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CNN Sunday Morning
Russian Sub Crew Rescued; Shuttle Discovery Scheduled to Return to Earth in Less Than 24 Hours
Aired August 07, 2005 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. Now in the news, just about 7.5 hours ago, this Russian mini sub was cut loose from debris that had trapped it on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean for three days. The seven man crew is OK, but show signs of hypothermia. An update from Moscow is just ahead.
The shuttle Discovery is less than 24 hours from returning to Earth. Earlier this morning, I spoke with the crew as they continue to make final preparations to come home. That interview is coming up in about 30 minutes.
And Beijing diplomats taking part in the six way talks with North Korea are trying to break a nearly two week long deadlock. The U.S. envoy says progress was made, but no deal was reached in persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear program. Officials hope to resume talks toward the end of the month.
Condolences are pouring into Britain today, after the death of former foreign secretary Robin Cook. Scottish police say Cook died yesterday at age 59. No cause was given. Cook was replaced in his diplomatic post by Jack Straw in 2001. He served as leader of the House of Commons until resigning in March of 2003 over Britain's Iraq policy.
And from the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is August 7th. And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Betty Nguyen this morning. 7:00 a.m. here in the East, 3:00 p.m. in Moscow. Thanks so much for being with us this morning.
Ahead this hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING, so many questions, so few answers. We'll visit a border town where a scary phenomenon is becoming what law enforcement officials call an epidemic.
And later, a slightly different view of jihad. We'll meet a man who's helping to rebuild Iraq and facing the dangers head on.
And a scrimmage turns ugly in New York.
And this was the underwater view of a trapped mini sub off Russia's Pacific coast shortly before it was freed from debris that pinned it to the ocean floor for 76 hours. The seven man crew is now safely back on the Russian mainland and will undergo medical exams.
CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance has an update from Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, it had all the makings of another Russian submarine disaster, but in the end, it seems that the outcome has been one few Russians had dared to hope for.
The mini submarine that's been trapped in Russia's remote eastern seaboard off the coast there now has been raised to the surface, after a joint effort involving Russian, British, and American emergency teams rushed to the scene to try and extract that submarine to free it up from the debris that it had become entangled with some 190 meters below the surface and to save the seven crew members on board.
Well, now according to Russian officials, exactly that has happened. All seven of those crew members said to be alive, in fact, pulling themselves out of the hatch of the submarine as it came to the surface, putting themselves on a rescue boat, which was then taken to a ship standing a short distance away, where they have been undergoing medical checks.
As I say, it has been an international effort. A British rescue team was buzzed and went there in the earliest possible time at the request from the Russian authorities.
It arrived there with a remote control submarine tool that was able to untangle and cut through the debris that this submarine had been stranded in and caught in since the early hours of Thursday morning here.
They managed to do that. Then the submarine apparently, under its own steam as it were, was able to get right to the surface and free itself up after so many days. Oxygen, of course, running in short supply.
So a very positive outcome. The best possible outcome certainly for those on board and for their families after what was in every sense a truly international rescue effort.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: A mother whose son was killed in Iraq led a group of protesters near the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas yesterday. Cindy Sheehan's son Casey was a humvee mechanic who was killed last April. She says she'll be there for the entire month of August if necessary until the president gives her some answers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CINDY SHEEHAN, SON KILLED IN IRAQ: I want to ask the president why did you kill my son? What did my son die for? Last week, he said my son died in a noble cause. And I want to ask him what that noble cause is? (END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Sheehan did not get a meeting with the president, but she did meet with the White House Deputy Chief of Staff and National Security Adviser. No details are released of their meeting.
Now to the latest attacks in Iraq. Two Iraqi oil ministry employees were killed when their car was sprayed with bullets. That shooting happened in Baghdad. Three Iraqi soldiers were killed in a similar attack as they headed to their base.
Earlier, two U.S. soldiers were killed and three more were wounded when a roadside bomb went off near the city of Samarra.
And in Tikrit, two Iraqi officers were killed when a fuel tanker exploded near police headquarters. 10 more officers were wounded in that explosion.
WHITFIELD: And now to a more personal account from the frontlines of the Iraq War. An Iraqi contractor puts a constructive spin on the meaning of jihad.
Jane Arraf has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): For Iraqi businessman, Namir al-Akabi, and his workers, this is jihad, a sacred struggle to rebuild their country despite the threats and violence.
NAMIR AL-AKABI, IRAQI BUSINESSMAN: This is the Iraqi -- the real jihad for us, you know, to rebuild our company. Jihad, they have it wrong, upside down, you know. Jihad is not to kill innocent people. Jihad is not to kill an engineer who works on a project that is financed by so-and-so, you know. Jihad is -- in my opinion, jihad is hard work in the sun 10, 12 hours a day, OK, and sweating, and then coming up with a result with something that will benefit the Iraqis.
ARRAF: Namir and his company, OBCO, are an Iraqi success story. Raised in Kuwait and living in London, he returned two weeks after Baghdad fell. He started with a staff of five and a $500 contract to deliver fuel. Now his company has 2,000 Iraqis on the payroll and hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts.
This project is funded by the U.S. government. It will bring clean water to the 2 million people of Sadr City. Every single worker here, from the engineers to the laborers, is Iraqi. Namir, a Shia Muslim, whose wife is a Sunni Kurd, says he doesn't know what religion most of his engineers are. As for the laborers, he makes a point of hiring them from the surrounding communities. They seem proud to be working here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's an honor for us to work for Sadr City. It's a great honor. We want to work day and night for the sake of the city. ARRAF: They're paid better than average wages. Unskilled laborers get about $10 a day, skilled ones up to 40. They all have safety equipment, hard hats and proper shoes. The opportunities here have changed Namir's life and that of his workers.
Success hasn't come without a cost. Four of Namir's employees, one of them a relative, were killed in an ambush by 20 gunmen on the road from Taji, north of Baghdad last year.
AL-AKABI: We were not armed, so I actually could hear them go back on single shots and then (INAUDIBLE). It's like they -- it is something so brave. And in my opinion, this is the lowest of cowards, you know, when you kill an unarmed, injured man. You can't get any lower than this.
ARRAF: And he held a meeting with all his employees to see if they wanted to keep working. They did.
AL-AKABI: I could have packed my bags and left the country. I'm lucky. I could work in other countries. I made -- with the money; I could live well in other countries. But that's what the terrorists want. If people like me leave Iraq then they won. This is part of them winning, this is part of them winning, and this I will not allow anyone. I don't (INAUDIBLE), but we have to -- you see, we have to look through the sight of the road we have taken, you know. We have to keep on going on that road, the road of the people of Iraq for freedom and democracy to be another great success.
ARRAF: Jane Arraf, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Now to some more stories making news across America. Flags and flowers, prayers and praise in Ohio. Funerals have started for the 16 U.S. Marines killed in Iraq in the past 10 days. 23-year old Corporal Andre Williams was laid to rest in Columbus yesterday. More funerals for Ohio Marines killed in Iraq will come this week.
Howard Dean has a message for the nation's Hispanics. Democrats speak your language, too. The chairman of the Democratic National Committee was among those who attended an Hispanic leadership summit in San Antonio, Texas yesterday. At issue, the party strategy for appealing to Hispanics, the nation's fastest growing minority group. In the last presidential election, nearly 10 percent of Hispanics voted Republican.
And if you don't have or didn't know better, you'd think they were hockey players. Fred, look at this. Oh, that was a good one.
WHITFIELD: Oh, the helmets are coming off.
HARRIS: Well, the jets and what is this...
WHITFIELD: Can everyone pile on?
HARRIS: Yes, this was -- the Giants and Jets? OK, this -- I want to -- I don't even want to read the story. I just want to watch the fight. Well, this was a practice, right? This is just a scrimmage between these two teams.
You know, they play on the same field. Yes, they play on the same field. And this is Jeremy Shockey. I think he's in the middle of this. He's the tight end for the Jets and...
WHITFIELD: And we don't know -- do we know exactly what they were fighting about?
HARRIS: No.
WHITFIELD: Or does it really matter? What am I talking about?
HARRIS: No.
WHITFIELD: It doesn't matter.
HARRIS: Exactly. This is pre-season.
WHITFIELD: This is silly.
HARRIS: This is a scrimmage. It's silly.
WHITFIELD: It's silly.
HARRIS: It's silly. And what happens is, you know, they go through about three, four weeks of training camp, where they're just hitting one another.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
HARRIS: And their first opportunity to hit someone else, that's what you get.
WHITFIELD: Oh.
HARRIS: You get a brawl.
WHITFIELD: Well, maybe they figured it was acceptable because A, it was a scrimmage...
HARRIS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: They didn't necessarily think they had an audience out there, but of course they did have photographers there, who decided to record it all. And now a lot of the kids who shouldn't be seeing stuff like that, unfortunately, are.
HARRIS: And you'll be seeing this for the next...
WHITFIELD: Because that is not sportsmanlike behavior.
HARRIS: Way to go, Fred. Way to go. Spoken like a true mom there.
WHITFIELD: My little (INAUDIBLE) in the morning.
All right, well, the shuttle crew, they're not fighting. In fact, they are all in agreement that they enjoyed the mission. And they are looking forward to their journey home. Final preparations and one last interview before the landing. That's ahead this hour on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
I bet you love talking.
HARRIS: That was great. Yes, that was great. And plus, the mystery of Nuevo Laredo. Why do Americans keep disappearing in this border town. CNN investigates, next.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: And here is our e-mail question this morning. If you were given the chance, would you fly aboard a NASA shuttle? Tell us. We are at weekends@cnn.com. We'll be reading your replies throughout the program. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Well, in case you're just waking up with us, here's a check of our top stories this Sunday morning. All seven crew members aboard a Russian mini sub are alive and well, thanks to rescuers from Britain. The crew was trapped after the sub got tangled up on the ocean floor.
A British foreign terror suspect has been deported from Zambia to Britain. Haroon Rashid Aswat left Zambia early this morning. British officials suspect he either facilitated or recruited bombers for the July 7th terrorist attacks in London.
And finally, the mother of a soldier who was killed last April in Iraq is camping out in Crawford, Texas, just a few miles away from President Bush's ranch. She says she won't leave until the president tells her why her son died.
A soldier back home from Iraq is fighting to help others like him. Don't miss this hero's story later in the hour.
HARRIS: The U.S. consulate in the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo will be open for business again tomorrow. The consulate was ordered closed a week ago due to drug related gang violence in the area. The State Department says Mexican authorities have improved security in the immediate area around the building.
Drugs and violence are not the only problems along the porous border between Nuevo Laredo, Mexico and Laredo, Texas. American citizens pass through regularly to shop, to buy prescription drugs, and to party. But Americans are also disappearing at an alarming rate. U.S. officials are calling these kidnappings an epidemic.
Drew Griffin with our investigative unit has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that the correct time?
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): William Slemaker says he's made this crossing more than 100 times, crossing the international border into the narrow streets of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, searching for a daughter, who has not called, not come home, not been seen since September.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see, I cruised up and down all these streets looking for Yvette's car.
DREW GRIFFIN: Selena step-daughter, Yvette Martinez is 28-years old. In the early morning of September 17th, she and her friend Brenda Cisneros were on their way home from a concert and a night on the town in Nuevo Laredo. It was Brenda's birthday.
At 4:00 a.m., still on the Mexico side, but just four blocks from the border, they called a friend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the call she got was from this intersection right here.
GRIFFIN: The young women made the call to ask their friend to meet them for breakfast on the American side. Somewhere within these four short blocks, Yvette Martinez and Brenda Cisneros vanished.
I can see the American flag.
WILLIAM SLEMAKER, FATHER: Yes. She was not far at all. It's very unfortunate that she didn't make it from such a close distance.
GRIFFIN: You must have sit here many a time and thought what happened?
W. SLEMAKER: What happened? I stood there. I parked my car there. Stood at that intersection looking and wondering to myself where could she be? Trying and praying, hoping she could contact me and let me know, to get a feel of what to do.
GRIFFIN: Will Slemaker and his wife Maria no longer know what to do. Days have turned into weeks and now months.
The last phone call that she made, that you know she made, was so close to the border, it must be absolutely frustrating to have heard that.
W. SLEMAKER: Yes. To know that she was so close and was -- no one didn't...
GRIFFIN: She probably could have seen the boy.
W. SLEMAKER: Oh, yes.
GRIFFIN: Certainly the lights.
Bill and Maria are not alone. People are being kidnapped, killed, or simply disappearing at an alarming rate. In past years, the number of Americans kidnapped in this border town averaged just three or four a year.
But in the past year, 40 American citizens have been kidnapped. Four have gone missing. Police are quick to say those are only the reported cases.
Nuevo Laredo, just a walk across the bridge from Laredo, Texas is being described by U.S. police officials as lawless. Patrick Patterson is the FBI's special agent in charge.
PATRICK PATTERSON, FBI: Most of the criminal -- I would call it epidemic.
GRIFFIN: And according to Patterson, the kidnapping is out of control. Yvette Martinez and Brenda Cisneros are just two of the missing, caught up in a violent Mexican border town, says Patterson, where drug cartels are battling for turf. What worse, according to Patterson and others, Mexican police seem to stand on the sidelines.
PATTERSON: That's why we're having an epidemic problem, because there's very little being done to resolve the problem on that side of the border. And that's what really has to be done.
GRIFFIN: Without help from the police, Bill Slemaker has spent endless days and nights trying to track down his daughter himself. He spent a month searching for her car. He finally found it in a place that made him very angry -- a storage yard used by local police.
Walking through here, you find dozens of other cars with U.S. license plates just like Yvette's. Bill says he has asked how Yvette's car got here. Who brought it? And when?
But no one can tell him it has never been tested for fingerprints or searched for evidence in any investigation.
W. SLEMAKER: I hope she comes home. I hope she comes home.
GRIFFIN: Bill, I hate to say it, but this is all you'll ever find of your daughter?
W. SLEMAKER: I'm afraid, yes.
GRIFFIN: That you'll never know what happened.
W. SLEMAKER: Yes, I don't -- I hope we find her. I hope we find her. Oh, my.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And we will have another investigative unit spotlight for you next Sunday morning.
WHITFIELD: Homebound and home sick, the crew of the shuttle Discovery talks about the final preparations for landing straight ahead on CNN SUNDAY MORNING. And we want to let you play astronaut. If you were given a chance, would you fly aboard a NASA Space shuttle? E-mail us at weekends@cnn.com. We'll be reading your replies throughout the program.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Today, over 500,000 parents and their children will celebrate National Kids Day. There will be over 1300 events across the country. And as they celebrate, a new survey from the Boys and Girls Club of America measures the value of quality time. Of those surveyed, 79 percent of children think they spend enough meaningful time with their parents.
35 percent of young people say they'd like their parents to work less. And 59 percent of families say they eat dinner together more than three days a week. A 2003 study suggests that eating meals together several times a week can reduce a child's risk of smoking, drinking or doing drugs.
HARRIS: Well, my son certainly wants me to work less so that I can watch more football with him on Sundays.
WHITFIELD: The brawl...
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The scrimmage, right?
HARRIS: You will not believe this. This is a rip roaring debate up here about the brawl. I'm trying to explain...
JERAS: Is that silly?
HARRIS: This is football. This is part of -- we are establishing turf early.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Thank you, Jacqui.
Less than 24 hours of landing, the crew of the Shuttle Discovery is anxious to say hello to their families. We'll hear from the astronauts. That's next.
WHITFIELD: Also, a mass gathering in a dangerous place, but it's not what you might think. That story when we go global, coming up next on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Final touches before the landing. The Discovery astronauts tell us what they're going through less than 24 hours before coming home. Welcome back, everyone to CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm Tony Harris.
WHITFIELD: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Betty Nguyen. That interview in a moment, but first, a look at the top stories. Just in to CNN, new video of the Russian crew rescued from the mini-sub that was tangled up in cables and fishing nets on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. All seven of the crew members are said to be in satisfactory condition. Russia has thanked the U.S., Britain and Japan for sending out crews to aid in the rescue.
A former top member of the British government and outspoken critic of the Iraq war is dead today. Robin Cook had served as foreign secretary until 2001 when a cabinet shake-up prompted his move to leader of the House of Commons. He resigned that post two years ago to protest the Iraq war. Robin Cook was 59. The cause of death has not been released.
Another death to report, Ibrahim Ferrer. He was one of the leading voices of the Buena Vista Social Club. The group won a Grammy in 1999 for an album reviving a style of Cuban music from the 1940s and '50s. Ferrer was 78.
HARRIS: Crew members aboard the space shuttle Discovery are preparing for the return trip home. They're on their last full day in space. The shuttle is scheduled to land early tomorrow morning. Earlier this morning, I spoke to members of the crew.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Commander Collins, are you ready to come home?
EILEEN COLLINS, SHUTTLE COMMANDER: Oh, I think it's time for us to come home, but I'm having a great time up here. The earth is absolutely beautiful. We're having a great time as a crew. We're really having a space experiences of a lifetime for me. This week, a little bit of everything on this flight. I'm so happy to have done it, but it's time to come home and keep working on getting the shuttle better and ready to fly in the future and time to see our families again.
HARRIS: Stephen Robinson, rate the mission. How difficult has it been? How taxing has the work been?
STEVE ROBINSON, MISSION SPECIALIST: Well, it's been nothing compared to the training. I think everybody would echo that, you know. We were assigned this mission just a little bit over four years ago, if you can believe that. And these 13 days have gone by just so quickly. And there's been a lot of challenge associated with the mission, but it's been very rewarding challenges. It's the kind of thing that you really hope is at the end of a long road. It's been very gratifying.
HARRIS: Well, Stephen, you made your work outside of the shuttle look so easy with the removal of those fabric strips out there. Was it as easy as you made it look?
ROBINSON: Oh, yeah, thanks to Wendy, who was flying the arm, my job was very easy. That's the easiest thing I did in those three EVAs. The rest of the things were pretty hard but that was made very easy. But it was, however, a very spectacular and interesting thing to do. It was quite a fascinating experience. And it kind of opens the door to more things like that.
HARRIS: Commander Collins, tell us what you do now to get ready for reentry and landing.
COLLINS: We're going to spend the rest of the day today -- we're going to -- stowing the cabin, basically putting up the seats and getting our communications and our suits ready, the orange suits that we wear, the pressure suits, get all those ready for entry. This morning we did a check out of all our flight control systems and our depth for attitude control for entry and pretty much just thinking about what we're going to be doing tomorrow.
HARRIS: James Kelly, what does reentry feel like?
JAMES KELLY, SHUTTLE PILOT: Well, entry, for me, from my first flight, it kind of feels at points like it's a runaway train. You're up here going really fast, but you don't really feel it as much above the earth. Once we start re-entering the atmosphere, you start seeing the plasma go by the windows. If you rolled over to your side -- Eileen rolled to the left, myself rolled to the right, you could see the lights. If you're in daylight, you can see the ground rush by very, very quickly. We like to say the slower you go the faster it is. Because for us inside, as we get closer and closer to landing, you're doing more and more operations and really having to keep track of things at a relatively fast pace all the way down to the ground. So my first commander described it as a runaway freight train, and that's a little bit what it feels like, very exciting and exhilarating process that ends with being at home.
HARRIS: It has been wonderful to talk to you. It has been wonderful to follow the mission. Have a safe reentry and landing.
COLLINS: Thanks. It was great to talk to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: It was great to talk to them. Was that cool?
WHITFIELD: How awesome. It really is remarkable.
HARRIS: Wow.
WHITFIELD: And with such a very slight delay during that interview.
HARRIS: Man.
WHITFIELD: Two hundred miles up, crisp images, and the clarity in the audio.
HARRIS: And they're ready.
WHITFIELD: Tremendous.
HARRIS: They're ready to get back down on mother earth.
WHITFIELD: We're ready for them too. We're all looking forward to it.
HARRIS: Tune in tomorrow, because we've got a lot of coverage planned for you starting early morning, daybreak." Carol Costello, 4:00 a.m. She actually gets started an hour early, that's right, 4:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
WHITFIELD: Now to our international desk, which is keeping an eye on other stories making news around the world.
HARRIS: It has been another devastating day in the Iraq war. There are more Iraqi and American deaths to report. For the details, let's go straight now to CNN's Anand Naidoo. Anand.
ANAND NAIDOO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks and good morning from me. That's right Tony, another brutal 24 hours in Iraq. Insurgents killed at least nine Iraqis in the Baghdad area, including members of the security forces and government officials. Two oil and ministry workers were gunned down early this morning in the Iraqi capital. U.S. forces also suffered more casualties. Officials say two soldiers died and three others were wounded in a roadside bombing near the Iraqi city of Samarra. Their deaths bring to 1,827 the number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war.
Across the world now to Beijing, they're not saying so in so many words, but the six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program have all but collapsed. Delegates have decided to take a three-week break. At issue is North Korea's refusal to abandon all its nuclear activities. But the U.S. is standing its ground. There is no way Washington will tolerate North Korea having any nuclear program. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: Wow and then just days ahead of the official Gaza pullout, there are some little glimmers of hope, I imagine, in the form of weddings taking place. What's that been all about?
NAIDOO: Well, just shows us a different side of life that goes on in a war zone, in a violent area. It may be, as you say, one of the most dangerous places on the planet, but that didn't stop 100 Palestinian couples from getting married in a mass wedding in Gaza. It's increasingly popular in these tough economic times in that particular part of the world. And in keeping with tradition, grooms and brides hold separate post-wedding celebrations.
HARRIS: And love won't wait. OK?
NAIDOO: Got to have weddings, got to have children, life goes on.
HARRIS: Life goes on. Appreciate it Anand. Thank you.
After an injury in Iraq, this soldier decided not to give up. Now back at home, he is fighting to make life easier for thousands of others returning from the battlefield.
WHITFIELD: And good morning, Baltimore. That's how they say it up there, you know. HARRIS: I'm a Baltimorean.
WHITFIELD: Well, then you know.
HARRIS: Baltimoron, sometimes that's how the way it is with me.
WHITFIELD: Baltimorean, I like that and an Orioles fan, of course.
HARRIS: Of course.
WHITFIELD: Of course, lifelong.
Well, weekend weather for you and the rest of the nation is coming up in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: In our top stories this hour, the Russian mini-sub freed after three days trapped on the ocean floor is now being towed to port. A Russian Navy official says the crew shows signs of hypothermia and will undergo medical evaluations at a hospital.
And the man believed to have recruited the London suicide bombers in the July 7th attacks is on his way back to Britain this hour. Zambian officials deported Haroon Rashid Aswat early this morning and put him on a plane chartered by the British government. Aswat, a British citizen, is also wanted in the U.S. in two terrorism cases.
And don't forget our e-mail question this morning. If you were given the chance, would you fly aboard a NASA shuttle? What do you think? We're at weekends@cnn.com. We'll be reading your replies throughout the program.
WHITFIELD: Several thousand U.S. troops have returned home from Iraq with severe injuries only to find financial crises are yet another obstacle during their recovery. CNN's Kitty Pilgrim introduces us to one wounded warrior who's leading a new battle on Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Heath Calhoun was a sergeant stationed in Iraq in July, 2003. Four months into his tour in Mosul, at age 25, his life changed forever.
HEATH CALHOUN, WOUNDED SOLDIER: I was in the back of the truck just hitching a ride. I stood up to pop what we call a troop strap. I was popping it to let the guys in. As I stood up to pop, the RPG came in the tail light and exploded there and blew up and blew me up against the cab of the truck. It actually took both legs there.
PILGRIM: Heath spent almost eight months in a hospital in Iraq and at the Walter Reed Medical Center in D.C. His wife quit her job and left their child with the grandparents. She moved from Tennessee to Washington to assist in her husband's recovery. This put a tremendous strain on the family, both emotional and financial.
CALHOUN: We lost 40 percent of our income for six straight months. That's a big chunk of change, but we didn't lose any of the bills.
PILGRIM: When Heath got out of the hospital, he joined the group the Wounded Warrior Project and went on another mission to help these 7,000 severely injured soldiers of the war.
CALHOUN: The soldier ride was a 4,200 mile bike ride that we did from Marina del Rey, California, L.A. to tip end of Long Island in New York to raise money and awareness to help wounded soldiers and their families coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan.
PILGRIM: Heath's commitment to the troops has taken him to the steps of Congress where he and other veterans lobbied for the wounded warrior bill signed into law May 11th, 2005.
CALHOUN: Now soldiers who are disabled while in active duty for the military, they can get $25,000 to $100,000 worth of insurance to cover the transition time between being wounded and actually retiring and getting into the V.A. system.
PILGRIM: Heath recently accepted a full-time job with the Wounded Warrior Project. He is also planning to attend college next year and is expecting his third child in December. And his message to other soldiers --
CALHOUN: I just tell the guys that are wounded just to never quit, not to let that injury define your life.
PILGRIM: Kitty Pilgrim, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And we bring you hero stories every week on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
And now let's take a moment to honor some of the fallen heroes, those whose loved ones now have only memories to keep in their hearts. Georgia's 48th brigade lost 11 reservists in Iraq in the last 15 days. So who were these men? Just like us, living ordinary lives until they were called to extraordinary duty. We spent some time this weekend finding out more about these 11 citizen soldiers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS (voice-over): Staff Sergeant Charles Warren was from Suwanee, Georgia. He died in the latest attack involving the 48th on August 3rd. Warren was a nurse at children's health care of Atlanta. The 36-year-old was married and a father of two. He saw a video of his daughter's birth six weeks ago.
Sergeant Huey Lewis Ganey from Folkston, Georgia, also died in the August 3rd attack. The former Marine was 29 years old, married and had one daughter. Sergeant First Class Victor Anderson was from Ellaville, Georgia. He died in the convey attack on July 30th. Anderson was married and a father of two. The 39-year-old was a deputy with the Sumpter County Sheriff's Department.
Sergeant David Jones died in the same attack. He was from Augusta, Georgia. The 45-year-old had big plans for the future. He wanted to become a college history professor. His civilian job was a jailer with the Richmond County Sheriff's Department.
Specialist Jonathon Haggin was from Kingsland, Georgia. The former Marine served a tour in Iraq in 2003. The 26-year-old was working as a security guard at Kings Bay Naval submarine base. He was reconciling with his ex-wife. She is expecting their second child.
Specialist Ronnie "Rod" Shelley from Valdosta, Georgia, was the fourth and final soldier killed in the convoy attack July 30th. He was 34 years old, married and the father of three. Shelley had all his upper teeth pulled and replaced with dentures so he would be fit for duty in Iraq.
Specialist Jacques "Gus" Brunson was from Americus, Georgia. He died July 24th. Brunson was 30 years old. He was a prison guard in civilian life. On his last birthday, he asked his family to send toys for Iraqi children.
Staff Sergeant Carl Fuller died in the same attack. He was from Covington, Georgia. The 44-year-old was a Dekalb County police officer and recently re-met his grown daughter for the first time since she was three years old.
Sergeant James Kinlow was the third of four men who died July 24th when a roadside bomb exploded. Kinlow was 35, a truck driver who married his high school sweetheart.
Sergeant John Frank Thomas was from Valdosta. He was the fourth and final soldier killed in the July 24th attack. Thomas was married. The 33-year-old former Marine was considering a career in forestry after his tour in Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: So if you want to catch a glimpse of some of the stories we'll have our eye on next week, you might want to just look up. Tomorrow the space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to return to earth after a two-week docking mission at the international space station. The high stakes shuttle mission is the first since the Columbia disaster in 2003.
Thursday, Trekkies from across the galaxy will beam down to Las Vegas for the official Star Trek convention. At center stage will be none other than the captains themselves, actors William Shatner and Patrick Stewart. And Friday before sunrise, the night sky will be lit up by fireballs and streaks from the annual Perseid meteor shower. NASA says the best time to see it is between 2:00 a.m. and dawn. It's a good show. Have you taken it in? WHITFIELD: No.
HARRIS: Well, OK.
WHITFIELD: But I'm excited about it.
HARRIS: It's good. Jacqui, would you agree? It's a good show.
JERAS: It is a great show.
HARRIS: I just take the kids out because they want to see it. The oldest has this science class and it's a good thing. He gets to talk about it in class. Teachers tell you to take the kids out. So there you go.
JERAS: That is neat. There's a couple of days you can see it. Of course, the forecast is pretty paramount, as we talk about this reentry of the shuttle Discovery.
WHITFIELD: How's it look?
JERAS: Well, a lot of Florida, actually, is going to see showers and thunderstorms. But most of these are going to be day time showers and thunderstorms. Right now it looks like we could see an isolated shower or two in the area in the early morning hours, but best chance it's going to be later in the day. So that's some good news. We were a little bit concerned about a couple of areas of low pressure near Florida. The good news is this one right here is a ready made its way on shore. So no more chance of this one becoming tropical, so could breathe easy on that one.
But the bad news is, you can still see a lot of convection off shore there so we'll still see some heavy wet weather in Florida, particularly across the panhandle area across the day for today and likely lingering into Florida. Also Destin, Florida, by the way, had over four inches of rain from that storm system yesterday. Also a little disturbance right off the coast there into the Carolinas, not too concerned about that.
A little more concerned about what's going on over here the Atlantic however. This is tropical depression number nine. It looks like it will likely become tropical storm Irene by later on. For tonight, it's still way too early to tell whether or not this will be affecting the United States. Right now, the best estimates keep it well to the east of the U.S. throughout the work week ahead.
And also way up there on the top of your screen, that little swirl you see up there, just a marine interest, but just to let you know that it's out there. That's tropical storm Harvey. Just doesn't want to go away, does it? Heavy wet weather with tropical downpours across the southeast throughout the day today. Some occasional light rain showers through the mid Atlantic. The northeast looking beautiful for today, another cold front making its way across the upper Midwest. Looks like the rain showers will stay north of you, Minneapolis. You should see some sunshine with temperature right around 90 degrees. Billings up there at 99, 91 in Denver and check out Dallas. It's going to be a scorcher today, 98 degrees. Heat indices well into the triple digits and a chance of rain on top of that. Tony and Fred, back to you.
WHITFIELD: Typical Texas weather.
HARRIS: It looks like it, doesn't it? OK, Jacqui, thank you.
So here we go. If you were given the chance, we'll give you the chance.
WHITFIELD: At least to write about it.
HARRIS: Exactly. Would you go way up there? Would do you it? Would you do it?
WHITFIELD: Would you fly aboard a NASA shuttle? That's exactly what he means. We're reading your replies next on CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Keep sending those e-mails. We're at weekends@cnn.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. We gave you a chance to answer this question we've been posing all morning. Given the chance, would you fly aboard a NASA shuttle? Remember the shuttle Discovery is going to be making its landing tomorrow morning, 4:00 a.m. So a lot of folks are thinking about the possibilities of the space program. So, Sara, out of Phoenix, Arizona, responded, and she puts it like this. I don't even like flying on airplanes that are old. If we're serious about space exploration, we really need to upgrade our fleet. Let's gets these thrillionaires involved and do it right.
HARRIS: That's a good point there. This from George. You betcha. I'd go into space in a New York minute.
WHITFIELD: Without hesitation.
HARRIS: Do you know anyone with a few million dollars to help get me there?
WHITFIELD: And then Art says, not only yes, but heck yes. You only live once. A lot of folks would be willing to take the chance and get on board and become space explorers.
HARRIS: Well, there's our question. Given the chance, would you fly aboard the NASA shuttle? Send us along your thoughts. There's the address, weekends@cnn.com.
WHITFIELD: The next hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING begins right now.
The seven-man crew of a Russian mini-sub is alive but showing signs of hypothermia. The men were rescued overnight after being trapped for 76 hours more than 600 feet down in the Pacific off Russia's east coast. A live update from Moscow straight ahead.
And at least 26 passengers survived yesterday's crash of a Tunisian airliner in the Mediterranean, 13 people are known dead. The search continues for three others. The plane reported engine trouble shortly before it went down off Sicily.
And an update now on Tuesday's crash of an Air France jet liner in Toronto. Investigators now say passengers used only four of the planes eight doors to exit burning aircraft, and two of the emergency slides failed. Fire may have blocked access to some of the exits, still all 309 people onboard survived.
HARRIS: From the CNN Center this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is August 7th, 8 a.m. at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta, 7 a.m. in the nation's heartland. Good morning everyone. I'm Tony Harris.
WHITFIELD: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Betty Nguyen this morning.
HARRIS: After three days trapped on the ocean floor their oxygen running out, the crew of a Russian mini sub is back on dry land today. A Russian officials says the ordeal appears to have caused hypothermia so the seven crew members will undergo medical exams.
CNN's Barbara Starr has been monitoring this story for us and she joins us from her post at the Pentagon.
Barbara, good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you too, Tony. It's really something to have good news to report from the Pentagon for a change. Indeed all seven Russian sailors now have been rescued from that mini sub in which they had been trapped since Thursday on the floor of the Pacific Ocean.
The pictures are just extraordinary. It was a British Royal Navy submersible, a robotic vehicle that was able to cut this submarine loose from the netting it had apparently been caught in. The submarine then rose to the surface under its own buoyancy, as it were.
There were two U.S. Navy divers and a U.S. Navy doctor also on the scene with the British Royal Navy submersible and the British crew lending assistance. As these Russian crew members are now getting their medical treatment, we are learning more details about just what a frantic international rush to aid it was even up to the very final moments.
What unfolded on that Russian airfield is really quite extraordinary. The British plane landed first. They were offloading their gear. You see some of the rescue video here. The British were off loading their gear at the Russian airfield when the U.S. plane, rescue plane, then came in behind them. The British were a little bit ahead in offloading because they had gotten there first unloading their gear.
The U.S. team decided to help the British finish unloading their gear and get out to the site because they could get there first. That is why two U.S. Navy divers and the U.S. Navy doctor then joined the British Royal Navy rescue team out to the site first.
The Russian government, of course, today expressing its thanks and a top Russian official talking a little bit more about the situation. Let's have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): I would like to stress that the Royal Navy of Great Britain was crucial in this rescue operation. We admire their experience, highest professionalism and technical capabilities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: And U.S. Navy officials also expressing their pleasure and happiness and thanks about how all of this went. Admiral Gary Roughead, commander of the U.S. Pacific fleet, saying the close teamwork and global coordination between our Navies to rescue these sailors in such a short time is a testimony to the spirit and determination of our nations.
At the end of the day it was the British Royal Navy, the U.S. Navy and indeed, the Japanese Navy all pitching in to try and get these four Russian sailors back to their families.
Tony.
HARRIS: That's a heck of a rescue story. But I have to ask you, Barbara, do we know anymore today than we did yesterday about what this mission was all about and why there were seven sailors in a mini sub that we understand is built to carry four sailors?
STARR: Well, the U.S. Navy may have some further word on that as they speak further to our Russian counterparts. By all indications, it was most likely a training mission that they were on when they got tangled up in this netting. We are told there were no metal cables that essentially what the British submersible cut through was simply rope out in the ocean that had trapped this mini sub, Tony.
HARRIS: Oh my goodness. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us. Barbara, thank you.
WHITFIELD: More American combat casualties are among a spat of deadly attacks in Iraq, and Iraq's various political factions continue waging their war of words over a new constitution.
CNN's Aneesh Raman is live in Baghdad with some of the details.
Aneesh.
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, good morning. Baghdad struck by a string of shootings today, first to tell you about, leaving some five people killed, three of them members of Iraq's oil ministry gunned down in the southeastern part of the city. Two others, Iraqi soldiers, who were fired upon while trying to drive to their base.
Also today, Fredricka, word that two U.S. soldiers were killed, three others wounded after a roadside bomb detonated alongside their vehicle north of the capital city in the town of Samarra. It comes amid a deadly weak for U.S. forces here in Iraq bringing the total number of U.S. military personnel killed since Monday to just about 30.
Clearly a sense that on the ground that the insurgency remains, in the Pentagon's words, lethal and adaptive and that all these operations that are going on throughout Iraq clearly have import now to continue the struggle and the push back against the enemy.
Of course, ongoing now is Operation Quick Strike that was launched on Wednesday in the northwestern part of the Iraq, the volatile Al Anbar province, where a good number of Marines lost their lives this week. That operation goes on. The attempt, again, to suffocate and isolate the enemy, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Aneesh Raman, thanks so much, from Baghdad.
HARRIS: As the fighting and deaths continue in Iraq, some Americans are imploring the U.S. to end the war. About 50 protesters gathered in Crawford, Texas yesterday close to President Bush's Texas ranch where Mr. Bush is vacationing.
For those killed while serving in Iraq some feel the best way to honor their memory is to bring the troops home. Others, including President Bush, feel the best way to honor those killed is to complete the mission in Iraq. One mother who lost her son had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHEEHAN: I want to ask the president why did he kill my son. What did my son die for? Last week he said my son died in a noble cause, and I want to ask him what that noble cause is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Sheehan's 24 year old son, Casey, was killed in Sadr City in April of last year.
WHITFIELD: There are many parents like Sheehan's across the U.S., families still coping with the loss of loved ones serving in Iraq. Right now that sense of loss hangs heavy in the state of Ohio, with a number of troops from Ohio killed in Iraq since last Monday. One of them is Lance Corporal Daniel Deyarmin .
CNN's Alina Cho introduces us to him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nate Deyarmin was the type of Marine who made time almost every day to call his parents, but it was never enough.
EDIE DEYARMIN, FALLEN MARINE'S MOTHER: I just keep praying, let him call today, let him call today, let him call today. And usually, my prayers were answered all the time that I always heard from him.
CHO: On Monday, everything changed. Just two days after his 22nd birthday, Lance Corporal Deyarmin was among six Marine snipers killed in Iraq.
Father Dan was the first to the news.
DAN DEYARMIN, FALLEN MARINE'S FATHER: I just knew. And I just started grabbing my hair and just crying and running and...
CHO: He then called wife Edie, told her to come home, but didn't say why. Edie was with a friend.
E. DEYARMIN: Is the Marines at my house? Is the Marines at my house? And then, she grabbed my knee, because her son's been over there twice. And she kept reassuring me, no, it's not, no, it's not. And it was.
CHO: Daniel Nathan Deyarmin, Junior was one of 20 Marines killed this week in two separate attacks. 14 of the fallen were from the same battalion in Ohio.
Deyarmin was Tallmadge, Ohio's native son. His death was front page news.
CHRISTOPHER GRIMM, MAYOR, TALLMADGE, OHIO: The heartland, when it gets hit, you feel it a lot more.
CHO: Christopher Grin is Tallmadge's mayor.
Give me a sense of how the community is coping with this?
GRIMM: Well, it's similar to what happened at 9/11, only it's -- I think it's magnified because at 9/11, it was (INAUDIBLE). And today it's in Tallmadge. And loss came right home here.
CHO: In Tallmadge, population 17,000, the self described tight knit community is supporting the Deyarmins in big and small ways. Flags now line city streets ad the Deyarmin home. Signs and memory of Nate Deyarmin are everywhere, including this bakery.
Owner Maryann Runion used to babysit Nate, calls this the most devastating news she's received in a long time.
MARYANN RUNION, FAMILY FRIEND: There's going to be an empty little hole, but he's in a far better place right now.
CHO: His parents say Nate's greatest gift was his sense of humor, that he loved cars almost as much as he loved people.
How important is it for you to keep all the cars?
E. DEYARMIN: Without Nathan's love here for them, it's not that important.
CHO: For now, the Deyarmins find comfort in knowing their son did not die alone.
E. DEYARMIN: They went as a group. They covered each other as a group. And they always stayed a group. And that's important. They were together.
D. DEYARMIN: Yes.
CHO: A memorial service for Nate Deyarmin will be held next week. And all of Tallmadge will be there.
Alina Cho, CNN, Tallmadge, Ohio.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: The same attack that killed Nathan Deyarmin seen here in the red shirt on the right side there also claimed the life of Lance Corporal Brian Montgomery seen on the left. Both men were among five Brook Park Marines killed Monday.
Montgomery's body was transported to Willoughby, Ohio. His brother, lance Corporal Eric Montgomery escorted the body on the flight. The brother served in the same Ohio based unit. Montgomery will be buried on Wednesday.
HARRIS: And meanwhile many in Ohio are also mourning Lance Corporal Andre Williams. He was the first funeral -- his was the first funeral of the many Ohio Marines recently killed in Iraq. Over 300 people packed the chapel in Columbus yesterday. The 23 year old was one of two Lima Company Marines killed in a July 28th gun battle. Family members describe the father of two as always smiling.
When you add the deaths of two more American soldiers yesterday in Samarra the total of U.S. troops killed is now 1,827.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: We will introduce you to the musician known as Matisyahu. That's a bit later in our Faces of Faith.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Homeward bound, the crew members aboard the space shuttle Discovery are preparing for their trip home. They're on their last full day in space and have rehearsed tomorrow's scheduled landing on a lap top computer. Earlier this morning I spoke to the members of the crew.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES KELLY, SHUTTLE PILOT: Once we start reentering the atmosphere you start seeing the plasma go by the windows. If you rolled over to your side for -- Eileen rolled to the left myself rolled to the right you can see the lights and if you're in day light you can see the ground rush by very, very quickly. And then we like to say the slower you go the faster it is because for us inside as we get closer and closer to landing you're doing more and more operations and really having to keep track of things at a relatively fast pace all the way down to the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: Man, tune in to our special coverage of the shuttle landing tomorrow morning. Our early edition of Daybreak gets underway at 4 a.m. eastern, 1 Pacific here on CNN and we want to hear from you.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to participate this morning.
WHITFIELD: A rocket scientist to actually write the e-mail.
HARRIS: Oh, sorry.
WHITFIELD: But it would help if you were actually such....
HARRIS: Yes, give us...
WHITFIELD: ...and an astronaut.
HARRIS: ...right.
WHITFIELD: Anyway, well here's the question. Given the chance would you fly aboard a NASA shuttle? Would you, huh? E-mail us your thoughts at weekend@cnn.com.
You're seeing new video right now of a Russian mini sub being towed back to safety. The vehicle and its seven member crew had been entangled in cables and a fishing net and stranded on the Pacific Ocean floor. Russia says all crew members are in satisfactory condition.
A former top member of the British government and an out spoken critic of the Iraq war is dead today. Robin Cook had served as foreign secretary until 2001 when a cabinet shake up prompted his move to leader of the House of Commons. He resigned that post two years ago to protest the Iraq war. Robin Cook was 59.
And in Cuba singer Ibrahim Ferrer is dead at 78. Ferrer was a member of the Buena Vista social club, which won a 1997 Grammy. The album revised the style of Cuban music from the 1940s and '50s.
HARRIS: All of a sudden Jacqui Jeras, your plate is full. We're all concerned about weather conditions for the landing tomorrow and then you've got some things starting to churn up again in the tropics out there in the Atlantic.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Reggae and religion, think the two don't mix? Well, think again and listen. Funk and faith they're coming together in our Faces of Faith straight ahead on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
Plus, former President Bill Clinton, a self-described former fat band boy takes up the fight against childhood obesity. We'll have more on CNN's "HOUSE CALL" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta at the half hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: In the music industry it is not uncommon for artists to put their unique spin on a certain sound like rhythm and blues singers taking on opera or opera singers taking on pop music, but what would you get if you combined an orthodox Jew with reggae. Well, you'd have the subject of this morning's Faces of Faith. Here's CNN's Mary Snow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At first glance, it may sound out of place. Take a look closer in Crown Heights Brooklyn though and it may not look so unusual. It is a community where Caribbean culture and Hasidic Jews mix, but what catches many off guard is the man who mixes reggae and religion.
MATISYAHU MILLER, SINGER: Obviously the two pictures don't mix, like what you're hearing and what you're seeing don't go together.
SNOW: Meet. Matisyahu Miller.
At 26 he makes his living as a reggae artist and lives the life of a devout Hasidic Jews.
MILLER: People hear about it first so they expect it's like a spoof or a joke because that would be the only way you could imagine it, you know, like two opposite things is like coming together is like comedy.
SNOW: But Matisyahu is very serious. Every Friday at sundown he observes the Sabbath and won't perform until it ends late Saturday. The seriousness he gives to religion he also gives to reggae normally associated with Rastafarians and Matisyahu finds more similarity than differences.
MILLER: In some ways it's similar in the fact that I think both probably like Rastafarians and Hisidama (ph) kind of life going against the mainstream a little bit and both focused on spirituality on an inner kind of life to the universe.
SNOW: Going against the mainstream has always been in Matisyahu's nature. Most of his life he was Matthew Miller and spent his teenage years growing up in a New York suburb and began his love affair with reggae music.
MILLER: From the time I was about 14 I started listening to Bob Marley.
SNOW: Dropped out of high school, followed the Grateful Dead and lacked direction. He credits a trip to Israel with helping to change his life.
MATISYAHU: By the time I was in my early 20s so it made sense to me that, you know, you have to be like a -- I have to take a certain step, that it was not just about listening to music and knowing that I'm Jewish.
SNOW: A boy who once rebelled against authority became Hasidic, dropped the name Matthew for its Hebrew version, Matisyahu, with songs like Father In the Forest and King Without a Crown he blends spirituality with song. He says when he looks into the crowd when he sings and sees what he describes as hippies and Rastafarians he sees a bit of himself.
MILLER: That's the world I came from, you know, and Judaism is much different. You have to reach people where they are and I'm trying to provide like a service for people. I always wanted to make music and I always wanted to have people connect to that.
SNOW: Mary Snow, CNN New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, perhaps you always wanted to be a singer. Perhaps you always wanted to fly into space. We've been asking the question all morning. Would you do it?
HARRIS: Yes, yes (inaudible).
WHITFIELD: You would without hesitation.
HARRIS: Yes, yes.
WHITFIELD: Well, that's exactly how Justine, age 11, from Greensboro, North Carolina feels like. He was like yes, yes, yes. I would fly on the NASA shuttle because it would be fun and a learning experience. I would be the first kid in space! It would be a great start to my career. Isn't that sweet.
HARRIS: Yes. I would be freaked out of my mind, but I'd love to do it. This is Linda from Columbus who writes. "Are you kidding? I'm ready right now. I don't need to go on cruises or European trips. All I ever wanted was to orbit the earth. I am attaching my personal profile including my phone number and address. Hope to hear from CNN or NASA today. If I'm in the shower, please leave me a voice mail and I will get right back to you. See you at the Cape." There you go.
WHITFIELD: There's something called TMI.
HARRIS: Too much information.
WHITFIELD: We don't need to know that you're in the shower.
HARRIS: Thank you so much for the e-mails and send them along. There's the question. Given a chance would you fly aboard a NASA shuttle. And we'll get to more of your e-mail responses next hour.
WHITFIELD: And of course, starting tomorrow we're going to find out what it's like for those astronauts up in space right now upon their landing, their reentry. Tune in to our special coverage of the shuttle landing tomorrow morning bright and early. It's a special early edition of "DAYBREAK" and it gets underway at 4 a.m. eastern, 1 Pacific right here on CNN.
HARRIS: We are going to take a short break, but stay with CNN. Coming up next hour U.S. troops in Iraq suffer heartbreaking losses over the past several days. We'll speak with a journalist embedded with one hard hit unit about how the casualties have affected moral.
WHITFIELD: But first, the fight against childhood obesity on "HOUSE CALL" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
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