No U.S. Troop Cuts From Iraq?
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, the Bush administration again defying the will of the Congress and the American people. The Bush administration, in the dark of night, permitting Mexican trucks unlimited access to our highways. We will have the story. Also, the toy industry refusing to take responsibility for dangerous imports from communist China. Toy companies demanding new safety guidelines for their products after allowing a flood of toxic imports into this country. Federal agents break up a marriage fraud ring, selling green cards to illegal aliens. Incredibly, a federal government official responsible for enforcement of our immigration laws among those charged. And three of the country's best political analyst and strategists will join me to discuss all of the week's top political stories. All that, all the day's news, and much more straight ahead here tonight.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is</s>LOU DOBBS TONIGHT: news, debate, and opinion for Friday, September 7. Live from New York, Lou Dobbs.</s>DOBBS: Good evening, everybody. The U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, is expected now to recommend that the United States should not withdraw troops from Iraq before next spring. U.S. military officials said reports that General Petraeus may accept some troop cuts in Iraq early next year are -- quote -- "total nonsense." General Petraeus will give testimony to Congress Monday. Top Senate Democrats today accused the Bush administration of trying to manipulate the general's testimony. We begin tonight with a report by Jamie McIntyre in Washington -- Jamie.</s>JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, here's what our sources say General Petraeus will say next week: The surge is working, but not as fast as he expected. There are some hopeful signs, but it's too soon to bring some troops home.</s>MCINTYRE (voice-over): CNN has learned that when General David Petraeus meets with President Bush and reports to Congress, he will recommend maintaining the current, higher U.S. troop levels in Iraq until spring, when the surge will begin to be phased out. And officials familiar with the thinking of the top commander strongly dispute published reports in "The New York Times" and "Washington Post" suggesting General Petraeus would be OK with pulling back or pulling out one brigade, roughly 4,000 troops, in a nod to critics in Congress. That's nonsense, one military official told CNN, insisting Petraeus believes at this crucial time, every brigade is important. In an April interview with CNN, General Petraeus promised, as he has many times, to give the unvarnished truth about the prospects for success. (on camera): If in September, you think this surge strategy is not working, are you going to be able to tell that to the president and presumably the Congress?</s>GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS, U.S. COMMANDER IN IRAQ: Not only will I be able to. Ambassador Crocker and I will do that. We have an obligation to the young men and women who are out there giving their all to do just that.</s>MCINTYRE (voice-over): Some of the general's thinking is revealed in a letter he sent to all U.S. troops in Iraq on the eve of his congressional testimony. In it, he acknowledges, while the security improvements have been dramatic in some areas, such as Ramadi and Anbar Province, overall, progress has been uneven, and the Iraqis have not used the breathing space to embrace reconciliation. He concedes: "It has not worked out as well as we had hoped. We are a long way from the goal line. It's clearly taking more time than we initially expected."</s>MCINTYRE: Ultimately, it will be up to President Bush to decide if he should order a brigade home before the surge is scheduled to end. But, if he does, sources tell CNN, it will not be on the recommendation of General Petraeus -- Lou.</s>DOBBS: Jamie, thank you very much -- Jamie McIntyre, our Pentagon correspondent, reporting from Washington. General Petraeus, as I said, will give his testimony to Congress Monday. But senior Democrats today accused the White House of trying to dictate what the general will say. Those Democrats also raising questions about General Petraeus' commitment to tell Congress the whole truth about this war. Dana Bash has our report from Capitol Hill.</s>DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Senate's number two Democrat is accusing the administration of manipulating information in its highly-anticipated Iraq report.</s>SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: By carefully manipulating the statistics, the Bush/Petraeus report will try to persuade us that violence in Iraq is decreasing and the surge is working.</s>BASH: Senator Dick Durbin says he's been in e-mail contact with civilian employees gathering data on Iraq progress.</s>DURBIN: Some of them I correspond with almost on a daily basis. And when they send a discouraging report about things that were happening in Baghdad, they were reminded by their superiors that that's unacceptable -- we need a positive report. And it would be sent back for editing and changing. Now, that's a fact.</s>BASH: General David Petraeus is expected to testify next week that the troop surge has produced progress on the ground. Democrats are engaged in a coordinated effort to minimize the impact of that testimony, which could undermine their ability to convince wavering Republicans to vote for troop withdrawal. They also point to Friday's testimony from the head of the independent Government Accountability Office. He took issue with the claim General Petraeus is expected to make that sectarian violence is down.</s>DAVID WALKER, COMPTROLLER GENERAL, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE: We could not get comfortable with the methodology that is used in determining sectarian violence vs. nonsectarian violence.</s>MCINTYRE: The Senate's top Democrat questioned Petraeus' credibility.</s>SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: He's made a number of statements over the years that have not proven to be factual. I have every belief that this good man, General Petraeus, will give us what he feels is the right thing to do in this report. It is now not his report, it's President Bush's report.</s>BASH: An administration official called charges they're manipulating Iraq data absurd. A Republican leadership aide accused Democrats of trying to discredit Petraeus and noted that the general, his approval rating, Lou, is four times higher than that of congressional Democrats -- Lou.</s>DOBBS: Dana, the idea that General Petraeus, in Washington speak, the Senate majority leader just said that General Petraeus has lied when he said he had made statements that were not factual. Did the Senate majority leader lay out specific statements that were, as he put it, not factual?</s>BASH: Well, what he said is that back when General Petraeus was in charge of making sure that Iraqi troops were trained, he said that there was progress there and that at the time that's what he thought, but it turned out according to Senator Reid that the progress wasn't, in fact, the case. That is something that he said that General Petraeus said at the time and it didn't pan out, if you will. So, that is one of the pieces of evidence, if you will, that Senator Reid gave to say that, you know, he doesn't necessarily think that things that General Petraeus turn out to be true.</s>DOBBS: Dana, thank you very much -- Dana Bash from Capitol Hill. In Iraq, insurgents killed seven more of our troops, four Marines in Al Anbar Province, three soldiers north of Baghdad; 18 of our troops have been killed so far this month; 3,760 of our troops have been killed since this war began, 27,767 of our troops wounded, 12,476 of them seriously. President Bush is expected to give a new assessment of the progress of the war in Iraq in a prime-time address to the nation next week. The White House saying officials have not yet decided a precise date and location for the speech. The president's address is likely to focus on the report on Iraq by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. President Bush today focused on efforts to end North Korea's nuclear program during a meeting with the South Korean president in Australia. The meeting ended on a tense and contentious note, when President Bush and President Roh apparently disagreed about policy toward North Korea. White House officials blamed their disagreement on what they called a translation error. Suzanne Malveaux has our report from Sydney, Australia.</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a rare unscripted exchange. President Bush publicly challenged to explain his position on how to formally end the Korean War. It happened after private talks and pleasantries with South Korea's President, Roh Moo-hyun.</s>ROH MOO-HYUN, PRESIDENT OF SOUTH KOREA (through translator): I think I might be wrong -- I think I did not hear President Bush mention the -- a declaration to end the Korean War just now. Did you say so, President Bush?</s>MALVEAUX: Surprised, President Bush reaffirmed U.S.-Korean policy. The U.S. will only initiate a formal declaration of peace between North and South Korea after North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, no longer poses a threat.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I said it's up to Kim Jong Il as to whether or not we're able to sign a peace treaty to end the Korean War. He's got to get rid of his weapons in a verifiable fashion.</s>MALVEAUX: But Roh, throwing his head back in laughter, was not satisfied.</s>ROH (through translator): I believe that they are the same thing, Mr. President. If you could be a little bit clearer in your message, I think...</s>BUSH: I can't make it any more clear, Mr. President. We look forward to the day when we can end the Korean War. That will end -- will happen when Kim Jong Il verifiably gets rid of his weapons programs and his weapons.</s>MALVEAUX: South Korea plays a vital role as a member of the six-party talks aimed at convincing North Korea to disarm. The country is also eager to reunite with its northern neighbor. But, with more than 37,000 U.S. troops helping keep the peace along the along the North-South Korean border, the Bush administration is reluctant to make any changes while it still considers North Korea a threat.</s>MALVEAUX: Now, White House officials say this exchange between President Bush and Roh, in this case, they say was lost in translation. They say that both of these leaders agree on the expectations of North Korea. They also say there's no tension between these leaders. And, Lou, I think what you're seeing, in part, here, as all leaders do, they play to the domestic audience. There are quite a few South Koreans who want to see a South Korean leadership take a more aggressive, assertive role with the United States. And that might have played a part in this exchange -- Lou.</s>DOBBS: Well, the suggestion that that would be a matter of translation problem, of course, is palpable nonsense, since both heads of state have the best translators possible available to them. And the idea that President Roh would point his finger at President Bush and throw his head back, like a -- a high school debater, playing with theatrics, I mean, my gosh. What did the Bush White House officials traveling with the president say? I mean, that was a disgusting display, in my opinion, by a head of state, and certainly by President Roh of South Korea.</s>MALVEAUX: Lou, I think it was quite surprising for the president and for the administration officials who were there in the audience. There were people who were laughing a little bit nervously about this. President Bush turning to Secretary Rice a couple of times during that exchange, so, obviously, this was very unexpected.</s>DOBBS: Yes.</s>MALVEAUX: Aides immediately came out, realizing there was going to be a problem, and went forward, and said there was a loss in translation here. But I think what you're seeing from President Roh is really kind of a display of putting President Bush on the spot, saying, I want you to say this. I want you to be very clear in making the statement, because there's a lot of work, a lot of political capital that President Roh put into reuniting with North Korea and bringing North Korea to the table.</s>DOBBS: Well, I think it's also important that we point out that President Roh was also on factual grounds at sea. Only the United Nations could declare a truce with the North Koreans, because the war declaration, if you will, going back to the beginning of the Korean War was, of course, passed by the United Nations.</s>MALVEAUX: Well, obviously, he wants to actually put pressure on President Bush to make that happen. So...</s>DOBBS: Yes.</s>MALVEAUX: ... you're right in that sense.</s>DOBBS: Thank you very much. And we appreciate it, Suzanne Malveaux...</s>MALVEAUX: Thank you.</s>DOBBS: ... from Sydney, Australia. Coming up next here, the Bush administration again defying the will of the Congress and the American people on the issue of giving unfettered access to American highways to Mexican trucks. Casey Wian will have that report for us coming up -- Casey.</s>CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, the Transportation Department waited until 9:00 last night to officially open U.S. highways to more Mexican trucks. Lawmakers say it's a decision they will not let stand -- Lou.</s>DOBBS: That report coming up. Thank you, Casey. Also, a troubling new twist on a scam to permit foreigners to permanently stay in this country. We will have that special report, a fascinating study and why, at least in part, U.S. immigration laws aren't being enforced. We will be telling you about corruption in high places. The toy industry tries to avoid taking any responsibility, of course, over the crisis in dangerous toy imports from communist China. That report, and a great deal more, coming right up. Stay with us.