The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

good evening i'm jim lehrer on the newshour tonight the bosnia mission we have to newsmaker interviews from brussels us army general zhao won a nato commander and washington senator trent lott a leading opponent of the mission then an update on aids elizabeth farnsworth talked to two experts and all follows or summary of them is this wednesday the company to the world and by new york life yet another example of the wise investment philosophy new york life has been following for the last one hundred and fifty years and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by the annual financial support from viewers like you president clinton formally veto the republican budget plan the day he said it would cut too much from medicare and medicaid to make that point the president signed the deal with the same pan president johnson used to sign medicare and medicaid and to all thirty years ago he was surrounded by families he said would be adversely affected by the republican caucus with its veto

the extreme republican effort to balance the budget through wrongheaded cuts in this place parties is over now it's up to all of us to go back to work figures show we can't balance the budget and the truth is and our economic interest tomorrow i will present to the congressional leadership a plan that does about three hundred and seventy years but it also protects health care education and the environment and it does not raise taxes on working families is up to the republicans now to show that they too want to protect these plants as they claimed to be republican leaders said afterward they are waiting to say mr clinton's plan house speaker gingrich criticize the president's oval office in that one activist when a lot of time answering the president a nice gimmick down at the white house and he and another photo opportunity with their leading instead of governing

you play games the american people the fact is president is to recognize that lyndon johnson's great society has failed the people know that a washington based washington spending washington bureaucracy washington red tape great society isn't the answer but is video today i look for easing will offer a more was going to be a warmed over same budget we're didn't get a single vote in a state senate or what is really gonna take a step in the right direction toward a balanced budget over the next seven years the struggle over the budget caused a six day government shutdown last month and ended with temporary legislation that expires december fifteen the first us military planner with american troops on board arrived in tuzla bosnia today they will prepare the airport to look for the arrival of thousands more troops another handful of us soldiers arrived in zachery be

croatia help set up a naval operations center there are about fourteen hundred us troops have dissipated in the advance enabling forecasts the german parliament today approved sending four thousand soldiers training here in bavaria enjoying the peacekeeping force in bosnia it will be the largest german military missions and abroad since world war two secretary of state kris everson today the needs of the surge should be considered as the bosnia peace settlement is implemented he said that does not mean revising the dayton accord just being sensitive to all the parties involved christopher was at nato headquarters in brussels is chief negotiator richard holbrooke went before the senate armed service as committed today in washington he said he will return to the balkans this weekend to deal with the bosnian serb complaints about the peace treaty rescuers morning with the surgeon to stand nato troops and american troops to the

region than to show the troops that they will have the backing of the american people as expressed through the congress i suggest very strongly to that if you expect to get not just the approval of the senate but of the american people we better have a coherent exit strategy a vital part of that is a stable battlefield situations so in case these age old animosities erupt into conflict again that there is some chance of the bosnians been able to defend themselves we're more on bosnia radical listeners shaun white former south korean president noting who was indicted yesterday for taking three hundred and sixty nine million dollars in bribes a court in seoul today ordered his trial to begin next march the alleged bribes came from thirty five business groups during his nineteen eighty eight to ninety three term of office much of the money went to a slush fund for election campaigns fourteen people including the chairman of several major companies have also been charged president clinton today convened the first white house conference on

aids some two hundred and fifty eight activists and actors attended the one day meeting he promised to preserve federal funding for aids research how on our fellow americans to know that this investment in science has been a tremendous of evidence day people with aids live twice as long as they did just ten years ago especially those who seek early treatment aids related conditions that used to mean a quick and often very painful death for people living with a chubby can now be treated and even prevented strickland said the search for a cure and a vaccine must be a top priority will have more on this story later in the program an economic news today the commerce department reported the index of leading indicators fell point five percent in october that indexes the government's main way to forecast economic activity six to nine months ahead that drop was blamed on slower manufacturers' activity among other things and that's it for the most honored tonight now it's onto general gallon senator lott and where are we now

on eight the mission of bosnia is our lead story again the night we have to newsmaker interviews the first with the american general in charge of the bosnia operation he's us army general george zhao the supreme allied commander europe as well as the commander of all us forces in europe he's a fifty six year old naval pot still pennsylvania a graduate of west point where he was a star football player he's the winner of two silver star and three bronze star medals in vietnam i spoke with him from nato headquarters in brussels earlier today general welcome the first there what kind of reception are your troops receiving so four and was in the first group that diane out for the nato enabling forces the event parties that have arrived in bosnia rabbit the support there has been absolutely superb we could've asked for better reception

a bible the people and the un forces that are there in bosnia ellen the larger force guns and what are your expectations about how the troops will be received by the people and the varying forces there well again we have high expectations after all the year although it all the parties have signed a peace agreement or wanting to go through the port one of the implementation force to glory so we think that there but the people were deserve a chance for peace so we think that the the reception of the main body one of the lorries will be a very good one and were hoping now that we're doing all we can in the preparation to create those conditions and your troops are not being told to expect a hostility as i write there to there being told to expect a accountable welcoming atmosphere well first of all i think global we've told them is that they are not going in there to fight their way in to bosnia me be very clear on that

there's a peace agreement and they're going in there to implement the peace agreement however we have also told them that they will take action to protect themselves they're not out there looking for a fight and they're not out there trying to find one but they will he's so organized and their task organization and have robust rules of engagement that they can protect themselves so it's a balance where we're going in there to implement a peace agreement we expect and hope that the people and the parties involved will welcome the implementation force though when one of the riders but then on the other hand i get a very clear instructions that the troops are to protect themselves liberal has been so my concern back here general that the rules of engagement are so robust use your term that they might encourage firefights in other words if they obey at odd nato soldier sees somebody who might look like they're hostile he or she might fire first ask questions later can you explain that you clarify that there there is a

judgment that is used in all of this but but let me be clear the soldier in his small unit leader on the ground will have to make some key decisions of when they are and when they're under fire yeah they have the authority to return that fire again we spent a lot of time in training enemy but my us out on a particular a lot of time training in trying to build these different situations where the soldier has to make those decisions i don't think you'll see a random firing we've talked about curbing the use of force in a way to protect themselves but it flattened they do have the authority to return foreign returned immediately are you prepared to be lenient with people who might make the wrong judgment i'm not sure what you mean by that i think if you try to kill a soldier a favorite of

radio if a tank is pointed out a more he gets machine gun fire he has instincts are to protect himself and return that foreigners sees a tank ready to threaten him or return is todd purdum and he's going he has the authority a threatened to return the far immediately and there isn't much judgment involved herein as much or training in the leadership there and the area is of talk about using well aim shots and they're staying away from religious places of worship unless of course you're taking fire from those areas so we've tried in our training program and try to build all these different situations but in the end it's the judgment of our soldiers and our small leaders and i must tell you i trust that i trust that judgment they'll make the right decision there's another concern and raised by some members of congress general that the nato forces particularly american forces will not be seen as a neutral force because of the nato bombing before surfers issues because of the decision in the

peace treaty to eventually rearm the muslims when you told your soldiers about that well first of all let me take that last part the implementation force as nothing to do with arming or training any of the warring factions and they're and so we're lucky to be involved in that at the other plane we're told all nato forces to include the american force is that we will be evenhanded there is freedom of movement for all of boston i made this very clear that and we will be moving in there in the bosnian serb territory as well as in federation territory and we expect that freedom of movement and though we are not going to take sides with any one party or the other where they're to implement as the nato force implement a peace agreement and that's what we're going to try to do and try to give these warring factions were banging away at each other so many years

some breathing room but the separate them and hopefully that separation will be done voluntarily and that and if that happens then we have a chance for peace and we train the force we've given it the rules of engagement to protect itself the mission is clear and limited and we intend to keep it that way but there are i would tell you that even handedness is also a part of their mission and m ward the train is that one of the training exactly right in fact you must know we set up for the american force has soared village in one of our training areas in germany and we we took them through the paces of how they need to to act both in the preparation territory and also in the bosnian serb territory and i made this very clear to two serb leadership as well when i was asked that we are there and as the supreme allied commander for europe as well as the us commander for for us forces i have made it very clear that where there

to be evenhanded and therefore you know don't let our forces a photo shoot of our forces we are not there to to engage in any sort of foreign unless we get that far what about the the additional concern that releases been voiced here again by members of congress in that you're forced mike get sucked in to non military options that you might end up being of the police force and having to run things and all that sort of business i been working very hard on that i have had a little experience and some of that and i'm telling you that there we head bowed slide they could very clear and both in the op plan the operations plan that i published at ended my dealings this past week and the week before to get the political guidance right we have to understand the political objectives of all of this and that that's what that the north atlantic council has been working on i met last week and this week with all the chief of the sixteen nations that

ministers of the fence the foreign ministers are here now an end and so what we want at least i've been emphasizing is that there are military aspects of the set of the implementation plan and then there are civilian aspects of this high representative there are many different civilian agency that will be in in bosnia family of the high commissioner for refugees for arms control for police and that a knock over a hundred two hundred and fifty nongovernmental organizations those organizations need to be organized discipline and coordinated in a way that they do the survey in fact we do not want mission creep in and i'm resisting and i will resist every attempt to try to say that the implementation force ought to do some of these gaps that there will be a meeting in london by the end of this week the minute the eight where all of this will be will be a disgust and i think it's very important that we get this part of the right the civilian aspects of it right

because at the end i really think that's going to determine true success in bosnia how the civilian reconstruction economic get their initiatives the handling of refugees all of them but they will be done by civilian agencies and i'm going to resist an event that that crossover into the implementation force is it correct to read the dayton tree as though that they your fourth will have some role in recycling refugees i don't read that out all of the year and the dayton and baby agreement i could see creating if we do it right if we deploy in a highly professional way if we can have these joint military commissions with all the warring parties and there were the former warring parties and they're empty eye for an organizer in a way i think will could create a climate where these civilian relief agencies can operate and i think that's going to be very poor but one of you just let me be specific it's a situation that occurs where a a a a bosnian muslim was to return and has been

authorized to return to his or her home in an area that is now occupied by the serbs in the surge said no i'm sorry we we visit my house now you can't have your house back and they come to your forces as they get the people out of there is that a legitimate function of the of your force i'm a big idea how the power of the dayton agreement at least as we put it in the war in the operations plan that what happens at the the thirty day mark of the signing plus thirty days is that the that that the military forces have to withdraw from this area of separation which is about four kilometers that the forty five day mark areas that will be transferred and that includes what you're talking about i believe houses except that one area another the agreed upon areas to be transferred that the one party has to vacate debate forty five ana de ninety the other faction to command in that forty five eight laps the i four will provide security for that

transferred eric anne and ed and i think that provides the framework for that area to be secured until the other force comes in there are you can sort of all about public opinion polls back here in the united states are just a couple of them in the last few days there's that say that the majority of american people believe there is no vital us interest in bosnia were given an american life or i've seen some of that in the us and that i think any time we commit american forces i think it's very important that the country is behind those forces when they're committed at this debate has gone on the decision will be made to be a political decision and there when that decision was made i hope that he and the american people will support their troops i've been a soldier now for thirty five years we afford to work world wars in the surf in this or in europe and the sentry and this last decade of the twentieth

century we have the opportunity now to do something back to jail because of peace prevent a crisis from the bump in the water conflict i think that it's in our interest that i think it's important that we do it right with our nato allies i've just left the meeting where there are over forty nations and what they called the north atlantic cooperation council the next seat although station written or twenty nations now that are joining us many of these ambassadors and four ministers are having me papers and we want a jarring here's a battalion from poland where some trucks from austria years transit point for our country that there is there's an opportunity here to create i think in europe and security climate well into the twenty percent treat that is in our interest bosnia has to be solved and russia has joined us live a three star russian general at my headquarters in loans were working them into the implementation force all meet with them as

soon as i returned this evening so that there is a lot riding both on past and the future for europe but i think even they don't improve then i think it's probably in the united states and have you said that to the american troops and the other nato troops here and it was risking their lives yes and we're trying to break the best conditions for success i visited the troops or with the president on saturday and baumohl there i've been talking to the allied troops within these rapid reaction corps this is the multinational force that's the poor in the united states has about twenty thousand of the sixty thousand it's a vital contribution but that there is a unified chain chain of command there is a sense of of commitment by all these nations nato and non nato and russia and so we have up out of her real opportunity but the support of the nations involved it's very important support by the american people is

very important and as one that has served them want peace i'm absolutely convinced that support will be there for the troops went abroad but you feel that out about congress as well i do i think the congress understands the soldiers that have already before they understand troops and i think when the decision's made the support of congress will be their general thank you very much thank you jim and vermont now to a newsmaker interview with a leading congressional opponent of the bosnia mission margaret warner will conduct that interview senate majority leader robert dole is working on a resolution of support for the bosnian nation but yesterday his deputy senator whip trent lott of mississippi said he would find it hard to support any such resolution the opposition from senator lott and others within republican ranks for senator dole to postpone senate debate on the resolution until

next week senator lott is with us now look i come again my wife you decide to come out at this point against a resolution support for the siege on some of these issues been quite consistent for months on this issue i had been listening and watching developments over last week i wanted to hear what the administration had to say what the program is i think about it my own mind paul own constituents of all that's actually what happens on a walk a meeting and now there's this question do you support one of these troops on ground troops in bosnia and i said no go inside for three points at the beginning again first of all i want to be clear that we all support are american troops where they are in this country or anywhere in the world and once they are in fact deployed along the ground or we're going to make sure they get the support they need morally but also with the equipment that they need which they didn't have in somalia that led to the disaster and we

back the troops and should never be any question about that on either side of this issue are either side of the aisle also low you know i think joe of dollars in outstanding leader and i'm sure your next ones are the other thing i've always reserve the right to continue to listen to the discussion and reviewed the language in the resolution account for the senate senator leader bob dole is still working on that line which i don't think he put it all difficult or one member ruben member of the gig in which chronicled what language at that show support for the troops and will support the airport but without endorsing this mission right so could you support such a resolution i doubt it i won't say it though on the mountain like a few inches or didn't approve it improved in the work of the model of the devices i could not vote for resolution that authorizes the news of the troops for this mission i also have real problems with putting our troops in a situation where they're supposed to be neutral but please serbian croatian isn't sure the shoal russians in and

norwegians and at the same time be involved in equipping and training the bosnians now i understood from george allen that he says that's not what happened but there are those in congress that feel that they have to do that that is a very important point that must be clear ok but what senator dole is saying is that if they come us wants to have any role in crafting this point it has to step up to the plate we pass a resolution that gives qualified support at the same time tries to put limits what's wrong with models approach well and for our lives went on to clearly to be able to express my opposition to this was mentioned i think it was mistake acting on most instances american military men and women are used in war to sleepy shot that fear this plan and we're going to get a peace that will lead toward its orbit but a few questions i think the idea we don't have to express our support this mission to show some clarifications and provided and also to have an exit

strategy clarified and so there are ways that we can get to something that you know we can vote for but not iowa walkable or a resolution of disapproval and then if there is a second vote and turned to support the troops the clarification of what the emission is the role of the exit strategy all of that about it looked like so are you working on a separate resolution of disapproval i am talking with a number of senators that feel it's important we have an opportunity that a boat and i have heard the language a reading that i think it's something that i would like to see voted on but humans have money for operation and now at at this point and i think the answer is no and again i you know we are we are in a difficult position in congress the president probably has to bargain this is indicated going to do if we disagree with the mission but we don't want to be in a position in any way compromise and undermine our troops once they're

there that's what makes this thing so the onus was on members of congress to go along with it even though this they disagree very strongly with an option that was chosen in this case the different approaches think senator is basically you won in a cast a symbolic vote he won't say i'm not for this mission to stop know i would vote to stop it i'm uploading this mission we're going to be supportive more troops where we are and we're ok what kind of message original jay allison how important it is to have the support of the congress and the people who had soldiers what message do think it will stand to american troops over there when congress votes on and they need to vote for the resolution of disapproval well first of all the american people do not support the jewish and i think the congress not only reflects american people what leads in and thinking that they provide on the subject matter we feel the truth should not go on we should express that i don't think it's gonna undermine our troops for the car so i would think this is a mistake to do this but clarify that if they do go in there were going to support mir we can't

one thing that bothers me some design people say in the day on the voter sentiment when the shooting started and off the country are known as oh my goodness withdraw once our troops going there they should be given themselves as john pointed out and also i think that the once we get in there we should care innovation out the completion of a one of those who says once we get in there we should carry it through to completion i just think it was like to go to a think would have voted against that you have standing to fan say well now that we're in has always don't know i think that's absolutely right thing and then people say that about that now and say we shouldn't go but once we went we should have the troops and cared for the conclusion i can reach about what present for president bush said yesterday because he cannot support this yet what he wanted to do he said if the president went back to now or if the world were to see that congress did not support the president you would have a very damaging effect on us leadership in the world are what is the important thing in deciding where

we put our military men and women first of all it should be in the vital national interest not you know the question out pretty regularly but the problem with iowa look at the president's word it was about at all the vital interest the united states and the men and women that we're putting in harm's way there are hundreds of military people were putting in a peacekeeping role it may involve moving around refugees i know a solution and changes that would say well what are they going to be sitting there watching i'll allow and i don't think that is really that clear yet i certainly think it would be totally untenable at their client to be there's a neutral force and dissipating and at the same time neither the implementation force or the united states in a training role before we have a chance for me ask you about political questions you are a supporter of senator graham which has won the support of him as a friend of the senator also survived

alive boruff no good working relationship with the ocean or triple and i have been with him i think on almost every issue all year depression what is the political risk for center donors with presidential ambitions with the snow i think that the senator dole is doing what he thinks is right he knows where difficult position he is not comparable with if he's made it clear for months and he feels like a probe by the state but now lionel neck out on our truth about going and so i mean there's some political risk for but that's what leadership is all about you might say there's a risk of me and i'm not following his lead but i have my own conscience in my own constituency do it then i think america because they were good will of the bacon then that always follow in lockstep one with the other another and hoping that the michael thanks for featuring with us an aids updated still to come on the newshour tonight the first this pledge week on public television we're going to take a short break now so your public television station can i ask for your support

that support helps keep programs like this on the air for those haitians not taken a pledge breaks the newshour continues now with coverage of the senate armed services committee hearings on bosnia my question goes to the concept of exit strategy the secretary i've heard you say twelve months and were out very clear and understandable state average a general shalikashvili's say and i specifically remember the sunday on the five o'clock show and say man here it is i copied down we will stay till our mission is complete so therefore i find that statement to the secretary twelve months and your show shelly as being in conflict it is inconceivable for me to think that the task that i showed you here would

not be completed in one year and so for me davis no doubt that by the time we leave twelve months our mission will be completed and that's at a player fortune on my part i feel very strongly the eye and i was one who early on recommended to the secretary of defense when we talked about how long this mission should last that one here was not only very much sufficient to accomplish a specific military tasks but also gave us at a much more than than enough time for ob creating a year a sick as secure environment because of our presence there pedro month figure did not come from the top down we came from the bottom up you know shelley recommended it to me based on his best assessment the past i evaluated the thought it was reasonable and i was one that recommended the

president to disappear twelve month mission there's great skepticism here in the congress in a much the people i represent about this enterprise and i acted tell the witnesses that one of the major reasons for that skepticism is a lack of a coherent exit strategy i'm deeply disturbed when you sector were read a statement that says if the necessity arises when secretary kerry says i don't care about a particular way we are very detailed and very specific about our mission were very detailed and specific about all aspects of this plan but the most vital and key element the exit strategy is a nebulous moral commitment that frankly i and most of my colleagues are not satisfied with i suggest very strongly that if you expect to get not just the approval of the senate but of the american people we better have a coherent exit strategy a vital part of that

is a stable crop field situation so in case these age old animosities erupt into conflict again that there is some chance of the bosnians been able to defend themselves what senator with a great respect and a little puzzled by your column because you articulated our policy and then said we didn't articulate it i did not say if the need arises i did not say that your country not write that should give the necessity arrive closer i did not and i so that's one part of our response was written up in advance we know would come it's really member there's no ambiguity about what i said and senator kerry said it slightly differently but i couldn't get it in writing that we would be committed let let me address your question three levels why didn't we get in right when we get it in writing and taking very simple congressional prerogative second we did not feel that it was appropriate to give a memorandum of understanding to one side in the peace

negotiations when a moral commitment on behalf of the administration both sectors of state defense the chairman joint chiefs should be quite appropriate and the bosnian government accepted senator they didn't insist on the written document now i wonder if you could collaborate a very briefly on the risks of not acting in this particular case if we do not move forward if we fail the american leadership in europe will be severely eroded we run the risk that has significantly greater risk that the peace agreement which all three parties want will fail tomorrow secretary kerry and other officials made a house appropriations subcommittee in close session now where are we on aids elizabeth

farnsworth has that story more than two hundred and fifty people from around the country gathered in washington today for the first white house conference on h i'd be an aids the focus was on progress continuing problems and new strategies for fighting what has become the leading killer of americans between the ages of twenty five and forty four we begin our update on the battle against aids with a report from medical correspondent fred de sam last row of ptc a minneapolis st paul dr frank graham has been treating patients for age i'd be an aids since the epidemic began in the early eighties since that time more than half a million people have developed aids in the us two thirds of them have died eight hundred thousand americans are infected with ea dr virus that leaves decades it not develop aids symptoms trash despite the grim statistics dr raine says he's become far more upbeat in recent months about the prospects for patients like thirty five year old

daniel was born he was infected over a decade ago and has remained largely symptom free i think there are grounds to believe that we're going to be making substantial improvements or have already cut substantial improvements in ncaa tourney therapy day as primal resistance developing and single age of therapy maybe substantially preventable by using combinations the key to treating age it is to somehow endure the virus surprise to replicate in the body antiviral drugs such as a ct work for a time but the virus eventually develop an immunity to them some doctors and look for new agents are new combinations of drugs they can use to essentially extended time for the virus becomes resistance the federal food and drug administration has an accelerated approval process for aids drugs and late last month approve the new one three key seats which will be known in the market as half of the year have your drawings for other

anti viral drugs now on the market it has shown particular promise when used in combination with a c t a record year the most widely known a dry the drug approval is also expected soon for sick one of year the first of a new class of drugs called protease inhibitors which attack a different part of the virus but by the logic that i've been talking about more is better i would do it dr raine feels the new and emerging drug combinations will buy a try the patience more time perhaps ten extra years but he cautions federal approval for aids therapies are based on less exhaustive and that's conclusive data that are required for most other drugs you have to recognize that when somebody finally completes the study of triple therapy will find other work but i would say that's the most probable thing right now that trickle is the best

strategy so it's preventing i mean you're going to try the crippled therapy dr ramos recommended for daniel cause what we had the new treaty seated to other anti viral city's ban on i'm probably more optimistic now in regards to medications and treatments then i have ever been was disappointing when easy to with how voters' like american drug and it wasn't i don't get excited about what that something is in the paper because you know when i set yourself up and be disappointed by not too many people who have us succumb to disease due to the fact that they have aids while the motions like ray more encouraged by new developments public health officials have much to worry about for example the latest infection trend show that while you drive it transmission among older gay and bisexual men has declined the rate is escalating among younger

men and minnesota state epidemiologist michael osterholm says the dynamics of the epidemic of become far more complex what was of rebellion they'll disease in the first five years of the epidemic today we're talking about only two thirds of the cases are among them if you were to look at each it did in many states the racial almost half in half today men and women were seen an epidemic that really started among gay and bisexual men now is more more in inner cities it's combined with an iv drug use and her sexual transmission along with her down with her sexual transmission the world south and you're seeing a whole different picture for a teenage it today than you did fifteen years ago now for more information about the latest medical developments in a tie the inmates we turn to dr anthony fauci director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases at the national institutes of health and doctor was

bottle thought her director of infectious diseases at harlem hospital in new york thank you both for being with us your we hear about new discoveries in the science of it try the inmates and i guess the new medicines or result of new discoveries and i guess there's a new discovery today are the announcement in that scientific magazines of new discoveries today that help explain why some people get a chubby but don't develop full blown aids can you catch a second later was in terms we like people can understand about the balance well the one of the recent ones that came out today were reports of natural substances of the body which we called cytokines custom made by sales which when you put them in a test tube they can very effectively block the ability of the virus to multiply replicate itself since they come from the body and are natural products obviously that something very interesting and potentially important the hope will be that we may be able to extrapolate that to the people who are a chevy infected and maybe use that as a therapeutic mortality however we must caution we've been with aids a long

time and it's very difficult to have any assurances that what's gonna work in the test tube is also been working the body but the concept of cells making natural products and now the papers that came out today identifying at least some of those factors very precisely i think over in that are we getting in an understanding of the mechanism of the disease i understand it's very complex in that if i have has there been a lot of progress i think over the last year or so we've learned more about what we call the big chord pathogenesis which really means how the body response of the virus and how the virus destroys the defense mechanisms of the body and as you understand that moore you could use that as the basis for some intelligent hopefully strategies for the development therapies as well as for the development of vaccines so their understanding of the basic science really at the underpinning of war strategies that gets bailed out in practicalities when patients do you think

that's a sign that we're talking about major breakthroughs here these just small movements in this very complex mystery that that the viruses i think the today's reports that are just recently and i and start one more step amongst many steps that happen over the past several years and i think the steps have been incremental an additive and they've added to our knowledge and that avatar understanding of the virus and also really helped in developing treatment strategies for the patients i can go and i would agree with up to watch over the past couple of years that have been out there faster pace of development of new treatments and potential new ideas that can help us in developing the treatment strategies in the future and the combination of medications really are allowing the combination of allowing people to live many more years than they had lived before the combination of new treatments is a very promising debut at more years and better years many of the patients over we should not though forget that still august diseases responsible for significant death numbers of events in this country's in this country and it

will take time for us to understand a broader every note and how these combinations work how long can they should stay on these combinations how were they add the book to live longer with them and so on and so what's at the news is very encouraging i think there's a long road ahead but let's talk more generally from an adaptive that she needs is now the leading killer of americans between the ages of twenty five and forty four does that mean that the efforts at prevention have failed ah yes and no i don't think they failed because you're looking at the whole picture there a certain obviously subsets of people in which the that the message has gotten through better and there has been changes in and in behavioral patterns that's right school for example gay men clearly have have altered their behavior or we've known that unfortunately we started to see a little return of the blip an infection among younger gay men who don't have the perspective of seeing so many years of their friends and one wants to get infected and on but what we really need to

do is focus more on individual rooms in which there is a lot of high risk behavior particularly younger people adolescence people in the inner city people who are exposed to the drug culture and tell me why adolescence what he will vote for the obvious reasons that and many of which have people begun began to experiment sexually the beginning to be aware of their sexuality most quickly among adolescent yes it's it's spreading among younger people spreading among women and if you look at the statistics the number of new cases per year of a tribe the infection and aids are leaning much more now to as the heterosexual still when you look at the total numbers there's still more gay men and war iv drug user but when you look at the relative proportion among heterosexual trends disability each year it gets more and more with less than two percent in the mid eighties the end of nineteen ninety four it was greater than ten percent of the new cases were among heterosexuals that's what we've got to

target us and especially in minority communities i know in your hospital in a minority area the rates are up why is that his message not getting out to minority communities are two issues i think in order to really effectively have a good convention policy have to others to protect the prison was not infected getting the infection and that means being able to provide a message that individuals can really use not just the knowledge that the skills that they can use in their daily life and the methods to protect themselves from getting itchy i think on the other hand it has to be equal effort done at the same time to include those with a chain of infection they're very crucial for prevention method because it is a chevy infected individuals that the infection spread still others talked a lot about the necessity for trust between researcher and patient and that can you talk about that a little bit i i do believe that in order for us to reach the population that can be very valuable in our prevention efforts as the same pool of his sleeve at the life of those with a turkey we do have to develop trust between the medical

community and those with a chevy and the communities at large i'll begin if we can reach those with a chevy infection from any community and then engaged him in the care system and medical system and trusting relationship with providers i think that we can be probably much more effective and having them also participate in our convention a message in that they didn't sell that be conscious of assisting us and not just at chevy two others i think it's a two pronged approach and it needs to happen does the research show that in the minority communities it's the disease is spreading because of drug use because of unsafe sex or were both i think it's spreading for multiple reasons is that if i should just mention her first actual test measures by prominent with that a major group that that's now a major group that the quieter the infection or when income minority communities some cities is an issue as well we also have significant proportion of new

infections occur amongst minority men of the game and it may also from these committees i think that's it's happening in a variety of different ways in minority communities and therefore our message he has to be tailored to each of those groups specifically about the cost of these transfers to duck actually these drugs the new grads in particular are very very expensive but they had people with aids in especially poor people want that's a problem and i think that that transcends at that gets back to the unfortunate the economy in our society about individuals who have access and have the resources to get good health care versus others and aids is no exception and that's something we really need to deal with as a society we look at how we distribute our resources and how we make available for people who don't have the wherewithal to get drugs it's a problem but i don't have a solution but it's not a problem that just auden nor will it end with fades that there are plenty of people can't imagine that you know healthcare indeed i think the tragedy is that all the events that have occurred or are they going to be able to reach the new

populations that he championed and and in order to do that we really have to sustain and build its foundational infrastructure of care for these individuals when they're acutely ill as well as an appealing well so within that framework then you can do the recession then you can also provide the treatments that are very promising his point was made by the president himself at the white house conference today actually and he underscored that was a lot of discussion about what was the purpose of the white house conference whether the part of the white house campus was with several most importantly it was to focus in and highlight the importance of this problem and it was an extraordinary signal the president was really outstanding i think that at the conference in it was really something to add to the old he was very much involved he invested a lot of time and we had a wide diversity of people talking about the problems of different segment scientific problems societal problems public health problems health care cost problems the president was involved deeply of the discussion was really quite so do you think the aid has fallen just briefly we don't have a little time that's left has fallen

off the radar screen and the national radar screen right now partly because it is moving more and more into than that into the minority community what i do believe that the nurses have been a little bit confusing to the american public is that they feel that the epidemic is capsule of add on the other hand the subtle what that what's happening in the spread to other communities has been lost and i think and in many ways the message today from the president was that it's heavy and aids are here they affect every community in this country it is the leading cause of death in people with the most productive years and that that this country can mobilize to do something about the soviet to look at both again the major stories of this wednesday president clinton formally veto the republican budget plan is that he would offer his own seven year budget proposal tomorrow and general allen the head of nato forces sit on the newshour his troops are going in to bosnia well trained for neutral

peacekeeping duty and before we go tonight here now is the lighting of the national christmas tree on the ellipse on the white house earlier this week say tomorrow night underwear i thank you and goodnight he's the world and buy new york life yet another example of the wise investment philosophy new york life has been following for the last one hundred and fifty years and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by the annual financial support from viewers like you now video cassettes of the newshour with jim lehrer are available from pbs video call one eight hundred three to eight pbs one it's

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