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Bodies Found in Iraq ID'd as Halliburton Employees

Aired April 20, 2004 -   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Want to get to a story we're just getting in here to CNN. The bodies of three missing Halliburton workers have been identified. Our Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon live with more on that -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Daryn, some very sad news now announced by the contractor, Halliburton, saying that three bodies recovered from Iraq when a Halliburton convoy was attacked on April 9 have now been identified as employees of that company.

And those three people are -- Steven Hewlett, 48 years old, of Manistee, Michigan. Jack Montague, 52 years old, of Pittsburg, Illinois. And Jeffrey Parker, 45 years old, of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Halliburton, in a statement, saying, quote, "that these men were brave hearts without medals, humanitarians without parades and heroes without statues," according to the company's statement.

Halliburton also saying that now it has lost 33 employees killed in the Iraq operation.

As to the fourth body, the fourth set of remains recovered from Iraq, yesterday, the coalition said that body had not been identified by the United States. They have reason to believe it is a citizen of another country in the coalition and that country shortly will be making an announcement about the identity of those remains.

But now, clear word, the three of them were Halliburton employees, working as contractors in Iraq -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Barbara Starr with the latest from the Pentagon, Barbara, thank you for that.

And we're going to take a break. We're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: President Bush gains ground against John Kerry in the new poll on the presidential race. The CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows Bush leading Kerry 51 percent to 46 percent among likely voters.

The poll shows more support for Kerry when it comes to handling the economy. It edges Mr. Bush 49 percent to 55 percent. Fifty-nine percent of those polled say the president with would do a good job handling Iraq compared to 41 percent for John Kerry.

Well the polls are just one way to gauge the public opinion on the issues. Our political analyst Carlos Watson has been taking another approach as well. He's in New York to talk about the polls and the pulse of the people and explain how he managed to get this assignment that he did, but that will come in a moment. Carlos, good morning.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I always tell them I'm a friend of Daryn Kagan that seems to work repeatedly.

KAGAN: You know where that will get you -- not very far.

What do we have with the latest polls?

WATSON: Well I think the polls are great news for the president. He's got a solid lead and it's evidenced not only in our poll but in a couple of other polls that have come out in the last day or two.

What's most interesting maybe, Daryn, is that his strength among men now has a double-digit lead in some of these polls over John Kerry among men.

KAGAN: Carlos, hold on one second. We'll get to more of the numbers and more of your thoughts in a moment. Right now, Secretary of State Colin Powell answering questions outside the State Department.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

KAGAN: All right. Well, we jumped in just at the point where we would need a translator. That's our timing mistake there. But that's the Jordanian foreign minister meeting with the secretary of state. King Abdullah of Jordan has postponed his visit to President Bush. And that will happen next month instead in light of President Bush's recent statements on the Middle East.

But, Carlos, let me throw a -- an impromptu question at you here. You see the secretary of state. You can't help but think of Bob Woodward's book that has been all the talk of Washington, "Plan of Attack." And many thinking the secretary of state -- well, he did cooperate with Bob Woodward. But the buzz and everything that has gone with that book over the last week?

WATSON: And Woodward has had strong things to say, including a belief that Powell, if the president is reelected, will step down.

Colin Powell is in the polls as probably the most popular American political figure with favorability ratings often in the 70s, even in the 80s.

For the book to come across as though the president didn't seek his full advice could open up questions among moderate Republicans and independents. To date, the other two major books that we've seen, the Paul O'Neill book and then the Richard Clarke book, really played strongly among Democrat, not yet among independents and Republicans. So we'll wait and see whether or not Woodward's book starts to cause a fissure in the Republican base.

KAGAN: All right, let's go back and listen to the secretary of state one more time.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

KAGAN: You've been listening in to Secretary of State Colin Powell, somewhat, I think, annoyed, at least a little bit testy over having to answer questions over what he refer to as "the book." The book, once again, "The Plan of Attack," written by Bob Woodward, and it came out this week, talking about how the U.S. led up to war and how a number of sources within the Bush administration, including President Bush and Secretary of State Powell.

And let's bring our Carlos Watson back in, our political analyst. The secretary of state seemed a little annoyed having to deal with this yet again, and wanting to give what he believes is his timeline as to when he was informed about the president's plan to go to war, compared to when the Saudi Prince Bandar was informed.

WATSON: He does, Daryn, but there does seem to be a real fissure here. I mea, people look at this from the outside who have a tremendous amount of respect for Colin Powell, obviously have questions about what has happened since he made his presentation a year ago to the United Nations. No weapons of mass destruction have been found, and so his credibility has been hurt a little bit.

Now when you read the book, and you hear that he may not have been completely in the loop, again, that's another dent of sorts.

So as he steps forward to make these comments, he's not only doing it in defense of the president, but in many ways, in defense of himself.

KAGAN: All right, we've deal with the book, we've dealt with the polls, now let's get to your assignment. You somehow convinced the folks here at CNN, let's get beyond the numbers, let's get beyond whatever, and let's go talk to some specific groups of people. Somehow that means you end up hanging out with a bunch of NBA players.

WATSON: Hey, not a bad thing. I wish I was one of them, but I'm not. I'm hanging out with them.

What we're doing each week over the next several weeks, is we're going to a different state, and instead of doing the normal focus group, we thought we would try to take a fresh take on it and maybe talk to some people about politics you wouldn't expect us to.

For example, in Florida, our first conversation is with several of the player of the Miami Heat basketball team. We're also talking to several of their fans. And so we've got a little clip, I think, to show people.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) WATSON: You guys are all in unusual brackets, given the average American makes, you know, maybe $40,000. Would you be willing to pay 5 percent more in taxes?

SAMAKI WALKER, MIAMI HEAT PLAYER: I'm willing to pay whatever. I think in order for us, you know, to be helpful, you only get out what you put into it.

WATSON: You have to pay to play.

JOHN WALLACE, MIAMI HEAT PLAYER: I'd definitely like to know how all the tax money is distributed. We got homeless people, and we've got all these domestic problems, but yet we're always helping out some other country somewhere else.

RON CULP, MIAMI HEAT TRAINER: I would increase my tax burden, if I knew, and there was accountability for every dollar I paid in. I don't want to give a dollar and have 80 cents go to the administration.

WALLACE: You can't tell me just the NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball, hockey, we're all in that high tax bracket, and all the money getting taxed, where is it going?

WATSON: You feel like the money is not well spent at all?

WALLACE: I definitely feel, the money I'm getting taxed this season, there shouldn't be no homeless people in Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Daryn, you can see that it's a very interesting piece. Every Tuesday night on Paula Zahn's show, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, we'll show further clips of it. And tonight, you'll hear the players talk about gay marriage, you'll hear them talk about race relations, you'll hear them talk about the decision to go to war, very interesting conversations with players and fans.

KAGAN: Did they have any tips for your game?

WATSON: They told me my jump shot's beautiful. I need to work on the fall-away.

KAGAN: Keep that TV career going.

WATSON: Hang out with Daryn Kagan.

KAGAN: There you go.

Carlos, we'll see you tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, thanks for stopping by our show. We appreciate it. 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

And we will be back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: In our "Daily Dose" of health news, we examine whether eating less might help you live longer. Earlier studies in animals found that there's a link between lower calories and a longer life- span. Our medical correspondent Christy Feig looks at the benefits for people.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTY FEIG, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New research shows people who drastically reduce the number of calories in their diet actually reduce their risk of heart disease and diabetes.

DR. STUART SEIDES, CARDIOLOGIST: I think one would bet if one had to bet that these folks will probably live longer. It is not-- certainly not proven by this study.

FEIG: The researchers found 18 people who had been eating this very low-calorie diet of 1100 to just under 2,000 calories a day, then compared them to 18 people that ate like the average American, consuming anywhere from nearly 2000 calories a day to more than 3500. Those on the restricted diet have more of the good and less of the dangerous cholesterol. The heart benefit has been seen in real life. During World War II, the shortage of food in some Northern European countries led to a drop in death from heart disease. When the war ended, deaths rose again.

Although experts can't explain why drastic calorie reduction seems to have these benefits, they do say it should be done only with a nutritionist or you could end up malnourished.

Christy Feig, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: You can get your "Daily Dose" of health news online. Log on to our Web site. The address is cnn.com/health. We are back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER UPDATE)

KAGAN: That's going to do it for me. A quick break now, and at the top of the hour, Wolf Blitzer takes over from Washington, D.C.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired April 20, 2004 - 11;30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Want to get to a story we're just getting in here to CNN. The bodies of three missing Halliburton workers have been identified. Our Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon live with more on that -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Daryn, some very sad news now announced by the contractor, Halliburton, saying that three bodies recovered from Iraq when a Halliburton convoy was attacked on April 9 have now been identified as employees of that company.

And those three people are -- Steven Hewlett, 48 years old, of Manistee, Michigan. Jack Montague, 52 years old, of Pittsburg, Illinois. And Jeffrey Parker, 45 years old, of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Halliburton, in a statement, saying, quote, "that these men were brave hearts without medals, humanitarians without parades and heroes without statues," according to the company's statement.

Halliburton also saying that now it has lost 33 employees killed in the Iraq operation.

As to the fourth body, the fourth set of remains recovered from Iraq, yesterday, the coalition said that body had not been identified by the United States. They have reason to believe it is a citizen of another country in the coalition and that country shortly will be making an announcement about the identity of those remains.

But now, clear word, the three of them were Halliburton employees, working as contractors in Iraq -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Barbara Starr with the latest from the Pentagon, Barbara, thank you for that.

And we're going to take a break. We're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: President Bush gains ground against John Kerry in the new poll on the presidential race. The CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows Bush leading Kerry 51 percent to 46 percent among likely voters.

The poll shows more support for Kerry when it comes to handling the economy. It edges Mr. Bush 49 percent to 55 percent. Fifty-nine percent of those polled say the president with would do a good job handling Iraq compared to 41 percent for John Kerry.

Well the polls are just one way to gauge the public opinion on the issues. Our political analyst Carlos Watson has been taking another approach as well. He's in New York to talk about the polls and the pulse of the people and explain how he managed to get this assignment that he did, but that will come in a moment. Carlos, good morning.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I always tell them I'm a friend of Daryn Kagan that seems to work repeatedly.

KAGAN: You know where that will get you -- not very far.

What do we have with the latest polls?

WATSON: Well I think the polls are great news for the president. He's got a solid lead and it's evidenced not only in our poll but in a couple of other polls that have come out in the last day or two.

What's most interesting maybe, Daryn, is that his strength among men now has a double-digit lead in some of these polls over John Kerry among men.

KAGAN: Carlos, hold on one second. We'll get to more of the numbers and more of your thoughts in a moment. Right now, Secretary of State Colin Powell answering questions outside the State Department.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

KAGAN: All right. Well, we jumped in just at the point where we would need a translator. That's our timing mistake there. But that's the Jordanian foreign minister meeting with the secretary of state. King Abdullah of Jordan has postponed his visit to President Bush. And that will happen next month instead in light of President Bush's recent statements on the Middle East.

But, Carlos, let me throw a -- an impromptu question at you here. You see the secretary of state. You can't help but think of Bob Woodward's book that has been all the talk of Washington, "Plan of Attack." And many thinking the secretary of state -- well, he did cooperate with Bob Woodward. But the buzz and everything that has gone with that book over the last week?

WATSON: And Woodward has had strong things to say, including a belief that Powell, if the president is reelected, will step down.

Colin Powell is in the polls as probably the most popular American political figure with favorability ratings often in the 70s, even in the 80s.

For the book to come across as though the president didn't seek his full advice could open up questions among moderate Republicans and independents. To date, the other two major books that we've seen, the Paul O'Neill book and then the Richard Clarke book, really played strongly among Democrat, not yet among independents and Republicans. So we'll wait and see whether or not Woodward's book starts to cause a fissure in the Republican base.

KAGAN: All right, let's go back and listen to the secretary of state one more time.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

KAGAN: You've been listening in to Secretary of State Colin Powell, somewhat, I think, annoyed, at least a little bit testy over having to answer questions over what he refer to as "the book." The book, once again, "The Plan of Attack," written by Bob Woodward, and it came out this week, talking about how the U.S. led up to war and how a number of sources within the Bush administration, including President Bush and Secretary of State Powell.

And let's bring our Carlos Watson back in, our political analyst. The secretary of state seemed a little annoyed having to deal with this yet again, and wanting to give what he believes is his timeline as to when he was informed about the president's plan to go to war, compared to when the Saudi Prince Bandar was informed.

WATSON: He does, Daryn, but there does seem to be a real fissure here. I mea, people look at this from the outside who have a tremendous amount of respect for Colin Powell, obviously have questions about what has happened since he made his presentation a year ago to the United Nations. No weapons of mass destruction have been found, and so his credibility has been hurt a little bit.

Now when you read the book, and you hear that he may not have been completely in the loop, again, that's another dent of sorts.

So as he steps forward to make these comments, he's not only doing it in defense of the president, but in many ways, in defense of himself.

KAGAN: All right, we've deal with the book, we've dealt with the polls, now let's get to your assignment. You somehow convinced the folks here at CNN, let's get beyond the numbers, let's get beyond whatever, and let's go talk to some specific groups of people. Somehow that means you end up hanging out with a bunch of NBA players.

WATSON: Hey, not a bad thing. I wish I was one of them, but I'm not. I'm hanging out with them.

What we're doing each week over the next several weeks, is we're going to a different state, and instead of doing the normal focus group, we thought we would try to take a fresh take on it and maybe talk to some people about politics you wouldn't expect us to.

For example, in Florida, our first conversation is with several of the player of the Miami Heat basketball team. We're also talking to several of their fans. And so we've got a little clip, I think, to show people.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) WATSON: You guys are all in unusual brackets, given the average American makes, you know, maybe $40,000. Would you be willing to pay 5 percent more in taxes?

SAMAKI WALKER, MIAMI HEAT PLAYER: I'm willing to pay whatever. I think in order for us, you know, to be helpful, you only get out what you put into it.

WATSON: You have to pay to play.

JOHN WALLACE, MIAMI HEAT PLAYER: I'd definitely like to know how all the tax money is distributed. We got homeless people, and we've got all these domestic problems, but yet we're always helping out some other country somewhere else.

RON CULP, MIAMI HEAT TRAINER: I would increase my tax burden, if I knew, and there was accountability for every dollar I paid in. I don't want to give a dollar and have 80 cents go to the administration.

WALLACE: You can't tell me just the NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball, hockey, we're all in that high tax bracket, and all the money getting taxed, where is it going?

WATSON: You feel like the money is not well spent at all?

WALLACE: I definitely feel, the money I'm getting taxed this season, there shouldn't be no homeless people in Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Daryn, you can see that it's a very interesting piece. Every Tuesday night on Paula Zahn's show, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, we'll show further clips of it. And tonight, you'll hear the players talk about gay marriage, you'll hear them talk about race relations, you'll hear them talk about the decision to go to war, very interesting conversations with players and fans.

KAGAN: Did they have any tips for your game?

WATSON: They told me my jump shot's beautiful. I need to work on the fall-away.

KAGAN: Keep that TV career going.

WATSON: Hang out with Daryn Kagan.

KAGAN: There you go.

Carlos, we'll see you tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, thanks for stopping by our show. We appreciate it. 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

And we will be back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: In our "Daily Dose" of health news, we examine whether eating less might help you live longer. Earlier studies in animals found that there's a link between lower calories and a longer life- span. Our medical correspondent Christy Feig looks at the benefits for people.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTY FEIG, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New research shows people who drastically reduce the number of calories in their diet actually reduce their risk of heart disease and diabetes.

DR. STUART SEIDES, CARDIOLOGIST: I think one would bet if one had to bet that these folks will probably live longer. It is not-- certainly not proven by this study.

FEIG: The researchers found 18 people who had been eating this very low-calorie diet of 1100 to just under 2,000 calories a day, then compared them to 18 people that ate like the average American, consuming anywhere from nearly 2000 calories a day to more than 3500. Those on the restricted diet have more of the good and less of the dangerous cholesterol. The heart benefit has been seen in real life. During World War II, the shortage of food in some Northern European countries led to a drop in death from heart disease. When the war ended, deaths rose again.

Although experts can't explain why drastic calorie reduction seems to have these benefits, they do say it should be done only with a nutritionist or you could end up malnourished.

Christy Feig, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: You can get your "Daily Dose" of health news online. Log on to our Web site. The address is cnn.com/health. We are back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER UPDATE)

KAGAN: That's going to do it for me. A quick break now, and at the top of the hour, Wolf Blitzer takes over from Washington, D.C.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com