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On the Story

Kerry Campaigns in Show Me State; Is Greenspan Playing Politics?

Aired January 31, 2004 - 10:00   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.


SUZANNE MALVEAUX, HOST: Welcome to CNN's ON THE STORY, where our journalists have the inside word on the stories we covered this week.
I'm Suzanne Malveaux ON THE STORY of President Bush, under fire this week on Capitol Hill and the campaign trail over the search for weapons of mass destruction.

I'm Kelly Wallace ON THE STORY in Missouri with John Kerry as a Democratic presidential candidates shifts into crisscrossing the nation, campaigning across the country, with seven states in play on Tuesday.

I'm Josie Burke in Houston, awaiting Super Bowl XXXVIII. I'll be back later, ON THE STORY of a quarterback who's comfortable on the field, on camera, and even on the spot.

I'm Kathleen Hays in New York, ON THE STORY of how Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has become a campaign rallying cry in the Democratic race and what may happen to interest rates.

And I'm Barbara Starr, ON THE STORY of the Pentagon, talking this week about operations in Iraq through 2006.

We'll go to Saudi Arabia, and Rym Brahimi will talk about the Hajj, the pilgrimage of millions of Muslims to Mecca.

We'll talk about a spring offensive in Afghanistan and a new push to capture Osama bin Laden.

And we'll listen to the president's weekly radio address at the end of the hour.

E-mail us at OnTheStory@CNN.com. Now straight to Kelly Wallace and the campaign trail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is the Show Me State, and we're here to show George Bush the door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: John Kerry in Missouri on Wednesday. He is back here again today. He will have an event here in Kansas City a short time from now.

No surprise that the undisputed frontrunner is spending so much time in Missouri. It is the state with the biggest number of delegates up for grabs on Tuesday, a state now wide open, with Congressman Dick Gephardt getting out of the race.

HAYS: So, Kelly, has the strategy for Mr. Kerry continued to evolve? Is it -- is it, again, the man who can beat Bush? Is the campaign being refined as he remains so far out front, it appears?

WALLACE: We keep asking the candidate himself and his aides, how are you changing your strategy, now that he is clearly the frontrunner. And they continue to say, the senator himself saying, he is going to campaign with the same, quote, "underdog mentality," that he is going to go out there and try and fight he says, for every vote.

He is campaigning in all seven states holding contests on Tuesday. He has television ads running in all seven states.

But what you find him doing is he's trying to focus mainly on President Bush, attacking the Bush administration's record, not mentioning his rivals by name on the stump. But those rivals, including Howard Dean and Wesley Clark, are now more and more trying to attack the senator's record.

STARR: Kelly, does the Tuesday elections -- is that the make or break for everybody else? In other words, does somebody have to beat Kerry? And if they don't, if Kerry makes a clean sweep of it, are we going to start seeing people drop out?

WALLACE: Well, you know, it depends on who you ask, Barbara. But clearly, some of these other candidates have to start winning some states.

And John Edwards, we know, he was born in South Carolina, the senator from North Carolina. He has made it clear he must win in South Carolina. Right now, he has a narrow lead over John Kerry. So if he doesn't win that native state of his, South Carolina, look for probably him to take some action.

Joe Lieberman, as well. He has said he is in this race. But if he doesn't do well in any of these seven states, many people think he could be dropping out.

Howard Dean, though, his strategy, according to his aides, is not really looking, really, at Tuesday, looking beyond, looking to contests in Michigan, in Washington and Wisconsin, that he thinks he is going to be the last man standing to be the clear alternative to John Kerry in the next several weeks.

MALVEAUX: Kelly, the Bush folks like to say that they're not watching this, that they're certainly not threatened by Kerry. But of course, we have seen Bush operatives come out in public, basically criticizing him for his record on the Patriot Act, on defense, on a number of issues. We heard from Ken Mehlman today, really taking a hard hit, a swipe at him. How is Kerry responding to the GOP already going after him?

WALLACE: Well, it's so interesting, Suzanne, because on Thursday when Ed Gillespie, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, started criticizing the senator for his record, we asked him, the senator, about that.

And you could see him smile. And he seemed to enjoy responding. He laughed and said it's the greatest form of flattery. And then he said bring it on, his standard line in the stump speech.

Yesterday in a conference call with reporters, he said Republicans are quote, "scared stiff." And he said that's why they're sending out their attack dogs, but he's going to be fighting back.

So the senator himself and his aides privately think the White House could be worried about a possible Kerry/Bush match-up. And they said they're going to fight, and fight very hard, if the Republicans try to label John Kerry as a Northeasterner and a liberal.

HAYS: What about the potential first lady question? What about Mrs. Kerry? More and more attention being focused on her, Kelly.

WALLACE: Well, she has been out there, too. You know, you don't see her as much. But she is out there, campaigning in some of these seven states holding contests on Tuesday.

She was by her husband's side in the last days in New Hampshire, the same in Iowa. And I have watched her and watched the crowd respond to her. People really listen closely to her.

She speaks very softly. She is a woman who has got a lot of international an experience. A lot of political experience, of course. Her husband, the late senator, Senator Heinz from Pennsylvania, previous husband to John Kerry.

So she is out there. She is a bit of a force for the senator. But she has not really been by her side in the past day or two.

STARR: Well, Kelly, we want to go for a minute to Paula Hancocks in our London bureau.

News developing at this hour, that a number of flights from London, British Airway flights to the United States, are being canceled. And now wire services are also reporting Air France is canceling flights to the United States.

Paula, what's going on?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Barbara, the latest we have from here is that two Air France flights from Paris to Washington have been canceled. They're saying at the moment, for security reasons. We have very little details in this. This is just in the last few minutes that we found this out. And this comes -- Actually, the Air France flight AF-026. For reasons of security, is the quote that we have from Air France.

And that comes just hours after we had three British Airways flights being canceled. The 223, which was supposed to be going to Washington Dulles airport on Sunday and Monday that will not fly. The return flights won't come back to London either.

But the flight today, 15:05 local time, which is pretty much now, is expected to fly and to take off as scheduled.

The 207 British Airways flight to Miami, as well, is canceled on Sunday. But it did fly this morning. The U.K. -- British Airways are saying that this is after they spoke to the U.K. government. The Department of Transport said that there was a specific and credible threat, and they should cancel those -- those flights.

And of course this comes just a day after the U.K. -- the U.S. government officials said there is new intelligence in the past 48 hours that international flights could be used as a terrorist attack, against -- as a weapon against a certain U.S. city.

So just to confirm, that two -- three British Airway flights and two Air France flights at the moment have been canceled going to the United States -- Barbara.

MALVEAUX: It may be a little bit too soon, but what kind of intelligence are you getting? Is this the same intelligence that the United States was using? Is it recycled intelligence? Do you know anything about that?

HANCOCKS: Well, at the moment, all I can tell you is what British Airways is telling us, and saying the U.K. government did suggest to them that -- or did tell them that there was a credible threat.

The U.K. government and the French have been in close talks with the U.S. government officials, discussing these new pieces of intelligence and suggesting that these flights should not go ahead.

British Airways and the Department of Transport said that if they do have any credible threat, which they do take seriously, flights will not take off. They say that security and passenger safety is the most important thing at the moment.

They're not giving us any more indication on what these suggested credible threats are. And they're not looking towards -- they're not looking beyond Monday, either. There's no suggestion of further flights being canceled. So at the moment, they are just using that quote, specific and credible threat -- Barbara.

STARR: All right. Paula, well, thank you. Kelly, I think, is going to stay with us, and we'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think Alan Greenspan's become too political. He has become too political, and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the Federal Reserve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYS: Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean usually is talking about war and peace and jobs and prosperity. And wait a minute, why is he also talking about Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan?

Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.

In an election year, this is a conversation that almost always surfaces. Is the Federal Reserve going to play politics?

The Federal Reserve this week, because this is, once again, in the news, big story in "The New York Times," a lot of reporters looking at this, giving -- calling them, said in principal, in practice, the Federal Reserve never bases its monetary policy, its interest rates decisions, on election politics.

But the debate is alive and well.

STARR: Well, Kathleen, the economic news we heard at the end of the week about growth, the number was good, but not good enough?

HAYS: Well, you know, it was not quite as good as expected. Maybe that's what we could say.

We had, you know, over eight percent growth in the third quarter. Fourth quarter, it cuts in half to four percent. That's still a very, very healthy number.

The good news is, though, that that number was a little disappointing. And the fact that it's a bit of a downtrend is one more reason for the Fed to sit on the sidelines.

Again this question of politics is very interesting. Because the -- I think a lot of economists would say maybe there's enough question about the economy, the Fed should stay on the sidelines.

Where the politics gets in is other people are saying, hey, the economy is strong enough, the Fed should start raising rates sooner rather than later.

And again this accusation that Greenspan's holding back, because he doesn't want to be blamed for defeating George Bush, the younger, as he was blamed by George Bush, the senior, for hurting his re- election bid, which he obviously lost to Bill Clinton.

MALVEAUX: Of course, President Bush has his own concerns about the economy, as well. We understand that on Monday he is going to be talking about a federal deficit -- record-breaking federal deficit, $520 billion.

Look at the numbers, the economic indicators, and what does it say? I mean, is there -- is there a sense that their program is working, that they can cut down on that deficit, despite the growth?

HAYS: Well, you know, I think a lot of private sector economists are forecasting that jobs growth, for example, should be picking up this year to something like 150,000, 200,000, even more, a month.

Treasury Secretary John Snow quoted that figure this week before they were going into this meeting at the White House with private sector economists.

Again, there is a debate. The tax cuts, the tax credit checks went out in the third quarter of last year. We had this big ramp up in consumer spending. Consumer spending slowed down in the fourth quarter. No surprise. We spent so much so we didn't spend quite as much at the end of the year.

But the question is what happens now. We'll get big cash refund checks, bigger than last year. But I think there's a question of how much momentum the economy has.

Some people -- the critics say, really, we're borrowing too much money from our sales and from the rest of the world. Those chickens will come home to roost.

Other people say no. The president's plan's going to work. The tax cuts have helped ramp things up. The economy's growing faster. You get more tax receipts, and that brings down the deficit.

WALLACE: Kathleen, I want to go back to Alan Greenspan and how Howard Dean's criticism is playing.

Because the day that Howard Dean criticized Alan Greenspan, it was interesting, Kerry using that as an example, saying, "Look, Howard Dean is criticizing this person. He's criticizing even Alan Greenspan, and he's criticizing me. He's a guy on the attack."

So it wasn't as if Howard Dean was getting any support from some of the other Democratic presidential candidates. How was that Dean criticism playing, according to the sources that you've been talking to this week?

HAYS: Well, certainly, people on Wall Street feel that it's a very -- it's a bad idea to criticize the Federal Reserve, whether you're a candidate, whether you're a president. Because the Federal Reserve is supposed to be an independent body.

And if you look like you're trying to pressure the Fed one way or the other, then you're playing politics with the economy. Not a good thing.

But this is -- Maybe this is a dangerous path that Alan Greenspan has tread. Because in testimony to Congress, he has in general, as he has his whole life -- he's a lifelong Republican -- has always supported tax cuts.

Last year he said, "Sure, I've always supported dividend tax cuts."

Democrats say he should not be doing that, knowing he's the chairman as the Federal Reserve. Even if he's speaking as an individual, as Alan Greenspan, he knows kind of weight it would put behind it.

And I think that there are a number of people who agree that maybe Alan Greenspan is putting the Federal Reserve in a position where it could be under political attack. Its independence could even be jeopardized.

I think we're a long way from that. And in fact, when Greenspan testifies this month on the economy, one of his two big yearly testimonies, he's expected to come out swinging against that budget deficit to show that his economic head is in the right place, and he's not allowed it to be swayed by any sort of political aspirations of the president.

MALVEAUX: Thanks, Kathleen. From the big board to the scoreboard, from Super Tuesday to Super Bowl. We'll catch up with our Josie Burke, ON THE STORY in Houston, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, QUARTERBACK, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: This is the week. This is the game that, you know, it defines your playing career. It defines -- your know, your legacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURKE: New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, talking about the potential of establishing a legacy on the football field.

Welcome back to ON THE STORY here from Houston, the site of Super Bowl XXXVIII.

Well, Tom Brady's already established a legacy off the field this week. He is the equivalent of the entertainment world's "It Girl." He's the sport world's "It Boy" right now. He's been everywhere, in the gossip columns.

He was even at the president's State of the Union address. And that means this week, he was asked not just about football, but about politics, of all things.

His favorite quote of mine was, he was asked about the New Hampshire primary. He said, "I think it's going to be a great primary." As if he was analyzing a game or something. It was pretty funny.

WALLACE: Sounds like he's already looking ahead to a career in politics, a very diplomatic answer.

But what about the other quarterback, Jake -- I think it's Delhomme? What about him? What a contrast between those two players.

BURKE: There is a contrast right now, but it's so funny because Kelly, two years ago, Tom Brady was just like Jake Delhomme is now.

Nobody knew who Tom Brady was. He came out of nowhere. Jake Delhomme bounced around here in the NFL. He played over in NFL Europe.

And this week, everyone wanted to know, like you, how to pronounce his name. It's Delhomme. And where he's from. It's a tiny town in Louisiana, two hours west of New Orleans, called Breaux Bridge. It's a Cajun town. He loves it. He loves his family so much.

He used to live half mile away from his mom and dad. That was too far away. Now he lives right next door.

And he's just -- As he put it, you know, somebody who loves where he comes from and can't believe that he's on the stage right now.

STARR: OK, Josie, I'll be the one to ask. For those of us who may not be football experts, who may just be looking at the commercials, you know, we keep hearing that there will be some interesting ads this year, especially for some drugs for men?

BURKE: Oh, you're going to make me say it. I thought you said you were going to be saying it.

There are going to be competing ads for drugs prescribed to address erectile dysfunction. But not Viagra. Two other competing drugs.

It's interesting. Ninety million people watch the Super Bowl every year. Obviously, advertising is going to go out to a lot of people. The price for a 30-second ad this year is about $2.3 million.

A lot of people are going to be putting their eyeballs on those drug company ads.

MALVEAUX: Josie, there are a lot of women, though, who watch the Super Bowl, as well. Are the advertisers looking at that audience, as well? Are they catering to them? Are there some products for women?

BURKE: Well, it depends. If you're a woman who likes beer there are going to be a lot of ads that will appeal to you.

What struck me, just going over -- there are certain things that are going to be portrayed during the game, before the game, is the fact that they like to tailor things to the audience, and they don't like to get too racy or risque. Now here you have the erectile dysfunction ads.

But before the game -- this is sort of groundbreaking, really -- they're going to have a public service announcement, a public service spot, addressing HIV/AIDS. That's going to be on during the pre-game. This is something that they normally don't do.

HAYS: You know, it's interesting, for anybody who's interested, there's actually a web site, BetOnSports.com, where you can bet on the ads themselves, which one's going to come in first. That seems like an interesting Super Bowl side bar.

But in terms of the game itself, Josie, just talk to us a little bit about -- you know, like, the emotion, the psychology of these two teams. The Patriots are on top. They're the favorite. The Panthers are a team that have struggled so long, and they are kind of almost the Cinderella team this time.

You know, the odds makers are still favoring New England. What chance really does North Carolina really have?

BURKE: Well, the Panthers have thrived on the underdog role all year long. They have really eaten it up. They love it. They couldn't be happier, honestly, to be in this position for a number of reasons.

One, because it's comfortable.

Two, because they look at the Patriots two years ago. That's the position that the Patriots were in against the St. Louis Rams. They were two touchdown underdogs in that game. New England came out and won.

Now, the Patriots, for their part, they say they're not going in too overconfident, and they think it's helped them that they've been in this position before, that they've been on the Super Bowl stage before.

And if there's one coach in the league who's going to keep his players in line and make sure that they toe the straight and narrow and not stray too far and get a big head, it's Bill Belichick of the Patriots.

It should be an interesting game if you don't like a lot of points.

WALLACE: Josie, very quickly, what about security, of course? And in light of some, you know, new concerns about attacks directed against the U.S., what's the situation when it comes to security at the game tonight? Or tomorrow night, rather?

BURKE: The Houston Police Department, they're the lead agency. They've been told to act as if they are on quote/unquote high alert, even though they're not.

A couple of interesting things. We always see the metal detectors. There's going to be no-fly zone on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. above the Reliant Stadium here, and that's whether or not the roof is open or closed.

This is a retractable roof stadium. And they haven't decided yet whether they're going to have it open or closed.

But the 70,000-plus fans who are going to be coming to game need to get here early, because it's going to take a long time to get through security.

STARR: Well, Josie Burke and Kelly Wallace, our thanks to both of you. I know you need to get back to ON THE STORY, and we'll be watching you in the coming days.

From sports, we're going to turn back to Iraq and how some U.S. troops are facing crowd of Iraqis in Louisiana.

Also, a check on the headlines, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it looks like Iraq. It sounds like Iraq and it seem to be another clash between U.S. military and Iraqis.

But this was Louisiana and part of a sophisticated training for the troops before they arrive in Iraq, before the ammunition is real and the stakes are life and death.

Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.

This was a war game that we went to in Louisiana, but it's hard to call it a war game, because it was extremely realistic.

These young troops are being trained. They're going to be -- the ones we saw are going to be in Iraq next month. And they're getting the most realistic training so far about what it will be like to deal with Iraqis on the street.

MALVEAUX: So explain how this works here. I mean, you actually have Iraqis that involved in these exercises?

STARR: This was the most interesting thing. There are about 200 Iraqis at Fort Polk, Louisiana.

These are -- Some of them are citizens. Some of them are people who simply live in this country. And they are hired, as you see here, and they -- when you look at that soldier's face, he believes he is dealing with Iraqis in a situation in Iraq.

They stage the riots, the convoy attacks, the ambushes, and they try and help these soldiers learn exactly what it's going to be like.

MALVEAUX: Is this new? Is this something that they're just starting, or is there a track record of something like this actually working?

STARR: Some of this has been done in the past, but this is the most realistic I have ever seen. And I have to tell you, the realism was so real that one of the soldiers we talked to thought we were the war game CNN News crew...

MALVEAUX: Not the real crew.

STARR: Not the real crew; we just played one on TV. They thought that we were part of the Army's hiring of actors, the CNN News crew that they would encounter in Baghdad. I had to say, "No, no, no."

MALVEAUX: This is the real deal.

STARR: "No, this is it, I'm really doing this."

But it was fascinating.

HAYS: In terms of what this means going ahead, I mean, one of the big stories lately, of course, is troops are going to be in Iraq now, 2006, 2007. The Pentagon acknowledging that.

So I guess they're also acknowledging that in that time, one of their big jobs is going to be peacekeeping, policing, the kinds of things they were criticized before for not getting the troops ready to do.

STARR: Well, that's right. Now what the Army has said is it's got a planning scenario, that it's trying to work it out so that it can keep a rotation of troops going into Iraq through the year 2007, if that becomes necessary.

No one knows for sure, of course. But they need to get things moving to plan for that.

And those troops, in fact, Kathleen, exactly right, are going to look very different. These are not going to be the heavy armored tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, heavy artillery, combat forces that we've seen for a year now in Iraq.

These are going to be infantry. They're going to be military police. They're going to be mobile. They're going to be out on the street, dealing with Iraqis.

And that's why you see the kind of training we saw at Fort Polk, Louisiana, trying to teach the soldiers, not how to maneuver their tanks across the deserts of Iraq, but how to deal with Iraqis in situations on the street. That's what they think they're facing.

MALVEAUX: What is the moral like for American soldiers there? Because we have heard -- I guess it goes in waves. But there were times when there were quite a number of suicides and then obviously people are going to be there for some time.

Does it seem like it's improving?

STARR: Well, I have to say when I've been to Baghdad and you talk to the soldiers about it, and you ask about the morale, you don't really hear so much about the job, if you will. What they hear is they want to know about their families. And they want to know a certain date by when they can come home, and they want to make sure that they really do get home in time.

The thing that Pentagon leaders find the most difficult is if they have to extend the tour of duty. That's what really kills moral.

HAYS: Barbara, you know, I think there's a couple things that are so interesting here. You know, Rumsfeld asking for only a temporary increase of 30,000 in the troops. And yet an offensive now planned for Afghanistan.

What's the discussion in the Pentagon, you know, sort of behind the scenes about what's going on?

STARR: Well, that was the interesting buzz this week. Suddenly learning that there's a new spring offensive for Afghanistan. Now this happens routinely, but there's usually not a lot of talk about it.

When the winter snows melt, 11,000 troops in Afghanistan will be positioned for a spring offensive against the remnants of the Taliban and the al Qaeda.

Lots of talk in Afghanistan this week, lots of optimism about getting Osama bin Laden finally this year. The top general saying that he's convinced the military will get bin Laden by the end of the year...

MALVEAUX: Why so much optimism? Why such confidence?

STARR: You know, the real answer, who knows? You know, that's the honest answer.

They're expressing a lot of confidence. One can remember they expressed confidence about getting Saddam Hussein for months on end. And what did that take, about eight months.

But what is going on behind the scenes is in Pakistan, across the border where they do believe bin Laden might be hiding, a lot of activity by the Pakistani military to try and close areas down and get the top leadership on the move, and then maybe they can catch him.

MALVEAUX: From keeping the peace in Iraq to the debate that preceded the war, new claims this week that the administration had wrong information about what threat that that Iraq posed.

I'm back on that story in a moment.

ANNOUNCER: movie director Sofia Coppola was in the headlines this week. What's her story? More after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANNOUNCER: Sofia Coppola, what's her story? She was nominated for an Academy Award for directing "Lost in Translation" and for original screenplay. That's only the third time a woman has been singled out for directing.

The daughter of Francis Ford Coppola says she's happy to be in such good company, both in the film world and her own family.

SOPHIA COPPOLA, DIRECTOR: My dad was so happy and proud. It's nice to be a part of a family, a tradition.

ANNOUNCER: Her grandfather received one Academy Award. Her father has five.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's hard to be optimistic during a period when you're marching to war. The march to war is not a positive thought.

Now we're marching to peace. Now, times have changed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Well, marching to peace, said President Bush in New Hampshire on Thursday.

But questions are coming fast this week about the decision to go to war, how that was made, and the intelligence about weapons of mass destruction and other risks the Iraq posed to the U.S. and others.

Welcome back. We are ON THE STORY.

A couple of things. First of all the administration based, in part at least, its argument of going to war on faulty intelligence.

It turns out now, as well, that they sold the Medicare reform bill, in part, based on a figure that may grossly underestimate the cost of this.

And critics this week are charging that this administration has a real credibility problem. And that is what the president, that is what his aides have been fighting with the last couple of weeks.

STARR: Well, that's it. When is he going to feel the pressure politically on both these issues?

Now on WMD in particular, there have been a lot of calls for an independent investigation. The White House not quite coming out in favor of it. But how can they avoid it?

MALVEAUX: And they're already feeling the heat, actually. Because what has happened -- what we have learned over the last 24 hours -- it was just yesterday that Vice President Cheney was making calls to key lawmakers and essentially saying, "Look, publicly, the White House is saying we don't want an independent commission on this prewar intelligence.

"But privately, they're saying, we're open to a range of options to take a second look at this, including the possibility of an independent probe."

Now the reason they say not an independent commission -- that would involve Congress, a whole lot more, formalities, that type of thing. But I think what they realize here, is that it's a political risk.

If they say, as the president has been saying, we'll just wait for the Iraq survey group to come out with their findings. Then this becomes something that exists for the whole year. I mean, these calls from various lawmakers, from the Democratic presidential hopefuls, what is the administration hiding, why are they against this?

So they can't not do anything. What they need to do is something that moves the ball forward. But not move it as far as an independent commission.

HAYS: Well, you know, Suzanne it seems to me that they -- this may be a win-win or a lose-lose situation for the administration.

Because even if they find faulty intelligence, critics will continue to say, "But you're the president of the United States. You should know better. How could you lead us into something that is going to cost us hundreds of billion of dollars, has cost us hundreds of lives, thousands of wounded bodies, and have done so on faulty intelligence?"

It just seems that either the president's going to somehow skate past this one, because his Republican supporters don't care. Or he's going to get mired down in it, because it's going to resonate with more of those people in the middle, whom both Democrats and Republicans are hoping to woo over in this election year.

MALVEAUX: I think it really depends, too, on what the voters ask for. I mean, whether or not this really picks up some steam in the next eight or nine months.

Because what the president says consistently is that Saddam Hussein was a danger. They are minimizing the importance of weapons of mass destruction. They're saying, well, let's take a look at the intelligence. We've had faulty intelligence here.

And I think what's going to be important is whether or not that really resonates with voters.

There was -- At one point just a couple months ago, there were polls showing that voters really didn't care about the weapons of mass destruction and whether or not they were found.

They still believed the president was doing a good job when it comes to security. They still believed that it was the right thing to do, to go into the war with Iraq.

And I think all of those things are really going to make a big difference in how this administration answers those questions.

STARR: Are they more worried that the issue of the budget deficit and the huge, unexpected increase in financing this Medicare issue, is going to resonate with voters?

MALVEAUX: Well, what is happening already is that they're already getting some backlash from the conservative -- fiscally conservative Republicans. And that is the real concern here.

Because they figured, "OK, well, we're going to get the criticism from the Democrats, from the guys who want to replace President Bush."

But what they're worried about here is that you have lawmakers who are coming out very publicly, saying, "Look, this is irresponsible here. How are you going to afford all these things?"

The Medicare reform bill, just this past week, coming out that it's going to be 30 percent more than what it was previously advertised. And that could pose a real problem, not only in terms of credibility, but also because of his legislative agenda. He wants to push forward those tax cuts and make them final...

HAYS: Could I ask about the legislative agenda? Because I think there's so much talk now about -- President Bush seems to be trying to out-Democrat the Democrats. Saying, "Let's give money now to, you know, the National Endowment for the Arts."

What is the strategy here?

MALVEAUX: Well, the strategy simply is that they've got a domestic agenda. He wants to make certain initiatives move forward.

But they realize, too, they're just not going to be able to accomplish what they had hoped to set out to do. Because you're looking at that federal deficit, $520 billion.

What they're going to do is say, "Look, we're going to increase security. We're going to increase defense. We're going to keep the rest of the discretionary spending at about one percent increase." But at that, they're going to try to make it better.

HAYS: Well, we'll see on Monday how they're going to pay for it in the budget announcement from President Bush.

Now we're going to go from the White House to the Middle East and the pilgrimage of millions of Muslims to Mecca.

Our Rym Brahimi will be back ON THE STORY.

ANNOUNCER: Rym Brahimi is a CNN international correspondent and reported from Baghdad during the war in Iraq. She has a master's in English literature from the University of Paris and a journalism degree from Columbia University. She speaks French, Italian and Arabic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I haven't been feeling unsafe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It hasn't really crossed my mind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no reason to feel unsafe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rym Brahimi from Mount Arafat in Mecca. You were hearing pilgrims who have been here. They've come from several areas in the world, some of them from Britain, Europe, Africa, all the continents.

And most of them that we talked to had exactly the same thing to say. Although there have been the security questions and concerns, well, they say they're not worried. This is the house of God, they say, and there's no reason for them to fear anything.

Now we know that security was a big issue. We see military parade -- or rather, a police defense parade in the last few days. A clear sign, or a message on the part of the Saudi government that is hosting this event, as it does every year, because the king of Saudi Arabia is the custodian of the two holiest mosques of Islam, nothing can go wrong and they cannot afford for anything to happen.

HAYS: Rym, tell us about the importance of the Hajj pilgrimage, what it means in the life of a Muslim.

BRAHIMI: Well, this is something that, every time I've been here, I've covered how much, just how much it means.

Because you really see people who have put in so much effort just to be here, people who really don't have that much money, can't afford it. Although theoretically they're -- but it's the center of Islam and the Koran does say that only those whoa are financially and physically able should perform the Hajj and should try to do so once in a lifetime.

Well, you have people, really, from all walks of life who come from a long, long way.

And the reason, really, is today. Today is the essential day of the pilgrimage. It's the day when they all gather.

You can probably see behind me, all these pictures, a sea of people gathered in the Plain Of Arafat, just outside the holy city of Mecca. This is really the place where they say they will be reborn. This is the place where they hope that God will forgive them. And basically, they start with a new clean slate after that. STARR: Rym, for most westerners, this is an amazing sight to see, not something that we are terribly familiar with. What is it like for you as a journalist covering the Hajj? Are you allowed to move freely? Can you talk to anyone you want to talk to?

BRAHIMI: Well, Barbara, I have to say, we can walk more or less freely to the extent the crowd will allow you to go anywhere. It's very difficult to go from point A to point B with that kind of heavy pressure from a mass of people like this.

We are accompanied by officials from the Information Ministry of Saudi Arabia. And in some ways, actually, that's not a bad thing, because we'd probably get lost very quickly in certain areas.

And also, some people are not very -- don't really enjoy being filmed on camera when they're praying or when they're performing a Hajj duty. It really depends. You can find a group of people who are perfectly happy to see that. And others -- like, the other day I met in front of the mosque were very angry, and just told me to either leave or go and pray.

That said, it is an amazing experience just seeing this. I don't think I've ever seen a crowd like this in my life.

And when you think of what this means and how far this goes back. This -- you know, Barbara, Arafat is apparently the field in which it's believed that Adam met Eve after they'd been expelled from paradise. And this is where their prayers were accepted when they asked for forgiveness.

So this is, again, where the importance stems for every Muslim pilgrim that comes, again, from everywhere in the world, just for this single day that's the most important in the pilgrimage.

MALVEAUX: Rym, you knew those two CNN employees who were killed recently. Can you tell us a little bit about that? I know that they were extraordinary colleagues.

BRAHIMI: Oh, absolutely. Two of these -- these two colleagues will be missed by everybody. Their bureau in Baghdad works very much like a team. We all have -- and we all had even before the war this feeling that we were all in this together, no matter what happens.

And definitely, now, we also have the same feeling after the war, having been through what everybody's been through. It's just so sad to lose people that you've worked alongside.

Yasser, the driver, was just such a young man. I just thought he was -- I thought he was a kid the first time I climbed into the car and I saw him behind the wheel. And I remember wondering, "Who is this? And what is he doing here?"

And I was told that his father was very eager for him to have a job, and so this is why he was working here with us.

And, of course, Duraid, who was a producer/translator. Nobody has ever said anything -- had anything bad to say about him. He was truly loved by anyone, a true friend and colleague. We used to spend time together, hang out together. He'll be missed so much.

I can't tell you how much it affects everybody in Baghdad and around Baghdad.

STARR: Indeed, Rym, we will not forget these two colleagues of our, and we thank you.

Tell us a little bit more though what's ON THE STORY for you in the coming days.

BRAHIMI: Well, in the coming days this is really going to be the -- we're going to wrap up slowly here. It's been an amazing experience.

There's still one more important event that takes place tomorrow. In fact, at midnight tonight, it's the Eid ul-Adha, which is the biggest Muslim festival, in fact, in the whole Muslim calendar.

This is the Eid that commemorates the end of Hajj and also this is where Muslims (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the symbol, the symbol of sacrifice from Abraham to God.

STARR: Well, coming up here, President Bush gets his say in his weekly radio address. And I want to thank my colleagues and thank you for watching ON THE STORY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Thank you for joining us ON THE STORY. We'll be back next week. Coming up at the top of the hour a check of the top stories. But first, the president's weekly radio address.

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Aired January 31, 2004 - 10:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, HOST: Welcome to CNN's ON THE STORY, where our journalists have the inside word on the stories we covered this week.
I'm Suzanne Malveaux ON THE STORY of President Bush, under fire this week on Capitol Hill and the campaign trail over the search for weapons of mass destruction.

I'm Kelly Wallace ON THE STORY in Missouri with John Kerry as a Democratic presidential candidates shifts into crisscrossing the nation, campaigning across the country, with seven states in play on Tuesday.

I'm Josie Burke in Houston, awaiting Super Bowl XXXVIII. I'll be back later, ON THE STORY of a quarterback who's comfortable on the field, on camera, and even on the spot.

I'm Kathleen Hays in New York, ON THE STORY of how Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has become a campaign rallying cry in the Democratic race and what may happen to interest rates.

And I'm Barbara Starr, ON THE STORY of the Pentagon, talking this week about operations in Iraq through 2006.

We'll go to Saudi Arabia, and Rym Brahimi will talk about the Hajj, the pilgrimage of millions of Muslims to Mecca.

We'll talk about a spring offensive in Afghanistan and a new push to capture Osama bin Laden.

And we'll listen to the president's weekly radio address at the end of the hour.

E-mail us at OnTheStory@CNN.com. Now straight to Kelly Wallace and the campaign trail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is the Show Me State, and we're here to show George Bush the door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: John Kerry in Missouri on Wednesday. He is back here again today. He will have an event here in Kansas City a short time from now.

No surprise that the undisputed frontrunner is spending so much time in Missouri. It is the state with the biggest number of delegates up for grabs on Tuesday, a state now wide open, with Congressman Dick Gephardt getting out of the race.

HAYS: So, Kelly, has the strategy for Mr. Kerry continued to evolve? Is it -- is it, again, the man who can beat Bush? Is the campaign being refined as he remains so far out front, it appears?

WALLACE: We keep asking the candidate himself and his aides, how are you changing your strategy, now that he is clearly the frontrunner. And they continue to say, the senator himself saying, he is going to campaign with the same, quote, "underdog mentality," that he is going to go out there and try and fight he says, for every vote.

He is campaigning in all seven states holding contests on Tuesday. He has television ads running in all seven states.

But what you find him doing is he's trying to focus mainly on President Bush, attacking the Bush administration's record, not mentioning his rivals by name on the stump. But those rivals, including Howard Dean and Wesley Clark, are now more and more trying to attack the senator's record.

STARR: Kelly, does the Tuesday elections -- is that the make or break for everybody else? In other words, does somebody have to beat Kerry? And if they don't, if Kerry makes a clean sweep of it, are we going to start seeing people drop out?

WALLACE: Well, you know, it depends on who you ask, Barbara. But clearly, some of these other candidates have to start winning some states.

And John Edwards, we know, he was born in South Carolina, the senator from North Carolina. He has made it clear he must win in South Carolina. Right now, he has a narrow lead over John Kerry. So if he doesn't win that native state of his, South Carolina, look for probably him to take some action.

Joe Lieberman, as well. He has said he is in this race. But if he doesn't do well in any of these seven states, many people think he could be dropping out.

Howard Dean, though, his strategy, according to his aides, is not really looking, really, at Tuesday, looking beyond, looking to contests in Michigan, in Washington and Wisconsin, that he thinks he is going to be the last man standing to be the clear alternative to John Kerry in the next several weeks.

MALVEAUX: Kelly, the Bush folks like to say that they're not watching this, that they're certainly not threatened by Kerry. But of course, we have seen Bush operatives come out in public, basically criticizing him for his record on the Patriot Act, on defense, on a number of issues. We heard from Ken Mehlman today, really taking a hard hit, a swipe at him. How is Kerry responding to the GOP already going after him?

WALLACE: Well, it's so interesting, Suzanne, because on Thursday when Ed Gillespie, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, started criticizing the senator for his record, we asked him, the senator, about that.

And you could see him smile. And he seemed to enjoy responding. He laughed and said it's the greatest form of flattery. And then he said bring it on, his standard line in the stump speech.

Yesterday in a conference call with reporters, he said Republicans are quote, "scared stiff." And he said that's why they're sending out their attack dogs, but he's going to be fighting back.

So the senator himself and his aides privately think the White House could be worried about a possible Kerry/Bush match-up. And they said they're going to fight, and fight very hard, if the Republicans try to label John Kerry as a Northeasterner and a liberal.

HAYS: What about the potential first lady question? What about Mrs. Kerry? More and more attention being focused on her, Kelly.

WALLACE: Well, she has been out there, too. You know, you don't see her as much. But she is out there, campaigning in some of these seven states holding contests on Tuesday.

She was by her husband's side in the last days in New Hampshire, the same in Iowa. And I have watched her and watched the crowd respond to her. People really listen closely to her.

She speaks very softly. She is a woman who has got a lot of international an experience. A lot of political experience, of course. Her husband, the late senator, Senator Heinz from Pennsylvania, previous husband to John Kerry.

So she is out there. She is a bit of a force for the senator. But she has not really been by her side in the past day or two.

STARR: Well, Kelly, we want to go for a minute to Paula Hancocks in our London bureau.

News developing at this hour, that a number of flights from London, British Airway flights to the United States, are being canceled. And now wire services are also reporting Air France is canceling flights to the United States.

Paula, what's going on?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Barbara, the latest we have from here is that two Air France flights from Paris to Washington have been canceled. They're saying at the moment, for security reasons. We have very little details in this. This is just in the last few minutes that we found this out. And this comes -- Actually, the Air France flight AF-026. For reasons of security, is the quote that we have from Air France.

And that comes just hours after we had three British Airways flights being canceled. The 223, which was supposed to be going to Washington Dulles airport on Sunday and Monday that will not fly. The return flights won't come back to London either.

But the flight today, 15:05 local time, which is pretty much now, is expected to fly and to take off as scheduled.

The 207 British Airways flight to Miami, as well, is canceled on Sunday. But it did fly this morning. The U.K. -- British Airways are saying that this is after they spoke to the U.K. government. The Department of Transport said that there was a specific and credible threat, and they should cancel those -- those flights.

And of course this comes just a day after the U.K. -- the U.S. government officials said there is new intelligence in the past 48 hours that international flights could be used as a terrorist attack, against -- as a weapon against a certain U.S. city.

So just to confirm, that two -- three British Airway flights and two Air France flights at the moment have been canceled going to the United States -- Barbara.

MALVEAUX: It may be a little bit too soon, but what kind of intelligence are you getting? Is this the same intelligence that the United States was using? Is it recycled intelligence? Do you know anything about that?

HANCOCKS: Well, at the moment, all I can tell you is what British Airways is telling us, and saying the U.K. government did suggest to them that -- or did tell them that there was a credible threat.

The U.K. government and the French have been in close talks with the U.S. government officials, discussing these new pieces of intelligence and suggesting that these flights should not go ahead.

British Airways and the Department of Transport said that if they do have any credible threat, which they do take seriously, flights will not take off. They say that security and passenger safety is the most important thing at the moment.

They're not giving us any more indication on what these suggested credible threats are. And they're not looking towards -- they're not looking beyond Monday, either. There's no suggestion of further flights being canceled. So at the moment, they are just using that quote, specific and credible threat -- Barbara.

STARR: All right. Paula, well, thank you. Kelly, I think, is going to stay with us, and we'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think Alan Greenspan's become too political. He has become too political, and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the Federal Reserve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYS: Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean usually is talking about war and peace and jobs and prosperity. And wait a minute, why is he also talking about Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan?

Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.

In an election year, this is a conversation that almost always surfaces. Is the Federal Reserve going to play politics?

The Federal Reserve this week, because this is, once again, in the news, big story in "The New York Times," a lot of reporters looking at this, giving -- calling them, said in principal, in practice, the Federal Reserve never bases its monetary policy, its interest rates decisions, on election politics.

But the debate is alive and well.

STARR: Well, Kathleen, the economic news we heard at the end of the week about growth, the number was good, but not good enough?

HAYS: Well, you know, it was not quite as good as expected. Maybe that's what we could say.

We had, you know, over eight percent growth in the third quarter. Fourth quarter, it cuts in half to four percent. That's still a very, very healthy number.

The good news is, though, that that number was a little disappointing. And the fact that it's a bit of a downtrend is one more reason for the Fed to sit on the sidelines.

Again this question of politics is very interesting. Because the -- I think a lot of economists would say maybe there's enough question about the economy, the Fed should stay on the sidelines.

Where the politics gets in is other people are saying, hey, the economy is strong enough, the Fed should start raising rates sooner rather than later.

And again this accusation that Greenspan's holding back, because he doesn't want to be blamed for defeating George Bush, the younger, as he was blamed by George Bush, the senior, for hurting his re- election bid, which he obviously lost to Bill Clinton.

MALVEAUX: Of course, President Bush has his own concerns about the economy, as well. We understand that on Monday he is going to be talking about a federal deficit -- record-breaking federal deficit, $520 billion.

Look at the numbers, the economic indicators, and what does it say? I mean, is there -- is there a sense that their program is working, that they can cut down on that deficit, despite the growth?

HAYS: Well, you know, I think a lot of private sector economists are forecasting that jobs growth, for example, should be picking up this year to something like 150,000, 200,000, even more, a month.

Treasury Secretary John Snow quoted that figure this week before they were going into this meeting at the White House with private sector economists.

Again, there is a debate. The tax cuts, the tax credit checks went out in the third quarter of last year. We had this big ramp up in consumer spending. Consumer spending slowed down in the fourth quarter. No surprise. We spent so much so we didn't spend quite as much at the end of the year.

But the question is what happens now. We'll get big cash refund checks, bigger than last year. But I think there's a question of how much momentum the economy has.

Some people -- the critics say, really, we're borrowing too much money from our sales and from the rest of the world. Those chickens will come home to roost.

Other people say no. The president's plan's going to work. The tax cuts have helped ramp things up. The economy's growing faster. You get more tax receipts, and that brings down the deficit.

WALLACE: Kathleen, I want to go back to Alan Greenspan and how Howard Dean's criticism is playing.

Because the day that Howard Dean criticized Alan Greenspan, it was interesting, Kerry using that as an example, saying, "Look, Howard Dean is criticizing this person. He's criticizing even Alan Greenspan, and he's criticizing me. He's a guy on the attack."

So it wasn't as if Howard Dean was getting any support from some of the other Democratic presidential candidates. How was that Dean criticism playing, according to the sources that you've been talking to this week?

HAYS: Well, certainly, people on Wall Street feel that it's a very -- it's a bad idea to criticize the Federal Reserve, whether you're a candidate, whether you're a president. Because the Federal Reserve is supposed to be an independent body.

And if you look like you're trying to pressure the Fed one way or the other, then you're playing politics with the economy. Not a good thing.

But this is -- Maybe this is a dangerous path that Alan Greenspan has tread. Because in testimony to Congress, he has in general, as he has his whole life -- he's a lifelong Republican -- has always supported tax cuts.

Last year he said, "Sure, I've always supported dividend tax cuts."

Democrats say he should not be doing that, knowing he's the chairman as the Federal Reserve. Even if he's speaking as an individual, as Alan Greenspan, he knows kind of weight it would put behind it.

And I think that there are a number of people who agree that maybe Alan Greenspan is putting the Federal Reserve in a position where it could be under political attack. Its independence could even be jeopardized.

I think we're a long way from that. And in fact, when Greenspan testifies this month on the economy, one of his two big yearly testimonies, he's expected to come out swinging against that budget deficit to show that his economic head is in the right place, and he's not allowed it to be swayed by any sort of political aspirations of the president.

MALVEAUX: Thanks, Kathleen. From the big board to the scoreboard, from Super Tuesday to Super Bowl. We'll catch up with our Josie Burke, ON THE STORY in Houston, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, QUARTERBACK, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: This is the week. This is the game that, you know, it defines your playing career. It defines -- your know, your legacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURKE: New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, talking about the potential of establishing a legacy on the football field.

Welcome back to ON THE STORY here from Houston, the site of Super Bowl XXXVIII.

Well, Tom Brady's already established a legacy off the field this week. He is the equivalent of the entertainment world's "It Girl." He's the sport world's "It Boy" right now. He's been everywhere, in the gossip columns.

He was even at the president's State of the Union address. And that means this week, he was asked not just about football, but about politics, of all things.

His favorite quote of mine was, he was asked about the New Hampshire primary. He said, "I think it's going to be a great primary." As if he was analyzing a game or something. It was pretty funny.

WALLACE: Sounds like he's already looking ahead to a career in politics, a very diplomatic answer.

But what about the other quarterback, Jake -- I think it's Delhomme? What about him? What a contrast between those two players.

BURKE: There is a contrast right now, but it's so funny because Kelly, two years ago, Tom Brady was just like Jake Delhomme is now.

Nobody knew who Tom Brady was. He came out of nowhere. Jake Delhomme bounced around here in the NFL. He played over in NFL Europe.

And this week, everyone wanted to know, like you, how to pronounce his name. It's Delhomme. And where he's from. It's a tiny town in Louisiana, two hours west of New Orleans, called Breaux Bridge. It's a Cajun town. He loves it. He loves his family so much.

He used to live half mile away from his mom and dad. That was too far away. Now he lives right next door.

And he's just -- As he put it, you know, somebody who loves where he comes from and can't believe that he's on the stage right now.

STARR: OK, Josie, I'll be the one to ask. For those of us who may not be football experts, who may just be looking at the commercials, you know, we keep hearing that there will be some interesting ads this year, especially for some drugs for men?

BURKE: Oh, you're going to make me say it. I thought you said you were going to be saying it.

There are going to be competing ads for drugs prescribed to address erectile dysfunction. But not Viagra. Two other competing drugs.

It's interesting. Ninety million people watch the Super Bowl every year. Obviously, advertising is going to go out to a lot of people. The price for a 30-second ad this year is about $2.3 million.

A lot of people are going to be putting their eyeballs on those drug company ads.

MALVEAUX: Josie, there are a lot of women, though, who watch the Super Bowl, as well. Are the advertisers looking at that audience, as well? Are they catering to them? Are there some products for women?

BURKE: Well, it depends. If you're a woman who likes beer there are going to be a lot of ads that will appeal to you.

What struck me, just going over -- there are certain things that are going to be portrayed during the game, before the game, is the fact that they like to tailor things to the audience, and they don't like to get too racy or risque. Now here you have the erectile dysfunction ads.

But before the game -- this is sort of groundbreaking, really -- they're going to have a public service announcement, a public service spot, addressing HIV/AIDS. That's going to be on during the pre-game. This is something that they normally don't do.

HAYS: You know, it's interesting, for anybody who's interested, there's actually a web site, BetOnSports.com, where you can bet on the ads themselves, which one's going to come in first. That seems like an interesting Super Bowl side bar.

But in terms of the game itself, Josie, just talk to us a little bit about -- you know, like, the emotion, the psychology of these two teams. The Patriots are on top. They're the favorite. The Panthers are a team that have struggled so long, and they are kind of almost the Cinderella team this time.

You know, the odds makers are still favoring New England. What chance really does North Carolina really have?

BURKE: Well, the Panthers have thrived on the underdog role all year long. They have really eaten it up. They love it. They couldn't be happier, honestly, to be in this position for a number of reasons.

One, because it's comfortable.

Two, because they look at the Patriots two years ago. That's the position that the Patriots were in against the St. Louis Rams. They were two touchdown underdogs in that game. New England came out and won.

Now, the Patriots, for their part, they say they're not going in too overconfident, and they think it's helped them that they've been in this position before, that they've been on the Super Bowl stage before.

And if there's one coach in the league who's going to keep his players in line and make sure that they toe the straight and narrow and not stray too far and get a big head, it's Bill Belichick of the Patriots.

It should be an interesting game if you don't like a lot of points.

WALLACE: Josie, very quickly, what about security, of course? And in light of some, you know, new concerns about attacks directed against the U.S., what's the situation when it comes to security at the game tonight? Or tomorrow night, rather?

BURKE: The Houston Police Department, they're the lead agency. They've been told to act as if they are on quote/unquote high alert, even though they're not.

A couple of interesting things. We always see the metal detectors. There's going to be no-fly zone on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. above the Reliant Stadium here, and that's whether or not the roof is open or closed.

This is a retractable roof stadium. And they haven't decided yet whether they're going to have it open or closed.

But the 70,000-plus fans who are going to be coming to game need to get here early, because it's going to take a long time to get through security.

STARR: Well, Josie Burke and Kelly Wallace, our thanks to both of you. I know you need to get back to ON THE STORY, and we'll be watching you in the coming days.

From sports, we're going to turn back to Iraq and how some U.S. troops are facing crowd of Iraqis in Louisiana.

Also, a check on the headlines, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it looks like Iraq. It sounds like Iraq and it seem to be another clash between U.S. military and Iraqis.

But this was Louisiana and part of a sophisticated training for the troops before they arrive in Iraq, before the ammunition is real and the stakes are life and death.

Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.

This was a war game that we went to in Louisiana, but it's hard to call it a war game, because it was extremely realistic.

These young troops are being trained. They're going to be -- the ones we saw are going to be in Iraq next month. And they're getting the most realistic training so far about what it will be like to deal with Iraqis on the street.

MALVEAUX: So explain how this works here. I mean, you actually have Iraqis that involved in these exercises?

STARR: This was the most interesting thing. There are about 200 Iraqis at Fort Polk, Louisiana.

These are -- Some of them are citizens. Some of them are people who simply live in this country. And they are hired, as you see here, and they -- when you look at that soldier's face, he believes he is dealing with Iraqis in a situation in Iraq.

They stage the riots, the convoy attacks, the ambushes, and they try and help these soldiers learn exactly what it's going to be like.

MALVEAUX: Is this new? Is this something that they're just starting, or is there a track record of something like this actually working?

STARR: Some of this has been done in the past, but this is the most realistic I have ever seen. And I have to tell you, the realism was so real that one of the soldiers we talked to thought we were the war game CNN News crew...

MALVEAUX: Not the real crew.

STARR: Not the real crew; we just played one on TV. They thought that we were part of the Army's hiring of actors, the CNN News crew that they would encounter in Baghdad. I had to say, "No, no, no."

MALVEAUX: This is the real deal.

STARR: "No, this is it, I'm really doing this."

But it was fascinating.

HAYS: In terms of what this means going ahead, I mean, one of the big stories lately, of course, is troops are going to be in Iraq now, 2006, 2007. The Pentagon acknowledging that.

So I guess they're also acknowledging that in that time, one of their big jobs is going to be peacekeeping, policing, the kinds of things they were criticized before for not getting the troops ready to do.

STARR: Well, that's right. Now what the Army has said is it's got a planning scenario, that it's trying to work it out so that it can keep a rotation of troops going into Iraq through the year 2007, if that becomes necessary.

No one knows for sure, of course. But they need to get things moving to plan for that.

And those troops, in fact, Kathleen, exactly right, are going to look very different. These are not going to be the heavy armored tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, heavy artillery, combat forces that we've seen for a year now in Iraq.

These are going to be infantry. They're going to be military police. They're going to be mobile. They're going to be out on the street, dealing with Iraqis.

And that's why you see the kind of training we saw at Fort Polk, Louisiana, trying to teach the soldiers, not how to maneuver their tanks across the deserts of Iraq, but how to deal with Iraqis in situations on the street. That's what they think they're facing.

MALVEAUX: What is the moral like for American soldiers there? Because we have heard -- I guess it goes in waves. But there were times when there were quite a number of suicides and then obviously people are going to be there for some time.

Does it seem like it's improving?

STARR: Well, I have to say when I've been to Baghdad and you talk to the soldiers about it, and you ask about the morale, you don't really hear so much about the job, if you will. What they hear is they want to know about their families. And they want to know a certain date by when they can come home, and they want to make sure that they really do get home in time.

The thing that Pentagon leaders find the most difficult is if they have to extend the tour of duty. That's what really kills moral.

HAYS: Barbara, you know, I think there's a couple things that are so interesting here. You know, Rumsfeld asking for only a temporary increase of 30,000 in the troops. And yet an offensive now planned for Afghanistan.

What's the discussion in the Pentagon, you know, sort of behind the scenes about what's going on?

STARR: Well, that was the interesting buzz this week. Suddenly learning that there's a new spring offensive for Afghanistan. Now this happens routinely, but there's usually not a lot of talk about it.

When the winter snows melt, 11,000 troops in Afghanistan will be positioned for a spring offensive against the remnants of the Taliban and the al Qaeda.

Lots of talk in Afghanistan this week, lots of optimism about getting Osama bin Laden finally this year. The top general saying that he's convinced the military will get bin Laden by the end of the year...

MALVEAUX: Why so much optimism? Why such confidence?

STARR: You know, the real answer, who knows? You know, that's the honest answer.

They're expressing a lot of confidence. One can remember they expressed confidence about getting Saddam Hussein for months on end. And what did that take, about eight months.

But what is going on behind the scenes is in Pakistan, across the border where they do believe bin Laden might be hiding, a lot of activity by the Pakistani military to try and close areas down and get the top leadership on the move, and then maybe they can catch him.

MALVEAUX: From keeping the peace in Iraq to the debate that preceded the war, new claims this week that the administration had wrong information about what threat that that Iraq posed.

I'm back on that story in a moment.

ANNOUNCER: movie director Sofia Coppola was in the headlines this week. What's her story? More after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANNOUNCER: Sofia Coppola, what's her story? She was nominated for an Academy Award for directing "Lost in Translation" and for original screenplay. That's only the third time a woman has been singled out for directing.

The daughter of Francis Ford Coppola says she's happy to be in such good company, both in the film world and her own family.

SOPHIA COPPOLA, DIRECTOR: My dad was so happy and proud. It's nice to be a part of a family, a tradition.

ANNOUNCER: Her grandfather received one Academy Award. Her father has five.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's hard to be optimistic during a period when you're marching to war. The march to war is not a positive thought.

Now we're marching to peace. Now, times have changed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Well, marching to peace, said President Bush in New Hampshire on Thursday.

But questions are coming fast this week about the decision to go to war, how that was made, and the intelligence about weapons of mass destruction and other risks the Iraq posed to the U.S. and others.

Welcome back. We are ON THE STORY.

A couple of things. First of all the administration based, in part at least, its argument of going to war on faulty intelligence.

It turns out now, as well, that they sold the Medicare reform bill, in part, based on a figure that may grossly underestimate the cost of this.

And critics this week are charging that this administration has a real credibility problem. And that is what the president, that is what his aides have been fighting with the last couple of weeks.

STARR: Well, that's it. When is he going to feel the pressure politically on both these issues?

Now on WMD in particular, there have been a lot of calls for an independent investigation. The White House not quite coming out in favor of it. But how can they avoid it?

MALVEAUX: And they're already feeling the heat, actually. Because what has happened -- what we have learned over the last 24 hours -- it was just yesterday that Vice President Cheney was making calls to key lawmakers and essentially saying, "Look, publicly, the White House is saying we don't want an independent commission on this prewar intelligence.

"But privately, they're saying, we're open to a range of options to take a second look at this, including the possibility of an independent probe."

Now the reason they say not an independent commission -- that would involve Congress, a whole lot more, formalities, that type of thing. But I think what they realize here, is that it's a political risk.

If they say, as the president has been saying, we'll just wait for the Iraq survey group to come out with their findings. Then this becomes something that exists for the whole year. I mean, these calls from various lawmakers, from the Democratic presidential hopefuls, what is the administration hiding, why are they against this?

So they can't not do anything. What they need to do is something that moves the ball forward. But not move it as far as an independent commission.

HAYS: Well, you know, Suzanne it seems to me that they -- this may be a win-win or a lose-lose situation for the administration.

Because even if they find faulty intelligence, critics will continue to say, "But you're the president of the United States. You should know better. How could you lead us into something that is going to cost us hundreds of billion of dollars, has cost us hundreds of lives, thousands of wounded bodies, and have done so on faulty intelligence?"

It just seems that either the president's going to somehow skate past this one, because his Republican supporters don't care. Or he's going to get mired down in it, because it's going to resonate with more of those people in the middle, whom both Democrats and Republicans are hoping to woo over in this election year.

MALVEAUX: I think it really depends, too, on what the voters ask for. I mean, whether or not this really picks up some steam in the next eight or nine months.

Because what the president says consistently is that Saddam Hussein was a danger. They are minimizing the importance of weapons of mass destruction. They're saying, well, let's take a look at the intelligence. We've had faulty intelligence here.

And I think what's going to be important is whether or not that really resonates with voters.

There was -- At one point just a couple months ago, there were polls showing that voters really didn't care about the weapons of mass destruction and whether or not they were found.

They still believed the president was doing a good job when it comes to security. They still believed that it was the right thing to do, to go into the war with Iraq.

And I think all of those things are really going to make a big difference in how this administration answers those questions.

STARR: Are they more worried that the issue of the budget deficit and the huge, unexpected increase in financing this Medicare issue, is going to resonate with voters?

MALVEAUX: Well, what is happening already is that they're already getting some backlash from the conservative -- fiscally conservative Republicans. And that is the real concern here.

Because they figured, "OK, well, we're going to get the criticism from the Democrats, from the guys who want to replace President Bush."

But what they're worried about here is that you have lawmakers who are coming out very publicly, saying, "Look, this is irresponsible here. How are you going to afford all these things?"

The Medicare reform bill, just this past week, coming out that it's going to be 30 percent more than what it was previously advertised. And that could pose a real problem, not only in terms of credibility, but also because of his legislative agenda. He wants to push forward those tax cuts and make them final...

HAYS: Could I ask about the legislative agenda? Because I think there's so much talk now about -- President Bush seems to be trying to out-Democrat the Democrats. Saying, "Let's give money now to, you know, the National Endowment for the Arts."

What is the strategy here?

MALVEAUX: Well, the strategy simply is that they've got a domestic agenda. He wants to make certain initiatives move forward.

But they realize, too, they're just not going to be able to accomplish what they had hoped to set out to do. Because you're looking at that federal deficit, $520 billion.

What they're going to do is say, "Look, we're going to increase security. We're going to increase defense. We're going to keep the rest of the discretionary spending at about one percent increase." But at that, they're going to try to make it better.

HAYS: Well, we'll see on Monday how they're going to pay for it in the budget announcement from President Bush.

Now we're going to go from the White House to the Middle East and the pilgrimage of millions of Muslims to Mecca.

Our Rym Brahimi will be back ON THE STORY.

ANNOUNCER: Rym Brahimi is a CNN international correspondent and reported from Baghdad during the war in Iraq. She has a master's in English literature from the University of Paris and a journalism degree from Columbia University. She speaks French, Italian and Arabic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I haven't been feeling unsafe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It hasn't really crossed my mind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no reason to feel unsafe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rym Brahimi from Mount Arafat in Mecca. You were hearing pilgrims who have been here. They've come from several areas in the world, some of them from Britain, Europe, Africa, all the continents.

And most of them that we talked to had exactly the same thing to say. Although there have been the security questions and concerns, well, they say they're not worried. This is the house of God, they say, and there's no reason for them to fear anything.

Now we know that security was a big issue. We see military parade -- or rather, a police defense parade in the last few days. A clear sign, or a message on the part of the Saudi government that is hosting this event, as it does every year, because the king of Saudi Arabia is the custodian of the two holiest mosques of Islam, nothing can go wrong and they cannot afford for anything to happen.

HAYS: Rym, tell us about the importance of the Hajj pilgrimage, what it means in the life of a Muslim.

BRAHIMI: Well, this is something that, every time I've been here, I've covered how much, just how much it means.

Because you really see people who have put in so much effort just to be here, people who really don't have that much money, can't afford it. Although theoretically they're -- but it's the center of Islam and the Koran does say that only those whoa are financially and physically able should perform the Hajj and should try to do so once in a lifetime.

Well, you have people, really, from all walks of life who come from a long, long way.

And the reason, really, is today. Today is the essential day of the pilgrimage. It's the day when they all gather.

You can probably see behind me, all these pictures, a sea of people gathered in the Plain Of Arafat, just outside the holy city of Mecca. This is really the place where they say they will be reborn. This is the place where they hope that God will forgive them. And basically, they start with a new clean slate after that. STARR: Rym, for most westerners, this is an amazing sight to see, not something that we are terribly familiar with. What is it like for you as a journalist covering the Hajj? Are you allowed to move freely? Can you talk to anyone you want to talk to?

BRAHIMI: Well, Barbara, I have to say, we can walk more or less freely to the extent the crowd will allow you to go anywhere. It's very difficult to go from point A to point B with that kind of heavy pressure from a mass of people like this.

We are accompanied by officials from the Information Ministry of Saudi Arabia. And in some ways, actually, that's not a bad thing, because we'd probably get lost very quickly in certain areas.

And also, some people are not very -- don't really enjoy being filmed on camera when they're praying or when they're performing a Hajj duty. It really depends. You can find a group of people who are perfectly happy to see that. And others -- like, the other day I met in front of the mosque were very angry, and just told me to either leave or go and pray.

That said, it is an amazing experience just seeing this. I don't think I've ever seen a crowd like this in my life.

And when you think of what this means and how far this goes back. This -- you know, Barbara, Arafat is apparently the field in which it's believed that Adam met Eve after they'd been expelled from paradise. And this is where their prayers were accepted when they asked for forgiveness.

So this is, again, where the importance stems for every Muslim pilgrim that comes, again, from everywhere in the world, just for this single day that's the most important in the pilgrimage.

MALVEAUX: Rym, you knew those two CNN employees who were killed recently. Can you tell us a little bit about that? I know that they were extraordinary colleagues.

BRAHIMI: Oh, absolutely. Two of these -- these two colleagues will be missed by everybody. Their bureau in Baghdad works very much like a team. We all have -- and we all had even before the war this feeling that we were all in this together, no matter what happens.

And definitely, now, we also have the same feeling after the war, having been through what everybody's been through. It's just so sad to lose people that you've worked alongside.

Yasser, the driver, was just such a young man. I just thought he was -- I thought he was a kid the first time I climbed into the car and I saw him behind the wheel. And I remember wondering, "Who is this? And what is he doing here?"

And I was told that his father was very eager for him to have a job, and so this is why he was working here with us.

And, of course, Duraid, who was a producer/translator. Nobody has ever said anything -- had anything bad to say about him. He was truly loved by anyone, a true friend and colleague. We used to spend time together, hang out together. He'll be missed so much.

I can't tell you how much it affects everybody in Baghdad and around Baghdad.

STARR: Indeed, Rym, we will not forget these two colleagues of our, and we thank you.

Tell us a little bit more though what's ON THE STORY for you in the coming days.

BRAHIMI: Well, in the coming days this is really going to be the -- we're going to wrap up slowly here. It's been an amazing experience.

There's still one more important event that takes place tomorrow. In fact, at midnight tonight, it's the Eid ul-Adha, which is the biggest Muslim festival, in fact, in the whole Muslim calendar.

This is the Eid that commemorates the end of Hajj and also this is where Muslims (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the symbol, the symbol of sacrifice from Abraham to God.

STARR: Well, coming up here, President Bush gets his say in his weekly radio address. And I want to thank my colleagues and thank you for watching ON THE STORY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Thank you for joining us ON THE STORY. We'll be back next week. Coming up at the top of the hour a check of the top stories. But first, the president's weekly radio address.

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