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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Missing Climbers; Bush gets a Warning from Saudi Royal Family; Terrorist Haven; The War of Words; School Shooter Speaks; Deadly Jewels; Jewel of Africa; How Far Would you Go?

Aired December 12, 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: Heavy snow, high wind, falling temperatures. Bad enough for the morning commute, worse -- much worse if you are stranded at the top of one of America's tallest mountains.
ANNOUNCER: A treacherous mountain. A race against time. Three hikers fighting for survival.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF PRICHER, HOOD RIVER CO. SEARCH AND RESCUE: Their biggest danger is hypothermia, you know, and the weather.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: The desperate search to find them.

Return of the Taliban, stronger than ever, with a new P.R. campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROF. BARNETT RUBIN, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: This video is something which the Taliban have obviously learned from al Qaeda and from Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: What's in the video and why it's cause for worry.

And blood diamonds, not just a movie, a real-life nightmare.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The conditions can only be described as deplorable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Dangerous work for little pay. So who's getting all the money? Could the ring on your finger have blood on it?

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: We begin tonight in the dark on a freezing mountain where the lives of three Americans hang in the balance. These are the men -- Kelly James, Brian Hall and Jerry Cooke, all missing since last week after trying to climb Mount Hood in Oregon.

We know one of them made a desperate call near the summit. Rescue teams are searching for them now.

For the family members, all they can do is pray and hope that their loved ones will come home soon and of course safe.

CNN's Tom Foreman has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The trail begins here on the dashboard of an SUV. In a note, one of the hikers outlines the plan to climb Mount Hood. They wanted to travel light and fast.

(On camera): Soaring above 11,200 feet, Hood is the tallest mountain in Oregon. And in December it is covered in ice and snow. This is a dangerous challenge for even the most experienced climbers.

The starting point of this ascent was along what's called the Cooper Spur Route. This is a very popular climb for many people. Thousands of people make it every year, but mostly during the spring and summer. In the winter, it has hazardous drops all along this ridgeline.

The letter said when these climbers reached the summit, they would descend the south side of the mountain by Saturday. But that never happened.

(Voice-over): Tonight, somewhere up there are Kelly James, Brian Hall, and Jerry Cooke. Time is running out.

JEFF PRICHER, HOOD RIVER CO. SEARCH AND RESCUE: Well, I mean, their biggest danger is hypothermia, you know, and the weather, same as ours. You know, they're hunkered down and at some point if we don't find them, that's, you know, the hypothermia takes over and we need to find them.

FOREMAN: We know one of them may have shelter.

On Sunday, Kelly James used his cell phone to call his mother, telling her he was alone, inside a snow cave just beneath the top of Mt. Hood.

He also said that his companions left to go get help. Then the cell signal went dead.

TOM SCULLY, HOOD RIVER CRAG RATS: The way that it came across is that he was below the summit on the north side. And there was some indications that he was injured and -- so we don't know exactly.

FOREMAN: And that is what is so frustrating for the rescue teams.

Yesterday, facing whiteout conditions and 80 mile per hour winds, they called off the search. With a break in the weather, it resumed today. Dozens of rescuers crisscrossing the mountain, following routes, trying to retrace the steps of the missing men. Nobody is giving up hope.

PRICHER: Have to be positive. I mean, you know, if you weren't, we wouldn't be doing this. We always hope that we're going to find those people.

FRANK JAMES, BROTHER OF MISSING HIKER: We trust that God is at work here. And we have to trust him with this.

FOREMAN: Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Joining me now from Portland is Steve Rollins of the Portland Mountain Rescue.

Steve, thanks for taking the time to speak with us. What's the latest on the search? How many people are out there searching? And can you search during the night?

STEVE ROLLINS, PORTLAND MOUNTAIN RESCUE: I don't have the exact number of searchers that we have out today. The real problem has not been human resources. The real problem has been avalanche and the poor weather conditions. We're really -- our hands are kind of tied by Mother Nature.

COOPER: Are you able to operate at night or do you have to just wait for daylight hours?

ROLLINS: We can. Given the weather conditions and the storm coming in, I don't think we're having any members in the field during the nighttime though.

COOPER: What kind of equipment do you have out there? I mean, is it basic kind of, you know -- I mean, is it literally a question of just going out on skis and searching? Or do you have any high-tech equipment?

ROLLINS: Really, for this kind of searching, I mean we have all the high-tech new fabrics and clothing technologies, that kind of thing, but it really is mountain rescuers on the ground looking for clues and looking for the subjects.

COOPER: The last you heard from them, as we just heard, was a cell phone call from inside an ice cave. What do you know about -- I mean, did that help you zero in on their location?

ROLLINS: Yes. The information that was conveyed, though limited, kind of confirmed the route that we suspected that they ascended. It seems consistent with it. So we have a pretty good idea of where that snow cave is. The difficulty is that avalanche hazard is so high and, of course, the storm is so bad that we just can't get up there right now. And that's obviously very frustrating for the rescuers.

COOPER: How long is the storm expected to last?

ROLLINS: Gosh, we have storm after storm and that is not uncommon at this time of year. So we don't, right now, see any real opening in the weather that is going to allow us to do any major significant searching up high.

COOPER: They said they were traveling fast and light. Do you know how light? I mean, do you know what kind of storm gear they have?

ROLLINS: We think they have the correct clothing and equipment. The real thing is that if you weigh yourself down as a climber with a lot of extra gear -- tent, food, fuel, sleeping bag, that kind of thing, you prolong your exposure to rock fall and ice fall. So we believe that they probably did not carry that type of gear with the hope going up the head wall quickly and minimizing their exposure to those other hazards.

COOPER: Steve Rollins, we wish you luck. We appreciate you talking to us. Thanks, Steve.

ROLLINS: Thank you very much.

(BEGIN BREAKING NEWS)

COOPER: Some breaking news now could radically change the war in Iraq. The "New York Times" is reporting now that the Saudi royal family has given the Bush administration a warning. If American troops leave Iraq, the Saudis might throw their support behind the Sunni insurgency.

Saudi King Abdullah reportedly gave Vice President Cheney the message during the vice president's visit to Riyadh last month. The "New York Times" has just reported the story in the last hour.

(END BREAKING NEWS)

On the other side of the globe, winter is coming to Afghanistan; and with it, growing signs that the Taliban is not going away.

Even more troubling, what initially seemed like a rigid band of Islamic zealots now is working to win hearts and minds and regrouping for new battles, some coming next year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): This is what the Taliban looks like today. Young men signing up, lining up to become suicide bombers in their war against NATO forces.

When the Taliban ran Afghanistan as a fundamentalist state, it's leaders outlawed television as anti-Islamic. Now, they are putting out propaganda videos.

PROF. BARNETT RUBIN, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: This video is something which the Taliban have obviously learned from al Qaeda and from Iraq.

COOPER: This one isn't as sophisticated as most of the al Qaeda videos coming from Afghanistan. But pay attention to the number of men -- about 60 training together, praying together, then heading off to battle. A sign, said the U.S. military, the Taliban is better armed and better funded now than at any time since it was thrown out of power after 9/11.

Another sign, a new set of 30 rules of behavior, a code of conduct of sorts for Taliban commanders and recruits put out in the last several weeks by their leader Mullah Omar.

RUBIN: They were able to mount some very impressive offenses in the past year. Now that they have achieved a much higher level of organization, they are trying to re-establish the rules for that organization so that they can move on to the next level.

COOPER: The rules deal with recruitment and behavior. Rule one says, "A Taliban commander is permitted to extend an invitation to all Afghans who support infidels so they that may convert to the true Islam."

Their rules against corruption, one against kidnapping for ransom, one against recruiting murderers, one even to prevent sexual abuse of young boys. All designed, says Rubin, to create a more professional Taliban.

But certainly not a kinder and gentler one. There are other rules that mandate the Taliban destroy government schools, like this one in eastern Afghanistan, and kill teachers who ignore their warnings to quit. Intimidation is working for the Taliban, says Rubin, in parts of Afghanistan.

RUBIN: My impression from talking to Afghans is that the success of the Taliban is not due to their popularity, it's due to their effectiveness. People in Afghanistan don't make political decisions by thinking which party do I support because of their program. They think, what can I do in order to survive. If they support the Taliban, they know that the Taliban will protect them.

COOPER: Winter is traditionally the time when fighting in Afghanistan winds down, but Barnett Rubin says all of the signs, including the video and the new Taliban code of conduct point to even more intense fighting come springtime.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (on camera): Well, now a fascinating, sometimes chilling new take on what drives young men to take up jihad in the first place. Hopefully too, perhaps that this knowledge might also point towards a new way of containing Islamic terrorism without firing a shot. It is highlighted in an article in the pages of this weeks edition of "The New Yorker" magazine. The author is George Packer. We spoke earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Who is Kilcullen and why should people know about him?

GEORGE PACKER, "THE NEW YORKER": It's interesting. He's an Australian anthropologist and lieutenant colonel who is sort of on loan to the U.S. government. He's working in the counter-terror office at the State Department.

And I'm interested in him because I think we are at a very bad point in this long war, and it is as if the administration has run out of intellectual energy. They have been hampered by having a bad model for five years now.

And here is a guy from Australia who is a bit out of the bureaucracy, can think a little bit differently from others because he isn't from here, who is truly thinking strategically in new -- and to me, in convincing ways.

COOPER: And one of the things this guy, Kilcullen, was studying is why people join insurgencies, why people become jihadists. And his argument is that it's less about, you know, they hate our freedoms which is what the president is always saying, or -- necessarily the ideology that they are supporting, it's social networks. It's who their friends are, who their associates are, who they hang out with.

PACKER: Exactly. And if you look at, for example, why young Muslims in Britain gradually move in the direction of jihad, what you find is, according to Kilcullen, there is a kind of conveyor belt by which the jihadists are able to recruit people through local mosques, through community centers, through groups of friends and networks so that gradually they become pulled into a jihadist insurgency.

And Kilcullen says the only way to get them out is the same way you get young men to leave gangs. You provide alternatives. You have to create other structures that they can join. You don't simply do it by telling them that jihad is evil and that they will -- we will capture and kill you if you continue.

COOPER: And the example that you cite in the article is in Pakistan we have spent billions of dollars (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Pakistan military, billions of dollars for modernizing their armed forces, very little for actually building schools and madrasses, which there is a huge need for and which the Islamists are building right and left.

PACKER: Well, I think that the whole point of Kilcullen's thinking is that the enemy is fighting this war more intelligently than we are, both in terms of influencing, in terms of propaganda, in terms of using the web -- 5,000 jihadist web sites constantly changing, adapting, appealing to young people with kind of rap video recruitment tapes. I think our government hasn't begun to think about how to counter this threat. But what Kilcullen says is that we did it once in the Cold War and this is not entirely different. It's a long terms struggle against a complex and determined enemy.

And if we can unleash some of the same kind of more imaginative thinking with which we fought the Cold War -- we did not win the Cold War with military force. I think we won it by convincing large numbers of people that they would be happier under the western system than the communist system.

COOPER: Just very practically, they're talking about human train teams. What are those? Sending the so-called human train teams out with military units, what would that do?

PACKER: This is something I learned while I was reporting this piece. They are recruiting anthropologists and other social scientists to embed with combat brigades that are going to be deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. Little five, or six-men or women teams of experts that can become like the cultural and social advisors to the brigades who are out in the field.

Because the soldiers know better than anyone. They need help in this field. They are sending word back to Washington, we don't understand the society. Can you give us some expertise? Can you send someone out here who can help us? Because this isn't what they were trained with.

COOPER: It's a fascinating work and fascinating article.

George Packer, in "The New Yorker," thanks very much.

PACKER: Thanks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, George Packer and I covered a lot more than we have time for tonight. You can access an extended version from our blog, cnn.com/360blog. Give it a listen; and if you like, tell us what you think. Again, that is cnn.com/360blog.

Straight ahead, a shooting rampage on a college campus more than 50 years ago. The gunman finally speaking out. And what he has to say may shock you. In fact, who he is may shock you.

Plus, your diamonds could be fueling some of the bloodiest wars in Africa. The brutal truth behind blood diamonds.

And black market fertility drugs. Couples desperate to become parents share their tactics. It's part of our special series, "How Far Would you Go?" when 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Some tense moments in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, this morning where police evacuated a high school after reports of gunfire. A student fired shots in the air before taking his own life.

There have, of course, been dozens of school shootings and many victims in the past few years, but it's a shooting on a college campus more than 50 years ago that has a lot of people talking these days. It is the subject of a new documentary, "The Killer Within."

Here is CNN's Gary Tuchman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For more than three decades Bob Bechtel has taught at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He is a psychology professor, a well-respected scholar in this community.

TUCHMAN: Are you ashamed of what you did?

BOB BECHTEL, KILLED A CLASSMATE: Oh, worse than that. Ashamed is too -- I mean, it's loathsome. I mean, this is just terrible.

TUCHMAN: Professor Bechtel has kept a horrifying secret about his own college days. The year, 1955. The place, Pennsylvania Swarthmore College. Bechtel claims he was bullied by classmates in his dorm.

BECHTEL: I just decided to go home, get my guns and wipe them out.

TUCHMAN: A documentary called, "The Killer Within," a film about Bechtel's secret, complete with the reenactment of his 1955 shooting spree will soon be released.

BECHTEL: I had a Mossberg .22 caliber, a lever-action rifle, and I had a -- what was it, Smith and Wesson K-22 masterpiece revolver. And then I fired without aiming. And I heard this noise, and I knew I had -- see, it is funny, I knew I had killed him, you know, I wished I hadn't, and I just said, OK, that's it.

TUCHMAN: Bechtel had killed 21-year old Holmes Strozier as he slept. He continued firing additional shots into a door in the hallway. He then decided he was...

BECHTEL: I was going to turn myself in, get electrocuted, be done with it.

TUCHMAN: But that didn't happen.

(On camera): The Sanity Commission ruled that you were incurably insane.

BECHTEL: That's right. Incurably insane.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): His sentence, life at a state run sanitarium. The family of Holmes Strozier was relieved Bechtel would never again be on the street. But five years later, his brother, John Strozier, recalls visiting home and being handed a newspaper clipping by his father.

JOHN STROZIER, BROTHER OF HOLMES STROZIER: He just gave it to me to read. I read it. And he just said, don't ever you're your mother.

TUCHMAN: The 1960 clipping said Bob Bechtel had been freed, that he was cured. His legal obligations complete.

Bechtel deiced to hide his past, except to the woman he met and married. But that all recently changed when he decided to tell his daughter, Carrah, who was featured in the documentary.

CARRAH BECHTEL, DAUGHTER OF BOB BECHTEL: So I worry about him in the sense that his character will be maimed forever and that his dying legacy will not be that he was a loving, amazing father. It will be that he was a killer.

TUCHMAN: Carrah Bechtel convinced a filmmaker that her father's story can help people understand bullying and school shootings. The film shows the professor breaking the stunning news to students and to family members.

B. BECHTEL: I love every one of you, every single one of you. And what I am going to say to you is going to be very troubling. I killed another student.

TUCHMAN: Bob Bechtel is now quite pubic about his past.

B. BECHTEL: The bullies always pick on someone who can't fight back. And once people saw that I was paralyzed, this was an attraction.

TUCHMAN: Bechtel was diagnosed himself as a victim of post- traumatic stress disorder. He says he regrets killing Holmes Strozier, but he doesn't come across as a particularly sympathetic man.

(On camera): I mean, you're not very emotional about what happened back then.

B. BECHTEL: Well, I've had 50 years to adjust to it.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): But this man cannot get used to it.

STROZIER: The victim is my brother. It's the one he killed.

That's Holmes and that's me.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): John Strozier says his brother, who would have been 70 years old now, was a wonderful person, the star of the family.

STROZIER: He probably more than anything else was a leader.

TUCHMAN: Strozier never knew what happened after Bechtel's release. He tried not to think about it, until another newspaper headline caught his eye. STROZIER: I found out about it and I saw the headlines in the paper, "I Killed my Tormenter." I mean, it was just unbelievable.

TUCHMAN: One thing Strozier is sure of.

STROZIER: My brother was not a bully. So he's taking this sort of example of murder and then using it as an excuse to explain why he did this. And I think that is just absolutely outrageous.

TUCHMAN: I asked Bob Bechtel if the man he shot was one of the people he claims bullied him.

B. BECHTEL: I kind of think so, but I'm not really sure.

TUCHMAN (on camera): But you don't know?

B. BECHTEL: See, I think they all were.

TUCHMAN: I mean, he was a random victim of your...

B. BECHTEL: Yes. I -- I assume that they all were. OK? That they were all on that floor, they were all in on it.

STROZIER: He was not bullied at Swarthmore. He was not harassed at Swarthmore.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): In the movie, Bechtel's daughter shows she is still having a difficult time getting over the shock of the secret.

C. BECHTEL: He had planned a mass murder. I mean, he planned to kill everyone. He was going the kill everyone in the dorm. And thinking about this now, it's like, my God, he would have been like one of the greatest mass murderers in America's history, and that just seems so weird to me that that is not my father, you know.

TUCHMAN: As it is, he did kill a fellow student. And by doing that, became one of the first well documented school shooters. In addition to the movie, Bob Bechtel is writing a book he is titling "Redemption."

B. BECHTEL: When I was young, people used to get me to try cry for amusement. So I am not interested in crying anymore.

TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Tucson, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Fascinating story. In a moment, another story about secrets. The dark side of the diamond industry. They're called blood diamonds and their stains stretches from Africa to jewelry stores around the world.

Coming up, Jeff Koinange takes us to the diamond mines of the Congo, where the trail begins.

Also ahead, how far would you go to have a baby? Would you break the law and buy illegal drugs? Part of our special series, "How Far Would you Go?" when 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before you say anything, look at that man. You see him? His entire village was burned down. His wife and children, they -- they got away. He's been working in the mining camps. He'd been trying to get his family back, but he cannot get through all the red tape. All I'm asking is this, that you help him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: That was Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly. Their new movie, "Blood Diamond," is about the dark side of the diamond industry and the violence it's brought to parts of Africa. It's a big budget Hollywood film, but a problem that is very real and closer to home than you may think.

We sent CNN's Jeff Koinange to investigate. He has two reports from Africa tonight, starting in the Congo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As a bend in the stream running off the Congo River, villagers who earn little more than $1 a month are searching for a way out of poverty. They are panning for shiny treasure, diamonds in the rough.

The Congo is the fourth largest diamond-producing country in the world. Hundreds stake their claims here. Officials say diamonds are the country's largest export -- $2 billion last year.

But what these villages don't know or can't afford to worry about is that these are blood diamonds or conflict diamonds. Experts say they help fuel some of Africa's dirtiest wars, from Sierra Leone to Liberia, and from Angola to here in the Congo.

Nevertheless, from boys to men, it's a scramble to find the next big rock.

To get to the Congo's rich diamond district, we flew to the town of Mbuji Mayi at the center of this vast nation, then drove an hour and a half over dirt track roads until we arrived at the village of Depumba (ph). Though today it looks more like a lunar landscape, pot marked with holes barely large enough for a man to squeeze down.

It's dawn. 40-year-old Jean Pierre Mbenga and his five-men crew begin what will be a filthy, dangerous and back-breaking job. Each man plays a role. They use old picks, a rope, a torn sack. No one wears shoes, no gloves, no hard hats, no flashlights when they descend into the dark.

(On camera): The conditions here can only be described as deplorable. Half the time it's raining. These men neither have the right clothes nor the right equipment. As Jean Pierre and his team have told us, it has taken them more than two weeks to dig only 50 feet. And they that they may have to go another 50 feet and maybe even 50 after that. And at the end of the day, there is still no guarantee they will be able to come up with the diamonds.

(Voice-over): Jean Pierre makes his way down the tiny shaft. He digs, loads, lifts, and dumps. The walls shift and crumble. They are not secure. Accidents are frequent. Many diamond miners have been buried alive in these pits.

But like so many here, Jean Pierre has no choice. At home he has a wife and eight children, including a 2-week-old infant son.

It is terrible here, he says. All we do is work from morning to evening. And most of the time we come up empty. I can't think of a worse way to make a living.

Jean Pierre, who has been digging for diamonds for more than two decades, tells me he once dug up a one karat stone that he sold for $500. He thought he had struck it rich, but he had to pay a share to his crew and to the man who leases the land where he dig. Jean Pierre went home with less than $50.

That is the life of a miner here, he says. We work and work until our hands bleed and all we end up with is peanuts.

(On camera): I asked Jean Pierre who buys his diamonds.

Anyone, he says, just as long as they have the money.

(Voice-over): Anyone could be a wholesaler, or it could be a warlord, and the warlord could trade the diamonds for weapons. Bloody war, bloody diamonds.

Most of Congo's diamonds are exported through a state-run company. But in a country that in 40 years has seen a series of dictators, experts say getting diamonds out of the Congo illegally has been all too common. It can lead to more wars, more coups and leave tens of thousands of people here like Jean Pierre Mbenga desperate.

Like most days, today he goes home empty-handed. His family hasn't eaten all day. So he goes out and buys all he can afford for his eight kids, a tiny loaf of bread.

Tomorrow and the next day and the day after that, Jean Pierre will climb down into the darkness with little more than hope that he might find a way out.

Jeff Koinange, CNN, Mbuji Mayi, in central Congo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: The reality of life.

In a moment, Jeff takes us to another African country, a place that has managed to wipe the stain off its diamonds. In Botswana the gems are still big business. They're among the world's finest, but they also come with a clean conscience.

Also ahead, if you were desperate to have a baby and couldn't afford the treatments you needed, what would you do? The underground world of infertility, part of our special series, "How Far Would you Go?" when 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: well, this is one of the busiest times for diamond sellers, the holiday shopping season. It is impossible to say how many blood diamonds will end up under Christmas trees this year. But our next story is proof that the blood trail can be broken.

Here again is CNN's Jeff Koinange.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOINANGE (voice-over): You are watching a controlled explosion in the diamond mine in northeastern Botswana. It's the world's largest open-pit diamond mine. 600 feet deep so far and vast. It's as wide as 52 football fields. This is the most efficient and safest way to mine diamonds.

Here in Botswana, the world's largest diamond producer, all of the mining is mechanized, controlled and above all, conflict-free. The mines do not produce blood diamonds.

Since they were discovered here four decades ago, diamonds have turned out to be Botswana's best friend. A 50-50 joint venture between Botswana and diamond giant DeBeers has led to the creation of one of the most successful businesses in Africa.

It's known as Debswana, a partnership that is as rare in Africa as the precious stones they find in these pits.

These huge boulders contain some of the world's best diamond deposits. They are hauled in these massive trucks to a tipping area, where they are crushed into smaller rocks before they come here, where water pressure forces out more impurities, and so on. One conveyor belt after another in this multimillion dollar complex. Diamonds are serious business here.

The rough gems will end up in the nation's capital, Habaroni, here in a 10-story building where at any one time, there are literally millions of diamonds.

(On camera): This building holds more than 75 percent of Botswana's foreign exchange earnings. This room alone, worth tens of millions of dollars thanks in part to these tiny little precious stones, precious stones that have transformed what was once Africa's poorest countries to one of its biggest success stories.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a two-karater, roughly, yes. This is a two-karater. Yes. OK. Yes, it's two karats. Yes. It's a wonderful stone. Yes. KOINANGE (voice-over): Mike Moromang (ph) is responsible for making sure Botswana's diamonds are among the world's finest, and that when they leave here, they are certified not conflict diamonds.

MIKE MOROMANG (ph), DIAMOND CERTIFIER: As we receive diamonds from the mines, they are all packaged in such a way that nobody can tamper with them to ensure that there is no other diamonds that find their way into Botswana diamonds.

KOINANGE: Unlike most other African countries where diamonds seem to bring greed, chaos and corruption, in Botswana, every stone is systematically evaluated and grouped by quality. The diamonds are not cut or polished here. Every rock is shipped to DeBeers' headquarters in London and from there sold to diamond dealers around the world.

Botswana's attorney general says despite their care to control the diamonds here, she won't be surprised if the movie, "Blood Diamond," has a negative effect on diamond sales. She hopes movie goers see it for what it is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am going to watch it. And I am sure I am going to enjoy it. But I hope that, like me, all of the people in the world, when they finish seeing that movie, they will remember what we have just watched is look at fiction. For 99 percent of the diamonds in this world, they come from clean countries which are not involved in conflict.

KOINANGE: In fact, our invitation here was part of a public relations campaign to create a firewall against a possible negative publicity the "Blood Diamond" film could stir up.

The DeBeers company and Botswana hope to make clear they are more than a cut above any bad blood that might comes from blood diamonds.

Jeff Koinange, CNN, Habaroni, Botswana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, another underground world ahead, where people desperate to have a baby beg and barter for the medications they need and their insurance won't cover. We'll explain why, next on 360.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Our special series, "How Far Would you Go?" continues tonight with a question millions of infertile Americans grapple with every year -- how far are they willing to go to get pregnant.

Infertility treatments can make near miracles happen for those who desperately want to be parents. They're also incredibly expensive, too expensive for a lot of people.

Here's CNN's Randi Kaye with her Emmy winning report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Phillipsburg, New Jersey. I'm in need of Gonal F (ph). I am self-paying and don't have a lot of cash left. I need 475 IU. Please help me.

Seattle, Washington, we need six to 12 vials 75 IU generic products. Call Sam.

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 underground world of infertility. Web sites, chatrooms, conversations. Here couples desperate to have a baby, barter and beg for unused infertility medications, for hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars less than they would pay at the pharmacy.

It is a dangerous and growing trend in a world where a single treatment can cost $12,000 to $15,000, and insurance coverage is hard to come by.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was a necessity for in vitro only. I mean, there is no other reason why I would want to buy drugs off the Internet.

KAYE (voice-over): This woman asked us not to use her real name, so we will call her "Stephanie." "Stephanie" and her husband, like more than 6 million other Americans, are unable to have a baby. They chose in vitro fertilization, or IVF, in order to have their own child. But there was a problem.

"STEPHANIE", BOUGHT INFERTILITY DRUGS ONLINE: IVF was not covered through my insurance at all. No drugs, no procedures, nothing.

KAYE: And there is no guarantee it will work. A couple has a one in five chance of having a baby after a cycle of IVF. In order to find affordable medications, Stephanie like many others, turned to the Internet.

"STEPHANIE": There is a network of people out there that are willing to help you, that 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 were trading cocaine or trading other products on the Internet, it is 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. The could be medications that not only cause harm to the mom, but it can 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 treatments.

Several months ago, he found himself in a parking lot of a K- Mart, exchanging an envelope of cash in 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," SOLD INFERTILITY DRUGS TO "SCOTT": I felt like a drug dealer.

"SCOTT": We laughed nervously. This is the K-Mart connection, you know. We are passing drugs back and forth through our windows.

"JENNIFER": I didn't make any financial gain off of 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 a spokesman for the largest trade association for health plans. Pisano says the decision doesn't fall with the insurance plans directly, but rather, the employer.

KAYE (on camera): Has your group every recommended that infertility treatments be covered?

SUSAN PISANO, AMERICAN HEALTH INSURANCE 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. It'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 is 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 drugs may cost couples more than cash.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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, she and her husband gave birth to a baby boy. That's priceless.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Certainly is.

A quick update. Almost a year later, it is still happening. The laws have not changed. Big changes, though, for 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.

Tomorrow we will have more of our special series, "How Far Would you Go?" Logon to cnn.com/360. Click on our special report link. We want to hear your thoughts.

And up next, tonight, Iran's president does it again. His choice words directed at Israel. Next, on 360.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN BREAKING NEWS)

COOPER: A quick update now of the breaking news we've been reporting tonight, word that the Saudi royal family is now playing hardball on Iraq. According to an article in tomorrow's "New York Times," the Saudis are warning that if American troops leave Iraq, they might throw their support behind the Sunni insurgency.

According to the "Times," Saudi King Abdullah gave Vice President Cheney the message during his visit to Ridayh last month. How to deal with Iraq's Sunni minority is reportedly a central question. The administration's debate over what to do about Iraq, a debate that now appears to be taking longer than the White House initially predicted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Our shot of the day is coming up, but first Tom Foreman joins us with a 360 news and business bulletin -- Tom.

FOREMAN: Hi Anderson.

Over on the Shia side of the fence, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is at it again, saying today that Israel's days are numbered. And understandably, the crowd loved it. He was speaking in a conference of holocaust deniers organized by Mr. Ahmadinejad, who himself calls the deaths of 6 millions Jews in World War II a myth.

Here in the states, an immigration raid. Federal agents hitting a half dozen Swift meat processing plants in several states, rounding up suspected illegal workers. The raids stemmed from an investigation into identity theft. Authorities say illegals at the plants may have stolen or bought hundreds of social security numbers. No charges against Swift.

On Wall Street, stocks fell after the Federal Reserve said it will leave interest rates unchanged. The Dow lost 13 points, the NASDAQ fell 11, and the S&P -- not so much -- dropped only two points.

And Taco Bell has reopened most of the more than the 90 restaurants it closed due to an E. Coli outbreak. At first green onions were blamed for the trouble, but further testing wiped out that possibility. Health officials are still trying to figure out why more than 60 people got sick after eating at Taco Bells in recent weeks -- Anderson.

COOPER: A mystery.

Tom, time for the shot of the day. Do you remember the rubik's cube? You were probably big with the...

(CROSSTALK)

FOREMAN: Do I? I love the rubik's cube.

COOPER: Oh yes. A hit toy from the '80s. It is back in a big way. This video comes to us from Yahoo! Some of us tried to figure out that tricky cube and haven't been too successful. Check this guy out. He spends all of a minute holding the cube, analyzing it, trying to figure out a strategy. Then he puts on a blindfold and solves it in a minute and a half. Boom. Do you buy it?

FOREMAN: He's a -- well, that's magic, Anderson. There's no explanation for that.

COOPER: Yes, I don't -- look at that. Then he puts -- I don't -- I don't -- I think he's...

FOREMAN: I did one in about two minutes one time, but I had to, you know, peel all of those little stickers off.

COOPER: Is that right?

FOREMAN: And stick them right back on. It looks great.

COOPER: Yes, I don't have the mentality to do this. I just can't do it. Well, maybe he does. There we go.

FOREMAN: I don't have the time. Even if I had the mentality, I don't have the time unless I could do it like him.

COOPER: Tom, thanks. We'll see you tomorrow.

Tomorrow night, don't miss your chance to enter the "360 Takes You Live Sweepstakes." The grand prize is a trip to New York, a behind the scenes look at 360. Here's what you need to do. Check out our new 360 Web site at CNN.com/ac, watch 360 tomorrow night, look for a location clue that will pop up on the screen sometime during the newscast. The clue is the code you will need to enter the contest. Again, the address, cnn.com/ac. It sounds very complicated, but apparently all of the instructions are there.

Well, coming up, anti-Semitic, moronic, shameful. Just a few of the harsh reviews for Jimmy Carter's new book, "Palestine Peace, not Apartheid." In an interview with CNN's Soledad O'Brien, the former president responds to his critics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The book is about Palestine. And most of those reviews are referring to Israel. The book is not about Israel.

I recognize that Israel is a wonderful democracy with freedom of speech and equality of treatment under the law between Arab Israelis and Jewish Israelis. But the outcry about the book is misplaced in my opinion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Don't miss that interview tomorrow morning on "AMERICAN MORNING," starts at 6 a.m., Eastern Time.

Thanks very much for watching 360 tonight. I hope you join us tomorrow.

"LARRY KING" is next. His guest, Sharon Rocha, the mother of murder victim Laci Peterson.

I'll see you tomorrow.

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