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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Bin Laden Speaks; Battle on the Border; Record Wildfires; Star's View; Cancer Vaccine; Terror Trick?

Aired June 29, 2006 - 23:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. The one person you don't want to hear from -- Osama bin Laden. Tonight his new message.
ANNOUNCER: Tonight, a new tape from Osama bin Laden. What does it say? What does it mean? We'll investigate.

Fatal flooding. At least 14 dead so far across four states. And thousands still waiting to return to their homes. Is the worst over? Did they really dodge a bullet?

Drug smugglers who bragged, you can't catch us. They may be right. More than 3 million acres of this. Mother nature's perfect shield for smugglers. Maybe even terrorists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STAR JONES, FORMER CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": I will not be returning as co-host next year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: The bombshell that shattered "The View."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": It is become uncomfortable for us to pretend that everything is the same at this table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Tonight, Star Jones tells her side of the story.

Across the country and around the world, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360. Live from the CNN studios in New York, here's Anderson Cooper.

COOPER: Thanks for joining us.

We begin with the news that broke just a short time ago. Al Qaeda says it was coming. Now a new message, an audiotape apparently from Osama bin Laden.

(BEGIN BREAKING NEWS)

COOPER: CNN's Octavia Nasr has been translating it. She joins us now from the news room in Atlanta.

What have you learned?

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SENIOR EDITOR ARAB AFFAIRS: You know, this is a production of As-Sahab. As-Sahab in Arabic means "the clouds." This is a production company that has been producing tapes for al Qaeda, Zawahiri, bin Laden, you name it. A production company for them.

Let's take a listen to what the man purported to be bin Laden said on that tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSAMA BIN LADEN (through translator): The Muslim nation was shocked to the loss of its courageous knight, lion of jihad, steadfast man Abu Musab al-Zarqawi after he was killed by a sinful American raid. We pray to God to bless him with whatever he wishes and accept him among the martyrs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NASR: Also on the tape, Anderson, there is a message to the U.S. President George W. Bush. On the tape, the man purported to be bin Laden says, "I say to Bush you should deliver the body of this hero to his family and don't be too happy our flag hasn't fallen thanks to God it has passed from one lion to another lion in Islam."

Then the man continues to say, "I say to your agent in Jordan," meaning King Abdullah, the monarch of Jordan, "stop your tyranny, you have prevented Abu Musab from entering his homeland alive, don't stand in his way now."

COOPER: Octavia, I'm really struck by the image that we're seeing on the screen right now. The image that came along with this audio tape. What do the words on the screen say? And what does that little symbol on the side say? Are those sort of the markings of this production unit?

NASR: Exactly. This is the logo of the unit, of the production company called As-Sahab. Again, if you look at the bottom right-hand corner or your screen, you're seeing the clouds in Arabic, As-Sahab. And you see the production there. The top line there in Arabic says, Osama bin Laden basically announces his condolences about the death of Zarqawi. On the bottom of the screen, basically the same thing, but there, there is a description. Every time bin Laden is mentioned, there is, may God protect him; and when Zarqawi is mentioned, may God bless his soul.

But again, you're right. I mean, you look at this video. It is a production. They used video that was released back in April of Zarqawi in Iraq. And they created that split screen with a picture of bin Laden on one side, the video of Zarqawi on the other. It took them a while, obviously, to put this together. So you have to think in about 20 days since the death of Zarqawi they were able to record the message and also produce it and send it out.

COOPER: Octavia Nasr, appreciate your work tonight, hustling to translate the tape for us. Thanks very much.

With us now is also CNN's David Ensor and Nic Robertson as well is joining us from Baghdad tonight.

Nic, let's start with you. What do you make of this tape?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is interesting, Anderson. It has taken about three weeks after the death of Zarqawi for the tape to come out. But it has come out a week after his Deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri released his message.

Does it mean the two men are living in different places? Does it mean they're not communicating with each other, that they don't know the other one is also releasing a tape? That is probably a little bit unlikely. Significant perhaps is Zawahiri, his deputy, goes first with his condolences about Zarqawi. Zawahiri has been sort of giving bin Laden the direction over the years. Zawahiri criticizes the U.S. ambassador here, criticizes the new prime minister in Iraq; whereas bin Laden sort of goes for the top man, criticizes President Bush.

But the other interesting thing here is, we were hearing on the Internet this tape was about to be released, is that it is being released here and it is morning already in Baghdad, on Friday morning. So what we are seeing is the beginning of Islam's holy day Friday throughout the Islamic world to the east of here in Asia. This is going to run all day. This is going to dominate the news all day throughout the Islamic world. So there seems perhaps to be an element of timing here. Spread out the message. Ayman al-Zawahiri is one week, bin Laden is the next week. Time it so it comes out on the Muslim holy day, Friday.

COOPER: David Ensor, also in talking about timing, at the end of May we had another tape from Osama bin Laden. A month before that, another tape. There hadn't been so many tapes in such a short succession in quite some time. What do you make of that?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, three bin Laden tapes this year and something like six or seven from Zawahiri. They're certainly become prolific.

Clearly, it would appear, and analysts that I speak to in the government believe, they are feeling that they need to try to make themselves relevant by speaking topically about the events that are going on around them. By reacting to things like Zarqawi. By associating themselves with a man who was a real here to Islamic extremists around the world.

I should just mention that as is usual in these cases with these audiotapes, the Central Intelligence Agency is analyzing the tape to make sure it really is the voice of bin Laden. I did speak to one official who said she has no reason to doubt it, but that analysis isn't quite complete yet -- Anderson.

COOPER: Nic Robertson, also in this tape, if it is Osama bin Laden, he makes mention of the other lion, I believe was the term he used, that they now have in Iraq, that being the man who has apparently replaced Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. They seem comfortable with that new man. This is a man who has followed Ayman al-Zawahiri for some years.

ROBERTSON: He has. And there are indications, certainly some analysts and people who claim to have known quite intimate details about Zarqawi here believe that before Zarqawi was actually replaced, the name of the replacement, his replacement would have actually been run up al Qaeda flagpole, right up to the leadership. The message would have come back saying OK, this guy, this replacement, this Egyptian who was close to Ayman al-Zawahiri, believed to have been through his life that he was an OK replacement.

That's very hard to know if that's true. I mean, it took them about four or five days to replace Zarqawi. That would seem to be a very short time frame to get a message from Iraq to bin Laden or Zawahiri, to get the message back here. But it is an indication.

I mean, Bin laden says in this latest statement, if it is him, this Zarqawi was a role model. And this is interesting as well because in pause in the past, it has appeared that Zarqawi was so much more bloody than bin Laden, that there had perhaps been criticism. Ayman al-Zawahiri had told Zarqawi to tone it down. Don't go after the Shias. Don't go beheading people. This was the message.

So, it is very interesting to hear bin Laden now say that he was a role model when he was so much more bloody than bin Laden himself in some ways.

COOPER: David Ensor -- sorry, go ahead, David.

ENSOR: No, I wasn't...

COOPER: Oh, OK. Sorry. I thought you were about to say something.

Nic Robertson raised the point, and I thought it was an interesting one and I hadn't thought of it, is why would bin Laden and Zawahiri both release tapes? Why wouldn't just the guy who is allegedly leading the organization be the one releasing the tape?

ENSOR: Well, it's two opportunities instead of one, I suppose. They are really trying to get their faces and their voices out there to rally their supporters.

This is a time, perhaps, of some ferment in al Qaeda. I've actually spoken to one or two analysts who aren't altogether sure that al-Masri is the new leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, and who believe that there may yet be some power struggle within al Qaeda Iraq over who will be the final leader.

So, it is a time when the central leadership wants to assert its relationship with the hero Zarqawi. And its right to perhaps have a role in deciding where the organization goes from here.

As Nic said, they had argued that killing the Shia was not a productive policy. So, they may be trying to influence where thing go next.

COOPER: Interesting.

David Ensor, Nic Robertson, appreciate it. Thank you.

(END BREAKING NEWS)

COOPER: The threat of terror has a lot of people concerned about our borders, of course.

Tonight some disturbing video of brazen drug arrests, showing weaknesses -- not on the border with Mexico, we're talking the border with Canada. That story is coming up. We'll show you the tape.

Plus, fire and rain, scorched earth, flooded streets, thousands of people still unable to return home tonight. We'll bring you the latest.

And the latest on Star Jones, in her own, well, her own words, let's say. And that smile. Her own words, spoken through a smile, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Tonight, the "Battle on the Border" -- not the Mexican border, the one with Canada we're talking about. The longest in the world, largely unguarded.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve found out and as you're about to see for yourself, the battle on this border is a battle over drugs, tons of drugs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In just 30 minutes, a helicopter drops two large loads of Canadian marijuana in the Washington state wilderness. This, agents say, is the perfect smuggling scheme. Audacious, simple, successful, until now.

Law enforcement has seized four tons of marijuana, 800 pounds of cocaine, several aircraft, and made more than 40 arrests in the U.S., six in Canada.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are drug runners, there are off loaders, there are attorneys, there are pilots and their owners.

MESERVE: This is marijuana from British Columbia, known as B.C. Bud because it consists only of the flowering tips of the plant with a high concentration of the active ingredient THC.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just pretty much gourmet marijuana. I mean, it's very specialized and very potent.

MESERVE: It is also very expensive. Wholesaling for as much as $5,000 a pound in Los Angeles. One helicopter can carry a million dollars worth. The traffickers boasted in a "Playboy" article last year that they operated with impunity, even during periods of heightened threat level. We're better than FedEx, one crowed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop, drop, drop, drop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bag away, bag away, bag away. We've got the bag locked up this time.

MESERVE: They didn't know they were already under investigation or that in the coming months, at least two of their choppers flown by unlicensed pilots would crash.

PETER OSTROVSKY, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: The smugglers are using the terrain to mask themselves. Radar can't see them here.

MESERVE: Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Peter Ostrovsky takes us along a smuggling route, demonstrating how a remote mountain valley can be a safe corridor, shielding a helicopter from detection as it slips from Canada into the U.S.

We touch down in a small clearing only about 60 feet wide, used by traffickers.

OSTROVSKY: But this is all it takes.

MESERVE: And hundreds of spots like this in the forest?

OSTROVSKY: Absolutely, hundreds of spots, just a wide spot in the road. That's all it is.

MESERVE: The engine never stops. We linger only for the minute or two it would take to offload marijuana and unload cocaine.

OSTROVSKY: We're going to lift off here. And you do the same thing, you just lift off, get turned around, and depart the area.

MESERVE: Mission accomplished.

OSTROVSKY: Mission accomplished, exactly.

MESERVE (on camera): Lacing through this national forest, logging roads like this where people wait to pick up the drugs the helicopters drop.

(Voice-over): The camera on a Customs and Border Protection surveillance plane 6,000 feet in the air that captures me and my crew on the ground can also record a drug transfer, or track a helicopter if it knows where to look in this vast wilderness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It truly is like finding a needle in a haystack.

MESERVE: With at least 30 valleys leading south from Canada and innumerable landing spots in the 3.2 million acres of forest land here, intelligence and cooperation on both sides of the border, in the air and on the ground, have been critical to this bust. But law enforcement has no illusions.

OSTROVSKY: We can't change the terrain out here. This terrain is here forever. You know, we can't change Mother Earth, and the smugglers are going to continue to exploit this kind of terrain.

MESERVE: For now they are trafficking drugs. But officials say these same methods could be used to sneak in terrorists or weapons of mass destruction. Not just here, but elsewhere on the northern border where a stunning landscape offers a cloak for smugglers.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, over the Cascade Mountains.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Fascinating. It is no secret that drug deals happen every day along the border with Mexico, but you may be surprised by how violent it gets, especially in one town right at the border. It's a town overrun by drug lords and it may be a haven for terrorist, say some.

CNN's Randi Kaye takes us there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's just about 8:15 here on the Texas-Mexico border. The sun is going down, and this is when the drug activity and the smuggling activity really begins. The locals say at this hour, the devil comes out. And the border begins to look like the Wild West.

(Voice-over): Nuevo Laredo, Mexico -- this is the crossroads of the entire border debate. From illegal entry into the U.S. to drug smuggling. And even the looming concern about national security. Is there a way into the U.S. for al Qaeda?

After dark, these streets are a bloody shooting gallery. Here Mexican federal agents are in a shootout with drug cartel assassins. Before it is over, all but one of the drug gunmen are dead. The streets will be cleared, the bodies removed. Until it happens again and it always does.

RICK FLORES, SHERIFF: It sounds like downtown Baghdad.

KAYE: On the U.S. side, Sheriff Rick Flores says the once popular Mexican tourist town has had at least 90 murders this year. No arrests, no leads, nobody's talking.

Only two months ago, four Mexican agents investigating the cartels had 30 rounds of automatic fire pumped into them. Weeks before that, a newspaper in Nuevo Laredo was attacked with grenades and gunfire. A not so subtle effort to muzzle the media.

Perhaps more alarming than drug smuggling and gang warfare, growing suspicions that al Qaeda may see this place as a way into the U.S.

While terrorists can come from anywhere, deputies are never seen anyone of Middle Eastern descent crossing here. This is the sheriff's fear.

FLORES: It is very simple. They go to Mexico. They spend a couple of months. They learn the language. They pick up on the culture. And they blend in with the other people who are crossing, making their way into the United States. And possibly even bringing extra luggage with them.

KAYE: Meaning?

FLORES: Meaning dirty bombs, weapons of mass destruction.

KAYE (on camera): You're saying that you believe it's a possibility that al Qaeda or any other type of terrorist group could possibly be smart enough to blend in with these drug cartels and gang members and cross the border that way?

FLORES: If the price is right, anything is possible.

KAYE: A worst case scenario, influenced by his firsthand understanding of just how porous the border really is here.

So that's Mexico right there?

FLORES: That's Mexico right there.

KAYE (voice-over): And that is the Rio Grande River. It stretches 87 miles along the county's border. The sheriff says he just doesn't have enough deputies to patrol all of it. And U.S. Border Patrol cannot make up the difference. But they tell us this are doing everything they can to fix the problem. They have started a recruiting campaign and plan to increase manpower by 9 percent this year.

FLORES: It is impossible for us to have -- completely have people situated every 10 feet in the border. And I'm not asking for that. But what we're asking for is that it's been long overdue that we get the assistance to be able to have additional bodies, more bodies to be able to be more vigilant.

KAYE: He says last year the sheriff's deputies confiscated $17 million worth of narcotics, firearms like this AK-47, and more than a million dollars in cash.

Well before dark, we witness a run-in at the river. Deputies heard a noise in the woods. Teenagers, they say, drug runners, waiting for a shipment to come across from the Mexican cartels.

And then there is the question of what is crossing into the U.S. in plain sight? Laredo is the largest inland port in the United States. With five international bridges, 7,000 trucks cross daily.

And with only 4,800 Border Patrol agents working the entire Texas-Mexico border, why, Sheriff Flores wonders, isn't the federal government doing more here?

FLORES: And it saddens me that we have been forgotten and people up in Washington ignoring the fact that our national security is at risk.

KAYE: The sheriff says he is outmanned by the cartels, who have better weapons and night vision gear.

FLORES: And I'm very tired of the rhetoric that they continue to throw back and forth, you know, and nobody gets off the dime and does anything about it.

KAYE: Immigration, drugs, smuggling, the threat of al Qaeda, it's all here, all the time -- until Sheriff Flores gets more help.

Randi Kaye, CNN, on the Nuevo Laredo border.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, of course, protecting the borders, a massive undertaking. Here is the raw data. Agents have to guard 5,000 miles along the U.S.-Canadian border, and nearly 2,000 miles with Mexico. There's also 317 ports of entry. On an average day, more than 3,200 people are apprehended for illegal entry. And nearly 6,000 pounds of illegal drugs are seized.

Inside our borders, weather has been a destructive force, from massive fires to deadly floods. It hasn't let up. We're going to take you to some of the trouble spots in just a moment.

And a new chapter in the battle of the stars. That's right. Star Jones speaks for the first time since getting booted from "The View." Is that really what happened? Apparently so. In her own words, when 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Without a major change in weather patterns, we are likely to be reporting on record wildfires all summer long and then some.

Take a look at this map. West of the Rockies, every state except Idaho and Montana is reporting large-scale fires tonight. Arkansas and Florida, hit as well. Even in Alaska they're battling 100,000 acre fire. All told 12 states, fires erupting twice as fast as last year.

One bit of encouraging news, the blaze near the north rim of the Grand Canyon has eased up a bit.

CNN's Dan Simon has been out with the elite firefighters, known as the "hot shots."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What stood tall and mighty for hundreds of years comes down in only seconds. Hundreds of trees falling victim to an Arizona wildfire that burned nearly 60,000 acres.

We're along for the ride as Hot shot crews saw down Ponderosa pines, hot shots are firefighters who parachute into front lines of dangerous wildfires each summer, doing everything from digging fire lines to cutting down trees.

These particular trees pose a danger of falling down on their own. This road is normally filled with cars carrying eager tourists to the Grand Canyon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you got a bigger saw, a little easier.

SIMON: With the fire quieting down Thursday, many crews are shifting to cleanup mode. This group out of New Mexico is gearing up for a busy summer.

J.J. STARKY, HOT SHOT: I love being in the outdoors, you know. I just love it out here. It's a fun job.

SIMON: J.J. Starky has been a hot shot for 10 years and can't imagine doing anything else.

STARKY: I didn't really like working behind a desk. So I kind of got offered a permanent job with the Forest Service and basically, here I am.

SIMON (on camera): Becoming a hot shot requires some serious dedication. The days are long, at least 16 hours. You only get four days off a month. And when one fire is out, they go right on to the next one.

(Voice-over): When was the last time you had a hot shower?

STARKY: I don't know, beginning of this roll, it was probably, you know, a week and a half ago.

SIMON: Hot shots work hard and play hard too. After the fire season, which typically lasts six months, many become ski bums for the winter. But that's only part of the allure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So my role is to make sure that we go out and meet the public's needs.

SIMON: And if you don't like getting dirty, this job is not for you.

(On camera): You see my yellow shirt right here? OK. How long would it take for my shirt to look like that?

STARKY: Give it three or four days doing this kind of stuff, you know? You'll be able to fit right in.

SIMON (voice-over): And on this day, the crew says, as always, they take great pains to make sure only the most hazardous fire ravaged trees come down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Just amazing. And the reason for tearing down those trees is what?

SIMON (on camera): Well, those trees line the side of the road actually going to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. And that's a heavily traveled area, so they want to prevent those trees from actually falling down on cars.

And Anderson, as for the fire today, guess what? We had some rain. And the crews are really happy with the progress. They're about 50 percent contained right now with this fire. Looks like those hot shot crews could be out of here in the next several days.

COOPER: It is amazing work that they do, and they don't get enough credit.

Dan, appreciate the report. Thanks.

Rain continued to fall in the flooded Northeast today, but there may be relief on the horizon. Forecasters are calling for a dry day in most of the region tomorrow. The floods have killed at least 14 people, forced thousands from their homes.

In Binghamton, New York, some 15,00 people were told to evacuate. Today the mayor said flood walls may have saved the city from being destroyed.

CNN's Allan Chernoff is there. He joins me now.

Allan, how does it look at this hour?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Anderson, the situation has improved dramatically. In fact, yesterday evening this entire front lawn was covered with water. But the water today has been receding very rapidly. In fact, I'd estimate probably a full foot every single hour. That's a lot of water going away. And it's a big help over here.

The fellow who lives here, Anton Lucas (ph), a real nice guy. In fact, he threw a big party last night, a flood party. You can still see the empty beer bottles over here. And they were singing out here on the porch.

But Anton is a contractor and he keeps his equipment in the basement. And yesterday we did show you the basement, just how flooded it was. Let's have a look right now. Yesterday I was only able to go down three steps, just until here, and the water level was virtually at the ceiling.

But Anton has a generator all hooked up. Here is the cord. And he's been pumping water out quite successfully. Let's have a look over here. Whoops, well, of course there is quite a bit of damage even to the banister over there. Yesterday I wouldn't have been able to do this, but right now I'm standing in just about a foot of water over here. You can see the water damage, certainly, along the walls here, the paint chipping away.

And as I step around, in fact, it feels a little crunchy. I think that's broken glass. Over here there is a broken painting, so clearly it must be broken glass. And what do you have when you've got a flood? Lots of silt coming right up from the river and that's the key thing that Anton and his neighbors are trying to clear off right now. As they get rid of the water, they also want to wash all the wood away so that this silt doesn't sink in. But certainly lots of work to be done -- Anderson.

COOPER: It's going to be a long night and long couple of days for them as the water continues to recede, leaving that silt behind.

Allan, appreciate it. Thanks for the report.

Coming up, the public battle between -- oh you know who we're about to talk about. Star Jones and even a bigger star, Barbara Walters. That continues with some new salvos thrown tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STAR JONES, FORMER CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": I don't want anybody to think that I all of a sudden came in there on Tuesday and just dropped a bombshell to my colleague Barbara Walters and said, I'm leaving. She's known since April that she didn't renew my contract.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Ouch. Tonight Star Jones tells her side of the story. Why she left "The View." Why she thinks she's the one who was done wrong. Oh, Star.

Plus, a crucial endorsement for the world's first cancer vaccine. It could prevent thousands of cases of cervical cancer. The question, how young should a girl be for the shot to work best?

And a day in court for an alleged terrorist. One of seven men accused of plotting to blow up the Sears Tower. But now it's the feds who are facing allegations, allegations of entrapment.

That story and more, next on 360.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well we here at 360, well, we're kind of in disbelief. You know, we keep turning on "The View", our third favorite program behind "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT," hoping to see the sparkling smile of Star Jones Reynolds. Hoping against hope that what she said on Tuesday was simply a cruel joke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STAR JONES, FORMER CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Something's been on my heart for a little bit. And after much prayer and counsel, I feel like this is the right time to tell you that the show is moving in another direction for its tenth season, and I will not be returning as co-host next year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: She wasn't kidding. Neither was Barbara Walters, when the next day, yesterday, she completely erased Ms. Reynolds from the show and said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": We didn't expect her to make this statement yesterday. She gave us no warning. And we were taken by surprise. But the truth is that Star has known for months that ABC did not want to renew her contract and that she would not asked back in the fall. The network made this decision based on a variety of reasons which I won't go into now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Best not to go into now. Today was Star's turn to fight back. She spoke exclusively to CNN's Larry King. Here she is, in her own words.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: I was told in April, on April 21st. As a matter of fact, my agent was called the night before; and then my agent called my managers and my husband. And Al got on a plane and flew to me where I was in Phoenix to tell me himself.

So for two months I've been going to "The View" every single day, dong my job 100 percent professionally. And through it all, every single week there would be news reports, speculation, rumor, gossip, innuendo, and it was relentless.

And Monday I woke up and there was another story and the countdown to Star leaving "The View" with the date definite.

Now, no one knew that information, but executives and me. And then Tuesday...

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": So you're saying somebody leaked it?

JONES: Absolutely. There's no question that that was done. And then Tuesday morning I woke up and it was more of it. And I realized it was turning into a circus atmosphere. And the viewers deserved, after nine years, me to not go out in a circus atmosphere.

KING: Do you think you should have said right then, by the way, I've talked to "People" magazine, and there is going to be a story.

JONES: That was not the forum for me to say, I've talked to "People" magazine.

KING: But it wouldn't have blindsided them when they learned about it.

JONES: But Larry, nobody is blindsided. First of all, you need to remember, Barbara and Bill orchestrated this from day one.

KING: Bill is the producer?

JONES: Is the other producer. Larry, I don't want anybody to think that I all of a sudden came in there on Tuesday and just dropped a bombshell to my colleague Barbara Walters and said I'm leaving. She has known since April that she didn't renew my contract.

Rosie and I had always been friends. I've liked her. So I was really taken aback when just two weeks prior to me being told my contract wasn't being renewed, she went on a very public attack of me and my family in print...

KING: Over what? Over the -- getting favors?

JONES: No, she talked about my weight. She misinterpreted -- she actually said Star claimed she lost weight through Pilates and yoga, which you know is not what I ever did. You can look at the book and see that.

KING: So she took you by surprise?

JONES: And she attacked my family in print. And so I was so taken aback.

KING: Did you call her?

JONES: No, because, you know, Larry, that's the one thing we have learned in this business, and I think you would agree, the last thing you want to do is get into a tabloid fight with someone.

I was so shocked at the sort of viciousness of it. I didn't even have time to regroup because what I later found out, sitting in my seat at the Emmy awards, that the same week that Rosie went on that attack, Barbara called her and invited her to be a co-host of "The View."

And I thought to myself, wow, after nine years I would have thought that at least I would have gotten -- I'm sorry that someone was so hurtful to you, but we're going to move in another direction because that's respectful.

What I hate about this more than anything, and may I share it, is this is the worst example of what people say about women. I will not be in a catfight. It's not who I am. It's not who I want to be. It's not who I was raised to be. Women professionals need to perform as women professionals.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: That, of course, "LARRY KING LIVE." You can see the full interview at the top of the hour and you can catch Larry every night 9:00 p.m., Eastern.

Possible good news in the medical world. A fight against cancer. Doctors may be starting to win. We'll have the breakthrough drug in the fight against cervical cancer. 360 M.D. Sanjay Gupta tells us all about it.

Plus, an FBI sting takes down seven suspected terrorists. We follow that story closely. They were accused of planning to attack the Sears Tower. But were they really a threat or victims of entrapment? We're covering all the angles when 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Today the world's first cancer vaccine approved by the FDA earlier this month received a crucial recommendation from an influential advisory panel. The vaccine prevents cervical cancer by protecting girls and women from the virus that causes it, HPV, which is a sexually transmitted disease.

Now, the panel of experts which advises the Centers for Disease Control said three groups of people should receive the vaccine. Girls 11 years old to 12 years old, girls and women 13 years old to 26 years old who haven't received the vaccine yet, and women with abnormal pap smears, genital warts or certain other conditions.

360 M.D. Sanjay Gupta has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): She had no symptoms and didn't know anything about the disease. So Denise Visbal (ph) was stunned when like hundreds of thousands of other women every year, she was diagnosed with precancerous cells in her cervix.

DENISE VISBAL (ph), DIAGNOSED WITH PRECANCEROUS CELLS: It was shocking, scary. Very scary. We needed to do surgery right away. If we hadn't gone right away, we would have had to do have done a hysterectomy, it would have gone up the uterus, it would have been pretty bad.

GUPTA: For almost 10,000 women in the United States every year, those precancerous cells turn into invasive cervical cancer. And close to 4,000 women die from it. It is caused by the human papillomavirus or HPV, a sexually transmitted disease that more than half of sexually active people get at some time in their lives -- over 6 million Americans every year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most women who are infected with the virus, as high as 70 percent actually clear the virus and don't have any precancerous or cancerous conditions.

GUPTA: Now there is a way to prevent the virus from ever taking hold in the first place. It's a vaccine. Typically, you think of vaccines for the measles or chicken pox. But Gardasil protects you against cancer. Trials showed the vaccine could lower cervical cancer rates by 70 percent.

DR. JOHN SCHILLER (ph), WORKED TO DEVELOP VACCINE: It was a great feeling. We really thought that, hey, this is going to be a vaccine that could work.

GUPTA: Dr. John Schiller (ph) is part of a team that worked 15 years to develop it.

SCHILLER (ph): The group that would benefit the most from this vaccine would be adolescents and young women who have not been sexually active yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to tell my daughter.

GUPTA: So Merck is launching an aggressive campaign to market Gardasil.

Research shows that more than 4 percent of women have had sex by age 13. And that the vaccine is safe for girls as young as 9.

That fuels debate about whether or not to recommend the vaccine for girls in puberty.

Conservative groups worry that giving them the vaccine would send young people a message that it's OK to have sex before marriage. And they oppose recommending the vaccine for schoolchildren because many schools would make it a requirement.

But many are concerned that not requiring the vaccine in schools means many would not get it, since it costs $360.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do not feel it should be made mandatory for school attendance.

GUPTA: But many are concerned that not requiring the vaccine in schools means many would not get it, since it costs $360.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once people leave the school system, it's harder to monitor, it's harder to promote, it's harder to ensure widespread adoption of a vaccine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have any questions?

GUPTA: Denise plans to use the vaccine as an opportunity to talk to her 10-year-old daughter Annabelle about sex.

VISBAL (ph): I think it is a wonderful thing. A vaccine that prevents cervical cancer, I mean this is big.

GUPTA: She's grateful there's a vaccine that could prevent Annabelle from having to go through what she went through.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Well, the new vaccine is a major step in cancer prevention.

Earlier I talked to Sanjay about some of the questions it raises.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: So, Sanjay, is there any risk involved with getting this vaccine?

GUPTA: It appears to be pretty safe, and that's why the FDA just recently approved the vaccine. You know, sometimes you don't know for several years out after actually getting the vaccine to the large masses of people.

What's interesting, though, is that they're recommending it for girls, I mean, essentially as young as 11 years old. And that's definitely a hard population to study. So some of those results may come out later on.

COOPER: If someone already has HPV, though, can they still get the vaccine and prevent cancer?

GUPTA: No. That's a good question. What is so interesting about this is you have a particular cancer here, cervical cancer, and you have a specific cause, this particular virus. The vaccine sort of prevents the virus from taking hold in the first place. And that's why it's so important to get this vaccine, this preventative medicine early so that the vaccine doesn't -- so the virus doesn't take hold and subsequently cause cancer. If the virus is already there, it's less likely to benefit in terms of cancer.

COOPER: What are the symptoms of HPV? And are there any effective treatments for it?

GUPTA: You know, it's interesting. HPV, it's a viral infection, it's a sexually transmitted disease. Sometimes it can cause things like genital warts which are -- you can just see. So that's one symptom.

But as far as the precancerous cells for cervical cancer, there may be absolutely no symptoms. And Anderson, This is why pap smears have become such a common practice in this country. Unfortunately not in many places -- other places around the world. But just actually doing the pap smear, finding those precancerous cells has been the best sort of effective way of dealing with cervical cancer. This vaccine might be even better than that.

COOPER: What about guys? Can men get it?

GUPTA: Cervical cancer is obviously a woman's disease, but there has been some speculation that other genital cancers could actually maybe be prevented in the first place by using the vaccine in boys and men as well. That data is not out there yet. That's still being studied, but we might hear about that in a couple of years as well.

COOPER: It is a very costly vaccine, though, I mean, $360 is pretty expensive.

GUPTA: Yes, it's $120 each dose and you have to take three doses. The way this works, I find very fascinating, is if this vaccination catches hold, it could be something that's widely mandated federally. So for example, you know, as you have the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine for young kids, this might be a vaccine for slightly older children as well. If that happens, it falls under some of the federal protection vaccine programs. That's going to make it much more affordable, even free for lots of populations of people.

COOPER: Interesting. Sanjay, thanks.

GUPTA: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: One of seven men accused of plotting to blow up the Sears Tower was in court today. Should the suspects be feared? Or is this a case of FBI entrapment? That story is coming up.

But first, Erica Hill has some of the business stories we're following -- Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, stocks shot higher today after the Federal Reserve raised a key interest rate a quarter percentage point to 5.25 percent. That's the highest level in more than five years. Investors, though, were happy to see the slight increase instead of a bigger one. And they responded with a buying frenzy. The Dow gained 217 points for its best day in three years. The NASDAQ rose 62. The S&P 500 added nearly 27 points.

Meantime, Larry Ellison, the big boss at computer software company Oracle, has pull out of a pledge to give a whopping $115 million to Harvard University. That's because Lawrence Summers stepped down as Harvard's president. And according to Oracle spokesman, the gift was Summer's brain child. A donation will now be made to another institution, but, Anderson, we're not being told yet just which one.

COOPER: Well, we'll be watching. Erica, thanks.

HILL: Thanks.

COOPER: So they were arrested, suspected homegrown terrorists accused of plotting to destroy the Sears Tower and a whole lot more. That's what the government is saying. Others insist they were clueless pawns entrapped by FBI.

All sides, when 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: One of the seven Miami men accused of planning to blow up the Sears Tower appeared in federal court today. The attorney general, White house and FBI trumpeted the arrest, calling it a victory on the war on terror. There are also accusations, though, that the suspects were patsies and an easy mark for entrapment.

CNN's Gary Tuchman investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An alleged al Qaeda sympathizer who worked in an Abercrombie and Fitch. Those details about Lyglenson Lemorin brought up in an Atlanta federal court.

A judge deciding he'll remain in custody and be sent back to Florida after prosecutors released evidence, including an image of him taking an oath to al Qaeda.

But Lemorin's attorney says his client was entrapped, tricked and coaxed into taking the oath by an FBI informant who said he was affiliated with the terrorist group.

Prosecutors also divulge their informant told the seven suspects he helped plan the attack on the "U.S.S. Cole."

Did he know what he was taking an oath?

JIMMY HARDY, PUBLIC DEFENDER: I don't see anything to indicate that he did. I don't see anything to indicate that he did.

TUCHMAN: Lemorin and six other men are accused of planning to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower and five FBI buildings.

In the Atlanta courtroom, prosecutors said the seven men wanted to install an Islamic government in the U.S. But attorneys for some of the suspects are inferring their clients are patsies.

ALBERT LEVIN, ATTORNEY: The violence and the terrorist plot was produced, written and directed by the FBI informant.

TUCHMAN: Patrick Abraham's attorney says his client is not a sophisticated man.

LEVIN: I would bet that he doesn't even know what the Sears Tower is.

TUCHMAN: Prosecutors gave CNN a statement made by Lemorin the day he was arrested, in which the 31-year-old legal U.S. resident from Haiti says, quote, "I was part of a group called the Moorish Science Temple that took an oath of allegiance to al Qaeda." But Lemorin's attorney says his client renounced the oath right after doing it. And then moved his wife and children to Atlanta a month later to get away from what he called the craziness.

Is part of the defense also that maybe he's not so bright?

HARDY: Well, we'll let the people decide how to deal with that.

TUCHMAN: Prosecutors say all the suspects believe that Osama bin Laden was aware and grateful for their participation in the terror plot. They also point out Lemorin wrote in his statement that he was present when the informant gave Narsil Batiste, the alleged suspected ringleader, a camera to videotape locations to destroy.

But so far the lawyers for the suspects and their parents say they've been entrapped.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Bush, help me please. My son is good from your country.

TUCHMAN: President Bush's prosecutors have a much different viewpoint.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: What was this guy's demeanor in court like?

TUCHMAN (on camera): Well, Lemorin looked nervous, Anderson. When he came in, he was wearing handcuffs and shackles. Only his handcuffs were taken off. His wife was sitting in the front row. He looked at his wife. His wife looked at him. Neither of them talked, though.

And at times during the prosecution's talking to the judge, he nodded his head like this. At other times, I was sitting close enough to him to say to his attorney, I didn't do that.

Tomorrow, Anderson, another hearing for the six other suspects in Miami. A similar bond hearing, and based on today, don't expect them to get out of jail right now either.

COOPER: Gary Tuchman, thanks.

More of 360 in a moment. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, the new bin Laden terror tape is being analyzed. Tonight, a lot of people in the intelligence community, trying to tease out any secrets it may hold. The latest developments, tomorrow, on "AMERICAN MORNING." Soledad, Miles and the news you need to start your day. That's tomorrow, starting at 6:00 a.m., Eastern.

"LARRY KING" is next. He, of course, talks to Star Jones for the hour. Enjoy.

From Washington, New York and around the world, good night.

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