CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2005-12-16

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm Bob Schaefer and welcome to

[0:02] the CBS Evening News online edition.

[0:05] Just ahead, we'll take a hard look at

[0:07] President Bush's controversial secret

[0:09] order to spy on American citizens. Bill

[0:12] Plant will have details and analysis.

[0:15] Also, it may be the beginning of a troop

[0:18] drawdown. We'll take you to Kansas to

[0:20] see some soldiers who thought they'd be

[0:22] spending Christmas in Iraq. And signing

[0:25] up for the Medicare drug benefit. The

[0:28] Friday Consumer Alert will take you

[0:30] through it step by step. It's all

[0:32] starting now on the CBS Evening News

[0:34] online edition.

[0:37] It is against the law to wiretap or

[0:40] eavesdrop on the conversations of

[0:42] Americans in this country without a

[0:44] warrant from a judge. But the New York

[0:46] Times says that is exactly what the

[0:48] president secretly ordered the National

[0:51] Security Agency to do in the months

[0:53] after 9/11. The administration will

[0:56] neither confirm nor deny the story, but

[0:58] Congress is in a fury. Alan Spectre, the

[1:01] chairman of the Senate Judiciary

[1:03] Committee, calls it inappropriate and

[1:05] says he will hold hearings to

[1:07] investigate. We begin with Bill Plant at

[1:10] the White House.

[1:12] In the heat of the search for al-Qaeda

[1:14] terrorists after the 9/11 attacks,

[1:16] President Bush signed a secret order

[1:18] allowing the National Security Agency to

[1:20] spy on the overseas communications of

[1:22] American citizens without a court order,

[1:25] something normally forbidden by law.

[1:28] It's reportedly been used hundreds of

[1:30] times and is a fundamental shift in

[1:32] intelligence gathering, which the

[1:33] president in an interview today with Jim

[1:35] Larer of PBS refused to confirm or deny.

[1:38] The news first reported by the New York

[1:40] Times made national headlines, but Mr.

[1:43] Bush didn't see it that way. The secret

[1:45] order allows the NSA to intercept phone

[1:47] calls, email, or fact messages sent from

[1:49] inside the US to any point outside the

[1:52] country. Intelligence expert John Pike

[1:54] says the administration wanted to be

[1:56] able to rapidly monitor suspected

[1:58] terrorists without going to court.

[2:00] >> To get an individual court order, uh,

[2:02] you would need to have some evidence

[2:04] that that person had a foreign terrorist

[2:06] connection. the NSA, you wouldn't

[2:08] require uh that. Basically, if somebody

[2:10] was in somebody's phone book, if

[2:12] somebody was operating from a phone

[2:13] number, that would be good enough to go

[2:15] after uh monitoring them.

[2:17] >> That's the kind of aggressive offense

[2:19] administration officials insist they

[2:21] need for terrorists.

[2:22] >> Say that winning the war on terror

[2:24] requires winning the war of information.

[2:26] >> Sources credit the eavesdropping order

[2:27] with some notable successes, including

[2:29] the plot by a trucker in Ohio to

[2:31] sabotage the Brooklyn Bridge. The

[2:34] administration has briefed key

[2:35] congressional leaders about this program

[2:37] from the beginning,

[2:38] >> Mr. President.

[2:39] >> But today's revelation came amid fierce

[2:41] debate over the reauthorization of the

[2:43] USA Patriot Act,

[2:45] >> prompting a key Republican to call for

[2:47] congressional hearings.

[2:48] >> But it's inexcusable to have spying on

[2:52] people in the United States without

[2:54] court surveillance and vi in violation

[2:56] of our law beyond any question.

[2:59] >> At the heart of this are two firmly held

[3:01] beliefs in this White House. One, that

[3:03] terrorist threats sometimes require and

[3:06] justify crossing the line that protects

[3:08] civil liberties, and two, that the

[3:10] president has the constitutional

[3:12] authority to decide when to cross that

[3:15] line. Bob, Bill, hold on there for just

[3:17] a second because we want to bring Gloria

[3:20] Bour into this now because this

[3:22] disclosure could not have come at a

[3:23] worse time for the administration, which

[3:25] is trying to get Congress to renew the

[3:27] controversial Patriot Act. This, of

[3:30] course, is the legislation the

[3:31] government argues it needs to fight

[3:33] terrorism, but critics say it violates

[3:36] civil rights because it gives the

[3:38] government far too much power to look

[3:39] into individuals backgrounds, even to

[3:42] checking up on the books they're

[3:44] reading. Now, Gloria, today anyway, the

[3:46] the critics seem to have had the upper

[3:48] hand at the capital.

[3:50] >> That's right, Bob. In fact, the Patriot

[3:52] Act is completely in limbo right now

[3:55] with a filibuster that's being led by a

[3:58] very strange alliance of conservative uh

[4:02] Republicans and liberal Democrats, all

[4:05] of whom believe that the Patriot Act

[4:07] infringes on your civil liberties by

[4:09] doing things like authorizing roving

[4:12] wire taps and secret search warrants.

[4:14] And so, right now, there's a game of

[4:16] political chicken up here on Capitol

[4:18] Hill. The majority leader says, "I'm

[4:20] going to keep you folks here until you

[4:22] reauthorize the Patriot Act, which is

[4:25] due to expire on December 31."

[4:28] >> So, Bill, what are the how do they view

[4:29] all that at the White House tonight?

[4:31] Well, Bob, they're definitely on the

[4:33] offense. The president put out a

[4:34] statement just a few minutes ago

[4:36] admonishing the lawmakers to take

[4:38] another close look and saying that he

[4:40] absolutely has to have this. And

[4:42] tomorrow, he's giving his radio address

[4:44] live. They've switched the subject from

[4:46] the Iraqi elections to the Patriot Act.

[4:49] >> Well, Gloria, what do you think the

[4:50] outlook is up there? Do you think that

[4:52] the Congress will finally go along, or

[4:54] is it too soon to tell?

[4:55] >> Uh, it's very soon to tell, Bob, but I

[4:58] think there are lots of folks talking

[4:59] about some kind of extension of the

[5:01] Patriot Act if they can't come to some

[5:03] kind of an agreement, but how long you

[5:06] would extend it for is up to debate.

[5:08] >> Okay. Well, thank you both. The Army's

[5:10] top general in Iraq told reporters today

[5:13] that he expects the number of American

[5:15] troops there to drop from the current

[5:17] 150,000 to about 138,000

[5:21] by February. As a result, these soldiers

[5:23] of one army unit who thought that they'd

[5:26] be headed to Iraq right now are instead

[5:28] getting ready to enjoy the holidays with

[5:30] their families. David Martin has the

[5:33] story from Fort Riley, Kansas.

[5:36] The morning frost is still on the

[5:38] ground, but soldiers at Fort Riley,

[5:40] Kansas, are out on the obstacle course.

[5:44] Huffing puffing proof that the US is

[5:46] about to start withdrawing troops from

[5:48] Iraq. This brigade of 3,700 soldiers and

[5:51] another that's already in Kuwait will be

[5:54] the first two army combat units affected

[5:56] by the draw down. In fact, they already

[5:59] have been. If everything had gone

[6:00] according to plan, you wouldn't be here

[6:02] right now.

[6:02] >> Uh, no sir. Uh, we would probably be in

[6:05] uh Kuwait right now, sir.

[6:06] >> In Kuwait and on their way to Iraq, but

[6:09] that's been put on hold. And that means

[6:10] Christmas at home for Mark and Annie

[6:12] Plasket's young family. [laughter]

[6:15] >> He came home from PT and I was getting

[6:19] our daughter ready for kindergarten and

[6:22] he asked what we were doing for

[6:24] Christmas. And I looked at him and he

[6:28] asked me again, "What are we doing for

[6:30] Christmas?" And I had to think about it

[6:32] because he kept using the word we. And I

[6:34] just looked at him. I said, "This better

[6:36] not be a joke. [laughter] This isn't

[6:38] funny."

[6:38] >> So, a two-foot artificial tree has now

[6:40] been upstaged by the real thing.

[6:42] >> As soon as we found out he was home for

[6:44] Christmas, we went and got a real

[6:45] Christmas tree.

[6:47] >> There's a good chance Mark won't have to

[6:49] go to Iraq at all. if Defense Secretary

[6:51] Rumsfeld approves a plan to send only

[6:53] about a third of the brigade to train

[6:55] the Iraqi army.

[6:56] >> From what I see of of of the situation

[6:59] now, training the Iraqi army may be the

[7:01] next most important mission that we do.

[7:04] >> That's only a tiny cut in the number of

[7:06] US troops in Iraq. But as brigade

[7:08] commander Bart Howard says, it's a

[7:10] start.

[7:10] >> But you're sort of the uh the brigade

[7:12] that's right at the uh the cusp here,

[7:16] right on the turning point. I I think

[7:18] we're the brigade that uh represents

[7:21] the change.

[7:22] >> There's already been a big change in

[7:24] Christmas. David Martin, CBS News, Fort

[7:27] Riley, Kansas.

[7:28] >> There was a lot of trading today on Wall

[7:30] Street, but in the end, it didn't amount

[7:32] to much. The Dow Industrials lost about

[7:34] six points. The NASDAQ dropped eight.

[7:37] The new Medicare prescription drug plan

[7:39] starts on New Year's Day, and more than

[7:41] 40 million seniors are eligible to sign

[7:44] up for it. But there is so much

[7:46] confusion over how to sign up and how to

[7:49] choose a coverage plan that's right for

[7:51] you that tonight we're going to try to

[7:53] walk you through the whole thing. Wyatt

[7:56] Andrews with our Friday Consumer Alert.

[8:00] [music]

[8:03] >> It's the weekly concert at the Salem,

[8:06] Virginia Senior Center. But as lively as

[8:08] they are here, we [music] couldn't find

[8:10] one who had signed up for the Medicare

[8:13] drug benefit.

[8:14] Have you avoided this decision at all

[8:17] because it's hard?

[8:18] >> Well, yeah. To be honest, I didn't

[8:20] understand it. I didn't know what to do.

[8:22] >> No question, the benefit is complex, but

[8:25] signing up for the benefit is fairly

[8:27] easy. So, grab a pencil because we've

[8:29] got a list for how to do this. Step one,

[8:32] most important, sit down and make a list

[8:35] of the drugs you take, the dosages of

[8:37] each drug, and the pharmacies you use.

[8:40] Drugs, dosages, pharmacies. Step two,

[8:43] contact Medicare. Use the web at

[8:46] medicare.gov or call 1 800med.

[8:50] Many seniors have asked, "What good is

[8:52] that website if you don't use the

[8:54] internet?"

[8:55] >> Half the people in this room is not on

[8:57] computers and things like

[8:58] >> Dr. Mark Mlelen, the head of Medicare,

[9:01] who's traveling by bus these days to

[9:03] explain the benefit, says calling 1800

[9:06] Medicare is all you need.

[9:08] >> And we will walk you through the same

[9:10] information that you can get on the

[9:12] computer.

[9:12] >> Do you have a list of all your drugs

[9:14] available today?

[9:15] >> Now, step three. When you call 1800

[9:17] Medicare, read to the counselor your

[9:20] list of drugs, and the counselor, like

[9:22] Delena here, takes it from there.

[9:24] >> What can you do at that point? um we can

[9:26] go ahead and enter that information and

[9:29] help them compare um you know three

[9:31] plans

[9:32] >> based on your list. Medicare will refer

[9:35] you to three insurance plans in your

[9:37] state that cover all of your drugs and

[9:40] they will quote you the prices.

[9:42] >> Would you just like me to send you all

[9:43] the information?

[9:44] >> Now at step four, you have a choice. You

[9:47] can stop and enroll immediately through

[9:49] Medicare or write down the plan's phone

[9:52] numbers and keep shopping. Thank you for

[9:54] calling AP Medicare RX. My name

[9:57] >> If you call the individual companies

[9:59] like this one, the AARP United plan

[10:02] manager Doug Norris says compare prices.

[10:05] >> Most of the the comparison is going to

[10:07] be around the cost of the plans, what

[10:09] the deductibles are, uh what the

[10:11] individual drug costs are.

[10:12] >> But it's those first steps that get you

[10:14] moving. And that's make a list of your

[10:17] drugs, the doses, and your pharmacy. And

[10:19] then call Medicare.

[10:22] That's how you [music] pick a benefit

[10:24] worth thousands over the rest of your

[10:26] life. Wyatt [music] Andrews, CBS News,

[10:29] Salem, Virginia.

[10:31] More stories are just a click away, but

[10:33] don't forget to join me on television

[10:35] for the on air edition of the CBS

[10:37] Evening News. On Monday's broadcast, in

[10:40] defense of Christmas, we'll look at why

[10:42] hundreds of lawyers are on a crusade

[10:45] this holiday season. For cbsnews.com,

[10:48] I'm Bob Schiffer.