Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Senate Votes For Bush To Outline Iraq War Strategy; Molestation Marriage; What Women Need

Aired November 16, 2005 - 06:29   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(WEATHER REPORT)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We're following President Bush on his Asian trip this morning. Just a couple of hours ago, he arrived in South Korea, where he'll attend the annual Asia-Pacific Trade Summit.

During an earlier stop in Japan, the president sent a message to communist China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I pointed out that the people of China want more freedom to express themselves, to worship without state control, to print bibles and other sacred text without fear of punishment. The efforts of China's people to improve their society should be welcome as part of China's development.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: While the president pushes for freedoms on China, his policies on Iraq are coming under fire here at home.

As CNN's Ed Henry reports, senators are now demanding clear answers from President Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The message to President Bush traveling in Asia was clear and bipartisan: explain the plan for ending the war in Iraq.

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: The administration's Iraq policy is adrift and rudderless. All they're offering is a bumper sticker slogan: stay the course. Staying the course is not a winning strategy.

HENRY: Republicans directed their criticism at the Iraqi people, but were also prodding the White House.

SEN. JOHN WARNER (R), ARMED SERVICES CHAIRMAN: This amendment as drawn is very powerful. Very powerful, the statement by the Congress of the need to tell the Iraqi people that we have done our share, we're not going to leave them, but we expect from them equal if not greater support than they've given to this date. HENRY: The amendment to the defense policy bill passed overwhelmingly 79-19, demanding the Bush administration explain -- quote -- "its strategy for the successful completion of the mission in Iraq." It directs the White House to provide progress reports to Congress every 90 days and urges the administration to force the Iraqis to pick up a larger share of the security burden.

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DE), FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Only this president could unite the United States Senate. He has united the United States Senate on a single point: What is the plan?

HENRY: But the Senate rejected a Democratic move to also require the president to craft a flexible timetable to start withdrawing U.S. troops.

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: Some have referred to this as the cut-and-run provision. That is, pick an arbitrary timeline and get out of Iraq, regardless of what is happening on the ground.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: What we propose in Paragraph 7 is that there be estimated dates. Estimated dates. If the conditions on the ground are met, then give us estimated dates for a phased redeployment.

HENRY: There are other signs of trouble for the White House in the defense bill, like Republican Senator John McCain's ban on torture of detainees, included over the strong objections of Vice President Cheney, and Republican Lindsey Graham's amendment giving detainees at Guantanamo Bay legal limited legal rights, wresting some power away from the administration.

(on camera): House Republicans could water down the defense bill, but this is still a wakeup call to the White House. Republicans up here are nervously watching the polls. They have to face the voters next year. The White House does not.

Ed Henry, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also joined the counter-offensive against critics of the Iraq war. At a Pentagon briefing, Rumsfeld threw Democrats' own words back in their faces. He cited Bill Clinton, Al Gore and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. All expressed a concern about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We have people suggesting that the reason we're there was because this president decided to go in, based on information that was unique to him. And it wasn't unique to him. The information that he based his decision on was the same information that President Clinton and the previous administration had. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Rumsfeld did admit that mistakes were made prewar intelligence. Still, he insisted the U.S. must stand firm in the global war against what he called "Islamo-facists."

It's going to be a tough morning after a long night of severe storms or tornadoes across the Midwest and parts of the Southeast. Heavy rain and plunging temperatures in Atlanta are following behind a severe weather front. Severe thunderstorms or tornadoes and funnel clouds swept across Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Tennessee.

In western Kentucky, the storm killed one and injured at least 22 people as it leveled homes and brought down power lines.

Several homes in Indiana were damaged or destroyed by the storms, but only minor injuries were reported. In some communities, roofs caves in, walls blew out and entire buildings were blown off of their foundations. The tops of trees were shorn off. Downed power lines and trees made many roads impassible.

Here is what it was like for those who weathered the storm.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This shed was 120 feet long and was 50 foot wide. And it's gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's my son's room there. It's totally gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the left right there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. And the girls' rooms were right here on the far other corner. Right here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was at work. They had asked if we could stay over for a couple of hours. And I said, 'Yes.' I didn't know anything about this until I got to the driveway. And then all I could think of was, 'Where's Jessica?' It was terrifying. The house can be built back, put back, get a new one, but you can't replace your grandchild. So, I'm just thankful she's here, she's fine, and she's arguing with us about going to school tomorrow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything just got so black, and the storm just kept getting worse. I had been watching the television, and I thought perhaps it was going to miss us and go north of us. But I finally decided I would go to the basement. I locked up the store. And I had no more gotten to the bottom of the steps that it hit. And, I mean, I just heard popping and crashing. And, of course, the wind was fierce. And, I mean, it just -- it was just bad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: In other news this morning, she's old enough to be his mother. And, in fact, she met him through her son. But now, this Georgia woman's story is stirring up controversy everywhere. We'll explain in a moment.

And later, multivitamins, fish oils, calcium supplements. Who can keep up? Lisa Drayer will be along to tell us what we need and how to get it.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Wednesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Here's a look at some stories across America this Wednesday morning.

They're still on the loose. The search goes on for two inmates who escaped from the Iowa state penitentiary in Fort Madison on Monday. Police think one of the men could still be hiding in town. They're urging people to be on the lookout. Both men were serving life sentences for murder.

Thousands of hurricane evacuees will not be getting free hotel rooms anymore. The federal government says come December 1, it will stop paying for hotel rooms for most evacuees. But evacuees in Louisiana and Mississippi, where there's a housing shortage, will have until January 7 to find homes. The government has been urging hurricane refugees to find more stable housing.

A dangerous situation ended well for one Washington state window washer. Take a look. He was left hanging from a safety rope 11 floors above a Seattle street. He's looking down at his rescuers. They managed to get him untangled. Actually, those are not his rescuers; those are just the people watching on the street. But as you can see, the rescuers managed to lower him down, and he hit the ground safely. And the crowd cheered.

The last big wedding story out of Georgia was the runaway bride. This time the bride is staying put, because she's been locked up. She's been charged with molestation, because her groom is 15 years old.

So, why was this unlikely couple allowed to get married in the first place? David Mattingly has that for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a quiet, no-frills ceremony at the home of a justice of the peace that made headlines in their hometown of Gainesville, Georgia. The smiling couple said their vows in the driveway, and in 10 minutes they were man and wife.

But within 24 hours, the bride was honeymooning in the county jail. Thirty-seven-year-old Lisa Lynette Clark faces a charge of child molestation because her groom is only 15.

JUDY HAYLES, TEEN'S GRANDMOTHER: Had that been a man and a young girl, they would have had him hung already. It is what they ought to be do that skanky thing.

MATTINGLY: The teenager's furious grandmother, his legal guardian, says she alerted police when she learned two weeks earlier he had been having a sexual relationship with the adult woman. A warrant was issued for her arrest, because state law says no minor under the age of 16 can consent to a sexual act.

LEE DARRAGH, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The acts of alleged molestation in this case all are alleged to have occurred prior to any marriage.

MATTINGLY: Sixteen-and 17-year-olds in Georgia need a parent's permission before they can marry. So, how is a 15-year-old allowed to marry at all?

JOHNNY TALLANT, JUSTICE OF THE PEACE: They had their license. So, I mean, they were legal as far as I was concerned.

MATTINGLY: The county judge who issued the license says she also followed the letter of the law. It turns out it is a law that provides one important exception allowing a 15-year-old to marry.

(on camera): Under Georgia state law, that exception is if the couple is expecting a child. The bride has to show that she is pregnant, and the groom has to swear that he is the father.

(voice-over): According to Judy Hayles, her grandson was a friend of the bride's own teenage son and frequently visited the woman's house. She says this latest news was more than she could stomach.

HAYLES: The lady is pregnant, and my heart just failed. I stopped on the way home and vomited, and went immediately and called the sex crimes division of Hall County.

MATTINGLY: But because the sexual relationship allegedly went on before the 37-year-old Clark said "I do" to the 15-year-old groom, the district attorney says the prosecution will continue.

Clark has not yet responded to the charges, but her defense attorney calls the case hypocritical after the couple was allowed to marry.

DANIEL SAMMONS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think that we engraft on kids of today levels of innocence that they do not possess, or lack of sophistication.

MATTINGLY: If found guilty, Clark could be sent to prison for up to 20 years.

David Mattingly, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 6:44 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning. "The Washington Post's" Bob Woodward has testified in the CIA leak probe. Yes, it continues. According to the paper, Woodward said a senior Bush administration official told him about CIA operative Valerie Plame about a month before her identity was exposed. No word on who that official is.

In money news, the battle over light beer is getting ugly. Some networks have decided not to air a new Miller Brewing Company ad. The Miller commercial claims Anheuser-Busch changed the taste of its best- selling Bud Light brand. Ten cable networks are holding the ads until the claims are proved. CNN has chosen to air the ads.

In pop culture, Mary Poppins has dropped in the Windy City. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley proclaimed Tuesday Julie Andrews Day. The actress is in Chicago performing in the musical comedy "The Boyfriend."

In sports, the Philadelphia Eagles will have to play without quarterback Donovan McNabb when they go up against the New York Giants on Sunday. McNabb suffered that groin injury in Monday night's loss to the Dallas Cowboys. So, he is out maybe for the season. We don't know. Mike McMahon, former backup for the Detroit Lions, maybe he'll start, probably so.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Coming up next, sure we know we should eat right. But it's not always easy. That's why we have Lisa Drayer. She is ahead with advice on the best nutritional boost.

But first, it's time to say happy birthday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Welcome back. It's 6:50 Eastern. Here is what will be making news today.

A bipartisan group of senators plans to unveil a plan to cut oil use. The legislation would include tax breaks and loan guarantees for automakers who produce gas-electric hybrids or other alternative technologies, as well as new tax breaks for those who buy such vehicles, among other incentives.

Antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan is due in federal court today on charges of demonstrating without a permit in front of the White House. She may also talk about plans to camp out in front of President Bush's Crawford ranch. Of course, that would happen during his Thanksgiving vacation.

And the so-called cell phone bandit has an arraignment hearing in Virginia today. Candace Martinez is accused of robbing four Wachovia bank branches all while chatting on her cell phone. There she is. She's only 19 years old. Her boyfriend was also arrested as an accomplice in one of those bank robberies.

Let's talk now about what women need. OK. That might take all day. So, let's just focus on nutrition, shall we?

In a perfect world, we'd all be eating tons of fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy. In the real world, we might need a little help. That's where Lisa Drayer comes in. She's with "Women's Health" magazine.

So welcome, Lisa. So, you're going to tell us exactly what we need to make it easier on all of us.

LISA DRAYER, "WOMEN'S HEALTH": Exactly. That's right. Certainly aiming for our nine servings of fruits and vegetables and three servings of whole grains. That's a great health strategy.

COSTELLO: I know. But nobody...

DRAYER: But how many...

COSTELLO: Exactly. Who could possibly eat all of that?

DRAYER: I don't know anyone. So, in that case, supplements can come in handy. So, it's not the first choice. But certainly if you're net meeting your nutrient needs from foods, supplements are a good idea.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about multivitamins and what part of nutrients you can get from actually just food. And then when do you know you need a multivitamin?

DRAYER: You know what? Don't even ask yourself that question. Just take a multivitamin. I consider a multi like an insurance pill. So, it's basically going to cover us for any nutrients that we may miss in our daily diet. So, we don't have to worry about counting milligrams of certain vitamins, but rather just take a multi.

Look for 100 percent of the daily value for the 100 percent of the RDA for vitamins and minerals. You really don't need much more than this. In fact, very high doses of some vitamins can be toxic. Like, too much Vitamin A can be toxic to the liver, perhaps cause hip fractures. So, 100 percent of the daily value is what you want to look for.

And also, take you multi with food, so that you avoid any stomach pain.

COSTELLO: Yes. Because whenever I take them, I feel so nauseated. But now I know why. And thanks goodness you're here this morning.

Let's talk about fish oils, because we always hear we're supposed to eat two servings of salmon a week, or something like that.

DRAYER: That's absolutely right. And if you aim for two fish meals a week, that's your goal. If you're not getting at least two servings of fish per week, you may want to consider a fish oil supplement. The reason is fish oils are these important Omega-3 fatty acids that can help protect against heart disease and stroke. It's also important for the brain development of a growing fetus.

So, it's really important that we get our Omega-3s in the diet. One gram per day is what we want to aim for if we're going to consider a fish oil supplement. And you want to take this one with meals as well, because it has that...

COSTELLO: I know. It sounds so disgusting to me.

DRAYER: (INAUDIBLE).

COSTELLO: Get some fish oil. Folic acid. You hear so many good things about this.

DRAYER: Folic acid is definitely a very important B vitamin to take. The most important reason is to protect against birth defects. Up to 70 cases -- 70 percent of spina bifida cases can be prevented if women only took the proper amount of folic acid. We're talking about 400 micrograms.

And, Carol, it's important even if you're not currently pregnant to take it, because, of course, many women find out that they're pregnant after they have conceived. And the vitamin plays a critical role during the first trimester. So, you don't want to miss that window right there.

COSTELLO: Gotcha. Calcium and Vitamin D are so important.

DRAYER: That's right. And what you want to look for is 500 to 800 milligrams of elemental calcium. Calcium comes in different forms: calcium carbonate, calcium citrate. But you want to make sure you're getting at least 500 milligrams of the elemental calcium.

Also, look for Vitamin D in your calcium supplement, 400 international units. And that's regardless of whether or not your multi contains Vitamin D. The reason is research is showing that many women have low levels of Vitamin D in their blood. So, it looks like the current recommendation...

COSTELLO: That's because, you know, you do. You do stop drinking milk after the age of 12. And then you never drink it again. So...

DRAYER: Exactly. And, in fact, these women are at risk for osteoporosis, the studies that have shown the low D level. So, it's really important to get the D with your calcium supplement.

COSTELLO: OK. Now we know, and we feel better. Thank you, Lisa.

DRAYER: Sure.

COSTELLO: When we come back, more headlines and a look at your travel forecast. You are watching DAYBREAK for a Wednesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: If you're traveling this morning, boy, does Bonnie have some news for you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right, it's time now to give away a DAYBREAK mug. And here is what we're looking at for today. We are checking out the answers to our questions from yesterday.

What's the deadline for enrollment for new Medicare drug benefit program? And the answer is May 15. The next question: What's the name of Michael Newdow's church? The answer is the First Amendment Church of True Science.

And now it's time to announce the winner. I love that. Deborah Shinder from Birmingham, Michigan. Congratulations. You win a DAYBREAK coffee mug. It's perfect to wake you up in the morning.

Now it's time for today's questions. Delta is asking pilots for an additional pay cut of what percentage? And FEMA wants to move hurricane victims out of hotels by what date?

Submit your answers online. The address is CNN.com/daybreak. And you'll find out tomorrow if you won.

COSTELLO: Excellent questions this morning, Bonnie. I don't think you could have done better.

SCHNEIDER: Oh, my pleasure.

COSTELLO: Yes. And we should explain about Chad very quickly. Chad is coming back in January. Don't worry. Chad is fine. Chad is just taking vacation.

SCHNEIDER: And Jacqui will be in tomorrow. She's on vacation, too. That's why I'm here.

COSTELLO: But we love having you here, too, Bonnie.

SCHNEIDER: Oh, thank you. It's been a pleasure.

COSTELLO: All right. From the Time Warner center in New York, I'm Carol Costello. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Carol. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.