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American Morning

Police Investigating Shooting in Atlanta Hospital; In Iraq, Negotiators Furiously Working to Produce Draft Constitution

Aired August 15, 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: Such a pretty shot. Nice shot of Central Park.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It's less humid today and cooler, so people don't look quite so cranky.

O'BRIEN: Yes, they still look a little cranky going into work this morning.

Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. It is half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello in for Miles.

Coming up, a fatal shooting in an Atlanta hospital this morning. Was it murder or mercy? We'll take you there live just ahead.

O'BRIEN: Kind of a strange story.

First, though, let's get a check of the headlines with Kelly Wallace.

COSTELLO: Good morning again, Kel.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Soledad. Good morning again, everyone.

Here are the other stories now in the news. Greek investigators are searching for more clues at the site of Sunday's plane crash near Athens. All 121 people onboard were killed, many of them children. Family members are helping to identify the victims. Early indications show a loss of cabin pressure or oxygen may have contributed to that crash. The flight data and voice recorders are apparently being sent to France for analysis.

Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi vows his country will never again take the path to war. That announcement coming as part of an apology for Japan's role in World War II. Today marks the 60th anniversary of the war's end. Japan agreed to surrender after U.S. planes dropped atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In case you haven't noticed -- and I bet you have noticed -- you are paying more for less at the gas pump. That is right. A national survey shows prices jumped 20 cents over the past three weeks. The average price per gallon is now $2.50. But hold on there, there is some good news. Demand for gas is expected to taper off after Labor Day, and so then the prices should go down.

And finally, the PGA Tour resumes today after a series of thunderstorms forced a rain delay. Phil Mickelson is leading by a stroke, after sinking a three-foot par putt on the 14th hole. Take a look at that. When the final round was suspended. Meanwhile, Tiger Woods finished with birdies on the last two holes for a two under 68. He is currently tied for fourth place. I don't know a lot about golf.

That was a good shot, Kelly. That's all you need to know.

WALLACE: All I need to know, a good shot. Also, apparently, he was just one stroke short of being thrown out, not making the tournament. So quite a good come-from-behind finish.

COSTELLO: That was a good chip shot, if indeed that was a chip shot.

O'BRIEN: I, like, so angry that he's whacking away at it. That kind of looks like most golfers, doesn't it? What happened? Why isn't it working?

Kelly, thanks.

COSTELLO: A developing story now. Police investigating a shooting in an Atlanta hospital this morning. Authorities say a man shot and killed his wife in her hospital room, and then he turned the gun on himself.

Paul Crowley of affiliate WXIA is live in Atlanta outside of that hospital.

Paul, what do you know?

PAUL CROWLEY, WXIA REPORTER: Not a whole lot, Carol.

But we can tell you the basics, we think. Behind me, the entrance to St. Joseph's Hospital. It is a hospital that specializes in heart care. This is where the shooting happened a little after 6:15 Eastern Time this morning. Officially, all the police will tell us is that a man was in his wife's room. She was in intensive care. He shot and killed her, then shot and killed himself.

What we're hearing, unofficial reports, but with some confirmation by various sources, is that it may have been a mercy killing. This woman was in her 70s, had recently undergone heart surgery, was not recovering well. And the husband killed her, and then took his own life. Both of them an elderly couple.

Again, no formal comment on that aspect from the hospital or Fulton County Police just yet in this northern Atlanta suburb. But that's what it appears to be.

Reporting live for CNN, back to you, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Paul Crowley, with affiliate WXIA, thank you. Another story out of Georgia to tell you about. A suspect shot by police twice in the same shoulder at different times on the same night. Officers first shot the man as he was speeding off in a getaway car. And then a second time when he crashed and started running on foot. The man was treated and released from a local hospital, and he is now being held on an aggravated assault charge.

O'BRIEN: Oh, for God's sakes, give up after the first shooting. I mean, you know.

COSTELLO: He's a tough guy.

O'BRIEN: Clearly.

Let's talk a little bit about this historic moment in the Gaza Strip this morning, marked by tears and outrage, as those Israeli troops are distributing eviction notices to settlers. It's all part of a landmark withdrawal. The soldiers are being met with defiance.

John Vause is at the Morag settlement in southern Gaza. An emotional confrontation occurred there earlier this morning.

John, let's talk about how many families are still putting up a fight and how many have actually left.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is one of the smaller settlements out of all of the 21 in Gaza. We're looking at 16 families who say that they'll still be here once a midnight deadline comes tomorrow night. That's about 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. After that, though, they will be forcibly removed by the Israeli police and soldiers.

Similar scenes, too, across the rest of the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. In the largest of them all, Neve Dekalim, the soldiers couldn't even get in this morning to try and deliver those eviction notices. They were looked out. They tried to get through into a second gate, and the residents there burned tires, however the situation there is now calm, and we believe the soldiers have gotten in to Neve Dekalim.

Here in Morag, the residents, along with a number of infiltrators, about 300 infiltrators from across Israel and the West Bank are here in Morag alone. This morning they blocked the entrance, stopping the army from getting in for a couple of hours. Eventually, senior commanders negotiated their way in, talking with the community leaders here. They did manage to go door to door and hand out those eviction notices, or deliver them orally. Some people just simply ripped them up in front of the soldiers.

So emotional scenes. A lot of tears, a lot of people crying. One of the reasons for that is that this is a religious settlement, like many of the settlements in Gaza, and the people believe that God gave them this land. If they leave, they will be defying God's will -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: John Vause for us with an update. Thanks, John, appreciate it -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Iraq has also reached a moment of crisis. Negotiators are furiously working right now to produce a draft constitution by the end of the day. Without it, the country could be split by its three main factions. But even if they're successful, will this step slow the violent insurgency? Mowaffak Al-Rubaie is Iraq's national security adviser. He is live in Baghdad this morning.

Good morning, doctor.

DR. MOWAFFAK AL-RUBAIE, IRAQ NATL. SECURITY ADVISER: Good morning to you. Well, good morning for you, and good afternoon for me.

COSTELLO: Definitely so.

I'd like to ask you this, There are some who believe once this constitution is drafted and a vote is taken, an election held, the insurgency will die down. Do you agree with that?

AL-RUBAIE: We have a very in depth analysis on this particular issue, and we believe the more we get into the political process and the less the insurgency and the terrorism will have any justifiable reason behind their indiscriminate killing of the Iraqi people. And we have seen this before. We have seen in the general election at the end of January this year, there was a huge drop in the number of the attacks on the Iraqi security forces, on the multinational forces and on the civilians, as well as the infrastructure.

COSTELLO: Well, doctor, let me interrupt you there, because there was a lull in violence after that happened, but it certainly has picked up again. What makes you believe that the same thing wouldn't happen again?

AL-RUBAIE: Well, the -- I think we have -- we need to do a lot of political initiatives, because of the lull which was after the election. It took three months, or two-and-a-half months, to form the government. That gave the terrorists a reason or excuse to put their effort -- to double their effort. That's why there was a bit of reluctance, if you like, or the bit of hesitancy in the political process.

We're going now in a very short period of time to discuss the constitution. The draft is going to be put forward to the transitional national assembly in a couple of hours from now. And after that, we will start discussing this draft in public, among our people, by the non-government organization, by the political parties, by our people and symposiums, and tutorials and conferences and the media.

COSTELLO: Let me stop you for a moment and talk about an excuse to carry out more violence, and there could be one this time as well. The Shiites and the Kurds wanted semiautonomous regions within Iraq. That's going to leave the Sunnis out. There's a real concern, if you leave the Sunnis out of this process, then the Sunni-backed insurgency will only intensify. Will the Sunnis be included in this process? AL-RUBAIE: Well, I don't agree with the analysis. Number is the Shia does not want to have autonomy, and the Kurdish issue in Kurdistan, we have already reached a federal system for the whole of all over Iraq.

So I don't agree on your analysis. It's not a Sunni-armed rebellion here. It is a bunch of terrorists and insurgents, those who have lost the privileges, they lost the superiority in the old regime, and these people are trying to regain power through using force.

COSTELLO: And, sir, a final question for you. When this constitution is drafted and the final elections take place in December, when can U.S. troops start to leave?

AL-RUBAIE: Well, we have what we call Conditional Base Joint Commission, which I chair and the -- and from the Iraqi side there is the minister of interior and minister of defense, and from the coalition forces' side, the commander general and the ambassador, the American ambassador and the British ambassador, in that commission. And we are talking and discussing the condition. Once these conditions are fulfilled in any of the cities in the urban areas and in the big cities, when these conditions are fulfilled...

COSTELLO: What conditions, though? What conditions?

AL-RUBAIE: Well, the conditions are, for example, the number of police, the number of the Iraqi army. If there is any command and communication and control structure in place. There is a civil government. The local government is in place. And everything is -- once we feel that the Iraqi security forces are competent to deal with the insurgency, to deal with the terrorism, to deal with any untoward security issue, then we will take charge, and the security responsibility will be transferred from the coalition forces to the Iraqi security forces.

COSTELLO: Good. And we have heard that before.

Thank you very much for joining us this morning, Dr. Mowaffak Al- Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, remember that huge mess that was created by the British airways strike? We told you about it this week. Guess what? Resolution. There could be some good news for all those passengers who are stranded. We're "Minding Your Business" coming up.

COSTELLO: Oh, happy people this morning.

And next, cellulite. Nobody likes it. Nobody wants it. Is there a secret serum to get rid of it? We'll take a look. That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: Combating cellulite. Almost all women have some form of it, and as Elizabeth Cohen tells us, some are turning to a controversial treatment to get rid of it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Women hate it, that ugly, bumpy, dimply cottage cheese fat under the skin, usually on the hips and thighs, known as cellulite. Some women opt for plastic surgery and liposuction, but other women who don't want to go under the knife and deal with all that downtime are now trying to combat cellulite with another option called mesotherapy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you ready? If it hurts, let me know.

COHEN: This procedure, developed in Paris in the 1950s, is the injection of a cellulite cocktail into the target area.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mesotherapy involves injection of medications under the skin to affect some changes, such as cellulite removal, reduction of fat, toning and tightening the skin. It requires weekly treatments. And for the cellulite, it's going to take 10 to 15 treatments. So they have to be willing to come in quite often.

COHEN: Even with thousands of dollars in potential expense and weekly injections, some women do swear by this relatively non-invasive procedure.

Dale Rossington, a backup singer for the rock group Lynrd Skynrd is happy with her mesotherapy results.

DALE ROSSINGTON, MESOTHERAPY PATIENT: Suddenly, you see the definition that you thought you weren't going to find again, and you start to see, again, that last little bit that you just really thought wasn't going to go away, that you'd kind of given up in, and you talk to yourself about growing old gracefully, but you know, you didn't really want to. And after those six or seven, then you start to see it just subtly. It's a subtle difference, so you have to be a little more patient.

COHEN: The cocktail is a blend of drugs, including some used to treat heart ailments and asthma. Each drug is approved by the FDA, using them in combination is not, and there's no standardized formula for the cocktail; physicians mix their own. And there have been reported cases of skin irritations and infections. Plastic Surgeon Vincent Zubowicz refuses to recommend mesotherapy to his patients.

DR. VINCENT ZUBOWICZ, PLASTIC SURGEON: So you have a technique where there has been no objective evidence of it being effective, yet a good deal of objective evidence showing that there's potential complications, and some of them quite severe. So if it were an effective alternative, I'd open a mesotherapy booth in my office and go to work. But I'm convinced that it doesn't work, and I'm not going to risk my patients' health with something that's unproven.

COHEN: And there is a bottom line to any fat reduction program.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, I think, whether you're doing liposuction or the mesotherapy, it's very important to eat right and exercise to make it work, and to keep it off long term.

COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: She's a brave woman, isn't she? Willing to be...

O'BRIEN: To get the shots, or to show her thighs, the back of her thighs on TV.

COSTELLO: I was thinking show her thighs on television. The vast majority of women claim to get good results from mesotherapy. Clinicians say about one in 15 do not see any difference at all. Also, the most common side effect is itching and burning after the treatment, but that only lasts about an hour and a half, and then you're back to normal.

O'BRIEN: Not me. Wear jeans. You'll be fine. No one will know.

Still to come this morning, a little good news for all those passengers who were stranded by the British Airways strike. We are "Minding Your Business," coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Another icon of the past bites the dust. Look at that there. Ho-Jos, remember Ho-Jos? This one in downtown Miami. The eight-story Howard Johnson hotel knocked down on Sunday. Developers took it out. They're going to build a 67-story luxury condo and boutique hotel right on that site. This Ho-Jos was a landmark, sitting on Biscayne Boulevard since 1966. That's kind of sad, isn't it?

All right. Third -- the country's, rather, third biggest airline explores bankruptcy options. British Airways getting back to business at London's Heathrow. Ali Velshi's filling in for Andy Serwer, and he's "Minding Your Business" this morning.

O'BRIEN: I guess it's a good news, bad news story all round.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's gas prices and airlines in the last few weeks. That's what's been going on. Delta, it's been reported, is discussed the idea of going into bankruptcy protection. They're looking at talking to their creditors about ways that they can protect themselves. This airline has lost $10 billion since 2001. It settled with its pilots last year, but it needs to go back possibly to its unions and cut some costs to stay alive.

So we're going to be watching that in the next few weeks. Northwest Airlines, mechanics could walk on Saturday. And that's becoming a problem for Northwest. So that's potentially a strike. We have American Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest as relatively healthy airlines. You've got Delta and Northwest on the brink. And then you've got a bunch of airlines that are in bankruptcy.

O'BRIEN: Already there in the brink.

VELSHI: So it is one tough industry right now. Delta saying that just the increase in fuel prices this year, about $900 million more.

O'BRIEN: Huge, huge problem for them. Let's talk about Heathrow.

VELSHI: Right, the British Airways.

O'BRIEN: Because the good news is, problem solved.

VELSHI: These folks are going home. British Airways in London saying only about 200 passengers out of those thousands are now stranded. They're fixing that up, and hopefully it will be done today. People have been sleeping at the airport.

You know, it's just not a simple matter of going back to your hotel and waiting for your next flight. People have had to camp out at Heathrow. We've got great pictures. This is the people protesting one of the trucks coming in...

O'BRIEN: Because Gate Gourmet is the truck right there.

VELSHI: Gate Gourmet.

O'BRIEN: That's really the start of...

VELSHI: That's the start of it. It was a catering dispute that shut this airline down for a few days. I mean, crazy. These people bunking down at Heathrow.

O'BRIEN: And those seats are so uncomfortable.

VELSHI: That's the worst place you can...

O'BRIEN: Having done that a few times, that's just not comfortable. Well, it's all resolved and should be wrapped up soon. Ali Velshi, thanks -- Carol.

COSTELLO: That's why you lie on the floor.

Today's top stories straight ahead. Plus, we'll take a closer look at a new test for lung cancer. It's simple, it's painless, it and can find cancer in its earliest stages. So, why is it so controversial? That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Get the latest news every morning in your e-mail. Sign up for AMERICAN MORNING QuickNews at cnn.com\am. Still to come this morning, a follow-up to the verdict in that video game murder case in Alabama. Find out why the killer's lawyers say their client didn't get a fair trial. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Showdown in Gaza. Jewish settlers say God wants them to stay, but the Israeli military says they got to go. Live report on the historic Gaza pullout is ahead.

Crucial hours in the future of Iraq. Leaders there are scrambling to draft a constitution. What's the hold-up? We're live in Baghdad, as the deadline closes in.

And another week, another record high for gas prices. There could be some relief in sight, though, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

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