CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2004-10-20

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm Dan Rather. And welcome to

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

[0:05] Just ahead, the kidnapping of a

[0:07] well-known woman aid worker in Iraq.

[0:10] Does this represent a shift in tactics

[0:12] by insurgents? We'll give you a look.

[0:14] Also, thousands on Capitol Hill have

[0:16] gotten flu shots. How that happened is

[0:20] tonight's inside story. And cleaning up

[0:23] the air. It's a big issue for voters.

[0:25] Where the presidential candidates stand

[0:27] in CBS's series, what does it mean to

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

[0:33] Evening News online edition.

[0:35] In Iraq today, the republic pleads for

[0:38] the release of a kidnapped woman and aid

[0:40] worker. Two car bombs wounded 11 US Army

[0:43] soldiers and killed an Iraqi child in

[0:45] Samarra, north of Baghdad. And in the

[0:48] Iraqi capital, CBS's Kimberly Dozier

[0:50] reports another bombing set already

[0:53] frayed nerves further on edge.

[0:57] At dusk in the capital,

[0:59] a car bomb shattered the peace of the

[1:01] Ramadan evening meal, but apparently

[1:04] only killed the driver. Meanwhile,

[1:06] there's been no word on the fate of

[1:07] Margaret Hassan, seen here in a video

[1:10] released by her kidnappers. The

[1:12] Irish-born aid worker was seized by

[1:14] gunmen as she arrived for work Tuesday.

[1:17] Her Iraqi husband went on Arab

[1:19] television to plead with her captors,

[1:21] saying she'd suffered through decades of

[1:23] war together with the people she

[1:25] considered her own. She's given her life

[1:27] really to Iraqi people to try and help

[1:29] them.

[1:30] Dozens of Iraqis protested on her behalf

[1:33] at a hospital Hassan helped rebuild as

[1:35] head of CARE International in Iraq. CARE

[1:38] has suspended its operations, telling

[1:40] Iraqi staff to stay home. They're not

[1:43] going to be going to work doing any of

[1:45] this work, which is

[1:47] unfortunate given the tremendous need

[1:50] among the poorest of the poor in Iraq.

[1:54] Most aid workers left Iraq following the

[1:56] bombings of the United Nations

[1:57] headquarters last year and later the Red

[2:00] Cross in Baghdad. Intelligence sources

[2:02] say the militants had been plotting to

[2:04] seize a Western woman for some time. The

[2:07] idea to further shock and terrify the

[2:09] foreign community here and send the

[2:11] message that no one is safe.

[2:14] A chilling notion for aid agencies and

[2:17] one which spells further disaster for

[2:18] Iraqis. Hospitals are now short of

[2:21] supplies and social services are almost

[2:23] nonexistent.

[2:25] Many Iraqis say by attacking the aid

[2:28] community, kidnappers are holding the

[2:30] whole country hostage. Kimberly Dozier,

[2:33] CBS News, Baghdad. Day after day, public

[2:36] outrage appears to be growing over the

[2:38] shortage of flu vaccine. In Maryland,

[2:40] even people designated as high risk have

[2:44] to enter a lottery for a chance at a

[2:46] shot. But not far from there, others,

[2:49] including those at low risk, have been

[2:51] getting flu shots without lotteries,

[2:53] problems, or apologies. CBS's Bob Orr

[2:56] has investigated and gives you the

[2:58] inside story.

[3:00] Well, millions of Americans are still

[3:02] waiting in lines hoping to get flu

[3:04] shots. There is no shortage of vaccine

[3:06] on Capitol Hill. Nearly 2,000 doses have

[3:10] already been given to congressional

[3:11] staffers and members. I had the flu shot

[3:15] weeks ago as this process began and I

[3:17] did so at the encouragement of the

[3:19] attending physician. In early September,

[3:21] the capital's doctor, John Isele, sent a

[3:24] letter to everyone who works in

[3:25] Congress. In light of the numerous

[3:27] interactions which Capitol Hill

[3:29] employees have with people, wrote the

[3:30] doctor, I personally recommend the flu

[3:33] shot. But then the government announced

[3:35] a massive shortage of vaccine and called

[3:38] on people not at risk to skip the shots.

[3:41] We want to make sure that the flu

[3:42] vaccine goes to those who need it most.

[3:45] Under government guidelines, those

[3:47] people are 65 and older, children

[3:49] between 6 and 23 months old, pregnant

[3:52] women, and those with chronic illnesses.

[3:55] Most members of Congress do not qualify

[3:57] and some people who do are irritated.

[4:00] The same way that Congress has good

[4:01] insurance where other people doesn't

[4:03] have good insurance and it's the same

[4:05] way with the flu shot. But the capital

[4:07] physician believes politicians who shake

[4:09] a lot of hands face a unique risk of

[4:12] catching and spreading the disease.

[4:14] Both Senator Kerry and President Bush

[4:16] today said they'll do without. Others

[4:19] haven't decided. So I'm I'm going to

[4:21] talk to the Senate doctor today and see

[4:23] whether I should get the shot. The

[4:25] capital physician's office is nearly out

[4:27] of vaccine and hopes to get more. The

[4:30] doctor makes no apologies for trying to

[4:31] protect what he considers a high risk

[4:34] group.

[4:35] Bob Orr, CBS News, the capital. The

[4:37] environment is a hot topic in the

[4:39] presidential campaign. So, what are the

[4:42] Kerry and Bush positions on

[4:43] conservation, on protecting the

[4:45] environment? CBS's Wyatt Andrews clears

[4:48] the air on that tonight in the Eye on

[4:50] America election series, what does it

[4:52] mean to you?

[4:57] In a place this peaceful,

[5:00] in a wilderness this beautiful, you'd

[5:02] never suspect the damage beneath the

[5:04] surface. Just looking at this water, it

[5:07] looks pristine.

[5:08] Uh that's because there's no life in it.

[5:10] Of 2,800 lakes in the Adirondacks, one

[5:13] quarter of them are biologically dead.

[5:15] Environmentalist Brian Houseal says

[5:18] lakes and forests are dying here in the

[5:20] Adirondacks because hundreds of miles

[5:22] away coal-fired power plants in the

[5:25] Midwest are spewing pollutants that

[5:27] drift to upstate New York as acid rain.

[5:30] New York state is geographically

[5:31] disadvantaged.

[5:32] >> Some days, Neil Woodworth says you can

[5:34] watch the pollution roll in through the

[5:37] mountain passes.

[5:38] The air on these mountains can be as

[5:41] unhealthy as air in some of our cities.

[5:43] Woodworth and Houseal both manage

[5:45] Adirondack environmental groups.

[5:48] Both agree on the goal to clean up the

[5:50] air and water fast, but they disagree on

[5:53] how to do it.

[5:55] In the presidential campaign, both

[5:57] President Bush and Senator Kerry promise

[5:59] sharp reductions in acid rain. Both say

[6:02] the key is to push industry to burn coal

[6:05] cleaner using high-technology equipment.

[6:07] So the issue is which of the candidates

[6:09] would really get the job done. I propose

[6:12] to the United States Congress a Clear

[6:13] Skies initiative to reduce sulfur

[6:16] dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and mercury by

[6:18] 70%. The president says he will reduce

[6:21] pollution by allowing power companies to

[6:24] trade pollution credits, essentially

[6:26] selling each other the right to pollute.

[6:29] I like the president's approach. Houseal

[6:31] says under the president's plan, the

[6:33] market will make pollution so expensive

[6:36] the companies will be forced to clean

[6:38] up. If they just left the Clean Air Act

[6:41] all alone the way it is today, no

[6:43] change, the air would be cleaner than it

[6:45] is if you passed the Clean Air Skies

[6:47] Act. John Kerry claims he'll reverse

[6:49] what he calls the Bush-Cheney rollbacks

[6:52] using the courts. Neil Woodworth

[6:54] believes that will force the cleanup. We

[6:57] feel that if we simply enforce the Clean

[6:59] Air Act as it's currently written and

[7:01] enforce it rigorously, we would not have

[7:03] an acid deposition problem and we would

[7:05] not have a smog problem. Notice that

[7:07] neither candidate proposes using less

[7:10] coal. They can't, not when the coal

[7:12] states of West Virginia, Ohio, and

[7:14] Pennsylvania could decide the election.

[7:17] In the Adirondacks, Wyatt Andrews for

[7:19] Eye on America. More stories are just a

[7:21] click away. But don't forget to join me

[7:23] on television for the on-air edition of

[7:25] the CBS Evening News. On Thursday's

[7:28] broadcast, with emotions running so high

[7:30] in the presidential race, we'll take you

[7:32] to a city where folks are fighting a

[7:34] political sign war house to house.

[7:38] For CBSNews.com,

[7:40] I'm Dan Rather.