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CIA Report: No WMD in Iraq; Tentative Truce Worked Out with Al- Sadr's Troops; Cheney, Edwards Face off in Debate
Aired October 06, 2004 - 13:00 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-ANCHOR: ... resumed production of weapons of mass destruction if need be.
That's the very long-awaited conclusion of the CIA's own chief Iraq weapons sleuth in a 1,500-page report being hand delivered today to Congress. It's based on months of legwork, mountains of documents and interviews with Saddam Hussein himself.
From Saddam, inspectors learned he credited Iraq's WMD endeavors of the 1980s with stopping a march on Baghdad in the first Gulf War, in the '90s as well. And preventing unthinkable defeat in the eight- year Iran/Iraq war in the '80s.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-ANCHOR: Well, that's not the October surprise that a president who went to war might have preferred, but George W. Bush is undeterred. As you may have seen live here on CNN, Bush today repeated his insistence that Saddam posed a real risk and had to be dealt with.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux deals with the controversy now from her post at the White House -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, President Bush today, this afternoon in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.
Initially his speech was supposed to be on medical liability reform. But since the president's widely viewed disappointing performance in the first debate, the Bush campaign switching strategy. His focus: to hit Senator Kerry hard on his policies when it comes to the war on terror as well as the economy.
There is some new language that we did hear from the president today when he touted his own economic plan. He said under his administration he's added 1.2 million new jobs. That is more than Germany, France, Great Britain and Canada combined.
He also twisted Kerry's plan to roll back those tax cuts for those making more than $200,000; rather, portraying that as a tax increase for more than 900,000 small businesses.
But the real sharp barbs, the attacks here, of course, on Kerry's war on terror. The president saying that Kerry has a September 10 mind set, that he is susceptible to trying to win the approval of allies, and what he says is a global test.
This is something that the Bush campaign believes is gaining some traction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tyrants and terrorists will not give us polite notice before they launch an attack on our country.
I refuse to stand by while dangers gather. In the world after September the 11th, the path to safety is the path of action. And I will continue to defend the people of the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: The president's view, as he talked about the first Gulf War. He said that Senator Kerry voted against that. He said if that doesn't pass the global test when it comes to allies, that he doesn't know what does.
But you have to realize, of course, the larger political context of this. This comes following the vice presidential debate, in which polls basically showing a draw between those two candidate.
Also comes on the day when the Iraq Survey Group is releasing its own findings, showing that there were no weapons of mass destruction inside of Iraq at the time of the U.S. invasion -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Suzanne Malveaux, live from the White House. Thanks so much.
Well, the CIA report gives critics and defenders of war in Iraq an abundance to criticize and defend. Helping us dig a little further into the findings, CNN military intelligence analyst Ken Robinson.
A number of things to ask you about. First of all, the fact that this report says no WMD. But there is evidence that Saddam had the capability, he could retain the capability to make WMD. Is there a difference in threat level?
KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, there's a difference in the belief that his behavior -- when intelligence analysts and when the intelligence community observes Saddam, they try to predict two things: his capabilities and his intent.
Capability would be what does he have and how can he hurt us with it? And his intent is, does he have the intention to use it?
And because of his behavior, from the end of the first Gulf War and the continuous delay, denying, obfuscating, preventing the UNSCOM inspection teams from doing that which was required from the end of the first Gulf War, which was to investigate and survey Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, to then supervise the destruction of that which they found, and then to create monitoring and surveillance.
The United States and the coalition never got to monitoring and surveillance because of all of the delaying and obfuscating and all the confrontations with UNSCOM. And then finally UNSCOM was thrown out in October -- correction, in December of 1998.
And so what they didn't know was what had happened from '98 until the time that they invaded Iraq for the second Gulf War.
PHILLIPS: Well, it's interesting what came about in the report, going all the way back to '98. And we wondered what happened to Saddam Hussein after he was captured. Was he interrogated? What did he say? Did he say anything of significance?
And now it says here the report is going to include comments Saddam made to debriefers about his capture that bolstered administration assertions, including his statement that his past possession of weapons of mass destruction, quote, "was one of the reasons he had survived so long."
ROBINSON: This is really one of the interesting things about the psychological profile of a world leader.
Because his behavior, where he was trying to present to the world that he was still strong and had that capability regionally, to his regional perceived threats, being Iran, the largest one, he presented the view that he was well armed and capable of fighting back. He may not have been.
But his behavior was such that not only was he conveying that to those leaders in the region, he was conveying that to the intelligence community by his behavior, which made them then assess that he was still capable and that he wanted to engineer his programs and ramp them back up.
Because remember, dual use technology. If you have a fertilizer plant, you have a plant that can make chemical agent sarin. If you have an agricultural system, you've got the ability to ramp up very quickly and convert that to make anthrax.
I mean, these systems don't take a lot to retool. Now, whether they can weaponize and employ and create large stockpiles, that's a different question. And that's what the Iraqi Survey Group was trying to determine: did they have it?
PHILLIPS: All right. Something else I want to touch on, the companies that were mentioned in this report.
It says that an official says the report's going to name names as to which countries and companies violated the U.N. sanctions. But the version to be made public will not include the names of U.S. companies, due to prohibition in the Privacy Act.
Now, they're going to name all these other countries like Russia, and the French, and the Polish, companies -- or countries that helped the U.S. in the Iraq war, but they're not going to name U.S. companies that have been involved in helping Iraq? I mean, it seems -- doesn't seem fair.
ROBINSON: I can't imagine that that's going to last long, but that those countries will remain anonymous. There are provisions within the Privacy Act that come into play that contradict issues in the Freedom of Information act, where if a government is -- receives a Freedom of Information Act request, many times they will delineate out specific names of individuals, Social Security numbers, or certain bits of information.
So there has to be a reconciliation between those two and the public's right to know. And I can't explain the government's position on that. But -- but there is a legal issue there that will have to be reconciled.
PHILLIPS: I think a lot of people will know what companies, too, from the U.S. are still involved in Iraq.
All right. Ken Robinson, military intelligence analyst, thank you so much.
ROBINSON: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: A cease-fire in Sadr City? Well, not quite yet, says Iraq's prime minister. But there is an agreement in principle with disciples of Muqtada al-Sadr to stand down in their battle-scarred stronghold in Baghdad.
Now elsewhere in Iraq today, more of the same, unfortunately. A suicide car bombing near the Syrian border killed 12 Iraqi National Guard troops. But peace in Baghdad would be a major victory for Iraqi leaders.
And CNN's Brent Sadler tells us more about that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Iraqi's interim government has agreed to a new initiative that could end weeks of bloody clashes for control of Sadr City, a slum district on the eastern outskirts of Baghdad.
(voice-over) Details have been confirmed by both the interim government and representatives of Muqtada al-Sadr, the militant Shia Muslim cleric fiercely opposed to the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq.
Al-Sadr's armed loyalists have battled Iraqi security forces, supported by U.S. troops and American air power, for control of Sadr City, a sprawling neighborhood, populated by some three million impoverished Iraqi Muslim Shiites.
Under the terms of the new initiative, al Sadr's Mehdi Army would lay down heavy weapons, in exchange for an end to hostilities and political dialogue.
AYAD ALLAWI, INTERIM IRAQI PRIME MINISTER: We agreed on the initiative, and we hope tonight the committee will convene to make the timetable and to start receiving the arms. SADLER (on camera): Representatives for Muqtada al-Sadr confirm details of initiative from their side.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We have reached points which were concluded three weeks ago, which were published in "Al Suba Daily." Namely, the immediate cessation of fighting. Secondly, that Sadr followers will turn in their weapons in exchange for cash payments. Thirdly, immunity from prosecution for most of the cleric's followers; and, fourth, release of detainees.
SADLER: Al-Sadr's Mehdi Army engaged in heavy fighting with U.S.-backed Iraqi forces in the holy city of Najaf in August, battles that eventually ended after a negotiated withdrawal of rebel fighters.
This latest diplomatic push to stabilize Sadr City without resorting to the use of force coincides with U.S. and Iraqi military offensives to seize control of rebel strongholds, ahead of elections planned for the end of January. An intensifying offensive on both the political and military fronts.
Brent Sadler, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Metaphorically, politically, rhetorically, it was toe- to-toe, head-to-head, eyeball-to-eyeball. Actually, Dick Cheney and John Edwards sat a few feet apart in chairs and spoke with decorum, generally speaking, in their one and only vice presidential debate.
CNN's Kelly Wallace has the highlights.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Side by side they dueled.
DICK CHENEY (R), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is, indeed, you suggested that somehow...
WALLACE: Vice President Cheney accusing senators Edwards and Kerry of letting primary politics influence their votes on Iraq.
CHENEY: So they, in effect, decided they would cast an anti-war vote, and they voted against the troops. Now, if they couldn't stand up to the pressures that Howard Dean represented, how can we expect them to stand up to al Qaeda?
WALLACE: Edwards, going after the vice president's credibility.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. Vice President, there is no connection between the attacks of September 11 and Saddam Hussein, and you've gone around the country suggesting that there is some connection. There's not.
WALLACE: And they battled over experience. CHENEY: Your hometown newspaper has taken to calling you "Senator gone." You've got one of the worst attendance records in the United States Senate.
EDWARDS: The vice president and president like to talk about their experience on the campaign trail. Millions of people have lost their jobs. Millions have fallen into poverty.
Mr. Vice President, I don't think the country can take four more years of this kind of experience.
WALLACE: it wasn't nasty, but tough, with the exception of one gentle exchange on the subject of outlawing same-sex marriages. The vice president's daughter is openly gay.
EDWARDS: You can't have anything but respect for the fact that they're willing to talk about the fact that they have a gay daughter, the fact that they embrace her.
CHENEY: And let me simply thank the senator for the kind words he said about my family and -- and our daughter. I appreciate that very much.
WALLACE: The stakes were certainly high with Cheney trying to stop the president's decline in the polls, and Edwards trying to keep Kerry's sudden momentum going.
(on camera) And the days ahead will reveal which man was more successful.
Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: So, had they met before or not? For all the weighty issues the candidates clashed over, John Edwards' Senate attendance and Dick Cheney's memory is on the short list of post-debate debates.
CNN's Frank Buckley weighs in from the Colorado Rockies, where John Kerry is rehearsing for debate No. 2 with President Bush, on Friday night.
Who's going to be watching Friday night, anyway? That's sort of a separate issue, I know.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, that's a very good question. In fact, Mike McCurry, one of the senior strategists, was just asked about that.
And he -- he was under the belief that, because it's a Friday night, you know, you have high school football games going on on a Friday night, people are into their -- into their weekends. He suggested that the viewership would be lower on -- on this debate coming up on Friday.
Senator Kerry, meanwhile, is going to stay off the campaign trail for the next couple of days. It's the strategy they employed when we were in Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago, leading up to last Thursday's debate.
No public appearances planned. Probably his airport rally during his arrival here in Denver -- in Denver yesterday, will be his last public appearance.
Journalists were allow to look in yesterday on Senator Kerry, as he watched the debate with his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. She was also celebrating her birthday yesterday.
And reporters were also allowed to watch as Senator Kerry called Senator Edwards after the debate to congratulate him, engaging in a little post-debate spin on camera.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I hope it helped. But I have to tell you, you know the country saw the clarity, the country sees the choice.
He had no answer about Halliburton. He had no answer about, you know taking care of drug companies and the other companies. He had no answer about the unfairness of their taxes. And he was incorrect in the facts that he kept putting out.
So we're going to have a terrific opportunity just to continue to talk about the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BUCKLEY: And today Senator Kerry, continuing with his debate prep, in a ballroom here at the Inverness Hotel and Golf Resort. We're told it's been set up somewhat like a town hall setting.
Greg Craig, who played President Bush in the last debate prep will play him again. Mr. Craig was an attorney for Bill Clinton during impeachment.
We're told that they will also try to replicate the format somewhat, with questions coming from the audience during the debate prep. Reporters volunteered to be the people to ask those questions, and, Miles, we were turned down.
O'BRIEN: Well, Mr. Buckley, at least you're in there slugging. I appreciate that, that you were trying. All right. We'll check in with you a little bit later. Thank you very much.
It's not over yet. Two more presidential debates before the election day, as you heard. They're boning up for that Friday night tilt. The next face-off is set, as we say, for St. Louis, the campus of Washington University, live coverage beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern. That will be 6 in St. Louis -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: A very public man says it's a very private matter, but a Florida court has a different opinion about radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh and his medical records. The latest on the legal tangle, straight ahead.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ted Rowlands, live at Mount St. Helens. Geologists say the mountain is taking a break, and they have reduced the alert level. We will fill you in, coming up.
PHILLIPS: And will you be able to get a flu shot? Health officials respond to a vaccine shortage.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Mount St. Helens still blowing off periodic steam. But like a watched pot, the world's most watched volcano still hasn't come to a threatening boil.
Scientists say that Tuesday's steam burst open two small new vents in the crater's floor, causing it to rise, a sign that magma is still building. But the threat level has just been lowered.
CNN's Ted Rowlands with a status report now. Hi, Ted.
ROWLANDS: Hi, Kyra.
Geologists just came out, within the last hour, and have told us that the level three threat level has been reduced to a level two. They no longer think that an eruption is imminent here. There are a couple of reasons why, specifically.
First is that the earthquake activity around the mountain has dropped off considerably since yesterday's event, the release of steam and ash.
The other reason is that the bulging in that crater that you just mentioned has stopped, as well. The rock slides have stopped, and they believe, while there is new magma in the volcano and they do believe it is working its way up the throat, they think that basically Mount St. Helens is taking a little break and those new vent holes might have something to do with it.
The pressure has been reduced on the crater top. They are still detecting volcanic gases at the crater. So they do believe that there is new magma in the system and that an eruption could be on the way.
However, they don't think it's going to be in a matter of hours. They don't think it's imminent. They think it will be days, weeks or even months. So they've reduced level three alert level down to a two.
That said, the park service here is still keeping an eight-mile radius around the mountain off limits for the public. They say they want to be safe, because geologists do say when the activity does comb back here at Mount St. Helens, it could be quick. So they're keeping folks back as a precaution.
But right now, they don't believe that Mount St. Helens is going to erupt, at least in the next few hours or days.
PHILLIPS: All right. Ted Rowlands, live from Mount St. Helens. Thanks so much -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Mount St. Helens isn't the only thing warming up in the western U.S. So's the winter weather forecast. Here in the Southeast, however, Mother Nature will be giving us a colder than usual shoulder this winter.
CNN's Jacqui Jeras joining us with the chilling details. Does it mean galoshes in Galveston, mukluks in Miami, or perhaps snowshoes in Slidell?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: How long did you work on that one, Miles?
O'BRIEN: I can't take full credit. Lisa Parkinson (ph) wrote that. One of her better pieces of work, as a matter of fact.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Jacqui Jeras, take it to the bank then, appreciate it. All right.
More chilling news from the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude oil prices, natural gas prices, are expected to be sharply higher this winter, meaning more cold cash to stay warm.
U.S. crude oil prices set a record high today: $51.85 a barrel, in midday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Going to take a second mortgage to fill up that Yukon X.L. in the driveway.
Some energy analysts say prices could get near 60 bucks a barrel in the come weeks. Just have to park it then.
Natural gas costs also expected to jump about 15 percent this winter, according to the government. Get some extra winter clothes for the kids, I guess -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Topping off our winter forecast cheer, the cold facts on flu shots, in two words, not enough. The head of the CDC and other government officials have appealed for voluntary rationing after half of this year's supply was abruptly scuttled.
CNN's medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, with more on who should get the shots and who stand aside.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kyra, this isn't the first time that there's been a shortage or some kind of a delay in the flu shot supply.
Out of the past four years there have been shortages in three of those years. But this year, the shortage promises to be even worse.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COHEN (voice-over): It couldn't have happened at a worst time. Nearly half of the nation's supply of flu shots will now not be available because of fears the vaccine might have been contaminated during the production process at the Chiron Corporation. And this, just as the flu shot season was getting under way.
HOWARD PIEN, CEO, CHIRON CORPORATION: We profoundly -- and I cannot overemphasize how profoundly -- we profoundly regret that we will be unable to meet public health needs this season.
COHEN: The timing is especially bad because many expected last year's severe flu season would mean even more people lining up for shots this year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is very disappointing news that creates a serious challenge to our vaccine supply for the upcoming flu season.
COHEN: The government strategy now: get flu shots only to those who really need it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our immediate focus will be on making sure that the supply of vaccine we do have reaches those who are the most vulnerable.
COHEN: The CDC says among those who should get flu shots first, children ages 6 to 23 months, adults over age 65, adults and children with chronic illnesses, pregnant women, and anyone who can spread the flu to those at high risk.
And health officials say everyone else should wait until those who really need the shots get them first.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: So, will there be any type of policing out there saying, you cannot have the shot, you should have the shot? Or is it sort of like, OK, folks, just if you don't need it don't get it?
COHEN: Right. That's exactly what it is. There's no flu shot police. No one is going to tell a young, healthy person who shows up at their doctor's office, no, you can't have it. This is all voluntary.
What the government is saying is, you know, it's an ethical decision you have to make, and you shouldn't get it unless you need it. But no one's going to force you to not get a flu shot.
PHILLIPS: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.
COHEN: Thanks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next, on LIVE FROM...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They just said that blacks just helped to pick up cotton.
MICHELLE MITCHELL, MOTHER: That does not tell the story truthfully.
PHILLIPS: Hard lesson. A mom's outrage over the portrayal of African-American slavery in her child's schoolbook.
Later on LIVE FROM, were there weapons of mass destruction Iraq? A new report expected to be released next hour.
Tomorrow on LIVE FROM, 19th Century technology capturing 21st Century images. You'll be amazed at how a top photography is reviving tintype.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Just imagine being an African-American parent, and your child comes home with a social studies book that appears to just gloss over the brutal decades of slavery.
Well, it happened to one Atlanta mom, who now says she wants the text yanked from the school shelves. The story now from CNN's Eric Philips.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nine times 12 equals 108.
MITCHELL: All right.
ERIC PHILIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Daily, Michelle Mitchell goes over her 9-year-old daughter, Anaka's (ph) schoolwork. But last spring, what she found in one of Anaka's (ph) supplemental social studies books, entitled "The Story of Our Georgia Community," deeply concerned her.
MITCHELL: What is wrong with this book is the information in it that does not tell the story truthfully.
PHILIPS: Specifically, Mitchell says, information concerning the contributions of African-Americans is, at best, scant, and at worst, terribly inaccurate. Like this sentence that reads, "Black people from Africa and the West Indies were brought to America to help do the work on large farms."
ONIKA SMALLWOOD, 4TH-GRADER: They just said that blacks just helped pick up cotton. And that wasn't really the truth -- they were forced.
PHILIPS: Mitchell addressed this issue with her daughter's principal. A committee decided to remove the book from classrooms in that school. But Mitchell wants it banned countywide, something the school board recently rejected. MELINDA BERRY-DREISBACH, FAYETTE COUNTY SCHOOLS: If we banned a book because it was lacking in a certain area, then we might find ourselves ban banning all books.
PHILIPS: The book's publisher says it was never created to be a textbook, but a resource. A portion of a written statement saying, "Because other publications have been criticized for presenting the savagery and atrocities of slavery, it was a conscious decision to focus on the important contributions of the labor of enslaved persons."
School officials say American history, including slavery, is covered in the fourth and fifth grade. But Mitchell says, by then, the damage has been done. She plans to make an appeal to the state school board, with the hope of permanently banning the book.
Eric Philips, CNN, Fayetteville, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: So what will Howard Stern do once he is cut loose of constraints put upon him by the FCC? Inquiring minds want to know.
(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired October 6, 2004 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-ANCHOR: ... resumed production of weapons of mass destruction if need be.
That's the very long-awaited conclusion of the CIA's own chief Iraq weapons sleuth in a 1,500-page report being hand delivered today to Congress. It's based on months of legwork, mountains of documents and interviews with Saddam Hussein himself.
From Saddam, inspectors learned he credited Iraq's WMD endeavors of the 1980s with stopping a march on Baghdad in the first Gulf War, in the '90s as well. And preventing unthinkable defeat in the eight- year Iran/Iraq war in the '80s.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-ANCHOR: Well, that's not the October surprise that a president who went to war might have preferred, but George W. Bush is undeterred. As you may have seen live here on CNN, Bush today repeated his insistence that Saddam posed a real risk and had to be dealt with.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux deals with the controversy now from her post at the White House -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, President Bush today, this afternoon in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.
Initially his speech was supposed to be on medical liability reform. But since the president's widely viewed disappointing performance in the first debate, the Bush campaign switching strategy. His focus: to hit Senator Kerry hard on his policies when it comes to the war on terror as well as the economy.
There is some new language that we did hear from the president today when he touted his own economic plan. He said under his administration he's added 1.2 million new jobs. That is more than Germany, France, Great Britain and Canada combined.
He also twisted Kerry's plan to roll back those tax cuts for those making more than $200,000; rather, portraying that as a tax increase for more than 900,000 small businesses.
But the real sharp barbs, the attacks here, of course, on Kerry's war on terror. The president saying that Kerry has a September 10 mind set, that he is susceptible to trying to win the approval of allies, and what he says is a global test.
This is something that the Bush campaign believes is gaining some traction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tyrants and terrorists will not give us polite notice before they launch an attack on our country.
I refuse to stand by while dangers gather. In the world after September the 11th, the path to safety is the path of action. And I will continue to defend the people of the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: The president's view, as he talked about the first Gulf War. He said that Senator Kerry voted against that. He said if that doesn't pass the global test when it comes to allies, that he doesn't know what does.
But you have to realize, of course, the larger political context of this. This comes following the vice presidential debate, in which polls basically showing a draw between those two candidate.
Also comes on the day when the Iraq Survey Group is releasing its own findings, showing that there were no weapons of mass destruction inside of Iraq at the time of the U.S. invasion -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Suzanne Malveaux, live from the White House. Thanks so much.
Well, the CIA report gives critics and defenders of war in Iraq an abundance to criticize and defend. Helping us dig a little further into the findings, CNN military intelligence analyst Ken Robinson.
A number of things to ask you about. First of all, the fact that this report says no WMD. But there is evidence that Saddam had the capability, he could retain the capability to make WMD. Is there a difference in threat level?
KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, there's a difference in the belief that his behavior -- when intelligence analysts and when the intelligence community observes Saddam, they try to predict two things: his capabilities and his intent.
Capability would be what does he have and how can he hurt us with it? And his intent is, does he have the intention to use it?
And because of his behavior, from the end of the first Gulf War and the continuous delay, denying, obfuscating, preventing the UNSCOM inspection teams from doing that which was required from the end of the first Gulf War, which was to investigate and survey Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, to then supervise the destruction of that which they found, and then to create monitoring and surveillance.
The United States and the coalition never got to monitoring and surveillance because of all of the delaying and obfuscating and all the confrontations with UNSCOM. And then finally UNSCOM was thrown out in October -- correction, in December of 1998.
And so what they didn't know was what had happened from '98 until the time that they invaded Iraq for the second Gulf War.
PHILLIPS: Well, it's interesting what came about in the report, going all the way back to '98. And we wondered what happened to Saddam Hussein after he was captured. Was he interrogated? What did he say? Did he say anything of significance?
And now it says here the report is going to include comments Saddam made to debriefers about his capture that bolstered administration assertions, including his statement that his past possession of weapons of mass destruction, quote, "was one of the reasons he had survived so long."
ROBINSON: This is really one of the interesting things about the psychological profile of a world leader.
Because his behavior, where he was trying to present to the world that he was still strong and had that capability regionally, to his regional perceived threats, being Iran, the largest one, he presented the view that he was well armed and capable of fighting back. He may not have been.
But his behavior was such that not only was he conveying that to those leaders in the region, he was conveying that to the intelligence community by his behavior, which made them then assess that he was still capable and that he wanted to engineer his programs and ramp them back up.
Because remember, dual use technology. If you have a fertilizer plant, you have a plant that can make chemical agent sarin. If you have an agricultural system, you've got the ability to ramp up very quickly and convert that to make anthrax.
I mean, these systems don't take a lot to retool. Now, whether they can weaponize and employ and create large stockpiles, that's a different question. And that's what the Iraqi Survey Group was trying to determine: did they have it?
PHILLIPS: All right. Something else I want to touch on, the companies that were mentioned in this report.
It says that an official says the report's going to name names as to which countries and companies violated the U.N. sanctions. But the version to be made public will not include the names of U.S. companies, due to prohibition in the Privacy Act.
Now, they're going to name all these other countries like Russia, and the French, and the Polish, companies -- or countries that helped the U.S. in the Iraq war, but they're not going to name U.S. companies that have been involved in helping Iraq? I mean, it seems -- doesn't seem fair.
ROBINSON: I can't imagine that that's going to last long, but that those countries will remain anonymous. There are provisions within the Privacy Act that come into play that contradict issues in the Freedom of Information act, where if a government is -- receives a Freedom of Information Act request, many times they will delineate out specific names of individuals, Social Security numbers, or certain bits of information.
So there has to be a reconciliation between those two and the public's right to know. And I can't explain the government's position on that. But -- but there is a legal issue there that will have to be reconciled.
PHILLIPS: I think a lot of people will know what companies, too, from the U.S. are still involved in Iraq.
All right. Ken Robinson, military intelligence analyst, thank you so much.
ROBINSON: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: A cease-fire in Sadr City? Well, not quite yet, says Iraq's prime minister. But there is an agreement in principle with disciples of Muqtada al-Sadr to stand down in their battle-scarred stronghold in Baghdad.
Now elsewhere in Iraq today, more of the same, unfortunately. A suicide car bombing near the Syrian border killed 12 Iraqi National Guard troops. But peace in Baghdad would be a major victory for Iraqi leaders.
And CNN's Brent Sadler tells us more about that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Iraqi's interim government has agreed to a new initiative that could end weeks of bloody clashes for control of Sadr City, a slum district on the eastern outskirts of Baghdad.
(voice-over) Details have been confirmed by both the interim government and representatives of Muqtada al-Sadr, the militant Shia Muslim cleric fiercely opposed to the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq.
Al-Sadr's armed loyalists have battled Iraqi security forces, supported by U.S. troops and American air power, for control of Sadr City, a sprawling neighborhood, populated by some three million impoverished Iraqi Muslim Shiites.
Under the terms of the new initiative, al Sadr's Mehdi Army would lay down heavy weapons, in exchange for an end to hostilities and political dialogue.
AYAD ALLAWI, INTERIM IRAQI PRIME MINISTER: We agreed on the initiative, and we hope tonight the committee will convene to make the timetable and to start receiving the arms. SADLER (on camera): Representatives for Muqtada al-Sadr confirm details of initiative from their side.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We have reached points which were concluded three weeks ago, which were published in "Al Suba Daily." Namely, the immediate cessation of fighting. Secondly, that Sadr followers will turn in their weapons in exchange for cash payments. Thirdly, immunity from prosecution for most of the cleric's followers; and, fourth, release of detainees.
SADLER: Al-Sadr's Mehdi Army engaged in heavy fighting with U.S.-backed Iraqi forces in the holy city of Najaf in August, battles that eventually ended after a negotiated withdrawal of rebel fighters.
This latest diplomatic push to stabilize Sadr City without resorting to the use of force coincides with U.S. and Iraqi military offensives to seize control of rebel strongholds, ahead of elections planned for the end of January. An intensifying offensive on both the political and military fronts.
Brent Sadler, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Metaphorically, politically, rhetorically, it was toe- to-toe, head-to-head, eyeball-to-eyeball. Actually, Dick Cheney and John Edwards sat a few feet apart in chairs and spoke with decorum, generally speaking, in their one and only vice presidential debate.
CNN's Kelly Wallace has the highlights.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Side by side they dueled.
DICK CHENEY (R), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is, indeed, you suggested that somehow...
WALLACE: Vice President Cheney accusing senators Edwards and Kerry of letting primary politics influence their votes on Iraq.
CHENEY: So they, in effect, decided they would cast an anti-war vote, and they voted against the troops. Now, if they couldn't stand up to the pressures that Howard Dean represented, how can we expect them to stand up to al Qaeda?
WALLACE: Edwards, going after the vice president's credibility.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. Vice President, there is no connection between the attacks of September 11 and Saddam Hussein, and you've gone around the country suggesting that there is some connection. There's not.
WALLACE: And they battled over experience. CHENEY: Your hometown newspaper has taken to calling you "Senator gone." You've got one of the worst attendance records in the United States Senate.
EDWARDS: The vice president and president like to talk about their experience on the campaign trail. Millions of people have lost their jobs. Millions have fallen into poverty.
Mr. Vice President, I don't think the country can take four more years of this kind of experience.
WALLACE: it wasn't nasty, but tough, with the exception of one gentle exchange on the subject of outlawing same-sex marriages. The vice president's daughter is openly gay.
EDWARDS: You can't have anything but respect for the fact that they're willing to talk about the fact that they have a gay daughter, the fact that they embrace her.
CHENEY: And let me simply thank the senator for the kind words he said about my family and -- and our daughter. I appreciate that very much.
WALLACE: The stakes were certainly high with Cheney trying to stop the president's decline in the polls, and Edwards trying to keep Kerry's sudden momentum going.
(on camera) And the days ahead will reveal which man was more successful.
Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: So, had they met before or not? For all the weighty issues the candidates clashed over, John Edwards' Senate attendance and Dick Cheney's memory is on the short list of post-debate debates.
CNN's Frank Buckley weighs in from the Colorado Rockies, where John Kerry is rehearsing for debate No. 2 with President Bush, on Friday night.
Who's going to be watching Friday night, anyway? That's sort of a separate issue, I know.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, that's a very good question. In fact, Mike McCurry, one of the senior strategists, was just asked about that.
And he -- he was under the belief that, because it's a Friday night, you know, you have high school football games going on on a Friday night, people are into their -- into their weekends. He suggested that the viewership would be lower on -- on this debate coming up on Friday.
Senator Kerry, meanwhile, is going to stay off the campaign trail for the next couple of days. It's the strategy they employed when we were in Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago, leading up to last Thursday's debate.
No public appearances planned. Probably his airport rally during his arrival here in Denver -- in Denver yesterday, will be his last public appearance.
Journalists were allow to look in yesterday on Senator Kerry, as he watched the debate with his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. She was also celebrating her birthday yesterday.
And reporters were also allowed to watch as Senator Kerry called Senator Edwards after the debate to congratulate him, engaging in a little post-debate spin on camera.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I hope it helped. But I have to tell you, you know the country saw the clarity, the country sees the choice.
He had no answer about Halliburton. He had no answer about, you know taking care of drug companies and the other companies. He had no answer about the unfairness of their taxes. And he was incorrect in the facts that he kept putting out.
So we're going to have a terrific opportunity just to continue to talk about the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BUCKLEY: And today Senator Kerry, continuing with his debate prep, in a ballroom here at the Inverness Hotel and Golf Resort. We're told it's been set up somewhat like a town hall setting.
Greg Craig, who played President Bush in the last debate prep will play him again. Mr. Craig was an attorney for Bill Clinton during impeachment.
We're told that they will also try to replicate the format somewhat, with questions coming from the audience during the debate prep. Reporters volunteered to be the people to ask those questions, and, Miles, we were turned down.
O'BRIEN: Well, Mr. Buckley, at least you're in there slugging. I appreciate that, that you were trying. All right. We'll check in with you a little bit later. Thank you very much.
It's not over yet. Two more presidential debates before the election day, as you heard. They're boning up for that Friday night tilt. The next face-off is set, as we say, for St. Louis, the campus of Washington University, live coverage beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern. That will be 6 in St. Louis -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: A very public man says it's a very private matter, but a Florida court has a different opinion about radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh and his medical records. The latest on the legal tangle, straight ahead.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ted Rowlands, live at Mount St. Helens. Geologists say the mountain is taking a break, and they have reduced the alert level. We will fill you in, coming up.
PHILLIPS: And will you be able to get a flu shot? Health officials respond to a vaccine shortage.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Mount St. Helens still blowing off periodic steam. But like a watched pot, the world's most watched volcano still hasn't come to a threatening boil.
Scientists say that Tuesday's steam burst open two small new vents in the crater's floor, causing it to rise, a sign that magma is still building. But the threat level has just been lowered.
CNN's Ted Rowlands with a status report now. Hi, Ted.
ROWLANDS: Hi, Kyra.
Geologists just came out, within the last hour, and have told us that the level three threat level has been reduced to a level two. They no longer think that an eruption is imminent here. There are a couple of reasons why, specifically.
First is that the earthquake activity around the mountain has dropped off considerably since yesterday's event, the release of steam and ash.
The other reason is that the bulging in that crater that you just mentioned has stopped, as well. The rock slides have stopped, and they believe, while there is new magma in the volcano and they do believe it is working its way up the throat, they think that basically Mount St. Helens is taking a little break and those new vent holes might have something to do with it.
The pressure has been reduced on the crater top. They are still detecting volcanic gases at the crater. So they do believe that there is new magma in the system and that an eruption could be on the way.
However, they don't think it's going to be in a matter of hours. They don't think it's imminent. They think it will be days, weeks or even months. So they've reduced level three alert level down to a two.
That said, the park service here is still keeping an eight-mile radius around the mountain off limits for the public. They say they want to be safe, because geologists do say when the activity does comb back here at Mount St. Helens, it could be quick. So they're keeping folks back as a precaution.
But right now, they don't believe that Mount St. Helens is going to erupt, at least in the next few hours or days.
PHILLIPS: All right. Ted Rowlands, live from Mount St. Helens. Thanks so much -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Mount St. Helens isn't the only thing warming up in the western U.S. So's the winter weather forecast. Here in the Southeast, however, Mother Nature will be giving us a colder than usual shoulder this winter.
CNN's Jacqui Jeras joining us with the chilling details. Does it mean galoshes in Galveston, mukluks in Miami, or perhaps snowshoes in Slidell?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: How long did you work on that one, Miles?
O'BRIEN: I can't take full credit. Lisa Parkinson (ph) wrote that. One of her better pieces of work, as a matter of fact.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Jacqui Jeras, take it to the bank then, appreciate it. All right.
More chilling news from the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude oil prices, natural gas prices, are expected to be sharply higher this winter, meaning more cold cash to stay warm.
U.S. crude oil prices set a record high today: $51.85 a barrel, in midday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Going to take a second mortgage to fill up that Yukon X.L. in the driveway.
Some energy analysts say prices could get near 60 bucks a barrel in the come weeks. Just have to park it then.
Natural gas costs also expected to jump about 15 percent this winter, according to the government. Get some extra winter clothes for the kids, I guess -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Topping off our winter forecast cheer, the cold facts on flu shots, in two words, not enough. The head of the CDC and other government officials have appealed for voluntary rationing after half of this year's supply was abruptly scuttled.
CNN's medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, with more on who should get the shots and who stand aside.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kyra, this isn't the first time that there's been a shortage or some kind of a delay in the flu shot supply.
Out of the past four years there have been shortages in three of those years. But this year, the shortage promises to be even worse.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COHEN (voice-over): It couldn't have happened at a worst time. Nearly half of the nation's supply of flu shots will now not be available because of fears the vaccine might have been contaminated during the production process at the Chiron Corporation. And this, just as the flu shot season was getting under way.
HOWARD PIEN, CEO, CHIRON CORPORATION: We profoundly -- and I cannot overemphasize how profoundly -- we profoundly regret that we will be unable to meet public health needs this season.
COHEN: The timing is especially bad because many expected last year's severe flu season would mean even more people lining up for shots this year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is very disappointing news that creates a serious challenge to our vaccine supply for the upcoming flu season.
COHEN: The government strategy now: get flu shots only to those who really need it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our immediate focus will be on making sure that the supply of vaccine we do have reaches those who are the most vulnerable.
COHEN: The CDC says among those who should get flu shots first, children ages 6 to 23 months, adults over age 65, adults and children with chronic illnesses, pregnant women, and anyone who can spread the flu to those at high risk.
And health officials say everyone else should wait until those who really need the shots get them first.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: So, will there be any type of policing out there saying, you cannot have the shot, you should have the shot? Or is it sort of like, OK, folks, just if you don't need it don't get it?
COHEN: Right. That's exactly what it is. There's no flu shot police. No one is going to tell a young, healthy person who shows up at their doctor's office, no, you can't have it. This is all voluntary.
What the government is saying is, you know, it's an ethical decision you have to make, and you shouldn't get it unless you need it. But no one's going to force you to not get a flu shot.
PHILLIPS: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.
COHEN: Thanks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next, on LIVE FROM...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They just said that blacks just helped to pick up cotton.
MICHELLE MITCHELL, MOTHER: That does not tell the story truthfully.
PHILLIPS: Hard lesson. A mom's outrage over the portrayal of African-American slavery in her child's schoolbook.
Later on LIVE FROM, were there weapons of mass destruction Iraq? A new report expected to be released next hour.
Tomorrow on LIVE FROM, 19th Century technology capturing 21st Century images. You'll be amazed at how a top photography is reviving tintype.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Just imagine being an African-American parent, and your child comes home with a social studies book that appears to just gloss over the brutal decades of slavery.
Well, it happened to one Atlanta mom, who now says she wants the text yanked from the school shelves. The story now from CNN's Eric Philips.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nine times 12 equals 108.
MITCHELL: All right.
ERIC PHILIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Daily, Michelle Mitchell goes over her 9-year-old daughter, Anaka's (ph) schoolwork. But last spring, what she found in one of Anaka's (ph) supplemental social studies books, entitled "The Story of Our Georgia Community," deeply concerned her.
MITCHELL: What is wrong with this book is the information in it that does not tell the story truthfully.
PHILIPS: Specifically, Mitchell says, information concerning the contributions of African-Americans is, at best, scant, and at worst, terribly inaccurate. Like this sentence that reads, "Black people from Africa and the West Indies were brought to America to help do the work on large farms."
ONIKA SMALLWOOD, 4TH-GRADER: They just said that blacks just helped pick up cotton. And that wasn't really the truth -- they were forced.
PHILIPS: Mitchell addressed this issue with her daughter's principal. A committee decided to remove the book from classrooms in that school. But Mitchell wants it banned countywide, something the school board recently rejected. MELINDA BERRY-DREISBACH, FAYETTE COUNTY SCHOOLS: If we banned a book because it was lacking in a certain area, then we might find ourselves ban banning all books.
PHILIPS: The book's publisher says it was never created to be a textbook, but a resource. A portion of a written statement saying, "Because other publications have been criticized for presenting the savagery and atrocities of slavery, it was a conscious decision to focus on the important contributions of the labor of enslaved persons."
School officials say American history, including slavery, is covered in the fourth and fifth grade. But Mitchell says, by then, the damage has been done. She plans to make an appeal to the state school board, with the hope of permanently banning the book.
Eric Philips, CNN, Fayetteville, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: So what will Howard Stern do once he is cut loose of constraints put upon him by the FCC? Inquiring minds want to know.
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