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CNN Live Sunday

American Hostage Escapes Captors; Interview With Dorothy Baker- Hines; Alternative SUV's Get A Test Drive

Aired May 02, 2004 - 18:30 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: American contractor Thomas Hamill is safe, in good health and has quite a story to tell. He spent three weeks as a hostage in Iraq before making it to freedom. CNN's Ben Wedeman has more on his ordeal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These were the last pictures of American contractor Thomas Hamill. In a video released by his kidnappers, a voice off camera threatens to kill Hamill if U.S. forces didn't lift their siege of Fallujah within 12 hours. Twenty-two days later, Hamill reappeared near the town of Belek (ph) south of Tikrit.

BRIG, GEN. MARK KIMMIT: He came out of a building, identified himself to American soldiers. It looked like it was an escape. This is a preliminary reports that we have would indicate that he escaped from the building when he saw the American forces, identified himself and was subsequently recovered.

WEDEMAN: The day of his abduction, his kidnappers showed him off to an Australian television crew. Hamill, a 43-year-old contract worker from Macon, Mississippi, was nabbed following an attack on a fuel convoy outside Baghdad on April 9th. At least four contract workers with the Halliburton subsidiary and one U.S. soldier were killed in the attack. Ben Wedeman, cnn, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well, residents of Hamill's hometown are celebrating his freedom with yellow balloons and a giant American flag throughout the city. The mayor of Macon, Mississippi, is even promising a never ending parade. Dorothy Baker-Hines joins us now. Besides being the major of Macon, she's also a family friend of Hamill. Good to see you, Ms. Mayor.

DOROTHY BAKER-HINES, MAYOR OF MACON, MISSISSIPPI: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: Well, this was not just one family's ordeal, was it? The capture of Mr. Hamill really is something that pulled your entire community together. Why?

BAKER-HINES: Yes, ma'am. Well, we're a small community. And we're all, you know, family. Just one big happy family. And whenever someone else is in trouble, we all, you know, go to their rescue. Like I say, it was just like a member of our own family. It was a hostage.

So we've all have just come together and rallied around this family because we love them and care about them. And we stood by them and we continued to pray and have the vigils here every night at the courthouse. And you know, the lord has answered our prayer.

WHITFIELD: You know the Hamill family. Did you always think since the beginning of this ordeal, because you know Thomas Hamill, that he is the kind of person that would exhibit this kind of bravery potentially, in the end?

BAKER-HINES: Well, from what all -- knowing the family the years that I've known them, I've always known Tommy just as a very humble and a good strong man. You know when he went there to help his family and also the Iraqi people, I knew that he has the kind of heart and he's a strong person. He's a quiet man, but you know, they also say when someone is quiet that you know most of the time they're very smart.

You know, I think he went and he knew that he faced danger, but he went anyway. And the lord just looked after him. And we're just so thankful and we all just know that he was in the lord's will and we're all just pleased and so happy here.

WHITFIELD: Mayor, how did you get the news of his escape?

BAKER-HINES: Well, at 6:15 this morning I was awakened by a phone call by a reporter from I believe -- I've had so many calls -- I believe it was New York. Do you want some good news, mayor? And I said, yes, ma'am. She said that Mr. Hamill was free.

I just said praise the lord. I got to crying. I just couldn't control myself. But it was tears of joy. So immediately I called Kelly's house and she happened to answer the phone. And, of course, she was ecstatic and on cloud 9. And I got us crying. I was talking so fast, she didn't really know who I was. She said, who is this?

WHITFIELD: And Kelly is Thomas Hamill's wife.

BAKER-HINES: Right.

WHITFIELD: Did she give you a sense as to what her conversation with him on the telephone was like?

BAKER-HINES: Well you know, when we first called, she told me she got the first call at 5:45. So I really don't know if she had talked to him between that time and the time I got the news. All I said was when you talk to him Kelly, you tell him about the parade. Then we were interrupted by the media was already in her yard. I didn't get to finish talking to her.

WHITFIELD: Now, Brigadier General Kimmitt has already said while Mr. Hamill has spoken to his family, as you're just acknowledging there, he's also apparently giving some indication that he's ready to get back to work. Are you getting any indication whether he's planning to stay in Iraq and continue that work or will he come home first?

BAKER-HINES: I hope he'll come home first. We'd all like to get a look at him and have his parade and have some good fellowship and just praise the lord all together. So, I hope that he will come home for a little bit. And if he wants to go back to work, I'm sure they'll let him go.

WHITFIELD: So, I have a feeling your preparations for that parade, that endless parade is already under way. What do you have planned?

BAKER-HINES: Well, I've talked to several people today. And we're going to try to really get organized tomorrow and, you know, call it the Tommy Hamill welcome home party and have the parade and try to have some good southern food for him. And then maybe end up with a prayer vigil and just praise the lord and just, you know, sing and just have a good time together in the lord.

WHITFIELD: This whole ordeal must have been incredibly exhausting. Obviously not just for the family, but really for the entire community, all holding vigil for three weeks now.

BAKER-HINES: Yes, ma'am, it has been. But you know, hasn't a day gone by that someone had asked about Tommy or about a call or a card or an e-mail. And I say when I arrived downtown I'm just like zip -- I'm in front of the courthouse and I see those yellow ribbons. I just say lord be with him, be with him.

That's what everybody said, I prayed all hours of the day and the night just for a minute. And you know, the ribbons and the flags. And he's never been forgotten one minute, neither him or the family.

So it's just -- everybody just extremely happy to today. We went to church today. We just all were so excited that we could not get the Sunday school lesson done, because all we were doing was praising the lord and thank you lord for letting him be free.

WHITFIELD: So I imagine the line is going to be rather long upon his arrival of all the folks in town who want to get a hug with him as soon as he arrives.

BAKER-HINES: And you know, he's kind of a humble and a quiet man, so it probably going to be a -- he might be saying, all right enough's enough. But I know, you know, we're just so thankful. And we appreciate the media and y'all's support. We've become friends with a lot of y'all. And y'all a pray for us too and we appreciate the whole world has been praying for us. We thank you.

WHITFIELD: We're so glad, mayor, that you're able to join us and help spread what is great news for everyone in Macon and the rest of this country celebrating now. Mayor Dororthy Baker-Hines. Thank you.

BAKER-HINES: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Shifting gears quite a bit. The nation mourns when a serviceman or woman makes the ultimate sacrifice. But only the families know the profound pain that comes with a military funeral. Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr takes us to the front lines to these very somber processions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As U.S. troops continue to fight and die in Iraq, in towns across America, personal intense moments of family grief several times each week. Military funerals for those killed in action. The ritual gun salutes. Folded flags and "Taps." now happening at a rate not seen in decades.

Suddenly a thread in the national fabric. Marine Lance Corporal Tory Stuffle Grey (ph) was buried in his Illinois hometown as his friends and neighbors turned out to honor the memory of the man killed when his convoy was attacked. He was 19 years old, carried to his grave by a civil war caisson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They lined up the five-mile route to the cemetery. That was by far the greatest, if you want to call it patriotism and support for a veteran that I've ever seen in my life.

STARR: Private First Class Moises Langhorst (ph), buried in Minnesota, Lance Corporal Matt Serio (ph), laid to rest in Rhode Island. Sergeant David McKeever (ph), his funeral in Nebraska. All private tragedies that are now the nation's main view of the ultimate cost of a war one year after President Bush said major combat was over.

The death of former football player Pat Tillman in Afghanistan and the first public pictures of flag draped coffins coming home from the battlefields were television-age reminders that it is a life well lived, or a single startling image that may first grab the nation's attention.

But in churches and at gravesides, private lives remembered every day now by family, friends, and comrades. Sergeant Major Michael Stack (ph) was 48 years old, the father of six. With a 29-year career mostly in army special forces, Stack (ph) did not have to be in Iraq. He could have retired. He was killed in a recent convoy ambush near Baghdad. Tiona Avery Felder (ph) died one week before she was scheduled to go on leave. Her soldier husband received the flag from her casket at the grave.

Not since Vietnam has the human cost of war been such a matter of national discussion, as the bodies continue to return, the moments of grief across the country now increasingly a loss felt by the nation. Names, faces, and lives now making up the history of a U.S. war whose final chapter has yet to be written. Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The Roman Catholic Church is suffering from a shortage of priests. Some say it's because the church requires all priests to remain celibate. Now a growing number of priests are speaking out against the policy. Our Alina Cho met with one former priest who is now married. She has his story from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: To many, Tom and Eileen McCabe have the perfect marriage, four grown children, and a quiet life. Thirty-four years, you probably made the right decision.

EILEEN MCCABE, WIFE: I think so.

TOM MCCABE: As I tell Eileen I have no regrets, not one.

CHO: It wasn't easy in the beginning, Tom was a priest so he made a choice, he married Eileen in 1970 only after leaving the priesthood. Only after ten years of serving God.

T. MCCABE: It broke my heart that I would have to leave the job I liked doing the most.

E. MCCABE: When he left I realized he was leaving something very, very special. And I guess I wasn't sure he was going to be happy.

CHO: They are, except Tom would like to be a priest again. The Roman Catholic Church does not allow priests to be married. Church law also says they must be celibate. The Pope has indicated celibacy is a gift to the church and has rejected all calls to reverse policy.

The problem for the Roman Catholic Church is that it is facing a critical shortage of priests. There are 64 million Catholics in the U.S., one in five Americans, and only 45,000 priests to serve them.

REV. THOMAS REESE, EDITOR "AMERICAN MAGAZINE:" If we don't have priests to serve our people, the people are going to go elsewhere. So I think the church has a serious problem.

CHO: Tom McCabe says he's not against priest celibacy. He just wants it to be optional. The church disagrees.

REV. THOMAS LYNCH, ARCHOIDCESE OF NEW YORK: This world that we live in needs the radical witness of celibate clergy.

CHO: Others say that optional celibacy may not be the answer.

REESE: Certainly it is going to be more expensive for parishes, for the people in the pews because you're going to have to support a family.

CHO: Tom McCabe says he would be an asset to the church, years of experience.

T. MCCABE: Yes, but it better happen soon.

CHO: It's the right thing to do he says. If history is any guide, change may be slow to come. Alina Cho, CNN, New York. (END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Elsewhere across America, in (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Massachusetts State Investigators promise a report on yesterday's amusement park tragedy. A man with cerebral palsy tumbled to his death from a roller coaster at Six Flags.

Here in Atlanta Delta Airlines is trying to figure out what caused a computer glitch that disrupted its traffic yesterday. The airline had to ground flights out of Atlanta and others were delayed for several hours.

If you're shopping for an SUV that won't blow your budget, the latest "Motor Trends" magazine has some tips for you. It includes a section on the newest makes and models of smaller SUVs. Kevin Smith is Editor in Chief of "Motor Trend's magazine. He joins us from Los Angeles. Good to see you, Kevin.

KEVIN SMITH, EDITOR IN CHIEF, MOTOR TRENDS MAGAZINE: Hi Fredericka, good to be with you.

WHITFIELD: The acronym SUV already conjures up images like gluttonous, big, gas guzzling. But you have some options that defy the norm, don't you?

SMITH: Yes, one of the great things about recent developments in the SUV marketplace is the diversification. There are the traditional big trucks obviously, but there are lots of smaller ones, compact ones, some quite small ones. What we recently did was do a comparison of three compact but still pretty capable sport utilities.

We had Suzuki XL7, a Kia Sorrento, and a Jeep Liberty which are smaller than what you thing of as a big manly macho truck. And yet they are all four-wheel drive. They offer low range in the transfer cases for an especially low pulling power. Fairly economical, fuel economy around 20 miles per gallon, costs in the mid to high $20,000 range. So they're not a huge commitment, but they're still pretty capable. We think they offer an answer for a lot of people.

WHITFIELD: Let's try and dissect them. Let's begin with your number three then. You mentioned the Suzuki XL7-EX3. My goodness, that's a long name for a smaller SUV. A lot of folks want luxury now with their SUV. So does this one compete?

SMITH: Well, it competes if you put in the qualifier for the money. For a price around $27,000, $28,000 as we tested it, The Suzuki is a vehicle that offers pretty good capability, but it does compromise some obviously. It doesn't have the kind of luxury that you would get if you were spending $50,000 or $60,000.

But it's decently equipped, reasonable sound system. One of the choices Suzuki made with the XL7 was to fit a third row of seats in the back. So technically it is a seven-passenger vehicle, although you won't get seven NBA stars into it. It would need to be fairly compact people, but it does offer that kind of seating flexibility for those families and people that would really want that kind of thing. WHITFIELD: But something that it has that a lot of luxuries have, I understand it has heated seats. That's always a big plus for people.

SMITH: Heated seats can be fabulous.

WHITFIELD: And leather.

SMITH: Yes, leather, wood trim, nice sound system. That kind of thing is pretty generally available now at a relatively reasonable cost. Makes you feel like you're getting something special even though you're not spending an outrageous amount of money.

WHITFIELD: All right, number two on your list, Kia Sorrento.

SMITH: The Kia Sorrento is a very interesting vehicle. This is from Korea, but quite sharply styled. Quite capable off-road. One of the things we did with this story, because there are a lot of vehicles that are great on pavement. But we took them off-road just for people who actually do have some deep ruts to cross, boulders to hop. Depending on what you are going to do with the vehicle, that could be very important.

So we spend a lot of time on this test doing that off of the pavement and out in the ruts and the potholes. And in the Kia Sorrento was really a pretty broadly capable vehicle. Again, not terribly expensive, around $28,000 and a fairly compact size. So it fits easily in the driveway. But a very capable vehicle, pleasant to drive on pavement, which most of us will do day in and day out. But on those occasions when you do need to hit the rocks and the boulders and the potholes, it is pretty capable there too.

WHITFIELD: And that's something you tested with all three to see how they were off-road. Because like you said, even though people most people are really kind of sticking to the highways, they do want to know what happens if they, hit some gravel.

SMITH: And part of that is the image of SUVs. Part of what we're looking for there is that sense of capability, that sense of adventure, whether or not you really are ever going to do that a lot of people respond to that, that sense that, if I want to, I can go off-road. I can drive up to the hunting cabin or fishing cabin. If it's snowy and I'm trying to get to the ski chalet, I'll be able to get there. If a road washes out I've got the capability to kind of keep on going. That's part of the common thread through SUVs of all kinds and sizes.

WHITFIELD: And number one, the Jeep Liberty can do all of those things on your list.

SMITH: Yes, obviously with the Jeep name, you expect given its tradition that it will be capable when the pavement ends, and you are off pounding through rocks and sludge or mud and dirt. A Jeep should be capable of doing that. The liberty is.

It is also pretty good on pavement though too. It doesn't punish you. It is still very civilized very comfortable, very easy to drive package for day in and day out around town. But when you do need to get off and crawl through rocks and holes, that's really the most capable of these three.

WHITFIELD: All right, and at $24,000 not a bad price tag as well.

SMITH: Not a bad price.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks very much, "Motor Trends Magazine," appreciate it.

SMITH: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Still to come, what do Americans have to say about last week's dual questioning of President Bush and Vice President Cheney?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kind of when you go to the principal's office, you don't want to be separated, so the other guy doesn't say the wrong thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The White House duo has the comics making fun, too. Plus Jay Leno has a few jokes of his own drawing comparisons between polar opposites. National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice and the Reverend Al Sharpton?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, there's always some fun and laughter at the White House correspondent's dinner. The annual event put politicians and entertainers and journalists under one roof in Washington last night. "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno delivered some of the one-liners.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, TONIGHT SHOW HOST: You know, I watched Condoleezza Rice testify a couple weeks ago. As I watched her, I said to myself, you know, I have seen that hairstyle before. Where have I seen it? Can we put that picture up? I tried. I couldn't place it. Put it up, there it is. Where did I see it? And then I remembered, oh yes, that's where I -- yes. That's where I'd seen it. Yes. I knew I'd seen it before. I knew I'd seen it before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: That's cold blooded. Well, from Mini-me to Marionettes, political cartoonists are taking jabs at the President and Vice President. At issue, the White House's insistence the two appear jointly last week during a question and answer session with the 9/11 Commission. Our Jeanne Moos takes a look at the ribbing and the ridicule.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bush/Cheney, Bush/Cheney. Not since they accepted the Republican nomination has there been so much hand holding. At least at the hands of political cartoonists. The man who complained as a uniter sure has been united in the press.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Testify together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joint appearance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Together.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Appeared together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Both of us.

MOOS: Now both of them are sitting ducks for comedians joking about 9/11 Commission's seating arrangements.

LENO: Should Bush sit on Cheney's right knee or his left knee?

MOOS: The puppet theme was a favorite with Cartoonist Mike Luckovich (ph) got so worked up.

MARK LUCKOVICH (ph), CARTOONIST: he's the damn president. He should go in front of the American people ...

MOOS: He's published two cartoons, one depicting the duo as Dr. Evil and Mini-me. Luckovich (ph) cites the President's tough guy image.

LUCKOVICH: But then he needs his buddy Cheney with him to answer questions. It just looks so bad. And I thank him for that.

MOOS: Thanks him for inspiring a cartoon showing the President entering a rest room. Where's Cheney? I'm not doing this alone. Some folks on the street were more charitable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have a problem with it. I think that it's perfectly all right. First of all, he isn't the most articulate president. But I do think he's an honorable man. I do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he's a wimp.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not presidential. It is like he's a child.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kind of when you go to the principal's office, you don't want to be separated so the other guy doesn't say the wrong thing.

MOOS: We stumbled on actor James Whitmore who once played a president, Harry Truman.

JAMES WHITMORE, ACTOR: President of what?

MOOS: The United States.

WHITMORE: Really?

MOOS: And Vice President Cheney are testifying together today.

WHITMORE: To each other?

MOOS: In this case, two heads are a better target than one. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That's all we have time for. Coming up, next, "Friends" says good-bye after ten seasons. Get a behind the scenes look at the award-winning sitcom on PEOPLE IN THE NEWS.

At 8:00 Eastern, on CNN PRESENTS, a Romanian filmmaker returns to his native homeland to document child prostitution and trafficking of Romanian street children. At 9:00 Eastern Comedian Don Rickles joins Larry King to discuss his 50-year career. Frank Sinatra, and Johnny Carson.

And at 10:00, celebration in the hometown of Thomas Hamill. We'll talk with a family member about the American contractor who is now free from his Iraqi captors. The hours headlines when we come right back.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

Aired May 2, 2004 - 18:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: American contractor Thomas Hamill is safe, in good health and has quite a story to tell. He spent three weeks as a hostage in Iraq before making it to freedom. CNN's Ben Wedeman has more on his ordeal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These were the last pictures of American contractor Thomas Hamill. In a video released by his kidnappers, a voice off camera threatens to kill Hamill if U.S. forces didn't lift their siege of Fallujah within 12 hours. Twenty-two days later, Hamill reappeared near the town of Belek (ph) south of Tikrit.

BRIG, GEN. MARK KIMMIT: He came out of a building, identified himself to American soldiers. It looked like it was an escape. This is a preliminary reports that we have would indicate that he escaped from the building when he saw the American forces, identified himself and was subsequently recovered.

WEDEMAN: The day of his abduction, his kidnappers showed him off to an Australian television crew. Hamill, a 43-year-old contract worker from Macon, Mississippi, was nabbed following an attack on a fuel convoy outside Baghdad on April 9th. At least four contract workers with the Halliburton subsidiary and one U.S. soldier were killed in the attack. Ben Wedeman, cnn, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well, residents of Hamill's hometown are celebrating his freedom with yellow balloons and a giant American flag throughout the city. The mayor of Macon, Mississippi, is even promising a never ending parade. Dorothy Baker-Hines joins us now. Besides being the major of Macon, she's also a family friend of Hamill. Good to see you, Ms. Mayor.

DOROTHY BAKER-HINES, MAYOR OF MACON, MISSISSIPPI: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: Well, this was not just one family's ordeal, was it? The capture of Mr. Hamill really is something that pulled your entire community together. Why?

BAKER-HINES: Yes, ma'am. Well, we're a small community. And we're all, you know, family. Just one big happy family. And whenever someone else is in trouble, we all, you know, go to their rescue. Like I say, it was just like a member of our own family. It was a hostage.

So we've all have just come together and rallied around this family because we love them and care about them. And we stood by them and we continued to pray and have the vigils here every night at the courthouse. And you know, the lord has answered our prayer.

WHITFIELD: You know the Hamill family. Did you always think since the beginning of this ordeal, because you know Thomas Hamill, that he is the kind of person that would exhibit this kind of bravery potentially, in the end?

BAKER-HINES: Well, from what all -- knowing the family the years that I've known them, I've always known Tommy just as a very humble and a good strong man. You know when he went there to help his family and also the Iraqi people, I knew that he has the kind of heart and he's a strong person. He's a quiet man, but you know, they also say when someone is quiet that you know most of the time they're very smart.

You know, I think he went and he knew that he faced danger, but he went anyway. And the lord just looked after him. And we're just so thankful and we all just know that he was in the lord's will and we're all just pleased and so happy here.

WHITFIELD: Mayor, how did you get the news of his escape?

BAKER-HINES: Well, at 6:15 this morning I was awakened by a phone call by a reporter from I believe -- I've had so many calls -- I believe it was New York. Do you want some good news, mayor? And I said, yes, ma'am. She said that Mr. Hamill was free.

I just said praise the lord. I got to crying. I just couldn't control myself. But it was tears of joy. So immediately I called Kelly's house and she happened to answer the phone. And, of course, she was ecstatic and on cloud 9. And I got us crying. I was talking so fast, she didn't really know who I was. She said, who is this?

WHITFIELD: And Kelly is Thomas Hamill's wife.

BAKER-HINES: Right.

WHITFIELD: Did she give you a sense as to what her conversation with him on the telephone was like?

BAKER-HINES: Well you know, when we first called, she told me she got the first call at 5:45. So I really don't know if she had talked to him between that time and the time I got the news. All I said was when you talk to him Kelly, you tell him about the parade. Then we were interrupted by the media was already in her yard. I didn't get to finish talking to her.

WHITFIELD: Now, Brigadier General Kimmitt has already said while Mr. Hamill has spoken to his family, as you're just acknowledging there, he's also apparently giving some indication that he's ready to get back to work. Are you getting any indication whether he's planning to stay in Iraq and continue that work or will he come home first?

BAKER-HINES: I hope he'll come home first. We'd all like to get a look at him and have his parade and have some good fellowship and just praise the lord all together. So, I hope that he will come home for a little bit. And if he wants to go back to work, I'm sure they'll let him go.

WHITFIELD: So, I have a feeling your preparations for that parade, that endless parade is already under way. What do you have planned?

BAKER-HINES: Well, I've talked to several people today. And we're going to try to really get organized tomorrow and, you know, call it the Tommy Hamill welcome home party and have the parade and try to have some good southern food for him. And then maybe end up with a prayer vigil and just praise the lord and just, you know, sing and just have a good time together in the lord.

WHITFIELD: This whole ordeal must have been incredibly exhausting. Obviously not just for the family, but really for the entire community, all holding vigil for three weeks now.

BAKER-HINES: Yes, ma'am, it has been. But you know, hasn't a day gone by that someone had asked about Tommy or about a call or a card or an e-mail. And I say when I arrived downtown I'm just like zip -- I'm in front of the courthouse and I see those yellow ribbons. I just say lord be with him, be with him.

That's what everybody said, I prayed all hours of the day and the night just for a minute. And you know, the ribbons and the flags. And he's never been forgotten one minute, neither him or the family.

So it's just -- everybody just extremely happy to today. We went to church today. We just all were so excited that we could not get the Sunday school lesson done, because all we were doing was praising the lord and thank you lord for letting him be free.

WHITFIELD: So I imagine the line is going to be rather long upon his arrival of all the folks in town who want to get a hug with him as soon as he arrives.

BAKER-HINES: And you know, he's kind of a humble and a quiet man, so it probably going to be a -- he might be saying, all right enough's enough. But I know, you know, we're just so thankful. And we appreciate the media and y'all's support. We've become friends with a lot of y'all. And y'all a pray for us too and we appreciate the whole world has been praying for us. We thank you.

WHITFIELD: We're so glad, mayor, that you're able to join us and help spread what is great news for everyone in Macon and the rest of this country celebrating now. Mayor Dororthy Baker-Hines. Thank you.

BAKER-HINES: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Shifting gears quite a bit. The nation mourns when a serviceman or woman makes the ultimate sacrifice. But only the families know the profound pain that comes with a military funeral. Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr takes us to the front lines to these very somber processions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As U.S. troops continue to fight and die in Iraq, in towns across America, personal intense moments of family grief several times each week. Military funerals for those killed in action. The ritual gun salutes. Folded flags and "Taps." now happening at a rate not seen in decades.

Suddenly a thread in the national fabric. Marine Lance Corporal Tory Stuffle Grey (ph) was buried in his Illinois hometown as his friends and neighbors turned out to honor the memory of the man killed when his convoy was attacked. He was 19 years old, carried to his grave by a civil war caisson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They lined up the five-mile route to the cemetery. That was by far the greatest, if you want to call it patriotism and support for a veteran that I've ever seen in my life.

STARR: Private First Class Moises Langhorst (ph), buried in Minnesota, Lance Corporal Matt Serio (ph), laid to rest in Rhode Island. Sergeant David McKeever (ph), his funeral in Nebraska. All private tragedies that are now the nation's main view of the ultimate cost of a war one year after President Bush said major combat was over.

The death of former football player Pat Tillman in Afghanistan and the first public pictures of flag draped coffins coming home from the battlefields were television-age reminders that it is a life well lived, or a single startling image that may first grab the nation's attention.

But in churches and at gravesides, private lives remembered every day now by family, friends, and comrades. Sergeant Major Michael Stack (ph) was 48 years old, the father of six. With a 29-year career mostly in army special forces, Stack (ph) did not have to be in Iraq. He could have retired. He was killed in a recent convoy ambush near Baghdad. Tiona Avery Felder (ph) died one week before she was scheduled to go on leave. Her soldier husband received the flag from her casket at the grave.

Not since Vietnam has the human cost of war been such a matter of national discussion, as the bodies continue to return, the moments of grief across the country now increasingly a loss felt by the nation. Names, faces, and lives now making up the history of a U.S. war whose final chapter has yet to be written. Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The Roman Catholic Church is suffering from a shortage of priests. Some say it's because the church requires all priests to remain celibate. Now a growing number of priests are speaking out against the policy. Our Alina Cho met with one former priest who is now married. She has his story from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: To many, Tom and Eileen McCabe have the perfect marriage, four grown children, and a quiet life. Thirty-four years, you probably made the right decision.

EILEEN MCCABE, WIFE: I think so.

TOM MCCABE: As I tell Eileen I have no regrets, not one.

CHO: It wasn't easy in the beginning, Tom was a priest so he made a choice, he married Eileen in 1970 only after leaving the priesthood. Only after ten years of serving God.

T. MCCABE: It broke my heart that I would have to leave the job I liked doing the most.

E. MCCABE: When he left I realized he was leaving something very, very special. And I guess I wasn't sure he was going to be happy.

CHO: They are, except Tom would like to be a priest again. The Roman Catholic Church does not allow priests to be married. Church law also says they must be celibate. The Pope has indicated celibacy is a gift to the church and has rejected all calls to reverse policy.

The problem for the Roman Catholic Church is that it is facing a critical shortage of priests. There are 64 million Catholics in the U.S., one in five Americans, and only 45,000 priests to serve them.

REV. THOMAS REESE, EDITOR "AMERICAN MAGAZINE:" If we don't have priests to serve our people, the people are going to go elsewhere. So I think the church has a serious problem.

CHO: Tom McCabe says he's not against priest celibacy. He just wants it to be optional. The church disagrees.

REV. THOMAS LYNCH, ARCHOIDCESE OF NEW YORK: This world that we live in needs the radical witness of celibate clergy.

CHO: Others say that optional celibacy may not be the answer.

REESE: Certainly it is going to be more expensive for parishes, for the people in the pews because you're going to have to support a family.

CHO: Tom McCabe says he would be an asset to the church, years of experience.

T. MCCABE: Yes, but it better happen soon.

CHO: It's the right thing to do he says. If history is any guide, change may be slow to come. Alina Cho, CNN, New York. (END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Elsewhere across America, in (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Massachusetts State Investigators promise a report on yesterday's amusement park tragedy. A man with cerebral palsy tumbled to his death from a roller coaster at Six Flags.

Here in Atlanta Delta Airlines is trying to figure out what caused a computer glitch that disrupted its traffic yesterday. The airline had to ground flights out of Atlanta and others were delayed for several hours.

If you're shopping for an SUV that won't blow your budget, the latest "Motor Trends" magazine has some tips for you. It includes a section on the newest makes and models of smaller SUVs. Kevin Smith is Editor in Chief of "Motor Trend's magazine. He joins us from Los Angeles. Good to see you, Kevin.

KEVIN SMITH, EDITOR IN CHIEF, MOTOR TRENDS MAGAZINE: Hi Fredericka, good to be with you.

WHITFIELD: The acronym SUV already conjures up images like gluttonous, big, gas guzzling. But you have some options that defy the norm, don't you?

SMITH: Yes, one of the great things about recent developments in the SUV marketplace is the diversification. There are the traditional big trucks obviously, but there are lots of smaller ones, compact ones, some quite small ones. What we recently did was do a comparison of three compact but still pretty capable sport utilities.

We had Suzuki XL7, a Kia Sorrento, and a Jeep Liberty which are smaller than what you thing of as a big manly macho truck. And yet they are all four-wheel drive. They offer low range in the transfer cases for an especially low pulling power. Fairly economical, fuel economy around 20 miles per gallon, costs in the mid to high $20,000 range. So they're not a huge commitment, but they're still pretty capable. We think they offer an answer for a lot of people.

WHITFIELD: Let's try and dissect them. Let's begin with your number three then. You mentioned the Suzuki XL7-EX3. My goodness, that's a long name for a smaller SUV. A lot of folks want luxury now with their SUV. So does this one compete?

SMITH: Well, it competes if you put in the qualifier for the money. For a price around $27,000, $28,000 as we tested it, The Suzuki is a vehicle that offers pretty good capability, but it does compromise some obviously. It doesn't have the kind of luxury that you would get if you were spending $50,000 or $60,000.

But it's decently equipped, reasonable sound system. One of the choices Suzuki made with the XL7 was to fit a third row of seats in the back. So technically it is a seven-passenger vehicle, although you won't get seven NBA stars into it. It would need to be fairly compact people, but it does offer that kind of seating flexibility for those families and people that would really want that kind of thing. WHITFIELD: But something that it has that a lot of luxuries have, I understand it has heated seats. That's always a big plus for people.

SMITH: Heated seats can be fabulous.

WHITFIELD: And leather.

SMITH: Yes, leather, wood trim, nice sound system. That kind of thing is pretty generally available now at a relatively reasonable cost. Makes you feel like you're getting something special even though you're not spending an outrageous amount of money.

WHITFIELD: All right, number two on your list, Kia Sorrento.

SMITH: The Kia Sorrento is a very interesting vehicle. This is from Korea, but quite sharply styled. Quite capable off-road. One of the things we did with this story, because there are a lot of vehicles that are great on pavement. But we took them off-road just for people who actually do have some deep ruts to cross, boulders to hop. Depending on what you are going to do with the vehicle, that could be very important.

So we spend a lot of time on this test doing that off of the pavement and out in the ruts and the potholes. And in the Kia Sorrento was really a pretty broadly capable vehicle. Again, not terribly expensive, around $28,000 and a fairly compact size. So it fits easily in the driveway. But a very capable vehicle, pleasant to drive on pavement, which most of us will do day in and day out. But on those occasions when you do need to hit the rocks and the boulders and the potholes, it is pretty capable there too.

WHITFIELD: And that's something you tested with all three to see how they were off-road. Because like you said, even though people most people are really kind of sticking to the highways, they do want to know what happens if they, hit some gravel.

SMITH: And part of that is the image of SUVs. Part of what we're looking for there is that sense of capability, that sense of adventure, whether or not you really are ever going to do that a lot of people respond to that, that sense that, if I want to, I can go off-road. I can drive up to the hunting cabin or fishing cabin. If it's snowy and I'm trying to get to the ski chalet, I'll be able to get there. If a road washes out I've got the capability to kind of keep on going. That's part of the common thread through SUVs of all kinds and sizes.

WHITFIELD: And number one, the Jeep Liberty can do all of those things on your list.

SMITH: Yes, obviously with the Jeep name, you expect given its tradition that it will be capable when the pavement ends, and you are off pounding through rocks and sludge or mud and dirt. A Jeep should be capable of doing that. The liberty is.

It is also pretty good on pavement though too. It doesn't punish you. It is still very civilized very comfortable, very easy to drive package for day in and day out around town. But when you do need to get off and crawl through rocks and holes, that's really the most capable of these three.

WHITFIELD: All right, and at $24,000 not a bad price tag as well.

SMITH: Not a bad price.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks very much, "Motor Trends Magazine," appreciate it.

SMITH: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Still to come, what do Americans have to say about last week's dual questioning of President Bush and Vice President Cheney?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kind of when you go to the principal's office, you don't want to be separated, so the other guy doesn't say the wrong thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The White House duo has the comics making fun, too. Plus Jay Leno has a few jokes of his own drawing comparisons between polar opposites. National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice and the Reverend Al Sharpton?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, there's always some fun and laughter at the White House correspondent's dinner. The annual event put politicians and entertainers and journalists under one roof in Washington last night. "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno delivered some of the one-liners.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, TONIGHT SHOW HOST: You know, I watched Condoleezza Rice testify a couple weeks ago. As I watched her, I said to myself, you know, I have seen that hairstyle before. Where have I seen it? Can we put that picture up? I tried. I couldn't place it. Put it up, there it is. Where did I see it? And then I remembered, oh yes, that's where I -- yes. That's where I'd seen it. Yes. I knew I'd seen it before. I knew I'd seen it before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: That's cold blooded. Well, from Mini-me to Marionettes, political cartoonists are taking jabs at the President and Vice President. At issue, the White House's insistence the two appear jointly last week during a question and answer session with the 9/11 Commission. Our Jeanne Moos takes a look at the ribbing and the ridicule.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bush/Cheney, Bush/Cheney. Not since they accepted the Republican nomination has there been so much hand holding. At least at the hands of political cartoonists. The man who complained as a uniter sure has been united in the press.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Testify together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joint appearance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Together.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Appeared together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Both of us.

MOOS: Now both of them are sitting ducks for comedians joking about 9/11 Commission's seating arrangements.

LENO: Should Bush sit on Cheney's right knee or his left knee?

MOOS: The puppet theme was a favorite with Cartoonist Mike Luckovich (ph) got so worked up.

MARK LUCKOVICH (ph), CARTOONIST: he's the damn president. He should go in front of the American people ...

MOOS: He's published two cartoons, one depicting the duo as Dr. Evil and Mini-me. Luckovich (ph) cites the President's tough guy image.

LUCKOVICH: But then he needs his buddy Cheney with him to answer questions. It just looks so bad. And I thank him for that.

MOOS: Thanks him for inspiring a cartoon showing the President entering a rest room. Where's Cheney? I'm not doing this alone. Some folks on the street were more charitable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have a problem with it. I think that it's perfectly all right. First of all, he isn't the most articulate president. But I do think he's an honorable man. I do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he's a wimp.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not presidential. It is like he's a child.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kind of when you go to the principal's office, you don't want to be separated so the other guy doesn't say the wrong thing.

MOOS: We stumbled on actor James Whitmore who once played a president, Harry Truman.

JAMES WHITMORE, ACTOR: President of what?

MOOS: The United States.

WHITMORE: Really?

MOOS: And Vice President Cheney are testifying together today.

WHITMORE: To each other?

MOOS: In this case, two heads are a better target than one. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That's all we have time for. Coming up, next, "Friends" says good-bye after ten seasons. Get a behind the scenes look at the award-winning sitcom on PEOPLE IN THE NEWS.

At 8:00 Eastern, on CNN PRESENTS, a Romanian filmmaker returns to his native homeland to document child prostitution and trafficking of Romanian street children. At 9:00 Eastern Comedian Don Rickles joins Larry King to discuss his 50-year career. Frank Sinatra, and Johnny Carson.

And at 10:00, celebration in the hometown of Thomas Hamill. We'll talk with a family member about the American contractor who is now free from his Iraqi captors. The hours headlines when we come right back.

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