Candidates' Military Records; Iran's Role In Najaf?; "Princeton Review's" Colleges Lists
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan in Atlanta. Let's check what's happening right now in the news. It is Tuesday, August 17th. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is before Congress this hour discussing the proposed new post of National Intelligence Director. The 9/11 Commission urged its creation, and President Bush endorsed one form of that. Rumsfeld could lose control of a vast range on intelligence agencies now under Pentagon control if the new director is named. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge will get a look at hurricane relief efforts in Florida this afternoon. The death toll from Charley is now up to 19. Dozens of people are missing. Crews say it will take several weeks to search through all of the debris. Britain filed terrorism-related charges today against eight men held since raids on August 3rd. U.S. officials have said the suspects include at least one senior al Qaeda figure. Britain accuses the men of plotting to use radioactive material and toxic gases against targets in the U.S. Keeping you informed, CNN is the most trusted name in news. A delegation from Baghdad went to Najaf today trying to broker a peace deal. Fighters loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have battled U.S. and Iraqi forces for two weeks now. Iran is calling on the United Nations to intervene, but others accuse Iran of stirring the pot in Najaf. Here now, our international correspondent Zain Verjee with a look at Iran's possible role in Iraq.</s>ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Could Iran be involved in instigating bloody battles in Najaf? The U.S. says it's concerned about allegations like this, adding stable Iraq is in Iran's best interest.</s>ADAM ERELI, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: Iran should use its influence toward that objective and not to take any actions that would be destabilizing.</s>VERJEE: Iran says since the war in Iraq, its policies have been positive and constructive. And the situation in Najaf today is a result of poor American policies. Political analysts critical of Tehran don't agree.</s>MICHAEL RUBIN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Iran doesn't want a stable democracy in Iraq. It would set a bad precedent in Iran.</s>VERJEE: And they blame Iran for al-Sadr.</s>RUBIN: Iran is basically the lifeblood of Sadr -- I mean, financially, materially, and with regard to military and intelligence advice.</s>VERJEE: The Iranian government rejects that and tells CNN, "Iran does not support Muqtada al-Sadr financially and has never done so." A U.S. State Department spokesman confirms to CNN that al-Sadr is getting money from Iran, but it's unclear whether the money is coming from official government sources or from wealthy individuals. Over the years, Iran has supported many competing groups in Iraq, hedging its bets to retain influence, say experts, but that doesn't necessarily mean instability in Najaf is Iran's fault.</s>TONY KARON, SR. EDITOR TIME.COM: It's possible that there's some Iranian involvement, but certainly this is not Iran steering the punt (ph). Muqtada al-Sadr's movement is primarily a movement among the Shiite urban poor. And it's a popular movement.</s>VERJEE: And supporting Sadr may not be in Iran's interest.</s>SHAUL BAKHASH, GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY: He's unpopular in Iraq, at least with many of the Shiites, which Iran supports. He's a troublemaker. He's unreliable.</s>VERJEE: Sadr himself has been described as a charismatic leader who operates with a savvy group of advisors. Some say Sadr doesn't need Iran. Analysts say pressure on Iran to effect regime change and give up its suspect nuclear weapons program is motivating Tehran's political calculations in Iraq and its military calculations. Iran just tested a medium-range missile two weeks after Israel tested its Arrow-2 missile. (on camera): Analysts also say Iran may use its influence in Iraq as a bargaining chip over its nuclear program. The Iranian Foreign Ministry, for its part, says there's no connection between the developments in Iraq and its own nuclear program. Zain Verjee, CNN, Atlanta.</s>KAGAN: And more news now. Some harsh words are being exchanged in connection with the presidential race. It all has to do with the back and forth over John Kerry's military record and Vice President Cheney's Vietnam deferment. Our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley has our campaign update from Washington -- Candy?</s>CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Daryn. Some top military veterans and former crewmates of John Kerry held a news conference a short while ago to defend the senator against critics of his service record in Vietnam. The defenders say an ad featuring veterans who charge Kerry did not earn his combat medals is untrue and the worst form of politics.</s>GEORGE ELLIOTT, SWIFT BOAT VETERANS FOR TRUTH: John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam. GEN. WESLEY CLARK, U.S. ARMY</s>CROWLEY: The anti-Bush group moveon.org goes even further in a new ad of its known, not only defending Kerry's service record, but questioning President Bush's service in the National Guard. Meantime, Democratic Senator Tom Harkin is blasting Vice President Cheney's mocking of Kerry's promise to fight a more sensitive war in Iraq. Harkin, a former Navy pilot, called Cheney a coward for not serving in Vietnam and cowardly for attacking Kerry. A Republican spokesman dismisses Harkin's comments as shrill and negative. While John Kerry enjoys the final day of a vacation in Idaho, President Bush is headed to a couple of swing states. He speaks to workers at a Pennsylvania Boeing plant a few hours from now, followed by an evening rally in West Virginia. Kerry's running mate John Edwards is headed back to Arkansas for the second time in two weeks. He is scheduled to speak around lunchtime at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith before traveling to a fundraiser tonight in Alabama. Who floats John Kerry's vote as far as Hollywood actresses are concerned? Topping the list, Oscar winner Charlize Theron. In an interview with "Gentlemen's Quarterly" magazine, the Democratic presidential nominee calls Theron, quote, "pretty extraordinary." Kerry tells "GQ" he's also fond of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Marilyn Monroe. In the interview, Kerry also heaps praise on his wife, saying, quote, "Thank God I found Teresa." New Jersey Governor James McGreevey has an op-ed article in "USA Today." We'll tell you what he said and bring you up to date on the latest as New Jersey continues to reel over McGreevey's resignation last week. Plus, whether it's Crawford, Nantucket, Kennebunkport, or Pittsburgh, our Bruce Morton takes a look at what vacations tell us about a president when we go INSIDE POLITICS at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. But right now, we want to go back to Atlanta and Daryn Kagan -- Daryn.</s>KAGAN: All right. Looking forward to all those interesting topics later today. Candy Crowley, thank you. Also this note for you, our Paula Zahn will host a town hall meeting on the undecided vote. She'll be live from Ohio. You'll want to tune in tomorrow night for that at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Now, I want to show you pictures we're getting live from England. Terrible flooding problems there, especially -- actually, this is tape -- from Cornwall. Look at these cars simply being washed away. This is along England's North Cornwall coast. Earlier than this, rescue crews were looking for 15 people still missing. Flash floods causing all this water and all these cars to be washed away. This is a fishing village about 200 miles from London. As you can see, the high waters and people clinging to their cars, clinging to their rooftops just for safety. And these cars, if they stay in the water like that, will be swept out to sea. Bridges have been washed out. At its worst, the roads are submerged under nine feet of water. A number of helicopter rescues taking place in that town. We're talking best professors, best bargains, best campus food -- best parties? Is your school at the head of the class? It's time for the "Princeton Review's" annual survey of top colleges coming out this week. Let's get a sneak peek right now from the editor Rob Franek. He joins us from Time-Warner center in New York. Rob, good morning.</s>ROB FRANEK, EDITOR, "PRINCETON REVIEW": Good morning. Thanks for having me.</s>KAGAN: You're very welcome. We can be all high and mighty about this, but we decided to start with best party schools.</s>FRANEK: Sure, OK.</s>KAGAN: Why not? OK? Party on.</s>FRANEK: I think it is important to note that our survey is in our book, "The Best 357 Colleges."</s>KAGAN: OK.</s>FRANEK: So, we reached out right now to 110,000 students to find out the answers. And certainly the answer to our party school, it is State University of New York at Albany, ranked number one on the list this year. And we asked...</s>KAGAN: What qualifies it?</s>FRANEK: Of course, I'm glad that you brought the question up. We asked lots of different questions of students, ranging from academics to quality of life. Specifically, for party schools, however, we talked to students about rate, as well as consumption, of alcohol and drugs on their campus, popularity of fraternities and sororities on their campus, and then hours of study spent outside of the classroom.</s>KAGAN: OK. Now, let's buckle down a little bit, get to the probably more important stuff, the stuff you're supposed to go to college for: best overall academic experience.</s>FRANEK: Yes, there are so many schools that made it on to, of course, our 64 different ranking list. Best overall academic experience, University of Chicago is the first one. Wonderful school. National reputation. We looked at lots of things. We asked students accessibility of professors inside the classroom, how well they taught classes while they were undergraduates. We also looked at the competitiveness of that school overall. So, how selective was the University of Chicago.</s>KAGAN: I find this particular list fascinating, because this is probably one of the top things a school would want to get. I bet most Americans have not heard of most schools on this list.</s>FRANEK: And I'm so glad that you brought that up. I mean, we included 357 different colleges in the book. We hope that students are going to think about more than the 30 most competitive schools in the country. Look at schools that might be the perfect fit for them, but right now in high school, they might not be hearing it from their guidance counselor, or their parents, or other kids from their high school that have gone on to school there. And that's the -- that's the issue that we're trying to focus on at "Princeton Review," providing students that good, smart research through our Web site and, of course, through our books.</s>KAGAN: All right, quickly, college now costs a gazillion dollars. That's an official figure there for you. Let's look at the best bargains, especially for public schools.</s>FRANEK: Yes, best bargains is an important list. And we wrapped in some of the methodology that we're talking about before for overall academic experience and then provided a tuition GPA for each of the schools, as well. So, we looked at a traditional student, a full-time student with room and board, and then how much gift aid and how much merit-based aid, both need-based and non-need based, that student got, we factored that out of the total, and then came up with that tuition GPA. We factored in that academic information, and these schools came in at the top. New College of Florida, wonderful school in Florida, flagship university as an honors college.</s>KAGAN: Excellent. Real quickly, just a couple of seconds, I want to get best quality of life, just only, if no other reason, my alma mater made the list.</s>FRANEK: That's great. Quality of life is important. I mean, we understand that schools are going to be great places to study, and that's the most important thing, but students are going to be living at most of these schools as well. So we talked to them about residence halls on campus, food on campus. What's the town relationship with the town outside of their campus? All of those things factor into a great academic experience at a specific school.</s>KAGAN: All right, Stanford University, Branner Hall, the best freshman dorm in America.</s>FRANEK: Good to know. Good to know.</s>KAGAN: You can put that in your survey. Tell once again where you can get more information.</s>FRANEK: Of course, on our Web site, princetonreview.com.</s>KAGAN: Excellent, well, thanks for giving us a very interesting review of colleges. I know a lot of people will be using that.</s>FRANEK: Thank you.</s>KAGAN: Thanks for stopping by. Other information you need, especially for allergy sufferers, there is a new treatment available in Europe. It might soon be coming here to the U.S. Is it right for you? We'll run down the pros and cons of a pollen-blocking cream. And salting away your vote in the Big Apple: Why is Mr. Peanut hitting the campaign trail? We'll check it out.