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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Outrage over beheading of American civilian. Congress views more photos from Abu Ghraib prison. Single women and voting. Gender experiment subject kills himself. Possible UFO in Mexico sky.
Aired May 12, 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.
Outrage and anger over the beheading of an American -- 360 starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): The president condemns the brutal beheading of Nic Berg but his parents say the U.S. government is to blame.
Congress takes a peak at new photos from Abu Ghraib Prison. Should we get to see them as well?
They're single, female, and could control this election but why aren't more of them voting?
As a child he was the subject of a devastating gender experiment. Now at 38, he's taken his own life.
And, look up in the sky. Is that a UFO?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, at the White House today, President Bush said there is no justification for the beheading of Nicholas Berg and vowed the U.S. will complete its mission in Iraq, while up Pennsylvania Avenue on Capitol Hill more abuse images shown, some so shocking that the lawmakers got a private viewing.
Covering all angles tonight in Washington Senior White House Correspondent John King; in Berg's hometown CNN's Maria Hinojosa; also in Washington, Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena; and, on Capitol Hill, CNN's Joe Johns.
We begin at the White House, John, a stern message from the president today.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A stern message, Anderson, but in many ways a familiar refrain. This president facing yet another setback in Iraq and yet again saying he will not waver and that the United States will continue the mission.
The president stopping outside of the White House to pay his tribute, if you will, to Nicholas Berg and to offer his prayers and condolences to the Berg family Mr. Bush saying that Nic Berg was in Iraq trying to help it become democratic and free the president condemning his execution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is no justification for the brutal execution of Nicholas Berg, no justification whatsoever. The actions of the terrorists who executed this man remind us of the nature of the few people who want to stop the advance of freedom in Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Yet again the president saying in his view the goal of the terrorists to shake the resolve, shake the will, shake the confidence the president said of the United States. Mr. Bush said that will not happen.
He said the United States will continue and complete the mission in Iraq, Anderson, the tape of that horrific beheading making its way across the U.S. government as officials try to learn more about those responsible. Officials here at the White House say the president has been briefed on that tape but he has not and does not plan to see it -- Anderson.
COOPER: A sickening tape indeed. All right, John King thanks.
Nicholas Berg's body has arrived now at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware as his parents make funeral arrangements. They're also expressing their anger though at U.S. officials who they believe should have done more to prevent what happened.
CNN's Maria Hinojosa reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the unfortunate reality of death. Michael Berg meets with the funeral director to discuss laying his 26-year-old son to rest, a family in mourning but now also angry, not only at hooded murderers but at the U.S. government for denying that Nic Berg was ever detained by U.S. authorities in Iraq.
VOICE OF MICHAEL BERG, FATHER: That's really what cost my son his life was the fact that the United States government saw fit to keep him in custody for 13 days without any of his due process or civil rights and released him when they were good and ready.
HINOJOSA: Brother David also broke his silence saying that Nicholas had sent e-mails from Iraq about being held in U.S. custody. While detained in Iraq, the Berg family sued Donald Rumsfeld and the Department of Defense on April 5th demanding Nicholas' release. One day later Nic Berg was let go and the suit was dropped.
There is much sympathy for the Berg family though they remain in seclusion meeting only with a funeral director on Wednesday. CARL GOLDSTEIN, FUNERAL DIRECTOR: It was to be as expected. The family is very, very upset but they're dealing with it as best as possible.
HINOJOSA: Nic Berg was, according to friends, a humanitarian and an adventurer.
BRUCE HAUSER, NEIGHBOR: So he saw it as an opportunity to drum up some business for his own company and, knowing Nic, when he got there Nic's all about rebuilding, you know, and I'm certain that Nic had it in his mind that he's going to do something to help.
HINOJOSA: But Nicholas Berg never fulfilled his promise to himself, lost amid the confusion of war in the post 9/11 new world order that his father searching for blame tries to understand.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HINOJOSA: This from a father who continues to blame the U.S. government for their role in the murder of their son. Now just a few minutes ago, Sarah (ph) Berg came out breaking her silence asking the media to stay away from what they are calling a private memorial service Friday afternoon for family and friends.
At this point, we know that the body has left Dover Air Force Base making its way to the funeral home just a few minutes away from here where this young man grew up -- Anderson.
COOPER: Maria, we heard Nicholas Berg's father on that radio program basically condemning the U.S. government, didn't say anything about the terrorists who actually beheaded his son.
HINOJOSA: There is a tremendous amount of anger on the part of Michael Berg towards the United States government. You have to remember this is somebody who went and sued Donald Rumsfeld and the Department of Defense once he found out that his son was being detained in Iraq and, as he understood it, being held by U.S. authorities.
This is not somebody who just sits down, so there is a tremendous amount of anger and we haven't been able to speak to him but that of course is a question. There were terrorists who murdered his son and yet he continues to say that the U.S. government needs to respond as to how they were responsible not letting him catch his March 30th departure out of Iraq to get here to the United States - Anderson.
COOPER: If indeed they have any responsibility at all. Maria Hinojosa thanks very much.
There is confusion, as Maria has pointed out, surrounding Nicholas Berg's exact presence in Iraq. What was he doing there, who was he held by and the circumstances leading up to his murder? U.S. authorities in Iraq promise a thorough investigation.
CNN's Karl Penhaul has that side of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The website video left few doubts about Nicholas Berg's final moments. Much more of the mystery what Berg was doing and where he went in Iraq. The coalition had little to offer.
DAN SENIOR, CPA SPOKESMAN: (AUDIO GAP)
PENHAUL: His family says he was looking for reconstruction work when he was arrested in Mosul by Iraqi police on March 24th. The Iraqi police remain under the control of the coalition.
SENIOR: (AUDIO GAP) and determined that he was not involved with any criminal or terrorist activities.
PENHAUL: Coalition authorities say U.S. military police also visited Berg to check on his welfare. He was released two weeks later one day after his family in Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit against U.S. officials over his detention. Did the coalition order the release?
SENOR: I would refer you to the Iraqi Police Service on the exact day or the reason behind the exact day he was released.
PENHAUL: An Iraqi police commander in Mosul told CNN by phone he vaguely recollected arresting Berg. He then retracted those comments an hour later. The coalition spokesman says he's committed to a robust and very through investigation.
Karl Penhaul, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, in Washington a development tonight in this investigation. U.S. officials say that Berg turned down a State Department offer for a flight home, even after FBI agents who questioned him in Iraq warned him it was too dangerous to be on his own.
Tracking this side of the story for us tonight, CNN Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena, Kelli what's the latest?
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, it is one of the most significant developments today. The FBI put out a statement saying that the Coalition Provisional Authority offered to provide Berg safe passage out of Iraq but, as you said, he refused.
The statement also offers a definitive time line on events. It says that the FBI was notified that Iraqi police had detained Berg on March 25th. And, as we heard earlier, Berg was interviewed three times by FBI agents and his family was also interviewed by FBI agents in Philadelphia.
Now after completing its investigation, the FBI says that it told the U.S. military and the Coalition Provisional Authority that it didn't come up with any information that would warrant detaining him any longer. The FBI says that it then warned Berg about the dangerous environment in Iraq and it encouraged him to accept the CPA's offer for safe passage but, as I said before, the FBI says that he refused. The FBI says that he also refused government offers to advise his friends and his family of his status.
Now there are about 50 or so FBI agents in Iraq at this time and the bureau says that it's already opened an official investigation into Berg's murder -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, we'll be watching. Kelli Arena thanks.
On Capitol Hill today, Congress got a look at more grim images from Iraq's Abu Ghraib Prison. There are hundreds of pictures, some so sensitive it's said that a private viewing was arranged for Senators in a secure room. House members got their own slide show.
CNN Congressional Correspondent, Joe Johns reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Military personnel brought the photo and video files to the capital for members of the House and Senate to view in separate rooms.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very, very appalling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really had an impact on people.
JOHNS: Members said they saw one man beating his head against a wall repeatedly, videos of hooded men masturbating and Iraqi women forced to bare their breasts. One Senator said he saw no evidence of rape and murder.
SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: I did not see a video of either a rape of a male prisoner or a female prisoner.
JOHNS: Democrats said the abuse was the work of more than a few rogue soldiers.
NELSON: Now you can't tell me that all of this was going on with seven or eight Army privates, and so the question is where did that failure of the command and control occur?
JOHNS: Senior Republicans warned against making the pictures public.
SEN. JOHN WARNER (R), VIRGINIA: Err on the side of caution. I think at this time it would not be wise to publish them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: It was a brief opportunity for members of Congress to get a look at these pictures. The Department of Defense retains control of them in order to avoid any legal problems or privacy problems in the future -- Anderson. COOPER: Joe Johns on Capitol Hill thanks very much, Joe.
You just heard Republican Senator Warner saying that the photos should not be released. We're going to talk to someone else who has a different point of view, Senator Carl Levin. We're going to get reaction to what he thought of the photos and the video clips later on 360.
Senator Levin was one of the men named by John Kerry today as a possible defense secretary if he ever becomes president. That tops our look at what's happening right now "Cross Country."
In a radio interview today, Kerry listed GOP Senators John McCain and John Warner as well as Democratic Senator Carl Levin and former Pentagon Chief William Perry as possible picks for defense secretary in a future Kerry administration. Kerry was on the campaign trail in Florida today pushing his healthcare agenda.
Los Angeles now, a former FBI agent could face up to five years in prison for lying about his affair with a woman accused of being a Chinese double agent. James Smith pleads guilty to making false statements.
Smith was involved with Katrina Leung, a naturalized citizen who worked for the FBI gathering intelligence during business trips to China. Leung faces charges of illegally copying national security papers.
San Francisco now, Gap admits factory violations. In a report today, the company concedes that many of its factories overseas offer low pay and hazardous conditions. The Gap says it revoked contracts with 136 factories last year because of serious violations, including two that were using underage workers.
That's a quick look at stories "Cross Country" right now.
Well, a woman soldier accused of abusing prisoners tells her side of the story. Find out who Lynndie England says made them take those infamous pictures and why she thinks their behavior was justified.
Plus, gender research turned tragedy. Doctors convinced parents to raise their son as a girl, a decision that has now ended in suicide.
And, is the truth out there? An Air Force video that some claim shows UFOs creates quite a stir. We'll try to figure out the truth behind this mystery.
First, let's take a look at your picks, the most popular stories on cnn.com right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, as we mentioned earlier, Senators and Congressmen on Capitol Hill today were shown some of the photos, some of the hundreds of photos, there are about 1,000 of them that show abuse. There were also some videos, abuse from Abu Ghraib Prison.
Some GOP Senators came out saying these photos should not be released to the public. A Senator with a different point of view is Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat. I spoke to him earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Senator Levin, there were about 1,000 photos, about 200 or 300 or so directly related to the abuse, as well as some videos that you saw for the first time today. How bad was it?
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), MICHIGAN: Well, they were even another level of horror above the previous ones.
COOPER: In what way?
LEVIN: Well, that acts that they photographed were more explicit and more even just a higher level of being horrific than before but I don't want to be more specific than that.
COOPER: Did you learn anything that you didn't previously know?
LEVIN: Well, the pictures to me show without any doubt that there was an organized, methodical effort to extract information from prisoners that this was not just the isolated acts of a few military police officers here or enlisted personnel.
It's very clear from the pictures, as well as from the Taguba report yesterday that the military intelligence people and perhaps the CIA were working in tandem because it's so clearly part of a organized operation that is going on there. It's just right from the pictures clearly visible.
COOPER: Previously, you had said that you believed these photos should be released to the American public and there of course to the public around the world. Do you still think that after seeing them and after describing them as very, very graphic?
LEVIN: Yes, I do. I think we might as well get this behind us and not just have this leak out two or three pictures at a time. They apparently were circulated among a number of people and I think that one -- if we can try to find strength in this situation that we're in it would be the strength that we have as a country to deal with problems and not to sweep them under the rug.
And to deal with this problem we've got to give the problem, it seems to me it put it in its full form, not to in any way minimize it. Show it for what it is and then to hold people accountable at all levels, not just the bottom floor of the house but to clean house up as many floors as it goes.
COOPER: But hasn't the public seen enough of these photos? I mean a lot of people feel like, you know, they get the idea. They don't need to see any more and that by releasing new photos, releasing hundreds of more photos, as you're proposing, it puts American lives in danger, Americans serving overseas. LEVIN: Well, American lives are going to be in danger unless we clean house and hold people accountable at whatever levels for what happened here but the decision as to whether to release these photos is not a decision for the Senate.
We have different opinions on that. This decision is going to be made by the Executive Branch and they have to make a decision as to whether it's best to get them out there and get them behind us and to deal with it or whether they prefer to not do that but they'll dribble out in that case.
COOPER: Senator Carl Levin, appreciate you being on the program. Thank you.
LEVIN: Sure.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We're going to hear from Private First Class Lynndie England a little bit later on in the program for the first time today.
What would you do if after a medical mistake a doctor tried to convince you to raise your male child as a female? It sounds impossible but it happened to one family with tragic results. We'll have details coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, we have seen her smiling silently as she pointed to naked hooded prisoners. We've seen her holding a leash attached to a man's neck but, until today, we hadn't seen Private First Class Lynndie England actually speak. Today she did with her lawyers for the first time saying not only didn't she want to be in those photos, she says she was just following orders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PVT. LYNNDIE ENGLAND, U.S. ARMY: We all agree that we don't feel like we were doing things that we weren't supposed to because we were told to do them. We think everything was justified because we were instructed to do this and to do that.
GIORGIO RA'SHADD, ENGLAND'S ATTORNEY: Everything that's happened is her defense. The fact that the military officers weren't allowed to be officers is her defense. The fact that civilians aren't allowed in the military chain of command and they told all these kids to do essentially their job for them is her defense. The fact that the general couldn't get in that section and the soldiers couldn't get out of that section to ask for advice that's her defense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And that is no doubt a defense we'll be hearing more of from her attorney. England, who is four months pregnant, is awaiting court martial at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Let's turn now to Charles Graner. We know he's one of the soldiers, like England, accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners. Tonight his attorney is speaking out as well saying others are to blame and his attorney is actually using the photographs we've all seen to make his case.
CNN National Correspondent Susan Candiotti has that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This photo may be the strongest evidence yet that intelligence officials were personally involved in the abuse of Iraqis held at Abu Ghraib Prison. That's the view of attorney Guy Womack who represents Specialist Charles Graner, one of seven guards charged with abuse.
GUY WOMACK, SPC. CHARLES GRANER'S ATTORNEY: He's the one that told me that there was a civilian and at least four military intelligence officers in the photograph.
CANDIOTTI: At the top of the pile, he claims, a civilian agent.
WOMACK: That was actually a civilian contract employee, although he's wearing a U.S. Army uniform. He reached down, grabbed them by the neck and adjusted them as you can see in the photograph. Specialist Graner is standing here just watching with his hands on his hips.
CANDIOTTI: The lawyer said the military agents were at the back of the photo.
WOMACK: There's one here walking towards the camera, another one to the right facing the camera and then you can see two other sets of legs.
CANDIOTTI: By Graner's account, his lawyer says, the intelligence operatives came to the prison that night to question three inmates, not about terrorism but about an alleged rape in the Iraqi section the day before.
WOMACK: The military intelligence officers ordered the MPs to undress them and lay them on the floor in the position that they're in in this photograph.
CANDIOTTI: Womack said the intelligence officials were camera shy.
WOMACK: The intelligence officers, as you might imagine, never photographed themselves and this photograph taken by an MP on the second floor where they couldn't see him shows the intel officers' participation.
CANDIOTTI: Then there are these photos, Graner and others posing with naked prisoners forced into a human pyramid.
WOMACK: They were to appear in the photographs for shock effect. They were ordered to smile and look like this was funny.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): Did he personally object to any of this?
WOMACK: Of course and they complained repeatedly up the chain of command.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): But in Senate hearings the general investigating Abu Ghraib Prison told a somewhat different story.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: In your judgment were these abuses a result of an overall military or intelligence policy to "soften up detainees for interrogation"?
MAJOR GEN. ANTONIO TAGUBA, U.S. ARMY: Sir, we did not gain any evidence where it was an overall military intelligence policy of this sort.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): Graner's attorney says his client never saw any written orders but the message was clear. Do what you're told. If and when Specialist Graner is court-martialed the lawyer plans to put both military and civilian intelligence on trial.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Houston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We're following a number of ongoing developments in Gaza as we track a number of global stories right now. Let's take a look in the "Up Link."
In Gaza, an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at a refugee camp on the Egypt border. Palestinian officials say seven people were killed in the strike. Now this came shortly after Israeli troops and tanks began leaving Gaza after an intense raid to recover the remains of five Israeli soldiers killed in an armored vehicle attack.
Palestinian militants had taken some of the soldiers' body parts and displayed them before TV cameras. Just moments ago, Palestinians reportedly turned over the remains to mediators in Egypt.
Athens, Greece, Olympic security. Security officials are starting a four day drill to test readiness for possible terrorist attacks. Seventy thousand police and soldiers are set to patrol the games in Athens this summer.
In Baghdad, big celebration mistaken as an attack, a reporter for an Italian television station reported that the Italian Embassy in Baghdad was under attack.
After hearing gunfire that report was repeated on FOX News and others but, as it turns out it was not attack, instead joyous Iraqis were shooting up guns in celebration after Iraq beat Saudi Arabia in a soccer game in Jordan, the first time ever Iraq's soccer team will compete in the Olympics this summer. Let's hope they kept not in Greece.
That's tonight's "Up Link" for you.
An American beheaded caught on video, what do the terrorists really hope to gain? We'll take a look at that.
Plus, an untapped voting block, single women and men, what can be done to reach out for them and why aren't they going to the polls?
Also coming up gender suicide, born a boy, raised a girl, a terrible story of a young man when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Let's "Reset" our top stories right now.
West Chester, Pennsylvania, the family of Nicholas Berg is angry over the U.S. government's denial that he was in U.S. custody in Iraq before being beheaded by extremists. The family insists U.S. forces did detain Berg for almost two weeks in March and April and should have sent him back to America. His body arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware today.
Washington now. Behind closed doors senators view hundreds of unreleased Iraqi abuse pictures, lawmakers describe the images as gruesome and sickening. Earlier on 360 Democratic Senator Carl Levin told me the pictures convinced him there was a concerted organized effort to extract information from Iraqi prisoners and the abuses were not individual acts.
Los Angeles now, a bitter film dispute is over. Miramax and Disney have reached a deal involving "Fahrenheit 9/11" Michael Moore's controversial look at America's response to the September 11 terror attacks. Disney refused to distribute the movie under the agreement, Miramax will acquire the rights to the film and will arrange for its distribution.
And from Houston, a special honor for Thomas Hamill. The contractor who escaped Iraqi captors will throw out the first ball at tonight's game between the Houston Astros and the Florida Marlins. That should happen in about half an hour. Hamill who was held hostage for three weeks has an injured arm. The word is his son will throw out the ball. Quite an honor.
Back now to our top story. The beheading of Nick Berg caught on video. A grisly terrorist tactic. It's one that has been used before, of course. Each time the ultimate goal is the same, anger and heartache.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: The videotaped murder of Nicholas Berg is sickening in its brutal simplicity. A hooded terrorist reads a statement threatening U.S. forces, demanding they leave Iraq. Then a knife is withdrawn. What follows too terrible to show. Nicholas Berg held down by his captors, screams as his throat is cut. His severed head eventually held up to the camera as terrorists cry, god is great!
JIM WALSH, TERRORISM EXPERT, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: This is clearly staged and it's clearly staged for the maximum emotional impact.
COOPER: It is, of course, not the first time terrorists have videotaped their murders. In 2002, "Wall Street" reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded in Pakistan. A videotape of it was sent to media outlets but the actual execution was never shown to the public.
In 1989 pro-Iranian terrorists released a grisly videotape showing the body of U.S. marine Lt. Col. William Higgins (ph) dangling from a rope. Each time terrorists failed to get the U.S. government to give in to their demands. Yet experts say videotaping murder has broader objectives. Domestically, terrorists hope to weaken resolve of the American public.
Internationally, they hope...
WALSH: ...to say to followers, look I'm here, active, standing up to our enemy. Secondly to potential recruits. It says come and join our cause. Give us money, give us political support.
COOPER: It probably didn't matter to his killers that Nicholas Berg was a civilian. To send their message, all that mattered was that he was an American.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: That leads us to today's buzz question. Does the beheading of an American make you less concerned about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners? Log on to CNN.com/360. Cast your vote. We have been getting a lot of emails on this. We'll have results at the end of the program.
From raw politics to raw numbers. Pollsters say single women could be the new soccer moms. The powerful voting bloc du jour. Problem is they don't seem to be voting. More than 21 million single women, almost half of those who are eligible to vote did not cast ballots in the last presidential election. Pollster Anna Greenberg who studied the voting attitudes of single women joins us from Washington. And in Los Angeles Arianna Huffington, the author of "Fanatics and Fools, the Game Plan for Winning Back America."
Anna, let me start off with you. Let's take a look at these numbers. In the last presidential election in 2000, 44.8 million single women. 52 percent of them voted but 48 percent of them, a little over 21 million didn't vote. And of married women, 52 million married women, 68 percent voted. 32 percent didn't vote. Why?
ANNA GREENBERG, GREENBERG QUINLAN HOSNER RESEARCH: Well, let's be clear about who these women are. I think we have the image of a single woman as Carrie Bradshaw (ph) in "Sex in the City." In fact, that's not really what the single woman is. She tends to be an economically marginal person. She tends to be fairly socially isolated. She tends to be a little less educated and all the characteristics of people who would be less likely to participate in politics. She tends to feel checked out in the sense that policy doesn't speak to her. If you look, for instance, at the kinds of things that in the last two or three election cycles we've been talking about, they tend to be issues that speak of seniors, Medicare, retirement, these are issues for the 40-year-old single woman just aren't as relevant to them.
COOPER: Let me bring in Arianna to this. There's something you have written about recently, why do you think the parties are failing to bring these women in?
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, AUTHOR, "FANATICS AND FOOLS": Well, these women largely don't really care about the negative tone of modern campaigns. They are turned off by it. They don't believe politicians really care for them. And they really want to fall in love, Anderson. They want to fall in love with somebody who will inspire them, who'll touch their hearts. That's why we have this petition at the moment circulating urging John Kerry to really run a visionary inspiring campaign of the kind we haven't really had since 1968 with Bobby Kennedy. That's the way to get to these women.
COOPER: You think the Democrats have a leg up on this. Let me bring in Anna on this. Which party do you think stands to gain? You've done the polling on this.
GREENBERG: The Democrats clearly stand to gain. If you look at their position on a range of issues whether it's a woman's right to choose or healthcare. They tend to be much more progressive. If you look at the ones that say they're going to vote and tend to vote they tend to lean towards John Kerry. Obviously increasing the number of single women who are voting in this election would help the Democrats. They see the Democrats as people who are more likely to speak to the issues they care about.
COOPER: Arianna, what do you think are the issues they care about?
HUFFINGTON: They care about all the issues that Anna mentions. The problem is making them believe the politicians are really going to do something about it. They have been betrayed so often. The question is how can they trust a politician? He has to offer them a real world narrative that touches them and that makes them believe again. It's really a message of hope and that message can be one that counters the message of fear that is very dominant in the Bush campaign.
COOPER: Before you get down to the political road, let me show you these numbers for men. It's not just single women, single men really aren't going to the polls as much as married men are. In 2000 out of 34 million single men, 56 percent of them didn't vote. Out of 53 million married men only 33 percent of them didn't vote. Anna, do you explain this?
GREENBERG: In general, unmarried people are less likely to participate in politics because they aren't connected socially in the way people who are married are. They tend to be more checked out. I should also say if you look, for instance, at the policies of the Bush administration over the last few years, they tend to be directed at people who are married. For the last two or three years people that are unmarried aren't hearing a lot of what speaks to them whether it's the child tax credit, the marriage penalty or a variety of other things or the marriage promotion initiative...
COOPER: Arianna, do you think it's a message the Democrats are hearing this time around?
HUFFINGTON: I think it's beginning to. I think it's going to make a huge difference. If they recognize single women as the real main group that they need to appeal to, much more than NASCAR dads or soccer moms and they can also appeal to them with some hip slogans like you want to get engaged, try politics. Or you want a commitment or do you want a date, try November 2nd. There are a lot of ways to get to them so not just traditional politics.
COOPER: We'll see if that works. Arianna Huffington, thanks very much. Anna Greenberg, as well, thank you very much.
More politics today. The Senate appropriation hearings today. Donald Rumsfeld was prepared to talk about President Bush's request for $25 million in Iraq and Afghanistan but all that changed when Senator Patrick Leahy asked Rumsfeld if the U.S. were beating the terrorists or if the terrorists had the edge. Then Leahy added he'd heard all the apologies over Abu Ghraib but thought he would add a few things he was sorry about. Giving a list of criticisms of the Bush administration's handling the war in Iraq. As you can expect, the exchange got heated. What followed was pure raw politics. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: I'm sorry about administration officials led by the vice president repeatedly trying to link Saddam Hussein to 9/11. I'm sorry that truth tellers in the administration like General Shinsecki and Lawrence Lindsay (ph) were hounded out of their jobs. I'm sorry there's no real plan. I'm sorry the president taunted Iraqi resistance fighters to bring it on while our troops were still in harm's way.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, first I'd like to, Senator, answer a few of the other comments you made.
LEAHY: Could we answer that one first.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has full right to answer your question.
LEAHY: I know but could he answer the question -- the specific question I asked. That's the only question I asked. Answer that and then say all you want to say.
RUMSFELD: I think it's fair that I be allowed to answer your statement.
LEAHY: Well, I asked a question. You don't want to answer my question?
RUMSFELD: I'll be happy to answer your question. LEAHY: Please do.
RUMSFELD: I will.
SEN. TED STEVENS (R), ARIZONA: This is not a hearing on Iraq abuse. It's not a hearing on al Qaeda. This is a hearing to try to ask questions concerning the information we've been given on appropriations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman, I will follow your admonition. But I -- I wish I had a few moments to tell this committee what I'm sorry about. I'm sorry about 9/11 when 3,000 Americans were killed by terrorists. I'm sorry that Saddam Hussein took over this country and killed thousands of people and established one of the worst regimes ever. And there's another long list of what we're sorry about and they are completely different than what Senator Leahy is sorry about.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Always interesting on Capitol Hill. A tragic ending coming up. Doctors convinced parents to raise their son as a girl. Now a grown man, he has taken his own life. The emotional story. That ahead.
Also tonight, a close encounter over Mexico? Video of a reported UFO sighting. A lot of hype about this. We'll try to look past the hype on the horizon.
And a little later I'll take Jeopardy champion for 600, Alex, thank you very much.
Highlights and low lights from a Jeopardy nerd, that would be me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
A man named David Reimer, has taken his own life. A sad end to a life story already filled with pain. You see Rhymer was born a boy, but after a medical procedure he was raised as a girl. He was living proof our true genders are made, not born. His case they called a medical triumph. But in David Reimer's life as you are about to see there was little triumph to celebrate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): He was born Bruce Reimer in 1966, one of a pair of identical twins. When he was only 8-months-old his life would change forever. Following a botched circumcision his desperate parents searched for a way to help their now deformed child. They thought salvation came in the form of Dr. John William Money, a renounced sex researcher at John Hopkins Medical Center. According to Dr. Money's own work, a real gender is not something we're born with, but something we learn.
Bruce's parents say he convinced them to raise their boy as a girl, and follow a process to turn him from male to female. First, there was preliminary reconstructive surgery to remove what was left of Bruce's male organs, next estrogen hormone therapy. Bruce now called Brenda, rebelled against her assigned gender. His mother told the author John Colapinto, the first time she put a dress on her child she was ripping at it trying to tear it off.
Dr. Money declined to comment on this case but he published reports claiming success turning Bruce into Brenda. At a time when Brenda, later said, her life had spiralled out of control, suffering from depression, attempting suicide. At the age of 16, his parents finally told him the truth. And he returned to life as a young man having his male genitals rebuilt and eventually marring a woman with three children of her own. His life became the subject of a book, but it was never really his own. Just last week, two years after his twin brother killed himself, shortly after his wife left him, reportedly broke and alone at 38-years-old, he made one last attempt at suicide. This time he succeeded.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, John Colapinto has known a book about David Reimer for seven years. He wrote a book about David, called, "As Nature Raised Him: The Boy Who was Raised as a Girl." He joins us now. Thank you for being with us.
I'm sorry it's under these circumstances. I mean, this man lived for his entire childhood being lied to by doctors, even by his own parents.
What effect did that have on him?
JOHN COLAPINTO, AUTHOR: When he found out the truth at the age of 14 he was obviously devastated, but he was also as he said to me relieved. For his entire childhood he thought he was crazy. He was saying to people, I feel like a boy. Aren't I a boy?
And they were all saying to him, everybody, teachers, families, psychologist, no you're a girl.
COOPER: You said he was devastated, but he wasn't angry at his parents. He was angry toward his doctors.
COLAPINTO: He never actually expressed anger toward his parents and I never saw it and I lived with him for a month while I was doing the book. And interviewed him over the course of a year. You know, he loved his parents and felt only as if he was a burden to them. So he actually felt the guilt oddly enough.
COOPER: And I mean you knew him for seven years.
Was he happy at all?
What was his life like?
COLAPINTO: David was perfectly capable of happiness for periods of time but his dark childhood always was there. I was actually just looking at the book again and seeing a monologue that happens at the end of the book where he says this will never leave me. It doesn't matter if I have therapy, it doesn't matter me doing this book and stepping out and showing my face. Which I think a lot of us hoped would sort of help to alleviate some of the shame and guilt and so on that he felt. He said to me, this will never leave me and evidently that was true.
COOPER: With suicide you always ask the question why did that person do it?
Why do you think he did it?
It just didn't leave him?
COLAPINTO: I think suicides are always complicated and a lot of factors. It's wrong to oversimplify. David's dark childhood had a massive effect. There was also a genetic predisposition. His mother was depressive, so was his brother. And also he did have the circumstantial things in his life. That, his marriage was beginning to break down. He was having money problems. Wasn't actually, broke. He actually -- we shared profits on the book and they were substantial. But he had invested the money not wisely. He had given the money out of the parents out of kind of trying to pay them back for the rough life he was giving them. But he didn't work at the end of his life. And David needed to work. He needed to be busy.
COOPER: That's very sad. A sad story all around. John Colopinto, fascinating book you wrote. Thank you very much.
COLAPINTO: Thank you.
COOPER: Well, for a lighter subject coming up. Flying objects from outer space in Mexico?
This image is all over the Mexican media. Is it UFO or something more earthly? We'll try to figure it ahead.
Also ahead, Alex Trebeck and me. Move over Tucker Carlson, there's a new CNN Jeopardy champion who's ready for his close up.
And first today's "Buzz" is this. Does a beheading of an American make you less concerned about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. A controversial question. Log on to cnn.com/360. Cast your votes. Results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well the Mexican Air Force is releasing infrared video of unidentified flying objects surrounding a surveillance plane. There it is.
Some say the shapes appear to change direction. The pilots who saw these images could be heard yelling, quote, we are not alone?
So, what do you think, is this a close encounter from a UFO as some are claiming? Joining me now from Los Angeles is Michael Shermer, publisher of "Skeptic" magazine. Michael, thanks for being on the program. You have seen the videos. What do you think was really going on?
MICHAEL SHERMER, SKEPTIC MAGAZINE: Well, first of all, a couple interesting things about this clip is that you'll notice the symmetry of the image, the three dots are exactly parallel to each other on the right and then there they are on the left and the one on the far right matches the one on the far left. So that's an in lens, or in camera effect there. That isn't 6 objects, that's 3 being mirror imaged.
This is an infrared camera and, in fact, as I got the reports, the pilots didn't see that when they were up there. They saw it later. When they were shown the footage of the infrared camera. Of course, you are not looking at infrared when you're in the cockpit.
COOPER: So, you don't think it's something in the sky, you think it's something in the camera or in the plane?
SHERMER: I think there's probably something in the sky that's being duplicated. What that is probably a flare or a series of flares or possibly one of these pilotless drone planes that the military are using these days. And I think it's probably being duplicated that way and then being reported. It's hard to say, because the images are hardly blurry.
COOPER: I know you're a skeptic, you think this reminds you of this incident I think back in 1997 the famous Phoenix light incident. What happened there?
SHERMER: That's right. The Phoenix lights turned out to be a series of flares launched by the local Air Force base and there you go, they kind of seem to appear out of nowhere and hovered for quite a long time. And later it was determined that's what they were.
But to people at dusk and at night, it's really hard to tell how far away something is. How big it is, how fast it's moving or not moving. And so what happens when the mind is not clear, it fills in with its own imagination as to what is going on with size, movement, that sort of thing. Then these stories get exaggerated with the retelling.
COOPER; Well, there's also this guy Billy Myers we're going to quickly show -- he claims to have taken a lot of UFO photos. We're going to show some of them. What do you think is going on with him.
SHERMER: Here I think these are faked. I think there's little doubt in my mind they are fake. It's not difficult to fake UFO photographs. We've done it. And I think either these are actual objects that are being misinterpreted or faked objects that are being exploited for people's belief in UFOs.
COOPER: It's a fascinating subject. Michael Shermer, appreciate you being on. Thank you.
SHERMER: You are welcome.
COOPER: Well, usually this is the time we check on some pop news and "The Current," but as many of you may know I appeared on Jeopardy last night. OK, I admit it was one of those dumbed down celebrity Jeopardies, but still I won. I don't like to brag, but I rarely win anything. So, in case you missed it here's a quick review.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX TREBEK, HOST JEOPARDY: Anderson.
COOPER: What is equal?
What is Vietnam?
What is D-Day?
Who is Daniel Pearl?
What is an aardvark?
What is Kwanza?
Who is Aaron?
What is "Harper's" bizarre?
What is Baton?
What is Berlin?
What is Beijing?
What is the Washington Redskins?
TREBEK: That's right.
COOPER: Who is Archie Bunker?
What is Germany?
TREBEK: Anderson.
COOPER: Who is Maria Califf (ph)?
What is Canada, Columbus?
What is the Iguana?
TREBEK: Anderson.
COOPER: What is West Side Story.
Who is Maria von Trapp?
TREBEK: That's it. Yes, indeed.
And that would be, Anderson?
COOPER: What is Doberman TREBEK: Doberman Pinscher, yes.
(SINGING "WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS")
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Clearly, it hasn't gone to my head. The money is for charity, I should point out. And a note to future Jeopardy players, it's all about the buzzer.
Now, it would be remiss not to thank my fellow Jeopardy contestants that night, CNBC's Maria Bartiromo and Kweisi Mfume, the president of the NAACP. My win would not have been possible without their help. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TREBEK: Maria.
MARIA BARTIROMO, CNBC ANCHOR: What is...
TREBEK: Oh, sorry.
KWEISI MFUME, PRESIDENT NAACP: What is "The Godfather?"
TREBEK: No.
BARTIROMO: What is "Vogue?"
TREBEK: No.
BARTIROMO: Computer worms? What is computer worms?
MFUME: What is you can fool some of the people some of the time?
TREBEK: No, I just needed one word and you gave me that one word, fool so I'm pulling it out of everything you said and I'm giving you a correct.
MFUME: Thank you, thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Thank to all who played. Everyone made money for charity so it was a nice event.
Anway, earlier we showed you the most popular stories on CNN.com. So, here's the scoop on the Tom Brokaw story. NBC says Brokaw will stay on the network until 2014. Brokaw is scheduled to step down as anchor of nightly news in December, but will continue to anchor and produce documentaries for NBC and serve as an analyst for breaking news. Good news there.
And time now for "The Buzz," earlier we asked you, "does the beheading of an American make you less concerned about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners?" 27 percent of you said yes, 73 percent said no. Not a scientific poll. It is your "Buzz." We appreciate you voting.
And coming up, raise your glasses, the memory of freedom of the press. We're going to take that to the "Nth Degree," just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Tonight, taking pique to the "Nth Degree." You know pique, P-I-Q-U-E, a transient feeling of wounded vanity. How else to describe what's called the government of Brazil to give a guy named Larry Rohter the old heave-ho.
You see, Mr. Rohter, the "New York Times" bureau chief in Rio de Janeiro wrote a piece a couple of days ago about a topic that has a lot of Brazilians talking: the apparent fondness of their new president Luis Inacio Lula de Silva, for how do we say, strong refreshment: beer, whiskey, the local firewater called Cachaca. Cachaca, which one expert says tastes like kerosene, is made from sugar cane and is famous for being potent and cheap. Put it this way, if whiskey is the local, cachaca is the express.
Anyway, the presidential palace took umbrage, said, Mr. de Silva does not have a drinking problem and is revoking the visa of the "New York Times" correspondent Larry Rohter. I guess it's not appropriate to ask President Lula de Silva to join us in a little toast to freedom of the press.
I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching 360. 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 12, 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.
Outrage and anger over the beheading of an American -- 360 starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): The president condemns the brutal beheading of Nic Berg but his parents say the U.S. government is to blame.
Congress takes a peak at new photos from Abu Ghraib Prison. Should we get to see them as well?
They're single, female, and could control this election but why aren't more of them voting?
As a child he was the subject of a devastating gender experiment. Now at 38, he's taken his own life.
And, look up in the sky. Is that a UFO?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, at the White House today, President Bush said there is no justification for the beheading of Nicholas Berg and vowed the U.S. will complete its mission in Iraq, while up Pennsylvania Avenue on Capitol Hill more abuse images shown, some so shocking that the lawmakers got a private viewing.
Covering all angles tonight in Washington Senior White House Correspondent John King; in Berg's hometown CNN's Maria Hinojosa; also in Washington, Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena; and, on Capitol Hill, CNN's Joe Johns.
We begin at the White House, John, a stern message from the president today.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A stern message, Anderson, but in many ways a familiar refrain. This president facing yet another setback in Iraq and yet again saying he will not waver and that the United States will continue the mission.
The president stopping outside of the White House to pay his tribute, if you will, to Nicholas Berg and to offer his prayers and condolences to the Berg family Mr. Bush saying that Nic Berg was in Iraq trying to help it become democratic and free the president condemning his execution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is no justification for the brutal execution of Nicholas Berg, no justification whatsoever. The actions of the terrorists who executed this man remind us of the nature of the few people who want to stop the advance of freedom in Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Yet again the president saying in his view the goal of the terrorists to shake the resolve, shake the will, shake the confidence the president said of the United States. Mr. Bush said that will not happen.
He said the United States will continue and complete the mission in Iraq, Anderson, the tape of that horrific beheading making its way across the U.S. government as officials try to learn more about those responsible. Officials here at the White House say the president has been briefed on that tape but he has not and does not plan to see it -- Anderson.
COOPER: A sickening tape indeed. All right, John King thanks.
Nicholas Berg's body has arrived now at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware as his parents make funeral arrangements. They're also expressing their anger though at U.S. officials who they believe should have done more to prevent what happened.
CNN's Maria Hinojosa reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the unfortunate reality of death. Michael Berg meets with the funeral director to discuss laying his 26-year-old son to rest, a family in mourning but now also angry, not only at hooded murderers but at the U.S. government for denying that Nic Berg was ever detained by U.S. authorities in Iraq.
VOICE OF MICHAEL BERG, FATHER: That's really what cost my son his life was the fact that the United States government saw fit to keep him in custody for 13 days without any of his due process or civil rights and released him when they were good and ready.
HINOJOSA: Brother David also broke his silence saying that Nicholas had sent e-mails from Iraq about being held in U.S. custody. While detained in Iraq, the Berg family sued Donald Rumsfeld and the Department of Defense on April 5th demanding Nicholas' release. One day later Nic Berg was let go and the suit was dropped.
There is much sympathy for the Berg family though they remain in seclusion meeting only with a funeral director on Wednesday. CARL GOLDSTEIN, FUNERAL DIRECTOR: It was to be as expected. The family is very, very upset but they're dealing with it as best as possible.
HINOJOSA: Nic Berg was, according to friends, a humanitarian and an adventurer.
BRUCE HAUSER, NEIGHBOR: So he saw it as an opportunity to drum up some business for his own company and, knowing Nic, when he got there Nic's all about rebuilding, you know, and I'm certain that Nic had it in his mind that he's going to do something to help.
HINOJOSA: But Nicholas Berg never fulfilled his promise to himself, lost amid the confusion of war in the post 9/11 new world order that his father searching for blame tries to understand.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HINOJOSA: This from a father who continues to blame the U.S. government for their role in the murder of their son. Now just a few minutes ago, Sarah (ph) Berg came out breaking her silence asking the media to stay away from what they are calling a private memorial service Friday afternoon for family and friends.
At this point, we know that the body has left Dover Air Force Base making its way to the funeral home just a few minutes away from here where this young man grew up -- Anderson.
COOPER: Maria, we heard Nicholas Berg's father on that radio program basically condemning the U.S. government, didn't say anything about the terrorists who actually beheaded his son.
HINOJOSA: There is a tremendous amount of anger on the part of Michael Berg towards the United States government. You have to remember this is somebody who went and sued Donald Rumsfeld and the Department of Defense once he found out that his son was being detained in Iraq and, as he understood it, being held by U.S. authorities.
This is not somebody who just sits down, so there is a tremendous amount of anger and we haven't been able to speak to him but that of course is a question. There were terrorists who murdered his son and yet he continues to say that the U.S. government needs to respond as to how they were responsible not letting him catch his March 30th departure out of Iraq to get here to the United States - Anderson.
COOPER: If indeed they have any responsibility at all. Maria Hinojosa thanks very much.
There is confusion, as Maria has pointed out, surrounding Nicholas Berg's exact presence in Iraq. What was he doing there, who was he held by and the circumstances leading up to his murder? U.S. authorities in Iraq promise a thorough investigation.
CNN's Karl Penhaul has that side of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The website video left few doubts about Nicholas Berg's final moments. Much more of the mystery what Berg was doing and where he went in Iraq. The coalition had little to offer.
DAN SENIOR, CPA SPOKESMAN: (AUDIO GAP)
PENHAUL: His family says he was looking for reconstruction work when he was arrested in Mosul by Iraqi police on March 24th. The Iraqi police remain under the control of the coalition.
SENIOR: (AUDIO GAP) and determined that he was not involved with any criminal or terrorist activities.
PENHAUL: Coalition authorities say U.S. military police also visited Berg to check on his welfare. He was released two weeks later one day after his family in Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit against U.S. officials over his detention. Did the coalition order the release?
SENOR: I would refer you to the Iraqi Police Service on the exact day or the reason behind the exact day he was released.
PENHAUL: An Iraqi police commander in Mosul told CNN by phone he vaguely recollected arresting Berg. He then retracted those comments an hour later. The coalition spokesman says he's committed to a robust and very through investigation.
Karl Penhaul, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, in Washington a development tonight in this investigation. U.S. officials say that Berg turned down a State Department offer for a flight home, even after FBI agents who questioned him in Iraq warned him it was too dangerous to be on his own.
Tracking this side of the story for us tonight, CNN Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena, Kelli what's the latest?
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, it is one of the most significant developments today. The FBI put out a statement saying that the Coalition Provisional Authority offered to provide Berg safe passage out of Iraq but, as you said, he refused.
The statement also offers a definitive time line on events. It says that the FBI was notified that Iraqi police had detained Berg on March 25th. And, as we heard earlier, Berg was interviewed three times by FBI agents and his family was also interviewed by FBI agents in Philadelphia.
Now after completing its investigation, the FBI says that it told the U.S. military and the Coalition Provisional Authority that it didn't come up with any information that would warrant detaining him any longer. The FBI says that it then warned Berg about the dangerous environment in Iraq and it encouraged him to accept the CPA's offer for safe passage but, as I said before, the FBI says that he refused. The FBI says that he also refused government offers to advise his friends and his family of his status.
Now there are about 50 or so FBI agents in Iraq at this time and the bureau says that it's already opened an official investigation into Berg's murder -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, we'll be watching. Kelli Arena thanks.
On Capitol Hill today, Congress got a look at more grim images from Iraq's Abu Ghraib Prison. There are hundreds of pictures, some so sensitive it's said that a private viewing was arranged for Senators in a secure room. House members got their own slide show.
CNN Congressional Correspondent, Joe Johns reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Military personnel brought the photo and video files to the capital for members of the House and Senate to view in separate rooms.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very, very appalling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really had an impact on people.
JOHNS: Members said they saw one man beating his head against a wall repeatedly, videos of hooded men masturbating and Iraqi women forced to bare their breasts. One Senator said he saw no evidence of rape and murder.
SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: I did not see a video of either a rape of a male prisoner or a female prisoner.
JOHNS: Democrats said the abuse was the work of more than a few rogue soldiers.
NELSON: Now you can't tell me that all of this was going on with seven or eight Army privates, and so the question is where did that failure of the command and control occur?
JOHNS: Senior Republicans warned against making the pictures public.
SEN. JOHN WARNER (R), VIRGINIA: Err on the side of caution. I think at this time it would not be wise to publish them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: It was a brief opportunity for members of Congress to get a look at these pictures. The Department of Defense retains control of them in order to avoid any legal problems or privacy problems in the future -- Anderson. COOPER: Joe Johns on Capitol Hill thanks very much, Joe.
You just heard Republican Senator Warner saying that the photos should not be released. We're going to talk to someone else who has a different point of view, Senator Carl Levin. We're going to get reaction to what he thought of the photos and the video clips later on 360.
Senator Levin was one of the men named by John Kerry today as a possible defense secretary if he ever becomes president. That tops our look at what's happening right now "Cross Country."
In a radio interview today, Kerry listed GOP Senators John McCain and John Warner as well as Democratic Senator Carl Levin and former Pentagon Chief William Perry as possible picks for defense secretary in a future Kerry administration. Kerry was on the campaign trail in Florida today pushing his healthcare agenda.
Los Angeles now, a former FBI agent could face up to five years in prison for lying about his affair with a woman accused of being a Chinese double agent. James Smith pleads guilty to making false statements.
Smith was involved with Katrina Leung, a naturalized citizen who worked for the FBI gathering intelligence during business trips to China. Leung faces charges of illegally copying national security papers.
San Francisco now, Gap admits factory violations. In a report today, the company concedes that many of its factories overseas offer low pay and hazardous conditions. The Gap says it revoked contracts with 136 factories last year because of serious violations, including two that were using underage workers.
That's a quick look at stories "Cross Country" right now.
Well, a woman soldier accused of abusing prisoners tells her side of the story. Find out who Lynndie England says made them take those infamous pictures and why she thinks their behavior was justified.
Plus, gender research turned tragedy. Doctors convinced parents to raise their son as a girl, a decision that has now ended in suicide.
And, is the truth out there? An Air Force video that some claim shows UFOs creates quite a stir. We'll try to figure out the truth behind this mystery.
First, let's take a look at your picks, the most popular stories on cnn.com right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, as we mentioned earlier, Senators and Congressmen on Capitol Hill today were shown some of the photos, some of the hundreds of photos, there are about 1,000 of them that show abuse. There were also some videos, abuse from Abu Ghraib Prison.
Some GOP Senators came out saying these photos should not be released to the public. A Senator with a different point of view is Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat. I spoke to him earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Senator Levin, there were about 1,000 photos, about 200 or 300 or so directly related to the abuse, as well as some videos that you saw for the first time today. How bad was it?
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), MICHIGAN: Well, they were even another level of horror above the previous ones.
COOPER: In what way?
LEVIN: Well, that acts that they photographed were more explicit and more even just a higher level of being horrific than before but I don't want to be more specific than that.
COOPER: Did you learn anything that you didn't previously know?
LEVIN: Well, the pictures to me show without any doubt that there was an organized, methodical effort to extract information from prisoners that this was not just the isolated acts of a few military police officers here or enlisted personnel.
It's very clear from the pictures, as well as from the Taguba report yesterday that the military intelligence people and perhaps the CIA were working in tandem because it's so clearly part of a organized operation that is going on there. It's just right from the pictures clearly visible.
COOPER: Previously, you had said that you believed these photos should be released to the American public and there of course to the public around the world. Do you still think that after seeing them and after describing them as very, very graphic?
LEVIN: Yes, I do. I think we might as well get this behind us and not just have this leak out two or three pictures at a time. They apparently were circulated among a number of people and I think that one -- if we can try to find strength in this situation that we're in it would be the strength that we have as a country to deal with problems and not to sweep them under the rug.
And to deal with this problem we've got to give the problem, it seems to me it put it in its full form, not to in any way minimize it. Show it for what it is and then to hold people accountable at all levels, not just the bottom floor of the house but to clean house up as many floors as it goes.
COOPER: But hasn't the public seen enough of these photos? I mean a lot of people feel like, you know, they get the idea. They don't need to see any more and that by releasing new photos, releasing hundreds of more photos, as you're proposing, it puts American lives in danger, Americans serving overseas. LEVIN: Well, American lives are going to be in danger unless we clean house and hold people accountable at whatever levels for what happened here but the decision as to whether to release these photos is not a decision for the Senate.
We have different opinions on that. This decision is going to be made by the Executive Branch and they have to make a decision as to whether it's best to get them out there and get them behind us and to deal with it or whether they prefer to not do that but they'll dribble out in that case.
COOPER: Senator Carl Levin, appreciate you being on the program. Thank you.
LEVIN: Sure.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We're going to hear from Private First Class Lynndie England a little bit later on in the program for the first time today.
What would you do if after a medical mistake a doctor tried to convince you to raise your male child as a female? It sounds impossible but it happened to one family with tragic results. We'll have details coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, we have seen her smiling silently as she pointed to naked hooded prisoners. We've seen her holding a leash attached to a man's neck but, until today, we hadn't seen Private First Class Lynndie England actually speak. Today she did with her lawyers for the first time saying not only didn't she want to be in those photos, she says she was just following orders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PVT. LYNNDIE ENGLAND, U.S. ARMY: We all agree that we don't feel like we were doing things that we weren't supposed to because we were told to do them. We think everything was justified because we were instructed to do this and to do that.
GIORGIO RA'SHADD, ENGLAND'S ATTORNEY: Everything that's happened is her defense. The fact that the military officers weren't allowed to be officers is her defense. The fact that civilians aren't allowed in the military chain of command and they told all these kids to do essentially their job for them is her defense. The fact that the general couldn't get in that section and the soldiers couldn't get out of that section to ask for advice that's her defense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And that is no doubt a defense we'll be hearing more of from her attorney. England, who is four months pregnant, is awaiting court martial at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Let's turn now to Charles Graner. We know he's one of the soldiers, like England, accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners. Tonight his attorney is speaking out as well saying others are to blame and his attorney is actually using the photographs we've all seen to make his case.
CNN National Correspondent Susan Candiotti has that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This photo may be the strongest evidence yet that intelligence officials were personally involved in the abuse of Iraqis held at Abu Ghraib Prison. That's the view of attorney Guy Womack who represents Specialist Charles Graner, one of seven guards charged with abuse.
GUY WOMACK, SPC. CHARLES GRANER'S ATTORNEY: He's the one that told me that there was a civilian and at least four military intelligence officers in the photograph.
CANDIOTTI: At the top of the pile, he claims, a civilian agent.
WOMACK: That was actually a civilian contract employee, although he's wearing a U.S. Army uniform. He reached down, grabbed them by the neck and adjusted them as you can see in the photograph. Specialist Graner is standing here just watching with his hands on his hips.
CANDIOTTI: The lawyer said the military agents were at the back of the photo.
WOMACK: There's one here walking towards the camera, another one to the right facing the camera and then you can see two other sets of legs.
CANDIOTTI: By Graner's account, his lawyer says, the intelligence operatives came to the prison that night to question three inmates, not about terrorism but about an alleged rape in the Iraqi section the day before.
WOMACK: The military intelligence officers ordered the MPs to undress them and lay them on the floor in the position that they're in in this photograph.
CANDIOTTI: Womack said the intelligence officials were camera shy.
WOMACK: The intelligence officers, as you might imagine, never photographed themselves and this photograph taken by an MP on the second floor where they couldn't see him shows the intel officers' participation.
CANDIOTTI: Then there are these photos, Graner and others posing with naked prisoners forced into a human pyramid.
WOMACK: They were to appear in the photographs for shock effect. They were ordered to smile and look like this was funny.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): Did he personally object to any of this?
WOMACK: Of course and they complained repeatedly up the chain of command.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): But in Senate hearings the general investigating Abu Ghraib Prison told a somewhat different story.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: In your judgment were these abuses a result of an overall military or intelligence policy to "soften up detainees for interrogation"?
MAJOR GEN. ANTONIO TAGUBA, U.S. ARMY: Sir, we did not gain any evidence where it was an overall military intelligence policy of this sort.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): Graner's attorney says his client never saw any written orders but the message was clear. Do what you're told. If and when Specialist Graner is court-martialed the lawyer plans to put both military and civilian intelligence on trial.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Houston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We're following a number of ongoing developments in Gaza as we track a number of global stories right now. Let's take a look in the "Up Link."
In Gaza, an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at a refugee camp on the Egypt border. Palestinian officials say seven people were killed in the strike. Now this came shortly after Israeli troops and tanks began leaving Gaza after an intense raid to recover the remains of five Israeli soldiers killed in an armored vehicle attack.
Palestinian militants had taken some of the soldiers' body parts and displayed them before TV cameras. Just moments ago, Palestinians reportedly turned over the remains to mediators in Egypt.
Athens, Greece, Olympic security. Security officials are starting a four day drill to test readiness for possible terrorist attacks. Seventy thousand police and soldiers are set to patrol the games in Athens this summer.
In Baghdad, big celebration mistaken as an attack, a reporter for an Italian television station reported that the Italian Embassy in Baghdad was under attack.
After hearing gunfire that report was repeated on FOX News and others but, as it turns out it was not attack, instead joyous Iraqis were shooting up guns in celebration after Iraq beat Saudi Arabia in a soccer game in Jordan, the first time ever Iraq's soccer team will compete in the Olympics this summer. Let's hope they kept not in Greece.
That's tonight's "Up Link" for you.
An American beheaded caught on video, what do the terrorists really hope to gain? We'll take a look at that.
Plus, an untapped voting block, single women and men, what can be done to reach out for them and why aren't they going to the polls?
Also coming up gender suicide, born a boy, raised a girl, a terrible story of a young man when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Let's "Reset" our top stories right now.
West Chester, Pennsylvania, the family of Nicholas Berg is angry over the U.S. government's denial that he was in U.S. custody in Iraq before being beheaded by extremists. The family insists U.S. forces did detain Berg for almost two weeks in March and April and should have sent him back to America. His body arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware today.
Washington now. Behind closed doors senators view hundreds of unreleased Iraqi abuse pictures, lawmakers describe the images as gruesome and sickening. Earlier on 360 Democratic Senator Carl Levin told me the pictures convinced him there was a concerted organized effort to extract information from Iraqi prisoners and the abuses were not individual acts.
Los Angeles now, a bitter film dispute is over. Miramax and Disney have reached a deal involving "Fahrenheit 9/11" Michael Moore's controversial look at America's response to the September 11 terror attacks. Disney refused to distribute the movie under the agreement, Miramax will acquire the rights to the film and will arrange for its distribution.
And from Houston, a special honor for Thomas Hamill. The contractor who escaped Iraqi captors will throw out the first ball at tonight's game between the Houston Astros and the Florida Marlins. That should happen in about half an hour. Hamill who was held hostage for three weeks has an injured arm. The word is his son will throw out the ball. Quite an honor.
Back now to our top story. The beheading of Nick Berg caught on video. A grisly terrorist tactic. It's one that has been used before, of course. Each time the ultimate goal is the same, anger and heartache.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: The videotaped murder of Nicholas Berg is sickening in its brutal simplicity. A hooded terrorist reads a statement threatening U.S. forces, demanding they leave Iraq. Then a knife is withdrawn. What follows too terrible to show. Nicholas Berg held down by his captors, screams as his throat is cut. His severed head eventually held up to the camera as terrorists cry, god is great!
JIM WALSH, TERRORISM EXPERT, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: This is clearly staged and it's clearly staged for the maximum emotional impact.
COOPER: It is, of course, not the first time terrorists have videotaped their murders. In 2002, "Wall Street" reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded in Pakistan. A videotape of it was sent to media outlets but the actual execution was never shown to the public.
In 1989 pro-Iranian terrorists released a grisly videotape showing the body of U.S. marine Lt. Col. William Higgins (ph) dangling from a rope. Each time terrorists failed to get the U.S. government to give in to their demands. Yet experts say videotaping murder has broader objectives. Domestically, terrorists hope to weaken resolve of the American public.
Internationally, they hope...
WALSH: ...to say to followers, look I'm here, active, standing up to our enemy. Secondly to potential recruits. It says come and join our cause. Give us money, give us political support.
COOPER: It probably didn't matter to his killers that Nicholas Berg was a civilian. To send their message, all that mattered was that he was an American.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: That leads us to today's buzz question. Does the beheading of an American make you less concerned about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners? Log on to CNN.com/360. Cast your vote. We have been getting a lot of emails on this. We'll have results at the end of the program.
From raw politics to raw numbers. Pollsters say single women could be the new soccer moms. The powerful voting bloc du jour. Problem is they don't seem to be voting. More than 21 million single women, almost half of those who are eligible to vote did not cast ballots in the last presidential election. Pollster Anna Greenberg who studied the voting attitudes of single women joins us from Washington. And in Los Angeles Arianna Huffington, the author of "Fanatics and Fools, the Game Plan for Winning Back America."
Anna, let me start off with you. Let's take a look at these numbers. In the last presidential election in 2000, 44.8 million single women. 52 percent of them voted but 48 percent of them, a little over 21 million didn't vote. And of married women, 52 million married women, 68 percent voted. 32 percent didn't vote. Why?
ANNA GREENBERG, GREENBERG QUINLAN HOSNER RESEARCH: Well, let's be clear about who these women are. I think we have the image of a single woman as Carrie Bradshaw (ph) in "Sex in the City." In fact, that's not really what the single woman is. She tends to be an economically marginal person. She tends to be fairly socially isolated. She tends to be a little less educated and all the characteristics of people who would be less likely to participate in politics. She tends to feel checked out in the sense that policy doesn't speak to her. If you look, for instance, at the kinds of things that in the last two or three election cycles we've been talking about, they tend to be issues that speak of seniors, Medicare, retirement, these are issues for the 40-year-old single woman just aren't as relevant to them.
COOPER: Let me bring in Arianna to this. There's something you have written about recently, why do you think the parties are failing to bring these women in?
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, AUTHOR, "FANATICS AND FOOLS": Well, these women largely don't really care about the negative tone of modern campaigns. They are turned off by it. They don't believe politicians really care for them. And they really want to fall in love, Anderson. They want to fall in love with somebody who will inspire them, who'll touch their hearts. That's why we have this petition at the moment circulating urging John Kerry to really run a visionary inspiring campaign of the kind we haven't really had since 1968 with Bobby Kennedy. That's the way to get to these women.
COOPER: You think the Democrats have a leg up on this. Let me bring in Anna on this. Which party do you think stands to gain? You've done the polling on this.
GREENBERG: The Democrats clearly stand to gain. If you look at their position on a range of issues whether it's a woman's right to choose or healthcare. They tend to be much more progressive. If you look at the ones that say they're going to vote and tend to vote they tend to lean towards John Kerry. Obviously increasing the number of single women who are voting in this election would help the Democrats. They see the Democrats as people who are more likely to speak to the issues they care about.
COOPER: Arianna, what do you think are the issues they care about?
HUFFINGTON: They care about all the issues that Anna mentions. The problem is making them believe the politicians are really going to do something about it. They have been betrayed so often. The question is how can they trust a politician? He has to offer them a real world narrative that touches them and that makes them believe again. It's really a message of hope and that message can be one that counters the message of fear that is very dominant in the Bush campaign.
COOPER: Before you get down to the political road, let me show you these numbers for men. It's not just single women, single men really aren't going to the polls as much as married men are. In 2000 out of 34 million single men, 56 percent of them didn't vote. Out of 53 million married men only 33 percent of them didn't vote. Anna, do you explain this?
GREENBERG: In general, unmarried people are less likely to participate in politics because they aren't connected socially in the way people who are married are. They tend to be more checked out. I should also say if you look, for instance, at the policies of the Bush administration over the last few years, they tend to be directed at people who are married. For the last two or three years people that are unmarried aren't hearing a lot of what speaks to them whether it's the child tax credit, the marriage penalty or a variety of other things or the marriage promotion initiative...
COOPER: Arianna, do you think it's a message the Democrats are hearing this time around?
HUFFINGTON: I think it's beginning to. I think it's going to make a huge difference. If they recognize single women as the real main group that they need to appeal to, much more than NASCAR dads or soccer moms and they can also appeal to them with some hip slogans like you want to get engaged, try politics. Or you want a commitment or do you want a date, try November 2nd. There are a lot of ways to get to them so not just traditional politics.
COOPER: We'll see if that works. Arianna Huffington, thanks very much. Anna Greenberg, as well, thank you very much.
More politics today. The Senate appropriation hearings today. Donald Rumsfeld was prepared to talk about President Bush's request for $25 million in Iraq and Afghanistan but all that changed when Senator Patrick Leahy asked Rumsfeld if the U.S. were beating the terrorists or if the terrorists had the edge. Then Leahy added he'd heard all the apologies over Abu Ghraib but thought he would add a few things he was sorry about. Giving a list of criticisms of the Bush administration's handling the war in Iraq. As you can expect, the exchange got heated. What followed was pure raw politics. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: I'm sorry about administration officials led by the vice president repeatedly trying to link Saddam Hussein to 9/11. I'm sorry that truth tellers in the administration like General Shinsecki and Lawrence Lindsay (ph) were hounded out of their jobs. I'm sorry there's no real plan. I'm sorry the president taunted Iraqi resistance fighters to bring it on while our troops were still in harm's way.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, first I'd like to, Senator, answer a few of the other comments you made.
LEAHY: Could we answer that one first.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has full right to answer your question.
LEAHY: I know but could he answer the question -- the specific question I asked. That's the only question I asked. Answer that and then say all you want to say.
RUMSFELD: I think it's fair that I be allowed to answer your statement.
LEAHY: Well, I asked a question. You don't want to answer my question?
RUMSFELD: I'll be happy to answer your question. LEAHY: Please do.
RUMSFELD: I will.
SEN. TED STEVENS (R), ARIZONA: This is not a hearing on Iraq abuse. It's not a hearing on al Qaeda. This is a hearing to try to ask questions concerning the information we've been given on appropriations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman, I will follow your admonition. But I -- I wish I had a few moments to tell this committee what I'm sorry about. I'm sorry about 9/11 when 3,000 Americans were killed by terrorists. I'm sorry that Saddam Hussein took over this country and killed thousands of people and established one of the worst regimes ever. And there's another long list of what we're sorry about and they are completely different than what Senator Leahy is sorry about.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Always interesting on Capitol Hill. A tragic ending coming up. Doctors convinced parents to raise their son as a girl. Now a grown man, he has taken his own life. The emotional story. That ahead.
Also tonight, a close encounter over Mexico? Video of a reported UFO sighting. A lot of hype about this. We'll try to look past the hype on the horizon.
And a little later I'll take Jeopardy champion for 600, Alex, thank you very much.
Highlights and low lights from a Jeopardy nerd, that would be me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
A man named David Reimer, has taken his own life. A sad end to a life story already filled with pain. You see Rhymer was born a boy, but after a medical procedure he was raised as a girl. He was living proof our true genders are made, not born. His case they called a medical triumph. But in David Reimer's life as you are about to see there was little triumph to celebrate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): He was born Bruce Reimer in 1966, one of a pair of identical twins. When he was only 8-months-old his life would change forever. Following a botched circumcision his desperate parents searched for a way to help their now deformed child. They thought salvation came in the form of Dr. John William Money, a renounced sex researcher at John Hopkins Medical Center. According to Dr. Money's own work, a real gender is not something we're born with, but something we learn.
Bruce's parents say he convinced them to raise their boy as a girl, and follow a process to turn him from male to female. First, there was preliminary reconstructive surgery to remove what was left of Bruce's male organs, next estrogen hormone therapy. Bruce now called Brenda, rebelled against her assigned gender. His mother told the author John Colapinto, the first time she put a dress on her child she was ripping at it trying to tear it off.
Dr. Money declined to comment on this case but he published reports claiming success turning Bruce into Brenda. At a time when Brenda, later said, her life had spiralled out of control, suffering from depression, attempting suicide. At the age of 16, his parents finally told him the truth. And he returned to life as a young man having his male genitals rebuilt and eventually marring a woman with three children of her own. His life became the subject of a book, but it was never really his own. Just last week, two years after his twin brother killed himself, shortly after his wife left him, reportedly broke and alone at 38-years-old, he made one last attempt at suicide. This time he succeeded.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, John Colapinto has known a book about David Reimer for seven years. He wrote a book about David, called, "As Nature Raised Him: The Boy Who was Raised as a Girl." He joins us now. Thank you for being with us.
I'm sorry it's under these circumstances. I mean, this man lived for his entire childhood being lied to by doctors, even by his own parents.
What effect did that have on him?
JOHN COLAPINTO, AUTHOR: When he found out the truth at the age of 14 he was obviously devastated, but he was also as he said to me relieved. For his entire childhood he thought he was crazy. He was saying to people, I feel like a boy. Aren't I a boy?
And they were all saying to him, everybody, teachers, families, psychologist, no you're a girl.
COOPER: You said he was devastated, but he wasn't angry at his parents. He was angry toward his doctors.
COLAPINTO: He never actually expressed anger toward his parents and I never saw it and I lived with him for a month while I was doing the book. And interviewed him over the course of a year. You know, he loved his parents and felt only as if he was a burden to them. So he actually felt the guilt oddly enough.
COOPER: And I mean you knew him for seven years.
Was he happy at all?
What was his life like?
COLAPINTO: David was perfectly capable of happiness for periods of time but his dark childhood always was there. I was actually just looking at the book again and seeing a monologue that happens at the end of the book where he says this will never leave me. It doesn't matter if I have therapy, it doesn't matter me doing this book and stepping out and showing my face. Which I think a lot of us hoped would sort of help to alleviate some of the shame and guilt and so on that he felt. He said to me, this will never leave me and evidently that was true.
COOPER: With suicide you always ask the question why did that person do it?
Why do you think he did it?
It just didn't leave him?
COLAPINTO: I think suicides are always complicated and a lot of factors. It's wrong to oversimplify. David's dark childhood had a massive effect. There was also a genetic predisposition. His mother was depressive, so was his brother. And also he did have the circumstantial things in his life. That, his marriage was beginning to break down. He was having money problems. Wasn't actually, broke. He actually -- we shared profits on the book and they were substantial. But he had invested the money not wisely. He had given the money out of the parents out of kind of trying to pay them back for the rough life he was giving them. But he didn't work at the end of his life. And David needed to work. He needed to be busy.
COOPER: That's very sad. A sad story all around. John Colopinto, fascinating book you wrote. Thank you very much.
COLAPINTO: Thank you.
COOPER: Well, for a lighter subject coming up. Flying objects from outer space in Mexico?
This image is all over the Mexican media. Is it UFO or something more earthly? We'll try to figure it ahead.
Also ahead, Alex Trebeck and me. Move over Tucker Carlson, there's a new CNN Jeopardy champion who's ready for his close up.
And first today's "Buzz" is this. Does a beheading of an American make you less concerned about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. A controversial question. Log on to cnn.com/360. Cast your votes. Results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well the Mexican Air Force is releasing infrared video of unidentified flying objects surrounding a surveillance plane. There it is.
Some say the shapes appear to change direction. The pilots who saw these images could be heard yelling, quote, we are not alone?
So, what do you think, is this a close encounter from a UFO as some are claiming? Joining me now from Los Angeles is Michael Shermer, publisher of "Skeptic" magazine. Michael, thanks for being on the program. You have seen the videos. What do you think was really going on?
MICHAEL SHERMER, SKEPTIC MAGAZINE: Well, first of all, a couple interesting things about this clip is that you'll notice the symmetry of the image, the three dots are exactly parallel to each other on the right and then there they are on the left and the one on the far right matches the one on the far left. So that's an in lens, or in camera effect there. That isn't 6 objects, that's 3 being mirror imaged.
This is an infrared camera and, in fact, as I got the reports, the pilots didn't see that when they were up there. They saw it later. When they were shown the footage of the infrared camera. Of course, you are not looking at infrared when you're in the cockpit.
COOPER: So, you don't think it's something in the sky, you think it's something in the camera or in the plane?
SHERMER: I think there's probably something in the sky that's being duplicated. What that is probably a flare or a series of flares or possibly one of these pilotless drone planes that the military are using these days. And I think it's probably being duplicated that way and then being reported. It's hard to say, because the images are hardly blurry.
COOPER: I know you're a skeptic, you think this reminds you of this incident I think back in 1997 the famous Phoenix light incident. What happened there?
SHERMER: That's right. The Phoenix lights turned out to be a series of flares launched by the local Air Force base and there you go, they kind of seem to appear out of nowhere and hovered for quite a long time. And later it was determined that's what they were.
But to people at dusk and at night, it's really hard to tell how far away something is. How big it is, how fast it's moving or not moving. And so what happens when the mind is not clear, it fills in with its own imagination as to what is going on with size, movement, that sort of thing. Then these stories get exaggerated with the retelling.
COOPER; Well, there's also this guy Billy Myers we're going to quickly show -- he claims to have taken a lot of UFO photos. We're going to show some of them. What do you think is going on with him.
SHERMER: Here I think these are faked. I think there's little doubt in my mind they are fake. It's not difficult to fake UFO photographs. We've done it. And I think either these are actual objects that are being misinterpreted or faked objects that are being exploited for people's belief in UFOs.
COOPER: It's a fascinating subject. Michael Shermer, appreciate you being on. Thank you.
SHERMER: You are welcome.
COOPER: Well, usually this is the time we check on some pop news and "The Current," but as many of you may know I appeared on Jeopardy last night. OK, I admit it was one of those dumbed down celebrity Jeopardies, but still I won. I don't like to brag, but I rarely win anything. So, in case you missed it here's a quick review.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX TREBEK, HOST JEOPARDY: Anderson.
COOPER: What is equal?
What is Vietnam?
What is D-Day?
Who is Daniel Pearl?
What is an aardvark?
What is Kwanza?
Who is Aaron?
What is "Harper's" bizarre?
What is Baton?
What is Berlin?
What is Beijing?
What is the Washington Redskins?
TREBEK: That's right.
COOPER: Who is Archie Bunker?
What is Germany?
TREBEK: Anderson.
COOPER: Who is Maria Califf (ph)?
What is Canada, Columbus?
What is the Iguana?
TREBEK: Anderson.
COOPER: What is West Side Story.
Who is Maria von Trapp?
TREBEK: That's it. Yes, indeed.
And that would be, Anderson?
COOPER: What is Doberman TREBEK: Doberman Pinscher, yes.
(SINGING "WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS")
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Clearly, it hasn't gone to my head. The money is for charity, I should point out. And a note to future Jeopardy players, it's all about the buzzer.
Now, it would be remiss not to thank my fellow Jeopardy contestants that night, CNBC's Maria Bartiromo and Kweisi Mfume, the president of the NAACP. My win would not have been possible without their help. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TREBEK: Maria.
MARIA BARTIROMO, CNBC ANCHOR: What is...
TREBEK: Oh, sorry.
KWEISI MFUME, PRESIDENT NAACP: What is "The Godfather?"
TREBEK: No.
BARTIROMO: What is "Vogue?"
TREBEK: No.
BARTIROMO: Computer worms? What is computer worms?
MFUME: What is you can fool some of the people some of the time?
TREBEK: No, I just needed one word and you gave me that one word, fool so I'm pulling it out of everything you said and I'm giving you a correct.
MFUME: Thank you, thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Thank to all who played. Everyone made money for charity so it was a nice event.
Anway, earlier we showed you the most popular stories on CNN.com. So, here's the scoop on the Tom Brokaw story. NBC says Brokaw will stay on the network until 2014. Brokaw is scheduled to step down as anchor of nightly news in December, but will continue to anchor and produce documentaries for NBC and serve as an analyst for breaking news. Good news there.
And time now for "The Buzz," earlier we asked you, "does the beheading of an American make you less concerned about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners?" 27 percent of you said yes, 73 percent said no. Not a scientific poll. It is your "Buzz." We appreciate you voting.
And coming up, raise your glasses, the memory of freedom of the press. We're going to take that to the "Nth Degree," just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Tonight, taking pique to the "Nth Degree." You know pique, P-I-Q-U-E, a transient feeling of wounded vanity. How else to describe what's called the government of Brazil to give a guy named Larry Rohter the old heave-ho.
You see, Mr. Rohter, the "New York Times" bureau chief in Rio de Janeiro wrote a piece a couple of days ago about a topic that has a lot of Brazilians talking: the apparent fondness of their new president Luis Inacio Lula de Silva, for how do we say, strong refreshment: beer, whiskey, the local firewater called Cachaca. Cachaca, which one expert says tastes like kerosene, is made from sugar cane and is famous for being potent and cheap. Put it this way, if whiskey is the local, cachaca is the express.
Anyway, the presidential palace took umbrage, said, Mr. de Silva does not have a drinking problem and is revoking the visa of the "New York Times" correspondent Larry Rohter. I guess it's not appropriate to ask President Lula de Silva to join us in a little toast to freedom of the press.
I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching 360. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."
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