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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Mixed Grades For Iraqi Government; Army Reservist Fights Fifth Deployment; Al Qaeda Regaining Former Strength?; Hospitals Still Dumping Patients on Skid Row; Wolves Making Comeback in Yellowstone; Can Killers be Stopped Before It's Too Late?
Aired July 12, 2007 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone.
Kids, if you're watching, give this a try when the school year comes around. Try handing your parents the kind of report card the White House did today on Iraq, and trying saying, mom, dad, I think there's cause for optimism here. See what happens.
That's what the president said today. Tonight, we will show you how the administration's interim report card is being received. We will include the House late today passing a troop-pullout resolution. We will also look closely at whether the progress report stretches words and fudges some facts to arrive at its bottom line.
We will also dig deeper into charges that the military has been stretched to the breaking point. Today, an Army reservist decided he would rather take the service to court than face his fifth -- fifth tour of combat duty. We will talk to him.
And you saw it on "Sicko," but 360 reported it first, hospitals dumping patients on Skid Row here in L.A. See what they have to say for themselves and what the courts are now saying.
We begin, though, with the report card on Iraq. Six months into the troop buildup and nearly four-and-a-half years into the war, of the 18 benchmarks set for the Iraqi government, Baghdad gets passing grades on eight goals, a mixed grade on two, and eight unsatisfactories, mostly on the political side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The bottom line is that this is a preliminary report.
I'm not making any excuses, but it is hard.
I don't think Congress ought to be running the war. I think they ought to be funding our troops.
The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in America on September the 11th.
I'm guess I'm like any other political figure. Everybody wants to be loved. Just, sometimes, the decisions you make and the consequences don't enable you to be loved. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That was the president today.
Senator John Warner, an influential Republican on defense issues, say today he's not impressed by Iraqi progress, nor are other GOP colleagues now calling for a change in Iraq strategy, nor are Democrats in the House, who, as mentioned at the top, passed a resolution calling for a troop pullout by April.
Meantime, of course, more bloodshed.
CNN's Michael Ware is in Baghdad, "Keeping Them Honest" for us tonight, in a city where mortar fire hit today, killing at least 19 people.
Michael, this House vote to get most U.S. troops out of Iraq by April, largely symbolic. On the ground, does the notion of a pullout seem realistic? What does that mean?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, no.
I mean, clearly, to the commanders I have been speaking to in the past couple of days, what's happening in D.C. bears absolutely no relation to what's happening here on the ground. In fact, it was a rather gloomy mood just a couple of days ago, as I was meeting with some of these commanders.
They honestly couldn't believe that, whilst they were still fighting the fight, whilst they were still hoping to gain some advantage finally on the battlefield, and hopefully with this Iraqi government, no matter how distant that hope may be, that the political rug could be pulled out from underneath them.
Now, physically, can you pull troops out by April of next year? Sure. You can pull anything out by April next year, but only if you're willing to pay the cost. I mean, it could be a bloodbath by Christmas. And it would be an ignominious withdrawal for the United States -- Anderson.
COOPER: On the political front, because all of this upsurge in troops was all about trying to secure a political environment -- on the political front, progress on an oil law and de-Baathification of the government was given an unsatisfactory grade today.
We often that there's no military solution to the war; it needs to be political. Can this war be won without more progress from the Iraqi government themselves? I mean, these guys are about to go on vacation for three weeks, aren't they?
WARE: Yes, they are. The parliament is about to recess. Obviously, the government will stay in operation. But, to be honest, who cares about the three weeks? Even if parliament sits 24 hours a day for the next three weeks, they're not going to make much progress.
To be honest, you know, many of the power blocs in government don't want de-Baathification in three weeks, three months, or three years. They're in no great hurry to bring it about. They're just not sharing the same interests that America does on these issues. So, no, you do need a lot more from the Iraqi government.
But, to be frank, you're most likely not going to get it, or certainly not to fit the vision that D.C. has of what should be going on here on the ground -- Anderson.
COOPER: The benchmark for reducing the level of sectarian violence was given a satisfactory rating. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican, said -- quote -- "To say that there's not progress against al Qaeda in Iraq is an insult to those men and women who have brought about progress. It's a denial of their sacrifice."
From what you're seeing, from what you see when you go out with the troops, as you often do, what kind of progress has been made on that front?
WARE: Well, on the sectarian violence, it's -- you know, if you want to take the measure that there's fewer bodies tortured, executed showing up on the streets of the capital alone, then you can say, well, there's been some impact on sectarian violence.
But that's not looking at the -- countrywide. Across the country, particularly if you include the figures of U.S. or Iraqi security forces, the deaths remain much the same as they have been. So, in one particular indicator on the streets of Baghdad are, and the numbers may be down. That doesn't mean the sectarian violence has really abated in any fashion.
And let's not forget, say here in Baghdad, hundreds of thousands of people have left in the past 12 months. So, there's fewer people to be caught in the middle. Neighborhoods themselves are much more homogeneous than they were. They have essentially been ethnically cleansed. So, now the neighborhoods are Sunni and are Shia.
And, also, don't forget, America is now allowing predominantly Sunni neighborhoods to maintain their own militias here in the capital and some of the provinces. That means the police death squads can't get to them. So, really, has the sectarian violence abated? Not exactly. And is that directly related to al Qaeda? No, because that ignores the fact that al Qaeda's not the only one involved in the sectarian violence.
What about this Iraqi government and police death squads? What about the Iranian-backed militias? So, just looking at al Qaeda as an end to the sectarian violence is almost an insult to the tens of thousands of Iraqis who have died as a result of that violence so far.
COOPER: Michael Ware reporting for us from Baghdad -- Michael Ware, appreciate it. Stay safe, as always.
New details tonight on a story we have been reporting for the last couple days -- CNN has learned that the government now believes that al Qaeda is setting up -- stepping up efforts, I should say, to sneak terrorists into America and has nearly all it needs to carry out attacks here, this according to a draft of the latest national intelligence estimate.
We have also been reporting that it's expected to say that al Qaeda has built itself back up to the strongest it has been since the war on terror began.
We wanted to know how, nearly six years, billions of dollars and thousands of lives later, this could possibly be happening.
So, we asked CNN's terrorism analyst, Peter Bergen, to investigate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST (voice-over): Mistake number one, a big one, letting Osama bin Laden go. U.S. special forces had bin Laden cornered in the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan in late 2001. The CIA commander on the scene asked for more forces to catch al Qaeda's leader, but was turned down. And bin Laden escaped.
Mistake number two, getting distracted. The United States ousted the Taliban and chased al Qaeda into Pakistan. But then it shifted its focus and manpower to Iraq, leaving just a handful of U.S. operatives to catch bin Laden.
Art Keller hunted bin Laden in Pakistan just last year, when he was with the CIA.
ART KELLER, FORMER CIA OFFICER: To use a medical analogy, it's like quitting a course of antibiotics too soon. You just leave a reservoir of infection even stronger to come back after you.
BERGEN: There are now more Americans on the ground in Pakistan. But the damage has already been done.
Mistake number three, misunderstanding the enemy. The Bush administration hoped that Iraq would draw terrorists to one place, making them easier to kill, the so-called flypaper theory. But the opposite happened. Iraq has strengthened al Qaeda. It's now a training ground for terrorists from around the world.
KELLER: People are going there to learn the tactics, and then come back.
BERGEN (on camera): A certain irony?
KELLER: Yes, it is. It seems like the reverse of the way the war on terror was supposed to work.
BERGEN (voice-over): Take suicide bombings, for example. Once unheard of in Afghanistan, now they happen at least once a week.
I met a failed suicide bomber in Kabul, who survived when his vest didn't blow up.
(on camera): Do you still hope to be a shahid, somebody who martyrs himself, when you get out of here? IMDADULLAH, FAILED SUICIDE BOMBER: (INAUDIBLE)
BERGEN: Of course.
(voice-over): That's the mistake number four, the so-called Iraq effect, letting al Qaeda spread its ideas and methods around the world. It was evident most recently in the London and Glasgow botched terror attacks, where an Iraqi doctor is alleged to have been involved in a plot that could have killed hundreds.
Another mistake, to some intelligence officials, protecting an ally, rather than striking al Qaeda. "The New York Times" reports that Washington nixed an attack on al Qaeda's leaders in Pakistan in 2005, for fear that it would destabilize Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf.
Some take comfort in the fact that al Qaeda still hasn't struck America again. But others say that's a false comfort.
KELLER: I think that the fact that we haven't been hit doesn't really tell us anything other than that there's a long planning cycle for terrorist acts.
BRUCE HOFFMAN, SECURITY STUDIES PROGRAM PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: They have pinned their hopes on carrying out another spectacular operation, if not exactly like 9/11, at least along the same lines. And that's what they believe will once again catapult them back into prominence, as the undisputed head of the global jihadi movement.
BERGEN: Al Qaeda is patient, planning for maximum impact, looking for a way to top 9/11, taking its time. And the U.S. has given them exactly that, time.
Peter Bergen, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Patient and still very deadly.
Joining me now, Tim Roemer, president of the Center for National Policy and a member of the 9/11 Commission, former congressman.
Congressman Roemer, thanks for being with us.
Leaked details of that...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: ... of that national intelligence estimate indicate that al Qaeda is regrouping along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, is now stronger than it's been in years. How does the U.S. try to reduce al Qaeda's influence in that region?
TIMOTHY ROEMER, PRESIDENT, CENTER FOR NATIONAL POLICY: Well, I think Peter's report is right on the mark. Many people are saying this in the intelligence community and the academic community, that they're rebuilding, regrouping, reforming, and becoming more dynamic.
One of the things we can do to address this, because we have taken more a unidimensional approach and made these mistakes fighting al Qaeda, is to take a multidimensional approach, pass the remaining 20 9/11 reforms, the bipartisan reforms, that can help make our borders safer, help do something about Afghanistan and Pakistan, help restore our image in the world, help do something about that tarnished public diplomacy that we have out there.
But our Congress needs to act, Anderson. We need our government and our president getting behind these bipartisan proposals and working together to make this country safer.
COOPER: Yes, I mean, in three years, only about half of the 9/11 Commission recommendations have been enacted. Who is to blame? I mean, you mentioned Congress. Is it -- is it just them? Is it the executive branch as well? What -- what is the holdup? What has held up these -- these other half of the recommendations?
ROEMER: Well, as you said, half the recommendations passing make us only half safer. And that's a failing grade in most schools, getting only 50 percent. We have to do better than this.
Who's to blame? There's a lot of blame to go around in this situation. The president, everything starts with the president on our foreign policy, on our counterterrorism policy. We need to do a better job here. And I would hope that he would be supporting this legislation and encouraging his Cabinet to work it and to pass it. So far, we haven't seen that. He's threatening a veto.
Congress needs to get this out of their conference committee and over the finish line and pass this. They did pass legislation earlier this year. I will give them some credit for that. But it's kind of stuck in the logjam of a conference right now. We need them to get it loose before they go on vacation. We know al Qaeda doesn't take vacations. And they are determined and better positioned to strike the United States. Look what's happened in Great Britain.
COOPER: So, as always -- as always, does it come down to the American people pressuring their representatives to -- to do something, to -- to break that logjam?
ROEMER: I think the 9/11 family members are a great example of this, Anderson. Here are people that lost brothers and sisters and husbands and wives on 9/11. We lost 3,000 people that day.
Now, six years later, we still have not passed all the reforms to make us safer. But they are American heroes. They're out there working tirelessly to try to pass it.
COOPER: So, what specifically needs to be done? What recommendation...
(CROSSTALK)
ROEMER: Well, the -- the 9/11 families -- the 9/11 families are engaged. They're trying to work the White House and the executive branch and the Congress to get these passed. It would help if the American people called their local senators and congressmen, encouraged them to break the logjam, pass this legislation, get it to the president's desk. Call the White House and tell the White House to pass this legislation and sign it.
Secretary Chertoff has said that he has a gut feeling that al Qaeda might want to strike us and that we are vulnerable. He did a commendable job for the administration up on Capitol Hill, trying to pass immigration reform. They failed. I wish those same people, the CIA director, the homeland security director, the FBI director, would be working with Congress to try to pass these bipartisan recommendations and get this country to be a little bit safer.
Anderson, we're seeing some of the same kind of signs pre-9/11 that we're seeing today. There's more chatter in the system. Al Qaeda is releasing tapes, with Zawahri talking about every five or six days now. Great Britain has been threatened a number of times. Al Qaeda has a safe haven in Pakistan now. We're not finishing the job in Afghanistan. Iraq is creating a new generation of terrorists.
(CROSSTALK)
ROEMER: There's more we should be doing on -- on our government. And we can make this country safer, hopefully, in time.
COOPER: Tim Roemer, appreciate you for being on the program. Thank you.
ROEMER: Thanks, Anderson.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: There is another problem -- another problem, of course, not enough troops, stretching the U.S. military right to the breaking point.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): They have given their all again and again and again. Tonight, see why one volunteer is now saying no to a fifth tour of combat duty, and taking the military to court.
Also tonight, he says the hospital told them they were sending him to rehab. He ended up on Skid Row.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe I was dumped. I believe I was just discarded.
COOPER: Hospitals dumping patients caught on tape -- a year-and- a-half since our first report, why it's still happening. We're "Keeping Them Honest" -- ahead on 360.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: You're about to meet an Army reservist who has served his country in Iraq and Afghanistan. And he's very proud of it. At the same time, he says enough is enough.
Erik Botta has been deployed four times now. And now the military has ordered him to ship out again. Botta says it is unfair. And he's suing over it.
Erik Botta joins us now from West Palm Beach, Florida, along with his attorney, Mark Waple.
Erik, you joined the Army Reserves right after 9/11. You were deployed to Afghanistan once. You have been IN Iraq three times already. Now you're being deployed again. Why fight it this time?
ERIK BOTTA, ARMY RESERVIST SUING THE MILITARY: Well, I'm currently in school, pursuing my electrical engineer studies. And the Army so far has granted one delay for my academic studies. And I'm further along in my studies, about -- about halfway through. And I believe they gave me my deferral already once. And now that I'm closer to the end of my studies, it should be a stronger case.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: When you joined, were you told there were any limits to the number of times that you could be sent to the front lines?
BOTTA: No, actually, I did not -- I was not told there was going to be a limit. But, also, after 9/11 happened, I was in the Reserves. And I wrote my center. And I did volunteer to go active duty. And I went to active duty, and that -- because I believed that was the right course of action to support our country.
COOPER: Mark, this is not a case of someone who doesn't want to serve or who has just changed their idea about the war; is that correct?
MARK WAPLE, ATTORNEY FOR ERIK BOTTA: Certainly not.
This is a case of a young man who fought to come off of the inactive Reserves, on to the active component of the United States Army, one month after 9/11.
COOPER: Erik, you know, there are going to be some people who see this and say, look, it's -- it's tough. You have -- you have served your country well. It's tough that you're -- you're being called up again. But, you know, you joined up, and this is -- this is what's happening. You're supposed to follow orders.
What do you say to those people?
BOTTA: Well, I do agree with that comment. I do agree that I did sign a contract, and that I -- that I should serve my country. And I do believe that I'm serving my country. I served my country. Now, three years later, I have -- I have been in school, and I do continue to serve my country by supporting our national defense programs.
COOPER: What is the hardship -- what -- what is the case, Mark? What is the case that you're trying to make? What is the basis of the lawsuit?
WAPLE: Well, the -- the lawsuit is -- is a petition for a writ of habeas corpus that asked a -- asked the federal courts to require the commanding general of the U.S. Army Human Resources Command to show cause or explain why, given the facts and circumstances in Eric's case, he has been involuntarily mobilized.
And what we have provided them This -- in this case is that, when Congress gave the secretary of defense, by statute, the authority to involuntarily mobilize a reservist, one of the factors that Congress told the secretary of defense to consider before an involuntary mobilization is ordered is to be certain that the reservist's prior military service has been taken into consideration, so as to guarantee a uniform exposure of the reservist to the hazards of combat.
And we -- we contend...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: And you're saying -- and you're saying that a fifth -- a fifth...
WAPLE: And we're...
COOPER: ... tour is simply too much?
WAPLE: Yes, we're saying a fifth tour has been too much. And we're saying that the Department of the Army, in Erik Botta's case, has failed to take into consideration the four prior combat tours, before they made the decision to mobilize him for a fifth time.
COOPER: You just filed the lawsuit today. We will continue to follow the case.
Erik Botta, appreciate it.
And, Mark Waple, as well, thank you very much.
Thanks for being on the program.
BOTTA: Thank you.
WAPLE: Thanks. Sure.
COOPER: Erik is suing the military on the same day the Bush administration released its report card on Iraq.
Tell us what you think. You can send us an e-mail, of course. Why not try v-mail? It's video mail, a new feature that is set up on our site. Our question: Do you think the so-called surge is working? Go to CNN.com/360. Click on the v-mail link.
Now here's Kiran Chetry with what's coming up tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIRAN CHETRY, CO-HOST, "AMERICAN MORNING": Thanks, Anderson.
Tomorrow, we will bring you the most news in the morning, including news for anybody catching a plane. Do you check your right to free speech at the door when you board the plane? We're talking to a mom who says she was kicked off of a flight because her toddler wouldn't stop talking. Anybody who has flown with kids or sat near one on a flight will want to learn what we found out tomorrow.
Wake up to the most news in the morning. It begins at 6:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Kiran, thanks very much.
Up next on the program: exactly what John McCain did not need, a campaign sex scandal -- details ahead.
Plus, god save the queen, or at least her crown. What really happened when photographer Annie Leibovitz asked her majesty to take it off?
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
COOPER: Marvin Gaye is what's going on, another contender for our 360 for our political theme song -- or political coverage song. We're still accepting your recommendations for what those songs should be. Keep them coming.
Tonight, Tom Foreman has the "Raw Politics." Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, John McCain's campaign appears to be turning into a train wreck. But it's getting so raw, we just can't look away.
(voice-over): CNN has learned that the Republican presidential candidate has only about $250,000 left for his nationwide campaign, if you factor in that he has nearly $2 million in debt. Where did all the money go? By most accounts, McCain overspent on staffing.
And there is this: Police in Florida now say they have arrested state co-chair Bob Allen from the senator's campaign for offering money to an undercover cop for a sex act. Allen says, not guilty.
For the first time, President Bush is admitting someone in his White House did leak the secret identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame. BUSH: It's -- it's run its course. And now we're going to move on.
FOREMAN: The raw read, not so fast. Plame has a lawsuit. And the Democrats are still fuming that the president commuted the jail sentence of Scooter Libby, the one White House guy nailed for this mess.
Some quick hits: Ohio's John Boehner calls Republicans who join Democrats over the war wimps. But California's Senator Barbara Boxer calls for impeachment of the president.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: This is as close we have ever come to a dictatorship.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
FOREMAN: In a "TIME" magazine poll, voters say Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are the most religious of all the candidates, while Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton, not so much.
For the first time, a Hindu gave the opening prayer in Congress, only to be met by hecklers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The sergeant at arms will restore order in the Senate.
FOREMAN: And holy head gear -- the BBC aired material suggesting that the queen stormed out of a session with American photographer, Annie Leibovitz after Annie asked her to remove her crown.
Did not storm out.
(on camera): The Beeb now says, sorry, they did indeed mis-edit the videotape to imply a royal ruckus, when, in actuality, Annie and the queen went to a local pub and hoisted some pints of Strongbow.
Well, no, not really -- Anderson.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Tom, Tom, Tom.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: July 23 is the CNN/YouTube debate. That's a little more than a week away. All the Democratic candidates are going to be answering your questions.
There's still time to send us a video question. You have about -- up until the day before the debate, actually.
Just to give you a -- a sense of the kinds of questions we have been getting, here's one of the 1,000 that we have received so far.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. I'm Ray Phillips (ph) from Omaha, Nebraska.
Recently, I worked as a math and science tutor in the inner-city schools of Fort Worth, where I was disheartened by how much time and energy teachers are being forced to spend just preparing students for standardized testing.
My question is, in your view, what good or bad effects have policies which emphasize standardized testing, such as No Child Left Behind, had on the quality of learning in our public schools? And how is your education policy different?
Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's one question we might pick. Education is an issue a lot of -- on a lot of Americans' minds, of course.
So is health care reform.
Here's another YouTube question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Walt (ph). Hickory, North Carolina.
I have heard a lot about universal health care, in regard to children, but not about the disabled.
How does your health care plan provide for medical coverage for the disabled, without a major deductible?
Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Keep sending us your questions. Keep them under 30 seconds. It's easy to do. All the information you need is at YouTube.com.
No debate about this. What you're about to see simply should not be going on in the richest country in the world. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER (voice-over): He says the hospital told him they were sending him to rehab. He ended up on Skid Row.
JOSE GONZALEZ, PATIENT: I believe I was dumped. I believe I was just discarded. COOPER: Hospitals dumping patients, caught on tape. A year and a half since our first report, why it's still happening. We're Keeping Them Honest, ahead on 360.
Also tonight, racing to catch a glimpse at a howling good story, on a "Planet in Peril". Once nearly wiped out in America, the wolves are coming back. See why, tonight, on 360.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: We certainly wish this next story were not on the broadcast tonight. We've been covering it for nearly two years now. And the fact that it may still be happening is hard to understand.
For years, homeless hospital patients have been dumped on Skid Row here in Los Angeles. Some of them were disoriented, wearing little more than their hospital gowns.
As outrageous as it might seem, there is actually no law on the books to make patient dumping illegal. Instead, the city attorney has had to find other ways to try to stop the practice. And fortunately for him, some of the evidence has been caught on tape, including a new case, which, if true, shows the problem is still going on.
CNN's Randi Kaye is "Keeping Them Honest".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's Jose Gonzalez, struggling to get out of a cab on L.A.'s Skid Row. He's 26, homeless, and the focus of the latest investigation into hospital patient dumping.
(on camera) Do you believe you were dumped on Skid Row?
GONZALEZ: I believe I was dumped. I believe I was discarded.
KAYE (voice-over): Discarded he says, by Kaiser Permanente Hospital, and dumped more than 20 miles away, in downtown L.A., curbside, in front of Union Rescue Mission.
GONZALEZ: Why would they send me an hour away? What were they trying to hide?
KAYE: The mission's surveillance cameras, installed to catch patient dumping, tell his story.
Gonzalez spent two weeks at Kaiser, being treated for back pain. Then, he says, two Kaiser social workers told him he was being sent to another facility for physical rehabilitation. The hospital says it couldn't have happened that way, that rehab would have required a doctor's referral.
Gonzalez says they put him in a cab, bound for this shelter, not exactly rehab. He says since the shelter couldn't treat his back pain, it turned him away. The shelter says that's true.
The cabby, paid for by the hospital, then brought him here to Union Rescue Mission. The mission's Andy Bales says Gonzalez is just one of nearly 100 patients dumped at his front door in the last 2 years.
(on camera) What are these people doing being released?
ANDY BALES, PRESIDENT, UNION RESCUE MISSION: They're not -- you know, that's the big thing. Hospitals will say, well, there's no place else for them to do for recuperative care.
But in most cases, we're not talking about recuperative care. We're talking about people who still need hospitalization.
KAYE (voice-over): Kaiser Hospital refused to go on camera but told us Gonzalez agreed to those arrangements in writing. And we confirmed that he was transported safely.
(on camera) The hospital says that you signed a discharge form, that you knew where you were going. Is that true?
GONZALEZ: I don't recall signing a form. Like I said, I was under medication. I don't recall signing any form.
KAYE (voice-over): We came to Skid Row two years ago, to investigate one of the first cases of patient dumping. Today, we're still "Keeping Them Honest."
L.A. city attorney Rocky Delgadillo has already settled one case with Kaiser, after this woman was found wandering Skid Row in just her hospital gown. He's now filed civil complaints against two more hospitals.
The most disturbing case, Hollywood Presbyterian's alleged dumping of a paraplegic man last year. He was left in the gutter near Midnight Mission, carrying his belongings in his teeth.
CAPT. ANDREW SMITH, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: He was disoriented. He had a colostomy bag, which had apparently broken open inside of the van, and he was covered in his own human waste. He was paralyzed from the waist down.
KAYE (on camera): There's being treated like trash.
ORLANDO WARD, MIDNIGHT MISSION: Discardible. Discardible. And that, to me, is -- is more than an injustice, you know. It's a crime.
KAYE (voice-over): Hollywood Presbyterian released this statement, saying the man "told the van driver to drop him off at a sidewalk location. She complied. Unfortunately, this was in violation of hospital policy and something we would never condone."
Methodist Hospital, also facing a complaint, told CNN it complies with federal discharge requirements. ROCKY DELGADILLO, LOS ANGELES CITY ATTORNEY: The victims here might be the perfect victims, because they might be suffering from mental dementia. They might have drug or alcohol abuse problems. They don't have a home. They're not the best witnesses, if we're trying to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a hospital did something wrong here.
KAYE (on camera): Why are hospitals continuing to dump homeless patients on the street, when warm beds are available to them? Every night here at Midnight Mission, eight to ten beds are reserved for police referrals and hospital drop-offs. The mission's Orlando Ward says the hospitals are well aware the beds exist.
Is it the hospitals' fault? Are they to blame?
WARD: If you're dropping people off in the street without making sure they're connected to people that can provide additional services, absolutely, it's your fault.
KAYE: No shortage of blame on Skid Row. Simply a shortage of solutions.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We should note that a bill that would outlaw patient dumping has made its way through California's legislature. But so far, it has only been approved by committee. And it's already been watered down.
Just ahead, we continue our "Planet in Peril" series right here in America. Up close with a predator once wiped out of Yellowstone National Park. Now, making a strong comeback. We'll tell you why this killer is actually good for the ecosystem.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: I was in Yellowstone Park last weekend. It wasn't exactly a sight-seeing tour. I was there for our "Planet in Peril" series. And while it's taken us all over the world this year, this time, we decided to bring the story back here to America.
The reason are the grey wolves. They're an endangered species. They were nearly driven to extinction in America. But at Yellowstone, something remarkable is happening. I was lucky enough to witness it. Take a look.
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COOPER (voice-over): It's late afternoon in Yellowstone National Park, and the light is fading fast. We're trying to get into position to witness what's widely considered the most successful conservation effort of the past few decades: the reintroduction of grey wolves into the park. (voice-over) There's a bison which died several hundred yards from here along a little river. And at night, the wolves are going to come and feed on it. They were out here last night.
There's a good chance they'll be back tonight. So we're trying to get as close as possible. We don't want to scare the wolves off by getting too close.
DOUG SMITH, WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST: The pressure builds.
COOPER: Do they always come out at night?
SMITH: Yes, they do. This is about the time they come out. And we estimate about 80 percent of their kills are at night. And so, this is a very good time of day to see them.
COOPER (voice-over): Doug Smith is the wildlife biologist, in charge of the Wolf Reintroduction Project.
SMITH: OK, I got it.
COOPER: After about 20 minutes of waiting, we get our first glance.
SMITH: Kind of up in that -- kind of above that rock in the sage brush.
COOPER (on camera): Yes. I think the one I -- I think I did see him back then. Because my tree stump has moved.
SMITH: OK. Good. You're -- you're officially a wolf observer now. Or excuse me, you're officially a wolf watcher now. And is that your first wolf?
COOPER: Yes, it is.
SMITH: OK. Great.
COOPER (voice-over): That we're actually seeing wolves here, is something that, for a long time, seemed impossible. The government set out to exterminate wolves across the west, at the beginning of the 20th century, and along the way, completely eliminated them from the park.
The public reception and biological appreciation began to change in the '80s. Bison and elk populations exploded, because there was no predator, like the wolf, keeping their numbers down.
And so, in 1995, after a long battle with the nearby ranching community, who were concerned the animals would kill their livestock, Doug Smith transplanted the first wolves back into Yellowstone.
(on camera) What is it about wolves that surprised people, surprised everyone? Just how adaptive they are?
SMITH: Yes. I think so. How adaptive. How tolerant they've become. How they kind of clicked right back into place without a lot of years. You know, they just fell right back into their old role, even though they had been missing for 70 years.
COOPER (voice-over): And that role, as the local ranchers predicted, does include killing livestock. The environmental group, Defenders of Wildlife, agreed early on to pay ranchers for farm animals lost to wolves. So far, has made over 500 payouts.
There are now more than 150 wolves in the park, with more than two dozen new cubs born this spring.
Thousands of tourists flock to the park, hoping to catch a glimpse of the wolves, something that is still special, even for Doug.
(on camera) Does it excite you?
SMITH: Oh, yes. I've been doing this since 1979, and it never gets dull. It's a thrill to see a wolf, every time.
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COOPER: It's a remarkable park. A remarkable experience.
Up next, why the planet's deadliest human predators, serial and spree killers, don't get the attention they need until it's too late.
And these stories.
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COOPER (voice-over): Report card on Iraq.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not making excuses. But it is hard.
COOPER: No excuses. But we'll show you how his report squares with the raw facts.
And they've given their all, again and again and again.
Tonight, see why one volunteer is now saying no to a fifth tour of combat duty, and taking the military to court, next on 360.
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COOPER: Sun setting here in Los Angeles. A beautiful day here. Coming up, now, the silence, the rage, the attack. The clues that some notorious killers leave behind are clear. What happened at Virginia Tech is proof of that. So why can't they be stopped until it's too late?
This weekend, CNN's Soledad O'Brien is trying to answer that question in a special investigations unit report on the criminally insane. Here's a preview. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Real quiet. Real shy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't really remember him. He was the kid that never spoke through high school.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dahmer was the victim of abject loneliness.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's the Unabomber.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ted, did you do it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whenever guests would come, he would run up to his room, in the attic.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The red flags were there. The isolation. The remoteness. Could killers like Cho, Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Kaczynski have been helped, if their silences had been identified much earlier?
DR. J. REID MELOY, FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST: The law states implicitly that you have a right to be psychotic. And you have a right to be free, with your psychosis, as long as you're not an imminent danger to yourself, others or gravely disabled.
DAVID KACZYNSKI, BROTHER OF TED KACZYNSKI: I remember being so struck by how shutdown Ted seems. A man buried in his own thoughts.
O'BRIEN (on camera): He's not smiling, standing stiffly.
KACZYNSKI: Yes. Very stiffly.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): David Kaczynski says he tried hard to get his brother, Ted, help. Holed up in his Montana cabin for 25 years, Ted hinted at his madness in the letters he sent to David.
KACZYNSKI: He goes on to say that he's never been happy in his life.
O'BRIEN: David had the letters analyzed by a psychiatrist, who noted symptoms of paranoia and schizophrenia. But the law made it clear. Ted could not be forced to get help.
KACZYNSKI: That's where we got our sort of cold awakening. Because the answer was, basically, our hands are tied. Given that Ted was an adult, essentially, there was nothing we could do.
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COOPER: Soledad, clearly, the Kaczynski family knew something was wrong with Ted Kaczynski. In -- a family in that situation, is there anything they can actually do? Is there anything more they can do?
O'BRIEN: Absolutely nothing they could do. Absolutely nothing. You cannot convict or condemn someone just for being, in their own words, a little bit crazy. A little bit off. Something's wrong with him.
And he said once that they knew there was a problem. The fact that their hands were tied at every single turn was so frustrating. It came down to David having to turn in his brother. And he was able to get assurances that his brother, in fact, would not be put to death. That was critical for him.
But at the end of the day, it was a horrific decision to have to make to try to get his brother help that he desperately needed and that he knew he needed for a long time but couldn't get.
COOPER: I guess they -- until they can prove that somebody is an imminent danger, there's nothing they can do. And does that differ by state? I mean, are some states better than others, in terms of getting help for the mentally ill?
O'BRIEN: Well, we have seen across certain states -- and I think it's 33 states in this country -- they're actually putting efforts into the first interaction between law enforcement and people who are mentally ill.
So what you're seeing is the police officers and the supervisors saying, "We've got to figure this out. We've got to make sure that we're not bringing people who have mental problems into the system in the first place."
In those states, 33 states, what they've done is started training some of those police officers. So they're prepared to deal with mentally ill people; clients, they sometimes call them. People who come into their system.
They're also prepared to negotiate. So they're not necessarily arresting them for, say, assaulting a police officer, which they did in the past, a lot. Now, they try to get them into the correct programs, the correct places. Not necessarily bringing them into a law enforcement system, which often would mean jail, which means they're really not going to get the help they need.
COOPER: It's so difficult for the families. Soledad, thanks.
O'BRIEN: My pleasure.
COOPER: You can learn more about the criminally insane in the all-new CNN special investigations unit, a special airing this Saturday and Sunday night, at 8 p.m. Eastern, of course, right here on CNN.
The "Shot of the Day" is coming up. A very mad bull, indeed. Check this out. Yikes. Ouch. That's got to hurt.
First, Tom Foreman is back with a "3650 News and Business Bulletin" -- Tom.
FOREMAN: Hi, Anderson. We start off with updates on two stories we brought you last night on 360.
A third suspect, wanted in connection with the shootings of two New York City police officers Monday, has been caught in Pennsylvania and is back in New York tonight. One of the officers shot remains in critical condition. The other was saved by his bullet-proof vest.
Our other update on the TB patient, Andrew Speaker. He was on 360 last night. Today, in Canada, eight people filed a lawsuit against Speaker. They're seeking $1.3 million, claiming he put him at risk of exposure to the disease on a flight from Prague to Montreal in late May.
One of them has tested positive for TB, but it's unclear if the case is connected to that flight.
On Wall Street, a record day. Stocks soared after strong retail sales numbers. The Dow climbed 283 points, to close at a new high of 13,861. The NASDAQ added 49 points to finish at 2,701. And the S&P gained 28.
And look at what happened to a Colorado teen while using his iPod. He was struck by lightning and suffered bad burns. Most of the iPod disintegrated, shredding part of his shirt, as you can see.
So keep that in mind if you have a portable music device. Maybe you need to step indoors if lightning starts flashing around -- Anderson.
COOPER: What was that? What were you saying about portable devices outside?
FOREMAN: Portable devices outside. Yes, you might want to check the skies.
COOPER: Yes. Check out the "Shot of the Day", tom. Hemingway did it. But he also drank far too many mojitos. The running of the bulls in Pamplona, yes.
FOREMAN: Hey!
COOPER: It's kind of like one of those weird Mentos ads, only the guy with the candy gets gored at the end.
Seven people ended up on the pointy end this time. Not good at all. Yikes.
Have you ever run with the bulls there, Tom?
FOREMAN: No. Actually, I think that would be kind of an interesting thing to do. But you know, Anderson, that's very much in the spring. You know how we have the running of the executive producers? That's always fun.
COOPER: Oh, yes. The old CNN tradition. Tom, thanks. FOREMAN: You hit them -- you hit them on the nose with a newspaper. And run.
COOPER: We want you to send us your shot ideas. If you see some great videos or some bulls goring people, tell us about it at CNN.com/360. We'll put some of the best clips on the air.
If you want another look at "The Shot", or get the day's headlines, check out the 360 daily podcast. You can watch it at CNN.com/AC360podcast or get it free at the iTunes score. Just don't do it during a thunderstorm.
Just ahead, the White House report card on Iraq is out. Fewer than half the marks are passing. President Bush says the grades support his optimistic outlook. Seems to be a conflicting message there. We'll try to get to the bottom of it, "Keeping Them Honest".
Plus, al Qaeda getting stronger and apparently trying harder to get into America. How could this happen after nearly six years of fighting them? Our top terrorism analyst, Peter Bergen, breaks it down, when 360 continues.
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COOPER: Good evening, everyone.
And kids, if you're watching, give this a try when the school year comes around. Try handing your parents the kind of report card the White House did today on Iraq, and try saying, "Mom, Dad, I think there's cause for optimism here." See what happens.
Tonight, we'll show you how the administration's interim report card is being received. One clue: the House, late today, passed a troop pullout resolution.
We'll also look closely at whether the progress report stretches words and fudges facts. We'll arrive at its bottom line.
We'll also dig deeper into charges that the military has been stretched to the breaking point. Today an Army reservist decided he would rather take the service to court than face his fifth -- fifth -- tour of combat duty.
And you saw it in "Sicko", but 360 reported it here first. Hospitals dumping patients on Skid Row in L.A. See what they have to say for themselves and what the courts are now saying.
We begin, though, with a report card on Iraq, six months into the troop buildup and nearly four and a half years into the war, of the 18 benchmarks set by the Iraqi government, Baghdad gets passing grades on eight goals, a mixed grade on two and eight unsatisfactories, mostly on the political side.
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BUSH: The bottom line is that this is the preliminary report. I'm not making excuses, but it is hard.
And I don't think Congress ought to be running the war. I think they ought to be funding our troops.
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