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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Ice Storm; Taken: Children Lost and Found; Why Stay?; Stockholm Syndrome; Missing Sisters; A Mother's Loss; War in Iraq; Condolence Payments; O.J. Simpson: If I Did It;
Aired January 16, 2007 - 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: ... tonight. But we begin with a winter wakeup call. If you haven't been hit with the brutal weather yet, consider yourself lucky or unnoticed.
A storm system has engulfed much of the country.
This is from Oklahoma, one of the worst hit states.
Across the nation, at least 49 people have been killed. Ice, freezing rain have knocked down trees and power lines, leaving 500,000 without electricity.
This eye report was sent to us from a viewer in Springfield, Missouri.
And further east, millions are bracing for frigid temperatures.
Out west, a natural disaster, one that will have lasting effects. California's citrus fruit has been decimated by the deep freeze. Nearly $500 million of produce is ruined.
CNN Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is live in San Antonio, Texas, with more on the bad weather -- Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I'm here in San Antonio tonight, and a very rare cold night here. We've been enduring this for about 24 hours with freezing rain, sleet and even some snow mixing in just north of here.
Now, you glance behind me, you see the Alamo. Everything just looks wet. But on closer inspection, check out the railings. They are coated with ice here. And the tender vegetation that is used to temperatures in the 60s for January, are coated with ice and have become extremely brittle.
A big mass of arctic high pressure covering much of the lower 48 is really the main reason for this. And it has brought a wintry mix of weather to Texas over the last five days.
Here in San Antonio, in the downtown areas, roads aren't too bad. But bridges and overpasses are covered with ice, along with street signs, road signs and any light posts that are around.
Along interstate 10 just outside of the city, a portion of that was closed down earlier today. And still at this hour, in western Texas, a 200-mile stretch of I-10 is shut down.
Just to the north and west of here, in the hill country, a town named Boerne, there, they are covered with ice along the streets, making travel very treacherous.
A little farther to the north, two to four inches of snow has fallen today there in the hill country and another couple of inches is expected yet here tonight.
This system is gripping the nation from California to the northeast and everywhere in between.
Of course, Missouri has been hit very hard. They've been without power now -- they're facing day number four tomorrow as temperatures stay around that freezing mark.
The White House today declared 34 counties in the state of Missouri disaster areas, along with St. Louis.
And those of you in the northeast, who are still dealing without power here tonight, the coldest air of the season now is arriving there, Anderson. Temperatures in the single digits with wind chills in the teens and 20s below zero.
COOPER: Well, Jacqui, get indoors, get where it's warm. Thanks, Jacqui.
The weather didn't spare the family of Ben Ownby in Missouri this weekend. They lost power. Didn't matter, of course. They had their son back.
Ben Ownby, Shawn Hornbeck found in the home of their alleged abductor, Michael Devlin. Ben was gone for days. Shawn, as you know, vanished for years. The suspect is now behind bars. The questions, however, are far from over.
CNN's David Mattingly live from Kirkwood, Missouri, with the latest -- David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, we found out today that Michael Devlin will be making his first court appearance on Thursday. And when he does, he'll be doing it by closed-circuit television. This is in the case of the kidnapping of Ben Ownby.
What we found out is that the sheriff wants to do it this way because he did not feel comfortable -- he said it's a security reason. He wanted to make sure that this high profile case, this prisoner in this high profile case stayed in the detention center.
Meanwhile, Ben Ownby's parents today said that they're asking for a little privacy. They're looking forward to getting their son back into school and back into a normal routine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's kind of a little overwhelming for him, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's surreal, like it didn't really happen. It still hasn't really set in for him or us, I don't think. But it is. It's starting to. It's just -- we dodged a bullet here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've tried to shield him from as much as we can as far as people knowing who we are and stuff. We've experienced a few things where we can't go anywhere right now without people recognizing us. And we need to get him, you know, away from that where he can be a normal kid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Tomorrow we expect to hear from the sheriff in the home county of Shawn Hornbeck. He is expected to talk to the press, talking about possible charges against Michael Devlin in that county -- Anderson.
COOPER: Do you know, are those charges going to include another count of kidnapping against Shawn Hornbeck?
MATTINGLY: It would be a very big surprise if there is no kidnapping charge in this case. After all, this is where Hornbeck lived. This is where he was abducted 10 years -- or four years ago when he was just a small child. So everyone expecting to see another kidnapping charge in this case.
COOPER: David Mattingly, thanks for the latest.
During the time that Shawn disappeared, he grew into a teenager. His appearance, obviously dramatically changed.
But with the use of computer imaging and science, police hoped they'd be able to find him. How accurate is the new tool to find the missing? That's what we wanted to look at. Tonight we'll let you be the judge.
Here's CNN's Tom Foreman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Katelyn Rivera-Helton disappeared in Pennsylvania in 1999, she was 1-year-old and looked like this. Now, eight years later, forensic artists think she might look like this.
At the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children, they have many so-called age-progressed photos.
And Larry Bonney hopes you will take a hard look whenever you see one.
LARRY BONNEY, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: The trick is that, if you live next door to this child, or you have this child in -- in your grade school class, and you're a schoolteacher, and then you see the age-progressed photograph, that may ring a bell, and say, boy, that looks an awful lot like Jimmy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Be thorough. Just take your time.
FOREMAN: Drawing a child who has been missing fore years depends on precise knowledge of human growth and genetics. Artists typically look at pictures of the missing child's relatives.
BONNEY: If a child is taken at 2, and they are now 10, they will get pictures from the family at age 10.
FOREMAN (on camera): Of mom and dad?
BONNEY: Mom, dad, yes, of, you know, blood relatives. Immediate family is what they are looking for, assuming that genetic traits will remain fairly constant as the child grows.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Look at Shawn Hornbeck from when he disappeared at the age of 11, four years ago. To age his image, artists first considered typical adolescent growth patterns. They made his face longer, his hair and eyebrows darker. The eyes, themselves, somewhat more narrow. His nose was lengthened and his cheekbones were made more prominent. His mouth was drawn a little wider. His chin made more distinct.
It's all blended, and this is how forensic artists thought Shawn would look at 15. And here he is.
(On camera): In the end, all of this is a little bit about science, a little bit about art, and a lot about math, about simply improving the odds that a missing child will be spotted.
BONNEY: We want to keep these kids out there in front of the public. The children need to have people looking for them.
FOREMAN (voice-over): And that's a need that does not change, even as years pass.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, there are reports, and early reports -- there's a lot we doesn't know, let me just say that. But there are early reports that Shawn Hornbeck called his alleged abductor dad. If so, we've seen this before. The story is strikingly familiar. Part of it is about the ordeal and the pain that followed.
CNN's Ted Rowlands reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 25 years ago the nation was shocked and overjoyed to hear that two missing children had been found alive.
One was a 5-year-old, named Timmy White, who had been missing for about two weeks. The other, was Steven Stayner, a 14-year-old boy who had been gone for an incredible seven years.
Like what's happening now in Missouri, there were press conferences and joyous homecomings.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're so happy to have him back with us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down deep, I still thought Stevie would be home some day.
ROWLANDS: In this case, Steven Stayner had actually rescued Timmy White, sneaking out of this cabin and bringing him to a police station.
STEVEN STAYNER, KIDNAPPED TEEN: I didn't like what was happening and it happened to me and I just didn't want to see it happen to somebody else.
ROWLANDS: Over the years, through court testimony and even a television movie, Steven Stayner told his heartbreaking story of abuse and twisted manipulation at the hands of his kidnapper, a sexual predator named Kenneth Parnell.
Stayner said he didn't try to contact his real family for seven years because Parnell had brainwashed him, making him think his parents didn't want him.
In the beginning, Stayner said Parnell even made fake telephone calls in front of him, pretending to talk to his parents. And Parnell eventually told Stayner that a judge had granted him custody, as seen in this clip from, "I Know my First Name is Steven."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your new name is Dennis. Dennis Gregory Parnell.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want a new name. I want to go home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where your family, your parents don't want you anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they do. They love me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know. I know. It's tough to understand.
ROWLANDS: Stayner said he started going by the name Dennis and started calling his kidnapper dad. He said Kenneth Parnell did care for him like a father during the day, but sexually abused him at night.
STEVEN STAYNER, KIDNAPPED: I've been dealing with them memories, you know, ever since I came back.
ROWLANDS: Once he was home, it was difficult for Stayner to readjust, something his mother talked about in an interview years later.
KAY STAYNER, MOTHER: He came back different, very different. And we had a rough time getting used to having him home.
ROWLANDS: Eventually, Stayner married, had two children and said he was finally getting comfortable with his life. But in 1989, he died in a motorcycle accident, a tragic end to a very difficult life.
(On camera): The Stayner case is an example of what the experts say is the incredible power that an adult kidnapper can have over a child victim and the very difficult road to recovery. Something that's just beginning for the boys in Missouri.
Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Yes, it certainly is just beginning.
You know, when a child is missing, time of course can be critical. Here's the raw data. For every 10,000 reports of a missing child, one ends in murder; 74 percent of abducted children who are killed are killed within three hours of that abduction. In 80 percent of cases, the initial contact between the victim and the killer is within a quarter mile of the victim's house.
Despite that raw data, one family isn't giving up hope that two sisters may still be found alive. We'll have their story coming up.
Plus, the fear and the anguish of being held captive. What others have faced.
Inside the mind of kidnapping victims. Patty Hearst, Elizabeth Smart, Tanya Cash. Why do some stay when they have the chance to get away?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rather than fight for their freedom, as some people would do, their approach is, I'm going to be cooperative.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Is that the right thing to do? Some insight, when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN GRAPHIC)
NAME: Cermen Lamunt Toney Jr. AGE AT DISAPPEARANCE: 4 MISSING SINCE: November 6, 2005 LAST SEEN: State Park Place area near Collinsville, Illinois
CALL (800)THE-LOST WITH ANY TIPS/INFORMATION
(END GRAPHIC)
COOPER: Another missing child, taken at the age of four. We're showing you their pictures throughout the program tonight. If you have any information about the children you see, call 1-800-THE-LOST.
Shawn Hornbeck had friends, a cell phone it seems, and was free to roam the neighborhood he was living in. Yet, in all those years he was missing, he never returned home.
While his confinement may not have been physical, the psychological barrier may have been enough to keep him from ever leaving.
CNN's Randi Kaye reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the four years that Shawn Hornbeck was missing, not once did he get word to his family he was alive, nor did he run away. Even though police say he was free to play outside, even sleep at a friend's house.
(On camera): Why wouldn't he reach out?
DR. JEFFREY LIEBERMAN, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY DIR. OF PSYCHIATRY: It absolutely defies the imagination as to how somebody who wasn't being intensively monitored 24/7 would not have sought to communicate the pleas to their families or sought to escape. That's the most puzzling and troubling aspect of this case.
KAYE (voice-over): Columbia University's Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman says a condition called Stockholm Syndrome likely prevented Shawn from getting help. began to develop an relationship with the individual.
LIEBERMAN: The captive is developing a certain psychological reaction to the situation, which is geared principally to ensure their survival.
KAYE: Lieberman says the mind kicks into survival mode. It inverts itself to change bad to good and suspend reality.
LIEBERMAN: Rather than fight for their freedom, as some people would do, their approach is, I'm going to be cooperative and submissive to the captor.
KAYE: It even goes beyond that. Victims often end up protecting their abductors.
The syndrome got its name during a bank heist in Stockholm, Sweden, back in 1973, captured here in this newspaper photo. When the hostages were freed, two refused to testify against their captors and one even got engaged to one of the bad guys.
LIEBERMAN: They begin to develop a relationship with the individual. KAYE: Case in point, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart, abducted at gunpoint from her bedroom in 2002. Lieberman says fear and psychological submission prevented the Utah girl from taking advantage of opportunities to escape.
Children, Lieberman says, are far more susceptible to Stockholm Syndrome than adults.
Still, newspaper heiress Patty Hearst may be the best example of it. Hearst, at 19 was kidnapped, imprisoned in a closet and sexually assaulted. But later robbed a bank with her captors and remained on the run with them for more than a year.
PATTY HEARST, KIDNAPPED BY THE SLA: You have been so abused and so robbed of your free will and so frightened that you believe at -- you come to a point where you believe any lie that your abductor has told you. You're not even thinking about trying to get help anymore.
KAYE: When Beirut hostage Terry Waite was freed after more than four years in solitary confinement...
LIEBERMAN: He became sympathetic to their ideologies, their politics while he was their captive.
KAYE: And remember Natasha Kampoosh (ph)? She just escaped last August after being held in an Austrian dungeon for eight years. Her abductor committed suicide after she got away. Yet Natasha returned to light a candle at his coffin.
(On camera): To what extent do these hostages develop a sense of gratitude for being kept alive?
LIEBERMAN: It's a tremendously powerful force. I mean, there -- you can be thankful for somebody having spared your life when they've just subjected you to all manner of inhuman treatment.
KAYE (voice-over): Stockholm Syndrome may take just days to appear, but Lieberman says it could take years to recover from.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And Randi, a lot of the people who have it don't recognize that they have it. So how do experts recognize it?
KAYE (on camera): Well, some of the cases are more severe than others, so easier to recognize. But some of the key signs, Anderson, would be when a hostage speaks favorably about his captors after he's been freed, or he defends his captors, maybe makes excuses for how he was treated while he was in captivity. He might refuse to testify against his captors.
Another sign would be when a hostage who has been freed would be reminiscing about the time that he spent in captivity, almost like it was a good time for him. Or missing or mourning the captor, if possibly the captor had been killed while the hostage was being freed. He would be mourning him and the loss of him. So, and these effects could last for a very long time until they feel safe in their new environment again.
COOPER: Randi, thanks. Appreciate it.
Like Shawn's parents, a mother, whose son was kidnapped when he was 11 years old, has turned her grief into activism. I'll talk to her about how she's helping other families of missing kids while still searching for her own.
Plus, how the Missouri case is giving new hope to the family of two sisters who seemingly vanished into thin air, when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN GRAPHIC)
NAME: Bianca Noel Piper AGE AT DISAPPEARNCE: 13 MISSING SINCE: March 10, 2005 LAST SEEN: In Foley, Missouri
CALL (800)THE-LOST WITH ANY TIPS/INFORMATION
(END GRAPHIC)
COOPER: Another missing child. If you have any information about her or any of the other kids we've been showing you in this hour, call 1-800-THE-LOST.
When a missing child is found, it gives hope, of course, to families of other missing kids. One family feels a special connection to the Shawn Hornbeck case. Tionda and Diamond Bradley have been missing from Chicago since 2001. They were 10 and 3 years old.
The Shawn Hornbeck Foundation, started by Shawn's parents after he disappeared more than four years ago, has made it possible to keep the search for the Bradley sisters alive.
CNN's Jeff Flock reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY BRADLEY, GRANDMOTHER: All because we do not carry...
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the first pew of old St. Paul Baptist Church, her bible open to the Psalms, Mary Bradley prays for a Missouri-like miracle for her own granddaughters.
BRADLEY: I mean, it gave us a lot of hope, a lot of inspiration to keep on searching for our babies, because we do want them back.
FLOCK: Diamond would be 9 years old now. Her sister Tionda, 15.
On July 6, 2001, the girls left their mother, Tracy (ph), a note that said they were going to play at this school. They haven't been seen since.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just making you aware of the missing children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And if you see them or you hear anything about it, will you please call 911?
FLOCK: At first nearly 500 Chicago police and a dozen FBI agents worked the case, searching with dogs, combing through thick forest reserves, dragging lakes.
The community passed out flyers. Held vigils. "America's Most Wanted" tried. No trace.
Until now, the Bradley and Hornbeck families have had a lot in common, bonded to the point that the Hornbecks donated a bench in Diamond and Tionda's name.
BRADLEY: When you go through something like this, especially when kids come up missing, we feel the same things, you know. We feel like, you know, will they ever be found? Is everybody doing the most that they can to find them?
FLOCK: Like the community in Missouri, Chicago hasn't given up on Diamond and Tionda. A private investigator even volunteered his services, traveling to Morocco following a lead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just wishing my kids -- whoever out there got my kids, please send my kids home.
FLOCK: Police questioned the girls' mother and the fathers of each girl.
Phil Klein (ph), chief of detectives when the girls disappeared, now runs the whole Chicago Police Department. But like, back then...
PHIL KLEIN (ph), CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT: no one I can call directly a suspect.
FLOCK: There are no suspects, no new leads. Police tell us they remain hopeful.
BRADLEY: I don't want revenge. I just want him to feel guilty about it and be aware that what they did was wrong and that it hurt a lot of people.
FLOCK: For now, Mary Bradley sits with her pastor and thinks good thoughts, prays and hopes for a miracle. At least now she knows what one looks like.
I'm Jeff Flock, CNN, in Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So many parents still waiting. When a child is gone for so long, the question is how do you not give up hope?
Patty Wetterling's son, Jacob, was kidnapped 17 years ago. He was just 11 years old. He'd be 28 today. I spoke to Patty earlier tonight.
We're obviously having some trouble...
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Patty, I think it's probably impossible for people who aren't in your situation to understand what it is like day in and day out, month after month, year after year, to have a child still missing. Can you describe it for us?
PATTY WETTERLING, SON MISSING SINCE 1989: Gosh, it's like a continuous long journey, much of it being a nightmare. And it is -- it's filled with looking at suspects, looking at some really terrible leads and many times you think, well, I hope it's not that guy or I hope it isn't this body that they found.
And it's coming home to leads on the voice message at our home and it's getting things in the mail, and it's watching the news as they discover something else. And it's a very continuous journey.
And that's one thing, that once it leaves the media, people don't understand that it still continues on the family's side. It's something that never quits.
COOPER: And everyone else moves on, but of course it's impossible for you to move on.
You know, people use that terrible worked on TV, closure, which I think is just the most ridiculous word. If you've ever lost somebody you know, there is no such thing as closure.
WETTERLING: No. It's insane. It's an inappropriate word because nothing will close this. I can't go back to being the person that I was. Jacob could never go back to being the person that he was. You just open a new door, a new chapter, but you're never like closing the book.
I think you find closure when you die. But as long as you're alive, you're being moved to different venues. And it's not a word that really fits, missing children, I don't think.
COOPER: With every new case, though, there is the hope that maybe it will lead to something that will have a connection to Jacob?
WETTERLING: That's right. That is right. And it is -- it's all -- you know, our hope is strong. Every time there's a missing child, that this one ends up differently or that this child is found alive and that we can learn more about how we can find these kids more effectively and quicker and more of them return home sooner and alive. And we always are interested in following closely.
COOPER: Because of your work that you're doing, your advocacy work, you have talked to kids who have been taken and who have been returned.
What is -- can you tell us what you have learned from them about what it is like to be held? I mean, I think there are a lot of people who understand that a kid is not going to run away, or even if the kid has an opportunity to run away, they're too scared to. But the level of manipulation, I think, it's probably hard to understand for a lot of people.
WETTERLING: You know, in Jacob's case and in many of the cases I've talked to, you've got an 11-year-old child, for example, or 13. And they're taking the basic information that they have today and making the best decision they have. If somebody tells them, if you cooperate, I'll let you live, they're going to cooperate.
COOPER: And as we learn more about this alleged perpetrator, Michael Devlin, it's stunning that people in the community, you know, had questions, had sort of gut instincts, but didn't really follow through on them.
And that's got to be upsetting for you to know that there are people out there who see things. And we all see things, but kind of write them off or explain them away. And if people didn't do that, it could make a difference.
WETTERLING: Absolutely. Missing -- families of missing children are totally dependent on the general public in terms of coming forward and offering what they saw and letting police investigate it further.
And, you know, innocent people don't mind the questions. They'll cooperate, because they also want to find the child. So we always tell people -- we tell children as well, trust your gut. Trust your instincts if somebody makes you feel uncomfortable. And we're telling adults that. If somebody -- some situation does not look or feel right, be there for the child, stick up for the child. That's what we need.
COOPER: Well, Patty, thanks for what you're doing and thanks for being with us tonight. Thank you.
WETTERLING: Thanks for keeping the hope alive. I appreciate it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Patty Wetterling is an amazingly strong woman. Her son, Jacob, has been missing since 1989. He was just 11 years old.
We're following several other stories tonight.
Coming up, a live report from Baghdad where all that talk of safer streets seems a long way off after what was a very deadly day.
Plus, a special operation on U.S. soil.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. JOHN KISTLER, LOUISIANA STATE POLICE: We treated them very gently. You didn't want to tip them over, rock them. We treated them with very special care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Police, on a rescue mission in the great flood after Katrina. Now months later, the words everyone wanted to hear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a boy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And wait until you hear what they named him, when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: That charred wreckage, the aftermath of a car bombing in Baghdad today. It was an especially bloody day for the city. More than 100 people were killed in sectarian attacks, nearly three times that number wounded. You add to that a new U.N. report saying that more than 34,000 civilians were violently killed in Iraq last year. Dangerous days.
CNN's Arwa Damon reports tonight from Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two bombs in one place, just seconds apart. A car bomb parked under a pedestrian bridge at the front entrance to a university in a mostly Shia part of Baghdad.
At the university's back entrance, a suicide bomber with an explosive vest mingled with students, waiting for the evening rush home.
They exploded near simultaneously. At least 70 people were killed. About 170 wounded. Heavily armed militiamen loyal to radical Shia Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr arrived soon after the attack.
Just hours earlier, a bomb exploded close to al-Sadr's main office, killing at least four.
In central Baghdad, just minutes after two police officers had defused a car bomb, they were killed by another bomb. So were two civilians and 10 wounded.
In another attack on police, a roadside bomb exploded near a police convoy. Then as emergency crews responded and a crowd gathered, yet another bomb exploded. Those two explosions killed at least 15 and wounded 70.
All this as President Bush's new plan to secure Baghdad just began to get under way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's happening? Where they at?
DAMON: Central to that plan, an infusion of 21,000 U.S. troops, an evolution of the old plan, Operation Together Forward. The design of that plan was clear, hold and rebuild. But it didn't work.
These striker units led the way on the mean streets of Dora, a southern Baghdad neighborhood, trying to clear those committing the kind of violence seen today.
Other U.S. forces will follow to hold and rebuild. This time working directly with the Iraqi army, national police, Iraqi police and U.S. soldiers in a single chain of command.
LT. COL. BRUCE ANTONIA, BATTALION COMMANDER, 5-20TH INFANTRY: I think if we say we can't fail, is true. We can't fail. If we fail here, the fight's going to be in the United States. The fight's going to be all over the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go.
DAMON: On this mission alone, troops searched hundreds of houses, looking for weapons, insurgents and, just as importantly, information.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ask them if they've seen any men with guns running around the neighborhood.
DAMON: Answers here are hard to come by.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're scared and there's a lot of intimidations by the local sectarian groups.
DAMON: Eventually, joint security stations would be set up among the local population. Manned 24/7. Designed to stop the insurgents returning when the troops leave. Some neighborhoods may even be walled off. The U.S. is optimistic these measures will stop the violence. But today, whatever optimism may have been generated by a new plan for peace was quickly overshadowed by reality.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Arwa, the administration, as you point out, may be optimistic. Are soldiers you talked to? Or Iraqi officials you talked to?
DAMON (on camera): Well, Anderson, I mean, look, Iraqi officials, Iraqis and U.S. soldiers have heard these plans laid out on paper before at a senior level. And what they will point to is they will often say that these plans sound great on paper, they sound great as concepts when they're being presented. But really when it comes in terms of translating them into reality on the ground, that is where the real challenge lies. And oftentimes in the past, these plans have sounded great on paper, but they have not worked out on the ground, like we saw in Operation Together Forward. Now, these -- this new plan is basically a modification of Together Forward, based on lessons learned in that operation. But in terms of moving forward, I think most people here are kind of cautious when it comes to expressing any sort of optimism, because of the reality on the ground, like the violence that we saw today that left over 100 people killed in just Baghdad.
So there's a certain amount of caution and the realization that there are so many moving parts that really need to come together for this country to be able to move forward, not just militarily, but also in terms of politics and the economy.
COOPER: No easy road forward.
Arwa Damon, thank you.
It is hard to put a price on a human life, but that is exactly part of the U.S. military's job in Iraq.
There's a program, it's called Condolence Pay. Millions of dollars involved, but how the military is keeping track of claims is -- well, it's something of a mystery as you're about to find out.
CNN's Joe Johns tonight, trying to keep them honest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The numbers are grimly stunning -- 34,000 Iraqi civilians dead in 2006, most in the kind of sectarian violence which erupted today. Most, but not all.
In fact, some Iraqi civilians who died, were casualties of U.S. actions there, so-called collateral damage. We can't tell you the exact number killed by U.S. forces because we don't know.
Sara Holwinski is with the campaign for innocent victims in conflict.
SARA HOLWINSKI, CAMPAIGN FOR INNOCENT VICTIMS OF CONFLICT: The U.S. military doesn't keep numbers on civilian casualties.
JOHNS: We're keeping them honest, or trying to, but the Pentagon generally doesn't do civilian body counts.
Why? For one thing, they point out, there's no federal law requiring it. But we do know the Pentagon says it has paid tens of millions of dollars to compensate innocent victims of war over the past three years with what have come to be known as condolence payments.
We also know this -- in 2005, the military received hundreds of claims for these payments. By the way, the going rate for condolence payments when an Iraqi civilian is killed by U.S. forces is generally about $2,500. But since we don't know who got what and who didn't, there's no way of telling how many civilians may have been killed and how many may have been injured by U.S. forces by accident.
What's more, the military deals with each claim differently. Commanders literally decide who deserves what when an Iraqi civilian is killed.
HOLWINSKI: The problem is, it is very ad hoc across the entire country. So the documents that are required are different, depending on which brigade you're talking to, depending on the commander. The commander is really in charge of this program. And so he or she can set down guidelines, either very vague or very specific.
JOHNS: Jonathan Tracy is a former U.S. Army captain, a military lawyer, who was responsible for handing out the payments. He says the U.S. has to do this.
JONATHAN TRACY, FORMER MILITARY LAWYER: If there's not a system in place that handles that situation, you're not the harbinger of democracy and justice and you're not helping these people. You're just going to breed ill will.
JOHNS: The Pentagon says the idea is to try to show that the U.S., without admitting any fault or responsibility, is expressing sympathy.
But virtually all the critics say the one problem with the program is the lack of uniformity and the resentment created by inconsistent payments.
Now, the new Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Pat Leahy is looking into whether condolence payments need to be formalized by Congress, essentially requiring the Pentagon to count civilian dead.
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: I think if we had a consistent program run the same way everywhere, you would have the actual numbers because it would have to be part of that to count where the numbers are. And it wouldn't be catch as catch can.
As I said, our military in many areas do an extremely good job. But it's not consistent.
JOHNS: The Government Accountability Office is looking at how much money is paid to how many Iraqi civilians as a result of U.S. actions. When it issues that report, we'll be watching.
Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, another controversy, the confession sparked a firestorm, but very few people actually read it. I'll talk to the reporter who got an exclusive look at the crucial chapter of O.J. Simpson's tell all book. Remember that book? Well, one reporter from "Newsweek" has read a chapter. And what he has to say about it is quite interesting. We'll talk to him ahead.
Plus the incredible story of a Katrina survivor born 16 months after the storm hit. How is this baby a survivor? We'll explain, when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRED GOLDMAN, RON GOLDMAN'S FATHER: Frankly, at this point, the only thing that seems to -- seems to be coming of this is its reaffirmation of his guilt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, that was Fred Goldman reacting tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE" to "Newsweek's" exclusive look at a crucial chapter of O.J. Simpson's canceled tell all book.
The chapter is called, "The Night in Question." And the content -- well, it's about as revolting as you may have imagined.
"Newsweek's" Mark Miller read it and wrote about it in the magazine's current issue. I spoke to him earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Do you think this is a confession by O.J.? I mean, you read this chapter.
MARK MILLER, "NEWSWEEK": I thought it was a pretty convincing job of it. You know, it's both the way he wrote it, which is a first- person narrative, pretty forward. And it's the tone also that I find really convincing, because it's all about, you know, Nicole as a bad person and a bad mother, someone who has changed and he can't take it anymore and she's constantly pushing his buttons.
And it has kind of the feel of a classic wife abuser language. You know, he doesn't understand how he comes off to other people, but if you read it, it sounds like he's blaming the victim.
COOPER: He's blaming her for what happened to him.
MILLER: Right, essentially.
COOPER: I want to read some of the things you wrote in your article. You wrote, "Simpson writes that his ex-wife [Nicole] came at him like a 'banshee.' She loses her balance and falls hard, her head cracking against the ground. [Ronald] Goldman assumes a karate stance, further angering Simpson. He dares the younger man to fight. Then, in the book, Simpson pulls back. He writes, 'Then something went horribly wrong, and I now what happened, but I can't tell you exactly how.'"
You covered this trial. You know the details of the crime. How closely does his description follow what you heard in court?
MILLER: Probably speaking very closely. I mean, there are a few sort of smaller things and there's one very large thing, which is that he says that he had a close friend with him, a man he calls Charlie, who drives with him in the Bronco and goes over to the house on Monday with him.
COOPER: Is there any evidence of that?
MILLER: Well, Henry Lee, who is a well regarded forensic scientist, did some work with the defense and always felt like there might be a second set of footprints in the blood, but he couldn't prove that or he couldn't identify who they were.
COOPER: But besides that, it mirrors pretty closely how Nicole was killed, how Ron Goldman were killed?
MILLER: Yes. Absolutely.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: There was always some question about whether she was killed first.
(CROSSTALK)
MILLER: The coroner testified, the L.A. county corner testified he thought that Nicole -- that probably O.J. knocked Nicole down and then slit her throat by pulling back on her head and then dealt with Goldman.
This seems to suggest that, you know, Nicole falls to the ground and then he turns to Goldman. Those exact details are unknown because O.J. doesn't write them.
He basically says he's in some kind of a rage blackout. One source of mine said that he had told the ghost writer that he just couldn't have his children read such gory details. So it picks up on the other side when he's covered in blood and holding the bloody knife and both of the victims are dead.
COOPER: I want to read something else you wrote in "Newsweek." "Simpson writes that when he regains control of himself, he realizes he is drenched in blood and holding a bloody knife. Both Nicole and Goldman are dead. Simpson heads back to the alley, but before getting into the Bronco to flee, strips down to his socks. He rolls his bloody clothes and the knife into a small pile."
As I remember, police never recovered the clothes.
MILLER: That's right. They never found any bloody clothes and they certainly never found the murder weapon. They did find a pair of socks at the end of O.J.'s bed which were covered in Nicole's blood.
And he describes how he gets back to his house in Rockingham. Remember, there's a limo driver there who is supposed to take him to Chicago that night, so he has to surreptitiously get back into the house.
And as the prosecution theorized, he did go through a neighbor's yard, as he writes in this book, and did go behind the guest houses where Cato Calin was staying, and he runs into an air conditioning unit, creating this terrific racket, which is what Cato says he heard.
(CROSSTALK)
MILLER: Exactly. And then he gets back into his house and takes a shower there.
COOPER: So what happens to this book now? I mean, it's not being published by Reagan Books...
MILLER: Right.
COOPER: ... by Rupert Murdoch.
MILLER: Right. There's a battle over who has the rights to it. The attorney for Ron Goldman's family would like to secure the copyright to the book and has even suggested -- although I'm not sure how Fred Goldman would feel about this -- but has even suggested that under some circumstance, they might even have it published because this could be the only way they could ever recoup any money that they're owed for the judgment.
COOPER: They're going after the money that Simpson earned, but it's not clear they're going to be able to get it?
MILLER: Well, there is that. But they might also -- if you follow his logic, they might also have an auction of the book themselves or at least have it auctioned by somebody appointed by the court so that they would then would get the money for the rights to that book. That seems rather unlikely.
And then there's word that O.J. may be writing another book to -- as he calls it, a nonfiction book, to give his side of the story.
But, you know, I was obviously fascinated by what this chapter would say. And to me, the tone of the chapter is what really distinguishes it as something that seems quite authentic.
COOPER: Mark Miller, it's a fascinating article. Thanks, Mark.
MILLER: Thanks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, up next, a Hurricane Katrina survivor story with a twist, a big twist. The boy that was rescued, but wasn't born until today. How is that possible, you ask? Well, you'll meet his proud parents when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: You're looking at one of the rare happy endings after Hurricane Katrina. A Louisiana family literally went through hell and high water to get to this day.
CNN Gulf Coast Correspondent Susan Roesgen explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a boy.
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a strange way, Glen Markham's new baby boy is a Katrina survivor, even though he was born more than 16 months after the hurricane hit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's beautiful.
ROESGEN: The Markham's baby was one of 1,400 frozen embryos being stored for in vitro fertilization in a clinic that flooded during Katrina. The embryos were kept in super cold liquid nitrogen tanks like this one. And when the clinic lost power and air conditioning, the embryos could have been lost, too. So the call went out to the state police to try to rescue the embryos.
DR. SISSY SARTOR, FERTILITY DOCTOR: They were still submerged in the liquid nitrogen. The level had dropped down some, but they were safe. Perhaps in a few more days or another week and they would not have been.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here comes the first tank.
ROESGEN: This is home video of the nitrogen tanks being carried out of the flooded clinic.
LT. JOHN KISTLER, LOUISIANA STATE POLICE: Literally like you were carrying eggs. You treated them very gently. You didn't want to tip them over, rock them. We treated them with very special care.
ROESGEN: State Police Lieutenant John Kistler was one of the rescuers.
KISTLER: I think first responders anywhere -- I mean, you know, you're used to car crashes or fires or any sort of emergencies that you kind of handle like that. But the embryos were -- I think everybody thought that was a special mission.
ROESGEN: And now the mission is complete.
REBEKAH MARKHAM, MOTHER: He's going to be studying Katrina in school and knowing it's a huge part of history. And I'm going to be able to explain to him that he survived it before he was even born.
ROESGEN: So far, eight pregnancies have come from the embryos rescued in the great flood. The Markhams have named their new baby, Noah.
Susan Roesgen, CNN, Covington, Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Noah. How about that. A happy ending.
Up next, we're going to take you to Hollywood, where Donald Trump made news today that had nothing to do with Rosie O'Donnell. Thank goodness.
Plus, a dangerous derailment. A toxic train jumps the tracks, forcing people from their homes.
You're watching 360. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Randi Kaye joins us with the 360 bulletin.
Randi, what's up?
KAYE: Hi, Anderson.
A list of potential 2008 presidential candidates is getting longer. Today, Democratic Senator Barack Obama of Illinois filed papers saying he's forming a presidential exploratory committee. That gives him the OK to raise money for a potential race. He also said he will announce whether he's definitely running for the White House on February 10th.
Also considering a presidential bid, Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo, a vocal advocate for clamping down on illegal immigration.
In San Francisco, a federal appeals court has tossed out the 22- year prison sentence for a man convicted of plotting to bomb LAX at the turn of the millennium. The court reversed the conviction on one charge against Ahmed Rassan, and sent the case back to lower court to re-sentence him. And he could get a longer sentence.
In Brooks, Kentucky, south of Louisville, a train derailment sparks a huge a fire and it is still burning tonight. Twelve of the 80 cars were carrying hazardous materials when the train jumped the track this morning. People in a one-mile radius were forced to evacuate. At least 11 people were injured.
And Donald Trump, well, he took a break from his war of words with Rosie O'Donnell today to receive a star on Hollywood's walk of fame. But it was Trump's son, actually, his son (UNINTELLIGIBLE), who stole the show. The billionaire -- now look closely there. His baby seems to be a chip off the old block. Complete with Trump's famous comb over. I hope you saw it there.
COOPER: I wasn't looking.
Randi, thanks.
A reminder, we want you to help us keep them honest. If there's a wrong that needs to be made right in your community, tell us about it at cnn.com/360. We'll investigate.
"LARRY KING" is next. His guest -- Donald Trump. Who knew?
I'll see you tomorrow.
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