Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Connie Chung Tonight

Debating Iraq; World Trade Center Designs; What is Your Pet Thinking?

Aired September 02, 2002 - 20:00   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CONNIE CHUNG, HOST: Good evening. I'm Connie Chung.

Tonight: taking action against Saddam Hussein. Will President Bush be bound by his father's legacy?

ANNOUNCER: Is the next step in the war on terror a strike against Iraq? What to do about Saddam Hussein.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This administration agrees that Saddam Hussein is a threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Tonight: from President George Bush to President George W. Bush, the historical perspective of what could be the most important presidential decision this fall.

Plus, everyday life in Iraq after a decade of sanctions: One American shows us what life under Saddam is really like.

Ground zero rising: Some of the world's foremost architects offer their visions for a new World Trade Center.

Health watch: As the summer draws to a close, what you need to know about exercise and eating right, getting fit for the fall -- Dr. Sanjay Gupta with his post-summer checklist.

Canine anxiety? Fluffy's frustration? Just what is your pet thinking?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "PET PSYCHIC")

SONYA FITZPATRICK, PET PSYCHIC: Now, he said it's the first time he's been anywhere like this. And he said you take him out, but you take him to different places. And he's very intrigued with everything that's going on today. When is he going to have some more French fries?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's his favorite food.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ANNOUNCER: Tonight: The Animal Planet's Sonya Fitzpatrick gets inside the mind of your pet. And we'll get inside one of the hottest shows on cable TV.

This is CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT. Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York: Connie Chung.

CHUNG: Good evening.

Tonight, on this Labor Day, what may be the most significant decision for President George W. Bush this fall: whether to use military force to oust Saddam Hussein. The decision is a legacy passed on to him by his father, George Herbert Walker Bush. This challenge, whether to take on his father's old nemesis, could be a defining moment in the administration of George W.

For some perspective on father and son, we turn to two journalists who have followed the careers of both Presidents Bush; from Austin, Texas, Evan Smith, editor of "The Texas Monthly"; and, from Washington, Michael Gordon, military correspondent with "The New York Times."

Michael Gordon, I'd like to start with you.

Lay a foundation for us. I think the question that's plaguing so many Americans is: What are the chances that the United States will invade Iraq?

MICHAEL GORDON, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": The chances are very high. In fact, I would probably bet a month's salary on it.

I fully expect the Bush administration, this Bush administration to take military action to replace the Saddam Hussein regime. Just how they're going to do it and exactly in what timeframe I think remains to be decided. But I think president has made up his mind.

CHUNG: And it's not if, but when. Is that correct? Is that what you're saying?

GORDON: I think there are a lot of outstanding questions: how, in terms of the military plan; and also the key question of how they are going to hold Iraq together after the regime is replaced, the so- called nation-building piece. But I think the basic decision to act has been made by the president, judging on what he says. I take him at his word.

CHUNG: I think a lot of political analysts would like to say that part of the reason is this President Bush wants to finish what the previous President Bush did not accomplish. How much do you place in that bank?

GORDON: I don't think that's a factor. I think there's some fundamental differences between the first Bush administration -- which I covered pretty closely, when Dick Cheney was the secretary of defense -- and the current administration. The goals of the first Bush administration was to roll back the Iraqi forces out of Kuwait and then contain Iraqi power. And they were willing to adjust their war aims to what the allies would accept. This administration is setting out to replace the regime. And they're not going to be bound by the lowest common denominator among the United States' allies.

CHUNG: But, Michael Gordon, the first Bush administration took such criticism for not eliminating Saddam Hussein.

GORDON: But I think -- President Bush, the first President Bush hasn't spoken to this issue. But his national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft, had an op-ed piece in "The Wall Street Journal" the other week.

And he continues to make the case for containment. He continues to argue that, essentially, time is on the United States' side, not on Saddam Hussein's side and that it's sufficient to contain Iraqi power, that he's not an imminent threat. This is an argument that's rejected by Dick Cheney and the current administration.

The first President Bush hasn't spoken to this issue, but I have a feeling that, if he did, his views would be similar to Brent Scowcroft's.

CHUNG: You do?

All right, well, let's go to Evan Smith on that question.

You know both of these Presidents Bush by personality. And I think we all now know that the first President Bush does not want to -- he's loath to advise the current President Bush. He is hypersensitive about giving advice.

EVAN SMITH, EDITOR, "TEXAS MONTHLY": Well, there are a couple issues here.

First of all, I don't believe, as some have suggested, that Mr. Scowcroft was delivering a message from President Bush the elder to his son. I believe that, if President Bush the elder wanted to deliver a message, he'd deliver it himself. So I would take that off the table right away. I certainly believe that President Bush, the first President Bush, probably feels more as Mr. Scowcroft does, as Michael Gordon suggests.

But let me say a couple things about that. I think the first President Bush was much more committed to coalition-building than this President Bush is or seems to be. And I think that certainly that would be one of his primary concerns. Before any kind of mission in Iraq, you want to ask yourself whether the allies were on board.

This President Bush has, I would say, been very overt in not being particularly concerned about where the allies stand. In fact, I think, as some have suggested, this president would rather go it alone, not have the inconvenience of allies on board, allies he'd have to please or get approval from for any mission that he set out to do. Look, the father-son dynamic is something people are going to talk about. There are people, journalists among them, who wish for the psychodrama of a father and son, the father making a move in Iraq and the son having to come in, pride and loyalty to his father, having to finish the job.

I believe, though, this problem preceded President Bush the elder. It preceded President Bush the younger. It will probably still be around after President Bush is out of office, regardless of whether Saddam Hussein is in power. This is an ever-thus problem. And I don't think there's any kind of family dynamic here. And I think that the differences between the two men are as much differences in temperament as presidents as they are anything else.

And I would not look to, as you suggested earlier, say that this President Bush is trying to finish a job. I think this is about what's going on right now.

CHUNG: Maureen Dowd at "The New York Times" -- one of my favorite writers there -- said at the end of one of her pieces: "Who needs a war plan? We need family therapy." So she brings together the dynamic between father and son.

SMITH: Maureen Dowd did definitely lay it on thick.

But I would say, again, I don't think is about a difference of mind-set that has to do with genetics. I think this has to do with the way the world is. And I believe that the reason Iraq is an issue now is not because of old business, but because of continuing business. I think that the regime in Iraq now is targeted by this president, not because of something that happened 10 years ago, but because of something going on right now.

CHUNG: Michael Gordon, do you have any sense as to whether or not the first President Bush does in fact advise his son privately, that we don't know about?

GORDON: Well, I think this is obviously going to be one of the most closely-guarded secrets, because I think the first President Bush is sensitive not to diminish his son. And so I agree that Brent Scowcroft's column was not an effort by the first president to influence his son. But I think, if he does advise his son, he is going to keep it very quiet. There's some evidence that he did advise him on the China issue to avoid a confrontation with China.

But I would say there is this difference. I think the current President Bush is more conservative than his father. I think he's more prepared to act unilaterally than his father. I think he has less international experience and is less sensitive to the concerns of allies. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

But I think there's some rather marked differences in their background. And I think it is going to play itself out in the coming months, when the United States moves militarily against Iraq.

CHUNG: There is a strong conservative faction within the current Bush administration, that being under Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, and Richard Perle under him, and Paul Wolfowitz under him. Isn't that true?

GORDON: Well, I think what's interesting about this administration is, you're absolutely right, Connie. There is a strong conservative faction. Dick Cheney is among the most important ones.

But at the head of the faction is the current president. He, I think, is very like-minded with this conservative faction: Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz. And that's why this faction has prevailed and Colin Powell essentially has been overruled on Iraq. Everybody knows Powell is not an enthusiast for this war. He wasn't anxious to do the last war.

CHUNG: All right, quick final word from you, Evan Smith.

SMITH: Well, I was going to say, I think the stylistic differences Michael is alluding to are very important.

The first President Bush was steeped in politics before he came to the White House. He was a consensus builder, a coalition builder. This president came out of the business world, where the CEO makes a decision. I do think this president is going to be less concerned about politics, more concerned about a decision that he makes and he expects everybody to rally around. And that stylistic difference is as important to understanding these two men as anything else.

CHUNG: All right, Evan Smith, Michael Gordon, thank you so much for being with us.

We also wanted to understand the other side of the equation. And that is what it's like inside Iraq. The United Nations sanctions, initially applied during the Gulf War, have been modified through the years. But they have had a profound effect on the lives of ordinary Iraqis.

We're now joined by Peter Lems of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization that is providing humanitarian relief for the people of Iraq. His group is on record as opposing military action to depose Saddam and advocating a diplomatic solution.

Thank you so much for joining us, Peter.

PETER: Thank you for having me.

CHUNG: Tell me, I think I'm most curious to know if Iraqis hate Americans.

PETER LEMS, AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE: What we've found in our two weeks of traveling around Iraq is that people were curious at every turn to ask why Americans hate them.

And I couldn't help but feeling, after returning from Iraq, that, whereas every single day, every Iraqi's life is shaped by the actions of our government, people in America rarely think of Iraq. And when we do think of Iraq, we think of it through the lens of what we're hearing in the press and whether or not there should be a new war.

CHUNG: So when they would ask you why we hate them, how did you answer them?

LEMS: I said that, "Americans don't hate you" and that the problem is, is that Americans do not understand the impact that sanctions have had in Iraq.

CHUNG: And what is that impact?

LEMS: Well, the impact -- you cannot talk about life in Iraq without the central theme being the crisis caused by sanctions.

Iraqis have lost everything. The middle class has been depleted. Children are unable to go to school. People cannot get clean water. People are barely getting enough food to survive. And so they're struggling. There's a collective sense of fatigue from 12 years of sanctions.

CHUNG: Do the people of Iraq know what has caused the sanctions? Do they blame their leader, Saddam Hussein?

LEMS: I don't think the people blame Saddam Hussein. I think they do not have access to the amount of information we do and they live in a controlled environment. So they do hear just part of the story.

But I think that they distinguish that the suffering and the lack of political rights they might have under the government of Iraq is small compared to the humanitarian crisis that they see as being imposed from outside by the United Nations and the United States.

CHUNG: I see.

And what do they think of Saddam Hussein? Can you get a gauge on that?

LEMS: I couldn't. I mean, we were there for a couple weeks. People were not at liberty to talk about those issues. I don't know.

CHUNG: Not a clue? In other words, no one felt free to share with you his or her opinion of the country's leader?

LEMS: I think that people are overwhelmed with a larger picture of their lives and the larger impact that sanctions have had. It is a very repressive society. And people weren't free to say.

CHUNG: You know, it's not unlike us here. We're more concerned about our own economic situation, necessarily, don't you think?

LEMS: Absolutely.

CHUNG: And we think in a microcosm, actually, about how our lives are. And that's what basically you're saying, that the Iraqi people are very concerned of how they live day to day.

LEMS: Absolutely.

They're struggling to live day to day. And what you feel and what you see all around you are shattered dreams of people who are -- families who are bringing children into the world, wondering whether or not they'll have an opportunity to make a life for themselves. You see young people who are afraid to get married because they don't have job security and the hope that they might be able to buy a house for their family. You see every aspect of their life revolves around trying to make ends meet.

CHUNG: Do you have any idea if the people know what kind of biological weaponry or whatever that Saddam Hussein has developed?

LEMS: Oh, absolutely -- I'm sure they do not. The people are detached from the actions of the government on that level. There was not a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) on whether or not there should be an invasion of Kuwait.

I think that, in a government like Iraq, we do need to look at the people first and find diplomatic means to deal with a government that we may not see eye to eye with.

CHUNG: All right, thank you, Peter Lems. We appreciate your being with us. Thank you so much.

LEMS: Thank you.

CHUNG: When we come back: We've seen the vivid images of ground zero for the past year, the gaping wound in Lower Manhattan. As the anniversary of September 11 is rapidly approaching, we have a look at some of the innovative visions for how to rebuild where the Twin Towers stood.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHUNG: A book together based on a New York art gallery show he presented last January: The gallery owner, Max Protetch, has called for an international competition to redesign the site. Also joining us is Dutch architect Winka Dubbeldam, who contributed to the book.

Thank you for joining us.

Max, we'll start with you.

I know, as 9/11 profoundly affected all of us, it had that same profound effect on you, because there was a very personal part of it. Can you describe that to me and how that caused you to start this program?

MAX PROTETCH, NEW YORK GALLERY OWNER: Well, my children went to school four blocks from the World Trade Center. And they saw people jumping. They saw the buildings come down.

CHUNG: Then you came up with this idea of asking -- how many architects did you ask?

PROTETCH: Well, we actually asked 120 architects.

CHUNG: And your response was?

PROTETCH: Well, I had expected some difficulty, especially with the Europeans...

CHUNG: Yes.

PROTETCH: ... who I thought would feel that it was too soon and that it wasn't their place to be involved in the situation. So I had anticipated, at the very most, 40 or 50.

CHUNG: And?

PROTETCH: We ended up with 60, which was wonderful. And I think I had a very good time twisting their arms.

CHUNG: Good.

Well, let's take a look at some of these, all right? And we have a monitor here. And if we can bring up the first one. That is like a memorial, right?

PROTETCH: This one is atypical, in the sense that it's only a memorial. And it's by the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban.

CHUNG: And the next one? It's a memorial and a structural -- oh, my goodness. Look at that.

PROTETCH: And this is Asymptote, which is a firm based in New York, quite an inspiring design. You have to remember, these are conceptual sketches. And they were done very quickly. And they were done without a client.

CHUNG: I see.

PROTETCH: So they're ideas more than they are specific buildings.

CHUNG: I see.

Let's go to next one. And this is the Foreign Office Architects design?

PROTETCH: Foreign Office Architects, yes.

They actually are two towers in reality. One of the things that I was looking for -- and I am very excited that we got in this and in one of the projects you'll see in a moment -- is something very strong on the skyscape of New York City. And it was interesting. At the time, people were thinking that the skyscraper was dead, that there was no longer going to be skyscrapers.

And one of the things that came out in one of the town meetings in New York is that people really missed something very strong on the cityscape. And I'm hoping that that time has passed.

CHUNG: Let's go to Winka.

Your design, how would you describe it and how did you come up with the idea?

WINKA DUBBELDAM, DUTCH ARCHITECT: Well, I guess what Max just said. It was, for all of us, really hard to even think about anything, what you wanted to do at that point.

CHUNG: Because you were actually there in the area at the time that the planes hit the Twin Towers.

DUBBELDAM: Yes. I was standing right at Greenwich Street and Canal. And we have weekly meetings there, so we were all standing there and saw the whole thing happen in 45 minutes, I think. Everything was so extremely traumatizing and shocking.

CHUNG: But then, of course, this offer came along and you decided to think about it. And you came up with an idea.

DUBBELDAM: Yes, it was hard.

In the beginning, I thought, well, how can you make a design for this, or how can you make some heroic design for this after this event?

CHUNG: You're keeping me in suspense. Tell me what you came up with.

DUBBELDAM: I decided, rather than rebuilding it, I wanted to rethink it. So we made an interactive electronic proposal, where people, the visitors of the exhibit could actually play with and sort of look at and, through choosing parameters, they could generate one of the 81 proposals we put in this computer model.

CHUNG: Oh, I see. So you could form whatever you wanted to.

DUBBELDAM: Yes, yes. Basically, you're -- well, you're helping instigate whether it is -- for example, we thought office towers should be horizontal or office spaces should be horizontal. Residential space could be vertical. And that the result would always be a hybrid city model, rather than a singular city model. And thus it would be always about live, work, play and learn zones, and a lot of green.

CHUNG: Max, do you think that any of the -- any of the designs that were included in your book will actually be seriously considered?

PROTETCH: No, but I think the architects who are in the book would be seriously considered, because the designs really weren't done to meet the program as we know it now.

CHUNG: And, ultimately, do you think, Winka, that an American should be the designer, or do you believe that someone looking in from the outside would be better? DUBBELDAM: Well, I thought it was striking, in the exhibit, there was a huge difference between the people who had been actually in New York and what kind of designs we made and the people who came from the outside.

And I think that we were all much more emotional about it, because it was so personal. And you couldn't avoid being very emotional about it. So I think, in the end, it doesn't really -- it's not that important who does it, as long as the person understands that it was really important for the New Yorkers what happened here and that, whatever is going to be the design, is for people living here. And what is the future of our city is really important, I think.

CHUNG: I would say that whatever the design is has to have a lot of heart. Don't you think?

DUBBELDAM: Absolutely.

CHUNG: Max, Winka, we thank you so much for being with us. And we'll look forward to seeing whatever is decided, huh?

Great. Thank you.

PROTETCH: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHUNG: Coming up: why the old wisdom about drinking eight glasses of water a day may be all wet.

Keep it right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: The proposals for rebuilding the World Trade Center site have dominated public debate. But the nature of the memorial to the victims will also likely be a major issue. That certainly was the case in the early 1980s, when a 21-year-old college student named Maya Lin won an international competition to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. Her design had the name of every American killed in the Vietnam conflict etched into two black granite walls.

MAYA LIN, VIETNAM MEMORIAL DESIGNER: And all I was saying in this piece is, the cost of war is these individuals, and we have to remember them first. And so it's really the people, not the politics, which is what this piece is about.

ANNOUNCER: Lin faced withering criticism about the memorial. Too bleak, too stark were some of the criticisms. One critic called it a black gash of shame. Others objected to the absence of a statue of soldiers or acknowledgement of the causes of the war. Some of the criticism took on a racial component, picking out Lin's Chinese- American ancestry. Over the years, Lin's vision has come to be a powerful and poignant memorial. One of the most popular attractions in Washington, D.C., it draws millions annually in homage to the war dead.

So, what became of architect Maya Lin? The answer when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: So what became of Maya Lin, architect of the Vietnam Memorial? Since the 1980s, she has continued to work as an artist and architect. She designed a memorial to the civil rights struggle in Montgomery, Alabama, and worked on a range of museum and public spaces. Her career was the subject of a documentary, "A Strong Clear Vision," that won an Academy Award in 1995. And, in a recent interview, Lin said that she had been contacted by officials planning the World Trade Center memorial.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHUNG: We'll continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHUNG: Now for "Healthwatch"": With Labor Day marking the unofficial end of summer, it's time to catch up on some things that you'll need to know as the weather starts to get cool.

CNN's medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here with us.

Thank you.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you for having me.

CHUNG: It's nice to see you in person.

GUPTA: Yes, great to be here. Thank you.

CHUNG: Sanjay, everyone always says, if you work out, you'll not only look marvelous, but you'll feel marvelous, right?

GUPTA: That's right.

CHUNG: But I'm also told that you'll keep yourself from getting a cold?

GUPTA: You know, there is some truth to that, no question about it.

People have done studies on people who are more active vs. less active. And they actually tried to figure out how many colds they got, comparing the more active people to the less active. And what they found out is that, if you were active -- and that means 30 minutes or so a day of exercise, getting your heart rate up for 30 minutes a day, maybe a walk, maybe a job, maybe washing your car, mowing your lawn, doing something -- you have a lower chance of getting colds, specifically a 23 percent lower chance of getting colds if you're active year-round.

And, in the fall, interestingly -- I found this out. Most of our colds occur in the fall, 40 percent of them.

CHUNG: Why?

GUPTA: Well, for some reason, that's when a lot of the viruses are more out there and people are more exposed to them. There's also changes, sudden changes in climate, as we're starting to see right now, this time of year. But that is when most of the colds occur. And if you're active at that point, you reduce your chance of getting a cold by 33 percent.

But they also went on to say that more is not better. If you're running marathons, you're actually probably more likely to get a cold, because you're probably suppressing your immune system. The thinking is that, if you're just moderately active, you actually increase the good immune cells in your body. And that actually fights off the viruses that cause colds.

CHUNG: See, I think that the reason why people get colds in the fall is because their kids go to school. And they're there with all the other kids who catch colds. And then they bring it home. They're little germs running around in sneakers at school.

GUPTA: They're little reservoirs of germs.

I think you're absolutely right. I think there's a lot of truth to that as well. Kids get different sorts of germs. You don't see those as much in the summertime. You look at any pediatric emergency room in the fall, there are

(CROSSTALK)

CHUNG: Packed, right?

GUPTA: That's right.

CHUNG: All right.

Now, if you do get a cold, should you still work out?

GUPTA: Excellent question. And for most part, the answer is yes. They say that if you start to develop a real fever -- and they say over 100.5, just to use a number.

CHUNG: That's a very high fever.

GUPTA: Yes, that's a good fever.

And if you're that high, you probably shouldn't be working out. If you actually have a productive cough -- that's sterile medical talk for saying that you're coughing stuff up -- if you're doing that, you probably shouldn't be working out as well.

CHUNG: Should not.

GUPTA: Should not.

A lot of people think that: "I'll sweat it out. I'll go exercise. Or I'll hit the treadmill and I'll exercise and I'll sweat the cold out."

CHUNG: Right.

GUPTA: It usually doesn't work if you're really getting that sick. If you're just mildly sick, it's still OK to work out, but it's probably not going to make your cold go away any faster.

CHUNG: If I had 105 temperature, I'd go to the hospital.

GUPTA: Yes -- 100.5.

CHUNG: Oh, I thought that's -- oh, my God.

GUPTA: Yes, 105, that's...

CHUNG: Thank you, yes.

GUPTA: One hundred and five, you should go see a doctor for sure; 100.5, at least don't work out.

(LAUGHTER)

CHUNG: One hundred point-five.

GUPTA: Right. Exactly.

CHUNG: All right, now, I hate people who call in sick, you know? I really do.

GUPTA: You don't get to do that too much around here.

(LAUGHTER)

CHUNG: No, no.

But I always, actually -- I come in even though I'm sick.

GUPTA: Yes.

CHUNG: And should I?

GUPTA: Well, Americans are one of the hardest-working communities, societies, really, in world. We work harder, at least 100 hours more per year than Canadians, Australians, Japanese, Mexicans. And we call in fewer sick days than a lot of other countries and fewer sick days than we ourselves called in even a few years ago. So, we're becoming harder working than ever before. And the answer, it's a tough question to answer. A lot of people come in despite the fact that they're sick. But I think some of the same rules about when not to work out probably apply to when not to come in to work. Again, if you have a fever at 100.5 or if you've got a cough and you're actually producing stuff, not only are you probably not going to be that efficient at work, you could probably get your co-workers contagious.

You could be contagious to them and get them sick as well. And, obviously, nobody wants that. So, those are some guidelines as to when you should not come in to work. But, as you know, Connie, a lot of people come in anyways.

CHUNG: Yes, like me.

(LAUGHTER)

GUPTA: That's right. I'm guilty of that, too, sometimes.

CHUNG: All right.

Now, finally, the subject of water: Everybody thinks you're supposed to drink eight glasses of water a day. Is it eight glasses?

GUPTA: Eight 8-ounce glasses.

CHUNG: Eight 8-ounce glasses, OK.

GUPTA: Right.

CHUNG: Should we? And I'm going to bring these out. These are these newfangled drinks.

GUPTA: We're seeing a lot of ads for these on television.

CHUNG: Right. But what is it? It's vitamins?

GUPTA: That's vitamin water. These both are flavored waters. And these are becoming very popular.

CHUNG: OK, so if you can answer the question of eight glasses of 8 ounces of water, and these things.

GUPTA: That's right.

Well, let me tell you, this has been a very controversial subject. And I think old dogma -- and I'll say right off the top I'm a big water drinker. I like to drink a lot of water. And I would never be a doctor who says don't drink water.

But let me just give you a little bit of history here. And that is that eight 8-ounce glasses, 64 ounces, comes from a study back from 1945. Somebody said that you should be drinking a milliliter of water for every calorie that you consume. So I did the math: 2,000 calories would be roughly equal to 64 ounces of water. And that's where that comes from. Here's the problem, though, is that you get your water in a lot of different ways, not just from drinking it. You get it from your food, fruits and vegetables, 95 percent water. Even bread, Connie, is 35 percent water.

CHUNG: No.

GUPTA: Yes, even dry bread 35 percent water, as is meat, as is cheeses. So, you're getting a lot of water from a lot of different foods.

So, the question then becomes: Well, what happens if you drink more than 64 ounces. Is that a problem? And, for the most part, it is not a problem. You can drink it. And if you have normal kidneys, they'll just get rid of it.

CHUNG: But the question is, is it good for you?

GUPTA: What they say is that drinking more than that probably is not necessarily any better for you, but drinking less than what you need is probably bad for you.

And if you drink more, you'll just get rid of the water anyways. It is not going to actually cause you any problems most of the time. But, Connie, one of the things that's getting a little bit of attention now is a case actually out from out East, where a marathon runner actually suffered from water intoxication, actually drinking too much water. And they actually messed the electrolytes in the body up a little bit. And that caused some problems. That can happen. That's rare.

CHUNG: All right, but what about these things?

GUPTA: OK, so you got these flavored vitamin waters.

CHUNG: And we only have about 30 seconds.

GUPTA: So, if you want to drink water, let's just take this one, for example. This is a vitamin water. You got to make sure to read the label. I'll give you an example. This is 2.5 servings. And each serving has 50 calories. This is 125 calories.

CHUNG: No, really?

GUPTA: Yes, from water. And most of that is sugar. So, in some ways, this is like drinking a diet soda pop or something like that. You're getting quite a bit of calories here. And I'm not sure you're getting much additional benefit.

CHUNG: Right. Now, how about these favored ones?

GUPTA: And the flavored ones, the same things. You could just look at these again. For the most part, you're getting a lot of sugars. Here: 10 grams of sugar, 40 calories, 2.5 servings, so 100 calories in this bottle as well. And that's the big concern about these flavored waters. If you're just drinking water just to stay hydrated, just drink regular water, like you have underneath the desk there.

CHUNG: All right, good advice. Thank you.

GUPTA: Good seeing you.

CHUNG: So nice to see you.

GUPTA: Yes, I'll see you again.

CHUNG: Next time.

GUPTA: Yes.

CHUNG: OK.

Just ahead: the woman who claims to know what your pet is really thinking. She's even got her own TV show. Now, that's a shocker.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "PET PSYCHIC")

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She continues to lose weight. We cannot figure out if she's just unhappy or if something is going on in her life. And this is what we're trying to find out now.

FITZPATRICK: Yes. There's some sadness there attached to her eating. And the sadness is what she's missing, her baby that's gone. And she wants to know, is the baby coming back?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

FITZPATRICK: OK, let me tell her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHUNG: That is Sonya Fitzpatrick. She's speaking to a miniature horse. She not only talks to the animals, but claims to read their minds as well.

If this sounds farfetched, consider this. She's got one of the hottest shows on cable. So someone -- actually, some people are paying attention. Sonya Fitzpatrick is the host of "Pet Psychic," which airs Mondays on Animal Planet, as people try to unlock the mysteries of why their pets behave the way they do.

And Sonya joins me now from Los Angeles.

Thank you so much for being with us.

FITZPATRICK: My pleasure, Connie. CHUNG: Now, tell me, let me get this straight. You actually communicate with animals?

FITZPATRICK: I do, Connie. I hear their language. They have a silent language. We have a verbal one. They have a silent one. And I hear them.

CHUNG: How does it work? I mean, how are you able to hear them?

FITZPATRICK: Well, I hear them with my feelings and my emotions and my senses. And I see pictures, because they speak in pictures. If I was to say to you, "Can you tell me where the Statue of Liberty is?" you have an image of a picture, don't you?

CHUNG: Yes.

FITZPATRICK: So, you don't see it with the physical eye. That's how I see the pictures. And I hear sometimes their words in my thoughts.

CHUNG: Are they able to express their emotions to you?

FITZPATRICK: Oh, yes, very much so. I feel it with my emotions.

They transmit. We're transmitting out like radios. We're very powerful human beings. And we only use a very small part of our ability. And I use all my ability and all of my emotions and feelings and intuitive feelings to hear the animals' language.

CHUNG: So are you saying that other human beings might be able to do this as well if they only tried?

FITZPATRICK: I don't -- many other human beings are doing this. And when I have seminars throughout the country, the first thing I always ask is, "How many of you can do this?" And many, many hands go up. And many children do it, too.

And many people have done it when they are children, but have lost the art as they get older and they're busy earning a living. They stop listening to their innermost feelings. And they listen to their head instead of their heart most of the time.

CHUNG: Now, it started for you, actually, when you were a child, when you were only 3 years old. How did you discover that you were able to talk to animals?

FITZPATRICK: I was born with this ability and the gift. And my mother -- my grandmother had the same ability.

And I didn't start to use verbal language until I was 3. And my mother was very concerned about it. But she realized that, as I went on and I got a little older, that I did actually talk to animals. They used to say it was my imagination, but I could always hear the animals wherever they were. And I was born with a hearing loss. So I didn't always hear people so well, but I could always hear the animals. CHUNG: Now, Sonya, there are probably some people who now say that it's still your imagination. And they might not believe you. What do you say to them?

FITZPATRICK: Oh, well, I say, Connie, that imagination is the most powerful gift that we have. And it's often laughed at.

But if we didn't use our imagination to -- we're constantly using it when we're working on projects. We're constantly using it. If we're going to buy a new house, we're thinking about how we're going to furnish it. So we're constantly using our imagination all the time. And there are many people that don't experience what I experience. So how can they believe it, if they believe that they're just a physical body and nothing else?

We are very powerful. And if we listen to our feelings and our emotions and senses -- and all animal lovers, Connie -- and I mean people that love animals with a passion, like I do -- know that their animals have a language. They know that there's so much more going on with their animals than just on the physical level.

CHUNG: Are there some animals that communicate with you a little better than others?

FITZPATRICK: I find all animals communicate very well. And some animals are just like people. Some gossip a little more.

(LAUGHTER)

FITZPATRICK: Some are the strong, silent type. They're all different personalities.

CHUNG: You're kidding me, Sonya.

FITZPATRICK: I'm not.

CHUNG: No, no, no, you're kidding. They actually gossip? "Uh- huh, I want to tell you about that dog next door."

FITZPATRICK: Some do. Yes, some do. And I was in an interview this morning with a reporter. And her cat started to gossip to me about the dog and moving. And she said, "That's right." And so they do gossip.

But then other animals will say to me -- well, often people tell their animals things that they would never tell people. They are closer to their animals than they are to human beings.

CHUNG: Oh, my gosh.

FITZPATRICK: And we stay in love with our animals. We never fall out of love with our animals, but we often do with people.

(LAUGHTER)

CHUNG: Well, how do you analyze people who say that they hate animals?

FITZPATRICK: Well, I find that very hard to understand, because, as you well know, I'm passionate about them and I love them tremendously.

So I find that people just are not on that level of consciousness. We're all on different levels of consciousness. And I find that people are not on that feeling, sensitive, on that level of consciousness that animal lovers are on.

CHUNG: My husband's younger daughter has a dog named Arthur. And her name is Amy. Are you able to think of what Arthur is thinking at this moment?

FITZPATRICK: No.

I can only tell you, Connie, what they tell me. People seem to -- it's not their thoughts. They literally do talk. And what happens is, if -- I always work with the people that have the dogs themselves. So their thoughts, they will tell me the things that are important to them. It might not be important -- the human may think it wants it to tell it something else, but I need to have the human companion there, who knows everything about the animals and knows everything that is happening with that animal.

CHUNG: I see. But you don't need the animal there. You just need the human.

FITZPATRICK: I have a photograph, very often, which I -- and the human companion that knows everything about the animal.

CHUNG: I see. And is there usually a problem that you're trying to solve when you're talking to the animal?

FITZPATRICK: Well, often people, as you know, with show, I go and people -- like the crocodile. I had a crocodile, and he wouldn't eat. And people couldn't find out -- his trainer couldn't find out why that was happening.

So they like to know why that's happening. And he didn't know if the crocodile was ill or if he was sick, why he didn't come up anymore on to the beach and do his trick, because the trainer would literally sit on his back and tickle him under the chin in Gatorland.

(LAUGHTER)

FITZPATRICK: And he wouldn't come out of the water for three months. So they called me in for that one. And when I started talking to the croc, I said to Tim the trainer, well, I felt that the food -- I could taste that he wasn't getting his red meat.

And he said: "No, we've cut down on that red meat." He said, "We were economizing."

I said, "Well, you feed him back his red meat and he'll come out the water for you," because he loved his red meat and he said he wasn't going to come out unless he fed it to him. So, over the next week, he fed it to him. And then all the camera crew went over there. And he came right up the bank again. And Tim was able to do his trick with him sitting on his back. And he couldn't believe it, because he just was completely baffled as to why he didn't come out of the water.

CHUNG: Sonya Fitzpatrick...

FITZPATRICK: So I'm able to solve problems like that.

CHUNG: You are amazing. Thank you so much for being with us.

(LAUGHTER)

FITZPATRICK: Oh, I've loved every minute of it, Connie. Thank you for having me on your show.

CHUNG: Sonya Fitzpatrick, thank you.

We'll be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHUNG: Over the past few weeks, we've been asking for videotaped submissions describing how the events of 9/11 changed your life.

We close tonight with the words of Suzanne Zeising, who decided to make a major life change after 9/11. She moved from Detroit to Atlanta so she could be closer to what she says matters most: her family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUZANNE ZEISING, ATLANTA RESIDENT: And, really, this is the little doll that brought me here. This is Susie (ph), my daughter-in- law, and Kate. And Kate's just starting to say "Hi" and "Hi, Nana."

SUSIE, DAUGHTER-IN-LAW OF SUZANNE: Say, hi, Nana.

ZEISING: So it's a thrill to be here with them. This is my priority: my family, my daughter, her husband, my son, his wife and Kate. And September 11 made that difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHUNG: You are so right, Suzanne.

If you'd like to tell us how 9/11 affected you, send us a videotape to CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT, P.O. Box 5138, New York, New York, 10185. And be sure to include your name and address, but we're sorry; we won't be able to return your tapes. For more information, log on to CNN.com/CONNIE.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHUNG: And that's our program for tonight.

Tomorrow: What do Presidents George and George W. Bush, Senator John Kerry, and William F. Buckley have in common? They're all members of one of the most secret of secret societies, one with far- reaching influence in the corridors of power, highly secretive until now. We'll go inside the Skull & Bones tomorrow night.

And "LARRY KING LIVE" is next.

Thank you for joining us. And for all of us at CNN, good night and happy Labor Day.

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