American Morning
Expert: Iran is in a pre-revolutionary state
Three Americans hikers – Shane Bauer, 27; Sarah Shourd, 31; and Josh Fattal, 27 – were picked up by Iranian authorities when they strayed across the border while hiking in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan last month. They were arrested on allegations of entering Iran illegally from northern Iraq. Iran is now saying that they are spies.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/08/18/baer.bob.cnn.art.jpg caption="Former CIA officer Robert Baer says Iran is potentially in a 'pre-revolutionary state.'"]
Robert Baer is a former CIA field officer assigned to the Middle East and the author of “The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower.” He spoke to Kiran Chetry on CNN’s “American Morning” Tuesday.
Kiran Chetry: So we don’t know much about the condition of the three Americans detained in Iran. We know that they've been held there for about two weeks now. And we've heard very little about what's happened to them. They're up against courts being run by hardliners. They’re being accused of being spies. How dangerous is this situation for them?
Robert Baer: It's particularly dangerous because Iran, as we know, is going through a volatile situation. There's been a virtual military takeover. The regime is insecure. Clerics in Qom, the holy city, have attacked the regime. And I think we're going to - they're going to play hardball with these three guys. I mean, they're not spies. And so this could be drawn out for a very, very long time.
CNN Truth Squad: No eye care until you're blind in one eye?
The Statement:
Florence Mackie of North Carolina writes to CNN, "I got a disturbing e-mail that said the new health bill would not help a person with macular degeneration until they lost the vision in one eye first." She asks, "Is this true?"
The facts and the verdict after the jump:
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What’s on Tap – Tuesday August 18, 2009
Here are the big stories on the agenda today:
- Is the White House wavering? It was billed as the backbone to his health care plan. But is President Obama considering reform, this morning – without a government-backed public option? We're breaking through the politics and getting the real answers.
- In a health care town hall in Arizona, a man was in the crowd toting, not just a gun, but two – legally. There was an assault rifle on his back and a hand-gun at his waist. The man says he was just exercising his rights while protesting the president's health care reform. In fact, police say about a dozen people at the Phoenix event were armed. That has some political observers asking: is this the start of a disturbing new trend? Or are people just exercising their rights?
- The “x-files” released. Thousands of pages of documents detailing all kinds of alleged UFO sightings. But it turns out, people go alien crazy when Hollywood does. Are these really close encounters, or are we just buying the hype?
- Would you rather get a good night's sleep, or have great sex? According to a Westin Hotel survey, sleep wins. We do hear their beds are comfy. 51-percent of travelers say they'd rather have a perfect night's sleep than great sex. Believe it or not, more men than women choose sleep over sex. And "ohhh" Canada. Our friends to the north, were the only group to pick sex over sleep.
Man carries assault rifle to Obama protest - and it's legal
PHOENIX, Arizona (CNN) - A man toting an assault rifle was among a dozen protesters carrying weapons while demonstrating outside President Barack Obama's speech to veterans on Monday, but no laws were broken. It was the second instance in recent days in which unconcealed weapons have appeared near presidential events.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/POLITICS/08/17/obama.protest.rifle/art.obama.gun.pool.jpg caption="A man is shown legally carrying a rifle at a protest against President Obama on Monday in Phoenix, Arizona."]
Video from the protest in Phoenix, Arizona, shows the man standing with other protesters, with the rifle slung over his right shoulder.
Phoenix police said authorities monitored about a dozen people carrying weapons while peacefully demonstrating.
"It was a group interested in exercising the right to bear arms," said police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill.
Arizona law has nothing in the books regulating assault rifles, and only requires permits for carrying concealed weapons. So despite the man's proximity to the president, there were no charges or arrests to be made. Hill said officers explained the law to some people who were upset about the presence of weapons at the protest.
"I come from another state where 'open carry' is legal, but no one does it, so the police don't really know about it and they harass people, arrest people falsely," the man, who wasn't identified, said in an interview aired by CNN affiliate KNVX. "I think that people need to get out and do it more so that they get kind of conditioned to it."
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Scientists analyze blood to test for toxic airplane air exposure
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/US/08/17/bleed.air.tests/art.williams.jpg caption="Terry Williams hugs her two boys - Jake, left, and Zack - in 2006, before she says toxic cabin air made her sick."]
(CNN) - Inside a freezer in a research laboratory at the University of Washington are blood and blood plasma samples from 92 people who suffer from mysterious illnesses, including tremors, memory loss and severe migraine headaches.
They are mostly pilots and flight attendants who suspect they've been poisoned in their workplace - on board the aircraft they fly.
Clement Furlong, University of Washington professor of medicine and genome sciences, leads a team of scientists who have been collecting the samples for 2 ½ years.
Furlong said his team is a few months away from finalizing a blood analysis test that will be able to definitely confirm whether the study participants were indeed poisoned by toxic fumes.
Results of Furlong's research could expand recognition of what a select group of researchers believes is a largely unrecognized risk of flying: the chance that poisonous fumes enter the cabin.
"There's a danger of inhaling compounds that are coming out of the engine," said Furlong in his laboratory.
The air we breathe on board a plane is a 50-50 mix of filtered, recirculated air and so-called "bleed air" - which bleeds off the engines, and then is pressurized and cooled before being sent into the cabin through vents. If an engine oil seal leaks, aviation engineers and scientists say, the bleed air can become contaminated with toxins.
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