Texas Authorities Defend Handling of Polygamist Ranch Raid; Pope Benedict XVI Visits the United States; Barack Obama - the Making of a Presidential Candidate; Herschel Walker's Secret Battle with Multiple Personality Disorder

ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES CNN

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, our first look at dramatic pictures of police raiding that polygamist compound in western Texas. They were taken inside the hideout as the operation went down, taken by the polygamists themselves -- new developments tonight, authorities defending their handling of this raid. Hundreds of kids are now in state hands. It is a legal mess, to say the least, and the mothers are insisting their kids are being traumatized. We will have that tonight. And the latest on the Pope Benedict's -- on Pope Benedict's historic visit, no separation of church and state on this trip. Could the trip here actually sway the upcoming election? We will take a look at that tonight. And up close with Barack Obama, the making of a presidential candidate -- how he got to where he is today. Also tonight, a football star's hidden battle with multiple personality disorder. Herschel Walker says he doesn't remember winning the Heisman Trophy. That is how ill he says he was. Now he's telling his story. We begin with the latest from Eldorado, Texas, the first images we have seen of the police raid at a polygamist compound with ties to Warren Jeffs. Now take a look at the pictures. You can see police wearing body armor, carrying automatic weapons. There's another shot of an officer with an automatic weapon there hiding behind some boulders. The officers had massive backup. An armored personnel carrier, there is that rolling in. And another shot of the backup -- the photographs all taken by members of the sect as the raid unfolded, released to the Associated Press today. More than 400 kids, as you know, were removed from the compound during that raid. And they remain in state custody tonight. And there's growing outrage within the sect. Some of their mothers now say they were lied to and misled by police. CNN's David Mattingly is just outside the compound. He joins me now. David, what's the latest? DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, that was a story from the mothers we heard many times behind these gates here last night. We are going to take you inside there now to show to you exactly the way that I saw it. The encounter went like this. (BEGIN VIDEO TAPE) MATTINGLY: All right, here we go. This is an extraordinary moment. For the first time in four years since this facility has been out here, they are allowing us inside the gate. We just passed through and now we're going onto one of the main roads inside the gate. We immediately drove through what seemed to be a construction zone. There was heavy equipment parked everywhere. Then we saw several large wooden buildings, living quarters, we were told. There's a sense I get of just looking here for this first few moments, this place seems to be huge. One thing I am noticing, that the direction we're going seems to be away from the temple, and that we're going into what looks like maybe one of the residential areas. We're pulling over here. This must be our location. We will see what happens. On a balcony, women stood watching, clearly upset. Below, mothers were eager to send one message, that they are the victims. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They told us before we moved that they would take the children and the mothers together and put them in one compound together, all of us, all of the people together. That was a lie. MATTINGLY: No questions were off-limits, but some answers were difficult to find. Is there any time where a woman 16 years or younger is married out here? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just want our children back. We're not here to talk about ourselves. We just want the children back. MATTINGLY: But that's why the children are not here, and that's why I'm asking these questions. So, I hope you don't mind. More than 50 of the mothers had been returned to the compound only an hour before by bus. Six mothers chose not to return. The rest are still staying with the youngest children. Investigators encountered problems trying to get simple information, like names and ages. I had the same problem. Questions about age were frequently met with hesitation. How old were you when you were married? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-one. MATTINGLY: And you? How old are you now? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm 32. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thirty-one. MATTINGLY: Almost all the women declined to give their last name. In all the conversations, there was only one confirmation that teens are married here. Are there any young women ages 16 and under who marry out here? And how often does that happen? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not real common. MATTINGLY: How young would you say the youngest girl you have seen married out here? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably 16. MATTINGLY: All of the women said the charges of abuse were not true, that no one is forced to marry, and the woman named Sarah, who first alerted authorities, does not live here. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone that has once lived here and been mad and turned against, a traitor. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have set this whole thing up to bring persecution against us. It's the worst insurrection that's happened in the United States. MATTINGLY: I left with still more questions. Some of them apparently won't be answered until 416 custody cases go to court. (END VIDEO TAPE) COOPER: So, David, authorities spoke out today, defending their actions. What did they say? MATTINGLY: They are saying they did absolutely the right thing when they took all of the children off of this compound, all 416 of them. And they're also saying they did the right thing by sending most of the mothers back home, by separating them from their children after being with them for more than 11 days. State officials believe now they will be able to get better information out of these children, that the lawyers will be able to represent them better if the parents aren't there influencing what they have to say and how they might be thinking. We're looking at a very big court case coming up, the biggest child custody case ever in the history of the state of Texas -- 416 kids, each of them represented by his or her own lawyer. The parents are going to be there with their own lawyers. It's going to be a huge undertaking, a big day coming up on Thursday. COOPER: You know, it's interesting, David. We're getting a lot of e-mails from viewers, saying that these women appear deceptive. I mean, when you ask them point-blank questions about, how old are your kids who got married and stuff, they -- they seem to hesitate. They clearly don't want to talk about it. They -- they stick to a script, it seems like. They all say the same thing. Clearly, they want the message out. They want to use the media, because this is the first time -- yesterday was the first time we have been allowed into this compound. How deceptive do you think they're being? MATTINGLY: Well, former FLDS members tell us that this is part of the culture when dealing with outsiders, people like us out here, that they will evade questions, that they do not want to give any more personal information that they have to. We saw evidence of that happening there that night. The only thing that I could say was truly genuine that I experienced were the tears that the mothers were shedding when they were getting upset about being taken away from their children. That, you can't argue with. The rest of it, though, seems to be falling in line with what has been explained to us as part of this culture of deception that former FLDS members have explained to us in the past. COOPER: And do they have all the attorneys that they need to represent these kids? I mean, you have 416 kids. This is the biggest family court case in American history. MATTINGLY: The recruiting has been going on since late last week. Numerous people have been saying that they have got hundreds of attorneys lined up for these kids; a lot of these attorneys, probably all of these attorneys, expecting to do this for nothing. And it's going to be interesting to see how they actually pull this off. It's been joked that they would have to have this in the Coliseum here, the largest building in town. We're waiting to find out what the logistics are actually going to be for that day, for that court date, because, clearly, the courthouses here aren't big enough to handle anything like that. COOPER: Yes, it's going to be a mess. David, appreciate the reporting. Thanks. The raid in Eldorado sent shockwaves through the polygamist community, of course, which numbers in the tens of thousands in North America. It's not just this one sect. Not all polygamists belong to Warren Jeffs' FLDS sect, but every polygamist community now lives in fear, they say, that what happened in Texas could also happen to them. That fear is actually uniting even fierce rivals. With that story, here's CNN's Dan Simon. (BEGIN VIDEO TAPE) DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Winston Blackmore won't say how many children he's got, but it's widely believed to be more than 100. He has got two dozen or so wives. WINSTON BLACKMORE, POLYGAMIST LEADER: I'm not a very good dad. Like, I just do the best I can. SIMON: Blackmore is the former bishop of the FLDS Church in Bountiful, British Columbia, a polygamist community that is home to 1,000 people. Polygamists began settling here in the 1940s. Today, almost all know people or have relatives affected by the raid in Texas. BLACKMORE: If somebody called for distress in any other community that size, that they wouldn't -- the authorities wouldn't go in and mop up on every last person that was there and go and jackhammer holes in their temple. SIMON: Blackmore wouldn't normally rally to their defense after a bitter falling-out with the FLDS Church. Blackmore says he criticized leader Warren Jeffs for taking such tight control. Jeffs stripped him of power and, in 2002, excommunicated him. Ever since, the Bountiful community has been deeply divided. Half remain loyal to Blackmore, the other to Jeffs, even though he's now in prison. But the raid down south has brought both sides together, at least on this issue. VILETE QUINTON, POLYGAMIST WIFE: I feel really bad for the children. I think they're terrified. And I think that whatever they're being supposedly saved from is not nearly as bad as what they're being put through now. BLACKMORE: I don't do this every weekend. I spend my Sundays sleeping, generally. SIMON: Blackmore took us on horseback to proudly show us his ranch and rodeo grounds. Much of his family lives in this house, which looks more like a motel. We asked whether he plans to have more children. Are you still having more? BLACKMORE: Well, I leave that up to the good old girls. SIMON: He owns a farming and cattle operation and is reported to be worth millions of dollars. And he knows as much as anyone in the world about polygamy and the FLDS faith. We asked Blackmore about those beds found in the Texas church. BLACKMORE: I can imagine if there was a bed in that place, it would be probably housing for whoever was a caretaker of the temple. SIMON: So, you don't think that's accurate, that it was actually used for consummating marriages? BLACKMORE: I certainly do not. SIMON: Polygamy is also illegal in Canada, but, just as in the U.S., police rarely intervene unless there's allegations of abuse. Blackmore says Warren Jeffs' father, Rulon, made it clear years ago that underage girls should not be married. BLACKMORE: We are going to honor the age difference laws. We are going to be -- you know, make a great effort to comply. SIMON: But Blackmore did not necessarily adhere to that. He's admitted to marrying at least two underage girls. Authorities investigated, but no charges were filed. Why do you feel you weren't prosecuted? BLACKMORE: I don't have any underage -- any young wives now. I'm old, and my ladies are old. SIMON: Old? Some of the women who were under 16 should now just be in their 20s. Investigators looked at other similar cases in the community, but hit a brick wall, because no witnesses would testify. Blackmore is dismissive of the government interference. BLACKMORE: Since when was polygamy more distasteful than adultery? SIMON: He just wants his community to be left alone and be free to practice their faith. Dan Simon, CNN, Bountiful, British Columbia. (END VIDEO TAPE) COOPER: Well, as much as they want to live in the shadows, polygamist communities in Canada and here in America stand out. Erica Hill joins us with the "Raw Data" -- Erica. ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And to put it in perspective, Anderson, we thought we would take a look at one of the most well-known polygamist communities here in the United States, that of Colorado City, Arizona, which is, of course, home base for the FLDS. Take a look at the median age there. In Colorado City, it is just 14. Compare that with 34 for the state of Arizona. And then we want to take a look at family size, because we hear so much about the number of wives and children -- the average family size in Colorado City, seven to eight people in one family. For the state of Arizona, well, it's about three. And then, if you take a look at the economic factors here, if we want to look at the percent of the community that is below the poverty line, in Colorado City, nearly 30 percent, vs. 10 percent, Anderson, for the state of Arizona, so definitely some -- some differing numbers there. COOPER: And that's become an issue, some of the families using the welfare system, and been criticized for that, as part of their plan. As always, Erica and I are blogging tonight. You can join the conversation. Go to cnn.com/360 -- a lot of folks already talking about this whole polygamist sect. Webmaster note - the rest of this program is not included as it does not pertain to the subject of this web site.

CNN.com Originally broadcast April 15, 2008

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