CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2004-12-08

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, in the hot seat, the Secretary of

[0:07] Defense faces some tough questions from

[0:09] US troops overseas. We'll show you how

[0:12] he did and did not respond. Also, after

[0:15] 5 years of testing, the results are in

[0:17] on a promising new breast cancer

[0:19] treatment. We'll give you details on

[0:21] that. And they've always been popular

[0:23] and closely watched. So, why has the

[0:26] Hawk family make that a family of hawks

[0:29] been evicted from their Fifth Avenue

[0:32] building? It's all starting now on the

[0:34] CBS Evening News online edition.

[0:38] He runs the whole US military. They are

[0:41] a military force under stress. Army

[0:44] reserve is soon to enter Iraq and likely

[0:46] to meet the enemy in combat. So, face

[0:49] tof face today with the boss, Defense

[0:51] Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the Grunts

[0:53] exercised their American right of free

[0:56] speech. As CBS's Kimberly Doer reports

[0:59] from Baghdad, they asked some pointed

[1:01] questions about how the war is being

[1:03] conducted and criticized the equipment

[1:05] they've been given to fight it.

[1:09] After another day of violent attacks

[1:11] against American forces here, the

[1:13] tough-talking US defense secretary got

[1:15] some tough talk from his own soldiers

[1:17] today at a Kuwaiti base near Iraq. There

[1:20] was criticism for everything from lack

[1:22] of equipment to extended duty in an

[1:25] unfinished war.

[1:26] >> Why do we soldiers have to dig through

[1:28] local landfills for pieces of scrap

[1:30] metal and compromised ballistic glass to

[1:32] up armor our vehicles? And why don't we

[1:34] have those resources readily available

[1:36] to us? something many had obviously

[1:38] wanted to ask,

[1:41] but the secretary gave as good as he

[1:43] got.

[1:43] >> As you know, uh you go to war with the

[1:46] army you have.

[1:47] >> And he said there's only so much you can

[1:49] do to stop this.

[1:50] >> You can have all the armor in the world

[1:53] on a tank

[1:55] uh and a tank can be blown up.

[1:58] >> Rumsfeld told the troops the top brass

[2:01] is delivering new equipment as fast as

[2:02] it can be made and doing what it can in

[2:05] the meantime. You got this bill here

[2:07] >> on this door, right?

[2:09] >> Yeah.

[2:09] >> After each attack, special teams

[2:11] investigate what else can be done to

[2:13] protect the soldiers and try to fix it.

[2:15] >> Thank God we had it in there or we'd

[2:17] have soldiers lose some legs.

[2:19] >> Soldiers must now wear eye protection

[2:20] and earplugs, for instance, whenever

[2:22] they hit the road after dozens lost

[2:24] eyesight or hearing from explosions. And

[2:27] after so many gunners were cut down,

[2:29] they've added a skirt of armor to

[2:31] protect them from a hail of shrapnel

[2:33] from below. Troops now use everything

[2:35] from electronic jamming devices to stop

[2:37] remote bombs from being triggered to

[2:39] attack helicopters above convoys to spot

[2:42] the threat ahead. Still, many here feel

[2:45] they're always one step behind the

[2:47] enemy. The frank talk didn't amount to

[2:49] what you'd call a break in the ranks,

[2:51] but many are frustrated and angry that

[2:53] it took so many American lives before

[2:56] gear and tactics were changed. Kimberly

[2:58] Doer, CBS News, Baghdad. There's

[3:01] important health news tonight for women

[3:03] with breast cancer. And CBS's Sharon

[3:05] Alonsi reports it's good news about a

[3:08] drug designed to keep the cancer from

[3:10] coming back. The most effective drug

[3:12] yet.

[3:13] >> Avette Tomac has a hundred things she's

[3:16] got to do before Christmas, but one

[3:18] thing is not on her list.

[3:20] >> I have no intentions of dying from

[3:23] breast cancer. I'm cancerree and I

[3:25] intend to stay that way. Avette was

[3:27] diagnosed with earlystage breast cancer

[3:29] in 2001. After chemo and radiation, she

[3:32] started taking a drug called arimdex and

[3:35] that she says has kept her cancer free.

[3:38] >> It's out of here. It's going to stay

[3:40] gone. I don't have time for this again.

[3:41] >> A just completed 5-year study found that

[3:44] when it comes to stopping the recurrence

[3:45] of breast cancer in post-menopausal

[3:48] women, arimidex clearly outperforms

[3:50] tmoxifen, once the mainstay of hormonal

[3:53] breast cancer treatment. The women who

[3:56] took the new drug have fewer recurrences

[3:59] and higher number of women are alive

[4:01] free of cancer.

[4:03] >> Why is it so effective? Well, arimidex

[4:05] actually prevents estrogen from being

[4:07] made and estrogen is the hormone that

[4:10] promotes the growth of most tumors in

[4:12] post-menopausal women. So using arimdex

[4:15] according to the study might be able to

[4:17] prevent up to 80% of new tumors compared

[4:20] to the 50% tmoxifen is credited with

[4:23] warding off.

[4:25] >> I think we have a potential to keep much

[4:28] larger number of patients alive free of

[4:31] cancer.

[4:32] >> The promise of drugs like arimedex is so

[4:34] great the doctors imagine a day when all

[4:37] post-menopausal women use it to actually

[4:39] prevent breast cancer. a drug of this

[4:42] class that can dramatically reduce the

[4:44] odds of them getting breast cancer with

[4:46] very few side effects. So the potential

[4:49] for these drugs in terms of cancer

[4:50] prevention really is very exciting.

[4:53] >> Exciting for women like Avet Thompson

[4:55] who know the greatest gift this year may

[4:58] be another year cancer-free. Sharon

[5:01] Alonsy, CBS News, New York. Some

[5:04] longtime residents of New York City have

[5:06] been unceremoniously removed from their

[5:08] home, a fashionable place on the east

[5:10] side. Most of their neighbors wanted

[5:12] them out, but CBS's Anthony Mason

[5:14] reports the eviction has ruffled a few

[5:16] feathers just the same.

[5:18] >> He's so magnificent.

[5:20] >> For more than a decade, the hawks that

[5:22] lived at 927th Avenue were a New York

[5:24] City landmark. Their nest a piece of

[5:27] prime real estate overlooking Central

[5:29] Park. But yesterday, the building

[5:31] abruptly evicted the birds in what

[5:33] nature lovers called a disaster and a

[5:36] tragedy. What they did.

[5:38] >> Link and Kareem saw a work crew remove

[5:40] not only the nest, but the metal spikes

[5:42] that had helped hold it in place.

[5:44] >> I started screaming even more. I said,

[5:47] "Why?"

[5:48] >> Kareem has been a devoted follower of

[5:49] the birds, the most famous of which,

[5:51] Pale Male, became the subject of a PBS

[5:54] documentary. Pale male fathered at least

[5:56] 23 hawks in the nest that's now gone.

[5:59] >> It's hard to look. It's hard to look.

[6:03] >> Bird watchers Star Sapphire and Marie

[6:05] Wyn, who wrote a book, Red Tales in

[6:07] Love, about the hawks, were near tears

[6:09] today.

[6:10] >> This is mean.

[6:13] >> But to many of the building's residents,

[6:15] the birds had become a nuisance. Hawks

[6:18] prey on pigeons and occasionally the

[6:20] carcasses of dead pigeons would drop

[6:23] inconveniently on the building's

[6:25] doorstep.

[6:26] >> We were told that everyone in the

[6:28] building had been pled and they all

[6:30] agreed that the birds should go.

[6:32] >> All except actress Mary Tyler Moore, who

[6:35] called the actions of her neighbors

[6:37] >> pointless and heartless,

[6:40] >> but the building may have been within

[6:42] its rights. Have they violated any law?

[6:44] >> We're looking into that right now at

[6:46] Ottabon. David Miller heads New York's

[6:48] Ottabbon Society.

[6:49] >> Pale Mail is as much of an institution

[6:51] in New York City as the Empire State

[6:53] Building. And to call it a nuisance is

[6:55] why don't we get rid of the Empire State

[6:56] Building?

[6:57] >> They had come to symbolize nature

[6:59] enduring in the urban jungle. But

[7:01] tonight, the Hawks of Fifth Avenue are

[7:03] homeless. Anthony Mason, CBS News, New

[7:07] York.

[7:07] >> More stories are just a click away, but

[7:10] be sure to join me on television for the

[7:11] on air edition of the CBS Evening News.

[7:14] On Thursday's broadcast, sharing story

[7:17] time from the war zone, we'll show you a

[7:20] new program that lets sailors and

[7:22] soldiers read to their kids from half a

[7:25] world away. For cbsnews.com,

[7:28] I'm Dan Rather.