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Lou Dobbs Tonight
Terrorism Concerns Delay More Flights; Iran Rejects U.S. Offer; Iraqi Insurgents Use New Tactics
Aired January 02, 2004 - 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.
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight: grounded again. British Airways cancels Flight 223 from London to Washington for a second straight day. Robin Oakley will report from London. And Justice Department correspondent Kelli Arena will have the latest on intelligence about a possible terrorist attack.
No thanks. Iran rejects the United States' offer to send a high- level humanitarian mission to help in earthquake relief. White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux will report.
A new kind of attack in Iraq. Insurgents today shot down a U.S. helicopter and then posed as journalists to launch an attack on American forces responding to the crash. We'll have the latest.
In "Heroes" tonight, a special Tournament of Roses Parade tribute to the members of the National Guard and Reserves fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Casey Wian will have their story.
And Mission to Mars. NASA is hoping the landing of the first of two new rovers on the red planet will be a success. Miles O'Brien will report. And astrophysicist Charles Liu is our guest.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Friday, January 2. Sitting in for Lou Dobbs, who's on vacation, Kitty Pilgrim.
PILGRIM: Good evening.
Tonight, concerns about a terrorist attack are disrupting airline travel around the world. British Airways today canceled another flight from London to Washington, also a flight tomorrow between London and Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh. This is the first flight to be canceled that was not scheduled to leave from or fly to the United States.
Still, security officials are saying little about what caused them to cancel the flights.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM (voice-over): A litany of cancellations and security delays, eight in last three days. British Airways scrubbed its Flight 223 from London to Washington on Friday. AeroMexico canceled its Flight 490 from Mexico City to Los Angeles New Year's Eve and Day. Also, New Year's Day, an Air France flight from New York to Paris made an unscheduled landing in Canada so the luggage could be checked. The worry there, an explosive on the aircraft, turned out to be false. And a passenger on Northwest Flight 923 from Detroit to Honolulu was arrested today, after he allegedly tried to enter the cockpit.
ADAM ERELI, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: We've been cooperating very well with all the countries concerned and all the commercial entities concerned. I think there's a recognition by everyone that the terrorism threat is real and that we have a common stake in taking the appropriate measures to protect our citizens.
PILGRIM: In addition to the canceled British Air flight Friday, another was delayed between London and Washington for security reasons, U.S. officials saying, despite the inconvenience, it's best to play it safe.
ASA HUTCHINSON, UNDERSECRETARY FOR HOMELAND SECURITY: We would not want to get into the particular security concerns. But the public should feel very confident with these type of decisions being made that, when we believe that there's a specific security concerns, that we'll take the necessary steps to protect the traveling public.
PILGRIM: That particular flight, British Air 223, has been particularly plagued by security concerns in the last few days. British Airways canceled that same flight from London to Washington, D.C. on New Year's Day.
On New Year's Eve, that same flight, 223, was escorted by fighter jets to Washington's Dulles Airport, where passengers were held and questioned upon landing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Now, despite the cancellation of Flight 223 to Washington, other British flights to the United States did take off without incident.
Robin Oakley reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The majority of travelers at Heathrow were cool about any risks in air travel today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No fear at all. Flying is flying. I think flying is safer than driving. So...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would rather that they took care of the security and that we got delayed. I think that's always in everybody's interest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since September 11, I don't think there has been a safer time, honestly.
OAKLEY: British experts say the intelligence which led Flight 223 to be grounded had come from the United States and involved more than names on passenger lists matching those in U.S. databases of suspected terrorists. BAUM: I think this has got relatively little to do with passenger lists and watch lists, because, at the end of the day, we could actually deny passengers boarding. We can screen passengers effectively. I think this has got much more to do with a general increased level of security alert, possible fears of attacks against the aircraft itself by a range of different means.
OAKLEY: U.K. authorities refuse to comment on security questions. But their action in forcing B.A. to halt the Washington flight once again indicated their concern.
(on camera): Governments and airlines don't go into much detail about security threats, but what is clear is deep concern both sides of the Atlantic about a possible terrorist hijacking and that B.A. 223 has been identified by intelligence as a possible target.
Robin Oakley, CNN, Heathrow Airport, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Now, Justice Department support Kelli Arena has been following the rise in intelligence chatter. That led to the heightened security. And she joins us now from Washington.
Kelli, why does there seem to be so much concern about Flight 223 to Washington?
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Kitty, officials tell us that that that flight number and the naming of the airline both came up through a variety of sources, one being an informant, a human source, overseas that gave U.S. officials that information.
It had nothing to do, we're told, with the flight manifest, the so-called passenger list, or any other type of information regarding that aircraft. The problem is that the information did not come along with any time reference. So, there was no date supplied or no time of day supplied for the possibility of an attack. And so, you see the action that's taken place since getting that information, U.S. officials doing all they can to try to ensure passenger safety.
PILGRIM: We can see the successive days, Flight 223 under scrutiny. The real question in everyone's mind, Kelli, is, now that the holidays are over, is there any talk of lowering the terror threat alert, because this obviously has everyone very much on edge?
ARENA: Not at this time, Kitty.
The general consensus seems to be that the nation will remain at orange alert, or a high level of alert, through at least the end of this month. The intelligence that came in, for example, regarding Flight 223 is recent intelligence. So, the information continues to pour in. That decision, though, is made on a daily basis. And there are many, many factors that go into whether or not the nation remains at orange.
I think, if you gear the question toward, will we continue to see flight cancellations and actions taken like this, I think this now could be a permanent part of our reality. If you have intelligence that comes in that is this specific regarding certain flights, intelligence officers say that they will take exactly the same action that they've taken in recent days.
So, that part of the equation is not going away. As for orange, like I said, general consensus, through at least the end of the month, but it's reassessed daily.
PILGRIM: Kelli, how much continued cooperation can we get from foreign airlines? Obviously, this disrupts their operations, too.
ARENA: Kitty, the aviation threat is an international threat. You saw a cancellation of flights going into Saudi Arabia, for example, as well. So this is not isolated to flights that are coming into or leaving the United States.
At least I can tell you that the counterterrorism officials that I speak to daily have absolutely no hesitation about the level of cooperation that they're getting from international partners. There are some instances where they say that they wish the security measures were better in certain places overseas. But, in terms of cooperation, sharing of information, acting on intelligence provided by the United States, there hasn't been any resistance, at least so far.
PILGRIM: Well, it is, after all, in everyone's interest.
Thanks very much, Kelli Arena, reporting from Washington. Thanks, Kelli.
That does bring us to tonight's poll question: How do the recent flight cancellations make you feel about air travel? And here's our answer, more secure, less secure, no difference, or, flying is not worth the hassle? Now, cast your vote at CNN.com/Lou. And, of course, we'll bring you the results later in the show.
Let's turn to Iran and a reply of "no thanks" from the country's leadership. Iran today said it is not prepared to accept a U.S. proposal to send Senator Elizabeth Dole to Iran to deliver earthquake relief supplies.
Suzanne Malveaux is in Crawford, Texas, has the very latest on that -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kitty, it was Tuesday that the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., John Negroponte, approached Iran's U.N. representative and essentially offered to send Senator Elizabeth Dole -- as you know, she is the former president of the American Red Cross -- to Iran to lead a high-level humanitarian mission.
Now, if this was accepted, this would have made her really the first public U.S. official since the 1979 hostage crisis to visit the country, also, as well, a part of the delegation, an unidentified Bush family member that would have gone. But Iran made itself very clear today, saying, no thank you. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERELI: Let's keep in mind what the Iranian government and the people of Iran are dealing with at this time, upwards of 30,000 people dead or injured, very difficult logistical problems. So what -- we don't want to do anything that makes that more difficult. We want to help. And so we respect their wishes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: That's a State Department spokesman, who says he accepts the explanation from Iran that it was a matter of logistics, that they really were not able at this time to accommodate such a high-level delegation.
But, of course, also, Tehran's decision really does underscore simply the tensions and the suspicions between the two nations. As you know, diplomatic ties had been severed almost 25 years ago. Now, despite the fact that, after the quake, the Bush administration has offered relief and even easing restrictions to give aid to that country, it was just yesterday that President Bush warned Iran, saying that it needed to turn over al Qaeda, needed to be more cooperative in the war on terror, also allowing weapons inspectors inside of that country, so that there is a lot of work that still needs to be done to improve U.S.-Iranian relations -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Suzanne, one door seems to be closing in Iran, but another one appears to be opening up in North Korea, wouldn't you say?
MALVEAUX: Well, that's right, actually.
And we first heard of news about it from South Korean officials, who say that there's going to be a U.S. delegation that is going over and visit one of the nuclear sites there. What makes this significant is that it would be the first time that you would have foreigners to actually visit that nuclear site since inspectors were kicked out about a year ago. But what is important to note as well is that U.S. government officials say, look, this is a private adventure, that this is not something that is sanctioned by the government.
However, they do acknowledge that there is some interest in what happens, will they get to that country, will they be allowed to that site, all those things they are going to be keeping a close eye on, because U.S. officials, while they say they are focused on the six- party talks involving other nations to get North Korea to disarm, they say those talks have stalled -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: All right, thanks very much, Suzanne Malveaux reporting. Thank you, Suzanne.
Coming up, U.S. forces raid one of the largest mosques in Baghdad and find an arsenal of grenades, guns and explosives. Satinder Bindra will report.
In "Heroes," members of the National Guard and Reserves are making extraordinary sacrifices to serve our country overseas. Casey Wian will report on a special float honoring them this year at the Tournament of Roses Parade.
And Mars is soon expected to receive a visitor from planet Earth. And NASA is hoping it will send back a wealth of information. Space correspondent Miles O'Brien will report. And astrophysicist Charles Liu will be our guest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: Another attack on U.S. forces in Iraq today. One American soldier was killed, another was wounded when their helicopter was shot down by enemy fire near Fallujah. U.S. soldiers securing the site of the crash came under fire from insurgents posing as journalists. No one was wounded. U.S. forces were able to track one of the cars used in the attack to a nearby house, where they arrested four suspects.
Also in Iraq today, a large crowd of Sunni Muslims demonstrated outside one of Baghdad's largest mosques. They claim the mosque was desecrated by U.S. forces during a raid yesterday. The imam of the mosque and 31 other clerics were arrested. And coalition forces recovered large amounts of arms and bomb-making equipment.
Satinder Bindra has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Religious passions run high outside Baghdad's Ibn Taymiyyah mosque. The Sunni Muslims who worship here every Friday are incensed after U.S. forces raided their mosque Thursday.
"America is the enemy of God," they chant. These worshipers say, U.S. tanks tore down the mosque's main gate and their presence desecrated holy territory.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We say to America, don't be against Sunnis. By God, every Sunni will be a missile.
BINDRA: U.S. forces say the raid was conducted here in conjunction with Iraqi security forces.
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. DEPUTY CHIEF OF OPERATIONS: This mosque was being used for purposes other than free religious expression.
BINDRA: At a news conference, U.S. forces displayed pictures of a large arsenal of weapons, sticks of explosives, TNT, grenades, grenade launchers, AK-47s, and magazines that they say were uncovered there; 32 people, including the Ibn Taymiyyah mosque top religious leader, Imam Mahadi Emed Sumede (ph), have been taken into custody.
The U.S. says it appears some of those in custody are -- quote -- "foreigners." Crying out for a holy war against the Americans, these protesters deny the mosque was used for terrorist activities. They say it was raided because clerics here had just set up a council to politically mobilize Iraq's Sunnis. (on camera): These protesters want the Americans to immediately release Imam Mahadi Emed Sumede (ph) and his supporters. Otherwise, they warn, they will launch a movement to resist the American occupation here.
(voice-over): Invited by senior Sunni leaders, I went inside the mosque. Here, I was shown broken doors, offices that had been turned upside down and safes that had been pried open. But this is what has inflamed religious passions most. I'm shown a Koran which religious leaders allege was torn by U.S. troops.
KIMMITT: We are aware that there were some allegations that the coalition forces in fact tore open a Koran. There is no evidence to support that.
BINDRA: These Sunni leaders remain adamant the Americans were insensitive. They point to half-eaten American meals littered around the mosque grounds as evidence of the U.S. soldiers' behavior.
KIMMITT: The greatest care was taken by coalition forces to uphold the sanctity of the mosque and to use the minimal amount of force necessary to conduct the operation.
BINDRA: U.S. forces say they came here only after reliable intelligence to notch another victory in their fight against terrorism.
Satinder Bindra, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Well, from Iraq to the United States, Guardsmen and Reservists who served this country on active duty were honored at yesterday's Tournament of Roses Parade.
Casey Wian reports from Pasadena, California.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Uncle Sam covered in flowers and war heroes. It's the Rose Parade float from a Pentagon civilian support agency honoring National Guardsmen and Reservists and their employers. Reservists Tami and Tom Rougeau are both on active Air Force duty. She's a flight nurse coordinating wounded troop airlifts. He's a C-5 pilot. They had to leave their 4 1/2-year-old son with relatives.
MAJ. TAMI ROUGEAU, AIR FORCE RESERVE: The better part of the last 2 1/2 years I've spent away from him more than I've spent with him. So you watch your kids grow up someplace else with other people and you want them grow up through pictures. That's really hard.
WIAN: Both say their civilian employers, Southwest Airlines and a Nevada hospital, have made the task easier. For Lance Corporal Greg Krause, so has Sears by making up the difference in salary between his civilian and military jobs. LANCE CPL. GREG KRAUSE, MARINES CORPS RESERVE: It really helped my wife out a lot to be able to send her that money and have her not worry about, how am I going to pay the bills?
WIAN: The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department also helps with finances and with easing the difficult transition to civilian life. Marine Reservist and sheriff's deputy Russell Williams had a full-time mentor for his first month back on the job.
STAFF SGT. RUSSELL WILLIAMS, MARINE CORPS RESERVE: The first couple weeks back, it was so much, my head was spinning sometimes. Just, everything's different. I forgot all sorts of little tasks. I forgot my locker combination. I forgot how to log on to the computer in the car. I mean, in Iraq, I was carrying an M-16 and a .9- millimeter. And rules of engagement are a little bit different over there.
WIAN: The sheriff's department temporarily lost 110 deputies and 270 employees total to the war on terror.
SHERIFF LEE BACA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY: It was a very significant impact, but we were proud to serve. And I just want to say that we in law enforcement understand the need to keep our nation safe.
WIAN: Danae Perry's husband, Staff Sergeant David Perry, paid the ultimate price, killed by a homemade Iraqi bomb while guarding U.S. troops. He leaves behind three children.
DANAE PERRY, WIDOW OF U.S. SOLDIER: It is an honor to my husband. I'm honoring my husband, because he died a hero. He saved many lives with how he died. And I'm very proud to be on this float.
WIAN: After a 48-hour journey from Afghanistan, Army Guardsman Kris Marshall is briefly reunited with his wife and his boss, whose home remodeling company has helped Marshall deliver humanitarian supplies to a war-torn Afghan village.
CAPT. KRIS MARSHALL, ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: It's an amazing honor to be able to represent the Guard and Reserve, all the people that we have deployed over there that are doing great things every day.
WIAN: He returns to Afghanistan Sunday.
(on camera): These soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines represent 1.2 million American men and women in the Guard and Reserves. They now make up nearly half of the nation's armed forces.
Casey Wian, CNN, Pasadena, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Just ahead, challenging the right to free speech. Some college students say they're not allowed to speak up on campus. But administrators say there is a difference between free speech and offensive speech. And later, it's traveled more than 300 million miles. NASA's Mars rover is set to land on the red planet. We'll have a preview with astrophysicist Charles Liu.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: College students returning from winter break will have to debate more than just academics. There's the war in Iraq and presidential elections. But students on many campuses will also have to grapple with the issue of free speech vs. offensive speech when they take on the controversial topics.
Louise Schiavone reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOUISE SCHIAVONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): University of Maryland senior Stewart McPhail has found a cause in the course of his education, free, unrestricted speech on campus.
STUART MCPHAIL, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND STUDENT: I want my beliefs challenged. And I want them challenged by either students, by faculty or by nonuniversity members who can come on, provide me with an argument which I may disagree with. And I can argue with them and challenge my beliefs and learn from them.
SCHIAVONE: The University of Maryland, like many universities, has a speech code that enrages free speech advocates. Drafted in 1990, the code goes on at great length about sexual harassment and prohibits a wide range of behaviors, including -- quote -- "suggestive or insulting sounds such as whistling, sexual looks such as leering, and holding or eating food provocatively."
A loose-knit coalition of free speech advocates called FIRE, Foundation for Individual Rights and Education, estimates that about 40 percent of the nation's roughly 3,000 state-sponsored universities maintain speech codes.
ALAN CHARLES KORS, FIRE: One of the terrible legacies of speech codes and coercive political correctness is, people who most need to talk to each other about how they really think about the world, so that they know how to reason with each other and argue with each other and bear moral witness to each other, have learned how to self-censor.
SCHIAVONE: At the University of Maryland, administrators say its speech code is rarely enforced. Administrators there say they back free speech, but don't want to encourage offensive speech.
JIM OSTEEN, DIRECTOR OF STUDENT AND CAMPUS PROGRAMS, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: This is not like a street corner. It is not part of the general community. It is a university campus, where we have a designated program for training future leaders of our state.
SCHIAVONE: This summer, the university had to back down from another common speech-related policy, one restricting protest to small free speech zones, after an American Civil Liberties Union court challenge.
(on camera): The tug-of-war between what is offensive and the fundamental American right of free speech has raged on campus for years, with political correctness slowly gaining the upper hand. Now it seems the pendulum may be heading in the other direction.
Louise Schiavone, for CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Just ahead, NASA's Spirit approaches the red planet. Miles O'Brien reports. Plus, astrophysicist Dr. Charles Liu discusses the Mars landings, plus, the amazing Stardust mission to bring samples of a distant comet back to Earth.
Also ahead, electromagnetic energy that can propel a train over 360 miles an hour. Casey Wian looks at the future of maglev transportation in America.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: NASA's unmanned probe Spirit is set to become the fourth U.S. spacecraft to land on Mars Saturday night. And if all goes well, a six-wheeled Mars rover will spend 90 days traveling the Martian surface searching for signs of the existence of life.
And joining us now live from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is Miles O'Brien -- Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kitty.
Spirit right now is less than a quarter-million miles away from the planet Mars. We're told by the team here that it is flying right on course. But an awful lot of things have to happen in just the right sequence in order for it to land safely a little more than 24 hours from now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Welcome to Mars land, not a new California theme park, but a place for scientists and engineers at Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Lab to test their mettle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And so, on the left side of the rover, you can see the red area here. And that's where it thinks it's dangerous to go.
O'BRIEN: They are purposely ordering a full-scale mockup of their latest Mars lander to drive off a cliff. And they're hoping it has enough sense to just say no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every step it takes, it makes a new decision, takes a new picture, a new pair of pictures, and makes a decision about what the world looks like. And, so far, it's driven up close to the edge of the cliff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is getting close to the precipice, isn't it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I'm nervous. But I do think that it will do the right thing.
O'BRIEN: Carolina Maldonado (ph) is fresh out of school, and already deep into her first intrepid space odyssey. She's part of NASA's Mars exploration rover team, watching waiting and wondering as their identical twin robotic explorers hone in on their quarry, the red planet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've just been going full force for two years.
There is no breathing easy yet because of what happened last time NASA tried to explore the surface of Mars four years ago. Mars Polar Lander crashed when its rocket cut off prematurely. Its sister orbiter was lost because of a navigation error.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The amount of concern and basically the visibility and the paranoia about this mission is very high.
O'BRIEN: Price tag for the souped up golf carts christened Spirit and Opportunity, more than $800 million, three times the cost of the probes that cratered. If all goes well, Spirit and Opportunity will arrive on time, on target and intact, thanks to some sharp navigating, a big parachute, some retrorockets and giant airbags. They will bounce to a standstill and then emerge from their deflated cocoon to explore two areas that show two areas that show tantalizing signs they were once wet and war, and, thus a cushy birth for life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This mission can't discover life. It can't discover ancient life. It can discover whether the building blocks are there and that's the goal.
O'BRIEN: Mission scientist Marc Gollenback (ph) was there in the summer of 1997 when the last airbag bounced on mars. The craft inside, Pathfinder with a tiny rover named Sojourner captivated the world with the first pictures from the martian surface since the Viking landing successfully touched down in 1976.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sojourner was our baby geologist but it was a baby. And now we got a full-fledged PH.D. up there on Mars.
O'BRIEN: But before before Spirit and Opportunity and can begin their picture taking and rock sampling, a lot of things have to go perfectly as planned which brings us back to Mars land and the cliff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And its these rocks to the left and as it drives, it looks like it's still clear, but as it gets closer to the cliff you can see it gets redder and redder.
O'BRIEN: And that is the cliff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Don't go there.
O'BRIEN: Success, a small victory on NASA's long journey back to Mars.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Won't be popping champagne corks until they're certain, however, that Spirit has landed safely. Let's take a look at live pictures now in the control room where all of the action will take place. We should hear, 11:35 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow, one way or another, that is when the landing is supposed to occur. The hope is they'll be able to actually listen to it all the way down as it emits distinctive tones. Kind of quiet in there now.
In another control room earlier today a lot of excitement. The folks here at JPL are hoping they're on a roll as another mission called Stardust, which launched back in 1999 on its way to close encounter with a comet by the name of Wild 2 successfully flew through the comet's tail.
And look at the image it captured, just one of many we're going to be seeing in the coming days of the comet, a glorified dirty snowball they call it, about 3.5 miles across.
Now Wild 2 is interesting on its own right and those images are good. But also the Stardust probe will actually bring back a small sample of the comet's tail. That's interesting because scientists believe the dust that comes off of comets takes us right back to the very origins of our universe, sort of, the building blocks of the universe. And if it can get a hold of some of that, they might able to solve some puzzle that they don't know the answer to just yet -- Kitty?
PILGRIM: Miles, I know you're in your element and you'll be plugged in and losing sleep over this. Have fun. Miles O'Brien reporting.
O'BRIEN: We will.
PILGRIM: Well, we'll have more now on Spirit and Opportunity, the missions. Plus NASA's Stardust mission and its design to capture, as Miles said, particles from a comet and bring them back to earth. Joining me is Dr. Charles Liu with the American Museum of Natural History and it's always a pleasure to talk to you because you really make all of this comprehensible to the rest of us.
CHARLES LIU, AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: It's always a pleasure.
PILGRIM: Let's start with the Mars. We heard so much about Mars. First it was the Beagle that got a lot of attention, now Spirit and Opportunity. Why so much attention on Mars? What's the real interest here?
LIU: Well, Mars has always been very exciting to people. It has, as you can see from the model, it has mountains, it has valleys. It also has a day that's very similar to 24 hours. It's close to the earth relatively speaking. It seems to be the best candidate of all planets in the system for finding life or the former traces of life elsewhere in the solar system. So that's really what's exciting us all.
PILGRIM: You are clearly the only man we know who travels with a model of Mars. Anyway, the missions to Mars, they have been met with not so much success. I think two-thirds of all missions to Mars succeed. Why is Mars such a difficult project?
LIU: Well, mostly it's because we really want to get as much information as possible out of Mars studies. We're not satisfied with just sending a spacecraft over and just sort of looking and taking pretty pictures. We want to get the dust on there and measure the water content and see the heights and the depths of the valleys and the mountains.
So we ask a lot of these missions. It's far away, millions of miles. First of all, getting it there is kind of like taking a cross- country putt. Once it arrives, it has to land. Imagine pushing your desktop computer out a window and after it hits expecting it to work again. Finally, we want these things, like the piece said, we want these PH.D. geologist robots to be able to study extremely detailed things. It's a very complicated process.
PILGRIM: And you were saying current models are only the size of say a Galapagos turtle and move about as fast.
LIU: That's right. They're not real speed demons.
PILGRIM: Impressive technology, though. Let's talk about the cosmic microwave technology. And I must admit, my experience with microwave probably is vastly different than your experience.
LIU: I use microwave ovens, too.
PILGRIM: You have named the cosmic microwave technology as your top pick for 2003 in terms of importance in science. Explain that to us.
LIU: Well, the cosmic microwave background is the leftover glow from the big bang. And it permeates the universe all throughout space. And it's only been in the past year in February 2003, to be precise, that we were able to decipher or map the patterns that are embedded in that microwave background to really measure the amount of dark matter in the universe, the dark energy and to pinpoint the age of the universe.
PILGRIM: So we're much better off in knowledge because of this technology?
LIU: Right. This one discovery has probably moved us forward in cosmology and astrophysics more than any other discovery of 2003.
PILGRIM: I have to ask you from a layman's perspective, it seems that more is happening in space and yet as we were speaking earlier, you mentioned it's not particularly that more is happening, solar flares, asteroids, we can measure it better.
LIU: Exactly. Our technology keeps expanding by leaps and bounds. We're very fortunate that we're able to muster the scientists of the world to explore really our universe and understand our origins and where we're coming from. This coming year, there will be the Cassini spacecraft that's going to Saturn. Pathfinder, six, seven years ago has laid the groundwork has been laid for Spirit and Opportunity in the next few weeks and it's an exciting time to be in the field.
PILGRIM: Well, you make it very exciting for us. Thanks very much for joining us, Dr. Charles Liu.
LIU: Thank you.
PILGRIM: Tonight's thought, it is on exploration. Here it is.
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." And that is from Albert Einstein.
New technology is helping some high-speed trains go even faster. Those powered by electromagnetic energy are the fastest in the world. But the high cost for such trains is proving to be their biggest liability. Casey Wian has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Passengers applaud as a Japanese train sets a world speed record, 581 kilometers or 361 miles per hour. The train is powered by magnetic levitation, or opposing magnetic fields propel the train forward.
A southern California local government group is pushing for more federal money to develop a 270-mile network of maglev trains running between the region's airports. Other proposals that would connect Anaheim to Las Vegas, Baltimore to Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh to its suburbs are also being studied.
Supporters say maglev trains would reduce freeway and airport congestion and cut air pollution. So far China has the only maglev line in commercial operation.
RONALD BATES, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTS: We need to get involved now or we're going to be buying all of the technology and buying all of the equipment from China instead of having the opportunity to build it and produce it here in this country.
WIAN: But skeptics say maglev trains aren't worth the cost. Japan, Germany and China have all scaled back maglev plans because of financial concerns. Southern California's proposal would cost more than $6 billion.
CATHERINE BURKE, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: I don't understand truly why very intelligent and honest people think this is a good idea. Maybe it just sounds sexy because the train is slick and wow, maglev, it doesn't make any noise.
But it makes no sense. It's wonderful if you're a local government and you say, we'll get the federal government to pay for it. That means everybody all over the country gets the joy of paying for a silly system in Los Angeles.
WIAN: Congress has, so far, appropriated $3 million to study maglev systems, 2.5 billion more maglev dollars are in the transportation bill Congress has not approved.
Supporters say without maglev average speeds on southern California's already-congested freeways will drop below 20 miles an hour within the next two decades as the region's population continues to grow.
Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: A reminder now to vote in tonight's poll on our nation's security. And here's the question -- how do the recent flight cancellations make you feel about air travel? More secure, less secure, no different, or flying is not worth the hassle? Cast your vote at cnn.com/lou, and we will bring you the results a little later in the show.
Coming up -- "America's Bright Future." Peter Viles introduces us a 17-year-old from Queens, New York, who has astounded doctors and scientists with his studies on how the human brain functions. Please stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: Now, a look at some of your thoughts on "Broken Borders." And here are our e mails. It starts out -- "It seems to me all these people who claim we should let the illegals stay because they give us cheap labor for the farms, construction, domestic care, are saying it's OK if they break the law, as long as they get some benefit from it. If it's illegal for them to be here, then either change the laws or get them out. It really is that simple." And that from Bill Jurasz.
On "Exporting America," from Purchase, New York we have an e-mail that says -- "I would like to thank you for your determined stance against U.S. businesses that are outsourcing jobs to other countries. Many people I know that are hard working, tax paying American citizens are out of a job because our so-called leaders have allowed this to go on." And that from Susan LaMagra.
From Plymouth, Minnesota: "Now is the right time to scale back on CEO's pay instead of moving the jobs to India and China." And that from Phu Thanak.
And we love hearing from you. E-mail us, loudobbs@cnn.com.
On Wall Street today, stocks started out the year mostly lower after a big run-up over the past month, and past year in fact. The Dow fell 44 points to 10,409. The Nasdaq gained 3. The S&P 500 lost 3 points. And in the bond market, prices plunged following the latest report on manufacturing activity. And Mary Snow is here with more on that story -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kitty, it may not have been good news for the bond market, but it certainly was good news for the economy. Manufacturing activity grew in December at its fastest pace in 20 years, and employment in the industry improved. That report sent treasuries tumbling as many speculated that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates sooner than later.
On Wall Street, you couldn't tell by stock prices today that this is the kind of news investors have been waiting for. Stocks initially rallied, but lost their steam. Still, economists say today's manufacturing report could bode well for next Friday's jobs report, which will be key to the markets.
And in the commodities market, cattle futures gained for the first time in six sessions. They've fallen about 20 percent since news of the first reported case of mad cow disease in the U.S. Early indications from some restaurants and grocery chains signal consumer demand for beef hasn't declined -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Well, it seems like a reasonable start to the year after a big run-up.
SNOW: Certainly. And such a strong market for the past year. Pretty quiet today also on Wall Street.
PILGRIM: I would imagine that. Thanks very much, Mary Snow.
Just ahead -- corporate scandals, mutual fund corruption and the war in Iraq. U.S. stocks brushed it all off, snapped a three-year losing streak. But how long can that last? And we'll hear from the editors of two of the nation's leading business magazines.
But first, "Exporting America." Each night, we update the list of U.S. companies our staff has confirmed to be exporting American jobs to cheaper overseas labor markets. And today's additions to the list are Cerner, which is a health care management software company, Expedia, and IndyMac Bancorp. We will continue to update this list every night. Please send us the names of companies you know to be exporting American jobs to cheap overseas labor marketed. The e-mail address again is loudobs@cnn.com. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: The stock market rallied in 2003, that's despite the war and more corporate shenanigans. So what lies ahead for the markets and the economy? Joining us for this week's "Newsmakers" is Mark Morrison, managing editor at "BusinessWeek," and Robert Lenzner, the national editor from "Forbes," and thanks very much for joining me.
ROBERT LENZNER, "FORBES": Happy new year. PILGRIM: Happy new year. It was a great year. And by most accounts, maybe not one that can be repeated, or is it? What do you think, Bob?
LENZNER: I don't think it can be repeated. There's nobody on Wall Street who predicted how great it was going to do this past year. So therefore, I think that it -- the economy can't expand as fast as it did in the third quarter, when it grew by 8 percent, and profits of the big companies grew by 35 percent. I don't think that can be repeated.
PILGRIM: Can't be repeated but...
MARK MORRISON, "BUSINESSWEEK": However, what you're seeing in the markets I think is a sign of very good economic fundamentals, and we're seeing profits improve, we're seeing jobs come along, even manufacturing, which has been such a laggard in coming along. So I think there's going to be another very good year in the market. Realizing that these times are very difficult to predict.
PILGRIM: Economists seem to have turned a bit bullish. And in fact, I draw your attention to "The Wall Street Journal" article, where 54 economists they interviewed said the unemployment rate will go down, I believe to 5.5 percent. What -- I mean, the jobless recovery has been the big worry. Will we see a jobless recovery? Will we see job creation?
MORRISON: That's one of the things you're seeing now in the manufacturing sector, is that so much cutting has been done that companies are producing full-out to meet the demand. Part of it is coming from China, as a matter of fact. So here we are benefiting from the engine of growth China.
LENZNER: It's not going to be completely -- we're already creating some jobs. So to coin it, it's a jobless recovery, it isn't going to be that. Now, whether it's going to be job creating sufficiently to satisfy everybody, that probably won't be true either.
PILGRIM: And yet the overhang of people who have just stopped looking for work, this is clearly still a factor in the economy.
MORRISON: It is. And people are still -- they're still worried, definitely, and they should be.
PILGRIM: It's been really a hellish year in terms of corporate scandals and a lot of other not so pleasant things in the environment. Where do we stand on this? Has this been a bloodletting? I hate to use the term -- has it been a catharsis for the entire economy to get through this and now perhaps build on a stronger basis?
MORRISON: I think it's just demonstrated the tremendous resilience of the American economy. It's just -- it's just amazing. When you think of the series of scandals, of crises and, of course, war, itself.
LENZNER: The mutual fund situation is the perfect example. Now, if the market were going down and you had this every day, a new revelation about mutual funds coming out, I think people really would be scared and be selling their mutual fund shares, but actually they're buying more mutual fund shares because the stock market is going up.
So it's been a stupefying series of scandals, OK? Nobody can believe the corruption that's been going on everywhere -- accountants, mutual funds, Wall Street, large corporations, you know, faking the numbers, every day we learn something new. But yet, the stock market has gone up more than anybody could have believed. So investors were not turned off by this.
MORRISON: There's -- confidence is the word. I mean, we've been through all of this, and yet Americans have seen the system work, investors have seen the system work, and confidence is very high.
LENZNER: Well, part of it is...
MORRISON: Despite all these obstacles out there.
LENZNER: Part of it is the incredible amount of stimulation by the Bush administration and the low interest rates from the Federal Reserve, and the combination of all of that actually produced more economic fire power than I would have expected myself.
PILGRIM: We certainly have a set of things that are definitely off the charts -- gold, oil, the dollar, so weak. So what's on your risk list, what's on your that's not really a problem list?
MORRISON: Those are some of the things on my risk list. I think the price of oil -- we didn't get the relief that we thought we would after the invasion part of Iraq was over. Oil is stubbornly hanging in there at $32, or thereabouts. And with a strong economy in China and so forth and here, the chances are it's going to at least be that high and may go higher. And that could be a problem.
LENZNER: There's one -- the nightmare scenario would be a real collapse in the dollar. In other words, instead of the steady drip, drip, drip effect, what's happening is that the reason gold's going up is, the dollar's going down. Every day that the dollar goes down and the euro goes up, the people are buying gold as kind of a hedge against the loss of buying power in the dollar. And if the dollar keeps going down, that's going to happen.
There are some who say that the Asian central banks own so many dollars, they're not going to want to keep all those dollars. So the nightmare -- I don't think the nightmare's going to happen, but I think that's one thing that people are scared about.
MORRISON: To me, the only ones who are not showing confidence are the Federal Reserve governors, and to me, they should be reflecting the stronger economy that we have, by maybe raising rates a bit, heading off problems with the dollar that could emerge later.
PILGRIM: Perhaps they're listening. We have to wrap it here, gentlemen. I'm sorry, we can't sort out the economy in one session. But thank you very much, Bob Lenzner and Mark Morrison, thank you.
Coming you up next -- "America's Bright Future." The story of a remarkable teen who wants to make sure you always remember his name.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: In our poll tonight, 16 percent of you said the recent flight cancellations make you feel more secure about air travel, and 16 percent said less secure. Twenty-six percent said no difference, and 43 percent said flying is not worth the hassle.
Finally tonight, in "America's Bright Future," we introduce you to Yin Li. He's a high school senior active in school, and wise beyond his years when it comes to understanding how the brain works. Peter Viles has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is seventh period at Stuyvesant High School, one of the most competitive public high schools in New York City. And while this may look like your average gym class, underneath all those swim caps are some of the brightest teenage minds in math and science.
Standing out in the crowd, Yin Li. A 17-year-old recently won a $100,000 college scholarship in the Siemans/Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology.
YIN LI, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: I studied a protein that can be involved in long-term memory and stabilizing long-term memory.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see how you can grow another...
VILES: Yin studied under a Nobel Prize-winning neurobiologist Eric Kandel. The Columbia professor says Yin's research is fundamental to brain function and may help give further insight into other memory storage dysfunctions.
ERIC KANDEL, PROFESSOR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Alzheimer's disease, Fragile X, Down Syndrome, all of these horrible disorders have a reflection in memory storage. And this protein that he has been able to study gives us further insights into how memory storage occurs. So it's a very valuable addition.
LI: You have two formulas, first it's (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
VILES: A high school senior with a grade point average in the high 90 and 1,560 on the SAT, accepted early at Harvard, knocking on the door at MIT, Yin still calls himself a regular kid.
LI: I hope I'm a regular kid. I don't think I'm like really that different. I think it's just that you work hard and you sort of, you know, if you just get one step ahead of other people, then it just seems like you're a genius. But it's just -- you are just one step ahead, and that's it. VILES: Keeping that step ahead was ingrained in Yin at an early age. He and his parents moved to the United States from Shanghai when he was 9 years old.
LI: When I came to the United States, I was sort of at a disadvantage in terms of language. And the mentality that I put myself in was that you know you're behind, so you have to work extra hard. When they are watching TV or playing video games, you would have to take that time to catch up on your English, and do these other things. And that mentality sort of stayed with me.
VILES: That mentality and a healthy dose of curiosity, say his teachers, make Yin part of "America's Bright Future."
Peter Viles, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: That is our show for tonight. Thanks for being with us. Monday, Lou will be back from vacation, and he will talk with Senator Charles Grassley about the failure of some American officials to freeze terrorist assets. Then, former FBI investigator Bill Daly will discuss security coordination at U.S. airlines.
For all of us here, good night from New York. Have a great weekend.
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Offer; Iraqi Insurgents Use New Tactics>
Aired January 2, 2004 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight: grounded again. British Airways cancels Flight 223 from London to Washington for a second straight day. Robin Oakley will report from London. And Justice Department correspondent Kelli Arena will have the latest on intelligence about a possible terrorist attack.
No thanks. Iran rejects the United States' offer to send a high- level humanitarian mission to help in earthquake relief. White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux will report.
A new kind of attack in Iraq. Insurgents today shot down a U.S. helicopter and then posed as journalists to launch an attack on American forces responding to the crash. We'll have the latest.
In "Heroes" tonight, a special Tournament of Roses Parade tribute to the members of the National Guard and Reserves fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Casey Wian will have their story.
And Mission to Mars. NASA is hoping the landing of the first of two new rovers on the red planet will be a success. Miles O'Brien will report. And astrophysicist Charles Liu is our guest.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Friday, January 2. Sitting in for Lou Dobbs, who's on vacation, Kitty Pilgrim.
PILGRIM: Good evening.
Tonight, concerns about a terrorist attack are disrupting airline travel around the world. British Airways today canceled another flight from London to Washington, also a flight tomorrow between London and Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh. This is the first flight to be canceled that was not scheduled to leave from or fly to the United States.
Still, security officials are saying little about what caused them to cancel the flights.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM (voice-over): A litany of cancellations and security delays, eight in last three days. British Airways scrubbed its Flight 223 from London to Washington on Friday. AeroMexico canceled its Flight 490 from Mexico City to Los Angeles New Year's Eve and Day. Also, New Year's Day, an Air France flight from New York to Paris made an unscheduled landing in Canada so the luggage could be checked. The worry there, an explosive on the aircraft, turned out to be false. And a passenger on Northwest Flight 923 from Detroit to Honolulu was arrested today, after he allegedly tried to enter the cockpit.
ADAM ERELI, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: We've been cooperating very well with all the countries concerned and all the commercial entities concerned. I think there's a recognition by everyone that the terrorism threat is real and that we have a common stake in taking the appropriate measures to protect our citizens.
PILGRIM: In addition to the canceled British Air flight Friday, another was delayed between London and Washington for security reasons, U.S. officials saying, despite the inconvenience, it's best to play it safe.
ASA HUTCHINSON, UNDERSECRETARY FOR HOMELAND SECURITY: We would not want to get into the particular security concerns. But the public should feel very confident with these type of decisions being made that, when we believe that there's a specific security concerns, that we'll take the necessary steps to protect the traveling public.
PILGRIM: That particular flight, British Air 223, has been particularly plagued by security concerns in the last few days. British Airways canceled that same flight from London to Washington, D.C. on New Year's Day.
On New Year's Eve, that same flight, 223, was escorted by fighter jets to Washington's Dulles Airport, where passengers were held and questioned upon landing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Now, despite the cancellation of Flight 223 to Washington, other British flights to the United States did take off without incident.
Robin Oakley reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The majority of travelers at Heathrow were cool about any risks in air travel today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No fear at all. Flying is flying. I think flying is safer than driving. So...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would rather that they took care of the security and that we got delayed. I think that's always in everybody's interest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since September 11, I don't think there has been a safer time, honestly.
OAKLEY: British experts say the intelligence which led Flight 223 to be grounded had come from the United States and involved more than names on passenger lists matching those in U.S. databases of suspected terrorists. BAUM: I think this has got relatively little to do with passenger lists and watch lists, because, at the end of the day, we could actually deny passengers boarding. We can screen passengers effectively. I think this has got much more to do with a general increased level of security alert, possible fears of attacks against the aircraft itself by a range of different means.
OAKLEY: U.K. authorities refuse to comment on security questions. But their action in forcing B.A. to halt the Washington flight once again indicated their concern.
(on camera): Governments and airlines don't go into much detail about security threats, but what is clear is deep concern both sides of the Atlantic about a possible terrorist hijacking and that B.A. 223 has been identified by intelligence as a possible target.
Robin Oakley, CNN, Heathrow Airport, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Now, Justice Department support Kelli Arena has been following the rise in intelligence chatter. That led to the heightened security. And she joins us now from Washington.
Kelli, why does there seem to be so much concern about Flight 223 to Washington?
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Kitty, officials tell us that that that flight number and the naming of the airline both came up through a variety of sources, one being an informant, a human source, overseas that gave U.S. officials that information.
It had nothing to do, we're told, with the flight manifest, the so-called passenger list, or any other type of information regarding that aircraft. The problem is that the information did not come along with any time reference. So, there was no date supplied or no time of day supplied for the possibility of an attack. And so, you see the action that's taken place since getting that information, U.S. officials doing all they can to try to ensure passenger safety.
PILGRIM: We can see the successive days, Flight 223 under scrutiny. The real question in everyone's mind, Kelli, is, now that the holidays are over, is there any talk of lowering the terror threat alert, because this obviously has everyone very much on edge?
ARENA: Not at this time, Kitty.
The general consensus seems to be that the nation will remain at orange alert, or a high level of alert, through at least the end of this month. The intelligence that came in, for example, regarding Flight 223 is recent intelligence. So, the information continues to pour in. That decision, though, is made on a daily basis. And there are many, many factors that go into whether or not the nation remains at orange.
I think, if you gear the question toward, will we continue to see flight cancellations and actions taken like this, I think this now could be a permanent part of our reality. If you have intelligence that comes in that is this specific regarding certain flights, intelligence officers say that they will take exactly the same action that they've taken in recent days.
So, that part of the equation is not going away. As for orange, like I said, general consensus, through at least the end of the month, but it's reassessed daily.
PILGRIM: Kelli, how much continued cooperation can we get from foreign airlines? Obviously, this disrupts their operations, too.
ARENA: Kitty, the aviation threat is an international threat. You saw a cancellation of flights going into Saudi Arabia, for example, as well. So this is not isolated to flights that are coming into or leaving the United States.
At least I can tell you that the counterterrorism officials that I speak to daily have absolutely no hesitation about the level of cooperation that they're getting from international partners. There are some instances where they say that they wish the security measures were better in certain places overseas. But, in terms of cooperation, sharing of information, acting on intelligence provided by the United States, there hasn't been any resistance, at least so far.
PILGRIM: Well, it is, after all, in everyone's interest.
Thanks very much, Kelli Arena, reporting from Washington. Thanks, Kelli.
That does bring us to tonight's poll question: How do the recent flight cancellations make you feel about air travel? And here's our answer, more secure, less secure, no difference, or, flying is not worth the hassle? Now, cast your vote at CNN.com/Lou. And, of course, we'll bring you the results later in the show.
Let's turn to Iran and a reply of "no thanks" from the country's leadership. Iran today said it is not prepared to accept a U.S. proposal to send Senator Elizabeth Dole to Iran to deliver earthquake relief supplies.
Suzanne Malveaux is in Crawford, Texas, has the very latest on that -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kitty, it was Tuesday that the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., John Negroponte, approached Iran's U.N. representative and essentially offered to send Senator Elizabeth Dole -- as you know, she is the former president of the American Red Cross -- to Iran to lead a high-level humanitarian mission.
Now, if this was accepted, this would have made her really the first public U.S. official since the 1979 hostage crisis to visit the country, also, as well, a part of the delegation, an unidentified Bush family member that would have gone. But Iran made itself very clear today, saying, no thank you. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERELI: Let's keep in mind what the Iranian government and the people of Iran are dealing with at this time, upwards of 30,000 people dead or injured, very difficult logistical problems. So what -- we don't want to do anything that makes that more difficult. We want to help. And so we respect their wishes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: That's a State Department spokesman, who says he accepts the explanation from Iran that it was a matter of logistics, that they really were not able at this time to accommodate such a high-level delegation.
But, of course, also, Tehran's decision really does underscore simply the tensions and the suspicions between the two nations. As you know, diplomatic ties had been severed almost 25 years ago. Now, despite the fact that, after the quake, the Bush administration has offered relief and even easing restrictions to give aid to that country, it was just yesterday that President Bush warned Iran, saying that it needed to turn over al Qaeda, needed to be more cooperative in the war on terror, also allowing weapons inspectors inside of that country, so that there is a lot of work that still needs to be done to improve U.S.-Iranian relations -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Suzanne, one door seems to be closing in Iran, but another one appears to be opening up in North Korea, wouldn't you say?
MALVEAUX: Well, that's right, actually.
And we first heard of news about it from South Korean officials, who say that there's going to be a U.S. delegation that is going over and visit one of the nuclear sites there. What makes this significant is that it would be the first time that you would have foreigners to actually visit that nuclear site since inspectors were kicked out about a year ago. But what is important to note as well is that U.S. government officials say, look, this is a private adventure, that this is not something that is sanctioned by the government.
However, they do acknowledge that there is some interest in what happens, will they get to that country, will they be allowed to that site, all those things they are going to be keeping a close eye on, because U.S. officials, while they say they are focused on the six- party talks involving other nations to get North Korea to disarm, they say those talks have stalled -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: All right, thanks very much, Suzanne Malveaux reporting. Thank you, Suzanne.
Coming up, U.S. forces raid one of the largest mosques in Baghdad and find an arsenal of grenades, guns and explosives. Satinder Bindra will report.
In "Heroes," members of the National Guard and Reserves are making extraordinary sacrifices to serve our country overseas. Casey Wian will report on a special float honoring them this year at the Tournament of Roses Parade.
And Mars is soon expected to receive a visitor from planet Earth. And NASA is hoping it will send back a wealth of information. Space correspondent Miles O'Brien will report. And astrophysicist Charles Liu will be our guest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: Another attack on U.S. forces in Iraq today. One American soldier was killed, another was wounded when their helicopter was shot down by enemy fire near Fallujah. U.S. soldiers securing the site of the crash came under fire from insurgents posing as journalists. No one was wounded. U.S. forces were able to track one of the cars used in the attack to a nearby house, where they arrested four suspects.
Also in Iraq today, a large crowd of Sunni Muslims demonstrated outside one of Baghdad's largest mosques. They claim the mosque was desecrated by U.S. forces during a raid yesterday. The imam of the mosque and 31 other clerics were arrested. And coalition forces recovered large amounts of arms and bomb-making equipment.
Satinder Bindra has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Religious passions run high outside Baghdad's Ibn Taymiyyah mosque. The Sunni Muslims who worship here every Friday are incensed after U.S. forces raided their mosque Thursday.
"America is the enemy of God," they chant. These worshipers say, U.S. tanks tore down the mosque's main gate and their presence desecrated holy territory.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We say to America, don't be against Sunnis. By God, every Sunni will be a missile.
BINDRA: U.S. forces say the raid was conducted here in conjunction with Iraqi security forces.
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. DEPUTY CHIEF OF OPERATIONS: This mosque was being used for purposes other than free religious expression.
BINDRA: At a news conference, U.S. forces displayed pictures of a large arsenal of weapons, sticks of explosives, TNT, grenades, grenade launchers, AK-47s, and magazines that they say were uncovered there; 32 people, including the Ibn Taymiyyah mosque top religious leader, Imam Mahadi Emed Sumede (ph), have been taken into custody.
The U.S. says it appears some of those in custody are -- quote -- "foreigners." Crying out for a holy war against the Americans, these protesters deny the mosque was used for terrorist activities. They say it was raided because clerics here had just set up a council to politically mobilize Iraq's Sunnis. (on camera): These protesters want the Americans to immediately release Imam Mahadi Emed Sumede (ph) and his supporters. Otherwise, they warn, they will launch a movement to resist the American occupation here.
(voice-over): Invited by senior Sunni leaders, I went inside the mosque. Here, I was shown broken doors, offices that had been turned upside down and safes that had been pried open. But this is what has inflamed religious passions most. I'm shown a Koran which religious leaders allege was torn by U.S. troops.
KIMMITT: We are aware that there were some allegations that the coalition forces in fact tore open a Koran. There is no evidence to support that.
BINDRA: These Sunni leaders remain adamant the Americans were insensitive. They point to half-eaten American meals littered around the mosque grounds as evidence of the U.S. soldiers' behavior.
KIMMITT: The greatest care was taken by coalition forces to uphold the sanctity of the mosque and to use the minimal amount of force necessary to conduct the operation.
BINDRA: U.S. forces say they came here only after reliable intelligence to notch another victory in their fight against terrorism.
Satinder Bindra, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Well, from Iraq to the United States, Guardsmen and Reservists who served this country on active duty were honored at yesterday's Tournament of Roses Parade.
Casey Wian reports from Pasadena, California.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Uncle Sam covered in flowers and war heroes. It's the Rose Parade float from a Pentagon civilian support agency honoring National Guardsmen and Reservists and their employers. Reservists Tami and Tom Rougeau are both on active Air Force duty. She's a flight nurse coordinating wounded troop airlifts. He's a C-5 pilot. They had to leave their 4 1/2-year-old son with relatives.
MAJ. TAMI ROUGEAU, AIR FORCE RESERVE: The better part of the last 2 1/2 years I've spent away from him more than I've spent with him. So you watch your kids grow up someplace else with other people and you want them grow up through pictures. That's really hard.
WIAN: Both say their civilian employers, Southwest Airlines and a Nevada hospital, have made the task easier. For Lance Corporal Greg Krause, so has Sears by making up the difference in salary between his civilian and military jobs. LANCE CPL. GREG KRAUSE, MARINES CORPS RESERVE: It really helped my wife out a lot to be able to send her that money and have her not worry about, how am I going to pay the bills?
WIAN: The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department also helps with finances and with easing the difficult transition to civilian life. Marine Reservist and sheriff's deputy Russell Williams had a full-time mentor for his first month back on the job.
STAFF SGT. RUSSELL WILLIAMS, MARINE CORPS RESERVE: The first couple weeks back, it was so much, my head was spinning sometimes. Just, everything's different. I forgot all sorts of little tasks. I forgot my locker combination. I forgot how to log on to the computer in the car. I mean, in Iraq, I was carrying an M-16 and a .9- millimeter. And rules of engagement are a little bit different over there.
WIAN: The sheriff's department temporarily lost 110 deputies and 270 employees total to the war on terror.
SHERIFF LEE BACA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY: It was a very significant impact, but we were proud to serve. And I just want to say that we in law enforcement understand the need to keep our nation safe.
WIAN: Danae Perry's husband, Staff Sergeant David Perry, paid the ultimate price, killed by a homemade Iraqi bomb while guarding U.S. troops. He leaves behind three children.
DANAE PERRY, WIDOW OF U.S. SOLDIER: It is an honor to my husband. I'm honoring my husband, because he died a hero. He saved many lives with how he died. And I'm very proud to be on this float.
WIAN: After a 48-hour journey from Afghanistan, Army Guardsman Kris Marshall is briefly reunited with his wife and his boss, whose home remodeling company has helped Marshall deliver humanitarian supplies to a war-torn Afghan village.
CAPT. KRIS MARSHALL, ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: It's an amazing honor to be able to represent the Guard and Reserve, all the people that we have deployed over there that are doing great things every day.
WIAN: He returns to Afghanistan Sunday.
(on camera): These soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines represent 1.2 million American men and women in the Guard and Reserves. They now make up nearly half of the nation's armed forces.
Casey Wian, CNN, Pasadena, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Just ahead, challenging the right to free speech. Some college students say they're not allowed to speak up on campus. But administrators say there is a difference between free speech and offensive speech. And later, it's traveled more than 300 million miles. NASA's Mars rover is set to land on the red planet. We'll have a preview with astrophysicist Charles Liu.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: College students returning from winter break will have to debate more than just academics. There's the war in Iraq and presidential elections. But students on many campuses will also have to grapple with the issue of free speech vs. offensive speech when they take on the controversial topics.
Louise Schiavone reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOUISE SCHIAVONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): University of Maryland senior Stewart McPhail has found a cause in the course of his education, free, unrestricted speech on campus.
STUART MCPHAIL, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND STUDENT: I want my beliefs challenged. And I want them challenged by either students, by faculty or by nonuniversity members who can come on, provide me with an argument which I may disagree with. And I can argue with them and challenge my beliefs and learn from them.
SCHIAVONE: The University of Maryland, like many universities, has a speech code that enrages free speech advocates. Drafted in 1990, the code goes on at great length about sexual harassment and prohibits a wide range of behaviors, including -- quote -- "suggestive or insulting sounds such as whistling, sexual looks such as leering, and holding or eating food provocatively."
A loose-knit coalition of free speech advocates called FIRE, Foundation for Individual Rights and Education, estimates that about 40 percent of the nation's roughly 3,000 state-sponsored universities maintain speech codes.
ALAN CHARLES KORS, FIRE: One of the terrible legacies of speech codes and coercive political correctness is, people who most need to talk to each other about how they really think about the world, so that they know how to reason with each other and argue with each other and bear moral witness to each other, have learned how to self-censor.
SCHIAVONE: At the University of Maryland, administrators say its speech code is rarely enforced. Administrators there say they back free speech, but don't want to encourage offensive speech.
JIM OSTEEN, DIRECTOR OF STUDENT AND CAMPUS PROGRAMS, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: This is not like a street corner. It is not part of the general community. It is a university campus, where we have a designated program for training future leaders of our state.
SCHIAVONE: This summer, the university had to back down from another common speech-related policy, one restricting protest to small free speech zones, after an American Civil Liberties Union court challenge.
(on camera): The tug-of-war between what is offensive and the fundamental American right of free speech has raged on campus for years, with political correctness slowly gaining the upper hand. Now it seems the pendulum may be heading in the other direction.
Louise Schiavone, for CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Just ahead, NASA's Spirit approaches the red planet. Miles O'Brien reports. Plus, astrophysicist Dr. Charles Liu discusses the Mars landings, plus, the amazing Stardust mission to bring samples of a distant comet back to Earth.
Also ahead, electromagnetic energy that can propel a train over 360 miles an hour. Casey Wian looks at the future of maglev transportation in America.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: NASA's unmanned probe Spirit is set to become the fourth U.S. spacecraft to land on Mars Saturday night. And if all goes well, a six-wheeled Mars rover will spend 90 days traveling the Martian surface searching for signs of the existence of life.
And joining us now live from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is Miles O'Brien -- Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kitty.
Spirit right now is less than a quarter-million miles away from the planet Mars. We're told by the team here that it is flying right on course. But an awful lot of things have to happen in just the right sequence in order for it to land safely a little more than 24 hours from now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Welcome to Mars land, not a new California theme park, but a place for scientists and engineers at Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Lab to test their mettle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And so, on the left side of the rover, you can see the red area here. And that's where it thinks it's dangerous to go.
O'BRIEN: They are purposely ordering a full-scale mockup of their latest Mars lander to drive off a cliff. And they're hoping it has enough sense to just say no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every step it takes, it makes a new decision, takes a new picture, a new pair of pictures, and makes a decision about what the world looks like. And, so far, it's driven up close to the edge of the cliff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is getting close to the precipice, isn't it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I'm nervous. But I do think that it will do the right thing.
O'BRIEN: Carolina Maldonado (ph) is fresh out of school, and already deep into her first intrepid space odyssey. She's part of NASA's Mars exploration rover team, watching waiting and wondering as their identical twin robotic explorers hone in on their quarry, the red planet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've just been going full force for two years.
There is no breathing easy yet because of what happened last time NASA tried to explore the surface of Mars four years ago. Mars Polar Lander crashed when its rocket cut off prematurely. Its sister orbiter was lost because of a navigation error.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The amount of concern and basically the visibility and the paranoia about this mission is very high.
O'BRIEN: Price tag for the souped up golf carts christened Spirit and Opportunity, more than $800 million, three times the cost of the probes that cratered. If all goes well, Spirit and Opportunity will arrive on time, on target and intact, thanks to some sharp navigating, a big parachute, some retrorockets and giant airbags. They will bounce to a standstill and then emerge from their deflated cocoon to explore two areas that show two areas that show tantalizing signs they were once wet and war, and, thus a cushy birth for life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This mission can't discover life. It can't discover ancient life. It can discover whether the building blocks are there and that's the goal.
O'BRIEN: Mission scientist Marc Gollenback (ph) was there in the summer of 1997 when the last airbag bounced on mars. The craft inside, Pathfinder with a tiny rover named Sojourner captivated the world with the first pictures from the martian surface since the Viking landing successfully touched down in 1976.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sojourner was our baby geologist but it was a baby. And now we got a full-fledged PH.D. up there on Mars.
O'BRIEN: But before before Spirit and Opportunity and can begin their picture taking and rock sampling, a lot of things have to go perfectly as planned which brings us back to Mars land and the cliff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And its these rocks to the left and as it drives, it looks like it's still clear, but as it gets closer to the cliff you can see it gets redder and redder.
O'BRIEN: And that is the cliff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Don't go there.
O'BRIEN: Success, a small victory on NASA's long journey back to Mars.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Won't be popping champagne corks until they're certain, however, that Spirit has landed safely. Let's take a look at live pictures now in the control room where all of the action will take place. We should hear, 11:35 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow, one way or another, that is when the landing is supposed to occur. The hope is they'll be able to actually listen to it all the way down as it emits distinctive tones. Kind of quiet in there now.
In another control room earlier today a lot of excitement. The folks here at JPL are hoping they're on a roll as another mission called Stardust, which launched back in 1999 on its way to close encounter with a comet by the name of Wild 2 successfully flew through the comet's tail.
And look at the image it captured, just one of many we're going to be seeing in the coming days of the comet, a glorified dirty snowball they call it, about 3.5 miles across.
Now Wild 2 is interesting on its own right and those images are good. But also the Stardust probe will actually bring back a small sample of the comet's tail. That's interesting because scientists believe the dust that comes off of comets takes us right back to the very origins of our universe, sort of, the building blocks of the universe. And if it can get a hold of some of that, they might able to solve some puzzle that they don't know the answer to just yet -- Kitty?
PILGRIM: Miles, I know you're in your element and you'll be plugged in and losing sleep over this. Have fun. Miles O'Brien reporting.
O'BRIEN: We will.
PILGRIM: Well, we'll have more now on Spirit and Opportunity, the missions. Plus NASA's Stardust mission and its design to capture, as Miles said, particles from a comet and bring them back to earth. Joining me is Dr. Charles Liu with the American Museum of Natural History and it's always a pleasure to talk to you because you really make all of this comprehensible to the rest of us.
CHARLES LIU, AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: It's always a pleasure.
PILGRIM: Let's start with the Mars. We heard so much about Mars. First it was the Beagle that got a lot of attention, now Spirit and Opportunity. Why so much attention on Mars? What's the real interest here?
LIU: Well, Mars has always been very exciting to people. It has, as you can see from the model, it has mountains, it has valleys. It also has a day that's very similar to 24 hours. It's close to the earth relatively speaking. It seems to be the best candidate of all planets in the system for finding life or the former traces of life elsewhere in the solar system. So that's really what's exciting us all.
PILGRIM: You are clearly the only man we know who travels with a model of Mars. Anyway, the missions to Mars, they have been met with not so much success. I think two-thirds of all missions to Mars succeed. Why is Mars such a difficult project?
LIU: Well, mostly it's because we really want to get as much information as possible out of Mars studies. We're not satisfied with just sending a spacecraft over and just sort of looking and taking pretty pictures. We want to get the dust on there and measure the water content and see the heights and the depths of the valleys and the mountains.
So we ask a lot of these missions. It's far away, millions of miles. First of all, getting it there is kind of like taking a cross- country putt. Once it arrives, it has to land. Imagine pushing your desktop computer out a window and after it hits expecting it to work again. Finally, we want these things, like the piece said, we want these PH.D. geologist robots to be able to study extremely detailed things. It's a very complicated process.
PILGRIM: And you were saying current models are only the size of say a Galapagos turtle and move about as fast.
LIU: That's right. They're not real speed demons.
PILGRIM: Impressive technology, though. Let's talk about the cosmic microwave technology. And I must admit, my experience with microwave probably is vastly different than your experience.
LIU: I use microwave ovens, too.
PILGRIM: You have named the cosmic microwave technology as your top pick for 2003 in terms of importance in science. Explain that to us.
LIU: Well, the cosmic microwave background is the leftover glow from the big bang. And it permeates the universe all throughout space. And it's only been in the past year in February 2003, to be precise, that we were able to decipher or map the patterns that are embedded in that microwave background to really measure the amount of dark matter in the universe, the dark energy and to pinpoint the age of the universe.
PILGRIM: So we're much better off in knowledge because of this technology?
LIU: Right. This one discovery has probably moved us forward in cosmology and astrophysics more than any other discovery of 2003.
PILGRIM: I have to ask you from a layman's perspective, it seems that more is happening in space and yet as we were speaking earlier, you mentioned it's not particularly that more is happening, solar flares, asteroids, we can measure it better.
LIU: Exactly. Our technology keeps expanding by leaps and bounds. We're very fortunate that we're able to muster the scientists of the world to explore really our universe and understand our origins and where we're coming from. This coming year, there will be the Cassini spacecraft that's going to Saturn. Pathfinder, six, seven years ago has laid the groundwork has been laid for Spirit and Opportunity in the next few weeks and it's an exciting time to be in the field.
PILGRIM: Well, you make it very exciting for us. Thanks very much for joining us, Dr. Charles Liu.
LIU: Thank you.
PILGRIM: Tonight's thought, it is on exploration. Here it is.
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." And that is from Albert Einstein.
New technology is helping some high-speed trains go even faster. Those powered by electromagnetic energy are the fastest in the world. But the high cost for such trains is proving to be their biggest liability. Casey Wian has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Passengers applaud as a Japanese train sets a world speed record, 581 kilometers or 361 miles per hour. The train is powered by magnetic levitation, or opposing magnetic fields propel the train forward.
A southern California local government group is pushing for more federal money to develop a 270-mile network of maglev trains running between the region's airports. Other proposals that would connect Anaheim to Las Vegas, Baltimore to Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh to its suburbs are also being studied.
Supporters say maglev trains would reduce freeway and airport congestion and cut air pollution. So far China has the only maglev line in commercial operation.
RONALD BATES, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTS: We need to get involved now or we're going to be buying all of the technology and buying all of the equipment from China instead of having the opportunity to build it and produce it here in this country.
WIAN: But skeptics say maglev trains aren't worth the cost. Japan, Germany and China have all scaled back maglev plans because of financial concerns. Southern California's proposal would cost more than $6 billion.
CATHERINE BURKE, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: I don't understand truly why very intelligent and honest people think this is a good idea. Maybe it just sounds sexy because the train is slick and wow, maglev, it doesn't make any noise.
But it makes no sense. It's wonderful if you're a local government and you say, we'll get the federal government to pay for it. That means everybody all over the country gets the joy of paying for a silly system in Los Angeles.
WIAN: Congress has, so far, appropriated $3 million to study maglev systems, 2.5 billion more maglev dollars are in the transportation bill Congress has not approved.
Supporters say without maglev average speeds on southern California's already-congested freeways will drop below 20 miles an hour within the next two decades as the region's population continues to grow.
Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: A reminder now to vote in tonight's poll on our nation's security. And here's the question -- how do the recent flight cancellations make you feel about air travel? More secure, less secure, no different, or flying is not worth the hassle? Cast your vote at cnn.com/lou, and we will bring you the results a little later in the show.
Coming up -- "America's Bright Future." Peter Viles introduces us a 17-year-old from Queens, New York, who has astounded doctors and scientists with his studies on how the human brain functions. Please stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: Now, a look at some of your thoughts on "Broken Borders." And here are our e mails. It starts out -- "It seems to me all these people who claim we should let the illegals stay because they give us cheap labor for the farms, construction, domestic care, are saying it's OK if they break the law, as long as they get some benefit from it. If it's illegal for them to be here, then either change the laws or get them out. It really is that simple." And that from Bill Jurasz.
On "Exporting America," from Purchase, New York we have an e-mail that says -- "I would like to thank you for your determined stance against U.S. businesses that are outsourcing jobs to other countries. Many people I know that are hard working, tax paying American citizens are out of a job because our so-called leaders have allowed this to go on." And that from Susan LaMagra.
From Plymouth, Minnesota: "Now is the right time to scale back on CEO's pay instead of moving the jobs to India and China." And that from Phu Thanak.
And we love hearing from you. E-mail us, loudobbs@cnn.com.
On Wall Street today, stocks started out the year mostly lower after a big run-up over the past month, and past year in fact. The Dow fell 44 points to 10,409. The Nasdaq gained 3. The S&P 500 lost 3 points. And in the bond market, prices plunged following the latest report on manufacturing activity. And Mary Snow is here with more on that story -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kitty, it may not have been good news for the bond market, but it certainly was good news for the economy. Manufacturing activity grew in December at its fastest pace in 20 years, and employment in the industry improved. That report sent treasuries tumbling as many speculated that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates sooner than later.
On Wall Street, you couldn't tell by stock prices today that this is the kind of news investors have been waiting for. Stocks initially rallied, but lost their steam. Still, economists say today's manufacturing report could bode well for next Friday's jobs report, which will be key to the markets.
And in the commodities market, cattle futures gained for the first time in six sessions. They've fallen about 20 percent since news of the first reported case of mad cow disease in the U.S. Early indications from some restaurants and grocery chains signal consumer demand for beef hasn't declined -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Well, it seems like a reasonable start to the year after a big run-up.
SNOW: Certainly. And such a strong market for the past year. Pretty quiet today also on Wall Street.
PILGRIM: I would imagine that. Thanks very much, Mary Snow.
Just ahead -- corporate scandals, mutual fund corruption and the war in Iraq. U.S. stocks brushed it all off, snapped a three-year losing streak. But how long can that last? And we'll hear from the editors of two of the nation's leading business magazines.
But first, "Exporting America." Each night, we update the list of U.S. companies our staff has confirmed to be exporting American jobs to cheaper overseas labor markets. And today's additions to the list are Cerner, which is a health care management software company, Expedia, and IndyMac Bancorp. We will continue to update this list every night. Please send us the names of companies you know to be exporting American jobs to cheap overseas labor marketed. The e-mail address again is loudobs@cnn.com. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: The stock market rallied in 2003, that's despite the war and more corporate shenanigans. So what lies ahead for the markets and the economy? Joining us for this week's "Newsmakers" is Mark Morrison, managing editor at "BusinessWeek," and Robert Lenzner, the national editor from "Forbes," and thanks very much for joining me.
ROBERT LENZNER, "FORBES": Happy new year. PILGRIM: Happy new year. It was a great year. And by most accounts, maybe not one that can be repeated, or is it? What do you think, Bob?
LENZNER: I don't think it can be repeated. There's nobody on Wall Street who predicted how great it was going to do this past year. So therefore, I think that it -- the economy can't expand as fast as it did in the third quarter, when it grew by 8 percent, and profits of the big companies grew by 35 percent. I don't think that can be repeated.
PILGRIM: Can't be repeated but...
MARK MORRISON, "BUSINESSWEEK": However, what you're seeing in the markets I think is a sign of very good economic fundamentals, and we're seeing profits improve, we're seeing jobs come along, even manufacturing, which has been such a laggard in coming along. So I think there's going to be another very good year in the market. Realizing that these times are very difficult to predict.
PILGRIM: Economists seem to have turned a bit bullish. And in fact, I draw your attention to "The Wall Street Journal" article, where 54 economists they interviewed said the unemployment rate will go down, I believe to 5.5 percent. What -- I mean, the jobless recovery has been the big worry. Will we see a jobless recovery? Will we see job creation?
MORRISON: That's one of the things you're seeing now in the manufacturing sector, is that so much cutting has been done that companies are producing full-out to meet the demand. Part of it is coming from China, as a matter of fact. So here we are benefiting from the engine of growth China.
LENZNER: It's not going to be completely -- we're already creating some jobs. So to coin it, it's a jobless recovery, it isn't going to be that. Now, whether it's going to be job creating sufficiently to satisfy everybody, that probably won't be true either.
PILGRIM: And yet the overhang of people who have just stopped looking for work, this is clearly still a factor in the economy.
MORRISON: It is. And people are still -- they're still worried, definitely, and they should be.
PILGRIM: It's been really a hellish year in terms of corporate scandals and a lot of other not so pleasant things in the environment. Where do we stand on this? Has this been a bloodletting? I hate to use the term -- has it been a catharsis for the entire economy to get through this and now perhaps build on a stronger basis?
MORRISON: I think it's just demonstrated the tremendous resilience of the American economy. It's just -- it's just amazing. When you think of the series of scandals, of crises and, of course, war, itself.
LENZNER: The mutual fund situation is the perfect example. Now, if the market were going down and you had this every day, a new revelation about mutual funds coming out, I think people really would be scared and be selling their mutual fund shares, but actually they're buying more mutual fund shares because the stock market is going up.
So it's been a stupefying series of scandals, OK? Nobody can believe the corruption that's been going on everywhere -- accountants, mutual funds, Wall Street, large corporations, you know, faking the numbers, every day we learn something new. But yet, the stock market has gone up more than anybody could have believed. So investors were not turned off by this.
MORRISON: There's -- confidence is the word. I mean, we've been through all of this, and yet Americans have seen the system work, investors have seen the system work, and confidence is very high.
LENZNER: Well, part of it is...
MORRISON: Despite all these obstacles out there.
LENZNER: Part of it is the incredible amount of stimulation by the Bush administration and the low interest rates from the Federal Reserve, and the combination of all of that actually produced more economic fire power than I would have expected myself.
PILGRIM: We certainly have a set of things that are definitely off the charts -- gold, oil, the dollar, so weak. So what's on your risk list, what's on your that's not really a problem list?
MORRISON: Those are some of the things on my risk list. I think the price of oil -- we didn't get the relief that we thought we would after the invasion part of Iraq was over. Oil is stubbornly hanging in there at $32, or thereabouts. And with a strong economy in China and so forth and here, the chances are it's going to at least be that high and may go higher. And that could be a problem.
LENZNER: There's one -- the nightmare scenario would be a real collapse in the dollar. In other words, instead of the steady drip, drip, drip effect, what's happening is that the reason gold's going up is, the dollar's going down. Every day that the dollar goes down and the euro goes up, the people are buying gold as kind of a hedge against the loss of buying power in the dollar. And if the dollar keeps going down, that's going to happen.
There are some who say that the Asian central banks own so many dollars, they're not going to want to keep all those dollars. So the nightmare -- I don't think the nightmare's going to happen, but I think that's one thing that people are scared about.
MORRISON: To me, the only ones who are not showing confidence are the Federal Reserve governors, and to me, they should be reflecting the stronger economy that we have, by maybe raising rates a bit, heading off problems with the dollar that could emerge later.
PILGRIM: Perhaps they're listening. We have to wrap it here, gentlemen. I'm sorry, we can't sort out the economy in one session. But thank you very much, Bob Lenzner and Mark Morrison, thank you.
Coming you up next -- "America's Bright Future." The story of a remarkable teen who wants to make sure you always remember his name.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: In our poll tonight, 16 percent of you said the recent flight cancellations make you feel more secure about air travel, and 16 percent said less secure. Twenty-six percent said no difference, and 43 percent said flying is not worth the hassle.
Finally tonight, in "America's Bright Future," we introduce you to Yin Li. He's a high school senior active in school, and wise beyond his years when it comes to understanding how the brain works. Peter Viles has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is seventh period at Stuyvesant High School, one of the most competitive public high schools in New York City. And while this may look like your average gym class, underneath all those swim caps are some of the brightest teenage minds in math and science.
Standing out in the crowd, Yin Li. A 17-year-old recently won a $100,000 college scholarship in the Siemans/Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology.
YIN LI, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: I studied a protein that can be involved in long-term memory and stabilizing long-term memory.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see how you can grow another...
VILES: Yin studied under a Nobel Prize-winning neurobiologist Eric Kandel. The Columbia professor says Yin's research is fundamental to brain function and may help give further insight into other memory storage dysfunctions.
ERIC KANDEL, PROFESSOR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Alzheimer's disease, Fragile X, Down Syndrome, all of these horrible disorders have a reflection in memory storage. And this protein that he has been able to study gives us further insights into how memory storage occurs. So it's a very valuable addition.
LI: You have two formulas, first it's (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
VILES: A high school senior with a grade point average in the high 90 and 1,560 on the SAT, accepted early at Harvard, knocking on the door at MIT, Yin still calls himself a regular kid.
LI: I hope I'm a regular kid. I don't think I'm like really that different. I think it's just that you work hard and you sort of, you know, if you just get one step ahead of other people, then it just seems like you're a genius. But it's just -- you are just one step ahead, and that's it. VILES: Keeping that step ahead was ingrained in Yin at an early age. He and his parents moved to the United States from Shanghai when he was 9 years old.
LI: When I came to the United States, I was sort of at a disadvantage in terms of language. And the mentality that I put myself in was that you know you're behind, so you have to work extra hard. When they are watching TV or playing video games, you would have to take that time to catch up on your English, and do these other things. And that mentality sort of stayed with me.
VILES: That mentality and a healthy dose of curiosity, say his teachers, make Yin part of "America's Bright Future."
Peter Viles, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: That is our show for tonight. Thanks for being with us. Monday, Lou will be back from vacation, and he will talk with Senator Charles Grassley about the failure of some American officials to freeze terrorist assets. Then, former FBI investigator Bill Daly will discuss security coordination at U.S. airlines.
For all of us here, good night from New York. Have a great weekend.
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Offer; Iraqi Insurgents Use New Tactics>
