tv Anderson Cooper 360 CNN August 11, 2009 10:00pm-12:00am EDT
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inauguration and she was sitting by the fireside covered in her cashmere blanket and how i'll always remember her with a gigantic smile. always welcoming. >> i met her on a few occasions and i think i speak for all of us, our deepest condolences to the family. up next, john roberts sitting in for anderson cooper. thanks, wolf. tonight, separating health reform fact from fear and a town hall meeting with a big difference. president obama. he attended one today in new hampshire and a guy outside packing heat, carrying a sign calling in so many words for death to tirades. the quotation of thomas jefferson. out in the open, a handgun. meantime, at the office of georgia congressman david scott who took on protesters the other day, someone painted a swastika out front. as you will see in a moment, anger at town halls across the country. that said, there were moments of
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clarity and we help to add some of our own tonight. first, president obama at por portsmouth high school in new hampshire in his own words. >> i don't think anyone should be in charge of your health care decisions but you and your doctor. i don't think government bureaucrats should be meddling but i also don't think insurance company bureaucrats should be meddling. that's the health care system i believe in. one woman testified that insurance company would not cover her internal organs because of an accident she had when she was 5 years old. that covers a lot of stuff. you know, they're only going to cover your skin. dermatology, that's covered. nothing else. let me just say, there's been a long and vigorous debate about this and that's how it should
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be. but i do hope that we will talk with each other and not over each other. where we do disagree, let's disagree over thing that is are real, not these wild misrepresentations that bear no resemblance to anything that's actually been proposed. i need your help knocking on doors, talking to neighbors. try the facts. let's get this done. >> i don't want inflation to skyrocket by adding this to the national debt so i'm wondering how we can avoid both of those scenarios. >> i said i won't sign a bill that adds to the deficit or the national debt. okay? this will have to be paid for. that by the way is in contrast to the prescription drug bill that was passed that cost hundreds of billions of dollars by the previous administration and previous congress that was not paid for at all. >> why have you not used bully
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pulpit to chastise congress for two health care systems. one for all of us and one for them. >> if we don't have health care reform, the gap between what congress gets and the ordinary americans get will continue to be as wide as it is right now. >> president obama this afternoon in new hampshire. the tone civil. not the case this morning in lebanon, pennsylvania, where now democrat senator arlen specter got an earful. >> you want to be led out of here, you are welcome to go. but wait a minute. now wait a minute. now wait a minute. >> you have awakened a sleeping giant. we are tired of this. this is why everybody in this room is so ticked off. what are you going to do to restore this country back to what our founders created according to the constitution? [ inaudible ]
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>> wasn't the only heat directed at senator specter in lebanon but he soldiered on for another town hall in lieu wisburg where the tone improved somewhat. we sent qu9 360's" gary tuchman there to understand why people are so riled up. >> you are in the land of the free and home of the brave. >> reporter: the words of one woman both angry and concerned. >> i am very, very, very scared. i believe we are going down i think this health care reform act is a vehicle not for health care. this is a vehicle to take us down to a path of total socialism and totalitarianism. >> reporter: at this louisburg, pennsylvania, town hall held by senator specter, it is apparent many americans see it as an effort to harm the american way
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of life. >> herman grebles, hitler's advance man, tell a lie, make a big one and repeat it often and it becomes the truth. >> reporter: health care and hitler? deeply offensive at worst but words are weapons to many of the people attending the meetings. they demand to be heard and care enough to show up way in advance. >> pushing it too fast. it needs to really be thought over. >> reporter: i asked this woman who concerned her. >> the cost. taking my liberties and rights away from me. >> reporter: president obama says your liberties and rights won't be taken away. do you not believe him? >> doi not. >> reporter: why? >> because he has not told us the truth about many other things. >> reporter: so you just don't trust the man? >> absolutely. i do not trust him. >> reporter: lack of trust in the president, lack of respect for many of the men and women who represent them in washington. >> i'm here to hear senator
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specter say he'll accept the same health care he'll give us. >> reporter: you want to get not better health care than you get. >> what are they? are they -- you know, someone special in. >> reporter: there are supporters of health care reform here but their numbers are much smaller, their voices not as loud. >> i think we need it desperately. >> reporter: many of the people at the town hall meetings against president obama's vision of health care reform say they are the silent majority. of course, if they are the majority, what happened on election day when the man that made no secret of the desire nor substantial change to the health care system made their desire now. apathy is not an issue right here. there are periods of time where there's quiet in the room but it doesn't last more than a few minutes before people start yelling or shouting angry comments. but this one was hard for anyone to disagree with. >> i want to just express to the press this is not a republican
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or a democrat. this is an american. >> reporter: an issue that continues to snowball during congress' summer recess. >> gary, when people come to these town halls and they have this discussion and the tempers start to heat up, do they leave those meetings angrier than when they came in the front door? >> reporter: well, in the opponents left to reform left today at bucknel university, certainly they're not very happy, but they don't for the most part seem to be angry and a reason when we asked people is there's a grudging respect for the snofrs and congressmen that know they'll be badgered and hold the hearings. we are in the middle of the state of pennsylvania, most of the people are from pennsylvania. yesterday we were at a hearing with congressman steve rothman of new jersey and many people were not from his district saying our congress didn't have the guts to hold a hearing and today the second row right behind me an opponent of reform said to senator specter, this
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quote, i can't believe you run for this office. and everyone kind of laughed and we haven't heard a lot of laughs in the town hall meetings. >> a number of democrats holding the meetings despite the fact that many of the democrats are not. clair mcskill took the heat, too. given the heat at the president and the party, the question is, politically at least, why even bother? one view is that "ac306.com. check it out. join the live chat. next, dr. gupta answering fears and concerns about health care reform with the facts. also, more searches in the michael jackson case, zeroing in on his doctor. lisa bloom and jim moret digging deeper on that. this is my verizon small business specialist, tom. now, i know the catering business
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we have been talking tonight about health care reform. president obama's effort to quell the anger and get the message out. questioning this afternoon in new hampshire skeptical at times but it was totally calm. others run the ga mutt. we have been showing you some of what senator specter dealt with today. moments of rage and genuine doubts about the cost of health care reform. >> medicare, bankrupt. social security, bankrupt. medicaid, bankrupt. you are taking your kids' future and -- post office. and taking the kids' future and driving it right into the toilet. we cannot afford this. period. keep the government out of it. we are doing just fine.
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thank you, sir. >> well, i have made a commitment here today earlier that i will not vote for a plan that adds to the deficit. >> earlier, you heard president obama reiterating his own version of that pledge and the price tag is ten years, not just one. something opponents rarely mention. that said, there are many objections, some more reality-based than others. "360" m.d. sanjay gupta is keeping them honest. the first one, cost. arlen specter said he won't sign anything that adds to the deficit, president said the same thing. the congressional budget office tells a different story coming the cost. >> they do. they say it's about $239 billion of potential addition to the deficit. and that was, i think, a wake-up call more people paying
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attention to the numbers. what i can tell you, john, we have talked about this. i have read think the house bill in the entirety. they say that unless the finance committee can come up with certain money to try to offset some of the deficits, it's not going to pass. what i think is a little bit more nebraska lus is an idea that in the long run through preventi prevention, adding wellness dollars to try to keep people healthy in the first place, how much money does that save and help offset things in the future. >> let's listen to this exchange. >> can you promise that my tax dollars will not fund abortions? i can tell you that there is not one word in this bill that would allow federal tax dollars to be spent on abortions. >> all right. as you can see, a hot button issue. sanjay, from what you have read, is she correct? >> somewhat correct. and this is confusing, again. let me try to break this down
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this way. there is an amendment out there that basically says no subsidizing of abortions by any private health care plan within the exchange. what it does not say, john, prohibit the moneys by being used by the public option. there is a hyde amendment for people that pay attention to this sort of thing saying no federal dollars can be used towards subsidizing abortion and the supporters of the public option say it applies here, as well. >> the final thing is whether or not people will be able to keep their own insurance. the critics of the plans say people will be forced into this public health care plan and study done for the heritage foundation says 88 million people, at least 88 million people will be forced into the public plan. let's listen to this exchange from president obama's town hall in portsmouth today. >> i still worry if we go to a public option, period, that the private companies, the insurance companies, rather than competing, because who can compete with the government? the answer is, nobody.
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my question is, do you still as a yourself now support a universal plan or are you open to the private industry still being maintained? >> the only thing that i have said is that having a public option in that menu would provide competition for insurance companies to keep them honest. >> it seems clear, sanjay, at least some people go into a public plan. big question is, how much would that take away from the private plans and undercut it an enwhat number of people would eventually end up in the public plan? >> that's right. that study quoted, john, has numbers varying from tens of millions to over hundred million to the public option. a lot of supporters of the public option say, look, we have the u.s. post office and yet we have fed-ex and u.p.s. you have private and public competition and the idea that not everyone is going to be eligible for the public option. just because it's cheaper doesn't mean everyone qualifies
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for it. there is an idea still that the public option could start to grow larger and larger and all inclusive on the backs of taxpayers' dollars and might crowd out private insurance and that's the argument and counter argument. >> dr. sanjay gupta, appreciate it. >> thanks, john. the cost of doing nothing. the staggering amount of waste in health care. i think it's millions? billions? think higher, way higher. also, the latest search involving michael jackson's doctor and the powerful drug that no one should get outside a hospital. jackson reportedly getting at home. thermacare® heatwraps. that's 8 hours while you wear it, plus an additional 8 hours of relief after you take it off! thermacare® delivers heat that penetrates deep, to relax, soothe and unlock tight muscles. after the heat gets really deep, my muscles do feel loose. even after i took thermacare® off, my back stayed loose for the next day.
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so tonight we are digging deeper on a new number recently thrown into the debate. $1.2 trillion. according to the accounting firm price waterhouse coopers, that's how much of the health care dollars are flatout wasted each and every year. it's also fully half of what the u.s. spends each year on health care. how could we be wasting that much money? and what's it be wasted on? >> reporter: this study is identifies what it calls three key areas of massive waste and the first is us. medical problems related to obesity such as heart disease and high blood pressure cost our medical care system $200 billion a year. problems related to smoking over here cost us $191 billion a year. if we just took better care of ourselves, this study suggested
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we could save as much as half trillion dollars that the government and we are currently spending on our problems. the second big area of waste is clinical problems, doctors and nurses sometimes prescribe the wrong medicine. they overmedicate. they make other mistakes, too. patients use emergency rooms for some problems like sore throats that ought to be handled by the regular doctor. the cost of all of that, more than $90 billion. in addition, this study found that sometimes doctors overcharge because they can make more money from it and also sometimes they're so afraid of malpractice lawsuits they order many tests and procedures to protect against possible accusations they overlooked something. the cost of that, $210 billion a year. that's why senators in support of medicare are confronted by people demanding that legal reform be part of any health reform package. >> why isn't tort reform a part of any of these bills?
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>> of course, the study found sometimes doctors just overcharge because they can make more money that way. and finally this, study found waste in operational costs. just filing the papers to collect for insurance companies cost up to $210 billion a year. one case the researchers report is johns hopkins in baltimore, 700 health cares, each with its own rules and paper work. all of these combined areas could add up to $1.2 trillion in waste over as the study notes more than half of our health spending. john? >> staggering amount of money. tom foreman for us tonight. thanks so much. coming up, authorities raid a las vegas pharmacy used by michael jackson's doctor. what were they looking for there? that's coming up in a moment. but first, erica hill. >> john, eunice shriver is being
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remembered tonight adds a tireless champion of the disabled. she died earlier this morning at the age of 88. she was the fifth of kennedy children and also is the mother to maria shriver. she founded the special olympics and operates in 170 countries. costa rica's president is sick with swine flu. government officials say he fell ill on understood complaining of a sore throat and fever and diagnosed today with the h1n1 virus. the president's overall health is said to be good. on the doctor's advice, though, he is resting at home this weekend. gm said that the volt car will get an estimated 230 miles per gallon. yes, 230. gm's ceo predicts the mileage will be a game changer for gm. we'll see. it is a boy for jennifer
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hudson. the 27-year-old oscar winner giving birth yesterday to her first child. the publicist released the news today. the baby reportedly named after her fiancee and weighed in 7 pounds, 14 ounces, john. >> great they have good news in that family. >> they could use it. >> erica, thanks so much. next up, a new raid in the michael jackson death investigation. police search a pharmacy in las vegas. are they getting closer to an arrest? the latest just ahead. and later on, teen killers working for drug lords and living in the united states. the shocking story from this side of the border coming up. introducing new centrum ultra men's. a complete multivitamin for men. it has antioxidants and vitamin d... to support your prostate and colon. new centrum ultra men's.
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a major, new development in the michael jackson death investigation. police raiding a pharmacy in las vegas. a source tells us it sold the powerful drug propofol to dr. conrad murray. another source says dr. murray gave jackson propofol on the last day of his life. dr. murray is the subject of a possible manslaughter charge in the case. jim moret is an attorney and so is's cnn legal analyst lisa bloom and joins me now. the search comes a day after the coroner's office said it was withholding the autopsy and cause of death at the request of the investigators from los angeles police department. what do you make of the timing of the raid on the pharmacy at the same time that the coroner's office is saying we're at a crucial point in the
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investigation? >> well, i think it's good news for dr. murray and maybe this point the police don't feel that they have enough to go forward and arrest dr. murray. they're holding up the disclosure of the coroner's report and toxicology and continuing to investigate and propofol, the drug at the center of the dispute. apparently they won't arrest the doctor. >> jim moret, do you know what they were looking at applied pharmacy today? >> records of the drugs sold by the pharmacy to the doctor and looking for diprivan. lisa is an optimist, i think. if i were dr. murray's attorney i would be holding my breath right now because i think they're making it clear they're looking at dr. murray with respect to the propofol and i think he is solely in their sights. >> a yes i had in all of this. lisa, maybe you can answer this.
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is it unusual for the coroner's office to cooperate with the police department and withhold the results of the report and the toxicology report? we look back on cases with criminal charges or criminal investigations and the coroner's office told the public the cause of death. >> everything about the case is unusual. you are right, john. from beginning to the end. most cases there's not so much public interest n. a high profile case it is not unusual for the police to ask other agencies to hold back information. police need to have some confidential information doing an investigation. they can't have all the cards on the table but from dr. murray's defense standpoint again, working too closely, that's a rgment to use at trial t. coroner is supposed to be an independent agency with scientists with scientific results. not supposed to be at the beckon all of law enforcement. they're just withholding the report but that's the kind of
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defense case that could be building. >> jim, the search warrants over the last few weeks looking into a number of potential charges. manslaughter being the most serious of them. as far as we know. do you think that there's any chance that dr. murray could be charged with manslaughter. >> i do. clearly, that's what i think investigators are looking at. you're talking about a drug you can't get a prescription for and a drug you can't administer to yourself so you need somebody there. you also have reports that the doctor admitted he administered the drug to michael jackson and a setting that's medically unsound. no doctor would do it outside of a hospital or clinic setting. therefore, they'll hold the doctor responsible if, in fact, he gave the drug that killed michael jackson to him the night before he died. >> what do you think about potential manslaughter charges, lisa? if you could defending him, do you think you could get him off? >> the problem is the propofol the only medication of significance in jackson's system? i mean, if there are, let's say,
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ten or 12 medications and if as i expect the coroner's going to say that jackson died an interaction of toxic drugs then it may be difficult for law enforcement to pin all of this on dr. murray. legally they have to prove causation, the actions were the significant cause of death and this means they have to link it all on the propofol and, remember, that's the drug they're continuing to look at in this pharmacy search today so i don't think they have it yet. they may but i don't think they have it yet. >> not charging him with manslaughter, they could charge him with overprescribing, prescribing to addict. do you think they want to make an example of this man? >> i think they have a lot of pressure on this case. early on, they didn't secure the property for four days. that was clearly a mistake in this case. i think they're going very methodically and they really need to get some result and some result that won't have a public outcry because clearly something horribly wrong went on the night
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before he died. >> thanks so much for joining us tonight. >> thank you. let us know what you think. join the live chot at ac360.com. next, an american soldier serving his country and allegedly serving a mexican cartel. did he murder for them? also, secretary of state hillary clinton in the democratic republic of congo seeing the evidence of an unthinkable crime. anderson's dispatch from africa when "360" continues.
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tonight, an american soldier is under arrest for allegedly working as a hit mab for a mexican drug cartel. the soldier is stationed in texas. authorities say the 18-year-old and two other men allegedly killed a former cartel member in may after he was exposed as a government informant. this is not the first time a u.s. citizen is accused of being an asassen for mexican drug lords. with the promise of money and
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power, young people on this side of the border are recruited into a world of violence. ed lavandera has tonight's "crime and punishment" report. >> reporter: look at the tattooed eyes, the old eyes. the faces of admitted murderers, young americans killing for mexican drug cartels. but it took many murders in texas to track down one of the first victims was garcia, gunned down while he helped his pregnant wife and 3-year-old boy into their car. then the bodies began to pile up. seven murders in a yearlong stretch but when investigators found fingerprints on a cigarette box in the shooter's get away car, the chilling truth unraveled. the truth about the two. >> they were very good at what they did. they were professional at what they did. >> reporter: asassens is what they do. how they evolved from average, american teenagers into hit men is laid out in court records and
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these police interrogation videos obtained by cnn. in this tape, reta detailed how he carried out the first assassination at the age of 14. i loved it. i thought i was superman he said. detective robert garcia is the man sitting across the table from reta. >> that's one thing that you wonder all the time. what made him be this way. >> reporter: like many americans, the teenagers starting to hit the bars just across the border in mentixico when investigators say the cartel were waiting to recruit them. they were easy targets. they started to living the high life. they got tattoos honored by drug traffickers. eyeballs tattoos on the eyelids and markings covered their face. they should have been in school here but investigators say they
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dropped out and joined the cartel's payroll. they were paid $500 a week as a retainer to sit and wait for the call to kill. then they could make up to $50,000 for a hit. prosecutors say they were hit men for the zetas, a group of former mexican special military forces that at the time doing the dirty work for the notorious gulf cartel. >> they're here. sleeper cells, already here in the u.s. they're throughout the u.s. >> reporter: in the interrogation, he tells detectives the zetas are moving the operations deep sbeer the u.s. he says he knows of hits in houston and dallas. they're in prison for murder but before they were arrested, they were recorded on a phone call. cardona drags about killing 14-year-old inez, the innocent cousin of a cardona enemy also
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murdered. cardona laughs about torturing both, making stew out of their bodies in large, metal drums. two others have never been found. but before the call ends, cardona says there are three left to kill. there are three left. [ speaking foreign language ] it is a reminder the work never ends as they recruit the next generation of killers. ed lavandera, cnn, laredo, texas. >> recruiting americans to kill. will we see more of it? joining us is fred burr don, a counter terrorism expert and a best selling author. let's look at the latest case, this arrest yesterday. private michael opendacu. stationed at fort bliss, in texas. accused of being a hit man for the juarez cartel. does it surprise you? >> not in the least. if you look at the business, it is a dirty business and the
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informant that was killed was clearly an operate fortrt juarez carptel and then the group put together carry out the assassination on u.s. soil, there's information that that individual was also an inform apt with the u.s. authorities so this kind of twist and turn in this business is not unusual but the fact that it's taking place in el paso on u.s. soil should be a wake-up call for all of us here in the united states. >> i would certainly think so. to what extent have the cartels begun to recruit from u.s. military and law enforcement? >> we have seen reports of this in the past, john, specifically with the national guard with cartel recruitment of individuals. look. there's so much money to be made in this business that the informant length is very broad within the public service sector, all facets of society
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looking at the border towns. so the fact that you have a u.s. army soldier that was hired to do this is also not surprising. >> this fellow who's assassinated, jose gonzalez living in el paso, people thought he was involved in legitimate businesses also believed to be a u.s. informant. they got to him pretty easily. they found him out and got to him easily. what does that say about who you can and cannot trust? >> it shows you an internal protection of the cartels. that they're capable of identifying u.s. government assets that should be protected. this is the kind of person that should not be killed on u.s. soil. now, it shows you their intelligence collection capabilities. it shows you their reach. it shows you their counter intelligence and surveillance capabilities. if they can kill u.s. government informants, they can pretty much
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kill anyone they want and get away with it. >> this is a hit on the american side of the border in el paso. hits like this happen all the time on the mexican side of the border. what does it say about the potential for the violence in this country to increase and spread beyond border towns? >> well, i think we are already seeing that. we have the downstream drug supply network in atlanta is being controlled by the mexican cartels. we have had a whole series of abductions in phoenix. the phoenix police department has done a wonderful job looking at those. we have problems in los angeles as a result of this. there really is no city that's not untouched today with this phenomenon. and as you move closer to the border, you have more of the violence. their ability to reach out and touch these individuals is much more opportune for them. >> not an encouraging picture for us tonight. fred burton, thanks so much. >> thank you. next, secretary of state hillary clinton calls it a crime against humanity. women becoming prey in congo. anderson reports with a story that you won't forget.
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and the sentence is in for the opposition leader. we'll tell you her fate ahead. these days every penny counts with everything you buy. every head. every bite. every gallon. every shoe. every book. every cereal. well, maybe not every cereal. but every stem. every stitch. every tune. every toy. pretty much everything you buy can help your savings account grow because keep the change from bank of america rounds up every debit card purchase to the next dollar and transfers the difference from your checking to savings account. it's one of the many ways we make saving money in tough times a whole lot easier. but i did. you need to talk to your doctor about aspirin. you need to be your own advocate. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. you take care of your kids,
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families who have fled a conflict that's claimed millions of lives and a battle in which rape has become a weapon of choice. and it is used by soldiers and rebel forces alike. they rape women, they rape children. secretary of state clinton calls it a crime against humanity. she wants it to end but if anything this reign of violence is worse. anderson travelled to the democratic republic of congo in 2006 to report on this horror. here's anderson's "360" dispatch. >> reporter: at a busy hospital, a silent little girl sirts on a stoop. she is 5 years old now but cannot speak of the terrible thing that happened to her. two years ago when she was just 3, she was gang raped by soldiers. the children, as young as 3 years old raped? >> yeah. >> reporter: that's crazy. >> very crazy and we -- it's difficult to understand the
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social causes of this event but we think that people are so disappointed. they've been -- now they all came so they lost all the hope and they start behaving like animals. >> reporter: this doctor has a hospital ward full of girls and women raped and have holes in their va nighals or rectums that make it impossible to control bodily functions. why do they have this? >> we think that the first reason is that the rape is too violent. some of them they will use after raping the lady they will use maybe -- they use a weapon, a knife or even a piece of wood and some of them have been shot on after being raped. >> reporter: women are not just raped. they're not just gang raped. they're often being shot internally afterward or people putting objects inside them,
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knives, clubs. >> yes. yeah. they're being raped but some of them, mainly those who have fistula tell that after being raped they will be shot on or just tram tized by a weapon. >> reporter: the doctor is able to repair the physical damage by rape in some 70% of cases but some wounds, physical and psychological, are impossible to heal. >> translator: i was raped by three men, soldiers. they also shot me in my right arm. when it was happening, i thought i was dying. i was seeing death in front of me. i didn't think i would live. >> reporter: angela was raped in front of her children. this is all a burn? she says the attackers burned her daughter. we agreed to protect the identities because of the stigma with rape in the congo. >> translator: people in the neighborhood just point fingers and say, you are a raped woman and you are infected with aids. >> reporter: angela lives in a compound with three children and other rape survivors who say
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they can't go home. they're supported by a charity called heal africa. this is the one meal that angela's kids will probably have today. they've been living here for five months. angela would like to return to the home village but it's simply impossible. the men who have raped her are likely still living in the area. her husband kicked her out of the house because she was gang raped. >> translator: he heard i was raped and he just said, go on your own. i don't need you anymore. if we live together, you now might have hiv. so you might infect me. >> reporter: like many rape survivors here, angela's future is at best uncertain. >> translator: the only thing i need is some land to build a house. i might die and i want my kids to have that castle. i'm hoping for a miracle. >> reporter: there are a few miracles in congo. the men who rape are rarely brought to justice and the women who survive must simply try to heal.
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>> devastating account of the atrocities that continue to be committed right now in the congo. as for angela, the courageous woman at the center of that report, we were hoping to speak with her today or find out where she is. unfortunately, we were unable to locate her. we hope and we pray that she and her girls are safe. there are so many stories like angela. hear a girl tell hers at ac360. next, divers recover more wreckage and search for clues to the tragedy. also, $65 million of jewelry stolen in broad daylight. we'll tell you where it happened. dallas. detroit. different rates. well with us, it's the same flat rate. same flat rate. boston. boise? same flat rate. alabama. alaska? with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. dude's good. dude's real good. dudes.
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that plane hit a helicopter above the hudson river last weekend. we are getting a first look tonight from inside the men's prison in chino, california. this is the damage from rioting over the weekend that left 250 inmates hurt, 55 seriously. violence appears to have been racially motivated. overseas, myanmar sentencing aung san suu kyi to 18 more months of house arrest. according to the court, she violated terms of the previous house arrest when an american swam across a lake to her home for an uninvited visit. newly-released pictures of a massive jewel heist in london. two men caught in the middle of an armed robbery that netted them, get this, about $65 million in schwag. they're considered to be armed and dangerous. and up in the sky, off the
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south carolina coast, a bird, a plane, oh no. it is 96-year-old paw lean sherman and her great granddaughter. the second time on a boat and thought, why not try it? john, her granddaughter, not great granddaughter, actually said they're going to have to invent something for her to die of. she's an inspiration. >> 96 and going strong. that's a lot of fun in a parasail. all right. here we go. the beat 360 winners, the daily challenge to viewers, coming up with a better caption for the picture on the blog every day. tonight's picture, here he is. rahm emanuel reads to students at the department of education. he was joined by education secretary and white house domestic policy counsel. staff winner tonight --
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>> so many of the staff and viewer submissions had to do with health care and town halls today. >> i wonder why. bob, your t-shirt is on the way. still ahead, a birthday blow-out that took a terrible turn. pranks are fun until someone gets hurt. candles are fire. the shot is just ahead. president obama, face to face with angry americans today at a health care town hall meeting. what he told them and what happened to the guy outside who showed up with a gun. (announcer) take your time to find the right time with cialis for daily use... a clinically proven, low-dose tablet for erectile dysfunction you take every day
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tonight's "shot" proof is birthday celebrations. a ritual went terribly wrong. take a look. ♪ happy birthday to you ♪ happy birthday ♪ happy birthday to you >> oh! rick's birthday party started off. cake and candles, singing. the single spray and hair spray started. the sister told us that his wife bought supplies and didn't think of the flammability issue
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through. >> as long as you're not spraying it into the candles in theory there probably shouldn't be a problem. >> probably the hair spray more than anything. >> you think? >> i think the silly spring might be flammable. never tried to set it on fire. >> i'm guessing that would go up in flames. >> propel lent from the hair spray. >> i think the glitter. >> men shouldn't be wearing glitter anyways. erica, see you again tomorrow. see the most recent shots at ac360.com. president obama's day at a health care town hall meeting, is silly string abuse a preexisting condition? we'll get some answers ahead. you're the colon lady! diarrhea, constipation, gas, bloating. that's me! can i tell you what a difference phillips' colon health has made? it's the probiotics. the good bacteria.
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hampshire and a guy outside packing heat, carrying a sign calling in so many words for death to tirades. the quotation of thomas jefferson. the handgun out in the open permitted you should state law. the combination surprising to many people. meantime, at the office of georgia congressman david scott who took on protesters the other day, someone painted a swastika out front. as you will see in a moment, anger was erupting at town halls across the country. that said, there were moments of clarity and we help to add some of our own tonight. first, president obama at portsmouth high school in new hampshire in his own words. >> i don't believe anyone should be in charge of your health care decisions but you and your doctor. i don't think government bureaucrats should be meddling but i also don't think insurance company bureaucrats should be meddling. that's the health care system i believe in. one woman testified that insurance company would not
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cover her internal organs because of an accident she had when she was 5 years old. think about that. that covers a lot of stuff. you know, they're only going to cover your skin. dermatology, that's covered. nothing else. let me just say, there's been a long and vigorous debate about this and that's how it should be. but i do hope that we will talk with each other and not over each other. where we do disagree, let's disagree over thing that is are real, not these wild misrepresentations that bear no resemblance to anything that's actually been proposed. i need your help knocking on doors, talking to neighbors. spread the facts. let's get this done. >> i don't want inflation to skyrocket by adding this to the national debt so i'm wondering
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how we can avoid both of those scenarios. >> i said i won't sign a bill that adds to the deficit or the national debt. okay? this will have to be paid for. that, by the way, is in contrast to the prescription drug bill that was passed that cost hundreds of billions of dollars by the previous administration and previous congress that was not paid for at all. >> why have you not used the bully pulpit to chastise congress for two health care systems. one for all of us and one for them. >> if we don't have health care reform, the gap between what congress gets and what ordinary americans get will continue to be as wide as it is right now. >> president obama this afternoon in new hampshire. the tone entirely civil. not the case this morning in lebanon, pennsylvania, where now democratic senator arlen specter got an earful. >> you want to be led out of here, you are welcome to go. but wait a minute.
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now wait a minute. now wait a minute. >> you have awakened a sleeping giant. we are tired of this. this is why everybody in this room is so ticked off. what are you going to do to restore this country back to what our founders created according to the constitution? [ inaudible ] >> wasn't the only heat directed at senator specter in lebanon but he soldiered on for another town hall in lewisburg where the tone improved somewhat. we sent "360's" gary tuchman there to understand why people are so riled up. >> you are in the land of the free and home of the brave. >> reporter: the words of one woman both angry and concerned. >> i am very, very, very scared.
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i believe we are going down i think this health care reform act is a vehicle not for health care. this is a vehicle to take us down to a path of total socialism and totalitarianism. >> reporter: at this lewisburg, pennsylvania, town hall held by senator arlen specter, it is apparent many americans see it as an effort to harm the american way of life. >> herman grebles, hitler's advance man, tell a lie, make a big one and repeat it often and it becomes the truth. >> reporter: health care and hitler? most would agree that's a stretch at best. deeply offensive at worse. but words are weapons to many of the people attending these meetings. they demand to be heard and care enough to show up way in advance. >> first of all, they're pushing it too fast. it needs to really be thought over. >> reporter: i asked this woman who concerned her. >> the cost.
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taking my liberties and rights away from me. >> reporter: president obama says your liberties and rights won't be taken away. you can keep what you have. do you not believe him? >> i do not. >> reporter: why? >> because he has not told us the truth about many other things. >> reporter: so you just don't trust the man? >> absolutely. i do not trust him. >> reporter: it is a common theme here -- lack of trust in the president, lack of respect for many of the men and women who represent them in washington. >> i'm here to hear arlen specter say he'll accept the same health care he'll give us. >> reporter: you want senators and congressmen not to get any better health care than you get under this plan? >> what are they? are they -- you know, someone special? >> reporter: there are supporters of health care reform here but their numbers are much smaller, their voices not as loud. >> i think we need it desperately. >> reporter: many of the people at the town hall meetings against president obama's vision of health care reform say they are the silent majority. of course, if they are the majority, what happened on election day when the man that made no secret of the desire nor
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substantial change to the health care system won the white house? >> you work for him! >> reporter: many blame apathy on election day but apathy is not an issue right now here. there are periods of time where there's quiet in the room but it doesn't last more than a few minutes before people start yelling or shouting angry comments. but this one was hard for anyone to disagree with. >> i want to just express to the press this is not a republican or a democrat. this is an american. >> reporter: an issue that continues to snowball during congress' summer recess. >> gary, when people come to these town halls and they have this discussion and the tempers start to heat up, do they leave those meetings angrier than when they came in the front door? >> reporter: well, when the opponents to reform left this auditorium today at bucknel university certainly they're not very happy but they don't for
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the most part seem to be angry and a reason when we asked people is there's a grudging respect for the senators and congressmen that know they'll be badgered and hold the hearings. we are in the middle of the state of pennsylvania, most of the people are from pennsylvania. yesterday we were at a hearing with congressman steve rothman of new jersey and many people were not from his district saying our congressman didn't have the guts to hold a hearing and that's why we had to come here. and today the second row right behind me an opponent of reform said to senator specter, this quote, i can't believe you run for this office. and everyone kind of laughed and we haven't heard a lot of laughs in the town hall meetings. >> yeah. there are certainly a number of democrats holding the meetings despite the fact many of the democrats are not. gary, thanks so much for that. given the heat at the president and the party, the question is, politically at least, why even bother? one view is that ac306.com. where david gergen weighs in. check it out.
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while you are there, join the live chat. next, dr. gupta answering fears and concerns about health care reform with the facts. also, more searches in the michael jackson case, zeroing in on his doctor. lisa bloom and jim moret digging deeper on that. ng for ♪ which one's me - a cool convertible or an suv? ♪ ♪ too bad i didn't know my credit was whack ♪ ♪ 'cause now i'm driving off the lot in a used sub-compact. ♪ ♪ f-r-e-e, that spells free credit report dot com, baby. ♪ ♪ saw their ads on my tv ♪ thought about going but was too lazy ♪ ♪ now instead of looking fly and rollin' phat ♪ ♪ my legs are sticking to the vinyl ♪ ♪ and my posse's getting laughed at. ♪ ♪ f-r-e-e, that spells free- credit report dot com, baby. ♪ - oh, come on. - enough! you get half and you get half. ( chirp ) team three, boathouse? ( chirp ) oh yeah-- his and hers. - ( crowd gasping ) - ( chirp ) van gogh? ( chirp ) even steven. - ( chirp ) mansion. - ( chirp ) good to go.
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what senator specter dealt with today. moments of rage and genuine doubts about the cost of health care reform. >> social security, bankrupt. medicare, bankrupt. medicaid, bankrupt. you are taking your kids' future and -- post office. and taking the kids' future and driving it right into the toilet. we cannot afford this. period. keep the government out of it. we are doing just fine. thank you, sir. >> well, i have made a commitment here today earlier that i will not vote for a plan that adds to the deficit. >> earlier, you heard president obama reiterating his own version of that pledge and the enormous price tag covers ten years, not just one. something opponents rarely mention. that said, there are many objections, some more reality-based than others. "360" m.d. sanjay gupta is keeping them honest.
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he and i spoke earlier. sanjay, let's tackle that first one, cost. arlen specter said he won't sign anything that adds to the deficit, president said the same thing. the congressional budget office tells a different story coming to the cost. >> they do. they say it's about $239 billion of potential addition to the deficit. and that was, i think, a wake-up call for a lot of people who are really paying attention to the numbers. it is hard to piece this altogether. what i can tell you, john, we have talked about this. i have read think the house bill in the entirety. they say that unless the finance committee can come up with certain money to try to offset some of the deficits, it's not going to pass. what i think is a little bit more nebulus is an idea that in the long run through prevention, adding wellness dollars to try to keep people healthy in the first place, how much money does that save and help offset things in the long run? >> let's listen to this exchange today. >> can you promise that my tax
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dollars will not fund abortions? i can tell you that there is not one word in this bill that would allow federal tax dollars to be spent on abortions. >> all right. as you can see, a hot button issue. sanjay, from what you have read of the various bills out there, is she correct? >> somewhat correct. and this is confusing, again. let me try to break this down this way. this is how i understood it. there is an amendment out there that basically says no subsidizing of abortions by any private health plan within the exchange. what it does not say, john, and this is important, it would prohibit the moneys by being used by the public option. there is a hyde amendment for people that pay attention to this sort of thing saying no federal dollars can be used towards federally subsidizing abortion and the supporters of this public option will say that applies here, as well. >> the final thing is whether or not people will be able to keep
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their own insurance because the critics of the plans say people will be forced into this public health care plan and study done for the heritage by the lewin group says 88 million people, at least 88 million people will be forced into the public plan. let's listen to this exchange from president obama's town hall in portsmouth today. >> i still worry if we go to a public option, period, that the private companies, the insurance companies, rather than competing, because who can compete with the government? the answer is, nobody. my question is, do you still as a yourself now support a universal plan or are you open to the private industry still being maintained? >> the only thing that i have said is that having a public option in that menu would provide competition for insurance companies to keep them honest. >> it seems clear, sanjay, at least some people go into a public plan. big question is, how much would that take away from the private plans and how much would it undercut it and what number of
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people would eventually end up in the public plan? >> that's right. that study quoted, john, has numbers varying from tens of millions to over hundred million to the public option. a lot of supporters of the public option say, look, we have the u.s. post office and yet we have fed-ex and u.p.s. you can have public and private competition all existing at once. there's also this idea that not everyone is going to be eligible for the public option. just because it's cheaper doesn't mean everyone qualifies for it. having said that, there is this idea still that the public option could start to grow larger and larger and all inclusive on the backs of taxpayers' dollars and might crowd out private insurance and that's the argument and counter argument. >> dr. sanjay gupta, appreciate it. helping to straighten it all out for us. >> thanks, john. the cost of doing nothing. the staggering amount of waste in health care. think it's millions? billions? think higher, way higher. tom foreman's running the numbers for us tonight keeping them honest. also, the latest search involving michael jackson's doctor and the powerful drug that no one should get outside a hospital.
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as you have no doubt noticed, who could miss it, the debate over health care reform seems to be get louder each and over day. as the decibels climb, here at "360" we are committed to focusing on the facts. so tonight we are digging deeper on a new number recently thrown into the debate. $1.2 trillion. according to the accounting firm price waterhouse coopers, that's how much of the health care dollars are flat out wasted each and every year. it's also fully half of what the u.s. spends each year on health care. how could we be wasting that much money?
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and what's it being wasted on? tom foreman tonight keeping them honest. >> reporter: this study is identifies what it calls three key areas of massive waste and the first is us. medical problems related to obesity such as heart disease and high blood pressure cost our medical care system $200 billion a year. problems related to smoking over here cost us $191 billion a year. if we just took better care of ourselves, this study suggested we could save as much as half trillion dollars that the government and we are currently spending on our problems. the second big area of waste is clinical problems, doctors and nurses sometimes prescribe the wrong medicine. they overmedicate. they make other mistakes, too. patients use emergency rooms for some problems like sore throats that ought to be handled by the regular doctor. the cost of all of that, more than $90 billion. in addition, this study found that sometimes doctors
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overcharge because they can make more money from it and also sometimes they're so afraid of malpractice lawsuits they order many tests and procedures to protect against possible accusations they overlooked something. the cost of that, $210 billion a year. that's why senators in support of reform like maryland's ben cardin are being confronted by people demanding that legal reform be part of any health reform package. >> why isn't tort reform a part of any of these bills? >> of course, the study found sometimes doctors just overcharge because they can make more money that way. and finally, this study found waste in operational costs. just filing the papers to collect for insurance companies cost up to $210 billion a year. one case the researchers report is johns hopkins in baltimore,
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00 different health plans, employers and others are involved in its own rules and paperwork. all of these combined areas could add up to $1.2 trillion in waste or as the study notes more than half of our health spending. john? >> staggering amount of money. tom foreman for us tonight. thanks so much. coming up, authorities raid a las vegas pharmacy used by michael jackson's doctor. what were they looking for there? that's coming up in a moment. but first, erica hill. joining us now with the "360 bulletin." erica? >> john, eunice shriver is being remembered tonight as a tireless champion of the disabled. she died earlier this morning at the age of 88. she was the fifth of kennedy children and also is the mother to maria shriver. of course, california's first lady. in 1962, mrs. shriver founded the summer day camp that grew into the special olympic that is today operations in 170 countries. costa rica's president is sick with swine flu.
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government officials say he fell ill on understood complaining of a sore throat and fever and diagnosed today with the h1n1 virus. the president's overall health is said to be good. on his doctor's advice, though, he is resting at home this weekend. talk about a jolt from general motors. gm said that the volt car will get an estimated 230 miles per gallon. yes, 2-3-0. gm's ceo predicts the mileage will be a game changer for gm. we'll see. it is a boy for jennifer hudson. the 27-year-old oscar winner giving birth yesterday to her first child. david daniel ortunga jr. the publicist released the news today. the baby reportedly named after her fiancee and weighed in 7 pounds, 14 ounces, john. >> great they have good news in that family. >> they could use it. >> erica, thanks so much. next up, a new raid in the michael jackson death investigation. police search a pharmacy in las vegas. are they getting closer to an arrest?
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the latest just ahead. and later on, teen killers working for drug lords and living in the united states. the shocking story from this side of the border coming up. that can take so much out of you. i feel like i have to wind myself up just to get out of bed. then...well... i have to keep winding myself up to deal with the sadness, the loss of interest, the trouble concentrating, the lack of energy. if depression is taking so much out of you, ask your doctor about pristiq®. (announcer) pristiq is a prescription medicine proven to treat depression. pristiq is thought to work by affecting the levels of two chemicals in the brain, serotonin and norepinephrine. tell your doctor right away if your depression worsens or you have unusual changes in mood, behavior, or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children, teens and young adults. pristiq is not approved for children under 18. do not take pristiq with maois. taking pristiq with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk.
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last day of his life. dr. murray is the subject of a possible manslaughter charge in the case. jim moret is the chief correspondent for "inside edition" and also an attorney and so is cnn's legal analyst lisa bloom and joins me now. the search comes a day after the coroner's office said it was withholding the autopsy and cause of death at the request of investigators from los angeles police department. what do you make of the timing of the raid on the pharmacy at the same time that the coroner's office is saying we're at a crucial point in the investigation? >> well, i think it's good news for dr. murray and maybe this point the police don't feel that they have enough to go forward and arrest dr. murray. they're holding up the disclosure of the coroner's report and toxicology results and continuing to investigate and propofol, the drug at the center of the dispute. apparently they just don't feel that they have enough yet to
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connect all the dots and arrest or indict dr. murray. >> jim moret, do you know what they were looking at applied pharmacy today? >> records of the drugs sold by the pharmacy to the doctor and specifically they're looking for diprivan. lisa is an optimist, i think. if i were dr. murray's attorney i think i would be holding my breath right now because i think they're making it clear they're looking at dr. murray with respect to the propofol and may be looking at other doctors, as well, but with respect to the manslaughter investigation, i think he is solely in their sites. >> a question i had in all of this. lisa, maybe you can answer this. is it unusual for the coroner's office to cooperate with the police department and withhold the results of the report and the toxicology report? we look back on cases with criminal charges or criminal investigations and the coroner's office told the public the cause of death. >> everything about the case is unusual. you are right, john. from beginning to the end. i mean, in most cases there isn't such interest public interest in the coroner's report
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so it's just issued as a matter of course. in a high profile case, it is not unusual for the police to ask other agencies to hold back information. police need to have some confidential information doing an investigation. they can't have all the cards on the table but from dr. murray's defense standpoint again, working too closely, that's a argument that he can use at trial. i mean, the coroner is supposed to be an independent agency composed of scientists issuing scientific results. they're not supposed to be at the beckon call of law enforcement. i'm not saying they are but at this point they're just withholding the report but that's the kind of defense case that could be building. >> jim, the search warrants over the last few weeks looking into a number of potential charges. manslaughter being the most serious of them. as far as we know. do you think that there's any chance that dr. murray could be charged with manslaughter? >> i do. clearly, that's what i think investigators are looking at. you're talking about a drug you can't get a prescription for and a drug you can't administer to yourself so you need somebody there. you also have reports that the
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doctor admitted he administered the drug to michael jackson and in a setting that's medically unsound. no doctor would do it outside of a hospital or clinic setting. therefore, they'll hold the doctor responsible if, in fact, he gave the drug that killed michael jackson to him the night before he died. >> what do you think about potential manslaughter charges, lisa? i mean, if you were defending conrad murray, do you think you could get him off if he's charged with that? >> the problem is the propofol the only medication of significance in jackson's system? i mean, if there are, let's say, ten or 12 medications and if as i expect the coroner's going to say that jackson died from an interaction of toxic drugs then it may be difficult for law enforcement to pin all of this on dr. murray. and remember, legally, they have to prove causation. they have to prove that dr. murray's actions were a cause of death or a significant cause of death. and this means they have to link it all on the propofol and,
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remember, that's the drug they're continuing to look at in this pharmacy search today so i don't think they have it yet. they may but i don't think they have it yet. >> not charging him with manslaughter, they could charge him with overprescribing, prescribing to addict. jim, is it your sense that the l.a.p.d. wanted to make an example of this man? >> i think they have a lot of pressure on this case. early on, they didn't secure the property for four days. that was clearly a mistake in this case. i think they're going very methodically and not to make an example but they need to get some results and some result that won't have a public outcry because clearly something horribly wrong went on the night before he died. >> it is always great to catch up with you. thanks so much for joining us tonight. >> thank you. let us know what you think. join the live chat at ac360.com. next, an american soldier serving his country and allegedly serving a mexican cartel. did he murder for them?
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tonight, an american soldier is under arrest for allegedly working as a hit man for a mexican drug cartel. the soldier, michael apodaco is stationed in fort bliss, texas. authorities say the 18-year-old and two other men allegedly killed a former cartel member in may after he was exposed as a government informant. all three suspects face capital murder charges. this is not the first time a u.s. citizen is accused of being an assassin for mexican drug lords. with the promise of money and power, young people on this side of the border are recruited into a world of violence. ed lavandera has tonight's "crime & punishment" report. >> reporter: look at the tattooed eyes, the old eyes. the faces of admitted murderers, young americans killing for mexican drug cartels. but it took many murders in laredo, texas, to track down one of the first victims was garcia, gunned down while he helped his pregnant wife and 3-year-old boy into their car. then the bodies began to pile
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up. seven murders in a yearlong stretch. but when investigators found fingerprints on a cigarette box in the shooter's getaway car, the chilling truth unraveled. the truth about reta and cardona. >> they were very good at what they did. they were professional at what they did. >> reporter: assassins is what they were. how they evolved from average, american teenagers into hit men is laid out in court records and these police interrogation videos obtained by cnn. in this tape, reta happily details how he carried out the first assassination at the age of 14. i loved it. killing that first person. i thought i was superman he said. detective robert garcia is the man sitting across the table from reta. >> that's one thing that you wonder all the time. what made him be this way? >> reporter: like many americans, the teenagers
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started kiting the can tinas and bars just across the border in mexico and that's when investigators say the cartel was waiting to recruit them. the kids were easy targets for the cartel. they started to living the high life. they got tattoos honored by drug traffickers. cardona had eyeballs tattooed on his eyelids and markings covered reta's face. they should have been in school here but investigators say they dropped out and joined the cartel's payroll. they drove around town in a $70,000 hmercedes. they were paid $500 a week as a retainer to sit and wait for the call to kill. then they could make up to $50,000 for a hit. prosecutors say they were hit men for the zetas, a group of former mexican special military forces that at the time were doing the dirty work for the notorious gulf cartel. >> they're here. there are sleeper cells.
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they're already here in the u.s. not just in laredo. they're throughout the u.s. >> reporter: in the interrogation, he tells detectives the zetas are moving their operations deeper into the u.s. cardona says he knows of hits kree carried out in houston and dallas. they're in prison for murder but before they were arrested, federal authoritieies recorded phone call between the two. cardona drags about killing 14-year-old inez, the innocent cousin of a cardona enemy also murdered. cardona laughs about torturing both, making stew out of their bodies in large, metal drums. two others have never been found. but before the call ends, cardona says there are three left to kill. there are three left. [ speaking foreign language ] it is a reminder the cartel's work never ends as they recruit the next generation of killers. ed lavandera, cnn, laredo, texas. >> cartels recruiting americans
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to kill. will we see more of it? joining us is fred burton, a counter terrorism expert and a best-selling author. let's look at the latest case, this arrest yesterday. private michael apodaca stationed at fort bliss in texas. accused of being a hit man for the juarez cartel. does it surprise you? >> not in the least. if you look at the business, it is a dirty business and the informant that was killed was clearly an operator for the juarez cartel. and then the group put together carry out the assassination on u.s. soil, there's information that that individual was also an inform apt with the u.s. authorities so this kind of twist and turn in this business is not unusual but the fact that it's taking place in el paso on u.s. soil should be a wake-up call for all of us here in the united states. >> i would certainly think so.
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fred, to what extent have these cartels begun to either infiltrate or recruit from u.s. military and law enforcement? >> we have seen reports of this in the past, john, specifically with the national guard with cartel recruitment of individuals. look. there's so much money to be made in this business that the informant length is very broad within the public service sector, within all facets of society when you start loobking at some of these border towns. so the fact that you have a u.s. army soldier that was hired to do this is also not surprising. >> this fellow who's assassinated, jose gonzalez, living in el paso, living a fairly open life, people thought he was involved in legitimate businesses also believed to be a u.s. informant. they got to him pretty easily. they found him out and got to him pretty easily. what does that say about who you can and cannot trust?
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>> it shows you the an internal protection of the cartels. that they're capable of identifying u.s. government assets that should be protected. this is the kind of person that should not be killed on u.s. soil. now, it shows you their intelligence collection capabilities. it shows you their reach. it shows you their counter intelligence and surveillance capabilities. if they can kill u.s. government informants, they can pretty much kill anybody they want and get away with it. >> as you mentioned, this was a hit on the american side of the border in el paso. hits like this happen all the time on the mexican side of the border. what does it say about the potential for the violence in this country to increase and spread beyond border towns? >> well, i think we are already seeing that. we have the downstream drug supply network in atlanta is being controlled by the mexican cartels. we have had a whole series of abductions in phoenix. the phoenix police department has done a wonderful job looking at those. we have problems in los angeles as a result of this.
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there really is no city that's not untouched today with this phenomenon. and as you move closer to the border, you have more of the violence. their ability to reach out and touch these individuals is much more opportune for them. >> not an encouraging picture that you're papt painting for us tonight. fred burton, thanks so much. >> thank you. you may see their work on the big screen some day. tonight, we give you an up close look at their inspirational work. and searching for answers. new developments in that midair collision over the hudson river. when "360" continues. some lunch.
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the cinema school and the driving force behind it is joe hall. hall has a passion for film sharing with young people for nine years through a program called "ghetto film school." erica hill has more. >> quiet on the set. >> reporter: common words to begin production on any film set but this isn't just any film set. this is uganda in east africa and the production team, a bunch of american teens. all students at the ghetto film school. a training program in the south bronx. for founder joe hall, a former social worker in the bronx and one-time film school student, this program is a perfect mix of his two loves. helping talented teens find a path and film. >> it helps get talented young people from the bronx and harlem into the film industry so we are looking to provide them with a
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comprehensive education in cinematic story telling and ready for internships and hopefully the connections and pave the way so that they can pursue a creative career. >> reporter: since the creation in june of 2004, over 400 students participated in the program but getting accepted isn't easy. out of some 120 applicants, just 20 are picked for the 15-month program. even more competitive, winning a spot on the annual thesis trip which for many students will be the first trip outside the united states. films are shot on location in places like london, berlin, paris and africa. each student fills a critical production crew role. teresa wrote this year's winning script shot entirely in uganda. >> the whole experience seemed like almost surreal. i couldn't believe i actually wrote a movie and that i was going across, you know, the ocean all the way to africa to see it get made and it was like a really great experience.
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i learned so much about film making through it, you know, like just seeing it come to life. >> reporter: the film "live joseph" about a man with 24 hours to live after being bitten by a snake was snot nine days offering students both firsthand film experience and real life gags in a setting very far from home. >> it's been an incredible experience going to uganda to film this. it was my first time outside of the united states andsoming that changed me as a person. >> kind of like a gateway and we're attached to the industry in a really humble way and i felt like it makes us like accessible to our goal, just we can get where we need to be because we have a resource. it means a lot to me and i plan to be with it my entire life in the experience and giving back to people because that's what they believe in, giving back to the community. >> reporter: joe hall isn't done
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giving back. he'll open a magnet school in the bronx with a high emphasis on humanities and, yes, film production. continuing a growing tradition. erica hill, cnn, new york. next, the latest in the crash above the hudson river. divers recover more wreckage and search for clues to the tragedy. $65 million dollars of jewelry stolen in the broad daylight. i'm a little irregular today. don't you eat activia? for my little issues? they're not that bad. summer's no time to put up with even occasional digestive problems. believe me, once they go away, it's amazing how good you feel. announcer: activia is clinically proven to help regulate your digestive system in two weeks. summer's a wastin'... take the activia challenge now. it works, or it's free. ♪ activia
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no shortage of news tonight. let's get the latest now on some of the other stories that we're following. erica hill joins us again with a "360" bulletin. hi, erica. >> hi, john. the search for bodies in saturday's new york air collision is now over. crews today brang the last two victims ashore. a crane pulled their plane out of the hudson. in all, nine people died when that plane hit a helicopter
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above the hudson river last weekend. we are getting a first look tonight from inside the men's prison in chico -- chino, rather, california. this is a view of the damage from rioting over the weekend that left 250 inmates hurt, 55 of them seriously. that violence appears to have been racially motivated. overseas the military government in myanmar sentencing opposition leader awn sung suu kyi to 18 months more arrest. according to the court she violated terms of her previous house arrest when an american swam across a lake to her home for an uninvited visit. secretary of state clinton and the secretary-general as well as dalai lama objecting to the sentence. two men caught in the middle of an armed robbery that netted them, get this, about $65 million in schwag. the pair, who are still at large, are considered to be armed and dangerous. and up in the sky off the south carolina coast it's a bird, it's a plane, oh no, it's
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96-year-old pauline sherman and her great granddaughter. parasailing side by side. great grandma pauline, by the way, has never even driven a car. it's only the second time she's been on a boat. but she thought why not try it? john, her granddaughter, not her great granddaughter, who went parasailing with her, actually said they're going to have to invent something for her to die of. she's an inspiration to all of us. >> 96 years old and still growing strong. that's a lot of fun, too going up in a parasail. now our beat 360. our daily challenge to viewers, a chance to show off our staffers by coming up with a better caption for the picture we post in our blog every day. white house chief of staff rahm emanuel reads to students at a reading from the top event at the department of education. he was joined by education secretary arne duncan and white house domestic policy secretary melanie barnes. winner tonight, rick. his caption, "the administration's new strategy on health care town hall forums."
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our viewer winner is bob from ma krechlt lon, ohio. i hope i got that right. his caption, "and this, kiddies, is the new health care reform bill that you'll be paying for for the rest of your lives. and don't forget, social security will be broke too." >> so many of the staff and viewer submissions have to do with health care and town halls today. >> i wonder why. couldn't be that it's capturing the imagination of the nation, could it be? >> no. >> bob, your "beat 360" t-shirt is on the way. still ahead on "360" a birthday blowout that took a terrible turn. just remember, franks are always fun until someone gets hurt. and candles are fire. the shot is just ahead.
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♪ happy birthday, dear rick ♪ happy birthday to you >> rick escalante's birthday party started off well, nothing too wild. cake and singing. things took a terrible turn when the silly string and glitter hairspray ambush starts. rich singed his eyebrows and suffered minor burns on his ear. his sister told us his wife bought the supplies but didn't think the flammability issue all the way through. >> well, as long as you're not spraying it directly into the candles then in theory there shouldn't be a problem. >> it was probably the hairspray more than anything. >> you dhi? >> i think the silly string itself might be flammable. i've never tried to set it on fire but i could assume that. >> i'm guessing that would go up in flames. >> i think the propellant from the hairspray probably was the real culprit. >> i think it was the glitter. >> men shouldn't be wearing glitter anyways.
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