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American Morning
'Gimme a Minute'; 'Paging Dr. Gutpa'
Aired September 24, 2004 - 08:30 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. 8:30 here in New York, and welcome back, as our coverage continues.
We're going to get back to topic of Zarqawi, the terrorist known as Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, full name, believed to be behind many of the murders of foreigners in Iraq, and possibly associated with Osama bin Laden. Barbara Starr in a moment here. We'll talk about those links, and also the mission to capture Zarqawi in Iraq.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: He certainly is named a lot, that's for sure.
And then also it is Friday, so that means "Gimme a Minute." The panel will be talking about Iraq. Question, is Iraq the right issue for Senator Kerry to put at the center of his campaign. In fact, we've been talking about it all morning. We'll get into that a little bit further.
HEMMER: It is going to be front and center a week from last night, first debate down in Miami, foreign policy and Iraq.
Back to Kelly Wallace now, top of the news this hour.
Good morning.
COLLINS: Hey, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again to you. Good morning, everyone.
Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi is honoring the U.S.-led war efforts in his country. Just moments ago, the prime minister laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. A number of Americans killed in Iraq are buried at Arlington. Mr. Allawi is scheduled to meet with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld later this morning, after meeting with President Bush yesterday.
It is being called an embarrassing mistake. The LAPD's counterterror chief was detained for trying to board a flight to New York with a loaded gun. John Miller was off duty yesterday when screeners found the weapon. Miller is authorized to carry a gun, but he did not declare it or unload it ahead of time.
Overseas now, Chechnya's leader is condemning the terrorists who took responsibility for the Russian school massacre in Beslan. In a Web site posting, the Chechen leader pledged to turn Shamil Busayyaf (ph) over to a court of law for the deaths of the more than 300 people. He also denied any part in the siege.
And U.N. peacekeepers are beefing up security in Haiti this morning. Desperate flood survivors attacked each other to get a share of emergency supplies. Tropical Storm Jeanne left nearly 300,000 people without homes. At least 1,100 people were killed. The latest on Jeanne's forecast coming up. Floridians definitely anxious to see where it is heading.
HEMMER: Anxiety now for seven weeks running, too.
WALLACE: Absolutely.
HEMMER: Kelly, thanks. An American soldier wounded today, northeast of Baghdad, when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. Iraq a very dangerous place, we know that. But the most dangerous man in Iraq may well be Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. Who is he, and what's the U.S. doing now to track him down?
To the Pentagon and Barbara Starr for answers now. Good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill. Well, U.S. officials say they are doing everything they can to catch the man who now rivals Osama bin Laden as public enemy No. 1.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): The U.S. believes Abu Musab Al Zarqawi beheaded the American hostage Eugene Armstrong. With a bounty on his head, Zarqawi now is squarely in the crosshairs of President Bush.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My message to Mr. Zarqawi is, you cannot drive us out of Iraq by your brutality.
STARR: Almost daily airstrikes in the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah are now aimed at Zarqawi and his followers. Over the last 18 months, Zarqawi has led foreign fighters inside Iraq.
GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: Zarqawi, born in Jordan, is the most capable terrorist in Iraq today, and his network and contacts extend to Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
STARR: Reporter: He is believed to have masterminded the beheading of American Nicholas Berg and attacks on the United Nations and Red Cross.
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: This guy is a full-time jihadist, no doubt about it.
STARR: Some analysts say Zarqawi's power to simply terrorize is now his most effective weapon.
KEN POLLACK, SABAN CENTER AT BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Abu Musab Al Zarqawi was probably far more important to the insurgency early on after the fall of Baghdad. At that point in time, the insurgents were disorganized. STARR: The U.S. believes Zarqawi appealed to Al Qaeda to help start a civil war in Iraq, but now Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden, perhaps more in competition than cooperation.
BERGEN: It's significant that Zarqawi set up his own camp in Haraj (ph), in western Afghanistan, because it was hundreds of miles away from bin Laden's camps in southern and eastern Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: The Pentagon says at least six Zarqawi lieutenants have been killed in strikes in recent days. But so far, Bill, no prediction on when he will be caught.
HEMMER: We're also getting reports from the U.S. military. They say they're quite successful of tracking down insurgent members in the town of Fallujah, and they believe he may be in that town of Fallujah. But what do we know specifically, Barbara, about groups of U.S. forces on the ground trying to hunt him down?
STARR: Well, Zarqawi now, of course, is one of those so-called high-value targets, and what the U.S. strategy is for these people is to use special forces, the intelligence community, the CIA, all of the intelligence reconnaissance and surveillance assets at U.S. disposal, to try an track these people, get the lieutenants, break down the network, and hope that that leaves the key leader, Zarqawi, vulnerable. But he is a mastermind so far at slipping away -- Bill.
HEMMER: How do people at the Pentagon characterize what his capture or killing would mean to their effort on the ground?
STARR: Well, they are very clear about it. They want him, they want him bad, and he is key. But there is no feeling here that that will end the insurgency. Zarqawi leads a group of foreign fighters. The insurgency is much broader than that, of course, at the moment. There are many so-called former regime elements, Iraqis, inside that country, who also lead insurgency attacks. He will be key to stopping some attacks, but no indication it that would stop the insurgency itself.
HEMMER: Barbara, thanks for that. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Each Friday at this time we cook up the week's big stories, simmer, and then serve them up in a tasty dish we call "Gimme a Minute." Here now, our expert chefs -- wow, who writes this stuff? -- in New York WABC radio host, Mark Simon.
Thanks so much for being with us.
MARK SIMONE, WABC RADIO HOST: Hey, good morning.
COLLINS: And Sue Ellicott from National Public Radio.
Sue, hello to you.
SUE ELLICOTT, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: Hello there.
COLLINS: And with us here in the studio as well, Andy Borowitz. His new book is "The Borowitz Report: The Big Book of Shockers."
All right, guys, thanks for being here.
Mark, I want to begin with you, if I could.
You know, John Kerry made Iraq policy the focus of his campaign this week, but the president rose to the challenge by standing at a news conference and kind of firing back at John Kerry with the interim prime minister at his side. Can John Kerry win the Iraq argument?
SIMONE: No. And he's tried this before, this negative, angry message. Turning -- making a sharp turn to the left here I think is a mistake right now.
You know, I did research into Tokyo Rose, the propaganda. She had three points she always made. One is, the president's lying about how it's going, it's actually a mess. Point two was, it's the wrong war, the wrong place, the wrong time. And point three was, the president took you to war, just so big corporations could profit. It didn't work for her. That message won't work for Kerry.
COLLINS: Sue, valid points?
ELLICOTT: No, wrong. I mean, the president -- Mr. John Kerry is taking a sharp turn towards reality. He has to keep on kind of hammering away on the fact that the president and the administration are painting a fake, rosy picture Iraq, and that growing numbers of Americans are angry, that the war has cost so much money and there has been such a huge loss of life, and they don't think it was worth it.
COLLINS: Andy?
ANDY BOROWITZ, AUTHOR, "THE BOROWITZ REPORT": I think that Kerry is actually stronger on Iraq, but Bush is stronger on Cat Stevens.
COLLINS: Andy, all right, very good. All right, we've got to be faster next time, guys.
Sue let me begin with you. In our new CNN/"USA Today/"Gallup poll that we're showing, the presidential race in Florida, dead heat there, talking a lot about the hurricane. In fact, Kerry supporters in Florida seem to be more worried about being hit by another hurricane than Bush supporters. What do you think? Does this hurricane have a political impact?
ELLICOTT: I think it does. It's very -- it gives Jeb Bush, Republican governor of Florida, airtime. It makes the president able to look and presidential by going down there, not looking as though he's exploiting it. And also a number of people, including Jeb Bush and federal aide givers are mentioning nature as the work of God, which plays right into the Christian evangelical base of the Republican Party.
COLLINS: Interesting.
All right, Mark?
SIMONE: Well, I agree it's perfect for Bush. He's got a great bedside manner down there. His brother is the governor. Think about how unlucky this is for Kerry. They're wiped out by a hurricane. His hobby is windsurfing.
COLLINS: Maybe some good waters there.
Andy, what do you think?
BOROWITZ: I don't think hurricanes will affect the outcome in Florida, because the Supreme Court is located in Washington.
COLLINS: Hey, we've got 13 seconds to go there. We should have used it on the other one, I guess.
All right, let's move on anyway.
Mark, CBS News, as you know, this week they hired two independent outside investigators to look at what happened with this whole "60 Minutes" story that everyone has been hearing about and what went wrong in their investigation into the president's National Guard Service. With scandals this year at CBS, "The New York Times," "USA Today," the media ever going to win back the public's heart, if you will?
SIMONE: Well, I don't think it's that much of a problem for the media. You know, CNN had a problems years ago, NBC had a problem. They handled it perfectly. They cleaned it up right away. And I think CBS's problem is this stonewalling here. And Rather has sustain the 'C' out of CBS. It's not only hurt the credibility of the news division, it's hurt the credibility of "CSI," their most popular program.
COLLINS: All right, watch your language here, Mark.
All right, Sue?
ELLICOTT: No, come on. I mean, they've done a really good job of acting on this, they've appointed an inquiry, and these things happen. They've moved fast. And we should not less conservatives hijack this issue and make it all about an error made at a news organization rather than the truth of the story itself, which is that George Bush did get out of active duty by using his influence, and lying and did not serve.
COLLINS: Andy, quickly for?
BOROWITZ: You know, everybody complains about reality TV. Here, Dan Rather does a show with no reality, and he gets slammed for it. Not good.
COLLINS: Perfect timing! All right, guys, want to give you a chance to tell us what we may have missed this week, the most undercovered story.
Sue, I want to begin with you.
ELLICOTT: My favorite was the North Carolina woman whose lawyer argued and got her off a drunk driving charge by saying it was unfair that she was walking in her spike heels an she only managed 16 seconds of the 30. She wasn't actually drunk. The heels did it.
COLLINS: Ah, I don't think i've heard that one before.
ELLICOTT: No, we should all carry a spare pair in our car from now on.
COLLINS: Apparently. Yikes.
All right, Mark.
SIMONE: Well you know, the most underreported story of the whole campaign, we heard it a second ago, Bush did not have a bad record in the Guard. The missed appointment, the missed drills are all in part of year five. The first four years he not only attended, he over- attended, and some years, by 600 percent.
COLLINS: All right, Andy?
BOROWITZ: Well, NASA announced that the Mars rover will continue its mission for another six months, at which point it will be replaced by Zell Miller.
COLLINS: Never quite know what you're going to say, Andy Borowitz.
SIMONE: Good line.
COLLINS: All that's why we love you.
Guys, thanks for your time this morning. Once again, Mark Simone, Sue Ellicott and Andy Borowitz for "Gimme a Minute." Thanks, guys.
HEMMER: You can tell him the Borowitz book. It's right there for you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: In a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING, you've seen the ads, maybe the e-mail as well. Sanjay about to set the record straight on a controversial way to enhance your love life.
Sanjay has that in a moment here.
COLLINS: Excellent tease.
Plus, what's go Sir Elton hot under the collar? "Cafferty File" ahead, on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: A growing number of over-the-counter supplements claim to enhance sexual pleasure and performance. But, we are told, buyer beware. We say it every time.
Back to Sanjay now at the CNN Center.
Sanjay, good morning. What gives here?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Well, it's a huge business, if you will, Bill. If you talk about these sorts of ads, you see them everywhere, on the Internet, magazines, television, ads that say that they can help with sexual function, erectile dysfunction.
And now there are some complaints, some debates starting to arise because of this, talking specifically about the Center for Science and the Public Interest filing a complaint against a particular television ad. You may have seen this ad. It's for "smiling Bob." And the product is called Enzyte. It's a suggestive ad. It even uses this phony Latin name, Enzyte. And now in this letter of complaint, they says it's deceptive. There is no proof this medication, Enzyte, or this supplement, I should say, in any way treats erectile dysfunction. The company has two class-action lawsuits against it, numerous complaints. And in their defense, what they say, they released a statement, the company that makes this particular supplement, Berkeley Matriceutical (ph) company, stands behind the Enzyte formula. The company does not claim that Enzyte will treat sexual dysfunction.
The problem, Bill, is that the ads keep running, despite the fact the company is saying it's not really treating erectile dysfunction. So it's a debate.
HEMMER: So then, that's one product, right? There are others?
GUPTA: Yes, I mean, there's hundreds of products out there. If you sign on the Internet, you see these products pop up in your spam all the time. And the reason they're all out there is that they make a lot of money for the various companies, $5 to $50 a month people will pay for these products. It's become a multibillion dollar industry overall. '
But again, a lot of these products, short of the ones that actually go through an actual FDA approval process, have no date, no science actually backing them up -- Bill.
HEMMER: So you're a neurosurgeon, OK?
GUPTA: I am. Yes, thanks.
HEMMER: However, as a doctor, what's the medical advice you're giving if this is an issue?
GUPTA: Well, you know, I mean, I think people make list of these commercials and all these ads, but erectile dysfunction is a real condition, and it is a condition that can and should be treated by a doctor. There are medications out there, medications that are tested. They are tested against other drugs to see if they work, how well they work, make sure that they're both safe and effective. If you have this issue, then go see your doctor about it. There may be help available. The supplements and answering those spam pop-up ads probably not going to be the way to go.
HEMMER: Never click on the spam. You'll destroy your computer along the way.
GUPTA: Never. You will.
HEMMER: This weekend, what's coming up on your program?
GUPTA: Yes, we've got a show on the weekend called "HOUSE CALL," and this weekend we're talking about a very important topic, headaches, all sorts of different headaches. This time of year, a lot of people complain of sinus headaches, but there are also tension headaches, migraine headaches. How do you prevent them? How do you treat them? How do you make them go away? It's all coming up, 8:30 Saturday and Sunday -- Bill.
HEMMER: See you this weekend on that. Thank you, Sanjay.
In a moment here, before you make your picks in your office pool for the weekend football games, find out who Andy likes this weekend. He's "Minding Your Business," too, back here on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Welcome back.
CAFFERTY: There you go.
What's the market hold for this Friday? Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business" with a preview, and his all-important NFL picks as we head into, what is it, week three?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Week three. I love football, Jack.
Hey, let's talk about the market. Yesterday, kind of a mixed picture. Dow was down, Nasdaq up. This morning, futures are mixed. Durable goods for August down a little bit. That was kind of to be expected. Let's talk about the main event, which is football. Here are some picks for this week, Ravens versus Bills/Bengals.
HEMMER: In Cincinnati.
SERWER: In Cincinnati. Everyone is hurt in this game though. Todd "don't call me Uriah" Heap is hurt. Deion Sanders is hurt. He's as old as I am.
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: Who are you taking? SERWER: I'm taking the Bengals. I've got to go with my guy here, Bill, 1-1.
OK, let's move on to the Bucs and the Raiders. This is the Raiders of the east versus the Raiders. The Bucs are winless. They've got no offensive touchdowns. "Chucky" Gruden, etc. Warren Sapp is now with Oakland Tim -- these teams are like sisters. Tim Brown -- they're like sisters. Tim Brown is now playing for the Bucs. I'm all confused. I'm picking the raiders. The Bucs are never going to win.
Let's moved on to the Cowboys-Redskins. Yes, I have to this again. I picked the Redskins. Now I find Lavar Arrington is hurt. Can I change my pick? The Redskins don't have any quarterbacks basically. Sorry Patrick Ramsey.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: No, they're number two. They've lost one game. Two legendary coaches of course playing there.
Let's see how people did last week. Heidi, you did okay, 7-9. Bill, 11-5. 10-6. Will Sarat, 11-5, by the way, Will Sarat (ph), he's our producer of the show.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: And let's go for the full season screened. Do we have the full season screened, because I'm doing OK there?
Jack, you're not doing quite as well.
COLLINS: Andy, you're doing great.
SERWER: I'm doing OK, but Will Sarat is 20-11 -- Will Sarat.
COLLINS: Where is his picture?
SERWER: We don't put his picture up. We don't put it.
Anyway, that's where we stand with football -- Jack.
CAFFERTY: No, the idea here is to attract viewers.
COLLINS: Oh!
SERWER: So let's put you on then.
CAFFERTY: That's right.
SERWER: You got that one coming.
CAFFERTY: "The Cafferty File" is proud to present the poor man's version of Siegfried and Roy. Dominique La Ford (ph) is bringing his show to the Texas State Fair with this cat. And this is about it, boys and girls. The cat jumps from one stool to another. SERWER: Careful. You can get hurt that way.
CAFFERTY: And then lands on the guy's chest, pretty exciting stuff, don't you think?
SERWER: But that's how the guy got hurt, when the cat jumped him.
CAFFERTY: There is a report that there are still a few tickets available for those performances.
Sir Elton John lost his temper in a Taiwan airport when some photographers tried to take his picture.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELTON JOHN, ENTERTAINER: Rude, vile pigs. You rude, vile pig.
Yes, We'd love to get out of Taiwan because of people like you. Pig! pig!
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: Very classy, don't you think?
SERWER: Rocket man!
CAFFERTY: Unbelievable.
SERWER: Sorry.
CAFFERTY: He was upset when the reporters approached him after his private jet touched down in their country so he could pick up a few mil doing a concert there. Some celebrities just don't get it. When you get famous and get all the millions that go with it, photographers want to take your picture, Elton, so get over it.
Out in San Francisco, naked yoga is off the hook. This guy's real name is George Monty Davis. He's become known by his nickname...
SERWER: George full Monty.
CAFFERTY: Full Monty Davis, very good. I like that.
Become known by his nickname. The locals, who are subjected to this clown doing yoga poses without on fisherman's wharf without his clothing on. There's an appetizing mental image. Enough people eventually complained that a prosecutor was forced to take a look at this. Not literally, you understand, just figuratively. And guess what? Only in America. In San Francisco, being naked in the streets apparently is not a crime. Charges, along with trousers, dropped.
SERWER: Nice. But no pictures of it.
COLLINS: I was going to say.
SERWER: Yes, where was that?
CAFFERTY: No, we don't have any pictures.
HEMMER: The full Monty. Clever.
CAFFERTY: By the way, I misspoke earlier. I said "Fortune 400." It's not. It's the "Forbes 400," richest Americans. Just leave it to our viewers to pick up on that. You can't get anything by them.
HEMMER: Which one is the better magazine? Wait, let me rephrase that, which one do we own?
SERWER: Which one owns you?
HEMMER: Our man, "Fortune," right here?
CAFFERTY: So "Fortune" is the better magazine.
SERWER: It's the other F-O-R magazine.
Let's get a break here. In a moment, Florida cannot catch a break. Again, another hurricane may hit that state this weekend. Chad's back. Where's Jeanne? We'll let you know, top of the hour after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired September 24, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. 8:30 here in New York, and welcome back, as our coverage continues.
We're going to get back to topic of Zarqawi, the terrorist known as Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, full name, believed to be behind many of the murders of foreigners in Iraq, and possibly associated with Osama bin Laden. Barbara Starr in a moment here. We'll talk about those links, and also the mission to capture Zarqawi in Iraq.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: He certainly is named a lot, that's for sure.
And then also it is Friday, so that means "Gimme a Minute." The panel will be talking about Iraq. Question, is Iraq the right issue for Senator Kerry to put at the center of his campaign. In fact, we've been talking about it all morning. We'll get into that a little bit further.
HEMMER: It is going to be front and center a week from last night, first debate down in Miami, foreign policy and Iraq.
Back to Kelly Wallace now, top of the news this hour.
Good morning.
COLLINS: Hey, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again to you. Good morning, everyone.
Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi is honoring the U.S.-led war efforts in his country. Just moments ago, the prime minister laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. A number of Americans killed in Iraq are buried at Arlington. Mr. Allawi is scheduled to meet with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld later this morning, after meeting with President Bush yesterday.
It is being called an embarrassing mistake. The LAPD's counterterror chief was detained for trying to board a flight to New York with a loaded gun. John Miller was off duty yesterday when screeners found the weapon. Miller is authorized to carry a gun, but he did not declare it or unload it ahead of time.
Overseas now, Chechnya's leader is condemning the terrorists who took responsibility for the Russian school massacre in Beslan. In a Web site posting, the Chechen leader pledged to turn Shamil Busayyaf (ph) over to a court of law for the deaths of the more than 300 people. He also denied any part in the siege.
And U.N. peacekeepers are beefing up security in Haiti this morning. Desperate flood survivors attacked each other to get a share of emergency supplies. Tropical Storm Jeanne left nearly 300,000 people without homes. At least 1,100 people were killed. The latest on Jeanne's forecast coming up. Floridians definitely anxious to see where it is heading.
HEMMER: Anxiety now for seven weeks running, too.
WALLACE: Absolutely.
HEMMER: Kelly, thanks. An American soldier wounded today, northeast of Baghdad, when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. Iraq a very dangerous place, we know that. But the most dangerous man in Iraq may well be Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. Who is he, and what's the U.S. doing now to track him down?
To the Pentagon and Barbara Starr for answers now. Good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill. Well, U.S. officials say they are doing everything they can to catch the man who now rivals Osama bin Laden as public enemy No. 1.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): The U.S. believes Abu Musab Al Zarqawi beheaded the American hostage Eugene Armstrong. With a bounty on his head, Zarqawi now is squarely in the crosshairs of President Bush.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My message to Mr. Zarqawi is, you cannot drive us out of Iraq by your brutality.
STARR: Almost daily airstrikes in the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah are now aimed at Zarqawi and his followers. Over the last 18 months, Zarqawi has led foreign fighters inside Iraq.
GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: Zarqawi, born in Jordan, is the most capable terrorist in Iraq today, and his network and contacts extend to Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
STARR: Reporter: He is believed to have masterminded the beheading of American Nicholas Berg and attacks on the United Nations and Red Cross.
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: This guy is a full-time jihadist, no doubt about it.
STARR: Some analysts say Zarqawi's power to simply terrorize is now his most effective weapon.
KEN POLLACK, SABAN CENTER AT BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Abu Musab Al Zarqawi was probably far more important to the insurgency early on after the fall of Baghdad. At that point in time, the insurgents were disorganized. STARR: The U.S. believes Zarqawi appealed to Al Qaeda to help start a civil war in Iraq, but now Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden, perhaps more in competition than cooperation.
BERGEN: It's significant that Zarqawi set up his own camp in Haraj (ph), in western Afghanistan, because it was hundreds of miles away from bin Laden's camps in southern and eastern Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: The Pentagon says at least six Zarqawi lieutenants have been killed in strikes in recent days. But so far, Bill, no prediction on when he will be caught.
HEMMER: We're also getting reports from the U.S. military. They say they're quite successful of tracking down insurgent members in the town of Fallujah, and they believe he may be in that town of Fallujah. But what do we know specifically, Barbara, about groups of U.S. forces on the ground trying to hunt him down?
STARR: Well, Zarqawi now, of course, is one of those so-called high-value targets, and what the U.S. strategy is for these people is to use special forces, the intelligence community, the CIA, all of the intelligence reconnaissance and surveillance assets at U.S. disposal, to try an track these people, get the lieutenants, break down the network, and hope that that leaves the key leader, Zarqawi, vulnerable. But he is a mastermind so far at slipping away -- Bill.
HEMMER: How do people at the Pentagon characterize what his capture or killing would mean to their effort on the ground?
STARR: Well, they are very clear about it. They want him, they want him bad, and he is key. But there is no feeling here that that will end the insurgency. Zarqawi leads a group of foreign fighters. The insurgency is much broader than that, of course, at the moment. There are many so-called former regime elements, Iraqis, inside that country, who also lead insurgency attacks. He will be key to stopping some attacks, but no indication it that would stop the insurgency itself.
HEMMER: Barbara, thanks for that. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Each Friday at this time we cook up the week's big stories, simmer, and then serve them up in a tasty dish we call "Gimme a Minute." Here now, our expert chefs -- wow, who writes this stuff? -- in New York WABC radio host, Mark Simon.
Thanks so much for being with us.
MARK SIMONE, WABC RADIO HOST: Hey, good morning.
COLLINS: And Sue Ellicott from National Public Radio.
Sue, hello to you.
SUE ELLICOTT, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: Hello there.
COLLINS: And with us here in the studio as well, Andy Borowitz. His new book is "The Borowitz Report: The Big Book of Shockers."
All right, guys, thanks for being here.
Mark, I want to begin with you, if I could.
You know, John Kerry made Iraq policy the focus of his campaign this week, but the president rose to the challenge by standing at a news conference and kind of firing back at John Kerry with the interim prime minister at his side. Can John Kerry win the Iraq argument?
SIMONE: No. And he's tried this before, this negative, angry message. Turning -- making a sharp turn to the left here I think is a mistake right now.
You know, I did research into Tokyo Rose, the propaganda. She had three points she always made. One is, the president's lying about how it's going, it's actually a mess. Point two was, it's the wrong war, the wrong place, the wrong time. And point three was, the president took you to war, just so big corporations could profit. It didn't work for her. That message won't work for Kerry.
COLLINS: Sue, valid points?
ELLICOTT: No, wrong. I mean, the president -- Mr. John Kerry is taking a sharp turn towards reality. He has to keep on kind of hammering away on the fact that the president and the administration are painting a fake, rosy picture Iraq, and that growing numbers of Americans are angry, that the war has cost so much money and there has been such a huge loss of life, and they don't think it was worth it.
COLLINS: Andy?
ANDY BOROWITZ, AUTHOR, "THE BOROWITZ REPORT": I think that Kerry is actually stronger on Iraq, but Bush is stronger on Cat Stevens.
COLLINS: Andy, all right, very good. All right, we've got to be faster next time, guys.
Sue let me begin with you. In our new CNN/"USA Today/"Gallup poll that we're showing, the presidential race in Florida, dead heat there, talking a lot about the hurricane. In fact, Kerry supporters in Florida seem to be more worried about being hit by another hurricane than Bush supporters. What do you think? Does this hurricane have a political impact?
ELLICOTT: I think it does. It's very -- it gives Jeb Bush, Republican governor of Florida, airtime. It makes the president able to look and presidential by going down there, not looking as though he's exploiting it. And also a number of people, including Jeb Bush and federal aide givers are mentioning nature as the work of God, which plays right into the Christian evangelical base of the Republican Party.
COLLINS: Interesting.
All right, Mark?
SIMONE: Well, I agree it's perfect for Bush. He's got a great bedside manner down there. His brother is the governor. Think about how unlucky this is for Kerry. They're wiped out by a hurricane. His hobby is windsurfing.
COLLINS: Maybe some good waters there.
Andy, what do you think?
BOROWITZ: I don't think hurricanes will affect the outcome in Florida, because the Supreme Court is located in Washington.
COLLINS: Hey, we've got 13 seconds to go there. We should have used it on the other one, I guess.
All right, let's move on anyway.
Mark, CBS News, as you know, this week they hired two independent outside investigators to look at what happened with this whole "60 Minutes" story that everyone has been hearing about and what went wrong in their investigation into the president's National Guard Service. With scandals this year at CBS, "The New York Times," "USA Today," the media ever going to win back the public's heart, if you will?
SIMONE: Well, I don't think it's that much of a problem for the media. You know, CNN had a problems years ago, NBC had a problem. They handled it perfectly. They cleaned it up right away. And I think CBS's problem is this stonewalling here. And Rather has sustain the 'C' out of CBS. It's not only hurt the credibility of the news division, it's hurt the credibility of "CSI," their most popular program.
COLLINS: All right, watch your language here, Mark.
All right, Sue?
ELLICOTT: No, come on. I mean, they've done a really good job of acting on this, they've appointed an inquiry, and these things happen. They've moved fast. And we should not less conservatives hijack this issue and make it all about an error made at a news organization rather than the truth of the story itself, which is that George Bush did get out of active duty by using his influence, and lying and did not serve.
COLLINS: Andy, quickly for?
BOROWITZ: You know, everybody complains about reality TV. Here, Dan Rather does a show with no reality, and he gets slammed for it. Not good.
COLLINS: Perfect timing! All right, guys, want to give you a chance to tell us what we may have missed this week, the most undercovered story.
Sue, I want to begin with you.
ELLICOTT: My favorite was the North Carolina woman whose lawyer argued and got her off a drunk driving charge by saying it was unfair that she was walking in her spike heels an she only managed 16 seconds of the 30. She wasn't actually drunk. The heels did it.
COLLINS: Ah, I don't think i've heard that one before.
ELLICOTT: No, we should all carry a spare pair in our car from now on.
COLLINS: Apparently. Yikes.
All right, Mark.
SIMONE: Well you know, the most underreported story of the whole campaign, we heard it a second ago, Bush did not have a bad record in the Guard. The missed appointment, the missed drills are all in part of year five. The first four years he not only attended, he over- attended, and some years, by 600 percent.
COLLINS: All right, Andy?
BOROWITZ: Well, NASA announced that the Mars rover will continue its mission for another six months, at which point it will be replaced by Zell Miller.
COLLINS: Never quite know what you're going to say, Andy Borowitz.
SIMONE: Good line.
COLLINS: All that's why we love you.
Guys, thanks for your time this morning. Once again, Mark Simone, Sue Ellicott and Andy Borowitz for "Gimme a Minute." Thanks, guys.
HEMMER: You can tell him the Borowitz book. It's right there for you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: In a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING, you've seen the ads, maybe the e-mail as well. Sanjay about to set the record straight on a controversial way to enhance your love life.
Sanjay has that in a moment here.
COLLINS: Excellent tease.
Plus, what's go Sir Elton hot under the collar? "Cafferty File" ahead, on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: A growing number of over-the-counter supplements claim to enhance sexual pleasure and performance. But, we are told, buyer beware. We say it every time.
Back to Sanjay now at the CNN Center.
Sanjay, good morning. What gives here?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Well, it's a huge business, if you will, Bill. If you talk about these sorts of ads, you see them everywhere, on the Internet, magazines, television, ads that say that they can help with sexual function, erectile dysfunction.
And now there are some complaints, some debates starting to arise because of this, talking specifically about the Center for Science and the Public Interest filing a complaint against a particular television ad. You may have seen this ad. It's for "smiling Bob." And the product is called Enzyte. It's a suggestive ad. It even uses this phony Latin name, Enzyte. And now in this letter of complaint, they says it's deceptive. There is no proof this medication, Enzyte, or this supplement, I should say, in any way treats erectile dysfunction. The company has two class-action lawsuits against it, numerous complaints. And in their defense, what they say, they released a statement, the company that makes this particular supplement, Berkeley Matriceutical (ph) company, stands behind the Enzyte formula. The company does not claim that Enzyte will treat sexual dysfunction.
The problem, Bill, is that the ads keep running, despite the fact the company is saying it's not really treating erectile dysfunction. So it's a debate.
HEMMER: So then, that's one product, right? There are others?
GUPTA: Yes, I mean, there's hundreds of products out there. If you sign on the Internet, you see these products pop up in your spam all the time. And the reason they're all out there is that they make a lot of money for the various companies, $5 to $50 a month people will pay for these products. It's become a multibillion dollar industry overall. '
But again, a lot of these products, short of the ones that actually go through an actual FDA approval process, have no date, no science actually backing them up -- Bill.
HEMMER: So you're a neurosurgeon, OK?
GUPTA: I am. Yes, thanks.
HEMMER: However, as a doctor, what's the medical advice you're giving if this is an issue?
GUPTA: Well, you know, I mean, I think people make list of these commercials and all these ads, but erectile dysfunction is a real condition, and it is a condition that can and should be treated by a doctor. There are medications out there, medications that are tested. They are tested against other drugs to see if they work, how well they work, make sure that they're both safe and effective. If you have this issue, then go see your doctor about it. There may be help available. The supplements and answering those spam pop-up ads probably not going to be the way to go.
HEMMER: Never click on the spam. You'll destroy your computer along the way.
GUPTA: Never. You will.
HEMMER: This weekend, what's coming up on your program?
GUPTA: Yes, we've got a show on the weekend called "HOUSE CALL," and this weekend we're talking about a very important topic, headaches, all sorts of different headaches. This time of year, a lot of people complain of sinus headaches, but there are also tension headaches, migraine headaches. How do you prevent them? How do you treat them? How do you make them go away? It's all coming up, 8:30 Saturday and Sunday -- Bill.
HEMMER: See you this weekend on that. Thank you, Sanjay.
In a moment here, before you make your picks in your office pool for the weekend football games, find out who Andy likes this weekend. He's "Minding Your Business," too, back here on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Welcome back.
CAFFERTY: There you go.
What's the market hold for this Friday? Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business" with a preview, and his all-important NFL picks as we head into, what is it, week three?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Week three. I love football, Jack.
Hey, let's talk about the market. Yesterday, kind of a mixed picture. Dow was down, Nasdaq up. This morning, futures are mixed. Durable goods for August down a little bit. That was kind of to be expected. Let's talk about the main event, which is football. Here are some picks for this week, Ravens versus Bills/Bengals.
HEMMER: In Cincinnati.
SERWER: In Cincinnati. Everyone is hurt in this game though. Todd "don't call me Uriah" Heap is hurt. Deion Sanders is hurt. He's as old as I am.
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: Who are you taking? SERWER: I'm taking the Bengals. I've got to go with my guy here, Bill, 1-1.
OK, let's move on to the Bucs and the Raiders. This is the Raiders of the east versus the Raiders. The Bucs are winless. They've got no offensive touchdowns. "Chucky" Gruden, etc. Warren Sapp is now with Oakland Tim -- these teams are like sisters. Tim Brown -- they're like sisters. Tim Brown is now playing for the Bucs. I'm all confused. I'm picking the raiders. The Bucs are never going to win.
Let's moved on to the Cowboys-Redskins. Yes, I have to this again. I picked the Redskins. Now I find Lavar Arrington is hurt. Can I change my pick? The Redskins don't have any quarterbacks basically. Sorry Patrick Ramsey.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: No, they're number two. They've lost one game. Two legendary coaches of course playing there.
Let's see how people did last week. Heidi, you did okay, 7-9. Bill, 11-5. 10-6. Will Sarat, 11-5, by the way, Will Sarat (ph), he's our producer of the show.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: And let's go for the full season screened. Do we have the full season screened, because I'm doing OK there?
Jack, you're not doing quite as well.
COLLINS: Andy, you're doing great.
SERWER: I'm doing OK, but Will Sarat is 20-11 -- Will Sarat.
COLLINS: Where is his picture?
SERWER: We don't put his picture up. We don't put it.
Anyway, that's where we stand with football -- Jack.
CAFFERTY: No, the idea here is to attract viewers.
COLLINS: Oh!
SERWER: So let's put you on then.
CAFFERTY: That's right.
SERWER: You got that one coming.
CAFFERTY: "The Cafferty File" is proud to present the poor man's version of Siegfried and Roy. Dominique La Ford (ph) is bringing his show to the Texas State Fair with this cat. And this is about it, boys and girls. The cat jumps from one stool to another. SERWER: Careful. You can get hurt that way.
CAFFERTY: And then lands on the guy's chest, pretty exciting stuff, don't you think?
SERWER: But that's how the guy got hurt, when the cat jumped him.
CAFFERTY: There is a report that there are still a few tickets available for those performances.
Sir Elton John lost his temper in a Taiwan airport when some photographers tried to take his picture.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELTON JOHN, ENTERTAINER: Rude, vile pigs. You rude, vile pig.
Yes, We'd love to get out of Taiwan because of people like you. Pig! pig!
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: Very classy, don't you think?
SERWER: Rocket man!
CAFFERTY: Unbelievable.
SERWER: Sorry.
CAFFERTY: He was upset when the reporters approached him after his private jet touched down in their country so he could pick up a few mil doing a concert there. Some celebrities just don't get it. When you get famous and get all the millions that go with it, photographers want to take your picture, Elton, so get over it.
Out in San Francisco, naked yoga is off the hook. This guy's real name is George Monty Davis. He's become known by his nickname...
SERWER: George full Monty.
CAFFERTY: Full Monty Davis, very good. I like that.
Become known by his nickname. The locals, who are subjected to this clown doing yoga poses without on fisherman's wharf without his clothing on. There's an appetizing mental image. Enough people eventually complained that a prosecutor was forced to take a look at this. Not literally, you understand, just figuratively. And guess what? Only in America. In San Francisco, being naked in the streets apparently is not a crime. Charges, along with trousers, dropped.
SERWER: Nice. But no pictures of it.
COLLINS: I was going to say.
SERWER: Yes, where was that?
CAFFERTY: No, we don't have any pictures.
HEMMER: The full Monty. Clever.
CAFFERTY: By the way, I misspoke earlier. I said "Fortune 400." It's not. It's the "Forbes 400," richest Americans. Just leave it to our viewers to pick up on that. You can't get anything by them.
HEMMER: Which one is the better magazine? Wait, let me rephrase that, which one do we own?
SERWER: Which one owns you?
HEMMER: Our man, "Fortune," right here?
CAFFERTY: So "Fortune" is the better magazine.
SERWER: It's the other F-O-R magazine.
Let's get a break here. In a moment, Florida cannot catch a break. Again, another hurricane may hit that state this weekend. Chad's back. Where's Jeanne? We'll let you know, top of the hour after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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