Showdown With Iran; Northwest Plane Diverted Due to In-flight Disruption; Interview With DNC Chairman Howard Dean
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And to our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where new pictures and information are arriving all the time. Standing by, CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you today's top stories. Happening now, the Bush administration says Iran's nuclear offer falls short of United Nations demands. Will the U.S. and its allies do anything about it? It's 12:30 a.m. in Tehran. Are Iran's war games an ominous hint of what's to come? We're inside Iran, only on CNN. A midair incident involves air marshals, and a Northwest airliner is forced to turn around with a fighter escort. It's 11:00 p.m. in Amsterdam, where Dutch police arrest a dozen passengers. What happened? And a shy, quiet boy who played soccer and went to the local mosque, what turned him into the world's most wanted terrorist? A special preview of CNN's powerful new documentary, "In the Footsteps of bin Laden." I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. Not good enough. That's how the Bush administration today characterizes Iran's response to incentives aimed at halting its nuclear program. Iran's nuclear negotiator is offering more negotiations, but the State Department says that falls sort of U.N. demands. Is the stage now set for a showdown? Our Aneesh Raman is standing by in Tehran. He'll join us live with a report you'll see only here on CNN. But let's begin this hour with CNN's Brian Todd with a look at the possible Iranian threat -- Brian.</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, new details on that threat and some exasperation from leaders on Capitol Hill who put out the information.</s>TODD (voice over): From key intelligence leaders in Congress, new warnings on Iran. While the regime weighs incentive packages and a deadline for suspending nuclear enrichment, they say, Tehran is also playing a familiar and dangerous game.</s>REP. MICHAEL RODGERS (R), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: It's beyond a shadow of doubt for me that they are trying to stall for more time to continue their uranium enrichment and the building of their nuclear program.</s>TODD: Congressman Mike Rodgers says Western leaders have been duped by Iranian diplomacy for the past three years. Rodgers is a key player in House Intelligence Committee's new report on Iran's strategic threat to the U.S. and its allies.</s>RODGERS: These folks are absolutely up to no good. They're developing ballistic missiles, they're developing and trying to enrich uranium. They have chemical and biological weapons programs.</s>TODD: Information that's not new but does raise new questions about Iran's intentions at this crucial moment in diplomacy. For instance, the report says the regime has produced enough of a compound called uranium hexafluoride to produce 12 nuclear bombs if it's enriched to weapons grade. Still, U.S. intelligence leaders and outside experts have repeatedly said Iran likely won't be able to produce a nuclear weapon for at least four years. Ready now, a delivery system for any nuclear weapon, what the report calls the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the Middle East. A capability that experts say is rapidly being developed further.</s>JOHN PIKE, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG: The Shahab 3, which is currently operational, has a range of 2,000 kilometers, can get to Israel. The Shahab 4, twice the range, 4,000 kilometers, can get to much of western Europe. The Shahab 5, also under development, could get all of the way to the United States, but they're years away from having that capability.</s>TODD: Between four and 10 years for those two longer-range missiles, according to John Pike. Now, after repeated calls and e-mails just a moment ago, I got off the phone with a top Iranian official at the United Nations. Who told us he needed more time to read the U.S. House report, but he also refuted the accusation that Iran is stalling for time on the nuclear issue and said his government is ready to begin negotiations at any time -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Brian, thanks very much. Brian Todd reporting for us. Is there any room, though, for compromise? Is Iran ready to risk a showdown? Our Aneesh Raman is the only U.S. television network correspondent in Iran right now. He's joining us live from Tehran. Aneesh, is there a sense that you're getting speaking to Iranian officials that this is their bottom line, or what is the answer as far as August 31st, which is the real deadline for stopping enriching uranium?</s>ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I'm getting a much better sense on the Iranian strategy a day after that official response, given the fallout we're hearing. The U.S. saying it fell far too short. Iran is not going to suspend its nuclear program by that U.N. deadline. That is the sense I get by every indication. What Iran did in this response is open up the possibility for new negotiations. Why did they do that? Because at the U.N., when that deadline comes and passes with Iran not having suspended its program, there is no immediate trigger of action. Sanctions don't immediately come. A debate has to take place within the U.N. Security Council. Russia and China, key Iranian allies on that Security Council, have already said they are open to the thought of new negotiations with Iran to find a new resolution. So Iran is preemptively, if you will, it seems, setting in place fodder for Russia and China, among, perhaps, others, to say let's slow down, let's not impose harsh sanctions, let's see if we can restart these dialogues and figure out a diplomatic solution -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Aneesh, when you speak to Iranians on the street in Tehran, and the word "sanctions' come up, if the United Nations Security Council were to impose some sanctions against Iran, do they understand the potential economic ramifications for the millions and millions of people that live there?</s>RAMAN: They do. Iran is a country that has and is enduring sanctions. And it endured an eight-year battle with Iraq. It's a people that are hardened. And when it comes to economic sanctions, specifically a people that are essentially used to them. When I ask a lot of them, they say, it's really no big deal, we're already sanctioned. It could just get worse. So what does that matter? What will have to happen in terms of the sanctions for it to hit the ground on the Iranian street, it's a</s>BLITZER: Aneesh Raman is the only television -- U.S. television network correspondent in Iran doing outstanding work for us. Aneesh, thank you very much. In CNN "Security Watch," another disruption and another passenger plain diverted. This time with a military escort. It happened in the Netherlands during a Northwest Airlines flight. Let's get some details now from CNN's Homeland Security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve -- Jeanne.</s>JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, 12 people are under arrest and facing preliminary charges in the Netherlands. Who they are, where they're from, still unknown.</s>MESERVE (voice over): Northwest Airlines Flight 42 sat on the tarmac at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. The flight, which originated in Minneapolis-St. Paul, was turned around after taking off from Amsterdam for Mumbai, India.</s>PAMELA KUPYERS, SCHIPHOL AIRPORT PRESS OFFICER: It's standard procedure in the Netherlands to send an escort, a military escort. Two F-16 aircraft were sent to escort the plane back -- back to Schiphol.</s>MESERVE: Passengers were told the plane was going back for a security check.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It wasn't any conversation that you could hear. All I could see was the security police took a lot of people out and handcuffed a few of them and took them away.</s>MESERVE: An airline source in Amsterdam said the arrested passengers had been looking into bags and pulling out cell phones, which can be used to detonate bombs. A U.S. official said some had taken out cell phones during takeoff and tried to pass them around. The official also says some of those arrested unfastened their seatbelts while the seatbelt sign was still illuminated. U.S. federal air marshals on board the flight broke cover, according to the official, and took control of security while the pilot headed back to Amsterdam.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was afraid.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes? Why?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was just</s>MESERVE: Officials say there was no intelligence indicating the flight was at risk and they are still evaluating how big a security threat the passengers posed. Wolf, back to you.</s>BLITZER: All right, Jeanne. Thanks very much. The war in Iraq, the war on terror, all stuff for political wins and losses. Stuff that political wins and losses are actually made of in elections. Joining us now in Burlington, Vermont, is the Democratic National Committee chairman, Howard Dean. Governor, thanks very much for coming in.</s>HOWARD DEAN, DNC CHAIRMAN: Thanks for having me on, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: We know that since 9/11, in 2002, in the elections, 2004, in the elections, the Republicans did very well with the issue of the war on terrorism. And in our latest CNN poll that's out this week, we asked, "Which party is doing a better job dealing with terrorism?" Forty-eight percent of the American people said Republicans, 38 percent said Democrats. You've still got a 10-point spread here. You've got a major problem.</s>DEAN: I don't think so. It's essentially even. The poll numbers jumped after the British caught the potential bombers in the airlines. But the fact is, for the last year and a half, the president hasn't had anything like the numbers that he had during the 2004 election. Fifty-four percent, same poll, don't believe the president is telling the truth. Sixty-one percent think the war is a mistake and we shouldn't be there. So, I think this president is in deep trouble. Although, I have to say that the Iraq war is an issue that's getting him into deep trouble, but the issue that really got him into deep trouble, the anniversary is at the end of this week, and that's Hurricane Katrina.</s>BLITZER: You think that was a bigger problem for the president...</s>DEAN: I think the president...</s>BLITZER: ... the way his administration dealt with Katrina...</s>DEAN: Yes.</s>BLITZER: ... as opposed to the way the administration has dealt with the war in Iraq?</s>DEAN: I do. I think Katrina -- the response to Katrina was effectively the end to the president's presidency in the sense that people all of a sudden saw the small man behind the curtain. People in America and throughout the rest of the world for a long time have believed that Americans can fix anything, that we're better organized and better managed -- managed better than anybody, and that if something really awful happens, call on the Americans. And for the first time in our lifetime and in the world's lifetime, since World War II -- since before World War II -- we suddenly saw an American president just descend into failure. And I don't think he's ever recovered from that.</s>BLITZER: Here is what the president said earlier this week when it comes to the difference between what he said were Democrats' views on Iraq and what his position is. Listen to what he said.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's a fundamental difference between many of the Democrats and my party. And that is they want to leave before the job is completed in Iraq. And again, I repeat, these are decent people. You know, they're just as American as I am. I just happen to strongly disagree with them. And it's very important for the American people to understand the consequences of leaving Iraq before the job is done.</s>BLITZER: Now, that's translated by a lot of Republican politicians into charges of cut and run, that that's what you want to do and basically give up any hope for trying to deal with the situation in Iraq.</s>DEAN: This is exactly what was going on in Vietnam. And the president and the vice president are saying exactly what Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew said again and again and again. It resulted in 25,000 more Americans being killed in Vietnam, and the result was the same as it would have been had we left earlier. This is wishful thinking on the part of the president. They never thought this out. I can remember the secretary of defense saying the whole world would be paid for by Iraqi oil. The vice president was saying we'd be greeted as liberators. These folks are fundamentally out of touch with what's going on in Iraq and they're fundamentally out of touch with the needs of the American people. And we need a new direction in this country, Wolf, and we're going to have a new direction after November.</s>BLITZER: But as you know, a lot of Democrats, especially Democratic senators, are also saying the U.S. should try to finish the job and not set an artificial deadline for getting out.</s>DEAN: Finishing the -- the job was finished. We went in there to get rid of Saddam Hussein. We got rid of him. Then we decided we were going to occupy the country, and then we decided that we would try to mitigate a civil war, which we're now in. The problem is, the job, as far as the president keeps defining it, is a moving target. He doesn't know what the job is. He doesn't know what the end point is. The idea that we're going to have a democracy that looks like America was a ridiculous right wing intellectual idea from the beginning, and, you know, the neoconservatives. They're out of touch. Most of them have never served in the army and the ones that have rarely served abroad defending the country. What they should have done is listened to the people that actually served abroad, listened to the military people, do what the military suggested. The difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is not that we're not both tough. We are. But the Democrats will be tough and smart, and that means we're going to listen to people who know what we're talking about before we commit troops.</s>BLITZER: When it comes to this issue, Senator Joe Lieberman clearly disagrees with you. And in part, that helped explain why he lost the Democratic primary in his home state of Connecticut. I interviewed him here in THE SITUATION ROOM yesterday. Listen to this exchange I had with Senator Lieberman.</s>BLITZER: Are you telling us -- can you look into the camera and tell the people of Connecticut once and for all you would not then join the Republican caucus?</s>SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: That's absolutely what I've said. Are you representing the Republicans here?</s>BLITZER: I'm asking the questions.</s>LIEBERMAN: No. The answer is I have made that clear. I...</s>BLITZER: So there's no chance you would side with the Republicans...</s>LIEBERMAN: No.</s>BLITZER: ... even though you become a chairman potentially of a committee?</s>LIEBERMAN: No. I'm a Democrat, and I will remain a Democrat.</s>BLITZER: Now, you're a democrat, too, Governor Dean. It looks like there's a win-win potentially for the Democrats. If Ned Lamont wins, he's a Democrat. If Joe Lieberman wins, he says he's a Democrat.</s>DEAN: Look, I'm chairman of the Democratic Party. The Democratic voters in Connecticut chose Ned Lamont, who is a very capable, very smart guy who is moving forward and looking for a new direction in America. And I'm 100 percent supporting Ned Lamont and I'm going to campaign with him, we're going to help him in every way possible. We believe that the voters have spoken. When the voters speak, you have to honor that in politics.</s>BLITZER: If he's elected, the senator, if he's reelected, would you like him to remain in the Democratic caucus in the U.S. Senate?</s>DEAN: Sure. We want to be a big tent. And Joe has served the country honorably. But Joe is the past and Ned Lamont is the future. And we need a new direction in this country, and the voters in Connecticut have indicated that.</s>BLITZER: In this most recent "USA Today"-Gallup poll, the generic question among registered voters, your choice for Congress, it looks neck and neck, 47 percent Democrat, 45 percent Republican. We had a poll earlier which did show a significant Democrat preference, 52-43 percent. But what do you make of this more recent "USA Today"-Gallup poll?</s>DEAN: Well, there was a "New York Times" poll that also showed that the gap was much wider than that. But, you know, in the end, as you very well know, the polls right now are relatively -- relatively unimportant. And there's only one poll that really matters, and that's the one on November 7th. So, we'll see what the polls show then. But I think if the election were held today the Democrats would win. But the election is not going to be held today and we've got a lot of work to do.</s>BLITZER: Governor Howard...</s>DEAN: Look, Wolf...</s>BLITZER: Yes, go ahead.</s>DEAN: ... the country fundamentally wants a different direction. The Republicans are just going to give us more of the same. We want a new direction in the economy, we want a new direction in health care, we want a new direction in foreign policy, we want a new direction in Iraq, we want a new direction for gas prices. We need a new direction. You can't get that by voting for Republicans.</s>BLITZER: We'll have you back soon, Governor. Thanks very much.</s>DEAN: Thanks, Wolf. Thank you.</s>BLITZER: And equal time, that's what we call it. Tomorrow we've invited the Republican Party chairman, Ken Mehlman. He'll join us right here in THE SITUATION ROOM. That's coming up tomorrow. And coming up right away, he drove all the way from New Orleans to deliver a message to the president. Only a few hours ago he got his chance. We're going to tell you what he had to say. Then, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern tonight, CNN will air a powerful new documentary about Osama bin Laden. We're going to have a special excerpt. That's coming up right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.