CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2004-09-30

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm Dan Rather and welcome to the

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

[0:05] ahead, a bloody day in Iraq. Multiple

[0:07] bombings kill dozens, including many

[0:10] children. Also, scientists predict that

[0:12] Mount St. Helens may soon erupt. How

[0:15] they know is tonight's inside story, and

[0:18] the presidential joint appearance, what

[0:20] some people call a debate, and some of

[0:22] the surprising rules that have been

[0:24] imposed by the campaigns themselves.

[0:27] It's all starting now on the CBS Evening

[0:29] News online edition.

[0:32] This was an especially violent day in

[0:34] Iraq. Multiple car bombings and other

[0:36] attacks killed dozens of Iraqis and

[0:38] injured hundreds. At least two US

[0:41] soldiers also were killed and more than

[0:43] a dozen wounded. By far the worst

[0:45] incident was in Baghdad, where CBS's

[0:47] Alan Pizzy reports most of the victims

[0:50] were children.

[0:53] The triple bombing was a classic

[0:54] terrorist tactic known as a comealong.

[0:57] The first bomb caused mayhem. The second

[0:59] and third hit US troops and rescue

[1:01] workers who rushed to help. The initial

[1:03] blast tore through a ceremony to mark

[1:05] the opening of a new sewage plant. The

[1:07] kind of project that is as essential as

[1:09] firepower in the fight to suppress the

[1:11] 17-month-old insurgency. Dozens were

[1:14] killed, most of them children, who had

[1:16] apparently come to get candies US troops

[1:18] sometimes hand out at such ceremonies.

[1:21] Hours earlier, a suicide bomber blew up

[1:23] his car near a checkpoint in the town of

[1:25] Abu Grae, killing an American soldier

[1:27] and two Iraqi policemen. Nowhere seemed

[1:30] safe as a rocket attack on a US

[1:32] logistics base near Baghdad killed

[1:33] another US soldier and wounded at least

[1:36] seven more. In yet another hit, a car

[1:38] bomb intended for the police chief in a

[1:40] northern town killed four Iraqis and

[1:42] wounded 16. Attacks on US troops in

[1:45] September have averaged about 80 a day,

[1:47] double the figure for last month. By

[1:49] some counts, car and suicide bombings

[1:51] have also hit record levels. Growing

[1:54] instability that seems aimed at

[1:55] influencing both the upcoming US

[1:57] presidential vote and Iraqi general

[1:59] elections scheduled for January. Iraqi

[2:02] officials continue to insist that

[2:03] coalition and Iraqi forces will restore

[2:06] control. But just how hard that is

[2:08] proving to be was all too obvious in

[2:10] Fallujah today.

[2:12] Is this democracy? The man shouts. Is

[2:14] this child Zarqawi?

[2:16] Local people claimed the boy was the

[2:18] only survivor of a family hit in a US

[2:20] air strike the military said targeted a

[2:23] safe house used by Abu Musa al- Zarqawi.

[2:26] Alan Pizzy, CBS News, Baghdad. More

[2:29] tremors shook Mount St. Helens in

[2:30] Washington State today and with growing

[2:32] confidence, scientists predicted it will

[2:34] erupt soon, possibly by the weekend.

[2:37] They don't expect the volcano 100 miles

[2:40] south of Seattle to blow with

[2:41] devastating force as it did in 1980. But

[2:45] no one can be certain. CBS's John

[2:47] Blackstone has the inside story.

[2:51] >> The ominous rumble inside Mount St.

[2:53] Helens is sending a signal. Scientists

[2:55] are sure of that, but they're still

[2:58] trying to figure out exactly what the

[3:00] signal indicates. Earthquakes hitting as

[3:02] often as four times a minute, while

[3:04] still small, are growing stronger, often

[3:07] registering above magnitude 3. The $6

[3:10] million question is what what is the

[3:12] source of stress that's giving us these

[3:13] magnitude 3 plus earthquakes?

[3:15] >> With a helicopter, scientists tried

[3:16] again to measure gases escaping from the

[3:19] crater, which would indicate fresh

[3:20] molten rock moving beneath the lava

[3:23] dome. Previous attempts have found no

[3:26] gas, but scientists believe there's

[3:27] close to a 70% chance of a small to

[3:30] moderate eruption. Perhaps in 2 days,

[3:33] perhaps in 2 months. That uncertainty

[3:36] leaves many here wary. what happened in

[3:39] 1980, almost 25 years ago, um that's

[3:42] still fresh in the minds of some of us

[3:44] who lived through it and survived it.

[3:46] >> Since the huge eruption in 1980 that

[3:48] blew away the side of the mountain,

[3:50] changed the landscape, and killed 57

[3:53] people, no volcano has been studied more

[3:55] closely than Mount St. Helens.

[3:57] >> We have a remarkably detailed

[3:59] understanding. It's like the pages of a

[4:02] book of the erupted history of Mount St.

[4:03] Helens that we can walk through.

[4:05] Scientists know there was an eruption

[4:06] here in 1480 that was 10 times more

[4:09] powerful than the one in 1980. Well,

[4:12] they can tell with near certainty what

[4:13] happened 500 years ago. Predicting what

[4:16] will happen tomorrow or next week is

[4:18] more challenging.

[4:19] >> I mean, can you look at that and tell

[4:20] that something's happening inside that

[4:22] mountain?

[4:23] >> Sure, you can look at that and tell

[4:24] something's happening. You can feel it.

[4:26] Even the fog is trying to get away from

[4:27] this thing right now.

[4:29] >> Volcano prediction may be as much an art

[4:31] as a science. John Blackstone, CBS News,

[4:34] near Mount St. Helens.

[4:36] >> Did you know the famous Lincoln Douglas

[4:38] debates were held outdoors, rain or

[4:40] shine? A century and a half later, the

[4:43] Bush carry joint appearances are, of

[4:45] course, being held indoors. And as CBS's

[4:48] Richard Slesinger reports, virtually

[4:50] every element at the insistence of

[4:52] political oper operators will be tightly

[4:55] controlled.

[4:57] >> Richard Nixon never sweated the details

[4:59] of his debate with John Kennedy. make a

[5:01] better shave.

[5:02] >> And this appearance helped doom his

[5:04] campaign.

[5:06] >> The vice president doesn't believe in

[5:07] expiration, for example, in Alaska.

[5:09] There's a lot of

[5:10] >> Al Gore was caught sighing and scoffing.

[5:12] The first President Bush was caught

[5:14] checking his watch. Both men lost. The

[5:17] candidates don't want those mistakes

[5:19] repeated.

[5:21] >> This year's debates have become so

[5:23] structured, it's debatable whether they

[5:25] are debates at all. 32 pages of rules

[5:28] have been written governing everything

[5:30] from the type of pens and paper the

[5:32] candidates can use to the kinds of

[5:34] chairs they'll sit in. Very little is

[5:37] left to chance. In fact, section 5

[5:40] subsection F says during the debates the

[5:43] candidates may not ask each other direct

[5:45] questions. These candidates don't want

[5:48] to make a mistake.

[5:48] >> Frank Farenov is the co-chairman of the

[5:51] debate commission.

[5:52] >> What kind of pens and what kind of paper

[5:53] do you think would be prohibited?

[5:55] >> I I I can't tell you that. We don't

[5:56] care.

[5:57] >> But the campaigns do, and they wrote the

[5:59] rules. So before the candidates walk

[6:02] onto this stage, the commission will

[6:03] actually have to approve pens and paper.

[6:06] Even the way the candidates shake hands

[6:08] has been orchestrated. Farankov says the

[6:11] candidates wouldn't show up without this

[6:13] agreement.

[6:14] >> The objective here is no surprises where

[6:18] one

[6:20] >> when you come out on stage, you have no

[6:22] idea how that's been negotiated over the

[6:24] over the years. The campaigns even

[6:26] demanded specific podiums, each one 50

[6:29] in high. Exactly.

[6:31] >> What would happen if it was 50 and a

[6:33] half? Would the Republic collapse? I

[6:34] mean, this is ridiculous.

[6:35] >> There's no debate in George Farah's mind

[6:37] about why the candidates wrote such

[6:39] detailed rules. He runs an organization

[6:41] called open debates.

[6:43] >> These guys, Richard, are terrified. They

[6:45] want to minimize any element of

[6:47] spontaneity.

[6:48] >> Like it or not, Frank Farenov says

[6:50] debates with strict rules are better

[6:51] than no debates at all. You're not going

[6:54] to get candidates who are going to say,

[6:55] "Fine, put me in a room and I'll just go

[6:58] at it with my opponent."

[6:59] >> So, if all goes as planned, the debates

[7:01] will go on as carefully stage managed as

[7:04] a Broadway show, except minus the drama.

[7:07] Richard Slesinger, CBS News, New York.

[7:10] More stories are just a click away, but

[7:12] don't forget to join me on television

[7:14] for the on air edition of the CBS

[7:16] Evening News. On Friday, a high-tech

[7:19] analysis of the presidential debate and

[7:21] how the candidates did with those

[7:23] allimportant uncommitted voters. For

[7:26] cbsnews.com,

[7:28] I'm Dan Rather.