CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2005-12-15

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm Bob Schaefer and welcome to

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

[0:04] Just ahead, a rock's election. It turned

[0:07] out to be a peaceful day with heavy

[0:09] voter turnout. Lara Logan has details

[0:12] and analysis. Also, the White House

[0:15] agrees to support the torture ban backed

[0:18] by Senator McCain. John Roberts will

[0:20] have that story. And we'll take a look

[0:22] at why the real estate boom may be

[0:24] ending. It's all starting now on the CBS

[0:27] Evening News online edition.

[0:31] Well, it was by any measure one of the

[0:33] largest turnouts for a free election in

[0:35] the history of the Arab world. Literally

[0:37] millions voted today in Iraq to choose a

[0:40] parliament which will form a government.

[0:42] Laura Logan heads our coverage of

[0:44] election day and the big turnout.

[0:46] Kimberly Doer is with US forces and will

[0:49] gauge the impact of the vote on them.

[0:52] and Sheila McVicker is in Saudi Arabia

[0:54] to report on how the election is being

[0:57] seen throughout the Arab world. We're

[0:59] going first to allow in.

[1:02] >> Some came in wheelchairs, young and old,

[1:05] side by side. For others, it was a slow

[1:08] walk to democracy. But from the moment

[1:11] the polls opened, a steady stream of

[1:13] voters poured into polling centers

[1:15] throughout Iraq.

[1:17] >> By this way, we kill the terrorists in

[1:20] Iraq.

[1:22] They come

[1:23] >> as the day wore on. They kept on coming,

[1:25] easily overtaking the turnout in the

[1:28] first election. Even in Saddam Hussein's

[1:30] hometown, Toree, more than 80% of

[1:33] registered voters cast their ballots.

[1:36] But it was in the pro-insurgent

[1:37] strongholds of Iraq, like this suburb on

[1:40] the edge of Baghdad that's never been

[1:42] tamed, where the sight of people

[1:44] flocking to the polls, was most

[1:46] significant. Here, the families of

[1:48] insurgents were among those voting.

[1:51] Sunnis, who mostly boycotted the last

[1:53] election, were determined not to miss

[1:55] out on power again. That will please

[1:58] American officials who are hoping a

[2:00] successful election will pave the way

[2:02] home for US troops.

[2:05] For many Iraqis, the day American troops

[2:07] withdraw can't come soon enough. Does

[2:10] this election mean American troops

[2:11] should start going home?

[2:13] >> American troops? Sure. We want them to

[2:16] get out. We want them to get out of

[2:18] Iraq.

[2:19] >> They may want US troops gone, but today

[2:21] Iraqis voted to keep their new

[2:23] democracy. What do you say to people who

[2:27] think Iraqis don't want democracy that

[2:29] this was forced on them by Americans?

[2:31] >> They are very wrong. Very, very wrong.

[2:34] Even Iraqis who think that they are

[2:36] wrong. We need democracy.

[2:39] They needed it so much that in some

[2:41] areas voting had to be extended by an

[2:44] extra hour.

[2:46] >> As night fell, many polling stations

[2:48] were without electricity. But that

[2:50] didn't stop the counting.

[2:53] What happens next, Bob, is even more

[2:55] important than the voting because the

[2:57] way the system is designed here, no one

[3:00] party can emerge from this election with

[3:02] enough power to appoint the new

[3:04] government on their own. So that means

[3:06] they have to join forces with other

[3:07] parties. And you can bet that right now

[3:10] before those votes have even been

[3:12] counted, those deals are already being

[3:14] made.

[3:15] >> Well, Laura, it has been fairly calm.

[3:17] You have to say that about this election

[3:19] today. Do you think this calm is going

[3:21] to continue?

[3:22] >> A calm election, Bob, doesn't mean an

[3:24] end to the fighting. That's what we've

[3:26] seen with the last two elections here.

[3:28] There were no spectacular attacks on

[3:30] voting day then, either. It was in the

[3:32] days that followed when the tight

[3:34] election security was relaxed that

[3:36] insurgents and terrorists struck back

[3:38] with a vengeance. So that may happen

[3:40] again.

[3:41] >> But anyway, so far so good. Well, thank

[3:43] you very much, Laura. Thank you. For

[3:45] months now, the Bush administration, led

[3:47] by Vice President Cheney, has strongly

[3:49] opposed Arizona Senator John McCain's

[3:52] effort to outlaw the use of torture

[3:54] against terror suspects. Well, today the

[3:57] White House reversed course and the

[3:59] president said he now agrees with McCain

[4:01] that such a ban will tell the world we

[4:04] do not approve of such methods. Our

[4:06] White House correspondent John Roberts

[4:08] now with that story.

[4:11] It was images like these from the

[4:13] president Abu Grave and the damage they

[4:15] did to America's image that drove

[4:17] Senator John McCain to seek new laws

[4:19] governing the treatment of terror

[4:21] detainees. I think that this will help

[4:23] us enormously in winning the war for the

[4:26] hearts and minds of people throughout

[4:28] the world in the war on terror.

[4:30] >> The measure bans the cruel, inhuman, and

[4:32] degrading treatment of detainees by all

[4:35] government personnel. The White House

[4:37] wanted an exemption for CIA agents

[4:39] working overseas, but settled instead on

[4:42] new legal rights for intelligence

[4:43] officials. Like military personnel, CIA

[4:46] operatives could now claim they were

[4:48] following what they thought was a lawful

[4:50] order. President Bush, who had

[4:52] threatened to veto the McCain amendment,

[4:54] was forced to retreat after votes on it

[4:56] in the House and Senate appeared to be

[4:58] veto proof. But it's not a done deal

[5:01] yet. The chairman of the House Armed

[5:02] Services Committee wants more assurances

[5:04] from the White House that CIA personnel

[5:06] will get those new [music] legal

[5:08] protections. very important that we

[5:10] don't make it so risky and we don't

[5:12] create so much exposure without adequate

[5:14] protections that they don't sign up to

[5:16] do it anymore.

[5:17] >> But Senator McCain said today he hopes

[5:19] to quickly work out any differences with

[5:21] the House hopefully he said within the

[5:23] next 24 hours. Bob, so what was this,

[5:26] John? Just facing up to reality. They

[5:28] knew they couldn't overcome a veto there

[5:30] and they just decide to go along. They

[5:33] also knew that they were what they at

[5:35] least appeared to be on the wrong end of

[5:37] a very difficult issue. It was one that

[5:39] they thought they could fight until they

[5:40] saw how overwhelming those margins were

[5:42] in the House and Senate, Bob, and

[5:44] eventually they they knew they had to

[5:45] capitulate.

[5:46] >> Okay. Well, thank you very much, John.

[5:47] On the money watch, gasoline prices have

[5:50] fallen sharply in recent weeks, and they

[5:52] took the consumer price index along for

[5:54] the ride. The index fell 6/10en of 1% in

[5:57] November, the biggest decline in 56

[6:00] years. So far this year, inflation is

[6:03] running half a percentage point ahead of

[6:05] last year. Falling oil prices today

[6:08] helped to send the stock market lower.

[6:10] The Dow and the Nasdaq lost just under

[6:12] two points. And now to the real estate

[6:14] market, where the news is good if you're

[6:17] looking to buy, but for the first time

[6:18] in a long time, not so good if you're

[6:20] selling. Here's Sharon Alons with that.

[6:25] >> In last year's red hot real estate

[6:27] market, homes like this were selling for

[6:29] a million bucks. often in a day.

[6:32] >> There's four bedrooms, three up, one

[6:34] down.

[6:35] >> But Letty Mallerie's home's been on the

[6:37] market for 5 months and hasn't moved.

[6:40] >> But this is the railing that the kids

[6:42] love to slide down.

[6:43] >> The only thing sliding now is the price.

[6:46] She's dropped it twice. So, you're just

[6:49] kind of watching your nest egg shrink a

[6:51] little bit.

[6:52] >> That's right. A little bit. And we may

[6:53] need to come down still more.

[6:56] Lden County, Virginia, where Letty

[6:58] lives, has been the nation's fastest

[7:00] growing county for the last 5 years. But

[7:02] like a lot of booming areas across the

[7:04] country, home sales here have stalled.

[7:07] >> Do you feel like you waited too long?

[7:09] >> We waited too long. Uh we missed the

[7:12] crest of the bubble.

[7:13] >> There are signs of a deflating real

[7:15] estate bubble everywhere. Literally on

[7:18] this block alone, there are a dozen for

[7:20] sale signs. For realators, it's getting

[7:23] ugly. We uh try to do as many things as

[7:26] we can to get a home to sell. Um but you

[7:29] know,

[7:30] >> but there's a lot of competition.

[7:31] >> There's a lot of competition on the

[7:32] market, that's for sure.

[7:34] >> Here, the same number of people are

[7:36] buying homes, but now there's twice as

[7:38] many people selling. Business Week's

[7:40] Peter Koy says it's a classic sign of a

[7:43] turning market. We've had a lot of buy

[7:47] by buy mentality and now we're starting

[7:50] to see a little bit of sell sell

[7:51] mentality.

[7:53] >> Especially on the coast where prices

[7:55] shot up during the boom. Home sales in

[7:57] the middle part of the country where the

[7:59] boom wasn't so big are steady. But in

[8:01] the last 3 months sales in Boston, DC,

[8:05] Tampa, Miami, Los Angeles, and San Diego

[8:08] have stalled. Markets are driven not

[8:11] just by supply and demand, but by

[8:14] expectations, by psychology, by fear and

[8:16] greed.

[8:17] >> Lety is trying to stay calm. She's

[8:20] packing up, hoping it's not too late to

[8:22] protect her most valuable investment,

[8:25] her home. Sharon Alonsy, CBS News,

[8:28] Leburg, Virginia.

[8:30] >> More stories are just a click away, but

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