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Governing Council President Killed; Frightening Find in Iraq; Fifty Years After Brown

Aired May 17, 2004 - 15:00   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The fight for Iraq claims another victim, the president of Iraq's Governing Council. But his colleagues insist that those behind the attack will never be victorious.
CNN's Ben Wedeman has the story from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CAIRO BUREAU CHIEF: The blast that killed Governing Council rotating president Izzedine Salim went off at 9:55 in the morning near a checkpoint leading to the Green Zone, where the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority is located. In that blast, seven people were killed, five civilians wounded, and two U.S. soldiers wounded, as well.

Now, the blast created a huge crater, throwing cars across the street. Now, according to Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the back of the car that hit the vehicle in which Salim was sitting was packed with artillery shells. Now, according to the coalition spokesmen, they believe that this attack bears all hallmarks of Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, a Jordanian national who has been linked to a series of attacks in Iraq, most recently, of course, the beheading of U.S. citizen Nicholas Berg.

Now, immediately after this blast, the Iraqi Governing Council picked a new rotating president. That will be Ghazi Ajil. He is from the northern town of Mosul, a Sunni engineer. He was originally designated to take the post on the 1st of June. Now he's taking it over today and will hold that will post and until the 30th of June, when the scheduled handover from the coalition to the -- some sort of Iraqi entity or government will take place.

I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Also today, what may be a frightening find in Iraq. A senior defense official says a preliminary test shows the presence of sarin in a roadside bomb in Baghdad. That bomb detonated as it was being defused on Saturday. Further testing will be conducted. Here with some perspective, Ken Robinson, our military intelligence analyst.

And Ken, of course, you and I talked about this. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves. This doesn't necessarily mean that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. This could be left over from the Iran-Iraq war, right?

KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: It's very possible it could be a remnant of the Iran-Iraq war, it could have been rounds which were hidden during the first Gulf War, or it may be rounds which were hidden from UNSCOM inspectors prior to 1998 and left over from this war. There's just no way to tell and until the sarin is analyzed for its agent purity.

PHILLIPS: So what's the word within the military now? Is there concern about weapons of mass destruction? Is this sort of an unexpected new threat that's just being added to all the other surprises that have come about with regard to being a threat toward soldiers?

ROBINSON: Well, I was embedded with the coalition forces during the ground war, and at Kuwait at the coalition land forces land component command. And General McKiernan, the commander, had established what was called a red zone. And that was an area around Baghdad from which they expected activity like this to occur during the war.

So even back then during the invasion, they anticipated this. And then, of course, the battle of Baghdad really never transpired the way they thought it would. We went into phase four, which is the reconstruction phase, and then the insurgency, and now the presence of this.

There was discussion about the potential for something like this, but no one expected this far into it, that it would now all of a sudden surface. So the question is, did these insurgents know that the round was weaponized? Because the Iraqis were notoriously bad about marking chemical munitions.

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about the never agent and the effects it can have on the body. There were some soldiers that had a light exposure. They were taken into medical care.

ROBINSON: Well, there's -- the first noticeable effects if you're exposed to sarin are things like dilated pupils. You'll have a runny nose. There will be a tightness in your chest, shortness of breath. And from those first noticeable effects, generally what they do is they immediately go into a mode where they try to test for the presence of a chemical agent.

They have a chemical agent monitoring device called a cam. They also have chemical paper that they can use and apply toward a -- and test the air in an area where a chemical may have been released.

In this case, because it was a binary agent, that means there were two separate liquids that have to be mixed together in order for it to be weaponized when it's an artillery round. The act of the explosion could very likely have defeated much of the agent. So the question is, is whether this actually could expose these soldiers to anything that's dangerous.

The long-term exposure to low levels of sarin, which is an organophosphate, like a fertilizer, are still being studied and are really unknown as to the effects on the human body. So those soldiers need to be watched and monitored for their long-term health.

PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, we talked about mopping the fields. Talk about how that may change a little bit, now that it has come about.

ROBINSON: Well, the military operational preparedness posture, which the military calls MOPP, is a chemical preparedness posture where they wear certain amounts of chemical gear -- chemical protective gear when they feel they're in a area where there's a high threat of use. And so the military raises its preparedness posture when a threat appears.

And because of the heat out there right now, it makes it a great challenge for folks. We'll have to watch in the next 24 hours to see what type of decisions the command makes on the ground there in terms of how far to take this and whether this is an isolated incident, or whether they feel that there may be more munitions, more rounds that could be discharged in the near future. Because possibly these insurgents may not have known it, but now they know the rounds they're using could be chemically filled.

PHILLIPS: Ken Robinson, our military intelligence analyst, thanks.

ROBINSON: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: It was a ruling that shattered the separate but equal rule. Now, 50 years later, it's being honored as a defining moment for race relations in this country. President Bush is among those commemorating the Brown v. Board of Education anniversary in Topeka, Kansas, today. Our Dan Lothian is there.

Hi, Dan.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.

Well, indeed, people here in Topeka were remembering that landmark case, and also honoring this new museum that marks not only that case, but also the civil rights fight across the country. President Bush, as you mentioned, was here, as thousands were listening not only to President Bush, but also to various other dignitaries who showed up. The president reflected on the importance of the landmark case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Fifty years ago today, nine judges announced that they had looked at the Constitution and saw no justification for the segregation and humiliation of an entire race. Here at the corner of 15th and Monroe, and at schools like it across America, that was a day of justice. And it was a long time coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LOTHIAN: The program wrapped up a few minutes ago. Some of the folks who were here had a chance to -- or got a chance, rather, to go inside the museum. And just pointing out again that this is a museum that focuses on the big picture of the civil rights movement, not only just on the Brown case.

Inside perhaps one of the most powerful exhibits, is a wall of glory. And on both sides of that wall, you have compelling black and white video of a lot of the violence that we saw during that time in the South. Officials, once again, at the museum, saying that this case is bigger than just one person, and that is why they've decided to focus on the overall civil rights fight.

Back to you.

PHILLIPS: Dan, of course, we've been talking about the commemoration and how far we have come, but you know, as you worked out in your documentary on "CNN Presents," we still have a long way to go. Talk a little bit about what you found as you investigated the gap that still exists with black and white students.

LOTHIAN: Well, that is correct. What we did find is that black students and white students, when it comes to achievement tests, they are not at the same level. Black students not performing as well as white students. And no one can really come to the bottom -- as we watch out for some strong wind coming through here -- no one can really point to specific things as to what may be causing this gap. But there are a lot of issues, such as what is happening inside of the home.

Some of the experts pointing out that white families spending more time at an earlier age with their children providing learning tools, reading to them, exposing them to museums and other avenues of education, something that they point out is not happening widespread in the black families across America. So certainly the gap continues to be something that concerns educators.

But even here in Kansas, some of the things that continues to bother some of the officials is that race relations, while on the surface everything appears to be OK, there's still concern that some people still have that old way of thinking. And it's not something that only happens here in Kansas City, but nationwide. Those are some of the issues we see inside the museum as they talk not only about the past, but what still needs to be done in the future.

PHILLIPS: Good point, Dan Lothian. We do have a lot to work on. Thank you so much.

Well, today in Massachusetts, another turning point. Gay and lesbian couples taking advantage of the state's new law which allows them to legally wed.

Our Eric Philips is in Boston where couples are ushering in a new era for gay Americans -- Eric.

ERIC PHILIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, good afternoon from Boston, where 92 couples so far today have received their marriage licenses. That's 92 same-sex couples, many of them planning on getting married today.

As you know, here in Massachusetts, there is a law that says couples who apply for their marriage licenses must wait three days before they can legally be married. That's why many of the same-sex couples are leaving the city halls in various cities across Massachusetts with that marriage license in hand and then going directly to the courthouse and applying for a waiver to that rule so that they can get married immediately. Many of these couples saying they've been waiting for years, some of them decades, and they don't want to wait any longer in order to get married.

Of course, we have seen some opposition here, as well as in other cities across the state. People waving signs and banners and chanting and singing hymns, that type of thing, opposing same-sex marriages. They're saying that the justices had no rights, that they stepped beyond their bounds by saying that gays and lesbians should be able to marry in Massachusetts. They're saying that it was a legislative issue.

Of course, even after the Supreme Court here in Massachusetts decided that gays and lesbians could marry, the legislature did take some steps to try to stop it. They could not.

At this point, the only thing they can do is propose a constitutional change to the state law here in Massachusetts. But it will be 2006 before that can even happen because that has to go before the people in the form of a referendum -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Eric Philips live from Massachusetts. Thank you.

It's a perfect storm for Wall Street. Interest rate fears and rising oil prices sending the markets tumbling. We'll have that just ahead.

And later, inconsistent and incomplete, that's how the Pentagon describes its own policy on sexual assaults against the women in the U.S. military.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

PHILLIPS: A Pentagon task force in a review of the military's sexual assault policy essentially discovered there isn't one. Defense Department policy addresses sexual harassment, but does not sexual assault as a separate legal issue. The report has caused concern in Congress. Representative Carolyn Maloney of New York is in our bureau there to talk more about this.

Congresswoman, we promised you we'd stay on top of the story. We did. We have you back.

Let's talk about the end of this investigation now, this review. And are you shocked, and what surprised you the most what was discovered here?

REP. CAROLYN MALONEY (D), NEW YORK: Well, Kyra, the report was very disappointing. It is basically too little, too late, and represents old thinking.

Everyone knows that there's a problem. I was hoping that they would come forward with specific actions, that this was how they were going to fix it. Instead, they come forward with a few Band-Aids for a heavily-bandaged problem, and they call for more studies, basically.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about a couple of the points that were made, things that were discovered. We talked about the policies and standards of DOD focusing on sexual harassment, not sexual assault. What else was found here? Was there effective prevention at all?

MALONEY: Kyra, it looks like this needs to be legislated with the force of law find it, because all they basically call for is a summit, an advisory council. They do not even define sexual assault. And very specific recommendations from the former 18 reports in the past 16 years, they did not even include those recommendations.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about the sexual assault reporting. I'm looking at the report here. In this report, it was identified, a critical need for education and training on where to report, how to support a victim, and what to do in an event of sexual assault. Is that being put into place as we speak right now?

MALONEY: They always talk about it, and then they never act. I believe we should contract out to a private civilian rape crisis unit to handle these challenges, because women in the military tell me that if you report a rape, you become the victim. They often promote your rapist and drum you out of the military.

Rape and responding to victims is not part of the core mission of the military. They're focusing on defending the country, and they do that brilliantly. And throughout America, by every single base there is a crime, a victim and assault -- victims' rape center, and we should merely contract this out.

They say they don't know how to treat confidentiality. The private sector knows how to treat confidentiality. You should provide confidentiality, you should provide assistance, and you should have rape kits to process DNA. And you should move towards conviction of rapists.

I asked women in the military, what is the number one thing we can do to help you? And they say, "Punish the rapists." Too often, it is treated like a slap on the wrist, and then they are told to leave the military.

That's wrong. Rape is a serious crime. It should be treated as such.

PHILLIPS: All right. Congresswoman, you've laid out the problem. We've talked about the problem over and over again. You've laid out some recommendations of what should be done. The same recommendations are outlined in this report.

So tell me, is there going to be immediate action? Is something going to happen now? Can you give me that answer?

MALONEY: Based on this report, it looks like more studies. They talk about an advisory council, they talk about a summit.

I believe we need to legislate the recommendations that have come forward in the 18 reports and move forward. We need to provide for confidentiality. We need to provide rape DNA processing kits. We need to have support for the victims, and we need to punish the rapists. And I think it needs to be legislated because it looks too much, Kyra, like how do we spin it as opposed to how do we fix the problem that everyone knows is there.

PHILLIPS: Well, you talk about "we." Who are you talking about? Who now needs to make the decision? Is there a sole individual?

I mean, let's say I wanted to get on the phone tonight and make a call, and say, I'm calling from CNN and I want to know who's going to implement these recommendations. Who is responsible to make the changes now that this task force has done the review and made these recommendations?

MALONEY: The Department of Defense has indicated that they will meet with me and other members of Congress on moving forward. They have also called for one central point within the Department of Defense for rape victims and a central office to take care of these type of problems. But other reports have called for a rape victims assistance unit within each branch of the military, and that it should be taken out of the chain of command, provide confidentiality support for the victims, and take steps to convict rapists.

PHILLIPS: Congressman Carolyn Maloney, all right, our next meeting will be after you meet with DOD. Will you inform us on what happens?

MALONEY: And we are also calling for hearings on this report, and we need specific actions, not promises. It's too serious a crime. Part of the military responsibility is not only to defend the country, but to defend the men and women in the military. And rape is a serious crime. It should be treated as such.

PHILLIPS: Yes, it is. And we look forward to the next interview. I want to hear what's going to happen.

MALONEY: Thank you for your interest. Thank you so much.

PHILLIPS: Congresswoman, thank you so much.

That wraps up this edition of LIVE FROM. Now to take us through the next hour of political headlines, "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS."

Hi, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Hello, Kyra. Thank you.

Well, John Kerry's home state becomes the first in the nation to allow gay couples to legally say "I do." Will the gay marriage controversy help or hurt Kerry in the race for the White House?

Plus, who's the real boss? Is Bruce Springsteen trying to steal President Bush's big apple spotlight? These stories and much more when I go INSIDE POLITICS in three minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN Center in Atlanta. INSIDE POLITICS is next after a look at the headlines.

A costly attack in Iraq. Izzedine Salim, the president of Iraq's Governing Council, assassinated in a suicide car bombing at a U.S. military checkpoint. The White House says his killing will not delay the June 30 transfer of power.

Cheers and jeers being heard among the "I dos" in Massachusetts. Same-sex couples are tying the knot hours after Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to recognize gay marriages. At least one town is issuing marriage licenses to out of state couples despite opposition from the governor.

A major victory for disabled Americans. The Supreme Court today narrowly ruled in favor of a paraplegic who sued the state of Tennessee after he was forced to crawl up the steps of a courthouse. Justice concluded that states are not exempt from provisions of the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires equal access to government buildings.

Now "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS."

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired May 17, 2004 - 15:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The fight for Iraq claims another victim, the president of Iraq's Governing Council. But his colleagues insist that those behind the attack will never be victorious.
CNN's Ben Wedeman has the story from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CAIRO BUREAU CHIEF: The blast that killed Governing Council rotating president Izzedine Salim went off at 9:55 in the morning near a checkpoint leading to the Green Zone, where the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority is located. In that blast, seven people were killed, five civilians wounded, and two U.S. soldiers wounded, as well.

Now, the blast created a huge crater, throwing cars across the street. Now, according to Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the back of the car that hit the vehicle in which Salim was sitting was packed with artillery shells. Now, according to the coalition spokesmen, they believe that this attack bears all hallmarks of Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, a Jordanian national who has been linked to a series of attacks in Iraq, most recently, of course, the beheading of U.S. citizen Nicholas Berg.

Now, immediately after this blast, the Iraqi Governing Council picked a new rotating president. That will be Ghazi Ajil. He is from the northern town of Mosul, a Sunni engineer. He was originally designated to take the post on the 1st of June. Now he's taking it over today and will hold that will post and until the 30th of June, when the scheduled handover from the coalition to the -- some sort of Iraqi entity or government will take place.

I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Also today, what may be a frightening find in Iraq. A senior defense official says a preliminary test shows the presence of sarin in a roadside bomb in Baghdad. That bomb detonated as it was being defused on Saturday. Further testing will be conducted. Here with some perspective, Ken Robinson, our military intelligence analyst.

And Ken, of course, you and I talked about this. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves. This doesn't necessarily mean that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. This could be left over from the Iran-Iraq war, right?

KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: It's very possible it could be a remnant of the Iran-Iraq war, it could have been rounds which were hidden during the first Gulf War, or it may be rounds which were hidden from UNSCOM inspectors prior to 1998 and left over from this war. There's just no way to tell and until the sarin is analyzed for its agent purity.

PHILLIPS: So what's the word within the military now? Is there concern about weapons of mass destruction? Is this sort of an unexpected new threat that's just being added to all the other surprises that have come about with regard to being a threat toward soldiers?

ROBINSON: Well, I was embedded with the coalition forces during the ground war, and at Kuwait at the coalition land forces land component command. And General McKiernan, the commander, had established what was called a red zone. And that was an area around Baghdad from which they expected activity like this to occur during the war.

So even back then during the invasion, they anticipated this. And then, of course, the battle of Baghdad really never transpired the way they thought it would. We went into phase four, which is the reconstruction phase, and then the insurgency, and now the presence of this.

There was discussion about the potential for something like this, but no one expected this far into it, that it would now all of a sudden surface. So the question is, did these insurgents know that the round was weaponized? Because the Iraqis were notoriously bad about marking chemical munitions.

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about the never agent and the effects it can have on the body. There were some soldiers that had a light exposure. They were taken into medical care.

ROBINSON: Well, there's -- the first noticeable effects if you're exposed to sarin are things like dilated pupils. You'll have a runny nose. There will be a tightness in your chest, shortness of breath. And from those first noticeable effects, generally what they do is they immediately go into a mode where they try to test for the presence of a chemical agent.

They have a chemical agent monitoring device called a cam. They also have chemical paper that they can use and apply toward a -- and test the air in an area where a chemical may have been released.

In this case, because it was a binary agent, that means there were two separate liquids that have to be mixed together in order for it to be weaponized when it's an artillery round. The act of the explosion could very likely have defeated much of the agent. So the question is, is whether this actually could expose these soldiers to anything that's dangerous.

The long-term exposure to low levels of sarin, which is an organophosphate, like a fertilizer, are still being studied and are really unknown as to the effects on the human body. So those soldiers need to be watched and monitored for their long-term health.

PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, we talked about mopping the fields. Talk about how that may change a little bit, now that it has come about.

ROBINSON: Well, the military operational preparedness posture, which the military calls MOPP, is a chemical preparedness posture where they wear certain amounts of chemical gear -- chemical protective gear when they feel they're in a area where there's a high threat of use. And so the military raises its preparedness posture when a threat appears.

And because of the heat out there right now, it makes it a great challenge for folks. We'll have to watch in the next 24 hours to see what type of decisions the command makes on the ground there in terms of how far to take this and whether this is an isolated incident, or whether they feel that there may be more munitions, more rounds that could be discharged in the near future. Because possibly these insurgents may not have known it, but now they know the rounds they're using could be chemically filled.

PHILLIPS: Ken Robinson, our military intelligence analyst, thanks.

ROBINSON: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: It was a ruling that shattered the separate but equal rule. Now, 50 years later, it's being honored as a defining moment for race relations in this country. President Bush is among those commemorating the Brown v. Board of Education anniversary in Topeka, Kansas, today. Our Dan Lothian is there.

Hi, Dan.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.

Well, indeed, people here in Topeka were remembering that landmark case, and also honoring this new museum that marks not only that case, but also the civil rights fight across the country. President Bush, as you mentioned, was here, as thousands were listening not only to President Bush, but also to various other dignitaries who showed up. The president reflected on the importance of the landmark case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Fifty years ago today, nine judges announced that they had looked at the Constitution and saw no justification for the segregation and humiliation of an entire race. Here at the corner of 15th and Monroe, and at schools like it across America, that was a day of justice. And it was a long time coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LOTHIAN: The program wrapped up a few minutes ago. Some of the folks who were here had a chance to -- or got a chance, rather, to go inside the museum. And just pointing out again that this is a museum that focuses on the big picture of the civil rights movement, not only just on the Brown case.

Inside perhaps one of the most powerful exhibits, is a wall of glory. And on both sides of that wall, you have compelling black and white video of a lot of the violence that we saw during that time in the South. Officials, once again, at the museum, saying that this case is bigger than just one person, and that is why they've decided to focus on the overall civil rights fight.

Back to you.

PHILLIPS: Dan, of course, we've been talking about the commemoration and how far we have come, but you know, as you worked out in your documentary on "CNN Presents," we still have a long way to go. Talk a little bit about what you found as you investigated the gap that still exists with black and white students.

LOTHIAN: Well, that is correct. What we did find is that black students and white students, when it comes to achievement tests, they are not at the same level. Black students not performing as well as white students. And no one can really come to the bottom -- as we watch out for some strong wind coming through here -- no one can really point to specific things as to what may be causing this gap. But there are a lot of issues, such as what is happening inside of the home.

Some of the experts pointing out that white families spending more time at an earlier age with their children providing learning tools, reading to them, exposing them to museums and other avenues of education, something that they point out is not happening widespread in the black families across America. So certainly the gap continues to be something that concerns educators.

But even here in Kansas, some of the things that continues to bother some of the officials is that race relations, while on the surface everything appears to be OK, there's still concern that some people still have that old way of thinking. And it's not something that only happens here in Kansas City, but nationwide. Those are some of the issues we see inside the museum as they talk not only about the past, but what still needs to be done in the future.

PHILLIPS: Good point, Dan Lothian. We do have a lot to work on. Thank you so much.

Well, today in Massachusetts, another turning point. Gay and lesbian couples taking advantage of the state's new law which allows them to legally wed.

Our Eric Philips is in Boston where couples are ushering in a new era for gay Americans -- Eric.

ERIC PHILIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, good afternoon from Boston, where 92 couples so far today have received their marriage licenses. That's 92 same-sex couples, many of them planning on getting married today.

As you know, here in Massachusetts, there is a law that says couples who apply for their marriage licenses must wait three days before they can legally be married. That's why many of the same-sex couples are leaving the city halls in various cities across Massachusetts with that marriage license in hand and then going directly to the courthouse and applying for a waiver to that rule so that they can get married immediately. Many of these couples saying they've been waiting for years, some of them decades, and they don't want to wait any longer in order to get married.

Of course, we have seen some opposition here, as well as in other cities across the state. People waving signs and banners and chanting and singing hymns, that type of thing, opposing same-sex marriages. They're saying that the justices had no rights, that they stepped beyond their bounds by saying that gays and lesbians should be able to marry in Massachusetts. They're saying that it was a legislative issue.

Of course, even after the Supreme Court here in Massachusetts decided that gays and lesbians could marry, the legislature did take some steps to try to stop it. They could not.

At this point, the only thing they can do is propose a constitutional change to the state law here in Massachusetts. But it will be 2006 before that can even happen because that has to go before the people in the form of a referendum -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Eric Philips live from Massachusetts. Thank you.

It's a perfect storm for Wall Street. Interest rate fears and rising oil prices sending the markets tumbling. We'll have that just ahead.

And later, inconsistent and incomplete, that's how the Pentagon describes its own policy on sexual assaults against the women in the U.S. military.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

PHILLIPS: A Pentagon task force in a review of the military's sexual assault policy essentially discovered there isn't one. Defense Department policy addresses sexual harassment, but does not sexual assault as a separate legal issue. The report has caused concern in Congress. Representative Carolyn Maloney of New York is in our bureau there to talk more about this.

Congresswoman, we promised you we'd stay on top of the story. We did. We have you back.

Let's talk about the end of this investigation now, this review. And are you shocked, and what surprised you the most what was discovered here?

REP. CAROLYN MALONEY (D), NEW YORK: Well, Kyra, the report was very disappointing. It is basically too little, too late, and represents old thinking.

Everyone knows that there's a problem. I was hoping that they would come forward with specific actions, that this was how they were going to fix it. Instead, they come forward with a few Band-Aids for a heavily-bandaged problem, and they call for more studies, basically.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about a couple of the points that were made, things that were discovered. We talked about the policies and standards of DOD focusing on sexual harassment, not sexual assault. What else was found here? Was there effective prevention at all?

MALONEY: Kyra, it looks like this needs to be legislated with the force of law find it, because all they basically call for is a summit, an advisory council. They do not even define sexual assault. And very specific recommendations from the former 18 reports in the past 16 years, they did not even include those recommendations.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about the sexual assault reporting. I'm looking at the report here. In this report, it was identified, a critical need for education and training on where to report, how to support a victim, and what to do in an event of sexual assault. Is that being put into place as we speak right now?

MALONEY: They always talk about it, and then they never act. I believe we should contract out to a private civilian rape crisis unit to handle these challenges, because women in the military tell me that if you report a rape, you become the victim. They often promote your rapist and drum you out of the military.

Rape and responding to victims is not part of the core mission of the military. They're focusing on defending the country, and they do that brilliantly. And throughout America, by every single base there is a crime, a victim and assault -- victims' rape center, and we should merely contract this out.

They say they don't know how to treat confidentiality. The private sector knows how to treat confidentiality. You should provide confidentiality, you should provide assistance, and you should have rape kits to process DNA. And you should move towards conviction of rapists.

I asked women in the military, what is the number one thing we can do to help you? And they say, "Punish the rapists." Too often, it is treated like a slap on the wrist, and then they are told to leave the military.

That's wrong. Rape is a serious crime. It should be treated as such.

PHILLIPS: All right. Congresswoman, you've laid out the problem. We've talked about the problem over and over again. You've laid out some recommendations of what should be done. The same recommendations are outlined in this report.

So tell me, is there going to be immediate action? Is something going to happen now? Can you give me that answer?

MALONEY: Based on this report, it looks like more studies. They talk about an advisory council, they talk about a summit.

I believe we need to legislate the recommendations that have come forward in the 18 reports and move forward. We need to provide for confidentiality. We need to provide rape DNA processing kits. We need to have support for the victims, and we need to punish the rapists. And I think it needs to be legislated because it looks too much, Kyra, like how do we spin it as opposed to how do we fix the problem that everyone knows is there.

PHILLIPS: Well, you talk about "we." Who are you talking about? Who now needs to make the decision? Is there a sole individual?

I mean, let's say I wanted to get on the phone tonight and make a call, and say, I'm calling from CNN and I want to know who's going to implement these recommendations. Who is responsible to make the changes now that this task force has done the review and made these recommendations?

MALONEY: The Department of Defense has indicated that they will meet with me and other members of Congress on moving forward. They have also called for one central point within the Department of Defense for rape victims and a central office to take care of these type of problems. But other reports have called for a rape victims assistance unit within each branch of the military, and that it should be taken out of the chain of command, provide confidentiality support for the victims, and take steps to convict rapists.

PHILLIPS: Congressman Carolyn Maloney, all right, our next meeting will be after you meet with DOD. Will you inform us on what happens?

MALONEY: And we are also calling for hearings on this report, and we need specific actions, not promises. It's too serious a crime. Part of the military responsibility is not only to defend the country, but to defend the men and women in the military. And rape is a serious crime. It should be treated as such.

PHILLIPS: Yes, it is. And we look forward to the next interview. I want to hear what's going to happen.

MALONEY: Thank you for your interest. Thank you so much.

PHILLIPS: Congresswoman, thank you so much.

That wraps up this edition of LIVE FROM. Now to take us through the next hour of political headlines, "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS."

Hi, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Hello, Kyra. Thank you.

Well, John Kerry's home state becomes the first in the nation to allow gay couples to legally say "I do." Will the gay marriage controversy help or hurt Kerry in the race for the White House?

Plus, who's the real boss? Is Bruce Springsteen trying to steal President Bush's big apple spotlight? These stories and much more when I go INSIDE POLITICS in three minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN Center in Atlanta. INSIDE POLITICS is next after a look at the headlines.

A costly attack in Iraq. Izzedine Salim, the president of Iraq's Governing Council, assassinated in a suicide car bombing at a U.S. military checkpoint. The White House says his killing will not delay the June 30 transfer of power.

Cheers and jeers being heard among the "I dos" in Massachusetts. Same-sex couples are tying the knot hours after Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to recognize gay marriages. At least one town is issuing marriage licenses to out of state couples despite opposition from the governor.

A major victory for disabled Americans. The Supreme Court today narrowly ruled in favor of a paraplegic who sued the state of Tennessee after he was forced to crawl up the steps of a courthouse. Justice concluded that states are not exempt from provisions of the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires equal access to government buildings.

Now "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS."

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