Return to Transcripts main page

CNN 10

CNN Student News

Aired January 28, 2002 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching CNN STUDENT NEWS seen in schools around the world because learning never stops and neither does the news.

SHELLEY WALCOTT, CO-HOST: CNN STUDENT NEWS kicks off the week with "Headlines from Around the World."

MICHAEL MCMANUS, CO-HOST: Leading the show, the Guantanamo Bay detainee debate continues.

WALCOTT: More on America's new war as we focus on homeland defense.

MCMANUS: Later, go behind the scenes of the United Nations to get a new "Perspective" on this important organization.

WALCOTT: Then a "Student Bureau Report" on the difficult life of kids living on the streets of Mexico.

MCMANUS: Welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS. I'm Michael McManus.

And first off, I'm pleased to welcome back Shelley Walcott. She's been on mommy leave for a little while. Had a little baby girl now so it's really, really, really, really a pleasure to have you back.

WALCOTT: Well thank you, Mike, it's good to be back.

MCMANUS: All right.

WALCOTT: Well we start off with "World News."

United States Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld heads to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for a firsthand look at Camp X-ray where al Qaeda and Taliban detainees are being held. He and a team of U.S. lawmakers arrived there on Sunday.

MCMANUS: Since the prisoners began arriving from Afghanistan, there have been complaints about their treatment. Rumsfeld is inspecting the conditions at Camp X-ray but has maintained full confidence in the way they are being handled.

We take a closer look now in two reports from CNN's John Zarrella. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wasted no time. On the ferry ride across Guantanamo Bay, the secretary staked out his position on the detainees. They are not, in his thinking, POWs.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: It might be unambiguously our unlawful combatants. Al Qaeda is not an army. The Taliban was working intimately with al Qaeda. These are unlawful combatants and as a result, they are detainees, not prisoners of war.

ZARRELLA: Rumsfeld accompanied by the chairman of the joint chiefs and four members of Congress spent about an hour touring Camp X-ray. They did not talk with detainees but Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein vigorously defended their treatment.

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: I just want to ask our friends who are so ready to be critical to take another look because I'll be very candid with you, I would much rather be here in an eight by eight with a breeze than locked down in Fulsome prison in California.

ZARRELLA: Republican Senator Ted Stevens, a World War II veteran, took issue with comments made by British parliamentarians who criticized the detainees' living conditions.

SEN. TED STEVENS (R), ALASKA: I do believe that the British parliamentarians have done us a great disservice and a great disservice to these young men and women here who are trying to take care of these people, who after all, as I said, are killers. And they're not - they're not war fighters of a foreign nation. They didn't wear a uniform. They don't have patches on.

ZARRELLA: At one point, Rumsfeld was asked about the eight by eight foot cages housing the detainees. He shot back.

RUMSFELD: Why do you use the word "cage"? Do you like inflammatory words? Do you think it's good to do that, stir up people and make people think they're animals. I think it's improper to use that word.

ZARRELLA: Rumsfeld said the main reason for his visit was to thank U.S. troops for their work here. He even took time to pose for pictures with them.

(on-camera): All the members of the traveling group said the conditions at Camp X-ray are just fine. The question they could not answer is - just how long, weeks, months, years, the detainees might be here.

John Zarrella, CNN, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ZARRELLA (voice-over): Heavily armed Marines patrol the perimeter around Camp X-ray. Inside, Taliban and al Qaeda fighters are, U.S. military officials say, beginning to show signs of a leadership structure.

BRIG. GEN. MICHAEL LEHNERT, SECURITY COMMANDER: We're seeing that some leaders are beginning to emerge. We have indications that many have received training and that they are observing actions such as security procedures. We've seen some attempts to secret away materials or to coordinate activities.

ZARRELLA: Military officials say the detainees may also be passing notes. They don't have paper so they scratch messages on the floor with rocks. Military police charged with guarding the detainees say the leadership is still very subtle.

LT. COL. BARNEY LISWELL, 415 MP BATTALION: I say they come out mostly at the religious times, when they pray during their specific times of prayer. That's when the emergence comes out, at this point.

ZARRELLA: Saturday, the military leadership here continued the offensive, deflecting criticism of detainee treatment. They displayed what they call comfort items given to detainees, including Fruit Loops and a sawed off toothbrush that can't be turned into a weapon.

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: We give them a sheet, a blanket, two towels, a shower cloth - correction, a cloth.

ZARRELLA: To satisfy the detainees' desire for traditional food, they are often getting pita bread now with their meals.

(on-camera): Even here, at this newly erected hospital, the military took the opportunity to press its message that the detainees are being treated well and getting the best of care.

(voice-over): The 20 bed hospital brought in in pieces can be expanded to treat up to 500. So far, four of the detainees have undergone surgery here.

CAPT. PAT ALFORD, JOINT TASK FORCE DOCTOR: The real message there is, this is exactly the same type of facility that we take to the field to treat our own people.

ZARRELLA: The number of detainees stands at 158. There probably won't be any new arrivals until the U.S. government feels it's put the issue of detainee care to rest.

John Zarrella, CNN, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: U.S. President George Bush will deliver his first State of the Union Address tomorrow night. The war on terrorism will be a key theme of his address. The president has already said he'll call for the biggest Pentagon spending increase in 20 years and a doubling of the budget lines for homeland security. CNN's John King gives us a breakdown of where the defense spending is expected to go.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a sign of the times: security, a new benchmark on discussing the state of the union. More alert without question, and in the president's view, more secure, but more to be done.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, the intentions of the enemy are to hit us again. And I make a vow every morning that I will do everything in my power and encourage those of us in positions of responsibility not to let that happen.

KING: Homeland security will be a central theme of the president's state of the union address. Mr. Bush will propose doubling the $20 billion being spent this year on the domestic front of the war on terrorism. New training, equipment and communication systems for police, fire and emergency medical squads. More spending on border and port security. And new money to fight bioterrorism, including more research and more drug stock piles.

The changes are just beginning, but already dramatic. National Guard troops at airports, fighter jets patrolling domestic airspace. Outside the White House, decoy helicopters to protect the president. And inside, a new agency and a new urgency.

(on camera): The president created the Homeland Security office in the wake of the September 11th attacks to lead the war on terrorism here at home.

(voice-over): The new emphasis on improving security doesn't come cheap. The four-month tab for combat air controls by the Air National Guard is $500 million, not to mention the strain on planes and personnel. New perimeters at ports and power plants are draining budgets already strained by a recession. The National Governor's Association says the state's tab for homeland security is at least $5 billion, and rising fast. And the U.S. Conference of Mayors estimates the cost to cities will be at least $2.6 billion by the end of this year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our educational process, from our after school programming, and also our health care. I mean, we're taking it from other places to pay this -- these costs, and that's unfortunate.

KING: The administration promises more federal money is coming. Harder to measure is the cost of a changing lifestyle. What the vice president calls, "the new normalcy." A national crisis that touches even the national past-time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's discouraging. We're used to being in such an open society where you can go anywhere without having to go through police checkpoints. Because of what the terrorists did to us on September 11th, I'm afraid that's changed perhaps forever.

KING: John King, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: The battle between the White House and Congress's investigative arm is heating up. The general accounting office says it may sue the administration if it doesn't turn over information related to the vice president's energy task force. Some congressional Democrats are suggesting the bankrupt energy giant Enron benefited from its ties with the Bush administration.

For more on that, we turn again to CNN's John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): Flashback, April 2000, a front row show of power -- the cheers for opening day at Houston's Enron field and the ceremonial first pitch by Enron Chairman and CEO Ken Lay. "Kenny boy" was the nickname used by then Governor Bush in those days. Things are a bit more formal now.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have never discussed with Mr. Lay the financial problems of the company.

KING: Lay did call two Bush cabinet secretaries in the weeks before Enron filed for bankruptcy late last year. The administration says it would have been inappropriate to help.

BUSH: There's been a couple of contacts with people in my cabinet and my cabinet officers said no help here.

KING: But the story line is not so simple, in part because of a fight for internal administration documents that predates Enron's bankruptcy filing, but is getting more attention now.

JOHN PODESTA, FORMER CLINTON CHIEF OF STAFF: Every president, every White House needs the ability to have candid conversations. There's an appropriate role for executive privilege. But when you start having to use the term executive privilege in public when you're in a big dispute with Congress, it immediately conjures up Richard Nixon stiffing Congress on legitimate inquiries, and that's treacherous ground for a White House.

KING: Government e-mails show the vice president did try last summer to help Enron collect a multi-million dollar debt on a project in India. But the request for Cheney's help came from a government agency that insured the project, not Enron.

Team Bush, without question, has a remarkable number of Enron connections.

(on camera): The president and vice president are friends of the Enron chairman and CEO. The attorney general and energy secretary received campaign contributions from Enron when they served in the Senate. The president's top economic adviser was a paid Enron consultant; Army secretary Thomas White a top Enron executive. And the president's choice to lead the Republican National Committee, former Montana Governor Mark Rosco, is a former Enron lobbyist.

(voice-over): Vice President Cheney this month detailed six meetings between Enron officials and the task force he headed while developing the administration's energy policy. In this letter to Congress, the vice president's office said Enron did not communicate information about its financial position in any of the meetings. But the White House still is refusing to offer a full accounting of the energy task force deliberations or a full accounting of administration contacts with Enron officials.

This defense of executive privilege goes well beyond the energy task force and Enron. The Bush White House also is refusing to turn over to Congress documents it wants for continuing investigations of Clinton Administration fundraising.

MARY MATLIN, COUNSELOR TO THE VICE PRESIDENT: The president and the vice president believe that over the last several decades the prerogatives of the executive branch and the presidency have been eroded by what are sometimes, unfortunately, politically motivated and meaningless investigations that waste taxpayers' dollars. We wanted to stop the madness, if you will.

KING: It seems all too familiar to veterans of the Clinton White House.

PODESTA: I think we sort of set the standard for doing nothing wrong and seeming like maybe we had because of our attitude. You'd think they'd learn from our mistakes. But I guess they have to make the mistakes all over again.

KING: Enron's White House access hardly began with the Bush Inauguration. The company had close ties in the Clinton Administration and was a big supporter of the Kyoto Global Climate Change Treaty that President Bush abandoned.

MATLIN: So what if it's good for Enron? It was bad for the economy and bad for America.

KING: If nothing else, some Democrats believe all the attention on Enron will feed a perception that hurts Mr. Bush with some key voting blocs.

STANLEY GREENBERG, DEMOCRATIC POLLSTER: When it comes to energy, they still quite can't escape the fact that they are oil industry guys. And maybe they won't be able to escape being Enron people guys.

KING: In the end, top Bush advisers insist any investigation will show a major supporter asked for help and the answer was no.

(on camera): But some top White House aides increasingly are worried that, at a minimum, months of congressional inquiries will prove to be a political headache and perhaps a distraction from the president's second year agenda.

John King, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: It's Culture Day here on CNN STUDENT NEWS. And today, part of our focus will be on one of the most culturally diverse organizations of them all, the United Nations. We have a report from the U.N. coming up later in the show. But first, this look at one of the universal languages spoken around the world, the language of poetry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: If any language is a mother tongue of our common humanity it is surely the language of poetry.

GERT ROSENTHAL, GUATEMALA AMB. TO U.N.: Beloved, come to the forest. The woodland shall be our shrine, scented with the holy perfume of the laurel and the vine.

RICHARD RYAN, IRELAND AMB. TO U.N.: I think poetry does generally speak across all countries. And what is the United Nations but the assembly of a 189 different states and nations with many cultures within them.

JUNE CLARKE, BARBADOS AMB. TO U.N.: What is this life if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare. No time to stand beneath the boughs, and stare as long as sheep or cows.

JEREMY GREENSTOCK, U.K. AMB. TO U.N.: I think that somewhere here, not least with a great leader of peace like our secretary- general in the room, I have to say something briefly about war.

What passing battles for these who die as cattle. Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifle's racket rattle can patter out their hasty orisons.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think that poetry could be a forum for dialogue among (UNINTELLIGIBLE) nations?

KAMALESH SHARMA, INDIAN AMB. TO U.N.: Poetry certainly already is, because when we read let's say a Russian (ph) poet or an Arabic poet, a poet from India, anywhere in the world, we immediately sense, while reading it that this is our brother or sister writing this.

ANDRE ERDOS, HUNGARY AMB. TO U.N.: The battles our ancestors had to fight resolve into peace in remembrance's light. It is time to work together at last, on our affairs in common, no small task.

ANNAN: Poetry at its best is not -- not only speaks to people, it speaks for them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Exploring our world, here now is CNN STUDENT NEWS "Perspectives."

MCMANUS: The United Nations is best known as a forum for world politics and decision-making, but it also takes on many other issues of global concern, child welfare is one of those. In May, the U.N. will hold a special session on children, an event designed to focus attention on the state of young people around the world. We'll provide "Perspective" on the topic all week long.

Kathy Nellis has the first report in our five-part series.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHY NELLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an organization that works for world peace and security. And while those goals may seem a bit shaky at the moment, the United Nations stands committed to promoting cooperation between countries. Over the years, the United Nations has focused on important international issues, things like AIDS, human rights, the environment and refugee relief.

And as the Afghan refugees flee their country, the United Nations Refugee Agency is appealing for $50 million in aid to care for the desperate and displaced families arriving in Pakistan.

While it works to provide care and comfort to the war weary, the United Nations is also focused on many other global issues, particularly the children of the world. The U.N. will hold a special session on children next year.

AMBASSADOR PATRICIA DURRANT, U.N. SPECIAL SESSION ON CHILDREN: We want to ensure that every child has a good start in life, has a healthy life, has a quality education and as adolescents, will be prepared for the participation in the work force.

NELLIS: Education is a key issue since 125 million children in the world never open a book or see the inside a schoolhouse, never learn to read or write or add, experts say.

DAVID MORRISON, PRESIDENT, NETAID: There's nothing more important than education for children and that goes equally for children in rich countries as it is -- or as it does for children in poor countries.

NELLIS: Another subject in the spotlight, children's health.

(on camera): More than 10 million children still die each year from preventable causes and more than 150 million still suffer from malnutrition.

(voice-over): Those numbers are staggering and they put a very human face on a problem plaguing billions around the world, poverty, according to the head medical officer for UNICEF.

DR. YVES BERGEVIN, HEAD MEDICAL OFFICER, UNICEF: We're talking about a third to a half of the world's children who live in poverty and often poverty is linked -- with poverty you get overcrowding, you get poor access to clean water -- you know inadequate access to clean water, poor sanitation, poor nutrition and then infectious diseases take a hold and spread from child to child. And we should really think of each child who dies and remember that each day 30,000 children die of largely preventable causes. CHILDREN: Say yes to children. Say yes to children.

NELLIS: But children can be part of the solution, according to United Nations officials.

CORINNE WOODS, INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR SAY YES FOR CHILDREN: Essentially where we've seen over the -- over the years where we've seen changes, it's when people -- individual people say, you know what, I'm going to do something about this. I'm going to make my voice heard and I'm going to make a difference and children have often been at the forefront -- young people have been at the forefront of those changes. And so we believe that children's voices are important and they have the power to change the world. And government leaders will listen to them, we just have to give them access to have their voices heard and we have to ensure the government leaders do -- actually are ready to listen to them.

NELLIS: Those leaders will be on hand when this special session on children convenes in New York, a city that's now a symbol of rebuilding and pulling together. That spirit, that sense of cooperation and unity is what the United Nations hopes to convey to the children of the world.

CAROL BELLAMY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNICEF: I just think that young people should understand they have an enormous opportunity to help influence their own lives. So I hope that they will listen, but I also hope they will learn and I hope they will speak out. They have the power to change their lives.

NELLIS: Kathy Nellis, CNN, the United Nations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: More on child rights as we turn to our "Culture Report." Today, a closer look at something many people take for granted, youth expression. From MTV to "Seventeen" magazine, kids in the U.S. have plenty of outlets to express themselves. And now in the West African country of Togo, one radio show host is encouraging kids to open up about the issues their parents won't discuss.

Alphonso Van Marsh reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This live radio broadcast may look like a dance party but it's more like therapy. Thirteen-year-old radio hostess Dede Eykwachenu, in yellow, wants these Togolese kids to talk about what many of their parents won't, sexual abuse or slaver neglect and HIV, AIDS, all too common in West Africa and all too commonly affecting children. But first, Dede has to get her audience to get up and open up. She says music works every time.

"Traditionally adults feel that children should keep quiet, but they should consider that children have a lot to say, she says. "Given the opportunity to express themselves and then they'll say it. Until then, we have this program where kids can speak their voice and maybe change how adults view them."

We tried to keep up with Dede as she co-hosted (UNINTELLIGIBLE) or Rights By Radio children of Togo listens. The traveling child rights radio program is written, co-hosted and produced by children for children. The show is fighting the financial hardships of rural life in West Africa where children are forced to work in the fields instead of in the classroom or are subjected to sexual exploitation.

"The children take the first steps to express to adults if they don't like what's happening," Dede says, "then they can expose the situation and ask them to solve the problem."

Children get their moment in the spotlight by sharing a song or a poem or by participating in the show's quiz show.

"Children have the right to play games and have fun," this young listener says.

Radio is the cheapest and most accessible form of communication in Africa, and Dede knows proud parents are listening so she uses that opportunity to educate adults on child rights.

Take this pre-taped drama about the dangers of child trafficking. It's also telling parents to take action if their kids suspect adults around them are up to no good.

"The rights of the child are universal in Africa, in Europe, in America or in Japan," says program coordinator Delali Kpeglo. "Today we talked about child trafficking but it might as well be child exploitation or molestation or child abuses anywhere on earth," she says.

After the broadcast, radio hostesses give children goodie bags to take home, physical reminders to reinforce their message long after the show.

(on camera): Children's radio programming staff pack up and move on after broadcasting live for about an hour, but the hostesses say discussions about children's rights should last a lifetime.

Alphonso Van Marsh, CNN, Anaho, Togo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: Our "Student Bureau Report" today also picks up on the child rights theme. CNN Student Bureau and UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, have teamed up to encourage children's literacy around the world by developing journalism programs for students all designed to give a voice to the issues they see. The UNICEF-SB project focused on schools in four countries, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa and Kyrgyzstan. This week, you'll be hearing from young people around the globe, but we begin in Mexico. The issue, street kids, but what we find is many have hope for a better life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANINE HANEINE, CNN STUDENT BUREAU: The street children are homeless for several reasons.

EELIZARDO, AGE 16: I don't have a dad. He died of an overdose. I barely know my mom so I left my place and started taking drugs. I spent some time in jail, and I live in the streets because it's better than home.

HANEINE (on camera): According to UNICEF, 75 percent of the street children have a family but they spend most of their lives on the street asking for money, cleaning shoes and windshields, some risking their health and even their lives.

(voice-over): Even though they're homeless and don't have any kind of support, they manage to make some money. But the kids admit that they often use the money they make on drugs.

IVAN, AGE 14: We spend the money on food and clothes and sometimes for drugs.

HANEINE: Some people try to help them, but most Mexicans don't have a real awareness of the problem. In many ways, the children are like anyone else, they have future aspirations but they don't know how they're going to see them become reality.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to finish school, get a job and some day return with my family to support them.

HANEINE: Janine Haneine, CNN Student Bureau, Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ON-SCREEN: "Where in the World?"

Independent since 1960, home to about 40 ethnic groups, main newspaper "La Nouvelle Marche."

Can you name this country?

Togo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: Well that was a fun "Where in the World?" And, Shelley, Togo is also home to my favorite fruit, pineapple, and your favorite drink, coffee.

WALCOTT: Coffee.

MCMANUS: Now I know there's more information out there. And where should we go to get some?

WALCOTT: Well, I think I can help you with that answer, head to our revamped web site, CNNstudentnews.com and learn more about Togo's exports, as well as some of the issues affecting Togo's young people. MCMANUS: And in the next few weeks, we'll have more reports on Togo's culture and education. They are coming soon, so please stay tuned.

Until tomorrow, I'm Michael McManus.

WALCOTT: And I'm Shelley Walcott. Thanks for watching. Bye- bye.

MCMANUS: Welcome back, Shelley.

WALCOTT: Thank you, good to be back.

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