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tv   Anderson Cooper 360  CNN  August 29, 2013 1:00am-2:01am PDT

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and that's all for us tonight. anderson cooper starts right now. good evening, everyone. tonight, breaking news. president obama says there's no doubt chemical weapons were used in syria or that the syrian regime used them. the question now, what is he going to do about it? we'll take a hard look at the tough choices. also tonight, they've run from our cameras. the charity we identified as america's worst. raising tens of millions they say for dying children but spending next to nothing on them. now finally they're talking. their claim and how it adds up. we're keeping them honest. later president obama stands where dr. king stood 50 years ago and speaks to the courage that carried them to washington. we'll speak to maya angelou. she was and is part of that struggle. she joins me for an emotional and inspiring conversation.
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we begin with syria and the breaking news. president obama tonight not saying if or when, but clearly making the case for a limited strike on syria. not, however, to take down the assad regime, only to punish it for using chemical weapons. he spoke today with pbs who asked him the key question right off the bat. >> how close are you to authorizing a military strike and can you assure the american people that by doing so, given iraq and afghanistan, that the united states will not get bogged down in yet another war halfway around the world? >> well, first of all, i have not made a decision. i have gotten options from our military, had extensive discussions with my national security team. we do not believe given the delivery systems using rockets that the opposition could have carried out these attacks. we have concluded that the syrian government, in fact, carried these out. and if that's so, there needs to be international consequences. >> as for what the consequences
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might be, the president says he does not foresee an open ended conflict with damascus. the aim he said would be to send a signal. >> we want the assad regime to understand by using chemical weapons against women, against infants, against children, that you are not only breaking international norms and standards of decency, but you're also creating a situation where u.s. national interests are affected. and that needs to stop. >> in the meantime, the president is trying to get his diplomatic ducks in a row. the five permanent members of the u.n. security council met today, gearing up for a vote in parliament, drafting a security council resolution authorizing "necessary measures to protect civilians." russia saying there's no proof the assad regime is behind the chemical attack. on the ground in syria, u.n.
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inspectors got back to work and got a warm welcome. survivors lined in the streets, greeting the suvs with cries of "god is great." they'll be working several more days. fred phleighten is monitoring developments and joins me now. what's the latest there tonight, fred? >> reporter: the latest is a report we're trying to confirm right now. apparently some key military installations seem to have drastically cut down their staff and the syrian military might be moving hardware to different locations. the u.n. ambassador for syria was asked about that today. he said he wouldn't comment on it. one of the things is apparently some of the artillery cannons on the hills around damascus were moved to some other places. and what we're hearing tonight is it's very, very quiet here in damascus. there's a lot less shelling than before. that doesn't confirm or deny that report.
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however, there does seem to be an eerie calm here. >> there's also a twist from the ambassador that he submitted instances where the opposition had used chemical weapons. what more do you know about that? >> reporter: well, they say that those are three incidents that happened in the past couple of days around the damascus area. there was one incident i found interesting, particularly, because i was there when it allegedly happened. it apparently happened last saturday, august 22. we were around that area when the syrian military said its forces were moving into that district and then came under the influence of a chemical. they say that some of their forces suffered suffocation signs and had to be brought to hospital. but i was later shown some soldiers who told me they had been subject to these chemicals, but they didn't show any outward signs of any suffocation. nevertheless, the syrian
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government is saying that it wants the united nations to look at these incidents, as well. and possibly stay in the country longer. of course, delaying any sort of report that would come out. >> fred, is it known how much longer this u.n. team plans to be on the ground? >> reporter: well, the word that we're getting is about another four days. there are still apparently some sites they want to look at. on tuesday, they weren't able to go out because of security concerns. they did get a lot done today. they were in the northeastern part of damascus, which is the place that apparently had the highest death toll in that alleged chemical attack. there are some things they still want to work out. it's unclear whether or not they're going to stay, but right now sunday appears to be the cutoff day when they plan to leave. >> fred, thank you. talking about options, none of them good. fran townsend currently sits on the homeland security and cia external advisory boards.
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also, christiane amanpour. john king, and michael hayden, general hayden has run the cia and nsa and is a principal with the chertoff group and serves on the boards of several defense firms. christiane amanpour, you've talked to a number of folks around the world. what is their reaction to this, and in particular, britain, which is capable of launching a tomahawk missile? are they saying that they want the u.n. to actually publish a report before they're willing to make a decision about whether or not to have military action? >> well, the very latest, in fact, from great britain is precisely that. they have said now they will not join any action against syria until there is a report from the u.n. inspectors. we don't know all the details what the british mean about that, but it seems to be putting the brakes on what seemed like a
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lot of momentum from britain today, with that draft u.n. resolution, which was under the chapter 7, which mean under the use of force mandate. that got nowhere, there was not even a u.n. security council meeting today. that was batted away. also, the foreign minister saying chemical weapons were used, this is a war crime and the world cannot stand by. and he this morning saying any reaction had to come sooner rather than later, because if it was going to be a lesson, it needs to be a lesson given right now. france, where i am, the president has said they stand ready to "punish anyone who made that vile decision to use chemical weapons against innocent civilians." but it's not clear right now if they will go with the united states, particularly britain, if the u.s. decides to go it alone. obviously, the u.s. does not want to wait for the u.n. approval and it seems the consensus is amongst nato forces
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and nato countries. >> fran, there's a big distinction with the u.s. position, which tends to be waiting for u.n. personal to get out and this team to finish their investigation but not come out with a published report. >> you have to ask what do you expect the u.n. to be able to say when they leave on sunday? first, we know chemical weapons were used. the syrians, the russians, everyone acknowledges that. so we've got that first piece of the puzzle dealt with. the second one is who used them? i think the president, quite rightly, points to the delivery mechanisms to indicate it's the syrian regime. if the rebels had this capability to launch this sort of devastation in addition to chemical weapons, they would have overthrown the assad regime. it's reasonable to say, given the delivery systems, it is the assad regime. they're talking about declassifying some information that they have that further indicates it's the regime. so you know it's chemical weapons. you've got a reasonable base
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to believe it's the assad regime. what you don't know is motive. there's been speculation, was it a command and control decision from assad himself? was it an individual unit acting? i mean, that's interesting, but i don't think it's depositive. if you don't act on this proliferation issue, it signals weakness around the world to an accepted principle that these type of weapons should never be used. >> general hayden, do you agree that the delivery systems for this makes it incredibly unlikely, if not impossible, for the opposition to have been the ones to use these weapons? >> very strongly, i agree totally with what fran laid out there. just by instinct, this seems to fit the broader pattern. as fran suggested, i'm quite sure there's other information that doesn't contradict that which seems obvious and that which has already been made public. i think the president was on solid ground when he said what he said earlier this evening. >> obviously this is hugely unpopular.
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you look at polls. it doesn't seem like anybody wants to be taking this kind of action if action is going to be taken. the president tonight in this interview on pbs, making the case that potential military action -- i just want to replay that for people. >> when you start talking about chemical weapons, in a country that has the largest stockpile in the world, where over time their control over chemical weapons may erode, where they're allowed to -- where known terrorist organizations have targeted the united states, then there is a prospect, a possibility in which chemical weapons that can have devastating effects could be directed at us. >> clearly, whether that is true or not, clearly, he is trying to build support for a strike.
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>> it sounds a bit like the bush doctrine, get them before they can get us. he said a few important things tonight, anderson, and that was one of them, trying to explain his rational for why. they have these weapons, they violated an international norm. if you let them go unsanctioned, what signal would that send to the world? also saying it's in our core national security interests because of the proximity of key allies like turkey and jordan and israel. p the president was also clear, i do not want a long-term engagement. the american people need to hear all those things. but he didn't say a lot of things, too. how does he define coalition? especially if the brits want to hold on for several more days. is he willing to go this alone? and what is the end goal? if the goal is not to topple assad, and you can't directly strike the chemical weapons, what is the goal of the military strike? so this is the beginning of the process by the president tonight, by no means the end by explaining this. >> we have to take a quick break.
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we'll have more with the panel in a minute. you can follow me on twitter and we can talk about it during the break. later, the charity we identified as the worst of the worst, has to say for itself. we're keeping them honest. i did not sleep well because i have some back i did not sleep well issues. the bed was too soft. when i got a sleep number bed, i can feel it on my upper back, i can feel it contour to my lower back. it was a life change for me. i feel great, i'm energized. and i think sleep keeps you young. if you toss and turn at night, have back pain or wake up tired with no energy , the sleep number bed could be your solution. the sleep number bed is the only bed with dual air technology air chambers that let you adjust to your ideal support and put you in control of firmness-your sleep number setting. and this bed is perfect for couples because each
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what i've said is that we have not yet made a decision, but the international norm against the use of chemical weapons needs to be kept in place, and nobody disputes, or hardly anybody disputes that chemical weapons were used on a large scale in syria against civilian populations. >> president obama tonight on pbs "news hour" making it clear there was a chemical attack last week in the opinion of the u.s. and the assad regime is to blame. not revealing how he knows, the white house letting a small number of lawmakers in on the intelligence but not making it public. back now with our panel. christiane, the idea of using this as a shot across the bow, has that worked in the past? is there a lot of skepticism among people you've been talking to overseas? >> well, the thing is, this has
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been going on now for 2 1/2 years. and actually, there has, by the uk account at least, there's been some ten uses of chemical weapons by the assad regime in this conflict. you remember in april it happened. you remember we had these discussions over the last several months about if you didn't enact your red line then, it might happen again, and it did happen again last week to a much more catastrophic effect. we were told that that would happen by the head of the free syrian army if the red line wasn't met when these attacks first happened. i spoke to the israeli former head of military intelligence today, who said that they were absolutely sure about the intelligence. as you know, a lot of the chatter has been about israeli provided intelligence, intercepted conversations between syrian army commanders about moving around chemical weapons and the like over the last week in that particular area. and he said he was absolutely sure based on his past experience that that evidence was credible, that it was the assad regime, and that further more, something really dramatic needed to happen to degrade
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syria's military capability. that, of course, would be good for israel. and also to show iran a lesson as well, that when there is a red line over weapons of mass destruction, then the international community means that. so that's why this is incredibly important on that level, although, as i said, these attacks have happened and they haven't been met with military force so far. beyond that, you do have that grinding war, which has now killed 100,000 people. and there is no attempt to widen any kind of military operations to end that. that's causing a lot of concern around the world. >> general hayden, a, do you buy this is the in the security national interest of the united states, and also that a shot across the bow, to use your term, will actually work? >> well, i think the president made a very coherent case about the use of chemical weapons and how that cannot go unresponded to by the international community.
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really, anderson, we're trying to use physical destruction to create a mental effect. a mental effect in the mind of assad and in the minds of the arraign yans as well. if this is a short duration assault conducted by stand-off weapons, air or sea launched cruise missiles. i'm a 39-year air force veteran. the last thing i want to do is suggest we put american airmen in harms way. but if our message is to show resolve and our response is to use only stand-off weapons for a short period of time and not put americans at risk, i think we're sending a decidedly mixed message. >> fran, do you agree with that? >> i do agree with that. i said from the beginning, look, i understand the idea of using stand-off weapons -- >> not having u.s. personnel flying jets that could get shot down if captured? >> right.
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i understand that is one step in a larger strategy. but what we're missing is the larger strategy. i don't think it's enough to say that you're going to deter them with a single short-term multiday strike. i just don't think we have any reason to believe that. when we have used these stand-off assaults before, like after the east africa bombing, it has a short term effect but not a long-term strategic effect. that's what you really want to do. you don't want to just deter the syrians, but hezbollah and al qaeda and iran from using these weapons as well. >> john, before president obama became president of the united states, he kept talking about the importance of any military action that the u.s. engages in being preapproved by congress. that is simply not something that seems is going to happen in this case. >> he's not the first person to get into the executive branch and have different views about executive powers.
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he sounds more like dick cheney than senator obama these days. look, he has the perspective of a commander in chief now. the commander in chief has to make these very weighty decisions. there are a number of complications here. they believe, and most of the executive department lawyers will tell you, under the war powers act, they can do this in a limited way. if he called congress back, anderson, and wanted a vote, there are some who question whether he should win. those who have seen the intelligence tend to be supportive of the administration. i believe in time they could win a voting congress, but what would that do to the timeline? so there is no indication. the consultations have ramped up considerably in the last 24 to 48 hours. a long list of questions from john boehner tonight. it's an important part of the debate now. but there's every indication the administration is going to try to do more to brief congress and bring them in the loop but no indication they want to vote and would request one. >> we have a digital dash board question from a viewer. the question is, does this
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strike pose a retaliation threat to american citizens worldwide? and if so, why are they willing to take that risk? >> it does, anderson. and we have to look down the chess board here second, third, fourth moves. we are doing this to show our resolve. it's not so much the syrians but the iranians and hezbollah. to then respond to that by showing their resolve as well. if air power is the strategic reach weapon, then the iranian's strategic reach weapon is hezbollah. >> we'll leave it there. thank you very much. up next, a charity that we've been reporting on for two nights, they collect tens of millions claiming to grant wishes for dying children. they spend next to nothing on those wishes. they're bashing our reporting, saying we're being unfair and unbalanced. the kids wish network is the name of it. now they're staying we have twisted the facts. we're standing by our reporting and by our math. we're keeping them honest ahead. also, paying tribute to dr. martin luther king jr.
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but this special financing offer ends labor day at sleep train. ♪ sleep train ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ welcome back. keeping them honest tonight, for the past two nights we've been reporting on a charity called the kid's wish network, a charity that we, along with the tampa bay times and the center for investigative reporting,
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have identified as the absolute worst charity, the rock bottom when it comes to how little out of each dollar raised it actually spends helping the sick children it claims to be raising money for. now, while they were reporting the story, correspondent drew griffin tried to get an interview with the folks who run kids wish network. they didn't want to talk to us. in fact, they hid in their offices and lied about being there. now that the report has aired, they have a lot to say about us. they post a letter on their website, bashing our reporting, specifically one of our sources. now, we stand by our investigation. drew is going to join me in a moment. but first, here is a recap of what we found. >> reporter: hi. drew griffin with cnn. >> hi, drew, nice to see you. >> reporter: nice to see you. can we just ask you some questions about all the rating that is have come out? >> no, i'm sorry. there's been so many misleading reports that have been made that we have asked our attorneys to take a look into everything and
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i'm not going to be doing any interviews. >> reporter: it is perhaps with good reason that the kids wish network don't wish to answer any of our questions. because they all involve how this tiny charity with a sympathetic name has taken in $127 million of your donations over the last ten years. yet according to the charity's own tax filings, it has used less than 3% of that money to fulfill the wishes of sick children. you heard right, less than 3%. >> that's not true. >> reporter: that's what is on the tax returns. >> we're very proud of the work we have done over the last 15 years. we've helped hundreds of thousands of children, and that's what we're going to continue to do. >> reporter: year after year, kids wish network collects millions in donations. $22.8 million in one year, according to its most recent tax filing. this woman spent six months as a coordinator.
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how did you do that, you just dipped into the funds that everybody had donated to kids wish network and made it happen, right? >> nope. i would call and i would get people to grant me parts of the wish. >> reporter: she would call hotels, airlines, amusement parks, get rental cars and meals all donated. while at the same time, at another desk in this same building, someone else was also making calls to get money to pay for the wish. >> we would have one person call to get the actual services donated while another person is calling to get money donated for things i was getting for free. >> reporter: so if you have this entire wish let's say, a trip to disneyland or disney world donated, where was this money going? >> that i don't know. i have no idea.
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>> reporter: it turns out now we do. records reviewed by cnn, the tampa bay times and the center for investigative reporting show of the $127 million raised in the past ten years, $109 million was paid right back to professional fund-raisers. an attorney for the charity told cnn there was nothing illegal, unethical or immoral about the charity's fund-raising methods. >> so drew griffin joins me now. i tweeted the kids wish network last night asking why they refused to do an on-camera interview. drew tried it, we would love to do it live so it's unedited. they have always declined. in response on twitter, they accused us of doing an unfair and misleading story. they sent out a tweet saying, we trusted anderson cooper a commitment to fair and balance reporting. unfortunately that wasn't the case. then they attach a link to a six-page response on their website and much of it was trying to discredit the woman in
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drew's story. she was fired from the charity right, drew? >> reporter: right. she says 45 minutes after she complained to the board of directors of this charity about irregularities on their tax returns, she was fired. the charity says they were planning on firing her any way, because they say she stole confidential documents. she denies that. they convinced the fbi to investigate her. >> by the way, why a charity has confidential proprietary documents that the world can't see, i don't understand. but any way, the fbi investigated after showing up at this woman's house. they didn't find anything, right? >> reporter: the case was closed by the fbi. the computers that the fbi took in a raid, anderson, were given back to her. the county sheriff's office in florida also investigated and found there's no evidence of criminal wrong doing.
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it's important to note that none of the financial information we used in our reporting came from her. cnn, the tampa bay times, center for investigative reporting, we all used one thing, the charity's own tax returns to determine less than 3% of the kids wish network cash goes to kids. >> also, i saw them say, there was a confidentiality agreement with this employee. why does a charity have confidentiality agreements, what are they, the cia? i never signed a confidentiality agreement with cnn. it's ridiculous. speaking of that 3% number, because that was another thing in their response that they said was unfair, they called it the big lie, saying our reporting is flawed and skewed when it comes to the numbers, that 3%. >> reporter: they're basically saying we got the math wrong and they really spent or spend 56% of their total revenue on program services.
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let me tell you how that works. program services, they include gifts in kind, the gifts donated to them that they in essence are regifting. they include donations that are hard to trace, like gift in kind medicines sent to africa. they even include, as part of program services telemarketers telling you about the programs during the sales pitch. telemarketer explaining how good kids wish network is. that is a program service. that's not how we look at it or charity rating services look at it. it's very simple. how much cash does this group take in, in actual donations and how much cash does this group use to fulfill the wishes of sick children. our math is correct. in the last ten years, it's about 2.5% of every dollar donated to fulfill a wish. and last year, anderson, the last reporting year, it was even
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worse, 1.29 cents of every dollar. that is the math. >> that's just unbelievable that's what they define as program services, telemarketers. if somebody called you up and said we would like you to donate money and the vast majority of money we're going to spend on telemarketers so we can get more money and get the name of our organization better known, you wouldn't donate money. they are not saying that. i want to show a picture. this is anna, the woman you were trying to get the interview with, who was hiding in the office. you asked if she was there, they said no, she was not there. you waited two hours and got her as she was coming out to her car. kind of running away to her car. and we would love to have her -- if you're watching, anna, we would love to have an interview with you. no shouting, no yelling, just some questions. you have a lot of questions that a lot of people donated money to
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you, more than $100 million over the years. you've got a lot of nerve. we would love to ask you some questions live on tv, no editing. we'll give you as long as you want. you can see the numbers for yourself. all the tax returns, all the tax returns are online. we're putting them online. just go to cnn.com/ac360. if you have a tip for drew or the investigative team, go to cnn.com/investigating. drew, again, great reporting. we'll continue to follow this charity. coming up next, a discussion with maya angelou on the 50th anniversary of the march on washington. i'm only in my 60's... i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you.
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an extraordinary moment in history today. president obama stood where 50 years ago martin luther king jr. gave his famous i have a dream speech. the nation's first african-american president celebrating his legacy and all who fought and even gave their
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lives for civil rights. >> because they marched, america became more free and more fair. not just for african-americans, but for women and latinos, asians and native americans. for catholics, jews and muslims. for gays, for americans with disabilities. america changed for you and for me. >> for so many who knew dr. king and fought so long to make his dream a reality, today was very emotional. i spoke to maya angelou earlier. for you on this day, what does dr. king's dream mean today? what do you think marks the significance today? >> well, i think that at once i'm delighted that he had the dream. i'm delighted that if he awakened right now, he could also say, ahh, some of my dream has come to pass and see that the african-american family in the white house.
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a man and a woman and their children, and a grandmother, a black grand mother in the white house. my goodness. at the same time i think he would be disappointed to hear that we have not come any farther. so my hope is that the dream, we can awaken from the dream and find that some of the elements of the dream have come to pass. >> one of the main messages of the organizers of the march 50 years ago was economic equality. that auchb often gets lost in the retelling of this. a. phillip randolph said freedom to use public accommodations would mean little to those who can't afford to use them. i just read the economic disparities between african-americans and whites have either stayed the same or widened. what do you make of that economic disparity?
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>> i think that the economic disparity comes from a disparity larger and deeper and older than the economic disparity. we are all suffering from the ashes of slavery. we all still think -- there are still people who think black people are not full citizens and do not deserve full salaries equal to the salaries given to white workers. and as long as we believe that, we're never going to have fairness. we will never have an equal distribution of labor and respect and courtesy. we will never have it. but i do believe that we have to do something about what we believe about each other. and what we really believe about ourselves. it is imperative that we do so.
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if you as a white man, as i as a black woman, if you really think that we are different, then there's something terribly wrong. >> it was very interesting to me in the wake of the trayvon martin case, and the case on george zimmerman, there was a poll done about the discussions of race that were taking place in the wake of that case, and among many white americans, the poll numbers said a lot of white americans felt too much was being made about race, and with african-americans, the majority felt this was a discussion that needs to continue and needs to be had and not too much was being made about it. it's interesting to me how still to this day often white america and black america sees things through different lenses. >> absolutely. because we have not come to the decision, which is so important, that you can only come to this decision if you have courage. the decision is, i am a human being.
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nothing human can be alien to me. until we come to that, whites will really think i'm better than. they're not so bad, but that color doesn't come off. and that hair doesn't straighten out. and so we're not equals. until blacks and whites see each other as brother and sister, we will not have parody. it's very clear. >> and you don't believe that there is true equality yet? >> oh, i know there isn't. and you know there isn't. and everybody who hears you knows there isn't. and yet this is what we have to have. the only thing is, mr. cooper, people have to develop courage. it is most important of all the virtues. because without courage, you can't practice any other virtues consistently. you can be anything erratically and in front of the camera, but to be that thing in your heart, you have to have courage. and so i'm afraid that we are
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lacking in courage. we think we are afraid, and fear, i'm sorry to say, motivates most of the cruelties in our world. >> president obama, in his address today, talks about opening a new front on the civil rights movement, one that pulls in the struggle for gay and lesbian americans, for women, the rights of other minorities like immigrants. do you see that movement for equality as part of the civil rights movement? >> yes, sir. mr. cooper, if you think that i can have freedom but you can't because you're short or you're tall or you're gay or fat or thin or pretty or plain, but i can have it because not by anything i've earned, i was born white or i was born pretty, then you're just stupid. the truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free.
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and every one of us needs to say to our children, children, this is your world. come out. stand out. earn it. >> what was dr. king like? you were a friend of his. you spent a lot of time with him. >> thank you for that. >> what was he like? >> thank you for that. a friend of mine just asked me have you ever been asked a question no one asked? and you just asked it. dr. king -- malcolm x and martin luther king were brothers. they had incredible senses of humor. they could make you laugh in the worst of times, and they did so. i never trust people who don't laugh, who are serious and act as if they put airplane glue on the back of their hands. i think you're not serious, you're boring as hell. if you're serious, understand that it's important that you laugh as much as possible and admit that you're the funniest person you ever met.
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you have to laugh. admit that you're funny. otherwise, you die. >> you ask questions in a "time" magazine article that you authored the, and questions i want to ask you. you wrote, can you imagine if we did not have this undergirded prejudices if we weren't crippled by these idiocies, could you imagine what our country would be like. can you imagine? >> yes, i'm brought to weep when i think what my country can be and will be when we develop enough courage to act courageously, and with courtesy, and respect for each other. just imagine what on earth -- we wouldn't have to say we're the most powerful country in the world. we will be the most powerful country in the world.
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not because we have might, but because we have right. >> dr. angelou, thank you so much for talking to me. i appreciate it. >> it's my delight, mr. cooper. you have increased my being because of your own courage. your intellect, your intelligence, two different things, and your own courage. thank you very much. >> thank you. she made my day. i don't know about you. a great conversation. you can see more of the conversation. we had to edit some of it but we put it all on line on ac360.com. we'll put it online tonight. i urge you to watch it. she's just so remarkable. it was an honor to talk to her. coming up, a lifetime in prison or the death penalty for nadal hasan. what a jury recommended, next. i was having trouble i was having trouble getting out of bed in the morning because my back hurt so bad. the sleep number bed conforms to you. i wake up in the morning with no back pain. i can adjust it if i need to...if my back's a little more sore. and by the time i get up in the morning, i feel great!
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but for all these symptoms, you also take kaopectate. new kaopectate caplets -- soothing relief for all those symptoms. kaopectate. one and done. a lot happening tonight. isha has the "360" bulletin. a jury has recommended the death penalty for ft. hood shooter major nidal hasan. now an army general will review the case and make a final decision on the verdict and sentence. the woman charged with sending ricin tainted letters to president obama has been found competent to stand trial in texas. she told the fbi initially that her husband sent the letters. a "360" follow, the book
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keeper who got a gunman to surrender last week can't stop doing great things. after the incident, she started a fund and has raised more than $104,000. you can donate at gofundme.com/41 fqvw. anderson?
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time now for the "ridicu-list." tonight, we bring you a man who we usually avoid mentioning, because he's like that elderly relative who you only see at thanksgiving. he doesn't get out of bed much and he's sitting around and blurts out nonsensical sentences. i'm talking about pat robertson. on his show the 700 club yesterday, he blurted out a warning about gay people in san francisco, because, of course, that's where all gay people live. listen closely, and know that when robertson refers to the stuff, he's talking about aids. >> you know what they do in san francisco? some of the gay community, they want to get people, so if they've got the stuff, they'll have a ring, you shake hands and the ring's got a little thing where you cut your finger. >> really? >> really. it's that kind of vicious stuff, which is the equivalence of murder. >> really? a ring that somehow gives you aids.
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i have never seen that section in zales, have you? i totally get why he's against same-sex marriage. he just doesn't want to give men a reason to rings. he's since back pedaled, saying he was talking about something he was warned about by security officers at a meeting in san francisco, which still is off baffling. all of which is surprising, because his thoughts on gay issues are very well thought out at articulated. >> he's out having multiple affairs with men, picking them up on the streets. so he's obsessed. he has a compulsion. i would think it is somehow related to demonic possession. you've got a couple of same-sex guys kissing. you like that. that makes me want to throw up. but if you -- to me, i would punch vomit. they don't give you that option on facebook. >> no, they don't.
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robertson also has thoughts for you straight couples, as well. he's given advice from cheating husbands to what men should do when their wives will not o way them. >> you could become a muslim and beat her. he cheated on you. he's a man. males have a tendency to wander a little bit. what you want to do is make a home so wonderful he doesn't want to wander. >> i don't want you single people to be left out either. here is a grab bag of pat robertsonisms on a wide range of topics. >> now it looks like 30% of women are involved in pornography. those involved in martial arts before they start are actually inhaling some demon spirits. some of them do that, by the way. yoga and some of these mantras you say, definitely have buddhist and sometimes demonic origins.
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forget it, get a good decorator to make your house pretty. >> thank you, pat robertson. you are a true crusader. and we did consider changing this to the pat robertson list. it does a have a certain ring to it. that's it for us. thanks for watching. "early start" starts now. have a great day. red line. president obama confident that syria used chemical weapons to kill hundreds of its people. what will the united states do about it? we are live. >> he broke a law. he confessed and he got to walk away. >> a mother's fury when the man who raped her 14-year-old daughter is sentenced to just 30 days in jail. the judge behind the sentence explaining himself. >> worms in the water? worms in the water. an oklahoma community warned not to drink from the tap. good morning, everyone. >> w