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On the Story
A Look at How President Bush Spelled Out His Iraq Policy
Aired May 29, 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.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Betty Nguyen at CNN Center in Atlanta. Here's a look at the headlines.
Corporal Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire. The army made that announcement less than an hour ago. Tillman, who quit pro football to become an army ranger, was killed April 22nd during a firefight in Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. PHILLIP KENSINGTON JR., ARMY SPECIAL OPERATIONS: ...a few questions. A military investigation by U.S. Central Command into the circumstance of the 22 April death of Corporal Patrick Tillman is complete. While there was no one specific finding of fault, the investigation results indicate that Corporal Tillman probably died as a result of friendly fire while his unit was engaged in combat with enemy forces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: On the National Mall in Washington, a tribute to the veterans of World War II. Thousands of veterans are attending the dedication of the new memorial, honoring 16 million men and women who served in the military along with the untold number of civilians who made sacrifices at home.
One American is among six people killed by gunmen this morning in the city of Kobar, Saudi Arabia, the gunman attacked an oil company compound, killed the six, took hostages and barricaded themselves in a building now surrounded by police. A senior Saudi official says the attackers are Islamic militants perhaps linked to al Qaeda.
Gunfire this morning in the central Iraqi cities of Najaf and Kufa. U.S. troops and Iraqi forces clash with the radical cleric's militia for the second straight day since the so-called truce was struck. No word on casualties in today's fighting. That's look at the top stories on this hour. I'm Betty Nguyen. ON THE STORY begins right now.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN's ON THE STORY where our journalists have the inside word on the stories we covered this week. I'm Dana Bash on the story of President Bush spelling out his Iraq policy this week and lobbying other world leaders for support.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Elaine Quijano on the National Mall on the story of the dedication of a World War II Memorial just hours from now. It's an event that World War II veterans have waited 60 years for.
LIZ NEISLOSS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Liz Neisloss in New York ON THE STORY of the latest resolution wrangle at the United Nations and the countdown to a new Iraq.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Barbara Starr ON THE STORY of how the U.S. military sees its role in the coming weeks and months in Iraq and the debate over who calls the shots. We'll go live to the National Cathedral here in Washington to hear former President Bush during the World War II memorial service and well go California to talk to CNN's entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas about the new blockbuster "The Day After Tomorrow". E-mail us at onthestory@cnn.com. Now straight to Elaine Quijano and the World War II memorial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB DOLE, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Sometime in your life you may be called upon to make a sacrifice for your country to preserve liberty and freedom and that's what 16 million-plus did in World War II.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: And one of the 16 million, of course, former Senator Bob Dole, the fundraising chairman and one of the prime movers really behind this World War II Memorial that be will be dedicated here in about four hours. This is a poignant time, a time of mixed emotion for the aging veterans, many of whom know this could possibly be their only opportunity to view this World War II Memorial in their lifetime.
BASH: Elaine, tell us about that. I read a statistic that there are some 1,000 World War II veterans that die each day. This has got to be bittersweet for those you're seeing there, particularly since it took a long time to get this done.
QUIJANO: Absolutely. It's a 17-year process that is now reaching its culmination. Behind me you can hear they are playing the service that is going on at the National Cathedral. This event really does bring some mixed emotion for these veterans. It has been a long time come, but at the same time, some of the veterans when you talk to them say they didn't expect to have something like this.
They said when they came home from the war there were parades, they were welcomed as heroes. And it's only now really in the later years of their lives when they're looking back and trying to see what they can pass on to their grandchildren, their great grandchildren that all this talk about a memorial has really sort of reached its climax and now this moment so important for them and their families to be able to preserve that history for the future generations.
STARR: Elaine, there's a lot of concern and sensitivity today I know about these veterans. They are elderly; they are aging; a lot of special preparations here today to help them out. QUIJANO: Absolutely. They are going to have a number of emergency teams on duty here. Really a departure from anything they have done in the past regarding the population and caring for the needs of those people who are expected to come out. They will have people who are going around with defibrillators on bicycles making sure that they are going through the crowds to take care of any kind of needs the veterans and their families might have. They have plenty of water on hand. One thing that good, the temperatures here on the National Mall forecast to be about the mid 70s or so. Certainly that will help the situation.
There had been some concern that if in fact the temperature reached into the 90s that would cause a lot more medical emergencies. So that has certainly helped the situation here. But as you look around, you already see a number of people taking their seats, making sure they are in position for this event here. As I said now, what you're hearing is the sound of the interfaith ceremony, the interfaith service, rather taking place at the National Cathedral which they are showing on Jumbotrons here throughout the Mall. But certainly a number of people have traveled from very far to be here. 60 some years for these veterans, a chance to reunite and reflect and recollect.
BASH: And Elaine, we see the memorial behind you. There was a controversy over the placement of this memorial because it's hard to tell from where we are right now, but it's right in the middle of the Mall. And there was a concern it would obstruct the view and the way the Mall looked. You can see that it's sort of low, tell us how the controversy and how they got around it.
QUIJANO: Yes. Absolutely. One of the things that really was a big factor in sort of hampering the effort to move forward was the fact that opponents said, "Look this is going it break up this open space on the National Mall." It's a very prominent place right now between the Washington Monument and between the Lincoln Memorial and opponents said it was just not going to work as far as they were concern. It was going to be unsightly. And others said, "Look, this is a pinnacle event in our nation's history, it deserves a prominent place on the National Mall. It deserves to have the spot between the Washington Monument, between the Lincoln Memorial so that people who come to the National Mall will also learn this event as well.
Now, there has been some criticism about the actual design. That is something that some folks have said, well, not particularly emotional when they go, for instance to the Vietnam Wall, you know, that experience, we have seen that be a very moving experience for people. Others who have come here saying it's not quite as moving for them because the design of it is really more along the lines of a park as opposed to an actual single monument and yet for these veterans, no matter what, it is still a place where they can come, where they can gather, it is still a place where they can come and gather and be together and remember what it is that they went through and the sacrifices that were made.
STARR: And Elaine, are you noticing--of course, there's been lot of talk about security issues, concerns about that. What can you tell us about what you're seeing right there today on security? QUIJANO: Well, unprecedented security, first of all, is what officials are describing the security effort. It's been about a year or so in the planning. Some 35 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies have been involved. On the actual Mall itself and around the area, about a thousand law enforcement officers coming in to help with that effort. There are also members of the U.S. Coast Guard who are going to be patrolling along the Potomac River nearby here.
Unprecedented because as you know this particular event marks the first event in what the Bush administration has said could be tempting terrorist targets over the next month or so. First being this event and then the G-8 Summit. Also, of course the national election. So all of those factors, although there is no specific credible information that talks about a threat dealing with this event today, certainly a number of precautions are being taken. Some of them, visitors are seeing with the increased police presence. Others behind the scenes that police don't really want to talk about, but very much heightened security here today.
BASH: Elaine, while we're talking now about remembering past war, explaining one still underway is going on at the White House. Did President Bush do what he wanted to do in spelling out his goals for Iraq this week? I'm back on that story in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I sent American troops to Iraq to defend our security. Not to stay as an occupying power. I sent American troops to Iraq to make its people free. Not to make them American.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: High expectations when President Bush gave the first of a series of speeches on Monday on Iraq. What's been accomplished, what remains to be done and how Iraqis will determine their own future. Welcome back, we're ON THE STORY.
QUIJANO: I wanted to ask you, on the speech, there was so much pressure on President Bush, a time when poll numbers are down for the President, also just weeks away from the transfer of sovereignty in Iraq. How did this speech actually go over?
BASH: Well, that's a good question. The White House was already trying to downplay how much one speech could actually do. Even that morning, Elaine, you were also at the White House then. And first of all, the biggest challenge, I'll just start right here was getting the raspberries off the President's face because he had an faceplant on his mountain bike two days before. But after they got over that; they did cover that up with some makeup. What they wanted to do was have the President himself spell this out for the country. These are things all of us who have been covering the issue knew about. We knew about the plan for Iraq, we knew the ins and outs, we knew what would be in this new U.N. resolution that the President talked about. But the White House thought it was imperative for the American people to hear it in one organized way and organized place from the President himself. They wanted to, as they put it, cut through the clutter of all the bad news that continues to come from Iraq. So that was the first, the President is going to do it again this week. The answer to your question, Elaine, it's unclear at this point how much of an impact that has. Certainly it got mixed reviews, as you can imagine, because a lot of people said they were looking for a policy change, a policy difference. Didn't really have one.
NEISLOSS: But this is also the week that John Kerry got to unroll his foreign policy plan saying that Bush has squandered alliances. What sort of reaction, what's the spin back from the Bush camp on what they're starting to see?
BASH: Well, it's not a direct response to John Kerry, but it's interesting to watch the evolution of the Bush White House on the issue of alliances, Liz, and I'm sure you can relate to this given the fact that you were up at the U.N. But a big part of the President's speech was talking about the fact that this plan for Iraq relies heavily, almost entirely on the United Nations.
Not just the U.N. to get a resolution to bless this new plan, but also on the special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to actually create it. There's been sort of a 180 at the White House and a lot of it has to do with the political realities, most of it has to do with the political realities on the ground that they simply realize they can't do this with just the U.S.-led coalition. But there certainly is an element to the domestic political situation which is that John Kerry and other Democrats continue to say George Bush's go it alone policy doesn't work. Well, the President this week tried to make it very clear he's trying not to go it alone, now.
STARR: So did he get any bounce out of the speech? What's going on with those poll numbers?
BASH: Well, it's going to take a while too see what the poll numbers show, but the morning of the speech, Barbara, our latest CNN poll really had him at the same place. His approval rating was 47 percent. Now, the way they looked at it on the bright side at the Bush campaign well, at least it seems as though we might have bottomed out and maybe that means at least we are not losing as much of our conservative base as we thought and maybe not in the same dire place as the President's father was.
They tried to put a spin on it in the Bush campaign looking not just the numbers on his approval rating and on the policy on Iraq, but on issues of character and trustworthiness. They tried to point out that a number of polls still show President Bush way ahead of John Kerry, but you can't get around the fact that President Bush's approval rating has dipped 22 points between now and a year ago. And it's impossible for the Bush campaign to hide the fact that they are very worried about it... NEISLOSS: And Iraq is still something they're not going to escape it seems. So what do you hear about the fears the White House has about what's coming up this June 30th handover? What pitfalls they are worried about? It could be...
BASH: Well, Liz, the atmospheres at the White House this week were quite interesting to watch, and also just to listen to the rhetoric, to watch the body language of the President. Senior officials who were talking to us about how they're going to move forward an it was all about being conciliatory, all about finding compromise with folks you cover up there in New York, Liz.
They are trying to make it clear they're going to do what it takes in order to get this next U.N. resolution, in order to move forward and essentially get a blessing for their plan on Iraq. It's what they need. They're trying to make it very clear in what they're saying, that they understand that, for example some of the Security Council members at the United Nations want it to be abundantly clear that the Iraqis will have full sovereignty, that the United States will not have any political control over the country starting June 30th. The President comes out in the Rose Garden and says, okay fine, you want full sovereignty, you'll get full sovereignty. They're trying hard send the message that they're going do what it takes to make this work.
QUIJANO: Looking ahead at the immediate future for the President. I'm at the World War II Memorial, the President heading to Normandy and also D-Day commemorations. What can we expect out of that for the President?
BASH: It's hard for me to hear you, Elaine, but I think you were talking about World War II. And it's interesting to know that not only is the President going to be at the World War II Memorial today talking about commemorating that, he's using his radio address to do it as well, but he's got a big trip coming up. And it's all related to Iraq and the alliances. He's going to go to Normandy and he's going to be celebrating--commemorating D-Day. Certainly it will be interesting to see him relating to Jacques Chirac, the French president who will also be in Paris and all the other members of the alliance and talking about how strong the alliance was in World War II and how much it matters now.
STARR: Well, from the political drama here in Washington to some escapist drama at your neighborhood multiplex, but even the movies have a message. We're back in a moment ON THE STORY of the climate disaster movie "The Day After Tomorrow."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes there is the Vice President who seems to be a lot like Dick Cheney, but I don't think Roland Emmerich really wanted to make a political statement with this movie. I think he just wanted to get people outdoors--he wanted to get people out from the outdoors, actually, into the movies, in an air conditioned place, enjoying your popcorn and seeing a disaster movie. Disaster movies have done very well throughout the years and I think Roland Emmerich was just trying to capitalize on that. And he's done an amazing job. The special effects were tremendous. They were the best I've ever seen. Tidal waves in New York. Hail the size of grapefruit in Tokyo. Tornadoes in Los Angeles, he captures it all. Now I do have a certain issue because a lot of it takes place in New York and I'm wondering if people, people in New York who have been through so much, if they're going to be okay with this. You know, this is, again, targeting New York.
STARR: But, Sibila, a lot of people here in Washington are even talking about it, and then people say wait a minute, it's a movie, you know. It's summertime, it's a movie. What's the projection out in Hollywood? Is this going to do good box office out there?
VARGAS: I think it's going to do great box office. Actually, the fact that politicians have come out in support of the movie or using it as a platform and environmentalists are doing the same thing, I think that's going to help the movie even more so. So I think, yeah, Roland Emmerich spent more than $100 million on this flick. And you can absolutely see that and I think that audiences are going to like it and I think the people that probably weren't going to see it because of the hoopla surrounding this film, I think they're going to go out and see it.
QUIJANO: Sibila, next week, expectations big for this new Harry Potter movie, what do you think, is it going to live up to the previous Harry Potter movies that have been out there?
VARGAS: That's the big question. A lot of people have said has the spell worn off? But you know what? This has got a new director, it's darker, the kids are growing up, it's much more mature. A lot of the kids that are into Harry Potter right now, they're loyal fans, they're going to be there no matter what. But the question has always been is it enough to attract the older audience, the more mature audiences? This one, they say that this one definitely will do that. The kids are again they're growing older, it's a darker film. Alfonso Cuaron, he was the director of "Y Tu Mama Tambien," which was a very sexually-charged film that did very well with the critics.
He's the new director on this film. It has a completely different look. It's very sophisticated, very dark and much more spookier. So I think, yeah, it's going to be very, very well. In fact, they're projecting it might do better than the first and second. And just to give you an idea the first one did over a billion dollars worldwide. The second one, something close to $800 million. But of course, that's the second and it hasn't been out as long as the first and they're saying this one is going do even better. So the projections are really good.
NEISLOSS: Sibila, I hear that you had a chance to witness something that could be a little bit of entertainment in itself. That is a casting call for the reality show "The Contender." What can you tell us about that?
VARGAS: Ah, "The Contender." Mark Burnnet and Sylvester Stallone. Mark Burnett, the master of reality TV with "Survivor" and "The Apprentice." Sylvester Stallone a star who has got incredible potential and they are getting together, very much like Donald Trump, sort of reminiscent of Donald Trump and Mark Brunett. Look at what happened to "The Apprentice." Look at what happened to Trump's life after that. How popular he became. Well I think the same thing is going to happen over here.
With "The Contender," I went out to the casting call and you know, the difference between these auditions and the rest of them is these guys are really putting their lives on the line. They're over here getting pummeled trying to bet on the show. There's going to be 16 of them. It's going to follow their lives. And initially, you're going to be--viewers are going to be into it just because of the spectacle, the fighting.
It's almost like when you're in a schoolyard in school and you have to see something or a car crash. But I think after that, I think people are going to be drawn in because they're going to really follow these characters and their lives and they're going to talk to their wives and children and their mothers and they're going to follow their lives. And they're going to talk to their wives and their children and their mothers. And they're going to follow their lives. If you really think about it boxers have probably got some of the most dramatic stories, they go through unbelievable lows and tremendous highs. So I think they're going to have a good show on their hands and I wouldn't be surprised if it's the next "Apprentice."
BASH: Sibila, I have to just go back to what you said about it's the same director doing "Y Tu Mama"--that did "Y Tu Mama Tambien" doing "Harry Potter." I would imagine that are some parents who will hear that and get a little bit concerned if they know what "Y Tu Mama Tambien" was. But back on Sly Stallone. This just the latest reality TV show. We were talking about this has just explodes. We see obviously see them, but in terms of the number of reality TV shows that are going to be on the air, tell us about that.
VARGAS: Well, just to give you kind of like a sense here. Two years ago, there was something like six--no actually five reality TVs on the slate for fall. Last year, it was six of them. So can you imagine how many are this year? I don't think you would. 18. 18. That is a huge number. I mean we're talking about almost triple numbers than there were last year and year before that. So I think that reality is definitely here to stay. People thought years ago, that okay, reality is just a fad, it's a trend, it's going to go away. Well it's not. People really like this.
BASH: And reality is going to serve...
STARR: That's my question. I live in a very serious world of the Pentagon here in Washington and you look at the entertainment business today and the summertime is coming up, it seems like it's all reality shows on TV and now this big disaster movie. And people love it, these things are really making money. Why do people go for this stuff?
VARGAS: I think with reality TV, it's unscripted. You can try to capture a person's humanity in a script, but what better way to really go about it than putting a camera in somebody's face and letting them go. We see people, their seams coming undone. There's something unbelievably exhilarating about it, it's refreshing, we live have vicariously through them and we know that it's completely unpredictable. With a script, for example, let's say you're watching a show like "Friends." You know that everything is going to be okay with Jennifer Aniston. If you're watching something like "CSI", you know that the protagonists are always going to be all right. With a reality show, things change, and things unfold. And it's completely unpredictable. People fall apart. Somebody that's a hero one day can be an enemy at next. So I think it's that unpredictability that people are really, really attracted to.
NEISLOSS: But what is not unpredictable is how this might help Sylvester Stallone's career, right? Won't this be a big boost for him?
VARGAS: I think so. I definitely--I have to--you would have to think it definitely will do something great for his career. I mean, if we think about what it's done to Donald Trump. Donald Trump has always been in the public eye. But he became such a popular figure after "The Apprentice." And you know, he was on Saturday Night Live after that. He did so many things. And his whole thing, "You're Fired!" I think everybody knows how to do that. It just did wonders for his career. I really put him in a popular light where people actually loved him. And I think the same thing is going to happen with Sylvester Stallone and when I got to meet him I think he's such a great guy and he's really-- I mean "Rocky" was the start of his career, so he's really got a lot invested in this.
STARR: Well, Sibila thank you so much. It was great. What's ON THE STORY for you in the coming days, now?
VARGAS: Very big story. We're going to be going to Maui, so we're really preparing for that. It's a small film festival, it's in its fifth year, but we're so excited about it. They've got tremendous movies there and we can't wait to bring it to our audiences.
STARR: Well, Sibila, that's terrific. Here, we're going to listen to former President Bush live at the National Cathedral in a moment.
And I'll be back on the story with the latest military developments in Iraq. First a check of what's making headlines at this hour.
NGUYEN: A U.S. Army investigation into the death of Corporal Pat Tillman shows he was likely a victim of friendly fire. The former football player for the Arizona Cardinals was killed April 22nd while engaged with enemy combatants in what the army called "impaired light conditions."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENSINGER: The military investigation by U.S. Central Command into the circumstance of the 22 April death of Corporal Patrick Tillman is complete. While there was no one specific finding of fault, the investigation results indicate that Corporal Tillman probably died as a result of friendly fire while his unit was engaged in combat with enemy forces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Tillman retired from pro football in order to join the elite Army Rangers. He was awarded the Silver Star for heroism.
Blood and a battered shell of a car are what remain in Saudi Arabia after a brutal attack in Khobar. Gunmen who killed six people including one American were Islamic militants perhaps linked to al Qaeda. They attacked an oil company compound, took hostages and at last report were barricaded in a building surrounded by police. State Department official say two Americans are among the injured.
Gunfire this morning in Iraq. U.S. Troops and Iraqi forces are clashing in Najaf for the second straight day since U.S. forces reached the truce with the militia of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. No word on casualties.
And in Washington, a permanent "thank you" to the millions of men and women who served in World War II. Thousands of veterans are attending the dedication of a new memorial on the National Mall. President Bush, his father, former President Bush, and former President Clinton are among those who will be there. And as you can imagine, security is tight.
Those are the top stories at this hour. ON THE STORY will return in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And as we've been talking about it all morning. All over Washington they're celebrating the dedication of the new World War II Memorial on the National Mall. Right now, we're going to take you to the National Cathedral, a service there. Also to celebrate the new monument. This now is the Armed Forces Chorus singing. We await the speech of the former President George Bush. He will be speaking very shortly. And let's take a listen.
(SINGING)
BASH: Again, we're listening to the Armed Forces Chorus at the National Cathedral, all part of the celebration for the World War II Memorial. And our Elaine Quijano is at the World War II Memorial. And Elaine, this is the morning celebration. Later this afternoon, you're going to be watching the actual dedication down there on the Mall. Tell us what we can expect then.
QUIJANO: Yeah, well, it's an emotional time down here at the National Mall. I wanted to show you right now. We are still several hours away from the actual dedication, but if you take a look here, you can see many people have already begun to trickle in, they have staked out their places and they are actually watching the service that's taking place at the National Cathedral. You can hear an echoing on the loudspeakers here. A poignant moment for these people.
Some 140,000 people are expected on the National Mall just today alone for this dedication ceremony. Many of them, as we had talked about earlier in the show. This will be their first and last chance, perhaps. Many of these veterans, the youngest of whom are in their mid-70s to late 70s have been waiting for this kind of recognition. When they came back from World War II, many of them just wanted to get back on with their lives and continue where they sort of left off. And it's only now in the later years, if you talk to some of these veterans, that they've begun to reflect and want to take this place in history and want to take this moment to pass along their experiences.
I can tell you here in the National Mall, a number of events have been going on in conjunction with the actual dedication. There has been a national reunion of World War II veterans a chance for many of these men and women who served during World War II to come and join with people they maybe haven't seen in decades. At the same time there's also what is called a "Veterans' Living History Project" that is actually something that the Library of Congress has spearheaded, a chance for veterans to share their experiences. And now we're going to go to Chaplain Baldwin at the National Cathedral. Let's listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friend. Here ends the reading.
QUIJANO: And now here's the former President George Herbert Walker Bush.
GEORGE H. W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... chorus, that magnificent music and thank Bishop Chain (ph) and everybody else involved in opening this majestic cathedral to this wonderful event. Let me start by saluting Fred Smith and General P.X. Kelley, Marcy Kaptur, the congresswoman whose legislative initiative made this all memorial possible. And particularly, Bob Dole, whose leadership has done so much to fulfill the dream. Everyone pitched in and helped on this.
Various committees. Seeing this amazing project through. And in so doing, helping our nation honor its solemn obligation, never to forget. Today I bring greetings from my dear friend, Bob's dear friend, Gerry Ford, President Ford, himself a World War II veteran, who regrets he was unable to be here today and who asked me to extend his warmest wishes to his fellow veterans. It's altogether fitting and proper that we gather this weekend and in this place to memorialize the people, places and events that forever changed the course of history and turned back a rising tide of tyranny, when the fate of the free world hung in the balance.
The passage of time makes it easy to forget that the 1930s and the 1940s were decades of great danger and uncertainty in our world. Led by fanatics, the armies we faced routinely and systemically killed without remorse, seeking to destroy the institutions and freedoms that we've always held so dear and such was their brutal, thoroughly evil nature that in hindsight their actions almost seem surreal, as if they occurred in another lifetime. And yet you need look no further than to the death camps in Auschwitz and Treblinka or the massacre at Nanjing halfway around the world to understand the true depths of their depravity. Defeating them would prove to be a difficult and deadly enterprise. Winston Churchill often remarked to General Eisenhower that we must take care that the tide does not run red with the blood of the American and British youth or the beaches be choked with their bodies. In the end, the price of victory was indeed high, as Churchill feared, but today we also know that the price of defeat surely would have been far greater. All that stood between the Axis powers and their evil objectives was an ill-prepared, somewhat disparate alliance of free peoples.
Nations that were generally slow to anger and perhaps, if you look back, even reluctant to fight at first. But who once provoked were unrelenting in their mission to see justice prevail. Such was the case when history beckoned some six decades ago and thrust the next generation of American heroes into the crucible of war. These were average men and women who lived in extraordinary times. No matter their rule on the home front or on the front lines, they were united. No matter danger or hardship, they were responded with exceptional bravery.
Indeed, 60 years ago this very week in what history will surely mark as one of the great achievements of mankind; 2 million sons from 15 countries jumped into flak-filled skies and a blood-soaked surf and met death on an even plain. And on a horrible day filled with destruction helped saved the world. And meanwhile, halfway around the world, the same scene of selfless sacrifice played out on the seas, on the volcanic beeches of Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal and Tarawa, as our navy, having recovered from the devastation of Pearl Harbor was well on its way to defeating the forces of imperialism in Asia.
Tom Brokaw in that wonderful book called the World War II veterans "The Greatest Generation." I understand that. And I respect that enormously given the scope and the size and the stakes of the war that General Vessey so eloquently referred to a few minutes ago. But let me differ just a tiny bit. The men and women who make up our all- volunteer forces fighting today in Iraq and Afghanistan and serving with honor and integrity in countless other locations around the world are every bit as great as any generation that preceded them.
The comforts of modern society have not lessened the burdens that they have freely borne, just as their families have not been spared the constant pain of separation. The scope of World War II may have been greater but the anxiety and the pain is no greater. To each of those who serve, serve now, no less a debt of gratitude is owed. An inherent part of our birthright as Americans is a sacred duty to defend freedom. And today, we as Americans now facing this new enemy, an international terror, can take solace that despite the dangers we still face in our world, a new band of brothers has stepped forward and answered this timeless noble cause. This new generation loves America just as much as the patriots who fought in World War II, Vietnam, Korea, Desert Storm and everywhere in between.
And so tonight when you go to sleep and say your prayers of gratitude for those who served so many years ago in World War II, remember, too, that at that moment, there are young men or women halfway around the world, sitting alone in the dark waiting to go out on patrol. They may be tired, even a little bit scared, but every day they put on their uniform and they lay their lives on the line for each us to keep us free and safe. They not only make us proud, despite the uncertainty of the times in which we find ourselves, they also inspire us and give us confidence in our future. The same kind of confidence these Congressional Medal of Honor winners gave our nation when they gave that tribute, that devotion many, many years ago. And so while it is proper that we pause to look back and reflect on the pass heroism of one great generation of American patriots, and while we celebrate the long overdue dedication of a World War II Memorial, let us also not be afraid to look forward with renewed faith, hope and courage that America's best days are yet to be. May God bless those who serve, may God bless those in the greatest generation who honor our country with their service. Thank you.
QUIJANO: An emotional former President George W. Bush(sic), a World War II veteran himself, honoring not just "The Greatest Generation," of course, one he was a part of, but also trying to talk about today's men and women in the military saying they are every bit as great as those who served 60 years ago. We'll be back ON THE STORY after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH: General Abizaid and other commanders in Iraq are constantly assessing the level of troops they need to fulfill the mission. If they need more troops, I will send them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: President Bush on Monday stepping up to one of the key questions that continues to buzz around his Iraq policy, pledging more troops if they are requested. Welcome back, we're ON THE STORY. Liz, what really strikes me about all of this is from your perch at the U.N. In New York, from the Pentagon here in Washington, you can almost hear the clock ticking. You know, 30 days till transition, the ground is shifting. Now, yeah, maybe more troops if there's more violence, but the real focus now, finally, is on transition.
NEISLOSS: That really seems to be the case and it's affecting everything. It's affecting the work, on the names for the interim government and it's affecting the work, the negotiating, on the resolution. Because no matter what tactic countries take, whether France and Germany, Russia, China, they want to push for whatever they can get from the U.S., in particular, on sovereignty issues, on the relationships from the multi-national force that's to come to the new Iraq, whatever negotiations they may take they see the reality of the clock. So they have actually very little room to maneuver.
QUIJANO: Liz, or Barbara, even. The name that has come up, now, surprisingly, I guess, to U.S. Officials, some of them anyway, the interim prime minister tapped, Ayad Allawi, is somebody the U.S. is somewhat familiar with but not necessarily was their first choice.
STARR: Well, Mr. Allawi, Dr. Allawi, he's going to actually be a real test case for the administration. This is someone who was in exile for many year, was supported by all accounts by the Central Intelligence Agency in his opposition group, clearly now going to be the prime minister of the post-war Iraq in this transition. The question will be whether he can garner the support and legitimacy to really have an interim government that is going to work. Because if he cannot, if there is not legitimacy to this interim government, that is going to spark more violence. The insurgents will see an advantage opportunity that they may try and insert themselves into. So a lot of effort is going to be made to make sure Dr. Allawi can get the support of the Iraqi people.
BASH: And Liz, you and I were covering this week, trying to cover together--yesterday the confusion over whether or not he was the guy, who actually supported him, at the White House they said at the beginning of the day, well, maybe he's one of a couple, by the middle of the day, maybe he's the guy. Is he Brahimi's choice or is he not?
NEISLOSS: You could probably spend a week, Dana, trying to unravel all this complicated web over whose name it was. The idea of the names is an extremely sensitive thing and U.N. had been taking great pains to not talk about names. You had a name Sharastani floated earlier in the week by someone in the U.S. Sharastani was not the candidate, in fact, and the U.N. had to come out and knock down that idea. But as far as Allawi goes, it's very confusing, still, I think, but the U.N. was taken by surprise when the announcement was made. Allawi was on the list, Brahimi's list. Brahimi met with him several times, but it is not clear that it was his first choice, but now the U.N. is also taking great pains to say, look, this guy will be just fine. We're going to go with this. In fact, Brahimi is probably working out with Allawi now, through the course of the weekend what the other names will be the rest of the government.
QUIJANO: The resolution--one of the key questions is the issue of the military, the U.S. military's role and whether or not the interim government is going to have the power, if there's some military operation that the U.S. wants to undertake if the interim government is going to be able to say "No."
NEISLOSS: That's very much an important point, when all these countries on the Security Council talk about sovereignty, what they're really meaning is this multi-national force issue. There are other issues, issues of economics, other political decisions, the Iraqi government has to make, but the real sticking point is the multi- national force, as you say. The U.S. does not want to pin down too carefully in black and white in the resolution any expiration date for a multi-national force. The French, the Russians, the Germans, the Chinese, they very much want to know what will happen to this force and they want to know will the Iraqi government be able to say if there is a decision to send troops to Najaf, for example, or any hot spot, will the Iraqi government be sovereign enough to say no, you cannot go there?
BASH: Liz, it feels like it felt a year and a half ago, back at the U.N. over another resolution on Iraq. And we're certainly going to be covering that in the weeks ahead and we'll have more ON THE STORY in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: A member of Congress has been waiting 17 years for this weekend. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur.
What's her story? More, when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur. What's her story?
Kaptur's cause becomes a reality today in Washington at the dedication of the World War II Memorial.
REP. MARCY KAPTUR, (D) OHIO: It has now taken nearly four times longer to build the memorial than to fight the war.
ANNOUNCER: 17-years-ago, while at a hometown fish fry, a veteran asked the Ohio congresswoman why there was no memorial to honor the men and women who served in the second World War. Kaptur proposed the bill to authorize one in the nation's capital. It was six more years in June 2000 when President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, Marcy Kaptur.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Thanks to my colleagues and thanks to you for watching ON THE STORY. We'll be back next week.
Straight ahead, "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" focusing this week on Tom Hanks and Billy Graham. Stay with CNN for our special coverage of the World War II Memorial coverage. Coming up right now, a check of the top stories and we're leaving you with the hat toss at the end of the West Point graduation ceremony minutes ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dismissed!
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Aired May 29, 2004 - 10:00 ET
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BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Betty Nguyen at CNN Center in Atlanta. Here's a look at the headlines.
Corporal Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire. The army made that announcement less than an hour ago. Tillman, who quit pro football to become an army ranger, was killed April 22nd during a firefight in Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. PHILLIP KENSINGTON JR., ARMY SPECIAL OPERATIONS: ...a few questions. A military investigation by U.S. Central Command into the circumstance of the 22 April death of Corporal Patrick Tillman is complete. While there was no one specific finding of fault, the investigation results indicate that Corporal Tillman probably died as a result of friendly fire while his unit was engaged in combat with enemy forces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: On the National Mall in Washington, a tribute to the veterans of World War II. Thousands of veterans are attending the dedication of the new memorial, honoring 16 million men and women who served in the military along with the untold number of civilians who made sacrifices at home.
One American is among six people killed by gunmen this morning in the city of Kobar, Saudi Arabia, the gunman attacked an oil company compound, killed the six, took hostages and barricaded themselves in a building now surrounded by police. A senior Saudi official says the attackers are Islamic militants perhaps linked to al Qaeda.
Gunfire this morning in the central Iraqi cities of Najaf and Kufa. U.S. troops and Iraqi forces clash with the radical cleric's militia for the second straight day since the so-called truce was struck. No word on casualties in today's fighting. That's look at the top stories on this hour. I'm Betty Nguyen. ON THE STORY begins right now.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN's ON THE STORY where our journalists have the inside word on the stories we covered this week. I'm Dana Bash on the story of President Bush spelling out his Iraq policy this week and lobbying other world leaders for support.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Elaine Quijano on the National Mall on the story of the dedication of a World War II Memorial just hours from now. It's an event that World War II veterans have waited 60 years for.
LIZ NEISLOSS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Liz Neisloss in New York ON THE STORY of the latest resolution wrangle at the United Nations and the countdown to a new Iraq.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Barbara Starr ON THE STORY of how the U.S. military sees its role in the coming weeks and months in Iraq and the debate over who calls the shots. We'll go live to the National Cathedral here in Washington to hear former President Bush during the World War II memorial service and well go California to talk to CNN's entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas about the new blockbuster "The Day After Tomorrow". E-mail us at onthestory@cnn.com. Now straight to Elaine Quijano and the World War II memorial.
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BOB DOLE, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Sometime in your life you may be called upon to make a sacrifice for your country to preserve liberty and freedom and that's what 16 million-plus did in World War II.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: And one of the 16 million, of course, former Senator Bob Dole, the fundraising chairman and one of the prime movers really behind this World War II Memorial that be will be dedicated here in about four hours. This is a poignant time, a time of mixed emotion for the aging veterans, many of whom know this could possibly be their only opportunity to view this World War II Memorial in their lifetime.
BASH: Elaine, tell us about that. I read a statistic that there are some 1,000 World War II veterans that die each day. This has got to be bittersweet for those you're seeing there, particularly since it took a long time to get this done.
QUIJANO: Absolutely. It's a 17-year process that is now reaching its culmination. Behind me you can hear they are playing the service that is going on at the National Cathedral. This event really does bring some mixed emotion for these veterans. It has been a long time come, but at the same time, some of the veterans when you talk to them say they didn't expect to have something like this.
They said when they came home from the war there were parades, they were welcomed as heroes. And it's only now really in the later years of their lives when they're looking back and trying to see what they can pass on to their grandchildren, their great grandchildren that all this talk about a memorial has really sort of reached its climax and now this moment so important for them and their families to be able to preserve that history for the future generations.
STARR: Elaine, there's a lot of concern and sensitivity today I know about these veterans. They are elderly; they are aging; a lot of special preparations here today to help them out. QUIJANO: Absolutely. They are going to have a number of emergency teams on duty here. Really a departure from anything they have done in the past regarding the population and caring for the needs of those people who are expected to come out. They will have people who are going around with defibrillators on bicycles making sure that they are going through the crowds to take care of any kind of needs the veterans and their families might have. They have plenty of water on hand. One thing that good, the temperatures here on the National Mall forecast to be about the mid 70s or so. Certainly that will help the situation.
There had been some concern that if in fact the temperature reached into the 90s that would cause a lot more medical emergencies. So that has certainly helped the situation here. But as you look around, you already see a number of people taking their seats, making sure they are in position for this event here. As I said now, what you're hearing is the sound of the interfaith ceremony, the interfaith service, rather taking place at the National Cathedral which they are showing on Jumbotrons here throughout the Mall. But certainly a number of people have traveled from very far to be here. 60 some years for these veterans, a chance to reunite and reflect and recollect.
BASH: And Elaine, we see the memorial behind you. There was a controversy over the placement of this memorial because it's hard to tell from where we are right now, but it's right in the middle of the Mall. And there was a concern it would obstruct the view and the way the Mall looked. You can see that it's sort of low, tell us how the controversy and how they got around it.
QUIJANO: Yes. Absolutely. One of the things that really was a big factor in sort of hampering the effort to move forward was the fact that opponents said, "Look this is going it break up this open space on the National Mall." It's a very prominent place right now between the Washington Monument and between the Lincoln Memorial and opponents said it was just not going to work as far as they were concern. It was going to be unsightly. And others said, "Look, this is a pinnacle event in our nation's history, it deserves a prominent place on the National Mall. It deserves to have the spot between the Washington Monument, between the Lincoln Memorial so that people who come to the National Mall will also learn this event as well.
Now, there has been some criticism about the actual design. That is something that some folks have said, well, not particularly emotional when they go, for instance to the Vietnam Wall, you know, that experience, we have seen that be a very moving experience for people. Others who have come here saying it's not quite as moving for them because the design of it is really more along the lines of a park as opposed to an actual single monument and yet for these veterans, no matter what, it is still a place where they can come, where they can gather, it is still a place where they can come and gather and be together and remember what it is that they went through and the sacrifices that were made.
STARR: And Elaine, are you noticing--of course, there's been lot of talk about security issues, concerns about that. What can you tell us about what you're seeing right there today on security? QUIJANO: Well, unprecedented security, first of all, is what officials are describing the security effort. It's been about a year or so in the planning. Some 35 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies have been involved. On the actual Mall itself and around the area, about a thousand law enforcement officers coming in to help with that effort. There are also members of the U.S. Coast Guard who are going to be patrolling along the Potomac River nearby here.
Unprecedented because as you know this particular event marks the first event in what the Bush administration has said could be tempting terrorist targets over the next month or so. First being this event and then the G-8 Summit. Also, of course the national election. So all of those factors, although there is no specific credible information that talks about a threat dealing with this event today, certainly a number of precautions are being taken. Some of them, visitors are seeing with the increased police presence. Others behind the scenes that police don't really want to talk about, but very much heightened security here today.
BASH: Elaine, while we're talking now about remembering past war, explaining one still underway is going on at the White House. Did President Bush do what he wanted to do in spelling out his goals for Iraq this week? I'm back on that story in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I sent American troops to Iraq to defend our security. Not to stay as an occupying power. I sent American troops to Iraq to make its people free. Not to make them American.
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BASH: High expectations when President Bush gave the first of a series of speeches on Monday on Iraq. What's been accomplished, what remains to be done and how Iraqis will determine their own future. Welcome back, we're ON THE STORY.
QUIJANO: I wanted to ask you, on the speech, there was so much pressure on President Bush, a time when poll numbers are down for the President, also just weeks away from the transfer of sovereignty in Iraq. How did this speech actually go over?
BASH: Well, that's a good question. The White House was already trying to downplay how much one speech could actually do. Even that morning, Elaine, you were also at the White House then. And first of all, the biggest challenge, I'll just start right here was getting the raspberries off the President's face because he had an faceplant on his mountain bike two days before. But after they got over that; they did cover that up with some makeup. What they wanted to do was have the President himself spell this out for the country. These are things all of us who have been covering the issue knew about. We knew about the plan for Iraq, we knew the ins and outs, we knew what would be in this new U.N. resolution that the President talked about. But the White House thought it was imperative for the American people to hear it in one organized way and organized place from the President himself. They wanted to, as they put it, cut through the clutter of all the bad news that continues to come from Iraq. So that was the first, the President is going to do it again this week. The answer to your question, Elaine, it's unclear at this point how much of an impact that has. Certainly it got mixed reviews, as you can imagine, because a lot of people said they were looking for a policy change, a policy difference. Didn't really have one.
NEISLOSS: But this is also the week that John Kerry got to unroll his foreign policy plan saying that Bush has squandered alliances. What sort of reaction, what's the spin back from the Bush camp on what they're starting to see?
BASH: Well, it's not a direct response to John Kerry, but it's interesting to watch the evolution of the Bush White House on the issue of alliances, Liz, and I'm sure you can relate to this given the fact that you were up at the U.N. But a big part of the President's speech was talking about the fact that this plan for Iraq relies heavily, almost entirely on the United Nations.
Not just the U.N. to get a resolution to bless this new plan, but also on the special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to actually create it. There's been sort of a 180 at the White House and a lot of it has to do with the political realities, most of it has to do with the political realities on the ground that they simply realize they can't do this with just the U.S.-led coalition. But there certainly is an element to the domestic political situation which is that John Kerry and other Democrats continue to say George Bush's go it alone policy doesn't work. Well, the President this week tried to make it very clear he's trying not to go it alone, now.
STARR: So did he get any bounce out of the speech? What's going on with those poll numbers?
BASH: Well, it's going to take a while too see what the poll numbers show, but the morning of the speech, Barbara, our latest CNN poll really had him at the same place. His approval rating was 47 percent. Now, the way they looked at it on the bright side at the Bush campaign well, at least it seems as though we might have bottomed out and maybe that means at least we are not losing as much of our conservative base as we thought and maybe not in the same dire place as the President's father was.
They tried to put a spin on it in the Bush campaign looking not just the numbers on his approval rating and on the policy on Iraq, but on issues of character and trustworthiness. They tried to point out that a number of polls still show President Bush way ahead of John Kerry, but you can't get around the fact that President Bush's approval rating has dipped 22 points between now and a year ago. And it's impossible for the Bush campaign to hide the fact that they are very worried about it... NEISLOSS: And Iraq is still something they're not going to escape it seems. So what do you hear about the fears the White House has about what's coming up this June 30th handover? What pitfalls they are worried about? It could be...
BASH: Well, Liz, the atmospheres at the White House this week were quite interesting to watch, and also just to listen to the rhetoric, to watch the body language of the President. Senior officials who were talking to us about how they're going to move forward an it was all about being conciliatory, all about finding compromise with folks you cover up there in New York, Liz.
They are trying to make it clear they're going to do what it takes in order to get this next U.N. resolution, in order to move forward and essentially get a blessing for their plan on Iraq. It's what they need. They're trying to make it very clear in what they're saying, that they understand that, for example some of the Security Council members at the United Nations want it to be abundantly clear that the Iraqis will have full sovereignty, that the United States will not have any political control over the country starting June 30th. The President comes out in the Rose Garden and says, okay fine, you want full sovereignty, you'll get full sovereignty. They're trying hard send the message that they're going do what it takes to make this work.
QUIJANO: Looking ahead at the immediate future for the President. I'm at the World War II Memorial, the President heading to Normandy and also D-Day commemorations. What can we expect out of that for the President?
BASH: It's hard for me to hear you, Elaine, but I think you were talking about World War II. And it's interesting to know that not only is the President going to be at the World War II Memorial today talking about commemorating that, he's using his radio address to do it as well, but he's got a big trip coming up. And it's all related to Iraq and the alliances. He's going to go to Normandy and he's going to be celebrating--commemorating D-Day. Certainly it will be interesting to see him relating to Jacques Chirac, the French president who will also be in Paris and all the other members of the alliance and talking about how strong the alliance was in World War II and how much it matters now.
STARR: Well, from the political drama here in Washington to some escapist drama at your neighborhood multiplex, but even the movies have a message. We're back in a moment ON THE STORY of the climate disaster movie "The Day After Tomorrow."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes there is the Vice President who seems to be a lot like Dick Cheney, but I don't think Roland Emmerich really wanted to make a political statement with this movie. I think he just wanted to get people outdoors--he wanted to get people out from the outdoors, actually, into the movies, in an air conditioned place, enjoying your popcorn and seeing a disaster movie. Disaster movies have done very well throughout the years and I think Roland Emmerich was just trying to capitalize on that. And he's done an amazing job. The special effects were tremendous. They were the best I've ever seen. Tidal waves in New York. Hail the size of grapefruit in Tokyo. Tornadoes in Los Angeles, he captures it all. Now I do have a certain issue because a lot of it takes place in New York and I'm wondering if people, people in New York who have been through so much, if they're going to be okay with this. You know, this is, again, targeting New York.
STARR: But, Sibila, a lot of people here in Washington are even talking about it, and then people say wait a minute, it's a movie, you know. It's summertime, it's a movie. What's the projection out in Hollywood? Is this going to do good box office out there?
VARGAS: I think it's going to do great box office. Actually, the fact that politicians have come out in support of the movie or using it as a platform and environmentalists are doing the same thing, I think that's going to help the movie even more so. So I think, yeah, Roland Emmerich spent more than $100 million on this flick. And you can absolutely see that and I think that audiences are going to like it and I think the people that probably weren't going to see it because of the hoopla surrounding this film, I think they're going to go out and see it.
QUIJANO: Sibila, next week, expectations big for this new Harry Potter movie, what do you think, is it going to live up to the previous Harry Potter movies that have been out there?
VARGAS: That's the big question. A lot of people have said has the spell worn off? But you know what? This has got a new director, it's darker, the kids are growing up, it's much more mature. A lot of the kids that are into Harry Potter right now, they're loyal fans, they're going to be there no matter what. But the question has always been is it enough to attract the older audience, the more mature audiences? This one, they say that this one definitely will do that. The kids are again they're growing older, it's a darker film. Alfonso Cuaron, he was the director of "Y Tu Mama Tambien," which was a very sexually-charged film that did very well with the critics.
He's the new director on this film. It has a completely different look. It's very sophisticated, very dark and much more spookier. So I think, yeah, it's going to be very, very well. In fact, they're projecting it might do better than the first and second. And just to give you an idea the first one did over a billion dollars worldwide. The second one, something close to $800 million. But of course, that's the second and it hasn't been out as long as the first and they're saying this one is going do even better. So the projections are really good.
NEISLOSS: Sibila, I hear that you had a chance to witness something that could be a little bit of entertainment in itself. That is a casting call for the reality show "The Contender." What can you tell us about that?
VARGAS: Ah, "The Contender." Mark Burnnet and Sylvester Stallone. Mark Burnett, the master of reality TV with "Survivor" and "The Apprentice." Sylvester Stallone a star who has got incredible potential and they are getting together, very much like Donald Trump, sort of reminiscent of Donald Trump and Mark Brunett. Look at what happened to "The Apprentice." Look at what happened to Trump's life after that. How popular he became. Well I think the same thing is going to happen over here.
With "The Contender," I went out to the casting call and you know, the difference between these auditions and the rest of them is these guys are really putting their lives on the line. They're over here getting pummeled trying to bet on the show. There's going to be 16 of them. It's going to follow their lives. And initially, you're going to be--viewers are going to be into it just because of the spectacle, the fighting.
It's almost like when you're in a schoolyard in school and you have to see something or a car crash. But I think after that, I think people are going to be drawn in because they're going to really follow these characters and their lives and they're going to talk to their wives and children and their mothers and they're going to follow their lives. And they're going to talk to their wives and their children and their mothers. And they're going to follow their lives. If you really think about it boxers have probably got some of the most dramatic stories, they go through unbelievable lows and tremendous highs. So I think they're going to have a good show on their hands and I wouldn't be surprised if it's the next "Apprentice."
BASH: Sibila, I have to just go back to what you said about it's the same director doing "Y Tu Mama"--that did "Y Tu Mama Tambien" doing "Harry Potter." I would imagine that are some parents who will hear that and get a little bit concerned if they know what "Y Tu Mama Tambien" was. But back on Sly Stallone. This just the latest reality TV show. We were talking about this has just explodes. We see obviously see them, but in terms of the number of reality TV shows that are going to be on the air, tell us about that.
VARGAS: Well, just to give you kind of like a sense here. Two years ago, there was something like six--no actually five reality TVs on the slate for fall. Last year, it was six of them. So can you imagine how many are this year? I don't think you would. 18. 18. That is a huge number. I mean we're talking about almost triple numbers than there were last year and year before that. So I think that reality is definitely here to stay. People thought years ago, that okay, reality is just a fad, it's a trend, it's going to go away. Well it's not. People really like this.
BASH: And reality is going to serve...
STARR: That's my question. I live in a very serious world of the Pentagon here in Washington and you look at the entertainment business today and the summertime is coming up, it seems like it's all reality shows on TV and now this big disaster movie. And people love it, these things are really making money. Why do people go for this stuff?
VARGAS: I think with reality TV, it's unscripted. You can try to capture a person's humanity in a script, but what better way to really go about it than putting a camera in somebody's face and letting them go. We see people, their seams coming undone. There's something unbelievably exhilarating about it, it's refreshing, we live have vicariously through them and we know that it's completely unpredictable. With a script, for example, let's say you're watching a show like "Friends." You know that everything is going to be okay with Jennifer Aniston. If you're watching something like "CSI", you know that the protagonists are always going to be all right. With a reality show, things change, and things unfold. And it's completely unpredictable. People fall apart. Somebody that's a hero one day can be an enemy at next. So I think it's that unpredictability that people are really, really attracted to.
NEISLOSS: But what is not unpredictable is how this might help Sylvester Stallone's career, right? Won't this be a big boost for him?
VARGAS: I think so. I definitely--I have to--you would have to think it definitely will do something great for his career. I mean, if we think about what it's done to Donald Trump. Donald Trump has always been in the public eye. But he became such a popular figure after "The Apprentice." And you know, he was on Saturday Night Live after that. He did so many things. And his whole thing, "You're Fired!" I think everybody knows how to do that. It just did wonders for his career. I really put him in a popular light where people actually loved him. And I think the same thing is going to happen with Sylvester Stallone and when I got to meet him I think he's such a great guy and he's really-- I mean "Rocky" was the start of his career, so he's really got a lot invested in this.
STARR: Well, Sibila thank you so much. It was great. What's ON THE STORY for you in the coming days, now?
VARGAS: Very big story. We're going to be going to Maui, so we're really preparing for that. It's a small film festival, it's in its fifth year, but we're so excited about it. They've got tremendous movies there and we can't wait to bring it to our audiences.
STARR: Well, Sibila, that's terrific. Here, we're going to listen to former President Bush live at the National Cathedral in a moment.
And I'll be back on the story with the latest military developments in Iraq. First a check of what's making headlines at this hour.
NGUYEN: A U.S. Army investigation into the death of Corporal Pat Tillman shows he was likely a victim of friendly fire. The former football player for the Arizona Cardinals was killed April 22nd while engaged with enemy combatants in what the army called "impaired light conditions."
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KENSINGER: The military investigation by U.S. Central Command into the circumstance of the 22 April death of Corporal Patrick Tillman is complete. While there was no one specific finding of fault, the investigation results indicate that Corporal Tillman probably died as a result of friendly fire while his unit was engaged in combat with enemy forces.
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NGUYEN: Tillman retired from pro football in order to join the elite Army Rangers. He was awarded the Silver Star for heroism.
Blood and a battered shell of a car are what remain in Saudi Arabia after a brutal attack in Khobar. Gunmen who killed six people including one American were Islamic militants perhaps linked to al Qaeda. They attacked an oil company compound, took hostages and at last report were barricaded in a building surrounded by police. State Department official say two Americans are among the injured.
Gunfire this morning in Iraq. U.S. Troops and Iraqi forces are clashing in Najaf for the second straight day since U.S. forces reached the truce with the militia of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. No word on casualties.
And in Washington, a permanent "thank you" to the millions of men and women who served in World War II. Thousands of veterans are attending the dedication of a new memorial on the National Mall. President Bush, his father, former President Bush, and former President Clinton are among those who will be there. And as you can imagine, security is tight.
Those are the top stories at this hour. ON THE STORY will return in just a moment.
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DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And as we've been talking about it all morning. All over Washington they're celebrating the dedication of the new World War II Memorial on the National Mall. Right now, we're going to take you to the National Cathedral, a service there. Also to celebrate the new monument. This now is the Armed Forces Chorus singing. We await the speech of the former President George Bush. He will be speaking very shortly. And let's take a listen.
(SINGING)
BASH: Again, we're listening to the Armed Forces Chorus at the National Cathedral, all part of the celebration for the World War II Memorial. And our Elaine Quijano is at the World War II Memorial. And Elaine, this is the morning celebration. Later this afternoon, you're going to be watching the actual dedication down there on the Mall. Tell us what we can expect then.
QUIJANO: Yeah, well, it's an emotional time down here at the National Mall. I wanted to show you right now. We are still several hours away from the actual dedication, but if you take a look here, you can see many people have already begun to trickle in, they have staked out their places and they are actually watching the service that's taking place at the National Cathedral. You can hear an echoing on the loudspeakers here. A poignant moment for these people.
Some 140,000 people are expected on the National Mall just today alone for this dedication ceremony. Many of them, as we had talked about earlier in the show. This will be their first and last chance, perhaps. Many of these veterans, the youngest of whom are in their mid-70s to late 70s have been waiting for this kind of recognition. When they came back from World War II, many of them just wanted to get back on with their lives and continue where they sort of left off. And it's only now in the later years, if you talk to some of these veterans, that they've begun to reflect and want to take this place in history and want to take this moment to pass along their experiences.
I can tell you here in the National Mall, a number of events have been going on in conjunction with the actual dedication. There has been a national reunion of World War II veterans a chance for many of these men and women who served during World War II to come and join with people they maybe haven't seen in decades. At the same time there's also what is called a "Veterans' Living History Project" that is actually something that the Library of Congress has spearheaded, a chance for veterans to share their experiences. And now we're going to go to Chaplain Baldwin at the National Cathedral. Let's listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friend. Here ends the reading.
QUIJANO: And now here's the former President George Herbert Walker Bush.
GEORGE H. W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... chorus, that magnificent music and thank Bishop Chain (ph) and everybody else involved in opening this majestic cathedral to this wonderful event. Let me start by saluting Fred Smith and General P.X. Kelley, Marcy Kaptur, the congresswoman whose legislative initiative made this all memorial possible. And particularly, Bob Dole, whose leadership has done so much to fulfill the dream. Everyone pitched in and helped on this.
Various committees. Seeing this amazing project through. And in so doing, helping our nation honor its solemn obligation, never to forget. Today I bring greetings from my dear friend, Bob's dear friend, Gerry Ford, President Ford, himself a World War II veteran, who regrets he was unable to be here today and who asked me to extend his warmest wishes to his fellow veterans. It's altogether fitting and proper that we gather this weekend and in this place to memorialize the people, places and events that forever changed the course of history and turned back a rising tide of tyranny, when the fate of the free world hung in the balance.
The passage of time makes it easy to forget that the 1930s and the 1940s were decades of great danger and uncertainty in our world. Led by fanatics, the armies we faced routinely and systemically killed without remorse, seeking to destroy the institutions and freedoms that we've always held so dear and such was their brutal, thoroughly evil nature that in hindsight their actions almost seem surreal, as if they occurred in another lifetime. And yet you need look no further than to the death camps in Auschwitz and Treblinka or the massacre at Nanjing halfway around the world to understand the true depths of their depravity. Defeating them would prove to be a difficult and deadly enterprise. Winston Churchill often remarked to General Eisenhower that we must take care that the tide does not run red with the blood of the American and British youth or the beaches be choked with their bodies. In the end, the price of victory was indeed high, as Churchill feared, but today we also know that the price of defeat surely would have been far greater. All that stood between the Axis powers and their evil objectives was an ill-prepared, somewhat disparate alliance of free peoples.
Nations that were generally slow to anger and perhaps, if you look back, even reluctant to fight at first. But who once provoked were unrelenting in their mission to see justice prevail. Such was the case when history beckoned some six decades ago and thrust the next generation of American heroes into the crucible of war. These were average men and women who lived in extraordinary times. No matter their rule on the home front or on the front lines, they were united. No matter danger or hardship, they were responded with exceptional bravery.
Indeed, 60 years ago this very week in what history will surely mark as one of the great achievements of mankind; 2 million sons from 15 countries jumped into flak-filled skies and a blood-soaked surf and met death on an even plain. And on a horrible day filled with destruction helped saved the world. And meanwhile, halfway around the world, the same scene of selfless sacrifice played out on the seas, on the volcanic beeches of Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal and Tarawa, as our navy, having recovered from the devastation of Pearl Harbor was well on its way to defeating the forces of imperialism in Asia.
Tom Brokaw in that wonderful book called the World War II veterans "The Greatest Generation." I understand that. And I respect that enormously given the scope and the size and the stakes of the war that General Vessey so eloquently referred to a few minutes ago. But let me differ just a tiny bit. The men and women who make up our all- volunteer forces fighting today in Iraq and Afghanistan and serving with honor and integrity in countless other locations around the world are every bit as great as any generation that preceded them.
The comforts of modern society have not lessened the burdens that they have freely borne, just as their families have not been spared the constant pain of separation. The scope of World War II may have been greater but the anxiety and the pain is no greater. To each of those who serve, serve now, no less a debt of gratitude is owed. An inherent part of our birthright as Americans is a sacred duty to defend freedom. And today, we as Americans now facing this new enemy, an international terror, can take solace that despite the dangers we still face in our world, a new band of brothers has stepped forward and answered this timeless noble cause. This new generation loves America just as much as the patriots who fought in World War II, Vietnam, Korea, Desert Storm and everywhere in between.
And so tonight when you go to sleep and say your prayers of gratitude for those who served so many years ago in World War II, remember, too, that at that moment, there are young men or women halfway around the world, sitting alone in the dark waiting to go out on patrol. They may be tired, even a little bit scared, but every day they put on their uniform and they lay their lives on the line for each us to keep us free and safe. They not only make us proud, despite the uncertainty of the times in which we find ourselves, they also inspire us and give us confidence in our future. The same kind of confidence these Congressional Medal of Honor winners gave our nation when they gave that tribute, that devotion many, many years ago. And so while it is proper that we pause to look back and reflect on the pass heroism of one great generation of American patriots, and while we celebrate the long overdue dedication of a World War II Memorial, let us also not be afraid to look forward with renewed faith, hope and courage that America's best days are yet to be. May God bless those who serve, may God bless those in the greatest generation who honor our country with their service. Thank you.
QUIJANO: An emotional former President George W. Bush(sic), a World War II veteran himself, honoring not just "The Greatest Generation," of course, one he was a part of, but also trying to talk about today's men and women in the military saying they are every bit as great as those who served 60 years ago. We'll be back ON THE STORY after this.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH: General Abizaid and other commanders in Iraq are constantly assessing the level of troops they need to fulfill the mission. If they need more troops, I will send them.
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STARR: President Bush on Monday stepping up to one of the key questions that continues to buzz around his Iraq policy, pledging more troops if they are requested. Welcome back, we're ON THE STORY. Liz, what really strikes me about all of this is from your perch at the U.N. In New York, from the Pentagon here in Washington, you can almost hear the clock ticking. You know, 30 days till transition, the ground is shifting. Now, yeah, maybe more troops if there's more violence, but the real focus now, finally, is on transition.
NEISLOSS: That really seems to be the case and it's affecting everything. It's affecting the work, on the names for the interim government and it's affecting the work, the negotiating, on the resolution. Because no matter what tactic countries take, whether France and Germany, Russia, China, they want to push for whatever they can get from the U.S., in particular, on sovereignty issues, on the relationships from the multi-national force that's to come to the new Iraq, whatever negotiations they may take they see the reality of the clock. So they have actually very little room to maneuver.
QUIJANO: Liz, or Barbara, even. The name that has come up, now, surprisingly, I guess, to U.S. Officials, some of them anyway, the interim prime minister tapped, Ayad Allawi, is somebody the U.S. is somewhat familiar with but not necessarily was their first choice.
STARR: Well, Mr. Allawi, Dr. Allawi, he's going to actually be a real test case for the administration. This is someone who was in exile for many year, was supported by all accounts by the Central Intelligence Agency in his opposition group, clearly now going to be the prime minister of the post-war Iraq in this transition. The question will be whether he can garner the support and legitimacy to really have an interim government that is going to work. Because if he cannot, if there is not legitimacy to this interim government, that is going to spark more violence. The insurgents will see an advantage opportunity that they may try and insert themselves into. So a lot of effort is going to be made to make sure Dr. Allawi can get the support of the Iraqi people.
BASH: And Liz, you and I were covering this week, trying to cover together--yesterday the confusion over whether or not he was the guy, who actually supported him, at the White House they said at the beginning of the day, well, maybe he's one of a couple, by the middle of the day, maybe he's the guy. Is he Brahimi's choice or is he not?
NEISLOSS: You could probably spend a week, Dana, trying to unravel all this complicated web over whose name it was. The idea of the names is an extremely sensitive thing and U.N. had been taking great pains to not talk about names. You had a name Sharastani floated earlier in the week by someone in the U.S. Sharastani was not the candidate, in fact, and the U.N. had to come out and knock down that idea. But as far as Allawi goes, it's very confusing, still, I think, but the U.N. was taken by surprise when the announcement was made. Allawi was on the list, Brahimi's list. Brahimi met with him several times, but it is not clear that it was his first choice, but now the U.N. is also taking great pains to say, look, this guy will be just fine. We're going to go with this. In fact, Brahimi is probably working out with Allawi now, through the course of the weekend what the other names will be the rest of the government.
QUIJANO: The resolution--one of the key questions is the issue of the military, the U.S. military's role and whether or not the interim government is going to have the power, if there's some military operation that the U.S. wants to undertake if the interim government is going to be able to say "No."
NEISLOSS: That's very much an important point, when all these countries on the Security Council talk about sovereignty, what they're really meaning is this multi-national force issue. There are other issues, issues of economics, other political decisions, the Iraqi government has to make, but the real sticking point is the multi- national force, as you say. The U.S. does not want to pin down too carefully in black and white in the resolution any expiration date for a multi-national force. The French, the Russians, the Germans, the Chinese, they very much want to know what will happen to this force and they want to know will the Iraqi government be able to say if there is a decision to send troops to Najaf, for example, or any hot spot, will the Iraqi government be sovereign enough to say no, you cannot go there?
BASH: Liz, it feels like it felt a year and a half ago, back at the U.N. over another resolution on Iraq. And we're certainly going to be covering that in the weeks ahead and we'll have more ON THE STORY in a moment.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: A member of Congress has been waiting 17 years for this weekend. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur.
What's her story? More, when we return.
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ANNOUNCER: Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur. What's her story?
Kaptur's cause becomes a reality today in Washington at the dedication of the World War II Memorial.
REP. MARCY KAPTUR, (D) OHIO: It has now taken nearly four times longer to build the memorial than to fight the war.
ANNOUNCER: 17-years-ago, while at a hometown fish fry, a veteran asked the Ohio congresswoman why there was no memorial to honor the men and women who served in the second World War. Kaptur proposed the bill to authorize one in the nation's capital. It was six more years in June 2000 when President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, Marcy Kaptur.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Thanks to my colleagues and thanks to you for watching ON THE STORY. We'll be back next week.
Straight ahead, "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" focusing this week on Tom Hanks and Billy Graham. Stay with CNN for our special coverage of the World War II Memorial coverage. Coming up right now, a check of the top stories and we're leaving you with the hat toss at the end of the West Point graduation ceremony minutes ago.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dismissed!
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