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American Morning
War In Iraq; No Confidence Vote; Jeffs In Utah Court; America Votes 2006
Aired September 06, 2006 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Brewing over the war on terror. President Bush today is going to deliver his third in a series of speeches on the subject. This as Senate Democrats are set to introduce a no confidence resolution on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. New CNN poll numbers out this morning, as well, and show only about a quarter of those surveyed support the war. We begin this morning with CNN's Kathleen Koch. She's live for us at the White House.
Hey, Kathleen, good morning.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
And the president, in his speech this afternoon, will be focusing on finding a new way to try the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. As you'll remember back in June, the U.S. Supreme Court handed the White House a stinging defeat when it ruled that the military tribunals that the administration had set up to handle those cases was illegal. The Supreme Court said not only did they fail to meet U.S., military or international justice standards, but they were not authorize by Congress.
So President Bush, this afternoon, will try to remedy the latter. We're hearing from Capitol Hill that draft legislation has been circulating there. A spokesman for Senator John Warner says that they have been working cooperatively with the administration on that, though they do have what he says are "somewhat different views." So we're told that after the president finishes speaking this afternoon, he will send his own proposed version of the bill up to Capitol Hill.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Kathleen, is there any indication, really, and maybe it's something that can't be answered in the short term but only in the long term, but any indication that the speeches help the president?
KOCH: Soledad, there's no real yardstick on that yet. The latest polls that CNN and other news organizations have taken were really right before the speeches began. But those polls, I think, are very revealing. For instance, they found that 76 percent of those surveyed were angry with how things were going in the country. Only 41 percent of those surveyed approved of the job that the president is doing. So certainly the hope here at the White House is that these series of speeches will begin to turn those numbers around.
S. O'BRIEN: All right. Kathleen Koch at the White House for us this morning.
Kathleen, thanks.
KOCH: You bet.
S. O'BRIEN: CNN is going to have live coverage of the president's speech today. That's a 1:45 p.m. Eastern, 10:45, of course, on the West Coast.
Bloodshed in Iraq not letting up today. Bombings in Baghdad killed at least six people. Dozens more were wounded by a car bomb and a roadside bomb as well. And separately, 19 bodies were found across the capital overnight. Over the last 48 hours, 65 bodies have been found around Baghdad. Most of them showing signs of torture.
A new CNN poll released this morning show that there are still lots of pessimism about Iraq. The poll, done by Opinion Research Corporation for CNN, shows that almost 40 percent favor the war in Iraq, while 58 percent oppose it. Down from mid August when more than 60 percent of respondents said they opposed the war.
And asked if Iraq is part of the war on terrorism, 53 percent say, no, it's not and 45 percent say, yes, it is.
When asked the question, who's winning, a quarter of those surveyed said the U.S. More than 10 percent say the insurgents. Majority, though, 62 percent, say neither side is winning.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A full frontal legislative attack on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Senate Democrats pushing a no confidence vote on Rumsfeld today. But will the measure be nipped in the bud by Republicans. Our congressional correspondent Andrea Koppel live now from Capitol Hill with more.
Good morning, Andrea.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.
Well, Senate Democrats, led by Harry Reid, intend to offer what's known as a Sense of the Senate Resolution, which, if passed, would really only expressed the opinion of the Senate. It wouldn't have the force of law. It's been billed by Democrats as a significant political move against both the Bush administration, Iraq policy, as well as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. According to a senior Democratic leadership aide, the resolution would say that it had no confidence in the Bush administration's national security policies, nor the secretary of defense's ability to carry out the job.
Now if that sounds familiar, it should. Because earlier this week you'll remember there were about a dozen leading House and Senate Democrats who sent a letter to President Bush expressing that very sentiment. This is going to be offered as an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill, essentially the Pentagon's budget for next year, which is being debated on the floor right now, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: What are the chances of this resolution actually passing? And for that matter actually even getting to a vote?
KOPPEL: Not very likely. What you could have is up to a couple of days of debate, which could be highly embarrassing, both for the White House and for Secretary Rumsfeld. But because it's being offered to an appropriations bill for parliamentary reasons, Republicans can rule it out of order as not germane to the issue at hand. Nevertheless, Bill Frist yesterday, the Senate majority leader, was still expressing some hope that the Democrats would not move to offer this resolution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BILL FRIST, (R) MAJORITY LEADER: If they want to inject, which is a purely partisan, political amendment or resolution, I will address it. Until they do so, I'm not going to sit here and hypothesize how I would have to deal with something. I just hope that they don't do it.
These times are too important. And I think what we saw again with this threat from two weeks ago, as we reflect in five days on what happened five years ago in this country with the many thousands of people whose lives were shattered, for that sort of political gamesmanship on the floor is uncalled for and I think very undignified.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOPPEL: You'll notice that Senator Frist didn't exactly offer a rousing defense of Secretary Rumsfeld and that was no accident, Miles. According to one Republican aide I spoke with, most conservative Republicans aren't exactly enthusiastic about Rumsfeld. They feel that he's become a political liability, especially with midterm elections around the corner. But for that very reason they feel they need to close ranks around the president, the White House and around Secretary Rumsfeld.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Andrea Koppel on Capitol Hill. Thank you very much.
We're going to hear more from the Senate majority leader. Bill Frist will join us late this hour. And we'll talk with Illinois Senator Dick Durbin in the 8:00 hour.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: The footage of the crocodile hunter Steve Irwin's death should be destroyed says his producer. John Stainton vowed to CNN's Larry King "it will never see the light of day." Funeral arrangements are still being finalized. Irwin's father explained why the family has turned down an offer of a state funeral.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB IRWIN, STEVE IRWIN'S FATHER: The state funeral would be refused because he's an ordinary guy. He's just an ordinary bloke. And he wants to be remembered as an ordinary bloke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: The Australian government is reportedly considering a national memorial service and a national park in Irwin's name.
Polygamist cult leader Warren Jeffs is scheduled to make his first court appearance in Utah today. Jeffs was transferred to the Purgatory Correctional Facility from Las Vegas yesterday. He faces several felony sex charges. CNN's Peter Viles is in St. George, Utah, for us this morning.
Hey, Peter, good morning.
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Warren Jeffs, as you say, brought by helicopter from Las Vegas, where he was arrested last week, to St. George, Utah, where he will ultimately face accomplice to rape charges. He was checked into the Purgatory Correctional Facility. That happens to be the name of the jail here in Washington County. And by all accounts he's been a pretty good prisoner so far. The sheriff says he was "cooperative, compliant, very meek and very passive."
Now if he is all those things, why all the extra security? Why transport him by helicopter? Why extra security at the jail? The sheriff took on this question. He said the issue here is not just how is Warren Jeffs going to behave, but all those people who follow him and believe him to be a prophet. And remember, he has thousands and thousands of followers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF KIRK SMITH, WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH: When you deal with religious extremists, you really don't know what to expect. Our job in law enforcement is worse case scenario. And that's what we sit around and worry about all the time. And we don't want to have happen, so we want to be prepared. So we were just thinking and our whole thought process is just to make sure -- our whole goal in this thing is to get Mr. Jeffs here, get him through his court proceeding and then on to whatever waits after that, whether it's the department of corrections or freedom, whatever the jury decides.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VILES: Now that legal process leading to a jury decision begins today here in St. Georges. Jeffs will appear in court here at 1:00 local time but he won't physically be here. They do this by a video hook-up. So he'll be in the jail and will see and hear the judge and the judge will see and hear him over video.
And this initial appearance not really legally significant. It's the time where the county says you are being held on a crime. You do understand that anything you say or do will be used against you.
We do understand Warren Jeff, for the first time, will have legal representative. A Las Vegas defense attorney named Richard Wright. And the charge against him are serious. Two counts of accomplice to rape. The charge essentially that he forced or encouraged a teenage girl into marriage with an older man against her will. We don't know the girls age. But she was somewhere between 14 and 18 when this allegedly happened.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Peter, a quick question.
VILES: Sure.
S. O'BRIEN: What do we know about this attorney? Who is he? I never heard of him.
VILES: Richard Wright is known in Las Vegas. He's considered to be a prominent defense attorney in Las Vegas. Had defend a politician there on corruption charges. He's certainly not prominent nationally. But when we heard his name last night, we went to our television affiliates in Las Vegas, said what can you tell us about this guy and they said he almost never, ever speaks to the news media. So we don't expect to hear a lot from Richard Wright, which would be in keeping with this church which does not tend to make its case in the news media.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Interesting. Again, that's Pete Viles for us this morning.
Thanks, Peter.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Happening in America.
In New York, a mammoth manhunt goes on for escaped inmate and suspected state trooper killer Ralph "Bucky" Phillips. Police investigating two attempted break-ins in areas of Pennsylvania just across the western New York border. Police are asking the public to keep their eyes open and their doors locked.
In Maine, police are calling it the worst homicide case in 14 years. A 31-year-old man in jail this morning. Police say he's charged with shooting and dismembering the owner of a bed and breakfast where he was staying. He also is charged with the murders of the owner's daughter and her friend who happened to walk in at the time and another man as well.
In Las Angeles, along Fred Goldman, the father of the man O.J. Simpson was accused of killing, is suing for the rights to Simpson's name, image and likeness. Simpson acquitted in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Their families later won a civil suit, though, and a $33.5 million judgment. Goldman's father says Simpson has never paid a dime and wants to take away Simpson's fame. Was there a warning before that deadly Comair crash in Lexington, Kentucky? According to an Associated Press report, a control tower supervisor there wrote a memo a couple of years ago that said there was a staff shortage that could cost lives. There was only one controller on duty when that Comair jet took off on the wrong runway killing 49.
For students in Detroit, summer just got extended. A teacher strike canceling public school indefinitely. A judge ordered both sides to return to the bargaining table this morning. Day nine of the strike. Yesterday was supposed to be the first day of classes.
And look at these happy faces here. Sixteen Fort Myers nurses who just won Saturday's $6 million Florida lottery jackpot. Should get their money later today. They filed paperwork in Tallahassee yesterday opting, of course, for the lump sum payout of $3.4 million. After taxes they'll take home about $160,000 apiece.
At CBS headquarters in New York, Katie Couric soon to be getting ready for a much less anticipated second day at the anchor desk. Her first broadcast at the helm of the CBS "Evening News," she opened with an investigative report there and she also broke some news with a long awaited first photo of Suri Cruise, the daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.
A fuel cell problem. That is what is forcing NASA to delay today's scheduled launch of the space shuttle Atlantis. It's already been delayed a couple of times. Once because of a lightning strike, again because of Tropical Storm Ernesto. Their hope is they can try again tomorrow, but to early to tell if they can make that deadline.
Let's get a check of the forecast. Chad Myers at the Weather Center with that.
Hello, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Miles, is this like a fuel cell that you might be able to put in a car some day? You know we're talking about the hydrogen cell? It makes electricity?
M. O'BRIEN: Exactly. Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen mixed together make electricity. And they're dangerous. If you'll recall Apollo 13, what blew up, a few cell. So they are kind of volatile and it can be a little bit quirky. So they're going to want to make sure they fix it. And it's also buried deep beneath the payload bay.
MYERS: Oh, is that right? Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: To have to get to it, they have to roll it back.
MYERS: Right. You want to make sure that works.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Hey, what do you think of these pictures we've seen of little Suri Cruise.
MYERS: I don't know. Yes, I don't know. Lots of hair.
S. O'BRIEN: What do you mean, you don't know. The right answer when someone says, is it a cute baby is, why, yes, all babies are cute.
MYERS: Oh, of course it's a cute baby.
S. O'BRIEN: There you go. Very good.
MYERS: But I think it's a two-year-old.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, that's just because she's got a lot of hair. The mystery of little Suri Cruise. There she is on the cover of "Vanity Fair" with her mom and her dad.
MYERS: Very nice.
S. O'BRIEN: She was born four and a half months ago. You can have that much hair in four and a half months. Never been seen in public. So there was a lot of mystery surrounding her. But finally these first photos have been revealed right on the front page. Twenty-two-page spread, Chad, of Suri and her famous parents, of course, Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise. Tonight on "Larry King Live" you can see all 22 photos. I don't think she looks like an old baby.
M. O'BRIEN: Mature. Mature.
S. O'BRIEN: The head of hair does that to you.
M. O'BRIEN: You know how some babies who have seem as if they have a little more wisdom than their months would allow.
S. O'BRIEN: Cute baby, that's all you want to say.
M. O'BRIEN: That's all you ever say is cute, Chad. You know, why did you get us started down the road.
MYERS: Oh, you know.
M. O'BRIEN: It's all your fault. Every . . .
MYERS: It's always my fault (INAUDIBLE).
M. O'BRIEN: Make a policy never to discuss these things with you.
S. O'BRIEN: It's a beautiful baby. Moving on. moving on. A beautiful baby with a big old head of hair.
MYERS: There you go.
M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program. With President Bush down in the polls, Republicans using a new campaign strategy to try and keep both houses of Congress. We'll tell you about it. S. O'BRIEN: And is your health at risk if you're being treated by an overworked doctor? Sanjay Gupta's got a new study straight ahead.
M. O'BRIEN: A royal baby boy is born in Japan and all that talk about changing the rules to allow a girl to take the thrown, all that's derailed for now. We'll tell you about that coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: The midterm election campaign is heating up and our new poll is out today. It says if the vote is a referendum on the president and the war in Iraq, that spells trouble for Republicans. I guess that's not exactly a news flash. But senior political correspondent Candy Crowley is here to flush that out a little bit for us.
Hello, Candy.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.
There are more than 420 House seats and a third of Senate seats on the battle this fall. Democrats say, when you add them all up, it is one big proxy race.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY, (voice over): Though a lot of voters are angry with George Bush, he's not on the ballot this year, but it's bad news for Republicans who are. And it is the core of Democratic strategy.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER, (D) NEW YORK: George Bush, and his acolyte Mike Dewine, just care about the people at the very, very top.
CROWLEY: Republican Mike Dewine is the senior senator from Ohio. He struggles against a rip current which threatens to pull under Republicans nationwide. CNN and Opinion Research Corporation asked voters whether they were more or less likely to vote for pro-Bush candidates. Message, there is a price for an R after your name.
JENNIFER DUFFY, THE COOK POLITICAL REPORT: You mostly see incumbents telling voters, I will be with the president when I agree with him, but I won't be with him when I don't.
CROWLEY: Sherrod Brown is a Democratic House member gunning for Dewine's Senate seat.
REP. SHERROD BROWN, (D) OHIO: Mike Dewine voted for the Iraq War and I voted against the Iraq War.
CROWLEY: Ohio ranks fifth in states with the highest number of Iraq War dead. And, like the rest of the nation, has seen the downward spiral of support for the president and the Iraq War. The president and Iraq, Republicans and the president. They are inextricably linked. JOHN GREEN, UNIVERSITY OF AKRON: Most Ohioans realize that Senator Dewine is not in charge of the war effort. But he's a strong supporters of the Bush administration and many people do hold President Bush accountable for the problems in Iraq.
CROWLEY: Republicans counter the Iraq attacks with what they hope is their campaign ace card -- the war against terror.
SEN. MIKE DEWINE, (R) OHIO: I voted for the Patriot Act to find and stop the terrorists. It make as difference. Sherrod Brown voted to deny these tools to our terrorists fighters.
CROWLEY: And as the president stumps the country insisting that Iraq is part of the war on terror, he is echoed on the Republican campaign trail in word and in pictures. 9/11 Mayor Rudy Giuliani has left the streets of New York for Republican hustings everywhere.
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: We are interested in Senator Dewine being re-elected all over the country because he's someone who's a leader in the effort against terrorism.
CROWLEY: Bottom line, we are better at protecting you. It worked for Republicans in '02 and '04. They hope it will drive their discouraged voters to the polls in '06. Except that something is different now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He failed us on the Intelligence Committee before 9/11 and on weapons of mass destruction.
CROWLEY: Instead of avoiding the issue of the war on terror, Democrats are taking it on. Convinced that this time Republican arguments won't work on a hardened electorate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: And while Republicans don't deny the Bush/Iraq factor on the race, they argue and fervently hope these races will come down to the names on the ballot.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, the Republican argument about national security obviously resonates with voters. But the big Achilles heel is the war in Iraq. So linking Iraq to the war on terror is the key thing, isn't it?
CROWLEY: Absolutely. I mean, and that's -- I mean if the president, and again he's had a lot of luck on this in the past, can link them together, then he's succeeding. What's interesting is that the numbers across the board for the president have gone down and even so far as he has succeed in linking Iraq to the war on terror, his numbers on the war on terror have fallen. And that's what emboldened the Democrats, if you will (ph).
M. O'BRIEN: And as he said yesterday, people -- you know, there's a lot of issues in play. And one of the other issues is the economy. And that might cut against the Republicans. CROWLEY: Absolutely. And you know it's the economy -- the economy's an issue in all the wrong places for Republicans. It's in Indiana. It's in portions of Ohio. It's in Michigan. So in places where they've often looked to -- certainly in Indiana and Ohio -- for support and for a lot of their members of the house, they're in some huge, horrible races because the economy, particularly in that area of the country, has turned sour.
M. O'BRIEN: Finally, will there be some social issues? Discussion of morality, you think, that will come. Maybe . . .
CROWLEY: Well, there are lots of ballot issues on the ballot. And, in fact, you've got abortion and in South Dakota. If it's passed, it will be one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. You've got imminent domain. You have gay marriage again. So these are kind of race drivers that bring people to the polls and so Republicans are hoping that some of those issues will bring out their voters even if the candidates don't.
M. O'BRIEN: Candy Crowley, thanks for dropping by again.
CROWLEY: Absolutely.
M. O'BRIEN: We appreciate you being here.
She's part of the best political team on television.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, Democrats taking aim at Donald Rumsfeld. Republican leaders standing firm, though, in their support of the defense secretary. We're going to talk live to Senator Majority Leader Bill Frist just head.
And Ford taps an aviation veteran in an effort to pull the company out of its financial tailspin. We're "Minding Your Business" ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Ford going outside the company, outside the family, for a new CEO. Gerri Willis is here with details.
Hello, Gerri.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, guys, good to see you.
Bill Ford, great grandson of Henry Ford, steps down as CEO of the struggling automaker. Now he told the board in July that he was wearing too many hats and they began a search for someone who had already fixed a large but struggling manufacturing company. Now the big winner today, Alan Mulally is the new replacement. He was executive vice president at Boeing and known for helping Boeing though its struggles after the 9/11 attacks. Now notable here, Mulally was past over for the Boeing CEO job just last year. He'd been with the company for 37 years. As for Ford, he's going to remain executive chairman to help with the strategy. He took over the company in 2001 and since then the stock has lost 40 percent of its value. The company lost 1.4 billion in the first half of the year. And he designed this company's way forward plan, turn around plan, not a big success. So far it hasn't revived the company. Under the plan, Ford will cut up to 30,000 jobs and close 14 plants by 2012.
Now it's notable that Mulally is probably a second choice here. Ford had been widely quoted as saying that Carlos Ghosn of Renault and Nissan would have been a good fit for the company. And one final note that I just want to mention here. Mulally, who drives a Lexus, made by Toyota, probably going to get a new car.
S. O'BRIEN: I was going to say, no, he doesn't.
M. O'BRIEN: Not anymore.
S. O'BRIEN: No, he doesn't.
WILLIS: Changing.
M. O'BRIEN: Jaguar's good. Yes, that's a Ford product.
It's interesting, though, that that came along. This guy has the turnaround credentials, but he's got a big job ahead. Will there be a new way forward there likely?
WILLIS: Well, I think you've got to think about what is the hybrid strategy, for example. You know, Toyota leading the charge here. Where is Ford? Where are the American automakers? Seems like a turnaround plan would have that at the center of it. We're still waiting to see. You've got to build cars that people want to buy at the end of the day.
S. O'BRIEN: Ford has said they're not going to change from the turnaround plan unless the new guy really has a problem with it. So we'll see if he sticks to it (ph).
M. O'BRIEN: We'll see.
WILLIS: Well, and the new guy doesn't really have experience in the auto industry. He's out of Boeing, which is an interesting thing.
M. O'BRIEN: Interesting indeed.
All right. And up next?
WILLIS: Up next, we're going to talk about oil. We'll talk about what's up in the oil industry. There's a big find. We're going to tell you all about it.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you, Gerri.
S. O'BRIEN: Still ahead this morning on AMERICAN MORNING, driven to succeed. But what costs to us? Are medical interns being pushed too far as they learn the ropes? We've got a report from Dr. Sanjay Gupta just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Welcome back. I'm Miles O'Brien.
S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: Today in the Senate, Democrats will begin pushing for a no-confidence vote in Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Republican leaders might nip the idea in the bud. It comes as support for the war wanes and the campaign season heats up, as well.
Joining us now from Washington is the Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
Senator Frist, good to have you back with us.
SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: Good to be with you, Miles. Thank you.
M. O'BRIEN: One of the big criticisms of the secretary of defense is that initially and throughout the course of the war, there haven't been enough so-called boots on the ground, enough forces in Iraq. Even Senator McCain has talked about this quite frequently.
Do we have enough troops in Iraq to fight this war?
FRIST: You know, I believe that we do, but I'm going to give the same answer that Secretary Rumsfeld gives and the president gives, because it is the right answer, and that is, that determination needs to be made by those people who are on the ground, the boots on the ground, the people who can do the surveillance every day, that are there everyday, who are experts, and that is the generals who are in Iraq today, and those are the troops that are provided. They need to make that determination. And whatever they request is provided.
M. O'BRIEN: But by many accounts what you hear is that they are very much stretched thin, and not able to answer the -- respond to the insurgency in the ways they would like to.
FRIST: Well, all I can say again is to go back and say what is needed on the ground is being provided, and that is who we need to listen to, and it's a far cry from what we hear on the floor of the Senate, which is this cut and run, this redeployment, this arbitrary -- arbitrary -- withdrawal of troops from certain areas. It doesn't make sense to me. We're going to continue to listen to those generals who are on the ground.
M. O'BRIEN: OK, let's listen to the president yesterday -- or the other day for just a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: Bin Laden and his terrorist allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them. The question is, will we listen? Will we pay attention to what these evil men say?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Now the president is equating the war on terror to World War II. And when we talk about commitment, World War II was an entirely different scale. There were about a million U.S. soldiers that served. There were 292,000 who were killed in World War II. If it is a threat of that scale, should the response, should the military response not be at that level?
FRIST: Miles, I don't think you can compare apples to oranges like that. I think what the president is saying and what Rumsfeld is saying, what I think it is important for us all to understand, is the moment in time in history that we've now set is very, very serious. That there are times in the past where it was very slow for the American public to come around and fully understand the importance of real challenges, and the challenges today are truly unprecedented. This rise of Islamic extremism we've never had to face, and I think that's the point they are making.
I think, real quickly, the playbook is out there, and the president yesterday, and I believe later this afternoon, is going to continue to layout what Zarqawi, Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden have told us and that is that the front is in Iraq, the front war on terror, that there intention to expand throughout the Middle East, and then to go after the U.S., and that playbook is a very important one for us to understand.
M. O'BRIEN: If the threat is tantamount to Hitler, though, are you at all concerned that the average American is not participating in this war in the way that we did in World War II, whether it was rationing or war bonds, or whatever the case, a draft? Are we sort of trying to fight this war without the commitment of the entire country?
FRIST: Well, Miles, I think what we need to continue to do right now is to make sure the entire country understand the significance of what is before us, something that is totally unprecedented, where we have fanatical entities, and sometimes states, that today are potentially oil rich, that could be even nuclear armed, and that have their intentions, their playbook, to take down the West. The American people don't fully understand that, and that is what we need to do today.
The resources that are required to address that, we need to rely on the experts, as we just talked about, generals on the ground, the people who are in the business. And I don't think we can go back to something 60 years ago, and say because they had x number of troops or x number of tanks, that's what we need today.
M. O'BRIEN: Let me ask you this, though, this rhetoric that comes from the administration and from the Republicans, it scares people, and in a sense that is the goal of terror to scare people. Does that play into the terrorists hands?
FRIST: Well, I'll tell you, right now we're all going to be reflecting -- we are reflecting what happened five years ago in this country, the death, the tragedy of 3,000 people. Now, is the reflection of that scaring people appropriately or inappropriately? I would say appropriately, because since that time, because of the action of the United States, 15 terrorist attacks against Americans have been disclosed,and that is progress. But they have not occurred, but they could have occurred,. and if they did, that is a tragedy, it's an assault on the West, it's an assault on the safety and security of the American families. So it is important that we realize this unprecedented challenge that we have before us that, yes, is going to take years in terms of the war on terrorism to ultimately win.
M. O'BRIEN: But what is the goal in scaring people in that way?
FRIST: The safety and security of the American people. Right now it is going to be very hard to fight aggressively. The playbook that's been laid out by Osama bin Laden, Zarqawi, Zawahiri, which is to take down the West and take down the Western values, it is going to be very hard to continue strongly supporting that endeavor, the fight for that -- to fight against that unless the American people fully understand -- fully understand -- what's at risk. Even what happened three weeks ago with those 10 airliners that were -- could have been loaded with explosives, with about 3,000 people onboard. People tend to even forget how close we came just now two to three weeks ago to have Americans, thousands of Americans, potentially die.
M. O'BRIEN: Final thought here. Do you have full confidence in the secretary of defense?
FRIST: I absolutely do. And you're going to see that displayed on the floor today if the Democrats bring it up. I have confidence. It takes bold leadership. It takes people who are very aggressive. And indeed he is doing just that, laying it on the line. It is important the American people understand the truth. He's laid it out, and he's aggressively acting.
M. O'BRIEN: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, thanks for being with us.
FRIST: Thank you. Good to be with you.
M. O'BRIEN: We'll get the other side of the issue from Democratic Senator Dick Durbin in our next hour of AMERICAN MORNING, 8:15 Eastern Time -- Soledad.
M. O'BRIEN: Overworked, sleep deprived young doctors, it's almost a cliche. How close is it to the truth? Why are rules limiting the hours interns can work be ignored. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has a look this morning at a couple of new studies.
Hey, Sanjay. Good morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm a little tired. Sorry, Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. You know, I'm curious about this. I thought this was something that had been resolved. This is not a new problems, residents -- interns rather overworking. Why are we still talking about it?
GUPTA: Well, it's all a sense of scale still. It's a lot better in so many ways than it is before, but it's interesting, most people recount their residencies as veterans remember war.
But now a couple of new studies still looking at specifically the excessive hours that residents are working, and also some of the risks.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's 7:00 a.m. Ben Walker is on his way to work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The morning will definitely be really busy.
GUPTA: But unlike most people, it won't be an eight hour day, but a 30-hour shift. Ben is a new doctor in his first few months of residency, often considered to be the most grueling of any medical career.
DR. BEN WALKER, FIRST-YEAR RESIDENT: You want to make sure things turn out OK for the person. And you want to stay extra, do whatever it takes.
GUPTA: And doing whatever it takes once meant that these interns worked around the clock without any limits, driven by their desire to gain medical experience. But in 2003 the medical industry put restrictions into place for the first time. Many say those restrictions are still not enough.
DR. CHRISTOPHER LANDRIGAN, BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL: For the most part the gut reaction of lay people in addressing the issue is that the system is crazy. They can't understand why a pilot is limited to eight hours, a trucker is limited to 11 hours, but a doctor is permitted to work 30 hours, and in fact that that's professionally endorsed.
GUPTA: A new study finds first-year doctors working 24 hours straight make five times as many serious diagnostic mistakes. They are far more likely to accidentally stab themselves with a needle or scalpel, or to get in a car accident while driving home after a marathon shift. Now there's no direct evidence that patient care will improve with fewer hours, but sleep expert Dr. Charles Czeisler has no doubt.
DR. CHARLES CZEISLER, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL: A doctor working for 24 hours straight is just as impaired as someone who's drunk.
GUPTA: In the United States a resident is not allowed to work more than 30 consecutive hours, and the weekly limit 80 hours when averaged over four weeks. But that's almost twice as many hours as any other country will allow.
The medical body that governs residency in the United States says 97 percent of them comply with the rules. But in a study in which residents were given anonymity, more than 80 percent of them said they falsely reported their hours to stay under the limit.
CZEISLER: Many trainees have told me they feel that they have to falsify their records.
GUPTA: But do better hours for residents mean the best care for patients?
Dr. Joyce Doyle is one of Ben Walker's supervisors, and recognizes that there is a constant balancing act with the work-hour limits.
DR. JOYCE DOYLE, EMORY HOSPITAL: What type of physician are we creating? It is a clock-punching type of doctor who is comfortable saying, well, my shift's over, I know you're sick, but it's time to go.
GUPTA: But for Ben and other young doctors, the pros of limiting hours outweigh the cons.
WALKER: We're at our best when we're fully rested.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: And the Institute of Medicine sort of estimates about 44,000 to 98,000 people a year are killed by medical errors. There is increasing evidence, Soledad, that that might, in part, due to the heavy work load of these doctors.
S. O'BRIEN: I heard the doctor in the piece, Sanjay, say do you want the kind of doctor who's going to clock out. But I mean, at some point, everybody clocks out, right? So isn't there a happy medium, maybe not working a 30-hour shift, and maybe not working a seven-hour shift, but something in between?
GUPTA: Well, yes. A lot of people thought the 30-hour shift was the happy medium. You got to remember, this is just a few years old. Before that was no work-hour limits, and it wasn't usual for docs to work a couple of days, for example, in a row. Honestly that was the way it was, in part, when I was training. So it's gotten better.
The hard part about this, Soledad, is that you've to balance that with the sort of the shift-work mentality. So you're taking care of a patient who may have complicated issues, and all of a sudden a new doctor comes in because the other doctor has quote, unquote "clocked out," may not know all the details of the patient's history, and that can be a problem as well. So continuity of care versus excessive hours. It's a tough balance.
S. O'BRIEN: And what point do the interns stop working so many hours? I mean, is it until you're an attending? Or what -- how many years do you have to work grueling hours?
GUPTA: Well, the interns years are notoriously the worst, mainly because there's a lot of every-other-night call, and that's where you get into these very long shifts. It does get better sort of mid residency. But you know, life for a lot of doctors can be like this, which is in part why the training is this way. A lot of senior doctors will say, well, it's actually easier in some ways being a resident now than it is in real life, because, I mean, we have continuity of care. We have to take care of these patients when they come in.
S. O'BRIEN: So there's maybe a big value in that. Sanjay Gupta with a look at two studies. Thanks, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Thank you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, the little prince. People in Japan are celebrating the first male heir to the royal thrown in more than 40 years. We'll take you live to Tokyo coming up next.
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S. O'BRIEN: They're celebrating a royal arrival in Japan this morning. More importantly the new baby boy has set aside the debate for now over the Japanese succession.
CNN's Atika Shubert is live in Tokyo for us.
Good morning, Atika.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
We had a chance to get out in the streets today and talk to people about their reaction, and everyone we spoke to seemed genuinely happy. One man actually tearing up at the news that a baby boy had finally been born into the imperial family.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was all over the streets, all over the TV, all over Japan. It's a boy. Japan's Princess Kiko, wife of Prince Akishino has delivered a new male heir, third in line to the throne, averting a succession crisis that plagued the world's longest running monarchy. Fans greeted the news with enthusiasm, hoisting fish-shaped banners into the sky to signify the birth of a boy.
"I have been waiting for this news in front of my TV since 7:00 a.m. in the morning," this man says. "Congratulations. I am really happy from the bottom of my heart. Japan is now secure."
But the imperial family itself greeted the news with typical royal cool. The emperor and empress were not even in town, away on royal business. They responded to cheers of congratulations with polite smiles and a written statement hours later.
The man tapped to become Japan's next prime minister, Shinja Abe (ph), waxed poetic about the new addition. "It feels refreshing, like the clear skies of autumn," he said, "despite gray clouds over Tokyo." He has reason to sound relieved. The imperial family, bound by Japan's Shinto religious tradition, has finally secured a male heir after a string of daughters, no need for the government to wrestle with the contentious issue of changing the succession law to allow a woman to become emperor.
That may bring some relief to Crown Prince Naruhito and his beleaguered wife, Princess Masako, under pressure to produce a boy of their own.
(on camera): People have been coming here to celebrate, and some of them say they're even hoping this new arrival will help to solve one of Japan's biggest problem, a declining birth rate. So will a royal baby help to inspire young Japanese to reproduce more? Maybe that's why the news extras are being sponsored by shops for baby products.
(voice-over): It may not solve everything, but Japanese seem to agree, a new royal baby, boy or girl, is good reason to celebrate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SHUBERT: Now, of course, the next big question here, Soledad, is when are the baby pictures coming out? But don't hold your breath. The Imperial Household Agency, which minds the royal family, is notorious for keeping a very tight leash on its charges. So we won't be expecting to see photos until at least another week, possibly later -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: No 22-page spread in "Vanity Fair" for that little baby.
Atika Shubert for us in Tokyo. Thanks, Atika -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, black gold, Texas tea, a major oil find in the Gulf of Mexico. Does that mean lower prices at the gas pump? Like today? Doubt it.
Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.
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