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CNN Live At Daybreak

Bush Makes No Apologies For Recent Legal Strategies; Justice Deparment Offers Visas for Information

Aired November 30, 2001 - 05:32   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is making no apologies for some of the new strategies to battle terrorism. Critics say they step on the very liberties upon which the country was founded.

CNN's John King has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The president told federal prosecutors they are the frontline of the domestic war on terrorism and he offered a spirited defense of the controversial new powers he is using in the fight.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're an open society, but we're at war.

KING: Most controversial is the option of trying some suspected terrorists in military tribunals instead of the federal court system. In such tribunals evidence can be presented in secret proceedings. A two-thirds majority is enough to convict and to impose the death penalty.

BUSH: Non U.S. citizens who plan and or commit mass murder are more than criminal suspects. They are unlawful combatants who seek to destroy our country and our way of life.

KING: (INAUDIBLE) believes powers are in use as well. More than 500 people are being detained on immigration violations. The Justice Department wants to interview 5,000 men of Middle Eastern roots who entered the United States in the last two years. The government has new powers to wiretap and monitor e-mail communications, and says it might even listen in when attorneys talk to those being held behind bars. Egypt's foreign minister raised questions about how long Arabs might be detained without being charged with a crime.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I hope that in the very near future as these investigations continue and as questions are answered and clarified, we'll be able to get this list of detainees down.

KING: New measures have broad public support. Only 10 percent of Americans in the latest CNN "USA Today" Gallup Poll say the administration has gone too far in its quest for new powers. Sixty percent say the administration's new approach is about right and 26 percent say it hasn't gone far enough in restricting civil liberties in order to fight terrorism.

Mr. Bush himself will decide whether to use military tribunals and senior officials say there are no pending recommendations and none expected for weeks if not months. But it is clear this president puts a premium on secrecy. In recent private conversations, sources say Mr. Bush has complained that Osama bin Laden and other terrorists have learned too much about investigative tactics and U.S. intelligence gathering from evidence shared with suspects and in open court in past terror trials.

John King, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: The Justice Department is offering a new incentive to get tips about terrorist activity. It's offering visas or help with immigration to non-U.S. citizens to give authorities information about suspected terrorists.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

JOHN ASHCROFT, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL: Under this new initiative, the Department of Justice will provide immigration benefits to non-citizens who furnish information to help us apprehend terrorists or to stop terrorist attacks. We are asking all non U.S. citizens who are present in the United States or who seek to enter our country to come forward to the FBI with any valuable information they have to aid in the war on terrorism.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

KAGAN: The attorney general says even a legal immigrant could be helped if they provide valuable information.

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