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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Prime Minister Allawi Visits Washington; Over 1,000 Dead In Haiti In Wake Of Hurricane Jeanne
Aired September 23, 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.
Hurricane Jeanne, category two, 105 mile-an-hour winds, is on the way. And believe it or not, Ivan is back.
360 starts now.
Say it ain't so, Hurricane Jeanne, big, bad and heading for Florida. The latest projections on where and when this killer storm might hit.
Iraq's Allawi comes to Congress. But is he telling it like it really is? Bush and Kerry face off, and the war of words heats up.
The Peterson trial. New home video of Laci, and new evidence, video of this watch. Could it possibly lead to Laci's killer?
An incredible story of survival. A small plane crashes in the wilds of Montana, and two people given up for dead walk out alive.
Our special series, Marriage and Divorce in America. Tonight, is your marriage sex starved? What happens when couples stop coupling.
And Chucky the alligator, back at home after his hurricane escape. Tonight, the half-ton 'gator gets his first home-cooked meal.
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: Good evening again.
It is hard to believe, but there is another hurricane at this hour heading toward Florida. It may still turn, it may go elsewhere, but it's projected to hit this weekend. How bad? We'll find out in a moment.
But to add insult to injury, Ivan just won't go away. It is no longer a hurricane, thank goodness, but it is a tropical storm, back in the Gulf, where it did so much damage a week ago. And right now, it is bearing down on the Louisiana-Texas border and bringing with it up to 10 inches of rain.
So we got two storms. Right now, out in the Atlantic, Jeanne, now a category two hurricane, eying the Bahamas, its winds 105 miles an hour right now, and it's left a trail of misery in its wake. Take a look at what it did to parts of northern Haiti, 1,000 dead. That is all mud and water. Another thousand feared missing. Workers are digging mass graves, others are digging through sewage and mud, trying to find victims.
For Haitians, the nightmare is not over. Take a look at this. They are hungry, thirsty, and desperate. Those are aid workers trying to hand out food and water, some medicine. But there are so many in need right now, and simply not enough supplies. Unbelievable.
Meteorologist Orelon Sidney is tracking both storms for us from the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta -- Orelon.
ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Anderson, thanks a lot.
We'll start with Jeanne. She's definitely the stronger of the two storms. Again, as you said, she's working her way to the west- northwest. North of the Bahamas now, but we do have a hurricane watch for the northern Bahamas, 425 miles east of Great Abaco Island currently. The winds again, 105 miles an hour. It is a category two storm.
Now, it looks like it may strengthen over the next 24, 36 hours, because it's moving over some warmer waters. We expect it to perhaps go up to category three sometime tomorrow and continue that into Saturday. And then it looks like it's going to start to a turn as it becomes influenced by a trough of low pressure that's now out to the west, and shear will increase.
So as it makes its way on in, it could lose some intensity. But at this point, we're just going to have to go ahead and play like it's going to be a major hurricane as it approaches the U.S. coast.
Where is it going to make landfall? Still don't know that. The cone of possibility extends from the Florida keys all the way out into the eastern Atlantic. And if it decides to turn before it hits the Florida coast, it will be heading northward into the Carolinas. So we're going to have to watch this one certainly as we go into this weekend, Anderson.
COOPER: And what about hurricane, or no longer a hurricane, but it is tropical storm Ivan? Where were you anticipating that?
SIDNEY: Well, right now, it's working its way into Louisiana. Very minimal winds here, only 45 miles an hour. It's moving to the northwest at eight miles an hour. This one's not going to be a player with the wind. It's going to be the rain.
Could get a few thunderstorms around Lake Charles. You see the center of it right there, working its way onto the coast. And as the center of low pressure works on into Texas and Louisiana, the rainfall could get to be very be heavy. You could see maybe as much as 10 inches. I think most people are going to see less, I think maybe two, four, six inches is more like it.
The low pressure circulation will make it through eastern Texas and possibly, Anderson, make it back into the Gulf of Mexico, believe it or not, early next week. We expect there to be too much wind shear for the storm to strengthen again into a tropical cyclone.
COOPER: All right.
SIDNEY: That's good news.
COOPER: Strange weather out there. All right. Thanks very much. Appreciate it.
SIDNEY: You're welcome.
COOPER: Storms of a different time brewing in Washington. The presidential race about a category four right now, moving faster and faster. The eye of the political storm on Capitol Hill today where the House and Senate heard from Iyad Allawi, Iraq's interim prime minister.
Now, he said there will be an election in January, perhaps, but there were certainly be an election in this country in November, and more and more the election here seems to hinge on developments there.
We're covering all sides tonight. With the president, senior White House correspondent John King. With the Kerry campaign in Philadelphia, CNN's senior political correspondent Candy Crowley.
We begin in Washington -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, today was both historic and remarkable. And a leader in Iraq welcomed in Washington. That a bit of history. What is so remarkable is that he was immediately at center stage in this increasingly bitter campaign debate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): Side by side with Iraq's prime minister, a forceful Rose Garden rebuttal to a campaign rival who calls his Iraq policy a colossal failure.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're sickened by the atrocities, but we'll never be intimidated, and freedom is winning.
KING: The president rejected Democrat John Kerry's charge that he has misled the American people by painting a far too rosy picture of Iraq.
BUSH: You can understand it's tough and still be optimistic. You can understand how hard it is and believe we'll succeed.
KING: Took issue with Senator Kerry's description of Iraq as a war of Mr. Bush's choice, not a crucial front in the war on terror.
BUSH: If we stop fighting the terrorists in Iraq, they would be free to plot and plan attacks elsewhere in America and other free nations. To retreat now would betray our mission, our word, and our friends. KING: Mr. Allawi often sounded as if he was rebutting Senator Kerry as well, saying 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces are secure and the training of Iraqi security forces is accelerating.
IYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI INTERIM PRIME MINISTER: These doubters underestimate our country and they risk fueling the hopes of terrorism.
KING: In and upbeat speech to Congress, Mr. Allawi said the most powerful weapon against the insurgency is holding elections on schedule in January, and he made clear his view on the question now central in this country's presidential race.
ALLAWI: Your decision to go to war in Iraq was not an easy one, but it was the right one.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Now, President Bush saying that Senator Kerry was sending mixed signals that could embolden the enemy in Iraq, and the debate intensified even more as the day went on, Vice President Cheney saying he was appalled that Senator Kerry publicly criticized Prime Minister Allawi today, the vice president saying that is destructive to the U.S. mission in Iraq, Anderson.
COOPER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it goes on. All right, John King, thanks.
Quick news note on Iraq for you. While Iyad Allawi was insisting to Congress that there will be an election in his country in January, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was being a bit more circumspect, or at least a bit more specific, before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Elections in Iraq in January, yes, just maybe not everywhere in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Let's say you tried to have an election, and you could have it in three quarters or four fifths of the country, but some places you couldn't, because the violence was too great. Well, that's so be it. Nothing's perfect in life. So you have an election that's not quite perfect. Is it better than not having an election? You bet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, today we had Donald Rumsfeld on Iraq, Iyad Allawi on Iraq, President George Bush on Iraq. Now, guess what the Democratic challenger was talking about today?
CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley has the answer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There was barely a breath of time between when the prime minister was done and John Kerry began.
SEN. JOHN KERRY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The prime minister and the president are here obviously to put their best face on the policy.
CROWLEY: And the Rose Garden news conference was still going when Democrats began clogging e-mail bins with reaction. It filled the void until Kerry's number two could chime in.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS, DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: George w. Bush needs to come back to Planet Earth and get out of Fantasyland, that's what (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
CROWLEY: It is the new, improved Kerry-Edwards campaign. Motto, leave no news cycle behind. As one campaign strategist explained it, We want to own this week's Iraq story.
So despite canceling a chunk of his schedule because of laryngitis, Kerry found voice enough to wedge his way into the headline story.
KERRY: We have an administration in disarray, the secretary of defense saying one thing and being corrected, the president saying one thing and being contradicted by the prime minister.
CROWLEY: The Kerry team thinks it found the sweet spot, a way to talk about Iraq that, A, does not come back around to Kerry's vote for the war, B, draws bright lines between the president's Iraq policy and John Kerry's, and C, dilutes the president's double-digit advantage on leadership and integrity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, KERRY-EDWARDS AD)
ANNOUNCER: George Bush keeps telling us things are getting better in Iraq. The facts tell a different story.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: Four days does a not campaign remake, but Kerry staffers talk a good game, and sometimes let the pictures say it.
This is John Kerry arriving in Philadelphia, and that's the new middleweight boxing champion who came to greet him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: Tomorrow, Kerry, here in Philadelphia, will, as one aide put it, bookend the week with a major speech about the war on terror. Monday, of course, he talked about the war on Iraq. Tomorrow, he will make a differentiation between those two, Anderson.
COOPER: Staying on message. Candy Crowley, thanks for that.
Want to cover all angles tonight, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) coming up later, we're going to have the view from the left and the right. We're going to go 360 with "CROSSFIRE"'s Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson.
The fight to keep "one nation, under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, that tops our look at what's going on cross-country tonight.
On Capitol Hill, the Republican-controlled House approves the Pledge Prevention Act, a bill blocking the Supreme Court from ruling on any pledge challenges. Opponents call it unconstitutional and an attempt to corner Democrats on a sensitive issue before the election.
Tallahassee, Florida, now, the Florida Supreme Court strikes down Terri's Law, clearing the way for Terri Schiavo's husband to remove her feeding tube, that is, if an appeal is not made.
Now, the law had allowed Governor Jeb Bush to intervene in order she be kept alive, which she has been. Schiavo's been in a vegetative state for 14 years. Her husband is fighting her parents for the right to let her die.
In Washington, big tobacco on trial. Former FDA commissioner David Kessler, well, he testified that companies control nicotine levels in cigarettes to keep smokers hooked. The tobacco industry denies the claim, says it's (UNINTELLIGIBLE), you know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it's not true. That claim, of course, is at the heart of the governments $280 billion lawsuit.
And from the CDC today in Atlanta, a new study showing alcohol abuse kills 75,000 Americans a year, making it the third-leading cause of preventable death behind smoking and poor diet. Men, you got to watch out, we make up more than 70 percent drinking-related deaths.
That's a quick look at stories cross-country tonight.
Coming up next on 360, plane crash survivors. They were declared dead. Amazingly, they appeared two days later very much alive. They hiked through the rugged mountains in Montana. Going to find out how they made it out alive.
Plus, the Scott Peterson investigation. Caught on tape, see for yourself what police found in Laci's son's nursery room. There it was, all set up. And why a watch may play a big part in Scott Peterson's defense.
And then on a much lighter, much louder note, Rocket Mouth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Rude vile pig? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROSSTALK) (END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's Elton John unplugged, maybe a little bit unhinged. The pop star goes off at the papparazzi. You'll find out why ahead.
First, let's take, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), yikes, what did he say? We'll take a look at your picks, the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: So the plane was just a few minutes from landing when it fell from the sky, burst into flames. When the sheriff reached the wreckage site in the wilderness of Montana, he said the fire had melted everything. He also said that all five people aboard had perished.
But the sister of one of the victims says she just knew, she just knew her sister was still alive. Incredibly, she was right. Her sister was alive, and what may be even more amazing, she wasn't the only one.
CNN's Kimberly Osias has this story of survival.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They came back from the dead, or so it seemed. U.S. Forest Service employees Matthew Ramige and Jodee Hogg walked away from a plane crash in the Montana wilderness that killed the pilot and two of their colleagues. But their families were told there were no survivors.
JIM DUPONT: We still feel that there's probably nothing else we could have done not to come up with that conclusion. It's just, you know, certainly, the word miracle has been around, and I would entertain that thought that these two people are just very, very fortunate to miraculously come out of this.
DR. WENDY BECKER, MATTHEW RAMIGE'S MOTHER: I think I'm still in shock. To be honest with you, I haven't slept for three days. I went from hearing that his plane was lost to 24 hours later hearing that the plane was found and there were no survivors, to 24 hours later, hearing that Matt walked out of the mountain.
OSIAS: The crash of the single-engine Cessna happened Monday. On Tuesday, families were given the bad news. But Hogg and Ramige survived by spending two nights in the backwoods. Doctors say they used body warmth to combat 20-degree temperatures, then hiked 10 miles to get help.
DR. DAVID HEIMBACH, HARBOR VIEW MEDICAL CENTER: I think he's an incredibly lucky young man. Tough as nails to have walked 10 miles with a broken back and helped his companion out.
(END VIDEOTAPE) OSIAS: Twenty-three-year-old Hogg remains in stable condition in a Montana hospital. Matthew Ramige, well, he'll be celebrating his 30th birthday here in a Seattle hospital. He has a broken back and burns to his face, chest, and hands. But his mother says he's joking with the staff, especially the nurses, and even asking for his favorites of ginger ale and milkshakes, Anderson.
COOPER: That's right, I hope not as a combination together. All right, Kimberly Osias, thanks very much.
Pop star once known as Cat Stevens is back in Britain, and he's speaking about being barred from entering the U.S. That tops our uplink.
His London-to-Washington flight was diverted Tuesday. That's him arriving back there when his Muslim name, Yusef Islam, showed up on a terror watch list. He was mobbed by reporters this (UNINTELLIGIBLE), this morning at London's Heathrow Airport. He said his name shouldn't have been on that list at all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YUSEF ISLAM, FORMER SINGER CAT STEVENS: You know, the whole thing is totally ridiculous. Everybody knows who I am. You know, I'm no secret figure. Everybody knows my campaigning for charity, for peace. And there's got to be a whole lot of explanations. Hopefully they'll be there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's what he said.
Kabul, Afghanistan, now, seven tons of drugs torched. It's about the weight of an adult elephant in case you're wondering. The huge stash that went up in flames included raw opium, hashish, and heroin. It was all seized from drug traffickers. It may be a great picture, but it is simply a drop in the bucket. Drug trade there is huge.
Berlin, Germany, now, art destroyed. The controversial art collection belonging to the billionaire heir of a Nazi-era arms supplier was vandalized, get this, by a woman doing handsprings. Don't know why. She hurled herself onto two pieces of art, bending back the metal roof on one piece of art and punching drywall on the other. No word on details.
That's tonight's uplink.
360 next, who is telling the truth on the campaign trail? (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the tale of two Iraqs. Which one is the real one? Is the glass half full or shattered? Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson go 360 in the "CROSSFIRE."
Also tonight, inside Scott Peterson's home. See through the eyes of police as they search Scott Peterson's house.
Also tonight, Chucky the alligator behind bars tonight, he's getting his first meal in days. Mmmm, chicken. Find out how he's doing now after his traumatic hurricane ordeal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, faces war at home every day. But today, he got caught in the rapid-fire banter of the 2004 presidential campaign. Now, as we showed you earlier, this afternoon Allawi appeared with President Bush at the Rose Garden and answered reporters' questions about Iraq. Now, he echoed the president, saying the country's better off without Saddam Hussein, and expressed concerns about those who doubt Iraq's progress.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLAWI: I understand why, faced with the daily headlines, there are those doubts. I know too that there are -- there will be many more setbacks and obstacles to overcome. But these doubters underestimate our country, and they risk fueling the hopes of terrorism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, Senator John Kerry, of course, is, I guess, one of these doubters. But he says it's the Bush administration's policies that have fueled terrorism in Iraq.
Earlier today, I discussed both sides with "CROSSFIRE" hosts Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson. Take a look.
Tucker, strategically, every time John Kerry talks about Iraq, basically it seems like the Bush team talk about flip-flops. At some point does the Bush team, the President Bush, Dick Cheney, do they have to start talking about facts on the ground in Iraq in detail?
TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": Well, of course. I mean, the facts are become pretty obvious, especially as we get closer to the election, the planned election in Iraq.
Here's the problem with Kerry's critique of Iraq, though. Kerry, in every speech, says we were wrong to go, he lied to just get us into war, et cetera, et cetera. Whether or not that's true, people don't want to hear that. Most people supported the war in Iraq. Doesn't get Kerry anywhere to tell people that we shouldn't have gone in the first place.
The effective critique is to say, Look, we're there, Bush is screwing it up since we've been there. But it bums people out.
COOPER: But isn't he saying that also?
TUCKER: Yes, he is saying that, but he's screwing up his whole message, in my view, doesn't take my advice very often and probably shouldn't, but I still believe that he's screwing up his message by going back to motive and how we got there in the first place.
Again, the overwhelming majority of the public supported our going into Iraq. And they don't want to think that America made that big a mistake. So Kerry gets nowhere. He hurts himself, in fact, with that argument.
PAUL BEGALA, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": What's interesting is that maybe John Kerry is listening to Tucker. Because if you go look at the speech that Kerry gave at NYU, which was his best speech on Iraq, just a couple of days ago, that's what he did. He didn't go back and revisit the questions of the lead-up to the war and the questions of hyping the intelligence and the questions of whether he misled us about weapons of mass destruction.
In fact, he said, straight out, here and now, today, the president is misleading us when he says things are going great. And then he took it forward and says, Here's what the president ought to be doing. And that is, I think, the more effective critique of Iraq. And that's what the president's going to have to deal with.
The president's facing a really tough strategic choice here. Does he acknowledge what's evident to everybody who subscribes to CNN, and that is, the thing in Iraq is a debacle? Or does he continue to give these rah-rah cheerleader speeches, which increasingly make him look like he's either deceiving us or he's out of touch.
COOPER: At some point, you think he's boxed into a corner, and he's got to change the message somehow?
BEGALA: He does, but, you know, of course, his whole campaign is predicated on the notion that I'm resolute, and I don't change, and my opponent is a flip-flopper. Well, it turns out maybe people want change. I mean, "The Wall Street Journal" poll that's out today, the majority of Americans now think it wasn't worth the price in lives and treasure to get Saddam Hussein out.
They want a changed policy there. And so Bush telling them, I'm never going to change, I think that's one promise they're -- the American people are worried he'll actually keep.
CARLSON: But Kerry doesn't have the courage to make those points. Look, I mean, Paul just said that majority people don't think it was worth expelling Saddam. That's a real argument, in my view. You can make the argument. I think I sort of believe the argument, actually, that maybe the United States would be better off if Saddam were still there.
That's -- there's nothing wrong with that argument. It's legitimate.
COOPER: Paul it seems that the Kerry team and Edwards have gotten better at responding immediately to criticism or to statements made by the Bush-Cheney camp. Are they more on message than they were before?
BEGALA: They are, because now they have a message. I do think it was muddled for a while during the summer. Senator Kerry, as I say, that speech in NYU could be the turning point of the election if things go well for Kerry. But look what happened yesterday. It's a smaller thing, a tactical thing. But the Bush campaign came out with a new ad. It showed Kerry wind-surfing as a metaphor for their allegation that he shifts with the winds. Within hours, maybe even minutes, Bob Schrum, the much- maligned chief media strategist for Kerry, had a new ad out, and out here, to CNN, to the rest of the media, and then on the air, that took that head on, and, I thought, very, very effectively said, When our people are dying, when Americans are even being beheaded, surely we can do better than just mocking a guy for windsurfing.
It was -- they used the image against Bush then, and I thought it was very effective...
COOPER: Tucker, do you agree, they're get, they're getting more on point?
CARLSON: Yes, I mean, I guess the campaign seems like it is. They finally figured out, with a month and a half to go to the election, that the election's about Iraq. You know, congratulations, glad you noticed. And not about the healthcare crisis, or whatever they thought it was going to be, at the people versus the powerful, or even windsurfing, and especially not Vietnam.
COOPER: All right, Paul Begala, Tucker Carlson, thanks.
CARLSON: Thanks.
COOPER: Well, today on the political gridiron, playing offense with Iraq. And after a measley punt yesterday, both teams went deep for a much-needed touchdown. But Team Kerry found itself battling a new opponent, the injured reserve list.
CNN political editor John Mercurio looks inside today's campaign playbook.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN MERCURIO, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR (voice-over): Which team are you rooting for, George Bush or John Kerry? It likely depends on what your Iraq looks like.
Bush's playbook reads something like this. Iraq is my war. It's now on a path to democracy and security. If voters don't like Iraq on election day, they won't like me.
BUSH: One reason I'm optimistic about our ability to get the job done is because I talked to the Iraqi prime minister.
MERCURIO: Bush drafted a new recruit into the game today to help move that ball down the field, Iraqi's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, who told America that Team Bush is winning the game.
ALLAWI: It's a tough struggle with setbacks, but we are succeeding.
MERCURIO: Kerry is reading from the same playbook, but with an opposing message. KERRY: We need to change the course to protect our troops and to win.
MERCURIO: Iraq is Bush's war, and it's his mess. He says he would have done, quote, "almost everything differently." If voters don't like Iraq on election day, well, they won't like him, so they must like me.
A bad cold benched Kerry for most of the day, so he let a new TV ad do his talking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, KERRY-EDWARDS AD)
ANNOUNCER: We need a fresh start to fix the mess in Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MERCURIO: The play of the day goes to Bush. He had the top draft pick, the Rose Garden photo-op, and a clean bill of health.
As for Kerry, get well soon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: The Peterson trial, new home video of Laci and new evidence, video of this watch. Could it possibly lead to Laci's killer?
Our special series, Marriage and Divorce in America. Tonight, is your marriage sex starved? What happens when couples stop coupling.
Chucky the alligator, back at home after his hurricane escape. Tonight, the half-ton 'gator gets his first home-cooked meal.
360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Today Laci Peterson did something she of course cannot do. She spoke. The images from her videotape played to jurors who must decide if Scott Peterson murdered his pregnant wife. For the past 16 weeks they have heard a lot about Laci. This afternoon when they finally heard from her and saw her alive it sent chills throughout the courtroom. CNN's Ted Rowlands has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Video of Laci Peterson preparing food while entertaining friends was shown in court effectively bringing to life, for a few moments, the victim and reason for this trial. The home video which was stolen from the Peterson house and later retrieved also showed a still unaccounted for a diamond-encrusted watch. Scott Peterson claims his wife was wearing this watch when she disappeared. The defense claims the watch was later sold at a Modesto pawn shop by someone possibly involved in Laci's murder. Jurors also saw video of inside of the Peterson home including shots of the nursery awaiting the birth of their first child.
DEAN JOHNSON, LEGAL ANALYST: That's always one of those things you always want to see as a prosecutor in a homicide case, you want to impress upon the jury, that this was a living vibrant human being.
ROWLANDS: Craig Grogan, the lead detective who has been on the stand for four days testified about Scott Peterson's altered appearance, dyed hair and a goatee at the time of his arrest. Grogan said before pulling him over, agents trailed Peterson for hours as he erratically drove around southern California. These photos were taken when Peterson stopped for gas shortly before they pulled him over. Grogan said Peterson cried when on the drive back to Modesto he was told that DNA tests confirmed his wife and son were dead.
On cross-examination, Peterson's attorney, Mark Geragos attacked Detective Grogan's 41 reasons that he says points toward guilt in the case. Grogan is expected to be back on the stand when court resumes on Monday. Ted Rowlands, CNN, Redwood City, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Covering the case for us in "Justice Served" tonight is Court TV anchor Lisa Bloom and defense attorney Geoffrey Feiger. Thanks for joining us. Good to have you here on the program.
I want to start with you, Geoff, this video of Laci Peterson, what's the prosecution trying to do, are they simply trying to go for the hearts of the jurors?
GEOFFREY FEIGER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Sure. Humanize her as Laci. And they get to put it in. Normally it wouldn't have any relevance whatsoever but the prosecutor's been going slowly, monotonously about this case. This evidence, if you will, it was stolen allegedly from the Peterson house, allows the prosecutor to put it in actually to refute Geragos's claim that somebody else killed Laci.
COOPER: Let's look at this other tape there which is the police searching the home and then we see Conner's nursery room, it's used, I guess, to store things. This was taken several weeks after. What's the purpose of this?
LISA BLOOM, COURT TV: Well, that's short in time after Scott Peterson did some interviews, saying, with tears in his eyes, "I can't go into Conner's room, I just sealed it off. I never even go in there."
Now apparently he's backed up a U-Haul and taken some of the furniture from his warehouse and put it in there. So it's just another one of Peterson's lies. It makes him look a little bit cold and calculating.
On the other hand, there are shots in that video of Laci's makeup, her robe still hanging in the home untouched, so it makes it look like he's still at least hoping that maybe Laci is going to come home.
FEIGER: The most crushing evidence really is the fact that he is 400 miles away on the day his wife and son's body are identified by DNA. He doesn't have his marriage ring on and he's got $10,000 in cash. He's got an ID that isn't his, he's got a disguise, people are going to...
BLOOM: And a pocketful of Viagra. You cannot forget that one.
COOPER: As I always mentioned, Uday Hussein had as well or Qusay. I'm not sure which one it was.
FEIGER: That really points out to his -- he's a sociopath in that respect. He probably has inadequacy problems related to that.
COOPER: Would you put him on the stand?
FEIGER: You can't but you have to. Here's the problem. There's a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) choice here Geragos has.
He's talked so much, there are so many tapes out there...
COOPER: In the media, Diane Sawyer.
FEIGER: And the tapes of the conversations with Amber Frey. They kill him. So he has to get on the stand and explain that except he can't because he's lied so much. So Geragos is between a rock and hard place, he has to put him on, he can't put him on. If he puts him on he'll be convicted, if he doesn't put him on he's convicted.
BLOOM: The jury is so aware of what a smooth liar he is, how he can turn on the tears when necessary, lying to Amber Frey. So even if he gets on the stand no one will believe him.
COOPER: Let's talk about this watch? I mean, what is so significant about this according to the defense, or will be, according to the defense?
BLOOM: Well, both sides admit -- agree that this Crotan (ph) watch is missing. Now the defense says it was pawned about four days after Laci's death and therefore someone abducted her probably for the jewelry, pawned the watch, and that's the real killer. Now they haven't put on a case yet, we're sort of reading between the lines in cross-examination but that's what we think they're going to say. The prosecution says that pawned watch, it's a different watch, it bears no relationship to the case.
FEIGER: The jury wants to hear a logical story, too. If Scott Peterson didn't kill her, Geragos has got to come up with a story that the jury finds compelling of somebody else.
COOPER: But hasn't he come up with, like, half a dozen different stories?
(CROSSTALK) FEIGER: He's done some classical things defense attorneys do which throw up a lot of dust and hope that it obscures everything. The problem is the prosecutor's been monotonous and really almost maniacal in three, four months of presenting a case which is compelling against Scott. Now what is Geragos going to do? He's got to present who did it.
COOPER: You think Geragos, though, is kind of reckless and may put Scott Peterson on the stand?
FEIGER: Yes. He's been reckless in the past.
BLOOM: No. Not a chance he's going to put Peterson on the stand. Let me tell you though he's made some promises.
FEIGER: Look what he did with Winona Ryder.
BLOOM: That's true. He basically delayed, delayed, and lost the case with one of the most sympathetic defendants ever. But in the Peterson case there's not a chance he's going to put Peterson on the stand. But will Geragos live up to his promises? He promised the jury in opening statement he was going to show them that Conner was born full term. He promised before trial he was going to show all of us who the real killer was. Well, it's time to cash that check.
FEIGER: Well, I'll tell you this. He could have made a lot of hay with the doctor who came on, who claimed that he could tell the day Conner died. That's nonsense. Nobody -- the doctor came on and said he died on the 23rd. But I'll tell you this, science doesn't agree with that. There's no science that can predict the day a fetus died. None.
BLOOM: Well, but then plus or minus a couple of days. Certainly wasn't four months later.
COOPER: Lisa Bloom, Geoffrey Feiger, thanks very much.
Today's "Buzz" is this. What do you think? Based on the evidence presented so far, would you find Scott Peterson guilty?
Log on to CNN.com/360. Cast your vote. Results at the end of the program.
Another husband facing trial in the murder of his wife showed up in court today. In Utah, Mark Hacking was brought into court, shackled, wearing a bulletproof vest. His appearance may have been impossible to believe for people who knew him but that was before he allegedly confessed to killing his wife, dumping her body in the garbage but the grim search for it, believe it or not, continues. CNN's Rusty Dornin reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Prosecutors never had a chance to present their case. Handcuffed, attired in a bulletproof vest, Mark Hacking told the judge he understood the consequences of waiving his preliminary hearing. While confined in this psychiatric clinic, Hacking told his brothers he shot his wife Lori with a .22 caliber rifle while she slept. They said he killed her after she discovered he'd been lying about being accepted at medical school. Hacking claimed he wrapped her body in plastic and threw it, the rifle and a mattress, into three separate dumpsters. The mattress was recovered, but no weapon, no body.
So across town at the county landfill, the search for Lori Hacking and the rifle used to kill her goes on. Prosecutors say while they have a case, the victim's body would pull it all together.
BOB STODT, DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Yes, it would help us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In what way?
STODT: Well, we'll know the cause of death and we'll know for sure that we have a dead person.
DORNIN: Earlier in the search cadaver dogs were used. Now it's people, gloved and goggled sifting through 4,600 tons of garbage.
(on camera): You have landfill, it's contained, why can't you find the body?
DET. DWAYNE BAIRD, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE: Well, there's a lot of material. This material is about the size of two and a half football fields.
DORNIN: Mark Hacking's family came to the preliminary hearing. Lori Hacking's mother did not. Last week she said she hopes her son- in-law will be convicted and get the maximum sentence of life without parole.
In a letter to a Salt Lake City TV station, Hacking said he planned to tell all in a book and donate the proceeds to a scholarship foundation in his wife's name.
(on camera): After all the lies Mark Hacking told family and friends, investigators admit it's possible he also lied about where he dumped his wife's body. But detectives believe they will find Lori Hacking here and hope it will be before winter snow. Rusty Dornin, CNN, Salt Lake City, Utah.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, 360 next, a much lighter note, Chucky the alligator is back in the zoo after escaping the hurricane. And guess what, he's eating. This was just moments ago. We'll take you there live.
Oh, a chicken, yikes!
Also, tonight, what made the rocket man blow his top? We'll tell you ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Well, last night we told you about Chucky the alligator, sprung from the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo when Hurricane Ivan ripped through Gulf Shores last week. Then captured by the self-proclaimed dean of alligator wrastling. After one bodacious fight, he's back adjusting to zoo life tonight. He actually just started eating. We're going to find out how the 12 foot, half ton reptile is doing.
Patty Hall, director of the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo joins us now live from Gulf Shores. Patty, good to see you.
Now behind you, Chucky is somewhere there about eating, right?
PATTY HALL, ALABAMA GULF COAST ZOO: That's right. He's already had one chicken tonight that we fed him a little earlier.
COOPER: I can actually see a chicken on a stick. Is that what that is?
HALL: That's right. Chicken on a stick, alligator way.
COOPER: So, how many chickens like this would Chucky eat. Oh, uh oh, I think it's a -- wow! Patty, how many chickens does Chucky normally eat?
HALL: Well, normally he eats the most chickens in August and September when the water and the temperature are the hottest. And sometimes it can be a chick -- a 6 chicken day. So, he normally then starts tapering off as the water gets cooler, and the water gets cooler. This is his prime eating time.
COOPER: He's big. Did he eat? I guess you don't know, because you couldn't find him a week or so. Do you think he ate while he was out on the loose?
HALL: I really can't tell you. I doubt it. I was do told by the alligator experts that he may not even want to eat now for anywhere from three months to six months. There are alligators that haven't eaten for a year, and they're OK.
COOPER: I know he just it ate, I guess a few minutes before we came to you, a chicken, which I think we...
HALL: That's right.
COOPER: It's fascinating. How is the zoo doing in all of this? You guys had a lot of damage sustained.
HALL: The zoo is devastated. We have animals off-site right now. We're busy over the last few days, of bringing heavy duty equipment in just to remove the rubbish. We actually have found flounder fish in the zoo that came from the Gulf of Mexico, which is over a mile away.
COOPER: Wow. That's incredible.
HALL: So you can imagine -- right. And you can imagine the debris that we have. Plus, the only houses that are standing are the concrete block houses that our large cats went into. So, we have to start.
COOPER: I'm sorry to interrupt. We have a little bit of delay, so it's a little bit of complicated. Is it going to be difficult for Chucky to kind of adjust back to zoo life?
HALL: I tell you what. No, it isn't. He was very happy to come home. In fact, he was just on the other side of his perimeter fence. And that's where he was captured in a very dirty swampy moat. So he was trying to get back home.
COOPER: I know you have a lot of damage there, Parry, at the zoo. And I know you're a non-profit, and I hope you get the help you need. Patty Hall, we appreciate you joining us tonight. And good luck with Chucky.
HALL: Thanks you so much for your concern.
COOPER: All right, Patty. You take care.
360 next, Elton John, fired up. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELTON JOHN, SINGER: Rude, vile pig.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Rule, vile pig. We're going to find out what all that shouting is about. We're going to fill you in.
Also tonight, marriage without sex. Find out how to, maybe, reignite that romantic spark, part of our special series, "State of the Union."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: In 360's never ending quest to stay abreast of the latest acronyms, who can forget, FUBAR or SNAFU (ph).
Tonight we bring you, DINS, stands for dual income no sex. Couples that are too pooped for -- you get the idea.
Tonight in our 360 special series, "State of the Union," marriage and divorce in America. Jason Bellini, meets a couple who disclosed what isn't going on behind closed doors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TARA PATERSON: I don't want to hear another word out of you until your plate is clean.
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When it's dinnertime at the Paterson's, chaos is the main course on the menu. Adam (ph) is seven, Katen (ph) is 3. For Chris and Tara Paterson, evenings aren't winding down. By the time their kids are in bed, they're so exhausted that sex is the last thing on their minds.
CHRIS PATERSON: If we have it once a month, I'm all right with that.
BELLINI: They define sexless marriage as couples having sex no more than 10 times a year. A whopping 15 to 20 percent of married couples fit the category.
JANE GREER, MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPIST: It's far more epidemic than people realize because couples do not like to talk about the fact that they're not having sex. It's something that makes each person feel badly, often times filled with shame.
BELLINI: Chris says after 10 years of marriage he's come to accept it.
C. PATERSON: When either one or the two of us is stressed, there's no love in that night.
BELLINI: Chris is a contractor. He also coaches Adam's baseball team. Tara runs a business from home.
T. PATERSON: My newsletter is due out today.
BELLINI: And takes charge of the children.
T. PATERSON: Oh, my goodness, you're covered.
BELLINI (on camera): The Paterson's not exactly a DINS relationship, double income no sex, it's more of a DISS relationship, double income some sex.
If they weren't so busy would they have sex more often? That part's a little unclear.
T. PATERSON: Sometimes, you're not in the mood, your not all the other things going on. I mean, I don't think it's always all the other things going on.
BELLINI (voice-over): The sex-perts, that whether induced by kids or work, not having sex can itself become a routine.
GREER: You want to dress up and put the emphasis on how you look and how smell, am I putting my best foot forward, like you did in the beginning of the relationship.
BELLINI: Chris gets it.
C. PATERSON: They need too be put in the mood. If you want to have sex on Friday, you better start thinking about doing stuff on Wednesday. I mean, they just don't click and, OK, let's go.
BELLINI: Tara may prefer reading to sex most nights.
C. PATERSON: I would like more but that's not what I'm married for. BELLINI: Both insist all they really need is love, not sex. Jason Bellini, CNN, Round Hill, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Nice couple.
In the "Current" tonight, the rocketman goes kind of ballistic. Elton John, you know, he sings of love and harmony, but when the pop icon ran into some paparazzi in Twain airport early today, he didn't need a piano to really truly express himself.
CNN's Brian Todd reports.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To be very British about it, Sir Elton is not amused.
(CROSSTALK)
JOHN: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) off! (EXPLETIVE DELETED) We'll throw you through the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) window!
TODD: As he tried to make his way through Taipei's Chiang Kai- Shek International Airport early Thursday, Elton John seemed to have had enough of traveling, customs, and most of all the paparazzi.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move. Move. Move.
JOHN: You've had a great (INAUDIBLE) We come to Taiwan and (EXPLETIVE DELETED) thanks to you guys.
TODD: At one point, the informal rapport got a little personal.
JOHN: Rude, vile pigs. You know what I mean, rude, vile pigs. That's what all of you are.
(CROSSTALK)
JOHN: Yes, we would love to get out of Taiwan if it's full of people like you.
TODD: It's not the first time the rocketman has had a run-in with fans and paparazzi. After this incident, his publicist issued a statement saying he had been besieged by hordes of photographers and TV crews as soon as he disembarked from his private plane and -- quote -- "The local police and security at the airport failed to protect Elton John from the ensuing chaos."
We tried to reach airport officials, but possibly because of the time difference, they couldn't get anyone to respond. At his concert later Thursday, Sir Elton reportedly told fans the photographers were the rudest people he'd ever met, and he meant every word he'd said to them. Now we're wondering if Taipei will be on any of his future tours. JOHN: Pig. Pig.
(CROSSTALK)
TODD: Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: How would you like that job, protecting him?
360 next. We're going to tell you about some diet advice for doctor that may put a smile on your face.
And today's "Buzz" of course is this, what do you think, based on the evidence presented so far would you find Scott Peterson guilty?
Log on, cnn.com/360. Cast your vote. Results when we come back. (
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Time for "The Buzz."
Earlier, we asked you, based on the evidence presented so far, would you find would you find Scott Peterson Guilty? Sixty-seven percent of you said, yes, 33, no. Not a scientific poll but it is your "Buzz."
Tonight, welcome news to the "Nth Degree." At last, scientist whose approve of La Dolce Vita, this is rare and wonderful. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Associations, finds that Mediterraneans are healthier and live longer, at least in part, because of their diet, olive oil, fruits and vegetables, fish, nuts, seeds, grains, potatoes, not so much dairy and meat and of course wine enough to wash it down.
Now, that's what they eat. We suspect how they eat can't be doing them much harm. Take lunch. Americans bash and wolf and wipe their mouth on the way back to work. Not Italians, they set the table with a nice cloth first, outdoor's somewhere if they can, in an orchard maybe or by the sea or a rooftop. They pour the wine, some red, some white, some mineral water. They fill little dishes with olives and oils. Stack plates high with piles of garlic rubbed bread. And all of that, that's just the runner up, the meal hasn't even started yet. Sit, sit they say, what's the rush, take your time. We have all day. And they live longer.
Yes sir. Tomorrow, I recommend you have a three-hour lunch and just tell them, it's doctor's orders. Thanks for watching 360 tonight. I'm Anderson Cooper. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW." Have a great night.
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 September 23, 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.
Hurricane Jeanne, category two, 105 mile-an-hour winds, is on the way. And believe it or not, Ivan is back.
360 starts now.
Say it ain't so, Hurricane Jeanne, big, bad and heading for Florida. The latest projections on where and when this killer storm might hit.
Iraq's Allawi comes to Congress. But is he telling it like it really is? Bush and Kerry face off, and the war of words heats up.
The Peterson trial. New home video of Laci, and new evidence, video of this watch. Could it possibly lead to Laci's killer?
An incredible story of survival. A small plane crashes in the wilds of Montana, and two people given up for dead walk out alive.
Our special series, Marriage and Divorce in America. Tonight, is your marriage sex starved? What happens when couples stop coupling.
And Chucky the alligator, back at home after his hurricane escape. Tonight, the half-ton 'gator gets his first home-cooked meal.
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: Good evening again.
It is hard to believe, but there is another hurricane at this hour heading toward Florida. It may still turn, it may go elsewhere, but it's projected to hit this weekend. How bad? We'll find out in a moment.
But to add insult to injury, Ivan just won't go away. It is no longer a hurricane, thank goodness, but it is a tropical storm, back in the Gulf, where it did so much damage a week ago. And right now, it is bearing down on the Louisiana-Texas border and bringing with it up to 10 inches of rain.
So we got two storms. Right now, out in the Atlantic, Jeanne, now a category two hurricane, eying the Bahamas, its winds 105 miles an hour right now, and it's left a trail of misery in its wake. Take a look at what it did to parts of northern Haiti, 1,000 dead. That is all mud and water. Another thousand feared missing. Workers are digging mass graves, others are digging through sewage and mud, trying to find victims.
For Haitians, the nightmare is not over. Take a look at this. They are hungry, thirsty, and desperate. Those are aid workers trying to hand out food and water, some medicine. But there are so many in need right now, and simply not enough supplies. Unbelievable.
Meteorologist Orelon Sidney is tracking both storms for us from the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta -- Orelon.
ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Anderson, thanks a lot.
We'll start with Jeanne. She's definitely the stronger of the two storms. Again, as you said, she's working her way to the west- northwest. North of the Bahamas now, but we do have a hurricane watch for the northern Bahamas, 425 miles east of Great Abaco Island currently. The winds again, 105 miles an hour. It is a category two storm.
Now, it looks like it may strengthen over the next 24, 36 hours, because it's moving over some warmer waters. We expect it to perhaps go up to category three sometime tomorrow and continue that into Saturday. And then it looks like it's going to start to a turn as it becomes influenced by a trough of low pressure that's now out to the west, and shear will increase.
So as it makes its way on in, it could lose some intensity. But at this point, we're just going to have to go ahead and play like it's going to be a major hurricane as it approaches the U.S. coast.
Where is it going to make landfall? Still don't know that. The cone of possibility extends from the Florida keys all the way out into the eastern Atlantic. And if it decides to turn before it hits the Florida coast, it will be heading northward into the Carolinas. So we're going to have to watch this one certainly as we go into this weekend, Anderson.
COOPER: And what about hurricane, or no longer a hurricane, but it is tropical storm Ivan? Where were you anticipating that?
SIDNEY: Well, right now, it's working its way into Louisiana. Very minimal winds here, only 45 miles an hour. It's moving to the northwest at eight miles an hour. This one's not going to be a player with the wind. It's going to be the rain.
Could get a few thunderstorms around Lake Charles. You see the center of it right there, working its way onto the coast. And as the center of low pressure works on into Texas and Louisiana, the rainfall could get to be very be heavy. You could see maybe as much as 10 inches. I think most people are going to see less, I think maybe two, four, six inches is more like it.
The low pressure circulation will make it through eastern Texas and possibly, Anderson, make it back into the Gulf of Mexico, believe it or not, early next week. We expect there to be too much wind shear for the storm to strengthen again into a tropical cyclone.
COOPER: All right.
SIDNEY: That's good news.
COOPER: Strange weather out there. All right. Thanks very much. Appreciate it.
SIDNEY: You're welcome.
COOPER: Storms of a different time brewing in Washington. The presidential race about a category four right now, moving faster and faster. The eye of the political storm on Capitol Hill today where the House and Senate heard from Iyad Allawi, Iraq's interim prime minister.
Now, he said there will be an election in January, perhaps, but there were certainly be an election in this country in November, and more and more the election here seems to hinge on developments there.
We're covering all sides tonight. With the president, senior White House correspondent John King. With the Kerry campaign in Philadelphia, CNN's senior political correspondent Candy Crowley.
We begin in Washington -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, today was both historic and remarkable. And a leader in Iraq welcomed in Washington. That a bit of history. What is so remarkable is that he was immediately at center stage in this increasingly bitter campaign debate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): Side by side with Iraq's prime minister, a forceful Rose Garden rebuttal to a campaign rival who calls his Iraq policy a colossal failure.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're sickened by the atrocities, but we'll never be intimidated, and freedom is winning.
KING: The president rejected Democrat John Kerry's charge that he has misled the American people by painting a far too rosy picture of Iraq.
BUSH: You can understand it's tough and still be optimistic. You can understand how hard it is and believe we'll succeed.
KING: Took issue with Senator Kerry's description of Iraq as a war of Mr. Bush's choice, not a crucial front in the war on terror.
BUSH: If we stop fighting the terrorists in Iraq, they would be free to plot and plan attacks elsewhere in America and other free nations. To retreat now would betray our mission, our word, and our friends. KING: Mr. Allawi often sounded as if he was rebutting Senator Kerry as well, saying 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces are secure and the training of Iraqi security forces is accelerating.
IYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI INTERIM PRIME MINISTER: These doubters underestimate our country and they risk fueling the hopes of terrorism.
KING: In and upbeat speech to Congress, Mr. Allawi said the most powerful weapon against the insurgency is holding elections on schedule in January, and he made clear his view on the question now central in this country's presidential race.
ALLAWI: Your decision to go to war in Iraq was not an easy one, but it was the right one.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Now, President Bush saying that Senator Kerry was sending mixed signals that could embolden the enemy in Iraq, and the debate intensified even more as the day went on, Vice President Cheney saying he was appalled that Senator Kerry publicly criticized Prime Minister Allawi today, the vice president saying that is destructive to the U.S. mission in Iraq, Anderson.
COOPER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it goes on. All right, John King, thanks.
Quick news note on Iraq for you. While Iyad Allawi was insisting to Congress that there will be an election in his country in January, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was being a bit more circumspect, or at least a bit more specific, before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Elections in Iraq in January, yes, just maybe not everywhere in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Let's say you tried to have an election, and you could have it in three quarters or four fifths of the country, but some places you couldn't, because the violence was too great. Well, that's so be it. Nothing's perfect in life. So you have an election that's not quite perfect. Is it better than not having an election? You bet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, today we had Donald Rumsfeld on Iraq, Iyad Allawi on Iraq, President George Bush on Iraq. Now, guess what the Democratic challenger was talking about today?
CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley has the answer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There was barely a breath of time between when the prime minister was done and John Kerry began.
SEN. JOHN KERRY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The prime minister and the president are here obviously to put their best face on the policy.
CROWLEY: And the Rose Garden news conference was still going when Democrats began clogging e-mail bins with reaction. It filled the void until Kerry's number two could chime in.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS, DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: George w. Bush needs to come back to Planet Earth and get out of Fantasyland, that's what (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
CROWLEY: It is the new, improved Kerry-Edwards campaign. Motto, leave no news cycle behind. As one campaign strategist explained it, We want to own this week's Iraq story.
So despite canceling a chunk of his schedule because of laryngitis, Kerry found voice enough to wedge his way into the headline story.
KERRY: We have an administration in disarray, the secretary of defense saying one thing and being corrected, the president saying one thing and being contradicted by the prime minister.
CROWLEY: The Kerry team thinks it found the sweet spot, a way to talk about Iraq that, A, does not come back around to Kerry's vote for the war, B, draws bright lines between the president's Iraq policy and John Kerry's, and C, dilutes the president's double-digit advantage on leadership and integrity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, KERRY-EDWARDS AD)
ANNOUNCER: George Bush keeps telling us things are getting better in Iraq. The facts tell a different story.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: Four days does a not campaign remake, but Kerry staffers talk a good game, and sometimes let the pictures say it.
This is John Kerry arriving in Philadelphia, and that's the new middleweight boxing champion who came to greet him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: Tomorrow, Kerry, here in Philadelphia, will, as one aide put it, bookend the week with a major speech about the war on terror. Monday, of course, he talked about the war on Iraq. Tomorrow, he will make a differentiation between those two, Anderson.
COOPER: Staying on message. Candy Crowley, thanks for that.
Want to cover all angles tonight, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) coming up later, we're going to have the view from the left and the right. We're going to go 360 with "CROSSFIRE"'s Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson.
The fight to keep "one nation, under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, that tops our look at what's going on cross-country tonight.
On Capitol Hill, the Republican-controlled House approves the Pledge Prevention Act, a bill blocking the Supreme Court from ruling on any pledge challenges. Opponents call it unconstitutional and an attempt to corner Democrats on a sensitive issue before the election.
Tallahassee, Florida, now, the Florida Supreme Court strikes down Terri's Law, clearing the way for Terri Schiavo's husband to remove her feeding tube, that is, if an appeal is not made.
Now, the law had allowed Governor Jeb Bush to intervene in order she be kept alive, which she has been. Schiavo's been in a vegetative state for 14 years. Her husband is fighting her parents for the right to let her die.
In Washington, big tobacco on trial. Former FDA commissioner David Kessler, well, he testified that companies control nicotine levels in cigarettes to keep smokers hooked. The tobacco industry denies the claim, says it's (UNINTELLIGIBLE), you know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it's not true. That claim, of course, is at the heart of the governments $280 billion lawsuit.
And from the CDC today in Atlanta, a new study showing alcohol abuse kills 75,000 Americans a year, making it the third-leading cause of preventable death behind smoking and poor diet. Men, you got to watch out, we make up more than 70 percent drinking-related deaths.
That's a quick look at stories cross-country tonight.
Coming up next on 360, plane crash survivors. They were declared dead. Amazingly, they appeared two days later very much alive. They hiked through the rugged mountains in Montana. Going to find out how they made it out alive.
Plus, the Scott Peterson investigation. Caught on tape, see for yourself what police found in Laci's son's nursery room. There it was, all set up. And why a watch may play a big part in Scott Peterson's defense.
And then on a much lighter, much louder note, Rocket Mouth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Rude vile pig? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROSSTALK) (END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's Elton John unplugged, maybe a little bit unhinged. The pop star goes off at the papparazzi. You'll find out why ahead.
First, let's take, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), yikes, what did he say? We'll take a look at your picks, the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: So the plane was just a few minutes from landing when it fell from the sky, burst into flames. When the sheriff reached the wreckage site in the wilderness of Montana, he said the fire had melted everything. He also said that all five people aboard had perished.
But the sister of one of the victims says she just knew, she just knew her sister was still alive. Incredibly, she was right. Her sister was alive, and what may be even more amazing, she wasn't the only one.
CNN's Kimberly Osias has this story of survival.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They came back from the dead, or so it seemed. U.S. Forest Service employees Matthew Ramige and Jodee Hogg walked away from a plane crash in the Montana wilderness that killed the pilot and two of their colleagues. But their families were told there were no survivors.
JIM DUPONT: We still feel that there's probably nothing else we could have done not to come up with that conclusion. It's just, you know, certainly, the word miracle has been around, and I would entertain that thought that these two people are just very, very fortunate to miraculously come out of this.
DR. WENDY BECKER, MATTHEW RAMIGE'S MOTHER: I think I'm still in shock. To be honest with you, I haven't slept for three days. I went from hearing that his plane was lost to 24 hours later hearing that the plane was found and there were no survivors, to 24 hours later, hearing that Matt walked out of the mountain.
OSIAS: The crash of the single-engine Cessna happened Monday. On Tuesday, families were given the bad news. But Hogg and Ramige survived by spending two nights in the backwoods. Doctors say they used body warmth to combat 20-degree temperatures, then hiked 10 miles to get help.
DR. DAVID HEIMBACH, HARBOR VIEW MEDICAL CENTER: I think he's an incredibly lucky young man. Tough as nails to have walked 10 miles with a broken back and helped his companion out.
(END VIDEOTAPE) OSIAS: Twenty-three-year-old Hogg remains in stable condition in a Montana hospital. Matthew Ramige, well, he'll be celebrating his 30th birthday here in a Seattle hospital. He has a broken back and burns to his face, chest, and hands. But his mother says he's joking with the staff, especially the nurses, and even asking for his favorites of ginger ale and milkshakes, Anderson.
COOPER: That's right, I hope not as a combination together. All right, Kimberly Osias, thanks very much.
Pop star once known as Cat Stevens is back in Britain, and he's speaking about being barred from entering the U.S. That tops our uplink.
His London-to-Washington flight was diverted Tuesday. That's him arriving back there when his Muslim name, Yusef Islam, showed up on a terror watch list. He was mobbed by reporters this (UNINTELLIGIBLE), this morning at London's Heathrow Airport. He said his name shouldn't have been on that list at all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YUSEF ISLAM, FORMER SINGER CAT STEVENS: You know, the whole thing is totally ridiculous. Everybody knows who I am. You know, I'm no secret figure. Everybody knows my campaigning for charity, for peace. And there's got to be a whole lot of explanations. Hopefully they'll be there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's what he said.
Kabul, Afghanistan, now, seven tons of drugs torched. It's about the weight of an adult elephant in case you're wondering. The huge stash that went up in flames included raw opium, hashish, and heroin. It was all seized from drug traffickers. It may be a great picture, but it is simply a drop in the bucket. Drug trade there is huge.
Berlin, Germany, now, art destroyed. The controversial art collection belonging to the billionaire heir of a Nazi-era arms supplier was vandalized, get this, by a woman doing handsprings. Don't know why. She hurled herself onto two pieces of art, bending back the metal roof on one piece of art and punching drywall on the other. No word on details.
That's tonight's uplink.
360 next, who is telling the truth on the campaign trail? (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the tale of two Iraqs. Which one is the real one? Is the glass half full or shattered? Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson go 360 in the "CROSSFIRE."
Also tonight, inside Scott Peterson's home. See through the eyes of police as they search Scott Peterson's house.
Also tonight, Chucky the alligator behind bars tonight, he's getting his first meal in days. Mmmm, chicken. Find out how he's doing now after his traumatic hurricane ordeal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, faces war at home every day. But today, he got caught in the rapid-fire banter of the 2004 presidential campaign. Now, as we showed you earlier, this afternoon Allawi appeared with President Bush at the Rose Garden and answered reporters' questions about Iraq. Now, he echoed the president, saying the country's better off without Saddam Hussein, and expressed concerns about those who doubt Iraq's progress.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLAWI: I understand why, faced with the daily headlines, there are those doubts. I know too that there are -- there will be many more setbacks and obstacles to overcome. But these doubters underestimate our country, and they risk fueling the hopes of terrorism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, Senator John Kerry, of course, is, I guess, one of these doubters. But he says it's the Bush administration's policies that have fueled terrorism in Iraq.
Earlier today, I discussed both sides with "CROSSFIRE" hosts Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson. Take a look.
Tucker, strategically, every time John Kerry talks about Iraq, basically it seems like the Bush team talk about flip-flops. At some point does the Bush team, the President Bush, Dick Cheney, do they have to start talking about facts on the ground in Iraq in detail?
TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": Well, of course. I mean, the facts are become pretty obvious, especially as we get closer to the election, the planned election in Iraq.
Here's the problem with Kerry's critique of Iraq, though. Kerry, in every speech, says we were wrong to go, he lied to just get us into war, et cetera, et cetera. Whether or not that's true, people don't want to hear that. Most people supported the war in Iraq. Doesn't get Kerry anywhere to tell people that we shouldn't have gone in the first place.
The effective critique is to say, Look, we're there, Bush is screwing it up since we've been there. But it bums people out.
COOPER: But isn't he saying that also?
TUCKER: Yes, he is saying that, but he's screwing up his whole message, in my view, doesn't take my advice very often and probably shouldn't, but I still believe that he's screwing up his message by going back to motive and how we got there in the first place.
Again, the overwhelming majority of the public supported our going into Iraq. And they don't want to think that America made that big a mistake. So Kerry gets nowhere. He hurts himself, in fact, with that argument.
PAUL BEGALA, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": What's interesting is that maybe John Kerry is listening to Tucker. Because if you go look at the speech that Kerry gave at NYU, which was his best speech on Iraq, just a couple of days ago, that's what he did. He didn't go back and revisit the questions of the lead-up to the war and the questions of hyping the intelligence and the questions of whether he misled us about weapons of mass destruction.
In fact, he said, straight out, here and now, today, the president is misleading us when he says things are going great. And then he took it forward and says, Here's what the president ought to be doing. And that is, I think, the more effective critique of Iraq. And that's what the president's going to have to deal with.
The president's facing a really tough strategic choice here. Does he acknowledge what's evident to everybody who subscribes to CNN, and that is, the thing in Iraq is a debacle? Or does he continue to give these rah-rah cheerleader speeches, which increasingly make him look like he's either deceiving us or he's out of touch.
COOPER: At some point, you think he's boxed into a corner, and he's got to change the message somehow?
BEGALA: He does, but, you know, of course, his whole campaign is predicated on the notion that I'm resolute, and I don't change, and my opponent is a flip-flopper. Well, it turns out maybe people want change. I mean, "The Wall Street Journal" poll that's out today, the majority of Americans now think it wasn't worth the price in lives and treasure to get Saddam Hussein out.
They want a changed policy there. And so Bush telling them, I'm never going to change, I think that's one promise they're -- the American people are worried he'll actually keep.
CARLSON: But Kerry doesn't have the courage to make those points. Look, I mean, Paul just said that majority people don't think it was worth expelling Saddam. That's a real argument, in my view. You can make the argument. I think I sort of believe the argument, actually, that maybe the United States would be better off if Saddam were still there.
That's -- there's nothing wrong with that argument. It's legitimate.
COOPER: Paul it seems that the Kerry team and Edwards have gotten better at responding immediately to criticism or to statements made by the Bush-Cheney camp. Are they more on message than they were before?
BEGALA: They are, because now they have a message. I do think it was muddled for a while during the summer. Senator Kerry, as I say, that speech in NYU could be the turning point of the election if things go well for Kerry. But look what happened yesterday. It's a smaller thing, a tactical thing. But the Bush campaign came out with a new ad. It showed Kerry wind-surfing as a metaphor for their allegation that he shifts with the winds. Within hours, maybe even minutes, Bob Schrum, the much- maligned chief media strategist for Kerry, had a new ad out, and out here, to CNN, to the rest of the media, and then on the air, that took that head on, and, I thought, very, very effectively said, When our people are dying, when Americans are even being beheaded, surely we can do better than just mocking a guy for windsurfing.
It was -- they used the image against Bush then, and I thought it was very effective...
COOPER: Tucker, do you agree, they're get, they're getting more on point?
CARLSON: Yes, I mean, I guess the campaign seems like it is. They finally figured out, with a month and a half to go to the election, that the election's about Iraq. You know, congratulations, glad you noticed. And not about the healthcare crisis, or whatever they thought it was going to be, at the people versus the powerful, or even windsurfing, and especially not Vietnam.
COOPER: All right, Paul Begala, Tucker Carlson, thanks.
CARLSON: Thanks.
COOPER: Well, today on the political gridiron, playing offense with Iraq. And after a measley punt yesterday, both teams went deep for a much-needed touchdown. But Team Kerry found itself battling a new opponent, the injured reserve list.
CNN political editor John Mercurio looks inside today's campaign playbook.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN MERCURIO, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR (voice-over): Which team are you rooting for, George Bush or John Kerry? It likely depends on what your Iraq looks like.
Bush's playbook reads something like this. Iraq is my war. It's now on a path to democracy and security. If voters don't like Iraq on election day, they won't like me.
BUSH: One reason I'm optimistic about our ability to get the job done is because I talked to the Iraqi prime minister.
MERCURIO: Bush drafted a new recruit into the game today to help move that ball down the field, Iraqi's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, who told America that Team Bush is winning the game.
ALLAWI: It's a tough struggle with setbacks, but we are succeeding.
MERCURIO: Kerry is reading from the same playbook, but with an opposing message. KERRY: We need to change the course to protect our troops and to win.
MERCURIO: Iraq is Bush's war, and it's his mess. He says he would have done, quote, "almost everything differently." If voters don't like Iraq on election day, well, they won't like him, so they must like me.
A bad cold benched Kerry for most of the day, so he let a new TV ad do his talking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, KERRY-EDWARDS AD)
ANNOUNCER: We need a fresh start to fix the mess in Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MERCURIO: The play of the day goes to Bush. He had the top draft pick, the Rose Garden photo-op, and a clean bill of health.
As for Kerry, get well soon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: The Peterson trial, new home video of Laci and new evidence, video of this watch. Could it possibly lead to Laci's killer?
Our special series, Marriage and Divorce in America. Tonight, is your marriage sex starved? What happens when couples stop coupling.
Chucky the alligator, back at home after his hurricane escape. Tonight, the half-ton 'gator gets his first home-cooked meal.
360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Today Laci Peterson did something she of course cannot do. She spoke. The images from her videotape played to jurors who must decide if Scott Peterson murdered his pregnant wife. For the past 16 weeks they have heard a lot about Laci. This afternoon when they finally heard from her and saw her alive it sent chills throughout the courtroom. CNN's Ted Rowlands has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Video of Laci Peterson preparing food while entertaining friends was shown in court effectively bringing to life, for a few moments, the victim and reason for this trial. The home video which was stolen from the Peterson house and later retrieved also showed a still unaccounted for a diamond-encrusted watch. Scott Peterson claims his wife was wearing this watch when she disappeared. The defense claims the watch was later sold at a Modesto pawn shop by someone possibly involved in Laci's murder. Jurors also saw video of inside of the Peterson home including shots of the nursery awaiting the birth of their first child.
DEAN JOHNSON, LEGAL ANALYST: That's always one of those things you always want to see as a prosecutor in a homicide case, you want to impress upon the jury, that this was a living vibrant human being.
ROWLANDS: Craig Grogan, the lead detective who has been on the stand for four days testified about Scott Peterson's altered appearance, dyed hair and a goatee at the time of his arrest. Grogan said before pulling him over, agents trailed Peterson for hours as he erratically drove around southern California. These photos were taken when Peterson stopped for gas shortly before they pulled him over. Grogan said Peterson cried when on the drive back to Modesto he was told that DNA tests confirmed his wife and son were dead.
On cross-examination, Peterson's attorney, Mark Geragos attacked Detective Grogan's 41 reasons that he says points toward guilt in the case. Grogan is expected to be back on the stand when court resumes on Monday. Ted Rowlands, CNN, Redwood City, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Covering the case for us in "Justice Served" tonight is Court TV anchor Lisa Bloom and defense attorney Geoffrey Feiger. Thanks for joining us. Good to have you here on the program.
I want to start with you, Geoff, this video of Laci Peterson, what's the prosecution trying to do, are they simply trying to go for the hearts of the jurors?
GEOFFREY FEIGER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Sure. Humanize her as Laci. And they get to put it in. Normally it wouldn't have any relevance whatsoever but the prosecutor's been going slowly, monotonously about this case. This evidence, if you will, it was stolen allegedly from the Peterson house, allows the prosecutor to put it in actually to refute Geragos's claim that somebody else killed Laci.
COOPER: Let's look at this other tape there which is the police searching the home and then we see Conner's nursery room, it's used, I guess, to store things. This was taken several weeks after. What's the purpose of this?
LISA BLOOM, COURT TV: Well, that's short in time after Scott Peterson did some interviews, saying, with tears in his eyes, "I can't go into Conner's room, I just sealed it off. I never even go in there."
Now apparently he's backed up a U-Haul and taken some of the furniture from his warehouse and put it in there. So it's just another one of Peterson's lies. It makes him look a little bit cold and calculating.
On the other hand, there are shots in that video of Laci's makeup, her robe still hanging in the home untouched, so it makes it look like he's still at least hoping that maybe Laci is going to come home.
FEIGER: The most crushing evidence really is the fact that he is 400 miles away on the day his wife and son's body are identified by DNA. He doesn't have his marriage ring on and he's got $10,000 in cash. He's got an ID that isn't his, he's got a disguise, people are going to...
BLOOM: And a pocketful of Viagra. You cannot forget that one.
COOPER: As I always mentioned, Uday Hussein had as well or Qusay. I'm not sure which one it was.
FEIGER: That really points out to his -- he's a sociopath in that respect. He probably has inadequacy problems related to that.
COOPER: Would you put him on the stand?
FEIGER: You can't but you have to. Here's the problem. There's a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) choice here Geragos has.
He's talked so much, there are so many tapes out there...
COOPER: In the media, Diane Sawyer.
FEIGER: And the tapes of the conversations with Amber Frey. They kill him. So he has to get on the stand and explain that except he can't because he's lied so much. So Geragos is between a rock and hard place, he has to put him on, he can't put him on. If he puts him on he'll be convicted, if he doesn't put him on he's convicted.
BLOOM: The jury is so aware of what a smooth liar he is, how he can turn on the tears when necessary, lying to Amber Frey. So even if he gets on the stand no one will believe him.
COOPER: Let's talk about this watch? I mean, what is so significant about this according to the defense, or will be, according to the defense?
BLOOM: Well, both sides admit -- agree that this Crotan (ph) watch is missing. Now the defense says it was pawned about four days after Laci's death and therefore someone abducted her probably for the jewelry, pawned the watch, and that's the real killer. Now they haven't put on a case yet, we're sort of reading between the lines in cross-examination but that's what we think they're going to say. The prosecution says that pawned watch, it's a different watch, it bears no relationship to the case.
FEIGER: The jury wants to hear a logical story, too. If Scott Peterson didn't kill her, Geragos has got to come up with a story that the jury finds compelling of somebody else.
COOPER: But hasn't he come up with, like, half a dozen different stories?
(CROSSTALK) FEIGER: He's done some classical things defense attorneys do which throw up a lot of dust and hope that it obscures everything. The problem is the prosecutor's been monotonous and really almost maniacal in three, four months of presenting a case which is compelling against Scott. Now what is Geragos going to do? He's got to present who did it.
COOPER: You think Geragos, though, is kind of reckless and may put Scott Peterson on the stand?
FEIGER: Yes. He's been reckless in the past.
BLOOM: No. Not a chance he's going to put Peterson on the stand. Let me tell you though he's made some promises.
FEIGER: Look what he did with Winona Ryder.
BLOOM: That's true. He basically delayed, delayed, and lost the case with one of the most sympathetic defendants ever. But in the Peterson case there's not a chance he's going to put Peterson on the stand. But will Geragos live up to his promises? He promised the jury in opening statement he was going to show them that Conner was born full term. He promised before trial he was going to show all of us who the real killer was. Well, it's time to cash that check.
FEIGER: Well, I'll tell you this. He could have made a lot of hay with the doctor who came on, who claimed that he could tell the day Conner died. That's nonsense. Nobody -- the doctor came on and said he died on the 23rd. But I'll tell you this, science doesn't agree with that. There's no science that can predict the day a fetus died. None.
BLOOM: Well, but then plus or minus a couple of days. Certainly wasn't four months later.
COOPER: Lisa Bloom, Geoffrey Feiger, thanks very much.
Today's "Buzz" is this. What do you think? Based on the evidence presented so far, would you find Scott Peterson guilty?
Log on to CNN.com/360. Cast your vote. Results at the end of the program.
Another husband facing trial in the murder of his wife showed up in court today. In Utah, Mark Hacking was brought into court, shackled, wearing a bulletproof vest. His appearance may have been impossible to believe for people who knew him but that was before he allegedly confessed to killing his wife, dumping her body in the garbage but the grim search for it, believe it or not, continues. CNN's Rusty Dornin reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Prosecutors never had a chance to present their case. Handcuffed, attired in a bulletproof vest, Mark Hacking told the judge he understood the consequences of waiving his preliminary hearing. While confined in this psychiatric clinic, Hacking told his brothers he shot his wife Lori with a .22 caliber rifle while she slept. They said he killed her after she discovered he'd been lying about being accepted at medical school. Hacking claimed he wrapped her body in plastic and threw it, the rifle and a mattress, into three separate dumpsters. The mattress was recovered, but no weapon, no body.
So across town at the county landfill, the search for Lori Hacking and the rifle used to kill her goes on. Prosecutors say while they have a case, the victim's body would pull it all together.
BOB STODT, DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Yes, it would help us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In what way?
STODT: Well, we'll know the cause of death and we'll know for sure that we have a dead person.
DORNIN: Earlier in the search cadaver dogs were used. Now it's people, gloved and goggled sifting through 4,600 tons of garbage.
(on camera): You have landfill, it's contained, why can't you find the body?
DET. DWAYNE BAIRD, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE: Well, there's a lot of material. This material is about the size of two and a half football fields.
DORNIN: Mark Hacking's family came to the preliminary hearing. Lori Hacking's mother did not. Last week she said she hopes her son- in-law will be convicted and get the maximum sentence of life without parole.
In a letter to a Salt Lake City TV station, Hacking said he planned to tell all in a book and donate the proceeds to a scholarship foundation in his wife's name.
(on camera): After all the lies Mark Hacking told family and friends, investigators admit it's possible he also lied about where he dumped his wife's body. But detectives believe they will find Lori Hacking here and hope it will be before winter snow. Rusty Dornin, CNN, Salt Lake City, Utah.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, 360 next, a much lighter note, Chucky the alligator is back in the zoo after escaping the hurricane. And guess what, he's eating. This was just moments ago. We'll take you there live.
Oh, a chicken, yikes!
Also, tonight, what made the rocket man blow his top? We'll tell you ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Well, last night we told you about Chucky the alligator, sprung from the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo when Hurricane Ivan ripped through Gulf Shores last week. Then captured by the self-proclaimed dean of alligator wrastling. After one bodacious fight, he's back adjusting to zoo life tonight. He actually just started eating. We're going to find out how the 12 foot, half ton reptile is doing.
Patty Hall, director of the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo joins us now live from Gulf Shores. Patty, good to see you.
Now behind you, Chucky is somewhere there about eating, right?
PATTY HALL, ALABAMA GULF COAST ZOO: That's right. He's already had one chicken tonight that we fed him a little earlier.
COOPER: I can actually see a chicken on a stick. Is that what that is?
HALL: That's right. Chicken on a stick, alligator way.
COOPER: So, how many chickens like this would Chucky eat. Oh, uh oh, I think it's a -- wow! Patty, how many chickens does Chucky normally eat?
HALL: Well, normally he eats the most chickens in August and September when the water and the temperature are the hottest. And sometimes it can be a chick -- a 6 chicken day. So, he normally then starts tapering off as the water gets cooler, and the water gets cooler. This is his prime eating time.
COOPER: He's big. Did he eat? I guess you don't know, because you couldn't find him a week or so. Do you think he ate while he was out on the loose?
HALL: I really can't tell you. I doubt it. I was do told by the alligator experts that he may not even want to eat now for anywhere from three months to six months. There are alligators that haven't eaten for a year, and they're OK.
COOPER: I know he just it ate, I guess a few minutes before we came to you, a chicken, which I think we...
HALL: That's right.
COOPER: It's fascinating. How is the zoo doing in all of this? You guys had a lot of damage sustained.
HALL: The zoo is devastated. We have animals off-site right now. We're busy over the last few days, of bringing heavy duty equipment in just to remove the rubbish. We actually have found flounder fish in the zoo that came from the Gulf of Mexico, which is over a mile away.
COOPER: Wow. That's incredible.
HALL: So you can imagine -- right. And you can imagine the debris that we have. Plus, the only houses that are standing are the concrete block houses that our large cats went into. So, we have to start.
COOPER: I'm sorry to interrupt. We have a little bit of delay, so it's a little bit of complicated. Is it going to be difficult for Chucky to kind of adjust back to zoo life?
HALL: I tell you what. No, it isn't. He was very happy to come home. In fact, he was just on the other side of his perimeter fence. And that's where he was captured in a very dirty swampy moat. So he was trying to get back home.
COOPER: I know you have a lot of damage there, Parry, at the zoo. And I know you're a non-profit, and I hope you get the help you need. Patty Hall, we appreciate you joining us tonight. And good luck with Chucky.
HALL: Thanks you so much for your concern.
COOPER: All right, Patty. You take care.
360 next, Elton John, fired up. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELTON JOHN, SINGER: Rude, vile pig.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Rule, vile pig. We're going to find out what all that shouting is about. We're going to fill you in.
Also tonight, marriage without sex. Find out how to, maybe, reignite that romantic spark, part of our special series, "State of the Union."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: In 360's never ending quest to stay abreast of the latest acronyms, who can forget, FUBAR or SNAFU (ph).
Tonight we bring you, DINS, stands for dual income no sex. Couples that are too pooped for -- you get the idea.
Tonight in our 360 special series, "State of the Union," marriage and divorce in America. Jason Bellini, meets a couple who disclosed what isn't going on behind closed doors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TARA PATERSON: I don't want to hear another word out of you until your plate is clean.
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When it's dinnertime at the Paterson's, chaos is the main course on the menu. Adam (ph) is seven, Katen (ph) is 3. For Chris and Tara Paterson, evenings aren't winding down. By the time their kids are in bed, they're so exhausted that sex is the last thing on their minds.
CHRIS PATERSON: If we have it once a month, I'm all right with that.
BELLINI: They define sexless marriage as couples having sex no more than 10 times a year. A whopping 15 to 20 percent of married couples fit the category.
JANE GREER, MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPIST: It's far more epidemic than people realize because couples do not like to talk about the fact that they're not having sex. It's something that makes each person feel badly, often times filled with shame.
BELLINI: Chris says after 10 years of marriage he's come to accept it.
C. PATERSON: When either one or the two of us is stressed, there's no love in that night.
BELLINI: Chris is a contractor. He also coaches Adam's baseball team. Tara runs a business from home.
T. PATERSON: My newsletter is due out today.
BELLINI: And takes charge of the children.
T. PATERSON: Oh, my goodness, you're covered.
BELLINI (on camera): The Paterson's not exactly a DINS relationship, double income no sex, it's more of a DISS relationship, double income some sex.
If they weren't so busy would they have sex more often? That part's a little unclear.
T. PATERSON: Sometimes, you're not in the mood, your not all the other things going on. I mean, I don't think it's always all the other things going on.
BELLINI (voice-over): The sex-perts, that whether induced by kids or work, not having sex can itself become a routine.
GREER: You want to dress up and put the emphasis on how you look and how smell, am I putting my best foot forward, like you did in the beginning of the relationship.
BELLINI: Chris gets it.
C. PATERSON: They need too be put in the mood. If you want to have sex on Friday, you better start thinking about doing stuff on Wednesday. I mean, they just don't click and, OK, let's go.
BELLINI: Tara may prefer reading to sex most nights.
C. PATERSON: I would like more but that's not what I'm married for. BELLINI: Both insist all they really need is love, not sex. Jason Bellini, CNN, Round Hill, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Nice couple.
In the "Current" tonight, the rocketman goes kind of ballistic. Elton John, you know, he sings of love and harmony, but when the pop icon ran into some paparazzi in Twain airport early today, he didn't need a piano to really truly express himself.
CNN's Brian Todd reports.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To be very British about it, Sir Elton is not amused.
(CROSSTALK)
JOHN: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) off! (EXPLETIVE DELETED) We'll throw you through the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) window!
TODD: As he tried to make his way through Taipei's Chiang Kai- Shek International Airport early Thursday, Elton John seemed to have had enough of traveling, customs, and most of all the paparazzi.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move. Move. Move.
JOHN: You've had a great (INAUDIBLE) We come to Taiwan and (EXPLETIVE DELETED) thanks to you guys.
TODD: At one point, the informal rapport got a little personal.
JOHN: Rude, vile pigs. You know what I mean, rude, vile pigs. That's what all of you are.
(CROSSTALK)
JOHN: Yes, we would love to get out of Taiwan if it's full of people like you.
TODD: It's not the first time the rocketman has had a run-in with fans and paparazzi. After this incident, his publicist issued a statement saying he had been besieged by hordes of photographers and TV crews as soon as he disembarked from his private plane and -- quote -- "The local police and security at the airport failed to protect Elton John from the ensuing chaos."
We tried to reach airport officials, but possibly because of the time difference, they couldn't get anyone to respond. At his concert later Thursday, Sir Elton reportedly told fans the photographers were the rudest people he'd ever met, and he meant every word he'd said to them. Now we're wondering if Taipei will be on any of his future tours. JOHN: Pig. Pig.
(CROSSTALK)
TODD: Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: How would you like that job, protecting him?
360 next. We're going to tell you about some diet advice for doctor that may put a smile on your face.
And today's "Buzz" of course is this, what do you think, based on the evidence presented so far would you find Scott Peterson guilty?
Log on, cnn.com/360. Cast your vote. Results when we come back. (
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Time for "The Buzz."
Earlier, we asked you, based on the evidence presented so far, would you find would you find Scott Peterson Guilty? Sixty-seven percent of you said, yes, 33, no. Not a scientific poll but it is your "Buzz."
Tonight, welcome news to the "Nth Degree." At last, scientist whose approve of La Dolce Vita, this is rare and wonderful. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Associations, finds that Mediterraneans are healthier and live longer, at least in part, because of their diet, olive oil, fruits and vegetables, fish, nuts, seeds, grains, potatoes, not so much dairy and meat and of course wine enough to wash it down.
Now, that's what they eat. We suspect how they eat can't be doing them much harm. Take lunch. Americans bash and wolf and wipe their mouth on the way back to work. Not Italians, they set the table with a nice cloth first, outdoor's somewhere if they can, in an orchard maybe or by the sea or a rooftop. They pour the wine, some red, some white, some mineral water. They fill little dishes with olives and oils. Stack plates high with piles of garlic rubbed bread. And all of that, that's just the runner up, the meal hasn't even started yet. Sit, sit they say, what's the rush, take your time. We have all day. And they live longer.
Yes sir. Tomorrow, I recommend you have a three-hour lunch and just tell them, it's doctor's orders. Thanks for watching 360 tonight. I'm Anderson Cooper. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW." Have a great night.
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