CBS Evening News (A block) - 2006-11-14

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:01] I'm Katie Couric. They're getting more

[0:02] brazen by the day. Gunmen in Iraq kidnap

[0:05] scores of people in broad daylight from

[0:08] the Ministry of Education. Tonight, why

[0:11] they're targeting teachers.

[0:13] They're in, but will the Democrats do

[0:15] what the Republicans warned, [music]

[0:16] raise taxes? Charles Rangel's in charge

[0:19] of taxes, and tonight we'll ask him.

[0:22] Elderly Americans abused in their own

[0:24] homes by their own [music] families.

[0:26] What's being done to stop it? CBS News

[0:29] investigates.

[0:30] >> [music]

[0:33] >> This is the CBS Evening News with Katie

[0:36] Couric.

[0:40] Hi everyone.

[0:41] >> [music]

[0:41] >> Well, just when you think it can't get

[0:42] any worse in Iraq, it does. Today,

[0:45] teachers, scores of them, were kidnapped

[0:48] in the middle of the day at a government

[0:49] building in the busy center of Baghdad.

[0:52] There are late reports that most of the

[0:54] hostages have been freed tonight in a

[0:56] series of raids by Iraqi forces. But the

[1:00] kidnapping raises new questions about

[1:02] the Iraqi government's ability to ever

[1:04] bring order to the chaos. Elizabeth

[1:07] Palmer is in Baghdad.

[1:09] At 9:30 this morning, gunmen in police

[1:12] uniforms raided the building and rounded

[1:14] up employees and visitors, claiming it

[1:17] was an anti-corruption operation ahead

[1:19] of a visit by the US ambassador. The

[1:22] women were released, but dozens of men

[1:24] were herded into as many as 40 pickup

[1:27] trucks waiting outside.

[1:29] It was all over in 20 minutes. By the

[1:32] time help arrived, the kidnappers had

[1:34] vanished with their hostages, leaving

[1:36] signs of a struggle, but few clues.

[1:39] As the police cordoned off the education

[1:41] ministry building, news of the raid

[1:43] spread to relatives who know very well

[1:46] what happens to most kidnap victims in

[1:48] Iraq.

[1:50] Furious, Iraq's higher education

[1:52] minister interrupted a session of

[1:54] parliament to demand better protection

[1:56] for students and employees.

[2:00] If you can't do it, he says, give me 800

[2:02] soldiers and I'll ensure security at our

[2:05] universities.

[2:07] By sheer coincidence, just as the

[2:09] kidnapping was taking place, students at

[2:11] Baghdad University were out

[2:13] demonstrating for a safer campus. We

[2:16] demand protection for our professors

[2:18] because day by day we we miss

[2:21] many professors by by

[2:23] killing or they or leaving Iraq. Many

[2:27] students are now too afraid to travel to

[2:29] class, and more than 150 professors have

[2:32] been killed since the start of the war.

[2:34] This afternoon in the neighborhood where

[2:36] the kidnappers struck, there was no sign

[2:39] of them or their vehicles. But hours

[2:41] later, reports began to trickle in that

[2:43] most of the hostages had been freed.

[2:46] Sources in the White House are now

[2:48] confirming that most of the hostages

[2:50] have been released, although there's no

[2:52] information on who kidnapped them or

[2:54] why. The Iraqi authorities earlier

[2:56] announced they'd arrested five senior

[2:58] police officers. Everyone here is deeply

[3:01] worried that a mass abduction on this

[3:03] scale must have had support from inside

[3:06] the Iraqi security services. Elizabeth

[3:08] Palmer, CBS News, Baghdad.

[3:11] Earlier today, I spoke with Zainab

[3:13] Al-Suwaij, an Iraqi exile who is

[3:16] executive director of the American

[3:18] Islamic Congress. She visits Iraq

[3:20] monthly and is working to improve the

[3:22] country's education system.

[3:25] The killing and kidnapping of

[3:26] intellectuals is on the rise. Since

[3:29] February, many, many professors have

[3:32] been killed. Some 3,000 have left the

[3:35] country. Why are academics being

[3:37] targeted this way? Because the most of

[3:39] these insurgents in Iraq, they don't

[3:41] want

[3:42] um um

[3:43] the intellectuals and they don't want

[3:44] people who are highly educated to be

[3:46] there to have a functioning society and

[3:49] country. Why they don't want dissent?

[3:51] They well, they wanted um many of them

[3:53] they want Taliban kind of regime in

[3:55] Iraq. You travel back to Iraq every

[3:58] month.

[3:58] >> That's right. How are the schools and

[4:00] universities faring?

[4:02] Well, most of the schools and

[4:03] universities are um resuming their daily

[4:06] work, but under the fear. I mean, they

[4:08] don't know what in

[4:10] any hour of the day something will

[4:12] happen. Since so many intellectuals have

[4:14] left the country, it's even called an

[4:17] Iraqi brain drain. How concerned are you

[4:20] about that? Of course, it's really

[4:21] concerning. Many of these um

[4:24] intellectuals in Iraq, they are seeking

[4:25] jobs in many other universities outside

[4:27] Iraq. And this is uh certainly is going

[4:30] to have a deficit within the um the

[4:33] education system inside the country. As

[4:35] an Iraqi woman, do you feel hopeful or

[4:38] hopeless? I feel hopeful. I think um

[4:41] Iraq uh will have a better future if the

[4:44] Iraqi people and the Iraqi government

[4:46] put their act together and help each

[4:48] other to overcome this difficult period

[4:50] of time. Zainab Al-Suwaij, thank you

[4:53] very much.

[4:53] >> It's my pleasure. Thank you.

[4:55] And you can see more of that interview

[4:57] on our website at cbsnews.com.

[4:59] Meanwhile, many hope the bipartisan Iraq

[5:02] Study Group can craft a new strategy for

[5:04] the war. The 10 members returned to the

[5:07] White House today, this time to talk to

[5:09] British Prime Minister Tony Blair by

[5:11] video link. He told the panel that

[5:13] ending the violence in Iraq depends on

[5:15] getting Syria and Iran involved in the

[5:18] process. Blair did not set a timetable,

[5:20] though, for withdrawing British troops.

[5:23] Most Americans expect a withdrawal of US

[5:26] troops now that the Democrats will be in

[5:27] charge of Congress, even though that's

[5:30] still the president's call. A CBS News

[5:32] poll out tonight finds 72% of Americans

[5:35] expect the Democrats to try to reduce

[5:37] the number of troops in Iraq or pull

[5:39] them out altogether. Iraq, like other

[5:42] issues we're exploring this week, is

[5:44] high on the agenda for the new 110th

[5:46] Congress. Newly elected members of the

[5:48] freshman class are attending orientation

[5:50] this week. They had their class photo

[5:53] taken today on the steps of the Capitol.

[5:55] Also on their agenda is taxes. What will

[5:58] the Democrats be doing about that?

[6:00] Here's our Capitol Hill correspondent

[6:02] Sharyl Attkisson. Sharyl?

[6:04] Well, Katie, with Democrats soon to be

[6:06] running the show on Capitol Hill, one in

[6:08] three Americans think taxes will be

[6:10] going up, according to our poll. But the

[6:13] first thing Democrats want to do is cut

[6:15] a once-obscure tax that millions of

[6:17] Americans now know all too well.

[6:21] Married with two kids, upper middle

[6:23] class, Patrick and Anna O'Rourke seem to

[6:25] have a very comfortable life, but their

[6:27] tax burden is growing. And come January,

[6:30] more than 40 million other Americans

[6:32] could take the same hit. The problem is

[6:35] they're forced to pay a sort of flat

[6:37] income tax called the alternative

[6:39] minimum tax or AMT. The state say we're

[6:42] not giving you any deduction for the

[6:43] state income tax. We're not going to

[6:45] give you any deduction for real estate

[6:46] taxes. We're not going to give you any

[6:48] deductions for your kids. What do you

[6:49] figure it costs you to be paying the AMT

[6:52] instead of the regular tax? Last year

[6:54] cost me about $3,000. Fixing the AMT,

[6:57] originally aimed at just the very rich,

[6:59] but now hitting more and more of the

[7:00] middle class, is the top priority for

[7:03] Charles Rangel, the new Democrat

[7:05] chairman of the House Ways and Means

[7:06] Committee. Think of him as the new tax

[7:08] sheriff in town. Low-income people don't

[7:11] have to pay this tax. The wealthy

[7:13] already have their tax rate. This is

[7:15] certainly a middle-income issue. One

[7:17] problem, saving the middle class from

[7:19] having to pay the AMT would take revenue

[7:21] from the budget, lots of it, a trillion

[7:24] dollars over 10 years, and someone would

[7:27] have to make up for it. The question is

[7:29] how? One possible solution, raising

[7:31] taxes for others. Rangel says he'd go

[7:34] after tax cheaters, close loopholes, and

[7:37] do away with targeted tax breaks for

[7:38] industries like big oil, which got

[7:41] billions in benefits written into the

[7:42] law in 2004. They could be coughing up

[7:45] big time. Technically, if you want to

[7:47] pin me to the cross, it is that yes, we

[7:50] got to get them. Will their taxes be

[7:52] increased? I'm sorry, the answer is yes.

[7:55] But for the majority of Americans who

[7:56] work every day and want an equitable

[7:59] distribution of the tax burdens, they

[8:01] don't have to worry about a tax

[8:03] increase.

[8:04] On a couple of other points, Rangel told

[8:06] me that the estate tax, which the

[8:07] Republican Congress temporarily reduced,

[8:10] could come back for the very rich. And

[8:12] also, he's not ruling out an income tax

[8:15] rate increase down the road if it's

[8:17] needed, Katie. Sharyl Attkisson on

[8:19] Capitol Hill tonight. Tomorrow, by the

[8:21] way, we'll be looking at how the new

[8:23] Congress might revise the immigration

[8:25] laws. And later this week, we'll focus

[8:27] on prescription drug prices and the

[8:29] minimum wage. And the high cost of

[8:32] health care was one of the main topics

[8:34] when chief executives of the big three

[8:36] US automakers met with President Bush

[8:38] today at the White House. The automakers

[8:40] say paying for their employees' health

[8:42] care adds a thousand dollars to the

[8:44] price tag of every car. They insist

[8:47] they're not looking for taxpayers to

[8:49] bail them out. They just want to level

[8:51] the playing field with foreign

[8:52] competition.

[8:54] Last night, we told you about a new

[8:56] campaign to get hospitals to treat heart

[8:58] attack victims more quickly, within 90

[9:00] minutes. But 30% of patients don't get

[9:03] the treatment they need within the

[9:05] critical first 12 hours. And now,

[9:07] according to a new study out today, the

[9:10] treatment they get later may be no help

[9:12] at all. Dr. Jon LaPook has our report.

[9:16] For cardiologists like Dr. Manu

[9:18] Rajachandran, when it came to the

[9:20] treatment of heart attack patients, one

[9:22] thing was always clear. We, as a

[9:25] community,

[9:26] believed very strongly that an open

[9:28] artery was better than a closed one.

[9:30] Doctors know balloon angioplasty to open

[9:33] clogged arteries and then adding stents

[9:36] to keep them open gives enormous

[9:37] benefits to patients if done within 12

[9:40] hours of a heart attack. But for

[9:42] decades, doctors have worked under the

[9:43] so-called open artery theory, which

[9:46] suggests that angioplasty performed days

[9:49] or even weeks after a heart attack might

[9:51] also help prevent future cardiac events.

[9:54] If you open an artery, it makes sense

[9:57] that you would do better than if you

[9:59] have a closed artery. It just

[10:01] biologically makes sense. But today, at

[10:03] a meeting of the American Heart

[10:04] Association in Chicago, Dr. Judith

[10:07] Hochman announced results of a study

[10:08] that says when treating heart attacks,

[10:11] less may be more. While the gold

[10:13] standard for heart attack treatment

[10:15] still includes angioplasty within 12

[10:17] hours, Dr. Hochman's study of more than

[10:20] 2,000 patients examined the benefits of

[10:22] performing angioplasty from 3 to 28 days

[10:26] after their heart attacks. The patients

[10:28] were divided into two groups. The first

[10:30] group received the current standard of

[10:32] care, angioplasty and heart drugs

[10:34] including ACE inhibitors, beta blockers,

[10:36] statins, and aspirin. The second group

[10:39] received only the medications. After 5

[10:42] years of follow-up, an unexpected

[10:43] result. There was no difference between

[10:46] the two groups in death rate, second

[10:48] heart attacks, or heart failure. We were

[10:50] surprised at the results. We expected

[10:54] angioplasty to further improve outcomes

[10:56] beyond the medication therapies we have.

[11:00] I want to emphasize angioplasty within

[11:03] 12 hours of a heart attack can be

[11:05] life-saving, but this study does

[11:07] contradict conventional wisdom about

[11:09] heart attack patients who can't get

[11:10] angioplasty in those first 12 hours and

[11:13] should change the way cardiologists

[11:15] treat them. Katie. All right, Dr. Jon

[11:17] LaPook, thank you. There is much more

[11:19] CBS News straight ahead. And still to

[11:22] come, a national shame. Elderly

[11:25] Americans [music] abused often by their

[11:27] own families in their own homes. What

[11:30] one city is doing about it. Next.

[11:34] >> [music]

[11:39] [music]