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Insurgents Attack Holy Shiite Mosque in Samarra; Soldiers Body Found at Fort Hood; U.S. Accuses Iran of Arming Taliban in Afghanistan
Aired June 13, 2007 - 08:59 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. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins. Hi, everybody.
Watch even come into the NEWSROOM live on this Wednesday morning. It's June 13th.
Here's what's on the rundown.
Attacked again. An Iraqi Shiite shrine is bombed for the second time in two years. Now there's concern ethnic tensions could explode.
HARRIS: Iranian-Taliban ties. The U.S. State Department directly links weapons from Iran to Afghan rebel fighters.
COLLINS: And the force of nature unleashed. Storms strike the Southeast.
We're looking out for more severe weather in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: At the top this hour, one of the holiest Shiite Muslim shrines in Iraq bombed again. Fear this morning that sectarian divisions already tearing the country apart will worsen. Police say insurgents targeted the remaining minarets of the mosque.
It is the same holy site that was attacked in February of last year. That attack started a wave of sectarian clashes that hasn't stopped.
Live now to Baquba and our Karl Penhaul.
Karl, good morning to you. What are you hearing about who might be responsible for this attack?
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, over the last few moments we have been talking to General Mixon. He's the commander of the U.S. forces in northern Iraq, including the area around Samarra, and he says there is very clear evidence at this stage that this was an inside job.
He was referring to the fact that that mosque is guarded by a mixed Iraqi security force, mixed both Shia and Sunni Muslims. And so what he says he believes is that some of those security guards were, in fact, insurgents posing as security guards, and that they either took the explosives in themselves, or allowed other al Qaeda insurgents into the mosque area to blow up those minarets.
He said there is certainly no evidence that these mosques were hit by mortar rounds or any other thing, which leads him to that conclusion that it was an inside job. But he does say over the next few hours U.S. explosives experts will be examining the remains to find out exactly how the explosion occurred, what kind of explosives were used, and how the damage was carried out -- Tony.
HARRIS: Well, what -- what impact is this likely to have on sectarian tension?
PENHAUL: That certainly is the big question right now, and that is something that I asked General Mixon. He said that so far, in Samarra, at least, he had no reports of sectarian clashes as a result of this latest bombing of that Golden Dome Mosque.
He did, however, say that the Iraqi army had sent or was sending a an additional brigade to the area to ensure that they could keep the peace. And overall, he said that he believed that the social and political makeup of the region was now much more cohesive this year than it was at the same time last year, and he says that he hopes that that will keep a damper on the situation. He says that he hopes that that will ensure there isn't an explosion of Shia-on-Sunni violence -- Tony.
HARRIS: CNN's Karl Penhaul with U.S. troops in Baquba.
Karl, thank you.
COLLINS: The search for a missing soldier ends. The search for answers about his disappearance and death just beginning. The body of Sergeant Lawrence Sprader found last night on a rugged training range at Fort Hood, Texas.
CNN's Ed Lavandera is joining us now live with more on this from Dallas.
Ed, how does something like this happen?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, that's what they're trying to get to the bottom of today. And perhaps this autopsy that is scheduled to be done today on the body of the army sergeant will lend some clues. But we can take you back to last Friday, when Sergeant Sprader was on a -- on a test, a map reading, a solo drill on map reading and navigation skills on the Fort Hood post.
Just to give you an idea of what this place is like, it is a massive, massive Army post. And much of it very rural, rugged terrain. Much of this area is used for situations just like this, being able to essentially be sent out in the middle of nowhere and test -- have these kinds of skills tested. The officials there at Fort Hood say the last time that they heard from the Sergeant Sprader was Friday afternoon, after the drill had been complete. And Sprader and several others had become disoriented and lost their way.
Sprader said that he wanted to continue on to get back to the rallying point that -- where he wanted to be able to finish this drill. That was the last they heard of him.
So there had been hundreds of soldiers scouring thousands of acres on the Army post for the last four days. And late last night we got word that his body had been found and that he had died.
What exactly happened to him is unclear. However, it has been very hot here in Texas, hot and humid. Perhaps he wasn't prepared to be out there in the wilderness for that long. So maybe that played a factor.
Of course, it's too early to tell at this point. Officials at Fort Hood have scheduled a press conference for later on this morning, and perhaps we'll learn a little bit more about what happened over the last few days with him later on this morning -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. And Ed, just quickly, I know that as a soldier, you go through many different levels of training, survival training and so forth.
Was this the first time he had ever gone through this type of training, navigational and otherwise?
LAVANDERA: I'm not sure about that. The way that the training was described to us is it was described as a basic map reading and navigation skills drill. So where exactly this fit on his level of training and how often he had done this, I'm not aware of at this point.
COLLINS: OK. All right.
Ed Lavandera following the story for us.
Ed, thanks so much.
HARRIS: And developing this morning, Washington levels new allegations against Tehran. A top U.S. diplomat tells CNN there is new proof that Iran is arming the Taliban in Afghanistan. He says that evidence is "irrefutable".
So what does that mean?
CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr has been working on this story.
Barbara, good morning to you.
We have heard about the Iranian weapons in Iraq. Now the U.S. government says the same thing is happening in Afghanistan? BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: You bet, Tony. This is something that the U.S. military actually has been talking about for the last several weeks, but now the undersecretary of state, Nicholas Burns, talking about this earlier this morning on CNN. This now moves it all into the diplomatic arena, new charges that Iran is now sending weapons to the Taliban inside Afghanistan.
Have a listen to Mr. Burns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICHOLAS BURNS, UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE: Well, it's certainly coming from the government of Iran. It's coming from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps command, which is a basic unit of the Iranian government. That is the organization that is supplying arms to all the other different militant groups in the Middle East.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: So what has the military found inside Afghanistan, Tony? Well, in the last couple of months, they have intercepted at least two convoys in western Afghanistan. And just take a look at the map. That's up against Iran.
Two convoys of Iranian weapons. What they say is there have been guns, explosives, even explosives designed to look like U.S. explosives with false packaging all coming in from Iran.
They believe it's coming basically from Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. That's a paramilitary organization. But, of course, the key question is, is it really the central government of Iran that's behind all of it now, trying to expand its influence and move into the fight in Afghanistan -- Tony.
HARRIS: And that's the point at which this discussion has always seemed to bog down, Barbara.
But let me take you back to the weekend. Senator Joe Lieberman suggested the United States should attack Iran because of its involvement in Iraq. Now it appears, according to Ambassador Burns, that Iran is involved in Afghanistan.
Is there any talk at the Pentagon of launching some sort of a strike?
STARR: Well, no. Not at this point. You know, really not.
One of the problems is, if it's the Revolutionary Guard Corps, if you cannot prove irrevocably that it is the central government of Iran, what's the target list? What do you bomb? What do you go after?
And there is a strong feeling in the Bush administration that if you were to go after that kind of situation with some kind of bombing mission, it might only push the Iranian people closer to the regime that the U.S. would like to see discredited at this point -- Tony. HARRIS: Following this story at the Pentagon for us, Barbara Starr.
Barbara, thank you.
STARR: Sure.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: This next story, boy, a horrific crime in Los Angeles to tell you about and show you pictures of. A disabled man killed, and police are asking for your help. But caution here. This is disturbing surveillance we are about to show you.
It was May 29th. A man walked behind 41-year-old James McKinney, hitting him in the head with that baseball bat. McKinney suffered massive head injuries. He died on Sunday.
Police describe the suspect as a Latino between 16 and 20 years. If you have any information, please call the Los Angeles Police Department.
Legal limbo for a Georgia man imprisoned for having sex with a fellow teen.
On Monday, a judge ordered that Genarlow Wilson be released. He's serving a 10-year sentence for having consensual sex with another high schooler.
He was 17, she was 15. That offense has since been reduced to a misdemeanor, but Georgia's attorney general challenging the judge's ruling now and has blocked his release.
The bottom line, Wilson stays in prison, at least until his bond hearing. That is now scheduled for July 5th.
HARRIS: So here's the question. Is Gaza sliding into chaos? Fresh fighting as Hamas claims more ground. Even a protest for peace isn't spared.
That's ahead.
COLLINS: An epidemic of violence gripping south Chicago streets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Enrique was a very big part of me. I miss him very much. There's a pain in my heart. He was my baby.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Kids killed for crossing gang lines. Ahead in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: Politics New Hampshire style. Paying dividends for GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.
Details straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: They are handing out money in Washington.
HARRIS: OK.
COLLINS: But we're keeping them honest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can get a farm subsidy check for growing a crop, you can get a farm subsidy check for not growing a crop. You can get a farm subsidy check if you live on the farm, if you work on the farm. Or if you're not even alive, you can get a subsidy check.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: I want to be on a farm. Dollars down on the farm and elsewhere coming your way in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: He's still not officially in the race, but actor and former senator Fred Thompson sounding more like a presidential candidate every day. The "Law & Order" star has formed a presidential exploratory committee, and he is expected to announce his candidacy this summer.
He told Jay Leno he would like the nation's top job, but Thompson stopped short of making an announcement on "The Tonight Show".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Would you like the job of president of the United States?
FRED THOMPSON, FMR. SENATOR: I have never craved the job of president, but I want to do some things that only a president can do. So the answer is yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Do you think he had a planned answer?
Leno asked Thompson about his reaction to the political waters. He says he found them warm.
HARRIS: The road to the White House running through New Hampshire. And it appears GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is on the rise.
CNN's senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How are you doing this morning, ma'am?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fine, thank you.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Look who's moving on up.
ROMNEY: I would appreciate your help.
CROWLEY: Mitt Romney, former governor, former business tycoon, former savior of the Olympics is on top in the latest CNN-WMUR poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire.
Twenty-eight percent of Republican primary voters picked Romney, up 11 points from April. Both Rudy Giuliani and John McCain dropped 9 points, down to 20. The not-yet-running Fred Thompson jumped into double digits.
It is Romney's first time at the top of the polls. How did he do that?
For starters, he did this.
ROMNEY: I believe in the people of America. Free American people are the source of this land's great strength.
CROWLEY: Since the end of February, Romney, who has a lot of money and not much national name recognition, has poured more than $700,000 worth of ads into New Hampshire.
ROMNEY: And how many years has it been? How have the Scotts (ph) been?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good, good.
ROMNEY: Where is your sweetie?
CROWLEY: And he's backed up his air time with an intense ground game. The head of the state's Republican Party says Romney earned his numbers with politics, New Hampshire style.
FERGUS CULLEN, NEW HAMPSHIRE GOP CHAIRMAN: Governor Romney has been running the most traditional campaign here in New Hampshire, with the most town hall meeting style events, talking to likely Republican primary voters.
You know, you reap what you sow, and I think he's seeing the benefits of two years of hard work here.
ROMNEY: I love to be here with some New Hampshirites, even though I'm from Massachusetts...
CROWLEY: The poll shows Romney draws most of his support from New Hampshire Republicans who live closest to Massachusetts, and from conservatives, the base of the party, who support him 2:1 over anyone else.
But despite all that, there are plenty of numbers indicating what goes up can come down.
KEATING HOLLAND, CNN POLLING DIRECTOR: Only about 6 percent of Republican primary voters tell us that they've definitely made their minds up. Most of them say they really don't have any clear idea of who they're going to support.
CROWLEY: And while they found Mitt Romney the most likable of the candidates, Republican primary voters think Rudy Giuliani has the best chance of beating a Democratic nominee. And when asked which candidate is the most believable, they picked John McCain.
This race is not just very early. It is very unsettled. Nobody should get comfortable.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Kids pull a stolen safe from the water. Sunken treasure.
What was inside? We'll tell you in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: A San Diego man arrested in the shooting death of his pregnant girlfriend. Police say Roger McDowel (ph) walked into a doctor's office carrying roses. His girlfriend worked there. Donna Wright (ph) asked if the flowers were her. Authorities say that's when McDowel (ph) opened fire. Wright (ph) died at the scene.
About an hour later, police say McDowel (ph) called them to surrender. He said he admitted killing Wright (ph).
COLLINS: An anti-violence march in Chicago. The city has seen a staggering 31 murders of school-aged children since last September. It's an epidemic that has kids and parents running scared.
CNN's Gary Tuchman explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A woman grieves with her father. She has lost the youngest of her five children.
Fourteen-year-old Enrique Chavez was murdered. His mother, Soccoro, says the last thing he ever told her was that he loved her.
On this block on the southside of Chicago, Enrique was shot in the head and then beaten by a group of young men. Police believe it was gang related.
(on camera): Como estas? How are you?
SOCCORO TOSCANO, MOTHER OF VICTIM (through translator): Enrique was a very big part of me. I miss him very much. There's a pain in my heart. He was my baby.
TUCHMAN (voice over): He was also the 29th youth to be killed in Chicago this school year. Just hours after that numbered 30, when 17- year-old Darryl Mitchell (ph) was shot in the back. And this week, the 31st victim, 14-year-old Roberto Doran (ph).
The murders of so many children in one school year have stunned the city. Father Ed Shea is consoling Enrique's family.
REV. ED SHEA, CONSOLING VICTIM'S FAMILY: It's awful. Its never -- it's never going to be OK for me. I'm never going to say, oh, that's the way it is.
TUCHMAN: Even by the numbingly sad standards of the school year, Enrique's story is hard to believe.
He was an eighth grader at the school right down the street from his home, but his family acknowledges he wasn't there on many days. He cut school one day last week and took his uncle's van on a joyride. It flipped over when someone started firing a gun.
Enrique got out of the car and was shot and then viciously pummeled. His mother says the neighborhood is a nightmare.
(on camera): (SPEAKING SPANISH)? Much violence in this neighborhood?
TOSCANO: Yes.
TUCHMAN: (SPEAKING SPANISH)? You're scared to be here?
TOSCANO: Mucho.
TUCHMAN: Just a half block from Enrique's house is a well- established line of demarcation. The parents in this neighborhood tell their kids they are never to go on the other side of this viaduct. They tell their children there are gangs there who will want to hurt or try to kill them.
Not so surprisingly, the parents on that side of the viaduct say the same thing about this neighborhood.
(voice over): Enrique's murder happened on the other side of that viaduct. Enrique's friend, 13-year-old Javier (ph), lives next door. He has heard the gang warnings from his parents.
(on camera): Now, why would they want to shoot you? You are just a kid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because sometimes they say that they don't care about -- about your age or nothing. When it comes to something -- when it comes to doing something, they do it.
TUCHMAN (voice over): So Javier's (ph) mother has taken radical measures.
(on camera): I mean, when he's not doing activities, what is he doing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Staying inside the house.
TUCHMAN: Is he not allowed to leave?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is not allowed to come outside.
TUCHMAN: Ever?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
TUCHMAN (voice over): Thirty-one youngsters murdered in one school year, and there are still a few days of school left.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: New allegations Iran is arming the Taliban. Washington tells CNN it is the smoking gun. But what does that mean?
A closer look ahead in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: A rare sighting. At least one alligator on the loose north of Atlanta. It doesn't look so small either, does he?
The man who spotted it ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BELL RINGING)
COLLINS: There you have it. It must be Wednesday.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
COLLINS: Did you hear the Wednesday ring?
HARRIS: No.
COLLINS: The opening bell? Yes, it kind of sounds the same every day, doesn't it?
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good once again, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris.
Hi.
COLLINS: Hi.
HARRIS: Welcome back. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
We are following this developing story out of Iraq for you. One of the holiest Shiite Muslim shrines in the country has been bombed again. Police say insurgents targeted the remaining minarets of the mosque. A top U.S. commander in Iraq tells CNN there is evidence that the bombing was an inside job. Fifteen Iraqi security forces members have been arrested.
Elsewhere in Iraq, the U.S. military says two more U.S. soldiers have been killed. They died in separate roadside bomb attacks in Baghdad over the past two days. That brings the U.S. death toll in Iraq to 3,512.
Let's talk more about the mosque attack and everything else going on in Iraq.
Michael Holmes is with us.
How many times to Iraq?
Eight?
Nine?
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, eight.
Eight.
Nine will be later this year.
HARRIS: And you're going back later this year?
HOLMES: Yes.
HARRIS: All right, now, I was offering as a possible explanation for this attack and the fact that it might be an inside job -- the early indications of that anyway -- that perhaps corruption pays better for these officers in the Iraqi security forces than, you know, learning the trade, doing the hard and dangerous work of being a police officer.
And you're saying maybe not.
Hold up, Tony.
HOLMES: Yes, I don't think it's as much that. I think that what you're talking about here is ideology, as well. And you're also talking about intimidation. The feeling is that Al Qaeda was likely behind this. They're the only ones, really, with the motivation to do it and to try again to stir up the sectarian violence that we've seen on the rise again in the last couple of months.
HARRIS: What do you think this portends for more sectarian violence? I mean are we bracing for another after another after the latest wave of violence, sectarian? HOLMES: Well, when the Dome -- the Golden Dome was blown up, you remember last year...
HARRIS: Yes.
HOLMES: ... in February, there was an absolute blood bath on the streets, as Shias took revenge on Sunnis.
HARRIS: You pointed to that as a seminal moment...
HOLMES: It was. It was a...
HARRIS: ... in the chronology...
HOLMES: Absolutely.
HARRIS: ... of Iraq.
HOLMES: It was a turning point.
HARRIS: Yes.
HOLMES: It was a turning point in what became, really, the low level civil war that we saw -- we've been seeing.
Now, the fear is, of course, that what was left of this very revered place -- this is one of the holiest places for Shia Islam -- and for them to get in there again and destroy the last, really...
HARRIS: Yes.
HOLMES: ... standing bits of it, there are fears -- and the leaders like even Muqtada al-Sadr and Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani -- are calling for calm. They called for calm last time, too.
HARRIS: Yes, yes, yes.
HOLMES: And it didn't work. And we've already been seeing a big increase in the last few months in sectarian killings. There were 750 last month. There's 250 odd so far this month. This is just the murders, the sectarian murders. That doesn't count bomb victims and the like.
HARRIS: Yes.
HOLMES: And the fear is, of course, that this bloodletting will pick up even further.
HARRIS: Michael, you have to talk to us, because you've been there so many times, you have to talk to us about the level of infiltration. We know that U.S. troops, coalition forces are working, as best they can, to weed out the bad guys.
HOLMES: Well, they do. They have what they call MIT teams, which is transition teams that work with the local security forces to train them and the like. And there is all sorts of filtering things that are in place to try to weed out the bad guys before they get in.
HARRIS: Yes.
HOLMES: It doesn't work. It doesn't work. The bad guys, the security forces, mostly the police, partly the national police and partly the army, are infiltrated by -- by insurgent groups, infiltrated even by Al Qaeda -- where they can control what these guys do -- whether it's a matter of them turning their heads away and looking the other direction or whether they're actively involved.
And there is absolute hard evidence that Iraqi police, for example, have been directly involved in killing Sunnis, in particular, as part of death squads.
HARRIS: And to pick up on that point, now we get word that generals are actually -- and commanders are actually negotiating, talking to tribal leaders in some of the neighborhoods and communities to actually arm some of the Sunnis to defend their -- their corner of Iraq. What...
HOLMES: Well, of course, the risk in doing that is that the Sunnis are going to use those guns and turn them back on the U.S....
HARRIS: Yes.
HOLMES: Or turn them on Shias as part of the revenge killings that go on.
But I've got to say that, you know, I'm actually a big fan of General Petraeus. I think that the guy has great ideas. Now, embracing tribal leaders, getting involved in these JSSes, putting units in the middle of something, these are great ideas for fighting an insurgency.
The question and the fear is, is it too late?
Is it too late?
Have things gone too far?
If General Petraeus was in charge three years ago...
HARRIS: Perhaps.
HOLMES: ... you know, to be honest, I think we would be in a different place right now.
HARRIS: Michael, great to see you.
I know you've got to get downstairs and do your show.
HOLMES: Yes.
BLITZER: But thanks for taking the time to talk to us.
HOLMES: Good to see you.
HARRIS: Oh, good to see you, man.
COLLINS: Tensions build and so does Washington's case against Iran. Earlier this morning, a senior U.S. diplomat told CNN Washington now has proof Iran is arming the Taliban in Afghanistan. The militant group has been regaining strength there after the U.S.-led war ousted them from power after the 9/11 attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICHOLAS BURNS, UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE: We have substantial evidence -- General Pete Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said about six weeks ago that the Iranians have been transferring arms to the Taliban inside Afghanistan. Some of those arms shipments have been intercepted by NATO forces. It's quite surprising because, as you remember, the Iranians had been -- had said they were the mortal enemies of the Taliban in 2001 and 2001. But there's irrefutable -- irrefutable evidence the Iranians are now doing this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Burns said NATO must do something to halt the shipments. Washington has long accused Iran of arming insurgents in Iraq.
HARRIS: Keeping track of airline inconveniences -- a passenger's rights group just out with a report card this hour.
Overall, some major carriers getting Fs. American rated the worst in dealing with stranded passengers, United and US Airways also failing grades. Overall, Delta, Continental and JetBlue are barely getting by. They get Ds for their overall performance.
The top overall grades go to Hawaiian Airlines, Aloha Airlines and Southwest.
The non-scientific survey of media reports and eyewitness accounts was compiled by the Coalition for An Airline Passengers Bill of Rights.
OK.
Did I got through that OK?
There was a lot there.
All right.
COLLINS: You did good.
HARRIS: Was that all right?
COLLINS: Chad Myers joining us now -- Chad, as we talk about these -- this airline report card, we know that at least here in Atlanta, quite a few delays because of weather yesterday.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Exactly. People are now so backed up because they couldn't get on their flight yesterday, they all got in hotels last night. Now they're trying to get back through security. And security lines in Atlanta an hour-and-a-half long.
Now, that's not when you're flying through, because you've already gone through your own security line. But if you're getting out of a cab or your car or whatever in Atlanta and trying to get through the airport, it may take up to an hour-and-a-half to get through Hartsfield/Jackson this morning.
WXIA, our affiliate there, showing the tower. That's the brand new tower out there. And planes getting off on time and getting on the tarmac on time. But some people aren't getting to their planes because they're standing in a very frustrating long line this morning.
So if you're planning on flying out today, maybe that two hour -- remember, they say always get there two hours ahead of time?
That's a really good idea, maybe two-and-a-half, at least for a while, until those lines start to go down.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Out of this world -- Atlantis astronauts plan to go on their second space walk a few hours from now. They'll be floating outside the International Space Station. Meanwhile, NASA is looking at a low tech fix for their high tech shuttle. They've ruled out the old duct tape to reattach thermal...
COLLINS: The old standby.
HARRIS: Yes, yes, yes. It works on everything -- to reattach that thermal blanket that peeled back during launch.
Now they're leaning toward -- listen to this, Heidi -- having an astronaut whip out a sewing kit that uses stainless steel wires or they may use wire ties and adhesives to secure the blanket. Officials are also deciding whether to repair -- whether it would be done by Friday or even Sunday.
COLLINS: It sounds like something out of a story book -- kids find a sunken treasure. And, yes, they do the right thing.
Reporter John Klekamp of CNN affiliate News 12 New Jersey has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY NEWS 12 NEW JERSEY)
JOHN KLEKAMP, NEWS 12 NEW JERSEY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eleven-year-old Kyle Botbyl and his 8-year-old neighbor D.J. Were cooling off in Greenwood Lake last Saturday when Kyle stepped on something hard.
KYLE BOTBYL, FOUND SAFE: The safe was about right here. I just tied a rope around it and we pulled it out.
KLEKAMP: It was this 40 pound safe -- damaged but still locked shut. Apparently a frustrated thief had tossed the metal box off the dock.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the kids came running in the house and said that Kyle found some treasure.
KLEKAMP: With the help of an older brother and a pick ax, Kyle was able to try the safe open.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I laughed. I'm like yes, right. Whatever. They were all standing there holding jewelry, claiming what they wanted to keep.
KLEKAMP (on camera): As sunken treasures go, the safe was found in water that really isn't very deep. And the contents, dollar wise, probably not all that expensive. But to the family missing the safe and the jewelry inside, it was priceless.
(voice-over): Sheryl and Jay Cahill reported the safe stolen last October and after eight months figured they'd never see it or Sheryl's jewelry again -- baubles that included her grandmother's irreplaceable engagement ring.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we returned it, she was actually crying.
JAY CAHILL, OWNER OF RECOVERED SAFE: It is pretty amazing.
SHERYL CAHILL, OWNER OF RECOVERED SAFE: Yes.
J. CAHILL: I mean it's like -- to find it in the water, you know?
My guys that work with me says you'll never find that.
KLEKAMP: A water-faded account number also found in the safe, plus a call to a local bank, helped Kyle's family return the stolen booty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it was a happy ending to a treasure hunt story.
KLEKAMP: Kyle receive a $100 reward for returning the plundered jewelry. We're told he put in it a bank, not a safe.
In Hewitt, New Jersey, I'm John Klekamp, reporting for CNN.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HARRIS: Accused of smuggling illegal immigrants, soldiers under arrest.
Could text messages hold the key in this investigation? A closer look coming up for you in THE NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK. We just want to remind you, we're pod casting today. Great for us, great for you. Really. Different.
The pod cast is just a little different. We get to do some things, share with you some stories that may not make the big newscast from 9:00 until 12:00 weekdays here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Take us with you anywhere on your iPod. We're talking again about the CNN NEWSROOM pod cast, available to you 24/7 right there on your iPod.
COLLINS: President Bush and his immigration reforms -- he returns from Capitol Hill apparently empty-handed. He went there to lobby fellow Republicans to resurrect the measure. There is no sign he made any headway.
Many Republicans oppose the reforms, saying they provide amnesty to illegal immigrants.
In an odd twist, the president's proposal has strong support from Democrats.
HARRIS: New details now on the case against three Texas National Guardsmen accused of running an illegal immigrant smuggling ring.
CNN's Ed Lavandera has more.
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ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The cell phone text message offered the Private First Class Jose Rodrigo Torres a lucrative deal. Federal authorities say last Wednesday, Sergeant Julio Cesar Pacheco sent these words: "We need to take 24 people to make that happen and you will get 3,500.
Does that sound good?"
Torres replied: "Twenty-four will be tough to fit, but I'll try."
The next day, federal authorities say Torres picked up 24 illegal immigrants in Laredo and drove them in a van north along Interstate 35. According to those authorities, he managed to get around a Border Patrol checkpoint with the help of a third National Guardsmen, Sergeant Clarence Hodge.
DON DEGABRIELLE, U.S. ATTORNEY: These 24 individuals and Mr. Torres and that van were actually never subjected to the typical immigration check that most people are subject to that go through the checkpoint.
LAVANDERA: The van kept pushing towards San Antonio, until Border Patrol agents stopped Torres near the small town of Katula and discovered the illegal immigrants.
They had done this before. According to court documents, the three men organized about seven other smuggling runs and more were in the works. The day they were busted, Sergeant Hodge allegedly sent Torres a text message that said: "You want to do one tomorrow? They supplying the van."
Torres wrote back: "Tell them I'll only do one run at no more than 20 people at $150 a person. And I want to leave at 1930 hours. And I'll go to San Antonio if they want."
DEGABRIELLE: It's unfortunate when members of law enforcement, whose job it is is to help us protect the border and maintain border security, are alleged to have violated the very laws that they're helping us to protect.
LAVANDERA: Texas National Guard officials say they're disappointed and that any breach of the public's trust will be thoroughly investigated.
(on camera): Federal authorities won't say if these three men were operating alone or if they were part of a bigger smuggling operation. But in the complaint against the men, three of the illegal immigrants in that van say they were charged up to $2,000 to be smuggled.
(voice-over): The three accused have not entered pleas in court. Federal authorities describe Julio Pacheco as the ringleader, a far cry from the soldier who received a Purple Heart for injuries he suffered in Iraq.
His family says people shouldn't rush to judgment.
BENITO PACHECO, ACCUSED SOLDIER'S BROTHER: I don't want them to hurt his reputation because of he said/she said. Just get the facts and take it from there. My brother, to me, is an American soldier. He's a hero to many people. And I don't want that to change, too. He will always be a hero in my heart.
LAVANDERA: Big money flows in the underworld of human smuggling and the arrest of three soldiers is a reminder that the temptation of easy money always lurks on the border.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.
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COLLINS: Lucky to be alive after an amazing ordeal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very well. Maybe this is what it's, you know, like to die. I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: He lived to tell the tale. You'll hear it ahead in THE CNN NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: So billions of your tax dollars are going into farm subsidies. But not all that cash ends up down on the farm.
CNN's Joe Johns is keeping them honest.
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JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): So that's where your federal farm subsidy dollars are going -- not just to the little guys, small time family farmers like Chuck McGhee.
CHUCK MCGHEE, VIRGINIA FARMER: I don't think I would probably be as profitable today without them, without the government payments. I might not even be in business.
JONES (on camera): And you're the guy that these programs were set up to help?
MCGHEE: I would think so, yes.
JONES (voice-over): You would think so. But the subsidies are also going to the big guys. Like a real estate developer from Clearwater, Florida, who got $3.2 million over three years; a Texas oil baron who qualified to get $243,000; a former NBA star who made tens of millions of dollars over his career, also got $79,000 in so- called conservation subsidies.
CNN tried to contact all of them, but they weren't available for comment. And no one is accusing them of doing anything wrong. It's all legal. Hundreds of millions of dollars of your money going to people who apparently don't need it.
KEN COOK, ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP: You can get a farm subsidy check for growing a crop. You can get a farm subsidy check for not growing a crop. You can get a farm subsidy check if you live on the farm, if you work on the farm or if you're not even alive, you can get a subsidy check. In a state, a dead farmer can get a payment.
JONES: And who gets the money has been a big secret in Washington for years. But Congress changed the rules and pulled back the curtain to reveal who gets precisely how much from the agriculture trough.
So now we have it -- 358,000 names of subsidy payments, a staggering $9.8 billion of your tax dollars. And of that, the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee says he would like to cut that amount by up to a billion dollars, or about 10 percent a year that he says taxpayers should not get stuck with.
SEN. TOM HARKIN (D), IOWA: Quite frankly, this is a bad use of taxpayers' dollars. It's inefficient, it hurts smaller farmers. We could use money to go out to help young farmers get started in agriculture. JONES (on camera): The federal crop subsidy program is supposed to prop up farmers, especially in times of trouble. But it's also morphed into a cash cow.
(voice-over): Keeping them honest, we went to Capitol Hill to try to find someone to explain the latest numbers. Even the staunchest defenders of subsidies didn't try to defend the excesses.
SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), GEORGIA: We design every farm bill in a way where we try to ensure that the men and women who drive the tractors, who get dirt under their fingernails, are the beneficiaries of the payments that do come from Washington.
Unfortunately, in spite of everything we try to do to make sure that happens, oftentimes it doesn't.
JONES: The new chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee said things have to change, though this Washington things have a habit of changing very slowly.
But who knows?
Lightning could strike.
Joe Johns, CNN, Mechanicsville, Virginia.
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COLLINS: Insurgents target a holy Shiite mosque. History repeating itself in Iraq. Now, fears of further sectarian violence in THE NEWSROOM.
RICHARD LUI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Who do you think matters the most in the world today?
From CEOs to celebrities, CNN Money, along with Business 2.0, want you to decide here.
Well, the list of 101 candidates includes some of the most well known business gurus, like Apple CEO Steve Jobs to Mark Zuckerberg, creator of the popular social networking site, Facebook.
Rock star and activist Bono -- he makes the list. Besides his accomplishments as a musician and humanitarian, he also runs an Irish clothing company, in case you didn't know.
Others on the list include Justin Kan, whose 24 hour online video show has advertisers lining up around the block to get face time on Justin TV.
Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group empire, is also on this list. The billionaire has promised to donate all profits from his transportation industry over the next 10 years to aid in the fight against global warming.
Check out other notable figures and vote for those you think matter most. It's all online at cnnmoney.com.
For the Dot.com Desk, I'm Richard Lui.
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HARRIS: Explosions and gunfire ring out in Gaza. Hamas militants push to consolidate and expand their control. Dozens have been killed in three days of clashes between Hamas fighters and the rival Fatah group. Hamas says it controls the north and is now battling for key security positions in Gaza City and farther south.
The violence triggered protests for peace. Gunmen opened fire at one such demonstration, killing a protester. A U.N. relief agency says it is scaling back operations in Gaza after two staff workers were killed in the crossfire.
COLLINS: Good morning, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris.
Stay informed all day in THE CNN NEWSROOM.
Here's what's on the rundown for you this morning.
Inside job -- a top U.S. general says Iraqi security forces played a part in today's mosque bombing.
COLLINS: The search for a missing Fort Hood soldier ends with a sad discovery. Details about his death, live in a news conference next hour.
HARRIS: And weapons connection -- the U.S. accuses Iran of helping the Taliban.
It is Wednesday, June the 13th, and you are in THE CNN NEWSROOM.
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