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New Day
Mets & Royals Open World Series Tonight; On the Frontlines in Syria; WHO: 50 Grams of Processed Meat Raises Cancer Risk; Plan to Move U.S. Troops to Frontlines in Iraq, Syria. Aired 6:30-7am
Aired October 27, 2015 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: -- Ted Cruz and some of the others appealing to that conservative, mostly blue-collar vote.
[06:30:04] And then you have a group which is Bush, Rubio at the top, Kasich and Christie a little behind, who are competing for that more white vote collar, establishment vote and centered on New Hampshire. It is unlikely that both Rubio and Bush can both survive for long. And so, it was almost inevitable that the mentor and the protege would collide in the way we're increasingly seeing.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, ANCHOR: Errol, Ron, we have to leave it there. Thanks so much, guys. Great to talk to you.
Michaela?
MCHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: I was doing my best pitch impersonation, looking, you know, second base, first base. Didn't work so well. We are less than 13 hours away from the first pitch of what many are hoping will be a classic fall classic.
We have got your update between the Mets and the Royals -- a preview, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PEREIRA: Outrage in South Carolina and beyond after this video surfaces of a white police officer violently throwing a black female student from her desk.
[06:35:04] Take a look as the teenager is tossed several feet across the classroom. Then she is placed under arrest.
Sheriff's deputy Ben Fields is heard on that video making threats after the young girl refuses to comply with his orders. Officer Fields has been placed now on administrative leave pending an investigation.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The White House and congressional Republicans striking a budget deal, staving off a government shutdown and potential default. The deal raises the debt limit through March 2017 and also raises domestic and defense spending by $80 billion. The House could vote as early as Wednesday.
CAMEROTA: The royal red carpet rolled out for the London premiere of the latest James Bond film "Spectre." William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, along with Prince Harry were on hand. It's the fourth and possibly last for current 007 star Daniel Craig. "Spectre" opens stateside November 6th.
PEREIRA: He's so dreamy. Did I say that out loud? I'm sorry.
CAMEROTA: Your internal dialogue.
PEREIRA: That was unprofessional.
CUOMO: World Series time. The New York Mets and Kansas City Royals open the fall classic tonight in KC. Good ribs. Both teams equally hungry for World Series title. The Royals last won one in '85. Those were the George Brett. The Mets in 1986, Mookie Wilson.
CNN's Andy Scholes has a preview.
Andy, who you got?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: You know, Chris, with the pitching staff the Mets have, you know, I can't see them losing this series. I'll go New York in five. A lot of people picking the Royals though to win this series.
But, you know, the big question in everyone's mind coming into tonight's game, guys, is. what inning will Mets' second baseman Daniel Murphy hit a home run? You know, he's homered in a record six straight post-season games. He has seven home runs in the playoff, which is one shy of the all-time record.
Now, Murphy's a guy that's never hit more than 14 home runs in an entire season and he can't -- he says he can't even explain where this recent power surge is coming from, but he's very excited to be playing in his first World Series. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL MURPHY, METS 2ND BASEMAN: You always when you are growing up, you know, in October, you see the World Series. You always kind of imagine yourself being there. To be able to make it, it's definitely very exciting.
TERRY COLLINS, METS MANAGER: From veteran guys to the rookies. They walk around and say this is a cool place. I've never been here. We're in the World Series. You know, it strikes home. It's what it's all about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: The game between the Mets and Royals tonight at 8:00 Eastern. New York going with Matt Harvey on the ground in game one. The Royals countering with Edson Vulces. Las Vegas has it as a pick 'em. And as you said earlier, neither time has won a World Series in nearly 30 years. At least one of these fan bases will be very happy when this thing is all said and done.
CAMEROTA: Exciting!
PEREIRA: So we're going to go for KC.
PEREIRA: Yes, we know about it.
CUOMO: They instinctively must go against me.
CAMEROTA: No, I'm not doing it to go against you --
PEREIRA: It's family.
CAMEROTA: Tim, my husband, grew up in Kansas City.
PEREIRA: I'm just being contrarian.
CUOMO: I respect that. It's not like Tim gets offered up as a reason that you do a lot of things. I feel like you use him as a scapegoat.
CAMEROTA: No, for this one --
PEREIRA: Give him one.
CAMEROTA: I'll give him one.
CUOMO: Everybody loses.
CAMEROTA: All right, meanwhile, let's talk about another story we're about to bring you. What's happening on the frontlines in the war against ISIS? Well, Kurdish fighters are preparing a military offensive in Syria and CNN is there. We'll show you what it is like on the ground, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:42:31] CAMEROTA: President Obama and his national security advisers considering a plan to ramp up the war on ISIS by putting U.S. troops on the frontlines in Iraq and Syria. According to "The Washington Post," a decision could come as early as this week.
Meanwhile, Kurdish fighters in Syria already working to push ISIS out of their territory in northern Syria.
CNN's senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward has been on the frontlines in northeast Syria. She joins us live from Erbil, Iraq.
Clarissa, welcome to CNN and to NEW DAY. It's great to see you.
Tell us what you've been seeing out there.
CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you so much and good morning to you, Alisyn.
Well, just a few weeks ago, the U.S. dropped 50 tons of ammunition to a new coalition of Kurdish fighters who are fighting ISIS on the ground inside Syria. We spent time on the frontlines with the pain group in that coalition, the Kurdish YPG, and they told us they are going to need a lot more than that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WARD: These men are at the core of America's latest strategy to defeat ISIS. Manning positions along a vast and desolate front line, with ISIS entrenched in villages just through the haze. They're fighters with the YPG, a force of roughly 30,000 Syrian Kurds, which backed by coalition air power, have dealt divisive blows to Islamic state militants across northern Syria.
Commander Bahos (ph) is in charge of this front line position in the city of Hasakah, which the YPG took from ISIS in August after months of fierce clashes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They tried to attack us again ten days ago. We were prepared, so they didn't reach their target.
WARD: But they keep trying.
(on camera): ISIS has control of the next village along, which is just over a mile in that direction. But the men at this base tell us the ISIS fighters often go at night to that building just over there, so they can launch attacks on these positions.
(voice-over): The U.S. hopes the YPG will soon move from defense to offense, taking the fight to is' stronghold in Raqqa, but at makeshift bases across the front line, the fighters we saw were lightly armed, poorly equipped and exhausted by months of fight.
And senior commander Lawand knows the battles ahead will be even tougher.
[06:45:00] (on camera): Can you take Raqqa without heavier weapons from the coalition?
COMMANDER LAWAND, YPG (through translator): The weapons we have are not high-quality. So this campaign will need new, heavy weapons.
WARD (voice-over): The most important weapon they do have but don't want to talk about is this device, which helps the YPG get exact coordinates for enemy positions. Those coordinates are sent to a joint U.S.-Kurdish operations room and minutes later, fighter jets come screaming in.
Rezwan told us he was given a week of training before using the device.
(on camera): Who trained you how to use this?
REZWAN, YPG FIGHTER (through translator): Believe me, I can't say. When you finish the training, it's a secret, but they weren't speaking Kurdish.
WARD (voice-over): A mystery, as is so much of the unfolding U.S. strategy in this critical corner of Syria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WARD: The main reason the U.S. is being so circumspect about its support of the YPG is because the group has very close relations with its Turkish counterpart, the PKK. That is considered to be a terrorist organization -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Clarissa, what a vantage point you've given us back here. Can you comment on this "Washington Post" article saying that President Obama and his top advisers are considering putting U.S. troops on the frontlines in Syria?
WARD: Well, certainly, that would be a pretty dramatic move. While the U.S. has been supporting with these air drops and through air support, there certainly is no U.S. presence on the ground in Syria. There is a significant one here in Iraq, but really, this would be the kind of dramatic step that would be needed to take this battle forward.
If the U.S. really is serious about getting the YPG to take on a offensive against ISIS in its stronghold, it will need this kind of a dramatic gesture, this kind of a momentum. For the moment, Alisyn, those frontlines are really pretty static and there isn't the ability or even really the will on the part of the YPG to push forward and take on those ISIS strongholds.
CAMEROTA: And, Clarissa, one last thing. Obviously all of the crisis in Syria has spawned this refugee crisis. What's the latest with that?
WARD: Well, Alisyn, it was so dramatic to see when we were driving through northern Syria that there are entire villages that are completely deserted. The roads are empty. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes in this small corner.
It's impossible to say if they left because of ISIS who have been planting booby traps and land mines in all the areas they've retreated from or if they left because of the coalition air strikes which have flattened certain areas.
But, certainly, they are part of the nearly 50 percent of the Syrian population that is no longer living in their homes.
CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh. What a staggering number. Clarissa Ward, thank you for that and great to have you onboard.
Let's get it over to Michaela.
PEREIRA: All right. Alisyn, we're going to talk about this World Health Organization report that says eating processed meats like bacon and other things can raise your risk of getting colon cancer. How much is too much? Well, we ask a doctor to make a NEW DAY house call. He'll break it down for us, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:52:31] PEREIRA: All right. You've seen the headlines. Bacon can cause cancer. The World Health Organization releasing its new guidelines for processed and red meat, saying 50 grams a day will increase cancer risks by 18 percent. Sounds alarming. What does it really mean?
Dr. Clifford Hudis is here. He's an oncologist and chief of breast medicine service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Really good to have you.
We have props today, the report is that a serving of one of these, ham or a hot dog, or sausage, ham, or two pieces of bacon, if you ate that every day, would increase your chance of colon cancer by 18 percent. Where do you stand on this? Does it seem like sound science to you?
DR. CLIFFORD HUDIS, ONCOLOGIST: So there are many factors here. First of all, we know from lots of experiments that the way we process meat, what's in it, and food in general can add cancer risks. This is not really new. And some of the biology has been explore for years, by very skilled scientists.
On the other hand, this 18 percent risk, this 18 percent increase in risk, this is a pretty modest increase in risk for factors we think about. For example, in the science world, we don't really get that excited about risk factors from these kinds of studies normally, until we're doubling the risk or more.
Think about the cigarettes and tobacco. They take up your risk of lung cancer eight fold or more.
PEREIRA: So why sound the alarm, then?
HUDIS: Because across the world --
CUOMO: Yes, Michaela. Why sound the alarm?
PEREIRA: He's mad because of the bacon. He really is.
HUDIS: Because we're talking about 7 plus billion people on earth. We're talking about a modifiable risk factor for cancer. And the truth factor for me, at least is, this is the edge of a bigger issue. The big problem right now that we face across the whole world is rising rates of obesity. And obesity is scheduled, if we can say such a thing, to replace tobacco as the leading modifiable risk factor for (AUDIO GAP)
CAMEROTA: -- what to serve my kids this weekend, because they love bacon on the weekend mornings. Is it all meat or processed meat?
HUDIS: For this report, it's about processed meat. But I actually think you're going to see the higher-calorie foods, higher- fat foods, all of these are contributing indirectly if not directly to the cancer problem, because of the link through obesity.
CUOMO: So when we say "processed," that's a key component here also. What does that mean? Smoked? You know, what --
HUDIS: In this case, we're referring to smoked meats and salting of meats. By the way, salting of foods has been a known cancer risk for going back more than a century.
[06:55:05] Japanese diet with lots of salted fish was famously associated with gastric cancer decades earlier.
PEREIRA: But this report also includes red meat, specifically. Let me ask you. Is it -- I mean, we've been smoking and curing meat since time immemorial. Is it because of modern techniques, is all processed meat created equal, if you're smoking it at home like some of the fellows here do?
CUOMO: I've got a friend smoking some blue fish for me right now. Is it going to kill me, Doc?
HUDIS: Well, this is about red meat, but, you know, you're touching on one of the great public health advances of the last century, the refrigerator. We called it the frigid air effect. When the electric refrigerator came out in the last century, rates of gastric cancer in the United States fell precipitously, absolutely, because we didn't salt.
CAMEROTA: OK. So how much meat or processed meat can we eat a week without increasing our cancer risk?
HUDIS: I'm not certain there's a number for that. The 50 grams that they described per day is associated with an 18 percent increase in risk, but likely, as you reduce the amount, you reduce the elevation in risk, but I'm not sure you can get to zero unless you go to zero.
CUOMO: A hot dog is 50 grams?
HUDIS: You would have to weigh them, each one.
PEREIRA: So somebody at home will say, we'll switch over to turkey bacon instead of regular bacon, still problem, essentially, because it would still be cured meat, correct?
HUDIS: Maybe, maybe not. This report addressed red meat and this processing and this particular product. So, I think we have to wait and see --
PEREIRA: Smoked tofu. I'm just trying.
HUDIS: Presumably less risk.
PEREIRA: Presumably less risk.
CAMEROTA: What are we supposed to do with this?
HUDIS: I think this brings us back to where we started. An 18 percent increase in risk is a small increase in risk in public health circles. So, fundamentally, the argument really is, why do we eat meat? The only reason some people eat meat is it tastes good. That's a personal choice.
This is not the riskiest thing most of us are doing. It's more important, in my opinion, to focus on a calorie-restricted diet, on increased exercise, healthier energy balance. These are the things in the long run that will limit our cancer risk.
PEREIRA: A good word from the good doctor. Good to see you again, Dr. Hudis. Thank you so much.
HUDIS: Thank you very much.
PEREIRA: You can still have some ham, dear, just once in a while.
What's your take, get in and conversate with us. And I did say that "conversate." Use the #NewDayCNN. You can also jump on Facebook.com/NewDay. Leave your comments.
CUOMO: All right. There is a lot of news for you so let's get right to it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(EXPLETIVE DELETED)
OFFICER: Put your hands behind your back!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The officer had an opportunity to de- escalate the situation and he didn't.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you supposed to do? Stand around and wait for them to get out of the chair?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a parent and I'm ashamed of what I saw. What could have led up to that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ben Carson officially knocked trump from his perch in Iowa.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ben Carson seems to be a much more credible messenger.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Carson is lower energy than Bush!
BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have plenty of energy.
CONAN O'BRIEN, COMEDIAN/TV HOST: One of the top Halloween costumes this year is Donald Trump. Which is why this year the phrase trick or treat has been replaced with "give me a Kit Kat or I'll deport you."
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: Good evening, everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY.
Up first, a new strategy to take out ISIS. President Obama and his national security advisers considering moving U.S. troops closer to the frontlines in Syria and Iraq. This is according to a new report in "The Washington Post".
CUOMO: They say a recharged plan is in order, but do Americans have the stomach for military consolidation? U.S. boots on the ground?
But this is in the context of tensions between not only ISIS and the U.S., but the U.S. and China after an American naval destroyer sails within miles of these islands claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea.
We have live team coverage of these developing stories.
Let's begin with CNN's Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.
Good morning, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.
Well, we had a hint of this last week, perhaps, when Defense Secretary Ash Carter told everyone here at the Pentagon in a press conference to expect more raids, such as the one we saw last week, where Delta Force paired up with the Kurds, sadly, Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler lost his life in that raid, raising the question, are U.S. troops now in combat, if not in a total combat mission?
Many officials at the Pentagon are talking about these reports, talking about turning up the heat in Iraq, in Syria, but this would be a massive step forward. It would raise the possibility of U.S. troops on the ground, in a p/potential combat role, because they would be helping Syrian and Iraqi forces, possibly calling in air strikes, possibly more advise and assist. That could put them in combat with ISIS. Last week's events make that very clear.
Defense Secretary Carter, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joe Dunford, on Capitol Hill later this morning. Expect them to get grilled about all of this. By all accounts, no decisions have been made. It will be up to President Obama to decide whether he wants to take the military to this next step -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: OK, Barbara, please keep us posted as you talk to your sources there.
