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Lou Dobbs Tonight
Blistering Attack: U.S. Officer Blasts Generals; Terror Sweep in Saudi Arabia; Bush Keeps Open Possibility of Compromise With Dems; General Petraeus Talks about Iraq War; GOP Candidates Snipe at Each Other
Aired April 27, 2007 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU DOBBS, HOST: Tonight, a blistering attack by a serving Army senior officer on the general officer corps. An Army colonel who's fought in Iraq accuses the general staff of intellectual and moral failures in leading this war.
We'll have that special report.
Also, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales with a new friend down in Mexico, Mexico's attorney general. Gonzales probably grateful to have any friends at all as he struggles to save his job.
We'll have that report.
We'll also have the latest on what happened to a 13-year-old boy who left a ham bone near some Muslim students. The superintendent of the school called in nothing less than the state's attorney general.
And the bizarre case of a judge who's a little upset with the dry cleaners that lost his trousers.
We'll have that and a great deal more. All the day's news straight ahead here tonight.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT, news, debate and opinion for Friday, April 27th.
Live from New York, Lou Dobbs.
DOBBS: Good evening, everybody.
An Army colonel has sent shock waves through the Pentagon with a rare public attack on the incompetence and lack of leadership on the part of the entire general officer corps. Lieutenant Colonel Paul Yingling says the military's leadership failed to prepare for the war in Iraq and misled the Congress and the American people.
At the same time, President Bush said today he will continue to veto war spending bills that include a timetable for withdrawal of our troops, but President Bush said he's optimistic that Congress will eventually pass a bill that doesn't set a withdrawal deadline.
Barbara Starr tonight reports on the colonel's blistering attack on those generals and the Pentagon's reaction.
Ed Henry reports on the president's determination to resist any troop withdrawal deadline.
Nic Robertson reports on Saudi Arabia's intensifying battle against radical Islamic terrorists.
We turn first to Barbara Starr at the Pentagon -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Lou.
A serving U.S. military officer says the generals in Iraq are repeating the mistakes of Vietnam.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
STARR (voice-over): It's a damning indictment of the U.S. generals running the Iraq War from an officer currently serving who has done two tours of duty there.
In the latest issue of "Armed Forces Journal," a privately owned magazine, Army Lieutenant Colonel Paul Yingling writes: "America's generals have repeated the mistakes of the Vietnam in Iraq." He calls it "a crisis in American generalship."
Yingling says, like the Vietnam years, America's generals, throughout the 1990s, failed to anticipate the need to train their forces for the type of unconventional war that has emerged in Iraq.
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, U.S. COMMANDER, IRAQ: And I don't think anyone would say that there were not mistakes or that there were not a variety of areas in which we -- we could and should have done better.
STARR: Lieutenant Colonel Yingling, now a deputy commander at the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Hood, Texas, says there have not been enough troops and the generals did not provide Congress and the public with an accurate assessment of the conflict in Iraq. Again, something many say occurred in the Vietnam War.
It's rare for an active duty officer to go public. Retired officers have, however, been speaking out for months. Some say General David Petraeus, the new top commander in Iraq, just won't be able to make a difference.
COL. DOUG MACGREGOR (RET.), U.S. ARMY: The notion that he is going to have any profound impact on this thing, tactically or otherwise, is open to very serious debate.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
STARR: Lou, Colonel Yingling does not name any individual generals in his article. In fact, what he says is it's not a problem with individual generals, but rather, a crisis in the military institution -- Lou.
DOBBS: You have to give the colonel great credit for having the courage to speak out and to give an assessment shared by many of us about the quality of the generals' leadership over the conduct of this war. Barbara Starr, thank you very much, from the Pentagon.
Later here, our Baghdad correspondent, Michael Ware, joins us. He'll give us his assessment of Colonel Yingling's assessment of the generals. We'll also have a special report from senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre, who today talked with the U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus.
Former CIA director George Tenet is out with a book, and he's strongly defending his role in the period leading up to the war in Iraq. Tenet telling CBS News that the White House has made him a scapegoat for the war because of his famous or infamous "slam-dunk" comment about weapons of mass destruction. Tenet says the remark was taken out of context, he never intended to suggest that the case for going to war was proven.
The Pentagon today said a senior al Qaeda terrorist has been captured and is now in custody in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The military says the terrorist was taken into custody late last year. An intelligence official said he is a member of al Qaeda's governing council.
Saudi security forces have arrested more than 170 suspected al Qaeda terrorists. They say the radical Islamists were plotting to attack Saudi oil and military facilities. Officials said some of the terrorists were training to fly aircraft on suicide attack missions.
Nic Robertson has our report now from CNN Center in Atlanta -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, these arrests took place over about the last nine months. The Saudis followed up on a failed, botched attack on a Saudi oil facility by al Qaeda early last year.
They arrested some of the people involved, they got the information that led to all these arrests. But what we've learned here is not just that these al Qaeda members in Saudi Arabia were planning attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, but they were also collecting money in Saudi Arabia.
When arrested, they had some $5 million, more than $5 million. Saudi security sources, intelligence sources say that this money was going to go and fund al Qaeda in Iraq. This money gathered in Saudi Arabia was going to be used to kill U.S. soldiers inside of Iraq.
And they also say that some of these Saudi al Qaeda fighters had gone to Iraq, got military training, and come back to Saudi Arabia. It's an indication for the Saudis that the war in Iraq is spilling over to them -- Lou.
DOBBS: As has been feared for some time. Thank you very much, Nic Robertson, our senior international correspondent.
Turning now to the political battle over the conduct of this war, Democrats said they will send President Bush their war spending bill next Tuesday. The bill contains a demand for the withdrawal of all our combat troops from Iraq by next April. Tuesday, of course, is the fourth anniversary of the president's famous speech declaring the end of major combat operations in Iraq.
President Bush today said he may be willing to compromise in the battle with Congress over a troop withdrawal, but the president repeated his declaration that he would veto any war spending bill that sets a deadline for the withdrawal of our troops.
Ed Henry reports now from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I haven't vetoed the first bill yet. But I'm going to.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At Camp David, with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, the president's tone about the Iraq funding bill shifted between defiance and reluctance.
BUSH: I'm sorry it's come to this, but nevertheless, it is what it is, and it will be vetoed, and my veto will be sustained.
HENRY: Mr. Bush made clear he won't give an inch to Democrats and will keep vetoing war funding bills as long as they have a timetable for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq.
BUSH: I invite the leaders of the House and the Senate, both parties, to come down, you know, soon after my veto, so we can discuss the way forward. And if the Congress wants to test my will as to whether or not I'll accept a timetable for withdrawal, I won't accept one.
HENRY: Democrats would love to see Mr. Bush veto the bill on Tuesday, because it's the anniversary of the president's "Mission Accomplished" speech four years ago.
BUSH: My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: Now, to push back against Democratic attacks over that speech, there's been an interesting add to the president's schedule next Tuesday. He'll head down to U.S. Central Command in Tampa. The White House trying to argue that while Democrats play political games in Washington, the president will be outside the beltway, huddling with U.S. generals, trying to find a strategy to win the war in Iraq -- Lou.
DOBBS: Ed, thank you.
Ed Henry from the White House.
Coming up here next, new evidence some corporations are putting Americans' health at risk. What is the federal government doing about that? Nothing, of course.
We'll have the report.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales with a new friend in Washington, but he's not American, he is the Mexican attorney general. Friends are where you find them.
We'll have that story, all the day's news coming right up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: New allegations the federal government is going easy on major polluters that are putting the public health at risk. And the commission charged with protecting consumers from unsafe products isn't doing its job, keeping unsafe products out of American hands.
Lisa Sylvester tonight reports on the Environmental Protection Agency that is neglecting its responsibility to hold accountable those polluters.
Bill Tucker reports on why the Consumer Product Safety Commission simply can't do its job. Seemingly, absolutely unable to make manufacturers make their products safe.
We turn first to Lisa Sylvester in Washington -- Lisa.
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, the Center for Public Integrity is a nonpartisan, nonprofit group that investigates areas of public concern. They have conducted a detailed report that draws on more than 100 Freedom of Information Act requests and interviews with dozens of current and former employees. They're finding that cleanup of Superfund sites has lost momentum and funding in the last six years.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER (voice over): In Libby, Montana, asbestos from a nearby mine settled over the town, 200 residents died. The area has been identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a toxic Superfund site.
There have been more than 1,600 environmental hazards placed in the Superfund program, but a new study by the Center for Public Integrity accuses the federal government of neglecting cleanups in recent years and not holding corporate polluters accountable.
ALEX KNOTT, CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY: They're not collecting as much money from these companies that are connected to these Superfund sites, and the companies that are supposed to be cleaning up these sites have done less and less work over the last six years.
SYLVESTER: Among the findings, only 20 percent of actual and proposed Superfund sites have been cleaned up sufficiently to take them completely off the list. During the Clinton administration, an average of 79 sites a year were deemed construction complete, that all cleanup remedies were installed. That number dropped to an average of 42 sites in the last six years, and collections from corporate polluters dropped in half between the Clinton and Bush years.
The Environmental Protection Agency declined an interview request, but disputes the center's numbers. "EPA's Superfund program is committed to protecting public health and continues to turn problem properties back into community assets. To date, EPA has finished remedy construction at more than 1,000 sites."
But most of the heavy cleanup happened during the early years of the program. The Environmental Law Institute says it comes down to a lack of money.
JOHN PENDERGRASS, ENVIRONMENTAL LAW INSTITUTE: That's a combination of the administration not asking for as much as they had in the past and Congress not appropriating it.
SYLVESTER: Superfund appropriations have barely increased in the last 12 years. When adjusted for inflation, it's actually a 35 percent decline.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: Now, the Center for Public Integrity also obtained a list of the top 700 Superfund pollution sites and the companies responsible. One out of three Americans lives within 10 miles of these toxic sites, and the top corporate polluters, well, they're not exactly hurting for money.
They include many fortune 1,000 companies, including Chevron, Dow Chemical, Exxon, Ford and the Goodyear Tire company. They are also, Lou, among the biggest corporate names lobbying Washington and the EPA, spending $1 billion over the last seven years -- Lou.
DOBBS: That would help toward a cleanup. Let's repeat that. One in three Americans lives within 10 miles of a Superfund site?
SYLVESTER: Exactly, Lou.
DOBBS: Incredible. All right. Thank you very much.
Lisa Sylvester.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risk from consumer products. It is meant, of course, to serve as the advocate for consumer safety. But as Bill Tucker now reports, the commission isn't exactly doing its job.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It takes three commissioners to run the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the agency charged with protecting consumers from dangerous products. Currently, there are only two, which means there have been no rule changes, no policy decisions made by the CPSC. Number three awaits approval.
Michael Baroody, a vice president at the National Association of Manufacturers, in charge of directing their public policy agenda. President Bush wants him to be the chairman. Consumer advocates are not pleased.
ED MIERZWINSKI, U.S. PIRG: The CPSC is supposed to be a safety agency, and Baroody has been a general in the fight against consumer and worker protections virtually his entire career.
TUCKER: His nomination has united several groups, including the Consumers Union, Consumers Federation of America, and Public Citizen, which say they can find no evidence that Baroody ever advocated for stronger consumer standards, but that he has opposed improvement in safety standards for baby walkers, as an example, as well as supported a weakening of the guidelines for reporting substantial product hazards.
Why, asked the consumer groups, would he change now?
SALLY GREENBERG, CONSUMERS UNION: There's really nothing in this man's background to suggest that he'll be able to do an about-face and really do things very differently and take a very different position than he's ever taken in the past.
TUCKER: His opponents have even taken their campaign to the Internet, with a posting on YouTube. A spokesman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission proudly pointed out that last year the commission recalled a record 466 products as an indication of its vigilance, but referred us to the White House for a comment on Baroody.
They didn't call back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: Now, this is important, because there are more than 27,000 deaths and 33 million injuries every year associated with products under the jurisdiction of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Consumer groups, Lou, think simply that, well, the commission ought to be stacked in the favor of consumers, not in the favor of industry.
DOBBS: That doesn't seem entirely unreasonable, does it?
TUCKER: No.
DOBBS: Bill, thank you very much.
Bill Tucker.
Well, that brings us to our poll question tonight.
Do you believe it's appropriate for a corporate lobbyist to be appointed to a post overseeing national safety standards? Yes or no?
Cast your vote at loudobbs.com. We'll have the results for you here later.
Time now for some of your thoughts, and we were flooded with your expressions of outrage over the federal government's lawsuit against the Salvation Army for requiring its employees to speak English.
Margaret in Arizona said, "I am totally appalled by the EEOC. When I last checked, we are the USA and our language is English. When our forefathers came to the country to build a better life, they learned English. If people choose to move here for better jobs and the American way of life, then learn English."
Carol in Ohio, "Dear Lou, what on earth is our government thinking? Suing the Salvation Army on behalf of people who don't speak English is purely un-American."
And Grant in Virginia said, "I hope the Salvation Army will give the EEOC and the federal government a taste of their own medicine and use only Spanish-speaking defense attorneys at their trial."
We'll have more of your thoughts coming up here later.
Up next, an embattled attorney general meets with his Mexican counterpart. We'll report on the impact that meeting might have on the fight against -- well, the fight such as it is, against illegal immigration and drug smugglers on our southern border.
And usually it's the Democrats who snipe at one another, while Republicans present a united, almost corporate front. So far this year it's been quite the opposite.
We'll have that story.
And our distinguished panel of political analysts and strategists join me. The showdown over Iraq funding, the Democratic debate and much more on the agenda. We might even be talking about that attorney general up in the state of Maine using some common sense.
Stay with us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has found a friend outside the White House, in Washington, D.C., but he did have to import him from south of the border.
Casey Wian now reports on the meeting between the Mexican and the U.S. attorney generals and what it could mean in the fight against drug and illegal alien smugglers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): He may be the loneliest man in Washington. Embattled U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales waits and waits to greet his Mexican counterpart, Eduardo Medina-Mora. After a badly needed hug, the men posed for cameras, then walked side by side, though they're heading in different directions. Gonzales is on the defensive, struggling to keep his job, while Mora is leading an attack on Mexico's violent drug cartels.
Mora's boss, President Felipe Calderon, has sent 24,000 federal troops to battle drug traffickers throughout Mexico. Meanwhile, the Mexican attorney general has extradited 38 drug traffickers and other fugitives to the United States to face criminal prosecution so far this year, more than double last year's pace.
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: There's been unparalleled cooperation, and I have to say, anybody looking at the kind of vigorous activity you see in Mexico, the extradition of the drug kingpins, tough enforcement actions against corrupt police officials, anybody who looks at that has to be confident that the president, a new president in Mexico, and his administration, are not only talking the talk, but they're walking the walk.
WIAN: Mora is also talking the talk with the Bush administration, blaming the United States for supplying the cash and guns that finance Mexico's drug wars.
GEORGE GRAYSON, COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARY: The United States has a major responsibility, because, after all, the consumption is largely here, and we haven't been effective in trying to curb that consumption of drugs.
WIAN: The Mexican government continues to pressure the United States to prosecute Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement officers who injure or kill illegal aliens. Mexico is demanding an investigation into this border incident last month. Surveillance video obtained by the "San Diego Union Tribune" shows an illegal alien preparing to throw a rock before a Border Patrol agent shoots him dead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: While the Mexican government continues to flex its muscle, the Bush administration continues to do its bidding, advocating legal status for the millions of Mexican citizens and those of other nations living illegally in the United States -- Lou.
DOBBS: It is, of course, this -- to think that this administration suffered through five years of Vicente Fox's presidency in Mexico without any achievement whatsoever in stopping the smuggling of drugs from Mexico, the principal source in this country of methamphetamines, marijuana, heroin, and cocaine, and to see Michael Chertoff sitting up there pronouncing in sort of a, I thought, a rather condescending way, that, you know, the Mexican government and Felipe Calderon is doing a good job in these early months, is remarkable. Because the United States is doing a miserable job in enforcing border security and port security, despite the potential threat of terrorists and just the onslaught of illegal aliens crossing that border. WIAN: Yes. And you look at the proportion of the thing, 24,000 Mexican federal troops to fight the drug cartels, and we've sent 6,000 National Guard members to the southern border without the authority to apprehend or arrest anyone. It really shows how seriously Mexico is taking their side of the equation versus what the United States is doing -- Lou.
DOBBS: Perhaps Felipe Calderon believes in actually resolving the problem, rather than just putting on P.R. stunts and trying to manage public perception. What a concept.
WIAN: He's certainly giving it a shot.
DOBBS: Thank you very much. Indeed, he is.
Casey Wian.
Also from the nation's capitol, a judge there is suing a local dry cleaners because of the serious inconvenience and loss that he suffered. The dry cleaners lost his pants.
Roy Pearson (ph) says back in 2005, he took one of his suit pants to the cleaners for alterations. The judge was told those pants would be ready the very next day, but they were not. In fact, they weren't ready the day after that, either.
Then, Judge Pearson (ph) says, that amounts to fraud, because he was promised next-day service. And the judge now says he should be compensated for his obviously immense mental suffering, inconvenience and discomfort.
The cleaners has offered as much as $12,000, by the way, to settle that case, but the good judge won't budge. He says he wants all the money he's entitled to under the district's consumer protection law, and the judge has filed suit for $65, 462,500.
Ah, to be a judge.
Coming up next, Democrats try to put on a public display of unity in their first presidential debate. They dressed rather nicely.
What about those Republicans? Perhaps not as nicely.
We'll have a special report.
Also, the U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, talks with our Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, about the war in Iraq and what we can expect.
Stay with us. We're coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, today told CNN the war in Iraq is not lost. But General Petraeus did admit the military has made mistakes in Iraq. Jamie McIntyre has the story now from the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): General David Petraeus knows he's not the miracle worker some have made him out to be.
PETRAEUS: This is not about one person. It's not even about just Americans. It's about an entire coalition, and it's very much about our Iraqi partners.
MCINTYRE (on camera): A lot of people I've talked to feel that you may have been dealt a losing hand here.
Do you feel that way?
PETRAEUS: Well, I certainly am doing everything that I can.
MCINTYRE (voice over): The looming deadline is September, when General Petraeus and U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, will pass judgment on whether the surge is working.
(on camera) But is there a realistic prospect of U.S. troops coming home in some number after this assessment in September?
PETRAEUS: Jamie, that really is not something that I even want to hint at. Again, we've had, frankly, disappointments in the past, where we've tried to project into the future.
MCINTYRE: If, in September, you think the surge strategy is not working, are you going to be able to tell that to the president and, presumably, the Congress?
PETRAEUS: Not only will I be able to, Ambassador Crocker and I will do that. We have an obligation to the young men and women who are out there giving their all to do just that.
MCINTYRE (voice-over): Petraeus admits the situation in Iraq today is worse because of past blunders, but insists the cause is not lost.
PETRAEUS: I don't think anyone would say that there were not mistakes and that there were not a variety of areas in which we could and should have done better. And my submission to the Senate Armed Services Committee offered several pages...
MCINTYRE (on camera): I guess what Americans really want to know is, is the U.S. making a mistake now with its strategy?
PETRAEUS: Well, I think that we are applying what we've learned.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: Speaking of lost, that's what one U.S. intelligence officer called Anbar province just six months ago, but General Petraeus now points to that as an example of what could happen elsewhere.
Tribal leaders there have banded together to fight al Qaeda, and it has really made a significant difference in the prospect in Anbar province. Now, of course, it remains to be seen if that can happen in Baghdad -- Lou.
DOBBS: All right, in Baghdad, Sadr City in particular, and the issue really for the United States has been articulated by both critics of this administration and others.
The fact is, unless the Iraqi troops are ready to go, we're going to be remaining in extreme difficulty. What did General Petraeus say there?
MCINTYRE: Well, the biggest obstacle to peace in Iraq really is the political situation, and the lack of reconciliation, the lack of a unity government. And, you know, when I tried to press him on how that was going to happen over the next couple of months, he just said it is going to have to happen. Obviously, in September, he's going to have a hard decision to make if there's not enough signs of progress.
DOBBS: Jamie, thank you very much. Jamie McIntyre from the Pentagon.
Insurgents have killed three more of our troops in Iraq, all three Marines serving in al Anbar province. Eighty of our troops have been killed in Iraq so far this month; 3,337 of our troops killed since the beginning of the war; 24,764 troops wounded, 11,064 of our troops seriously.
Joining me now for more on this war in Baghdad -- in Iraq, is our Baghdad correspondent, our senior correspondent, a man extremely experienced, and who has just done an outstanding job reporting from there, Michael Ware.
Michael, good to see you here.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.
DOBBS: Let's start with the fundamental issue. David Petraeus said that there have been improvements in al Anbar, and in Baghdad. But overall, the level of violence remains the same. Give us your interpretation.
WARE: OK. General Petraeus is right. He's a straight shooter, he's a straight talker. And he represents a new school of thought that's being applied by the military in Iraq.
The surge in Baghdad is changing certain types of violence. However, what we're seeing overall is that the deaths among Iraqi civilians each month and deaths among U.S. service personnel each month maintain the same as before the surge.
What's changed is that people are dying in different places and in different ways. And the successes in al Anbar province are solely attributed to the U.S. cutting a deal with the Ba'athist insurgents and unleashing them, giving them license to essentially conduct an assassination campaign against al Qaeda.
DOBBS: And today we also had the news from a serving senior officer, Colonel Yingling, saying straight out, the general staff of the United States Army is pitiful, and has been a moral failure, an intellectual failure. I've been critical of the general staff for some time in the Pentagon.
And he said something most compelling to me, an articulation that is, to me, profound. He said our generals are not worthy of our soldiers.
Give us a sense of the thinking, the morale, and the attitude toward leadership on the part of our troops toward their leadership.
WARE: Well, the boys in the field, the grunts, these kids who are sweating it out and bleeding it out every day will continue to follow orders. They're professionals.
DOBBS: Sure.
WARE: And they're not fighting for a general. They're not fighting for an administration. Day-to-day, they're fighting for the men next to him, for their brother. And they'll continue in that vain.
Now, in terms of the overall strategy, there's troops that are becoming increasingly cynical and disillusioned. They were on their last tour. Many of them are coming back for a third tour. They can see for themselves a deteriorating situation, and an increasing sophistication of their enemy.
So what's being said in this article by Lieutenant Colonel Yingling -- I spent time with his forces, I was in the battle of Tal Afar with these men -- is really a furtherance of a growing school of thought within the military. And we're seeing that school of thought in its ascendancy now with General Petraeus commanding the war.
DOBBS: And the view toward the leadership, of the general staff on the part of the troops?
WARE: Well, of course, the individual soldiers and Marines are forbidden by Army regulations to directly criticize their commanders, either in uniform or out of uniform. Nonetheless, as I said, these guys and girls know that it's not working.
DOBBS: Petraeus offering hope?
WARE: Yes, definitely. Petraeus -- General Petraeus is coming in with fresh eyes and a fresh approach. This is General Petraeus' third tour of Iraq. He knows the situation. There's been an evolving school of thought in terms of tactics and the ways to address the insurgence. He's applying those. People are looking to him for that leadership.
DOBBS: That's a lot to put on one man, even a man who is so well respected, regarded for his capacities, as General David Petraeus. You're pretty good with your capabilities as well. Thanks for being here, Michael Ware.
WARE: Thank you, Lou.
DOBBS: Up next, Republican candidates criticizing one another in public. A tactic some say, that's the stuff of Democrats. What are those Republicans thinking? We'll have a report, political style, next.
And Senator Hillary Clinton defending her use of a sometime, off- time Southern accent. Think multilingual. We'll be right back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Economic growth running at the slowest pace in four years, a slumping housing market, higher energy prices and a trade deficit to blame.
The slowdown leading to a decline in the value of the dollar against other currencies, the dollar falling to an all-time low against the Euro. The dollar trading at a 20-year low against the British pound sterling, and the British pound trading above the $2 mark.
The Democratic presidential candidates held their first debate last night in South Carolina, presenting a mostly united front. But as Bill Schneider reports, the Republican candidates, they're not quite as unified.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment said, "Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republicans." But look at who's obeying it.
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D-DE), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look at a bunch of winners right here. No. 1, and whoever wishes for Hillary is making a big mistake on the Republican side.
SCHNEIDER: Republican candidates, however, have been speaking a lot of ill. Sometimes directly...
JIM GILMORE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And Governor Romney, his views have been very moderate to liberal in the northeast, and it's all on videotape, and now he's trying to shift to be a conservative.
SCHNEIDER: At a Republican dinner in Iowa this month, Gilmore took on his party's front-runners collectively, saying, "Rudy McRomney is not a conservative."
Romney's response? He said his rivals, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani, have changed their minds on issues, too.
And talk about speaking ill of a fellow Republican...
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (D-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We all know the war in Iraq has not gone well. We've made mistakes, and we've paid grievously for them.
SCHNEIDER: Republicans are supposed to be disciplined and on message. Not this time.
They say when Democrats lose an election, they form a circular firing squad. Last year Republicans lost, so it's their turn to fire on one another.
The top tier Republican candidates are all suspect to conservatives. Conservatives fear they are losing their hard-won influence in the Republican Party.
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Very concerned as to whether or not, as a conservative movement, we will be, in fact, driving the political force in the '08 election cycle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: President Bush is very unpopular. Conservatives want to make the point it's not because he's a conservative; it's because his administration has wandered away from conservative principles -- Lou.
DOBBS: You know, that gets a little confusing, I think, to many of us. George Bush is not a conservative. And the conservatives, to the degree that they're represented in this administration, have made -- have mucked things up pretty well. So why -- why the appeal to conservatives?
SCHNEIDER: The appeal of whom to conservatives? You mean the conservatives?
DOBBS: The candidates trying to appeal to them.
SCHNEIDER: Oh, their argument -- and you hear this over and over again -- that the party in 2006 under the Bush administration wandered away from conservative principles on issues like the deficit. They'll talk over and over again about too much government spending...
DOBBS: Military adventurism in far-flung, foreign places, things like that.
SCHNEIDER: Well, they -- they don't talk about Iraq much. They talk about the deficit...
DOBBS: No, those are neocons. I forgot. Now you've got the neocons.
SCHNEIDER: Yes.
DOBBS: And the theocons.
SCHNEIDER: Yes.
DOBBS: And a lot of cons.
SCHNEIDER: But you know, I frankly saw very little evidence that the deficit was a big issue across the country. It was to conservatives, but the issue to most voters around the country was, in one word, Iraq.
DOBBS: Iraq is certainly the dominant issue, as it should be, but also healthcare and illegal immigration, at least according to the most recent poll from the "Wall Street Journal" and NBC News.
SCHNEIDER: Problems that have not been solved.
DOBBS: Not solved, not, honestly, discussed, in fact, in any kind of meaningful way in our national dialogue.
Bill Schneider, as always, good to have you here.
SCHNEIDER: Thank you.
DOBBS: No charges will be brought against that 13-year-old boy who left a ham bone near a group of Muslim students at a school in Lewiston, Maine.
The superintendent of that school sought out the assistance of the state attorney general to handle that issue. And Assistant Attorney General Tom Harnett tells us his office has concluded its investigation into whether the boy violated the civil rights of those Muslim students and has decided not to proceed further.
The 13-year-old was suspended from the school. And the boy could have been ordered to stay away from those Muslim students.
The superintendent of schools, by the way, the school system could have handled it, it seems to me, but not in this day in age. Because you see, that's about education, and this, obviously, at least one young man who needs an education, not prosecution.
Just ahead, three of the country's best political minds join me.
And she says she's a little bit country and a little bit multilingual. We'll be telling you about her a little later.
And in "Heroes" tonight, you'll meet Staff Sergeant David Fitzpatrick, awarded a Bronze Star for bravery. All of that and more, coming right up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Joining me now, former White House political director, Republican strategist Ed Rollins; Michael Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize- winning "New York Daily News" columnist; Democratic strategist and Democratic National Committeeman Robert Zimmerman. Good to see you all. Let's start with this contest between the Democrats on Capitol Hill and the Republicans at 1600, over whether or not to withdraw our troops. Will there be a compromise?
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: There has to be a compromise. I believe that there will be. I believe there will be.
But I think more important than, in fact, the compromise, is the fact that I think, as Ed had predicted some time ago, Republican members of the House and Senate do not want to run with Iraq as an issue. And I think they're waking up to the fact that by September...
DOBBS: Democrats don't either.
ZIMMERMAN: Certainly, we have -- the burden of proof is on the Democrats, on us to show that we can bring about a resolution. We put a plan forward.
DOBBS: And there is, I guess, the secondary issue, as it's coming to be discussed on the public airwaves, the matter of our troops being killed and wounded in Iraq, and I think we probably need to get them home pretty soon, don't you think, Michael?
MICHAEL GOODWIN, COLUMNIST, "NEW YORK DAILY POST": Well, it's interesting. I think that all the debate over what's going on in Congress with the president and everything -- David Petraeus, our commander there, has effectively set a deadline. Basically said, "If we don't see real progress by September, I will report that."
And I think -- all year we've been talking that this was the last year. Was it summer, was it spring, was it fall? It's clearly now September, in Petraeus' own words.
DOBBS: Do you think that both the Democrats and the Republicans have now sufficiently excited their bases that they can actually come together on the issue of governance and try to do what is in the national interests and the interests of the United States military on this issue?
ED ROLLINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Absolutely not. I mean, the bottom line...
DOBBS: What's up...
ROLLINS: I mean, the bottom line is -- is, you know, I think -- I think there's six or eight more months, no matter what the president wants, in which either the casualties on our side are going to be so heavy -- this is either you're going to succeed or we're going to see real serious failures, as we did last week.
We've put -- we've put our young men and women in real danger points out there, and these truck bombs and what-have-you are going to continue. If that doesn't stabilize, the American public's not going to sit here and watch us lose 15, 20 kids a week.
Equally as important -- the -- all I watch every night, watching TV, is doors being kicked in by our troops. Hell, if they can't kick the doors in themselves and go, basically, in there after four years of training, then they've learned nothing. I think the critical thin...
DOBBS: The Iraqis can't be trained. Four years...
ROLLINS: They can't be trained in four years. And the problem...
DOBBS: ... the security of their own country. Who's kidding who here?
ROLLINS: And the problem is, you know, it's a police action. It's not a war. And I think at the end of the day, this is not a stable government there, and I think what's probably the...
DOBBS: General, we're still the same idiots who have those tens of thousands of troops in South Korea and Germany and around the world. To what end, I'm not entirely sure. Are you, Michael?
GOODWIN: Well, they're the trip-wire in Korea. But I think another issue is...
DOBBS: I love that, the trip wire. I would -- you know, that gives a...
GOODWIN: Yes. I read that in school (ph).
DOBBS: ... gives an American soldier or Marine -- "What do you do?"
"I'm a trip wire."
I mean, that really burns me up, Michael. But go ahead. You didn't coin it, I know. But it just...
GOODWIN: Well, well -- I think the other issue that came up this week, though, and it really bears a lot on Iraq, is the question of terrorism.
I mean, George Tenet's book, which is really about saving his own reputation, talks about, well, in part, his fear and his empuzzlement (ph) at why al Qaeda hasn't set off, as he said, more chaos in this country, why they haven't blown up shopping malls. He said, "I know they're here. In my gut, I know they're here. I know they're waiting."
You had, you know, Rudolph Giuliani raising the issue in political terms, that Republicans would be more likely to protect America.
DOBBS: Did the arrests in Saudi Arabia, does George Tenet, does that help Rudolph Giuliani?
GOODWIN: Well, I think in the short-term, it does. But what I think it does most importantly, it forces the Democrats to deal with these issues in a way that they didn't want to...
ZIMMERMAN: Those days are -- those days are over, Michael, where the Republican can try to exploit terrorism as a partisan issue...
DOBBS: Are you kidding me?
ZIMMERMAN: Absolutely. They're going to try, but it's not going to work.
GOODWIN: It's one or the other, it's a reality.
DOBBS: Rudolph Giuliani says if you -- if you elect a Democrat in 2008, we could have another 9/11.
ZIMMERMAN: And Rudolph Giuliani's going to have...
DOBBS: What do you mean it's out of the public discussion?
ZIMMERMAN: I mean that the public won't accept it. This administration's credibility is so low, their record of failure and misguided policies in Iraq are so bad that Rudy Giuliani trying to run as the third term of the Bush administration supporting the insurgency is going to be -- truly undermine his credibility.
ROLLINS: I do think, in spite of the debate last night, which certainly every Democrat -- and I wish it was sort of like "American Idol," where you could vote a couple of them off every week and get down to three or four of the really serious candidates, but we can't. Far more interesting...
DOBBS: Primaries...
ROLLINS: Far -- far more interest in "American Idol", than obviously in the presidential debates.
But I think every Democrat talked about they needed to basically be prepared to fight terrorism. I think you've got a long ways to go, Robert, and no offense to you, to convince the American public that you're still tough and you're still willing to do those kinds of things.
DOBBS: I've got to say that Senator Clinton handled herself very well in that debate, saying -- you know, because she's been criticized and mocked for using, for lapsing into her Southern drawl or whatever it might be, talking about she thinks the country is ready for a multilingual president. I thought that was a deft stroke.
Joe Biden -- for some reason I can relate to this -- accused of being sometimes occasionally verbose, simply responding yes. So it's a little humor.
At the same time, poor John McCain gets blasted for daring to suggest that he was joking about an IED on the set of "Jon Stewart". What's going on?
ZIMMERMAN: I think also his parody of the Beach Boys song, "Bomb Iran"...
DOBBS: Well, that's different. Come on.
ZIMMERMAN: There are certain issues -- there are certain issues that should not be the subject of comic material, but I think the most important point here...
DOBBS: Oh, my lord.
ZIMMERMAN: The more important point here...
DOBBS: Don't do that PC thing on me.
ZIMMERMAN: I absolutely am. Absolutely am.
GOODWIN: Reminds me of Rosie O'Donnell.
ZIMMERMAN: The more important -- the more important point is, this game of gotcha politics, with the media and the pundits...
DOBBS: Were you offended by Rosie O'Donnell?
ZIMMERMAN: Absolutely, I was, but I'm not responsible for her being fired.
DOBBS: No, I know you're not, but Rosie O'Donnell's responsible for leaving. But the idea, this woman is a comedian. She's a comedian; she's an entertainer. She's tremendously talented, and the thought police are descending on her? I mean, come on! Let's get real in this country.
We've got this idiot superintendent up in Lewiston, Maine, wanting to take a 13-year-old kid and have him prosecuted by the state attorney general, instead of educating him. We've got to stop and think here what we're doing in this country.
ZIMMERMAN: I think we do, but I think we also have to have a zero tolerance, whether it's rap artists using words that are inappropriate or vulgar -- Don Imus...
DOBBS: I hate it as much as you do, but that rap music, man, that's a slippery slope when you start that.
ROLLINS: It is, and I think -- I think there's a lot of language that's been used that's very improper, but I think we get to a point where the zero tolerance, there is no humor. I mean...
DOBBS: Zero thinking.
ROLLINS: Zero thinking. And I think to a certain extent, we are a society that basically is fully engaged in on-going debate, whether it's political or otherwise, and I think this try and limit the airwaves to...
ZIMMERMAN: I'm not suggesting censorship or limiting the airwaves... DOBBS: It seems to me as a society, we're trying to get dumber, and we want to get more precious about getting dumber.
ZIMMERMAN: You know something? Bill Cosby, Mark Twain, we've had a history of great American comedians and great American entertainers that didn't have to stoop to that level.
Mike, I yield to you.
DOBBS: You get the last word. Take 30 seconds. We've got to break (ph).
GOODWIN: I'm more interested in terrorism. I really think that this is the key, and I think what happened this week brings it back. And I think we conveniently want to forget terrorism and fight over Iraq, but I think, ultimately, terrorism is going to happen in this country again, more likely than not, and we've got to focus on it. I think we've taken our eye off the ball in order to fight over Iraq.
DOBBS: Michael Goodwin.
ZIMMERMAN: Agreed on that.
DOBBS: Ed Rollins, Robert Zimmerman. A rare moment. Concurrence and agreement amongst the three of you. Thank you very much.
Coming up at the top of the hour, "THE SITUATION ROOM" and Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Lou.
He was wounded in Vietnam, was gravely wounded. Now he's fighting to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq. The former Democratic senator Max Cleland has a strong message for President Bush.
Also, a dark horse Democratic presidential candidate stealing some of the spotlight at the first presidential debate. He speaks his mind and surprises a lot of people.
Plus, the actor Richard Gere. He's speaking out about the kiss that led to a warrant for his arrest.
All that, Lou, coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM".
DOBBS: Thank you, Wolf.
Coming up here next, "Heroes". Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Now "Heroes", our salute to men and women serving this nation in uniform. Tonight, the story of an outstanding man who has shown unwavering courage and dedication, Staff Sergeant David Fitzpatrick.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STAFF SGT. DAVID FITZPATRICK, U.S. ARMY: I pretty much took a childhood dream and made a reality.
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Staff Sergeant David Fitzpatrick is one of the 1,100 members of the Air Force's bomb squad. His family and friends were surprised by his choice to train for explosive ordinance disposal.
FITZPATRICK: You get the stares or you get the looks, like, "Huh?"
PILGRIM: In Iraq, his primary mission was to ensure safe passage for American troops on the ground by disarming IEDs and other explosive devices.
FITZPATRICK: When convoys go down the road, obviously, they come across an IED. And that's when they call us out there. We go out there and we take care of it; we safe it.
PILGRIM: Fitzpatrick's team first tries to use robots, but more often than not, they'll don a protective suit, disarm the explosive device by hand, and hope for the best.
FITZPATRICK: You don't assume anything. You go in there with an open mind, saying, OK, this can be anything or nothing at the same time. But you have to treat everything as if it's real.
PILGRIM: Self-described as patriotic but clumsy, Fitzpatrick brings an uncanny sense of humor to a highly dangerous job. Like the day he was sent to disarm a bomb at the home of an Iraqi tribal leader, an effort made particularly challenging by a stubborn cow.
FITZPATRICK: Who knew that we were going to have a standoff with the robot and a cow? There was a cow in the middle of the way, and the cow wasn't letting the robot past, so we had to drive around this cow. And they started eating the tree right there.
So you know, anything that you expect to see happening, it was just, that was off the wall.
PILGRIM: Fitzpatrick was able to disarm the device.
On another day, a medevac helicopter was two minutes from landing near the site of an IED blast. Fitzpatrick cleared the area of explosives by hand, allowing the chopper to land safely. For those actions, Fitzpatrick received a Bronze Star for bravery. Yet, this hero remains humble.
FITZPATRICK: I look at everybody else doing the mission out there, and I'm sure there's people out there that aren't going to be recognized for doing more than I did.
PILGRIM: Kitty Pilgrim, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE) DOBBS: Sergeant Fitzpatrick, we wish you well, and we thank you for setting the standard.
Now the results of our poll tonight, overwhelming. Ninety-nine percent of you do not believe it is appropriate for a corporate lobbyist to be appointed to a post overseeing national safety standards for consumer products.
Thanks for being with us tonight. Please join us tomorrow. For all of us here, we wish you a very pleasant weekend. Thanks for watching.
Good night from New York. "THE SITUATION ROOM" begins right now with Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks, Lou.
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