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Consumer Health Group May Sue Starbucks; Cheney Takes Questions on Iraq

Aired June 19, 2006 - 13:30   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, a consumer health group may be planning to sue Starbucks for making people fatter. Cheryl Casone is live at the New York Stock Exchange with that story.
Hey, Cheryl.

CHERYL CASONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Kyra.

The Center for Science and in the Public Interest reportedly says it's planning to campaign against Starbucks. This because the coffee shop chain sells products that are high in calories and fat and those things have been associated with an increased risk of obesity, heart disease and cancer. Now last week you may recall the same group said it was suing KFC for frying foods in oils high in trans fat. Its director says they're not ruling out legal action against Starbucks.

So what are they asking Starbucks to do? The group says listing nutritional information online and in brochures is just not enough. It wants Starbucks to post calorie and fat content where everyone can see it -- on the menu boards. The group also wants Starbucks to use healthier shortenings that don't contain trans fat. Starbucks reportedly says it is actively researching alternatives.

Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, the big news of the day, we didn't understand this connection, but I guess maybe we sort of understood the connection. The maker of Kit Kat bars, Nesquik, putting itself on a diet plan.

CASONE: That's right. Nestle is buying weight loss company Jenny Craig. The price tag, about $600 million. Jenny Craig, of course, offers prepackaged meals, as well as motivational workshops, to help people lose weight. Now this deal follows another big purchase for Nestle. Last month it snapped up Uncle Tobys. That's an Australian firm that makes cereals and snacks.

Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, the combination is a bit ironic, a chocolate company buying a diet business. What's going on?

CASONE: Well, you know, Nestle is perhaps best known for its chocolate and its ice cream, which is pretty good. It also makes a wide variety of other food products, however. Everything from power bars for those big workouts, to baby food, to bottled water. In fact, Nestle ranks as the world's largest food company. Now this move is an effort to fatten up its already large nutrition unit.

Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well let's talk about how everything else is doing within the markets today?

CASONE: Well, stocks on Wall Street, they're sliding a little bit. A fresh warning on inflation from a Fed official has investors worried about higher interest rates. And crude prices are slipping nearly a dollar and that is sending shares of these big oil companies lower right now. Let's go ahead and check the latest numbers. The Dow is lower by about 70 points right now.

PHILLIPS: All right. We lost the connection there. Apologize for that. You saw the numbers there. We'll get back to more on Wall Street after a quick break.

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PHILLIPS: The vice president speaking at the National Press Club in D.C., taking questions about Iraq. We want to see if he has anything to say about those missing soldiers.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: From historical turning point in the period that we'll be able to look and say, that's when we turned the corner, that's when we began to get a handle on the long-term future of Iraq.

QUESTION: Do you think that you underestimated the insurgency strength?

CHENEY: I think so. I guess if I look back on it now, I don't think anybody anticipated the level of violence that we've encountered. I guess the other area that I look at in terms of an area where I think we were faced with difficulties we didn't anticipate was the devastation that 30 years of Saddam's rule had wrought, if you will, on the psychology of the Iraqi people. Very, very hard to go from the way they were forced to live for a long period of time to a situation which they have the opportunity for self-government, for setting up and operating their own free and democratically elected society.

That's a huge transition to make. And if I look back on something that I underestimated, it would be the extent to which that society had been damaged by that series of events that had occurred over 30 years during Saddam's rule, up to and including the 1991 uprising where so many Iraqis rose up against the regime, then were slaughtered by Saddam Hussein's forces.

QUESTION: This question I want to know, is there any scenario under which you envision the draft being reinstated?

CHENEY: No. None that I can see. I'm a big believer in the all-volunteer force. Think it's produced a magnificent military. I think we keep the provisions for the draft in case circumstances should arise where it might be needed, but I don't foresee the development of those kinds of conditions any time in the future.

QUESTION: You have talked about reclaiming the powers of the presidency that was lost following Watergate. In fact, when President Ford had taken office and you've talked about the notion of the unitary executive. Should there be any limits? And, if so, what?

CHENEY: I don't believe I've ever talked about a unitary executive. Others may have suggested that I talked about that. But I clearly do believe, and have spoken directly about, the importance of a strong presidency and that I think there have been times in the past, oftentimes in response to events such as Watergate or the war in Vietnam, where Congress has begun to encroach upon the powers and responsibilities of the president. That it was important to go back and try to restore that balance.

I participated in the Iran Contra investigation in the Congress. Those of you who are bored and don't have anything else to do, there are minority views we filed with that report that lay out a view with respect to how we think the balance ought to exist between the executive and the legislative and the conduct of national security policy. So I do believe there is -- it's very important to have a strong executive.

What are the limits? The limits are the Constitution. And certainly we need to and do adhere to those limitations. But I think if you look at things like the War Powers Act, for example, adopted in the aftermath of the Vietnam conflict, that that was an infringement on the president's ability to deploy troops. It's never really been tested. I think it's probably unconstitutional. There are a series of events like that that we believed need to have the balance righted, if you will, and I think we've done that successfully.

QUESTION: This comes as no surprise, this being a press club, I do have several press questions for you. The Bush administration worries that disclosures of classified information may have damaged national security. Can you cite a time in U.S. history when a press disclosure has genuinely damaged national security?

CHENEY: Well, I do believe that there need to be secrets. I think there are things that the federal government does in the national security arena that need to be off limits. And I think the fact of the matter is that there have been stories written that are damaging, if you will, from the standpoint of national security. I would -- obviously I can't get into any operational details. One of the frustrations that exists with this debate is that you cannot go out and talk about current operations with the press in order to try to explain to everybody why that particular piece of information needs to stay secret.

Let me just say that there have been examples that I am aware of where we've had discussions of ways in which al Qaeda communicates, for example. And because of those conversations, they no longer communicate that way. We've lost the ability, in some cases, to be able to intercept important communications.

I can think of one situation recently that had to do with a story that appeared in one of our major newspapers. It dealt with a certain technical countermeasures that we were considering with respect to how we would deal with a certain type of a problem. And within five days of the publication of that story, there were posted ways to deal with that and to neutralize our activities on one of the jihadist websites. It was about five days from publication of a major U.S. news outlet until it was on a jihadist Web site, advice, in effect, on how to counter what our military wanted to do in a particular area.

Now that strikes me as a pretty straight-forward, direct example of why it is important that there be secrets. I think that oftentimes in the past, there's no question, the executive branch is probably overdone it with respect to classification. On the other hand, the assumption on the part of some of the press that it doesn't matter if it's classified, they have every right to print absolutely anything they want and they are the final judges, I think that's a mistake. I think if somebody is asked by the, say, president of the United States, or a senior administration official who's in a position of authority and has some knowledge in the area, to withhold on a particular story, they need to give that serious thought. And I think that we are -- one of the problems we have is that oftentimes as a government we're perceived by other governments overseas, people we have to work with, intelligence services who need to have confidence in our ability to keep a secret, find it difficult to work with us because the United States has oftentimes demonstrated an inability to maintain the security of classified information. So it's a problem.

QUESTION: Mr. Vice President, I've been advised by your staff that you need to cut the program . . .

PHILLIPS: Vice President Dick Cheney is speaking at the National Press Club there in D.C. We'll monitor to that, see if he says anything else about those efforts to rescue those two U.S. soldiers in Iraq. You can, of course, you can go to CNN.com/pipeline if you want to continue listening to the vice president.

We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.

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PHILLIPS: Eight thousand U.S. and Iraqi troops on the move right now in a region called the Triangle of Death and they're looking for two American soldiers in what's become an ever-widening search. The two were reported missing Friday after insurgents attacked their checkpoint south of Baghdad. Today on the Internet, an al Qaeda linked group claims it's holding the soldiers hostage. So far we have no proof.

Strong, smart, wanting to do something for his country. Thomas Tucker is very highly thought of by his friends and family in Madras, Oregon, all of whom now are heartsick over his capture in Iraq. Our Dan Simon is watching and waiting with them.

Dan.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, we are at the high school here in Madras, Oregon. This is where Tom Tucker graduated in 1999. Back then everybody called him Tommy. He always wore a baseball cap. Everybody we talked to said he's just such a likable person. As a matter of fact, his mother works here. She's a very much beloved cafeteria worker.

Now in terms of the family, right now they're not making any direct comments to the media. They've asked that we respect their privacy. We were over at their house a short while ago and there are actually a couple of police officers politely shoeing us away, understandably.

However, I did speak to a woman who described herself as a family friend. She said Tom Tucker is just a very extraordinary person. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JO GUINEY, FAMILY FRIEND: I remember Tommy as being very energetic, always had a smile on his face and always very willing to do what's asked of him. Tommy played with my youngest son, Kelly (ph), in little league and I remember Tommy always being very willing to play any position he was asked without any argument.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: Now, Kyra, in terms of how the family found out about this is just heartbreaking. We are told they were on a bit of a vacation over the weekend. They were on a camping trip and came home only to hear about what happened to their son.

Again, at this point, they have decided not make any comments to the media. But we are told that perhaps some time later today they will release a written statement.

Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll wait and see if we hear from them. Dan Simon, thanks so much.

The other missing soldier, Kristian Menchaca, knew how dangerous his job was and he told his family about it in lots of notes and phone calls. Menchaca's 23 years old. He's from Houston. Part of the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry. His brother says that he was almost sure that Menchaca was one of the missing even before it was confirmed. The insurgent attack that Menchaca and Tucker missing killed one of their comrades. He was Specialist David Babineau. A 25-year-old from Springfield, Massachusetts. He also was part of the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry.

A couple of mason jars and a paint can. How did al Qaeda plan to use such simple objects to turn New York City subways into death traps? Chilling details straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: President Bush to Iran, if you want peace, accept your offer. Mr. Bush says he hopes to solve the Iranian nuclear standoff diplomatically though a package of incentives meant to persuade Iran to stop enriching uranium but he says it's up to Tehran to comply.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Iran's leaders have a clear choice. We hope they will accept our offer and voluntarily suspend these activities so we can work out an agreement that will bring Iran real benefits. If Iran's leaders reject our offer, it will result in action before the Security Council, further isolation from the world, and progressively stronger political and economic sanctions.

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PHILLIPS: Mr. Bush was speaking to graduates at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in New York.

Well, a dodged bullet or an overblown threat? A new book says in 2003 al Qaeda terrorists were just days away from gassing New York subways with cyanide. A formula similar to the deadly cyclone b used in Nazi death camps. Al Qaeda scuttled the plan, but the "One Percent Doctrine" is still sure to raise hackles among the 4.5 million New Yorkers who ride those trains every day. Former CIA Deputy Director John McLaughlin says the story is written dramatically but the basic facts are true.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, FORMER CIA DEPUTY DIRECTOR: When I say the fundamentals are accurate, yes, we had reporting that there was an al Qaeda plot against a New York subway system. Yes, we had discovered through intelligence sources the existence of this device, which is a crude device for mixing two substances to produce hydrogen cyanide gas, a poisonous gas. And, yes, we had every reason to believe that this device would have been the one that they would have used in such an attack. And, yes, we had reporting that this attack was called off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: McLaughlin, now a CNN security analyst, says the plot was taken very seriously but wasn't the center of the intelligence universe.

Water's the big worry in Houston now. As much as 10.5 inches of rain fell overnight and this morning creating flash floods over much of the city. It's mainly roads, but also some houses. Emergency crews have rescued about 500 people from the high water. We're going to stay on that story.

A first for the Episcopal Church. A woman is chosen to lead. Katharine Jefferts Schori has quite the resume and quite a few challenges from within the church. You'll meet her this hour on LIVE FROM.

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