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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Romney Rising; Unraveling the Mystery of Princess Diana; Planet in Peril: The Vanishing Lake
Aired June 12, 2007 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: And good evening, everyone.
Tonight, the president taking more hits in the battle over immigration reform, but he's trying again to sell it. And we will tell you just how he's doing.
Also tonight, a new and revealing look at Princess Diana, unraveling the mysteries of a woman more complex and intriguing than even we imagined.
Plus, they -- we promised to let you know who is giving away your tax dollars for questionable projects. So, just how are lawmakers doing when it comes to coming clean about pork? We're "Keeping Them Honest."
We begin, though, with President Bush's rare trip to Capitol Hill today, selling immigration reform. Last week, you will recall, the Senate failed to pass the so-called grand compromise hammered out with the help of the White House. Yesterday, when asked about trying again, the president said, "I will see you at bill signing."
But, tonight, as CNN's Ed Henry reports, his chances look slim.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The main course for lunch on the Hill was comfort food, but, when it comes to immigration, dessert could be crow.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's going to take a lot of hard work, a lot of effort.
HENRY: That means convincing 15 senators to change their votes in order to move the immigration reform bill forward. It may be insurmountable for a president whose clout is shrinking fast, with the 2008 campaign about to dwarf his agenda.
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It's going to get progressively harder. In an election year, it's very difficult to move legislation, let alone complicated legislation.
HENRY: So, Republicans are blaming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for cutting the immigration debate short.
JOHN FEEHERY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It's like a chef. It's like Hell's Kitchen. You got to get all the soup right. It wasn't ready yet, and Senator Reid really prematurely served it.
HENRY: But 38 Democrats voted for the president's immigration bill. The real problem is, only seven Republicans backed Mr. Bush.
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: What this all boils down to is, the Republicans do not support their own president's bill.
HENRY: Turning that around is a question vexing the president's inner circle, so much so that a White House always insisting it does not govern based upon polls is -- well, just listen.
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: If you take a look, again, at the key provisions in this bill, and you simply ask the public opinion polling question, do you support it or not, you get very high public approval for them.
HENRY: Oh, really?
SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R-AL), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: I think the president is wrong to push this piece of legislation so hard, after we have demonstrated the flaws that are in it. He needs to back off.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Well, Senator Sessions says he needs to back off, Ed, but is the president offering anything that might get any of the key Republicans to change their mind?
HENRY: No, he's not. And that's part of the problem.
I asked Secretary Chertoff today, what about listening to conservatives and maybe splitting this bill in two? Start with border security first, convince conservatives you're serious about that, and come back with a second bill dealing with the 12 million illegal immigrants here?
He said, no, no new strategy.
And there also really was no new argument from the president today behind closed doors. I mean, he's made these same -- this same case over and over again. He did it last year in a prime-time address from the Oval Office. He's done it at news conferences, in speeches, now in this private chat on Capitol Hill, very rare for him.
The venues have changed, but the basic case has not. And also what has not changed is the bottom line. And that is, many Republicans are not buying this argument -- John.
KING: No new strategy and no new indications this bill is going to move.
Ed Henry for us tonight at the White House -- Ed, thank you very much.
HENRY: Thank you. KING: And, in a year-and-a-half, George Bush's problems will be somebody else's. Sounds like a long time, but campaign '08 has already turned into a media and money juggernaut.
So, polls, even early polls, matter, especially on the fund- raising front. We have got some new ones tonight on the Republican side, fresh polling from New Hampshire, and a new front-runner to go with the numbers.
Here's CNN's Candy Crowley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How are you doing this morning, ma'am?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fine, thank you.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Look who's moving on up.
ROMNEY: I would appreciate your help.
CROWLEY: Mitt Romney, former governor, former business tycoon, former savior of the Olympics, is on top in the latest CNN/WMUR poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire.
Twenty-eight percent of Republican primary voters picked Romney, up 11 points from April. Both Rudy Giuliani and John McCain dropped nine points, down to 20. The not-yet-running Fred Thompson jumped into double digits.
It is Romney's first time at the top of the polls. How did he do that? For starters, he did this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, ROMNEY CAMPAIGN AD)
ROMNEY: I believe in the people of America. Free American people are the source of this land's great strength.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: Since the end of February, Romney, who has a lot of money and not much national name recognition, has poured more than $700,000 worth of ads into New Hampshire.
ROMNEY: (INAUDIBLE) been? How have the Scotts (ph) been?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good. Good.
ROMNEY: Where is your sweetie?
CROWLEY: And he's backed up his airtime with an intense ground game. The head of the state's Republican Party says Romney earned his numbers with politics, New Hampshire style. FERGUS CULLEN, NEW HAMPSHIRE GOP CHAIRMAN: Governor Romney has been running the most traditional campaign here in New Hampshire, with the most town-hall-meeting-style events, talking to likely Republican primary voters.
You know, you reap what you sow, and I think he's seeing the benefits of two years of hard work here.
ROMNEY: I am honored to be here with some New Hampshirites, even though I'm from Massachusetts.
CROWLEY: The poll shows Romney draws most of his support from New Hampshire Republicans who live closest to Massachusetts, and from conservatives, the base of the party, who support him 2-1 over anyone else.
But, despite all that, there are plenty of numbers indicating what goes up can come down.
KEATING HOLLAND, CNN POLLING DIRECTOR: Only about 6 percent of Republican primary voters tell us that they have definitely made their minds up. Most of them say they really don't have any clear idea of who they're going to support.
CROWLEY: And, while they found Mitt Romney the most likable of the candidates, Republican primary voters think Rudy Giuliani has the best chance of beating the Democratic nominee. And, when asked which candidate is the most believable, they picked John McCain.
ROMNEY: I'm Mitt Romney. I'm running for president.
CROWLEY: This race is not just very early; it is very unsettled. Nobody should get comfortable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Joining me now for more on the latest Republican polls and other things political, Candy Crowley and former presidential adviser David Gergen.
David, let me start with you. Are you surprised Governor Romney has jumped into the lead in New Hampshire, even though Republican voters don't think he's the most believable or that he has the best chance in the general election?
DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: Well, I must confess I am surprised. But we are having a lot of twists and turns in this campaign. We will have more to come.
I think it's very, very interesting that, coming out of the CNN/WMUR debate, we have had this change in -- for Romney, just as we have seen some change in the Democratic side, with Mrs. Clinton strengthening her lead in a CNN poll, sizably strengthening her lead. But I think this poll spells real trouble, continuing trouble, for John McCain, the fact that he's fallen so far since April. He had about a nine-point slide in New Hampshire. Giuliani's also falling. And it suggests that Romney, even though he's not running ahead in the national polls, Romney could come up from the inside lane, both in Iowa and New Hampshire, as I'm sure Candy will say more emphatically, that he can present a real threat.
KING: You say Romney could be a threat.
Candy, let's follow up on that point.
Governor Romney says he will compete in the Ames straw poll. Both Giuliani and McCain have said they will not. Senator Fred Thompson says he will not. So, obviously, Romney seems to have a clear path right now in the top tier. But is the flip side a risk, if one of these other conservatives surprises him in Ames, that could derail Romney's early nice, happy spring?
CROWLEY: Well, if somebody comes in and makes a strong showing, I suspect that we will look at one of these lower-tier candidates and sort of see him as a player.
I think, probably, what you have, though, John, as you well know, is, when you take out the top two candidates, possibly another top- tier candidate in Fred Thompson, and you take them out of the Ames equation, you don't have much of a victory for Mitt Romney.
KING: And, Candy, let's stay with you for a second. If you look at these two polls, there seems to be the Democrats and Republicans have different threshold factors looking early in the election. Democrats say electability is more important. Republicans say they seem to be looking at things more differently. Any idea why?
CROWLEY: Well, I have no idea why.
I think that Republicans at this point are going toward likability, at least the ones in New Hampshire. They seem to have gotten comfortable with Mitt Romney. We're seeing that most of his support is coming from, A, conservatives who like him 2-1 over anybody else, and coming from that portion of New Hampshire that is closest to Massachusetts.
So, clearly, there's a comfort factor that's going on in there. But the other likability factor for McCain and Giuliani is so low, that you have to wonder what's going on there.
KING: And, David, to follow on Candy's point, he is making inroads amongst conservatives, Romney is, but, of course, his conservative qualifications have come under tough scrutiny. He has changed his position on abortion. He once said that he would be more pro-gay rights than Ted Kennedy.
What does that suggest to you? Has Mitt Romney answered the questions, or is he just doing better than the others right now?
GERGEN: I think he's just doing better than the others right now.
It's -- there's no guarantee, if Mitt Romney were to get this nomination, that a lot of conservatives wouldn't stay home. That's his problem. And -- but I do think this. If you look at the Giuliani game plan, it is to essentially do really, really well in the mega- states that vote early in February.
If Mitt Romney could pull off both Iowa and New Hampshire, that could really change the dynamics for Giuliani, as well as McCain. But it could put Romney in a position where he could be extremely competitive in the mega-states, and he conceivably could win the nomination.
So, this is -- this New Hampshire poll is very important, because he has his lead in Iowa. And, if he gets a lead in New Hampshire, if he can hold it, that's extremely important for how this nomination comes out.
KING: I suspect it will also make him a target.
But let's close not with Governor Romney in this discussion, but with the current president of the United States, George W. Bush.
And, David, to you first.
He goes to Capitol Hill today. He meets in private with Republicans, who just told him, no, Mr. President you're not getting your top domestic priority, immigration reform.
The president sounded conciliatory, says he understands the opposition, but he still hopes to move this forward this year.
Does this president have any political capital left, even with his own party?
GERGEN: Not very much. He has very little to trade on immigration. About the only thing he has got to trade something in private, and that is called Gonzales and Libby. And he seems in no hurry to trade them either.
KING: David Gergen, Candy Crowley, thank you both very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Want to move on now to a heartbreaking story we devoted a special hour to earlier this month.
As of tonight, 31 Chicago public school students have been murdered since September. Roberto Duran was the latest, the 14-year- old killed in a gang-related shooting. This evening, people held a silent march to honor the victims. For the families, there's anger, and there's agony.
CNN's Gary Tuchman now on one of the lives taken.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A woman grieves with her father. She has lost the youngest of her five children.
Fourteen-year-old Enrique Chavez was murdered. His mother, Soccoro, says the last thing he ever told her was that he loved her. On this block on the South Side of Chicago, Enrique was shot in the head, and then beaten by a group of young men. Police believe it was gang-related.
TUCHMAN: How are you?
SOCCORO TOSCANO, MOTHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM (through translator): Enrique was a very big part of me. I miss him very much. There's a pain in my heart. He was my baby.
TUCHMAN: He was also the 29th youth to be killed in Chicago this school year.
Just hours after that, number 30, when 17-year-old Darell Mitchell was shot in the back, and, this week, the 31st victim, 14- year-old Darell Mitchell.
The murders of so many children in one school year have stunned this city.
Father Ed Shea is consoling Enrique's family.
FATHER ED SHEA, PRIEST: It's awful. It's never going to be OK for me. I'm never going to say, oh, that's the way it is.
TUCHMAN: Even by the numbingly sad standards of the school year, Enrique's story is hard to believe. He was an eighth-grader at this school right down the street from his home, but his family acknowledges he wasn't there on many days. He cut school one day last week and took his uncle's van on a joy ride. It flipped over when someone started firing a gun.
Enrique got out of the car and was shot, and then viciously pummelled. His mother says, the neighborhood is a nightmare.
TOSCANO (on camera): (SPEAKING SPANISH)
TUCHMAN: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
TOSCANO: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
TUCHMAN: Much violence in this neighborhood?
TOSCANO: Yes.
TUCHMAN: (SPEAKING SPANISH) Are you scared to be here?
TOSCANO: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
TUCHMAN: Just a half-block from Enrique's house is a well- established line of demarcation. The parents in this neighborhood tell their kids they are never to go on the other side of this viaduct. They tell their children there are gangs there who will want to hurt or try to kill them. Not so surprisingly, the parents on that side of the viaduct say the same thing about this neighborhood.
(voice-over): Enrique's murder happened on the other side of that viaduct. Enrique's friend, 13-year-old Javier (ph), lives next door. He's heard the gang warnings from his parents.
(on camera): Now, why would they want to shoot you? You're just a kid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because, sometimes, they say that -- that they don't care about -- about your age or nothing. When it comes to some -- when it comes to doing something, they do it.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): So, Javier's (ph) mother has taken radical measures.
(on camera): I mean, when he's not doing activities, what is he doing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Staying inside the house.
TUCHMAN: Is he not allowed to leave?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not allowed to come outside.
TUCHMAN: Ever?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Thirty-one youngsters murdered in one school year, and there's still a few days of school left.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: And Gary Tuchman joins us now.
Gary, it is stunning to see such a young boy talking soberly about gang violence.
Update us on what is going on in the investigations. Any arrests in Enrique's case?
TUCHMAN: Well, when we interviewed Enrique's mother last week, there had been no arrests.
And Soccoro, the mother, kept telling us: Every couple of hours, I'm calling the police. They're telling me nothing. I'm afraid I'm going to be bothering them by calling them.
I said, keep calling. Keep calling.
Well, late last week and this weekend, three arrests, two teenagers, one 21-year-old, all charged with murder. I asked a police officer what was the motivation, and he said, it looks like general indifference to life.
KING: Fabulous reporting on a very sad story.
Gary Tuchman, thank you very much.
And, like some other major cities, Chicago has seen a rise in murders this year. Here is the "Raw Data."
From January to April, there were 121 homicides reported in the city. That's up 5.2 percent from last year. But the number of other violent crimes dropped during the same time period. Incidents of aggravated assault and robbery fell sharply from 2006, each down by more than 10 percent.
Coming up, politicians promising to be accountable when it comes to spending your tax dollars, how are they doing? Answers in "Raw Politics."
Also tonight, the human cost of a disappearing lake.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): Imagine one of the Great Lakes turning into this.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The water here used to be at least six feet high, and now there's nothing all around me.
KING: What happens to people when one of the largest lakes in the world simply dries up, and what it means to everyone living on a "Planet in Peril."
Also, the enduring mystery of Princess Diana, nearly 10 years after that night in Paris.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, she had this immensely humanitarian side. And I think she would have built on that. I believe she would have gone in that direction.
KING: Her life, her death, her impact -- who was she, and do we really know everything about how she died?
Ahead on 360.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO")
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Would you like the job of president of the United States?
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
FRED THOMPSON, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: I have never craved the job of president, but I want to do some things that only a president can do. So, the answer is yes.
LENO: Yes, OK.
(LAUGHTER)
LENO: Well, that's a good answer.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: That's former Senator and "Law & Order" actor Fred Thompson tonight during a taping for "The Tonight Show." He left the Burbank studios without commenting -- commenting to reporters, but he told the show's producers that he's -- quote -- "testing the waters." And the waters are warm.
Officially speaking, Thompson remains a tease, not a candidate.
"Raw Politics," on the other hand, begins tonight with a solid promise that Congress made to stop hiding the pork.
Here's CNN's Tom Foreman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, politicians here hand out more pork than a Georgia pit barbecue. But picking up the tab, that is turning into a food fight on Capitol Hill.
Congressional Democrats promised they would make lawmakers publicly acknowledge when they're trying to steer your money to their pet projects, but now Republicans and citizens groups say, there's no sauce in that bottle, that the Democrats' reforms have no teeth to stop the pork harvest.
REP. TOM PRICE (R), GEORGIA: They promised us a process that was -- had greater accountability. And, in fact, what we are getting is something completely the opposite.
FOREMAN: The Democrats say, hey, it's not our fault. They're making progress, but, for years, Republicans packed the budget with pork.
REP. DAVID OBEY (D-WI), HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: We spent the last five months cleaning up your spilled milk.
FOREMAN: Milk? Pork? Yum.
A new poll from the Pew Center, a place that studies what you think about politics, says Americans, by a small margin, do not want that dying immigration bill brought back to life. On the other hand, half say it is important to revise immigration law this year, if anyone can figure out how.
Some quick hits: Holy Howard. Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean wants Democrats to start courting the evangelical vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD DEAN (D), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yeah!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Pulling a Paris. Scooter Libby, the vice president's former aide, wants to stay out of jail until his appeal is heard. Prosecutors say, lock him up.
And Congress has started working on the energy bill -- the "Raw Politics" instant analysis, the fight over this one will make the immigration debate look like a Girl Scout meeting.
Finally, did Albanians steal the president's watch? It's been a huge Internet rumor driven by this video, in which his watch is clearly visible as he greets an adoring crowd there this week. Then, moments later, the watch is gone. But, wait, the White House says nothing happened.
SNOW: The president put it in his pocket. And it returned safely home.
FOREMAN: A cover-up? No. "Raw Politics" investigators have unearthed a second video. And, look, his watch is on. The president reaches down, fumbles around, and it's gone.
So, don't blame the Albanians. That really would be "Raw Politics" -- John.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: As bad as things had been, I bet Scooter Libby never thought he would be mentioned in the same sentence as Paris Hilton.
For "Raw Politics" any time of the day, check out the CNN Political Ticker at CNN.com/ticker.
Erica Hill joins us now with a 360 bulletin.
Hi, Erica.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS CORRESPONDENT: John, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is weighing whether to pull his Fatah movement out of the Palestinian unity government. He called emergency meetings tonight, after fighting between Fatah and its rival, Hamas, killed more than two dozen people. Late today, Hamas claimed to have control over all of Northern Gaza.
The Associated Press is reporting health officials got little help from relatives of Andrew Speaker. He, of course, is the man who sparked an international health scare by traveling overseas after learning he had a drug-resistant strain of TB. Well, the AP obtained nearly 200 pages of e-mail exchanges from public health officials in Georgia, some of which suggest Speaker's father, a lawyer, was combative in phone conversations.
Those e-mails also reportedly portray Speaker's father-in-law, a CDC microbiologist, as unhelpful before May 22, when tests showed Speaker had a more dangerous form of TB than first thought.
And, finally, the International Space Station getting a new set of solar wings today -- they will convert sunlight to electricity and were deployed one at a time. Each wing is 115 feet long. It weighs more than 2,400 pounds. This is the space station's third set, by the way, of solar panels, John.
And now it's this little segment we like to call "What Were They Thinking?"
And, this one, I'm sure you have heard a lot about it, especially living in the Washington, D.C., area, John. But it is the case of the $54 million pants. The trial began today. The plaintiff is actually a local judge. He's representing himself. He wants $54 million smackers from a dry cleaner who he claims lost his pants more than two years ago.
So, at one point, the dry cleaner, you know, they have tried to settle several times, going as high as $12,000, offering that in compensation for the missing pants, which, by the way, the dry cleaner says they still have. But the judge, he says, no thanks.
So, if you're wondering where he got the number from, well, we will do a little breakdown for you here. Under the District of Columbia's consumer protection laws, this guy claims he's entitled up to $1,500 per violation per day. That's because two signs in the store promise satisfaction guaranteed and same-day service.
Add to that the $500,000 in emotional damages and more than $540,000 in legal fees -- he's representing himself, by the way -- then you toss in the $15,000 in car rental fees, because, John, he says he needed to rent a car to take his dry cleaning to a store outside his neighborhood after there was the pant issue.
And, so, the trial started today. One of the reporters told us that, inside the courtroom, he actually broke down, more than once. And the judge had to stop testimony as he was talking about the emotional damage that all of this had caused him.
KING: Oh, $54 million for a pair of pants, that is creative law, times creative math. Maybe we could sue him for emotional damage of having to follow this case.
HILL: It could be, although, you know, I hate to say it. I actually enjoy following this one, because it's so crazy. It's some of the other ones that I need the emotional damage for.
KING: It is an only-in-America story.
HILL: Yes, it is.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Now here's Kiran Chetry with what is coming up bright and early tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIRAN CHETRY, CO-HOST, "AMERICAN MORNING": The parents of children who vanish without a trace and their agonizing wait for answers -- you know, there are about 100,000 missing-persons cases around the country. Could the answer to the mystery lie in the police morgue? We are going to meet parents who are pushing police departments to do more to find out tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING." It all begins at 6:00 a.m. Eastern.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: And up next here on 360, Dr. Sanjay Gupta jumps into a lake that is literally disappearing, no water, scarce food, a dramatic sign of our "Planet in Peril."
Also ahead, nearly 10 years after Princess Diana died, we're learning new details about how she lived, starting with the early years and the woman dubbed "Shy Di," who was anything but.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Summer begins next week. And, for many Americans affected by widespread droughts, the season may bring only more suffering. It is bad here.
But, as 360 M.D. Sanjay Gupta has been showing us in our "Planet in Peril" series, there is a place where the extreme weather is far, far worse.
Sanjay is at Lake Chad in Central Africa, a lake that is vanishing at an alarming rate. Yesterday, he gave us the big picture of the devastation -- tonight, the toll on the people.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Good evening.
We have been here in Central Africa for a few days now, trying to figure out how much of the disappearance of Lake Chad is due to climate change. The truth is, we have been hearing lots of different things.
But there is one thing in common: the incredible impact on the people. (voice-over): On maps, Lake Chad is massive. It's one of the largest in the world. So, I never imagined it would be so hard to find. When you do find it, it makes sense.
The maps are obsolete. Lake Chad is dwindling away. It's only a fraction, one-tenth, of its original size, so much of the water replaced by sand. I went to see what was left.
(on camera): It's now 113 degrees out here. Look, we have no idea how rapidly some of these changes took place, but this fishing boat, stranded, nowhere near water, gave us one of our first clues.
(voice-over): It's been stranded here for more than 40 years, say local Nigerians, abandoned when the waters began to recede. This area here used to be a part of the lake.
Along the way, we found more clues to understand what really happened to Lake Chad. For example, this cracked mud was wet not long ago. That meant we were getting close. Finally, we found these villages. They were built along the lake, fishing villages that flourished in the 1960s and '70s. They are now mired in dust and poverty.
(on camera): After driving more than 50 miles from where the lake once was, we finally found some water again. We're going to get in this boat and take a look at what remains of Lake Chad.
The best way to try and understand Lake Chad is to actually get in. It used to be over 25 feet deep here. Now, just comes up to my waist.
(voice-over) It's covered in weeds and silt and muck. The water is stagnant. I could feel tiny fish swimming around my feet.
These fish nets and traps now seem all but useless.
Back on shore, I tried to sit down and talk to several fishermen. While they blame natural forces for the loss of Lake Chad, several of the younger fishermen became angry. Their livelihood, their future, their lives threatened.
People are starving. Take a look. This is probably the smallest catfish I've ever seen, just a few grams. It's less than 50 calories. For scale of reference, the average American man consumes 2,475 calories a day.
People here are dependent on their water, and we may never know exactly why the water disappeared, or if it's ever coming back, but we have seen firsthand the impact.
(on camera) Lake Chad has previously shrunk before, at a time when the term "greenhouse gases" didn't even exist, which is in part why some people are so optimistic that the water will return once again.
Back to you. (END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Stunningly sad.
Just ahead, trouble on the border. Three men charged with smuggling aliens; three soldiers who were supposed to be keeping them out.
Also tonight, billions of your tax dollars, and guess who's getting some of it?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING (voice-over): Billionaires getting your tax dollars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of them are wealthy individuals who make millions of dollars, have -- own office buildings and get farm subsidies even though they don't need it.
KING: Our program, set up to help struggling farmers, now puts your money into some pretty deep pockets. We're "Keeping Them Honest".
Also the enduring mystery of Princess Diana, nearly ten years after that night in Paris.
TINA BROWN, AUTHOR, "THE DIANA CHRONICLES": She had this immensely humanitarian side, and I think she would have built on that. I believe she would have gone in that direction.
KING: Her life, her death, her impact. Who was she? And do we really know everything about how she died? Ahead on 360.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We dealt with the political side at the top of the hour. Now another angle on the immigration story.
Federal investigators say they've caught three National Guardsmen involved, not in keeping illegal immigrants out, but smuggling them in. And get this: the accused belong to a unit assigned to "Operation Jump Start", President Bush's initiative for beefing up the border.
More from CNN's Ed Lavandera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The cell phone text message offers First Class Jose Rodrigo Torres a lucrative deal. Federal authorities say last Wednesday Sergeant Julio Cesar Pacheco sent these words: "We need to take 24 people to make that happen, and you will get $3,500. Does that sound good?"
Torres replied, "Twenty-four will be tough to fit, but I'll try." The next day, federal authorities say Torres picked up 24 illegal immigrants in Laredo and drove them in a van north along Interstate 35. According to those authorities, he managed to get beyond a Border Patrol checkpoint with the help of a third National Guardsman, Sergeant Clarence Hodge.
DON DEGABRIELLE, U.S. ATTORNEY: These 24 individuals and Mr. Torres and that van were actually never subjected to the typical immigration check that most people are subject to, that go through the checkpoint.
LAVANDERA: The van kept pushing towards San Antonio, until Border Patrol agents stopped Torres near the small town of Cotulla and discovered the illegal immigrants.
They had done this before. According to court documents, the three men organized about seven other smuggling runs, and more were in the works. The day they were busted, Sergeant Hodge allegedly sent Torres a text message that said, "You want to do one tomorrow? They're supplying the van."
Torres wrote back, "Tell them I'll only do one run at no more than 20 people at $150 a person, and I want to leave at 1930 hours. And I'll go to San Antonio if they want."
DEGABRIELLE: It's unfortunate when members of law enforcement, whose job it is -- is to help us protect the border and maintain border security, are alleged to have violated the very laws that they're helping us to protect.
LAVANDERA: Texas National Guard officials say they're disappointed and that any breach of the public's trust will be thoroughly investigated.
(on camera) Federal authorities won't say if these three men were operating alone or if they were part of a bigger smuggling operation, but in the criminal complaint against the men, three of the illegal immigrants in that van say they were charged up to $2,000 to be smuggled.
(voice-over) The three accused have not entered pleas in court. Federal authorities describe Julio Pacheco as the ring leader, a far cry from the soldier who received the Purple Heart for injuries he suffered in Iraq.
His family says people shouldn't rush to judgment.
BENITO PACHECO, SGT. JULIO PACHECO'S FATHER: I don't want them to hurt his reputation because of he said/she said. Just get the facts and take it from there.
My brother, to me, is an American soldier. He's a -- he's a hero, to many people, and I don't want that to change. He'll always be a hero in my heart.
LAVANDERA: Big money flows in the underworld of human smuggling, and the arrests of three soldiers is a reminder that the temptation of easy money always lurks on the border.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.
End of track.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Still ahead, think you've heard everything about Princess Diana? Think again. Anderson's interview with the author of a revealing new book on her life and death is next.
Plus, she's behind bars, and now she's been dumped. Who's kicking Paris when she's down? Ahead on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Princes William and Harry, now young men, have organized a concert next month to honor their mother on what would have been her 46th birthday.
It's been almost a decade since Princess Diana died while being chased by paparazzi. IN a recent interview with NBC, Prince Harry said he believes no one will ever know the truth about that car crash that killed his mother in that Paris tunnel.
Just a month before her death, Diana had lunch with Tina Brown, former editor of "Vanity Fair" and "The New Yorker". Brown, who is British, began covering Diana while working for the magazine "Tattler" in London. She watched the young princess morph into a global media star.
In her new book, "The Diana Chronicles", Brown argues that the so-called people's princess was much savvier than people thought. Anderson recently talked with Tina Brown.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: How is the myth of Diana different than the reality that you discovered?
BROWN: Diana was immensely more complicated, I think, than most people realized, and she also participated enormously in the making of her own myth.
COOPER: Right. She created the myth?
BROWN: She certainly participated in that from a very early age. She had an incredibly innate sense of how to operate with the media. I mean, she was a natural. She was like Garbo. She knew exactly when the light was striking her.
One of the photographers said even when he was behind her she knew when the camera was on her.
COOPER: She -- she was called Shy Di early on when she was courting Prince Charles. But she wasn't really shy, according to you. BROWN: She was never really shy. She -- she was always -- she had a great intellectual inferiority complex. So -- because she always felt that she was dim, you know? She felt she was Diana the Dim, you know, that she couldn't do anything, because she had no academic credentials of any kind.
But she had this huge emotional quotient, which was wonderful. I mean, she could really connect with people in this amazing way.
But at the same time she had this other gift, which was communication with -- certainly, with the underprivileged. I mean, she was remarkable with the sick and the disabled, and really that was authentic. I never caught her out of that in the whole course of this research.
She also understood how to project it and make her gestures into something that would count in a way with the media. She just had an instinct for it. She knew what would work.
As of course, she became more sophisticated and more evolved, you know, as a public sort of global celebrity, she also understood how to work the different opportunities of photography for television and so on.
I mean, you know the Martin Bashir interview she did for Panorama, the famous BBC interview where she went on television and she said "there were three of us in this marriage," she understood exactly what she was doing with that interview.
In fact, one of the producers of that show told me that she even did her own makeup, where she had slightly shadowy eyes and pale skin. And she knew exactly how she was going to do it. She had her sound bytes all worked out. There was nothing out of her mouth in that interview that wasn't a really targeted sound byte, where she would say, you know, that the royal family don't understand, you know, any more how to communicate with the public. That the royal family, you know, that Charles probably shouldn't be king because he didn't really want to be.
All of the things that she came out with were just boom, you know, bullets right to the heart.
COOPER: Right.
BROWN: She knew how to put it across.
COOPER: And one of the things you focus on a lot is the role the media played in all of this. And they really helped her get married to Prince Charles. I mean, they really promoted her. They kind of latched onto her. They saw...
BROWN: It's true. Diana saw that she had two constituencies. She had to win the royal family. Clearly, she had to win the queen and Prince Philip. They were constituency No. 1.
The second constituency she had to win was the media, and she won them very early on. She charmed them. And they fell in love with her. As they fell in love with her and projected this image of this absolutely adorable -- that she was, you know, charming and sweet young princess to be, Prince Charles, who was on tour at the time in Australia, really began to fall in love with her from a distance.
I mean, until that time he thought she was beguiling. He thought she was attractive, very sweet, rather fun, realized that she was perfect on paper to marry. But while he was in Australia, that's when he really began, with the aid of the press, to see her as the press saw her. And they were constantly after him, are you going to marry her? Is she the one? Is she the one?
And gradually Charles began to think, "You know, she really has got it. I mean, they love her. They're all crazy about her. I'm lucky. I should -- I should be pleased."
COOPER: There are always just photographs of her sort of glancing up very briefly. You know, her eyes would be down, and she'd sort of glance up. All of that was orchestrated?
BROWN: Well, that would be going too far. I mean, Diana wasn't a fake in her charm, in the sense that her charm was real. I mean, and her sweetness, she had an incredibly compassionate, warm, kind and connecting part of her character.
I never called her out as a fake in any way, in that sense. Where she was canny was in knowing and understanding how to project that, which is different from being a fake about it. She just knew instinctively where it played, how and where to use it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We'll have much more from Anderson's interview with Tina Brown in our next hour of 360.
Much has been written about Diana's life. But nearly ten years after her death, CNN has uncovered new details about her childhood and how those early years shaped the rest of her life. It's the inside story you've ever heard. A "CNN Presents" special, "Growing Up Diana", which airs in August.
Soledad O'Brien has been working hard on this project, and we spoke a bit earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Soledad, what sets this documentary apart is that you really start from the very beginning, a time many of us don't know that much about. Tell us what stands out most of all from those early years for you.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: You know what's been really interesting, John? We've been talking to a lot of Diana's friends who will tell you almost unanimously that Diana had a very happy childhood, but -- and there is a very big caveat -- her parents were going through a very brutal, very public divorce. Now, you have to remember that divorce was very uncommon at the time.
And friends say that Diana was very influenced by what happened in her parents' relationship.
Her nanny, Mary Clarke, who we spoke to at Park House, which is Diana's childhood home, told us that Diana talked a lot about her parents' divorce and the impact that it had on her. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY CLARKE, PRINCESS DIANA'S NANNY: She spoke about it quite openly. The main issue that she had was that she said, "I will never, ever marry unless I'm really in love."
O'BRIEN: She said that the first time you met?
CLARKE: She liked to talk about love. And she said, "When I grow up, I'm always going to -- I'm going to make sure that when I marry, I'm going to really be in love, because if I'm in love, then I will never get divorced."
O'BRIEN: That is a very profound thing for a 9-year-old girl to say.
CLARKE: Very profound, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Of course, at the end of the day, Diana's divorce would be more public and more high-profile than her parents' divorce -- John.
KING: It certainly was, but let's go back a little bit in time before her divorce, when Diana and the prince did get engaged. The whole world is watching, and they think they're watching a marvelous fairy tale. But you spoke to people about that time in Diana's life before the wedding.
O'BRIEN: Right after the engagement, in fact, Diana because of all the press that's stalking her, is moved into a small palace and then eventually moves into Buckingham Palace.
But there she's very isolated. She's incredibly lonely. She has friends come and visit sometimes, but not all the time.
Mary Robertson, who is an American who was working in London, had hired Diana to be her nanny for her small son, well before the engagement. And she talked about how some of the letters that Diana wrote to her, letters she's never shown anybody, before us, some of those letters show Diana to be fairly -- fairly lonely as she waited for her engagement and eventual marriage. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY ROBERTSON, FRIEND OF PRINCESS DIANA: "Oh, thank goodness those five weeks have passed with C" -- Charles -- "away. I thought they'd never go, and it's lovely to have him back with me, where he belongs!" Exclamation point. "And any moment I have to myself I dream of being away from everyone on honeymoon!" Exclamation point.
O'BRIEN: In other words, people at the palace are getting to her?
ROBERTSON: Yes, they are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: It would be a very, very bad element indeed.
Ten years after the death of Princess Diana, some of her friends, who have never spoken publicly before, never, are now opening their stories up to us and sharing some of their personal letters.
It's been a pretty fascinating project to work on. And we're going to be sharing it with you, come the middle of August -- John.
KING: Look forward to it, a fascinating glimpse. Soledad O'Brien, thanks very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Another reminder. You won't want to miss it. Join Soledad for the "CNN Presents" special, "Growing Up Diana". That's August 18 and 19 at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
And just ahead, America's very own princess, the one in jail. She got dumped today, and we'll tell you who did the dumping.
Also tonight, these stories.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING (voice-over): Romney rising.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How many years has it been? Where's your sweetie?
KING: A handsome candidate for the first time sitting pretty. What the new poll numbers say, and what the pros say about his chances for staying on top.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: The "Shot of the Day" coming up. You don't need to adjust the color on your TV set. There's a reason why the sea creature looks a little different.
First, though, Erica Hill from Headline News joins us again with the "360 News and Business Bulletin".
ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: John, we begin in Pittsburgh, where a row house went up in flames early this morning, killing five children between the age of 3 and 7.
A neighbor says she heard the kids scream but couldn't rescue them. Police say they were playing with matches and are still trying to confirm whether or not a babysitter was with the children.
To Raleigh, North Carolina, now with the former D.A. in the Duke lacrosse scandal is facing a legal fight of his own. Mike Nifong on trial for ethics violations because of how he handled the Duke case. You're likely to remember three players after a stripper said she was raped at a team party. Those charges were later dropped. If he is convicted by the North Carolina State Bar, Nifong could be disbarred.
On Wall Street, stocks tumbling over concerns the Fed will raise interest rates later this year. The Dow sank 129 points to close at 13,295. The NASDAQ dropped 22, stopping at 2,549. The S&P was off 16.
And Paris Hilton has lost her agent. This according to "People" magazine's web site, which says that move was actually made last Friday. That's right, the same day Paris was ordered back to jail after that brief reprieve of home confinement.
"People" says the agent is not saying exactly why Paris was ditched. Tough times.
KING: Tough time. In the same week she loses her pride and her agent. Woo! Life goes on.
Erica, you spent a little time in Connecticut, right?
HILL: Grew up there.
KING: Grew up in Connecticut? Then you won't want to miss this, today's "Shot of the Day". Check this out. A surprise catch for two fishermen at the mouth of the Thames River in Connecticut this past weekend. Look at that.
HILL: Hey!
KING: That is the claw, and there's the full rare blue lobster. Now how rare? The odds of finding this type of crab, crustacean, 3 million to 1.
HILL: Three million to 1?
KING: Three million to 1.
HILL: That's even -- that's -- OK, so that's even more difficult to find than, what was it last week or two weeks ago there was a lobster who was half -- looked half cooked and half uncooked, but it really was born that way, like sort of half orangey red, half regular color.
And now the blue one. What is going on?
KING: Well, as we listen to a little "Rock Lobster" in the background, the blue tint is due to a rare genetic mutation.
The special sea creature, though -- the good news -- gets to avoid the cooker.
HILL: Whew!
KING: Its new home, a familiar place to our Erica Hill, the Mystic Aquarium.
HILL: It's a good place.
KING: It's a safe place, too, for that lobster.
HILL: Yes.
KING: And a reminder: if you're out there, we want you to send us your "Shot" ideas. If you see some amazing video tell us about it at CNN.com/360, and we'll put some of your best clips on our air. And a great shot there.
Up next President Bush on Capitol Hill selling immigration reform. Is anyone buying it?
Plus, a new poll and a new front-runner for the race for the GOP nomination in New Hampshire.
And more on the life and death of the people's princess, from her failed marriage to her final moments. New details ahead on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: You're watching the only live newscast on cable right now.
Tonight, a president on the ropes and the issue dividing not just Americans but his own party. We're talking about immigration reform. The president trying again today to sell it, but does he have enough clout to close the deal?
Also tonight, tax dollars intended for struggling farmers going to billionaires. We're "Keeping Them Honest".
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