Newest American Gold Medalist in Olympic Cold War; GAO Sues Vice President Dick Cheney
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Judy Woodruff in Washington. Even America's new golden girl is in the middle of an Olympic cold war.</s>MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Major Garrett. Now that Vice President Cheney is officially the target of an unprecedented General Accounting Office lawsuit, I'll tell you what the strategy is inside the White House.</s>CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Chris Burns in Karachi with details behind the scenes of what's going on in the investigation of Daniel Pearl's murder.</s>WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: I'm Bill Schneider, at a great place to find out what Americans are riled up about: a talk radio hosts' convention.</s>ANNOUNCER: Live from Washington, this is</s>INSIDE POLITICS WITH JUDY WOODRUFF. WOODRUFF: Thank you for joining us. Within the last two hours, Congressional investigators made good on their threat. They sued Vice President Dick Cheney over his refusal to hand over documents related to the energy task force that he led. In the face of the lawsuit and the anger over Enron's collapse, is there any indication that Cheney might blink? Let's ask our White House correspondent, Major Garrett. Major, any sign of a change of heart there?</s>GARRETT: No sign whatsoever, Judy. I would say the White House officials I've dealt with today are very poker faced on this matter, saying we're just shrugging this off. We've expected this lawsuit since August, we believe we are on substantially firm legal ground, and we have no sense whatsoever, the White House officials say, that we're going to lose this case. As a matter of fact, they say they're very eager to have the constitutional principle they say is at stake here protected by the federal courts -- Judy.</s>WOODRUFF: Major, is there any sign or indication that there is something in these documents that they don't want the public to know about?</s>GARRETT: Well, as you might expect, the Bush White House says of course not. These are meetings that the vice president's energy task force had a with a range of representatives, from the environmental lobby, from the labor unions, and from, as they readily acknowledge, major energy corporations throughout the United States -- among them, Enron. What they say you can find in these notes is the standard deliberations, ideas presented to the administration, some of which were included in the vice president's, and later the president's, energy policy, some which were not. But the key here with the General Accounting Office is, the General Accounting Office sent the vice president what is called a demand letter. In that demand letter, it said they not only wanted the names and dates and the cost associated with this task force work, but also wanted notes, subject discussed, and agenda. The White House says you simply cannot ask for that kind of information if you're the General Accounting Office. It is a grotesque overstepping of their jurisdiction. Now, the General Accounting Office says it withdrew those particular requests, but only informally so. The White House says until they do it formally, they're prepared to go to court, and expect to prevail -- Judy.</s>WOODRUFF: Major Garrett at the White House, thanks. Turning now to the murder of "Wall Street Journal" reporter, Daniel Pearl. We now have statement from his widow, Marianne. She says: "The terrorists who say they killed my husband have taken his life, but they did not take away his spirit. Danny is my life. They may have taken my life, but they did not take my spirit." In Pakistan, the interior minister says authorities now know the names of Pearl's killers, and are taking -- quote -- "the strongest possible actions to bring them to justice." U.S. officials are saying they hope to find clues as they look at a videotape showing Pearl's brutal killing. I spoke to CNN's Chris Burns in Karachi a little while ago for the inside story on the investigation and possible arrests.</s>BURNS: This has been a nationwide dragnet for the last month, and this has involved the arrest of dozens of people. So it does appear that they're going to intensify that. They arrest not only suspects themselves, but also the families. That is a common practice here, in trying to get people to give themselves up and confess. So it is an intensive operation. And that's as far as officials will tell us from this point.</s>WOODRUFF: And, Chris, it's also reported that on this tape, which we know was edited in three different -- there are three different parts to it, that the last words that Danny Pearl is shown speaking, are, "yes, I am a Jew and my father is a Jew." Is there a sense among investigators as to what the perpetrators of this were trying to do by putting this on the cassette?</s>BURNS: Well, there might be some kind of a link in that the testimony the day before, by Fahad Naseem, who is the gentleman who admitted sending the e-mails, said that Sheikh Omar Sayeed had told him two days before the kidnapping that he was looking for someone who was anti-Islam and also Jewish. And apparently what he felt he was finding in Daniel Pearl. Of course, "The Wall Street Journal" contesting that his reports weren't anti-Islam at all. But that is not out of the realm of possibility. However, when we talk to people who are close to the investigation, they say that yes, these are jump cuts. There are three jump cuts in that video, and it is not necessarily the last words of Daniel Pearl. Some might be portraying it as such. It's difficult to know what happened between each jump cut, between the time that he was talking to his captors, the time he was being executed, and when his body was shown. So, a lot of question marks in that video -- Judy.</s>WOODRUFF: All right, Chris Burns, thank you very much. Chris in Karachi. And we are joined now by Howard Kurtz of "The Washington Post" and CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES." Howard, does this signal a shift in the way journalists in that part of the world, or other dangerous places, should operate, given the fact that the enemy is not only ruthless, but they're in hiding.</s>HOWARD KURTZ, "WASHINGTON POST": Well, Judy, journalists have long felt like Red Cross workers, whether they're covering the mob in New York or Saddam Hussein's forces in Iraq, or the Taliban. They have the sense that they would not be harmed, because they were neutral observers, not aligned with either side. The age of terrorism just turns that on its head. Now, sadly, journalists are more likely to be focused on, almost like they're wearing a red bull's eye. Because terrorists, like these Pakistani murderers, know that they will reap global publicity for holding an American reporter. If they had kidnapped, for example, an American businessman no one had heard of, it certainly would have been a story. It would not have been a story with this kind of intensity around the world.</s>WOODRUFF: But, how can -- why do you think that journalists may be more likely to be targets now? These perpetrators didn't really get -- you're right, they got publicity. But if anything, they're being hunted down more intensely than they were before.</s>KURTZ: Well, publicity was one of their goals. Perhaps they thought they would escape detection. But I think also, there is a sense that in many countries around the world, journalists and -- are either part of the government or work very closely with the government. So some of these terrorists may find it harder to believe that western journalists, particularly American journalists, are completely independent -- that they're not related to the CIA or the Mossad or anything like that. So it does remind me almost of the anthrax attacks, where, you know, the first letters went to the Florida tabloids and to Dan Rather and to Tom Brokaw, again, targeting someone who you knew was going to be on the front pages.</s>WOODRUFF: And finally, Howard, in connection with all this, it's my sense that this story got more attention because this is a journalists. IT's fellow journalists covering what happened to a reporter. Is that a mistake for us to focus more, when it's a journalist in trouble?</s>KURTZ: It probably is not totally fair, but it is human nature. Even journalists are humans, and they relate more to people who they can identify with. And I got to tell you, from talking to Danny Pearl's friends and colleagues, this has been like a kick in the stomach -- not only from those who knew and loved this guy, who was a prince of a guy, from all accounts -- but from people who came to know him from the media accounts. And also, we all feel a little more vulnerable now because of what happened to Danny Pearl. I think we're entering a new, even more dangerous era, particularly for foreign correspondents.</s>WOODRUFF: That appears to be right, sadly enough. Howard Kurtz, thanks very much. Appreciate it. When Americans picked up their morning newspapers, they may have felt some mixed emotions as they looked at the headlines and the pictures that went with them. The horror of Danny Pearl's murder was juxtaposed with the joy of American figure skater Sarah Hughes, after her surprise gold medal win in Salt Lake City last night. Sixteen-year-old Hughes has been widely praised for her spirited and error-free performance on the ice. But today, Russian officials charge that the judging was biased. They demanded that Russian figure skater, Irina Slutskaya, should be awarded a gold medal instead of a silver. Hughes and her coach were asked today about the protest.</s>SARAH HUGHES, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: I don't really know what's going on or anything. And you know, I'm just happy I have one gold medal. So...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  (OFF-MIKE) HUGHES: You know, it's not really up to me, I guess. But I'm happy with my skate. And in my heart I know that was the best I've ever done.</s>ROBIN WAGNER, HUGHES' COACH: If I could just make a comment on that, I think that is probably one of the issues that people were concerned about in awarding a second medal to Jamie and David, was that it was going to set a precedent. I would just like to say that I thought clearly, last night Sarah's performance was the best.</s>WOODRUFF: Hughes' coach, Robin Wagner, was referring to the dispute that ended with both Canadian and Russian pair skaters getting gold medals. Protests and Olympic politics have cast something of a chill on these Winter Games. Let's bring in on that Tom Rinaldi of CNN's "Sports Illustrated." Hello, Tom.</s>TOM RINALDI, CNN "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": Hi, Judy. There are a lot of different labels that these Games could wear, the "Crying Games." Obviously, the ancient motto of the Games is "Citius, Altius, Fortius." It's not supposed to include "Whinius," but it is seeming to go in that direction here in Utah, which is sad. Before everybody thinks that all things are lost, and the Games are going to simply wash down the drain in protest -- of course, a quick review of those protests would include the pair's figure skating final, which touched off this entire controversy which has swallowed the Games. The controversy we're currently embroiled in in pair's figure skating, which involves Sarah Hughes and Irina Slutskaya. Speed skating controversies over judging, which include Apollo Anton and a South Korean competitor, who was disqualified from a gold medal. I put out one name for your submission, and that is Michelle Kwan. When Kwan stood on the podium, clearly she was heartbroken. She'd waited four years to try to win a gold medal -- a gold medal that a teenager named Tara Lipinski had taken from her, in a sense, in Nagano in '98. This time she lost out to another teenager. Yet she clapped, she applauded, she hugged the competitors that had beaten her. And in a sense, she is a saving grace in these Games -- Judy.</s>WOODRUFF: All right. Tom Rinaldi, you're right. For all of us who watched last night, as wonderful a performance as Sarah Hughes had, you had to feel for Michelle Kwan. Thank you, Tom. I appreciate it. Back now to Washington politics. We will look at a legacy that's decades in the making. Up next, Senator Edward Kennedy marks his 70th birthday by going "On the Record" about his personal and political history. In our "Taking Issue" segment, the controversy over Pat Robertson's on-air suggestion that Islam is a violent religion. And Rescue 911 -- can an emergency lead to the political play of the week?