Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Discovery Still in Orbit; Peter Jennings Dead at 67; Fighting Breast Cancer

Aired August 08, 2005 - 08:59   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Nearly four months after announcing his battle with lung cancer, longtime ABC News anchor Peter Jennings is dead at the age of 67.
Not taking any chances, NASA delays the landing of the Space Shuttle Discovery for at least another day. Weather concerns are behind the decision. So what does tomorrow's forecast look like? We'll take a look on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: This is AMERICAN MORNING with Miles O'Brien at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and Soledad O'Brien in New York.

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. Welcome to a split edition of AMERICAN MORNING.

We're going to have much more on the life and the death and the career of ABC's Peter Jennings just ahead. But first, time to check in with Miles. He's at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Hey, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Soledad, good morning to you.

The Space Shuttle Discovery still in orbit. It was hoped by NASA and maybe by the crew, although they're probably getting used to the idea now that they're back in space, but they were hoping to be on the ground behind me here on the shuttle landing facility, this three- mile-long runway where ideally NASA likes to end space shuttle missions. The possibility exists that tomorrow, weather or not weather permitting, the shuttle could end its mission, its 5.5 million mile mission with in excess of 217 orbits at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where the weather is sustained.

Take a look at mission control. It looks a little quiet there now, and I'll tell you why.

First of all, look here in the lower right part of your screen there, where I have the number one there. That is the payload desk, and the payload issues are sort taken care of, because they've gone to the space station, delivered what they were going to deliver. And they have returned what they are returning, which is some complicated gear, the gyroscope they had to take off that was bulky, and also a fair amount of trash. A lot of logistical issues.

In the foreground here are all the various other positions that report back here to this sort of main desk here. This is where the flight director and, in particular, where I'm going to put number two, where the cap com, on the number one, that's where the communicator, the astronaut who actually talks to the crew sits. And, of course, then up here they have the ability to see where the shuttle is at any given moment, maps and orientation and so forth.

So they will spend another 24 hours monitoring the shuttle. Probably won't talk to the crew very much. Give them an opportunity to wind down.

In the meantime, lots of question remain as to when the shuttle will come home. Here are the options right now on the dance card, so to speak, or the landing card.

5:07 a.m. Eastern, Kennedy Space Center here. That, if the weather is not looking probable, they may just strike that one early in the game, because in order to get ready for landing, they have to load up on fluids and get suited up, and strapped in and so forth. So they try to limit the amount of time that the crew has to endure all of that.

There's a simultaneous opportunity in the next orbit at White Sands, New Mexico, and the Kennedy Space Center. Once again, if the weather is bad at Kennedy Space Center and good at White Sands, they'll probably waive off and go for this opportunity, 8:13 a.m. Eastern Time at Edwards.

That's sort of the ace in the hole opportunity tomorrow morning, Soledad. And we will, of course, be there every step of the way. We hope to see the shuttle here, but, you know, that's the way it goes.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that is the way it goes, and you will be there -- maybe. All right. Thanks, Miles. We'll check in with you again.

Back to our other top story this morning, Peter Jennings. He was one of the world's or the nation's, at least, most respected newsman. The ABC World news tonight anchor died last night in his home in Manhattan.

Jason Carroll is live outside ABC headquarters in New York City this morning.

Jason, good morning to you. It's got to be a really, really tough day for the folks at ABC today.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very much so, Soledad. In fact, in just a few moments, ABC News president David Westin, along with Barbara Walters, both of them expected to come out in just a few minutes and say a few words about Peter Jennings.

I remember, Soledad, it was just not too long ago, just a few months ago when we all heard that announcement when Peter Jennings went on the air with a rough voice saying he had lung cancer. And even in that very painful moment, he was still able to carry through that moment with the power and with the grace that's been associated with him throughout his entire career.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER JENNINGS, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: And "living" is the key word. The National Cancer Institute Center says that we are survivors from the moment of diagnosis.

CARROLL (voice over): Four months after telling the world he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, Peter Jennings, the longtime ABC News anchor, died Sunday at the age of 67. His ABC News colleague Charles Gibson made the announcement.

CHARLES GIBSON, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: It is with a profound sadness and true sorrow that I report to you Peter Jennings has died tonight of lung cancer.

CARROLL: Within minutes of his passing, friends and former longtime colleagues of Jennings shared their memories of the man who endlessly trotted the globe, doing the job he loved and doing it with such panache right up to the very end.

JEFF GREENFIELD, WORKED WITH JENNINGS: I think Peter's going to be seen as kind of maybe the last of these kinds of giants, and maybe a figure that we are increasingly going to miss.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I used to joke when I worked at ABC -- I was there from 1900 to 2000, for 10 years, on "World News" the whole time, and I used to say the only thing worse than Peter not being interested in your career was having him interested in your career.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: He was a reporter, first and foremost. And that was just in his blood, that curiosity, that obsession with making and keeping contacts. And he taught us all an awful lot about it.

BARBARA WALTERS, ABC NEWS: I don't know anyone who could command an audience with the kind of authority that Peter had.

TED KOPPEL, ABC NEWS: He was a warm and loving and surprisingly sentimental man.

DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS: It's customary to say that he'll not come again. Peter Jennings will not come again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: Charlie Gibson said it this way: calling Jennings "the consummate broadcaster." He said, "We were all in awe of him" -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: I think that's fair to say. All right. Jason, thanks.

Time to look at some of the other stories that are making news today with Carol Costello.

Carol, good morning again.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.

"Now in the News," some nuclear rumblings from Iran. Officials there say they have restarted a nuclear facility for uranium conversion. The United States and European Union have warned that a move like this could lead to sanctions. Iran denies any plans to build nuclear weapons.

The U.S. is closing its diplomatic offices in Saudi Arabia due to a security threat. The U.S. State Department says its embassy and the consulates will be shut down today and tomorrow due to "specific and credible threats." Americans in the region are being advised to be extra cautious.

President Bush is set to send a massive overhaul of the nation's energy policies. The legislation funnels billions of dollars to energy companies and includes tax breaks for new nuclear power plants. The president is backing away from his working Texas vacation to fly to New Mexico for the signing ceremony.

And eating her way into history again. The 99-pound Sonya Thomas downing a Wisconsin staple. That would be the bratwurst. She gobbled up 35 brats in 10 minutes, winning the crown in this weekend's bratwurst-eating competition.

It's hard to look at in the morning, isn't it? The previous record, get this, was 19.5 brats in 10 minutes. She more than doubled in. That's 35 brats. Thomas is known as the "Black Widow" on the competitive eating circuit.

Just one day before the brat contest, Chad...

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes?

COSTELLO: ... she won the grilled cheese sandwich-eating contest in San Diego. She ate 22 of them.

MYERS: The American Federation of Competitive Eating, Carol.

COSTELLO: Better than NASCAR.

MYERS: Well, maybe you can do them both at the same time. I don't know.

Good morning, everybody.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad. Thanks.

MYERS: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, a three-day ordeal at the bottom of the Pacific has a happy ending. We're going to go inside that dramatic rescue of the Russian mini-sub crew.

Plus, some positive news in the fight against breast cancer. The reasons why deaths from the disease are on the decline.

Those stories next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: In health news this morning, a new study steers some of the credit for higher breast cancer survival rates away from new treatments. The study suggests that smaller tumor size deserves a lot of the credit, but of course they're intertwined.

Joining us this morning, Dr. Clifford Hudis. He's the chief of breast cancer medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Also one of the doctors involved in this study.

The study itself looked at research, essentially, over 25 years. And they found a decline in the death rate because the tumors got smaller. So the big question, of course, well, why did the tumors get smaller?

DR. CLIFFORD HUDIS, MEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER: Well, what we hope is that the tumors got smaller because of awareness - that is, self-examination -- and, of course, mammography. And this is something that we've been seeing in various studies in cancer for many, many years. What's exciting here is that we link the smaller tumor size to the improvements in survival that have been seen over these 25 years.

S. O'BRIEN: Early detection, then, is a big part of it. But it's not the only part of it.

HUDIS: That's absolutely right. This study part of a matrix of other studies.

Many, many trials have shown that when we give better therapy, all else being equal, patients do better. So when you look over 25 years and you see that survival has gotten better, you have to ask yourself, is it all because the treatment's better, or is there something else happening as well? And this study says that it's not only the better treatment, it is also the fact that the tumors are smaller. And smaller tumors have a better prognosis.

S. O'BRIEN: A quarter of a million breast cancer tumors was what they looked at, or what you really looked at in this study. So what's the takeaway? As a woman who is, obviously, like all women, concerned about breast cancer, what's the takeaway as far as what will prevent me from getting breast cancer?

HUDIS: Well, this study is about so much prevention. Of course the real question is, how did I prevent getting sick from breast cancer?

S. O'BRIEN: Right, yes. Or increase my survivability, should I get breast cancer.

HUDIS: So this study is part of, I think, a theme for the last 25 years. And it's an exciting theme. The number of American women diagnosed with breast cancer has gone up to almost a quarter million per year, as you point out. In addition to that, the death rate's been falling in absolute numbers over those same years. So these trends are cross-purposes. Right?

S. O'BRIEN: Right.

HUDIS: More cancer, but fewer deaths. So the first thing is we shouldn't be quite as scared of breast cancer. And the second...

S. O'BRIEN: It's a better time than ever to be diagnosed with breast cancer, really, because you're more likely to survive it.

HUDIS: That's right. And what our study says is that the kind of breast cancer that we're finding nowadays is a better breast cancer than the breast cancer of 25 years ago.

S. O'BRIEN: You're more likely to survive that kind of breast cancer as well.

What did you notice when you were looking at studies from 25 years ago to the more recent studies? And there have been so many. Did you find that the studies have gotten themselves better?

HUDIS: Right. So this was really drawn from something called a seer (ph) database, and this is a database that looks at outcomes in selective populations around the country, regions of the country. And what we saw in that is exactly what we reported here, that survival has gotten better and that the tumor sizes have gotten smaller. In parallel to this, in -- among the many other hats I wear as a researcher, I've seen and taken part in research that shows the treatment itself has gotten better over this time.

S. O'BRIEN: Controversy, though, as you well know, whether you should get a mammogram, over whether, you know, a breast exam really does anything at all for you. You know, the conventional wisdom is it's good for you. But, of course, there are some who say, by the time you find that tumor with your fingers, and you're not a doctor, even later than a doctor would find it, you're already in trouble.

HUDIS: Yes, this had really been a burning issue for us, because it costs a lot of money to do mammography, there are a lot of false positives from mammography. So lots of times patients are told there's something on their x-ray and when we go for it, it's not cancer, thank god.

Well, the thing is that, if wanted to look at it from the broad perspective, you'd say, what's happened over the last 25 years? And what's happened is mammography and self-exam has gone up in usage, and the death rate from breast cancer has gone down. And those two facts are real.

So, at first pass you'd say it's works. This study fills in the gap a little bit and says we know why it works, because the tumors are smaller, which is just what you would expect with mammography and self-exam. S. O'BRIEN: Dr. Hudis, thanks for clarifying what's a confusing study and sometimes, as you know, a contradictory study, it feels like, when you're talking about breast exams, or really almost anything in women's health. We appreciate it.

Still to come this morning, time almost ran out for that crew of the Russian sub -- mini-sub rather, but they're alive and they're well thanks to a pretty dramatic rescue in the Pacific Ocean. We're going to take a look at just how it was done coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

In Iraq, officials are racing to meet next week's deadline for a completion of a new constitution. Meanwhile, three more U.S. troops were killed in the fighting over the weekend.

Aneesh Raman is live for us in Baghdad this morning.

Aneesh, good morning to you.

Leaders are supposed to meet again today and then there's been another delay. What's going on?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Soledad, good morning.

Only in Iraq, as it faces these critical moments in its political time frame, could the weather paralyze politics. But today, the Iraqi capital awoke to a massive sandstorm. It literally covered the streets, it made visibility zero.

Out on the streets you could see cars just pulled off to the side of the road. People essentially didn't go out.

For that reason, the political leadership decided not to meet today. They had met yesterday at the home of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to try and hash out some of those serious questions that remain.

They include, of course, how autonomous various regions in Iraq should be, what role Islam should play. Should it be a source, one of many in the constitution, or the other source? And in terms of money, what about oil revenue. Should it be isolated to the areas that have oil, the north and the south, or shared by the entire country?

So they were supposed to continue marathon negotiations today, but they aren't due to this weather, planning again to pick up tomorrow.

But. Soledad, we went out on the streets just a short time ago, and you find Iraqi police officers have showed up to work. Iraqi citizens walking around, wondering how could the sand be so powerful as to cripple the political process, making the point that these guys need air-conditioned rooms inside while these police officers are out doing their duty on the streets -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: The people still have to get around, but the government can't quite seem to manage to get it together.

Aneesh, I want to ask you a question about the casualties. We mentioned three more U.S. troops dying. It was a pretty violent weekend. Wasn't it?

RAMAN: It was. One of those was a U.S. Marine killed on Saturday just outside of Falluja after a suicide bomber detonated himself. The other two Iraqi soldiers killed north of the capital in the town of Samarra after a road roadside bomb detonated alongside their vehicle.

It brings to over 30, Soledad, the number of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq since the start of the month. And the month just start a week ago today. So it gives you a sense how dangerous things remain here and how very much still at war the U.S. troops are -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Aneesh Raman reporting for us from Baghdad this morning. Aneesh, thank you.

Let's go back to the Kennedy Space Center and Miles O'Brien.

Hey, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Hello, Soledad.

You know, there's a not-too-distant analogy between what happens in space and what happens beneath the sea. Both are very remote, both are very risky, and both, when the time comes, can require great acts of bravery in order to perform a rescue.

We return now to that dramatic rescue at sea that we've been following all morning for you. The crew of a Russian mini-submarine, they're back in port after more than three days trapped on the Pacific Ocean floor. The air running low. The temperatures frigid.

Russian officials are expressing their gratitude to Britain, saying the Royal Navy's help was crucial in rescuing the seven-man crew.

Here to talk us through the ordeal and the drama of all this is Commander Jonty Powis. He is a navy commander.

Commander, good to have you with us. And congratulations on a job well done.

This was something that put your own people at great peril. Did it not?

COMMANDER JONTY POWIS, ROYAL NAVY: Well, not really. Our own people were on a ship above the scene of the disabled submarine or dis (ph) sub, and the whole thing was done by a remotely-operated vehicle on the end of a tether about 1,000 meters long. So it was difficult, and it required a great deal of skill, but it wasn't particularly dangerous for our guys. M. O'BRIEN: Well, were you concerned, though, at a certain point, though, that you would have to actually put people underwater, divers? In other words, were you confident it could be done robotically?

POWIS: Very much so. The work that had to be done was essentially cutting away a net, or nets which had covered, partially, the disabled submarine. And this is a relatively routine task, but it's routine like a heart surgery is routine. It's something we do quite a lot, but you have to get it right, and it doesn't make it easy.

We did have divers in the water. There was a small team of American divers sent by the deep sea emergency unit from San Diego. And they were there ready to assist when the vehicle arrived at the surface.

M. O'BRIEN: So you never had to actually put those divers down at depth, and you were able to rely on this system. I have to ask you, I mean, typically, when you're cutting away something that is stuck in those situations, there aren't people inside, right?

POWIS: Oh, yes. And one of the difficulties was that, unlike in drills and exercises, we were acutely aware that seven men's lives depended on what we're doing. And this means that not only did you have to make sure that you cut away the net, you also had to make sure that your vehicle did not get entangled itself, because that would have induced quite a considerable delay.

M. O'BRIEN: And that would not have been good, too. As they were monitoring all of this from the surface in that vessel, what were the chief concerns? And what were you able to do to tell the crew to try to get through this the best they could?

POWIS: Well, the problems on board you've already mentioned. Firstly, the one that's well-known about, is the lack of air, and the inability to absorb the carbon dioxide.

And the other was the cold. And cold is a surprisingly debilitating thing.

Most of us have never experienced prolonged periods at very low temperatures, and we don't realize how crucially it can affect your morale, your ability to carry out work and things like that. So these chaps knew that the rescue was going on. They were in communications, to some extent, with the surface, and so perhaps it was more trying on their patience than anything else.

M. O'BRIEN: But they were told to lie down on the surface and just minimize their movement in order to conserve their -- the oxygen and air on board, correct?

POWIS: Yes, that's a standard procedure. As soon as you get into any difficulties like this, or, indeed, if you've got a problem in a submarine where you can't absorb carbon dioxide, one of the most important things to do is to reduce physical activity on board so that you're not actually using these gases as much as you might otherwise.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, you say the communication was kind of spotty. But when you were able to make contact with the crew, what were those communications like? Did you have a sense of panic beneath the sea there?

POWIS: No. Nothing has been reported to me that indicated that anybody was in any sense panicking. The drills for rescuing people are really well -- well established, and the procedure would really have been a routine procedure. It's just a case of having the patience to stick it out while it's going on around you.

M. O'BRIEN: And patience in that circumstance is a difficult thing to ask of a crew, in that circumstance. When you finally were able to cut away the sub, was it able to rise to the surface on its own? Or how did it get up to the surface?

POWIS: Yes. There was one piece of cable or string that we couldn't actually cut. So the crew were invited to make their vehicle very buoyant and to physically break it by just exerting a large force on it. And that worked, and the thing rose to the surface quite quickly.

M. O'BRIEN: Excellent. Job well done. Jonty Powis, who is a commander in the Royal Navy, you and your men deserve a pat on the back. And I'm sure you'll be hearing from the Russians as well as time goes on -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles, thanks.

Still to come this morning, remembering the life of Peter Jennings. We're going to talk to one of his closest colleagues ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. It's about 9:30 here in New York. We have a split edition of AMERICAN MORNING this morning.

Coming up, we'll be remembering Peter Jennings. The ABC News anchor died late last night in his New York City apartment. His wife and his children were by his side. Coming up, we talk to the man who wrote two best-selling books with Peter Jennings.

First, though, let's go right back to Miles at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks very much, Soledad.

I'm stuck here in Florida, the astronauts are stuck in space for another day.

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