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American Morning
What Pentagon Did Not Know About Iraq Has Been Costly; 'Paging Dr. Gupta'
Aired March 15, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get right to our top stories. Spain's prime minister-elect says he wants to maintain ties with the U.S., even though he adds he does not support the war in Iraq. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero defeated Jose Maria Aznar during yesterday's elections. Zapatero's Socialist Party gained support in the day's before the elections following last week's train attacks in Madrid,
Israeli helicopter attacks have fired at several Palestinian locations in Gaza. The Palestinians say that four people were wounded. The attacks taking place just hours after twin suicide bombings at an Israeli port killed at least 10 people over the weekend. The violence has prompted Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to cancel a summit meeting with his Palestinian counterpart Ahmad Qorei (ph).
A report by the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee blames CIA chief George Tenet and his advisers for faulty intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. According to the "USA Today," the Senate intelligence committee says agencies gave firm estimates that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons, based on shaky evidence. The report is still being edited before it can be released to the public.
Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is No. 1 in the country for the third straight week. The controversial film brought in nearly $32 million over the weekend, according to studio estimates. That brings its three-week total to $264 million. Officials say the film could rake in $400 million by next month.
College basketball now. Kentucky has been selected the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament with a big win over Florida. The Wildcats cruised past the Gators last night, 89-73 to win their 25th SEC championship. Kentucky shares the No. 1 seed with Duke, Stanford and St. Joe's.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Got your picks in?
O'BRIEN: No, I'm just going to whatever Brad picks.
HEMMER: Whatever your husband takes?
O'BRIEN: We do our little thing. I'm just going to cheat off Brad's, yes. That's my strategy. What's your strategy?
HEMMER: I don't know yet. I think it's really tough to call this tournament, because so many good high school players are going straight to the pros, like Lebron James, and so many college players are leaving in their freshman and sophomore year. Makes it difficult to build dynasties, the NCAA. I think it's anybody's guess who wins.
O'BRIEN: Who knows? I'm going to ask Brad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: A year ago, U.S. military planners were armed with a vast amount of information about Iraq as they got ready to invade.
But as Jamie McIntyre now reports, what the Pentagon did not know has been very costly.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, PENTAGON SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before going to war against Saddam Hussein, the U.S. knew more about Iraq than any previous adversary. After all it defeated Iraq's army in 1991, patrolled its no-fly zones for a decade and had access to intelligence from U.N. inspectors on the ground. But there was a lot the U.S. didn't know.
And didn't foresee. Last summer, with U.S. casualties mounting, the Pentagon was still in denial that after winning the major combat phase of the war it was facing what its own dictionary defined as gorilla warfare.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I knew I -- I could die that I didn't look it up!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Paramilitary operations conducted in enemy help or hostile territory by a regular -- indigenous force. This seems to fit a lot of what's going on here.
RUMSFELD: It really doesn't.
MCINTYRE: More than 500 Americans died in Iraq. Almost half from hostile fire since the end of major combat. Another big reality check came when the U.S. got a firsthand look at Iraq's decrepit infrastructure. Electricity and water plants were suffering from years of neglect.
RICK BARTON, CTR. STRATEGIC & INTL. STUDIES: Part of it had been the sanctions. Part of it had been the gross and constant mismanagement of the Saddam Hussein regime.
MCINTYRE: Rick Barton led a team of experts from the Center Force for Strategic and International Studies on an inspection tour in Iraq last summer. They found the biggest miscalculation was what it would take to provide security.
BARTON: You have to start off strong. And our inability to provide for public safety initially has created a complication that we've ended up having to live with.
MCINTYRE: Despite the Pentagon's insistence that looting was inevitable and that more U.S. troops would have only meant more U.S. targets, Barton and other experts argue having additional forces early on to secure armories and collect weapons might have made a big difference. And then there was the flawed idea that oil-rich Iraq could pay its own way quickly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're dealing with a country that can finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon.
MCINTYRE: While oil production is approaching pre-war levels and experts have already brought in some $6 billion, that's still a fraction of the estimated $100 billion needed to put Iraq back on its feet. Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: One other note: the Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday in a talk show said that schools and hospitals are being rebuilt in Iraq. The infrastructure is coming back up, and that the oil is starting to flow. Meanwhile, military authorities in Iraq say the latest casualties are the results of the insurgents adapting to U.S. tactics.
Also a note in from Haiti a few moments ago: U.S. Marine Corps confirming that one Marine was shot and wounded on patrol over the weekend. This in the city of Port-au-Prince. It's all the information we have right now through the Associated Press. When we get more, we'll pass it along to you.
Now Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Politics now. Senator John Kerry effectively wrapped up the Democratic presidential nomination on Super Tuesday. But last week, he gathered enough convention delegates to seal the deal. The ad war quickly began on the airwaves. Then, Senator Kerry suggested monthly debates with President Bush. The Bush team suggested that Senator Kerry should debate for himself.
But beyond those maneuvers, our senior analyst Jeff Greenfield thinks there's a much more interesting story developing with supporters of both candidates expressing concern about their standard- bearer. Jeff's here to talk about that.
Let's start, first of all, with the anxiety that seems to be coming out of the White House. You hear GOP strategists actually going on the record with it.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Yes, and that's unusual. It's a very different change from the mood a year. If you look back at the start of the year, the Bush campaign, first of all, was looking at a race against former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, a figure with no real presence on the national scene, no foreign policy credentials, Saddam Hussein in custody, the economic growth numbers were suggesting good news ahead.
But just in the last week, several prominent newspapers have reported the sense of uneasiness that you talked about, Soledad, among Bush supporters. Some of them, indeed, quoted on the record, which is very unusual. The uneasiness, I think, stems from the fact that, first, Democrats had a quick primary season, chose their nominee with national security experience, a war hero, and the party seems almost total unified. I also think there are some bigger concerns.
First, the Bush White House, which has been given much praise for its message discipline over the years, has had a rough patch. Their chief economic adviser praised outsourcing, jobs moving overseas, as a long-term economic good. Now a lot of economists on both sides agree with them. But it's not what they want to say in hard-hitting manufacturing states, like Ohio, or Michigan or West Virginia, all battlegrounds.
The economic advisers predicted an increase of 2.6 million jobs over the year, a figure so big that the president had to publicly disavow that. And just in the last week, their choice of a manufacturing czar had to withdraw his name after the Kerry campaign revealed this fellow's company had not only laid off workers, but opened a plant in China. Just sort of not the political shrewdness that people have come to expect from the Bush White House.
O'BRIEN: In addition to those missteps you also have the Congress, which is Republican, that's not really making it easy for the president.
GREENFIELD: No, and that's another interesting change. The Bush White House had tremendous loyalty from the Republicans in Congress. But beginning, I think, with the State of the Union speech in January, that didn't give them the political bounce they had been hoping for, there's been grumbling in Congress. The prescription drug bill, which barely passed, a lot of conservative objections to it. It turned out to cost $130 billion more than the White House said it would cost. Bush's immigration reform proposal was labeled amnesty by some conservatives.
And the Senate just this week adopted, or last week, I should say, adopted a deficit reduction plan that will not let the Bush tax cuts become permanent. Now I happen to think some of this is in response to poll numbers that show Bush trailing Kerry and sinking job approval ratings. Those numbers may, indeed, be temporary, but I think, Soledad, they encourage that grumbling and uneasiness.
O'BRIEN: And there's grumbling and uneasiness on the Democratic side as well, with their candidate, Senator John Kerry, who is not necessarily the easiest sell at all times.
GREENFIELD: I think that's right. And I think some of it, in fact, is regional. I think Southerners, in particular, are worried that a wealthy Boston candidate may be a drag on their chances. This is particularly important, because there are four Southern Democratic senators retiring this year. You have Zell Edwards in Georgia, John Edwards in North Carolina, Fritz Hollings in South Carolina, Bob Graham in Florida. If Kerry runs really weak in the South, that's going to put those seats and some House seats perhaps in jeopardy.
And then I think there's a broader concern, this flip-flop criticism, inconsistency on big issues, and the way Kerry explains his record. There's some concern that could cut. We just saw in the last few days, when pushed to say, what foreign leaders told Kerry they wanted him to win, Kerry wouldn't say, then he says he never met with the leaders, he just spoke to them, then the press reports show that he clearly did say that he met with them. This is the kind of thing that can bother a candidate still getting to be known.
Then you have some Jewish groups that are looking at Kerry's remarks in front of an Arab audience, criticizing Israel's security fence, and then in front of Jewish groups, supporting that fence. The late-night comedians are already having fun with Kerry as a flip- flopper. That can also be a not so funny political problem.
And the last thing I'd mention, and I know this is hard to gauge, is the concern that Kerry needs to lighten up, to be less harsh and angry on the stump, that he needs to do more than simply be the un- Bush. That was fine in the Democratic primaries. They were looking for the un-Bush, but when you're trying to reach millions in the middle, maybe not.
O'BRIEN: Members of the administration were on all the Sunday morning talk shows, making their rounds. Even those who said I don't -- I'm not sitting here doing anything on behalf of the president, and then, of course, talking on behalf of the president. How did that go? Did it work for him, do you think?
GREENFIELD: You know, I don't know, you are right that there's a tradition, more honored in the breach than in the observance, that foreign policy people, defense and state secretaries, supposedly don't get involved in domestic politics, although I remember a Jimmy Carter campaign re-election video where they used the CIA director. But I don't know if it worked.
But here's one thing I think. There's a kind of tendency among politicians and political campaigns to do what they know has been done before. You flood the airwaves with your spokespeople, and that works. I'm not sure in the middle of a campaign season that that necessarily works, as opposed to results. I think we've been saying for the last year, it's what's going to happen in Iraq that's going to determine how voters, I think, respond to the president's decision to invade Iraq. You can talk all you want about jobs, but unless there are actual jobs, not going to work.
GREENFIELD: There's another good example, yes. Reality counts, which is kind of a kind of weird thing to say on television, you know, real reality, not "Survivor," Donald Trump reality, real reality.
O'BRIEN: Right, actual jobs, actual results.
All right, Jeff Greenfield, as always, thanks.
HEMMER: Let's get a break here. In a moment on AMERICAN MORNING, using the Bible to find oil. Andy has more on that, intriguing issue, in a moment here.
And how do you battle the fat that you gain from fast food? How about some "sexcercise (ph)," a look at that ahead, as AMERICAN MORNING continues. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Medical news this morning. A new exercise in fast fitness takes just 21 minutes per week. And you don't even break a sweat. Too good to be true? Good marketing?
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is back with us, and back from vacation as well.
Great to have you back. Good morning to you. What's the lowdown here?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you, Bill, no showers, no locker rooms, no towels, and you don't even have to change out of your street clothes, but do you need intense focus for about 21 minutes a week, packing a lot of exercise into a small amount of time, even busy morning anchors can find that time.
Listen, here is how the workout is structured. This is something that is really catch on, convenience fitness it's called. Here's how the workout is structured. You basically have a coach who ushers you through several different machines very quickly. It's about two to three minutes on each machine. You work the machines in a slow manner, about eight to 12 seconds in each direction for two to three minutes total on each machine. Those continuous, slow movements work several muscles at a time. You work those muscles to fatigue, to just to the point where the muscles start to break down, and then you rotate to work the rest of the body.
Convenience fitness is, again, as I mentioned, really starting to catch on. The big question is, is it enough? And a lot of people we talked to about that says depends on what your goals are. If you want to lose weight, this is probably not the best sort of routine, although getting out of the house, getting off the couch, better than nothing at all. But it also, this resistance training may build your metabolic mass, may build your metabolic rate up, and some muscle mass in the long run. So some exercise people promoting this a little bit more than we thought they would.
HEMMER: Can I call BS on this, as in bologna sandwich -- 21 minutes, not a day, this is a week. Is there true benefit here, or is this a clever marketing ploy?
GUPTA: Well, you're going to see the science behind something like this yet, but I will say this, if you start to build up muscle mass, there is some evidence that if you build up the muscle mass, you're going to increase your metabolic rate. What does that mean? It means even when you're sitting, even when you're doing things besides exercising, you're going to burn more calories than you otherwise would.
Here's the second thing: that once you exercise, if you exercise your muscles to the point of fatigue, you need some time to let those muscles repair. How long? Some people say a few days, perhaps a week even. That's where the week comes in here, 21 minutes a week. This is based on a concept that we've talked about before on AMERICAN MORNING, something called super slow or the eight-minute workout. Essentially doing these exercises very slowly gives the muscle a time to work out during the entire cycle. You're not going to see any boomboxes, or mirrors or any other distractions in gyms like this, intense focus, 21 minutes a week. These people say it works. The evidence isn't there yet, though.
HEMMER: All right, Sanjay, I want to talk about another story. It's a the front-page story on the cover of "The New York Times" today, upper left-hand corner, questioning this good cholesterol, whether or not it's truly good for you. A bit of disagreement here. Can you clear up any confusion for us today?
GUPTA: Well, it's interesting, for a long time, people talk about good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. The good cholesterol being HDL, the bad cholesterol being LDL. It was almost believed that they sort of counteracted each other, so that if you had a good -- you had a high level of good cholesterol, you didn't need to worry so much about your bad cholesterol. That's being thrown into question now. People are saying the LDL, or bad cholesterol are much more important numbers, so much so in fact that if your LDL is elevated, that's your bad cholesterol, it doesn't matter, they say, as much if your good cholesterol is elevated. A lot of doctors putting patients, those patients on medications as well.
Bottom line, HDL, again, that good cholesterol, maybe not as important a number as people once thought it was -- Bill.
HEMMER: Thank you, Sanjay. Again, good to have you back. Dr. Sanjay Gupta CNN Center.
GUPTA: Thank you.
HEMMER: Here's Soledad.
GUPTA: There is some new hope this morning for the folically challenged. A new study shows that bald mice can grow hair after being implanted with the type of stem cell. It has some scientists saying that the treatment could lead to a cure for baldness. Don't get too excited, though, we're talking about mice, and the cure is still years away.
HEMMER: I'm taking notes, though.
In a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING, the company that's seeking support with the use of some inspiring words. Andy has that, straight ahead here, right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: All right. Welcome back.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Can scripture lead the way to oil gushers? There's a company out there that hopes so. And Andy Serwer has got the story. He's "Minding Your Business."
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Hey, good to see you.
You know, we know oil and water don't mix. How about oil and religion? Check this out. Zion Oil & Gas Company. They're out of Dallas. Using the bible and geology, it says, to look for oil and gas in Israel, OK. John Brown, the CEO of this company, is looking to raise $35 million through an initial public offering. And some interesting stuff. You might want to go to their Web site and read what this guy has to say. Zion Oil & Gas was ordained by G-D -- we know who that is -- for the express purpose of discovering oil and gas in the land of Israel and to bless the Jewish people and the nation of Israel and the body of Christ. And it goes on and on, Jack, talking about how their might be an oil field near Nazareth, and they're using God to find it. Wow, it's a different way of looking for oil.
CAFFERTY: But people are investing in it.
SERWER: They are, but I'd be careful here, because you don't necessarily want to mix the two, as we said.
Interesting, Israel uses about 132 million barrels of oil a day. They've only got one field, though, producing 70 barrels. That compares to Saudi Arabia which gets about 8 million barrels a day.
CAFFERTY: What do we use here? Do you have any idea?
SERWER: No, I don't have any idea.
CAFFERTY: We use a lot more than that.
SERWER: A lot more than that, I'm sure, yes.
CAFFERTY: What about the markets? We got a little bounceback Friday, but I don't know if we're out of the woods here.
SERWER: No, I don't think we're out of the woods. Last week, we were down, significantly down, over 3 percent. You can see here, all across the board, and this morning, I said it earlier, beware the Ides of March. That was the soothsayer Spirina (ph) to Julius Caesar.
CAFFERTY: And that would be today.
SERWER: Yes, that would be today, March 15th, futures not looking so hot this morning either.
CAFFERTY: You know it occurs to me, you have much more formal education than I do. Who said that to Caesar?
SERWER: The what now?
CAFFERTY: Who said "Beware the ides of March?"
SERWER: Spirina, the soothsayer, shrouded, and then he ran into her again, and he said, so the ides of March have happened, and she said, the ides of March aren't over.
O'BRIEN: Never say that before the day ends, because something bad is going to happen.
CAFFERTY: That's how you become an editor at "Fortune" magazine.
HEMMER: And a darn good one, too.
Need some luck of the Irish on Wednesday maybe for this March Madness, midweek.
SERWER: Yes, we do. Yes, and March Madness is coming up, so we've got a lot of stuff this week.
CAFFERTY: Thanks, Andy.
On to "The Cafferty File."
President Bush celebrated the International Women's Week by paying tribute to a man. In Friday's ceremony, the president said -- and I quote -- "The Libyan government released Fahi Jami (ph)." She is a local official in prison for advocating free speech. However, Amnesty International and the House Committee on International Relations lists Jami as a 62-year-old man. In total, the president referenced more than a dozen other women, including his wife, Laura Bush, of whose gender presumably is more certain.
Some educators in the Washington D.C. Area, want to do away with naptime for prekindergarten classes. These are little babies. Front- page story in "The Washington Post" says the school leaders are under pressure to make the programs more rigorous. One official said, quote, we need to get rid of all this baby school stuff they used to do. Hey, moron, they're 4-year-olds, they're 4 years old. The guy says they are so busy with soccer practice, and piano lessons and other activities, they don't get enough sleep at home. So they to home, they have a little carton of milk, they put their head down on the mat, they take a nap. Leave them alone.
NBC's reality show "The Apprentice" is a huge ratings hit, and it's a developed a cult-like following. Audiences tune in by the millions to see who is going to get axed every week. The final prize, $250,000 a year job with Donald Trump. That ain't nearly enough money to work for him. The highlight is The Donald telling the weekly loser "You're fired." Well, now, look what we got, you can get your own "You're Fired" T-shirt at Bloomingdale's.
SERWER: Oh, you got one?
O'BRIEN: Ooh, and it looks like it might fit me one day.
SERWER: Looking for jack to wear that.
CAFFERTY: There are styles for men and women. This is the female version.
O'BRIEN: That's a large.
CAFFERTY: They cost $24 to $36. Now this is like a $2 cotton shirt with some red letters that they... O'BRIEN: It says you're fired on it. It's cool.
CAFFERTY: I mean, you can buy just a regular T-shirt and do your own with a crayon or something.
O'BRIEN: You could, but who would?
SERWER: I think that would look pretty sexy on Jack.
O'BRIEN: I like it.
HEMMER: Yes, he's really remade himself with that program.
O'BRIEN: You're fired.
HEMMER: He's getting two more seasons right?
CAFFERTY: Oh, good.
HEMMER: They're in negotiations right now to get two more.
SERWER: First prize is a job with The Donald. What's second prize?
CAFFERTY: Yes, a job with someone else.
(LAUGHTER)
HEMMER: Thanks, guys.
In a moment here, we're going to talk to a big-city police chief about how security here in the U.S. is being stepped up after the attacks last Thursday in Spain. Back in a moment with all that and more. Busy Monday morning here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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'Paging Dr. Gupta'>
Aired March 15, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get right to our top stories. Spain's prime minister-elect says he wants to maintain ties with the U.S., even though he adds he does not support the war in Iraq. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero defeated Jose Maria Aznar during yesterday's elections. Zapatero's Socialist Party gained support in the day's before the elections following last week's train attacks in Madrid,
Israeli helicopter attacks have fired at several Palestinian locations in Gaza. The Palestinians say that four people were wounded. The attacks taking place just hours after twin suicide bombings at an Israeli port killed at least 10 people over the weekend. The violence has prompted Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to cancel a summit meeting with his Palestinian counterpart Ahmad Qorei (ph).
A report by the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee blames CIA chief George Tenet and his advisers for faulty intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. According to the "USA Today," the Senate intelligence committee says agencies gave firm estimates that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons, based on shaky evidence. The report is still being edited before it can be released to the public.
Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is No. 1 in the country for the third straight week. The controversial film brought in nearly $32 million over the weekend, according to studio estimates. That brings its three-week total to $264 million. Officials say the film could rake in $400 million by next month.
College basketball now. Kentucky has been selected the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament with a big win over Florida. The Wildcats cruised past the Gators last night, 89-73 to win their 25th SEC championship. Kentucky shares the No. 1 seed with Duke, Stanford and St. Joe's.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Got your picks in?
O'BRIEN: No, I'm just going to whatever Brad picks.
HEMMER: Whatever your husband takes?
O'BRIEN: We do our little thing. I'm just going to cheat off Brad's, yes. That's my strategy. What's your strategy?
HEMMER: I don't know yet. I think it's really tough to call this tournament, because so many good high school players are going straight to the pros, like Lebron James, and so many college players are leaving in their freshman and sophomore year. Makes it difficult to build dynasties, the NCAA. I think it's anybody's guess who wins.
O'BRIEN: Who knows? I'm going to ask Brad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: A year ago, U.S. military planners were armed with a vast amount of information about Iraq as they got ready to invade.
But as Jamie McIntyre now reports, what the Pentagon did not know has been very costly.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, PENTAGON SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before going to war against Saddam Hussein, the U.S. knew more about Iraq than any previous adversary. After all it defeated Iraq's army in 1991, patrolled its no-fly zones for a decade and had access to intelligence from U.N. inspectors on the ground. But there was a lot the U.S. didn't know.
And didn't foresee. Last summer, with U.S. casualties mounting, the Pentagon was still in denial that after winning the major combat phase of the war it was facing what its own dictionary defined as gorilla warfare.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I knew I -- I could die that I didn't look it up!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Paramilitary operations conducted in enemy help or hostile territory by a regular -- indigenous force. This seems to fit a lot of what's going on here.
RUMSFELD: It really doesn't.
MCINTYRE: More than 500 Americans died in Iraq. Almost half from hostile fire since the end of major combat. Another big reality check came when the U.S. got a firsthand look at Iraq's decrepit infrastructure. Electricity and water plants were suffering from years of neglect.
RICK BARTON, CTR. STRATEGIC & INTL. STUDIES: Part of it had been the sanctions. Part of it had been the gross and constant mismanagement of the Saddam Hussein regime.
MCINTYRE: Rick Barton led a team of experts from the Center Force for Strategic and International Studies on an inspection tour in Iraq last summer. They found the biggest miscalculation was what it would take to provide security.
BARTON: You have to start off strong. And our inability to provide for public safety initially has created a complication that we've ended up having to live with.
MCINTYRE: Despite the Pentagon's insistence that looting was inevitable and that more U.S. troops would have only meant more U.S. targets, Barton and other experts argue having additional forces early on to secure armories and collect weapons might have made a big difference. And then there was the flawed idea that oil-rich Iraq could pay its own way quickly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're dealing with a country that can finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon.
MCINTYRE: While oil production is approaching pre-war levels and experts have already brought in some $6 billion, that's still a fraction of the estimated $100 billion needed to put Iraq back on its feet. Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: One other note: the Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday in a talk show said that schools and hospitals are being rebuilt in Iraq. The infrastructure is coming back up, and that the oil is starting to flow. Meanwhile, military authorities in Iraq say the latest casualties are the results of the insurgents adapting to U.S. tactics.
Also a note in from Haiti a few moments ago: U.S. Marine Corps confirming that one Marine was shot and wounded on patrol over the weekend. This in the city of Port-au-Prince. It's all the information we have right now through the Associated Press. When we get more, we'll pass it along to you.
Now Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Politics now. Senator John Kerry effectively wrapped up the Democratic presidential nomination on Super Tuesday. But last week, he gathered enough convention delegates to seal the deal. The ad war quickly began on the airwaves. Then, Senator Kerry suggested monthly debates with President Bush. The Bush team suggested that Senator Kerry should debate for himself.
But beyond those maneuvers, our senior analyst Jeff Greenfield thinks there's a much more interesting story developing with supporters of both candidates expressing concern about their standard- bearer. Jeff's here to talk about that.
Let's start, first of all, with the anxiety that seems to be coming out of the White House. You hear GOP strategists actually going on the record with it.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Yes, and that's unusual. It's a very different change from the mood a year. If you look back at the start of the year, the Bush campaign, first of all, was looking at a race against former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, a figure with no real presence on the national scene, no foreign policy credentials, Saddam Hussein in custody, the economic growth numbers were suggesting good news ahead.
But just in the last week, several prominent newspapers have reported the sense of uneasiness that you talked about, Soledad, among Bush supporters. Some of them, indeed, quoted on the record, which is very unusual. The uneasiness, I think, stems from the fact that, first, Democrats had a quick primary season, chose their nominee with national security experience, a war hero, and the party seems almost total unified. I also think there are some bigger concerns.
First, the Bush White House, which has been given much praise for its message discipline over the years, has had a rough patch. Their chief economic adviser praised outsourcing, jobs moving overseas, as a long-term economic good. Now a lot of economists on both sides agree with them. But it's not what they want to say in hard-hitting manufacturing states, like Ohio, or Michigan or West Virginia, all battlegrounds.
The economic advisers predicted an increase of 2.6 million jobs over the year, a figure so big that the president had to publicly disavow that. And just in the last week, their choice of a manufacturing czar had to withdraw his name after the Kerry campaign revealed this fellow's company had not only laid off workers, but opened a plant in China. Just sort of not the political shrewdness that people have come to expect from the Bush White House.
O'BRIEN: In addition to those missteps you also have the Congress, which is Republican, that's not really making it easy for the president.
GREENFIELD: No, and that's another interesting change. The Bush White House had tremendous loyalty from the Republicans in Congress. But beginning, I think, with the State of the Union speech in January, that didn't give them the political bounce they had been hoping for, there's been grumbling in Congress. The prescription drug bill, which barely passed, a lot of conservative objections to it. It turned out to cost $130 billion more than the White House said it would cost. Bush's immigration reform proposal was labeled amnesty by some conservatives.
And the Senate just this week adopted, or last week, I should say, adopted a deficit reduction plan that will not let the Bush tax cuts become permanent. Now I happen to think some of this is in response to poll numbers that show Bush trailing Kerry and sinking job approval ratings. Those numbers may, indeed, be temporary, but I think, Soledad, they encourage that grumbling and uneasiness.
O'BRIEN: And there's grumbling and uneasiness on the Democratic side as well, with their candidate, Senator John Kerry, who is not necessarily the easiest sell at all times.
GREENFIELD: I think that's right. And I think some of it, in fact, is regional. I think Southerners, in particular, are worried that a wealthy Boston candidate may be a drag on their chances. This is particularly important, because there are four Southern Democratic senators retiring this year. You have Zell Edwards in Georgia, John Edwards in North Carolina, Fritz Hollings in South Carolina, Bob Graham in Florida. If Kerry runs really weak in the South, that's going to put those seats and some House seats perhaps in jeopardy.
And then I think there's a broader concern, this flip-flop criticism, inconsistency on big issues, and the way Kerry explains his record. There's some concern that could cut. We just saw in the last few days, when pushed to say, what foreign leaders told Kerry they wanted him to win, Kerry wouldn't say, then he says he never met with the leaders, he just spoke to them, then the press reports show that he clearly did say that he met with them. This is the kind of thing that can bother a candidate still getting to be known.
Then you have some Jewish groups that are looking at Kerry's remarks in front of an Arab audience, criticizing Israel's security fence, and then in front of Jewish groups, supporting that fence. The late-night comedians are already having fun with Kerry as a flip- flopper. That can also be a not so funny political problem.
And the last thing I'd mention, and I know this is hard to gauge, is the concern that Kerry needs to lighten up, to be less harsh and angry on the stump, that he needs to do more than simply be the un- Bush. That was fine in the Democratic primaries. They were looking for the un-Bush, but when you're trying to reach millions in the middle, maybe not.
O'BRIEN: Members of the administration were on all the Sunday morning talk shows, making their rounds. Even those who said I don't -- I'm not sitting here doing anything on behalf of the president, and then, of course, talking on behalf of the president. How did that go? Did it work for him, do you think?
GREENFIELD: You know, I don't know, you are right that there's a tradition, more honored in the breach than in the observance, that foreign policy people, defense and state secretaries, supposedly don't get involved in domestic politics, although I remember a Jimmy Carter campaign re-election video where they used the CIA director. But I don't know if it worked.
But here's one thing I think. There's a kind of tendency among politicians and political campaigns to do what they know has been done before. You flood the airwaves with your spokespeople, and that works. I'm not sure in the middle of a campaign season that that necessarily works, as opposed to results. I think we've been saying for the last year, it's what's going to happen in Iraq that's going to determine how voters, I think, respond to the president's decision to invade Iraq. You can talk all you want about jobs, but unless there are actual jobs, not going to work.
GREENFIELD: There's another good example, yes. Reality counts, which is kind of a kind of weird thing to say on television, you know, real reality, not "Survivor," Donald Trump reality, real reality.
O'BRIEN: Right, actual jobs, actual results.
All right, Jeff Greenfield, as always, thanks.
HEMMER: Let's get a break here. In a moment on AMERICAN MORNING, using the Bible to find oil. Andy has more on that, intriguing issue, in a moment here.
And how do you battle the fat that you gain from fast food? How about some "sexcercise (ph)," a look at that ahead, as AMERICAN MORNING continues. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Medical news this morning. A new exercise in fast fitness takes just 21 minutes per week. And you don't even break a sweat. Too good to be true? Good marketing?
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is back with us, and back from vacation as well.
Great to have you back. Good morning to you. What's the lowdown here?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you, Bill, no showers, no locker rooms, no towels, and you don't even have to change out of your street clothes, but do you need intense focus for about 21 minutes a week, packing a lot of exercise into a small amount of time, even busy morning anchors can find that time.
Listen, here is how the workout is structured. This is something that is really catch on, convenience fitness it's called. Here's how the workout is structured. You basically have a coach who ushers you through several different machines very quickly. It's about two to three minutes on each machine. You work the machines in a slow manner, about eight to 12 seconds in each direction for two to three minutes total on each machine. Those continuous, slow movements work several muscles at a time. You work those muscles to fatigue, to just to the point where the muscles start to break down, and then you rotate to work the rest of the body.
Convenience fitness is, again, as I mentioned, really starting to catch on. The big question is, is it enough? And a lot of people we talked to about that says depends on what your goals are. If you want to lose weight, this is probably not the best sort of routine, although getting out of the house, getting off the couch, better than nothing at all. But it also, this resistance training may build your metabolic mass, may build your metabolic rate up, and some muscle mass in the long run. So some exercise people promoting this a little bit more than we thought they would.
HEMMER: Can I call BS on this, as in bologna sandwich -- 21 minutes, not a day, this is a week. Is there true benefit here, or is this a clever marketing ploy?
GUPTA: Well, you're going to see the science behind something like this yet, but I will say this, if you start to build up muscle mass, there is some evidence that if you build up the muscle mass, you're going to increase your metabolic rate. What does that mean? It means even when you're sitting, even when you're doing things besides exercising, you're going to burn more calories than you otherwise would.
Here's the second thing: that once you exercise, if you exercise your muscles to the point of fatigue, you need some time to let those muscles repair. How long? Some people say a few days, perhaps a week even. That's where the week comes in here, 21 minutes a week. This is based on a concept that we've talked about before on AMERICAN MORNING, something called super slow or the eight-minute workout. Essentially doing these exercises very slowly gives the muscle a time to work out during the entire cycle. You're not going to see any boomboxes, or mirrors or any other distractions in gyms like this, intense focus, 21 minutes a week. These people say it works. The evidence isn't there yet, though.
HEMMER: All right, Sanjay, I want to talk about another story. It's a the front-page story on the cover of "The New York Times" today, upper left-hand corner, questioning this good cholesterol, whether or not it's truly good for you. A bit of disagreement here. Can you clear up any confusion for us today?
GUPTA: Well, it's interesting, for a long time, people talk about good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. The good cholesterol being HDL, the bad cholesterol being LDL. It was almost believed that they sort of counteracted each other, so that if you had a good -- you had a high level of good cholesterol, you didn't need to worry so much about your bad cholesterol. That's being thrown into question now. People are saying the LDL, or bad cholesterol are much more important numbers, so much so in fact that if your LDL is elevated, that's your bad cholesterol, it doesn't matter, they say, as much if your good cholesterol is elevated. A lot of doctors putting patients, those patients on medications as well.
Bottom line, HDL, again, that good cholesterol, maybe not as important a number as people once thought it was -- Bill.
HEMMER: Thank you, Sanjay. Again, good to have you back. Dr. Sanjay Gupta CNN Center.
GUPTA: Thank you.
HEMMER: Here's Soledad.
GUPTA: There is some new hope this morning for the folically challenged. A new study shows that bald mice can grow hair after being implanted with the type of stem cell. It has some scientists saying that the treatment could lead to a cure for baldness. Don't get too excited, though, we're talking about mice, and the cure is still years away.
HEMMER: I'm taking notes, though.
In a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING, the company that's seeking support with the use of some inspiring words. Andy has that, straight ahead here, right after the break.
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HEMMER: All right. Welcome back.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Can scripture lead the way to oil gushers? There's a company out there that hopes so. And Andy Serwer has got the story. He's "Minding Your Business."
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Hey, good to see you.
You know, we know oil and water don't mix. How about oil and religion? Check this out. Zion Oil & Gas Company. They're out of Dallas. Using the bible and geology, it says, to look for oil and gas in Israel, OK. John Brown, the CEO of this company, is looking to raise $35 million through an initial public offering. And some interesting stuff. You might want to go to their Web site and read what this guy has to say. Zion Oil & Gas was ordained by G-D -- we know who that is -- for the express purpose of discovering oil and gas in the land of Israel and to bless the Jewish people and the nation of Israel and the body of Christ. And it goes on and on, Jack, talking about how their might be an oil field near Nazareth, and they're using God to find it. Wow, it's a different way of looking for oil.
CAFFERTY: But people are investing in it.
SERWER: They are, but I'd be careful here, because you don't necessarily want to mix the two, as we said.
Interesting, Israel uses about 132 million barrels of oil a day. They've only got one field, though, producing 70 barrels. That compares to Saudi Arabia which gets about 8 million barrels a day.
CAFFERTY: What do we use here? Do you have any idea?
SERWER: No, I don't have any idea.
CAFFERTY: We use a lot more than that.
SERWER: A lot more than that, I'm sure, yes.
CAFFERTY: What about the markets? We got a little bounceback Friday, but I don't know if we're out of the woods here.
SERWER: No, I don't think we're out of the woods. Last week, we were down, significantly down, over 3 percent. You can see here, all across the board, and this morning, I said it earlier, beware the Ides of March. That was the soothsayer Spirina (ph) to Julius Caesar.
CAFFERTY: And that would be today.
SERWER: Yes, that would be today, March 15th, futures not looking so hot this morning either.
CAFFERTY: You know it occurs to me, you have much more formal education than I do. Who said that to Caesar?
SERWER: The what now?
CAFFERTY: Who said "Beware the ides of March?"
SERWER: Spirina, the soothsayer, shrouded, and then he ran into her again, and he said, so the ides of March have happened, and she said, the ides of March aren't over.
O'BRIEN: Never say that before the day ends, because something bad is going to happen.
CAFFERTY: That's how you become an editor at "Fortune" magazine.
HEMMER: And a darn good one, too.
Need some luck of the Irish on Wednesday maybe for this March Madness, midweek.
SERWER: Yes, we do. Yes, and March Madness is coming up, so we've got a lot of stuff this week.
CAFFERTY: Thanks, Andy.
On to "The Cafferty File."
President Bush celebrated the International Women's Week by paying tribute to a man. In Friday's ceremony, the president said -- and I quote -- "The Libyan government released Fahi Jami (ph)." She is a local official in prison for advocating free speech. However, Amnesty International and the House Committee on International Relations lists Jami as a 62-year-old man. In total, the president referenced more than a dozen other women, including his wife, Laura Bush, of whose gender presumably is more certain.
Some educators in the Washington D.C. Area, want to do away with naptime for prekindergarten classes. These are little babies. Front- page story in "The Washington Post" says the school leaders are under pressure to make the programs more rigorous. One official said, quote, we need to get rid of all this baby school stuff they used to do. Hey, moron, they're 4-year-olds, they're 4 years old. The guy says they are so busy with soccer practice, and piano lessons and other activities, they don't get enough sleep at home. So they to home, they have a little carton of milk, they put their head down on the mat, they take a nap. Leave them alone.
NBC's reality show "The Apprentice" is a huge ratings hit, and it's a developed a cult-like following. Audiences tune in by the millions to see who is going to get axed every week. The final prize, $250,000 a year job with Donald Trump. That ain't nearly enough money to work for him. The highlight is The Donald telling the weekly loser "You're fired." Well, now, look what we got, you can get your own "You're Fired" T-shirt at Bloomingdale's.
SERWER: Oh, you got one?
O'BRIEN: Ooh, and it looks like it might fit me one day.
SERWER: Looking for jack to wear that.
CAFFERTY: There are styles for men and women. This is the female version.
O'BRIEN: That's a large.
CAFFERTY: They cost $24 to $36. Now this is like a $2 cotton shirt with some red letters that they... O'BRIEN: It says you're fired on it. It's cool.
CAFFERTY: I mean, you can buy just a regular T-shirt and do your own with a crayon or something.
O'BRIEN: You could, but who would?
SERWER: I think that would look pretty sexy on Jack.
O'BRIEN: I like it.
HEMMER: Yes, he's really remade himself with that program.
O'BRIEN: You're fired.
HEMMER: He's getting two more seasons right?
CAFFERTY: Oh, good.
HEMMER: They're in negotiations right now to get two more.
SERWER: First prize is a job with The Donald. What's second prize?
CAFFERTY: Yes, a job with someone else.
(LAUGHTER)
HEMMER: Thanks, guys.
In a moment here, we're going to talk to a big-city police chief about how security here in the U.S. is being stepped up after the attacks last Thursday in Spain. Back in a moment with all that and more. Busy Monday morning here on AMERICAN MORNING.
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