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American Morning
'Superbug' Infecting More Americans Than Ever Before; Security Loophole: Illegal Aliens Work at Army Base; Planet in Peril: Chemicals in Your Body
Aired October 17, 2007 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): School scrub down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't feel safe at all going back in there.
ROBERTS: The drug-resistant "superbug" that has already killed one student and is infecting more Americans than ever before.
Nick of time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I started coaxing the driver, telling him, we need to get out of the vehicle, we need to get off the tracks.
ROBERTS: How a hero cop-turned-lifesaver seconds before a train totals a car.
Plus, what's in a name?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know Michael Clayton?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am Michael Clayton.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Recently, I've been going by George Clooney.
ROBERTS: The movie and the real-life patent lawyer sharing the same name, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: One of those intersections of reality with Hollywood fantasy there.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: That's right.
ROBERTS: It's Wednesday, the 17th of October.
I'm John Roberts.
Good morning to you.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry.
We begin with a health alert that the CDC right now is calling a major public health problem. It's concern over drug-resistant staph infections.
Doctors say that a 17-year-old high school senior died from one of these infections Monday. Ashton Bonds, he suffered from a staph infection for a week. It had spread to his major organs. His classmates outraged because they believe he got it at school.
They organized a protest and took the superintendent on a tour to show him just how exposed to germs they feel they are. They demanded that officials clean up before they went back to class.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're just trying to find answers. We want to know what's going to be done about cleaning up the school.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't feel safe at all going back in there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not only do we remember Ashton, but get it through to the administration and all that we don't want another one of our friends or another one of our classmates gone because of them not doing anything. And we want something done about this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: There's a new CDC report showing this kind of staph infection called MRSA is more widespread than previously thought. It affected 90,000 people in the year that they did research, affecting more people than even the HIV virus.
Well, CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is at the Medical Update Desk.
That's astounding. So more people died from this than died from AIDS in the year that they did research on this?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, they talk about the 94,000 number in terms of the number of cases of MRSA. About 19,000 people died as a result. You can see the people with the -- the percentage of people dying who get the infection is quite high.
We're starting to see this particular infection, again, called MRSA, with means Methicillin-Resistant Staph Aureus. It's a bacteria that doesn't respond to antibiotics.
It used to be regulated primary to hospitals, as you know, Kiran, but it's found its way into the community and into schools -- three high school students. One of them, as you mentioned, has passed away from this. Two actually were able to return to school.
So, you can -- you can recover from this. And that is usually what happens. It's rare to actually die from this. But you're starting to see an increase in the number of cases and in different places, besides hospitals.
CHETRY: Now, is there anything you can do to avoid getting it, even if it's present in someplace where you are, like, say, a school or a gym?
GUPTA: Yes. You know, you talk a lot about hygiene. You heard those students talking about that as well in terms of cleaning the surfaces.
This is a bacteria that can sort of live on surfaces. So, you know, we talk about washing hands a lot, but it's so important here. But also personal items, especially sports equipment that may not be hygienic.
If you have cuts and scrapes, try to keep them clean as well. Disinfecting things like keyboards daily, things that you use on a daily basis.
This may sound very commonsensical to people who are listening, but it works in terms of actually trying to keep this antibiotic- resistant bacteria from spreading, which it can spread from close skin-to-skin contact and from open wounds -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right.
Sanjay, thanks a lot.
GUPTA: Thank you.
ROBERTS: There appears to be no end in sight for the mortgage meltdown. The Mortgage Bankers Association predicts the creation of new mortgages will fall by almost 20 percent in the next year and another six percent in 2009.
Despite the short-term outlook, there is hope though that the $2 trillion industry will eventually bounce back. It's just going to take some time.
Experts say it could cause economic damage equivalent to 40 to 50 large hurricanes striking all at once. Today, a House subcommittee will look at a potentially catastrophic cyber threat to the nation's power grid.
A security operation known as Aurora discovered that hackers could potentially cut power to a major portion of the country for months. Not by just taking down the grid, but by actually affecting the equipment. They can even blow a generator without getting close to it.
And President Bush is going ahead with plans to honor the Dalai Lama today despite some fierce opposition from China. The president is expected to speak during a ceremony this afternoon, awarding the Dalai Lama with the Congressional Gold Medal, even though China has warned that it could damage relations. China considers the Dalai Lama to be an enemy for supporting freedom for the people of Tibet -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, it appears that lawmakers are now backing away from the Armenia genocide resolution that outraged Turkey. "The New York Times" reports that up to a dozen lawmakers are reportedly dropping their support for it.
It would have condemned the killing of Armenians at the hands of Turks back in World War I as "genocide". Democrats and Republicans apparently concerned that the resolution alienates Turkey and could affect Turkey's willingness to cooperate with the U.S. in the war in Iraq.
The military government is Myanmar blaming Buddhist monks for the violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests. The government sanctioned paper, saying that if the monks had remained in their monasteries, the government would not have used force to prevent the protest. The government admits detaining nearly 3,000 people during the rallies. At least 13 people were killed in clashes between protesters and military forces.
Well, he is 74, retired, and hasn't spoken publicly for eight months, but Louis Farrakhan hasn't lost his ability to fire up crowds and, of course, critics. Thousands cheered Farrakhan in Atlanta on the 12th anniversary of the Million Man March as he called on black men to separate from mainstream society and support their own communities before they become "extinct".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOUIS FARRAKHAN, NATIONAL OF ISLAM LEADER: Do you want me as the voice of the honorable Elijah Muhammad and really a voice of God to ask our people to retaliate in matters of the slain, a life for a life? Is that what you're driving us to?
I'm backed up by a God. I'm not a preacher that don't have backup.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Farrakhan said he was stepping aside last year because an illness after nearly three decades as the Nation of Islam's leader.
ROBERTS: Two political headlines new this morning. Democrat Niki Tsongas, the widow of one-time presidential candidate Paul Tsongas, held off Republican Jim Ogonowski in a special election last night. Even with the help of Democratic superstars like Bill Clinton and Edward Kennedy, Tsongas had a tough fight in a district that Democrats have dominated for more than 30 years. Republicans say it could be a sign of trouble ahead for the Democrats.
Iowa is number one, when you're talk voting, that is. The Iowa Republicans have picked January the 3rd as the date that they will caucus for president. That date moves up from January the 14th. They changed the date after Florida and Michigan moved their contests up so that they could keep Iowa's caucus the first in the nation.
And what do these two have in common? Would you believe they're relatives?
The vice president's wife, Lynne Cheney, says she discovered that her husband and Barack Obama are eighth cousins linked by a common ancestor from the mid 17th century. She said that she discovered the link while researching her latest book -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, it's time now to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new this morning.
Rob Marciano is tracking extreme weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: In the meantime, oil keeps on its wild ride, now breaking $88 a barrel on the trading floor.
Ali Velshi is at the Business Update Desk.
Any -- and there you are with your oil barrel, so you know it's not a great day.
Any end in sight to this rise we've been seeing in the price?
ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it depends who you ask. I mean, yesterday morning I was here showing you yesterday $86 and change -- $87.61 is where it settled yesterday, but it was actually up to $88.20 a barrel in New York trading.
Now, a lot of people say, you know, people have been talking about it going to a hundred bucks. We're only, you know, $12.5 away from that. That's kind of incredible, that oil could be on that surge.
There are real reasons for that. It's supply and demand on the oil front. It hasn't translated into gas price increases right now. We're still seeing gas prices at about $2.76 a barrel, but the heating oil season has started, and that's going to start to hit people's pocketbooks.
Now, a lot of people say this isn't a bad deal. The fact that oil is this high means demand is strong, which means the economies all around the world are chugging at a fast rate. That's why they are burning this much oil.
But the bottom line is, you know, recessions in the past have been provoked by spikes in oil prices. Can the economy absorb this kind of an increase in oil prices?
In August, we were looking at $70 a barrel. The price of oil up more than 35 percent this year alone. So it's definitely something to look at when every morning I'm sitting here next to this barrel with a new price of oil, Kiran. Where it goes next is anybody's guess, but whether it hits a hundred before it goes back down again is something that people are worrying about.
CHETRY: Legitimate concerns, for sure, as we get into the colder weather.
Ali, thanks a lot -- John.
ROBERTS: Your "Quick Hits" now. And a new Web site to tell you about this morning.
NotInMyCart.org is designed to keep you informed on the latest hazardous products in government recalls. It also provides you with a forum to express your opinion to lawmakers about consumer safety. Publishers of "Consumer Reports" magazine are sponsoring the Web site.
And move over, Toyota. "Consumer Reports" says Honda has moved into the lead of the most reliable vehicles. Toyota dropped from first to fifth behind Honda, Acura, Scion and Subaru.
Birth control for 11-to-13-year-olds? What is a middle school in Maine thinking? The controversy ahead.
And illegal immigrants show phony papers and slip past some of the tightest security in the country. How vulnerable are we?
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Fourteen minutes after the hour now. Some of the shots that you've got to see in your "Quick Hits" now.
A fugitive deer ends up charging the police. The animal, as you can see, lunges at an officer in Wisconsin after it tried to get into a building. The officer grabs onto the deer's antler there, re- holsters his weapon, grabs on to the antlers with both hands here.
I mean, that takes -- you've got to have a good sense of who you are to be able to do that. They dragged it off to the tree line and let it go.
Oh, my goodness, grabbing a deer by the antlers. You don't want to be in the business end of an antler at any time.
Spectacular rollover at a rally race in Australia. The driver lost control, flipped right in front of two cameramen. That was in run-up to this week's Indy car race in Australia.
Luckily for those cameramen, he flipped about 15 feet before he got to them. Everybody was OK. The driver helped out of the car, walked away just fine.
Con Edison reportedly plans to sue New York City for last summer's street explosion in Midtown Manhattan. According to "The New York Daily News," the $25 million claim accuses the city of causing it. City lawyers had no comment about the suit. Engineers are still trying to figure out exactly what caused that steam pipe to burst -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, as the debate rages over illegal immigrants working in the U.S. and just how to crack down on employers who hire them, a huge multibillion-dollar construction effort paints a disturbing picture of why something must be done soon.
CNN's Ed Lavandera reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Construction workers have invaded the million-acre Fort Bliss Army post.
COL. TIM WHITE, U.S. ARMY: It's unprecedented. Right now, we've got $3.2 billion worth of construction that's going to occur here.
LAVANDERA: At any given time, there could be several thousand workers inside the secure military installation, but even an Army post isn't immune to the infiltration of illegal workers. Last month, at least nine illegal immigrants were arrested while doing other construction work on military housing.
(on camera): According to the contracting firm Balfour Beatty, the workers did show the proper paperwork, except the documents turned out to be fake. The company says it takes immigration documentation seriously and has reminded its subcontractors to be more vigilant.
(voice over): The contracting firm says some 3,000 workers have been cleared to work inside Fort Bliss the last two years. The number highlights the challenge in checking out so many people.
DR. DAVID MCINTYRE, HOMELAND SECURITY EXPERT: And unless we give employers some kind of tools to sort out who these people actually are, this problem is going to get worse, not better.
LAVANDERA: And the fear is a terrorist could follow in the footsteps of a construction worker.
MCINTYRE: That is a danger, because we don't know who is following this or that illegal person across.
LAVANDERA: And like in this case, get too close to Army soldiers.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Fort Bliss, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Well, a contraception controversy brewing in Maine this morning. King Middle School in Portland might soon start making birth control available to students in sixth to eighth grade, including birth control pills, patches, and even the morning-after pill.
Students need to get permission to get treated at the health center by their parents, but once parents have signed off on that, the kids can keep individual visits and what they are treated for confidential. A school committee is meeting tonight to consider the proposal.
We'll let you know what happens.
ROBERTS: Your "Quick Hits" now, and a change in policy by the Transportation Security Administration. Passengers wearing turbans will no longer have to remove their headwear at security checkpoints if they feel uncomfortable about it. Screeners will have the option of either patting down the headwear or clothing, or taking the person to a private area where they can remove them.
Congress is a step closer to letting journalists stay silent when asked to reveal their confidential sources. The House just approved a shield law for the press. It would require reporters to name their sources only if they had information on terrorist attacks or other threats to national security. The Senate still needs to vote on a shield bill. Even if it survives, the White House is expected to veto the measure.
His code name was "Curveball," the man who claimed to have the inside scoop on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. He persuaded the skeptics and helped justify the case to go to war. A new book out says it was all lies.
We'll speak to the author.
And "Planet in Peril". Anderson Cooper with a look at all of the chemicals in your body and what they could mean for your health.
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning.
The government now confirmed what we've known for a while, that it's been very dry, a very dry year in some parts of the country.
Why are you laughing?
ROBERTS: Because they're always the last to know.
CHETRY: Well, you know, we can see it with our own eyes. We've certainly had a lot of reporters out on this and Rob has been telling us about it. But there is a new report from the National climate Data Center saying that 43 percent of the country is now in moderate to extreme drought. It also said that it's been one of the warmest years on record.
Well, another look now at our "Planet in Peril," a groundbreaking documentary.
ROBERTS: Today, Anderson Cooper takes a look at the chemicals in your body and what they can tell us about the environment that we live in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I don't like going to the doctor, so this is no fun.
(on camera): Not a big fan of needles.
(voice-over): I'm here for what's called a body burden test. It's not the most pleasant of procedures. It will take 120 CCs of blood, almost a pint, for scientists to look at traces of 250 industrial chemicals in my body.
(on camera): What exactly is -- have you ever had anyone pass out from giving so much blood?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I haven't had anyone pass out. I've had some people get nauseated a little bit. And let's get you some orange juice just so tat you can heal up after that...
COOPER (voice-over): Public health experts are only beginning to understand what harm, if any, low-level chemical exposure can cause.
Dr. Leo Trasandre (ph) worries most about children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are currently in an epidemic of chronic disease among American children. Rates of asthma, childhood cancers, birth defects, and developmental disabilities are all on the rise and increasingly are being attributed to chemicals that we are all exposed to on a daily basis.
COOPER (on camera): You really consider it an epidemic?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do consider it an epidemic.
COOPER (voice-over): Rowan and Mikala Holland (ph) are some of the first children to sound the alarm.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the beginning, I wasn't worried at all. I was fascinated.
Is that what you said?
COOPER: Three years ago when this video was taken, the entire Holland (ph) family decided to get body burden testing for a story in "The Oakland Tribune". Their son Rowan (ph) was just 18 months told. At the time, he was the youngest child in America to ever be tested for chemical exposure. Mikala (ph) was just 5 years old.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought that would be really interesting, to see, you know, if mom and dad are high in something, would the kids be high in it too?
COOPER: Their chemical exposure levels were high; but then they got the kids' results, and they were shocked. Rowan (ph) and Mikala's (ph) levels of chemical exposure were two, three and four times that of their parents.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Wow. It is certainly eye-opening.
Well, to see what has been running through Anderson's bloodstream, we can find out why doctors are concerned about what is running in yours. So tune in to "Planet in Peril" Tuesday and Wednesday, October 23rd and 24th, 9:00 Eastern in the evening.
If you can't wait, by the way, you can download the "AC 360" podcast. Go to CNN.com/planetinperil and download it now.
ROBERTS: It's a terrific program.
CHETRY: It was.
ROBERTS: You would be a fool to miss it.
Twenty-four minutes after the hour. A look now at a story coming up in our next half hour that you can't miss. The latest on pregnancy and infertility. New guidelines released on the freezing of eggs.
CHETRY: Women think this is a viable option to postponing motherhood, deciding to freeze their eggs. Well, there is new information on just whether or not that's as effective as we've been led to believe in the past.
Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to break at all down for us.
That story, as well as the top stories of the morning, when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: And welcome. We are back with a shot from Detroit this morning. A little bit hazy there, 61 degrees right now.
Why are you laughing?
ROBERTS: Always the master of understatement.
CHETRY: It's very, very hazy there. Hopefully it will burn off. You're looking for a high of 70 degrees today in the Motor City.
Welcome. It is Wednesday, October 17th.
I'm Kiran Chetry.
ROBERTS: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts.
New this morning, confirmation hearings begin in less than two hours for Michael Mukasey, the president's choice for attorney general. Mukasey will try to convince the Senate Judiciary Committee that he will stand up to the president and balance national security needs with people's civil rights. That's according to The Associated Press, which obtained an advanced copy of his opening remarks.
We're hearing from people who knew Chester Stiles, the man arrested Monday night and accused of videotape sexual assault on a 3- year-old girl. He is due in court today. Headline News' Nancy Grace spoke exclusively last night with Stiles' ex-girlfriend, who said she contacted police when the tape first surfaced last month. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELAINE THOMAS, CHESTER STILES FMR. GIRLFRIEND: My roommate came in and confirmed that I was not insane and that it was definitely him. And I felt very physically ill.
I was hyperventilating a little bit, and after a few minutes of calming myself down and my roommate saying, "Elaine, what are you going to do? What are you going to do?" And I said, "Well, I need to turn him in."
How could I not tell them who that man was? That little girl suffered unimaginable things, and I knew for a fact it was him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Stiles' alleged victim is now 7 years old. She is living with her mother and said to be happy and healthy with no recollection of the incident. Chester Stiles is facing 21 felony counts.
And Facebook is now launching new safety procedures after an investigation by New York's attorney general, Eliot Spitzer (sic). There will now be safety disclosures for parents -- I should say -- Cuomo, not Spitzer. He's the governor.
And a more efficient way to complain if somebody makes an unsolicited sexual advance or posts an inappropriate content. Facebook also agreed to be reviewed by an independent examiner for two years -- Kiran.
CHETRY: A 17-year-old high school senior is dead, apparently died from a drug-resistant "superbug" that federal officials are now calling a major health problem. Today, his school, as well as 21 others in Bedford County, Virginia, are closed for a thorough cleaning. Other schools and gyms across the country also on alert as health officials warn that potentially deadly strains of antibiotic- resistant "superbug" are affecting as many as 90,000 Americans a year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRYANT VINCENT, HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC DIRECTOR : Football and wrestling are two main sports that are, you know, susceptible to staph infections. And that's just because the way the sport is played, with the equipment and the practices and the sweating and, you know, going back into the locker room.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, doctors say that many of the staph infections are being spread in gyms where athletes suffer from cuts or share sports equipment.
Well, a driver owes her life to a quick-thinking police officer. He told us this morning how he managed to keep his cool under a lot of pressure. He had just seconds to coax this woman off the tracks. This is from his dash cam. He persuades the driver, get out of your car and walk away, this, as you could hear the blaring of the train going 70 miles an hour. And you see her car to the right still parked on the tracks as the officer leads her away. And then you hear the roar and boom. That train just goes right through, obliterating her car.
We actually hear the woman screaming after she realizes just how close she came from probably losing her life. Earlier, we spoke to the officer, Marcus O'Shields, he says he was so focused on helping the driver, he didn't even realize how close that train got to coming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCUS O'SHIELDS, GREER, S.C., POLICE DEPT.: And about the same time is when I heard the whistle. And I started coaxing the driver, like telling her, we need to get out of the vehicle, we need to get off of these tracks, train coming, we don't have time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, the driver was lost, apparently she was on her cell phone trying to get directions. He says he thinks she didn't even realize she was actually on the tracks. He said he thinks she thought she was just at an intersection. Anyway, she took a wrong turn and ended up on those tracks. But we wanted to ask you what you think. Should people be banned from using their cell phone while driving, whether talking on it or using the text messaging or, you know, one of those hand-held devices as well.
Cast your vote, cnn.com/am. We have had a lot of people weigh in. And so far, it's pretty unanimous, 81 percent saying, yes, people should not use their cell phones while driving, 19 percent saying no. We are going to continue to update the votes throughout the morning -- John.
ROBERTS: Thirty-two minutes after the hour. His code name was Curveball, an Iraqi defector who claimed to have information about biological weapons in Iraq, claims that were used by the Bush administration as a reason to go to war. But no such weapons were ever found. What went wrong and who is to blame? Los Angeles Times reporter Bob Drogin broke the story of Curveball a couple of years back. He has written a new book all about it now. "Curveball: Spies, Lies and the Con Man Who Caused a War." And Bob Drogin joins us now live.
Good to see you. Congratulations on the book. I know it's a long time in the making.
BOB DROGIN, AUTHOR, "CURVEBALL": Thanks very much.
ROBERTS: So give us a quick broad brush. Who was Curveball?
DROGIN: Curveball was an Iraqi engineer who went to Germany in 1999, and he spun an incredible story to them. He told them that Saddam Hussein had built this fabulous wild fleet of vehicles that could produce biological weapons -- germ weapons and it was never proved and his information was never confirmed. But the Bush administration believed it, even though they had never -- the CIA had never talked to him, they didn't even know his name.
ROBERTS: You say in your reporting that he had claimed to have graduated first in his class, he actually graduated last in his class. He claimed also to be the right-hand man of Dr. Rihab Taha, who is known as Dr. Germ, she was in charge of the biological weapons.
None of that ever happened. Why did he make this stuff up?
DROGIN: He was trying to get asylum. He is actually quite an interesting character. He was a simple man with a very modest ambition. He wanted to get freedom in the West. And he told us, to basically jump the line into asylum into Germany.
ROBERTS: All right. So he told this -- as you say, wove this tale to the German authorities. Somehow it wound up to be used as fact in the run-up to the war. You say in the book: "If Curveball used fact and fiction, others twisted and magnified his account in grotesque ways. His marginal story took on an importance it did not deserve."
How did his lies become gospel in the intelligence community?
DROGIN: You know, I think of this, lost in translation. He was interviewed in Arabic and then to German and then to English and it was analysis that was being passed from one agency to another agency and it kept changing, it kept morphing as it went.
So by the -- he told one story and by the time Colin Powell is up at the United Nations and showing the world these pictures of these magical trucks, these terrible, terrifying trucks, it was like it had gone to Walt Disney or something. It was like "Dumbo." It was, these were cartoon trucks. They didn't exist. They had never existed.
ROBERTS: And eventually it turned out that they were from manufacturing hydrogen for blowing up weather balloons?
DROGIN: Yes. Those were other trucks that were found after the war, that's right. And the president said these -- we found the weapons of mass destruction. Well, they didn't.
ROBERTS: And the vice president held onto that for a long time after, apparently...
DROGIN: He may still hold onto that.
ROBERTS: Yes, well, we have to ask him that. Maybe he does. You also say in the book regarding Colin Powell, quote: "Virtually every word from Powell now was coming from Curveball, though he wisely didn't mention the odd codename."
How important were Curveball's lies for the case to war?
DROGIN: Well, if you remember that speech, Colin Powell said -- this is the most important thing. He said, first, biological weapons. And what he told me was that when he went to the CIA before that speech, they told him this was the key part. This was incontrovertible evidence. This was the strongest thing they had.
And he said this was the centerpiece of his speech. And I think we all remember those pictures of the trucks and the headlines that came afterwards. You know, these were the germ caravans, the Winnebagos of death.
ROBERTS: If they didn't have that alleged evidence from Curveball, do you think they still would have been able to make a case for war? They would have found something else?
DROGIN: You know, who knows? He was a pretext, and he was the key guy, everything rested on his shoulders.
ROBERTS: Now you paint a pretty unflattering picture of the intelligence agencies in the book. You say: "Time and again, bureaucratic rivalries, tawdry ambitions, and spineless leadership proved more important than professional integrity."
So who ultimately bears responsibility for this? And why has no one been held accountable? I mean, for pete's sake, George Tenet got the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
DROGIN: He did. He did. And he presided over the worst intelligence failure in our history. You know, I find it astonishing, as we all did. You know, the president led us to war, he is ultimately responsible. But what my book is about, the degree that time after time again people who tried to raise warnings, tried to raise red flags were pushed aside, were cast out, were treated like heretics. It's really sort of bizarre. It's a cult over there.
ROBERTS: Right. It's a fascinating book, "Curveball: Spies, Lies and the Con Man Who Caused a War." Bob Drogin, good to see you.
DROGIN: Thank you so much.
ROBERTS: Again, congratulations on the book.
DROGIN: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Well done -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, a 5-year-old girl in San Antonio, Texas, was told to close her eyes. When she opened them she got a very big surprise yesterday. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it was something different but it was my daddy!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: That's right. Taylor Reyes' (ph) father Jimmy and Navy Seabee just back from eight months in Iraq. Taylor says she suspected that something was up. Well, the entire family is looking forward to catching up. Jimmy is also looking forward to getting to know his son. He was born right before he was deployed.
Well. "ANDERSON COOPER 360" airs every single night 10:00 p.m. We're going to show you in a minute what Anderson is working on for tomorrow.
Meantime, quick hits now. Virginia Senator John Warner expected to return to work this week after minor surgery. The 80-year-old Warner had a procedure yesterday to repair a false aneurysm in his thigh. Doctors say it's related to the senator's recent hospitalization for an irregular heartbeat.
There's a new study suggesting U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals may be too closely tied to the pharmaceutical industry. Nearly two-thirds of medical department heads are said to have received money or had some other type of financial relationship with the private sector. The researchers are questioning whether drug companies are trying to buy influence while potentially harming the integrity of medical research and education programs.
Well, some important advice for women who may be thinking about postponing motherhood by freezing their eggs. We're paging Dr. Gupta ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty minutes now to the top of the hour. Earlier today with all the gloomy economic forecasts we sent our Ali Velshi out to look for the silver lining in all of this. Guess what he came back with? Another cloud.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a big cloud, actually. It's not a surprise. It's all about housing. But there are four things that have happened right now. We just got the September housing starts number. Now that is the number of home construction projects that got under way in September, down 30.1 percent from the same time last year to the lowest level in 14 years.
Then we've got building permits. The number of permits issued for a new housing projects in September, down 7 percent, and the lowest number in 14 years as well. We also have inflation numbers. Inflation is up 2.8 percent. And the jump from August to September is the biggest we've seen in four months. That is largely due to food and energy prices because we've seen that pop in the price of oil. We will continue to see that.
And commodity prices are all higher, soybeans, corn, wheat, things like that. They also -- the government has also put out its number for Social Security. For those of you who receive Social Security benefits or know someone who does, 50 million Americans receive them. Starting January, the average increase is going to be 2.3 percent. That, ironically, is the smallest increase in four years, just at a time when things are getting more expensive.
For the average check for somebody who gets Social Security, that is going to amount to $24 more per month. Not a great picture for the consumer this morning and not a great picture for the housing sector either.
CHETRY: When you say down 30 percent, the housing, that is nationwide?
VELSHI: Nationwide, compared to last September to now, 30 percent fewer homes got under way in September. That construction has stopped. That's jobs, that's homes that -- it's not just homes that aren't getting sold, other homes aren't going to get sold in the future because they are not getting built and people who aren't working.
ROBERTS: So how are the markets reacting? Does it look like they're going to go down or could they see this as another sign that Bernanke...
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Well, remember, that is an interesting point. We are just a couple of weeks from the next Fed cut -- Fed move on October...
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: Uh-oh!
VELSHI: Good thing this show is on tape. That's not live. We are going to edit that out. October 31st...
ROBERTS: Where's the bleep button here?
VELSHI: And if the market thinks the Fed will cut rates again, this could be positive news. So this is always the tricky part about the market, if you're heavily invested, even in your 401(k)s, this is the day to watch what happens over the next hour.
VELSHI: All right. Ali, thanks very much.
CHETRY: He is the Oz behind the curtain.
ROBERTS: "ANDERSON COOPER 360" airs weeknights at 10:00 Eastern. Here is Anderson now with a look at what is on his program tonight.
Hey, Anderson.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: John, tonight, you get stuck at O'Hare or LAX, so what are politicians doing about it? The flight delays, record numbers. Well, they spending money, your tax money on rinky-dink airports near their ritzy vacation homes. They say it's vital. We're "Keeping Them Honest," "360" tonight, 10:00 p.m. Eastern -- John.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Anderson. We will see you then -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Forty-two minutes after 8:00 Eastern time.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: Well, there are some new guidelines out this morning for anyone hoping to postpone parenthood. A lot of women deciding whether or not it's a good idea to freeze their eggs. How well does not work? We're paging Dr. Gupta once again this morning, he is at our medical update desk in Atlanta.
You know, you hear people talking about this as they make different career choices and decide perhaps to get married a little bit later in life, freezing eggs. Is that a viable option?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting, because it has become something that has obviously come into vogue a lot more, talking about it at least. We talked to several reproductive experts specifically about this and they say, no, freezing eggs is not something that they would necessarily recommend. It remains experimental. It remains unproven as well.
This is a little surprising, I think, to a lot of people who have been talking about this for some time. Human eggs are fragile. This was the point that they really tried to make and give you a sense of basically what they do. They actually have to remove eggs from the ovary by a needle, you see some of that there, just before ovulation.
Sometimes medications have to be given to actually induce ovulation or induce more egg production. That unfertilized egg is stored then subsequently stored in liquid nitrogen. And you know, as far as the data on how well this works, how well that egg can actually tolerate the entire process, it depends on a lot of different factors.
One of them is your age, 20-year-olds tend to do best, but still only about 40 percent success rate, (INAUDIBLE) 40-year-olds who are the people who are more likely talking about egg freezing success rates, it's only about 3 percent. It's a tempting technology, but I think, Kiran, the numbers speak for themselves.
CHETRY: Wow. So when they are saying success rates at 3 percent, does that mean a woman in her 40s who has had her eggs frozen in her 40s and that her actual ability to carry a child to term?
GUPTA: Yes -- well, yes, right, to have a successful pregnancy. That is how they define success here. And it drops dramatically between the ages of 20 and 40, as you saw.
CHETRY: So how can doctors even recommend it if there is a 97 percent chance for women in their 40s that it won't work out?
GUPTA: Well, I don't know that doctors are recommending it. I think, in fact, we talked to a lot of reproductive experts who said basically the same thing, this remains unproven, it remains experimental, even, which was an interesting choice of words.
There are certain groups of women who may be good candidates for this. They are going to be younger women, for obvious reasons, but also women, for example, who may be cancer patients, who are going to have to get medications that may destroy or inhibit their process of ovulation later on down the road.
Could you try and freeze some of those eggs so that they may, you know, have a chance at having a child later on? This technology is sort of reserved for women in that sort of situation. The odds are still less than half that it is going to work, but it at least improves a woman's chance of being able to have a baby later on down the line.
CHETRY: Wow. That's very astounding news. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.
GUPTA: Thank you.
(SOUND EFFECTS & MUSIC)
ROBERTS: ... take a look at President Bush's schedule on Sunday when it came out. I said, there is a couple of days in there where he doesn't have a whole lot to do. I wonder if he is going to have a press conference. Well, we learned this morning that at 10:45 the president will have a press conference. He has got that brand new briefing room at the White House, just can't resist using it. So of course we will carry that live here on CNN, 10:45 Eastern for a presidential news conference.
"CNN NEWSROOM" just minutes away. Tony Harris at the CNN Center with a look at what else is ahead this morning. Good morning, Tony.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, John. Good to see you. On the "NEWSROOM" rundown this Wednesday morning, a Virginia school system shut down today for a top-to-bottom scrubbing. Concerns after a student dies from a drug-resistant bacteria.
A first court appearance this morning for Chester Stiles. Police say he raped a 3-year-old girl and videotaped it. Live coverage straight ahead for you.
A sandstorm sweeps Southern California. Have you seen some of these pictures? A lot of highway pileups to show you and a lot of dusting to do. All of the breaking news for you at the top of the hour. NEWSROOM on CNN.
John, back to you.
ROBERTS: All right. We will see you then, Tony. Thanks very much. Are you a morning person or just the opposite? Well, Gallup decided to do a poll to find out. And what it found was 55 percent of people say they are at their best in the morning, 15 percent say they need a little bit of lunch to motivate them, 20 percent say wait until the sun sets, much better in the evening, only 6 percent of respondents say they are at their best during the overnight hours. And then there is Kiran who is at her best in the morning, but only after she has had breakfast, lunch and dinner.
CHETRY: Yes. And then by the afternoon and evening, forget it. It is hard to even change positions on the couch. Well, the mother of missing toddler Madeleine McCann is speaking out once again. But she is saying she is being persecuted because she is too pretty. The Liverpool Echo reported that Kate McCann said that many people thought she didn't look motherly enough and so that was the reason she hasn't garnered a lot of sympathy in the plight to find her missing 4-year-old daughter. Portuguese police have named her and husband as formal suspects in their daughter's disappear. Kate's mother, Madeleine's grandmother, also told the paper that her daughter was not guilty of any crime.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (voice-over): Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, "Michael Clayton," the movie, and Michael Clayton, the man, who had nothing to do with the movie.
MICHAEL CLAYTON: Recently, I've been going by George Clooney. He decided to use my name so I decided to borrow his for a little while.
CHETRY: Name borrowing with our one and only Lola Ogunnaike, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: (INAUDIBLE) the real Michael Clayton please stand up? There is a movie out right now with a name, George Clooney plays a lawyer named Michael Clayton, but he of course is not the only Michael Clayton out there. He is not even the only lawyer named Michael Clayton out there. Our own Lola Ogunnaike spoke to the real Michael Clayton.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR: I'm Michael Clayton.
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): So he is.
(on camera): Do you have an ID?
CLAYTON: Recently, I've been going by George Clooney. He has decided to use my name, so I've decided to borrow his for a little while. That seems fair.
OGUNNAIKE: It seems to fit.
CLOONEY: Do I look like I'm negotiating?
OGUNNAIKE (voice-over): Negotiating is what this real life Michael Clayton does for a living.
(on camera): He's a lawyer.
CLAYTON: He's a lawyer. OGUNNAIKE: You're a lawyer.
CLAYTON: I'm a lawyer.
OGUNNAIKE: His name is Michael Clayton, your name is Michael Clayton.
CLAYTON: That's correct.
OGUNNAIKE: But he plays a fixer in the movie, which is essentially someone who cleans up messes.
CLAYTON: Right.
OGUNNAIKE: What type of lawyer are you? What do you do?
CLAYTON: What I do is to protect brands and names from other people's use.
OGUNNAIKE: It doesn't get any more ironic than that, does it?
CLAYTON: Of all the names in the world, to pick the name of a trademark lawyer whose job is to prevent the misappropriation of other's names, it is just supremely ironic.
CLOONEY: I don't understand that either though.
OGUNNAIKE (voice-over): The irony hasn't been lost on his friends and family.
CLAYTON: After our sons and I saw a trailer for the film that blares "George Clooney is Michael Clayton," one of our sons looked at me and goes, well, who are you?
OGUNNAIKE (on camera): If you realized that the Michael Clayton in the film was going to be, say, a murderer or a rapist, would you have sued? Would you have fought to reclaim your name?
CLAYTON: I can only give you a lawyerly answer. It would have been different and I could have brought a lawsuit. But, again, you know, this is the way this has gone because it's George Clooney, because it's a great movie, it's not something to take seriously. It's something to have fun with.
OGUNNAIKE: But if you wanted to pull out the muscle, you could of pulled out the muscle?
CLAYTON: I could have pulled off the muscle. That's what I do.
OGUNNAIKE: When you have a name like Lola Ogunnaike, you don't got to worry about that. No very common, my friend.
CLAYTON: I think your chances of succeeding in a right of publicity claim are much greater than mine. I'll give you my card.
(END VIDEOTAPE) CHETRY: He is charming, much like George Clooney. How did you find him?
OGUNNAIKE: Actually one of the producers here presented this story to us. We have got a great team here, you know that.
CHETRY: Of course. Of course. That was great though that he happened to be a lawyer, everything like he said, really ironic. Did he like the movie?
OGUNNAIKE: He actually liked the movie. And his wife liked it. She is a huge George Clooney fan. She is still waiting to meet him though. They actually had tickets to the premiere. For some reason, they found out about it at the last minute, though, so they couldn't make it up here for the premiere. But eventually I'm sure after they get wind of this, Clooney may reach out to them.
CHETRY: He's a nice guy. I'm sure he would...
OGUNNAIKE: He is a nice guy.
CHETRY: ... meet the real Michael Clayton. Hey, any other Michael Claytons?
OGUNNAIKE: There are. There is actually another attorney. He is out in California. And there is a Michael Clayton who is a wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And you know, sports fans know Tom Brady as the New England quarterback, the one who has led them to all of these Super Bowl victories, MVP over and over and over again. And he's not the only Tom Brady out there actually. A writer and director, his name is Tom Brady. He's the guy behind "Hot Chicks (sic)," you know, that amazing piece of cinema. Sorry, Rob Schneider.
And he actually has a new film coming out this Friday called "The Comebacks." And it's a spoof of all of these inspirational sports films. So lots of Tom Bradys out there, lots of Michael Claytons. And I think there are a few John Roberts out there.
CHETRY: Oh yes, we have Googled it, 15 million hits.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Lola, give me five, because you are unique and you don't have to worry about it. But if they do do a Lola Ogunnaike movie, pretty much guarantee it's about you.
OGUNNAIKE: Yes, it's about me. Halle Berry already wants to play me.
CHETRY: She is fighting for the role right now.
OGUNNAIKE: She is duking it out.
CHETRY: Lola, thanks -- John.
ROBERTS: Here is a tidbit for you. I just went on the Lawyer Search Web site, could not find an attorney named George Clooney. There you go.
OGUNNAIKE: Really, like that.
ROBERTS: A quick look now at what "CNN NEWSROOM" is working on for the top of the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS (voice-over): See these stories in the "CNN NEWSROOM."
A Virginia school system shut down for cleaning today. A student killed by a drug-resistant staph infection.
A man accused of videotaping a sexual assault on a 3-year-old girl in court this morning.
Confirmation hearings for Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey.
And the driver who made it off the train tracks just in time. "NEWSROOM," just minutes away at top of the hour on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Time to update you now on the results of our quick vote question, because police say that that terrible train accident in South Carolina was in part caused because a woman was on her cell phone. We asked, should you be banned from using your cell phone while driving?
CHETRY: And the final check of the votes right now, 80 percent of you say, yes, they should ban it, 20 percent saying no. Want to thank everyone who voted today.
ROBERTS: Everybody is going to be on their cell phones now while they're driving. Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. We'll see you again tomorrow.
CHETRY: Meantime, "CNN NEWSROOM" with Tony Harris and Heidi Collins starts right now.
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