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CNN Live At Daybreak

Staying the Course; Tillman Probe; Getting Tested; Chavez Controversy

Aired August 24, 2005 - 05:29   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK.
Coming up in the next 30 minutes, the Pentagon wants to learn more about the so-called friendly-fire incident that killed Army Ranger Pat Tillman.

And getting tested for lung cancer, is it the right decision? Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look.

But first, "Now in the News."

President Bush takes his "Stay the Course" Iraq speech to a suburb of Boise, Idaho today. He'll speak to military personnel and their families. He'll also meet with some families who have lost relatives in the war.

The fate of hundreds of military bases and thousands of civilian workers is at stake. The commission deciding which military bases to close or realign begins voting today and hopes to complete its work before the weekend.

Tropical storm watch out for Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and the rest of southeast Florida and the Florida Keys.

Let's check in with Chad to find out more.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

COSTELLO: What's happening out there?

MYERS: Seven Mile Bridge all the way up to Vero Beach, that's where the tropical storm watch is. And the Hurricane Center even said this morning, they mentioned it in passing, that they may have to issue a hurricane watch instead if the storm gets bigger.

It's still a tropical depression. It's still Tropical Depression 12, but you can see the flare-up in the overnight hours of some of that deep convection, those brighter colors. It is forecast to pass over the Bahamas, make a left-hand turn, and somewhere very close to maybe Fort Lauderdale or Miami pass as a tropical storm somewhere in the neighborhood of 65 to 70 miles per hour, not a hurricane yet, but then get into the Gulf of Mexico.

Remember this, this is like a track from Andrew. Now the storm is not the same, but it's going to go across Florida, into the Gulf of Mexico and then gather strength.

And guess what, Carol, today is the 13th anniversary of Andrew. Ironic, isn't it?

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: President Bush is digging in his boots. He says the next chapter on Iraq will continue to include U.S. service members. This, despite the growing anti-war movement sparked by Cindy Sheehan whose son was killed in Iraq.

Our Dana Bash is covering the president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good morning.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The president gave no hint he'll meet again with Cindy Sheehan, but did offer a sharp rebuttal to her "Bring the Troops Home Now" message.

BUSH: I think immediate withdrawal from Iraq would be a mistake. I think those who advocate immediate withdrawal from, not only Iraq, but the Middle East, would be -- are advocating a policy that would weaken the United States.

BASH: But Bush aides concede her Crawford vigil garnered much more attention than they anticipated among an increasingly anxious public, and they're trying to beat it back.

BUSH: I understand her anguish. I've met with a lot of families. She doesn't represent the view of a lot of the families I have met with.

BASH: Protesters from Sheehan's anti-war group continue to follow the president here in Idaho.

Melanie House (ph) lost her husband in Iraq.

MELANIE HOUSE (ph), WIFE: I just really want to know why, why my husband had to die? For what reason? I really want the truth from President Bush.

BASH: Another key challenge for the White House, amid all of the violence, they had been able to hold public support for Iraq by touting clear progress towards democracy, like elections. The political story line now, missed deadlines and delays, as differing factions search for consensus on a constitution.

ANA MARIA ARUMI, POLLSTER: Will the constitution itself actually create stability? I think that the public has a fair amount of doubt on those regards.

BASH: The president pointed to America's own history and said, it's not easy.

BUSH: First of all, the fact that they're even writing a constitution is vastly different from living under the iron hand of a dictator.

BASH: And he challenged Iraq's Sunnis, a minority group yet to sign off on a draft constitution, to make a choice.

BUSH: Do they want to live in a society that's free or do they want to live in violence?

BASH (on camera): The president may not meet again with Cindy Sheehan, but he does have more than two hours on his schedule here in Idaho Wednesday to meet with families from around the country whose loved ones were killed in action.

Dana Bash, CNN, Boise, Idaho.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

The latest violence in Iraq is in the northern city of Baquba. Suicide bombing attack has killed seven people. One U.S. soldier and an American contractor working in Iraq are among the dead. Nine Task Force Liberty soldiers were also wounded in the strike.

Also reported, the death of a Task Force Baghdad soldier and two Marines in separate incidents. Those happened yesterday.

So 1,871 U.S. troops have died since the war began. Seventy- three Americans have been killed this month alone.

In that other war, Afghanistan, the parents of former pro football player turned Army Ranger, well, they're upset. They were told their son was killed fighting the Taliban. And, as you know, that turned out not to be true. He was actually killed in a friendly- fire incident.

Our national security correspondent David Ensor has more on the latest investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Pentagon's inspector general is reviewing the Army investigations into last year's friendly-fire killing of former football star Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, officials say. The move comes in response to bitter complaints from Tillman's parents.

His father, Patrick Tillman, told the "San Francisco Chronicle" that -- quote -- "The other investigations were frauds."

Tillman, who gave up a high-paying career with the National Football League to join Army Rangers, was killed in a remote area of eastern Afghanistan, and the Army first said he died in combat against Taliban guerrillas. He was awarded a Silver Star and a Purple Heart, lauded at his funeral by Senator John McCain, and praised as a role model by President Bush.

Six weeks later, the Army said he had been killed by mistake by members of his own company. As a result of earlier Army investigations, seven soldiers received reprimands, but none of them were high-ranking officers.

The Tillman's claim that one report they were shown indicated that top Pentagon brass, including General John Abizaid, head of Central Command, knew soon after Tillman's death that it was friendly- fire.

"Hopefully something will come out of this," Pat Tillman's mother, Mary, told the 'San Francisco Chronicle.' Many crucial things that happened did not come out in the earlier reports. People above should have been punished."

(on camera): The Army said in a statement some months ago that -- quote -- "procedural misjudgments and mistakes" led to an air of suspicion, and it said that no one intended to deceive the Tillman family or the public as to the cause of his death.

David Ensor, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Sure it's easy to say catch cancer early and you stand a better chance of survival, but these days the debate may be over how to best catch it. Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look for you next.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Wednesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Beautiful city, isn't it?

There is one thing about cancer that all doctors agree on, catch it early and your chances of survival are much better.

But as CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports, not all doctors agree on how to catch cancer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After the tragic news of Peter Jennings and Dana Reeve, it seems people have thought about lung cancer more than ever before. In fact, the number of calls to quit smoking hotlines went up by 50 percent as a result. Just about every smoker and former smoker was worried, more worried than normal. And many of them could relate directly to Peter Jennings.

MICKI MCCABE, LUNG CANCER SURVIVOR: We smoke, as Peter and I certainly know, that that was a big factor.

GUPTA: Micki McCabe had her own scare 12 years ago. It was a cough that wouldn't go away. So she decided to get it checked out by her doctor.

MCCABE: I had the CAT scan, which did seem to indicate that there were some tumors. I remember asking him then, did it seem very likely that I had lung cancer? He answered me very forthrightly that more than likely I did have lung cancer.

GUPTA: Micki was lucky. The CT, or CAT scan, did reveal lung cancer, but it was caught early enough that an operation was able to remove all of it. She was cured.

MCCABE: I'm certainly grateful to whatever spiritual forces are in the universe that were part of my getting a good break.

GUPTA: But it was more than just a spiritual force. Micki had demonstrated a basic tenet of medicine, catch cancer early and you're more likely to beat it. Not so fast says Dr. Sanjay Saini.

DR. SANJAY SAINI, EMORY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Whether or not CT -- lung cancer screening with CT does, in fact, save lives. We don't know the answer to that yet.

GUPTA: He buys into the idea that catching cancer is good, but...

SAINI: Unfortunately, as you look inside the human body, there are things that we find that can be potentially bad, but we also find things that are of no consequence.

GUPTA: And it's those inconsequential findings that bring into question just how useful CT scans are. We call them false positive results. And they're estimated to occur somewhere between 25 to 70 percent of the time.

SAINI: The patient ends up having other tests done, potentially even surgery done, to determine what that is. And that's a downside risk to the patient.

GUPTA: Dr. Len Horovitz says that may be true, but it's still worth the risk.

DR. LEN HOROVITZ, LENOX HILL HOSPITAL: If there's a 25 percent false negative rate, that means that there's a 75 percent positive rate.

GUPTA: And he points out another possible virtue of a false positive, simply having any kind of abnormality, even if it turns out to be nothing bad, can still scare people enough to make them stop smoking.

But as it stands now, organized medicine hasn't yet decided whether CT scans should be as common as mammograms for breast cancer or a colonoscopy for colon cancer. Recommendations like that could still be years away.

Micki McCabe, though, didn't wait for any recommendations. She's convinced that she's alive today because of one scan years ago.

MCCABE: The early detection probably is why I'm talking to you now.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And stay close, in the next hour of DAYBREAK, we'll talk to Lisa Drayer from "Women's Health" magazine. She's covering the leading cause of cancer in women. We'll talk about ways to protect yourself against colorectal cancer. That's the third deadliest cancer among women.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:43 Eastern, here's what's all new this morning.

Forty-one are dead after a Peruvian passenger plane crashed just short of an airport. Pilot was apparently trying to make an emergency landing. Eleven Americans were reportedly onboard. One of them is confirmed dead, two others are still missing.

Do you know this face? He will be the new voice of the FBI. Former network TV reporter John Miller has been named the bureau's chief spokesman. He's also served as a senior police official in Los Angeles and New York.

In money news, get ready for Google Talk. The search engine is going to provide text instant messaging and computer-to-computer voice chat. Google hopes to attract more users.

In culture, actress Scarlett Johansson is so fed up with the paparazzi that she has left Los Angeles. Her publicist says she was involved in a minor car crash last week while trying to get away from photographers.

In sports, the NCAA backs off on Florida State University. It has removed the school from a list of 18 schools restricted for using a Native American name.

So, Chad, the Seminoles are still the Seminoles.

MYERS: Correct, because the Seminole Nation Indian gave them their blessing because it is not a warring-type thing, you know. So I don't know.

COSTELLO: Like the Redskins, perhaps.

MYERS: I don't know.

COSTELLO: Well, according to the critics, they say Redskins is a derogatory term. Seminoles is apparently not because it's the name of an Indian tribe. MYERS: Correct. And we'll also obviously find out about the Gamecocks thing with (UNINTELLIGIBLE) see how that's going, too. My goodness, we're all going to be called like vegetables. It's going to be like the Ohio Tomatoes.

Anyway, here's your story right here. This is Tropical Depression 12. It is going to affect southern Florida. This storm is going to move to the north and to the northwest. It is then going to pass very close to Miami, Fort Lauderdale as a tropical storm so far. Could be stronger, could be a hurricane, but that's not the forecast. About 65 miles per hour as it makes landfall Friday morning, late Thursday night, Friday morning in Florida.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thanks, Chad.

That's a look at the latest headlines for you this morning.

Still ahead, just who is Hugo Chavez and why is Pat Robertson so darn mad at him? We'll learn more about the leader of Venezuela next.

And remember, our e-mail "Question of the Morning," we would like to hear what you think about Pat Robertson's comment: should there be consequences for calling for an assassination on a world leader? E- mail us at DAYBREAK@CNN.com. We'll get to your e-mails in just a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We have been talking this morning about those controversial comments made by Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson. You know, like calling for the United States to assassinate Venezuela's president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT ROBERTSON, CHRISTIAN BROADCASTER: He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy and he's going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent. You know I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Now on last night's "700 Club," Robertson continued the rhetoric by speculating about Islamic terrorism in the Bible. He observed that Muslims see themselves as descendants of Abraham's son Ishmael. And he went on to say -- and I quote -- "The Bible talks about Ishmael as being 'a wild ass.' He's just uncontrollable, and it's almost like this seed of rebellion and uncontrolled anger has, you know, seeped into these people."

In the meantime, Hugo Chavez says all the uproar over Robertson's remarks is a whole of hot air to him. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. HUGO CHAVEZ, VENEZUELA (through translator): I don't know who that person is. I don't know him. And as far as his opinion of me goes, I couldn't care less.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So what's the deal with Hugo Chavez? What's his beef with the United States? And what about his latest threat to cut off Venezuelan oil imports to the United States?

We want to get some answers now from Michael Reid. He's the Americas Editor for "The Economist" magazine.

Good morning -- Michael.

MICHAEL REID, AMERICAS EDITOR, "THE ECONOMIST": Good morning.

COSTELLO: First of all, tell us about Hugo Chavez, his personality. His best friend appears to be Fidel Castro. He's made some very colorful comments about President Bush, some of which I can't even mention on the air this morning. So tell us about the man.

REID: Well, he has a big mouth. He's a former Army officer. He's, in many ways, a typical Latin American nationalist populist. And he's twice been elected president of Venezuela, let's remember, and he won a recall referendum, a California-style recall referendum, last year. And he's very popular. And that's mainly because the oil price is high, but partly because he's channeling some of that money towards social programs for the poor.

COSTELLO: Yes, he sort of plays like he's a persecuted tough guy, doesn't he? So maybe Pat Robertson's comments are playing right into his hands in making him appear bigger than he is among the people who like him best within his own country.

REID: I am sure that this morning he's offering up a prayer of thanks to Mr. Robertson. He just loves being the bogeyman of the United States. That's why he makes all these verbal provocations. And when they're -- when people in the United States, in the government or outside it, respond in that way, then he presents himself as, you know, the persecuted leader of Latin America in relation to what he says is American imperialism.

COSTELLO: Well you know he -- I guess he offers oil to Cuba at discounted rates. He wants to, like, maybe supply more oil to China. He has threatened to cut off imports to the United States. Is he really serious about that?

REID: Well, so far his government has insisted that it will continue to supply oil to the United States. He's talked to China about building a pipeline across Colombia to the Pacific Ocean in order to switch Venezuela's oil exports from the United States to China. But that will cost Venezuela money, and so far he hasn't actually done anything in that respect. Yes, it's true that he's become a very good friend of Fidel Castro and has, in a sense, helped Fidel Castro to break the American trade embargo by supplying him with a large amount of subsidized oil. But he's continued to supply the United States, and Venezuela is indeed an important oil supplier to America.

COSTELLO: Well he makes a lot of money off America, but I mean is there any real threat that he may stop selling to the United States?

REID: I think, at this stage, I mean, he -- Mr. Chavez clearly needs to be watched. But I think so far, as I say, it would -- there's not much sign that he actually intends to halt oil exports to the United States because it would cost him money as well.

COSTELLO: Got you.

REID: And because of the nature of his regime, his popularity depends on him pumping more and more oil money into social programs and so forth. It's a very inefficient government. By all accounts, it's quite a corrupt government. And he needs all the cash he can get to stay in power.

COSTELLO: Michael Reid, thank you so much for joining DAYBREAK. You've helped us understand a lot more about Venezuela and Hugo Chavez, and we appreciate it.

Which brings us to our e-mail "Question of the Morning" -- Chad.

MYERS: Next time you fill up with gas, think about where that oil is coming from.

And the "Question of the Day" is what should happen, should there be any consequences for Pat Robertson? You can still go to CNN.com. Go to DAYBREAK@CNN.com or go to CNN.com/DAYBREAK and there's a little link there. You can send it to us either way.

From James (ph) in Ohio, Pat Robertson is telling it like it is and we all know it.

From Faith (ph), Pat Robertson must have forgotten to put on his what would Jesus do bracelet.

And from Suzanne (ph) in D.C., I think Mr. Robertson is a lucky man. Had he been a devoutly religious Muslim man living in the U.S., he'd most likely be spirited away during the night and find himself an indefinite guest at Gitmo.

Ernie (ph), I don't understand what all the fuss is about. I agree with his comments made by about Hugo Chavez. I only wonder why Fidel Castro wasn't included in the plan. Punish the people who are sending money to Pat Robertson just like Osama bin Laden. He's nothing but a terrorist. Whew!

COSTELLO: Whew! MYERS: And from A. -- I'll just -- I don't want to put the last name out there, but that's OK. He has my vote. We need something to talk about in this U.S. You know we need someone to speak for us. Anyway, God knows Rumsfeld won't, he says. Thank you for listening.

And it's been a busy day here. It's clicking away.

COSTELLO: It has.

MYERS: I'll tell you what, though, it's been hard to find positive ones. I really did have to search through to look for some positive ones, and I did, because I wanted it to be a little bit fair, a little bit even. But there have -- this thing...

COSTELLO: Well you know most Americans don't approve of murder.

MYERS: I agree.

COSTELLO: Yes.

Thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: In the next hour of DAYBREAK, we've all heard of GPS, but do you really need one? The lowdown on this high-tech equipment is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In "Entertainment Headlines" for you this morning, Spanish singer Bebe gets five Latin Grammy nominations for her debut album. The Latin Grammys will be handed out November 3 in Los Angeles. The show now in its sixth year.

Actor Brock Peters has died at the age of 78. He's best known for his performance as accused rapist Tom Robinson in "To Kill A Mocking Bird." Peters had been battling pancreatic cancer since January.

Stars have the most incredible body parts. "Spin" magazine says Madonna's belly button tops the list. Also ranking in this exclusive list of 25, Tina Turner's legs, Gene Simmons' tongue, Bruce Springsteen's rear end and Elvis' pelvis.

I'm still thinking about Madonna's belly button. It's too early in the morning for that, isn't it?

You can get more entertainment news every night on "ShowBiz Tonight." That's at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Headline News.

The next hour of DAYBREAK starts in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is Wednesday, August 24. And it's crunch time for military families across the United States. The fate of hundreds of bases, military bases, hangs in the balance. Some will shrink, some will expand and some will get the Pentagon's ax.

Also, trading shots, Pat Robertson says let's kill him. Hugo Chavez says Pat who?

And the government wants you to get more miles to the gallon, but will that mean less pain at the pump?

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