CNN Student News

Aired November 11, 2003

This is a rush transcript. This copy may not be in its final form and may be dated.

TRACYE HUTCHINS, CNN ANCHOR: The Supreme Court lends its ear to a rights issue involving the government and hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Hello and welcome to CNN Student News on this Tuesday, November 11th! I'm Tracye Hutchins at the CNN Center.

First Up: Deciding on Detainees

TRACYE HUTCHINS, CNN ANCHOR: First up, supreme consideration of an issue dividing some human rights advocates and the U.S. government. The highest court in the land has decided to hear appeals, in the cases of hundreds of detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. About 660 men from 40 countries are currently in custody at the U.S. military base. Many of them were captured during the war in Afghanistan, and the government has been debating whether to try them in court as terrorists, or to send them back to their home countries. Because they're not being held on U.S. soil, the questions of what their rights are, and how much power the government has, to hold them in secret, are issues now before the Supreme Court. Bob Franken has the details now on the face-off, under the gavel.

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BOB FRANKEN, CNN REPORTER: It is true that the justices will review for the first time the president's powers in the war on terrorism. But arguments in these cases will be limited...to whether United States courts have jurisdiction over: "...the detention of foreign nationals captured abroad... and incarcerated at the Guantanamo bay naval base, Cuba"

DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I would characterize Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as the least worst place we could have selected.

FRANKEN: Lower courts have agreed with the Bush administration that the detainees held at this "least worst place" Guantanamo Bay, are not subject to U.S. judicial review since the naval base is on sovereign Cuban territory:

JOHN ASHCROFT, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: They're not in the judicial system, these people are detained as part of waging of the war by the President of the United States.

FRANKEN: The two cases involve prisoners from Britain, Australia and Kuwait. Among the 600 plus whose treatment has been hotly controversial around the world.

MICHAEL RATNER, DETAINEES' ATTORNEY: These people have been in that jail almost two years that prison and they've essentially have had the keys thrown away, no rights to an attorney, no rights to counsel, no right to a court hearing.

FRANKEN: The justices will hear the administration argue the treatment and the isolation of the detainees are necessary for their interrogation. Bob Franken, CNN, The Supreme Court.

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Word to the Wise

A Word to the Wise...

armistice: (noun) a temporary stop in fighting by mutual consent; a truce

Source: www.dictionary.com

Honoring the Troops

TRACYE HUTCHINS, CNN ANCHOR: World War One was initially called "the great war" and "the war to end all wars." It cost some 10 million lives and brought the horrors of chemical and trench warfare to the world stage, frozen in the films and pictures of front-line photojournalists. The armistice that ended it gave rise to Veterans Day -- a day of remembrance -- outlined by Deanna Morawski.

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DEANNA MORAWSKI, CNN REPORTER: When World War One ended in 1918, people had reason to celebrate. The fighting had spanned more than four years--finally ending in the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year. For America, the day held special significance, and President Woodrow Wilson soon proclaimed November 11th "Armistice Day", commemorating the signing of the truce that ended the war, and honoring those who served in it. In 1938, it became a federal holiday and was celebrated for years before undergoing a name change in 1954. That's when President Dwight Eisenhower signed a bill renaming it "Veterans Day" extending honor to all U.S. veterans, not just those from World War One. America seemed to be fine with that idea. But when Congress changed the holiday's date to the fourth Monday in October, hoping a 3-day weekend would give people time to visit cemeteries and veterans' memorials, it didn't take long to figure out how attached Americans were to the original date. Congress eventually changed it back to November 11th.

American tradition holds that each year on that date, a service takes place, symbolically at 11:00, in Virginia's Arlington National Cemetery, at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The tradition has European roots. In 1920, the British buried an unidentified WWI soldier in Westminster Abbey, the French another at the Arc de Triomphe. A year later, the U.S. decided to follow suit, and buried an unidentified soldier in Washington's new Tomb of the Unknowns. Each year, following tradition, the president lays a wreath at the tomb, and Taps is played to honor all who have fallen while serving in America's armed forces. This year, they'll honor nearly 400 more veterans, those who paid the ultimate price in the recent military action in Iraq. Deanna Morawski, CNN, Atlanta.

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Fast Facts

TRACYE HUTCHINS, CNN ANCHOR: Time for some Fast Facts! The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C. is also called The Tomb of the Unknowns, though it has never officially been named. It's guarded 'round the clock by the U.S. Army and stands as a memorial to the fallen of World Wars I and II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Only three soldiers' remains actually lie within the tomb, and the following words mark their grave: Here rests in honored glory An American Soldier Known but to God.

AWOL Mom Update

TRACYE HUTCHINS, CNN ANCHOR: Updating you now on a mother who was torn last week between army orders to head back to Iraq, and court orders to stay with her seven children. The army said yesterday that it was no longer listing Simone Holcomb as "absent without leave," or AWOL, which means she'll be allowed to stay in the U.S. to address her family matters. Holcomb, whose husband is currently in Iraq, says her children have always come first.

Reality Check

TRACYE HUTCHINS, CNN ANCHOR: It's officially "sweeps" month -- a time when the big TV networks go head-to-head in an airwave war over ratings. And if you tuned into either NBC's made-for-TV movie about Jessica Lynch, or the CBS story about Elizabeth Smart...you were one of an estimated 30-million people, who helped the networks get return on their investments. Miguel Marquez delves in to what makes or breaks a docudrama.

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MOVIE CLIP: We're trapped. Oh my god. Easy private.

MOVIE CLIP: What about my mom and dad? They no longer exist.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN REPORTER: They are three docu-dramas - ripped the headlines - based on a body of fact, and dressed up as drama.

BRIAN LOWRY, MEDIA COLUMNIST, VARIETY: Docu-dramas have always mixed fact with created scenes, and fictionalized scenes to create a compelling drama.

MARQUEZ: But creating a compelling drama can create dramatics of its own. CBS pulled its network airing of "the Reagans" and opted to run it on its sister cable network Showtime after conservatives, protective of President Reagan's legacy, questioned, among other things, the production's slant over who really controlled the Reagan White House.

MOVIE CLIP: From now on you don't just call the President to tell him what is happening you call me.

LOWRY: There have been all kinds of movies about politicians from 'JFK: Reckless Youth' to 'LBJ: the Early Years' which bend facts and fiction.

MARQUEZ: So why the sensitivity over Reagan?

JOYCE APPLEBY PROFESSOR OF HISTORY EMERITA UCLA: So we got all these memories and that's one of the reasons you have a struggle with something like the Reagan miniseries because if you are certain age you got lots of memories.

MARQUEZ: Joyce Appleby, a UCLA history professor, says docu-dramas can be credible historical representations but when the history is still fresh in so many memories, the question becomes who gets to decide what history is?

APPELBY: In representing the past you're also interpreting the past. I think there is a belief broad in the land that the past left traces and we can get it like a motion picture and we can't.

MARQUEZ: Another problem says Appleby the former president is still alive, and because he suffers from Alzheimers, he can't defend himself. But even cases like kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart, where the subject of history is alive and well, questions remain.

LOWRY: The Elizabeth Smart movie is a pretty shoddy production. Very much seen through the prism of Lois and Ed Smart, who sold their rights for the film.

MARQUEZ: And finally, with so many versions, picking any one leaves out all the rest. NBC'S "Saving Jessica Lynch" is told from the perspective of an Iraqi lawyer.

LOWRY: Jessica Lynch in a way has become a secondary player in 'Saving Jessica Lynch.' She is at the beginning of the movie and she's seen being helped out of Iraq at the end. But really she is a minor presence in the movie that bears her name.

MARQUEZ: One history sure to repeat itself: if enough people watch fictionalized fact, more reality based drama will be back for the next ratings season. Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.

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Web Promo

TRACYE HUTCHINS, CNN ANCHOR: You can catch CNN Student News anytime you want, at CNNstudentnews.com! Our streaming video is available when you are, so even if you've missed taping the show, we've got you covered. Just another free service available to you on our Web site...at CNNstudentnews.com!

Before We Go

TRACYE HUTCHINS, CNN ANCHOR: Before we go...you're never too old to fall in love. (OFF CAMERA: I offer you my heart.) ...So if you happen to find it at age 99, when you meet the 84-year-old girl of your dreams, why not tie the knot? They're both from England, but they never met until after they'd moved to New Zealand. What we call "goin' out" nowadays was called "courting" when these two were young...and they spent the last four years doing exactly that, before exchanging vows on Sunday.

Goodbye

TRACYE HUTCHINS, CNN ANCHOR: Time to throw the rice on this edition of CNN Student News! I'm Tracye Hutchins. We're exchanging places with Headline News, next!