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Iran Seizes British Sailors and Marines; Presidential Candidates at Healthcare Forum; Death of Pat Tillman; Bush Denounces War Spending Bill; Iraqi Children of War; Iran Political U.S. Cartoons Pokes; Sleep Atmosphere; Veterinarian Speaks with CNN to Tell Us How to Take Care of Our Pets
Aired March 24, 2007 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: And congratulations to the new Miss USA.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with Fredricka Whitfield. You'll want to tune into her interview with the vet that she talked about.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Yeah, he'll answer your questions about the pet food recall, so send your questions now to weekends@cnn.com. Our Web site also can link you to a complete list of the recalled pet products.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: British sailors and marines held in Iran. What next in this international dispute?
And growing up in violence. What happens to the children?
And could your pet be sick? The vet is in the building and we're talking to him and we're taking all you e-mail questions, as well.
Well, today is Saturday March 24, I'm Fredricka Whitfield and you're in the NEWSROOM.
A defiant Iran remains at the center of an escalating diplomatic crisis at this hour. There are new worries about 15 seized British sailors and marines, they are now being held captive in Tehran. A state news report agency is saying that they confessed into straying into Iranian waters.
This as Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cancels his trip to the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council is expected to approve new sanctions aimed at pressuring Iran to suspend uranium enrichment. We begin our coverage in Tehran with Middle East correspondent, Aneesh Raman from Tehran -- Aneesh.
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, good afternoon. As you mentioned, word this morning from a top Iranian military commander that 15 British marines and sailors who where seized yesterday, have confessed to illegally entering Iranian waters, an act Iran is calling "blatant aggression."
Now, no more information was given on the confession. Iranian authorities also say they have evidence that they have discovered that proves the British military personnel knowingly went into Iranian waters.
No word when they will be released, as they mentioned, though we are told today that they are being held in Tehran.
For its part the British government, through the Ministry of Defense, strongly maintaining that its personnel were in Iraqi, not Iranian waters yesterday when up to six boats from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard came and seized their personnel.
Also the British government calling again for the immediate safe release of their personnel and their boat. CNN understands the British government is also putting pressure on regional governments in the Middle East to try and make that happen.
Now, just to remind viewers what happened yesterday morning that sparked this emerge standoff, in a waterway that is called to the Iraqis Shatt al-Arab, to the Iranians, Arvandrud, the British were out patrolling for smuggled goods. It's something they do often. They stay on the Iraqi side. The saw a boat they thought might have smuggled goods, 15 marines and sailors were sent to try and check the cargo. They finished that and then they say the Iranian boats showed up and took them into custody.
That waterway has been the source of conflicts and territorial disputes for centuries, it's a big reason Iran and Saddam's Iraq went toe war in the early 1980s and again, Fredricka, it has sparked a new flash point between tensions between Iran and West -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: So, this seems like a repeat performance, if you will, something like this happen in 2004. What was learned or are we seeing some of the same mistakes repeated -- Aneesh.
RAMAN: Yeah exaltedly. June 2004, in and around this same area where the incident took place yesterday, Shatt al-Arab, eight British military personnel were seized by the Iranians, they were held for three days during which they were broadcast on Iranian television, blindfolded. At the time, Iran contended, as it does now, that they had illegally crossed into the Iranian waters, at the time, as it does now.
The British government maintained no, they were, in fact, in Iraqi waters at the behest of the Iraqi government. If we look to the past as a predictor, we expect that these British military personnel will be released in a matter of days and not week, but of course a lot has changed since June 2004 in terms of Iran's tensions with the world community. No one knows quite how that might factor into all of this -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Aneesh Raman in Tehran thanks so much.
Let's go now to Robin Oakley in London.
So Robin, maybe you can answer the question, how is it something like this could happen again?
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well indeed, Fredricka, there's a lot of suspicion this question not of military maneuvers, and of course Iran has been conducting naval exercises in the area, but of political maneuvers. Ahead of that U.N. Security Council vote on sanctions -- stiffening sanctions against Iran to persuade it not to -- or to persuade to suspend its uranium enrichment program, which the West fears is leading onto a nuclear weapons program, in which Iran, of course, says is for strictly civil nuclear purposes -- for energy purposes.
There's been a meeting this afternoon between one of the foreign office ministers here, David Treesman and the Iranian ambassador. Now yesterday, Margaret Beckett, the British foreign secretary, said the meeting with the ambassador had been "brisk but polite," which really, when you strip away the diplomatic language means they are saying: what the heck are you doing?
Today, the talks were described as "frank and friendly," which I suppose you would upgrade to saying: Well, we don't much like what you're saying, but at least we're willing to listen to you say it -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Robin Oakley in London, thanks so much.
All this making place as the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, makes some plan -- adjustments. He has canceled his trip to the U.N. and he won't be defending his country's nuclear program before the Security Council today, a vote to punish Iran's defiance is expected to begin about three hours from now. Our senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth is following these developments and he joins us from New York -- Richard.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, despite the lack of President Ahmadinejad presence, the fact remains this is a crisis that continues to simmer between the international community, the U.N. and Iran.
At the United Nations Security Council, in a couple of hours, more sanctions will be imposed on the Tehran regime. These are calibrated to put more pressure on the government, though it doesn't appear it will have much impact. Iran has already derived and denounced the Security Council as illegitimate.
U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff was asked about the failure of the Iranian president to come to the chamber as he had long pledged to confront his accusers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMB ALEJANDRO D. WOLFF, ACTING U.S. AMB TO U.N.: President Ahmadinejad still has time to come and attend the meeting, which is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. tomorrow. And I -- not only does he have time to do that, but I hope he has time in his schedule to attend and visit the holocaust museum in New York, as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: That was the U.S. representative yesterday. Of course a reference there to the Iranian president's comments questioning the very existence of the holocaust took place -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And so Richard, once again the reason why Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not coming to the U.S. or perhaps even some of the other Iranian representatives is it because they did not receive their visas in time in order to travel here?
ROTH: Well, one diplomat inside the U.N. building said yesterday: there's some dirty games being played here. Nobody knows what the story is, but the United States insists they had the visas, the Iranians had the time to get here. The Iranians say not enough of their crew and the flight crew got them in time to make it, whether the council would have been willing to delay to wait for the Iranians, that seems to be now a moot point.
WHITFIELD: Interesting. All right, Richard Roth, thanks so much from New York.
Well, coming up, more on Iran's president, the driving force behind Iran's tense relation with the West. Well, now he's using a different kind of weapon in the war of words with the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SAIED AL HASHIMI, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHIATRY: Our children are surrounded by violence. They -- in every direction they look, they see violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So small, but their concerns are bigger than many grown-ups can imagine. The children of war, how are they coping? That's straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
And poisoned pet food, the story that has people talking and taking a very close look at what their dogs and cats are eating. We'll answer some of your questions. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Here's what's happening right now: Iranian news agency reports that captured British sale years and marines have confessed to trespassing into Iranian waters. The 15 Britain's are being held in Tehran one day after being seized in the Persian Gulf. Britain is pressuring governments in the Middle East to try to free them.
Presidential hopeful John Edwards joins other presidential candidates at a healthcare forum in Las Vegas, at this hour. Edwards is continuing his run for the White House despite an announcement, this week, that his wife's cancer has return and is incurable.
Well, he gave up a pro football career to fight in Afghanistan and he was killed by friendly fire. Now, major fallout in the death of Pat Tillman. The "Associated Press" reports the Pentagon will recommend that nine military officers be held accountable for mistakes made after Tillman was killed, that includes up to four generals. The Army initially told Tillman's family he died in an ambush in April of 2004.
Denying President Bush, the House narrowly approves a war spending bill that calls for pulling U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by next year. Democrats call it a victory, President Bush denounces it as "political theater." He's vowing to veto the bill if it reaches his desk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Purpose of the emergency war spending bill I requested was to provide our troops with vital funding. Instead, Democrats in the House, in an act of political theater, voted to substitute their judgment for that of our military commanders on the ground in Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: On Monday, the Senate takes units own version of the bill.
Well, thousands of Iraqis have been killed since the war began. So how are the Iraqi children dealing with so much death on their doorsteps? CNN's Jennifer Eccleston takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's a brutal reflection of daily life in Iraq. "Die!" they shout. "Die now!" Plastic machine guns and pistols, a game of "kill the insurgents".
"We learned this from the American. It's my favorite game."
DR. SAIED AL HASHIMI, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHIATRY: Our children are surrounded by violence. They -- in every direction they look, they see violence.
ECCLESTON: Car bombs, kidnappings, air strikes, and mass displacement. Dr. Saied al Hashimi is a professor of psychiatry.
AL HASHIMI: Now I can say that almost -- almost all the Iraqi children, especially in Baghdad and around Baghdad -- these are what we call the hot zones -- most of them are traumatized and...
ECCLESTON: Mustafa Karim (ph) is a seemingly happy young boy, despite living in a squalid refugee camp in the Shiite Baghdad slum of Sadr City. His family was brutally driven out of their village by insurgents.
"They killed my father and uncle in front of my eyes."
Iraq's healthcare system is reeling from victims of the physical brutality of war, too overwhelmed to deal with the victims of the psychological battle. Many of Iraq's best and brightest doctors have either been murdered or fled the country. Helping is left to a small team of doctors like Haidar Abdul Mosen. He runs a one-man psychiatric clinic. He says it's the only one in Iraq.
Despite meager resources, he treats up to 15 patients a day, patients like 8-year-old Zahra (ph), when bombs burst in her neighborhood, she suffers seizures. And 13-year-old Kita (ph), when she hears blasts, she hits her mother.
DR. HAIDAR ABDUL MOSEN, CHILD PSYCHIATRIST: Our children became very violent, became very aggressive. They talk badly. They behave in a bad manner and we think this is one of the effects of war.
ECCLESTON: Sixteen-year-old Saman (ph) is severely depressed. She screams and cries in the middle of the night, too afraid to sleep.
Saman (ph) was kidnapped by someone, we don't know who, outside of her school. She was held for nine days in a windowless room with 20 other girls, beaten and forced to sleep next to the dead body of a girl who was raped and killed.
Her family paid $20,000 for her release. She asked us to conceal her identity. Saman's (ph) mother pleads with Dr. Haidar to help her daughter.
"It's OK. It's OK," he says to her. "Calm down."
But to me, he says: a generation is lost.
Jennifer Eccleston, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: So there was nothing funny in that report, well, how about political cartoons? Are they funny? How about when Uncle Sam is the target? Iran takes aim at U.S. In cartoon form. A look at the new voice of President Ahmadinejad next in the NEWSROOM.
And then later, your pets may be your best friends, but is the food you're feeding them safe? We'll tell you 10 minutes from now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: President Bush says Iran is part of the "axis of evil" and Iranian president has equally unkind things to say about the U.S. But now Iran has found a new way to let Uncle Sam know what it thinks about him. CNN's Aneesh Raman reports from Tehran.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
RAMAN (voice-over): It's often with anger that Iran's leaders speak about the U.S. But on state-run TV, the state has been trying a different tactic. Mixed into the main news channel are political cartoons, often starting with a slate like this one, which reads: "no explanation needed." This one pokes fun at U.S. policy in Iraq -- Uncle Sam running between bombs, looking for an exit, and when he finds three doors, no such luck.
President Bush also often gets a grilling. Here, he's talking to the world about Iran's nuclear program, alleging Iran wants nuclear weapons, all while his nose grows longer like Pinocchio in front of a laughing globe.
The cartoons, and there are many, have even made their way onto YouTube, varying from anti-American riffs to others about Israel that outside of Iran would be defined as anti-Semitic.
As for those on the U.S. the intent is clear, at least to moderates like this professor at the University of Tehran.
PROF. SADEGH ZIBAKALAM, UNIVERSITY OF TEHRAN: There are less anti-Americans amongst average Iranian than -- than, say, five years ago, or certainly a decade ago. So, maybe the government has realized that anti-American feeling is on the decline and they have started to make these cartoons to sort of sustain anti-American feeling.
RAMAN: But, one cartoon that would have most Iranians agreeing is this one. It shows the U.S., Europe and the U.N. combing the ground for evidence of an Iranian weapons program. In the end, they've missed the arsenal that Israel allegedly has.
(on camera): The cartoons appeal to many here, which is why some moderates are concerned that the average Iranian will confused between American policy and the American people. But for the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it is just an new campaign against an old enemy.
Aneesh Raman, CNN, Tehran.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
WHITFIELD: And here's a warning: If you have a dog or a cat, you need to check the labels on your pet food. And if you don't, you could be putting rat poison in their bowl. A look at the danger and what you can do about it, next in the NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think everybody should be nervous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're losing too much blood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think if you're not nervous, you might be too cocky and I think that that's the biggest enemy of all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: It's one of the country's top trauma centers, it's also the professional home of CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a look inside the life and death environment of Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital. And then later, it's own human, a big bang goes off, you flinch, like that. Well, we take a look at some of the most memorable flinches, some people seem to find some of them kind of funny and some are not so funny. You're in the NEWSROOM.
That's funny.
(LAUGHTER)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: So, the folks who study sleep say we should all be getting at least eight hours per night. Well, sometimes, as Gerri Willis found out, it's all about what's called the sleep atmosphere. How to create the perfect bedroom in this weeks a "Modern Living"
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GERRI WILLIS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: this bed looks just beautiful, but it will help me sleep?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it won't hurt, that's for sure. But there's some elements to the bed, and we'll start with just the mattress, why don't we? I like the pillow top but it's a firm mattress under so you get the support and yet you have the soft sort of comforting...
WILLIS: Which we all love.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Which we love. Which we love. Which brings me to texture and feel, because that's very important. You want sheets with a very high thread count -- with a high thread count, not only it feels good, but it holds up a lot better. You can wash it and wash it and wash it...
WILLIS: You can keep it longer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it gets softer and softer and softer. Right. And you know, you get what you pay for.
WILLIS: One thing that bothers me is any kind of noise, I noticed that you don't have hardwood floors in here, is that why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not a fan of wall to wall carpet except in the bedroom. I think it makes it -- it definitely makes it quieter and makes it cozier.
WILLIS: All righty, let's talk a little bit about other things that might relax people as they come into the bedroom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One thing is to write down all your worries, all your cares, all your to-dos before you go to bed at night, empty your mind.
(voice-over): I'm Gerri Willis, and that's this week's "Modern Living." (END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Our top stories this hour, the British government applying diplomatic pressure to try to free 15 British sailors and marines seized by Iran in the Persian Gulf.
And Iran looms large at the United Nations today, in just a couple of hours from now, the Security Council is expected to vote on new sanctions against Iran because of its nuclear weapons program.
Well, welcome back to the NEWSROOM, I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
The death, the recall, now the investigation and the word that rat poison may have caused the nation's pet food scare, at least 16 animals have died and hundreds have been sicken.
CNN's Mary Snow looks at the big question, how did it happen?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How did rat poison wind up in pet food? That is still uncertain. But investigators in New York say what they do know is they found a toxin called aminopterin in samples of pet food suspected to be tainted. The toxin is not a legal pesticide in the U.S. Doctors say it can be found in some forms of cancer treatments.
PATRICK HOOKER, NY STATE AGRICULTURE COMM: This is one step in a long process that will lead all of us to know what has happened.
SNOW: The CEO of menu foods, the company that recalled over 90 brands of dog and cat food, says he's both relieved and happy investigators found the problem during what he called an unprecedented search.
PAUL HENDERSON, CEO, MENU FOODS: Our hearts go out to the thousands of pet owners across Canada and the United States for their losses and their worries.
SNOW: But, the CEO says he's at a loss to explain where the toxin came from and he says the company will test raw products to trace the origin. Veterinarian doctor, Anne Hohenhaus says knowing that rat poison is involved can help prevent animals from dying if they are suffering from kidney failure.
DR. ANN HOHENHAUS, NY ANIMAL MEDICAL CENTER: Sounds to me like giving fluids intravenously or maybe by other routes is going to be key to trying to prevent or fixing this problem.
SNOW: But she adds there are new set of worries.
HOHENHAUS: We don't know what the long-term effects are on their kidney function. And only time is going to answer that question.
SNOW (on camera): Another question being posed, what about compensation for pet owners who lost a pet? The CEO of Menu Foods says the company will take financial responsibility if its proven that medical problems were linked to the food.
Mary Snow, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. Let's get some more advice now for thousands of you who are worried about your pet. Dr. Michael Good of the Town and Country Veterinarian Clinic is here with now. He is here from the Atlanta area.
So good to see you, Dr. Good.
DR. MICHAEL GOOD, VETERINARIAN: Good to see you.
WHITFIELD: All right. This is really worrisome, anyone who has got four-legged animals and they're feeding them the store-bought food, they're concerned and they're also pretty confused about what kind of foot we're talking about. Because you hear wet food and you think automatically it's the canned stuff, but you are saying no, there's a real distinction of the kinds of wet food that is at risk here.
GOOD: Right. There are three types of food that have been sold forever in our marketplace for pet lovers, the 140 million dog and cat owners in this country. One is a dry food, dry kibble, has a dry matter of about 12 to 20 percent -- or 12 to 15 percent. Then there's soft moist, which comes in little packets like the Tender Vittles type of thing, they are a little rubbery, that's about 22 percent. And then there's canned food which is 80 to 90 percent moisture.
OK. Well, what's the problem in this particular situation, this tragedy, is the gravy type packets. Come in the little foil packets or the little cans. And when you open these up, out comes gravy. And then there's soft pieces of a meaty type substance that is the...
WHITFIELD: So these are the foods where they believe there is this suspected rat poisoning that somehow found its way into those products.
GOOD: Correct.
WHITFIELD: With the gravy, the cuts.
GOOD: Correct. And the reason why it is -- we have pretty much had it nailed to this thing is -- this one company, Menu Foods, makes -- this is their expertise is making these gravy type foods. And you see there are 95 companies out there that contract with this company to make their own little version of gravy and...
WHITFIELD: And so now Menu Foods is saying, OK, bring this stuff back, we are recalling this, you bring it in, you take it into the pet store and they say, well, you know what, here are the dates that we're concerned about, we just put some new stuff on the shelf, same brand, you can buy this stuff now. Not so fast?
GOOD: I would be a little nervous. I've been practicing for a long time as a veterinarian. And people -- the expert on nutrition, if you ask the average pet owner, is the veterinarian. So I get asked all of the time, what should I feed? And I've always been a proponent of a good quality dry food.
You want one that has meat as a first ingredient or a second ingredient. If you look at the ingredient panel on the bag and it looks like a science test or a chemistry test, I would probably pass on that. Just look for real words like chicken and rice or potatoes or -- you know what I'm saying? And if that's there, then you've probably got a pretty good food.
WHITFIELD: OK. That's encouraging. So now Menu Foods is saying, all right, if your dog or cat is showing signs of kidney failure, you need to discontinue the food, you need to take them in.
GOOD: Right.
WHITFIELD: Is it really too late, or what are the things that you look for? I don't know when my dog is suffering from kidney failure?
GOOD: The problem with that approach is for a dog or cat to show signs of kidney failure, they have to have lost 66 percent of their kidney function.
WHITFIELD: Oh.
GOOD: For them to start drinking...
WHITFIELD: Might be too late then.
GOOD: Well, they're drinking more, they are peeing more. And that's alerting the client. Why is my dog or cat drinking so much? It's a 4-year-old dog, it should be acting like this. So you need to have it tested.
WHITFIELD: So what do you look for? How do you know something is wrong with your dog there in the early stages?
GOOD: Well, they are just acting different. You know, I have a lot of pets, a lot of people I know do.
WHITFIELD: More than lethargy?
GOOD: You know -- yes, more than lethargy. They don't want to eat. If they are drinking, they are drinking a lot. They're vomiting. They're just not themselves, especially under this climate. It's one thing wait a day or so before. But during this climate of this potential thousands of animals dying, because in my one practice -- and there's 67,000 veterinary hospitals in this country, in my practice I have treated six or seven cases that I know for a fact were directly related to this.
So a lot of animals are going to show symptoms or are having symptoms that people haven't addressed it yet.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
GOOD: So I think is...
WHITFIELD: You want to catch it early.
GOOD: ... the tip of iceberg.
WHITFIELD: Oh, wow. Really? So now you are -- the pet owner who has -- had this dog or cat on this particular food for a long time, we all have been conditioned to believe that you have got to transition your food changes with your dogs or cat. How do you do that now?
GOOD: Fortunately there's a lot of good quality dry foods on the marketplace that say they are "sensitive stomach," and that's probably what I would switch to immediately. And we'll take our lumps, but you need to stop the food you're feeding now and I would be hesitant to go back to it until all of the -- because there's a lot of questions that haven't been answered yet.
And we need do get to the bottom of it, find out where this poison came from. Nobody knows where it came from, everybody has suspicions, but until they document that, I would move to a good quality dry food that maybe says "sensitive stomach" or a chicken and rice base is usually easy on the tummy.
But don't do it gradually, stop that other food. And go straight to that. And then the most important thing for a dog and cat, they can't live more than a day or two without this good fresh water all the time. And the food we can transition back onto. They can go a week or so without food in bad situations, but got to have that water every day.
WHITFIELD: Yes, yes. All right. Great advice, not worth taking any chances here.
GOOD: Chances, exactly.
WHITFIELD: Take care of our pets. All right. Thanks a lot, Dr. Michael Good.
GOOD: You're welcome. Take care.
WHITFIELD: I appreciate it.
All right. Well, CNN reported earlier that this bull mastiff died after eating Iams brand dog food. The dog, Princess, had in fact eaten Nutro brand dog food. CNN regrets that error.
Meantime, eastern New Mexico is recovering now from a terrifying wave of twisters. At least 13 tornadoes rumbled through the area one after the other. Sixteen people were injure and, many are in critical condition right now. And the worst of the damage from Friday's storms in Logan and 80 miles away in Clovis, fires, flooding, power outages, you name it, all of that adding to the misery.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: All right. How about this? A brutal attack, the victim shocked to learn her attacker was actually a police officer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINA, ASSAULT VICTIM: Actually, I couldn't believe it. I was like police is to serve and protect, not to beat up people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Bartender beating caught on tape, that's straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
And you've seen Dr. Sanjay Gupta here on CNN, but his other job -- his primary job, he's a top surgeon at Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital. We'll take a look inside his operating room. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Happening now, the United Nations Security Council is poised to slap new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. The Security Council meeting is scheduled to begin in about two hours from now.
And a pet food recall is being expanded after scientists find rat poison in recalled pet food. Several animals have died, the big question now, how did the rat poison get in the pet food?
A bartender attacked by a customer. The brutal beating all caught on tape. But the real shock came later.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The regulars gathered at this neighborhood bar in Chicago, while a security camera recorded tape. In this surveillance video, notice the man in the upper right corner of your screen. The bartender, Karolina, didn't know it at the time, but that customer was an off-duty Chicago police officer. Karolina would give her first name only, but agreed to review the tape with me.
KAROLINA: I think that I've been telling him but I'm not going to serve him anymore.
OPPENHEIM (on camera): Because you are concerned that he's getting wasted.
KAROLINA: Yes, exactly.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): He has since been identified as Officer Anthony Abbate. At one point, Abbate surprises Karolina and comes around to her side of the bar, but when a body bumps into the bar, he explodes.
He punches her repeatedly. Keep in mind, according to prosecutors, Abbate is 6'1 and 250 pounds. Karolina says she's 5'4 and 130 pounds. As frightened bystanders keep a distance, Officer Abbate walks away. Karolina gets up, despite multiple hits to her head, back and ribs.
DAVID NAVARRO, ASST. COOK COUNTY STATE'S ATTY: That is one of the most brutal and savage attacks that I've ever seen caught on tape.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Prosecutors have charged Officer Abbate with aggravated assault, a felony, Abbate's attorneys did not return CNN's calls.
(on camera): Karolina, what is your reaction that the person who beat you is a police officer?
KAROLINA: Actually, I couldn't believe. I was like, police is to serve and protect, not to beat up people.
OPPENHEIM: Chicago police released a statement about Officer Abbate which said: "A recommendation for termination is expected, pending the completion of the internal investigation."
Karolina says she's left with bad headaches, and as you might imagine, bad memories from what happened in this bar.
Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And you've seen him here on CNN, now see him where he practices his first trade, a look at Dr. Sanjay Gupta and his team of neurosurgeons as they operate at Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital. A preview of "Grady's Anatomy," that's coming up next.
And that was quite a jolt, it also turned out to be must-see video out of Baghdad, but it's not the only famous flinch to catch our Jeanne Moos' attention. That's straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Long hours, constant stress, sound like your job? Well, add life and death responsibilities, everyday realities for medical residents working in hospitals across the country. It's something CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta knows a lot about. When he's not in the NEWSROOM, Sanjay is often in the operating room at Grady Memorial Hospital here in Atlanta, as an attending physician training residents. Well, this weekend, he takes us behind the scenes of "Grady's Anatomy."
And here's a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sampson, how are you doing? Living the dream.
I know every Monday I've got my time. I have my O.R., and it's all ready for me to go.
I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta. I'm an attending of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital. My job is to perform operations, take care of patients. But simultaneously and I think in some ways equally importantly to train residents.
Let's prep and drape. Suction. Incision.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When an attending neurosurgeon hands you the scalpel, you're almost more excited than nervous.
My name is Lou Timiallen (ph), I'm a fifth-year neurosurgery resident at Grady Memorial Hospital.
Apprehension will happen when I'm doing petical (ph) screw right next to the spinal cord. I don't know if that apprehension will ever go away.
GUPTA: Good God, Lou, he's really busted up.
I'm glad to hear that Lou was nervous. I'm nervous, I think everybody should be nervous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're losing too much blood.
GUPTA: I think if you're not nervous, you might be a little too cocky and I think that that's the biggest enemy of all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This patient was in a deer stand 15 to 20 feet up in the air and it must have given way.
GUPTA: You sort of get a sense of all of these bones look pretty nice and all of a sudden this bone is just gone, crushed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are bracing ourselves for Pandora's box that we open every time we go into surgery.
GUPTA: Bring the floor machine that way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We try and position everything perfectly. We try and study all the films perfectly.
It doesn't give me the soft and fuzzy feeling.
We can't control what variations of anatomy may be.
Give me another weapon. I'll try this one again.
GUPTA: A lot of times, no one even has to say a word in that operating room. I know exactly what's going through their minds. I know what Lou is feeling at any given moment without him saying a word, I know exactly what's going through his head because I was there. GUPTA: So we're not going to put any screws in the port (ph) five, right, Lou?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I'm trying to expose (ph) three right now.
As a young neurosurgeon, you want to say, OK, what would I do if I didn't have a net. But I can tell you, it's nice to have a net because Sanjay will tell you how many jams he has gotten me out of.
GUPTA: The goal is to get him immobilized, get him up to a wheelchair. He's not going to walk again. He's a paraplegic. But we want to get him to a wheelchair and we want to make sure that he continues to have the use of his arms.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to work, Sanjay.
That case could not have gone any better. That was -- that's what we show up to work for.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Wow, that is some remarkable stuff. You don't want to miss "Grady's Anatomy," a CNN Special Investigations Unit special that is premiering tonight at 8:00 Eastern only on CNN.
Well, do you have nerves of steel or do you jump at the drop of a hat?
(VIDEO CLIP OF PERSON FLINCHING AT EXPLOSION)
WHITFIELD: Well, that would make everybody jump, you can't blame the U.N. secretary-general for flinching as bombs exploded in Baghdad. Well, Jeanne Moos takes a rather humorous look at the most famous flinches, ducks, and jumps, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: So we all do it, nothing to feel ashamed about, we jump or we duck at a sudden noise or movement. Well, when it's caught on camera, it makes our Jeanne Moos list some of the more famous flinches.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When things go boom and cameras happen to be rolling, you can get that videotape is going to get rolled over and over again. Everyone was comparing how the new U.N. secretary-general tended to ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (singing): Duck and cover
MOOS: While the hard-nosed Iraqi prime minister...
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Nouri al-Maliki really never even moved. MOOS (on camera): The blast in Baghdad got us thinking about that most human of reactions. The flinch.
(voice-over): We in the media do a lot of flinching.
JUDY WOODRUFF, FMR. CNN ANCHOR: Sorry, that scared me.
MOOS: With our clumsy mikes. With our falling lights.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A challenge that he made to his Democratic opponent ...
MOOS: There's a lot to make us flinch.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the first state to allow citizens -- excuse me, we're having some technical problems in the studio.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a fire in the studio.
MOOS: Sometimes we desert the ship, and sometimes we're the last ones to flee.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We're actually now just getting some fire, some rockets have been fired.
MOOS: Anderson Cooper doesn't flinch at mortal danger. Anderson flinches at frogs.
COOPER: That is just -- whoa!
MOOS: One of the most fearsome non-flinchers was the since executed president of Afghanistan, in the middle of an interview, his interpreter had an epileptic seizure. You will hear him scream and fall into his leader's lap.
Najibullah never bats an eye. The interpreter recovered.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN HOST: In front of the Israeli Defense Force...
(EXPLOSION)
ROBERTS: ... but I said ...
MOOS: Coolness under fire counts except when you're seriously worried about a chemical weapons attack by Saddam.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks like it might have been an explosion -- my apologies. He's putting on a gas mask.
MOOS: Who wouldn't flinch if you think you're under a poison gas attack?
We play childhood games that teach us not to flinch, and it becomes a test of manliness.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going to flinch. MOOS: That's what they all say, until the jet swoops by a little too low. Sometimes it pays to duck, as Ann Coulter found out facing a pie-thrower. The secretary-general shouldn't feel bad about ducking. It could have been much worse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody please put that --- ahh! Jesus (expletive deleted) Christ!
MOOS: We in the media even practice self-inflicted flinching.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, man!
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, a look at the top stories straight ahead, "IN THE MONEY" is coming up next.
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