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CNN Live Today
Second Day of Fighting in Falluja; Two Major Drug Developments Revealed At the AMA Meeting; Election Apologies
Aired November 09, 2004 - 11:30 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.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, welcome back. It's -- let's see -- 31 minutes after the hour. I'm Rick Sanchez.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Daryn Kagan. Let's look at what's happening now in the news.
U.S. troops are fighting their way toward the center of Falluja. Today, they're encountering sniper fire and booby-traps along the way. Military officials say that six U.S. troops have been killed in the Falluja operation. An Army unit puts the number of insurgents killed as high as 90.
Doctors in Paris say that Yasser Arafat's condition declined today. One Palestinian official told a news conference this hour that Arafat has suffered a brain hemorrhage. Arafat is reported to be in a deep coma. His ailment remains undiagnosed.
President and Mrs. Bush travel to Walter Reed Army Medical Center today. They will visit troops who have been wounded in the Iraq war. The president awarded eight Purple Hearts on a similar visit last March. Today's events will be closed to the media.
And the First Lady helped re-open Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House to the public today. The street has been closed since January when renovations began to turn it into a landscaped pedestrian plaza.
Keeping you informed, CNN is the most trusted name in news.
SANCHEZ: As U.S. and Iraqi forces pound away at insurgents in Falluja for a second day, the goal is clear -- rid the city of hardcore militants.
CNN's Brian Todd examines the goals and the strategies of the insurgents.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The numbers going into Falluja clearly favor U.S. and Iraqi forces. The numbers coming out may be a different story.
With the battle playing out street by street, experts with close ties to the U.S. Military tell CNN the insurgents have a clear, simple strategy, and it's not to win. KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: The insurgent objective, with Falluja in particular, seems to be to draw the United States into a very bloody, costly fight.
TODD: With resistance fighters knowing full well they can't win militarily, experts say they're trying to inflict political pain.
KEN POLLACK, CNN ANALYST: In the assumption that if they kill enough Americans, the Americans will leave Iraq, maybe even stop the assault on Falluja itself if they kill as many.
TODD: The insurgents have had about seven months since the last major U.S. ground attack on Falluja to carve out strongholds, map out passageways and escape routes, and lay traps that U.S. and Iraqi forces have already encountered this time.
ROBINSON: They have bombed bridges. They have booby-trapped buildings. They've established sniper positions. The fear is that they will use mosques.
TODD: Then, the information battle can be waged. Images of gun fights around mosques can play on Middle Eastern networks, stirring the Arab population against the U.S./Iraqi coalition.
At some point, many resistance fighters may just melt away to emerge in another city and fight again. Experts say some of the most important, hardcore insurgents, including the notorious Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, may well have already left Falluja. Who's inside the city now?
POLLACK: As best U.S. intelligence can tell, there's a grab bag of different groups inside of Falluja: former members of Saddam's regime; foreign Salafi Jihadists; Sunni fundamentalists, a home grown variety; Sunni tribesmen, who also oppose the American occupation.
TODD (on camera): Now, experts say the key for U.S.-led forces is to drive a wedge between those different groups of insurgents, somehow force the native Iraqis among them to get tired of fighting and fade away. The foreign jihadists, they say, will have to be taken out with brute force.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Let's get more on the fierce street battles in Falluja today as U.S. troops are trying to re-take the Iraqi city from insurgents.
Major General Terry Murray is a retired Marine and a CNN military analyst. He joins us in Washington. Good morning. Thanks for being here with us.
MAJ. GEN. TERRY MURRAY, U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET.): Thank you, Daryn. KAGAN: Let's talk about one of the chief challenges of this urban warfare -- not just looking in front and in back, but above, below, and even below ground for somebody who might be taking aim.
MURRAY: A very difficult environment to fight in. When you get inside a city such as Falluja, virtually all of the advantages of the attacker and the more technologically superior foe, the coalition forces, most of those advantages are reduced, because you are forced in generally to a close-in battle. You everyone counter the bad guys face to face and not at long range.
And consequently, it becomes a very, very difficult battle. So, a key question as the fight continues from this point forward is: How many of the insurgents have actually stayed to fight? And what is their will to fight? That will be a second key determinate.
KAGAN: Well, let's talk about the how many, because it appears as if the big battle is taking place and -- I don't want to say no one's home, but not as many people as perhaps they expected to encounter are still left in Falluja.
MURRAY: And no surprise to me, frankly. I do believe that one of their key strategic intents is to inflict casualties on coalition forces. That said, I expect that Zarqawi and the leadership have left town or gone underground.
We -- as we watch this battle progress, I think we can expect that it's going to move fairly quickly, given the light resistance to date. The most important question after this battle is done -- and it could be several days or, I would say on the outside, to clean up, several weeks -- the more relevant question is: At the end of the day, how soon will it take for the guerrillas to come back and to reoccupy Falluja as a quarter of a million people come back?
And what we also know is that when the people come back, the guerrillas will come back, as well.
KAGAN: So, this is sounding more like a cat and mouse game.
MURRAY: I wouldn't describe it as a cat and mouse game. I believe for Prime Minister Allawi and the coalition forces, it was a necessity to go into Falluja and to neutralize the threat inside Falluja.
Allowing that, this is not the kind of battle that guerrillas want to be involved in. They would much prefer to pick targets of opportunity, do it when they've got the opportunity to surprise their opponent, and to avoid a fixed battle such as we're seeing here today and as began yesterday.
So, this is ground that is favorable to our conventional forces. And they will not hold up well. Consequently, I think a great majority will have either gone underground, in and around Falluja, or they will have left and they'll return after the battle is done.
KAGAN: Right. Just a few seconds we have left here, general -- so, how does the military handle that next step, as you were describing -- the hundreds of thousands of civilians coming back into the city? The insurgents can just move in among the population and then start over where this was before this assault began.
MURRAY: I think that's exactly what we're going to see. We will rid Falluja of the guerrillas for a short period of time. And when I say rid, I think many of them have left the area.
However, when a quarter of a million people come back into the city, we can be confident that the guerrillas will come back with them, and that they will take root back inside the city where they get aid and comfort from civilians.
So, the follow-up question is: How many troops -- coalition forces, that is -- will have to be left behind to police up an insurgent movement that is immersed inside a population of more than a quarter of a million people?
KAGAN: Is there an answer to that question -- how many?
MURRAY: It's a very, very tough job. If you have sufficient troops to commit to it, you can control them fairly well. But ultimately, it's going to require a political solution, not a military solution.
KAGAN: All right. General, thank you. Major General Terry Murray, thank you for your insight today.
SANCHEZ: It sounds more like a stop-gap measure than it does the ultimate solution.
KAGAN: Clearly like the story goes on and on.
SANCHEZ: Well, there's big news in the medical world that we're going to be telling you about. It's about a new drug that, not only helps you lose weight, but also can help your ticker, as well. That's why we're going to bring it to you.
KAGAN: Plus, the election is over and their guy didn't win. Now, Kerry supporters are channeling their disappointment into a whole bunch of sorrys. We will explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And welcome back to CNN LIVE TODAY. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Two major developments from the American Heart Association meeting in New Orleans -- the focus of our "Daily Dose" of health news. One involves weight loss, and the other has to do with race and medicine.
Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here now to bring us the details. Sounds interesting.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: They're both very interesting studies. The first one, it deals with race. And what doctors found was that, in their practices, they said, "You know, there's a certain class of drugs that work very well in white patients, but not in black patients. So, let's see if we can find a drug that would work better in patients of African origin." And they couldn't, because there really haven't been enough studies done on minorities; too many studies have been done mostly on white patients.
So, they invented their own drug. They took a combination of two other drugs, put it together, and formed something called BiDil. And here are the results that they got when they used this drug on heart patients.
When they used the drug, six percent of the patients died compared to 10 percent of the patients dying when they gave them -- when they didn't give them this drug, when they gave them a placebo. As you can see here, half got placebo and half got the standard therapy plus this new drug. So, you had six percent of deaths rather than 10 percent of deaths, and 16 percent of patients were hospitalized rather than 22 percent. So, those are some serious improvements.
Now, you might wonder, gee, why would drugs work differently on white people than on black people? Well, the answer is it all has to do with genetics. Genes run differently in different groups of people. Think about sickle cell anemia, think about breast cancer and Jewish women of eastern European ancestry. So, the same thing happens with drugs. How we react to drugs has a lot to do with our genes, how we metabolize them.
SANCHEZ: And where your descendants once came from.
COHEN: That's right. That's right.
SANCHEZ: Apparently this came from the American Heart Association.
COHEN: That's right.
SANCHEZ: There was a report there on another drug or pill, right?
COHEN: Right. There's a pill for weight loss. And what they looked at here was that they gave patients this pill to see what kind of weight loss they got. And let's look at the results. Let's look at what they found out.
What they found is that people who were on this drug, which is called rimonabant, these folks started at an average of 233 pounds. In the course of one year, they lost 19 pounds, and they also showed cholesterol improvements.
Now, some people would say, well, gee, losing 19 pounds when you started out at 233, that's not huge. And other people would say, hey, every little bit helps.
SANCHEZ: Nineteen pounds is 19 pounds.
COHEN: That's right. Exactly. Exactly.
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, Elizabeth.
COHEN: Thanks.
SANCHEZ: Now, to get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, all you've got to do is log onto our Web site. you'll find the latest medical news, a health library, and information on diet and fitness. The address is cnn.com/health -- Daryn?
KAGAN: It is a big day for a lot of young boys -- and probably a few grown-up men, as well. The videogame industry starts rolling out its holiday treats.
SANCHEZ: And the money is unbelievable.
KAGAN: Huge!
SANCHEZ: We'll tell you how much when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: All right, gamers. The Xbox videogame "Halo 2" went on sale today. It's aliens versus Marines in space. Microsoft says it's been working hard to keep the plot twist in "Halo 2" a secret, but some of the mystery may have been revealed when advanced copies were sold on eBay.
Meanwhile, other fans waited in long lines outside toy and video stores nationwide for the countdown for the release of "Halo 2." Some even dressed in costume -- all right. More than 1.5 million copies of the game were pre-ordered at 50 bucks a pop. You do the math -- $75 million its opening day sales.
SANCHEZ: One day. One day.
KAGAN: Does not stink.
SANCHEZ: Seventy-five million dollars in 24 hours. Rhonda Schaffler, you say what?
RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Can you imagine?
SANCHEZ: Good gosh.
KAGAN: Ch-ching!
SCHAFFLER: That's a lot of money. You're able to have green hair when you have that kind of money.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, or any other kind of hair.
SCHAFFLER: You see that guy? (STOCK MARKET UPDATE)
SANCHEZ: All right. Go play them videogames. I know you're a huge fan, right?
SCHAFFLER: Of course.
SANCHEZ: Thanks, Rhonda.
KAGAN: Well, mother always told you to say you're sorry.
SANCHEZ: But did she really mean you had to apologize to the entire world for something you didn't even do? Well, these people -- these people think so. Who are they? Stick around, we'll tell you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: One week after a cliffhanger of a presidential race, a reminder to a bitterly divided nation. To the victor, as you've heard, go the spoils. From the conquered come the apologies?
CNN's Jeanne Moos takes us to a Web site that begs for attention and, for some reason, for forgiveness.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The presidential election was sure no love story.
ALI MACGRAW, ACTRESS: Love means never having to say you're sorry.
MOOS: Some people are so sorry about the outcome of the election that the losers are apologizing to the rest of the world.
JAMES ZETLEN, SORRYEVERYBODY.COM: It says, "Sorry, world, we tried."
MOOS: Signed half of America.
Neuroscience student James Zetlen took this picture, put it on a Web site called Sorry Everybody, and hundreds of other apologies poured in.
"Sorry, world, we deserve it. You don't."
"Sorry, world, at least you don't have to live with him."
"Sorry, world, scientists are sad, too."
Some said sorry over and over and over again.
ZETLEN: That's my girlfriend.
MOOS: Florida seniors are sorry. Parents made their kids say they're sorry. Jesus is portrayed as sorry. Apparently even chihuahuas are saying sorry, amigos.
"I am sorry that I'm smarter than 59 million Americans. PS, my brain is the size of a walnut."
It's one thing for the British press to call Americans dummies, but now Americans are beseeching the rest of the world, "Please don't give up on us."
"You youngsters will have a lot to have sorry about. At least we don't have to live much longer."
An apology made out of candy, cookies, and crackers makes you want to eat your words. Gee, wonder if the Web site is getting much hate mail?
ZETLEN: Plenty.
MOOS: Irate Bush supporters have taken Zetlen's head and replaced it with Saddam Hussein's.
ZETLEN: Well, they've changed my sign to say a lot of things. My favorite was, "Sorry, world, for this pathetic attempt to get French chicks."
Some apologists are upbeat -- "Sorry, y'all, we'll do better next time."
"My dad is a Republican, and for this, I apologize."
Occasionally, someone from the rest of the world accepts the apologies.
(on camera): And to all of those who voted for President Bush...
(voice-over): Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Sorry for this sorry excuse for a story.
KAGAN: (INAUDIBLE) a whole lot of people out there who are happy.
SANCHEZ: Fifty-one percent to 48 percent.
KAGAN: There you go.
Can I just take this moment to wish my mother a happy birthday?
SANCHEZ: Oh, that's nice of you.
KAGAN: Happy birthday, mom.
SANCHEZ: Yeah. And she's out there in the place that really cares about the weather on a day like this.
KAGAN: L.A. they don't care about the weather. Everyday is beautiful in L.A.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. Happy birthday.
KAGAN: Happy birthday...
JERAS: She's a lovely woman. I got to meet her a couple weeks ago.
KAGAN: Our mothers went to a breast cancer survivors tea -- Jacqui's mother and my mother.
SANCHEZ: You know, it's funny because they didn't put Jacqui's picture up, and we were just hearing her voice. Somebody might have thought it was your mother that was...
JERAS: Surprise, she's on the phone. No.
SANCHEZ: Thank you, Daryn.
What's up, Jacqui?
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: Thank you, Jacqui.
SANCHEZ: That was nice of you to do that. Isn't that nice, Jacqui, for her to, you know, mention her mother like that?
JERAS: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: What a wonderful person you are.
KAGAN: She's a nice lady.
SANCHEZ: Yeah.
KAGAN: Yeah.
SANCHEZ: Hey, by the way, what's New York going to be like? I may have missed that part of it, but I may need to go there soon.
JERAS: Really, well, when? You mean like tomorrow you want to know like a week from now?
SANCHEZ: Like Friday.
JERAS: Like Friday.
KAGAN: We're both going on Friday.
JERAS: Actually, there's another shot of cold air that's going to be heading across the northeast by the weekend. Tomorrow's going to be the coldest one that we're going to see this week, and then you'll warm up the next couple of days. But by the weekend, you're going to start to cool down again. So, bring some sweaters.
SANCHEZ: OK.
KAGAN: Pack your coats.
SANCHEZ: None of the white stuff yet, though.
JERAS: Not yet.
SANCHEZ: A little too early.
JERAS: Not in the city.
KAGAN: Jacqui, thank you.
JERAS: Yes.
KAGAN: I think that means we're done.
SANCHEZ: We are, indeed.
KAGAN: I'm Daryn Kagan, along with Rick Sanchez. We toss it to our colleague with respect to Wolf Blitzer.
SANCHEZ: Hi, Wolf.
KAGAN: Hi, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Daryn. Thanks very much, Rick.
Unfolding here in Washington, around the country, around the world, lots of stories we're following, including the battle of Falluja -- a life and death struggle for American troops and for Iraq. We're live from the front lines with expert analysis right here at home, as well.
Also, the last days -- perhaps only the last hours -- of Yasser Arafat. We'll consider what's next for the Middle East after he's gone.
A busy hour ahead, indeed. First, though, some other headlines now in the news.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 9, 2004 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, welcome back. It's -- let's see -- 31 minutes after the hour. I'm Rick Sanchez.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Daryn Kagan. Let's look at what's happening now in the news.
U.S. troops are fighting their way toward the center of Falluja. Today, they're encountering sniper fire and booby-traps along the way. Military officials say that six U.S. troops have been killed in the Falluja operation. An Army unit puts the number of insurgents killed as high as 90.
Doctors in Paris say that Yasser Arafat's condition declined today. One Palestinian official told a news conference this hour that Arafat has suffered a brain hemorrhage. Arafat is reported to be in a deep coma. His ailment remains undiagnosed.
President and Mrs. Bush travel to Walter Reed Army Medical Center today. They will visit troops who have been wounded in the Iraq war. The president awarded eight Purple Hearts on a similar visit last March. Today's events will be closed to the media.
And the First Lady helped re-open Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House to the public today. The street has been closed since January when renovations began to turn it into a landscaped pedestrian plaza.
Keeping you informed, CNN is the most trusted name in news.
SANCHEZ: As U.S. and Iraqi forces pound away at insurgents in Falluja for a second day, the goal is clear -- rid the city of hardcore militants.
CNN's Brian Todd examines the goals and the strategies of the insurgents.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The numbers going into Falluja clearly favor U.S. and Iraqi forces. The numbers coming out may be a different story.
With the battle playing out street by street, experts with close ties to the U.S. Military tell CNN the insurgents have a clear, simple strategy, and it's not to win. KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: The insurgent objective, with Falluja in particular, seems to be to draw the United States into a very bloody, costly fight.
TODD: With resistance fighters knowing full well they can't win militarily, experts say they're trying to inflict political pain.
KEN POLLACK, CNN ANALYST: In the assumption that if they kill enough Americans, the Americans will leave Iraq, maybe even stop the assault on Falluja itself if they kill as many.
TODD: The insurgents have had about seven months since the last major U.S. ground attack on Falluja to carve out strongholds, map out passageways and escape routes, and lay traps that U.S. and Iraqi forces have already encountered this time.
ROBINSON: They have bombed bridges. They have booby-trapped buildings. They've established sniper positions. The fear is that they will use mosques.
TODD: Then, the information battle can be waged. Images of gun fights around mosques can play on Middle Eastern networks, stirring the Arab population against the U.S./Iraqi coalition.
At some point, many resistance fighters may just melt away to emerge in another city and fight again. Experts say some of the most important, hardcore insurgents, including the notorious Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, may well have already left Falluja. Who's inside the city now?
POLLACK: As best U.S. intelligence can tell, there's a grab bag of different groups inside of Falluja: former members of Saddam's regime; foreign Salafi Jihadists; Sunni fundamentalists, a home grown variety; Sunni tribesmen, who also oppose the American occupation.
TODD (on camera): Now, experts say the key for U.S.-led forces is to drive a wedge between those different groups of insurgents, somehow force the native Iraqis among them to get tired of fighting and fade away. The foreign jihadists, they say, will have to be taken out with brute force.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Let's get more on the fierce street battles in Falluja today as U.S. troops are trying to re-take the Iraqi city from insurgents.
Major General Terry Murray is a retired Marine and a CNN military analyst. He joins us in Washington. Good morning. Thanks for being here with us.
MAJ. GEN. TERRY MURRAY, U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET.): Thank you, Daryn. KAGAN: Let's talk about one of the chief challenges of this urban warfare -- not just looking in front and in back, but above, below, and even below ground for somebody who might be taking aim.
MURRAY: A very difficult environment to fight in. When you get inside a city such as Falluja, virtually all of the advantages of the attacker and the more technologically superior foe, the coalition forces, most of those advantages are reduced, because you are forced in generally to a close-in battle. You everyone counter the bad guys face to face and not at long range.
And consequently, it becomes a very, very difficult battle. So, a key question as the fight continues from this point forward is: How many of the insurgents have actually stayed to fight? And what is their will to fight? That will be a second key determinate.
KAGAN: Well, let's talk about the how many, because it appears as if the big battle is taking place and -- I don't want to say no one's home, but not as many people as perhaps they expected to encounter are still left in Falluja.
MURRAY: And no surprise to me, frankly. I do believe that one of their key strategic intents is to inflict casualties on coalition forces. That said, I expect that Zarqawi and the leadership have left town or gone underground.
We -- as we watch this battle progress, I think we can expect that it's going to move fairly quickly, given the light resistance to date. The most important question after this battle is done -- and it could be several days or, I would say on the outside, to clean up, several weeks -- the more relevant question is: At the end of the day, how soon will it take for the guerrillas to come back and to reoccupy Falluja as a quarter of a million people come back?
And what we also know is that when the people come back, the guerrillas will come back, as well.
KAGAN: So, this is sounding more like a cat and mouse game.
MURRAY: I wouldn't describe it as a cat and mouse game. I believe for Prime Minister Allawi and the coalition forces, it was a necessity to go into Falluja and to neutralize the threat inside Falluja.
Allowing that, this is not the kind of battle that guerrillas want to be involved in. They would much prefer to pick targets of opportunity, do it when they've got the opportunity to surprise their opponent, and to avoid a fixed battle such as we're seeing here today and as began yesterday.
So, this is ground that is favorable to our conventional forces. And they will not hold up well. Consequently, I think a great majority will have either gone underground, in and around Falluja, or they will have left and they'll return after the battle is done.
KAGAN: Right. Just a few seconds we have left here, general -- so, how does the military handle that next step, as you were describing -- the hundreds of thousands of civilians coming back into the city? The insurgents can just move in among the population and then start over where this was before this assault began.
MURRAY: I think that's exactly what we're going to see. We will rid Falluja of the guerrillas for a short period of time. And when I say rid, I think many of them have left the area.
However, when a quarter of a million people come back into the city, we can be confident that the guerrillas will come back with them, and that they will take root back inside the city where they get aid and comfort from civilians.
So, the follow-up question is: How many troops -- coalition forces, that is -- will have to be left behind to police up an insurgent movement that is immersed inside a population of more than a quarter of a million people?
KAGAN: Is there an answer to that question -- how many?
MURRAY: It's a very, very tough job. If you have sufficient troops to commit to it, you can control them fairly well. But ultimately, it's going to require a political solution, not a military solution.
KAGAN: All right. General, thank you. Major General Terry Murray, thank you for your insight today.
SANCHEZ: It sounds more like a stop-gap measure than it does the ultimate solution.
KAGAN: Clearly like the story goes on and on.
SANCHEZ: Well, there's big news in the medical world that we're going to be telling you about. It's about a new drug that, not only helps you lose weight, but also can help your ticker, as well. That's why we're going to bring it to you.
KAGAN: Plus, the election is over and their guy didn't win. Now, Kerry supporters are channeling their disappointment into a whole bunch of sorrys. We will explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And welcome back to CNN LIVE TODAY. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Two major developments from the American Heart Association meeting in New Orleans -- the focus of our "Daily Dose" of health news. One involves weight loss, and the other has to do with race and medicine.
Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here now to bring us the details. Sounds interesting.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: They're both very interesting studies. The first one, it deals with race. And what doctors found was that, in their practices, they said, "You know, there's a certain class of drugs that work very well in white patients, but not in black patients. So, let's see if we can find a drug that would work better in patients of African origin." And they couldn't, because there really haven't been enough studies done on minorities; too many studies have been done mostly on white patients.
So, they invented their own drug. They took a combination of two other drugs, put it together, and formed something called BiDil. And here are the results that they got when they used this drug on heart patients.
When they used the drug, six percent of the patients died compared to 10 percent of the patients dying when they gave them -- when they didn't give them this drug, when they gave them a placebo. As you can see here, half got placebo and half got the standard therapy plus this new drug. So, you had six percent of deaths rather than 10 percent of deaths, and 16 percent of patients were hospitalized rather than 22 percent. So, those are some serious improvements.
Now, you might wonder, gee, why would drugs work differently on white people than on black people? Well, the answer is it all has to do with genetics. Genes run differently in different groups of people. Think about sickle cell anemia, think about breast cancer and Jewish women of eastern European ancestry. So, the same thing happens with drugs. How we react to drugs has a lot to do with our genes, how we metabolize them.
SANCHEZ: And where your descendants once came from.
COHEN: That's right. That's right.
SANCHEZ: Apparently this came from the American Heart Association.
COHEN: That's right.
SANCHEZ: There was a report there on another drug or pill, right?
COHEN: Right. There's a pill for weight loss. And what they looked at here was that they gave patients this pill to see what kind of weight loss they got. And let's look at the results. Let's look at what they found out.
What they found is that people who were on this drug, which is called rimonabant, these folks started at an average of 233 pounds. In the course of one year, they lost 19 pounds, and they also showed cholesterol improvements.
Now, some people would say, well, gee, losing 19 pounds when you started out at 233, that's not huge. And other people would say, hey, every little bit helps.
SANCHEZ: Nineteen pounds is 19 pounds.
COHEN: That's right. Exactly. Exactly.
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, Elizabeth.
COHEN: Thanks.
SANCHEZ: Now, to get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, all you've got to do is log onto our Web site. you'll find the latest medical news, a health library, and information on diet and fitness. The address is cnn.com/health -- Daryn?
KAGAN: It is a big day for a lot of young boys -- and probably a few grown-up men, as well. The videogame industry starts rolling out its holiday treats.
SANCHEZ: And the money is unbelievable.
KAGAN: Huge!
SANCHEZ: We'll tell you how much when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: All right, gamers. The Xbox videogame "Halo 2" went on sale today. It's aliens versus Marines in space. Microsoft says it's been working hard to keep the plot twist in "Halo 2" a secret, but some of the mystery may have been revealed when advanced copies were sold on eBay.
Meanwhile, other fans waited in long lines outside toy and video stores nationwide for the countdown for the release of "Halo 2." Some even dressed in costume -- all right. More than 1.5 million copies of the game were pre-ordered at 50 bucks a pop. You do the math -- $75 million its opening day sales.
SANCHEZ: One day. One day.
KAGAN: Does not stink.
SANCHEZ: Seventy-five million dollars in 24 hours. Rhonda Schaffler, you say what?
RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Can you imagine?
SANCHEZ: Good gosh.
KAGAN: Ch-ching!
SCHAFFLER: That's a lot of money. You're able to have green hair when you have that kind of money.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, or any other kind of hair.
SCHAFFLER: You see that guy? (STOCK MARKET UPDATE)
SANCHEZ: All right. Go play them videogames. I know you're a huge fan, right?
SCHAFFLER: Of course.
SANCHEZ: Thanks, Rhonda.
KAGAN: Well, mother always told you to say you're sorry.
SANCHEZ: But did she really mean you had to apologize to the entire world for something you didn't even do? Well, these people -- these people think so. Who are they? Stick around, we'll tell you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: One week after a cliffhanger of a presidential race, a reminder to a bitterly divided nation. To the victor, as you've heard, go the spoils. From the conquered come the apologies?
CNN's Jeanne Moos takes us to a Web site that begs for attention and, for some reason, for forgiveness.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The presidential election was sure no love story.
ALI MACGRAW, ACTRESS: Love means never having to say you're sorry.
MOOS: Some people are so sorry about the outcome of the election that the losers are apologizing to the rest of the world.
JAMES ZETLEN, SORRYEVERYBODY.COM: It says, "Sorry, world, we tried."
MOOS: Signed half of America.
Neuroscience student James Zetlen took this picture, put it on a Web site called Sorry Everybody, and hundreds of other apologies poured in.
"Sorry, world, we deserve it. You don't."
"Sorry, world, at least you don't have to live with him."
"Sorry, world, scientists are sad, too."
Some said sorry over and over and over again.
ZETLEN: That's my girlfriend.
MOOS: Florida seniors are sorry. Parents made their kids say they're sorry. Jesus is portrayed as sorry. Apparently even chihuahuas are saying sorry, amigos.
"I am sorry that I'm smarter than 59 million Americans. PS, my brain is the size of a walnut."
It's one thing for the British press to call Americans dummies, but now Americans are beseeching the rest of the world, "Please don't give up on us."
"You youngsters will have a lot to have sorry about. At least we don't have to live much longer."
An apology made out of candy, cookies, and crackers makes you want to eat your words. Gee, wonder if the Web site is getting much hate mail?
ZETLEN: Plenty.
MOOS: Irate Bush supporters have taken Zetlen's head and replaced it with Saddam Hussein's.
ZETLEN: Well, they've changed my sign to say a lot of things. My favorite was, "Sorry, world, for this pathetic attempt to get French chicks."
Some apologists are upbeat -- "Sorry, y'all, we'll do better next time."
"My dad is a Republican, and for this, I apologize."
Occasionally, someone from the rest of the world accepts the apologies.
(on camera): And to all of those who voted for President Bush...
(voice-over): Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Sorry for this sorry excuse for a story.
KAGAN: (INAUDIBLE) a whole lot of people out there who are happy.
SANCHEZ: Fifty-one percent to 48 percent.
KAGAN: There you go.
Can I just take this moment to wish my mother a happy birthday?
SANCHEZ: Oh, that's nice of you.
KAGAN: Happy birthday, mom.
SANCHEZ: Yeah. And she's out there in the place that really cares about the weather on a day like this.
KAGAN: L.A. they don't care about the weather. Everyday is beautiful in L.A.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. Happy birthday.
KAGAN: Happy birthday...
JERAS: She's a lovely woman. I got to meet her a couple weeks ago.
KAGAN: Our mothers went to a breast cancer survivors tea -- Jacqui's mother and my mother.
SANCHEZ: You know, it's funny because they didn't put Jacqui's picture up, and we were just hearing her voice. Somebody might have thought it was your mother that was...
JERAS: Surprise, she's on the phone. No.
SANCHEZ: Thank you, Daryn.
What's up, Jacqui?
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: Thank you, Jacqui.
SANCHEZ: That was nice of you to do that. Isn't that nice, Jacqui, for her to, you know, mention her mother like that?
JERAS: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: What a wonderful person you are.
KAGAN: She's a nice lady.
SANCHEZ: Yeah.
KAGAN: Yeah.
SANCHEZ: Hey, by the way, what's New York going to be like? I may have missed that part of it, but I may need to go there soon.
JERAS: Really, well, when? You mean like tomorrow you want to know like a week from now?
SANCHEZ: Like Friday.
JERAS: Like Friday.
KAGAN: We're both going on Friday.
JERAS: Actually, there's another shot of cold air that's going to be heading across the northeast by the weekend. Tomorrow's going to be the coldest one that we're going to see this week, and then you'll warm up the next couple of days. But by the weekend, you're going to start to cool down again. So, bring some sweaters.
SANCHEZ: OK.
KAGAN: Pack your coats.
SANCHEZ: None of the white stuff yet, though.
JERAS: Not yet.
SANCHEZ: A little too early.
JERAS: Not in the city.
KAGAN: Jacqui, thank you.
JERAS: Yes.
KAGAN: I think that means we're done.
SANCHEZ: We are, indeed.
KAGAN: I'm Daryn Kagan, along with Rick Sanchez. We toss it to our colleague with respect to Wolf Blitzer.
SANCHEZ: Hi, Wolf.
KAGAN: Hi, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Daryn. Thanks very much, Rick.
Unfolding here in Washington, around the country, around the world, lots of stories we're following, including the battle of Falluja -- a life and death struggle for American troops and for Iraq. We're live from the front lines with expert analysis right here at home, as well.
Also, the last days -- perhaps only the last hours -- of Yasser Arafat. We'll consider what's next for the Middle East after he's gone.
A busy hour ahead, indeed. First, though, some other headlines now in the news.
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