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American Morning
Clinton's Warning to Afghanistan; Short on Swine Flu Masks; New Strategy for Afghanistan War; Back from the Dead
Aired October 12, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, once again, to you. We're coming up right here, two minutes past 8:00 in New York on this Monday. It's October 12th.
Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts.
Here are the big stories we'll tell you in about next 15 minutes.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is doing her part to put the pressure on Afghanistan's struggling government. Speaking in Europe, Secretary Clinton is saying Afghan leaders need to step up to ensure stability.
Our Jill Dougherty is traveling with the secretary of state. We'll also speak to Mark Thompson, "Time" magazine's deputy bureau chief.
CHETRY: A top health official trying to squash fears about the swine flu vaccine, saying it is safe and the risk of not getting it is worse, especially for kids. The assistant surgeon general answers your questions about your children and H1N1 -- just ahead.
ROBERTS: And what are the five best paying, most stable, least stressful jobs in America today? Many of you maybe spending Columbus Day sending out resumes. Are you looking in the right places? We'll help you narrow down the field with the help of "Money" magazine's new can't miss list.
But, first, with President Obama under pressure for a new strategy in Afghanistan and U.S. forces under attack, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is promising the U.S. is committed to the fight. That headline and many more are being made as Secretary Clinton continues her five-day tour of Europe.
Our Jill Dougherty is live in Belfast, Northern Ireland, this morning, where the secretary of state is.
And, Jill, Hillary Clinton also commenting on the recent elections in Afghanistan and the way forward for that particular issue.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Right, John. One of the dilemmas for the Obama administration now is the election that recently took place and it's looking as if Hamid Karzai will be re-elected, but at what price? A lot of election fraud. And that certainly undermines him not only in the eyes of the international community, but in the eyes of the Afghan people.
So, Secretary Clinton is making the case that the U.S. really does expect him to patch that up, to do more and to improve his cooperation with the U.S. and also his relations with the Afghan people themselves.
Throughout this trip, she's been talking with almost every leader about Afghanistan and with Foreign Minister Miliband in London, for example, Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London. She's telling them about these discussions that are taking place with the president and members of his administration, defining what are the next moves on U.S. strategy on Afghanistan.
Interestingly, John, one point that she made -- it was a subtle one, because she's not giving a lot of detail about those discussions -- but she did say that they are analyzing who is actually allied with al Qaeda. And that is one of the questions, whether the Taliban, for instance, could be peeled away, some members of the Taliban, and perhaps even worked with in new Afghan government.
And also, from the secretary's perspective, it's very important that the people who work with her, with the State Department, the aide workers, development workers, have protection to carry out their work in Afghanistan. Right now, they can donate that very easily, because they are being attacked by the Taliban.
So, even on that debate on troops, whether there should be more, and if so, how many, she would -- you'd have to say, although she won't define it, she would certainly want adequate troops to make sure that the very important other role for the U.S. government, and that's development, can be carried out.
ROBERTS: She also, Jill, has a message for leader there is in Northern Ireland. They're very close to completing the peace process there with the -- you know, the takeover of police and security forces, but they've hit a bit of a snag. How difficult is it going to be to get that process completed?
DOUGHERTY: Well, there is some worry, because after all, the story on the Northern Ireland peace process, which has been going on now for more than 15 years, has been a good one. In fact, Secretary Clinton would make the case that Northern Ireland is a great example for other conflict zones around the world, that they've been able to bring people together, that there has been an uptick in some violence. They found, not too long ago, a 600-pound bomb that was not exploded. So, the fighting, some of it, or at least terrorist acts, aren't over.
So Secretary Clinton is making a very passionate speech to the Northern Ireland legislature, the Stormont Assembly. And it was interesting, just to look around that room, John, I was in the room when it happened, and you had Ian Paisley, the unionist leader Gerry Adams from the Catholic side, all of them in one room. These are people who used to, literally, try or their supporters tried to kill each other, but they're in the room together.
So, Secretary Clinton making the case that the Obama administration is committed to this peace process, that a big part of it will be economic development, and also that there are still those out there, as she put it, who want to undermine the process and derail it with thuggish tactics. But she argues they're on the wrong side of history.
ROBERTS: All right. Jill Dougherty for us in Belfast, Northern Ireland, this morning -- Jill, thanks so much.
If the president does decide to send in more troops to Afghanistan, what would it cost? Could we even afford it? In 10 minutes time, the dollars and cents of war with Mark Thompson. He's the deputy Washington bureau chief for "Time" magazine and the numbers, by the way, just might surprise you.
CHETRY: There are some alarming new statistics about swine flu. While everyone is at risk, children seem to be the most affected. But many parents say they're not planning to get the swine flu vaccine for their kids.
On "STATE OF THE UNION," the assistant surgeon general joined John King to try to clear up some of the confusion out there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": There's a mistrust across the political spectrum of government institutions. Why is it, do you think, many persons, many parents aren't quite sure? Number one, it's new.
DR. ANNE SCHUCHAT, ASSISTANT SURGEON GENERAL: Well, you know, a lot of people are saying it's new, but it's important to know that the seasonal flu vaccine is made exactly the same way as this H1N1 vaccine. A hundred million people, including a lot of children, get the seasonal flu vaccine every year and it has a really good safety record.
So, I think parents are wondering: Is this something new? Has it been fully tested? What I can say is that everything we know right now suggested a very good safety profile for the vaccines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And, of course, the threat of swine flu is rising. Surgical masks are rolling off production lines here in the U.S., but it may be impossible to meet the demand.
As our Jeanne Meserve shows us, it may be a painful reminder of how dependent this country has become on products made somewhere else.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Kiran, one of the supplies used to control the spread of flu, simple surgical masks. But does the U.S. have enough of them on hand and can it get a lot mores if it needs them?
(voice-over): During the cataclysmic 1918 flu pandemic, Red Cross nurses hand-made surgical masks to help control the spread of disease. Now, machines crank them out at the Prestige Ameritech plant in Richland Hills, Texas -- one of the few manufacturers in the U.S. Ninety percent of production has moved to other countries, where labor is cheaper and, some say, that has created a vulnerability right here.
MIKE BOWEN, PRESTIGE AMERITECH: If there's a pandemic, America won't be able to supply its own need.
MESERVE: Bowen and others fear that in a 1918-sized pandemic, the nations that make masks, like China and Mexico, would keep them for themselves.
REP. JOE BARTON (R), TEXAS: When push comes to shove, you take care of your own before you take care of others. That's just -- that's just human nature. And for that reason alone, I think we should buy more of these masks in the United States and we should encourage the capability to manufacture more of these masks in the United States.
MESERVE: The government estimates the U.S. could need 3 billion surgical masks during the H1N1 outbreak. Right now, the strategic national stockpile continues only a small fraction of that amount, 37 million. It's a yawning gap government officials acknowledge, one that was laid out in stark detail in this Health and Human Services PowerPoint presentation two years ago.
Government officials say before they build up supplies, they want more evidence the masks provide effective protection, but current guidance from the CDC recommends the use of surgical masks. And last year, OSHA estimated that a single health professional could go through close to 2,000 during a pandemic.
Bowen has been crusading for more domestic production of surgical masks. He could benefit financially, but says this isn't just about business, it's about the nation's health and security.
BOWEN: Important things like face masks should be made in America, and I think they'll finally realize what we've been trying to tell them for almost three years.
MESERVE (on camera): Hospitals, clinics, and physicians are creating their own stockpiles of surgical masks, a good thing, except manufacturers are already having trouble keeping up with demand. And if H1N1 becomes more deadly, that demand will likely grow much larger.
John and Kiran, back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: And as we were talking about kids being more vulnerable, so far this season, they say that -- or this year, they say that 77 kids have died from the swine flu, some of them had pre-existing conditions, others did not. So it's really, you know, it's still -- there's a lot of confusion and just a lot of what we don't know about just how this flu will hit various...
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Definitely something to be very cautious about, no question, I think.
"This Is It," Michael Jackson's final single was released overnight. The song features background vocals by the Jackson Brothers.
CHETRY: It's going to be playing over the credits of the upcoming Jackson film. All of it is going to be available as well in a two-disk album that's set to be released two weeks. Here's a sample of the song.
(MUSIC)
CHETRY: This song, by the way, is also available on Jackson's official Web site and all of it is expected to sort of be part of this big marketing blitz to capitalize on the emotion following Jackson's death. So far, that has worked. A lot of his old albums have been, you know, selling like hot cakes.
ROBERTS: And the movie's coming out at the end of the month, too -- so, trying to build some momentum for that as well.
So, these plans to increase troops in Afghanistan, some folks are saying 10,000, others are saying 40,000. Some might even want more than that. But what's the ultimate cost in dollars and cents to taxpayers? We'll find out -- coming up next.
It's coming up on 13 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. As President Obama decides what to do about troop levels in Afghanistan, he has a lot to consider. The war has already claimed the lives of nearly 900 Americans and the price tag to fight it so far, $220 billion. So what would a troop increase do to that bottom line -- Mark Thompson as Time Magazine's National Security correspondent, he's in our Washington bureau this morning. Mark thanks for being with us. Good to see you. How much are we spending in Afghanistan a month now and how much would a troop increase of 40,000 personnel members add to that price tag?
MARK THOMPSON, NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, TIME MAGAZINE: Well, the monthly cost of the war now, John is about $4 billion, about $1 billion a week. So if we were to double the number of troops we have in Afghanistan, effectively, that would double it to about $2 billion a week.
ROBERTS: So there are other ideas out there, Vice President Biden would like to leave troop levels about where they are. There's even some talk of reduction, by some people, instead of going to counterinsurgency strategy as General McChrystal suggest, we'd go to a targeted counterterrorism strategy. The suggestion is that the Taliban isn't necessarily the enemy, that Al Qaeda is, and that the two things can be separated. Is that really true? I know that the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State seem to indicate that, no, they are a linked problem.
THOMPSON: Well, plainly, one supports the other. The Taliban reinforces Al Qaeda and its anti-U.S. terrorism mission, both in this part of the world, as well as, around the world. But a lot of the Taliban, essentially, are economic Taliban. Vice President Biden has suggested that 70% of the Taliban will work for whoever will pay them $10 a day. So if that's true, and it's a theory that really hasn't been tested yet, whether it's through new crops or some other economic means of development, that we could wean the Taliban away from their alliance with Al Qaeda, this war could have a very different face.
ROBERTS: Now, now, on that point of paying people not to fight against you and not to be your enemy, it's been -- it was tried in Iraq with some success, the sons of Iraq program, going out to Anbar province and the militant firefighters out there. I think they were paid about $300 a month. General Petraeus, last year, talked about that strategy. Let's listen to what he said, and then I'll ask you about whether or not it could be potentially applied in Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS, HEAD, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: These volunteers who have contributed significantly in various areas and the savings and vehicles not lost because of reduced violence, not to mention the priceless lives saved have far outweighed the cost of their monthly contract.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So he says, when you look at a cost/benefit analysis, the benefit far outweighs the cost. Could that be applied to Afghanistan and what would the economics of that be?
THOMPSON: Well, some intelligence experts have been bouncing this around, and I'm not sure yet how seriously it's being taken inside the councils of U.S. Government, but the fact is we spend, just in rough terms, $133 million a day on the war in Afghanistan with the current level of forces we have.
If we were to pay all of the Taliban, as estimated by the Afghan government, some 15,000 firefighters, double their $10 a day that they tend to get from their Taliban superiors that would cost $300,000 a day. That's a marked difference in price there. And it might be worth a shot, some people believe.
ROBERTS: So are they -- do they really have that level of economic interest, or is there an ideology there as well that may outweigh the economic interest?
THOMPSON: Well, U.S. intelligence says the following. They say that 5% of the Taliban is hard core, religiously driven. They will not be pushed off by any promise of money or lucre or anything of that nature. 7 out of 10 are economic Taliban, and it's that middle 25% that could go one way or the other. But even if you lump all those in with the 5% of hard core, what they're basically saying is 2 out of 3 can be bought off, or to put it another way, gainfully employed doing something else other than fighting Americans.
ROBERTS: Now, now -- what about politically, Mark. Can you sell the idea, the Taliban was the organization that gave safe harbor to the terrorists who committed the 9/11 atrocities. Can -- can you politically start paying these people not to fight you?
THOMPSON: Well, I think what you have to do is you have to sell the American people on the notion of bringing some sort of stability and development to one of the poorest nations in the world. If you're able to do that, I think Americans will sign up for it in a heartbeat, simply because they acknowledge that the bulk of the people that we are fighting in Afghanistan are, you know, just driven by economics. Whether they're developing or growing poppies, whether they're being paid $20 a day to plant IED's against American forces, if we can pay them $20 a day not to plant those forces and to engage with us in developing their country, I think that's a pretty good deal for both sides.
ROBERTS: Just pay them to stay home. Well, it's an interesting idea, Mark Thompson, National Security correspondent for Time magazine, good to talk to you this morning, Mark. Thanks for coming in.
THOMPSON: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: Well as the health care debate continues, there's a new question. Will new health care in the new bill, if one is passed, result in higher premiums for you? Christine Romans doing some fact checking this morning. She joins us, minding your business, in just a moment; it's 21 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHETRY: Twenty-four minutes past the hour. Welcome back to "AMERICAN MORNING." Christine Romans is minding your business. We're talking about these claims about whether or not you'll be facing rising premiums if the health care reform bill is passed.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hey at the eleventh hour you've got the health insurance lobby that's come out of left field and dropped a bomb in the debate saying, they think it's going to cost American families a lot more. Your coverage is going to be a lot more expensive. Either way, your coverage - your costs are going up right, but the insurance lobby says, no, it's going to go up even faster under this senate finance committee version of the bill.
So a group of insurers, a lobby group, basically, is saying health reform in its current iteration will be more expensive for you. Here's how. They say these insurers claim that the bill will raise your coverage costs by the year 2019; single coverage under the senate plan would be $8,200. No, they say it would really be more than like $9,700. And for a family coverage they say will be $4,000 more expensive for a year than the bill - the bill is offering. So this is -- and remember, the president has been courting, around the broad kind of ideas of what they want to do for health reform, the president has been courting all these big stakeholders, as they say, in the debate, including health insurance.
ROBERTS: Yeah, Ahip (ph) was at the uncontainable (ph) for a long time.
ROMANS: Right, a lot of people at the table but now as more details have emerged, now here in the final, literally in the final hours before a senate vote, you've got this lobby, powerful lobby coming out with this paper, talking to its members and constituents yesterday and saying, this is what they think it's going to happen. Fact checking these numbers, I think it's possible, I'm telling you that these - This insurance thing, this health reform is so big with so many different moving parts, we are all pretty much really trying to take on faith what we think how all the pieces are going to work. There's just a lot of uncertainties though.
CHETRY: When the congressional budget office comes out and says it's going to lower health care costs over a decade, how are they crunching those numbers?
ROMANS: Well you know what's interesting, is that sort of CBO seal of approval, and it would lower the deficit by $81 billion, I think, over the ten years, that's if it looks exactly like it looked coming out of that finance committee. Does it ever look exactly like it looks...
ROBERTS: No, got to go to conference and reconcile it with the House bills.
ROMANS: We still don't know what exactly it's going to look like.
ROBERTS: Well the White House very upset about this. They feel like they were sandbagged by the health insurance...
ROMANS: Yeah. A lot of supporters, a lot of Democrats are saying this is just dropping a bomb for the sake of dropping a bomb.
ROBERTS: Do you have a roman's numeral for us?
ROMANS: I do. Its 16 cents. And this is where I kind of...
ROBERTS: That's a pretty small one.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: It is. It's small but looks at it this way, its 16 cents.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: The cost of a stamp in 1972.
ROMANS: Sixteen cents of every dollar that is the American economy is American health care. 16 cents, in 25 years, CBO says it could be 31 cents of every dollar spent on health care. This is why they've got to get it right. They have to get it right. It's big, it's complicated, there's a lot of trading happening, you know, trading a little bit of this for a little bit of that behind the scenes. This has got to be done right.
CHETRY: She just crinkled up her eyes.
ROBERTS: Yea every time she crinkles her eyes, you know that she's passionate.
CHETRY: Alright you are going to like this next one
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: The top five best jobs in America, Christine, how you make money, how, perhaps, your standard of living is wonderful, your quality of life is wonderful. Well we have somebody who did a lot of crunching of all the different things that go into whether or not your job is good.
ROBERTS: You're going to crinkle your eyes up at this one.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Twenty-seven minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Doctors who treated him call his case a medical miracle -- a 22-year-old who was dead for 15 minutes and came back to life. But cases like his are becoming more and more common.
CHETRY: That's right. All this week, our Sanjay Gupta is bringing you stories of people who truly cheated death. And today he's taking us step by step through one man's journey, almost to death, and then back to life again. Here's Sanjay.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John and Kiran, in many ways, this book is something I've been thinking about for almost 20 years, since I was a medical student. The whole concept of dying and the way we think about it has changed over years. It's not this bright white line between life and death. It's much more of a process; some of the stories that -- illustrate that so well. Chris Brooks, the man I'm about to tell you about, well, his story simply wouldn't have been possible, even a decade ago. Take a look.
CHRIS BROOKS'S MOTHER: Christopher! 911 OPERATOR: 911, where's the emergency?
CHRIS BROOKS'S FATHER: Middletown Township.
911 OPERATOR: What's the problem?
CHRIS BROOKS'S FATHER: My son's not responding here. He's breathing, his eyes are open, I don't know what's going on. I don't know if he's snoring...
911 OPERATOR: Is he awake and talking to you or not?
CHRIS BROOKS'S FATHER: No he's not.
CHRIS BROOKS'S MOTHER: Hurry up!
911 OPERATOR: Let me give you some instructions.
CHRIS BROOKS'S MOTHER: Christopher!
GUPTA: They're talking about Christopher Brooks, 22 years old. He's just months from college graduation and he was working construction part-time and also living at home with his family.
When that 911 call came in, Chris Brooks was dead, clinically dead for more than 15 minutes. His heart stopped beating shortly after 3:00 in the morning on November 15th, 2008.
But here's the thing. It wasn't the end. In his case and in several others that you're about to see, death was reversible.
The night Chris Brooks died began innocently enough at this bowling alley in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, a night out with a girl and his best friend, T.J.
GUPTA (on camera): Was he acting any differently at all?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. He was actually acting himself. He's always the life of the party.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's 22. He just got home from college to work for the weekend. He went bowling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Plugged his cell phone in here and woke me up. And he said, it's just me, mom, I'm plugging my cell phone. I said, OK, you going to sleep here? Yes, I'm going to sleep down here tonight.
GUPTA: Moments later, there was this noise from the couch. Joan thought it was snoring, but something wasn't right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I came over and went to smack his face, and he went like this. And I put my hands down -- and I said, Christopher, what's the matter? I can't wake him up.
(END VIDEOTAPE) GUPTA: I can tell you, John and Kiran, Chris Brooks is doing very well. He truly cheated death. In fact, he says that he's completely back to normal, no brain dysfunction or anything. And keep in mind how long he was without a heartbeat.
One of the big takeaways that I think is important for Chris and for a lot of people watching out there is this idea of bystanders jumping in and helping. We know if no one helps someone in sudden cardiac arrest, the likelihood of survival is very, very low, 2 percent to 3 percent. If someone starts to help, it goes up exponentially.
And if you do chest compression only, it goes up higher. The idea that you have plenty of oxygen in the blood, the goal is to move it around, start those chest compressions, and stop for nothing. Make sure someone calls 911 so the paramedics are on the way, that really is critical in terms of saving lives.
And anybody can do this. We're not talking about a $1 billion drug or some fancy technique or procedure. This is simply using your two hands to save a life.
We have much more stories like this in the documentary coming up October 17th and 18th, and of course, in the book as well. Back to you.
ROBERTS: Sanjay Gupta for us this morning.
And it's a real way to illustrate the fact that how much oxygen you do have in your body. Remember David Blaine, the magician, held his breath for, what was it, 15 minutes? He prepped. He inhaled pure oxygen. But still, no outside source of oxygen for about 15 minutes.
CHETRY: It was that long? I thought it was only like seven or eight minutes?
ROBERTS: No, I think it was like 15 minutes.
CHETRY: He also stayed in that globe for I don't know how long. And it's amazing what your body is capable of. You don't even really know until you're really pushed to the edge.
But also, tomorrow, for example, in our "Cheating Death" series, it's a story that you probably won't believe at first. This woman fell through some thin ice. She was clinically dead for three hours before doctors were able to thaw her out, bring her body temperature back up and bring her back to life.
Sanjay will be taking the plunge into 38-degree water, water so cold it burns, to try to get a sense of what seems impossible.
ROBERTS: Crossing the half hour and checking our top stories this morning.
New violence showing that the Taliban still has a pulse in Pakistan. Pakistan says it bombed suspected hideouts in a region once considered Taliban-free, killing 13 suspected militants. The air strikes came after a bloody 20-hour siege and gun battle at Pakistan's equivalent to the Pentagon that killed more than a dozen people.
CHETRY: The feds have arrested a man they say helped hijack Pan Am flight 281 more than forty years ago -- 66-year-old Luis Soltran was already in custody when he flew into JFK. According to a December 1968 indictment, Soltran and three others brought concealed guns and knives and ordered the crew to fly to Havana.
Soltran is expected in court tomorrow here in Manhattan.
ROBERTS: And a day after President Obama repeated his campaign promise to end the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and the Defense of Marriage Act, thousands rallied for gay rights in Washington. But on "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JOHN KING" yesterday, members of the president's own party refused to commit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": On the Defense of Marriage Act, would Senator Bob Casey, Democrat of Pennsylvania, vote to repeal it?
SEN. BOB CASEY, (D) PENNSYLVANIA: John, I've said in the past, I don't think that's the way to go.
KING: I asked if you would vote to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, and you didn't answer the question. Why is it so hard?
SEN. DEBBIE STABENOW, (D) MICHIGAN: The challenge for me is we have had on the ballot, and there has been passage in Michigan of a law prohibiting gay marriage. So I think for a number of us, that becomes a challenge in terms of what has happened in terms of voting in our states.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: President Obama spoke to the nation's largest gay and lesbian rights group on Saturday, urging gay rights activists to keep the pressure on him and comparing the battle for gay rights to the civil rights struggle.
Well, the Pentagon is dealing with a big scandal this morning, one that affects gays, straights, men and women serving in uniform, and it involves allegations of hazing, some of it graphic and demeaning.
Carol Costello joins us now live in Washington. And Carol, some people say that the bigger tragedy is that no one is being held accountable for the alleged abuses.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're right. Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak is saying just that. He calls this unit a "rogue unit." Sestak, a former Navy admiral, is so disturbed about allegations of abusive hazing in the Navy's K-9 unit in Bahrain, he's demanding answers from the Navy, asking the same questions some sailors are -- where is the accountability?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Joseph Rocha is not hiding anymore. He's out and proud. But it wasn't always that way. Rocha's journey to Washington's gay rights march has been painful thanks, he says, to a stint in the Navy.
JOSEPH ROCHA, FORMER NAVY DOG HANDLER: I could not wrap my head around the degradation and the barbarity of it.
COSTELLO: Rocha was 18 in 2005 when he joined the Navy's K-9 unit in Bahrain. He played by the military's rules and kept his sexual orientation under wraps.
But even though, he says, no one in his unit knew he was gay, he still suffered because of something the Navy has long outlawed -- hazing.
ROCHA: I was ordered to get on my knees, pretend to have oral sex with another service member. I was instructed as to how to be more queeny, more queer, more homosexual, more believable...
COSTELLO: And who was instructing you to do these things?
ROCHA: My chief.
COSTELLO: Rocha says the hazing was widespread. Gays, straights, and women in his units were targets too.
In its own investigation of the Bahrain unit, the Navy found more than 90 incidents of hazing and other abuses, with sailors hog-tied, force fed liver dog treats, and told to make dog and duck sounds, and duct taped to a chair, rolled outside, and then left in a dog kennel until released.
According to the investigation, Rocha and several others in their unit also alleged the man who ordered much of the abuse was Chief Master at Arms Michael Toussaint.
HOGAN: He loves his authority, he loves his power.
COSTELLO: Shaun Hogan says he was hazed too. He and other sailors told CNN that Toussaint created such an atmosphere of fear, no one was immune, even Toussaint's number two, Jennifer Valdivia.
SHAUN HOGAN, NAVY RESERVIST: On video I witnessed another training scenario where Michael Toussaint ordered Jennifer Valdivia, his second in command to -- well, she was dressed apparently only in bead sheet, and she was handcuffed to a bed in a barracks room, and she was in a -- almost like a cat fight with two other women.
COSTELLO: It's unclear whether Toussaint was found to have violated any rules or if any disciplinary action was taken against him. We do know he has since been promoted to senior chief working with the Navy SEALS. We tried for a week to reach Toussaint for a comment. He didn't respond.
Navy spokesman have told us he has now deployed and declining interview requests.
As for Toussaint's number two, Jennifer Valdivia, her father told us she expected to take the fall for what happened in Bahrain. She committed suicide after posting this message on MySpace -- "Tired of being blamed for other people's mistakes."
COSTELLO (on camera): Do you still love the Navy?
ROCHA: I love the Navy.
COSTELLO: How is that possible now?
ROCHA: Because I understand that this is not a representation of the military.
COSTELLO (voice-over): But Rocha has left the Navy. He's in college now and hopes one day the Navy will do what's right and hold someone accountable for what happened in Bahrain.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Rocha believes the "don't ask, don't tell" policy is in part responsible for creating a climate within the military that allows such abuses to go unpunished.
The Navy is now reviewing actions taken since its 2000 investigation, telling CNN, quote, "The incident that occurred within the military working dog division does not reflect who we are at the Navy" -- John?
ROBERTS: Pretty extraordinary, Carol, when you look at the allegations out there and you think that no one's been held accountable. How does that happen?
COSTELLO: Well, that's what Congressmen Joe Sestak wants to know. He says how is it possible that no one is held accountable for this? This should not go on in the Navy, ever.
He believes that is rare incident, but he says someone needs to be held accountable. He wants to know what happened. He's expecting a report from the Navy within a couple weeks. So, of course, when he gets that report, we'll share it with you.
ROBERTS: All right, looking forward to that. Carol Costello for us this morning. Carol, thanks so much.
CHETRY: And still ahead, we are talking about employment, you know, record unemployment rate now, haven't seen these numbers since 1983. And people are saying, where are the good jobs out there? What can I do if I maybe go back to school and train for something else?
We'll show you the top five jobs in America, how they rank them, what they are, and how you can get them. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Good morning, New York City -- a beautiful shot this morning of the Hudson River. Right now it's cloudy and 47 degrees in New York. A little bit later it's going to be mostly cloudy, going up to 57.
Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
You know, many of you may be spending Columbus Day sending out resumes. There is a new list that could help you narrow down your search if you're looking for a new job by paycheck and maybe by your personality.
Donna Rosato is a senior writer at "Money" magazine and she joins us now. What you guys did is you broke down the 50 best jobs in America.
DONNA ROSATO, SENIOR WRITER, "MONEY MAGAZINE": That's right. We partnered with compensation experts, payscale.com, to find out jobs that had great pay, that held up well during the recession, but also had good long-term growth.
But then we took one more step and we surveyed through payscale.com and CNNmoney.com and asked workers, what do they value the most in a good job? And they said, hands down that while compensation and security are important, there was also quality of life factors, flexibility, security, satisfaction. So, that's what our 50 top jobs represent.
CHETRY: So it's not just how much money you're bringing home in a pay check.
So, let's take a look at the top five and quickly if you can tell us why they rank. Number one was a systems engineer, and this was the average, the median income in this was $87,100.
ROSATO: Right. That's the median income for someone who's experienced and has a couple years experience in this position.
This is a technology position for someone with an engineering background. You control and oversee large, complex projects in defense, in transportation. But it's also increasingly being used in the private sector of medical device makers.
It's a high-stress job, but it's a job that pays well and has a lot of satisfaction, a lot of completion to a project.
CHETRY: All right and let's go to number two, physician's assistant; median income, about $91,000 a year. What makes this different in terms of training and from being a doctor?
ROSATO: That's right, so we call it a little bit like MD Lite. If you really like to work with patients but you don't have the stomach or the money to go through the entire health care spectrum to become a doctor, a physician's assistant works under the supervision of a doctor and they practice many of the same things as a general physician, diagnosing tests, developing treatment plans. A lot of patient interaction without a lot of the paper works.
CHETRY: And you see this more at places like the little clinics, at grocery stores and at your drug stores. You see physician's assistants sometimes on -- at workplaces.
ROSATO: That's exactly right.
CHETRY: And so you say there's a lot of security in here.
Number three, college professor, we know that is, but...
ROSATO: Yes.
CHETRY: ...$70,400 on average. A tenure, you can expect some job security there and you get to work with students.
ROSATO: That's true. It's a very flexible job, high satisfaction. The tenure track positions are really coveted, but there's still a lot of competition but there's a really big growth in demand for community colleges, professional training. Because we are all looking for work, we all need to get retrained in educations. So there's a big demand for adjunct associate professional levels positions as well.
CHETRY: You have nurse practitioner at number four. How is that different than physician's assistant?
ROSATA: It's no -- it's very similar now, nurse practitioner can also prescribe medication and treat you much like a family physician, similar to a physician's assistant, but you don't work under the supervision of a doctor.
You can have a little bit more independence and you also -- there's a lot of focus on preventative counseling, health education, preventative care, which is important in helping keep health care costs down.
CHETRY: I got you, and number five is IT project manager; $98,700. So this one pays a little more than your number one job, almost $10,000 more on median. Why isn't this one ranked a little higher? Why is this number five?
ROSATO: It's a very high stress job as well, a very high pay, but high stress. These are the folks who on staff help you do things like big I.T. projects and get them done on time and on budget, like software upgrades.
So it can be highly stressful, but who won't have job security if they're tech savvy and know how to keep the budget running on time?
CHETRY: Exactly, all right, so let's get to this. And this is also really interesting on your list. You went through, out of the 50, the highest paid was an anesthesiologist; the median income, $408,000. Why this subspecialty of medicine? ROSATO: Well, this is a very specialized area. It takes a lot of medical training and -- and care. So it's not a high-stress job in the sense that it's very set in the hours, so in that way, there's more scheduling. But it takes a lot of training and it's -- that part makes it well paid.
CHETRY: I go you. Now, lease stressful you picked out of your top 50, education training consultant, pays about $78,000.
ROSATO: Yes it's at lease stressful when education's a very satisfying job, you're giving back, but also as a consultant, you have a lot of flexibility; where you work, the hours that you work, the setting that you work.
CHETRY: And most beneficial to society, family physician, $150,000 for the median income. And you say that this -- obviously, we're going to see more of this as we move toward health care in the future, but it certainly doesn't pay as much as some of the other specialties that a lot of doctors are going into.
ROSATO: That's right, it's a high satisfaction. You feel like you're really having more of a relationship, you spend more time with your patients when you're a family physician, more of a general practitioner. And so there's a high satisfaction, but there's also a shortage of general physicians as well.
CHETRY: Right.
ROSATO: So, that's why the job is a little more secure.
CHETRY: Quickly, one of the things I want to ask a lot of these jobs that you picked require some sort of advanced degree, I mean, especially in the medical field. How do people who are now sitting at home saying, wait a minute I'm out of a job, how do I retrain myself quickly, how can I afford to go back to school?
ROSATO: That's right. It can be expensive to go back to school. To know where the big jobs are, the best jobs are, just look at the big trends, and see can I make a switch over? Unfortunately, jobs they need more education.
If you look at the unemployment rate for the people with a four- year degree, it's half of what it is for people who have high school or with half of what people are experiencing with the national average.
So unfortunately, people -- the best jobs today do require more education. Look at the big trends, health care, education, I.T., finance. Those are where the jobs are. If you're thinking about retraining, keep your eye on those sectors.
CHETRY: A lot of good advice; great to talk with you this morning. And by the way, we're going to link this up with our website on A.M. fix so can you check this out.
Donna Rosato, senior writer from "Money" magazine, thank you. ROSATO: Thank you.
CHETRY: John?
ROBERTS: So many interesting things seem to happen in the State of Florida, including exotic animal attacks? We'll tell you what's going on down there in the Sunshine State.
Forty-nine minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Good Monday morning, Atlanta. Well, guess what, you're in for another day of rain today. Light rain and 61 right now; later on today, more heavy rain with a high of just 64 degrees.
Rob Marciano is tracking all of the extreme weather across the country. And Rob, more risk of flooding there in the south. Is this weather pattern, is this El Nino driven?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, this may very well be. And now that we're getting closer to winter, stronger southerly jet stream certainly is an El Nino signature. And on the west coast, I tell you what? You're getting into a storm that's -- well, it's an old typhoon, but you could argue its part of El Nino as well.
This just popped in, as I stepped up to the board a flash flood warning for a good chunk of the Atlanta metropolitan area. These are a lot of the streams including Fulton County, Gwinnett County, and Dekalb and Douglas County. A lot of the streams that caused all that flooding of two weeks ago are on the rise right now.
So not only we have much flood in the area and we have mentioned last hour, Birmingham seeing some flooding as well. So flash flood watches up through today as well. But the warning is up until 2:30 for a couple of inches that's already fallen. And those, obviously, creeks are already swollen. So they'll be up and over their flood bank before too long.
And you can kind of see we get that training action heading from west to east, as opposed to moving it all to the east and south and getting it out of here.
We do have some snow across parts of Minneapolis. That is -- well, fairly typical for this time of the year, but it's really our first dusting of snow that we'll see. And then also, this old typhoon across parts of the West Coast could see six or seven inches of rainfall across the Sierra and big-time wind beginning tonight for San Francisco. And that could very well be damaging wind.
I'm just looking at this next warning that just came in, as our screen pops up a little bit more in the way on the red. And this just kind of reiterates the flash flood warning for central Dekalb County. That's extended now until 10:45 a.m.
So the hits just keep on coming across the southeast. This is not the news that folks wanted to hear. It doesn't look to be as bad as last time, but by the time the end of the week comes, guys, we could see half a foot of rainfall in this area that's obviously already saturated by the rainfall from two weeks ago.
Back to you in New York.
ROBERTS: It's just amazing the cycles you go through. Two years without a drop of rain and now nothing but ever since. All right Rob, thanks so much.
MARCIANO: You got it.
CHETRY: And meanwhile, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to take you to Florida where they have a very unusual problem on their hands. Attack of the exotic animals; John Zarrella explains.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Good morning, Fort Myers. It is sunny and 77 degrees. Wish we were there or maybe not when you hear this next story. There's going to be a high of 93 today, partly cloudy in Ft. Myers.
Well, they're out there and their numbers are growing every day, in the grass, behind a bush, in the water. Apparently, these wild animals are ready to strike.
ROBERTS: Across the state of Florida -- where else -- animal attacks, wild animal attacks on people are on the rise. And as our John Zarrella tells us, officials are worried that things could quickly go from bad to worse.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Florida, the usual suspects are increasingly unusual, not even human.
LT. LISA WOOD, MIAMI-DADE VENOM RESPONSE TEAM: We managed to pull it out of the weeds and take it into custody.
ZARRELLA: This python found at a Miami nursery, 13 feet long.
In Tampa, a family of attackers all wore masks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our neighbor's house was just attacked by some raccoons. She's cut very badly.
ZARRELLA: the raccoons made their getaway after injuring an elderly woman.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We used to be able to let the children play in the background and I just don't feel safe doing that anymore.
ZARRELLA: 7-year-old Madison Wells would agree. She has 23 stitches in her foot courtesy of an iguana.
MADISON WELLS, BITTEN BY IGUIAN: I thought I was going to be dead. It wasn't fun.
ZARRELLA: Near Pensacola, an emu like this one clawed a woman who got too close.
So what's going on? Why are animals on the attack?
RON MAGILL, MIAMI METROZOO: First of all, if you run into anything in the wild, leave it alone.
ZARRELLA: The problem says Miami MetroZoo's Ron Magill is animals and humans are colliding more because of the continuing loss of wildlife habitat. On top of that, the climate is perfect for exotic species that shouldn't be here at all, like this python.
Oh, yes that is a load.
MAGILL: Yes, it's a load. It's a big snake.
This place has become the Ellis Island of exotic species, because so many animals come through here.
First of all, exotic species is a big port but then so many people keep them as pets. And then they escape or they're released and then they start to thrive.
ZARRELLA: Like the Bufo (ph) toad that excretes a poison that can kill a dog. And this fearless night (INAUDIBLE).
MAGILL: They're most aggressive.
ZARRELLA: And iguanas, they're everywhere, sunning in a tree, hanging out in the grass near a canal, and they don't scare easy.
I can probably pop over here, because I don't want them to come after me. But look, we can come right up to them right here, and look how close before he actually takes off.
With no way to eradicate flourishing nuisance species, wild life experts say confrontations are only going to increase. And in a decade or two, Florida might be a zoo on the loose.
John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: The iguana looks harmless enough sitting there in the sun.
ROBERTS: Yes but the little girl will tell you that it's not. Not only do you have to worry about getting a sunburn, but getting attacked by an emu as well.
CHETRY: or a pack of wild raccoons who made their getaway.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: So be careful when you go to Florida or if you live there in particular.
Continue the conversation on today's stories. Go to our blog at CNN.com/amfix.
That's going to wrap it up for us. A happy Columbus Day to you.
CHETRY: Quickly, we're talking about cheating death -- David Blaine the illusionist can hold his breath for almost -- what 18 minutes?
ROBERTS: Seventeen minutes 4.4 seconds. He did breathe pure oxygen. I think the record is just slightly over 8 minutes for not breathing any oxygen.
CHETRY: Still pretty amazing.
ROBERTS: It sure is.
CHETRY: That's going to do it for us. We're going to see you back here tomorrow, hopefully.
Have a great day.
Meanwhile, the news continues, CNN NEWSROOM with Heidi Collins.
