CBS Evening News (A block) - 2006-11-20

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (YouTube automatic captions)

[0:03] I'm Katie [music] Couric. Tonight, a

[0:05] deadly accident. A school bus filled

[0:07] with high school students plunges

[0:08] [music] off a highway bridge in Alabama,

[0:10] and the debate begins again. Should

[0:12] school buses [music] have seat belts?

[0:14] It's "No Way, O.J." That controversial

[0:17] Simpson book and Fox [music] TV special

[0:19] have been canceled. An incredible

[0:22] medical feat, the first [music] five-way

[0:23] mix-and-match kidney swap. And as

[0:26] Thanksgiving approaches, [music] the

[0:27] first in our series on giving. Tonight,

[0:29] giving circles and the ripple effect

[0:32] they're having all across the country.

[0:36] >> [music]

[0:38] >> This is the CBS Evening News with Katie

[0:41] Couric.

[0:45] >> [music]

[0:45] >> Hi everyone. When we put our kids on the

[0:47] school bus every morning, we like to

[0:49] think they'll be safe. That's certainly

[0:51] what parents in Huntsville, Alabama

[0:53] thought, but a ride from high school

[0:55] ended in a horrible accident today. A

[0:57] bus plowed through a guardrail on an

[0:59] interstate highway and plunged

[1:01] nose-first to the roadway below. At

[1:04] least three teenage girls were killed.

[1:06] At least 30 others were injured, some

[1:08] critically. Mark Strassmann is on the

[1:10] scene.

[1:14] >> BY THE TIME RESCUE WORKERS reached the

[1:15] mangled school bus, two teenage girls

[1:18] were already dead. But this fight was to

[1:20] save the living. More students trapped

[1:23] inside and critically injured when their

[1:25] school bus plunged 30 ft off a highway

[1:28] overpass. Other survivors managed to get

[1:30] themselves out. In all the bedlam around

[1:33] them, they sat on the ground too dazed

[1:35] to speak.

[1:36] >> Unfortunately, you know, we saw mass

[1:38] chaos. I mean, you you just had a bunch

[1:41] of children that, you know, just been

[1:42] involved in very bad bus accident.

[1:45] >> In downtown Huntsville, the bus of high

[1:47] schoolers was on a morning outing to a

[1:49] technical center. Students on board said

[1:51] seconds before the crash, a compact car

[1:54] had cut off the bus. The bus driver

[1:57] swerved trying to avoid it, but the bus

[1:59] slammed into the guardrail, sat

[2:01] suspended for a few seconds, and

[2:04] nosedived off the elevated freeway.

[2:06] >> The bus, uh, it hit on the front and on

[2:08] the top, and certainly those people on

[2:11] the front of the bus sustained the most

[2:12] serious injuries.

[2:13] >> a bad, bad ride.

[2:14] >> Many family and friends were frantic.

[2:16] They rushed from one hospital to another

[2:18] trying to find their loved one, but the

[2:20] hospitals couldn't help them. Many of

[2:22] the most injured students couldn't speak

[2:25] and carried no identification.

[2:27] >> In some cases, we don't know who the

[2:28] children are, and that's got to be very

[2:31] frustrating as a parent.

[2:33] >> driver, who survived, apparently just

[2:35] had no place to go, squeezed between

[2:38] another driver who got too close and the

[2:40] guardrail of an overpass.

[2:43] >> Police here now believe the driver of

[2:45] that compact car was another student

[2:47] from the same high school who was

[2:49] actually following the bus to the

[2:50] technical center. What's unclear at this

[2:52] point is whether moments before the

[2:54] crash, did the compact car actually hit

[2:56] the bus or just come close to hitting

[2:58] the bus? Either way, Katie, there was a

[3:00] deadly mistake.

[3:01] >> Mark Strassmann in Huntsville, Alabama,

[3:04] tonight. That school bus did not have

[3:06] seat belts. In fact, most school buses

[3:08] don't, and no one is saying at this

[3:11] point whether seat belts might have

[3:12] saved lives or prevented any of the

[3:14] injuries in this crash, but it does

[3:17] raise an important safety question.

[3:19] Here's Lee Cowan.

[3:21] >> Big or small, when a school bus accident

[3:23] happens, you hear about it. And with

[3:25] almost every one of those accidents

[3:26] comes the very same question. Why aren't

[3:29] seat belts required? Take just one look

[3:31] at this school bus ROLLOVER IN OHIO.

[3:35] AND THEIR NEED seems painfully obvious.

[3:37] Five states mandate safety belts be

[3:39] installed on new school buses, and none

[3:42] of the laws require students to buckle

[3:44] up. Why? In part, it's the numbers. With

[3:47] just six deaths for every 24 million

[3:49] riders, school buses are already the

[3:51] safest form of transportation around.

[3:53] And experts say adding the seat belts

[3:55] won't necessarily make them any safer.

[3:58] Crash tests show that school buses react

[4:00] differently than a car during an

[4:02] accident. The government says the best

[4:03] protection here is the padding on the

[4:06] back of bus seats, which creates a

[4:08] protective envelope for the student

[4:09] called compartmentalization.

[4:11] >> And they actually tested uh lap belts,

[4:14] lap shoulder belts, other means of of

[4:17] restraining uh passengers, and still

[4:20] felt compartmentalization does the job.

[4:24] >> That's a relief to school buses who say

[4:26] the cost of installing seat belts could

[4:28] be as high as $6,000 per bus. But with

[4:32] an estimated 17,000 students injured

[4:34] every year in bus-related accidents,

[4:37] the debate certainly isn't going away.

[4:40] Wee County, CBS News, Dallas.

[4:43] >> We told you last week that the prospect

[4:46] of a new book by O.J. Simpson about his

[4:48] notorious murder case and a Fox TV

[4:50] special to go with it was not worth our

[4:52] time or yours. Today, News Corporation

[4:55] chairman Rupert Murdoch apparently

[4:56] agreed. He pulled the plug after viewers

[4:59] revolted, some of his big-name anchors

[5:01] revolted, and Fox affiliates revolted

[5:04] against what everyone decided was a

[5:07] pretty revolting idea. Here's Sandra

[5:09] Hughes.

[5:11] >> I don't think any two [music] people

[5:12] could be murdered without everybody

[5:14] being covered in blood.

[5:16] >> Crushed under relentless criticism for

[5:17] its plans to air O.J. Simpson's

[5:19] confession, today News Corporation caved

[5:23] saying it would cancel the deal for a

[5:24] two-part TV special and a book called If

[5:27] I Did It. In the book, Simpson was to

[5:30] describe how he would have committed the

[5:32] murders of his ex-wife and her friend

[5:34] Ron Goldman. Last week, Fred Goldman was

[5:37] furious.

[5:38] >> What is Fox going to do next? They're

[5:40] going to have a weekly show airing

[5:43] various murders around the country

[5:45] telling the world how they would do it.

[5:48] >> Moments after today's announcement, we

[5:50] caught up with Goldman as he was

[5:52] boarding a plane. What is your reaction

[5:54] today?

[5:55] >> Our first thought is that frankly it's

[5:58] about time.

[5:58] >> Not guilty.

[5:59] >> Acquitted of the murder, Simpson was

[6:01] found responsible in civil court, but

[6:03] because of double jeopardy, Simpson

[6:05] can't be retried. Still, when Fox

[6:07] started to promote the supposed

[6:08] confession on its website, outrage

[6:11] started building. About a dozen local

[6:13] Fox stations decided to pull the plug on

[6:15] the TV specials. Borders Books decided

[6:17] to donate profits from the book to

[6:19] charity. On Face the Nation, Bob

[6:21] Schieffer articulated what many

[6:23] Americans were feeling.

[6:25] >> This one is more than wrong. It is just

[6:27] awful.

[6:28] >> Employees at News Corporation, which

[6:30] owns Fox News, agreed. And Fox's biggest

[6:33] star, Bill O'Reilly, said, "I'm not

[6:35] going to watch the Simpson show or even

[6:37] look at the book. If any company

[6:39] sponsors the TV program, I will not buy

[6:41] anything that company sells, ever."

[6:44] Geraldo Rivera said, "I will bash this

[6:46] project every minute I have the

[6:48] opportunity to bash this project." The

[6:51] piling on was too much even for Fox.

[6:53] >> The powers that be at NewsCorp

[6:55] calculated what they could stand to make

[6:58] on this project and how much they stood

[7:00] to lose in terms of face and in terms of

[7:02] credibility and decided that it that

[7:04] whatever they might make on it wasn't

[7:05] worth it.

[7:06] >> While NewsCorp has apologized to both

[7:08] the Brown and Goldman families, it may

[7:10] come a little late. Ron Goldman's

[7:12] sister, Kim, tells me tonight a version

[7:14] of the book has already been leaked, and

[7:16] she believes Simpson got his paycheck of

[7:18] 3.5 million dollars. Sandra Hughes, CBS

[7:22] News, Los Angeles.

[7:24] Our other big story tonight, Iraq, where

[7:26] suddenly there's no shortage of ideas

[7:29] for ending the chaos there. Today, two

[7:31] of Iraq's neighbors stepped up with

[7:33] plans of their own. Elizabeth Palmer has

[7:35] the very latest from Baghdad.

[7:38] >> There are reports tonight that Iran has

[7:40] invited the presidents of Iraq and Syria

[7:43] to a summit to discuss the situation in

[7:45] Iraq. Although it's not clear when the

[7:47] meeting might be or who would attend.

[7:50] But what is certain is that a pledge of

[7:52] help has come to the increasingly

[7:54] desperate Iraqi government directly from

[7:56] the Syrians and it's considered a

[7:59] diplomatic breakthrough.

[8:01] Although neighbors, the two countries

[8:02] haven't had formal ties for 24 years.

[8:06] Walid Moallem called for a timetable for

[8:09] America's troops to withdraw from Iraq.

[8:12] It would, he said, help reduce violence

[8:15] and preserve security.

[8:17] The Syrians are plainly worried that

[8:19] escalating violence here could spill

[8:21] over their borders along with a flood of

[8:24] Iraqi refugees. Clearly neither Iraq nor

[8:28] the United States would have called

[8:29] Syria an ally until now, but it's safe

[8:32] to say a significant diplomatic event

[8:35] took place in Baghdad today, especially

[8:38] if Syria gets serious about choking off

[8:40] the flow of hundreds of insurgent

[8:42] fighters that cross its borders into

[8:45] Iraq.

[8:46] Elizabeth Palmer, CBS News, Baghdad.

[8:49] >> US military planners are reportedly

[8:52] studying three possible strategies for

[8:54] Iraq with nicknames that sound like a

[8:57] football playbook. Go big, go long, or

[9:00] go home. President Bush, who returned

[9:02] today from Asia, says he hasn't made up

[9:04] his mind about those plans. Here's our

[9:07] national security correspondent, David

[9:09] Martin.

[9:11] >> Robert Gates spent the day shuttling

[9:12] between Capitol Hill and the White House

[9:14] where he was later joined by Donald

[9:16] Rumsfeld.

[9:17] Both the incoming and outgoing defense

[9:19] secretaries are focused on coming up

[9:21] with a new Iraq strategy.

[9:24] A team of military advisers has

[9:25] developed one option which includes a

[9:27] temporary troop build-up as prelude to

[9:29] the start of a withdrawal.

[9:31] A measure of the quandary the Bush

[9:33] administration faces,

[9:35] that was rejected just last week the top

[9:37] military commander for Iraq.

[9:40] >> I do not believe that more American

[9:41] troops right now is the solution to the

[9:44] problem.

[9:44] >> General John Abizaid said putting in

[9:46] another 20,000 American troops would

[9:48] keep a tighter lid on the violence, but

[9:51] it would undermine the strategy of

[9:52] turning over the fighting to Iraqis.

[9:55] What he really needs, Abizaid said, is

[9:57] more American trainers to build up Iraqi

[9:59] forces.

[10:01] That option is nicknamed go long, as in

[10:04] US troops will be there for a long time.

[10:07] Other options look more like straw men.

[10:09] Go big, a massive build-up to crush the

[10:12] insurgency.

[10:13] That is considered both militarily and

[10:16] politically impractical.

[10:18] Go home,

[10:19] a relatively quick withdrawal, which

[10:21] most experts believe would end any

[10:23] chance of saving Iraq.

[10:26] >> So far, the only practical new option is

[10:28] a diplomatic one. Begin talks with Iran

[10:31] and Syria. Katie?

[10:33] >> Meanwhile, David, I know that Henry

[10:34] Kissinger weighed in on the BBC today,

[10:37] and he wasn't very optimistic, either,

[10:39] was he?

[10:41] >> He says that victory, a clear military

[10:43] victory, is now impossible. And the

[10:46] point he's making is that if the Iraqi

[10:48] government doesn't get its act together,

[10:51] there's nothing the US military can do

[10:52] to stave off a disaster in Iraq.

[10:56] >> David Martin at the Pentagon tonight.

[10:57] Thank you.

[10:59] Thomas Friedman is a Pulitzer

[11:00] Prize-winning foreign affairs columnist

[11:02] for the New York Times and the author

[11:03] most recently of The World Is Flat. Tom,

[11:07] why would Iran's president do this right

[11:09] now? What's in it for him?

[11:12] >> I think two things are probably

[11:13] motivating him, Katie. One is a desire

[11:15] just to steal a march on the United

[11:16] States. It's Iran's way of saying, "This

[11:18] is our neighborhood. We are the regional

[11:20] superpower, and if anyone's going to

[11:21] have a peace conference around here

[11:23] about Iraq, uh we'll convene it." Number

[11:25] one. But number two, I think the

[11:26] Iranians may have gotten the message

[11:28] that um there is a growing movement in

[11:30] this country just to pull out of Iraq.

[11:32] And uh if that happens, um Iran will

[11:35] become the de facto winner of Iraq.

[11:38] >> But can any good come from this

[11:39] conference, this regional meeting?

[11:42] >> Um I don't think any regional meeting's

[11:44] going to work um if all the key players

[11:47] are not represented, Katie. That's Iran,

[11:49] that's Saudi Arabia, that's Jordan,

[11:51] that's Syria, that's Turkey, and it's

[11:53] the United States, as well as the Iraqi

[11:55] government.

[11:55] >> And do you think this really might

[11:57] develop a a a solution for the situation

[12:01] over there?

[12:02] >> Well, I I'm rather despondent that

[12:04] anything can really solve the situation

[12:07] in Iraq right now, Katie. You know, Iraq

[12:09] is so broken, Katie, that um

[12:12] uh it can't even have a proper civil

[12:14] war. Um it's so broken. You know, to

[12:17] have a proper civil war, you need two

[12:20] sides, basically. There are now 15 sides

[12:23] there.

[12:23] >> But Tommy, it can't go on like this

[12:25] indefinitely, can it?

[12:27] >> No, it can't go on like this

[12:28] indefinitely. Our choice in Iraq is

[12:30] this, Katie: 10 weeks or 10 years. That

[12:33] is either we're going to conclude that

[12:35] this thing is so broken, and therefore

[12:38] we're just going to have to get out, or

[12:40] we're going to say this thing is so

[12:42] broken, we basically have to start over.

[12:45] And that is a 10-year project. Because

[12:48] the idea that there's some kind of

[12:49] middle ground, where we kind of stand up

[12:51] the Iraqi army, and then we kind of

[12:53] quietly leave, I think that's an

[12:55] illusion.

[12:56] >> Tom Friedman of The New York Times. Tom,

[12:58] thank you.

[12:59] >> Pleasure.

[13:00] >> And there's much more CBS News straight

[13:03] ahead. Coming up next, it took 12

[13:05] surgeons, 10 hours, and six [music]

[13:07] operating rooms to make medical history

[13:10] on five patients. We'll tell you all

[13:12] about [music] it. And an active

[13:13] contrition from Seinfeld's Kramer. We'll

[13:16] hear from him exclusively later [music]

[13:19] in our broadcast.