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American Morning
Gates and Clinton Confirm Policy to Stay in Afghanistan; Anti- War Protesters Demonstrate at White House; Health Care Reform Debate Continues; Dr. Bill Frist Weighs in on Health Care Bill; David Letterman Apologizes to Wife and Female Staffers on Scandal; What General David Petraeus Faces With Cancer Treatment; Signs of Workplace Violence; Choosing a Strategy for Iran; Objections to Bank Fees; High- tech Security Scan
Aired October 06, 2009 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And we're coming up on the top of the hour, 7:00 here in New York. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. It's Tuesday, October 6th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Here are the big stories we'll be telling you about this morning in the next 15 minutes.
A CNN exclusive -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sit down for a rare joint interview with our Christiane Amanpour. Both Cabinet members insist that our troops are staying in Afghanistan. Barbara Starr is live from the Pentagon with insight on that interview.
CHETRY: Also David Letterman's first show since admitting he had sex with members of his staff. "The Late Show" host apologizing publicly to his wife and to women staffers. It was part comedy, part crisis management. Alina Cho has all of that.
ROBERTS: And dramatic news this morning about America's top military commander in the Middle East. General David Petraeus has undergone radiation treatment for early stage prostate cancer. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta coming up live with more on what this diagnosis means for the general.
We begin the hour with a CNN exclusive, two White House cabinet members sounding one clear theme -- our troops are not leaving Afghanistan.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared together yesterday for a rare joint interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour and former CNN Washington bureau chief Frank Sesno. Secretary Gates calling the situation in Afghanistan too critical to abandon because of recent gains by the Taliban.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GATES, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: And the reality is that because of our inability and the inability, frankly, of our allies to put enough troops into Afghanistan, the Taliban do have the momentum right now it seems. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Our Barbara Starr is live for us from the Pentagon this morning. And Barbara, based on what we heard from Secretaries Clinton and Gates, are we getting a clearer indication of what the White House might be doing in Afghanistan moving forward?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I'm not sure we're getting a clearer indication of the White House position, but Secretary Gates was very blunt last night. John, he could not have been more clear about his view of what would happen if the terrorist got the advantage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GATES: They now have the opportunity to defeat a second super power, which more than anything would empower their message and the opportunity to recruit, to fundraise, and to plan operations.
STARR (voice-over): The secretary of defense making it clear the U.S. will maintain a strong presence in a region that he calls the epicenter of jihad.
GATES: We are not leaving Afghanistan.
STARR: General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, says he needs some more boots on the ground if the U.S. is serious about stopping the Taliban and terrorism.
It's a critical decision, one that has to be made by a deliberate president according to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It is difficult enough to deal with the challenges emanating from Afghanistan and Pakistan and the continuing threat from Al Qaeda. But to do it when there's so much pressure to make a snap decision, never to ask the hard questions, is really counterproductive.
STARR: Secretary Clinton insisting any strategy in Afghanistan must include developing Afghanistan economically and socially.
CLINTON: It is a kind of chicken and egg issue. We want to focus on development, but in order to operate in many of the places in Afghanistan, you have to have a level of security.
GATES: Because of our inability and the inability, frankly, of our allies to put enough troops into Afghanistan, the Taliban do have the momentum right now it seems.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: I don't think you can listen to that last piece of sound from the secretary often enough, John. The momentum is with the Taliban. He is saying that very bluntly.
And you know, you'll recall it was just a few weeks ago Secretary Gates was saying, quoting him, everyone should take a deep breath about Afghanistan. Now he's talking about Taliban having the outright momentum.
And you'll remember from Iraq, commanders finally said that their view was if we weren't winning, we were losing, and the secretary doesn't have a lot of cheery words about Afghanistan right now -- John?
ROBERTS: He doesn't seem to, no. A lot of discussions this week too within the administration about the way forward in Afghanistan. Barbara Starr, thanks so much.
We want to point out that the interview with Secretaries Gates and Clinton was conducted yesterday by our Christiane Amanpour. You can see it in its entirety today on CNN, 3:00 p.m. eastern. 12:00 pacific, a special edition of "Amanpour" only on CNN, the worldwide leader in news.
CHETRY: In just a few hours at the White House, President Obama will meet with top ranking members of Congress from both parties to discuss whether to send tens of thousands of more troops to Afghanistan.
Some of the big names expected, House Leader Nancy Pelosi as well as Senate majority leader Harry Reid, Senator John Kerry there. Also Senator John McCain, and McCain is pushing for more troops, saying that the longer it takes to send them, the more Americans will be at risk.
There is new polling though showing that most Americans are against the war in Afghanistan. Hundreds of activists held a rally outside of the White House. Some of them chaining themselves to the fence, others wearing masks holding signs.
Police say that 61 people were arrested including antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan. She became a very vocal critic of the last administration after her son was killed in Iraq in 2004.
Our Jim Acosta covered the protests. He's live in Washington this morning. The interesting thing about these protestors, many of them supported Obama during his presidential run. He talked about pulling out of Iraq and that was a big, big issue in the presidential election.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and he is losing those voters right now. Antiwar Democratic voters made Barack Obama their candidate in large part based on his position in Iraq. Now those same voters are coming to grips with what President Obama may be about to do in Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): This was no tea party. The swarms of noisy protesters outside of the White House were giving President Obama an earful on the war in Afghanistan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It doesn't look very different from the Bush regime.
ACOSTA: Are you disappointed?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little bit.
ACOSTA: Protesters Wayne Young and his wife were once enthusiastic Obama voters who flew all the way from Denver for the inauguration.
WAYNE YOUNG, ANTI-WAR PROTESTER: If he escalates the war I'll be deeply disappointed.
ACOSTA: for years antiwar demonstrators would pull these moves on the previous man in the Oval Office. Once cheered for his opposition to the war in Iraq, Mr. Obama is finding his own catch phrases turn against him with signs saying, "Yes, we can get out of Afghanistan."
MADEA BENJAMIN, CODE PINK: We had great hopes, and we feel that those hopes have been dashed.
ACOSTA: But antiwar movement veteran Madea Benjamin concedes then candidate Obama's position on Afghanistan was clear.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Make no mistake, we're confronting an urgent crisis in Afghanistan and we have to act. That's why I'll send at least two or throw additional brigades to Afghanistan.
ACOSTA (on camera): But didn't he talk about it being the good war during the campaign?
BENJAMIN: Some of us thought maybe that's what he felt what he had to do it to get himself elected, but we thought he was a level headed person.
ACOSTA (voice-over): These days they pin their hopes on sympathetic senators.
SEN. CARL LEVIN, (D) MICHIGAN: I would not commit to more combat troops at this time. There are other things that need to be done to show resolve. What we need a surge of is Afghan troops.
CINDY SHEEHAN, ANTI-WAR PROTESTER: He will actively and courageously protest against wars.
ACOSTA: Now Cindy Sheehan, the controversial mother of a fallen soldier who made a name for herself camping out in front of President Bush's home in Crawford, Texas, is on Mr. Obama's doorstep.
ACOSTA (on camera): What is the president supposed to do? Bring the troops home and end that war?
SHEEHAN: He's supposed to -- that's what we demanded when Bush was president. That's what we're demanding when Obama is president.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The White House response, no way.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't think we have the option to leave. I think that's quite clear.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: At the end of that protest, Sheehan and 60 other demonstrators were arrested and loaded onto a special Metro bus that was brought in to haul them off.
And those anti-war demonstrators were well aware of the debate going on in inside the White House over what to do in Afghanistan, which is why many of them are praising Vice President Biden, who is suggesting a smaller footprint in that country, a country seeing a war that is entering the ninth year -- Kiran?
CHETRY: Sure is, and still a lot of debate on what the right course is for Afghanistan and our presence there. Jim Acosta this morning, thanks so much.
We want to know what you think. Should the president keep troops in Afghanistan? How many? Should he add hundreds more, thousands more, 40,000 more? Still a big debate going on. Sound off on our show hotline. You can also leave a comment on our blog, CNN.com/amfix.
ROBERTS: New this morning, is it a deal or just another way to get your money up front? The new twist if you fly United. For a flat fee of $249 you can check up to two bags every time you fly for a year.
The airline normally charges $20 to check the first bag and $30 for the second, so a passenger with two bags would break even after five trips. Annual fee covers domestic and international flights.
CHETRY: Chaos at the annual hot air balloon fiesta. It happens every year in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but this year some stunning video coming out, a low-flying hot air balloon slams into a tent. There you see the passenger actually fell out about 30 feet, hit the ground.
They say that all he did was dislocate his hip, other than that, OK. The pilot didn't get hurt.
For the past two years, though, people have died in hot air balloon crashes at this very same event.
ROBERTS: Wow.
It was a magical night for NFL superstar Brett Favre. In a highly anticipated matchup on "Monday Night Football," Favre, now a Minnesota Viking, played for the first time against the Green Bay Packers, the team he led for 16 seasons.
The veteran quarterback also made history by becoming the only quarterback to defeat all 32 NFL teams. The icing on the cake last night, he threw three touchdown passes and beat his former team 30-23. And the Vikings undefeated for the season so far.
CHETRY: A lot of naysayers when he decided to un-retire again.
ROBERTS: Crazy Brett Favre trying to go back out on the field. He's embarrassing himself. Why doesn't he just give it up?
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: And that's an official sentiment by the way. Still not used to seeing him in purple. It's strange.
ROBERTS: Favre is a great player, and he's still got some miles left.
CHETRY: He sure does judging from the record so far.
We're going to be speaking with Dr. Bill Frist, a former senator as well on health care and the big debate and a lot of unanswered questions. Does it all have to happen at once? Does it have to be this big universal bill passed, or are there things that can happen along the way to slowly make ground in improving our nation's health care?
We'll talk about him coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
War strategy in Afghanistan and President Obama's failed Olympic bid may have stolen the headlines, but beneath the surface, the health care debate rages on this week, and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has some strong opinions about what's going on in Washington.
Here to talk about his views, which may surprise you, in his new book, which is called "A Heart to Serve" is Dr. Bill Frist. Thanks for joining us this morning. Good to see you.
You said not too long ago if you were still in the Senate you would probably vote for health care overhaul.
DR. BILL FRIST, (R) FORMER SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: The reformation of the health care system.
ROBERTS: What exactly is it though you would feel comfortable voting for? Anything in any of the plans that are out there now?
FRIST: Two things. And again, these next two or three weeks are critical. We have to bring people together to get it done. It's a great moment in time if it can be done.
Number one, we have to get the uninsured into the market itself. There is too much cherry picking going on.
ROBERTS: How many? All of them, half of them?
FRIST: There are 46 million out there. There are 20 million who are hardcore uninsured who just can't get it because they can't afford it. So I would start there, but eventually we need to get them all into the insurance market. We just don't have enough money to do it right now, but 20 million hardcore.
Number two is the cost in health care. Basically health care costs went up three times faster than inflation. A typical person out there simply can't afford it any longer, a $15,000 policies being average for a family of four is too much, but it's going up too fast.
So the health care reform that we need is something that brings in as many as we can, let's say 20 million now, that addresses issues, spending, by putting benefits out there with competition on the marketplace, eliminating about 30 percent waste in health care, and that can be done through information technology and transparency and accountability.
And if we can do that, we can both afford it today and bring people into the market.
ROBERTS: Let's zero in on this idea of competition in the marketplace. Many Democrats believe the way to really get competition in the marketplace is to put forward a public option which would have a government sponsored health insurance program out there competing with the other ones. Would you support that?
FRIST: A public option as a backup that is not federally controlled but is controlled at the local level with local...
ROBERTS: So you're talking co-ops?
FRIST: It can be a co-op, even a co-op people it's kind of a new concept. But the idea of not having government out there, controlling prices out there undercutting the insurance market that's the big fear. And at the end of the day you're going to have to have some sort of a backup of a public plan. And at the end of the day if the private sector doesn't step up...
ROBERTS: So you're talking...
FRIST: ... you have to have some other kind of a trigger coming into play.
ROBERTS: So you're talking about Olympia Snowe's idea?
FRIST: We did in 2003 with the Medicare Modernization Act which was the prescription drug plan. If the private sector does not step up, and has not more than two plans there, a public plan has local control, local and private implementation has to step up.
ROBERTS: So it sounds like the plan that's being written in the Senate Finance Committee is something that might attract your vote?
FRIST: Well, I'm coming out very strongly in support of what's going on in the Senate Finance Committee. It's bipartisan. I hope that it ends up being bipartisan. If not, I think it's going to be a destructive bill.
But it's bipartisan, people working together. So we're on the way there. I would not endorse a bill the way it is now. There's still about 400 amendments out there, so hopefully that process can come together.
ROBERTS: Now, I know, we should say you and I saw each other just a couple weeks ago at the U2 concert...
FRIST: That's right.
ROBERTS: ... at the Giants stadium and we were talking health care.
FRIST: Yes, yes.
ROBERTS: It shows you, I mean, how all consuming this is we were at the concert and we're talking health care. And you suggested that you didn't think it was such a great idea to do this all at once.
FRIST: Yes.
ROBERTS: That you could do pieces of it.
FRIST: Well, the problem we have today -- and I write about it in my book "A Heart to Serve" is that in a time of recession and job loss, when we have really 46 million or 20 million people out there, we simply can't afford to promise them a Cadillac gold-plated type plan, and that's what's being done today.
There are too many mandates out there. It's too expensive. We simply can't do it. Taxes go up. Premiums go up, it can't be done.
The best way you can do is yes, get universal care but not promise everybody everything. And one thing you can do is do it like car insurance and make sure that we have at least catastrophic coverage so you can look people in the eye and say you are not going to be driven to bankruptcy if your child gets leukemia, for example.
ROBERTS: Right. I want to talk about a couple of things in your book which you say is not a political memoir. It's a story about leadership lessons learned and lived or lived and learned" and talking about you too. You write about the time that you spent in 2001 with Bono in Uganda.
FRIST: Yes. Yes.
ROBERTS: Going around the country, just two guys. Yu didn't take any cameras with you as he did when he traveled with Paul O'Neil, the former treasury secretary. What was that experience like?
FRIST: You know what? The fun thing about writing a book like this, as you said not a political memoir. It's about a third stories in health care, about a third on global health issues, the sort of stories like Bono, and a third is on experiences in the Senate. And it's written to inspire people to get involved in their communities.
But I did put stories like meeting Bono sort of serendipitously, very quietly. We did go to Uganda to see if the policies the United States had in place were really working.
ROBERTS: Right.
FRIST: So no cameras, no constituents, no security and no rock star fans. We were there. And out of that came eventually legislation, HIV legislation that means about 23 million people will be treated for HIV.
ROBERTS: And we should mention to that he gave you a shout-out at Giant stadium and again in Washington. You were bosoms (ph), right?
FRIST: And we worked very closely on things like Millennium Challenge Corporation (ph) which is a way to give development aid in a very responsible way instead of just throwing it away. So people like him who give voice to very sort of accountable transparent issues I think have a huge impact on global health and health care.
ROBERTS: Now that's a story that I knew that you went to Africa with him. And we actually talked about that a couple of weeks ago.
FRIST: Yes.
ROBERTS: A story I didn't know which I was fascinated to find out by reading this book. In 1991, you saved then-Lieutenant Colonel David Petraeus's life.
FRIST: Yes. Yes, and again, this is a sort of lesson in service and in part leadership, but mainly service, that things come full circle. And in 1991 when I was at a soccer (ph) long before politics for me, long before he was a general, the famous general that he is today. But I got word that there was a life flight helicopter coming in with somebody dying, shot to the chest with an M-16, blew out his back, took out the top of lungs, hemorrhaging. And I went into the hospital and opened up his chest quietly. Put my hands around his lung and stopped the hemorrhage and really two days later, he was up walking around.
ROBERTS: So he wouldn't -- he wouldn't be -- he wouldn't be where he is today if it weren't for you then?
FRIST: Well, not necessarily me. It may -- I happened to be the surgeon on call. I was too lousy (INAUDIBLE). It would have been another trauma surgeon, but it is ironic long before politics, long before he was in Iraq, Afghanistan and the like we come full circle.
ROBERTS: That was -- that was an accidental shooting. What's fascinating to me as well is that he insisted that he get back to Fort Campbell two days after the surgery.
FRIST: And five days after he insisted, which I didn't like because of his incision, doing push-ups. ROBERTS: Unbelievable. So he's a pretty tough guy.
FRIST: Well, he knows the kind of stories that end here really and sort of the backroom, the inner working of the United States Senate encouraging everybody to find their own passions, get out there, involve, develop them, so they can be of service to their communities.
ROBERTS: It's a great book. It is great to see you this morning. Thanks for stopping by.
FRIST: OK, John. Great to be with you.
ROBERTS: Really appreciate it.
Twenty minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-two minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Well, for the first time since he became the punch line, David Letterman was back on stage at the Ed Sullivan Theater last night. Now the host publicly apologized to his wife and also to his staff for having sex with women who've worked on his show.
Alina Cho is following the developments for us. So there's a little mix of humor. He's making jokes at his own expense but at the same time saying I'm sorry.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Delicate line to walk, as we've been saying. Good morning, guys. Good morning, everybody.
You know, at the time and this was Thursday night when Letterman first made the bombshell admission on his show, he said he was done talking about it. But last night on his show he said, well, it seems like people want to talk about it some more. So that's exactly what he did. As Kiran mentioned, he apologized to his wife, his staff and above all he made jokes about his favorite target, himself.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): He's become the butt of the late-night laughs over the past few days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was reported that the blackmailer Joe Halderman was threatening to reveal embarrassing details of Letterman's personal life. For example, after sex, he would always say stay tuned for Craig Ferguson.
CHO: If you can't beat him, well...
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": Did your weekend just fly by? I'll be honest with you, folks, right now I would give anything to be hiking on the Appalachian Trail. CHO: Fans at Monday night's taping said Letterman handled the situation like a pro.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very intimate. Very energized. It was a lot of fun, and I think people really generally support him.
CHO: It did get serious for a few minutes when Letterman, a very private person, again used his very public forum speaking directly to his staff and then his wife, Regina Lasko.
LETTERMAN: She has been horribly hurt by my behavior. And when something happens like that, if you hurt a person then it's you're responsibility, you try to fix it. And at that point there is only two things that can happen. Either you're going to make some progress and get it fixed or you're going to fall short and perhaps not get it fixed.
CHO: Letterman also stressed those sexual relationships are over.
LETTERMAN: I would just like to set the records straight. No, I'm not having sex with these women. Those episodes are in the past.
CHO: Meanwhile, the 27-year CBS veteran accused of demanding $2 million from Letterman to keep quiet about his sexual past is firing back. Joe Halderman's lawyer says Letterman is a master at manipulation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wanted to get out ahead of the story and that's exactly what he did.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Halderman has pleaded not guilty to attempted grand larceny. He's been suspended from his job at CBS News and if convicted he could face up to 15 years in prison. For his part, Letterman acknowledged last night, ladies and gentlemen, this is only phase one of the scandal. Phase two, next week I go on Oprah and sob, you know.
And that's what you call comic relief as I've been saying. You know, he said he spent the weekend raking his hate mail and that he got into his car and even the navigation lady wouldn't speak to him. You know, you got to hand it to him. He has injected a lot of humor.
ROBERTS: Kiran was pointing out without mentioning any names here, that there are plenty of examples of men in very powerful positions having extramarital affairs with people that work for them and in many cases they've gone on to marry them and how is this different than that?
CHO: Well...
CHETRY: We're not naming any names.
CHO: We're not. I mean, listen, sadly this is not a new story. This has happened before and there are a lot of questions. Obviously, the media spotlight is on David Letterman right now. A lot of people want to know will he keep his job at CBS.
For now, CBS is not commenting. But it is important to note that he makes between $70 million and $100 million a year for CBS News. He himself makes by some estimates $40 million a year and his contract runs through 2010. Again, CBS has not made any comments about the future of his job, his show on CBS. But, you know...
CHETRY: But all bets are it will be fine, right? I mean, pretty much.
CHO: I mean, listen, you know, staff members that I have spoken to say he needs to get off the front page of the tabloids, and when that happens, maybe the story will die down and it will go away.
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHO: We'll have to wait and see.
CHETRY: We also have to wait and see if things can be smoothed over at home. He alluded to that being a big challenge right now.
CHO: He did.
CHETRY: All right. Alina Cho for us. Thanks so much.
Twenty-six minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Twenty- eight minutes past the hour right now. We check our top stories.
After dedicating themselves to getting Barack Obama in office, now gay rights groups are hoping now is finally the time that the president will take action. The White House says President Obama plans to address the nation's largest gay rights groups this weekend ahead of its planned march on Washington. Right now, the military's ban on gays in the military still stands and hundreds of troops are still being dismissed despite the president's promise to overturn it.
ROBERTS: More mixed messages from North Korea. South Korean reports says the North is now in the final stages of restoring nuclear activities. That's something that it promised to do back in April. This comes as North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il reportedly told China that he is willing to come back to the table if U.S. relations improve.
CHETRY: And breaking news overnight. General David Petraeus says that he has undergone "successful radiation treatment for prostate cancer." What kind of battle is it for a 56-year-old military man in charge of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is live with us now. So as we found out he had radiation treatments some months ago. What do we know about that treatment and how quickly his cancer was caught?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. What we know is he was diagnosed back in early February. And it sounds like it was diagnosed on a routine screening. At that time typically patients are offered a couple of different options or really three different options.
One is to essentially do something known as watchful waiting. Just sort of keep an eye on things. Radiation therapy, which you just talked about, which there are two types. You can radiate from the outside, or you can put seeds on the inside or you can have surgery. Those are really the three options.
The radiation therapy, you know, it's usually a daily or almost daily therapy over a couple of months. You know, it's something that you can have over half an hour, an hour and really go in and you can go back to work after that.
Sometimes people will feel a little irritation to their bladder afterwards. They may get fatigued but that's typically some of the side effects that they have with it. Afterwards, you have to sort of monitor the same blood test to see if the cancer is potentially returning.
ROBERTS: So does he have any treatment going forward or is it all just sort of watchful waiting?
GUPTA: Well, now that radiation is done and again they weren't specific in the statements that we've looked at as to what exactly which type of radiation he had. It's probably going to be more of a monitoring situation, John, where you have this PSA test every three to six months.
Now, John, one thing that we have talked about before on AMERICAN MORNING, I think it's worth pointing out is not everyone buys into this whole idea of PSA testing. In fact, the American Cancer Society doesn't necessarily recommend it. The United States Preventative Task Force doesn't necessarily recommend it. The problem with this test, John, is that you can have the PSA test but have no idea if it's high whether that means you have an aggressive cancer or a mild cancer which may never pose a problem in your life. So this is still an area of sort of controversy and further research in medicine.
ROBERTS: All right. Sanjay Gupta for us this morning. Doc, thanks so much.
GUPTA: Thanks, guys.
ROBERTS: Raymond Clark, the man accused in the brutal murder of Yale grad student Annie Le is back in court later on today. That case is bringing the issue of violence at work back to the front burners. So how do you know if you're safe in the workplace? Our Carol Costello is live with part two of our series "When Co-Workers Kill" and she with us in Washington this morning.
Good morning, Carol. CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. 517 people were murdered at work last year. That number is actually down but an American college survey found things like bullying, harassment even physical altercations are way up. So how can you protect yourself at work? Listen to your gut.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): We hear it often after a crime is committed. A man or woman just snaps and becomes a killer. It's a theory experts say that's rarely true especially in the workplace.
LARRY BARTON, PRESIDENT, THE AMERICAN COLLEGE: I have studied literally thousands of cases of person at risk at work. About 82 percent of the time there are signals that a person is having difficulty.
COSTELLO: Subtle things like an overreaction to criticism, anger directed at co-workers on blogs or in letters, obsession with people or work policy or bullying others to do things a certain way. Subtle but obvious signs that are often overlooked.
In 2005, Erin Sperry, a 20 year old supervisor at a fast food restaurant was beaten to death by a co-worker. Her mother Johna Lovely says there were plenty of signs her daughter's killer exhibited obsessive bullying behavior.
JOHNA LOVELY, DAUGHTER MURDERED BY CO WORKER: They are supervisors and complained, you know, that he rubbed up against them and it made them feel bad and I don't think really anybody took it seriously or said anything.
COSTELLO (on camera): Why do you think they didn't?
LOVELY: I don't think people are trained in doing that. I don't think they know to do that.
COSTELLO (voice-over): At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA near Washington, D.C., they are trying to make sure employees know how to read the signs.
CHARLES BAKER, DEP. DIRECTOR, NOAA SATELLITE & INFO SERVICE: We have a new program which is called respect.
COSTELLO: The program which is just a-month-old, it specials out if a co-worker's behavior should concern you on its web site and if employees still aren't sure, NOAA has set up a hotline to complaints anonymously or to offer guidance. It's actually one of the few companies taking steps to identify potential violent employees before it's too late.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2005 only 30 percent of employers had formal programs that addressed workplace violence.
(on camera): Why do you think more employers aren't doing something like this?
BAKER: I think there is initially a fear on embarking on a new program and it will cost money and suck up people's time and will become a burden to the organization.
COSTELLO (voice-over): NOAA says its program cost very little. The hotline is manned by one of its human resources employee trained in workplace violence. And in case you're wondering, NOAA does not believe employees just snap. There are always signs. You just need to know how to read them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Again, what are those signs? They can be as simple as a co-worker doing something that makes you uncomfortable like say rearranging your desk while you're away or bullying you in a meeting. The key is this, if the behavior is an ongoing pattern, tell your supervisor. Trust your gut. If it doesn't feel right, act. It could save your life.
ROBERTS: Good advice this morning from Carol Costello. Carol, thanks so much. And tomorrow we're going to look at some things that you can do to keep yourself safe at work. Alina Cho has got the latest on our series "When Co-Workers Kill." That's tomorrow right here on the most news in the morning.
Thirty-five minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Sanctions or more negotiations? Those are two of the choices facing the White House when it comes to Iran and its nuclear ambitions. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling historic discussions between the two countries in Geneva last weekend a "limited success." But what is our next step?
Ambassador Nicholas Burns is a professor of diplomacy and international politics at Harvard. He also served as the Bush's administration's chief strategist on Iran, the undersecretary of state for political affairs. Ambassador Burns joins us from Boston this morning.
Good to see you. Thanks for being here.
AMB. NICHOLAS BURNS, FORMER UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS: Good morning.
CHETRY: I don't know if you had a chance to see Christiane Amanpour's sit-down yesterday with the Defense chief Robert Gates as well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and there were some interesting things said. First of all, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that he was always convinced that Iran intended to develop nuclear weapons.
Now, if that's the case, what is the best move for the U.S. right now?
BURNS: Well, I think the best move is what President Obama is doing. I think to engage them first, to try to negotiate with the Iranians and then see if progress is possible. It's been 30 years since the United States and Iran have had a serious and continual discussion with each other. I think President Obama is right to test diplomacy because he can always resort to sanctions if that's necessary.
CHETRY: The interesting thing is in the Bush administration sort of - I mean, tell me if I'm wrong - working from the premise that you really can't trust what Iran says and so they'll say, you know, they'll say one thing but they'll continue doing what they want to do. I mean, is that sort of what Defense chief Gates was saying that he feels that they always were planning to develop weapons regardless of what they were saying?
BURNS: Oh, I think there's very little trust in the international community must less the United States about Iran. The Iranians have deceived, you know, the International Atomic Energy Agency in the past. The Iranians have not told the truth to the United Nations about what they're up to.
So neither in the Bush administration nor I suspect in the Obama administration is there a lot of trust but it's really not about trust right now. It's about trying to pin down the Iranians to expose their nuclear activities to get inspections for them and then to see if we can leverage, move, pressure the Iranians to give up some of these nuclear activities.
I think that President Obama is right to try to achieve that through negotiations because he does have other options if they fail.
CHETRY: Now, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also said that sanctions are still on the table, she's talking about other options. Sanctions being one of them. But as you said we've had sanctions against Iran for 30 years. How effective can they really be when they are still getting perhaps weapons from Russia, when China is their biggest trade partner. I mean, these are people that will really be able to put the pressure on and make Iran feel the sanctions.
BURNS: That's right. You know, we've had American sanctions on Iran for 30 years but we haven't had international sanctions and sanctions can't be Swiss cheese sanctions. They've got to be applied nearly universally so the trick here is to negotiate seriously and if let's say negotiations fail and I suspect they probably will, President Obama will then be much stronger and much more credible to go to Russia and China and challenge them and say, look I tried diplomacy, now it's time for sanctions.
So I think the strategy that he has put in place, our president, is actually the correct one sequentially. You try negotiations first and as Secretary Clinton said on CNN - if they don't succeed, then you can go on to the tough sanctions and Russia and China will bear a lot of the responsibility in that case because Russia is the leading arms exporter. China is the leading trade partner. So they need to step up in a way that they have not before.
CHETRY: You also said the president's strategy and you're saying it now as well of this patience, of this exerting some diplomatic pressure but agreeing to these talks is actually a sophisticated strategy with a better chance of actually stopping Iran's nuclear efforts. So if that's the case, was the Bush administration strategy to not engage wrong headed or naive?
BURNS: Well, actually the Bush administration did try to engage with Iran. Secretary Condy Rice offered negotiations to the Iranians in 2006 and '07 and was turned down by the Iranians. So I think the lesson here is that both the last two administrations have tried to engage. That's why I support what President Obama is doing and I think it's up to the Iranians now to decide whether they're going to be serious about these talks.
CHETRY: Some of the things that we didn't hear a lot and maybe it was discussed behind closed doors but we didn't hear the Bush administration saying Iran has a right to peaceful nuclear enrichment or, you know, peaceful nuclear material. Whatever it is that we have heard our current president say.
Almost as if he's trying to make sure that Iran has a place to go, that there's sort of a way to save face. It didn't seem like that was the case with the Bush administration. I mean, they were called out as part of the axis of evil. So how is that language or that slight diplomatic language different and how will it affect these negotiations?
BURNS: Well, again, back in 2006 and 2007 the Bush administration did indicate that Iran had a right to civil nuclear power but not a right to nuclear weapons. And so - I want to make that distinction. But I think President Obama has done a very good job since he came into office of signaling to the Iranians that there are two paths here.
There is the path of cooperation, negotiations and perhaps some advantages to Iran should it give up its nuclear weapons ambitions but there is also the path of confrontation and sanctions and Iran has to choose which one and I admire the way that President Obama has conducted himself since he came into office in trying to put diplomacy first and lead with diplomacy and try to get other countries to work with us because, you know, America - we're the strongest country in the world...
CHETRY: Right.
BURNS: We cannot act alone in the world. And we need friends with us and I think we're in that situation. A very good situation right now to try to pressure the Iranians as things move forward.
CHETRY: And you probably know the Iranian stance better than anyone. What do you think it is that they want out of this?
BURNS: I think the Iranians - I don't want to speak for them because I have no respect for President Ahmadinejad. I think he's an horrific figure on the international stage. You know, Iran is obsessed by the United States. They're worried about the United States. They believe that the United States is an aggressive nation.
I don't agree with that. But that's how they may see things. And it may be that the Iranians need to be shown that there's going to be no toleration for them in the international system should they proceed towards a nuclear weapons future. That's why it's so important to get other countries behind the United States effort as President Obama is trying to do to send that concerted, unified international message.
CHETRY: All right. Ambassador Nicholas Burns, great perspective this morning. Thanks for joining us.
BURNS: Thank you. Thanks.
CHETRY: Forty-four minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. In less than five months Congress plans to implement the credit card act designed to stop credit card companies from unexpectedly raising your rates or arbitrarily doubling, even tripling your minimum payments.
Our Jessica Yellin shows us how consumers are getting crushed by their creditors and it's all legal.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, the story I'm about to tell is the kind of credit card nightmare that's happening to millions of Americans as credit card companies rush to change their policies before a new law goes into effect.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHUCK LANE, CREDIT CARD CUSTOMER: It's an injustice.
YELLIN (voice-over): Chuck and Jeanne Lane are outraged. They have excellent credit, never been late. Still, Chase Credit Cards jacked up their monthly payment from $370 to $911, so Chuck Lane called the bank to complain.
(on camera): What did you tell them?
LANE: I told them this was the - the worst economic times in history, practically. I worked for a small company. We've laid off - we've laid off 30 percent of our workforce. I just took a 10 percent pay cut this morning, and this is what you're going to do to us?
YELLIN (voice-over): He says he learned his credit card payment skyrocketed when he checked his online bank account.
LANE: And I went to my checking account so I could write down the amount that was coming out, and, lo and behold, it was $911.
YELLIN (on camera): That a surprise?
LANE: I was shocked. I was stunned.
YELLIN (voice-over): Now he feels abused.
(on camera): You thought you had a deal.
LANE: I did. I thought I had a really good deal.
YELLIN (voice-over): The card was sold as a low interest way to pay down big bills. The Lanes have paid off about half of what they owe but still have more than $18,000 to go. They can't afford the new monthly payment, so Chuck Lane called to ask Chase for help, and guess what he was told?
LANE: You want me to pay 5 percent more in interest...
YELLIN: He can go back to his old payments, but only if he agrees to a higher interest rate. Under the new credit card law, the Lanes will have options, but, for now, they're stuck.
LANE: So you're putting us into bankruptcy? I mean, I - I don't see how that helps me.
YELLIN: The Lanes aren't alone. In a statement to CNN, Chase says they doubled the minimum payments for a million card holders because while tens of millions of Chase loans have been paid back in less than 24 months, there have been a small percentage of customers that have not made as much progress. "Our desire is to have these balances paid back in a reasonable period of time."
JOE RIDOUT, CONSUMER ACTION: Truly, this is the single most abuse of credit card change in terms that I have ever seen.
YELLIN: The credit card industry insists companies are not trying to skirt the new law.
SCOTT TALBOTT, FINANCIAL SERVICES ROUNDTABLE: It's their desire to provide the best products to consumers always, every day, to ensure that customers have the credit they need.
YELLIN: Insuring that Americans have affordable credit. That was one reason banks like Chase got billions in taxpayer bailout money.
Do you think they're showing proper respect to what Americans are going through?
JEANNE LANE, CREDIT CARD CUSTOMER: No, they're not. They have no respect for the American people. All they think about is the almighty dollar for themselves.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
YELLIN: Two members of Congress are trying to help. Barney Frank and Carolyn Maloney have introduced a new bill that would move up the effective date of that credit card law from February 22 to December 1. But even if that goes into effect, it would still give credit card companies another two months to increase rates and double payments, and that's little solace for Chuck and Jeanne Lane - Kiran, John.
ROBERTS: Jessica Yellin this morning. So what would you do if you opened your credit card statement tonight and you found out that your interest rate and your minimum monthly payment just doubled?
Well, you'd call Christine Romans, of course. Do you have any recourse? Is Chase the only credit card company doing this to its consumers - customers, rather? Christine Romans here now, "Minding Your Business."
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not just Chase. A lot of them are, and, frankly, you're seeing credit card defaults for all the major credit card issuers are rising quickly. A lot of people aren't paying their bills or they can't make the minimum payments, and so the banks are trying to get ahead of these defaults and are raising their minimum payments, trying to get people who can to pay.
I mean, the Consumer Reports says that people are so outraged that about - gosh, I think a third of credit card users have simply just closed their accounts or paid them off, they're so fed up in all of this. But people like this couple, the Lanes, they can't afford to. Look at this - there are - let's talk about credit card debt. Fifty-four percent of us pay our balances in full each - each month. Thirteen percent of us carry balances over $10,000 and 33 percent carry balances $10,000 or somewhere less.
So that camp of people who have a really big chunk of money that they owe, that is the Lanes. They owe a lot of money, and we don't know why they ran up that debt, if it was because that they were running a small business or there was a medical issue, but when you are under that much debt, it becomes very, very difficult to pay it off if those interest rates go up or if the minimum payment goes up.
CHETRY: And, plus, it looks like you're out of options, meaning you can't pay the money back, you don't have that, so you're really at the mercy of the credit card companies. There's - is there any recourse in that?
ROMANS: It's like half of America owes their souls to the company store. The credit cards are the new company store, and that - that is the - that's the God awful truth here. If you carry a balance, keep your debt as low as possible. Consider a card from a credit union or community bank. Go to consumerreports.org. They've got some fantastic advice for how to dig yourself out of this debt or at least trying to triage the bills and have the - the least amount of damage.
Don't - if you don't carry a balance, but you're unhappy, switch to another card. You can check cardratings.com, fatwallet.com, other internet sites, again, go to consumerreports.org. There's a lot of good advice on there. Bottom line here, people, all of this money that we borrowed and spent, they're reeling in the credit. It's a new world. We can't live our lives with tens of thousands dollars of credit card debt, and it's not fair that they signed a deal and thought they were going to have a low interest to try to dig themselves out - that's not fair. It just - that's not fair, but it is a whole new world. We can't - we can't live on all that credit card debt anymore. It's not going to be allowed to happen and...
ROBERTS: Well, at least, as you said, Consumer Reports, places like that trying to help out.
ROMANS: Yes. There's some strategies. I - I encourage people to go look at them.
ROBERTS: Christine Romans this morning. Christine, thanks.
Fifty-three minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Good morning, New York City. Downtown, looking at the Empire State Building there, a high of 69 degrees and sunny today. Right now, it's a little chilly. It's 50 degrees, but it looks like it's going to be a beautiful, beautiful day.
A new security scan, backed by some high-tech computers, can track your face, your breathing, your heart rate. Security experts say they could use it to find somebody who's up to no good, but does it put your privacy at stake?
Our Jeanne Meserve is tracking this new technology. She's live in Washington this morning. So, Jeanne, we've heard of facial recognition technology in the past, but how does this new elevated level of recognition and tracking work?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is different. This research marries together a lot of existing technology, some of it medical technology, in a unique way. The goal is to find bad guys before they act.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (voice-over): In this reenactment, a screener poses questions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you intend to use an explosive device to cause a disturbance in the next room (ph)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
MESERVE: As the screener evaluates the verbal response, an array of sensors picks up the physical response, looking for clues that this individual may intend to do harm.
ROBERT BURNS, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: There's been a large field of research that ties your reactions - your physical reactions - to your mental state, your emotional state. We're looking for those signals that your body gives off naturally.
MESERVE: One sensor maps the face and takes its temperature.
DAVID BONZO, EOIR TECHNOLOGIES: If there's a stress response, a physiological stress response, your - the temperature of your face is going to change.
MESERVE: Another sensor tracks eye movement, pupil size and blinking.
FRANK MARCHAK, VERIDICAL RESEARCH AND DESIGN CORP: If you're trying to conceal information, there's two possible ways that could be displayed. One is if you're stressed or aroused, the other is if you're trying to think hard. You tend to blink less and for shorter periods of time.
MESERVE: Researchers are experimenting with two systems monitoring breathing and heart beat.
JOSH MCKENNA, DIGITAL SIGNAL CORPORATION: If maybe you were stressed, that heart rate would either increase or decrease depending on what kind of questions you were asked.
MESERVE: Fidgeting might be another indicator. Using a board from a Wii Fit Game, researchers are measuring that too. Data from all the sensors is fed into a computer, which indicates whether a traveler needs additional screening.
BURNS: It's looking at a combination of factors, so they cross- correlate, so they corroborate each other. That complete package is what's going to give it to us. It's not any one individual point.
MESERVE: The research has been vetted by privacy experts within the Department of Homeland Security. Nonetheless, there are critics.
JAY STANLEY, ACLU: Number one, it is an invasion of privacy. Nobody has the right to look at my intimate bodily functions, my breathing, my heart rate from afar.
MESERVE: And some experts are doubtful the system can distinguish between potential terrorists and people stressed for other reasons, like a late flight.
PROF. STEPHEN FIENBERG, CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY: There's not much science here. In fact, there may be no science here, and I'm really worried that we're going to get carried away by the hype and there's just nothing here. The emperor may have no clothes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (on camera): The people involved in the project are adamant that the science is sound, but they say they have much more research to do before a decision is made on deploying this system at real-world checkpoints where it would compliment, not replace, human screeners.
John, back to you.
ROBERTS: Controversial, but fascinating stuff. Jeanne Meserve for us this morning. Jeanne, thanks so much.
