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Lou Dobbs Tonight
Second Sniper Gets Life; Rumsfeld Rejects Larger Military; First Mad Cow Case Discovered in United States
Aired December 23, 2003 - 18:00 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.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight: The jury in the teenage sniper trial reaches a verdict on whether Lee Boyd Malvo should be executed or sentenced to life in prison. Elaine Quijano will report.
In "Grange on Point": Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismisses calls from some members of Congress for an immediate increase in the size of the Army. General David Grange will be my guest.
Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean appears unstoppable in the race for his party's nomination. But can Dean beat President Bush? I will be joined by three of this country's top political journalists.
And in our special report on the holiday home front, Operation Home Run, how baseball players in this country are helping troops overseas enjoy America's national pastime.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Tuesday, December 23. Sitting in for Lou Dobbs, John King.
KING: Good evening.
A developing story tonight, the government just announcing that inspectors have discovered the first-ever suspected case of mad cow disease here in the United States. Officials said the disease was found in one cow in Washington state. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman made that announcement. And she says she is confident about the safety of the food supplies here in the United States. And she said the risk to human health is, in her view, extremely low.
Mad cow disease was first discovered in England in 1986. The British effort to eradicate the disease led to the slaughter of millions of animals, cost billions of dollars, and devastated Britain's cattle industry.
CNN medical correspondent Christy Feig is tracking this story for us tonight in Washington -- Christy.
CHRISTY FEIG, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, you're exactly right. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman is just now wrapping up a press conference here in Washington, announcing what is probably one of the greatest fears for the U.S. cattle industry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANN VENEMAN, SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE: A single Holstein cow from Washington state has tested as presumptive positive for BSE or what is widely known as mad cow disease. Despite this finding, we remain confident in the safety of our food supply.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEIG: Now, John, a little background here. Mad cow disease, as you will remember, plagued pretty much most of England and some of Europe in the late 1990s, throughout the 1990s. It was first discovered in 1986.
It is a disease that infects cows once they eat infected meat. It affects their brains, their nervous system. You'll remember the pictures of these cows collapsing because they no longer can walk. And that's how they found this cow, actually. It was at a slaughterhouse. It was what they call a downer cow. Downer cows are these that are not walking on their feet. They're collapsing. Their feet keep falling out from underneath them.
That is a textbook picture of what this disease looks like. Now, all the concern here is basically because humans can rarely get this disease from eating infected meat. There have been more than 100 cases across Europe and other countries from people who have eaten this. It was a big problem in the United Kingdom. And that's why a lot of people in the United States, if they spent much time in the United Kingdom, can't give blood.
It all goes back to this big fear of mad cow disease. And that's why the U.S. cattle industry has been dreading this type of announcement, because it's going to affect trade. People are not going to want to buy meat from countries. We don't buy meat from other countries here in the United States that have had reports of mad cow disease. So this is certainly cause for concern for the cattle industry in the United States.
KING: Christy Feig, live for us tonight on this developing story from Washington, thank you.
And joining me now with more on the phone from Madison, Wisconsin, is John Stauber. He's the co-author of "Mad Cow USA: Could the Nightmare Happen Here?"
John, in your judgment tonight, how serious is this announcement by the Agriculture Department? And how likely is it, based on the early information we have, the possibility that disease could spread in this country?
JOHN STAUBER, CO-AUTHOR, "MAD COW USA": Well, this is extremely serious.
And I heard part of Secretary Veneman's news conference. And I think she's really underplaying the significance of this, probably in an attempt to allay concerns. But the public should be very concerned about this. And the real problem here is that, here in the United States, we have not taken the measures that we need to take to deal with this disease, the sorts of measures that were taken in Britain and Europe many years ago.
Will this disease spread in the United States? I suspect that this cow is the tip of an invisible iceberg. The first north American case of mad cow disease was found just north of the state of Washington in Alberta, Canada, last May. And since the animal feed regulations that spread mad cow disease are lax, and they are virtually identical in Canada, the United States and Mexico, my presumption is that mad cow disease is spread throughout North America, at some level.
But because the testing program in the United States is so inadequate, it's taken us until now to find one case. There are more cases, no doubt about it.
KING: Let me stop you there, John. You say the testing program is so inadequate. Secretary Veneman said that the United States and, indeed, across North America, she said has the safest food supply and the most stringent regulation and safety standards in the world. What specifically do you think the United States has failed to do?
STAUBER: Well, that's absolutely not true when it comes to protecting against mad cow disease.
For instance, in Europe and Britain, they test virtually every beef animal for mad cow disease before it ends up now consumed by humans. That's what we should be doing in the United States. We need to test every animal. But one thing we need to do is, we need to stop the practice of animal cannibalism.
The secretary said that we should not be concerned about the brain and spinal and nerve tissues of this animal, because they apparently went to a rendering plant, where they would presumably be rendered into things like animal feed. The problem is that, here in the United States, animal feed is still fed back to livestock. In fact, you can go to feed stores in cattle country and purchase milk replacer for calves. And that milk replacer may very well contain cattle blood plasma, even though, in laboratory tests, mad cow-type diseases can be spread through blood plasma.
So, here in the United States, we are so far behind on dealing with this issue that we're still weaning calves on cattle blood protein. When Secretary Veneman assures us that everything is being done that can be done to deal with this problem, she's being extremely disingenuous. And I would remind viewers that her background is as a cattle industry lobbyist.
KING: John Stauber, co-author of "Mad Cow USA," we appreciate your thoughts tonight, sir, on this developing story. Thank you again for joining us.
STAUBER: Thank you.
KING: And turning now to the threat of terrorism in this country.
Tonight, government officials say authorities have prevented numerous terrorist suspects from entering this country in just the past three weeks. Some of those suspects were members of flight crews on foreign airliners. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today said the terrorist threat to this country is -- quote -- "serious."
Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reports -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, it is that threat, the possibility of hijackers gaining access to a foreign airliner, a non-U.S. airliner, and then attacking a target in the United States, that is one of the things that had led the administration to go to code orange, just one of them, but a very serious one according to administration and intelligence officials.
Now, today, across Washington, officials again underscoring how serious the threat is, and here at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld speaking publicly for the first time about the implications for the United States of going to code orange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: It costs money and it causes stress on military and civilian at all levels of government. Therefore, you do not do it lightly. You ask, is it serious? Yes, you bet your life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Military officials also talking about what Americans may see in this country over the holiday season.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: They may see additional air patrols over select cities and facilities, an increase in the air defense posture here in Washington, D.C. And combat aircraft could be put on a higher alert at different air bases throughout the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: So, John, tonight, all of the pieces in place by the U.S. military, but they certainly hope they won't have to use them -- John.
KING: Well, Barbara, the secretary there talking about the stress code orange causes on the military. One of the questions you've been asking throughout this year, the stress on the military here at home because of homeland security, the stress, of course, because of the deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the questions, should there be a bigger Army?
Did the secretary shed any new light on that debate today?
STARR: He did not. It's very clear that the administration understands, this is going to be an issue in the political campaign, possibly, some people in Congress already calling for an increase in the number of the armed forces, specifically, adding people to the U.S. Army. But this is a very expensive proposition. All the secretary would say today is that the matter remains under study and if someone comes to him with convincing evidence that it needs to be done, that the Army needs to be larger, then he will take up the issue, but not at this time.
KING: Barbara Starr for us on a very busy day at the Pentagon -- thank you, Barbara.
Another subject at today's Pentagon briefing, the controversy over giving anthrax vaccinations to the troops. Yesterday, a federal judge ruled that troops should not be forced to have those vaccinations. Today, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Richard Myers, said the vaccines are important to protect U.S. troops.
Peter Viles reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Admitting they had been caught off guard by a judge's rebuke, Pentagon officials lined up to defend their anthrax vaccination program, calling the vaccine safe and effective.
MYERS: This drug that we're using, the vaccine has been around for 50 years. It is not experimental. It's approved by the FDA. And from a military standpoint, I think it's extremely important.
VILES: Six people sued the Pentagon and the FDA anonymously, arguing the vaccine, effective in fighting anthrax skin infections, has never been formally approved for use against anthrax in the lungs.
And thus, service people should have the choice of whether or not to take it. In a sharply worded ruling Monday, federal Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the military to stop the vaccination program, Judge Sullivan ruling the vaccination is -- quote -- "being used for an unapproved purpose." He concluded, "The United States cannot demand that members of the armed forces also serve as guinea pigs for experimental drugs."
WILLIAM WINKENWERDER, ASST. SECY. OF DEFENSE FOR HEALTH AFFAIRS: I categorically reject the use of that term with respect to our treatments or any health programs for our service members. We do not use service members as guinea pigs.
VILES: Congressman Christopher Shays says more than 150 service members face court-martial for refusing the vaccine, which requires six injections and produces side-effects in up to 35 percent of those who take it.
REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R), CONNECTICUT: Some of the side- effects are dizziness. And if you're a pilot, you can't be dizzy. And so you had National Guard and reservists who are also commercial pilots who simply said, I'm not taking this vaccine. Now, they had the luxury of leaving. And we lost hundreds and hundreds of pilots because of this.
VILES: The Pentagon maintains, side-effects, including headaches and muscle aches, are similar to those from flu shots.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VILES: The administration now has a number of legal options here. The Pentagon could continue to fight this out in court. Or the president, acting on the Pentagon's behalf, could step in and waive the rights of service people here, which would reinstate the vaccination program -- John.
KING: Peter, the president just had this vaccination, Secretary Rumsfeld and General Myers today both making clear that they had had it as well.
VILES: Sure.
KING: They obviously, as they fight the legal fight, are trying to make the case that they think this is safe.
VILES: Sure.
And close to one million service people have had it. The Pentagon has studied the results there and they say that it's like a flu shot. Sure, some people get sick, but the safety issue is not a big issue in the eyes of the Pentagon, nor is it in the eyes of the court. The court isn't saying this drug is unsafe. They have just said that the federal government hasn't checked off on this drug for this use in the way that its procedures require it to do so.
KING: Peter Viles, thank you very much.
VILES: Sure.
KING: And in "Grange On Point" tonight, more on the critically important issue of how many troops the Army needs to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while simultaneously fighting global terrorism.
As Barbara Starr just noted, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld says there's no evidence that the size of the Army needs to be increased, at least at the moment.
Joining me now is General David Grange.
General, your views on this issue? The defense secretary yet again today -- he's been asked this question throughout the year. He says, yes, there's stress on the military, but, no, he does not see the threshold being met for adding a division or two divisions. Your view, sir?
RETIRED BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I think we're short on troops for the long haul. The Army, in particular, is a sustaining force. It carries the largest pack on its back to conduct the interests of the United States of America worldwide. And there really are three reasons why many are against increasing the size of the force. The main reason is money. It costs money for troops. Troops are the most expensive resource of the military budget.
No. 2, there is a lot of talk that, well, if you go ahead and approve getting 20,000, 40,000 more troops, it will take awhile to recruit them, to train them and field that force. Well, you have to start somewhere. You just can't keep kicking the can down the road. And, No. 3, the other aspect of increasing the size of the military, one of the problems is that, where do you get the people from? Can you have a recruiting base that large in order to field a force that's larger than today?
KING: We're talking, sir, about the active-duty Army. But, at the same time, as this country went to code orange this week, one of the tools governors have is National Guard, Reserve forces who might help them out if there are state security issues, many, of course, deployed overseas because of the strain on the active-duty Army. Do you see that as a domino effect, if you will, on the debate over whether to increase the Army, the strain we see now on the Guard and Reserves?
GRANGE: Yes, I do.
In fact, one way to look at the issue is the use of the reservists today, National Guard and Reserve forces. It's not only to augment, to support the active forces in war, but they're actually doing two major tasks right now. One is homeland security. And it runs between 21,000 National Guard troopers every day.
Now, the other issue is, they're actually filling the boots of active forces overseas in combat roles. And they're commanding certain missions, for instance, the Sinai in the Balkans, where Reserve units are actually in command. So they're actually filling the roles of active forces. And I think it's because of the stress of the commitment, and they're actually rotating in and out to help that issue.
KING: In closing tonight, General, I'd like your thoughts on this debate over anthrax vaccinations. It is a legal dispute, a legal case. What is your sense of what this means from a readiness standpoint, if the troops are able to say, no, I will not accept this vaccine?
GRANGE: Well, that's unacceptable. I think the vaccine is prudent to take. I've taken it myself.
The units I've been a part of that have taken the vaccine, I don't recall any issues and side-effects. I'm sure there were some. Here's the problem. The enemy fighting a robust military like we have wants to use asymmetrical factors, for instance, bioterrorism. And we just talked about it tonight on mad cow disease. It's the most terrifying thing I can think about in combat. You can bring your whole unit to its knees before you even cross the line into combat. And then again, you can't take part of the force and say, well, we really don't want to take the shot. There may be a critical functional area in that force, and then you don't have the ability to fight. So you can't give the choice. You have to go as a team.
KING: General David Grange, as always, thank you for your thoughts tonight, sir.
GRANGE: My pleasure.
KING: In other news about the global terrorist threat, the United States today added Bahrain to the list of countries where al Qaeda may be planning to attack American targets.
The U.S. Embassy warned Americans in Bahrain to take additional security precautions during the holidays. Bahrain is the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. It is also an important banking center in the Persian Gulf. A State Department official said, U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Kenya are also at risk of being attacked.
And still to come: A jury decides whether to sentence the teenage sniper Lee Boyd Malvo to death or life in prison. Elaine Quijano will report from Chesapeake, Virginia.
California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger tours the town hardest hit by yesterday's powerful earthquake. Frank Buckley will report from Paso Robles, California.
And can anyone stop Howard Dean in the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination? Bill Schneider will report. I also will be joined by three of this country's top political journalists.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The family members of sniper victims, now, there was no outburst by them, only silence, really, and silence also as the family members filed out of the courtroom after the verdicts were read.
Now, family members said afterwards in front of the cameras that they were disappointed, they were unhappy with the verdict. And a shooting victim, Paul LaRuffa, said he could not understand. He said that, if John Muhammad, who prosecutors say was part of the sniper team, received the death penalty, he did not understand why Lee Malvo did not receive the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL LARUFFA, SNIPER VICTIM: I'm also a little disappointed. And I'll try to answer some of your questions without you asking them.
And that's -- there were two people who committed the ultimate crime. One got the ultimate penalty and one didn't. I ask you why.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now, prosecutor Robert Horan echoed that sentiment. Off camera, he said: "I thought they were a team and acted as a team. They were equally guilty."
Now, on the defense side, attorney Craig Cooley had his head bowed in the courtroom as the verdicts were read. He appeared to sink lower as each one was read. He had made an impassioned plea to jurors yesterday that Lee Malvo's life should be spared. Now, afterwards, in front of the cameras, he said that he was relieved and said that youth is a major mitigating factor.
Lee Malvo was 17 years old at the time of the shootings. And during the course of the trial, Craig Cooley tried repeatedly to emphasize to jurors that point and referred to Lee Malvo repeatedly as a child. Now, what happens next? The judge in the case will review the jury's decision. She cannot increase the penalty. Final sentencing is scheduled to take place next March -- John.
KING: Elaine Quijano in Chesapeake, Virginia -- thank you, Elaine.
And, in California today, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in San Luis Obispo County after yesterday's powerful earthquake, the strongest in California in four years. The 6.5-magnitude quake killed two people and injured at least 50 others.
Frank Buckley reports tonight from the hard-hit community of Paso Robles -- Frank.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hey there, John.
Today, inspectors and engineers began going building to building to start assessing the damage here, to get a dollar estimate on some of the damage, and also to check for structural integrity.
Joining them in the process today was Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also took a tour of the community. His declaration of disaster paves the way for state and federal assistance. First, of course, that assessment process has to get under way to determine exactly how much help is needed here, whatever that may be. Governor Schwarzenegger says that the San Luis Obispo County and Paso Robles will get whatever they need.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: Today, this is a site of devastation. But we will come together once again as Californians and as neighbors. We will rebuild this town square. We will restore the energy that made it a place where people wanted to be. These buildings may have crumpled under the pressure of the quake, but I know for sure that the people will not buckle that easily.
(APPLAUSE) (END VIDEO CLIP)
BUCKLEY: And, as you look back live here in Paso Robles you can see there's a great deal of work ahead. Some 82 buildings were tagged last night. Now they're going back through to see if there's any additional assessment necessary.
Some of those buildings may be able to reopen fairly quickly. An early estimate on damage right now is $65 million to the downtown area alone. But that's a very early estimate and that's just in this area. The immediate priority here in this downtown area is to reopen these businesses -- John.
KING: Frank, it must be quite a marvel that only two, not to diminish those two lives, but only two people killed in this tragedy, given the damage.
BUCKLEY: It really is, and also given what was here at the time of the earthquake.
It was 11:15 in the morning local time. And we're told that the streets here were packed. This is an area that's very popular around the holiday period. And the streets were packed with people shopping, doing last-minute shopping. And it is incredible, given all of the brick structures in this area and the damage that we see behind us here, that, even though it is sad that two people died, that only two people died here -- John.
KING: Frank Buckley in Paso Robles, California -- thank you, Frank.
And still to come: Howard Dean. Are the Democrats panicking at the prospect an outsider might secure their party's nomination for president? We'll have Bill Schneider's analysis.
And Vietnamese Americans return to the homeland they fled, and they've brought some very American practices with them.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: It's the Democratic Party vs. Howard Dean. And so far, Howard Dean is winning hands-down. This self-styled outsider candidate has Al Gore's endorsement, a commanding lead in New Hampshire polls, plus a chance to win the Iowa caucuses.
Senior political analyst Bill Schneider reports on the Dean juggernaut and the urgent efforts to stop it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Howard Dean is mounting a full-throated challenge to the Democratic Party establishment. Nothing stops him, not even the capture of Saddam Hussein, which was widely seen as discrediting Dean's anti-war cause. The latest "Washington Post"-ABC News poll shows Dean's support going from 17 percent in October to 20 percent last week to 31 percent this week. No other Democrat is in double digits. The same poll shows President Bush leading Dean by nearly 20 points.
To many Democratic insiders, Dean looks like a disaster waiting to happen. Why isn't the Democratic establishment fighting back? Maybe they are. Other Democratic candidates are getting tough with Dean.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This man would take us back to where the Democratic Party was before Bill Clinton. Weak on security, big tax, big spend, and against trade.
SCHNEIDER: But they don't seem to be getting anywhere. Dean's army marches on, shrugging off the effort to discredit their candidate as politics as usual. A key establishment figure, Al Gore, has embraced Dean. Like many party leaders, Gore is enraptured by Dean's Internet army. Maybe he can win, they say, by bringing out a huge anti-establishment vote.
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Howard Dean really is the only candidate who has been able to inspire at the grassroots level all over this country the kind of passion and enthusiasm for democracy and change and transformation of America that we need in this country.
SCHNEIDER: The Democratic establishment lacks the will to stand up for its beliefs, conservative columnist David Brooks writes in "The New York Times." Brooks likens it to the challenge mounted by John McCain to the Republican establishment in 2000. The GOP establishment squashed McCain like a bug.
Will the Democrats do the same for Dean? Unlikely, for a simple reason. McCain challenged the conservative ascendancy over the Republican Party. Conservatives fought back in the name of protecting the party's values. But Dean is fighting the Democratic Party establishment in the name of protecting the party's core values.
HOWARD DEAN (D), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to have the value of the Democratic Party. But in Washington, the culture is, say whatever it takes to get elected.
SCHNEIDER: In the end, Dean's positions, anti-war, anti-Bush, are what most rank and file Democrats believe.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: It's the Washington party establishment that sold us out, Dean says, possibly including the Clintons, for no other reason than to get elected. How contemptible -- John.
KING: How contemptible.
Bill, there was some thought, after the capture of Saddam Hussein, that that would put more focus on the war and perhaps hurt Governor Dean because of his outspoken opposition to the war. Any evidence that he's suffering in the polls at all from that yet?
SCHNEIDER: Well, the latest "Washington Post" poll shows he's still climbing. When these numbers come out and these events happen that appear to discredit Dean, they don't get through to his followers. His followers are not people who believe in politics as usual.
And we've seen time and time again, starting months ago, when he had what was supposed to be a discrediting interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," that experiences like that just energize his followers. And they say, we don't believe in politics as usual. And they're just steeled to go forward and march for their candidate.
KING: The contrarian candidate.
Bill Schneider, thank you tonight from Los Angeles.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
KING: And that brings us to tonight's poll question: Do you think Howard Dean is good for the Democratic Party, yes, no, or doesn't matter? Cast your vote at CNN.com/Lou. We'll bring you the results a bit later in the show.
One factor likely to help President Bush in the polls, a healthy economy. And there was news on that front today. The economy last quarter put in its best performance in almost 20 years, growing at an annual rate of 8.2 percent. That report is just the latest bit of encouraging news for a president who has found his popularity rising, while his Democratic competitors are scrambling.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): The president's year-end polling numbers have Republicans more and more optimistic about next year's campaign.
BILL MCINTURFF, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: You know what? You know who has had the highest job approval rating in December of any American president since 1972? George W. Bush.
KING: Sixty-three percent of Americans approve of how Mr. Bush is handling his job, well above the ratings enjoyed by Presidents Nixon, Reagan and Clinton heading into their successful reelection years. This President Bush also has significant advantages compared to where his father stood entering his reelection campaign back in 1992.
PETER HART, DEMOCRATIC POLLSTER: He's seen more down-to-earth, in touch with the average person. And his father was seen as somebody that was a little bit more aristocratic, who didn't understand grocery scanners and those things.
KING: The economy is usually the major factor in presidential politics. Nearly six in 10 Americans say economic conditions are good. But it is a somewhat nervous optimism. HART: No. 1, it's a sense, we've lost jobs. No. 2, it's a sense that those jobs are going overseas. And, No. 3, it's a sense that we've gone from a surplus to a deficit.
KING: The capture of Saddam Hussein is shaping year-end views of the Iraq war; 61 percent of Americans say it was worth going to war. And 56 percent say the Iraq war made the United States safer. One weak spot for the president, many Americans don't accept his calling Iraq the central front of the war on terrorism.
MCINTURFF: The public view is, there's kind of Osama bin Laden and cracking al Qaeda and that that is kind of the central war on terrorism. They see Iraq as being separate.
KING: This week's heightened terror alert also could stir up worries and political volatility.
HART: Everything that is happening out there says, people are insecure and uncertain about what's ahead. They're looking for a certain amount of safety and a certain amount of regularity.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: More on politics just ahead. The president has the wind at his back and the poll numbers on his side. We'll find out what Mr. Bush needs to do to stay on top and what the competition must do to compete. Our political roundtable is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Joining us now for more on President Bush, the polls, and, of course, the upcoming primaries and caucuses are Ron Brownstein, national political correspondent with "The Los Angeles Times," Karen Tumulty of "TIME" magazine, and Roger Simon of "U.S. News & World Report." All three join us from our Washington studios.
Ladies first.
Karen, let me begin with you. If you look at the polling data, all the Republicans say, this president goes into this reelection campaign in better shape than any incumbent in the past 30 years. If you're the Bush campaign, where's the weak spot?
KAREN TUMULTY, "TIME": Well, the weak spot is the fact that this is not October of next year.
You're absolutely right. This is precisely where the president would want to be going into an election. He's not only got a high overall approval rating. But just on every measure you can name, including, by the way, on those domestic issues, where the Democrats usually dominate, he's got very high poll ratings. But the fact is that there are a lot of months between now and the election.
KING: Ron Brownstein, catching Saddam Hussein was supposed to hurt Howard Dean. No evidence in the polls yet. Why? RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it hasn't hurt him in the Democratic primary. Certainly, the numbers that have come out, John, post-Saddam about the general election have to be daunting for Democrats, both the generic number, pitting Bush against an unnamed Democrat, and specifically against Dean.
It hasn't changed the primary that much, because Democratic primary voters remain opposed to the war. Their objection wasn't operational. It wasn't that we were not doing well enough. It was philosophical. It was the wrong war. And so, Dean's strength there and the anti-Bush feeling among Democratic voters is still very strong. So it hasn't hurt him. What it has done very quickly is change the debate a bit. The candidates who supported the war are going after Dean on that, really, for the first time in months.
KING: And, Roger Simon, Howard Dean getting in a bit of a spat with the centrist wing of the Democratic Party, if you will, the Democratic Leadership Council, calling it the Republican wing. I remember back when we were all teenagers covering Clinton back in 1992. I think Jesse Jackson called it Democrats for the leisure class. So Howard Dean not quite as scathing in his criticism. Does that have any impact on a primary fight?
ROGER SIMON, "U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT": Dean in a battle with that vast centrist wing of the Democratic Party.
(LAUGHTER)
SIMON: The last candidate the DLC had really was Bill Clinton. They didn't like Al Gore and his theme of people vs. the powerful.
People forget what the DLC is. They think it's some kind of grassroots organization. It's a think tank. Some very bright people develop moderate or centrist proposals and hope that elected officials implement them. But it doesn't mean they have a huge following in the Democratic Party. And if you look at Howard Dean's poll numbers, they clearly don't. And besides, the DLC attacked Howard Dean first. They attacked him back in May. And they've been attacking him ever since.
BROWNSTEIN: I disagree a little about Roger.
I think that, in terms of the primary, this really isn't a big issue for Dean. But it does go, John, I think, to the larger question of how he is positioning himself vis-a-vis the general election. Everybody says that you can run left in the primary and reposition yourself to the center for the general. But if you go so far and if you alienate constituencies in the party, comments like last week's argument that the capture of Saddam has not made us safer, these are things that are hard to live down.
And if Dean is in fact getting into a sustained argument with centrist Democrats, who reacted badly to his speech last week, where he seemed to criticize Clinton as well, that is something that is going to be a significant problem, in terms of his ability to unify the party and carry it to November. TUMULTY: But, on the third hand, the fact is that, if you look at the polling numbers, there's less and less of a center in this country. And if you look at the strategy that both parties seem to be getting ready to launch, it's digging into your own base and getting them to the polls. Certainly, that's Karl Rove's strategy on the Republican side as well.
So, what Dean is doing here in the primary could also serve him well in the general election, if, in fact, this does turn out to be one of those base elections.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWNSTEIN: If you believe, Karen, that there is a Democratic base that can be mobilized to get to a majority, which is the exact opposite of Clinton's belief for eight years.
John mentioned in 1992 -- back in 1991, Clinton's famous speech in Cleveland where he argued that simply mobilizing the base no longer gets the Democrats to a majority; you have to be able to reach out to swing voters. Dean has to -- any Democratic nominee has to moderate the Republican advantages among the groups that lean toward them. They simply can't lose white men again by 35 points, the way they did in the '80s.
And the risk, I think, in all of this of the last 10 days is presenting kind of positions that will make it tough to turn around and try to appeal to those voters in the general election, which he clearly wants to do and which they're talking about finding ways to do already.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Roger, one of the ways Bill Clinton emerged back in 1992 was making the case that he was the most electable, a candidate from the South, a candidate who could win some of those groups who were going to the Republicans. If you look at the head-to-head matchups now, all of the Democrats lose to President Bush, but Howard Dean does lose by a pretty sizable margin. Any evidence that electability is an issue in the Democratic campaign?
SIMON: I think it will be. And it is the only real issue that the other eight of the Democratic pack have to use against Howard Dean.
Their trouble is, it's hard for them to make the case they are really electable when matched up against George Bush. I mean, which of them really presents a case that says, yes, even though I don't have Howard Dean's money, yes, even though I don't have his volunteers, yes, even though I don't have his labor union support, on the other hand, I am more electable?
Dean's stated goal, stated from the beginning, would be to energize the base of the Democratic Party and then to reach out to new voters who simply don't participate in the democratic process, democratic with a small d. Get those voters who don't vote in presidential elections, hook them on the Internet or whoever they are, and get them to vote, and this is his path to victory.
TUMULTY: And, again, the fact is, going back to these poll numbers we saw today, if the polls are looking like this eight months from now, it's hard to imagine that any Democrat can beat George Bush.
BROWNSTEIN: That's absolutely right. In terms of his approval rating, if it's higher, if it's in the mid 50s, it would be very hard for anybody to beat an incumbent president.
What's fascinating to me, John, is the intensity of feeling on both sides of this. You have probably about half the party who thinks that nominating Howard Dean is the best possible solution to the problems created by George Bush, who see this as sort of a crusade, and the other half who worry that this is simply a crusade toward a cliff.
And you have both of these emotions deepening at the same time. I think everything that Dean has done over the last week, from criticizing -- seeming to criticize Clinton, to his comments about Saddam, has deepened the support from the people who like him, who see him as a straight shooter who sticks to his guns, and increased the anxiety among those who are skeptical of him. It's really fascinating to watch these trains move in opposite directions at very high speed.
KING: We need to stop it there for tonight because of time. Thank all three of you, Ron Brownstein, Karen Tumulty, Roger Simon, for joining us. Much more of this to come in the critical just ahead. Thank you.
And coming up: returning home to a land of opportunity, a land called Vietnam. Mike Chinoy reports on thousands of Vietnamese Americans bringing U.S. style entrepreneurship to Southeast Asia.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: The images are etched in the minds of Americans old enough to remember, thousands of Vietnamese scrambling onto helicopters, as North Vietnamese forces enter the city of Saigon. Today, a decade after the communist government began market-oriented reforms, thousands of those same refugees have returned home from the United States.
Mike Chinoy reports now on Vietnamese Americans promoting and enjoying economic opportunity in the land of their birth.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With its swimming pools, manicured streets and comfortable villas, it looks more like Southern California. But this is overseas Vietnamese village in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, home to people like Larry Vo, one of thousands of Vietnamese Americans who have returned to the country they fled at the end of the war.
LARRY VO, FORMER REFUGEE: The war, they forgot it. They don't talk about the war. We don't -- they forgot it.
CHINOY: Vo left Saigon the day the North Vietnamese rolled in. Eventually, he became a marketing manager for Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, where he hobnobbed with celebrities and organized regular concerts of 1970s Vietnamese pop hits for his nostalgic fellow exiles.
He never thought he'd return, until Vietnam's communist authorities began implementing market reforms a decade ago, welcoming ex-refugees, known as Viet-Q (ph) and their money and expertise.
VO: Vietnam, they go and they open and they change everything new.
CHINOY: Phil Tran (ph) was 11 when his family fled Saigon. Now he runs a computer software company here. He's doing well and he believes he's doing good for Vietnam.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe I'm adding a lot of value to the Vietnamese society as a whole. I think Viet-Q serves as a very good bridge between the way that a Vietnamese company functions and a Western company, a Western business functions. So Viet-Q will serve as a very nice bridge.
CHINOY: After work, Tran meets up with other Vietnamese Americans at Highland's (ph) Coffee, another successful business run by a former refugee. They marvel at the changes in the communist nation their parents once vow vowed never to return to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More open, more entrepreneurial, more freedom.
CHINOY: A transformation in which refugees returning to their roots are playing an increasingly pivotal role.
Mike Chinoy, CNN, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Just ahead: mad cow disease and the markets. Christine Romans will have the report.
And later, take me out to the ballpark in Iraq. We'll tell you the story of one dedicated group of volunteers that is bringing baseball to the battlefield.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: On Wall Street today, the Dow industrials inched higher, once again hitting a new 19-month high, the Dow up three points to 10341. The Nasdaq rose 19. And the S&P 500 gained three. The markets, however, may be jolted tomorrow, following news tonight of the first reported case of mad cow disease in the United States.
Christine Romans joins us now -- Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, cattle prices are up 30 percent this year. It's been fantastic demand. And this is what the bulls, so to speak, in the cattle market say was the worst-case scenario for a bullish market.
And that is documented mad cow disease in the United States. Now, back in 1985, and even before then, the United States stopped imports from the U.K. because of fears over mad cow disease. The United States supplies about 25 percent of all of the beef in the world. It's a $3.4 billion export market. And there are concerns that our export partners will be concerned about a case of mad cow disease in the United States and could shut down some of their imports.
So it's going to be very important to watch how that works out. Almost 97 million cattle in the United States, $3.4 billion in exports. It's a huge market. It's a bright spot in the U.S. export market overall, when we've been hearing worries about other areas. And folks will be watching very closely to see if this spreads to McDonald's, to some of the restaurant stocks, some of the grocery stocks, some of the other areas that could be tainted.
Now, McDonald's says that its supply chain is clean; none of this will touch its supply chain. But this is, a lot of folks are telling me tonight, likely going to drive cattle prices down very sharply tomorrow and could be a problem for the stock market as well.
KING: You saw Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman saying that she's going to serve beef on Christmas, that they have set up this toll-free number, that they're moving as quickly as they can. They're trying obviously to put a psychology of do not be afraid in place. But...
ROMANS: But the United States has the safest food system in the world. The experts tell us this over and over again.
But the emotion and psychology is likely going to be something that's going to felt in the markets. And the markets are closed early tomorrow for the holidays. So that means investors have less time to react. It could make it a very volatile day.
KING: Christine, we'll touch base again tomorrow.
ROMANS: Sure.
KING: Thank you very much.
And turning now to our continuing story, "Exporting America." This is the list of companies that our staff has confirmed to be exporting jobs or creating new jobs in cheaper overseas labor markets. Today's additions to the list are Alliance Semiconductor, Lexmark International, which makes computer printers and related products, Office Depot, palmOne, formerly Palm Incorporated, and Pericom Semiconductor.
We'll continue to update this list each and every night on this broadcast. Please continue to send us e-mails with the names of companies you know to be "Exporting America." The address is LouDobbs@CNN.com.
And just ahead, a bit of relief and a reminder of home arrives for some soldiers in Iraq. Dozens of volunteers pitch in to ship baseball uniforms, bats, balls and mitts to our troops overseas -- that story when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Now the results of tonight's poll.
We asked: Do you think Howard Dean is good for the Democratic Party? Seventy-three percent of you said yes; 22 percent said no. And 5 percent said it doesn't matter.
Tonight's thought is on politics. "More important than winning the election is governing the nation. That is the test of a political party, the acid, final test." That is from diplomat and two-time Democratic candidate for president Adlai Stevenson.
And finally tonight, one of America's favorite pastimes is making its way to the battlefields of Iraq and the troops stationed there. Baseball equipment by the boxful is arriving, thanks to a enterprising group of volunteers here in the United States.
Bill Tucker reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Private 1st Class Marc Knowles likes to play a little baseball, whether on leave in Kansas or stationed overseas. While deployed to Kuwait and Iraq, Knowles had a lot of downtime. So he asked his dad to send over some baseball gloves.
PFC. MARK KNOWLES, U.S. ARMY: I gave my dad a call and said, hey, can I have some gloves and stuff? We're bored over here.
STEVE KNOWLES, OPERATION HOME RUN: I sent them some baseball equipment. And it came back with, do you know, dad, that there's over 140,000 of us over here? We need a few more gloves and bats and balls.
S. KNOWLES: Four, five. We've got six over there.
TUCKER: Dad started gathering equipment.
S. KNOWLES: Seven.
TUCKER: Donations came in from local teams, from sporting goods suppliers. Major League Baseball gave enough to outfit more than a dozen teams.
M. KNOWLES: I've got two baseball teams in Iraq. And we got boxes and we got boxes and we got boxes. And I had no idea that one call was going to do this. But that's what happened.
TUCKER: The Knowles' congressman got involved after hearing about their efforts.
REP. TODD TIAHRT (R), KANSAS: We want them to have part of America with them. And having a little baseball equipment and being able to play catch or play a baseball game goes a long ways towards reminding them of home and reminding them of the good things that they're protecting.
TUCKER: While fighting boredom and boosting morale are the current objectives, the eventually goal is to bring baseball to the kids of Iraq.
BEN INKS, OPERATION HOME RUN: Shin guards.
TUCKER: Over in Utah, 14-year-old Ben Inks and his mom have already started working on a similar goal. As part of an Eagle Scout project, Ben collected baseball equipment to send to the children of Afghanistan who learned to play from American troops.
With the help of DHL, Ben and his mom sent enough equipment to outfit 31 little league teams. Now Ben and Mark have teamed up and plan to go national with their roles as baseball missionaries. If you're interested in helping out, check out Utah at OperationHomeRun.org or Kansas at OperationHomeRun.com.
Bill Tucker, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: What a great story.
And please be sure to tune in tomorrow, when your series of special reports on the "Holiday Home Front" continues. We'll hear from some very dedicated volunteers who are shipping everything, from candy to clothes to games, to our troops overseas. That's tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. Eastern.
And that's our show for tonight. Thanks for being with us.
Tomorrow, we'll be joined by Charles Liu, astrophysicist at the American Museum of National History, for the latest on the Mars probe Eagle 2 as it prepares to land.
For all of us here, good night from New York.
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First Mad Cow Case Discovered in United States>
Aired December 23, 2003 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight: The jury in the teenage sniper trial reaches a verdict on whether Lee Boyd Malvo should be executed or sentenced to life in prison. Elaine Quijano will report.
In "Grange on Point": Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismisses calls from some members of Congress for an immediate increase in the size of the Army. General David Grange will be my guest.
Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean appears unstoppable in the race for his party's nomination. But can Dean beat President Bush? I will be joined by three of this country's top political journalists.
And in our special report on the holiday home front, Operation Home Run, how baseball players in this country are helping troops overseas enjoy America's national pastime.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Tuesday, December 23. Sitting in for Lou Dobbs, John King.
KING: Good evening.
A developing story tonight, the government just announcing that inspectors have discovered the first-ever suspected case of mad cow disease here in the United States. Officials said the disease was found in one cow in Washington state. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman made that announcement. And she says she is confident about the safety of the food supplies here in the United States. And she said the risk to human health is, in her view, extremely low.
Mad cow disease was first discovered in England in 1986. The British effort to eradicate the disease led to the slaughter of millions of animals, cost billions of dollars, and devastated Britain's cattle industry.
CNN medical correspondent Christy Feig is tracking this story for us tonight in Washington -- Christy.
CHRISTY FEIG, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, you're exactly right. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman is just now wrapping up a press conference here in Washington, announcing what is probably one of the greatest fears for the U.S. cattle industry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANN VENEMAN, SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE: A single Holstein cow from Washington state has tested as presumptive positive for BSE or what is widely known as mad cow disease. Despite this finding, we remain confident in the safety of our food supply.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEIG: Now, John, a little background here. Mad cow disease, as you will remember, plagued pretty much most of England and some of Europe in the late 1990s, throughout the 1990s. It was first discovered in 1986.
It is a disease that infects cows once they eat infected meat. It affects their brains, their nervous system. You'll remember the pictures of these cows collapsing because they no longer can walk. And that's how they found this cow, actually. It was at a slaughterhouse. It was what they call a downer cow. Downer cows are these that are not walking on their feet. They're collapsing. Their feet keep falling out from underneath them.
That is a textbook picture of what this disease looks like. Now, all the concern here is basically because humans can rarely get this disease from eating infected meat. There have been more than 100 cases across Europe and other countries from people who have eaten this. It was a big problem in the United Kingdom. And that's why a lot of people in the United States, if they spent much time in the United Kingdom, can't give blood.
It all goes back to this big fear of mad cow disease. And that's why the U.S. cattle industry has been dreading this type of announcement, because it's going to affect trade. People are not going to want to buy meat from countries. We don't buy meat from other countries here in the United States that have had reports of mad cow disease. So this is certainly cause for concern for the cattle industry in the United States.
KING: Christy Feig, live for us tonight on this developing story from Washington, thank you.
And joining me now with more on the phone from Madison, Wisconsin, is John Stauber. He's the co-author of "Mad Cow USA: Could the Nightmare Happen Here?"
John, in your judgment tonight, how serious is this announcement by the Agriculture Department? And how likely is it, based on the early information we have, the possibility that disease could spread in this country?
JOHN STAUBER, CO-AUTHOR, "MAD COW USA": Well, this is extremely serious.
And I heard part of Secretary Veneman's news conference. And I think she's really underplaying the significance of this, probably in an attempt to allay concerns. But the public should be very concerned about this. And the real problem here is that, here in the United States, we have not taken the measures that we need to take to deal with this disease, the sorts of measures that were taken in Britain and Europe many years ago.
Will this disease spread in the United States? I suspect that this cow is the tip of an invisible iceberg. The first north American case of mad cow disease was found just north of the state of Washington in Alberta, Canada, last May. And since the animal feed regulations that spread mad cow disease are lax, and they are virtually identical in Canada, the United States and Mexico, my presumption is that mad cow disease is spread throughout North America, at some level.
But because the testing program in the United States is so inadequate, it's taken us until now to find one case. There are more cases, no doubt about it.
KING: Let me stop you there, John. You say the testing program is so inadequate. Secretary Veneman said that the United States and, indeed, across North America, she said has the safest food supply and the most stringent regulation and safety standards in the world. What specifically do you think the United States has failed to do?
STAUBER: Well, that's absolutely not true when it comes to protecting against mad cow disease.
For instance, in Europe and Britain, they test virtually every beef animal for mad cow disease before it ends up now consumed by humans. That's what we should be doing in the United States. We need to test every animal. But one thing we need to do is, we need to stop the practice of animal cannibalism.
The secretary said that we should not be concerned about the brain and spinal and nerve tissues of this animal, because they apparently went to a rendering plant, where they would presumably be rendered into things like animal feed. The problem is that, here in the United States, animal feed is still fed back to livestock. In fact, you can go to feed stores in cattle country and purchase milk replacer for calves. And that milk replacer may very well contain cattle blood plasma, even though, in laboratory tests, mad cow-type diseases can be spread through blood plasma.
So, here in the United States, we are so far behind on dealing with this issue that we're still weaning calves on cattle blood protein. When Secretary Veneman assures us that everything is being done that can be done to deal with this problem, she's being extremely disingenuous. And I would remind viewers that her background is as a cattle industry lobbyist.
KING: John Stauber, co-author of "Mad Cow USA," we appreciate your thoughts tonight, sir, on this developing story. Thank you again for joining us.
STAUBER: Thank you.
KING: And turning now to the threat of terrorism in this country.
Tonight, government officials say authorities have prevented numerous terrorist suspects from entering this country in just the past three weeks. Some of those suspects were members of flight crews on foreign airliners. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today said the terrorist threat to this country is -- quote -- "serious."
Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reports -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, it is that threat, the possibility of hijackers gaining access to a foreign airliner, a non-U.S. airliner, and then attacking a target in the United States, that is one of the things that had led the administration to go to code orange, just one of them, but a very serious one according to administration and intelligence officials.
Now, today, across Washington, officials again underscoring how serious the threat is, and here at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld speaking publicly for the first time about the implications for the United States of going to code orange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: It costs money and it causes stress on military and civilian at all levels of government. Therefore, you do not do it lightly. You ask, is it serious? Yes, you bet your life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Military officials also talking about what Americans may see in this country over the holiday season.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: They may see additional air patrols over select cities and facilities, an increase in the air defense posture here in Washington, D.C. And combat aircraft could be put on a higher alert at different air bases throughout the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: So, John, tonight, all of the pieces in place by the U.S. military, but they certainly hope they won't have to use them -- John.
KING: Well, Barbara, the secretary there talking about the stress code orange causes on the military. One of the questions you've been asking throughout this year, the stress on the military here at home because of homeland security, the stress, of course, because of the deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the questions, should there be a bigger Army?
Did the secretary shed any new light on that debate today?
STARR: He did not. It's very clear that the administration understands, this is going to be an issue in the political campaign, possibly, some people in Congress already calling for an increase in the number of the armed forces, specifically, adding people to the U.S. Army. But this is a very expensive proposition. All the secretary would say today is that the matter remains under study and if someone comes to him with convincing evidence that it needs to be done, that the Army needs to be larger, then he will take up the issue, but not at this time.
KING: Barbara Starr for us on a very busy day at the Pentagon -- thank you, Barbara.
Another subject at today's Pentagon briefing, the controversy over giving anthrax vaccinations to the troops. Yesterday, a federal judge ruled that troops should not be forced to have those vaccinations. Today, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Richard Myers, said the vaccines are important to protect U.S. troops.
Peter Viles reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Admitting they had been caught off guard by a judge's rebuke, Pentagon officials lined up to defend their anthrax vaccination program, calling the vaccine safe and effective.
MYERS: This drug that we're using, the vaccine has been around for 50 years. It is not experimental. It's approved by the FDA. And from a military standpoint, I think it's extremely important.
VILES: Six people sued the Pentagon and the FDA anonymously, arguing the vaccine, effective in fighting anthrax skin infections, has never been formally approved for use against anthrax in the lungs.
And thus, service people should have the choice of whether or not to take it. In a sharply worded ruling Monday, federal Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the military to stop the vaccination program, Judge Sullivan ruling the vaccination is -- quote -- "being used for an unapproved purpose." He concluded, "The United States cannot demand that members of the armed forces also serve as guinea pigs for experimental drugs."
WILLIAM WINKENWERDER, ASST. SECY. OF DEFENSE FOR HEALTH AFFAIRS: I categorically reject the use of that term with respect to our treatments or any health programs for our service members. We do not use service members as guinea pigs.
VILES: Congressman Christopher Shays says more than 150 service members face court-martial for refusing the vaccine, which requires six injections and produces side-effects in up to 35 percent of those who take it.
REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R), CONNECTICUT: Some of the side- effects are dizziness. And if you're a pilot, you can't be dizzy. And so you had National Guard and reservists who are also commercial pilots who simply said, I'm not taking this vaccine. Now, they had the luxury of leaving. And we lost hundreds and hundreds of pilots because of this.
VILES: The Pentagon maintains, side-effects, including headaches and muscle aches, are similar to those from flu shots.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VILES: The administration now has a number of legal options here. The Pentagon could continue to fight this out in court. Or the president, acting on the Pentagon's behalf, could step in and waive the rights of service people here, which would reinstate the vaccination program -- John.
KING: Peter, the president just had this vaccination, Secretary Rumsfeld and General Myers today both making clear that they had had it as well.
VILES: Sure.
KING: They obviously, as they fight the legal fight, are trying to make the case that they think this is safe.
VILES: Sure.
And close to one million service people have had it. The Pentagon has studied the results there and they say that it's like a flu shot. Sure, some people get sick, but the safety issue is not a big issue in the eyes of the Pentagon, nor is it in the eyes of the court. The court isn't saying this drug is unsafe. They have just said that the federal government hasn't checked off on this drug for this use in the way that its procedures require it to do so.
KING: Peter Viles, thank you very much.
VILES: Sure.
KING: And in "Grange On Point" tonight, more on the critically important issue of how many troops the Army needs to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while simultaneously fighting global terrorism.
As Barbara Starr just noted, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld says there's no evidence that the size of the Army needs to be increased, at least at the moment.
Joining me now is General David Grange.
General, your views on this issue? The defense secretary yet again today -- he's been asked this question throughout the year. He says, yes, there's stress on the military, but, no, he does not see the threshold being met for adding a division or two divisions. Your view, sir?
RETIRED BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I think we're short on troops for the long haul. The Army, in particular, is a sustaining force. It carries the largest pack on its back to conduct the interests of the United States of America worldwide. And there really are three reasons why many are against increasing the size of the force. The main reason is money. It costs money for troops. Troops are the most expensive resource of the military budget.
No. 2, there is a lot of talk that, well, if you go ahead and approve getting 20,000, 40,000 more troops, it will take awhile to recruit them, to train them and field that force. Well, you have to start somewhere. You just can't keep kicking the can down the road. And, No. 3, the other aspect of increasing the size of the military, one of the problems is that, where do you get the people from? Can you have a recruiting base that large in order to field a force that's larger than today?
KING: We're talking, sir, about the active-duty Army. But, at the same time, as this country went to code orange this week, one of the tools governors have is National Guard, Reserve forces who might help them out if there are state security issues, many, of course, deployed overseas because of the strain on the active-duty Army. Do you see that as a domino effect, if you will, on the debate over whether to increase the Army, the strain we see now on the Guard and Reserves?
GRANGE: Yes, I do.
In fact, one way to look at the issue is the use of the reservists today, National Guard and Reserve forces. It's not only to augment, to support the active forces in war, but they're actually doing two major tasks right now. One is homeland security. And it runs between 21,000 National Guard troopers every day.
Now, the other issue is, they're actually filling the boots of active forces overseas in combat roles. And they're commanding certain missions, for instance, the Sinai in the Balkans, where Reserve units are actually in command. So they're actually filling the roles of active forces. And I think it's because of the stress of the commitment, and they're actually rotating in and out to help that issue.
KING: In closing tonight, General, I'd like your thoughts on this debate over anthrax vaccinations. It is a legal dispute, a legal case. What is your sense of what this means from a readiness standpoint, if the troops are able to say, no, I will not accept this vaccine?
GRANGE: Well, that's unacceptable. I think the vaccine is prudent to take. I've taken it myself.
The units I've been a part of that have taken the vaccine, I don't recall any issues and side-effects. I'm sure there were some. Here's the problem. The enemy fighting a robust military like we have wants to use asymmetrical factors, for instance, bioterrorism. And we just talked about it tonight on mad cow disease. It's the most terrifying thing I can think about in combat. You can bring your whole unit to its knees before you even cross the line into combat. And then again, you can't take part of the force and say, well, we really don't want to take the shot. There may be a critical functional area in that force, and then you don't have the ability to fight. So you can't give the choice. You have to go as a team.
KING: General David Grange, as always, thank you for your thoughts tonight, sir.
GRANGE: My pleasure.
KING: In other news about the global terrorist threat, the United States today added Bahrain to the list of countries where al Qaeda may be planning to attack American targets.
The U.S. Embassy warned Americans in Bahrain to take additional security precautions during the holidays. Bahrain is the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. It is also an important banking center in the Persian Gulf. A State Department official said, U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Kenya are also at risk of being attacked.
And still to come: A jury decides whether to sentence the teenage sniper Lee Boyd Malvo to death or life in prison. Elaine Quijano will report from Chesapeake, Virginia.
California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger tours the town hardest hit by yesterday's powerful earthquake. Frank Buckley will report from Paso Robles, California.
And can anyone stop Howard Dean in the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination? Bill Schneider will report. I also will be joined by three of this country's top political journalists.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The family members of sniper victims, now, there was no outburst by them, only silence, really, and silence also as the family members filed out of the courtroom after the verdicts were read.
Now, family members said afterwards in front of the cameras that they were disappointed, they were unhappy with the verdict. And a shooting victim, Paul LaRuffa, said he could not understand. He said that, if John Muhammad, who prosecutors say was part of the sniper team, received the death penalty, he did not understand why Lee Malvo did not receive the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL LARUFFA, SNIPER VICTIM: I'm also a little disappointed. And I'll try to answer some of your questions without you asking them.
And that's -- there were two people who committed the ultimate crime. One got the ultimate penalty and one didn't. I ask you why.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now, prosecutor Robert Horan echoed that sentiment. Off camera, he said: "I thought they were a team and acted as a team. They were equally guilty."
Now, on the defense side, attorney Craig Cooley had his head bowed in the courtroom as the verdicts were read. He appeared to sink lower as each one was read. He had made an impassioned plea to jurors yesterday that Lee Malvo's life should be spared. Now, afterwards, in front of the cameras, he said that he was relieved and said that youth is a major mitigating factor.
Lee Malvo was 17 years old at the time of the shootings. And during the course of the trial, Craig Cooley tried repeatedly to emphasize to jurors that point and referred to Lee Malvo repeatedly as a child. Now, what happens next? The judge in the case will review the jury's decision. She cannot increase the penalty. Final sentencing is scheduled to take place next March -- John.
KING: Elaine Quijano in Chesapeake, Virginia -- thank you, Elaine.
And, in California today, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in San Luis Obispo County after yesterday's powerful earthquake, the strongest in California in four years. The 6.5-magnitude quake killed two people and injured at least 50 others.
Frank Buckley reports tonight from the hard-hit community of Paso Robles -- Frank.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hey there, John.
Today, inspectors and engineers began going building to building to start assessing the damage here, to get a dollar estimate on some of the damage, and also to check for structural integrity.
Joining them in the process today was Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also took a tour of the community. His declaration of disaster paves the way for state and federal assistance. First, of course, that assessment process has to get under way to determine exactly how much help is needed here, whatever that may be. Governor Schwarzenegger says that the San Luis Obispo County and Paso Robles will get whatever they need.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: Today, this is a site of devastation. But we will come together once again as Californians and as neighbors. We will rebuild this town square. We will restore the energy that made it a place where people wanted to be. These buildings may have crumpled under the pressure of the quake, but I know for sure that the people will not buckle that easily.
(APPLAUSE) (END VIDEO CLIP)
BUCKLEY: And, as you look back live here in Paso Robles you can see there's a great deal of work ahead. Some 82 buildings were tagged last night. Now they're going back through to see if there's any additional assessment necessary.
Some of those buildings may be able to reopen fairly quickly. An early estimate on damage right now is $65 million to the downtown area alone. But that's a very early estimate and that's just in this area. The immediate priority here in this downtown area is to reopen these businesses -- John.
KING: Frank, it must be quite a marvel that only two, not to diminish those two lives, but only two people killed in this tragedy, given the damage.
BUCKLEY: It really is, and also given what was here at the time of the earthquake.
It was 11:15 in the morning local time. And we're told that the streets here were packed. This is an area that's very popular around the holiday period. And the streets were packed with people shopping, doing last-minute shopping. And it is incredible, given all of the brick structures in this area and the damage that we see behind us here, that, even though it is sad that two people died, that only two people died here -- John.
KING: Frank Buckley in Paso Robles, California -- thank you, Frank.
And still to come: Howard Dean. Are the Democrats panicking at the prospect an outsider might secure their party's nomination for president? We'll have Bill Schneider's analysis.
And Vietnamese Americans return to the homeland they fled, and they've brought some very American practices with them.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: It's the Democratic Party vs. Howard Dean. And so far, Howard Dean is winning hands-down. This self-styled outsider candidate has Al Gore's endorsement, a commanding lead in New Hampshire polls, plus a chance to win the Iowa caucuses.
Senior political analyst Bill Schneider reports on the Dean juggernaut and the urgent efforts to stop it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Howard Dean is mounting a full-throated challenge to the Democratic Party establishment. Nothing stops him, not even the capture of Saddam Hussein, which was widely seen as discrediting Dean's anti-war cause. The latest "Washington Post"-ABC News poll shows Dean's support going from 17 percent in October to 20 percent last week to 31 percent this week. No other Democrat is in double digits. The same poll shows President Bush leading Dean by nearly 20 points.
To many Democratic insiders, Dean looks like a disaster waiting to happen. Why isn't the Democratic establishment fighting back? Maybe they are. Other Democratic candidates are getting tough with Dean.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This man would take us back to where the Democratic Party was before Bill Clinton. Weak on security, big tax, big spend, and against trade.
SCHNEIDER: But they don't seem to be getting anywhere. Dean's army marches on, shrugging off the effort to discredit their candidate as politics as usual. A key establishment figure, Al Gore, has embraced Dean. Like many party leaders, Gore is enraptured by Dean's Internet army. Maybe he can win, they say, by bringing out a huge anti-establishment vote.
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Howard Dean really is the only candidate who has been able to inspire at the grassroots level all over this country the kind of passion and enthusiasm for democracy and change and transformation of America that we need in this country.
SCHNEIDER: The Democratic establishment lacks the will to stand up for its beliefs, conservative columnist David Brooks writes in "The New York Times." Brooks likens it to the challenge mounted by John McCain to the Republican establishment in 2000. The GOP establishment squashed McCain like a bug.
Will the Democrats do the same for Dean? Unlikely, for a simple reason. McCain challenged the conservative ascendancy over the Republican Party. Conservatives fought back in the name of protecting the party's values. But Dean is fighting the Democratic Party establishment in the name of protecting the party's core values.
HOWARD DEAN (D), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to have the value of the Democratic Party. But in Washington, the culture is, say whatever it takes to get elected.
SCHNEIDER: In the end, Dean's positions, anti-war, anti-Bush, are what most rank and file Democrats believe.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: It's the Washington party establishment that sold us out, Dean says, possibly including the Clintons, for no other reason than to get elected. How contemptible -- John.
KING: How contemptible.
Bill, there was some thought, after the capture of Saddam Hussein, that that would put more focus on the war and perhaps hurt Governor Dean because of his outspoken opposition to the war. Any evidence that he's suffering in the polls at all from that yet?
SCHNEIDER: Well, the latest "Washington Post" poll shows he's still climbing. When these numbers come out and these events happen that appear to discredit Dean, they don't get through to his followers. His followers are not people who believe in politics as usual.
And we've seen time and time again, starting months ago, when he had what was supposed to be a discrediting interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," that experiences like that just energize his followers. And they say, we don't believe in politics as usual. And they're just steeled to go forward and march for their candidate.
KING: The contrarian candidate.
Bill Schneider, thank you tonight from Los Angeles.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
KING: And that brings us to tonight's poll question: Do you think Howard Dean is good for the Democratic Party, yes, no, or doesn't matter? Cast your vote at CNN.com/Lou. We'll bring you the results a bit later in the show.
One factor likely to help President Bush in the polls, a healthy economy. And there was news on that front today. The economy last quarter put in its best performance in almost 20 years, growing at an annual rate of 8.2 percent. That report is just the latest bit of encouraging news for a president who has found his popularity rising, while his Democratic competitors are scrambling.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): The president's year-end polling numbers have Republicans more and more optimistic about next year's campaign.
BILL MCINTURFF, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: You know what? You know who has had the highest job approval rating in December of any American president since 1972? George W. Bush.
KING: Sixty-three percent of Americans approve of how Mr. Bush is handling his job, well above the ratings enjoyed by Presidents Nixon, Reagan and Clinton heading into their successful reelection years. This President Bush also has significant advantages compared to where his father stood entering his reelection campaign back in 1992.
PETER HART, DEMOCRATIC POLLSTER: He's seen more down-to-earth, in touch with the average person. And his father was seen as somebody that was a little bit more aristocratic, who didn't understand grocery scanners and those things.
KING: The economy is usually the major factor in presidential politics. Nearly six in 10 Americans say economic conditions are good. But it is a somewhat nervous optimism. HART: No. 1, it's a sense, we've lost jobs. No. 2, it's a sense that those jobs are going overseas. And, No. 3, it's a sense that we've gone from a surplus to a deficit.
KING: The capture of Saddam Hussein is shaping year-end views of the Iraq war; 61 percent of Americans say it was worth going to war. And 56 percent say the Iraq war made the United States safer. One weak spot for the president, many Americans don't accept his calling Iraq the central front of the war on terrorism.
MCINTURFF: The public view is, there's kind of Osama bin Laden and cracking al Qaeda and that that is kind of the central war on terrorism. They see Iraq as being separate.
KING: This week's heightened terror alert also could stir up worries and political volatility.
HART: Everything that is happening out there says, people are insecure and uncertain about what's ahead. They're looking for a certain amount of safety and a certain amount of regularity.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: More on politics just ahead. The president has the wind at his back and the poll numbers on his side. We'll find out what Mr. Bush needs to do to stay on top and what the competition must do to compete. Our political roundtable is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Joining us now for more on President Bush, the polls, and, of course, the upcoming primaries and caucuses are Ron Brownstein, national political correspondent with "The Los Angeles Times," Karen Tumulty of "TIME" magazine, and Roger Simon of "U.S. News & World Report." All three join us from our Washington studios.
Ladies first.
Karen, let me begin with you. If you look at the polling data, all the Republicans say, this president goes into this reelection campaign in better shape than any incumbent in the past 30 years. If you're the Bush campaign, where's the weak spot?
KAREN TUMULTY, "TIME": Well, the weak spot is the fact that this is not October of next year.
You're absolutely right. This is precisely where the president would want to be going into an election. He's not only got a high overall approval rating. But just on every measure you can name, including, by the way, on those domestic issues, where the Democrats usually dominate, he's got very high poll ratings. But the fact is that there are a lot of months between now and the election.
KING: Ron Brownstein, catching Saddam Hussein was supposed to hurt Howard Dean. No evidence in the polls yet. Why? RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it hasn't hurt him in the Democratic primary. Certainly, the numbers that have come out, John, post-Saddam about the general election have to be daunting for Democrats, both the generic number, pitting Bush against an unnamed Democrat, and specifically against Dean.
It hasn't changed the primary that much, because Democratic primary voters remain opposed to the war. Their objection wasn't operational. It wasn't that we were not doing well enough. It was philosophical. It was the wrong war. And so, Dean's strength there and the anti-Bush feeling among Democratic voters is still very strong. So it hasn't hurt him. What it has done very quickly is change the debate a bit. The candidates who supported the war are going after Dean on that, really, for the first time in months.
KING: And, Roger Simon, Howard Dean getting in a bit of a spat with the centrist wing of the Democratic Party, if you will, the Democratic Leadership Council, calling it the Republican wing. I remember back when we were all teenagers covering Clinton back in 1992. I think Jesse Jackson called it Democrats for the leisure class. So Howard Dean not quite as scathing in his criticism. Does that have any impact on a primary fight?
ROGER SIMON, "U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT": Dean in a battle with that vast centrist wing of the Democratic Party.
(LAUGHTER)
SIMON: The last candidate the DLC had really was Bill Clinton. They didn't like Al Gore and his theme of people vs. the powerful.
People forget what the DLC is. They think it's some kind of grassroots organization. It's a think tank. Some very bright people develop moderate or centrist proposals and hope that elected officials implement them. But it doesn't mean they have a huge following in the Democratic Party. And if you look at Howard Dean's poll numbers, they clearly don't. And besides, the DLC attacked Howard Dean first. They attacked him back in May. And they've been attacking him ever since.
BROWNSTEIN: I disagree a little about Roger.
I think that, in terms of the primary, this really isn't a big issue for Dean. But it does go, John, I think, to the larger question of how he is positioning himself vis-a-vis the general election. Everybody says that you can run left in the primary and reposition yourself to the center for the general. But if you go so far and if you alienate constituencies in the party, comments like last week's argument that the capture of Saddam has not made us safer, these are things that are hard to live down.
And if Dean is in fact getting into a sustained argument with centrist Democrats, who reacted badly to his speech last week, where he seemed to criticize Clinton as well, that is something that is going to be a significant problem, in terms of his ability to unify the party and carry it to November. TUMULTY: But, on the third hand, the fact is that, if you look at the polling numbers, there's less and less of a center in this country. And if you look at the strategy that both parties seem to be getting ready to launch, it's digging into your own base and getting them to the polls. Certainly, that's Karl Rove's strategy on the Republican side as well.
So, what Dean is doing here in the primary could also serve him well in the general election, if, in fact, this does turn out to be one of those base elections.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWNSTEIN: If you believe, Karen, that there is a Democratic base that can be mobilized to get to a majority, which is the exact opposite of Clinton's belief for eight years.
John mentioned in 1992 -- back in 1991, Clinton's famous speech in Cleveland where he argued that simply mobilizing the base no longer gets the Democrats to a majority; you have to be able to reach out to swing voters. Dean has to -- any Democratic nominee has to moderate the Republican advantages among the groups that lean toward them. They simply can't lose white men again by 35 points, the way they did in the '80s.
And the risk, I think, in all of this of the last 10 days is presenting kind of positions that will make it tough to turn around and try to appeal to those voters in the general election, which he clearly wants to do and which they're talking about finding ways to do already.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Roger, one of the ways Bill Clinton emerged back in 1992 was making the case that he was the most electable, a candidate from the South, a candidate who could win some of those groups who were going to the Republicans. If you look at the head-to-head matchups now, all of the Democrats lose to President Bush, but Howard Dean does lose by a pretty sizable margin. Any evidence that electability is an issue in the Democratic campaign?
SIMON: I think it will be. And it is the only real issue that the other eight of the Democratic pack have to use against Howard Dean.
Their trouble is, it's hard for them to make the case they are really electable when matched up against George Bush. I mean, which of them really presents a case that says, yes, even though I don't have Howard Dean's money, yes, even though I don't have his volunteers, yes, even though I don't have his labor union support, on the other hand, I am more electable?
Dean's stated goal, stated from the beginning, would be to energize the base of the Democratic Party and then to reach out to new voters who simply don't participate in the democratic process, democratic with a small d. Get those voters who don't vote in presidential elections, hook them on the Internet or whoever they are, and get them to vote, and this is his path to victory.
TUMULTY: And, again, the fact is, going back to these poll numbers we saw today, if the polls are looking like this eight months from now, it's hard to imagine that any Democrat can beat George Bush.
BROWNSTEIN: That's absolutely right. In terms of his approval rating, if it's higher, if it's in the mid 50s, it would be very hard for anybody to beat an incumbent president.
What's fascinating to me, John, is the intensity of feeling on both sides of this. You have probably about half the party who thinks that nominating Howard Dean is the best possible solution to the problems created by George Bush, who see this as sort of a crusade, and the other half who worry that this is simply a crusade toward a cliff.
And you have both of these emotions deepening at the same time. I think everything that Dean has done over the last week, from criticizing -- seeming to criticize Clinton, to his comments about Saddam, has deepened the support from the people who like him, who see him as a straight shooter who sticks to his guns, and increased the anxiety among those who are skeptical of him. It's really fascinating to watch these trains move in opposite directions at very high speed.
KING: We need to stop it there for tonight because of time. Thank all three of you, Ron Brownstein, Karen Tumulty, Roger Simon, for joining us. Much more of this to come in the critical just ahead. Thank you.
And coming up: returning home to a land of opportunity, a land called Vietnam. Mike Chinoy reports on thousands of Vietnamese Americans bringing U.S. style entrepreneurship to Southeast Asia.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: The images are etched in the minds of Americans old enough to remember, thousands of Vietnamese scrambling onto helicopters, as North Vietnamese forces enter the city of Saigon. Today, a decade after the communist government began market-oriented reforms, thousands of those same refugees have returned home from the United States.
Mike Chinoy reports now on Vietnamese Americans promoting and enjoying economic opportunity in the land of their birth.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With its swimming pools, manicured streets and comfortable villas, it looks more like Southern California. But this is overseas Vietnamese village in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, home to people like Larry Vo, one of thousands of Vietnamese Americans who have returned to the country they fled at the end of the war.
LARRY VO, FORMER REFUGEE: The war, they forgot it. They don't talk about the war. We don't -- they forgot it.
CHINOY: Vo left Saigon the day the North Vietnamese rolled in. Eventually, he became a marketing manager for Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, where he hobnobbed with celebrities and organized regular concerts of 1970s Vietnamese pop hits for his nostalgic fellow exiles.
He never thought he'd return, until Vietnam's communist authorities began implementing market reforms a decade ago, welcoming ex-refugees, known as Viet-Q (ph) and their money and expertise.
VO: Vietnam, they go and they open and they change everything new.
CHINOY: Phil Tran (ph) was 11 when his family fled Saigon. Now he runs a computer software company here. He's doing well and he believes he's doing good for Vietnam.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe I'm adding a lot of value to the Vietnamese society as a whole. I think Viet-Q serves as a very good bridge between the way that a Vietnamese company functions and a Western company, a Western business functions. So Viet-Q will serve as a very nice bridge.
CHINOY: After work, Tran meets up with other Vietnamese Americans at Highland's (ph) Coffee, another successful business run by a former refugee. They marvel at the changes in the communist nation their parents once vow vowed never to return to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More open, more entrepreneurial, more freedom.
CHINOY: A transformation in which refugees returning to their roots are playing an increasingly pivotal role.
Mike Chinoy, CNN, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Just ahead: mad cow disease and the markets. Christine Romans will have the report.
And later, take me out to the ballpark in Iraq. We'll tell you the story of one dedicated group of volunteers that is bringing baseball to the battlefield.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: On Wall Street today, the Dow industrials inched higher, once again hitting a new 19-month high, the Dow up three points to 10341. The Nasdaq rose 19. And the S&P 500 gained three. The markets, however, may be jolted tomorrow, following news tonight of the first reported case of mad cow disease in the United States.
Christine Romans joins us now -- Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, cattle prices are up 30 percent this year. It's been fantastic demand. And this is what the bulls, so to speak, in the cattle market say was the worst-case scenario for a bullish market.
And that is documented mad cow disease in the United States. Now, back in 1985, and even before then, the United States stopped imports from the U.K. because of fears over mad cow disease. The United States supplies about 25 percent of all of the beef in the world. It's a $3.4 billion export market. And there are concerns that our export partners will be concerned about a case of mad cow disease in the United States and could shut down some of their imports.
So it's going to be very important to watch how that works out. Almost 97 million cattle in the United States, $3.4 billion in exports. It's a huge market. It's a bright spot in the U.S. export market overall, when we've been hearing worries about other areas. And folks will be watching very closely to see if this spreads to McDonald's, to some of the restaurant stocks, some of the grocery stocks, some of the other areas that could be tainted.
Now, McDonald's says that its supply chain is clean; none of this will touch its supply chain. But this is, a lot of folks are telling me tonight, likely going to drive cattle prices down very sharply tomorrow and could be a problem for the stock market as well.
KING: You saw Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman saying that she's going to serve beef on Christmas, that they have set up this toll-free number, that they're moving as quickly as they can. They're trying obviously to put a psychology of do not be afraid in place. But...
ROMANS: But the United States has the safest food system in the world. The experts tell us this over and over again.
But the emotion and psychology is likely going to be something that's going to felt in the markets. And the markets are closed early tomorrow for the holidays. So that means investors have less time to react. It could make it a very volatile day.
KING: Christine, we'll touch base again tomorrow.
ROMANS: Sure.
KING: Thank you very much.
And turning now to our continuing story, "Exporting America." This is the list of companies that our staff has confirmed to be exporting jobs or creating new jobs in cheaper overseas labor markets. Today's additions to the list are Alliance Semiconductor, Lexmark International, which makes computer printers and related products, Office Depot, palmOne, formerly Palm Incorporated, and Pericom Semiconductor.
We'll continue to update this list each and every night on this broadcast. Please continue to send us e-mails with the names of companies you know to be "Exporting America." The address is LouDobbs@CNN.com.
And just ahead, a bit of relief and a reminder of home arrives for some soldiers in Iraq. Dozens of volunteers pitch in to ship baseball uniforms, bats, balls and mitts to our troops overseas -- that story when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Now the results of tonight's poll.
We asked: Do you think Howard Dean is good for the Democratic Party? Seventy-three percent of you said yes; 22 percent said no. And 5 percent said it doesn't matter.
Tonight's thought is on politics. "More important than winning the election is governing the nation. That is the test of a political party, the acid, final test." That is from diplomat and two-time Democratic candidate for president Adlai Stevenson.
And finally tonight, one of America's favorite pastimes is making its way to the battlefields of Iraq and the troops stationed there. Baseball equipment by the boxful is arriving, thanks to a enterprising group of volunteers here in the United States.
Bill Tucker reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Private 1st Class Marc Knowles likes to play a little baseball, whether on leave in Kansas or stationed overseas. While deployed to Kuwait and Iraq, Knowles had a lot of downtime. So he asked his dad to send over some baseball gloves.
PFC. MARK KNOWLES, U.S. ARMY: I gave my dad a call and said, hey, can I have some gloves and stuff? We're bored over here.
STEVE KNOWLES, OPERATION HOME RUN: I sent them some baseball equipment. And it came back with, do you know, dad, that there's over 140,000 of us over here? We need a few more gloves and bats and balls.
S. KNOWLES: Four, five. We've got six over there.
TUCKER: Dad started gathering equipment.
S. KNOWLES: Seven.
TUCKER: Donations came in from local teams, from sporting goods suppliers. Major League Baseball gave enough to outfit more than a dozen teams.
M. KNOWLES: I've got two baseball teams in Iraq. And we got boxes and we got boxes and we got boxes. And I had no idea that one call was going to do this. But that's what happened.
TUCKER: The Knowles' congressman got involved after hearing about their efforts.
REP. TODD TIAHRT (R), KANSAS: We want them to have part of America with them. And having a little baseball equipment and being able to play catch or play a baseball game goes a long ways towards reminding them of home and reminding them of the good things that they're protecting.
TUCKER: While fighting boredom and boosting morale are the current objectives, the eventually goal is to bring baseball to the kids of Iraq.
BEN INKS, OPERATION HOME RUN: Shin guards.
TUCKER: Over in Utah, 14-year-old Ben Inks and his mom have already started working on a similar goal. As part of an Eagle Scout project, Ben collected baseball equipment to send to the children of Afghanistan who learned to play from American troops.
With the help of DHL, Ben and his mom sent enough equipment to outfit 31 little league teams. Now Ben and Mark have teamed up and plan to go national with their roles as baseball missionaries. If you're interested in helping out, check out Utah at OperationHomeRun.org or Kansas at OperationHomeRun.com.
Bill Tucker, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: What a great story.
And please be sure to tune in tomorrow, when your series of special reports on the "Holiday Home Front" continues. We'll hear from some very dedicated volunteers who are shipping everything, from candy to clothes to games, to our troops overseas. That's tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. Eastern.
And that's our show for tonight. Thanks for being with us.
Tomorrow, we'll be joined by Charles Liu, astrophysicist at the American Museum of National History, for the latest on the Mars probe Eagle 2 as it prepares to land.
For all of us here, good night from New York.
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First Mad Cow Case Discovered in United States>
