Clinton Surgery; Italian Shooting Probe; Former Presidents Bush, Clinton Discuss Tsunami Relief Effort
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Bill Clinton back at the White House, reporting to the current occupant about the tsunami and soon to take some questions about his upcoming surgery. His heartfelt comments coming up. Hero or terrorist? Either way, a Chechen leader with a $10 million price on his head is dead. Russian special forces get their man.</s>KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: King Tut's coffin may be closed, but the case of what caused his death is not. Today's scientists say they are closer to solving this ancient murder mystery. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips.</s>O'BRIEN: And from CNN's Washington newsroom, I'm Miles O'Brien. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now. Office visit today, hospital later this week, the office is the Oval, and the patient, Bill Clinton. He and fellow former President George H. W. Bush are briefing the current president on their tsunami devastation tour the very day of news breaks of Clinton's pending surgery to drain fluid and remove scar tissue from his chest. We expect to see pictures from the White House momentarily. We'll bring that to you live. But first, the medical news from CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta in New York to tell us about the procedure -- Sanjay.</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Kyra. Yes, we're talking about a procedure known as decortication. What happened was the president had a heart operation, as we know, almost six months ago to the day. We heard shortly after that operation that he had accumulated a little bit of fluid in his chest. It sounds like that fluid, along with some scar tissue, has become significantly bothersome for him in two ways. One, it causes some pain. And two, it interferes with what we call exercise tolerance. He's unable to exercise at quite the same level he had before. So he's going to undergo this procedure to get rid of both the scar tissue and the fluid. It's going to require general anesthesia, expected to stay in the hospital anywhere from three to 10 days. This is a known consequence of CABG or bypass surgery, which he had six months ago. Although it is relatively rare one. We talked to the doctor earlier. He said only about 10 times in six months -- I'm sorry, 6,000 patients has he seen this sort of thing occur. Now, remember, Kyra, again, the operation he had back in September of last year, coronary artery bypass grafting. They opened the chest. They take some vein grafts, and they lay it down, essentially bypassing some of the diseased vessels. Sounds like that operation went very well. His stress test that he recently had was normal. So he's had no complications as a result of that first operation. A lot of people concerned, though, what would happen to former President Clinton if he did not have this repeat operation. His doctors were asked that earlier today. This is what they said.</s>DR. ALLAN SCHWARTZ, NY PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL: Left untouched for a long period of time, any collection in the body is -- potentially could be ceded with infection, although that risk is extremely low. I think the main thing that's driving the decision for surgery here is that normal lung tissue is being compressed, and we don't want to leave him with compromise of normal lung function.</s>GUPTA: So, again, what's going to happen, Kyra, is they're actually going to open up his chest, or just put a little endoscope into his chest, try and remove that scar tissue, remove the fluid, and hopefully restore his lung function -- Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: All right. Now, we've been hearing that he knew about this before he went to South Asia. Does that sound normal to you?</s>GUPTA: You know what's so interesting about that is that, yes, the doctors did mention they had actually scheduled this operation, and then let him go to South Asia as well. You know, it's one of those things. I think a lot of doctors may have said, listen, it would be probably better for you to stay in the country, although knowing former President Clinton and knowing his schedule, it was probably hard to get him to stay. This is an urgent procedure that needs to be done. Although it's in no way emergent, probably. This is the sort of thing doctors can schedule to get done. So in some ways, it's sort of an elective procedure. But yes, it's a good question. I don't think in any way his trip to South Asia -- or we even heard about him sleeping on the floor of an airplane -- I don't think that worsened it, but it's probably time that he has this operation done -- Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.</s>GUPTA: Thank you.</s>PHILLIPS: And we told you earlier that we are expecting pictures from the White House in just a few moments. We'll bring those to you as soon as we get them. As you know, Clinton and former President George Bush had gone over to the tsunami-devastated area to report back to the current President Bush. We'll let you know how that went as soon as we get the videotape -- Miles.</s>O'BRIEN: On to Beirut now for an incredibly huge Hezbollah- sponsored, pro-Syria rally, really. After three weeks of near constant demonstrations by Lebanese fed up with Syrian domination of its tiny neighbor, the other side speaks in dramatic fashion, as you see there. These demonstrators reject U.S. and U.N. calls for the immediate exit of Syrian soldiers left behind after Lebanon's 15-year civil war. A plan announced this week by the Syrian and Lebanese presidents would move the troops to eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley as an interim step to withdraw. Freedom will prevail, vows President Bush, in Syria, Iran any Mideast nation where democracy and justice aren't now the norm. The president paused from his Social Security reform campaign for a speech on security and terror at the National Defense University in Washington. He declared authoritarian rule the last gasp of a discredited past. And he said Lebanon needs to see the last of Syrian occupation.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The time has come for Syria to fully implement Security Council Resolution 1559. All Syrian military forces and intelligence personnel must withdraw before the Lebanese elections for those elections to be free and fair.</s>O'BRIEN: Now, as we told you at the top of the program, the president's agenda also included a tsunami update from his two immediate predecessors. We'll bring you that video as soon as it comes in.</s>PHILLIPS: Now potential terrorist sympathizers and the U.S. push to recruit new spies for the war on terror. Today's "Los Angeles Times" quotes a CIA official who says terrorist organizations have tried to slip their people into intelligence hiring pools. Now, according to "The Times," suspicions of possible terrorist ties have prompted the rejection of dozens of applications, including several by the CIA. And here's a surprise. People on the government's terrorist watch list can legally purchase guns. "The New York Times" reports today on 44 cases last year when someone on a watch list tried to buy a firearm legally. Only nine were rejected. FBI officials cited by "The Times" say they're being hamstrung by laws that restrict the use of gun- buying records. Well, CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night.</s>O'BRIEN: An update now on the U.S. military's investigation into that deadly shooting near Baghdad airport Friday. It killed an Italian intelligence agent during the rescue of an Italian journalist. The Pentagon's top brass were grilled about the incident during their briefing today. Let's go live now to the Pentagon, correspondent Barbara Starr, with the latest on all that. Barbara, this is -- the allegations on this are so volatile. The Italian journalist saying she was actually targeted.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Miles, after several days, this story still very much up in the air as the investigation gets going. General George Casey, as you say, the head of all U.S. forces in Iraq, was here in the Pentagon today for a very unusual briefing. He doesn't often get to Washington from Baghdad. He met with reporters and expressed a lot of concern about recent shooting incidents in Iraq. First, General Casey announced he has ordered a review of all incidents at checkpoints in Iraq over the last six months to see if there is anything that needs to be done to make these checkpoints operate differently or be more clearly marked. Now, in regards to the shooting last Friday night, when -- which an Italian security agent was killed, and the Italian journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, was wounded, General Casey made it clear more information could come to light as the investigation unfolds. But he had something very specific to say. He said that so far, he, himself, has seen no indication that the Italians coordinated their movements with the United States. Listen to a bit of this exchange.</s>GEN. GEORGE CASEY, HEAD OF U.S. FORCES IN IRAQ: I, George Casey, have no information about that.</s>STARR: Well, I'm just trying to be clear, because as everyone has said, the Italian government has said that they did.</s>CASEY: Right. And I'm saying I personally have no information that that is the case, OK?</s>STARR: Would it have come to you if there was information? Would you know?</s>CASEY: I would have hoped so.</s>STARR: General Casey also making it clear part of his concern is there was another incident on that Friday. A Bulgarian soldier killed, apparently in an exchange of friendly fire with U.S. forces. That incident also under investigation -- Miles.</s>O'BRIEN: CNN's Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Tens of thousands of people taking to the streets. Will they have an impact on the future of peace in the Middle East? We'll talk about it just ahead. Also coming up, stuff like this coming up. If it turns you on, you're probably a guy. We'll have the results of a scientific study into the difference between men and women and what turns them on. Also, not far from where I sit, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, presidents 41, 42 and 43 meeting. The subject is the tsunami relief effort. Let's listen to former presidents Bush and Clinton as they talk to reporters.</s>GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're here to take any questions on tsunami that you may care to ask.</s>WILLIAM J. CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Or anything else.</s>QUESTION: Tomorrow's golf game, on tsunami.</s>CLINTON: Greg Norman called us and said that he would like to raise funds for tsunami relief and suggested that he get 72 people to play in a golf tournament tomorrow. And he did. And we're going down when we leave you. We're going to get on the airplane and fly down there and play 18 holes tomorrow and raise what I thought was a stunning amount of money for tsunami relief.</s>QUESTION: How are you feeling, sir? Everyone wants to know.</s>CLINTON: I feel fine. You know, I found this condition when I did my regular test. And they said I was in the top 5 percent of men my age in health. But they took a routine X-ray and found out that I had a lot of fluid built up here, which is quite rare once the fluid goes down. And so all they have to do is drain it and take that little peel that holds the fluid out. It's a routine, sort of, deal. And it'll knock me out of commission for a week or two, then I'll be back to normal. It's no big deal. You know, I felt well enough to go to Asia to try to keep up with President Bush, and we're going to play golf tomorrow. So I'm not in too bad a shape. I feel good about it.</s>G.H.W. BUSH: You should have seen him going town to town, country to country. Energizer Bunny here. He killed me.</s>QUESTION: Can I ask both of you, since you spent so much time in your presidencies working on the Middle East, these are big names, obviously, throughout that region. What's your reaction to what's happening in the Middle East? What do you think is going on there?</s>CLINTON: Do you want to go first?</s>G.H.W. BUSH: Well, I'm, of course, very pleased the way things seem to be trending there. When you consider what's happening in Lebanon -- hopefully, will happen there, the Syrians pulling back. When you consider steps that Hosni Mubarak has taken in Egypt. You consider the elections in Iraq. I would say these are positive developments. There's still a lot of work to do. But my own view is, it's positive, and the president, of course, intends to stay fully involved to do what he can to see this progress continue.</s>CLINTON: I would agree with that. I think that the Iraqi elections went better than anyone could have imagined. And now, you know, I have said I don't think we ought to pressure the president to give a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces. We've got to try to make this work. We all know we have to go sometime, that we don't want to occupy the country, but they still need us to help train security forces. There's still a violent environment there. And the friends of the new order are still vulnerable, as we saw just yesterday. So I think -- but I think on balance, that's -- we're doing better there. And the Iraqis are taking hold. I think the murder of Mr. Hariri was a terrible thing, and he was a personal friend of mine. We were together about 10 days before he was killed. But in death, he is having the impact that he sought to have in life. And sooner or later, the Syrians are going to have to get out of there and give the Lebanese their country back. And I think the fact that the Lebanese are in the street, demanding it, is wonderful. I think the work that the new leader of the Palestinians -- I have a hard time not calling him Abu Mazen -- is doing is fine. I think that, you know, this is hopeful what's going on between the Israelis and the Syrians. I agree with what the president said about the reform steps in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. One thing I think is overlooked about the Middle East that I think you should -- we should pay more attention to, is that there are successful, open societies welcoming diversity. If you look at Dubai, if you look at Abu Dhabi, if you look at Qatar, if you look at the welcoming of Western educational institutions, modern economies, people of all different religious, racial and ethnic groups and the enormous success they're having, I don't think you can minimize the impact that is having on the psychology of Arab leaders too. They're having an enormous success. And we only write about the problems in the Middle East. I'd really like to see the people who are doing a good job over there get some more credit for the impact they're having. There was a conference in Dubai on the Arab world in 2020 a couple months ago that I went to and the leader of Dubai stood up and said to the 2,000 Arabs there, "We have got to stop blaming other people for our problems. We have got to stop making excuses. We have got to modernize. You can all be like Dubai, but we all have to change." That was unheard of 10 years ago for somebody to do that. So I'm thrilled by what's going on.</s>QUESTION: What do you make of the protest today in Lebanon, the pro-Syria protest? Does that represent the people's views? Or is that something that has been organized by authoritarian...</s>G.H.W. BUSH: Like the Hezbollah?</s>QUESTION: Yes.</s>G.H.W. BUSH: I think this was expected, I think. I don't know. I mean, they've got a different approach to matters. But I think the will of the Lebanese people is clear: They want to see these Syrians out of there.</s>CLINTON: Look, Hezbollah has made itself a political party within Lebanon and represented a lot of people who thought they were effective on domestic concerns. They weren't supporting their terrorist agenda or anything else. But I find it inconceivable that most Lebanese wouldn't like it if they had their country back. They want their country back. And they ought to get it. And, you know, that bomb reminded people of what it was like in the '70s in Lebanon. Beirut was once the Paris of the Middle East. And it should be again. And Hariri gave his life to rebuilding it. That's where I think most people are and where I think the future is.</s>QUESTION: Thank you all.</s>CLINTON: Thank you.</s>G.H.W. BUSH: Thank you very much.</s>QUESTION: The current President Bush likes to talk the sides of America and people learning that America has a different side of it. What evidence can you say from your trip to support that? And how will Americans know for sure that this is having a concrete impact on the image of the United States?</s>G.H.W. BUSH: I'll let President Clinton take it, but before he says something, there's a great poll we were shown today, a polling of Indonesia, the mood of Indonesians, the view of Indonesians toward the United States of America. And it's a dramatic change. And they have seen the kindness, the outpouring of support for the tsunami victims. That has turned public opinion very much in favor of the United States.</s>CLINTON: Yes, I urge you to get it. It's on the Internet now. But I will tell you what we saw. Every little place we went, people came up and thanked us for what the American military did in bringing in humanitarian supplies, for what the USAID workers are doing, what the American non-governmental organizations were doing. All these people were all over. Peter was there. Ask him. Everyplace we went, people were thanking us for what was being done. And it proves that, you know, in this brave new world we're in, we have to have a strategy to fight terror and the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and to build a world with more partners and fewer terrorists. And we didn't do anything special. We did what Americans would have done. And we didn't do it to make people like us. I think the main thing was that everybody knew that these people were there just because they wanted to help. It was purely relating to each other on a human basis. But when you relate to people on a human basis, you send a message that our common humanity matters more than our differences. And when people believe that, American wins, the cause of freedom wins. And it was wonderful to see, because we didn't go there with any ulterior motive. Everybody just went there because people needed help.</s>QUESTION: President Clinton, do you think you need to slow down?</s>CLINTON: Not really. I mean, I'm going to slow down for the next couple of weeks. But I'm in good shape. I got -- did great in my health test. I just have this little fluid buildup. As soon as I get it done, I'm going to go back to work.</s>QUESTION: What are your golf handicaps?</s>G.H.W. BUSH: Don't talk dirty in the Roosevelt Room.</s>QUESTION: Good luck, sir.</s>CLINTON: We're going to play one hole with each four-some. Whenever we have 18 bad holes, we'll say, "Shoot, it's the only one I've had today." Nobody will know the difference.</s>O'BRIEN: Presidents 41 and 42 in a room named for president number 26, Theodore Roosevelt, talking with reporters after they had briefed president number 43 about tsunami relief. Both presidents discussing at length the Middle East. And President Clinton discussing specifically the situation in Lebanon, looking and acting like he always does, in spite of the fact that on Thursday he will go under the knife once again, additional heart surgery to repair some scar tissue after that open-heart surgery he had sometime ago. Nevertheless, he's going to squeeze in a visit at a golf tournament in Florida sponsored by Greg Norman. The funds for that golf tournament headed towards tsunami relief. So doesn't seem to be slowing down, at least for now, with that surgery looming. Back with more LIVE FROM in just a moment.