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U.S. Protesting Philippine Government's Decision to Reduce Number of Troops; 'Kamber & May'

Aired July 14, 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.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And it is just half past the hour here on AMERICAN MORNING. Bill and Soledad are off.
I'm Anderson Cooper trying to fill Bill's big shoes.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It's hard.

COOPER: It is.

COLLINS: Seriously.

COOPER: Yes.

COLLINS: I'm Heidi Collins, everybody. Want to get to some of the headlines today.

The United States is protesting a decision now by the Philippines to reduce the number of troops in Iraq in order to save this man, a kidnapped Filipino.

What kind of impact will the decision have on the coalition? We'll be talking with Barbara Starr from the Pentagon with more on that in just a few minutes.

COOPER: Yes, pretty controversial decision, that.

Also, how serious is this talk of drafting former NFL coach Mike Ditka to run for the U.S. Senate? Our old friends Kamber & May with us in a few minutes, looking at whether drafting Ditka would be a smart move for Republicans.

COLLINS: For now, though, the U.S. again is protesting the Philippine government's decision to reduce the number of its troops in Iraq to satisfy the demands of the kidnappers of a Filipino national.

Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon with more on this now. Barbara, good morning once again.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi.

Yes, the Bush administration very unhappy about the apparent decision by the Philippine government to bring home its small contingent of troops from Iraq sooner than planned.

Apparently part of a Philippine government's decision to do this is in order to save the life of the hostage, Angelo de la Cruz.

He is a father of eight, working as a truck driver in Iraq, taken hostage some days ago threatened unless the Philippines -- with death -- unless the Philippine government withdrew its troops from Iraq.

Well, now, the foreign affairs ministry says they are going to do that; they're reducing their contingent there. Fifty-one troops there, they say, they are now bringing that down to 43, and the other troops will be coming home as soon as possible.

The real issue here, of course, is not the military significance of those small number of Philippine troops, but the broader issue the Bush administration is concerned about is what signal this sends.

If there is some decision to give into the wishes of these hostage-takers, will it only encourage more of this? A lot of concern about that, but at the moment it does appear the Philippine government standing fast, trying to save the life of a truck driver, a father of eight, and bring him home safely -- Heidi.

COLLINS: So, Barbara, just to clarify, obviously the broader issue is just that. Do you negotiate or not? But starting with eight, it seems like an interesting negotiating tactic. Eventually all of them will be removed?

STARR: Well, that is appearing to be what's the plan. What's quite interesting in this case, as you point out, they were all scheduled to be home, that entire contingent of 51 Philippine troops were scheduled to be home by -- leave Iraq -- by August 20th anyhow.

The hostage takers apparently demanding that they simply come home early. But the concern, as you say, is that this might set a trend.

Already, of course, Spain having brought its troops home after the Madrid train bombing back in March. Bulgaria waiting to see the fate of two of its hostages. Other countries -- Turkey impacted by all of this.

So a lot of concern not, again, about the military significance of it all, about the coalition in Iraq, but more about the appearance of giving into these hostage-takers, and the pressure some of these countries may feel to try and keep their citizens safe -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Barbara Starr from the Pentagon. Barbara, thank you.

COOPER: Well, the just-released Senate Intelligence Committee report is disputing accusations made by former ambassador Joe Wilson against the Bush administration.

We're going to discuss that now along with Mike Ditka's possible Senate bid with two men who agree to disagree, let's say.

From Washington, Democratic consultant, Victor Kamber with the Kamber Group, and Cliff May, former RNC Communications Director, now with the Foundation for Defense of Democracy. Gentlemen, good to see you this morning. Put on the gloves; let's get going.

Cliff, let me start off with you because I know you've written about this a lot.

Joe Wilson -- Senate Intelligence Committee report basically is in stark contrast with some of the things he had said and in his book that he had written. What do you make of it?

CLIFF MAY, FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, the most important thing is the national security perspective on this.

You may remember the big brouhaha over 16 words the president said in his 2003 State of the Union that the British believe, the British have learned that Saddam Hussein has recently been trying to get uranium from Africa.

Joe Wilson said that wasn't true, that's a lie, he's manipulating it. Well, we now know from the Senate Intelligence Committee and from others is that the British believed that, still believe that, and that there's solid evidence behind that.

Secondly, we know that Ambassador Wilson who said I'm speaking truth to power -- he was lying about all sorts of things. It was his wife who got him assigned by the CIA to go to Mejia and -- by the way -- with a $40 billion budget what in the world does the CIA doing sending a former ambassador with no investigative experience and a partisan axe to grind on a very sensitive investigative mission?

He lied about seeing documents and other things so it's -- so the whole thing unravels at this point.

COOPER: Victor, does the whole thing unravel at this point?

VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Well, I think that there's questions that have been raised, I think the last question, why the CIA used him was -- would be an intriguing one.

I also question if we're dealing with lawyers, and if we're dealing with people who've given misinformation to the American public, I think we got to start with somebody a little higher up than Ambassador Wilson...

COOPER: But, but, but Victor hasn't his credibility been severely damaged? I mean he said...

KAMBER: In the same way -- in the same way George Bush's credibility has been damaged by lying to the American public about weapons of mass destruction and imminent danger. Yes, it's been damaged. I mean, Wilson has said A, B, and C and it was C, D, and F and...

COOPER: OK, one more on this, and then let's move on.

MAY: Just that when Wilson said the president was lying it was Wilson who in turn -- who in fact was lying...

KAMBER: So we have two liars.

MAY: No, we don't -- look, the president had some -- had some information as Clinton did that was not good from the CIA; the CIA has to get better. Having bad information is not lying.

Jay Rockefeller and Al Gore and Bill Clinton also believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction -- why? Because he did.

KAMBER: They didn't go to war. They didn't kill young boys.

MAY: The question is at what point did Saddam Hussein get rid of his weapons of mass destruction or hide them or transfer them we still don't know that. It was Clinton who said we have got to take care of this regime.

COOPER: Victor, Mike Ditka, would he make a good candidate?

KAMBER: Well, you know I heard you earlier say that you didn't know that 16-year-old girl actress. I didn't know her, either, but I do know Mike Ditka. I -- you know -- he'll be an interesting character.

His -- the one public statement we know about him he's for public hangings. We don't know much else on where he stands on issues.

He's a celebrity, there's nothing wrong with celebrities running. I think that it's a joke. I think he's going to use it to sell more Levitra. The erectile dysfunctional drug.

COOPER: I believe it's Levitra, but I'm not -- I don't claim any personal knowledge of that.

Hey Cliff, what do you make of this? I mean, no one seems to know really what Mike Ditka -- I mean, has he taken positions? I mean, Victor seems to think...

MAY: Hanging.

COOPER: Hanging. I mean, other than that. Is that -- is this a guy the Republicans really want running for Senate?

MAY: I don't know about his position on hangings. I do know what he thinks about soccer. He said if God had meant us to play soccer he wouldn't have given us arms. My usually unreliable sources say he will decide by the end of the week.

Look, he is a guy who grew up as a son of a railroad worker in Western Pennsylvania. He has been a Super Bowl winner. As a football player he knows how to run. He also knows how to throw and pass and tackle which is good, too.

I think he'd be a very interesting choice. We've had other athletes who have gone into politics that you can think of: J.C. Watts, Steve Larson, my friend Jack Kemp, and, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a kind of an athlete before he became a movie actor and then a politician.

So I think it's a very interesting possibility.

KAMBER: Anderson, I think -- if I may -- I think the real problem -- there's nothing really wrong with celebrities, and I don't mean to make fun of it. He could be a very talented, very bright man.

The problem is I think the Republican Party in Illinois is bereft of real talent, and that's why they're reaching out this way. Their candidate withdrew over an alleged sex issue, a non-sex sex issue...

MAY: Which he shouldn't have done, and you should defend him, by the way. This is a both...

KAMBER: I'm not arguing one way or the other why he shouldn't...

MAY: You should argue one way or the other because his opponent...

(CROSSTALK)

KAMBER: His opponent is...

COOPER: The Jack Ryan issue is a whole other issue, which is...

MAY: Correct.

COOPER: ... is definitely worthy of discussion and brings up a lot of questions about privacy rights which we should discuss at another point. We're going to have to leave it there. But I do actually want to take up one issue with you, Victor.

Actually -- there are a lot of problems with celebrities and I'm not -- not just in politics but just in general. Lot of problems with celebrities.

Anyway, Victor Kamber thanks very much. Cliff May, thanks very much. Always good to have you guys on, thanks.

MAY: Thank you.

COOPER: All right -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, a man said to be close to Osama bin Laden turns himself in. What secrets might he hold?

COOPER: Also ahead millions of Americans are looking for help on line to lose weight but they might be wasting their time and their money. We're going to talk about that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: The Internet may seem an unlikely place to turn for weight loss advice, but cyber-dieting is a popular practice. Now a new study questions how effective on-line programs really are.

Sanjay is assignment today but medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is with us from the CNN Center with details on this.

So this was not a very flattering report?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No, no, unfortunately it wasn't, Heidi, because there are so many different Internet dieting sites out there.

Whatever diet you are on, whether it's Atkins or Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers, you name it, they're going to have a site.

You can see on right there -- that's eDiets.com. And the sites offer all sorts of great stuff. They give dieting tips, they give recipes, there are chat rooms where you can talk to other dieters to get new strategies.

There are places where you put in what you eat and they tell you how many calories you consume. So the people who did this study out of the University of Pennsylvania said wow, I bet when people go on these, they lose a lot of weight.

So they did a study where half of the people went on eDiets.com and the other half just read a book about how to diet and they were very surprised by the results.

These women -- there was a group of 47 women; they weighed on average 199 pounds. The e-dieters lost 1.8 pounds. The traditional dieters, the ones who just used a book, lost 7.3 pounds over the course of the year.

So the electronic dieters really didn't do as well, as you can see. Now of course the question is why? Well, it turned out that the e-dieters just didn't log on very often.

They didn't use the site very often. Maybe once a week. The people who did use it, the small sets that did use it quite a bit and they lost more. So the bottom line here is there was something about the site that many of the users just didn't like.

And so I asked the study author what didn't they like and she said you know one of the things they complained about was something we can all relate to -- pop ups. They would go on the site and there would be these pop ups that would try to sell them stuff and they found that annoying.

We talked to eDieters.com and they said the study was done about two years ago. They've learned from the -- the pop ups incident and they said they've learned a lot from this study about how to make their site better.

COLLINS: So, do you think that because of all this information now and this new study that that sort of an indication of the lack of success for all Internet dieting or are there better sites? COHEN: It's -- right -- it's not an indictment of all -- of all Internet dieting and that's important to say. Different sites are different. Again the study was done two years ago and it's improved greatly so that's something that you -- that's very important to say.

So what you have to do is you have to look at a site and you have to say gee is this going to work for me? All the tools are there; am I ready to use the tools? So before you choose a diet plan, whether it's actually Internet or not Internet, look for one that's reasonable. One that's not going to get you frustrated by demanding too much. Look for one that's going to ask you to lose one to two pounds a week, look for one that asks you to keep exercise and food records.

Many studies have shown that the more you have to write down and be accountable for, the better you'll do. Also look for one that works with your lifestyle. If you're the kind of person who is very independent and wants to do things on their own, the Internet may be for you. If you need a group of people to weigh you in and talk to face to face, the Internet may not be for you -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much for that -- we appreciate it.

And still to come this morning after a deluge it is time to assess the damage. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: It is 47 past the hour. Time for a quick look at the headlines with Daryn Kagan. Hey Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Anderson, we're going to go ahead and start with this new report on British intelligence prior to the war in Iraq.

The just-released report finds that the intelligence was, quote, "seriously flawed." But the report also says that Prime Minister Tony Blair's government did not deliberately distort intelligence to justify an invasion.

Live picture there from the House of Commons. Prime Minister Tony Blair responding to the information that he did not receive deliberate information to justify that invasion. The report, by the way also said that Saddam Hussein did not possess any weapons of mass destruction. More on that just ahead.

This morning in Iraq a massive suicide car bombing. An Iraqi police official saying that at least eight people have been killed, more than three-dozen other people are wounded, including a U.S. soldier. The bomb detonating near Baghdad's Green Zone, that is the area that houses the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government buildings.

Back here in the U.S., parts of the Northeast getting more intense rain today. Heavy storms yesterday dumped as much as eight inches of water in parts of Maryland. Road flooding and bridge damage closed major highways for much of the day. Dozens of homes were damaged, but no serious injuries were reported.

A new study indicates that American movies have become less friendly to families and to the young over the last decade. The Harvard University report says that movie ratings have become more lenient during that time, while the amount of violence, sex, and profanity have increased significantly.

The findings deal with movies with ratings from G to R and, Heidi, the mom in you needs to know that the G-rated movies that are animated apparently have more violence in them than the movies that are not animated.

COLLINS: I totally buy that. The mother always dies in those movies about animals.

KAGAN: That's the whole Disney thing with the dead mother. Yes.

COLLINS: I can't get over it. Clearly. Daryn, thanks so much for that. Want to take a chance now to check in with Andy Borowitz and the "Question of the Day" about Michael Moore, yes?

ANDY BOROWITZ, CNN: Yes, well Michael Moore's new movie, of course, huge hit, all over the world, so we asked what would you like to see Michael Moore do a movie about?

OK, we got some interesting responses. Linda from Mobile, Alabama writes: "I would like to see Moore do a movie about forcing one's opinions down the throats of other people."

(LAUGHTER)

Wonder who she's talking about? "He is not that different from any other fanatical group. He just has the media as his lap dog." OK.

Who else? Amanda from Annapolis writes: "I would like to see a documentary about the American attitudes toward, and definitions of, obscenity. For example, Cheney can drop the F-bomb on the floor of the Senate without apology, but Goldberg and the Democrats are being asked to apologize for their remarks at a private fund-raiser."

OK. And finally, Lou writes: "Where is Jack? You might as well close the show when Jack is not there."

Well, Lou, Jack's whereabouts is the source of a lot of conspiracy theories and I think Michael Moore should make a film about that. I really do.

COOPER: It's nice that Lou Dobbs wrote in.

(LAUGHTER)

It's nice of him.

COLLINS: Lou Dobbs.

COOPER: Because he watches the show all the time.

BOROWITZ: He does. So your questions at am@cnn.com.

COOPER: We are thrilled to have you here, despite what Lou Dobbs thinks.

BOROWITZ: Well, thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

COLLINS: Yes, we are.

COOPER: Still to come this morning, it's your broken borders (ph) -- how would you like to work longer hours and get paid less? Dumb question, of course.

But that scenario might be just around the corner. We're "Minding Your Business" this morning. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: The president's plan changes to overtime pay under fire this morning and sexual discrimination on Wall Street after this week's legal summit. So, what's next?

Christine Romans is here, "Minding Your Business" to tell us all about it.

So let's start with overtime. Now, this is good for some people and not so good for others.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, new rules go into effect next month and anything that involves wage and job security as you know can make for a political firestorm and that's what we've got.

The Bush administration says its guaranteeing the overtime for anyone that makes less than $27,000 a year, that's about $455 a week.

By White House math, that means 1.3 million Americans will be able to make overtime pay, and 107,000 high-income workers will lose it.

But not so fast says the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute. By its math, six million American workers could be reclassified as team leaders or learned professionals in all these new classifications, and they could lose their overtime.

The Labor Department calls the criticism of its plans a rehash of old numbers, and says the bottom line is it wants to secure overtime rights for people who earn the least in this country.

COLLINS: OK, and Morgan Stanley case? Wall Street here.

ROMANS: Soul searching on Wall Street this week. A lot of people talking about has anything really changed? A lot of people will say Wall Street's gotten a lot better but you look at the numbers; you look at the numbers and the numbers paint a pretty disappointing picture.

Take a look at this. From the Securities Association, 80 percent of executives and 70 percent of bankers, traders, brokers are white men. It is still a white man's world on Wall Street and some are saying that it should be a wake up call, this big sex discrimination settlement this week.

There have been several of them over the past few years; it should be a wake up call that Wall Street still has work to do. Some executives on Wall Street will tell you that this Morgan Stanley case is really just the vestiges of the bad old days, you know, this is the court cases that are showing that things are -- have been cleaned up and these are the -- these are the last of these sorts of things, but...

COOPER: Seems like there have been a lot of wake up calls over the years.

ROMANS: Yes about 15 years of wake up calls I think on Wall Street. So...

COLLINS: But this is the real one.

ROMANS: This is really the wake up call.

COLLINS: OK.

COOPER: All right we'll see -- we'll see about that. Thanks very much.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: A devastating attack in Iraq. Terrorists on the offensive in Baghdad while a member of the coalition says it is pulling back.

On the verge of a historic decision in the Senate on same sex marriage, if Republicans are defeated, can they get the defeat they want?

And a grand debut on the national stage. The Bush twins coming out strong on this AMERICAN MORNING.

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Aired July 14, 2004 - 08:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And it is just half past the hour here on AMERICAN MORNING. Bill and Soledad are off.
I'm Anderson Cooper trying to fill Bill's big shoes.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It's hard.

COOPER: It is.

COLLINS: Seriously.

COOPER: Yes.

COLLINS: I'm Heidi Collins, everybody. Want to get to some of the headlines today.

The United States is protesting a decision now by the Philippines to reduce the number of troops in Iraq in order to save this man, a kidnapped Filipino.

What kind of impact will the decision have on the coalition? We'll be talking with Barbara Starr from the Pentagon with more on that in just a few minutes.

COOPER: Yes, pretty controversial decision, that.

Also, how serious is this talk of drafting former NFL coach Mike Ditka to run for the U.S. Senate? Our old friends Kamber & May with us in a few minutes, looking at whether drafting Ditka would be a smart move for Republicans.

COLLINS: For now, though, the U.S. again is protesting the Philippine government's decision to reduce the number of its troops in Iraq to satisfy the demands of the kidnappers of a Filipino national.

Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon with more on this now. Barbara, good morning once again.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi.

Yes, the Bush administration very unhappy about the apparent decision by the Philippine government to bring home its small contingent of troops from Iraq sooner than planned.

Apparently part of a Philippine government's decision to do this is in order to save the life of the hostage, Angelo de la Cruz.

He is a father of eight, working as a truck driver in Iraq, taken hostage some days ago threatened unless the Philippines -- with death -- unless the Philippine government withdrew its troops from Iraq.

Well, now, the foreign affairs ministry says they are going to do that; they're reducing their contingent there. Fifty-one troops there, they say, they are now bringing that down to 43, and the other troops will be coming home as soon as possible.

The real issue here, of course, is not the military significance of those small number of Philippine troops, but the broader issue the Bush administration is concerned about is what signal this sends.

If there is some decision to give into the wishes of these hostage-takers, will it only encourage more of this? A lot of concern about that, but at the moment it does appear the Philippine government standing fast, trying to save the life of a truck driver, a father of eight, and bring him home safely -- Heidi.

COLLINS: So, Barbara, just to clarify, obviously the broader issue is just that. Do you negotiate or not? But starting with eight, it seems like an interesting negotiating tactic. Eventually all of them will be removed?

STARR: Well, that is appearing to be what's the plan. What's quite interesting in this case, as you point out, they were all scheduled to be home, that entire contingent of 51 Philippine troops were scheduled to be home by -- leave Iraq -- by August 20th anyhow.

The hostage takers apparently demanding that they simply come home early. But the concern, as you say, is that this might set a trend.

Already, of course, Spain having brought its troops home after the Madrid train bombing back in March. Bulgaria waiting to see the fate of two of its hostages. Other countries -- Turkey impacted by all of this.

So a lot of concern not, again, about the military significance of it all, about the coalition in Iraq, but more about the appearance of giving into these hostage-takers, and the pressure some of these countries may feel to try and keep their citizens safe -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Barbara Starr from the Pentagon. Barbara, thank you.

COOPER: Well, the just-released Senate Intelligence Committee report is disputing accusations made by former ambassador Joe Wilson against the Bush administration.

We're going to discuss that now along with Mike Ditka's possible Senate bid with two men who agree to disagree, let's say.

From Washington, Democratic consultant, Victor Kamber with the Kamber Group, and Cliff May, former RNC Communications Director, now with the Foundation for Defense of Democracy. Gentlemen, good to see you this morning. Put on the gloves; let's get going.

Cliff, let me start off with you because I know you've written about this a lot.

Joe Wilson -- Senate Intelligence Committee report basically is in stark contrast with some of the things he had said and in his book that he had written. What do you make of it?

CLIFF MAY, FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, the most important thing is the national security perspective on this.

You may remember the big brouhaha over 16 words the president said in his 2003 State of the Union that the British believe, the British have learned that Saddam Hussein has recently been trying to get uranium from Africa.

Joe Wilson said that wasn't true, that's a lie, he's manipulating it. Well, we now know from the Senate Intelligence Committee and from others is that the British believed that, still believe that, and that there's solid evidence behind that.

Secondly, we know that Ambassador Wilson who said I'm speaking truth to power -- he was lying about all sorts of things. It was his wife who got him assigned by the CIA to go to Mejia and -- by the way -- with a $40 billion budget what in the world does the CIA doing sending a former ambassador with no investigative experience and a partisan axe to grind on a very sensitive investigative mission?

He lied about seeing documents and other things so it's -- so the whole thing unravels at this point.

COOPER: Victor, does the whole thing unravel at this point?

VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Well, I think that there's questions that have been raised, I think the last question, why the CIA used him was -- would be an intriguing one.

I also question if we're dealing with lawyers, and if we're dealing with people who've given misinformation to the American public, I think we got to start with somebody a little higher up than Ambassador Wilson...

COOPER: But, but, but Victor hasn't his credibility been severely damaged? I mean he said...

KAMBER: In the same way -- in the same way George Bush's credibility has been damaged by lying to the American public about weapons of mass destruction and imminent danger. Yes, it's been damaged. I mean, Wilson has said A, B, and C and it was C, D, and F and...

COOPER: OK, one more on this, and then let's move on.

MAY: Just that when Wilson said the president was lying it was Wilson who in turn -- who in fact was lying...

KAMBER: So we have two liars.

MAY: No, we don't -- look, the president had some -- had some information as Clinton did that was not good from the CIA; the CIA has to get better. Having bad information is not lying.

Jay Rockefeller and Al Gore and Bill Clinton also believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction -- why? Because he did.

KAMBER: They didn't go to war. They didn't kill young boys.

MAY: The question is at what point did Saddam Hussein get rid of his weapons of mass destruction or hide them or transfer them we still don't know that. It was Clinton who said we have got to take care of this regime.

COOPER: Victor, Mike Ditka, would he make a good candidate?

KAMBER: Well, you know I heard you earlier say that you didn't know that 16-year-old girl actress. I didn't know her, either, but I do know Mike Ditka. I -- you know -- he'll be an interesting character.

His -- the one public statement we know about him he's for public hangings. We don't know much else on where he stands on issues.

He's a celebrity, there's nothing wrong with celebrities running. I think that it's a joke. I think he's going to use it to sell more Levitra. The erectile dysfunctional drug.

COOPER: I believe it's Levitra, but I'm not -- I don't claim any personal knowledge of that.

Hey Cliff, what do you make of this? I mean, no one seems to know really what Mike Ditka -- I mean, has he taken positions? I mean, Victor seems to think...

MAY: Hanging.

COOPER: Hanging. I mean, other than that. Is that -- is this a guy the Republicans really want running for Senate?

MAY: I don't know about his position on hangings. I do know what he thinks about soccer. He said if God had meant us to play soccer he wouldn't have given us arms. My usually unreliable sources say he will decide by the end of the week.

Look, he is a guy who grew up as a son of a railroad worker in Western Pennsylvania. He has been a Super Bowl winner. As a football player he knows how to run. He also knows how to throw and pass and tackle which is good, too.

I think he'd be a very interesting choice. We've had other athletes who have gone into politics that you can think of: J.C. Watts, Steve Larson, my friend Jack Kemp, and, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a kind of an athlete before he became a movie actor and then a politician.

So I think it's a very interesting possibility.

KAMBER: Anderson, I think -- if I may -- I think the real problem -- there's nothing really wrong with celebrities, and I don't mean to make fun of it. He could be a very talented, very bright man.

The problem is I think the Republican Party in Illinois is bereft of real talent, and that's why they're reaching out this way. Their candidate withdrew over an alleged sex issue, a non-sex sex issue...

MAY: Which he shouldn't have done, and you should defend him, by the way. This is a both...

KAMBER: I'm not arguing one way or the other why he shouldn't...

MAY: You should argue one way or the other because his opponent...

(CROSSTALK)

KAMBER: His opponent is...

COOPER: The Jack Ryan issue is a whole other issue, which is...

MAY: Correct.

COOPER: ... is definitely worthy of discussion and brings up a lot of questions about privacy rights which we should discuss at another point. We're going to have to leave it there. But I do actually want to take up one issue with you, Victor.

Actually -- there are a lot of problems with celebrities and I'm not -- not just in politics but just in general. Lot of problems with celebrities.

Anyway, Victor Kamber thanks very much. Cliff May, thanks very much. Always good to have you guys on, thanks.

MAY: Thank you.

COOPER: All right -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, a man said to be close to Osama bin Laden turns himself in. What secrets might he hold?

COOPER: Also ahead millions of Americans are looking for help on line to lose weight but they might be wasting their time and their money. We're going to talk about that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: The Internet may seem an unlikely place to turn for weight loss advice, but cyber-dieting is a popular practice. Now a new study questions how effective on-line programs really are.

Sanjay is assignment today but medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is with us from the CNN Center with details on this.

So this was not a very flattering report?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No, no, unfortunately it wasn't, Heidi, because there are so many different Internet dieting sites out there.

Whatever diet you are on, whether it's Atkins or Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers, you name it, they're going to have a site.

You can see on right there -- that's eDiets.com. And the sites offer all sorts of great stuff. They give dieting tips, they give recipes, there are chat rooms where you can talk to other dieters to get new strategies.

There are places where you put in what you eat and they tell you how many calories you consume. So the people who did this study out of the University of Pennsylvania said wow, I bet when people go on these, they lose a lot of weight.

So they did a study where half of the people went on eDiets.com and the other half just read a book about how to diet and they were very surprised by the results.

These women -- there was a group of 47 women; they weighed on average 199 pounds. The e-dieters lost 1.8 pounds. The traditional dieters, the ones who just used a book, lost 7.3 pounds over the course of the year.

So the electronic dieters really didn't do as well, as you can see. Now of course the question is why? Well, it turned out that the e-dieters just didn't log on very often.

They didn't use the site very often. Maybe once a week. The people who did use it, the small sets that did use it quite a bit and they lost more. So the bottom line here is there was something about the site that many of the users just didn't like.

And so I asked the study author what didn't they like and she said you know one of the things they complained about was something we can all relate to -- pop ups. They would go on the site and there would be these pop ups that would try to sell them stuff and they found that annoying.

We talked to eDieters.com and they said the study was done about two years ago. They've learned from the -- the pop ups incident and they said they've learned a lot from this study about how to make their site better.

COLLINS: So, do you think that because of all this information now and this new study that that sort of an indication of the lack of success for all Internet dieting or are there better sites? COHEN: It's -- right -- it's not an indictment of all -- of all Internet dieting and that's important to say. Different sites are different. Again the study was done two years ago and it's improved greatly so that's something that you -- that's very important to say.

So what you have to do is you have to look at a site and you have to say gee is this going to work for me? All the tools are there; am I ready to use the tools? So before you choose a diet plan, whether it's actually Internet or not Internet, look for one that's reasonable. One that's not going to get you frustrated by demanding too much. Look for one that's going to ask you to lose one to two pounds a week, look for one that asks you to keep exercise and food records.

Many studies have shown that the more you have to write down and be accountable for, the better you'll do. Also look for one that works with your lifestyle. If you're the kind of person who is very independent and wants to do things on their own, the Internet may be for you. If you need a group of people to weigh you in and talk to face to face, the Internet may not be for you -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much for that -- we appreciate it.

And still to come this morning after a deluge it is time to assess the damage. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: It is 47 past the hour. Time for a quick look at the headlines with Daryn Kagan. Hey Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Anderson, we're going to go ahead and start with this new report on British intelligence prior to the war in Iraq.

The just-released report finds that the intelligence was, quote, "seriously flawed." But the report also says that Prime Minister Tony Blair's government did not deliberately distort intelligence to justify an invasion.

Live picture there from the House of Commons. Prime Minister Tony Blair responding to the information that he did not receive deliberate information to justify that invasion. The report, by the way also said that Saddam Hussein did not possess any weapons of mass destruction. More on that just ahead.

This morning in Iraq a massive suicide car bombing. An Iraqi police official saying that at least eight people have been killed, more than three-dozen other people are wounded, including a U.S. soldier. The bomb detonating near Baghdad's Green Zone, that is the area that houses the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government buildings.

Back here in the U.S., parts of the Northeast getting more intense rain today. Heavy storms yesterday dumped as much as eight inches of water in parts of Maryland. Road flooding and bridge damage closed major highways for much of the day. Dozens of homes were damaged, but no serious injuries were reported.

A new study indicates that American movies have become less friendly to families and to the young over the last decade. The Harvard University report says that movie ratings have become more lenient during that time, while the amount of violence, sex, and profanity have increased significantly.

The findings deal with movies with ratings from G to R and, Heidi, the mom in you needs to know that the G-rated movies that are animated apparently have more violence in them than the movies that are not animated.

COLLINS: I totally buy that. The mother always dies in those movies about animals.

KAGAN: That's the whole Disney thing with the dead mother. Yes.

COLLINS: I can't get over it. Clearly. Daryn, thanks so much for that. Want to take a chance now to check in with Andy Borowitz and the "Question of the Day" about Michael Moore, yes?

ANDY BOROWITZ, CNN: Yes, well Michael Moore's new movie, of course, huge hit, all over the world, so we asked what would you like to see Michael Moore do a movie about?

OK, we got some interesting responses. Linda from Mobile, Alabama writes: "I would like to see Moore do a movie about forcing one's opinions down the throats of other people."

(LAUGHTER)

Wonder who she's talking about? "He is not that different from any other fanatical group. He just has the media as his lap dog." OK.

Who else? Amanda from Annapolis writes: "I would like to see a documentary about the American attitudes toward, and definitions of, obscenity. For example, Cheney can drop the F-bomb on the floor of the Senate without apology, but Goldberg and the Democrats are being asked to apologize for their remarks at a private fund-raiser."

OK. And finally, Lou writes: "Where is Jack? You might as well close the show when Jack is not there."

Well, Lou, Jack's whereabouts is the source of a lot of conspiracy theories and I think Michael Moore should make a film about that. I really do.

COOPER: It's nice that Lou Dobbs wrote in.

(LAUGHTER)

It's nice of him.

COLLINS: Lou Dobbs.

COOPER: Because he watches the show all the time.

BOROWITZ: He does. So your questions at am@cnn.com.

COOPER: We are thrilled to have you here, despite what Lou Dobbs thinks.

BOROWITZ: Well, thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

COLLINS: Yes, we are.

COOPER: Still to come this morning, it's your broken borders (ph) -- how would you like to work longer hours and get paid less? Dumb question, of course.

But that scenario might be just around the corner. We're "Minding Your Business" this morning. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: The president's plan changes to overtime pay under fire this morning and sexual discrimination on Wall Street after this week's legal summit. So, what's next?

Christine Romans is here, "Minding Your Business" to tell us all about it.

So let's start with overtime. Now, this is good for some people and not so good for others.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, new rules go into effect next month and anything that involves wage and job security as you know can make for a political firestorm and that's what we've got.

The Bush administration says its guaranteeing the overtime for anyone that makes less than $27,000 a year, that's about $455 a week.

By White House math, that means 1.3 million Americans will be able to make overtime pay, and 107,000 high-income workers will lose it.

But not so fast says the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute. By its math, six million American workers could be reclassified as team leaders or learned professionals in all these new classifications, and they could lose their overtime.

The Labor Department calls the criticism of its plans a rehash of old numbers, and says the bottom line is it wants to secure overtime rights for people who earn the least in this country.

COLLINS: OK, and Morgan Stanley case? Wall Street here.

ROMANS: Soul searching on Wall Street this week. A lot of people talking about has anything really changed? A lot of people will say Wall Street's gotten a lot better but you look at the numbers; you look at the numbers and the numbers paint a pretty disappointing picture.

Take a look at this. From the Securities Association, 80 percent of executives and 70 percent of bankers, traders, brokers are white men. It is still a white man's world on Wall Street and some are saying that it should be a wake up call, this big sex discrimination settlement this week.

There have been several of them over the past few years; it should be a wake up call that Wall Street still has work to do. Some executives on Wall Street will tell you that this Morgan Stanley case is really just the vestiges of the bad old days, you know, this is the court cases that are showing that things are -- have been cleaned up and these are the -- these are the last of these sorts of things, but...

COOPER: Seems like there have been a lot of wake up calls over the years.

ROMANS: Yes about 15 years of wake up calls I think on Wall Street. So...

COLLINS: But this is the real one.

ROMANS: This is really the wake up call.

COLLINS: OK.

COOPER: All right we'll see -- we'll see about that. Thanks very much.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: A devastating attack in Iraq. Terrorists on the offensive in Baghdad while a member of the coalition says it is pulling back.

On the verge of a historic decision in the Senate on same sex marriage, if Republicans are defeated, can they get the defeat they want?

And a grand debut on the national stage. The Bush twins coming out strong on this AMERICAN MORNING.

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