NBC Nightly News open - 2004-11-15

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Drug abuse financed with your money. The

[0:03] I-Team report tonight at 6:00.

[0:06] >> John Ashcroft said Huntley is a racist.

[0:08] John Ashcroft.

[0:09] >> Out. Four cabinet secretaries step down

[0:12] including Secretary of State Colin

[0:14] Powell. His likely replacement, National

[0:17] Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.

[0:20] Deadly ending. The eyewitness story of a

[0:23] US Marine, a wounded insurgent, and a

[0:25] fatal decision. Can the shooting of an

[0:27] unarmed prisoner ever be justified?

[0:31] What's inside the bottle? A tiny new

[0:33] tracking device knows, but some say

[0:35] while it could help your health, it

[0:37] could hurt your privacy.

[0:40] And mothers of invention. These moms

[0:42] quit their day jobs and instead of

[0:44] searching for the perfect item, they

[0:46] invented it. And now they're cashing in.

[0:52] >> From NBC News world headquarters in New

[0:55] York, this is NBC Nightly News with Tom

[0:58] Brokaw. Substituting tonight, Brian

[1:01] Williams.

[1:03] >> Good evening. It is very clear tonight

[1:05] that the second Bush administration is

[1:07] going to look quite different from the

[1:08] first beginning with the men and women

[1:11] around the president. Today, there were

[1:13] another four resignations from his first

[1:15] term cabinet. Chief among them,

[1:17] Secretary of State Colin Powell. It is a

[1:20] job National Security Advisor

[1:22] Condoleezza Rice is widely expected to

[1:24] be named to. Also departing, Energy

[1:27] Secretary Spencer Abraham, Education

[1:30] Secretary Rod Paige, and Agriculture

[1:33] Secretary Ann Veneman. We begin tonight

[1:35] with Secretary of State Powell. While

[1:37] his appointment made history, his tenure

[1:40] has not been without conflict. Here is

[1:42] NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs

[1:44] Correspondent Andrea Mitchell.

[1:47] >> She's been at the president's side

[1:49] almost day and night for 4 years. Now

[1:51] officials tell NBC News, Mr. Bush wants

[1:54] his National Security Advisor to oversee

[1:56] a top-to-bottom house cleaning at the

[1:58] State Department. Departing Colin

[2:00] Powell, the most popular member of the

[2:02] cabinet, along with his top deputy

[2:04] Richard Armitage, also a moderate.

[2:06] Several officials tell NBC News Powell

[2:09] was willing to stay a while longer to

[2:10] cement his choices for key State

[2:12] Department slots, but the president

[2:14] pointedly did not ask him to.

[2:16] >> We came to a mutual agreement that it

[2:18] would be appropriate for me

[2:20] to leave at this time.

[2:21] >> In fact, sources say Powell's departure

[2:23] after one term, while long planned, fits

[2:25] into a bigger White House strategy to

[2:27] put more hardliners at the State

[2:28] Department. After four years of non-stop

[2:31] conflict between Powell and Defense

[2:33] Secretary Rumsfeld.

[2:35] >> And um

[2:36] uh

[2:37] this um

[2:38] divide

[2:40] in national security foreign policy

[2:42] issues uh

[2:43] uh I I think has hurt this

[2:45] administration.

[2:46] >> From the beginning, the vice president

[2:47] and defense secretary persuaded the

[2:49] president to overrule Powell on holding

[2:51] direct talks between the US and North

[2:53] Korea, on overtures to Iran, on Powell's

[2:56] desire to pressure Israel to be more

[2:58] flexible with the Palestinians, and most

[3:00] important on Powell's arguments against

[3:02] the war with Iraq. Now, sources say the

[3:04] president realized he could not let the

[3:06] conflict continue, and the vice

[3:08] president advised that removing Rumsfeld

[3:10] would be interpreted as an admission of

[3:12] failure in Iraq.

[3:14] The most immediate impact of the switch

[3:15] will likely be in the Middle East.

[3:17] Today, after meeting with Israel's

[3:19] foreign minister, Powell was asked if

[3:20] his resignation would hurt chances to

[3:22] restart peace talks after the death of

[3:25] Yasser Arafat.

[3:26] >> We're going to keep moving forward.

[3:28] Uh it's the president's policies that

[3:30] are being pursued and implemented, not

[3:31] Colin Powell's.

[3:32] >> But the president's Mideast policy is

[3:34] very different from Powell's. Mr. Bush

[3:36] has told people he believes in the ideas

[3:38] of Israeli hardliner Natan Sharansky,

[3:41] and has read his new book, which says

[3:42] democracy can take hold in Arab states.

[3:45] Sharansky visited the president for an

[3:47] hour last week, and also met with

[3:49] Condoleezza Rice.

[3:50] Powell's departure is only the first of

[3:52] major foreign policy changes. Officials

[3:55] tell NBC News the president may choose

[3:57] the State Department's hardline