CBS Evening News (A block) - 2006-10-31

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:11] I'm Katie Kurrick. Bush versus Kerry

[0:13] again. Tonight, the president is

[0:15] accusing the senator of bashing US

[0:17] troops. Meanwhile, Carrie is calling

[0:19] Republicans nut jobs. Who's calling the

[0:23] shots? US forces in one section of

[0:25] Baghdad are told to pack up and keep

[0:28] out. Unlocking the mystery of SIDS. An

[0:30] important study reveals why more than

[0:32] 2,000 infants in this country die every

[0:35] year. And all hallows breaking loose as

[0:39] kitty costumes should be rated R for

[0:42] risque.

[0:47] >> This is the CBS Evening News with Katie

[0:51] Kurrick.

[0:54] >> Hi everyone. With just one week to go

[0:56] now before the next election tonight, it

[0:58] looks like they've decided to rerun the

[1:00] last one. President Bush and Senator

[1:02] John Kerry were going at it again today,

[1:04] fighting about Iraq, American soldiers,

[1:07] and who said what about them. The sparks

[1:10] are flying. Here's Jim Axelrod at the

[1:12] White House.

[1:14] >> Talking to students at a campaign event

[1:16] last night, John Kerry's oneliner fell

[1:18] flat.

[1:19] >> Most of it, you study hard and you do

[1:20] your homework and you make an effort to

[1:22] be smart. Uh you you can do well if you

[1:25] don't you get stuck in Iraq.

[1:27] >> Kerry called it a botch joke about the

[1:29] president. Mr. Bush said nothing doing.

[1:32] It was a slam at the troops.

[1:34] >> The senator's suggestion that the men

[1:36] and women of our military are somehow

[1:39] uneducated is insulting and it is

[1:42] shameful.

[1:42] >> One week from election day 2006 and

[1:45] suddenly it's back to the future. George

[1:48] Bush and John Kerry are again front and

[1:50] center. Only this time, neither is

[1:53] running.

[1:54] >> The members of the United States

[1:56] military

[1:58] are plenty smart and they are plenty

[2:01] brave

[2:03] and the senator from Massachusetts owes

[2:05] them an apology.

[2:07] >> I apologize to no one for my criticism

[2:10] of the president and of his broken

[2:13] policy.

[2:14] >> At least everyone already knows their

[2:15] lines. Carrie, a highly decorated

[2:18] veteran, questioned his critics. I'm

[2:20] sick and tired of a whole bunch of

[2:22] Republican attacks, the most of which

[2:24] come from people who never wore the

[2:25] uniform and never had the courage to

[2:27] stand up and go to war themselves.

[2:29] Enough is enough.

[2:31] >> One who did, Senator John McCain, spoke

[2:33] out. He and Mr. Kerry are considering

[2:36] runs for the White House in 2008. The

[2:38] suggestion that only the least educated

[2:41] Americans

[2:42] would agree to serve in the military and

[2:44] fight in Iraq is an insult to every

[2:47] soldier serving in combat today.

[2:51] >> But today, John Kerry signaled

[2:53] Republicans would not swift boat him.

[2:55] >> Let me tell you something. I'm not going

[2:56] to give them one ounce of daylight to

[2:58] spread one of their lies and to play

[3:00] this game ever, ever again. That is a

[3:02] lesson I learned deep and hard.

[3:05] So, what's the big deal? John Kerry may

[3:08] have energized Republicans to vote who

[3:10] might otherwise have stayed home. You

[3:13] can bet we'll be hearing a lot more

[3:14] about this tomorrow when President Bush

[3:16] does a radio interview. Whose broadcast?

[3:18] Rush Limbos. Katie.

[3:20] >> All right, Jim Axelrod at the White

[3:22] House tonight. So, how will this all

[3:24] shake out a little bit later? We'll

[3:26] check in with our political experts,

[3:27] Mike Mccur and Nicole Wallace. Now, from

[3:30] the war of words to the actual war on

[3:32] the ground. Two more US soldiers have

[3:35] been killed in combat in the Baghdad

[3:36] area. On this final day of October, the

[3:39] US death toll for the month is now 103,

[3:42] making it the fourth deadliest month of

[3:44] the war. Also today, more signs of

[3:47] growing tension between Washington and

[3:49] an Iraqi government that seems to be

[3:51] taking more of its clues these days, or

[3:53] cues rather, from a radical cleric.

[3:55] Here's chief foreign correspondent Lara

[3:57] Logan.

[3:59] This was an order US soldiers manning

[4:01] checkpoints in parts of Baghdad were not

[4:04] expecting. Pack up and go. And this was

[4:07] the Iraqi reaction.

[4:11] >> Celebrations on the streets of Sar City,

[4:14] home to the powerful Medami militia.

[4:16] Through their leader, Mktad Al-Sada,

[4:19] they'd been pushing hard to get rid of

[4:21] the US security barriers set up around

[4:23] their area to search for an American

[4:25] soldier abducted last Monday. Today,

[4:28] Sada, perhaps the most powerful man in

[4:30] Iraq, got exactly what he wanted.

[4:34] >> This is a victory for the Medi army,

[4:36] this man said, echoing many here. A

[4:39] victory handed to them by the Iraqi

[4:41] prime minister through an order

[4:44] sanctioned by America's top leaders in

[4:46] Iraq who met with Noriel Maliki hours

[4:49] before he issued the order that shut

[4:51] down all joint US Iraqi checkpoints

[4:53] around Sar City and other neighborhoods

[4:56] by the end of the day. Maliki's move

[4:58] seen by many here as caving under the

[5:01] pressure from public demands and a

[5:03] massive strike called by Maktar Al-Sada,

[5:06] the man whose support put the prime

[5:08] minister in power, leaving some here to

[5:10] question who is actually running this

[5:12] country. The prime minister is desperate

[5:15] to show he's not America's man in Iraq

[5:18] after what he sees as undue pressure

[5:20] from the US that's led to strained

[5:22] relations in recent weeks. The American

[5:24] checkpoints disappeared within hours of

[5:26] Maliki's order and along with them,

[5:29] American hopes of stopping their missing

[5:31] soldier being transported out of

[5:33] Baghdad, if he is even still alive. Lara

[5:37] Logan, CBS News, Baghdad. Now, more

[5:40] about that story. David Martin broke

[5:42] here last night that US troops may have

[5:44] to stay in Iraq a lot longer to train

[5:47] 100,000 more Iraqi security forces.

[5:50] Today, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld

[5:52] conceded it's true. Once again, here's

[5:55] David Martin.

[5:57] >> Training and equipping Iraqi soldiers

[5:59] and police to take over the fighting

[6:01] from US troops has always been the lynch

[6:03] pin of the American exit strategy.

[6:06] Today, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld

[6:08] confirmed the mission is about to get

[6:10] bigger and take longer, saying he

[6:12] expects to approve a recommendation from

[6:14] General George Casey, the American

[6:16] commander in Iraq, to increase the size

[6:19] of the Iraqi security forces.

[6:21] >> I'm very comfortable with the increases

[6:23] they've proposed and the um

[6:25] accelerations in achievement of some of

[6:27] their targets

[6:29] um that they've proposed.

[6:31] >> That means there will be an increase.

[6:33] >> That's my expectation. Roosefeld refused

[6:36] to say exactly how big an increase, but

[6:39] other Pentagon officials predicted the

[6:40] current goal of fielding 325,000

[6:43] Iraqi soldiers and police will be

[6:46] increased by a minimum of 30,000 and a

[6:48] maximum of 100,000.

[6:51] Fielding more forces obviously will take

[6:53] more time, but Rumsfeld said that while

[6:55] American trainers and advisers will have

[6:57] to stay longer, combat troops could

[6:59] start coming home before them. US and

[7:02] coalition forces will will not have the

[7:05] need to be there doing the kinds of

[7:07] things they're doing in terms of

[7:09] patrolling, in terms of presence. Uh

[7:12] those are the kinds of things that would

[7:13] very likely um be less needed as the

[7:17] Iraqi forces increased.

[7:20] >> One Pentagon official says the Iraqis

[7:22] will be expected to pick up more than

[7:23] half the added cost, but another

[7:26] official doubts they can come up with

[7:28] the money. Katie.

[7:29] >> All right, David Martin. Thank you,

[7:30] David. Tension on another front eased a

[7:33] bit today. The North Koreans have agreed

[7:35] to negotiate again over their nuclear

[7:38] program. The six nation talks could

[7:40] resume next month. President Bush

[7:43] welcomed the announcement, but said the

[7:44] UN still needs to enforce those

[7:46] sanctions against North Korea. On the

[7:49] medical front tonight, the heartbreak of

[7:51] sudden infant death syndrome. Since the

[7:53] government recommended parents put

[7:55] babies to sleep on their backs, SID's

[7:57] deaths have been cut in half. But it

[7:59] still kills more than 2,000 babies every

[8:03] year. Tonight, Dr. John Leuk reports.

[8:05] Researchers have an important new clue

[8:07] to the SIDS mystery that could

[8:09] eventually save lives.

[8:12] >> For parents of young babies, it's a

[8:15] worry that can shadow every nap time,

[8:17] lullabi, and lights out.

[8:19] >> I would walk in

[8:21] >> even when she was fast asleep, and I

[8:22] would just check if she's breathing.

[8:23] SIDS or sudden infant death syndrome is

[8:26] the leading cause of death for newborns

[8:28] in the US. The baby stops breathing

[8:30] while asleep with little or no warning.

[8:33] Pauline Sakal Nakios was at work when

[8:36] her husband called to say their son

[8:37] Alexander was being rushed to the

[8:39] hospital.

[8:40] >> I could barely make out the words, but I

[8:41] heard him say, "We're in the ambulance.

[8:43] Alexander's not breathing."

[8:44] >> For years, its cause has been a mystery.

[8:47] But new research published today in the

[8:49] Journal of the American Medical

[8:50] Association suggests SIDS may have a

[8:52] biological basis. Abnormalities in the

[8:55] brain stem, a part of the brain that

[8:57] regulates breathing, heart rate, body

[8:59] temperature, and arousal.

[9:01] >> It demystifies what SIDS is.

[9:04] >> Dr. Hannah Kenny and her researchers

[9:06] examined autopsy data from 31 SIDS

[9:08] babies and found differences in

[9:10] serotonin, a chemical that helps nerves

[9:13] communicate. When a baby's breathing is

[9:15] blocked, say by a stuffed animal or

[9:17] sleeping face down, the brain stem

[9:19] normally adjusts by sending a message to

[9:21] wake the baby or stimulate breathing.

[9:24] SIDS babies may have abnormal wiring

[9:26] that shortcircuits this important alarm

[9:28] system.

[9:29] >> If there's a defect in the alarm system,

[9:32] the defense system, then the baby

[9:34] doesn't wake up. And we think that the

[9:36] serotonin system is such a defense

[9:39] system. Researchers hope these findings

[9:42] help create a test for identifying

[9:43] infants at risk for SIDS. But for now,

[9:46] this new research gives SIDS parents

[9:48] something that is useful today, an

[9:51] explanation.

[9:52] >> It could be reassuring to Sid's parents

[9:54] because it says SIDS is a disease

[9:56] process. It's not a mystery. It's not a

[9:59] bolt out of the blue.

[10:02] >> It's been 2 years since Pauline and

[10:03] Thomas Nakios lost Alexander.

[10:06] >> Very good. They say he will always be a

[10:09] part of their family.

[10:11] >> Theo, our our nine-month-old son, um,

[10:13] which we were blessed with uh, this past

[10:15] January, he will always know that he had

[10:17] a brother.

[10:20] >> So, John, this study should really be

[10:22] comforting to parents who have lost

[10:24] infants. Right.

[10:25] >> Right. I mean, there's nothing more

[10:26] devastating than losing a child, but

[10:28] parents should not feel guilty. It looks

[10:30] to be a wiring problem. And what about

[10:32] the rule about placing an infant on his

[10:35] or her back in the crib and not keeping

[10:38] stuffed animals, pillows, blankets, or

[10:39] any other objects in there?

[10:41] >> Right, that still applies. Back to

[10:42] sleep. Avoid the avoid the loose soft

[10:45] objects like pillows, stuffed animals,

[10:47] blankets,

[10:47] >> and have the baby on a firm surface.

[10:49] Right.

[10:50] >> A firm surface is very important.

[10:51] >> All right, Dr. John Leoo. John, thanks

[10:53] so much. If you have any questions about

[10:56] SIDS, go to our partner in health

[10:57] coverage. That's WebMD.com

[10:59] and just search SIDS.

[11:02] Much more CBS News straight ahead. And

[11:05] coming up next, Bush versus Carrie, the

[11:08] sequel. How will it play? One Day Wonder

[11:11] or a story with legs?