NBC Nightly News open - 2004-11-22

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Inside the kitchen of Channel 4 anchors

[0:02] each night this week at 6

[0:09] political capital. President Bush's new

[0:11] push to rescue intelligence reforms from

[0:14] conservative Republicans.

[0:17] Airline security. How did a man on the

[0:19] no-fly list get on a passenger jetliner

[0:21] in the first place? Pressing new

[0:23] questions for the holiday travel season.

[0:26] Prescription for change. Is the

[0:28] government aggressive enough about

[0:29] monitoring drugs such as vios after they

[0:32] go on the market? And Billy Graham, why

[0:36] so many have been moved by his message.

[0:38] Now, what could be his final crusade

[0:45] from NBC News World Headquarters in New

[0:48] York, this is NBC Nightly News with Tom

[0:52] Bro.

[0:53] >> Good evening. President Bush left town

[0:55] for a summit meeting in South America.

[0:57] And while he was away, conservative

[0:59] Republicans in the House of

[1:00] Representatives decided to show their

[1:03] independence, or as the president might

[1:05] say, to spend some of their political

[1:07] capital. They refused to pass the

[1:10] overhaul of the nation's intelligence

[1:11] system as recommended by the 9/11

[1:14] Commission. Now, there's a lot of

[1:15] pressure on the president to do more to

[1:17] get that bill back on track. NBC's David

[1:20] Gregory at the president's ranch in

[1:22] Texas tonight.

[1:25] The president today in Colombia wrapping

[1:27] up his trip to Latin America by pledging

[1:29] support for the war on drugs. But he

[1:32] comes home to Texas tonight facing a

[1:33] growing fight with his own party. On

[1:36] Capitol Hill today, Vice President

[1:38] Cheney met privately with House

[1:39] Conservatives responsible for blocking a

[1:42] vote on the bill. Even as Mr. Bush

[1:44] assigned his senior staff at the White

[1:46] House to find a way to break the

[1:48] impacts,

[1:49] >> it's very clear I wanted the bill

[1:50] passed. I talked to key members of the

[1:53] uh of the House as did my vice president

[1:58] and we'll continue working with him.

[1:59] >> The bill embraced by the White House and

[2:02] based on recommendations from the 9/11

[2:04] Commission would create a director of

[2:06] national intelligence, a powerful new

[2:08] position with budgetary control over the

[2:10] entire intelligence community, including

[2:12] the CIA and the Pentagon, which has

[2:15] drawn criticism from Secretary Rumsfeld.

[2:18] House conservatives blocked a vote,

[2:20] arguing the bill would reduce the

[2:21] Pentagon's control over battlefield

[2:23] intelligence and would fail to crack

[2:26] down on illegal immigrants.

[2:28] >> The details of this bill were so

[2:30] incomplete and so ownorous uh that what

[2:36] we would be doing is passing something

[2:38] that looked good on a bumper sticker.

[2:41] And the devil is in the details.

[2:43] Tonight, both Republicans and Democrats

[2:46] are critical of the president, for

[2:47] failing to use the political capital he

[2:50] claims he earned with the election to

[2:52] overcome Republican opposition.

[2:55] The bill supporters still think there is

[2:56] a faint chance of getting these reforms

[2:58] passed early next month before Congress

[3:01] adjourns. Aids say the president will

[3:03] spend part of this holiday week

[3:04] attempting to rebuild support. Tom,

[3:07] >> thanks very much. NBC's David Gregory at

[3:09] the president's ranch tonight. And on

[3:10] the eve of this busy holiday travel

[3:12] season, there are new questions about

[3:14] the very kind of security that failed on

[3:17] 911, airline security, especially on

[3:19] planes coming to the US from overseas.

[3:22] Over the weekend, a passenger jet was

[3:24] diverted when a man on board turned out

[3:26] to be on the government's no fly list.

[3:29] How did he make it onto the plane in the

[3:31] first place? Here's NBC's Pete Williams.

[3:36] Ahmed Lahidi, a 47year-old Moroccan,

[3:39] never made it to Washington Saturday

[3:41] night. Hustled off the plane instead by

[3:43] federal agents. His flight from Paris

[3:45] with 262 other passengers aboard was

[3:48] diverted to Banganger, Maine after

[3:50] authorities discovered that Lahidi was

[3:52] on the US government's no-fly list. His

[3:54] visa was cancelled in June because of

[3:56] quote potential terrorist activities in

[3:59] his past. Officials won't say what, and

[4:01] his passport had expired. But the US did

[4:04] not learn he was on board until the Air

[4:06] France plane was already in flight.

[4:08] >> Terrorist watch list expand in terms of

[4:10] their number. That becomes more

[4:12] challenging. Right now, the burden is on

[4:14] the airline to make the comparison.

[4:16] >> French authorities today say they're

[4:18] checking to see how someone on the

[4:20] no-fly list with expired papers managed

[4:22] to get through. Lahidi, the Moroccan

[4:25] man, is due to be sent home tonight.

[4:26] Authorities could find no indication he

[4:28] was planning any terrorist attack, but

[4:31] the episode points out a shortcoming in

[4:33] screening overseas flights. Foreign

[4:35] airlines are now required to relay

[4:37] passenger lists to the