CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2004-11-16

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm Dan Rather and welcome to the

[0:02] CBS Evening News online edition. Just

[0:04] ahead, the battle for the Iraqi city of

[0:06] Mosul and why US commanders now have

[0:09] sent in hundreds of reinforcements.

[0:11] Also, the widening insurance company

[0:14] scandal. You'll hear what one of the

[0:16] largest companies is accused of. And a

[0:19] digital cop in your car? We'll show you

[0:22] how the high-tech gizmo could save you

[0:24] money.

[0:25] It's all starting now on the CBS Evening

[0:28] News online edition.

[0:30] Almost 20 months now and the fighting in

[0:33] Iraq rages on. November is now the

[0:35] second deadliest month of the war for US

[0:38] forces. Barely halfway through the

[0:40] month, more than 90 Marines and soldiers

[0:42] have been killed. Since the war began,

[0:45] at least 1,207

[0:47] American servicemen and women have died

[0:50] and nearly 9,000 have been wounded.

[0:52] Today, with US troops mopping up after

[0:54] more than a week of combat in Fallujah,

[0:56] the worst fighting has shifted

[0:58] elsewhere, including the major northern

[1:00] city of Mosul. CBS's Kimberly Dozier

[1:02] begins our coverage.

[1:06] Some of the fiercest fighting outside

[1:08] Fallujah has been in Mosul, the third

[1:10] largest city in Iraq, with sporadic

[1:12] battles making streets unsafe for Iraqi

[1:15] police and civilians. Some 1,200

[1:18] American troops moved in to secure areas

[1:20] terrorized by bands of gunmen over the

[1:22] past week.

[1:24] This enemy that we're opposed with is is

[1:27] very dedicated and quite imaginative.

[1:31] And we know we have some hard fighting

[1:32] yet to do up here.

[1:34] The militants also attacked those who

[1:36] cannot fight back. A video has surfaced

[1:38] showing the apparent execution of

[1:40] hostage Margaret Hassan, the head of

[1:42] CARE International in Iraq. She'd been

[1:44] held for almost a month. Her husband

[1:46] does not want to believe she's gone.

[1:49] The video may be genuine,

[1:51] but I do not know.

[1:54] I beg those people who took Margaret

[1:57] to tell me what they have done with her.

[2:00] Militants are staging hit-and-run

[2:02] attacks in other parts of the country.

[2:04] In Ramadi, one group of Marines was hit

[2:06] by a suicide car bomber yesterday and a

[2:09] rocket-propelled grenade today. CBS News

[2:12] reporter Kirk Spitzer witnessed both

[2:14] attacks.

[2:15] The convoy that we were riding in

[2:18] was attacked by a a small white sedan

[2:20] that pulled up next to one of the

[2:23] Humvees in our convoy and um

[2:27] blew itself up.

[2:28] It was a horrendous explosion. One side

[2:31] of the Humvee was virtually caved in.

[2:34] The vehicle was set on fire.

[2:36] One Marine was killed and another

[2:38] wounded. The Marines say the brutal

[2:40] tactics of their enemy, from the

[2:42] roadside ambushes to the killing of

[2:43] hostages, only makes them more

[2:45] determined to fight on.

[2:48] The Americans believe they've crippled

[2:49] the insurgency with the assault on

[2:51] Fallujah, but the militants have sent a

[2:52] chilling message that they're still

[2:54] there, willing to use whatever means

[2:56] possible to try to terrorize the

[2:58] coalition out of Iraq. Kimberly Dozier,

[3:01] CBS News, Baghdad. When you go to an

[3:04] insurance broker, he's supposed to shop

[3:06] around and get you the best deal. But in

[3:08] a widening scandal, it's alleged some

[3:11] agents were taking payoffs to steer

[3:14] customers to certain insurance

[3:15] companies, costing consumers, taxpayers

[3:18] and businesses big bucks. CBS News

[3:22] business correspondent Anthony Mason

[3:23] investigated and gives you the inside

[3:25] story.

[3:27] Disclosure is woefully inadequate.

[3:30] >> Under Senate scrutiny, the insurance

[3:32] industry today was accused of rampant

[3:34] fraud, corruption and above all else,

[3:37] just flat-out greed. The scandal erupted

[3:39] last month when New York Attorney

[3:41] General Eliot Spitzer sued the world's

[3:43] biggest commercial insurance broker,

[3:45] Marsh & McLennan, accusing Marsh of

[3:47] cheating its corporate clients. They

[3:49] rigged the system. They generated false

[3:51] bids. They allocated business based upon

[3:54] who would pay them off more and they

[3:56] benefited to the tune of 800 million

[3:59] dollars per year.

[4:00] >> Under fire, Marsh ousted its CEO,

[4:02] Jeffrey Greenberg, and three top

[4:04] executives. The company's new CEO

[4:06] insists the fraud was isolated. We're

[4:09] talking about a handful of people in a

[4:11] very narrow area who did some some bad

[4:14] things. But investigations are also

[4:16] underway in at least seven other states

[4:18] and have widened from corporate to

[4:20] consumer cases. Illinois has issued 250

[4:23] subpoenas. Good afternoon, Division of

[4:25] Insurance. How can I help you?

[4:26] >> And set up a fraud hotline for consumers

[4:28] with insurance complaints. More and more

[4:30] employers are asking them to contribute

[4:33] toward their benefits and their health

[4:36] coverage. We want to ensure that in that

[4:38] setting,

[4:39] they are getting their best value for

[4:41] the best price. Where do you go from

[4:43] here? We will continue making cases.

[4:45] >> Spitzer promises more lawsuits and

[4:47] indictments. Last week, he filed suit

[4:49] against a leading California life

[4:51] insurance broker, ULR. Do you think a

[4:53] lot of employees are paying too much for

[4:55] their insurance?

[4:56] Yes.

[4:57] No question. Now, may only be a few

[4:59] bucks a month or a few bucks a year for

[5:01] every one of us. But if you think of all

[5:03] the people involved, that becomes very

[5:05] big money. For the industry, billions in

[5:08] commission earnings could be at stake.

[5:09] But in the wake of this scandal,

[5:11] insurance companies may find they have

[5:13] no insurance against reform. Anthony

[5:16] Mason, CBS News, New York. To an

[5:19] automobile insurance underwriter, it

[5:21] sounds like a dream come true. A little

[5:23] black box that keeps tabs on policy

[5:25] holders in their cars, providing a

[5:28] computerized record of their driving

[5:30] habits.

[5:31] But CBS's Bob McNamara reports to some

[5:33] drivers and privacy advocates, all this

[5:36] sounds less like a dream than a

[5:38] nightmare.

[5:40] The gadget is hardly a handful.

[5:43] But plugged into the central nervous

[5:45] system of Adam Gordon's Subaru, it's

[5:48] like having a microchip cop on board.

[5:50] >> I'm aware it's there and it makes me

[5:52] think a little bit about my driving.

[5:54] Pulled from the car

[5:56] and connected to a computer,

[5:58] the gadget spews a digital diary of

[6:01] Gordon's daily driving. Well, I went

[6:03] over 60 on that one. From how fast Oh,

[6:06] holy cow. There we go. to how

[6:08] aggressively he drove. Do you know what

[6:11] what was going on? I think my wife must

[6:13] have been driving.

[6:15] But overall, the data revealed Gordon to

[6:17] be a safe driver.

[6:19] And in exchange for surrendering his

[6:21] driving privacy, his car insurer,

[6:24] Progressive, promises a 15% discount.

[6:28] >> Saving 15 to 20% on my insurance is

[6:31] uh that's significant money to me.

[6:33] Driving with a data recorder is

[6:35] voluntary and it doesn't track where you

[6:37] go.

[6:38] But critics still call it a Big Brother

[6:40] invasion of privacy in exchange for

[6:43] cheaper insurance rates. We look at

[6:45] everything on the short term and we

[6:47] judge everything on dollars and cents

[6:49] because that's the easiest thing to

[6:50] measure. After I did it and saw what I

[6:52] could be saving and knowing how I drive,

[6:56] this was really a a no-brainer for me.

[7:00] So far, the program is available only in

[7:02] Minnesota and the insurance company says

[7:05] the data it gathers is kept between

[7:07] company and customer. We agree we're not

[7:10] going to sell it to anybody. We're not

[7:11] going to give it away voluntarily to

[7:12] anyone else. So, the consumer has a lot

[7:14] of control over that data. But if the

[7:16] idea catches on across the insurance

[7:18] industry, question is, could the digital

[7:21] cop in the car someday become mandatory

[7:24] to getting insured?

[7:26] For some drivers,

[7:27] it might make them less of the lead foot

[7:30] than they are now.

[7:32] Bob McNamara, CBS News, St. Paul,

[7:34] Minnesota. More stories are just a click

[7:36] away.

[7:37] Don't forget to join me on television

[7:38] for the on-air edition of the CBS

[7:41] Evening News. On Wednesday's broadcast,

[7:43] having a baby without genetic defects,

[7:46] cutting-edge science is making that

[7:48] possible. But what about ethical

[7:51] questions? Eye on America investigates.

[7:54] For cbsnews.com,

[7:56] I'm Dan Rather.