CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2004-12-22

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm John Roberts and welcome to

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

[0:05] Just ahead, alarming clues in the deadly

[0:08] attack in Mosul have American forces on

[0:10] high alert. We'll have the details.

[0:12] Also, the debate over same-sex marriage

[0:15] returns to the courts as a major city

[0:17] challenges its own state law. And

[0:20] illegal immigrants living in fear in a

[0:22] state that's determined to drive them

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

[0:28] Evening News Online Edition.

[0:31] >> It wasn't a rocket attack after all.

[0:34] Investigators in Iraq now believe that

[0:36] somehow a suicide bomber got inside a

[0:38] crowded messaul tent on an American base

[0:41] yesterday. The blast killed 13 US

[0:44] military personnel, five American

[0:46] civilian contractors, three Iraqi

[0:49] soldiers, and one other person, probably

[0:51] the bomber himself. The lunchtime attack

[0:54] at the base near Mosul also wounded

[0:55] nearly 70 people, most of them American

[0:58] troops. Correspondent Kimberly Doer

[1:00] begins our coverage.

[1:03] >> US troops sealed off much of Mosul

[1:05] today, vowing to find those responsible

[1:08] for the devastating attack at forward

[1:10] operating base Marz.

[1:11] >> It's a feeling of resolve. We are not

[1:14] going to be intimidated by these thugs.

[1:15] We are going to get the job done. In the

[1:17] wreckage of the mess tent, FBI

[1:19] investigators believe they found the

[1:21] remains of a suicide bomber's torso

[1:24] attached to some sort of belt or

[1:25] backpack. At this point, it looks like

[1:28] it was an improvised explosive device

[1:31] worn by an attacker.

[1:33] >> There were also metal pellets scattered

[1:35] around the tent which were apparently

[1:37] packed around the explosive designed to

[1:39] tear through the crowd. Militant group

[1:42] Anser Alsa had claimed one of its

[1:44] operatives carried out the attack. That

[1:46] means a bomber managed to get past

[1:47] stringent security, reaching the most

[1:49] vulnerable and crowded spot on the base.

[1:52] The mesent was always an area of

[1:54] concern. Chief medical officer Major

[1:56] John Nelson told embedded reporter Bill

[1:58] Nemitz he was so convinced it would be

[2:00] hit, he designed a mass casualty plan.

[2:03] >> It was a very extensive, very detailed

[2:06] plan that dealt with every level of

[2:08] response. Rather prophetically, Major

[2:10] Nelson looked me in the eye and said,

[2:12] "It's not a question of if it happens,

[2:14] it's a question of when it's going to

[2:15] happen."

[2:16] >> Over the past year, US bases across the

[2:19] country have been replacing their tent

[2:20] style dining facilities with concrete

[2:22] and steel buildings, but the pace of

[2:24] construction has been left to individual

[2:26] commanders, according to their

[2:28] assessment of the threat. At Camp Mez,

[2:31] contractor delays and a shortage of

[2:32] concrete slowed completion of a new

[2:34] hardened facility. But if this does

[2:37] prove to be the work of a bomber who set

[2:39] off an explosion inside the messaul, the

[2:41] delays could be a blessing. The tent

[2:44] roof allowed much of the force of the

[2:45] blast to escape. A closed concrete

[2:48] facility would have trapped and

[2:49] concentrated the explosion, making the

[2:52] blast even deadlier. Kimberly Doer, CBS

[2:55] News, Baghdad.

[2:57] >> What's expected to be a long and

[2:59] emotional legal battle opened today in

[3:01] California, pitting the state against

[3:03] one of its biggest cities. At stake is

[3:05] the status of same-sex marriages, an

[3:08] issue that has divided the entire

[3:10] nation. John Blackstone has the inside

[3:13] story. When San Francisco's mayor threw

[3:16] open city hall to almost 4,000

[3:19] unconventional weddings 10 months ago,

[3:22] it was in defiance of state law that

[3:24] banned same-sex marriage. Today, the

[3:27] city along with a dozen gay and lesbian

[3:30] couples went to court claiming the ban

[3:32] is unconstitutional. It's about the

[3:34] recognition, but it's about really being

[3:36] able to protect each other and protect

[3:38] our relationship and our families.

[3:40] >> Back in March, Paulie Cooper and Jeannie

[3:43] Rizzo were in line to get their license

[3:45] when the state supreme court ordered the

[3:48] marriages to stop.

[3:49] >> God,

[3:53] [snorts]

[3:53] >> you came this close.

[3:55] >> We came within inches and minutes.

[3:57] >> So, Rizzo and Cooper joined the suit

[3:59] challenging state law.

[4:01] >> The country's in a dialogue now. It was

[4:03] not in the same dialogue a year and a

[4:06] half ago. This is good.

[4:08] >> They want to steal marriage. They want

[4:10] to trash your vote.

[4:11] >> Those defending the ban on same-sex

[4:14] marriage say their goal is to protect

[4:16] children.

[4:17] >> We want to protect this enduring and

[4:20] beautiful institution. For the city of

[4:22] San Francisco, the lawsuit is an

[4:24] opportunity to argue that the marriages

[4:26] performed at city hall were justified

[4:29] and that the state ban on same-sex

[4:31] marriage may be the law, but it's wrong.

[4:34] >> Marriage is a fundamental right not to

[4:36] be denied to anybody and that gay and

[4:39] lesbian couples are looking for uh

[4:41] nothing special.

[4:42] >> When all those San Francisco weddings

[4:44] were declared invalid, the state supreme

[4:47] court said it's not up to the mayor to

[4:49] interpret the constitution. It's up to

[4:51] the courts. And now the courts will

[4:54] decide this issue which raises so many

[4:57] hopes and fears. John Blackstone, CBS

[5:00] News, San Francisco. A controversial

[5:02] initiative on illegal immigration became

[5:05] state law today in Arizona, released for

[5:08] now after a federal judge lifted a

[5:09] restraining order. But illegal

[5:11] immigrants aren't the only Arizonans who

[5:14] will feel the impact of the law, as

[5:16] Jerry Bowen explains in tonight's Eye on

[5:19] America.

[5:22] The only thing hotter than the peppers

[5:24] being picked along the Arizona side of

[5:26] the border with Mexico these days is

[5:29] reaction to Arizona's voter approved

[5:30] Prop 200 aimed at weeding out illegal

[5:33] immigrants, cutting off their public

[5:35] benefits and sending them back home.

[5:37] >> These people still flood across and they

[5:40] are ruining our health care system.

[5:42] They're ruining our schools.

[5:43] >> From Walter K's backyard, you can see

[5:45] Mexico.

[5:46] >> See the trail coming through here

[5:48] >> and the backpacks and water bottles.

[5:49] abandoned by the nightly wave of

[5:51] illegals crossing over.

[5:53] >> We were saying to our politicians, if

[5:55] you're against it, then do something.

[5:58] Stop this raping of our country.

[6:00] >> It was 10 years ago that Anne Helita

[6:02] sneaked across to work as a housekeeper,

[6:04] a church volunteer, and raise her

[6:07] family. Now she's afraid to show her

[6:09] face.

[6:11] >> 10 years have passed, and I live in fear

[6:14] in a country that can at any moment send

[6:16] me back to Mexico. Analita is in the

[6:19] Prop 200 bullseye because she's still

[6:21] illegal. So is her oldest daughter. Only

[6:24] her youngest girl is safe, a citizen

[6:26] born in the USA.

[6:30] >> The oldest asks, "Why? Why can't we be

[6:33] accepted as Americans? All of us."

[6:35] >> It's now about 500,000 a year.

[6:37] >> Hospital administrator Jim Dixon says

[6:39] soaring health care costs for illegals

[6:41] in border towns like Bisby, Arizona,

[6:43] helped fan the fires of Prop 200. It'll

[6:46] probably cost all the hospitals to close

[6:48] on the border if we don't start doing

[6:50] something about it.

[6:51] >> Prop 200 doesn't just target illegals.

[6:54] State funded workers like the

[6:55] receptionists and doctors at this rural

[6:57] clinic face fines and jail time if they

[7:00] don't turn in undocumented patients.

[7:02] >> I won't do it. Uh

[7:05] I they'll have to arrest me really cuz I

[7:08] won't do it.

[7:09] >> The move to block illegal immigration

[7:11] across this border triggered some

[7:13] surprising support. Nearly half of

[7:15] Arizona's Latino voters, 47% voted for

[7:19] Prop 200, voted for cutting off benefits

[7:22] to the newest arrivals from south of the

[7:24] border. The federal court's ruling today

[7:26] means the law can take effect

[7:27] immediately. But critics say it will be

[7:30] very costly if enforced, especially if

[7:32] frightened illegals avoid health care to

[7:35] avoid being caught.

[7:36] >> As you have immigration across the

[7:38] border, diseases come. And so if the

[7:41] people who are here do not receive care,

[7:43] we cannot control the disease pattern.

[7:46] >> But Arizonans voted their frustration.

[7:48] I'm afraid it's going to turn violent if

[7:50] somebody doesn't listen to us.

[7:52] >> With an appeal already in the works.

[7:54] This is one fight that is far from over.

[7:57] In Bisby, Arizona, I'm Jerry Bowen for

[8:00] Eye on America. More stories are just a

[8:02] click away, but be sure to join me on

[8:04] television for the on air edition of the

[8:06] CBS Evening News. On Thursday's

[8:09] broadcast, in this season of giving,

[8:11] it's what's being taken away that has

[8:13] one pastor fired up. We'll tell you why.

[8:16] >> For cbsnews.com,

[8:18] I'm John Roberts.