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CNN Live Today
Military Money; Cancer-Sniffing Dogs
Aired February 07, 2006 - 11:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Pentagon brass is on Capitol Hill this morning. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and military leaders are outlining strategies and spending for 2007. The Pentagon is asking for $439 billion next year. That's a seven percent budget increase. That amount does not include most of the cost for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The price tag for the wars is rising sharply. In 2005, the U.S. spent $6.8 billion a month. The White House estimates the bill this year could approach $10 billion a month. The Pentagon wants $583 million for a new fleet of armored Humvees. Overall, the Pentagon says it needs $4 billion worth of combat and support vehicles.
In his testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Secretary Rumsfeld offered this dire warning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECY.: I have no doubt should these fanatics obtain the weapons of mass destruction they seek, the survival of our way of life would be at risk. The enemy would like to define this war as a conflict between Islam and the West, but it is not. It is, in fact, a war within the Muslim world between the overwhelming majority of moderates and a much smaller number of violent extremists. The vast majority of Muslims do not share the violent ideology of al Qaeda.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Let's bring in Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr with more on Secretary Rumsfeld's comments.
Barbara, good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn. '
Well, the hearing goes on. It's been going on most of the morning, expected to continue for the next couple of hours, at least. This hearing, while it is about military spending, it is about the $439 billion defense budget, also is an opportunity for the Senate Armed Services Committee to question Secretary Rumsfeld. You see the Army chief of staff, General Peter Schoomaker here, question all the top brass about the situation in Iraq, about the war in Iraq and U.S. strategy.
A little bit surprisingly, it was the chairman of the committee, Republican John Warner of Virginia, who came out the strongest right at the open of the hearing, saying that the administration needed to pay a lot more attention in Iraq, not so much to the war, but the formation of a new Iraqi government, of a national constitution, and try and get a grip on the corruption -- what he called the growing corruption -- of Iraqi officials in that country.
Listen to Senator Warner for just a minute, Daryn.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN WARNER (R), CHMN., ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: I really think that the message that's been employed by this administration, we can bring our forces home as soon as we train the Iraqi military and other infrastructure of security, but you'd better add another component. And it's of equal weight. And that's we can't really pull out unless those people can pull together that government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Several of the members of the committee adding their weight to that voice, saying that there couldn't be a pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq until the Iraqi government, not necessarily the Iraqi military, until the Iraqi government can really function and control the country -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Barbara Starr live from the Pentagon, thank you.
Also, this just in from Capitol Hill. Apparently a fight developing between Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Barack Obama. Apparently the two were trying to work on a bipartisan proposal for lobbying and ethics reform. At least that's what Senator McCain thought. Then he received a letter from Senator Obama, saying that he supported another proposal. This has made Senator McCain plenty angry, and this is what he say a few minutes ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: It's more of an indicator of the partisanship that exists. We should be sitting down together in a room, moving forward, Republicans and Democrats, as we were doing until I got the letter from him. Fortunately, I've still got Senator Lieberman, Senator Feingold, Senator Pryor and many others who want to work on this on a bipartisan basis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He remains the lead Democrat on this issue, at least for the leadership. Are you going to be able to sit down with him after the sarcastic tone of your letter?
MCCAIN: I don't know. I know that I'm working with Senator Lieberman, as I have many times in the past, Senator Feingold and others, senators who believe that bipartisanship is important, particularly in addressing certain issues.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think that...
MCCAIN: I don't think that the tone was either venomous or sarcastic. It was straight talk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Well, apparently Senator Obama wasn't pleased to get this letter from Senator McCain. He has released his own letter that says, quote, "The fact you have questioned my sincerity and desire to put aside my politics for the public interest, it's regrettable, but it does not in any way diminish my deep respect for you, nor my willingness to find a bipartisan solution to the problem. That is from Senator Obama back to Senator McCain. Whether these two will get back together and work on lobbying reform remains to be seen.
We'll stay tuned. And we'll take a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN; Yes, it is Grammy time. The Grammy awards will be handed out for the 48th time tomorrow night. Tonight, though, it's all about the party. A-listers showing up for the swanky celebration hosted by producer Clive Davis.
Our Brooke Anderson joins us from poolside at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Not such a bad gig, Brooke.
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Not a bad gig, Daryn.
And this is where Clive Davis' party will take place tonight, not poolside, but in one of the ballrooms upstairs. The festivities for the Grammies are definitely in full swing. Last night, the annual Musicares event took place. James Taylor was honored as the Musicares' person of the year. He was lauded not only for musical achievements, but also for his work in philanthropy, his humanitarian efforts, as well.
And a number of powerhouse performers took the stage to pay tribute to Taylor, including Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen and India Arie. They sang their versions of some of Taylor's song. Now, Musicares was established to improve the cultural environment for musical performers and also helper performers in times of need.
But back here at the Beverly Hilton, Clive Davis, he is one of the most respected men in the music industry. He has developed and cultivated, discovered some of the most amazing talent out there. He's been putting on this party, pre-Grammy party, the night before the Grammys, for about 30 years. And he always puts together a stellar list of performers for the evening.
We stopped by the rehearsals last night. Barry Manilow, Kelly Clarkson will perform. You're looking at Jamie Foxx right there. He will perform with Ludacris, also with Kanye West. Carlos Santana, Rob Thomas will take the stage. And we're also told there will be a tribute to Luther Vandross. And we're also promised a lot of surprises. Now, all of these events, of course, are leading up to the big Grammy show tomorrow night. Preparations are under way. We've stopped by some of the rehearsals for that, as well, including a rehearsal by Faith Hill and Keith Urban. They are performing together. Keith Urban, an Australian country singer. They are each nominated for Grammys, including Urban for best male pop vocal performance. They are one of two representative performances of country music at this year's Grammys. The other from Sugarland.
Daryn, some of the big nominees: Kanye West, Mariah Carey, John Legend, leading all nominees with eight nominations a piece. We will see what happens. 48th Annual Grammy Awards, tomorrow night.
KAGAN: All right. Thank you, Brooke Anderson, live from Beverly Hills.
Meanwhile, a very different mood just outside of here in Atlanta in Lithonia, Georgia. Funeral services are set to begin in about 15 or 20 minutes for Coretta Scott King. They'll be held at the New Birth Missionary Baptist church, a 10,000-seat suburban megachurch about 15 miles east of Atlanta. Three former presidents and President Bush all in attendance. We'll have complete live coverage as it begins at the top of the hour.
Right now, a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Time for our "Daily Dose" of health news. A different idea here. It's a strange twist. Using dogs to sniff out cancer. It's happening at a California research center, and the results have been remarkable.
More on these canine cancer detectors from our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We live with them...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go get it.
COHEN: ... play with them, and rely on them. But a new study is making extraordinary claims that just may change the way you think about your four-legged friend and that curious wet nose.
That's because dogs could be the newest weapon in the war against cancer. Researchers in California say they trained five dogs to smell the disease on a person's breath, with an amazing degree of accuracy, 99 percent of the time with lung cancer, 88 percent of the time with breast cancer, results that are raising hopes, creating international headlines, and making stars out of the dogs involved in the study.
Michael McCulloch was leader researcher.
(on camera): Were you surprised by how accurate the dogs were?
MICHAEL MCCULLOCH, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, PINE STREET FOUNDATION: We were very surprised by how accurate they were. The dogs were spot on. They were identifying who had cancer, and they were also saying who didn't.
COHEN (voice-over): Dogs diagnosing cancer? Sure, it sounds crazy, but is it that farfetched? Dogs' sense of smell is legendary, so strong, so reliable, that we count on it to sniff out bombs, detect drugs, and find the missing and deceased, when no human can.
So, researchers like McCulloch say it's entirely possible that, sometimes, dogs know our bodies better than we do.
MCCULLOCH: Because a dog may be telling the person something about them that they don't know yet.
COHEN: This is Kobe (ph), a walking, wagging, tumor detective, and one of five dogs McCulloch and his team trained to sniff out cancer. How did they do it?
We asked McCulloch and his team to stage a sample test, so we could see for ourselves. It starts with five people, four healthy and one with cancer, exhaling into plastic tubes like these.
Inside the tubes, fibers capture microscopic particles from their breath. The tubes are then placed in bowls one yard apart from each other, while dog and handler wait outside. The rest is up to Kobe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go to work. Let's go to work.
COHEN: Time after time after time, six times out of six attempts, Kobe gets it right, sitting at the cancer sample to mark his discovery.
(on camera): These rates are actually higher than mammograms, higher than Pap smears.
MCCULLOCH: Well, the results were just so high, we were just astounded.
MARIA FRIANEZA, OWNER OF TEST DOG: What do you smell, Kobe? What do you smell?
COHEN (voice-over): Kobe's owner, Maria, was equally impressed.
(on camera): Does it give you a new appreciation for a dog's powers?
FRIANEZA: Oh, definitely, definitely. You always hear that dogs have this amazing sense of smell, but you just never realize how amazing it is, until tests like these are done.
COHEN (voice-over): And with 20 to 40 times as many smell receptors in their noses as we have, some researchers believe that a dog's sense of smell may be 10,000 to 100,000 times stronger than ours.
(on camera): Could any household dog be trained to do this?
MCCULLOCH: I believe almost any dog has the hardware, the nose and the brain, to be able to smell things accurately.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on.
MCCULLOCH: What really makes the difference is the willingness of the dog to learn and to work together with people.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh.
COHEN (voice-over): No one knows exactly what the dogs are smelling when they stop at a cancer sample, but experts say it probably has something to do with tiny biochemical markers emitted by cancer cells. But some wonder, 88 percent accuracy, 99 percent accuracy? Those numbers are almost unheard of in medicine.
LAWRENCE MYERS, DVM, PH.D., VETERINARIAN, AUBURN UNIVERSITY: Smell. Good dog. Yes, good dog.
COHEN: One renowned dog trainer said he seriously questions the findings.
MYERS: I'm excited about the findings, but cautiously optimistic at best -- a little skeptical at this point.
COHEN: Larry Myers, a veterinarian and professor at Auburn University, has been training detection dogs for 25 years. He says it takes 13 weeks to train dogs to sniff out, and doubts any dog could be trained to detect cancer in just three weeks, a claim the study makes.
MYERS: Three weeks is awfully fast. It's not like pushing a button and seeing that it works or doesn't. Dogs require training. Dogs require maintenance. They're not the panacea. They're just one part of the took kit in trying to find things.
COHEN: A respected cancer researcher says he, too, is skeptical. Donald Berry, the head of biostatistics at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, has authored more than 200 articles on cancer. He also reviewed McCulloch's study.
DR. DONALD BERRY, HEAD OF BIOSTATISTICS, M.D. ANDERSON CANCER CENTER: It may be true. I would be astounded if it were true. It's not impossible. It's just quite unlikely.
COHEN: But wait. Is this just Western establishment medicine looking down their noses at a study done by a small alternative medicine clinic?
NANCY BEST, CANCER SURVIVOR: Give me kisses. Yes.
COHEN: That's what Nancy Best thinks.
BEST: That I'm sitting here alive today to tell you that, if it weren't for Mia (ph), I would be gone.
Mia, good girl.
COHEN: Mia is Nancy's dog, an untrained yellow Lab who she says sniffed and sniffed at Nancy's right breast, until she finally paid attention.
BEST: Mia came running in, and jumped up on my lap, and dove with her nose into my chest. And that's when I found the lump, because I hurt when she pressed her nose there.
COHEN: Sure enough, a lab confirmed Nancy had cancer, stage-two carcinoma in the exact spot where Mia had sniffed. Nancy needed surgery and chemotherapy.
(on camera): That must have blown your mind, when you...
BEST: That blew my mind away when the diagnose came back positive. And, then, I -- it really hit me, that this was what she had been trying to tell me all along, was that I had cancer. And I just wasn't listening.
COHEN (voice-over): That was six years ago. Today, Nancy is cancer free, she says, because of the early detection.
(on camera): Did Mia save your life?
BEST: Yes, she did. I know she did.
COHEN (voice-over): Researchers admit, there's a lot of more work to be done. But if dogs can actually sniff out cancer before it spreads, it would certainly give new meaning to the term man's best friend.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, San Anselmo, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: To get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, just log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news, a health library and information on diet and fitness. The address is CNN.com/health.
Well, you can call it fair trade, Lucille for Lucille. Blues legend B.B. King has lost his dog named Lucille, and he's offering an autographed copy of one of his signature Lucille guitars in an effort to get her back.
Oh, look at her. Of course, he'd want her back.
The two-year-old Maltese got out of King's yard in West Hollywood about a week-and-a-half ago. King has looked for the dog at animal shelters, and he's put up hundreds of signs, but no trace of Lucille. So he decided to offer the signed guitar as a reward.
Good luck in finding sweet Lucille. We'll take a break. We're back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYA ANGELOU, FRIEND OF CORETTA SCOTT KING: When I talked to him, he dropped his voice when he spoke of her. And she dropped her voice when she spoke of him, even until she was very sick recently. So obviously, she was a good wife. And I don't know how the influence she had directly on him. But I know a woman, not a girl, not an old female, but a woman has an incredible influence not only on her husband, but on her family, on her community, on her nation and on the world. That's a woman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: That was poet and author Maya Angelou, close personal friend of Coretta Scott King. She spoke earlier today on CNN. Maya Angelou will speak at the funeral service today for Coretta Scott King. That is set to begin in about five minutes. You can live pictures there from the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, about 15 miles east of downtown Atlanta. It holds 10,000 people, one of the reasons it was chosen as the site for today's service.
President Bush has arrived for today's service, along with Mrs. Bush, as well as former President Clinton and former President Carter and President Bush's father, the former President Bush, is there as well. There is the flag, I believe, above the White House. President Bush has ordered that flags all across the nation fly at half-staff today in honor of Coretta Scott king.
Up next, our special coverage for the funeral of Coretta Scott King. My colleagues, Kyra Phillips and Tony Harris, will handle that, and I will see you tomorrow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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