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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Bulgarian Hostage Executed in Iraq; Bin Laden's Associate Surrenders; Letourneau Gets Ready to Get Out of Prison

Aired July 13, 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, HOST: Good evening from New York. I'm Anderson Cooper.
A new hostage horror in Iraq, and new questions about what happens now.

You're watching 360.

A Bulgarian hostage executed, while the fate of the Filipino hostage remains uncertain.

An associate of Osama bin Laden surrenders. Who is he? And what does it mean for al Qaeda?

Mary Kay Letourneau gets ready to get out of prison. Will she reunite with the young man she molested?

Are you tanorexic? What lengths people are going to get that golden glow.

Lynne Cheney unplugged. What she's doing to keep her husband in office.

Tarzan's tiger on the loose, shot after lunging at police.

ANNOUNCER: Live from New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.

COOPER: Good evening again.

We begin tonight with the worst sort of news. What appears to be the number of another -- the murder, excuse me, of another hostage in Iraq, and the threat of a second murder to come.

Jane Arraf is in Baghdad with the latest. Jane?

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Anderson, the Bulgarian government has confirmed that one of two people executed in a video given to the Arabic-language network Al Jazeera appears to be a Bulgarian hostage. These were one of two people who were driving cars to northern Iraq when they were abducted. One of them, according to the video, kneeling down in an orange jumpsuit, blindfolded, in front of three blind -- masked and men in black, has been beheaded.

Now, the network did not show that part of the video, but they say it exists. The Bulgarian government says it was one of their people, and they're working desperately to secure the release of the second.

The White House has sent its condolences and has pleaded earlier for countries not to give in, not to negotiate with hostage takers. Despite that, there are delegations here who say they are doing everything they can to have men, citizens of their countries freed, Anderson.

COOPER: What do we know at this point about the Filipino hostage? Last night you had reported there seemed to be some sort of negotiations under way, and some word that he might be released today. Apparently that doesn't seem to have happened.

ARRAF: He doesn't appear to have been released. We had word that he was still expected to be released, that that word came from intermediaries to Philippine officials, that in exchange for a statement from a Philippine official sent here, again, to an Arabic- language network, saying that the Philippines would indeed withdraw its troops early, the promise was made to release him. That does not appear to have happened, and it's unclear exactly what has happened, what his fate might be, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Jane Arraf, continuing to follow that story. Thanks very much, Jane.

A fast fact for you on the so-called coalition of the willing. Five other countries have pulled their support out of Iraq, Spain, Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominican Republic, and Norway, they've all taken their forces out of Iraq over the last several months for various reasons. Twenty-nine other countries still have their troops there. The fate of what will happen with Filipino troops is what is in contention tonight.

Of the man who today who surrendered to Saudi authorities, Khaled al-Harbi, the facts seem to be in dispute. As for who he is, really, what he really knows, what he's done or helped to do, depends on whom you talk to. A Saudi official called him a big fish, but a U.S. intelligence official told CNN his pond was actually pretty small.

This we know. The mysterious paralyzed sheikh was important enough that Osama bin Laden was videotaped relaxing and chatting about the 9/11 attacks with him. Doubtful he'd do that with a nobody.

Wolf Blitzer has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Al-Harbi and bin Laden fought together in Afghanistan in the 1980s against the then- Soviet occupation. He was flown to Saudi Arabia from Iran, where he surrendered to Saudi authorities at the embassy in Tehran, according to a Saudi interior ministry official.

He and bin Laden were seen together in this videotape released in December 2001, only three months after the 9/11 terror strike. He was then described as the mystery sheikh, because no one could tell who he really was. This week, he gave himself up as part of a Saudi one-month offer of amnesty. That offer exempts al Qaeda suspects from the death penalty, but not from civil suits filed by victims' families.

Experts say he's not seen as a current al Qaeda leader, but still could provide an intelligence bonanza.

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SENIOR EDITOR FOR ARAB AFFAIRS: It's very important to ask this man if there were other al Qaeda leaders that lived in that area, or if he had any contact with al Qaeda members or leaders in Iran or Afghanistan, if he knows where they are now, if they're hiding, where they're hiding, who's hiding them, and so forth.

BLITZER: After his arrival in Saudi Arabia, al-Harbi appeared on television. "I called the embassy," he said, "and we felt that they were welcome. They were among family. Thank God for this blessing."

Al Harbi urged other al Qaeda operatives to surrender as well and take advantage of this opportunity.

NASR: It's just proof that their program has been working, and, of course, someone with this kind of exposure, someone who sat next to Osama bin Laden bragging about 9/11, for him to turn himself in, that's definitely big for the Saudis.

BLITZER: Wolf Blitzer, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: We're going to have more on this man later on tonight on 360.

Back home, the political issue some Republicans hoped to use as a hammer on the Democrats in the coming election, the gay marriage amendment, isn't turning out exactly as planned. While Republican leaders in Congress want it, even some of their own members are lukewarm on the proposal. And there's not even agreement right now on exactly what the amendment should say.

CNN's congressional correspondent Ed Henry has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Republicans thought they could score political points by forcing Senator John Kerry to vote against a ban on gay marriage right on the eve of the Democratic National Convention. But Democrats have turned the tables.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: The Republicans find themselves in an embarrassing position. They cannot agree among themselves as to what form the amendment relating to gay marriage or the marriage amendment ought to take.

HENRY: Republicans always knew they would not get the 67 votes needed to change the Constitution, but they were left red-faced when it became clear they would fall short of a simple majority, which would have at least let them claim a partial victory. So now they're pushing to vote on a second version of the amendment.

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: We don't want to just have one vote, and the Democrats just want to have one vote and then skedaddle, and no, we want to very thoughtfully debate a constitutional amendment, which is serious business.

HENRY: But Democrats are vowing to block other versions, and they're stepping up their attacks.

SEN. FRANK LAUTENBERG (D), NEW JERSEY: I've come to an unfortunate conclusion about why we're doing this amendment. Gay- bashing, plain and simple. That's what this is about.

SEN. RICK SANTORUM (R), PENNSYLVANIA: You can say I'm a hater. But I would argue I'm a lover. I'm a lover of traditional families and children who deserve the right to have a mother and a father.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY: Anderson, Senate Republicans are vowing to push ahead tomorrow with the vote. But it's going to be a procedural vote, because this debate has become so tangled, they're not even going to get probably to an up-or-down vote on the actual ban. As a result, Senators John Kerry and John Edwards are planning to skip the vote. Democrats say that's because the vote will fail anyway. Their votes won't matter.

Republicans are planning to step up their attacks on Kerry and Edwards, however, and saying they're ducking this issue, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, the issue is not going away. Ed Henry, thanks very much.

Today's buzz is this. What do you think? Should there be a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages? Log onto CNN.com/360, cast your vote, we'll have the results at the end of the program tonight.

A state of emergency in the Garden State. That tops our look at what's going on right now cross-country. As we said, a state of emergency in effect for two southern New Jersey counties that were inundated by rain overnight. Take a look at these pictures. As much as 13 inches in some places. Several small dams gave way under pressure, forcing hundreds from their homes. As many as 25 roads reportedly closed because of this flooding.

In Washington, mad cow concerns. The Agriculture Department's new system for detecting it has some serious flaws, according to the department's own inspector general. He says the USDA hasn't been testing the majority of animals that are most at risk, including those that died on the farm and those that die with symptoms of mad cow.

Phoenix, Arizona, desert storm. Check out this wall of dust -- that's what you're looking at -- that moved in on the city on Sunday -- on Monday evening. It was accompanied by high winds and rain showers. It's said to be a precursor to the region's summer monsoon season.

And in New York, again, the unreal price of real estate. For the first time in history, the average sale price for apartments in Manhattan was more than $1 million. We're not talking about some Donald Trump huge duplex. Up nearly 21 percent from last year. It breaks down to $786 a square foot. Hard to believe.

That's a look at stories right now cross-country.

360 next, armed and dangerous. A two-day shooting spree has the FBI on alert now. Is there a crazed gunman stalking Connecticut? We'll have the latest.

Plus, Tarzan's tiger shot dead. A sad ending to a hot pursuit. Find out how this wild pet met its end.

Also tonight, Mary Kay Letourneau is about to walk free. Will the disgraced teacher walk into the arms of the man she says she's still in love with? He's not 13 anymore. He's 21 and says he still loves her. Startling update ahead.

First, let's take a look at your picks, the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: In New Haven, Connecticut, the puzzle pieces are still unconnected. But what we know is this. There have been five shootings in two days, and police believe the same gun is involved in all of them. Now, they know the bullet is .22-caliber. They don't seem to know too much else.

Adaora Udoji is on the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New Haven police have never seen anything like it, five shootings in 26 hours, they believe with the same weapon. A police source tells CNN a .22-caliber gun. Among the victims, Angel Colon, who missed his daily ride to work early Monday. While waiting for a bus, he was attacked. But the 54-year-old managed to walk a block home.

NIDIA RAMON, VICTIM'S RELATIVE: He said that he saw a car driving by and turn around. And put his -- put the window down and shoot him nine times.

UDOJI: Between 5:40 and 6:00 a.m., two others had also been shot multiple times within blocks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard seven shots. After the seven shots, I went to my window, and I looked out to see if anybody got hurt.

UDOJI: These attacks followed a similar shooting early Sunday. Two young men were shot as they chatted on a porch. All five men survived. Investigators say the victims were innocent, didn't know one another, perhaps a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They don't believe the perpetrators had a plan.

CHIEF FRANCISCO ORTIZ, NEW HAVEN POLICE: It would still appear to be random as far as their selection. The original intent of the offenders, we still don't know yet.

UDOJI: Today Connecticut state police joined in the hunt, authorities announcing they would be picking up suspects with outstanding violent criminal warrants.

ORTIZ: Who's most likely to be committing a crime like this? This is a pretty brazen -- a pretty violent crime, a brazen act during the daytime hours. There's a certain level of education or expertise, somebody who's probably been exposed to the felony system or criminal justice system who probably has some sort of an abuse problem as well.

UDOJI: That .22-caliber may be a giveaway, investigators saying it takes special bullets, which they're tracking.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UDOJI: Police are also brushing aside any comparison to the Washington, D.C., sniper case nearly two years ago, instead concentrating on finding what they believe is at least two suspects involved in shootings unlike any, Anderson, they have ever had.

COOPER: Ah, strange case there, Adaora. Thanks very much. Adaora Udoji in New Haven.

Well, anyone know the French word for blackmail? We better learn it fast, because France says, J'accuse. That's in tonight's uplink. Bangkok, Thailand, tempers flare at the international AIDS conference. In a written statement, French President Jacques Chirac says the U.S. is guilty of blackmail, pressuring other countries to relinquish rights to make generic HIV and AIDS drugs in return for free trade agreements. U.S. officials call that charge nonsense.

Nusarat (ph), Gaza, British broadcaster Sky News shot this video of what it says is a Palestinian militant training camp for young boys, some of them really young. In this exercise, the boys jump through flames, crawl under barbed wire as bullets are fired over their head.

Kabul, Afghanistan, now, Operation Lightning Resolve, the new offensive by U.S. troops aims to prevent militants from derailing Afghanistan's presidential election, which is slated for October 7. Pentagon officials say it won't take forces away from the hunt for public enemy number one, Osama bin Laden.

Madrid, Spain, ex-Gitmo prisoner freed on bail from Spanish prison. Next on his agenda, legal action against the U.S. That's right, the man's lawyers say he was illegally detained by the U.S. at Gitmo. He's still accused of ties to an al Qaeda cell in Madrid, but he denies any link. Bangladesh, India, now, monsoon misery. Overflowing rivers and landslides have killed 37 more people, bringing the death toll throughout South Asia since mid-June to at least 270. Could climb even higher, since millions of people are stranded in their flooded homes, millions of people desperate for help.

That's tonight's uplink.

360 next, a tragic tiger tale. Police on the prowl for an escaped pet shoot him, they say in self-defense. But should this wild beast have ever been even kept in somebody's home?

Plus, disgraced former teacher Mary Kay Letourneau, she is about to walk free. No remorse. In fact, she wants to live with the young man she first molested when he was in sixth grade. We're going to talk to a reporter who has just interviewed the man.

And a little later, an al Qaeda surrender. Does this man know anything about al Qaeda? He's now in Saudi Arabia hands. Does he know where Osama bin Laden's hiding? And will he even say if he does? We'll take a closer look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Pretty big number there. When your pet kitty runs away from home, it's usually not a cause celebre. But in south Florida, the pet kitty had stripes and weighed 600 pounds, and the cat's owner once played Tarzan. Late today, word that police shot the animal after a nervous day of hunting for it.

CNN's John Zarrella is standing by with the latest. John?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, Florida game officials and Palm Beach County sheriff's officers had spent about 24 hours searching for Bobo in the high brush behind us here. He had escaped yesterday from the compound that's owned by Steve Sipek, and late this afternoon, the wildlife officials said that they had no choice. They wanted to tranquilize Bobo, but when they came upon him, he, they say, lunged at the officers, and officers tracking him were forced to shoot and kill the animal.

Steve Sipek, the animal's owner, is now here with Linda, his fiancee. And Steve, you're covered with your animal's blood. What happened?

STEVE SIPEK, TIGER OWNER: Bobo was sleeping under the brushes. Sleeping. All day long, because it was a hot day. A girl that owned the place found him and went and told the officers that that's where Bobo is. They came upon him immediately and shot him five times. Bobo never left the place where he was laying.

ZARRELLA: You had said earlier in the day to reporters that you feared that your animal would be killed.

SIPEK: I did, because the way they were behaving, they were not in contact with me constantly like they promised. They carried their guns constantly. And instead of walking behind me, they were walking in front of me.

ZARRELLA: Did you believe that you could have coaxed your animal, had you been able to get out there, and brought him home safely?

SIPEK: I don't have to believe that. I know. I brought Bobo to the gate already, except the helicopter scared him, and Bobo ran away. Twice, not once, but twice. And you know something? As I was approaching my tiger, the sheriff officer in the car said to me, I'm going to give you 10 minutes, 10 minutes to put a chain on him, or I'll shoot him. That's what he said to me.

ZARRELLA: Do you believe that Bobo was dangerous? There had been an incident a couple of years ago where a woman was mauled.

SIPEK: Oh, Bobo is not dangerous, never was. The woman that he hurt, was not because he intentionally hurt her. She was on the ground, looked like something unusual. All he did is grabbed her. It does not take very much for the fangs to penetrate a human skin.

ZARRELLA: Why did this happen today? Why do you think they took this action and were not able to tranquilize him, but instead killed your animal?

SIPEK: Because they want glory. They want to be able to say that we killed a tiger. We are the winners. We did our job. We saved the people from this vicious tiger being killed. Which is totally wrong.

ZARRELLA: What happens now to your animal? Is he still lying out there under the bushes? And are you going to be able to get him back?

SIPEK: Oh, no, they said I can't take him because they need the pictures, and they needed to find out how many bullets he took, which means, in other words, they want to cover up what they've done to him.

ZARRELLA: They say they're going to investigate this. Do you not believe it will be a fair investigation?

SIPEK: No. You cannot reverse the process of a broken egg no matter how hard you try, and that's exactly what happened to Bobo. You cannot bring Bobo back no matter how much you investigate. It's impossible.

ZARRELLA: The two of you are clearly, clearly distraught by what has happened.

SIPEK: That's not the word, sir. All my life, I took care of animals that people who are not worthy to have an animal, mistreat and killed and mutilate. I took care of them. I spent a fortune doing all this. It's because the love I had for these animals. It is far beyond anything you can imagine on this earth. You cannot imagine by anything.

ZARRELLA: What do you do now? Do you continue on with your compound here, with the other animals you have, the big cats you have?

SIPEK: The rules shall change. The rules should change.

ZARRELLA: How do you mean that?

SIPEK: Anybody that intends to hurt my animals shall be dealt accordingly.

ZARRELLA: How did Bobo get out? Do you believe -- any idea how he got out?

SIPEK: Bobo could not get out on his own. He was in the house. There are three doors to him, so he could not get out. Somebody opened the door. People -- I live here for 35 years. They burn my home down twice. They kill four of my animals. They shot them dead over the fence. I built a huge wall, like a Chinese wall.

ZARRELLA: So Bobo couldn't have gotten out.

SIPEK: But he couldn't have gotten out.

ZARRELLA: Steve, Linda, thank you very much for your time here. We know it's a very difficult time for you.

SIPEK: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

ZARRELLA: Again, wildlife officials stressing, Anderson, wildlife officials say that the tiger lunged at them, and that they were forced to take the action to kill the tiger, and they were not able to tranquilize him, although they did have tranquilizer guns, they say, with them at the time, that the two wildlife officers encountered the tiger in the brush, not too far from his home, Anderson.

COOPER: Yes, John, obviously, the owner there, very distraught as you can see and as you said. I mean, he's got the tiger's blood still on him. How long did the search -- I mean, give us a sense of how big a search this was. How many officers were involved? I mean, there are a lot of concerns, obviously, if any tiger is running out, regardless of what the owner says, obviously, people are going to be concerned about it. How big was the effort to get him?

ZARRELLA: There were about 15 officers involved. That's the state wildlife officers, and that's officers from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

The area they were searching was a small area. They wouldn't give us an exact square yards of it, but it was a small area, confined primarily in and around Mr. Sipek's home, because they believed that the tiger was just in the brush, and he was all day just lounging in there, staying cool in this hot sun here, and that he hadn't gone very far.

And in fact, that's exactly what happened. He hadn't gone very far from the home. And they managed to flush him out this afternoon, and that is when he was shot.

COOPER: John, it's actually interesting. I was talking to Jack Hanna earlier today, and he was saying that during the day, tiger is probably is just sleeping underneath the brush or something. It's at night that the tiger goes out, that's when the greatest danger is.

John Zarrella, reporting this story. John, thanks very much for that exclusive interview.

Mary Kay Letourneau gets ready to get out of prison. Will she reunite with the young man she molested?

Are you tanorexic? What lengths people are going to to get to golden glow.

Lynne Cheney unplugged. What she's doing to keep her husband in office. 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: 360 next, Al Qaeda surrender. Does he hold a clue to Osama bin Laden's hiding place? We'll take a closer look.

Plus, the always outrageous, the unsinkable Molly Ivins. She sounds off on Bush, Clinton, and other political animals, and Kerry too.

First, let's check our top stories in "The Reset."

In Baghdad, Iraqi police swept through a neighborhood in the Rusafa district and arrested more than 500 people, accord to one source. The crackdown was aimed at people suspected of crimes such as theft, robbery, and kidnapping. The raid was conducted by a unit of the Iraqi interior ministry.

In Washington, the head of the Democratic Party again tells Ralph Nader he ought to drop out of the race. Terry McAuliffe says if Nader doesn't support Kerry, his legacy could be that he, quote, "gave the country eight years of George Bush," end quote.

In Washington, a report from the National Academy of Science is telling NASA that it needs to do what it can to save the Hubble space telescope, including maybe sending a shuttle mission to repair it. The report says that the Hubble is probably the most important telescope in history.

And in Dallas, Texas, health officials are saying that the bad cholesterol isn't just bad for you, it's really, really bad for you, and they're urging people who have had recent heart problems to drop their levels to rock bottom. Doctors say those people at risk should strive for a bad cholesterol level of 70 instead of the 100 which was once thought to be safe.

That's a quick look at the top stories in the "Reset."

The name Khaled Al-Harbi, probably doesn't sound very familiar. But when you factor in he was caught on video talking with Osama bin Laden about 9/11, that changes everything. The Saudis say he's a top al Qaeda suspect and he shocked a lot of people today surrendering to the Saudi government which has temporarily offered leniency to terror suspects that turn themselves in. Will he give up information that leads to the capture of Osama bin Laden? Joining me from Washington, Evan Kohlmann who wrote the book, "Al Qaeda's Jihad in Europe" which profiles Al-Harbi among others.

What do we know about this guy?

EVAN KOHLMANN, AUTHOR, "AL QAEDA'S JIHAD IN EUROPE": It's actually very interesting. He's better known as Abu Suleiman Al- Makki, meaning Abu Suleiman from Mecca.

He was formerly a religious teacher at the holy mosque in Mecca but during the 1980s, he volunteered to join Osama bin Laden and Abdul Azzam in Afghanistan and actually, according to al Qaeda documents, he served in the company of Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, the founder, the initial founder of al Qaeda and bin Laden's first spiritual mentor.

In 1992 he traveled with a number of al Qaeda lieutenants to Bosnia or Herzegovina where he battled Serb forces. And in fact in September of 1992 he was shot in the spine during one incident and he was paralyzed from the waist down.

Yet since then, there has been a continuous trail of Abu Suleiman to a number of terrorist sleeper cells. In fact in 1997, the Bosnian government issued an arrest warrant for Abu Suleiman because he was protecting a group of known terrorists, including one Algerian who was later connected to a plot, the suicide crash private aircraft into NATO bases in the Balkans.

COOPER: Evan, why do you think he turned himself in? As we look at this video which was him meeting with Osama bin Laden where they're talking about 9/11, kind of joking about it, why do you think he turned himself in in this amnesty?

KOHLMANN: Certainly, he's an important figure and he's a close friend of Osama bin Laden's, but in the last three years, especially since 9/11, we really haven't seen much activity from Abu Suleiman other than his appearance in this video where he speaks of how joyous he was about 9/11. There doesn't seem to be any operational capability he has.

Part of that could be that since 9/11 these terrorist leaders, they've been on the run and they've been running from law enforcement. And it's very difficult for someone that has a complicated health situation, who's an invalid travel around in mountainous situation with no vehicles, on horseback, on camelback, it's just not feasible. And perhaps he came to the end of his rope. Perhaps he's just not capable of fighting that fight anymore.

COOPER: What does it tell you? Two things. A, that he arrived in Saudi Arabia from Iran. And also that he made the statement, it was broadcast on Saudi television. I'm just going to read part of it. "I called the embassy and we felt" -- they are talking about the embassy of Saudi Arabia -- "I called the embassy and we felt that we were welcome, that we were among family. Thank God for this blessing." What does it tell you, he thinks he's among family in Saudi Arabia?

KOHLMANN: Well, I think that statement was clearly carefully crafted by probably the Saudi government. I don't think you should put too much credence into that. But it is interesting and it makes us wonder whether or not the Saudis finally really are cracking down on al Qaeda and whether their offer of amnesty is real in the sense that it's forcing al Qaeda members to make the decision, either we give ourselves up or we face the sword.

Unfortunately, thus far, this is only three out of God knows how many al Qaeda operatives who are have taken up this offer.

COOPER: Also the question is really how important this guy is, how much he really knows in terms of operational details. We've heard that Osama bin Laden might have relied on him for religious rulings, you know, when he needed them, but how much do you think he knows about really what's going on?

KOHLMANN: Well, this man used to serve in the same unit as Mohammed Hamdi Al-Ahdal, now considered one of the chief masterminds behind the October 2000 USS Cole bombing. He's a known associate of Abu Zubaydah and he's also connected to numerous other terrorist operatives who have transited in and out of Bosnia or Herzegovina and Afghanistan since then.

He's obviously been with bin Laden and his folks in the period post-9/11 because we have videotape of him with bin Laden post-9/11. So he does have intelligence information about how al Qaeda works in Afghanistan, its roots in and out of that country and perhaps even some of the names of the terrorist sleeper cells that are right here in Europe and North America and are the ones that we're really concerned about.

COOPER: Well, we'll be watching to see what, if any, information he provides and whether U.S. officials are even able to meet with him. That will be an interesting test of Saudi cooperation.

Evan Kohlmann, thanks very much for your insight.

KOHLMANN: My pleasure.

COOPER: Turn to "Raw Politics" now here at home and another in our series of reports on the women behind the men. Lynn Cheney is the author of seven books. One was a racy novel about lesbians in the Wild West. She's also a student of American history, running the National Endowment For The Humanities under President Ronald Reagan, an accomplished woman of her own who might even occasionally disagree with her husband, the vice president. Here's Judy Woodruff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LYNN CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY'S WIFE: And from the right and right on most issues, I'm Lynn Cheney. JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS" (voice- over): Back in the day, Lynn Cheney didn't pull punches.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ...a bigger set of statistics.

CHENEY: Please let me finish.

WOODRUFF A leading strategist in the culture war of the 80s, she railed against political correctness and multiculturalism as the head of Ronald Reagan's National Endowment For The Humanities. She was a bona fide darling of the right, an outspoken advocate for some of the most controversial conservative causes.

CHENEY: If I can tell sort of a minor part down here.

Reporter: But since her high school sweetheart became vice president, Lynn Cheney has toned it down. As experienced in the Washington rough and tumble as her husband, she doesn't fill the "soften up the man" role of, say, Laura Bush.

Yes, she's written a couple of children's books over the past few years, but the think tank veteran with a PH.D. hasn't gone soft.

Still, Lynn Cheney hasn't injected herself into policy making either. A steady, if low key, presence on the campaign trail, she now shuns controversy. Well, most of the time.

CHENEY: People should be free to enter into the relationships that they choose. And secondly, to recognize what's historically been the situation, that when it comes to conferring legal status on relationships, that is a matter left to the states.

WOODRUFF: Mother of a lesbian daughter, she's not toeing the White House line on gay marriage. With that notable exception, Lynn Cheney has put her newsmaking days behind her for now, a decision that's pure raw politics.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, that was Judy Woodruff reporting. Tomorrow night, the raw politics of Elizabeth Edwards, lawyer, mother, and wife of vice presidential candidate John Edwards.

Nobody writes about politicians quite like my next guest. Molly Ivins is a newspaper columnist who you might say leans a little to the left. But that doesn't stop her from skewering officials of all persuasions. In fact, her new book, "Who Let The Dogs In?" celebrates the elected character she's known and, if not loved, at least been able to laugh at especially those who do something stupid, dishonest, or banal and say they're just serving the public interest.

Molly, it's great to have you on the program. Thanks for being with us. I love the book.

MOLLY IVINS, AUTHOR, "WHO LET THE DOGS IN?": It's such a target rich environment. COOPER: It certainly is and it's just getting more so by the day. I want to read you something you said about this upcoming election. "So here we are in the glorious election year of 2004 with a boring stiff in one corner and stupefying incompetence in the other." I think I know who you mean. Is it really that bad?

IVINS: There's no question Kerry's a boring stiff. No Elvis. Come on. Minus zero on the Elvis scale. And they've got to do something about the hand gesture. It just appears apropos of nothing.

COOPER: He does that? That's his hand gesture? Really?

IVINS: That's his gesture. He is getting better. I think Edwards is loosening him up. He made two jokes last week.

COOPER: They touched a lot, too, I noticed in that "60 Minutes" interview.

IVINS: They were little jokes, but they were jokes. I think we're talking embryonic sense of humor. I think he's got one. He's just been hiding it.

COOPER: It's like a little baby. You have to cultivate and help it grow.

IVINS: Didn't want anyone to see it, but I think it's there.

COOPER: What about the president?

IVINS: Oh, god. When I look at George W., I kind of go, eke (ph), it's a Texan.

COOPER: And you can say that.

IVINS: I can. I can. It is a Texan. And, you know, I like George W., he's a hard guy to dislike. But boy, is he in over his head in this job. Poor guy.

COOPER: You think that's what the problem is basically? It boils down to...

IVINS: Oh, yes. He wasn't ready when he walked into it, and he walked into a big pile of trouble. It's really sad.

COOPER: Let's talk about the -- I guess the hall of fame of politicians you've mocked, who is sort of the greatest politician you've seen, at least in these times?

IVINS: Sheer political skill, I'd have to give it to Bill Clinton.

COOPER: Really?

IVINS: Oh, yes. Well, Lyndon probably actually was a far even more skillful politician.

COOPER: Were you surprised that they're going to have Bill Clinton speak on the first night of the convention for the Democrats?

IVINS: No. I think they ought to get him out of the way early.

COOPER: So he doesn't overshadow?

IVINS: Exactly. Get the big dog out of the room, man.

COOPER: And he still is a big dog.

IVINS: I know. I know. It's hard to miss. He's just a compelling figure. He's really talented in terms of political skills. That doesn't mean he was a good president or anything, but his political skills are awesome.

COOPER: You've got great stories in this book about various politicians. Something I hadn't even heard of. You talk about one Texas politician who staged his own shooting by a fake Satanic communist cult. What was that about?

IVINS: Yes, he paid his cousin Eddie to shoot him in the arm then he claimed it had been done by this Satanic communistic cult that was out to get him on account he was so pro-family and pro-American. And he ran for election. It was wonderful. He was running around with his arm in the red, white, and blue sling. And really it looked for his reelection, but then his cousin Eddie got drunk in a honky tonk and spilled the beans.

And it turned out, this would be great for our legislature, in Texas, it's illegal to pay someone to shoot you. So don't come down there and try and have it done. And poor old Mike had to take it on the lamb, take it into hiding. We sent the Texas Rangers out after him. Three weeks, they tracked him down. He was hiding at his mama's house in Longview. They found him in the stereo cabinet. He always did want to be the speaker.

COOPER: Bum da ba. Thanks. The book is great. Thank you very much for being with us.

IVINS: All right, it was fun.

COOPER: Well, 360 is next. A bizarre story. Mary Kay Letourneau about to walk free after having sex with that student when he was in the sixth grade. She's about to get out and find out if they actually want to get back together. "How Quickly We Forget."

Plus addicted to tanning, believe it or not. It's a feel good effect mixed with danger. Molly Ivins is stunned. We'll talk about that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Mary Kay Letourneau, is about to get out of prison. Find out what the young boy she molested thinks of her now. 360 next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VILI FUALAAU: For every answer I got right on the test, she was going to take one part of her clothes -- or one of her clothing off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Remember him?

He was a principal, no pun intended, in a case that caused a sensation in the late '90s. A Seattle teacher having sex with her 13- year-old student, bearing two children. The couple called it true love. The courts called it a crime. On August 4, Mary Kay Letourneau will be released from a Washington prison after 6 1/2 years. Forbidden from seeing her young lover, it's a scandal they'll always remember. But "How Quickly We Forget."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY KAY LETOURNEAU, CONVICTED OF CHILD RAPE: I did something that I had no right to do, morally or legally. It was wrong. And I am sorry. I give you my word that it will not happen again.

COOPER (voice-over): In 1997, Mary Kay Letourneau begged a Seattle judge for her freedom just months after the former teacher had been arrested for having sex with her student, Vili Fualaau. He was 13 when their relationship began, she was 34, a wife, a mother. Letourneau, who gave birth to their child in May of that year, pleaded guilty to second degree child rape. Vili insists he was not her victim and described in court their every encounter.

FUALAAU: We had sex in the gym. We had sex in the girls bathroom. We had sex in a classroom.

COOPER: Letourneau was given a six month jail sentence with an order from the judge barring her from ever seeing young Vili again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are being granted the opportunity for treatment in the community rather than in prison. Whether you stay out of prison is completely within your hands.

COOPER: She was released in January of 1998, and less than a month later, Seattle police picked up the ex-teacher and the boy having sex in a car. This time the judge showed no compassion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This case is not about a flawed system. It is about an opportunity that you foolishly squandered.

COOPER: She sentenced Letourneau, pregnant again, to serve out her 7 and half year sentence. Their two children would be raised by Vili's mother. In less than three weeks, Mary Kay Letourneau will be freed from prison, facing the future as a convicted sex offender, barred from ever seeing Vili, in the spotlight once again. "How Quickly we Forget."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: It is such a bizarre story, and it is certainly not over yet. A new chapter, in fact, about to begin.

Journalist Greg Olsen has delved deeper into this story than anywhere else. He actually spoke to Vili Fualaau last week. And his book "If Loving You is Wrong," explored all sides of this bizarre, yet no doubt mesmerizing drama. I spoke with him earlier this week about Letourneau's release from prison.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Gregg, what do you think is going to happen?

Are these two going to end up together, because Mary Kay Letourneau has been banned for life from seeing him?

GREGG OLSEN, AUTHOR: He does need to go before the courts and get that lifetime ban lifted.

COOPER: So that's a possibility?

OLSEN: That is a possibility. He hasn't done so yet, but I understand that, you know, he might be getting some help. Some lawyer might be helping him do that, which he needs some help.

COOPER: And it seems from your interview, they both do want to see each other, yes.

OLSEN: Yes, there's no question. I mean, obviously, they have two children to raise, either together or separately. And I think that, even after all these years have passed, that there really is some sort of love affair going on between the two of them, and we'll see them together somehow in the future.

COOPER: Vili, who's 21, said this to you, "I've been imagining and thinking about what our life would be like together for a long time. But I can't say what will happen. No one can. I want to know what her true feelings are first."

What is he like?

I mean, as you spend time with him, he's 21-years-old, what's your impression?

OLSEN: Yes, Anderson, I was really impressed by him considering, really everything that he's gone through. I mean, he's lived in this tempest, this media tempest for what seven or eight years really. He could be off the deep end by now, but the man that I saw -- I always like to stress he's a man now. He's 21. He's not the 13-year-old boy, you know, that she saw and fell in love with. He's a grown man, and I feel like he's strong enough now to maybe make decisions that are best for him, which is kind of good news, don't you think?

COOPER: But she was always saying that she saw something in him that other people didn't see, that he was strong, that he was wise beyond his years.

Back then, did he seem that way to you? OLSEN: Well, you know, as a kid, I didn't see any of that. You know, I don't really know anyone who did. But when I look at the man today I wonder maybe there were some things that Mary was able to see that the rest of us couldn't. And not that he's wise beyond his years, but he's certainly a survivor and has been through a lot and seems to have his head on straight right now.

COOPER: Does society treat this differently?

I mean, if this was a man doing this to a boy or a man doing this to a girl, would it be thought of in the same way?

I mean, would the word relationship even be used?

OLSEN: That's right. I mean, sometimes I get confused. You know, is it a crime story? Is it a love story? Was it consensual? Was it a rape?

You know, all of that seems to be, you know, fodder for discussion. We really don't know. What we do know now though is he's 21, and as a young man, I think he's got the right to say whether he wants to be with her or not, and she has the right to say, you know, whether she should or not herself. I think we're sort of out of it right now.

COOPER: And I don't want to pry too much into their privacy because they've lived out of the spotlight now. But what, in general, happened to her family, I mean, to her kids, to her former husband?

OLSEN: That's right. She divorced Steve Letourneau several years after this all happened. And the four children, the four oldest children, moved up to Alaska. They did eventually after the divorce, did get visitation with their mother in prison. They did visited semi-regularly, not as often as the court allowed. So she has had a lot of contact or some contact with those children. The two littlest children that she had with Vili Fualaau, she sees quite regularly in prison and is very close to those girls.

COOPER: They're being raised by Vili's mother.

What's going to happen?

I mean, is she going to try to get custody of them?

Could there be a custody fight?

OLSEN: I think so. Mary has -- you know, she's been deprived of motherhood, and she always views herself and always has, as a great mother. So, I think she's going to want to raise those children in her own home, obviously, with Vili. But it's going to be tough. Because Suna Fualaau has done a great job raising those kids, and she's not going to let them go easily.

COOPER: Has there been any acknowledgement on her part that she did anything wrong, that she did anything inappropriate or illegal? OLSEN: Well, the only thing she ever acknowledged to me was she felt the adultery part of the relationship was wrong. That she was married to Steve Letourneau and that her involvement with Vili was wrong on that level. She's never really apologized for the fact that she loves him and that she wanted to be with him. She's never apologized to her own children. So, she's got this idea that the adultery, that's the crime. It was a personal crime, and that the rest of us really should back out of it.

COOPER: It is just a fascinating story. Gregg Olsen, thanks for joining us.

OLSEN: Thank you, Anderson.

COOPER: 360 next. Are you a tan-aholic, who might have that golden glow? What new research says about you. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, the quest for the perfect tan has been part of our culture for decades, no doubt about it. If you find yourself always working on your tan, some doctors now say you may have developed a dangerous habit that has more to do with how you feel than how you look. Seems someone is always coming up with a new disease or a new addiction. Well, believe it or not, new research suggests that some people are tanorexic, addicted to what they call a tanner's high. CNN's Jason Bellini explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You know alcohol, cigarettes and drugs are addictive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is your brain on drugs.

BELLINI: But should frying your skin join the list? Perhaps. A new study reported by the Academy of American Dermatology suggests some people may grow addicted to ultraviolet rays.

DR. JAMES SPENCER, DERMATOLOGIST: They just keep going to the indoor tanning salons or to the beach whenever they can.

BELLINI: Dermatologist Dr. James Spencer treats hundreds of people for skin cancer each year. He says some patients, even after undergoing skin cancer surgery multiple times, won't stop sun-bathing.

SPENCER: We explain to them it causes cancer. We explain to them it causes wrinkles. And they tell us, I just love the way it feels. That it makes them feel good. And the implication of this study is that that's true, there's something about ultraviolet light that gives some people a noticeable pleasurable sensation.

TANYA GOODIN, INDOOR TANNER: You know, if you were stressed out going in, you feel like the stress has been a little bit lifted.

BELLINI (on camera): For six weeks, 14 volunteers lounged in tanning beds like these here. Both the beds looked identical, except that one of them had a UV filter on it. Researchers found that the people exposed to the UV light reported feeling more content and relaxed afterwards. And when given the choice between the two beds, 11 of 12 chose the UV bed.

(voice-over): Right now, dermatologists can only speculate why the people in the study went back to the beds with the UV light.

One theory is that tanning releases endorphins, the same neurotransmitters responsible for the runner's high.

The study was small, and they say much more is needed. What doctors tell their patients will, however, remain the same. Fry now, pay later.

Jason Bellini, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time for "The Buzz." Earlier, we asked you, should there be a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages? Thirty-six percent of you said yes; 64 no. Not a scientific poll, but it is your buzz. Thanks for voting.

Tonight, taking the flip side to "The Nth Degree."

Yes, America is the only superpower on Earth. Yes, this country's influence is ubiquitous and universal. There are Burger Kings in Beijing, McDonald's in Moscow, Calvin Kleins in Krakow, Springsteen fans in Singapore and fans of Dylan in Delhi. Hollywood movies in Hamburg, and so on and so on and so on.

And yes, many nations of the Earth resent the gigantic global influence of the U.S., but -- and this is the flip side -- we don't always come out on top.

Take the bar code. That scannable symbol that is currently tattooed on everything everywhere. The American version has 12 digits, while the European one has 13. And guess what the new worldwide standard is going to be? No, not the raw, muscular, honest, straightforward, unpretentious Yankee Doodle Dandy of a 12-digit bar code made right here in the good old U.S. of A. No, sir, the new worldwide standard is going to be the fussy, gilded, froufrou-covered, old world bar code, currently being used in places like Toulouse and Parma and Dusseldorf.

So stop griping, world. Where it really counts, on cereal boxes and milk cartons and wine bottles and paperback books, the U.S. has just lost big time.

I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired July 13, 2004 - 19:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Good evening from New York. I'm Anderson Cooper.
A new hostage horror in Iraq, and new questions about what happens now.

You're watching 360.

A Bulgarian hostage executed, while the fate of the Filipino hostage remains uncertain.

An associate of Osama bin Laden surrenders. Who is he? And what does it mean for al Qaeda?

Mary Kay Letourneau gets ready to get out of prison. Will she reunite with the young man she molested?

Are you tanorexic? What lengths people are going to get that golden glow.

Lynne Cheney unplugged. What she's doing to keep her husband in office.

Tarzan's tiger on the loose, shot after lunging at police.

ANNOUNCER: Live from New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.

COOPER: Good evening again.

We begin tonight with the worst sort of news. What appears to be the number of another -- the murder, excuse me, of another hostage in Iraq, and the threat of a second murder to come.

Jane Arraf is in Baghdad with the latest. Jane?

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Anderson, the Bulgarian government has confirmed that one of two people executed in a video given to the Arabic-language network Al Jazeera appears to be a Bulgarian hostage. These were one of two people who were driving cars to northern Iraq when they were abducted. One of them, according to the video, kneeling down in an orange jumpsuit, blindfolded, in front of three blind -- masked and men in black, has been beheaded.

Now, the network did not show that part of the video, but they say it exists. The Bulgarian government says it was one of their people, and they're working desperately to secure the release of the second.

The White House has sent its condolences and has pleaded earlier for countries not to give in, not to negotiate with hostage takers. Despite that, there are delegations here who say they are doing everything they can to have men, citizens of their countries freed, Anderson.

COOPER: What do we know at this point about the Filipino hostage? Last night you had reported there seemed to be some sort of negotiations under way, and some word that he might be released today. Apparently that doesn't seem to have happened.

ARRAF: He doesn't appear to have been released. We had word that he was still expected to be released, that that word came from intermediaries to Philippine officials, that in exchange for a statement from a Philippine official sent here, again, to an Arabic- language network, saying that the Philippines would indeed withdraw its troops early, the promise was made to release him. That does not appear to have happened, and it's unclear exactly what has happened, what his fate might be, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Jane Arraf, continuing to follow that story. Thanks very much, Jane.

A fast fact for you on the so-called coalition of the willing. Five other countries have pulled their support out of Iraq, Spain, Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominican Republic, and Norway, they've all taken their forces out of Iraq over the last several months for various reasons. Twenty-nine other countries still have their troops there. The fate of what will happen with Filipino troops is what is in contention tonight.

Of the man who today who surrendered to Saudi authorities, Khaled al-Harbi, the facts seem to be in dispute. As for who he is, really, what he really knows, what he's done or helped to do, depends on whom you talk to. A Saudi official called him a big fish, but a U.S. intelligence official told CNN his pond was actually pretty small.

This we know. The mysterious paralyzed sheikh was important enough that Osama bin Laden was videotaped relaxing and chatting about the 9/11 attacks with him. Doubtful he'd do that with a nobody.

Wolf Blitzer has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Al-Harbi and bin Laden fought together in Afghanistan in the 1980s against the then- Soviet occupation. He was flown to Saudi Arabia from Iran, where he surrendered to Saudi authorities at the embassy in Tehran, according to a Saudi interior ministry official.

He and bin Laden were seen together in this videotape released in December 2001, only three months after the 9/11 terror strike. He was then described as the mystery sheikh, because no one could tell who he really was. This week, he gave himself up as part of a Saudi one-month offer of amnesty. That offer exempts al Qaeda suspects from the death penalty, but not from civil suits filed by victims' families.

Experts say he's not seen as a current al Qaeda leader, but still could provide an intelligence bonanza.

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SENIOR EDITOR FOR ARAB AFFAIRS: It's very important to ask this man if there were other al Qaeda leaders that lived in that area, or if he had any contact with al Qaeda members or leaders in Iran or Afghanistan, if he knows where they are now, if they're hiding, where they're hiding, who's hiding them, and so forth.

BLITZER: After his arrival in Saudi Arabia, al-Harbi appeared on television. "I called the embassy," he said, "and we felt that they were welcome. They were among family. Thank God for this blessing."

Al Harbi urged other al Qaeda operatives to surrender as well and take advantage of this opportunity.

NASR: It's just proof that their program has been working, and, of course, someone with this kind of exposure, someone who sat next to Osama bin Laden bragging about 9/11, for him to turn himself in, that's definitely big for the Saudis.

BLITZER: Wolf Blitzer, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: We're going to have more on this man later on tonight on 360.

Back home, the political issue some Republicans hoped to use as a hammer on the Democrats in the coming election, the gay marriage amendment, isn't turning out exactly as planned. While Republican leaders in Congress want it, even some of their own members are lukewarm on the proposal. And there's not even agreement right now on exactly what the amendment should say.

CNN's congressional correspondent Ed Henry has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Republicans thought they could score political points by forcing Senator John Kerry to vote against a ban on gay marriage right on the eve of the Democratic National Convention. But Democrats have turned the tables.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: The Republicans find themselves in an embarrassing position. They cannot agree among themselves as to what form the amendment relating to gay marriage or the marriage amendment ought to take.

HENRY: Republicans always knew they would not get the 67 votes needed to change the Constitution, but they were left red-faced when it became clear they would fall short of a simple majority, which would have at least let them claim a partial victory. So now they're pushing to vote on a second version of the amendment.

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: We don't want to just have one vote, and the Democrats just want to have one vote and then skedaddle, and no, we want to very thoughtfully debate a constitutional amendment, which is serious business.

HENRY: But Democrats are vowing to block other versions, and they're stepping up their attacks.

SEN. FRANK LAUTENBERG (D), NEW JERSEY: I've come to an unfortunate conclusion about why we're doing this amendment. Gay- bashing, plain and simple. That's what this is about.

SEN. RICK SANTORUM (R), PENNSYLVANIA: You can say I'm a hater. But I would argue I'm a lover. I'm a lover of traditional families and children who deserve the right to have a mother and a father.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY: Anderson, Senate Republicans are vowing to push ahead tomorrow with the vote. But it's going to be a procedural vote, because this debate has become so tangled, they're not even going to get probably to an up-or-down vote on the actual ban. As a result, Senators John Kerry and John Edwards are planning to skip the vote. Democrats say that's because the vote will fail anyway. Their votes won't matter.

Republicans are planning to step up their attacks on Kerry and Edwards, however, and saying they're ducking this issue, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, the issue is not going away. Ed Henry, thanks very much.

Today's buzz is this. What do you think? Should there be a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages? Log onto CNN.com/360, cast your vote, we'll have the results at the end of the program tonight.

A state of emergency in the Garden State. That tops our look at what's going on right now cross-country. As we said, a state of emergency in effect for two southern New Jersey counties that were inundated by rain overnight. Take a look at these pictures. As much as 13 inches in some places. Several small dams gave way under pressure, forcing hundreds from their homes. As many as 25 roads reportedly closed because of this flooding.

In Washington, mad cow concerns. The Agriculture Department's new system for detecting it has some serious flaws, according to the department's own inspector general. He says the USDA hasn't been testing the majority of animals that are most at risk, including those that died on the farm and those that die with symptoms of mad cow.

Phoenix, Arizona, desert storm. Check out this wall of dust -- that's what you're looking at -- that moved in on the city on Sunday -- on Monday evening. It was accompanied by high winds and rain showers. It's said to be a precursor to the region's summer monsoon season.

And in New York, again, the unreal price of real estate. For the first time in history, the average sale price for apartments in Manhattan was more than $1 million. We're not talking about some Donald Trump huge duplex. Up nearly 21 percent from last year. It breaks down to $786 a square foot. Hard to believe.

That's a look at stories right now cross-country.

360 next, armed and dangerous. A two-day shooting spree has the FBI on alert now. Is there a crazed gunman stalking Connecticut? We'll have the latest.

Plus, Tarzan's tiger shot dead. A sad ending to a hot pursuit. Find out how this wild pet met its end.

Also tonight, Mary Kay Letourneau is about to walk free. Will the disgraced teacher walk into the arms of the man she says she's still in love with? He's not 13 anymore. He's 21 and says he still loves her. Startling update ahead.

First, let's take a look at your picks, the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: In New Haven, Connecticut, the puzzle pieces are still unconnected. But what we know is this. There have been five shootings in two days, and police believe the same gun is involved in all of them. Now, they know the bullet is .22-caliber. They don't seem to know too much else.

Adaora Udoji is on the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New Haven police have never seen anything like it, five shootings in 26 hours, they believe with the same weapon. A police source tells CNN a .22-caliber gun. Among the victims, Angel Colon, who missed his daily ride to work early Monday. While waiting for a bus, he was attacked. But the 54-year-old managed to walk a block home.

NIDIA RAMON, VICTIM'S RELATIVE: He said that he saw a car driving by and turn around. And put his -- put the window down and shoot him nine times.

UDOJI: Between 5:40 and 6:00 a.m., two others had also been shot multiple times within blocks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard seven shots. After the seven shots, I went to my window, and I looked out to see if anybody got hurt.

UDOJI: These attacks followed a similar shooting early Sunday. Two young men were shot as they chatted on a porch. All five men survived. Investigators say the victims were innocent, didn't know one another, perhaps a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They don't believe the perpetrators had a plan.

CHIEF FRANCISCO ORTIZ, NEW HAVEN POLICE: It would still appear to be random as far as their selection. The original intent of the offenders, we still don't know yet.

UDOJI: Today Connecticut state police joined in the hunt, authorities announcing they would be picking up suspects with outstanding violent criminal warrants.

ORTIZ: Who's most likely to be committing a crime like this? This is a pretty brazen -- a pretty violent crime, a brazen act during the daytime hours. There's a certain level of education or expertise, somebody who's probably been exposed to the felony system or criminal justice system who probably has some sort of an abuse problem as well.

UDOJI: That .22-caliber may be a giveaway, investigators saying it takes special bullets, which they're tracking.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UDOJI: Police are also brushing aside any comparison to the Washington, D.C., sniper case nearly two years ago, instead concentrating on finding what they believe is at least two suspects involved in shootings unlike any, Anderson, they have ever had.

COOPER: Ah, strange case there, Adaora. Thanks very much. Adaora Udoji in New Haven.

Well, anyone know the French word for blackmail? We better learn it fast, because France says, J'accuse. That's in tonight's uplink. Bangkok, Thailand, tempers flare at the international AIDS conference. In a written statement, French President Jacques Chirac says the U.S. is guilty of blackmail, pressuring other countries to relinquish rights to make generic HIV and AIDS drugs in return for free trade agreements. U.S. officials call that charge nonsense.

Nusarat (ph), Gaza, British broadcaster Sky News shot this video of what it says is a Palestinian militant training camp for young boys, some of them really young. In this exercise, the boys jump through flames, crawl under barbed wire as bullets are fired over their head.

Kabul, Afghanistan, now, Operation Lightning Resolve, the new offensive by U.S. troops aims to prevent militants from derailing Afghanistan's presidential election, which is slated for October 7. Pentagon officials say it won't take forces away from the hunt for public enemy number one, Osama bin Laden.

Madrid, Spain, ex-Gitmo prisoner freed on bail from Spanish prison. Next on his agenda, legal action against the U.S. That's right, the man's lawyers say he was illegally detained by the U.S. at Gitmo. He's still accused of ties to an al Qaeda cell in Madrid, but he denies any link. Bangladesh, India, now, monsoon misery. Overflowing rivers and landslides have killed 37 more people, bringing the death toll throughout South Asia since mid-June to at least 270. Could climb even higher, since millions of people are stranded in their flooded homes, millions of people desperate for help.

That's tonight's uplink.

360 next, a tragic tiger tale. Police on the prowl for an escaped pet shoot him, they say in self-defense. But should this wild beast have ever been even kept in somebody's home?

Plus, disgraced former teacher Mary Kay Letourneau, she is about to walk free. No remorse. In fact, she wants to live with the young man she first molested when he was in sixth grade. We're going to talk to a reporter who has just interviewed the man.

And a little later, an al Qaeda surrender. Does this man know anything about al Qaeda? He's now in Saudi Arabia hands. Does he know where Osama bin Laden's hiding? And will he even say if he does? We'll take a closer look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Pretty big number there. When your pet kitty runs away from home, it's usually not a cause celebre. But in south Florida, the pet kitty had stripes and weighed 600 pounds, and the cat's owner once played Tarzan. Late today, word that police shot the animal after a nervous day of hunting for it.

CNN's John Zarrella is standing by with the latest. John?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, Florida game officials and Palm Beach County sheriff's officers had spent about 24 hours searching for Bobo in the high brush behind us here. He had escaped yesterday from the compound that's owned by Steve Sipek, and late this afternoon, the wildlife officials said that they had no choice. They wanted to tranquilize Bobo, but when they came upon him, he, they say, lunged at the officers, and officers tracking him were forced to shoot and kill the animal.

Steve Sipek, the animal's owner, is now here with Linda, his fiancee. And Steve, you're covered with your animal's blood. What happened?

STEVE SIPEK, TIGER OWNER: Bobo was sleeping under the brushes. Sleeping. All day long, because it was a hot day. A girl that owned the place found him and went and told the officers that that's where Bobo is. They came upon him immediately and shot him five times. Bobo never left the place where he was laying.

ZARRELLA: You had said earlier in the day to reporters that you feared that your animal would be killed.

SIPEK: I did, because the way they were behaving, they were not in contact with me constantly like they promised. They carried their guns constantly. And instead of walking behind me, they were walking in front of me.

ZARRELLA: Did you believe that you could have coaxed your animal, had you been able to get out there, and brought him home safely?

SIPEK: I don't have to believe that. I know. I brought Bobo to the gate already, except the helicopter scared him, and Bobo ran away. Twice, not once, but twice. And you know something? As I was approaching my tiger, the sheriff officer in the car said to me, I'm going to give you 10 minutes, 10 minutes to put a chain on him, or I'll shoot him. That's what he said to me.

ZARRELLA: Do you believe that Bobo was dangerous? There had been an incident a couple of years ago where a woman was mauled.

SIPEK: Oh, Bobo is not dangerous, never was. The woman that he hurt, was not because he intentionally hurt her. She was on the ground, looked like something unusual. All he did is grabbed her. It does not take very much for the fangs to penetrate a human skin.

ZARRELLA: Why did this happen today? Why do you think they took this action and were not able to tranquilize him, but instead killed your animal?

SIPEK: Because they want glory. They want to be able to say that we killed a tiger. We are the winners. We did our job. We saved the people from this vicious tiger being killed. Which is totally wrong.

ZARRELLA: What happens now to your animal? Is he still lying out there under the bushes? And are you going to be able to get him back?

SIPEK: Oh, no, they said I can't take him because they need the pictures, and they needed to find out how many bullets he took, which means, in other words, they want to cover up what they've done to him.

ZARRELLA: They say they're going to investigate this. Do you not believe it will be a fair investigation?

SIPEK: No. You cannot reverse the process of a broken egg no matter how hard you try, and that's exactly what happened to Bobo. You cannot bring Bobo back no matter how much you investigate. It's impossible.

ZARRELLA: The two of you are clearly, clearly distraught by what has happened.

SIPEK: That's not the word, sir. All my life, I took care of animals that people who are not worthy to have an animal, mistreat and killed and mutilate. I took care of them. I spent a fortune doing all this. It's because the love I had for these animals. It is far beyond anything you can imagine on this earth. You cannot imagine by anything.

ZARRELLA: What do you do now? Do you continue on with your compound here, with the other animals you have, the big cats you have?

SIPEK: The rules shall change. The rules should change.

ZARRELLA: How do you mean that?

SIPEK: Anybody that intends to hurt my animals shall be dealt accordingly.

ZARRELLA: How did Bobo get out? Do you believe -- any idea how he got out?

SIPEK: Bobo could not get out on his own. He was in the house. There are three doors to him, so he could not get out. Somebody opened the door. People -- I live here for 35 years. They burn my home down twice. They kill four of my animals. They shot them dead over the fence. I built a huge wall, like a Chinese wall.

ZARRELLA: So Bobo couldn't have gotten out.

SIPEK: But he couldn't have gotten out.

ZARRELLA: Steve, Linda, thank you very much for your time here. We know it's a very difficult time for you.

SIPEK: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

ZARRELLA: Again, wildlife officials stressing, Anderson, wildlife officials say that the tiger lunged at them, and that they were forced to take the action to kill the tiger, and they were not able to tranquilize him, although they did have tranquilizer guns, they say, with them at the time, that the two wildlife officers encountered the tiger in the brush, not too far from his home, Anderson.

COOPER: Yes, John, obviously, the owner there, very distraught as you can see and as you said. I mean, he's got the tiger's blood still on him. How long did the search -- I mean, give us a sense of how big a search this was. How many officers were involved? I mean, there are a lot of concerns, obviously, if any tiger is running out, regardless of what the owner says, obviously, people are going to be concerned about it. How big was the effort to get him?

ZARRELLA: There were about 15 officers involved. That's the state wildlife officers, and that's officers from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

The area they were searching was a small area. They wouldn't give us an exact square yards of it, but it was a small area, confined primarily in and around Mr. Sipek's home, because they believed that the tiger was just in the brush, and he was all day just lounging in there, staying cool in this hot sun here, and that he hadn't gone very far.

And in fact, that's exactly what happened. He hadn't gone very far from the home. And they managed to flush him out this afternoon, and that is when he was shot.

COOPER: John, it's actually interesting. I was talking to Jack Hanna earlier today, and he was saying that during the day, tiger is probably is just sleeping underneath the brush or something. It's at night that the tiger goes out, that's when the greatest danger is.

John Zarrella, reporting this story. John, thanks very much for that exclusive interview.

Mary Kay Letourneau gets ready to get out of prison. Will she reunite with the young man she molested?

Are you tanorexic? What lengths people are going to to get to golden glow.

Lynne Cheney unplugged. What she's doing to keep her husband in office. 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: 360 next, Al Qaeda surrender. Does he hold a clue to Osama bin Laden's hiding place? We'll take a closer look.

Plus, the always outrageous, the unsinkable Molly Ivins. She sounds off on Bush, Clinton, and other political animals, and Kerry too.

First, let's check our top stories in "The Reset."

In Baghdad, Iraqi police swept through a neighborhood in the Rusafa district and arrested more than 500 people, accord to one source. The crackdown was aimed at people suspected of crimes such as theft, robbery, and kidnapping. The raid was conducted by a unit of the Iraqi interior ministry.

In Washington, the head of the Democratic Party again tells Ralph Nader he ought to drop out of the race. Terry McAuliffe says if Nader doesn't support Kerry, his legacy could be that he, quote, "gave the country eight years of George Bush," end quote.

In Washington, a report from the National Academy of Science is telling NASA that it needs to do what it can to save the Hubble space telescope, including maybe sending a shuttle mission to repair it. The report says that the Hubble is probably the most important telescope in history.

And in Dallas, Texas, health officials are saying that the bad cholesterol isn't just bad for you, it's really, really bad for you, and they're urging people who have had recent heart problems to drop their levels to rock bottom. Doctors say those people at risk should strive for a bad cholesterol level of 70 instead of the 100 which was once thought to be safe.

That's a quick look at the top stories in the "Reset."

The name Khaled Al-Harbi, probably doesn't sound very familiar. But when you factor in he was caught on video talking with Osama bin Laden about 9/11, that changes everything. The Saudis say he's a top al Qaeda suspect and he shocked a lot of people today surrendering to the Saudi government which has temporarily offered leniency to terror suspects that turn themselves in. Will he give up information that leads to the capture of Osama bin Laden? Joining me from Washington, Evan Kohlmann who wrote the book, "Al Qaeda's Jihad in Europe" which profiles Al-Harbi among others.

What do we know about this guy?

EVAN KOHLMANN, AUTHOR, "AL QAEDA'S JIHAD IN EUROPE": It's actually very interesting. He's better known as Abu Suleiman Al- Makki, meaning Abu Suleiman from Mecca.

He was formerly a religious teacher at the holy mosque in Mecca but during the 1980s, he volunteered to join Osama bin Laden and Abdul Azzam in Afghanistan and actually, according to al Qaeda documents, he served in the company of Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, the founder, the initial founder of al Qaeda and bin Laden's first spiritual mentor.

In 1992 he traveled with a number of al Qaeda lieutenants to Bosnia or Herzegovina where he battled Serb forces. And in fact in September of 1992 he was shot in the spine during one incident and he was paralyzed from the waist down.

Yet since then, there has been a continuous trail of Abu Suleiman to a number of terrorist sleeper cells. In fact in 1997, the Bosnian government issued an arrest warrant for Abu Suleiman because he was protecting a group of known terrorists, including one Algerian who was later connected to a plot, the suicide crash private aircraft into NATO bases in the Balkans.

COOPER: Evan, why do you think he turned himself in? As we look at this video which was him meeting with Osama bin Laden where they're talking about 9/11, kind of joking about it, why do you think he turned himself in in this amnesty?

KOHLMANN: Certainly, he's an important figure and he's a close friend of Osama bin Laden's, but in the last three years, especially since 9/11, we really haven't seen much activity from Abu Suleiman other than his appearance in this video where he speaks of how joyous he was about 9/11. There doesn't seem to be any operational capability he has.

Part of that could be that since 9/11 these terrorist leaders, they've been on the run and they've been running from law enforcement. And it's very difficult for someone that has a complicated health situation, who's an invalid travel around in mountainous situation with no vehicles, on horseback, on camelback, it's just not feasible. And perhaps he came to the end of his rope. Perhaps he's just not capable of fighting that fight anymore.

COOPER: What does it tell you? Two things. A, that he arrived in Saudi Arabia from Iran. And also that he made the statement, it was broadcast on Saudi television. I'm just going to read part of it. "I called the embassy and we felt" -- they are talking about the embassy of Saudi Arabia -- "I called the embassy and we felt that we were welcome, that we were among family. Thank God for this blessing." What does it tell you, he thinks he's among family in Saudi Arabia?

KOHLMANN: Well, I think that statement was clearly carefully crafted by probably the Saudi government. I don't think you should put too much credence into that. But it is interesting and it makes us wonder whether or not the Saudis finally really are cracking down on al Qaeda and whether their offer of amnesty is real in the sense that it's forcing al Qaeda members to make the decision, either we give ourselves up or we face the sword.

Unfortunately, thus far, this is only three out of God knows how many al Qaeda operatives who are have taken up this offer.

COOPER: Also the question is really how important this guy is, how much he really knows in terms of operational details. We've heard that Osama bin Laden might have relied on him for religious rulings, you know, when he needed them, but how much do you think he knows about really what's going on?

KOHLMANN: Well, this man used to serve in the same unit as Mohammed Hamdi Al-Ahdal, now considered one of the chief masterminds behind the October 2000 USS Cole bombing. He's a known associate of Abu Zubaydah and he's also connected to numerous other terrorist operatives who have transited in and out of Bosnia or Herzegovina and Afghanistan since then.

He's obviously been with bin Laden and his folks in the period post-9/11 because we have videotape of him with bin Laden post-9/11. So he does have intelligence information about how al Qaeda works in Afghanistan, its roots in and out of that country and perhaps even some of the names of the terrorist sleeper cells that are right here in Europe and North America and are the ones that we're really concerned about.

COOPER: Well, we'll be watching to see what, if any, information he provides and whether U.S. officials are even able to meet with him. That will be an interesting test of Saudi cooperation.

Evan Kohlmann, thanks very much for your insight.

KOHLMANN: My pleasure.

COOPER: Turn to "Raw Politics" now here at home and another in our series of reports on the women behind the men. Lynn Cheney is the author of seven books. One was a racy novel about lesbians in the Wild West. She's also a student of American history, running the National Endowment For The Humanities under President Ronald Reagan, an accomplished woman of her own who might even occasionally disagree with her husband, the vice president. Here's Judy Woodruff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LYNN CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY'S WIFE: And from the right and right on most issues, I'm Lynn Cheney. JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS" (voice- over): Back in the day, Lynn Cheney didn't pull punches.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ...a bigger set of statistics.

CHENEY: Please let me finish.

WOODRUFF A leading strategist in the culture war of the 80s, she railed against political correctness and multiculturalism as the head of Ronald Reagan's National Endowment For The Humanities. She was a bona fide darling of the right, an outspoken advocate for some of the most controversial conservative causes.

CHENEY: If I can tell sort of a minor part down here.

Reporter: But since her high school sweetheart became vice president, Lynn Cheney has toned it down. As experienced in the Washington rough and tumble as her husband, she doesn't fill the "soften up the man" role of, say, Laura Bush.

Yes, she's written a couple of children's books over the past few years, but the think tank veteran with a PH.D. hasn't gone soft.

Still, Lynn Cheney hasn't injected herself into policy making either. A steady, if low key, presence on the campaign trail, she now shuns controversy. Well, most of the time.

CHENEY: People should be free to enter into the relationships that they choose. And secondly, to recognize what's historically been the situation, that when it comes to conferring legal status on relationships, that is a matter left to the states.

WOODRUFF: Mother of a lesbian daughter, she's not toeing the White House line on gay marriage. With that notable exception, Lynn Cheney has put her newsmaking days behind her for now, a decision that's pure raw politics.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, that was Judy Woodruff reporting. Tomorrow night, the raw politics of Elizabeth Edwards, lawyer, mother, and wife of vice presidential candidate John Edwards.

Nobody writes about politicians quite like my next guest. Molly Ivins is a newspaper columnist who you might say leans a little to the left. But that doesn't stop her from skewering officials of all persuasions. In fact, her new book, "Who Let The Dogs In?" celebrates the elected character she's known and, if not loved, at least been able to laugh at especially those who do something stupid, dishonest, or banal and say they're just serving the public interest.

Molly, it's great to have you on the program. Thanks for being with us. I love the book.

MOLLY IVINS, AUTHOR, "WHO LET THE DOGS IN?": It's such a target rich environment. COOPER: It certainly is and it's just getting more so by the day. I want to read you something you said about this upcoming election. "So here we are in the glorious election year of 2004 with a boring stiff in one corner and stupefying incompetence in the other." I think I know who you mean. Is it really that bad?

IVINS: There's no question Kerry's a boring stiff. No Elvis. Come on. Minus zero on the Elvis scale. And they've got to do something about the hand gesture. It just appears apropos of nothing.

COOPER: He does that? That's his hand gesture? Really?

IVINS: That's his gesture. He is getting better. I think Edwards is loosening him up. He made two jokes last week.

COOPER: They touched a lot, too, I noticed in that "60 Minutes" interview.

IVINS: They were little jokes, but they were jokes. I think we're talking embryonic sense of humor. I think he's got one. He's just been hiding it.

COOPER: It's like a little baby. You have to cultivate and help it grow.

IVINS: Didn't want anyone to see it, but I think it's there.

COOPER: What about the president?

IVINS: Oh, god. When I look at George W., I kind of go, eke (ph), it's a Texan.

COOPER: And you can say that.

IVINS: I can. I can. It is a Texan. And, you know, I like George W., he's a hard guy to dislike. But boy, is he in over his head in this job. Poor guy.

COOPER: You think that's what the problem is basically? It boils down to...

IVINS: Oh, yes. He wasn't ready when he walked into it, and he walked into a big pile of trouble. It's really sad.

COOPER: Let's talk about the -- I guess the hall of fame of politicians you've mocked, who is sort of the greatest politician you've seen, at least in these times?

IVINS: Sheer political skill, I'd have to give it to Bill Clinton.

COOPER: Really?

IVINS: Oh, yes. Well, Lyndon probably actually was a far even more skillful politician.

COOPER: Were you surprised that they're going to have Bill Clinton speak on the first night of the convention for the Democrats?

IVINS: No. I think they ought to get him out of the way early.

COOPER: So he doesn't overshadow?

IVINS: Exactly. Get the big dog out of the room, man.

COOPER: And he still is a big dog.

IVINS: I know. I know. It's hard to miss. He's just a compelling figure. He's really talented in terms of political skills. That doesn't mean he was a good president or anything, but his political skills are awesome.

COOPER: You've got great stories in this book about various politicians. Something I hadn't even heard of. You talk about one Texas politician who staged his own shooting by a fake Satanic communist cult. What was that about?

IVINS: Yes, he paid his cousin Eddie to shoot him in the arm then he claimed it had been done by this Satanic communistic cult that was out to get him on account he was so pro-family and pro-American. And he ran for election. It was wonderful. He was running around with his arm in the red, white, and blue sling. And really it looked for his reelection, but then his cousin Eddie got drunk in a honky tonk and spilled the beans.

And it turned out, this would be great for our legislature, in Texas, it's illegal to pay someone to shoot you. So don't come down there and try and have it done. And poor old Mike had to take it on the lamb, take it into hiding. We sent the Texas Rangers out after him. Three weeks, they tracked him down. He was hiding at his mama's house in Longview. They found him in the stereo cabinet. He always did want to be the speaker.

COOPER: Bum da ba. Thanks. The book is great. Thank you very much for being with us.

IVINS: All right, it was fun.

COOPER: Well, 360 is next. A bizarre story. Mary Kay Letourneau about to walk free after having sex with that student when he was in the sixth grade. She's about to get out and find out if they actually want to get back together. "How Quickly We Forget."

Plus addicted to tanning, believe it or not. It's a feel good effect mixed with danger. Molly Ivins is stunned. We'll talk about that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Mary Kay Letourneau, is about to get out of prison. Find out what the young boy she molested thinks of her now. 360 next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VILI FUALAAU: For every answer I got right on the test, she was going to take one part of her clothes -- or one of her clothing off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Remember him?

He was a principal, no pun intended, in a case that caused a sensation in the late '90s. A Seattle teacher having sex with her 13- year-old student, bearing two children. The couple called it true love. The courts called it a crime. On August 4, Mary Kay Letourneau will be released from a Washington prison after 6 1/2 years. Forbidden from seeing her young lover, it's a scandal they'll always remember. But "How Quickly We Forget."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY KAY LETOURNEAU, CONVICTED OF CHILD RAPE: I did something that I had no right to do, morally or legally. It was wrong. And I am sorry. I give you my word that it will not happen again.

COOPER (voice-over): In 1997, Mary Kay Letourneau begged a Seattle judge for her freedom just months after the former teacher had been arrested for having sex with her student, Vili Fualaau. He was 13 when their relationship began, she was 34, a wife, a mother. Letourneau, who gave birth to their child in May of that year, pleaded guilty to second degree child rape. Vili insists he was not her victim and described in court their every encounter.

FUALAAU: We had sex in the gym. We had sex in the girls bathroom. We had sex in a classroom.

COOPER: Letourneau was given a six month jail sentence with an order from the judge barring her from ever seeing young Vili again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are being granted the opportunity for treatment in the community rather than in prison. Whether you stay out of prison is completely within your hands.

COOPER: She was released in January of 1998, and less than a month later, Seattle police picked up the ex-teacher and the boy having sex in a car. This time the judge showed no compassion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This case is not about a flawed system. It is about an opportunity that you foolishly squandered.

COOPER: She sentenced Letourneau, pregnant again, to serve out her 7 and half year sentence. Their two children would be raised by Vili's mother. In less than three weeks, Mary Kay Letourneau will be freed from prison, facing the future as a convicted sex offender, barred from ever seeing Vili, in the spotlight once again. "How Quickly we Forget."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: It is such a bizarre story, and it is certainly not over yet. A new chapter, in fact, about to begin.

Journalist Greg Olsen has delved deeper into this story than anywhere else. He actually spoke to Vili Fualaau last week. And his book "If Loving You is Wrong," explored all sides of this bizarre, yet no doubt mesmerizing drama. I spoke with him earlier this week about Letourneau's release from prison.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Gregg, what do you think is going to happen?

Are these two going to end up together, because Mary Kay Letourneau has been banned for life from seeing him?

GREGG OLSEN, AUTHOR: He does need to go before the courts and get that lifetime ban lifted.

COOPER: So that's a possibility?

OLSEN: That is a possibility. He hasn't done so yet, but I understand that, you know, he might be getting some help. Some lawyer might be helping him do that, which he needs some help.

COOPER: And it seems from your interview, they both do want to see each other, yes.

OLSEN: Yes, there's no question. I mean, obviously, they have two children to raise, either together or separately. And I think that, even after all these years have passed, that there really is some sort of love affair going on between the two of them, and we'll see them together somehow in the future.

COOPER: Vili, who's 21, said this to you, "I've been imagining and thinking about what our life would be like together for a long time. But I can't say what will happen. No one can. I want to know what her true feelings are first."

What is he like?

I mean, as you spend time with him, he's 21-years-old, what's your impression?

OLSEN: Yes, Anderson, I was really impressed by him considering, really everything that he's gone through. I mean, he's lived in this tempest, this media tempest for what seven or eight years really. He could be off the deep end by now, but the man that I saw -- I always like to stress he's a man now. He's 21. He's not the 13-year-old boy, you know, that she saw and fell in love with. He's a grown man, and I feel like he's strong enough now to maybe make decisions that are best for him, which is kind of good news, don't you think?

COOPER: But she was always saying that she saw something in him that other people didn't see, that he was strong, that he was wise beyond his years.

Back then, did he seem that way to you? OLSEN: Well, you know, as a kid, I didn't see any of that. You know, I don't really know anyone who did. But when I look at the man today I wonder maybe there were some things that Mary was able to see that the rest of us couldn't. And not that he's wise beyond his years, but he's certainly a survivor and has been through a lot and seems to have his head on straight right now.

COOPER: Does society treat this differently?

I mean, if this was a man doing this to a boy or a man doing this to a girl, would it be thought of in the same way?

I mean, would the word relationship even be used?

OLSEN: That's right. I mean, sometimes I get confused. You know, is it a crime story? Is it a love story? Was it consensual? Was it a rape?

You know, all of that seems to be, you know, fodder for discussion. We really don't know. What we do know now though is he's 21, and as a young man, I think he's got the right to say whether he wants to be with her or not, and she has the right to say, you know, whether she should or not herself. I think we're sort of out of it right now.

COOPER: And I don't want to pry too much into their privacy because they've lived out of the spotlight now. But what, in general, happened to her family, I mean, to her kids, to her former husband?

OLSEN: That's right. She divorced Steve Letourneau several years after this all happened. And the four children, the four oldest children, moved up to Alaska. They did eventually after the divorce, did get visitation with their mother in prison. They did visited semi-regularly, not as often as the court allowed. So she has had a lot of contact or some contact with those children. The two littlest children that she had with Vili Fualaau, she sees quite regularly in prison and is very close to those girls.

COOPER: They're being raised by Vili's mother.

What's going to happen?

I mean, is she going to try to get custody of them?

Could there be a custody fight?

OLSEN: I think so. Mary has -- you know, she's been deprived of motherhood, and she always views herself and always has, as a great mother. So, I think she's going to want to raise those children in her own home, obviously, with Vili. But it's going to be tough. Because Suna Fualaau has done a great job raising those kids, and she's not going to let them go easily.

COOPER: Has there been any acknowledgement on her part that she did anything wrong, that she did anything inappropriate or illegal? OLSEN: Well, the only thing she ever acknowledged to me was she felt the adultery part of the relationship was wrong. That she was married to Steve Letourneau and that her involvement with Vili was wrong on that level. She's never really apologized for the fact that she loves him and that she wanted to be with him. She's never apologized to her own children. So, she's got this idea that the adultery, that's the crime. It was a personal crime, and that the rest of us really should back out of it.

COOPER: It is just a fascinating story. Gregg Olsen, thanks for joining us.

OLSEN: Thank you, Anderson.

COOPER: 360 next. Are you a tan-aholic, who might have that golden glow? What new research says about you. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, the quest for the perfect tan has been part of our culture for decades, no doubt about it. If you find yourself always working on your tan, some doctors now say you may have developed a dangerous habit that has more to do with how you feel than how you look. Seems someone is always coming up with a new disease or a new addiction. Well, believe it or not, new research suggests that some people are tanorexic, addicted to what they call a tanner's high. CNN's Jason Bellini explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You know alcohol, cigarettes and drugs are addictive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is your brain on drugs.

BELLINI: But should frying your skin join the list? Perhaps. A new study reported by the Academy of American Dermatology suggests some people may grow addicted to ultraviolet rays.

DR. JAMES SPENCER, DERMATOLOGIST: They just keep going to the indoor tanning salons or to the beach whenever they can.

BELLINI: Dermatologist Dr. James Spencer treats hundreds of people for skin cancer each year. He says some patients, even after undergoing skin cancer surgery multiple times, won't stop sun-bathing.

SPENCER: We explain to them it causes cancer. We explain to them it causes wrinkles. And they tell us, I just love the way it feels. That it makes them feel good. And the implication of this study is that that's true, there's something about ultraviolet light that gives some people a noticeable pleasurable sensation.

TANYA GOODIN, INDOOR TANNER: You know, if you were stressed out going in, you feel like the stress has been a little bit lifted.

BELLINI (on camera): For six weeks, 14 volunteers lounged in tanning beds like these here. Both the beds looked identical, except that one of them had a UV filter on it. Researchers found that the people exposed to the UV light reported feeling more content and relaxed afterwards. And when given the choice between the two beds, 11 of 12 chose the UV bed.

(voice-over): Right now, dermatologists can only speculate why the people in the study went back to the beds with the UV light.

One theory is that tanning releases endorphins, the same neurotransmitters responsible for the runner's high.

The study was small, and they say much more is needed. What doctors tell their patients will, however, remain the same. Fry now, pay later.

Jason Bellini, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time for "The Buzz." Earlier, we asked you, should there be a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages? Thirty-six percent of you said yes; 64 no. Not a scientific poll, but it is your buzz. Thanks for voting.

Tonight, taking the flip side to "The Nth Degree."

Yes, America is the only superpower on Earth. Yes, this country's influence is ubiquitous and universal. There are Burger Kings in Beijing, McDonald's in Moscow, Calvin Kleins in Krakow, Springsteen fans in Singapore and fans of Dylan in Delhi. Hollywood movies in Hamburg, and so on and so on and so on.

And yes, many nations of the Earth resent the gigantic global influence of the U.S., but -- and this is the flip side -- we don't always come out on top.

Take the bar code. That scannable symbol that is currently tattooed on everything everywhere. The American version has 12 digits, while the European one has 13. And guess what the new worldwide standard is going to be? No, not the raw, muscular, honest, straightforward, unpretentious Yankee Doodle Dandy of a 12-digit bar code made right here in the good old U.S. of A. No, sir, the new worldwide standard is going to be the fussy, gilded, froufrou-covered, old world bar code, currently being used in places like Toulouse and Parma and Dusseldorf.

So stop griping, world. Where it really counts, on cereal boxes and milk cartons and wine bottles and paperback books, the U.S. has just lost big time.

I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

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