CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2004-10-21

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 CBS News exclusive. A Muslim

[0:08] charity hijacked by extremists is now

[0:12] recruiting insurgents to fight in Iraq.

[0:15] Also, signs of the Times. See how the

[0:18] presidential race is pitting neighbor

[0:19] against neighbor. And from Florida to

[0:22] California to Japan, a look at October's

[0:25] wet and wild weather. It's all starting

[0:28] now on the CBS Evening News online

[0:31] edition.

[0:33] In France today, an organization of

[0:35] French Muslims accused the government of

[0:37] abusing a controversial new law banning

[0:40] Muslim girls from wearing traditional

[0:42] headscarves to school. At least seven

[0:44] were expelled from school this week. But

[0:46] France's struggle to come to terms with

[0:48] its large and still growing Muslim

[0:50] population has a more troubling side,

[0:53] including, as CBS's Richard Roth

[0:55] reports, a link to Islamic terrorism in

[0:58] Iraq. For more than a decade, this

[1:01] Algerian man will call Mustapa has been

[1:03] living in France outside the law. An

[1:06] illegal immigrant and a disciple of

[1:08] hate.

[1:10] >> One day, we will take Jerusalem and

[1:12] there won't be a single Jew left on

[1:14] Earth.

[1:16] War in Iraq's given him a new calling.

[1:19] As a follower of the Islamic movement

[1:21] called the Tabli, he's been urging young

[1:23] Muslim men to leave France and fight.

[1:28] >> We informed them that in a Muslim

[1:30] country, there's an invasion.

[1:33] >> It's a cause. You have to go and combat

[1:36] the enemy and throw them out.

[1:42] And you teach them to kill Americans

[1:44] amongst other things.

[1:46] >> Yes, of course. As the Americans were

[1:49] told to torture the Iraqis in Abu Grae.

[1:54] >> The Tabli began as a peaceful Islamic

[1:57] missionary movement, but intelligence

[1:59] experts say it's been hijacked by

[2:01] militants. Now, authorities in Europe

[2:04] worry there's a growing network of men

[2:06] like Mustapa finding natural cover in

[2:08] large Muslim communities and recruiting

[2:11] militants to fight in Iraq.

[2:15] In France, Chief Anti-Terror Judge Jean

[2:18] Louie Bugierre has opened a criminal

[2:20] investigation. There's evidence French

[2:22] citizens are among the new recruits, but

[2:24] he says Iraq is fueling the ambition of

[2:27] militants all across the continent.

[2:29] >> It look like a black hole. Iraq is a

[2:32] black hole for terrorists.

[2:34] >> Yes, that this specifically. Yes. Yes.

[2:36] >> Mustafa has kept his address secret from

[2:39] us and to avoid arrest here, he agreed

[2:41] to be photographed only if he couldn't

[2:43] be identified. CBS News interviewed him

[2:46] through an intermediary. But he claims

[2:48] an underground network keeps terrorists

[2:50] in the pipeline, a military-style

[2:52] operation teaching the skills he learned

[2:55] in a camp in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

[2:59] Months before the war started, Mustapa

[3:01] says he moved to Iraq with other

[3:03] foreigners, getting ready for the

[3:05] invasion. He handled logistics,

[3:07] supplying false passports, and arranging

[3:10] travel for newcomers arriving through

[3:12] Algeria and Syria. He came back to

[3:15] France to enlist others.

[3:18] >> Among the people you have brought to

[3:19] Iraq, have some committed suicide

[3:21] missions?

[3:23] >> Excuse me, I cannot answer that

[3:25] question. Would that be partially

[3:28] admitting it?

[3:30] >> You understand that as you wish.

[3:32] >> His claims about the Iraqi insurgency

[3:35] and some of its foreign support fit what

[3:37] Jeffrey White, a former analyst for the

[3:39] Defense Intelligence Agency, says is

[3:42] well established. I think over time,

[3:44] especially since the fall, our

[3:46] understanding that uh resistance and all

[3:48] its elements, including the jihadi

[3:50] elements, uh is increasingly well

[3:52] organized and they are probably capable

[3:55] of uh sending people in and out. Mustapa

[3:58] doesn't claim that Iraqi resistance

[4:00] depends exclusively on foreigners, only

[4:02] that militants from as far away as

[4:04] Western Europe are still joining the

[4:07] insurgency.

[4:10] >> Mr. All roads lead to Baghdad. You can

[4:13] get to Baghdad from anywhere.

[4:16] >> And as long as Americans stay in Iraq,

[4:18] he warns he'll find men to fight them.

[4:22] >> Richard Walt, CBS News, Paris. A kind of

[4:25] turf battle has broken out all across

[4:27] America. Signs supporting one candidate

[4:30] or another are popping up on front

[4:31] lawns, pitting neighbor against

[4:33] neighbor. CBS's Aaron Morarity has the

[4:36] inside story of this grassroots

[4:38] campaign.

[4:41] In Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a quiet,

[4:43] close-knit neighborhood is suddenly

[4:46] split by signs of the times. One started

[4:49] and then a few more popped up and it

[4:51] went, you know, bush carry, bush, bush,

[4:54] carry, carry, bigger bush, bigger carry.

[4:56] >> Campaign signs on almost every doorstep

[4:59] make red versus blue a personal matter.

[5:02] It's not unusual for homeowners here,

[5:04] who are well educated and well informed

[5:07] to have strong political opinions.

[5:10] What is new is that they're willing to

[5:12] put those opinions on display.

[5:15] How many of you have a sign in front of

[5:17] your house?

[5:19] Until now, discussing politics here was

[5:22] taboo.

[5:23] >> We never really got into it because we

[5:24] get along so well.

[5:26] >> But after a lone carry sign appeared,

[5:28] the race was on.

[5:30] >> I was surrounded by carries on all

[5:32] sides, back, front, on both sides. And I

[5:34] said, I've got to put my Bush sign up.

[5:36] >> We just want to be counted. Tom and

[5:38] Rosemary Jones countered the next door

[5:40] neighbor's massive challenge with more

[5:43] signs of their own.

[5:44] >> So my three will equal his.

[5:46] >> We're on the corner, you see. But

[5:48] keeping up with the Joneses is not the

[5:50] only motivation here.

[5:52] >> I think September 11th changed

[5:54] everything. Apathy is gone from our

[5:57] hearts.

[5:58] >> So far, it's a friendly competition, but

[6:00] these neighbors admit the signs reveal

[6:02] differences they didn't know existed.

[6:05] How could there be this division?

[6:08] >> Bush, you you know where he stands and I

[6:10] I agree with where he stands as well.

[6:12] >> I'm voting for the candidate who will

[6:13] make sure that we have more choices and

[6:16] more opportunities for more people.

[6:18] >> To me, it's the safety of the country.

[6:21] >> Four years later, am I better off than I

[6:23] was 4 years ago? No.

[6:26] >> Still, they all say come election day,

[6:28] the red and blue will fade.

[6:30] >> Come on, Ross. Come on over.

[6:31] >> We're going to gather on November 2nd

[6:33] and celebrate. If nothing else, our

[6:36] ability to to have a say.

[6:39] >> And the only thing heated in this

[6:41] neighborhood will be their annual

[6:43] gourmet dinner. Aaron Morardi, CBS News,

[6:47] Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

[6:49] >> Don't blame El Nino. US climate experts

[6:51] report the storm generating system that

[6:54] was farming in the Pacific Ocean is now

[6:56] going away. But that small consolation

[6:59] in California, where sudden storms left

[7:01] mountain climbers in the Sierras lost in

[7:04] blinding snow. Park rangers spent the

[7:07] day on search and rescue missions for

[7:09] more than a dozen hikers who went

[7:11] missing during the storm. If you look

[7:13] closely, you can see one clamor dangling

[7:16] halfway up the 3200 ft rock wall of

[7:19] Yusede El Capatan. Rescuers were also

[7:23] retrieving the bodies of two Japanese

[7:25] tourists who were trapped on the sheer

[7:27] mountain face without proper equipment

[7:29] when the deadly blizzard hit. In

[7:32] Florida, a tornado touched down near

[7:34] Port Canaveral while it sent many

[7:36] sensible people running. One vacer

[7:39] stayed and caught the perfectly formed

[7:41] funnel cloud on videotape. The twister

[7:44] blew apart power transformers and sent

[7:46] cars flying, but there were no serious

[7:49] injuries. In Japan, at least 60 are dead

[7:53] and over 200 injured after the worst

[7:55] typhoon in more than 20 years.

[7:58] Landslides set off by heavy rain

[8:00] destroyed countless homes. Japanese

[8:03] rescuers managed to save dozens of

[8:05] people stranded by floodwaters and are

[8:07] now searching through the destruction in

[8:09] hopes of finding more survivors. More

[8:12] stories are just a click away, but don't

[8:14] forget to join me on television for the

[8:16] onair edition of the CBS Evening News.

[8:19] On Friday's broadcast, a consumer alert.

[8:22] That two or three day float you've been

[8:24] used to on your checking account will

[8:27] soon be a thing of the past. We'll give

[8:29] you the details for cbsnews.com.

[8:33] I'm Dan Rather.