The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

RAY SUAREZ: Good evening, I'm Ray Suarez. Jim Lehrer is off this week. On the NewsHour tonight: Our summary of the news; then, new evidence surfaces of prison abuse in Iraq; a report on this week's frayed relations between Republicans on Capitol Hill; our regular weekly commentators Mark Shields and David Brooks; a Newsmaker interview with the prime minister of Greece, Costas Karamanlis; and an Anne Taylor Fleming essay about growing old in the company of friends.

NEWS SUMMARY

RAY SUAREZ: New images emerged today of Iraqi prisoners being abused, in U.S. Military custody. The "Washington Post" published several more pictures and released video taken at the Abu Ghraib Prison. The "Post" also reported prisoner accounts of beatings and other mistreatment. We'll have more on the new photos and the prisoners' statements right after this News Summary. Democrats and Republicans clashed at a House hearing today over the new photos and the focus on the abuse scandal.

REP. KENDRICK B. MEEK: I don't think that we're doing what we're supposed to do as a committee on the oversight of what's happening right now here in this House, and I hope and pray in this day on that we have hearings, that we have real discussions about what took place, when it took place, who knew what when.

REP. DUNCAN HUNTER: I don't know if you've been missing these hearings, but we've had a full-blown hearing with the secretary of defense asked and answering questions on Abu Ghraib. We have had also with all the members of the House invited full briefings, classified briefings, with the secretary answering all questions that were asked of him. In the meantime, I'd just tell my friend, we have a war to fight, and we need to focus on that war. We need to win that war.

RAY SUAREZ: Later in the day the Defense Department confirmed it's begun eight more criminal investigations of prisoner deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. In all, 37 detainees have died, and the Justice Department announced the first criminal probe of a civilian contractor in the abuse scandal. There were also new details today of how U.S. Military intelligence transferred aggressive methods from Afghanistan to Iraq. The "New York Times" reported the unit running the interrogation center at Abu Ghraib had worked in Afghanistan. U.S. policy allowed tougher interrogation of al-Qaida detainees captured in Afghan fighting. The "Times" account said the officer in charge of interrogations in Iraq posted a list of interrogation rules. Several members of the unit have since been punished for their actions. The U.S. Military today released another 450 prisoners from Abu Ghraib. A convoy of buses left the Baghdad prison, and drove north to Tikrit and Baqouba. Detainees kissed the ground and prayed after being released. Some told of suffering beatings and psychological abuse in the prison. An estimated three to four thousand people are still held at Abu Ghraib. The coalition confirmed today four people were arrested this week in the beheading of American Nicholas Berg. Two have since been released. Last week, militants released a video showing Berg's execution. The CIA has concluded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was most likely the actual killer. He's a Jordanian militant with ties to al-Qaida. U.S. forces killed 18 more gunmen today in fresh fighting across southern Iraq. The gunmen were loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shiite leader. Fighting began overnight in Karbala, where U.S. tanks and gunships blasted insurgents after being fired on. There were similar clashes in Najaf and Kufa. Al-Sadr urged his Mahdi army fighters not to give up even if he's arrested or killed. In Baghdad, a U.S. Military spokesman, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, warned the pressure won't stop.

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT: We will continue to take -- go find these people. We will continue to take them out, and we will call on Muqtada al-Sadr to listen to what the clerics are saying, listen to what the people of the cities are saying, listen a to what his own lieutenants are saying to us and put down his arms, put down their arms, demilitarize the Mahdi army and turn himself over to justice.

RAY SUAREZ: Kimmitt said the situation in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, was more hopeful. The city has been quiet for nearly a month, since U.S. Marines let a new Iraqi force take control. A U.S. Commander said today the marines will pull back further to nearby villages. The U.S. Military announced the death of another American soldier today. He was killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad. So far this month, 56 U.S. troops have died in Iraq, mostly in combat. Nearly 800 Americans have been killed since the beginning of the war. Israeli troops began pulling back from the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza today, after a four-day offensive. We have a report narrated by Richard Vaughan of Associated Press Television News.

RICHARD VAUGHAN: Some parts of Rafah have been reduced almost entirely to rubble. Homes, shops, roads, water pipes, all gone. Palestinians picked over their destroyed homes taking advantage of a temporary respite from an Israeli military presence. U.N. tents now provide shelter for some of those made homeless, others are housed in local schools. At least 40 Palestinians, many of them children, have lost their lives in Rafah over the past four days. And it's not over. ( Gunfire ) Despite international condemnation, Israel will continue its offensive in order, it says, to destroy tunnels being used to smuggle weapons from Egypt.

RAY SUAREZ: The Israelis said they found no tunnels this week. The military has found and destroyed 90 tunnels along the Gaza-Egyptian border since 2000. Democratic presidential contender John Kerry may delay his acceptance of the party's nomination. That would let him continue raising money without regard to federal spending limits. A spokesman said today it's one option under consideration. The Democratic Convention comes at the end of July. Kerry could delay accepting his nomination until the Republicans hold their convention, one month later. The U.S. House passed a record defense authorization bill last night. It totals $422 billion. $25 billion of that is a down payment on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the fiscal year beginning in October. The Senate delayed voting on a similar bill until after the Memorial Day recess. It also put off approving the overall 2005 budget, when moderate Republicans balked at the growing federal deficit. We'll have more on the Republican divide later in the program. Saudi Arabia urged OPEC today to raise oil production even more than expected. The Saudis said they want to increase daily quotas by more than two million barrels, or 8.5 percent. OPEC won't make a decision until next month. Oil prices fell on the Saudi announcement. In New York, U.S. crude finished below $40 per barrel for the first time since May 10. On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 29 points to close above 9,966. The NASDAQ rose 15 points to close at 1912. For the week, the Dow lost a fraction of a percent. The NASDAQ rose a fraction. That's it for the News Summary tonight. Now it's on to new evidence of prison abuse, feuding Republicans, Shields and Brooks, the Greek prime minister, and an essay about growing older.

FOCUS - NEW DETAILS

RAY SUAREZ: The latest prisoner abuse evidence from Iraq. Terence Smith has that story. We warn you that some of the new material is disturbing.

TERENCE SMITH: The "Washington Post" published the photos in today's edition and on its web site. On the front page, an un-muzzled guard dog menaces a terrified, kneeling detainee whose hands are strapped behind his back. Inside the paper: A shackled and hooded detainee bent at the waist, atop a pair of boxes, one ankle appears cuffed to the door handle behind him; a naked prisoner smeared with a brown substance made to parade before a soldier wielding a baton; a prisoner, again hooded, collapsed and shackled to a railing; a soldier kneels on a naked detainee as four of his comrades watch; lastly, a soldier prepares to strike a hooded prisoner held in a headlock on the floor. In addition, the "Post" put video images on its web site showing more physical abuse and sexual humiliation. The paper also published sworn statements from Iraqi prisoners taken by military investigators. Ameen Sa'eed al-Sheik, a detainee with a broken leg, told investigators: "They handcuffed me and hung me to the bed. They ordered me to curse Islam and, because they started to hit my broken leg, I cursed my religion. They ordered me to thank Jesus that I'm alive " Another prisoner, Asad Hamza Hanfosh, described his treatment: "When they took me out of the car, an American soldier hit me with his hand on my face. And they stripped me naked and they took me under the water and then he made me crawl the hallway until I was bleeding from my chest to my knees and my hands. "The "Post" described the new materials as part of evidence assembled by army investigators preparing criminal cases against soldiers at the prison. The paper did not disclose when or from whom it obtained the photos and statements.

TERENCE SMITH: We're joined now by the "Washington Post" executive editor, Leonard Downie. Leonard Downie, welcome to the broadcast. Can you tell us what you see as new and different in these photographs from those that we've seen before, and these prisoner statements?

LEONARD DOWNIE: Well, first of all, the prisoner statements are the first time that we've had the words of the abused prisoners saying for themselves what happened to them as opposed to other people's accounts of that which we think is very important as new information, and the photographs, the few that we've chosen to publish on the website and in the newspaper, add to our visual knowledge of the kinds of abuse that went on there. We purposely chose photographs that would show abuse that had not been shown before.

TERENCE SMITH: Do these photographs seem to involve more people than the handful of military police who have already been charged with crimes inside the prison?

LEONARD DOWNIE: These photographs primarily show various ones of the seven, M.P.S who so far have been charged. Some of the photos we've run earlier, as you may recall, show other people milling around in the background whom some of the MP's have identified not by name but by profession as either contractors who are military intelligence people who were conducting interrogations, but we still need to determine who those people are.

TERENCE SMITH: Do the pictures or the statements suggest who might have been in charge, who might have order such interrogations?

LEONARD DOWNIE: No, not yet, so we're -- so we're continuing to do reporting, including what the MP's themselves may have said in their statements to investigators and other kinds of reporting to try to determine exactly that.

TERENCE SMITH: When you read through these statements, and you mentioned in the paper today that you have what some 65 pages of them --

LEONARD DOWNIE: Yes.

TERENCE SMITH: When you read through them, does a pattern emerge of the way people were treated or interrogated?

LEONARD DOWNIE: Well, actually, the only pattern is one of humiliation. I'm afraid that the details, as you move from one statement to another, are much more voluminous than I realized, a whole variety of different ways in which these prisoners were humiliated. It makes for very difficult reading.

TERENCE SMITH: And what -- when you were confronted with this and you had to decide what to show and what not to show, what guided your decision on that?

LEONARD DOWNIE: Each time that we've come up, we've had new photographs to make decisions about -- we followed roughly the same procedure which is that we're looking for, in discussions of senior editors, including our photo editors, we're looking for which pictures are relevant or will add new important information to our readers within the bounds of taste, what would be tasteful to publish in a newspaper. There are many, many photographs of very explicit nakedness and of a sexual nature and sexual taunting of the prisoners that we couldn't possibly print in a newspaper.

TERENCE SMITH: How many photos does the "Post" have?

LEONARD DOWNIE: Oh, we now have hundreds and hundreds of photos, a number of which are photos of abuse and others are photos that the soldiers took of their lives in the prison.

TERENCE SMITH: And these, if I understood the story today correctly, are actually part of the investigative record. This is material that's being gathered to press these charges?

LEONARD DOWNIE: Yes. These particular photos, these particular videos, and these particular statements are part of the investigative body that the government has.

TERENCE SMITH: We're beginning to hear some criticism of news organizations, of their continuing to run these pictures, some voices in Congress and elsewhere have been raised. Is there, in your view, any risk of piling on?

LEONARD DOWNIE: Oh, obviously we don't want to do that, and we don't want to disturb our readers unnecessarily, but so far I believe we've chosen images that -- there haven't been that many images that we've actually published when you think about it, probably less than two dozen in total, that do give important information to our readers without being excessive.

TERENCE SMITH: Do you have more that meet your standards for advancing the story, widening the information about what happened there? In other words, do you intend to publish more?

LEONARD DOWNIE: Well, we may well. It depends. We continue to look at pictures where we don't completely understand what's going on, and then yet where we haven't fleshed out an explanation for what's happening in those pictures. Some of those may turn out to be relevant in the future.

TERENCE SMITH: Did you seek comment or reaction from the administration or the Defense Department before publishing these?

LEONARD DOWNIE: Yes, we did, as we always do, and I think there are two paragraphs in the main story today of what the government had to say.

TERENCE SMITH: And did they or did anyone in the government ask you not to publish these?

LEONARD DOWNIE: No, that has not occurred.

TERENCE SMITH: Has it occurred before?

LEONARD DOWNIE: No, no, it has not, during our reporting of conditions in Abu Ghraib Prison.

TERENCE SMITH: And finally, I mean, what does all this say to you when you as an experienced newsman look at this and you look at the photographs and you know what's already been written and documented, what does it say to you?

LEONARD DOWNIE: Well, it raises questions obviously about the conditions under which the military is operating in this prison in Iraq, the level of training which was very low, apparently, for these MP's, and the question of under what rules of engagement were the people in the prison operating and who was ultimately responsible which we still don't know for this behavior.

TERENCE SMITH: And so some of those questions will remain unanswered, at least I suppose until the trials get under way?

LEONARD DOWNIE: Well, perhaps, although we're continuing to do our own reporting, and we hope to make further progress in answering those questions.

TERENCE SMITH: All right. Leonard Downie of the "Washington Post," Thank you very much.

LEONARD DOWNIE: Thank you, Terry.

RAY SUAREZ: Still to come on the NewsHour tonight, feuding Republicans, Shields and Brooks, the prime minister of Greece, and an Anne Taylor Fleming essay.

FOCUS - INTERNAL DIVISIONS

RAY SUAREZ: Kwame Holman reports on the feud among Republicans.

KWAME HOLMAN: Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner has held three high-profile public hearings over the past two weeks in an effort, he said, to get the facts out on the Iraqi detainee abuse scandal. But early this week, Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, chided Warner for focusing too heavily on the abuse issue, and for calling in military leaders who would have to travel from Iraq to testify. "We've got 135,000 kids over there that need leadership," Hunter said, "and their leadership can't be dragged back to Washington every couple of days." Hunter was speaking of Gen. John Abizaid, who oversees military operations in the Middle East; Gen. Richard Sanchez, the military commander in Iraq; and Gen. Geoffrey Miller, now responsible for the Abu Gharib prison. But Warner responded, making it clear that he had suggested efforts would be made to allow the generals to testify from Iraq, he read from a letter he wrote to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

SEN. JOHN WARNER: "Given that some witnesses may need to remain in Iraq for operational reasons, we are open to exploring the option of video teleconferences for some of the hearings." It's all laid out very clearly in here.

KWAME HOLMAN: As it turned out, all three generals happened to be in Washington anyway when the chairman called them to testify on Wednesday, and Warner had nothing more to say about it.

SEN. JOHN WARNER: I have no comment as to what Duncan Hunter said.

KWAME HOLMAN: But today Hunter added this comment:

REP. DUNCAN HUNTER: Well, perhaps we haven't had as many cameras or because we haven't done as many open hearings as they have in the other body. On the other hand, we provided for the $500 million replenishment for helicopters because we were doing our job and doing our work.

KWAME HOLMAN: But there was another Republican-on-Republican dust-up at the capitol this week, over attempts by Republican leaders to pass their budget resolution.

SPOKESMAN: The resolution is adopted.

KWAME HOLMAN: The House did pass it on Wednesday, but only barely, as nine Republicans bucked the party-line and joined every democrat in voting against it. However the G.O.P.'S majority in the Senate is even thinner, and four Republicans there-- Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins of Maine, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, and John McCain of Arizona-- all steadfastly have refused to support the budget unless it includes strict rules to make it harder for Congress to add to the budget deficit. During a speech Tuesday at the Progressive Policy Institute in Washington, McCain made his feelings clear.

SEN. JOHN McCAIN: The current version of the Republican Party is engaged in an outrageous spending binge. My friends, we are at war. Tell me one time in the history of this country when this nation is at war when we've enact tax cuts, especially for the wealthiest. The only the only sacrifice taking place is that by the brave men and women fighting to defend and protect the liberties we hold so dear, and that of their families. It is time for others to step up and start sacrificing.

KWAME HOLMAN: The next day, Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House, responded to McCain's attack on his fellow Republicans.

REP. DENNIS HASTERT: If you want to see sacrifice, John McCain ought to visit our young men and women at Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval Hospital. There's the sacrifice in this country.

KWAME HOLMAN: Hastert also criticized McCain's decision to oppose extending a series of republican-driven tax cuts unless they are paid for.

REP. DENNIS HASTERT: We're trying to make sure that they have the ability to fight this war, that they have the wherewithal to be able to do it, and at the same time, we have to react to keep this country strong not only militarily but economically.

KWAME HOLMAN: McCain responded with this statement. "The speaker is correct in that nothing we are called to do comes close to matching the heroism of our troops All we are called upon to do is not spend our nation into bankruptcy while our soldiers risk their lives. I fondly remember a time when real Republicans stood for fiscal responsibility. Apparently, those days long gone for some in our party."

KWAME HOLMAN: At the White House yesterday, the president's spokesman Scott McClellan tried to make light of the feud between speaker Hastert and Senator McCain.

SCOTT McCLELLAN: Well, I certainly wouldn't want to get between someone who has a history in wrestling and someone who has a history in combat. ( Laughter )

KWAME HOLMAN: The president himself stayed out of it, making no mention of the feud during his visit to the capitol yesterday. He was there was to bolster confidence among republicans in his Iraq policy. The president reportedly took no questions from members during his meeting, but party leaders described it as a successful visit.

REP. DEBORAH PRYCE: He said that this is war and this is the theater of war and that this is part of war, and that we all need to be braced for it, but our resolve is none lessened by it.

KWAME HOLMAN: And shortly after the president left, the House approved a record $422 billion defense spending bill which included money for Iraq. However, Republicans, in direct opposition to the president, attached to the bill a two-year delay in the next round of domestic military base closings. A white house statement indicates the house action could prompt a veto by the president.

RAY SUAREZ: And that brings us to the analysis of Shields and Brooks, and to Margaret Warner.

MARGARET WARNER: (audio difficulty) And for more on the political week, with me are syndicated columnist Mark Shields and "New York Times" columnist David Brooks.

MARGARET WARNER: David, why did the president have to go up -- I'm sorry, apparently I don't have my microphone on. I don't have one. I'm just waiting for a little direction here. Should I go ahead?

RAY SUAREZ: We'll be back in just a moment.

FOCUS - SHIELDS & BROOKS

RAY SUAREZ: Once again to the analysis of Shields and Brooks and we'll take another whack at talking to Margaret Warner.

MARGARET WARNER: This time I have a microphone and I'm here with Mark Shields and David Brooks. David, why did the president have to go to Capitol Hill yesterday and talk to his own troops, his own Republican troops, about Iraq?

DAVID BROOKS: People want to hear his voice, like we want to hear your voice. There's just a mood of anxiety. You know, a lot of Republicans have gotten polls from their home states that doesn't look so good but I think -- it's really transcending politics at this point. They really are concerned about the country, and there's sort of a non-partisan mood up there that one senator told me that it's the most depressing period in his 30 years in the Senate, and people -- a lot of people have been to delegations to Iraq. They want to offer advice. They want to know if we have a plan. They really want more communication with the White House. President Bush went up there to rally them. I'm not sure he quite communicated with them, but there is there's a lot of people who just want to help.

MARGARET WARNER: Do you sense the same thing, Mark, a lot of angst or some angst anyway in Republican circles?

MARK SHIELDS: A lot, Margaret. I mean, David is right, but the problem in based in politics; what has happened to the Republicans are a couple of things. One, first of all, the generic vote test, which is if the election were held today would you vote for a Republican or Democrat for Congress in your district? That's consistently going up for the Democrats and down for the Republicans. This month alone it's gone from three points in some polls to better than ten points in others, and Republicans are mindful of the fact when they took over the Congress in 1994 for the first time in 40 years, they only had a five-point bulge so there's some anxiety there, but I think more than, that David is right in this sense. It's what I called the stalled subway car syndrome of American politics, that is, if you've ever been on a subway car and it makes an unscheduled, unannounced stop between two stations and it goes dark, what you're looking for, most of all, as the panic starts to build among passengers, is a strong, authoritative clear voice to come on and say this is where we are, this is what happened. This is what's being done to remedy the situation, and this is when we're going to get out and that's what people are looking for in the president and I think that's -- not only the visit there was political but reassuring or to reassure and then also that's what the speeches are I think scheduled Monday and beyond.

MARGARET WARNER: You see obviously a connection between the two.

DAVID BROOKS: Yes.

MARGARET WARNER: The president beginning the series of weekly speeches on Iraq. But, I mean, what can he say about Iraq that's going to reassure nervous Republicans on the Hill?

DAVID BROOKS: I think there are two things to say. First of all, what is the situation? You know, I follow this for a living. It's very hard to tell, there's some good things coming out, there's a lot of bad things. What is the balance -- how does he see the balance? Secondly, I think what he has to say. Here's what we did wrong - did some of that this week on the Hill-- and I think the major mistake that they now acknowledge they made is they overestimated the amount of time Iraqis would have patience for American sovereignty. They did not hand over power fast enough so I think if the president said that was the mistake we made but we're going to hand over sovereignty. We've got this Lahkdar Brahimi plan to get a slate of Iraqis, we've got this, this, and this. That speech - that shows a new beginning. That shows we're still -- we're on track. We're learning, we're changing, you know -- we're -- you know, we're not totally out of control here.

MARGARET WARNER: Mark, if you were in the predicting business, would you predict that George Bush would acknowledge mistakes? I mean, at his press conference about a month ago, I think he was given four or five times to say whether the mistake in judgment had been made and he passed all those. Do you think he will this time?

MARK SHIELDS: No, I don't think he will, Margaret. I think, first of all, the mistake that was made is that George W. Bush followed a neo-con approach on the cheap. In other words, instead of saying I'm going to do this for democracy, I want to democratize the whole area, we're going to remake the whole Middle East, and that's the reason we're going to go to war, they brought weapons of mass destruction. They went in with too few troops. They did all of this -- they ran two wars, Margaret on three tax cuts. That's what the budget thing is all about with John McCain, so, I mean, it's all part of a problem. He's got to go in there and if you -- if you're George W. Bush and you're running for reelection, what have you got. You're commander in chief. You're a guy that doesn't change. You're unflinching; you're unswerving in your commitment. You're not a cut-and-run guy; you're a stay-the-course guy. The country doesn't want to stay the course. We're now approaching two-thirds of Americans think we're headed in the wrong direction so what George W. Bush has to do is change the course to mollify people without appearing to like he's a cut-and-run, change-the-course kind of guy. It really becomes -- your greatest political strength becomes an albatross because America really wants a flip-flop right now in the policy toward Iraq.

DAVID BROOKS: I don't think they want a flip-flop. I think they want a change in strategy that will win. There are two debates here that are being conflated. There's one debate, which is should we have gone to war and that debate has not ended and there's some people stuck in that debate.

MARGARET WARNER: And it won't end.

DAVID BROOKS: And it won't end. So the same arguments are being made over and over again - but then there's another group of people who is we're here and what are we going to do and those are Republicans and Democrats, and so they are arguing about what passing Fallujah on to the Fallujah brigades, was that a good idea, was that not? They are talking about should we move elections a little closer than they are scheduled right now? Should we have rolling elections in the places that are stable first and then later; there's a whole set of options out there and so I think the president has to get away from that first debate which is a debate everybody's mind is made up. The second debate is an interesting debate and that's pragmatism. That's the sort of desperate pragmatism that I think people are looking for.

MARGARET WARNER: Let me shift this slightly, Mark. Why are we seeing also apparently divisions among Republicans on the Hill about Iraq? I mean, among them, for instance, this debate about whether to hold so many hearings on the prisoner abuse scandal. We saw it break out again today in Duncan Hunter Committee.

MARK SHIELDS: Well, part of that, Margaret, is just what's the best way to handle it. You've got the Senate Armed Services Committee, Chairman John Warner, three Republicans, John Warner, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John Warner of Virginia and John McCain, all of whom basically say, look, America's credibility is shattered or tattered, however you want to put it. The only way it's going to be restored is by a non-partisan, above-the-board, no holds barred, let's get it out there hearing and investigation, and let's -- let's does that right now. Their hand was enormously strengthened by General Abizaid's own testimony, a man who's a military commander in both countries, in 75 instances allegations of abuses, and he said abuse did occur in various places so we're not down to the same one reserve unit in this one cell block, so there is a case to be made. The other Republicans are saying, look this, isn't helping us at all and it isn't in the short run, but if they are continuing to have pictures come out like they did with Leonard Downie and Terry Smith showed in the "Washington Post" today and there's going to be further evidence, it's -- what you want to do if you're a Republican, I would think, is follow the lead of Graham and Warner and McCain and get the whole damned thing out now and not have it be coming out on Labor Day and the 15th of October.

MARGARET WARNER: Do you agree, David, do you think Warner is really on the right track here, even just from the Republicans' point of view, to be pursuing this?

DAVID BROOKS: I don't fault Warner for pursuing this. I am getting -- I think this is a serious matter and God knows it hits us all right in the gut to see the pictures every day, but after three and four weeks I'm beginning to think we're overemphasizing it. I did not think that two weeks when James Inhofe made the ridiculous comments but I'm beginning to think -

MARGARET WARNER: When he said he was more outraged by the outrage.

DAVID BROOKS: At that point I thought it was ridiculous. Now we're three solid weeks into the story. There's a lot of stuff going on in Iraq that we're paying less attention to and more importantly that Donald Rumsfeld, Sanchez, Abizaid, all the soldiers are paying less important time to because they have to spend a lot of time on this so it's a competition for time and there are two valid calls on their time so it's a close call but I think we're getting in danger of overplaying this prison stuff and distracting from what still is the main arena of action.

MARGARET WARNER: A Kerry Iraq question to you, Mark. Kerry met with Ralph Nader this week; they have different views on Iraq and what to do. Is Kerry developing an Iraq political problem of his own on the left in which members of his party are getting out ahead of him in terms of wanting to get out more quickly than he is ready to say?

MARK SHIELDS: I don't know what the difference is between John Kerry and George W. Bush on Iraq at this point other than Kerry has for longer and stronger wanted to internationalize it and Bush has more recently come to that position. I think that politically it probably serves him well. Richard Nixon had a secret plan or a plan in 1968, not articulated but because the dissatisfaction of the country with the incumbent Democratic leadership he was elected. Dwight Eisenhower said simply, made a tour, a geography statement, I'll go to Korea, that was his plan.

MARGARET WARNER: In other words, just saying I'm the new guy.

MARK SHIELDS: I'm the new guy, I don't carry the same baggage, but I think Ralph Nader represents a potential threat to John Kerry. If this election is as close as people say it's going to be, I'm not sure it is, but say it is, in Wisconsin and Minnesota and Iowa, and hanging in the balance, if Ralph Nader becomes let's be out of there by the 1st of October, this is over, John Kerry, you said in 1971, he'll be the last man to die for a mistake, John Kerry, what do you say today? Does that get Nader a dozen, 15, 20 percent in places like Iowa City, in places like Madison, Wisconsin, in places like the twin cities of Minnesota where all of a sudden, you know, that comes out of Kerry's hide, so I think it's not all upside for Kerry.

DAVID BROOKS: I agree with that. In the presidential debate in the fall I guarantee you somebody is going to ask that question, what do you say to that last man to die for a mistake in this war if you think it's a mistake -- and my sense is most Democrats think in their gut it is a mistake and they do want to get out and Kerry is not representing his party on this. I think he's being utterly responsible. I think the Democratic Party after Vietnam took 30 years to become trusted as an internationalist party. I think Clinton played a role; I think Joe Biden played a role; I think Joe Lieberman played a role in getting the Democratic Party a sense they can be tough; they can use the military; they can be trusted to be tough. I think if he then went back on that accomplishment, it would destroy the Democratic Party in foreign policy terms, no matter what people thought about Iraq, just as no matter what people thought about Vietnam. I think he's doing the right thing for his party and the right thing for his campaign but it does not represent where the soul of his party is right now.

MARGARET WARNER: Last Kerry question to you both. Late this afternoon news leaked out that John Kerry is thinking of postponing the official acceptance of the nomination so that he can continue to be under the pre-general election funding situation or law and continue to be able to spend all this money he's now successfully raising. Explain that, Mark, and do you think it's a smart idea?

MARK SHIELDS: Well, you have to understand, Kerry on March 1 having basically sewed up the nomination, according to official records, had $2 million left. Bush had $110 million so the Kerry campaign set out to raise money, and they raised money, more money in that month than anybody has in the history of American politics, including George Bush. He out raised George Bush, and so he's become competitive. Bush has now spent $80 million, and he's still behind, I mean, in most polls, so Kerry has this money, and he's got -- he'll get the nomination the end of July. He takes the $75 million public check and then for a whole month he's going to be spending money out of that. I think it's too cute by half, Margaret, to say I'm taking the nomination but I'm not going to take it right now, I'm going to take it in a month but I do want to make the speech, I want the bands and the bunting and balloons and everything else. I think it's too cute.

MARGARET WARNER: Quick comment from you.

DAVID BROOKS: I think the conditions are-- nothing happens, they have to make is a fake nomination with a plastic engagement ring. I agree with Mark. Too cute.

MARGARET WARNER: All right. David, Mark, thank you both.

NEWSMAKER

RAY SUAREZ: Greece's new prime minister comes to Washington to talk about the Olympics and other matters.

RAY SUAREZ: Earlier this month and exactly 100 days before the start of the Olympic Games in Greece, three timed bombs exploded outside an Athens police station. No one was injured, but the attack raised questions again about Greek security measures ahead of the summer games. The prime minister and other officials insisted the bombing was not linked to the games, but a group claiming responsibility issued a letter warning certain visitors to stay away this summer.

SPOKESMAN: The Olympic Games of the year 2004 is Athens.

RAY SUAREZ: In 1997, when the International Olympic Committee awarded the 2004 summer games to Greece, security was not the number one priority, but that changed after the 9/11 attacks. Planners in Athens budgeted more than $1 billion for security, almost four times what was spent in Sydney, Australia, four years ago. And the Greeks also called on their NATO allies for help. NATO will patrol the skies with jets and AWACS surveillance planes. And Greek troops are getting anti-terrorism training in drills like these. About 80,000 troops and police will be on hand for the two week long games in august. But some American athletes have still expressed safety concerns, and they have been warned not to wave American flags as they have in previous Olympics.

SERENA WILLIAMS, Tennis Player: If it became a real concern where I personally wouldn't feel comfortable, then I wouldn't go to Athens.

RAY SUAREZ: Security hasn't been the only challenge for these games. Construction has been plagued by delays, and some of the venues are still unfinished. The glass and steel roof for the main Olympic stadium is still under construction; last week, half of it was moved into place. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has had that and other regional issues to deal with, since he was elected to office in March. He led the conservative New Democracy Party to an unexpected victory ousting the ruling socialists. Karamanlis is 47-years old, and Greece's youngest-ever prime minister. He comes from a political family; his Uncle Constantine was prime minister twice. Karamanlis was educated both in Greece and the U.S., at Tufts University in Boston. One of the thorniest issues the new prime minister faces is the decades old dispute over the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The ethnically Greek South is run by the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus, while the ethnically Turkish North, with the backing of Turkey, seized control and partitioned the island. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, with strong U.S. backing, proposed a settlement to Cypriot leaders this spring, but it was rejected in a referendum. Greek Cypriots voted against the plan, Turkish Cypriots voted for it. That result went against the advice of the Athens government, which has been healing relations with Turkey. President Bush welcomed Prime Minister Karamanlis to the White House yesterday. I spoke with him earlier today.

RAY SUAREZ: Mr. Prime Minister, welcome.

COSTAS KARAMANLIS: Thank you very much for your hospitality, Mr. Suarez.

RAY SUAREZ: When the United States invaded Iraq, there was a different Greek government in office. Now that your party is in power, is there a different policy toward the American project in Iraq, and did you have any message to bring President Bush in that regard?

COSTAS KARAMANLIS: Let me start out by saying that I think that we have succeeded in Greece, at least as far as foreign policy is concerned, not to have very strong partisan feelings, strife and conflicts. So basically on foreign policy we follow a common strategy. That doesn't mean that we don't have minor disagreements on tactical moves or events, but basically we share the same basic outlook. Now, this hasn't changed on the Iraqi question as well. We had a very interesting discussion with President Bush on many issues, including the one you mentioned, and we hear from President Bush his views on that. On our behalf, our basic position is that one should stick as much as possible to the transition process, so that as soon as possible we have a full democratization, a full transition of power to the Iraqi people. And of course we all share a burden in the responsibility to help in reconstructing Iraq. And, in our view, it would be the best scenario that all this would happen under the auspices ... under the umbrella of the United Nations, because we believe, we deem that this would offer the maximum legitimization of that process.

RAY SUAREZ: Changing the subject, in recent weeks, three bombs were detonated outside a police station in Athens. The world's eyes will be on Greece soon, with the opening of the Olympic Games. What reassurances can you make to the world about security for the upcoming games?

COSTAS KARAMANLIS: Yes, I understand very much the concern of everybody. And let me just say, if other people voice concerns and think about security, this is the prime responsibility and concern of our own people and my government. We are having the games, and we have to do everything possible to secure safe games. Now one thing I would like to say is we have invested a tremendous amount of effort, funds, professional people, and energy in this direction. More than $1.2 billion have been invested in security preparation. This is, if I may say so, 30 times the equivalent of the Atlanta games, and more than three times the equivalent of the Sydney games only four years ago. Above that, we have 70,000 professional people involved directly with security, seven nations among our allies. First and foremost, the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Britain; as I said, Spain, Israel and Australia participate in what we label as the Olympic advisory group, where they offer an extremely important and useful expertise and experience in dealing with security questions. And of course as soon as we came to power, we were sworn in office, my government asked officially for the assistance and participation of NATO in the security preparations which is already underway. So what I am trying to say is that we are doing everything humanly possible to ensure safe games. And I really feel very confident, at this point of time, to say that the games will be both successful on the athletic and cultural level, and also safe and secure.

RAY SUAREZ: Let's talk about the completion of the facilities. Is it possible to finish everything that Greece has to finish by the time the procession marches into the stadium on opening day?

COSTAS KARAMANLIS: Yes, it is, Mr. Suarez. It is true that there was a late start in the beginning of the preparation, but throughout the last years, and particularly after March 2004, we have speeded up very much the process and the works are moving in a very fast pace now. 90 percent of the preparations is already in place, and the 10 percent, which remains will be in place by June. So we are certain everything will be ready in terms of facilities, venues, works, et cetera.

RAY SUAREZ: Let's talk a little bit about Cyprus. Part of the island of Cyprus became a member of the European Union in the past few weeks, but not all of Cyprus-- a very difficult position not only for the European Union, but certainly for Greece, no?

COSTAS KARAMANLIS: Let me put it that way. It is true that we all wanted unified Cyprus to get in the European Union. But on the other hand, since a referenda were provided for, one has to respect the outcome of it, the will of the people. That's the reality. Now the basic point I would like to transmit is, okay, we have this development, what do we do now? We consider that as the end of the rope? Do we accept de facto separation? I strongly suggest no, we shouldn't because this is a lose/lose situation for everyone involved. We strongly believe that new efforts should be undertaken so as to get closer to the final goal, which is reunification of the island. Now I am not saying it is easy. If it were easy, it would have happened already in the past, in the recent past, but I strongly argue that we shouldn't give up. Eventually, a reunified island is to the benefit of everybody involved, and particularly the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot population on the island.

RAY SUAREZ: Does the continuing problem in Cyprus now create other impediments that perhaps weren't anticipated to eventual Greek entry into the EU; to eventual strong-friendly relations between Turkey and Greece who are after all NATO members as well? Do things become more complicated for Greece and Turkey because of the Cypriot problem?

COSTAS KARAMANLIS: One thing, Greece is a member state, full member state for the last 25 years of the EU, and we deem ourselves as being front-runners of the European Project, the European vision. Greek-Turkish relations have been improving steadily throughout all these last years. We have made a decision to support Turkish European perspective. I think this is a basic strategic decision founded on a basic premise, which is what does one prefer? A neighbor which is prosperous, democratic, Europeanized, if I may the word, or a neighbor who is alienated, isolated, feels rejected by the European family? I think the answer is clear. On the other hand, we have a government in Turkey which has given evidence that it is willing to reform; it is willing to put aside the military in its predominant political role of the past, it is willing to take steps in the direction of full democratization respect for human rights, et cetera. Now, of course, it is eventually for Turkey itself to decide, or its government to decide to fulfill all these prerequisites, which are put by Europe itself. But as a basic choice, I would very strongly argue in favor of the support of this choice they have made.

RAY SUAREZ: Prime Minister Karamanlis, it was a pleasure to have you with us.

COSTAS KARAMANLIS: Thank you very much, Mr. Suarez.

ESSAY - GROW OLD ALONG WITH ME

RAY SUAREZ: Finally tonight, essayist Anne Taylor Fleming contemplates growing older with other women.

ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: The headline was a grabber: "Older women team up to face future together." It wasn't buried either, but right on the front of the "New York Times." The article went on to say that baby-boomer women are trying to figure out how to grow old differently, better, happier. In short, they are looking for ways to be together, to live together, to make end-of-life good on that old notion of sisterhood. These are my peers, my generational group. I had already, in fact, had numbers of conversations with friends about doing precisely this-- pooling our resources, sharing a house, establishing a compound. Please, no retirement villas, no assisted living homes, no convalescent hospitals. Not if we can help it. We have seen those in our rounds, many of us, as we tried to find places for aging parents. Some of us have had to leave a deeply loved but now diminished mother or father in one of those places, some of them just as bright and cheerful and efficient as you can imagine, and it was still wrenching. No, not for us, let us find a different way. After all, we had done that from the outset: Found a different way. Raised as good girls in the 1950s, we were kicked into a whole new world in the 1960s and '70s.

SPOKESPERSON: The girls get a boot out of wearing kooky boots, while the simple act of getting into a car becomes a major maneuver for the short skirt wearer.

ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: What it meant to be young and female was completely redefined, blown wide open. We went from frilly dresses to blue jeans, from pool typists to construction workers, from teacher's college to law school, from injunctions against sex to birth control pills in the heartbeat of a decade.

SINGING: We shall overcome...

ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: And at the heart of it for so many of us was the friendship of other women, those women we crossed into the brave new world with, laughing with and crying with and agitating with and climbing up those professional ladders with. We walked down wedding aisles together and raised children together. More recently, we've attended the funerals of each others' parents, and sometimes of each other's husbands and sometimes of each other's children. And yes, there has been some competition inevitably, but our sense of shared adventure such that the comradeship often overrode the competition. So why shouldn't we grow old together? Why shouldn't consolidate our 401(k)'s and our Social Security checks, whatever we've been able to hold onto through divorces and widowhood? We will be our own assisted living consortiums, traveling with each other when we still can, and looking after each other when we can't. Yes, even all that messy stuff of bathing and dressing and pushing each other's wheelchairs. I don't hear men talking this way. These intimate friendships and this caretaking are not deep in the marrow of men the way they are for the women I know. It is the luck of the gender, a way of maintaining some hard won independence through a kind of interdependence, rather than dependence on long scattered, long grown children or hired caregivers. We'll no doubt weep together when there are more losses, and laugh together about walkers and botox, about hobbling in on the former to get the latter. And we'll take pride in offering up a new less lonesome model for facing age in America. I'm Anne Taylor Fleming.

RAY SUAREZ: Again, the major developments of the day. The "Washington Post" published another batch of pictures and video emerged in the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. The Defense Department confirmed it's now investigating the deaths of 37 prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Israeli troops began pulling back from the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza after a four-day offensive. And again, to our honor roll of American service personnel killed in Iraq. We add them as their deaths are made official and photographs become available. Here, in silence, are 14 more.

RAY SUAREZ: A reminder, that "Washington Week" can be seen on most PBS stations later this evening. We'll see you online, and again here Monday evening. Have a nice weekend. I'm Ray Suarez. Thanks and good night.

5

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Friday, May 21, 2004