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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
U.S. Airstrikes in Yemen?; Conflict Rages in Libya
Aired June 08, 2011 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone.
We begin with breaking news tonight in America's secret war, a war most people don't even know exists, but it's happening and seems to be escalating, American airstrikes on al Qaeda targets in Yemen. They had been suspended for nearly a year, but are picking up again, according to a late report tonight in "The New York Times."
Yemen's president, wounded during unrest in the country, is now in Saudi Arabia getting treatment. "The Times" is reporting that the Obama administration is taking advantage of the power vacuum to step up airstrikes, officials telling the paper they are getting fresh intelligence on targets and using it, perhaps a big step.
Let's bring in national security analyst Peter Bergen and national security contributor Fran Townsend, who is also currently a member of the CIA and Department of Homeland Security External Advisory Committee.
Fran, in terms of these attacks, what's at stake here?
FRANCES TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Anderson, it makes perfectly good sense. Remember, we use these kind of drone attacks inside the tribal region of Pakistan because we get intelligence that feeds them and we go after the operations, you know, cells in the tribal areas.
In Yemen, with this chaos, we have always had an intelligence and military presence there. Mostly the military presence was for training. But you can see how, in the chaos, they would use CIA, covert action authority, and permit the CIA director to use all of his capability. And that would include drones for strikes if he gets the intelligence.
COOPER: Peter, how does Saleh's condition change here, for better or for worse?
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, Saleh is clearly -- I don't think he's coming back to the country. I mean, he's gone. And clearly the post-Saleh era has begun in Yemen.
But, as Fran said, we have got a situation where not only drones, but also American jets are being used, which I -- that's quite a departure. There has been a relatively small U.S. special forces presence in Yemen, about 75, and obviously there's a CIA presence. And these assets have been used to put as much pressure on al Qaeda as possible.
There are reports in "The L.A. Times" also this evening, Anderson, that elements of al Qaeda have shown up in a town in the Abyan Province in the south and have had -- so it's an opportunity, but also a problem in the sense that, yes, the vacuum may allow greater space for the United States to operate, but the same vacuum is allowing al Qaeda greater space to operate.
COOPER: And, Fran, at this point, how important is Yemen for al Qaeda? Because it does seem al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is the al Qaeda group in Yemen, has really been carrying the mantle for al Qaeda and been behind a number of the more publicized attacks or attempted attacks in the last couple of years.
TOWNSEND: That's absolutely right, Anderson.
Not only have they been -- they're not only the most active, but they're also the most capable. Now, that's not saying much. Many of these attacks have been unsuccessful, bombs in underwear not detonating, that sort of thing, or in the computer cartridges. But it's the most determined, the most active and the most capable, which was why you hear U.S. counterterrorism officials saying it is the most -- it is the greatest threat to the U.S. homeland.
I will tell you, it would not surprise me the use of drones. Drones could be used as covert action because it would be deniable. I have not heard from my sources the use of military jets. That would be an overt military operation not under the control of the CIA director. That's a much different matter, and I would actually be surprised at this point if they were trying to use U.S. jets in a clandestine way.
COOPER: But, Peter, that is the report from "The Times," correct?
BERGEN: Yes, indeed. It's not -- and it has happened before, and it's been suspended because of civilian casualties. And it was, you know, unpopular, I guess, in the country itself.
But this is a moment which is -- Yemen is at a crossroads, not the first time. There was a very nasty civil war there in the mid- '90s which elements of al Qaeda also played a role in. And, in fact, Saleh himself was allied some of the Islamist militants to do some of his own dirty work. So he himself has used elements of groups close to al Qaeda in the past.
The politics are extremely complex with the tribal situation, al Qaeda's own presence there, two civil wars -- two wars already going on, even before the civil war started. So, it's a mess, and al Qaeda historically has taken advantage of messes, but here the United States is taking advantage of it as well.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: And here you have this -- in Yemen, you have this American-born cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, who the U.S. is actually -- he is, I think, what, the only American citizen that the U.S. is directly trying to assassinate.
Is that correct, Fran?
TOWNSEND: As far as we know, Anderson, that is correct.
The other interesting point here, whether it's just drones, or drones and military aircraft, you have got to ask yourself, where are these things based? Where are they flying out of? We know that the U.S. enjoys a very close, cooperative relationship with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I can't imagine they would be too happy if that were publicly revealed, if they had something to do with it.
And so you have got -- there are other questions here that remain unanswered in the article, like, where are these drones, where are these jets being based and flown from?
COOPER: A lot we don't know at this point. But it's certainly a fascinating escalation, if in fact it's happening to the degree "The Times" is reporting.
Fran, appreciate your checking with your sources, and Peter Bergen as well.
Turning next to Libya, though, and more breaking news, forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi making another attempt to take back the city of Misrata, a vitally strategic port city. Misrata has been under siege, as you know, for months and the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting in the war.
Opposition forces eventually took control of the city, but they paid a terrible price to do it, and they have been paying dearly ever since, as Gadhafi forces have continued to shell the city and murder civilians. Now it looks like the battle is very much back on.
A short time ago, I spoke with CNN's Sara Sidner, who is in Misrata, the city under siege, and with "The New York Times"' John Burns, who is in Tripoli, which has seen some of the heaviest NATO bombing yet over the last 48 hours.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Sara, what is the situation right now in Misrata?
SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What's happening today is that there has been intense, intense fighting on the front lines.
There are three front lines outside of the city, about 25 to 35 kilometers outside of the city, to the east, the south and the west. And there were 13 people killed, 24 people injured at the last time we checked the hospital -- so intense fighting from the Gadhafi forces who were trying to push into the city once again. They tried on Monday.
Things calmed down a bit on Tuesday because rebels were able to fight back and hold their positions. And then again today, things blew up. The rebels were getting hammered today. But the rebels also say they were able to push Gadhafi forces back, hold their positions, and then push the forces a little bit further to the west towards Tripoli.
So, the rebels are feeling pretty good about themselves, despite the fact that they have had casualties. Doctors at the hospital say this is the worst, the most amount of casualties that they have seen in the past week -- Anderson.
COOPER: And, John, yesterday, intensified air attacks during the day in Tripoli. What has it been like today?
JOHN BURNS, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Very quiet today, I mean, remarkably quiet, probably the quietest day for at least the last week, I would say.
But the highlight of our day, if one could call it that, was being taken out of Tripoli to this desert camp of Colonel Gadhafi's which was hit, they told us, at dusk on Tuesday, and obliterated, really, and seemed like the clearest example yet of a NATO attempt to kill Colonel Gadhafi.
COOPER: Does it -- that's the way it seems? It seems like NATO is trying to kill him? Because there have been a number of strikes at his compound or what used to be his compound. They say there's command-and-control reasons to do that. Is that not the case?
BURNS: Well, I heard from a source in Secretary Gates' entourage indirectly today that the reason they attacked the command compound in Tripoli so heavily yesterday, and really obliterated it, was that they had some intelligence that Colonel Gadhafi had been back there.
COOPER: John, I just want to clarify that you -- you said about a source telling you that the reason they had hit that compound yesterday was because they had some intelligence that Gadhafi was there. Have you reported that in the paper yet?
BURNS: No, it wasn't my source really. This came -- this came to me indirectly from somebody who had been talking to a source in Secretary Gates' entourage.
So, I can't vouch for that source, but it was put to me that it was somebody who is in a -- you know, who -- in a position to know, that this was not in respect to the desert camp, but it was in respect to the Bab al-Aziziya compound in Baghdad, the command compound.
It had been hit repeatedly before. So the question, when we went there yesterday, in a situation, I might say, made me feel a little nervous, because half or more of the press corps decided not to go, thinking that we were being used as sort of human shields.
The NATO aircraft were still bombing the city and were still in the air over this compound. We went anyway, a number of us, believing that NATO is watching the hotel in which we live and probably watching the bus that carries us to these bombing sites. And when I got there and saw the complete obliteration of these buildings, I must say, my first instinct was, what's the point? They have already gone after the bunkers beneath these buildings. They had previously attacked several of the buildings.
This time, they came back and they just turned it into kind of Berlin 1945. It was just -- it was rubble as far as the eye could see. I didn't -- I couldn't figure out why they would have done that.
But if, in fact -- and, as I say, it's not my source -- it's sort of a second or -- a secondary or tertiary source -- if in fact aides to Secretary Gates are saying that they have indications that -- that Gadhafi had returned to the compound, that would certainly explain why they went after it with such ferocity yesterday.
COOPER: Sara Sidner in Misrata, stay safe.
And, John Burns, thank you so much. I appreciate it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, let us know what you think. We're on Facebook or follow me on Twitter @AndersonCooper. I will try to be tweeting some tonight.
Coming up: the latest shocking testimony in the Casey Anthony trial -- multiple Internet searches for the word chloroform on her home computer, a computer she shared with her parents. We will have details on that and what other words she searched for. Wait until you hear some of the other ones.
Up next, more breaking news: late new calls for Anthony Weiner to step down, a sexting partner speaking out, in a truly stunning twist, reports that his wife, a top aide to Secretary of State Clinton, is pregnant -- the latest on all that and the backstory of what used to be one of Washington's power couples.
Isha Sesay has some -- a preview of our ongoing investigation into another important story -- Isha.
ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, tonight, the story continues of Kirk Andrew Murphy enrolled in a government- funded study aimed at making effeminate boys more masculine, the therapy drastic and, to modern eyes, brutal. Years later, Kirk took his own life -- tonight, part two of our investigation. How does Dr. Rekers respond to the family's allegation his therapy led to Kirk's suicide? We tracked him down in Florida to find out.
That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, still more breaking news on two fronts in the Anthony Weiner scandal to tell you about.
A growing list of Democratic colleagues now calling for his resignation and reports that his wife, Huma, is pregnant with their first child -- all on a day that began with an explicit photo of his anatomy surfacing online.
So, tonight, there's shock, deepening political damage and a child in the mix. More in a moment on his wife, Huma, who is a top aide to Secretary of State Clinton.
You're going to hear as well for the first time from one of the congressman's sexting partners.
But, first, Dana Bash with the latest from Capitol Hill, where Congressman Weiner seems to be growing more radioactive with each new revelation.
Dana, last night, the silence from Democrats was deafening. That has changed just in the last few hours. More and more Democrats, especially in the House, are now coming forward and calling on Congressman Weiner to resign.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're right, Anderson. Before today, no Democrat had public said the congressman should resign. Today, many did. And as you said, the most significant are definitely from Weiner's fellow Democrats in the House.
They started coming out one after the other late today. And now about a half-a-dozen are saying publicly it's time for Weiner to go.
And that includes Allyson Schwartz. Now, this is significant because it shows how much Democrats think this is hurting them politically. She is in charge of recruiting Democratic candidates to run in 2012.
And, Anderson, some of the language has been quite strong. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, he said this. He said: "Enough is enough. It's time for Congressman Weiner to resign. His actions have disgraced the Congress."
And what's most telling, I think, is not just the public statements. Anderson, I'm told that Weiner is now getting private calls from colleagues telling him to step down. A Democratic congressman familiar with these conversations told me that they're saying to Weiner, look, just step aside to preserve the dignity that you have left.
And this congressman told me that this -- the resentment among Weiner's colleagues has escalated, it has not diminished, since that mea culpa press conference he had on Monday, especially now with that X-rated photo surfacing on the Internet that you mentioned.
COOPER: And do we know how he's been responding to the mounting pressure?
BASH: Well, you know, he had been quite defiant both in public and in private conversations earlier this, saying he's going to stay, he's not going to resign. But one Democratic source familiar with conversations with Weiner tells me he's now conflicted, doesn't know what he wants to do. But we should note that he's not just taking calls. He's actually been making them big-time to colleagues, friends and supporters.
I spoke with a Democratic congressman who got a call from Weiner today who says he was contrite, he was choked up, said he doesn't know what he got in -- what got into him, but he did vow to try to redeem himself.
COOPER: And you have learned that he actually reached out to former President Clinton, who officiated at his wedding.
BASH: That's right. We don't have the specifics of that phone call, other than Weiner was calling the former president to apologize to him, just as he has to many others over the past three days.
But you just noted that this was a special call, because Bill Clinton is somebody who he knows very well, but, more importantly, he's very close with Weiner's wife, Huma, because Huma works for Hillary Clinton, has for years and years. And Democratic sources I talk to say that the Clintons really think of her as a daughter -- Anderson.
COOPER: It's just -- it's sad all the way around. Dana, appreciate it.
Huma Abedin, as you mention , is traveling with Secretary of State Clinton, arriving today in Abu Dhabi in the Persian Gulf. Neither she nor the secretary has said word one publicly about the scandal.
However, one of the sexting women has, a woman named Lisa Weiss, the blackjack dealer in Las Vegas telling "Inside Edition"'s Jim Moret about her conversation with the congressman and the regret for what it's done to his wife. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM MORET, CHIEF CORRESPONDENT, "INSIDE EDITION": You call this flirting, but this was very explicit sexual talk.
LISA WEISS, HAD ONLINE RELATIONSHIP WITH WEINER: Yes, I know.
MORET: Did he ever send you a photo?
WEISS: No.
MORET: What would you say to the congressman's wife?
WEISS: I feel very, very bad for talking to her husband in a way that I shouldn't have. This is -- I feel horrible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, Congressman Weiner and Huma were married just last summer, were a consummate Washington power couple.
She's deeply private. He obviously has very close relationships with the media, certainly seeks out the media.
We want to take a look at their relationship, at her, to learn more about her.
Here's Tom Foreman's report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As she travels abroad with Secretary Clinton, Huma Abedin appears to be doing what she always does, tending to her work and keeping a low profile. Friends say she's indicated she will fight for her marriage and her husband's career, but they openly worry about the couple's future.
James Carville knows Abedin.
JAMES CARVILLE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Every conversation starts the same thing: God, I wonder how Huma is holding up. She didn't do anything to deserve this. So, some -- any variation of that, every conversation always starts with that.
FOREMAN: Abedin has been a rising start in the Democratic Party ever since she interned for first lady Clinton in 1996 -- 35 this year, she was born in Michigan to parents who are both college professors. Largely raised in Saudi Arabia, she came back stateside to go to George Washington University in D.C.
She's a practicing Muslim, fluent in Arabic, and has emerged over the years as one of Clinton's closest aides and friends.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anybody else? Anybody?
FOREMAN: Famously professional, untiring, and discrete.
When candidate Clinton finally wrapped up her White House bid and thanked her staff...
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And to my extraordinary staff, volunteers and supporters...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
FOREMAN: ... the cameras went to Abedin.
(on camera): They often do. Her success, striking looks and love of high fashion even landed her a "Vogue" magazine feature in 2007, calling her Hillary's secret weapon and mentioning close ties to actor John Cusack and cyclist Lance Armstrong.
(voice-over): In that article, Clinton, who is often described as having more of a mother-daughter relationship with Abedin, said, "Her combination of poise, kindness and intelligence are matchless."
REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: OK. Stand right here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right there. Good.
FOREMAN: But it Abedin's relationship with Anthony Weiner, 12 years older and Jewish, that made Washington buzz.
He says she knew of his weakness for Internet sex chat before the wedding, but he told her it was past, and they took their vows, presided over by former President Bill Clinton -- ironic, since Abedin's internship at the White House occurred around the same time another intern was there, Monica Lewinsky.
WEINER: I love her very much, and she loves me.
FOREMAN: Representative Weiner insists, like the Clintons, he and his wife will stick together. But that's what he says. And with their first anniversary coming up in a few weeks, she is not talking.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, other news tonight: testimony in the Casey Anthony trial.
The prosecution, as you know, alleges that Casey's daughter, Caylee, was forced to inhale chloroform and suffocated to death. Well, today, the jury heard testimony from computer experts who said there were more than 80 searches on the Anthony family computer under the word "chloroform."
Up next, we will have details on that and some of the other words that were searched equally incriminating. We will talk with Dr. Sanjay Gupta about what the chemical chloroform actually does to the human body.
Also ahead, part two of our investigation, "The Sissy Boy Experiment." I hope you saw part one last night, a 5-year-old boy who played with girl's toys. He was put into a government-funded study aimed at making him more masculine. Decades later, he took his life. His family blames the researcher who conducted the experiment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were the experts. So I thought they would know what they were doing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But what they really told him was that the very core of who he was, was broken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, hear how one of the experts responds to that accusation -- we tracked him down -- when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Well, in "Crime & Punishment" tonight: new stunning testimony in the Casey Anthony murder trial.
Computer experts took the stand today and told the jury that, months before Anthony's daughter, Caylee, went missing, there were 84 Internet searches for the word "chloroform" on the family computer, including how to make chloroform.
Now, in a moment, we will talk with 360 Dr. Sanjay Gupta about what the chemical chloroform can do to the human body. Prosecutors allege Casey Anthony used chloroform to knock out Caylee before suffocating her to death.
We also learned today that there were Internet searches on the same computer for neck-breaking and head injuries. The details were uncovered on the computer's hard drive.
Gary Tuchman has the latest from the courtroom today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Casey and Caylee Anthony in 2008, just months before little Caylee disappeared, the pictures shown today in court by the prosecution. Casey Anthony in her usual spot in the courtroom showed no emotion and didn't even look at the pictures of her little girl.
Prosecutors then turned to Casey Anthony's computer, laying out what they believe to be very damning evidence.
JOHN DENNIS BRADLEY, SOFTWARE EXPERT: My name is John Dennis Bradley.
TUCHMAN: John Bradley is a software expert who was asked by investigators in Orlando to forensically investigate the computer in Casey Anthony's house. The jury was listening carefully.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that a Google search?
BRADLEY: Yes, it is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For?
BRADLEY: The words "neck breaking" with a space in between, and in -- in a visit to Wikipedia.org and "inhalation, head_injury, ruptured spleen, chest trauma, hand-to-hand combat," the search term of "internal bleeding."
TUCHMAN: All these results came from the computer three months before little Caylee disappeared.
(on camera): Prosecutors are trying to convince the jury that Casey Anthony was doing homework about ways to kill her daughter. It was presumed her attorney would cast doubt that she was the one using the computer. But, instead, he seemed to concede she was using it by saying she was surfing topics ranging from self-defense to self- protection.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A computer examiner can never testify that a person is actually reading what is on the page, right?
BRADLEY: Not without a security camera watching, that is correct.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): But the history also included Web sites about chloroform. Earlier testimony in the trial regarded chloroform being found in Anthony's car trunk, as one expert said, -- quote -- "shockingly high levels."
Chloroform can incapacitate or kill a person.
Linda Drane Burdick is one of the prosecutors.
LINDA DRANE BURDICK, PROSECUTOR: How many times was that site visited?
BRADLEY: According to the history, 84 times.
TUCHMAN: Casey Anthony was almost expressionless after that comment, too, as the evidence against her builds.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Gary, I mean, just looking at those Internet searches, it does seem like the computer evidence was very damaging to Casey Anthony's defense.
TUCHMAN: Yes, it was devastating to Casey Anthony, but not just because the search terms were so shocking. It was also because of the mitigation efforts by her attorney.
When he intimated to the jury that she was surfing and this was for self-defense, for self-protection, you think, if I was looking up self-defense terms, would I ever look up a term like neck-breaking or ruptured spleen?
Of course not. We don't know anyone who would do that. And when we talk to jurors after murder trials, one thing they tell us all the time about the losing attorney is, he treated us like we were stupid or like we were ignorant. I mean, jurors just don't believe that. No one would believe it. So that's why it really hurt her today.
COOPER: Yes. Interesting.
Gary, appreciate it. Thanks.
Let's talk more about chloroform. Want to find out what the chemical can do to the human body.
360 M.D. Sanjay Gupta joins me now.
Sanjay, when I think of chloroform, I think of movies where people -- old movies where people put chloroform in a rag and knock somebody out. What exactly is chloroform and what is it typically used for?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is a very volatile liquid. So, it's a liquid that can turn into a gas very quickly.
But, in the past -- it's exactly as you say -- it was used sort of as an anesthetic, much in the way that you have described it and much in the way that you have seen in movies. People would put some on some sort of towel or something like that and actually use it as a form of anesthetic.
And this was done even into the middle part of the last century. But it is a -- it's a very volatile liquid that sort of depresses someone's central nervous system and their ability to breathe if they breathe a lot of it in. If you breathe too much of it in, and people have known this, which is why even as an anesthetic, it had to be administered only with very skilled hands, too much of it would sort of irrevocably depress someone's central nervous system and render them unable to breathe. And that could kill them.
COOPER: So it could actually be used to kill somebody if too much of it is used?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, and there's a lot of different medications like this, certainly, that have been used as anesthetics in the past. In fact, even with regard to Michael Jackson. We were talking about Propofol at that point. The similarities between a lot of these types of things is that they sort of depress your own body's reflex to breathe on its own. The nervous system has nerves that allow the body to sort of breathe on its own. That's ultimately what causes death.
COOPER: Can someone just go into a store and buy a bottle of chloroform?
GUPTA: Not exactly. It's not something that's, you know, sort of for individual sale. You can buy it as part of -- companies can buy it sometimes to be used more commercial purposes. But simply acquiring chloroform like that as an individual is hard to do.
COOPER: And obviously, there's this testimony that somebody had used the Anthony family computer to search how to make chloroform.
GUPTA: Yes.
COOPER: Is that something -- I mean can -- does one make it?
GUPTA: Yes, it's interesting. I looked into that a little bit today, Anderson. And it's a fairly simple chemical compound. So while it's difficult to go buy, you know, as a completed product, you could potentially make it. It's not that difficult to do.
Again, you know, getting the exact concentrations correct, and even having this -- because it's so volatile, it's sort of constantly turning into gas in front of you. It can be dangerous to make on your own, but it can be done.
COOPER: Dr. Gupta, appreciate it. Thanks, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Thanks, Anderson.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Back to the legal fight. Does today's testimony on chloroform and the other Internet search words give the edge to the prosecution or the defense? Joining me now is Jean Casarez, who's covering the trial for TruTV's "In Session," and forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Hunter.
So Dr. Hunter, as I said earlier, in court today a computer specialist testified that someone in the Anthony household looked up how to make chloroform on the Internet. Is there any reason why someone would need to know how to make chloroform in everyday life?
DR. MICHAEL HUNTER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Yes. I can't imagine why someone would do a search like that for, you know, any type of household purpose at all.
COOPER: Jean, the computer experts who testified said they couldn't trace who actually did these searches. So was the defense able to cast doubt on the prosecution's assertion that it was Casey who looked up these terms? Because she lived in the house with her parents?
JEAN CASAREZ, HOST, TRUTV'S "IN SESSION": Now tonight, they didn't cross-examine on that too -- too hard, except for the fact that there really wasn't a password to get into the site. But what we do know is that whoever was making these searches would go between Photobucket, which we know Casey had a big account of photo, to MySpace to Facebook. Her parents didn't have those accounts at all.
But I think the most innocent explanation of all of this, if there is an innocent explanation, is that Casey's boyfriend at the time had put on his MySpace account, "Win her over with chloroform," like it would be an intoxicating effect for a woman in a relationship. And she could have been researching this to see what it was all about. But there were some very serious searches, genuine searches, such as neck breaking.
COOPER: So Dr. Hunter, chloroform, though, I've read is also an element that's emitted during human decomposition. So is it possible the chloroform found in Casey Anthony's car could have come from -- from a body?
HUNTER: Right. I mean, I think that's where the defense wants to put that. They want to say that the chloroform is actually just a byproduct of the decomposition process, and it is. Your body can produce small amounts of chloroform.
But keep in mind that we had an expert two days ago who analyzed the material that came from that trunk. He -- his testimony said that there was a shockingly high amount of chloroform. He says he's never seen that amount of chloroform in decomposing tissues in his work. And that's pretty powerful, and that's probably as powerful as you're going to get in this case in the discussion of chloroform.
Now, does that win the jury over? You know, I don't know. We'll have to see. And the defense can make a lot of headway when it comes to, you know, maybe pointing to the fact that this might be something that's naturally forming.
COOPER: Jean, what's coming up tomorrow?
CASAREZ: Well, Lee Anthony, the brother of Casey Anthony, has already testified once. We've seen him walking in the hallways, so we think he may be next to be put on the stand.
But remember, the prosecution's theory is not only premeditation, which I think this is probably the strongest evidence so far for that, but it's also aggravated child abuse. So that means the intentional infliction of physical injury upon your child. That could include applications of chloroform.
COOPER: And Jean, we have seen her brother testify before, and we've seen videos in which she and her brother were having conversations while she has been incarcerated. What did we learn from those videos? And we know those were essentially part of the videos where she was just lying repeatedly.
CASAREZ: That's right. And the prosecution is going chronologically: what did he learn from those videos? That her brother was desperately trying to find where Caylee was. This was a missing child investigation, and she was continually lying to him. But she also said, "You can trust Mom and Dad in all of this."
Now they're going into August, and her brother was involved with law enforcement trying to work with them. Once again, the whole family trying to find Caylee.
COOPER: Jean Casarez, appreciate it.
Dr. Michael Hunter, thank you.
HUNTER: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Still ahead, part two of our investigation, "The Sissy Boy Experiment: Uncovering the Truth." Tonight, we confront the psychologist this woman blames for her brother's suicide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIS MURPHY, SISTER OF KIRK MURPHY: This was a little boy who deserved protection, respect, and unconditional love.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Details on what happened to that little boy. Delta Airlines coming under fire for soaking -- for soaking U.S. troops returning from Afghanistan with baggage fees. We'll tell you the details and how much they charged.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Tonight, part two of our "360" investigation, "The Sissy Boy Experiment: Uncovering the Truth."
I want to show you a picture of a young man, Kirk Andrew Murphy, that was taken in the early 1970s when he was about 4 years old, a year before he got enrolled in a government-funded study aimed at making effeminate boys more masculine. His brother says this photo is the last time he remembers his brother Kirk happy.
Kirk was just 5 years old when he was treated at UCLA's Gender Identity Clinic under a pseudonym to conceal his real name. The man who ran the study was George Rekers, a graduate student at the time.
Rekers called Kirk's treatment, which his family says involved beatings at home, a success. Decades later, the research that was done on Kirk is still being cited by those who think kids can be prevented from becoming gay.
And that's what infuriates Kirk's family. They say the treatment that Rekers calls a success literally destroyed Kirk. They want you to know what he went through and the impact it had, they say, on the rest of his life. In tonight's report, we confront Rekers with their allegations.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIS MURPHY: Kirk, what do you think of your nephew?
KIRK MURPHY, SUBJECTED TO GENDER IDENTITY EXPERIMENT: Are we on camera?
MARIS MURPHY: Yes.
KIRK MURPHY: Are you taking pictures?
COOPER (voice-over): Kirk Murphy killed himself nearly six months after this video was taken in 2003. He was 38 years old and had struggled with being gay for most of his life, a struggle his family blames on experimental therapy that Kirk was subjected to as a 5-year-old child. Experimental therapy that identified him as effeminate, a so-called sissy boy, and tried to fundamentally change his behavior.
Kirk's mother enrolled him in the experimental therapy at UCLA in 1970 because of concerns he was playing with girls' toys.
KAYTEE MURPHY, MOTHER OF KIRK: They were the experts, so I thought they would know what they were doing.
MARIS MURPHY: What they really told him was that the very core of who he was, was broken.
COOPER: Kirk's family had no idea George Rekers has, for the last three decades, used Kirk as an example of a child whose effeminate behavior was successfully altered. In numerous publications, Rekers has written about Kirk, calling him Kraig to hide his identity.
KAYTEE MURPHY: I blame them for the way his life turned out. If one person causes another person's death, I don't care if it's 20 or 50 years, it's the same as murder in my eyes.
COOPER: Of course, the actual reason someone commits suicide is difficult, if not impossible, to know. Kirk's family's allegations that George Rekers' therapy caused Kirk to take his own life are just that, allegations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From CNN. I'd like to talk about your therapy that you did with Kraig.
COOPER: George Rekers didn't respond to CNN's repeated request for an interview, so our producers tracked him down in Florida to ask him about the Murphy family's allegations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you just talk to us for a second about your therapy with the patient named Kraig?
GEORGE REKERS, CONDUCTED EXPERIMENT: It's published.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've interviewed Kraig's family recently. They say that the therapy you did with him as a child led directly to his suicide as an adult. What do you say about that?
REKERS: I didn't know that. That's too bad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not aware of his suicide?
REKERS: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you say to the family if you say that the therapy that you did with him as a child led to his suicide as an adult?
REKERS: Well, I think scientifically, that would be inaccurate, to assume that it was the therapy. But I do grieve for the parents now that you've told me that news. I think that's very sad.
COOPER: Rekers pointed out that his work with Kirk took place decades before his suicide.
REKERS: That's a long time ago. You have a hypothesis that positive treatment back in the 1970s had something to do with something happening decades later. That hypothesis needs a lot of scientific investigation to see if it's valid.
Two independent psychologists of me had evaluated him and said he was better adjusted after treatment. So it wasn't my opinion. COOPER: One of those psychologists has since died. The other, Larry Ferguson, told us he did evaluate Kirk Murphy as a teenager. He told us the family was well-adjusted and he didn't see any red flags when evaluating Kirk.
But Kirk's family says he lied to those examining him, something he learned to do, they say, to avoid punishments, which were part of the experimental therapy Rekers conducted.
MARIS MURPHY: He was conditioned to say what he thought they wanted to hear.
COOPER: Rekers insists the therapy was intended to help Kirk and his parents.
REKERS: I only meant to help. The rationale was positive, to help children, help the parents who come to us in their distress, asking questions: "What can we do to help our child be better adjusted?"
COOPER: George Rekers has had a nearly three-decade career as a champion of the anti-gay movement. In addition of being a founding member of the Family Research Council, he was also a board member of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, or NARTH, an organization whose members attempt to treat those who struggle with what they call unwanted homosexuality.
Just last year, however, in a surprising twist, George Rekers' days as a prominent anti-gay activist abruptly ended. Rekers was caught with a young male escort he'd hired to accompany him on a trip to Europe. This photograph was taken of them in the airport in Miami. Rekers says he's not gay and denies sexual contact with the escort. He says he hired him to help him carry his luggage. The escort says he gave Rekers sexual massages while in Europe.
Rekers resigned from NARTH after the scandal, and the Family Research Council said in a statement they haven't had contact with him in over a decade.
Rekers' reputation among those who oppose homosexuality may be tarnished, but his research is still being cited. In this book he co- authored, "Handbook of Therapy for Unwanted Homosexual Attractions," he continues to cite his work with Kirk, whom he calls Kraig, as a success. He writes that the case was, quote, "the first experimentally-demonstrated reversal of a cross-gender identity with psychological treatment." The book was published in 2009, six years after Kirk Murphy took his own life.
MARIS MURPHY: The research has a postscript to it that needs to be added, and that is to acknowledge that Kirk Andrew Murphy was Kraig, and he was gay, and he committed suicide.
COOPER (on camera): What do you want people to -- to remember about Kirk, to know about Kirk?
MARIS MURPHY: That this was a little boy who deserved protection, respect, and unconditional love. And I don't want him to be remembered as a science experiment. He was a person.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: What happened to Kirk Andrew Murphy isn't just a piece of history. Today all around the country, children whose families are concerned they may be gay are being sent to therapy based, in part, on George Rekers' research. It happened to a young man named Ryan Kendall (ph) when he was just 14.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought there was some legitimacy to this idea that I was an evil sinner who was going to burn in hell, and for years I thought that God hated me because I was gay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, Ryan says the therapy he was forced to get drove him to drugs and into a deep depression. Tomorrow in part three of our investigation, you'll hear more from Ryan and from the psychologist who treated him, who says he's kept hundreds of children from growing up to be gay.
Still ahead tonight, a freak accident. Dozens of Air Force ROTC cadets struck by lightning.
Plus, the soldier's YouTube video that embarrassed a major airline into changing its policy on baggage fees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good business model, thank you. We're actually happy to be back in America. God bless America. Not happy. Not happy at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Isha Sesay is following some other stories tonight. She joins us with a "360 News & Business Bulletin" -- Isha.
ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, a lightning strike at Camp Shelby military base in Mississippi sent 77 Air Force ROTC cadets to hospital today. The military said all of the reservists were responsive and stable, though two were carried by ambulances.
The United States' costly effort to stabilize Afghanistan has had limited success, according to a new Senate report. What's more, the report, based on a two-year investigation, said Afghanistan was sinking into deeper crisis after a U.S. troop withdrawal. The U.S. has sent nearly $19 billion in aid to the troubled nation.
And U.S. soldiers returning from Afghanistan got an unwelcome surprise from Delta Airlines. The unit was charged almost $3,000 in baggage fees. Soldiers with more than three bags have had to pay $200 per extra bag, no matter what was in it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For me, it was a weapons case holding my M- 4s, 203 grenade launcher and 9 millimeter, the tools that I used to protect myself and Afghan citizens while I was deployed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Well, Anderson, this incident is sparking outrage after some of the soldiers posted the YouTube video. And today, well, Delta changed its policy. Effective immediately, the airline will allow military personnel traveling on orders to check more bags for free, Anderson.
COOPER: Amazing that they hadn't done that already.
Isha, appreciate it. Thanks.
Time now for the "RidicuList." Tonight, with a heavy heart, we add our good friend Jon Stewart. Now, Jon was doing what we in the TV business -- and yes, I'm including myself, because I'm nothing in my desperately trying to cling to my youth by staying up on the lingo -- call a bit.
He was mocking Congressman Anthony Weiner's habit of sipping water during his news conference. And look, let's be honest, of all of Congressman Weiner's habits, his thirst for water, the least of his problems.
Anyway, ever the showman and perhaps a nod to his comedic idol, Gallagher, Jon brought out some props, namely a blender and margarita glass. And that's when things took a most unfortunate turn.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, HOST, COMEDY CENTRAL'S "THE DAILY SHOW": That's not good. I'm probably going to need to go to the hospital.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Jon, have you learned nothing from your wise friends over here at CNN? I mean, if there's anything we've been clear about, is that dangerous stunts have no place on respectable television.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANCHEZ, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: I'm about to receive 50,000 volts of electricity. Do it. Oh, yi, yi! It hurts! It's painful. But no one is dead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Now, remember Jon, television, particularly coverage of politics, is about being straightforward with your viewers. It should have nothing to do with gimmicks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: We're joined now via hologram with -- by Will.i.am, who is live in Grand Park. Let's see if we can beam him in now. There we go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Still have no idea what that was all about.
This is the medium of Murrow and Huntley Brinkley. We, as broadcasters, are bestowed a great privilege, the power to communicate with the American people. We are guardians of the national conversation. We're not part of some dog-and-pony show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: A pony with a dog on it?
SESAY: A pony with a dog on it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: You have to ask yourself, Jon, do you want to be just another matinee anchorman? Say just for the sake of argument, one with steely-blue eyes, silver hair and a noble chin that says, yes, you can trust me, but don't push your luck?
Because you know what happens to those guys? They fall in love with risky stunts, and they end up jumping the shark.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It definitely gets your heart beating. So we're like the jackal at a lion feed? The Great Whites are the lions, we're the jackals?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Yes, we dived with sharks. So what?
In the end, I'm happy to report that, after a few stitches, Jon is on the mend and back at work. So Jon, if you're watching this, either at home or on your sofa or perhaps in a coffee shop, watching a YouTube clip on your titanium Mac PowerBook in between journaling, please know that we're begging you to stay away from booze and sharp objects. We want you to stay out of the emergency room and off the "RidicuList."
A lot more news at the top of the hour. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Good evening, everyone. We begin with breaking news tonight in America's secret war, a war most people don't even know exists, but it's happening and seems to be escalating. American air strikes on al Qaeda targets in Yemen.
They've been suspended for nearly a year but are picking up again, according to a late report tonight in "The New York Times." Yemen's president, wounded during unrest in the country, is now in Saudi Arabia getting medical treatment. The "Times" is reporting that the Obama administration is taking advantage of the power vacuum to step up air strikes, officials telling the paper they are getting fresh intelligence on targets and using it.
