I heard the news about Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt, his cameraman, after landing in San Diego Sunday morning. The report on my blackberry stopped me cold. It's one of those things all of us who've been to Iraq know can happen, but when it does, it's still like a punch to the stomach. My thoughts and prayers are with Bob and Doug and their families.
I'm in San Diego because we've been given remarkable access to the tunnel discovered last week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. It's no surprise drug cartels will do just about anything to bring narcotics into the United States, but the sight of this tunnel up close is remarkable.
Two years ago, ICE agents got some information that there was a massive tunnel either being built or already completed under the U.S.-Mexican border. When they finally discovered it last week, even they were amazed at its size. It is the longest tunnel they've ever found. It runs about 2,400 feet, the size of eight football fields.
What's so surreal is that the tunnel's exit on the U.S. side is in a tiny office inside an enormous industrial warehouse. If you saw it in some movie about drug dealers, you'd never believe it because it seems so implausible. They found more than two tons of marijuana inside the tunnel, but it is likely that cocaine and other drugs were brought through as well.
The tunnel is leaking. There are several inches of water on the ground, and they've brought in pumps to try to dry it out. They've already processed the crime scene, and tonight on the show we'll give you an exclusive tour.
We also drove down to Tijuana last night for an update on a story CNN's Thelma Gutierrez filed on sex trafficking of children. In 2003, the United States passed the PROTECT Act, which makes it illegal for an American to travel overseas with the intent to have sex with a minor. The hope was that it would put a dent in the sexual exploitation of children. While it has resulted in a number of arrests, there are still plenty of young girls working the streets, as we saw last night in Tijuana.