tv Anderson Cooper 360 CNN June 8, 2011 11:00pm-12:00am PDT
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good evening, everyone. we begin with breaking news tonight in america's secret war, a war most people don't even know exists, but it's happening. and seems to be escalating. american air strikes on al qaeda targets in yemen. they've been suspended for nearly a year but are picking up again according to a late report tonight in "the new york times." yemen's president, wounded during unrest in the country, is in saudi arabia getting medical treatment. the "times" is reporting that the obama administration is taking advantage of the power vacuum to step up air strikes. officials telling the paper they are getting fresh intelligence on targets and using it. perhaps a big step. let's bring in peter bergen and fran townsend, who is a member
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of the cia and department of homeland security external advisory committee. fran, in terms of these attacks, what's at stake here? >> anderson, it makes perfectly good sense. we use these kind of drone attacks inside the tribal region of pakistan because we go after the operations, you know, cells in the tribal areas. in yemen, with this chaos, we've always had an intelligence and military presence there. mostly the military presence was for training. but you can see how in the chaos, they would use cia, covert action authority, and permit the cia director to use all of his capability. and that would include drones for strikes if he gets the intelligence. >> peter, how does seleh's condition change the equation here, for better or for worse? >> well, seleh is clearly -- i don't think he's coming back to the country. i mean, he's gone. and clearly the post seleh era has begun in yemen.
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as fran said, we've got a situation where not only drones but american jets are being used. that's quite a departure. there has been a relatively small u.s. special forces presence in yemen, about 75, and obviously there's a cia presence. these assets are being used to put as much pressure on al qaeda as possible. there are reports in "the l.a. times" also this evening that elements of al qaeda have shown up in a town in the south and so it's an opportunity but also a problem in the sense that, yes, the vacuum may allow greater space for the united states to operate, but the same vacuum is allowing al qaeda a greater space to operate. >> fran, at this point, how important is yemen for al qaeda? because it does seem al qaeda in the arabian peninsula has really been carrying the mantle for al qaeda and been behind a number of the more publicized attacks
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or attempted attacks in the last couple of years. >> that's absolutely right, anderson. not only have they been -- they're not only the most active, but also the most capable. that's not saying much. many of these attacks have been unsuccessful, bombs not detonating and that sort of thing, or in the computer cartridges. but it's the most determined, the most active and the most capable, which is why you hear u.s. counterterrorism officials saying it is the greatest threat to the u.s. homeland. i will tell you, it would not surprise me the use of drones. drones could be used as covert action because it could be deniable. i've not heard from my sources the use of military jets. that would be an overt military operation not under the control of the cia director. that's a much different matter, and i would be surprised at this point if they were trying to use u.s. jets in a clandestine way. >> but peter, that is the report from "the times," correct? >> yeah, indeed. it has happened before, and it's been suspended because of
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civilian casualties and it was, you know, unpopular, i guess, in the country itself. but this is a moment which is -- yemen is at a crossroads. it's not the first time. there was a very nasty civil war there in the mid '90s which elements of al qaeda also played a role and in fact, seleh was allied with some of the militants to do some of his own dirty work. so he himself has used elements of groups close to al qaeda in the past. the politics are extremely complex with the tribal situation. al qaeda's own presence there, two wars already going on, even before this civil war started. so it's a mess, and al qaeda historically has taken advantage of messes, but the united states is taking advantage of it, as well. >> and in yemen, you have this american born cleric, he's the only american citizen the u.s. is directly trying to
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assassinate. is that correct, fran? >> as far as we know, that is correct. the other interesting point, whether it's just drones or drones and military aircraft, you've got to ask yourself where are these things based? where are they flying out of? we know that the u.s. enjoys a cooperative relationship with the kingdom of saudi arabia. i can't imagine they would be too happy if that were publicly revealed that they had something to do with it. there are other questions here that remain unanswered in the article, like where are these drones, where are these jets being based and flown from? >> a lot we don't know at this point. certainly a fascinating escalation, if in fact it's happening to the degree the "times" is reporting. fran, appreciate your checking with your sources. peter bergen, as well. turning next to libya, more breaking news. forces loyal to moammar gadhafi making another attempt to take back the city of misurata, a vitally strategic port city. misurata has been under siege for months and the scene of some
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of the bloodiest fighting in the war. opposition forces took control of the city but paid a terrible price and have been paying dearly ever since. as gadhafi forces have continued to shell the city and murder civilians. now it looks like the battle is very much back on. a short time ago, i spoke with a reporter, sara sidner in misurata, and john burns, who is in tripoli, which has seen some of the heaviest nato bombing yet. sara, what is the situation right now in misurata? >> reporter: what's happening today is that there has been intense, intense fighting on the front lines. there are three front lines outside of the city, about 25 to 35 kilometers outside of the city to the east, the south and the west, and there were 13 people killed, 24 injured the last time we checked the hospital. so intense fighting from the gadhafi forces who were trying to push into the city once again.
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they tried on monday. things calmed down a bit on tuesday because rebels were able to fight back and hold their positions. and then again today, things blew up. the rebels were getting hammered today. but the rebels say they were able to push gadhafi forces back, hold their positions and push the forces a little bit further to the west towards tripoli. so the rebels are feeling pretty good despite the fact that they have had casualties. doctors at the hospital say this is the most amount of casualties they've seen in the past week, anderson. >> john, yesterday intensified air attacks during the day in tripoli. what has it been like today? >> reporter: very quiet today. i mean, remarkably quiet. probably the quietest day for at least the last week, i would say. but the highlight of our day, if one can call it that, was being taken out of tripoli to this desert camp of colonel gadhafi, which was hit, they told us at
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dusk on tuesday. and obliterated, really. and seemed like the clearest example yet of a nato attempt to kill colonel gadhafi. >> that's the way it seems? it seems like nato is trying to kill him? there have been a number of strikes at his compound or what used to be his compound, they say there's command and control reasons to do that. is that not the case? >> reporter: well, i heard from a source in secretary gates' entourage indirectly today that the reason they attacked the command compound in tripoli so heavily yesterday, was that they had some intelligence that colonel gadhafi had been back there. >> john, i want to clarify. you said about a source telling you that the reason they hit that compound yesterday was because they had some intelligence that gadhafi was there. have you reported that in the paper yet?
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>> reporter: no, it wasn't my source really. this came to me indirectly from somebody who had been talking to a source in secretary gates' entourage. so i can't vouch for that source, but it was put to me that it was somebody who is in a -- you know, in a position to know. it was in respect to the compound. it's been hit repeatedly before. when we went there yesterday, in a situation like this, it made me feel a little nervous, because half of the reporters decided not to go. thinking that we were being used as human shields. the nato aircraft were still bombing the city and still in the air over this compound. we went any way, a number of us leading, but nato was watching the hotel which we live and
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probably watching the bus that carries us to the bombing sites. when i got there, i saw the complete obliteration of these buildings. i must say, my first instinct was, what's the point? they've already gone after the bunkers beneath these buildings. they've previously attacked several of the buildings. this time they came back and they just turned it into kind of berlin 1945. it was just rubble as far as the eye could see. i couldn't figure out why they would have done that. but if in fact, and like i say it's not my source, but if in fact aides to secretary gates are saying they have indications that gadhafi had returned to the compound, that would certainly explain why they went after it with such ferocity yesterday. >> sara, stay safe. john burns, thank you so much. appreciate it. let us know what you think on facebook or twitter @ anderson cooper. i'll try to be tweeting tonight. coming up, shocking testimony in the casey anthony trial. multiple internet searches for
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the word chloroform on her home computer. a computer she shared with her parents. details on that. and what other words she searched for. wait till you hear some of the other ones. up next, more breaking news. new calls for anthony weiner to step down. a sexting partner speaking out and reports that his wife, a top aide to secretary of state clinton, is pregnant. the latest in all that and the back story of what used to be washington's power couple. new citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal.
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still more breaking news on two fronts in the anthony weiner scandal to tell you about. a growing list of democratic colleagues calling for his resignation and reports that his wife huma is pregnant. all in a day that began with an explicit photo of his anatomy surfacing online. so there's deepening political damage and a child in the mix. more on his wife huma who is a top aide to secretary of state clinton. you'll hear from one of the congressman's sexting partners. but first, dana bash with the latest from capitol hill where congressman weiner seems to be growing more radioactive. last night, the silence from democrats was deafening. that has changed just in the last few hours. more and more democrats, especially in the house, are calling on congressman weiner to resign. >> reporter: you're right. before today no democrat had said that the congressman should resign.
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today many did. as you said, the most significant are from weiner's fellow democrats in the house. they started coming out late today. now a half dozen are saying publicly it's time for weiner to go. that includes alison schwartz. this is significant, because it shows how much democrats think this is hurting them politically. she is in charge of recruiting democratic candidates to run in 2012. and some of the language has been quite strong. joe donally of indiana said, enough is enough. it's time for congressman weiner to resign. his actions have disgraced the congress. what's most telling is not just the public statements, anderson. i'm told that weiner is getting private calls from colleagues telling him to step down. a democratic congressman told me that they're saying to weiner, look, just step aside to preserve the dignity that you have left. and this congressman told me the resentment among weiner's colleagues has escalated since that press conference he had on monday, especially now with that x rated photo surfacing on the internet that you mentioned. >> do we know how he's been
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responding to the mounting pressure? >> he had been quite defiant in public and private conversations earlier this week, saying he's going to stay, he's not going to resign. one democratic source familiar with the conversations tells me he's now conflicted, doesn't know what he wants to do. we should note that he's not just taking calls but making them to colleagues, friends and supporters. i spoke with a congressman who got a call from weiner today who said he was contrite, choked up, said he doesn't know what got into him but he vowed to redeem himself. >> you've learned that he reached out to former president clinton who officiated at his wedding. >> that's right. we don't have the specifics of that phone call, other than weiner was calling the former president to apologize to him, just as he has to many others over the past three days. you just noted that this was a special call, because bill clinton is somebody who he knows very well, but more importantly, he's very close with weiner's wife, huma because huma works for hull hill, has for years and years. and democratic sources i talk to
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say that the clintons think of her as a daughter. anderson? >> it's sad all the way around. dana, appreciate it. huma abedin is traveling with secretary of state clinton, arriving today in the persian gulf. neither she nor the secretary has said word one publicly about the scandal. however, one of the sexting women has. a woman named lisa weiss, the blackjack dealer in las vegas, telling inside edition about her conversation with the congressman and the regret to what it's done to his wife. listen. >> you called this flirting, but it was very explicit sexual talk. >> yes, i know. >> did he ever send you a photo? >> no. >> what was you say to the congressman's wife? >> i feel very, very bad for talking to her husband in a way i shouldn't have. i feel horrible. >> congressman weiner and huma were married just last summer. they were a consummate washington power couple. she's deeply private. he obviously has very close
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relationships with the media. certainly seeks out the media. we want to take a look at their relationship at her to learn more about her. hear's tom foreman's report. >> reporter: as she traveled abroad with secretary clinton, huma abedin appears to be doing what she always does, tending to her work and keeping a low profile. friends say she's indicated she will fight for her marriage and her husband's career, but they openly worry about the couple's future. james carville knows abedin. >> every conversation starts the same thing, god, i wonder how huma is holding up. she didn't do anything to deserve this. any variation of that, every conversation always starts with that. >> reporter: abedin has been a rising star in the democratic party ever since she interned for first lady clinton in 1996. 35 this year, she was born in michigan to parents both college professors. largely raised in saudi arabia, she came back stateside to go to george washington university in
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d.c. she's a practicing muslim, fluent in arabic, and has emerged over the years as one of clinton's closest aides and friends. >> anybody else? >> reporter: famously professional, untiring, and discrete. candidate clinton wrapped up her white house bid and thanked her staff. >> and to my extraordinary staff, volunteers and supporters. >> reporter: the cameras went to abedin. they often do. her success, striking looks and love of high fashion landed her a "vogue" magazine feature in 2007, calling her hillary's secret weapon and mentioning close ties to actor john cusack and cyclist lance armstrong. in that article, clinton, who is described as having more of a mother-daughter relationship with abedin, said her combination of poise, kindness and intelligence are matchless.
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but it was abedin's relationship with anthony weiner, 12 years older and jewish, that made washington buzz. he says she knew of his weakness for internet sex chat before the wedding but told her it was past and they took their vows, presided over by former president bill clinton. ironic, since her internship at the white house occurred around the same time another intern was there. monica lewinsky. >> i love her very much, and she loves me. >> reporter: representative weiner insists, like the clintons, he and his wife will stick together. but that's what he says. and with their first anniversary coming up in a few weeks, she is not talking. tom foreman, cnn, washington. well, other news tonight. testimony in the casey anthony trial. the prosecution, as you know, alleges that casey's daughter, caylee, was forced to inhale chloroform and suffocated to death. today, the jury heard testimony from computer experts who said there were more than 80 searches
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on the family computer under the word chloroform. up next, details on that and some of the other words that were searched, equally incriminating. we'll talk with dr. sanjay gupta about what chloroform does to the human body. part two of our investigation, the sissy boy experiment. i hope you saw part one last night. a 5-year-old boy who played with girl's toys. he was put into a government funded study aimed at making him more masculine. decades later he took his life. his family blames the researcher who conducted the experiment. >> they were the experts. so i thought they would know what they were doing. >> what they really told him is that the very core of who he was, was broken. >> well, hear how one of the experts responds to that accusation. we track him down when "360" continues. [ banker ] mike and brenda found a house that they really wanted. it was in my sister's neighborhood. i told you it was perfect for you guys. literally across the street from her sister. [ banker ] but someone else bought it before they could get their offer together.
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in "crime and punishment" tonight, new stunning testimony in the casey anthony murder trial. computer experts took the stand today and told the jury that months before anthony's daughter caylee went missing, there were 84 internet searches for the word "chloroform" on the family computer, including how to make chloroform. in a moment, we'll talk with dr. sanjay gupta about what the chemical chloroform can do to the human body. prosecutors allege casey anthony used chloroform to knock out caylee before suffocating her to death. we also learned today that there were also word searches for neck breaking and head injuries. the details were uncovered on the computer's hard drive.
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gary tuchman has the latest from the courtroom today. >> reporter: casey and caylee anthony in 2008. just months before little caylee disappeared. the pictures shown today in court by the prosecution. casey anthony in her usual spot in the courtroom showed no emotion. and didn't even look at the pictures of her little girl. prosecutors then turned to casey anthony's computer, laying out what they believe to be very damning evidence. >> my name is john dennis bradley. >> reporter: john bradley is a software expert asked by investigators in orlando to forensically investigate the computer in casey anthony's house. the jury was listening carefully. >> is that a google search? >> yes, it is. >> for? >> the words neck breaking, with a space in between. and then a visit to wikipedia.org and inhalation, head underscore injury, ruptured spleen, chest trauma, hand-to-hand combat, internal bleeding.
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>> reporter: all these results came from the computer three months before caylee disappeared. prosecutors are trying to convince the jury that casey anthony was doing homework about ways to kill her daughter and presumed her attorney would cast doubt she was the one using the computer. but instead he seemed to concede she was using it, by saying she was surfing topics ranging from self-defense to self-protection. >> a computer examiner can never testify that a person is reading what's on the page, right? >> not without a security camera watching, that is correct. >> reporter: but the history included websites about chloroform. earlier testimony regarded chloroform being found in anthony's car trunk, as one expert said, it was in shockingly high levels. it can incapacitate or kill a person. >> how many times was that site visited? >> according to the history, 84 times.
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>> reporter: casey anthony was almost expressionless after that comment, too. as the evidence against her builds. >> gary, just looking at those internet searches, it seems like the computer evidence was very damaging to casey anthony's defense. >> reporter: it was devastating to casey anthony. not just because the search terms were so shocking but because of the mitigation efforts by her attorney. when he intimated to the jury that she was surfing and they was for self-defense, you think, if i was looking up self-defense terms, would i look up a term like neck breaking or ruptured spleen? of course not. we don't know anyone who would do that. when we talk to jurors after murder trials, one thing they tell us all the time about the losing attorney is he treated us like we were stupid or like we were ignorant. jurors just don't believe that. no one would believe it. so that's why it hurt her today. >> gary, thanks. let's talk more about chloroform and find out what the chemical can do to the human
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body. dr. sanjay gupta joins me now. when i think of chloroform, i think of movies where people put chloroform on a rag and knock somebody out. what exactly is chloroform and what is it typically used for? >> it is a very volatile liquid. so it's a liquid that can turn into a gas very quickly, but in the past it was used sort of as an anesthetic, much in the way that you described it and much in the way you've seen in movies. people would put some on a towel or something like that and use it as a form of anesthetic. this was done even into the middle part of the last century. it's a very volatile liquid that depresses someone's central nervous system and their ability to breathe, if they breathe a lot in. if you breathe too much of it in and people have known this, which is why even as an anesthetic, it had to be administered with skilled hands, too much of it would depress
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someone's central nervous system and would render them unable to breathe. and that could kill them. >> so it could be used to kill somebody if too much is used? >> yeah, and there's a lot of different medications like this, certainly that have been used as anesthetics in the past. in fact, even with regard to michael jackson. we were talking about propofol at that point. the similarities between a lot of these types of things is they depress your own body's reflex to breathe on its own, the nervous system has nerves that allow the body to breathe on its own. this depresses that, so you just don't have that drive and that's what ultimately causes death. >> can someone just go into a store and buy a bottle of chloroform? >> not exactly. it's not something that's sort of for individual sale. you can buy it as part of -- companies can buy it sometimes to be used more commercial purposes. but simply acquiring chloroform like that as an individual is hard to do.
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>> and obviously there's this testimony that somebody had used the anthony family computer to search how to make chloroform. >> yes. >> is that something -- does one make it? >> i looked into that a little bit today, anderson. it's a fairly simple chemical compound. so while it's difficult to go buy as a completed product, you could potentially make it. it's not that difficult to do. again, getting the exact concentrations correct, because it's so volatile, it's constantly turning into gas, it can be dangerous to make on your own, but it can be done. >> dr. gupta, appreciate it. thanks, sanjay. >> thanks, anderson. back to the legal fight. does today's testimony on chloroform and the other internet search words give the edge to the prosecution or the defense? joining me now is jean casarez, who is covering the trial for trutv, and pathologist dr. michael hunter. dr. hunter, as i said earlier, in court today a computer
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specialist testified someone in the anthony household looked up how to make chloroform on the internet. is there any reason why someone would need to know how to make chloroform in everyday life? >> i can't imagine why someone would do a search like that for any type of household purpose at all. >> jean, the computer experts said they couldn't trace who actually did these searches. so was the defense able to cast doubt on the prosecution's assertion that it was casey who looked up these terms? because she lived in the house with her parents? >> they didn't cross examine on that too hard, except for the fact there wasn't a password to get into the site. what we do know is whoever was making these searches would go between photo bucket, which we know casey had a big account of photos to myspace to facebook. her parents didn't have those accounts at all. the most innocent explanation is that casey's boyfriend at the time had put on his myspace
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account, win her over like chloroform, like it would be an intoxicating effect for a woman in a relationship. she could have been researching this to see what it was all about. but there was some genuine searches, such as neck breaking. >> chloroform is also an element emitted during human decomposition. is it possible the chloroform found in casey anthony's car was from the body? >> i think that's where the defense wants to put that. they want to say that the chloroform is a byproduct of the decomposition process, and it is. your body can produce small amounts of chloroform. but keep in mind that we had an expert two days ago who analyzed the material that came from that trunk. his testimony said that there was a shockingly high amount of chloroform.
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he says he's never seen that amount of chloroform in decomposing tissues in his work. and that's pretty powerful, and that's probably as powerful as you're going to get in this case in the discussion of chloroform. now, does that win the jury over? you know, i don't know. we'll have to see. the defense can make a lot of headway when it comes to, you know, maybe pointing to the fact this might be something that's naturally forming. >> jean, what's coming up tomorrow? >> lee anthony, the brother of casey anthony, has testified once. we've seen him walking in the hallway, so we think he may be next to be put on the stand. the prosecution's theory is not only premeditation, which i think this is the strongest evidence so far for that, but it's also aggravated child abuse. that means the intentional infliction of physical injury upon your child, that could include applications of chloroform. >> jean, we have seen her brother testify before and seen videos which she and her brother were having conversations while she has been incarcerated. what did we learn from those videos? those were essentially part of
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the videos where she was just lying repeatedly. >> that's right. and the prosecution, what did he learn from those videos? that her brother was desperately trying to find where caylee was. this was a missing child investigation. she was lying to him and also said, you can trust mom and dad in all of this. now they're going into all this, and her brother was involved in law enforcement trying to work with them. once again, the whole family trying to find caylee. >> jean casarez, appreciate it. dr. michael hunter, thank you. >> thank you. still ahead, part two of our investigation, the sissy boy experiment, uncovering the truth. tonight, we confront the psychologist this woman blames for her brother's suicide. >> this was a little boy who deserved protection, respect, and unconditional love. >> details on what happened to that little boy. also ahead, delta airlines coming under fire for soaking
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at making effeminate boys more masculine. his brother says this photo is the last time he remembers his brother kirk happy. kirk was just 5 years old when he was treated at ucla's gender identity clinic. the man who ran the study was george rekers, a graduate student at the time. rekers called kirk's treatment, which his family says involved beatings at home, a success. decades later, the research that was done on kirk is still being cited by those who think kids can be prevented from becoming gay. that's what infuriates kirk's family. they say the treatment that rekers calls a success literally destroyed kirk. they want you to know what he went through and the impact it had on the rest of his life. in tonight's report, we confront rekers with the allegations. >> kirk, what do you think of your nephew? >> are we on camera? >> yes. >> kirk murphy killed himself nearly six months after this
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video was taken in 2003. he was 38 years old, and had struggled with being gay for most of his life. a struggle his family blames on experimental therapy that kirk was subjected to as a 5-year-old child. experimental therapy that identified him as effeminate, a so-called sissy boy and tried to fundamentally change his behavior. kirk's mother enrolls him in the experimental therapy at ucla in 1970 because of concerns he was playing with girl's toys. >> i trusted these people because they were supposed to be the experts. >> what they really told him is that the very core of who he was, was broken. >> i think my husband and i and kirk were manipulated by this program. i think kirk would have been better off if i hadn't taken him. >> kirk's family had no idea that george rekers has for the last three decades used kirk as an example of a child whose
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effeminate behavior was altered successfully. in numerous publications, rekers has written about kirk, calling him kraig to hide his identity. >> i blame them for the way his life turned out. if one person causes another person's death, i don't care if it's 20 or 50 years, it's the same as murder in my eyes. >> of course, the actual reason someone commits suicide is difficult if not impossible to know. kirk's family's allegations that george rekers' therapy caused kirk to take his own life are just that, allegations. >> i would like to talk about your therapy that you kid with kraig. >> george rekers didn't respond to our request for an interview, so our producers tracked him down in florida to ask him about the murphy family's allegations. >> can you talk to us for a second about your therapy with a patient named kraig? >> it's published. >> we interviewed the family.
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they say the therapy you did as a child led to his suicide as an adult. what do you say about that? >> i didn't know that. that's too bad. >> you're not aware of the suicide? >> no. >> what do you say to the family if they say that your therapy led to his suicide as an adult? >> well, i think scientifically, that would be inaccurate to assume that it was the therapy. but i do grieve for the parents now that you've told me that news. i think that's very sad. >> rekers pointed out that his work with kirk took place decades before his suicide. >> that's a long time ago. you have a hypothesis that positive treatment back in the 1970s had something to do with something happening decades that hypothesis needs a lot of scientific investigation to see if it's valid. two independent psychologists of me had evaluated him and said he
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was better adjusted after treatment. so it wasn't my opinion. >> one of those psychologists has since died. the other, larry ferguson, told us he did evaluate kirk murphy as a teenager. he told us the family was well adjusted and he didn't see any red flags when evaluating kirk. but a psychiatrist who followed up with kirk when he was 18 wrote that kirk told him he tried to kill himself the year before because he can't "want to grow up to be gay." rekers insists the they are which was intended to help kirk and his parents. >> i only meant to help. the rational was positive to help the children, help the parents who come to us in their distress, asking questions, what can we do to help our child be better adjusted. >> george rekers has had a nearly three decade career as a champion of the anti-gay movement. he was a board member of the national association for
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research and therapy of homosexuality, or narth, an organization whose members attempt to treat those with what they call unwanted homosexuality. just last year, however, in a surprising twist, george rekers' days as a prominent anti-gay activist abruptly ended. rekers was caught with a young male escort he hired to accompany him on a trip to europe. this photograph was taken of them in an airport in miami. rekers says he's not gay and denies sexual contact with the escort. he says he hired him to help him carry his luggage. the escort says he gave rekers sexual massages while in europe. rekers resigned after the scandal, and the family research council said in a statement they haven't had contact with him in over a decade. rekers' reputation among those who oppose homosexuality may be tarnished, but his research is still being cited. in this book, he co-authored handbook of therapy for unwanted homosexual attractions, he
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continues to cite his work with kirk, whom he calls kraig, as a success. he writes that the case was "the first experimentally demonstrated reversal of a cross gender identity with psychological treatment." the book was published in 2009, six years after kirk murphy took his own life. >> the research has a postscript to it that needs to be added, and that is to acknowledge that kirk andrew murphy was kraig and he was gay and he committed suicide. >> what do you want people to remember about kirk, to know about kirk? >> that this was a little boy who deserved protection, respect, and unconditional love. and i don't want him to be remembered as a science experiment. he was a person.
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>> what happened to kirk andrew murphy isn't just a piece of history. today all around the country, children whose families are concerned they may be gay are being sent to therapy based in part on george rekers' research. it happened to a young man named ryan kendall when he was just 14. >> i thought there was some legitimacy that i was an evil sinner that was going to burn in hell and for years i thought that god hated me because i was gay. >> ryan says the therapy he was forced to get drove him to drugs and into a deep depression. tomorrow in part three of our investigation, you'll hear more from ryan and from the psychologist who treated him who says he's kept hundreds of children growing up to be gay. still ahead, a freak accident, dozens of air force rotc cadets struck by lightning. and the soldier's youtube video that embarrassed a major airline that's changing its policy on airline fees. >> good business model, delta. thank you. we're happy to be back in america.
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so every year my family throws this great reunion in austin. but this year, i can only afford one trip and i've always wanted to learn how to surf. austin's great -- just not for surfing. so i checked out hotwire. and by booking with them, i saved enough to swing both trips. see, hotwire checks the competition's rates every day so they can guarantee their low prices. that's how i got a 4-star hotel on the beach in san diego for half price. ♪ h-o-t-w-i-r-e ♪ hotwire.com isha sesay is following some
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other stories tonight and joins with a "360" news and business bulletin. isha? a lightning strike at camp shelby military base in mississippi sent 77 air force rotc cadets to the hospital. the military said that all of the reservists were responsive and stable, though two were carried by ambulances. the united states effort to stabilize afghanistan has had limited success according to a new senate report. what's more, the report, based on a two-year investigation, said afghanistan risks sinking into a deeper crisis after a u.s. troop withdrawal. the u.s. has sent $19 billion in aid to the troubled nation. and u.s. troops returning from afghanistan got an unwelcome surprise from delta airlines. the unit was charged almost $3,000 in baggage fees. soldiers with more than three bags had to pay $200 per extra bag, no matter what was in it. >> for me, it was a weapons case holding my m-4, 203 grenade
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launcher and 9 millimeter, the tools that i used to protect myself and afghan citizens while i was deployed. >> this incident is sparking outrage after some of the soldiers posted the youtube video. today, delta changed its policy. effective immediately, military personnel traveling on orders can check more bags for free, anderson. >> amazing that they hadn't done that already. up next, "the connection," using twitter in the classroom, the new way of teaching when "360" continues. that must cost a fortune. it sure does. well, if it doesn't have to get there overnight, you can save a lot with priority mail flat rate envelopes. one flat rate to any state, just $4.95. that's cool and all... but it ain't my money. i seriously do not care... so, you don't care what anyone says, you want to save this company money! that's exactly what i was saying. hmmm... priority mail flat rate envelopes, just $4.95
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and its population healthier. all to become the kind of city people want to live and work in. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest questions. and the over sixty thousand people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. so many kids hooked on twitter, some schools are using the social networking site as a teaching school. with "the connection" here's dan simon. >> reporter: the distractions are everywhere. 8 graders busy sending text messages during their history class. >> i said, wow, this is what is going to get my students. >> reporter: the teacher is talking about when he attended a
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seminar in san francisco last february about incorporating twitter in the classroom. ever since he told his students to byot, bring your own technology. whatever connects them to the internet. in not, they can use one of the classroom computers. >> we want three tweets that must be 140 characters. >> reporter: the class is studying world war i. students tweet the answer, complete with those twitter half tags. >> make sure you have a pound in front of the wwi. >> reporter: if she shows a video, that tweet the feedback. >> many men died because of the terrible condition they were living in. i love that.
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>> reporter: it gets projected on this chalk board. >> a lot of them, what it helped them with was finding their voice, because i have many students who do not participate in my class discussions or share what's on their mind, so twitter became that vehicle. >> reporter: for shy students, this has had the biggest impact? >> yes. my students have really impressed me. i know more about what they're into, how to help them, differentiate my instruction and be an effective teacher. >> reporter: the primary goal is to have greater class participation. and he feels like he's gotten that. but for some of these students, it's had a positive impact even outside of the classroom. >> i'm a shy person. i'm terror feed just speaking to you. >> reporter: oscar says students used to tease him, but he says his tweets with helping him stand out. >> i feel like an equal. >> reporter: most here come from low income families. he says it proves any school could incorporate social networking into the curriculum. >> twitter did become this paperless way of sharing what's on their mind.
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