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American Morning

Wounded Troops Describe Falluja; Autism Dangers

Aired November 15, 2004 - 08:30 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Just about half past the hour now on this AMERICAN MORNING. Bill and Soledad are off this morning so you have to put up with us.
I'm Heidi.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rick Sanchez.

What was it like inside Falluja while this battle was raging? Well, in a couple of minutes we're going to hear from two Marines wounded there, about the strength of the enemy and what happened to them when they were actually inside the city. And we'll show more pictures.

COLLINS: And more video, that's for sure. Also a developing story out of the CIA. Is the new director there shaking up the agency? Hard to get clear answers. So we're going to look deeper at what's happening and whether it's good for national security, Porter Goss.

SANCHEZ: What we have to do first and foremost, though, is get another check on what's "Now in the News." That's with Daryn Kagan. She's at our CNN Center in Atlanta.

Hi, Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Rick. "Now in the News," there is word this morning that Secretary of State Colin Powell will head to the West Bank next week for talks with the new Palestinian leadership. Meanwhile yesterday masked gunmen burst into a tent where former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and others had gathered to mourn the death of Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. At least two security guards were killed, some 10 others were wounded, Abbas escaped unharmed.

New details this morning about Saddam Hussein and the Oil-for- Food Program in Iraq. Senate lawmakers are expected to announce the former Iraqi dictator siphoned even more than the $10 billion previously thought. The Senate hearing is set to start around noon Eastern.

Roman Catholic bishops are preparing to elect a new president. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops gets under way in about two- and-a-half hours, that will happen in Washington, D.C. The outgoing president is expected to give his final address this morning.

And Yahoo! is giving its e-mail users more storage space, that starts today. The company is more than doubling its limits on free e- mail. The move is designed to heat up competition against rivals Google and Microsoft.

Heidi, back to you.

COLLINS: All right, Daryn, thank you for that.

Thirty-eight Americans have been killed since the battle of Falluja began just over a week ago, hundreds of others are wounded. Some of those injured troops are being treated at a military hospital in Germany. AMERICAN MORNING spoke earlier with two of those wounded Marines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LANCE CORPORAL TRAVIS SCHAEFER, U.S. MARINE CORPS: We were halted in a little marketplace in downtown Falluja. And we were taking small arms fire followed by mortar fire and RPGs all over the place. And it just so happened one of the terrorists got a lucky shot on us. And I just got caught with a piece of shrapnel in my right hand. And it just kind of went from there. I got medevaced out. And here I am.

LANCE CORPORAL RYAN CHAPMAN, U.S. MARINE CORPS: As for me, my wound, sort of the same situation. We were in downtown Falluja, and we pulled down onto a street where we started receiving fire from all directions. Mostly it was AK-47. Then they started firing multiple RPGs at our convoy, going down the street. At one point we started receiving sniper fire. One of the Iraqi national guards was wounded by the sniper.

At that point, we knew there was a sniper out there, so with my weapon system, I started searching the buildings for the sniper. At that point, I was just scanning windows, roof tops, anywhere would be a good place for a sniper to hide. And I actually took one of the sniper rounds to my left, just above my left eyebrow, where I got very lucky. It didn't penetrate it, it hit my skull and cracked it a little bit, but not too severely. It traveled up my forehead, exited just to the left.

COLLINS: Well, obviously, very, very lucky to be here. And we're so glad to see you and thankful for your service as always. But I've got to know, to the both of you, are you hoping to go home? You say you want to go back. But when you get that word, what type of anxiety might you be feeling once you find out when and if you will go back?

CHAPMAN: I think it's one of those hurry up and wait kind of things. They say you're going to go home in two days and those are a couple of long days for you. As for wanting to go back and not being able to, we do want to go back. I know Lance Corporal Schaefer is the same way. But we really -- in our position, what happened to us, we wouldn't be any useful help to our group, to our other Marines back in Iraq.

So, since we're of no help to them, we -- I do feel a little bit better about the fact that I'm going home a little early.

COLLINS: Lance Corporal Schaefer, are you excited to see your family for a bit?

SCHAEFER: Yes. I'm really excited to go home and see my family. I have got a young nephew that I can't wait to go home and see. And my wedding anniversary is coming up pretty soon. So I can't wait to go home and spend that with my wife. It's something I was going to miss, but because of this little incident, I'll actually be home for that one.

I know we both wish we were still back with our battalion and our platoons, more than definitely.

CHAPMAN: Absolutely. It's always good to be able to go home a little early. But definitely not under these circumstances, leaving our other fellow Marines out there in Iraq. We'd definitely go back in a heartbeat to help them out and get this done together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Lance Corporal Travis Schaefer and Lance Corporal Ryan Chapman this morning.

SANCHEZ: Lawyers for John Hinckley and the government are going to give their closing arguments today on whether the man who shot President Reagan should be allowed to go on long, unsupervised trips away from the mental hospital where he now lives.

As justice correspondent Kelli Arena reports, the debate centers on the relationship between Hinckley and his ex-girlfriend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Hinckley's attempted assassination of President Reagan was barely mentioned in court. Testimony instead largely focused on Hinckley's relationship with his former girlfriend, Leslie deVeau.

LEE VAN SUSTEREN, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: If he is correctly picking up on the fact that this woman does not want to have a romantic relationship with him. And if he is acknowledging that and accepting that, he is a very different person from the person who imagined, fantasized that he was involved with Jodie Foster and that if he could do something big, Jodie Foster would love him.

ARENA: Hinckley's lawyers and doctors say he is a different man. They say his friendship with deVeau is real, not fantasy and that they talk daily. His doctors argue, greater freedom is an important part of his treatment. But the government argues Hinckley is obsessed with deVeau and that he is dangerous. In essence, what might he do to win her affection?

JOSEPH DIGENOVA, FMR. U.S. ATTORNEY: In my lexicon, public safety outweighs the therapeutic side. And so I would always hope that the judge would tilt the scales in favor of public safety. ARENA: Under his parents' supervision, Hinckley went to places like the National Zoo and Baltimore's Inner Harbor in the last year without incident. He's now asking for more regular and longer visits at his parents' house in Williamsburg, Virginia. His doctors say he's in remission and ready. Even if he isn't, outside experts say there would be noticeable signs over time if he were headed for trouble.

VAN SUSTEREN: Suppose he isn't as healthy as we all thought, he isn't going to de-compensate in a few days.

ARENA (on camera): Under such scrutiny, experts say the bar for Hinckley is higher than it is for other patients. It's something the judge will have to consider. It's unclear when he will rule.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: We should tell you that the judge says he will make a decision shortly after the closing arguments today.

Heidi, over to you.

COLLINS: CIA Deputy Director John McLaughlin announced Friday that he plans to retire. This after reports of disagreements among senior officials at the agency.

As the U.S. fights terrorism and a war in Iraq, can new CIA director Porter Goss calm internal tensions? Democratic political strategist Karen Finney and WABC Radio host Mark Simone weigh in this morning.

Good morning to you guys.

MARK SIMONE, WABC RADIO HOST: Good morning.

Thanks for being here.

COLLINS: OK, we talked about this already this morning. There's this what some are calling a shake-up at the CIA. Some people saying it's necessary, others saying morale is low, you don't really know what though do. Senator John McCain spoke about it as well. Let's go ahead and listen and hear what he has to say first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: This is an organization full of very good and decent people, but is dysfunctional and is not providing the intelligence information necessary for the president to conduct the war on terror.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: He was one who said the shake-up is necessary. And the saying, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, well, Karen, isn't it broke? KAREN FINNEY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, of course it's broke. But I think it's important. As you said, there are a number of very good people within the agency. So you want to make sure that this is a process that makes the changes that need to be made while making sure that those who are doing their job effectively are kept in place, and I think there are some concerns about with whether or not this is partisanship, or is this about, you know, really, those cleaning up the place, because there are also reports over the weekend that Goss was given marching from the White House to get rid of anyone who may have in any way disagreed with the president.

Now the question would be, if I work at the CIA, if I disagree with the president, am I still doing my job effectively? Am I someone who's still able to help keep the security of our nation? So we need to make sure that this is a process that's an open process, that's about really protecting the interests of the United States.

COLLINS: Mark, does Karen have a point? Because when you think about the CIA, you think about intelligence gathering, you thin about spies maybe even. Do you really, and should we really, be thinking about politics?

SIMONE: Well, in this case, it was a little different, because you what "The New York Times" called a slow-motion mutiny going on -- documents were being leaked out, estimates were being leaked out. They were actually trying to overthrow a president.

COLLINS: So this is a different CIA than you've seen before.

SIMONE: I shouldn't say the CIA, I should say a group within.

McCain also went on to say, in some ways, it's a rogue organization. And he's talking about small pockets in there. The CIA has tried to overthrow governments in other countries; we don't want to see it going on here.

FINNEY: But I don't think we're talking about they're trying to overthrow the government. I think what we're seeing, again, there were (INAUDIBLE), there were a lot of leaks. There were those who had concerns about the way this administration was carrying out their policy. One in particular that we saw a lot of during the campaign, as to our policy of focusing on war on Iraq versus the war on terror. We know Osama bin Laden is out there, and you know, alive and well, and we need to make sure we deal with that threat.

But there's another concern, Heidi. There was reports in October that there was a critical report, internal document about the CIA that Goss has been holding on to. The report was completed in June. So why doesn't he go ahead and release those critical documents to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees and have a more open process about the changes he wants to make.

SIMONE: A lot of things didn't happen because of the election and how it might affect the election. But I can't believe if those CIA members that were doing this were leaking out things damaging reports to Kerry, that we wouldn't be hearing a different tune now from Democrats. They're acting as obstructionists in some ways. You know, when Joe Wilson's wife's name came out, people demanded that the person not only be fired, but sent to prison. We're talking about leaking out intelligence information.

COLLINS: Let's get to the timing of all of this. We hear about lots -- lots, I shouldn't say. I know of three senior officials who are talking retiring, leaving the agency, and this is happening during the war. We already mentioned the war on terror as well. What about the timing of this? Is this something we can't going on right now?

FINNEY: Again, changes need to be made. And whenever you're going to make changes, it's going to be a difficult process. But agreed, we're not only in the midst of a war, we're in the midst of trying to deal with recommendations of 9/11 commission, we're trying to ensure that we know we got into this war and we had some problems with our intelligence gathering. So it's all the more critical that this is a smooth and steady process. And Goss has to show he's the man to handle this challenge, and not have such a, you know, tumultuous process.

COLLINS: Fix it quick, or slow, easy process.

SIMONE: Before his nomination, I think Democrats and Republicans agreed Goss was the most knowledgeable guy outside of the CIA on the CIA.

You want to do it as quickly as possible because we're in a war. If there's a criticism of George Bush, it's that this wasn't done sooner.

FINNEY: You may want to do it quickly, but you want to make sure you do it effectively.

COLLINS: All right, to the both of you, thanks so much today, Karen Finney and Mark Simone. Appreciate it, guys.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, scientists may have figured out the cause between a puzzling childhood disorder, autism. We're paging Dr. Gupta on that.

SANCHEZ: Also, Andy's "Minding Your Business." Did you hear about those weird Thanksgiving sodas, flavors like turkey, and gravy and mashed potatoes. That goes along with the chocolate-covered potato chips, right?

COLLINS: Those sound a lot better.

SANCHEZ: Andy's got a taste test, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Rick Sanchez.

Autism affects more than 400,000 children in America. So we're paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta this morning to discuss a possible causes of this disability. Dr. Gupta's live. He's for us at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

We all know so many parents who suddenly have to deal with this situation. It almost seems like more and more seeming all the time. Well, what's new? What do we know about this.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, a couple things, Rick. First of all, good morning.

There have been some concern that the numbers of autistic cases have actually been increasing, a lot of researchers paying attention now, trying to figure out not only why, but what the causes is as well. Researchers at John Hopkins University specifically tried to measure what they call neuroinflammatory cells. These are cells that are present in the brain and the fluid surrounding the brain, and trying to figure out, are they any different than those with autism. You can see there in fact, they found out that the neuroinflammatory cells overactive in autistic people. Interesting, these are the same inflammatory cells that produce brain function as a neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinsons or Alzheimer's disease.

The important thing about this, Rick, and what sorts of exciting about this, is that they may be one step closer to figuring out a cause for an autism. That has really been something scientists have struggled with for some time. Also being able to diagnose autism has been difficult as well.

And finally the holy grail of all this, Rick, would be a cure or treatment at least for autism as well. We're nowhere near that right now. But this may be one step closer -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: A couple years ago, the big talk was that they were studying to find out if possibly the vaccines we give our children have something to do with autism. Anything to that?

GUPTA: Yes, they talk about something called thimerosal specifically. That's the preservative in the vaccine, it's a mercury preservative. They also talk about women who eat a lot of mercury in their fish while they're pregnant, could they be linked to autism?

Listen, that has been one of the more contentious issues in medicine. A lot of people really believe that that's true, that the mercury does cause this. In fact, the Autism Foundation, we spoke to them, they say, absolutely, it does. There have been a lot of studies on this as well. Is there a link between mercury and autism? Every single study, bar none, has not shown a link. The Centers for Disease Control says there is no relationship here.

SANCHEZ: Nothing definitive then, we shouldn't keep our kids from having vaccines then?

GUPTA: That's right, an important point, absolutely.

SANCHEZ: Give us some of the warning signs for parents. GUTPA: Yes. You know, it is a difficult to diagnose autism. One thing I'll say before you even look at the warning signs, is that most kids don't have autism, statistically. And a lot of parents worry if their kids not reaching certain milestones, likely they're not going to have autism.

But these are some things you can look for. Does not babble, you know, start chattering at one year. Begins developing language and then stops abruptly. That might be more of a concern. Doesn't respond to his own name, avoids eye contact as well. Again, these are very general, Rick. You can see that they're general.

But if you are concerned, these are some things to look out for, of course, see your doctor for anymore sophisticated testing, Rick.

SANCHEZ: Sanjay Gupta, thanks, my friend, for bringing us that information.

GUPTA: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: And still to come, the "Cafferty File." He's going to tell us why James Carville had egg on his face yesterday, literally. Stay with us. We're coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed. A preview of the markets and some disturbing soda flavors. These are disturbing soda flavors, just in time for Thanksgiving. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business."

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE": Deeply disturbing.

CAFFERTY: Disturbing.

SERWER: Yes. All right. Let's talk about the markets. First of all, Jack, markets year-to-date, we're now, thanks to this post- election rally, into the black, or into the green. This is how much the various indices in the stock market are up year-to-date, you can see the broad one, the S&P 500 is up the most. The Nasdaq up and the Dow is just up a little bit. But still, we'll take it.

Futures are down a bit this morning. Last year, you might remember that this company in Seattle, Jones Soda, introduced turkey- and gravy-flavored soda. Now we sampled some on the program last year and most people got sick. This year, the company decided to expand the line to a couple more flavors, mashed potato, green bean, cranberry and fruitcake.

And yes sir, we got them all here. I don't know what P.T. Barnum said about the American public.

CAFFERTY: He was right.

SERWER: He was right, boy, because this stuff is sold out. You can't get it. You can get it on eBay or a Target.

CAFFERTY: Is that true?

SERWER: Yes. It sold right out. Well, here we go, this is the turkey.

SANCHEZ: I've got to try that.

SERWER: Oh, God.

(LAUGHTER)

SERWER: Mashed potato. Jack.

CAFFERTY: Not a chance.

SERWER: That's truly bizarre.

CAFFERTY: Does it taste like mashed potatoes?

SERWER: It tastes just like mashed potatoes. Green bean. God, that's -- you know, if this was a Dean Martin special, I'd be asking for the vodka right about now. Green bean. That's really foul.

COLLINS: OK. I'll try the cranberry.

SERWER: Cranberry?

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: That's wimpy.

CAFFERTY: Cranberry juice. What's that one?

SERWER: My favorite, fruitcake.

(LAUGHTER)

SERWER: That's really something.

SANCHEZ: Which one is the mashed potato. Is this the mashed potato?

CAFFERTY: Yes.

SERWER: Yes.

SERWER: You're a tough guy.

SANCHEZ: I am. I'll try anything.

SERWER: That's abominable, that fruitcake.

COLLINS: One more, that bright pink, Pepto Bismol?

SANCHEZ: Oh Jack, this is good. Come on, Jack, you're going to love this.

SERWER: No, he won't, he won't. I don't blame him.

SANCHEZ: How do you know he won't?

SERWER: Because he didn't last year.

SANCHEZ: I almost had him and then you blew it for me.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: No. He's smarter than that.

CAFFERTY: Onto the "File," Bill Maher is being sued by his ex- girlfriend, her name is Coco Johnsen, for $9 million.

SANCHEZ: Sounds like a fruit drink.

She says that he made -- that's enough of Bill Maher, Ellie (ph), thank you. That's Andy. We're over here, Ellie. There you go, buddy. Camera two. She says he made false promises by demanding that she give up her career as a flight attendant because he was going to marry her and buy her a home in Beverly Hills. Hey, at 3:00 in the morning when you are trying to get lucky, you'll say anything.

(LAUGHTER)

CAFFERTY: The two broke up in May of this year. Maher's lawyer say the suit is frivolous and false. She says as soon as she quit her job and devoted all her time to him he became abusive. The couple dated for 17 months. We'll see where that thing goes.

Gone are the days of stick thin mannequins in store windows, big bottom plastic backsides are becoming more and more mainstream as clothing lines cater to larger figured clientele. That would be people with big fat cabooses.

Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce and have made shapely posteriors more acceptable. Who said that? Somebody wrote that. That's the same producer that wrote the phrase "big-ass" earlier and I had to tone her down. J.Lo's clothing line and a company called Ecko Red feature the fat models -- mannequins. Ecko Red even named the shape the "J.Lo Butt Form (ph)."

Here is -- this is cute. CNN "CROSSFIRE" co-host James Carville was on Russert's show, "MEET THE PRESS," yesterday with his wife. And Russert called him on a prediction that Carville had made about the outcome of the election eight months ago. And here's what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "MEET THE PRESS," NOVEMBER 14, 2004)

JAMES CARVILLE, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": Everybody knows that I have dyslexia. And what I really meant to say, I just transposed the numbers wrong. You know? That's all it was.

(LAUGHTER) TIM RUSSERT, HOST: I see.

CARVILLE: You know what I say...

(CRACKS EGG ON FACE)

CARVILLE: ... I've got egg on my face.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAFFERTY: Wouldn't you know, the director missed that shot too.

That's all I have at this time.

COLLINS: Too bad, you didn't see...

(CROSSTALK)

CAFFERTY: They missed that part, they missed that shot.

SANCHEZ: He was very fast.

COLLINS: I think his wife was a little embarassed.

CAFFERTY: Well, she should've been.

SERWER: Did she know it was coming?

COLLINS: I don't think she did, I don't know. All right. Thank you, Jack, and thank you, Andy. That was a lovely buffet. Appreciate it.

Coming up in just a moment, we're going to have our top stories of the day, including the very latest from Falluja. U.S. commanders say the city is liberated. So why is the fighting still going on? We'll have a live report from Falluja ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired November 15, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Just about half past the hour now on this AMERICAN MORNING. Bill and Soledad are off this morning so you have to put up with us.
I'm Heidi.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rick Sanchez.

What was it like inside Falluja while this battle was raging? Well, in a couple of minutes we're going to hear from two Marines wounded there, about the strength of the enemy and what happened to them when they were actually inside the city. And we'll show more pictures.

COLLINS: And more video, that's for sure. Also a developing story out of the CIA. Is the new director there shaking up the agency? Hard to get clear answers. So we're going to look deeper at what's happening and whether it's good for national security, Porter Goss.

SANCHEZ: What we have to do first and foremost, though, is get another check on what's "Now in the News." That's with Daryn Kagan. She's at our CNN Center in Atlanta.

Hi, Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Rick. "Now in the News," there is word this morning that Secretary of State Colin Powell will head to the West Bank next week for talks with the new Palestinian leadership. Meanwhile yesterday masked gunmen burst into a tent where former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and others had gathered to mourn the death of Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. At least two security guards were killed, some 10 others were wounded, Abbas escaped unharmed.

New details this morning about Saddam Hussein and the Oil-for- Food Program in Iraq. Senate lawmakers are expected to announce the former Iraqi dictator siphoned even more than the $10 billion previously thought. The Senate hearing is set to start around noon Eastern.

Roman Catholic bishops are preparing to elect a new president. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops gets under way in about two- and-a-half hours, that will happen in Washington, D.C. The outgoing president is expected to give his final address this morning.

And Yahoo! is giving its e-mail users more storage space, that starts today. The company is more than doubling its limits on free e- mail. The move is designed to heat up competition against rivals Google and Microsoft.

Heidi, back to you.

COLLINS: All right, Daryn, thank you for that.

Thirty-eight Americans have been killed since the battle of Falluja began just over a week ago, hundreds of others are wounded. Some of those injured troops are being treated at a military hospital in Germany. AMERICAN MORNING spoke earlier with two of those wounded Marines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LANCE CORPORAL TRAVIS SCHAEFER, U.S. MARINE CORPS: We were halted in a little marketplace in downtown Falluja. And we were taking small arms fire followed by mortar fire and RPGs all over the place. And it just so happened one of the terrorists got a lucky shot on us. And I just got caught with a piece of shrapnel in my right hand. And it just kind of went from there. I got medevaced out. And here I am.

LANCE CORPORAL RYAN CHAPMAN, U.S. MARINE CORPS: As for me, my wound, sort of the same situation. We were in downtown Falluja, and we pulled down onto a street where we started receiving fire from all directions. Mostly it was AK-47. Then they started firing multiple RPGs at our convoy, going down the street. At one point we started receiving sniper fire. One of the Iraqi national guards was wounded by the sniper.

At that point, we knew there was a sniper out there, so with my weapon system, I started searching the buildings for the sniper. At that point, I was just scanning windows, roof tops, anywhere would be a good place for a sniper to hide. And I actually took one of the sniper rounds to my left, just above my left eyebrow, where I got very lucky. It didn't penetrate it, it hit my skull and cracked it a little bit, but not too severely. It traveled up my forehead, exited just to the left.

COLLINS: Well, obviously, very, very lucky to be here. And we're so glad to see you and thankful for your service as always. But I've got to know, to the both of you, are you hoping to go home? You say you want to go back. But when you get that word, what type of anxiety might you be feeling once you find out when and if you will go back?

CHAPMAN: I think it's one of those hurry up and wait kind of things. They say you're going to go home in two days and those are a couple of long days for you. As for wanting to go back and not being able to, we do want to go back. I know Lance Corporal Schaefer is the same way. But we really -- in our position, what happened to us, we wouldn't be any useful help to our group, to our other Marines back in Iraq.

So, since we're of no help to them, we -- I do feel a little bit better about the fact that I'm going home a little early.

COLLINS: Lance Corporal Schaefer, are you excited to see your family for a bit?

SCHAEFER: Yes. I'm really excited to go home and see my family. I have got a young nephew that I can't wait to go home and see. And my wedding anniversary is coming up pretty soon. So I can't wait to go home and spend that with my wife. It's something I was going to miss, but because of this little incident, I'll actually be home for that one.

I know we both wish we were still back with our battalion and our platoons, more than definitely.

CHAPMAN: Absolutely. It's always good to be able to go home a little early. But definitely not under these circumstances, leaving our other fellow Marines out there in Iraq. We'd definitely go back in a heartbeat to help them out and get this done together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Lance Corporal Travis Schaefer and Lance Corporal Ryan Chapman this morning.

SANCHEZ: Lawyers for John Hinckley and the government are going to give their closing arguments today on whether the man who shot President Reagan should be allowed to go on long, unsupervised trips away from the mental hospital where he now lives.

As justice correspondent Kelli Arena reports, the debate centers on the relationship between Hinckley and his ex-girlfriend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Hinckley's attempted assassination of President Reagan was barely mentioned in court. Testimony instead largely focused on Hinckley's relationship with his former girlfriend, Leslie deVeau.

LEE VAN SUSTEREN, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: If he is correctly picking up on the fact that this woman does not want to have a romantic relationship with him. And if he is acknowledging that and accepting that, he is a very different person from the person who imagined, fantasized that he was involved with Jodie Foster and that if he could do something big, Jodie Foster would love him.

ARENA: Hinckley's lawyers and doctors say he is a different man. They say his friendship with deVeau is real, not fantasy and that they talk daily. His doctors argue, greater freedom is an important part of his treatment. But the government argues Hinckley is obsessed with deVeau and that he is dangerous. In essence, what might he do to win her affection?

JOSEPH DIGENOVA, FMR. U.S. ATTORNEY: In my lexicon, public safety outweighs the therapeutic side. And so I would always hope that the judge would tilt the scales in favor of public safety. ARENA: Under his parents' supervision, Hinckley went to places like the National Zoo and Baltimore's Inner Harbor in the last year without incident. He's now asking for more regular and longer visits at his parents' house in Williamsburg, Virginia. His doctors say he's in remission and ready. Even if he isn't, outside experts say there would be noticeable signs over time if he were headed for trouble.

VAN SUSTEREN: Suppose he isn't as healthy as we all thought, he isn't going to de-compensate in a few days.

ARENA (on camera): Under such scrutiny, experts say the bar for Hinckley is higher than it is for other patients. It's something the judge will have to consider. It's unclear when he will rule.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: We should tell you that the judge says he will make a decision shortly after the closing arguments today.

Heidi, over to you.

COLLINS: CIA Deputy Director John McLaughlin announced Friday that he plans to retire. This after reports of disagreements among senior officials at the agency.

As the U.S. fights terrorism and a war in Iraq, can new CIA director Porter Goss calm internal tensions? Democratic political strategist Karen Finney and WABC Radio host Mark Simone weigh in this morning.

Good morning to you guys.

MARK SIMONE, WABC RADIO HOST: Good morning.

Thanks for being here.

COLLINS: OK, we talked about this already this morning. There's this what some are calling a shake-up at the CIA. Some people saying it's necessary, others saying morale is low, you don't really know what though do. Senator John McCain spoke about it as well. Let's go ahead and listen and hear what he has to say first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: This is an organization full of very good and decent people, but is dysfunctional and is not providing the intelligence information necessary for the president to conduct the war on terror.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: He was one who said the shake-up is necessary. And the saying, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, well, Karen, isn't it broke? KAREN FINNEY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, of course it's broke. But I think it's important. As you said, there are a number of very good people within the agency. So you want to make sure that this is a process that makes the changes that need to be made while making sure that those who are doing their job effectively are kept in place, and I think there are some concerns about with whether or not this is partisanship, or is this about, you know, really, those cleaning up the place, because there are also reports over the weekend that Goss was given marching from the White House to get rid of anyone who may have in any way disagreed with the president.

Now the question would be, if I work at the CIA, if I disagree with the president, am I still doing my job effectively? Am I someone who's still able to help keep the security of our nation? So we need to make sure that this is a process that's an open process, that's about really protecting the interests of the United States.

COLLINS: Mark, does Karen have a point? Because when you think about the CIA, you think about intelligence gathering, you thin about spies maybe even. Do you really, and should we really, be thinking about politics?

SIMONE: Well, in this case, it was a little different, because you what "The New York Times" called a slow-motion mutiny going on -- documents were being leaked out, estimates were being leaked out. They were actually trying to overthrow a president.

COLLINS: So this is a different CIA than you've seen before.

SIMONE: I shouldn't say the CIA, I should say a group within.

McCain also went on to say, in some ways, it's a rogue organization. And he's talking about small pockets in there. The CIA has tried to overthrow governments in other countries; we don't want to see it going on here.

FINNEY: But I don't think we're talking about they're trying to overthrow the government. I think what we're seeing, again, there were (INAUDIBLE), there were a lot of leaks. There were those who had concerns about the way this administration was carrying out their policy. One in particular that we saw a lot of during the campaign, as to our policy of focusing on war on Iraq versus the war on terror. We know Osama bin Laden is out there, and you know, alive and well, and we need to make sure we deal with that threat.

But there's another concern, Heidi. There was reports in October that there was a critical report, internal document about the CIA that Goss has been holding on to. The report was completed in June. So why doesn't he go ahead and release those critical documents to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees and have a more open process about the changes he wants to make.

SIMONE: A lot of things didn't happen because of the election and how it might affect the election. But I can't believe if those CIA members that were doing this were leaking out things damaging reports to Kerry, that we wouldn't be hearing a different tune now from Democrats. They're acting as obstructionists in some ways. You know, when Joe Wilson's wife's name came out, people demanded that the person not only be fired, but sent to prison. We're talking about leaking out intelligence information.

COLLINS: Let's get to the timing of all of this. We hear about lots -- lots, I shouldn't say. I know of three senior officials who are talking retiring, leaving the agency, and this is happening during the war. We already mentioned the war on terror as well. What about the timing of this? Is this something we can't going on right now?

FINNEY: Again, changes need to be made. And whenever you're going to make changes, it's going to be a difficult process. But agreed, we're not only in the midst of a war, we're in the midst of trying to deal with recommendations of 9/11 commission, we're trying to ensure that we know we got into this war and we had some problems with our intelligence gathering. So it's all the more critical that this is a smooth and steady process. And Goss has to show he's the man to handle this challenge, and not have such a, you know, tumultuous process.

COLLINS: Fix it quick, or slow, easy process.

SIMONE: Before his nomination, I think Democrats and Republicans agreed Goss was the most knowledgeable guy outside of the CIA on the CIA.

You want to do it as quickly as possible because we're in a war. If there's a criticism of George Bush, it's that this wasn't done sooner.

FINNEY: You may want to do it quickly, but you want to make sure you do it effectively.

COLLINS: All right, to the both of you, thanks so much today, Karen Finney and Mark Simone. Appreciate it, guys.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, scientists may have figured out the cause between a puzzling childhood disorder, autism. We're paging Dr. Gupta on that.

SANCHEZ: Also, Andy's "Minding Your Business." Did you hear about those weird Thanksgiving sodas, flavors like turkey, and gravy and mashed potatoes. That goes along with the chocolate-covered potato chips, right?

COLLINS: Those sound a lot better.

SANCHEZ: Andy's got a taste test, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Rick Sanchez.

Autism affects more than 400,000 children in America. So we're paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta this morning to discuss a possible causes of this disability. Dr. Gupta's live. He's for us at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

We all know so many parents who suddenly have to deal with this situation. It almost seems like more and more seeming all the time. Well, what's new? What do we know about this.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, a couple things, Rick. First of all, good morning.

There have been some concern that the numbers of autistic cases have actually been increasing, a lot of researchers paying attention now, trying to figure out not only why, but what the causes is as well. Researchers at John Hopkins University specifically tried to measure what they call neuroinflammatory cells. These are cells that are present in the brain and the fluid surrounding the brain, and trying to figure out, are they any different than those with autism. You can see there in fact, they found out that the neuroinflammatory cells overactive in autistic people. Interesting, these are the same inflammatory cells that produce brain function as a neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinsons or Alzheimer's disease.

The important thing about this, Rick, and what sorts of exciting about this, is that they may be one step closer to figuring out a cause for an autism. That has really been something scientists have struggled with for some time. Also being able to diagnose autism has been difficult as well.

And finally the holy grail of all this, Rick, would be a cure or treatment at least for autism as well. We're nowhere near that right now. But this may be one step closer -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: A couple years ago, the big talk was that they were studying to find out if possibly the vaccines we give our children have something to do with autism. Anything to that?

GUPTA: Yes, they talk about something called thimerosal specifically. That's the preservative in the vaccine, it's a mercury preservative. They also talk about women who eat a lot of mercury in their fish while they're pregnant, could they be linked to autism?

Listen, that has been one of the more contentious issues in medicine. A lot of people really believe that that's true, that the mercury does cause this. In fact, the Autism Foundation, we spoke to them, they say, absolutely, it does. There have been a lot of studies on this as well. Is there a link between mercury and autism? Every single study, bar none, has not shown a link. The Centers for Disease Control says there is no relationship here.

SANCHEZ: Nothing definitive then, we shouldn't keep our kids from having vaccines then?

GUPTA: That's right, an important point, absolutely.

SANCHEZ: Give us some of the warning signs for parents. GUTPA: Yes. You know, it is a difficult to diagnose autism. One thing I'll say before you even look at the warning signs, is that most kids don't have autism, statistically. And a lot of parents worry if their kids not reaching certain milestones, likely they're not going to have autism.

But these are some things you can look for. Does not babble, you know, start chattering at one year. Begins developing language and then stops abruptly. That might be more of a concern. Doesn't respond to his own name, avoids eye contact as well. Again, these are very general, Rick. You can see that they're general.

But if you are concerned, these are some things to look out for, of course, see your doctor for anymore sophisticated testing, Rick.

SANCHEZ: Sanjay Gupta, thanks, my friend, for bringing us that information.

GUPTA: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: And still to come, the "Cafferty File." He's going to tell us why James Carville had egg on his face yesterday, literally. Stay with us. We're coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed. A preview of the markets and some disturbing soda flavors. These are disturbing soda flavors, just in time for Thanksgiving. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business."

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE": Deeply disturbing.

CAFFERTY: Disturbing.

SERWER: Yes. All right. Let's talk about the markets. First of all, Jack, markets year-to-date, we're now, thanks to this post- election rally, into the black, or into the green. This is how much the various indices in the stock market are up year-to-date, you can see the broad one, the S&P 500 is up the most. The Nasdaq up and the Dow is just up a little bit. But still, we'll take it.

Futures are down a bit this morning. Last year, you might remember that this company in Seattle, Jones Soda, introduced turkey- and gravy-flavored soda. Now we sampled some on the program last year and most people got sick. This year, the company decided to expand the line to a couple more flavors, mashed potato, green bean, cranberry and fruitcake.

And yes sir, we got them all here. I don't know what P.T. Barnum said about the American public.

CAFFERTY: He was right.

SERWER: He was right, boy, because this stuff is sold out. You can't get it. You can get it on eBay or a Target.

CAFFERTY: Is that true?

SERWER: Yes. It sold right out. Well, here we go, this is the turkey.

SANCHEZ: I've got to try that.

SERWER: Oh, God.

(LAUGHTER)

SERWER: Mashed potato. Jack.

CAFFERTY: Not a chance.

SERWER: That's truly bizarre.

CAFFERTY: Does it taste like mashed potatoes?

SERWER: It tastes just like mashed potatoes. Green bean. God, that's -- you know, if this was a Dean Martin special, I'd be asking for the vodka right about now. Green bean. That's really foul.

COLLINS: OK. I'll try the cranberry.

SERWER: Cranberry?

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: That's wimpy.

CAFFERTY: Cranberry juice. What's that one?

SERWER: My favorite, fruitcake.

(LAUGHTER)

SERWER: That's really something.

SANCHEZ: Which one is the mashed potato. Is this the mashed potato?

CAFFERTY: Yes.

SERWER: Yes.

SERWER: You're a tough guy.

SANCHEZ: I am. I'll try anything.

SERWER: That's abominable, that fruitcake.

COLLINS: One more, that bright pink, Pepto Bismol?

SANCHEZ: Oh Jack, this is good. Come on, Jack, you're going to love this.

SERWER: No, he won't, he won't. I don't blame him.

SANCHEZ: How do you know he won't?

SERWER: Because he didn't last year.

SANCHEZ: I almost had him and then you blew it for me.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: No. He's smarter than that.

CAFFERTY: Onto the "File," Bill Maher is being sued by his ex- girlfriend, her name is Coco Johnsen, for $9 million.

SANCHEZ: Sounds like a fruit drink.

She says that he made -- that's enough of Bill Maher, Ellie (ph), thank you. That's Andy. We're over here, Ellie. There you go, buddy. Camera two. She says he made false promises by demanding that she give up her career as a flight attendant because he was going to marry her and buy her a home in Beverly Hills. Hey, at 3:00 in the morning when you are trying to get lucky, you'll say anything.

(LAUGHTER)

CAFFERTY: The two broke up in May of this year. Maher's lawyer say the suit is frivolous and false. She says as soon as she quit her job and devoted all her time to him he became abusive. The couple dated for 17 months. We'll see where that thing goes.

Gone are the days of stick thin mannequins in store windows, big bottom plastic backsides are becoming more and more mainstream as clothing lines cater to larger figured clientele. That would be people with big fat cabooses.

Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce and have made shapely posteriors more acceptable. Who said that? Somebody wrote that. That's the same producer that wrote the phrase "big-ass" earlier and I had to tone her down. J.Lo's clothing line and a company called Ecko Red feature the fat models -- mannequins. Ecko Red even named the shape the "J.Lo Butt Form (ph)."

Here is -- this is cute. CNN "CROSSFIRE" co-host James Carville was on Russert's show, "MEET THE PRESS," yesterday with his wife. And Russert called him on a prediction that Carville had made about the outcome of the election eight months ago. And here's what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "MEET THE PRESS," NOVEMBER 14, 2004)

JAMES CARVILLE, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": Everybody knows that I have dyslexia. And what I really meant to say, I just transposed the numbers wrong. You know? That's all it was.

(LAUGHTER) TIM RUSSERT, HOST: I see.

CARVILLE: You know what I say...

(CRACKS EGG ON FACE)

CARVILLE: ... I've got egg on my face.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAFFERTY: Wouldn't you know, the director missed that shot too.

That's all I have at this time.

COLLINS: Too bad, you didn't see...

(CROSSTALK)

CAFFERTY: They missed that part, they missed that shot.

SANCHEZ: He was very fast.

COLLINS: I think his wife was a little embarassed.

CAFFERTY: Well, she should've been.

SERWER: Did she know it was coming?

COLLINS: I don't think she did, I don't know. All right. Thank you, Jack, and thank you, Andy. That was a lovely buffet. Appreciate it.

Coming up in just a moment, we're going to have our top stories of the day, including the very latest from Falluja. U.S. commanders say the city is liberated. So why is the fighting still going on? We'll have a live report from Falluja ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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