Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Special Forces Accused of Threatening Pentagon Employees Who Witnessed Prisoner Abuse

Aired December 08, 2004 - 10:30   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: Here we are at the midway point. It is 30 minutes after the hour, and I'm Rick Sanchez.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Daryn Kagan. Let's take a look at what's happening now in the news.

At the top of the hour, we expect to hear from one of the House Republicans who earlier blocked a vote on intelligence reform. Congressman James Sensenbrenner will discuss his lingering concerns over immigration issues, what he calls a recipe for disaster . CNN will carry his comments live.

Five weeks after the presidential election, two independent candidates are demanding recounts of the results in Ohio. The state clinched President Bush's reelection and declared that he defeated John Kerry by nearly 119,000 votes in Ohio. Despite reports of irregularities, no one is predicting a change in the outcome in Ohio.

Defense witnesses continue their portrayal of Scott Peterson as a kind and caring man, not the murderous monster described by prosecutors. Jurors will decide whether he should die for killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn son. Yesterday the presiding judge ruled that the jurors cannot consider the feelings of Scott Peterson's family when they make the decision.

To Maryland, investigators may have a lead to the arson fires that destroyed 10 homes and damaged 16 others. Arriving firefighters say they noticed a blue van leaving the subdivision, which is still under construction. A private security guard also reported seeing a van lingering in the site.

SANCHEZ: American special forces have been accused of threatening Pentagon employees who witnessed Iraqi prisoner abuse. The alleged harassment is detailed in newly released memos.

CNN's Barbara Starr with more now from the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a June 25th memo this year, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby, told the Pentagon his people in Iraq saw detainees that appeared to have been abused. Jacoby says it happened at the hands of Task Force 626, an elite special operations unit in Iraq working with detainees. Jacoby's memo reports, quote, "Prisoners arriving at the temporary detention facility in Baghdad with burn marks on their backs, some have bruises, and some complained of kidney pain."

DIA reported that special operations troops punched a prisoner in the face to the point of needing medical attention, medical attention that was never recorded. He says the special operations personnel then threatened his people, confiscated their car keys and told them not to leave their compound.

This was just one of several government documents now released by the American Civil Liberties Union in response to a freedom of information act request to the Pentagon, documents which show months of complaints about abuse coming from inside the national security community.

AMRIT SINGH, ACLU ATTORNEY: These documents, you know, are damning in terms of showing just, you know, just how far-ranging the abuse was.

STARR: In another DIA memo, an agency employee says special operations troops treated Iraqis, including detaining a young mother who was nursing an infant and had no information to offer.

This, one day after another document was released, in which the FBI complained to Army criminal investigators of harsh military interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including allegations a female sergeant bent a detainees thumbs and grabbed his genitals. A detainee was gagged with duct tape covering most of his head. And a dog, being used to intimidate a detainee, who was then isolated for three months, and exhibited extreme psychological trauma.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: And, Rick, what Pentagon officials say is that any specific allegations of wrongdoing are and will be investigated, but what we don't know yet is whether these specific allegations are under review -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Barbara Starr, following that story for us, from the Pentagon. We thank you, Barbara -- Daryn.

KAGAN: A former Air Force Academy cadet who says she was raped by a classmate is criticizing a Pentagon report on a sexual assault scandal at the academy. The report says academy commanders failed to recognize and deal with the seriousness of sexual assault against female cadets. The inspector-general's reports blames eight officers, and says 21 others acted appropriately. The form cadet says the officers who were exonerated were actually the ones who committed the wrongdoings.

CNN is working to keep you up to date on the national security watch. This hour, we're going to looking at food safety.

Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on one food poisoning attack that happened years before 9/11. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUE PROFFITT, SURVIVED FOOD POISONING: People started getting sick, you know, a few people and a few dozen people and a few hundred people.

Of course, people were on edge. No matter who you talked to, everyone was upset, and why can't we stop them? And you need to do this or do that.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twenty years ago, terrorism wasn't talked about very much, especially not in small Northwest towns like The Dalles, Oregon. But it was there in 1984 that the Rajneesh cult deliberately poisoned 750 people in 10 restaurants in two counties. Their goal: To poison voters who might vote against the cult's candidate. The outcome? Lots of very sick people.

The culprit was salmonella, a potentially lethal bacteria that was added to dressings and salads.

DR. BOB LAWRENCE, JOHNS HOPKINS: The most common symptoms are vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, dehydration, and in fact it's the dehydration that usually ends up being the ultimate cause of death.

GUPTA: 64-year-old Sue Proffitt survived it.

PROFFITT: You feel like you're being kicked in the stomach about every 15 minutes.

GUPTA: The problem is, many experts believe it's still too easy.

LAWRENCE: The food supply is really very vulnerable.

GUPTA: Each year, 325,000 people are hospitalized because of food-borne contamination, and 5,000 eventually die. Most of those deaths are at the hands of e.coli and salmonella, as well as other bacteria. Most cases of food poisoning are not intentional, and many view it as an impractical weapon of mass terrorism.

LAWRENCE: It's very difficult to contaminate significant amounts of the food supply, because of the way we distribute it.

GUPTA: Which may be the reason we haven't seen a major food poisoning attack since those terrifying days in Oregon, 1984.

PROFFITT: We'll never be able to put it totally aside. It's always kind of there.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Question for you, who makes better boardroom decisions, men or women? You want to weigh in on that?

SANCHEZ: No, because then it wouldn't be a good tease. We're going to wait. I know the answer to that. Most guys do.

KAGAN: OK, well, there's a European study that's offering an answer.

SANCHEZ: Also, people are know to toss cigarettes, gum and trash out the windows, but not money. Still to come, robbers, pick one unusual way to ditch the evidence.

KAGAN: And later, ladies, who is your ideal man? Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington, Rick Sanchez? Still to come, tips on creating the perfect man.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

SANCHEZ: We're going to look at some of the stories making news from coast to coast. And we start with one that has to answer this question: what good does it do you to rob a bank if you're going to throw the money away?

KAGAN: I hate it -- this is a bad day at the office. Yes. Manteca, California, Northern California, crime does not pay there, especially when you toss the loot out the window. Some suspected bank robbers were apparently trying to get rid of the evidence by casting the cash to the wind. The video was captured by a camera mounted on a police car.

SANCHEZ: Takes all kinds. In Jefferson Parish (ph), Louisiana, an eight-year-old girl has been suspended for bringing Jell-o shots to school.

KAGAN: Bad idea.

SANCHEZ: It seems the youngster's mom sells a booze-filled version at a bar and suggested that she peddle some of the shots at the school...

KAGAN: Thanks, Mom.

SANCHEZ: ... to raise Christmas money. Mistake. Tests are under way to see if the students' shots contained alcohol indeed.

KAGAN: And a disturbing arrest in Farmington, North Carolina. A 73-year-old man, seen here posing as Santa Claus, is accused of inappropriately touching a child. Investigators say he was driving a middle schooler to a holiday event. He was dressed as Santa and she was in an elf costume.

SANCHEZ: There you go. Well, ladies, pull up a chair and get ready to take some notes. We're going to tell you how to remodel a man.

KAGAN: Got the book here. There's actually a book. Bruce Cameron, the author, joins me live with some must-have tips. Also, this is what we're working on for our next hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: There is a new study that issues a glowing assessment of women in charge of companies. According to the Cranfield School of Management, companies with women at the helm are outperforming those with male bosses. Here we go. The study found several advantages to women serving as top-level directors. They summarize, "Women generate richness and quality of ideas. They also better understand the needs of customers in the workforce. They also help make decisions based on wider viewpoints." Did you know? Daryn?

KAGAN: As a matter of fact, I did, Rick, but thank you very much. Speaking of men and women, parents took notice of the release of his first book, men take cover with the publication of the second. The title says it all: "How to Remodel a Man." But before female do- it-yourselfers grab a pen and paper, take note of this -- its author of the book-turned-TV-series, "Eight Simple Rules for Dating My Dating My Teenage Daughter."

W. Bruce Cameron joins me here in Atlanta. Good morning, it's great to have you here with us.

W. BRUCE CAMERON, AUTHOR, "HOW TO REMODEL A MAN": Good morning. It's great to be here. Yes.

KAGAN: Let me just start by asking you, is this news to men that they need to be remodeled?

CAMERON: Oh, they'll pretend like it's news every time they hear it.

KAGAN: This just in: changes need to be made. You did a little research of your own in finding out what kind of remodeling you needed to do.

CAMERON: Yes, that's right. I was pretty much told by the women in my life I needed to be changed. They'd been telling me that for quite some time.

KAGAN: You started listening. So you (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- you made a list of things that you thought you needed to be changed.

CAMERON: Well, I made a list of my faults. Yes.

KAGAN: Your faults. So we made a little graphic of this just to show a little difference in perspective. So, you came up with four.

CAMERON: Yes. Well, it took me all week.

KAGAN: Yes, and you came up with four. And then the women in your life?

CAMERON: Came up with 178.

KAGAN: Excellent. CAMERON: Yes. And, in fact, they're still coming in. They still leave messages on my voice machine, saying oh, got a couple more for ya.

KAGAN: Oh, and by the way, add this to the list. So you actually, though, since you were open, you have made some changes.

CAMERON: That's right. "How to Remodel a Man" is the story of my personal transition to changed man, which is, as I understand it, a work in progress, even though I keep saying I think today we're done. Today we're done.

KAGAN: No, no, no, as you say, a work in progress.

Now I was just taking a little informal survey of some of the women around the newsroom -- what do you need to change about your, man? One they came up with was driving, driving a man.

Yes, we're going to get to you in a moment.

CAMERON: Also interjecting themselves into conversations, that's another one.

KAGAN: That's it, we need to work on that one.

But what's the driving thing and asking for directions?

CAMERON: Well, men don't want to ask for directions.

KAGAN: Why not? Don't you want to get there as badly as we do?

CAMERON: But see, we're explorers, so we can never be lost. I mean, Lewis and Clark were not lost. So if you ask for directions, it implies that you're not doing your job, which is to explore.

KAGAN: They weren't lost until Sacagawea showed up, and they were OK.

Dress. Some women would like to change the way that their men dress.

CAMERON: Yes, well, most of the time men dress by wearing what worked before, and when we say before, we mean what worked yesterday, especially because it's usually on the floor in front of the hamper, and we can just pick it up and recall it to active duty, and we are out the door.

KAGAN: And the smell test is different for men?

CAMERON: The smell test. This is pretty interesting, because men believe that you can do the sniff test, or the smell test, with their clothing, and determine whether or not you should wear clothes. Of course the interesting thing is that they say, well, here's how you do it, you pretend to be wiping your nose on your shoulder, and then you can give a quick sniff test, as if wiping your nose on the shoulder is an acceptable thing to do. KAGAN: And somehow it seems to make sense.

CAMERON: Yes.

KAGAN: What would you say the biggest change is that you've made, as a remodeled man?

CAMERON: The biggest change is using these sunglass shoulders on the side of my head to actually process what woman are saying to me. That was a new experience for me, and it made me a little uncomfortable at first. It's called listening.

KAGAN: That's the word, yes. Big, big word, listening.

So this must have made some huge changes in your life?

CAMERON: Well, yes. I mean, I was really having trouble getting like a second date, because I would go on a first date, and I would tell the woman everything she needed to know to know that I was a wonderful guy, and that's a lot of information, so I would pretty much would monopolize the conversation.

KAGAN: Did that get past drinks?

CAMERON: Pretty much they would want to be in the witness protection program by the end of the evening. Yes, so what I learned is that actually you can have a conversation where the man can stop talking and the woman should be allowed to talk a little bit.

KAGAN: Really?

CAMERON: I know, it's radical, but it works.

KAGAN: Fascinating stuff. Now when you talk to the fellow members of your species, other men, and explain how this remodeling can be a good thing, how does that go over?

CAMERON: They're not buying it, no. So "How to Remodel a Man," there's a lot of tricks and manipulation in there, because that's what you need to do to sort of change men's behavior.

KAGAN: Excellent, so we're going to teach women of American how to manipulate?

CAMERON: That's kind of it, yes.

KAGAN: Even better.

And so as we were saying in the break, I would imagine the market for your book, "How to Remodel a Man," actually probably more women will be buying it.

CAMERON: It turns out that there's a whole group of people out there who would like to change men, and let's just call them women.

KAGAN: Let's just do that. And with that, let's wish you well with your book.

Thank you very much.

Bruce Cameron, thanks for stopping by, and thanks for the tips.

CAMERON: You're welcome.

KAGAN: And now a man who needs absolutely no remodeling, Rick Sanchez.

SANCHEZ: Just toss it back to the model himself, he'll take it from here. Let me tell you a little bit about myself -- just kidding.

The ellipse is all aglow at the nation's capital. Still to come, the Menorah joins the National Christmas tree. We'll take you there. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: A sign of the season burning brightly -- actually, no, we're doing some...

SANCHEZ: We've got breaking news now. Apparently it's a commuter van; it fell hundreds of feet off the side of a mountain. As you can see, rescue crew is on the scene. We are told that there may be some people inside this particular vehicle. Don't know how many, don't know the circumstances that led up to this. Once again, this picture we're getting in from one of our television affiliates KTTV off of Los Angeles.

And, Daryn, you're certainly you're more familiar with this area than I am, if you know what area this is. Well, we're just getting information now that four people are confirmed dead as a result of this accident.

Don't know specifically where, do we?

KAGAN: It looks like right now they're trying to get somebody, a survivor, out of the crash.

SANCHEZ: Say again, the Angeles Forest.

KAGAN: Angeles Forest -- east of Los Angeles.

Yes, definitely they're trying to get somebody out of the driver's side there, as this rescue goes on. We're going to get more on this rescue operation as time goes on, and get some more pictures and some more information on exactly where it is and what possibly could have led to this crash.

SANCHEZ: It's always so difficult when you go in there and try to extricate those people, and they use that equipment that's called the jaws of life, that literally can bend the metal, so that they can get them out. But then at the same time, you have to be careful not to create further injuries. So we'll follow this for us. It certainly is something. (WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: America's pastime has turned into America's shape, and now it's the baseball player's turn to see if they can fix it themselves. We'll go live to Phoenix to hear about their progress.

SANCHEZ: Also, why winter is the most dangerous time of the year for those at risk for heart attacks. We'll tell you about this. The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now.

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 December 8, 2004 - 10:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Here we are at the midway point. It is 30 minutes after the hour, and I'm Rick Sanchez.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Daryn Kagan. Let's take a look at what's happening now in the news.

At the top of the hour, we expect to hear from one of the House Republicans who earlier blocked a vote on intelligence reform. Congressman James Sensenbrenner will discuss his lingering concerns over immigration issues, what he calls a recipe for disaster . CNN will carry his comments live.

Five weeks after the presidential election, two independent candidates are demanding recounts of the results in Ohio. The state clinched President Bush's reelection and declared that he defeated John Kerry by nearly 119,000 votes in Ohio. Despite reports of irregularities, no one is predicting a change in the outcome in Ohio.

Defense witnesses continue their portrayal of Scott Peterson as a kind and caring man, not the murderous monster described by prosecutors. Jurors will decide whether he should die for killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn son. Yesterday the presiding judge ruled that the jurors cannot consider the feelings of Scott Peterson's family when they make the decision.

To Maryland, investigators may have a lead to the arson fires that destroyed 10 homes and damaged 16 others. Arriving firefighters say they noticed a blue van leaving the subdivision, which is still under construction. A private security guard also reported seeing a van lingering in the site.

SANCHEZ: American special forces have been accused of threatening Pentagon employees who witnessed Iraqi prisoner abuse. The alleged harassment is detailed in newly released memos.

CNN's Barbara Starr with more now from the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a June 25th memo this year, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby, told the Pentagon his people in Iraq saw detainees that appeared to have been abused. Jacoby says it happened at the hands of Task Force 626, an elite special operations unit in Iraq working with detainees. Jacoby's memo reports, quote, "Prisoners arriving at the temporary detention facility in Baghdad with burn marks on their backs, some have bruises, and some complained of kidney pain."

DIA reported that special operations troops punched a prisoner in the face to the point of needing medical attention, medical attention that was never recorded. He says the special operations personnel then threatened his people, confiscated their car keys and told them not to leave their compound.

This was just one of several government documents now released by the American Civil Liberties Union in response to a freedom of information act request to the Pentagon, documents which show months of complaints about abuse coming from inside the national security community.

AMRIT SINGH, ACLU ATTORNEY: These documents, you know, are damning in terms of showing just, you know, just how far-ranging the abuse was.

STARR: In another DIA memo, an agency employee says special operations troops treated Iraqis, including detaining a young mother who was nursing an infant and had no information to offer.

This, one day after another document was released, in which the FBI complained to Army criminal investigators of harsh military interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including allegations a female sergeant bent a detainees thumbs and grabbed his genitals. A detainee was gagged with duct tape covering most of his head. And a dog, being used to intimidate a detainee, who was then isolated for three months, and exhibited extreme psychological trauma.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: And, Rick, what Pentagon officials say is that any specific allegations of wrongdoing are and will be investigated, but what we don't know yet is whether these specific allegations are under review -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Barbara Starr, following that story for us, from the Pentagon. We thank you, Barbara -- Daryn.

KAGAN: A former Air Force Academy cadet who says she was raped by a classmate is criticizing a Pentagon report on a sexual assault scandal at the academy. The report says academy commanders failed to recognize and deal with the seriousness of sexual assault against female cadets. The inspector-general's reports blames eight officers, and says 21 others acted appropriately. The form cadet says the officers who were exonerated were actually the ones who committed the wrongdoings.

CNN is working to keep you up to date on the national security watch. This hour, we're going to looking at food safety.

Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on one food poisoning attack that happened years before 9/11. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUE PROFFITT, SURVIVED FOOD POISONING: People started getting sick, you know, a few people and a few dozen people and a few hundred people.

Of course, people were on edge. No matter who you talked to, everyone was upset, and why can't we stop them? And you need to do this or do that.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twenty years ago, terrorism wasn't talked about very much, especially not in small Northwest towns like The Dalles, Oregon. But it was there in 1984 that the Rajneesh cult deliberately poisoned 750 people in 10 restaurants in two counties. Their goal: To poison voters who might vote against the cult's candidate. The outcome? Lots of very sick people.

The culprit was salmonella, a potentially lethal bacteria that was added to dressings and salads.

DR. BOB LAWRENCE, JOHNS HOPKINS: The most common symptoms are vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, dehydration, and in fact it's the dehydration that usually ends up being the ultimate cause of death.

GUPTA: 64-year-old Sue Proffitt survived it.

PROFFITT: You feel like you're being kicked in the stomach about every 15 minutes.

GUPTA: The problem is, many experts believe it's still too easy.

LAWRENCE: The food supply is really very vulnerable.

GUPTA: Each year, 325,000 people are hospitalized because of food-borne contamination, and 5,000 eventually die. Most of those deaths are at the hands of e.coli and salmonella, as well as other bacteria. Most cases of food poisoning are not intentional, and many view it as an impractical weapon of mass terrorism.

LAWRENCE: It's very difficult to contaminate significant amounts of the food supply, because of the way we distribute it.

GUPTA: Which may be the reason we haven't seen a major food poisoning attack since those terrifying days in Oregon, 1984.

PROFFITT: We'll never be able to put it totally aside. It's always kind of there.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Question for you, who makes better boardroom decisions, men or women? You want to weigh in on that?

SANCHEZ: No, because then it wouldn't be a good tease. We're going to wait. I know the answer to that. Most guys do.

KAGAN: OK, well, there's a European study that's offering an answer.

SANCHEZ: Also, people are know to toss cigarettes, gum and trash out the windows, but not money. Still to come, robbers, pick one unusual way to ditch the evidence.

KAGAN: And later, ladies, who is your ideal man? Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington, Rick Sanchez? Still to come, tips on creating the perfect man.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

SANCHEZ: We're going to look at some of the stories making news from coast to coast. And we start with one that has to answer this question: what good does it do you to rob a bank if you're going to throw the money away?

KAGAN: I hate it -- this is a bad day at the office. Yes. Manteca, California, Northern California, crime does not pay there, especially when you toss the loot out the window. Some suspected bank robbers were apparently trying to get rid of the evidence by casting the cash to the wind. The video was captured by a camera mounted on a police car.

SANCHEZ: Takes all kinds. In Jefferson Parish (ph), Louisiana, an eight-year-old girl has been suspended for bringing Jell-o shots to school.

KAGAN: Bad idea.

SANCHEZ: It seems the youngster's mom sells a booze-filled version at a bar and suggested that she peddle some of the shots at the school...

KAGAN: Thanks, Mom.

SANCHEZ: ... to raise Christmas money. Mistake. Tests are under way to see if the students' shots contained alcohol indeed.

KAGAN: And a disturbing arrest in Farmington, North Carolina. A 73-year-old man, seen here posing as Santa Claus, is accused of inappropriately touching a child. Investigators say he was driving a middle schooler to a holiday event. He was dressed as Santa and she was in an elf costume.

SANCHEZ: There you go. Well, ladies, pull up a chair and get ready to take some notes. We're going to tell you how to remodel a man.

KAGAN: Got the book here. There's actually a book. Bruce Cameron, the author, joins me live with some must-have tips. Also, this is what we're working on for our next hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: There is a new study that issues a glowing assessment of women in charge of companies. According to the Cranfield School of Management, companies with women at the helm are outperforming those with male bosses. Here we go. The study found several advantages to women serving as top-level directors. They summarize, "Women generate richness and quality of ideas. They also better understand the needs of customers in the workforce. They also help make decisions based on wider viewpoints." Did you know? Daryn?

KAGAN: As a matter of fact, I did, Rick, but thank you very much. Speaking of men and women, parents took notice of the release of his first book, men take cover with the publication of the second. The title says it all: "How to Remodel a Man." But before female do- it-yourselfers grab a pen and paper, take note of this -- its author of the book-turned-TV-series, "Eight Simple Rules for Dating My Dating My Teenage Daughter."

W. Bruce Cameron joins me here in Atlanta. Good morning, it's great to have you here with us.

W. BRUCE CAMERON, AUTHOR, "HOW TO REMODEL A MAN": Good morning. It's great to be here. Yes.

KAGAN: Let me just start by asking you, is this news to men that they need to be remodeled?

CAMERON: Oh, they'll pretend like it's news every time they hear it.

KAGAN: This just in: changes need to be made. You did a little research of your own in finding out what kind of remodeling you needed to do.

CAMERON: Yes, that's right. I was pretty much told by the women in my life I needed to be changed. They'd been telling me that for quite some time.

KAGAN: You started listening. So you (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- you made a list of things that you thought you needed to be changed.

CAMERON: Well, I made a list of my faults. Yes.

KAGAN: Your faults. So we made a little graphic of this just to show a little difference in perspective. So, you came up with four.

CAMERON: Yes. Well, it took me all week.

KAGAN: Yes, and you came up with four. And then the women in your life?

CAMERON: Came up with 178.

KAGAN: Excellent. CAMERON: Yes. And, in fact, they're still coming in. They still leave messages on my voice machine, saying oh, got a couple more for ya.

KAGAN: Oh, and by the way, add this to the list. So you actually, though, since you were open, you have made some changes.

CAMERON: That's right. "How to Remodel a Man" is the story of my personal transition to changed man, which is, as I understand it, a work in progress, even though I keep saying I think today we're done. Today we're done.

KAGAN: No, no, no, as you say, a work in progress.

Now I was just taking a little informal survey of some of the women around the newsroom -- what do you need to change about your, man? One they came up with was driving, driving a man.

Yes, we're going to get to you in a moment.

CAMERON: Also interjecting themselves into conversations, that's another one.

KAGAN: That's it, we need to work on that one.

But what's the driving thing and asking for directions?

CAMERON: Well, men don't want to ask for directions.

KAGAN: Why not? Don't you want to get there as badly as we do?

CAMERON: But see, we're explorers, so we can never be lost. I mean, Lewis and Clark were not lost. So if you ask for directions, it implies that you're not doing your job, which is to explore.

KAGAN: They weren't lost until Sacagawea showed up, and they were OK.

Dress. Some women would like to change the way that their men dress.

CAMERON: Yes, well, most of the time men dress by wearing what worked before, and when we say before, we mean what worked yesterday, especially because it's usually on the floor in front of the hamper, and we can just pick it up and recall it to active duty, and we are out the door.

KAGAN: And the smell test is different for men?

CAMERON: The smell test. This is pretty interesting, because men believe that you can do the sniff test, or the smell test, with their clothing, and determine whether or not you should wear clothes. Of course the interesting thing is that they say, well, here's how you do it, you pretend to be wiping your nose on your shoulder, and then you can give a quick sniff test, as if wiping your nose on the shoulder is an acceptable thing to do. KAGAN: And somehow it seems to make sense.

CAMERON: Yes.

KAGAN: What would you say the biggest change is that you've made, as a remodeled man?

CAMERON: The biggest change is using these sunglass shoulders on the side of my head to actually process what woman are saying to me. That was a new experience for me, and it made me a little uncomfortable at first. It's called listening.

KAGAN: That's the word, yes. Big, big word, listening.

So this must have made some huge changes in your life?

CAMERON: Well, yes. I mean, I was really having trouble getting like a second date, because I would go on a first date, and I would tell the woman everything she needed to know to know that I was a wonderful guy, and that's a lot of information, so I would pretty much would monopolize the conversation.

KAGAN: Did that get past drinks?

CAMERON: Pretty much they would want to be in the witness protection program by the end of the evening. Yes, so what I learned is that actually you can have a conversation where the man can stop talking and the woman should be allowed to talk a little bit.

KAGAN: Really?

CAMERON: I know, it's radical, but it works.

KAGAN: Fascinating stuff. Now when you talk to the fellow members of your species, other men, and explain how this remodeling can be a good thing, how does that go over?

CAMERON: They're not buying it, no. So "How to Remodel a Man," there's a lot of tricks and manipulation in there, because that's what you need to do to sort of change men's behavior.

KAGAN: Excellent, so we're going to teach women of American how to manipulate?

CAMERON: That's kind of it, yes.

KAGAN: Even better.

And so as we were saying in the break, I would imagine the market for your book, "How to Remodel a Man," actually probably more women will be buying it.

CAMERON: It turns out that there's a whole group of people out there who would like to change men, and let's just call them women.

KAGAN: Let's just do that. And with that, let's wish you well with your book.

Thank you very much.

Bruce Cameron, thanks for stopping by, and thanks for the tips.

CAMERON: You're welcome.

KAGAN: And now a man who needs absolutely no remodeling, Rick Sanchez.

SANCHEZ: Just toss it back to the model himself, he'll take it from here. Let me tell you a little bit about myself -- just kidding.

The ellipse is all aglow at the nation's capital. Still to come, the Menorah joins the National Christmas tree. We'll take you there. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: A sign of the season burning brightly -- actually, no, we're doing some...

SANCHEZ: We've got breaking news now. Apparently it's a commuter van; it fell hundreds of feet off the side of a mountain. As you can see, rescue crew is on the scene. We are told that there may be some people inside this particular vehicle. Don't know how many, don't know the circumstances that led up to this. Once again, this picture we're getting in from one of our television affiliates KTTV off of Los Angeles.

And, Daryn, you're certainly you're more familiar with this area than I am, if you know what area this is. Well, we're just getting information now that four people are confirmed dead as a result of this accident.

Don't know specifically where, do we?

KAGAN: It looks like right now they're trying to get somebody, a survivor, out of the crash.

SANCHEZ: Say again, the Angeles Forest.

KAGAN: Angeles Forest -- east of Los Angeles.

Yes, definitely they're trying to get somebody out of the driver's side there, as this rescue goes on. We're going to get more on this rescue operation as time goes on, and get some more pictures and some more information on exactly where it is and what possibly could have led to this crash.

SANCHEZ: It's always so difficult when you go in there and try to extricate those people, and they use that equipment that's called the jaws of life, that literally can bend the metal, so that they can get them out. But then at the same time, you have to be careful not to create further injuries. So we'll follow this for us. It certainly is something. (WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: America's pastime has turned into America's shape, and now it's the baseball player's turn to see if they can fix it themselves. We'll go live to Phoenix to hear about their progress.

SANCHEZ: Also, why winter is the most dangerous time of the year for those at risk for heart attacks. We'll tell you about this. The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now.

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