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Representative Foley Resigns After Internet Scandal; Marine Recruiter Convicted of Rape; Gangsters' Girlfriends Use Sex Strike to Fight Crime; Baghdad Under Lockdown

Aired September 30, 2006 - 18:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We are following a developing story. The House Republican leadership dogged by questions about former Deputy Whip Mark Foley and allegations he sent inappropriate e-mails to a teenage former page. Democrats allege at least one top GOP lawmaker knew about it for months but did nothing. The full story in just a minute.
One hundred fifty five people are reportedly dead in the crash of a passenger plane in Brazil. Officials say the airliner may have clipped a corporate jet before crashing into the Amazon jungle. More on this story in just a moment.

And more than a dozen people are dead in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan. Officials say the bomber blew himself up in a crowded alley near the interior ministry building in Kabul, it's also a busy shopping area.

An eerie quiet in Baghdad today. The streets virtually empty under a curfew imposed amid spiraling violence and a purported bomb plot against the national government compound. The curfew will be in place at least another four hours.

A highway overpass collapses near Montreal. At least five people were seriously injured and police say at least two vehicles are trapped.

And this from Israeli defense officials. They say the last Israeli forces will withdraw tomorrow from Lebanon. They fought a month-long offensive with Hezbollah guerrillas.

First this hour, the scandal the epic scandal that brought down a senior House Republican. New developments throughout the day have kept this story going. Deputy Whip Mark Foley resigned his seat yesterday with breath taking speed, but that hasn't stopped the bleeding. The ongoing problem for Republicans suggests that the House GOP leadership knew of Foley's contacts with underage pages but failed to take appropriate action. So the questions now, who knew what and when and what did they do about it? Our Dana Bash joins us you from Washington. Dana, it just seems like the story keeps growing no matter how long it has been since Foley resigned.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're right, that's absolutely right, Carol. And you know we've been getting several statements today trying to better clarify those unanswered and at times conflicting accounts of who knew what when. And we have this new statement just in from the House Speaker Dennis Hastert's office where he acknowledges that the fact that Congressman Mark Foley had a questionable e-mail exchange with a former page was brought to the attention of his office months ago. And most likely to his personal attention as well, although he maintains he doesn't recall it. Now the speaker's statement followed one by a key Hastert Deputy Congressman Tom Reynolds of New York who said he was made aware of Foley's e-mail exchange by the page's sponsor, and that sponsor was Congressman Rodney Alexander.

Now in a statement, Congressman Reynolds said, "I had not seen the e-mails in question and Mr. Alexander told me that the parents didn't want the matter pursued. I told the Speaker of the conversation Mr. Alexander had with me." Now, late last night the Speaker's chief of staff Scott Palmer told our CNN congressional producer Ted Barrett, "The Speaker did not know about the e-mails." Now Ted went on to ask when Hastert first knew about them and Palmer responded, "Some time yesterday, I would say." Now again, what the Speaker is saying now is that he simply doesn't recall being told about this matter at the time. That was some time in the spring we're told from sources. Now, the Speaker's statement again which we just got goes into great detail however about how various people on his staff were brought into the process late last year and knew that it was being investigated.

And remember, Carol, we found out last night that Republicans on the congressional page board did confront Congressman Foley about the one e-mail exchange with the former page asking him -- asking the former page for a picture of himself, and what the congressman and those on the page board told Foley is that he must cease all contacts with that former page and such conduct. Now, what the House Speaker and other leaders explicitly deny, and this is important, is any knowledge of the sexually explicit instant messages to young men that was found out about yesterday and, of course, that forced Foley's abrupt resignation. But Carol, as you can imagine, Democrats are watching all of this, sort of waiting for the facts to come out, but they're not waiting too long. Because we already are getting statements from the Democratic National Committee for example trying to pounce on this, saying for example Tom Reynolds tried to, "Cover up congressman's sex crimes." So Democrats are pouncing on this and again, we're just trying to get some more answers and sometimes the answers raise more questions.

LIN: Yeah, and names keep getting added to the list of people who might have known, might not have known. So the election is coming up in what, five weeks, Dana?

BASH: That's right, a little under.

LIN: So how is all this information going to affect these guys during the coming campaign?

BASH: Well you know it -- one of the reasons why it's a Saturday and they all thought that they were going to be going home but these Republicans have been in their offices working furiously to try to put these statements out today, is because they're trying to get the answers to these questions and trying to put this issue behind them. Because they know full well that, as you just heard, Democrats are going to try to pounce on this and use this as yet another example of the Republican-controlled Congress not in control if you will, especially on something that's so sensitive and so potentially explosive when it comes to the issue of voters, parents, and their children. So that's one issue. The other issue is, remember, they were there till very late last night, really early this morning. They were trying to make the case that they were doing some more legislative business, some big security measures did pass. I talked to several Republicans on the Hill today who were just tearing their hair out because reporters weren't asking about that, they were asking about Congressman Foley and what the leaders knew and didn't know.

LIN: You bet. Yeah. All right, so what did they know -- did anyone on the Hill really know about the explicit -- we're talking about the instant messages. There was an e-mail that may have been overly familiar but it wasn't as explicit as those instant messages where the congressman allegedly talked about disrobing this page.

BASH: Exactly. And that's an important point to make. And that's the point that Speaker Hastert makes in this statement and that other leadership aides and leaders have made over the past 24 hours or so is that, yes, they knew there was one exchange where Congressman Foley did things like ask his former page for a picture of him, but it was nothing like the very sexually explicit instant messages that we found out about late last night and they all claim that they simply did not know about that. And as soon as anybody found out about that, that's when Congressman Foley resigned.

LIN: All right Dana, I think you're going to have a busy night. I think you're going to be hearing from a lot of people. So get back with us as soon as you hear more. Appreciate it. Dana Bash, our congressional correspondent.

And we've heard a lot about interns in Washington, but we want to tell you about pages. There are about 70 different pages running errands for congressmen in Washington. They're learning what it takes to run the government. So we asked our Gary Nurenberg to find out what exactly they do.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The congressional page program begun in 1829 was reformed in 1983 after two congressmen were censured for sexual misconduct involving boy and girl pages.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have not yet apologized to my colleagues in this body for the shame I brought down on this institution.

NURENBERG: Pages were moved from apartments and private homes to a new dormitory on Capitol Hill where boys and girls live on separate floors and are under constant supervision.

LUKE MOSES, FORMER PAGE: You have to go through a metal detector to get into your dorm every day. You are only allowed out with a buddy. NURENBERG: That supervision continues when the pages do their work in the capitol, running errands and delivering messages for representatives.

KARA FRANK, FORMER PAGE: There are definitely people on the House floor, especially in the cloakroom that definitely overlooked the interactions between congressmen and congresswomen and pages. They were sort of there to make sure that no lines were crossed.

NURENBERG: Kara Frank was a page in 1999, away from home for the first time, admittedly naive.

FRANK: I definitely think that more precautions should be taken and things should be monitored because you know you are a minor and you're 16, you know, you're still a kid.

NURENBERG: It's hard work. The pages are up at 5:30 every morning, go to school in the Library of Congress and then move to the capitol to help representatives with seemingly endless tasks. In 2002 for example, paying attention to the Australian prime minister when he addressed a joint session of Congress.

MOSES: Like half the members were there. So they let the pages sit in the seats to try to fill up the seats on camera.

NURENBERG: Luke Moses loved his time with Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.

MOSES: She was very kind to me. We remain close today. She took me to briefings and lunches.

NURENBERG: And not unusual for a mentor/student relationship, he says, they remain in e-mail contact. He says the program gave him an appreciation of Congress that other former pages share.

FRANK: It really is the basis of, you know, how this country began and how it's continuing to grow, and I just think there's something really special about that.

NURENBERG: Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Washington.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: We've been keeping you up to date on the latest developments in the Mark Foley investigation. So coming up tonight at 10:00 eastern, will there be any legal fallout? And if he's charged, what type of punishment would Foley face? We're going to dig deeper to bring you those answers tonight at 10:00.

Now, to Brazil where rescuers have reached the wreckage of a crashed Brazilian airliner. They've reportedly found no survivors. One hundred fifty-five people were on board the Gol Airlines jet when it went down in the Amazon jungle yesterday. And now there is new information about what caused the crash. So joining us on the telephone with the very latest CNN's Tom Hennigan who is in Sao Paulo. Tom what is the latest information on what may have caused it? TOM HENNIGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well one of the main theories they are working on is that the Gol Boeing 737 was involved in a midair collision with a Legacy corporate jet. We do know that a Legacy corporate jet flying from the state of Sao Paulo via the jungle city of (INAUDIBLE) to the United States where it was being delivered to its new owner made an emergency landing on a Brazilian air force base and officers that interviewed the pilot of that plane stated the pilot said that a large shadow came out of nowhere, clipped his plane, damaging his wing and forcing him into an emergency landing. And one of the theories that they're looking at that large shadow was the Gol jet. The question though is whether the Gol jet was in difficulties before it clipped that jet or got into difficulties because of that midair collision.

LIN: So Tom, were they in flight? I mean they were in flight, it wasn't on takeoff or landing?

HENNIGAN: No, this was in flight. The Gol jet was when it was last on radar at 36,000 feet. But this is an extremely rare midair collision if that collision is confirmed as having been between the Legacy corporate jet and the Gol.

LIN: So the corporate jet passengers landed safely though, right, in this emergency landing?

HENNIGAN: They all landed safely.

LIN: And the Gol Air though, we heard earlier, can you confirm this for us. That that plane after that impact went straight down, I mean virtually nose down, went vertical and went into the jungle.

HENNIGAN: We have one report of an eyewitness. A worker on a nearby farm that was about 30 kilometers away from the impact site saying that he saw a large plane making irregular movements flying very fast and very low. That's the only eyewitness account that we have. And then the crews that have got to the crash site say that it looks like it was a major impact when they got there. That the president of the Brazilian Airport Authority which is linked to defense ministry and coordinating the search and rescue says there are going to be no survivors from the crash.

LIN: They're so certain of that. So when they -- give us an idea of the recovery mission then and how difficult it may be being in the Amazon jungle.

HENNIGAN: It is extremely difficult. Even after they reached the location, helicopters reached the location of the crash, which is in the middle of a huge sea of rain forest, they had difficulty getting men down, they had to get men down on rope ladders and then they had to try and clear a landing spot to get the rescue helicopters in to start doing the recovery phase of the operation, extraordinarily difficult work. We have one report that it's been called it off. It is now dark in the rain forest, they have called it off, there's no lights and they would rather do the rescue -- return to rescue work in the morning. LIN: CNN's Tom Hennigan, appreciate the update there as we are tracking this developing story tonight. Just agonizing to see those pictures of families waiting to get any kind of word. Well, coming up a wounded veteran goes on the offensive and puts President Bush on the defense. The war of words over the war in Iraq.

And is Donald Rumsfeld a bully? Well we're going to take you inside the walls of the Pentagon to find out if his management style is keeping other military men from expressing their opinions.

And she wanted to be in the marines. Instead her recruiter betrayed her trust and innocence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a lot of guilt. I handed her to him. I signed permission slips for her to go with him. I thought she was safe.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: That is the mother of a 16-year-old girl who was raped. Her shocking story plus a look at how and why military recruiters have all that access to your children while in school. You're in the NEWSROOM, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: President Bush used his weekly radio address to again defend himself over his handling of the Iraq war. It's another point of contention between Democrats and the Bush administration. CNN's White House correspondent Elaine Quijano is live with the very latest. Elaine?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Carol. That's right, President Bush is once again vigorously defending his Iraq policy just one week after portions of that National Intelligence Estimate were leaked to the media. Now Democrats have been using portions of that NIE to bolster their argument that the Bush administration has mismanaged the Iraq war and the larger war on terrorism. Well today in his weekly radio address, the president pushed back against his critics reiterating that the terrorist threat existed well before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Some in Washington have selectively quoted from this document to make the case that by fighting the terrorists in Iraq we are making our people less secure here at home. This argument buys into the enemy's propaganda that the terrorists attack us because we are provoking them. We do not create terrorism by fighting terrorism. The terrorists are at war against us because they hate everything America stands for. And because they know we stand in the way of their ambitions to take over the Middle East.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: With just five weeks until congressional midterm elections, Democrats chose an Iraq war veteran to deliver their radio address. Illinois congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth lost both her legs when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the helicopter she was piloting north of Baghdad. In her address, she said that members of the Republican-led Congress have been unwilling to provide adequate oversight of the Bush administration. And she took on President Bush's statement earlier this week when he called the Democratic Party the party of cut and run. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAMMY DUCKWORTH, (D) ILLINOIS: Anyone who challenges our failed policies or suggests the need for a new strategy is accused of cutting and running. Well, I didn't cut and run Mr. President. Like so many others I proudly fought and sacrificed. My helicopter was shot down long after you proclaimed mission accomplished. And I believed that brave men and women who are serving in Iraq today, their families and the American people deserve more than the same empty slogans and political name calling. They know what we're doing isn't working and that it is time to change course.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now also today the White House issued a document entitled "Five Key Myths in Bob Woodward's Book". An effort to push back as well against some of the assertions outlined in his book "State of Denial." Carol?

LIN: All right, Elaine Quijano, live at the White House. Thank you. And now, more on the fight for Iraq which begins with securing Baghdad. It is eerily quiet, you might say there right now. A stiff citywide curfew is in effect this weekend, coinciding with the curfew revelations of a major bombing plot that was broken up by the coalition. CNN's Arwa Damon has the very latest from the Iraqi capital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The announcement came pretty much as a surprise to everyone. It came very late Friday night on state- owned al Iraqia television, the Iraqi government announcing both a vehicle and pedestrian ban that went into effect at 11:00 p.m. on Friday to last until 6:00 a.m. on Sunday. The government did however lift the ban for a few hours Saturday evening to allow worshipers to go to the mosque to pray. This is the holy month of Ramadan. The U.S. military said that it did advise the Iraqi government to put a curfew into place. However, it was the Iraqi government's decision to then act upon that. They say that it is because in the last two weeks we have seen an increase in attacks and especially in the last week an increase in suicide attacks.

All of this is part of an effort to bring the violence, especially in the capital, Baghdad, under control. Meanwhile, the U.S. military has announced that it foiled a major terror plot that involved multiple suicide car bombings as well as possibly suicide deaths against Baghdad's international zone. They say that they detained a suspect, a man believed to be part of this terror cell that was going to be carrying out this attack at the residence of Adnan al Dulamey(ph), a prominent Sunni politician here. He was one of Mr. Dulamey's(ph) bodyguards. However, the U.S. military said that Mr. Dulamey was not involved in this attack, that he was not the target of the operation. Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: This year we're inviting Americans of all political stripes to express themselves. And here is a great place to do it. Our election express, parked as we speak at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds. Now yesterday we asked San Franciscans to sound off on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I personally think he's doing fine but I'm not in the position to evaluate. You know, other people spend hours researching that kind of stuff. I don't pretend to have that knowledge, so.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your gut feeling?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My gut feeling is that it is fine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think for the most part he's doing the best job that he can with the conditions that he has.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel that a lot of the decisions that they have made have been pretty risky to the American -- just way of life and I would like to see a change.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Love him or hate him, there is no doubt Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has a pivotal role in the war on terror. This weekend "CNN PRESENTS" goes behind the tough exterior to reveal the man and his mission, plus his critical miscalculation in Iraq. Up next, up close and personal with Donald Rumsfeld, "Man of War."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Well, he's gruff, no nonsense and he certainly speaks his mind. Love him or hate him, Donald Rumsfeld has played a key role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now CNN is taking a special look at the defense secretary with an hour-long special this weekend "Donald Rumsfeld: Man of War." Here's special correspondent Frank Sesno.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK SESNO, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Take out Saddam Hussein and his military, while preventing him from using the weapons of mass destruction we're told he has. Do it while preserving Iraq's infrastructure and securing its oil fields. Do it all faster and with fewer troops than anyone, especially Saddam, thought possible. That was Donald Rumsfeld's challenge. He'd win the battle, but winning the peace would be another matter. So what happened? How did we get here? Insurgency and sectarian bloodletting have brought Iraq to the edge of civil war. Critics say the problem began with a war plan that, looking back, was fatally flawed. Former General John Batiste commanded the first infantry division, the army's famed big red one.

MAJ. GEN. JOHN BATISTE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): We did not have a campaign plan beyond the day when we took down Saddam Hussein to win in Iraq.

SESNO: Rumsfeld's plan was to follow the same model that had been established and was working in Afghanistan. Reducing troop strength fast was part of the plan from the beginning. Heated debate over troop strength had been going on behind the scenes. Less than one month before the war began it burst into public view. Army chief of staff General Eric Shinsecky(ph) testified before Congress that post war Iraq would need far more troops than the Pentagon was then advertising.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something on the order of several hundred thousand.

SESNO: It was a direct contradiction of Rumsfeld and his team. According to generals who were there, Shinsecky (ph) was taken to the wood shed and marginalized. Word quickly spread.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got the message.

SESNO: Which was?

MAJ. GEN. PAUL EATON, U.S. ARMY (RET.): If you speak up and give your best advice and it's counter to what is coming out of the third deck you're in, then you are going to have a problem.

SESNO: A lot of the rap, TV, books, articles, you've read all these things, is that he wants to be surrounded by yes men.

EATON: Absolutely.

SESNO: That would make you one of those yes men?

EATON: That's an absolute fallacy. He wants people to push back.

SESNO: But anyone who has been in the room with Rumsfeld will tell you, you can take him on, but you better be prepared. It's a demanding management style that can be intimidating even for people who have been to war. But it's a style that carries risks.

MAJ. GEN. JOHN RIGGS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): If you press the military like the generals, so hard, they will eventually say, yes sir Mr. Secretary, three bags full, we'll take what you've given us and we'll do the best that we can with it.

SESNO: I put the issue directly to the secretary. Somebody come in and slam the desk and say you're wrong. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You bet.

SESNO: And you say?

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I say why? Explain it. Make your case. Let's hear it. And I say talk about it, tell me about it, and we've ended up adjusting or changing or calibrating.

SESNO: But Rumsfeld's ability to adjust to change, to calibrate, would be tested. If you were told you were going to greeted as liberator.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's absolutely true.

SESNO: So you didn't plan for insurgency?

GEN. JACK KEANE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): That's true.

SESNO: How do we --

KEANE: And we're dead wrong.

LIN: And that was a fascinating view of what was happening in the mind-set leading up to the war. Do you have a sense that Secretary Rumsfeld has the capacity to see his own flaws, to have that perspective on himself?

SESNO: He is a very, very, very self-confident guy. And I think to really understand Rumsfeld and figure out whether he looks for or sees his own flaws, you have to kind of understand that all his life he's been successful, a leader, sort of head of the parade. And he's a wrestler. And so he's always looking to maneuver and to jockey for position and to take somebody down or to anticipate the next step. You know, he says he's a listener. A lot of the people around him who have worked with him do say he's a listener, that he elicits debate and that he's open to change. However his critics, the people who have had run-ins with him and there are many of them say that is not the case.

LIN: Did he ever tell that you he made a mistake with the Iraq war?

SESNO: No, certainly not in so many words and I've never seen in all the interviews and discussions I've seen him in the middle of, him admitting such a thing. I don't think he will. The closest he came in our discussion was to say that it was not understood or it was not appreciated the strength of the insurgency. I noticed passive voice there, he didn't say "I" but clearly he's a part of that. And he said, interestingly, that he had been asking the questions. He cites a memo that the Pentagon has never released and won't because it's classified they say, in which he laid out 35 worst case scenarios, what if scenarios going into Iraq. One of them is resistance and insurgency.

So it was on their radar. The question becomes, when it really erupted in late summer of 2003, why didn't they adjust? Why didn't he adjust more quickly? There's no good answer for that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This demanding style that he has, is it counterproductive to the war on terror?

SESNO: I think sometimes it's counterproductive to the war on terror in any environment. That's his management style. He asks questions, he's going to challenge you. Question, question, question. What did you know? When did you get it? Where are your numbers from?

And that can be intimidating. And a lot of the generals, his critics, the generals who say, you know, he didn't listen, he squashed dissent, and intimidated them, say this has been very detrimental because he froze out, intellectually and literally, some of the war fighters, people who knew how to do this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And CNN is just also beginning to get a pulse on what the American public thinks of this man. For example, a poll that came out on Thursday asked people, do you think Donald Rumsfeld should resign. Forty-seven percent of those surveyed said yes. Nearly half.

SESNO: But half said no. And I think that's very interesting too, because this war is very polarizing, as is he. And I think what should not be forgotten when looking at Rumsfeld and the public response to all this, is that he and this whole place where we are right now are framed by 9/11, framed by the terrorist experience. People understand that there's a very, big stake out there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You think the president stands by him?

SESNO: This president absolutely stands by him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Abu Ghraib? The insurgency?

SESNO: Yes, through thick and thin so far. Remember, Rumsfeld hired Dick Cheney when Rumsfeld was in the Nixon administration. The ties run very deep. Loyalty really matters. That's not to say that Rumsfeld will keep his job through the administration.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Fascinating. Catch the CNN Presents special "Donald Rumsfeld: Man of War" tonight and Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

And on Monday night at 9:00 Eastern, reporter Bob Woodward drops some shocking new allegations about the war in Iraq and the White House. That's on "LARRY KING LIVE" right here on CNN.

Now, coming up, military recruiters, are they a danger to new recruits? This young woman says hers definitely was. How your tax dollars helped to place her recruiter turned molester right in the halls of her high school.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LIN: It is a mother's worst nightmare, trusting a person of authority, in this case, a military recruiter, with her daughter's safety, and then seeing her child taken advantage of in the worst way. And there's much more. A joint investigation between "ANDERSON COOPER 360" and the Associated Press. They discovered that what happened to this teenage girl isn't an isolated case. Randi Kaye has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shedrick Hamilton was a Marine sergeant, a popular and respected recruiter.

JILL GIUNTA, RAPE SURVIVOR: He had that uniform on, and everybody trusted him.

KAYE: Yet, he had a terrible secret.

TRISH GIUNTA, JILL'S MOTHER: I had no idea. I didn't ever think anything happened. I vouched for this man when my husband questioned why, why was he calling all the time? It's Hamilton. Everybody -- the kids loved him.

KAYE: Especially Trish Giunta's daughter, Jill, until ...

J. GIUNTA: He threw me in the back of the car. And, you know, again, like, I kept saying, no, like, you know what I mean? I didn't want to do it.

KAYE: Sergeant Shedrick Hamilton first raped Jill Giunta on Valentine's Day nearly three years ago. She was just 16 years old. Sergeant Hamilton was 34, married, with two children.

T. GIUNTA: I woke her to go with him.

KAYE (on camera): As a mother, do you feel -- am I seeing guilt? Is that what that is?

T. GIUNTA: There's a lot of guilt. I handed her to him. I signed permission slips for her to go with him. I thought she was safe.

KAYE (voice-over): The sergeant drove Jill to Marine Corps physical training, a program to involve kids in the Marines in hopes they will join. Nearly every week, he picked up Jill at her home in his government car and drove her to this New York recruiting center, until, one day, he made a sharp turn down this deserted road, not even a mile from Jill's home.

J. GIUNTA: He just started doing what he wanted to do. And, you know, I would just, like, sit there and just, like, you know, look off. And tears would just come down my face and stuff like that, and he just would finish up what he wanted to do.

KAYE (on camera): Help me understand why, after the first incident, or even the second incident, why didn't you run home and say, Mom, help me. This guy is attacking me? J. GIUNTA: He kept making sure that I knew, and he would repeatedly tell me that nobody would find out about this, nobody would believe me.

KAYE (voice-over): As disturbing as it is, Jill's story is not unique. An investigation by the Associated Press found last year at least 35 Army recruiters, 18 Marine Corps recruiters, 18 Navy recruiters and 12 Air Force recruiters were disciplined for sexual misconduct or other inappropriate behavior with potential enlistees.

MARTHA MENDOZA, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: In 2005, 80 recruiters were disciplined for sexual misconduct, with more than 100 victims.

KAYE: A.P. Reporter Martha Mendoza found across all services one out of 200 recruiters, those who deal directly with young people, was disciplined for sexual misconduct. The abuse ranged from inappropriate touching to rape.

In Pennsylvania, an Army recruiter pleaded guilty to having sex with a 14-year-old girl. In Wisconsin, a Marine Corps recruiter was recently charged with sexual assault and false imprisonment of a potential female enlistee. He has pleaded not guilty.

In Indiana, a National Guard recruiter was indicted for allegedly assaulting eight different potential recruits outside schools, in cars, and in recruiting stations. He's out on bail, pending trial.

(on camera): Why are there so many cases of sexual misconduct among recruiters? Remember, the No Child Left Behind Act was passed in 2001, in part to help grow the military's ranks.

No Child Left Behind guarantees schools federal funding, as long as they grant recruiters access to students on campus. Unlike the rest of us, who have to show ID, recruiters can walk right in, no questions asked.

J. GIUNTA: I would be sitting in class and then my teacher is like, tapping me on my shoulder saying that -- to go outside the classroom, that somebody needs to speak to me and it was him.

KAYE (voice-over): No Child Left Behind also mandates recruiters be provided with students' home phone numbers and addresses.

J. GIUNTA: I definitely feel like he was stalking me. There were times where he would call the house, and he would tell me to look out my bedroom window. And he would be sitting in the government van right on the corner of the street.

SHEDRICK HAMILTON, FMR. RECRUITER, CONVICTED RAPIST: I'm sorry.

KAYE: Shedrick Hamilton pleaded guilty. He was convicted of rape and endangering the welfare of a child and sentenced to prison. At sentencing, the judge called Hamilton a "child molester" and a "disgrace to his country and his uniform."

Sergeant Hamilton spoke with the Associated Press from jail. HAMILTON: I ended up putting myself into a position to where I sought out comfort in a young lady that I shouldn't have done. I allowed myself to get caught up into the wrong situation at the wrong time and I have no one to blame but myself.

KAYE: The Department of Defense declined our request for an on- camera interview, but issued this statement to CNN. "All military recruiters are briefed in regard to the conduct and ethics required of them and receive training. The Department of Defense has zero tolerance for misconduct by military recruiters."

The Pentagon says it is now monitoring its recruiters and will evaluate whether it needs to change its policy. But that comes only in response to the A.P. report and a Congressional Accountability Office study which found the DOD does not track all allegations of recruiter wrongdoing.

In January, having served two years for rape, Shedrick Hamilton is expected to be released.

T. GIUNTA: This is my child. He hurt my child. So, I'm going to watch him.

KAYE: Jill Giunta, now 19, has decided not to join the military, but to go to college and become a police officer instead. And she's made a promise to herself, when she puts on that police uniform, never to abuse her authority.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Monroe, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: You can catch more investigative reports from Randi Kaye on CNN's "ANDERSON COOPER 360," weeknights, 10:00 Eastern.

So, is it enough for the military to better scrutinize its recruiters? Or is the bigger problem the No Child Left Behind Act, which gives the U.S. military such open access to schools? Well joining me now, a mother who was outraged enough to become a lobbyist of sorts for the cause.

Megan Matson is the co-founder of Leave My Child Alone. Megan, you're actually working on a specific legislation, right, that would allow parents, I guess, more latitude and more information.

MEGAN MATSON, FOUNDER, "LEAVE MY CHILD ALONE": We are. I was surprised to learn that No Child Left Behind actually requires high schools to turn over this information.

LIN: Personal information like phone numbers, addresses, right?

MATSON: Yes. And once we launched the Leave My Child Alone campaign to build parent awareness about this, we started hearing from parents all over the country about recruiters having conversations with their kids on the cell phone or visiting the home, and it just felt intrusive to me and like a place that the family should be involved. And to have this, a pretty sneaky part of No Child Left Behind, made no sense. So we are working on legislation where in California, at least, this information would be made very clear to parents on the emergency information card in their school, and they would be able to opt out and keep a hold of that information.

LIN: Right, because I wouldn't even know that I would have to opt out. I mean, I would just assume that the school would not release my child's phone number or address to somebody, regardless. Now, I want to read back to you a statement by the Department of Education in trying to address this question. This is from Katherine Mclane, Press Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. She writes, "Parents are the ultimate decision makers about their children's contact information. The law gives military recruiters the same access to student contact information that college recruiters and potential employers have. Because the No Child Left Behind Act was really about making sure that every child had every opportunity to succeed." What's your reaction?

MATSON: Well I guess my reaction is we need to know that that's happening. I mean, when you have to sign a form to have a school photographer get information to your kids, you should know that information is being handed over to recruiters. And I would argue that it's a different situation than with a college recruiter because there are bounties, if you will, associated with recruits. There are monthly quotas. There is extremely sophisticated sales training and recruiting and a $4 billion recruiting budget. So I think what you're up against there is a little more high stakes.

LIN: So how aggressive, how far did you see or hear that these recruiters would go?

MATSON: I think it varies. We, of course, heard from people who are the most outraged, spoke to a mother in Montana and the recruiter had convinced her 17-year-old daughter to sign all the paperwork as a favor to the family. So that she would fund a college education. I feel like that is a conversation that a family should have before this pretty serious paperwork is signed. I have spoken to countless families who are unable to get the calls at home to stop. And the recruiters do insist on speaking to the child and won't take no for an answer from the parent. And frequently won't take no for an answer from the child. And I understand it's part of the system. They have a quota they've got to meet every month. If they're not making these calls, they're not doing their job, but a family should be able to cut it off.

LIN: Yes, I mean, you have the right to tell a tele-marketer put me on your do not call list. They should be able to do that with the military recruiters.

MATSON: It ends up being pretty difficult at the local level.

LIN: It sure seems like it. Megan Matson, thank you very much, with Leave My Child Alone.

MATSON: Thank you so much. LIN: Now, it's not your typical strike and the guys aren't too happy about it. Coming up, why these women are vowing to keep their legs crossed and whether or not it's really working.

And later, an implosion down south. The pictures are great.

Also, a lost poem from Robert Frost. Details coming up. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: The message is do something or get nothing. In a Colombian city notorious for drug trafficking and violent crime, a program to persuade young gangsters to hand over guns is getting help from an unexpected source. Some wives and girlfriends have gone on a sex strike. Here's CNN's Karl Penhaul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You can look, but you can't touch. These girls are on strike. No more sex for their Colombian gangster boyfriends until they give up their lives of crime. Eighteen-year-old Marjuri lives with toting a mini uzi.

MARJURI, GIRLFRIEND OF GANG MEMBER (through translator): I told him there's a group of girls who are keeping their legs closed until their boyfriends change and I'm thinking of joining them. He laughed, but then I told him I was serious.

PENHAUL: That conversation was three weeks ago and since then, she says, she's given her man no affection.

MARJURI (translated): It's been a little difficult for me but I think it's more difficult for a guy because sex is everything to them.

PENHAUL: Local D.J.s have busted a rhyme to promote the strike. "Close your legs, sex strike against violence, " it goes.

Pereira is one of Columbia's most violent cities. There were 550 murders here last year. It's the command H.Q. for the country's most ruthless drug cartel. Authorities say cocaine bosses hire gang members from poor neighborhoods, and when youngsters like Carlos Andre aren't doing the mob's bidding, they're involved in robberies, and vicious turf wars.

CARLOS ANDRE, GANG MEMBER (translated): This is an absurd war between gangs, between us here and another gang over there, and another over there. All for territory and power.

PENHAUL: He says the sex strike hasn't been very effective so far.

ANDRE (translated): Many of the girls around here like us because we're packing a gun. What good is having a woman around not having sex with her? PENHAUL: That's the kind of frustration Marjuri and friend Almeida (ph) are counting on. They say at least 23 other women have joined the strike, and they hope it will spread.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, Pereida, Colombia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: A lost Robert Frost poem discovered after many decades. That's next in "Across America".

And at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, "THIS WEEK AT WAR". Are Afghanistan and Pakistan allies or enemies in the war on terror? CNN correspondents give their take on that and the war in Iraq.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Other news across America now.

A tearful memorial service in Bailey, Colorado, about six hours ago. It was for slain high school student Emily Keyes. The 16 year old was killed Wednesday by a gunman. He stormed her school and later killed himself after a standoff with police.

And remember Brian Nichols? He's the man accused of killing four people in the Atlanta Courthouse rampage. Well, now prosecutors say he called a woman he's accused of raping and tried to intimidate her from jail. They say he also got his hands on a cell phone and may have been plotting and escape.

Recipients of the Medal of Honor were guests of honor today on board the U.S. Constitution. They took part in a flag presentation and the annual turnaround ceremony. Old Ironsides is turned around once a year at the Boston Navy Yard.

Going, going gone. Crews leveled a 12 story office building in Atlanta early this morning. The building, not yet 50 years old, was imploded to make room for a new one. The site is near Atlanta's famed Fox Theater, once threatened with demolition itself.

And newly found words from an old master. A unknown poem from Robert Frost has been discovered 88 years after it was hand-written in the front of a book. The 35 line poem is called "War Thoughts at Home". It's dated 1918 and was apparently inspired by the death of a fellow poet in World War I.

Well, there's lots more ahead on CNN tonight. Up next at 7:00 Eastern, "THIS WEEK AT WAR". And at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, catch the CNN Presents special, "DONALD RUMSFELD: MAN OF WAR", tonight and Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN. And at 10:00 p.m., I'm going to be talking with Kendall Coffey on the legal ramifications for Representative Foley, should he be charged. Kendall used to be a federal prosecutor. A check of the hour's headlines next, and then "THIS WEEK AT WAR". TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com