The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

MARGARET WARNER: Good evening. I`m Margaret Warner. Jim Lehrer is off today. On the NewsHour tonight, a summary of today`s news, the President`s Memorial Day in Normandy, rising tensions between India and Pakistan, decision day for a group of high school scientists, a unique media exchange, and a Roger Rosenblatt holiday essay.

NEWS SUMMARY

MARGARET WARNER: President Bush marked this Memorial Day overseas at the scene of the D-Day invasion in World War H. He spoke at the vast cemetery in Normandy, France, above Omaha Beach, where American GIs stormed ashore on June 6, 1944. The President linked their sacrifice with those killed in the Afghanistan campaign, and he said, "the day will never come when America forgets them." We`ll have more on this in just a moment. In this country, Memorial Day included tributes to the victims of September 11. At Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz remembered those killed at the Pentagon that day, and the 38 Americans who`ve died in the Afghan war. In western Pennsylvania, scores of people visited the crash site of United Airlines flight 93. It`s believed passengers fought with the hijackers to keep the plane from striking a target in Washington. Rescue crews recovered a fourth body from the water today after a bridge collapse in eastern Oklahoma. It happened Sunday near Webbers Falls, where Interstate 40 crosses the Arkansas River. A 500-foot section of the bridge caved in when a barge rammed it. At least 12 vehicles plunged into the river, and authorities believe at least eight bodies may still be underwater. A witness said today the drivers on the bridge had no warning.

NORMAN BARTON: The most horrifying part of the whole ordeal was the vehicles that had no idea the bridge was gone. You know, we watched them hit the bridge, you know, a half mile away and never slow down - you know 70 and 75 miles an hour and just airborne - just an unbelievable, horrifying sight.

MARGARET WARNER: The National Transportation Safety Board is now investigating why the tugboat pushing the barges ran them into the bridge. A spokesman for the tugboat company said it appeared the pilot was incapacitated.

JOEL HENDERSON: Magnolia Marine Transport Co.: He was out of the navigation channel. Apparently he blacked out and at that point in time, the vessel was on course that if the pilot were there, he would make the appropriate corrections to take the tow through the navigation span but it did not. It stayed on the same course and apparently moving at about what`s estimated at about 5 miles per hour with two empty barges, that it hit the spans, the side spans of the bridge.

MARGARET WARNER: Officials said they hope to reopen the river to commercial traffic soon, but the bridge could take six months to repair. In the meantime, drivers on this major East-West route will have to detour up to 60 miles. Another suicide bombing in Israel today- this time in a shopping mall near Tel Aviv. Two Israelis were killed. The dead were a woman and her two-year-old daughter. Some 20 others were wounded, including several infants. Responsibility was claimed by the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militia linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat`s Fatah movement. Earlier, Israeli forces moved into Bethlehem and nearby towns on the West Bank. It was the second incursion there in two weeks. Pakistan`s President Musharraf promised today not to start a war with India. But in a televised speech, he added, "we are not the sort of people who will be cowed by our enemies." The two nuclear-armed nations are confronting each other in the disputed region of Kashmir. Musharraf condemned guerilla attacks launched against India by Kashmiri militants, but he said Pakistan will continue to support what he called the "freedom struggle" in Kashmir. We`ll have more on this later in the program. Colombia`s new President-elect vowed today to bring security to all Colombians. Alvaro Uribe was elected Sunday. He ran on a law-and-order platform, pledging to co at leftist rebels and their long- running insurrection. His predecessor tried to negotiate peace with the rebels, but failed. Washington is considering increased military aid for Colombia to fight the rebels as well as drug traffickers. Uribe promised today to maintain strong ties with the U.S. That`s it for the News Summary tonight. Now it`s on to Memorial Day in Normandy, India and Pakistan at the brink, a high stakes science fair, reporters trading places, and a holiday essay.

FOCUS - REMEMBERING SACRIFICE

MARGARET WARNER: Wars past and present were part of the President`s Memorial Day in France. Ray Suarez has that.

RAY SUAREZ: This morning, President Bush and French President Jacques Chirac strolled through the first French village liberated by American soldiers on D-Day, 58 years ago. The two men attended church in the town of Sainte-Mere-L`Eglise to honor those who lost their lives during the invasion at Normandy, and as he would throughout the rest of the day in France, the President recalled American losses in recent months in central Asia.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: We are here to pay tribute to those who sacrificed for freedom- both Americans and the French. It is fitting that we remember those who sacrificed because today we defend our freedoms. We defend our freedoms against people who cannot stand freedom.

PRESIDENT JACQUES CHIRAC (Translated): Mr. President, France knows the debt it owes to the U.S.A. In this part of the country so steeped in history, I offer you my thanks; my thanks for the many soldiers who spilled their blood in a country that was not their own; my thanks for all those who came and endangered their lives to defend values dear to both our nations: Peace, liberty, democracy, human dignity, tolerance and respect for others.

RAY SUAREZ: Then Mr. Bush spoke at the Normandy American cemetery, home to the graves of more than 9,000 Americans killed in World War II. The cemetery overlooks Omaha Beach in northwestern France, the site of some of the heaviest casualties on D-Day.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: We have gathered on this quiet corner of France as the sun rises on Memorial Day in the United States of America. This is a day our country has set apart to remember what was gained in our wars and all that was lost. Our wars have won for us every hour we live in freedom. Our wars have taken from us the men and women we honor today and every hour of the lifetimes they had hoped to live. Each person buried here understood his duty, but also dreamed of going back home to the people and the things he knew. Each had plans and hopes of his own and parted with him forever when he died. The day will come when no one is left who knew them, when no visitor to this cemetery can stand before a grave remembering a face and a voice. The day will never come when America forgets them. Our nation and the world will always remember what they did here and what they gave here for the future of humanity. On Memorial Day, America honors her own. Yet we also remember all of the valiant young men and women from many allied nations, including France, who shared in the struggle here and in the suffering. We remember the men and women who served and died alongside Americans in so many terrible battles on this continent and beyond. Words can only go so far in capturing the grief and sense of loss for the families of those who died in all our wars. For some military families in America and in Europe, the grief is recent, with the losses we have suffered in Afghanistan. They can know, however, that the cause is just. And like other generations, these sacrifices have spared many others from tyranny and sorrow. Our security is still bound up together in a transatlantic alliance, with soldiers in many uniforms defending the world from terrorists at this very hour. The grave markers here all face west, across an ageless and indifferent ocean to the country these men and women served and loved.

RAY SUAREZ: After the speeches, the President laid a wreath at the memorial. And there was a 21-gun salute and a military fly-over. Late today, Mr. Bush flew to Rome where he will participate in a NATO-Russian meeting and have an audience with Pope John Paul H tomorrow.

FOCUS - CONFRONTATION

MARGARET WARNER: Now, the confrontation between India and Pakistan. Pakistan`s President today tried to defuse the tense situation, which centers on the disputed territory of Kashmir. The two countries have massed a million soldiers along their common border there since last December, when Kashmiri militants attacked the Indian parliament. Tensions have risen further over the last ten days. Islamic militants attacked an Indian army camp in Kashmir, and a Kashmiri leader was murdered, as we hear in these reports from Independent Television News.

LINDSEY HILSUM: Abdul Gani Lone was about to address the crowd from the platform when two men shot him. Chaos and panic ensued. An eyewitness shouts, "The masked men came and started firing." In fact, it was two men dressed in police uniforms who killed Mr. Lone. Another threw a grenade, which failed to explode. The killing is sure to raise tension in the region even higher. (Women screaming) Desperate relatives. Lone`s body was laid out at his house. He was a moderate separatist who only yesterday suggested he`d be willing to talk to India. But he`d been threatened by both Hindu nationalists and Islamic militants. Since 1998, when India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons, the Kashmir crisis has become the most potentially dangerous in the world. Estimates of how many warheads each side possesses vary. The Americans say Pakistan has about 25, but others put it as high as 150; while India is believed to have between 60 and 250. Both countries could deliver these from aircraft or possibly medium-range missiles.

KRISHNAN GURU MURTHY: Tens of thousands of Kashmiris went to the funeral today of Abdul Gani Lone. These people want independence from India, and Lone was a moderate politician who wanted to negotiate. There`s still no indication of whether he was assassinated yesterday by hardliners on his own side, or by Indian nationalists. At the same time, the Indian Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was in Kashmir to rally his troops along the disputed border with Pakistan. Repeating his accusations that Pakistan is helping Kashmiri militant separatists wage war and terror on India, the rhetoric is now more intense than at any time in the last decade.

ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE: Prime Minister, India (Translated): It`s time for a decisive battle. My coming here is a signal. Whether Pakistan understands that signal or not, whether the world keeps a record of this or not, our history will be witness to this, and we will write a new chapter of our victory.

KRISHNAN GURU MURTHY: While Pakistani troops remain on high alert at the border, India refuses to talk to Pakistan. Despite both sides having nuclear deterrents, there is not hotline from Delhi to Islamabad.

IAN WILLIAMS: Pakistan and India do routinely test their missiles, but with the two sides seemingly on the brink of war, these are hardly routine times. Islamabad`s missile arsenal is thought capable of carrying nuclear warheads. India was informed about this weekend`s tests, which Islamabad says are routine, technical and not linked to the border tension. India, which tested its own missiles in January, isn`t buying that.

NIRUPAMA RAO: Indian Foreign Ministry: The government of India is not particularly impressed by these missile antics clearly targeted at the domestic audience in Pakistan.

NISAR MEMON: Information Minister, Pakistan: It has absolutely nothing to do with the present situation, and as you know, Pakistan has always wanted peace. We continue to work for peace, and in this regard, we believe that this could be our readiness for deterrence. That`s all it is.

LINDSEY HILSUM: Pakistani troops still poised for action, and General Musharaff said nothing today to suggest he`ll be pulling them back. He repeated the message that militants wouldn`t be allowed to cross into Indian-controlled Kashmir, but the Indians know many are inside already, and he was blunt in his defense of the Kashmiri cause.

PRESIDENT PERVEZ MUSHARRAF: Pakistan (Translated): I also want to tell the world and give the assurance that no infiltration is taking place across the line of control. But I want to make one thing quite clear: A liberation movement is going on in occupied Kashmir, and Pakistan cannot be held responsible for any action against Indian tyranny and repression.

LINDSEY HILSUM: But words of comfort in English for international consumption.

PRESIDENT PERVEZ MUSHARRAF: Pakistan does not want war. Pakistan will not be the one to initiate war. We want peace in the region.

LINDSEY HILSUM: And the rather stronger words in Urdu to the domestic audience.

PRESIDENT PERVEZ MUSHARRAF (Translated): The entire nation is with the armed forces and we`ll shed the last drop of their blood, but would not allow any harm to come to the motherland.

LINDSEY HILSUM: A village on the Pakistani side was hit by Indian shelling last night. The Indian government says it will give an official response to the speech tomorrow.

MARGARET WARNER: For more on the India-Pakistan standoff, we turn to: Robert Oakley, former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan during the first Bush administration. He`s now a visiting fellow at the National Defense University in Washington; and Teresita Schaffer, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State during the Clinton administration, and a former ambassador to Sri Lanka. She now directs the South Asia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Welcome to you both.

MARGARET WARNER: Ambassador Schaffer, we`ve seen there have been some 200 soldiers either killed or wounded in the last ten days alone. How high would you rate the risk of war right now?

TERESITA SCHAFFER: I think both India and Pakistan have been looking for a way of buying time so that in the immediate future I think there`s a good chance that we`ll manage to avoid it. But the most likely provocation is one that`s not really under the control of either side. If you have another couple of murderous incidents in India or in Kashmir, then I think the chances of some kind of significant military action would be very high.

MARGARET WARNER: How do you see it?

ROBERT OAKLEY: I think that`s right. I think "Tesi" is right also, that there are groups operating that used to have very tight connections with Pakistan but those connections have become much looser, if you will, and the Pakistanis are operating against Pakistan`s interest. They would like to provoke a war between India and Pakistan because it will relieve the pressure upon al-Qaida and Taliban and upon some of these radical Islamic movements inside Pakistan.

MARGARET WARNER: And so you`re saying, Ambassador Schaffer, that - just picking up on that - that the likely scenario would be another murderous attack or two in which case what - India would feel it had or would go in against militant bases in the Pakistan part of Kashmir?

TERESITA SCHAFFER: In which case India would feel it had to do something. That brings you to the question of what military options they have. The kind of scenario you suggest is probably the most likely. I think we can assume that India would try to develop an option that, in its judgment, minimized the risk of a nuclear response. But when you game out, even the kind of self-limiting options that you`ve talked about, they don`t necessarily stay limited because Pakistan would respond and with each round the stakes of the different leaders involved get higher.

MARGARET WARNER: And India, of course, Ambassador Oakley, has far greater superiority in conventional forces. Is that right?

ROBERT OAKLEY: Yes.

MARGARET WARNER: The assumption or the fear is Pakistan would feel it had to go nuclear?

ROBERT OAKLEY: Not unless I think Pakistan were in very, very severe danger maybe of being cut in half or a major city like Lahore was on the verge of falling. I think they would certainly themselves try to limit this because they don`t want to fight a nuclear war any more than the Indians do. They`re fully aware of the dangers. On the other hand, as "Tesi" said, there is plenty of room for miscalculation. The communications and the understandings between Pakistan and India are far from what they were in the United States and the Soviet Union later on. They`re rather like what they were at the time of the Cuban Missile crisis, where there was plenty of room for error.

MARGARET WARNER: So Ambassador Schaffer, today Musharraf said he`s stopped all the incursions going into Kashmir over the border into the India- controlled portion. India says that`s not true. Who is right?

TERESITA SCHAFFER: I think it`s too early to say. If he has taken action now to stop infiltration, I think it`s probably going to be a few weeks before it`s clear how far- reaching that action is and how long it`s going to last.

MARGARET WARNER: But he did actually say this last week in an interview with the "Washington Post." And he says he told Colin Powell a week earlier. Is there any sign that the incursions have abated?

TERESITA SCHAFFER: There`s nothing that I can particularly point to, but my real point is he made very similar statements in January. He wasn`t quite as categorical about saying that nothing is going on. At that point, he clearly did take some action against the militant groups that are believed to be responsible for most of this business. But the action wasn`t as far reaching or as long lasting as we had hoped at the time and certainly not as dramatic as the Indians had hoped. And the real question is there: How far is he prepared to go? And how long is it likely to last?

MARGARET WARNER: Answer that question. How far is he prepared to go? How long does it last and what`s really his game here? Does he really want to stop these militants?

ROBERT OAKLEY: Well, he understands that these militants are out after him - just like they`re out after Indians in Kashmir, if you will. And this is something that`s been built up over, what -- at least twelve or thirteen years in Kashmir. And the first militants started moving out of Afghanistan into Kashmir, bring their Islamic Jihad with them - with certainly the support of the Pakistanis. So it takes a while to ratchet this thing down just does it with border infiltration. And I think ultimately if he feels there will be a political response from India in terms of dealing with the issue of Kashmir and two or three times Musharraf and Vajpayee have come close to doing something like this, each time something has stepped in to spoil it, usually some of these militant groups - then that would buy a longer period of tranquillity, if you will.

MARGARET WARNER: He did say today and he said before, Ambassador, that he wants to see reciprocation from India, like direct dialogue, like maybe a redeployment of some of the Indian troops in Kashmir away from the villages. Is he likely to get that from India?

TERESITA SCHAFFER: I think India is going to want to wait before taking any action to make sure that whatever he does is serious. If it is serious, however, I think it will be quite important that India begin to respond because that`s how you can get a serious policy change to be sustained. But I think there`s another point that`s important to make. There`s two arenas in which the militants have been active: domestically within Pakistan and in Kashmir. This is leaving out the whole Afghanistan side of it. It`s been quite clear for a long time that Musharraf really would like to close down their domestic activities and that his efforts to do so are actually quite popular. Closing down things like drive- by shootings at mosques has a lot of resonance in Pakistan. The difficulty is that the people with a sectarian agenda in many cases kind of overlap with those whose principle agenda is in Kashmir. And it`s not clear whether you can tackle just half of that problem. I think this is something Musharraf is probably just coming to terms with.

ROBERT OAKLEY: Well, he has the third front, which is the al-Qaida and Taliban - these organizations inside Pakistan, which were used with the support of the United States and others to carry the war to the Russians and to use Islam as a generator of still more will to fight, if you will, have come back now and having started to operate in Kashmir but they also are very, very deeply roots inside Islamic organizations in Pakistan, They`re the ones who are probably behind the blowing up of the bus with the French contractors and killing Danny Pearl and putting a bomb into the church. They`re out after Musharraf as well as out after Shia, if you will. He knows he has to come to grips with this. So he`s really fighting a war on three fronts, which is not easy.

MARGARET WARNER: How much pressure is Vajpayee, the prime minister of India, under to do something militarily?

TERESITA SCHAFFER: He is under severe pressure. The anti-Muslim riots that took place in Gudrat, in western India a couple of months ago clearly made his government look bad and his party look worse because it`s his party that is in control of the state government there. The right wing of the nationalist movement has always been Vajpayee`s political Achilles heel and the biggest source of pressure but what you have now have is a situation where Ba`ath leaders have domestic pressures on them, leading them to want to talk tough. You notice that in President Musharraf`s speech, I didn`t go through it and count the lines but there was certainly as much tough talk as there was emphasis on "there`s nothing happening now across the line of control."

MARGARET WARNER: All right. So that raises U.S. stakes here and the U.S. role here. President Bush this weekend had some tough words for Musharraf about stopping the incursions but Ambassador Oakley, do you think... how much impact or influence do you think the U.S. has here and how can it get the two sides to stand down?

ROBERT OAKLEY: I think we have a lot of influence but, as "Tesi" said, we`re going to have to use it on both sides. It`s a question of timing. The Pakistanis have got to crack down much harder than they have so far on infiltration, which is the most visible sign of what they`re doing vis-a- vis Kashmir, unless someone can come up with hard proof that links them to some of these terrorists acts, which I think is not there, because I think it`s as much against Pakistan as it is against India. But the next thing you have to worry about is dealing later on with the Indian side, as "Tesi" says, and get some kind of response there so you can get a process underway. But this is going to take a lot of time - first to satisfy the Indians and the rest of the world about the question of infiltration and then to begin to deal with the other problem. Remember, the Indians have elections coming up and so does Pakistan, so I wouldn`t say that you are going to have any serious dialogue until late in the year.

MARGARET WARNER: Your view of the U.S. prospects here and how the U.S. is going about it. Rich Armitage, the Deputy Secretary of State, is going there I think in early June.

TERESITA SCHAFFER: The fascinating thing is that the U.S. has good relations with both India and Pakistan to a degree that I think is unprecedented. And the other remarkable thing is that at least since the attack on the Indian parliament last December, India`s build-up of troops and India`s push on Pakistan has clearly been aimed at getting the United States involved. India sees the U.S. as a source of pressure on Pakistan, as it undoubtedly will be. I think they`re sophisticated enough to know that that doesn`t come without a price. Mr. Armitage`s trip to the region, I think, is going to be a good thing. I wish that it could happen more quickly. But the really important thing is that having got actively involved, I think the United States needs to stay that way and not drop out when things look as if the temperature has dropped by a few degrees.

MARGARET WARNER: How much time do you think the United States has and other outside diplomats to try to work this?

ROBERT OAKLEY: Oh, I think, as "Tesi" said, I think the intense pressure is now reduced somewhat. And I think that Indians certainly will sit back and watch and wait to see whether Musharraf makes good upon this speech and responds to the pressures and the appeals from the United States from Russia, from Britain, from France. And if so, they`re going to be under terrible pressure to begin to do something serious about Kashmir. This is going to take time. So I would say that assuming you that you do get a significant reduction in cross-border operations, infiltration, that the time will be there.

MARGARET WARNER: Ambassador Oakley, Ambassador Schaffer, thank you both.

SERIES - YOUNG SCIENTISTS

MARGARET WARNER: Still to come on the NewsHour tonight, a high stakes science fair, two journalists take a new look at the world, and a Memorial Day essay.

MARGARET WARNER: John Merrow, our special correspondent on education, has a final look in his series on high school science students competing in something called ISEF, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

JOHN MERROW: You can see the tension on the faces here. You can feel the crowd`s anticipation. Their wait is almost over. These young scientists are about to find out if they are winners in the largest pre-collegiate science fair in the world, a six-day competition known as ISEF. For most of these students, the journey to Louisville, Kentucky, where the 53rd annual ISEF competition is being held, began at least a year ago, when they decided on research projects, found adult mentors to assist them, did the research, wrote up their findings, and then won regional competitions. We`ve been following students from two high schools: Plainview Old Bethpage High on Long Island, and Townsend Harris high in Queens, New York City. Sophia Bajwa and Angela Nguyen, two seniors at Townsend Harris, teamed up to study the biophysical properties of proteins. They won two regional competitions in February and March, earning a trip to Louisville. Mandeep Virdi, a junior at Plainview Old Bethpage, finished a close second in the Long Island finals, with a project focusing on minimizing the side effects of cancer-fighting drugs. But then her science teacher called: The winner in her category had become ill.

SPOKESMAN: Now, you`re all set up and ready for inspection?

MANDEEP VIRDI, ISEF Finalist: Yes. I didn`t realize it would be this big. There are so many projects around here. It`s really amazing how many people are really here.

SPOKESPERSON: You`re Sophia and Angela? Hi, I`m Mrs. Krieger from the Long Island Science and Engineering Fair. Hi.

SPOKESPERSON: How are you?

JOHN MERROW: Mandeep, Sophia, and Angela met for the first time in Louisville. They were accompanied by their teachers, Melanie Krieger and Susan Brewstein. Both teachers had advice for the young scientists.

MELANIE KRIEGER: Have a really great time, because these judges are like no other judges in the world. These are so exciting.

SUSAN BRUSTETN: They need to go in knowing that the reward is not winning, and that they can`t expect to win. And if they win, that`s just fabulous. But it`s not the only goal.

JOHN MERROW: Before the hard questions began, the students had two days to get to know each other.

SINGING: I`ve learned how to care...

JOHN MERROW: The six-day competition included entertainment and time for socializing.

SINGING: I`m crazy about my baby baby`s crazy about me.

JOHN MERROW: Deeper bonds were being forged, and appreciation of differences and discovery of similarities.

SHRADDHA TELI, ISEF Finalist: I`m from India, and I`ve met a Pakistani. And we went, "hey, we`re from the same blood." And it was like, "yeah." There`s really a nice sense of unity among everyone.

JOHN MERROW: The competition itself took two days. Science Service, which runs ISEF, recruits over 1,000 scientists, professors, doctors, and other professionals to evaluate the students` research. First, the judges inspected the exhibits with no students present.

WILLIAM OLIVER: University of Western Kentucky: I`ve been around looking at some of the displays last night, some of the setups, and I`m just overwhelmed at the quality I`ve of them; they`re college-level work.

JOHN MERROW: William Oliver is chair of the department of chemistry at Northern Kentucky University.

WILLIAM OLIVER: If I was just looking at the displays on their own, there`s no way I could distinguish the best from the second best and third, et cetera. A lot will depend on the interviews.

JOHN MERROW: Also on hand was Leon Lederman, who won the Nobel Prize for his work in physics.

LEON LEDERMAN: Nobel Laureate: Kids are born scientists. A scientist is someone who asks questions, and kids ask questions. I mean, answering the question is much easier than asking the right question. What you need is those embers of curiosity. You blow on them, get them hotter and hotter, until finally it erupts into a flame of, as you said, passionate interest in the world, and... you know, I`m interested in this personally, because one of those kids somewhere is going to find a cure for senility, and I`m in a hurry, you know. (Laughs)

SPOKESMAN: Take your time, take your time.

JOHN MERROW: At noon on the next day, students rush to their boards, ready for five hours of judging. Angela, Sophia, and Mandeep were judged seven times.

STUDENT: As they went on, it was kind of, okay, you kind of said to yourself, "don`t worry, things will be all right."

STUDENT: It helps you understand your own research more, because you have to explain it to somebody else.

STUDENT: You`re speaking freehand and you`re explaining your project, and they are familiar with your project. They have judged it last night on their own.

STUDENT: So, for that purpose, we created this machine with it, and...

JOHN MERROW: These students have had opportunities in school that most students do not get. They`ve been encouraged to work the way scientists do: Dig deeply into subjects, follow their curiosity. More students need opportunities like that in the view of Nobel Prize winner Leon Lederman.

LEON LEDERMAN: If we don`t fix our science and math educational system, the nation is really in deep trouble.

JOHN MERROW: Lederman pulls no punches when analyzing science education.

LEON LEDERMAN: Anybody who objectively looks at the state of science education in this country comes out with the same conclusion. We`ve been surviving on immigration, but that`s not going to last, because country after country is beginning to get wise and try to keep their scientists from fleeing to greener pastures. We can`t depend on them.

JOHN MERROW: To fix the system, Lederman says start early.

LEON LEDERMAN: Two years before kindergarten, and then continue that, because you want to make use of the fact that these kids are scientists. And cognition scientists tell us that kids are ready to learn science at a very early age.

JOHN MERROW: Finally, it was time to find out who would win.

SPOKESMAN: This is the World Series, this is the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the World Cup all into one, and you are here. So congratulations to each and every one of you. (Cheers and applause)

JOHN MERROW: In all, 900 awards were presented, including three $50,000 scholarships: To Alexander Middle, for a computer science project; Naveen Sinhoff for Physics; and Nina Vasa, who won the top award for her research in learning with pictures instead of words. Although Mandeep, Angela, and Sophia did not win any awards, that did not change their feeling about the experience.

SOFIA BAJWA, ISEF Finalist: It hurts, but there`s only so much you can ask for. And I think just being here, I felt reluctant.

ANGELA NGUYEN, ISEF Finalist: It`s great competing with people from all over the world. We got to meet a lot of people and listen to their projects. And it was really interesting to see how they thought and put their work together.

MANDEEP VIRDI, ISEF Finalist: At first, it`s disappointing, but then you think, "oh, at least I was here," right? So I need to think that... anything that you do is kind of rewarding in its own sense.

JOHN MERROW: Mandeep, Angela, and Sophia are going home energized. They`re now part of an elite scientific community. Undoubtedly the same thing could be said about every one of the young scientists here. It`s a cliche" to say that all of these young men and women are winner, but, in fact, they are.

FOCUS - TRADING PLACES

MARGARET WARNER: Now an unusual experiment in how reporters see the world. Media correspondent Terence Smith has our segment recorded last week.

TERENCE SMITH: Journalists in America and the Middle East are trading places as part of an exchange program which aims to bridge cultural and political gaps between peoples. Two journalists involved in the program are Shareen el Wakeel of Egypt TV, and American independent television producer Mike Cerre of Globe TV. Here`s an excerpt of a report el Wakeel did about a week in America for her broadcast, "Good Morning, Egypt." She translated the story into English.

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL, Egypt TV: Apart from our political and religious differences since September 11, Americans have started to become more aware of the rest of the world, especially the Middle East, and have started to take a closer look at us. I feel it is now our turn to take a new and closer look at them as well. For one week, I tried to move beyond the current crisis in traditional news coverage of the United States and the Middle East by traveling across the country to discover some basic American traditions and values that might be closer to our own than we think. I also wanted to address some of the stereotypes we have of Americans from religion and movies: People with fancy clothes and girls in tight pants, and...

MAN: I don`t think that`s it. (Laughter) I don`t think that`s it.

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL: At first, I was afraid of how Americans would react to a Muslim and Arab reporter as a result of the 9/11 tragedy, but the local reporters covering the visit told me how rare attacks on Muslims had been, just like how rare terrorist attacks have been on Americans in the Middle East and how more furious Americans have become about Islam and the Middle East.

CRAIG BROWSER, Iowa Reporter: You`re doing a story about the Islamic center. They`ve had more converts to the Muslim faith since September 11 than they`ve had, you know, previous.

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL: There are more than ten million Arabs and Muslims in the United States. In the larger of communities of New Jersey, I was surprised to see how they have been able to maintain their culture, and I wondered why their voice is not as strong and effective as other nationalities. I wanted to get out of the big city and into the rural areas and what they call "the heartland," where the average Americans might have more in common with average Egyptians when it comes to what`s most important in their lives.

DICK FREDREICKS, Iowa Farmer: What we... what we are looking for is the same thing that any person the world over is looking for- it`s peace, it`s prosperity, it`s the right to live in a free environment and do what you want and strive for happiness. We`re no different than... than anybody else the world over.

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL: While driving through Cedar Rapids, Iowa, I saw they had as many neighborhood churches as Cairo had mosques. And even more of them than manodes.

MAN: On almost every corner you see a church of some sort.

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL: I`m surprised here it`s everywhere... everywhere big ones and smaller ones. My most interesting discovery in Cedar Rapids was the oldest mosque in North America that Arab immigrants started building here in the middle of the country in 1924. To really get to know Americans, you have to separate the people from the institutions and the media.

SPOKESMAN: We go to Amman...

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL: In San Francisco, these Arab journalists are translating news programs from the Middle East to produce the only daily English broadcast of Arab news in the United States for satellite television to make up for the lack of coverage from the major networks.

SPOKESPERSON: And Shereen el Wakeel is from Egypt, and is...

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL: To better understand the American media`s lack of coverage of the Middle East and other foreign issues, I went to the University of California at Berkeley`s Graduate School of Journalism.

SPOKESPERSON: A lot of Americans who aren`t quite as educated are more interested in seeing things about America because they don`t think that internationally what happens affects them. And it`s less governmental. I mean, it`s part of our educational system. It`s very systemic.

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL: At George Lucas` production facility, I was able to ask some of the creators of these movie images if they were aware of how some of these stereotypical images might be interpreted differently in other parts of the world.

ALEX LAURANT, Effects Art Director: I feel that more responsibility should be taken, and that a little more sensitivity... in some cases, much more sensitivity should be exercised.

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL: After spending a week with Americans in their homes, their schools, and their churches, I found more common interests than differences in our values and in our hope for the future.

TERENCE SMITH: I`m joined now by Shereen el Wakeel, who is a correspondent and anchor for Egypt TV, and Mike Cerre, who runs an independent production company in California. Welcome to you both. Shereen, did you find Americans in your travels here... did you find Americans familiar with the Arab world as you know it, or did they tend to deal in stereotypes?

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL, Anchor, Egypt TV: Actually, of course, they are so obsessed by the stereotypes they see, especially on movies, they don`t have much information about Arab world or Egyptians. Maybe the pharaohs, the... you know, the most popular things and the stereotypes they see on movies and on television. But I don`t think they know real Egyptians or real Arabs.

TERENCE SMITH: Do they show an interest... did you find an interest in the Arab world, the things that were going on in the Middle East, or did you find that famous insular quality of Americans?

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL: Let me tell you something. I`ve been to the United States several times before, and I`ve realized a big change after September 11. Before, people were never interested in knowing about the outside world, what`s going on behind... away from their borders. But after September 11, and after I have this opportunity with Mike, I found out that people are getting more curious to know about the Arab world, the Islam, especially, and I can tell especially the younger generations.

TERENCE SMITH: Mike Cerre, tell us a little about this program, how it came to pass, and why you think it`s important to do now.

MIKE CERRE: Correspondent, Globe TV: Well, Terry, it started in Bahrain in November while we were on our way over to cover the Marines going into Afghanistan. We were delayed with several other correspondents, both American and Arab. We went into one of the local soukhs and they were all commenting about how we really should be spending more time dealing with the cultures and the people involved rather than always responding to the crisis. And we all lamented the fact that we`d never had the time. We were under deadlines; we have to do the crisis story. So we never really get to understand the culture and the people, which is probably what we should be spending more time on. So I suggested that what if we had the opportunity to take some time, do some human interest stories and try to learn more about the cultures, would everyone be willing to participate? They said they would. And at that point we decided, "let`s try to put together a journalist exchange."

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL: It happened to me. It was the same way with me because, you know, I`m a political reporter. So dealing with political declarations and politicians all of the time, it was fully different when I started visiting countries and dealing with people. It was real amazing that there`s different points of view. People are more simple, more willing to live in peace than the political declaration and the politicians want.

TERENCE SMITH: Mike Cerre, did you find... as you`ve done your reporting in Egypt, did you find some of same either stereotypes or attitudes about Americans that Shereen was talking about - about Arabs?

MIKE CERRE: Absolutely. In the first few days of reporting from over here, first of all, they were very surprised to see an American correspondent talking to them about anything other than the politics and the foreign policy. So they seemed as enthusiastic about hosting me and showing me around as Americans were to Shereen. It`s a little bit of a curiosity to see a reporter in some of the neighborhoods and some of the off-the-beaten- track places that we`ve been going to. So I think there`s a natural curiosity that they have about us. The stereotype is, is that we don`t know much about the rest of the world, and we don`t care and we`re not listening to what the Arab world is saying. So that is the first stereotype and kind of the misconception that we have to overcome. And through the benefit of the journalist exchange, Shereen helps me with that. We were at a movie studio today, and there was a reluctance of some of the actors to really speak out with me, but fortunately Shereen was there. She kind of explained the process and then they were very open and they gave us some very, very interesting and very heartfelt information.

TERENCE SMITH: Let me ask you both, do the people you speak to "off- the- beaten-track," as you put it, Mike, in Egypt consider the United States to be something of a tool of Israel? Do you hear that?

MIKE CERRE: Well, Shereen and I have always tried to impose our Palestine rule, which is we try to hold off any debate about that issue until the last ten minutes of any hour, because otherwise nothing else gets done. That totally overwhelms whatever we`re trying to do.

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL: Yes.

MIKE CERRE: So we try to stay as far away from that as we possibly can initially. But mostly when that does come up, yes, they think of us being almost synonymous with the Israeli cause. And that is a very important issue to them and something that is so central to all their ought patterns and their thinking, that it`s hard once that issue comes up to get beyond it.

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL: Something happened today that really surprised me. When Mike was interviewing, you remember that guy who works with the camels...

MIKE CERRE: Oh, yes.

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL:...Who said about Clinton and Bush and...

MIKE CERRE: He was able to... he was very familiar with all of our Presidents, all of our foreign policy. He was very up to date on it.

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL: Yes. He said that he doesn`t... the governments goes and comes, but people are the same, and he cares for the people, the American people. He doesn`t care for the government. And I have... when I was in the United States, I had nearly the same answer from Bob Osborne, and he told me, and I... if you remember, I ended up with this, what he said. He said that, "I can work for anybody anywhere. I don`t care." I only need to deal with people.

TERENCE SMITH: Well, Shereen, you mentioned that point in the last line of your piece that we just ran, you said that you found in your reporting in the United States, more common interests than differences between Arab and American peoples.

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL: Yeah.

TERENCE SMITH: I wonder if that has changed or been affected in any way in recent weeks as the violence has increased in the Palestinian-Israeli situation.

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL: Not exactly, but people, of course, are quite angry with the American administration. But let me tell you something, having people dying in front of you will rouse the sympathy of anybody. We all... nobody`s happy for killing civilians or killing a human being, whoever he is, whatever he is, Israeli or Palestinian.

TERENCE SMITH: Mike Cerre, have you heard some of that anger? I know you`ve been in the Middle East I know you`ve been... you`ve been in the Middle East at least a couple of times since September 11, and of course you`re there now. What are you hearing?

MIKE CERRE: Terrence, I`ve noticed a very distinct difference. I was here in October and then passing again through in November. And the issue really was Afghanistan and the tragedy of September 11. But now it`s... the issue is really what`s happening in Palestine. It is so central to their thinking here that it is very present in reading the newspapers here and in talking to the people, it is the central subject of discussion. And so I know even when I was talking to Shereen and we were setting up this trip and setting up the stories, Shereen said, "it`s going to be a little bit more difficult for you now because the acceptance and the openness that was one once here is closed down a bit." But so far being on the streets, just as I think Shereen had a fear when she came to the United States as to would there be any backlash to Muslims, I was a little bit concerned of what backlash there might be to Americans. And so far, there hasn`t been much.

TERENCE SMITH: Shereen, I wonder how your attitude was changed or affected about the American media. You got to see how it worked, you got to see how it reports on the Middle East. I know that your... Egypt TV is controlled by the government. We think of ours as objective and free. Do you?

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL: I don`t know. I`d rather not answer this question. You wouldn`t like my answer. (Laughs)

TERENCE SMITH: Well, I think...

MIKE CERRE: It`s free TV. Let them have...

TERENCE SMITH: I think we can stand it. Go ahead. I mean, I know you have some thoughts on that, on the commercialization of American television.

SHEREEN EL WAKEEL: In my case, I`d rather prefer it to be controlled by government because any government fears the media. The government or the government people fears the media, fears to be criticized by media, so we`re not really dominated by government. But to be dominated by commercials and people who are paying, this is more difficult because you broadcast what they want to broadcast. I know it`s different for the PBS, but still I don`t find that we`re sort of controlled by the government.

TERENCE SMITH: That`s, of course, what this sort of exchange is about. Thank you both for sharing your impressions of it. We... we appreciate it very much.

ESSAY - MEMORIAL DAYS

MARGARET WARNER: Finally on this holiday, essayist Roger Rosenblatt reflects on our new idea of memorials.

ROGER ROSENBLATT: Memorial thoughts have acquired a strange currency since September 11. The "New York Times" created a new kind of memorial, in a way, with its pages of remembrance of the World Trade Center casualties. Since most of those victims were young, the brief views of their lives carried nothing of the monumentality of obituaries of the old. They were more akin to recalling someone who has just left the room. The life was still in them, and they felt quite close to our own. This, in fact, is how we have been feeling about death generally in recent years. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington invites us to run our fingertips over the names of the fallen- in effect, to touch the dead. The United States Holocaust Museum consecrates ordinary people, and other ordinary people walk among their artifacts. No longer are memorials conceived of as abstract obelisks or bronze men on bronze horses. In Oklahoma City, the memorial to the bombing of the federal office building consists of translucent chairs arranged in rows where the dead had been sitting at their desks, to make the point that the people lost were everyone`s co- workers. And there continue to be smaller, more communal memorial gestures; the flowers, cards, and messages that are borne to suddenly consecrated places, such as John Kennedy, Jr.`s doorstep, and to death sites, such as trees where cars had crashed. After TWA Flight 800 went down in the Atlantic near East Moriches, Long Island, people in towns miles to the east fell into a state of silent mourning. They nodded solemnly as they passed one another on the beaches, and for a long time refused to swim in the ocean as a sign of respect for the dead, and an acknowledgment of proximity. Among cultural representations of this new sense of companionship, the most artistic is the HBO series "Six Feet Under," in which the dead do not simply keep company with the living, but also chide them, annoy them, and advise them, often poorly. The theme of the series, I believe, is that Six Feet Under is not all that far away. And in general, the dead do not pop up as ghosts anymore. They are more substantial, less threatening, and superior- sounding. And they don`t occupy a world much different from our own. We meet them on the common ground of memory. Memory is what we have of one another when we no longer have one another. And the value in a nearness to the dead is that it diminishes death`s worst feature: Absence. For thousands of American families, this Memorial Day will be uniquely painful. The people lost in the September 11 attacks and in Afghanistan were the first casualties of the war on terrorism, and their loved ones are the war`s first mourners. The change in attitude toward the dead may or may not grant them some comfort, but for those outside their personal grief, it brings the original purpose of Memorial Day to light. The people who died in the service of our country walk with us still. They are the history with which we live- have created the history with which we live. They work, smile, march, and chat with us, and are so close, we can touch them. I`m Roger Rosenblatt.

RECAP

MARGARET WARNER: Again, the major developments today: President Bush marked Memorial Day in Normandy, France, at the scene of the D-Day invasion in World War II. Rescue crews recovered a fourth body from the Arkansas River, after a bridge collapse in eastern Oklahoma. And a suicide bombing killed two Israelis, and wounded 20 more at a shopping mall near Tel Aviv. We`ll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. I`m Margaret Warner. Thanks for being with us. Good night.