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Critical Moments as Bush Meets With EU Leaders, NATO Summit

Aired June 25, 2004 - 14:30   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.


BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Critical moments for President Bush this weekend as he meets with the leaders of the European Union tomorrow and then moves on to the NATO summit in Turkey. Now, a key issue at both gatherings, can Mr. Bush build a consensus among allies and get concrete pledges of help in Iraq? CNN's Chris Burns on what is likely to be a tough sell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After generally warming ties during this month's D-Day ceremonies and G-8 summit, the leaders of the United States and European Union will try to take it one step further at a summit in an Irish castle.

But the jury is still out whether President Bush can secure concrete promises for Iraq this time. Some see pledges of money and training.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will there be anything filled in his hat when he leaves?

ECKHART STRATENSCHULTE, EUROPEAN ACADEMY: I think so, because also the Europeans are interested in not losing the United States as a partner.

BURNS: Other observers aren't so sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That I really don't think has been resolved in any way, and it won't be resolved during the summit.

BURNS: Any EU promises could portend what Mr. Bush can secure at the NATO summit in Istanbul that follows.

Anti-war protesters plan to march outside the ancient Dromoland Castle, though heavy security will ring the summit leaders.

The meeting is also expected to touch on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the U.S. and EU being part of the so-called quartet of mediators. The European Union, the Palestinians biggest donor, has been more critical than the U.S. of Israeli raids and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's limited pullout plan.

STRATENSCHULTE: It's more the European role, of course, to address the Arab side of this conflict, and only together we can come to a solution.

BURNS: The summit leaders could also apply more pressure on Iran to come clean on its nuclear program.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could argue that there is a good cap/bad cap cooperation; therefore, the United States plays the bad cop, and the Europeans play the good cop.

BURNS: The summit is the first since the EU expanded to 25 countries and a population 50 percent larger than the U.S. Despite the lack of a coherent defense and foreign policy, can a larger EU gain more respect from Washington?

STRATENSCHULTE: This is a partner for the United States with an enormous potential. And if President Bush is smart, he sees that.

BURNS (on camera): In the short run, that could mean some badly needed help in trying to save Iraq from chaos. And whoever is at the helm in Washington after the November elections will need some strong partners in helping manage new world disorders.

Chris Burns, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Now, despite the fact that visiting U.S. presidents have met largely met with friendly crowds when they pay a visit to Ireland, not all Irish eyes will be smiling when George W. Bush arrives for the U.S. summit. But on a prickly interview on Irish television last night, Mr. Bush stuck to his guns on Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He was a brutal dictator who posed a threat, such a threat that the United Nations voted unanimously to say, Mr. Saddam Hussein...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Indeed, Mr. President. But you didn't find the weapons of mass destruction.

BUSH: May I finish?

He said -- the United Nations said, disarm or face serious consequences. That's what the United Nations said. And guess what? He didn't disarm, he didn't disclose his arms and, therefore, he faced serious consequences.

But we have found the capacity for him to make a weapon. See, he had the capacity to make weapons. He was dangerous. And no one can argue that the world is better off with Saddam Hussein -- if Saddam Hussein were in power.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But Mr. President, the world is more dangerous place today. I don't know whether you can see that or not.

BUSH: Why do you say that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are terrorist bombings every single day. It's now a daily event. It wasn't like that two years ago. BUSH: What was it like September the 11th, 2001? There was a relative calm...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But if your response to Iraq...

BUSH: Let me finish, please. You ask the questions and I'll answer them, if you don't mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Well, even as the president faces anti-war decent abroad, he is seeing growing skepticism here at home. A CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll out yesterday asked respondents if the war with Iraq has made the world safer from terrorism?

Only 37 percent say yes, that is down from 56 percent in December. More than half of Americans now believe the world is no safer from terrorism.

And with a four-point sampling error, the poll figuring a presidential race between Mr. Bush and his likely Democratic opponent John Kerry is a virtually a dead heat, 49 to 48 percent.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Last week we introduced you to an Iraq war veteran going for the gold. Well next, proof that dreams can come true.

Then, meet a chaplain on his way to Iraq. When the ask him home town, he can say it's just down the road from the commander in chief.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: In less than two months the Summer Olympic Games will get under way in Athens, Greece. Athletes from around the world will be going for the gold hoping to shatter world records.

Olympic gold medalist Mark Spitz will be there too as a spectator this time. In the 1972 games, Spitz swam to glory and garnered seven gold metals. We all remember that.

And while Spitz's accomplishments in the pool were a highlight of those game, well they were also remembered for something else. The Munich games were marred when Arab guerrillas killed 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team. Miles O'Brien recently talked with Spitz about terrorism concerns at the Athens Games.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK SPITZ, 1972 MUNICH OLYMPICS GOLD MEDALIST: I think some of the people that aren't going which are the professional basketball players that have other issues, they've got, you know, preseason training and a variety of other things. And they've chosen not to go for a variety of different reasons.

But I think that it's up to the individual. If they feel nervous about it, then I think they shouldn't go. But I think, by and large, that we just only got a sprinkling of people that aren't going to go.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's shift gears. We're still going to go through a little bit of news before we get to the fun. Marion Jones talking about this whole burgeoning controversy about the use of supplements or drugs along with a training regimen. And it raises the prospect of a lot of leading athletes being disqualified from the games.

Take us behind the scenes here for a moment and give us a sense of how things have changed on that front over the past 30 years. And do the rules need to be changed?

SPITZ: Swimming is usually pretty clean. And I think I might have been the first anorexic athlete of all-time to win a gold medal. I mean if you look at the posters of me with the gold medals, no weight training or steroids there what whatsoever. I was slim, about 170 pounds.

Bit I think that the reality is there's such a demand on these athletes to perform at such a level for the elusive not only gold medal but the potential to get a million dollar contract from some sponsor. And I think you've got sort of torn in between as to whether the athletes are really taking drugs and in the International Olympic Committee which gets their percentage and take on the television rights money and the licensing money.

And certainly the sponsors don't want to participate in something that is sort of ill willed by having athletes have their medals taken away from them because they test positive. So I think we need to address this head on and they're doing relatively a good job.

Listen, the United States track men team is going to be very affected by this. If Marion Jones is affected by this, then, I mean, it's going to be disastrous for gold medal opportunities. But, you know, they've got to do what's right, they've got a set rules that are out there. And they need to have the courage to enforce those rules and police them. And I think that we're seeing that right now.

O'BRIEN: Now you alluded to all the corporate money that is -- and this is a pejorative but I think it applies -- infected the Olympic movement. I noted, for example, Michael Phelps, great swimmer, potentially could get seven medals this time if he has a good run.

But he's already a professional swimmer. It's very different. And he faces the prospect of getting $1 million from one of his sponsors if he accomplishes some feats there.

Is that -- does that ruin the Olympic spirit in any way in your mind?

SPITZ: I don't believe so. As a matter of fact, I wish the rules were the same back when I competed as they are now. I wouldn't have actually retired. I would have gone to the next Olympic games which where in Montreal in 1976. And it took seven years for somebody to break my first world record. So if I just stayed healthy, I might have had a chance to swim and compete in the Olympic games again.

It's a great opportunity for some of these athletes. But keep in mind, Miles, it's only for a handful that are get that opportunity. And I take my hat off to him to be able to command those kind of dollars and to stay focused.

Hopefully he'll stay focused with the obligations of these sponsors prior to swimming so that he can get back to hard training and see if he wins seven or eight gold medals. I'm just as interested to see if he does. It will be great for the Olympic movement, it's great for swimming.

O'BRIEN: You'll be rooting for him then?

SPITZ: Absolutely. It doesn't take away from anything that I did. I kind of secretly say well I was maybe the first man on the moon, you know? And I was happy to have had that chance. And I wouldn't begrudge that to anybody.

O'BRIEN: All right, final thought here you've become quite an entrepreneur in your post-swimming years and currently you're working with an outfit called ProSwimmer. They have a little device which we'll see here being demonstrated. Tell me about this and just in general your entrepreneurial endeavors post-swimming.

SPITZ: A gentleman came to me with this item and I absolutely 100 percent believe in it. It's a fitness device and teaching device. And enhances people to get more involved in swimming. A lot people have backyard pools that look sort of decorative but they never get in it.

I myself had that problem. The pool's not long enough for me to swim. But this device allows me a chance to swim in place. And I can swim with this honestly for 15 minutes and get as much as the one-hour workout that I do at master swimming at ULCA. So I'm kind of excited. I can spend less time.

O'BRIEN: One final thought here. More than 30 years after your great accomplishment, you still spend a lot of time doing what you're doing right now with kids. What's the reaction you get from them?

SPITZ: I get a real positive reaction. And I kind of sum it up when I just talked to several groups already here today. And I tell them that, you know, your destiny isn't a matter of chance. It's going to be the choices that you make in life. And if you wait around, nothing's going to happen. You've got to go out there and try to achieve these things for yourself.

And the most important thing is that if you have a dream, it's the mystery and the magic and the wonder and the innocence of never done it before. And I had never won a gold medal and never broken a world record before. And I was innocent to the fact of all the hard work that I needed to do that lied before me in the future.

And, yet, I just kept with it every single day, one day at a time and I was lucky. I competed in one Olympic games, came away with two gold medals, a silver and a bronze. Everybody thought I failed. I came back four years later and won seven gold medals in Munich. And, you know, it can happen to anybody out there. You've just to stick with it and that's my message, and they get it clear.

O'BRIEN: Well you get a gold medal from us, Mark Spitz. Thanks for being with us. We appreciate it.

SPITZ: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right, we're going to stay on that theme of gold medals. You may remember another athlete that we interviewed recently. Kenneth Dixon, an Army infantry man who was paralyzed in the war in Iraq.

Kenneth told us about a story about how his convoy was ambushed during a night mission in Iraq. But he also told me that even though he lost the use of his legs, he would lose his fighting spirit. Well he sure proved that.

We talked with him as he was about to compete in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games in St. Louis. And here he is at bat in the softball competition. Well that was one of seven events in which Dixon competed.

Now we're proud to report that he took home the gold. First place in bowling and weight lifting, and he got a silver medal in the airgun competition. Kenneth was joined by more than 500 athletes at the games.

NGUYEN: That is a true winner there.

Well, Trix are for kids, right? Well parents may like this one. General Mills says it has a new sweet plan for its cereals.

And a new calling for a Crawford, Texas pastor. But this one is from Uncle Sam.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MARKET UPDATE)

NGUYEN: President Bush is on his way to Ireland. His plane is expected to land in just a few minutes. And we will go there live.

Also in our next hour, former president Bill Clinton's hour on "LARRY KING LIVE." Hear what he thinks were his biggest mistakes in office.

And one of the few Alzheimer's drugs designed to slow the disease may not be working as well as hoped. We'll have details in a live report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Well, from small towns and big cities across the nation, thousands of National Guard and reserve troops are being called up to serve in Iraq. They come from all walks of life. Some are even neighbors of the president. Dana Bash has the story of one such guardsman who is making the journey from the pulpit to the battlefield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These days, Kent Berry's story is a familiar one, small town National Guardsman called for duty in Iraq. But he is not just from any small town, he's from Crawford, Texas, home of the commander-in chief.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still making plans, huh?

K. BERRY: Yes. Yes, they've got me -- they've got me -- they've got me locked and loaded and you know, chambered.

BASH: Berry is a Methodist minister. One of his two churches is up the road from the president's ranch. Lately his preaching hints at the sacrifice he's about to make.

K. BERRY: Life really is a battle. It reminds me very much of the person who once said that when the church is on fire, everyone carries a bucket.

BASH: This weekend he reports to the 386th Combat Engineer Battalion to serve as chaplain 18 months away from home, a full year in Iraq.

(on camera): You scared?

K. BERRY: Well, you know, this is scary. Yes, you know it's anyone that's involved in this would, if they have any sense about them at all would know that. Should feel bad. Yes.

BASH (voice-over): His wife and three kids are frightened, but mostly they are upset about what dad's going to miss.

BETHANY BERRY, DAUGHTER: He's going to be gone my senior year, so I was like I don't want him to go because I want him there for those memories. But I mean he's got to go. He's got to take his -- take his turn.

BRITTANY BERRY, DAUGHTER: I'm just sad that he's not going to be at my basketball games and if I'm in track, then he won't be there either to see me run.

BENJAMIN BERRY, SON: So supportive of me, of everything I do. I just love him so much. It's going to be sad.

BASH: Vicky Berry backed the war her husband is now being sent to and still does.

VICKY BERRY, WIFE: It was right for us to go in and to do what we've done and we're right to stay and try to finish the job if at all possible.

BASH: Berry's congregants are anxious about their pastor going to Iraq but proud he'll be ministering to young troops who will need him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He nurtures his flock and he will nurture his flock in Iraq.

BASH: Despite diminishing support the president now faces over whether the Iraq war was necessary, this hometown pastor is matter of fact.

K. BERRY: This is not something that we want, you know. This is something that we're doing.

BASH: It is, he says, simply his duty.

Dana Bash, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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 June 25, 2004 - 14:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Critical moments for President Bush this weekend as he meets with the leaders of the European Union tomorrow and then moves on to the NATO summit in Turkey. Now, a key issue at both gatherings, can Mr. Bush build a consensus among allies and get concrete pledges of help in Iraq? CNN's Chris Burns on what is likely to be a tough sell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After generally warming ties during this month's D-Day ceremonies and G-8 summit, the leaders of the United States and European Union will try to take it one step further at a summit in an Irish castle.

But the jury is still out whether President Bush can secure concrete promises for Iraq this time. Some see pledges of money and training.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will there be anything filled in his hat when he leaves?

ECKHART STRATENSCHULTE, EUROPEAN ACADEMY: I think so, because also the Europeans are interested in not losing the United States as a partner.

BURNS: Other observers aren't so sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That I really don't think has been resolved in any way, and it won't be resolved during the summit.

BURNS: Any EU promises could portend what Mr. Bush can secure at the NATO summit in Istanbul that follows.

Anti-war protesters plan to march outside the ancient Dromoland Castle, though heavy security will ring the summit leaders.

The meeting is also expected to touch on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the U.S. and EU being part of the so-called quartet of mediators. The European Union, the Palestinians biggest donor, has been more critical than the U.S. of Israeli raids and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's limited pullout plan.

STRATENSCHULTE: It's more the European role, of course, to address the Arab side of this conflict, and only together we can come to a solution.

BURNS: The summit leaders could also apply more pressure on Iran to come clean on its nuclear program.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could argue that there is a good cap/bad cap cooperation; therefore, the United States plays the bad cop, and the Europeans play the good cop.

BURNS: The summit is the first since the EU expanded to 25 countries and a population 50 percent larger than the U.S. Despite the lack of a coherent defense and foreign policy, can a larger EU gain more respect from Washington?

STRATENSCHULTE: This is a partner for the United States with an enormous potential. And if President Bush is smart, he sees that.

BURNS (on camera): In the short run, that could mean some badly needed help in trying to save Iraq from chaos. And whoever is at the helm in Washington after the November elections will need some strong partners in helping manage new world disorders.

Chris Burns, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Now, despite the fact that visiting U.S. presidents have met largely met with friendly crowds when they pay a visit to Ireland, not all Irish eyes will be smiling when George W. Bush arrives for the U.S. summit. But on a prickly interview on Irish television last night, Mr. Bush stuck to his guns on Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He was a brutal dictator who posed a threat, such a threat that the United Nations voted unanimously to say, Mr. Saddam Hussein...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Indeed, Mr. President. But you didn't find the weapons of mass destruction.

BUSH: May I finish?

He said -- the United Nations said, disarm or face serious consequences. That's what the United Nations said. And guess what? He didn't disarm, he didn't disclose his arms and, therefore, he faced serious consequences.

But we have found the capacity for him to make a weapon. See, he had the capacity to make weapons. He was dangerous. And no one can argue that the world is better off with Saddam Hussein -- if Saddam Hussein were in power.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But Mr. President, the world is more dangerous place today. I don't know whether you can see that or not.

BUSH: Why do you say that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are terrorist bombings every single day. It's now a daily event. It wasn't like that two years ago. BUSH: What was it like September the 11th, 2001? There was a relative calm...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But if your response to Iraq...

BUSH: Let me finish, please. You ask the questions and I'll answer them, if you don't mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Well, even as the president faces anti-war decent abroad, he is seeing growing skepticism here at home. A CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll out yesterday asked respondents if the war with Iraq has made the world safer from terrorism?

Only 37 percent say yes, that is down from 56 percent in December. More than half of Americans now believe the world is no safer from terrorism.

And with a four-point sampling error, the poll figuring a presidential race between Mr. Bush and his likely Democratic opponent John Kerry is a virtually a dead heat, 49 to 48 percent.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Last week we introduced you to an Iraq war veteran going for the gold. Well next, proof that dreams can come true.

Then, meet a chaplain on his way to Iraq. When the ask him home town, he can say it's just down the road from the commander in chief.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: In less than two months the Summer Olympic Games will get under way in Athens, Greece. Athletes from around the world will be going for the gold hoping to shatter world records.

Olympic gold medalist Mark Spitz will be there too as a spectator this time. In the 1972 games, Spitz swam to glory and garnered seven gold metals. We all remember that.

And while Spitz's accomplishments in the pool were a highlight of those game, well they were also remembered for something else. The Munich games were marred when Arab guerrillas killed 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team. Miles O'Brien recently talked with Spitz about terrorism concerns at the Athens Games.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK SPITZ, 1972 MUNICH OLYMPICS GOLD MEDALIST: I think some of the people that aren't going which are the professional basketball players that have other issues, they've got, you know, preseason training and a variety of other things. And they've chosen not to go for a variety of different reasons.

But I think that it's up to the individual. If they feel nervous about it, then I think they shouldn't go. But I think, by and large, that we just only got a sprinkling of people that aren't going to go.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's shift gears. We're still going to go through a little bit of news before we get to the fun. Marion Jones talking about this whole burgeoning controversy about the use of supplements or drugs along with a training regimen. And it raises the prospect of a lot of leading athletes being disqualified from the games.

Take us behind the scenes here for a moment and give us a sense of how things have changed on that front over the past 30 years. And do the rules need to be changed?

SPITZ: Swimming is usually pretty clean. And I think I might have been the first anorexic athlete of all-time to win a gold medal. I mean if you look at the posters of me with the gold medals, no weight training or steroids there what whatsoever. I was slim, about 170 pounds.

Bit I think that the reality is there's such a demand on these athletes to perform at such a level for the elusive not only gold medal but the potential to get a million dollar contract from some sponsor. And I think you've got sort of torn in between as to whether the athletes are really taking drugs and in the International Olympic Committee which gets their percentage and take on the television rights money and the licensing money.

And certainly the sponsors don't want to participate in something that is sort of ill willed by having athletes have their medals taken away from them because they test positive. So I think we need to address this head on and they're doing relatively a good job.

Listen, the United States track men team is going to be very affected by this. If Marion Jones is affected by this, then, I mean, it's going to be disastrous for gold medal opportunities. But, you know, they've got to do what's right, they've got a set rules that are out there. And they need to have the courage to enforce those rules and police them. And I think that we're seeing that right now.

O'BRIEN: Now you alluded to all the corporate money that is -- and this is a pejorative but I think it applies -- infected the Olympic movement. I noted, for example, Michael Phelps, great swimmer, potentially could get seven medals this time if he has a good run.

But he's already a professional swimmer. It's very different. And he faces the prospect of getting $1 million from one of his sponsors if he accomplishes some feats there.

Is that -- does that ruin the Olympic spirit in any way in your mind?

SPITZ: I don't believe so. As a matter of fact, I wish the rules were the same back when I competed as they are now. I wouldn't have actually retired. I would have gone to the next Olympic games which where in Montreal in 1976. And it took seven years for somebody to break my first world record. So if I just stayed healthy, I might have had a chance to swim and compete in the Olympic games again.

It's a great opportunity for some of these athletes. But keep in mind, Miles, it's only for a handful that are get that opportunity. And I take my hat off to him to be able to command those kind of dollars and to stay focused.

Hopefully he'll stay focused with the obligations of these sponsors prior to swimming so that he can get back to hard training and see if he wins seven or eight gold medals. I'm just as interested to see if he does. It will be great for the Olympic movement, it's great for swimming.

O'BRIEN: You'll be rooting for him then?

SPITZ: Absolutely. It doesn't take away from anything that I did. I kind of secretly say well I was maybe the first man on the moon, you know? And I was happy to have had that chance. And I wouldn't begrudge that to anybody.

O'BRIEN: All right, final thought here you've become quite an entrepreneur in your post-swimming years and currently you're working with an outfit called ProSwimmer. They have a little device which we'll see here being demonstrated. Tell me about this and just in general your entrepreneurial endeavors post-swimming.

SPITZ: A gentleman came to me with this item and I absolutely 100 percent believe in it. It's a fitness device and teaching device. And enhances people to get more involved in swimming. A lot people have backyard pools that look sort of decorative but they never get in it.

I myself had that problem. The pool's not long enough for me to swim. But this device allows me a chance to swim in place. And I can swim with this honestly for 15 minutes and get as much as the one-hour workout that I do at master swimming at ULCA. So I'm kind of excited. I can spend less time.

O'BRIEN: One final thought here. More than 30 years after your great accomplishment, you still spend a lot of time doing what you're doing right now with kids. What's the reaction you get from them?

SPITZ: I get a real positive reaction. And I kind of sum it up when I just talked to several groups already here today. And I tell them that, you know, your destiny isn't a matter of chance. It's going to be the choices that you make in life. And if you wait around, nothing's going to happen. You've got to go out there and try to achieve these things for yourself.

And the most important thing is that if you have a dream, it's the mystery and the magic and the wonder and the innocence of never done it before. And I had never won a gold medal and never broken a world record before. And I was innocent to the fact of all the hard work that I needed to do that lied before me in the future.

And, yet, I just kept with it every single day, one day at a time and I was lucky. I competed in one Olympic games, came away with two gold medals, a silver and a bronze. Everybody thought I failed. I came back four years later and won seven gold medals in Munich. And, you know, it can happen to anybody out there. You've just to stick with it and that's my message, and they get it clear.

O'BRIEN: Well you get a gold medal from us, Mark Spitz. Thanks for being with us. We appreciate it.

SPITZ: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right, we're going to stay on that theme of gold medals. You may remember another athlete that we interviewed recently. Kenneth Dixon, an Army infantry man who was paralyzed in the war in Iraq.

Kenneth told us about a story about how his convoy was ambushed during a night mission in Iraq. But he also told me that even though he lost the use of his legs, he would lose his fighting spirit. Well he sure proved that.

We talked with him as he was about to compete in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games in St. Louis. And here he is at bat in the softball competition. Well that was one of seven events in which Dixon competed.

Now we're proud to report that he took home the gold. First place in bowling and weight lifting, and he got a silver medal in the airgun competition. Kenneth was joined by more than 500 athletes at the games.

NGUYEN: That is a true winner there.

Well, Trix are for kids, right? Well parents may like this one. General Mills says it has a new sweet plan for its cereals.

And a new calling for a Crawford, Texas pastor. But this one is from Uncle Sam.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MARKET UPDATE)

NGUYEN: President Bush is on his way to Ireland. His plane is expected to land in just a few minutes. And we will go there live.

Also in our next hour, former president Bill Clinton's hour on "LARRY KING LIVE." Hear what he thinks were his biggest mistakes in office.

And one of the few Alzheimer's drugs designed to slow the disease may not be working as well as hoped. We'll have details in a live report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Well, from small towns and big cities across the nation, thousands of National Guard and reserve troops are being called up to serve in Iraq. They come from all walks of life. Some are even neighbors of the president. Dana Bash has the story of one such guardsman who is making the journey from the pulpit to the battlefield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These days, Kent Berry's story is a familiar one, small town National Guardsman called for duty in Iraq. But he is not just from any small town, he's from Crawford, Texas, home of the commander-in chief.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still making plans, huh?

K. BERRY: Yes. Yes, they've got me -- they've got me -- they've got me locked and loaded and you know, chambered.

BASH: Berry is a Methodist minister. One of his two churches is up the road from the president's ranch. Lately his preaching hints at the sacrifice he's about to make.

K. BERRY: Life really is a battle. It reminds me very much of the person who once said that when the church is on fire, everyone carries a bucket.

BASH: This weekend he reports to the 386th Combat Engineer Battalion to serve as chaplain 18 months away from home, a full year in Iraq.

(on camera): You scared?

K. BERRY: Well, you know, this is scary. Yes, you know it's anyone that's involved in this would, if they have any sense about them at all would know that. Should feel bad. Yes.

BASH (voice-over): His wife and three kids are frightened, but mostly they are upset about what dad's going to miss.

BETHANY BERRY, DAUGHTER: He's going to be gone my senior year, so I was like I don't want him to go because I want him there for those memories. But I mean he's got to go. He's got to take his -- take his turn.

BRITTANY BERRY, DAUGHTER: I'm just sad that he's not going to be at my basketball games and if I'm in track, then he won't be there either to see me run.

BENJAMIN BERRY, SON: So supportive of me, of everything I do. I just love him so much. It's going to be sad.

BASH: Vicky Berry backed the war her husband is now being sent to and still does.

VICKY BERRY, WIFE: It was right for us to go in and to do what we've done and we're right to stay and try to finish the job if at all possible.

BASH: Berry's congregants are anxious about their pastor going to Iraq but proud he'll be ministering to young troops who will need him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He nurtures his flock and he will nurture his flock in Iraq.

BASH: Despite diminishing support the president now faces over whether the Iraq war was necessary, this hometown pastor is matter of fact.

K. BERRY: This is not something that we want, you know. This is something that we're doing.

BASH: It is, he says, simply his duty.

Dana Bash, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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