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Iraqi Official Confirms Zarqawi Wounded; Massive Offensive Planned in Baghdad; Murder Suspect Climbs Crane; Study Finds Doctors Over-Prescribe Medicines if Requested
Aired May 26, 2005 - 13:00 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: ... and we're live from Buckhead, which is just a little bit north of downtown Atlanta, where a murder suspect has been right where you see him, on top of a construction crane, now since yesterday, causing a huge traffic jam. We'll have full details for you.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Also, straight ahead, pill pushers. The prescription drug ads are aimed at you. Do they also influence your doctor? A unique undercover study.
O'BRIEN: And pass the butter, not the Parkay. Check out this video. A lot of crabs there, a lot of potential crabby patties maybe. We'll keep you posted on that, because of course on LIVE FROM anything to do with animals goes right to the top of the bin.
From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.
PHILLIPS: Miles, we're never crabby, right?
O'BRIEN: Never.
PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
O'BRIEN: Al Zarqawi, dead or alive or wounded? That's not from a wanted poster, though the head of al Qaeda in Iraq is that country's single most wanted insurgent. It's the state of confusion over Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's condition, not to mention his whereabouts.
Today, Iraq's interior minister seemed to corroborate web reports that al-Zarqawi is hurt, though Iraq's prime minister later told CNN he knows nothing either way.
Here's CNN senior Baghdad correspondent Jane Arraf with more -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, the interior minister was pretty categorical when we asked him at a press conference about the reports that Zarqawi had been wounded. He said, "Yes, it's true."
Now I tried to ask him how he knew that and further details. They were not forthcoming. But he did say afterwards, when I tried to press him, that we could trust him, that the reports that Zarqawi were wounded were, indeed, accurate. But muddying the waters, just a little while later at a meeting with the prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jafari, said he had no accurate information that the reports were correct.
So bottom line is, we're not sure if Zarqawi has been wounded. U.S. military officials we talked to say they're not sure either. But what some are saying is, whether or not the reports are true, it could point to a serious rift in the insurgency, with some insurgents believing that they would be better off without Zarqawi -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: And that brings up an important point, because even as we talk about all this, the insurgency continues to rage on, despite a lot of efforts on the part of the U.S. and, to the extent that they're a part of it, Iraqi forces, to stop all of it.
ARRAF: It does rage on, and the Iraqis announced something pretty significant today. It's going to be their biggest operation to date, the biggest operation by Iraqi security forces and police since the end of major combat.
And what they're talking about are 40,000 Iraqi army and police ringing the city of Baghdad, doing house to house searches in some neighborhoods, cracking down with emergency checkpoints, controlling access to the city, a potential nightmare. But they say that it's needed to crack the insurgency.
In fact, the prime minister said that things have gotten so bad, they have found that suicide bombers are able to produce a car bomb loaded with explosives in less than an hour in Baghdad -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jane Arraf, in Baghdad, thank you -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, they couldn't call it Operation Lightning because as of today, the enemy knows it's coming. But what the shock and awe scenario lacks in surprise, it will make up for in sheer numbers, intended to bring peace to Baghdad, whatever the costs.
We get the facts and figures now from CNN senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre.
But Jamie, first, Donald Rumsfeld had plenty to say about al- Zarqawi today, right?
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, amid these -- all these reports flying about al Zarqawi and whether he's wounded and whether he's in or out of Iraq, the Pentagon continues to say that it has no intelligence to corroborate any of those Internet postings, no hard evidence of the status or whereabouts of Zarqawi. They just continue to say they're watching these reports, quote, "with great interest."
But today, addressing troops at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld illustrated how high profile the Pentagon considers Zarqawi, comparing him to Adolf Hitler, who he said when he was in his bunker at the end of World War II, would prefer to see the destruction of Germany than to lose to the allies. And he said Zarqawi fits that same mold.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Consider the terrorist Zarqawi, who recently advocated killing innocent Muslim women and children to advance his cause. Reminiscent of Hitler in his bunker, this violent extremist, failing to achieve his military and political objectives, now appears committed to trying to destroy everything and everyone around him. History teaches us that this kind of evil, over time, fails. And it will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: Rumsfeld's remarks were replete with historical reference, comparing the suicide bombings that are taking place in Baghdad today to kamikaze attacks against warships in World War II, U.S. ships, saying that as then, when the Japanese knew they were losing to the United States, that the insurgents know they're losing, as well.
Whether or not Zarqawi is alive, wounded, or perfectly well, the Pentagon insists that while he's very important, they know the insurgency will not end with his demise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIG. GEN. CARTER HAM, U.S. ARMY: Well, Zarqawi certainly is an important character. His organization is bigger than just one guy. And so his demise, whether he be captured, which would be -- which would be preferable, or if he's killed or wounded, that will not cause al Qaeda in Iraq to cease to function. So it is -- he is important, certainly, but if he's killed or captured, it won't cause the organization to necessarily crumble.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: The U.S. does think it will be a serious blow to Zarqawi's organization, because it is very much centered around him.
Kyra, one other item. The Pentagon went a little further today in countering reports out yesterday from the ACLU, which got some FBI documents as part of a lawsuit. That document indicated that a detainee back in 2002 reported a Quran desecration at Guantanamo Bay.
Yesterday, the Pentagon said they couldn't corroborate that. But today, they said they went back and talked to the detainee, and he now says that incident didn't happen.
The Pentagon's continuing to investigate, it says, all of the allegations of Quran desecration. Has yet to substantiate any -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Jamie McIntyre, live from the Pentagon, thanks, Jamie -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: No better friend, no worse enemy. No better news for a U.S. Marine accused of murder. Second Lieutenant Ilario Pantano is off the hook for the killing of two suspected Iraqi attackers more than a year ago, a killing military prosecutors had called gratuitous but Pantano and his troops insisted was righteous.
The controversy centered on the 60-plus times the Iraqis were shot, plus the slogan Pantano posted over their bodies: "No better friend, no worse enemy."
A hearing officer had recommended non-judicial punishment, but the head of Pantano's division today cleared him of any wrongdoing.
PHILLIPS: Mahmoud Abbas will return to the Palestinian territories with a whole lot more than the symbolic honor of a White House visit, something Yasser Arafat never got under President Bush.
Abbas pocketed an IOU for $50 million in direct U.S. aid for housing and other projects in Gaza once Israeli settlers pull out. The keyword there is "direct." Past aid, for technical and political reasons, has gone through NGOs, nongovernmental organizations.
And that money comes with a public call from President Bush to curb violence, as well as the advice for Israel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Israel must remove unauthorized outposts and stop settlement expansion. The barrier being erected by Israel as a part of its security effort must be a security, rather than political barrier. And its route shall take into account, consistent with security needs, its impact on Palestinian Palestinians not engaged in terrorist activities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Mr. Bush also announced that he's sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Jerusalem and Ramallah.
O'BRIEN: An Israeli actress is showing the world what it's like for people caught in the middle of the Israeli/Palestinian struggle. Actress Hanna Laslo won a top award at the Cannes Film Festival for a new movie, and it depicts what everyday life is like in the Middle East. She'll join us to talk about it, just a little bit from now on LIVE FROM.
And meet a kid who really knows where it's at, maybe. The winner of the National Geographic Bee, Nathan Cornelius. He'll join us live.
And in honor of the victory, we thought we'd thought we'd give you a little quiz. Listen up, folks. This is an actual question from the bee. Name the eastern most capital city in Central America. There are your choices: Belmopan, Panama City, or Tegucigalpa. The answer is ahead on LIVE FROM.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Long line to the Crusty Crab? A run on crabby patties? No. This is not a live action "Spongebob Squarepants" episode, but it's our video of the day. We couldn't resist this rolling this underwater spectacle gratuitously here in the middle of the commercial break. Stay tuned; more LIVE FROM right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Well, Atlanta police aren't sure how he managed to get up there, and they're still not sure how to get him down. The man believed to be a Florida murder suspect has been atop that construction crane now in the middle of town since about 4 yesterday afternoon.
CNN's Sara Dorsey on the scene now with more.
Hello, Sara.
SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Miles.
It's been 20 hours since police say Carl Roland made his way up 18 stories to the top of that crane in the middle of Atlanta. The 41- year-old is wanted for murder out of Pinellas, Florida. That is near Tampa.
Authorities say he allegedly killed his former girlfriend. Her badly beaten body was found Tuesday in a retention pond behind her home. Her name, Jennifer Gonzalez.
Now police say it's possible that Roland made his way to Atlanta because he has some family members here. They say possibly a cousin or an aunt. Investigators are trying find those family members to help out in this negotiation process. Hopefully, they would be able to help talk him down out of this situation.
They tell us right now Roland does not have a gun, but he is carrying some sort of sharp metal object, possibly a knife. And here's what authorities say happened when he was confronted by a construction worker at the bottom of the crane yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF RICHARD PENNINGTON, ATLANTA POLICE: I do know that he approached one of the workers at this construction site and they confronted him and he told him to get out of the way. He had already committed a crime and hurt someone. And so the individual stepped back. And then he went up the elevator, and then went all the way to the top of the platform crane.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DORSEY: And throughout the day, we've seen negotiators going up and down the crane behind us. It's happening as we speak. We can tell you that the plan right now is to wait him out, wait Mr. Roland out. Police say they believe he's going to be thirsty or hungry. They've been offering him food and water, and he has not accepted any of those offerings. And they say really they have no other options but to wait and hope that eventually he will turn himself in -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Sara Dorsey, thank you very much -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, now to Durham, North Carolina, where police are investigating a series of cross burnings. Three large crosses burned within about an hour last night -- or within about an hour last night in separate spots around the city. One at an Episcopal church, another at an apartment complex construction site, and a third at a downtown intersection.
Yellow flyers bearing Ku Klux Klan sayings were found at one of the sites.
We checked in to find other U.S. cross burnings within the past year or so. And our research turned up reported incidents in New York, Ohio, Kentucky, Texas, and Washington state. In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that under the First Amendment, cross burning could only be prohibited if done with intent to intimidate.
O'BRIEN: Other news across America for you now.
I'm going to do my pirate thing now -- shiver me timbers, mates. Divers off the coast of Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, think they've pulled up a cannon from the flagship of the notorious pirate Blackbeard. Researchers from the Cape Fear Community College -- where else -- say they haven't confirmed if the cannon is indeed from the Queen Anne's Revenge, which sank in the early 1700s but may keelhaul themselves if it isn't.
And in Washington -- little nautical joke there. In Washington, a House subcommittee talking bird flu with federal health agencies to see what steps are being taken to prepare for a possible pandemic. World health officials warn that if bird flu mutates it could hit 20 percent of the world's population.
PHILLIPS: Well, if you're feeling a little feverish today, it's not likely to be bird flu, but it could be ad flu.
CNN's Frank Buckley takes a look at how all those prescription drug commercials might make you feel sicker than you actually are and how you might even bamboozle your doctor with a bad case of ad overexposure.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ready to make the move to Levitra for a strong, lasting experience?
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We are bombarded with ads...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Problems like these could be signs of Alzheimer's Disease.
BUCKLEY: ... that tell us what drugs our doctors can prescribe for us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Talk to your doctor.
BUCKLEY: Are the doctors influenced by us when we ask for those drugs we see on TV? That's what UC Davis researcher Dr. Richard Kravitz wanted to find out.
And in California, where everyone really would rather be directing, Kravitz literally directed the study, Hollywood-style. He directed actresses to pretend to be patients, to go undercover to real doctor's offices to ask for drugs.
(on camera) You were the director?
DR. RICHARD KRAVITZ, UC DAVIS: I was, I was. It was a good opportunity for a stodgy academic.
BUCKLEY (voice-over): He advertised for actresses who would play the role of someone with either major depression or a far less severe condition of adjustment disorder.
NISA DAVIS HAYDEN, ACTRESS: I got good and depressed and got a callback.
BUCKLEY: Actress Nisa Davis Hayden was one of the leading ladies.
HAYDEN: You know, Thomas, I used to be quite the player.
BUCKLEY: As a professional actress, she's been in movies and plays and instructional videos.
HAYDEN: Believe it or not, she's right.
BUCKLEY: She's even played a doctor.
HAYDEN: After flexible sigmoidoscopy (ph) you might also have increased gas for several hours.
BUCKLEY: But she never played a patient under cover. Her mission, to ask for the drug Paxil, even though her mild condition didn't necessarily call for the drug.
HAYDEN: My role was to ask for the Paxil.
BUCKLEY (on camera): How would you do that?
HAYDEN: You know, I just -- I haven't been feeling like myself lately and -- and I saw this ad on TV for a medication Paxil, and I thought, well, it sounded a little like me and I thought it might help.
BUCKLEY (voice-over): Hayden and the other actress patient secretly recorded their sessions with doctors, who'd agreed in advance to participate in the study. They just didn't know which patients were only acting.
HAYDEN: I'm wondering if that's something that I could use or something.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Definitely. It's not unusual for sleep disturbances to be one of the first symptoms or signs of a depressive disorder.
HAYDEN: I was surprised at how easy or how willing people were to prescribe, based on I was a new patient and I'd been laid off my job for a month, which -- that kind of seems look a no-brainer, if you're down and you've been laid off your job that it's not true depression, you know? So...
BUCKLEY (on camera): So you felt that they gave it away too easily?
HAYDEN: I did. Absolutely I did. Yes.
BUCKLEY (voice-over): Dr. Kravitz agrees. He says doctors prescribed anti-depressants five times more often when someone with a mild adjustment disorder requested an anti-depressant by brand, versus not making a request at all.
KRAVITZ: What our findings suggest is there may be clinical areas in which over-prescribing occurs as a result of these ads.
BUCKLEY: in part, he says, because doctors were eager to please their patients. They didn't want to say no.
KRAVITZ: The gate-keeping wasn't as effective as many would hope, nor as effective as the drug companies would claim.
BUCKLEY: Dr. Gregory Redmond was one of the doctors who saw patients during the study. He admitted doctors do sometimes over- prescribe to patients. But he blames drug company TV ads.
DR. GREGORY REDMOND, PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN: They just want to try it because they've seen it on television. And it's certainly not necessarily the best option for them at all.
BUCKLEY: He says the ads also hurt the patient/doctor relationship.
REDMOND: And that sort of intersection becomes difficult when a patient comes in with sort of the idea, "I'm going to get this medication, and if the doctor doesn't give it to me, then they're not being good to me. And our relationship is poor. And so it's in my interest and in the patient's interest to have a good relationship."
And so just human nature is to give them the medication.
BUCKLEY: The drug companies believe differently, saying, "Consumer advertising empowers patients to learn about diseases and the medicines that treat them, helps fight the fact that millions of Americans suffer from diseases that go undetected and untreated, and still leaves the prescribing of life-saving therapies to doctors."
To that end, the study also showed that among the actresses who played patients with major depression, requesting drugs helped prevent under-treatment, which many psychiatrists say is a chronic problem for depressed people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's back. Ask your doctor...
BUCKLEY: Doctor Kravitz hopes drug companies will move toward making their ads more educational in the future and less commercial.
KRAVITZ: It's really impossible to convey to consumers what they need to know in order to have a truly productive conversation with their doctors in a 30-second spot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Talk to your doctor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ask your doctor if Levitra's right for you.
BUCKLEY: Frank Buckley, CNN, Sacramento, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM...
ALEX TREBEK, MODERATOR, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY BEE: Lake Guton, an artificial lake that constitutes part of the Panama Canal system, was created by damming which river?
PHILLIPS: I don't know, Alex, but this whiz kid does. The winner of the National Geography Bee show us where it is.
KEN DOLAN, CO-HOST, "DOLANS UNSCRIPTED": Whose job is it to protect you from identity theft?
DARIA DOLAN, CO-HOST, "DOLANS UNSCRIPTED": Your employers, the government or yours?
K. DOLAN: We'll look at the problem and potential solutions.
D. DOLAN: Tomorrow on LIVE FROM in the 1 p.m. hour.
K. DOLAN: And don't forget Saturday at 10 a.m. Eastern on "DOLANS UNSCRIPTED."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, listen up, NBA fans. Shaq could soon be wearing a jersey decorated with the golden arches or some other corporate logo. Allan Chernoff joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange to tell us why.
Hi, Allan.
(STOCK REPORT)
PHILLIPS: All right, Allan, hold on a second.
O'BRIEN: All right. Yes, stay there, stay there. The question that we're asking -- of course our next guest, Nathan, who's listening right now -- this was the big question wasn't it, Nathan? Nod your head. Was this it?
PHILLIPS: No.
O'BRIEN: No, that wasn't it. That wasn't it. OK.
PHILLIPS: Explain who Nathan is, though. Not everybody knows.
O'BRIEN: Nathan won the geography bee. Everybody knows him. He's very famous right now. There he is. He's waiting for his interview. And you can counsel us.
First of all, give me the correct pronunciation on that first, it's Belmopan? Belmopan?
NATHAN CORNELIUS, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY BEE CHAMPION: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Good, thank you. OK. So the question is, name the eastern-most national capital in Central America: Belmopan, Panama City, Tegucigalpa. And it's not Panama City, Florida, right?
PHILLIPS: No.
O'BRIEN: We're talking about the real Panama City. Allan, do you want to guess?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a good question, Miles. Let's say Panama City, but I'm really not sure.
O'BRIEN: Kyra?
PHILLIPS: He nailed it. It is. It's Panama City.
O'BRIEN: Panama City. And we have a winner. Allan Chernoff...
CHERNOFF: Very well.
O'BRIEN: ... moves on to the next round in our geography bee today. All right.
PHILLIPS: Are we going to put Nathan to the test?
O'BRIEN: Yes. We're not going to put him on the spot.
PHILLIPS: He's going to put us on the spot.
O'BRIEN: Yes. We're going to get -- of course, we'll be twisting in the wind.
Nathan's coming up. He won the geography bee. He's a nice kid, and we're going to chat with him in just a bit. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired May 26, 2005 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: ... and we're live from Buckhead, which is just a little bit north of downtown Atlanta, where a murder suspect has been right where you see him, on top of a construction crane, now since yesterday, causing a huge traffic jam. We'll have full details for you.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Also, straight ahead, pill pushers. The prescription drug ads are aimed at you. Do they also influence your doctor? A unique undercover study.
O'BRIEN: And pass the butter, not the Parkay. Check out this video. A lot of crabs there, a lot of potential crabby patties maybe. We'll keep you posted on that, because of course on LIVE FROM anything to do with animals goes right to the top of the bin.
From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.
PHILLIPS: Miles, we're never crabby, right?
O'BRIEN: Never.
PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
O'BRIEN: Al Zarqawi, dead or alive or wounded? That's not from a wanted poster, though the head of al Qaeda in Iraq is that country's single most wanted insurgent. It's the state of confusion over Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's condition, not to mention his whereabouts.
Today, Iraq's interior minister seemed to corroborate web reports that al-Zarqawi is hurt, though Iraq's prime minister later told CNN he knows nothing either way.
Here's CNN senior Baghdad correspondent Jane Arraf with more -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, the interior minister was pretty categorical when we asked him at a press conference about the reports that Zarqawi had been wounded. He said, "Yes, it's true."
Now I tried to ask him how he knew that and further details. They were not forthcoming. But he did say afterwards, when I tried to press him, that we could trust him, that the reports that Zarqawi were wounded were, indeed, accurate. But muddying the waters, just a little while later at a meeting with the prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jafari, said he had no accurate information that the reports were correct.
So bottom line is, we're not sure if Zarqawi has been wounded. U.S. military officials we talked to say they're not sure either. But what some are saying is, whether or not the reports are true, it could point to a serious rift in the insurgency, with some insurgents believing that they would be better off without Zarqawi -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: And that brings up an important point, because even as we talk about all this, the insurgency continues to rage on, despite a lot of efforts on the part of the U.S. and, to the extent that they're a part of it, Iraqi forces, to stop all of it.
ARRAF: It does rage on, and the Iraqis announced something pretty significant today. It's going to be their biggest operation to date, the biggest operation by Iraqi security forces and police since the end of major combat.
And what they're talking about are 40,000 Iraqi army and police ringing the city of Baghdad, doing house to house searches in some neighborhoods, cracking down with emergency checkpoints, controlling access to the city, a potential nightmare. But they say that it's needed to crack the insurgency.
In fact, the prime minister said that things have gotten so bad, they have found that suicide bombers are able to produce a car bomb loaded with explosives in less than an hour in Baghdad -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jane Arraf, in Baghdad, thank you -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, they couldn't call it Operation Lightning because as of today, the enemy knows it's coming. But what the shock and awe scenario lacks in surprise, it will make up for in sheer numbers, intended to bring peace to Baghdad, whatever the costs.
We get the facts and figures now from CNN senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre.
But Jamie, first, Donald Rumsfeld had plenty to say about al- Zarqawi today, right?
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, amid these -- all these reports flying about al Zarqawi and whether he's wounded and whether he's in or out of Iraq, the Pentagon continues to say that it has no intelligence to corroborate any of those Internet postings, no hard evidence of the status or whereabouts of Zarqawi. They just continue to say they're watching these reports, quote, "with great interest."
But today, addressing troops at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld illustrated how high profile the Pentagon considers Zarqawi, comparing him to Adolf Hitler, who he said when he was in his bunker at the end of World War II, would prefer to see the destruction of Germany than to lose to the allies. And he said Zarqawi fits that same mold.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Consider the terrorist Zarqawi, who recently advocated killing innocent Muslim women and children to advance his cause. Reminiscent of Hitler in his bunker, this violent extremist, failing to achieve his military and political objectives, now appears committed to trying to destroy everything and everyone around him. History teaches us that this kind of evil, over time, fails. And it will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: Rumsfeld's remarks were replete with historical reference, comparing the suicide bombings that are taking place in Baghdad today to kamikaze attacks against warships in World War II, U.S. ships, saying that as then, when the Japanese knew they were losing to the United States, that the insurgents know they're losing, as well.
Whether or not Zarqawi is alive, wounded, or perfectly well, the Pentagon insists that while he's very important, they know the insurgency will not end with his demise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIG. GEN. CARTER HAM, U.S. ARMY: Well, Zarqawi certainly is an important character. His organization is bigger than just one guy. And so his demise, whether he be captured, which would be -- which would be preferable, or if he's killed or wounded, that will not cause al Qaeda in Iraq to cease to function. So it is -- he is important, certainly, but if he's killed or captured, it won't cause the organization to necessarily crumble.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: The U.S. does think it will be a serious blow to Zarqawi's organization, because it is very much centered around him.
Kyra, one other item. The Pentagon went a little further today in countering reports out yesterday from the ACLU, which got some FBI documents as part of a lawsuit. That document indicated that a detainee back in 2002 reported a Quran desecration at Guantanamo Bay.
Yesterday, the Pentagon said they couldn't corroborate that. But today, they said they went back and talked to the detainee, and he now says that incident didn't happen.
The Pentagon's continuing to investigate, it says, all of the allegations of Quran desecration. Has yet to substantiate any -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Jamie McIntyre, live from the Pentagon, thanks, Jamie -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: No better friend, no worse enemy. No better news for a U.S. Marine accused of murder. Second Lieutenant Ilario Pantano is off the hook for the killing of two suspected Iraqi attackers more than a year ago, a killing military prosecutors had called gratuitous but Pantano and his troops insisted was righteous.
The controversy centered on the 60-plus times the Iraqis were shot, plus the slogan Pantano posted over their bodies: "No better friend, no worse enemy."
A hearing officer had recommended non-judicial punishment, but the head of Pantano's division today cleared him of any wrongdoing.
PHILLIPS: Mahmoud Abbas will return to the Palestinian territories with a whole lot more than the symbolic honor of a White House visit, something Yasser Arafat never got under President Bush.
Abbas pocketed an IOU for $50 million in direct U.S. aid for housing and other projects in Gaza once Israeli settlers pull out. The keyword there is "direct." Past aid, for technical and political reasons, has gone through NGOs, nongovernmental organizations.
And that money comes with a public call from President Bush to curb violence, as well as the advice for Israel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Israel must remove unauthorized outposts and stop settlement expansion. The barrier being erected by Israel as a part of its security effort must be a security, rather than political barrier. And its route shall take into account, consistent with security needs, its impact on Palestinian Palestinians not engaged in terrorist activities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Mr. Bush also announced that he's sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Jerusalem and Ramallah.
O'BRIEN: An Israeli actress is showing the world what it's like for people caught in the middle of the Israeli/Palestinian struggle. Actress Hanna Laslo won a top award at the Cannes Film Festival for a new movie, and it depicts what everyday life is like in the Middle East. She'll join us to talk about it, just a little bit from now on LIVE FROM.
And meet a kid who really knows where it's at, maybe. The winner of the National Geographic Bee, Nathan Cornelius. He'll join us live.
And in honor of the victory, we thought we'd thought we'd give you a little quiz. Listen up, folks. This is an actual question from the bee. Name the eastern most capital city in Central America. There are your choices: Belmopan, Panama City, or Tegucigalpa. The answer is ahead on LIVE FROM.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
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PHILLIPS: Long line to the Crusty Crab? A run on crabby patties? No. This is not a live action "Spongebob Squarepants" episode, but it's our video of the day. We couldn't resist this rolling this underwater spectacle gratuitously here in the middle of the commercial break. Stay tuned; more LIVE FROM right after this.
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O'BRIEN: Well, Atlanta police aren't sure how he managed to get up there, and they're still not sure how to get him down. The man believed to be a Florida murder suspect has been atop that construction crane now in the middle of town since about 4 yesterday afternoon.
CNN's Sara Dorsey on the scene now with more.
Hello, Sara.
SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Miles.
It's been 20 hours since police say Carl Roland made his way up 18 stories to the top of that crane in the middle of Atlanta. The 41- year-old is wanted for murder out of Pinellas, Florida. That is near Tampa.
Authorities say he allegedly killed his former girlfriend. Her badly beaten body was found Tuesday in a retention pond behind her home. Her name, Jennifer Gonzalez.
Now police say it's possible that Roland made his way to Atlanta because he has some family members here. They say possibly a cousin or an aunt. Investigators are trying find those family members to help out in this negotiation process. Hopefully, they would be able to help talk him down out of this situation.
They tell us right now Roland does not have a gun, but he is carrying some sort of sharp metal object, possibly a knife. And here's what authorities say happened when he was confronted by a construction worker at the bottom of the crane yesterday.
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CHIEF RICHARD PENNINGTON, ATLANTA POLICE: I do know that he approached one of the workers at this construction site and they confronted him and he told him to get out of the way. He had already committed a crime and hurt someone. And so the individual stepped back. And then he went up the elevator, and then went all the way to the top of the platform crane.
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DORSEY: And throughout the day, we've seen negotiators going up and down the crane behind us. It's happening as we speak. We can tell you that the plan right now is to wait him out, wait Mr. Roland out. Police say they believe he's going to be thirsty or hungry. They've been offering him food and water, and he has not accepted any of those offerings. And they say really they have no other options but to wait and hope that eventually he will turn himself in -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Sara Dorsey, thank you very much -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, now to Durham, North Carolina, where police are investigating a series of cross burnings. Three large crosses burned within about an hour last night -- or within about an hour last night in separate spots around the city. One at an Episcopal church, another at an apartment complex construction site, and a third at a downtown intersection.
Yellow flyers bearing Ku Klux Klan sayings were found at one of the sites.
We checked in to find other U.S. cross burnings within the past year or so. And our research turned up reported incidents in New York, Ohio, Kentucky, Texas, and Washington state. In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that under the First Amendment, cross burning could only be prohibited if done with intent to intimidate.
O'BRIEN: Other news across America for you now.
I'm going to do my pirate thing now -- shiver me timbers, mates. Divers off the coast of Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, think they've pulled up a cannon from the flagship of the notorious pirate Blackbeard. Researchers from the Cape Fear Community College -- where else -- say they haven't confirmed if the cannon is indeed from the Queen Anne's Revenge, which sank in the early 1700s but may keelhaul themselves if it isn't.
And in Washington -- little nautical joke there. In Washington, a House subcommittee talking bird flu with federal health agencies to see what steps are being taken to prepare for a possible pandemic. World health officials warn that if bird flu mutates it could hit 20 percent of the world's population.
PHILLIPS: Well, if you're feeling a little feverish today, it's not likely to be bird flu, but it could be ad flu.
CNN's Frank Buckley takes a look at how all those prescription drug commercials might make you feel sicker than you actually are and how you might even bamboozle your doctor with a bad case of ad overexposure.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ready to make the move to Levitra for a strong, lasting experience?
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We are bombarded with ads...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Problems like these could be signs of Alzheimer's Disease.
BUCKLEY: ... that tell us what drugs our doctors can prescribe for us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Talk to your doctor.
BUCKLEY: Are the doctors influenced by us when we ask for those drugs we see on TV? That's what UC Davis researcher Dr. Richard Kravitz wanted to find out.
And in California, where everyone really would rather be directing, Kravitz literally directed the study, Hollywood-style. He directed actresses to pretend to be patients, to go undercover to real doctor's offices to ask for drugs.
(on camera) You were the director?
DR. RICHARD KRAVITZ, UC DAVIS: I was, I was. It was a good opportunity for a stodgy academic.
BUCKLEY (voice-over): He advertised for actresses who would play the role of someone with either major depression or a far less severe condition of adjustment disorder.
NISA DAVIS HAYDEN, ACTRESS: I got good and depressed and got a callback.
BUCKLEY: Actress Nisa Davis Hayden was one of the leading ladies.
HAYDEN: You know, Thomas, I used to be quite the player.
BUCKLEY: As a professional actress, she's been in movies and plays and instructional videos.
HAYDEN: Believe it or not, she's right.
BUCKLEY: She's even played a doctor.
HAYDEN: After flexible sigmoidoscopy (ph) you might also have increased gas for several hours.
BUCKLEY: But she never played a patient under cover. Her mission, to ask for the drug Paxil, even though her mild condition didn't necessarily call for the drug.
HAYDEN: My role was to ask for the Paxil.
BUCKLEY (on camera): How would you do that?
HAYDEN: You know, I just -- I haven't been feeling like myself lately and -- and I saw this ad on TV for a medication Paxil, and I thought, well, it sounded a little like me and I thought it might help.
BUCKLEY (voice-over): Hayden and the other actress patient secretly recorded their sessions with doctors, who'd agreed in advance to participate in the study. They just didn't know which patients were only acting.
HAYDEN: I'm wondering if that's something that I could use or something.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Definitely. It's not unusual for sleep disturbances to be one of the first symptoms or signs of a depressive disorder.
HAYDEN: I was surprised at how easy or how willing people were to prescribe, based on I was a new patient and I'd been laid off my job for a month, which -- that kind of seems look a no-brainer, if you're down and you've been laid off your job that it's not true depression, you know? So...
BUCKLEY (on camera): So you felt that they gave it away too easily?
HAYDEN: I did. Absolutely I did. Yes.
BUCKLEY (voice-over): Dr. Kravitz agrees. He says doctors prescribed anti-depressants five times more often when someone with a mild adjustment disorder requested an anti-depressant by brand, versus not making a request at all.
KRAVITZ: What our findings suggest is there may be clinical areas in which over-prescribing occurs as a result of these ads.
BUCKLEY: in part, he says, because doctors were eager to please their patients. They didn't want to say no.
KRAVITZ: The gate-keeping wasn't as effective as many would hope, nor as effective as the drug companies would claim.
BUCKLEY: Dr. Gregory Redmond was one of the doctors who saw patients during the study. He admitted doctors do sometimes over- prescribe to patients. But he blames drug company TV ads.
DR. GREGORY REDMOND, PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN: They just want to try it because they've seen it on television. And it's certainly not necessarily the best option for them at all.
BUCKLEY: He says the ads also hurt the patient/doctor relationship.
REDMOND: And that sort of intersection becomes difficult when a patient comes in with sort of the idea, "I'm going to get this medication, and if the doctor doesn't give it to me, then they're not being good to me. And our relationship is poor. And so it's in my interest and in the patient's interest to have a good relationship."
And so just human nature is to give them the medication.
BUCKLEY: The drug companies believe differently, saying, "Consumer advertising empowers patients to learn about diseases and the medicines that treat them, helps fight the fact that millions of Americans suffer from diseases that go undetected and untreated, and still leaves the prescribing of life-saving therapies to doctors."
To that end, the study also showed that among the actresses who played patients with major depression, requesting drugs helped prevent under-treatment, which many psychiatrists say is a chronic problem for depressed people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's back. Ask your doctor...
BUCKLEY: Doctor Kravitz hopes drug companies will move toward making their ads more educational in the future and less commercial.
KRAVITZ: It's really impossible to convey to consumers what they need to know in order to have a truly productive conversation with their doctors in a 30-second spot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Talk to your doctor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ask your doctor if Levitra's right for you.
BUCKLEY: Frank Buckley, CNN, Sacramento, California.
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PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM...
ALEX TREBEK, MODERATOR, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY BEE: Lake Guton, an artificial lake that constitutes part of the Panama Canal system, was created by damming which river?
PHILLIPS: I don't know, Alex, but this whiz kid does. The winner of the National Geography Bee show us where it is.
KEN DOLAN, CO-HOST, "DOLANS UNSCRIPTED": Whose job is it to protect you from identity theft?
DARIA DOLAN, CO-HOST, "DOLANS UNSCRIPTED": Your employers, the government or yours?
K. DOLAN: We'll look at the problem and potential solutions.
D. DOLAN: Tomorrow on LIVE FROM in the 1 p.m. hour.
K. DOLAN: And don't forget Saturday at 10 a.m. Eastern on "DOLANS UNSCRIPTED."
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PHILLIPS: Well, listen up, NBA fans. Shaq could soon be wearing a jersey decorated with the golden arches or some other corporate logo. Allan Chernoff joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange to tell us why.
Hi, Allan.
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PHILLIPS: All right, Allan, hold on a second.
O'BRIEN: All right. Yes, stay there, stay there. The question that we're asking -- of course our next guest, Nathan, who's listening right now -- this was the big question wasn't it, Nathan? Nod your head. Was this it?
PHILLIPS: No.
O'BRIEN: No, that wasn't it. That wasn't it. OK.
PHILLIPS: Explain who Nathan is, though. Not everybody knows.
O'BRIEN: Nathan won the geography bee. Everybody knows him. He's very famous right now. There he is. He's waiting for his interview. And you can counsel us.
First of all, give me the correct pronunciation on that first, it's Belmopan? Belmopan?
NATHAN CORNELIUS, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY BEE CHAMPION: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Good, thank you. OK. So the question is, name the eastern-most national capital in Central America: Belmopan, Panama City, Tegucigalpa. And it's not Panama City, Florida, right?
PHILLIPS: No.
O'BRIEN: We're talking about the real Panama City. Allan, do you want to guess?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a good question, Miles. Let's say Panama City, but I'm really not sure.
O'BRIEN: Kyra?
PHILLIPS: He nailed it. It is. It's Panama City.
O'BRIEN: Panama City. And we have a winner. Allan Chernoff...
CHERNOFF: Very well.
O'BRIEN: ... moves on to the next round in our geography bee today. All right.
PHILLIPS: Are we going to put Nathan to the test?
O'BRIEN: Yes. We're not going to put him on the spot.
PHILLIPS: He's going to put us on the spot.
O'BRIEN: Yes. We're going to get -- of course, we'll be twisting in the wind.
Nathan's coming up. He won the geography bee. He's a nice kid, and we're going to chat with him in just a bit. Stay with us.
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