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Anti War Protestors at Pentagon; Is Homosexuality Genetic?; CIA Leak Case

Aired March 17, 2007 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Out of Iraq, that's the chance from thousands of anti war protestors today as they march on the Pentagon. We'll take you there live. Also, are babies born gay? And if so, can homosexuality be reversed in the womb and why? The controversy, coming up.
Hello I'm Fredricka Whitfield you're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Our top story at this hour, frayed nerves at the nation's airports. Thousands of travelers are stranded for a second day after a brutal winter storm in the northeast caused massive delays and cancellations Friday. U.S. Airways alone has cancelled 500 flights today. The airline says it hopes to get back to a normal schedule tomorrow.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Well now, America's shrinking patience for the war in Iraq. On a blustery day in Washington marchers trekked to the Pentagon to mark the approaching end of the war's fourth year. Anti-war events are occurring in other cities as well. A new poll for CNN shows 61 percent of the nation now believes the war in Iraq was not worth starting, and 52 percent say congress should block money for sending additional troops. With more on this story from Washington, CNN's Gary Nurenberg. How are the crowds looking? Folks still pouring out?

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well good afternoon, Fredricka. They are just wrapping up, in fact just as you were reading those poll results, the speaker was saying good-bye, thank you for coming, be safe on the way home. The crowd of thousands earlier today has now dwindled to a crowd of hundreds in the cold Washington air. But this morning, a march set off near the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington essentially retracing the steps of the famous 1967 march to the Pentagon that helped galvanize opposition to the Vietnam War. Those thousands of demonstrators were confronted very shortly after they stepped off by counter demonstrators, who at one point tried to block the march. Insults were hurled back and forth as hundreds of (INAUDIBLE) demonstrators felt it important for them to be out this afternoon as well to express their support of the president's Iraq policies. Here in the north parking lot of the Pentagon, an active duty seaman Jonathan Huto was among those who spoke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN HUTO, CO-FOUNDER, APPEAL FOR REDRESS: Now we're here fighting a domestic enemy policy. A policy that is continuing to destroy the country of Iraq, to decimate it's people in the hundreds and hundreds of thousands, a policy that's killed over thousands of American troops and soldiers and sadly, they come back here and cannot get proper jobs, proper healthcare, and the proper treatment they need.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

NURENBERG: The umbrella group which sponsored the rally here today says there are 500 other activities taking place in the United States this weekend with companion groups that says the number of anti-war demonstrations now exceeds 1,000. No coincidence, Fredricka, that these rallies are taking place just as Congress considers additional funding for the war. Many of those here will be seen on Capitol Hill later in the week.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much. Gary Nurenberg just outside the Pentagon there.

In the next hour of the NEWSROOM we'll talk with two Iraq veterans with opposing views on whether to keep fighting or to bring troops home. From Iraq now, new suicide attacks designed to spark panic among the Iraqi people. With the latest from Baghdad now, CNN's Kyra Phillips. Kyra?

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Fred a couple things to tell you about, but first I'll start with that news that we've been bringing to you throughout the day and that is these attacks by suicide bombers. This is what I can tell you that they detonated three chlorine-filled tanks in the Anbar Province area. They killed two police officers, and also sickened around 350 Iraqis, including six coalition force members. Why chlorine? Well it's a new scare tactic that the insurgents are using right now, because it's easy for them to get their hands on it. Normally the chlorine is used for purifying water, it's used for sewage treatment. There's a lot of it around here, so it's easy for insurgents to get their hands on this substance, and it causes burning to the skin, it causes difficulty in breathing. It also causes coughing, burning of the nose, throat, and the eyes. It's something that we are seeing more now than in the past. Matter of fact, we're told that the suicide car bombers have used this tactic with the chlorine five times since the end of January. So it's just one more move by the insurgents to try and scare the Iraqi people, and throw off U.S. troops. Fred?

WHITFIELD: And Kyra, meantime, you're just arriving there. Give us an idea what your first impressions have been and how it has been for you getting around?

PHILLIPS: Fred I think I didn't realize the security situation, how intense it was. From the minute I got off the airplane, I had to put on a flak jacket and we had armed security just to get within seven miles to the bureau, and then working my first story I think that's when it hit me even more, how tough it is to travel in this city. If anybody tells you that life is normal in any way in Baghdad and throughout Iraq, it's simply not true. Take a look at what we went through just to go less than a mile to try to make our way to a refugee camp.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: Right now we're in a Shiite neighborhood, and you can see we have an Iraqi police escort in front of us, with armed police officers, and also behind us. We've got two trucks behind us. And you can see, there's members of the military and also the police that are constantly talking to us. We have checkpoints every 600 yards and the curfew is in place from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. You can see how difficult it is just to travel less than a mile.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And Fred, every time you hit one of those checkpoints, about every 600 yards, you're not sure if the good guys or the bad guys are manning those checkpoints. So every time you roll up, you're really nervous to what could happen. Now that day we never made it to the camp because of how much time it took, and the camp had moved. However, today I want to show you some video that we were able to get and bring to you. It's a piece that I'm working on actually for the four-year anniversary of the start of the war. And this is the Al Batool Refugee Camp. There are about 600 displaced Iraqis right now in this country. In this camp specifically there's anywhere from 2 to 300 families. And when you first arrive on this camp, Fred, it's dirty, it's run down, it's actually very depressing. But then within minutes, as can you see the kids just flock to you. The mothers want you to hold their children. The kids want to talk to you. Simple gestures, like writing their name in English on a piece of paper and giving a piece of chocolate, totally lights up their day, and it moved me tremendously, because I was thinking about these families, how everything has been taken away from them, they've been forced out of their neighborhoods by the insurgents, they're now living in these camps, yet they have such a positive attitude. Something as simple as playing with a soccer ball keeps them motivated.

WHITFIELD: And Kyra a positive attitude about how long, you know, before they get a chance to get out of those refugee camps and going back to some sort of stability in their homes?

PHILLIPS: A lot of waiting and a lot of praying. It's incredible how faithful the Iraqi people are. And they're waiting for a chance just to have a secure country so they can go to work, they can start to earn money they can buy property and get on with their life. But the security, it's not in place, Fred to a point where these families can get out and tart over again.

WHITFIELD: All right, Kyra Phillips, thanks so much for your report from Baghdad. Be safe.

A groom shot and killed on the morning of his wedding day just after leaving his bachelor party. You're familiar with that story. Monday morning, three New York City police officers will be arrested to face criminal charges in the shooting death of Sean Bell. CNN's Allan Chernoff has the latest on this case. While the indictments came out on Friday, that's without the charges that might be revealed on Monday. Right?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fredricka. You can just imagine the emotions here in New York City over this case. Police officers understandably, are disappointed. But in many neighborhoods of the city there's a collective sigh of relief that the grand jury has voted to indict.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF (voice-over): A city that was on edge as the grand jury deliberated this week in the Sean Bell shooting case was relatively calm Saturday. Only a few dozen people showed at a rally to protest the fact that just three of the five officers who shot at the groom's car were indicted. Monday morning, three police detectives who say they've done nothing wrong are to appear at this Queens courthouse to be arrested and fingerprinted. Detective Michael Oliver who fired 31 shots at the fire, undercover detective Giscard Esnora who fired first and shot 11 bullets, and Detective Mark Cooper who fired four times. Queens' D.A. Richard Brown will reveal the grand jury's criminal charges.

The detectives were part of an undercover narcotics operation November 25th at the Kalua Strip Club in Jamaica, Queens where Sean Bell was celebrating his bachelor party. The NYPD says undercover detective Esnora approached Bell's Nissan Altima. Bell's car bumped the detective, then hit and undercover police minivan twice. Five officers fired a total of 50 bullets at the car, killing Bell and wounding his friends Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield. The victims were all unarmed. Defense attorneys tell CNN they're disappointed but not shocked that the grand jury chose to indict three of the officers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Consider it like a, a two-foot hurdle to convict is, like a ten-foot hurdle, beyond a reasonable doubt. So there's a long way to go between an indictment and a conviction at trial.

CHERNOFF: Indeed, defense attorneys and the detectives' union chief predict the officers will be cleared of criminal charges at trial.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These officers as all of law enforcement officers do throughout the country they get up every morning and they humbly go to work and acting in good faith they try and protect the public. In this particular situation, that's what our detectives did.

CHERNOFF: Police officers were acquitted of murder charges in the 1999 case of Amadou Diallo, who was shot 41 times in his Bronx apartment building. That sparked widespread protests in New York and black activists warn, it could happen again.

REV. AL SHARPTON, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: We gone fight till the end, until we get justice.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF: Of course, the wheels of justice do take a little time to turn. After the officers are arraigned and arrested and fingerprinted on Monday, they'll be set before the judge and they'll have bail set. At that point, their attorneys can begin preparing their defense. Fredricka? WHITFIELD: All right, Allan Chernoff, thanks so much from New York.

Her name shook the halls of power.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIE PLAME: I felt like I had been hit in the gut.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: But Valerie Plame Wilson says the ordeal shook her as well. Her testimony before a congressional committee, next in the NEWSROOM.

Plus, is your baby gay? Would you want to know? Questions swirl around one church leader's stance.

And he fought for his country, but who was there to fight for him? A tragic story later in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Here in the U.S. a new look at the wrecked career of outed CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson. She testified on Capitol Hill yesterday throwing jabs at those she says leaked her identity and blew her cover, in the name of political payback. Here's CNN's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a cold, wet, Washington Friday, the kind that makes lawmakers just want to get out of town, they were nailed to their chairs by a blond with a secret and a story to tell.

PLAME: My name and identity were carelessly and recklessly abused by senior government officials in both the White House and the State Department.

FOREMAN: Three things put Valerie Plame Wilson into that position, a war, some words, and whatever it was that went on at the White House that turned life upside down for this 40-something Alaska native and mother of twins, who was undercover for the CIA. Not anymore.

JAMES MARCINKOWSKI, FORMER CIA EMPLOYEE: She can't even go out to work for a beer with those people any more, because since everyone knows her, by association, her friends in the agency will have their own cover put at risk, should they be seen out in public with her now.

FOREMAN: But with this testimony, she is more public than ever before.

ANNE SCHROEDER, POLITICO.COM: Washington is known as the Hollywood for ugly people. And so all of a sudden you have this beautiful blond walk in. She's a spy. She also is a mother of twins and married to a former ambassador. The entire package is just completely, you know, jaw-dropping.

FOREMAN: It started with the war. In the run-up, Valerie Plame Wilson was busy. The former Penn State student had been recruited by the CIA out of college, had risen in the agency and was secretly investigating Saddam Hussein's suspected weapons of mass destruction.

PLAME: I loved my career, because I love my country. I was proud of the serious responsibilities entrusted to me as a CIA covert operations officer, and I was dedicated to this work.

FOREMAN: Then the words, as months went by and no WMDs were found, her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, went to Niger, Africa in search of the smoking gun that would prove Iraq was trying to develop nuclear weapons. Who sent him is still being debated, but Joe Wilson concluded very publicly that the original information about Iraq's weapons was badly flawed. In short order, conservative columnist Bob Novack wrote a column exposing Valerie Plame Wilson's job with the CIA. That meant her days as a covert operative were over. She read it in the newspaper.

PLAME: And I felt like I had been hit in the gut. I -- it was over in an instant and I immediately thought of my family's safety, the agents, the networks that I had worked with, and everything goes through your mind in an instant.

FOREMAN: The information came from the White House. And since it is illegal to out a covert CIA operative, an investigation was soon under way to find out who was involved. And if this was payback to get even with Joe Wilson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't know her name, I didn't leak her name.

FOREMAN: Fingers pointed at top Bush adviser Karl Rove, Vice President Dick Cheney. White House officials and others have suggested all along no one did anything to endanger American intelligence sources, certainly not on purpose.

REP. TOM DAVIS, (R) VIRGINIA: There's no evidence here that the people that were outing this and pursuing this had knowledge of the covert status.

FOREMAN: The only person convicted of anything wrong at this point is Scooter Libby, one of Vice President Cheney's confidants. And Plame Wilson is furious about that.

PLAME: Karl Rove clearly was involved in the leaking of my name and he still carries a security clearance to this day despite the president's words to the contrary that he would immediately dismiss anyone who had anything to do with this.

FOREMAN (on camera): For a long time, most people in Washington had no idea what Valerie Plame Wilson looked like. Her husband at one point even said she would rather chop off her arm than be photographed or talk about what happened. (voice-over): But she's become a spy world celebrity. Posing with her husband for "Vanity Fair" like Jane Bond with Mr. Money Penny. Turning heads in a white gown at a big reporter's dinner. Leaving Washington insiders breathless to see how this spy story will end. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And next hour, from the background to the foreground or forefront I should say. We'll talk live to Midge Potts. Who is Midge Potts? We'll see. In the back behind Valerie Plame in pink. Curious hey? We'll be talking to Midge Potts to find out exactly what kind of message she was trying to convey there in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM.

Either way, you're bound to make people mad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you yew your unborn baby was gay and there was a prenatal treatment to change that, would you?

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: It's a question that's stirring things up, but is it all theory or will anyone have to answer that question sooner than we think? A healthy glow or addicted to tanning. Are you a tanorexic? And Valerie Plame Wilson was talking, but someone else as I mentioned was in the room who stole the show. Pretty in pink right there. The protester in pink, later on in the NEWSROOM. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Most parents to be just want to know whether they have a healthy boy or a healthy girl in the womb. Well now a new question being tossed around, is baby gay? And that's just the beginning. Our Mary Snow explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you knew your unborn baby was gay and there was a prenatal treatment to change that, would you? Southern Baptist leader Reverend Albert Mohler suggests there could be a biological basis. And if there was, he says the bible would sanction a change in biology, reasoning homosexuality is a sin.

ALBERT MOHLER, RADIO PROGRAM: I think if you went to Christian parents and said, look, here is, here's a way you can help your child not just to deal with homosexuality in terms of resisting homosexual acts, but actually to have that entire process reversed. I think most Christian parents would go for it in a heartbeat.

SNOW: Gay rights supporters are outraged. HARRY KNOX, HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN: Being gay is an immutable, unchangeable gift from God, and to act as if we can throw that gift back by using hormone treatments on fetuses in the womb is just reprehensible.

SNOW: Some evangelicals are unhappy too, they say being gay is a choice and a sin that can be overcome by prayer and counseling. Mohler provoked the debate by commenting on research he read about, but admits there is no proof its credible and experts agree.

ARTHUR CAPLAN, UNIV. OF PENN CENTER FOR BIOETHICS: As of today there's no simple mark or no simple test. Nothing you could do to say, that person is going to become gay.

SNOW: Bioethics expert Arthur Caplan says he wouldn't be surprised if tests in a decade or so could determine the likelihood of someone's sexual orientation. He sees it as dangerous territory, and one where firm rules need to be established.

CAPLAN: Are we going to allow doctors, encourage those who do genetic testing to do this kind of thing just because it fits somebody's preference, somebody's bias, somebody's bigotry?

SNOW (on camera): The bioethics expert we spoke with says the job of medicine is to treat disease and disorder, and he advocates laws to prevent genetic testing from being used for anything else, such as sexual differences. Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So we've got protesters at his front door and the U.S. attorney general with a bull's eye on his back. So what is President Bush's next move? We'll go live to Washington next in the NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was big, he was strong, he was brave. But his whole experience over there almost left him trembling like a little kid.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Our soldiers offer their lives to protect us. But what happens when they need someone to protect them? A tragic story, still to come on CNN. You're in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A scene-stealing blond on Capitol Hill? No, not Valerie Plame Wilson. Who is the protestor in pink behind her?

Plus, got your tan on for spring break, however? Well, for more and more sun worshippers it's becoming an unhealthy addiction.

Those are stories coming up in the NEWSROOM. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

President Bush is spending the weekend at the presidential retreat of Camp David. He may be far from the demonstrations in downtown Washington, but he can't possibly escape talk about the Iraq war entering a fifth year and calls for the firing of his longtime friend, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

With more from the White House, CNN's Kathleen Koch -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, the pressure certainly is ramping up on President Bush to fire his attorney general, his longtime friend, over his handling of the controversy over the firings of eight U.S. attorneys -- pressure coming from Congress, pressure coming even from Republican strategists, who believe he's become a liability for the president.

But White House spokesperson, Dana Perino, says that President Bush has no intention of firing Gonzales. He has full confidence in him, saying, quote, anybody who is close to the president and knows the president and his thinking realizes and recognizes that this is not going to happen.

Now, lawmakers are angry over the changing story -- the apparent changing story -- that the White House has been giving out on the genesis of these U.S. attorney firings, saying initially they were an internal matter being handled by the Justice Department, then that they were the idea of former U.S. counsel Harriet -- former White House counsel -- Harriet Miers.

And then finally, Friday, the White House saying they really don't know whose idea it was. Although Karl Rove, the president's top political adviser, does recall Miers raising the issue.

But with a new e-mail that came out this week, showing that Rove was discussing the issue as early as 2005, there are many in Congress who really want to talk to him, to hear his testimony on the matter. But the White House says that that is not going to happen until at least -- a decision on that -- until early next week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There are conversations going on right now between the White House and leaders on Capitol Hill. And we've made it clear, we want to get them the information they need.

And we've always said it has to be consistent with president prerogatives. But at this juncture, I think it's premature for me to try to make characterizations, including comparisons to previous administrations about how we proceed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: President Bush has promised to send his attorney general to Capitol Hill to answer more of lawmakers' questions on this matter. We're again told that might happen at some point next week.

Also, the Justice Department promised to turn over hundreds of documents on the controversy to House and Senate committees. We are being told that that could happen as soon as Monday -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Meantime, while the president is in Camp David, right there in his backyard lots of protestors throughout the day.

What's the White House's take on that?

KOCH: Well, obviously, the White House is aware of the thousands of anti-war protestors who have converged here on Washington, and the protest taking place around the country.

The president did address the issue of Iraq in his Saturday radio address, saying that, in his opinion, his new plan -- the troop increases -- is beginning to show some progress, some hopeful signs of progress.

But he did not address the protestors specifically. However a White House statement was released by spokesperson Blair Jones, saying, "Our Constitution guarantees the right to peacefully express one's views. And the men and women in our military are fighting to bring the people of Iraq the same rights and freedoms" -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kathleen Koch at the White House, thanks so much.

And now, still on the topic of Iraq, two Purple Hearts -- Jonathan Schulze fought for his country. But when he came home and faced the fight of his life, who fought for him?

CNN's Randi Kaye with his story.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, STEWART, MINNESOTA (voice-over): This is the story of Marine Jonathan Schulze, number 26 on a list -- a list no one wants to be on.

KAYE (on camera): So, you're telling me that Jonathan told this hospital twice now that he was feeling suicidal.

MARIANNE SCHULZE, STEPMOTHER OF JONATHAN M. SCHULZE: Yes.

KAYE: And they told him ...

M. SCHULZE: He was number 26. They didn't have room. It would take two weeks before he could be admitted.

KAYE: Twenty-sixth on a waiting list.

M. SCHULZE: Right. And to check back in a few days to see what number he was on the list.

KAYE: Did you think that Jonathan had a few days at that point to wait?

M. SCHULZE: No. No.

KAYE (voice-over): Months of intense fighting in Iraq -- that's all it took for this fun-loving, teddy bear of a guy with a smile as wide as the Minnesota farm he grew up on to unravel.

Twenty-five-year-old Schulze returned home in March 2005, a tortured soul.

M. SCHULZE: I remember a broken man, somebody who had no expression on his face, who would cry very easily, who at night you'd hear him screaming, moaning, groaning.

KAYE: Jonathan's step-mom says he was sleeping just two hours a night, drinking heavily, having panic attacks. There was guilt over the loss of 16 men from his squad, including his two best friends.

JIM SCHULZE, FATHER OF JONATHAN SCHULZE: He was big, he was strong, he was brave. But his whole experience over there almost left him trembling like a little kid.

KAYE: Jonathan's drinking and violence led the Marines to give him a general discharge. Jim Schulze says his son became withdrawn, edging dangerously close to ending his life.

Jim says Jonathan talked openly about suicide.

The family doctor had diagnosed Jonathan with post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, and prescribed Valium, Ambien and Paxil. None of it seemed to quiet this Marine's mind.

Desperate for help, Jonathan turned to the V.A. hospital in Minneapolis. He couldn't hold a job. And without medical insurance, the V.A. was the only place he could afford.

KAYE (on camera): When he asked to be accepted into an inpatient program at the Minneapolis V.A., what did that hospital tell him?

M. SCHULZE: They told him he couldn't get into that program at that time. It was full.

KAYE: And he had to wait how long for the next one?

M. SCHULZE: Six months.

KAYE (voice-over): Jonathan was sinking fast. In January this year, the Schulzes tried another V.A. hospital in St. Cloud, Minnesota, about an hour outside Minneapolis.

KAYE (on camera): Jim and Marianne Schulze both insist they heard Jonathan tell the intake nurse he was feeling suicidal. They recall being told the social worker who screens PTSD patients was too busy to see their son that day, even though, they say, he'd been made aware of Jonathan's suicidal tendencies.

Jonathan was sent home and told to call back the next day. And when he did, his step-mom was listening.

M. SCHULZE: And Jonathan said, "yes, I feel suicidal."

KAYE: The next day, when he called the hospital, you heard him tell them a second time ...

M. SCHULZE: Yes, a second time.

KAYE: ... that he was feeling suicidal.

M. SCHULZE: A second time.

He eventually was told that, right at that point, there would be about a two-week wait. He, at this point, was number 26 on the list, and to check in periodically.

KAYE (voice-over): Four days later, with a picture of his daughter at his side, Jonathan wrapped an extension cord around his neck, tied it to a beam in the basement of this home he'd been renting from a friend, and hanged himself -- unanswered cries for help silenced.

M. SCHULZE: If our men are going to serve for our country and serve in a war or a conflict, when they come home they should be taken care of.

They were promised when they went in, they were promised when they signed on that piece of paper.

And they come home and they have a problem, what are they told? "You're number 26."

KAYE: In Jonathan's massive medical file, an alarming absence. The social worker Jonathan spoke to by phone did not record the Marine's suicidal thoughts.

KAYE (on camera): How do you explain that, in that 400-page medical file of his, there isn't a single note mentioning that he said he felt suicidal?

J. SCHULZE: Very plain and simple, St. Cloud V.A. altered those records, or else the individual he talked to did not put it in there when Jon did mention that.

KAYE (voice-over): If so, why wasn't he admitted immediately?

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is investigating, and would not comment.

J. SCHULZE: When a vet cries out that he's suicidal, even if they had to set a bed up in a kitchen, you don't turn them away. You don't put them on a waiting list.

KAYE: Keeping them honest, we've learned the St. Cloud V.A. hospital has just 12 beds for PTSD patients. The Schulze say those beds were full. We've also confirmed the number of beds has remained unchanged for a decade, even though the U.S. has spent the last five years fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Department of Veterans Affairs tells us it expects one in five returning veterans to need treatment for PTSD.

While the Schulzes struggle to heal, they find themselves at the center of a debate over the seemingly ill-prepared and overwhelmed V.A. system. Jonathan, in death, has breathed new life into the issue.

M. SCHULZE: Jonathan didn't come home to die.

KAYE: Nor did he come off the battlefield expecting he'd have to fight to get medical help at home.

Randi Kaye, CNN News, Stewart, Minnesota.

(END VIDEO)

WHITFIELD: Straight ahead in the NEWSROOM, no doubt about it, pets are family members, so a warning for your four-legged friends. Be careful what you put in the food bowl. Details on a pet food recall that all pet owners will want to stick around for.

And it's not just fun in the sun anymore. How to know if you're addicted to tanning.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: So, a warning. Before you feed your dogs and cats tonight, check the labels on their food. A major pet food maker is recalling millions of cans and pouches of wet dog and cat food. Some animals have died eating it. Others have developed kidney failure.

The recalled products were sold as store brands at major retailers, including Wal-Mart, Safeway and Kroger. You can call 866- 895-2708 for more specific information, or you can log on to the Web site, MenuFoods.com/recall.

Soggy Seattle is hardly the place you'd expect to yield a study about tanning, but that's exactly what has happened. A new study of University of Washington students provides hard evidence that some people are addicted to exposure to ultraviolet light.

Joining us with details are Dr. Bill Lloyd.

Dr. Bill Lloyd, what's that all about?

DR. BILL LLOYD, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-DAVIS MEDICAL CENTER: Happy St. Patrick's Day, Fredricka.

How many times have you been in the store and you stood behind somebody who had one of those really intense bronze tans?

WHITFIELD: I've seen it.

LLOYD: Well, these researchers at Seattle now say there's a group of people who are actually addicted to sun tanning, and they've proven it.

Dermatologists for years have always thought about, there's some people that just spend too much time in the sun, like they really like it. But now ...

WHITFIELD: It's just not as simple as, you know, when people are outside the rays just feel so good, the heat feels good?

LLOYD: It feels good, and it relaxes your mood. And these people were actually given a psychological profile. And guess what? They scored as high as people who abuse cocaine, abuse alcohol.

WHITFIELD: Really?

LLOYD: Yes. They were asked questions like, do you plan your day around how much suntan you're going to get? Do you get upset if people make comments to you about, I think you spend too much time in the sun, versus, I think you spend too much time drinking?

Same kind of parallel behaviors. And so ...

WHITFIELD: Really?

LLOYD: Yes.

WHITFIELD: So, it's not just an issue of -- or is it? Is it your endorphins go up, just like they would with certain other addictions? Or is that people like the results of being in a tanning bed, they like the idea of getting more bronzed?

LLOYD: They think that, just like abuse of drugs, that these individuals get a payoff. Being in the sun stimulates those endorphins, just like a runner's high.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

LLOYD: So, there's a reward for going out there, and so, it adjusts their behavior.

WHITFIELD: All right. But then there are some real pitfalls to doing this, right? And we're talking about maybe increasing the propensity of skin cancers? Can that even happen in a tanning booth, just like it could when you're outside in the sun?

LLOYD: There's no absolute safe suntan, Fredricka. Too much sun can give you problems with photosensitivity. It could problems with some of the medications you're taking.

Yes, it'll prematurely age your skin. Nobody likes getting a sunburn, because it increases your risk of getting skin cancers down the road. And we see more and more of them now in younger patients.

And other problems in your body, like macular degeneration, a leading cause of lost vision in older folks. And, of course, cataracts.

So, if you're going to spend a little bit of time in the sun, you need to do it with moderation. And you want to stay out of the danger zone, that 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., when those sun rays are most intense.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So, people who do the tanning salons, are they kind of accelerating their chances of any kind of skin cancers, or even aging, as opposed to the person who may spend the equivalent amount of time in the sun? Is it more harmful to be in a tanning salon than to be in direct ...

LLOYD: Yes, they've tried to make the machines safer, but it's all ultraviolet light. And it's not filtered. There's no clouds.

There's nothing else to block it like there is in the outside world, where you can maybe put half of your body under an umbrella or maybe wear a T-shirt. You're getting concentrated UV light.

The doses are smaller, of course. But people who go to a tanning booth go two or three times a week.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

LLOYD: I was shocked to learn one million Americans -- one million Americans -- every day ...

WHITFIELD: Wow!

LLOYD: ... climb into a tanning booth.

WHITFIELD: I'm sure -- cha-ching -- it adds up. It's got to be pricey.

LLOYD: You bet.

WHITFIELD: Whereas the sun is free.

LLOYD: It's a very expensive habit. You pay now, and you're going to pay 30 years from now.

WHITFIELD: Oh, yes. That kind of payment, too. OK, I get you.

All right, Dr. Bill Lloyd, thanks so much.

LLOYD: We'll talk to you again soon.

WHITFIELD: And stay out of the sun or use that sun screen, right?

LLOYD: You bet. Happy St. Patrick's Day.

WHITFIELD: All right. Hey, happy St. Patty's Day to you, too. All right, coming up ...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At first all eyes were on the blond who came to testify. But there was another scene-stealing blond we couldn't take our eyes off of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: At least two blonds in the room. One had all the lines, the other stole much of the attention.

What's that all about?

Plame's protestor, next in the NEWSROOM.

And no protest here. Good times around -- or abound, I should say -- on St. Patty's Day.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We do our best. We strive to take you behind the news, or in this case, behind the newsmakers.

Demonstrators have been staging protests behind the backs of those in the limelight at congressional hearings. That's been taking place for a long time.

Well, CNN's Jeanne Moos couldn't resist the show behind former CIA operative, Valerie Plame Wilson.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: At first, all eyes were on the blond who came to testify. But there was another scene- stealing blond we couldn't take our eyes off of, whose heartfelt nodding kept us from nodding off.

REP. HENRY WAXMAN, D-CALIFORNIA, CHAIRMAN, HOUSE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM: When we went to visit Walter Reed, every member was appalled at what we learned. Our treatment of the troops didn't match our rhetoric.

MOOS: Whenever the witness moved, the blond in pink sidled over to stay in the shot.

WAXMAN: Do you promise to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?

MOOS: Valerie Plame Wilson raised her hand to take the oath. The other blond raised her hand to make a peace sign, and later a "shame on you" gesture.

VALERIE PLAME WILSON, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: ... and protecting me and every CIA officer.

MIDGE POTTS, CODE PINK ACTIVIST: My name is Midge Potts, M-I-D- G-E, P-O-T-T-S. And I'm from Springfield, Missouri.

MOOS: Midge describes herself as a transgender woman. She's also a Navy veteran from the first Gulf War and is now a member of the anti-war group, Code Pink.

No matter how hard the camera tries to frame the out, the Code Pink protesters have made an art form out of staying in the picture to display, say, a "Got Impeachment?" sign or a T-shirt that says, "Impeach Bush Now."

WILSON: As a covert operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency ...

MOOS: Nothing covert about Midge. She once ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Republican.

She popped up, she sat down, she popped up again. Being a human billboard at a congressional hearing can be exhausting.

WAXMAN: Thank you very much, Mr. Davis.

MOOS: Earlier this month, a Code Pink protester gave peace sign rabbit ears to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

GEN. PETER PACE, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: ... of the 10 Iraqi divisions ...

MOOS: Those Code Pink folks really know how to position themselves to get on camera. A spokesman told us they even study videotapes to try to find a perfect spot.

Midge resorted to standing on her tiptoes.

POTTS: And I don't think that the importance of the message is diminished by the antics or the clownish things at all, because it's grave. Our situation is grave.

MOOS: Sometimes they get ejected, sometimes they get arrested. More often than not, it's a dance with police.

Midge even did a few stretches.

WILSON: I do feel passionately ...

MOOS: Midge got passionate when the hearing recessed.

POTTS: Impeach now. Impeach now.

MOOS: Witness the double take Midge got from the star witness.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO) WHITFIELD: Well, mission accomplished. Midge got everyone's attention.

And Rick Sanchez always getting our attention ...

(LAUGHTER)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Oh, Midge, Midge, Midge. Why do you do this to us?

Were you kind of freaked out by this yesterday when you were watching, as well? My wife and I were watching. And I said, "What is that?

WHITFIELD: Well, (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Yes, you know, you couldn't miss.

SANCHEZ: You know what's funny in our business ...

WHITFIELD: I was just surprised that she hadn't been escorted out, because ...

SANCHEZ: Well, you're allowed to be there.

WHITFIELD: Very quickly. Very quickly.

SANCHEZ: Yes, sure.

WHITFIELD: If people are disruptive, or if they're in the view of the camera, they are kind of hustled out.

SANCHEZ: Well, apparently it's OK to be in the view. It's just not OK to start screaming and yelling, or anything, which is what she was doing, as you saw in the video there.

We're going to talk to her.

WHITFIELD: Well, great.

SANCHEZ: She's coming up. She's coming up in just a little bit. How's that for a tease.

WHITFIELD: Yes. That's great.

SANCHEZ: We're going to be talking to Midge, right here. And an interesting person, to say the least. Not just her stance on the war, which is one that's shared by many, many Americans. But ...

WHITFIELD: But the pink T-shirt, for starters.

SANCHEZ: It goes beyond that. Trust me.

I can't even get into it now. You've just got to watch.

WHITFIELD: We will be watching. SANCHEZ: OK. We're also going to be talking about a serious situation for travelers all over the country. I think we've got some vide of this, as well. Yes.

See? That's a traveler. He's not doing a lot of traveling, though, right?

WHITFIELD: No.

SANCHEZ: You know why? He's stuck in one of many airports all over the country. A big problem with one particular airline.

And it's kind of because of the weather, and in many ways not just because of the weather.

WHITFIELD: So miserable.

SANCHEZ: And that's what we're going to be trying to find out.

WHITFIELD: For anybody who's ever been stuck in an airport for hours. And then, even worse, if it's overnight and you really are camped out. It's miserable.

SANCHEZ: So, tonight at 10, we're going to focus on that and take you to all the different places that are affected and let you know what the weather and the travel plans are going to be like for tomorrow, as well.

WHITFIELD: Yes, yes. OK.

SANCHEZ: So, there you go.

WHITFIELD: Let's hope that things look up.

SANCHEZ: What do you think?

WHITFIELD: I like the green.

SANCHEZ: Yes. St. Patty's Day.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I like the green. I know. It's all about St. Paddy.

All right. Thanks so much.

All right. For one day every year, here we go. Speaking of St. Paddy's Day, everyone is celebrating across the country. Are you wearing green today like Rick?

You're in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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