The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

JIM LEHRER: Good evening. I'm Jim Lehrer. On the NewsHour tonight: The news of this day; then, coverage of today's back and forths on the life and death of Terri Schiavo; the analysis of Mark Shields and David Brooks; a report on the dangers of mining coal in China; and finally, we remember two distinguished diplomats, George Kennan and Sol Linowitz.

NEWS SUMMARY

JIM LEHRER: Doctors in Florida removed the feeding tube today from Terri Schiavo. It came after years of legal battles. Schiavo suffered severe brain damage in 1990. She's now 41 years old. Her husband wanted the tube removed; her parents fought against it. Today, their spokesman, anti- abortion activist Randall Terry, said the fight is not over.

RANDALL TERRY: It's unspeakably painful for them to picture their daughter perishing with thirst and hunger. And so they're shook up. But they're not giving up. They are calling on the governor the legislature, the D.C. politicians who have all sworn loyalty to terry's cause, all right, ladies and gentlemen, it's time to help.

JIM LEHRER: Earlier, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives issued subpoenas trying to block the feeding tube's removal, but a state judge rejected that move. A lawyer for Schiavo's husband condemned the congressional effort.

GEORGE FELOS: What we experienced today in the subpoena issued by the United States House of Representatives is nothing short of thuggery. It was an attempt to intimidate and coerce the treating physicians in this case, the health care providers in this case, and Mr. Schiavo. It was an attempt to intimidate and coerce them from carrying out the lawful court order which they did.

JIM LEHRER: Schiavo's feeding tube has been removed twice in the past and then reinserted. We'll have more on this story right after the News Summary. In Iraq today, Shiite and Kurdish negotiators said they're close to a deal on top government positions. They said the national assembly will reconvene on March 26 to elect a president and his council. Those officials then choose a prime minister. A Shiite leader, Ibrahim al- Jaafari, is the frontrunner for that job. The president is likely to be Jalal Talabani, a top Kurdish politician. Thousands of Shiites marched on Jordan's embassy in Baghdad today. They accused Jordan of tacitly supporting the insurgency. A Jordanian man allegedly carried out a deadly suicide bombing in Iraq last month. It killed 125 people, nearly all of them Shiites. Today, gunmen in Baghdad shot and killed a U.S. Soldier and six Americans were wounded in a car bombing in Mosul. So far this month, at least 22 U.S. Troops have been killed in Iraq. More than 1,500 have died since the war began two years ago tomorrow. More than 11,000 others have been wounded. A survey of U.S. military academies has found hundreds of sexual assault claims. The Pentagon released the results today. Women now attending the schools said they'd been the victims of more than 300 assaults. They said they mostly kept silent because they feared harassment and ridicule. Pentagon officials said the results are comparable to civilian schools. Prosecutors in Ukraine today confirmed Cruise missiles were smuggled to Iran and China four years ago. They said arms dealers illegally shipped 18 missiles that can carry nuclear warheads. The weapons can fly nearly 1,900 miles. The smuggling took place while former President Leonid Kuchma was still in power. Wal-mart agreed to pay a record $11 million today in a federal immigration case. The giant retailer settled civil charges it used hundreds of illegal immigrants for janitors. A Wal-mart spokeswoman said: "We acknowledge that we should have had better safeguards in place to ensure our contractors were hiring only legal workers." In Washington, federal prosecutor Thomas Marino said the case sends a message.

THOMAS MARINO: This is a very large amount of money. I don't care if it's Wal-mart or you or me. $11 million is $11 million. But Wal-mart has stepped up to the plate and accepted their responsibility in this situation and has said "We're going to make sure that this doesn't happen again." And this type of settlement will help instill that this doesn't happen again.

JIM LEHRER: Officials said 12 contractors who provided the janitors will plead guilty to criminal charges. They will also pay $4 million in fines. Crude oil prices hit another record high today. In New York trading, oil futures gained 32 cents to finish at $56.72 a barrel. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained three points to close at 10,629. The NASDAQ fell more than eight points to close at 2,007. For the week, the Dow lost more than 1 percent, the NASDAQ more than 1.5 percent. Former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland was sentenced to a year in prison today. He admitted accepting trips, vacations and home improvements in a corruption scandal. The three-term Republican resigned last summer and pleaded guilty in December. Two leading American diplomats have died. Sol Linowitz passed away today at his home in Washington; he was involved in Middle East peace talks under President Carter. He also helped negotiate the return of the Panama Canal to Panama. Sol Linowitz was 91 years old. And last night George Kennan died at his home in Princeton, New Jersey. He laid out the guidelines for containing the Soviet Union after World War II. His books also won two Pulitzer Prizes. He was 101 years old. We'll have more on both men at the end of the program tonight. Between now and then: The Schiavo case; Shields and Brooks; and killer jobs in China.

FOCUS - LIFE SUPPORT

JIM LEHRER: Congress and the brain-damaged woman in Florida. Kwame Holman begins our coverage.

PEOPLE PRAYING: For Thine is the kingdom and the power...

KWAME HOLMAN: Advocates for keeping brain-damaged Terri Schiavo alive relied on prayer as they kept vigil outside her Florida hospice this morning. Meanwhile, doctors inside prepared to remove her feeding tube at the court-approved time of 1:00 PM.

REP. TOM DeLAY: Terri Schiavo is alive. She is not just "barely alive." She is not "being kept alive." She is as alive as you or I. And as such, we have a moral obligation to protect and defend her from the fate premeditated by the Florida courts.

KWAME HOLMAN: They issued subpoenas to Schiavo's doctors, to the hospice administrator, to her husband and to Schiavo herself. The subpoenas were signed by Tom Davis of Virginia, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee.

REP. TOM DAVIS: Our goal in issuing these subpoenas is to conduct this investigation before it's too late and the evidence is destroyed, period.

KWAME HOLMAN: Seven minutes before the 1 PM deadline, a Florida judge responded, delaying removal of Schiavo's feeding tube until the presiding judge in the case, Pinellas County Circuit Judge George Greer, could sort through the legal disputes.

REP. TOM DeLAY: It's not any one of us to decide whether she should live or die. She has constitutional rights to live.

KWAME HOLMAN: But 45 minutes later, Judge Greer again ruled Schiavo's feeding tube could be disconnected, saying: "I have had no cogent reason why the Congressional Committee should intervene." Greer added that the last-minute action by Congress does not invalidate years of court rulings. Sometime later this afternoon, her sister reported Terri Schiavo's feeding tube had been removed. Terry Schiavo has been fed and hydrated through a tube since suffering an incapacitating heart attack in 1990. Her husband Michael contends she would not have wanted to be kept alive in what doctors describe as a persistent vegetative state. Schiavo's parents say their daughter responds to them and her condition could improve with rehabilitation. Over the years of legal battles between the family members, Schiavo's feeding tube had been removed twice before, only to be reinserted. Also this week, House Republican leaders took other measures aimed at keeping Schiavo alive. They pushed through a bill that would allow federal courts to review a case like hers. But last night in the Senate, several Democrats blocked quick action on the House bill, preventing it from being passed before members left town for a two week recess.

SEN. RON WYDEN: I'm particularly troubled at the prospect of setting a precedent that is going to have the Congress in effect playing medical czar in case after case because colleagues, there will be thousands of cases just like this.

KWAME HOLMAN: Nonetheless, congressional Republicans plan to work through the weekend on legislation that might keep Terri Schiavo alive.

JIM LEHRER: Ray Suarez takes it from there.

RAY SUAREZ: For more on Terri Schiavo and her legal and medical situation, we turn to: Congressman Dave Weldon of Florida-- a medical doctor, Congressman Weldon co-sponsored legislation that would allow Terri Schiavo's case to be heard in a federal court; and Bill Allen, an associate professor of ethics at the University of Florida Medical School; he's director of the school's program in bioethics, law and medical professionalism.

Congressman Weldon, what was your reaction to the news that, just before 2:00, Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed?

REP. DAVE WELDON: I think Judge Greer is in contempt of Congress. I'm not sure of that, but I believe that is the case. We have a bill that would allow the referral of the case to a federal court and I believe Terry Schiavo deserves at least the same review of her rights to protect her rights that Scott Peterson is now going to get and the Senate had a slightly different bill. We were trying to work through our differences. Obviously, Judge Greer does not want Terri to have her case reviewed to make sure her constitutional rights were properly respected.

RAY SUAREZ: And Professor Allen, what was your response to the news?

BILL ALLEN: Well, I was delighted to see that perhaps there will be a sense of finality to this case after seven years of litigation. Ms. Schiavo's rights and due process have been litigated over and over in the Florida courts and have been before the Florida Supreme Court at least three times and the U.S. Supreme Court at least three times as well as the appellate courts up and down many times. There's never been a case that's litigated this much. So it's not as if she didn't have her rights adjudicated by a court. And the courts found in every case that her wishes were not to be kept alive like this and found in every case that she's in a persistent vegetative state and incapable of awareness or responsiveness based on expert testimony by leading neurologists.

RAY SUAREZ: Congressman Weldon, there was furious lead legal activity up until the last minute. The House of Representative's efforts to intervene in Florida were rebuffed. Legally, what's your next move?

REP. DAVE WELDON: Well, I just got off the phone with the majority leader and there are lawyers trying to go to federal court to enable the feeding tube to be put back in so this case can be properly reviewed. There are a number of features of this case that are distinctly unusual: The first being you have a court order from a judge to withdraw food and water over and above the objections of the mother and father, brother and sister, a husband who has a common-law wife with children who will inherit the balance of her medical malpractice settlement, and then you have a neurologist, Dr. Cranford who is, as I understand it, a right-to-die expert and who testifies in a lot of these right-to-die cases-- who I believe perjured himself. He testified in this case she was in a persistent vegetative state and she's not in a persistent vegetative state. You look at the videos of her. She follows commands; she smiles. This is not a persistent vegetative state; and you can have all kinds of legal experts trying to claim that she is in that, but you described her correctly in the run-up on this program, of this story, that she's brain damaged. She is brain damaged and I think it's fully appropriate for there to be one final federal review. It's unprecedented for a state court judge to order from the bench the withdrawal of food and water. That's never been done before and so I think it's very appropriate for us to make sure that her constitutional rights were protected.

RAY SUAREZ: Professor Allen, is that right? Is it unprecedented or was it a situation created by this unusual legal path to Judge Greer's chambers?

BILL ALLEN: Well, it's more the latter than the former. This has happened many times not only in Florida but around the nation. In 1990, the Florida Supreme Court found in the case of Estelle Browning who was in a persistent vegetative state that she had the right to have treatment refused and withdrawn and it was withdrawn. It was the same attorney, George Felos, that's the attorney for Michael Schiavo. So this law has been well sold in Florida and Florida statute allows this. It allows people to testify as to what the patient's wishes were when they were capacitated; and the courts found that to be the case with Ms. Schiavo; that she had testified to meet their burden of clear and convincing evidence.

REP. DAVE WELDON: Can I comment on that?

RAY SUAREZ: Just a moment, Congressman.

And, Professor Allen, Congressman Weldon brought up the fact that Terri Schiavo's parents have objected all along. Is that legally relevant in Florida?

BILL ALLEN: It could be relevant if the court finds they have better evidence than the husband who comes in line before them as a decision maker in Florida statute. But the courts have never found that they had good evidence of what she wanted; and they found that not only Michael Schiavo but other people heard her make these claims. And in terms of the persistent vegetative state, you can't fell from a videotape; even a physician can't watch a short snippet of videotape and make this diagnosis. The leading neurologists have examined her personally and they've concluded that she is in a persistent vegetative state.

REP. DAVE WELDON: Well I have spoken to a neurologist who examined her two years ago and totally disagreed with that conclusion. And I asked to get in and examine her. I am a physician. I practiced medicine for 15 years before I was elected to the House and I took care of a lot of cases like this. And one of the things that has really bothered me about this case, when I was dealing with situations like this and a brain injury would occur, the family would always come forward immediately and say "Grandma or Uncle Joe said he did not want heroic life preserving measures, life support." It would come out immediately. And the facts in this case, the way they were presented to me, were that she was injured in 1990, she suffered a second injury in 1993 and then it was not until the husband had retained this right-to-die attorney that supposedly this testimony came forward that she had expressed no heroic measures be done if she were in this condition. The original guardian in this case had found that testimony to be not credible. And I think anybody who would bring forward that information after a seven-year pause needs to seriously be questioned, especially if they now have entered in a common-law marriage with another woman. I mean, the right thing for this husband to do would be to divorce her, turn over the settlement to the parents, and they wouldn't be dragging us through all of this. And to me, it all is sufficiently suspicious that... to at least allow the same level of federal review, you know, we're using the civil rights law called the Removal Act in the House version of this bill which was to protect people's civil rights during, you know, the period of the civil rights movement in the United States. I think it was a very plausible legal approach for us and ultimately the federal court could conclude that the state court had acted appropriately in this. But I was just not comfortable when you looked at all the circumstances of this and, yes, when I as a physician when I viewed the video footage the mother leaning forward and the... this woman, Terri Schiavo developing a look of recognition on her face and smiling and then trying to vocalize, that to me clinically is not a persistent vegetative state and that in and of itself I felt warranted a federal review.

RAY SUAREZ: Professor Allen, how do you respond?

BILL ALLEN: Well, the Second District Court of Appeal the Florida state system reviewed four hours of videotapes with experts and they found that those motions were random and were not responsive to stimuli. The videotape that most people have seen on television or on the web site is a short snippet where it appears to be that way, but it's only coincidence. If you look at a long period of time, those are random reflex actions because the part of her brain -- and I've seen the Cat scan, although I'm not an expert but experts tell me on the basis of the Cat scan-- that her cerebral cortex has deteriorated and therefore the part of her that would be required to be aware or to have responses as are being claimed is just not exact enough to do that.

RAY SUAREZ: And the law in Florida says that persistent vegetative state is incapable of emotion, memory, or thought. Congressman Weldon, is that definition sufficient and is that something that we can really fight about at this late date when the feeding tube's already been removed?

REP. DAVE WELDON: Well, I think you showed some video footage of with what appeared to be Terri Schiavo smiling. I don't know what kind of a state she's in right at this moment, but based on that, what you just described, it causes me to question whether it comports with Florida law. But, you know, the real issue here is not whether it comports with Florida law or not; it's really whether it's right or wrong. And sometimes laws are wrong. We had a lot of laws in the past in states like Florida that were really wrong. I mean, we want to do what is right and that's all the people in the House and the Senate... you know, the Senate and the House have both passed a bill on this which tells me that both Republicans and Democrats in both bodies have some serious concerns about the this case and the way it was handled. And what the judge did today I believe was in contempt of Congress. And then he has a quote, a statement when he went on to make some derogatory comments about us going on vacation. You know, you've got the majority leader, a whole bunch of members of Congress have been there all day today. They're going to be in there all day tomorrow working on this case and then he makes a statement like that. I believe that was very inappropriate and it shows a level of disregard for the... just the whole legislative process.

RAY SUAREZ: Congressman, I'm going to have to stop you there. Congressman Weldon from Florida, and Professor Allen, also joining us from Florida, gentlemen thanks.

FOCUS - SHIELDS & BROOKS

JIM LEHRER: And to the analysis of Shields & Brooks, syndicated columnist Mark Shields, New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Mark, is this the kind of business the Congress of the United States should be involved in?

MARK SHIELDS: Not this case, Jim, but I think it's a serious enough public question that there ought to be debate and consideration as just to what - you know, what guidelines we have so that each case doesn't become a circus like this. I mean, we're seeing a total role reversal right now. We're seeing conservatives saying "we have to go to the federal courts." They've been attributing -- the champions of states rights. The liberals have always fought for the federal intervention and have said "no, we ought to leave it to the state court." I think there are serious ethical questions here. Is this medical intervention, or is it ordinary treatment? And you get ethicists on both sides of all faiths on that. But if there's one thing that comes through in this, boy, it's every one of us ought to have explicit directives for end-of-life treatment for when and if this happens, I mean, because the tragedy of this is just... in human terms, is enormous.

JIM LEHRER: But what about the political intervention here, David? Do you support what the Republican leaders of the Congress are doing?

DAVID BROOKS: I find myself in complete agreement with what Mark just said. On a case by case basis, I'm a little uncomfortable with Congress going in case by case. But I am supportive of the idea that these life and death issues should be settled politically and not judicially.

JIM LEHRER: In other words, the judge in Florida should not be resolving this; there should be a federal law of some kind that would resolve this?

DAVID BROOKS: Right. And I would say building off the abortion example, I mean, I personally believe if we had settled the abortion issue politically rather than judicially, we would have arrived at some sort of muddled solution which was not either or and most Americans would be happy with it. And most Americans would regard it as a little more legitimate. And people would feel happy with the law. And as with that birth issue, I think the same thing is true with this death issue.

JIM LEHRER: But, David, this issue involving Terri Schiavo has been going on for seven years and Congress did nothing until issuing some subpoenas today.

DAVID BROOKS: That's right. And there's an element of political grandstanding. But there's also an element of sincere belief. I mean, I'm personally sort of in the middle on this issue. I'm muddled. I confess I haven't really come to conclusions about this subject. But I do, just thinking about it, why does there seem to be a presumption toward the death option when the woman's parents are willing to take care of her? Why can't we have a law that says the presumption is toward life unless you sign something and there's something very concrete that's definable in a court of law saying "no, I don't want these measures taken?" To me there should be a presumption toward life but everyone have the right to sign something which makes it very cut and dry.

MARK SHIELDS: Jim, one thing, David used the term "grandstanding," which I think was probably kind. I went back and checked the files on... Tom DeLay had not spoken on this issue -- the House Republican Majority Leader, until Wednesday of this week. I mean, I think it's a great diversionary tactic for him. I don't think there's any question he identifies himself with Palm Sunday, that there are people of deep religious conviction who believe that this is totally wrong and that somehow he wants to divert attention. I don't think there's any question about it. And the idea of subpoenaing Terri Schiavo is a grandstand. But the issue remains, and I think David is right, a political resolution of the abortion issue would have resolved that. We were headed toward that on a state-by-state basis. Some states were going to legalize it under certain terms, others were going to legalize it totally in New York, and then we short circuited it by going to the courts. I think this is a mistake here.

JIM LEHRER: Picking up the subject of grandstanding, David, the Congress was accused this week of grandstanding on baseball players and steroids. Where do you come down on that?

DAVID BROOKS: Well, I'm just struck that we have got, you know, a $40 trillion deficit; we have got all these problems...

JIM LEHRER: We've got a war in Iraq.

DAVID BROOKS: We have got this case in Florida and then we've got the steroid case. So maybe we're not... our eye is not on the ball. Though I have to say in this case I was a little moved by what happened. I thought it was grandstanding. I think that what baseball has done deserves to be... let's see how it works out this season. I think they've gotten a little tougher. Let's see how itworks out. Nonetheless, I think the hearing did a couple things: one is just raise the issue. And to me it's going to be solved not by suspending players who use steroids but shaming them. And because of this week, which has been steroids week, the shame will be much higher and I think the incentive for players not to use steroids will just be much higher and much more effective. I have to say on a human level, I do feel a little sorry for McGwire, Mark McGwire.

JIM LEHRER: Do you really, for Mark McGwire?

DAVID BROOKS: Yeah. Well, first of all, this is a game where the guy took some drugs to maybe hit another 15 homeruns. This is less serious offense to me than DWI or a lot of crimes, and yet there's this huge focus of anger because the guy cheated in a game and he cheated in a game when the climate was a lot of people were cheating in the game and you know, he's in this hypercompetitive business and he did something wrong but it was part of the culture that was accepted at baseball at the time.

JIM LEHRER: And yet he wouldn't admit he did anything wrong.

MARK SHIELDS: It was sad at first and then it became almost comical as he refused to address it. Jim, I say kudos to Tom Davis and to Henry Waxman for holding these hearings; 20 years ago Peter Ueberroth, the baseball commissioner said "There's a dark cloud over our sport and it's called drugs." And it affects everything. And what we went through, Jim, this is a sport that passes from grandparent to grandchild where the record of Babe Ruth...

JIM LEHRER: It's all about numbers.

MARK SHIELDS: All about numbers: In 1927 -- 60 homeruns. Roger Maris, 1961 -- 61 homeruns -- 34 years. That's how baseball... all of a sudden - and I thought Republican Sen. Jim Bunting, a Hall of Famer himself put it very well in his opening testimony yesterday. He said "I played in the major leagues. I played with Ted Williams, I played with Willie Mays. I played with Henry Aaron. In their 30s they didn't gain 40 pounds and bulk up, and they didn't hit more homeruns in their late 30s than they had in their late 20s." And he's absolutely right. I mean, we've known this is happening and for baseball to come in and say we're doing it ourselves is like Enron coming in, saying we're investigating ourselves. I mean, you know, I thought the commissioner looked awful, I thought the baseball union -- it was a blow to organized labor. And I mean, there's no question -- you look at these people, baseball players used to look like David or you or... you know...

JIM LEHRER: Wait a minute! No, that's true.

MARK SHIELDS: You'd see them in the elevator.

JIM LEHRER: There was Pee-wee Reese - a little guy --

MARK SHIELDS: Exactly! Exactly. And then all of a sudden they started looking like the Incredible Hulk. Now I understand a little bit why Mark McGwire, whom I've always liked, was so deferential, so generous and so gracious to Roger Maris's family as he was breaking his record because I think he was mindful of the fact that he was doing it with this artificial chemistry -- better hitting through chemistry.

DAVID BROOKS: I agree with that, too. I think the records should be thrown out.

MARK SHIELDS: I do, too.

JIM LEHRER: You think the records should be thrown out?

DAVID BROOKS: It's just not fair to the people who've done it honestly and it's not fair to future ball players who presumably are going to be doing it honestly. It's funny - just -- my son, my 14-year-old son, is a very serious ball player, plays all year round. It's funny to watch their reactions.

JIM LEHRER: Did he watch their hearings?

DAVID BROOKS: I actually was away so I haven't talked about him the hearings but we've been going through this and talking about it. And it's funny how for them, since it's been such a long-standing problem, they're disappointed in it but it's just part of their reality. Steroids have been part of baseball since... you know, he really started playing when he was six or seven. It's just part of their reality. They're not like morally offended by it the way I think a lot of people are who knew the game before. And so, you know, his love of baseball will not be diminished. I don't think this will tarnish the game permanently. But it's interesting to see how this has been a long-standing --

JIM LEHRER: New subject, Paul Wolfowitz, President Bush's choice to be president of the World Bank. What do you think of that?

DAVID BROOKS: Jim, I mean, only in the Bush administration do people fail up. I mean, Paul Wolfowitz, everybody -- critics stipulate -- a very smart man. He's been wrong at every single important turn. He was wrong, Jim, about the number of troops we needed.

JIM LEHRER: In Iraq.

MARK SHIELDS: In Iraq. And he said that Gen. Shinseki was out of his mind when he talked about we needed more troops actually to occupy the country than we had to depose Saddam Hussein. He was wrong about how we were going to be accepted. He was wrong in excluding the State Department from participating in the reconstruction. He was wrong about the cost. He said the oil monies of Iraq were going to pay for it. He was wrong about the allies. He was wrong just virtually about everything and, you know, quite frankly, now he's gone over. The interesting thing is usually the person who runs the number-two position at the Defense Department is the person who runs the department day-to-day. Don Rumsfeld is a manager himself. Paul Wolfowitz is an intellectual so he never did run the department and I think most intriguing on a political thing is that Condi Rice in both Wolfowitz and Bolton has been forced to take two people whom she had very frosty and touchy relations with in the first term and in key positions.

DAVID BROOKS: I can disagree with Mark on something. First of all, he did run the Department. Wolfowitz spent 75 percent of his time on budget and administrative matters, only 25 percent of his time on any policy, intellectual matters. As for being wrong about things, the most important event that's happened this year has been the marches in Beirut. We had the largest pro-democracy march in the Arab world -- in the history of the Arab world this week in Beirut. We've had political reform in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, a little in Jordan. We've had movement across the Arab world to Afghanistan, Iraq, toward democracy. Wolfowitz has been working for this for 30 years. He was right in... he was wrong in the execution of policy, I'm not going to argue about the post-war, but he was right in the essential instinct that people in this region want some sort of normal move toward freedom. He's been pushing for that. He's pushing for the liberation of Central Europe. In the three biggest civil rights movements of our lifetimes in this country, Central Europe and the Middle East, he's been right about all of them. That doesn't mean he's been perfect on the execution but it does mean to me that he's sort of a bleeding heart. And that's the guy you want in that kind of job, who has the administrative experience and who is a bleeding heart.

JIM LEHRER: Not a bleeding heart?

MARK SHIELDS: A bleeding heart, Jim, I mean, because we share the same end, means does matter. Means is determinant not only in an ethical sense but a practical sense. We've gone, Jim, from 14 attacks upon American troops in Iraq a year ago to 70 per day attacks upon Americans. We've gone from 38 allies down to 14. Bill Richardson, the New Mexico Democratic governor, said George Bush's foreign policy in Iraq reminds him of March Madness, the NCAA Tournament where you start with sixty-four and end up with one. I mean, I don't think you can look at that and... the fact that the president this week dispatched probably the person closest to him, enormously able individual, Karen Hughes, for the job of repairing American's reputation in the world and the nations, and that is a consequence of the policies laid down by Paul Wolfowitz.

JIM LEHRER: What do you think about the opposition of Paul Wolfowitz that's already being voiced from Europe and elsewhere? Do you think that's going to be a real problem for him or do you think it will just be brushed aside?

DAVID BROOKS: I have trouble believing like a lot of people they would have put this name forward without clearing it with the heads of government. If you look of people who've actually dealt with him, whether they're Democrats like Joe Biden or Republicans or foreign affairs who've dealt with him on a face to face basis, they have a much different view than the caricature that exists on the streets of Paris. History will decide who made mistakes and I'm sure Wolfowitz will come in for a lot of blame, and I've written that. But this is about the World Bank; this is a guy who's worked in Indonesia, in the Philippines and who has been a consistent champion of the sorts of things the World Bank wants to do. And I think he'll shake it up in the way it needs to be shaken up but continue in the way it needs to continue.

JIM LEHRER: We cannot continue this however. And thank you both very much.

JIM LEHRER: Still to come on the NewsHour tonight: Hazardous work in China, and remembering two diplomats.

FOCUS - DANGEROUS JOB

JIM LEHRER: Now, China's dangerous coal mines. Today, the bodies of 18 coal miners were found after an underground blast in a mine in Southwest China. Coal mine hazards were a topic at the just-completed National People's Congress in Beijing. We have a report from Ian Williams of Independent Television News.

IAN WILLIAMS: The last dribble of coal from a private pit near Datong City, China's mining heartland. The pit's been told to shut down pending a safety inspection, but they were determined to shift as much coal as possible before grudgingly complying. The authorities have cut power to some mines that haven't complied. China's explosive economic growth is built on coal, but this area, which produces half the country's output, was largely at a standstill this week as a result of an unprecedented safety crackdown. Coal mining in China is one of the most difficult, dirty and dangerous jobs in the world, claiming on average at least 15 lives a day, though here their biggest concern was the loss of income as a result of the shutdown.

MAN (Translated): Of course my family's really worried about my safety, but I can earn good money here.

ANOTHER MAN (Translated): I'll give it another year, maybe two. I can't take more than that or my health will start to suffer.

IAN WILLIAMS: The timing of the safety crackdown isn't coincidental, coming during the annual meeting of China's parliament, where the carnage in the nation's mines has even managed to stir the usually docile delegates.

ANNOUNCER: Tougher measures will be taken to improve the nation's work safety record.

IAN WILLIAMS: State television has carried unusually frank reports about what it called the "seriously devastating accidents" to hit the industry.

REPORTER: The price of development is being paid in blood, sweat and tears.

IAN WILLIAMS: And the prime minister has pledged more cash and tougher action. The immediate catalyst for the crackdown was last month's explosion at a mine in Liaoning Province that killed more than 200 miners-- the worst reported disaster in decades. Private mines are frequently blamed for cutting corners on safety but this was a large state-owned pit. It was only the latest in a string of accidents that, according to official statistics, have killed more than 6,000 miners in the last year alone. Unofficial estimates are three times higher. The authorities have distributed this video on mine safety. Lesson one: Keep your hard hat on. It also provides a rare glimpse of life underground. Coal provides 70 percent of China's energy, and with prices soaring and central control often tenuous at best, there's plenty of incentive for local mines to ignore the rules. The reality is that China simply can't get enough of this stuff. With many provinces already suffering blackouts because of power shortages, there is an insatiable, almost desperate, demand for coal. And while the current safety crackdown is welcome, cynics fear it won't last much beyond the end of the current session of parliament. The Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin is working with mainland lawyers in an effort to sue pits where recent accidents have happened. It would be China's first civil action of this kind. Their first target is a state- owned mine in Shaanxi Province, where 166 people died in a November explosion. Relatives, who rioted soon afterwards, have alleged that managers, chasing a large bonus, forced miners to work in spite of reports of gas leaks and fires days before.

HAN DONGFANG, China Labour Bulletin: The miners were scared and many miners were asking for sick leave, but being told, "Okay, if you want to have sick leave, you will leave forever." And we have been talking to these victims' families and these wives and children, they told us these stories, how their father, their husband, you know, told them, "I don't want to go but I have to go."

IAN WILLIAMS: It's more difficult to sue private mines, since many operate without a license and are technically illegal. In Datong, the suspension of mining this week has done little to clear the air. Coal dust is everywhere. Some mine owners simply see the appalling death rate as the inevitable price to pay for China's rush to development. Safety inspectors come and they go, but the intense pressure to produce yet more coal shows no sign of abating.

FINALLY - IN MEMORIAM

JIM LEHRER: Finally tonight, remembering two distinguished American diplomats. First, Sol Linowitz, who died today. He had been CEO of the Xerox Corporation and an attorney. Then, as an adviser to President Carter, he helped negotiate the Panama Canal transfer in 1977. He also played a key role in Middle East peace negotiations Linowitz was a frequent guest on the NewsHour. In 1991, he talked about the needs of Israelis and Arabs for a lasting peace.

SOL LINOWITZ (Oct. 28, 1991): First, foremost and dominating for Israel, peace. Ever since its founding it has known nothing but hostility and war and the sense of being surrounded by neighbors that wish it ill. Therefore, if Israel can, indeed achieve a peace, a reliable peace, security so it can go about and do its business constructively in the world that would be, I think, its fondest wish; that more than anything else is the objective of Israel. As far as the Arab world is concerned, they, too, don't want to live in a region on the... with the danger of war and on the press sis so they ought to welcome the opportunity to find a way to resolve their problems. Moreover, if they can find a basis for peace, Israel has a lot to contribute to the region.

JIM LEHRER: Sol Linowitz was 91 years old.

George Kennan was a pivotal diplomatic thinker of the Cold War. Terence Smith looks at his legacy.

TERENCE SMITH: George Kennan served for decades before and after World War II as an American diplomat. In 1946, as the U.S.-Soviet Cold War was taking shape, Kennan wrote one of the most influential papers ever produced in the Foreign Service. It was published a year later in Foreign Affairs Magazine under the byline X. Kennan argued: "The main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansionist tendencies." Diplomat and historian Strobe Talbott explained how that sentence became the cornerstone of U.S. Policy for the next 40 years.

STROBE TALBOTT: But he did have this vision early on that what I think he called the vigorous and adroit application of counterforce against the phenomenon of the Soviet Union and the Soviet empire would keep it in check. And if Soviet power were not allowed to expand, the contradictions within the Soviet system would eventually bring about what he called, back in the '40s, "the mellowing of Soviet power." And it's one of, I think, a minor miracle of our times not only was he right but he lived to see it develop.

TERENCE SMITH: Kennan did see Mikhail Gorbachev end the Cold War. In 1988, Robert MacNeil asked Kennan why those dramatic changes had happened.

GEORGE KENNAN: The main cause was the realization on the part of many intelligent people in the Soviet Union in these recent years of the fact that the whole system was going downhill, that it was no longer competitive, that the capitalist countries were going far beyond it. There were many other points of weakness, too, which became apparent to them, and that I think is the main reason for the change.

ROBERT MAC NEIL: Kennan also said the U.S. should be modest about its role as Soviet power diminished.

GEORGE KENNAN: Our role, I think, is to take a more balanced view of ourselves, to realize that while there is a great deal that we can give to the rest of the world, particularly in the way of example, there is not as much that we can do to affect world events as we have fancied ourselves to be able to do in the past. We take a more modest view of ourselves and our capabilities. That's the main thing, I think, and to get our own house in order, first of all.

ROBERT MAC NEIL: According to Talbott, it was Kennan's skill with words that created his legacy. He was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author after his years as a diplomat.

STROBE TALBOTT: One reason he was so effective was not just that he was very independent as an intellect, he never let himself be pushed around, but because was a master of the language. I've had many occasions to go back and reread his books, his memoirs, his history, and I cannot think of another public figure certainly in diplomacy who had anything like this literary skill and literary bent. And it's one reason why his influence... he lived a very, very long life, but his influence will last much, much longer because there is this extraordinary paper trail, as it were, book after book after book by him.

ROBERT MAC NEIL: George Kennan was 101 years old.

RECAP

JIM LEHRER: Again, the major development of the day: Doctors in Florida removed the feeding tube from Terri Schiavo. Her parents insisted the fight to keep her alive is not over. We'll see you online and again here Monday evening. Have a nice weekend. I'm Jim Lehrer. Thank you and good night.