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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Invisible Chains: Sex, Work and Slavery; War in Iraq; Gas Pains; Evangelical Exposed
Aired January 24, 2007 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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The world's largest employment category for children under 16 is domestic work in the homes of others.
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THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From New York to Los Angeles, a secret labor force is hard at work in the fields, garment shops, restaurants, even in some homes. We're not just talking about undocumented workers.
DAN STORMER, RUIZ'S ATTORNEY: Slavery is alive and well. Trafficking of slaves is alive and well.
GUTIERREZ: We're talking about modern-day slaves living and working in this country without pay and against their will.
Fifty-year-old Thonglim Kamphiranon is a mother of two from Thailand.
THONGLIM KAMPHIRANON, TRAFFICKING VICTIM: I was a slave to my traffickers.
GUTIERREZ: Nena Ruiz is a mother of three from a small village in the Philippines. Like so many others who live in poverty, they were easy targets for traffickers looking for slave labor.
KAMPHIRANON: My family is poor, right? I want to make money.
GUTIERREZ: Thonglim dreamed of educating her children. When she was offered a job in a Los Angeles restaurant, she jumped at the chance.
It was this woman, Supa Won Virapol (ph), who brought Thonglim to California, taking her passport and forcing her to work 18-hour days, 7 days a week.
She says Supa Won (ph) forced her and seven other Thai women to serve meals on their hands and knees as a sign of submission. If she complained, she was threatened.
KAMPHIRANON: If I run away and tell police, my family will suffer. GUTIERREZ: After seven years, Thonglim escaped and federal agents began to investigate. Nena Ruiz was a teacher in the Philippines. She thought she was coming to Los Angeles to care for an elderly woman. Instead, she says, she ended up working in the home of then Sony Executive Jud Jackson (ph) and his wife, Beth, whom she was to address as Sir Jud (ph) and Ma'am Beth.
NENA RUIZ, TRAFFICKING VICTIM: I started the work at 5:30, then end at 10:00 at night.
GUTIERREZ: Nena had strict rules to follow, which included the meticulous care of the couple's two dogs.
RUIZ: I had to brush the dog's teeth, clean their ears, and even give them vitamins everyday. But I was forced to sleep on a dog bed.
GUTIERREZ: A dog bed on the floor of this dining room. She says she was charged room and board and claims on several occasions she was hit.
RUIZ: You didn't follow my instructions. I follow my instructions, ma'am. But she just used her closed fist and bump my mouth.
GUTIERREZ: A neighbor finally called police. No criminal charges were filed against the Jacksons, but Attorney Dan Stormer filed a civil lawsuit against them.
STORMER: The Jacksons' own stature was in the community. I mean, this is a man who is vice president of corporate legal affairs for Sony.
The jury found under the laws of this country that she had been held, falsely imprisoned, held as a slave, had their rights violated.
GUTIERREZ: Neither of the Jacksons agreed to be interviewed for this story. Their attorney, Jack Daniels, says his clients never abused Nena.
JACK DANIELS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: She certainly wasn't an indentured servant. She had free access to leave any time she wanted to. All she had to do was walk out the front gate and turn a knob.
GUTIERREZ: Nena says she couldn't escape, the Jacksons had taken her passport.
The couple has recently been indicted on federal charges of conspiracy to engage in human trafficking. Their criminal attorney would not comment on the indictment.
As for Thonglim, her convicted trafficker served eight years in a federal prison. She's been deported to Thailand.
Thonglim now has a real restaurant job. And her dream of being able to educate her daughter has finally come true.
KAMPHIRANON: I love America.
GUTIERREZ: A happy ending most people trafficked into the country will never experience.
Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.
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COOPER: Our next stop, Uganda, one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a child. Thousands of boys and girls there have ended up as sex slaves and child soldiers. It is a hell that's almost impossible to comprehend and even harder to recover from.
Here's CNN's Jeff Koinange.
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More than 300,000 children are exploited in over 30 armed conflicts worldwide.
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JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Take a good look at these young men and women. Only a few months before we met them, these teenagers had all been slaves, kidnapped from their villages in northern Uganda by a rebel army that calls itself the Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA.
Its specialty is enslavement, forcing victims to become child soldiers and sex slaves.
The LRA is led by this man, Joseph Kony, who claims to base his principles on the Ten Commandments. Kony's M.O. is to invade villages and kidnap children, brainwashing them and turning them into merciless killers. He's struck so much fear across northern Uganda, parents now insist on sending their children away each evening from their villages to the safety of the bigger cities. And around here, they are simply known as night commuters.
But after more than 20 years in hiding, Kony recently emerged, saying he's tired of running.
The Ugandan government calls the LRA terrorists. They call Kony a murderer and a madman.
The international criminal court calls Kony a war criminal. And it wants him to stand trial for crimes against humanity.
But Kony wants full immunity in exchange for a promise to end his decades-long fight against the Ugandan government.
Many of these teens do not want to see him pardoned after what they've been forced to see and do -- forced to murder, maim and torture their enemies, as well as suspected traitors among them. They all bear the physical and deep mental scars of war.
And as horrible as this may sound, those who escaped Kony and made it here to a rehabilitation center run by the U.S. nongovernmental organization World Vision, they are the lucky ones.
Among them, 19-year-old Alice Abalo and her 4-year-old daughter, Nancy, a product of mass rape by Kony and his men. Alice admits she killed for the LRA and that she was a sex slave, her body a constant reminder of her traumatic past. Two bullet wounds in her leg, shrapnel scars in her chest.
But what Alice saw and did as a child soldier are seared in her mind.
ALICE ABALO, FORMER SEX SLAVE (through translator): One day the group we were in had just killed about six people and proceeded to decapitate them. Then I was asked to light a wood fire using the victims' heads as support, the same way one would use three stones. I still have nightmares of their burning hair and brains oozing out of the burning heads. I've never been so scared in my life.
KOINANGE: And yet her life grew only worse. For eight years, Alice and other girls were literally passed from one rebel to another, much the same way one would pass down an old pair of shoes.
ABALO (through translator): I try to forget what happened with me, what those animals turned me into, but I can't. Sometimes when I'm sleeping, I dream that I'm being raped and strangled and I wake up screaming and gasping for air.
KOINANGE: Florence Lakor's daughter was abducted by the LRA when she was 8 years old. She had almost given up until she escaped. And now 17, she showed up at this rehabilitation center.
Florence now counsels former sex slaves and child soldiers like Alice Abalo, but admits it's difficult, especially after hearing their shocking stories.
FLORENCE LAKOR, WORKD VISION, UGANDA: Their stories are really horrible. We have had cases of children who were ordered to cook a human being. Said to cut the body into pieces and cook it up. Then they mobilize the village to come and eat the cooked body.
KOINANGE: Alice's rehabilitation into a life that's as close to normal as possible will no doubt take months, perhaps years. But she's taking the first steps, determined to, in her words, become a human being again.
ABALO (through translator): I just want to get my life back. That's all I'm asking.
KOINANGE: But years of enslavement have all but reduced Alice to a shy, reclusive and very scared individual. And even the best therapy in the world will be hard pressed to put this former sex slave's life back together again.
Jeff Koinange, CNN, Gulu in northern Uganda.
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COOPER: The sugar cane fields of the Dominican Republic. It is back breaking work, just dollars a day. It's the kind of work that ages grown men. The question is, how many of the workers are children?
Here's CNN's Joe Johns.
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Each year as many as 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders.
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JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's very early in the Dominican Republic. There in the predawn shadows, you see men with machetes and water jugs. They're going to work at one of the hardest jobs in the world. They cut sugar cane the same way it's cut in other parts of the Caribbean.
It looks like a scene from slavery in the United States more than 140 years ago. The overseers on horseback. Some are armed. The cane piled high. Much of the sugar ultimately shipped to the United States.
What we found here was not slavery. Instead, we found people who are enslaved by their circumstances. Most are Haitians who have crossed the border into the Dominican Republic to work.
They have no rights. They live in squalor. Many earn just enough to eat if they're lucky.
Look at this. It's a called a bate, a shanty settlement.
Hard to believe, but this man is only in his 50s. He worked in the cane fields for nearly 40 years. His shack is filthy. He hasn't eaten in four days. With no work in Haiti, he came here as a teenager and now he's sick and alone, on crutches and living on handouts from people who can't afford to give them.
We found this man cutting cane on a Sunday. With five children back in Haiti to feed, he works seven days a week.
We also met children. They tell us they started in the cane fields at age 7. For less than a penny an hour, they plant rows of cane shoots 100 yards long. They were happy to have the work.
How much do you get paid?
Three pesos.
How long does it take to do that work?
In a day, a fast cane cutter like this man can cut up to two tons, earning up to 250 pesos. That's about $8. But because they're paid by the ton, the old or slow can starve.
So why do they come here? Simple. For all the hardship, it's still better than Haiti, where the minimum daily wage for agricultural workers is about $3. And unemployment is well above 50 percent.
Many of the vast cane fields here are owned by the wealthy Vicini family.
On our visit, a U.S. Congressional delegation, worried about human rights, also worried. So the Vicinis opened up. For us, it was an opportunity for keeping them honest.
(On camera): The conditions are very tough, though, because this is the lowest rung of the economic ladder, is it not, for the people who work in the fields?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't say that.
JOHNS: No? They don't make much money, though?
FELIPE VICINI, VICINI GROUP: They make -- they make 150 pesos -- 105 pesos a month -- I mean per ton. Let -- can I...
JOHNS: When we put the question of slave labor directly to one of the Vicini's top lieutenants, he laughed it off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe, it is a ridiculous question.
JOHNS (voice-over): He told us to ask the people themselves. So we did.
(On camera): Is this like slavery?
Human rights advocates introduced us to workers who gave us the unofficial version.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said, yes, it's worse than slavery.
JOHNS (voice-over): And if this shocks you, perhaps the biggest shock of all is that it's much better now than in the recent past. And yet, it could still get worse.
The company is moving to replace the oxen and the children and the strong men with machines. So as awful as this may be, the people here say at least now they have jobs that at least pay a little.
Joe Johns, CNN, the Dominican Republic.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Well, the invisible chains of slavery are vast. But there are people working around the world to break them. Here's how you can help. Just go to our blog, CNN.com/360blog for a list of organizations including some we mentioned in this special hour report.
Just ahead tonight, billions of your dollars being spent on bridges to nowhere and the world toilet summit and more. The president says enough. Will lawmakers listen? We're keeping them honest.
Also tonight, when it comes to Iraq, it is all coming down to Baghdad.
Thousands more troops. This is what they will be facing.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They run between there and that blue door. See, there they go.
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COOPER: The president's new plan and the life or death question it raises. Are troops being sent on mission impossible? Next, on 360.
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COOPER: Insurgent video. They claim it shows the wreckage of a U.S. helicopter. They also claim they shot it down. It crashed yesterday north central Baghdad with five Americans on board, civilian contractors working for Blackwater Security. All five had gunshot wounds. Not clear yet whether they died of that or in the crash itself.
One thing is certain, though. Baghdad remains overwhelmingly hostile territory for American civilians and American troops alike.
CNN's Arwa Damon knows firsthand. Take a look.
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ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is where the battle for Baghdad was fought today. Out of apartments and high-rise buildings that line this major Baghdad thoroughfare.
Listen carefully as the U.S. troops spot an Iraqi insurgent in a nearby building.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right over here. You see the corner of a building, sunlight. OK? They run between there and that blue door. See, there they go.
DAMON: The insurgents are so close, the Americans can see them without binoculars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There he goes, there he goes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a moneymaker right there.
DAMON: That material was shot by a Pentagon camera crew. At another building nearby, we had a different vantage point.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, coming up!
DAMON: We arrived on this rooftop near Baghdad's Haifa Street seven hours into the battle.
The American troops, side by side with their Iraqi counterparts, are being fired at from one of those high rises in the foreground.
American Apache helicopters circle the building repeatedly to try to get a clear shot at the insurgents inside, but they can't. So the target building's coordinates are radioed to a site far from Haifa Street. And that's when it happened.
A precision-guided U.S. missile, fired from a site unseen, levels the building where the insurgents were holed up. As soon as the building falls, the insurgent guns go virtually silent. Just the occasional shot here and there.
It's a reminder that the Iraqi army still needs the United States military.
Colonel Hassan Filau (ph) served in Saddam Hussein's army. The terrorists are better armed than we are, the brigade commander says. So we want the Americans to support us, especially for the tougher targets.
On this date, Iraqi troops who had been fighting below bring in two insurgents wounded in a gun battle.
One of these men threw a grenade off the rooftop at us, the soldier says. The other was firing with a machine gun.
The wounded insurgents are put into an Iraqi ambulance and driven away.
(On camera): Across the river from Haifa Street another Stryker battalion is also fighting alongside Iraqi forces, and yet another Sunni stronghold. The aim there, as it is here, to disrupt the insurgency so that eventually other troops can come in to clear, hold and rebuild.
(Voice-over): Some of the Stryker armored vehicles leave. Some of them stay to help Iraqi troops hold the ground for another day.
Only moments after this day's gun battle ends, the civilians who remain in the area begin emerging just before the sunset. That is life on Haifa Street.
Arwa Damon, CNN, on Haifa Street in Baghdad.
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COOPER: Well thankfully, no U.S. troops were killed in the battle on Haifa Street, but there was a casualty today.
Here's the raw data. Insurgents killed one soldier while he was on patrol near the center of Baghdad. That brings the death toll for the month of January up to 62; 3,062 U.S. troops have been killed since the war began.
In Washington, the war of Iraq is well under way. Republicans and Democrats alike, turning their anger about the president's vision into votes. That story is next.
And later, saving turkeys by shooting them. Sounds crazy, perhaps, but for lawmakers, it's one of the earmarked projects they love and that you're paying for. We're keeping them honest, when 360 continues.
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COOPER: When it comes to the war, the White House is doing a bit of good cop/bad cop right now. Last night President Bush played nice with Democrats. Today, Vice President Cheney came out fighting.
In an exclusive interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Cheney made it clear what's going to happen if Congress votes against sending more troops to Iraq.
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DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It won't stop us. And it would be, I think, detrimental from the standpoint of the troops.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, you're moving forward no matter what the consequences?
CHENEY: We are moving forward. We are moving forward.
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COOPER: Cheney's not backing down. Neither are lawmakers. We saw that today with a bipartisan vote on the president's plan for Iraq.
CNN's John Roberts has that.
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JOHN ROBERTS, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Not in the national interest was how the Senate Foreign Relations Committee described the president's plan to put more troops in Iraq, approving a measure to give the idea a rhetorical thumbs down. SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: This is not a defeatist resolution. This is not a cut and run resolution. We are not talking about cutting off funds, not supporting the troops.
ROBERTS: If it's not defeatist, not cut and run, then what exactly is the bipartisan resolution led by Senators Hagel, Biden and Levin? In practical terms, not much. It strongly opposes a troop increase in Iraq, but it's nonbinding, not an alternative to the president's plan, and would likely do nothing to stop him.
SEN. BOB CORKER (R), TENNESSEE: But, because this resolution is nonbinding and going to have no effect, in my opinion, no effect on the course of action, I'm not going to support it.
ROBERTS: So, if it won't change anything, what's the game? For Republicans, it's about getting distance from the escalation of an increasingly unpopular war. For the Democrats, it's about who owns the war.
DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: The Democrats don't want to take responsibility for the policy in Iraq. They want to leave that responsibility in the hands of the president.
ROBERTS: A competing resolution proposed by four Republicans and six Democrats is far milder in its criticism, urging President Bush to consider other options than increasing troop levels. It too is nonbinding.
But the fact Senator John Warner, a loyal supporter of President Bush, is its chief sponsor and makes this one, symbolically at least, far more significant.
GERGEN: It leaves the president in an even weaker position. And it's a -- it's a major -- it's a major change in the political landscape regarding this war.
ROBERTS (on camera): And, on top of all the maneuvering in the Senate, there's the Democratic presidential hopefuls, each playing for advantage with their ideas about what to do with U.S. forces in Iraq, though all those ideas seem remarkably similar.
(Voice-over): First came Connecticut's Chris Dodd, who said he would put a cap on troop levels.
Then, it was Hillary Clinton, who proposed to put a cap on troop levels.
And not to be outdone came Barack Obama, with a plan to cap troop levels.
But the mirror-image measures stand little chance of becoming law. The Democrats seem to have no appetite to actually affect how the war is handled, for fear they could be blamed if it gets worse.
ALEX VOGEL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes, it's not exactly political profiles in courage here. ROBERTS: And in this war of words, President Bush had a little surprise for his detractors at the State of the Union speech, forcing them with some cleverly crafted language, to give his plan a standing ovation.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our country is pursuing a new strategy in Iraq, and I ask you to give it a chance to work. And I ask you to support our troops in the field and those on their way.
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ROBERTS: It was just a small poke in the eye to his opponents and a reminder that, for the moment at least, he's going to do what he wants.
John Roberts, CNN, Washington.
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COOPER: And that's really the question. How long can the president do what he wants with Iraq?
Joining me now, Democratic Strategist Paul Begala and Republican Strategist Mike Murphy. Guys, thanks for being with us.
Mike, as you know, the ranking Republican on the committee Senator Richard Lugar said, and I quote, "This vote will force nothing on the President, but it will confirm to our friends and allies that we are divided and in disarray." Do you buy that?
MIKE MURPHY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes, I do. And I think General Petraeus made that point, too. Kind of the sad irony here is that all the political (UNINTELLIGIBLE) at home does undercut the strategy because it shows, you know, that the president is in a position of political weakness and all the bad guys have to do is wait them out because they know this kind of shot clock is ticking on him. So I...
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COOPER: Isn't that also an argument used by Republicans to stifle the debate?
MURPHY: Well, it is. But I think it happens to be true. I mean, the great challenge of democracy is we make our kind of hard- headed national security decisions within the realm of public opinion, which can move around.
I mean, when Hitler knocked over France, 70 percent of Americans -- and I believe it was a Gallup or Roper poll, didn't want to get involved in World War II. And so we -- it is a cross-pressure that statesmen and democracies face. You know, it's one of the good -- it's good to be a democracy, but it's one of the burdens you carry. So you have this home front which can affect how people you're negotiating with in an adversarial situation overseas see you as weak. And so even if you believe the president's plan could work -- and I have some hope for it -- it is undercut by the fact that the people who are supposed to, you know, fear his new aggressive plan know that time is ticking out here in Washington politics.
PAUL BEGALA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: That is such -- let me quote our vice president. That is such hog wash. That is such a load of garbage from a guy like Richard Lugar, who is a respected thinker on foreign affairs.
First off, he's wrong militarily. OK? President Clinton took us to war in Bosnia and Kosovo, and he had the bitter opposition of the Republican controlled Congress. They refused to vote to support our effort in Bosnia and Kosovo. And guess what, we won the war in 100 days. It didn't break the morale of our troops. And it didn't put spine in the enemy over there. It was a competently executed war with a smart plan and a sensible exit strategy and we won.
The notion that somehow Mr. Bush's failure in Iraq is caused by the fact that ware pointing out his failure in Iraq, it's just bizarre. It's a tautology that just doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
MURPHY: When you're doing power politics with people who are supposed to fear your power and they see that your power is being usurped at home because you have divided domestic politics is reality. I mean, a president has to deal with it. But it definitely weakens his case. And I think it makes the Iraqis think, play the long game, outwait Bush and then the Iraqi militants on each side, they can wait them out and then burn the place down, which is what they're trying to do.
BEGALA: This is what -- where our president has it wrong and I think Mike has it wrong, is that they're focusing on the wrong variable. They're suggesting -- and Dick Cheney says this. You know, he went postal with Wolf today. And he keeps suggesting that, gee, if only we have the stomach for the fight, that the key variable here is American will and American resolve -- which I find galling coming from Dick Cheney who took five draft deferments and said he had better things to do during Vietnam when it was time for his...
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BEGALA: The key variable is not American will. It's Iraqi will. And the Iraqis have to decide if they want to have a country or if they want to have a civil war. And they are deciding like they want a civil war.
MURPHY: Paul, if you're an Iraqi moderate and you're reasonable right now...
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BEGALA: If I'm Iraqi moderate, I'm -- I'm in a zoo. There are no Iraqi moderates.
(CROSSTALK)
MURPHY: If there are no Iraqi moderates, we're going to have a blood bath and a civil war.
BEGALA: Yes, we're having one.
(CROSSTALK)
MURPHY: Well, you know, I think American power maybe can make the situation better. If you're an Iraqi moderate right now and you see the American domestic politics are all about removal, give up and don't fight, don't stay, don't create security, then what do you do? You pick a gun up. You pick a side and you fight.
COOPER: We got to leave it there. I'm sorry.
Mike Murphy, Paul Begala, as always, gentlemen, fascinating. Thanks.
MURPHY: Thank you.
BEGALA: Thank you.
COOPER: Well, whatever disagreements official Washington may have about the president's plan for Iraq, no complaints about David Petraeus, the general he's chosen to execute it.
The Senate Armed Services Committee today unanimously approving his nomination to command U.S. forces in Iraq. If approved by the full Senate tomorrow, Lt. General Petraeus will also be awarded a fourth star.
Straight ahead, weaning the country off Middle East oil. Will the president's new plan help?
Also, stopping lawmakers from wasting your money.
Calling out Congress on pork.
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GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Time has come to end this practice.
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COOPER: 13,000 pet projects, $18 billion, your dollars. The president demands change. We're keeping them honest. Next, on 360.
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BUSH: Next, there's the matter of earmarks. These special interest items are often slipped into bills at the last hour. When not even "C-SPAN" is watching. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, the line got a laugh last night in Congress, and tonight we're keeping them honest. Both the Senate and the House have already passed ethics measures that would require the sponsors of those earmarks, also known as pork, to disclose their names and other information. That falls short of what President Bush seemed to be proposing last night. So here's a question. Could the president put an end to earmarks without the help of Congress?
CNN's Joe Johns reports.
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JOHNS (voice-over): Congress loves its pet projects and loves to spend your money on them. Little gems like $1 million for the water- free urinal conservation initiative. Yes, that kind of urinal, money flushed down the drain almost literally.
Or imagine a Congressional spending bill stuffed like a turkey with tasty morsels, like $234,000 to something called The Wild Turkey Federation, a group with the goal of conserving the birds so the hunters can kill them.
And what would a story about Congressional pet projects be without a salute to the state of Alaska, which got hundreds of millions of dollars last year, including $1.3 million for berry research; $1,099,000 for alternative salmon products; and $75,000 for seafood waste processing research?
These projects are called earmarks, totaling $18 billion or more in 2005. They're often slipped into legislation while people are looking the other way. And the president says he's sick of it.
BUSH: You didn't vote them into law. I didn't sign them into law. Yet, they are treated as if they have the force of law. The time has come to end this practice.
JOHNS: One man who has waged guerrilla warfare against this stuff for a decade says the president could and with or without help of Congress, just might put a stop to a lot of earmarks.
SEN. TOM COBURN (R), OKLAHOMA: They don't carry the force of law. He doesn't have to carry them out. So he said get rid of them or I'll start not carrying them out. And that's a very plain message he sent to Congress.
JOHNS: That's right. Senator Tom Coburn says the president could just pick a fight with Congress and refuse to fund earmarks he didn't like.
But a budget watchdog says it's not that simple.
STEVE ELLIS, TAXPAYERS FOR COMMON SENSE: They don't have to spend the money on these projects; but in reality, historically, they really have and there would be a lot of hell to pay if they don't. JOHNS: Like what?
ELLIS: Well, I think that Congress would start jerking the chains of the agencies and talking to them about how they might cut their budget otherwise.
JOHNS: Which takes us back to legislation and the hope shared by many on the Hill that somehow, some way, the pork monster will be tamed before it threatens to take another bite out of another budget.
The first test of the president's resolve comes this spring when Congress takes up overdue spending bills. We'll be watching and keeping them honest.
Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
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COOPER: Well, we also have an eye on the president's energy plans. Coming up, a reality check on the goals he set out last night for cutting gasoline consumption.
And while her mom's been making history in Congress, Alexandra Pelosi has been making a movie about politics and religion, about the evangelical movement. And what she discovered, she says is eye- opening. My interview with her, when 360 continues.
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COOPER: President Bush was in Delaware today, touring a DuPont plant that conducts research on a type of ethanol, one of the main fuels Mr. Bush is touting as an alternative to oil.
In his State of the Union address last night, the president set a goal of reducing U.S. gasoline consumption, a plan that some say is well, underwhelming.
CNN's Tom Foreman investigates.
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The cornerstone of the White House initiative is called 20 in 10, reducing U.S. gasoline consumption by 20 percent in 10 years.
BUSH: America is on the verge of technological breakthroughs that will enable us to live our lives less dependent on oil.
FOREMAN: But the president doesn't mean 20 percent less gas than we use today. He's talking about 20 percent less than we are predicted to be using in 10 years.
That would do little to reduce the current release of gases that cause global warming. So the union of concerned scientists is concerned. DAVID FRIEDMAN, UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: At the end of the day, if we're going to get serious about tackling global warming pollution, we need to cut today's emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
FOREMAN: The White House says global warming is an issue, so the president also wants more fuel efficiency from cars sold in America and the development of more fuels like ethanol made from corn, which emit fewer greenhouse gases.
He has ordered federal agencies to buy more hybrid vehicles and reduce government gas consumption by 2 percent a year.
BUSH: It's one thing to say this is the goal. It's another thing to actually participate in achieving that goal.
FOREMAN: Democrats seem unimpressed.
At the Washington, D.C., auto show, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh.
SEN. EVAN BAYH (D), INDIANA: We think we can do somewhat better over the next 10 years and substantially better over the next 20.
FOREMAN (on camera): The dirty secret, of course, is that the White House and Congress will need each other if they're going to make any real progress toward changing America's energy policies.
(Voice-over): Still, the president said, I'm going to push for it. It's vital.
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This intolerable dependence on foreign oil threatens our economic independence and the very security of our nation.
FOREMAN: That president, however, was Jimmy Carter, and that was 30 years ago.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Everything old is new again.
Coming up, she's the daughter of the speaker of the House. Now Alexandra Pelosi is making headlines for her new documentary, "Friends of God," a surprising look inside the country's evangelical Christian community. Pelosi, on the movie and her mom, next on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, Alexandra Pelosi is no ordinary filmmaker. She's the daughter of the first female speaker of the House. And the star of her new documentary, "Friends of God," isn't just an evangelist. He's the disgraced former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, better known as Ted Haggard. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know all surveys say that Evangelicals have the best sex life of any other group.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, come on. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh yes. Let's just find out.
How often do you have sex with your wife?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every day?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twice a day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about -- twice a day sometimes?
OK, how about you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Every day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's say out of 100 times you have sex, what percentage -- what percentage does she climax?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely everyone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These guys -- you would have thought these were a bunch of studs. Look at them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Bizarre on many levels, no?
I spoke to Alexandra Pelosi earlier tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: It's interesting seeing Ted Haggard in your documentary. He was -- this was obviously before the scandal and he was really your tour guide into the world of evangelical Christians. And yet it must be sad for you because, in truth, you really set out to make this film to break some of the stereotypes of evangelicals and yet suddenly Ted Haggard's presence -- you kind of look twice at him and look deeper at everything he says.
ALEXANDRA PELOSI, DIRECTOR, "FRIENDS OF GOD": Right. And what's really heartbreaking is that the leaders of the evangelical movement who I had seen appearing with Ted Haggard at all these different stops along the way, the minute that the scandal broke, they dropped him, and -- which isn't very Christian.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Right. I remember (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was on CNN, saying I don't even know -- you know, I've hardly ever met this guy and he didn't really represent many people.
PELOSI: Right. And he spoke at battle cry with him. And they appeared together at the battle cry stadium events.
So, yes, but it was weird to watch because Christians are supposed to be forgiving. And the congregation that Pastor Ted belonged to was forgiving. They forgave him and moved on. But it was interesting that the leaders of the movement -- because Ted Haggard committed the worst sin that you can commit, which is he brought bad publicity to the evangelicals. That's the ultimate sin there.
COOPER: It does seem you talk to, you know, Pastor Rick Warren or some other leaders and they talk about kind of making the tent bigger in terms of the issues that they're focusing on, not just gay marriage, not just abortion, but poverty, you know, HIV/AIDS in Africa.
PELOSI: Well, what's interesting is what is not in the movie, which is a lot of people in this country consider themselves evangelical, but they don't go to a mega church and they don't go wrestling with the Christian wrestling federation. And they do believe in evolution.
You know, it's -- there's sort of this stereotype that has been perpetuated on "FOX News" by he Republicans that we own this block of 80 million voters. But it's really not true.
And of course, there is no such thing as the evangelicals, just like there's no such thing as the media. You know, they are 80 million strong so there are going to be all kinds.
And my film isn't exactly an encyclopedia of every evangelical in America, but it's a nice cross-section of the ones I met in a year and a half on the road.
COOPER: What surprised you most?
PELOSI: Well, I think what's surprising is that the politically active ones go to church every Sunday and then they meet in marriage amendment meetings in every state to be mobilized to go out and change the world.
COOPER: And whether you agree or disagree with what they are espousing, it's that passion which you connected with?
PELOSI: Right. And that they go door to door campaigning for something. I mean, most of the people that I know sit on their couch and don't do anything to change the world. So it's interesting to me to see these people who care so much that they're actually going out and trying to effect change.
COOPER: I've got to ask you about something in the State of the Union last night. There was a poignant moment when President Bush talked to -- addressed your mom. I just want to play that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: And tonight I have the high privilege and distinct honor of my own as the first president to begin the State of the Union message with these words, Madam Speaker.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: What was that like for you?
PELOSI: Well, it's surreal, because you know I introduced those two, George Bush and my mother. When I was on the campaign trail in 2000, in the traveling press corps for "NBC News," I was in -- we were on a campaign stop in Oakland, California. And my parents said, oh, you're in town, we'll come out and have lunch. And so there we were in the Oakland Airport Hilton and George Bush said, Oh, I'd like to meet your parents. I don't think he had any idea who my mom was. And so he came in, and I introduced them. And so back then, he was just the governor of Texas and she was just a Congresswoman. She wasn't even in the leadership of the Democratic Party then.
So it's funny. I look at that moment and I think, look at how far these two have come.
COOPER: The film is premiering on HBO this Thursday night?
PELOSI: Yes.
COOPER: I will look forward to seeing it.
PELOSI: Thank you.
COOPER: Thanks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Alexandra Pelosi.
On the radar tonight, our report on self-proclaimed Psychic Sylvia Brown, whom the parents of Shawn Hornbeck turned to in a moment of desperation after their son vanished. Sylvia Brown told them Shawn had died, even told them where to search for his body. Thankfully, of course, she was wrong.
We invited her on the program. She declined. We also invited noted debunker, James Randy. He said yes. A lot of people weighing in on our blog.
Em, in Toronto writes, "This goes to prove that if you guess and speculate and throw out enough random comments that something you say will be right."
On the other hand, Nancy, in Forest, Virginia, wonders, "Could it be that Sylvia was seeing the other missing boy whom they have not been able to find yet and who looked so much like Shawn?" And Jolene, in St. Joseph, Michigan, counters with this, "Why is it that I can't help but think that Pat Robertson has a better track record on predictions? This is exploitation at its finest."
Again, the invitation to Sylvia Brown is an open one. And as always, we welcome your views. Just head to CNN.com/360blog and you can weigh in.
You're about to see something that's been around for millions and millions of years, but hardly anyone knows what it is. Took us a while to figure out. It's our shot, next on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, a rarely seen creature from the deep emerges. Take a look at -- what is that? Is it an eel? The answer, coming up in our shot of the day.
First, Randi Kaye joins us with a 360 bulletin -- Randi.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Anderson.
Selling nuclear materials on the black market. That's what U.S. officials say a Russian man tried to do last year. According to officials, the CIA and Republic of Georgia set up a sting operation that caught the suspect, who wanted to sell nuclear bomb grade uranium that he had in a bag inside his jacket pocket.
A troubling development in the war on terror. A senior U.S. intelligence official says terrorist training camps are full along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. CNN has learned the Bush administration believes al Qaeda has found a safe haven in that area. The official told CNN Pakistan's peace agreement with tribes in the region is making it easier for al Qaeda to operate.
A setback for raising the federal minimum wage. Democratic Senators failed to get enough votes for a bill that would increase the hourly pay $2.10 to $7.25. Most Americans support the raise, but Republicans, including the president, would like small business tax breaks added to the bill.
Also on Capitol Hill, John Kerry put an end to the guessing today. The Massachusetts Senator says he will not seek the White House in 2008. Kerry was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004. He says he won't run again because he wants to spend more time on trying to end the war in Iraq -- Anderson.
COOPER: Randi, thanks.
Time now for the shot of the day. May not be pretty, but it's pretty cool. You're looking at an ancient species of shark. I guess it's cool unless it's rubbing up against you. It's called a frilled shark. It was filmed at a sea water pool in Japan. A fisherman spotted the five-footer south of Tokyo. It is rarely seen because it lives about 2,000 feet below the surface. The frill shark is known as a living fossil. The sea creature died in captivity. Kind of cool, but also kind of downright creepy.
Anyway, now an update on the AC 360 Takes you Live sweepstakes. We want to spread the word in case you haven't heard. Leigh Penny of Phoenix, Arizona, is our grand prize winner. Leigh Penny. She and a guest have won a trip here to New York for a behind the scenes look at 360, and a hearty congratulations.
While the sweepstakes is over, you can still check out our special Web site, cnn.com/ac. It's a fun site where you can test your news knowledge, watch video clips, and oh, so much more.
And be sure to watch "AMERICAN MORNING," for all the latest developments. That's at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, with the O'Brien twins.
And don't forget, help us keep them honest. If there's a wrong that needs to be made right in your community, tell us about it. CNN.com/360.
"LARRY KING" is coming up next. His guest is Actor Chad Lowe.
I'll see you tomorrow night.
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