microphone last week so I couldn't talk...

WHITFIELD: You are not getting over that. HERMAN: ... I wanted to say, he was one of the only analysts out there who predicted a conviction in that case. And I tip my hat to him on that.

WHITFIELD: OK. All right. Enough said. You get the last word.

Richard Herman and Avery Friedman, thanks very much, gentlemen. See you next week.

FRIEDMAN: Nice to see you, Fredericka. Take care.

WHITFIELD: Good to see you, too. And have a good holiday.

A shameful and shocking chapter in human history is now the subject of a movie that tells the sad story of the Rwanda genocide through the eyes of one its heroes.

You're watching "CNN Saturday".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The new film, "Hotel Rwanda" opens next month. It tells the story of the 1994 genocide through the eyes of a hotel owner, who opened his doors to save the lives of hundreds of refugees.

Here's CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can you pick out the hero in this group? Try the nondescript, middle aged grandfather on the right. Place him back 10 years as his country descends into madness.

April 1994, two Presidents are assassinated; a peace accord collapses; Rwanda crumbles with it. Smoldering resentment between ethnic Hutus and their rival Tutsis explodes into a surreal murderous rampage. Hutu extremists begin butchering Tutsis and moderate Hutus. In three months, more than 800,000 people are slaughtered.

Paul Rusesabagina is in the middle of it. The manager of a four- star hotel in the capital, Kigali, he is a moderate, his wife, a Tutsi. He begins the enormous task of...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: We apologize for breaking out of that piece to take you live now to Santiago, Chile, where President Bush, who is meeting along with two dozen other world leaders, is meeting at the APEC Summit in Santiago, Chile. He's speaking now.

Let's listen in.

BUSH: Thank you for the warm welcome. It is such an honor to be in Chile. Who is ever responsible for the weather, thank you very much. Laura and I are delighted to be here. Chile is such a fabulous country. It's a great place to talk about entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial spirit. It's a country which shows the world what is possible when you create the right conditions for economic vitality and economic growth. And we're so honored to be here.

I want to thank my friend, Ricardo Lagos, for organizing this summit. I appreciate the business leaders who are here; I thank you for your interests in working collaboratively with business leaders from around the world. And as a result of vision and hard work, we meet today on the Eastern rim of an incredibly dynamic region.

In our lifetimes we've seen the Asia-Pacific region grow in wealth and freedom beyond that which many thought was possible. If you think back about 20 years ago, what people thought about the Asia- Pacific region, they couldn't imagine such prosperity and such wealth and such freedom.

And that's what APEC is all about, as far as I'm concerned, and that's why it's an honor to be here at this summit with my fellow leaders. Incredibly enough, APEC economies account for nearly half of all the world trade and half of the world's economic output.

For somebody who's interested in prosperity for my own citizens, this is a good place to hang out with that much trade and commerce. And I believe that this new century, with the right policies, can extend the prosperity even further. And that's what we're here to discuss.

I believe we must increase the flow of trade and capital. I know our societies must reward enterprise and open societies and open markets. I know we've got to reject the blocks and barriers that divide economies and people. And I believe with the right policies, we can continue to grow.

I'm honored to be here today with a man who has served our country so well, a great United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: Right after my speech, he's headed to the Middle East. That's a heck of a retirement, Mr. Secretary. I look forward to your report when you get back.

I want to thank the U.S. members of the APEC Business Advisory Counsel. I want to thank you for your hard work; I want to thank you for representing our country so well. I appreciate Gary Benanav and Mike Ducker and Robert Prieto for your hard work in organizing this summit and representing the business leaders who are here.

What's interesting about our country is that for years, we were isolated from the world by two great oceans, and for a while we got a false sense of security as a result of that. We thought we were protected forever from trade policy or terrorist attacks, because oceans protected us. It's interesting about today's world, as if the oceans now connect us. It didn't take all that long in the march of history for that change to take place.

And, therefore, America must respect and value the friendships that we're able to make as a result of our transatlantic and transpacific ties. Right after I'm inaugurated I'll go to Europe to renew our transatlantic ties, to remind the people of Europe how important my administration regards our vital Atlantic alliance.

And of course, our nation is a Pacific country as well. And that's why the APEC conferences are so important. Do you realize the capital of our 50th state is nearly as close to Sydney and Manila as it is to Washington, D.C.? That's a Pacific Rim nation.

More than 15 percent of Americans claim Hispanic or Asian-Pacific heritage. Our APEC partners account for nearly two-thirds of all American exports and imports. America's future is inseparable from our friends in the Pacific. And by working together and by continuing to foster reasonable pro-growth economic policies, the fellowship of Pacific nations will continue to be strong.

That's what I'm here to tell you.

There is a different attitude in the world about foreign policies, particularly if you happen to be an influential nation. In the past, many powerful nations preferred others to remain underdeveloped, and therefore, dependent. It was a cynical doctrine, and that doctrine is unsuited for our times.

In this century, countries benefit from healthy, prosperous, confident partners. Weak and troubled nations export their ills: problems like economic instability and illegal immigration and crime and terrorism. America and others sitting around the table here in APEC understand that healthy and prosperous nations export and import goods and services that help to stabilize regions and add security to every nation.

So we've got three clear goals: to help spread prosperity and hope and to secure the peace. We're going to seek wider trade and broader freedom and greater security for the benefit of our partners and for the benefit of all. That's what I'm going to do over the next four years.

The first goal is to lower barriers to trade and investment and to promote sound fiscal policies for all our governments. Free and fair trade combined with prudent fiscal discipline are the foundation of the region's remarkable prosperity. And I'm committed to staying on the path to pro-economic growth, economic growth by pro-growth policies. We're doing our part.

We've overcome a lot in the U.S. economy. We faced a recession, coupled with terrorist attacks, which affected our capacity to grow. But we stimulated our economy by cutting taxes. And America's growing again. And people are working. And the question ahead is how do we make sure we maintain growth?

We need legal reform in the United States. We've got to make sure that those who risk capital are rewarded for taking risks and not subject to needless and frivolous lawsuits. We need regulatory reform in the United States. Our tax code is too complex. So, I'm going to work with members of both political parties to simplify the tax code.

But also understand that there is concern about whether or not our government is dedicated to dealing with our deficits, both short- term and long-term. I look forward to standing up in front of the Congress in my State of the Union, and telling them why I submitted a budget that will help us deal with the short-term deficit of the United States. And I will do that.

And I'll also work with members of Congress to deal with the unfunded liabilities of our entitlement systems so that we can say clearly to the world, "The United States of America is committed to deficit reduction, both short-term and long-term."

Overall, the economy of this part of the world is expected to grow by nearly 5 percent this year. And that's good news, and the United States wanted to be a part of that growth. We can add to that progress by reducing trade barriers that I believe are an obstacle to economic growth everywhere, especially in the developing world.

And so, this government and our country, is strongly committed to the WTO's Doha round of negotiations. And my trade minister will be strongly committed to ensuring the success of the WTO round, and we need your help in making sure that nations around the APEC table are focused on the benefits of global trade; that we put aside some differences that could prevent Doha from going forward.

We will continue to assist our Asian-Pacific partners in meeting their WTO obligations. We are encouraging Russia and Vietnam in their efforts to join the WTO. The history between our countries has changed dramatically between America and Vietnam and Russia. The tensions are no longer existent; conflict is behind us.

And we have a chance to working with those countries for the common good and we will. We're going to be aggressive about our bilateral trade agreements and our regional trade agreements. We've completed trade agreements with nations throughout Asia and the Americas, including Australia, Singapore, Chile, the five nations of Central America and the Dominican Republic.

We are working on new agreements with Thailand, Panama, the Andean Nations of South America. We're moving ahead with the enterprise for ASEAN initiative, which is lowering trade barriers and strengthening economic ties in Southeast Asia. We're committed to the Bogor goals, which call for free trade among developed nations of the Asia-Pacific region by 2010, and free trade among all APEC economies by 2020. We seek free trade in the Americas, uniting markets of all 34 free nations in the Western Hemisphere.

I think you can tell that I believe free trade is necessary for economic development, that free trade is essential to prosperity. But it is not sufficient, and we understand that.

All governments in the region must make the difficult choices needed to stabilize economies and to keep public finances on foot. We have been impressed by the reform programs in Chile and Colombia and Uruguay that have spurred growth and investment in those countries and throughout the region.

My nation and many others have acted to lift the crushing burden of debt that limits the growth of developing economies and holds millions of people in poverty, and we will continue to do so. We will continue working to relieve the current debt of those highly indebted poor countries that pursue sound, fiscal policy. We will continue to encourage our large trading partners to adopt flexible market-based exchange rates for their currencies.

Expanding prosperity has lifted millions in our region out of poverty; has bound our nations closer together; and has benefited all our people. And my administration will continue to promote pro- growth, pro-trade economic policies for the good of all.

Our second goal is to spread the benefits of freedom and democracy and good government across parts of the world. We've seen progress toward these goals in the recent history of the Asian Pacific region. We've seen some interesting lessons of history as free markets take hold. The demand for limited government and self-rule builds. That's why it's important to promote free trade and open market policies.

In the long run, economic freedom and political liberty are indivisible, and the advance of freedom is good for all, as free societies are peaceful societies. My government and many others are working with countries to lay the foundations for democracy by helping them institute the rule of law and independent courts and a free press and political parties and trade unions.

We have joined with other members of the Organization of American States to create the Inter-American Democratic Charter. This charter recognizes democracy as a fundamental right of all peoples in the Americas and pledges our governments to promoting and defending the institutions and habits of liberty.

Because political liberty and economic freedom go hand-in-hand, America and many nations have changed the way we fight poverty, curb corruption and provide aid. In 2002, we created the Monterrey Consensus, a bold approach that links new aid from developed nations to real reform in developing ones.

We created the Millennium Challenge Account in America that says, "We'll increase aid and help to nations which are willing to fight corruption, which are willing to educate their people, which are willing to spend money on the health of their citizens, and nations which are willing to expand economic freedom."

We owe that to the taxpayers of the United States, to promote the habits necessary for free societies to develop. And we believe every nation is capable of fighting corruption...

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 20, 2004 - 16:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, HOST: It's 2:00 pm on the East Coast, 11:00 am out West. Good afternoon. I'm Fredricka Whitfield at CNN's Global Headquarters in Atlanta.
Ahead this hour, the election is over, but some serious questions about the role of the church in the political process still lingering.

And how can you find some hot bargains when holiday shopping season kicks off on Friday? We'll talk with an expert who can save you some big bucks.

But first, here are top stories now in the news.

Police in Michigan say charges could be filed by Thanksgiving in the basketball brawl that led to an early end of last night's NBA game between the Pistons and the Pacers. Fights broke out between players and fans with chairs and punches being thrown all over the place. So far, no word of any series injuries, other than the egos so far.

The leaders of the U.S., Russia and China head the list of international dignitaries at a summit of Pacific Rim nations in Chile. The leaders are seeking a united front against a possible nuclear threat from North Korea and Iran. President Bush is also meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Congressional sources say agreement has been reached on the 9/11 Intelligence Reform Bill. A conference committee is struggling to get the bill to a final vote before sending it on to the President, who is expected to sign it. The lame duck session has one more day to go.

Police in Michigan today are reviewing tapes of the basketbrawl during the NBA games between the Pistons and the Pacers. They say most of the people on the video have been identified. Police expect to make arrests and turn the case over to prosecutors sometime next week.

Let's get started this hour with CNN Sports Correspondent Matt Morrison. What a mess!

MATT MORRISON, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Oh boy! As ugly as I've seen an incident in professional sports. And there's very little precedence for this in American sports. It looked like a soccer hooligan situation from Europe. More than just a brawl, this was a riot. And any criminal charges could be directed at both the players and the fans involved.

And while the NBA hasn't made an official comment yet, you can expect heavy fines and suspensions. Ron Artest, after fouling Ben Wallace late in the game, was just kind of, chilling out as the action on the floor sort of, subsided. But that's when Artest jumped into the fans, jumped into the stands and started beating on a fan. Stephen Jackson, one of his teammates -- you can see him land a punch there after more beer is thrown -- chairs, beers, fans on the floor; punches thrown.

All around, just incredibly nasty. No winners in this situation, although the Pacers did take the game as police investigate this disgraceful episode in NBA history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY BROWN, DETROIT PISTONS HEAD COACH: I'm glad our team walked, because I was worried about Stephen Jackson and Artest, as silly as they were acting. I saw some people take punches at them as well.

Unfortunately, fans got involved. And that was the ugliest thing I've ever seen in my life as a coach or a player.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORRISON: When Larry Brown says that that's the ugliest thing he's seen in all of his years as a coach and a player -- we're talking about six decades -- you know it was nasty. And it was.

Pacers coach, Rick Carlisle, who used to be the head coach of the Pistons, said that he felt like he was fighting for his life out on the floor.

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh. It was a huge crowd.

MORRISON: It was huge. You could see a lot of fear in the fans' faces, in the players that were involved. What some of those fans were doing: coming down and challenging, not to mention the throwing and the pelting of anything they could carry, it's insane.

The players absolutely had no business doing what they did, in terms of throwing punches and attacking fans, but those fans that instigated a lot of this didn't have any business treating people the way they did.

WHITFIELD: And no matter how many times you look at the tape, it's still hard to figure out when and how it all got started.

MORRISON: They saw the foul late in the game, as a contentious game against two teams that generally don't like each other. Ben Wallace probably overreacted, but when that fan threw the beer onto Ron Artest, that's when it started. Artest elevated it to going beyond the boundaries of entering the stands to attack the fan.

And from there it just touched off.

WHITFIELD: Oh man! What a mess!

All right. We'll be finding out about those charges, which you know are coming, later on.

MORRISON: Yes, in addition to the police looking at tapes, the NBA is also reviewing as well and we'll be hearing about it.

WHITFIELD: All right. Matt Morrison, thanks so much.

We're going to talk about that case again in our legal segment coming up later on in the hour, as well.

Well, the venue is in South America, but the focus is on Asia as leaders of some of the world's most powerful nations try to deal with North Korea and their own economies.

We get the latest on the summit from CNN's Dana Bash, who's traveling with the President in Santiago, Chile right now.

Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredericka.

Well, President Bush at this hour, is attending one of the formal parts of the APEC Summit. He is at a leaders' retreat. But through the morning, he had a series of one-on-one meetings on the sidelines of the formal APEC Summit.

And among those meetings was with four leaders who were involved in the so-called Six-Party Talks with North Korea. And in those meetings, there was one main objective, and that is to try to get North Korea to come back to the table for talks on its nuclear program.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will not only speak with my friend, the Prime Minister of Japan, but also the President of South Korea, the President of China, and the President of Russia about making sure that our intention remains the same: that we work together to achieve the goal. And the leader of North Korea will hear a common voice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, North Korea pulled out of the last scheduled talks in September. And many believe that was because they were waiting to see what happened in the U.S. presidential election, to see if John Kerry won, because there certainly would have been a very different approach to dealing with North Korea. Senator Kerry made that clear during the campaign, but senior officials say that in all of Mr. Bush's talks about North Korea, those election results did come up.

And in a meeting with Chinese President Hu, it was discussed that he sent some Chinese officials to Pyongyang in recent weeks and came back, those officials came back understanding, or at least feeling that North Korea understands that the election is over and that they are going to have to deal with the Bush administration in their policy for the Six-Party Talks. Also saying that they believe that they're optimistic that those talks could happen even perhaps, as soon as the end of the year, but that is still quite unclear.

Now, this is, of course Fredricka, the President's first trip abroad since winning re-election. And although the outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell said right after the election that they believe that the results gave them a mandate for an aggressive foreign policy, Mr. Bush has been notably cautious in his meetings and at least, what he has said publicly throughout the morning; only taking questions for example, at one meeting, and that's what you saw talking with the Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi.

Now, one of those meetings where reporters were ushered out as quickly as they were ushered in was with Vladimir Putin, the Russian President. And the two certainly have had a warm friendship, a warm relationship, certainly differences over Iraq. But this meeting was notable because, according to senior officials, Mr. Bush had to press Vladimir Putin on his concerns about whether or not he really is committed to democracy in Russia.

Certainly in recent weeks and months, Vladimir Putin has stated that he was going to make some moves to consolidate power in the Kremlin. Mr. Bush said that he wanted to be sure that he is still dedicated to the checks and balances system, as the President said even publicly back in September.

We are told that Vladimir Putin said that he went through the history of democracy, saying that democracy has to happen in the context of Russia, even invoking Stalin. And U.S. officials say that this provides a basis for further discussions. That is diplo speak for the President was not necessarily satisfied.

WHITFIELD: All right, Dana Bash coming to us from Santiago, Chile. Thanks so much.

And we expect President Bush to address APEC CEOs later on this hour. And when he does, we'll be bringing that to you live.

Well, before members of Congress can head home for the holidays, there's still some work to be done. Both the House and Senate are in session today, preparing to vote on a $388 billion spending bill and a broad restructuring of U.S. intelligence agencies is now closer to passage.

Our congressional correspondent Joe Johns is with us now from Capitol Hill to explain. Hello again, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.

A tentative agreement reached by the conferees on that intelligence bill. Of course, this is a bill that has been deadlocked in the Congress for weeks. Yet, and again we are told, that some conservatives are not happy with at least part of the final product.

A meeting started around 12:15 Eastern time here in Washington, led by the Speaker of the House himself, among Republicans, to try to iron out any differences, or at least talk them through.

That bill, of course, would create a new national intelligence director and a national counterterrorism center, a key sticking point throughout has been strangely enough, whether or not people in this country who are illegal and from another country should be allowed to have driver's licenses.

Congressmen Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee has been saying no all along. A number of senators have been saying yes. Apparently the President of the United States himself, intervening personally with a call to Sensenbrenner last night to talk it over in a ten-minute telephone conversation.

Meanwhile, of course, the other big issue here on Capitol Hill, that $388 billion spending bill they continued to try to put together to get to the President's desk as soon as possible. Democrats and Republicans, as always, have their differences on this issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPRESENTATIVE MARTIN FROST (D), TEXAS: Perhaps while Republicans are enjoying their Thanksgiving vacation, they will take a moment to give thanks that they don't have to face the electorate for two more years. I don't think the American people would approve of this do-nothing Congress.

REPRESENTATIVE PETE SESSIONS (R), TEXAS: It's an opportunity for us to look the American public right in the eye and to say that we have done what we said we would do: that this is a lean package, it follows exactly what we said we would do in the budget earlier this spring.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: So this is, of course, the last bit of business here on Capitol Hill before the Thanksgiving holidays. A number of members of Congress looking for all of this legislation to get out of the hopper, onto the floor, so they can get home.

Fredericka, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Joe Johns on Capitol Hill. Thanks so much.

Turning now to Iraq: in Mosul, nine Iraqi soldiers were found shot to death, seven of them were also decapitated. A military spokeswoman says such killings are used by insurgents to intimidate locals, as well as Iraqi security forces. The U.S. has recently stepped up attacks against insurgents in Mosul.

Islamic militants have released a Polish woman they took hostage last month. The woman is back in Poland now and the Polish prime minister says she was treated humanely.

And the U.S. has hammered out a deal with Germany to forgive up to 80 percent of Iraq's foreign debt. The plan is designed to help stabilize Iraq. It will be presented to the international creditors for approval.

CNN's Jane Arraf is embedded with the U.S. Army in Fallujah, and she has the latest from there.

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Iraqi and U.S. military officials say that they are making arrests in Baghdad and in other cities, based on information collected in Fallujah, where soldiers and Marines have been going house-to-house, street-by-street, finding documents, weapons depots and other discoveries that they say will help them crack down on the insurgency.

Civilians seem to be just starting to emerge from their homes, seeking help after almost two weeks locked up. But the majority of the population, according to Marine officials, had indeed left, perhaps less than 5 percent of Fallujah's population is still in the city. Of those there, some of them are now beginning to seek help.

But Marine officials say the problem as well, is that insurgents still in the city are mingled with the civilian population. The Marines say that an incident involving a man with a white flag, a sign of surrender, a sign of peace, threw down that flag and opened fire on Marines. They will not talk about casualties.

Clearly, there are insurgents. The army is winding down its operations there. Task Force 22 of the 1st Infantry Division has been from the northeast to the southeast and has made some very interesting discoveries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. PETE NEWELL, U.S. ARMY: The area that we went into, what we saw, the civilians had been booted out, kicked out of their homes. The insurgents took over, planted mines in the yards, bombs next to the buildings, put rockets on top of the roofs, dug trenches next to the houses, moved into the industrial area and built bomb factories and vehicle-borne IED factories.

What we were finding is not just similar to any of the other units, but similar things all over Fallujah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARRAF: The southeast, apparently, was a stronghold, particularly of foreign fighters. According to the task force commander, there are no insurgents left in that sector.

Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from Fallujah.

WHITFIELD: And coming up, some pastors are in trouble for preaching politics from the pulpit. Is it time to change the law? Both sides when we come back.

Also, will the other woman, Amber Frey, be called to testify in the penalty phase of the Scott Peterson trial? How it could help or hurt his case, coming up.

Also a bit later:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL RUSESABAGINA, RWANDAN AND LOCAL HERO: What people see should be put in facts, not only in the words. If it is never again, they have to make it never again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And the bravery of one man saves thousands of lives in Africa. His heartbreaking and heartwarming story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well that Pistons/Pacers game last night which led to a huge brawl at the Palace: well, now some fallout. Apparently the NBA has suspended Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal, and Stephen Jackson of the Indiana Pacers and Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons indefinitely, for their roles in the Pacers/Pistons brawl last night.

CNN is now confirming that. Here are the pictures that you've seen run over and over again. And somehow, it all started shortly after Ben Wallace going up for a layup, and then was fouled by Ron Artest, and then apparently a fan threw a full cup of something, beer or a drink, and it actually hit Artest in the head. And then later on somehow, you had a brawl taking place, involving some of the NBA players, as well as the fans.

It was a real mess. Well, now the NBA says it is suspending Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal, and Stephen Jackson of Indiana and Ben Wallace of Detroit. But there could be some other charges that could follow later on in the week. We'll be updating you on that as it happens.

All right. Here we go.

OK. Now we're going to Rick Horrow. He's a CNN Sports Business Analyst and professor at Harvard Law School to talk a little bit more about what is taking place here.

Rick, when we hear suspended indefinitely, might that eventually lead to the actual firing of these players?

RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Well, there are contract clauses that require that players perform to a certain standard on and off the court. I think what you see is quick, decisive, and comprehensive action by the NBA.

I'm at a Franklin Templeton Investment sales meeting and all people are talking about is the effect of the NBA and the action on sports. And I think it was the NBA's need to move quickly and decisively, and of course, that's what they're doing.

WHITFIELD: And this is very quick, because we just reported moments ago that maybe there would be some criminal charges that could come out of this, but not particularly posted until later on in the week. But the NBA, I'm sure, is under a lot of pressure to do something quickly because this behavior is really inexcusable.

How can anyone justify it?

HORROW: Well, there's always been a case of where you draw the line between aggressive and excessive behavior. And this is clearly excessive. But then, where do you define what happens at a sporting event or not?

More important, by the way, NBA franchises are now worth about $300 million; league revenues have increased from $118 million to over $3 billion; and the television rights fees now average about $765 million annually. My point is: that image is very important to the NBA and they need to work very hard and very zealously to protect their investment.

WHITFIELD: And the NBA has been aware of that for some time now, though, right? Even before this brawl, that image certainly had been soiled, particularly in recent years with a lot of allegations, and even questionable behavior of some of the athletes, many of whom are very young. Even being criticized by a number of senior and veteran players, who have said that there seems to be no diplomacy anymore among a lot of the young players.

HORROW: Well, the interesting thing is what's true and what's not. Harper Collins had a book that reported that 40 percent of the 177 players on NBA rosters three years ago were linked to serious crimes through convictions, arrests or investigations. It was never proven. That may have been sensationalized to sell books.

The bottom line is, perception in this case, may be more important than reality. You have a lot of issues at work here. You've got alcohol sales, you've got security issues, you've got arena design issues, and player character is one of many. But this is a very, very complicated issue that's going to take a while to shake itself out.

WHITFIELD: All right. And we're just now seeing the beginning, then, of that with the NBA suspending indefinitely Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal, Stephen Jackson, as well as Ben Wallace.

All right, Rick Horrow, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

HORROW: See you guys.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, the campaign season may be over, at least for a while, but some of the legal niceties of the 2004 vote remain for 2005. One in particular, the pulpit's involvement in politics.

Here's CNN Correspondent, Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On any given Sunday in southern Ohio, Allen Temple is alive with praise.

But a few weeks ago, Reverend Donald Jordan did something surprising when John Edwards came to call.

REVEREND DONALD JORDAN, PASTOR, ALLEN TEMPLE: John Edwards is going to be the president of the United States.

FOREMAN: The Reverend backed Edwards, despite the fact that churches, as tax-free charities, are prohibited from endorsing political candidates.

JORDAN: We ask your support of him. I'm not worried about a 501- C-3; we're asking you to support him.

FOREMAN: 501-C-3 is a section in the IRS Tax Code that bans churches from supporting candidates. The IRS has been tipped off about Reverend Jordan and now he is lashing out at those who suggest he broke the law.

JORDAN: What I would say to them, you can't put on camera. There's another side of me that they haven't met. Tell them to call me at my office and I'll tell them what I would say.

FOREMAN: He may get a chance. The IRS is investigating 60 nonprofits for possible illegal political activity, and CNN has learned that a third are religious organizations.

Barry Lynn is the head of Americans United for the separation of church and state. He filed 10 complaints, including one against Reverend Jordan.

BARRY LYNN, HEAD, AMERICANS UNITED: It's a clear violation when somebody says, "Ignore the laws of the country that I don't like, including the tax laws I don't like, and I'm going to endorse candidate A or candidate B." And I hope some of those churches, Democrat and Republican, get in trouble for doing it.

FOREMAN: The IRS tax guide for churches says religious organizations may not intervene in political campaigns. And attorneys who specialize in this area say the law is black and white.

KEN GROSS, POLITICAL LAW ATTORNEY: The preacher, the rabbi, can't stand at the podium and say, "Vote for candidate X." Cannot use the facilities of the church, cannot use a publication or an organ of the church to advocate the election of one candidate over the other.

FOREMAN: But the law gets gray when church members work for a campaign.

Look at what the Bush-Cheney team was asking supporters: "Send your church directory to your state headquarters; host a party for the President with church members; spend time calling pro-Bush members of your church." And there is another catch: tax law says church leaders and their congregations may campaign on a limited basis for or against ballot issues, such as gay marriage.

REVEREND ROD PARSLEY, PASTOR, WORLD HARVEST CHURCH: We are the largest single special interest group in America. There is no reason for our values to be trampled underfeet.

FOREMAN: Reverend Rod Parsley's congregation of 15,000 helped collect a half million signatures to get a gay marriage ban onto the ballot in Ohio. Then they made a quarter million phone calls and mailed as nearly many letters to win, all legal, even though political analysts say one candidate clearly benefited from the conservative turnout.

PARSLEY: The church produced momentum. We initiated momentum. We shined the spotlight on moral issues. And when people in the Heartland of America saw what was actually going on, they stood up.

FOREMAN: There is a movement to change tax law and let churches endorse candidates. But for now, the law stands. And in the fever over this past election, tax authorities are asking whether some pastors bent the law up to the breaking point, and perhaps beyond.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And we're now waiting for President Bush to address the APEC CEO Summit. When that happens, we'll take you to Santiago, Chile live.

Also, Motor City becomes melee city. Breaking news on the NBA brawl in Detroit last night: four star players suspended indefinitely. Details coming up.

And later, making the most of your holiday budget. Some ideas you may not have thought about.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi. I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Weather Center. Here's your Cold and Flu Report for this Saturday.

States highlighted in green indicate some sporadic activity being reported into the CDC. That includes Texas, Arizona, California, Alaska, even Hawaii, where they typically have some pretty nice weather: flu being reported in that state. Also Minnesota, New York. Getting a little bit more widespread, more green states on the map this weekend.

Hope you're feeling well on this Saturday and enjoy the balance of your weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Bottom of the hour now, and our top stories. President Bush and nearly two dozen other world leaders are meeting face-to-face to discuss trade, global security, and other issues, including North Korea's nuclear program. The Asia-Pacific Economic Summit now underway in Santiago, Chile.

We're waiting for a news conference from this summit, and we'll bring that to you live when it happens.

More than a week after the death of Yasser Arafat, Secretary of State Colin Powell is getting ready to travel to the Middle East. He'll leave the APEC Summit and travel to the region tomorrow. Powell we'll meet with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a bid to revive the stalled peace process.

Suspensions after chaos on the court. The NBA has indefinitely suspended Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, and Jermaine O'Neal of the Indiana Pacers, along with Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons. Last night's game between the teams ended in a brawl. About a half a dozen people were treated for injuries after a confrontation between two of the players. Both benches then emptied, involving a whole lot of folks, dozens of folks it looks in that brawl.

Well, the Detroit brawl, Kobe Bryant's wife, and some unanswered questions about the Scott Peterson double-murder case headline our legal roundup today. Joining us in Cleveland, Civil Rights Attorney and law professor, Avery Friedman.

Hello, Avery.

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Hi, Fredericka.

WHITFIELD: And from New York, criminal defense attorney, Richard Herman. Hello to you, Richard.

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hi, Fredricka. How are you?

WHITFIELD: I'm doing pretty good.

OK. We're not going to brawl, nothing like what we saw last night in Detroit.

FRIEDMAN: I hope not.

WHITFIELD: But already some very serious charges are coming down, at least from the NBA. Indefinitely suspending four of the star players. And I imagine, Richard, after looking at the tape over and over and over again, it's still pretty difficult to determine how it all got started. But do you see that this is really just the beginning of what could lead to some criminal charges?

HERMAN: Oh, I expect this Artest and the other nut with the yellow headband on his team to get arrested today. I counted at least four separate counts of assault and battery that he's going to be charged with. They were cold cocking fans there. There's no excuse for this. These guys are making millions and millions of dollars a year.

If there's a gun -- if a fan is pointing a gun at a player, that may be enough provocation to jump into the stands. But a glass of water is not going to do it. It's just not going to do it. And this guy's going to be facing criminal charges; he's going to get sued civilly; he's going to have legal fees beyond belief; he's going to be suspended; he's hurting his team.

And he's lucky that he didn't get a beating jumping into the fans like that, because if I was there with my family and friends and this nut was throwing punches, we wouldn't be so gentle with him. I have to tell you that.

WHITFIELD: But Avery, what about the fans? How in the world are they going to try and narrow their focus to figure out, how do you chase some of the fans who were equally culpable here. They were involved, weren't they?

FRIEDMAN: Well, on one level, Fredericka, you got to understand that professional sports teams, at least from a civil perspective, have a plan b: they know how to deal with fans, and they know how to shut down misbehavior. The problem here is that the professionals are supposed to know how to handle it.

And so, what we have here, in addition to the criminal behavior, is that we have the beginning of profound civil liability by individual players, by fans, by the franchise, by the NBA. These are the sort of things that professional basketball should have to plan for, and if there's not a plan in place, and it certainly didn't look like it up in Detroit, there's going to be problems all over the place.

HERMAN: Come on, Avery. How can you protect this? There has to be that imaginary line between the players and the fans. You can't have security guards lined up there. It's unbelievable the situation.

FRIEDMAN: Well, wait a minute!

No one is justifying the behavior of the fans, but no one can justify, by any means, a professional basketball player, who should know better than to head into the stands and get into it. That's ridiculous.

HERMAN: I agree.

WHITFIELD: The four players: Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal, Stephen Jackson, and Ben Wallace, all have been suspended indefinitely. There may be some criminal charges to follow.

FRIEDMAN: Sure.

WHITFIELD: But, what about any kind of charges or allegations coming from some of the fans, who say it was up to the NBA, it's up to the Palace Arena, it's up to security there to ensure that every one is protected, even if something like this takes place?

FRIEDMAN: Right.

HERMAN: Have you been going to law school, Fredericka?

WHITFIELD: I've been learning from you guys.

FRIEDMAN: I was going to say, you exactly nailed the civil issues here. There has to be something that the NBA and these franchises are going to be able to have to show, and they won't be able to, on how fans are protected.

So, this is the beginning of a huge amount of trouble that will last from a civil perspective on what's going to happen with the individual players, the franchises, and the NBA.

WHITFIELD: OK. Let's move on now, another ballplayer case, even though it's no longer a criminal case, but, a civil case. And this is now involving the accuser's team is saying that they now want to interview the wife of Kobe Bryant.

FRIEDMAN: Sure.

WHITFIELD: To pursue their civil case against him. And Richard, how unusual is that? And who would need to agree to that, in the first place?

HERMAN: Well, she might be able to be subpoenaed as a nonparty witness, but I'm sure Kobe's attorneys would be able to quash that subpoena.

I don't know the relevance...

FRIEDMAN: Oh, no!

HERMAN: ... to ask her questions; what she's going to add to this case. But I tell you, she holds the key, as far as I'm concerned. If she tells Kobe, "Listen, pal, you settle this case now and let's move on with our lives." He settles it. If she says no, then he fights it.

She holds the key for his settlement here.

WHITFIELD: Avery, where do you see the logic behind this?

FRIEDMAN: I see it very differently.

First of all, she can be noticed for a deposition. She will have to testify and under the federal rules, the amended rules, anybody that wants to show up at the deposition, including the media, may be able to attend. Now, there's some exceptions to that.

HERMAN: They can't ask her questions.

FRIEDMAN: So, wait a minute, wait a minute.

It will not be quashed. And I think the bottom line on this, Richard on one level is right, but where she is important is what's going to happen with the disclosure is every detail that we've suspected occurred, we're going to have to hear about.

And I think she's important in saying to her husband, "Buddy, you better settle this case and we've got to move forward." This case will never go to trial. I don't even think we'll see a deposition of Mrs. Bryant.

WHITFIELD: Wow. OK.

FRIEDMAN: It won't happen.

WHITFIELD: Let's move on to our third and final case, at least for this hour, and move further out West to talk about the Scott Peterson case. On Monday, the sentencing begins, and I imagine Richard, that the prosecution really can't gloat, that they already have the kind of conviction they were looking for, or at least something in the realms of what they were looking for.

But now, how do they try to secure the sentence that they're looking for without coming across as shameful?

HERMAN: Oh, Fredricka. They sought the death penalty in this case, they were handed the victory on a flash verdict. They put Sharon Rocha on that stand, and there will not be a dry eye in the courtroom, or people watching at home.

If you have a pulse, if you have blood running through your veins, you're going to be crippled by her testimony. It's going to be devastating. If they follow that up say, with a forensic pathologist to testify to the pain that the baby was in before it died, and then you follow that up with the pictures of the remains of the body.

There's nothing that can save Scott Peterson right now, except Sharon Rocha saying to the jury, "Don't give him the death penalty."

WHITFIELD: Well, Avery, do you feel like the jury's already kind of, revealed itself in that they couldn't go for a death penalty and that they have kind of a mixed conviction of a first and a second- degree murder?

FRIEDMAN: Well, that's an interesting question. I actually, on one level, think that indeed they're the most intimately familiar with the facts. But unless there's dramatic testimony, and there will not be, to overcome what's happened, we're looking at, in legal terms, the death penalty, but in California you've got 600 people on death row, they execute one a year; he will never experience what they want.

But the bottom line is, I'm now hearing that Amber Frey is now thinking about testifying about keeping her alive. I think the only reason that's happening is because of Richard's favorite lawyer advising her that maybe she should want to testify. I hope the prosecution has enough sense to keep her away.

HERMAN: Fredricka, before Avery paid off the mechanics to turn off my microphone last week so I couldn't talk...

WHITFIELD: You are not getting over that. HERMAN: ... I wanted to say, he was one of the only analysts out there who predicted a conviction in that case. And I tip my hat to him on that.

WHITFIELD: OK. All right. Enough said. You get the last word.

Richard Herman and Avery Friedman, thanks very much, gentlemen. See you next week.

FRIEDMAN: Nice to see you, Fredericka. Take care.

WHITFIELD: Good to see you, too. And have a good holiday.

A shameful and shocking chapter in human history is now the subject of a movie that tells the sad story of the Rwanda genocide through the eyes of one its heroes.

You're watching "CNN Saturday".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The new film, "Hotel Rwanda" opens next month. It tells the story of the 1994 genocide through the eyes of a hotel owner, who opened his doors to save the lives of hundreds of refugees.

Here's CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can you pick out the hero in this group? Try the nondescript, middle aged grandfather on the right. Place him back 10 years as his country descends into madness.

April 1994, two Presidents are assassinated; a peace accord collapses; Rwanda crumbles with it. Smoldering resentment between ethnic Hutus and their rival Tutsis explodes into a surreal murderous rampage. Hutu extremists begin butchering Tutsis and moderate Hutus. In three months, more than 800,000 people are slaughtered.

Paul Rusesabagina is in the middle of it. The manager of a four- star hotel in the capital, Kigali, he is a moderate, his wife, a Tutsi. He begins the enormous task of...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: We apologize for breaking out of that piece to take you live now to Santiago, Chile, where President Bush, who is meeting along with two dozen other world leaders, is meeting at the APEC Summit in Santiago, Chile. He's speaking now.

Let's listen in.

BUSH: Thank you for the warm welcome. It is such an honor to be in Chile. Who is ever responsible for the weather, thank you very much. Laura and I are delighted to be here. Chile is such a fabulous country. It's a great place to talk about entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial spirit. It's a country which shows the world what is possible when you create the right conditions for economic vitality and economic growth. And we're so honored to be here.

I want to thank my friend, Ricardo Lagos, for organizing this summit. I appreciate the business leaders who are here; I thank you for your interests in working collaboratively with business leaders from around the world. And as a result of vision and hard work, we meet today on the Eastern rim of an incredibly dynamic region.

In our lifetimes we've seen the Asia-Pacific region grow in wealth and freedom beyond that which many thought was possible. If you think back about 20 years ago, what people thought about the Asia- Pacific region, they couldn't imagine such prosperity and such wealth and such freedom.

And that's what APEC is all about, as far as I'm concerned, and that's why it's an honor to be here at this summit with my fellow leaders. Incredibly enough, APEC economies account for nearly half of all the world trade and half of the world's economic output.

For somebody who's interested in prosperity for my own citizens, this is a good place to hang out with that much trade and commerce. And I believe that this new century, with the right policies, can extend the prosperity even further. And that's what we're here to discuss.

I believe we must increase the flow of trade and capital. I know our societies must reward enterprise and open societies and open markets. I know we've got to reject the blocks and barriers that divide economies and people. And I believe with the right policies, we can continue to grow.

I'm honored to be here today with a man who has served our country so well, a great United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: Right after my speech, he's headed to the Middle East. That's a heck of a retirement, Mr. Secretary. I look forward to your report when you get back.

I want to thank the U.S. members of the APEC Business Advisory Counsel. I want to thank you for your hard work; I want to thank you for representing our country so well. I appreciate Gary Benanav and Mike Ducker and Robert Prieto for your hard work in organizing this summit and representing the business leaders who are here.

What's interesting about our country is that for years, we were isolated from the world by two great oceans, and for a while we got a false sense of security as a result of that. We thought we were protected forever from trade policy or terrorist attacks, because oceans protected us. It's interesting about today's world, as if the oceans now connect us. It didn't take all that long in the march of history for that change to take place.

And, therefore, America must respect and value the friendships that we're able to make as a result of our transatlantic and transpacific ties. Right after I'm inaugurated I'll go to Europe to renew our transatlantic ties, to remind the people of Europe how important my administration regards our vital Atlantic alliance.

And of course, our nation is a Pacific country as well. And that's why the APEC conferences are so important. Do you realize the capital of our 50th state is nearly as close to Sydney and Manila as it is to Washington, D.C.? That's a Pacific Rim nation.

More than 15 percent of Americans claim Hispanic or Asian-Pacific heritage. Our APEC partners account for nearly two-thirds of all American exports and imports. America's future is inseparable from our friends in the Pacific. And by working together and by continuing to foster reasonable pro-growth economic policies, the fellowship of Pacific nations will continue to be strong.

That's what I'm here to tell you.

There is a different attitude in the world about foreign policies, particularly if you happen to be an influential nation. In the past, many powerful nations preferred others to remain underdeveloped, and therefore, dependent. It was a cynical doctrine, and that doctrine is unsuited for our times.

In this century, countries benefit from healthy, prosperous, confident partners. Weak and troubled nations export their ills: problems like economic instability and illegal immigration and crime and terrorism. America and others sitting around the table here in APEC understand that healthy and prosperous nations export and import goods and services that help to stabilize regions and add security to every nation.

So we've got three clear goals: to help spread prosperity and hope and to secure the peace. We're going to seek wider trade and broader freedom and greater security for the benefit of our partners and for the benefit of all. That's what I'm going to do over the next four years.

The first goal is to lower barriers to trade and investment and to promote sound fiscal policies for all our governments. Free and fair trade combined with prudent fiscal discipline are the foundation of the region's remarkable prosperity. And I'm committed to staying on the path to pro-economic growth, economic growth by pro-growth policies. We're doing our part.

We've overcome a lot in the U.S. economy. We faced a recession, coupled with terrorist attacks, which affected our capacity to grow. But we stimulated our economy by cutting taxes. And America's growing again. And people are working. And the question ahead is how do we make sure we maintain growth?

We need legal reform in the United States. We've got to make sure that those who risk capital are rewarded for taking risks and not subject to needless and frivolous lawsuits. We need regulatory reform in the United States. Our tax code is too complex. So, I'm going to work with members of both political parties to simplify the tax code.

But also understand that there is concern about whether or not our government is dedicated to dealing with our deficits, both short- term and long-term. I look forward to standing up in front of the Congress in my State of the Union, and telling them why I submitted a budget that will help us deal with the short-term deficit of the United States. And I will do that.

And I'll also work with members of Congress to deal with the unfunded liabilities of our entitlement systems so that we can say clearly to the world, "The United States of America is committed to deficit reduction, both short-term and long-term."

Overall, the economy of this part of the world is expected to grow by nearly 5 percent this year. And that's good news, and the United States wanted to be a part of that growth. We can add to that progress by reducing trade barriers that I believe are an obstacle to economic growth everywhere, especially in the developing world.

And so, this government and our country, is strongly committed to the WTO's Doha round of negotiations. And my trade minister will be strongly committed to ensuring the success of the WTO round, and we need your help in making sure that nations around the APEC table are focused on the benefits of global trade; that we put aside some differences that could prevent Doha from going forward.

We will continue to assist our Asian-Pacific partners in meeting their WTO obligations. We are encouraging Russia and Vietnam in their efforts to join the WTO. The history between our countries has changed dramatically between America and Vietnam and Russia. The tensions are no longer existent; conflict is behind us.

And we have a chance to working with those countries for the common good and we will. We're going to be aggressive about our bilateral trade agreements and our regional trade agreements. We've completed trade agreements with nations throughout Asia and the Americas, including Australia, Singapore, Chile, the five nations of Central America and the Dominican Republic.

We are working on new agreements with Thailand, Panama, the Andean Nations of South America. We're moving ahead with the enterprise for ASEAN initiative, which is lowering trade barriers and strengthening economic ties in Southeast Asia. We're committed to the Bogor goals, which call for free trade among developed nations of the Asia-Pacific region by 2010, and free trade among all APEC economies by 2020. We seek free trade in the Americas, uniting markets of all 34 free nations in the Western Hemisphere.

I think you can tell that I believe free trade is necessary for economic development, that free trade is essential to prosperity. But it is not sufficient, and we understand that.

All governments in the region must make the difficult choices needed to stabilize economies and to keep public finances on foot. We have been impressed by the reform programs in Chile and Colombia and Uruguay that have spurred growth and investment in those countries and throughout the region.

My nation and many others have acted to lift the crushing burden of debt that limits the growth of developing economies and holds millions of people in poverty, and we will continue to do so. We will continue working to relieve the current debt of those highly indebted poor countries that pursue sound, fiscal policy. We will continue to encourage our large trading partners to adopt flexible market-based exchange rates for their currencies.

Expanding prosperity has lifted millions in our region out of poverty; has bound our nations closer together; and has benefited all our people. And my administration will continue to promote pro- growth, pro-trade economic policies for the good of all.

Our second goal is to spread the benefits of freedom and democracy and good government across parts of the world. We've seen progress toward these goals in the recent history of the Asian Pacific region. We've seen some interesting lessons of history as free markets take hold. The demand for limited government and self-rule builds. That's why it's important to promote free trade and open market policies.

In the long run, economic freedom and political liberty are indivisible, and the advance of freedom is good for all, as free societies are peaceful societies. My government and many others are working with countries to lay the foundations for democracy by helping them institute the rule of law and independent courts and a free press and political parties and trade unions.

We have joined with other members of the Organization of American States to create the Inter-American Democratic Charter. This charter recognizes democracy as a fundamental right of all peoples in the Americas and pledges our governments to promoting and defending the institutions and habits of liberty.

Because political liberty and economic freedom go hand-in-hand, America and many nations have changed the way we fight poverty, curb corruption and provide aid. In 2002, we created the Monterrey Consensus, a bold approach that links new aid from developed nations to real reform in developing ones.

We created the Millennium Challenge Account in America that says, "We'll increase aid and help to nations which are willing to fight corruption, which are willing to educate their people, which are willing to spend money on the health of their citizens, and nations which are willing to expand economic freedom."

We owe that to the taxpayers of the United States, to promote the habits necessary for free societies to develop. And we believe every nation is capable of fighting corruption...

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