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Original Source: LOU DOBBS TONIGHT
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Tonight: U.S. Marines turn to one of Saddam Hussein`s generals for help outside Fallujah.
GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, CMDR., U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: The opportunity is to build an Iraqi security force form former elements of the Army.
DOBBS: Shocking images of American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners. A U.S. general has been reassigned and half-a-dozen soldiers face court- martial.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I share a deep disgust that those prisoners were treated the way they were treated.
DOBBS: Senator John Kerry says it`s time for a new direction for the United States in Iraq, but his proposal is anything but new. Leading military analyst Max Boot has some advice for Senator Kerry, offering a proposal that would help him win the presidency, he says. He`s our guest tonight.
A dramatic decision tonight on the future of e-voting in California. And that decision could have consequences for November`s presidential voting throughout the country.
And in "Exporting America" tonight, it may not pay to export American jobs to those cheap overseas labor markets. We`ll have the special report.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Friday, April 30. Here now for an hour of news, debate and opinion, Lou Dobbs.
DOBBS: Good evening.
Tonight, a dramatic change in U.S. strategy in Iraq. U.S. Marines today pulled back from some of their front-line positions around Fallujah and handed those positions over to a newly formed Iraqi security force. The commander of that Iraqi force is a former general in Saddam Hussein`s Republican Guard. Most of his troops are former soldiers in Saddam Hussein`s army. Military officials said the U.S. Marines are overseeing the formation of the 1st battalion of the Fallujah brigade.
American officers say the new Iraqi force will be integrated with the Marines, and that force will ultimately assume full responsibility for security inside Fallujah.
Coalition military commanders today insisted the Marines are not withdrawing from Fallujah despite those changes. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said the Marines are simply repositioning some of their troops. The head of Central Command, General John Abizaid, said the battle for Iraq will ultimately be won by Iraqis themselves.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABIZAID: What we have there is an opportunity and not necessarily an agreement. The opportunity is to build an Iraqi security force from former elements of the army that will work under the command of coalition forces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: One of the main architects of the war in Iraq, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, appears to be having trouble remembering just how many Americans have been killed in Iraq. On Capitol Hill yesterday, Wolfowitz said approximately 500 have been killed in Iraq, 350 of them in combat. Today, the total number is 738 troops, including 534 Americans killed in combat. A Pentagon spokesman said Wolfowitz misspoke.
And six months before the September 11 attacks, the man who was to become the U.S. administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, said the administration was paying no attention to terrorism. Bremer made those remarks in a speech at a conference in February of 2001, shortly after he chaired the bipartisan National Commission on Terrorism.
The U.S. Army has sent a senior officer to Iraq to overhaul conditions in military prisons after shocking images of American soldiers were released abusing Iraqi prisoners. The military has reassigned the general who was in charge of the prison, and the Army has brought criminal charges against six of the soldiers in the 800th Military Police Brigade.
Ben Wedeman reports from Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iraqis watch disturbing images of abuse and humiliation on the Arabiya satellite news network, vividly depicting degradation of Iraqi detainees by U.S. soldiers in Abu Ghraib Prison, outside Baghdad, these images sending waves of revulsion through a conservative religious society that places a premium on dignity and modesty.
Abu Ghraib Prison, once a notorious symbol of Saddam Hussein`s repression now under American control, few Iraqis likely to miss the irony that these acts were allegedly committed by soldiers of the very country that styles itself as a champion of human rights.
"It`s wrong, wrong 100 percent, and a crime," says Falil . "You came to liberate us from an unjust leader who killed and tortured us."
Coalition officials aren`t mincing their words when it comes to these images, the authenticity of which have not been independently verified.
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. DEPUTY CHIEF OF OPERATIONS: And I`m not going to stand up here and try to apologize for what those soldiers did. As I have said before, those soldiers wear the same uniform as 150,000 other soldiers that are operating proudly and properly here in Iraq. And those soldiers let us down. They simply let us down.
WEDEMAN: The U.S. military says six soldiers have been charged with abusing inmates as part of an ongoing criminal investigation that could lead to their court-martial. The military also is conducting a thorough review of how Abu Ghraib Prison is run.
Rumors have swirled around Baghdad for months that abuse of Iraqi prisoners was rife in Abu Ghraib. And for many Iraqis, confronted with these images, those rumors have now been confirmed.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: President Bush today condemned the actions of those soldiers and said they will, in his words, be taken care of.
President Bush, speaking at a White House news conference with the Canadian prime minister, said the actions do not represent the values of the American military.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I share a deep disgust that those prisoners were treated the way they were treated. Their treatment does not reflect the nature of the American people. That`s not the way we do things in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Senator John Kerry also condemned the actions. In a statement he said: "I am concerned and troubled by the shameful mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners. We must learn the facts and take the appropriate action."
Tonight, there are reports that two of the three Marine battalions surrounding Fallujah have now pulled back from their front-line positions. Some of the Marines are not happy about leaving Fallujah before they could retake the city.
U.S. pool reporter Karl Penhaul reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. Marines play a game of spades in the sitting room of an Iraqi home they`ve occupied as a base. They may not be here much longer. Their generals have ordered them to end the siege of Fallujah and retreat from the city limits after a month of close-quarters and open combat with anti-coalition insurgents. Young Marines seem disappointed.
CPL. CHRISTOPHER RODRIGUEZ, U.S. MARINE CORPS: We`ve been here a while. We don`t want to lose ground that we fought so hard for and that we`ve been here, you know, sweating blood for the last, you know, month, month and a half, and now we have to, you know, give it up.
WEDEMAN: This Marine uses a rare few moments of downtime to clean his M-16 rifle. Others rest and reflect upon the brutal combat losses their unit, Echo Company, has sustained, at least 50 wounded and four dead, about one- third of the fighting force.
For the company`s senior medic, the pullout has an upside.
JASON DUTY, U.S. NAVY CORPSMAN: For myself, I`m kind of relieved that we`re pulling back a little bit, just because it will give some of the Marines time to recuperate, rest. They`re not getting shot at every day, like they are here. We`ll be back in the fighting holes. And, frankly, while we`re back there, we are not going to be taking anywhere near the casualties that we`ve been taking here.
WEDEMAN: This Marine keeps watch from his machine gun nest. But today is Muslim Friday prayers and gunfire has been sporadic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Misfire. Misfire. Misfire.
WEDEMAN: This rocket...
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