CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2005-11-04

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 Rove question. It's

[0:06] followed the president all the way to

[0:08] the summit in Argentina. John Roberts

[0:11] has details. Also, making friends in

[0:13] Iraq. Sometimes all it takes is a soccer

[0:16] ball. That's tonight's inside story. And

[0:19] getting stuck with a bill. Our Consumer

[0:22] Alert shows what can happen when your

[0:24] cell phone is stolen. It's all starting

[0:27] now on the CBS Evening News online

[0:30] edition.

[0:33] Well, no rest for the weary. Surely that

[0:35] thought must have crossed the

[0:37] president's mind. He left Washington,

[0:39] the CIA leak scandal and the indictment

[0:42] of a top White House aid only to arrive

[0:44] at a big international summit in

[0:46] Argentina where he found new questions

[0:49] not about the summit, but about the

[0:51] scandal back home. And if that weren't

[0:53] enough, in the streets of the Summit

[0:55] City, he faced anti-American riots and

[0:58] demonstrations stirred up by Venezuela's

[1:01] left-leaning leader, Hugo Chavez. We're

[1:04] going first to John Roberts with the

[1:06] president.

[1:08] President Bush was thankful for the

[1:10] chance to get out of Washington,

[1:12] but it didn't take long for Washington

[1:14] to catch up with him.

[1:15] >> Did Ro tell you the truth about his role

[1:17] in a CIA elite case? have told you

[1:19] before that I'm not going to discuss the

[1:21] investigation until it's completed.

[1:24] >> Are there discussions in the White House

[1:26] about whether or not Carl will remain in

[1:28] his job?

[1:28] >> The uh investigation on Carl, as you

[1:32] know, is not complete and uh therefore I

[1:34] will not comment upon about uh him andor

[1:38] the investigation. The president

[1:40] wouldn't talk about Carl Rove or

[1:42] possible staff shakeups, but he's under

[1:44] growing pressure to fix the problem and

[1:46] fast. No one wants Carl Rove to go. One

[1:49] House Republican told me he's too

[1:50] important to the party. But it looks

[1:52] like the White House doesn't have a

[1:54] strategy, and that frustrates everyone.

[1:57] And it's not just the CIA leak

[1:59] investigation dogging President Bush

[2:01] here. Anti-US protesters arrived by the

[2:04] train load in Mardell Plat this morning.

[2:07] In a now typical summit scene, a small

[2:09] group of troublemakers clashed with riot

[2:11] police just blocks from where the

[2:12] leaders were meeting. They threw Molotov

[2:15] cocktails, set a bank on fire, got tear

[2:17] gas and rubber bullets in return. What

[2:19] was different was the protest rally in

[2:22] the main stadium led by Venezuelan

[2:24] President Ugo Chavez, a summit

[2:26] participant. Chavez is still angry over

[2:28] what he saw as a USbacked attempt to

[2:31] oust him from power in 2002. Since then,

[2:34] he's tried to position himself as an

[2:36] effective counterweight to President

[2:37] Bush in this region, spending billions

[2:39] of dollars of Venezuela's oil wealth to

[2:42] win friends and influence people. Chavez

[2:45] wants to bury the president's dream of a

[2:47] free trade zone from Alaska to Argentina

[2:49] and it seems just generally annoy Mr.

[2:52] Bush. This week, Chavez threatened to

[2:54] give Venezuela's Americanmade F-16s to

[2:56] Cuba and China so they could have a good

[2:59] look inside. How does the president plan

[3:01] to handle such provocations?

[3:03] >> Well, I I will of course uh be polite.

[3:06] That's what the American people expect

[3:08] their president to do is to be a a

[3:10] polite person, and I will, you know, if

[3:12] I run run across him, I will do just

[3:15] that.

[3:16] >> President Bush can easily beat back the

[3:18] challenge from Chavez. But with protests

[3:20] here and distractions continuing back

[3:22] home, it's likely that this won't be

[3:24] your typical all smiles and handshake

[3:26] summit. Bob. Well, John, I think we

[3:29] ought to underline what you just said in

[3:30] the piece that these demonstrations were

[3:32] stirred up by someone who is no friend

[3:35] of the United States. In fact, Hugo

[3:36] Chavez is Fidel Castro's best friend.

[3:39] But do you expect more of this rioting

[3:42] down there or has it now tapered off?

[3:45] The big demonstrations were planned only

[3:47] for today, Bob. Of course, there are

[3:48] thousands of people who have come into

[3:50] town from Buenos Aries and other cities

[3:52] around the region, even some other

[3:54] countries. And it's likely that they're

[3:56] not going to be going home soon. So

[3:57] there's pretty good chance that I would

[3:59] expect tomorrow they'll be back out in

[4:00] the streets. As for whether or not

[4:02] there'll be any more violence, it

[4:03] depends on how hard police tamp down on

[4:05] that tonight. And meanwhile, back in

[4:07] Washington, let's bring in our

[4:08] correspondent Gloria Boura, who's in the

[4:10] capital tonight. Uh Gloria, the

[4:12] president wouldn't talk about Carl Rove

[4:14] and what's going on over there, but is

[4:16] he doing anything about this situation

[4:18] now? Well, I think right now uh Bob Carl

[4:22] Rove is back here in Washington uh

[4:24] working very closely with White House

[4:26] aids on nothing less than relaunching

[4:29] this presidency. They realize they have

[4:31] to come up with an agenda. They intend

[4:34] to do that in the State of the Union

[4:35] address in January. They're talking

[4:38] about bringing back compassionate

[4:40] conservatism. Remember that? That's

[4:42] something that this president ran on

[4:44] when he was first elected. Perhaps a new

[4:46] energy bill. But Rove is working with

[4:49] senior White House staff on coming up

[4:51] with that agenda. The only saving grace,

[4:53] Bob, is the Democrats don't have an

[4:54] agenda either.

[4:55] >> Well, he's going to need a lot of help

[4:57] from the Congress. For one thing, do you

[4:58] think the Republicans up there, uh, how

[5:00] are they going to help him?

[5:02] >> Well, as John was pointing out,

[5:04] Republicans are getting kind of antsy

[5:06] right now. You know, this is a White

[5:07] House when it was popular, it was

[5:09] considered kind of arrogant by

[5:11] Republicans on the Hill. They didn't

[5:13] really consult with Republicans very

[5:15] much. And so it's worse now because this

[5:17] president isn't popular. He doesn't have

[5:20] a well to go to uh in uh in the House of

[5:23] Representatives. He's got a lot of

[5:24] problems.

[5:25] >> All right. Well, thank you both. Two

[5:26] more American soldiers have been killed

[5:28] in Iraq. One by a roadside bomb in

[5:31] eastern Baghdad, the other in an

[5:33] accident south of the capital. Elsewhere

[5:35] today, insurgent ambushes and mortar

[5:37] attacks killed about a dozen Iraqi

[5:39] police, soldiers, and civilians. Despite

[5:43] such violence, many Iraqi families spent

[5:45] today peacefully celebrating the end of

[5:48] the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. At the

[5:50] same time, some American soldiers are

[5:53] redefining the term war game. Actually,

[5:56] they're doing it in a way that every

[5:58] Iraqi can understand. Here's Alan Pizzy

[6:01] now with the inside story.

[6:04] It may look like the start of another

[6:06] routine run through the mean streets of

[6:08] Baghdad, but this patrol is on its way

[6:10] to make use of a new and unique

[6:12] counterinsurgency weapon.

[6:14] >> Send vehicles

[6:16] >> once they leave the confines of the

[6:17] green zone, however, it will become

[6:19] serious business.

[6:20] >> Any word on uh what happened at

[6:22] checkpoint one?

[6:23] >> The convoy is headed for a soccer

[6:25] stadium a few miles away, not to look

[6:27] for enemies, but to make friends.

[6:29] They're dropping off more than $30,000

[6:32] worth of soccer equipment courtesy of

[6:34] Captain John Agnello, a soccer dad far

[6:37] from home. Hundreds of emails and dozens

[6:39] of phone calls to friends grew into

[6:41] sponsorship for an Iraqi sports club.

[6:43] >> Everything that we have here is donated

[6:45] from different organizations. And it's

[6:47] great to show that the American people

[6:49] really do care about what what we are

[6:51] doing here and what the Iraqi people's

[6:53] future is. Soccer is a passion here and

[6:56] the soldiers noticed giving out soccer

[6:58] balls when they were on patrol seemed to

[7:00] make them less scary to kids.

[7:02] >> Don't need a whole lot of good stuff.

[7:05] >> This is one of the few places where the

[7:07] sound of play replaces the sound of

[7:09] gunfire. The firepower necessary for

[7:12] even a simple goodwill gesture like this

[7:14] is a telling example of just how

[7:15] precarious the security situation is

[7:17] here. Even missions to a place that so

[7:20] obviously welcomes the coalition have to

[7:22] be treated as combat ready at any

[7:24] moment. The obvious question is why

[7:26] bother taking the risk?

[7:28] >> Over a period of time, you may find out

[7:29] that that some of these guys that

[7:31] interact with you playing uh soccer may

[7:34] actually come up and tell you where a

[7:35] weapons cache is or where a terrorist

[7:36] lives.

[7:37] >> The best way for us to win a

[7:39] counterinsurgency is to build

[7:42] relationships. We all know it's easy to

[7:43] win the war. It's hard to win the peace.

[7:45] Which is why a soldier in combat gear

[7:47] being faked out by a kid with a soccer

[7:49] ball scores one for the good guys. Alan

[7:52] Pizzy, CBS News, Baghdad. There are few

[7:55] things that we Americans depend on more

[7:57] than our cell phones and few things we

[8:00] lose more often. Here in New York, for

[8:02] instance, cell phones are the most

[8:04] frequently lost items on the subways.

[8:07] And losing a cell phone can cost a lot

[8:09] more than the price of the phone. Here's

[8:11] John Blackstone with our Friday Consumer

[8:14] Alert.

[8:15] While Wendy Wyn was away on vacation,

[8:18] she didn't realize back home in San

[8:20] Francisco her cell phone had been stolen

[8:22] and someone was running up a huge bill.

[8:25] >> It was to places like Guatemala, El

[8:28] Salvador, um places that I obviously had

[8:31] never called before.

[8:33] >> Her usual bill is under $50. This one

[8:36] was $26,000.

[8:38] And her carrier, Singular Wireless,

[8:40] demanded payment. They expected you to

[8:42] pay $26,000 for calls that someone else

[8:46] had made.

[8:46] >> Yes. Our customers are responsible for

[8:48] unauthorized charges before they they

[8:51] contact Singular.

[8:53] >> In Chicago, Lauren Artski didn't know

[8:55] her cell phone had been stolen until she

[8:57] was charged $4,000 for calls to Europe

[9:00] and Africa. Her mother called the

[9:03] provider, T-Mobile.

[9:04] >> They said, "Listen, honey, we see this

[9:06] all the time. Just pay it and be more

[9:08] careful next time." By law, if you lose

[9:11] your credit card, your liability is

[9:13] limited to just $50. But the same laws

[9:15] don't apply to cell phones. And cell

[9:17] phone companies like it that way.

[9:19] >> They want no regulation.

[9:22] >> Jeff Brown of the California Public

[9:24] Utilities Commission pushed hard for a

[9:26] cell phone customer's bill of rights. He

[9:28] was defeated, he says, by a politically

[9:30] powerful industry.

[9:32] >> I was disgusted by the pressure, but I

[9:35] understood where it was coming from. the

[9:37] enormous financial contributions that

[9:39] are made to politicians.

[9:40] >> Some legislators think we need a law for

[9:43] everything.

[9:43] >> John Walls speaks for the cell phone

[9:45] industry, which he says serves consumers

[9:48] well without regulation.

[9:50] >> We have delivered product that people

[9:51] love. That's why we have nearly 200

[9:54] million subscribers right now.

[9:56] >> But the Better Business Bureau gets more

[9:58] complaints about cell phone companies

[9:59] than any other business. Still, no state

[10:03] regulations protect consumers. I

[10:05] consider it a crime against the public.

[10:08] >> The industry says it tries hard to keep

[10:10] customers happy. But Singular pursued

[10:13] Wendy Win for months for $26,000.

[10:17] Only after she told her story to KPIX TV

[10:20] in San Francisco did Singular drop the

[10:22] charges. And after Lauren Artski told

[10:26] WBBM TV in Chicago about her $4,000

[10:29] bill, T-Mobile cut it to,200. John

[10:33] Blackstone, CBS News, San Francisco.

[10:35] >> More stories are just a click away, but

[10:37] don't forget to join me on television

[10:39] for the on air edition of the CBS

[10:41] Evening News. On Monday's broadcast,

[10:43] Pintite-sized Consumers, researchers

[10:46] asked a group of young people to shop

[10:47] for a pretend party. What they bought

[10:50] may surprise you. It certainly surprised

[10:52] their parents. For cbsnews.com,

[10:55] I'm Bob Schaefer.