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Prisoner Escapes after Faking Paralysis; Secretary Clinton Secures Extra NATO Troops; Should Sixth Graders Get Heart Screenings?

Aired December 04, 2009 - 13:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: All right. The CNN NEWSROOM continues now.

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: No opera? No opera singing from you?

HOLMES: I got -- that's all Tony.

PHILLIPS: You don't have anything?

HOLMES: I got nothing. You have a good show, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, T.J.

Well, 7,000 extra pairs of boots on the ground. Hillary Clinton secures some help from our NATO friends to push forward in Afghanistan. The secretary of state sits down with our John Roberts for a candid and exclusive chat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will obey the orders of the president of the United States, so help me God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will obey the orders of the president of the United States, so help me God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will obey the orders of the president of the United States, so help me God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The solemn oath of this country's newest soldiers. We follow one recruit's journey, saying good-bye to mom and dad and shipping out for the first taste of Army life.

Embedded journalists get a taste of Army life, too, minus the military precision. We'll hurry up and wait with CNN's crew for today's "Back Story" out of Afghanistan.

Hello, everyone. We are pushing forward on the cracks in the prison system. Apparently, justice needs to fill some holes. Got three recent examples I want to run by you.

Indiana: over the summer two killers and a rapist get into a prison's tunnel system and make their way to freedom. No "Shawshank Redemption" here. The last of three guys -- of these guys, actually -- caught after 11 days on the run.

Galveston, Texas: in September, a burglar doing 35 years breaks out of his prison hospital room, ties together some sheets, and rappels to freedom, until he's caught later.

And now an escapee who's still out there again, Texas. Arcade Comeaux was being transferred between prisons, shackled and in a wheelchair because guards thought he was paralyzed. Well, he makes a miraculous recovery, pulls out a pistol, ties up the guards, takes a uniform and some weapons. and bolts on foot.

And this is not a guy you want out on the street. Here's a Cliff's Notes version of his rap sheet: child rape, indecency with a child while on release. Then in the '90s he keeps getting released and getting sent right back for violations like assault. And check out 1999. He stabbed his wife 17 times during a prison visit, used his wheelchair to pin her up against a wall. She survived.

Now, if you're nowhere near any of these cases, why should you even care? Well, take a look at this map. It will show you why. Look at all the dots. Each one represents a federal or state prison. Do you see any of them that are close to you? Well, right now there are 2,300,000 men and women in these prisons, and the United States puts more people behind bars than any other country on the planet.

Now, right now the urgent focus in the Houston area is getting Arcade Comeaux Jr. back behind bars. How did the supposedly paralyzed man, shackled to a wheelchair, get a gun, overcome guards and escape?

Texas State Senator John Whitmire is outraged and calling for a complete shake-up of the criminal justice system. He joins me live from Austin.

You know, Senator, even before his escape, where he used the wheelchair to pin his wife up against the wall and stab her 17 times, actually stabbing somebody else, as well, who was trying to save her, where was the security in this prison?

SEN. JOHN WHITMIRE, TEXAS STATE SENATE: That's an excellent question. There's no speculation about how dangerous this individual is. He has an extensive record. Ten years ago he stabbed his wife with a prison-made knife. I'll also point out two years ago there was some question whether he needed to be confined to a wheelchair.

So there's been a series of human errors and lax security dealing with this individual.

And, of course, what you have to worry about, is this just one instance? I notice that two of the three examples you mentioned with security breaches were in the state of Texas, and that's the reason I'm upset, and that's the reason we have to have changes made from the top to the bottom. It has to be zero tolerance when you're dealing with security risks.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll get to those changes in just a minute, because I know you're pushing heavily for that right now. But, you know, you brought up an interesting point about the fact that he was in this wheelchair, and how do we even know he should have been in that wheelchair? How often are those prisoners checked for medical conditions?

WHITMIRE: Well, unfortunately, in asking questions of our system, the corrections officers system is blaming the medical technicians. The medical people are blaming the corrections side of it. I'm blaming whoever. There has to be accountability. You just can't gamble with these dangerous individuals.

The people of Texas, the people of this country, deserve better, and we're going to demand that changes be made from the top to the bottom, or in Texas we need a security audit. We have 112 prisons.

This individual came out of one of our most secure and one of the more secure parts of that secure prison, the Ag Sec. He's been isolated from other inmates he's so dangerous. And then they get ready to transport him and they do not even pat him down. And then we see the results.

PHILLIPS: And you're on the criminal justice committee there...

WHITMIRE: I chair it, and we've been talking about this for over a year. I received a phone call from Death Row last October. So, we've focused on cell phones entering prisons, but I've repeatedly said all contraband, narcotics, cigarettes and, of course, weapons. If this episode did not happen, there would today be a loaded pistol in one of our more secure prisons.

PHILLIPS: What does the Texas Department of Corrections say to you? And how is it going to change things?

WHITMIRE: I'm of the opinion that, if they get through one crisis and then they go back to business as usual. The state leadership, the governor, the legislative leadership, has to demand better, and call for accountability and a shake-up of those who cannot get the job done.

PHILIPS: This shocked me even more. We actually heard from Comeaux's mother. She's quoted as saying, "How did my son come in contact with a gun inside the prison? I know he didn't leave and go shopping. I'm looking at a corrupt system here."

I mean, this is more than a guy just fooling guards, overcoming guards and escaping. This is a tremendous breakdown in the system. I mean, this guy has been in and out of jail, paroled, been on supervision, but he's committing crimes against children. I mean, why is this guy even out on the streets?

WHITMIRE: Well, it's not even this individual. It's all inmates. I know that you can secure a prison. We secure airports, courthouses, city halls, schools. All you got to do is have the will, place the resources at the front and the back of the prison. You use metal detectors; you use surveillance cameras. You have layer upon layer of accountability. You pat everyone down. Our prison system recently went to just random pats of employees going and coming from work. That's unacceptable. Look what we're having to deal with. We shouldn't be having this conversation, quite frankly.

And if the prison administrators can't get the job done, we need to find someone who can. Because today, obviously, the focus is apprehending this most dangerous, armed inmate. He's been in the free world all week. And he belongs in our most secure prison.

I think it's -- I think he pulled a complete sham. It's been planned, apparently. He knew to fake his illness. He knew he wouldn't be patted down. He knew he didn't need to be in a wheelchair, but the bottom line is the weapons should have never, ever been in the prison. And not only just weapons: narcotics, cigarettes, for certain cell phones. We've got to do better, zero tolerance...

PHILLIPS: Well, we're looking...

WHITMIRE: ... and mean it. And mean it.

PHILLIPS: And we're looking to you to put up that fight.

Before we let you go, we're going to take one more picture at Comeaux here. Authorities say he is on the lam and need your help desperately to find him. If you have any information leading to where he might be, you are asked to please contact authorities.

WHITMIRE: I might add there's a $30,000 reward, and hopefully someone will come forward.

PHILLIPS: There you go.

WHITMIRE: The focus has to be on capturing this dangerous person.

PHILLIPS: State Senator John Whitmire, we look to you to make changes in that state. Thank you for your time, sir.

WHITMIRE: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: And a final thought for you: now might be a really good time to open a discussion about improving the prison system. Think about it. You've got more than 200 terror detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, now. The rest of the world won't take them, and the prison is about to close. These guys could end up in places like Standish, Michigan; Thompson, Illinois; Florence, Colorado; and Harden, Montana.

Put down that can of Slim-Fast, and put it down fast. The company says that there might be something in there that will really make you sick.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Hillary Clinton enlisting global help for the front lines. John Roberts scored an exclusive interview with the secretary of state, and he's joining us live to break it down.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, you buy Slim-Fast to get skinny, but today the company is saying some of its products may make you sick. Slim-Fast is recalling nationwide all its canned, read-to-drink products. All flavors, all "best by" dates. If it's in a can, it's covered. The concern here: contamination by a kind of bacteria that can cause food poisoning, horrible symptoms like nausea and vomiting.

Call in the reinforcements. U.S. allies are pledging 7,000 extra troops, beefing up the additional 30,000 U.S. troops and boosting the ranks in Afghanistan. Thanks in part to a big push from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Clinton sat down with our John Roberts at NATO headquarters in Brussels today for an exclusive one-on-one interview. Clinton told John that Afghanistan's scarred from eight-plus years of war and from the Cold War. But this time around, no cut and run.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Our analysis of what happened in Afghanistan and Pakistan very clearly demonstrates that not only the United States, but the international community, said, "OK, the job is done; Soviet Union is gone."

And we walked away, leaving a very difficult and increasingly dangerous presence in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. A drug trade that flourished during that time period. You know, there were many problems that, you know, we -- we had to take some responsibility for, but we did not.

So, I want to make clear to the people of both Afghanistan and Pakistan that we're looking for a long-term partnership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: John Roberts joining us live from Brussels now.

You know, John, a lot of buzz about July 2011. First special U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke, now Hillary Clinton, both saying don't call it an exit date, right?

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. That's what you hear around here. That's the phrase you hear, is don't call it an exit strategy. And officials say where is what the president said on Tuesday were the words "exit strategy"? Even the NATO secretary-general, Rasmussen, penned an op-ed today in which he said it's a transition; it's not an exit strategy.

When they talk about a transition, what they talk about is getting Afghan forces built up to the point where U.S. forces, NATO forces, ISAF forces, can start to hand over responsibility in the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, like they did in Iraq, to the Afghan military and the Afghan police. That's still going to take some time. But, you know, when you look at this idea of a date of July of 2011 to begin drawing down U.S. forces, it's got the support of the American people. We've got a brand new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll out today, Kyra, that shows 66 percent of Americans think that that's a good idea. However, 59 percent also think the president was wrong to tip people off about it.

PHILLIPS: All right. So, you also have Afghan President Hamid Karzai saying that he would be open to talking with Mullah Omar, Osama bin Laden's No. 1 guy. He's a known terrorist who's operating in Pakistan right now.

Now, the White House has always said, "Sorry, we don't talk to terrorists." Now, you asked Clinton about this and where this administration stands. And here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: The people who are part of the Taliban but are not the hardcore, committed ideological fighters who don't have allegiance with al Qaeda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right. So, how do you stop the madness, then?

ROBERTS: Yes. I think you actually missed a little part of that. What she said was that she sees it as -- it's OK for the leader of a sovereign country to talk to whomever they want to.

Now, in the past, the administration has said -- not this administration, previous administrations said they don't want to talk to Mullah Mohammed Omar. So that's a little bit of shift if Karzai was to actually talk to him.

But the way you stop the madness, according to the military, according to the State Department and General Petraeus, who I talked to on Wednesday, is you take the Taliban, the so-called irreconcilables, and I think that they would include Mullah Mohammed Omar in them. And you either capture them or you kill them.

And then low-level Taliban, who are there either to make money or because there's nothing else to do, you try to convert them over to your side.

You also try to provide security. Get corruption out of the Afghan government, so that people can actually believe that somebody other than the Taliban may be able to protect them.

And then you provide them with economic opportunity, Kyra, which is why the State Department has got such a focus on the civilian aspect of this that they were talking about here at NATO, particularly on the idea of agriculture, rebuilding the agricultural infrastructure of Afghanistan, getting it back to the way it was long before 1979 and the soviet invasion. PHILLIPS: All right. And I have to ask this, on a bit of a lighter note. You were the first one to talk to Clinton about the fact that she's become very excited about being a mother-in-law. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I am. I am officially an MOTB, a mother of the bride. I'm very excited about it.

ROBERTS: And so, how does it feel for -- I mean, Chelsea's obviously flown the nest to some degree...

CLINTON: Yes, indeed.

ROBERTS: ... but to be out there and...

CLINTON: You have a daughter.

ROBERTS: I do.

CLINTON: You know that...

ROBERTS: And I'm hoping that she waits quite a while before she gets married. She's only 18 now.

CLINTON: Following my daughter's example, she will. And I think that's also for the good, depending on each individual's decision.

But, no, we're very happy, very excited. You know, it's -- it's -- for me, particularly, an extraordinary moment to see how happy my daughter is and to have such a wonderful young man who will become my son-in-law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And she also got some motherly advice from Madeleine Albright, I understand?

ROBERTS: She did. And isn't it wonderful? Isn't it wonderful, when perspective mother-in-laws say, "I have such a wonderful man who's going to be my son-in-law"?

Yes, Madeleine Albright, another secretary of state, in the Clinton administration, back in the 1990s, she's got three daughters. And during her time as secretary of state, one of them got married. And she had said to Hillary Clinton, she said, "You know, I'm secretary of state. I don't have a moment to myself as it is, and I've got to plan a wedding!"

So, she called her up and she retold that story to her and said, "If you need any help planning the wedding, just give me a call."

PHILLIPS: Well, and we know that you're very fond of your 18- year-old daughter's boyfriend. We hope she waits a little while, but you can also call Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright for advice when that time comes, John. Appreciate it.

ROBERTS: Yes, he's a good guy, but now I have two people I can reach out to.

PHILLIPS: There you go. Thanks, John.

All right, so let's recap now, the big news from Brussels. NATO's pledging 7,000 new allied troops in Afghanistan. Some key details are missing, like a full list of what countries will send troops and when. But here's what we know so far: Britain's promising 1,200; Italy will add 1,140; Poland sending nearly 700; and in all, about two dozen nations are expected to send in reinforcements.

It's a sticking time bomb, and it could be ticking inside your child. A story out of Texas that we just couldn't believe. So we took it to our medical unit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Top stories now.

New light on that day in 2007 when a student gunned down 32 people at Virginia Tech. There's an update to a state report now. It shows university officials locked down a few buildings, and some told their own family members about the initial killings more than an hour before a campus-wide alert was even issued.

Is there some climate change sabotage at work? Well, a leading scientist thinks so. He says recent e-mail leaks may have been aimed at undermining this month's climate-change summit in Copenhagen. Hackers stole documents from a research center in England and posted them on the Net. The scientist says that the hackers only stole documents that could help skeptics of global warming.

In Italy, American exchange student Amanda Knox waits to hear if she'll spend her life in prison. The jury in her murder trial is now deliberating. Knox is accused of killing her former roommate, a British exchange student. Knox's former boyfriend is also being charged.

All right, so what's up with all this? Snowfall this early in the south? Reynolds Wolf tracking it all for us.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks, Reynolds.

Heart disease, not just for adults. There's an unprecedented rise in the risk of heart conditions for children, and this ticking time bomb has led to a call for every sixth grader in the country to get tested right now. Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, with me now to tell us about -- wow, I mean, every single sixth grader?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. That's a lot of kids. That's a lot of kids. But there's a doctor at the University of Texas named John Higgins. He said, "I wonder what would happen if I screened about 100 sixth graders for heart disease. What would I find?"

And let's take a look at what he found. He screened 94 sixth graders. So we're talking kids around the age of 12. They don't get screened now, but he said, "I'm going to try it." He found that 5 out of those 94 had a minor heart problem. Didn't need to be fixed right away but, you know, the parents needed to keep an eye on it.

He also found that 2 of those 94 kids had heart problems so severe that they actually required surgery. They had a structural abnormality with the heart that required surgery.

Now, those two kids weren't going to, you know, drop dead at any minute, but the parents were certainly glad that they found this heart problem sooner rather than later.

PHILLIPS: So, why aren't all kids getting screened like this?

COHEN: Right, you figure you test 94 kids, you find 2 who need surgery...

PHILLIPS: Yes.

COHEN: I mean, that's actually quite a few. And here's the reason. There are downsides to screening. And we talked about this somewhat with the mammogram debate.

First of all, it's -- you know, it's expensive. It would be expensive to screen every single 12-year-old for relatively unusual heart problems.

The second thing is, is that when you screen people, you get false positives. In other words, it's inevitable that some parent is going to be told, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith, we think your child has a heart problem," when really they don't. And, of course, those parents, then, worry unnecessarily and have to have more testing.

So, with all screening, you have to say, what benefits are you getting, but then again, what are the downsides?

PHILLIPS: Well, how many times have we talked about something like this and talked about tests being expensive? I mean, how expensive are we talking about?

COHEN: Well, this doctor managed to get the cost down to about $150. Like he sort of came up with a way to do it relatively cheaply.

But in the real world, the test that they were doing, an electrocardiogram and an ultrasound of the heart, so those are two pretty heavy-duty tests, electrocardiogram, ultrasound of the heart, that's usually going to cost you more than $1,000.

So is it worth spending that kind of money to catch a relatively small number of children, who might have gotten caught some other way? They didn't necessarily need the screenings to let them know that that -- that that problem existed.

PHILLIPS: We'd want to go into debt for our sixth graders.

COHEN: Exactly. I mean, it's a tough decision, right.

PHILLIPS: That's right. Thanks, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: Well, a California teen heard the call of duty and now is kissing his family good-bye. From civilian to soldier, and we're watching the transformation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, president Obama's adding brawn to the Afghan battle zone, and most Americans seem to be on board. A new CNN/Opinion Research poll says 6 out of 10 people surveyed support the new strategy and about the same number say that they blame former President Bush for the current problems that the U.S. faces in Afghanistan.

But it's eventually going to become Mr. Obama's war. Fifty-four percent said he'll be there to blame for any American trouble in Afghanistan after 2011, and that's not doing much for his popularity. His approval rating has dropped below 50 percent for the first time in a CNN poll.

Now, the training, the combat, the stress, the time away from home, to put it lightly, soldiers have a lot to cope with. So, what exactly does it take to be all you can be? Our Jason Carroll is finding out as he tracks three recruits from signing up to shipping out. Time to meet one of them.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kyra, this is something I've always wanted to do. With so many men and women putting their lives on the line in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, we set out to chronicle what the military experience is like for them from the moment they leave home through deployment. And we begin with Will McClain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL MCLAIN, U.S. ARMY RECRUIT: ... doing for the last party.

CARROLL (voice-over): This is Will McLain, 18 years old and a week away from taking the oath to enlist in the Army.

MCLAIN: More people are here.

CARROLL: We gave him a video camera to show us how he was passing the time. There were lots of parties.

MCLAIN: It's always funny, because even when I'm partying with my friends or something like that, they've always got to throw those Army jokes in. CARROLL (on camera): How have your friends taken the news so far? What have they been...

W. MCLAIN: They think I'm doing a good thing. Like, they figure it's better than just rotting away in Rosamond. You know?

CARROLL (voice-over): Rosamond, California, Will's hometown. It's in the western Mohave Desert, a large stretch of land with a small population, about 14,000, a place where dirt bike riding is surpassed only by motorcycle racing in popularity, a place Will McLain can't wait to leave.

MCLAIN: I'm kind of glad to be getting out of this little town, you know, just because it gets old. But there's a lot of things you will miss. You know?

CARROLL: We met up with Will, his last day at home before he left to join the Army, a day his 12-year-old brother didn't want to leave his side.

MCLAIN: I think it kind of hits him more that I'm leaving. This last week, I think it's truly hit them and my family.

CARROLL: Like a lot of high school football players, McLain had dreams of pursuing a career in the pros.

MCLAIN: All I can be. You know, I'm going to go pro, you know. And then pretty much, I guess, junior year, I realized there were a lot bigger fishes in the sea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CARROLL: McLain says earlier this year, he began to really think about advice from his uncle.

MCLAIN: I know my uncle always used to yell at me, "You need to have a backup plan! You need to have a backup plan!" And that's why I figured the military would be the best bet.

CARROLL: Will had grown up with guns and always liked the idea of joining the military. So he tried to convince his parents to allow him to enlist before his 18th birthday in May.

MCLAIN: They didn't want to sign the papers and then me to come back a year later and be like, "I hate you, you signed the papers." So this way they made me wait until I was 18 so that the blame was fully on me. Because my mom worded it, she doesn't want to be responsible for sending me to Afghanistan.

CARROLL: And now, with time running out at home, reality is setting in.

MCLAIN: I'd say about a week ago it truly hit me. That's when I forgot to sleep and stuff. I just pretty much lay there and think, oh, man, you know, I'm leaving in a week, I'm leaving in three days, I'm leaving in a day. CARROLL: For Will's parents, Bill, a construction worker, and his wife, Lorrie, Will's future now taking shape.

BILL MCLAIN, WILL'S FATHER: We worry that he'll come home in one piece. He might be 5,000 miles away, but he knows there's people that care about him.

CARROLL: The next morning came the good-byes...

MCLAIN: It's all right.

CARROLL: ... and one last word of advice.

B. MCLAIN: Head down, brain on. OK?

W. MCLAIN: Easy enough.

B. MCLAIN: She wasn't looking forward to this moment. It's OK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, first steps in a long journey, and we're going to keep following Will McLain along the way. In less than three minutes, we'll see him take the oath, change his title and start training.

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Yes, drill sergeant, over and over again. The shouting, the shaving, and a new title are transforming Will McLain. Jason Carroll takes us on the next step as a former high school football star becomes a U.S. soldier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

W. MCLAIN: It's all right.

CARROLL (voice-over): Tearful good-byes as Will McLain's parents see their 18-year-old son leave home in Rosamond, California, for the first time.

B. MCLAIN: She wasn't looking forward to this moment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does everybody understand that?

MCLAIN: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Yes, sir.

CARROLL (voice-over): As McLain takes his first steps toward joining the Army, questions about his future begin to weigh on him.

W. MCLAIN: The major unknown, I guess, is I want to know where I'm going to end up stationed at. You know? You know you've got a four-year contract, but it's like, you know, are these four years going to be, you know, fun, enjoyable, or am I going to be, like, I hate my job?

CARROLL: For now, those answers will have to wait.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good luck.

W. MCLAIN: Thank you.

CARROLL: First, there's registration...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any tattoos?

CARROLL: ... at a nearby processing station in Los Angeles.

W. MCLAIN: I'm anxious, but, you know, I'm kind of glad it's starting finally. Like one of those days you don't think it would come and, then, bam, it's here.

CARROLL: This is where Will McLain finally becomes...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shoulders back, chests out.

CARROLL: ... Private McLain.

W. MCLAIN: I will obey the orders of the president of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: I will obey the orders of the president of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So help me God.

W. MCLAIN: So help me God.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: So help me God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I tell you, you can exit the bus quickly but safely, is that understood?

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Yes, Drill Sergeant!

CARROLL: Twelve hours later, McLain is now more than 1,600 miles from home...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pick up your badge!

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Yes, Drill Sergeant!

CARROLL: ... at an Army base in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Row by row, let's go. Let's go.

CARROLL: ... for several days of orientation.

(on camera): You look a little different. You shaved the goatee. How does it feel?

W. MCLAIN: It feels weird. It's the first time in a while.

You know, I expected them to come yelling on the bus. They did. You know, I mean, I'm surprised I haven't had to do pushups or anything yet. So, that's also a plus.

(LAUGHTER)

CARROLL: Well, it's coming.

W. MCLAIN: I know it is.

CARROLL: I'm sure it's coming.

MCLAIN: I'm sure it is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you do not have an electronic device, do not take an envelope.

CARROLL (voice-over): After turning in personal items for safekeeping...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Next.

CARROLL: ... Will and the other privates are issued gear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step in front of me. Open up your bag.

CARROLL: Will finds his bunk and turns in for a short night.

Four hours later...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get up!

CARROLL: ... his morning begins on unfamiliar territory.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you doing? What is going on?

CARROLL (on camera): I'm thinking of all these movies that I've seen with a drill sergeant, and you pretty much fit that role.

SGT. JOSHUA SMITH, U.S. ARMY: I guess you just have to say it's a Type A personality.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurry up. Hurry up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right over there. Get your food and get up. Hurry up.

CARROLL (voice-over): Will couldn't eat much in the three minutes it took him to finish.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurry up.

CARROLL: Not a problem for sergeants eyeing his weight. He's 5'9", 228 pounds.

(on camera): You look at him and your assessment is, he's got a little weight to lose.

SGT. CRYSTAL SCOTT, U.S. ARMY: Yes, sir.

CARROLL: You think you can get that off him?

SCOTT: Oh, yes, sir. There's plenty of ways to get that off of him.

CARROLL (voice-over): There are just a few more tests.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice tight fist.

CARROLL: And then the regulation cut.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you think?

W. MCLAIN: It's short. And I'm white (ph).

CARROLL: But he still sees the same Will.

(on camera): Do you feel like a soldier yet?

W. MCLAIN: Not yet. I haven't been through, brute (ph). I won't even claim being a soldier until I'm done with that.

CARROLL (voice-over): And that basic training comes next.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: Well, he's got his work cut out for him. Basic training lasts for 13 weeks. Here's some other numbers for you. Two hundred others got off the about us and joined Will on that day. About 30,000 new recruits go through basic training at Fort Leonardwood (ph) every year.

And Kyra, our goal for the series is given all the resources that are being put into places like Afghanistan, our hope is to give our viewers a sense of what it's like for the men and women that go through military training and let them see what it is actually like. Hopefully we'll be able to accomplish that with this series. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And we'll air every part of that series. Jason, thanks so much.

Top stories now. The alleged cop killer might be dead, but the case keeps pushing forward. A third person now charged with helping Maurice Clemmons stay a step ahead of the law while police in Washington state tried to hunt him down. Clemmons was shot and killed a couple days after he alleged ambushed four police officers near Tacoma.

Farewell to a political pioneer. Paula Hawkens of Florida has died. She was the first woman senator elected from the South. And, get this, she was the first woman senator from any state who didn't use family connections to win a full term. She wasn't the wife or daughter of a politician. She did it all on her own. Paula Hawkens was 82 years old.

And a four-page letter could get a seven-figure sum today on the auction block. Christie's in New York taking bids on a letter that George Washington wrote to his nephew back in 1787. The passionate defense of the Constitution, the letter from Uncle George could go for $2.5 million. Bust out your piggy bank; the auction starts in about 20 minutes.

And this just in. Florida's governor shilling for a phone sex line? Yes, it's true. Sort of.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, they wanted info on kids' health insurance. What they got was an earful of adult content, and the guy who gave it to them? Florida governor Charlie Crist. An explanation now from Adam Landeau from our affiliate WJXT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADAM LANDEAU, WJXT-TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a program parents go to for help when their kids need health care. And in these tough economic times, kid care is as busy as ever. So, governor Charlie Crist made this recording for parents who were put on hold when calling for info.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

VOICE OF GOV. CHARLIE CRIST (R), FLORIDA: You can apply now at www.Floridakidcare.org or by calling...

(END AUDIO CLIP)

LANDEAU: But the number the governor gave next had nothing to do with Kid Care. It sent callers to another number that eventually sent them to this.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

VOICE OF UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey there, sexy guy. Welcome to an exciting new way to go live one-on-one with hot (EXPLETIVE DELETED) girls waiting right now to talk to you.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

LANDEAU: The governor's office said callers have been hearing the wrong number for at least two months. They say the mistake was with the script the governor was given.

STERLING IVEY, ON CRIST'S STAFF: He read it right. The script was wrong. We had transposed the numbers in drafting the script. And an error just had the wrong phone number there.

LANDEAU: The governor's office says they have no idea how many people may have called the sex line. They say the minute they found out about the problem, they took the message down. IVEY: It is strange. I mean, there was no malice intent from the governor's office. It was an error in drafting a script, and no one had any clue that the incorrect information was -- was as bad as -- as it is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, they were pretty slow to recognize the problem. Two months that recording was up. But Governor Crist's office, very quickly reacted after that, and we understand that he taped a new, corrected message last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLIE BROWN, CHARLIE BROWN'S CHRISTMAS: I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Aww, leave to it the recession to make one of the great Charlie Brown scenes ring so true. You ready? Cue the sad trombone, please.

Behold, Concord, California's Christmas tree.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

Exactly. That is one ratty looking piece of flora. I guess it's alive.

Well, some people say it was a bad idea. Said it reminds them of the wilted economy. But that was exactly the point. The mayor said it just doesn't make sense to pony up for an expensive, fancy tree, when the city workers who haven't gotten laid off have taken up to 10 percent in pay cuts.

Do you know what, it's no California redwood, but when you think about what the mayor has said, this tree is looking better and better.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

PHILLIPS: Oh, yes. That's our, well, it's not a pear tree, no partridges, just an old silk ficus with some AFLAC ducks that we found somewhere. Thanks, Ed.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

PHILLIPS: All right. We haven't heard from him in quite a while, but Drew Peterson is back, in and out of court as his murder trial gets closer. We're going to take another look at this guy next hour with our friend Jane Velez-Mitchell, and you know she's got lots to say about someone with one dead wife and another one who's missing.

And the Italian jury gets down to deliberations in the Amanda Knox murder trial. The American student waiting to hear her fate in a case that's grabbed the world's ear.

They rushed to bring you the story from the front lines of the war zone, but only after the big wait. We've got the "BACKSTORY."

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Waiting, waiting and more waiting. Reporters covering the war in Afghanistan spend a lot of time doing nothing as they wait to be embedded.. And he does every Friday, Michael Holmes joining us in the NEWSROOM with the "BACKSTORY." Waiting and waiting and waiting.

HOLMES: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Actually, you've had plenty of embeds.

HOLMES: I have had a couple of experiences like the one you're going to see, but not as bad. If you can imagine getting delayed at the airport or something, going to New York or wherever, and you get delayed by a couple of hours, you're annoyed. Try doing that in Afghanistan when there is nothing to do. Fred Pleitgen, Jonathan Walled, Scott (INAUDIBLE) the cameraman all had this happen to them. Check out their delay.

PHILLIPS: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERICK PLEIGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You rolling? Sup.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You do it.

PLEITGEN: So, anybody who's said that TV is glorious is dead wrong. We thought we were going to have a great embed, which we may still have. But we came here to this military base, which is the beginning point of our embed. We're going to Kandahar in Kabul right now.

Instead of being on the flight we were supposed to be on, we have now been waiting here for five hours. That's the basically the story of a lot of embeds. It's called rush to wait. You rush somewhere, they tell you be there at this exact point of time, and you get there, and then you wait for hours. So, that's what we're going to do now.

We have something like two hours left, but you can never really trust that when you're traveling with the military. It tends to be four or five hours, maybe four or five days. We never know. But we're in good company. We have our producer Jonathan Walled (ph) here, who, as you can see, has taken the time to grow a beard (LAUGHTER) just in the past couple of hours we have been waiting here. It's been a ride. Been great.

JOHNATHAN WALLED (ph), CNN PRODUCER: I shaved this morning.

PLEITGEN: He shaved this morning. Jonathan Walled beard, and an hour later we're still here, still waiting. I think, what, three flights have been cancelled to other places, so we're hoping ours doesn't.

WALLED: The first is taking off. So that's a better sign.

PLEITGEN: A better sign, yes.

WALLED: and we're told that our flight is on the tarmac. I'll believe it when I see it.

PLEITGEN: The thing that we always like to say is (INAUDIBLE), hopefully.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, the mountain at the end of the runway is fogged over. And essentially when they take off, the pilot can't see where that mountain is. So stand by to stand by. So, as soon as I know, I'll let you guys know.

PLEITGEN: Thank you.

Are we happy?

WALLED: Well, it's not canceled.

PLEITGEN: We just found out that our flight's been canceled. Now we're going to pick up our stuff off this pallet right here. And needless to say, we are not amused by what's going on. and if you pan over there, you can see our plane.

By the way, a little side note that I would like to add at this point that -- that bear that you see over there is from my hometown, from the city of Berlin. It says Berlin, 4,795 kilometers. And that's exactly how far away Kandahar feels right now. We're not anywhere near it, we're not going anywhere near it any time soon.

(CROSSTALK)

WALLED: It's about 3:00 p. That was delayed a couple of hours is canceled. We have confirmed seats on the 9:00 p, but it's not confirmed that it will leave. So we're in kind of a catch-22.

PLEITGEN: This totally sucks.

Yes, so we have just reached the 12-hour mark, we are now checking into the next flight. Here's the waiting area again. So, let's hope things go better this time.

WALLED: This is my bed.

PLEITGEN: We have been waiting since 7:30 this morning. And have been put off several times, we're supposed to take off now, actually. And we have received no information. Seems like there's a couple of planes that could be the one we're looking for on the tarmac. But haven't heard anything, so, we'll see what happens. But it is seriously getting late. So, we'll see.

The latest is that they're telling us is that we're supposed to get ready for boarding. We'll be leaving soon, hopefully. Right now I'm putting on my flak vest. Every time you go on a military flight, you have to wear a flak vest and a helmet.

There is a plane! So, now there's more waiting. We have gone from waiting inside to waiting outside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sit down along the sides.

PLEITGEN: Kandahar, here we are, we finally made it. We're off the plane, and now we're going to meet up with the unit we're going to be embedding with. It's been a long journey, and we hope it will be worth it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: I would hope it would be worth it, too, after that long of a wait. You and I never had to wait that long.

HOLMES: Not that long, no. The problem with where they were, and you were saying, too -- not stealing your thunder -- but you were saying sometimes when you've been in that situation, you can go back home.

PHILLIPS: You can go back to home base and kind of know when they're going to fire up again. Usually the next day.

HOLMES: Exactly. But these guys couldn't because the plane was going to come -- they were just waiting for the clouds to shift a little bit. So, if they left, they would have been bumped from the flight. And we're a low priority.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Yes, we're the last ones to get on there, so you don't want to lose the flight when you're covering a story.

HOLMES: Yes, amazing, poor guys. I felt bad for them. You saw Jonathan Walled the producer, he's got a beard now...

PHILLIPS: And Fred's such a patient guy. That -- got a new baby. That tests all that.

So you want to put your Facebook page.

HOLMES: Oh, yes, we always push the Web site, CNN.com/backstory. But we got a big thing on at the moment. We're in a big competition with one of the other shows on International. We're trying to get to 10,000 fans by the end of the year...

PHILLIPS: And what show is that?

HOLMES: I'm not going to say because then people will go and promote! PHILLIPS: OK Don't want to promote them (ph). OK. All right. Just please go to Facebook for Michael's show, "BACKSTORY."

HOLMES: Facebook.com/backstorycnn. Otherwise, you end up with some rock band or something, I don't know.

PHILLIPS: OK. I'll see you next week.

HOLMES: Good to see you.

PHILLIPS: Have a good weekend.

HOLMES: Bye.