The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour

MR. MacNeil: Good evening. I'm Robert MacNeil in New York.

MR. LEHRER: And I'm Jim Lehrer in Washington. After our summary of the news this Wednesday, we get four views of the new U.S. and allies' no-fly ultimatum to Iraq, and a report on the role of the black church in urban America. NEWS SUMMARY

MR. LEHRER: Hurricane Andrew roared through Louisiana early this morning before weakening into a tropical storm. The center of the hurricane hit land near Morgan City and moved Northwest of Baton Rouge. One of the hardest hit communities was New Iberia. High water, twisted steel and downed power lines made roads nearly impassable. Wind tore off the roof at the local high school where many residents had gone to shelter. A tornado spun off by the storm tore through LaPlace, a suburb of New Orleans. Nine homes and some office buildings were destroyed. At least one person died, bringing the death toll to at least nineteen since Andrew first hit land in the Bahamas last weekend. President Bush flew to Louisiana this afternoon to inspect the damage. In Florida, more than 2,000 National Guardsmen were on patrol in Miami to guard against looting and to help distribute food and water. More than 180,000 people have been left homeless in South Florida. This morning, President Bush announced a $10 million jobs program to aid in the Florida clean-up. Robin.

MR. MacNeil: Beginning Thursday, the U.S. and its allies will begin enforcing a so-called "no-fly zone" over Southern Iraq. President Bush made the announcement at the White House this morning. Under the plan, allied warplanes, led by the U.S., Britain, and France, will ensure that no Iraqi planes fly below the 32nd Parallel. That region is inhabited by Shiite Muslims who've been fighting the Saddam Hussein government. President Bush said the allies were enforcing the no-fly zone because of increased attacks on the Shiite population.

PRESIDENT BUSH: I want to emphasize that these actions are designed to enhance our ability to monitor developments in Southern Iraq. These actions are consistent with longstanding U.S. policy toward Iraq. We seek Iraq's compliance, not its partition. The United States continues to support Iraq's territorial unity and bears no ill will towards its people. We continue to look forward to working with a new leadership in Baghdad, one that does not brutally suppress its own people, and violate the most basic norms of humanity. Until that day, no one should doubt our readiness to respond decisively to Iraq's failure to respect the no-fly zone.

MR. MacNeil: Bill Clinton said he supported the allies' decision. He called it an important signal for Saddam to comply with all U.N. resolutions. He said, "Saddam Hussein should not be mistaken about the resolve of all Americans on this issue." Iraq officially rejected the no-fly zone. An editorial in the ruling party newspaper said, Iraq was prepared to confront the allies and "crush their criminal plan." In New York, Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations said his country had offered an alternative.

ABDUL AMIR AL-ANBARI, U.N. Ambassador, Iraq: Iraq is calling for the establishment of so-called "wisemen committee" composed mainly from members of Security Council, as well as from members of region in order to visit Iraq and to investigate the situation and report back to the countries concerned. We believe such a committee would be objective and neutral and legitimate and would defuse a crisis, as well as establish a truce, as Iraq had been saying it.

MR. MacNeil: We'll have more on the no-fly zone after the News Summary.

MR. LEHRER: A mistrial was declared today in the trial of former CIA official Clair George. A federal court jury in Washington deliberated for six days but was unable to agree on a verdict. George was chief of covert operations of the CIA and was accused of obstructing a congressional investigation of the Iran-contra scandal. A new trial has been scheduled for October 19th.

MR. MacNeil: In economic news, durable goods orders to U.S. factories fell 3.4 percent in July. Durable goods are such items as computers and cars. Falling orders is further evidence the nation's economy is making uneven progress in its recovery from recession. The U.S. dollar bounced back today against major European currencies. After hitting record lows against the German mark, the dollar closed up in London trading. The dollar also rose against the British pound.

MR. LEHRER: Acting Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger warned Serbia today to stop the fighting in Bosnia or face a spectacularly bleak future. He did so in London at an international peace conference on the Yugoslav civil war. British Prime Minister John Major called on the warring parties to end human rights abuses and give guarantees for the delivery of relief supplies. But in Bosnia, there was no pause in the battles. Paul Davies of Independent Television News reports from Sarajevo.

PAUL DAVIES: As they were sitting down for peace talks in London, the citizens of Sarajevo were burying the latest victims of the fighting. The saddest of sounds can be heard seven days a week now. The killing doesn't stop even when negotiations are taking place. In fact, last night saw the most intensive bombardment of the city since the start of the conflict. The Serbian and Muslim forces exchanged artillery mortar and heavy machine gun fire in a battle that lasted several hours. They appeared to be mocking the peace talks. It seemed incredible that any buildings survived, but Sarajevo's city hall and library took a direct hit and is still burning out of control this morning. Even by Sarajevo's standards, it had been a terrifying night. But people had their own thoughts on the peace talks.

SPOKESMAN: Too many speeches about nothing. They have done nothing.

PAUL DAVIES: "It won't change anything. Nothing stops the killing," this man said. On the first day of the London negotiations, there's no optimism here at all. While the leaders talk, Sarajevo and its citizens continue to suffer and die.

MR. LEHRER: The Romanian government today agreed to let the U.S. and other nations use Romania as a base for monitoring compliance with U.N. sanctions against Serbia. Acting Sec. of State Eagleburger said similar arrangements should be made for other countries bordering Serbia. Trade sanctions were ordered by the Security Council to punish Serbian aggression in Bosnia.

MR. MacNeil: In Algeria, at least nine people were killed and a hundred injured in a powerful bomb blast. It happened at the airport in the capital Algiers. The explosion wrecked much of the international terminal. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. A second bomb exploded at an Air France office in downtown Algiers and a third was found and defused at a Swiss Air office. Algeria has been rocked by a wave of violence since the government cancelled national elections in January to avert an expected Muslim fundamentalist victory.

MR. LEHRER: And that's it for the News Summary tonight. Now it's on to no-fly in Iraq and a black church in urban America. FOCUS - NEW ULTIMATUM

MR. MacNeil: Our lead tonight, the latest allied squeeze play on Iraq and Iraq's vow to defy it. President Bush said the U.S. and several of its Gulf War coalition partners were acting to protect the seven million Shiite Muslims of Southern Iraq. Starting tomorrow, the Iraq government will be barred from flying fixed wing aircraft or helicopters below the 32nd Parallel, an area about the size of Iowa, while the allies fly reconnaissance missions to monitor Iraqi compliance. A similar zone already exists above the 36th Parallel to protect Iraq's Kurdish population, and the latest move will give the coalition allies control of half Iraq's air space. After the Gulf War, Shiite militants rebelled against the Saddam Hussein government but the U.S. and its allies stood by as the Iraq government successfully repressed the rebellion with helicopter gunships and troops that had slipped the allied noose in Kuwait. In recent months, the Shiites have said they've come under new repression and attacks as demonstrated in this tape made available to British news organizations. Iraq has deployed about forty to sixty combat aircraft and an equal number of helicopters and gunships in the South but some have recently been moved North of the 32nd Parallel. An estimated eight to ten Iraqi divisions, including a thousand tanks, are in the South. U.S. aircraft will fly from the carrier Independence in the Gulf and from bases in Saudi Arabia. They'll be joined by British and French aircraft. President Bush said the allies were acting under the United Nations' post war cease-fire resolutions that barred Saddam Hussein's government from repressing its people.

PRESIDENT BUSH: In recent weeks and months we have heard and seen new evidence of harsh repression by the government of Saddam Hussein against the men, women and children of Iraq. What emerges from eyewitness accounts as well as from the detailed August 11th testimony before the United Nations Security Council of U.N. human rights envoy Max Vanderstahl is further graphic proof of Saddam's brutality. We now know of Saddam's use of helicopters, and beginning this spring, fixed wing aircraft to bomb and strafe civilians and villages there in the South, his execution last month of merchants in Baghdad and his gradual tightening of the economic blockade against the people of the North. These reports are further confirmation that the government of Iraq is failing to meet its obligations under United Nations Security Council Resolution 688. This resolution, passed in April of 1991, demands that Saddam Hussein end repression of the Iraqi people.

REPORTER: Mr. President, obviously, these violations to which you refer have been going on for some time so the question naturally arises as to why this action now and not before, or not later?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, one peg is the report from this U.N. official, Mr. Vanderstohl. And I think that gets things in focus. And then the other side of it is we've had rather intensive consultations on this to be sure that we are operating in the coalition. I still think that's very important.

REPORTER: How concerned are you that Saddam Hussein's regime may retaliate against U.N. inspectors on the ground?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, they've already taken some steps there and that is a matter of concern because I think that just further antagonizes -- properly so -- the United Nations against them. But whether there's any steps, I don't know that he'd be foolish enough to take any steps as it relates to this no-fly zone.

REPORTER: Mr. President, what if the Iraqis keep their planes on the ground, yet continue to suppress the Shiites with ground forces? What does the coalition do in that case?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, we are not -- that's hypothetical and I just hope that that doesn't occur, but quite obviously, we would be extraordinarily concerned about that, because that would be in violation of 688 as this use of these planes is. So we just have to wait and see what we -- what further action might be taken.

REPORTER: How dire would the consequences be if Iraq is partitioned in three parts? Does the United States support that partition?

PRESIDENT BUSH: No. And as I said in my statement, we do not.

REPORTER: It seems one reason we didn't defend the Shiites after the war was we were concerned about this partition. Now, have you had a different read on the Shiites? Were there stories about the Shiites not being considered a threat? In fact, they are more Iranian -- rather, more Iraqi, than they are pro-Iranian and Shiite. Is that true? Is that your latest intelligence read on them? And are you concerned that you're now doing this so late in the political year that this simply is going to look funny to the American people?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, do you think it looks funny to the British people, the French people, the Saudi people? The answer is, no. I'm not concerned about that in the least. I don't think the other side will try to put a political spin on this. We're talking about something that's very serious here and Gen. Scowcroft notified Gov. Clinton of what it is we're doing. But I don't -- I'm not worried about the politics of it at all. On the separation, I'd like to leave that question to Ed to answer to which, you know, whether these Shiites are pro-Iran or Iraqi and we do not want to see the petition of Iraq.

MR. LEHRER: Now four views of the new no-fly zone policy. They come from James Akins, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, now an international consultant, Thomas McNaugher, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who specializes in Gulf military issues, Adid Dawisha, a Christian Iraqi, who lived in Southern Iraq for many years, now a professor of political science at George Mason University, and Mohamed Hakki, a former spokesman for Egyptian President Mubarak, now a journalist who reports for a daily paper published in Cairo and another in Saudi Arabia. First and beginning with you, Amb. Akins, do Iraqi military moves against Shiites justify this new no-fly zone action?

AMB. AKINS: Well, there's certainly been moving against the people in South for some time since the end of the war. I don't know that anything is particularly worse now than it has been in the past. Planes are useful against the people who've taken refuge in the swamp. There's a large area in Southern Iraq that has always been used as a refuge for people fighting against the central governments.

MR. LEHRER: It's a marshland.

AMB. AKINS: It's a marshland.

MR. LEHRER: It's not easy for guerrillas to hide in.

AMB. AKINS: You can't bring tanks in or armored personnel carriers or anything else. You have to use aircraft. And presumably they have been used there. But as far as the rest of the South is concerned, I can't see what aircraft could be necessary. The people are being kept under control quite brutally by the army and by the Republican Guard. And the President just said that this hypothetical case really isn't -- they don't need the aircraft to keep the Southern population under control.

MR. LEHRER: So what are you saying then, Mr. Ambassador, that the actions that Saddam Hussein and his army and his people are taking against the Shiites do justify this coalition action or do not?

AMB. AKINS: I don't think it's terribly relevant. The action is certainly being taken against the people, but is the action that we are proposing going to stop his suppression of the people in the South? And I think it won't. Iraq is already --

MR. LEHRER: So it's a gesture? It's a symbolic thing, more than - -

AMB. AKINS: It's a symbol. Iraq has defied the U.N. proclamation, or our proclamation, which was to be expected. The question is now: Will they send aircraft South of the -- South of the 32nd Parallel? And I suspect that they won't, or perhaps they will just test the - - our reaction by flying South and then flying back North again? But they certainly aren't going to enter into a major confrontation with us, because they'll lose all of the aircraft. But they will continue the suppression of the people in the South with actually the ground forces they have there.

MR. LEHRER: Do you agree with that, Mr. Hakki, that -- that this is an irrelevant action by the United Nations, the United States and all the other parties?

MR. HAKKI: No. The fear that you find in Cairo or among the -- let's say the public opinion in Egypt is that one, that it may eventually lead to the partition of Iraq. This is a tremendous fear not only in Cairo, but in most other Arab countries, which somehow feel that they need an Iraq or a strong Iraq that will be a counter balance to Iran under any regime, preferably under a friendlier and more --

MR. LEHRER: Partition meaning that if we -- at the 32nd Parallel, it might eventually split off and become a Shiite nation?

MR. HAKKI: Right. And in the North would --

MR. LEHRER: A Suny nation.

MR. HAKKI: -- be Kurdistan.

MR. LEHRER: Kurdistan.

MR. HAKKI: That's a real fear. The other, of course, is that it is embarrassing for some of these governments to see that there is, you know, say Washington is concerned about the Shiites in Iraq. How about the Shiites in Lebanon, in South Lebanon, are you going to have a no-fly zone over the skies of South Lebanon, or how about Bosnia and Herzegovina, where America is actually telling the Europeans lay down, it's too complex, it's much too --

MR. LEHRER: Sure. Well you raised many questions, but just as a practical matter, the point that the ambassador raised, do you think it'll work? Do you think it'll stop the oppression of these people in the South?

MR. HAKKI: I don't think so. Ithink it's going to be a long drawn out problem.

MR. LEHRER: Mr. McNaugher, what do you think?

MR. McNAUGHER: It certainly isn't going to stop infantry, Iraqi infantry, from putting pressure on the Shiites, but I can't --

MR. LEHRER: Excuse me on that. What I read today -- correct me if what I read was wrong, here, whoever wrote it was wrong, that the estimates are now that Saddam Hussein has about 40,000 troops in there and there are about 10,000 guerrillas the folks that Amb. Akins and I were talking about a moment ago. Does that jive with your information?

MR. McNAUGHER: Yes. And I take it a thousand tanks, although I'm not sure how useful those are in the swamps. I can't help but think though that the ability of Iraqi infantry to call in a helicopter gunship, to call in fixed wing aircraft, and use that, you know, really increases their effectiveness. And taking that away from them makes it a more even battle on the ground than it was. Now, if there is a method by which Iraq is using armor, I think I could imagine and accept, and which we basically tell the Iraqis, okay, we've eliminated the aircraft there, but you've got to take your armor and your artillery perhaps back to the cities and get it out of the swamp areas. Those are targets that one can take on with air power. Beyond that, you know, there's a level at which combat can occur no matter what, and all you can say is that the playing field is a little more level when it's all done. So I don't think this is irrelevant militarily.

MR. LEHRER: What do you think, Mr. Dawisha?

MR. DAWISHA: You know, I agree with Tom that for starters, you are basically giving the rebels in the South more breathing space. There is not going to be the kind of pressure on them that there was before. I think, more importantly from my point of view, is that you are going to deny the South to President Hussein and his top people. This is a very important point, because you've got to understand what kind of system Iraq is. I mean, it's a very personalized system. It's not a one party system. It's not a military system. It's not a bureaucratic system. It's a system that evolves around the personage of Saddam Hussein. He rewards you if you play by the rules. He punishes you if you don't play by the rules.

MR. LEHRER: His rules?

MR. DAWISHA: His rules. And it's him. And he is the one who actually dispenses justice and gives rewards. A system like that needs this kind of personage to be very visible. He needs to be there. He needs to go to his people. He has to rally the troops. At the same time he has to put fear in their hearts if they do something that he does not like. And the fact that he is now probably almost certainly will be denied that kind of presence in the South will --

MR. LEHRER: Because he couldn't fly in there and his planes couldn't fly in there, you mean?

MR. DAWISHA: Of course.

MR. LEHRER: Yeah.

MR. DAWISHA: And he's not going to go by car. He always flies in there, and one of the things that we're doing is keeping the government guessing in the sense that are we there because we really want to protect the Shiites, or are we there trying to eliminate Saddam Hussein? So I don't think he's going to take the chance of going to the South as often as he did before. That, in itself, might certainly lead to a diminution in his status, in his stature, and he might give heart to the opposition, as well as might affect the resilience and the commitment of his own supporters in the South.

MR. LEHRER: Amb. Akins, what about Mr. Hakki's point about that this could lead to partition? President Bush, as we saw in the clip was asked about that, or he said that in his statement. He said that the United States was not interested in a partitioning of Iraq. What's your feeling though? Could this be a first step toward that, and, if so, is that good or bad?

AMB. AKINS: Well, I suppose it's possible.

MR. LEHRER: Sure.

AMB. AKINS: Anything's possible in the Middle East, but I think it's highly improbable. The people of the South are Arabs. They're not Persians. Their first loyalty is to Iraq, not to some greater Shiite body, and it's certainly not to Iran.

MR. LEHRER: Haven't they said that in many statements?

AMB. AKINS: They said that many times. In fact, one of the primary Shiite leaders, just not to Saudi Arabia, and convinced King Fahd of Saudi Arabia that they were not interested in the partitioning of Iraq. They wanted to be part of a free, liberal, democratic Iraq. I wish the President, by the way, instead of talking about new leaders had talked about new democratic leaders in the country but democracy is a word that we tend to avoid when we talk about the Middle East.

MR. LEHRER: Mr. McNaugher, what are the possible perils here for the United States and its allies? Just lay out a few worst case scenarios militarily.

MR. McNAUGHER: You mean in actually implementing --

MR. LEHRER: Yeah, exactly.

MR. McNAUGHER: -- just the no-fly zone?

MR. LEHRER: Right.

MR. McNAUGHER: You know, every military operation has some risks. This has to be the least risky kind of military confrontation you could tiptoe up to. The AWACS can see all through that region and it can pick up aircraft taking off.

MR. LEHRER: An AWACS is a big 747 kind of thing that flies around and it --

MR. McNAUGHER: Airborne -- like aircraft, whether it's the AWACS or the Navy's Hawkeye.

MR. LEHRER: Right.

MR. McNAUGHER: So we're going to see aircraft taking off and coming down toward the region. We can vector air patrols toward it. Some have speculated that perhaps they'll test the edges of this flying very quickly, deliver their ordinance in return, but, you know, it's not easy to pick up targets on the ground and actually do damage --

MR. LEHRER: You mean, the Iraqis might do that?

MR. McNAUGHER: And so I don't --

MR. LEHRER: How quickly could -- let's just play a game here for a moment. Let's say that the Iraqis do decide to do that. How quickly could the allies get a plane up to shoot it down?

MR. McNAUGHER: I assume that at least in the initial stages of this there will be an air patrol up, at least during daylight. The Iraqis I don't think will do anything it might anyway. So it will be a daylight combat air patrol, CAP. And so it's a matter of the AWACS seeing the aircraft coming in that direction, vectoring American or French or British aircraft over into that general vicinity, and the connection could be made very quickly. If there isn't any confrontation -- and I'm inclined to think that's a real possibility here -- then maybe the aircraft will just stay on the runway as our aircraft will just stay on the runways for awhile. But for the first period I should think we'd have a CAP up there in the air, ready to go.

MR. LEHRER: Mr. Hakki, from the Arab perspective, particularly in Cairo and Saudi Arabia, the countries that you are in particularly close contact with, is there a fear that Saddam Hussein may want to escalate this thing into a confrontation?

MR. HAKKI: There is. There is the fear that maybe -- what if his -- when he's cornered, how is he going to play the game in Washington? Is he going to be desperate and use some of the chemical warheads and maybe hit some, to create havoc, in other words, somewhere in the area, or is he going to wait, because somehow if he feels that this is unilaterally totaling him? How is he going to react? We cannot read his minds. But at least there is this sort of speculation about what can he do. There are a variety of things.

MR. LEHRER: Do you agree with Mr. Dawisha that the fact that this could lead to his falling is -- should be considered by him, or is that a realistic possibility?

MR. HAKKI: That's how he's read throughout the area. This is the first step towards --

MR. LEHRER: And that's what this is really all about?

MR. HAKKI: That's what it's all about.

MR. LEHRER: Yeah. Yeah. Do you agree with that, Mr. Ambassador?

AMB. AKINS: Yes, indeed. I hope it's successful.

MR. LEHRER: Well, I mean, but play that out, Mr. McNaugher.

MR. McNAUGHER: Yes. The world will be a nicer place surely with this man not a part of it, but, you know, what I worry about is that Americans in particular feel that Saddam's gone, let's go back and worry about schools and R&D in this country. The problem changes character when Saddam falls. In one extreme, you get another Saddam, Saddam Two. In the other extreme, you get nothing. You get the whole government in Baghdad unravels. It's a very personalized system, as he says, you know. It's not clear to me if Saddam falls a lot of other people don't just start to fall and the system comes unglued, and there you get Mr. Hakki's scenario of, you know, there's no center here, and what the peripheral groups do. Well, they set up their own states. So I don't make any predictions about this, except to say that this problem doesn't go away once Saddam falls and there's going to -- the U.N. resolutions we're talking about -- 687 and 688 -- do provide carrots and sticks for dealing with any regime that comes along in Iraq until we get an Iraq that we like. They're very crude. We could lose control of this situation, but we're going to need political support for a long-term interaction here with Iraq.

MR. LEHRER: Mr. Dawisha, just on the immediate question, what do you think the end result of this little exercise is going to be? Do you think this is going to escalate into another huge confrontation, or he'll lay low and let it go?

MR. DAWISHA: No. I think probably Saddam Hussein has learned from the lesson of January, March 1991. I don't think he's going to go out of his way to confront these forces. He is certain to lie low. By the way, you know, if I were you, I wouldn't put too much money on the demise of Saddam Hussein. I mean, this guy has proved --

MR. LEHRER: I'm just asking the questions. I thought about that because several of these men said when he goes.

MR. DAWISHA: Yeah. I'm not so sanguine about this notion. I think he has proved himself very, very resilient.

MR. LEHRER: If I had a nickel for every time I've asked the question on this program, how much longer will Saddam Hussein survive, I'd be a rich man.

MR. DAWISHA: A millionaire, indeed, yes.

MR. LEHRER: On that, gentlemen, we will leave it. Thank you very much.

MR. MacNeil: Still to come on the NewsHour tonight a look at the role of black churches in urban America, and essayist Penny Stallings on drive-in movies. FOCUS - RESURRECTION

MR. MacNeil: Next tonight, a new look at the traditional role black churches play in America's inner-cities. Historically, public officials have looked to the churches to help restore order in times of civil disobedience, as in the rioting that followed the Rodney King beating case in Los Angeles last April. But as Time Magazine's religion writer, Richard Ostling, reports, inner-city churches must be able to deal with troubling social and economic problems if they're to remain influential. He profiles a church in Baltimore with an ambitious outreach program.

MR. OSTLING: It's 8 AM Sunday morning in the inner-city of Baltimore. The Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is filled to overflowing for a service that runs well beyond two hours. The worshipers come not only to join the spirited singing, but to hear rousing sermons from the Reverend Frank Reid, III.

REV. FRANK M. REID, III: [delivering sermon] Our men are dying in the streets! There are more black men in prison than there are in college! Our women are looking for husbands, and those that have children are looking for their fathers! And we're powerless because we walk out of the presence of God!

MR. OSTLING: Bethel has a rich history. It grew out of the prayer circle that began even before the U.S. Constitution was written. It is affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal, or AME Church, the oldest American black organization of any kind. Since the time of slavery, churches have been the central institutions in black culture. They provide fellowship, leadership, education, charity, and most important, spiritual inspiration. Despite this heritage, the black church is in jeopardy. Eminent religion scholar C. Eric Lincoln of Duke University.

C. ERIC LINCOLN, Sociologist: The church was an aspect of existence that was central to the whole black concept of personhood. Now, we have at least two generations of blacks who have had no nurture in the church, none whatever, persons for whom the black church is either non-existent or irrelevant.

MR. OSTLING: The gradual decline of the church began when blacks migrated to the cities, away from the rural South, where the church had been all important. Urban communities aren't as close-knit. There are many distractions, especially for younger blacks. Those in the growing under class see the church as an alien bastian of middle class respectability. But at Baltimore's Bethel Church, membership has grown tenfold since the 1970s, making it the biggest AME contribution, with more than 7,000 members. And the average age is getting younger by the year, partly because Bethel is doing what churches must do to prosper, according to Baltimore's Mayor, Kurt Schmoke.

MAYOR KURT SCHMOKE, Baltimore, Maryland: I just think that all of our churches, and particularly the African American church has to reach out beyond its walls. It can't simply say we are here and come. I mean, it's not like a baseball stadium, where you build it and they all come. That just doesn't work anymore. For the church, they have to go out and let people know that what they're preaching is relevant to the day-to-day problems of a broad range of age groups and economic classes in our city.

MR. OSTLING: Bethel's outreach ministry addresses many needs in the community, helping some 20,000 clients a year.

SPOKESPERSON: [clothing center] And the stretch pants here right now are in groups of 20 so you can break that down.

MR. OSTLING: There's free clothing and food for the needy. Bethel also sponsors a drop-in center where teenage parents, many of them unmarried, get practical training and support.

WOMAN: [in group session] And I just want to ask you all to pray for my daughters that they will be released from the substance abuse, that God will bless them, and that he will lift them above their addiction that they suffer from.

MR. OSTLING: This weekly meeting provides hope and spiritual sustenance for drug abusers and their families and friends. The church also runs an elementary school [Alfonso A. McLaren Academy of Learning], classes where high school dropouts earn diplomas, a credit union, a soup kitchen, a ministry in state prisons, and projects for the homeless and AIDS patients. Over half of Bethel's annual budget of nearly $3 million goes to social outreach. Bethel also draws on the black church tradition of political activism and gives it a new militancy.

REV. FRANK M. REID, III: [delivering sermon] And I stand before you today to say that Rodney King is just a symptom of 400 years of racism and 400 years of sexism, and 400 years of economic inequality!

MR. OSTLING: Reid, a Harvard Divinity School graduate, preaches urgently on political topics, as he did in this sermon the Sunday after the Los Angeles riots. It was carried nationwide on Black Entertainment Television.

REV. REID: America needs to ask mercy for 10 million Africans whose bones are at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean! America needs to ask God to have mercy on the black women that were raped and the black men that were castrated! America needs to ask God to have mercy for taking money out of the mouths of children -- while giving money to major corporations! America needs to ask God to have mercy!

MR. OSTLING: Reid thinks that only dynamic church activism can counter the destructive forces that surround the black community.

REV. REID: God, I believe, is telling the black church it's time to wake up. We've got more black mayors than we've ever had. We've got many black congressmen. They have a black woman in the Senate if everything goes right in November, but what difference will that make to the majority of African Americans if something is not done to stop the violence, the unemployment, and to stop the violent behavior that is decimating our communities. We're in the valley of the dry bones all over again, and the question that a community is asking the black church is, can these dry bones live?

MR. OSTLING: The Bethel AME Church touches the lives of thousands of people each week, but it also has a broader role. The creative blend of elements in this ministry holds promise for giving new vitality to the black church across the country.

REV. REID: I'm going to ask all of the men who are present today to please stand, all of the men who are at church today, all of the men. Look at all of these men at church today. Brothers, give yourself a big hand. [clapping] Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.

MR. OSTLING: Every Sunday at Bethel, all the men stand for special recognition. It's part of Reid's major strategy to get men back into church. Over the years they have drifted away from most congregations, leaving women as the mainstay. The lack of men is one of the church's most pressing problems. At Bethel, men now make up nearly half of those that worship. In addition, hundreds now attend Reid's Monday night class where men freely discuss their concerns.

REV. REID: What things should we be mourning right now? Yes, sir.

MAN: What I mourn more than anything else is the loss of respect, and then I begin to list the, loss of the respect for human life, loss of respect for our black women, loss of respect for our black children.

REV. REID: The brother's saying something very deep. The reason there is the loss of respect for life is that nobody has taught especially our young African American men how to deal with their angerand so they're angry at the loss of daddy. Why ain't daddy here? A lot of the disrespect of women is because deep down inside many of them blame the mother for the daddy not being there. There's a great deal of anger in our community. Anger will make you not only kill other folk; it'll make you become a substance abuser. All right. Why? Because if you're angry over something and you don't even really know you're angry, that anger will become like a cancer and destroy you.

MR. OSTLING: The next step for the men is to move out into the surrounding neighborhood to get to know the people and offer help.

REV. REID: We don't want to keep this movement just within the church, just within, for lack of a better term, middle class African American males, or those who want to be middle class, because there's a very deep distrust in most African American poor communities, inner-city communities, if you will, of the black church for whatever reason.

SPOKESMAN: [praying] We thank you for allowing the brothers to join here at Bethel Church this morning.

MR. OSTLING: Before every Sunday's service a group of men gathers for fellowship. They're involved in the public safety ministry which provides security for people attending worship in this high crime area. The idea was borrowed from the black Muslims, but Bethel bases its programs on the teachings of Jesus.

YUSEF KENYA: I love God because He has shown me a different way to love my brothers that I'm here with today. He has also given me the strength to complete things that I've gone forward with, like high school, and going on to college.

MICHAEL BRITTON: I love God because He saved and delivered me and has brought me from way out in the mud to be the person that I am now.

MR. OSTLING: This ministry gives men a visible presence in the Church and offers them the military sense of discipline and pride. The men take training in the Bible and in self-defense. Participants also wake before dawn each morning and phone one another to join in prayer and Bible studies. Even young members say they appreciate the discipline of early morning Bible studies.

AJENE ATKINS: To begin, it's hard, but once you, you know, after a week or two you just get used to hearing that phone ring at 4 o'clock in the morning and you just know who it is and you know what they're going to say.

TERENCE WILLIAMS: You look forward to it after a while because it's like I can almost wake up automatically now at 4:30 and I look forward to it.

REV. REID: Let us stand and greet our visitors and one another with a holy hug as we sing "My Hands Are Blessed with the Blessings of the Lord."

MR. OSTLING: The most powerful aspect of life at Bethel, the one that energizes every other activity, is worship. The services unite Afrocentric traditions, such as this greeting song, with the enthusiasm of the pentecostal or charismatic movement. Worshipers hug, applaud, sway, shout, and sing. New pentecostalism is spreading to churches in other cities, but critics complain that this worship style violates the AME Church's long emphasis on order and decorum. C. Eric Lincoln argues that the black notion of respectability is changing.

C. ERIC LINCOLN: Part of the history of the early black church was a history of trying real hard to be a black white church. There isn't much interest in that around these days. And this is part of what the charismatic movement is all about. The African American Church goer has come increasingly to understand that he has African American, that there are certain cultural artifacts that apply to him, that he doesn't need to be ashamed of them, but rather that he should go to them for the strength they provide.

MR. OSTLING: This bold mural at Bethel depicts the struggle from slavery and depression, upward to hope and liberation, symbolized by a child and the cross. Bethel believes its mission today is nothing less than defeating new forms of slavery. If Bethel is right, only a powerful combination of social and spiritual radicalism will save the black church and the inner-cities of America. ESSAY - TWILIGHT MEMORIES

MR. LEHRER: Finally tonight, essayist Penny Stallings recalls drive-in movies on summer nights.

PENNY STALLINGS: Slowly, imperceptibly, the days are growing shorter. Summer seems barely to have arrived and yet there are signs that it will soon fade and along with it, one of the season's great outdoor pleasures, the drive-in movie, that old friend with the rows of lantern-lit pathways and the two-story high screen, that place where you spent countless double features curled up in your pajamas in the back of the family station wagon. But those days are just a memory. If you've taken your kids to your old favorite recently, you probably found that it was gone, its field of speakers uprooted by a condo development. California is one of the few states that still remains faithful to the drive-in. Around 150 outdoor screens still dot its majestic landscape. But even here, its numbers are dwindling, and the prediction is that it will disappear entirely within the next few years. Nowadays, drive-ins are something of an anachronisms, but there was a time when America had an all out love affair with them. The first drive-in was erected in 1933 on a car lot in Camden, New Jersey, by a car part salesman. But the new fangled idea didn't really explode until the years following World War II, the car crazed, gas soaked fifties. By 1952, there were 15 million more cars on the road, and the drive-in had become the standard bearer of America's burgeoning drive-in culture that would come to include restaurants, banks, even churches and cemeteries. Going to the drive-in was usually a family affair. Mom and dad and the kids piled into the car and set off to watch John Wayne win the West under the stars. Of course, drive-ins also had a slightly racy reputation as passion pits, a place where dates, especially teenagers, went to do everything but watch what was up there on the screen. Despite their special allure, attendance began to fall off in the sixties. Exhibitors, excluded from renting first-run features, turned instead to exploitation films, biker movies, Kung Fu epics, and blood, guts, and gore freak-outs like the "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and "Night of the Living Dead." But they weren't enough. Eventually, drive-in owners had to face the fact that fewer families were out cruising for a cheap evening's fun. And then too there were those big fancy multiplexes with their dozens of screens that kept popping up at every shopping mall, not that the big guys haven't had their own troubles. Faced with the assault of VCRs and cable, they too have had to face the very real possibility that the movie theaters of the future might eventually end up in America's living rooms. And yet, there's something about the drive-in that's still stubbornly in the American psyche. Forlorn as they may have become, they still embody the way America likes to think of itself as a place of endless resources, of unlimited space and opportunity. The drive- in conjures up images of a time when the family that played together, stayed together, when the automobile, rather than being a consumer of resources, a despoiler of the environment, was that freedom machine that could take you anywhere you wanted to be, and a time when movies were so grand they could be framed by the sky. I'm Penny Stallings. RECAP

MR. MacNeil: Again, the main stories of this Wednesday, Hurricane Andrew plowed through Louisiana, weakening as it moved inland. One person died in a tornado spawned by the storm, bringing the death toll to at least 19. Authorities in Florida struggled to get food and water to Hurricane victims there, including an estimated 180,000 people left homeless by the storm. The U.S. and its allies declared a no-fly zone in Southern Iraq to protect the country's Shiite population from attack. Iraq denounced the move and said it would ignore the ultimatum. Good night, Jim.

MR. LEHRER: Good night, Robin. We'll see you tomorrow night. I'm Jim Lehrer. Thank you and good night.