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American Morning
Senators Investigating How White House Used Pre-War Intelligence Getting Under Way; Torture Policy
Aired November 08, 2005 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(NEWSBREAK)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Six senators who are going to investigate how the White House used pre-war intelligence are just getting under way in their meeting. They're set to start in just about half an hour. Ed Henry is watching from Capitol Hill this morning.
Ed, good morning.
ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. That's right, these are the six lawmakers appointed by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to get to the bottom of the status of the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation of whether or not the Bush administration twisted intelligence to justify the war in Iraq. This was Frist's response, of course, to the Democrats, forcing the chamber into secret session last week to deal with this question. Democrats emboldened by the president's sliding poll numbers, the indictment of Scooter Libby. Take a listen to Carl Levin a short while ago right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Listing all of the other way in which this administration exaggerated and distorted, but when they said that the aluminum tubes that Saddam Hussein was seeking could only be used to make nuclear material, that was not true. When the vice president said there was a meeting in Prague between the Iraq secret police and the man who was the head hijacker, Mohammed Atta, that was not supported by intelligence. There is a pattern of exaggeration, distortion, misleading statements by the administration prior to the war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Now Republicans were responding that many Democrats used the very same intelligence to vote for the war themselves right here on Capitol Hill. They say that all of these attacks now are political and also are empty because Democrats have not come up with an alternative on Iraq of their own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), TEXAS: Merely venting anger without proposing alternative solutions is not the work of serious people. It's a sad commentary on our public discourse when politicians seek to use the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform to advance a political agenda.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: I put that very question, in fact, to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid yesterday, when will the Democrats come up with an alternative on Iraq? He said eventually, but just not yet. This is a sign that while Democrats may be scoring points on this issue right now, they still may be vulnerable on the question of when they will come up with a plan of their own -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Ed Henry is on Capitol Hill for us this morning. Ed, thanks -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: The whole issue of how the U.S. treats prisoners in custody on the war on terror is very much in focus, as I just referred to.
"Washington Post" staff Robin Wright joining us now from the paper's newsroom to talk about a piece that she is out with, which indicates that slowly but surely, the vice president, Vice President Dick Cheney, is becoming a solitary voice on this whole issue.
Robin, good have you with us. Why don't you explain what's happening inside of the administration and who is pushing very hard to stop this McCain amendment, which would clarify how the U.S. would not use torture.
ROBIN WRIGHT, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Well, during the Bush administration's second term, there's been a growing move within the administration to try to define new rules by which to treat detainees. There's been enormous pressure, in part, in the aftermath of Abu Ghraib and the controversy over Guantanamo Bay, but it comes from whether it's a war college, or military trainers, commanders in the field, who are concerned about, what are the rules?
In the early days after the war on terrorism, there was a consensus within the community, the military community, and the administration that this was a different kind of war, the Terrorists were not functioning by traditional rules, they were beheading people, they captured, taking hostages, the Geneva Convention didn't apply, and the administration in the early days wanted as much flexibility. well, that has proven to be a problem in the way it played out on the ground, and now there's a move by the majority in the key positions of power within the administration to try to redefine those rules, so that the treatment bans anything that is degrading and humiliating for detainees.
But Vice President Cheney, as you pointed out, is now at the top of a shrinking island of officials who are saying that the U.S. still needs a great deal of flexibility and shouldn't be limited to new rules.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, and he has really found himself up against John McCain, a decorated war hero, POW in Vietnam. A man who was, after all, tortured. Let's listen to what he had to say to Soledad just a little while ago. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I've been friends with Dick Cheney for 25 years. I believe that he's doing what he thinks is best for America, and he's committed and passionate about it, we just simply have a disagreement on this issue. But ask most any retired military person, again, General Colin Powell, the Israelis, who suffered threats of terrorist attacks every day, do not torture. They do not torture.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, the McCain amendment with widespread support, and yet the administration insisting, threatening possibly a veto. Why?
WRIGHT: Well, I don't know what their thinking is. Again, I think it goes back to the issue of how much flexibility do you have in dealing with the terrorism question. Again, this is a different kind of warfare from what we've experienced throughout the modern era. And so their argument has been that they don't want to be confined or restricted by certain kinds of rules that may limit down the road when they face different kinds of situations, what they're able to do in response.
M. O'BRIEN: But the president of course making a vow that the U.S. doesn't torture, so why not embody that, I guess, in black and white is what some would say. How has the shakeup in Dick Cheney's staff affected this one way or another. New chief of staff, of course, was Scooter Libby facing indictment and resigned. David Addington now has replaced him. Has that changed the dynamic?
WRIGHT: Well, I think there have been broader personnel changes that really changed it. Paul Wolfowitz and Doug Fife (ph) are gone from the Pentagon, replaced by Gordon England, who;s become a very outspoken voice in favor of change. Scooter Libby, David Addington and Cheney were the kind of troika making the most determined case against the redefinition of the rules for detainees. Addington is still a major player and still the major voice in public on this issue.
M. O'BRIEN: Robin Wright with "The Washington Post," thanks very much.
WRIGHT: Thank you, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, Anne Rice trading in vampires for Jesus. She's got a new book and a religious transformation that she's talking about. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Well, a nice cold beer isn't doing it for Anheuser- Busch anymore. They've come up with something completely new and different. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business." Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you.
Are you playing with your liquor? That's what it's all about.
S. O'BRIEN: Not at this hour, I'm not.
SERWER: Too early. We'll get to that in a second.
Let's talk about the markets first of all, Soledad. Stocks trading down at this hour. Go down to the Big Board, and you can see we're down 52 points, 53 points on the Dow, 10,530. And you know, we're taking a breather after four days of gains. The Dow is at 10,200 in late October, so it deserves a little bit of a break.
Interesting note here, the dollar is trading higher against the euro. The euro weak because of the riots in France, so you can see economic fallout from that situation there as well.
Let's move over to the booze category here and talk and about Anheuser-Busch. You know, they are the beer giant. Beer sales about 58 percent of total alcohol sales in the U.S., 28 percent wine. The rest is spirits. And the problem, though, is that beer sales have been flat. So Anheuser-Busch looking to broaden out quietly into the liquor business. For the first time, rolling out a paired product called Jekyll and Hyde. Jekyll and Hyde. Here it is, it kind of goes together. You've got a red drink. That is your Jekyll, which is 60 proof. That's a berry taste. And then your Hyde is your spicy licorice-tasting black stuff that's 80-proof, and you get yourself a glass, Soledad, and you pour them together. The black stuff is on the top, you see, and I don't know. It's like epoxy. You mix epoxy together, right? Maybe it's the same kind of thing. I think that stuff must taste like yagermeister.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I guess.
SERWER: Well, maybe we're not the demographic.
S. O'BRIEN: Maybe the people at Anheuser-Busch will go back to the drawing board on that one.
SERWER: I think that's true. Go back to beer.
S. O'BRIEN: How about just like a martini mix or something.
SERWER: It's not making it these days.
S. O'BRIEN: No? I love that stuff. That's my suggestion.
SERWER: Later in the morning, though.
S. O'BRIEN: You've got to wait another hour at least. No, not at this time. We're off the air in 10 minutes.
SERWER: That's do it.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks -- Miles.
SERWER: Hey, Soledad, you got out of your seat, and look what happened.
S. O'BRIEN: New co-anchor, Sasha.
M. O'BRIEN: Look at Sasha.
SERWER: Hi, Sasha.
Look at the red light over there. Look at the red light, Sasha.
(CROSSTALK)
M. O'BRIEN: Ooh! I think you did wonderfully on your screen test. Excellent work, yes. Looking good. Sasha has got the day off from school, Election Day. Bruce, our floor director's daughter. Good to have you with us, Sasha, by the way.
S. O'BRIEN: She's getting comfortable in my chair. Hi!
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, look at her. She looks great, doesn't she? I Love the hat.
(CROSSTALK)
M. O'BRIEN: A wonderful chapeau (ph) you have. That's French for hat.
All right, Daryn Kagan is in Atlanta to take the rest of the next couple of hours on CNN. What's going on, Daryn?
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I think we see a resume tape happening there.
M. O'BRIEN: I believe we do. I believe we just shot one.
KAGAN: You know, they're going for that younger demographic.
M. O'BRIEN: Exactly it.
KAGAN: Turns out we have a couple of stories, Miles, coming up that involve kids, and parents will want to stick around for. First, a child is sick, so who decides what treatment the child gets, his doctor or the insurance company? You'll meet a family fighting an HMO over that very thing.
Plus how about this idea -- tasers in school. Are these weapons a new way to punish kids who are out of control? It's a law and order controversy as close as your kids' classroom. We'll look at it just ahead.
Miles, back to you, Sasha and Soledad.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Daryn. Appreciate that. The vampire queen crosses over. We'll have the inside story on Anne Rice embracing Christianity, and -- in her life and in her writing as well. That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Author Anne Rice was once a self-proclaimed atheist. She wrote about vampires and the like, but now it seems she's making a 180-degree turn. The question is, will her fans make the turn with her?
CNN's faith and values correspondent Delia Gallagher has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN FAITH AND VALUES CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She was queen of the damned, captivating millions with grim tales of the undead.
(on camera): This is very dramatic. This is the Anne Rice of "Interview with the Vampire" and the Anne Rice of "Christ the Lord." I mean, how do we get from vampires to Jesus?
ANNE RICE, AUTHOR: Well, I think it was all part of the quest. You know, I lost my faith when I was 18. I wrote "Interview with the Vampire" when I was about 34 years old, and I was an atheist. And obviously, the book is just filled with grief and sorrow and darkness and it has to do with a mourning for a lost faith, a lost religion. It was a portrait of me mourning for my lost faith, really.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): What? It's as if somehow the great writer was suddenly possessed, but not by evil.
TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: I'm going give you what you need to get well.
GALLAGHER: Lestat the vampire, made even more famous by Tom Cruise in the film version, is perhaps her greatest creation.
CRUISE: You're a vampire. You never knew what life was until it ran out in a red gush.
GALLAGHER: Anne rice admits she's been lost in the darkness, but now...
RICE: I say my rosemary before I get out of bed. I say the five joyful mysteries.
GALLAGHER: .... Rice has embraced Catholicism, and all but abandoned those dark themes that made her famous and rich. Her new novel is titled after her newest hero, "Christ the Lord Out of Egypt." It's methodically researched, a depiction of his childhood.
RICE: That return to the church, conversion, was in 1998.
GALLAGHER (on camera): Was it a moment? RICE: No, I think it was a long time in coming. And I was wrestling with all sorts of theological questions. And finally, it hit me. You don't have to resolve any of these questions. You really don't have to find the answers. You're not teaching theology at Loyola, you're just you. And just go to confession, tell the priest that you want to go back, that you believe God is on the altar and you want to go to holy communion again. And I did. That's what happened.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): In her life and in her work.
RICE: As a little girl I wanted to be a saint. And I really didn't want anything small time.
GALLAGHER (on camera): Have you accomplished that?
RICE: No, of course not. I'm nowhere near -- I am a deeply flawed human being with a terrible temper.
GALLAGHER: Do you still strive for it, though?
RICE: Absolutely. That was the whole idea, was to go for it. You know, and to sit there in church and say I won't hold anything back, it's all for you.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): But will readers follow Rice from the prince of darkness to the prince of peace?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm curious. Curious.
GALLAGHER (on camera): How about your fan base?
RICE: Some of the readers of the vampire chronicles are unhappy. You know, they want the vampires to come back and they don't want anything else. I've tried to tell them, you know, please give this a chance. This is -- you may find this has more in common with the other books than you think. This is also a supernatural hero. This is also an outcast. This is also an outsider. And an exceptional human being that teaches us about our humanity.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: That was Delia Gallagher reporting for "ANDERSON COOPER 360." You can see "A.C. 360" weeknights, new time slot, 10:00 p.m. Eastern time until midnight. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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