Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Making a Case; Bush & Iraq; Iraq Hostage Vigil; Debate Decisions; Memo Flap; Kidney Care
Aired September 21, 2004 - 05:30 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A husband, a father, a hostage. Today, a life or death decision.
It is Tuesday, September 21. This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
"Now in the News."
The militant Islamic group holding an American and a British citizen say they will kill the American today if the U.S. military does not release Iraqi women being held prisoner. The U.S. military denies it's holding any female prisoners.
President Bush is expected to defend his decision to invade Iraq in a speech this morning before the United Nations General Assembly. But the situation regarding Iraq is not expected to be the main focus of his comments.
Just a few hours, a judge will begin hearing the government's $280 billion case against the tobacco industry. Several tobacco companies are accused of conspiring to mislead the public about the dangers of smoking.
Interest rates will probably go up this afternoon. Federal Reserve officials are expected to raise the short-term rate by a quarter point. It will be the third increase this year.
To the Forecast Center now and Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And good morning, Carol.
Still have that tornado warning now for western Palm Beach County in Florida. All part of that moisture that once was Ivan. Went all the way out across the East Coast, made all the flooding across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, down through North Carolina, down into the ocean, back around and then now is coming back into parts of Florida. And that for western Palm Beach County around South Bay and Belle Glade and that warning is until 6:00 this morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: And in fact, Carol, we switch over to fall tomorrow.
COSTELLO: Really, already.
MYERS: We don't fall back. We don't change our times, but it does get to the autumnal equinox tomorrow. That means if you are driving home and you drive to the west, you're going to need sunglasses, because that sun is going to be right in the line of your east-west road. And if you are driving this morning to the east, you're going to need sunglasses, too, because that sun is coming right up on your horizon.
COSTELLO: So get some sunglasses. Thank you, -- Chad.
MYERS: And clean your windshield.
COSTELLO: And clean your windshield. That's right. Thank you, Chad.
It was just one year ago that President Bush made his case for war in Iraq in a speech before the U.N. Assembly. We all know time changes things, but not particularly on this issue.
Our senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth has more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If the first day of speech making at the U.N. is any indication, President Bush may get a chilly reception.
PRES. LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA, BRAZIL: How many more times will it still be necessary to repeat that the most destructive weapon of mass destruction in the world today is poverty.
ROTH: Tensions over Iraq persist.
DAVID MALONE: The bitterness runs quite deep between a number of countries over Iraq. Countries that actually work with each other quite well on other issues...
ROTH (on camera): Like France, here, and the United States.
MALONE: ... like France.
ROTH (voice-over): The U.S. turns to the U.N. when it feels it can achieve something. Washington is considering pressing for U.N. sanctions against Iran unless it halts its nuclear programs and against Sudan because of the humanitarian disaster.
A former U.S. secretary of state advises don't give up on U.S.- U.N. relations.
JAMES BAKER, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Well I think they are better than you might gather from news reports. But the United Nations is very important to the United States and I think the United States is important to the United Nations.
ROTH: Many diplomats say it's time to move beyond Iraq. WANG GUANGYA, CHINESE AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: As far as China is concerned that we do not agree with this war. And secondly, I think the important thing now is how can we move forward.
ROTH: Of course amid all the security, all the speeches, every year people ask is the U.N. still relevant?
CELESTINO MIGLIORE, VATICAN REPRESENTATIVE: If the United Nations did not exist, we have to invent it.
ROTH: But just as everyone was hoping to move on, Secretary- General Kofi Annan himself once again reopened wounds over Iraq by describing the invasion as illegal.
(on camera): The outgoing president of the General Assembly said the Iraq war continues to suck the oxygen out of the chamber. Kofi Annan labeling the war illegal only serves to further highlight the large gap remaining here between the United States and many countries.
Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: President Bush's speech is scheduled for 10:30 Eastern this morning. That, of course, is 7:30 Pacific Time. And we will, of course, bring it to you live.
We want to talk more about the president's address before the U.N. And to do that, we've brought in our senior international editor David Clinch.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Carol, good morning.
COSTELLO: So, James Baker just said the relations are better than you think between the U.N. and the U.S. Is he right?
CLINCH: Well they may very well be. I mean the point was made there that the U.S., whether it's for cynical purposes or whatever, does in fact go to the United Nations and does in fact achieve quite significant progress on certain issues, perhaps with Iran, perhaps with Syria.
We're seeing Syria redeploy troops in Lebanon today, not leaving Lebanon, but redeploying. That was a U.N. issue with France, believe it or not, on the Security Council. So there is the ability for the U.S. to go to the U.N. and achieve progress on certain issues.
But the point Richard was making there, that many officials are making there, is that the issue of Iraq will dominate. Whether it dominates President Bush's speech or not, the issue dominates, because it prevents a sole and complete relationship between the U.S. and its allies on the U.N. Security Council.
COSTELLO: But you heard the representative to the United Nations from China say it's time to move on. It's time to move past that. CLINCH: Right.
COSTELLO: How can the United States do that?
CLINCH: Well of course the unfortunate coincidence for the U.S. is the timing, the timing of the Iraqi elections, the timing of the U.S. elections, which, by everybody's estimation, including the United States, will make matters worse before they become better on a security level.
We've seen that, of course, over the last few weeks and months. Nobody is denying that the situation in Iraq and that of course made very real and very human with this hostage situation we're reporting on at the moment. One American hostage beheaded yesterday. An American and Britain threatened with the same fate in the next 24 hours. That human aspect, the violence in Iraq, that is there and will dominate no matter what President Bush speaks about today. But there is the potential for some progress if he opens the door to other issues.
COSTELLO: Let's talk just a bit about the hostage situation. More threats that another American is going to be beheaded unless, you know, they release women prisoners from Abu Ghraib and other Iraqi prisons. There's no women prisoners there.
CLINCH: Yes.
COSTELLO: You heard the relatives of the British hostage pleading with the British government to compromise, to come to some sort of deal. Would that ever happen from the British standpoint?
CLINCH: Most likely no, for two reasons. One, because of the standing policy by both Britain and the United States not to negotiate, even over of course demands that can't even be met, they certainly can't negotiate there.
But secondly, of course because these terrorists, these hostage takers do not seem to be involved in the same set of logic that these family members are hoping for. They are not talking about demands that can be met. They seem to be doing things on their own will regardless of what anybody does or anybody says. And it just makes the tragedy even worse.
COSTELLO: David Clinch, thank you.
We can only imagine how difficult it is for family members to cope with the kidnappings in Iraq. In the Michigan town where the American construction worker Eugene Armstrong grew up, friends and strangers alike gathered at a vigil to support his family.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CYNDI ARMSTRONG, FAMILY SPOKESWOMAN: We're just praying every day. KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cyndi Armstrong was carrying the emotions and burdens of her family handling the media interviews. But the news only got worse. As the Armstrong's learned that Eugene, the man everyone in town called Jack, was executed.
CROWD: God bless America.
OPPENHEIM: Within hours of the bad news, his community came together. About 100 people, many who never knew Jack Armstrong, came to the county courthouse for a candlelight vigil.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here this evening to show solidarity.
OPPENHEIM: The solidarity meant a lot to the Armstrong's. Still, for a family where everyone worked in construction, it was hard to comprehend how Jack Armstrong could be murdered.
ARMSTRONG: I don't understand. Jack was there to help them, not hurt them, and this is what they did.
OPPENHEIM: Even though Armstrong had left his hometown,...
(on camera): ... there were many people in Hillsdale who remembered him from years ago and understood his need for adventure overseas.
DENNIS BEVIS, FRIEND: He was just trying to make a living over there, basically, you know. And to die like that, at the hands of madmen like that, you know, it's bad.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): A devastating day for a family and a community who now finds itself praying for other hostages but hopes they will be more fortunate than Jack Armstrong.
Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Hillsdale, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Let's talk about politics now and the presidential debates. The presidential candidates have agreed on three debates now, but will their appearances really have an impact on you?
CNN's Tom Foreman takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): So far, all of the punches...
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because I understand my opponent changes positions a lot.
FOREMAN: ... have been thrown from a distance.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He failed to tell the truth. FOREMAN: But soon, George Bush and John Kerry will battle for the presidency in person. Three debates are planned, in Florida, Missouri and Arizona, and a lot will ride on those encounters.
ADAM CLYMER, ANNENBERG ELECTION SURVEY: There's plenty of evidence from our surveys and others that people learn a fair amount about the candidates' backgrounds and about where they stand on issues from watching debates and from paying attention to the subsequent media coverage.
FOREMAN: So how do the contenders compare?
The president, political analysts say, is best when he is plainspoken and passionate. He sometimes stumbles over words, but he has been in presidential debates before, and voters liked him.
KEATING HOLLAND, CNN POLLING DIRECTOR: He's his own man. He's a straight shooter. He says what he is going to do and then he goes ahead and does it. It's something that came through very clearly, particularly in the contrast to Al Gore in each of the three debates in 2000.
FOREMAN: After each those meetings, Mr. Bush's poll numbers rose and Mr. Gore's fell.
KERRY: That has more than doubled.
FOREMAN: Senator Kerry is known for being a skilled debater and for a deep understanding of the issues. On the other hand, he is sometimes criticized for giving such complicated answers that he loses his audience.
HOLLAND: Kerry's strength is his weakness, which is he has a great command of detail, a great command of facts, and he can't resist showing it. If he starts to tangle himself up in all of those details, the public may see that.
FOREMAN (on camera): And so after months of campaigning it comes down to this. Now and then on the campaign trail, the candidates have come within a few miles of each other.
(voice-over): In the debates they will be a lot closer together, but doing all they can to show that politically they are a lot farther apart.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And remember, you can see that first presidential debate live right here on CNN. Our coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, September 30. So be sure to tune in early for a good seat.
Let's talk about those debates. Chad, can you play with me again? MYERS: Yes, Carol, go ahead.
COSTELLO: They're getting sick of hearing from me this morning, I'm sure (ph).
MYERS: What have you got?
COSTELLO: Well, no, there are rules for the presidential debates, and they are quite interesting. Here is the packet of the rules.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: Look how long it is.
MYERS: Looks like my contract.
COSTELLO: You have a contract this long?
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: You must have some good perks.
MYERS: No, I don't, actually. They are all theirs.
COSTELLO: Isn't that always the way it goes?
OK, so some of the rules. These are the quirkier rules of presidential debates. No television camera shots from behind the candidates.
MYERS: Right, because you'll see the bald spot.
COSTELLO: Well, that and more. And no cutaway shots of candidates who are not answering questions.
MYERS: So you can't have a reactionary shot?
COSTELLO: No reaction shots.
MYERS: Really?
COSTELLO: Really.
Other than a handshake at the start of the debate, the candidates are not to approach each other. They can not touch each other again.
MYERS: Even with like 16 ounce gloves, no boxing gloves or nothing?
COSTELLO: None of that stuff.
MYERS: That would be a debate.
COSTELLO: Of course no props, notes, charts, et cetera. That's a given. The candidates can not ask each other direct questions but can ask rhetorical questions.
MYERS: Yes, I guess I get that.
COSTELLO: That one didn't strike you?
MYERS: I mean you don't want rhetorical answers, right? I mean, so some of the questions that they would answer would actually be or asked could be really ridiculous, so...
COSTELLO: Well they could be mean spirited and pointed.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: You know they want to like get policy answers and stuff like that. And no candidate is allowed to use risers or any other device to make them look taller.
MYERS: So then I couldn't do it then.
COSTELLO: You'd look like a little tiny man.
MYERS: There was a joke, and this is only a joke, it said that John Kerry wanted to stand behind a podium and that President Bush wanted to stand behind Dick Cheney. It was only a joke, please,...
COSTELLO: Only a joke. Thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Admission and apology.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN RATHER, CBS NEWS: CBS News deeply regrets it. Also, I want to say personally and directly, I am sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Coming up in five minutes, CBS says it was caught off guard by those National Guard documents. Was Dan Rather hoodwinked? That brings us to our e-mail "Question of the Morning," what should Dan Rather do now? Should he retire, should he step down or should he continue to say he's sorry? Send us your e-mails, DAYBREAK@CNN.com. DAYBREAK@CNN.com.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: CBS News has apologized for what it calls a mistake in judgment in its report questioning President Bush's National Guard service. The network admits it can not say for certain that these documents you are seeing used in this report are real. The network says a key source misled them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL BURKETT, FMR. AIR NATL. GUARD LT. COL: Well I didn't totally mislead you, I did mislead you on the one individual. You know your staff pressured me to a point to reveal that source.
RATHER: Well we were trying to get the chain of possession.
BURKETT: I understand that.
RATHER: And you said you had received them from someone.
BURKETT: I understand that.
RATHER: And we did pressure you to say well you received them from someone and that someone was whom?
BURKETT: Yes.
RATHER: And it's true, we pressured you because it was a very important point for us.
BURKETT: Yes. And I simply threw out a name that was, basically it was I guess to get a little pressure off for a moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That man is Bill Burkett, a former National Guard lieutenant colonel, and a longtime critic of President Bush. CBS says it will appoint an independent panel to look into its reporting on these memos.
The memo flap is today's hot topic.
Joining me by phone are Mark Ericson and Danielle Carrier, the Morning Waking Crew at WOKQ in the Portsmouth-Manchester, New Hampshire area.
Good morning to you both.
DANIELLE CARRIER, WOKQ MORNING WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH & MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE: Good morning, Carol.
MARK ERICSON, WOKQ MORNING WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH & MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE: Good morning -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I know that the president was in New Hampshire yesterday and had some heated remarks after John Kerry's big speech in New York City. Let's talk about that first off.
ERICSON: Well with less than 45 days to go, being in a battleground state, such as it is, it's getting pretty heated. President Bush was in the dairy (ph) New Hampshire area yesterday, and he accused John Kerry of -- quote -- "pattern of twisting in the wind" -- end quote.
COSTELLO: Yes, so he's on that theme that seems to be, I don't know, working with his constituency. But what about the swing voters?
ERICSON: Well the president is pretty much sticking to the message of be definitive. And that President Bush is saying he is definitive. Right or wrong, he at least is definitive, whereas John Kerry, of course, is the flip-flopper and that's how they are positioning the senator.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about CBS and Dan Rather. Did you watch CBS News last night? I did, and it was surreal.
ERICSON: It was very strange. Dan Rather has become the news rather than reporting the news, which is not a good position. And this is not the first time this has happened to Mr. Rather, unfortunately. This is becoming sort of a multimedia election campaign. The flap with Dan Rather, coupled with John Kerry having fun on, as you said earlier, Carol, "Late Night With David Letterman" last night.
CARRIER: Yes, but you know I feel even worse for Dan Rather, because now there are Web sites against him. I feel so bad. Rathergate.com is one of them, Ratherbias.com. I feel so bad because his credibility has really been questioned here.
COSTELLO: He had a very long career in news, but that mistake should never have been made. And that's just my personal opinion as a journalist. You realize this document -- I mean I'm a former investigative reporter, you just don't -- you analyze the documents. It just seems so simple.
We've been soliciting e-mail from our viewers this morning asking what Dan Rather should do.
This is from John (ph). He says if CBS has any hope of regaining credibility, Dan Rather must resign.
ERICSON: Well, you know it will be interesting to see over the course of the next several days how Dan Rather himself handles this. It may be in the best interest of CBS for Dan Rather to, well, as they say, take one for the team.
COSTELLO: This is another interesting e-mail. We got this from Dick (ph). He says what is it that Dan Rather really did wrong? He acted on bad intelligence. That is no different from what Bush did when he said Iraq was seeking weapons of mass destruction.
CARRIER: No, that sort of becomes everyone's excuse now, I had bad intelligence.
ERICSON: Well, you know no matter what, and, Carol, certainly you understand this, the big three network anchors still carry an awful lot of weight and authority in this country. And you know for Dan Rather to have put the information on the air, and, as you said, as a former investigative reporter, should he have checked the facts much further?
CARRIER: Well I mean this is such a tight race, too, though, Mark, because I mean there are so many people, they are not sure who to vote for. And this is a huge thing.
ERICSON: Well, and then when all is said and done, Carol, what do you think, will there be a trace somewhere back to the Kerry campaign on these now somewhat questionable documents?
COSTELLO: Well we did get a statement from Joe Lockhart (ph), one of Kerry's advisers. He said he did talk to this Bill Burkett but not about these documents at all. He had a very short conversation. And apparently Burkett said to the Kerry campaign, hey, you've got to come out stronger and attack, you know, these allegations about John Kerry's service in Vietnam, but he says they didn't talk at all about documents or anything of the like.
ERICSON: What a fascinating 42 days it's going to be until the election.
CARRIER: I know.
COSTELLO: You're not kidding. Thank you so much for being with us on DAYBREAK this morning, Mark Ericson and Danielle Carrier from WOKQ.
We'll be right back. This is DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Some kidney patients are taking a more homegrown approach to their health care.
Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on this growing trend.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dadi Ding was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure 22 years ago. Treatment meant traveling to a center three times a week for four hours to get dialysis.
DADI DING, DIALYSIS PATIENT: I receive a little bit of in-center hemodialysis, just a few months, and it's really very difficult for me to keep a job.
GUPTA: Then she switched to home dialysis. But with a conventional machine, it still took several hours. These days, Ding removes toxins from her blood in a fraction of the time it used to take. She's 1 of about 100 patients in the U.S. and Britain using her own personal hemodialysis unit developed by Access Limited.
DING: This is artificial kidney. It's just like your own kidney. It cleans your blood, but it's outside your body.
GUPTA: With few exceptions, Medicare covers three dialysis treatments per week, but some doctors say that's not enough. DR. ORLY KOHN, UNIV. OF CHICAGO HOSPITALS: In between dialysis, the patient accumulates a lot of the chemicals that normally the kidney would be getting rid of.
GUPTA: About a quarter of a million Americans now rely on dialysis at centers, and medical experts say that number is expected to double by the year 2010 as obesity and diabetes rates continue to soar.
While there have been other technological advances in dialysis, in the U.S. the mortality rate for patients with chronic kidney failure remains high at about 20 percent.
KOHN: The kidneys work 24 hours a day. They don't work on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. And that's the key to perhaps do more frequent dialysis and that may reduce the mortality.
GUPTA: Access Limited works within Medicare's guidelines for coverage, so patients like Ding can benefit from more treatments per week.
DING: When I first started everyday, I used to skip Saturday. That's the night that I would usually go out and stuff. And then on Sunday, the whole Sunday, I just feel kind of tired, and I don't want to do anything. And so I decided, you know why ruin my weekend this way, so I, you know, not skip on Saturday anymore. So I always do seven days a week.
GUPTA: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are working with Congress and the National Institutes of Health to expand coverage for more frequent dialysis.
In the meantime, a number of other companies are developing similar in-home units, aimed at improving the lives of dialysis patients with better efficiency and flexibility.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: For more on this or any other health story, head to our Web site. The address, CNN.com/health.
In the next hour of DAYBREAK, President Bush heads to the United Nations. We'll get some perspective from our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour.
Also, a deadline looms. With the lives of their loved ones on the line, desperate family members issue heartfelt pleas for a safe return.
This is DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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 September 21, 2004 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A husband, a father, a hostage. Today, a life or death decision.
It is Tuesday, September 21. This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
"Now in the News."
The militant Islamic group holding an American and a British citizen say they will kill the American today if the U.S. military does not release Iraqi women being held prisoner. The U.S. military denies it's holding any female prisoners.
President Bush is expected to defend his decision to invade Iraq in a speech this morning before the United Nations General Assembly. But the situation regarding Iraq is not expected to be the main focus of his comments.
Just a few hours, a judge will begin hearing the government's $280 billion case against the tobacco industry. Several tobacco companies are accused of conspiring to mislead the public about the dangers of smoking.
Interest rates will probably go up this afternoon. Federal Reserve officials are expected to raise the short-term rate by a quarter point. It will be the third increase this year.
To the Forecast Center now and Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And good morning, Carol.
Still have that tornado warning now for western Palm Beach County in Florida. All part of that moisture that once was Ivan. Went all the way out across the East Coast, made all the flooding across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, down through North Carolina, down into the ocean, back around and then now is coming back into parts of Florida. And that for western Palm Beach County around South Bay and Belle Glade and that warning is until 6:00 this morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: And in fact, Carol, we switch over to fall tomorrow.
COSTELLO: Really, already.
MYERS: We don't fall back. We don't change our times, but it does get to the autumnal equinox tomorrow. That means if you are driving home and you drive to the west, you're going to need sunglasses, because that sun is going to be right in the line of your east-west road. And if you are driving this morning to the east, you're going to need sunglasses, too, because that sun is coming right up on your horizon.
COSTELLO: So get some sunglasses. Thank you, -- Chad.
MYERS: And clean your windshield.
COSTELLO: And clean your windshield. That's right. Thank you, Chad.
It was just one year ago that President Bush made his case for war in Iraq in a speech before the U.N. Assembly. We all know time changes things, but not particularly on this issue.
Our senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth has more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If the first day of speech making at the U.N. is any indication, President Bush may get a chilly reception.
PRES. LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA, BRAZIL: How many more times will it still be necessary to repeat that the most destructive weapon of mass destruction in the world today is poverty.
ROTH: Tensions over Iraq persist.
DAVID MALONE: The bitterness runs quite deep between a number of countries over Iraq. Countries that actually work with each other quite well on other issues...
ROTH (on camera): Like France, here, and the United States.
MALONE: ... like France.
ROTH (voice-over): The U.S. turns to the U.N. when it feels it can achieve something. Washington is considering pressing for U.N. sanctions against Iran unless it halts its nuclear programs and against Sudan because of the humanitarian disaster.
A former U.S. secretary of state advises don't give up on U.S.- U.N. relations.
JAMES BAKER, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Well I think they are better than you might gather from news reports. But the United Nations is very important to the United States and I think the United States is important to the United Nations.
ROTH: Many diplomats say it's time to move beyond Iraq. WANG GUANGYA, CHINESE AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: As far as China is concerned that we do not agree with this war. And secondly, I think the important thing now is how can we move forward.
ROTH: Of course amid all the security, all the speeches, every year people ask is the U.N. still relevant?
CELESTINO MIGLIORE, VATICAN REPRESENTATIVE: If the United Nations did not exist, we have to invent it.
ROTH: But just as everyone was hoping to move on, Secretary- General Kofi Annan himself once again reopened wounds over Iraq by describing the invasion as illegal.
(on camera): The outgoing president of the General Assembly said the Iraq war continues to suck the oxygen out of the chamber. Kofi Annan labeling the war illegal only serves to further highlight the large gap remaining here between the United States and many countries.
Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: President Bush's speech is scheduled for 10:30 Eastern this morning. That, of course, is 7:30 Pacific Time. And we will, of course, bring it to you live.
We want to talk more about the president's address before the U.N. And to do that, we've brought in our senior international editor David Clinch.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Carol, good morning.
COSTELLO: So, James Baker just said the relations are better than you think between the U.N. and the U.S. Is he right?
CLINCH: Well they may very well be. I mean the point was made there that the U.S., whether it's for cynical purposes or whatever, does in fact go to the United Nations and does in fact achieve quite significant progress on certain issues, perhaps with Iran, perhaps with Syria.
We're seeing Syria redeploy troops in Lebanon today, not leaving Lebanon, but redeploying. That was a U.N. issue with France, believe it or not, on the Security Council. So there is the ability for the U.S. to go to the U.N. and achieve progress on certain issues.
But the point Richard was making there, that many officials are making there, is that the issue of Iraq will dominate. Whether it dominates President Bush's speech or not, the issue dominates, because it prevents a sole and complete relationship between the U.S. and its allies on the U.N. Security Council.
COSTELLO: But you heard the representative to the United Nations from China say it's time to move on. It's time to move past that. CLINCH: Right.
COSTELLO: How can the United States do that?
CLINCH: Well of course the unfortunate coincidence for the U.S. is the timing, the timing of the Iraqi elections, the timing of the U.S. elections, which, by everybody's estimation, including the United States, will make matters worse before they become better on a security level.
We've seen that, of course, over the last few weeks and months. Nobody is denying that the situation in Iraq and that of course made very real and very human with this hostage situation we're reporting on at the moment. One American hostage beheaded yesterday. An American and Britain threatened with the same fate in the next 24 hours. That human aspect, the violence in Iraq, that is there and will dominate no matter what President Bush speaks about today. But there is the potential for some progress if he opens the door to other issues.
COSTELLO: Let's talk just a bit about the hostage situation. More threats that another American is going to be beheaded unless, you know, they release women prisoners from Abu Ghraib and other Iraqi prisons. There's no women prisoners there.
CLINCH: Yes.
COSTELLO: You heard the relatives of the British hostage pleading with the British government to compromise, to come to some sort of deal. Would that ever happen from the British standpoint?
CLINCH: Most likely no, for two reasons. One, because of the standing policy by both Britain and the United States not to negotiate, even over of course demands that can't even be met, they certainly can't negotiate there.
But secondly, of course because these terrorists, these hostage takers do not seem to be involved in the same set of logic that these family members are hoping for. They are not talking about demands that can be met. They seem to be doing things on their own will regardless of what anybody does or anybody says. And it just makes the tragedy even worse.
COSTELLO: David Clinch, thank you.
We can only imagine how difficult it is for family members to cope with the kidnappings in Iraq. In the Michigan town where the American construction worker Eugene Armstrong grew up, friends and strangers alike gathered at a vigil to support his family.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CYNDI ARMSTRONG, FAMILY SPOKESWOMAN: We're just praying every day. KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cyndi Armstrong was carrying the emotions and burdens of her family handling the media interviews. But the news only got worse. As the Armstrong's learned that Eugene, the man everyone in town called Jack, was executed.
CROWD: God bless America.
OPPENHEIM: Within hours of the bad news, his community came together. About 100 people, many who never knew Jack Armstrong, came to the county courthouse for a candlelight vigil.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here this evening to show solidarity.
OPPENHEIM: The solidarity meant a lot to the Armstrong's. Still, for a family where everyone worked in construction, it was hard to comprehend how Jack Armstrong could be murdered.
ARMSTRONG: I don't understand. Jack was there to help them, not hurt them, and this is what they did.
OPPENHEIM: Even though Armstrong had left his hometown,...
(on camera): ... there were many people in Hillsdale who remembered him from years ago and understood his need for adventure overseas.
DENNIS BEVIS, FRIEND: He was just trying to make a living over there, basically, you know. And to die like that, at the hands of madmen like that, you know, it's bad.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): A devastating day for a family and a community who now finds itself praying for other hostages but hopes they will be more fortunate than Jack Armstrong.
Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Hillsdale, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Let's talk about politics now and the presidential debates. The presidential candidates have agreed on three debates now, but will their appearances really have an impact on you?
CNN's Tom Foreman takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): So far, all of the punches...
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because I understand my opponent changes positions a lot.
FOREMAN: ... have been thrown from a distance.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He failed to tell the truth. FOREMAN: But soon, George Bush and John Kerry will battle for the presidency in person. Three debates are planned, in Florida, Missouri and Arizona, and a lot will ride on those encounters.
ADAM CLYMER, ANNENBERG ELECTION SURVEY: There's plenty of evidence from our surveys and others that people learn a fair amount about the candidates' backgrounds and about where they stand on issues from watching debates and from paying attention to the subsequent media coverage.
FOREMAN: So how do the contenders compare?
The president, political analysts say, is best when he is plainspoken and passionate. He sometimes stumbles over words, but he has been in presidential debates before, and voters liked him.
KEATING HOLLAND, CNN POLLING DIRECTOR: He's his own man. He's a straight shooter. He says what he is going to do and then he goes ahead and does it. It's something that came through very clearly, particularly in the contrast to Al Gore in each of the three debates in 2000.
FOREMAN: After each those meetings, Mr. Bush's poll numbers rose and Mr. Gore's fell.
KERRY: That has more than doubled.
FOREMAN: Senator Kerry is known for being a skilled debater and for a deep understanding of the issues. On the other hand, he is sometimes criticized for giving such complicated answers that he loses his audience.
HOLLAND: Kerry's strength is his weakness, which is he has a great command of detail, a great command of facts, and he can't resist showing it. If he starts to tangle himself up in all of those details, the public may see that.
FOREMAN (on camera): And so after months of campaigning it comes down to this. Now and then on the campaign trail, the candidates have come within a few miles of each other.
(voice-over): In the debates they will be a lot closer together, but doing all they can to show that politically they are a lot farther apart.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And remember, you can see that first presidential debate live right here on CNN. Our coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, September 30. So be sure to tune in early for a good seat.
Let's talk about those debates. Chad, can you play with me again? MYERS: Yes, Carol, go ahead.
COSTELLO: They're getting sick of hearing from me this morning, I'm sure (ph).
MYERS: What have you got?
COSTELLO: Well, no, there are rules for the presidential debates, and they are quite interesting. Here is the packet of the rules.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: Look how long it is.
MYERS: Looks like my contract.
COSTELLO: You have a contract this long?
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: You must have some good perks.
MYERS: No, I don't, actually. They are all theirs.
COSTELLO: Isn't that always the way it goes?
OK, so some of the rules. These are the quirkier rules of presidential debates. No television camera shots from behind the candidates.
MYERS: Right, because you'll see the bald spot.
COSTELLO: Well, that and more. And no cutaway shots of candidates who are not answering questions.
MYERS: So you can't have a reactionary shot?
COSTELLO: No reaction shots.
MYERS: Really?
COSTELLO: Really.
Other than a handshake at the start of the debate, the candidates are not to approach each other. They can not touch each other again.
MYERS: Even with like 16 ounce gloves, no boxing gloves or nothing?
COSTELLO: None of that stuff.
MYERS: That would be a debate.
COSTELLO: Of course no props, notes, charts, et cetera. That's a given. The candidates can not ask each other direct questions but can ask rhetorical questions.
MYERS: Yes, I guess I get that.
COSTELLO: That one didn't strike you?
MYERS: I mean you don't want rhetorical answers, right? I mean, so some of the questions that they would answer would actually be or asked could be really ridiculous, so...
COSTELLO: Well they could be mean spirited and pointed.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: You know they want to like get policy answers and stuff like that. And no candidate is allowed to use risers or any other device to make them look taller.
MYERS: So then I couldn't do it then.
COSTELLO: You'd look like a little tiny man.
MYERS: There was a joke, and this is only a joke, it said that John Kerry wanted to stand behind a podium and that President Bush wanted to stand behind Dick Cheney. It was only a joke, please,...
COSTELLO: Only a joke. Thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Admission and apology.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN RATHER, CBS NEWS: CBS News deeply regrets it. Also, I want to say personally and directly, I am sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Coming up in five minutes, CBS says it was caught off guard by those National Guard documents. Was Dan Rather hoodwinked? That brings us to our e-mail "Question of the Morning," what should Dan Rather do now? Should he retire, should he step down or should he continue to say he's sorry? Send us your e-mails, DAYBREAK@CNN.com. DAYBREAK@CNN.com.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: CBS News has apologized for what it calls a mistake in judgment in its report questioning President Bush's National Guard service. The network admits it can not say for certain that these documents you are seeing used in this report are real. The network says a key source misled them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL BURKETT, FMR. AIR NATL. GUARD LT. COL: Well I didn't totally mislead you, I did mislead you on the one individual. You know your staff pressured me to a point to reveal that source.
RATHER: Well we were trying to get the chain of possession.
BURKETT: I understand that.
RATHER: And you said you had received them from someone.
BURKETT: I understand that.
RATHER: And we did pressure you to say well you received them from someone and that someone was whom?
BURKETT: Yes.
RATHER: And it's true, we pressured you because it was a very important point for us.
BURKETT: Yes. And I simply threw out a name that was, basically it was I guess to get a little pressure off for a moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That man is Bill Burkett, a former National Guard lieutenant colonel, and a longtime critic of President Bush. CBS says it will appoint an independent panel to look into its reporting on these memos.
The memo flap is today's hot topic.
Joining me by phone are Mark Ericson and Danielle Carrier, the Morning Waking Crew at WOKQ in the Portsmouth-Manchester, New Hampshire area.
Good morning to you both.
DANIELLE CARRIER, WOKQ MORNING WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH & MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE: Good morning, Carol.
MARK ERICSON, WOKQ MORNING WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH & MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE: Good morning -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I know that the president was in New Hampshire yesterday and had some heated remarks after John Kerry's big speech in New York City. Let's talk about that first off.
ERICSON: Well with less than 45 days to go, being in a battleground state, such as it is, it's getting pretty heated. President Bush was in the dairy (ph) New Hampshire area yesterday, and he accused John Kerry of -- quote -- "pattern of twisting in the wind" -- end quote.
COSTELLO: Yes, so he's on that theme that seems to be, I don't know, working with his constituency. But what about the swing voters?
ERICSON: Well the president is pretty much sticking to the message of be definitive. And that President Bush is saying he is definitive. Right or wrong, he at least is definitive, whereas John Kerry, of course, is the flip-flopper and that's how they are positioning the senator.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about CBS and Dan Rather. Did you watch CBS News last night? I did, and it was surreal.
ERICSON: It was very strange. Dan Rather has become the news rather than reporting the news, which is not a good position. And this is not the first time this has happened to Mr. Rather, unfortunately. This is becoming sort of a multimedia election campaign. The flap with Dan Rather, coupled with John Kerry having fun on, as you said earlier, Carol, "Late Night With David Letterman" last night.
CARRIER: Yes, but you know I feel even worse for Dan Rather, because now there are Web sites against him. I feel so bad. Rathergate.com is one of them, Ratherbias.com. I feel so bad because his credibility has really been questioned here.
COSTELLO: He had a very long career in news, but that mistake should never have been made. And that's just my personal opinion as a journalist. You realize this document -- I mean I'm a former investigative reporter, you just don't -- you analyze the documents. It just seems so simple.
We've been soliciting e-mail from our viewers this morning asking what Dan Rather should do.
This is from John (ph). He says if CBS has any hope of regaining credibility, Dan Rather must resign.
ERICSON: Well, you know it will be interesting to see over the course of the next several days how Dan Rather himself handles this. It may be in the best interest of CBS for Dan Rather to, well, as they say, take one for the team.
COSTELLO: This is another interesting e-mail. We got this from Dick (ph). He says what is it that Dan Rather really did wrong? He acted on bad intelligence. That is no different from what Bush did when he said Iraq was seeking weapons of mass destruction.
CARRIER: No, that sort of becomes everyone's excuse now, I had bad intelligence.
ERICSON: Well, you know no matter what, and, Carol, certainly you understand this, the big three network anchors still carry an awful lot of weight and authority in this country. And you know for Dan Rather to have put the information on the air, and, as you said, as a former investigative reporter, should he have checked the facts much further?
CARRIER: Well I mean this is such a tight race, too, though, Mark, because I mean there are so many people, they are not sure who to vote for. And this is a huge thing.
ERICSON: Well, and then when all is said and done, Carol, what do you think, will there be a trace somewhere back to the Kerry campaign on these now somewhat questionable documents?
COSTELLO: Well we did get a statement from Joe Lockhart (ph), one of Kerry's advisers. He said he did talk to this Bill Burkett but not about these documents at all. He had a very short conversation. And apparently Burkett said to the Kerry campaign, hey, you've got to come out stronger and attack, you know, these allegations about John Kerry's service in Vietnam, but he says they didn't talk at all about documents or anything of the like.
ERICSON: What a fascinating 42 days it's going to be until the election.
CARRIER: I know.
COSTELLO: You're not kidding. Thank you so much for being with us on DAYBREAK this morning, Mark Ericson and Danielle Carrier from WOKQ.
We'll be right back. This is DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Some kidney patients are taking a more homegrown approach to their health care.
Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on this growing trend.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dadi Ding was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure 22 years ago. Treatment meant traveling to a center three times a week for four hours to get dialysis.
DADI DING, DIALYSIS PATIENT: I receive a little bit of in-center hemodialysis, just a few months, and it's really very difficult for me to keep a job.
GUPTA: Then she switched to home dialysis. But with a conventional machine, it still took several hours. These days, Ding removes toxins from her blood in a fraction of the time it used to take. She's 1 of about 100 patients in the U.S. and Britain using her own personal hemodialysis unit developed by Access Limited.
DING: This is artificial kidney. It's just like your own kidney. It cleans your blood, but it's outside your body.
GUPTA: With few exceptions, Medicare covers three dialysis treatments per week, but some doctors say that's not enough. DR. ORLY KOHN, UNIV. OF CHICAGO HOSPITALS: In between dialysis, the patient accumulates a lot of the chemicals that normally the kidney would be getting rid of.
GUPTA: About a quarter of a million Americans now rely on dialysis at centers, and medical experts say that number is expected to double by the year 2010 as obesity and diabetes rates continue to soar.
While there have been other technological advances in dialysis, in the U.S. the mortality rate for patients with chronic kidney failure remains high at about 20 percent.
KOHN: The kidneys work 24 hours a day. They don't work on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. And that's the key to perhaps do more frequent dialysis and that may reduce the mortality.
GUPTA: Access Limited works within Medicare's guidelines for coverage, so patients like Ding can benefit from more treatments per week.
DING: When I first started everyday, I used to skip Saturday. That's the night that I would usually go out and stuff. And then on Sunday, the whole Sunday, I just feel kind of tired, and I don't want to do anything. And so I decided, you know why ruin my weekend this way, so I, you know, not skip on Saturday anymore. So I always do seven days a week.
GUPTA: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are working with Congress and the National Institutes of Health to expand coverage for more frequent dialysis.
In the meantime, a number of other companies are developing similar in-home units, aimed at improving the lives of dialysis patients with better efficiency and flexibility.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: For more on this or any other health story, head to our Web site. The address, CNN.com/health.
In the next hour of DAYBREAK, President Bush heads to the United Nations. We'll get some perspective from our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour.
Also, a deadline looms. With the lives of their loved ones on the line, desperate family members issue heartfelt pleas for a safe return.
This is DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
