CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2005-12-23

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, the administration moves to

[0:06] reduce the size of the American military

[0:09] force in Iraq. Is this the first step in

[0:12] a major draw down? David Martin will

[0:14] have the story. Also, who gave President

[0:17] Bush the authority to spy on American

[0:19] citizens without a warrant? He says

[0:22] Congress, a former senator, says no, we

[0:24] didn't. And tis the season, the flu

[0:27] season. Just how bad is it going to be?

[0:30] It's all starting now on the CBS Evening

[0:33] News online edition.

[0:36] The announcement came from the Secretary

[0:38] of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The American

[0:41] military force in Iraq, as expected, is

[0:43] being reduced, not by much for now, but

[0:47] everything about the announcement today,

[0:49] including where it was announced, the

[0:51] one-time insurgent stronghold of

[0:53] Fallujah, suggests the military feels

[0:56] confident now that there can be

[0:58] additional withdrawals next year. Our

[1:01] first report tonight comes from David

[1:02] Martin at the Pentagon.

[1:05] Two combat brigades, a total of 7,000

[1:08] troops, have had their orders to Iraq

[1:10] canled. The first modest step in a plan

[1:12] to turn over fighting to the Iraqis and

[1:15] cut the number of American troops to

[1:17] 100,000 by next fall's US congressional

[1:19] elections. It was announced by Defense

[1:22] Secretary Rumsfeld during a Christmas

[1:24] visit to Iraq. The Iraqi security forces

[1:27] are increasingly capable

[1:29] and we are we are continuously passing

[1:32] off more and more responsibility to the

[1:35] Iraqis. One of the brigades will stay

[1:37] home in Fort Riley, Kansas, although

[1:39] some of its soldiers will still go into

[1:41] Iraq as trainers. The other brigade is

[1:44] now in Kuwait and will stay there on

[1:46] call for possible emergencies. A measure

[1:48] of just how uncertain top American

[1:50] General George Casey is about the

[1:52] future. While we we felt comfortable

[1:54] enough not to bring him in, we wanted

[1:57] something close enough that could uh

[1:58] that could react quickly if something

[2:01] happened that we that we needed it.

[2:03] >> Combined with already announced plans to

[2:05] scale back forces that had been built up

[2:07] for the Iraqi elections, Casey says the

[2:10] 160,000 troops in Iraq on election day

[2:13] will be down to about 130,000 by March,

[2:17] the lowest since he took command more

[2:19] than a year and a half ago. In an effort

[2:21] to keep the pressure on for more

[2:22] withdrawals, Pentagon officials say

[2:24] Defense Secretary Rumsfeld plans to

[2:26] reassess troop levels every 3 months.

[2:29] With the next decision coming in March,

[2:31] it all depends on Iraqi troops and

[2:33] police holding their own against the

[2:35] insurgency. The Iraqi army has just

[2:37] launched its largest solo operation

[2:39] ever, a relatively modest force of

[2:42] several hundred troops. Suicide bombings

[2:45] are down from more than 60 last June to

[2:47] 16 so far this month. But the US has

[2:50] tried to pull out before. President Bush

[2:53] declared an end to major combat

[2:55] operations in May of 2003,

[2:57] >> only to have its exit plan overwhelmed

[3:00] by insurgent attacks which continue to

[3:02] this day. David Martin, CBS News, the

[3:05] Pentagon. When the president revealed

[3:08] the government had been easedropping on

[3:10] Americans without a warrant, he argued

[3:12] that it was legal because Congress had

[3:14] given him the authority when it passed a

[3:17] resolution allowing him to go to war

[3:19] against al Qaeda. The whole thing has

[3:21] caused an uproar in Congress and among

[3:23] the judges on the court that is supposed

[3:25] to issue such warrants. And today, the

[3:28] story took yet another turn. The author

[3:30] of the resolution said it gave the

[3:32] president no such authority. Here's Jim

[3:35] Stewart. Among the spy satellites

[3:38] operated by the National Security Agency

[3:40] are three camed trumpet that circle the

[3:43] Earth in elliptical orbits, easedropping

[3:45] specifically on cell phone calls. So by

[3:48] just what authority did the president

[3:50] allow those satellites to spy on calls

[3:52] by US citizens overseas without a

[3:55] warrant? The White House has insisted

[3:57] all week such authority was implicitly

[3:59] granted shortly after 9/11 when Congress

[4:02] approved a resolution allowing the

[4:04] president to use military force against

[4:06] al-Qaeda. But today, one of the authors

[4:09] of that resolution, former majority

[4:11] leader Senator Tom Dashel, said, "Hold

[4:13] on." That was stretching the point by a

[4:15] mile. In an opinion article for the

[4:18] Washington Post, Dashel wrote,

[4:19] "Warrantless wiretaps of American

[4:21] citizens never came up, and there was no

[4:24] mention of additional authority inside

[4:26] the United States in the resolution."

[4:28] Congress rushed home for the holidays

[4:30] last night, but it's a distinction

[4:32] certainly to be hashed out when they

[4:34] return and likely hold hearings on the

[4:36] issue. Another question certain to be

[4:38] asked is just what exactly did all that

[4:40] secret surveillance accomplish? So far,

[4:43] the White House has offered only one

[4:45] conflicting example. That was the case

[4:47] of I am Ferris, an Ohio truck driver and

[4:50] naturalized US citizen who pleaded

[4:52] guilty in 2003 to supporting al-Qaeda by

[4:55] planning to cut down the Brooklyn Bridge

[4:57] with a blowtorrch. "The NSA spy program

[5:00] was necessary because it helped uncover

[5:03] the Ferris plot," the White House told

[5:05] the New York Times, which broke the

[5:06] surveillance story. But last summer, the

[5:09] president gave credit for the Ferris

[5:11] case to the Patriot Act, which does

[5:13] require court approval for wire taps.

[5:15] >> They used the Patriot Act to discover

[5:17] that Ferris had cased possible targets

[5:20] in New in New York and that he' reported

[5:23] his findings to al-Qaeda.

[5:26] >> So the question would be, why wiretap

[5:28] someone secretly without a court order

[5:30] when you already had a court approved

[5:32] wiretap in the first place? So far, the

[5:34] administration hasn't come up with an

[5:36] answer for that one, Bob. All right,

[5:38] thank you, Jim. With all the recent talk

[5:40] about bird flu in Asia and fears it

[5:43] might spread here, it's no wonder that

[5:44] some people are being extra sensitive to

[5:47] signs of illness at this time of year.

[5:49] It is, after all, the season of

[5:51] sneezing. But is it the flu? And if it

[5:54] is, what kind? Jim Axelrod now with some

[5:57] answers.

[5:58] >> So, the fever could hit when?

[6:00] >> It may be the season's second most

[6:02] frequent line of questioning after what

[6:04] do you want for Christmas?

[6:05] >> Any cough? uh very little.

[6:08] >> Flu season's upon us. And while there

[6:10] are some pockets where it's hit a little

[6:12] harder than usual, like Los Angeles,

[6:14] >> a lot of hospitals are reporting very

[6:17] very heavy um overcrowding because a lot

[6:20] of people coming with flu-l like

[6:21] symptoms.

[6:22] >> Nationally, the flu numbers are not

[6:24] raising any red flags of concern,

[6:26] especially since this year the supply of

[6:28] vaccines is holding relatively steady. I

[6:32] dare say we're going to have a quite

[6:33] typical influenza season this year.

[6:36] >> So, if public health officials are using

[6:38] words like typical to describe the flu

[6:40] season, why are some emergency rooms in

[6:43] some parts of the country seeing spiking

[6:45] numbers already? Well, perhaps it's as

[6:48] much about what's up here as what's in

[6:50] here.

[6:51] >> I think it is that maybe that some

[6:53] people have heard about aven flu and are

[6:55] confused that that could be something

[6:57] here and that could be more serious. For

[6:58] what it's worth, there is no bird flu in

[7:00] the US. Not a single case in humans. Not

[7:04] even in US chickens for that matter. And

[7:06] no, you can't get bird flu from eating

[7:09] chicken.

[7:09] >> You have any boooos anywhere?

[7:12] >> Of course, the regular flu and its

[7:14] complications are always serious

[7:15] business. They put more than 2 million

[7:18] people in the hospital every year. And

[7:21] after all, t the season. I think the the

[7:24] gathering of families under one roof um

[7:27] and sharing of everything from pumpkin

[7:30] pie to a sneeze probably has something

[7:32] to do.

[7:33] >> But forget the aven flu. The only bird

[7:35] posing any threat is the piece of

[7:37] Christmas turkey shared with somebody

[7:39] already sick with the regular flu. Jim

[7:42] Axelrod, CBS News, New York. More

[7:45] stories are just a click away, but don't

[7:47] forget to join me on television for the

[7:49] on air edition of the CBS Evening News.

[7:51] On Monday's broadcast, Thailand hard hit

[7:54] by last year's tsunami, now hard at work

[7:57] on recovering and hoping for a new wave

[8:00] of tourists. For cbsnews.com,

[8:04] I'm Bob Sheeper.