CBS Evening News (A block) - 2006-11-21

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:03] I'm Katie Kurrick. Tonight, a big glitch

[0:05] in the president's exit strategy for

[0:07] Iraq. Turns out there's a critical

[0:09] shortage of US troops qualified to train

[0:12] the Iraqis. Store Wars just in time for

[0:15] your holiday shopping. America's

[0:17] retailers are slashing prices in a

[0:20] red-hot battle for your bucks. Treating

[0:23] back pain. Are you better off having

[0:25] surgery or not? We'll tell you what a

[0:27] new study found. and will celebrate the

[0:30] life of Ed Bradley.

[0:33] >> He is dignity,

[0:36] intelligence,

[0:38] culture,

[0:40] humor,

[0:42] kindness,

[0:43] soul, and fire.

[0:56] This is the CBS Evening News with Katie

[0:59] Kurig.

[1:02] >> Hi everyone. President Bush has said US

[1:05] forces can't leave Iraq until the Iraqis

[1:07] can take care of their own security.

[1:10] Well, here comes another big problem.

[1:12] The American troops who are supposed to

[1:14] be training the Iraqis say they haven't

[1:17] been trained adequately themselves. And

[1:19] it looks like training the trainers will

[1:21] take a long time. From the Pentagon

[1:24] tonight, here's David Martin. David

[1:27] >> Katie, of the 140,000 American troops in

[1:29] Iraq, 5,000 of them are training and

[1:32] advising Iraqi forces. But according to

[1:34] the trainers themselves, the army did

[1:37] not prepare them to accomplish their

[1:39] mission.

[1:41] >> Where's the guys with the machine guns?

[1:42] >> They are what counterinsurgency warfare

[1:44] is all about. Training local forces to

[1:47] take over the fighting. And that is the

[1:50] lynch pin of the American exit strategy.

[1:52] But in reports recording their

[1:54] experiences in Iraq, advisers like

[1:56] Colonel Nicholas Damas said the training

[1:58] he received before leaving the US was a

[2:01] phenomenal waste of time, nearly

[2:04] irrelevant to the current situation in

[2:06] Iraq. Lieutenant Colonel Paul Suzinski

[2:08] said counterinsurgency was our most

[2:10] important mission in Iraq, but there was

[2:13] zero training provided on it. Because of

[2:15] complaints like that, the Army opened a

[2:17] new school at Fort Riley, Kansas to

[2:19] train the trainers. So far, 500 have

[2:22] graduated with another 550 there now, a

[2:26] fraction of what's needed. The

[2:27] institutional army has not caught up

[2:29] with the challenges of

[2:31] counterinsurgency, said Lieutenant

[2:32] Colonel Paul Yingling after he returned

[2:35] from Iraq last March. Jingling took part

[2:38] in one of the highlights of the war, the

[2:40] retaking of the city of Talafar by 3,000

[2:43] American and 8,000 Iraqi troops, a model

[2:46] for what commanders hoped would happen

[2:48] in other violent cities. And at the end,

[2:52] the Iraqi police will be the senior

[2:53] partner and the Iraqi army will be the

[2:56] junior partner and the US and the

[2:58] coalition forces will be out of here.

[3:01] Talafa proved the most important thing

[3:03] we do in counterinsurgency is building

[3:05] Iraqi security forces. Yingling said,

[3:08] "Yet the army is designed around the

[3:10] least important line of operations,

[3:13] combat operations.

[3:15] And it's not just the army." Colonel

[3:17] Joseph Dalvo said when he asked State

[3:19] Department officers to teach Iraqis the

[3:21] basics of city management, they brought

[3:24] nothing to the fight. They were vastly

[3:26] inexperienced.

[3:28] Army officers say they can double the

[3:30] number of students going through the

[3:32] school at Fort Riley, but admit they'll

[3:34] still be playing catch-up. And

[3:35] commanders in Iraq are calling for even

[3:37] more trainers. Katie

[3:39] >> David Martin at the Pentagon tonight.

[3:41] Meanwhile, a joint US Iraqi force just

[3:43] the type the Pentagon is trying to build

[3:46] raided a neighborhood in Baghdad today,

[3:48] capturing seven suspected militia men.

[3:50] But the raid had some unintended

[3:52] victims. From Baghdad tonight, here's

[3:55] Elizabeth Palmer.

[3:57] It was dawn in the Shiite slum of Saturn

[4:00] City when calamity struck from the sky.

[4:03] An American air strike had accidentally

[4:05] killed a baby boy in his family home.

[4:08] His father was injured. So was his

[4:10] mother, says the neighbor. Who will

[4:12] protect us?

[4:15] >> US and Iraqi forces smashed through

[4:17] houses here looking for criminals they

[4:19] believe kidnapped an American soldier

[4:22] last month. The dead child's uncle is a

[4:25] member of Iraq's parliament. Now he says

[4:27] there's no way he's going back to help

[4:29] govern this broken country. Coalition

[4:32] forces in Iraq are at full stretch,

[4:35] searching for citizens kidnapped from

[4:37] the education ministry last week and

[4:40] four American truckers abducted from a

[4:42] convoy in the south. Ordinary Iraqis are

[4:45] in despair.

[4:47] So news of highle overtures on the

[4:49] diplomatic front are being eagerly

[4:51] embraced. They're coming from Iraq's

[4:54] neighbors. Syria to the north has

[4:56] reinstated diplomatic relations and is

[4:59] vowing to help restore stability to

[5:02] Iraq. And Iran on the eastern border

[5:05] sent its oil minister to Baghdad today.

[5:08] Iran's president Mahmud Ahmedad has

[5:10] invited Iraq's president to Thran for

[5:13] talks this weekend. Neither Iran nor

[5:16] Syria could be described as friends of

[5:18] either Iraq or of America, and both have

[5:21] selfish agendas. But with Western

[5:23] interests at stake in a region steeped

[5:25] in blood and misery and lurching toward

[5:28] chaos, they look less like part of the

[5:31] problem and may now have become part of

[5:33] the solution. Elizabeth Palmer, CBS

[5:36] News, Baghdad.

[5:38] >> The White House believes Syria and Iran

[5:40] are still causing trouble in Lebanon,

[5:42] where today assassins killed a

[5:44] government official. Mark Phillips

[5:46] begins tonight's news briefing. Another

[5:50] political assassination in Lebanon has

[5:52] the country once again teetering on the

[5:54] brink of chaos

[5:56] just 4 months after the Israeli Lebanese

[5:58] conflict. This time the victim was one

[6:01] of Lebanon's leading Christian

[6:02] anti-Syrian cabinet ministers, Pierre

[6:05] Jamal, the son of a former president.

[6:08] Gunman rammed their car into his and

[6:10] then sprayed it with bullets. There's

[6:12] been widespread international

[6:14] condemnation of the attack, including

[6:16] from President Bush, and widespread fear

[6:18] of reprisal, political killings, and

[6:21] even a slide into civil war. I'm Mark

[6:24] Stman. Sorrow deepened today in

[6:27] Huntsville, Alabama's school bus

[6:28] tragedy. A fourth student on board,

[6:31] 17-year-old Crystal McCra, died today.

[6:34] The bus plunged 30 feet off a highway

[6:36] overpass yesterday. Still no official

[6:39] cause, but witnesses report a compact

[6:41] car driven by another teen from the same

[6:44] school bumped the bus before it crashed.

[6:47] Just last week, the National

[6:48] Transportation Safety Board put school

[6:50] buses on its list of most wanted safety

[6:53] improvements.

[6:55] I'm Sandra Hughes in Hollywood where

[6:57] Maverick director Robert Alman is being

[7:00] mourned. A brave man.

[7:02] >> It was the dark 1970 anti-war comedy

[7:05] Mash that propelled Alman out of the

[7:07] pack. He made the movies he wanted.

[7:09] Ensembles of characters colliding as

[7:12] their paths crossed. He'd write an

[7:14] outline and then let his stars

[7:16] improvise.

[7:17] >> I make them do what they became actors

[7:19] to do in the first place, that is

[7:21] create.

[7:22] >> Alman was nominated for Oscars five

[7:24] times, but only this year he won his

[7:26] first, a lifetime achievement award at

[7:29] 81.

[7:31] It was only after getting that Oscar

[7:33] that Robert Alman revealed he had a

[7:35] heart transplant 10 years ago. He said

[7:38] he was afraid that if the studios knew

[7:40] he would never work again. Now to the

[7:43] coming attractions for the economy. The

[7:46] White House predicted today that

[7:47] economic growth will slow next year to

[7:49] below 3% thanks to the slump in the

[7:52] housing market. And inflation will tick

[7:54] up a bit. Prices are expected to rise

[7:57] just over 2.5%.

[7:59] Right now, big retailers are cutting

[8:01] prices just as the holiday shopping

[8:03] season begins. Sharon Alonsi reports

[8:06] tonight on Store Wars.

[8:10] In the retail price wars,

[8:13] this is the furry front line, the toy

[8:16] department.

[8:18] And it's here that stores are waging

[8:20] their fiercest battles. Analysts say

[8:22] whoever wins toy shoppers this season

[8:25] wins the year. It's the old days of the

[8:27] price war, Walmart versus Target, and

[8:30] everyone else gets caught in the

[8:31] crossfire. The last time this happened

[8:34] in the 1990s, five of the top 10 toy

[8:36] retailers either went into bankruptcy

[8:38] and/or liquidation. It's great for

[8:41] consumers. It's bad for competitors.

[8:45] >> The holiday season typically accounts

[8:46] for nearly half of a retailer's annual

[8:49] revenue. $457

[8:51] billion dollar are up for grabs. So, at

[8:54] Walmart, battle plans for this season

[8:57] were made months ago.

[8:58] >> A bogo.

[8:59] >> We actually started preparing for this

[9:01] holiday season uh in the springtime.

[9:03] >> And at Target, they're firing back. How

[9:06] closely are you watching Walmart to see

[9:08] how

[9:09] >> We do watch Walmart.

[9:10] >> Dropping prices up to 40% just to get

[9:13] shoppers in the store.

[9:14] >> We make sure that our pricing is in line

[9:15] with theirs.

[9:16] >> Early demand has surprised some

[9:18] retailers, so discounts are easy to

[9:20] find, but other things are a bit

[9:22] tougher. Elmo would be normally wear.

[9:25] >> Elmo would be on a front end cap and

[9:27] we're sold out right now.

[9:28] >> We went looking for Elmo Extreme. Turns

[9:31] out he's extremely hard to find. Target

[9:34] sells them for 40 bucks but was sold

[9:36] out. Walmart for a bit less but no luck.

[9:40] Toys R Us said they were about $40 and

[9:43] in stock. So CBS producer Jack Renault

[9:46] went in for the elusive capture out

[9:48] there. This was the last one and he only

[9:50] speaks Spanish.

[9:54] How do you say make my kids stop crying

[9:57] in Spanish? Sharon Alfonsi, CBS News,

[10:00] New York.

[10:02] A couple of other business notes

[10:04] tonight. Alcoa says it's cutting 6,700

[10:08] jobs worldwide, 5% of its workforce to

[10:11] try to boost profits. And then there's

[10:13] Google. Just over two years ago, it went

[10:16] public at $85 a share. Should have

[10:18] bought it. It closed today at more than

[10:21] $500.

[10:23] There is much more CBS News straight

[10:25] ahead. And when we come back, you're

[10:27] back. If you're one of the many people

[10:29] with an aching one, we have important

[10:31] news you'll want to hear.