The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

All tonight on The New's Hour. All tonight on The New's Hour. Good evening, I'm Jim Lara.

On The New's Hour tonight, the news of this Wednesday. Then the latest on the bomb plot in Germany from Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post in Berlin. A newsmaker interview with White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolton. A report from Margaret Warner about culture clashes in Pakistani society, and a look at Jack Kerouax on the road 50 years later. Major funding for The New's Hour with Jim Lara is provided by. Now headquarters is wherever you are with AT&T Data, Video Voice, and now wireless, all working together to create a new world of mobility.

Welcome to The New AT&T, the world delivered. Pacific Life. Chevron. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And this program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you. Thank you. A terror plot aimed at American facilities in Germany has been disrupted. German officials announced that today. Three men were charged with planning massing bomb attacks. It was widely reported the primary targets included a major U.S. air base and the Frankfurt International Airport.

We have a report narrated by Jonathan Miller of Independent Television News. Masked police from an elite unit escort a plastic aft Islamist militant suspect, probably one of the two German converts to a waiting helicopter outside the federal prosecutor's office this morning. The authorities say poised to unleash simultaneous car bombings on a scale unsurpassed in Europe to date. The German police say the suspect allegedly trained in explosives in camps in Pakistan. The bulk purchase of this hydrogen peroxide may have alerted German police to the plot. After six months close surveillance by 300 officers, the arrests were made yesterday afternoon at a rented holiday flat in a village in Western Germany, as the 12 vats of chemicals were about to be moved. Armed police stormed the house.

This suspect, known as Fritz G, escaped through a back window. There was hand-to-hand fighting, a shot was fired, but he was apprehended. Over the next 12 hours or so, 40 other premises across Germany were raided. From some, documents and computers seized, Germany's chief criminal investigator confirmed that American military installations were the main targets. The planned attack apparently motivated by hatred of U.S. citizens. The military air base at Ramstein, a key staging post for the movement of cargo and U.S. troops to and from Afghanistan and Iraq. A member of this cell had reportedly scouted the Ramstein base. In Washington, an FBI spokesman said there is no imminent threat of attack inside the United States. But the Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Churchill, said it is a sobering reminder that six years after 9-11, the intent of al-Qaeda and its allies to wage war on the West remains very much unabated. We'll have more on the story right after the news summary.

The U.S. military announced today eight more American soldiers have been killed in Iraq this week. That came as the overall commander talked of cutting troop levels next to March. Last night, Army General David Petraeus told ABC News, it's important to ease the burden on U.S. forces. Sir, Jerome, it's course. There are limits to what our military can provide. So my recommendations have to be informed by, not driven by, but they have to be informed by the strain that we have put on our military services and the sacrifices that we have asked of our men and women in uniform and of their families. In Australia today, President Bush said he saw progress in Iraq on the military and diplomatic fronts. He said reconciliation is taking place. That's at odds with new reports to Congress and independent panel reviewed the Iraqi security forces and will report tomorrow. It's expected to say the police are corrupt and the Army won't be able to function on its own for 12 to 18 months.

Three U.S. Marine officers have been punished in the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians. The Marine Corps said today a major general and two colonels received letters of censure for how they handled the investigation. The Iraqis were killed in Haditha in 2005. Eight Marines were charged. The cases against three of them have been dismissed. Two British troops fighting with NATO forces were killed in Afghanistan today. They came under attack in southern Helmand Province. Coalition officials said airstrikes in that same region killed more than 40 Taliban insurgents. There was word today a B-52 bomber mistakenly flew across the Central U.S. last week armed with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. The military times reported the flight began at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and ended at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Military officials said the risk was minimal due to safety features on the weapons.

But a Pentagon spokesman said an investigation was underway. One hurricane threatened Mexico again today in the remnants of another slogged across Central America. In the Pacific, Henriette crossed the Gulf of California, heading for Mexico's interior and eventually the U.S. Southwest. It's already killed at least seven people. To the south, a storm that was Hurricane Felix dumped up to 15 inches of rain in Honduras. It left at least 21 dead in Nicaragua. Senator Larry Craig sent word today. He is reconsidering his decision to resign. Last month, the Idaho Republican pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in Minneapolis, but he denied he tried to solicit sex in an airport men's room. Today, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Craig is now asking a court to throw out his plea and the case. If he is able to get the case favorably disposed of in Minneapolis, it would be his intention to come back to the Senate, to deal with the Ethics Committee case that he knows that he will have and to try to finish his term.

That Ethics Committee case was brought by Republican leaders. Craig formally asked today that it be dismissed. On Saturday, the Senator announced his intention to resign. On September 30, McConnell said today he still thinks that was the right decision. And White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolton told the news hour the president agrees. We'll have that interview later in the program tonight. Senator Tim Johnson returned to the Senate today nine months after a brain hemorrhage nearly killed him. The South Dakota Democrat was greeted by staff, family, and friends at his office. Later fellow Senators applauded his return. Johnson spoke slowly and was slurred words, but he said he's ready to get back to work. Last week, I want to hope this South Dakota. Today, I come home to the United States Senate. This has been a long and humbling journey. A journey that has taken longer than some people have liked and has caught myself among them.

But it returned to work today to this great body with a renewed spread and a sharper focus. For now, Johnson is using a scooter to get around. He said today, if his recovery continues, he anticipates running for reelection next year. Republican Congressman Paul Gilmore of Ohio was found dead today at his Washington apartment. There was no immediate word on the calls. Gilmore served in the house for nearly 20 years. He was 68 years old. And former Republican Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn died today of a blood clot at her home in Virginia. She represented a Seattle Washington district for six terms. Jennifer Dunn was 66 years old. Mattel has recalled another 800,000 toys made in China over lead paint concerns. The announcement late Tuesday was the third major recall for the company in just over a month. The majority of the recalled toys are accessories for Barbie dolls.

The Federal Reserve reported today the credit crunch is having only limited effects outside the housing market. But on Wall Street, that finding dampened holes for an interest rate cut and that sent stock stumbling. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 143 points to close at 13,305. The Nasdaq fell 24 points to close just below 26,06. And that's it for the news summary tonight. Now the bombing arrests in Germany. White House Chief of Staff Bolton, Margaret Warner from Pakistan, and on the road. The breakup of the bomb plot in Germany. We have a report from Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post in Berlin when I will talk with him earlier this evening. Craig Whitlock, welcome. It was last April that a warning went out to Americans in Germany that there may be a terrorist threat. Now there were months of surveillance for this latest one. And an arrest was made now. Why now? What took so long?

Well, that's a good question. They had kept this group under surveillance very closely for many months. I think they wanted to find out what they were up to. I think they also wanted to build enough of an evidentiary case to make sure that they had a strong prosecution at trial. But I think the biggest factor was that German authorities said that these men started moving these chemicals they had assembled over many months to build a bomb. From a storage locker in the Black Forest of Germany up to a vacation house and rented a couple hundred miles north. And it appeared to them that they were getting ready to the point where they were going to put these bombs together. They also had electronic components and detonators. So I think that was the main reason that prompted the arrests. We heard earlier this week of arrests as well of eight people in Denmark also accused of a what seems sounds at least at first blush like a similar terrorist plot. Was it similar? We don't know as much about the Denmark case. Danish police made the arrests on Monday. They announced it on Tuesday. They have since released most of the suspects.

But the Danish authorities have said that what a couple of people's attention was that this cell apparently had links to senior al-Qaeda leaders outside the country in Pakistan. Now they didn't give details of who they had links to, nor have they even said what targets they were considering. But Danish reports have indicated since then that perhaps they were looking at a train station in Copenhagen. But German authorities have said there are no links that they know of between the cell they arrested here and what happened in Denmark. Let's talk about that Pakistan link. Part of the concerns we gather is that the people who are under arrest had gone to Pakistan for training. What do we know about that? Well that's right that's something that's alarmed officials not just in Germany but throughout Europe. We know from prosecutors here that there's evidence that these three men who are arrested had gone to Pakistan to train in camps run by a group called the Islamic Jihad Union. It's a group that's not well known but it was originally based in Uzbekistan. Since then a number perhaps hundreds of Uzbek radicals have gathered along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

And there they run a number of training camps in some affiliation with al-Qaeda. So to have Europeans with European passports go to this area receive training and come back. This is something of course that German authorities were very concerned with. Michael Tertov, the Director of the Department of Homeland Security said today in Washington that this was more proof that al-Qaeda and its allies still mean to do harm to American interests. What are we talking about when we talk about al-Qaeda? Well I think that's exactly right. I think it's an al-Qaeda ally. This is not al-Qaeda central per se that we at least that we know of. It's certainly possible that al-Qaeda could use some affiliates to train people. This has happened in the past with Pakistani Jihad groups and Kashmir. But as of now German authorities say they've singled out this Islamic Jihad Union group.

Again is distinct from al-Qaeda but is an ally. So I think that's what the Secretary was referring to. Is it significant that some of these people who are arrested today are European converts to Islam rather than what we have come to see people from Islamic countries? Yes, of course, absolutely. This is something that is happening much more frequently in Europe that we're seeing converts, people without Muslim background with white skin who are not people who fit the stereotypical profile of Islamic terrorists. These are people who have passports from the West. It's easy for them to travel throughout the world, including to the United States. The ringleader of the group arrested yesterday in Germany was a guy named Fritz from Bavaria. This is a guy who converted to Islam some years ago. Now this again is something that authorities say they're noticing more and more. But perhaps a guy named Fritz would be less likely to attract attention if he flew around throughout Europe or to the United States. And this is something that certainly al-Qaeda and its affiliates have sought out people like this from these backgrounds.

And last time we famously heard of this sort of thing happening in Germany was the information about the pre-9-11 planning of the Hamburg cell in Germany. What has happened with that, the case against those people, and how good is Germany in general at prosecuting terrorist suspects? Well, the prosecutions in the Hamburg cell have wrapped up. There were a couple of cases that dragged on for many years and resulted in a conviction of one of the men in expulsion of the other to Morocco. There are several others who are still wanted who were minor players in the cell. And of course, three of them died in the September 11th attacks. And at least one of them, Ramzi bin al-Shib, was captured by the U.S. and Pakistan afterward. But there has been a history, a pattern of difficulty in prosecuting people under Germany's pre-9-1 terrorism laws. For instance, before 9-1-1, it was not a crime to belong to a foreign terrorist organization in Germany. It was illegal to belong to a German terrorist group, a domestic group, but not a foreign group like al-Qaeda.

And this was a factor in the prosecutions of the Hamburg cell. Since then, German lawmakers have changed those statutes, and they've considered other ones as well that would give their police more tools, such as surveillance, internet access, and more leeway and questioning individuals. This is something that continues to be to bait in Germany how far should the police be allowed to go. And given the arrests this week, I think that is something that will certainly feed the debate further. Craig Whitlock off the Washington Post. Thanks again for helping us out. You're welcome. Now a newsmaker interview with White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolton. I spoke with him this afternoon. Mr. Bolton, welcome. Thank you. President Bush is expecting an upbeat report from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, is that correct?

He's expecting a candid report from both of them, and I'm sure it's going to be a mixed picture showing both progress and optimism on many key issues, especially on the security front and disappointment and concern on other fronts, but with a suggestion of the way forward of the best way to deal with a very complicated situation in Iraq. The president was briefed on this Sunday in Iraq, right, on his trip. He was, and he had also spoken previously by video conference with both General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, so he's been given already a good idea of what the two of them are likely to be testifying to on Monday and Tuesday. So there's no big bracing going on among the you and your colleagues at the White House, correct? No, the president has a good sense of what they're going to say, what I should emphasize, though, is that the White House has not been involved in steering what they're going to say.

The president in those conversations was in receive mode because he wants their report to be what it is, which is the report of a professional diplomat and a professional soldier with their best judgment about the conditions on the ground in Iraq and their recommendations of the best way forward. Now, much has been made about the fact that the president went to Anbar Province to be brief rather than the normal place Baghdad, and that Anbar is being shown as the example of things that can work on the ground. Is that a correct reading of what the message was? That is, it was a very good reason to go to Anbar to showcase some of the success that has occurred there in bottom-up reconciliation in Iraq. The president wanted to see that with his own eyes. He wanted to meet the troops who have been such an important contributor to the success there. He also wanted to meet the Iraqi federal officials there to encourage them along the paths that folks in Anbar have already followed and meet the Iraqi provincial leaders, some of the local shakes who met with him there.

I wasn't at the meeting, but I know that the president and his advisors were very impressed with what they heard from the local leaders about their commitment to ensuring that they establish a responsible safe government for their people, free of the influence of extremists, especially Al Qaeda. And I think it was good for all across the Iraqi governmental spectrum for those leaders to be there and for the provincial leaders to be there at the same time. But at the same time, most unimpressed with what the national leaders and the national government has done up to now, correct? There have been disappointments, but there have been areas of progress as well, and one of the most optimistic signs occurred just last week, which I think has been a late breaking development and all of this. General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker will be able to speak to it in detail next week.

Last week, for the first time, the five leaders of the Iraqi government, which includes the prime minister who was of Shia, but also the president, some of the deputy prime ministers who are Kurds and Sunnis, all five of them came together and signed a pact on a way forward to pursue some of the key elements of reconciliation. But so far, have not appeared and have been something of a disappointment to many people here in the United States. So disappointment is the right word for a lot of the areas that we had been hoping to see more progress from the Iraqi federal government, but some strong signs of progress. Now, the government accountability office had a report out yesterday and a hearing to go with it, a Senate hearing to go with it, in which there were 18 guidelines or 18 benchmarks, and the report said 11 of those have you had to be met. You agree? Do you have any quarrel with that?

Well, I would say wait and see what the report is from the people on the ground there. There are many reports coming out. The GAO is just one of them. I haven't read their report, but I understand that what it was measuring is these are the benchmarks that were set several months ago have they been met. And the answer is, in most cases, of course not, but there's been substantial progress in many cases, modest progress in others. So if you're judging solely on the toggle switch of yes or no has the benchmark been met, not surprising that they would find few have been met. Let me mention one other thing, though, that relates to the previous question you asked me, and that is that I also understand that the GAO report basically ended its reporting period at the end of July, and therefore does not have the benefit of many of the positive developments, including the Iraqi leadership coming together that occurred just last week, or that many of the positive developments on the security side, the General Petraeus will be able to speak to next week. There's a report that's due out officially tomorrow that just the news of it just came out, an independent report chaired by former Marine Commandant James Jones about the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi police.

Let me read you a quote from that. The police force is not viable in its current form. The national police should be disbanded and reorganized and quote. I haven't seen that report either. Like I said, it's one of many. I think all of that will be taken into account by General Petraeus, by Ambassador Crocker, and by the president as he announces the way forward. General Jones has a lot of credibility with everybody involved here, so I know his report will be taken seriously. I expect that his report, in addition to being critical of the Iraqi police, will also note some substantial improvements in the Iraqi Army, which has been performing increasingly well in a very complicated situation. That quote only applies to the police. The Army, the Army, the same report that's been leaked today this afternoon does say some hopes and progress that progress has been made by the Army, but it says, generally speaking, that it would be a year to 18 months at the earliest, that the combination of the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi police could operate independently and maintain security in Iraq.

All of those data points will be taken into account by General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker when they give their report to the Congress. The president is going to take all those views into account when he outlines the way forward after they've had a chance to testify. It's about now to get into a situation where one general named Petraeus has suddenly become the master whatever, the master deciderist of what is happening on the ground in Iraq. He's the commander on the ground. I would draw the word, would draw a permitted magic judge. The man who said, okay, it's working or it's not working, if Petraeus says that everybody has to believe that if everybody else, if everybody, I'll stop right there. How do we get to that place?

It is an unusual circumstance, but I think it is a product of so many different voices being focused on and so many different sets of eyes being focused on a very complicated problem, and the president's very strong commitment that he wants to be guided by the person who is actually responsible for the deployment and supervision of our troops there. That applies also to Ambassador Crocker on the diplomatic side. Both of them have well-deserved reputations for integrity and independence. The president is going to rely on their independent advice, and I think we've gotten to that point because the debate has become so politicized. And that we need to put extra burden in this case, at this time in our history, on those who are genuinely apart from politics. I think that's the way the president will review their report. I think that's how the American people should view their report. And the president, you would expect the president to say to the Democrats in Congress, to Republicans in Congress, to Republicans of Americans everywhere, if you have a doubt, go with Petraeus rather than anybody else. I would expect him to say that. I think he should say that because those are the people who were there at 14, 16, 18 hours a day fighting the battle, understanding the situation on the ground in a very complicated situation, better than anybody else, and have the strongest interest in success.

Now, having said all that, the president remains the commander in chief. He needs to put the overall national interest into perspective and needs to make a judgment about the way forward. He will do that after General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker have had a chance to deliver their report. No subject. There have been several published reports that it was you who finally convinced President Bush that Bert of Gonzalez should go as Attorney General. Is that true? Attorney General Gonzalez came to his own conclusion. And I think it was a courageous decision on his part that the president will reluctantly accept it. I think Alberto came to the realization that, as unfair as the attacks on him over the last several months have been, that at some point you need to let that unfairness in a sense stand and step aside for the good of the department, which I know he loves and wants to succeed more than, more than concern about. What might happen to him personally?

Seeing or seminar circumstances lead to the resignation of Carl Rowe? No. This was completely an independent decision by Carl about the time when he wanted to leave. He had been talking with the president about leaving for at least a year, maybe more. I had known for many months that Carl was looking to leave in the interests of his own family and his own cycle and his life. And that's a circumstance in which the timing was not dictated by any sort of outside forces. That was completely up to Carl. All of us at the White House would have loved to have had him stay and continue to contribute in the way he does. He's a brilliant character. But everybody also accepted that this was the time in his life to move on. I'm looking through news reports and putting it all together today in preparation for talking to you. The best I could tell of the original very close inner circle of President Bush, they're all gone, except for Condoleezza Rice, is, and she's of course now the Secretary of State.

Do you expect her to last to the very end, or have you heard anything about her leaving, along with everyone else? I expect her to go straight through, and I think that's a good thing for the country and everybody else. Look, a lot is made about the turnover and so on. I think what's actually remarkable about this administration is not the turnover, but the continuity that we've had many senior people serve for so long in the administration. For Carl Rowe, for example, people shouldn't be surprised that he might go at this point. He's been working for the President for 14 years, intensively at the White House for the last six and a half. So we've had a lot of continuity. The other thing that strikes me from my seat now as Chief of Staff is that, as important as you think any individual is, and Carl Rowe is a good example, Dan Bartlett is another example too. Was the Councilor of the President?

The Councilor of the President? And before that, and before he was President, before he was President, before he was President, before he was President. And goes all the way back to the early 90s with the President. As brilliant as both of those people are, and may spectacular and important contributions to the White House, there's something about the organic structure of at least this White House. And I think most White House is that when you lose an important player like that, other people come in, other people step up, and you tend not to lose a step, and that's been the history in this administration. We've had some really remarkable people come into government in the later years of this administration, like Hank Paulson, Bob Gates, Ed Gillespie, who replaced Dan Bartlett. The list goes on of very strong people continuing to be interested in public service. And it doesn't cause me concern about the ability of the White House to function, even though we lose some of our best players. All those names you just mentioned are people you personally recruited to, are they not? Some of them. Yeah. Yeah. Is the much has been made that the people who could give President Bush bad news, who knew him well enough for over many years,

to look at him straight in the eye and say, hey, this isn't working, or whatever. With Candor, those people are now gone. Is that true? Can you give the President bad news? Sure. I do every day, and I view it as an important part of my job and an important part of everybody who's serving the President to give him the story straight as we see it. See it. He accepts that. He accepts that very well. In fact, some of the rare occasions in which I've seen him angry are situations in which people have failed to give him their honest counsel, or failed to give him the bad news out of fear that he, out of fear that it's just unpopular to deliver bad news sometimes. So, I don't see that as a problem at this White House, certainly not with this President. Finally, a bad news question, having to do with Senator Craig, are you concerned at all about the reports today that he's reconsidering his resignation very seriously? Senator Minority Leader McConnell just talked about it today.

The President called Senator Craig right after he made his announcement of his intent to resign a few days ago, and called to wish him well to compliment him on a career of distinguished public service, and to tell him that he knew that his decision to resign had been very difficult, but that he was confident that he had arrived at the right decision for himself and for Idaho, for the people of Idaho. And I think Senator Craig is going to conclude that that remains the right decision. That would be your hope. I think Senator Craig is going to conclude that, and I think that's the right place for it to be. Mr. Bolton, thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Now, Margaret Warner in Pakistan, tonight she reports on changes in the country's civil society. It's taken nearly two decades, but Pakistan finally has a national gallery of art.

At a gallery reception 10 days ago, Islamabad High Society mingled with the artists, and lauded the man who brought it about architect Naheem Pasha. He designed this striking brick building to showcase some of the country's finest artists, and some edgy artwork that does not always fit a strict Islamic sensibility. Pasha says it's about time. In the last 30, 40 years, we have been self-sensoring ourselves, especially in art and culture and literature, that, you know, what would be palatable and what would not be the palatable with these, you know, the people at Pa, a general public. Pasha said the gallery's construction was due to the personal intervention of a very powerful benefactor, President Perez Musharraf. Pakistan's military ruler opened the museum himself. He told the story of driving past the abandoned half-built site, asking what it was, and once Pasha was summoned to explain it, ordering it funded and built. It has taken 60 long years to create this one art gallery.

Well, if they say it's better laid than never. The irony that it took a military ruler, not a civilian one, to finish this gallery, doesn't lost on the artists and celebrities at the gathering. Pakistani supermodel Natasha Hussein covered the event for one of Pakistan's new private TV channels. I was really, really happily surprised, and I've been feeling very emotional about this work, building, and that it's been made, and that it's been done, and that our President, General Perez Musharraf, has not only financially, but otherwise also really helped all of us out by doing this. On hand was a throng of journalists from the country's newly robust electronic media, competing for Pakistani viewers with edgy offerings of their own. I think we went haywire in the beginning ourselves, the media, because it was almost as if we had been given a license to say whatever we liked. And so a lot of taboo subjects, that was pushed under the rug, suddenly started to surface.

Imran Aslam is the president of G.O. Television, one of the most successful private networks in the country. Based in Karachi, G.O. just celebrated its fifth anniversary. It operates five channels in Urdu and will launch an English language one soon. It's all part of a media landscape that didn't exist before General Musharraf seized power in a coup eight years ago. We would give him his due. We've had a sustained period of freedom, if you like, sustained in such a way that in my experience, I've never seen that. But we have an expression over here. We say that there is a lot of freedom of expression in Pakistan at the moment. We're waiting for freedom after expression, and this is a problem. It's a problem that G.O. has directly experienced. When President Musharraf suspended Pakistan's Chief Justice in March, massive demonstrations erupted, covered live by G.O. and other networks.

As the cameras were rolling on a demonstration in Islamabad, police broke into G.O.'s bureau. The G.O. cameraman filmed the attack, and the network broadcast it live, as police smashed offices and equipment and beat up G.O. journalists. Immediately after the attack, within about ten minutes or so, the President was on the line. And he went on live, spoke to the anchors, spoke to Hamid Miro, who had been attacked, who was our bureau chief in Islamabad, and apologized. But what does it tell you that these cops bust in and beat up your reporters than the President apologizes? I mean, who's in charge? We've been saying this. I mean, they keep saying, you know, everything is under control, and our question is often being under who's control. So I think there's always that problem. The investigation always leads to, you know, some police personnel who decided to take the law into their own hands, and, you know, the matter rests there.

The vigorous press in Pakistan, where the newspapers offer unrestrained criticism of military rule, is often cited by the government as evidence that President Musharraf has delivered the enlightened moderation he espouses. Tarik Azim Khan is Pakistan's state minister of information. There is this argument about whether a person holding the presidency should also be in uniform. That argument, of course, is a valid argument, a strong argument. But on the other hand, we have to see the realities on the ground. Our experience has shown that a man in uniform, paradoxically, has given more democracy to this country than people in the cities, and that's the reality. But critics of President Musharraf take issue with that, saying the TV technology genie was already out of the bottle, and they say a deplorable human rights record trumps any advances that he's made on the road to an open society. Pakistani activists describe rampant arbitrary detention, torture,

and death in custody, and say they fight a daily battle to protect the rights of the individual. Attorney Asma Jahangir chairs the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. President Musharraf has called himself an alight and moderate who's going to lead the nation. But at the same time, violence has increased. People are kept under illegal detention all the time. Torture is just routine. I mean, if you're not tortured, you're really lucky and exceptional. I don't know how under what vocabulary can a person who oppresses others and takes away their rights can ever be called a liberal or someone who is moderate. From her office in Karachi stacked to the ceiling with dusty legal files, Jahangir is leading a human rights revolution in Pakistan. The day we visited a group of young volunteers, all women, were being trained to serve as community case investigators. Jahangir represents women and girls who've been raped and abused,

families who've had their assets stolen by the government, and relatives of the disappeared. Jahangir says the majority of the disappeared are nationalists from the Baluchistan province in the southwest, suspected Islamic militants and terrorists, and the occasional journalists. There are hundreds of people who have disappeared. And we have gone to court with a list of something like 175 people who still remain and disappeared out of which some were recovered and 95 are still not there. But to my utter amazement, that the government has been saying for a long time that these people are not with us, and then suddenly they own up to them, suddenly they're released. Yesterday, the Supreme Court ordered some 40 missing persons released by September 21. The government insists its record isn't as bad as activists claim. Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, a federal minister in the Musharif government, says Pakistan's role in fighting the U.S.-led war on terror requires authorities to do what it takes. There are some cases of purchase for investigations to know the news

and to know the network, to enter in the network. And you think that's necessary. In my opinion, yes, for such kind of people and things, you know, you have to do something like this. Despite accusations that this government is abusing some of its citizens, a shift in the balance of civic and political power is underway. The key to its continuation is the newly assertive Supreme Court behind me for it is inspiring many Pakistanis to press for their rights. Directly opposite the Court, petitioners from across the country now pick up the building, calling for justice. Nasrin Iqbal has spent weeks camped outside. She says she lost her home and 12 acres to expropriation by local officials. The Court has already given her some protection, but she's hoping for more. I came here to appeal to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to help me again.

I want the people who occupied my house to be removed. The police have arrested two suspects on the orders of the Supreme Court, now I want the police to arrest the other 11. That Pakistanis from all walks of life are now demanding the full implementation of the law is attorneys say both a new development and a further shot across the government's bow. If Descartes Galani is a Supreme Court advocate who took part in the demonstrations and court challenges supporting the Chief Justice, the Chief Justice. People feel newly empowered, he says, and expect the Supreme Court to insist on accountability from authorities and from President Musharraf on the election front as well. You know what if a statement was, if somebody likes his or does not like it, I'm going to do the President of this country for next five years. Is this a statement? I heard it myself. Literally, I'm not joking. That if somebody likes it or does not like it, I am going to do the President for next five years. No? Sorry. The lawyer said, no. The civil society said, no.

And our instrument of implementation of our wishes today is the Supreme Court of Pakistan. If the new self-confidence of Pakistan's courts in civil society is creating headaches for President Musharraf, it could do the same for exiled civilian politicians, former Prime Ministers Benizir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who are now planning to return. Jahangir says they're in for a surprise. I, in fact, said to both of them that Pakistan is changed. When you come back, it's not the same Pakistan. And I'm sure they realize they watch television where they are. It's not the same, and people are going to ask questions. It's not going to be the dictator of leadership alone. People really expect more consultation. Under military rule, the people of Pakistan still lack normal political channels to work their will. But the flourishing of artistic, journalistic, and judicial activism during the Musharraf era has created a platform on which they can build. Now, a literary birthday, 50 years for On the Road, Jeffrey Brown reports.

A most unusual literary document is traveling the country this year, the 120-foot scroll on which Jack Kerouac typed over 20 days in April 1951, the original version of On the Road is semi-autobiographical novel that would become a seminal marker of cultural change in the 1950s and 60s. Kerouac was born in Lowell, Massachusetts to French-Canadian parents. His first language was French. He studied at Columbia on a football scholarship and began writing seriously there before leaving school. On the road recounts his travels across America by thumb, car, and bus in the years 1947 to 1950, often with Neil Cassidy, the prototype slang-talking hipster who became a model for youthful rebellion through the 1960s and beyond. Other Kerouac friends, including poet Alan Ginsburg and writer William Burrows, would themselves become famous as part of the so-called beat generation. The book's portrait of fast-living, unconventional youth continues to connect with many young people today.

When I was reading his On the Road, it was about living in the moment and just taking off and not knowing what was going to happen, but having faith that it was going to work out, and you were just going to do whatever you wanted. You know, I mean, how perfect is that? When On the Road was first published in 1957, editors imposed a number of changes to the text. Now the original scroll version has been released for the first time. It and new research could inspire some rethinking about Kerouac the writer, says Co-editor Penny Legopoulos. People think that he just sort of sat down and wrote books without much thought. And in fact, the reason one of the big reasons for our project is to dispel the myth that he wrote it in three weeks. And in fact, it's a book that he was thinking about and writing in various versions for years. Jack Kerouac wrote dozens of books in his lifetime but died young in 1969 at age 47. On the road continues to sell some 100,000 copies every year.

Reflections on Jack Kerouac and On the Road from Audrey Springer, a sociologist and documentarian. She develops artistic cultural and educational programming at the Denver Public Library and was co-creator of the Kerouac events in Denver last winter. Well, just to get right to it, what do you think explains the continuing popularity of this book? I think the continuing popularity of the book stems from the fact that Jack Kerouac was brave enough to defy social convention and comfort to do quite a radical thing, which was to simply be in the world and write about it. He was a deeply, deeply disciplined writer who was committed to documenting America every day as it was lived by people, and I think that he really captured the ways that people live and spoke. And that's what he was committed to as an artist, trying to develop a new way of American writing, which would be evocative of how people actually lived, whether or not it followed the rules of grammar or literary convention. And if you can take us back to the time when he wrote it, or at least when it was first published, did it have that kind of impact right away?

It definitely did. Kerouac wrote on the road in the 1940s, and it took almost a decade before it was published, and then when it was published in the late 1950s, 50 years ago, 50 years ago this September, it gave a voice to an entire generation of artists and painters. And poets who were developing a new idiom of American art that was much akin to African-American jazz and the spirit of cooperation, collaboration, improvisation. And Kerouac gave a voice to that through this novel on the road and his commitment to living as an American artist. Certainly a lot has been made of his chronicling of a side of America at that time that was not often portrayed, and certainly the sex and the drugs at that time was certainly not portrayed very often in popular culture. And I don't even know if it was just sex and drugs, but a kind of intimacy, a kind of spirituality.

Kerouac was extremely talented at capturing the lives of people who were quite different from himself. He himself was somewhat of an outsider being a first generation American of French-Canadian descent who didn't speak English until his early childhood years. And so as a result, he felt a kinship and indeed a commitment to documenting the lives of people who were outsiders and who were also different from himself, whether they were African-American, whether they were Jewish-American, whether they were people who had a home or not, whether they were people from the East Coast or the West Coast from an urban setting or a small town setting. Tell us a little bit more about Kerouac, the man, because this is one of those cases in American literature where, and you think of Hemingway and you think of a few others, where where the legend of the writer is better known than perhaps the reality of the writer. And in some ways, as important as the writing that he created.

Well, part of the popularity of the novel, I think, is rooted in the fact that it is a fiction, it's a made up story, it's a narrative, that hints at the possibility that it might be true. Kerouac did write about his life, but he was a writer and it is a work of fiction. And so as a result, we can get caught up in the story, but there's always that hope and that possibility that it may have happened. So when you read on the road and you finish it, you feel that urge, you feel that lure to go out and see if it's true. Even though it's set over 50 years ago in a time and a place that doesn't exist anymore, there's still that impulse to go out and try and find it. And yet, even though he does have many readers still, many young readers, especially, he never was really accepted and still not, I don't think, into academia, into the establishment. His writing style really was never taken on as a model by too many other writers.

Part of the reason Kerouac, I think, had trouble fitting into the academy and the publishing world in the beginning, had to do with the fact that they didn't quite know where to put him. He was, like I mentioned, an incredibly disciplined, accomplished writer who could write in any genre, yet who at the same time decided to try and defy the rules and play with the rules. And so as a result, you get a novel and a writing style and a subject matter where you're not quite sure where to fit it. And I do think that his time has come in the academy where we are trying to challenge the boundaries that we work within, whether we are sociologists or literary critics or anthropologists. And there are many scholars, like myself, who look to novelists like Kerouac, who weren't afraid to defy those kinds of boundaries in their work. And so as a result, he's really finding a place in the literary establishment and in the academy today, 50 years later, which is truly exciting.

All right, Audrey Springer on Jack Kerouac and on the real. Thank you very much. Thank you. And before we go to an eye to preview of Judy Woodruff's new generation next documentary, Judy Crisscross the country talking to young people between age 16 and 25. And this excerpt, she profiles a young man in Los Angeles. The 23-year-old Leo Vasquez grew up in a tough, predominantly Hispanic section of inner city Los Angeles. We start hanging around gang members. That's when I joined the gang, too. After that, we just didn't trouble every since. He joined when you were eight? Yeah, about eight, nine years old. The cops don't come down this alley. There's a one way in, one way out. Everybody's gang members. So, they're always going to be around me.

And even if I'm not from the gang, they eventually, everybody's going to think of for me because I'm always around them. And what kind of things do you do with a gang member? Beat up, police shop people. I shot a lot of times, but never got here. Been in and out of jail. How old were you when you first used a gun? Like 10, 11 years old. Who taught you how to use it? Nobody TV. TV? Yeah. A sixth grade dropout, Leo spent all but 15 days of his life from age 13 to 20 in some form of incarceration. Leo taught himself how to read while in jail, but found there were limits to what he could do without a high school diploma. And he's not alone. Only about half of all Hispanic males in the country graduate from high school. And in Los Angeles, the number is even less. Do you think more school could lead to better jobs?

Yeah, but I can't go to school because I got bills to pay, so in the meanwhile, if I'm going to school, I can't pay my bills. So, I got to work. Judy's documentary is called Generation Next 2.0. You can watch it on most PBS stations tonight. Check your local listings for the time. And again, the major developments of the day, German officials announced they've disrupted a terror plot aimed at American facilities in Germany. The U.S. military announced eight more American soldiers have been killed in Iraq. And Republican Senator Larry Craig, let it be known he is reconsidering his decision to resign, but the Senate Ethics Committee late today declined to drop the complaint against him. We'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. I'm Jim Lara, thank you, and good night. Major funding for the news hour with Jim Lara is provided by.

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Good evening, I'm Jim Lara. Good evening. I'm Jim Lara. On the news hour tonight, the news of this Wednesday. Then the latest on the bomb plot in Germany from Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post in Berlin. A newsmaker interview with White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolton. A report from Margaret Warner about culture clashes in Pakistani society. And I look at Jack Kerouax on the road 50 years later. Major funding for the news hour with Jim Lara is provided by.

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And by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you. Thank you. A terror plot aimed at American facilities in Germany has been disrupted. German officials announced that today. Three men were charged with planning mass involved.