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CNN Live Today

CIA Director Nominee Meets With Senators; Troops on the Border?; Nigeria Explosion

Aired May 12, 2006 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A shocking story just ahead where a cop kills a killer. To some he's a hero, to others he deserves his punishment. You'll judge for yourself. It's all on tape as CNN LIVE TODAY continues.
Also, they watch the border, but today they're charging the Hill. The minutemen take their message to Washington as the second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now.

On the Hill and under a political microscope, the president's pick to head the CIA calls on lawmakers again today. But new reports against domestic surveillance could cast a long shadow over General Michael Hayden's visit.

Congressional Correspondent Andrea Koppel joins me.

These confirmation hearings begin Thursday, I believe.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Daryn. For the fifth day in a row, General Hayden is making the rounds here on Capitol Hill in anticipation of those confirmation hearings next week before the Senate Intelligence Committee. He's been meeting primarily with members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, although he did also meet yesterday with Mitch McConnell, who is the second most powerful Republican in the Senate.

Today he met with Chuck Hagel, Republican senator of Nebraska, who has said already that he supports the nomination, he feels General Hayden is the right man for the job. But he did say after the meeting that General Hayden should expect some tough questions not just from him, but from other members of the committee about that NSA phone databank.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: He's going to have to explain what his role was to start with. Did he put that program forward? Whose idea was it? Why was it started?

He knows that. He welcomes those questions. He knows that he's not going to be confirmed without answering those questions. Whether that will be a complicating factor or just a factor remains to be seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KOPPEL: Senator Hagel went on to say that he supports the call by the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Arlen Specter, to hold a hearing with the heads of those telecommunications companies that reportedly cooperated with the U.S. government on the phone databank. But we also see the majority leader, Bill Frist, cast doubt on whether these hearings are necessary, as did the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Pat Roberts.

For his part, General Hayden didn't want to comment specifically on those reports, said he couldn't confirm or deny them, but he did, as you might imagine, make a spirited defense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN, CIA DIRECTOR NOMINEE: Let me say once again, though, that everything that the agency has done has been lawful, it's been briefed to the appropriate members of Congress. That the only purpose of the agency's activities is to preserve the security and liberty of the American people. And I think we have he done that.

QUESTION: General, do you think the hearings will help clear some of that up?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to go.

HAYDEN: I'm looking forward to the hearings, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: Now, we've heard beforehand the Bush administration say, Daryn, that they had been brief in briefing regularly the top Democratic leaders, the top Republican leaders, as well as the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, both in the House and the Senate. Nevertheless, the Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, said yesterday that -- she really raised questions and wants the administration to give more information to the public about just how many hearings were held and briefings with various members. Obviously casting doubt on whether or not she was in the loop on everything -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Andrea Koppel on Capitol Hill.

Andrea, thank you.

Also from Capitol Hill, tax cuts pretty much a done deal. President Bush says he's looking forward to signing a $70 billion package. That's expected to happen next week.

The Senate passed the measure yesterday. It extends the 15 percent tax rate on dividends and capital gain until 2010. Republicans say that will prevent a tax increase on investors which would hurt the economy.

Democrats say the benefits are tilted toward the wealthy. They say the very rich get tens of thousands of dollars in tax breaks. The middle class, less than $50.

The minutemen, they watch the U.S.-Mexico border for illegal immigrants. This hour they have their eyes on Congress, rallying in Washington against proposed immigration legislation. They say that legislation offers amnesty to illegal immigrants. The group may get more company in its mission to secure the border.

With that story, let's turn to CNN's Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon.

Jamie, what's this word we hear on a call to have more military backup along the U.S.-Mexico border?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, just to be clear, what the Bush administration is not talking about is the dispatch of thousands of troops to seal the border with Mexico. What they are discussing with various southern states is some way for the U.S. military to provide more support to local law enforcement and Border Patrol, particularly perhaps helping to pick up some of the funding for National Guard troops that already play a support role but in a very minor way.

Those troops provide some surveillance, intelligence, and other backup support, and if they're activated under the state government, which the states can do at any time, they cost money to the states. And what some of the states are arguing is that border security is not just a state issue, it's a national issue. And the federal government ought to do more.

And one of the things they're looking at, the Pentagon is looking at, is ways that the troops can be activated perhaps in a state role but paid for by the federal government, as they did in Katrina. Ad that's one of the things the Bush administration is looking at, as it's looking at a broad series of things to increase border security. This would allow the states to make better use of the National Guard in a support role, but perhaps ease some of the financial burden.

KAGAN: So the states still want the control, but they want the feds to help pay the bill?

MCINTYRE: Yes, there's three ways the states can -- you can have state -- you can have National Guard activated under the state, paid for by the state. You can have them activated by the state, paid for by the federal government, as was done in Katrina. And then you can also have what's called federalizing troops, where they're activated by the federal government and paid for by the federal government.

That would be a little more radical. I think what they're talking about here is giving the states control over how the troops are used, but helping the financial burden, because it is a national issue, not just a state issue.

KAGAN: All right.

Jamie McIntyre live at the Pentagon.

Jamie, thank you.

They were found locked inside of a truck, huddled together for warmth from the icy walls. Police say 56 illegal immigrants were trapped inside of a refrigerated truck for about six hours. Acting on a tip, sheriff deputies in Laredo, Texas, found them. Two suspected smugglers are expected to go before a judge today. Most of the illegal immigrants have been returned to Mexico.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF RICK FLORES, WEBB COUNTY, TEXAS: Well, by the time they opened the door, you know, these people were freezing. They had already been there six hours. It would have been a matter of hours, I think, if they wouldn't have been found that probably we would have seen another tragedy just like the one that happened in Victoria, Texas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: The sheriff is referring to a smuggling case from three years ago. Seventy-four illegal were found inside that trailer, 19 died.

President Fox, pay up. That is what a lawman in Oregon is demanding. Sheriff John Trombo (ph) has written the Mexican president. He wants a check for more than $318,000.

Trombo (ph) says busting illegal immigrants is taking a huge chunk of his department's budget. He says the bill would cover the cost of jailing 360 Mexicans. The Mexican president hasn't responded, but Mexico's consul general to Oregon calls the letter racist.

And we're just getting these first pictures in from Lagos, Nigeria. A huge pipeline explosion killed up to 200 people on the outskirts. This is the outskirts of Nigeria's biggest city of Lagos.

It happened today. An absolutely grisly scene as charred corpses on a sandy beach where locals went to tap into the pipeline. Apparently, they were going there to steal the fuel.

The Red Cross says that the pipeline blew up while thieves were drilling into it, igniting about 500 nearby cans full of fuel. Theft of fuel or crude oil from pipelines apparently is common in Nigeria. Up to 200 people dead in that pipeline explosion. Just getting those pictures in to us here at CNN.

This next story all caught on videotape. A sheriff's deputy shoots the man who killed his partner. Now it's the cop who is in cuffs. No shortage of opinion about whether this punishment fits the crime.

CNN's Dan Simon investigates for "ANDERSON COOPER 360".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Billy Anders has seen his share of handcuffs, but this is the first time he's had to wear them. Anders is a cop. Well, now a former cop, locked up in New Mexico's state penitentiary, housed in maximum security for his own protection.

(on camera): You're in the same area where they keep death row inmates, the most dangerous criminals.

BILLY ANDERS, FORMER OTERO COUNTY SHERIFF SGT.: It happened. I'm dealing with the consequences.

SIMON (voice-over): December 18, 2004. Anders, a sergeant with the Otero County Sheriff's Department, and his partner, Deputy Bob Hedman, respond to a domestic violence call at a cabin in the mountains near Cloudcroft, New Mexico.

ANDERS: The sale of the car raised a red flag. It was about 7:15 at night. It was cold. It was a Saturday night.

SIMON: The dispatcher reported shots fired. And when Anders and his partner arrive at the scene, both have a bad feeling.

ANDERS: He saw blood on the door sill.

SIMON: Still, when the man comes to the door with his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter, Anders says he wants to avoid conflict. An ex-SWAT commander and a former Air Force pilot, he's trained to deal with any kind of situation.

ANDERS: I said, sir, look, we're not here to give you a hard time. I said, we see blood here, and we've had this call and I said all we need to do is check and make sure that everyone's OK. And I said we're out of here.

SIMON: The next few minutes would change everything.

ANDERS: This cannon, like a Civil War cannon goes off in my face.

SIMON: Anders comes under fire at close range and fires right back, hitting the shooter at least two times. The man, it turns out, is a notorious White Supremacist, named Earl Flippen who had already used this .357 magnum to kill his girlfriend. Deborah Rhoudes had been eight months pregnant. She was later found rolled up in carpet, stuffed in a closet. But at this moment, Anders is thinking about that 3-year-old.

ANDERS: The little girl was inside, and I knew we could not wait for any help.

SIMON: If there was ever a time for a cop to use lethal force, it seemed this was it.

ANDERS: I can't even explain to you the feeling of having a .357 magnum go off in your face.

SIMON (on camera): But Anders' statement about what happened here that night would become contradicted by a powerful eyewitness, a witness with impeccable credibility. It was clear Anders had some explaining to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Six, we have a shot fired.

SIMON (voice-over): This is video from Anders' own police truck. The picture is grainy, but the sound of gunfire is unmistakable. Listen as Anders calls out to the little girl, then gets ambushed.

ANDERS: Where's your daddy? Where's your daddy, honey? Oh!

ANDERS: I reacted faster than I could ever have believed I could react.

SIMON: Flippen goes down, but is still alive. Anders slaps on handcuffs.

ANDERS: You lay there, buddy.

SIMON: As Flippen lays there, Anders looks for his partner, who had gone to the back of the house. But he finds Deputy Hedman's body hanging over a railing. He had been shot in the head.

(on camera): Bob wasn't just a sheriff's deputy, he was your best friend.

ANDERS: One of my three best friends, yes. I'm sorry.

SIMON (voice-over): Anders served as a pallbearer at his friend's funeral. But what happens next on that freezing December night is why Anders is now in prison.

Flippen, remember, has been shot and is now in handcuffs. But Anders, who had just found his friend dead, returns, shoos the little girl away...

ANDERS: Back up, honey. Go inside, honey. Go inside.

SIMON: ... and fires a fatal round into Flippen's chest. That, says Otero County District Attorney Scott Key, is a police execution.

SCOTT KEY, OTERO COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Well, let's face it, when you have a videotape that shows a deputy executing a handcuffed prisoner, that's not good. It's not good and it has to be dealt with in a court of law.

SIMON: Even though Flippen had just murdered two people and had been a career criminal, a grand jury indicted Anders for voluntary manslaughter. The community was incensed and rallied behind the deputy, raising $50,000 for Anders' legal fees.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Quite frankly, I feel like he did the world a service.

SIMON: But Anders maintains this was no revenge killing. He says he remembers firing the fatal shot in self-defense and to protect the little girl.

ANDERS: I thought I remembered seeing the guy reaching for a gun when I shot him the last time.

SIMON: The video showed no evidence of that.

ANDERS: Go inside.

SIMON: When pressed on it...

ANDERS: I can't explain it, sir. I don't know. I'm a reasonable, logical person. And, I mean, I'm not going to deny, you know, photographic evidence.

I'm Billy Anders.

SIMON: Anders pleaded guilty. The only question, punishment. The judge, recognizing the unusual circumstances, gave him just one year in the state pen. A distinguished law enforcement career, over.

ANDERS: Go inside, honey. Go inside.

SIMON: Anders still thinks about the other survivor that night, that little girl, he just wanted to protect.

ANDERS: I thank God for the fact that she lived that night. And I want her to know, I really want her to know that Bob Hedman lost his life trying to save her.

SIMON: After 31 years in law enforcement, that night was the first time he'd ever fired his weapon on duty. It was also his last.

Dan Simon, CNN, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Incredible story there. You can see more like that of Dan's reports on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." Join "AC 360" weeknights at 10:00 Eastern.

Now we want to go back to our developing story out of Lagos, Nigeria. A deadly oil pipeline explosion killing as many as 200 people today.

Jeff Koinange is with me on the phone live from Lagos -- Jeff.

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kagan -- Daryn. And we're hearing from Nigeria's police commission that upwards of to 200 people may have died in that explosion.

What happened is vandals -- and this is a frequent occurrence here in Nigeria -- vandals punched a pipeline filled with petrol with the intention of loading it onto barrels and in turn selling it in the city of Lagos. And one of them may have either lit a cigarette or a motorcycle may have backed up and a spark flew, and it literally incinerated these people. As we speak, smoke still billows in the area, a place called Snake Island, about a half hour's boat ride outside of Lagos, and then charred bodies all over the place. Police commissioners did tell us, do not -- do not be surprised if that death toll rises, because several years ago in a very similar incident, upwards of a thousand people were killed in a very similar incident.

People take advantage of all this fuel that's leaking or that's been punctured to use it for personal consumption or to sell. And it's a terrible situation as you see it right now, charred bodies, smoke billowing. Police plan to cordon off the area, but it looks pretty bad.

Back to you, Daryn.

KAGAN: Yes. Explain to us a little bit more, Jeff, about how this works with this pipeline running through the country and how people try to steal the fuel.

KOINANGE: That's right. Well, basically, what Nigeria does is it exports about a little over two million barrels of crude oil every single day, but it needs to import refined fuel. So it's built pipelines across the country, and from the refinery these pipelines go to the major cities. And most of them are over ground and unprotected, so vandals in the night, they do this very often.

They punch holes into the pipeline. They siphon off the fuel, and most of the time we wouldn't have -- we wouldn't learn of these incidents up until it becomes this bad or, you know, when someone lights a cigarette and then literally incinerates hundreds of people in this case. So it's a very common occurrence not just in Lagos, but in other areas, and, you know, the fact that most of these pipelines are over ground, it makes even worse -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And so much pipeline to try to protect just not possible.

Now, this is different, you say, than the other news we've seen coming out of Nigeria in recent weeks about militants that have been targeting the oil industry.

KOINANGE: That's right. Those militants have been mostly in the south of Nigeria, in the crude-producing areas where all the multinationals are located. What they do is they -- they attack actual flow stations or oil rigs where the crude oil is, which is very different from what these vandals are doing. They were literally trying to get refined fuel or petrol, if you will, and resell it onto the local market -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Jeff Koinange on the phone live from Nigeria.

Thank you, with the latest on that pipeline explosion.

We'll have more pictures and more information as those become available and come in.

Meanwhile, we're going to stay in Africa. A child's nightmare, a war that uses children as weapons. You're going to meet a woman who escaped that, has come here to the U.S. to try to shine light on the plight of these children coming up on CNN LIVE TODAY.

Also, elementary school students touched the life of a soldier based in Iraq. Then came their big surprise. We'll tell you what happened on LIVE TODAY.

But first, another opinion from the editorial pages of America's newspapers. They're reacting to the news of your phone records being monitored by the NSA.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Well, excuse the view of back end first, but we wanted to show you this. This is the Space Shuttle Discovery. It is being rolled out of its garage and into the vehicle assembly building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It's happening today.

NASA preparing for the shuttle program's return to space in July. There was an investigation and a fuel tank redesigned. The Discovery was launched into space last summer, but it was grounded again after foam broke off from a new tank.

This window is running for the next launch from July 1st to the 19th. The readiness review is set for mid-June.

Look at Discovery right there.

Scores are down, fatigue up. Any connection with that?

The College Board says SAT scores for the incoming freshmen class took a tumble. The drop amounted to four or five points on the combined math and reading sections. That's not much, but it does stick out because of changes in the test, including the new writing section.

The exam takes almost four hours to complete now. Up 45 minutes from the old test. Some blame fatigue for the decline.

Now the College Board is considering another change, whether students should be allowed to take the exam one section at a time.

Sounds good.

Mother's Day is this Sunday. If you have a whole lot of money to spend, how about buying mommy a new ride? Survey says, she would like a new car.

Stefanie Elam joins us from the New York Stock Exchange with the scoop.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

Well, you can go ahead and sink your teeth into this, 70 pounds of steak -- oh yes -- 15 pounds of onions, three gallons of pickles and peppers, five gallons of sauce and a lot of bread. What do you have? Well, you have a big sandwich.

It was made by a restaurant in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The sandwich, 75 feet long, has marked the restaurant's 75th year in business.

Congratulations to them.

Which brings us to the subject of flossing. The British may have the Magna Carta, Shakespeare, and Big Ben, but they also have some bad teeth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE MYERS, ACTOR, "AUSTIN POWERS": A saucer of milk, table two.

ELIZABETH HURLEY, ACTRESS, "AUSTIN POWER": Did you use protection?

MYERS: Of course. I have a .9-millimeter automatic. Let me ask you a question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Austin Powers could be the poster boy for yellow enamel. We may have discovered why teeth are such a trauma for the Brits.

A dental group asked what they use to get food from between their teeth. About -- oh, my goodness. Look at this. About two-thirds use things like screwdrivers, scissors, earrings, needles, paper clips, even knives. About a quarter admit they don't floss at all. They just leave the food stuck in their teeth.

Lovely.

The man who heads this British dental group has this classic quip. He says, "Clearly, people really need to be educated on the importance of flossing." Yes, that would be the understatement of the day.

From Britain to Havana, it is all the rage in Cuba, a soap opera that tackles a taboo subject. We're going to tune in as Cuba comes out on LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: A couple of developing stories we're following for you here at CNN.

First to Lagos, Nigeria, where there's been a huge pipeline oil explosion. As many as 200 people were killed. This is word apparently that people were trying to steal some of the fuel, and an accident took place. And a huge explosion instantly incinerating a number of people standing by that pipeline.

Also, to Florida, to the Kennedy Space Center. That's the backend of the Space Shuttle Discovery.

(INSERT 11:00)

KAGAN: That's the back end of the Space Shuttle Discovery. It's coming out of its garage, so to speak, and it's heading for the vehicle-assembly building, preparing for a launch that could be taking place at the beginning part of July. We'll watch that as it makes its move across Kennedy Space Center.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: How about a grolar bear or maybe a pizzly. This, what you're looking at is the first documented cross between a grizzly and a polar bear in the wild.

CHAD MEYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: At least it was.

KAGAN: It was. Unfortunately shot by an American hunter in Canada's northwest territories. It has white fur, speckled with brown and the hump of a grizzly. Apparently grizzlies and polar bears have mated successfully in zoos, but this is the first time a DNA test confirms a polar/grizzly offspring.

MEYERS: Everybody's getting into the hybrid business anyway.

KAGAN: I guess, yes, hybrids are popular.

MEYERS: Hybrids are in.

KAGAN: There you go. May the polar bear/grizzly bear rest in peace.

Thank you.

On to a very serious subject just ahead, child soldiers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're brutal. They've been trained. They know how to fight. They've been brainwashed. They can kill. They can do awful things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Uganda's children forced on the front lines of a bloody war. I'll talk with a filmmaker and survivor, coming up on CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Breaking news out of Tennessee. Carol Lin has details -- Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Daryn, there is an FBI manhunt going on right now for a 47-year-old man accused of shooting to death a sheriff's deputy. This is happening about 35 miles away from Knoxville, Tennessee. Leon Houston is described as armed and dangerous. He may have semiautomatic weapons, even night goggles. Apparently this attack on this deputy and a friend of the deputy's, who was along for a ride-along, were attacked close to where the suspects live. Rocky Houston, one of the brothers i, already in custody. And the manhunt is for 47-year-old Leon Houston.

Daryn, very unusual history with these two brothers. Apparently they have filed several lawsuits in federal court in the last several years, alleging government conspiracy to stop them from exposing some kind of corruption, so a strange story and, unfortunately, a sheriff's deputy dead today.

KAGAN: All right, Carol, thank you. More on that as it becomes available to us here at CNN. Thank you.

Now a story that if you care about children, you can not turn away from your television.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are seeking out children who are going to be the most moldable and the most easy to brainwash essentially into being a soldier. And in that regard, the child of eight to 14 years is the perfect candidate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: And now a story that if we didn't have the pictures and eyewitness accounts, you might not be able to believe it. Children ordered to kill or be killed, girls forced to become wives, boys compelled to become soldiers. That horror is the life for thousands of children in Uganda. They are weapons used by the Lord's (ph) Resistance Army and its 20-year war against the government. The U.N. calls it the world's largest forgotten war. Officials say 1.5 million people are displaced, and more than 900 people die each week. And children, children are on the front lines, rebels kidnapping the kids from their beds and forcing them into battle. For safety, the youngsters sleep together in packs, and they're known now as the invisible children.

Grace Akallo herself lived this nightmare. She joins me from Charlottesville, Virginia. And Bob Bailey traveled to Africa to make a documentary about the invisible children. He joins me live from San Diego.

Good morning to both of you, and thank you for being here to tell your stories.

BOB BAILEY, FILMMAKER, "INVISIBLE CHILDREN": Thank you. Good morning.

KAGAN: Grace, I'm going to go ahead and talk to you. If I had two hours live on the air, I don't think we could get into everything that you've been through. But tell us briefly your story. You were a teenager away at a boarding school when you were kidnapped.

GRACE AKALLO, UGANDAN REFUGEE: Yes.

KAGAN: And how were you taken?

AKALLO: The rebels came into the dormitory, and they broke the dormitory, they broke the windows and they broke the doors, and then they collected all the girls and pushed them out of the dormitory. And after tying them all together and then after walking the whole night, there's a nun. She's called Sister Akilo (ph). She followed us, and then she pleaded and rescued 109 girls, because there were 139 girls taken. So pleaded and rescued 109. Then 30 were retained by the rebels.

KAGAN: And you were one of those 30?

AKALLO: Yes.

KAGAN: And through those seven months, tell us a little bit of the horrors that you had to go through and had to withstand.

AKALLO: From the very time that they abducted us, first in Uganda we had to walk and follow the rebels from every place they went for a month. And then later on we were taken into Sudan. That's Arul (ph) camp. So in Arul they trained us to fight, and then they divided us to be men to be...

KAGAN: So you were assigned to a man, or to different men. Were you beaten in that time?

AKALLO: Yes, they started beating us from Uganda. After one week, one girl tried to escape, and she was 12 years old, and all the (INAUDIBLE) girls were told to beat this girl, and she died, and then after that we were beaten like 100 strokes each person.

KAGAN: And when you at any time forced to kill yourself?

AKALLO: This -- sorry. This was the first time that we were forced to kill is this girl here, who tried to escape. We were told to beat her to death. But all of us were scared, and they, the rebels themself, hit this girl to death, but then we were told to beat her and step on her. And then after that, they killed the family because -- the family that the girl tried to escape. They killed them. The man and the wife, and the wife was pregnant.

KAGAN: And so they take these children's minds, they take you, and I guess you come to believe that unless you kill and do exactly what they say, that you will be killed yourself?

AKALLO: Yes.

KAGAN: How, after seven months, did you become free?

AKALLO: After seven -- like after we went to Sudan, we were trained to fight, and we would go fight with the SPLA. That's the people's -- Sudan People's Liberation Army, and then attack the people in Sudan, the civilians in Sudan, but then after like being like that in Sudan and there's a lot of hunger, a lot of death, people -- this is -- everything like -- when you survive, you survive by God's grace. So after seven months, the people -- the Sudan People's Liberation Army and then the Ugandan soldiers attacked the camp I was in, and I wanted to run away. I stayed in the bush for three days, and then the Peoples Liberation Army Sudan got me, and then they handed me over to the Ugandan army. That's how I managed to escape.

KAGAN: Absolutely amazing. As I said off the top, there's no way to do your story justice in the short amount of time that we have, so I don't want to be disrespectful to your story. I am fascinated, however, on how you end up here in the U.S. and what is your mission is here, do you believe?

AKALLO: Well, I came to the U.S. in August to school, because the students went to Uganda to my college, Uganda Christian University, and so I interacted with them, and then they came from Garden (ph) College. I interacted with them, and I applied to Garden College, and they gave me a scholarship to come to Garden College. So the scholarship is tuition, and then the other is Uganda Partners. That's the Uganda Partners supporting Uganda Christian University, the ones finishing. They were the ones paying my fees before I came to the U.S.

KAGAN: Absolutely amazing. I'm going to get back to you in just a moment.

Bob, I want to bring you in here from San Diego. So you're a nice guy from San Diego. You and your buddies go to Africa thinking this is cool. We'll go make a movie, but you had no idea the story you were going to stumble upon. How did that happen?

BAILEY: We didn't even actually know where Uganda was on the map. We were going to Sudan and -- to cover the hidden holocaust going on there, and like you said, for the adventure of like traveling to Africa. And a vehicle -- we were in Uganda visiting some refugee camps, and a vehicle got bombed in front of us, and one of the members of parliament, Dan Kindega (ph) comes rushing over the hill in his car and he says, turn around, turn around, the rebels are right in front of you! And so we turn around and went the other direction. We were like rebels who? What's going on? There's a war, and that's when we found out all about these kids laying down their blankets under the verandas just so that they could escape from this rebel army.

KAGAN: I want to look at another clip from the documentary "Invisible Children."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is awful. If I tell you that when they come to attack you can't even wonder that these are children, but these are fighters, they are fighting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're brutal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're brutal. They have been trained. They know how to fight. They have been brainwashed. They can kill. They can do awful things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AKALLO: Absolutely amazing pictures and stories, so you go and you get this great story but how do you turn it into a movie?

BAILEY: Well, that's the thing. It was -- I mean just seeing it from afar, it didn't come to life to us until we had a chance to sit down with the kids, and we just talked with them for like two, three weeks and they told us how -- they asked us if Jennifer Lopez had a daughter that they could date, and we just found ourselves kind of lost in conversation with them and laughing with them.

And then all of a sudden it became a mission for us to see that their story, both their personalities and the humanness that they bring, and they have so much life, and also their story of being abducted could be brought to Americans, and so we just cut together a documentary, and we've been showing it in a grassroots effort across America.

KAGAN: Well, how interesting that your mission, somebody who grows up in San Diego, becomes the same mission as Grace Akallo from Uganda.

Grace, you're mission, not only here to go to school, but you want to get the word out about the children who remain in your home country of Uganda. I know you've been to Capitol Hill and spoken with Congressmen and senators. What kind of response did you get there, Grace?

AKALLO: Can you repeat that?

KAGAN: What kind of response did you get when you went to Washington D.C. and spoke to American lawmakers to tell your story?

AKALLO: Well, I got -- it was a good response according to me, but, you know, I believe that if something happens, if the war stops and the children stop sleeping in the verandas, walking every day, that's when I think they've responded, because for now I can't say anything about the response. They might just respond to the story because the story is hard and the story is touching, but if there's nothing they've done yet, I don't know what to say about the response.

KAGAN: So tonight, when children go to sleep in Uganda, they will have to do as you did, sleep in packs, because even tonight children still afraid that they'll be taken?

AKALLO: Yes.

KAGAN: The tragedy goes on. Thank you for sharing your story. Grace Akallo, good luck here in the U.S. with your college and university, and getting the story out and getting help for the children of Uganda. And, Bob Bailey, once again, the story, the documentary is called "Invisible Church." Thank you for your time today.

BAILEY: Thank you.

KAGAN: And for more information on how you at home can help the children of Uganda, logon to invisiblechildren.com and learn more about the story and how you can see the movie. We're back after this.

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KAGAN: Well, you don't want to get stuck behind this guy in the fast lane on the freeway, do you? No, that is the Space Shuttle Discovery slowly making its way across Kennedy Space Center live at this moment. It is headed to the vehicle assembly building, one of the largest structures in the world. Its has its own weather system it's so big inside of there.

Anyhow, once it's inside of there, it will get ready for a launch. Right now, the window for the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery somewhere between July 1st and July 19th, as we watch it slowly make its way across Kennedy Space Center.

Vegging out, we all know that kids should do it at the dinner table, but is it healthy for children to skip the meat?

Dr. Sanjay Gupta checks it out on this edition of "Fit Nation."

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Grady High School in Atlanta is joining others around the country, offering vegetarian entrees in the cafeteria. Miriam Archibong went to Grady and pushed the idea.

MIRIAM ARCHIBONG, VEGETARIAN STUDENT: I saw the morning lunch menus and the breakfast options, and the caloric intake was, like, 900 calories, the sodium was like 56 grams. It was like incredibly high.

GUPTA: Archibong went to her principal, the school board and the school's food service provider. They all agreed to adding a vegetarian offering. Dr. Theresa Rohr-Kirchgraber is an internist who works with adolescents. She says a vegetarian diet can be healthy for children, but a few things need to be addressed.

DR. THERESA ROHR-KIRCHGRABER, INTERNIST: A vegetarian diet can be very healthy for adolescents. However, part of that has to be an understanding of what proper nutrition is. Because you can be a vegetarian and have a horrible diet.

GUPTA: According to the American Dietetic Association, approximately two percent of children aged six to 17 in the United States are vegetarian. Rohr-Kirchgraber's 15-year-old son, Richard, just gave up meat. And as a parent, she says the first thing to look at is, why?

Are they comfortable with how their own body looks, or are they using their diet to influence their body shape? That's a different story than they don't want to eat meat because I love animals.

GUPTA: Rohr-Kirchgraber offers advice for parents of new vegetarians.

ROHR-KIRCHGRABER: We have to talk to them about what is a healthy diet, and that a vegetarian diet is not a bag of potato chips and a Coke for lunch. The problem usually comes about when kids not really understanding nutrition cut things out of their diet without substituting appropriate things back in, and protein is probably the biggest one.

GUPTA: Archibong is now a college student. She says she noticed a big change in her life since giving up meat.

ARCHIBONG: My skin definitely got clearer. I definitely got sick a lot less. I really don't get the colds as often as I used to, or the flus.

GUPTA: Archibong says a family history of obesity inspired her to find ways to get and stay healthy.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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KAGAN: That going to wrap up our couple of hours. I'm Daryn Kagan. Stay tuned for YOUR WORLD TODAY, and I'll be back with the latest headlines from the U.S. in about 20 minutes.

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