[Lou Dobbs, Cnn Anchor:] Thank you, Wolf. Tonight, the Bush administration and the Pentagon announce sweeping reversals in their policies of persecution of radical Islamist terrorists. And infamous Al Qaeda terror suspects are being brought out of the shadows to finally stand trial. And a white school bus driver who allegedly forced black students to sit at the back of the bus, not fired. Now a community in Louisiana is bitterly divided.
[Announcer:] This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT. News, debate and opinion, for Wednesday September 6, live in New York, Lou Dobbs.
[Dobbs:] Good evening, everybody. President Bush today announced a sweeping reversal of U.S. policy in the war against radical Islamist terrorists. President Bush, for the first time, acknowledged the existence of secret CIA prisons, holding top Al Qaeda terror suspects. The president says the alleged mastermind of the September 11th attacks now sits in a Guantanamo Bay prison, awaiting trial, along with 13 other top Al Qaeda terror suspects. Ed Henry tonight reports from the White House on the reasons behind this reversal of terrorist policy. Jamie McIntyre tonight reports from the Pentagon on the military's sweeping new overhaul of interrogation tactics. And Dana Bash reports on new moves by Senate Democrats to play politics in the war on terror and a push through a no confidence resolution against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. We begin with Ed Henry at the White House Ed.
[Ed Henry, Cnn White House Correspondent:] Lou, are the president at the outset of this series of speeches on the war on terror insisted he did not want it to get political, but today he revealed some secret information that cast him in a strong political light fighting terrorism.
[Henry:] President Bush decided to finally acknowledge the existence of secret CIA prisons around the world, just days before the fifth anniversary of 911, and two months before the midterm elections. Revealing that 14 senior members of Al Qaeda, previously in CIA custody, have been transferred to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay for prosecution.
[George W. Bush, President Of The United States:] This program has helped us to take potential mass murderers off the streets before they were able to kill.
[Henry:] Among the 14 terrorists in custody are Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, mastermind of the 911 attacks. Abu Zubaydah, a field commander for Osama bin Laden, and Ramzi bin al-Shiba11 hijacker. Amid international outrage abut the so-called black prisons in Europe and elsewhere, the president insisted the techniques used on the detainees were tough, but legal.
[Bush:] I want to be absolutely clear with our people, and the world, the United States does not torture. It's against our laws and it's against our values. I have not authorized it, and I will not authorize it.
[Henry:] And the president claimed the intelligence gleaned from the CIA program thwarted terror plots in the U.S., United Kingdom and Asia.
[Bush:] Were it not for this program our intelligence community believes that Al Qaeda and its allies would have succeeded in launching another attack against the American homeland.
[Henry:] But Democrats immediately asked why the president was revealing this now in part three of a series of speeches, framing the seminal issue in the midterms, the war on terror. And Democrats demanded to know why it took so long for the administration to follow the Geneva Conventions.
[Sen. Charles Schumer, , New York:] Their bull in a china shop approach, ignore the Constitution, ignore the rule of law, has made us worse off than we would have been had they gone to Congress originally. The detainees are suing, their status is in limbo. We're worse off than we were.
[Henry:] But the president insisted his move was sparked by the Supreme Court's Hamdan decision back in June which, basically held that military tribunals could be used to prosecute alleged terrorists, but only if Congress first sets up a legislative framework. The president today sending up legislation, to the Hill, and he's demanding Congress act before they go home for the year Lou.
[Dobbs:] Ed Henry, thank you, from the White House. And in combination with the sweeping reversals at the White House, the Pentagon in tandem announcing new rules for how the military will handle its war prisoners. The Pentagon is scrapping controversial interrogation techniques that critics had said are simply torture. Pentagon saying interrogation guidelines will now honor standards set by the Geneva Conventions. Jamie McIntyre reports.
[Jamie Mcintyre, Cnn Sr. Pentagon Correspondent:] After more than a year of contentious, internal debate over how much to reveal to potential terrorists about American detention policy and interrogation tactics, the Pentagon has decided to make all procedures conform to the Geneva Conventions. The new Pentagon directive says all detainees shall be treated humanely and in accordance with U.S. law, the law of war, and applicable U.S. policy. And the details are spelled out in the revised Army field manual, which Congress has made the law, regarding the treatment of prisoners.
[Lt. Gen. John Kimmons, Army Dep. Chief Of Staff For Intel:] The new field manual incorporates a single standard for humane treatment as was alluded to, for all detainees, regardless of their status under all circumstances, in conjunction with all interrogation techniques that are contained within it. And there are no others.
[Mcintyre:] The manual also gives examples of banned techniques, including forced nudity or sexual acts. The use of hoods or duct tape, beatings, electric shock or other infliction of pain, so-called water boarding or simulated drowning; hypothermia or heat distress, mock executions, withholding food, water or medicine, and the use of dogs, except for security.
[Kimmons:] No good intelligence is going to come from abusive practices. I think history tells us that.
[Mcintyre:] The Pentagon considered, but rejected a secret annex, that would have had additional approved techniques, but decided that would only cause suspicion. But just two hours after the Pentagon's announcement, President Bush said the same rules do not apply to the CIA. Who, he revealed, had been holding terrorist suspects in overseas prisons and using tougher alternative procedures to extract what he said was lifesaving intelligence.
[Bush:] I cannot describe the specific methods used. I think you understand why. If I did it would help the terrorists learn how to resist questioning, and to keep information from us that we might need to prevent new attacks on our country. But I can say the procedures are tough and they were safe and lawful and necessary.
[Mcintyre:] Human rights groups complain that President Bush is sending a mixed message. While they lauded the Pentagon's new rules, which they said were generally humane and lawful, they decried the continued secrecy about the CIA techniques, saying that that secrecy only invites abuse Lou.
[Dobbs:] Jamie, thank you. Jamie McIntyre, from the Pentagon. As President Bush changes course in the war against radical Islamist terrorists, a majority of Americans now say they aren't satisfied with the way this war is being waged. And 53 percent of Americans surveyed, in a new CNN poll, say they are not satisfied with how things are going in the war on terrorism; 55 percent say they are less likely to vote for a candidate who has supported Bush administration policies in the war in Iraq. With 58 percent now opposed to that war. The violence in Iraq continued today at least 50 people were killed in bombings and shootings around the country, including six civilians when this car bomb exploded in Baghdad. As violence in Iraq intensifies, Democrats on Capitol Hill are trying to play politics. Imagine that. They are demanding a no confidence vote against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and his handling of the conduct of the war in Iraq. Dana Bash reports from Capitol Hill Dana.
[Dana Bash, Cnn Congressional Correspondent:] Lou, that resolution is being debated as we speak. We expect it to die within the next couple of hours, without even getting a vote. But that's just fine with Democrats because their main goal here was to push an Iraq debate zeroing in on the man they think symbolizes all that has gone wrong with the Iraq war and that is, of course, Donald Rumsfeld. And the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid, who introduced this nonbinding resolution, all but conceded they are using Secretary Rumsfeld as a boogey man of sorts to highlight their main theme this election year. That is, what they call administration mismanagement and incompetence.
[Sen. Harry Reid , Minority Leader:] This amendment is bigger than Donald Rumsfeld. This is about changing course in Iraq. And the president demonstrating to the American people he understands America cannot stay the course when the present course is taking our country in the wrong direction.
[Bash:] Noticeably absent from the Republican response on the Senate floor was a robust defense of Secretary Rumsfeld. Instead, Republicans used the time to talk about what they called Bush successes in the war on terror, and also to try to call Democrats out on playing politics.
[Sen. John Cornyn, , Texas:] Our friends on the other side of the aisle talk about a change in direction, fresh ideas, new direction. Those are campaign slogans. They are not about solving the problem. They are not about beating the enemy, defeating the enemy that declared war on us.
[Bash:] It's not just Democrats, Lou, who are using Rumsfeld as a symbol on the campaign trail. Some Republican candidates like in New Jersey and in Washington state also have said it's time for Rumsfeld to go. Some Republicans think that helps them separate themselves from an unpopular president and an unpopular war Lou.
[Dobbs:] Obviously, the Democrats are playing politics on this issue, as are the Republicans. Why, however, as a matter of strategy have the Democrats chosen to focus on Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of Defense, rather than the generals who have come in for considerable criticism in their conduct and management of the war, and of course, the Commander-in-Chief President Bush, himself?
[Bash:] Certainly they have been talking about the or the president in general, but the bottom line is that they really think that in terms of the way this plays, in a political message, and the perception of the administration really comes down to personalities. And that personality, for them, the winning personality is Donald Rumsfeld. He's the person who Democrats think really embodies all that has gone wrong with the Bush administration and the Iraq war. And, frankly, Democrats say arrogance within the Bush administration for not admitting some mistakes throughout the Iraq war. That is really why they are focus on this one man, Donald Rumsfeld. Certainly it is as Senator Reid says, they are trying to make it a broader message about the Bush administration.
[Dobbs:] Arrogance, in Washington, Dana?
[Bash:] Go figure.
[Dobbs:] Impossible. Thank you very much, Dana Bash reporting from Capitol Hill. Still ahead here new evidence that candidates who support amnesty for illegal aliens are in grave danger of defeat at the polls in November. We'll have a special report for you. And a white school bus driver who forced black students to the back of the bus in Louisiana won't be fired. She won't be disciplined. Residents are outraged. We'll be telling you why. We'll have a live report. And for a growing number of Americans, the American dream has become unattainable. Our special report on the increasingly elusive American dream. Stay with us.