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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Interview With Angelina Jolie; New al Qaeda Tape Released
Aired June 23, 2006 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for joining us, a special edition of 360.
Tonight, an exclusive interview -- "Angelina Jolie: Her Mission and Motherhood."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: She's a superstar, an actor who has reached the heights of fame. Their lives are a world away from Hollywood -- tonight, the journey that brought them together and changed her life.
ANGELINA JOLIE, ACTRESS: By the time I -- I got on the plane and on the way home, I knew that I would somehow commit to doing something with these people in my life. And I knew that that would be the only way to settle it in myself.
ANNOUNCER: Now she's on a crusade, no understatement, to change the world, an actor turned tireless advocate, and also a mother, the most famous mother in the world.
JOLIE: At the last minute, I became the mother that was sure everything was going to go wrong. And she's healthy. And it was amazing.
ANNOUNCER: Giving birth for the first time, giving her two other children a sister -- an exclusive interview with Angelina Jolie.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of ANDERSON COOPER 360: "Angelina Jolie: Her Mission and Motherhood."
From New York, here's Anderson Cooper.
COOPER: Welcome to this two-hour special edition of 360 -- tonight, a remarkable glimpse into the life of a world-famous actress and into the lives of millions of people around the globe, whose names and stories rarely make headlines.
As we speak, as you are sitting in your homes watching TV right now, there are some 15 million people around the world who are unable to be at home. They fled wars and hunger, persecution and poverty. Fifteen million people tonight cannot go home. It may seem strange that a glamorous actress like Angelina Jolie would devote so much of her time and money to help these displaced people. But I think, in the next two hours, you will come to understand why she does it and how her mission and motherhood has changed her life.
I sat down with Angelina Jolie in Los Angeles last week. She and Brad Pitt had only returned from Namibia four days earlier, where she had just given birth to a healthy baby girl, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt. We talked about the birth.
But I began by asking her about another trip to Africa, one she made several years ago. It was a trip to war-torn Sierra Leone, the first time Angelina Jolie went to a refugee camp. It was a trip which would forever change her life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: The first time you went to a refugee camp, what was that like?
JOLIE: God, it was -- it was Sierra Leone. So, it was a different kind of a camp. It was -- they were still having civil war. And it was kind of just this area of people who had been -- who had had their limbs cut off from the violence. And it was an amputee camp. And it was probably to this day the worst camp I have ever seen.
COOPER: Had you ever seen anything like that before?
JOLIE: I hadn't seen anything like that. And -- and I don't think any -- it was just -- it was the most -- it was one of those things where you -- in so many ways, it was -- I was so grateful to have having -- had that experience. And I knew I was changing as a person. I was learning so much about life.
And I was -- so, in some ways, it was the best moment of my life, because it...
COOPER: Right.
JOLIE: ... changed me for the better. And I was never going to be never going to be -- going to want for more in my life or be...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: I mean, how did it change you?
JOLIE: I was young. And I grew up in Los Angeles. And I was very -- you know, so...
COOPER: And all that implies.
JOLIE: And I'm an actor, so everything is very focused on certain things in life.
I was very focused on myself, on my career, on my life, on this -- you know, we have so much and we want for other things, and we don't realize how grateful we should be about things. I had been -- done things, you know, like most teenagers, hurting myself, or doing things...
COOPER: Right.
JOLIE: I mean, all those things. You take your own life for granted.
And then, suddenly, you see these people who are really fighting something, who are really surviving, who have so much pain and loss and things that you have no idea. And you just feel like, your whole life, you have just been so sheltered and so spoiled with so much.
And you're suddenly just so grateful. I remember I called my mom, just told her how much I loved her. And I was so grateful I knew where she was and so grateful I knew where my brother was, that -- that it just changed everything.
COOPER: And, then, how do you come back? I mean, it's got to be -- it's always -- I have found it always a hard thing, once you're there and you see that, and your eyes are open and your heart is open and your mind is open. And then you come back, and especially in this world that you live in, it's got to be such a strange -- it's got to be surreal.
(CROSSTALK)
JOLIE: By the time I -- I got on the plane and on the way home, I -- I didn't -- I knew that I would somehow commit to doing something with these people in my life. And I knew that would be the only way to -- to settle it in myself.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Carol Costello.
Just ahead, more of Anderson's interview with Angelina Jolie. You will see how she transformed her life and others around the world.
First, the news of the day -- seven terror suspects charged. The feds say the men -- the men wanted their jihad to be -- quote -- "just as good or greater than 9/11." The suspects are accused of plotting to bomb the Sears Tower in Chicago and other targets. Six of the seven suspects were in court today, five in Miami, one in Atlanta -- tonight, new details on the bust and new questions.
Here's CNN's John King.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To prosecutors, a textbook post-9/11 sting operation.
R. ALEXANDER ACOSTA, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR MIAMI: Our mission, given to us by President Bush, is to prevent terrorism. KING: To others, though, an indictment that raises fresh questions about aggressive administration tactics in the war on terror.
PAUL CALLAN, FORMER PROSECUTOR: I would have expected to see a lot more meat in this indictment.
KING: The indictment runs just 11 pages and acknowledges, those charged did not have the necessary tools or money to launch bombing attacks. And, it concedes, they had no contact with al Qaeda -- meetings and offers of help, instead, from an FBI operative posing as an al Qaeda representative.
CALLAN: He agrees to supply machine guns, boots, and other equipment to these conspirators. He's really involved in every aspect of the crime. And, you know, that gives rise to the possibility that these men will have a good entrapment defense.
KING: The government says the case is solid.
ALBERTO GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL: They did request equipment. They did request funding. They took an allegiance, swore allegiance to al Qaeda.
KING: Intent is key to the government's case. The indictment says alleged ringleader Narseal Batiste first decided to first bomb the Sears Tower and other targets, then went looking for al Qaeda help.
CLARK KENT ERVIN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Then that's not an entrapment issue. The intent was preexisting. It was simply a question of means.
KING: The Miami case came on the same day of other news that stoked one of the country's most polarizing post-9/11 debates, where to draw the line between aggressive law enforcement and civil liberties, like free speech and privacy.
COREY SAYLOR, GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS DIRECTOR, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN- ISLAMIC RELATIONS: They are just casting a very wide net and seeing what falls into it. And most of what falls into it are innocent people.
KING: Other controversial administration terror tactics include the aggressive holding of prisoners, sometimes without charges, Patriot Act provisions allowing more wiretaps and surveillance, the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program, and the newly disclosed database of international banking transactions.
KING: The administration approach reflects the post-9/11 mind- set of a president and a vice president who favor strong executive powers.
RICHARD B. CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's important to remember how significant 9/11 was. And we are now engaged in a constant effort, obviously, to protect the nation against further attack. That means we need good intelligence.
It means there have to be national security secrets. It means we need to be able to go after and capture or kill those people who are trying to kill Americans. That's not a pleasant business. It's a very serious business.
KING (on camera): But the administration makes no apologies for its aggressive tactics and insists, in this latest Miami case, being aggressive kept threats from turning into attacks.
John King, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Also tonight, there's a new videotape out from al Qaeda's second in command acknowledging the death of Iraq's terror leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, earlier this month.
With that, here's CNN's David Ensor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a slickly produced tape, with a photo of al Qaeda's dead leader in Iraq behind him, al Qaeda's deputy leader expressed grief over Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death in an American airstrike and called him the prince of martyrs. Ayman al-Zawahri warned Americans on the tape that killing Zarqawi and the like will not stop attacks on the West.
AYMAN AL-ZAWAHRI, AL QAEDA SECOND IN COMMAND (through translator): Bush is lying to you when he tells you that you will win when you kill Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar, and The members of al Qaeda and Taliban. He's hiding a lot behind his lies. He's hiding the true catastrophe that you're facing.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The tape looks to me like an attempt by Zawahri to remind the world that al Qaeda central is still in charge. This is the third tape in a month. And, for the first time, Zarqawi's no longer dominating the headlines.
ENSOR: McLaughlin and other analysts point to the letter captured by U.S. intelligence written by Zawahri to Zarqawi, in which he advised him to stop beheading foreigners, too bloody, and especially to stop killing fellow Muslims. The latter advice, Zarqawi ignored.
MCLAUGHLIN: In fact, if you could put one of those sort of subliminal bubbles over his head, like in a cartoon, it would probably say, "Good riddance."
ENSOR (on camera): But Arabic translators say they were struck by the anger and frustration they heard in Zawahri's voice, anger at the U.S., frustration, perhaps, that all he may be able to do from hiding is issue tapes.
David Ensor, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: When we come back, Anderson returns with "Angelina Jolie: Her Mission and Motherhood." She talks about the little boy who changed everything in her life and why she's still haunted by his story, also, how her work with refugees has shaped the family she's creating with Brad Pitt.
Angelina talks about what it was like inside the delivery room giving birth to Shiloh.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: What was it like actually giving birth? I mean, you had two children through adoption. What was it like?
JOLIE: Well, we ended up having -- she was in breech, so I ended up having a cesarean, so it was very quick.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: For the first time since her Shiloh was born, Angelina talks about the birth, Africa, and wanting more children -- when this special edition of 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: What Angelina Jolie says is the least she can do may be her most inspiring role ever, goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Refugee Agency, the agency that helps nearly 15 million displaced people around the world.
Since 2001, Angelina Jolie has traveled to some 20 countries with the U.N., speaking out for those who often have no voice at all.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): It was a role she embraced with all the zeal of a true humanitarian, identifying the problems faced by people in each country, and doing all she could to help. On her trips for the UNHCR, she pays her own way and says she donates one-third of her income to causes she believes in.
JOLIE: I believe in the United Nations and UNHCR, because, before the -- the vulnerable -- millions of vulnerable people around the world can be assisted, their children can be assisted, health care and so forth, they first need protection. And they need to be safe.
COOPER: In 2001, Jolie went to Pakistan, visiting camps now filled with nearly two million Afghan refugees, the world's largest refugee population, according to the U.N. Jolie donated $1 million to help ease their suffering.
In 2002, while making the movie "Beyond Borders," she made her first trip to Namibia, visiting a camp that housed Angolan refugees. She and her production team donated tents, bedding and mattresses. In Thailand, she toured the Tham Hin refugee camp, then spent four days in Ecuador, visiting some of the two million Colombians displaced from their homes. The U.N. calls it the Western Hemisphere's worst humanitarian crisis.
In 2004, Angelina turned attention to the more than 600,000 refugees from Sudan, visiting a camp in Chad where thousands have fled the fighting in Darfur. And, in 2005, she viewed firsthand the aftermath of the October earthquake in Kashmir. It may seem strange at first, but Angelina Jolie says, in a sense, she has found her place among these people in need. She's found a role she feels is the most important work of her life.
JOLIE: And I do feel more comfortable there. And I will always feel uncomfortable in the middle of New York or Washington all dressed up. And I will always feel a bit like a punk kid.
COOPER (on camera): Part of the problem that a lot of people watching this tonight, watching this on television, watching these stories, after a while, it becomes this blur of sort of endless suffering in Africa. And I think there's a lot of hopelessness. People sort of throw up their hands and say, well, look, I gave -- there's only so much you can do.
JOLIE: Yes.
COOPER: And it seems endless. Do you -- how do you fight that? How do you...
JOLIE: Well, I think to acknowledge that and say, yes, it is another -- we understand that.
But the borders were drawn in Africa not that long ago. These people are tribal people. We have -- we colonized them. We have -- there's a lot of changes that's happened, even just between the blacks and whites so recently. There's a lot we need to -- to understand and be tolerant of, and help them to -- they have just recently learned to govern themselves.
But there are also pockets where they're really trying to pull themselves together. And we need to be there to really support them at that time, to help them to understand how better to govern. It really is a work in progress. It's not just going to happen overnight.
COOPER: You're very modest. But you're -- you're not just talking the talk. You're walking the walk. I have read that you give a third of your income to refugees and other causes. Is that true?
JOLIE: Yes.
COOPER: That's incredible.
JOLIE: Yes. Well, I have a stupid income for what I do for a living. COOPER: Well...
(LAUGHTER)
JOLIE: You know what I mean?
COOPER: Well...
JOLIE: To -- to be fair, I, you know...
COOPER: But, hey, look, there are a lot of people who have that income and more and -- and don't do that. Do you feel it makes a difference? Do you see change?
(CROSSTALK)
JOLIE: I do.
And I know it's frustrating for people that don't -- that aren't in the field, because you give money. You don't know where it goes. I have been really lucky, because I can go there and I can say -- I can meet some people who say, God, we really need a well. And I can go back a year later and see it built.
COOPER: And does it change the way you see your life here? I mean, I sort of imagine you walking on some red carpet and giving interviews about a movie and...
JOLIE: I actually -- the first -- my first trip back, I think it was a week later. I had to go to the Golden Globes. And it was...
(LAUGHTER)
JOLIE: It was. It was one of those...
COOPER: What was that like?
JOLIE: I actually thought -- I thought I was going to be really bitter. I thought I was going to come at it with, God, I have seen something that nobody here understands, and there's all this money, and there's all this -- and, instead, I think something had changed in me as a human being.
And, instead, I saw, God, these people probably have their kids at home nervous that they're going to -- God, these people are so worried about how good they look tonight. God, these people are...
COOPER: That's nice, actually.
JOLIE: And it became this -- yes, it just -- it became more -- I just saw everybody as human and wished for them that they had the experience I had.
COOPER: You know, I have read these stories of these people, these people chasing you and stuff, and taking photographs. Do you ever just want to yell at them, like, you know, spend a little bit of money and go to the Congo or...
(CROSSTALK)
JOLIE: Yes. Of course, yes. I mean, we have talked about that Brad -- we have joked about that, like, maybe we could just go somewhere and they can follow us into -- the positive side of it, yes.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: Force them to go to the Congo?
JOLIE: Yes, force them to go to the Congo.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: The U.N., which has -- it's sort of not a popular thing to support. There's a lot of people, you know, the U.N., their oil- for-food scandal, you know, the bureaucracy of it, the slow response to the genocide in Rwanda. Yet, you are out there firmly behind it.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Yes. Why?
JOLIE: Absolutely.
COOPER: What is it?
JOLIE: Well, because I think we hear a lot of -- we certainly hear a lot of the negative things and -- about the U.N. You know, you hear -- you hear about the negative things that have gone on. You don't hear on a daily basis the amount of people that are kept alive or protected by the U.N.
And if that list was plastered everywhere, I think people would be in shock and have a little more respect. I certainly think it needs to -- it needs reform. I mean, it's certainly not a perfect organization, by any means. It's the closest thing that we have got, you know, to -- to a real international institution that listens to all sides, represents all sides, and -- and can make a certain -- certain kinds of decisions.
COOPER: Yes.
JOLIE: There's 19 million people under the care of UNHCR. And they're in 116 countries. Their budget is about $1.2 billion a year, which, for that many people -- and they're starting to also handle internally displaced.
And they're also starting to handle -- there's -- there's just a lot that people don't know about -- about the U.N. and what it does in a positive way. And it does have its hands tied a lot. I have noticed that in countries. I have gone to countries where I have wanted to be angry about something. And you realize there's such a fine balance, because you also have to be -- they have to be allowed to work in these countries. COOPER: Well, it's interesting, actually. You and -- and Bono, I noticed, are activists, and yet in a very, really sort of nonpartisan way. And I have talked to him about that a little bit.
I mean, there are some celebrities who throw stones or Molotov cocktails to try to get things done. You seem to be trying to work both sides. Republican, Democrat, it doesn't seem to matter. You seem to be trying to effect change and do it in a smart way, as opposed to just yelling.
JOLIE: Yes. Well, hopefully. I'm not yelling yet.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: Well, give it some time.
JOLIE: But, yes. No, absolutely. I mean, I think that's the only way...
COOPER: If that bill doesn't get funded, maybe...
(CROSSTALK)
JOLIE: Then I am going to yell.
(CROSSTALK)
JOLIE: But absolutely. I mean, I think it's the only way to -- and there are -- just because someone's Republican doesn't mean that they don't also have the capacity to understand or care about children for this bill or that bill.
You have to speak to every person individually. You can't just have an assumption that, like, well, that person's an extreme...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: It's got to be a hard thing, though, for someone who -- I'm sure, you know, you have your own opinions about things. It's got to be hard to sort of be like Switzerland and sort of try to be neutral, you know?
JOLIE: To be diplomatic? For me, yes.
COOPER: Yes. To be diplomatic.
JOLIE: I have a mouth on me sometimes, yes, I know.
(LAUGHTER)
JOLIE: It's very -- yes, it can be very -- but, again, it's one of those -- you do find that, I mean, well, honesty works. And you know that. You just -- you go to a place, and you might say, look, I don't know what I'm -- and you're very strongly against this bill. And you have got your very strong reasons, and let me just say mine. And I have gotten in arguments with -- with people that it scared me, because they're just tough and smart and, you know, haven't -- but you do have that sense of...
COOPER: I think you can hold your own.
JOLIE: You just believe in something is right -- yes. But...
(LAUGHTER)
JOLIE: Yes.
COOPER: I have no doubt.
I also read -- and I hope I'm not being too forward -- that the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights is very close to you, like, literally, you have a tattoo that...
JOLIE: No, you're right.
COOPER: ... refers to it.
JOLIE: Yes.
COOPER: Is that true?
JOLIE: Yes, I do.
COOPER: What does it say?
JOLIE: Know your rights.
COOPER: Know your rights.
JOLIE: Yes. It's on my back.
COOPER: It's on your back? Wow. Why -- why get that tattooed?
JOLIE: It's -- it's just something that I have always...
COOPER: Bono uses it in concert.
JOLIE: Oh, does he?
COOPER: But taking it the next step, the actual tattoo, yes.
(CROSSTALK)
JOLIE: ... a tattoo.
(CROSSTALK)
JOLIE: I know. It's really funny, because I have worn a low-cut shirt, or like just -- because it's kind of on the -- it's kind of under one, and I have accidentally worn it -- I wore it to a prison once when I was in -- it's very popular. (LAUGHTER)
COOPER: Are you serious?
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: Wow.
JOLIE: Yes.
COOPER: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: That must have given them something...
JOLIE: It's very popular...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: ... something to talk about.
(LAUGHTER)
JOLIE: But it's -- it's -- it's just that. I think it's what comes down to everything for all these people, for refugees, for everybody. It's for them to know what their rights are, and then gives them the ability -- for children who are trafficked, for women who are vulnerable, for everybody.
If they know, if they understand -- you know, when I started to look at these declarations, whether it be the Declaration for Children, or just basic human rights, and you start to look at them, and you start to see, well, it's right here. This -- the Declaration of Human Rights says everybody has the right to an education, or everybody has the right to freedom of movement. Everybody has the right -- you know, that these things are in our law. There are -- there are -- if you really look into it, we're all protected somehow.
COOPER: The number of refugees has dropped 12 percent in the last year, to something like 8.4 million. But the number of internally displaced people inside their own country who have had to move from their homes has actually jumped like 22 percent. And a lot of that is because of Iraq, the population in Iraq.
I know you have been to -- to Jordan, to the region. Do you -- in your position, do you take a position on the war in Iraq?
JOLIE: It's really difficult when there's -- I think most people feel this -- when you have men and women that are over there, and they're fighting. And, so, it -- and we are in -- we're at war.
So, you know, it's -- it's done. It's -- we're there. You start to see -- the more times I have been to Washington, the more times you talk to somebody about, we have got to get money for AIDS orphans, or we have to get money for -- whether it be any kind of response to any tragedy, often, the answer is, well, we're at -- we are at war right now. A lot of money's going to war right now. We don't have -- so -- so, you start to look at it in a different way.
And, so, whether you're for or against the war, you can certainly see that the amount of money being spent at war and the amount of money we are not spending in countries and dealing with situations that could end up in conflict if left unassisted, and then cause war.
So, you know -- so, our priorities are quite strange. So, we're not -- we are missing a lot of opportunities to do a lot of the good that America is used to doing, has a history of doing. And we're not able to be as generous. We're not able to be on the forefront of all of these wonderful things as much. And, so, whether or not you're for or against the war, you have to start to notice that that -- that there's something wrong with that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, coming up, Angelina Jolie's mission to help refugees and children in need has literally shaped her own family. Her path, next, to motherhood has run through Cambodia, Ethiopia, and now Namibia.
Coming up, for the first time, Jolie talks about giving birth in a small clinic in Africa and whether there are more adoptions in her future.
Also, the unspeakable brutality Angelina has witnessed with her own eyes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOLIE: And the rapes in the Congo are so brutal. It doesn't make any sense. It's disgusting, and it's horrible. And it -- and it needs -- you start to wonder, with all of these things, you know, when -- when does it take us, as an international community, to just get together and say, that just has to stop? Joseph Cohen (ph) has to stop. And it has to stop now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: From young girls to grandmothers, women victimized while the world watches -- when this special edition of 360, "Angelina Jolie: Her Mission and Motherhood," continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: You go repeatedly, and you see this repeatedly. And that -- I mean, takes a toll. How do you get to a place where you can function in that environment?
JOLIE: It does.
It does, but, I mean -- and you know this -- it's that you get -- I am so inspired by these people. And they are the greatest strength.
So, it's not -- you have that memory. You have that moment -- I have had it -- where, even just today, I was, you know, breast- feeding, and tired, and thinking, God, I really don't know how I'm going to get myself together to be thinking for this interview.
But you think, Jesus, the things these people go through, I owe it to all of them to get myself together, to stop whining about being tired, and get there and get focused, and because, God, it's the least I can do, with what they live with and what they can -- you know, they pull themselves out of the most horrible despair. And they're able to smile and get on with it and survive.
And, so, you don't -- it's that same thing. You don't -- you don't think, poor me, what I have seen. You just think, like, Jesus, thank God I -- I'm not experiencing it.
COOPER: Right. One of the things that really struck me in Niger this summer, was I was profiling kids in this hospital. And two of them ended up dying while I was there. They were very, very young children. And they were instantly buried. And there was no marker on their graves. I realized that the photos that I took of them, the video I took of them, was the only photos that exist of them. That their mother doesn't even have a picture of them.
And I understood there was a story that you had about a child I think you met in Sierra Leone who was 13, someone I think told me about just the anonymity of death, that children just sort of disappear. Do you carry these children who you've met with you?
JOLIE: Yeah, yeah. I think -- I mean, you could drive yourself -- you could just -- the child I met in Sierra Leone was the first child that I met who was about to die and who died the next day. And it was the first time, because it was the first place I had went to and it was the first time I saw a kid in that state, he was by himself.
And I still to this day, even though I know in the broader picture you can't save everybody to this day I feel I should have helicoptered him out and spent the money and done something and saved him. Even though I probably couldn't have. But I still have guilt about that and I still see his face, I always will.
And maybe it's the first kid that you feel connected to their death, or whatever it may be. But he'll always be symbolic to me of that. Of the bigger picture of all those kids.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Of course, it's hard to accept that any child could become a symbol of such suffering. But in truth, every day, children die. Just like the 13-year-old boy etched in Angelina's memory. Last August I was in Niger covering the hunger crisis there and met a young boy named Aminu. He died just days after we first met him and his mother Zuara (ph).
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): In the tiny village of Raka (ph) the women have seen a lifetime of death. Now it's Zuara Yohia's (ph) turn to mourn. Yesterday her four-year-old son Aminu died. Today she has to go on.
(on camera): How will you remember Aminu?
(voice-over): "He was a kind child," she says, gentle, "a good boy."
We first met Zuara and Aminu a few days ago in the intensive care ward of a makeshift hospital set up by the relief group, Doctors Without Borders. Aminu was severely malnourished, his body badly infected. Even so, his death came as a shock.
When we first saw him, Aminu was covered with a blanket. Dr. Milton Tektonadis (ph) seemed optimistic he'd make it. There were other children in the ward who seemed in worse shape. Rashidu (ph) needed fluids. Habu was clinging to life.
If a child can drink milk, that's a very good sign, and Aminu could drink faster than most. The next morning when we returned, we were happy to see all three children had made it through the night. But happiness doesn't last long when children are starving.
(on camera): It's shocking how quickly things can change here. How in the blink of an eye, a child can simply vanish. When we came in this morning,, the three kids we met yesterday were doing OK. At least they'd made it through the night. They were still alive. Now it's the evening, several hours later, and things have changed. Aminu's OK, his mom's pretty confident. But Rashidu is in septic shock. And Habu, well, Habu died several hours ago. He was just 10 months old.
(voice-over): The next day Aminu's little body gave up as well. He died in the morning. He was just four years old. The day after we died we went to Aminu's village.
(on camera): Mothers with children who are starving often have to travel great distances just to get their kids the help they need. The village where Aminu lived is very remote. To find it we've had to drive an hour outside Murati (ph) but even then you can't make it by car. You have to cross this river on foot and walk the last quarter mile.
(voice-over): When we arrived Aminu's father was heading to the fields. Even in death, there's work to be done.
Zuara was surprised Aminu didn't make it but she's thankful for the doctors who tried to save him. "The doctors did their best for Aminu," she says. "They all did their best."
(on camera): Zuara was saying that her youngest child, Sani (ph), who's just two years old, doesn't really understand what's happened to his older brother. This morning she says he woke up and called out for Aminu.
(voice-over): Zuara says she worries now about how little food she has for Suni and her 10-year-old daughter Rashida (ph). Nearby, Aminu's great grandmother prepares a meal of leaves.
(on camera): When there's a shortage of food, adults here in Niger can survive by picking leaves off trees or eating grasses that they find in the bush. This is Aminu's great grandmother who's picked these leaves from nearby trees. She's going to boil those up and that's what she's going to eat today.
The problem is for children, like Aminu these leaves don't provide enough nutrition. That's why they get severely malnourished.
What happened to Aminu is horrible. But it's not all that surprising in Niger. Aminu's great grandmother has had 38 grandchildren, of them, half have died and 13 of her great grandchildren have died as well.
(voice-over): Doctors have given Zuara some food that should last a few days. The harvest comes next month. It seems an awfully long time to wait.
Aminu was buried in an unmarked grave. He has no head stone, no marker. It's impossible to know which mound is his. There are 12 tiny graves here, each freshly dug. Twelve tiny lives come to an end. At the hospital where Aminu died his bed has already been filled. Another child, another mother, another struggle to live.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (on camera): Something to keep in mind, this picture of Aminu is likely the only one that exists of him. In their hut, his parents have no photos, no mementos of their lost little boy.
Coming up, as Angelina Jolie's mission has grown, so has her own family. Two beautiful children through adoption. And now another daughter with Brad Pitt. Ahead, what giving birth in Africa was like.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Brad was in the operating room?
JOLIE: He was in the operating room, yeah. Yeah. And we had amazing doctors and everybody was so lovely. And you know, you're just -- because you're there for the birth, which I wasn't for my first two kids, you're just suddenly terrified they're not going to take a first breath.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Also ahead, Angelina Jolie and CNN's Christiane Amanpour on the crisis in Sudan. When refugees are forced to flee from the country they have fled to. Then where do they go? That's next on this special edition of 360, Angelina Jolie, "Her Mission and Motherhood." (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): It should come as no surprise that when Angelina Jolie decided she wanted to be a mother, she'd approach it with the same humanitarian spirit that guides the rest of her life. Building a global village under her own roof.
JOLIE: It is truly where my heart is. It's where I've always seen the world. It's the most beautiful family I could think of for myself.
COOPER: In 2001, while on a break in production from her film "Lara Croft, Tomb Raider," she visit a Cambodian orphanage. Less than a year later while she was still married to her second husband, actor Billy Bob Thornton, she adopted a baby boy she saw there. She named him Maddox Chivan Jolie. When she and Thornton divorced in 2003, Angelina retained sole custody of Maddox. He quickly became a photographer's favorite.
Just two years later Angelina was ready to be a mother again. This time adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. She named her Zahara, Arabic for luminous. She also gave her the name Marley after the reggae singer Bob Marley.
JOLIE: She's from Ethiopia, she's an AIDS orphan.
COOPER: And now Angelina and her boyfriend Brad Pitt have a child of their own. Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt was born on May 27th. Shiloh is biblical translation meaning, the peaceful one. But the media sensation caused by the birth was anything but peaceful.
The place the Hollywood couple chose for Shiloh's birth showed once again Angelina's dedication for countries in need of support.
JOLIE: What are you going to do when the food runs out?
COOPER: She first visited Namibia when she filmed the movie "Beyond Borders." That she and Brad Pitt chose a clinic there to have their first child has the Namibian people overjoyed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now she can go to Americans and say she is Namibian, she is from Africa.
COOPER (on camera): Why Namibia?
JOLIE: Why Namibia?
COOPER: Yeah.
JOLIE: A few reasons. I love Africa. I love -- I wanted to just be in a part of the world that would be wonderful for my other children. I didn't want to spend just months holed up in a house here. And I wanted to have a beautiful time with my family. And my other daughter's African and I wanted to take her back. COOPER: Your two children that are African now. That's great.
JOLIE: Also I think there was a part of me that people kept saying, it's horrible, you should never have a baby there, it can't be done, have it in Los Angeles, be safe. I think, there's so many people that don't have that option. Why and what is it? And I'm sure we can look into this and that doesn't seem right to me.
COOPER: It was at a little clinic?
JOLIE: It was a little clinic.
COOPER: What was it like actually giving birth? You had two children through adoption. What was it like?
JOLIE: We ended up having -- she was in breech so I ended up having a cesarean so it was very quick. And it was -- and ...
COOPER: Brad was in the operating room?
JOLIE: He was in the operating room, yeah. Yeah. We had amazing doctors and everybody was so lovely. You're just -- because you're there for the birth, which I wasn't for my first two kids, you're just suddenly terrified they're not going to take a first breath. That was my whole focus. I just wanted to hear her cry. And I was sure everything would go wrong. The last minute I became the mother that was sure everything was going to go wrong.
And she's healthy and it was amazing. But I was also really relieved that I didn't feel differently. I was sure ...
COOPER: You mean between your biological child and adopted children?
JOLIE: Yeah, I was kind of prepared to defend my other children, I was prepared to give them extra love and attention because something was going to be different about this new one. So I was emotionally ready.
COOPER: How did Maddox respond?
JOLIE: Mad loves her. Because when Z came home, she was older. She was 7 months old. Mad, it's like having this tiny little pet that he can just hold and look at. He's great. Z's a little jealous. She's still a little girl, so.
COOPER: Do you want to adopt more kids?
JOLIE: Yeah. Yeah, next we'll adopt.
COOPER: Do you know -- really, next, that will be the next? You're actually planning it?
JOLIE: Yeah.
COOPER: Do you know where from? JOLIE: No, no. We don't know which country. But we're looking at different countries. It's going to be the balance of what would be the best for Mad and for Z right now. Another boy, another girl, which country, which race would fit best with the kids.
COOPER: How do you make the decision, I'm going to adopt a child from Ethiopia, or is it just, I met this child and we had this connection?
JOLIE: I just -- I love -- I've always felt that my kids were around the world. I went to Cambodia and fell in love with the kids and the country. I knew -- I don't know. It's just -- I suppose it's like somebody realizing they're going to have a baby one day. It suddenly becomes very clear.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Sadly there are so many children around the world living in danger, in need of adoption. We'll have more of 360's exclusive interview with Angelina Jolie. More about her family. Plus we'll go live to Uganda to a refugee camp with 20,000 people right now sitting there, children struggling every day without a home, without a school, many without their parents.
And 360 M.D. Sanjay Gupta looks at the challenge of fighting disease in refugee camps. Places where a lack of clean water is often the least of their problems. All that and more as this special edition of 360, "Angelina Jolie, Her Mission and Motherhood" continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Angelina Jolie's ability to connect with individuals has helped us personalize a crisis that often defies comprehension. But if you want to see the magnitude of the problem, Uganda offers a case study. Years of civil strife there have brought senseless killings and so many rapes, thousands of children have been abducted and forced to take up arms by a ruthless rebel group called the Lord's Resistance Army.
All told, more than 1.5 million people are reportedly sheltered in refugee centers across northern Uganda. CNN's Jeff Koinange right now is at a refugee camp, Imvepi, population 20,000. Jeff, what time is it there? What's happening?
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's just a little after 5:50 in the morning, Anderson. And I'm standing right in front of one of the most important buildings here at the Imvepi Refugee Settlement. It's the food warehouse. And on World Refugee Day it was all about food distribution. The 20,000 or so Ugandans and Sudanese refugees in this camp got their fair share of sorghum courtesy of the United States government and pulses courtesy the European Union.
But this was also a day for people not to feel like refugees. Especially the children. A Canadian NGO called Right to Place organized games for the children, just to see them laugh again. They were playing games, laughing about just one day to be children. Out of 365 days.
And also the adults out there playing games, playing football, playing soccer, just not thinking about being refugees on this day. But again, at the end of the day we kept asking people what they wanted to do with their hives. No matter how long they've been at this camp, and some of them have been here 20 years, they kept saying, we want to go home.
COOPER: Jeff, briefly just explain what is going on that is causing all these refugees. This Lord's Resistance Army is brutal, they're kidnapping children. Why are they doing that?
KOINANGE: They've been doing it for the last 20-plus years. Led by a man by the name of Joseph Kony, a former altar boy who claimed he had a vision from God. His edict is he runs his rebel movement according to what he calls the Ten Commandments.
So what he does is he goes village after village, kidnapping children. Because in his view, the children are the most vulnerable. So what they do, they kidnap the children and literally brainwash them into killing machines. And they go back village after village, trying to kidnap more children, trying to intimidate the adults, trying to take over parts of northern Uganda.
The United Nations says over 30,000 children have been kidnapped in the last 20 years. Some of them have escaped. Some of them have been captured. Some of them have been tortured, killed, raped, brutalized.
And that's why they keep fleeing. At the same time Anderson, to give you a little geography lesson, an hour's drive northeast of here is the Congolese border. Another hour's drive east of here is the Sudanese border. Two countries that have seen their share of civil strife the last 20 years. So this part of Uganda sees its fair share of refugees streaming through here, an average of 50 every week.
COOPER: Angelina Jolie has visited both the Sudan and the Congolese border. We'll have reports about what she saw there coming up in this next hour of 360. Jeff Koinange thank you very much for reporting on that refugee camp right now.
Christiane Amanpour ahead will detail the human and logistical challenges of getting food to 6 million refugees in the Sudan. Plus Angelina's work on behalf of child refugees in the U.S. victims of traffickers, kids caught in a legal limbo. When "Angelina Jolie, Her Mission and Motherhood Continues."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: I'm Carol Costello. "Angelina Jolie, Her Mission and Motherhood" continues in just a moment. First the news and business headlines.
And we begin with breaking news. The Associated Press reporting famed television producer Aaron Spelling has died at the age of 83. Spelling created numerous television hits, including "Love Boat," "Charlie's Angels" and "Beverly Hills 90210." According the A.P. spelling died at his L.A. home after a stroke.
A group of people in Atlanta will buy about 10,000 documents and papers of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. for an undisclosed amount from his children. Now, the auction planned for later this month have been called off. Experts suggested the papers could have gone for up to $30 million.
The mayor's office says the anonymous group represents the city's interests.
On Wall Street another choppy day for stocks. The Dow fell 30 points while both the NASDAQ and S&P lost a point. Those are the headlines. A special edition of 360, "Angelina Jolie, Her Mission and Motherhood" continues in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Welcome back.
In the next hour, Angelina Jolie talks about the children she's met in refugee camps around the world and how she feared her own adopted daughter might be HIV-positive.
ANNOUNCER: The world she knew best was this, a world-famous Hollywood superstar -- tonight, the journey that would open her eyes and change her forever.
JOLIE: I was just shocked. I thought, how is that possible, that I have known nothing about this, and I'm 20-something years old, and there are this many people displaced in the world?
ANNOUNCER: Millions of people who cannot go home, some right here in the U.S., children.
JOLIE: I felt it was this crazy thing that we had all just missed somehow, that we couldn't possibly feel that that was right.
ANNOUNCER: A world-famous-actor-turned-crusader, and the most famous mom on the planet, building a family that spans the globe.
JOLIE: Because you're there for the birth, which I wasn't for my first two kids, you're just suddenly terrified that they're not going to take a first breath.
She's healthy. And it was amazing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of ANDERSON COOPER 360: "Angelina Jolie: Her Mission and Motherhood."
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