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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
More Fallout From Iraqi Prisoners Abuse Scandal; Thousands Evacuated as Wildfires Hit California
Aired May 04, 2004 - 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, I'm Anderson Cooper.
Disturbing details of what happened inside that Iraqi prison, 360 starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): More fallout, more reaction and new details in the shocking Iraqi POW abuse scandal. Who is really to blame for what happened in that Iraqi prison? The wife of one accused soldier speaks out. Is her husband being made a scapegoat?
Thousands evacuated as wildfires hit California and fire season hasn't even begun.
And how does the human body endure pointed pounding pain? Life without limits with tough as nails Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: And a good evening to you.
We begin with fallout and finger pointing over the photos showing apparent abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Today, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called the abuse totally unacceptable and un-American. Almost three dozen separate investigations are underway right now into prisoner deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan and at least three are being called homicides.
With the latest here is CNN's Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Members of Congress are irate they are only now being provided with an Army report already seen by CNN and other news organizations that details "egregious acts and numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses at the Abu Ghraib Prison."
Among the examples cited by Major General Antonio Taguba, "pouring cold water on naked detainees; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light or broomstick; a male military police guard having sex with a female detainee."
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The actions of the soldiers in those photographs are totally unacceptable and un-American.
MCINTYRE: The pictures put Rumsfeld in the uncomfortable position of having to explain the difference between the abuse by the U.S. military and the torture and murder by the regime of Saddam Hussein.
RUMSFELD: Equating the two I think is a fundamental misunderstanding of what took place.
MCINTYRE: With some in Congress calling for hearings, the Pentagon dispatched the Army's No. 2 general to reassure members it could investigate itself.
GEN. GEORGE CASEY, ARMY VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: We are fully committed to getting to the bottom of this and holding accountable those who we find guilty through the judicial process.
MCINTYRE: So far a dozen people have been reprimanded or face criminal charges but even with the investigation still underway, the Army is saying this is an isolated case.
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), ARMED SERVICES CMTE.: There were a number of allegations of prisoner abuse in both Afghanistan and in Iraq but we were assured that none of them were similar to this type of abuse.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: Well, the Army did reveal today that there are 25 cases in which Iraqi prisoners have died while in U.S. custody. Now, 12 of them appear to have been by natural causes.
Others are still under investigation but three are investigated as possible homicides, including a case in which one U.S. soldier may have used excessive force and another one where he may have been justified in shooting an escaping Iraqi prisoner -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thanks Jamie.
Too little too late perhaps but changes are being made at the prison near Baghdad where those pictures of abuse were taken.
CNN's Ben Wedeman has that side of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Behind the walls of this prison the U.S. military says it's cleaning house following mounting international condemnation of American treatment of Iraqi prisoners.
According to a recent internal Army report, Abu Ghraib is overcrowded and inadequately staffed with poorly trained personnel. Sixty percent of the inmates represent no threat to society and many of them are being held indefinitely due to bad record keeping.
Investigators are looking into whether the abuse represents a systemic or widespread problem. Assigned with fixing all this is Major General Jeffrey Miller, formerly in charge of the Guantanamo Detention Center, a facility that itself has been widely criticized by human rights groups.
Tuesday Miller announced that the use of hooding, sleep deprivation and forcing inmates to stay in uncomfortable positions for long periods of time has been discontinued, that the prison population will be reduced from its current 3,800 to somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000, and that the chain of command at the prison will be streamlined to integrate detention and interrogation.
WEDEMAN (on camera): None of this was enough for the Iraqi Governing Council's Human Rights Minister who says he's resigning in protest over the prisoner abuse scandal.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well more now on Capitol Hill. An outrage over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: The thing that I'm worried about is the 135,000 Americans who are acting honorably and courageously will receive little coverage and these -- and these six idiots, if that's the number of people who involved themselves in the pictures that we saw, will receive massive coverage and I think that's a tragedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, tomorrow the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will hold a closed hearing and after a closed door briefing by Army chiefs today, the Senate Armed Services Committee said it plans to hold a public hearing "at the first opportunity."
Well tonight, Staff Sergeant Ivan or Chip Frederick, as friends call him, stands accused of beating and humiliating Iraqi prisoners. He is in Iraq right now. His wife is speaking out on his behalf. I'll speak with her, Martha Frederick, live coming up later on 360.
Moving on now, burger, fries and a Coke, please, the first American meal ordered by Thomas Hamill, the Am.
Moving on now, burger, fries and a Coke, please, the first American meal ordered by Thomas Hamill, the American held hostage in Iraq. Hamill, who is now in Landstuhl, Germany says he is feeling well and looking forward to being reunited with his wife, understandable.
More now from CNN's Chris Burns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At this U.S. military hospital, Iraq is a world away for Thomas Hamill but the wounded former hostage thinks about those he left behind.
THOMAS HAMILL, FORMER HOSTAGE: First and foremost, I would like to thank the American public for their support of all deployed in the Middle East. Please keep your thoughts and prayers with those who are still there.
BURNS: Appearing before cameras here for the first time, the Mississippi dairy farmer turned truck driver didn't take questions but a doctor treating him for his bullet wound says the April 9 ambush of his fuel convoy, the beginning of his captivity, remains vivid.
MAJ. KERRY JEPSEN, U.S. ARMY ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON: He recalls a blast and motion and sound from his door and burning in his forearm, so that was how he was injured. He treated the injury by controlling the bleeding with a pair of socks that he had on the dashboard.
BURNS: Jepsen says Hamill wasn't abused as a hostage, in fact he was operated on in captivity though one of the attackers struck him in the head with a rifle butt during the ambush.
Hamill told doctors his captors kept him in one place no more than four days at a time and that he slept on dirt floors. On Sunday, the sound that woke Hamill up was music to his ears.
JEPSEN: He awoke sometime in the morning to the sound of these diesel engines that he recognized as U.S. vehicles, as opposed to the Iraqi vehicles that he was used to hearing.
BURNS: That, Jepsen says, was when Hamill pried a door open and ran to freedom.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNS: Now, Hamill's wife Kerry (sic) will be arriving here sometime tomorrow morning. She'll be escorting her husband back to the states before the end of the week.
Doctors say that once Hamill arrives back in the states he'll be undergoing more than one round of surgery to repair his arm and he's undergoing counseling to repair that invisible injury, the trauma from a deadly ordeal -- Anderson.
COOPER: Chris, what happens to him after that? Does he have any plans? Has he said anything about what he intends to do?
BURNS: Well, in his statement to the media here, he was pretty much just talking about what -- how he felt about the folks he left back in Iraq and that he looked forward to coming home. His hometown of Macon, Mississippi is planning a very big homecoming and so when he gets back that's probably the first thing he's going to do. COOPER: All right, Chris Burns thanks very much from Landstuhl.
Back here at home, interest rates are staying low but for how long? That's the question. That story tops our look at news "Cross Country."
In Washington, the Fed keeps a key short term interest rate at its lowest level in 46 years but suggested that rates could be raised in the coming months.
California now, burning issues. Firefighters are working against six fires in the mountain ranges between Santa Barbara and San Diego. The first have burned about 16,000 acres of mostly mountain scrub in the two days since they began during a heat wave.
Nationwide marijuana abuse on the rise, a study says dependence on the drug rose in the '90s possibly because marijuana has become more potent. The study says increases were highest among young African Americans and young Hispanic males.
In New York, time to pay up. The world's biggest record labels have been ordered to return $50 million in unpaid royalties to thousands of musicians. Some big names like P. Diddy, David Bowie and Dolly Parton will benefit but most of the artists are more obscure. That's a look at stories "Cross Country" tonight.
The price of being president hits a record level. When we come back we're going to take you on the campaign trail and follow what is becoming a very big money trail as well.
Also driving while black, it's apparently enough to get you pulled over by some police. The study that is causing a shakeup in Massachusetts.
And did the U.S. blink in Fallujah? A new brigade is moving in but is it seen as a defeat for the U.S.? All those stories ahead.
First, let's take a look at the most popular stories on cnn.com right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Of all the places where big campaign money will be spent this year, Ohio will certainly get its share. President Bush aware that no Republican has ever won the White House without winning the Buckeye State continued his bus tour there today.
Here's Senior White House Correspondent John King.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Still six months to election day, yet the pace is suddenly quicker. The attacks of Democrat John Kerry increasing sharper.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He can't tax the rich enough to pay for his promises. Guess who he's going to tax? He's going to tax me and you.
KING: Off the big plane and onto the bus is part of a plan to get a president defined by war more up close and personal with the voters, though in most cases for now voters handpicked by the Bush campaign as part of its effort to keep the president on a disciplined script.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, thank you. I want to thank you for being a man of faith and as a fellow...
CURT STEINER, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: If he can sort of escape the Rose Garden and get out there and actually meet people and shake their hands, he's going to come across as a lot more human than I think his opponent does.
KING: No Republican has ever won the White House without carrying Ohio. It's a dead heat now viewed by both campaigns as the decisive battleground.
JIM RUVOLO, KERRY OHIO CAMPAIGN MGR.: Everybody knows that whoever wins Ohio is the next president.
KING: Lost manufacturing jobs are a Bush liability here, his challenge to make the case things are looking up and that a Kerry victory would make things worse.
RUVOLO: Ohio voters are raging moderates. They vote their pocketbook.
KING: Iraq is the other big question mark.
(on camera): In newspaper interviews while on the bus tour, Mr. Bush acknowledged that the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq has sullied America's image at a critical moment in Iraq's post-war transition.
(voice-over): But he has not mentioned the scandal in two days of campaign speeches vowing only to push through what he concedes are tough times of late.
BUSH: I don't care what the pressures are we will make sure that we fulfill our mission and Iraq is free.
KING: A four stop day requires plenty of energy but Mr. Bush has run enough campaigns to know it's usually not an even exchange.
BUSH: (Unintelligible).
KING: Exactly six months until they count the votes, never too soon to count the campaign calories.
John King, CNN, Cincinnati.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: The 2000 presidential election was the most expensive in U.S. history but that was until 2004. Experts expect the Bush versus Kerry showdown to become perhaps the first ever $1 billion political campaign.
Here's Kelly Wallace on the raw politics of big spending.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are members of opposing teams but together they will pummel the current record making the 2004 presidential election the costliest one ever.
Things weren't always this way. Think back to simpler times, 1960, the Kennedy-Nixon race when experts estimate as much as $30 million was spent. Adjusted for inflation that amounts to about $180 million in 2002 dollars, less than a fifth of the $1 billion expected to be spent this year.
Presidential campaigns have gotten steadily more expensive from the $160 million spent during the Reagan-Carter race in 1980 to half a billion dollars in Bush v. Gore.
LARRY ROBLE, CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS: In many respects what we're looking at is a money arms race. One party will break a record and the other party feels it has to match them.
WALLACE: It was the Watergate scandal of the 1970s during the Nixon administration and allegations of contributions for access that led to public financing for presidential candidates.
Then came the emergence of unlimited contributions from individuals, labor unions and corporations, a problem that campaign finance watchdogs say spiraled out of control during the 1996 Clinton- Gore campaign.
CHELLIE PINGREE, PRES., COMMON CAUSE: That has really been the growing concern on the part of the public is when big donors can give unlimited amounts of money or bundle big groups of money then what is the resulting influence and how do you make sure that you separate that opportunity in politics?
WALLACE: Congress banned unlimited contributions to candidates two years ago, so what accounts for the $1 billion record expected this year? Experts say higher individual contribution limits, more small donors and, for the first time, two candidates opting out of the public financing system.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: And that means both candidates can spend as much as they want between now and the summer conventions. They're spending most of their money on television advertising and, Anderson, that is what experts say is the most expensive thing right now, what makes campaigns more expensive than ever before, the cost of television advertising.
COOPER: Unbelievable how high the cost is. Kelly, thanks very much.
WALLACE: Sure.
COOPER: Well, along with all that money both campaigns are spending a ton of time fielding questions. Mostly what you hear and see in the media are the answers. Tonight, we thought we'd focus more on the questions. Now, it is true that candidates prefer questions with easy answers and when kids are pitching well the game is usually softball.
Here's today's Campaign 360.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I do want to answer some questions before I get out of here. Here's your chance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, do you like your job and is it difficult at times?
KERRY: Nicholas asked how will you make sure all children learn in school?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President would you please sign this?
KERRY: I will ask what will you do so schools have enough money to teach art to kids?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Erica (ph). I'm eight years old and what's the funnest thing about being president?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I hug you?
KERRY: Of course you can hug me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I hug you?
KERRY: Oh, I'm so lucky. I'm so lucky.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: There you go, kids.
Racial profiling by Massachusetts police. Is driving while black enough to get you pulled over in some places? A new study that is causing a stir.
Also tonight, Iraqi prison abuse who's really to blame? Find out why one soldier thinks he is being railroaded.
And a little later, sex videos and the issue of consent, a woman's charge of rape gets turned against her. Do pictures really lie? We'll take a closer look.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, when drivers get pulled over in traffic, it usually goes one of two ways. They're sent off with a warning or they're ticketed, maybe even searched. Anecdotal evidence has long held that race has a lot to do with which scenario actually plays out. But a study in Massachusetts released today has put some numbers on how prevalent racial profiling may be there.
CNN's Boston Bureau Chief Dan Lothian reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): A new study finds two-thirds of police departments in the state may be engaged in some form of racial profiling when it comes to ticketing and searching non-white drivers.
EDWARD FLYNN, MASS. PUBLIC SAFETY DIRECTOR: Biased policing is bad policing but disparity does not always indicate bias.
LOTHIAN: The study by Northeastern University compared the number of tickets and searches by race given by a police department, then compared that to the racial makeup of that department's jurisdiction. In 249 departments, a disproportionate number of searches and tickets were given to non-whites.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Basically the report vindicates what people in the communities of color in Massachusetts have always been saying.
LOTHIAN: And what this activist says happened to him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It makes you angry. It's degrading. It upsets you.
LOTHIAN: The 100-plus page study commissioned by state lawmakers looked at more than a million and a half citations over a two year period beginning in 2001 and the state Office of Public Safety now wants to take a closer look.
FLYNN: We need to collect more data that's more refined, that is the same across the board so that apples are compared to apples.
LOTHIAN: Some police officers welcome further scrutiny but worry that this report has labeled them guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It puts the police agencies on the defensive.
LOTHIAN: In a statement, the Massachusetts Chief of Police Association suggests the study is flawed "that the problem is not widespread" and that anyone who thinks police here have a practice of profiling is "sadly misinformed."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a witch hunt and they found some witches.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LOTHIAN: The state is now ordering the 249 police departments to keep a record of all traffic stops over the next year. This is a way for officials to find out if any of this can be just chalked up to this is just a normal situation or if indeed it is racial profiling -- back to you Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Dan, thanks very much from Boston.
Iranian gas attack victims promise to take the United States to court. That tops our look at global stories right now in the "Up Link."
In Tehran, chemical attack victims want compensation from the U.S. for supplying Iraq with the weapons that scarred them back in the 1980s. Victims are vowing to take the U.S. to the World Court at The Hague for giving poison gas to Saddam Hussein during Iraq's war against Iran.
Worldwide now, oil prices surge. World oil prices are at their highest level in 13 years amid violence in the Middle East and low U.S. fuel stocks.
Yelwa, Nigeria, religious fighting, police say Christian militia killed hundreds of Muslims and have left charred and mutilated corpses in the streets. The crux of the conflict a Christian tribe of farmers is competing with Muslim cattle herders for fertile farmland in the south.
Beijing, China now and new SARS cases. Three suspected cases are confirmed meaning nine people are victims of the latest outbreak. One has died. The cases are all linked to people who worked at a Beijing lab where SARS samples are kept.
Manchester, U.K., an important day in history for rich people anyway. A hundred years ago today, Charles Rolls and Henry Royce met for tea and decided to build the cars that are now favored by CEOs and gangster rappers alike. To celebrate the anniversary, 100 Rolls Royce enthusiasts gathered in northern England to show off their vintage cars, and that is a look at the "Up Link" tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Who is really to blame for what happened in that Iraqi prison? The wife of one accused soldier speaks out. Is her husband being made a scapegoat?
And how does the human body endure pointed pounding pain? Like without limits with tough as nails Dr. Sanjay Gupta, 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Let's take a look at some of our top stories in tonight's "Reset."
In Washington, the Pentagon will keep about 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq through the end of 2005. Ten thousand troops will go to Iraq this summer to replace units whose return has been delayed.
New Carrollton, Maryland, train passengers just outside Washington were screened for explosives today as part of a test program. Officials say when the test is over the plan is to screen rail passengers only if there is a specific threat.
Los Angeles now, the terror threat against L.A. shopping malls last week was a hoax. The FBI has charged a Tanzanian man with making false statements after he claimed in an anonymous call to be affiliated with al Qaeda. They say the man made the call because he was mad at an old girlfriend.
Topeka, Kansas now, residents won't get to vote on gay marriage after a proposed state constitutional amendment failed to get enough support in the house. Kansas already has a statute recognizing only marriage between a man and a woman but some legislators wanted to strengthen that by putting it to the state Constitution.
New Orleans, Al Gore TV, don't worry it isn't a new reality show. The former vice president and Democratic fund-raiser Joel Hyatt have bought a TV network with a rumored price tag of $70 million. Gore and Hyatt say they'll re-launch the 24-hour News World International as an irreverent, bold network aimed at people in their 20s.
Well, our top story tonight as the Iraqi prison abuse scandal has unfolded the family of one of the accused soldiers, Staff Sergeant Ivan "Chip" Frederick has vocally defended him. In a moment I'll have a live interview with his wife. First CNN has obtained a copy of the equivalent of the grand jury proceeding against Frederick and it raises questions about whether he was a whistle blower or a participant.
CNN's Kathleen Koch reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 37-year-old staff sergeant chip Frederick's family has portrayed him as a whistle blower, an observer of the worst abuse, ignored when he raised concerns.
WILLIAM LAWSON, SOLDIER'S UNCLE: The more he complained, and went to his superiors, it was, you go back and do the job. We're running this show, and don't you worry about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son was raised right. He's never abused anybody.
KOCH: But a transcript of Frederick's article 32 proceeding, the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing, tells a different story. The military court decided to proceed with criminal charges after seeing evidence, including a photo of Frederick sitting on a bound prisoner. A witness testified, "I remember Staff Sargent Frederick hitting one prisoner in the side of its ribcage. The prisoner was no danger to Staff Sargent Frederick. They were still flex-cuffed and sandbagged."
Frederick in journal entries, his family released, wrote he was essentially following orders and was told, quote, this is how military intelligence wants it done. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it can be a defense and a successful defense. But only if he can establish that he did -- he or she did not know or reasonably could not be expected to know that this was an illegal order.
KOCH: Frederick's attorney admits his client is not blameless.
The defenses involved here do not involve necessarily abrogating all responsibility. They involve abrogating criminal responsibility.
KOCH (on camera): It's unclear when and where "Chip" Frederick and five other soldiers accused in the alleged abuses will face courts-martial.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Joining me now from Buckingham, Virginia Staff Sergeant Ivan Chip Frederick's wife Martha Frederick. Martha, thanks very much for being on the program.
Today Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense, said what your husband and others did is quote unacceptable, and un-American.
What does your husband say about the accusations?
MARTHA FREDERICK, WIFE OF STAFF SGT. IVAN "CHIP" FREDERICK: I haven't directly talked to my husband about the accusations. Most of what I've been hearing is from the media.
COOPER: When you hear the secretary of defense saying it's un- American, it's unacceptable, what do you think?
You've seen those pictures.
FREDERICK: I've seen the pictures. But I know my husband. And I know the type of person he is. There is no more of a proud man. And no more of an American than I know.
COOPER: You think he's being scapegoated?
FREDERICK: Yes, I do. I really do.
COOPER: Who do you think is responsible, then, for what went on?
FREDERICK: I think whoever was in charge of that facility that my husband was working at, and all those that had the ability to know what was going on and did nothing about it.
COOPER: In a letter, your husband sent in January, he wrote, "I questioned some of the things I saw, such things as leaving inmates in their cell with no clothes or in female underpants, handcuffing them to the door of their cell. And the answer I got was, this is how the military intelligence wants it done."
Is that going to be his defense if this goes to a trial, to a criminal trial?
FREDERICK: I do not know. I have not spoken to my husband as far as that's concerned or his attorneys with that.
COOPER: But you personally believe, I mean the word you were getting through letters from him in the past, was that this was -- this was a tactic that military intelligence wanted him to do?
FREDERICK: In the letters that he sent me, he told me that there were things that were going on, but that he couldn't talk about them on the telephone or through e-mail, and he said that he would have to -- we would talk about it when he got home. He did let me know that he had gone to his superiors, and when he didn't get a response from that one, he went to another superior, and he continued to try to communicate that something was going on or that they needed the policies in place or something to be in place in order to deal with the situations. But he never received any.
COOPER: His attorneys indicated to CNN that he may not abrogate all responsibility. That he may take some responsibility, but not necessarily for criminal wrongdoing.
Do you think he's responsible at all for anything of the things that went on in that prison?
FREDERICK: If he's responsible, I'm sure that it was -- I cannot speak for my husband. I cannot read his mind. I know what type of person he is. And I know that if he did anything, it was in the cause of help fighting the terrorists. Help saving other soldiers, and thinking that he was doing what was right. What he needed to do as a soldier from the military.
COOPER: I can't imagine how hard this must be for you, Martha.
FREDERICK: Very hard.
COOPER: When was the last time you saw your husband, talked to him?
FREDERICK: The last time that I saw my husband was back in last April of 2003. And the last time I talked to him was this morning.
COOPER: Do you feel -- I mean, how is he doing?
And do you feel like he's sort of being sold down the river?
FREDERICK: I mean, can anybody imagine their family member being in a war-like situation, and then being -- having to deal with these allegations? I know that, you know, it's a terribly hard thing for him to do. And we're relying on faith to see us through this.
COOPER: How is he doing?
You talked to him this morning.
FREDERICK: He's having a hard -- a pretty hard time. He says good times and bad times. You know, sometimes it's easier to deal with. Sometimes it's hard to deal with. There were times when he felt like he didn't know how much more he could take of this. But, you know, he has faith. He has belief in god. He has belief that him coming out with the truth is what's going to save him.
COOPER: Martha I'm sorry you're going through this. And I do appreciate you coming on the program to talk about it. Thank you very much, Martha Frederick.
FREDERICK: Thank you for letting me.
COOPER: Well, the Geneva convention spells out the rules for treatment of prisoners. Here's a fast fact for you. The third article states this, No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind."
That leads us to today's "Buzz." What do you think?
Should the soldiers who abused Iraqi prisoners be criminally charged?
Logon to cnn.com/360 to vote. Six of them right now are facing charges. Results at the end of the program.
The public relations damage in the Arab world from the abuse scandal has been so bad that the White House announced this evening that President Bush would soon go on Arab TV outlets to discuss it. It's a continuation of a PR offensive that began today.
Here's CNN's Octavia Nasr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Appreciate it. Thank you.
OCTAVIA NASR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Behind the smile and the handshake there is a serious attempt to restore the U.S.'s battered image in the Arab World. National Security adviser Condoleezza Rice appearing on major Arab networks to make the case for the U.S. in Iraq.
On the Saudi-owned all news network Al-Arabiya she assures everyone that the U.S. president is personally involved in the issue of Iraqi prisoners abuse. On Al Jazeera, the number one rated Arabic news network Rice was asked about establishing an international committee to oversee the investigation of abuse in Abu Ghraib. The anchor explains that Miss Rice prefers the U.S. to handle that.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: We have a Democratic system.
NASR: As big as the prisoner abuse story is being played in the Middle East -- the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is always on the front burner. Rice was pressed on the issue of the U.S.'s support for Ariel Sharon's unilateral Gaza pullout plan.
RICE: There was never any thought of trying...
NASR: Rice explained the U.S. president was only trying to move the peace process along after things have stalled for many years. A day of American damage control in the Arab World.
Octavia Nasr, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, one more story on Iraq tonight. TV news doesn't seem to stay focused on one story very long. Such is the case with Fallujah. Last week when a former Iraqi general made a deal with the Marines to create a new security force in Fallujah, it seemed that the city and the story dropped from the headlines. Now it turns out that Iraqi general will not be taking charge after all. The story may have dropped, but the problems in Fallujah certainly remain. "How quickly we forget."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Iraq's new Fallujah brigade reporting for duty. The U.S. military hopes that by reupping and re-arming former members of the Iraqi army they can end the violence in the longtime sunny stronghold. But the plan's gotten off to a rocky start. The man first appointed to lead the brigade, General Jassim Muhammed Saleh was a former member of the Elite Republican Guard, once charged with the harsh suppression of Saddam's opponents. The likely new leader General Muhammad Latif, is a one-time intelligence officer who'd fallen from favor and went into exile. It was just over a month ago that four U.S. contractors were killed. Their bodies dragged through the streets while crowds cheered, and Fallujah exploded in violence.
U.S. troops were drawn into house-to-house combat trying to weed out the so-called insurgents. The bloody siege contributed to the deadliest month for U.S. troops since the war in Iraq began. Then last week, a deal, U.S. Marines would fall back from Fallujah, and the Fallujah brigade would step in. Iraqi families who fled the fighting are now returning to survey the damage, bury the dead and celebrate what they see as an American defeat. U.S. troops on the ground wait to see if the new Fallujah brigade will fight the insurgents if necessary or join them. And the American media has turned its attention to the next story from the war zone.
"How Quickly We Forget."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Back here in the U.S., a courtroom shocker. A jury watches video of an alleged gang rape. But the defense is claiming the girl involved was really an aspiring porn actress. That is ahead on tonight's justice served.
Also tonight Dr. Sanjay Gupta turned carnival man? On a bed of nails testing the human threshold for pain. Why? We'll talk to him about it. Plus, it's the popcorn man. Meet the guy who likes the snack so much he's living inside a bag of it. Hmm. Don't eat that stuff. Be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Justice served. A disturbing case tonight. Three teenage boys in California are accused of raping an unconscious girl, sexually assaulting her brutally and videotaping the whole thing. Jurors today watched 21 minutes of that tape and some were visibly upset by what they saw. The boy's defense attorneys say the tape was the girl's idea. That she is, in fact, an aspiring porn actress. Covering the case for us tonight Court TV anchor Lisa Bloom.
LISA BLOOM, ANCHOR, COURT TV: Hi.
COOPER: The impact of seeing that tape, it's got to be huge.
COOPER: If a picture's worth a thousand words, I think a videotape is better than a thousand witnesses. Eyewitnesses are notoriously unreliable especially in a crisis, at a crime scene. Here is a videotape that the jury can watch. But the defense will always argue there's things that are not in the tape. What happened immediately before, what happened immediately after. There's a particular angle to a videotape. So it doesn't tell the entire story.
COOPER: The defense is saying that the girl was just pretending to be unconscious during this activity because she was sort of ashamed of what was going on.
BLOOM: And to support that, apparently she did have consensual sex according to the defense in the days before the alleged rape with two of the three boys. And she consented to a separate videotape in those days prior. This is a wide open case and a lot of disturbing facts being offered by both sides.
COOPER: Will it boil down to he said, she said?
BLOOM: Well, it will. But plus the videotape. And don't underestimate the punch of this videotape. You know the jurors today as they watched it, they were very upset. Some of them, 21 minutes long. And it appears to show a very brutal rape. A gang rape of a young girl while she's lying there unconscious. That has to have a big impression on this jury.
COOPER: Now during the preliminary hearing a police detective testified the girl did not want the prosecution to go forward. How is that going to be interpreted by the jury?
BLOOM: Certainly that's helpful to the defense, as well. If she recanted. If she changed her mind at any point in the process. It's common for sexual assault victims to do that. But somebody's going to have to explain why. When she testifies for the prosecution, as is expected, is she going to have an explanation for why she changed her mind back then?
COOPER: One of the accused was apparently arrested last night, his second arrest since this event.
BLOOM: Right. For marijuana possession. And he's the son of a sheriff's deputy. Is he getting favorable treatment? He's out on bail. Apparently his bail was not revoked. More disturbing questions in this trial.
COOPER: How much longer is this trial going on for?
BLOOM: I would expect it to last at least another week or two. This is a gang rape. There's three defendants, three different sets of attorneys. It's a complicated case.
COOPER: Lisa Bloom, thanks very much.
Well, coming up, Dr. Sanjay Gupta lying on a bed of nails. Why he's doing it, not quite sure. But it looks painful if you ask me. Watch our very own Dr. Sanjay Gupta take a return trip to the side show. Testing the human limit.
Also tonight David Blaine, eat your heart out. The popcorn man is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, there is just something about the side show life that really appeals to our senior medical correspondent. Yesterday Dr. Sanjay Gupta became a fire breather. Tonight the good doctor returns, this time to sleep on a bed of nails. That's part of our week-long series on life beyond limits. The carnival begins in a moment -- Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Really interesting stuff. I have been fascinated by the carnival side show for quite some time. I just want to point out that this stuff is something that taught to me by highly trained professionals in many instances. Do not try this at home.
COOPER: I have no...
GUPTA: OK. What you're about to see in some ways is reality but also an illusion. I found this out in some ways the hard way. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Could I survive the bed of nails? Here goes. Last month with the help of side show master Todd Robins (ph) I got a chance to find out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All these things are based upon principles of physics and anatomy. And since most people slept through physics and anatomy the secrets are for the most part safe.
GUPTA: Let the secret be revealed. The bed of nails is a trick. Of physics. The force of the blow is spread among all the individual nails and then further blunted by that cinderblock. If the force were put on the point of a single nail...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would go right through the back, probably puncture the lung, go into the heart, because there's so much weight. And it would be very painful and very much a bad thing.
GUPTA (on camera): It could kill me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: And I wasn't (UNINTELLIGIBLE), I assure you. This is the stuff that we've got coming up in the special coming up on Sunday, May 9 at at 9:00. World's free diving champion, mountain climbers. We're going to explain the science behind how people do these things.
COOPER: And basically distributed -- the weight is evenly distributed. That's why the nails don't...
GUPTA: That's right. If you were doing this on a flat surface, or on a single nail, for example, you would be in a serious bad way after something like this. But you're just distributing your weight.
Of course, I didn't want to find out the hard way on this, but it worked very well. My back and my chest did not hurt at all.
COOPER: It really didn't hurt?
GUPTA: Did not. Not one bit.
COOPER: Interesting.
GUPTA: Yeah.
COOPER: All right. I'm not sure. I'm not going to try, and we don't want anyone trying it at home. Thank you very much.
GUPTA: Well, we got some room right here in the studio...
COOPER: Tomorrow, what are we doing tomorrow?
GUPTA: Tomorrow we're going to look at actually something called the human blockhead. This is -- have you ever seen those guys pounding their nail into the...
COOPER: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
GUPTA: How do they do that?
COOPER: That's a good question.
GUPTA: We're going to tell you.
COOPER: We're going to find out?
GUPTA: Tomorrow, we're going to tell you tomorrow. Yeah. COOPER: All right. It's like revealing all the secrets of David Blaine and...
GUPTA: That's right. He's got nothing on us.
COOPER: Exactly. Sanjay, thanks very much.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COOPER: Time to check on some pop news, lighter stuff in tonight's "Current." Let's take a look.
Johnny Depp reportedly wants Keith Richards to appear in the sequel to "Pirates of the Caribbean." Depp is interested in having the aging rocker play his dad in the film. The role should be easy; Richards already has a full wardrobe of pirate clothing.
Hard to believe, but Bob Dylan is rumored to be interested in appearing on "American Idol." That's right, the folk rock legend reportedly wants to be a guest judge on the show. Probably because if he were to sing, well -- I don't know. Maybe not.
The sheep who had 59 pounds of fleece shorn off last week is being treated like a celebrity in New Zealand. The sheep, named Shrek, is so popular it even had an audience with the country's prime minister, where the two posed for pictures and discussed foreign policy and a new energy bill. I don't think that's a real picture.
And the actors who voice the characters on "The Simpsons" will be back for another season. Yay! The cast ended their salary dispute with Fox. They got a raise. But what closed the deal finally was a free case of Duff Beer and a dinner with Crusty the Clown. That will do it every time.
So the concession stand at one movie theater is drawing more attention than what's actually playing on the screen. The big attraction apparently is in the lobby, and involves a man who's decided to bury himself alive inside a giant box of popcorn. Popcorn. CNN's Jeanne Moos has the buttery flavored details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You probably eat popcorn in a darkened theater. Crazy Legs Conte (ph) inhaled it in a seven-foot glass box.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Evel Knievel of the (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
MOOS: They dumped bag after bag of popcorn on him. He used a snorkel to breathe in what they called ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The popcorn sarcophagus.
MOOS: There was a color-coded warning system. Green if OK. Red if in trouble.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yellow, which is either for warning, or more butter.
MOOS: If David Blaine can starve himself in a box, why can't Conte (ph) stuff himself with popcorn here at the Tribeca Film Festival?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give us a sign, Crazy Legs. He's eating. Of course he has nine hours left to eat.
MOOS: Nine hours before the debut of a documentary about his career as a competitive eater. Crazy Legs did this as a publicity stunt.
(on camera): Salt?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe this came salted.
MOOS (voice-over): Occasionally a kernel stuck. An EMT stood by.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he was to choke, I would have to perform the Heimlich maneuver.
MOOS (on camera): You need a little wipeoff here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could definitely use a little wipe-off, thank you, yes. That would be good.
MOOS (voice-over): He's eaten everything from turkey to oysters. But oysters went down slimy. Not this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I may have to call for some chapstick in a little bit.
MOOS: And though his lips were dry, his clothes were soaked in sweat and butter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You may want to use a napkin after you're done touching me.
MOOS: After eating down to his chest, Crazy Legs gave up. The so-called Houdini of cuisiney was a little wobbly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't the corn, or the pop. It was definitely the butter.
MOOS: And if you're looking for something to curb your appetite, you can't lick this.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Where does Jeanne Moos find these people?
Well, fans of the sitcom "Friends" gearing up for the very last episode. What could take its place? We have some suggestions to "The Nth Degree."
And tomorrow, freedom for John Stoll. Released from prison today after his child molestation conviction was overturned. He joins us to share what his plans are after 20 years behind bars.
First, today's "Buzz" -- should the soldiers who abused Iraqi prisoners be criminally charged? What do you think? Log on to cnn.com right now, slash 360. Cast your vote, cnn.com/360. We'll have results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Earlier we showed you the most popular stories on cnn.com. Here's the scoop on the hybrid car story. It seems their growing popularity means an extra challenge for rescue workers when there's an accident. Rescue workers are being trained how to deal with hybrid cars at crash scenes, like precisely cutting through a network of high voltage circuits to save a trapped victim. Hybrid batteries are more than 40 times the strength of a regular battery. Sales of hybrids have risen at an average annual rate of more than 88 percent since the year 2000. That's the most popular story on cnn.com.
Right now for your "Buzz." Earlier, we asked should the soldiers who abused Iraqi prisoners be criminally charged? More than 20,000 of you voted. Here's what you said -- 80 percent of you said yes; 20 percent no. Not a scientific poll, just your buzz. We appreciate you voting.
Tonight, taking "Friends" to "The Nth Degree."
You know how hard it is to get even a small group to agree on anything. Well, this Thursday night, it's estimated that a pretty big group, 50 or 55 million people, will be doing the same thing at exactly the same time. Watching the final episode of "Friends."
Conclusion, the U.S. is missing a good bet in Iraq. What you need to unify a nation is a hugely successful sitcom. We recommend that Hollywood start work right away on "Boots and Suits," about the madcap civil administrator of a newly liberated country and the wacky but lovable members of his staff.
Or "Baath Time." After the regime they worked for is toppled, a bunch of Baath Party functionaries moves into a couple of rambling, rent-controlled Baghdad apartments while trying to make new careers for themselves.
Or what about "Puffing Pals," set in a hookah bar? The specifics need work, we agree, but we think the sitcom is definitely the way to go.
I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching. 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
Aired May 4, 2004 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, I'm Anderson Cooper.
Disturbing details of what happened inside that Iraqi prison, 360 starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): More fallout, more reaction and new details in the shocking Iraqi POW abuse scandal. Who is really to blame for what happened in that Iraqi prison? The wife of one accused soldier speaks out. Is her husband being made a scapegoat?
Thousands evacuated as wildfires hit California and fire season hasn't even begun.
And how does the human body endure pointed pounding pain? Life without limits with tough as nails Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: And a good evening to you.
We begin with fallout and finger pointing over the photos showing apparent abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Today, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called the abuse totally unacceptable and un-American. Almost three dozen separate investigations are underway right now into prisoner deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan and at least three are being called homicides.
With the latest here is CNN's Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Members of Congress are irate they are only now being provided with an Army report already seen by CNN and other news organizations that details "egregious acts and numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses at the Abu Ghraib Prison."
Among the examples cited by Major General Antonio Taguba, "pouring cold water on naked detainees; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light or broomstick; a male military police guard having sex with a female detainee."
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The actions of the soldiers in those photographs are totally unacceptable and un-American.
MCINTYRE: The pictures put Rumsfeld in the uncomfortable position of having to explain the difference between the abuse by the U.S. military and the torture and murder by the regime of Saddam Hussein.
RUMSFELD: Equating the two I think is a fundamental misunderstanding of what took place.
MCINTYRE: With some in Congress calling for hearings, the Pentagon dispatched the Army's No. 2 general to reassure members it could investigate itself.
GEN. GEORGE CASEY, ARMY VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: We are fully committed to getting to the bottom of this and holding accountable those who we find guilty through the judicial process.
MCINTYRE: So far a dozen people have been reprimanded or face criminal charges but even with the investigation still underway, the Army is saying this is an isolated case.
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), ARMED SERVICES CMTE.: There were a number of allegations of prisoner abuse in both Afghanistan and in Iraq but we were assured that none of them were similar to this type of abuse.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: Well, the Army did reveal today that there are 25 cases in which Iraqi prisoners have died while in U.S. custody. Now, 12 of them appear to have been by natural causes.
Others are still under investigation but three are investigated as possible homicides, including a case in which one U.S. soldier may have used excessive force and another one where he may have been justified in shooting an escaping Iraqi prisoner -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thanks Jamie.
Too little too late perhaps but changes are being made at the prison near Baghdad where those pictures of abuse were taken.
CNN's Ben Wedeman has that side of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Behind the walls of this prison the U.S. military says it's cleaning house following mounting international condemnation of American treatment of Iraqi prisoners.
According to a recent internal Army report, Abu Ghraib is overcrowded and inadequately staffed with poorly trained personnel. Sixty percent of the inmates represent no threat to society and many of them are being held indefinitely due to bad record keeping.
Investigators are looking into whether the abuse represents a systemic or widespread problem. Assigned with fixing all this is Major General Jeffrey Miller, formerly in charge of the Guantanamo Detention Center, a facility that itself has been widely criticized by human rights groups.
Tuesday Miller announced that the use of hooding, sleep deprivation and forcing inmates to stay in uncomfortable positions for long periods of time has been discontinued, that the prison population will be reduced from its current 3,800 to somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000, and that the chain of command at the prison will be streamlined to integrate detention and interrogation.
WEDEMAN (on camera): None of this was enough for the Iraqi Governing Council's Human Rights Minister who says he's resigning in protest over the prisoner abuse scandal.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well more now on Capitol Hill. An outrage over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: The thing that I'm worried about is the 135,000 Americans who are acting honorably and courageously will receive little coverage and these -- and these six idiots, if that's the number of people who involved themselves in the pictures that we saw, will receive massive coverage and I think that's a tragedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, tomorrow the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will hold a closed hearing and after a closed door briefing by Army chiefs today, the Senate Armed Services Committee said it plans to hold a public hearing "at the first opportunity."
Well tonight, Staff Sergeant Ivan or Chip Frederick, as friends call him, stands accused of beating and humiliating Iraqi prisoners. He is in Iraq right now. His wife is speaking out on his behalf. I'll speak with her, Martha Frederick, live coming up later on 360.
Moving on now, burger, fries and a Coke, please, the first American meal ordered by Thomas Hamill, the Am.
Moving on now, burger, fries and a Coke, please, the first American meal ordered by Thomas Hamill, the American held hostage in Iraq. Hamill, who is now in Landstuhl, Germany says he is feeling well and looking forward to being reunited with his wife, understandable.
More now from CNN's Chris Burns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At this U.S. military hospital, Iraq is a world away for Thomas Hamill but the wounded former hostage thinks about those he left behind.
THOMAS HAMILL, FORMER HOSTAGE: First and foremost, I would like to thank the American public for their support of all deployed in the Middle East. Please keep your thoughts and prayers with those who are still there.
BURNS: Appearing before cameras here for the first time, the Mississippi dairy farmer turned truck driver didn't take questions but a doctor treating him for his bullet wound says the April 9 ambush of his fuel convoy, the beginning of his captivity, remains vivid.
MAJ. KERRY JEPSEN, U.S. ARMY ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON: He recalls a blast and motion and sound from his door and burning in his forearm, so that was how he was injured. He treated the injury by controlling the bleeding with a pair of socks that he had on the dashboard.
BURNS: Jepsen says Hamill wasn't abused as a hostage, in fact he was operated on in captivity though one of the attackers struck him in the head with a rifle butt during the ambush.
Hamill told doctors his captors kept him in one place no more than four days at a time and that he slept on dirt floors. On Sunday, the sound that woke Hamill up was music to his ears.
JEPSEN: He awoke sometime in the morning to the sound of these diesel engines that he recognized as U.S. vehicles, as opposed to the Iraqi vehicles that he was used to hearing.
BURNS: That, Jepsen says, was when Hamill pried a door open and ran to freedom.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNS: Now, Hamill's wife Kerry (sic) will be arriving here sometime tomorrow morning. She'll be escorting her husband back to the states before the end of the week.
Doctors say that once Hamill arrives back in the states he'll be undergoing more than one round of surgery to repair his arm and he's undergoing counseling to repair that invisible injury, the trauma from a deadly ordeal -- Anderson.
COOPER: Chris, what happens to him after that? Does he have any plans? Has he said anything about what he intends to do?
BURNS: Well, in his statement to the media here, he was pretty much just talking about what -- how he felt about the folks he left back in Iraq and that he looked forward to coming home. His hometown of Macon, Mississippi is planning a very big homecoming and so when he gets back that's probably the first thing he's going to do. COOPER: All right, Chris Burns thanks very much from Landstuhl.
Back here at home, interest rates are staying low but for how long? That's the question. That story tops our look at news "Cross Country."
In Washington, the Fed keeps a key short term interest rate at its lowest level in 46 years but suggested that rates could be raised in the coming months.
California now, burning issues. Firefighters are working against six fires in the mountain ranges between Santa Barbara and San Diego. The first have burned about 16,000 acres of mostly mountain scrub in the two days since they began during a heat wave.
Nationwide marijuana abuse on the rise, a study says dependence on the drug rose in the '90s possibly because marijuana has become more potent. The study says increases were highest among young African Americans and young Hispanic males.
In New York, time to pay up. The world's biggest record labels have been ordered to return $50 million in unpaid royalties to thousands of musicians. Some big names like P. Diddy, David Bowie and Dolly Parton will benefit but most of the artists are more obscure. That's a look at stories "Cross Country" tonight.
The price of being president hits a record level. When we come back we're going to take you on the campaign trail and follow what is becoming a very big money trail as well.
Also driving while black, it's apparently enough to get you pulled over by some police. The study that is causing a shakeup in Massachusetts.
And did the U.S. blink in Fallujah? A new brigade is moving in but is it seen as a defeat for the U.S.? All those stories ahead.
First, let's take a look at the most popular stories on cnn.com right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Of all the places where big campaign money will be spent this year, Ohio will certainly get its share. President Bush aware that no Republican has ever won the White House without winning the Buckeye State continued his bus tour there today.
Here's Senior White House Correspondent John King.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Still six months to election day, yet the pace is suddenly quicker. The attacks of Democrat John Kerry increasing sharper.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He can't tax the rich enough to pay for his promises. Guess who he's going to tax? He's going to tax me and you.
KING: Off the big plane and onto the bus is part of a plan to get a president defined by war more up close and personal with the voters, though in most cases for now voters handpicked by the Bush campaign as part of its effort to keep the president on a disciplined script.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, thank you. I want to thank you for being a man of faith and as a fellow...
CURT STEINER, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: If he can sort of escape the Rose Garden and get out there and actually meet people and shake their hands, he's going to come across as a lot more human than I think his opponent does.
KING: No Republican has ever won the White House without carrying Ohio. It's a dead heat now viewed by both campaigns as the decisive battleground.
JIM RUVOLO, KERRY OHIO CAMPAIGN MGR.: Everybody knows that whoever wins Ohio is the next president.
KING: Lost manufacturing jobs are a Bush liability here, his challenge to make the case things are looking up and that a Kerry victory would make things worse.
RUVOLO: Ohio voters are raging moderates. They vote their pocketbook.
KING: Iraq is the other big question mark.
(on camera): In newspaper interviews while on the bus tour, Mr. Bush acknowledged that the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq has sullied America's image at a critical moment in Iraq's post-war transition.
(voice-over): But he has not mentioned the scandal in two days of campaign speeches vowing only to push through what he concedes are tough times of late.
BUSH: I don't care what the pressures are we will make sure that we fulfill our mission and Iraq is free.
KING: A four stop day requires plenty of energy but Mr. Bush has run enough campaigns to know it's usually not an even exchange.
BUSH: (Unintelligible).
KING: Exactly six months until they count the votes, never too soon to count the campaign calories.
John King, CNN, Cincinnati.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: The 2000 presidential election was the most expensive in U.S. history but that was until 2004. Experts expect the Bush versus Kerry showdown to become perhaps the first ever $1 billion political campaign.
Here's Kelly Wallace on the raw politics of big spending.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are members of opposing teams but together they will pummel the current record making the 2004 presidential election the costliest one ever.
Things weren't always this way. Think back to simpler times, 1960, the Kennedy-Nixon race when experts estimate as much as $30 million was spent. Adjusted for inflation that amounts to about $180 million in 2002 dollars, less than a fifth of the $1 billion expected to be spent this year.
Presidential campaigns have gotten steadily more expensive from the $160 million spent during the Reagan-Carter race in 1980 to half a billion dollars in Bush v. Gore.
LARRY ROBLE, CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS: In many respects what we're looking at is a money arms race. One party will break a record and the other party feels it has to match them.
WALLACE: It was the Watergate scandal of the 1970s during the Nixon administration and allegations of contributions for access that led to public financing for presidential candidates.
Then came the emergence of unlimited contributions from individuals, labor unions and corporations, a problem that campaign finance watchdogs say spiraled out of control during the 1996 Clinton- Gore campaign.
CHELLIE PINGREE, PRES., COMMON CAUSE: That has really been the growing concern on the part of the public is when big donors can give unlimited amounts of money or bundle big groups of money then what is the resulting influence and how do you make sure that you separate that opportunity in politics?
WALLACE: Congress banned unlimited contributions to candidates two years ago, so what accounts for the $1 billion record expected this year? Experts say higher individual contribution limits, more small donors and, for the first time, two candidates opting out of the public financing system.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: And that means both candidates can spend as much as they want between now and the summer conventions. They're spending most of their money on television advertising and, Anderson, that is what experts say is the most expensive thing right now, what makes campaigns more expensive than ever before, the cost of television advertising.
COOPER: Unbelievable how high the cost is. Kelly, thanks very much.
WALLACE: Sure.
COOPER: Well, along with all that money both campaigns are spending a ton of time fielding questions. Mostly what you hear and see in the media are the answers. Tonight, we thought we'd focus more on the questions. Now, it is true that candidates prefer questions with easy answers and when kids are pitching well the game is usually softball.
Here's today's Campaign 360.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I do want to answer some questions before I get out of here. Here's your chance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, do you like your job and is it difficult at times?
KERRY: Nicholas asked how will you make sure all children learn in school?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President would you please sign this?
KERRY: I will ask what will you do so schools have enough money to teach art to kids?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Erica (ph). I'm eight years old and what's the funnest thing about being president?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I hug you?
KERRY: Of course you can hug me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I hug you?
KERRY: Oh, I'm so lucky. I'm so lucky.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: There you go, kids.
Racial profiling by Massachusetts police. Is driving while black enough to get you pulled over in some places? A new study that is causing a stir.
Also tonight, Iraqi prison abuse who's really to blame? Find out why one soldier thinks he is being railroaded.
And a little later, sex videos and the issue of consent, a woman's charge of rape gets turned against her. Do pictures really lie? We'll take a closer look.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, when drivers get pulled over in traffic, it usually goes one of two ways. They're sent off with a warning or they're ticketed, maybe even searched. Anecdotal evidence has long held that race has a lot to do with which scenario actually plays out. But a study in Massachusetts released today has put some numbers on how prevalent racial profiling may be there.
CNN's Boston Bureau Chief Dan Lothian reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): A new study finds two-thirds of police departments in the state may be engaged in some form of racial profiling when it comes to ticketing and searching non-white drivers.
EDWARD FLYNN, MASS. PUBLIC SAFETY DIRECTOR: Biased policing is bad policing but disparity does not always indicate bias.
LOTHIAN: The study by Northeastern University compared the number of tickets and searches by race given by a police department, then compared that to the racial makeup of that department's jurisdiction. In 249 departments, a disproportionate number of searches and tickets were given to non-whites.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Basically the report vindicates what people in the communities of color in Massachusetts have always been saying.
LOTHIAN: And what this activist says happened to him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It makes you angry. It's degrading. It upsets you.
LOTHIAN: The 100-plus page study commissioned by state lawmakers looked at more than a million and a half citations over a two year period beginning in 2001 and the state Office of Public Safety now wants to take a closer look.
FLYNN: We need to collect more data that's more refined, that is the same across the board so that apples are compared to apples.
LOTHIAN: Some police officers welcome further scrutiny but worry that this report has labeled them guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It puts the police agencies on the defensive.
LOTHIAN: In a statement, the Massachusetts Chief of Police Association suggests the study is flawed "that the problem is not widespread" and that anyone who thinks police here have a practice of profiling is "sadly misinformed."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a witch hunt and they found some witches.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LOTHIAN: The state is now ordering the 249 police departments to keep a record of all traffic stops over the next year. This is a way for officials to find out if any of this can be just chalked up to this is just a normal situation or if indeed it is racial profiling -- back to you Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Dan, thanks very much from Boston.
Iranian gas attack victims promise to take the United States to court. That tops our look at global stories right now in the "Up Link."
In Tehran, chemical attack victims want compensation from the U.S. for supplying Iraq with the weapons that scarred them back in the 1980s. Victims are vowing to take the U.S. to the World Court at The Hague for giving poison gas to Saddam Hussein during Iraq's war against Iran.
Worldwide now, oil prices surge. World oil prices are at their highest level in 13 years amid violence in the Middle East and low U.S. fuel stocks.
Yelwa, Nigeria, religious fighting, police say Christian militia killed hundreds of Muslims and have left charred and mutilated corpses in the streets. The crux of the conflict a Christian tribe of farmers is competing with Muslim cattle herders for fertile farmland in the south.
Beijing, China now and new SARS cases. Three suspected cases are confirmed meaning nine people are victims of the latest outbreak. One has died. The cases are all linked to people who worked at a Beijing lab where SARS samples are kept.
Manchester, U.K., an important day in history for rich people anyway. A hundred years ago today, Charles Rolls and Henry Royce met for tea and decided to build the cars that are now favored by CEOs and gangster rappers alike. To celebrate the anniversary, 100 Rolls Royce enthusiasts gathered in northern England to show off their vintage cars, and that is a look at the "Up Link" tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Who is really to blame for what happened in that Iraqi prison? The wife of one accused soldier speaks out. Is her husband being made a scapegoat?
And how does the human body endure pointed pounding pain? Like without limits with tough as nails Dr. Sanjay Gupta, 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Let's take a look at some of our top stories in tonight's "Reset."
In Washington, the Pentagon will keep about 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq through the end of 2005. Ten thousand troops will go to Iraq this summer to replace units whose return has been delayed.
New Carrollton, Maryland, train passengers just outside Washington were screened for explosives today as part of a test program. Officials say when the test is over the plan is to screen rail passengers only if there is a specific threat.
Los Angeles now, the terror threat against L.A. shopping malls last week was a hoax. The FBI has charged a Tanzanian man with making false statements after he claimed in an anonymous call to be affiliated with al Qaeda. They say the man made the call because he was mad at an old girlfriend.
Topeka, Kansas now, residents won't get to vote on gay marriage after a proposed state constitutional amendment failed to get enough support in the house. Kansas already has a statute recognizing only marriage between a man and a woman but some legislators wanted to strengthen that by putting it to the state Constitution.
New Orleans, Al Gore TV, don't worry it isn't a new reality show. The former vice president and Democratic fund-raiser Joel Hyatt have bought a TV network with a rumored price tag of $70 million. Gore and Hyatt say they'll re-launch the 24-hour News World International as an irreverent, bold network aimed at people in their 20s.
Well, our top story tonight as the Iraqi prison abuse scandal has unfolded the family of one of the accused soldiers, Staff Sergeant Ivan "Chip" Frederick has vocally defended him. In a moment I'll have a live interview with his wife. First CNN has obtained a copy of the equivalent of the grand jury proceeding against Frederick and it raises questions about whether he was a whistle blower or a participant.
CNN's Kathleen Koch reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 37-year-old staff sergeant chip Frederick's family has portrayed him as a whistle blower, an observer of the worst abuse, ignored when he raised concerns.
WILLIAM LAWSON, SOLDIER'S UNCLE: The more he complained, and went to his superiors, it was, you go back and do the job. We're running this show, and don't you worry about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son was raised right. He's never abused anybody.
KOCH: But a transcript of Frederick's article 32 proceeding, the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing, tells a different story. The military court decided to proceed with criminal charges after seeing evidence, including a photo of Frederick sitting on a bound prisoner. A witness testified, "I remember Staff Sargent Frederick hitting one prisoner in the side of its ribcage. The prisoner was no danger to Staff Sargent Frederick. They were still flex-cuffed and sandbagged."
Frederick in journal entries, his family released, wrote he was essentially following orders and was told, quote, this is how military intelligence wants it done. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it can be a defense and a successful defense. But only if he can establish that he did -- he or she did not know or reasonably could not be expected to know that this was an illegal order.
KOCH: Frederick's attorney admits his client is not blameless.
The defenses involved here do not involve necessarily abrogating all responsibility. They involve abrogating criminal responsibility.
KOCH (on camera): It's unclear when and where "Chip" Frederick and five other soldiers accused in the alleged abuses will face courts-martial.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Joining me now from Buckingham, Virginia Staff Sergeant Ivan Chip Frederick's wife Martha Frederick. Martha, thanks very much for being on the program.
Today Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense, said what your husband and others did is quote unacceptable, and un-American.
What does your husband say about the accusations?
MARTHA FREDERICK, WIFE OF STAFF SGT. IVAN "CHIP" FREDERICK: I haven't directly talked to my husband about the accusations. Most of what I've been hearing is from the media.
COOPER: When you hear the secretary of defense saying it's un- American, it's unacceptable, what do you think?
You've seen those pictures.
FREDERICK: I've seen the pictures. But I know my husband. And I know the type of person he is. There is no more of a proud man. And no more of an American than I know.
COOPER: You think he's being scapegoated?
FREDERICK: Yes, I do. I really do.
COOPER: Who do you think is responsible, then, for what went on?
FREDERICK: I think whoever was in charge of that facility that my husband was working at, and all those that had the ability to know what was going on and did nothing about it.
COOPER: In a letter, your husband sent in January, he wrote, "I questioned some of the things I saw, such things as leaving inmates in their cell with no clothes or in female underpants, handcuffing them to the door of their cell. And the answer I got was, this is how the military intelligence wants it done."
Is that going to be his defense if this goes to a trial, to a criminal trial?
FREDERICK: I do not know. I have not spoken to my husband as far as that's concerned or his attorneys with that.
COOPER: But you personally believe, I mean the word you were getting through letters from him in the past, was that this was -- this was a tactic that military intelligence wanted him to do?
FREDERICK: In the letters that he sent me, he told me that there were things that were going on, but that he couldn't talk about them on the telephone or through e-mail, and he said that he would have to -- we would talk about it when he got home. He did let me know that he had gone to his superiors, and when he didn't get a response from that one, he went to another superior, and he continued to try to communicate that something was going on or that they needed the policies in place or something to be in place in order to deal with the situations. But he never received any.
COOPER: His attorneys indicated to CNN that he may not abrogate all responsibility. That he may take some responsibility, but not necessarily for criminal wrongdoing.
Do you think he's responsible at all for anything of the things that went on in that prison?
FREDERICK: If he's responsible, I'm sure that it was -- I cannot speak for my husband. I cannot read his mind. I know what type of person he is. And I know that if he did anything, it was in the cause of help fighting the terrorists. Help saving other soldiers, and thinking that he was doing what was right. What he needed to do as a soldier from the military.
COOPER: I can't imagine how hard this must be for you, Martha.
FREDERICK: Very hard.
COOPER: When was the last time you saw your husband, talked to him?
FREDERICK: The last time that I saw my husband was back in last April of 2003. And the last time I talked to him was this morning.
COOPER: Do you feel -- I mean, how is he doing?
And do you feel like he's sort of being sold down the river?
FREDERICK: I mean, can anybody imagine their family member being in a war-like situation, and then being -- having to deal with these allegations? I know that, you know, it's a terribly hard thing for him to do. And we're relying on faith to see us through this.
COOPER: How is he doing?
You talked to him this morning.
FREDERICK: He's having a hard -- a pretty hard time. He says good times and bad times. You know, sometimes it's easier to deal with. Sometimes it's hard to deal with. There were times when he felt like he didn't know how much more he could take of this. But, you know, he has faith. He has belief in god. He has belief that him coming out with the truth is what's going to save him.
COOPER: Martha I'm sorry you're going through this. And I do appreciate you coming on the program to talk about it. Thank you very much, Martha Frederick.
FREDERICK: Thank you for letting me.
COOPER: Well, the Geneva convention spells out the rules for treatment of prisoners. Here's a fast fact for you. The third article states this, No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind."
That leads us to today's "Buzz." What do you think?
Should the soldiers who abused Iraqi prisoners be criminally charged?
Logon to cnn.com/360 to vote. Six of them right now are facing charges. Results at the end of the program.
The public relations damage in the Arab world from the abuse scandal has been so bad that the White House announced this evening that President Bush would soon go on Arab TV outlets to discuss it. It's a continuation of a PR offensive that began today.
Here's CNN's Octavia Nasr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Appreciate it. Thank you.
OCTAVIA NASR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Behind the smile and the handshake there is a serious attempt to restore the U.S.'s battered image in the Arab World. National Security adviser Condoleezza Rice appearing on major Arab networks to make the case for the U.S. in Iraq.
On the Saudi-owned all news network Al-Arabiya she assures everyone that the U.S. president is personally involved in the issue of Iraqi prisoners abuse. On Al Jazeera, the number one rated Arabic news network Rice was asked about establishing an international committee to oversee the investigation of abuse in Abu Ghraib. The anchor explains that Miss Rice prefers the U.S. to handle that.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: We have a Democratic system.
NASR: As big as the prisoner abuse story is being played in the Middle East -- the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is always on the front burner. Rice was pressed on the issue of the U.S.'s support for Ariel Sharon's unilateral Gaza pullout plan.
RICE: There was never any thought of trying...
NASR: Rice explained the U.S. president was only trying to move the peace process along after things have stalled for many years. A day of American damage control in the Arab World.
Octavia Nasr, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, one more story on Iraq tonight. TV news doesn't seem to stay focused on one story very long. Such is the case with Fallujah. Last week when a former Iraqi general made a deal with the Marines to create a new security force in Fallujah, it seemed that the city and the story dropped from the headlines. Now it turns out that Iraqi general will not be taking charge after all. The story may have dropped, but the problems in Fallujah certainly remain. "How quickly we forget."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Iraq's new Fallujah brigade reporting for duty. The U.S. military hopes that by reupping and re-arming former members of the Iraqi army they can end the violence in the longtime sunny stronghold. But the plan's gotten off to a rocky start. The man first appointed to lead the brigade, General Jassim Muhammed Saleh was a former member of the Elite Republican Guard, once charged with the harsh suppression of Saddam's opponents. The likely new leader General Muhammad Latif, is a one-time intelligence officer who'd fallen from favor and went into exile. It was just over a month ago that four U.S. contractors were killed. Their bodies dragged through the streets while crowds cheered, and Fallujah exploded in violence.
U.S. troops were drawn into house-to-house combat trying to weed out the so-called insurgents. The bloody siege contributed to the deadliest month for U.S. troops since the war in Iraq began. Then last week, a deal, U.S. Marines would fall back from Fallujah, and the Fallujah brigade would step in. Iraqi families who fled the fighting are now returning to survey the damage, bury the dead and celebrate what they see as an American defeat. U.S. troops on the ground wait to see if the new Fallujah brigade will fight the insurgents if necessary or join them. And the American media has turned its attention to the next story from the war zone.
"How Quickly We Forget."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Back here in the U.S., a courtroom shocker. A jury watches video of an alleged gang rape. But the defense is claiming the girl involved was really an aspiring porn actress. That is ahead on tonight's justice served.
Also tonight Dr. Sanjay Gupta turned carnival man? On a bed of nails testing the human threshold for pain. Why? We'll talk to him about it. Plus, it's the popcorn man. Meet the guy who likes the snack so much he's living inside a bag of it. Hmm. Don't eat that stuff. Be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Justice served. A disturbing case tonight. Three teenage boys in California are accused of raping an unconscious girl, sexually assaulting her brutally and videotaping the whole thing. Jurors today watched 21 minutes of that tape and some were visibly upset by what they saw. The boy's defense attorneys say the tape was the girl's idea. That she is, in fact, an aspiring porn actress. Covering the case for us tonight Court TV anchor Lisa Bloom.
LISA BLOOM, ANCHOR, COURT TV: Hi.
COOPER: The impact of seeing that tape, it's got to be huge.
COOPER: If a picture's worth a thousand words, I think a videotape is better than a thousand witnesses. Eyewitnesses are notoriously unreliable especially in a crisis, at a crime scene. Here is a videotape that the jury can watch. But the defense will always argue there's things that are not in the tape. What happened immediately before, what happened immediately after. There's a particular angle to a videotape. So it doesn't tell the entire story.
COOPER: The defense is saying that the girl was just pretending to be unconscious during this activity because she was sort of ashamed of what was going on.
BLOOM: And to support that, apparently she did have consensual sex according to the defense in the days before the alleged rape with two of the three boys. And she consented to a separate videotape in those days prior. This is a wide open case and a lot of disturbing facts being offered by both sides.
COOPER: Will it boil down to he said, she said?
BLOOM: Well, it will. But plus the videotape. And don't underestimate the punch of this videotape. You know the jurors today as they watched it, they were very upset. Some of them, 21 minutes long. And it appears to show a very brutal rape. A gang rape of a young girl while she's lying there unconscious. That has to have a big impression on this jury.
COOPER: Now during the preliminary hearing a police detective testified the girl did not want the prosecution to go forward. How is that going to be interpreted by the jury?
BLOOM: Certainly that's helpful to the defense, as well. If she recanted. If she changed her mind at any point in the process. It's common for sexual assault victims to do that. But somebody's going to have to explain why. When she testifies for the prosecution, as is expected, is she going to have an explanation for why she changed her mind back then?
COOPER: One of the accused was apparently arrested last night, his second arrest since this event.
BLOOM: Right. For marijuana possession. And he's the son of a sheriff's deputy. Is he getting favorable treatment? He's out on bail. Apparently his bail was not revoked. More disturbing questions in this trial.
COOPER: How much longer is this trial going on for?
BLOOM: I would expect it to last at least another week or two. This is a gang rape. There's three defendants, three different sets of attorneys. It's a complicated case.
COOPER: Lisa Bloom, thanks very much.
Well, coming up, Dr. Sanjay Gupta lying on a bed of nails. Why he's doing it, not quite sure. But it looks painful if you ask me. Watch our very own Dr. Sanjay Gupta take a return trip to the side show. Testing the human limit.
Also tonight David Blaine, eat your heart out. The popcorn man is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, there is just something about the side show life that really appeals to our senior medical correspondent. Yesterday Dr. Sanjay Gupta became a fire breather. Tonight the good doctor returns, this time to sleep on a bed of nails. That's part of our week-long series on life beyond limits. The carnival begins in a moment -- Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Really interesting stuff. I have been fascinated by the carnival side show for quite some time. I just want to point out that this stuff is something that taught to me by highly trained professionals in many instances. Do not try this at home.
COOPER: I have no...
GUPTA: OK. What you're about to see in some ways is reality but also an illusion. I found this out in some ways the hard way. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Could I survive the bed of nails? Here goes. Last month with the help of side show master Todd Robins (ph) I got a chance to find out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All these things are based upon principles of physics and anatomy. And since most people slept through physics and anatomy the secrets are for the most part safe.
GUPTA: Let the secret be revealed. The bed of nails is a trick. Of physics. The force of the blow is spread among all the individual nails and then further blunted by that cinderblock. If the force were put on the point of a single nail...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would go right through the back, probably puncture the lung, go into the heart, because there's so much weight. And it would be very painful and very much a bad thing.
GUPTA (on camera): It could kill me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: And I wasn't (UNINTELLIGIBLE), I assure you. This is the stuff that we've got coming up in the special coming up on Sunday, May 9 at at 9:00. World's free diving champion, mountain climbers. We're going to explain the science behind how people do these things.
COOPER: And basically distributed -- the weight is evenly distributed. That's why the nails don't...
GUPTA: That's right. If you were doing this on a flat surface, or on a single nail, for example, you would be in a serious bad way after something like this. But you're just distributing your weight.
Of course, I didn't want to find out the hard way on this, but it worked very well. My back and my chest did not hurt at all.
COOPER: It really didn't hurt?
GUPTA: Did not. Not one bit.
COOPER: Interesting.
GUPTA: Yeah.
COOPER: All right. I'm not sure. I'm not going to try, and we don't want anyone trying it at home. Thank you very much.
GUPTA: Well, we got some room right here in the studio...
COOPER: Tomorrow, what are we doing tomorrow?
GUPTA: Tomorrow we're going to look at actually something called the human blockhead. This is -- have you ever seen those guys pounding their nail into the...
COOPER: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
GUPTA: How do they do that?
COOPER: That's a good question.
GUPTA: We're going to tell you.
COOPER: We're going to find out?
GUPTA: Tomorrow, we're going to tell you tomorrow. Yeah. COOPER: All right. It's like revealing all the secrets of David Blaine and...
GUPTA: That's right. He's got nothing on us.
COOPER: Exactly. Sanjay, thanks very much.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COOPER: Time to check on some pop news, lighter stuff in tonight's "Current." Let's take a look.
Johnny Depp reportedly wants Keith Richards to appear in the sequel to "Pirates of the Caribbean." Depp is interested in having the aging rocker play his dad in the film. The role should be easy; Richards already has a full wardrobe of pirate clothing.
Hard to believe, but Bob Dylan is rumored to be interested in appearing on "American Idol." That's right, the folk rock legend reportedly wants to be a guest judge on the show. Probably because if he were to sing, well -- I don't know. Maybe not.
The sheep who had 59 pounds of fleece shorn off last week is being treated like a celebrity in New Zealand. The sheep, named Shrek, is so popular it even had an audience with the country's prime minister, where the two posed for pictures and discussed foreign policy and a new energy bill. I don't think that's a real picture.
And the actors who voice the characters on "The Simpsons" will be back for another season. Yay! The cast ended their salary dispute with Fox. They got a raise. But what closed the deal finally was a free case of Duff Beer and a dinner with Crusty the Clown. That will do it every time.
So the concession stand at one movie theater is drawing more attention than what's actually playing on the screen. The big attraction apparently is in the lobby, and involves a man who's decided to bury himself alive inside a giant box of popcorn. Popcorn. CNN's Jeanne Moos has the buttery flavored details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You probably eat popcorn in a darkened theater. Crazy Legs Conte (ph) inhaled it in a seven-foot glass box.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Evel Knievel of the (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
MOOS: They dumped bag after bag of popcorn on him. He used a snorkel to breathe in what they called ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The popcorn sarcophagus.
MOOS: There was a color-coded warning system. Green if OK. Red if in trouble.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yellow, which is either for warning, or more butter.
MOOS: If David Blaine can starve himself in a box, why can't Conte (ph) stuff himself with popcorn here at the Tribeca Film Festival?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give us a sign, Crazy Legs. He's eating. Of course he has nine hours left to eat.
MOOS: Nine hours before the debut of a documentary about his career as a competitive eater. Crazy Legs did this as a publicity stunt.
(on camera): Salt?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe this came salted.
MOOS (voice-over): Occasionally a kernel stuck. An EMT stood by.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he was to choke, I would have to perform the Heimlich maneuver.
MOOS (on camera): You need a little wipeoff here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could definitely use a little wipe-off, thank you, yes. That would be good.
MOOS (voice-over): He's eaten everything from turkey to oysters. But oysters went down slimy. Not this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I may have to call for some chapstick in a little bit.
MOOS: And though his lips were dry, his clothes were soaked in sweat and butter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You may want to use a napkin after you're done touching me.
MOOS: After eating down to his chest, Crazy Legs gave up. The so-called Houdini of cuisiney was a little wobbly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't the corn, or the pop. It was definitely the butter.
MOOS: And if you're looking for something to curb your appetite, you can't lick this.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Where does Jeanne Moos find these people?
Well, fans of the sitcom "Friends" gearing up for the very last episode. What could take its place? We have some suggestions to "The Nth Degree."
And tomorrow, freedom for John Stoll. Released from prison today after his child molestation conviction was overturned. He joins us to share what his plans are after 20 years behind bars.
First, today's "Buzz" -- should the soldiers who abused Iraqi prisoners be criminally charged? What do you think? Log on to cnn.com right now, slash 360. Cast your vote, cnn.com/360. We'll have results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Earlier we showed you the most popular stories on cnn.com. Here's the scoop on the hybrid car story. It seems their growing popularity means an extra challenge for rescue workers when there's an accident. Rescue workers are being trained how to deal with hybrid cars at crash scenes, like precisely cutting through a network of high voltage circuits to save a trapped victim. Hybrid batteries are more than 40 times the strength of a regular battery. Sales of hybrids have risen at an average annual rate of more than 88 percent since the year 2000. That's the most popular story on cnn.com.
Right now for your "Buzz." Earlier, we asked should the soldiers who abused Iraqi prisoners be criminally charged? More than 20,000 of you voted. Here's what you said -- 80 percent of you said yes; 20 percent no. Not a scientific poll, just your buzz. We appreciate you voting.
Tonight, taking "Friends" to "The Nth Degree."
You know how hard it is to get even a small group to agree on anything. Well, this Thursday night, it's estimated that a pretty big group, 50 or 55 million people, will be doing the same thing at exactly the same time. Watching the final episode of "Friends."
Conclusion, the U.S. is missing a good bet in Iraq. What you need to unify a nation is a hugely successful sitcom. We recommend that Hollywood start work right away on "Boots and Suits," about the madcap civil administrator of a newly liberated country and the wacky but lovable members of his staff.
Or "Baath Time." After the regime they worked for is toppled, a bunch of Baath Party functionaries moves into a couple of rambling, rent-controlled Baghdad apartments while trying to make new careers for themselves.
Or what about "Puffing Pals," set in a hookah bar? The specifics need work, we agree, but we think the sitcom is definitely the way to go.
I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."
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