syrians, and hearing first-hand accounts from the people being shot at. we've shown you photos, many photos of children slaughtered in the streets by the assad regime, or taken, tortured, and killed, their bodies mutilated almost beyond recognition. i know it's all difficult to look at, but it is what is happening in syria. it is the truth. all the while, in spite of all these videos and all that evidence, members of the regime, all the way up to the top to bashir al assad have been telling us what is brutally plain to see isn't happening at all or isn't what it seems. the denial is systematic, and it is staggering. but for tonight for one member of the assad regime, it is over. >> i the attorney general of hack mad announce my resignation from my position in the state that is shadowed by assad and his gangs. >> adnan al bakour, his whereabouts now unknown. his videotaped resignation surfacing on youtube. he said he could no longer stomach the regime's brutal treatment of protesters in hama and refused to lie what he himself has seen. >> i summarize the causes of my resignation by the following. one, the killing of the prisoner in the central prison of hama on sunday, july 31st, 2011. their number is 72 prisoners of the peaceful demonstrators and political activists. they have been buried in mass graves near the village of al haladea beside the military security branch in hama. >> this by the way is video from hama on the 31st. as you can see, the killing is going on outside the prison walls as well. [ gunshots ] how many times have you seen this? protesters shot dead or wounded in the streets, and those who try to rescue them get shot as well. this is a video of mass graves near hama. this is apparently ewhat general bakkour is talking about. it's not the only mass grave we seen. a family is buried in this one we're told and many more across syria. the former attorney general details the killing and mass burial of 72 prisoners and 420 others in hama. in his resignation tape, he explicitly names 14 officials, military commanders and service members for their role in the slaughter of unarmed civilians. he also makes it perfectly clear that he was told to lie about what he saw. >> translator: i was asked to present a report declaring that these victims were killed by the hand of armed gangs. >> armed gangs. now armed gangs. if that term sounds familiar to you, it's because armed gangs are part of the official cover story which comes from the very top. just about every one of these officials, these slick-suited officials from the dictator, syria's dictator bashir als a sard to the ambassador to the u.n. who we spoke with on this program, all of them speak about the uprising as being from armed gangs. the uprising to students at damascus university. damascus university, he blamed it on outsiders, agitators, armed gangs of roving criminals. he was very, very specific, the dictator was. >> translator: what is their number? personally, i was surprised by this number. i thought they were a couple of thousands in the past. the number in the beginning of this crisis was 64,400. mash that number of number of people in different legal cases whose sentencing ranges from a couple of months to execution, and they have escaped justice. >> he claims 64,400 armed members of armed gangs, terrorists, thugs, eluding capture in a talayan police state. faced with that defiance, the regime of course is fighting back, reporting he had been kidnapped, forced at gunpoint to make his statement. then another tape surfaced. >> translator: i am judge adnan bakkuor, the former attorney general. i resigned in protest of the brutal practices of the regime against the peaceful protest protesters. and what the syrian tv has aired that i have been kidnapped by armed groups is untrue. i am now protected by the oppositions, and i'm in good health. today is wednesday, august 31st. the secret security tried to kidnap me today, but they failed to do so. and i will make live statements as soon as i leave syria soon. >> so tonight the assad regime can no longer lie with quite the same impunity, confident that everyone is on the same page. as of tonight, everyone is not on the same page there is now a crack in the wall of lies. and there is new evidence tonight of their regime's brutality. amnesty international reporting what it calls a significant escalation in the number of people who died in the hands of authorities. judging by some of the video we've seen including protesters beaten and stuffed in car trunks, you can see why. in a typical year, five syrians die in custody. currently that is 88. 88 dead, and that's not for the entire year either. it's 88 dead between april and mid-august. that's the people they know about. a researcher for amnesty saying the accounts of torture we have receive ready horrific. we believe the syrian government to systematically persecuting its own people on a vast scale. joining me the bureau chief anthony shedid. what do you make of this apparent defection? >> i like the way you put it. i think it sums it up there. is a crack in the wall of lies. here is a man who is a man of the syrian state. i listen to his tape. i listen to him speaking in arabic, clear process. he named names. he gave facts. he gave numbers. and we've been looking for defections. the opposition in syria has been waiting for defections. we now have one from within the inner circle of the regime. it is not easy. it's not minor league being the attorney general for hama. hama has always been, if you will, a contested city and a different city for the regime. to have a man who was sent to hama break with the regime is no small thing. >> anthony, you snuck into syria and reported from there earlier. what is the situation there? how do you think people there are reacting to this tape, to this news? >> you know, i think it's still unclear why he defected, how he defected and who helped him defect. when you hear from his statements that he is speaking in some ways as a hama resident. you have to remember this is a city that bears the trauma of what happened in 1982, the crackdown in 1982 in which at least 10,000 died, and perhaps many more. as you listen to him speak, he is speaking as a resident there, as someone who remembers the crimes that were committed back in 1982, who understood what has happened since that uprising began. i think they're going to welcome him and how remarkably. in some ways both of you will mention, there is a crack in the regime. we're hearing things we haven't heard before, this idea of mass graves, of 10,000 arrests. these are numbers that even go beyond the opposition merited on has transpired in the city over the past couple of months. >> anthony, i had the syrian ambassador to the united nations on this program a couple of weeks ago. and he insists that they invite journalists into syria, that they're free to travel around, they can go anywhere they want, talk to whomever you want without any interference. that that your experience there? >> that's ridiculous. these are very, very scarce to go into syria. once they're given, once they're granted, you're under very specific restrictions on what you can do and what you can do. that's what kind of motivated us to try to get in there a different way. simply we wanted to find out what was going on in not only hama. >> why does a regime, fouad, like this, lie about things which are clearly demonstrably -- things that you can clearly demonstrate as being untrue. the lie about journalism. i was there years ago and had a minder following my every move, and that was during a time there wasn't an uprising. >> the question you ask about all regimes manufacture truth. do the man of the regime, really believe? >> right. the ambassador is in a slick suit, clearly an intelligent guy. does he actually believe the lies that are coming out of his mouth? >> thing comes a time when the dividing line between invention, and if you will, inventing things and really believing them really vanishes. these people, the men of the regime are stuck in this regime. they can't abandon it. they don't know how to get out of it. and i think we have to understand something now about syria today. the month of ramadan was a very, very difficult month for the people facing the regime. and the month ended and we now still are in this cul-de-sac in syria. and it still remains a resistible force the people of syria and the movable object, the regime. and they haven't figured out how to push it over the edge. >> you write about the time you spent in syria recently. what do you come away with? and what should people watching tonight know what is going on right now? >> well, i think i have to say, i actually think there are a lot of people who still believe what the government is saying. i think there are two narratives throughout. >> do you believe government officials believe it, or syrian people? >> thing is a lot of fear in syria still. i think among minorities, among sectors of the country there is fear that what is happening right now is an islamist opposition that is going to imperil their status in the country. i don't want to be dismissive of the government still having some support there. that is clear. what struck me and what i tried to write about in the times magazine is the opposition, the uprising, the people who are fighting the government are simply not going to give up. there is no way. they simply passed the point of no return. this is going to last i think until the fall of the government. how long that takes, what shape it takes, how it is brought about is still obviously very important questions. it's clear to me this uprising is not going to be repressed. >> fouad and anthony, stay right there. today syrian television aired what it called a message from moammar gadhafi. on it the voice declares that libya's capital has been moved from tripoli to sirte. it called on libyans to rise up against the west. >> translator: the imperialists will not be able to fight through a long war. and they will retreat day by day. and their resistance will diminish day by day. begin for a guerrilla warfare and fighting inside city warfare. and be like a bee sting and fly. and fight across libya, the whole area. >> it would be comic if it weren't so tragic. he is practically telling libyans to float like a butterfly and sting is like a beach. somewhere mohamed ali is throwing up. what do you think that gadhafi is still able to make the speeches, still able to get word out? >> you know, anderson, in preparing for this segment with you, i listened both to adnan bakkour and of course also to moammar gadhafi. i was shocked by gadhafi. it was another reminder of the cruelty of the man, of the illiteracy of the man. i had never focused on how ignorant he is and how uneducate head was. it is really like a werewolf baying at the moon and calling on people to join him in a revolution against nato and against colonialism there is something about gadhafi, and it's really this incredible moment of unbelievable incoherence. you know he is going to make these tapes and thanks to the syrians, he is going to send them. no one will be believe him. no one will listen to him. >> another extension on the deadline to surrender. gadhafi is promising a fierce fight. is that all just talk? does he have enough force in his few remaining strongholds to actually make good on that promise? >> i don't think he himself has enough strength to do anything. i think he wants to impose himself with some kind of insurgent leader. that's not going to happen. the unresolved questions in the country is what share is everyone going to get if the pie is divvied up in libya going forward. and i think that's the question to ask about sirte. can sirte negotiate its participation in the new order? and what shape will that participation take? i think those are questions that aren't resolved yet. the traditional council right now is at at a delicate point. not only with the new emerging across the country, it has to do with the more mundane task of bringing water back to tripoli, electricity, the medical supplies, the hospitals. it's got a very significant, a very formidable challenge ahead of it. >> fouad ajami and anthony shadi di. follow me on facebo facebofaceboo facebook @andersoncooper. this is shocking. big stuff. a new study on possible dust at ground zero ten years and cases of cancer in firefighters. it could make a big case for firefighters who are not currently cover for cancer based on older research. later, ungodly discipline. we're looking into a network of christian reform schools for so-called troubled teens. they're facing accusations now tonight of abuse for allegedly taking discipline way too far. aisha. there are new developments in irene's aftermath and amazing stories emerging tonight. we'll take you inside the rescue and recovery effort in one flooded community. and speak with a volunteer fire who has been helping out. that and much more when "360" continues. [ doorbell rings ] hello there. i'm here to pick up helen. ah. mom? he's here. nice wheels. oh, thanks. keeps me young. hello there, handsome. your dinner's in the microwave, dear. ♪ where do you want to go? just drive. [ engine revs, tires screech ] mom? ♪ whether it can be done safely and responsibly. at exxonmobil we know the answer is yes. when we design any well, the groundwater's protected by multiple layers of steel and cement. most wells are over a mile and a half deep so there's a tremendous amount of protective rock between the fracking operation and the groundwater. natural gas is critical to our future. at exxonmobil we recognize the challenges and how important it is to do this right. ♪ got so many scratches and scars ♪ ♪ maybe time can mend us together again ♪ ♪ it's not what we've done but how far we've come ♪ ♪ i know that we will recover [ male announcer ] here when you need us most. that's not how successful investing is done. at e-trade it's harnessing some of the most powerful yet easy to use trading tools on the planet to help diversify, identify opportunities, take action. it's using professional grade research and your brain to seek maximum returns to reach your goals. it's investing with intelligence and cold hard conviction. you made the money. you should have everything you need to invest it. e-trade. investing unleashed. breaking news tonight that might mean the world to the men and world who rushed the trade center, kept working in a toxic cloud of dust and rubble. a lot of the early responders, mainly firefighters who started falling ill, some with cancer. right now they're not eligible for benefits under recent federal law because they do not recognize a link between cancer and the 9/11 dust. earlier tonight the medical journal the lancet relosed a study a few hours ago that firefighters are at greater risk of cancer. the firefighters who responded to 9/11, the lead author of the study is the fire department's lead medical officer. dr. sanjay gupta joins us with the details. suggests that the dust produced by the collapse of the twin towers is making first responders sick? >> that is right. i think what is difference here is the idea that would cause some sort of illness, primarily respiratory problems, i think that's been pretty well established. what has been at odds and a bit controversial, frankly, for some time is the possibility relationship between the dust and cancer. there have been some studies that have shown no links, some small studies that have shown a very small link. this one is a much more significant study. it's a ten-year study now, anderson, looking over the last ten years. they followed the firefighters all along this time. and what they basically concluded was there was an association, a 19% increased risk of developing cancer for fireworkers who were first responders who worked on the pile at 9/11. and if they included all cancers, including cancers that developed soon after 9/11, the association was even higher. a 32% increased risk. the lead author, as you just mentioned called this pretty significant to me. i interviewed him about this specifically. listen to what he had to say. >> as we start seeing cancers, we want to answer their question, is cancer increased? and i will have to tell you that my initial bias was for the first 10 or 15 years we would not see an increase. that's another reason why our findings are so strong. because i actually thought we would find the opposite. >> so you're surprised? >> very much. so whether we can say that cancer is increased in other responders or area residents, we have no idea. this is a study about firefighters. their exposure is so unique. >> all right. >> 85% of the exposed were present in the first 48 hours of the collapse when the exposure was massive. that is a very unique exposure. >> for firefighters watching, they have the lingering question why did i get this cancer and was it related to the dust. and you would say what? >> for most instances it was world trade center-related. >> pretty remarkable to hear that, anderson. again, what he is saying is something that a lot of people haven't been able to definitively say. two quick caveats. as he said, this study was a fireworkers specifically. he is not making generalizations about other people in lower manhattan or other responders. even though it is ten years since 9/11, this would still be considered an early study as far as cancer goes. as we've talked about before, anderson, you and i, it can take 15, 20, even 30 years sometimes for cancers to develop. >> and what is frustrating obviously for a lot of the first responders, a lot of the firefighters is they were just told by the federal government in this new health bill there is not a link because there is no proof of a link, and therefore they won't get covered. i know you have been studying the content of the dust from 9/11 for some time now. is it toxic? how does it actually hurt people who inhaled it? >> yeah, it's interesting. first of all, it's a wholly unique situation. the amalgamation of the chemicals that were blown together, benzene, asbestos, all these things, was a situation that most toxicologists have never seen before. and a lot of the chemicals sort of bound to the dust. so the mist of dust you saw over the lower manhattan area wasn't just a dust, it was this dust contaminated with all these various chemicals. what we know is when you breathe in dust like this, it can cause immediate health problems. people refer to it as the world trade center cough. but then ultimately as it got further, deeper into the bronchials, it was almost like sandpaper causing an inflammation that now dr. prezant and others believe may have been the genesis of the cancers. respiratory problems, yes. that made sense to everybody. the cancers they're starting to develop some ideas as to the mechanism, looking at that dust. >> and these are folks who rushed down there and worked there for weeks and weeks and months and months. regardless of their own concerns at the time about not having the proper equipment or anything. they were there every single day and around the clock. based on the results of the new study, will these people be able to get coverage? >> you know, anderson, i can tell you, i think this is going to be one of the more controversial things with regard to health, and certainly with with regard to health and the pile that you're looking at there. it's already been a big source of controversy. what i will say is we reached out to niash, the national institute of occupational safety. they say they're going to take this into account. they haven't changed their recommendations since july, but at their next review meeting which is next year, the study is going to be one of the studies they look at. >> next year i think for a lot of firefigh