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A Nation Remembers Ronald Reagan; World Leaders Gather for G-8 Summit

Aired June 07, 2004 - 11:00   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.


DARYN KAGAN, ANCHOR: Up first on CNN -- cue the animation. Up first this hour on CNN the nation pays its respects to Ronald Reagan.
This is the scene. Let's take a look at the scene outside the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. People have left mementos, tributes, and other sights associated with President Reagan's life.

Today the former president will begin his solemn final journey. It will take him from a mortuary in Santa Monica to his library to the nation's capitol on Wednesday and then finally back to California on Friday.

Along the way the public will have an opportunity to honor the man and celebrate his life and his legacy.

Our Ted Rowlands begins our coverage. He is in Santa Monica, California.

Ted, good morning once again.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

That journey is expected to begin in about two hours from now. You can see behind us here at the mortuary in Santa Monica the hearse that will transport the president's body to the presidential library in Simi Valley is parked outside of this mortuary.

Nancy Reagan, former first lady, and other members of the Reagan family will come here to Santa Monica first and accompany the president's body back to the presidential library.

The procession will take the better part of an hour. First the family will have a private ceremony, and then the public, as you mentioned, will be able to take part in this, as he lies in repose.

Folks from the California highway patrol have assembled here. They will accompany the motorcade here. It's very well choreographed, and that process has begun.

And again, in two hours it is expected that this journey will begin -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Ted Rowlands in Santa Monica, thank you.

Ed Meese joined the staff of then Governor Reagan in 1967, and then went on to become President Reagan's attorney general. He was with us earlier this morning on CNN, and he talked about his very first encounter ever with Reagan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWIN MEESE, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: As a result of our meeting, half hour meeting in which I was tremendously impressed -- I'd never met him before -- I just admired his ability to assimilate information.

We were talking about matters that I'd worked on most of my career up until then, criminal justice, law enforcement, things like that. And he had his own ideas, and those ideas seemed to match, and he offered me a job, and I went to work for him, which started an association that's lasted up until today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Meese described Reagan as someone who rose to the occasion to meet the needs of the country and the world.

President Reagan's legacy looms large, both on the world stage and across the political landscape of the U.S. Joining us from Milwaukee to talk about that, CNN analyst Dinesh Disouza, who was a domestic policy advisor in the Reagan administration.

Dinesh, good morning. Thanks for being with us.

DINESH DISOUZA, DOMESTIC POLICY ADVISOR FOR REAGAN: Nice to be on the show.

KAGAN: Much is made of the lure that Reagan had of bringing in Democratic blue-collar workers. And yet there's another lure -- and I know this affected you personally -- of bringing young people into the conservative movement. Can you tell us about that?

DISOUZA: Yes. It was very surprising because Reagan was elected at the age of 69. He was -- he held office mostly when he was in his 70s. But he was a very forward-looking person in his views, and that's what attracted young people to the Regan administration.

Also, Reagan didn't want to bring into the government a lot of people who had worked in the Ford and the Nixon administrations. If you remember, Ford had run against Reagan in 1976. They had contested for the Republican nomination. So there was a little bit of bad blood there.

So Reagan wanted to bring in new people. And a lot of us who were in our 20s found ourselves, to our great surprise, in the Reagan White House and in the thick of things.

KAGAN: Right. So personalize this for us. You're a student at the time at Dartmouth University, or Dartmouth College, and what was it that attracted you to this man?

DISOUZA: Well, I think what was attractive about Reagan was he was saying some very bold things. He wanted to -- He was a revolutionary in the way he thought. For a long time people saw the Soviet Union and they said, "We don't really like it, but we have to learn to live with it. We should accommodate it." That policy was called -- was essentially called containment.

Reagan wanted rollback. He wanted the Soviet Union to be pushed back, and ultimately he wanted the end of the Soviet empire.

Similarly, we saw the growth of the welfare state here in America throughout the 20th Century. It began with Franklin Roosevelt. It continued with Lyndon Johnson. And Reagan said government is not the solution; government is the problem.

So Reagan wanted to return America to a kind of flinty individualism in which the entrepreneur, and not the government worker, would be at the center of national attention.

So we were attracted to his bold vision, and a vision that he expressed with great geniality and self-deprecating charm.

KAGAN: All right. Well, talk about living the dream. So in '83 you graduate Dartmouth. Four years later you find yourself working in the White House under this president in the final year of his presidency.

What was that like?

DISOUZA: Well, first of all, I'd gone in for my White House interview, and I said to them, "Gentlemen, I'm glad to be here, but I don't think I can work in the White House. I am not a U.S. citizen."

And I remember Reagan's domestic adviser looking at me and saying, "Well, you're not a U.S. citizen, but are you a Reaganite?"

That's what they cared about. They had a belief, and if you shared their beliefs, it didn't matter if you were white or black. It didn't matter if you were a former Democrat. It didn't matter if you were a Christian or Jewish. Reagan had a very inclusive view of conservatism. And I think that was part of the infectiousness of his appeal.

KAGAN: And then how interesting: you go on to write a book about him, and that it is about -- it's called "How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader."

Again, a man who -- his upbringing and your upbringing had very little in common. What was it about the ordinary man that you identified with, Dinesh?

DISOUZA: Well, I think if you -- you know, if you take political science classes, they tell you that in order to be a president you should spend much of your life preparing for this high office. You should have an intimate familiarity with the details of public policy. You should have some kind of a scholarly background.

And it's interesting that Reagan had none of these things. He was a movie actor for most of his career. So he didn't meet the criteria of leadership. And yet he was enormously successful in achieving his goals.

The diplomat Clair Booth Lewis once said, "History, which has no room for clutter, will remember every president by only one line." Washington was the father of the country. Or Lincoln freed the slaves.

I think Reagan will be remembered as the man who won the cold war and revived the American economy and the American spirit.

KAGAN: Dinesh Disouza. Just a quick question. Have you since become a U.S. citizen?

DISOUZA: I became a U.S. Citizen in 1991, so I've been a citizen for some time now.

KAGAN: Well, congratulations on that. Thank you for your time today, Dinesh.

DISOUZA: My pleasure.

KAGAN: Good to have you here with us.

Many are reacting to former President Reagan's death and a statement from former President Jimmy Carter, whom Reagan defeated in 1980 in that presidential election.

President Carter says, quote, "Rosalyn and I join millions of people around the world who mourn the loss of President Reagan. He was a formidable political campaigner, who provided an inspirational voice to America when our people were searching for a clear message of hope and confidence. He had unshakeable beliefs and was able to express them effectively, both in America and abroad. During the past 10 years, Rosalyn and I have often conveyed to Nancy Reagan our friendship and admiration for her own great service, not only to her husband but to our nation. We extend our condolences to the entire Reagan family during this time of grief."

That from former President Jimmy Carter.

People on both the East and West Coast will be given a chance to pay their last respects to the former president. Today and tomorrow President Reagan will lie in repose at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley. The body then departs for Washington on Wednesday.

Upon arrival, President Reagan will be put on a horse-drawn caisson and taken along Constitution Avenue to the capitol building. Thousands are expected to walk past the casket as the president lies in state in the capitol rotunda.

On Friday a service will be held at the national cathedral, and after the service, President Reagan will be taken back to California, where he will be interred in the Reagan library.

For more on that you can log on to CNN.com for updated details on the national period of mourning for the former president. You'll also find a photo gallery of Ronald Reagan through the years and a biography of his life.

President Bush is among the select groups of -- group of leaders touching down on an island retreat. Mr. Bush arrived in Savannah, Georgia last night in advance of tomorrow's G-8 economic summit on the Sea Island -- on Sea Island off the Georgia coast.

Leaders from Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia are also set to attend.

Serene and secure, virtually every inch of the two by five-mile stretch of Sea Island is under heavy, incredibly heavy security for this gathering.

For more on that, let's bring in our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Bush will host the three-day summit in the remote location of Sea Island, Georgia under unprecedented security.

The summit will start on Tuesday. The president to meet with each individual leader of the G-8 from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia.

His immediate goal is to secure a U.N. Security Council resolution to endorse Iraqi sovereignty. There are statements now from Germany's Gerhard Schroeder as well as National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice that they are very close to a deal.

They have letters that have been exchanged between the Iraqi government as well as Secretary Powell that indicate that the differences over security now are very small.

Now, the second priority on Wednesday: for the U.S. to draft a declaration for Middle East democratic reforms. Mr. Bush is going to be meeting with Arab leaders from Iraq, Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Turkey and Yemen.

There is still intense debate now over how this can be achieved without the U.S. seemingly imposing its own brand of democracy on the Middle East.

And finally, on Thursday Mr. Bush is going to be hosting leaders from African nations of Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Nigeria and Uganda, all of that to promote economic development, as well as combating AIDS.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Savannah, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Smoke is seen rising over a holy site in Iraq, and with it comes a firestorm of controversy. What was inside this mosque? The details are next in your Iraq situation report.

And later, the legacy of the man known as the Great Communicator. More on the death of Ronald Reagan when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And now the latest on the situation in Iraq. Twenty- three days before the handover of power an explosion set off a fire at a mosque in Kufa today. A senior military official says that radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia used that mosque to store ammunition.

Iraq's interim prime minister announces a deal to disband nine militias. Most were part of the resistance of Saddam Hussein's regime. That agreement includes the al-Sadr militia. The coalition says the group will be officially outlawed today.

U.S. officials are hoping for a vote tomorrow on a new U.N. resolution on Iraq. Diplomats plan to distribute a new draft resolution today. It sets up the political and security framework for the June 30 handover of power.

The continued terrorist attacks and casualties are not lost on President Bush. During an interview with NBC, the president says the war, he believes, can be won.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In this war that we're fighting there's fanatics who hide in cities and caves and kill innocent people. Both armies, or both movements are trying to dispirit the free world.

It's very important that Americans understand this, that we can win the war on terror, like we won the war against communism and like we won the war against fascism, by being tough and strong and spreading freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: In that interview, the president urged Americans to always remember the sacrifice the troops are making.

Seventeen minutes past the hour. Under the sea? Not anymore. The ocean floor rises to the surface in an event we have not seen in years. That's next.

And later, he was known as the Great Communicator. We're taking a look at the Reagan legacy, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Hundreds gathered over the weekend to take in a curious sight. This is around Seattle's Puget Sound. All sorts of sea life trapped in tide pools around the beach, including exotic sea cucumbers, sea stars, and crabs.

The area is experiencing the lowest tides in North America in 19 years.

So what is that about and how do you explain low tides? Jacqui Jeras, am I putting you on the spot with that one?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEREOROLOGIST: No. Well, 36 different factors, Daryn, actually.

KAGAN: Thirty-six?

JERAS: Yes, 36. But mostly it has to do with the proximity of the sun and the moon and the Earth.

KAGAN: So it's supposed to be happening?

JERAS: Yes. It supposed to be happening. It'll happen again in another 19 years. So if you want to see it again, you can wait 19 years.

KAGAN: I'll talk to you then.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: All right, Jacqui, thank you for that. We'll see you in a bit.

From punch lines to policy positions, driving home a point was rarely a problem for the man known as the Great Communicator. Our Bruce Morton now on how Ronald Reagan's speeches turned ideas into words.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They called him the Great Communicator because he was. He said it, and people paid attention.

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.

MORTON: OK. The deficit went up and the problem got bigger, but you remembered what he'd said.

Settled an argument over who should speak during a 1980 New Hampshire primary debate with one line.

REAGAN: I am paying for this microphone.

MORTON: It's originally from an old Spencer Tracy movie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't you shut me off, I'm paying for this broadcast. MORTON: If an actor can't borrow a line, who can?

And sometimes the one-liners really mattered. Presidents of both parties had worked to contain the Soviet Union, but Ronald Reagan made more progress than most, arms reduction and a challenge.

REAGAN: Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev -- Mr. Gorbachev, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.

MORTON: The man who wrote the speech said the State Department fought that line for three weeks but Reagan used it, and the wall came down during his successor's presidency, a successor he wished well with a line from one of his old movies about a Notre Dame football player named George Gipp.

REAGAN: George, just one personal request. Go out there and win one for the Gipper.

MORTON: But what Ronald Reagan communicated best was optimism. He came to office in a country shaken, made cynical by Watergate and the war in Vietnam. He saw instead a shining city on a hill, used the phrase often, and talked about it in his farewell address in 1989.

REAGAN: In my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls the walls had doors, and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.

MORTON: Ronald Reagan on the shining city he dreamed of and worked to build.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Mourners by the thousands will line up to pay their respects to Ronald Reagan.

Up next we're going to take you live to the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, California. A live picture there. When we come back on CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired June 7, 2004 - 11:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, ANCHOR: Up first on CNN -- cue the animation. Up first this hour on CNN the nation pays its respects to Ronald Reagan.
This is the scene. Let's take a look at the scene outside the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. People have left mementos, tributes, and other sights associated with President Reagan's life.

Today the former president will begin his solemn final journey. It will take him from a mortuary in Santa Monica to his library to the nation's capitol on Wednesday and then finally back to California on Friday.

Along the way the public will have an opportunity to honor the man and celebrate his life and his legacy.

Our Ted Rowlands begins our coverage. He is in Santa Monica, California.

Ted, good morning once again.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

That journey is expected to begin in about two hours from now. You can see behind us here at the mortuary in Santa Monica the hearse that will transport the president's body to the presidential library in Simi Valley is parked outside of this mortuary.

Nancy Reagan, former first lady, and other members of the Reagan family will come here to Santa Monica first and accompany the president's body back to the presidential library.

The procession will take the better part of an hour. First the family will have a private ceremony, and then the public, as you mentioned, will be able to take part in this, as he lies in repose.

Folks from the California highway patrol have assembled here. They will accompany the motorcade here. It's very well choreographed, and that process has begun.

And again, in two hours it is expected that this journey will begin -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Ted Rowlands in Santa Monica, thank you.

Ed Meese joined the staff of then Governor Reagan in 1967, and then went on to become President Reagan's attorney general. He was with us earlier this morning on CNN, and he talked about his very first encounter ever with Reagan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWIN MEESE, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: As a result of our meeting, half hour meeting in which I was tremendously impressed -- I'd never met him before -- I just admired his ability to assimilate information.

We were talking about matters that I'd worked on most of my career up until then, criminal justice, law enforcement, things like that. And he had his own ideas, and those ideas seemed to match, and he offered me a job, and I went to work for him, which started an association that's lasted up until today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Meese described Reagan as someone who rose to the occasion to meet the needs of the country and the world.

President Reagan's legacy looms large, both on the world stage and across the political landscape of the U.S. Joining us from Milwaukee to talk about that, CNN analyst Dinesh Disouza, who was a domestic policy advisor in the Reagan administration.

Dinesh, good morning. Thanks for being with us.

DINESH DISOUZA, DOMESTIC POLICY ADVISOR FOR REAGAN: Nice to be on the show.

KAGAN: Much is made of the lure that Reagan had of bringing in Democratic blue-collar workers. And yet there's another lure -- and I know this affected you personally -- of bringing young people into the conservative movement. Can you tell us about that?

DISOUZA: Yes. It was very surprising because Reagan was elected at the age of 69. He was -- he held office mostly when he was in his 70s. But he was a very forward-looking person in his views, and that's what attracted young people to the Regan administration.

Also, Reagan didn't want to bring into the government a lot of people who had worked in the Ford and the Nixon administrations. If you remember, Ford had run against Reagan in 1976. They had contested for the Republican nomination. So there was a little bit of bad blood there.

So Reagan wanted to bring in new people. And a lot of us who were in our 20s found ourselves, to our great surprise, in the Reagan White House and in the thick of things.

KAGAN: Right. So personalize this for us. You're a student at the time at Dartmouth University, or Dartmouth College, and what was it that attracted you to this man?

DISOUZA: Well, I think what was attractive about Reagan was he was saying some very bold things. He wanted to -- He was a revolutionary in the way he thought. For a long time people saw the Soviet Union and they said, "We don't really like it, but we have to learn to live with it. We should accommodate it." That policy was called -- was essentially called containment.

Reagan wanted rollback. He wanted the Soviet Union to be pushed back, and ultimately he wanted the end of the Soviet empire.

Similarly, we saw the growth of the welfare state here in America throughout the 20th Century. It began with Franklin Roosevelt. It continued with Lyndon Johnson. And Reagan said government is not the solution; government is the problem.

So Reagan wanted to return America to a kind of flinty individualism in which the entrepreneur, and not the government worker, would be at the center of national attention.

So we were attracted to his bold vision, and a vision that he expressed with great geniality and self-deprecating charm.

KAGAN: All right. Well, talk about living the dream. So in '83 you graduate Dartmouth. Four years later you find yourself working in the White House under this president in the final year of his presidency.

What was that like?

DISOUZA: Well, first of all, I'd gone in for my White House interview, and I said to them, "Gentlemen, I'm glad to be here, but I don't think I can work in the White House. I am not a U.S. citizen."

And I remember Reagan's domestic adviser looking at me and saying, "Well, you're not a U.S. citizen, but are you a Reaganite?"

That's what they cared about. They had a belief, and if you shared their beliefs, it didn't matter if you were white or black. It didn't matter if you were a former Democrat. It didn't matter if you were a Christian or Jewish. Reagan had a very inclusive view of conservatism. And I think that was part of the infectiousness of his appeal.

KAGAN: And then how interesting: you go on to write a book about him, and that it is about -- it's called "How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader."

Again, a man who -- his upbringing and your upbringing had very little in common. What was it about the ordinary man that you identified with, Dinesh?

DISOUZA: Well, I think if you -- you know, if you take political science classes, they tell you that in order to be a president you should spend much of your life preparing for this high office. You should have an intimate familiarity with the details of public policy. You should have some kind of a scholarly background.

And it's interesting that Reagan had none of these things. He was a movie actor for most of his career. So he didn't meet the criteria of leadership. And yet he was enormously successful in achieving his goals.

The diplomat Clair Booth Lewis once said, "History, which has no room for clutter, will remember every president by only one line." Washington was the father of the country. Or Lincoln freed the slaves.

I think Reagan will be remembered as the man who won the cold war and revived the American economy and the American spirit.

KAGAN: Dinesh Disouza. Just a quick question. Have you since become a U.S. citizen?

DISOUZA: I became a U.S. Citizen in 1991, so I've been a citizen for some time now.

KAGAN: Well, congratulations on that. Thank you for your time today, Dinesh.

DISOUZA: My pleasure.

KAGAN: Good to have you here with us.

Many are reacting to former President Reagan's death and a statement from former President Jimmy Carter, whom Reagan defeated in 1980 in that presidential election.

President Carter says, quote, "Rosalyn and I join millions of people around the world who mourn the loss of President Reagan. He was a formidable political campaigner, who provided an inspirational voice to America when our people were searching for a clear message of hope and confidence. He had unshakeable beliefs and was able to express them effectively, both in America and abroad. During the past 10 years, Rosalyn and I have often conveyed to Nancy Reagan our friendship and admiration for her own great service, not only to her husband but to our nation. We extend our condolences to the entire Reagan family during this time of grief."

That from former President Jimmy Carter.

People on both the East and West Coast will be given a chance to pay their last respects to the former president. Today and tomorrow President Reagan will lie in repose at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley. The body then departs for Washington on Wednesday.

Upon arrival, President Reagan will be put on a horse-drawn caisson and taken along Constitution Avenue to the capitol building. Thousands are expected to walk past the casket as the president lies in state in the capitol rotunda.

On Friday a service will be held at the national cathedral, and after the service, President Reagan will be taken back to California, where he will be interred in the Reagan library.

For more on that you can log on to CNN.com for updated details on the national period of mourning for the former president. You'll also find a photo gallery of Ronald Reagan through the years and a biography of his life.

President Bush is among the select groups of -- group of leaders touching down on an island retreat. Mr. Bush arrived in Savannah, Georgia last night in advance of tomorrow's G-8 economic summit on the Sea Island -- on Sea Island off the Georgia coast.

Leaders from Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia are also set to attend.

Serene and secure, virtually every inch of the two by five-mile stretch of Sea Island is under heavy, incredibly heavy security for this gathering.

For more on that, let's bring in our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Bush will host the three-day summit in the remote location of Sea Island, Georgia under unprecedented security.

The summit will start on Tuesday. The president to meet with each individual leader of the G-8 from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia.

His immediate goal is to secure a U.N. Security Council resolution to endorse Iraqi sovereignty. There are statements now from Germany's Gerhard Schroeder as well as National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice that they are very close to a deal.

They have letters that have been exchanged between the Iraqi government as well as Secretary Powell that indicate that the differences over security now are very small.

Now, the second priority on Wednesday: for the U.S. to draft a declaration for Middle East democratic reforms. Mr. Bush is going to be meeting with Arab leaders from Iraq, Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Turkey and Yemen.

There is still intense debate now over how this can be achieved without the U.S. seemingly imposing its own brand of democracy on the Middle East.

And finally, on Thursday Mr. Bush is going to be hosting leaders from African nations of Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Nigeria and Uganda, all of that to promote economic development, as well as combating AIDS.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Savannah, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Smoke is seen rising over a holy site in Iraq, and with it comes a firestorm of controversy. What was inside this mosque? The details are next in your Iraq situation report.

And later, the legacy of the man known as the Great Communicator. More on the death of Ronald Reagan when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And now the latest on the situation in Iraq. Twenty- three days before the handover of power an explosion set off a fire at a mosque in Kufa today. A senior military official says that radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia used that mosque to store ammunition.

Iraq's interim prime minister announces a deal to disband nine militias. Most were part of the resistance of Saddam Hussein's regime. That agreement includes the al-Sadr militia. The coalition says the group will be officially outlawed today.

U.S. officials are hoping for a vote tomorrow on a new U.N. resolution on Iraq. Diplomats plan to distribute a new draft resolution today. It sets up the political and security framework for the June 30 handover of power.

The continued terrorist attacks and casualties are not lost on President Bush. During an interview with NBC, the president says the war, he believes, can be won.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In this war that we're fighting there's fanatics who hide in cities and caves and kill innocent people. Both armies, or both movements are trying to dispirit the free world.

It's very important that Americans understand this, that we can win the war on terror, like we won the war against communism and like we won the war against fascism, by being tough and strong and spreading freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: In that interview, the president urged Americans to always remember the sacrifice the troops are making.

Seventeen minutes past the hour. Under the sea? Not anymore. The ocean floor rises to the surface in an event we have not seen in years. That's next.

And later, he was known as the Great Communicator. We're taking a look at the Reagan legacy, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Hundreds gathered over the weekend to take in a curious sight. This is around Seattle's Puget Sound. All sorts of sea life trapped in tide pools around the beach, including exotic sea cucumbers, sea stars, and crabs.

The area is experiencing the lowest tides in North America in 19 years.

So what is that about and how do you explain low tides? Jacqui Jeras, am I putting you on the spot with that one?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEREOROLOGIST: No. Well, 36 different factors, Daryn, actually.

KAGAN: Thirty-six?

JERAS: Yes, 36. But mostly it has to do with the proximity of the sun and the moon and the Earth.

KAGAN: So it's supposed to be happening?

JERAS: Yes. It supposed to be happening. It'll happen again in another 19 years. So if you want to see it again, you can wait 19 years.

KAGAN: I'll talk to you then.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: All right, Jacqui, thank you for that. We'll see you in a bit.

From punch lines to policy positions, driving home a point was rarely a problem for the man known as the Great Communicator. Our Bruce Morton now on how Ronald Reagan's speeches turned ideas into words.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They called him the Great Communicator because he was. He said it, and people paid attention.

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.

MORTON: OK. The deficit went up and the problem got bigger, but you remembered what he'd said.

Settled an argument over who should speak during a 1980 New Hampshire primary debate with one line.

REAGAN: I am paying for this microphone.

MORTON: It's originally from an old Spencer Tracy movie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't you shut me off, I'm paying for this broadcast. MORTON: If an actor can't borrow a line, who can?

And sometimes the one-liners really mattered. Presidents of both parties had worked to contain the Soviet Union, but Ronald Reagan made more progress than most, arms reduction and a challenge.

REAGAN: Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev -- Mr. Gorbachev, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.

MORTON: The man who wrote the speech said the State Department fought that line for three weeks but Reagan used it, and the wall came down during his successor's presidency, a successor he wished well with a line from one of his old movies about a Notre Dame football player named George Gipp.

REAGAN: George, just one personal request. Go out there and win one for the Gipper.

MORTON: But what Ronald Reagan communicated best was optimism. He came to office in a country shaken, made cynical by Watergate and the war in Vietnam. He saw instead a shining city on a hill, used the phrase often, and talked about it in his farewell address in 1989.

REAGAN: In my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls the walls had doors, and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.

MORTON: Ronald Reagan on the shining city he dreamed of and worked to build.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Mourners by the thousands will line up to pay their respects to Ronald Reagan.

Up next we're going to take you live to the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, California. A live picture there. When we come back on CNN LIVE TODAY.

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