CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2004-12-01

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 buildup. US troop strength in

[0:07] Iraq will soon reach its highest level

[0:09] ever. We'll show you how the Pentagon

[0:12] plans to do it and why. Also, the

[0:14] healing power of stem cells. Asian

[0:17] doctors have had some remarkable success

[0:20] with spinal cord injuries. We'll give

[0:22] you the details and a consumer alert on

[0:25] those new free credit reports. Many of

[0:28] you are now able to get them, but will

[0:30] they help protect against other credit

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

[0:35] CBS Evening News online edition.

[0:39] Thousands more American boots will soon

[0:42] be on the ground in Iraq. The Pentagon

[0:44] confirmed today that the US troop

[0:46] strength in Iraq will rise sharply

[0:48] during the run-up to the scheduled

[0:50] January elections. But now, as the

[0:52] number of US forces in Iraq grows and

[0:55] the casualties mount, CBS's David Martin

[0:57] reports, questions are being raised

[0:59] about how well American soldiers are

[1:02] being trained for battle.

[1:05] The buildup involves about 12,000

[1:07] soldiers and Marines. Most of them are

[1:09] already in Iraq, but instead of coming

[1:11] home when their replacements arrive,

[1:13] they will have their tours extended,

[1:15] bringing the overall US troop strength

[1:18] to about 150,000, the highest ever. How

[1:22] those soldiers fight is as important as

[1:24] their numbers. And this Army study,

[1:26] completed last spring, but never

[1:28] released to the public, found many

[1:30] soldiers are poorly prepared for the

[1:32] battle in Iraq.

[1:34] Soldiers are performing functions vastly

[1:36] different from those on which they have

[1:38] trained. Engineers are being sent out as

[1:40] infantry men to search Iraqi homes and

[1:42] round up suspected insurgents. Officers

[1:45] are negotiating with tribal leaders

[1:47] without any knowledge of the language,

[1:49] the culture, or even basic negotiating

[1:51] tactics. If the battle for Iraq is a

[1:54] battle for the hearts and minds of the

[1:56] people, the US has a long way to go. A

[1:59] common sentiment amongst Iraqis is that

[2:01] the US is in Iraq for its own economic

[2:04] interests and not for the greater

[2:06] welfare of the Iraqi people. Some

[2:09] commanders don't believe in the battle

[2:10] for hearts and minds and say the only

[2:12] way to win is to kill the insurgents.

[2:15] Other commanders are convinced they

[2:16] can't win without gaining acceptance

[2:18] from the Iraqi people, but don't know

[2:20] how to do that and just conduct

[2:22] operations without any measure of

[2:24] success or failure. Sweeps through

[2:26] neighborhoods may work in the short

[2:28] term, but are damaging in the long run.

[2:30] Detaining the wife and children of a

[2:32] suspected insurgent may convince him to

[2:34] turn himself in, but he contributes to a

[2:37] lasting negative image. Destroying the

[2:39] homes of suspected insurgents smacks of

[2:42] Israeli tactics in the West Bank and

[2:44] Gaza. And the association with Israel

[2:46] undermines the image of the US. These

[2:50] tactics, of course, pale by comparison

[2:52] with the atrocities committed by the

[2:53] insurgents. Newly discovered information

[2:56] in Fallujah shows some hostages were

[2:58] ordered to kill themselves.

[3:01] But in war, victory is not determined by

[3:03] who fights the ferrets. David Martin,

[3:06] CBS News. The Pentagon. Scientists are

[3:08] also hunting for new ways to treat

[3:10] people left paralyzed by spinal cord

[3:12] injuries. Experiments, some using stem

[3:15] cells, show promise. Advanced research

[3:18] is underway in a part of the world where

[3:20] many people already turn to for ancient

[3:23] herbal and acupuncture remedies. CBS's

[3:26] Barry Peterson takes you there for the

[3:28] inside story.

[3:30] For 20 years, Hangmoon was paralyzed

[3:33] after an accident, but no more. With

[3:36] tears in her eyes, she showed how she

[3:38] can take a few tenative steps. For her,

[3:41] a miracle for doctors, proof of how stem

[3:44] cells can heal. Doctors say her muscles

[3:47] responded within weeks after stem cells

[3:49] from an umbilical cord were injected

[3:51] directly into her spine.

[3:53] >> "It's too early to know all that we can

[3:56] do," says her doctor. "This is just one

[3:58] test." South Korea is not the only place

[4:01] offering hope for those with spinal cord

[4:03] injuries. At this hospital on the

[4:05] outskirts of Beijing, dozens of

[4:07] Americans are coming for a similar kind

[4:09] of experimental surgery that is not

[4:11] available in the United States. One of

[4:14] those at this special ward is

[4:16] 19-year-old Derek Langier, paralyzed

[4:18] from the waist down in a snowboarding

[4:20] accident. American doctors said his

[4:22] recovery had gone as far as possible.

[4:25] But 5 days after an operation here,

[4:28] parts of his legs once dead are coming

[4:31] alive again.

[4:32] >> I can feel this now.

[4:33] >> So if I if I touch it or scratch it,

[4:36] >> you actually can feel that. And what

[4:38] about before the surgery?

[4:39] >> Before the surgery, there was nothing

[4:40] there.

[4:40] >> Nothing.

[4:41] >> Dr. Dr. Hong Hong Yun injects cells from

[4:44] an aborted fetus into the spine. Even he

[4:47] is not sure exactly why it works. And

[4:50] while some doctors in the US are openly

[4:52] skeptical about the procedure, Derek's

[4:54] grateful mother, a nurse practitioner,

[4:57] is now a believer.

[4:58] >> That's what we should be doing is

[5:00] supporting Dr. Hong because he's

[5:02] discovered something that offers hope.

[5:05] These operations can be done in Asia

[5:07] because rules are not as strict nor as

[5:09] controversial as in the US. There are no

[5:12] lengthy clinical trials required before

[5:14] humans become guinea pigs. But doctors

[5:17] in South Korea think they are far ahead

[5:19] of the US in understanding how cells can

[5:22] be regenerated because their research is

[5:25] not just about laboratory experiments.

[5:28] It's also about changing lives one

[5:30] patient at a time.

[5:32] Barry Peterson, CBS News, Beijing.

[5:36] >> A new federal law kicked in today that

[5:37] will allow you to get a free copy of

[5:39] your credit history each year so you can

[5:42] check it for accuracy. See who's

[5:44] inquired about your record and protect

[5:46] yourself from becoming a victim of the

[5:48] fastest growing crime in America. As

[5:51] CBS's Bill Whitaker reports in this

[5:53] consumer alert,

[5:56] >> when we first met Mark Cowan almost

[5:58] seven years ago, he was a victim of

[5:59] identity theft, fighting to get back his

[6:01] good name and good credit.

[6:03] >> I've lost my identity.

[6:05] >> Today, he says the new law allowing

[6:07] consumers like him free access to their

[6:09] credit reports would have saved him a

[6:11] lot of time and money.

[6:12] >> And I wish it would happened a few years

[6:14] ago cuz I know there's been hundreds of

[6:16] thousands if not millions of us yelling

[6:18] about this. The program starting today

[6:20] in 13 western states and rolling out

[6:22] across the country the next 10 months

[6:25] requires the big three credit companies

[6:27] to give consumers their credit reports

[6:29] once a year at no charge. It's designed

[6:31] to combat the growing identity theft

[6:33] crisis now striking more than 10 million

[6:36] consumers a year. Periodically looking

[6:38] at your credit file is a very good hedge

[6:40] against identity fraud. First of all, it

[6:43] will alert you if you see an entry on

[6:45] there with an establishment that you

[6:46] don't do business with. Consumer

[6:48] advocates say it's about time. A first

[6:50] good step, but no solution. It will give

[6:53] you a heads up if something is going

[6:56] wrong. But just knowing that the crime

[6:58] is happening isn't going to stop it. We

[7:00] have got to clamp down on these banks

[7:03] who are just trading our private

[7:04] financial information like it's a

[7:06] commodity that, you know, like pork

[7:08] bellies.

[7:09] >> As for Mark Cowan, seven years later,

[7:11] he's still trying to clear the mess off

[7:13] his credit reports. So sadly, a lot of

[7:16] the information that is fraudulent is

[7:18] still there and it takes a while to get

[7:20] it swept off of my report.

[7:22] >> Then this there's no free lunch and the

[7:24] same might be said for credit reports.

[7:26] Watch now for the big three credit

[7:28] companies to give free reports with one

[7:30] hand while pushing costly new identity

[7:32] protection services with the other. Bill

[7:34] Whitaker, CBS News, Los Angeles.

[7:37] >> A few words about one of the best

[7:39] television journalists in the world, Tom

[7:41] Brokall. For more than 30 years, I've

[7:43] known Tom as a friend and competitor who

[7:46] has earned the respect of his audience

[7:48] and his colleagues, including this

[7:50] reporter. As Tom leaves the NBC News

[7:52] anchor chair tonight, we at CBS News

[7:55] salute him and wish him well. Good

[7:57] night, Tom. And to my young friend,

[7:59] Brian Williams, welcome to the

[8:01] neighborhood.

[8:04] More stories are just a click away, but

[8:06] be sure to join me on television for the

[8:08] on air edition of the CBS Evening News.

[8:11] On Thursday's broadcast, could a simple

[8:13] sandwich shop change a whole

[8:15] neighborhood? We'll introduce you to a

[8:17] preacher who says it can, and he'll show

[8:19] you how. For cbsnews.com,

[8:23] I'm Dan Rather.