CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2004-12-06

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm Dan Rather and welcome to the

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

[0:04] ahead, a possible deal on the

[0:06] intelligence agency's reform bill. How

[0:09] good is it? We'll also give you the

[0:11] details on the last minute political arm

[0:13] twisting involved. Then to the bloody

[0:16] invasion of a US consulate in Saudi

[0:18] Arabia, how could it happen? We'll give

[0:20] you a look. And the story of a southern

[0:22] good old boy whose financial shenanigans

[0:25] nearly ruined an entire town. It's all

[0:28] starting now on the CBS Evening News

[0:31] online edition. The bill long stuck in

[0:34] Congress to overhaul US intelligence may

[0:36] finally be unstuck. Full reforms were

[0:39] strongly recommended by the 9/11

[0:41] Commission. President Bush said he

[0:43] backed what critics call a wateredown

[0:46] version of the original bill, but key

[0:48] Republicans in Congress were blocking it

[0:50] until now. CBS News chief White House

[0:53] correspondent John Roberts has the

[0:54] latest on the cliffhanger on the Hill

[0:57] and what may be a final compromise in

[0:59] the making. John Dan, a key Republican

[1:02] hold out late today withdrew his

[1:04] opposition to the bill and cleared the

[1:06] way for a vote after President Bush

[1:08] assured him intelligence reform would

[1:10] preserve a clear chain of command from

[1:12] the Oval Office all the way through to

[1:14] troops on the ground.

[1:16] >> The primary issue was the protection of

[1:18] our troops in the field. We think that

[1:20] we've achieved that.

[1:21] >> The bill would put all of America's

[1:23] intelligence gathering capabilities

[1:25] under the jurisdiction of a single

[1:27] powerful national director with a goal

[1:29] to avoid the sort of intelligence

[1:30] failings that preceded 9/11. Congressman

[1:33] Duncan Hutter had blocked the measure

[1:35] two weeks ago, fearing it could handcuff

[1:37] the Pentagon's ability to get realtime

[1:39] intelligence to troops in combat. It

[1:41] >> is a good piece of legislation. It is a

[1:43] necessary piece of legislation.

[1:45] President Bush invested some of the

[1:47] political capital he earned on election

[1:49] night to reach a compromise Hunter and

[1:51] others could live with.

[1:52] >> I'm very optimistic now that the bill

[1:55] will move forward and that we have the

[1:57] votes to win in both the House and the

[2:00] Senate.

[2:01] >> That would be a victory for many

[2:02] families of 9/11 victims who kept vigil

[2:05] outside the White House today.

[2:07] >> How many more people have to die before

[2:08] you're willing to make this country

[2:09] safe? It's also a victory for President

[2:12] Bush, whose arm twisting narrowly

[2:14] avoided an embarrassing post-election

[2:16] legislative defeat. One that could have

[2:18] had lasting impact on his second term

[2:20] agenda. If

[2:20] >> he gets rolled here on this bill,

[2:23] imagine what it will be like when he

[2:25] tries to come forward with other

[2:27] controversial proposals.

[2:29] >> There's still one potential hangup.

[2:31] Republican Congressman James Sensen

[2:33] Brener wants the bill to address illegal

[2:35] immigration and bar illegal immigrants

[2:37] from getting driver's licenses. Sources

[2:39] say Sensen Brener will get only lip

[2:41] service on those issues now with a

[2:43] pledge to look into them next year.

[2:46] There's ample reason to believe the

[2:48] intelligence reform bill will pass both

[2:50] the House and the Senate tomorrow, but

[2:52] no one is ready to break out the

[2:53] champagne just yet. They remember how

[2:55] close they were two weeks ago, right

[2:57] before the legislation ran straight into

[2:59] a wall. Dan

[3:01] >> John Roberts reporting live from the

[3:03] White House. Thank you, John. The need

[3:04] for better intelligence in the war on

[3:06] terror was vividly illustrated again

[3:08] today. As was the fact that Osama bin

[3:10] Laden apparently is alive, well, and

[3:13] still at large. A heavily armed gang of

[3:16] killers staged a surprise assault on the

[3:18] US consulate in Jedha, Saudi Arabia. No

[3:21] Americans were killed, but at least

[3:23] eight other people were. CBS's Tom

[3:26] Fenton has late details.

[3:29] Terrorists suspected of links to

[3:31] al-Qaeda blasted into the consulate,

[3:33] killing five foreign employees in what a

[3:35] State Department official called a major

[3:38] security breach. While no Americans were

[3:40] killed, the official expressed concern

[3:42] that defensive measures the State

[3:44] Department has in place all over the

[3:47] world proved vulnerable. Diplomatic

[3:49] security agents are being rushed to

[3:51] Saudi Arabia as President Bush warned

[3:53] that terrorists are still active there.

[3:56] They want us to leave Saudi Arabia.

[4:00] They want us to leave Iraq. They want us

[4:02] to grow timid and weary.

[4:04] >> Americans who remain there keep a low

[4:06] profile.

[4:07] >> Those that are the most fearful have

[4:09] already left.

[4:11] But each new event is another another

[4:14] indication that it's time to go home. Uh

[4:18] once our jobs are over here.

[4:20] >> The consulate sits in the heart of a

[4:22] major port on a road open to traffic.

[4:24] The attackers used grenades and guns to

[4:27] storm through the gate of the outer

[4:29] wall. Americans were rushed to safety

[4:31] behind the inner wall while Saudi police

[4:33] engaged the terrorists, killing three.

[4:36] The confusion from Saudi officials was

[4:38] as thick as the smoke rising from the

[4:40] consulate. They first said that four

[4:42] Saudi National Guardsmen were killed and

[4:43] hostages were taken and later denied

[4:46] both reports. But whatever the truth,

[4:48] the Saudi spin is that they are making

[4:50] progress against terrorism. I think

[4:52] where the measure of success lies is in

[4:54] the fact that these terrorists did not

[4:56] achieve their aim of entering the

[4:58] consulate.

[4:59] >> But that's little reassurance to

[5:00] Americans there after a series of

[5:03] devastating attacks in the past 19

[5:05] months that killed more than 90 and

[5:07] wounded hundreds, most of them foreign

[5:10] workers. Tom Fenton, CBS News, London.

[5:13] >> Farther south in Georgia, there's a

[5:16] community racked by betrayal and turmoil

[5:18] of a different sort. CBS's Mark Stman

[5:21] reports on a big ripoff in a small town

[5:24] in tonight's Eye on America.

[5:27] >> This was where the uh finance company

[5:30] was downstairs

[5:31] >> in Union Point, Georgia. Ben Stewart

[5:34] ruled as mayor and to residents like

[5:36] Anne France, he lived like a southern

[5:38] squire.

[5:39] >> How important was he to this town?

[5:41] >> He was the backbone of this town. He um

[5:44] owned just about the whole town and

[5:47] everyone trusted him

[5:49] >> until Ben Stewart betrayed that trust

[5:51] and left many people here in ruins. The

[5:54] Steuart empire started coming apart the

[5:57] day retired maid Elsie Williams borrowed

[5:59] $200 from Steuart Finance to buy a new

[6:02] couch. It turns out Williams was paying

[6:05] what amounted to 95% interest on that

[6:08] loan. On another Steuart loan, she was

[6:11] paying for an Auto Club membership.

[6:13] Trouble is, Elsie Williams doesn't

[6:16] drive.

[6:16] >> I haven't had no car in for over 40

[6:18] years.

[6:18] >> 40 years.

[6:19] >> 40 years.

[6:20] >> What Steuart Finance was doing was

[6:21] profiting big time off of what I call

[6:25] the misery and the bad circumstances of

[6:27] our clients.

[6:28] >> Adrienne Ashb Legal Aid investigated

[6:32] Elsie Williams case and found scores of

[6:34] others like it. When she alerted

[6:36] authorities, federal and state

[6:38] investigators started pressuring for

[6:40] answers. The unraveling had begun, and

[6:43] the people who paid the heaviest price

[6:45] lived here in Union Point. They knew Ben

[6:48] Stewart, trusted him, and invested in

[6:50] his company. And hundreds of them would

[6:52] lose everything they had.

[6:54] >> We had asked him if uh everything was

[6:56] fine, if the business was safe. He said

[6:59] business had never been better.

[7:02] >> Lied to your face.

[7:03] >> Lied to our faces. and he took our money

[7:05] anyway.

[7:06] >> How much money?

[7:07] >> $300,000.

[7:09] >> Stuart finance was actually a pyramid

[7:12] scheme. Investors were paying for

[7:14] Stuart's princely lifestyle, the private

[7:16] plane, the dozen country club

[7:18] memberships, the mansion now for sale.

[7:22] Anne France and nearly 900 other

[7:24] investors lost every penny they put in.

[7:27] >> And it breaks my heart. They worked hard

[7:30] for their money and he betrayed them. In

[7:34] all, $38 million vanished. Although

[7:37] Stuart's lawyer denies criminal intent,

[7:40] >> there were five or six civil suits and

[7:42] criminal investigations waiting in the

[7:43] wings, and it eventually became uh more

[7:46] than he could withstand.

[7:48] >> One morning, Stuart put himself in the

[7:50] hole he had dug for everyone around him

[7:52] and committed suicide. Elsie Williams

[7:55] had pulled a thread that unraveled an

[7:57] empire built by friends and neighbors

[8:00] who banked on trust. in Union Point,

[8:03] Georgia. I'm Mark Stman for I in

[8:05] America.

[8:06] >> More stories are just a click away, but

[8:08] be sure to join me on television for the

[8:10] on air edition of the CBS Evening News.

[8:13] On Tuesday's broadcast, the so-called

[8:15] birth control patch. There are new

[8:18] questions about its safety, and we'll

[8:20] give you a hard look with our

[8:21] investigation. For cbsnews.com,

[8:24] I'm Dan Rather.