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CNN Live Today
New Docudrama About Guantanamo Bay; 2006 Winter Games Gets First Doping Scandal
Aired February 16, 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: Washington can expect more international pressure over its Guantanamo Bay Prison camps. About 500 terror suspect are being held there. We told you earlier this hour about a new U.N. report calling for the U.S. to try the suspects, or set them free. The report alleges torture at the camp. And so does a new docudrama about Guantanamo Bay. The piece made its debut at the Berlin Film Festival.
Our Chris Burns gives us a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On his knees, facing this way. Don't let him look. Don't let him look.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a story told by three youths from Tipton, England.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are now the property of the U.S. Marine Corps! This is your final destination.
BURNS: Ruhel (ph), Shafiq and Asiq (ph), played by three young actors, wind up in the middle of the U.S.-led war on terror in the docudrama "The Road to Guantanamo." After travelling to Pakistan for a wedding in September 2001, they go on to Afghanistan, around the same time U.S. airstrikes begin. They lose their friend Runil (ph) in the chaos as the Taliban regime falls. They're captured. They say they are beaten and interrogated by U.S. and British agents before they are sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention center for two years, without charges.
SHAFIQ, ACTOR: If you are Arab, that was it, you were a member of al Qaeda no matter what. The stories that we used to hear to the detainees, what used to happen to them in interrogation, and seeing people get beaten as well in front of us.
BURNS: Despite international criticism, America insists the conditions inside Camp X-Ray are humane.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECY. OF DEFENSE: We are consistent with the Geneva Convention, for the most part.
BURNS: The film's British director sought to lift the veil on a place that remained shrouded in secrecy.
MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM, DIRECTOR: If I said to you five years ago, there'd be an American prison in Cuba where people were being held without trial, you'd have thought I was crazy.
BURNS: After the Tipton Three were released in March 2004, they told their story to Winterbottom and his codirector Mat Whitecross, who compiled more than 600 pages of accounts, living with him for a month.
MAT WHITECROSS, CODIRECTOR: They're very, very dense with very normal people. The youths did have a mission in going to Afghanistan, though they insist it was humanitarian.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We each wanted to see what was going on and how were the brothers.
BURNS: And, they say, the detainees they knew at Guantanamo weren't the terrorists the U.S. government portrayed them to be. The West, not just the United States, has been struggling lately to repair its image in the Muslim world. The timing of this film could heighten tensions.
But director Michael Winterbottom says the film has only one aim, to shut down Guantanamo.
Chris Burns, CNN, at the Berlin Film Festival.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: The Olympic flame is burning at full force, after officials turned down a request to turn down the heat. Apparently some environmental groups wanted the gas flow reduced to mark one year since the Kyoto Treaty on global warming took effect. Olympic organizers, they thought about the idea, but they say they were afraid the flame would go out completely. So flame stays as it is.
Speaking of hot, the U.S. gets more gold and the 2006 Winter Games gets their first doping scandal.
Larry Smith is standing by live from Torino, Italy with all of today's Olympic action.
Larry, hello.
LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
Yes, Olga Pyleva she has gone from being the first athlete to fail a doping test, to the first athlete to be kicked out of these Games, because of drug use. Olga Pyleva, 30-year-old Russian skier, she won silver on Monday in the 15-kilometer cross country event in the biathalon. That has been stripped as well. Keep in mind, she won a gold and a bronze in the Salt Lake Games. But Pyleva met with the IOC committee this afternoon, and they did confirm that failed drug test, so now she is out.
This comes just hours after, Dick Pound, who's the chief of the World Anti-Doping Agency, told Reuters, the news organization, that he felt there was doping going on. He said with 12 cross country skiers all testing positive for high-levels of hemoglobin right before the Games was just too much of a coincidence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK POUND, WORLD ANTI-DOPING AGENCY CHIEF: For that number of athletes at the same time, two days before the Olympics. What do you know? What do you think? The odds are one in three million that that could happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Well, from scandal to the sublime. Another gold medal for the United States. This in the brand new Olympic event of snowboard cross. Seth Westcott (ph) getting it done. And, boy, this looks like a lot of fun, doesn't it? He got through the finals, all the way through, to beat out his competitors from Slovakia, and France as he wins the sixth gold in these games for the U.S. That continues to lead these Games in the gold medals. Russia and Germany with nine each. USA has nine total medals, also tied with Russia and Germany for second place behind Norway.
Now tonight, the U.S. can get another medal in men's figure skating. Johnny Weir, the three-time U.S. champion, stands in second place right now after the short program, heading into tonight's freeskate.
However, everyone feels it is Evgeni Plushenko's gold medal to lose. He was so strong Tuesday night that even Weir said the three- time world champion would have to fall three times for anyone else to try to take that gold medal away from him. We'll see if maybe perhaps lightning can strike three times on the ice -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Anything can happen, especially in figure skating.
Larry, thank you. Larry Smith, live from Torino.
Still to come, the answers to 12 simple questions. They might predict whether you'll be alive four years from now. We'll share our new mortality quiz with you coming up next.
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KAGAN: And now to your "Daily Dose" of health news.
Calcium supplements may not be the wonder for women they are touted to be. The largest study of its kind finds little or no widespread benefit from calcium supplements. Some women over 60 did show modest improvement density in the hip area. An expert tells CNN's AMERICAN MORNING that women in that age group should continue to take the supplement.
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DR. REBECCA JACKSON, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY: I think what it does is it really helps us understand the magnitude of the effect, so that we now know that this really does ensure us kind of our foundation or our base. But for individuals of particularly high risk for osteoperosis and for fracture, they need to go and talk with their health care provider to determine whether bone mass testing or, in fact, other bone active agents might also be necessary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Wake up to the news and interviews on "AMERICAN MORNING," weekdays from 6:00 to 10:00 a.m. Eastern. Miles and Soledad are on right before we begin. They're our warm-up act. We begin at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.
Another question for you. Should you stick with Teflon and other brands of non-stick pots and pans? A panel at the Environmental Protection Agency says a chemical used to make them should be classified as a likely s carcinogen. In the past, the EPA has said the chemical is little cause for worry. Manufacturers say most of it is burned away in the manufacturing process. The EPA plans to review the data more before any final determination.
And how about a surprise with your fries? McDonald's recently admitted that its french fries had more trans fat than they thought. Until a few days ago, the chain claimed its fries were wheat and dairy free for those with allergies. Now, oops, McDonald's says the oil used to cook its fries does have a tiny amount of wheat and dairy ingredients and they are in there for flavoring.
Now the important question. Are you at risk for dying in the next four years? A 12-point quiz could give you the odds. But are you brave enough to take the test?
Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How would you like to look into a crystal ball and know how long you have to live? Well, authors of a new test published in this week's "Journal of the American Medical Association" say they can predict with astonishing accuracy the chances you'll die in the next four years. It is just a matter of answering 12 simple questions.
(on camera): So you want to take a test to find out your likelihood of dying in the next four years?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Sounds like fun.
COHEN (voice-over): We gave the test to Jeff (ph), Roy (ph) and Carolyn (ph) while they had lunch today.
(on camera): Has your doctor ever told that you have diabetes or high blood sugar?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
COHEN: No. OK, you get zero points, that's good because points are bad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
COHEN: You want zero.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like golf.
COHEN: It's like golf, exactly.
(voice-over): Roy got two points for this question.
(on camera): Because of a health or memory problem, do you have any difficulty managing your money, such as paying your bills and keeping track of expenses?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes I do.
COHEN: If you have a hard time pushing a chair across the room, that's one point. If you have difficulty walking several blocks, that's two points right there. And being male will get you two points. Sorry.
Doctors at the V.A. Medical Center in San Francisco thought a quiz like this would be useful.
DR. SEI LEE, VETERANS AFFAIRS MEDICAL CENTER: One of the most natural questions in the world is what's going to happen to me, doc? And unfortunately I found myself reluctant to answer that because I wasn't sure. And I didn't want to be wrong.
COHEN (voice-over): So they ask the 12 questions of nearly 20,000 people over the age of 50, followed them for four years and found it worked with 81 percent accuracy. So how did our people do?
(on camera): So Roy, you have a 15 percent chance of dying sometime in the next four years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's pretty high. That's pretty slim odds, though, isn't it?
COHEN: Yes, 15 percent, that's not bad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's very good.
COHEN (voice-over): As for Carolyn...
(on camera): Well, you know what, Carolyn, you got zero points. You don't even register.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I'm not going to die within the next four years.
COHEN: You have a less than four percent chance of dying in the next four years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, good.
(voice-over): Jeff smokes and is male. But even so, the study claims his chances of dying soon were less than four percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's good, I'm going to go celebrate tonight then.
COHEN (on camera): By drinking and smoking, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drinking and smoking and red meat, that kind of thing.
COHEN (voice-over): Of course, that's not the message the study authors want to give. They want this study to help people figure out how long they have to live and how they could live even longer.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: To get your "Daily Dose" of health news online and take the free longevity test, if you dare, logon to our Web site at CNN.com/health, where you'll find the latest medical stories, special report and a health library.
We'll have check of weather and business news. That's coming up next. Plus, have you seen him? The wayward Whippet. We'll have the latest on the search for the Westminster dog who has taken off. Stay with us for that.
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(MARKET REPORT)
KAGAN: This is the picture of the day, I've got to tell you. A celebrity who gets special treatment at Sardi's restaurant in New York. Rufus, you know this face, he won the Westminster dog show by a nose, treated to champagne and raw steak served on a silver platter. No doggie bag for Rufus, not necessary. I think he gobbled up everything.
But then there's this story, a prized whippet still on the loose somewhere around New York's JFK airport. The owners of the show dog are frantically searching for their canine contender.
Reporter Giovanna Drpic of our affiliate WWOR has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vivy!
GIOVANNA DRPIC, WWOR-TV REPORTER (voice-over): Where oh where can 3-year-old Vivy be?
JIL WALTON, DOG OWNER: We were going home. And I'm waiting to get the little tag when you get on an airplane that your dog is there. And they came and said that my dog has gotten loose.
DRPIC: Jil Walton, who is one of Vivy's owners, is now beside herself after her show dog escaped. It happened just as the Whippet was about to board her Delta Airlines flight to head home to California after getting an Award of Merit at the Westminster Dog Show.
WALTON: We had a helicopter up. She was just running scared. Somehow she got out of her crate. And it's driving me crazy.
DRPIC: A family friend says a cop spotted the Whippet show dog bolt down a runway at the airport, go through a fence and then dash toward marsh land.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now it's really like picking a needle out of a haystack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
DRPIC: A search party, including another one of Vivy's owners, her breeder, and a New York City Animal Control officer, are combing Rothaway (ph) Boulevard, desperately looking for the beloved dog.
HONI REISMAN, SEARCHING FOR DOG: She's very friendly. And she will come to you if you go down to her level and call her, and not to chase her.
DRPIC: As the search goes on, concern grows for how the white and brown dog will endure the elements.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The worst part is that she's out here and she's scared and cold. And we hope she's not hurt.
WALTON: I just want the dog back. It's just scary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: And that search goes on. That story from WWOR. Giovanna Drpic with that story.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: It is just three weeks until the Academy Awards. Oscar nominee and Hollywood heartthrob George Clooney is Larry King's guest tonight. Here's a sneak peek.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Who are you going to take to the Oscars?
GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR: I was thinking -- I asked Dick Cheney. Took a shot at me. I was surprised at. So I don't know. If Dick's not going to come, I don't know.
KING: It don't have to be a girl, does it?
CLOONEY: No, I can bring you if you'd like to come.
KING: I'll go with you. CLOONEY: OK, good. It's a deal.
KING: Thank you, George.
CLOONEY: Thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Now that would be a sight to see on the red carpet, Larry King as George Clooney's guest. "LARRY KING" airs tonight 9:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.
I'm Daryn Kagan. International news is up next. Stay tuned for "YOUR WORLD TODAY." I'll be back with the latest headlines from the U.S. in about 20 minutes.
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