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American Morning
'Kamber & May'; 'Paging Dr. Gupta'
Aired April 13, 2005 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get a check of the headlines this morning with Carol Costello. Hello.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. Good morning, everyone.
Now in the news, Eric Rudolph, the suspect in the 1996 Olympic bombing in Atlanta, is set to plead guilty today to a total of four bombings. Rudolph will appear in two courtrooms in two separate states as part of a plea deal to spare him from the death penalty. His first court appearance is in Birmingham, Alabama at the next hour, and then it's on to Atlanta, Georgia this afternoon.
More long lines expected in Vatican City today. Pope John Paul II's tomb is now open to the public. Thousands filing into the narrow grotto underneath St. Peter's Basilica where the pontiff was laid to rest last week. This as the cardinals continue to meet daily ahead of the conclave to choose a new pope which begins officially Monday.
To California now, an Army major on the stand in the Michael Jackson child-molestation trial. The officer is actually the stepfather of Jackson's accuser. The defense is questioning him about an audio tape his family made on which they all praised Jackson. The accuser's mother could take the stand later this week.
And, oops! Maybe it wasn't an oops. But anyway, she did it. Britney spears is having a baby. Her publicist confirming the news. No word on the due date for Spears and her husband of just about seven months, Kevin Federline. But the pop diva has been publicly saying for months and months she really, really, really, really wants to be a young mother. And now she has her dream. It's come true.
O'BRIEN: I think it's going to turn her life around.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: I think Carol is deeply touched by this news today.
COSTELLO: I'm looking on her Web site now, and she signs it, hey, I'm pregnant. Love, Britney.
O'BRIEN: I think that, you know what, 23 is not -- I mean, it's young, it's very young, but you know what, maybe she'll stop the drinking and the smoking and get a little maturity.
COSTELLO: Drinking and smoking. I didn't know about this.
O'BRIEN: Cigarette smoke; I didn't say drugs.
COSTELLO: I always see pictures of her going barefoot in gas station bathrooms.
O'BRIEN: Yes, which is not sanitary. She'll stop that. Nobody with children lets their kids do that.
HEMMER: All right, we'll bash Britney a little more later.
O'BRIEN: I'm not bashing her. I'm saying I think this might be a good thing, maybe.
COSTELLO: She's such a sweet person, isn't she?
O'BRIEN: I take it all back. Forget it!
HEMMER: Thank you, Carol.
This weekend marked the second anniversary of the fall of Baghdad and the official end of Saddam Hussein's regime. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to Iraq, gave a thumbs up on Tuesday to the country's new leaders there. Also in Texas yesterday, President Bush calling that day in Baghdad a historic moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad will be recorded alongside the fall of the Berlin Wall as one of the great moments in the history of liberty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: So then, is this second anniversary a true reason to celebrate? Let's debate that with Democratic consultant Victor Kamber.
Vic, good morning to you.
VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: And former RNC communications director, Cliff May.
Cliff, how are you doing today?
CLIFF MAY, FMR. RNC COMM. DIR.: Doing well.
HEMMER: You're in the crosshairs first, by the way. Take that quote from the president, one of the greatest moments in the history of liberty. Is that a bit overstated right now? One-hundred and forty thousand American troops still there, and the insurgency is going strong.
MAY: Well, in a certain way, we don't know, just as in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell down, we didn't know what was going to happen next. Now in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell, it meant that freedom would spread through Eastern Europe. It happened that way.
I think it's very possible that we're going to succeed here. Look what's going on, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, the demonstrations we've seen in Lebanon, the changes we've seen in Egypt, elections in the Palestinian Authority, kind of elections in Saudi Arabia, we are seeing what I hope will be the beginning of a new wave of freedom, and democracy and human rights in the Middle East.
So, look, I think the pivotal moment was not the statue, but the revolution of purple ink, when eight million Iraqis stood up, they showed their fingers with indelible ink, and said, I'm going to vote, even if the terrorists say now.
One other quick thing, Jalal Talabani was named president of Iraq. He was the member of a persecuted and oppressed minority. Saddam's policy towards the Kurds was to exterminate them. It was genocidal. Where else in the Middle East do you see a member of a minority becoming the president of a predominantly Arab country? You've got to be encouraged.
HEMMER: Victor, he has his list together. How do you counter?
KAMBER: Well, I don't want to talk about fingers that people would like to point, especially at this president, and which finger it would be over this war.
The bottom line is that we're two years later, we still have 140,000 troops there, we're losing lives. Iraq's president has said that America cannot leave for at least two more years. And then we don't know how long. It's billions of dollars. You know, and many Americans, myself included, still don't know why we went there. There certainly weren't weapons of mass destruction and Iraq was not a threat to this country. Saddam Hussein is gone. That's a good thing. Is it worth 15,000 injured, 1,500 dead, and billions and billions of dollars? I don't know that yet.
HEMMER: As that debate continues, Cliff, you said something last night. You said Iraq is the most prosperous country in the Middle East right now.
MAY: I think it's the most...
HEMMER: How so?
MAY: I don't know if I said prosperous. If I did, what I meant to say the most promising country in the Middle East right now. It's a country where you actually are having -- seeing a democratic reform and a movement towards human rights inspiring the rest of the Middle East, and even a lot of people, like Victor, who were not in favor of the war previously are now saying there's no question the fear has been lifted from these Arab countries.
HEMMER: Are you saying that, Victor?
KAMBER: With 140,000 troop there's to ensure some form of democracy, that's not democracy. that's an occupied country.
MAY: Victor, we still have troops in Germany. We still have troops in Japan. KAMBER: Yes, but not occupation troops.
MAY: These are not occupation troops. They've been invited.
KAMBER: Oh, come on!
MAY: At any time, they can say we want you to leave. Right now, what's happening...
KAMBER: They could say all that, because the country would fall apart, there would be mass murders an executions, and we don't know -- there's absolutely no stability.
MAY: What we're seeing right now is the Iraqis increasingly taking responsibility to defend their country from the al Qaeda forces there and from the Baathist whose still want to impose their will on the people.
KAMBER: And the president has said we need the American troops to continue that. We've seen demonstrations now for the first time against American troops.
MAY: It's not the first time.
KAMBER: The first time in recent times since "democracy," in quotes, since the election.
MAY: No, democracy is when you have free demonstrations and peaceful demonstrations, not when Saddam Hussein mows people down.
We're going to see a trial coming up very soon of Chemical Ali. He murdered about 100,000 Kurds. That's what we don't want to see. What we're seeing now is a spread of democracy in that region that had been giving us nothing but terrorism and tyranny and that is important, and I just can't believe you don't understand...
HEMMER: Topic two, Victor, John Negroponte and John Bolton getting beaten up on the Hill by Democrats. It appears, though, that they will both be confirmed. Are the Democrats taking the right approach in analyzing the histories and the careers of these two men and how they may or may not serve?
KAMBER: Well, I think the whole process of it, advise and consent, is working as well. The Democrats are questioning the role of the appointees of George Bush. They're looking at the past. They're looking at who they are, the makeup of the people and making judgments. I think, you know, there's no question, there's an element of politics, but I think more than politics, they really are questioning in this time what we need in the U.N. and what we need at the homeland security.
HEMMER: You think they're just yes-men for the administration, is that right?
KAMBER: Well, I think we've seen the president has put in place in a number of offices, most of his cabinet, people that will not be independent voices against him, or even tell him things he doesn't want to hear. We know that about this president.
HEMMER: When the smoke clears, Cliff, in the end, will they serve well?
MAY: I'm very -- yes, I think probably so. John Negroponte is a very experienced diplomat. He's taking on a very tough job. Our intelligence has been crippled for a very long time. It's been wrong not just on weapons of mass destruction; it was wrong on fall of the Soviet Union, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It was wrong when it told Bill Clinton to bomb a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan and when we bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. And at the end of the day, intelligence is about people, not just boxes on an organization chart. So I think Negroponte is a good choice.
I also think Bolton is a very good choice. He's been a critic of the U.N. The U.N. is in crisis. It's a corrupt institution. Oil- for-food, the biggest financial scandal in history. The sex scandals among the peacekeepers in Congo. I think he'll go in with a reform agenda, and that's important if the U.N. is to survive, much less thrive.
HEMMER: We shall all see in time. Thanks, Cliff. Thanks, Vic. Talk to you again a bit later this week, gentlemen. Good to see you -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: With the government recently changing its food guide pyramid and the explosion of the low-carb craze, you knew eventually it was going to come to this. On "Sesame Street," everybody's favorite cookie monster will eat fewer cookies.
CNN's Paula Zahn explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOKIE MONSTER: Cookie starts with 'C.'
PAULA ZAHN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's one of the most popular songs on Sesame Street.
We'll bet, you can still sing along with the Cookie Monster
COOKIE MONSTER: 'C' is for cookie, that's good enough for me
ZAHN: The big Muppet with the huge appetite, he's been on the Sesame Street since 1969. He'll eat everything.
But he's introduced millions of little cookie eaters to the third letter of the alphabet.
COOKIE MONSTER: Cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C. Yes!
ZAHN: This year, however, Cookie Monster has changed his tune a little bit.
COOKIE MONSTER: Healthy food, boy it tastes so good. ZAHN: Sesame Street has always tailored parts of its message to fit the changing times. Talking subjects from death, to prejudice. In this, its 35th season, the show is emphasizing healthy habits for life, reflecting medical concerns about, among other things, America's epidemic of childhood obesity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey Cookie Monster!
ZAHN: Today, a character called Hoots the Owl taught Cookie Monsters that there are some foods you can eat any time, but other foods, like cookies, that you should only eat sometimes.
COOKIE MONSTER: Me get it. Fruit any time food. Cookie, sometime food.
ZAHN: C is still for cookie, but C also stands for change. And those of you watching this think this change is healthy enough to make "Cookie Monster" our "Person of the Day."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: "Sesame Street" is now in its 36th season. It says that part of the campaign, it's part of this multiyear effort to encourage children to adopt healthy eating habits.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Some controversy this morning for the ex-CEO who is at the center of this federal investigation. The question is this, how did his wife end up with billions of dollars in company stock just before he left the company? Andy is "Minding Your Business," just ahead.
HEMMER: Also, generation makeover. More and more college students turning to cosmetic surgery, at an alarming rate, too. We're paging the good doctor, Sanjay, on that.
O'BRIEN: But first, this question, cosmetic surgery is most popular among which age group? Is it age 19 to 34, 35 to 50 or 51 to 64? We've got the answer right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Before the break, we asked cosmetic surgery is most popular among which age group. The answer is b, 35 to 50. Last year, more than four million between those ages of 35 and 50 had some form of cosmetic surgery.
The FDA will have the final say, but for now the U.S. ban on silicon breast implants stands. A government panel on Tuesday rejected one company's a request to market its implants. Another manufacturer will makes its case to the panel today.
And on the subject of breast enlargement, Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us that many young people think bigger is better.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As a teenager, Kacey Long's pressures weren't that dust different from other teens -- sports awards, prom dresses, college and body image.
KACEY LONG, BREAST IMPLANTS AT 19: I just remember growing and always waiting for my breasts to develop and for them to fill in. And by about 19, they just never did. And I'm a really tall girl, I'm 5'9, and I just wanted it to sort of balance out my figure. I remember going to the plastic surgeon, I said, well, you make your judgment -- just make me proportioned.
GUPTA: So at the age of 19, Kacey became part of a steadily increasing trend, young people undergoing cosmetic surgery. More than 80,000 people 18 or younger had some kind of cosmetic surgical procedure last year. That's an increase of 20 percent since 2000. A survey of college coeds found that almost half would consider it in the future. For people age 19 to 34, breast implants have risen by 15 percent in the last year alone.
With the popularity of "The Swan" and "Extreme Makeover," many think exposure has led to increased acceptance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel beautiful!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're ebb we're exposing a younger and younger generation of individuals to cosmetic procedures that is probably leading more and more adolescents and young adults to think about them these procedures for themselves.
LONG: TV shows like portray just the before and after, and that's all you focus on; you don't think about, you know, the weeks of recovery that it takes to get there.
GUPTA: In Kacey's case, it was not weeks, but years of pain in her arms, in her joints and her feet, extreme fatigue, heart problems and night sweats.
After two years of enduring a whole host of unexplainable symptoms, she had the implants removed. Kacey and her doctors concluded that her problems must be related to them.
LONG: It was the first time I found out that saline breast implants have a silicone shell, or encasement.
GUPTA: Although an FDA panel recently concluded that even silicon-filled implants are safe and effective, Casey says her ailments were due to systemic silicon poisoning, just one of many dangers of which she was unaware of, from costly revision procedures to surgical scarring. Now, even as she's still paying off the debt from her initial breast-implant surgery, Kacey shares her story with college students on the Extreme Measures Tour. That's a campaign geared toward positive body image.
LONG: I thought by 18, your breasts were done growing. My breasts are actually the same size they were with breast implants. So I started growing, you know, between the ages of 19 and 22. I honestly feel I'm still growing. I would tell people just to wait a little bit, you know, wait on their bodies.
GUPTA: For many young women, growth continues into their 20s. For Kacey, it was both physical and emotional.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: The American Society of Plastic Surgeons says breast surgery procedures have risen more than 650 percent in the last decade. Compare that to nose surgery, which has only gone up about 3 percent -- Bill.
HEMMER: In a moment here, one company trying to solve a billion- dollar problem with a little silver stamp. Andy has that, "Minding Your Business," after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back. And here is Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: This former head of the insurance giant AIG, this Hank Greenberg, turning out to be a bit of weasel, it looks like. Andy Serwer has the latest on him, the twist in the AIG saga, which is beginning to smell like a compost heap from here, and he's "Minding Your Business."
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Rodents, garbage piles -- we got it all here this morning, Jack.
All right, here's what's going on. Yesterday, Hank Greenberg, who is the embattled former CEO of insurance giant AIG decided to take the fifth and not answer government regulators' questions about this investigation into his company. It's very complicated stuff -- relative reinsurance. Now we find out that three days before he resigned as CEO in March, he gave his wife, Corinne, 41 million shares of stock worth $2.2 billion.
O'BRIEN: That's love.
SERWER: A case of covering your assets, though perhaps.
CAFFERTY: That's not transparent or anything, is it?
SERWER: Well, yeah. I mean, keep it over here --
CAFFERTY: Just a coincidence.
SERWER: -- and I'm going to go over there.
CAFFERTY: Three days later, I think I'll quit today.
SERWER: Yes, yes.
CAFFERTY: I've decided I've had enough. Time to retire. What a shmuck.
SERWER: This has not escaped the attention of Elliott Spitzer, no doubt...
CAFFERTY: Oh, no.
SERWER: -- who will be following this.
CAFFERTY: Somebody said yesterday on one of the competing networks that Spitzer's going to run for governor --
SERWER: He is.
CAFFERTY: -- with Hank Greenberg as the way to get into office. But he's going to ride him right into Albany.
O'BRIEN: Is it illegal to do that, to hand over the shares to your spouse?
SERWER: No, it's not. It's just a question of moving things around.
CAFFERTY: No, but at the time you're resigning and the government is investigating what you've been doing with the company, it reeks a little bit when you...
SERWER: Right. Right. It might, yeah.
All right, let's talk about General Motors. Now this is a questionable campaign, I think. They have decided to brand every single GM vehicle out there, all 2006 models. They're going to put a GM logo -- a 25-millimeter silver plaque on all new cars. Now, you know, here's the point: Pontiac's a GM car; Buick a GM car; Chevy's a GM car. People know that. Cadillac people probably know. But do people know that a Saab is a GM car, and do they really want a GM plaque on a Saab?
CAFFERTY: Or a Hummer?
SERWER: Or a Hummer. As you can see here, we've got a Hummer. I'm not sure that's the case.
Now, GM is set to lose a billion dollars this quarter. And a spokesperson wouldn't say how much the little silver plaques would cost the company.
CAFFERTY: I don't even like them when they put the dealer's name on the car.
SERWER: I really don't. I tried to chip one of those off one time and wrecked my paint. CAFFERTY: I tell them I won't take delivery of the car unless they take it off. I really do. And it works. You make them do it.
SERWER: A quick check of the markets yesterday. Stocks were trading up a bit. You can see here, retail sales down just crossing the tape. And oil is coming in below $52. So futures are flat.
CAFFERTY: Big turnaround yesterday.
SERWER: Yeah.
CAFFERTY: Market was down almost 100 points.
SERWER: Yes, that's right.
CAFFERTY: And they released those Fed minutes and ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom.
SERWER: And it bounced right back. Yeah.
CAFFERTY: Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: Well put.
CAFFERTY: Yeah. It's a financial term -- ba-da-bing, ba-da- boom.
SERWER: A Jersey term.
CAFFERTY: Tony Guida taught me that phrase.
Wednesday, time for "Things People Say." Tony's a local anchor guy here in New York City. Good friend of mine.
"Things People Say." "There is no trust fund, just IOUs that future generations will pay." This is the president of the United States coming clean at the Bureau of Public Debt explaining that bonds, no money, make up the Social Security Trust Fund. Politicians have spent all the money. I mean, that's just -- it's just...
"I just took it for granted that we wouldn't be that stupid." Well, apparently, they are. Florida Senator Mel Martinez revealing one of his aides wrote an unsigned memo last night citing the Terri Schiavo case as a, quote, "great political issue," unquote, for Republicans. That was pretty smart.
HEMMER: Yeah.
CAFFERTY: "If you want a mood elevator, go talk to a 20-year-old who just lost both limbs" -- Country singer Wynonna Judd after visiting with injured war veterans.
This one: "President Bush flew to Rome for the pope's funeral. It was somber moment. There was one awkward moment though when Bush met a group of cardinals and congratulated them on beating the Astros." HEMMER: That's cute.
CAFFERTY: Comedian Craig Ferguson taking a shot at the president.
And finally this: "The United States has announced a plan to tighten all borders by the year 2008. Unfortunately, Mexico announced plans to have all their people here by 2007" -- Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" talking about the leaking borders.
O'BRIEN: He's been funny, Jay.
CAFFERTY: Yeah, he must have new writers over there.
SERWER: How are those Minutemen doing? Are they still down there, by the way?
CAFFERTY: They're doing great. And, you know, people are showing up from all over the country volunteering to do this. But more importantly, the number of illegals crossing the border has declined something like 95 percent --
SERWER: Really?!
CAFFERTY: -- in this stretch of border that's being patrolled by these Minutemen
SERWER: Having a chilling effect, huh?
CAFFERTY: It's working. So it's working to stop the flood of illegals, and it's raised the awareness of the problem. We should do a follow-up on that.
HEMMER: All right.
O'BRIEN: Well, a look at the day's top stories is straight ahead this morning. Plus, another day, another potentially huge case of identity theft. And if you think you're not going to fall victim, well, think again. We're going to tell you what you need to know to protect yourself, up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Samples of a virus that killed a million people decades ago have been shipped to labs across the world. Now the rush is on to destroy a potential killer.
More Americans than ever exposed to identity theft. This morning, Congress is looking for a way to fight back.
And another search going on in Florida for a missing 13-year-old girl. Police now checking on the two dozen sex offenders who live nearby, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
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Aired April 13, 2005 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get a check of the headlines this morning with Carol Costello. Hello.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. Good morning, everyone.
Now in the news, Eric Rudolph, the suspect in the 1996 Olympic bombing in Atlanta, is set to plead guilty today to a total of four bombings. Rudolph will appear in two courtrooms in two separate states as part of a plea deal to spare him from the death penalty. His first court appearance is in Birmingham, Alabama at the next hour, and then it's on to Atlanta, Georgia this afternoon.
More long lines expected in Vatican City today. Pope John Paul II's tomb is now open to the public. Thousands filing into the narrow grotto underneath St. Peter's Basilica where the pontiff was laid to rest last week. This as the cardinals continue to meet daily ahead of the conclave to choose a new pope which begins officially Monday.
To California now, an Army major on the stand in the Michael Jackson child-molestation trial. The officer is actually the stepfather of Jackson's accuser. The defense is questioning him about an audio tape his family made on which they all praised Jackson. The accuser's mother could take the stand later this week.
And, oops! Maybe it wasn't an oops. But anyway, she did it. Britney spears is having a baby. Her publicist confirming the news. No word on the due date for Spears and her husband of just about seven months, Kevin Federline. But the pop diva has been publicly saying for months and months she really, really, really, really wants to be a young mother. And now she has her dream. It's come true.
O'BRIEN: I think it's going to turn her life around.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: I think Carol is deeply touched by this news today.
COSTELLO: I'm looking on her Web site now, and she signs it, hey, I'm pregnant. Love, Britney.
O'BRIEN: I think that, you know what, 23 is not -- I mean, it's young, it's very young, but you know what, maybe she'll stop the drinking and the smoking and get a little maturity.
COSTELLO: Drinking and smoking. I didn't know about this.
O'BRIEN: Cigarette smoke; I didn't say drugs.
COSTELLO: I always see pictures of her going barefoot in gas station bathrooms.
O'BRIEN: Yes, which is not sanitary. She'll stop that. Nobody with children lets their kids do that.
HEMMER: All right, we'll bash Britney a little more later.
O'BRIEN: I'm not bashing her. I'm saying I think this might be a good thing, maybe.
COSTELLO: She's such a sweet person, isn't she?
O'BRIEN: I take it all back. Forget it!
HEMMER: Thank you, Carol.
This weekend marked the second anniversary of the fall of Baghdad and the official end of Saddam Hussein's regime. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to Iraq, gave a thumbs up on Tuesday to the country's new leaders there. Also in Texas yesterday, President Bush calling that day in Baghdad a historic moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad will be recorded alongside the fall of the Berlin Wall as one of the great moments in the history of liberty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: So then, is this second anniversary a true reason to celebrate? Let's debate that with Democratic consultant Victor Kamber.
Vic, good morning to you.
VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: And former RNC communications director, Cliff May.
Cliff, how are you doing today?
CLIFF MAY, FMR. RNC COMM. DIR.: Doing well.
HEMMER: You're in the crosshairs first, by the way. Take that quote from the president, one of the greatest moments in the history of liberty. Is that a bit overstated right now? One-hundred and forty thousand American troops still there, and the insurgency is going strong.
MAY: Well, in a certain way, we don't know, just as in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell down, we didn't know what was going to happen next. Now in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell, it meant that freedom would spread through Eastern Europe. It happened that way.
I think it's very possible that we're going to succeed here. Look what's going on, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, the demonstrations we've seen in Lebanon, the changes we've seen in Egypt, elections in the Palestinian Authority, kind of elections in Saudi Arabia, we are seeing what I hope will be the beginning of a new wave of freedom, and democracy and human rights in the Middle East.
So, look, I think the pivotal moment was not the statue, but the revolution of purple ink, when eight million Iraqis stood up, they showed their fingers with indelible ink, and said, I'm going to vote, even if the terrorists say now.
One other quick thing, Jalal Talabani was named president of Iraq. He was the member of a persecuted and oppressed minority. Saddam's policy towards the Kurds was to exterminate them. It was genocidal. Where else in the Middle East do you see a member of a minority becoming the president of a predominantly Arab country? You've got to be encouraged.
HEMMER: Victor, he has his list together. How do you counter?
KAMBER: Well, I don't want to talk about fingers that people would like to point, especially at this president, and which finger it would be over this war.
The bottom line is that we're two years later, we still have 140,000 troops there, we're losing lives. Iraq's president has said that America cannot leave for at least two more years. And then we don't know how long. It's billions of dollars. You know, and many Americans, myself included, still don't know why we went there. There certainly weren't weapons of mass destruction and Iraq was not a threat to this country. Saddam Hussein is gone. That's a good thing. Is it worth 15,000 injured, 1,500 dead, and billions and billions of dollars? I don't know that yet.
HEMMER: As that debate continues, Cliff, you said something last night. You said Iraq is the most prosperous country in the Middle East right now.
MAY: I think it's the most...
HEMMER: How so?
MAY: I don't know if I said prosperous. If I did, what I meant to say the most promising country in the Middle East right now. It's a country where you actually are having -- seeing a democratic reform and a movement towards human rights inspiring the rest of the Middle East, and even a lot of people, like Victor, who were not in favor of the war previously are now saying there's no question the fear has been lifted from these Arab countries.
HEMMER: Are you saying that, Victor?
KAMBER: With 140,000 troop there's to ensure some form of democracy, that's not democracy. that's an occupied country.
MAY: Victor, we still have troops in Germany. We still have troops in Japan. KAMBER: Yes, but not occupation troops.
MAY: These are not occupation troops. They've been invited.
KAMBER: Oh, come on!
MAY: At any time, they can say we want you to leave. Right now, what's happening...
KAMBER: They could say all that, because the country would fall apart, there would be mass murders an executions, and we don't know -- there's absolutely no stability.
MAY: What we're seeing right now is the Iraqis increasingly taking responsibility to defend their country from the al Qaeda forces there and from the Baathist whose still want to impose their will on the people.
KAMBER: And the president has said we need the American troops to continue that. We've seen demonstrations now for the first time against American troops.
MAY: It's not the first time.
KAMBER: The first time in recent times since "democracy," in quotes, since the election.
MAY: No, democracy is when you have free demonstrations and peaceful demonstrations, not when Saddam Hussein mows people down.
We're going to see a trial coming up very soon of Chemical Ali. He murdered about 100,000 Kurds. That's what we don't want to see. What we're seeing now is a spread of democracy in that region that had been giving us nothing but terrorism and tyranny and that is important, and I just can't believe you don't understand...
HEMMER: Topic two, Victor, John Negroponte and John Bolton getting beaten up on the Hill by Democrats. It appears, though, that they will both be confirmed. Are the Democrats taking the right approach in analyzing the histories and the careers of these two men and how they may or may not serve?
KAMBER: Well, I think the whole process of it, advise and consent, is working as well. The Democrats are questioning the role of the appointees of George Bush. They're looking at the past. They're looking at who they are, the makeup of the people and making judgments. I think, you know, there's no question, there's an element of politics, but I think more than politics, they really are questioning in this time what we need in the U.N. and what we need at the homeland security.
HEMMER: You think they're just yes-men for the administration, is that right?
KAMBER: Well, I think we've seen the president has put in place in a number of offices, most of his cabinet, people that will not be independent voices against him, or even tell him things he doesn't want to hear. We know that about this president.
HEMMER: When the smoke clears, Cliff, in the end, will they serve well?
MAY: I'm very -- yes, I think probably so. John Negroponte is a very experienced diplomat. He's taking on a very tough job. Our intelligence has been crippled for a very long time. It's been wrong not just on weapons of mass destruction; it was wrong on fall of the Soviet Union, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It was wrong when it told Bill Clinton to bomb a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan and when we bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. And at the end of the day, intelligence is about people, not just boxes on an organization chart. So I think Negroponte is a good choice.
I also think Bolton is a very good choice. He's been a critic of the U.N. The U.N. is in crisis. It's a corrupt institution. Oil- for-food, the biggest financial scandal in history. The sex scandals among the peacekeepers in Congo. I think he'll go in with a reform agenda, and that's important if the U.N. is to survive, much less thrive.
HEMMER: We shall all see in time. Thanks, Cliff. Thanks, Vic. Talk to you again a bit later this week, gentlemen. Good to see you -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: With the government recently changing its food guide pyramid and the explosion of the low-carb craze, you knew eventually it was going to come to this. On "Sesame Street," everybody's favorite cookie monster will eat fewer cookies.
CNN's Paula Zahn explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOKIE MONSTER: Cookie starts with 'C.'
PAULA ZAHN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's one of the most popular songs on Sesame Street.
We'll bet, you can still sing along with the Cookie Monster
COOKIE MONSTER: 'C' is for cookie, that's good enough for me
ZAHN: The big Muppet with the huge appetite, he's been on the Sesame Street since 1969. He'll eat everything.
But he's introduced millions of little cookie eaters to the third letter of the alphabet.
COOKIE MONSTER: Cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C. Yes!
ZAHN: This year, however, Cookie Monster has changed his tune a little bit.
COOKIE MONSTER: Healthy food, boy it tastes so good. ZAHN: Sesame Street has always tailored parts of its message to fit the changing times. Talking subjects from death, to prejudice. In this, its 35th season, the show is emphasizing healthy habits for life, reflecting medical concerns about, among other things, America's epidemic of childhood obesity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey Cookie Monster!
ZAHN: Today, a character called Hoots the Owl taught Cookie Monsters that there are some foods you can eat any time, but other foods, like cookies, that you should only eat sometimes.
COOKIE MONSTER: Me get it. Fruit any time food. Cookie, sometime food.
ZAHN: C is still for cookie, but C also stands for change. And those of you watching this think this change is healthy enough to make "Cookie Monster" our "Person of the Day."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: "Sesame Street" is now in its 36th season. It says that part of the campaign, it's part of this multiyear effort to encourage children to adopt healthy eating habits.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Some controversy this morning for the ex-CEO who is at the center of this federal investigation. The question is this, how did his wife end up with billions of dollars in company stock just before he left the company? Andy is "Minding Your Business," just ahead.
HEMMER: Also, generation makeover. More and more college students turning to cosmetic surgery, at an alarming rate, too. We're paging the good doctor, Sanjay, on that.
O'BRIEN: But first, this question, cosmetic surgery is most popular among which age group? Is it age 19 to 34, 35 to 50 or 51 to 64? We've got the answer right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Before the break, we asked cosmetic surgery is most popular among which age group. The answer is b, 35 to 50. Last year, more than four million between those ages of 35 and 50 had some form of cosmetic surgery.
The FDA will have the final say, but for now the U.S. ban on silicon breast implants stands. A government panel on Tuesday rejected one company's a request to market its implants. Another manufacturer will makes its case to the panel today.
And on the subject of breast enlargement, Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us that many young people think bigger is better.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As a teenager, Kacey Long's pressures weren't that dust different from other teens -- sports awards, prom dresses, college and body image.
KACEY LONG, BREAST IMPLANTS AT 19: I just remember growing and always waiting for my breasts to develop and for them to fill in. And by about 19, they just never did. And I'm a really tall girl, I'm 5'9, and I just wanted it to sort of balance out my figure. I remember going to the plastic surgeon, I said, well, you make your judgment -- just make me proportioned.
GUPTA: So at the age of 19, Kacey became part of a steadily increasing trend, young people undergoing cosmetic surgery. More than 80,000 people 18 or younger had some kind of cosmetic surgical procedure last year. That's an increase of 20 percent since 2000. A survey of college coeds found that almost half would consider it in the future. For people age 19 to 34, breast implants have risen by 15 percent in the last year alone.
With the popularity of "The Swan" and "Extreme Makeover," many think exposure has led to increased acceptance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel beautiful!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're ebb we're exposing a younger and younger generation of individuals to cosmetic procedures that is probably leading more and more adolescents and young adults to think about them these procedures for themselves.
LONG: TV shows like portray just the before and after, and that's all you focus on; you don't think about, you know, the weeks of recovery that it takes to get there.
GUPTA: In Kacey's case, it was not weeks, but years of pain in her arms, in her joints and her feet, extreme fatigue, heart problems and night sweats.
After two years of enduring a whole host of unexplainable symptoms, she had the implants removed. Kacey and her doctors concluded that her problems must be related to them.
LONG: It was the first time I found out that saline breast implants have a silicone shell, or encasement.
GUPTA: Although an FDA panel recently concluded that even silicon-filled implants are safe and effective, Casey says her ailments were due to systemic silicon poisoning, just one of many dangers of which she was unaware of, from costly revision procedures to surgical scarring. Now, even as she's still paying off the debt from her initial breast-implant surgery, Kacey shares her story with college students on the Extreme Measures Tour. That's a campaign geared toward positive body image.
LONG: I thought by 18, your breasts were done growing. My breasts are actually the same size they were with breast implants. So I started growing, you know, between the ages of 19 and 22. I honestly feel I'm still growing. I would tell people just to wait a little bit, you know, wait on their bodies.
GUPTA: For many young women, growth continues into their 20s. For Kacey, it was both physical and emotional.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: The American Society of Plastic Surgeons says breast surgery procedures have risen more than 650 percent in the last decade. Compare that to nose surgery, which has only gone up about 3 percent -- Bill.
HEMMER: In a moment here, one company trying to solve a billion- dollar problem with a little silver stamp. Andy has that, "Minding Your Business," after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back. And here is Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: This former head of the insurance giant AIG, this Hank Greenberg, turning out to be a bit of weasel, it looks like. Andy Serwer has the latest on him, the twist in the AIG saga, which is beginning to smell like a compost heap from here, and he's "Minding Your Business."
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Rodents, garbage piles -- we got it all here this morning, Jack.
All right, here's what's going on. Yesterday, Hank Greenberg, who is the embattled former CEO of insurance giant AIG decided to take the fifth and not answer government regulators' questions about this investigation into his company. It's very complicated stuff -- relative reinsurance. Now we find out that three days before he resigned as CEO in March, he gave his wife, Corinne, 41 million shares of stock worth $2.2 billion.
O'BRIEN: That's love.
SERWER: A case of covering your assets, though perhaps.
CAFFERTY: That's not transparent or anything, is it?
SERWER: Well, yeah. I mean, keep it over here --
CAFFERTY: Just a coincidence.
SERWER: -- and I'm going to go over there.
CAFFERTY: Three days later, I think I'll quit today.
SERWER: Yes, yes.
CAFFERTY: I've decided I've had enough. Time to retire. What a shmuck.
SERWER: This has not escaped the attention of Elliott Spitzer, no doubt...
CAFFERTY: Oh, no.
SERWER: -- who will be following this.
CAFFERTY: Somebody said yesterday on one of the competing networks that Spitzer's going to run for governor --
SERWER: He is.
CAFFERTY: -- with Hank Greenberg as the way to get into office. But he's going to ride him right into Albany.
O'BRIEN: Is it illegal to do that, to hand over the shares to your spouse?
SERWER: No, it's not. It's just a question of moving things around.
CAFFERTY: No, but at the time you're resigning and the government is investigating what you've been doing with the company, it reeks a little bit when you...
SERWER: Right. Right. It might, yeah.
All right, let's talk about General Motors. Now this is a questionable campaign, I think. They have decided to brand every single GM vehicle out there, all 2006 models. They're going to put a GM logo -- a 25-millimeter silver plaque on all new cars. Now, you know, here's the point: Pontiac's a GM car; Buick a GM car; Chevy's a GM car. People know that. Cadillac people probably know. But do people know that a Saab is a GM car, and do they really want a GM plaque on a Saab?
CAFFERTY: Or a Hummer?
SERWER: Or a Hummer. As you can see here, we've got a Hummer. I'm not sure that's the case.
Now, GM is set to lose a billion dollars this quarter. And a spokesperson wouldn't say how much the little silver plaques would cost the company.
CAFFERTY: I don't even like them when they put the dealer's name on the car.
SERWER: I really don't. I tried to chip one of those off one time and wrecked my paint. CAFFERTY: I tell them I won't take delivery of the car unless they take it off. I really do. And it works. You make them do it.
SERWER: A quick check of the markets yesterday. Stocks were trading up a bit. You can see here, retail sales down just crossing the tape. And oil is coming in below $52. So futures are flat.
CAFFERTY: Big turnaround yesterday.
SERWER: Yeah.
CAFFERTY: Market was down almost 100 points.
SERWER: Yes, that's right.
CAFFERTY: And they released those Fed minutes and ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom.
SERWER: And it bounced right back. Yeah.
CAFFERTY: Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: Well put.
CAFFERTY: Yeah. It's a financial term -- ba-da-bing, ba-da- boom.
SERWER: A Jersey term.
CAFFERTY: Tony Guida taught me that phrase.
Wednesday, time for "Things People Say." Tony's a local anchor guy here in New York City. Good friend of mine.
"Things People Say." "There is no trust fund, just IOUs that future generations will pay." This is the president of the United States coming clean at the Bureau of Public Debt explaining that bonds, no money, make up the Social Security Trust Fund. Politicians have spent all the money. I mean, that's just -- it's just...
"I just took it for granted that we wouldn't be that stupid." Well, apparently, they are. Florida Senator Mel Martinez revealing one of his aides wrote an unsigned memo last night citing the Terri Schiavo case as a, quote, "great political issue," unquote, for Republicans. That was pretty smart.
HEMMER: Yeah.
CAFFERTY: "If you want a mood elevator, go talk to a 20-year-old who just lost both limbs" -- Country singer Wynonna Judd after visiting with injured war veterans.
This one: "President Bush flew to Rome for the pope's funeral. It was somber moment. There was one awkward moment though when Bush met a group of cardinals and congratulated them on beating the Astros." HEMMER: That's cute.
CAFFERTY: Comedian Craig Ferguson taking a shot at the president.
And finally this: "The United States has announced a plan to tighten all borders by the year 2008. Unfortunately, Mexico announced plans to have all their people here by 2007" -- Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" talking about the leaking borders.
O'BRIEN: He's been funny, Jay.
CAFFERTY: Yeah, he must have new writers over there.
SERWER: How are those Minutemen doing? Are they still down there, by the way?
CAFFERTY: They're doing great. And, you know, people are showing up from all over the country volunteering to do this. But more importantly, the number of illegals crossing the border has declined something like 95 percent --
SERWER: Really?!
CAFFERTY: -- in this stretch of border that's being patrolled by these Minutemen
SERWER: Having a chilling effect, huh?
CAFFERTY: It's working. So it's working to stop the flood of illegals, and it's raised the awareness of the problem. We should do a follow-up on that.
HEMMER: All right.
O'BRIEN: Well, a look at the day's top stories is straight ahead this morning. Plus, another day, another potentially huge case of identity theft. And if you think you're not going to fall victim, well, think again. We're going to tell you what you need to know to protect yourself, up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Samples of a virus that killed a million people decades ago have been shipped to labs across the world. Now the rush is on to destroy a potential killer.
More Americans than ever exposed to identity theft. This morning, Congress is looking for a way to fight back.
And another search going on in Florida for a missing 13-year-old girl. Police now checking on the two dozen sex offenders who live nearby, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
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