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CNN Live Today

Closing Armor Gap; Okinawa Longevity Secrets; Kojo Annan Decries 'Witch-Hunt' Against U.N.

Aired December 14, 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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are on the half hour. Good morning, once again, I'm Daryn Kagan.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rick Sanchez. And here is what's happening right now in the news.

In about an hour, at a ceremony at the White House, President Bush is going to award the Medal of Freedom to some very familiar names: ex-CIA chief George Tenet, former Iraq administrator Paul Bremer and retired General Tommy Franks are recipients. The Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest honor given to a civilian.

A new call for peace in the Middle East. Former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said that the armed uprising against Israel is a mistake and he's calling for it to end. Abbas is a front- runner to succeed Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat in elections slated for next month.

Michael Jackson's lawyers want more time, they say. Mr. Jackson's attorneys filed motions seeking a delay in the pop star's January trial on child molestation charges. Jackson's lawyers are also looking to suppress evidence seized during a surprise search of the pop star's Neverland Ranch.

Scholars and trivia buffs can celebrate, finding that rare manuscript passage is about to get easier. Google is announcing that it will add books from five major libraries into its online search engine. The libraries at Harvard, Stanford, University of Michigan, Oxford University and the New York Public Library are all slated to participate.

KAGAN: And now to Iraq where insurgents have been stepping up their attacks ahead of next month's elections. The U.S. military announced two Marines were killed yesterday while conducting security operations near Baghdad. No other details on the circumstances surrounding their deaths have been released.

In Baghdad two Iraqis were killed and 13 wounded after insurgents set off a deadly car bomb near Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. It's a second deadly attack on the area in two days. Some of the injured claim the attack was a suicide bombing.

And the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Richard Myers, is in Baghdad. Part of Myers' mission is to boost troop morale. And he's brought along some help. The general will emcee a show for the troops that includes Robin Williams, retired Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway and model Leeann Tweeden.

SANCHEZ: During a recent visit to Kuwait, I'm sure you heard, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld faced a now famous question, why should soldiers with ill-equipped vehicles, he was asked, have to scavenge trash heaps in Iraq for armor to protect themselves? Well, now others are asking, are all of the troops getting all that they need to try and protect themselves over there? Here's the story of one factory in Texas is now working to see that they are.

This is an Ed Lavandera story.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Workers at the Red River Army Depot are transporting chunks of steel and metal back into war fighting machines. This defense complex in northeast Texas is one of five depots nationwide responsible for what the Army calls resetting the force. That means turning bullet riddled, war-weary debris back into battle-ready military trucks in less than 100 days.

DENNIS LEWIS, RED RIVER ARMY DEPOT: These are extreme cases of battlefield damage. Not all of these vehicles that are in this particular line can be repaired.

LAVANDERA: The demand intensified so much over the last year that 600 new workers have been hired to keep up with the demand of a 24-hour a day, 7-day a week production line. Commanders forecast work on about 1300 vehicles for 2005 fiscal year, but already that number is predicted to hit 5,000.

COL. MICHAEL CERVONE, COMMANDER, RED RIVER ARMY DEPOT: I've told the workforce to be prepared to have to hold this pace for another two, two-and-a-half years.

LAVANDERA: But some soldiers can't wait for their gear to be repaired. With missions to complete, they must scrounge the Iraqi landscape and terrain for equipment to patch together the Army equipment they do have. And some have paid the penalty. Darrell Birt and five other National Guard reservists face a military court-martial on charges of theft for doing in the field what the Army is doing warp speed in Texas, in this case scavenging two trailers and two tractors and stripping parts from a five-ton truck that had been abandoned in Kuwait by other units that they had already moved into Iraq; equipment their unit needed to complete a fuel delivery mission.

DARRELL BIRT, COURT-MARTIALED SOLDIER: This is not for Darrell Birt to have his own personal vehicle to cruise around in Iraq and see the countryside. This is to put the 656 in the fight and sustain us in the fight. And we did our job.

LAVANDERA: The six men have been dishonorably discharged and themselves stripped of all military benefits. Some have also lost civilian jobs. Meanwhile at the Red River Army Depot some of the most crucial work is under way in this warehouse. Workers are putting the final touches on armor kits for humvees that will be used in Iraq. Orders for thousands have been made for this year.

CERVONE: This (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as quick as nine days so in 10 to 14 days this kit could be on a truck.

LAVANDERA: Every day the lots here fill with more broken down battered military vehicles. The names of soldiers still etched in the glass, a reminder this isn't a story about scraps of metal and steel. It's about the soldiers that depend on the metal and sometimes stealing to get the mission done.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Texarkana, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: The soldiers' fight for armor is just one of the issues being discussed as many assess the current situation in Iraq. Another important issue, troop morale. Joining me now from Phoenix, Arizona, is retired Air Force Major General Don Shepperd. He is a CNN military analyst.

General, good morning.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: I want to start with a couple articles that have appeared in USA Today over the last couple of days. It was looking at the death rate among soldiers in the Army National Guard versus the regular Army. They're changing the numbers, they're not really sure the point they're trying to make. But coming around to the training and looking at the training that a National Guard Army member gets versus a regular member of the Army, is it equivalent and is it enough?

SHEPPERD: It is equivalent, Daryn. Whether it's enough or not depends on the day, it depends on when you get there, how experienced you are, how good your unit is, how good your leadership is, and how good the tactics are. The thing that set this all off was the article in the USA Today yesterday that claimed that the National Guard was suffering casualties at about twice the rate of active duty.

The figures were incorrect. That's not true. They were using a figure of 40,000 National Guard troops when actually the figure was 90,000. And National Guard is actually experiencing casualties at less rate than the active duty. Although those are really not fair or important measures, Daryn.

KAGAN: But we should say the article was based, in fairness to USA Today, on numbers that was provided by the U.S. military. Looking at -- though what the Guard and reserve members are doing, they are doing some of the most dangerous jobs, including driving convoys and a lot of protection and guarding jobs, as well.

SHEPPERD: Yes. We used to think that driving trucks was no big deal. It's a big deal in Iraq. And that's what a lot of the reserve forces are in these transportation units. They're in military police units that are guarding facilities. So they do have dangerous jobs. But again they have excellent training. Many of them have come out of active duty and are finishing their careers in the Guard and reserve forces. They're well trained and they're well led. And when they get to the theater it takes awhile to get accustomed.

And just as important as the equipment, which is receiving a lot of attention, is the tactics that these people use. And those tactics come through lessons learned that are fed on almost a daily basis through the Pentagon to try to get our folks up to speed and prevent the casualties that we're seeing, Daryn.

KAGAN: And also right up there, I would think, as important, would be troop morale. Many of them staying longer, doing jobs that perhaps even though it was presented as a possibility when they signed up to be Guard members they really didn't consider what was really going to happen, staying a year or longer away from their families and their regular jobs.

SHEPPERD: Yes. It's not a good news story for either Guard, reserve or the active duty. Because of the stress on the military, the smaller military, the high demand in Iraq and other places, many of these troops have been extended beyond what they thought they were going to do. They have been told they were going to come home. They've been extended for as much as six months in some cases.

And in the case of the Guard and reserve we're ploughing new ground. They used to be strategic reserve for the big war, when the war was over they came home. Now they're becoming regular soldiers with regular deployments on a periodic basis. And this is tough new ground we're going to have to learn how to do. Has an effect on retention as well as -- retention and recruiting as well as morale.

KAGAN: Which was my quick last question, what about recruitment? When word spreads that this is what you're really in for, how hard is it to recruit new members into the National Guard?

SHEPPERD: Yes. Again, a little complicated. But recruitment is only one factor. End strength is what you want to focus on. And that's a combination of recruitment retention and budget as well as congressionally authorized (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Right now it's a manageable situation. As this goes on longer recruitment is going to continue to suffer and retention becomes the real focus. Retention is going very, very well in the Guard and reserve. Recruitment is hurting right now.

KAGAN: General Don Shepperd, General, always a pleasure, thank you.

SHEPPERD: You bet, Daryn.

SANCHEZ: You go to the video store, a place like Blockbuster, for example, and you rent a movie. A great movie. And then a week later you realize it's still in the machine and you were supposed to have turned it in. Blockbuster is going to establish a new policy. Will it help you or will it hurt you? We're not going to say yet.

KAGAN: Really? Because half my salary goes to late fees at the video store. We're going to look at that.

Plus some of the world's oldest residents share their secret for longevity. We go to Japan with Bill Hemmer, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: All right, about those late fees that we were speaking about just moments ago, the people from Blockbuster are changing their policy. The company is now announcing it's going to eliminate the late fees for videos, DVDs and video games beginning January 1st. That means Blockbuster will still have due dates, of course, but now there will be a one-week grace period. So you've got one week to figure it all out and get it together. After that one-week grace period, the company says it will automatically sell the customer the product.

KAGAN: Which means I will be buying many DVDs.

SANCHEZ: I don't know if that's good or bad.

KAGAN: I have a hard time getting them back to the video store. It's right around the block. I don't know. I can't tell you what my issue is with that.

SANCHEZ: Tie a ribbon around it like you do with your luggage or something.

KAGAN: Something like that.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: We're going to go to a place now where a lot of people live to be 100 years old.

SANCHEZ: Wow.

KAGAN: Okinawa, Japan. In fact, there are more 100-year-olds there than in any other city in the world. Is it something in the water? Apparently it has to do actually with a lack of stress.

Our Atika Shubert explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Guess how old Makata Nakamasu (ph) is? Seventy? Eighty? Ninety, maybe? Try 100 years old. This spritely great grandmother of 13 is just one of more than 800 centenarians living in Okinawa. The largest verifiable and healthiest concentration of 100-year-olds in the world.

On the islands of Okinawa, diseases like cancer, diabetes and hypertension are rare. Healthy seniors are seen actively at work, fishing and farming, seemingly immune to old age.

(on camera): Okinawans are the world's oldest and healthiest people. And part of the secret, it seems, is right on this fishing boat. Elderly fishermen who work late into their lives, and of course eat the daily catch, and that turns out to be part of the secret of the Okinawan Fountain of Youth, staying active and eating well. (voice-over): That, according to Dr. Craig Wilcox, who has studied Okinawa's centenarians for more than a decade.

DR. CRAIG WILCOX, STUDIED CENTENARIANS: I think they just came up with the right formula, Okinawa. They're doing a lot to either avoid or delay these diseases associated with aging.

SHUBERT: We asked Dr. Wilcox to show us how the Okinawans do it. He took us to the market.

WILCOX: Let's have a look at this. Wow. See that purple color?

SHUBERT: First, eat lots of colorful fruits and veggies. That means carbs, too, but unrefined, brown rice or whole wheat.

WILCOX: The traditional diet is very vegetable heavy. Over 70 percent of the daily caloric intake came from vegetables.

SHUBERT: Second, eat moderate portions of protein, especially heart healthy fish and tofu. But also a surprising Okinawan favorite, pork, but just a little.

WILCOX: The way that this is prepared in a traditional Okinawan style would be to boil this down and keep pouring it off until you pour off all the fat.

SHUBERT: Third, follow Okinawan table etiquette, eat until you're 80 percent full, no more. That keeps calories in check. Is that the secret to Nakamasu's exuberant good health? She's certainly happy to share her healthy lunch, but also recommends daily exercises.

Apparently, when you live past 100, you know some pretty good dance moves. And if you do all that, she says, she'll come visit you when you turn 100.

Atika Shubert, CNN, Okinawa, Japan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Our own Bill Hemmer is in Tokyo this week. He looks more like he's 20 than 100. But tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING, he'll talk with Japan's prime minister about his relationship with President Bush, about North Korea, and with Iraq.

SANCHEZ: Got to love the dance though, huh?

KAGAN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Saying it's all part of a witch-hunt, Kofi Annan's son comments on the oil for food investigation. We're going to have his comments for you right here, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Daryn Kagan. The Bush administration is looking to oust the chief of the International atomic Energy Agency. Mohamed ElBaradei has headed the U.N. agency since 1997. ElBaradei allegedly ran afoul of the Bush administration after he reported progress in U.N. weapons inspections in Iraq while President Bush was trying to rally support for the war which overthrew Saddam Hussein.

SANCHEZ: The son of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says that he's never had any involvement in Iraq's Oil For Food program. That program is now being investigated for alleged mismanagement. Kojo Annan hadn't personally commented on this investigation, until now.

Our Jeff Koinange has more in this exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kojo Annan is the 31-year-old son of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, from Annan's first marriage. The younger Annan lives in a townhouse here in Lagos, the bustling commercial capital of Nigeria. He is a businessman and a bachelor, who enjoys traveling and whose financial interests stretch from Lagos to London.

But it's Kojo Annan's work for the Swiss multinational Cotecna that's haunting him. Cotecna profited from the Oil For Food Program, hired in 1998 to authenticate approved humanitarian goods shipments to Iraq. U.N. critics suspect the firm might have won the contract because of Kojo's U.N. connections.

Cotecna says that was not a factor and that it had been originally chosen to work for the U.N. in 1992.

CNN has tried repeatedly to get Kojo Annan to speak to us on camera, but he has refused, instead, issuing this statement to CNN saying he is cooperating with investigators. "I feel the whole issue has been a witch-hunt from day one, as part of a broader Republican political agenda."

Kojo Annan went to work for Cotecna fresh out of a British university in 1995. He and the firm insist his job was limited to the firm's activities in West Africa, working in the Nigeria office for four years. Kojo Annan says he was never involved in the firm's activities in Iraq, saying, "I have never participated directly or indirectly in any business related to the United Nations."

But even after Kojo Annan resigned from Cotecna, the firm kept him on its payroll until this February, in a non-compete agreement, preventing him from disclosing any confidential company information or working for the competition. For this, Cotecna paid him a total of $125,000 over four years.

The elder Annan has said he was unaware of the continuing payments and is disappointed they create a perception of conflict of interest.

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: He is a grown man and I don't get involved with his activities and he doesn't get involved in mine. KOINANGE: Kofi Annan says he's been in touch with his son and that Kojo is cooperating with investigators.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not aware that anything Kojo Annan did for Cotecna was illegal or improper. That's our perception.

KOINANGE: Meanwhile, Kojo Annan says the investigations, especially in Washington, aren't about him, but a deliberate attempt to bring down his father. "The rest of the world has shown their unwavering support for my father. What will the U.S. senators have to say if there is, as many over here in the rest of the world suspect, no substance to the allegations against my father and me?"

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Jeff Koinange with that exclusive report we should add once again.

KAGAN: From Africa.

It is the nation's highest civilian honor, and President Bush is just 30 minutes away from bestowing it upon three people who had prominent roles in the war in Iraq.

SANCHEZ: We're going to bring you the ceremony right here when it comes up. The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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


Aired December 14, 2004 - 10:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are on the half hour. Good morning, once again, I'm Daryn Kagan.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rick Sanchez. And here is what's happening right now in the news.

In about an hour, at a ceremony at the White House, President Bush is going to award the Medal of Freedom to some very familiar names: ex-CIA chief George Tenet, former Iraq administrator Paul Bremer and retired General Tommy Franks are recipients. The Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest honor given to a civilian.

A new call for peace in the Middle East. Former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said that the armed uprising against Israel is a mistake and he's calling for it to end. Abbas is a front- runner to succeed Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat in elections slated for next month.

Michael Jackson's lawyers want more time, they say. Mr. Jackson's attorneys filed motions seeking a delay in the pop star's January trial on child molestation charges. Jackson's lawyers are also looking to suppress evidence seized during a surprise search of the pop star's Neverland Ranch.

Scholars and trivia buffs can celebrate, finding that rare manuscript passage is about to get easier. Google is announcing that it will add books from five major libraries into its online search engine. The libraries at Harvard, Stanford, University of Michigan, Oxford University and the New York Public Library are all slated to participate.

KAGAN: And now to Iraq where insurgents have been stepping up their attacks ahead of next month's elections. The U.S. military announced two Marines were killed yesterday while conducting security operations near Baghdad. No other details on the circumstances surrounding their deaths have been released.

In Baghdad two Iraqis were killed and 13 wounded after insurgents set off a deadly car bomb near Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. It's a second deadly attack on the area in two days. Some of the injured claim the attack was a suicide bombing.

And the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Richard Myers, is in Baghdad. Part of Myers' mission is to boost troop morale. And he's brought along some help. The general will emcee a show for the troops that includes Robin Williams, retired Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway and model Leeann Tweeden.

SANCHEZ: During a recent visit to Kuwait, I'm sure you heard, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld faced a now famous question, why should soldiers with ill-equipped vehicles, he was asked, have to scavenge trash heaps in Iraq for armor to protect themselves? Well, now others are asking, are all of the troops getting all that they need to try and protect themselves over there? Here's the story of one factory in Texas is now working to see that they are.

This is an Ed Lavandera story.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Workers at the Red River Army Depot are transporting chunks of steel and metal back into war fighting machines. This defense complex in northeast Texas is one of five depots nationwide responsible for what the Army calls resetting the force. That means turning bullet riddled, war-weary debris back into battle-ready military trucks in less than 100 days.

DENNIS LEWIS, RED RIVER ARMY DEPOT: These are extreme cases of battlefield damage. Not all of these vehicles that are in this particular line can be repaired.

LAVANDERA: The demand intensified so much over the last year that 600 new workers have been hired to keep up with the demand of a 24-hour a day, 7-day a week production line. Commanders forecast work on about 1300 vehicles for 2005 fiscal year, but already that number is predicted to hit 5,000.

COL. MICHAEL CERVONE, COMMANDER, RED RIVER ARMY DEPOT: I've told the workforce to be prepared to have to hold this pace for another two, two-and-a-half years.

LAVANDERA: But some soldiers can't wait for their gear to be repaired. With missions to complete, they must scrounge the Iraqi landscape and terrain for equipment to patch together the Army equipment they do have. And some have paid the penalty. Darrell Birt and five other National Guard reservists face a military court-martial on charges of theft for doing in the field what the Army is doing warp speed in Texas, in this case scavenging two trailers and two tractors and stripping parts from a five-ton truck that had been abandoned in Kuwait by other units that they had already moved into Iraq; equipment their unit needed to complete a fuel delivery mission.

DARRELL BIRT, COURT-MARTIALED SOLDIER: This is not for Darrell Birt to have his own personal vehicle to cruise around in Iraq and see the countryside. This is to put the 656 in the fight and sustain us in the fight. And we did our job.

LAVANDERA: The six men have been dishonorably discharged and themselves stripped of all military benefits. Some have also lost civilian jobs. Meanwhile at the Red River Army Depot some of the most crucial work is under way in this warehouse. Workers are putting the final touches on armor kits for humvees that will be used in Iraq. Orders for thousands have been made for this year.

CERVONE: This (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as quick as nine days so in 10 to 14 days this kit could be on a truck.

LAVANDERA: Every day the lots here fill with more broken down battered military vehicles. The names of soldiers still etched in the glass, a reminder this isn't a story about scraps of metal and steel. It's about the soldiers that depend on the metal and sometimes stealing to get the mission done.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Texarkana, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: The soldiers' fight for armor is just one of the issues being discussed as many assess the current situation in Iraq. Another important issue, troop morale. Joining me now from Phoenix, Arizona, is retired Air Force Major General Don Shepperd. He is a CNN military analyst.

General, good morning.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: I want to start with a couple articles that have appeared in USA Today over the last couple of days. It was looking at the death rate among soldiers in the Army National Guard versus the regular Army. They're changing the numbers, they're not really sure the point they're trying to make. But coming around to the training and looking at the training that a National Guard Army member gets versus a regular member of the Army, is it equivalent and is it enough?

SHEPPERD: It is equivalent, Daryn. Whether it's enough or not depends on the day, it depends on when you get there, how experienced you are, how good your unit is, how good your leadership is, and how good the tactics are. The thing that set this all off was the article in the USA Today yesterday that claimed that the National Guard was suffering casualties at about twice the rate of active duty.

The figures were incorrect. That's not true. They were using a figure of 40,000 National Guard troops when actually the figure was 90,000. And National Guard is actually experiencing casualties at less rate than the active duty. Although those are really not fair or important measures, Daryn.

KAGAN: But we should say the article was based, in fairness to USA Today, on numbers that was provided by the U.S. military. Looking at -- though what the Guard and reserve members are doing, they are doing some of the most dangerous jobs, including driving convoys and a lot of protection and guarding jobs, as well.

SHEPPERD: Yes. We used to think that driving trucks was no big deal. It's a big deal in Iraq. And that's what a lot of the reserve forces are in these transportation units. They're in military police units that are guarding facilities. So they do have dangerous jobs. But again they have excellent training. Many of them have come out of active duty and are finishing their careers in the Guard and reserve forces. They're well trained and they're well led. And when they get to the theater it takes awhile to get accustomed.

And just as important as the equipment, which is receiving a lot of attention, is the tactics that these people use. And those tactics come through lessons learned that are fed on almost a daily basis through the Pentagon to try to get our folks up to speed and prevent the casualties that we're seeing, Daryn.

KAGAN: And also right up there, I would think, as important, would be troop morale. Many of them staying longer, doing jobs that perhaps even though it was presented as a possibility when they signed up to be Guard members they really didn't consider what was really going to happen, staying a year or longer away from their families and their regular jobs.

SHEPPERD: Yes. It's not a good news story for either Guard, reserve or the active duty. Because of the stress on the military, the smaller military, the high demand in Iraq and other places, many of these troops have been extended beyond what they thought they were going to do. They have been told they were going to come home. They've been extended for as much as six months in some cases.

And in the case of the Guard and reserve we're ploughing new ground. They used to be strategic reserve for the big war, when the war was over they came home. Now they're becoming regular soldiers with regular deployments on a periodic basis. And this is tough new ground we're going to have to learn how to do. Has an effect on retention as well as -- retention and recruiting as well as morale.

KAGAN: Which was my quick last question, what about recruitment? When word spreads that this is what you're really in for, how hard is it to recruit new members into the National Guard?

SHEPPERD: Yes. Again, a little complicated. But recruitment is only one factor. End strength is what you want to focus on. And that's a combination of recruitment retention and budget as well as congressionally authorized (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Right now it's a manageable situation. As this goes on longer recruitment is going to continue to suffer and retention becomes the real focus. Retention is going very, very well in the Guard and reserve. Recruitment is hurting right now.

KAGAN: General Don Shepperd, General, always a pleasure, thank you.

SHEPPERD: You bet, Daryn.

SANCHEZ: You go to the video store, a place like Blockbuster, for example, and you rent a movie. A great movie. And then a week later you realize it's still in the machine and you were supposed to have turned it in. Blockbuster is going to establish a new policy. Will it help you or will it hurt you? We're not going to say yet.

KAGAN: Really? Because half my salary goes to late fees at the video store. We're going to look at that.

Plus some of the world's oldest residents share their secret for longevity. We go to Japan with Bill Hemmer, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: All right, about those late fees that we were speaking about just moments ago, the people from Blockbuster are changing their policy. The company is now announcing it's going to eliminate the late fees for videos, DVDs and video games beginning January 1st. That means Blockbuster will still have due dates, of course, but now there will be a one-week grace period. So you've got one week to figure it all out and get it together. After that one-week grace period, the company says it will automatically sell the customer the product.

KAGAN: Which means I will be buying many DVDs.

SANCHEZ: I don't know if that's good or bad.

KAGAN: I have a hard time getting them back to the video store. It's right around the block. I don't know. I can't tell you what my issue is with that.

SANCHEZ: Tie a ribbon around it like you do with your luggage or something.

KAGAN: Something like that.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: We're going to go to a place now where a lot of people live to be 100 years old.

SANCHEZ: Wow.

KAGAN: Okinawa, Japan. In fact, there are more 100-year-olds there than in any other city in the world. Is it something in the water? Apparently it has to do actually with a lack of stress.

Our Atika Shubert explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Guess how old Makata Nakamasu (ph) is? Seventy? Eighty? Ninety, maybe? Try 100 years old. This spritely great grandmother of 13 is just one of more than 800 centenarians living in Okinawa. The largest verifiable and healthiest concentration of 100-year-olds in the world.

On the islands of Okinawa, diseases like cancer, diabetes and hypertension are rare. Healthy seniors are seen actively at work, fishing and farming, seemingly immune to old age.

(on camera): Okinawans are the world's oldest and healthiest people. And part of the secret, it seems, is right on this fishing boat. Elderly fishermen who work late into their lives, and of course eat the daily catch, and that turns out to be part of the secret of the Okinawan Fountain of Youth, staying active and eating well. (voice-over): That, according to Dr. Craig Wilcox, who has studied Okinawa's centenarians for more than a decade.

DR. CRAIG WILCOX, STUDIED CENTENARIANS: I think they just came up with the right formula, Okinawa. They're doing a lot to either avoid or delay these diseases associated with aging.

SHUBERT: We asked Dr. Wilcox to show us how the Okinawans do it. He took us to the market.

WILCOX: Let's have a look at this. Wow. See that purple color?

SHUBERT: First, eat lots of colorful fruits and veggies. That means carbs, too, but unrefined, brown rice or whole wheat.

WILCOX: The traditional diet is very vegetable heavy. Over 70 percent of the daily caloric intake came from vegetables.

SHUBERT: Second, eat moderate portions of protein, especially heart healthy fish and tofu. But also a surprising Okinawan favorite, pork, but just a little.

WILCOX: The way that this is prepared in a traditional Okinawan style would be to boil this down and keep pouring it off until you pour off all the fat.

SHUBERT: Third, follow Okinawan table etiquette, eat until you're 80 percent full, no more. That keeps calories in check. Is that the secret to Nakamasu's exuberant good health? She's certainly happy to share her healthy lunch, but also recommends daily exercises.

Apparently, when you live past 100, you know some pretty good dance moves. And if you do all that, she says, she'll come visit you when you turn 100.

Atika Shubert, CNN, Okinawa, Japan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Our own Bill Hemmer is in Tokyo this week. He looks more like he's 20 than 100. But tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING, he'll talk with Japan's prime minister about his relationship with President Bush, about North Korea, and with Iraq.

SANCHEZ: Got to love the dance though, huh?

KAGAN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Saying it's all part of a witch-hunt, Kofi Annan's son comments on the oil for food investigation. We're going to have his comments for you right here, coming up.

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KAGAN: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Daryn Kagan. The Bush administration is looking to oust the chief of the International atomic Energy Agency. Mohamed ElBaradei has headed the U.N. agency since 1997. ElBaradei allegedly ran afoul of the Bush administration after he reported progress in U.N. weapons inspections in Iraq while President Bush was trying to rally support for the war which overthrew Saddam Hussein.

SANCHEZ: The son of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says that he's never had any involvement in Iraq's Oil For Food program. That program is now being investigated for alleged mismanagement. Kojo Annan hadn't personally commented on this investigation, until now.

Our Jeff Koinange has more in this exclusive report.

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JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kojo Annan is the 31-year-old son of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, from Annan's first marriage. The younger Annan lives in a townhouse here in Lagos, the bustling commercial capital of Nigeria. He is a businessman and a bachelor, who enjoys traveling and whose financial interests stretch from Lagos to London.

But it's Kojo Annan's work for the Swiss multinational Cotecna that's haunting him. Cotecna profited from the Oil For Food Program, hired in 1998 to authenticate approved humanitarian goods shipments to Iraq. U.N. critics suspect the firm might have won the contract because of Kojo's U.N. connections.

Cotecna says that was not a factor and that it had been originally chosen to work for the U.N. in 1992.

CNN has tried repeatedly to get Kojo Annan to speak to us on camera, but he has refused, instead, issuing this statement to CNN saying he is cooperating with investigators. "I feel the whole issue has been a witch-hunt from day one, as part of a broader Republican political agenda."

Kojo Annan went to work for Cotecna fresh out of a British university in 1995. He and the firm insist his job was limited to the firm's activities in West Africa, working in the Nigeria office for four years. Kojo Annan says he was never involved in the firm's activities in Iraq, saying, "I have never participated directly or indirectly in any business related to the United Nations."

But even after Kojo Annan resigned from Cotecna, the firm kept him on its payroll until this February, in a non-compete agreement, preventing him from disclosing any confidential company information or working for the competition. For this, Cotecna paid him a total of $125,000 over four years.

The elder Annan has said he was unaware of the continuing payments and is disappointed they create a perception of conflict of interest.

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: He is a grown man and I don't get involved with his activities and he doesn't get involved in mine. KOINANGE: Kofi Annan says he's been in touch with his son and that Kojo is cooperating with investigators.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not aware that anything Kojo Annan did for Cotecna was illegal or improper. That's our perception.

KOINANGE: Meanwhile, Kojo Annan says the investigations, especially in Washington, aren't about him, but a deliberate attempt to bring down his father. "The rest of the world has shown their unwavering support for my father. What will the U.S. senators have to say if there is, as many over here in the rest of the world suspect, no substance to the allegations against my father and me?"

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Jeff Koinange with that exclusive report we should add once again.

KAGAN: From Africa.

It is the nation's highest civilian honor, and President Bush is just 30 minutes away from bestowing it upon three people who had prominent roles in the war in Iraq.

SANCHEZ: We're going to bring you the ceremony right here when it comes up. The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right after the break.

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