Bush TIME's 'Person of the Year'; Rumsfeld Stays At Least Until Iraqi Elections
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm Betty Nguyen in Atlanta. Now in the news. A violent Sunday in Iraq including car bombings, an ambush of election workers and more kidnappings. I want to go straight to Karl Penhaul, who is live in Baghdad, with the latest on all of these stories. Hi, Karl.</s>KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Betty. At least 44 people have been confirmed killed and close to 100 others wounded in two car bombs in two of the holiest cities for Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority. The biggest car comb occurred about two and a half hours ago now in the City of Najaf. That's south of Baghdad. A car bomber drove a vehicle into a funeral procession and 30 people were killed there and at least 65 others were wounded. Security sources tell us that hospitals have been so overwhelmed by the scale of disaster that many of the causalities are being ferried to neighboring cities for treatment. That explosion came two hours after another bomb blast in the sister city of Karbala. That's about 50 miles away. And there 14 people were killed and at least 30 others wounded, according to police officials in that town. There have been no claims of responsibility for either of these bomb blasts so far. But we do know that in the last few days Sunni (ph) based resistance fighters have accused the Shiites of collaborating with the coalition for support of the January 30th elections. There have also been attempts by Sunni based groups in the past to stir up sectarian violence in the cities. Now those bomb blasts came after a bloody morning in Baghdad. Three members of Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission were dragged from their vehicles in a main Baghdad thoroughfare. They were made to kneel on a busy street and then gun men put bullets through the back of their heads. One of those who died was a senior local election committee officials and the other two were members of his body guard's team we're told by coalition authorities. Betty.</s>NGUYEN: Such a deadly day in Iraq. All right. CNN's Karl Penhaul in Baghdad for us. Thank you for that. I'm Betty Nguyen in Atlanta. We have another check of headlines at the bottom of the hour. INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY starts now.</s>KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Inside politics today from the economy to Social Security reform to the criticism of Secretary Rumsfeld, top strategist from the Republican and Democratic National Committees debate the week's political run down. Intelligence reform now the law of the land. But what's next for the families of the September 11th victims? We'll hear one mother's story. And TIME magazine's "Person of the Year", who it is and why. That's all straight ahead.</s>ANNOUNCER: Live from Washington this is</s>INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. WALLACE: There are only 32 days left before the ceremony of a presidential inauguration in Washington. Good Sunday morning to you. I'm Kelly Wallace here in Washington. Thanks so much for joining us. As you probably know by now, politics doesn't take weekends off and neither do we. Another jam packed hour ahead. So, let's get right to it. And we begin with one of the year's most looked forward to events, the selection of TIME magazine's "Person of the Year". This year TIME chose President Bush for quote, "sharpening the debate until the choices bled, reframing reality to match his design and gambling his fortunes and ours on his faith in the power of leadership." It is a gamble the president believes is paying off as his first term nears its end saying quote, "I think it's very important for somebody running for office to say that one, I will confront problems and not pass them on. But also that by having confronted problems that the next four years will be hopefully a more peaceful period of time for people." That's President Bush, his comments to TIME magazine. The president setting another milestone. This one though, probably not as welcome at the White House, the lowest December approval election for a reelected president since Gallup began taking polls. In the latest TIME poll released this weekend, only 49 percent of those asked approved of the way Mr. Bush is handling his job while 43 percent disapprove. The president's reelection has not improved peoples outlook. Fully half of Americans asked think the country is going in the wrong direction. Fifty percent see the country on the wrong track. Only 40 percent see the country going in the right direction. Turning now to Americans in harms way. It was revealed this week Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has not been personally signing letters that go out to family members of fallen soldiers, using a signing machine instead. Well, that's about to change. Secretary Rumsfeld says he'll now start signing every letter sent to family members of service members killed in military action. Secretary Rumsfeld says he has already written and approved more than 1,000 letters, although he hasn't signed all of them. Meantime, looking at what's being discussed on the morning talk shows Secretary Rumsfeld's name definitely came up. Senators saying they are not calling for Rumsfeld to leave his job at the Pentagon although they say they are not happy with parts of his performance.</s>SEN. RICHARD LUGAR (R), INDIANA: He should be held accountable and he should stay in office. The fact is that change in leadership in the Pentagon at this point might be as disruptive as trying to get somebody in Homeland Defense. We really cannot go through that ordeal.</s>SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: I'm tired of talking about Rumsfeld. The thing only that bothers me about it is this arrogance of not acknowledging obvious mistakes. I mean that's the part that bothers me.</s>WALLACE: That's just a little bit of what's being discussed on the morning talk shows. Moving now to our CNN "Security Watch." This week President Bush signed the intelligence reform bill into law and the Pentagon, according to today's New York Times apparently has the plan already in the works to shift some intelligence gathering operations from the CIA to the military. Today's Times cites Defense Department officials who say that the plan calls for the expanded use of spies and for the military to take over missions aimed at terrorists groups and weapons proliferation. According to The Times, the White House is monitoring the plan, but has not yet approved it. It is the latest development in what appears to be a growing rivalry between the Pentagon and the CIA over control over intelligence gathering. Let's talk more about intelligence posturing, and the president's role in the tug of war with CNN's Elaine Quijano. She joins us now from the White House. Good morning to you, Elaine. I'm curious about what White House officials are saying about this intelligence report in the "New York Times" and how much concern there is about this battle really between the Pentagon and the</s>CIA. ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, at this point it's unclear, Kelly, what the White House is really looking at specifically and whether or not this proposal is maybe closer to the top of their list than others. What I can tell you is that I talked to a Defense Department official about this yesterday and this official would not confirm the details that you just laid out, the details in this article. However, this official at the same time was quite adamant and quite firm in insisting that all of this talk of a turf war between the Pentagon and the CIA is simply just not true, according tot his official. In fact this official is going so far as to say that never before in the history of the two organizations the Pentagon and the CIA have the two worked closely, as close as they are now in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Hard to believe but this official saying, insisting, that all of the media accounts building up to this turf war really is just not the case, at least from this officials perspective. But did not want to go into detail about this specific proposal that is laid out in the "New York Times." Kelly.</s>WALLACE: Elaine, something that must be welcome news at the White House, TIME magazine naming President Bush as TIME's "Person of the Year". What's the reaction there?</s>QUIJANO: Well, we heard White House chief of staff Any Card talking about this not too long ago on ABC and basically he sounded a familiar theme. One that we've sort of heard before. That the president is focused on doing the job for the country. That he's not worrying about who's making the covers of magazines. Who's the "Person of the Year" in this magazine or that. And Andy Card really going on to say that the president wants to do the best job that he can for America and is not that concerned about what pundits might think of him.</s>WALLACE: Interesting. Elaine, I know you also spent time at the Pentagon this past week. What are you hearing from Pentagon and also White House officials about this sort of growing criticism of the leadership of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld?</s>QUIJANO: Well the official word at the Pentagon is what we've heard so many times before and that is that Secretary Rumsfeld serves at the pleasure of the president. And here at the White House the reaction pretty much sort of the same that we have heard in recent weeks where White House Spokesman Scott McClennan simply saying that the president looks at Secretary Rumsfeld as a valued member of the team, an important person to help as the fight against terrorism continues. But behind the scenes privately anyway an administration official concedes that politically certainly this could be a sign if in fact they did move to pull Rumsfeld out, that that would be sort of a tacit admission to a certain extent of error in Iraq that they perhaps did not agree because for so many people Secretary Rumsfeld sort of embodies the action that was taken in Iraq. So there is sort of this public standing by Rumsfeld and at the same time, conceding that at this particular moment when January 30th is just around the country when the Iraqis ar4e looking to move to their election, that it would not be a good thing for the White House not to give Rumsfeld a vote of confidence.</s>WALLACE: Elaine covering a lot of ground for us this morning. Thanks so much. Elaine Quijano reporting from the White House for us. President Bush may be TIME's man of the year, but TIME's sister publication, People, focuses on the entire first family. There's plenty about the Bushes on the inside including a new interview with the president and first lady Laura Bush. Asked whether the election showed the nation divided Mr. Bush said quote, "People are really Americans first rather than being a Democrat or a Republican or an independent. They truly love their country and that's the kind of spirit that makes it possible for a president, after a good tough campaign to govern." People magazine, we should tell you, is also owned by Time Warner parent company of CNN. With conservatives firmly entrenched we're hearing now from a Republican rarity, a moderate. former New Jersey Governor and former EPA chief Christie Todd Whitman says Republicans could be moving too far to the right. Her new book is called "It's My Party Too" taking back the Republican Party and bringing the country together. She argued quote, "It is time for Republican moderates to assert forcefully and plainly that this is our party too. That we not only have a place but a voice, and not just a voice but a vision that is true to the historic principles of our party and our nation, not one tied to an extremist agenda." And rounding out our look at what you'll find in your news magazines before they get to your mailbox, the self described skinny kid with a funny name is on the cover of the latest Newsweek magazine. And that is the newly elected junior senator from Illinois, Barack Obama. Obama, who electrified Democrats at their national convention, is one of the party's few bright spots in a dismal election year and he's getting a lot of attention as he prepares to head to Capitol Hill. He tells "Newsweek" quote, "I'm so overexposed I make Paris Hilton look like a recluse. I figure there's nowhere to go from here but down." He clearly has a good sense of humor, which should come in very handy here in Washington. Coming up next on INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY, from Social Security reform to the leadership of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Democrats and Republicans still aren't seeing eye to eye these days. We'll speak with top message makers from both the Republican and Democratic National Committees. Plus, the latest twist in the Washington state governors race. Will some newly discovered ballots be admitted in the recount? We'll have details. And accept no imitations. The original late night laughs only here on CNN and here's a preview.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bernard Kerik says that he is sorry he will not be able to be head of Homeland Security. He says with a wife and two mistresses he just doesn't have the time.