Virginia Tech Shooter's Roommate Speaks Out; Suicide Car Bombing Kills Nine Americans in Iraq
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. We begin, sadly, with breaking news out of Iraq: a suicide car bombing, with heavy loss of American life. Let's go right away to CNN's Michael Ware in Baghdad. Michael, what's the latest?</s>MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, all that we know right now is exactly what you have said, is that a suicide car bomb struck what's called a patrol base somewhere in Diyala, taking the lives of nine American soldiers and wounding 20 others. However, of the 20 wounded, only five currently remain in hospital, according to the U.S. military. Now, this has been a bloody day in Diyala Province. This is a province the size of Maryland. It's just north of the capital, Baghdad, because we saw also yesterday another suicide car bomb targeting the provincial council. This is a provincial council that was essentially suspended. It was unable to function for many, many months. And, most council meetings, they don't get enough members attending to even have a legal quorum. So, this has been yet another awful day in a province that has long been plagued by wretched violence from al Qaeda, Shia death squads and all sorts of violent groups -- Anderson.</s>COOPER: Michael, you just came back from an embed in Diyala Province. The security situation, how bad is it there? What did you see?</s>WARE: Well, what's going on at the moment, Anderson, is that this, in many ways, has become the new front line against al Qaeda. Way back last year, al Qaeda started shifting its operational focus away from the western deserts of Al Anbar Province and moved into Diyala`. Diyala has been an al Qaeda stronghold almost since the beginning of al Qaeda's presence here three years ago. Indeed, if you recall, the al Qaeda in Iraq leader, Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, was actually killed in Diyala Province. We have seen U.S. forces there. The brigade that is currently there, about 5,000 troops, arrived at the end of last year. They have been just there six months so far. Now, the brigade before them, in one full year, lost 19 people. If you include these now nine further soldiers, this new brigade has lost 50 in six months. The level of violence in this province is almost double what it was one year ago. The difference, however, is that, one year ago, it was Iraqis being killed, civilians. What's happened is, we have seen a shift in the violence targeting coalition forces and Iraqi security forces. Now, the brigade commander up there, the leader of the Grey Wolf Brigade, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team from the 1st Cavalry Division, with many other units attached to it, has said that he is aggressively targeting al Qaeda. He is going into their safe havens. In Diyala Province, al Qaeda has training bases. It collects taxes. It has entire regions which are firmly under its control where it has Sharia courts. It has declared much of Diyala Province as part of the Islamic state of Iraq. And this combat brigade is attempting to wrest it back by going into the al Qaeda strongholds, battling with them in blazing, pitched fights that go for days and weeks, at enormous cost of American life, trying to take this province back.</s>COOPER: So, has anything in Diyala changed because of the increase in troops, of American troops, in Baghdad? The what was one time called a surge or an escalation, is that occurring also in Diyala or is it simply in Baghdad?</s>WARE: Well, what we saw with the introduction of what's now almost 30,000 additional combat troops to the war here in Iraq, focusing on the capital Baghdad -- as you say, it's the surge -- is that we saw a furtherance of a trend that had already been well under way in Diyala Province. Yes, when more troops dime Baghdad, more al Qaeda went to Diyala to join the others who had already moved there. But let's not forget, this has been an al Qaeda stronghold for years. It ebbs. It flows. The level of activity changes, but they have been the preeminent insurgent force in that province for quite some time now. Indeed, when the American brigade commander arrived there, he described the situation that al Qaeda considered that America owned the roads in that province, but they owned everything else. Well, he's been taking the fight to them. And this would be one of many acts of retaliation from al Qaeda.</s>COOPER: All right, Michael Ware, appreciate the latest from Baghdad. Just to reiterate, nine American service members killed in a suicide attack, a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, or a VBID, as the military calls them. We don't know exactly where it was in Diyala Province. We are going to trying to get more details. We will bring that to you as warranted. Now to Virginia Tech, the first day of classes since the shootings last week. As you might imagine, it was not an easy day. But ask the students, and many will tell you, it would have been even tougher for them to stay away. CNN's Gary Tuchman is there.</s>GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the day Virginia Tech students went back to school, a bell to symbolize the exact moment a week ago horror gripped Norris Hall, the classroom building that remains shut down, 32 white balloons in place, one for each life lost.</s>TUCHMAN: About every 15 seconds, one bell for each victim, followed by the release of one balloon. There was utter silence, a ceremony elegant in its simplicity, as thousands of Virginia Tech students honored their fellow students and faculty members killed by Seung-Hui Cho. Amid this intensely emotional tribute, classes resumed. But, while the buildings were familiar, the feelings inside them were very different.</s>CHIDO OBIDEGWU, VIRGINIA TECH STUDENT: It's not really school, I would say, not yet at least.</s>TUCHMAN: Chido Obidegwu is a sophomore majoring in finance. He was in the dormitory where the rampage began. (on camera): And what was it like being in economics this morning?</s>OBIDEGWU: It was just -- the focus wasn't on economics today. Just everyone was just trying to get through this thing together. We just all talked. And some people had certain things to say. They just kind of opened the floor for anybody who wanted to talk.</s>TUCHMAN: In many ways, the school day did appear normal. The campus was crowded with Hokies lugging their books to class.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a very nice, quiet place to study.</s>TUCHMAN: Prospective students and their parents went out on tours of the scenic campus on this beautiful sunny day. But, for many current students, the classrooms today were rooms for therapy and companionship.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The professors were definitely just going through the same thing we are. So, we aren't quite in the mood to learn yet, and they're not quite in the mood to teach yet.</s>TUCHMAN: David Gerhardt (ph) is a junior. His morning U.S. government class had three seats left open. They were seats that Reema Samaha, Matthew La Porte, and Nicole White used to sit in, three of the students who were killed.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was sad just knowing that, last week at this time, Monday 8:00 a.m., you know, those seats were filled with students learning, having, you know, normal lives, continuing about what they were doing, and, this week, knowing that those seats are empty because of what happened.</s>TUCHMAN: When the morning memorial ended, 1,000 balloons in Virginia Tech colors were sent to the sky in a symbol of Hokie unity. As you squinted in the sunny horizon, they looked like orange and maroon tears.</s>COOPER: Gary, the school gave the option of a lot of kids -- a lot of the students there, they didn't have to go to class. They could just take the grades that they had already earned. Did most of the students show up?</s>TUCHMAN: Classes were very full today, Anderson. But you're right. The university anticipated that some people wouldn't come back this week. The school year, after all, is ending in just a few weeks. Graduation is May 11. And some seats were empty. But the university is being flexible. They are telling students, as you just said, that they can take the final grade they have right now, and not take final exams, or they can withdrawal from the class with no penalty whatsoever. It's all because of a most unusual and very sad end of the school year here.</s>COOPER: Amazing, that they were giving tours to prospective students on campus. It must have been a difficult tour, indeed. Gary, thanks very much. As the campus began adjusting today a new kind of normal, fresh details kept coming about the crime and the killer. And, as they did, more lives, young lives, were remembered at funerals across the country.</s>COOPER (voice-over): Tomorrow would have been Austin Cloyd's 19th birthday. This weekend was her funeral. Jarrett Lee Lane was also buried this weekend. So was Jarrett Lane, Waleed Mohammed, Partahi Lumbantoruan, G.V. Loganathan, and Minal Panchal. And, today, more funeral, more tears for Ryan Clark, the resident assistant, Reema Samaha, who loved to dance, Matthew La Porte and Matthew Gwaltney. As the grieving continues, so does the investigation. Here's what we have learned from the autopsies. The 32 victims suffered more than 100 gunshot wounds, many of them defensive wounds, suggesting those who died tried to shield themselves. As for the gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, he killed himself with a gunshot to the temple. Seven days later, the most painful question remains, why? What made Cho, a virtual ghost on the Virginia Tech campus, go on the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history? Blood samples from Cho's body are being tested for drugs. But it will be weeks before the results are in. Meantime, investigators are still searching the cell phone and e- mail records of Cho and his first victim, Emily Hilscher, looking for any link between them. Investigators are looking into Cho's online purchases; eBay say his bought empty ammunition magazines through its Web site, magazines that match the type of gun used in the massacre. State police earlier said he used the Internet to buy one of the guns used in the attack. There were questions in the Senate today as well at a Homeland Security hearing.</s>W. ROGER WEBB, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA: The spotlight is shining squarely today on college presidents and senior administrators. And that question is before us: How safe are our campuses?</s>COOPER: In the case of Virginia Tech, at least, last Monday, the answer was not safe enough.</s>COOPER: Well, still plenty of students did come back today, as Gary Tuchman just said, including Andy Koch, who shared a suite with Cho. He's what he said to CNN's Gary Tuchman in an exclusive interview last week about an apparent stalking incident, with Cho pursuing one of Andy's female friends.</s>ANDY KOCH, FORMER SUITE MATE OF SEUNG-HUI CHO: I I.M.ed her and told her, this guy, you know, he is messing around with you. Here's his name. And you should kind of ignore him and just stay away from him. Then, the other time, the cops responded again. And Seung became upset about that. And he had told me that he might as well kill himself. And, so, I told the cops that. And they took him away to the counseling center for a night or two.</s>COOPER: Well, that was Andy Koch last week. He sat down with Gary again today.</s>TUCHMAN: You and your roommate John did so much. You alerted the authorities here at Virginia Tech to the fact that he wanted to kill himself. He sent you the instant message saying that. You told them. They sent him away for counseling. But he came back. Do you look back now and say you wish you were more strident with them: You better not bring him back to us?</s>KOCH: We -- I wish, maybe, like we had pushed maybe to get him moved out. But I don't think it would have changed. He was obviously angry, and something wasn't right. I don't know if pushing him would have -- it would have happened somewhere else, or -- I don't know. You...</s>KOCH: ... play that game all day.</s>TUCHMAN: Right. The fact is, they took him away for a couple days. He came back to your room. Were you surprised that he was back? Did you think about it?</s>KOCH: You wouldn't have missed him if he was gone, because it was -- he wasn't really there to begin with. He didn't talk. So...</s>TUCHMAN: Did his attitude change at all after he underwent this counseling and was brought back -- brought back to school?</s>KOCH: He was calmer. And there was no more of the extreme -- there was no more of the extreme stories and the incidents, as far as we know.</s>TUCHMAN: So, did you think perhaps that whatever counseling had worked a little bit?</s>KOCH: Yes. Or I thought maybe he was more careful what he was doing, so that we wouldn't see it, maybe.</s>TUCHMAN: One of the things you were telling us last week is that he wrote on the walls. And you were concerned about it, because you could get charged when you write on the walls. What did he write on those walls?</s>KOCH: It was lyrics from a Nirvana song, "Smells Like Teen Spirit." And I remember it's: "Load your gun. Bring your friends." And there's another line, "It's fun to pretend."</s>TUCHMAN: So, when he wrote about loading your gun on the wall, did that concern you at all?</s>KOCH: No. It -- it -- not at the time, it didn't concern me. I was just, you know, more mad that we would have to pay for the walls, you know? I didn't think much of it.</s>TUCHMAN: But you were telling us you never saw him with guns or talking about guns. But now that we look back at it, this is the only mention that you ever know where he mentioned guns.</s>KOCH: That's the only time I have ever seen him, yes, interested in guns, or even say it, I guess, a couple of times.</s>TUCHMAN: The university says he stalked two girls, but you know of three girls he stalked, right?</s>KOCH: Right.</s>TUCHMAN: And one of the issues is, none of these girls pressed charges. Is that your understanding of it, too?</s>KOCH: Right. Mm-hmm.</s>TUCHMAN: I guess, now that you're looking back at it, too, you -- we all wish they did, right?</s>KOCH: Right. I wish somebody had done...</s>TUCHMAN: Did you know why they didn't? Did you ever ask them why they didn't?</s>KOCH: As far as, like, I can tell, from my own thoughts, they probably just didn't want to cause trouble. It was annoying. It wasn't -- they probably weren't scared. They were just extremely annoyed.</s>TUCHMAN: The thing is, if you have, in your room at this university, drugs, what would happen to you?</s>KOCH: It's zero tolerance. You're out.</s>TUCHMAN: You're out of -- you're out of the dorm?</s>KOCH: Yes, out of school.</s>TUCHMAN: But this guy stalked girls, was sent away because he sent an I.M. he wants to kill himself, never talked, teachers that didn't want him in his -- class, and he was left in your dorm the entire year. Does that anger you, when you look back at it, that you don't think there's a contradiction there or some hypocrisy?</s>KOCH: It doesn't anger me. It's scary. And it's -- there was never a system in place, that all the information from us, from his teachers and from, I guess, the police could be put all in one place. So, if it had been -- if there had been a system -- I don't think there's a system anywhere, but, if such a system existed, something may have been able to be done.</s>TUCHMAN: Can you still believe that this guy who you lived with for a year is the same guy who killed 32 people?</s>KOCH: No, not even close to believing it yet.</s>COOPER: Gary, what did Andy say about the video that Cho sent to NBC?</s>TUCHMAN: Andy was shocked and repulsed by it. I mean, so are we, the viewers who didn't know this guy, Cho. But Andy knew him, and knew he was strange and weird and bizarre. But Andy and his roommate John, who we talked to last week, never thought he was dangerous to other people. So, when they saw this, and they saw him holding the guns and saw him holding the hammer, and speaking the way he spoke, they just couldn't believe it. I mean, they knew he was a problematic person, but certainly not that problematic. And one other thing, Anderson. As Andy told us, he never heard this guy, Cho, in the entire year he lived there say more than eight or nine sentences in an entire school year. And, during this manifesto that he sent to NBC, I mean, he spoke and spoke and spoke. He didn't know he could talk that much.</s>COOPER: Fascinating. Gary, thanks. We spoke with John, another former roommate of Cho's, last week. Today, he sent us this e-mail, saying -- quote -- "I would like to make a statement thanking all of my family and friends for their unending support during this difficult time. It's hard to concentrate on classes right now. But every new day is a step in the right diction. While this past week has been difficult, with all of the sadness on campus, I feel right in moving forward." Many of Seung-Hui Cho's victims were just started their adult lives. Others had accomplished great things in their careers. Here's the raw data. The four youngest victims were 18 years old, the oldest, 76. Eighteen of those killed were men. Fourteen were women. Five were faculty, the rest, all of them, students. They all, of course, left behind families and friends who love them. One other note on how you can help: The university has set up what it's calling the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund. Donations will go to help victims and their families pay for grief counseling, memorials, and other related expenses. We have -- we have put a hot link to it on our blog, CNN.com/360blog. You can just page down, click on the link. Again, that's CNN.com/360blog. Still to come on the program tonight: It sound likes a Hitchcock nightmare -- an American in a strange country who says he was railroad for a crime he wasn't even around to commit.</s>COOPER (voice-over): Was it mob justice? An American in Nicaragua convicted of killing the local beauty, with no physical evidence and 10 people who said he was somewhere else. Justice or injustice? You be the judge. Crow and Karl Rove? Why did the president's brain just about run screaming from Sheryl Crow? He says/she says, and a touch from a rock star that freaked out the president's right-hand man -- when 360 continues.