NBC Nightly News open - 2004-11-19

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] can count on. Keep watching for your

[0:02] chance to win the coolest snowbird ever.

[0:06] >> Cameron

[0:08] break

[0:09] nuclear threat. What may be America's

[0:12] toughest new foreign policy problem,

[0:14] Iran. What options does the US have?

[0:17] Rebuilding Iraq. New fallout from the

[0:19] Fallujah offensive. And a website that

[0:23] brings home the message directly from

[0:25] the front line.

[0:27] Learning to hate. Racist groups use a

[0:29] new tactic, music, to spread their

[0:31] message to America's young people.

[0:34] And Prince William, as you've never seen

[0:36] him before, the future king of England

[0:38] talks about life after university.

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

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

[0:51] Brokall.

[0:53] >> Good evening. Before President Bush went

[0:55] to war against Iraq, the administration

[0:56] raised the threat of Saddam Hussein and

[0:59] nuclear weapons. Well, it turns out Iraq

[1:01] didn't have any nuclear weapons or the

[1:03] capacity for producing them anytime

[1:06] soon. But now there is more and more

[1:08] evidence that Iraq's neighbor is

[1:10] determined to develop nuclear weapons

[1:12] and the capacity to deliver them. Iran

[1:15] has been assuring the International

[1:17] Atomic Energy Agency it will comply with

[1:20] its restrictions, but before the

[1:22] deadline arrives, it appears Iran is

[1:25] determined to keep all of its options

[1:27] open. NBC's Andre Mitchell tonight on

[1:30] all of this coming out just as President

[1:31] Bush is headed to South America for an

[1:34] economic summit with Asian allies.

[1:37] >> As the president heads to summit talks,

[1:39] Iran's suspected nuclear program is his

[1:42] most immediate foreign policy problem.

[1:44] Diplomatic sources tell NBC News the

[1:47] International Atomic Energy Agency will

[1:49] report next week new evidence Iran is

[1:51] still producing a key ingredient for

[1:53] nuclear weapons fuel only days before it

[1:56] is supposed to freeze its program.

[1:58] Secretary of State Powell in Chile says

[2:00] the world should not be surprised. I

[2:02] >> think that the Iranians still have much

[2:05] more to do to convince the international

[2:07] community uh that they are not moving in

[2:09] the direction of a nuclear weapon.

[2:11] Gathering intelligence on what Iran is

[2:13] up to has been difficult.

[2:15] >> The real question is whether Iran has

[2:17] hidden facilities that we simply don't

[2:19] know about.

[2:19] >> Despite questions about the

[2:21] intelligence, Powell is standing by his

[2:23] claim that Iran is trying to take

[2:25] another critical step, arming its

[2:27] missiles with nuclear warheads.

[2:31] >> We want peace.

[2:32] >> Iranian dissident groups who marched in

[2:34] Washington today also say Iran is hiding

[2:36] an illegal nuclear program. If Iran is

[2:39] getting closer to going nuclear, what

[2:42] are the president's options? Experts say

[2:44] they are not good. First, economic

[2:46] sanctions. Europe is suspicious of

[2:49] American claims because of its track

[2:51] record on Iraq's weapons of mass

[2:52] destruction.

[2:53] >> The rest of the world looks at this very

[2:55] citically. They've heard these kind of

[2:57] claims before. They don't trust the

[3:00] United States.

[3:01] >> Is there a military option? Israel has

[3:03] secret contingency plans for a

[3:05] preemptive military strike. But if Iran

[3:08] has secret nuclear weapons facilities,

[3:10] they are dispersed around the country

[3:12] and buried so deep even bunker buster

[3:14] bombs couldn't destroy them.

[3:17] And of course, US forces already have

[3:20] their hands full.

[3:21] >> Given our exposure in Iraq, I think

[3:24] would be exceedingly difficult for the

[3:26] US military to do at this time.

[3:28] Officials say the president's best

[3:30] option is to finally persuade Russia's

[3:32] President Putin, whose country is Iran's

[3:34] chief nuclear supplier, that a nuclear

[3:36] Iran would be a threat to the entire

[3:38] world. The president and Putin meet

[3:40] tomorrow. Andrea Mitchell, NBC News,

[3:43] Washington.

[3:45] >> And on the Iraq front tonight,

[3:46] insurgents retaliated against the US

[3:48] again today after the destruction of

[3:50] their base of operations in Fallujah.

[3:52] And US officials in Baghdad said the

[3:55] United States and Iraq's interim

[3:57] government will start a $100 million

[3:59] reconstruction project within two weeks

[4:02] in Fallujah. NBC's Jim Klashesky has the

[4:04] latest on Iraq tonight.