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CNN Sunday Morning
Thousands Protest Tough Immigration Bill; Mexico Eager to Help Form New Policy; Book Depicts War from Troops' Viewpoint
Aired March 26, 2006 - 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.
Their sheer numbers speak volumes. Look at this sea of humanity?
About a half-million people turned out in Los Angeles yesterday to protest bills in Congress that would crack down on illegal immigrants. L.A. police say it was a peaceful rally with no arrests. The Senate takes up immigration reform on Tuesday.
Saying goodbye. Hundreds of people turned out for a memorial service for Americans killed in a tour bus crash in Chile last week. Ten of the victims, all of them in their 60s and 70s, were part of a B'nai Brith group from New Jersey. Funerals will be held for two of them today.
Close calls at O'Hare airport in Chicago. The FAA says pilots had to abort takeoffs twice last week to avoid colliding. The FAA says it looks like air traffic controller errors. A federal investigation is under way.
And in case you missed it, two of the NCAA Final Four teams have been decided. UCLA and LSU are in. The Tigers got past Betty's Texas Longhorns in overtime because of Glen "Big Baby" Davis.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: He played a great game. I have to give it to him. I have to give it to him.
HARRIS: Yes. The score was 70-60 -- sorry.
NGUYEN: Much to my demise.
HARRIS: Yes.
And the Bruins beat Memphis, 50-45. It was the lowest-scoring regional final of the shot-clock era.
But all in all, you had one of the great days yesterday, didn't you? What a great day.
NGUYEN: It was so wonderful. Surprising me with the band, the cheerleaders. I wish it would have worked. I wish my team would have went on.
HARRIS: Too much "Big Baby."
NGUYEN: Yes, LSU Tigers -- too much "Big Baby." He played fantastic, though.
HARRIS: Once again, good morning, everyone.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING, the 26th day of March -- 7:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, 4:00 a.m. on the West Coast.
I'm Tony Harris.
NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen. We thank you for being with us today.
We've got a lot to tell you about, including switching religions. It's not a crime in the United States, but for this Afghan citizen it could cost him his life.
Killed for converting to Christianity? Some Muslim clerics say that is what has to happen. We'll take a look at Islamic law and if there is room for a saving grace.
Images of the war in Iraq not widely seen before. Views through the lenses of the men and women right there on the front lines, their photographs and their words next hour.
Plus, parents, we've got something you don't want to miss. Pop star Pink has a serious message about the pressures of looking pretty for a price. Young girls everywhere are listening, and we will talk with some of them.
HARRIS: We begin this hour with the ongoing emotional toll from September 11. Many victims' families are being forced to relive that nightmare right now because of new information about their loved one's final moments.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS (voice over): More than four years after the fact, families of some victims of 9/11 are finding out for the first time that their loved ones' voices are in the city's 911 system,. As if that were not shocking enough, the victims' families must also decide whether they want the public to hear what may have been their loved one's dying words.
The study notification arrived Friday in what some family members call a terse form letter from the city telling them their loved one's voice had been identified in the 911 system. The letter also informed them of their rights regarding the recording's public release in the form of a CD. For some relatives the shock was too much.
BILL DOYLE, SON DIED ON 9/11. I had one family member call me today. She was hysterical. She actually fainted. She opened it up in an elevator and she couldn't believe it because she never heard from her husband that morning, but apparently he called 911.
HARRIS: The city has apologized for upsetting the families. A statement from the mayor's office issued Saturday night reads, in part, "The city's plan was to advise World Trade Center support organizations on Friday by e-mail of the imminent release of the calls and of the letters that were going to the families. Unfortunately, because of a miscommunication, the e-mails did not go out as planned and instead went out this evening. We sincerely regret the delay."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And later this week, New York City will release a CD of the 911 calls, the result of a long court battle. By law, only the dispatcher's voices can be made public unless a family gives consent for a loved one's voice to be heard as well.
NGUYEN: Rallying for immigrants, legal or otherwise. Crowds keep up their demonstrations against laws to crack down on undocumented workers. Check out the people who turned out yesterday.
Now, one House bill would make it a felony to be in the U.S. illegal. The Senate takes up the heated debate this week. Yesterday, as many as a half-million people protested in Los Angeles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, LOS ANGELES: We want to thank all of the organizers here. We're here today -- we're here today to say to this great country, this great America, that this country was built on the backs of immigrants.
(APPLAUSE)
LUCIANO GOMEZ, PROTESTER: You know, this is an immigrant country. And if you come to work, you work. You don't come to waste your time or to be doing other things. We come to work and to do our best.
GEORGE MADOOGLU, PROTESTER: The only humane solution really is to recognize everybody's right who lives and works here as equal citizens because they contribute to the society, as everybody else does.
VILLARAIGOSA: God bless you! And we come together and say -- we come together to say that we are workers, not criminals!
(APPLAUSE)
VILLARAIGOSA: That we work hard. We pay our taxes. We live by the rules. And we want this great America to take us into account.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Look at those crowds. Well, L.A. was, as you could see, the largest demonstration, but protesters also turned out in other cities yesterday.
In Sacramento, a march honoring the late Caesar Chaves included a rally against the new immigration crackdown. In Charlotte, North Carolina, protest leaders said Americans can't ignore the people who cook their food, care for their children and build their homes. And in Denver, police were surprised by the size of the crowd. More than 50,000 protested a move to deny many government services to illegal immigrants.
HARRIS: Man.
A community in New Jersey still in mourning over the deaths of 10 friends killed in a recent tour bus crash in Chile. Funerals will take place today for two of the victims. All of the victims were remembered at an emotional memorial service yesterday.
CNN's Chris Huntington was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Dozens of mourners joined New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine in paying tribute to the 12 seniors who died in Wednesday's bus crash in Chile.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The governor started to cry. Everybody can relate to this. You know, we all know somebody or we all have somebody in our family who something happened to. Everybody can relate to this, and it's -- we miss them.
GOV. JON CORZINE (D), NEW JERSEY: This is a large blow to the broad community. And I think as someone who represents all of the people of the state, we want to say, express our sadness as well.
HUNTINGTON: Ten of the 12 who died, as well as two who survived the crash, lived in The Ponds, one of several predominantly Jewish senior residents clustered around Monroe Township, a community bound by faith and shared experience.
(on camera): This memorial service and funerals in the days to come will help this tightly-knit Jewish community come to grips with their loss. Friends and family grieving for a group of adventurous seniors who just wanted to live life to the fullest. But there are still many unanswered questions about what exactly went wrong on that Chilean mountain road.
(voice over): Fourteen Americans part of a Jewish tour group on shore leave from the Celebrity cruise liner Millennium, they took a bus tour Wednesday up into the Andes mountains. But as their bus was headed back to the ship, it plunged nearly 300 feet into a steep canyon.
Chilean authorities say the bus company, Andino Tours, was not yet registered to operate such tours. The president of Celebrity cruise lines said his company had never heard of Andino and did not sanction the bus trip. But he added he heard reports the bus driver had swerved to avoid an oncoming traffic.
New Jersey congressman Rush Holt promises a thorough investigation. REP. RUSH HOLT (D), NEW JERSEY: It's important that when a community is dealing with something like this that they're -- that they deal with the facts, that rumors tend to fly, you know, there's always a lot of uncertainty.
HUNTINGTON: Uncertainty, yes, but for at least one mourner who was close to several of those who died, there is already remarkable perspective.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, why did this happen to me, unless we ask the very same question for every joy that comes our way.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's true.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God bless you all and stay well.
HUNTINGTON: Chris Huntington, CNN, Monroe Township, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Stories making news "Across America" this morning.
In Seattle, police call it the city's worst mass killing in more than 20 years. A man opened fire at a party, killing six people, then himself. The victims were in their late teens and early 20s. There's no word on a motive.
In Alabama, investigators return to the scene of a suspicious church fire today. Flames destroyed the Faith Church of the Nazarene in Hayden, 25 miles north of Birmingham. Investigators think they know where the fire started. Now, earlier this week, three college students were arrested for a string of church fires across rural Alabama.
Now to California. The few, the proud, the over 70 crowd? Get this, a 78-year-old woman receives a letter from the Marines asking her to enlist.
HARRIS: Come on.
NGUYEN: Yes. Sonia Goldstein says she's flattered, but...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SONIA GOLDSTEIN, RECEIVED LETTER FROM MARINES ASKING HER TO ENLIST: I couldn't believe it. My girls were sitting here. We had just come back from the convalescent home. We were in hysterics. We laughed so hard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Oh my. I imagine. The letter warned Goldstein that the Marines would test her physical and mental abilities.
The Marines say obviously there was a mix-up. I hope so. HARRIS: The war has been tough.
NGUYEN: Oh my. Can you imagine?
HARRIS: We want you as a new recruit.
A change of faith is the crime, and death could be the punishment. Still to come, y this man faces the possibility of being executed for converting to a different religion.
NGUYEN: Plus, parasomnia, what is it? Well, it's keeping thousands of people, maybe even you, from getting a good night's sleep. We'll talk about that.
Good morning, Reynolds. How did you sleep?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I slept OK, but I know there's some people out there that didn't sleep well at all because they were up all night feeling nasty, just feeling sick. Chances are they have the flu. And if they're along the Eastern Seaboard, or anywhere in parts of the Midwest, it is really widespread in those spots.
However, flu cases aren't quite as prevalent in places like, say, Utah or Arizona, or even New Mexico, or even Alaska. Who's ever heard of anyone in Alaska being sick up there with all of the Kodiak grizzly bears.
All right, folks. That is a look at your flu season. We've got a complete forecast for you coming up in just a few moments.
Sit tight. You're watching CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: So what's it really like to be a soldier in Iraq? A few of them share their stories with photos that they took in the war zone. That is next hour. You've got to see these pictures.
CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Check this out. Florida gears up for another fire -- season, that is, that's already, well, smoking, as you can tell. This one popped up yesterday near Titusville. It quickly grew to about 50 acres before fire crews got it under control. It left 50 -- actually, 20 homes were briefly threatened by the flames.
HARRIS: Well, and -- and here's the problem. I mean, well, you know what the problem is, not enough rain.
NGUYEN: Yes.
HARRIS: Not enough rain.
NGUYEN: Some places getting too much. Others in Florida not. HARRIS: Brevard County, Orange County, in central Florida, affected by all of this. I mean, just dry.
WOLF: Oh, sure.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: A new video by pop star Pink -- have you heard it -- has young girls talking, and here's a taste.
(MUSIC)
HARRIS: I like her. She's good. Feisty. Feisty.
NGUYEN: Strong, yes.
HARRIS: Yes. It's called "Stupid Girls," and it has young girls laughing at those celebrity images of perfection and thinness.
Well, get this -- there are studies showing girls as young as 8 worrying about what their bodies look like.
NGUYEN: Really?
HARRIS: Look, I've got an 8-year-old.
NGUYEN: Eight years old?
HARRIS: Yes. I've got an 8-year-old girl and it's true.
In the 9:00 hour -- you won't want to miss this -- we'll show you more from the "Stupid Girls" video and young girls will be here to tell us what they think about it all.
NGUYEN: They're going to give us the real deal here.
HARRIS: And then we've got an extra little twist on the backside of that.
So wake up the kids, call your friends. In the 9:00 Eastern hour this morning, we're talking about this strong, new message.
And that, of course, leads us to our e-mail "Question of the Day." And we really want your participation on this.
How influential are today's music videos? And do they send the wrong message?
Well, they could send a positive message as well, but give us...
NGUYEN: But do they? That's the question.
HARRIS: But do they?
NGUYEN: Very few and far between, I think some might say. But, hey, let us know what you think. Here it is: weekends@cnn.com. We want to hear what you think about our e-mail question, and we're going to be talking to those children a little bit later in the show. You'll want to stay tuned for that because they're really going to break it down and tell us how it really is.
HARRIS: Oh, yes.
NGUYEN: So, did you have a good night's sleep?
HARRIS: How about you?
NGUYEN: Well...
HARRIS: Sorry.
NGUYEN: Not after that game I didn't. But good sleep has gone bad. Yes, from sleepwalking to eating to sleep fighting? One man acquitted of murder on the grounds that he was probably asleep while throwing fatal punches.
HARRIS: And it may not be the must-have accessory for the spring, but for courts trying to keep drunk drivers off the road, that's exactly what it is.
CNN SUNDAY MORNING right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: I can't. No more. No more "Big Baby." Oh, goodness.
How did you sleep last night? I didn't so well after that game. "Big Baby" kind of ruined it for my Longhorns. But if your sleep was interrupted by extremely restless activity, you might suffer from a condition known as parasomnia.
CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains this in an excerpt from his special tonight on sleep.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): You're looking at good sleep gone bad, a twilight zone where the normal barrier between sleep and wakefulness is blurred. These people are actually asleep, but they suffer conditions called parasomnias, disorders that frequently interfere with sleep, like sleepwalking or night terrors. In extreme cases, parasomniacs show all sorts of strange behavior: eating, talking...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, wait, wait. No, no, no, no.
GUPTA: ... throwing punches, or worse.
Toronto native Kenneth Parks drove a car 14 miles to his in-laws house, where he stabbed and beat his mother-in-law to death. But he was acquitted of murder on the grounds that he was probably asleep at the time.
DR. CARLOS SCHENCK, MINNESOTA REGIONAL SLEEP DISORDERS CENTER: We're at the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center.
GUPTA: Dr. Carlos Schenck helped discover one of the most bizarre and dangerous sleep conditions, REM Behavior Disorder, or RBD.
SCHENCK: Men with REM Behavior Disorder usually either stay in bed and become violent, or charge out of bed, run into the furniture or the wall, and then awaken, whereas sleepwalkers actually leave their room, leave their home, and may even drive a car.
GUPTA: The REM cycle is when we do our most active dreaming. In healthy REM sleep, the body is paralyzed, even as the mind races. But with RBD, the safeguard of paralysis is gone and patients act out their often violent dreams.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kicking, fighting, cussing, whatever.
GUPTA: Cal Pope (ph) was one of Dr. Schenck's first patients more than 15 years ago. By the time we caught up with them, he and his wife Rowena (ph) were getting ready to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, they said it would never last.
GUPTA: They came to the clinic after suffering nine years of Cal's (ph) violent nightmares. Rowena (ph) says she'll never forget the first one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was dreaming that he was trying to kick a neighbor out of the bed, and what he was doing was kicking me, just with all of his power. He was just pummeling me with his feet, and literally kicked me out of bed.
GUPTA: In the sleep center, patients go to bed wired with more than 20 electrodes. The machinery of sleep and dreams plays out as technicians watch from a separate room.
SCHENCK: And now we can enter our mission control.
GUPTA: Watching the patients, it's hard to believe they're really unconscious, but Schenck says sleep is impossible to fake.
SCHENCK: And that indicates the deepest stage of sleep.
GUPTA: This is the sleep chart of another patient with RBD, during a REM cycle, probably during a dream. The top two lines track the normal rapid eye movements. The black line here is a sensor on a chin muscle.
That's a good marker, since in healthy people it would be totally paralyzed. The line would be straight. On this chart, it does something else entirely. That indicates a parasomnia.
SCHENCK: Cal's (ph) was quite severe, as severe almost as the most severe case that we had seen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want to fill it with some water to make coffee?
GUPTA: And yet Cal Pope's (ph) case was in some ways typical in that the patient wasn't really aware of what was happening.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe once a week, but it wouldn't be that bad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, this happened every time he went to sleep, and more than once a night.
GUPTA: Desperate, the loving couple was forced into separate beds.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a lonely thing to do. It's like a death. It's like a separation.
GUPTA: Fortunately, it turned out there is a very effective treatment. The National Sleep Foundation says a drug called Clonazepam stifles symptoms in nine of 10 patients if taken in the proper dosage every night. Cal Pope (ph) showed us a hole he kicked in the wall on a night when he missed a single dose.
Ninety percent patients are men, mostly older men. No one knows exactly what causes RBD, but Schenck has found one major clue, a disturbing discovery, that a majority of patients develop Parkinson's Disease within 10 or 15 years. It may be that RBD is caused by the disintegration of neurons controlling movement, the same disintegration that's responsible for Parkinson's.
Pope (ph) is lucky. It's been 27 years since his first escapade, as he calls it, and he shows no signs of Parkinson's. He can enjoy his seven children, 16 grandchildren and 14 great grandkids. And at age 81, he can finally get a good night's sleep.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta explores how we sleep, how a lack of sleep affects our health, and what our surroundings have to do with us getting a good night sleep.
That is tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. Don't go to sleep before you see it.
HARRIS: Yes.
And still ahead, facing a punishment of death for his religious beliefs. Coming up, we'll explain Sharia law and why this man can be punished for converting to another religion.
NGUYEN: Plus, an alcohol lie detector? That could help put the brakes on drinking and driving. CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: This just into CNN, reports that a Kiribati flag merchant vessel and the "USS McCampbell" collided 30 miles southeast of the Iraqi coastline in the northern Arabian Gulf. Now two U.S. sailors received minor injuries in that collision. We're going to bring you the latest details as they become available to us.
As many as a half million people marched in Los Angeles in protest of Federal immigration legislation. More demonstrations are planned for today. They're protesting legislation that would make it a felony to be in the U.S. illegally.
And two close calls in two days on runways at Chicago's O'Hare airport. We're told twice last week pilots of commercial planes aborted takeoffs to avoid colliding with other aircraft. The FAA considers both incidents to be air traffic controller errors. No one was injured. Two Federal agencies are investigating.
Another Alabama church goes up in flames. It happened yesterday in Blunt County, north of Birmingham. Investigators are heading back to the scene today. Earlier this month, three Birmingham college students were arrested in connection with nine other church fires in rural Alabama.
Have you seen this man? 54-year-old Robert Burke is described as a serial bomber and could be anywhere out west. Burke, of Grand Junction, Colorado, is wanted in connection with explosive devices planted at several of his former co-workers' homes. No one was hurt. Burke was fired from his job in 2004.
Country music icon Buck Owens plays his last act naturally. Owens probably best known for starring on the popular TV show "Hee Haw." He died at his home shortly after a performance at his crystal palace in Bakersfield, California. Buck Owens enjoyed 15 number one hits in his career. He was 76.
HARRIS: This morning's "faces of faith," a Christian convert in Afghanistan faces possible execution for his beliefs. He's now been transferred to a maximum security prison after detainees at another facility threatened his life. That's according to the Associated Press and a government source says Abdul Rahman might be freed. The story from CNN's Fredricka Whitfield.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When we introduced you to Abdul Rahman in Afghanistan, he was facing a death sentence for holding this belief.
TRANSLATOR: I believe in Christianity. I believe in the holy spirit. I am a Christian.
WHITFIELD: Rahman converted to Christianity 16 years ago. At his trial, an Afghan judge issued this alarming remark.
TRANSLATOR: If he does not repent, you will all be witness to the sort of punishment he will face.
WHITFIELD: Local prosecutors want Rahman executed for apostasy. At Friday prayers, top clerics agreed.
TRANSLATOR: Abdul Rahman was once a good man, but he turned his back on God and turned against humanity so he must be executed.
WHITFIELD: But just a short while ago, an Afghan government official said Abdul Rahman should be released quote in the coming days. This follows intense pressure from the Bush administration, from the president on down.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: We've made very clear in the strongest possible terms that this principle of religious freedom and the right to religious conscience is at the core of democratic development, at the core of democracy. We are working with the Afghans and we look to a favorable resolution of this case. It needs to be favorably resolved.
WHITFIELD: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Afghanistan is a young democracy but suggested it must act like a democracy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And here to help us understand more about the role of Sharia law is Afghanistan is Azizah al Hibri. She is a leading expert in the U.S. on Islam and professor of law at the University of Richmond and joins us from Washington. Professor, good too see you this morning.
AZIZAH AL HIBRI, PROF OF LAW, UNIV OF RICHMOND: Good morning, how are you?
HARRIS: Great, great. I have to ask you. I'm going to play bad host here for a second because I want to know your thoughts on the end of this at the beginning. What do you think ultimately is going to happen?
AL HIBRI: I really don't know exactly what's going to happen. The situation in Afghanistan is somewhat complicated, because politics and religion have become intertwined in a way which is not really that easy to resolve. I would have liked very much that Muslims callers around the world would have been able to talk to the Afghan religious leaders who are claiming that Islam would require this person to be executed for the change in his belief. That is not really possible when there are political pressures from the outside, but I understand the complexity of the situation.
HARRIS: I sort of hear you saying that on one hand, you feel as though the politics of it and certainly the work, the pressure being brought to bear by the U.S. administration could quite possibly be gumming up the whole affair here. AL HIBRI: I think, in some ways, it might be. On the other hand, I don't know how long it would take for Muslims callers around the world to be able to communicate the Islamic position as many of us understand it, with respect to this issue. I feel very unhappy about the situation, because for me, as a believer, Islam is about freedom of conscience. That's the whole mark of Islam. The Koran itself says there is no coercion in religion, and that if God wanted us all to believe the same thing, he would have decreed it to be so. So the Koran is the supreme document for Muslims. That's what we go by, and I do not understand that we are in a situation now where that hallmark of Islam is being interpreted in different ways.
HARRIS: What is Sharia law? And you tell us one of the things that we should be mindful of is that one should be careful in its application.
AL HIBRI: Yes, well, Sharia law means a little bit differently to different people, so we should be very careful about what we mean when we say Sharia law. If we mean the laws as stated in the Koran, I just have quoted for you some of them and they're very clear.
HARRIS: Yeah.
AL HIBRI: If we mean the interpretation of Koranic verses as enlightened by the example of the prophet, his words and later jurists, that then takes a whole different color because different cultures and different people and different times in history have interpreted certain verses and certain events and certain rules differently and I think that's part of what we're looking at now and part of what is important in the Islamic world today is that we need to revisit a lot of the medieval jurisprudence, which was maybe appropriate for that time, and furthermore, to revisit jurisprudence properly and understand it properly, because some of the rules that these clerics are being, are relying on are rules that have not been fully understood. The whole punishment for Muslims who leave their people is not about change of religion at all, whether Christianity or even lack of belief in God, because God guaranteed for Muslims freedom of faith and freedom of conscience. The whole idea was, if they were in a state of war and this person left and joined the enemy who is fighting them, then he becomes the enemy, and then you fight him like you fight the enemy. That's what needs to be understood.
HARRIS: I can hear all the frustration in your voice, as you talk your way through this, but let's leave it there for now and let's find out how developments turn out on the ground this week in particular. Professor, we appreciate your time. Thank you.
NGUYEN: Well, Tony, it's not the latest fashion statement. It's more than alcohol lie detector, and it is becoming quite popular in some courtrooms but does it really work?
REYNOLDS WOLF, METEOROLOGIST: At this time folks, we have currently 39 degrees in Washington, 30 in Cincinnati and in Chicago 30 degrees. We have a live image out of Chicago as well, where skies this time are partly cloudy, beautiful shot of the Sears tower. We'll have more on your forecast coming up in just a few moments right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: New cell phones keep us connected. They play cool music and even match our wardrobes but they can also be a headache, due to current limitations. But that is all about to change. Welcome to the future of mobility.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's funny because each of these things is supposed to save me time. But because I have to use them all, it actually winds up costing me time. I've got two cell phones. Neither one does everything that I need it to. They both have their pluses and minuses, but unfortunately, there's no way to combine the best aspects of each phone. The systems aren't compatible. If there was just some way to combine them into one device to carry around, I'd be set. To me, the most important thing is to be able to do everything that I need to do on a computer on a handheld device. The technology is out there to do it. I'm just waiting for it.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And so am I, but the single device solution, phone calls, e-mail, web surfing, pictures, organizer, you know, the gadget that does it all, remains the digital holy grail, and I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever be discovered. You bet, says technology analyst Rob Anderly (ph). He says the answer may lie in a new breed of fourth generation or 4G mobile devices.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cell phone is trying to evolve into a personal communications device but something less than a laptop in terms of size, but encompassing all of that in terms of the device.
O'BRIEN: Due out by 2010, 4G comes with promises of full Windows XP capabilities, broadband Internet speeds and a set of worldwide service standards. I'll believe it and buy it when I see it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really supposed to bring everybody together in some type of a Kumbaya (ph) environment and things will work. But be aware, we've had this promise before and I probably wouldn't hold my breath.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And good morning, everyone. Our top stories, look for more scenes like this today and in the week ahead, a sea of humanity in Los Angeles. More than half a million protesters turned out. They want Congress to drop proposed new laws targeting illegal immigrants.
Another Alabama church fire which started Friday night. It burned into Saturday morning. The church was destroyed and the fire labeled suspicious, very suspicious, since the suspects in a string of nine Alabama church fires are all in jail.
And in Chicago, things get hairy at O'Hare airport with too many close calls in takeoffs and landings. Federal investigators are looking into two runway near collisions last week. NGUYEN: Drinking and driving, it is a lethal combination that killed more than 16,000 people last year. Our Adaora Udoji looks at a high tech bracelet, a so-called alcohol lie detector that could help put the brakes on drinking and driving.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this Scranton, Pennsylvania, courtroom, Judge Michael Barrasse doesn't let defendants get away with much, especially those with a record of drinking and driving or other alcohol-related offenses. If he's ordered them to stop drinking, they'd better or armed with cutting edge technology, he'll find out, and when some parolees test him, it isn't pretty.
JUDGE MICHAEL BARRASSE, LACKAWANNA COUNTY COURT: I'm giving you one chance to be honest with me, one chance and that's going to be the determination as to whether you're going to the county or to the state. When was the last time you drank?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Honest to God, I didn't have a drink since I had the bracelet on.
BARRASSE: When's the last time you drank?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About a week ago.
BARRASSE: About a week ago and how many days in a row did you drink, Richard?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just once.
BARRASSE: Richard, how many days in a row did you drink?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two.
UDOJI: How did the judge know? The parolee referred to a bracelet. He's talking about this, a secure continuous remote alcohol monitor or SCRAM bracelet, a new device that monitors a person's alcohol consumption. In other words, you can't lie about what you drink. It's an alcohol lie detector.
BARRASSE: How is your bracelet doing?
UDOJI: The past two years it's spread to hundreds of courtrooms across the country in 36 states. Judge Barrasse's was one of the first.
LISA WHITE, PROBATION OFFICER: The bracelet began to read as the alcohol was --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That would be daily consumption.
WHITE: Right.
UDOJI: Parole officer Lisa White oversees some of the toughest cases of multiple offenders. She takes them through intense treatment, which includes SCRAM reports every day which she shares with the judge. The bracelet shows, despite a court order, this offender was drinking, so he now goes to jail.
BARRASSE: Beforehand, we didn't have that capability. So a person could be on house arrest and they'd just be sitting at home drinking the whole time and you wouldn't know it.
UDOJI: Not anymore. The bracelet collects information all day long, constantly monitoring the wearer's perspiration, looking for alcohol. Watch this black line closely. At 2:01 a.m. it begins to rise. That means it's detecting alcohol. The parolee has started drinking and that information is related to a monitor, then to a data bank which notifies the parole officer. They're also notified if the parolee tampers with the bracelet or takes it off.
BARRASSE: There, you've had a long and checkered career in this courtroom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I know.
UDOJI: Peter Farrell just spent 90 days in jail on his third DUI. Today, the judge orders Farrell, a successful contractor, not to drink and to be certain, he must wear the SCRAM bracelet 24/7 for the next four months. Peter, who struggled with alcoholism says the bracelet worked last time as long as it was on. He started drinking after it came off. He served a jail sentence and is hoping this time, the bracelet will help him keep sober.
PETER FARRELL, DUI OFFENDER: Between probation and the other treatment, and you can still live your life, you can see your children, which is good and you can work and you can earn money and take care of your family. Shane, he's the oldest. When I was in jail I was thinking here I am, you know, I have six kids. I'm 40. I've been drinking since I was like 15. Like enough is enough.
UDOJI: Judge Barrasse says the idea is for Peter and the other 3,000 parolees across the country wearing SCRAM bracelets to stay sober, long enough to learn they can live without alcohol.
BARRASSE: If you couple that with treatment and if we couple that with the external pressure of the court, we have a better chance of a positive outcome.
WHITE: Can I sit here and say that he's going to be a success story? I can hope he is. I can do everything in my power to get him to the agencies he needs to assure that but I can't sit here and say he will be.
UDOJI: Do you think the SCRAM will up his chances?
WHITE: Yes, absolutely it will, absolutely it will.
BARRASSE: How long have you been sober?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's coming on about four months.
BARRASSE: Congratulations.
UDOJI: Judge Barrasse says the bracelets work, though it's too early for hard numbers, and it's too early to tell if it will be enough to help Pete Farrrell help himself. Adaora Udoji, CNN, Scranton, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: OK, you don't want to miss what's coming up next.
NGUYEN: Does that look familiar?
HARRIS: No.
NGUYEN: We're going to be listening to music. You know what this is. It should be familiar. Yeah, "The Simpsons" like you've never seen them before. Stay with us for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: "The Simpsons," they're going to break new ground tonight with a live action open, not the cartoon open, real people. That's supposed to be Bart right there. Kind of looks like him sort of.
HARRIS: I see it.
NGUYEN: The shows opens are legendary because each one ends a little differently. This one definitely different because real actors recreate the familiar cartoon montage scene for scene. The video has been circulating around the Internet in recent days and we had to pick it up as well.
HARRIS: Half of the final four in men's college basketball is set on board. UCLA knocked off Memphis, 50-45 in the Oakland region final. Look at that, big slam! It's the Bruins' first trip back to the final four in 11 years, then LSU with --
NGUYEN: Ousted 'em, just took 'em down.
HARRIS: Big baby Davis (ph) took down Texas, 70-60 here in Atlanta but (INAUDIBLE) LSU hasn't been to the final four since I think Shaq's days in the 1986. So quickly, let's bring Reynolds in here as well. Let's take a look at the brackets. All right, this is the second page for the losers.
NGUYEN: (INAUDIBLE) The bottom half loser bracket. Let's get to the winners real quick, can we.
HARRIS: Yeah, let's get to the winners. Deidre (ph), our director is the...
NGUYEN: (INAUDIBLE) 123 points? Something's rigged.
HARRIS: Reynolds, is that how this works?
WOLF: That's how it's going to work. I don't think mine can go any higher because Duke is out.
HARRIS: Right.
WOLF: At one time mine was looking like this big, big beautiful cloud that just kind of floated away.
NGUYEN: Then the rain came, rain came on. My numbers yesterday that's for sure I'm probably going to go to the bottom of the bracket.
WOLF: So who do you pull for now? That's the big question.
NGUYEN: I got to pull for LSU.
WOLF: I am, too.
HARRIS: He's a folk hero, he's a folk hero.
NGUYEN: Big baby is a folk hero. The state, the people there have been through so much. You want them to come out on top. So there you go, go Tigers! I've said it.
WOLF: All right, well, good times, this morning in New Orleans, not too far from the LSU campus, we've got 49 degrees. In Miami, it is currently into the 50s at this time. We have a live image out of Miami and it looks splendid there this morning, great music, a beautiful town, a good time. If you ever have a chance to get to Miami, by all means it's always a trip. If you happen to make your way up along A1A, you're going to be moving into some other great areas, West Palm Beach, Florida, one thing they need in that part of the world is rain. Unfortunately, they are not getting it. We don't see any kind of rainfall in that part of the world. I'm going to step out of the way for a moment, here we go and push a button there for you so we can tell more of this weather story. Let's get into the sunshine state of Florida where we are seeing the sunshine this morning, the rain again holding off, your highs of the day, 66 for Orlando.
Back up to Charlotte we have 55, Washington 54 degrees, the chance of some scattered showers back into the Appalachians, 55 in St. Louis, 55 in Memphis. As we make our way into the Rockies, 54 in Denver and in San Francisco, a lot of fog, 59 degrees, 63 in San Diego and back over to Texas, San Antonio with 72, with a mix of sunshine and clouds. That is the very latest on your forecast. Let's send it back to you.
HARRIS: All right, Reynolds, thank you.
WOLF: You bet.
HARRIS: In our 9:00 Eastern hour, more clips from the stupid girls video. Have you see this pink? Yeah, yeah, to help you decide - you know you think pink has a message that is worth talking about, young girls will tell us what they think of pink's message, which basically is you know what all of these celebrity images.
NGUYEN: Thin is in, you got to be pretty. HARRIS: It's all about your soul. So wake up the kids, call your friends, we'll be talking about a strong message for early teens. That's today in our 9:00 Eastern hour.
NGUYEN: And leads to our question, how influential are today's music videos? Do they send the wrong message? You got to keep in mind what you may think as an adult when viewing these music videos may be a completely different thing than the teens and tweens are thinking of when they're viewing it. So Zal, one of our viewers wrote in today, says today's music videos are sending a very powerful message to kids about sex and violence. These videos are loaded with sexual images, subliminal messages about rape, gangs and killing. In addition, the music doesn't sound like real music. It's garbage is what Zal says.
HARRIS: And Cleve says there are no wrong messages when it comes to creative expression. Parents who don't responsibly monitor what their children watch, read or listen to send the wrong message.
And then - where's the question again. One more time, our address, weekends@cnn.com. How influential are today's music videos? Do they send the wrong message? Send along your thoughts and we'll read some more of your responses in the next hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
NGUYEN: And speaking of that next hour, it begins in a moment. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Now in the news, near collisions at O'Hare airport in Chicago, it happened twice in two days. The FAA says commercial planes had to abort takeoffs last Tuesday and Thursday to avoid runway accidents. That prompted a federal investigation.
And investigators head out today to investigate the latest Alabama church fire. Yesterday's blaze destroyed a church north of Birmingham. No one was injured. Three college students face charges in nine rural Alabama church fires in February.
Now there are reports out this morning that the Kiribati flag merchant vessel and the USS McCampbell collided 35 miles southeast of the Iraqi coastline in the Arabian Gulf. Two U.S. sailors received minor injuries. We're going to bring you the latest details as they become available to us here at CNN.
HARRIS: And Betty, longtime country super star Buck Owens has died. His Bakersfield sound and hits like "Act Naturally" and "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail" turned country music on its ear in the 1960s, and he was host of the "Hee Haw" program for nearly 20 years. Buck Owens was 76.
Angry demonstrations follow the latest violent flare up in Southwest Pakistan. Two rebels and a paramilitary trooper were killed today at a gun battle at a government-owned gas field. Attacks blamed on tribal militants have intensified recently at state-owned natural gas facilities. NGUYEN: Actor Jet Li is being sued in China for his new movie "Fearless". The film is about a late Chinese Kung Fu master. Relatives say the movie dishonors and misrepresents his life. Producers and distributors are also named in that lawsuit.
From the CNN Center, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING, March 26. Do you believe we're almost into April?
HARRIS: I can't believe how sloppy I am up here. That's what I really can't believe.
NGUYEN: I can believe that. Well, no, I'm just sloppy. It's 8 a.m. here at CNN headquarters in Atlanta. We're trying to get it all together.
HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: Seven a.m. in the heartland. Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Thank you for being with us.
NGUYEN: We do have a lot of ground to cover this half hour, beginning with more public demonstrations expected today on that immigration front. We're going to explain what's driving the protests.
Also New York City delivers some shocking news to 24 families who lost loved ones on 9/11. We'll tell you why the message was so upsetting to some of them.
And later a view of the Iraq war that you've probably not seen before unless you were there yourself and carrying a gun. A senior writer with "GQ" magazine will tell us all about.
HARRIS: The immigration battle reaches a fever pitch with demonstrations from North Carolina to California. More protests are likely today. One is planned in Los Angeles as part of a rally honoring Cesar Chavez, the late farm labor leader.
As many as 500,000 people turned out for a demonstration in Los Angeles yesterday. They're opposed to laws that would make illegal immigration a felony and punish businesses that hire undocumented workers.
The story from CNN's Kareen Wynter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Half a million strong with equally powerful voices. The streets of Los Angeles looked like a sea of humanity. Protestors pounded the pavement in opposition to legislative action against illegal immigrants, said to be 11 million in the United States.
Next week the U.S. Senate will consider a bill that's already cleared the house, one that makes it a felony to be an undocumented worker and penalizes those who help them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Immigrant families don't come here to take what doesn't belong to them. They come here to work and to prosper more than anything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of the parents who brought their children here for a better life. All the people who want an education. All the people who work here and they're all going to be sent back? We have a lot to do for this country, and it's not fair.
WYNTER: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa sharpened the fight with a few strong words for Washington lawmakers are on more lenient reforms.
ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES: There are no illegals here today. The only thing illegal is a proposal that would demonize and criminalize 11 million people!
WYNTER: President Bush says while the government must enforce border security, there are broader proposals on the table: a guest worker program that requires immigrants to register with the government for temporary employment.
The Minuteman Project, a self-appointed border watchdog group, says it supports immigration, only if it's legal.
STEVE EICHLER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MINUTEMAN PROJECT: We're one of the most liberal immigration nations in the world. Millions and millions of people come here, and they think that they can skirt around the law.
WYNTER: No shortcuts, just a shot at the American dream. That's a message protesters say they're sending to Washington.
Kareen Wynter, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: The immigration issue follows President Bush when he goes south of the border this week. He leaves Wednesday for Cancun to meet with Mexican president Vicente Fox. The Mexican leader backs President Bush's efforts to create a guest worker program.
HARRIS: Mexico has some very specific ideas about how the U.S. should handle immigration issues, but on its side of the border, Mexico has a "mind your own business" response to other governments.
CNN's Lisa Sylvester reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A handshake and a peck on the cheek for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Mexico's foreign secretary, Luis Ernesto Derbez, is in Washington, reaffirming his cozy relationship with the Bush administration. LUIS ERNESTO DERBEZ, MEXICAN FOREIGN SECRETARY: The relationship between Mexico and the United States proves very well that not only do we have geographical also ties but friendship ties.
SYLVESTER: Mexico wants to use that friendship to leverage a guest worker program. The Mexican government took out full-page ads on Monday in several U.S. newspapers. In the ads, Mexico says it wants a safe, orderly guest worker program, and it wants to participate in the design, management, supervision, and evaluation of the program.
Listen to what Mexican President Vicente Fox said a few months back.
VICENTE FOX, PRESIDENT OF MEXICO: What we need to do is to define and agree upon how many, in which way, for what sectors of the economy should Mexicans be working in the United States.
SYLVESTER: But critics say Mexico has a double standard. At the same time it wants to help decide U.S. domestic policy, its own constitution forbids meddling from outsiders. Foreigners may not in any way participate in the political affairs of the country.
MICHAEL CUTLER, FORMER SENIOR INS AGENT: They come here, they send members of their government here as well as the president of Mexico, and then they go ahead and make demands on our country in terms of how they're going to treat Mexicans who are in the United States, but if anybody ever attempted to do that in Mexico, I'm certain that they'd be sent packing in short order.
SYLVESTER: Mexico has another double standard. It wants the United States to have an open southern border, but Mexico is notoriously strict about enforcing its border with its own southern neighbors.
(on camera) Mexico's constitution also explicitly says Mexicans will be given preferential treatment over foreigners when it comes to granting employment, concessions and benefits. So Mexico recognizes the rights of its native-born citizens but in many ways is asking the United States not to do the same.
Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Some 9/11 families face a new emotional struggle this morning. Just this weekend, about two dozen families learned for the first time the city of New York has recordings of their loved ones' final words on emergency 911 tapes. The city sent out letters telling families they have the option of receiving a copy of those recordings.
Some families say were blindsided by the revelation and outraged at the way the city handled the notification.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BILL DOYLE, SON DIED ON 9/11: I had one family member call me today, hysterical. She actually fainted. She opened it up in an elevator and she couldn't believe it. Because she never heard from her husband that morning, but apparently he called 911.
They would like to know in a way, not be shocked by a form letter, sent by the city of New York. Why not forewarn them that, you know, we are releasing information. If you get one of these letters, OK, all right, be forewarned.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: A spokesman from the mayor's office released a statement saying, "The city's plan was to advice World Trade Center support organizations on Friday by e-mail of the imminent release of the calls and of the letters that were going to the families. Unfortunately, because of a miscommunication, the e-mails did not go out as planned and instead went out yesterday (Saturday) evening. We sincerely regret the delay."
The city plans to release edited versions of the calls with comments from 911 operators and dispatchers this week. Families have the right to decide if their loved one's voices will be made public.
The news across America now, more questions than answers this morning in Seattle. Six young people shot to death in a Capitol Hill neighborhood home last night. Police aren't sure why but say the shootings were not random. The suspected triggerman killed himself shortly after officers arrived.
In New Jersey, family and friends will gather to say good-bye to two of the victims of Wednesday's tour bus crash in Chile. Hundreds of people, including Governor John Corzine, gathered for a memorial service yesterday. Ten of the victims, all in their 60s and 70s, lived in the same retirement community and were vacationing together.
A 50-acre brush fire near Titusville, Florida, causes some anxious moments. But the situation has stabilized. Calmer winds helped firefighters to gain control and prevent the blaze from spreading. Our affiliate, WFTV, reports two teens have been arrested for allegedly starting the fire.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And no sign of rain for Florida today. Not expecting any showers until possibly later on into the work week. Right now we've got some scattered snow showers in the Rockies and light rain forming up in the northeast. And your complete forecast across the nation is coming up in a few moments.
But Betty, you're up next.
NGUYEN: I sure am.
And take a look at this. A picture might really say more than 1,000 words. How do U.S. troops picture their lives on duty in Iraq? We'll take a visual account, firsthand, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Can working out before bedtime interfere with a good night's sleep? One study published in the "Journal of Physiology and Behavior" studied college students who exercised in the evening and found no significant effect on students falling or staying asleep, but...
DR. RUSSELL ROSENBERG, DIRECTOR, NORTHSIDE HOSPITAL SLEEP INSTITUTE: Come on in.
COSTELLO: Dr. Rosenberg says some types of late workouts may lead to sleeping problems.
ROSENBERG: I do have a slight concern of the lifting of weights at nighttime, and whether some of those weight lifting activities might actually cause some slight discomfort at points in the middle of the night that could wake you up.
COSTELLO: Dr. Rosenberg encourages his patients to exercise but to stop intense workouts three hours before bedtime. This allows the body time to cool down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As you exhale.
COSTELLO: A preliminary study by a Harvard researcher found 20 minutes of yoga may help you fall asleep.
SAT BIR KHALSA, HARVARD RESEARCHER: The subjects who have done the yoga practice on a regular basis have actually improved their insomnia.
COSTELLO: Carol Costello, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Hey, look at Chicago. Hey, look at Chicago this morning. Isn't that beautiful?
NGUYEN: Beautiful morning, yes. What a way to wake up.
HARRIS: Is that Lake Shore Boulevard in downtown?
NGUYEN: I can't see that.
HARRIS: Michigan Ave.?
NGUYEN: All I see is buildings. You've got some major eyesight.
HARRIS: Well, not really. But yes, of course, Lake Michigan. Thank you, procedure (ph). Obviously, Lake Michigan.
NGUYEN: Yes. We knew that. HARRIS: We'll have your complete weather forecast in just a couple of moments. But first a check of our top stories this morning.
NGUYEN: A huge crowd, estimated at half a million strong, marching through the streets of Los Angeles. They were protesting legislation in Congress that would crack down on illegal immigrants and penalize those who hire them.
And in Chicago, we just saw a picture of the city. Well, two near collisions at O'Hare Airport have triggered a federal investigation. The FAA says pilots had to abort takeoffs twice last week to avoid accidents. The FAA says it looks like air traffic controllers were to blame.
HARRIS: Reynolds Wolf upstairs in the CNN Weather Center. Boy, I hope you use that shot of Chicago again.
NGUYEN: Beautiful.
HARRIS: It was beautiful.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: We'll take it, thank you, Reynolds.
HARRIS: You bet you.
A new video by pop star Pink has young girls talking. Here's a sample, a taste for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PINK (singing): I'm so glad that I'll never fit in; that will never be me. Outcast and girls with ambition, that's whey want to be
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Very dramatic.
NGUYEN: Nice tan, too, by the way.
HARRIS: Well, the song is called "Stupid Girls", and it has young girls laughing at those celebrity images of perfection and thinness. Well, get this: there are studies showing girls as young as 8 are worrying about what their bodies look like.
NGUYEN: Yes.
HARRIS: It's true. I've got an 8-year-old.
HARRIS: Young at 8. It's sad.
HARRIS: And it's conversation in the lunch room, yes.
In the 9 a.m. Eastern hour we will show you more of the "Stupid Girls" video, and young girls will be here to tell us what they think about it all. So wake up the kids, call your friends. In our 9 a.m. hour we're talking about this strong new message from Pink.
NGUYEN: And straight ahead, get a rare and firsthand glimpse at how U.S. Troops picture their daily lives on the front lines in Iraq. That's going to happen in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Over the last three years, most Americans have known Iraq only through newspapers or on television. What you're looking at now is Iraq as seen through the eyes and the lenses of the men and women serving there.
Now, "This is Our War", it's a collection of what troops see on the front lines and in mess halls in their day-to-day life in Iraq. Their pictures, their stories in their own words.
"GQ" magazine senior writer David Friedman helped put it all together and he joins us now from New York to talk about this. We welcome you. Good morning.
DAVID FRIEDMAN, SENIOR WRITER, "GQ" MAGAZINE: Thanks for being here.
NGUYEN: Well, why did you want to put this together? It's truly a touching collection, but what sparked you to gather these pictures and put them together and get them from the soldiers themselves?
FRIEDMAN: Well, I was over there a couple years ago doing a story for "GQ" magazine, and I was up one night with the National Guardsmen from Florida and they were all downloading their pictures from their cameras onto their computers. And I'd never even thought about the fact that, you know, in a way this is our first digital war. All of these guys, all of the soldiers have become photographers, because they all brought their own cameras with them, and sort of seeing their pictures made me think that there was -- there might be a lot more to see.
NGUYEN: You know, sometimes as a journalist, it's really hard to get military personnel to really open up and talk to us about what they're experiencing. A lot of times they're limited in what they can say. But obviously, a picture can say so much more. Did you find that to be true with these pictures?
FRIEDMAN: Yes, definitely. That was the whole idea behind "This is Our War." As a journalist, there's always a layer, a separation between you and your subject, and this was a way to just sort of remove that, and let these guys tell their own story. And it just worked.
NGUYEN: These photographs are absolutely profound. And the fact that they were taken by the men and women on the ground themselves really is touching and sends the message home.
Let's talk about a bunch of these photos. Want to go through especially one from, one of the men who never came back, Lance Corporal Taylor Pryzynsky (ph). Tell me about this photo. FRIEDMAN: To me, this is one of the most moving pictures in the book. It's a picture of a kid named Taylor Pryzynsky (ph), who's a Marine out of Cleveland. And he was killed about a year ago in a roadside bomb in Iraq.
And you know, you see formal pictures of these guys in the newspaper, but this is a picture that really shows what it would be like to know this kid. It's the last picture that exists of him, as far as his family knows. And they actually sent us the picture and were really happy to be able to show this side of him to the public.
NGUYEN: I just have goosebumps looking at this and hearing you. What's he doing there?
FRIEDMAN: I think he's cleaning his weapon and hanging out and listening to music and just being a 20-year-old kid.
NGUYEN: Doing what a lot of them do over there.
FRIEDMAN: Yes.
NGUYEN: The realities of war, though, is something that you really touch on in this, and I have to warn our viewers that what we're going to show can be a little graphic. This is a picture of an Iraqi Guardsman killed in a suicide bombing. Tell me about that one.
FRIEDMAN: This was taken by a soldier who arrived on the scene just after the bombing, and you know, there's a body right there. And these are the things that soldiers are seeing every day, and the things that feel significant to them, so this guy just took this picture, and sent it to us.
NGUYEN: Here's something about the person who took the picture and what he said about it that really struck home with me. He said, "I can still smell that day, the burning flesh, the burnt hair, the explosives in the air. It's nothing that you ever get used to."
FRIEDMAN: Well, I think that from talking to the guys, each one of these pictures in "This is Our War" is accompanied by a caption that comes from an interview with the photographer.
And they said that a lot of times, they couldn't think about pictures like this and images like that while they were in Iraq, and it was when they got back and started looking at these pictures that they were able to really deal with what all happened to them over there.
NGUYEN: Let's move quickly, because you have a lot of remarkable photos. One of a nurse treating a U.S. soldier named Adams. Tell me about that one.
FRIEDMAN: That, again, it was a remarkable photograph. A friend of this soldier's was on the scene soon after he was hit by a roadside bomb, and he captured him being evacuated onto a helicopter and treated, and then again flown out to Germany, and you know, it really... NGUYEN: Did he survive?
FRIEDMAN: He did survive.
NGUYEN: That's good news.
FRIEDMAN: His life was on the line.
NGUYEN: Yes, as you can see right there.
You know, in the midst of all of this, it is a war. But at the same time many soldiers are trying to just have a little fun, too, take a break from it to gain a sense of, I guess, reality and take their minds off of it. We got a picture of one of them having a little fun in Saddam's pool.
FRIEDMAN: Yes, this was three medics who were guarding one of Saddam's palaces on a 130-degree day, and they just figured, maybe we should take a little swim today, even though their superior officers told them not to. And there's this great picture of them sort of gleefully jumping off into -- you know, they're all caught in midair, and they're going into the pool. And later on when they got caught they said they were taking water samples.
NGUYEN: I'm glad you described it. There's the picture. We finally put in up. Yes, water samples. Like that.
Wish we could go through every single picture, because it is really a remarkable collection, a profound book. David Friedman, writer for "GQ" magazine, thank you so much for compiling this and sharing it with us today.
FRIEDMAN: Thanks for having me.
NGUYEN: No problem. Thank you. Take care.
And we want to invite to you stick with CNN SUNDAY MORNING. There's much more to come. But we're going to take a quick break right now.
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