The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

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bee an agent good evening i'm jim lehrer on the newshour tonight a summary of what happened today reports and analysis of the latest from the war in afghanistan an update of the effort to form a post taliban afghan government and a conversation with a federal official in charge of compensating september eleven victims major funding for the newshour with jim lehrer has been provided by imagine a world without diminishing resources and also by

hewlett foundation seeking solutions that education population energy and environmental challenges this program was also made contributions to pbs stations who is like many techniques they stray us bomb killed three american soldiers and wounded nineteen today in southern afghanistan it happened north of kandahar the last city under taliban control the soldiers were special forces troops operating with the afghan opposition five opposition fighters also died the airstrike was meant to get taliban troops firing mortars at the white house today president bush said he mourned the deaths i along with the rest of america grief for the loss of life in afghanistan or soldiers were killed by an inverted bombing and our prayers and sympathies to the families and i want the families to know

that they died for a noble and just cause but the scientist or is noble and is just it's been it's a freedom that we're grateful on tuesday a us soldier was wounded by hostile fire near kandahar in eastern afghanistan opposition forces attacked a suspected hideout of osama bin ladin said they capture the valley below the mountain cave complex of tora bora the washington post reported at least ten of them martin senior aides were killed there by us airstrikes on monday for afghan factions signed a power sharing agreement today in bonn germany it will make the anti taliban commander tommy because i head of a temporary government he was reportedly wounded today in that friendly fire bombing incident in afghanistan but he told british television he's all right the goal of the new agreement is ending years of fighting that began with the soviet invasion in

nineteen seventy nine united nations envoy said the factions must now show they can bring peace the eyes of the world will be on you and you can eat and irresponsibility you we face tremendous challenges particularly since your country has been ravaged by war and many of the wounds of steve roach you're not many immediate concerns such as lifting people out of the misery and despair of the past fifty years under the agreement the afghan groups will ask the un to authorize international peacekeepers for kabul and later other areas in the middle east a palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up today outside of jerusalem hotel at least two israelis were for the militant group islamic jihad said it was retaliation for two days of israeli air strikes it killed two palestinians israel launched the raids after suicide bombers killed twenty five israelis last weekend

today a palestinian cabinet minister denounced those bombings those acceptance agents and the ground and this is through the last few days in the wind and decide to date this is his room late today palestinian police with the founder of hamas under house arrest in gaza city a mosque was behind the weekend suicide attacks a man wanted for staging anthrax hoaxes was arrested today in the cincinnati area greatly wagner was on the fbi's ten most wanted list is the prime suspect in mailing fake anthrax letters that two hundred in at abortion clinics last month in seattle today authorities charged a man with four the so

called green river killings gary leon ridgeway is a fifty two year old truck company worker he was arrested last week the green river killer is thought to have murdered forty nine women in the early nineteen eighties police linked ridgway to those deaths through dna evidence on wall street today a new hope for an economic recovery push stocks higher the dow jones industrial average closed above ten thousand for the first time since september fifth it gained two hundred and twenty points more than two percent to end a ten thousand won fourteen the nasdaq index closed above two thousand for the first time since august seven it gained a three points more than four percent to finish at twenty forty six president bush today named former montana governor mark russ go the republican national chairman virginia governor jim gilmore resigned the post last week citing family reasons roscoe was a prominent spokesman for the president during the florida election recount last year senator strom thurmond turn ninety nine

years old the day the south carolina republican is now the oldest center at senator ever and the longest serving he was the first he was first elected in nineteen fifty four and plans to retire when his eighth term expires in january two thousand three he was honored today on the floor of the senate bob dole used to say that he follows strom thurmond very carefully whenever he's bob dole used to eat i've taken on a practice myself but we have one i congratulate senator thurmond on his nine ninth birthday today and wish him well we are delighted dealers serve within the honor that he's here with us today and we congratulate him on a very very special occasion not only in his life but an ally of the united states senate and senator thurmond laughter all around when he told his colleagues i love all of human but few women even more two judges of real new jersey's and thirty eight struck thirty eight

striking teachers to jail today that makes eighty five jailed since monday for ignoring a back to work order more than seven hundred teachers in middletown township walked off the job last thursday they were unwilling to keep working without a new contract an american airlines pilot killed september the eleventh will be buried in arlington national cemetery the military announced that today captain charles berlin games plane was flown into the pentagon by hijackers the former navy pilot with fifty watt and was world too young to have his own plot at our end and where space is limited under a compromise with the family he will be buried alongside his father an air force veteran it's been an update on the afghan military campaign on the golan begins rescue helicopters for the americans killed and wounded by the errant us bomb arrive at

base rhino a rapidly growing marine encampment near kandahar in southern afghanistan news organizations said they weren't allowed to do the helicopters are loaded so death of three special forces soldiers bring two for the us combat toll since the afghan war began october seven killed with the americans were fired anti taliban fighters many of them were injured also were treated at base rhino according to marine spokesman an investigation is underway to determine how the friendly fire incident occurred according to rear admiral john stufflebeam who briefed reporters at the pentagon today here's what we can say about what we know so far there was a ford air controller who called in a close air support mission and b fifty two responded with j damn emissions one of those gm weapons landed does summer's the vicinity of a hundred meters from where are our troops were out and that's what has obviously cause of casualties and injured this mission was called in due to the

fighting that was occurring between opposition groups and those taliban forces that were dug in this is north of kandahar city the rest of the us in terms of how that weapon managed to not for the troops' intended to is under investigation is going to take a few days to try to find out why that happened the j damn or joint direct attack new mission as a satellite guided two thousand pound bomb originally a simple gravity bomb hit has been adapted to see coordinates provided by a global positioning satellite stufflebeam explain how it's used in close air support if ford air controller on the ground who has the perspective of what is occurring there that would cause them to want that support either they're under heavy fire of a wish to achieve some sort of the condition and can see where it is they wish to have the heavy munitions dropped they determine those corridors they contact the aircraft on the radio they passed the corvettes of where they are located as a quarter somewhere they wish there were the

weapons to be placed and when they wish to have the weapons dropped that then is a procedure that is turned around in the cockpit of your crew of the aircraft your crew will respond if they're not able to achieve those conditions are their locations or time our anything else that they don't quite understand how the once they got their bill they'll move as quickly as precisely as they possibly can to meet that time that it's a time sensitive pardon process meanwhile kandahar the last stronghold of the taliban militias sad and rowan says american b fifty twos continued heavy bombing runs this man said it is raining bombs over us on our house mr stufflebeam describes today's activities their helmet alone coalition forces continue patrols in the city of kandahar interdicting lines of communications and as of this hour they have not had any business with taliban forces

what extent do you think the taliban have to be fleshed out of their hiding places are based on the run in the year that was certainly around kandahar where she reports though tell a bond digging and building or directing a defensive positions they are also on the run and the strike that we show the video of those where the taliban were intended take refuge one that that strike was called on in those facilities near jalalabad in the mountain south of the city and intensified search for osama bin ladin continue today a thousand afghan opposition fighters reportedly are combing the white mountains searching the network of caves and hideout for bin laden and his allies the taliban forces positioned their tanks above the village of tora bora to show the hilltops two miles away well they're trying to determine locations of archive and specifically al qaeda leadership and remaining taliban a mighty interior

they're reports from that region are is that many of these forces may have or have had taken a refuge in caves and tunnels so we're working to determine where these bad guys are and ended being strikes on them an anti taliban leader in the eastern mountains says his forces are meeting stiff resistance because escape routes into pakistan have been cut off more on the military situation now from michael vickers former cia and special forces officer now director of strategic studies at the center for strategic and budgetary assessments an independent policy research institute john pike founding director of global security dot org a nonprofit nonpartisan organization which analyzes military and security issues and mark thompson time magazine's national security correspondent mark first on this friendly fire accident is a related word on what might've happened what went wrong i think jim what's obvious

is that this bomb was so big and so close to the folks who died that it wasn't really the fact that it isn't a super precise mission i mean with the satellite guidance system it says in their precision munitions and pilots like to be two thirds of a mile away from this saying when it goes off and these four soldiers were a hundred yards a hundred meters away so they're plainly was a big mistake either and plugging in the quartet's an airplane or before air controller calling them in or perhaps that the soldiers on the ground more or they thought they wore those are three options and right now at this point time none seem to be any mr chew layers john pike isn't it unusual or is it unusual one of the questions is it is an unusual use of b fifty two for this kind of close air support bombing well it's certainly without the store recent historical president normally when you think of clusters or if you think of the fighter eight and swooping and dropping bombs and

certainly one question that i would hope would have answered over the next several days is exactly all why the reason the b fifty two rather than say having a gunship of iowa wall whether on safe and close air support that was already a sign for this particular or you know or where the b fifty two is the only thing that was a viable having said that the joint direct attack the mission is a highly accurate munition and in principle most of the mooc land on the targets of their record and of course the problem is that its precise not perfect and certainly you can't exclude the possibility simply random mechanical failure and of course mark on for a good reason that's right and will generally land of ninety nine percent of the time with him on the two mirrors where you wanted to taking fixes from the satellites overhead the lovin positioning satellites of course a male and precisely set a target region intended because you transpose the cornets or the

party was something else like the chinese embassy in the gospel that was a big hit to drop a bomb the two but they say it was a law saying the same guy who made the decision to call the spring to use this particular bomb from this particular play out how does that happen what's one of the great success stories of this war is really using the satellite guided bombs in a frontline role let's carpet bombing basically buy precision that's what broke the taliban in the north are using the strength of these joint director technicians on taliban positions where every bomb really counts as far as who called it was according to reports the special forces forward air controllers on the ground to direct strike mr khan the tora bora fighting in the market in the year where they were when they believe osama bin ladin is in the escape meant or what do they really believe about that at this point that osama bin ladin is location that sells well

as rumsfeld loy says it's like going for a chicken you know you don't know you've got until it's in your hands and in this case you can even see the chicken so it's even more complicated than that we've got some fifteen hundred afghan forces at the lower levels of this mountain complex moving up they are beginning now to go to some of those lower case reports from the seen indicate though that they are kind of war there have basically abandon the lower level caves and or moving up and the higher areas so the afghans were chasing them i don't have to keep going up and we may be in for a year a dramatic finish and at a summit of this mountain what will it take on pie through to actually that's true that osama bin laden and the leadership of the archive that are in these caves what will it actually take to get them out of there or to sail and then there were to finish the finish them all one way or another in these cases fortunately issues there was and is finishing them off in the other one is knowing that you finish them off and there's little immature simply talking about finishing them off in principle you can simply locate on the tunnel

entrances all use of precision munitions to clients the tunnel entrance and figure that they're going to be trapped in there for eternity the problem of course is that you don't know who if anyone is inside these collapsed tunnels to verses in some other part of the country versus in pakistan or somalia or pick your favorite part of the globe so that's the challenge of figuring out who you've actually managed to get why don't we know that well we know that but for lawn there's still a lot of uncertainty as to how many archive of troops there were a lawyer in afghanistan again with the top from the qatar apart from the top couple of dozen personalities i think they still don't know the nines of all these people it's still unclear or off how many of these combatants are in the uk jill all abad area versus down around our kandahar there are thousands of these combatants in pockets all around the country are it's a large country there are a lot of odd things we're trying to get their

widely scattered and really we only have troops on the ground in very small areas right now mr vickers you're familiar with this case not work out what you think it's going to take to get this thing wrapped up in terms of the keys you find out what i will rephrase my quest to find out whether they're there or not and if they are going out of anger is all one way or another well a number of senior al qaeda leaders have been struck by air power the number three official mohammad water from kabul confirmed dead and two other unconfirmed reports the number four official aquarium guy and maybe the number two man injured so ari they're more supportive of racial slur well but as jon said we really don't know some of them are oar in some of these are unconfirmed reports the afghan opposition i think around talal a bottle really he'd be the ultimate means of getting these guys on the local and the case is that your understanding to market it will be opposition forces or not

the us marines are us special forces who will actually go into the statement also from them if the afghans get in they get twenty five million dollars of american gets me get a pat on the back of his commander so i think the incentive is on the afghan side they know the terrain they know the caves and so i think all the mill an end you know the northern alliance's a senior commander was killed allegedly at the urging of osama bin lobster were before september eleventh those people are very angry at osama bin laden and they really want to go after him so i think it will be that moment that are needed now the subject of marc begin with years the question of civilian casualties we know about that we just talked about the us casualties in the van reports from time to time about taliban casualties in about opposition forces casualties but the pentagon has thus far refused to discuss of the carriage it's in afghanistan you read that it goes back to vietnam where we were preoccupied with body counts you may remember the gulf war we still don't have a us government estimate of how many iraqis were killed be they civilian or military and i think they

are averse are most allergic to discussing this topic you know there were reports over the weekend that three villages south of an area of tora bora by on the last of civilians were killed and the pentagon is saying listen our imagery shows the reward within twenty miles of any of these villages yet reporters are going to these villages and saying them blown apart don't look like they were blown apart and mortars we see what the bad guys have a pair so there is still some explaining to be done and i just think they're generally averse either throughout afghan civilian casualties or india's resort today in a friendly fire case having reporting on the american casualties which are reading of a job i think that all that's true in a lot of that on top of that a surgery rumsfeld did address this question and awkward out for instance the difficulty that we've had an understanding how many people were killed at the world trade center the us days about half what it was six weeks ago on over the last half century everybody thought that there were fifty thousand americans who have been killed in the vietnam war somebody did a little research and

oprah korean war ii turned out that there were forty thousand killed and they're just they're an accounting error there are figuring out how many people were killed in combat is always been difficult even when it's on our side and in a situation where imagery isn't going to allow you to count bodies when its in an area that's not under your control i think that the pentagon is correct in saying that it would be very difficult for them to make estimates are that that they are clearly adverse true all are depicting this has been a war on the afghan people but we're a security official i think there's two kinds of civilian casualties one the air and bombs and it looks like some villages around all but they've been struck accidentally and then also worst says unlike our people were short precise were casualties from friendly fire right now that we do through through combat and then second were civilians or co mingled with military targets where they'll cairo or taiwan leaders for example bring their families in and then two military communications from there and that that adds to the

savoy mark finally this sunday on the military our military situation on the ground the marines are being reported a thirty nine original the ground near kandahar for it was supposedly are beginning to move out now whether they'll really doing that would serve and they're surrounding kandahar they're not going to go into kandahar they're going to let the local militias come in from the north in the south and their job basically is to ensure that the ap taliban in kandahar cannot be reinforced york a mistake so i mean they are now sort of the personification of an oops surveillance and it re the fact mike vickers that they're not leaving any opposition or families that are shot anybody in that area the marines will are remote location of they are starting to do some controlling but there'd be the air base where they are is is some distance from from kandahar of course we have air superiority over over the area so only quite

difficult for someone approached them here and sewage we should not expect and by the marines to be involved in any overt tackle income of art ever comes to that thought that certainly the conventional wisdom right now the same time you have these special operations units that were all out with local opposition groups and i assume that the marines are going to be operating in conjunction with special operations so i think we're going to have to stay tuned for future developments ok for we go mark the american airlines pilot who had been a navy pilot with a front page story to watch and polls this morning saying he was not going to be allowed to be buried in arlington cemetery where family wanted now suddenly he will be what happened although it was a compromise and family struck before today and down the pentagon was took pains to detail the fact that indeed he will be allowed to be buried alongside with his father in arlington cemetery just not a plot of his own that was a compromise of family was happy with so i mean real

estate is at a premium in that cemetery with not very strict rules permit and in the story i think so i think for now there's think your trigger much data about politics of peace in afghanistan ray suarez has that story after nine days of intensive talks and an all night negotiating session afghan political leaders gathered in von sein and the court to set up a interim host taliban though it's the first step toward restoring peace after twenty years of occupation and civil war forty six year old jaime because i an ethnic ashton from the self was named chairman of the twenty nine member governing committee the new leader spoke in a radio interview from somewhere near the southern afghan city of kandahar where his troops are fighting the taliban and do you worry about

just how difficult this will be after more than two decades of civil war and continuing disagreements really about the representation on this council why i are an odd amount of laurie's i am a viewer in the end in the end no god help and that i woke up with although we go ahead and take the country followed very much that if you hear the four main afghan factions involved in the talks will share power in kabul the largest group the northern alliance will hold the three most powerful ministries the other is to be represented are the wrong group led by the former afghan king's irish are the pakistan based the shower front which groups together mostly posh tune tribal leaders and the iran backed cyprus group which was established to challenge the king's bid to power two women will serve in the cabinet one as deputy chair because i and the other as health minister under the agreement the united nations will dispatch an international security force to cobble

to allow for the peaceful return of the king and other exiles of the size of the peacekeeping force is yet to be determined after the signing ceremony the leader of the northern alliance delegation soon to be the interior minister promised to adhere to the agreement forget about an afterthought yells or twenty years we wanted to become champions of peaceful what he declared at the opening session that we clearly came to this conference the intention of moving afghanistan into a new period as jesus aka marcus known and respected human rights including women's rights in the afghan capital many residents were enthusiastic about the prospects of the new government after a long time united nations finally succeeded in bringing a general winds is a big victory for the afghan people that makes the afghan people united and pledged a one government but it is a huge victory transfer of power to the new government will take place on december twenty second less than three weeks away and joining us for an update is steven

erlanger berlin bureau chief for the new york times stephen many could help us understand exactly what they've got is at a government is a roadmap to forming a government something in between were unaware of both and what they have is an emergency interim authority which is a government as soon as it takes office in kabul on december twenty second it will have full the creed power over the country it will have afghan sovereignty really recognizes the government of afghanistan by the united nations and the rest of the world it will have afghan seat that and at the united nations and it pleased informal ways it really afghan the stands only government it will be the post taliban government for afghanistan will be relatively broadly based in relatively representative of the various ethnic religious groups in afghanistan and it has within it however building process for

a more permanent government exposed to go on for perhaps six months and during that period a loya jirga will be called probably in march or april that's the traditional afghan constituent assembly of tribal and provincial elders the loya jirga will pick a new government which is like they look very much like this government probably some kind of legislature and that will become a transitional government which will run the country for about two years and during that period of time the idea goes this is what they've agreed to a constitution will be written a new loya jirga will ratify the constitution and you're gonna stands first free and fair election and now that seems all very theoretical right now but that's what they're committed themselves to do and these are long days of talks new bomb a word kept coming out of stumbling blocks of demands that were a place to buy one faction that that seemed to be a deal breaker for

another what was some of the big hurdles that they had a clear in the last several days to come to this agreement four the biggest problem is that there is one group in the northern alliance which was really american proxies in this war who took power in kabul and the problem with them if there is a problem as they're there really regional and they represent ethnic groups mostly can't jinx was that senators are others who are minorities i mean they're smaller than the passion for the biggest group in afghanistan unfortunately the talent was pretty much cash so that the problem with the northern alliance running called was one first of all the last time they ran it was horrible horrifying and you had a civil war and secondly they're not representative enough so the whole point of this thing was to get the people with the power to be willing to share power with exile groups who are more present of ethnically woodward no power on the ground so that create all kinds of problems basically were trying to get the people with the guns to be decent

to the people with perhaps a moral authority that no guns coal and in the end that's what happened with the biggest deal breakers were put forward by the titular head of the northern alliance mr rabbani who was the last president of afghanistan who now sits in the presidential palace in kabul but he was being challenge in this quiet rather polite way by a younger generation of northern alliance leader is closer to the assassinated military leader bachmann shall not soon and they seem to have really taken control they're the most powerful part of this government and these are people like rob dillard below the foreign minister eunice canoe me the interior minister and mohammad hakim who became the military commander one lawsuit was assassinated sleep habits generational shift which was really the psychological and fastening subtext all of this the other big problem is besides the

factions their ethnic interest so uh huh zahra for instance could be loyal to the king but her very dear friends in the northern or why it's and if someone was assigned to a portfolio and decided they couldn't do it ten and the wrong group the king's group said well put in a posh the bizarre isn't only other groups got upset saying that's too many passions not enough bizarre to an already very carefully balanced between factions and ethnicities did the large amounts of aid money at stake finally i would say keep everybody's attention to get this deal done yes it got everyone's attention and also frankly you know in a very sincere way people understood that the last twenty three years of afghanistan of the horror a whole generation has grown up knowing nothing but war in afghanistan in a way by accident through this on american war against all carried out which became a war against that all along that afghanistan has a chance the first time in many years that won't come again to

reestablish itself as a kind of a more modern more democratic state with western aid and in afghanistan would not have been on the west screen live without this war so i think it came clear to people critically this younger generation that this was an historic opportunity however accidental they could not let go by for the interests of the people of afghanistan and that had a lot to do with it to i think and briefly before we go are there any forces andy stakeholders or faction leaders who can still scuttle this agreement well yes the minimum agreements among governments have never been implemented i mean people are worried about rabbani and and a colleague of his a polished and wahhabi in and saw off who control forces i mean the worry is that people will not recognize the authority of this government that they will continue at their

current of warlord ism cutting off fiefdoms in a country in chaos without a real government ideally they put all their forces in the central command of this government that's a lot to ask so first you got to get these people on the ground are going to get from pencils and paper you're going to implement this deal but secondly they will need the help of international community and probably a peacekeeping force to assert their authority over the rest of afghanistan and as you know the war continues in the south of afghanistan mr karzai who's going to run this government is still in a battle against the ball on say anything could happen steven erlanger from the neo times gadhafi thanks a lot still to come on the newshour tonight the federal help for september eleven victim of four thousand for the week on public television and they're taking a short break after your public television station can ask for your support

for the program like ours on the air stations not taken a pledge right the newshour continues now with a look at today's white house press briefing spencer michael reports spokesman ari fleischer gave reporters an update on yesterday's actions freezing the assets of organizations link to terrorists i want to report you just won that over five million dollars has been blocked in assets belong to the holy land foundation as a result of the freeze and walking worms the present is implemented on a financial fire worldwide against the waters some of more than sixty one million dollars has been either frozen up a lot of the world last week the white house it is very pleased with the agreement has been reached on

bargains are in the future the afghanistan government that he believes is part of agreement that bodes well for the people of afghanistan this vote will allow the people afghanistan to take the cut this development will allow the people of afghanistan to take their country back and the president is very pleased by that he's pleased by the mob classic nature of the agreement he's pleased by the role that women play in a future government of afghanistan this is an important element in the future afghanistan has only in many ways the beginning a lot of hard work remains were innocent now have a stable government that represents some respects people afghanistan still be difficult because of guest is to an h the nation that is in the novel fleischer responded to a question about the president's reaction to the news that americans were killed by friendly fire president offers his condolences to the families and the loved ones of those who'd been killed and he regrets the loss of life very much and also wishes that the injury level for speedy recovery is the president

talked about a latino and as you know the president have it was meant to send notes to the families that there is a valid you know the army reversed its decision today didn't i aspired in arlington national cemetery for the pilot of the plane that hit the pentagon on september eleventh captain charles burlingame was a fifty two year old navy vet the cemetery requires retired reservist to be at least sixteen but his family protested and officials relented fleischer was asked about the cases are always very sensitive and difficult matters all at the national cemetery is the final resting place where countless numbers of americans want to we buried auntie national cemetery is also a place that is running out of space mesa for the summer was typical emotional issues for the families and low ones lawson in any type of military or any other type of action serve in the military also with a notion that was on our promises to people who will be able to be buried and art and the

future is always a very emotional difficult issue and the military has very stringent rules that are trying to comply with because it makes it easier for everybody understand what the criteria are so that's why the farm economy is in charge with this they worked very hard at me understand the sensitivities about reporters asked fleischer about congressional wrangling on the spending bill for the defense department democrats want to add fifteen billion dollars for homeland security and have held the passage of the bill president regards such extra spending as a deal buster we're in the middle of the members of congress' war and the president made this wednesday that if the senate were to send the president bill that complicates our nation's defense needs he will veto by complicate he means if they try to attach extra spending beyond was already been promised and agree to buy the cars to a defense department appropriations bill out of town for the present will immediately vetoed senate backs of congress can get back to

work on sunday that can indeed be done and there's also a letter that's now circulating on capitol hill senator lott's office has distributed that has this a sufficient number of senators to stand any presidential veto so on earth with the senate go through this exercise but it clearly will go anywhere other than to delay america's national defense needs america is at war and the washing up before last year's budget that's why the president has so strongly that congress should send the defense appropriation bill that has the funding increases for the pentagon to fight a war and that that bill should not get bogged down by other issues beyond widow has been agreed to by the congress debate on the defense bill is scheduled to begin in the senate tomorrow we're arab finally tonight federal compensation for the september eleventh victims and then when i thought within weeks of the september eleventh attacks president bush signed a new law providing federal payments for the families of

those killed and injured congress did not set a limit on the september eleventh coptic some compensation fund but it could amount to tens of billions of dollars the payments will be based on lost wages pain and suffering in accepting the money families give up their right to sue the fine which must be up and running by december twenty first is being administered by so master who will decide who gets how much and why they're special master appointed by the attorney general is kenneth feinberg an arbitration and mediation lawyer in private practice here in washington yes he has served as the special master and a number of other notable wrongful death cases involving asbestos and the use of agent or orange defoliant in vietnam <unk> feinberg welcome joining us i just add tens of billions of dollars how much money do we now much money we talk we don't know yet we are getting very close to knowing that i am because we are within a few days a week perhaps of trying to get these regulations and so that will govern the program in place also even after those regulations are in place we won't know for sure how much

it's going to cost because as you know individual claimants under the program will have to choose whether their water participate in the program or opt out and opera soon be a traditional legal right so it that when trying to come up with the amount that will be spent at taxpayers' money to devote it to this cause if that her about how many claims are made or by some a limit that the government could afford to spend neither it's limited by the statute which makes it very clear that one will consider the special master will consider in developing the formula for compensation economic lost lost wages lost investments except rock and non economic loss pain and suffering emotional distress traditional toys of variables we will develop a set of guidelines for the victims for the clients that will lay out of what dr what the methodology will be flipped for the compensation and they will then elect we talk about

about capping out this process you're saying these are families or their victims which is to soon rather than to take part of this federal fund that's right i'm hoping and the attorney general is hoping that when these regulations are promulgated and everybody takes a look at the regulations they will agree that it is better for them to stay in this program forget the lawsuit come in and within a hundred and twenty days also submitting a claim for filing a claim they will get a check from the united states treasury and said the uncertainty of a lawsuit going to the courts as an appointee uncertainty of a lawsuit that the ladies associate with a lawsuit the emotional distress of continuing and to litigate year after year the weather or repeating the circumstances of september eleventh this program is designed to allow families and the victims of that of the heart to commune make your claim

get the check and along with a lot of that now here's the sticky wicket how do you and it's just mostly you were there with instruments and a power here decide whether the family of a generator who was making sixteen thousand dollars a year at windows on the world with a family of eight say how much has that person get versus a person who was a bond trader care can a fitzgerald was family too in connecticut the big house but had greater earning potential down the line that's the challenge that's the challenge now to some extent my heels are taught by considering as the statute requires as economic loss a bond trader or obviously has an income substantially greater than the janitor and there has to be factor yet on non economic loss a query whether or not one should make distinctions between the bond trader and the janitor the good news on all of this is that i don't have a lot of time to make these regulatory decisions were you will have to decide how the program will work literally within

the next few weeks and will be healthier and everybody will have the chance to evaluate is one option setting up or for that matter payments were stealing our ceiling and i think those are options certainly for is an option the idea that non economic loss everybody should get at least a certain amount nothing is etched installed the lawyers at the justice department my staff the lawyers at omb we are officer newsom a budget we're now looking right now at all of the possibilities and we're going to try and come up with a solemn mass tight system that will be perceived that the attorney general said that two things two requirements that the system be perceived as fear an equitable and that'd be efficient and speech so that people don't have to wait a lengthy period of time for their compensation if you are the family of a firefighter and we've all been hearing about all the private ownership and raise for specific groups of people who were victims if you are say that part of that group is the money that you're getting from these other private

charities going to be offset when you get less money from the federal fund as a result of having received these other that's a sixty four dollar question we haven't finally resolved there are some offsets that are required by the statute austin's pertain to pensions and n all kinds of consumption and how much to spend in the course of the year and living conditions this question of charitable offsets is the thorny problem we've received a tremendous amount of mail on this both sides of the equation and at the end of the day wouldn't have to make a decision whether or not share of the lawsuits should be included one not i have met with all of the major charities they have made the abuse now and we're taking that under advisement right now no decisions been made and again all of this has to play out in the next few weeks and their thing as the planet to get a million dollars for a federal fund taxes or not taxable it will be taxable i don't believe i think that the irs will issue a ruling that it's not tax well you talk about people giving up the right to sue was that

about protecting their right to get the money or was there protecting the airline industry which was felt that was going to take a big hit anyway said to someone i read i wasn't part of those negotiations i think the latter i think that as i understand it the fuel lines were concerned about the future viability if not thousands of people up could dub all families could come in and litigate that was part of the tradeoff and a cap on liability the alliance in return for a swift administrative compensation system so who is eligible to get some of this money eligibility as defined in the statute i have no discretion a limited discretion in this forgotten eligibility people suffering physical half physical in the immediate vicinity all the world trade center of the pentagon are shared skill pennsylvania on in the immediate aftermath of the accident our temporally timewise feely close to the disaster now what is immediate what is the city

what is a social harm what is close i have some discretion they are and again we'll try and come up with a field workable eligibility criteria the family members say lesbian gay partnerships are they were they be eligible that's a question to look you say well i decide and the question will be to why look to the input of receive from various groups pro and conga why look to what does the local law last say in that jurisdiction as to who is eligible and who should receive trusts and estates and wilson all of this again oh you've listed about a half a dozen tough discretionary calls them and then i have to make in the next few days the cave a few days when the week began when the people begin to actually see the money of the people will begin to see the money and this is something the attorney general made very clear that the people will begin to see the money just as soon as they file an application walked into this system we

will immediately i'm confident even before all of the paperwork is completed etc i am feeling certain in the intruding general has insisted money begin to go out immediately to those people there was talk about some of the first texting cut before christmas that maybe still reduce regulations done it's conceivable some regulation didn't quite buy this december twenty percent by december twentieth is ashley c checks on what you call a good to draw back on that is that even if the regulations are promulgating and people immediately file for emergency compensation i want to make sure people understand the regulations was one should get compensation you're walking into this system and what will welcome those applications but i think it's very important to reach out to these victims that they are interesting and finally what your options are in a tough job thank you very much for joining us and you know

again the major developments of this day a stray us bomb killed three american soldiers and wounded nineteen in southern afghanistan four afghan factions signed a power sharing agreement in bonn germany and the dow jones industrial average gained two hundred and twenty points to close above ten thousand for the first time since september fifth the nasdaq index gained eighty three to close a twenty forty six will see online and again here tomorrow evening i'm jim lehrer thank you and goodnight fb major funding for the newshour with jim lehrer has been provided by imagine a world where no child basis and some of the comments along it wants to come up and also by the foundation of seeking solutions to education

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