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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
President Bush Ponders Iraq Study Group's Recommendations; Tragedy in the Oregon Wilderness; Baseline Killer Found?
Aired December 07, 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: We are going to have more about the search for James Kim.
But, also, millions have now seen the Iraq Study Group report, but it all comes down to what a single reader does about it, the president of the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: He read the words.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's bad in Iraq. Does that help?
ANNOUNCER: But is he buying them?
BUSH: I believe we will prevail.
ANNOUNCER: Mixed signals on Iraq -- we will sort the facts from the spin.
Suspected serial gunman -- police say they have got the man who turned a major American city into his own personal killing ground.
And he died trying to save his family -- new details on James Kim's heroic final act.
And could you survive in the frozen wilderness? A story that could save your life and those you love.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Across the country and around the world, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
Reporting tonight from the CNN studios in New York, here's Anderson Cooper.
COOPER: And we want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and watching around the world on CNN International.
We begin tonight with reaction to a highly unlikely bestseller. Just a day after it came out, the Iraq Study Group report is number two on Amazon.com. President Bush has now read it. At a joint news conference today with Britain's prime minister, Tony Blair, he called it important, but hardly the final world. He said he's waiting to see other internal studies before making any major decisions. The president also said he did not think co- chairs James Baker and Lee Hamilton expected him to buy into every recommendation in the report. In fact, that is precisely what they're saying. But, whatever Mr. Bush ends up doing, as you will see by his words and body language today, it may not be easy for him.
Details now from CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's probably the closest you will get from this president to admitting failure.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You want frankness: I thought we would succeed quicker than we did. And I am disappointed by the pace of success.
MALVEAUX: The bipartisan Iraq Study Group described the situation in Iraq as grave and deteriorating. The president's incoming secretary of defense said, the U.S. was not winning.
For Mr. Bush, it's not easy to admit mistakes.
BUSH: It's a difficult moment for America and Great Britain.
MALVEAUX: But perhaps now, more than ever, people want to know, is he in denial? Does he get it?
BUSH: It's bad in Iraq. Does that help?
(LAUGHTER)
MALVEAUX: It was typical Bush: Use humor to throw off the scent, then a stab at formality to reassert his authority.
BUSH: Make no mistake about it, I understand how tough it is, sir. I have talked to the families who die.
MALVEAUX: Then, as always, with the zingers, came the appreciation.
BUSH: And so -- no, I appreciate your question. I appreciate -- as you can tell, I feel strongly about making sure you understand that I understand it's tough.
MALVEAUX: But with pressing...
QUESTION: Do you acknowledge that your approach has failed?
MALVEAUX: ... and more pressing...
QUESTION: Are you capable of changing course, perhaps in the next few weeks?
MALVEAUX: ... Mr. Bush relented.
BUSH: I do know that we have not succeeded as fast as we wanted to succeed. I -- I do understand that progress is not as rapid as I had hoped.
MALVEAUX: President Bush and his closest ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, have stood shoulder to shoulder on the Iraq war since the very beginning -- critics calling Mr. Bush the cowboy, for stubbornly leading the charge, and Mr. Blair the poodle, for obediently following.
But, three years since the U.S. invasion, the two are still adamant, their Iraq mission is sound. President Bush didn't just drink the Kool-Aid; he made it. But, perhaps now, it's a little less sweet.
BUSH: Not only do I know how important it is to prevail. I believe we will prevail.
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Now, I think the vision is absolutely correct. What we have got to do now -- and this is exactly why the president is talking about the way forward -- is that we have got to get the right way forward.
MALVEAUX: But the right way forward may be to go backward by bringing combat troops home by early 2008, as recommended by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. Some analysts believe adopting at least some of the group's 79 recommendations is the only way these two leaders can salvage their legacies. Mr. Bush and Blair signaled, they're willing to try.
BUSH: Some reports are issued and just gather dust. And the truth of the matter is, a lot of reports in Washington are never read by anybody. To show you how important this one is, I read it and our guest read it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Of course, reading the report and accepting the report are two different things.
Suzanne, do you think the president will actually follow the report?
MALVEAUX: There are some indications that he will.
At least we know that, today, he did reject one-on-one talks with Iran and Syria once again. But he didn't rule out the possibility of a regional conference involving those two regimes. He also seemed to indicate a more active role that is necessary with the Middle East Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
But, Anderson, he did say that it will be a couple of weeks. He has got to take a look at the internal reports from the Pentagon, the State Department, the National Security Council. And then, we're told, that he will make an address to the nation when he's made up his mind. And that should happen in the next couple weeks.
COOPER: Suzanne...
MALVEAUX: Anderson.
COOPER: Suzanne, when I talked to the president's spokesman, Dan Bartlett, last night, he said he thought we were still winning in Iraq.
Is that the common belief in the White House, or is that just the public statements that they have to make?
MALVEAUX: Well, you know, what -- what the White House believes is that, look, and what the president says is that, if we continue, and that we don't pull out troops immediately -- immediately, or at least before what he says the job gets done, then, ultimately, we will win.
But, of course, as you know, no one knows how long that is going to take or how that is going to be accomplished. And a lot of it depends on what the Iraqis do -- Anderson.
COOPER: And it's certainly a complicated situation, when your new secretary of defense is saying, we're not winning.
Suzanne Malveaux, thanks.
Tony Blair's visit and the news conference today brings to mind Rudyard Kipling. "If you can keep your head," he wrote, "while all about you are losing theirs, and trust yourself, when all men doubt you, then yours is the Earth."
In the run-up to the Iraq Study Group recommendations, CNN's John Roberts ended a report by asking, in so many words: Is the president out of touch, or is he the one man who is left keeping his head?
As he reports tonight, the signals are still mixed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the White House is hanging on fiercely to talking points on Iraq that now seem like so much wishful thinking.
COOPER: Do you think we're winning the war in Iraq?
DAN BARTLETT, COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, I do.
ROBERTS: Wednesday, it was the president's counselor, Dan Bartlett, who wrapped himself in the W-word, faithfully following the example his boss laid down six weeks earlier.
BUSH: We're winning, and we will win.
ROBERTS: Was it just spin or a sign that the White House is completely out of touch?
MICHAEL O'HANLON, SENIOR FELLOW IN FOREIGN POLICY STUDIES, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: You don't tend to hear spokesmen wanting to walk away from the language that presidents have used. I think that's a big part of the problem here. But I really cannot understand why anybody in their right mind would want to maintain the -- the happy talk at this point, because, if there's one thing Americans know, it's that we're not winning.
ROBERTS: Bartlett's statements seemed all the more remarkable, considering, two days earlier, the incoming defense secretary had this answer to the same question.
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), MICHIGAN: Do you believe that we are currently winning in Iraq?
ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY NOMINEE: No, sir.
ROBERTS: Gates later clarified his remarks to say, well, the U.S. might not be winning, but it's not losing the war either.
Democratic Senator Jack Reed, a former Army Ranger, made his ninth trip to Iraq in October. Who does he believe?
SEN. JACK REED (D), RHODE ISLAND: Well, we're clearly not winning. And we're in danger of losing in Iraq, unless we take dramatic action, unless the president takes dramatic action. So, if Mr. Bartlett is under the impression that -- that we're -- we're still winning, then, I would tend to believe more the secretary of defense.
ROBERTS: But not losing seems a long way from the administration's heady pre-war pronouncements about U.S. troops being met with bouquets in Baghdad and democracy flourishing in the heart of the Middle East.
REED: It has all been about sort of a message, not a strategy. What message do we send to the American people?
ROBERTS: Now the struggle is just to keep Iraq from completely melting down.
O'HANLON: At best, you can say that we're trying hard to tread water. I think even that argument is pretty hard to sustain. But you can try.
ROBERTS (on camera): In the wake of the highly critical Iraq Study Group report, the White House is struggling not to lose control of the debate. But, at this point, analysts say, there is no gain from stretching reality, that it only further risks credibility.
John Roberts, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: More perspective now from our friend David Gergen, who has seen, from the inside, how presidents face tough facts, and how, sometimes, they don't.
We got we just saw the British reporter kind of something of -- out of a -- a rise out of -- out of President Bush. Do you think the president is in a bubble? I mean, do you really think he -- he believes we're winning? Or is that just wishful thinking on his part?
DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: He wants to believe we're winning.
And I think it's -- we have to -- history tells us that presidents have a very hard time admitting, and then changing course in a war. Harry Truman, in the Korean -- in the Korean War, really thought we could win, wanted to hang in there. It took Dwight Eisenhower, a new president, to come along and say, I will go to Korea, and then -- and go and brought a peace.
Lyndon Johnson, Vietnam War, had a very hard time confessing that what he was doing was not working. And it took Richard Nixon to come in and actually end it. It took a long time for Nixon. And one of the things I -- reasons I like the Baker-Hamilton commission is, I think it's going to bring this to a quicker end.
COOPER: Is the subtext of the Baker-Hamilton commission, I mean, really that we have just to get out, that it's over and we have got to get out? Or -- or do you really think all these proposals -- and because, I mean, the military -- you know, I don't know -- you have -- you probably read Michael Gordon's piece...
GERGEN: I did.
COOPER: ... in "The New York Times" today.
Every military officer he talked to, many of whom were advisers to this, said, look, they weren't even consulted on the final report, and that they say, this is a nonstarter. This idea of withdrawing by '08 has been tried numerous times over the years, and it's more about politics in Washington than facts on the ground.
GERGEN: Well, it is partly about politics in Washington.
But it also represents a lot of conversations with people in the region. A lot of those military people do have not access. I mean, they have had not necessarily had those conversations. And there's -- there's a geopolitics. There's an international politics about this, too.
I think what the report fundamentally is, is, you had to make a choice after the elections: Are you going to escalate the war, and put in a lot more troops, the way John McCain wants to do, or are you going to start the process of disengagement?
And these folks came to the conclusion that a process of disengagement is a better course. Now, what they're saying, essentially, is, in disengaging -- and let's be clear about this -- it may not work, but there's no percentage in actually increasing the number of troops. There's no percentage in pulling out quickly. This seems to be the best way. It's best shot we have got. You...
(CROSSTALK)
GERGEN: ... take that chance.
COOPER: But if all the military people are saying the reality is, if you disengage, it is going to fall apart, because that's what's happened every time before, and that there's no magic bullet, in terms of training the Iraqi security forces -- it takes years and year and years -- isn't this -- and they're still saying, well, we're going ahead, and that's what we're doing, isn't that, really, basically saying, look, this is a -- I mean, the critics will say, this is a fig leaf for a pullout.
GERGEN: Yes.
Well, Anderson, I do believe -- well, you know, like "The New York Post" headline today on the front page, you know, "Surrender Monkeys," that's what they call the -- the -- the Iraq...
COOPER: Baker and Hamilton.
GERGEN: Yes, Baker-Hamilton group.
I -- I think the reality is, Anderson, that the president is likely to look toward the military recommendations, which are coming in, in the next two weeks, and choose those over the Baker-Hamilton commission. But it's not clear that those military recommendations are sustainable here at home, or, indeed, within the Middle East, or that they will work.
I just don't -- I think the president wants to stay in there. I think he does want to hang in there. I think he thinks victory may eventually come. I think the Baker-Hamilton commission basically concluded, victory seems almost impossible. Let's do the best we can to withdraw honorably, and also try to preserve the region from a civil war, or across a region.
COOPER: They don't even use the word victory, in fact.
GERGEN: That's right.
COOPER: They use the word success...
GERGEN: They dropped the word victory, because they think...
COOPER: ... and which the president -- it was interesting. The -- the president was using the word success today.
GERGEN: Yes.
COOPER: I mean, as close as he would come to say that we're not winning was, you know, success isn't coming as fast as I had hoped...
GERGEN: Yes.
Isn't it strange...
COOPER: ... which is sad, I mean, just seeing...
(CROSSTALK)
GERGEN: Don't you think it's really odd that we're in a situation where the fate of a nation, the fate of a war depends on whether one man changes his mind? Isn't that -- that -- that seems to be a...
COOPER: Isn't that the -- the way it always is, though?
GERGEN: Well, I'm not sure it always is.
Usually, that person in that situation, if he has got everybody else saying, maybe we ought to do this -- I mean, he is playing sort of a Churchillian role. I mean, he is holding out against -- the president is. But, if he's wrong, you know, the consequences of that are -- are -- are really -- really could be quite, quite serious for the country and for the region.
So, you would think, at this point, he would at least be open to, I think -- let -- let -- maybe I'm wrong. Let me go back and reexamine fundamental assumptions about this war.
And that's what I think bothers people today, is that he's still dancing, and giving no signals. You know, he does at least say, like, it's going badly in Iraq. Let's -- let's -- let's acknowledge that.
The president is saying, look, I -- I see that things are not going well.
But he clearly is clinging to the hope that he doesn't have to do all the things in the Baker-Hamilton commission.
COOPER: Yes, no doubt about that.
David Gergen, thanks.
GERGEN: Thank you very much.
COOPER: Appreciate it. Always good to have you on.
On next to the other story so many people are talking about -- from the sky, the SOS in the snow was unmistakable. In their own words, the pilots whose search for a missing family ended in joy and then grief, share their life-and-death mission. That is coming up.
And lost in the wilderness, would you know what to do?
CNN's Rick Sanchez has been spending a lot of time in the wilderness overnight -- Rick.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So much to talk about, Anderson. We're about an elevation of 8,000 feet. We're in the Rocky Mountains. And there is a lot that you need to know if you're ever in this situation.
For example, do you know what this is right here? It may look a little silly, like something we built when we were kids, but it can save your life. I will tell you what it is.
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIEUTENANT GREGG HASTINGS, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, OREGON STATE POLICE: I want to make sure that's clearly understood. They did nothing wrong. James Kim did nothing wrong. He was trying to save his family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Kim's efforts to save his wife and children, stranded in the snow for days, were really nothing short of heroic. One volunteer said Kim seemed superhuman, that he got as far as he did.
Tonight, the people who rescued his family and recovered his body are speaking out on the mission, on the details, and Kim's incredible will to live.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): James Kim died trying to save his family. The pilots who tried to save him say, he's a hero. Now they're in mourning.
LIEUTENANT GREGG HASTINGS, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, OREGON STATE POLICE: He was spotted lying on his back, fully clothed, in a shallow depth of Big Windy Creek.
GUTIERREZ: The coroner says the 35-year-old father of two died of exposure and hypothermia. It is not clear how long he survived in this harsh wilderness, all alone, without food.
BILL ALBERS, PILOT: You have hope. You put somebody in there, you don't give up on it. You go, we're at the bitter end with it.
GUTIERREZ: Last Friday, these local pilots were hired by the Kim family to help find James, Kati, and their two kids.
STEVE METHENY, CARSON HELICOPTERS: There is no open areas in this range. It's very narrow canyon, a lot of trees.
GUTIERREZ: As the choppers began searching for them, the Kims were burning their last tire to stay warm. They had been stranded in their station wagon on a desolate logging road for seven days in the freezing cold. The parents ate berries and drank melted snow. Kati Kim breast-fed her two children to keep them alive.
JOHN RACHOR, PILOT: The car was just down in a well, it looked like, in the trees.
GUTIERREZ: The Kims could hear the choppers flying above, but they were running out of food for their children. James Kim decided he could no longer wait.
HASTINGS: On Saturday, December 2, at about 7:46 a.m., she said that James left on foot to reach help.
GUTIERREZ: So, James lit a fire for his wife and children. He took some clothes, a flashlight, and two lighters, then walked down the road. He walked several miles, then headed into the forest, toward a river.
HASTINGS: If he could get to the river, he could make it to the town.
GUTIERREZ: He walked 10 miles, most of it down treacherous, steep, wet terrain, in tennis shoes, jeans, and a jacket.
METHENY: I know exactly why he did it, because he had a wife and two children that were stranded for eight or nine days. That's why he did it. He was a father who was trying to save his family.
GUTIERREZ: On Monday, his second day out, John Rachor, a volunteer pilot, spotted car tracks in the snow.
RACHOR: There was an SOS stomped in the snow.
GUTIERREZ: He knew it was Kati Kim.
RACHOR: I couldn't have landed right where the car was.
GUTIERREZ: He called for help. That's when Scott Dunn (ph) and Daniel Townsend made a harrowing landing in the dense woods, with only a five-foot clearance on either side of the helicopter.
DANIEL TOWNSEND, PILOT: She just had a big smile on her face. She was jumping up and down, you know, just saying thank you for finding us, for getting us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was really worried about her husband getting attacked by a bear.
GUTIERREZ: With Kati and the kids safe, the search for James intensified. Rescuers found clothing and pieces of an Oregon map, and finally:
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) found him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Found him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
GUTIERREZ: Two medics were lowered to the ground. It was too late.
ALBERS: It was pretty quiet in my aircraft.
GUTIERREZ: Painful for the pilot who found him.
One rescuer said the wicked 10-mile trek through this stretch of woods had never been attempted by anyone before, but James Kim almost succeeded, for the love of his family.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Thelma, when he was on the road, he then went off the road, heading toward the river. Why did he do that? Do you know?
GUTIERREZ: Anderson, what authorities are saying here is that James Kim and his wife had been studying the map prior to him leaving the car. They thought that there was a town just four miles away. They miscalculated. The town was actually 15 miles away.
So, he thought he could walk out, try to get some help from the road, and then saw the river, thought, "Maybe I could follow the river out to the town," again, thinking it was just a short distance away. So, that's probably, they believe, why he ended up going down to the river and then ultimately into that terrible ravine.
COOPER: Yes, it is just so sad.
Thelma, thank you.
More now on hypothermia, the condition that killed James Kim. Here's the "Raw Data."
Each near, nearly 700 Americans die of hypothermia. It happens when a person's core body temperature falls to 95 degrees or less. In adults, symptoms including shivering, exhaustion and confusion. Severe hypothermia, if untreated, eventually leads to cardiac and respiratory failure, and then death.
Sadly, that is what happened to James Kim. If you're exposed, hypothermia can come on very quickly. But it may not have to.
CNN's Rick Sanchez is in the wilderness tonight -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Yes, that's why we're here, Anderson. We're going to try and show people what they can do if they're in this situation.
Go ahead, Cal (ph). Show them. This is what happens. You're driving through an area you may not know. You can get stuck. You won't be able to move your car. Now let's move forward, and show you what you need to have if you want to survive this.
This is the essentials of a survival gear. We're going to tell you what it is, why you need to have this in the trunk of your car. And we will explain it when we come back.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, even up to the last minute, James Kim may have never given up hope. His body, however, could no longer keep up the fight.
It was found just a mile from the car where Kim and his family were stranded for days, until he went out looking for help. After apparently leaving his clothes as markers for search teams, and desperately trying to survive, Kim succumbed to hypothermia.
For anyone in the wildness, be it hiking, camping or, like the Kims, lost, exposure is a killer. But there are factors that can increase your chances of survival.
Rick Sanchez is going to show us now. Over the next 24 hours, he will be exposed to the elements just outside Golden, Colorado, in the wilderness -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: This story has captured the attention of people all over the country, Anderson. At airports, people have come up to us, asking us what we knew about it.
That's why we have decided to spend the night out here, to show you exactly what happens if you happen to be stuck in the wilderness.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: A recent snowfall has left a couple feet of snow in this area. We're right in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. Our elevation right here is about 8,000 feet. It's about 20 degrees.
It's going to get into the teens pretty soon. These conditions are very difficult and very disorienting for someone who is in this element suddenly. And you can see, from these conditions, how easy it would be to get disoriented, between the trees, also the elevation itself. You think you're heading in one direction, and, suddenly, you're going around in circles.
Here, let me show you what I'm talking about. Now imagine what it's like to be out there for several hours. You begin to appreciate what the experts call the rule of threes. And that is, you can probably survive about three hours without shelter, about three days without water, about three weeks without food.
Now you begin to get a sense of how we prioritize these things, according to what experts teach.
Let's talk to an expert, if we can. This is Ken Brink. He's with Colorado State Parks, an expert on surviving.
Thanks, Ken, for joining us.
KEN BRINK, COLORADO STATE PARKS: You bet.
SANCHEZ: I probably made a mistake by trying to walk through the woods. Had I been stuck out here, and I had a car near me, I should have stayed in the car?
BRINK: We tell people to stay put if you're in trouble. If you tell people where you're going, and, when you get in trouble, you stay put, there's a very high possibility that we can find you within 24 hours, not always, but usually.
SANCHEZ: And don't give up your shelter?
BRINK: Absolutely. If you're with a vehicle, it can provide good shelter for you. If you get out wandering, like you were, there are some things you can do.
As an example, one thing we teach is what we call a desperation trench.
SANCHEZ: This a -- a shelter of last resort, if you will?
BRINK: Absolutely.
And you don't need any special equipment to make it. You are not going to have to work real hard to put it together. And, hopefully, you are not going to get soaking wet building it.
SANCHEZ: So, it's -- it -- it sounds -- it looks like a hole in the ice that you have made, taken some tree branches, covered it with snow. And you would literally just get yourself in there.
BRINK: Absolutely. You don't want to make it much wider than you are. If you can, build it so that it goes on an uphill slope. That is ideal, because the warmth from your body will rise.
SANCHEZ: Let me try and get in here, Ken.
I'm going to -- I'm going to try and just show -- so, it's -- it's deep, and deep enough in the back, that I can raise my head. And what do I do, put my -- just kind of get into a ball?
BRINK: You want to pull your knees up and put your hands around your knees.
SANCHEZ: Right.
BRINK: You want to minimize the air that's around you inside. And, once you put the pine boughs on the top, you seal it with snow. And, if you have got this built on an uphill slope, that will hold your heat and keep the wind off of you.
SANCHEZ: And this keeps me warm, because of my own, what, breath? BRINK: Your own body heat certainly will stay in there. You're insulated from the ground with the pile of pine boughs we put on the ground. And you're insulated at the top. And you have no wind on you. So...
SANCHEZ: So, this is not an ideal condition. It's a -- it's -- it's basically a shelter of last resort; that's correct?
BRINK: Absolutely. Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
BRINK: But it will minimize the -- your exposure to weather, and, hopefully, help you get through a tough night.
SANCHEZ: Thanks, Ken. Appreciate it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So, Rick, the -- Rick, the idea of that is, you would spend the entire night in there, and, then, during -- when it's daylight, and gets warmer, you -- you would start out walking again, I guess?
SANCHEZ: Try and -- the -- the first thing you should not do is leave your vehicle.
But, if you do, you're going to have to simulate the situation you had in your vehicle, an enclosed shelter. As we said, it's the shelter of last resort. But it's what you have got to work with.
Let me show you something, Anderson. This is a situation that people get themselves into. Tires start spinning. You're in the snow. You're driving the wrong vehicle to begin with, because you obviously need a four-wheel drive. You're in dress clothes. And, suddenly, you're stuck in the wilderness.
This is what you need to survive. And this is the expert, Ken Brink, who is good enough. He's with the Colorado State Parks, an expert on surviving. Again, you saw him in my piece a little while ago.
Let's get started.
Candles, everybody talks about how essential these are. Why?
BRINK: Having candles and matches and the ability to start a fire are a great idea. And, even inside the vehicle, you can burn the candles. And, if your vehicle is closed up, it will keep it about 30 to 35 degrees inside.
SANCHEZ: It works as a heater, then, inside your vehicle?
BRINK: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: This, I imagine, you use -- you could write SOS on top? This is fluorescent tape?
BRINK: Any kind of bright marking that you could use to hang from trees or your vehicle will help attract people to where you are.
SANCHEZ: Believe it or not, this is a blanket, Anderson.
And it comes -- what is it? About four bucks, you can get one of these.
BRINK: Four bucks. They are commonly available. And they reflect the heat back to your body. It's the same material the astronauts use.
SANCHEZ: Flashlight. Of course, you have a blanket that you're going to need.
And, before we go, Ken, would you tell people what this is, because I find that fascinating, that it would be essential for people to have that. What is that?
BRINK: As -- as far as attracting people, a loud whistle is a good idea.
And this is just a C.D. you didn't need around home that you might have thrown out that can be used as a reflective material to signal for help during the daylight hours.
SANCHEZ: So, if there's a helicopter looking for you, and you have one of those, they will be more apt to see you?
BRINK: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: That's amazing.
Thanks so much for sharing that information, essential information..
BRINK: You bet.
SANCHEZ: That could save people's lives.
Anderson, we're going to be hanging around out here throughout the night. We'll bring you a complete report on this tomorrow on AC 306.
COOPER: The CD is a great idea. Haven't even thought of that. Rick, thanks very much.
You can keep track of Rick on the web. Just log on to CNN.com/360 and click on the blog link.
We're going to show you what you think of his trip into the wilderness. We'll catch up with Rick tomorrow in our 360 special, "Against All Odds: Incredible Stories of Survival".
Heading east from Rick's location, a brutal freeze is settling in. CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano reports on the bill chill and the race to get the power back on in one city.
Plus, he's been behind bars for months now. And he's facing nine counts of murder. Find out why Phoenix police say he is the so-called Baseline Killer.
And a story that's been honored for exposing the dark side of the illegal market for fertility drugs, our Emmy-award-winning report when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: A punishing cold front continues to hammer many parts of the Midwest. The coldest temperatures of the season are expected tonight and many people are without heat.
CNN's meteorologist Rob Marciano reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Most streets around Decatur, Illinois, were empty. The weather, too cold to venture outside. Some had no choice but to brave the elements.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lots of clothes. Got the Mickey Mouse boots on, and many layers. That's pretty much it.
MARCIANO: What does that mean, Mickey Mouse boots?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what paratroopers use.
MARCIANO: This was no day at Disneyworld. Another Arctic blast engulfed the Midwest with the coldest air of the season: high temperatures in the teens and wind chills making it feel well below zero.
Crews restoring power to the storm-torn region are miserable.
J.T. SAVAGE, UTILITY WORKER: It's cold today. So if I run in, I need to get the job done fast as I can.
MARCIANO: When the storm first hit, power was knocked out to nearly a quarter million customers in Illinois alone.
LISA ELMORE, DECATUR RESIDENT: I was standing by the sun room, looking out the window when I saw the tree fall and hit the wire, and everything went dark.
MARCIANO: The latest check shows more than 25,000 still with no electricity, a full week after the storm hit.
The Mannings just got their power back. They had to stoke the fire for six nights to keep warm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was never colder in here than 58 degrees. I know that's not balmy. That's not the most comfortable temperature.
MARCIANO: The Grimos (ph) are back online, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We didn't think it would be seven days.
MARCIANO: They vacated chilly bedrooms and camped out on the couches near the wood-burning stove.
ELMORE: We're the only ones who didn't have power for the last couple nights, so that was frustrating.
MARCIANO: They've got one more headache, a dead furnace, so it's one more night before Tilly (ph) and Alexis (ph) can sleep in their own beds.
(on camera) At your age, you snore already?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, but she sleepwalks.
MARCIANO (voice-over): Frances Lambert (ph) won't be sleeping at home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a cot to sleep on.
MARCIANO: She's at the local Red Cross shelter.
(on camera) Better than a cold house?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my yes. It's a blessing.
MARCIANO: She's planning to sleep in her own bed Friday, hoping utility crews will finally get power back to her home in this icy region.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: Those still without power and remaining in their homes will have a long night. Right now it's 10 degrees with the wind chill. It feels like minus five.
This air mass, still bitterly cold, heading to the south and east. A lot of folks will get a piece of it. It will moderate. It will warm up eventually over the weekend. Temperatures will get into the 40s. But until then, Anderson, it is just bone-chilling cold.
COOPER: That is miserable. Rob, get inside and get warm. Thanks for your report. I appreciate it.
It's been nearly a week since the storm first hit Illinois, so why are so many people still without electricity? Fingers are now being pointed at the power company.
CNN's Tom Foreman tonight is "Keeping Them Honest".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The massive winter storm did so much damage the power company says even with 7,000 people on the repair job, there's no way electricity can be restored to everyone any faster. But in central Illinois, tens of thousands of homes are still cold and dark, and the lieutenant governor is getting hot.
LT. GOV. PAT QUINN, ILLINOIS: We pay the rates, when we turn on the electric light switch, it better come on.
FOREMAN: Consumer advocates have serious questions for the power company.
DAVID KOLATA, CITIZENS UTILITY BOARD: And when you have over 50,000 customers still without power a week after the storm, that raises questions. Are they doing everything they should be to invest in the system and to keep it running properly?
FOREMAN: Highly publicized power problems in recent years -- the blackout in New York, the brownouts on the West Coast, and of course, the lingering problems on the Gulf after Hurricane Katrina -- have raised concerns about the vulnerability of the vast network of wires and power plants that move electricity coast to coast, and about the regional companies that bring all that power into homes and businesses.
In this case, that company is Ameren. It supplies electricity to 2.4 million Midwestern customers, a half million of which lost power, mostly from tree branches that tore down power lines.
(on camera) At issue, did Ameren have enough repair crews ready when the ice storm hit? And did it do enough to prevent these problems by, for example, keeping trees near power lines properly trimmed?
(voice-over) The company says it has restored power faster than most would when faced by such a storm. It has invested nearly $2 billion over the past decade "to ensure reliable delivery of electricity. And our tree-trimming practices are more aggressive in Illinois than in most other states."
Ameren will have a chance to prove it.
KEVIN WRIGHT, ILLINOIS COMMERCE COMMISSION: We're trying to make sure the company did everything it could have done before, during and after the storm.
FOREMAN: The state commerce commission has now launched an official investigation into the company's response, hoping to keep everyone honest about the power vacuum that followed the storm.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, we take you to Phoenix now, where police say the so-called Baseline Killer is behind bars. Coming up, why investigators say they do have their man. And a story that exposes the desperate lengths that some people to go to, to have a baby. Our Emmy Award-winning report on the black market for fertility drugs. You'll want to see this when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: In Phoenix, police say residents can sleep a bit easier tonight. After following up to 8,000 leads, they say they have, in fact, caught the so-called Baseline Killer who terrorized the city for nearly a year.
CNN's Kareen Wynter reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Police have named him as a suspected serial killer for crimes the victims' families have blamed on a monster, even the devil himself.
Forty-two-year-old Mark Goudeau, the man Phoenix police now say is the sole suspect in nine gruesome slayings, a predator police say terrorized this Arizona community. One of his alleged victims, Sophia Nunez, a 37-year-old mother of three, shot to death in April inside her own home, her body found by her 8-year-old son.
LIBBY ROCHA, VICTIM'S SISTER: It's torn us all apart inside, you know. My nephew is missing his mother, who he treasured.
WYNTER: Authorities say Goudeau will face 71 criminal counts including first degree murder, sexual assault, kidnapping and sexual conduct with a minor for a string of attacks between August 2005 and June of this year.
Goudeau was initially arrested in September on two sexual assaults linked to the Baseline Killer investigation, so named because most of the murder victims were found along Baseline Road, one of the city's major thoroughfares.
He pleaded not guilty to the assaults. Police say they didn't have enough evidence to connect Goudeau to the killings and other cases until now.
SGT. ANDY HILL, PHOENIX POLICE DEPARTMENT: There was physical forensic and circumstantial evidence that detectives put together along with a lot of help from other agencies.
WYNTER: Police won't go into specific details of the crimes, but they have revealed some common links. Most of the victims were women between the ages of 20 and 30, many of them sexually assaulted. They were all shot to death.
Investigators described the suspect as an unusually aggressive predator who attacked his victims quickly and left a graphic crime scene. Who is Mark Goudeau? Authorities say a man with a lengthy criminal history. He was released from prison August 2004 after serving 13 years of a 21-year sentence for aggravated assault, armed robbery and kidnapping.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would describe him as someone who kept under the radar screen. He was not very actively involved in programs, but he was not very actively getting in trouble.
WYNTER: But shortly after his release, police say the series of killings and assaults began.
(on camera) The mood in the city now, how would you describe it? As one of relief?
HILL: That now the community has some closure.
ROCHA: Maybe when there's a trial, you know, whenever that may be, I may have closure then, but for right now, no. I'm still in shock and in awe that he was even part of it. But who's to say there might not be another Mark Goudeau out there?
WYNTER: Kareen Wynter, CNN, Phoenix, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, coming up next, what some people are going through to have a baby. Their journey into a hidden world of black-market fertility drugs, the Emmy-winning report, only on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: 360 was honored today. Our Randi Kaye, producer Audrey Gruber and editor Dave Budds (ph) produced a report called "Black Market Infertility". Today it won an Emmy, the third for 360 this year. We have an update on their story, but first let's take a look at the piece we first aired back in January.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Phillipsburg, New Jersey, I'm in need of IVF. I am self paying and don't have a lot of cash left. I need 475-iu. Please."
"Easton, Maryland. I have a 14-day supply of Lupron, purchased in the U.S. and stored properly. Buyer pays shipping."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I met with them in a parking lot and gave them the drugs. And they gave me the money.
KAYE (on camera): Welcome to the underground world of infertility. Web sites, chat rooms, conversations. Here, couples desperate to have a baby barter and beg for unused infertility medication. For hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars less than they pay at the pharmacy. It is a dangerous and growing trend in a world where a single treatment can cost $2,000 to $15,000, and insurance coverage is hard to come by.
STEPHANIE: This wasn't a necessity for in vitro only. I mean there's no other reason why I would want to buy drugs off the Internet.
KAYE: This woman asked us not to use her real name, so we'll call her Stephanie. Stephanie and her husband, like more than six million other Americans, are unable to have a baby. They chose in vitro fertilization in order to have their own child, but there was a problem.
STEPHANIE: IVF was not covered through my insurance at all. No drugs, no procedures, nothing.
KAYE: And there's no guarantee it will work. A couple has a 1 in 5 chance of having a baby after a cycle of IVF. In order to find affordable medication, Stephanie, like many others, turned to the Internet.
STEPHANIE: There's a network of people out there that are willing to help you that have leftover drugs that can sell them to you at a reduced cost.
Because you have a prescription that your doctor gives you, and it's just an alternative way of getting the prescription drugs.
CARMEN CATIZONE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL BOARD OF PHARMACIES: Just because it's a fertility drug which people may think is reasonably safe, doesn't make it any different than if they're trading cocaine or trading other products on the Internet. It's still illegal and it's still dangerous.
KAYE: Carmen Catizone is the executive director of the National Board of Pharmacies, which is designed to protect the public health in dealing with pharmaceuticals.
CATIZONE: They could be expired medications. They could have been tampered with. They could medications that would not only cause harm to the mom, but it could also cause harm to the fetus or to the baby that could be born later.
KAYE: But that is a risk many people like this man feel they have to take.
SCOTT: If it makes you a criminal, then that's what it has made me.
KAYE: We'll call him Scott. He lives in one of 36 states where health insurers are not mandated by law to cover some part of infertility treatments. Without the mandate, neither his or his wife's insurance will cover the treatment.
So just a few weeks ago, he found himself in a parking lot of a K-Mart, exchanging an envelope of cash and an insulated cooler for a supply of drugs at a discounted price from a woman we will call Jennifer, who had extra medications after IVF was no longer a viable option.
JENNIFER: I felt like a drug dealer.
SCOTT: We laughed nervously. This is the K-Mart connection, you know. We're passing drugs back and forth through a window.
JENNIFER: I didn't make any financial gain off it. That wasn't my intention. I had medication left over, so I just thought the best thing to do would be to maybe sell it to somebody else who could use it.
SCOTT: If the health insurance industry paid for the medications and the procedure, there would be absolutely no reason to have to do a deal through a car window.
KAYE: Susan Pisano is spokeswoman for the largest trade association for health plans. Pisano says the decision doesn't fall within the insurance plans directly, but rather the employer.
(on camera) Has your group ever recommended that infertility treatments be covered?
SUSAN PISANO, SPOKESWOMAN, TRADE ASSOCIATION FOR HEALTH PLANS: We believe that the decision about what an employer can afford is an employer decision.
KAYE: So yes or no, has your group ever suggested or recommended that infertility treatments be covered?
PISANO: Our group believes that whether infertility treatments are covered by individual employers is that employer's decision.
KAYE: So no?
I don't know about you, but I find it hard to believe that employers and insurance will cover things like Viagra, even abortions. So in other words insurance will help pay for someone to have sex. They'll help pay for someone to actually get rid of a child, but they won't help pay for someone to have a child. That surprises me.
PISANO: What you have is employers cover a combination of things. They cover things where there's evidence that they work to achieve a good health outcome.
KAYE (voice-over): But for people like Jennifer, it's not about good evidence, it's about fulfilling a dream.
JENNIFER: What the intention is about, is honorable. It's about getting pregnant and being able to afford to get pregnant.
KAYE: But the drug may cost couples more than cash.
CATIZONE: Unfortunately, this trend won't stop and won't decrease until we see a major tragedy, where somebody receives medications that are deadly or medications that cause significant harm.
KAYE: It was worth the risk to Stephanie. Using medication she bought on the Internet, just last month she and her husband gave birth to a baby boy. That's priceless.
Randy Kaye, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: What a cute baby boy.
A quick update. Almost a year later, it's still happening. The laws have not changed. Big changes, though, for the woman who we called Jennifer who sold her meds in the K-Mart parking lot. She is a new mother. Two months ago she adopted a baby boy and now says she could not be happier.
The "Shot of the Day" is coming up. Here's the big question: take a look at it. What's this guy up to and why is he drawing the paparazzi? Well, we'll tell you in a moment. That's "The Shot".
But first, Randi Kaye joins us with the "360 Bulletin".
Randi, congratulations on the Emmy.
KAYE: Thank you very much, Anderson. Good to see you.
The list of people exposed to the radioactive poison that killed ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko is growing. British health officials say seven hotel workers tested positive for low levels of polonium-210. Litvinenko had a meeting in the hotel the day he became ill.
He was buried in London today. His casket was sealed during the funeral to prevent more radioactive contamination.
In West Virginia, state investigators have concluded that lightning caused the methane gas explosion at the Sago mine back in January. That's according to a union official and another source close to the investigation. Twelve miners were killed in that disaster. The state report is to be released next week.
In Hawaii, nearly 500 survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor gathered to remember that day in infamy 65 years ago. To many, this is their final farewell. They're not counting on a 70th reunion, since they're now in their 80s and 90s. A moment of silence was held at the moment the Japanese war planes struck, leading to America's entry into World War II.
And the Seminole tribe of Florida is buying the world-famous Hard Rock franchise, including most of its hotels, restaurants and music memorabilia. The deal is worth $965 million. The tribal leader compared it to the sale of Manhattan by Native Americans to the Dutch for trinkets. "We're going to buy back Manhattan," he said, "one hamburger at a time." Anderson, that's a lot of hamburgers.
COOPER: It sure is.
All right, Randi. Here's "The Shot" today. What's a daredevil to do in Mexico City? For this odd fellow, climbing up the building is a good way of seeing the sights. His name is Alan Roberts. Some call him the French Spider-Man. Some probably have a few other names for him, as well.
Using just his hands and his legs, Alan -- or Alain -- hoisted himself up the 23-story glass building. The plus side is he made it. The bad news, he was arrested. And considering he's been busted more than 60 times for his stunts, maybe Spider-Man should stick to the ground for a while, but somehow I doubt it.
That's "The Shot" today. There we go.
Straight ahead -- I know -- straight ahead, people working hard, playing by the rules, and still falling behind. What Lou Dobbs calls the war in middle class. In Buffalo, he's hosting a town hall meeting. It's a special hour, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT": "War on the Middle Class", for Thursday, December 7. Here now from Buffalo, New York, Lou Dobbs.
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