[Lou Dobbs:] Tonight, free trade sellout: how a new trade agreement with Central America could destroy a whole industry in this country. We'll have a special report from a state that could lose thousands upon thousands of jobs. I'll be talking with a state official who's fighting to stop that trade agreement before it's too late for thousands of those workers. "America the Vulnerable": the federal government will not adequately staff our border patrol, claiming unmanned aircraft can do the job. But as we will report tonight, it turns out that doesn't work either. My guest tonight, a congressman who says our southern border is simply under siege and wide open to radical Islamist terrorists. And selling out national security. A company partly owned by the Indian government is buying a critical part of the world's undersea cable network. Some warn the deal could help India's military control the world's communications grid and jeopardizes U.S. national security.
[Announcer:] This is Lou Dobbs for news debate and opinion, tonight.
[Dobbs:] Good evening. President Bush today declared that nothing less than a complete Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon will be acceptable. President Bush said the United States will accept no half measures. The president's uncompromising declaration comes one day before Syria's president is expected to announce a partial withdrawal from Lebanon. Brian Todd has the report.
[Brian Todd, Cnn Correspondent:] The language could hardly be more direct.
[George W. Bush, President Of The United States:] Syria, Syrian troops, Syria's intelligence services must get out of Lebanon now.
[Todd:] The pressure on Syria's leader could hardly be greater. Even Arab states are piling on President Bashar Assad. Saudi officials say their Crown Prince Abdullah told Mr. Assad if he doesn't begin withdrawal from Lebanon as quickly as possible, Syrian relations with Riyadh will suffer. The new Palestinian foreign minister joins in.
[Nasser Al-kidwa, Palestinian Foreign Minister:] Obviously, now people understand that, at some point, somehow, there should be a Syrian withdrawal, and it seems that it's inevitable.
[Todd:] Assad himself told "TIME" magazine this week Syria should begin withdrawing its 15,000 troops from Lebanon soon. But how soon? A top official in Damascus, as well as Syria's ambassadors to Washington and the U.N. did not return our calls for comment. Assad is expected to deliver a speech Saturday to Syria's parliament. A former top Lebanese official tells CNN he expects Assad to announce a partial withdrawal and a redeployment of some Syrian troops in Lebanon toward the border. Analysts agree Assad may try to stall.
[Hisham Melham, Correspondent, "an-nahar":] He's going to backtrack a little. He would say, "Look, even logistically it will be extremely difficult for us to complete the withdrawal within a few months or, you know, within six months. Give me some time."
[Todd:] But how will that play, now that Russia, a historic Syrian ally, has joined the chorus and even the U.S. and France agree?
[Bush:] When the United States and France and others say withdrawal, we mean complete withdrawal, no halfhearted measures.
[Todd:] Assad seems to have been caught off guard by the pace of events, sparked by last month's assassination in Beirut of a former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, the most powerful figure to contest Syria's occupation. Thousands of Lebanese took to the streets, many blaming Damascus for the attack. Syria denied involvement. But the pressure now comes from much higher levels, and Mr. Assad's political survival may hinge on his response. The pressure also comes internally. Members of the Lebanese political opposition and some analysts say elements of the Syrian military and intelligence services have interests in Lebanon and are squeezing Mr. Assad to keep a Syrian presence there Lou.
[Dobbs:] Brian, thank you. Brian Todd from Washington. In Iraq, a rescue mission for a kidnapped Italian journalist today ended in tragedy. American troops opened fire on the journalist's car, as it approached a checkpoint in Baghdad. She was freed by Italian security agents earlier. The journalist was wounded in the incident. One of her rescuers was killed. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has the report Barbara.
[Barbara Starr, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Lou, Giuliana Sgrena of the Italian daily "Il Manifesto" had been a hostage for over a month in Iraq. She was released earlier today. And as the car carrying her was making its way, apparently, to Baghdad airport tonight, it came until fire from U.S. forces. The 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq has now put out a statement saying it was its U.S. soldiers that fired on this car traveling at high speed. The statement from the 3rd I.D. says that the U.S. military used several procedures to try and stop the car, including attempting to warn the driver by hand and arm signals, flashing white lights, firing warning shots in front of the car. And when it still did not stop, they fired into the engine block. And it was of course as a result of that one man, the Italian security agent, was killed. Another man in the car wounded, and the journalist also wounded and taken to a hospital. Lou, the incident is now under investigation by the U.S. military. Several items, of course, will be very closely looked at. The procedures used by the forces, the 3rd I.D., their training, how long were they in Iraq? Did they really understand fully how to operate a checkpoint? Was there coordination? Did the Italian government communicate with the United States that this car might be passing through this area at that point? And was that a standard checkpoint? Or was it perhaps something that had been set up very hastily, something the Italians in the car did not recognize possibly as a U.S. military checkpoint? All of it very unclear tonight, all of it, Lou, still under investigation.
[Dobbs:] And certainly an absolute tragedy. Barbara, thank you. Barbara Starr reporting from the Pentagon. President Bush today sent most of his time focusing on his plans for so-called Social Security reform. President Bush intensified his effort to convince skeptical voters that our Social Security system is broken in speeches in both New Jersey and Indiana. Dana Bash reports from Notre Dame, Indiana.
[Dana Bash, Cnn Correspondent:] The president with the business degrees knows, if your product's not selling, you better change your pitch.
[Bush:] Social Security has provided a safety net for many retires. That's an important safety net, but the safety net has got a hole in it.
[Bash:] "Safety net" is lingo borrowed from Democrats, the retooled rhetoric aimed at emphasizing he's committed to preserving Social Security benefits, not just pushing private accounts for younger workers.
[Andrew Kohut, Pew Research Center:] The president is going to have to radically change the message and convince the American public that the way they've come to think about these accounts is not quite right.
[Bash:] Before this New Jersey trip, the president already visited nine states looking for public support for his plan, yet the more Americans hear, several polls show, the less they like his ideas, especially so-called personal accounts.
[Unidentified Male:] Mr. President, you are not welcome with your program on privatizing Social Security.
[Bash:] The reason, Bush aides complain, highly organized and well-funded opposition campaigns like these in New Jersey. Among the targets here, Republican Congressman Mike Ferguson, at the president's event, but not ready to endorse personal accounts.
[Rep. Mike Ferguson , New Jersey:] There is no one plan out there right now that we're you know, we're either supporting or opposing.
[Bash:] The Democratic National Committee bought its first round of ads to put the squeeze on.
[Unidentified Female:] Call Congressman Ferguson and tell him to oppose President Bush's risky scheme...
[Bush:] I don't care what the ads say. I don't care what the scare tactics say. You're going to get your check just like the government said.
[Bash:] But Democrats insist the Bush plan is doomed. Forty-two senators, enough to sustain a filibuster, signed this letter, saying unless the president drops private accounts, "it will be impossible to establish the kind of cooperative, bipartisan process we need." In New Jersey, and later in Indiana, the president still pitched personal accounts hard, calling them the best investment for younger workers. While the president spent the day promising that he would not let workers 55 and older cut their benefits, he wouldn't let that happen to them at all, he was careful to tell a younger worker here that he wasn't making him the same promise Lou.
[Dobbs:] Dana, thank you very much. And as Dana Bash just reported, Senate Democrats, an important part of the initiative, taken up by the Democrats trying to upstage the president, to blunt his message at the very least. Joe Johns has that report.
[Unidentified Male:] Reform Social Security now.
[Joe Johns, Cnn Correspondent:] On a street, a few Republicans dressed up as ostrich outfits taunted people as they headed to this event on Social Security, suggesting Democrats are sticking their heads in the sand by refusing to accept private retirement accounts.
[Nicholas Vertucci, New York Young Republicans:] For young Americans like myself who want to have the opportunity to set money aside to get a better return, all's we're asking for is that option.
[Johns:] Inside the hall at Pace University, top Senate Democrats were kicking off a two-day, four-city tour, beginning just blocks from the financial capital on Wall Street, ending in the casino capital of Las Vegas, trying to portray the president's proposal as a gamble. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her colleagues used the word "risk" half a dozen times in the first half hour.
[Sen. Hillary Clinton , New York:] I don't think we can ignore what this risky plan would do in terms of adding to our nation's debt.
[Johns:] But at this carefully scripted event, Democrats were taking very little risk of their own, taking no questions from the audience. The real people who got to speak were invited guests sitting on the stage.
[Vickie Owens, Retired Health Care Aide:] If I would depend on the stock market now, I would be in big trouble.
[Johns:] It was basically a rally, with New York Senator Charles Schumer even leading a chant.
[Schumer:] Fix it, don't nix it.
[Johns:] And a warm welcome back for former presidential candidate John Kerry, who participated in a debate here during the primaries.
[Sen. John Kerry , Massachusetts:] Social Security is not in crisis. It's not bankrupt.
[Johns:] Almost no evidence of dissenting views. Democrats said it was OK because the president was across the river in New Jersey making his best case. [on camera]: Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said his and he colleagues are willing to bargain on Social Security, but only after the president takes private accounts off the table. Joe Johns, CNN, New York.
[Dobbs:] Up next here, "America the Vulnerable," our special report. The federal government refuses to hire enough Border Patrol agents to provide border security, instead saying technology can do the job. What is the Bush administration thinking? That's next.