(BEGIN
VIDEOTAPE)
KEITH
OLBERMANN, HOST (voice-over): Which of these stories will you be talking
about tomorrow?
This does not
represent the America I know. In the wake of Abu Ghraib prison, the
president tries to calm the Arab world via television.
While nobody
calms the American world via television, Secretary Rumsfeld says it proves
the system works. Senator Biden says it suggests maybe the secretary
should resign.
Disney versus
Michael Moore: Attack on the first amendment or just billionaires versus
millionaires?
A terror watch:
Three bombs in Athens 100 days before the Olympics start, and where would
al Qaeda find people to be operatives in American cities? How about in
American jails?
And the story
pretty much tells itself. He is all right, although I am not hiring him
to build my new deck.
All that and
more now on COUNTDOWN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OLBERMANN:
Good evening. Even by the standards of the Abu Ghraib prison, the latest
allegation of abuse of Iraqis by American troops is appalling, and its
source makes it all the more damaging.
American
soldiers allegedly detained an elderly Iraqi woman, made her crawl around
the floor on her hands and knees, placed a saddle on her back, then one of
the servicemen road her around while calling her a donkey. The source of
the report is the personal human rights envoy to Iraq of President Bush‘s
closest ally, Prime Minister Blair of Great Britain.
Our story on
the COUNTDOWN tonight: The abuse scandal in Iraq just gets worse and
worse, seeming now to render pathetic. The assessment by a conservative
radio commentator that, quote, “It‘s no different than what happens at the
skull and bones initiation at Yale.”
Developments
everywhere, today. The military disclosing that over the last 17 months
it has conducted a total of 25 criminal investigations involving the
deaths of Iraqi and Afghan prisoners. So far, two prisoner deaths: One
in Iraq, One in Afghanistan have been declared homicides, 12 more of the
investigations pertain to homicide. NBC News has learned today that a
third serviceman, a staff sergeant, now faces court-martial.
And as
questions increase about just how high up the greasy pole this goes, key
White House officials have now agreed to submit to some questioning.
Heeding the call to report to the Hill before week‘s end, Defense
Secretary Rumsfeld, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Myers, they will
appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee this Friday. The acting
army secretary, army chief of staff, a deputy of Centcom will also be
present. So far this week, hearings have been closed. In a moment, we
will hear from one of the senators on the Intelligence Committee that
conducted just such a hearing today, but Friday‘s will be an open
hearing.
Open or
otherwise, if Secretary Rumsfeld performance on the talk shows this
morning is any indication, the senators may have a tough time getting him
to admit much culpability. In an interview with Matt Lauer that bordered
on contentious, the secretary somehow managed to use the word “apology”
without actually making one.
(BEGIN VIDEO
CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD,
U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Anyone who sees the photographs does, in fact,
apologize to the people who were abused. That is wrong, it shouldn‘t have
happened, it‘s un-American, it‘s unacceptable, and we all know that. And
that apology is there to any individual who was abused.
(END VIDEO
CLIP)
OLBERMANN: Mr.
Rumsfeld also freely admitted that he has yet to finish reading the Army
report that has now been widely leaked to the media.
(BEGIN VIDEO
CLIP)
RUMSFELD: When
I‘m asked a question as to whether I have read the entire report, I answer
honestly that I have not. It is—it is a mountain of paper and
investigative material.
(END VIDEO
CLIP)
OLBERMANN:
That report, by the way, available on our web site, msnbc.com.
But, by the
time Mr. Rumsfeld goes before Armed Services on Friday, a murmur about his
future may have grown into a roar. The ranking democrat on the Foreign
Relations Committee began to pump up that volume this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO
CLIP)
SEN. JOSEPH
BIDEN (D), ARMED SERVICES CMTE: If it goes all the way to Rumsfeld, then
he should resign. Who is in charge? I mean, look, every single, solitary
decision made, almost, since the time of the fall of Saddam Hussein has
been mistaken. I mean, so who—who is making these decisions? It‘s not
the president of the United States of America. He ultimately makes
decisions based on information presented him by top officials in his
administration.
(END VIDEO
CLIP)
OLBERMANN: And
back to senators in the Senate. The Select Committee on Intelligence
already investigated today, and earlier I spoke with one of its minority
members, Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois.
(BEGIN VIDEO
CLIP)
OLBERMANN:
Senator Durbin, our great thanks for your time this evening.
SEN. RICHARD
DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: Good to be with you.
OLBERMANN:
Understanding, sir that the committee is holding closed-door hearings, and
closed-door means closed-door, what can you tell us about what you‘re
asking in there, what you are trying to find out, now?
DURBIN: Based
on the published reports and those that are well-known, I can say it‘s
clear that this was not an isolated incident. This Iraqi prison scandal
involved many different incidents ranging from the most heinous and
sickening activity that you can possibly imagine. It is incredible to
believe that an American, a soldier, or a private contractor was involved
in this kind of conduct, and sadly it reflects so poorly on the hundreds
of thousands of men and women in uniform who are really doing such a fine
job for us in Iraq.
OLBERMANN: As
to the full chain of command here, your colleague Senator Biden, this
morning, said that if it goes all the way up to Secretary Rumsfeld, the
secretary should resign. Do you concur with that?
DURBIN: I tell
you what, when I look at the situation and the serious impact it‘s going
to have on the security of the United States, the fact that we have now
created recruiting posters for terrorists around the world, I think we
have to follow this where the evidence may lead, and we have to find out
who failed us. There was a failure in leadership when it came to the
military, and we have to establish exactly how far this reaches.
OLBERMANN:
Does Congress, in your opinion, share any of the leadership blame here?
Human rights organizations have been out for months and in some cases for
years complaining about violations at Guantanamo Bay, complaining about
Afghanistan and Iraq. Should it be asked, not only why the administration
had not unearthed this previously, why the military had not unearthed it,
but also why Congress had not unearthed it?
DURBIN: As
best I can determine, this scandalous activity at the al-Ghraib was not
disclosed to members of Congress until it was televised and was published
in Seymour Hersh‘s piece in the “New Yorker.” And to think that Secretary
Rumsfeld and General Myers appeared before the senators last Thursday in
closed session in top-secret briefing failed to even mention that this was
going to be televised within hours is amazing. We need to do a better job
at every level, but certainly the military has to answer to members of
Congress as well as to the American people for what‘s occurred.
OLBERMANN:
Lastly, sir, tonight your reaction to the president‘s appearance on the
Arab language networks today. He called the abuse in Iraq “abhorrent” but
again, there was no literal apology on behalf of the country. Did he do
enough today?
DURBIN: I‘m
sorry the president did not apologize. I think it would have demonstrated
a human and a sense of justice which we think is part of the American
presidency. You don‘t expect a dictator or a despotic person to apologize
for this kind of conduct, but a nation ruled by law, I think an apology
would have been in order.
OLBERMANN:
Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence. Again, senator, thanks for your time, tonight.
DURBIN: Thank
you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OLBERMANN:
About the president‘s interviews, even in the bid to minimize the damage
on the proverbial Arab street, the president created a new
mini-controversy, today. He granted interviews to the al-Arabia network
and to the U.S. government funded al-Hurra, but not to al-Jazeera
television. An administration source telling NBC News the U.S. is still
“sore at al-Jazeera,” and while it may eventually grant interviews to the
most widely watched of the Arabic language news broadcasters, that would
not start now and not with the president. In the two interviews he did
do, Mr. Bush said that “the people of Iraq must understand that what took
place in that prison does not represent the America that I know.” He also
promised that “justice will be served,” and he called the abuses
“abhorrent,” but even as his own commander in the field, General Kimmitt,
apologized in so many words, Mr. Bush did not.
(BEGIN VIDEO
CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH,
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It‘s very important for people, your
listeners, to understand, in our country, that when a issue is brought to
our attention on this magnitude, we act, and we act in a way where leaders
are willing to discuss it with the media and we act in a way where—you
know, our congress asks pointed questions to the leadership. In other
words, people want to know the truth. That stands in contrast to
dictatorships. A dictator or wouldn‘t be answering questions about this.”
(END VIDEO
CLIP)
OLBERMANN:
And those interviews will be greeted how? We‘re joined now by Raghida
Dergham, the senior diplomatic correspondent for the London-based Arab
“al-Hayat”.
Good evening.
RAGHIDA
DERGHAM, AL-HAYAT NEWSPAPER: Good evening to you, Keith.
OLBERMANN: In
a lot of corners here, there seems to be a sense of futility to this, that
the U.S. could not possibly be more disliked than it already is, than it
already was. Is that true? Are gestures like the president‘s useless at
this point?
DERGHAM: It‘s
as bad as you could imagine. Now we are seen as the primitive America, as
a brutal America, and they‘re saying “we‘ve known this all along about
you, and now only when administration was forced to admit that there were
such atrocities, it finally tried to do the quick fix.” The trouble is
there is something that smacks of a cover-up, and I think an interview or
two, that‘s not going to correct the problems we have (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
OLBERMANN:
Senator Durbin just suggested that those prison photographs are the
recruiting posters for terrorists.
DERGHAM:
Indeed.
OLBERMANN: Has
the U.S. now put itself in the position where all that‘s being determined
now is not whether or not—whether—if we have inspired new terrorists, but
actually how many new terrorists we‘ve just inspired?
DERGHAM: We
have no idea how many. The problem is that the violations of humanitarian
law are way beyond what have happened—atrocities that has taken place—that
have taken place at Abu Ghraib prison. What American forces are doing is
something that is viewed, at least in the Arab world, as a similar
occupation to that of Israel, that is to say demolition of homes,
arbitrary arrests, sort of like raids on homes and putting people out and
just putting them in prison without trial. All of these things are really
leaving angering people who want revenge. It‘s a cycle of revenge, Keith,
and I think unless there is true correction of policies, I think the worst
is yet to come.
OLBERMANN: I
know this goes against your idea here of long-term solutions instead of
quick fixes, and the dangers of quick fixes and relying on them, but is
there anything short-term as, perhaps not as a quick fix, but instead as
the leading edge of a long-term solution that can be done in or by this
country now to at least brunt the affect of the prison abuse?
DERGHAM: I‘m
of the view—and I actually have changed my mind. I used to think that the
best thing would be for the American forces to stay in Iraq for a while
because I was afraid of civil war and eruption of disaster and chaos in
the country. Now, with them several and fundamental mistakes that were
made by decision makers in this administration, I feel that it‘s better
for Iraq and better for the United States to take advantage of the 30th
of June date, the date when we‘re supposed to turnover sovereignty to the
Iraqis, to say “mission accomplished, let‘s get out.” I‘m afraid that
it‘s too late to resurrect the liberation of Iraq, we are already seen as
an ugly occupier.
OLBERMANN:
Hmm. Raghida Dergham, senior diplomatic correspondent for “al-Hayat”, the
London-based Arabic daily, many thanks. Sobering words.
DERGHAM: Many
thanks to you.
OLBERMANN:
Thanks.
In an election
year, of course, everything is political and domestic.
What are the
early impacts of this scandal on the presidential race? Tonight a new
poll conducted by NBC News and the “Wall Street Journal” showing a growing
unease with the war, but not the president. When asked if removing Saddam
Hussein from power had been worth the number of casualties and the
financial cost, 47 percent of registered voters said it was not worth it;
42 percent said it was; two months ago almost exactly the opposite was
true. Then, 50 percent said the war was worth it; 44 percent said it was
not. Fifty percent of respondents said the country was going in the wrong
direction yet, the approval rating for the president remaining firm at 47
percent. Disapproval also firm -- 46, the same figure since March.
Just to round
out our number, our No. 5 story tonight, the government has considered or
is considering a proposal to register women for the draft. The
then-acting chief of U.S. Selective Service made the proposal in a
moment—in a memo, rather, to senior Pentagon officials in February 2003.
Lewis Brodsky‘s suggestions included: Having all American women aged 18
to 34 registered with Selective Service, extend the age of draft
registration by men from 18 to 25 to 18 to 34, and asking all those who
registered to inform the government about whether or not they had any
quote “critical skills.” The Pentagon spokesman says no action has been
taken, described all this as merely food for thought for contingency
planning. And acting director Brodsky, he has just succeeded by a
full-time director, Jack Martin, this past Monday.
COUNTDOWN
opening tonight as it has all week, with the still burgeoning prison abuse
scandals out of Iraq.
Next, the No. 4
stories: Censorship or just business? The battle of the M&M boys—Michael
Moore versus Mickey Mouse.
And, the
decency debate: Howard stern‘s supporters trying to take down Oprah
Winfrey?
Later, a
student taunted by bullies for years chooses finally to fight back. Today
he finds out whether or not he will spend five years behind bars. Stand
by.
(COMMERCIAL
BREAK)
OLBERMANN: Our
No. 4 story on the COUNTDOWN, up next. Your preview is: Freedom of
speech colliding of freedom of business: From Iraq to the U.S., from the
movies to bobblehead dolls.
(COMMERCIAL
BREAK)
OLBERMANN:
Back with the COUNTDOWN and the fourth story on it, and the fourth story
is actually four different stories about the first amendment. Well, kind
of about the first amendment.
Disney has
refused to let its subsidiary Miramax release Michael Moore‘s documentary
“Fahrenheit 9/11.” The film not only criticizes the president‘s actions,
both before and after the terrorist attacks, but also connects dots
between President Bush and prominent Saudi families. According to Moore‘s
agent, Disney chief Michael Eisner expressed concern that the film might
jeopardize tax breaks for Disney theme parks in Florida, where the
president‘s brother serves as governor. The company denies that charge,
but refuses to say why it is invoking its right to stop distribution.
Moore will present the film at the festival in Cannes, later this month.
Whether or not you and I ever see it may be decided by mediation.
Continuing with
our fourth story, it‘s not merely Mike versus Mickey, it‘s also Howard
versus Oprah. At the behest of the man perennially in the bull‘s-eye of
the FCC dartboard, more than 1,600 letters of complaints have been sent to
the commission regarding its inaction regarding Oprah Winfrey. On her
March 18th show she discussed sexual acts in what amounted to
explicit detail. We have read the—you some of them previously, sufficed
to say they are unusual salad recipes. Our friends at thesmokinggun.com,
meantime, have obtained samples of the supposed complaints.
Quote, “I had
just returned with my 3-year-old twins from Bible day camp when I turned
on the show. I never would have expected to be confronted with such
disgusting rhetoric on a non-cable telecast during the middle of the
afternoon. I would expect you to set a stern example.”
And another:
“The Oprah show described in graphic detail a sexual term. It was so
offensive that my child‘s head literally exploded. Please ban free speech
so this never happens again.”
Obvious caveat,
here. The validity of these e-mails could not be independently verified.
In fact, one is signed by a political action committee, the acronym for
which spells one of the seven words you can‘t say on basic cable.
Getting closer
to the real purpose of the first amendment in Iraq, officials had
described a newspaper there as “a model of journalism for the Middle
East.” That was then. Citing censorship and the increasing danger to
reporters working for a U.S.-backed publication, dozens of staffers left
the “al-Sabah” newspaper, including the editor-in-chief Ismail Zayer.
(BEGIN VIDEO
CLIP)
ISMAIL ZAYER,
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF,”AL-SABAH”: We to be independent.
Sovereignty
have to be changed to the Iraqi people, including the media. But, they
don‘t understand that. They think we have to be part of this body.
(END VIDEO
CLIP)
OLBERMANN:
This body being the Iraqi Media Network. L. Paul Bremer hoping to keep
the “al-Sabah” in that fold, one that Mr. Zayer contends would be subject
to manipulation even after the June 30 transfer of power.
“Later this
week,” said Mr. Zayer, he and his displaced reporters will launch their
own publication, and it will be independent.
And, part four
of the No. 4 story: Can you use the first amendment to protect the sale
of a product about a public figure? On Friday Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger of California, filed suit against Ohio Discount Merchandise
of Canton, Ohio, for using his image on an bobblehead doll.
Schwarzenegger‘s attorney saying, quote, “We spoke to them, they said, ‘we‘re not
going to stop.” I said, “fine, we‘re going to sue you‘.” The doll makers
contending that as Governor Schwarzenegger, he is a political figure and no
longer in control of his image, pointing out they made no reference in
their doll to his movie work. Don‘t hold your breath, boys, 25 years ago we
tried to make baseball cards without the player‘s approval on first
amendment grounds and got laughed out of court.
Before we leave
our No. 4 story, we bring you four other bobbleheads. Our favorites made
by the same company now in legal hot water with the governor.
No. 4: Albert
Einstein. What better company than a genius? Well, how about the always
popular Jesus?
That No. 2...
Huh, huh, huh.
Whatcha,
whatcha, whatcha. Lester Holt was not available? Huh?
And No. 1:
Anna Nicole Smith, and if anybody ever merited the description “bobblehead,”
that‘s her right there.
Lester Holt was
not available? Huh?
No. 4 story
behind us, now Free speech, it‘s not so free and may have nothing to do
with the first amendment. Coming up, from bobblehead to nails in my
head. You know you‘ve had a bad day when this is what your x-ray looks
like. “Oddball,” obviously, right around the corner.
Later, busting
on police busts: One man trying to help motorists avoid a police
checkpoint, and in turn he gets arrested. Stand by.
(COMMERCIAL
BREAK)
OLBERMANN: We
rejoin you with the COUNTDOWN and immediately pause it because you never
outgrow your need to know how the whole world is getting incrementally
closer to being one long, living “Simpson‘s” episode. Evidence which will
be distributed just as soon as I say, “Let‘s play Oddball.”
Remember, you
can never get the last nail in yourself, as the old joke goes about those
who act a little too martyrish. Well, maybe you can. Meet Mr. Isidro
Mejia of Los Angeles. “With injuries like that, he should have been
dead,” says a spokesman at Providence Holy Cross Hospital. Mr. Mejia, a
builder, was using a nail gun that has both a manual setting and an
automatic setting. He slipped, it was on automatic. It took doctors five
days to remove the six nails from his brain. They say he‘ll recover
fully, although he now may involuntary whistle while he works.
So, stop me if
you have heard this one before. A woman goes into a Woolworth‘s and
orders 10,656 Mars Bars to go. This was in London, and Woolworth‘s in
London is different company, a different concept than Woolworth‘s, here.
It‘s the chocolate shop. But, the “Reuters” news service reports an
unidentified woman walked in anyway and asked for all the Mars Bars they
had -- 10,656 of them, paid for them in cash, about 3,800 bucks. The
shop‘s spokesman said she then had the chocolate loaded into her
chauffeur-driven limousine. The spokesman added, nobody thought to ask
her why she wanted so many. The spokesman added, “Perhaps she has a sweet
tooth.” The spokesman is not too bright.
Could have been
worse, that woman could have loved stuffed fish instead of chocolate.
Police in Saginaw, Michigan, have arrested a 25-year-old woman and charge
her with attacking her boyfriend with, quote, “something like a
swordfish. After a fairly typical domestic dispute, he bit her, she bit
him, it turned ugly. She reached for the fish—a stuffed fish, or in the
official police reported, “...a decorative fish. Something like a
swordfish.”
No, no, no, it
wasn‘t the singing bass reeling off “Rolling on the River,” swordfish.
Perhaps that
woman should have simply picked up the phone and called the “Doyen Vent
Line” in Portland, Maine. Mr. Phillip Doyen charges callers $1.99 a
minute. For that price, he will listen to you complain about anything,
while professional counselors complain that he may actually be hurting the
mental health of his callers, none seem too concerned about the effect on
Doyen of having to listen to some guy complain all day and all night. He
says “I‘m in it for the money, if it helps people, great.” During the day
he works as a computer repairman and, as such, probably has already
listened to so many people venting, that he‘s become immune to it.
And lastly, the
parking job of the day. Back, back, back, back, -- perfect, right there.
This is in Atlanta. It is actually the result of a game of bumper cars.
The valet bumped into the BMW that you see hanging precariously, there.
They eventually pulled the Beamer back in without significant damage and
proving some kind of point, what did the valet hit that Beamer with? An
SUV, of course.
The COUNTDOWN
picking back up with our No. 3 story after the break. Your preview: The
next wave of al-Qaeda terrorists. Might they be coming from American
prisons?
Well, later a
dramatic scene in the skies over New York: Choppers, reporters covering a
shooting. Instead they become the story.
Those stories
ahead, first here are COUNTDOWN‘s “Top 3 Newsmakers” of this day:
No. 3: Five
folks who lived at 151st and Chandler in Omaha, Nebraska.
Police have
arrested then on suspicion of running a methamphetamine lab. Their first
subtle clue? The 9,600 gallon tank full of ammonia parked in front of the
residents.
No. 2: Kiheem
Grant of Beaumont, Texas, order to do wear a shock belt because
authorities feared he might become violent during his robbery trial. Mr.
Grant attacked a witness, the shock belt did not shock him. Police today
explained, he had shorted the thing out by inserting a ham sandwich
between the battery and the electrode. Thank you, Mr. Science.
And No. 1:
Olivia Chanes of Mission Viejo, California, she bought a hotdog at the
discount store, Costco, it contained two bullets, one of which she
swallowed. Doctors advised her to let that bullet, quote, “exit
naturally.” All‘s I‘m going to say is, you‘ve heard one particular phrase
about this your entire life, and now it‘s coming true.
(COMMERCIAL
BREAK)
OLBERMANN: One
hundred days hence, the Summer Olympics begin in Athens, Greece. This
morning saw the ceremonial kickoff of the countdown to the Games. It also
saw three bombs going off at a police station in the Athens suburb of
Kallithea. Olympic officials insist coincidence.
Our third story
on the COUNTDOWN, terror, coincidental or otherwise, in Athens and perhaps
developing inside America‘s prisons.
Athens first.
An anonymous caller warned a newspaper there 10 minutes before the blast
began. Thus, there were no injuries, but police said there clearly could
have been. The bombs could have potentially caused casualties and not
just damage. No claim of responsibility has yet been made, and the
suburban police station is nowhere near any Olympic sites. But, in
February, during meetings of the International Olympic Committee in
Athens, two government trucks were firebombed and responsibility was
claimed by an anti-Olympics group using the names of Greece‘s Olympic
mascots.
And just last
week, the International Committee had taken out an insurance policy worth
$170 million to cover cancellation the Games due to war, natural disaster,
or terrorism.
Back here,
meantime, we may be brewing an unnatural disaster in our own prisons,
homegrown terrorists proselytized into extreme forms of Islam and ripe for
recruitment by al Qaeda. According to a classified section of a Justice
Department report released today, counterterrorism officials say there are
authorized chaplains, volunteers, and prison inmates with possible ties to
terrorist groups. Investigators are also concerned that unsupervised
inmates with extremist beliefs are leading Muslim prayer meetings on their
own.
Prison
officials say they are working on the problem, reaching out to the FBI,
scrutinizing groups that train prison chaplains. But New York Senator
Charles Schumer, who helped push for this report, says he was told in a
briefing that volunteers linked to suspects on terrorist watch lists have
already recruited supporters inside. The senator also says there was
virtually no vetting on who would become a chaplain or a volunteer and
there was virtually no supervision. It was an invitation to danger.
Whether that
invitation to danger has passed or it remains a threat in the present is a
question for our next guest, Steve Emerson, terrorism expert, MSNBC
analyst, author of “American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us.”
Steve, good
evening.
STEVE EMERSON,
NBC TERRORISM ANALYST: Hi, Keith.
OLBERMANN:
Well, this really is living among us. How serious is this?
EMERSON: This
is very serious. In fact, I was reading the report right before I got to
the studio here, Keith.
And, frankly,
the I.G. report actually only touches the tip of the iceberg. It‘s far
more extensive. If you speak to FBI officials in the field in various
cities, they will tell you that there are terrorists who are being
recruited. There are ideological extremists being recruited and
indoctrinated with materials supplied through the prison system. And the
problem really is, Keith, that there is nobody watching what the car is
doing and it‘s being driven out of control at this point.
Really, there‘s
no supervision, no oversight. And, yet, the prison system, the Bureau of
Prisons, still maintains that it has done nothing wrong and that it‘s
really not something that needs to be far corrected because there isn‘t
that much of a problem. We really do have a serious problem here of
denial by the Bureau of Prisons, but more importantly, the absence of
pressure on the Bureau of Prisons is going to lead to major—potentially to
major terrorist recruitment in the future.
OLBERMANN:
Even just theoretically, how would you stop this kind of recruitment,
given the amounts of things that are not dealt with in the prison system
on a daily basis?
EMERSON: Well,
let me give you a good example here, because this touches the issue of
free speech vs. incitement and actual terrorist recruitment.
The Al Haramain
Foundation out of Oregon, which has been part of the larger Al Haramain
organization out of Saudi Arabia, some of its affiliates have been closed
down, linked to terrorist groups, it has distributed more than 20,000
Korans in the last several years, maintains an extensive database of
prisoners in the United States.
In the Koranic
version that they distributed is a 30-page addendum calling for jihad
against the infidels and against the West. The fact is this was in
English. It wasn‘t in Arabic. The prison system willingly allowed this
to be disseminated here. Clearly, somebody should just be reading the
material that‘s being pumped into the system before it‘s allowed to be
uncritically and widely disseminated. That‘s just first thing they should
do.
The second
thing they should do is literally check the credentials of the Muslim
chaplains because they‘re being vetted by radical groups instead of being
actually investigated first for their degree of moderation. There‘s no
effort at all to ascertain what their true views are on radical Islamic
terrorism.
OLBERMANN: It
seems almost, as you describe it here, like a human parallel to the
methods that were used regarding 9/11. You could never get enough
material into this country to blow up the World Trade Center, so you use
what you find in the country, the unguarded jets. You could never get
enough terrorists into this country, so you use what you find in the
country, the most disaffected people here.
But unlike the
planes and the airline system, you can‘t just cut off total access. You
can‘t just say, OK, no more Muslims in prison.
EMERSON:
You‘re right. You can‘t say that, and, yet, the problem is, as the report
noted, the population, as in France—in France, they say that half the
prison population is Muslim. And there is real radicalization of
terrorist groups and exhortations to commit violence. In the United
States, we‘re proceeding along the same path.
And the reality
is that there‘s a political correctness, Keith, that prevents us from
putting on the constraints that are really our self-interests and are
still democratic. They‘re not anti-democratic here. There‘s no suicide
pact that‘s, you know, enshrined in the Constitution, as they say. Here,
clearly, they‘re proselytizing among potential willing terrorist converts,
that is religious converts, who would commit acts of terrorism once they
get out.
This is a
powder keg that‘s going to explode one of these days. And we‘re going to
end up having a commission like we had on 9/11 again.
OLBERMANN:
Terrorism expert, MSNBC analyst Steve Emerson, as always, sir, thank you
for your insights.
EMERSON:
You‘re welcome.
OLBERMANN:
Good night.
That wraps up
the third story on the COUNTDOWN, terrorists in the field and still in the
recruitment stage.
Up next, a
bullied boy fights back. They arrest him. The No. 2 story on the
COUNTDOWN straight ahead.
Then, later,
life imitating art, as a bear wanders into unfamiliar territory.
But first, here
are COUNTDOWN top three sounds bites of this day.
(BEGIN
VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO
CLIP, “LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O‘BRIEN”)
CONAN O‘BRIEN,
HOST: Do you feel that, looking like me in any way, do you feel like it
helped you on “American Idol”?
(LAUGHTER)
O‘BRIEN:
Because you are a good singer. You‘re a very good singer.
JOHN STEVENS,
SINGER: Thank you.
O‘BRIEN: And
you deserve praise in your own right for that, but do you think in any way
you were riding what‘s called the Conan wave? Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
STEVENS: No.
O‘BRIEN: No,
you don‘t feel you were?
(END VIDEO
CLIP)
BUSH (through
translator): Sit down.
Welcome to the
Casa Blanca.
(LAUGHTER)
SEN. JOHN KERRY
(D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (through translator):
I am listening
to my cassettes during my free time on the campaign. But I wish I had
more free time.
(CHEERING AND
APPLAUSE)
(END
VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL
BREAK)
OLBERMANN: If
you have always taught your kids to fight back if they get bullied in
school, our second story will give you chills. And it is next on
COUNTDOWN.
Stand by,
please.
(COMMERCIAL
BREAK)
OLBERMANN: If
you have ever seen the cult movie classic “A Christmas Story,” you know
about little Ralphie. In one of the many interwoven plots assembled from
the novellas of the late humorist Jean Shepherd, Ralphie is the daily
victim of two bullies, Scut Farkus and Grover Dill.
One day,
Ralphie explodes. He knocks down the bully Farkus with one punch and is
immediately astride in bloodying his nose and swearing a blew streak.
Little Ralphie is a hero. Sure, it‘s just the movies, but when exactly
the same thing happened to me in 1967, and the bully‘s name was Ralph, my
version of it had the added excitement of my mother driving up just at the
moment I started to swear. I was hailed as a hero, too.
In our second
story on the COUNTDOWN tonight, though, real life today in Jonesboro,
Georgia, is apparently a little different than all that.
As Don Teague
reports, little Ralphie strikes back against Scut Farkus and nearly goes
to jail.
(BEGIN
VIDEOTAPE)
DON TEAGUE, NBC
CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirteen-year-old Daryl Gray says his last
two years at Pointe South Middle School have been filled with fear. He
was frequently targeted by bullies who he says beat him, called him gay,
and in one instance urinated on his shoes.
DARYL GRAY, 13
YEARS OLD: I was kind of shocked, scared.
TEAGUE: His
mother says she repeatedly asked the school for help.
JEANETTE GRAY,
MOTHER OF DARYL: I complained over and over again.
TEAGUE: But
the bullying continued.
J. GRAY: It
was very hard because when my child hurts, I hurt.
TEAGUE: Until
March, when Daryl says another boy hit him in math class.
D. GRAY: He
punched me right here in my head.
TEAGUE: Daryl
punched back, but he was holding a pencil which seriously injured the
other boy‘s face. Daryl was charged and convicted of aggravated battery.
He was in court today facing a possible five-year prison sentence.
J. GRAY: It
should have never gotten that far.
TEAGUE (on
camera): All students know about bullying. Many have experienced it.
One study says at least one out of 10 students have been abused by a
bully. Some say at least one out of three have been victims.
(voice-over):
Georgia and 16 other states have passed anti-bullying laws in recent
years. Still, Nan Stein, who studies student violence says, school
administrators should stop the violence by taking action.
NAN STEIN,
STUDIES STUDENT VIOLENCE: It is not unto the children to think about ways
of how am I going it circumvent the torment I might get today?
TEAGUE: Daryl
Gray‘s school says it deals with bullying as quickly as possible, but
maintains a zero-tolerance policy against violence, even self-defense.
LINDA TANNER,
CLAYTON COUNTY SCHOOLS: Students cannot fight back.
There are other
means that you can use.
TEAGUE: As for
Daryl, the judge sentenced him to probation and counseling instead of
jail.
D. GRAY: I‘m
still getting bullied.
TEAGUE: And he
says still afraid to go back to school.
Don Teague, NBC
News, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OLBERMANN:
From life not imitating the movies to those stories in which people in the
movies imitate having real lives. It is our segment “Keeping Tabs.”
And it starts
with a most unusual sale of film rights. Sony Pictures is willing to make
a movie out of the book “Moneyball.” “Moneyball” is the story of how a
baseball team general manager assembles his lineup in the face of the
financial inequities that hamstring the lesser franchises, like Oakland.
Oh, get Schwarzenegger for it. No truth to rumors that the “Moneyball”
movie will be part of a series of action thrillers based on such other
best-selling books as “The Imus Ranch” and “The Barnhart Concise
Dictionary of Etymology.”
We told you
Monday of the recovery of the jaded Argentine soccer star Maradona and how
he credited fans of his former team, Boca Juniors, with pulling him back
after he had entered what he called the tunnel of death. Calling all Boca
fans. Maradona is back in the hospital now a week after he had discharged
himself—or the fans had done it for him. Previously suffering from heart
and lung trouble, this trip, the hospital said, is a checkup because of
something he ate that he should not have.
As he left the
hospital last Friday, he told reporters he had been hankering for a big
slab of fine Argentine beef.
And being that
COUNTDOWN is the newscast of record for bears who live too close to
people, we bring you this from Agoura Hills outside L.A. It is a
California black bear appearing for the second time in a week in the
neighborhood. Shot with tranquilizers by the bear patrol, moved away as
part of the bear relocation program. So how does this come to be “Keeping
Tabs”? What makes it celebrity news, that bear wandering around a
swimming pool? Obviously, he has been watching “The Sopranos.”
And if you have
ever wanted to be in television news, this might make you think twice. No
one was critically injured here, but NBC‘s New York station had its
helicopter up over a shooting scene in Brooklyn when this happened. The
chopper with three on board suddenly went down, crashed against one
building, fell, as you saw, on to another, and crumpled in a heap.
And to add
competitive insult to genuine injury and fear, it was all caught on the
rival ABC station‘s chopper camera. WNBC‘s traffic reporter, Andrew
Torres, staggers out of the crashed helicopter almost immediately after
impact. The pilot and co-pilot were later rescued. One of the injured is
already at home resting there. The others are still hospitalized and in
stable condition.
Tonight‘s top
story, he held up a sign warning motorists about a police checkpoint and
landed himself in jail. His story is next.
First, here are
COUNTDOWN top two photos of this day.
(COMMERCIAL
BREAK)
OLBERMANN: In
many parts of this country, it‘s already happened. The easiest way to get
someone angry is to threaten his right to—no, not to bear arms—his right
to drive the way he likes.
The No. 1 story
on the COUNTDOWN, what happens when lawmakers try to control that
perceived right or to punish those who try to outwit the law enforcers?
First, in Northern California, in the capital, Tallahassee, there, State
Senator Steve Geller has introduced a bill which would fine me-first
drivers $80 for their troubles. What is a me-first driver? Well, the guy
who drivers on the shoulder, then swerves back in, in front of a long line
of traffic or those who tailgate or those who weave in and out of lanes,
not the ones with road rage, the ones who are the carriers of road wage.
All told, 13 states are considering adding some kind of me-first laws to
their traffic codes.
Might want to
perfect the laws you‘ve got already. A Florida group called Brothers of
the Same Mind heard about a scheduled police road checkpoint in Miami.
They had heard about it because the city held a news conference and sent
out press releases. Its members, including Brian Dennis, went near the
scene to warn motorists about the checkpoint. They were a little
surprised to see that the police themselves had posted a sign about the
checkpoint about a block away from it.
Mr. Dennis was
more surprised still when, after he held up his own sign warning of the
checkpoint, police arrested him.
We‘re joined
now by Brian Dennis and his attorney, John DeLeon, who is the vice
president of the Miami chapter of the ACLU.
And, gentlemen,
good evening.
Mr. Dennis, let
me start with you.
If the police
had a news conference and they had a sign and all you had was a sign and
you didn‘t have a news conference, what did you get arrested for?
BRIAN DENNIS,
PRESIDENT, BROTHERS OF THE SAME MIND: I guess basically exercising my
First Amendment right.
OLBERMANN:
Wow.
Mr. DeLeon,
there‘s a city of Miami police checkpoint in the same area where the other
police force in the area, the Miami-Dade police force, is running a
narcotics investigation, as I understand the timing of this whole thing.
And the Miami-Dade officers decided that Mr. Dennis had blown their cover
somehow? Didn‘t the two police departments combine to blow Miami-Dade‘s
cover by not coordinating which one of them was going to hold a news
conference that day?
JOHN DELEON,
ATTORNEY FOR DENNIS: Keith, absolutely.
This is almost
like a case of the Keystone Cops, but with real consequences, that Brian
ended up getting arrested for doing what precisely he just talked about,
which was exercising his First Amendment right of letting people in the
community know that there was a checkpoint ahead. I mean, the problem
should not have been with Brian. It should have been with the City of
Miami Police Department, if in fact they did have a problem.
The reality is,
in every community, every night, there are undercover operations—we
all know that—in every major metropolitan area.
And simply by
putting up a sign and indicating that the police are in the area would subject
anybody to arbitrary arrest. And that‘s what happened here with Brian
Dennis, who is the president of one of the great activist groups here in Miami,
Brothers of the Same Mind.
OLBERMANN: Mr.
Dennis, so we are clear, that organization‘s members, your members are for
the most part ex-convicts and your goal is to help other ex-convicts. And
do you think that you might have been targeted because of your past?
DENNIS: Well,
maybe so, but our mission is to stop the revolving door of criminals who
come in and out, to prevent young brothers and sisters, regardless of what
their race is, from going into jail.
We‘re the first
group in the state of Florida that has $100,000 loan program for convicted
ex-felons that will be coming out of jail or out on the street, not
incarcerated, to start their own business. And they are going to be able
to let licensed with us, so we‘re for the measure of prevention and we‘re
also basically trying to stop the revolving door, so that‘s our goal.
And our goal is
not to be able to stop the police from doing their job. We were not there
warning anybody. We just did what the media couldn‘t do for the police.
And that was get them the coverage and get it out in the community as a
press release stated to let everyone know that they was going to have a
checkpoint and that to come out and support their efforts.
OLBERMANN: Mr.
DeLeon, how is this going to resolve itself, what is the next step here?
DELEON:
Listen, the state attorney‘s office should immediately drop the charges.
The law in Florida is very clear.
Citizens out
there who warn individuals that there are police officers in the area
can‘t be convicted or should not even be charged with this sort of crime.
What we had here was an overzealous Miami-Dade County Police Department
targeting Brian Dennis because he was out there with a group of people,
but he was away from his group holding up a sign saying that there was a
police checkpoint of another operation involving the Miami Police
Department.
He did nothing
wrong. All he did was letting the people in his community know, you know,
there‘s a checkpoint out there. The police want to let the people know
that there is a checkpoint out there by calling the media. You know
what? I‘m a citizen and I‘m going to go out there and I‘m going to let
people know along with the other members of my group, Brothers of the Same
Mind. And we‘re not going to do it exactly like the police want us to do
it or like the way they want the police—or, rather, the media to do it,
you know with the embedded media that we have nowadays.
They said,
we‘re going to do it the way we think it should be done. They went ahead
and did it and they paid—unfortunately, Brian paid a heavy price for it,
which was losing his liberty. And that‘s exactly what we‘re talking
about.
(CROSSTALK)
OLBERMANN:
John DeLeon, forgive me. We‘re out of time. John DeLeon is the vice
president of the Miami chapter of the ACLU. Brian Dennis, who is in this
situation, we thank you both for your time. Good night.
(CROSSTALK)
OLBERMANN:
Let‘s recap the five COUNTDOWN stories, the ones we think you‘ll be
talking about tomorrow.
No. 5, abuse
and accountability, the latest element from Iraq, the accusation that
servicemen ordered an elderly Iraqi woman to crawl around a prison, they
put a saddle on her, somebody rode atop her and called her a donkey. The
No. 4 story, the questions of free speech and whether Michael Moore was
being held back from releasing his documentary.
Unfortunately,
there‘s been a mistiming in the show. We are going to have to wrap it
up.
That‘s
COUNTDOWN. Thanks for being part of it. I‘m Keith Olbermann.
Good night and
good luck.
END
