Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
NATO Helicopter Crashes in Afghanistan; East Coast Still Feeling the Affects of Tropical Storm Ernesto; 16 Men Arrested in London as Terror Suspects
Aired September 02, 2006 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, I'm Rick Sanchez. If you're just now joining us NATO confirms indeed that one of its helicopters did crash in southern Afghanistan. A technical problem is suspected. NATO says there's no indication that it was shot down though the crash does coincide with the start of a NATO offensive against Taliban fighters in the Kandahar province. We're still awaiting word on any possibility casualties.
British authorities are saying that two men were arrested and several homes were searched during an anti-terrorism raid in Manchester. 14 others were arrested in a separate sweep in London. Police say some of the suspects may have helped set up terrorist training camps. A live report from London is coming up at the top of the hour.
Big problem with Ernesto this morning. Flooding and power outages have been left in its wake. Utility crews in parts of the east coast are spending the holiday weekend restoring power to hundreds of thousands of customers. North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey all now face potential flooding problems. At least six deaths have already been blamed on Ernesto.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Flooding is still now a problem but it appears at least that the storm has pushed through. Is that right Reynolds Wolf?
(WEATHER REPORT)
SANCHEZ: Being a meteorologist this is one I'm sure you, Randi and Reynolds have been following as well. The debate over Pluto.
KAYE: I have been following that very closely, honestly. It's a big deal. And now there's a big controversy, they're fighting it, aren't they?
SANCHEZ: Yeah, is it a planet? Is it not a planet? "Reuters" news service reports hundreds of U.S. scientists are challenging a decision by world astronomers to strip Pluto of its status as a planet. The scientist rejects the group's definition of what actually constitutes a planet. So this is one that will go on for quite some time.
KAYE: It's one of my favorite planets, so I'm kind of sorry to see it go away.
SANCHEZ: We'll let you know.
KAYE: Ok, please do.
SANCHEZ: A rundown with some of the top stories right here every 15 minutes on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. With in-depth coverage all morning long as well. And your next check of the headlines by the way is coming up at 10:45 eastern time.
KAYE: Deadly violence in Iraq is on the rise. The fact the pentagon now acknowledges as a setback. More than a dozen people have died in the past 24 hours. Bombs today in Baghdad killed at least two people and wounded more than a dozen. In another incident 14 Shiite pilgrims were also shot to death yesterday on a highway heading towards Karbala.
Also the infamous Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad is also back in the hands of Iraqi security forces. You'll recall it was the site of a prisoner abuse scandal by U.S. soldiers. The prison is now vacant. Iraqi officials say the Abu Ghraib detainees were moved last week to a new facility near the Baghdad airport.
Despite the increased violence the U.S. is stepping back in some of its security responsibilities. Two Iraqi battalions will now be in charge of security in the northern Iraqi province of Temin(ph). The 101st airborne division officially handed over those duties in a ceremony near Kirkuk.
SANCHEZ: To date 2,640 American troops have lost their lives in Iraq. The death toll among Iraqis is even higher, far higher in fact. And as we just mentioned the pentagon admits now that the violence across the country has grown significantly worse. CNN senior pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Things in Iraq have been getting worse in the past three months. And the report to congress shows just how much worse. Attacks have gone up 15 percent over the summer and Iraqi casualties up an alarming 51 percent compared to the spring.
The report says civilian casualties increased by about a thousand per month over the three month period. And says 90 percent of the bodies brought to the central morgue in Baghdad appear to have been executed, in Iraqi on Iraqi attacks which the U.S. still insists does not yet constitute a civil war. It's an assessment echoed by U.S. commanders on the front lines.
COL. TOM VAIL, CMDR.,10ST AIRBORNE DIVISION: We got an optimistic view that civil war would not occur but I can't predict the future. My optimism comes from the amount of forces and the amount of capability available in Baghdad right now as we intervene and we protect the people.
MCINTYRE: Still the report warns conditions that could lead to civil war exist in Iraq, but argues the current violence is not a civil war and movement towards civil war can be prevented. The report to congress does cite progress in building up Iraqi forces as well as turning over one southern province to Iraqi control. But the reports grim news gave more ammunition to administration critics.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid fired off a statement saying the report shows President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary Rumsfeld's speeches are increasingly disconnected from the facts on the ground in Iraq. Rumsfeld fired off some missives himself, both to Senator Reid and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. Defending his speech this week to the American Legion, in which he warned of latter day appeasers who want to make a separate peace with terrorists.
DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Can we truly afford to believe that somehow, some way, vicious extremists can be appeased?
MCINTYRE: In his letters Rumsfeld said, "Thought and careful preparation went into what I said. It is absolutely essential for us to look at the lessons of history in this critical moment in the war on terror."
(on camera): Whether the violence is a result of a civil war, sectarian fighting, or criminal death squads, the report makes clear it's getting worse not better. And it calls it a setback affecting the stability, reconstruction and transition plans for the country. Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the pentagon.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: The Bush administration says there are lots of good things happening in Iraq that are not being reported adequately. Let's go to Elaine Quijano at the White House where President Bush's Saturday radio address once again attempts to put the Iraq war into perspective. Good morning Elaine.
ELAINE QUUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you Randi. Well President Bush insists that Iraq has not plunged into civil war despite that pentagon report showing an increase in violence. Now the findings are certainly untimely for the White House with President Bush just beginning yet another communications push by the White House to try to rally public support behind his foreign policy.
Now, his radio address today echoed some of the themes he laid out in that speech to the American Legion earlier this week. The president defended his freedom agenda as a way to defeat terrorists and he blamed terrorists for stirring up sectarian violence in Iraq. He also again tried to make the case that the Iraq conflict and U.S. national security were inextricably linked.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BUSH: If America were to pull out before Iraq can defend itself the consequences would be disastrous. We would be handing Iraq over to the terrorists, giving them a base of operations and huge oil riches to fund their ambitions. And we know exactly where those ambitions lead. If we give up the fight in the streets of Baghdad, we will face the terrorists in the streets of our own cities. The security of the civilized world depends on victory on the war on terror and that depends on victory in Iraq, so America will not leave until victory is achieved.
(END OF AUDIO CLIP)
QUIJANO: But with tens of thousands of U.S. troops still in Iraq and no time frame for a withdrawal, democrats have hit hard on this issue of Iraq. They are hoping to capitalize on the war's unpopularity. They say that the president's strategy there has diverted critical resources away from the larger war on terror. The president isn't facing pressure, though, just from democrats, Randi, but also some fellow republicans with less than 10 weeks to go until the congressional midterm elections. Some republicans are trying to distance themselves from the president and his Iraq policy. Randi?
KAYE: From the White House, Elaine Quijano reporting for us. Thank you.
SANCHEZ: We call it going global. It's what we do for you for other developments overseas.
KAYE: Our Brenda Bernard joins us from the international desk. Brenda?
BRENDA BERNARD, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks Randi. A big boost for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. About a hundred Italian marines arrived on U.N. helicopters and small boats to the port city of Tyre. Their first task is to secure two beaches where at least 800 troops will come ashore over the weekend. It's the first large contingent of international peacekeeping troops to arrive in Lebanon since the war between Israel and Hezbollah ended last month. So Brandi, how far would you go on vacation?
KAYE: Pretty far. Maybe not in space, I don't know, not that far. A little too far for me.
BERNARD: I don't know, hundreds of miles. Yeah, an Iranian-born American woman is about to become the first female space tourist and only the fourth space tourist ever. She is 39 year old Anusha Ansari(ph). A successful high tech entrepreneur from Dallas later this month she'll ride a Russian capsule to the international space station. She'll blast off with one Russian and one Spanish American for a ten-day stay on the orbiting outpost. No word on how much Ansari paid for that ticket to ride, though. And check out this guy. How old do you think he is? Take a guess.
KAYE: He looks like he's up there.
SANCHEZ: All I can see his hand.
BERNARD: I know, I know. We had a close-up of him.
KAYE: He looks pretty old.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, that's an old sponge for sure. BERNARD: He is 100 years old. Buster Martin is Britain's oldest employee. He works every day cleaning cars three to four hours a day. He's an orphan who went on to have 17 children with his wife. That alone should have killed him. But any way --
KAYE: Maybe I think that's kept him young, I don't know.
BERNARD: I don't know. He's got some secret. I don't know what it is. He says he has no plans to retire.
KAYE: Wow!
SANCHEZ: I can't believe you just said that. Oh, my goodness.
KAYE: 17 children.
SANCHEZ: I have four of them and they help keep me young.
BERNARD: Yeah well I have five and I don't know. I don't know how -- who is going to outlive whom.
SANCHEZ: So you speak from experience, Brenda do you?
KAYE: He looks pretty good, Buster there.
BERNARD: He really does look good. He really looks good.
SANCHEZ: He's shining that chrome.
KAYE: Thanks Brenda.
SANCHEZ: Passionately... thanks Brenda. Go ahead.
KAYE: Ok I'll read it. (INAUDIBLE) the powers of the human body in the fight against cancer. A new study offers new hope to some patients. But can this break through work for all cancers? We will find out. And this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Detroit's east side, its people and neighborhoods have been hit hard by years of poverty and neglect. In 2005 the city had some 12,000 abandoned homes. Now many are fighting back.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That's Dr. Sanjay Gupta taking a closer look at what people in Detroit are doing to escape the poverty trap. Stay with CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back everyone. British authorities say two men were arrested and several homes were searched during an anti-terrorism raid in Manchester. 14 others were arrested in a separate sweep in London. Police say some of the suspects may have helped set up terrorist training camps. A live report from London in just about 10 minutes.
SANCHEZ: Kofi Annan is in Tehran this weekend. The U.N. secretary-general is going to be meeting with Iran's leaders about the refusal to give up the country's nuclear program. The visit comes just two days after Iran ignored a U.N. deadline to halt its uranium enrichment program. A live report from Iran is coming up in about 30 minutes.
KAYE: No power and more flooding that's the fall-out from Ernesto in several east coast states this morning. Utility crews are working this long holiday weekend to get the power back on for hundreds of thousands of customers. Six deaths are blamed on that storm.
(WEATHER REPORT)
SANCHEZ: The next shuttle mission astronauts are back at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. We just got some pictures in we wanted to share with you. They arrived almost 10 minutes ago and there they are. That's the "Atlantis" crew that you're looking at. They're going to get ready for their next launch date that is set for 12:29 eastern time Wednesday by the way. We just looked that up for you. We weren't sure. So far on schedule. You know they have a tendency to change these things, depending on weather and other circumstances. So far it's still set for Wednesday. Earlier plans to launch the shuttle got scrubbed of course by Ernesto.
KAYE: We run down the top stories every 15 minutes right here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING, with in-depth coverage all morning long. Your next check of the headlines is coming up for you at the top of the hour.
SANCHEZ: After the break, some good news for anybody who might be suffering from cancer. We're going to be talking to a doctor who knows about this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: It is being called a major development in cancer treatment, using gene therapy to fight the disease. CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Mark Origer shared the dreams of many fathers I've met, to walk his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day. But melanoma almost took it away from him. He was diagnosed with the deadly skin cancer in 1999. After an operation, it went away. But it came back three years later and by 2004 his doctors in Wisconsin could find nothing that would slow its spread. It moved into his liver.
MARK ORIGER, MELANOMA PATIENT: I was just pretty much devastated when I found out that I did not respond. Right around that time my daughter got engaged and I knew there was going to be a wedding coming up. I was concerned. I wanted to be there.
GUPTA: And the chance of that happening wasn't very good. But then Mark found a clinical trial at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. There, a cancer fighting pioneer with trying to create a new way to attack cancer. Not with a knife or chemotherapy or even radiation but by teaching the human immune system to kill cancer. All on its own. A remarkable idea. And one that doctors put to the test in clinical trials with Mark and 16 other patients diagnosed with melanoma.
The doctors took some of the patients' immune cells called linthocites and added the genes of a virus that would teach them to seek out tumors to attach to them and destroy them. In 15 patients the treatment didn't work. But in two so far the cancer appears to have completely disappeared. Mark was the first and more than a year and a half later he's still cancer free. Although the approach is still in clinical trials the results are published in the "Journal Science."
DR. STEVEN ROSENBERG, NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE: This is a highly experimental treatment that we've used in only a few patients. But it represents a proof of the principle for the first time to my knowledge that you can actually genetically manipulate the human body and cause disease regression.
GUPTA: And yes, Mark's other dream also came true, as well. On September 17, 2005, he walked his daughter Katie down the aisle. Virtually cancer free.
ORIGER: It's a celebration, a celebration of life. It was the beginning of my daughter's life, new life, the beginning of my new life. I think I should (INAUDIBLE).
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Washington.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: Dr. Rosenberg should know by September 15th if the FDA has approved another clinical trial with an even more powerful gene therapy. He's also looking to expand his treatment to lung cancer, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer. For more information on clinical trials and how to qualify for them you can visit www.clinicaltrials.gov.
A fellow cancer specialist in those clinical trials is Dr. Patrick Hwu. He is chairman at the University of Texas M.D. Cancer Center. Dr. Hwu joins us live this morning from Houston with a warning that years of additional research do lie ahead. Good to have you with us doctor.
DR. PATRICK HWU, CHAIRMAN, M.D. ANDERSON CANCER CTR.: Thanks a lot for having me on the show.
KAYE: This sounds like a major success, something we should certainly be very excited about. What exactly has this revealed? HWU: I think this is a very important achievement by the MCI Group for the first time they have demonstrated that lymphocytes, the immune cells in the body, can be genetically manipulated to attack cancer. And in two patients they saw positive clinical results. And so I think that this represents for the first time clinical significance from a cancer gene therapy. Clinical response from gene therapy.
KAYE: Help our viewers understand, if you would, do the cells actually recognize the melanoma? How does this work?
HWU: Yeah the cells -- the immune cells are isolated from the patient. And then a gene is put into the immune cells to help the cells recognize the cancer. And so the cells are then re-infused into the patient, where at least in two patients in this study the tumor shrank.
KAYE: This is certainly good news for those with melanoma but any chance that this might work for other types of cancer?
HWU: I think obviously a lot more work needs to be done. Only two out of the 17 patients responded and so more effort needs to be spent on trying to figure out how to get more patients to respond. But I think these are all solvable issues. For example, how to get the cells to survive longer in the circulation or get to the battlefield, the tumor itself. I do think that this opens up the possibility for this kind of treatment to be applied to other kinds of cancers beyond melanoma such as breast cancer or colon cancer. But it hasn't been done yet, but those experiments now are possible.
KAYE: And in using this type of therapy quickly just tell me the recurrence rate.
HWU: That we don't know. At this point it's very early in the treatment but with any cancer therapy that's what we have to be concerned with whether it comes back or not.
KAYE: All right. We want to thank you cancer specialist Dr. Patrick Hwu, chairman at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Thanks so much for your time this morning. CNN SATURDAY MORNING will continue in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. Tomorrow on CNN's "SUNDAY MORNING" we're going to take you behind the walls of a school where refugee students learn alongside the U.S. born children, it's the international community school. It not only introduces young minds to the world, it's a place where children from war-torn countries get an opportunity at a new life. Something they desperately need at that point in their lives. It's a great story one you probably won't want to miss. It's tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. right here on CNN, the most trusted name in news. I did a story similar to that.
KAYE: It sounds like a good one, I'm looking forward to seeing that. We'll be here. SANCHEZ: It's not their fault.
KAYE: No, of course not. Never is. The war in Iraq is it a rich man's war and a poor man's fight? And should the draft be reinstated?
SANCHEZ: That's the argument made in a provocative new book on shelves right now. We're going to hear more from the author in the next hour. Stay with CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
