Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Zarqawi Believed Behind Death Threat Against Iraq's Interim Prime Minister

Aired June 23, 2004 - 13:30   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Here are the top stories "At This Hour." In headlines, the U.S. is dropping a plan to shield U.S. peacekeepers from war crimes prosecution. The action was announced at the United Nations just an hour ago. The U.S. had been seeking an extension of the current exemption for its peacekeepers overseas.
In Washington, John Negroponte is sworn in this afternoon as the ambassador to Iraq. Negroponte takes over when the handover occurs next week. The U.S. has not had diplomatic relations with Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War.

Imminent release? Iranian officials are suggesting that eight members of the British military could be free within hours. The two sailors and six Marines were detained when they crossed into Iranian territorial waters from Iraq on Monday. But Iranian state new agency now says it's not clear the British troops had, quote, "no ill intention."

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Militant terrorist Abu Musab al- Zarqawi has taken responsibility for the death of innocent Americans. Now he's believed to be behind a death threat against Iraq's interim prime minister. al-Zarqawi's suspect involvement in attacks on military and civilians makes him Iraq's most wanted man. How will authorities track this man down?

To give us some insight on that, CNN military intelligence analyst Ken Robinson. The reason why we ask Ken to talk about, when you were in the military, you were involved in taking down and, i guess, taking apart the network for drug lord Pablo Escobar. And you said to me even this morning, it's very similar this trail to him and the destruction of this network with Zarqawi. Explain that. Lay out how it's similar.

KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, the basic human needs. Everyone has to be able to communicate, they've got to be able to sleep, they've got to be able to eat, they've got to be able to plan, train, to conduct their next operations.

And they need support from populations to do that. They can't live autonomously. They need supplies like anyone else does. And so an examination of that is the way you dismantle an organization step by step.

PHILLIPS: All right, let's talk about dismantling it. We're looking at al-Zarqawi right now. It starts with the planning. No. 1, the planning group, what they're going to do, what's the target, right?

ROBINSON: Well, they adapt very rapidly. We've seen this terrorist organization adapt to the counter measures that the coalition has placed in place. So they're communicating with each other and they're trying to find new ways to survive and to inflict harm. And so they have to plan.

It's not -- when they get together it's not could we, it's should we? And when should we because the terrorists get to pick the time and place.

PHILLIPS: OK. Next part, reconnaissance and surveillance.

ROBINSON: Once they have a plan, they need to go look and make sure that plan is feasible. And to do that, they have to put the eyes on the target because they're using the population. They're using little kids. Like in your last segment, they're using children with cell phones to warn when coalition is coming into a kill zone. And then they're initiating attacks with casualty producing devices.

So they pick the location from which they're going to put those bombs, where they're going to put their shooters and how they're going to disappear, how they're going to run away. And to do that they've got to recon and surveil the location.

PHILLIPS: And once again, we're setting up how soldiers destroy a network and these parts of the network.

Third, the weapons. You've got to get the weapons out of the hands of the individuals supplying these to Zarqawi, right?

ROBINSON: Yes. And with these weapons, they want to decide which are the appropriate weapons to use against the soldiers that will not cause them to be discovered as they're introducing those weapons into an area through cordons, through road blocks. Sometimes they use networks where these weapons have been funneled underground.

And so they have to make the right selection for the right kill effect that they're going after, the right number of body count. And they want to do that with a precision application of power. They're being very precise and thorough in what they're doing.

PHILLIPS: I want to keep in mind right now sources are telling you this is all taking place right now.

ROBINSON: As we speak.

PHILLIPS: Soldiers going after training.

ROBINSON: Training. Well, once they decided from reconnaissance and surveillance, they then have to rehearse. And to do that rehearsal they do that at night, they do that inside buildings, they do it on charts. They found paperwork that demonstrates that they've outlined areas that they've attacked. And -- but they have to train and rehearse to make sure that they can have a precise way to employ their weapons and to escape. PHILLIPS: The money trail.

ROBINSON: It costs money to work. They've got to be able to sustain this. And that's why they've be finding bags and bags full of millions and millions of dollars all over that country, and there's money flowing in from other borders that are supporting -- sustaining the terrorist organization.

Remember, there's more than one terrorist organization at work here. The is the former Ba'athist with al-Duri, a former leader the Saddam regime. And there Abu Musab Zarqawi and his group and Ansar al Islam and a bunch of foreign jihaddists who've just shown up for a pickup fight.

PHILLIPS: Meanwhile the covert communications, soldiers want to get in and break down the communication process.

ROBINSON: They have to communicate because they have to transmit whether the rehearsals and the target make sense. And most of that communication is being done with a courier. It's not with a signal because they know that no the he coalition has the ability to intercept those signals.

PHILLIPS: And finally, transportations. So let me ask you, as soldiers right now are telling you, intelligence personnel, the hunt is on for Zarqawi. We more than likely know where he is and we're eating at his network.

So let's say they take out the training part or the money part or maybe recon surveillance part of these terrorists working for Zarqawi. Tell me how that sort of effects the whole network and the survival of someone like Zarqawi?

ROBINSON: Well that's a great question because measures of effectiveness is a task that the military tries to achieve. And as we've seen in the area of Fallujah, the last few days, where pinpoint attacks have occurred on buildings, and then those buildings have had secondary explosions, those secondary explosions are the presence of weapons that have been cached there.

So clearly they found logistical storage areas. And they found areas where they meet, where safe houses where they have met to do planning. So clearly their measure of effectiveness with that is to dig through the pocket litter, dig through all the intelligences there, connect the dots and go to the net step..

PHILLIPS: Quickly, we've got about 15 seconds. When you were hunting for Pablo Escobar, you went through this same type of system, like what the soldiers are doing right now to find Zarqawi. How long did it take?

ROBINSON: Years. It took years. And when we were done with them we went after the Medellin cartel. And that took years. And when it was all said and done a lot of people got promoted, are still in the fight to this day in the war on drugs.

PHILLIPS: Ken Robinson, thanks so much.

WHITFIELD: Rude awakenings in health news today. Are you one in 10 million women getting a test you don't need? That story coming up next.

And the risks that come with keeping clean these days. Coming up, Dr. Sanjay Gupta on how to find out if your shampoo and other grooming products could give you cancer. More LIVE FROM... right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: When you think of scientists working in the field, you might imagine them camped out in the jungle or braving desert elements or bouncing around in a tiny research vessel on the high seas. Well, time to think again.

Our Daniel Sieberg spent a few days with scientists aboard a ship, anything but roughing it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A typical oceanographic research vessel, not a day at the beach. A far cry from this.

What started out a simple conversation about the high cost of ocean research between the University of Miami and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines turned into a symbiotic partnership, putting scientists and labs on a cruise ship. Federal agencies, like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, soon jumped on board.

PETER ORTNER, NOAA: From my perspective, as a government laboratory, this is an incredibly financially-efficient way of doing it. It's saving the taxpayer a lot of money in getting data we really couldn't get any other way.

SIEBERG (on camera): It's another relatively calm and sunny day here in the Caribbean. In fact, we're in the port of San Juan in Puerto Rico, but all that calm weather can change in a big hurry. Other changes, though, occur gradually over time, and they could affect everything from hurricanes, to marine life, to the upper atmosphere.

(voice-over): There are censors and instruments in every part of the Explorer of the Seas, carefully integrated, of course, so the passengers don't trip over any wires on their way to the bar. During our cruise, we saw scientists who focused on measuring levels of carbon dioxide in the ocean.

RIK WANNINKHOF, NOAA OCEANOGRAPHER: So, what we are trying to do on this ship and on a lot of other ships is to try to monitor the seasonal patterns and the patterns from year to year.

SIEBERG: Taking critical measurements of sea surface temperatures and almost daily weather balloon launches. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another wild and woolly launch.

SIEBERG: All of the weather-related data is shared with other agencies. Last year the ship provided some critical wind speed data to the National Hurricane Center during hurricane Claudette.

Still, many of the passengers have no idea that work like this is being done as they lounge by the pool.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was very interesting. I had no idea they did this kind of research.

CLODAGH O'CONNOR, CRUISE DIRECTOR EXPLORER OF THE SEAS: We make as a company a lot of announcements at the start of the voyage about saving the waves and how important that is to us as a company. So, I think it ties in wonderfully with just what we are doing onboard.

SIEBERG: And it sure beats bouncing around in freezing or dangerous environments. And don't think their academic colleagues don't give them a hard time about it.

PETER MINNETT, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: To begin with, people think, oh, you cannot possibly be serious. How can you do good science on a ship like this? As soon as we show them the data, show them what we are doing, then, of course, they are often convinced.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Amazingly, I managed to survive that harrowing voyage at sea. And obviously, as a cruise ship, scientists do find time for a few distractions, and perhaps not surprisingly, the wait list for new scientists to conduct their research onboard the Explorer of the Seas is five months long.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I'm not surprised about that at all. Folks are signing up.

SIEBERG: Yes, they are.

WHITFIELD: What are the real scientific benefits of doing this kind of research onboard?

SIEBERG: Well, we jest that these oceanographers and marine scientists look forward to going out to the Caribbean, and of course they do, but this is an amazing group of researchers put together, and the benefits of all of this is that they are traveling the same route in a very critical part of the ocean week after week, month after month, and this gives the scientist long-term readings over the exact same areas that are invaluable, and allows them to see minute changes over time. Of course the downside if they see anything interesting along the way, they can't stop for a closer look, but I think they'll take what they've got.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I think it's pretty impressive. What a great project to be a part of.

SIEBERG: Exactly.

WHITFIELD: And nice for you to tag along.

SIEBERG: We made hard work look easy. If it looks like I have a tan, it's just makeup.

WHITFIELD: That's part of the science.

SIEBERG: Right.

WHITFIELD: Making it look easy.

All right, Dan Sieberg, thanks very much.

And coming up next, a lot more on medical news from pap tests to some warnings about grooming products. All of that, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, in health news today, a very important story. Are millions of American women getting a test that they don't need? Well, a new report in "The Journal of the American Medical Association" says that almost half the women in the U.S. who have had hysterectomies and no longer have a cervix are still getting pap smears, even though they are no longer at risk for cervical cancer.

Now the author of the study says either the women don't know the test is unnecessary, or out of habit doctors just perform the pap smears.

WHITFIELD: From too much concern to not enough, the same group that has issued warnings about mercury in seafood and arsenic in playground equipment is now taking a closer look inside your cosmetics cabinet, and they don't like what they see.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on the report and what it means for your daily routine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): There's a bit of a debate heating up there. The Environmental Working Group is the same organization that actually set their sights on mercury and fish a few years ago, now setting their sights on the cosmetic industry, the personal care industry, specifically asking this question, how safe are the products that we slather on to our bodies everyday? Could they potentially cause cancer or other harmful effects to the body. They looked at 7,500 products, which is about a quarter of all the products out there, and found some interesting statistics. All but 28 of the 7,500 have ingredients that have not been tested. It's important to point that the FDA says all ingredients do not need to be tested in a lot of personal care products.

They put together a Web site, the Environmental Working Group did, to try and calculate your own personal risk to some of these products. What they found sort of interesting, one of our producers actually put in her products that she uses on a daily basis. Here's what they found: For her Pantene shampoo, for example, a rating of 8.6, Aquafresh toothpaste, a rating of 5.7. That's based on a scale of zero to 10, zero considered safe, 10 considered the most risky or unsafe.

Again, the Environmental Working Group concedes that their is cause for concern, but not alarm. The cosmetics industry says, hey, listen, these products have been around for years. There's never been a link to cancer. There's no reason to believe that there is one now.

The specific concerns that the Environmental Working Group has are the following: potential to cause cancer, trigger allergic reactions, interfere with hormonal systems, impair reproduction and potentially cause harmful impurities.

And they even have a list of the ingredients they're most concerned about. You can take a list at the list there, coal tar, progesterone, parabens, talc, lead acetate and phenol. Those are the products. You'll see those ingredients listing on various products that you may use on a daily basis.

Again, this is a debate that's heating up a bit, but the cosmetics industry, the American Cancer Society, again, saying no reason for concern. There is no definitive link between any of these products and cancer.

The Environmental Working Group, for their part, say here are the recommendations that they would give you: Use fewer products. Use milder soups. Minimize the use of dark hair dyes. They often contain coal tar. Cut down the use of powders. Choose fragrance-free products. And reduce your use of nail polish. So there you have it.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

PHILLIPS: Coming up in the next hour of LIVE FROM, lots of girls want to be like Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

WHITFIELD: And we don't mean just to be billionaires.

PHILLIPS: But now there is news that Mary-Kate is being treated for an eating disorder. How can you tell if your teenager is following in her footsteps? And what can you do if she is?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Here are the top stories "At This Hour." In headlines, the U.S. is dropping a plan to shield U.S. peacekeepers from war crimes prosecution. The action was announced at the United Nations just an hour ago. The U.S. had been seeking an extension of the current exemption for its peacekeepers overseas.

In Washington, John Negroponte is sworn in this afternoon as the ambassador to Iraq. Negroponte takes over when the handover occurs next week. The U.S. has not had diplomatic relations with Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War.

Imminent release? Iranian officials are suggesting that eight members of the British military could be free within hours. The two sailors and six Marines were detained when they crossed into Iranian territorial waters from Iraq on Monday. But Iranian state new agency now says it's not clear the British troops had, quote, "no ill intention."

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Militant terrorist Abu Musab al- Zarqawi>


Aired June 23, 2004 - 13:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Here are the top stories "At This Hour." In headlines, the U.S. is dropping a plan to shield U.S. peacekeepers from war crimes prosecution. The action was announced at the United Nations just an hour ago. The U.S. had been seeking an extension of the current exemption for its peacekeepers overseas.
In Washington, John Negroponte is sworn in this afternoon as the ambassador to Iraq. Negroponte takes over when the handover occurs next week. The U.S. has not had diplomatic relations with Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War.

Imminent release? Iranian officials are suggesting that eight members of the British military could be free within hours. The two sailors and six Marines were detained when they crossed into Iranian territorial waters from Iraq on Monday. But Iranian state new agency now says it's not clear the British troops had, quote, "no ill intention."

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Militant terrorist Abu Musab al- Zarqawi has taken responsibility for the death of innocent Americans. Now he's believed to be behind a death threat against Iraq's interim prime minister. al-Zarqawi's suspect involvement in attacks on military and civilians makes him Iraq's most wanted man. How will authorities track this man down?

To give us some insight on that, CNN military intelligence analyst Ken Robinson. The reason why we ask Ken to talk about, when you were in the military, you were involved in taking down and, i guess, taking apart the network for drug lord Pablo Escobar. And you said to me even this morning, it's very similar this trail to him and the destruction of this network with Zarqawi. Explain that. Lay out how it's similar.

KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, the basic human needs. Everyone has to be able to communicate, they've got to be able to sleep, they've got to be able to eat, they've got to be able to plan, train, to conduct their next operations.

And they need support from populations to do that. They can't live autonomously. They need supplies like anyone else does. And so an examination of that is the way you dismantle an organization step by step.

PHILLIPS: All right, let's talk about dismantling it. We're looking at al-Zarqawi right now. It starts with the planning. No. 1, the planning group, what they're going to do, what's the target, right?

ROBINSON: Well, they adapt very rapidly. We've seen this terrorist organization adapt to the counter measures that the coalition has placed in place. So they're communicating with each other and they're trying to find new ways to survive and to inflict harm. And so they have to plan.

It's not -- when they get together it's not could we, it's should we? And when should we because the terrorists get to pick the time and place.

PHILLIPS: OK. Next part, reconnaissance and surveillance.

ROBINSON: Once they have a plan, they need to go look and make sure that plan is feasible. And to do that, they have to put the eyes on the target because they're using the population. They're using little kids. Like in your last segment, they're using children with cell phones to warn when coalition is coming into a kill zone. And then they're initiating attacks with casualty producing devices.

So they pick the location from which they're going to put those bombs, where they're going to put their shooters and how they're going to disappear, how they're going to run away. And to do that they've got to recon and surveil the location.

PHILLIPS: And once again, we're setting up how soldiers destroy a network and these parts of the network.

Third, the weapons. You've got to get the weapons out of the hands of the individuals supplying these to Zarqawi, right?

ROBINSON: Yes. And with these weapons, they want to decide which are the appropriate weapons to use against the soldiers that will not cause them to be discovered as they're introducing those weapons into an area through cordons, through road blocks. Sometimes they use networks where these weapons have been funneled underground.

And so they have to make the right selection for the right kill effect that they're going after, the right number of body count. And they want to do that with a precision application of power. They're being very precise and thorough in what they're doing.

PHILLIPS: I want to keep in mind right now sources are telling you this is all taking place right now.

ROBINSON: As we speak.

PHILLIPS: Soldiers going after training.

ROBINSON: Training. Well, once they decided from reconnaissance and surveillance, they then have to rehearse. And to do that rehearsal they do that at night, they do that inside buildings, they do it on charts. They found paperwork that demonstrates that they've outlined areas that they've attacked. And -- but they have to train and rehearse to make sure that they can have a precise way to employ their weapons and to escape. PHILLIPS: The money trail.

ROBINSON: It costs money to work. They've got to be able to sustain this. And that's why they've be finding bags and bags full of millions and millions of dollars all over that country, and there's money flowing in from other borders that are supporting -- sustaining the terrorist organization.

Remember, there's more than one terrorist organization at work here. The is the former Ba'athist with al-Duri, a former leader the Saddam regime. And there Abu Musab Zarqawi and his group and Ansar al Islam and a bunch of foreign jihaddists who've just shown up for a pickup fight.

PHILLIPS: Meanwhile the covert communications, soldiers want to get in and break down the communication process.

ROBINSON: They have to communicate because they have to transmit whether the rehearsals and the target make sense. And most of that communication is being done with a courier. It's not with a signal because they know that no the he coalition has the ability to intercept those signals.

PHILLIPS: And finally, transportations. So let me ask you, as soldiers right now are telling you, intelligence personnel, the hunt is on for Zarqawi. We more than likely know where he is and we're eating at his network.

So let's say they take out the training part or the money part or maybe recon surveillance part of these terrorists working for Zarqawi. Tell me how that sort of effects the whole network and the survival of someone like Zarqawi?

ROBINSON: Well that's a great question because measures of effectiveness is a task that the military tries to achieve. And as we've seen in the area of Fallujah, the last few days, where pinpoint attacks have occurred on buildings, and then those buildings have had secondary explosions, those secondary explosions are the presence of weapons that have been cached there.

So clearly they found logistical storage areas. And they found areas where they meet, where safe houses where they have met to do planning. So clearly their measure of effectiveness with that is to dig through the pocket litter, dig through all the intelligences there, connect the dots and go to the net step..

PHILLIPS: Quickly, we've got about 15 seconds. When you were hunting for Pablo Escobar, you went through this same type of system, like what the soldiers are doing right now to find Zarqawi. How long did it take?

ROBINSON: Years. It took years. And when we were done with them we went after the Medellin cartel. And that took years. And when it was all said and done a lot of people got promoted, are still in the fight to this day in the war on drugs.

PHILLIPS: Ken Robinson, thanks so much.

WHITFIELD: Rude awakenings in health news today. Are you one in 10 million women getting a test you don't need? That story coming up next.

And the risks that come with keeping clean these days. Coming up, Dr. Sanjay Gupta on how to find out if your shampoo and other grooming products could give you cancer. More LIVE FROM... right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: When you think of scientists working in the field, you might imagine them camped out in the jungle or braving desert elements or bouncing around in a tiny research vessel on the high seas. Well, time to think again.

Our Daniel Sieberg spent a few days with scientists aboard a ship, anything but roughing it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A typical oceanographic research vessel, not a day at the beach. A far cry from this.

What started out a simple conversation about the high cost of ocean research between the University of Miami and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines turned into a symbiotic partnership, putting scientists and labs on a cruise ship. Federal agencies, like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, soon jumped on board.

PETER ORTNER, NOAA: From my perspective, as a government laboratory, this is an incredibly financially-efficient way of doing it. It's saving the taxpayer a lot of money in getting data we really couldn't get any other way.

SIEBERG (on camera): It's another relatively calm and sunny day here in the Caribbean. In fact, we're in the port of San Juan in Puerto Rico, but all that calm weather can change in a big hurry. Other changes, though, occur gradually over time, and they could affect everything from hurricanes, to marine life, to the upper atmosphere.

(voice-over): There are censors and instruments in every part of the Explorer of the Seas, carefully integrated, of course, so the passengers don't trip over any wires on their way to the bar. During our cruise, we saw scientists who focused on measuring levels of carbon dioxide in the ocean.

RIK WANNINKHOF, NOAA OCEANOGRAPHER: So, what we are trying to do on this ship and on a lot of other ships is to try to monitor the seasonal patterns and the patterns from year to year.

SIEBERG: Taking critical measurements of sea surface temperatures and almost daily weather balloon launches. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another wild and woolly launch.

SIEBERG: All of the weather-related data is shared with other agencies. Last year the ship provided some critical wind speed data to the National Hurricane Center during hurricane Claudette.

Still, many of the passengers have no idea that work like this is being done as they lounge by the pool.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was very interesting. I had no idea they did this kind of research.

CLODAGH O'CONNOR, CRUISE DIRECTOR EXPLORER OF THE SEAS: We make as a company a lot of announcements at the start of the voyage about saving the waves and how important that is to us as a company. So, I think it ties in wonderfully with just what we are doing onboard.

SIEBERG: And it sure beats bouncing around in freezing or dangerous environments. And don't think their academic colleagues don't give them a hard time about it.

PETER MINNETT, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: To begin with, people think, oh, you cannot possibly be serious. How can you do good science on a ship like this? As soon as we show them the data, show them what we are doing, then, of course, they are often convinced.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Amazingly, I managed to survive that harrowing voyage at sea. And obviously, as a cruise ship, scientists do find time for a few distractions, and perhaps not surprisingly, the wait list for new scientists to conduct their research onboard the Explorer of the Seas is five months long.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I'm not surprised about that at all. Folks are signing up.

SIEBERG: Yes, they are.

WHITFIELD: What are the real scientific benefits of doing this kind of research onboard?

SIEBERG: Well, we jest that these oceanographers and marine scientists look forward to going out to the Caribbean, and of course they do, but this is an amazing group of researchers put together, and the benefits of all of this is that they are traveling the same route in a very critical part of the ocean week after week, month after month, and this gives the scientist long-term readings over the exact same areas that are invaluable, and allows them to see minute changes over time. Of course the downside if they see anything interesting along the way, they can't stop for a closer look, but I think they'll take what they've got.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I think it's pretty impressive. What a great project to be a part of.

SIEBERG: Exactly.

WHITFIELD: And nice for you to tag along.

SIEBERG: We made hard work look easy. If it looks like I have a tan, it's just makeup.

WHITFIELD: That's part of the science.

SIEBERG: Right.

WHITFIELD: Making it look easy.

All right, Dan Sieberg, thanks very much.

And coming up next, a lot more on medical news from pap tests to some warnings about grooming products. All of that, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, in health news today, a very important story. Are millions of American women getting a test that they don't need? Well, a new report in "The Journal of the American Medical Association" says that almost half the women in the U.S. who have had hysterectomies and no longer have a cervix are still getting pap smears, even though they are no longer at risk for cervical cancer.

Now the author of the study says either the women don't know the test is unnecessary, or out of habit doctors just perform the pap smears.

WHITFIELD: From too much concern to not enough, the same group that has issued warnings about mercury in seafood and arsenic in playground equipment is now taking a closer look inside your cosmetics cabinet, and they don't like what they see.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on the report and what it means for your daily routine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): There's a bit of a debate heating up there. The Environmental Working Group is the same organization that actually set their sights on mercury and fish a few years ago, now setting their sights on the cosmetic industry, the personal care industry, specifically asking this question, how safe are the products that we slather on to our bodies everyday? Could they potentially cause cancer or other harmful effects to the body. They looked at 7,500 products, which is about a quarter of all the products out there, and found some interesting statistics. All but 28 of the 7,500 have ingredients that have not been tested. It's important to point that the FDA says all ingredients do not need to be tested in a lot of personal care products.

They put together a Web site, the Environmental Working Group did, to try and calculate your own personal risk to some of these products. What they found sort of interesting, one of our producers actually put in her products that she uses on a daily basis. Here's what they found: For her Pantene shampoo, for example, a rating of 8.6, Aquafresh toothpaste, a rating of 5.7. That's based on a scale of zero to 10, zero considered safe, 10 considered the most risky or unsafe.

Again, the Environmental Working Group concedes that their is cause for concern, but not alarm. The cosmetics industry says, hey, listen, these products have been around for years. There's never been a link to cancer. There's no reason to believe that there is one now.

The specific concerns that the Environmental Working Group has are the following: potential to cause cancer, trigger allergic reactions, interfere with hormonal systems, impair reproduction and potentially cause harmful impurities.

And they even have a list of the ingredients they're most concerned about. You can take a list at the list there, coal tar, progesterone, parabens, talc, lead acetate and phenol. Those are the products. You'll see those ingredients listing on various products that you may use on a daily basis.

Again, this is a debate that's heating up a bit, but the cosmetics industry, the American Cancer Society, again, saying no reason for concern. There is no definitive link between any of these products and cancer.

The Environmental Working Group, for their part, say here are the recommendations that they would give you: Use fewer products. Use milder soups. Minimize the use of dark hair dyes. They often contain coal tar. Cut down the use of powders. Choose fragrance-free products. And reduce your use of nail polish. So there you have it.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

PHILLIPS: Coming up in the next hour of LIVE FROM, lots of girls want to be like Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

WHITFIELD: And we don't mean just to be billionaires.

PHILLIPS: But now there is news that Mary-Kate is being treated for an eating disorder. How can you tell if your teenager is following in her footsteps? And what can you do if she is?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Here are the top stories "At This Hour." In headlines, the U.S. is dropping a plan to shield U.S. peacekeepers from war crimes prosecution. The action was announced at the United Nations just an hour ago. The U.S. had been seeking an extension of the current exemption for its peacekeepers overseas.

In Washington, John Negroponte is sworn in this afternoon as the ambassador to Iraq. Negroponte takes over when the handover occurs next week. The U.S. has not had diplomatic relations with Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War.

Imminent release? Iranian officials are suggesting that eight members of the British military could be free within hours. The two sailors and six Marines were detained when they crossed into Iranian territorial waters from Iraq on Monday. But Iranian state new agency now says it's not clear the British troops had, quote, "no ill intention."

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Militant terrorist Abu Musab al- Zarqawi>