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Pro-Syrian Rally; Bush Updates Terror War; Doctors to Remove Scar Tissue, Fluid Around President Clinton's Heart
Aired March 08, 2005 - 11:01 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: And we are going to begin our next hour right now.
And here we go. On a busy day, here's a look at what's happening in the news.
China is also stepping up pressure on Taiwan. A bill introduced today would authorize military force to prevent Taiwan from formally declaring its independence. But a leading Chinese official says that force would be a last resort if efforts at reunification fail. We're going to be following that.
Also, FBI Director Robert Mueller is on Capitol Hill. He's there this morning. He's testifying before a House panel about budget issues and other matters that are facing the agency. But he was also expected to face some questions from lawmakers.
Polls have been opened for about an hour now in Los Angeles, California. There voters have been casting their ballots in a mayor's race. Incumbent James Hahn headed into today's vote fighting an uphill battle for a second term. Polls show him narrowly trailing two Democratic challengers, former state assembly speaker Bob Hertzberg and city councilman Antonio Villaraigosa as well.
Also, is al Qaeda trying to infiltrate U.S. spy agencies? There's a report in today's "Los Angeles Times," in fact, that says counterintelligence officials are concerned that they actually are.
According to the paper, about 40 applications at the intelligence agencies have been red-flagged and turned away for possible ties to terrorist groups. Several were for positions at the CIA itself.
And reports out of Russia say that rebel leader and former Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov has been killed. A spokesman did not elaborate except to say that he was killed in a special operations (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Moscow blamed Maskhadov in part for the Beslan school massacre last summer that so many agencies, CNN included, covered extensively. He had a $10 million price on his head.
And here we go. 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. out West. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Rick Sanchez.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.
We continue following a developing story, a number of stories developing today. If you were with us in the last hour, you saw President Bush give a speech on the war on terror. Also for the fight for democracy in the Middle East.
Let's get more on this. Our Dana Bash standing by at a -- good, we got you indoors because it's so snowy outside in Washington, D.C. Dana, good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
And you remember, of course, the president gave an inaugural address a little more than a month ago talking about the need for freedom around the world and the end of tyranny. But in that address he did not talk about the fact that that could be linked to fighting the war on terrorism.
Well, since then, of course the White House has seen what even some of its opponents call some remarkable changes, some small, some big, going on in the Middle East. And the goal of the speech that we just heard the president give was to try to seize on those changes and perhaps give it a little bit more momentum. And also, for the first time really in a broad way, link those changes to the possibility of stopping the rise of terrorism in some of those countries.
He said that the thaw has begun in terms of some movement towards democratic reforms. And he said that this is going to be a generational commitment in that region. But he warned the leaders, he said, are not necessarily going the way he wants them to, that they should see that this is something coming their way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The entire world has an urgent interest in the progress and hope and freedom in the broader Middle East. The advance of hope in the Middle East requires new thinking in the region. By now it should be clear that authoritarian rule is not the way of the future. It is the last gas of a discredited past.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: And we'll get back to Dana Bash at the White House. Right now we have breaking news on former President Bill Clinton.
Apparently the former president needing another procedure concerning his heart. Let's bring in Dr. Sanjay Gupta with more on what the president faces -- former president.
Good morning, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
Yes, hearing a lot about this, this morning. President Clinton probably going to have a procedure this week sometime to remove some fluid and some scar tissue from around his left chest, around the area where he previously had his operation, which was almost six months ago to the day.
The procedure is called decortication, fancy term basically for trying to get rid of some of that scar tissue, also drain some fluid. We hear, according to the press office, President Clinton's press office, that he was having some discomfort over the past few weeks. This discomfort sort of grew in intensity a bit, and that's why they went ahead and decided to go ahead and schedule this operation.
Again, this week. We don't have an exact day yet, but it should happen sometime this week.
What the operation will entail will actually be -- require general anesthesia. They'll actually have to make it so that his left lung sort of stays out of the way, so they actually collapse his left lung for the procedure. They go ahead either sometimes through an open procedure or through just an endoscope and just remove some of that scar tissue and some of that fluid.
It's not I wouldn't say a common occurrence after this sort of operation, the bypass operation that he had back in September. But it is something that cardiac surgeons are very aware of and concerned about after this sort of operation. Now, about 10 to 15 percent, according to some of the surgeons, cardiologists that we talked to -- Daryn.
KAGAN: So we've heard about discomfort from the former president. But how dangerous is it and how threatening is it if it is not taken care of, Sanjay?
GUPTA: Well, for the most part, it really is more of a question of discomfort at this time. What can happen in rare situations is that the fluid can build up so much so that it actually starts to put some pressure on the heart or on the lungs, and that can obviously be more of a scary situation.
From what we're hearing, he's nowhere near that. And we've obviously seen him moving around. He even had a trip scheduled to Spain this week. So it's more of a discomfort issue.
As far as danger of the procedure, I think that any cardiac surgeon, anybody who does these operations will tell you that any time they're going into the chest it is a significant operation, something that they do not take lightly. But as far on the scale of things and the spectrum of these sorts of operations, it's sort of at the lower end.
He should recover very well from this. And one of the biggest considerations for the doctors and for former President Clinton would be to make sure this doesn't happen again in the future. Sometimes when you're trying to get rid of scar, you can actually cause more scar to form again later on. And they obviously want to make sure that doesn't happen -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Right, which leads me to my next question, is what makes it happen in the first place? Is it just a byproduct of the open heart surgery that he had six months ago? GUPTA: Yes. For the most part. And, you know, right after the operation as well, Daryn, you may remember I think you and talked about the fact that he had some fluid that had built up a little bit in his chest cavity, which is not uncommon after this sort of operation. But it's that fluid in combination with the fact that he actually had an operation that can result in this sort of scar tissue. The fluid itself may have increased in size, as well.
It sounds like, Daryn, again, from more of a medical perspective, that they were sort of following this along for the last couple of months and seeing if the fluid increased in size and if the scar tissue was developing more in quantity. And it appears now that it has. And in conjunction with the fact that he's feeling more discomfort, they've decided to go ahead and take care of this, again, under general anesthesia sometime this week.
KAGAN: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Once again, breaking news. Former President Bill Clinton to have another operation to take care of some scar tissue and fluid that has built up about six months after his open heart surgery.
Sanjay is going to stay with us. We're going to get more information about what the former president faces. And will get back to that story.
Right now here's Rick.
SANCHEZ: Yes. What we're going to do is try and continue the theme of what the president was talking about on this day and some of the challenges that are going to be taking place there in Washington.
Our congressional correspondent Ed Henry joining us now for reaction on that.
And while we have you, we understand that some time around 1:40 today there was a scheduled meeting where former President Clinton and former President Bush were going to be at the white House. Do you have any details on that? Has it been changed? What's going on?
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All we've heard so far from former President Clinton's office is that his doctors will be briefing the media today at about noon at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Of course, that's where the former president had his surgery, the quadruple bypass heart surgery, last September.
As you mentioned, earlier this afternoon former President Clinton will be joining former President Bush at the White House talking about tsunami relief, of course the efforts they have been leading for the current President Bush. We have not gotten any guidance on whether that's going to be canceled.
We have heard, though, that the former President Clinton is in Washington. He's supposed to head to the State Department, actually, before the White House. We have not gotten official guidance yet on whether or not he is still going to the White House. But again, his doctors will first be briefing the media at noon today. And then we're expecting, although we don't have full confirmation, but we're expecting former President Clinton to be appearing with the current President Bush and former President Bush, as you mentioned, in the early afternoon today. And we expect him to comment then.
SANCHEZ: I'm wondering, Ed, if there's been any reaction thus far or any scuttlebutt there in Washington on this development?
HENRY: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: I imagine the president is very close to many still there both in the Senate and in the House. Has this been talked about at all, his condition?
HENRY: Well, of course. All morning we have been hearing on Capitol Hill a lot of buzz about this.
Senator Hillary Clinton, of course, as a senator, a lot of people concerned about the health of her husband. Her office has not put out an official statement yet, but we have been hearing buzz all morning from staffers and lawmakers on Capitol Hill who have been hearing this news and wondering and questioning about the former president's health.
They've all been reaching out to Senator Clinton to make sure that the former president is OK. As Dr. Sanjay Gupta was saying, it's expected to be relatively routine. But, according to the statement, the former president is going to be in the hospital for some three to 10 days. So obviously his doctors being very careful here -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: And no indication yet on whether this is going to bring about any changes in the schedule of the senator from New York, is it?
HENRY: No. We have not gotten that.
Of course you remember back in September current Senator Clinton was giving a speech in Upstate New York when the news broke on CNN that the former president was going to be going in for surgery. She, I believe, finished the speech, but then quickly headed to New York to be at his bedside and was there for the surgery, along with Chelsea Clinton. We would obviously expect a similar situation, but right now it is all very fluid right now -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Ed Henry following developments there for us out of Washington, the latest on the fact that it appears that President Bill Clinton is going to be going in for new medical procedures -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And we're going to continue our story now, continue our coverage. Let's go ahead and bring back our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, in New York City today.
Sanjay, explain once again, because you were saying it's not that common to have a procedure like this after heart surgery. Exactly what the problem is with former President Clinton and his chest and what needs to be done?
GUPTA: Yes. You know, I'd call it an occasional occurrence after this sort of operation, Daryn. It's not a common thing after all sorts of heart procedures.
You know, when someone is having trouble up to six months after a heart operation, several things that the cardiologist and the cardiac surgeons are considering. One of them is that the bypass graphs themselves may have blocked.
In this case, no one is saying that happened to President Clinton. In fact, he's had a stress test recently which was normal. And that's a very good sign, indicating that there's probably not blockage.
Another thing that can sometimes occur is the heart can actually go into funny rhythms. A lot of people know these rhythms as things like atrial fibrillation. And sometimes that can require a procedure, I should say, if medications don't seem to be working for that.
The thing that we're sort of focusing on now, Daryn, because we're hearing from his press office that in fact he has developed some fluid and significant scar tissue in the left side of his chest, significant enough to cause some collapse of his left lung as well, and causing discomfort. Again, "discomfort" being a key word here, Daryn.
This probably occurs 10 to 15 percent of the time after people have had a heart bypass operation. But because of discomfort and because of the quantity of fluid, the scarring and the pressure on the lung, doctors have decided to go ahead and do a procedure.
Now, the procedure itself is called decortication. The name's not that important, but here's what happens.
The patient, the president, in this case, is going to be under general anesthesia and will have some of that scar tissue and some of that fluid removed. It can sometimes be done through an open operation, where they actually open up the chest cavity again. But it can also sometimes be done just with an endoscope, where they make a small incision actually just between a couple of ribs, slide a little endoscope in there, Daryn, and remove some of that scar tissue and some of the fluid at the same time as well.
It's a fairly straightforward operation. I don't think any cardiac surgeon out there would say any of these operations are to be taken lightly, especially when you're opening up the chest. But they certainly would consider this a more straightforward operation.
Daryn, it's worth reflecting on the previous operation that President Clinton had again back in September. That was Labor Day. We have a little animation to show you.
Again, we're talking about cardiac bypass sort of operation. In that operation, they actually opened his chest, as you can see there, isolated the heart. Took some graphs from some artery from inside his chest wall, some veins from his legs, and actually bypassed several of the vessels.
Not only was he under general anesthesia for that, but his heart had to be stopped for that operation, Daryn. You'll remember that as well. But he sort of flew through that operation.
It was shortly afterwards I had some conversations with his doctors, including his cardiologist, that said there may be a little bit of fluid buildup after this operation now that he's had. They weren't too concerned about it. That was back in late September.
It seems now, Daryn, that some of that fluid has accumulated to the point again, along with scar tissue, where it is causing some discomfort and requiring this operation.
KAGAN: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you for that.
GUPTA: Thank you.
KAGAN: I have a feeling we're going to be back to you before we're done with this story. So you stay put.
SANCHEZ: Yes, this story essentially developing for those of you who just are now joining us. CNN confirming that former President Clinton will be having another medical procedure done.
Let's go back to our congressional correspondent, Ed Henry, who's also working this story for us and may have some new details.
Ed, over to you.
HENRY: That's right. Former President Clinton's office is now telling us that he will go ahead with his schedule today and that he's expecting to still meet with President Bush and former President Bush in the next couple of hours, have a public event in the early afternoon to discuss tsunami relief, which, of course, former President Clinton and former President Bush have been handling for the current president.
They recently traveled to the region, of course. They are expected to be giving the president a briefing about that and then hold a public event.
We're now being told by former President Clinton's office that he is expecting to go ahead with that schedule. And so we may get comments from the man himself -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: You know, one wonders, Ed, for a man who just finished this procedure, for the president to travel abroad the way he did -- and I've received some reports that in some of the places where he stayed, the accommodations were not exactly plush -- one does wonder whether that trip in and of itself may have perhaps either brought about or affected the president's health. Have there been any questions or have you heard any word on that?
HENRY: We have not. Certainly those are questions that the former president's doctors will be reviewing. They'll be looking at his schedule, obviously, to see how strenuous it has been.
But we have not gotten any official word on that. It's very clear that this former President Clinton, along with former President Bush, they have very active schedules.
These are not two people who have just gone to golf courses. They do a little bit of that, certainly, but they also are being very active, still doing some government-related work, doing a lot of private work. So their schedules are very strenuous. And that is something that obviously has to be reviewed from time to time.
But we know that, first of all, former President Clinton's office right now is saying that he's expected to be down for three to 10 days, and not be doing any of those events once he goes into the hospital later this week. And secondly, former President Clinton's office in their statement, they're saying that they believe that after this procedure later this week, the former president will be able to return to his normal duties and that he will not have that much of an interruption -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: And just quickly bring us up to date on what our viewers are going to see today at 1:40. This will probably make more people want to see what the president looks like.
What is on tap? What's on the agenda? What's he going to do?
HENRY: Well, what is supposed to be on the agenda is that current President Bush, as well as the two former presidents, giving the American people and the world an update on what's happening with tsunami relief. Obviously, it's a big concern around the world. But certainly now the former president's health is going to be an issue as well.
Whether he brings it up or not is something that people will be watching closely, but you can bet obviously that the White House press corps will be asking questions about that. So there is going to be a public event with the current president and the two former presidents. And we're expecting everyone to be watching those pictures and that sound very closely -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Our congressional correspondent, Ed Henry. Good job in getting that information for us. And obviously we here at CNN will bring you that at 1:40.
Daryn, over to you.
KAGAN: Here's where we have an opportunity to bring two stories we're covering today together. We had invited Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein to come on with us to talk about the president's speech and get a Democratic assessment, but also as a Democrat.
Senator Feinstein, good morning. Any comments on former President Clinton facing this new surgery?
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: Oh, yes, Daryn. I would like to send him my very best wishes, my prayers, my thoughts. My own view is to do the surgery as soon as possible and get it over with. And then somehow Hillary should force him to stay home for a while, which is a difficult task. But I hope this goes well and fast and that he's back at it soon again.
KAGAN: All right. And I imagine your office finds out much of what's happening by watching CNN. But I do have to ask if you have any other information about his condition or if you have heard anything.
FEINSTEIN: No. As a matter of fact, I first learned about it sitting here waiting for this interview.
KAGAN: There you go. Well, that's how we like it, for you to find out what's going on quickly by watching CNN.
Let's talk about the speech. And that's why we invited you on in the first place.
President Bush giving the speech earlier today about the emerging democracy and the fight for democracy in the Middle East. Any comments about what you heard earlier, Senator?
FEINSTEIN: Yes. I actually thought it was more than that. I thought he set forward the foreign policy agenda of his administration for the next four years. And in doing so, gives very clear marching orders to his secretary of state.
Clearly, the Middle East has moved to the top of his agenda. He virtually touched on every country. He touched on this window of opportunity, on the winds of change, the elections in Iraq, the election in Saudi Arabia. He called for an election in the spring in Lebanon.
He set the dynamic for negotiations for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. He said what the Palestinians had to do, what the Israelis had to do.
I thought it was a very positive speech in the sense a very clearly elucidating where he wants to take this administration, the priority on democracy and justice, the freeing of countries from the tyranny of dictators. I actually found it very moving.
You know, I think the important thing -- and perhaps this will be the change in this administration -- if I might say, less arrogance, more willingness to forge alliances to work with other countries. He said the fight against global terrorism must be global. And of course that carries with it the development of alliances and partnerships.
I was heartened by it. I see a different foreign policy. I see him taking -- taking hold of the fact that this may well be his legacy as president. And that is to establish democracy and justice in the Middle East. And, of course, seminal to that is the Israeli- Palestinian crisis.
And then, what the administration has done is really put it to Syria. Don't just go to the Bekaa Valley. You've got to go over the line back to your country. And more fundamentally, what we look for are elections to be held, free elections to be held very soon.
KAGAN: Senator Dianne Feinstein, thank you for joining us this morning on these developing stories. We appreciate it.
FEINSTEIN: Thanks, Daryn.
SANCHEZ: We've got a lot of news on this day. We've got the president laying out his plan on what he wants to do in the Middle East and Syria. And we also have a development on the former president, Bill Clinton, and his health. We're going to have all of this for you.
KAGAN: We keep going. Right now a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Let's go ahead and check the markets on this Tuesday morning. The Dow and the Nasdaq both down. The Dow down seven points, the Nasdaq is down eight points. Other money matters on the mind of Rick Sanchez right now.
SANCHEZ: Yes. This is something that affects too many Americans. You're young, your paycheck is -- well, at least according to you -- a joke. Your college loans and your credit cards are nothing to laugh at.
Help, though, could possibly be on the way. By the way, if you fit this category that we just described, you're something that's called generation not X, but debt.
Suze Orman's new book is a roadmap out of this financial pit of youth. It's called "The Money Book for the Young, the Fabulous and the Broke." Appropriately titled.
Suze, how are you?
SUZE ORMAN, AUTHOR, "THE MONEY BOOK FOR THE YOUNG, FABULOUS & BROKE: I'm good, Rick.
SANCHEZ: It's so good to see you. So I think this captures it. I'm going to read to the viewer what you essentially put in your book.
These are people stuck with one of the weakest job markets in recent history. The goals of their parents' generation to buy a house, afford a family, send kids to college, retire in style seem absurd.
And we're going to get to that in just a little bit. But we've just been told that we've got a picture now of former President Clinton. He's arriving at the State Department.
Did anybody hear -- did anybody catch what he said? I think a reporter -- what did he say? Feeling good?
Daryn says he said he's feeling good. So there's the president once again. The president is going to be speaking today some time around 1:40. He's coming back with former President Bush to report to current President Bush on what they found and what needs to be done to help those people in the tsunami.
Back now to Suze Orman.
So this is the condition. These are young people who are working jobs, they put on a tie, they go to work every day, but they can't make ends meet. What do you say?
ORMAN: You know, I say I should have named this book "The Young, Fabulous, Depressed and Broke." Not only they're broke financially speaking, but they are broke in spirit, as well.
Because truthfully, every day what do they hear? They aren't going to have Social Security to look forward to. They are never going to be able to buy a house. They are never going to be able to get out of student loan debt. And if they have a job, it's going to be outsourced.
So why shouldn't they buy their five pairs of jeans? Why shouldn't they buy their Jimmy Choo shoes? So nobody has given them any information that will help them. Sure, we'll market it to them.
SANCHEZ: So what you're saying is that they are just digging the hole even deeper and deeper because, you know, "I can't get out of this. I might as well just go out and have fun."
ORMAN: That's right. And they have given up, seriously. And that's what their parents need to understand. Their parents can no longer say to them, "You've got to save, you've got to do this," because it goes in one ear and out the other.
SANCHEZ: OK. So these people are watching right now and they want Suze Orman to tell them what I need to do to be to be able to hold onto something at the end of the month.
ORMAN: All right. So here's the bottom line. Credit cards are a way of life today for this WFNB, young, fabulous and broke generation.
SANCHEZ: Right.
ORMAN: If you are going to have credit cards simply to survive, you have to have the lowest possible interest rates on those credit cards. The only way you get the lowest possible interest rates is have the highest possible credit score, what's known as a FICO score.
Do you know that your FICO score, which is so important to this generation, determines if a landlord will rent to you, an employer will hire you, and what your car insurance premiums happen to be. Do you know if you have bad credit you're going to pay more on your car insurance premium? Do you got that?
So how do you make more out of less? This book is all about making more out of less. Should you put money in a 401(k) plan? Not after the point of a match. You are better off if you are young, fabulous and broke, if your 401(k) matches, fine, contribute up to the point of the match. You put in a dollar, they give you 50 cents, no problem. But after that point, don't put anymore money in your 401(k) plan.
SANCHEZ: It sounds like good stuff. I mean -- and it's essentially a way of making sure that you have something left over.
We've got to cut it short because we have all of this breaking news.
ORMAN: That's -- I get that.
SANCHEZ: You've been doing this for a while, so you understand that.
ORMAN: Yes. Yes.
SANCHEZ: We'll bring you back, we'll go through the program. It sounds great.
ORMAN: All right.
SANCHEZ: Suze Orman, as usual, thanks so much for being with us.
More coverage on former President Clinton's health, not to mention the president's speech earlier today. In fact, there's that picture we were sharing with you earlier of the president arriving at the State Department on this day, on what we might say is a blustery day in Washington, D.C.
Reporters did ask him a question. Let's see if we can catch it on the way in.
No, we don't have sound up. All right. We'll see if we can get it for you a little bit later on.
You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY. We'll be back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired March 8, 2005 - 11:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And we are going to begin our next hour right now.
And here we go. On a busy day, here's a look at what's happening in the news.
China is also stepping up pressure on Taiwan. A bill introduced today would authorize military force to prevent Taiwan from formally declaring its independence. But a leading Chinese official says that force would be a last resort if efforts at reunification fail. We're going to be following that.
Also, FBI Director Robert Mueller is on Capitol Hill. He's there this morning. He's testifying before a House panel about budget issues and other matters that are facing the agency. But he was also expected to face some questions from lawmakers.
Polls have been opened for about an hour now in Los Angeles, California. There voters have been casting their ballots in a mayor's race. Incumbent James Hahn headed into today's vote fighting an uphill battle for a second term. Polls show him narrowly trailing two Democratic challengers, former state assembly speaker Bob Hertzberg and city councilman Antonio Villaraigosa as well.
Also, is al Qaeda trying to infiltrate U.S. spy agencies? There's a report in today's "Los Angeles Times," in fact, that says counterintelligence officials are concerned that they actually are.
According to the paper, about 40 applications at the intelligence agencies have been red-flagged and turned away for possible ties to terrorist groups. Several were for positions at the CIA itself.
And reports out of Russia say that rebel leader and former Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov has been killed. A spokesman did not elaborate except to say that he was killed in a special operations (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Moscow blamed Maskhadov in part for the Beslan school massacre last summer that so many agencies, CNN included, covered extensively. He had a $10 million price on his head.
And here we go. 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. out West. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Rick Sanchez.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.
We continue following a developing story, a number of stories developing today. If you were with us in the last hour, you saw President Bush give a speech on the war on terror. Also for the fight for democracy in the Middle East.
Let's get more on this. Our Dana Bash standing by at a -- good, we got you indoors because it's so snowy outside in Washington, D.C. Dana, good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
And you remember, of course, the president gave an inaugural address a little more than a month ago talking about the need for freedom around the world and the end of tyranny. But in that address he did not talk about the fact that that could be linked to fighting the war on terrorism.
Well, since then, of course the White House has seen what even some of its opponents call some remarkable changes, some small, some big, going on in the Middle East. And the goal of the speech that we just heard the president give was to try to seize on those changes and perhaps give it a little bit more momentum. And also, for the first time really in a broad way, link those changes to the possibility of stopping the rise of terrorism in some of those countries.
He said that the thaw has begun in terms of some movement towards democratic reforms. And he said that this is going to be a generational commitment in that region. But he warned the leaders, he said, are not necessarily going the way he wants them to, that they should see that this is something coming their way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The entire world has an urgent interest in the progress and hope and freedom in the broader Middle East. The advance of hope in the Middle East requires new thinking in the region. By now it should be clear that authoritarian rule is not the way of the future. It is the last gas of a discredited past.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: And we'll get back to Dana Bash at the White House. Right now we have breaking news on former President Bill Clinton.
Apparently the former president needing another procedure concerning his heart. Let's bring in Dr. Sanjay Gupta with more on what the president faces -- former president.
Good morning, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
Yes, hearing a lot about this, this morning. President Clinton probably going to have a procedure this week sometime to remove some fluid and some scar tissue from around his left chest, around the area where he previously had his operation, which was almost six months ago to the day.
The procedure is called decortication, fancy term basically for trying to get rid of some of that scar tissue, also drain some fluid. We hear, according to the press office, President Clinton's press office, that he was having some discomfort over the past few weeks. This discomfort sort of grew in intensity a bit, and that's why they went ahead and decided to go ahead and schedule this operation.
Again, this week. We don't have an exact day yet, but it should happen sometime this week.
What the operation will entail will actually be -- require general anesthesia. They'll actually have to make it so that his left lung sort of stays out of the way, so they actually collapse his left lung for the procedure. They go ahead either sometimes through an open procedure or through just an endoscope and just remove some of that scar tissue and some of that fluid.
It's not I wouldn't say a common occurrence after this sort of operation, the bypass operation that he had back in September. But it is something that cardiac surgeons are very aware of and concerned about after this sort of operation. Now, about 10 to 15 percent, according to some of the surgeons, cardiologists that we talked to -- Daryn.
KAGAN: So we've heard about discomfort from the former president. But how dangerous is it and how threatening is it if it is not taken care of, Sanjay?
GUPTA: Well, for the most part, it really is more of a question of discomfort at this time. What can happen in rare situations is that the fluid can build up so much so that it actually starts to put some pressure on the heart or on the lungs, and that can obviously be more of a scary situation.
From what we're hearing, he's nowhere near that. And we've obviously seen him moving around. He even had a trip scheduled to Spain this week. So it's more of a discomfort issue.
As far as danger of the procedure, I think that any cardiac surgeon, anybody who does these operations will tell you that any time they're going into the chest it is a significant operation, something that they do not take lightly. But as far on the scale of things and the spectrum of these sorts of operations, it's sort of at the lower end.
He should recover very well from this. And one of the biggest considerations for the doctors and for former President Clinton would be to make sure this doesn't happen again in the future. Sometimes when you're trying to get rid of scar, you can actually cause more scar to form again later on. And they obviously want to make sure that doesn't happen -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Right, which leads me to my next question, is what makes it happen in the first place? Is it just a byproduct of the open heart surgery that he had six months ago? GUPTA: Yes. For the most part. And, you know, right after the operation as well, Daryn, you may remember I think you and talked about the fact that he had some fluid that had built up a little bit in his chest cavity, which is not uncommon after this sort of operation. But it's that fluid in combination with the fact that he actually had an operation that can result in this sort of scar tissue. The fluid itself may have increased in size, as well.
It sounds like, Daryn, again, from more of a medical perspective, that they were sort of following this along for the last couple of months and seeing if the fluid increased in size and if the scar tissue was developing more in quantity. And it appears now that it has. And in conjunction with the fact that he's feeling more discomfort, they've decided to go ahead and take care of this, again, under general anesthesia sometime this week.
KAGAN: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Once again, breaking news. Former President Bill Clinton to have another operation to take care of some scar tissue and fluid that has built up about six months after his open heart surgery.
Sanjay is going to stay with us. We're going to get more information about what the former president faces. And will get back to that story.
Right now here's Rick.
SANCHEZ: Yes. What we're going to do is try and continue the theme of what the president was talking about on this day and some of the challenges that are going to be taking place there in Washington.
Our congressional correspondent Ed Henry joining us now for reaction on that.
And while we have you, we understand that some time around 1:40 today there was a scheduled meeting where former President Clinton and former President Bush were going to be at the white House. Do you have any details on that? Has it been changed? What's going on?
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All we've heard so far from former President Clinton's office is that his doctors will be briefing the media today at about noon at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Of course, that's where the former president had his surgery, the quadruple bypass heart surgery, last September.
As you mentioned, earlier this afternoon former President Clinton will be joining former President Bush at the White House talking about tsunami relief, of course the efforts they have been leading for the current President Bush. We have not gotten any guidance on whether that's going to be canceled.
We have heard, though, that the former President Clinton is in Washington. He's supposed to head to the State Department, actually, before the White House. We have not gotten official guidance yet on whether or not he is still going to the White House. But again, his doctors will first be briefing the media at noon today. And then we're expecting, although we don't have full confirmation, but we're expecting former President Clinton to be appearing with the current President Bush and former President Bush, as you mentioned, in the early afternoon today. And we expect him to comment then.
SANCHEZ: I'm wondering, Ed, if there's been any reaction thus far or any scuttlebutt there in Washington on this development?
HENRY: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: I imagine the president is very close to many still there both in the Senate and in the House. Has this been talked about at all, his condition?
HENRY: Well, of course. All morning we have been hearing on Capitol Hill a lot of buzz about this.
Senator Hillary Clinton, of course, as a senator, a lot of people concerned about the health of her husband. Her office has not put out an official statement yet, but we have been hearing buzz all morning from staffers and lawmakers on Capitol Hill who have been hearing this news and wondering and questioning about the former president's health.
They've all been reaching out to Senator Clinton to make sure that the former president is OK. As Dr. Sanjay Gupta was saying, it's expected to be relatively routine. But, according to the statement, the former president is going to be in the hospital for some three to 10 days. So obviously his doctors being very careful here -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: And no indication yet on whether this is going to bring about any changes in the schedule of the senator from New York, is it?
HENRY: No. We have not gotten that.
Of course you remember back in September current Senator Clinton was giving a speech in Upstate New York when the news broke on CNN that the former president was going to be going in for surgery. She, I believe, finished the speech, but then quickly headed to New York to be at his bedside and was there for the surgery, along with Chelsea Clinton. We would obviously expect a similar situation, but right now it is all very fluid right now -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Ed Henry following developments there for us out of Washington, the latest on the fact that it appears that President Bill Clinton is going to be going in for new medical procedures -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And we're going to continue our story now, continue our coverage. Let's go ahead and bring back our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, in New York City today.
Sanjay, explain once again, because you were saying it's not that common to have a procedure like this after heart surgery. Exactly what the problem is with former President Clinton and his chest and what needs to be done?
GUPTA: Yes. You know, I'd call it an occasional occurrence after this sort of operation, Daryn. It's not a common thing after all sorts of heart procedures.
You know, when someone is having trouble up to six months after a heart operation, several things that the cardiologist and the cardiac surgeons are considering. One of them is that the bypass graphs themselves may have blocked.
In this case, no one is saying that happened to President Clinton. In fact, he's had a stress test recently which was normal. And that's a very good sign, indicating that there's probably not blockage.
Another thing that can sometimes occur is the heart can actually go into funny rhythms. A lot of people know these rhythms as things like atrial fibrillation. And sometimes that can require a procedure, I should say, if medications don't seem to be working for that.
The thing that we're sort of focusing on now, Daryn, because we're hearing from his press office that in fact he has developed some fluid and significant scar tissue in the left side of his chest, significant enough to cause some collapse of his left lung as well, and causing discomfort. Again, "discomfort" being a key word here, Daryn.
This probably occurs 10 to 15 percent of the time after people have had a heart bypass operation. But because of discomfort and because of the quantity of fluid, the scarring and the pressure on the lung, doctors have decided to go ahead and do a procedure.
Now, the procedure itself is called decortication. The name's not that important, but here's what happens.
The patient, the president, in this case, is going to be under general anesthesia and will have some of that scar tissue and some of that fluid removed. It can sometimes be done through an open operation, where they actually open up the chest cavity again. But it can also sometimes be done just with an endoscope, where they make a small incision actually just between a couple of ribs, slide a little endoscope in there, Daryn, and remove some of that scar tissue and some of the fluid at the same time as well.
It's a fairly straightforward operation. I don't think any cardiac surgeon out there would say any of these operations are to be taken lightly, especially when you're opening up the chest. But they certainly would consider this a more straightforward operation.
Daryn, it's worth reflecting on the previous operation that President Clinton had again back in September. That was Labor Day. We have a little animation to show you.
Again, we're talking about cardiac bypass sort of operation. In that operation, they actually opened his chest, as you can see there, isolated the heart. Took some graphs from some artery from inside his chest wall, some veins from his legs, and actually bypassed several of the vessels.
Not only was he under general anesthesia for that, but his heart had to be stopped for that operation, Daryn. You'll remember that as well. But he sort of flew through that operation.
It was shortly afterwards I had some conversations with his doctors, including his cardiologist, that said there may be a little bit of fluid buildup after this operation now that he's had. They weren't too concerned about it. That was back in late September.
It seems now, Daryn, that some of that fluid has accumulated to the point again, along with scar tissue, where it is causing some discomfort and requiring this operation.
KAGAN: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you for that.
GUPTA: Thank you.
KAGAN: I have a feeling we're going to be back to you before we're done with this story. So you stay put.
SANCHEZ: Yes, this story essentially developing for those of you who just are now joining us. CNN confirming that former President Clinton will be having another medical procedure done.
Let's go back to our congressional correspondent, Ed Henry, who's also working this story for us and may have some new details.
Ed, over to you.
HENRY: That's right. Former President Clinton's office is now telling us that he will go ahead with his schedule today and that he's expecting to still meet with President Bush and former President Bush in the next couple of hours, have a public event in the early afternoon to discuss tsunami relief, which, of course, former President Clinton and former President Bush have been handling for the current president.
They recently traveled to the region, of course. They are expected to be giving the president a briefing about that and then hold a public event.
We're now being told by former President Clinton's office that he is expecting to go ahead with that schedule. And so we may get comments from the man himself -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: You know, one wonders, Ed, for a man who just finished this procedure, for the president to travel abroad the way he did -- and I've received some reports that in some of the places where he stayed, the accommodations were not exactly plush -- one does wonder whether that trip in and of itself may have perhaps either brought about or affected the president's health. Have there been any questions or have you heard any word on that?
HENRY: We have not. Certainly those are questions that the former president's doctors will be reviewing. They'll be looking at his schedule, obviously, to see how strenuous it has been.
But we have not gotten any official word on that. It's very clear that this former President Clinton, along with former President Bush, they have very active schedules.
These are not two people who have just gone to golf courses. They do a little bit of that, certainly, but they also are being very active, still doing some government-related work, doing a lot of private work. So their schedules are very strenuous. And that is something that obviously has to be reviewed from time to time.
But we know that, first of all, former President Clinton's office right now is saying that he's expected to be down for three to 10 days, and not be doing any of those events once he goes into the hospital later this week. And secondly, former President Clinton's office in their statement, they're saying that they believe that after this procedure later this week, the former president will be able to return to his normal duties and that he will not have that much of an interruption -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: And just quickly bring us up to date on what our viewers are going to see today at 1:40. This will probably make more people want to see what the president looks like.
What is on tap? What's on the agenda? What's he going to do?
HENRY: Well, what is supposed to be on the agenda is that current President Bush, as well as the two former presidents, giving the American people and the world an update on what's happening with tsunami relief. Obviously, it's a big concern around the world. But certainly now the former president's health is going to be an issue as well.
Whether he brings it up or not is something that people will be watching closely, but you can bet obviously that the White House press corps will be asking questions about that. So there is going to be a public event with the current president and the two former presidents. And we're expecting everyone to be watching those pictures and that sound very closely -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Our congressional correspondent, Ed Henry. Good job in getting that information for us. And obviously we here at CNN will bring you that at 1:40.
Daryn, over to you.
KAGAN: Here's where we have an opportunity to bring two stories we're covering today together. We had invited Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein to come on with us to talk about the president's speech and get a Democratic assessment, but also as a Democrat.
Senator Feinstein, good morning. Any comments on former President Clinton facing this new surgery?
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: Oh, yes, Daryn. I would like to send him my very best wishes, my prayers, my thoughts. My own view is to do the surgery as soon as possible and get it over with. And then somehow Hillary should force him to stay home for a while, which is a difficult task. But I hope this goes well and fast and that he's back at it soon again.
KAGAN: All right. And I imagine your office finds out much of what's happening by watching CNN. But I do have to ask if you have any other information about his condition or if you have heard anything.
FEINSTEIN: No. As a matter of fact, I first learned about it sitting here waiting for this interview.
KAGAN: There you go. Well, that's how we like it, for you to find out what's going on quickly by watching CNN.
Let's talk about the speech. And that's why we invited you on in the first place.
President Bush giving the speech earlier today about the emerging democracy and the fight for democracy in the Middle East. Any comments about what you heard earlier, Senator?
FEINSTEIN: Yes. I actually thought it was more than that. I thought he set forward the foreign policy agenda of his administration for the next four years. And in doing so, gives very clear marching orders to his secretary of state.
Clearly, the Middle East has moved to the top of his agenda. He virtually touched on every country. He touched on this window of opportunity, on the winds of change, the elections in Iraq, the election in Saudi Arabia. He called for an election in the spring in Lebanon.
He set the dynamic for negotiations for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. He said what the Palestinians had to do, what the Israelis had to do.
I thought it was a very positive speech in the sense a very clearly elucidating where he wants to take this administration, the priority on democracy and justice, the freeing of countries from the tyranny of dictators. I actually found it very moving.
You know, I think the important thing -- and perhaps this will be the change in this administration -- if I might say, less arrogance, more willingness to forge alliances to work with other countries. He said the fight against global terrorism must be global. And of course that carries with it the development of alliances and partnerships.
I was heartened by it. I see a different foreign policy. I see him taking -- taking hold of the fact that this may well be his legacy as president. And that is to establish democracy and justice in the Middle East. And, of course, seminal to that is the Israeli- Palestinian crisis.
And then, what the administration has done is really put it to Syria. Don't just go to the Bekaa Valley. You've got to go over the line back to your country. And more fundamentally, what we look for are elections to be held, free elections to be held very soon.
KAGAN: Senator Dianne Feinstein, thank you for joining us this morning on these developing stories. We appreciate it.
FEINSTEIN: Thanks, Daryn.
SANCHEZ: We've got a lot of news on this day. We've got the president laying out his plan on what he wants to do in the Middle East and Syria. And we also have a development on the former president, Bill Clinton, and his health. We're going to have all of this for you.
KAGAN: We keep going. Right now a quick break.
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KAGAN: Let's go ahead and check the markets on this Tuesday morning. The Dow and the Nasdaq both down. The Dow down seven points, the Nasdaq is down eight points. Other money matters on the mind of Rick Sanchez right now.
SANCHEZ: Yes. This is something that affects too many Americans. You're young, your paycheck is -- well, at least according to you -- a joke. Your college loans and your credit cards are nothing to laugh at.
Help, though, could possibly be on the way. By the way, if you fit this category that we just described, you're something that's called generation not X, but debt.
Suze Orman's new book is a roadmap out of this financial pit of youth. It's called "The Money Book for the Young, the Fabulous and the Broke." Appropriately titled.
Suze, how are you?
SUZE ORMAN, AUTHOR, "THE MONEY BOOK FOR THE YOUNG, FABULOUS & BROKE: I'm good, Rick.
SANCHEZ: It's so good to see you. So I think this captures it. I'm going to read to the viewer what you essentially put in your book.
These are people stuck with one of the weakest job markets in recent history. The goals of their parents' generation to buy a house, afford a family, send kids to college, retire in style seem absurd.
And we're going to get to that in just a little bit. But we've just been told that we've got a picture now of former President Clinton. He's arriving at the State Department.
Did anybody hear -- did anybody catch what he said? I think a reporter -- what did he say? Feeling good?
Daryn says he said he's feeling good. So there's the president once again. The president is going to be speaking today some time around 1:40. He's coming back with former President Bush to report to current President Bush on what they found and what needs to be done to help those people in the tsunami.
Back now to Suze Orman.
So this is the condition. These are young people who are working jobs, they put on a tie, they go to work every day, but they can't make ends meet. What do you say?
ORMAN: You know, I say I should have named this book "The Young, Fabulous, Depressed and Broke." Not only they're broke financially speaking, but they are broke in spirit, as well.
Because truthfully, every day what do they hear? They aren't going to have Social Security to look forward to. They are never going to be able to buy a house. They are never going to be able to get out of student loan debt. And if they have a job, it's going to be outsourced.
So why shouldn't they buy their five pairs of jeans? Why shouldn't they buy their Jimmy Choo shoes? So nobody has given them any information that will help them. Sure, we'll market it to them.
SANCHEZ: So what you're saying is that they are just digging the hole even deeper and deeper because, you know, "I can't get out of this. I might as well just go out and have fun."
ORMAN: That's right. And they have given up, seriously. And that's what their parents need to understand. Their parents can no longer say to them, "You've got to save, you've got to do this," because it goes in one ear and out the other.
SANCHEZ: OK. So these people are watching right now and they want Suze Orman to tell them what I need to do to be to be able to hold onto something at the end of the month.
ORMAN: All right. So here's the bottom line. Credit cards are a way of life today for this WFNB, young, fabulous and broke generation.
SANCHEZ: Right.
ORMAN: If you are going to have credit cards simply to survive, you have to have the lowest possible interest rates on those credit cards. The only way you get the lowest possible interest rates is have the highest possible credit score, what's known as a FICO score.
Do you know that your FICO score, which is so important to this generation, determines if a landlord will rent to you, an employer will hire you, and what your car insurance premiums happen to be. Do you know if you have bad credit you're going to pay more on your car insurance premium? Do you got that?
So how do you make more out of less? This book is all about making more out of less. Should you put money in a 401(k) plan? Not after the point of a match. You are better off if you are young, fabulous and broke, if your 401(k) matches, fine, contribute up to the point of the match. You put in a dollar, they give you 50 cents, no problem. But after that point, don't put anymore money in your 401(k) plan.
SANCHEZ: It sounds like good stuff. I mean -- and it's essentially a way of making sure that you have something left over.
We've got to cut it short because we have all of this breaking news.
ORMAN: That's -- I get that.
SANCHEZ: You've been doing this for a while, so you understand that.
ORMAN: Yes. Yes.
SANCHEZ: We'll bring you back, we'll go through the program. It sounds great.
ORMAN: All right.
SANCHEZ: Suze Orman, as usual, thanks so much for being with us.
More coverage on former President Clinton's health, not to mention the president's speech earlier today. In fact, there's that picture we were sharing with you earlier of the president arriving at the State Department on this day, on what we might say is a blustery day in Washington, D.C.
Reporters did ask him a question. Let's see if we can catch it on the way in.
No, we don't have sound up. All right. We'll see if we can get it for you a little bit later on.
You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY. We'll be back in just a moment.
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