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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Evacuation Notice for Americans in Libya; Uprising in Bahrain; Americans Killed by Pirates; Search for Earthquake Survivors
Aired February 22, 2011 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, good evening everyone.
Breaking news to bring you: We are just learning the U.S. is now planning to begin evacuating Americans from Libya. An American- chartered ferry will be attempting to dock tomorrow, if it's allowed, and will bring Americans to Malta. We have full breaking details in a moment and all the latest from Libya.
Also tonight, we'll take you to ground zero of that deadly earthquake in New Zealand. The location could not be worse, right in the middle of a big city.
And later, four Americans dead on a yacht hijacked by Somali pirates. Navy SEALs swung into action to try and save them. We have new details on what happened and what went so very wrong.
We begin, though, with the breaking news out of Libya, U.S. citizens being offered a way out by ferry in a few hours from Tripoli. Passengers being told to arrive no later than 10:00 a.m. local time; it's now 5:00 a.m. local time, so they have five hours from now.
Americans are asked to go to the port across from the Radisson Hotel. The question is, will the ferry be allowed to dock and can Americans even get to the port safely? After what Libya's dictator, Moammar Gadhafi, said today, blaming America for his troubles and Americans, it is not safe on the streets for any Americans or anyone else in Tripoli.
Gadhafi today made this long, rambling speech. At times he seemed deranged, even delusional. Often, he was simply lying, making up stories like many of the other dictators we have reported on recently.
What was so remarkable, however, was Gadhafi's very clear announcement that he would not surrender power without a fight. He said he will be a martyr at the end. And he's making sure he takes a lot of innocent lives with him, unleashing a campaign of violence and a campaign of lies, calling his own people rats strung out on hallucinogenic drugs provided by Americans.
There's no way to know right now how many people have died in Tripoli, but tonight, new video shows just how deadly the fight still is in the capital and what they have been dealing with there for the past 48 hours.
Take a look at this, as protesters tore down Gadhafi posters and were targeted by heavy gunfire.
You can hear it, heavy automatic weapons fire. Some of the protesters are armed. Some carry makeshift armor as protection, but the incoming fire is too much. You can see the car totally peppered with bullet holes, at least one member of the anti-Gadhafi forces hit. The streets are not safe and many Libyans are hiding in their homes.
I spoke to a woman in Tripoli a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was shooting without mercy. More than 200 people had passed away, maybe more. Nobody knows. Nobody knows the real number. But it's definitely more than 200 people have died yesterday.
COOPER: And -- and do you still hear gunshots today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually, even now, like five minutes ago, I can hear the shots. And they're not that far where from I'm staying right now. There are massacres happening in Siahia (ph). There is massacres happening not that far from (INAUDIBLE), not that much in Green Square.
COOPER: We've seen on Libyan state television, on government- controlled television, they show a pro-government demonstration in -- in Green Square. Who do you think those people are?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has been paying people. He has been recruiting people. Even some of his own soldiers had -- he has put them in civilian clothes just to show that the country is fine.
This morning, he has ordered to clean up the streets, clean up the dead bodies. He doesn't want anybody to get any footage for dead bodies that have been killed in Tripoli last night.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We are going to talk with our Ben Wedeman, who is the first Western reporter inside Libya, and others inside Libya as well.
But, for a few moments, just watch this man, Moammar Gadhafi, as he addressed his people today in a building bombed by the U.S. years ago.
He's almost comical in his appearance, but don't be fooled by his buffoonery. This is man who has for decades tortured his own people, a man who has funded terrorism around the globe, a man who has the blood of Americans and Europeans and many, many Libyans on his hands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOAMMAR GADHAFI, LIBYAN LEADER (through translator): RPG rocket launchers have been provided to Benghazi by the Americans. They have just confused them. They have made them dizzy. They offer them those hallucination pills in order to use them. This march cannot be stopped by those agents, those rats, those cats who move in the dark. This is a confession from the biggest power in the world that Gadhafi is not chief. In order to poison him, when bombs were knocking my house here and my sons were killed, where were you coward people? Where were you who are hiding in the dark in the events? Where were you? You were with America. You were clapping your hands for your master, America.
Whoever cooperates with foreign countries in order to instigate war against Libya, the punishment will be execution. Whoever tampers with the country is also punished by execution. Whoever facilitates the entering of enemies into the country of Libya, whoever damages the ports, the airports has to be executed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's Gadhafi reading from his beloved Green Book, a book he himself wrote, essentially calling for the execution of everyone who opposes him right now.
His regime is piece by piece falling apart. His own interior minister did his part today, exposing some of his boss' lies. He quit, telling CNN he decided after hearing that some 300 people had been killed in Benghazi alone in the last several days.
He says Gadhafi told him he wanted to use airpower to attack Libyans, the Libyan air force under orders from the Libyan dictator. Despite that, much of eastern Libya now appears to be no longer in Gadhafi's grip.
CNN's Ben Wedeman saw some of the remnants of it in the city of Tobruk.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This is what remains of Tobruk's main police station, a hated symbol of the Gadhafi regime. On the 17th of February, protesters came out into the streets. They were fired upon by the security services, but eventually the people here were able to overpower the police. And they came and ransacked this place, and then came and burned cars belonging to the intelligence services.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Ben Wedeman joins us now from eastern Libya.
Ben, what kind of reaction did the people around you have to Moammar Gadhafi's speech today?
WEDEMAN: Anderson, it was really one of disgust.
They already have very negative feelings toward this man who ruled the country for 42 years. You hear the same thing over and over again. They say Majnun. That's Arabic for crazy. The feeling, Anderson, is he's just so wildly out of touch with reality, not to speak of his people, of course, that he simply is raving on television.
Now, but they are -- having said that, they know he's insane, but there's also very worried about what he could do in the event that he really felt like him and his regime were going down.
One worry is that he's going to recruit some pro-Libyan tribes in Egypt to come and counterattack the eastern part of the country, also worries that he could use his navy, his air force to attack the eastern part of the country.
So, lots -- nerves are really raw at the moment, given the fact that, day after day, he's making these speeches, these brief addresses, as the case was yesterday, indicating that he's becoming, in the view of many Libyans, seriously unhinged.
COOPER: In -- in terms of -- of the military that he has at his disposal, I mean, we've heard reports of -- of soldiers, you know, turning over to -- to the opposition, to -- to the protesters' side. Do -- I mean, is that sort of a soldier-by-soldier decision? Is -- have there been mass defections? Do we know at this point?
WEDEMAN: It appears there have been large or even mass defections of the military.
In fact, we spent the evening with one military officer who defected a few days ago. And he was meeting with prisoners, soldiers who had been captured, and trying to convince them that they should come over to the side of what he called the revolution.
And I also spoke to some of those prisoners. And they indicated that morale within the army is absolutely miserable, that they tried to avoid carrying out their officers' orders to fire into the crowds of protesters. Several of them said that they fired randomly in the air just to avoid killing their fellow Libyans.
So it appears that, even though the military, in many areas, continues to carry out Gadhafi's orders, they may be doing it unwillingly -- Anderson.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: You -- you talked about pro-Gadhafi tribes in Egypt that might attack the east. I mean, is that a real possibility?
WEDEMAN: It is a possibility.
In fact, Gadhafi, for many years, every time he would visit Egypt, he would go to the Oasis of Fayoum, where he has relatives. They're basically from the same tribe. And he has provided that area with a lot of money.
He's basically bought these people off. They are loyal to him. And, obviously, if they see that he's going down, they could be worried that their gravy train could be about to be cut off. So, it's definitely a possibility.
The question is, will the Egyptian army control the border and prevent that sort of incident from happening? We shall see -- Anderson.
COOPER: And in terms of the eastern Libya, where you are in, I mean, are there any vestiges of the state regime, of Gadhafi's regime left that are in power, or is it -- is everywhere now controlled by the protesters?
WEDEMAN: Well, we haven't been everywhere in the eastern part of the country, but certainly, from what we've seen it is the anti-Gadhafi movement that's in charge, no sign whatsoever of any government authority.
And that's a welcome development for the people here. There's of course no indication that there -- I mean, there's always a possibility that there could be sort of underground elements out there. And that explains why sort of every road you go on has checkpoints where young men with machetes, hunting rifles and AK-47s are stopping cars, looking inside, checking the IDs of people, because they're worried that there may be an attempt to re-infiltrate pro- Gadhafi elements into the eastern part of Libya -- Anderson.
COOPER: Ben, stay safe. Remarkable reporting -- you and your team.
Back home, the U.N. Security Council issued a statement condemning the violence. Secretary of State Clinton called for a stop to what she called the unacceptable bloodshed in Libya.
And then again, late tonight, the breaking news, the State Department issuing an evacuation notice basically effective over the next five hours, telling people to get to the port in Tripoli near the Radisson Hotel.
Foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty joins us now.
Why not try to evacuate people from a plane?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, they tried to do that actually, Anderson. In fact, today at the briefing, P.J. Crowley, the spokesperson, said that they had difficulty getting their personnel out by plane. They were trying to charter planes to come in.
So what they are doing now is they're chartering this ferry. I was just looking at one of the tweets. They're Twittering from the State Department about this, saying U.S. citizens leaving -- leaving Libya first come, first serve, priority to those with medical conditions.
So a senior U.S. official is telling CNN that the Libyan authorities did not give permission for that -- those charter planes to land, but now the test, as he is saying, the -- we will see if they let the ferry land, come to Tripoli. If that happens, our people will begin to flow out.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: So there's no clear guarantee that that ferry is even going to be able to land? DOUGHERTY: Yes, that is the big question according to the senior official. And there's grave concern.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: The other question I have -- the other question and huge concern is, I mean, is it safe for Americans to try to even get to that location, given what Gadhafi has said about Americans today?
DOUGHERTY: You know, I guess, at this point, Anderson, realistically, the Americans would have to decide for themselves whether where they are is accessible and whether they can get out.
You know, the staff at the U.S. Embassy is very, very small. There are only 35 people, personnel, plus their families, who are being evacuated.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Yes.
DOUGHERTY: Those are nonessential. So, it's not a lot of people.
COOPER: We're going to have more with Jill in just a moment.
A quick reminder: the live chat is up and running at AC360.com.
Fareed Zakaria also joins us next. We keep watching for new developments. We're going to hear as well from a Libyan man named Moftah who has lived all his life in fear, but he says he is no longer afraid and he wants you to see his face.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOFTAH, LIBYAN: We are not afraid. We broke the fear barrier. We are not afraid of him anymore. The best example for that, I'm showing my face. People are showing their faces to the camera. They are not afraid of him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Later, the shooting of unarmed protesters in Bahrain caught on camera. You've seen the video.
Well, today, a funeral for one of them, and a massive protest. We will show you how the government there responded today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, we're continuing to monitor the latest on that evacuation notice for Americans in Libya -- the breaking news tonight -- a ferry scheduled to leave Tripoli tomorrow afternoon with passengers instructed to get to the docks by 10:00 a.m. local time. That's in five hours.
Tripoli, though, the violence continues on the streets. In Libya's second largest city, however, to the east, in Benghazi, anti-Gadhafi forces are in control there.
And you're about to hear from a man who for the first time in more than 42 years says he can finally say he is free. His name is Moftah. And when we spoke to him last week on Friday, government shootings were under way. He was risking his life just to call us.
Now he insists not just on using his first name, but on showing his face. But that's because Moammar Gadhafi is no longer controls Benghazi. He may still be in a position to take bloody vengeance on it through mercenaries or with the airpower, but, for now, Benghazi has taken on the appearance of a liberated city.
I spoke with Moftah earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Moftah, what has it been like the last 24 hours?
MOFTAH: Oh, it's been great for -- for us Libyans, you know. For the first time, the taste of freedom, to -- I'm elated. I see people in the streets smiling for the first time.
I see people committed to the country. Before, they don't care about the country. Now you find people cleaning the streets, directing traffic, smiling, hugging each other. That's one side. That's in -- in Benghazi. There is no more casualties. Hospitals are coping with the casualties, the old casualties.
But the bad news has been massacres committed against our fellow countrymen in Tripoli.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Yes. In Tripoli, which is where Gadhafi is, he's still holding onto power. What are you hearing about the situation there?
MOFTAH: That's his base of power, you know. That's -- that's the last stand. That's the injured animal cornered, you know. And he -- he will fight.
And he's insane. He's really insane. He doesn't care about the Libyan people. He never did. But now he -- he -- he wants to commit suicide; and he will take as many people with him as possible.
COOPER: Gadhafi, as you know, went on television today, essentially saying that -- that the protesters are taking drugs; that they're taking hallucinatory pills, that they don't understand what they're doing, and that they will all be killed.
MOFTAH: If you watch the speech, he's the one on drugs. He's the one hallucinating. He's the one, you know, telling his people that he's going to exterminate them and he's going to do to them what the Chinese did in Tiananmen Square. He didn't make any sense to anybody. It just proves that he's losing control and losing power.
(CROSSTALK) COOPER: Do you worry in Benghazi that he may still counterattack, that he may send in troops there or he may bomb there?
MOFTAH: Unless that he commit a suicide attack -- it's possible, you know, but we are not afraid. We broke the fear barrier. We are not afraid of him anymore. The best example for that, I'm showing my face. People are showing their faces to the camera. They are not afraid of him.
They are not afraid of his thugs. His thugs disappeared from the city, from the eastern part of the country.
COOPER: On -- on Friday, you talked about how many people have lived in fear their whole lives and that you wanted to break the fear barrier. And you insisted on Friday that we use your name, and today you're insisting that we show your face, as we are right now. Why is that so important for you?
MOFTAH: We had -- you know, after 42 years of fear, of the humiliation, you -- you just lose respect for yourself.
This time, for the first time, I'm proud to be a Libyan. People are proud to be a Libyan. And even he's trying to set people against each other by tribes, by -- by putting rumors. And today in Benghazi, if you ask somebody -- you ask them, what is your name, they will tell you my name is Abdullah the Libyan, Mohammed the Libyan.
They don't mention their tribes. They want to say to this -- I don't -- I don't want to use the bad word, but this animal, that we are not -- we don't fear you anymore. We are united.
And my -- me showing his face is a challenge to (INAUDIBLE) to tell him that I'm not afraid of you. There's nothing you can do to me. I am a proud -- I am free man now. So, at last, I'm a free man.
COOPER: What does that feel like to be able to say that for -- for the first time probably in 42 years?
MOFTAH: It's a beautiful feeling. You -- I don't know. I don't think you have experienced because all your life you lived in freedom. But for me to say that, after 42 years, oh, it's a beautiful feeling. You know, I have -- I am a diabetic and I am a hypertensive.
I didn't feel those illnesses anymore. I don't take medication, because I feel good. I feel good. I walk for miles. I smile. I -- even my family told me that I'm a changed man.
It's not just me. All the Libyans are proud of that; all the people I met or I know, they changed. People they -- they feel free. Freedom is a -- is such a beautiful feeling. It's such a beautiful feeling.
Especially, we are looking -- we are optimistic about the future, as we're going to have a democratic country where we can speak our minds and we can tell -- say whatever we want to say.
Yesterday -- today, you know, there was a big gathering, people challenging him. He said, I'm going to bombard you, like what he did in Tripoli, you know, using the jet fighter jets to hit civilians, unarmed civilians.
Today, people, they are -- when he said that I'm going to fight you, I'm going to hit you with bombs, they came into the front of the courthouse and they said we are ready. Go ahead. Bring us your -- bring us what you have, you know. We are not afraid of you.
We are not afraid of him anymore. He lost the grip. He cannot have it anymore over us.
COOPER: You remind me of what people in Liberation Square said to -- said to reporters, said to the world weeks ago. They said that that fear has been defeated and that there's no turning back.
The battle is still going on in Tripoli. Do you feel, though, that there is no turning back for you, for the others in Benghazi?
MOFTAH: Oh, the best example, I'm showing you my face. There's no turning back.
And we are -- we are grateful for the Egyptian and the Tunisians, for what they did to us. They give us the first lesson. We are grateful for them. For the -- it's a -- I am elated. I am happy, you know? I -- I -- I cannot express my feeling more than that, you know?
COOPER: Moftah, stay safe. We will talk to you again.
MOFTAH: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, let's bring back in Jill Dougherty and bring in Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN's "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS."
Amazing to hear this man saying how freedom feels like after 42 years.
Can Gadhafi hold on?
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN WORLD AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think he probably can. It's a pretty brutal regime. You know, we -- we tend to think of Gadhafi as this kind of almost comical madcap.
COOPER: Right.
ZAKARIA: But he has run one of the most repressive countries in the world. Freedom House does these rankings, and I think Libya was tied with North Korea for the most closed, repressive society in the world. He has the guns.
And remember, here's the big difference here. This is an oil country. This is an oil country in the way Tunisia was not, Egypt was not. He doesn't need the world. Tunisia needed Europe for investment, you know. Egypt needed the United States for aid. It needed the tourists; a huge amount of money that comes into Egypt comes in for tourism. Libya doesn't need any of these. It just sells its oil to the world, 75 percent --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: And yet he hasn't taken that money from the oil and invested it in the country in terms of education or anything. I mean, the -- the standard of living for Libyan people is -- is pathetic.
ZAKARIA: Oh, zero, absolutely. There has been no development. It's a -- it's -- it's particularly pathetic because he could have done it with the crumbs. There's only five or six million people in Libya.
COOPER: Right. It's a tiny amount of people for the billions that they're making.
ZAKARIA: But what it means is he's insulated from, you know, the pressures of the world, the way that the Tunisians and Egyptians had to worry about. There these U.N. condemnations of him; I don't think Gadhafi cares. It's been a rogue state for most of its existence.
COOPER: So it's a question of somebody in his security services basically assassinating him or getting rid of him somehow, correct?
ZAKARIA: I think exactly. Somebody in the security services or the generals have to decide, maybe not even assassinate him. They just won't execute his orders.
That's going to be the key thing to see, because if the military stays with him, let's face it, Anderson. These are amazingly brave people out there.
COOPER: Yes.
ZAKARIA: But if you use helicopter gunships and if you use planes and you use bombs, crowds are going to disperse.
COOPER: Yes.
Jill, in terms of what -- what the U.S. has been saying, they haven't actually called for Gadhafi to get out, correct?
DOUGHERTY: Correct, yes.
I mean, essentially they keep talking very much about the violence -- that it has to stop. They've upped the rhetoric -- I mean, very, very strong words coming out. But at this point, they're working really with the international community at the United Nations. That's, I think, where you're going to see the action.
COOPER: In terms, though, of -- I mean, do -- do you -- Fareed, do you think that's because the U.S.A., is worried about Americans there and doesn't want to cause them extra problems, but also by calling out Gadhafi, does that allow Gadhafi to continue to -- to claim that this is all kind of backed by the U.S.? ZAKARIA: Well, if you watched his speech, Anderson, as much as we could understand, because there was so much incoherent rambling, he fell back to his oldest trick, which was this is all an American plot.
COOPER: Right.
ZAKARIA: And this is something that is part of -- this is how Gadhafi came to power; he's always used America in that way.
COOPER: Which all these thugs do, all these dictators do --
(CROSSTALK)
ZAKARIA: Right.
COOPER: -- at one time or another, Mubarak even toward the end.
ZAKARIA: Absolutely. And it -- and it worked in 2005 -- it didn't work this time -- when Mubarak had defeated, beaten back a democracy movement.
So the key -- I think the calculations that the administration are probably thinking about is you don't want him to be able to say this is an American plot. You don't want to endanger the lives of the Americans.
And I think, third, you -- you want to be sure that what you say is effective. The worst thing in the world would be if the President of the United States calls for the ouster of Gadhafi and nothing happens.
COOPER: Jill, I'm getting reports that there's very bad weather off Malta, and there's concern about whether this ferry would even be able to make it.
But at this point, the U.S., I mean they're putting all their eggs in getting Americans out by this ferry. They have not gotten permission to land a plane in the Libyan -- in the Libyan capital, correct?
DOUGHERTY: Correct.
Now, you know, there are commercial flights, we understand, from the State Department, so there are ways of getting people out. But when -- this sense of urgency right now -- they're talking with these commercial airliners, for example, and saying please add more seats to try to get people out.
So the idea is, at this point, get them out whichever way you can.
COOPER: Is there a direct communication between the U.S. and the Libyan regime at this point, Jill? Do we know?
DOUGHERTY: Oh, yes, there actually is. I mean, they're talking on the lower level here with the consular people.
And then Jeff Feltman, who is the -- one of the senior officials here at the State Department, is speaking with the foreign minister and some others.
So there is a bit of, you know, communication. But whether they're listening to anything that the United States is saying is another question.
COOPER: It's also this bizarre situation, Fareed, because you have the deputy ambassador to the U.N. calling for Gadhafi now to step down. I interviewed the Libyan ambassador to the U.S. yesterday who at that point was saying he was with the people but he wasn't calling for Gadhafi to step down.
Something changed between the time I interviewed him and talking to George Stephanopoulos today because all of a sudden this morning he announced he wanted -- it was time for Gadhafi to go. But it's bizarre to see the fracturing of this man's representatives, who by the way, could be accused of just being opportunists of kind of seeing the wind blowing against Gadhafi and now are suddenly jumping ship, because they've been representing this guy for years, for decades.
ZAKARIA: But it highlights the problem which is that this is a regime with no institutional existence or loyalty. It's a bunch of people around Gadhafi who run it.
COOPER: Fareed Zakaria appreciate; Jill Dougherty as well.
Still ahead: a live report from Bahrain where new protests and a funeral were held today after the brutal killing of unarmed protesters which we saw several days ago.
Also, New Zealand, the death toll rising after a major earthquake as rescuers are racing to find survivors. We'll talk to Bear Grylls, the host of "Man Versus Wild" who was in New Zealand when the quake hit. Details ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: As we've been reporting tonight, Americans in Libya could be getting a chance to leave the country by sea tomorrow. Nothing is certain. CNN has learned the reason why ferries have been chartered by the State Department is because the Libyan government did not give permission to land charter flights. We're going to continue to follow the breaking story for any new developments.
Far on the other side of the Arab world, in Bahrain, the Gulf, people lined the streets to remember a victim of the government crackdown there. He died during a peaceful protest, gunned down by government forces. The shooting caught on camera.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(DEMONSTRATION IN BAHRAIN)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: You saw for yourself they had no weapons, no place to take to cover, no warning. The aftermath also caught on cell phone cameras. I want to warn you, the video is disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(DEMONSTRATION IN BAHRAIN)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That was on Friday. With troops still firing, a man scrambled to get his badly wounded friend to the hospital. Moments after he did, CNN's Arwa Damon arrived on the scene and asked him about what had just happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Covered in blood Mohammed says, "I told everyone to put their hands up, as a sign of peace. Then I saw the military crouch down like this." A man standing next to him was shot in the head.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: We now know the man's friend later died. He was laid to rest today. And Arwa Damon joins us now on the phone from Bahrain.
You were at the funeral of this man, Reta Humaid (ph), who was gunned down last week by security forces in the demonstration that followed.
What was it like today? What was the atmosphere like? How many people came?
DAMON (via telephone): Anderson, it was absolutely heartbreaking. Reta Humaid (ph) was 32 years old. He was a father of three. He was a fisherman from a poor Shia village; thousands coming out to this funeral.
One of his brothers was there, just numb with anguish. His 8-year-old son was being comforted by another uncle. He was clutching a picture of himself riding on his father's shoulders, not really understanding why he didn't have a father anymore.
And the government has yet to provide an explanation as to how it was that the soldiers and the police did open fire on the demonstrators.
In the afternoon, we saw tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators marching around Pearl Roundabout down one of the main highways. And there's a sense amongst the demonstrators now that their stance is really hardening the more that time goes by. There's very little faith or trust in the government at this stage, especially after the security force's shocking and violent tactics, Anderson.
COOPER: Well, we know the statements that have previously been made by the Bahrainian government -- by the government there and by the envoy from that country to the United States have, frankly, been untrue. They've said that the force used was proportional. We just saw in that video it was not proportional at all. And his explanation was, well, the economy was suffering and stores were staying closed, and they needed to do something.
So it will be interesting to see if actually they do kind of have any investigation or accounting for what we just witnessed, which to most people's eyes looked like unarmed protesters just gunned down on the streets.
There -- it didn't look like there were police or military at that funeral. Are they still on the streets? Are they still confronting protesters?
DAMON: No, Anderson, they are not. And over the weekend, what we saw take place is that the demonstrators had a number of demands before they would even consider negotiating with the government. And one of those demands was that the military withdraw and then that they be allowed to retake Pearl Roundabout and that the police not harass them or fire at them.
And what we saw happening is exactly that. We saw convoys of military troops moving out of Pearl Roundabout. And then, when the demonstrators were approaching the roundabout, the police retreated.
COOPER: All right. Arwa, stay safe; difficult conditions.
Let's check the latest headlines here at home. Joe Johns has a "360 News & Business Bulletin" -- Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, Chicago has elected its first new mayor since 1989. Former Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has won the race with more than 50 percent of the votes. He beat five challengers handily.
360 follow now, Shawna Forde, an anti-illegal immigration vigilante, was sentenced to death today in Arizona. She was convicted earlier this month in the 2009 murders of 9-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father, Raul Flores, during a botched home invasion. Prosecutors allege Ford planned to use funds from the robbery to bankroll her border watch group.
Libya's political crisis rocked the stock markets with oil prices plunging -- surging. The Dow plunged more than 200 points in the last hour of trading.
And the Wisconsin Democratic Party is accusing Governor Scott Walker and Republicans of blocking access to a left-leaning Web site in the state capitol building. The governor's spokesman called the accusation a lie and said the pro-union Web site was blocked only temporarily, as all new Web sites are where the software is approved.
Union supporters have used the Web site to rally protesters against a controversial budget bill -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right Joe. Thanks. Up next the latest on New Zealand's massive deadly earthquake. "Man Versus Wild" host Bear Grylls happened to be in New Zealand working when the 6.3 quake hit. I'll talk to him in just a moment.
And later, four Americans who set sail for world adventure on a yacht killed by pirates in the Indian Ocean, the U.S. Navy monitoring the yacht. The FBI was negotiating for their release. We'll tell you what happened. I'll speak to a former FBI agent who has negotiated with Somali pirates.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Four Americans were killed by their captors after their yacht was hijacked by pirates off the coast of Oman. Two of the victims, Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay, were experienced yachters from Seattle. They had already circled the world before. And their friends, Scott and Jean Adam from California, they handed out Bibles during their adventures around the world.
"The Quest" was the name of the yacht. It was hijacked on Friday in the Indian Ocean, and it was being monitored by the U.S. Navy, followed by the Navy, and the FBI was negotiating for the Americans' release, but it all took a tragic turn when a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at a Navy ship.
According to the Navy, here's how it happened moment to moment. The grenade was fired toward the closest U.S. Navy ship, which is about 600 yards away, then the sound of gunfire from inside the cabin on the yacht, according to U.S. authorities. Some pirates on the deck surrendered with their hands in the air, and small boats carrying U.S. Naval forces raced toward the yacht. By then, they say, it was too late.
U.S. Central Command says, despite efforts to save the hostages' lives, all four died of gunshot wounds.
Two pirates were found dead on board The Quest. U.S. forces killed two others, and 15 others were arrested.
This is the first time Americans have been killed by Somali pirates. The problem is staggering, though, when you hear the numbers. Right at this minute, Somali pirates are holding about 700 hostages on at least 30 vessels, according to the European Union Naval Force.
I spoke to Jack Cloonan, a former FBI agent who specializes in negotiating with Somali pirates in hostage cases.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: What do you think went wrong in this case? Because according to U.S. authorities, these four Americans were dead by the time Special Forces got on board.
JACK CLOONAN, FORMER FBI AGENT: Well, that's what was alleged. I mean the story is that a Somali pirate came on board, fired an RPG.
But prior to that, it's clear that negotiations, such as they were, broke down. They may have heard something in the background; they claimed that they heard shooting. So at that point, all bets are off. They go to a tactical stage and try to rescue the hostages.
But you know as well as I do, 13, 15, 17, 19 people on board a ship, a yacht like that, the likelihood of that being a successful operation were slim to none.
COOPER: Because it wasn't a huge yacht. And if you have 19 hijackers on board, there's not a lot of space on board that boat.
CLOONAN: There was little operational room. They only reacted after they said that they heard shots. So that's clearly not the best negotiation strategy to have.
The fact that we were monitoring them the way we were. We were visible. From the pirate's perspective, that's very difficult for them. It ramps up their anxiety.
They don't speak with a single voice. I'm willing to bet when the facts come out, that there was some dysfunction within the group. There was probably a fight. Who knows? But being followed by the U.S. Navy over the course of several days will probably be a contributing factor to this.
COOPER: And the Somalis have been using -- there's been sort of a lull on the hijacking of boats and the kidnapping of people. It's now ramped up and they're starting to use mother ships I'm told, kind of well-stocked ships farther out that allow them to operate in waters they couldn't operate in before.
CLOONAN: Well, you saw that this was 240 kilometers off the coast of Oman, I believe. The mother ships, as you correctly point out, not only do they have provisions on board, but all the best technology that's available in terms of communication.
But they also have hostages on board. And they will use the hostages as a shield in case the mother ship is attacked. They've gotten increasingly more sophisticated, which changed so dramatically, from my perspective. And I've had to manage a number of these cases.
COOPER: You've actually negotiated these cases?
CLOONAN: I've had to get involved in a number of them. And this is the problem that I see now, the big change that you just alluded to.
Heretofore, you could negotiate over a long period of time, and you'd likely come up with a logical conclusion. It may involve paying a ransom but life is preserved. They did not want to kill anybody. What I'm seeing now is a change now that the pirates are willing to use force.
COOPER: What is it like? What is that negotiation process like? I mean, ultimately it's about money with most of these Somali groups, right?
CLOONAN: Well, the end game clearly is for them to make a payday.
COOPER: And they're making a lot of money. CLOONAN: And why would they be in this. It's a dysfunctional government on their end and has been since 1991. Corruption is rampant. Poverty is rampant. So what do they do? This is a business for them.
COOPER: So how long does the negotiation take?
CLOONAN: That's all over the map. I mean, it can be as little as, you know, several weeks to, you know, as long as several months and beyond.
COOPER: So the idea of trying to cut this short and trailing a yacht that's been hijacked and stating we're not going to let them get to shore, and we have a couple of days to stop them, was that the best move?
CLOONAN: I don't want to prejudge --
COOPER: Right.
CLOONAN: -- at this point, because the facts are still, in my view, ambiguous. It's not that -- it's not a model that I would prefer, because I do think it ramps up the anxiety and ramps up the likelihood of something going wrong.
COOPER: It's a tragic case. Jack, appreciate you coming in. Thanks.
CLOONAN: Thanks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Up next, "Man Versus Wild" host, Bear Grylls from New Zealand on the massive quake there. He was in New Zealand when it struck.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: In Christchurch, New Zealand, these are crucial hours. Rescuers are racing to reach possible survivors in the rubble of a 6.3 magnitude earthquake. The quake struck more than 24 hours ago in the middle of the day at lunchtime. At least 75 people were killed; hundreds are now missing.
Police say scores are believed trapped under one collapsed building. Meantime, dozens of strong aftershocks have rocked the city.
President Obama said the U.S. is sending a disaster assistance response team to try to help with the recovery efforts.
Bear Grylls, the host of Discovery's "Man Versus Wild" series, he was in New Zealand, filming a new episode, when the quake hit. He joins me now.
Bear thanks so much for joining us. Did you or anyone in your team feel -- you were outside Christchurch, but did you feel the quake? BEAR GRYLLS, HOST, DISCOVERY'S "MAN VERSUS WILD" (via phone): Well, we were about 150 miles southwest of Christchurch in the mountains there, and you know, just slowly working our way through the mountains. And actually, when it hit, I was trying to cross a gorge, big river gorge on this old mining wire that spanned it, and I was kind of in the middle of it, the crew on the bank, and I was kind of focused on that. And the whole thing was shaking around anyway.
But I got to the other side and the guy said, "Man, did you not feel that. The whole ground, you know, just started moving." And we just took it as, you know, maybe it's just one of -- it's a quake that's happened. And it was only when we finished, you know, early this morning and heard the news and realized, you know, that was just the edge of the quake. The main epicenter (INAUDIBLE) hit Christchurch very strongly, but, you know, pretty -- pretty shocking what's happening at the moment.
COOPER: I know you did a program about how to survive a quake. Hundreds of people are missing, many believed trapped under collapsed buildings. We've seen in places like Haiti people surviving for many days trapped. What -- what makes the difference between life and death in that kind of situation?
GRYLLS: Well, you know, an earthquake, a lot of it -- the truth is a lot of it is luck, you know, just where you happen to be at the time. But you know, if you're inside, you've got to try and get under something. Get under a table or a desk and, you know, keep away from the windows. A lot of accidents happen from falling debris, you know, whether it's lights or things on the walls.
You know, if you're in your vehicle, you want to pull over and stop. You know, but it -- it gets crazy. I mean, you've got things like gas leaks. You've got the danger of water and electricity. You know, so you know -- but if you're trapped in the debris, you've got to cover your face. You can tap pipes steadily to let people know, let rescuers know you're in there.
You know, ultimately those who survived are often the lucky ones.
COOPER: Well, all our thoughts certainly and our prayers are with -- with them right now. Bear Grylls, I appreciate you talking with us.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
That's it for 360. Thanks for watching.
"PIERS MORGAN" starts now.
See you tomorrow night.
