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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
President Bush Signs Bill to Pay for Operations in Iraq, Afghanistan; Pentagon Unveils Troop Rotation Plan; 37 Year-Old Woman Dies During Gastric Bypass Surgery
Aired November 06, 2003 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST (voice-over): The ban. Will women seeking late-term abortions be turned away?
On patrol. An exclusive look at the dangers facing foot soldiers in Fallujah.
Stomach stapling surgery goes terribly wrong.
Rosie O'Donnell takes the stand.
And their husbands led deadly double lives: the wives of serial killers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: And a good evening. Welcome to 360.
We begin with the mission in Iraq, a story that is playing out on several fronts today. The president in Washington signed an $87 billion bill to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and urged the Middle East to embrace democracy now. The Pentagon unveiled a plan to bring U.S. troops out of Iraq and rotate fresh troops in. And the defense secretary is facing question on whether there will be enough troops to finish the mission.
And in Iraq, we'll take you on patrol in Fallujah. An exclusive look in a place called the cradle of Iraqi resistance. Not far from where that chopper was shot down Sunday and residents actually celebrated. We have coverage on all these fronts tonight.
Ben Wedeman was on that patrol in Fallujah. Jamie McIntyre is at the Pentagon. But we begin with Suzanne Malveaux at the White House -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Bush says that it would really be reckless to accept the status quo. So he says there's a new policy when it comes to the Middle East. He says working with those countries that are pursuing democratic reforms.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice-over): President Bush declared his mission to free Iraq as a watershed event at the heart of a global democratic revolution.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States has adopted a new policy, a forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East.
MALVEAUX: Mr. Bush said the U.S. will no longer support Arab Nations who don't share America's democratic philosophy.
BUSH: Sixty years of Western Nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe. Because in the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty.
MALVEAUX: The president praised some Mideast countries for their reforms: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Yemen, while he gently prodded important U.S. allies, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to do better. But he criticized Iraq and Syria for what he called their legacy of torture and oppression. And he chastised the leadership of Iran and the Palestinian Authority for standing in the way of democratic change. Mr. Bush's speech was his latest attempt to highlight what's at stake in Iraq.
BUSH: The failure of Iraqi democracy would embolden terrorists around the world and increase dangers to the American people and extinguish the hopes of millions in the region.
MALVEAUX: The president did get some support from Congress, which cleared the way for his signing of an $87.5 billion package for military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: All right. Suzanne joins us now. Suzanne, the president says the U.S. is not going to support Arab nations that don't share our democratic philosophy. What exactly does that mean for allies like Egypt or Saudi Arabia?
MALVEAUX: Well, Anderson, it could mean trade, aid or investment, but there are really no concrete plans at this time. This was a vision statement. These are the type of things the president has told Arab leaders behind the scenes in private but now is making public to put more pressure on them, essentially giving and putting these countries on notice. This is what the United States expects -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Suzanne Malveaux, at the White House, thanks very much.
At the Pentagon today, the defense secretary unveiled troop deployment plans with two groups in particular listening very closely: military families wondering if their loved one is coming home or heading out, and critics in Congress who say the Pentagon isn't devoting enough manpower to Iraq. Secretary Rumsfeld tried to blunt that criticism today.
Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even as attacks on U.S. forces mount, the Pentagon is planning to send about 25,000 fewer troops to Iraq for the second year of U.S. occupation. However, the Pentagon argues the rotation plan provides a better mix of forces to battle insurgents.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Numbers do not necessarily equate with capability. We are bringing in forces that are appropriate to deal with the evolving threats in Iraq today, including more mobile infantry elements.
MCINTYRE: Also among the 85,000 fresh combat troops being alerted are three Army National Guard brigades built around the Army's new, more nimble striker combat vehicles. Altogether, some 43,000 Guard and Reserve troops are getting the call. Mostly Army, but Marines, Navy and Air Force units are also being tapped. Some heading to Afghanistan. It's a strain on the citizen soldiers, but unavoidable, insists the Pentagon.
LT. GEN. NORTON SCHWARTZ, JOINT STAFF OPERATIONS DIRECTOR: Ladies and gentlemen, we are at war. This is not peacetime. And so under the circumstances we find ourselves, we are going to respond to the nation's call.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: Now, Pentagon officials stress that this plan is not written in stone and that if U.S. commanders decide later they need more troops, they'll get them -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Jamie McIntyre, thanks.
To Iraq now, where two more soldiers were killed in what has been a very bloody week indeed. Today, the military held a memorial outside Baghdad for he 15 soldiers killed Sunday when their chopper was shot down near Fallujah. Now, some Fallujah residents cheered when it happened. It is a place that has fought the U.S. presence from the beginning; one of the most dangerous places to be an American in Iraq.
CNN's Ben Wedeman got an exclusive look at life on patrol in Fallujah.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CAIRO BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): This probably isn't the best way to see Fallujah, but for the 82nd Airborne Brigade's Bravo Company, it seems like the safest. They've come to the mayor's office to guard a meeting between brigade representatives and local religious and tribal leaders. Captain Ryan Houston is the brigade's liaison with Fallujah's mayor and police. His office has been bombed. He has seen Iraqi policemen and his own men injured in a series of attacks.
CAPT. RYAN HOUSTON, MILITARY LIAISON TO FALLUJAH: But despite all this, our mission stands steadfast and we will not stray from that mission. We will stay here until safety and security is established in Fallujah.
WEDEMAN: Not everyone cared for his message. "Ninety-nine percent of the people want he Americans to leave," contractor Mohammed al-Jumani (ph) told me. Others want the Americans to stay, but to stay out of the city.
"The coalition forces should remain on the outskirts of Fallujah to avoid being killed, and to avoid killing innocent people," says Sheikh Rapa (ph). After the meeting, it's clear frustration is mutual.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just getting a little tired of the way things are going here, and we are just asking for their support.
WEDEMAN: The mayor's office has become the scene for a tense test of wills between U.S. troops and their invisible foes in Fallujah.
(on camera): This compound has become the epicenter for trouble in Fallujah. Rarely does a day go by when it doesn't come under fire.
(voice-over): Just to make their point, the Americans swooped down on the mayor's office at night, setting up gun positions, waiting for an attack that, on this night, never happened.
(on camera): How does it feel to work in a place that looks like it's a magnet for bullets and RPGs?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it is a magnet. I mean, we've been attacked pretty much every day. I mean, just (UNINTELLIGIBLE) smaller or bigger attack doesn't matter. I mean, it's my job. So I just come out here to do it.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): A job that requires one finger on the trigger and the other on this city's pulse.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WEDEMAN: Now, Anderson, we went on a variety of patrols with these men from the 82nd Airborne Brigade. They pride themselves for being out there, showing their presence. And that attitude seems to have yielded some fruit. They recently arrested two senior former generals from the Iraqi army. And they believe that their capture may lessen the number of attacks on their men in that city -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Ben Wedeman, thanks very much for that tonight.
Just in tonight to CNN, we have finally confirmed tonight that 16 soldiers were actually killed in that chopper crash on Sunday. It has been revised up from 15 again. Sixteen U.S. soldiers were killed in that chopper crash near Fallujah on Sunday. That just in.
We turn now to the all-out legal war over the new abortion ban signed by the president just yesterday. And this just in to CNN from The Associated Press. A federal judge in San Francisco has blocked the government from enforcing the new abortion law at Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide.
A judge in New York says the law could be declared unconstitutional. It follows a similar ruling in Nebraska just yesterday. As the administration avows to fight anyone trying to block its enforcement, Justice Department correspondent Kelli Arena reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dr. Warren Hern, the director of the Boulder Abortion Clinic, for nearly three decades, says he won't change the way he practices medicine, despite the new abortion law.
DR. WARREN HERN, DIRECTOR, BOULDER ABORTION CLINIC: I'm going to continue taking care of my patients. I'm a physician, I'm not a lawyer.
ARENA: Hern says the ban on what critic call partial-birth abortion is vaguely worded and, if interpreted broadly, could outlaw most abortions performed in the United States.
HERN: It's very difficult to know whether we are going to be violating the law or not, because every surgical procedure we do is different. Every patient's needs are different.
ARENA: But supporters insist the language is both specific and clear.
DOUGLAS JOHNSON, NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE COMMITTEE: This bill makes it crystal clear that it's only a partial-birth abortion covered by the ban if the baby is delivered outside the mother feet first, past the naval. It's written right into the bill.
ARENA: Judges in New York and Nebraska sided with opponents, issuing temporary restraining orders against the ban, affecting providers nation wide. The judge's ruled because the new law does not contain an exception to protect a woman's health it could be declared unconstitutional, as the Supreme Court has ruled before.
THOMAS GOLDSTEIN, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW EXPERT: The way it's shaping up right now, this issue is headed back to the Supreme Court. We already have two pretty comprehensive injunctions.
ARENA (on camera): As both sides prepare for more court battles, the ban for now remains in legal limbo. Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Well, some other news to report tonight. Let's take a quick trip "Cross Country."
Washington, D.C.: don't log on. A federal judge frant grants an FDA request to shut down RX Depot, a popular Internet company that sells cheaper drugs from Canada. The move is expected to have a particular impact on seniors who buy drugs from Canada to lower their drug costs.
West Chester, Ohio: workplace shooting. Two workers are killed at an Ohio trucking company. Now, the suspected gunman is arrested in Indiana after fleeing the scene. Police say he worked at the company until two years ago.
Chandler, Arizona: shot and run over. A Major League Baseball player found dead. Police are holding a man as they investigate the death of Cincinnati Reds outfielder Dernell Stenson. Now, police say the man is booked for allegedly stealing Stenson's SUV. They still don't know who shot Senson, and why.
Palestine, West Virginia: confirmation. A spokesman for Jessica Lynch's family says, yes, an upcoming biography will mention she was apparently raped by her Iraqi captors. The book goes on sale Tuesday.
That's a look at stories "Cross Country" tonight.
The $100 million battle that is getting very personal. Rosie O'Donnell takes the stand in her own defense. We'll take you inside the trial.
Also tonight: Martha Stewart fires back. Hear what she says about the possibility of going to prison.
And married to a serial killer: a look at the double lives of murderers.
First, let's take a look "Inside the Box" at the top stories on tonight's network newscasts.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, tomorrow night fans can cozy up with their hot cocoa with a marshmallow snowflakes recipe on page 188 of the latest "Martha Stewart Living" and here from the domestic diva at long last. Martha Stewart admits to Barbara Walters on "20/20" yes, she has a temper, no she's not a corporate criminal and, yes, she's scared. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA WALTERS, "20/20": What's been the most painful part of all of this?
MARTHA STEWART, FOUNDER AND FMR. CEO, MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA: I think a delay in a good life, a hiatus in a really fine existence. At my age, there's no time for an unexpected, undesirable, unwanted hiatus. None. One that you can't really control. It's difficult.
WALTERS: Especially for a lady who is used to controlling.
STEWART: Well, especially for a lady who has lots more to do.
WALTERS: Martha, it is possible that you could be sent to prison for up to 30 years. Are you scared?
STEWART: Who wouldn't be scared? Of course I'm scared. The last place I would ever want to go is to prison. And I don't think I will be going to prison, though.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, Stewart also admits to not being able to touch a cabbage after her legendary cabbage chopping TV appearance right after the scandal broke last summer. Her trial on charges of securities fraud and obstruction of justice is set for January 12th.
Time for "Justice Served" now, and another powerful woman in the crosshairs: Rosie O'Donnell. O'Donnell took the stand today in a fierce battle with her former publisher over who is to blame for her magazine's demise. The publisher has argued that rather than being the queen of nice, she was the boss from hell and helped destroy her own creation. Today, O'Donnell herself fought back.
CNN's Mary Snow was there -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, word that Rosie O'Donnell would take the stand brought out cameras and a packed courtroom. This, as Rosie O'Donnell testified in this case against Gruner + Jahr, the publisher, of what is now her defunct magazine.
And after days of heated testimony, yesterday emotional testimony, today a contrast, with O'Donnell being subdued as she took the stand, referring to the judge as "Sir" several times. Even saying to him nervously at one point, "This is my first time doing this."
The testimony really surrounded on business and how she became involved in this venture, a venture that was supposed to be similar to the magazine of Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey. She testified late in the day for under two hours, coming out of court. She was asked how she felt she did.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSIE O'DONNELL, FMR. TALK SHOW HOST: I sat through their entire case. I was hoping for summary judgment. I will now wait until the end of the case, and then I feel fairly certain that the judge will decide in our favor as the facts are very, very cut clear.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SNOW: O'Donnell in court referring to the venture of, in her words, the mess of what became of this magazine. Now, before she testified, the court also heard from Dan Bruster (ph), the CEO of Gruner + Jahr, the publisher, and testimony focused on financials.
Lawyers for O'Donnell accusing him of managing financials so that numbers were inflated to prevent O'Donnell from being able to walk away from their contract without having to pay for any losses. That is something he denied.
Earlier in the day, he came out, too, facing reporters, saying that the case wasn't about what he called the pyrotechnics that the other camp made. And when it comes down to it, it's about a business deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fundamental question is, did she one day in a fit of tantrum simply walk away? And that's what she did. And that is what we are demonstrating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: O'Donnell will take the stand again tomorrow morning -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Mary Snow, thanks very much.
Now, more on this very ugly fight. We are joined now in San Francisco by 360 legal analyst Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom. And here in New York, a reporter who has been in the courtroom, David Carr of "The New York Times." Appreciate both of you being with us.
David, let me start off with you. You were there today in the courtroom for her testimony. How did Rosie O'Donnell do on the strand?
DAVID CARR, MEDIA REPORTER, "NEW YORK TIMES": I thought she was a surprisingly good witness. She was amazingly nervous, considering how much time she spent in the public eye. But a lot of people have been speculating that she might be full of rage and vitriol up on the witness stand. And she was funny.
She seemed smart. She responded to questions perhaps a little more -- in a little more verbose fashion than the judge would have liked. But he cut her off, but in a very gentle way. She did herself some good today I think.
COOPER: Interesting to hear.
Kimberly, this has gotten very personal. Yesterday, there was some testimony. O'Donnell was quoted as saying "You know what happens to people who lie. They get sick and they get cancer." Allegedly, she said this to one of her former employees.
Why is that being introduced? I mean, this is not a jury trial. It's in front of a judge. It's essentially a contract dispute.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE NEWSOM, 360 LEGAL ANALYST: It's a great question, Anderson. What we've seen here is so much about the politics of personality. It's really bad. It's bad for them on everybody's part. And I'm sure Rosie regrets saying that.
But I think it demonstrates that this was a hostile work environment for both sides. It helps her in that it shows that she wasn't getting along with her colleagues. And part of the blame is to be on their side, I think, as well. But it really doesn't have a lot to do with the contract breach issue.
In fact, it could help the other side by saying, look at how terrible she was to work with. This was an impossible situation. She was beginning to breach that working relationship before she ever walked out.
COOPER: Now, David, there have been negotiations, I guess, all throughout this about possibly settling this case. It came close. I guess I read in your article it fell apart. What happened?
CARR: I think what happened is they got there on the money issues. I don't know what there is to really fight about in terms of money. But Rosie does not want to sign a confidentiality agreement. She keeps saying that she did tonight when she left the courtroom in the rain that she's interested in settling and ready to settle, but she does not want to be muzzled. She wants to be free to talk about what she wants to talk about, when she wants to talk about it
COOPER: Kimberly, why go for a non-jury trial? I mean, what is the benefit of appearing before a judge? A judge who -- I mean, I've been reading David's article. Apparently all court reporters say a very experienced judge.
NEWSOM: I think it's good that this is in front of a judge. This could be too much a popularity contest. You run the risk if you have jurors that are big Rosie fans or people that just could be irritated and turned off by comments like the cancer comment. And what judges do is they maintain control.
They keep the damages down and they put a more reasonable approach to things. He's going to maintain, I think, an even keel on this, not so favoritism to either side. He's very experienced and he's doing a great job of controlling the courtroom.
COOPER: All right. Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom, good to talk to you. And David Carr, thanks very much. I enjoy your writing. Thank you, David.
CARR: My pleasure.
COOPER: All right.
That brings us to today's "Buzz Question." Are female executives held to a different standard than men? You can vote now, cnn.com/360. We'll have the results for you at the end of our program. Smoking gun in the sniper trial. Will ballistics evidence be convincing in the case against John Muhammad? We will go live outside the courthouse.
Plus: serial killers and the women who marry them. Find out why the most notorious murderers lead secret double lives.
And those kids starved to the brink of death. Find out why the church and community are supporting parents who have been accused of severely abusing their adopted children.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Want to take you now to Virginia Beach, Virginia, and the latest from the trial of sniper suspect John Muhammad. Today, prosecutors tried to show that the gun found in Muhammad's car was the gun used in the shootings. They also gave their theory on how they believe the suspects might have turned in an old Chevy Caprice, or how they might have turned that into a mobile killing machine.
The story from CNN's Jeanne Meserve.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Prosecutors had a replica of the trunk of John Muhammad's Caprice carted into court Thursday so jurors could see the purported rifle port in the trunk. Then a video in which two camouflaged-clad police officers demonstrated how a sniper could lift the hinged back seat, crawl into the trunk and fire. A Bushmaster .223 semi automatic rifle, like the one found in the Caprice, only 34.5 inches long, but capable of shooting a bullet at 2,000 miles per hour.
MIKE BOUCHARD, ATF: The weapon seized from the vehicle occupied by Muhammad has been forensically determined to be the murder weapon.
MESERVE: Determined through ballistics test like these done at the ATF laboratory in Amondale (ph), Maryland. Thursday in court, prosecution ballistics experts link the Bushmaster found in the car to 11 sniper shootings, a 12th in Louisiana and a 13th in Alabama, to the exclusion of all other weapons.
Who fired the rifle is one of the mysteries in this case. But Thursday, jurors saw a snapshot of Lee Malvo at a party months before the shootings wearing a T-shirt with a sniper logo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: The defense argued strenuously against the use of the mock-up of the trunk, saying it was inaccurate and incomplete and against the use of the video because they said it illustrated only a theory. They lost, but they did mount some of the most spirited cross-examinations of the entire trial. And tomorrow, we expect to learn whether the jurors will see the real Caprice, rather than a replica -- Anderson.
COOPER: Well, a lot of emotional testimony. Jeanne Meserve, thanks very much.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Married to a serial killer. A husband's deadly secret.
And stomach-stapling surgery goes terribly wrong
We'll be right back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Time to check tonight's top stories in "The Reset." In Washington, D.C.: cash on the way. President Bush signs into law the bill that provides $87.5 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan. The money will be used for military and reconstruction efforts.
Meanwhile, a new CNN/Gallup poll suggests more Americans don't like how President Bush is handling the situation in Iraq. 54 percent of those polled disapprove of what's been done compared to 45 percent who approve. While there's growing optimist on how the president is handling the economy, 47 percent approve of his performance and that is up from 42 percent just a month ago.
There's mixed feedback on the economy from Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. He says the economy is poised to start creating jobs. But he worries about rising budget deficits.
We go to Los Angeles now. On the defensive, Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger will hire an investigative firm to look into past allegations by several women that he groped them. That's according to a spokesman for Schwarzenegger. The announcement came after the state attorney general told Schwarzenegger associates that complaints of sexual abuse won't simply go away by continuing to ignore it.
Modesto, California: grim testimony. The lead detective in the Laci Peterson case told the court today two weeks before she was murdered, Scott Peterson told his mistress that his wife was dead and that he was about to spend his first Christmas without her.
And that's "The Reset."
A follow-up now to the staggering confession by Gary Ridgeway the Green River Killer, who admits to killing 48 women. The footnote that grabbed our attention was this, he was married three times. And he is not the first serial killer leading a deadly double life with a wife at home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't understand how he could have done it without his wife or family knowing about it. COOPER: Those words were spoken about Robert Yates who pleaded guilty to 13 murders and buried a body outside of his bedroom where his wife Linda slept. John Wayne Gacy killed 33 young men and boys in Chicago. He was married when his killing sprees began.
Albert DeSalvo confessed to all of the Boston Strangler murders, which he said he committed while married with kid. Ted Bundy who may have murdered up to 36 women, had a girlfriend who married him while he was on trial.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guilty.
COOPER: And now there's Gary Ridgeway, who confessed to murdering 48 women. He has had three wives. The third separating from him only after his arrest.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: I want to talk more about the deadly double lives of serial killers with a criminal profiler Pat Brown. She's spoken to wives of serial killers. But we should make clear that she has not spoken to the wives of the people we'll talk about tonight. She joins us tonight from Minneapolis. Pat's the author of "Killing For Sport: Inside The Mind Of Serial Killers." Pat, good to see you again.
Let's take this woman, Linda Yates, for example. I understand she says that she never suspected her husband was doing anything wrong and yet he confessed to, I believe, 13 murders. How can it be?
PAT BROWN, AUTHOR: Well, I think she suspected something was wrong. There are these little hints you get, kind of like when somebody is cheating on you. The husband who comes home late from the office, who disappears, who makes odd phone calls. Still the wife says, well I wasn't sure he was doing anything because I found no evidence of it.
In this case, when you have a serial killer, he doesn't even have a live victim that you could ever find out about. A guy who is cheating, at least, you might find from somebody else, that somebody has said something, a woman has said she's been with him.
COOPER: People profile serial killers. Are there profiles of the women who marry them. Ted Bundy wife, for instance, I think was his girlfriend and married him while he was, I think, in prison or about to go to prison.
BROWN: Well, there's different kinds. If a woman married a guy who is in prison who says he's a serial killer, she's just one sick woman. But if you have someone who marries him when she's very young, she may just be naive and not know what men are all about, not recognize the signs.
Some women marry older and they are needy. They want somebody so badly, they'll minimize the things they notice. Yes, he's a little odd, has social problems, but everybody has their problem. I'm going to help him out. I can show him how to act a little bit better, teach them a few things and then she stays with him because she has a husband.
And as long as he's hiding this from her and it's pretty easy to hide if you don't have a live person to tell you about it. He's going to grab this woman where nobody sees. He's going to kill her, so there's no evidence left. All he has to do is arrive home and be sure he's not full of blood. And he walks back home and says, hi hun, I'm home for dinner. And she just assumes he's just a little late for dinner, but so are a lot of husbands. And she minimizes his behavior.
COOPER: Denial is not justice a river.
BROWN: Exactly.
COOPER: Why do these men need to be married? I mean, why -- if they have these compulsions toward some women or whomever their victims are, why maintain this double life? Why have a home with a wife?
BROWN: Well, serial killers are like everyone else. They want to have a normal life. The woman is very useful to him. He probably does not love her. Well, let me say this, he does not love her because serial killers did not love people. They either use them or get rid of them.
In this case, the wife is useful to him. She provides -- he looks like a regular guy. Look what he's achieved, he's been able to get a wife. Plus she might help out with the money. He might provide security. Maybe she's the one keeping the job.
She offers him a lot of stability that he can hide behind and then go do what he wants. And as long as he has a woman not paying much attention, they'll minimize everything. Even the police will say the same thing. Well, you know, he's a married guy, he must not be a serial killer. It's a way for him to hide what he's doing.
COOPER: Just fascinating. Pat Brown, thanks very much. Good to talk to you.
BROWN: My pleasure, Anderson.
COOPER: We go now to Capitol Hill where the case of four adopted boys found starving in New Jersey has grabbed the attention of lawmakers. While many of outraged, some people in the community are actually coming to the defense of the boys' parents. CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are not monsters.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Reverend Harry Thomas fiercely defended the family he has known for 15 years.
REV. HARRY THOMAS, COME ALIVE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH: The reason no abuse was noticed was that there was no abuse going on. FEYERICK: Prosecutors accuse Raymond and Vanessa Jackson of starving their four adopted boys, but the family's pastor was testifying on Capitol Hill and lashed out against the eldest boy, Bruce, indicating the story he told prosecutors was not true.
Investigators charged the Jacksons with abuse, based in part on Bruce's statement. Bruce, now 19, weighed just 45 pounds when he was found. The pastor said, Bruce's has mental problems and that he's been kicked out of many schools.
THOMAS: Ray Jackson was asked one time why in the world did he choose to adopt someone like Bruce. Ray said he and Vanessa had discussed it and decided that they -- if they didn't adopt him no one else would.
FEYERICK: New Jersey's child welfare agency had long consider the Jacksons a good family. Now the agency is publicly condemning them. That's a total change, said the family's pastor. He told lawmakers, the agency often called the Jacksons in emergencies to take in foster kids.
THOMAS: Their only thanks is to be thrown in jail.
FEYERICK: Officials say, the children had not seen a doctor or dentist in 5 years, despite the parents' claim they had eating disorders.
COLLEEN MAGUTRE, NJ. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES: Their teeth are rotted and five of the seven children had head lice.
FEYERICK: Members of the House Subcommittee didn't buy the reverend's allegations.
REP. DONALD PAYNE, (D) NEW JERSEY: These children are victims and you turn these children around. As a man of the bible, to say there's something wrong with these abnormal children is absolutely wrong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Since being removed from the adoptive parents, officials say that all four boys have put on significant weight. However, experts testifying at the hearing make it clear that they are not out of the woods emotionally. It will be a long time before these boys are able to put the pieces of their lives together.
COOPER: It's fascinating to see people are coming forward to support the parents in this. I mean, were there preexisting eating disorders with some of these kids?
FEYERICK: That's what many in the community though. They simply thought that the boys, because they had been in foster care and there was some evidence of abuse when they were first adopted that it was just something that affected how they grew ultimately. But the officials are saying, look, we have them in the hospital. We are feeding them. They are putting on weight normally. Had they been given proper food and been monitored, had they even been taken to a doctor then it never would have happened and they wouldn't have been so underweight.
COOPER: It's terrible. Deborah Feyerick thanks very much.
Time for a quick check of "The Current." The designers of the Euro are going back to the drawing board and the atlas. It turns out that the current bills design omitted Cyprus and drew an ocean where reliable sources tell us Malta is actually located. CNN has confirmed that both Cyprus and Malta actually are real places. Who knew?
A British survey finds that toddlers are starting to act like teens. 42 percent of 3-year-olds reportedly have their own television and half have their own CD player. A 3-year-old. In a related story, there's been a 50 percent increase in fetal cell phone usage. All right, I made up that last part.
Burbank airport is going to be renamed Bob Hope Airport pending approval by local officials. However, there is still no support whatsoever for a brand new Phyllis Diller bus depot.
Mel Gibson is launching a new sitcom for ABC, but only as executive producer. The move is seen as a coup for ABC, because the sitcom will not be in Aramaic.
And still to come this evening, a woman who dies after having the surgery that's become an increasingly popular way for people to lose weight. What went wrong?
Also tonight, "Overkill." Thy name is Neo. Yes, yes, we know he's the one. Get over it already. We'll look at "The Matrix" mania.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Just responding to some of your e-mails. You can always send me your instant feedback any time, cnn.com/360. I'll be reading some of them after the program, try to respond to as many as I can.
In recent years, gastric bypass surgery, or stomach stapling, has become more and more popular. Celebrities like Carnie Wilson and Al Roker have opted for the procedure.
In Boston, however, last month, one woman had high hopes for the operation. But as our Rhonda Laricharson (ph), of our affiliate WCBB, reports, a hospital is make something changes after a deadly problem in the operating room.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They weren't doing their job. They -- there was too many boo-boos (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
RHONDA LARICHARDSON, WCBB CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Their only daughter, 37-year-old Ann Marie Samaneli (ph) of Lawrence, died three days after having her stomach stapled at Brigham and Women's Hospital last month. The parents blame Dr. David Lous (ph). The doctor told the family a staple gun, like this one, may have malfunctioned. Shirley (ph) and Arthur (ph) Samaneli saw autopsy photos and say not only were staples going every which way, but the surgeon never closed up a hole, leaving Ann Marie open to infection.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The staple was standing up like this.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They never came close to doing their job.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You could see a one-inch hole where he stopped stapling a stitching.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My daughter died because they did not close a one-inch gasp that poisoned her whole system. That's why she's dead. No if, ands, buts or maybes.
LARICHARDSON: The doctor has not been disciplined. The hospital has stopped all of abrascopic (ph) gastric bypass operations while investigating its first death related to the procedure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was definitely a leak in the gastric pouch. A portion of that closure on the defunctionalized redundant gastric pouch was not secure.
LARICHARDSON: Records show this is the second time a staple gun has misfired in Dr. Lous' hands during an operation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He told me this never happened before.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
LARICHARDSON: Anne Marie was 5'8", 350 pounds. The operation was supposed to be a new beginning, not the end of her life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Brigham and Women's Hospital has issued a statement saying -- quote -- "This is a tragic situation. During the course of a standard" laparasca (ph) -- excuse me -- "laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery" -- clearly I'm not a doctor -- "a widely utilized staple gun apparently malfunctioned, leading to a significant complication. The relationship of that complication and her ultimate death remains at present unclear. We are in the process of undertaking an exhaustive review of the procedure and we will work diligently with appropriate regulatory authorities and manufacturers to" provide a reoccurrence -- "to prevent a reoccurrence."
Despite the risk of this surgery, statistics show that nearly 1 out of every 200 patients dies. And the popularity of the procedure is on the rise, with nearly 103,000 surgeries expected to be performed this year.
Here to discuss the risk and benefits of gastric bypass surgery is Dr. Allen Wittgrove, president of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery.
Doctor Wittgrove, thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.
Now, the U.S. Surgical, which is the company that manufactured the staple gun used in this woman's procedure, has issued a statement. I want to read it to you and then get your comments.
It says -- quote -- "More than 500,000 surgeries have been performed with this device since 1998, and incidents like this are extremely rare."
How often, in your experience, do staple guns misfire?
DR. ALAN WITTGROVE, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR BARIATRIC SURGERY: Well, we'll talk about procedures and staplers and statistics, but first and foremost, I want to say that we're having this conversation because a woman died, and I want to give condolences to her family. When we talk about statistics, it's in a global fashion and for that family, it's 100 percent.
That being said, the staple devices go through a lot of regulatory, a lot of quality assurance, and so all the companies that make stapling devices have staplers that are very sure.
COOPER: But anything -- anything -- misfires, in your experience, I mean, is it a doctor's responsibility to check for something like that?
WITTGROVE: It is. We push the devices, oftentimes, to their limits and beyond, especially in morbidly obese individuals. We're operating on people, you know, that are at least 100 pounds over ideal body weight. And realizing that they have comorbid (ph) conditions, other medical problems that kill them oftentimes without having surgery.
COOPER: Let me ask you here -- I understand there is actually no certification for doctors doing this procedure. I mean, some of them can train for a year. Some can train for a week or more. Is that right?
WITTGROVE: That is correct. And it's up to the individual hospitals at this point to have credentialing criteria for the particular surgeons that are doing obesity or bariatric surgery.
The American Society for Bariatric Surgery is putting together a certifying body so that the public and the insurers will have a better understanding of centers of excellence.
COOPER: So you think there should be sort of greater regulation or greater controls over, I guess, the training of the people who use these devices?
WITTGROVE: I think there should be, yes, absolutely.
COOPER: Do you think this incident is going to prevent people from undertaking this surgery? Should it? WITTGROVE: I don't think this incident will prevent people from having it.
Certainly, you know, there are risks to the operation. And everyone, certainly, that comes to my operating room, for example, understands there's always a risk. So it won't prevent them from coming.
I think that, as was already documented, the hospital is looking into their policies and procedures and looking steadfastly into why this particular lady died.
COOPER: All right.
WITTGROVE: So from that standpoint, that's the correct thing to do. Other -- other locations, you know, they need to look at their procedures as well and make sure that they are in order.
COOPER: All right. Dr. Alan Wittgrove, thanks very much for being with us tonight. Appreciate it.
WITTGROVE: Thank you.
COOPER: A couple of stories happening around the world. Let's check the "Uplink."
Across the Middle East, TV bloopers. Satellite viewers view what was supposed to be a secret missile test. The test was also aired on an Israeli TV station. Seems someone forgot to encrypt the live feed. Israel is embarrassed. Military industry is trying to downplay the incident.
Arusha (ph), Tanzania, eerie memories relived. Four former Rwandan cabinet minsters are on trial right now before a U.N. tribunal, accused of planning the 1994 genocide that killed more than a half a million people --a lot more than that. The four have plead not guilty.
Madrid, Spain. Who knew? A big shocker as Prince Felipe proposes to his girlfriend, Letizia Ortiz, an anchor for Spanish National Television. Apparently few people knew the air to the Spanish throne was even dating her. She's one of Spain's best known TV personalities as well as a divorcee without royal connections.
And that is tonight's "Uplink."
Still to come this evening, you cannot escape "The Matrix," which makes it a perfect candidate, we think, for this week's "Overkill."
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: All right, you want overkill? How does the first simultaneous global movie opening in history sound for overkill? 18,000 prints in 96 countries. Overkill? Thy name is Neo. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Special opening for the third installment of the "Matrix" series.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The "Matrix Revolutions," the third Matrix is about to open on six of seven continents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the atmosphere and level of excitement for the Matrix opening there in Tokyo?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, man, I mean, it's crazy. It's absolutely insane.
COOPER: It's not insane. What it is is massive marketing. The first Matrix built on word of mouth. The second was a financial hit, but failed to wow the critics. This third and final Matrix movie has to make it big right out of the gate.
CARRY ANN MOSS, ACTRESS: If you tell me we'll make it, I'll believe you.
KEANU REEVES: We'll make it. We have.
COOPER: The Matrix style no longer seems so visionary and the special effects no longer seem so special. Why all the hoopla? Simple edition. Take a major pop culture phenomenon...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Anderson, welcome back. We missed you.
COOPER: ...add a reported $200 million to make the sequels, then multiply by one marketing department well aware this is the last chance to sell the world a new Matrix movie.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything that has their beginning has an end.
COOPER: Whoa!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Up next on 360, the mystery disappearance that has broadcast executives baffled. We'll take that the "The Nth Degree."
Plus tomorrow, Rosie O'Donnell on the stand. We'll have the latest on her trial and her testimony.
And first, today's buzz, are female executives held to a different standard than men? What do you think? You can vote now, cnn.com/360. The results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Are female executives held to a different standard than men? Here's what you had to say, 83 percent said yes, 17 percent said no. Not a scientific poll, just viewer buzz. Now to some of your feedback. Ian from New York City asked this question, "Just out of curiosity, Anderson, do you actually read our e-mails during the commercials or are you just playing Minesweeper or Solitaire?" I actually do read your e-mails, sometimes after the show, sometimes in the morning. I try to respond to as many as I can. There it is.
Tonight taking men age 18 to 34 to the "Nth Degree." At a TV industry meeting this week, broadcast executives tried to figure out why they are suddenly missing so many male viewers age 18 to 34. According to Nielsen, about 10 percent of them have disappeared.
What happened to that missing male 18 to 34? Well, this note we found may hold some answers. It says "I'm running away. Joan of Arcadia is boring. I hate you. Signed male 18 to 34."
Of course, the first instinct is to issue an amber alert in case anyone has seen male 18 to 34. But, we also want to give you a description. The missing person is described as male, age 18 to 34 and is reportedly not watching TV. I repeat, not watching TV. If you have any information on the whereabouts of male 18 to 34 please e-mail it to 360@CNN.com. All tips will, of course, remain confidential.
And if you are wondering what you can do to protect your own male 18 to 34, here are some tips. Don't let them go outside alone. In fact, don't let them go outside at all. Also, tell them not to listen to strangers, especially coming over the Internet or through DVDs or video games. Finally, don't let them be tempted by offers of candy. Keep them well fed and ideally too bloated to get off the couch.
And on a personal note if you are watching right now, male, 18 to 34, we want you to know, it's okay. All we want is for you to come home. We love you very much, along with the advertising dollars that you bring.
That wraps up our program tonight. Coming up next "PAULA ZAHN NOW."
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Afghanistan; Pentagon Unveils Troop Rotation Plan; 37 Year-Old Woman Dies During Gastric Bypass Surgery>
Aired November 6, 2003 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST (voice-over): The ban. Will women seeking late-term abortions be turned away?
On patrol. An exclusive look at the dangers facing foot soldiers in Fallujah.
Stomach stapling surgery goes terribly wrong.
Rosie O'Donnell takes the stand.
And their husbands led deadly double lives: the wives of serial killers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: And a good evening. Welcome to 360.
We begin with the mission in Iraq, a story that is playing out on several fronts today. The president in Washington signed an $87 billion bill to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and urged the Middle East to embrace democracy now. The Pentagon unveiled a plan to bring U.S. troops out of Iraq and rotate fresh troops in. And the defense secretary is facing question on whether there will be enough troops to finish the mission.
And in Iraq, we'll take you on patrol in Fallujah. An exclusive look in a place called the cradle of Iraqi resistance. Not far from where that chopper was shot down Sunday and residents actually celebrated. We have coverage on all these fronts tonight.
Ben Wedeman was on that patrol in Fallujah. Jamie McIntyre is at the Pentagon. But we begin with Suzanne Malveaux at the White House -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Bush says that it would really be reckless to accept the status quo. So he says there's a new policy when it comes to the Middle East. He says working with those countries that are pursuing democratic reforms.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice-over): President Bush declared his mission to free Iraq as a watershed event at the heart of a global democratic revolution.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States has adopted a new policy, a forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East.
MALVEAUX: Mr. Bush said the U.S. will no longer support Arab Nations who don't share America's democratic philosophy.
BUSH: Sixty years of Western Nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe. Because in the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty.
MALVEAUX: The president praised some Mideast countries for their reforms: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Yemen, while he gently prodded important U.S. allies, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to do better. But he criticized Iraq and Syria for what he called their legacy of torture and oppression. And he chastised the leadership of Iran and the Palestinian Authority for standing in the way of democratic change. Mr. Bush's speech was his latest attempt to highlight what's at stake in Iraq.
BUSH: The failure of Iraqi democracy would embolden terrorists around the world and increase dangers to the American people and extinguish the hopes of millions in the region.
MALVEAUX: The president did get some support from Congress, which cleared the way for his signing of an $87.5 billion package for military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: All right. Suzanne joins us now. Suzanne, the president says the U.S. is not going to support Arab nations that don't share our democratic philosophy. What exactly does that mean for allies like Egypt or Saudi Arabia?
MALVEAUX: Well, Anderson, it could mean trade, aid or investment, but there are really no concrete plans at this time. This was a vision statement. These are the type of things the president has told Arab leaders behind the scenes in private but now is making public to put more pressure on them, essentially giving and putting these countries on notice. This is what the United States expects -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Suzanne Malveaux, at the White House, thanks very much.
At the Pentagon today, the defense secretary unveiled troop deployment plans with two groups in particular listening very closely: military families wondering if their loved one is coming home or heading out, and critics in Congress who say the Pentagon isn't devoting enough manpower to Iraq. Secretary Rumsfeld tried to blunt that criticism today.
Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even as attacks on U.S. forces mount, the Pentagon is planning to send about 25,000 fewer troops to Iraq for the second year of U.S. occupation. However, the Pentagon argues the rotation plan provides a better mix of forces to battle insurgents.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Numbers do not necessarily equate with capability. We are bringing in forces that are appropriate to deal with the evolving threats in Iraq today, including more mobile infantry elements.
MCINTYRE: Also among the 85,000 fresh combat troops being alerted are three Army National Guard brigades built around the Army's new, more nimble striker combat vehicles. Altogether, some 43,000 Guard and Reserve troops are getting the call. Mostly Army, but Marines, Navy and Air Force units are also being tapped. Some heading to Afghanistan. It's a strain on the citizen soldiers, but unavoidable, insists the Pentagon.
LT. GEN. NORTON SCHWARTZ, JOINT STAFF OPERATIONS DIRECTOR: Ladies and gentlemen, we are at war. This is not peacetime. And so under the circumstances we find ourselves, we are going to respond to the nation's call.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: Now, Pentagon officials stress that this plan is not written in stone and that if U.S. commanders decide later they need more troops, they'll get them -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Jamie McIntyre, thanks.
To Iraq now, where two more soldiers were killed in what has been a very bloody week indeed. Today, the military held a memorial outside Baghdad for he 15 soldiers killed Sunday when their chopper was shot down near Fallujah. Now, some Fallujah residents cheered when it happened. It is a place that has fought the U.S. presence from the beginning; one of the most dangerous places to be an American in Iraq.
CNN's Ben Wedeman got an exclusive look at life on patrol in Fallujah.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CAIRO BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): This probably isn't the best way to see Fallujah, but for the 82nd Airborne Brigade's Bravo Company, it seems like the safest. They've come to the mayor's office to guard a meeting between brigade representatives and local religious and tribal leaders. Captain Ryan Houston is the brigade's liaison with Fallujah's mayor and police. His office has been bombed. He has seen Iraqi policemen and his own men injured in a series of attacks.
CAPT. RYAN HOUSTON, MILITARY LIAISON TO FALLUJAH: But despite all this, our mission stands steadfast and we will not stray from that mission. We will stay here until safety and security is established in Fallujah.
WEDEMAN: Not everyone cared for his message. "Ninety-nine percent of the people want he Americans to leave," contractor Mohammed al-Jumani (ph) told me. Others want the Americans to stay, but to stay out of the city.
"The coalition forces should remain on the outskirts of Fallujah to avoid being killed, and to avoid killing innocent people," says Sheikh Rapa (ph). After the meeting, it's clear frustration is mutual.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just getting a little tired of the way things are going here, and we are just asking for their support.
WEDEMAN: The mayor's office has become the scene for a tense test of wills between U.S. troops and their invisible foes in Fallujah.
(on camera): This compound has become the epicenter for trouble in Fallujah. Rarely does a day go by when it doesn't come under fire.
(voice-over): Just to make their point, the Americans swooped down on the mayor's office at night, setting up gun positions, waiting for an attack that, on this night, never happened.
(on camera): How does it feel to work in a place that looks like it's a magnet for bullets and RPGs?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it is a magnet. I mean, we've been attacked pretty much every day. I mean, just (UNINTELLIGIBLE) smaller or bigger attack doesn't matter. I mean, it's my job. So I just come out here to do it.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): A job that requires one finger on the trigger and the other on this city's pulse.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WEDEMAN: Now, Anderson, we went on a variety of patrols with these men from the 82nd Airborne Brigade. They pride themselves for being out there, showing their presence. And that attitude seems to have yielded some fruit. They recently arrested two senior former generals from the Iraqi army. And they believe that their capture may lessen the number of attacks on their men in that city -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Ben Wedeman, thanks very much for that tonight.
Just in tonight to CNN, we have finally confirmed tonight that 16 soldiers were actually killed in that chopper crash on Sunday. It has been revised up from 15 again. Sixteen U.S. soldiers were killed in that chopper crash near Fallujah on Sunday. That just in.
We turn now to the all-out legal war over the new abortion ban signed by the president just yesterday. And this just in to CNN from The Associated Press. A federal judge in San Francisco has blocked the government from enforcing the new abortion law at Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide.
A judge in New York says the law could be declared unconstitutional. It follows a similar ruling in Nebraska just yesterday. As the administration avows to fight anyone trying to block its enforcement, Justice Department correspondent Kelli Arena reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dr. Warren Hern, the director of the Boulder Abortion Clinic, for nearly three decades, says he won't change the way he practices medicine, despite the new abortion law.
DR. WARREN HERN, DIRECTOR, BOULDER ABORTION CLINIC: I'm going to continue taking care of my patients. I'm a physician, I'm not a lawyer.
ARENA: Hern says the ban on what critic call partial-birth abortion is vaguely worded and, if interpreted broadly, could outlaw most abortions performed in the United States.
HERN: It's very difficult to know whether we are going to be violating the law or not, because every surgical procedure we do is different. Every patient's needs are different.
ARENA: But supporters insist the language is both specific and clear.
DOUGLAS JOHNSON, NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE COMMITTEE: This bill makes it crystal clear that it's only a partial-birth abortion covered by the ban if the baby is delivered outside the mother feet first, past the naval. It's written right into the bill.
ARENA: Judges in New York and Nebraska sided with opponents, issuing temporary restraining orders against the ban, affecting providers nation wide. The judge's ruled because the new law does not contain an exception to protect a woman's health it could be declared unconstitutional, as the Supreme Court has ruled before.
THOMAS GOLDSTEIN, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW EXPERT: The way it's shaping up right now, this issue is headed back to the Supreme Court. We already have two pretty comprehensive injunctions.
ARENA (on camera): As both sides prepare for more court battles, the ban for now remains in legal limbo. Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Well, some other news to report tonight. Let's take a quick trip "Cross Country."
Washington, D.C.: don't log on. A federal judge frant grants an FDA request to shut down RX Depot, a popular Internet company that sells cheaper drugs from Canada. The move is expected to have a particular impact on seniors who buy drugs from Canada to lower their drug costs.
West Chester, Ohio: workplace shooting. Two workers are killed at an Ohio trucking company. Now, the suspected gunman is arrested in Indiana after fleeing the scene. Police say he worked at the company until two years ago.
Chandler, Arizona: shot and run over. A Major League Baseball player found dead. Police are holding a man as they investigate the death of Cincinnati Reds outfielder Dernell Stenson. Now, police say the man is booked for allegedly stealing Stenson's SUV. They still don't know who shot Senson, and why.
Palestine, West Virginia: confirmation. A spokesman for Jessica Lynch's family says, yes, an upcoming biography will mention she was apparently raped by her Iraqi captors. The book goes on sale Tuesday.
That's a look at stories "Cross Country" tonight.
The $100 million battle that is getting very personal. Rosie O'Donnell takes the stand in her own defense. We'll take you inside the trial.
Also tonight: Martha Stewart fires back. Hear what she says about the possibility of going to prison.
And married to a serial killer: a look at the double lives of murderers.
First, let's take a look "Inside the Box" at the top stories on tonight's network newscasts.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, tomorrow night fans can cozy up with their hot cocoa with a marshmallow snowflakes recipe on page 188 of the latest "Martha Stewart Living" and here from the domestic diva at long last. Martha Stewart admits to Barbara Walters on "20/20" yes, she has a temper, no she's not a corporate criminal and, yes, she's scared. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA WALTERS, "20/20": What's been the most painful part of all of this?
MARTHA STEWART, FOUNDER AND FMR. CEO, MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA: I think a delay in a good life, a hiatus in a really fine existence. At my age, there's no time for an unexpected, undesirable, unwanted hiatus. None. One that you can't really control. It's difficult.
WALTERS: Especially for a lady who is used to controlling.
STEWART: Well, especially for a lady who has lots more to do.
WALTERS: Martha, it is possible that you could be sent to prison for up to 30 years. Are you scared?
STEWART: Who wouldn't be scared? Of course I'm scared. The last place I would ever want to go is to prison. And I don't think I will be going to prison, though.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, Stewart also admits to not being able to touch a cabbage after her legendary cabbage chopping TV appearance right after the scandal broke last summer. Her trial on charges of securities fraud and obstruction of justice is set for January 12th.
Time for "Justice Served" now, and another powerful woman in the crosshairs: Rosie O'Donnell. O'Donnell took the stand today in a fierce battle with her former publisher over who is to blame for her magazine's demise. The publisher has argued that rather than being the queen of nice, she was the boss from hell and helped destroy her own creation. Today, O'Donnell herself fought back.
CNN's Mary Snow was there -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, word that Rosie O'Donnell would take the stand brought out cameras and a packed courtroom. This, as Rosie O'Donnell testified in this case against Gruner + Jahr, the publisher, of what is now her defunct magazine.
And after days of heated testimony, yesterday emotional testimony, today a contrast, with O'Donnell being subdued as she took the stand, referring to the judge as "Sir" several times. Even saying to him nervously at one point, "This is my first time doing this."
The testimony really surrounded on business and how she became involved in this venture, a venture that was supposed to be similar to the magazine of Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey. She testified late in the day for under two hours, coming out of court. She was asked how she felt she did.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSIE O'DONNELL, FMR. TALK SHOW HOST: I sat through their entire case. I was hoping for summary judgment. I will now wait until the end of the case, and then I feel fairly certain that the judge will decide in our favor as the facts are very, very cut clear.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SNOW: O'Donnell in court referring to the venture of, in her words, the mess of what became of this magazine. Now, before she testified, the court also heard from Dan Bruster (ph), the CEO of Gruner + Jahr, the publisher, and testimony focused on financials.
Lawyers for O'Donnell accusing him of managing financials so that numbers were inflated to prevent O'Donnell from being able to walk away from their contract without having to pay for any losses. That is something he denied.
Earlier in the day, he came out, too, facing reporters, saying that the case wasn't about what he called the pyrotechnics that the other camp made. And when it comes down to it, it's about a business deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fundamental question is, did she one day in a fit of tantrum simply walk away? And that's what she did. And that is what we are demonstrating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: O'Donnell will take the stand again tomorrow morning -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Mary Snow, thanks very much.
Now, more on this very ugly fight. We are joined now in San Francisco by 360 legal analyst Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom. And here in New York, a reporter who has been in the courtroom, David Carr of "The New York Times." Appreciate both of you being with us.
David, let me start off with you. You were there today in the courtroom for her testimony. How did Rosie O'Donnell do on the strand?
DAVID CARR, MEDIA REPORTER, "NEW YORK TIMES": I thought she was a surprisingly good witness. She was amazingly nervous, considering how much time she spent in the public eye. But a lot of people have been speculating that she might be full of rage and vitriol up on the witness stand. And she was funny.
She seemed smart. She responded to questions perhaps a little more -- in a little more verbose fashion than the judge would have liked. But he cut her off, but in a very gentle way. She did herself some good today I think.
COOPER: Interesting to hear.
Kimberly, this has gotten very personal. Yesterday, there was some testimony. O'Donnell was quoted as saying "You know what happens to people who lie. They get sick and they get cancer." Allegedly, she said this to one of her former employees.
Why is that being introduced? I mean, this is not a jury trial. It's in front of a judge. It's essentially a contract dispute.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE NEWSOM, 360 LEGAL ANALYST: It's a great question, Anderson. What we've seen here is so much about the politics of personality. It's really bad. It's bad for them on everybody's part. And I'm sure Rosie regrets saying that.
But I think it demonstrates that this was a hostile work environment for both sides. It helps her in that it shows that she wasn't getting along with her colleagues. And part of the blame is to be on their side, I think, as well. But it really doesn't have a lot to do with the contract breach issue.
In fact, it could help the other side by saying, look at how terrible she was to work with. This was an impossible situation. She was beginning to breach that working relationship before she ever walked out.
COOPER: Now, David, there have been negotiations, I guess, all throughout this about possibly settling this case. It came close. I guess I read in your article it fell apart. What happened?
CARR: I think what happened is they got there on the money issues. I don't know what there is to really fight about in terms of money. But Rosie does not want to sign a confidentiality agreement. She keeps saying that she did tonight when she left the courtroom in the rain that she's interested in settling and ready to settle, but she does not want to be muzzled. She wants to be free to talk about what she wants to talk about, when she wants to talk about it
COOPER: Kimberly, why go for a non-jury trial? I mean, what is the benefit of appearing before a judge? A judge who -- I mean, I've been reading David's article. Apparently all court reporters say a very experienced judge.
NEWSOM: I think it's good that this is in front of a judge. This could be too much a popularity contest. You run the risk if you have jurors that are big Rosie fans or people that just could be irritated and turned off by comments like the cancer comment. And what judges do is they maintain control.
They keep the damages down and they put a more reasonable approach to things. He's going to maintain, I think, an even keel on this, not so favoritism to either side. He's very experienced and he's doing a great job of controlling the courtroom.
COOPER: All right. Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom, good to talk to you. And David Carr, thanks very much. I enjoy your writing. Thank you, David.
CARR: My pleasure.
COOPER: All right.
That brings us to today's "Buzz Question." Are female executives held to a different standard than men? You can vote now, cnn.com/360. We'll have the results for you at the end of our program. Smoking gun in the sniper trial. Will ballistics evidence be convincing in the case against John Muhammad? We will go live outside the courthouse.
Plus: serial killers and the women who marry them. Find out why the most notorious murderers lead secret double lives.
And those kids starved to the brink of death. Find out why the church and community are supporting parents who have been accused of severely abusing their adopted children.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Want to take you now to Virginia Beach, Virginia, and the latest from the trial of sniper suspect John Muhammad. Today, prosecutors tried to show that the gun found in Muhammad's car was the gun used in the shootings. They also gave their theory on how they believe the suspects might have turned in an old Chevy Caprice, or how they might have turned that into a mobile killing machine.
The story from CNN's Jeanne Meserve.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Prosecutors had a replica of the trunk of John Muhammad's Caprice carted into court Thursday so jurors could see the purported rifle port in the trunk. Then a video in which two camouflaged-clad police officers demonstrated how a sniper could lift the hinged back seat, crawl into the trunk and fire. A Bushmaster .223 semi automatic rifle, like the one found in the Caprice, only 34.5 inches long, but capable of shooting a bullet at 2,000 miles per hour.
MIKE BOUCHARD, ATF: The weapon seized from the vehicle occupied by Muhammad has been forensically determined to be the murder weapon.
MESERVE: Determined through ballistics test like these done at the ATF laboratory in Amondale (ph), Maryland. Thursday in court, prosecution ballistics experts link the Bushmaster found in the car to 11 sniper shootings, a 12th in Louisiana and a 13th in Alabama, to the exclusion of all other weapons.
Who fired the rifle is one of the mysteries in this case. But Thursday, jurors saw a snapshot of Lee Malvo at a party months before the shootings wearing a T-shirt with a sniper logo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: The defense argued strenuously against the use of the mock-up of the trunk, saying it was inaccurate and incomplete and against the use of the video because they said it illustrated only a theory. They lost, but they did mount some of the most spirited cross-examinations of the entire trial. And tomorrow, we expect to learn whether the jurors will see the real Caprice, rather than a replica -- Anderson.
COOPER: Well, a lot of emotional testimony. Jeanne Meserve, thanks very much.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Married to a serial killer. A husband's deadly secret.
And stomach-stapling surgery goes terribly wrong
We'll be right back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Time to check tonight's top stories in "The Reset." In Washington, D.C.: cash on the way. President Bush signs into law the bill that provides $87.5 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan. The money will be used for military and reconstruction efforts.
Meanwhile, a new CNN/Gallup poll suggests more Americans don't like how President Bush is handling the situation in Iraq. 54 percent of those polled disapprove of what's been done compared to 45 percent who approve. While there's growing optimist on how the president is handling the economy, 47 percent approve of his performance and that is up from 42 percent just a month ago.
There's mixed feedback on the economy from Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. He says the economy is poised to start creating jobs. But he worries about rising budget deficits.
We go to Los Angeles now. On the defensive, Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger will hire an investigative firm to look into past allegations by several women that he groped them. That's according to a spokesman for Schwarzenegger. The announcement came after the state attorney general told Schwarzenegger associates that complaints of sexual abuse won't simply go away by continuing to ignore it.
Modesto, California: grim testimony. The lead detective in the Laci Peterson case told the court today two weeks before she was murdered, Scott Peterson told his mistress that his wife was dead and that he was about to spend his first Christmas without her.
And that's "The Reset."
A follow-up now to the staggering confession by Gary Ridgeway the Green River Killer, who admits to killing 48 women. The footnote that grabbed our attention was this, he was married three times. And he is not the first serial killer leading a deadly double life with a wife at home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't understand how he could have done it without his wife or family knowing about it. COOPER: Those words were spoken about Robert Yates who pleaded guilty to 13 murders and buried a body outside of his bedroom where his wife Linda slept. John Wayne Gacy killed 33 young men and boys in Chicago. He was married when his killing sprees began.
Albert DeSalvo confessed to all of the Boston Strangler murders, which he said he committed while married with kid. Ted Bundy who may have murdered up to 36 women, had a girlfriend who married him while he was on trial.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guilty.
COOPER: And now there's Gary Ridgeway, who confessed to murdering 48 women. He has had three wives. The third separating from him only after his arrest.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: I want to talk more about the deadly double lives of serial killers with a criminal profiler Pat Brown. She's spoken to wives of serial killers. But we should make clear that she has not spoken to the wives of the people we'll talk about tonight. She joins us tonight from Minneapolis. Pat's the author of "Killing For Sport: Inside The Mind Of Serial Killers." Pat, good to see you again.
Let's take this woman, Linda Yates, for example. I understand she says that she never suspected her husband was doing anything wrong and yet he confessed to, I believe, 13 murders. How can it be?
PAT BROWN, AUTHOR: Well, I think she suspected something was wrong. There are these little hints you get, kind of like when somebody is cheating on you. The husband who comes home late from the office, who disappears, who makes odd phone calls. Still the wife says, well I wasn't sure he was doing anything because I found no evidence of it.
In this case, when you have a serial killer, he doesn't even have a live victim that you could ever find out about. A guy who is cheating, at least, you might find from somebody else, that somebody has said something, a woman has said she's been with him.
COOPER: People profile serial killers. Are there profiles of the women who marry them. Ted Bundy wife, for instance, I think was his girlfriend and married him while he was, I think, in prison or about to go to prison.
BROWN: Well, there's different kinds. If a woman married a guy who is in prison who says he's a serial killer, she's just one sick woman. But if you have someone who marries him when she's very young, she may just be naive and not know what men are all about, not recognize the signs.
Some women marry older and they are needy. They want somebody so badly, they'll minimize the things they notice. Yes, he's a little odd, has social problems, but everybody has their problem. I'm going to help him out. I can show him how to act a little bit better, teach them a few things and then she stays with him because she has a husband.
And as long as he's hiding this from her and it's pretty easy to hide if you don't have a live person to tell you about it. He's going to grab this woman where nobody sees. He's going to kill her, so there's no evidence left. All he has to do is arrive home and be sure he's not full of blood. And he walks back home and says, hi hun, I'm home for dinner. And she just assumes he's just a little late for dinner, but so are a lot of husbands. And she minimizes his behavior.
COOPER: Denial is not justice a river.
BROWN: Exactly.
COOPER: Why do these men need to be married? I mean, why -- if they have these compulsions toward some women or whomever their victims are, why maintain this double life? Why have a home with a wife?
BROWN: Well, serial killers are like everyone else. They want to have a normal life. The woman is very useful to him. He probably does not love her. Well, let me say this, he does not love her because serial killers did not love people. They either use them or get rid of them.
In this case, the wife is useful to him. She provides -- he looks like a regular guy. Look what he's achieved, he's been able to get a wife. Plus she might help out with the money. He might provide security. Maybe she's the one keeping the job.
She offers him a lot of stability that he can hide behind and then go do what he wants. And as long as he has a woman not paying much attention, they'll minimize everything. Even the police will say the same thing. Well, you know, he's a married guy, he must not be a serial killer. It's a way for him to hide what he's doing.
COOPER: Just fascinating. Pat Brown, thanks very much. Good to talk to you.
BROWN: My pleasure, Anderson.
COOPER: We go now to Capitol Hill where the case of four adopted boys found starving in New Jersey has grabbed the attention of lawmakers. While many of outraged, some people in the community are actually coming to the defense of the boys' parents. CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are not monsters.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Reverend Harry Thomas fiercely defended the family he has known for 15 years.
REV. HARRY THOMAS, COME ALIVE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH: The reason no abuse was noticed was that there was no abuse going on. FEYERICK: Prosecutors accuse Raymond and Vanessa Jackson of starving their four adopted boys, but the family's pastor was testifying on Capitol Hill and lashed out against the eldest boy, Bruce, indicating the story he told prosecutors was not true.
Investigators charged the Jacksons with abuse, based in part on Bruce's statement. Bruce, now 19, weighed just 45 pounds when he was found. The pastor said, Bruce's has mental problems and that he's been kicked out of many schools.
THOMAS: Ray Jackson was asked one time why in the world did he choose to adopt someone like Bruce. Ray said he and Vanessa had discussed it and decided that they -- if they didn't adopt him no one else would.
FEYERICK: New Jersey's child welfare agency had long consider the Jacksons a good family. Now the agency is publicly condemning them. That's a total change, said the family's pastor. He told lawmakers, the agency often called the Jacksons in emergencies to take in foster kids.
THOMAS: Their only thanks is to be thrown in jail.
FEYERICK: Officials say, the children had not seen a doctor or dentist in 5 years, despite the parents' claim they had eating disorders.
COLLEEN MAGUTRE, NJ. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES: Their teeth are rotted and five of the seven children had head lice.
FEYERICK: Members of the House Subcommittee didn't buy the reverend's allegations.
REP. DONALD PAYNE, (D) NEW JERSEY: These children are victims and you turn these children around. As a man of the bible, to say there's something wrong with these abnormal children is absolutely wrong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Since being removed from the adoptive parents, officials say that all four boys have put on significant weight. However, experts testifying at the hearing make it clear that they are not out of the woods emotionally. It will be a long time before these boys are able to put the pieces of their lives together.
COOPER: It's fascinating to see people are coming forward to support the parents in this. I mean, were there preexisting eating disorders with some of these kids?
FEYERICK: That's what many in the community though. They simply thought that the boys, because they had been in foster care and there was some evidence of abuse when they were first adopted that it was just something that affected how they grew ultimately. But the officials are saying, look, we have them in the hospital. We are feeding them. They are putting on weight normally. Had they been given proper food and been monitored, had they even been taken to a doctor then it never would have happened and they wouldn't have been so underweight.
COOPER: It's terrible. Deborah Feyerick thanks very much.
Time for a quick check of "The Current." The designers of the Euro are going back to the drawing board and the atlas. It turns out that the current bills design omitted Cyprus and drew an ocean where reliable sources tell us Malta is actually located. CNN has confirmed that both Cyprus and Malta actually are real places. Who knew?
A British survey finds that toddlers are starting to act like teens. 42 percent of 3-year-olds reportedly have their own television and half have their own CD player. A 3-year-old. In a related story, there's been a 50 percent increase in fetal cell phone usage. All right, I made up that last part.
Burbank airport is going to be renamed Bob Hope Airport pending approval by local officials. However, there is still no support whatsoever for a brand new Phyllis Diller bus depot.
Mel Gibson is launching a new sitcom for ABC, but only as executive producer. The move is seen as a coup for ABC, because the sitcom will not be in Aramaic.
And still to come this evening, a woman who dies after having the surgery that's become an increasingly popular way for people to lose weight. What went wrong?
Also tonight, "Overkill." Thy name is Neo. Yes, yes, we know he's the one. Get over it already. We'll look at "The Matrix" mania.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Just responding to some of your e-mails. You can always send me your instant feedback any time, cnn.com/360. I'll be reading some of them after the program, try to respond to as many as I can.
In recent years, gastric bypass surgery, or stomach stapling, has become more and more popular. Celebrities like Carnie Wilson and Al Roker have opted for the procedure.
In Boston, however, last month, one woman had high hopes for the operation. But as our Rhonda Laricharson (ph), of our affiliate WCBB, reports, a hospital is make something changes after a deadly problem in the operating room.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They weren't doing their job. They -- there was too many boo-boos (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
RHONDA LARICHARDSON, WCBB CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Their only daughter, 37-year-old Ann Marie Samaneli (ph) of Lawrence, died three days after having her stomach stapled at Brigham and Women's Hospital last month. The parents blame Dr. David Lous (ph). The doctor told the family a staple gun, like this one, may have malfunctioned. Shirley (ph) and Arthur (ph) Samaneli saw autopsy photos and say not only were staples going every which way, but the surgeon never closed up a hole, leaving Ann Marie open to infection.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The staple was standing up like this.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They never came close to doing their job.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You could see a one-inch hole where he stopped stapling a stitching.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My daughter died because they did not close a one-inch gasp that poisoned her whole system. That's why she's dead. No if, ands, buts or maybes.
LARICHARDSON: The doctor has not been disciplined. The hospital has stopped all of abrascopic (ph) gastric bypass operations while investigating its first death related to the procedure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was definitely a leak in the gastric pouch. A portion of that closure on the defunctionalized redundant gastric pouch was not secure.
LARICHARDSON: Records show this is the second time a staple gun has misfired in Dr. Lous' hands during an operation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He told me this never happened before.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
LARICHARDSON: Anne Marie was 5'8", 350 pounds. The operation was supposed to be a new beginning, not the end of her life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Brigham and Women's Hospital has issued a statement saying -- quote -- "This is a tragic situation. During the course of a standard" laparasca (ph) -- excuse me -- "laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery" -- clearly I'm not a doctor -- "a widely utilized staple gun apparently malfunctioned, leading to a significant complication. The relationship of that complication and her ultimate death remains at present unclear. We are in the process of undertaking an exhaustive review of the procedure and we will work diligently with appropriate regulatory authorities and manufacturers to" provide a reoccurrence -- "to prevent a reoccurrence."
Despite the risk of this surgery, statistics show that nearly 1 out of every 200 patients dies. And the popularity of the procedure is on the rise, with nearly 103,000 surgeries expected to be performed this year.
Here to discuss the risk and benefits of gastric bypass surgery is Dr. Allen Wittgrove, president of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery.
Doctor Wittgrove, thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.
Now, the U.S. Surgical, which is the company that manufactured the staple gun used in this woman's procedure, has issued a statement. I want to read it to you and then get your comments.
It says -- quote -- "More than 500,000 surgeries have been performed with this device since 1998, and incidents like this are extremely rare."
How often, in your experience, do staple guns misfire?
DR. ALAN WITTGROVE, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR BARIATRIC SURGERY: Well, we'll talk about procedures and staplers and statistics, but first and foremost, I want to say that we're having this conversation because a woman died, and I want to give condolences to her family. When we talk about statistics, it's in a global fashion and for that family, it's 100 percent.
That being said, the staple devices go through a lot of regulatory, a lot of quality assurance, and so all the companies that make stapling devices have staplers that are very sure.
COOPER: But anything -- anything -- misfires, in your experience, I mean, is it a doctor's responsibility to check for something like that?
WITTGROVE: It is. We push the devices, oftentimes, to their limits and beyond, especially in morbidly obese individuals. We're operating on people, you know, that are at least 100 pounds over ideal body weight. And realizing that they have comorbid (ph) conditions, other medical problems that kill them oftentimes without having surgery.
COOPER: Let me ask you here -- I understand there is actually no certification for doctors doing this procedure. I mean, some of them can train for a year. Some can train for a week or more. Is that right?
WITTGROVE: That is correct. And it's up to the individual hospitals at this point to have credentialing criteria for the particular surgeons that are doing obesity or bariatric surgery.
The American Society for Bariatric Surgery is putting together a certifying body so that the public and the insurers will have a better understanding of centers of excellence.
COOPER: So you think there should be sort of greater regulation or greater controls over, I guess, the training of the people who use these devices?
WITTGROVE: I think there should be, yes, absolutely.
COOPER: Do you think this incident is going to prevent people from undertaking this surgery? Should it? WITTGROVE: I don't think this incident will prevent people from having it.
Certainly, you know, there are risks to the operation. And everyone, certainly, that comes to my operating room, for example, understands there's always a risk. So it won't prevent them from coming.
I think that, as was already documented, the hospital is looking into their policies and procedures and looking steadfastly into why this particular lady died.
COOPER: All right.
WITTGROVE: So from that standpoint, that's the correct thing to do. Other -- other locations, you know, they need to look at their procedures as well and make sure that they are in order.
COOPER: All right. Dr. Alan Wittgrove, thanks very much for being with us tonight. Appreciate it.
WITTGROVE: Thank you.
COOPER: A couple of stories happening around the world. Let's check the "Uplink."
Across the Middle East, TV bloopers. Satellite viewers view what was supposed to be a secret missile test. The test was also aired on an Israeli TV station. Seems someone forgot to encrypt the live feed. Israel is embarrassed. Military industry is trying to downplay the incident.
Arusha (ph), Tanzania, eerie memories relived. Four former Rwandan cabinet minsters are on trial right now before a U.N. tribunal, accused of planning the 1994 genocide that killed more than a half a million people --a lot more than that. The four have plead not guilty.
Madrid, Spain. Who knew? A big shocker as Prince Felipe proposes to his girlfriend, Letizia Ortiz, an anchor for Spanish National Television. Apparently few people knew the air to the Spanish throne was even dating her. She's one of Spain's best known TV personalities as well as a divorcee without royal connections.
And that is tonight's "Uplink."
Still to come this evening, you cannot escape "The Matrix," which makes it a perfect candidate, we think, for this week's "Overkill."
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: All right, you want overkill? How does the first simultaneous global movie opening in history sound for overkill? 18,000 prints in 96 countries. Overkill? Thy name is Neo. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Special opening for the third installment of the "Matrix" series.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The "Matrix Revolutions," the third Matrix is about to open on six of seven continents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the atmosphere and level of excitement for the Matrix opening there in Tokyo?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, man, I mean, it's crazy. It's absolutely insane.
COOPER: It's not insane. What it is is massive marketing. The first Matrix built on word of mouth. The second was a financial hit, but failed to wow the critics. This third and final Matrix movie has to make it big right out of the gate.
CARRY ANN MOSS, ACTRESS: If you tell me we'll make it, I'll believe you.
KEANU REEVES: We'll make it. We have.
COOPER: The Matrix style no longer seems so visionary and the special effects no longer seem so special. Why all the hoopla? Simple edition. Take a major pop culture phenomenon...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Anderson, welcome back. We missed you.
COOPER: ...add a reported $200 million to make the sequels, then multiply by one marketing department well aware this is the last chance to sell the world a new Matrix movie.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything that has their beginning has an end.
COOPER: Whoa!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Up next on 360, the mystery disappearance that has broadcast executives baffled. We'll take that the "The Nth Degree."
Plus tomorrow, Rosie O'Donnell on the stand. We'll have the latest on her trial and her testimony.
And first, today's buzz, are female executives held to a different standard than men? What do you think? You can vote now, cnn.com/360. The results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Are female executives held to a different standard than men? Here's what you had to say, 83 percent said yes, 17 percent said no. Not a scientific poll, just viewer buzz. Now to some of your feedback. Ian from New York City asked this question, "Just out of curiosity, Anderson, do you actually read our e-mails during the commercials or are you just playing Minesweeper or Solitaire?" I actually do read your e-mails, sometimes after the show, sometimes in the morning. I try to respond to as many as I can. There it is.
Tonight taking men age 18 to 34 to the "Nth Degree." At a TV industry meeting this week, broadcast executives tried to figure out why they are suddenly missing so many male viewers age 18 to 34. According to Nielsen, about 10 percent of them have disappeared.
What happened to that missing male 18 to 34? Well, this note we found may hold some answers. It says "I'm running away. Joan of Arcadia is boring. I hate you. Signed male 18 to 34."
Of course, the first instinct is to issue an amber alert in case anyone has seen male 18 to 34. But, we also want to give you a description. The missing person is described as male, age 18 to 34 and is reportedly not watching TV. I repeat, not watching TV. If you have any information on the whereabouts of male 18 to 34 please e-mail it to 360@CNN.com. All tips will, of course, remain confidential.
And if you are wondering what you can do to protect your own male 18 to 34, here are some tips. Don't let them go outside alone. In fact, don't let them go outside at all. Also, tell them not to listen to strangers, especially coming over the Internet or through DVDs or video games. Finally, don't let them be tempted by offers of candy. Keep them well fed and ideally too bloated to get off the couch.
And on a personal note if you are watching right now, male, 18 to 34, we want you to know, it's okay. All we want is for you to come home. We love you very much, along with the advertising dollars that you bring.
That wraps up our program tonight. Coming up next "PAULA ZAHN NOW."
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Afghanistan; Pentagon Unveils Troop Rotation Plan; 37 Year-Old Woman Dies During Gastric Bypass Surgery>
