CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2004-11-10

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

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

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

[0:04] Just ahead, US Marines and Army troops

[0:06] along with Iraqi commandos take most of

[0:09] Fallujah, but the city is not yet under

[0:11] complete control. Also, the big leak,

[0:14] Boston's infamous Big Dig project

[0:17] suffers yet another costly setback.

[0:19] We'll give you the inside story. And

[0:22] needing balance between life and work,

[0:25] see how some companies are bending over

[0:27] backwards to help professional moms. Our

[0:30] special Eye on America series, Women's

[0:32] Work, rolls on. And it's all starting

[0:35] now on the CBS Evening News online

[0:37] edition.

[0:39] First, the speed. Now, the squeeze. Just

[0:43] 3 days after they launched the attack on

[0:45] Fallujah, US Marines and Army troops

[0:47] along with some Iraqi commandos control

[0:50] nearly 3/4 of the city. The US military

[0:53] estimates between 500 and 1,000 enemy

[0:56] fighters have been killed. American

[0:58] casualties are officially put at 10 dead

[1:01] and 25 wounded. Tonight, surviving enemy

[1:04] fighters are said to be cornered in a

[1:06] small area of the city. CBS News combat

[1:09] correspondent Elizabeth Palmer is with

[1:11] the Marines.

[1:13] A new flag flies above central Fallujah

[1:16] tonight, an Iraqi flag, hoisted by Iraqi

[1:19] special forces fighting alongside US

[1:21] Army and Marines.

[1:23] This Abrams tank rolled head-on into an

[1:25] insurgent attack.

[1:28] But even a direct hit from a

[1:29] rocket-propelled grenade couldn't stop

[1:32] it.

[1:33] The camera held by a crew member kept

[1:35] rolling.

[1:37] All around tanks hammered away at the

[1:39] insurgents trying to halt the advance

[1:41] deep into the city.

[1:43] Marines dodged in and out of streets and

[1:45] alleyways, flanking the tanks where they

[1:47] could, taking cover behind their armored

[1:49] bulk.

[1:50] US and Iraqi forces are now in control

[1:53] of 70% of Fallujah. Large areas in the

[1:56] north and east are secure, and Iraqi

[1:58] forces report a gruesome discovery, the

[2:01] house where kidnapped victims have been

[2:03] murdered.

[2:05] This may be one battle, but there are

[2:07] two kinds of combat, improvised urban

[2:09] guerrillas versus the overwhelming

[2:12] technology and firepower of the US

[2:14] military.

[2:15] >> Can we really use a sledgehammer to kill

[2:17] a a mosquito here?

[2:19] >> The world knows the Marine Corps is a

[2:20] sledgehammer, and uh any any adversary

[2:23] we've ever faced we compare it to a

[2:24] mosquito. We focus our fires and our

[2:26] efforts on the enemy and the enemy

[2:27] alone. And if uh if what is perceived by

[2:30] America is overwhelming force, it's not,

[2:33] it's very accurate. Inevitably though,

[2:35] many civilian homes have been destroyed,

[2:38] like these apartments where a group of

[2:40] rebels had taken cover.

[2:42] The officer in charge of the offensive,

[2:44] Lieutenant General John Sattler, said

[2:46] the troops, Iraqi and American, were

[2:48] making steady progress. The uh terrorist

[2:52] uh

[2:52] the thugs who are in the town are blind.

[2:55] They do not know where we are. They do

[2:57] not know where we are coming from now or

[3:00] where we will be within the next hour.

[3:02] On the eastern edge of Fallujah, Marines

[3:04] and armored vehicles tightened their

[3:06] security cordon.

[3:07] They moved in hoping insurgents would

[3:09] shoot at them and reveal their hiding

[3:11] places, but no one answered the barrage,

[3:15] even though the Marines did believe

[3:16] retreating rebel fighters might regroup

[3:18] in this neighborhood.

[3:20] They didn't fire back, say the Marines,

[3:22] because either they're all dead, laying

[3:24] low, or busy abandoning their weapons

[3:27] hoping to melt into the civilian

[3:28] population. Elizabeth Palmer, CBS News

[3:31] with the Marines outside Fallujah. The

[3:33] costliest public works project in US

[3:36] history, Boston's controversial and

[3:38] disruptive Big Dig tunnel and highway

[3:40] system. After years of headaches, city

[3:43] officials thought the worst was behind

[3:45] them. But now comes word the tunnels are

[3:48] leaking water and your tax dollars.

[3:51] CBS's Jim Axelrod gives you the inside

[3:54] story.

[3:55] In Boston, they've always called it the

[3:58] Big Dig, a massive tunnel project that

[4:00] took 15 years and 14.6 billion dollars

[4:04] to complete.

[4:06] But a series of leaks is now creating

[4:08] huge traffic snarls and revealing

[4:10] structural problems that could take

[4:12] another 10 years to fix. It's been

[4:14] leaking. People in Boston, like talk

[4:16] show host Howie Carr, are calling the

[4:18] Big Dig something else entirely. It's

[4:21] not supposed to leak, right?

[4:24] It's it's it was it always has been the

[4:26] biggest boondoggle in American

[4:29] transportation history, and now it's

[4:31] even more of a disaster because it's a

[4:33] lemon. It appears shoddy construction

[4:36] produced tunnel walls that were not

[4:38] exactly watertight. I can tell you

[4:40] personally I'm outraged. I'm absolutely

[4:42] outraged. The state is now looking to

[4:44] see who it can sue, starting with

[4:46] Bechtel, the company that oversaw the

[4:48] project and allegedly knew about the

[4:50] problems but neglected to tell the

[4:52] state. Bechtel was responsible for the

[4:54] quality of that work. We're going to

[4:56] hold the people responsible. We're not

[4:57] going to get scapegoats, but if you're

[4:59] tempted to

[5:00] >> snicker at the people of Massachusetts

[5:02] and say that's their problem, hang on a

[5:04] second. That 14.6 billion dollars,

[5:07] that's not just Massachusetts money.

[5:09] Until about 5 years ago, the federal

[5:12] government was picking up about 90% of

[5:13] the tab. So, Massachusetts is only on

[5:16] the hook for about 2 billion here.

[5:18] Everybody else is on the hook for

[5:19] another 12 or 13. Now that Boston has

[5:22] digested a Red Sox win and a Kerry loss,

[5:25] the finger pointers are back to their

[5:27] old standby, the Big Dig. I think there

[5:30] shouldn't be any problem spending that

[5:31] kind of money, spending our tax dollars.

[5:34] There shouldn't be, but there are. Here,

[5:37] where they spent 14.6 billion dollars to

[5:40] get it wrong. Jim Axelrod, CBS News,

[5:43] Boston. In our special Eye on America

[5:46] series, CBS is investigating Women's

[5:48] Work. The government reports that fully

[5:51] 1/3 of women workers now hold management

[5:54] or professional positions, but they

[5:56] also, of course, have lives outside the

[5:59] office. CBS's Sharyn Alfonsi reports

[6:01] tonight on new ways to ensure these

[6:04] women can balance their lives and their

[6:06] employers can balance the books.

[6:10] Hey!

[6:11] Jennifer Maller has always danced to the

[6:14] beat of her own drummer. She's single

[6:16] and a self-described free spirit. Hello,

[6:19] missy. Brenda McAuliffe is married with

[6:21] three children. Her free time is family

[6:24] time. How are you? Here's what Brenda

[6:26] and Jennifer have in common. They're

[6:27] both accountants, they're both rising

[6:30] stars at the same company, and neither

[6:32] works 9:00 to 5:00. I've kind of put

[6:34] priorities on when I want to be home and

[6:36] manage my work schedule around that.

[6:39] >> Working full-time, it was great, you

[6:41] know, I love everything that I was

[6:43] doing, but it was a little too much. Uh

[6:45] too many hours, and I I wanted a

[6:47] balance. Balance is the new buzzword for

[6:50] women who don't want to choose between

[6:52] work and life, but they don't want the

[6:54] mommy track either. These women want

[6:56] meaningful careers and promotions, and

[6:59] some companies are now changing just to

[7:01] keep them. We were hiring 50% women and

[7:03] 50% men, and then women were leaving us

[7:06] um more often than the men.

[7:08] >> So, accounting giant Ernst & Young asked

[7:10] what it would take to keep women from

[7:12] leaving. The wish list?

[7:14] Flexible work options, including reduced

[7:16] schedules and compressed workweeks. Gone

[7:19] are the days when your workforce could

[7:21] be counted on to come in in the morning

[7:22] and sit at their desks all day. And if

[7:24] you can't figure that out, you're not

[7:25] going to be drawing from the top talent.

[7:27] >> Not nearly enough companies have

[7:30] family-friendly policies.

[7:31] >> Linda Meric warns there's a difference

[7:33] between family-friendly and the mommy

[7:35] track, and just creating options isn't

[7:38] enough. They many times discourage

[7:40] employees from utilizing those policies

[7:43] or actually punish employees when they

[7:45] use them by slowing down uh their career

[7:48] advancement path. Deborah Holmes says

[7:51] these policies are saving her company 10

[7:53] million dollars annually, and women are

[7:55] now staying at a higher rate than men.

[7:58] I'm very, very happy. So, I feel like

[8:01] that's, you know, the flexibility keeps

[8:04] me here. Row forward all the way down.

[8:06] Since beginning their flexible work

[8:08] schedules, Jennifer Maller and Brenda

[8:10] McAuliffe have both been promoted. Here,

[8:12] Brenda's made partner and has learned a

[8:15] thing or two about juggling clients and

[8:17] commitments. No one really needs to know

[8:20] exactly where you are. But you say

[8:22] conflict, you don't say I have a class

[8:23] meeting. No. Because? Why do they need

[8:25] to know that? Companies have found that

[8:27] flexibility at work leads to higher

[8:29] morale, higher productivity, and higher

[8:32] retention. You sure you don't want

[8:33] something, Eva? But for many women, that

[8:36] is just the icing on the cake. In New

[8:39] York, I'm Sharyn Alfonsi for Eye on

[8:42] America. More stories are just a click

[8:44] away, but don't forget to join me on

[8:46] television for the on-air edition of the

[8:49] CBS Evening News. On Thursday's

[8:51] broadcast, working women who are fired

[8:53] for having babies. It happens more often

[8:55] than you may think. Find out why it's

[8:57] happening when our Eye on America series

[9:00] continues, Women's Work.

[9:02] For cbsnews.com,

[9:04] I'm Dan Rather.