The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

JIM LEHRER: Good evening. I'm Jim Lehrer. On the NewsHour tonight, a Summary of today's news, reports on military developments from Afghanistan, and from the Pentagon, two newsmaker interviews about the war, with the British ambassador to the united nations about the UN'S role, and with Philippines President arroyo about terrorism in her country, plus, an update report on the struggle in Oregon over an assisted suicide law.

NEWS SUMMARY

JIM LEHRER: The hunt for Osama bin Laden intensified today. At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld confirmed several hundred Special Forces troops are now in southern Afghanistan. He said they're tracking bin Laden and hoping for help from locals. At the White House, President Bush dismissed criticism of his plan to have military tribunals

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: There's jubilation in the cities that we have liberated and the sooner al-Qaeda is brought to justice, the sooner Afghanistan will return to normal. People understand that and so we've got... Let me put it to you this way: The more territory we gain, the more success there is on the ground, the more people we've got looking to help us in our mission.

JIM LEHRER: The Taliban said today bin Laden is no longer in the four Afghan provinces they still control. Their ambassador to Pakistan said, "we don't know whether he is in Afghanistan or not." In the Afghan fighting, the Taliban brushed aside reports they might surrender Kandahar in the South. But they said fighters in Kunduz, in the North, were negotiating to surrender to the United Nations. Refugees there said foreign fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden were killing Afghans who tried to surrender. Four journalists were missing and feared dead after gunmen ambushed their car east of Kabul. Two worked for Reuters News Service, the others for newspapers in Spain and Italy. A meeting of all Afghan factions could take place Saturday in Berlin, Germany. The Associated Press reported that today, citing a Pakistani diplomatic source. The factions would discuss forming a new government. Separately, the UN human rights chief, Mary Robinson, said Afghan women should be represented at a high level. They were denied basic freedoms under Taliban rule. Secretary of State Powell called today for new peace efforts in the Middle East. He said the Palestinians must realize they're "mired in the quicksand of self-defeating violence." And he said Israel must end its occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, and accept a Palestinian state. In a speech in Louisville, Kentucky, he promised U.S assistance, but did not make new proposals.

COLIN POWELL, Secretary of State: We will do all we can to help the process along. We will push, we will product, we will present ideas. For example, there are a number of economic and political steps in existing agreements. They're there now, which if we implemented could contribute to a momentum toward peace. But notwithstanding everything we do, at the end of the day, it is the people in the region taking the risks and making the hard choices who must find the way ahead.

JIM LEHRER: Both the Israelis and the Palestinians called the speech positive. But there was more violence today; Palestinian gunmen wounded three Israeli civilians in the West Bank, and Israeli tanks rolled into a town in Gaza. A moderate ethnic Albanian party was declared the winner today in weekend elections in Kosovo. It was the first democratic vote there since NATO bombing forced Yugoslav forces to withdraw in 1999. A new governing coalition will administer Kosovo, along with UN officials and NATO peacekeepers. About 200 Muslim rebels attacked an army camp in the southern Philippines today. The military said 55 soldiers and rebels were killed. It was the worst violence since a 1996 agreement ended a 30-year rebellion by minority Muslims. It came as President Arroyo was in Washington, but she told the NewsHour the long struggle with guerrillas in her country is nearing an end.

PRESIDENT GLORIA ARROYO, Philippines: Even the search for Osama bin Laden is taking a long time, so that's really the nature of terrorism. They can hide very easily but I think now that we're altogether in this war against terrorism, then... and with U.S technical assistance coming to the Philippines because they recognize that that's part of the war against terrorism, I think the problem will be over soon and now we can put our resources to where they really should belong and that is the fight against poverty.

JIM LEHRER: We'll have that interview in its entirety later in the program. President Bush signed the aviation security bill today. He did so in a ceremony at Reagan National Airport in Washington. Among other things, it puts airport screeners on the federal payroll, at least for the next few years. To help pay for the changes, air travelers will be charged a fee of up to $5 per trip. At the U.S Capitol today, two Senate office buildings were reopened, following sweeps for anthrax. They closed Saturday after security officials found a possibly tainted letter in some quarantined mail. It was addressed to Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont. It's still being tested. The United States today accused Iraq of developing biological weapons. A top State Department official said, in Geneva, it was beyond dispute. Five other countries are on the suspect list: Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria. Box office history was made over the weekend. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" grossed an estimated $93 million in its debut, the most ever. It's adapted from the first of J.K. Rowling's best-selling novels about a young wizard's adventures.

FOCUS - SHAPING THE FUTURE

JIM LEHRER: The battle in, and for, Afghanistan. We start tonight with a report from Kevin Dunn of independent television news.

KEVIN DUNN: In the North of Afghanistan, American warplanes bombed pro Taliban forces holding out in the town of Kunduz. The forces of the Northern Alliance are besieging the city, which is one of the last still to be held by Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden. The Northern Alliance and anti-Taliban forces now control most of the country, leaving the Taliban fighters in Kunduz isolated and with little chance of escape. The remainder of the Taliban forces are concentrated around Kandahar, their spiritual stronghold in the South. The whereabouts of Osama bin Laden are unknown. The Northern Alliance believe he's hiding at Maruf 80 miles east of Kandahar. Other reports say he's holed up in bunkers to the Southwest while others suggest he's hiding in caves in the mountains to the North. In the last few days the United States has sent scores of additional troops into Afghanistan to step up the hunt for bin Laden, but Pentagon officials say locating him may still take some time.

JIM LEHRER: Now, a report from the first major Afghan city captured by the Northern Alliance. Andrea Catherwood of Independent Television News was among western reporters who got to the scene this weekend.

ANDREA CATHERWOOD: Northwestern Afghanistan, cut off from the world since the bombing began, 40 miles across these plains lies the city of Mazar-e Sharif. We had received reports of massacres and lawlessness there, none of which could be confirmed. Our only route in was along the broad Oxis River, which separates the country from Uzbekistan, a border only opened to aid barges. The road to Mazar-e Sharif is littered with the debris of war. Inside the city Northern Alliance soldiers looked relaxed and firmly installed. At the headquarters of the opposition force, I met with the city's commander, Abdul Russi of General Dostum's army. By the time they reached the city most Taliban had survived, had fled or changed sides. But inside this school, more than 700 Taliban soldiers made a last stand. The men were reinforcements from Pakistan. They had just arrived. The school was their barracks and they were trapped inside. The Northern Alliance took me to a building overlooking the school. From here they fired on the Taliban during the two-day siege -- the floor littered with their empty cartridges. The Northern Alliance sent in tanks. From the damage to the school, it's clear the Taliban had little chance. The Northern Alliance claim they killed 520 Taliban soldiers. Three days later while we watched, the Red Cross workers were still pulling bodies from the rubble. Soldiers of the Northern Alliance then took us to a compound near the school and before us opened the metal doors of a freight container. Slowly its human cargo began to stumble into the light -- Taliban who had surrendered at the school and escaped the mass killing of their fellow soldiers -- 42 men, all we were told, from Pakistan. The following day, two Red Cross workers arrived in the city. I joined them as they began talks with a faction of the Northern Alliance. We were taken to their jail. Almost 100 captured Taliban again from Pakistan. Among them some war wounded in urgent need of medical treatment including Amir Ahmed, a 15-year-old boy, with shrapnel from a grenade in his foot. The following day I went to visit Amir Ahmed. The doctors had already operated once. They hope they can save his foot. He told me he was from Peshawar in Pakistan. He had left just eight days ago to join the Taliban arriving in Mazar-e Sharif two days before the city fell. The Red Cross is now trying to send a message to his family. But so far they have not been allowed to visit the men we find in the container. They have been taken away. We do not know what's become of them. But the bodies of hundreds of their fellow fighters lie here in this unmarked mass grave in a disused quarry on the outskirts of the city. The men buried here believed they were fighting a holy war -- if they were killed, their souls would go to paradise. But their remains lie here in an unmarked pit in this far off corner of a foreign land.

JIM LEHRER: Now, a battle update from the Pentagon, and to Ray Suarez.

RAY SUAREZ: At midday today, amid continuous reports of Taliban retreat, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stepped to the podium and promptly tried to dampen expectations.

DONALD RUMSFELD: The war on terrorism is still in its early stages. Perseverance and will and patience and sacrifice is going to be required in the months ahead, and while the nature of what's taking place is changing, it is going to be no less difficult.

RAY SUAREZ: Kandahar and Kunduz are immediate concerns. They are the two cities where the Taliban has yet to crack. Rumsfeld was asked about reports in both places of fierce fighting -- even infighting within the Taliban. Reports say some are ready to surrender; other reports say the Taliban supreme leader is negotiating the militia's surrender to its enemies. The Secretary said U.S Troops are not the ones cutting deals.

DONALD RUMSFELD: The United States is not inclined to negotiate surrenders, nor are we in a position, with relatively small numbers of forces on the ground, to accept prisoners. The negotiations that are taking place are, for the most part, taking place with the opposition forces and elements that are putting pressure onto the various cities you've mentioned, whether it's Kunduz or Kandahar or whichever. It's our hope that they will not engage in negotiations that would provide for the release of al-Qaida forces; that would provide for the release of foreign nationals, non-Afghans, leaving the country and destabilizing neighboring countries, which is not your first choice either. The idea that they would keep their weapons is not a happy one from our standpoint, either.

REPORTER: Allegedly these negotiations are calls for the UN coming in and intervening. You would not be in favor of either negotiations or the UN coming in to intervene in that particular fight?

DONALD RUMSFELD: Well, I'm not in a position to have, really, an opinion on it. The... You know, the UN is going to do what it wants to do, but my... any idea that those people in that town, who have been fighting so viciously and who refuse to surrender, should end up in some sort of a negotiation which would allow them to leave the country and go off and destabilize other countries and engage in terrorist attacks on the United States is something that I would certainly do everything I could to prevent.

REPORTER: So you would like it to be a fight to the death in that particular...

DONALD RUMSFELD: Oh, no! They could surrender.

REPORTER: Then what happens to them?

DONALD RUMSFELD: Well, one would hope they did not get let go into another country or even free in that country. They ought to be impounded. I mean, they're people who have done terrible things.

RAY SUAREZ: Rumsfeld was then asked about a report in yesterday's "Washington Post." It said U.S warplanes have been poised to kill al-Qaida leaders-- leaders who then got away while the pilots waited for permission to shoot. In the article, a four-star general blamed, "micro- management of the war by Rumsfeld." The unnamed general said, "The execution of the war was 'military amateur hour.'"

DONALD RUMSFELD: There was no one identified in the story. (Chuckles) So, not just the one you happen to be quoting, but it was a world-class thumb sucker. (Laughter) The... With all respect to the "Post," mind you.

RAY SUAREZ: Rumsfeld defended General Tommy Franks, the war's top military commander, known by the acronym CINC.

DONALD RUMSFELD: He has to balance the question of doing the maximum amount to kill people on the ground, who might be part of the al-Qaida and Taliban leadership, against trying to avoid so much collateral damage and blowing up of mosques and the like that he ends up creating a feeling against the United States and the coalition forces on the ground in Afghanistan, and/or spreads the conflict... Now, then, you're going to have a bunch of people around the site who aren't the CINC, and they're going to look at it and they're going to say, "Well, gee, if I'd been doing it, I would have done this. I would have done more of that or a little less of this, or I would have done it faster or slower." There has never been a conflict where people didn't sit down and say, "gee, the CINC should have done this," or "the CINC should have done that." There's certainly no one in Washington holding anyone's hands behind their back. I can tell you that -- not the President and not this person.

RAY SUAREZ: Rumsfeld summed up the ways the coalition forces might get Osama bin Laden.

REPORTER: Are special operations forces going to be used in cave-to-cave operations, because that's what's sort of all of our speculation right now...

DONALD RUMSFELD: Yeah.

REPORTER: Or is it going to be left to Northern Alliance folks and whatever special ops forces may be with them?

DONALD RUMSFELD: If we were to do that, I would not be discussing it. And we have large rewards out, and our hope is that the incentive... The dual incentive of helping to free that country from a very repressive regime and to get the foreigners in the al-Qaida out of there, coupled with substantial monetary rewards, will incentivize-- through the great principle of university of Chicago economics... (Laughter) ...incentivize a large number of people to begin crawling through those tunnels and caves, looking for the bad folks. There is no question there are people out looking.

RAY SUAREZ: The Defense Secretary said he would not be briefing the press corps again until after the Thanksgiving holiday.

JIM LEHRER: Next, the United Nations in Afghanistan. Gwen Ifill has that story.

GWEN IFILL: The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution calling for a central UN role in establishing a post-Taliban government in Afghanistan. Plans are also underway for a UN force to help keep order, but that has run into some resistance from the Northern Alliance. But the Alliance may agree yet to meet at a neutral foreign site to begin negotiations on the country's political future. The United Kingdom is a key backer of the UN efforts. We hear now from its ambassador to the UN, Sir Jeremy Greenstock.

Mr. Ambassador, welcome.

SIR JEREMY GREENSTOCK, UN Ambassador, United Kingdom: Good evening.

GWEN IFILL: So what is the significance of the resolution that was passed by the UN Last week?

SIR JEREMY GREENSTOCK: It's to set the principles for Lacta Brahimi's negotiation to try and get a much more stable government installed in Afghanistan in a number of stages and to have backing from the international community for the humanitarian effort and for economic reconstruction to give the Afghan people a sense that this is moving their way, that something is happening that will be in their long-term interest both politically and economically. And the resolution also asks member-states to support the effort to bring safety and security to Afghanistan, and it's on that basis I think that a number of member-states of the UN are contemplating offering forces for that security operation.

GWEN IFILL: How do you gauge at this point the willingness of the different parties within Afghanistan, the Northern Alliance, all the other parties involved in this, to participate in this kind of international action or to accept it?

SIR JEREMY GREENSTOCK: Well, this has been a war, a short one but quite an intense one. And of course those who are holding military territory are going to be interested in holding a political advantage. But I think from discussions so far that Lacta Brahimi and his team have had with a number of different political and military players in Afghanistan, people are beginning to realize at the top that this needs to be a new approach to a stable, broad-based government in Afghanistan. Otherwise there will not be the kind of international input, which the people of Afghanistan needs. So of course there is going to be haggling. Of course there are going to be marking out of positions not just in Afghanistan but amongst neighboring states and other states interested. But that's to be expected. And I think the UN team is capable of sorting this out and getting us going with some good negotiations.

GWEN IFILL: How critical is this weekend's, this meeting we've been hearing talk about all day today perhaps in Berlin among all the parties? How critical is it that this gets it off to the best start?

SIR JEREMY GREENSTOCK: Well, the first step in a long journey is the most important one. And this will be the beginning of a negotiation for a long-term, stable constitution and government in Afghanistan, and to see who turns up, who they represent, how broad that representation is, how they talk to each other, and what mood they begin to discuss sharing power is going to be very important and to set the tone for the subsequent stages. So it is an extremely important juncture that we're looking at now.

GWEN IFILL: Did everything that happened last week, all the military gains basically outpace the political ability to be able to follow up on them? Did it all just come together so fast?

SIR JEREMY GREENSTOCK: Well, I think we've all been surprised by the speed of events on the ground, but it's a good surprise in many ways. The Taliban have basically disappeared or at least to a small corner of Afghanistan. We didn't think that they would collapse so soon, that there would be more bloodshed across Afghanistan. It means that the humanitarian effort can have access to many more people within Afghanistan particularly in the North and the Northeast where the mountainous terrain is so difficult. So that's good. The whole speed of progress has brought its own problems in terms of the tendency of military men to hold the territory and the political control of the territory that they do.

GWEN IFILL: Is that considered a broken promise, the idea that the Northern Alliance, for instance, is in Kabul, where it promised not to be holding territory?

SIR JEREMY GREENSTOCK: Well, the Taliban vacated Kabul, so it was natural for them to move in. We have to deal with that. But the Northern Alliance leaders are discussing with the U.S, with the UK, with the UN how the talks over sharing power can take place, and I think that's a good sign

GWEN IFILL: How much important is it in order for this to come together, this plan to come together that there be some sort of international financial aid package in place as an inducement to everyone to agree?

SIR JEREMY GREENSTOCK: Well there's already a huge amount of humanitarian money available and that's being dispersed now, but the long-term reconstruction of Afghanistan is going to be an extremely important instrument in persuading people to cooperate and to look after the interests of the Afghan people. So in the medium- to long-term, absolutely vital.

GWEN IFILL: One more thing in that resolution that was passed last week, you also call for the parties, the Afghan parties, to refrain from acts of reprisal. Do you have any evidence that there have been any, or are those just fears that you're trying to hedge against?

SIR JEREMY GREENSTOCK: There have been some isolated incidents. The story from Mazar-e Sharif, which you looked at earlier, was perhaps not as bad as the first reports. We're now very worried about the Taliban cooped up in Kunduz, and there could be killings there if people did not restrain themselves. So it clearly is right for the Security Council to ask for restraint, but there also has to be a structure for defeated soldiers to pass into a prisoner of war camp or to justice in some sort of way, which avoids their being slaughtered on the ground. And that is something that the UN is looking at closely at this moment.

GWEN IFILL: As we watch these things come together as these parties begin to meet how do we keep track of who's on first especially with the Brahimi plan? Who are the people who are objecting to it the most? Who are the folks who have to be placated the most? How do you get to the next step?

SIR JEREMY GREENSTOCK: You have to persuade people that the long-term is more important than the short-term and that international economic action is not just going to come to one narrow faction. You know, we don't want to move from the Taliban appearing from one end of the spectrum only to have the mirror image with the Northern Alliance from a narrow part of the spectrum elsewhere. This has got to be more broad-based. And I think that the input of the international community in that persuasive act is going to be very important. But I say, again, military commanders who hold ground are going to be difficult to persuade, so wherever you see warlord activity, you can be sure there is going to be a tendency to try and use leverage to get advantage.

GWEN IFILL: Does it help the case or does it make it more difficult that the former Afghan president Rabanni has returned to Kabul?

SIR JEREMY GREENSTOCK: I think he's showing some interest in restoring his former position as president of the country. He failed in what he did in the mid '90s. And I don't think that many of us would be happy just to see him in charge again. It has to be broader than the Northern Alliance as we see it at the moment. I think he realizes that. He wants to have discussions about power participation. Let's judge it as we go along. But I don't think that many outside nations, the UN, would be happy if it was just the same old government as the pre-Taliban era.

GWEN IFILL: From Britain's point of view, what is the most important goal now? Is it hunting down bin Laden as we have heard increasingly U.S officials talk about or is it, for instance, setting up an avenue for humanitarian aid? We've heard Tony Blair talk about that.

SIR JEREMY GREENSTOCK: Well, I think we have the same objectives as the United States in this. Terrorism of the kind we've seen in the last two months has got to be eradicated. It's got to come to an end, so dealing with those who did it is one important aspect. Then there's Afghanistan which over the years has become such a failed state that it allowed terrorism to grow so Afghanistan has to be looked after and any other country that harbors terrorism of this kind that is connected to the 11th of September has got to be sure that it begins to deal with terrorism on its soil. That's the business of the Security Council counter terrorism committee, which I chair. So there's a short-term business to be done: Hunt down the terrorists. Medium term: Restore Afghanistan. Long term: Make sure that nobody allows this to happen on their soil ever again.

GWEN IFILL: When you talk about, I guess, the medium term, that is, looking after Afghanistan, what kind of commitment does that take on the partof Britain or any of the other coalition members in terms of troops on the ground and other kinds of commitments?

SIR JEREMY GREENSTOCK: Well, we're ready to play our part. The prime minister in London has announced the availability of up to 6,000 UK troops. We are thinking in theory of an international coalition force to come and help security on the ground, if the Afghan leaders want that to happen, it's got to be in cooperation with the Afghans of anything up to 50,000 troops. These things are going to be... To have to be put together in stages quite carefully to make sure that nobody misunderstands our motives in this. And there has to be general UN cover and authorization for this to happen. So people are ready to do this. But the Afghan leadership in charge at the moment has got to be wise, look ahead and see that we've got to do this together.

GWEN IFILL: But right now they're kind of resisting some of these offers of help.

SIR JEREMY GREENSTOCK: They're kind of resisting, they're kind of agreeing. Let's make sure that the one kind wins over the other.

GWEN IFILL: And when you say they're resisting, when you say that... You don't want your intentions to be misunderstood, are you talking about that they might that I you're there to get into ground combat or to in other ways overextend your role?

SIR JEREMY GREENSTOCK: They need to be convinced that we are not there for the long haul. We want to hand over, all of us who are involved in the outside, hand over to responsible Afghans who represent the people to run their own affairs in their own way. Nobody in history has ever survived doing anything else in Afghanistan so we want this to be as short term as possible but it's got to be effective, efficient, responsible, caring, and then I think we're getting somewhere.

GWEN IFILL: Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, thank you very much for joining us.

SIR JEREMY GREENSTOCK: Thank you.

JIM LEHRER: Still to come on the NewsHour tonight: President Arroyo of the Philippines, and assisted suicide in Oregon.

NEWSMAKER

JIM LEHRER: The war against terrorism in the Philippines. We start with some background from Terence Smith.

TERENCE SMITH: Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took office the same day as President bush-- last January 20th-- but her rise to power followed a different route.

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO, The Philippines: The path that brought me here today has not been an easy one, and it is not yet an easy one, and I did not that path alone. I came here riding on the wave created by millions of people making their voices heard above the dark confusion of crisis and confrontation.

TERENCE SMITH: That "dark confusion" arose from the impeachment proceedings against former President Joseph Estrada, a former movie star who resigned amid charges of accepting more than $60 million in bribes. He was jailed in April on corruption charges. But Estrada, still wildly popular with the Filipino poor, who comprise a majority of the Philippines' 76 million people, would not go quietly.

FORMER PRESIDENT JOSEPH ESTRADA, The Philippines: Vice President arroyo is just an acting President. So I think I have nothing to regain. Constitutionally, legally, I am still President.

TERENCE SMITH: Despite his claims, Estrada remains in custody, officially accused of plunder, a charge which carries a possible death sentence. A constitutional challenge to the plunder law mounted by Estrada was rejected by the Philippine Supreme Court today. In addition to political travails, Arroyo, the daughter of former Filipino President Diosdado Macapagal, finds herself in charge of an economy in rapid downturn. She also faces a domestic terrorist threat: Abu-Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group that operates in the southern portion of the 7,000-island Philippine Archipelago. But Abu-Sayyaff is only one of several Islamic groups, moderate and militant, that have advocated a separate Muslim state in the South ever since the Philippines gained independence from the United States after World War II. Muslims represent about 5% of the population of the predominantly Roman Catholic nation. The United States has sent military advisers to the Philippines to assist in the training of Filipino forces in the South.

DONALD RUMSFELD: We have a team in making an assessment and providing some advice and working with the Philippine troops. The Filipinos have a very large force on that island at the present time. We have a relatively small number of people assisting them. They have been putting pressure on the terrorists. There is no question but that there has been a good deal of interaction between the terrorists in the Philippines and the al-Qaida and people in Iraq and people in other terrorist-sponsoring states over the years.

TERENCE SMITH: Abu Sayyaf, which received initial funding from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida when it was founded in 1991, now funds it activities in part through kidnappings for ransom. It still holds two American missionaries hostage, and was responsible earlier this year for the grisly beheading of another American captive, Guillermo Sobero. The Filipino links to terrorism go beyond Abu Sayyaf. In 1995, a plot to blow up 12 transpacific airliners and to kill pope John Paul II was discovered when a bomb exploded in an apartment in Manila. The scheme was concocted by Ramzi Yousef, an associate of Osama bin Laden and the mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Yousef was later captured in Pakistan and is now serving life in an American prison for his role in the 1993 attack. And just days after the September 11 attacks, three Middle Eastern men were detained in manila after casing the American embassy. Tests of their hotel room showed positive traces of TNT. Today, another militant Islamic group, the Moro National Liberation Front, or MNLF, reneged on a 1996 peace deal with the Philippine government and launched an attack on the island of Jolo 600 miles south of Manila. Coupled with a recent upsurge in attacks by the Marxist New People's Army, which killed 18 Filipino troopers, the renewed fighting comes just as Arroyo begins her first official visit to the United States.

JIM LEHRER: And I talked with President Arroyo this afternoon at the Blair House in Washington. Madam President, welcome.

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: Thank you.

JIM LEHRER: What's the latest on the fighting on the island of Jolo?

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: It's all under control. And I have asked my executive secretary to do a preventive suspension on the governor of the autonomous region and to explain in 48 hours what happened.

JIM LEHRER: The wire services are saying 55 people were killed, is that about right?

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: Maybe both sides but more the other side.

JIM LEHRER: More the other side.

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: I think we had four killed on our side.

JIM LEHRER: The attackers, they attacked these military bases; the attackers were described as being former Muslim extremists or rebels. How would you describe who these people are?

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: Well, it depends on what the real facts are, but it is said that they belong to a faction, a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front, because in previous months there's been... There has been an upheaval in the Moro National Liberation Front and there was a change of leadership. Now that we are about to conclude the implementation of the agreement with the MNLF, which was done in 1996, with the elections for the new government of the autonomous region counting on the November, I think that is part of the resistance, resistance to that conclusion, it's part of the resistance to the elections being held but it's going to be held anyway.

JIM LEHRER: They claim that the elections are a violation of that 1996 treaty. I mean that's what they've said today.

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: Yes. That's what they claim but you see they themselves have already been unseated from the MNLF, and the elections being held on November 26 are the result of a congressional, of a congressional action. So it's not even my decision to postpone it or not. So it's only the supreme court -- in a democracy like the Philippines only the supreme court can say whether it's a violation of the law or not.

JIM LEHRER: It was suggested today in these wire stories that these folks did this today because they wanted to try to embarrass you while you were in the United States.

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: Well, I think that if that's their intention, I think they've failed because I think... What I can say is we're having very good reception here. The reception has been very warm. The talks have been very good and substantive. And I think it's a very good opportunity to be here at this time. I was invited by President Bush to come to the United States on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the mutual defense treaty. This treaty demonstrates the good friendship and strategic alliance between the U.S and the Philippines. We've been together, we've been allies in... allies in defense and allies in the economy. In defense, we were with... The Philippines was with the U.S in the Second World War, in the Korean War, in the Vietnam War, and now in the war against terrorism. On the economy, the U.S cumulatively is our most important investor, most important trading partner, most important sort of tourists and we have now a tie that will .. a link that will be here for many, many years to come and that is the big Philippine-American community in the United States, three million of them.

JIM LEHRER: Let's talk about the terrorism. You mentioned the war on terrorism. There's a group in your country, Abu-Sayyaf....

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: Abu-Sayyaf, yes, yes. They are there in that area.

JIM LEHRER: Same area, right.

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: That area, yes. That island and another island, two small islands in the southwestern part of the Philippines, that's their area.

JIM LEHRER: Now, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said today that the Abu-Sayyaf has connections or has interactions is the word he used with Osama Bin laden and other terrorist groups. Does that jibe with the information you have?

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: Well, the information that we have is that at least until 1995, they did because in 1995, our policemen uncovered evidence about this group that bombed the World Trade Center the first time around, and at that time through al-Qaida had its front organization in the Philippines. Our policemen went to New York at that time to testify and assisted in the incarceration of the perpetrators of the original bombing. After that... after that the front organizations left the Philippines. I think they found the Philippines not a hospitable place for international terrorists.

JIM LEHRER: But Abu-Sayyaf is holding two American missionaries and a Filipino nurse as hostages right now, correct?

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: Yes, yes, that's correct.

JIM LEHRER: What is being done to get those people back?

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: Well, we're having them rescued because the policy of the Philippine government is number one, no ransom, no back room negotiations, number two bring the perpetrators swiftly to justice and then... And that's what we're doing because justice is the U.S Government policy. We don't... We cannot condone... We cannot condone kidnappings by paying ransom because otherwise they'll be back again the next time around. So we've been taking very good care that, in fact, they are out of harm's way whenever we do our offensive. So I think though that victory is imminent especially now, especially now that the world recognizes what terrorism is all about. You know I was at ground zero, and it was, to me, such a graphic illustration of what terrorism has done to our world. From those two little islands in the southern part of the Philippines to the great island of Manhattan, we have seen what terrorism is doing to the world, and it is really important that we work together.

JIM LEHRER: Why is it that this Abu-Sayyaf has been able to function for such a long period and in such a violent way?

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: Well, you see, now... Now that... Now that the world is fighting terrorism, I think you can understand now why. Even the search for Osama bin Laden is taking a long time, so that's really the nature of terrorism. They can hide very easily but I think now that we're altogether in this war against terrorism, then... And with the U.S technical assistance coming to the Philippines because they recognize that that's part of the war against terrorism, I think the problem will be over soon and now we can put our resources to where they really should belong and that is the fight against poverty.

JIM LEHRER: Is the United States providing you all the help you need to get to Abu-Sayyaf?

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: They're providing us help. One of the reasons I'm here is to discuss what it is that I need. When I talk with President Bush tomorrow, you know we think very much alike so of course we're going to be discussing the partnership in the war against terrorism, what the Philippines is doing by unilaterally in our own southwestern corner, what the Philippines is doing bilaterally in making the air space available and our ground bases available for U.S forces and U.S troops... and U.S planes and U.S boats. And what we're doing in the region. We work on the first draft, which became the declaration against terrorism. We're working with our neighbors Indonesia and Malaysia to fight terrorism in our own common seas.

JIM LEHRER: Secretary Rumsfeld also said today that there were in Americans already there. He called them an assessment team. You want more than that though, right?

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: No.

JIM LEHRER: No?

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: No.

JIM LEHRER: You don't want U.S military advisors?

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: They are advisors, yes. They're advisors so, of course, we welcome advisors. You see, this is not a new thing to us because we were treaty partners. We have a mutual defense treaty. That's what we're celebrating now 50 years. And under that mutual defense treaty the U.S does give military advice, does give military treatment, does provide military equipment. So this is not new. And they are there and what's different is that this time it's about terrorism. It's not about the Cold War. It's not about other things that we've been partners in the past.

JIM LEHRER: To make sure I understand correctly here you do not want the United States to send armed troops in there to help your army get rid of these people?

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: Well, I think our... I think that our armed forces are quite good in what they're doing. The assessment team, in fact, has all praises for our south commander, General Simato, who they said is aggressive, knows what he's doing, he's really as good as any General you can find anywhere in the world. There are praises for our ground troops because they're very experienced in fighting terrorism. So what we really need would be really a technical assistance and equipment, materials, joint planning. So that's what we can do. That's been the pattern under the mutual defense treaty.

JIM LEHRER: In general, the war on terrorism after September 11, what is your feeling about the way the United States has gone about this most particularly in the bombing and military action in Afghanistan? Do you support what the U.S has done so far?

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: We've supported the U.S every step of the way. The Philippines was the first government in Asia after September 11, in fact, the night of September 11, it was nighttime for us then. It was daytime here. We were the first government in Asia to come out and say that we're supporting the U.S We enumerated all the ways by which we were ready to help the U.S And we've been unwavering in that.

JIM LEHRER: Nothing has happened since then in terms of the conduct of the war itself to give you any pause or give your people any pause?

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: Every step of the way because to us it's a moral choice. It's a strategic decision, a moral choice, and in both ways there is nothing that has made us waiver in our support.

JIM LEHRER: Am I correct that about 5% of your population is Muslim?

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: Yes.

JIM LEHRER: Have they had any negative reactions to it?

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: I am very grateful to our Muslim population. One of the things we've been doing is stepping up our inter-faith dialogue with the Muslim population. And I think that helped very much in their support for me. The political leaders in Muslim now have come out with a formal resolution supporting the Philippine position. Even the religious leaders have had their own convention and have come out together with other religious leaders supporting the Philippine government position. Even the MILF, the rebels who, however, are now engaged in the cease-fire with the Philippine government, have formally come out to say that they are not tied up with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. I think I have been very fortunate. I've been very blessed to have the support of the Muslim people of the Philippines in supporting the U.S.

JIM LEHRER: Madam President, thank you very much.

PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO: Thank you.

UPDATE - ASSISTED SUICIDE

JIM LEHRER: Finally tonight, a new challenge to a law allowing physician-assisted suicide. Lee Hochberg of Oregon Public Broadcasting reports.

RICHARD HOLMES, Terminally Ill Patient: So I don't have colon cancer anymore, but I have liver cancer that can't be operated on. It's inoperable.

LEE HOCHBERG: Many Oregonians with terminal diseases reacted in horror as U.S Attorney General John Ashcroft essentially shut down the state's assisted suicide program.

RICHARD HOLMES: Well, I was sitting in that chair watching television, and I thought, "What in the hell is he doing?" You know, it's ridiculous.

LEE HOCHBERG: Richard Holmes' doctors say he has three months to live, and his final days with cancer could be horrid. The Portland man had been counting on his doctors to hasten his death with a prescription of barbiturates.

RICHARD HOLMES: Why not take the comfortable way out, where you know what you're doing, you say good-bye to everybody, and drink a glass of stuff? To me, it makes sense. I want the choice.

LEE HOCHBERG: It's a choice Oregon residents may be losing. Since the 1994 passage of a ballot measure, Oregonians judged mentally competent with fewer than six months to live, have been able to get from their doctor a lethal prescription and ingest it under their own control. After that measure was challenged in court, voters resoundingly passed it again in 1997. Since then, 70 terminally ill patients have used physician- assisted suicide. But early this month, Attorney General John Ashcroft directed the Drug Enforcement Agency to revoke doctor's licenses to prescribe drugs if they used those drugs to aid a death -- telling the Drug Enforcement Agency "assisting suicide is not a legitimate medical purpose. There are important distinctions between intentionally causing a patient's death and providing, medication, to alleviate pain."

JOHN ASHCROFT: I certainly believe that people who are in pain should be helped and assisted in every way possible, that the drugs should be used to mitigate their pain but I believe the law of the United States of America which requires that drugs not be used for... Except for legitimate health purposes that those laws need to be enforced and that's my responsibility.

LEE HOCHBERG: Oregon oncologist Bill Petty agrees with Ashcroft.

DR. BILL PETTY, Assisted Suicide Opponent: The appropriate role is for a physician to cure when possible, comfort always, and never kill. Once we start helping a person kill him or herself, it becomes very murky, and so it's a very dangerous thing. And so physicians should never get on that ground.

LEE HOCHBERG: Richard Holmes voted for President Bush last November, and wonders what became of Bush's avowed support for states' rights.

RICHARD HOLMES: The people of Oregon voted it in. Leave it alone! The people have spoken! I mean, what's the point of voting if the government can walk in and say, "No, you can't do that. That doesn't matter. We're going to do this. My way, John Ashcroft's way."

SPOKESMAN: The motion is agreed to.

LEE HOCHBERG: This isn't the first time that the federal government has tried to intervene against Oregon's assisted suicide law. Congressional Republicans have twice tried to pass laws that would have imprisoned doctors who assisted in suicides. Ashcroft himself sponsored a bill against physician aid in dying when he was a Senator. None of those bills passed. Ashcroft's supporters say the current edict doesn't overturn Oregon's law; it just says doctors can't prescribe barbiturates.

DR. BILL PETTY: The Attorney General is saying you cannot use these drugs, which are federally controlled, to do that. That's all he's saying. So the law's still in effect. Those who promote it just have to figure out other ways to do it.

LEE HOCHBERG: Are there other safe ways?

DR. BILL PETTY: I don't know, you'd have to ask them.

LEE HOCHBERG: Longtime advocates of aid in dying, like Portland family practitioner Peter Goodwin, says there are no other safe ways. They say dying patients will use morphine, which can take much longer to end life, or they will turn to even more desperate measures.

DR. PETER GOODWIN, Assisted Suicide Supporter: Patients are going to shoot their heads off, patients are going to use plastic bags and perhaps vomit. Patients are going to use medications that are going to be ineffectual.

LEE HOCHBERG: He is suspicious of the reasons why the federal government intervened.

DR. PETER GOODWIN: The law is working perfectly: No abuses of the elderly, no abuses of the disabled, no slippery slope. So what is this reason for it? It is only dogma. It has nothing to do with patient care.

SPOKESPERSON: We felt we would be able to demonstrate a compelling reason to the court for granting the temporary restraining order.

LEE HOCHBERG: On November 8, a federal judge in Portland temporarily restrained Ashcroft's ruling, giving Oregon's terminally ill until next tomorrow to get prescriptions to end their lives. Holmes thinks he'll be able to get his pills. Other terminal patients, like Robert Schwartz of Portland, have their pills too. But Schwartz-- who has AIDS, and doctors say has only two months to live-- says the temporary reprieve won't help patients in the long run.

ROBERT SCHWARTZ, Terminally Ill Patient: That doesn't do my roommate any good for when his time comes, if he chooses to go that way. The few friends that I do have left, it doesn't do them good. It doesn't do all the old people good.

LEE HOCHBERG: Some doctors say they now fear the government will punish them for treating their gravely ill patients. At Schwartz's checkup, his doctor, who asked us to hide his identity, told Schwartz he's afraid to be at his bedside when Schwartz ingests his life-ending prescription.

DOCTOR: I think it will affect, probably, my being there, and I think it may be dangerous right now.

DOCTOR: I'm scared of a DEA agent coming and knocking on my door, the publicity that would ensue, the charges that would ensue, and the ruining of my practice is what I'm really scared of.

LEE HOCHBERG: The Ashcroft directive says the government won't be hounding doctors who dispense pain relief, but critics fear doctors will be afraid to prescribe painkillers anyway, for fear of over prescribing and causing accidental death. In a sad postscript, Goodwin, who fought years for Oregon's law, was recently diagnosed with lymphoma, and under Ashcroft's directive, would be unable to legally get aid in dying if he ever needs it. As a physician, though, he says he'll be able to get whatever drugs he needs to assist him.

DR. PETER GOODWIN: I have friends, you know, many friends in the medical community. They're going to help me. And not only that, I already have barbiturates if I want to use them. I'll use them. How unfair is that, that I can get it as a physician and a patient can't?

LEE HOCHBERG: Supporters of aid in dying say they'll fight to have the stay of Ashcroft's directive extended, and failing that, will fight the matter to the U.S Supreme Court.

RECAP

JIM LEHRER: Again, the major developments of the day: The U.S hunt for Osama bin Laden intensified. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld confirmed several hundred Special Forces troops are tracking him in southern Afghanistan. The Taliban held out in the city of Kandahar; they said fighters in Kunduz would negotiate to surrender to the United Nations. And President Bush signed the aviation security bill into law. We'll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. I'm Jim Lehrer. Thank you and good night.