CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2004-11-15

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

[0:04] ahead, Secretary of State Colon Pal's

[0:07] resignation. We'll look at his long

[0:09] career, why he's stepping down, and some

[0:11] of what the future may hold for the

[0:13] country. Also, inside the Battle of

[0:15] Fallujah, seen through the eyes of some

[0:18] injured US troops, and whiplash

[0:21] injuries. Why there's still a problem

[0:23] for many car makers and thus for you.

[0:25] It's all starting now on the CBS Evening

[0:28] News online edition.

[0:31] The Bush team is going to look a whole

[0:32] lot different in the president's second

[0:34] term. More members of his cabinet

[0:36] announced their resignations today,

[0:38] including the senior member, the

[0:40] Secretary of State, Coen Powell, the

[0:42] first African-American to hold that

[0:44] position. And CBS News chief White House

[0:46] correspondent John Roberts has confirmed

[0:48] the president will nominate his national

[0:51] security adviser, Condisa Rice, to

[0:53] succeed Powell. John begins their

[0:56] coverage tonight of Powell's impact on

[0:58] US foreign policy and what may come

[1:00] next.

[1:02] >> He was widely seen as the pragmatic

[1:04] moderate in an administration dominated

[1:06] by hawks and today he declared it is

[1:08] time to go.

[1:09] >> I'd always indicated to him that I

[1:11] thought uh I would serve for one term.

[1:14] Uh and uh as we got closer to the

[1:17] election and the immediate aftermath of

[1:19] the election uh it seemed the

[1:21] appropriate time. Powell said his

[1:22] departure as America's chief diplomat

[1:24] was by mutual agreement with the

[1:26] president, but the White House today

[1:28] insisted the decision was all Powell's.

[1:30] Uh Secretary Pal uh made a decision uh

[1:33] for his own reasons uh that this was now

[1:35] the time to leave.

[1:37] >> Sources tell CBS News National Security

[1:39] Adviser Condisa Rice has been picked to

[1:42] succeed Powell, one of President Bush's

[1:44] fiercest allies she would become only

[1:46] the second woman Secretary of State.

[1:48] Clearly the Bush policies are one she

[1:51] agreed with and endorsed and that will

[1:53] be on the mind of foreign leaders. But

[1:56] at the same time she's a tough,

[1:57] experienced, knowledgeable, capable

[1:59] person who has the confidence of the

[2:00] president. The Powell retirement brings

[2:02] to six the number of cabinet members who

[2:04] are leaving. Education Secretary Rod

[2:07] Page, Energy Spence Abraham, and Anne

[2:09] Venamman of agriculture also resigned

[2:11] today, joining attorney general

[2:13] Ashcraftoft and Commerce's Don Evans.

[2:16] Powell's reputation was impeccable. a

[2:18] 35-year career commander and staff

[2:20] officer in the Army, chairman of the

[2:22] Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Security

[2:24] Adviser to Ronald Reagan. But he

[2:26] frequently ran a foul of hardliners in

[2:28] the Bush administration. His first

[2:30] infraction in 2001 when he declared the

[2:33] White House would continue its policy of

[2:35] engagement with North Korea. The

[2:37] president scolded Pal and told him to

[2:39] take it back. The president forcefully

[2:41] made the point that we are undertaking a

[2:44] full review of our relationship with

[2:46] North Korea.

[2:47] >> And then there was his pre-war

[2:49] presentation to the United Nations.

[2:51] President Bush made Powell the frontman

[2:52] and Powell declared Iraq had weapons of

[2:55] mass destruction. But he later said much

[2:57] of the evidence was an error and should

[2:59] not have been used.

[3:01] >> Sources close to Powell tell CBS News

[3:03] that many members of Congress are

[3:05] uncomfortable with where the White House

[3:07] has gone on foreign policy. And with POW

[3:09] gone, lawmakers may be more assertive

[3:11] with the next Secretary of State.

[3:13] President Bush is expected to announce

[3:15] his nomination of Rice as early as

[3:17] tomorrow. Dan, John Roberts reporting

[3:19] live from the White House. Thanks, John.

[3:21] In the past week, scores of brave

[3:22] American soldiers and Marines have been

[3:25] seriously wounded in Fallujah. They've

[3:27] now arrived at a US military hospital in

[3:29] Germany. Many of them and those willing

[3:31] and able are beginning to speak of their

[3:33] experiences. CBS's Alan Pizzy has their

[3:37] inside story.

[3:39] >> The combat has been street to street and

[3:41] house to house. And as it finally begins

[3:43] to taper off, American troops wounded in

[3:46] the battle for Fallujah have been

[3:47] talking for the first time. They say it

[3:50] is not surprising hundreds of them were

[3:51] hit because their enemy was wellarmed

[3:54] and determined.

[3:55] >> They're willing to fight to the death.

[3:57] >> It's hard to do uh to fight someone like

[4:00] that. Hundreds of US troops have been

[4:02] wounded in the week old assault in

[4:04] Fallujah. Efforts to save their lives

[4:06] start right on the battlefield. As soon

[4:09] as they are stabilized, the wounded are

[4:11] bundled onto helicopters and whisked to

[4:12] more sophisticated treatment centers.

[4:14] >> Medics are amazing out there. They get

[4:16] to you. They work with you fast. Uh and

[4:18] they're guys, you know, so that's uh

[4:19] it's comforting.

[4:20] >> Medics give the wounded details about

[4:22] their injuries to pass on to the next

[4:23] stage of treatment.

[4:25] >> At first, I thought I lost my leg. It

[4:27] was burning real bad. I was like, did I

[4:28] lose it? Did I lose it? But now I can

[4:29] see my toes. So I was like, "Well, at

[4:31] least my leg's still there. If it's, you

[4:32] know, I wasn't sure if it was attached,

[4:33] but it was still there." So I was pretty

[4:35] happy.

[4:36] >> A fracture either way and the shrapnel

[4:37] would have cut an artery and Lance

[4:39] Corpal Owens would have bled to death.

[4:41] You know, some are losing legs, some

[4:43] can't even walk. And I feel lucky that I

[4:45] am mobile and I can get up and I can

[4:47] move.

[4:48] >> So far, nearly 200 of the casualties

[4:50] moved on to Lansto Military Hospital in

[4:52] Germany have been sent back to the

[4:54] States. Hospital officials say more than

[4:56] 25% of the casualties who end up here

[4:58] are returned to active duty. Some within

[5:01] as little as 2 weeks, which seems to be

[5:03] exactly what the wounded soldiers and

[5:05] Marines want.

[5:06] >> If I was well enough to go out, I' I'd

[5:09] uh in a heartbeat go back.

[5:11] >> I want to go back, but uh this little

[5:13] injury is holding me back and it kills

[5:15] me every time. I mean, I watch the news

[5:17] and just know my buddies are over there.

[5:19] >> But if they hang around here long

[5:20] enough, some of their buddies may come

[5:22] to them. 49 more wounded were due in

[5:25] tonight. Alan Pezy, CBS News, Lunch.

[5:29] >> We close tonight with an important heads

[5:31] up about whiplash injuries. CBS's Bob O

[5:34] reports a new study finds the neck rests

[5:36] in many automobiles leave a lot to be

[5:39] desired, even in collisions at far less

[5:42] than breakneck speed.

[5:44] >> They are not the most dramatic crashes,

[5:46] not among the deadliest or most costly.

[5:49] But rear-end collisions still cause

[5:51] thousands of whiplash injuries each

[5:52] year. And even the newest cars are doing

[5:55] a poor job of protecting passengers.

[5:57] >> Most seats do not have state-of-the-art

[6:00] protection against whiplash injury.

[6:03] >> Of 73 seats tested by the Insurance

[6:05] Institute for Highway Safety, only eight

[6:07] earned a good rating. Three models from

[6:09] Volvo, two from Saab, the Volkswagen New

[6:12] Beetle, the Subaru Empreza, and the

[6:15] Jaguar Stype. The Chevrolet Malibu was

[6:18] rated acceptable, as was the Chrysler

[6:20] Sebring, the Mercedes E-Class, the

[6:23] Nissan Ultima, Toyota Corolla, and 11

[6:25] others. All other models, including the

[6:28] Honda Accord, the BMW 3 Series, and the

[6:30] Dodge Neon, were rated poor or marginal.

[6:34] >> All manufacturers can do better. This

[6:36] this isn't rocket science, but they have

[6:38] to pay attention to the problem.

[6:40] >> Volvo has been an industry leader with a

[6:42] new seat that prevents the neck from

[6:43] snapping back and forth in a crash. But

[6:46] whiplash is not the kind of injury that

[6:48] gets most automakers attention.

[6:50] >> The reason they're not fixing these is

[6:52] what?

[6:53] >> Cost. There's not enough uh product

[6:55] liability and monetary damages for the

[6:58] industry to pay out. The government has

[7:00] to come in and set a standard.

[7:02] Regulators are promising new rules

[7:04] requiring better head restraints in the

[7:05] next couple of months, but that won't

[7:07] bring a quick fix for whiplash injuries

[7:09] since automakers will still have another

[7:11] three years at least to equip all new

[7:13] cars with safer seats. Bob or CBS News

[7:17] Washington.

[7:18] >> More stories are just a click away, but

[7:20] don't forget to join me on television

[7:22] for the on air edition of the CBS

[7:24] Evening News. On Tuesday's broadcast,

[7:27] quality of care in the nation's nursing

[7:29] homes. Eye on America investigates and

[7:32] shows how evidence of patient abuse

[7:35] sometimes brings changes. For

[7:37] cbsnews.com,

[7:39] I'm Dan Rather.