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CNN Live Today
Latest Focus on Rudy Giuliani; Look at a Family as They Deal With Angst, Uncertainty of Deployment to Iraq
Aired February 10, 2005 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: You probably notice, there is a lot of new on this day, and we are now at the midpoint. I'm Rick Sanchez.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Betty Nguyen. Here's what's happening right now in the news.
New information just in to CNN. Pope John Paul II will leave the hospital and return to the Vatican this afternoon at approximately 1:30 Eastern Time. A spokesman says breathing problems, triggered by the flu, have been cured, and the pope's condition continues to improve.
Also a developing story out of North Korea. That country admittedly -- admitted for the first time in the public that it has nuclear weapons. Now, it's saying that it will shun talks on nuclear- arms control, and North Korea's foreign ministry expressed fear the U.S. plans to topple its political system.
Now, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says North Korea is deepening its isolation, and that the U.S. does not plan to attack them.
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles, have you heard about it, they will make their three-decade old romance legal, with the blessing of Queen Elizabeth too boot. They plan to Wed April 8th in a relatively private ceremony at Windsor Castle. Parker-Bowles will hold the title of royal highness, the duchess of Cornwall.
And U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan gets another vote of confidence from Prime Minister Tony Blair. Annan is in London to address a seminar on U.N. reform in the wake of the Iraq oil-for-food scandal. It has led to calls for the secretary-general's resignation.
And we want to give you a live shot right now of President Bush, who has just arrived in a Raleigh, North Carolina. He is there to do a townhall discussion, which of course would be focused on Social Security. He has been traveling the nation to garner support for his new Social Security plan. And there he is, just arriving in Raleigh, North Carolina.
After this stop, he continues to speak about Social Security. He will travel on later this afternoon to Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. Of course the president today in Raleigh, North Carolina. We'll keep on top of the story -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Let us stay with the presidential themes, if we may, shall we? And here we go. In case you want to know, yes, we know it's early still, but here's how the 2008 presidential race is shaping up. According to latest CNN/"Usa Today"/Gallup poll, Hillary Clinton leads Democrat choices with 40 percent support. John Kerry's second, his runningmate, John Edwards is coming in third, and then there's someone else who is doing very well. He's got 6 percent, considering he done have a name. Also -- no, that's the rest of the pack. Also Republicans, they're even more split. Look a this one, about a third want former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. In second place is Arizona Senator John McCain. Third is presidential brother and Florida governor, don't know which comes first, Jeb Bush. And the remainder of the Republicans are split between Bill Frist, and there's that someone else fellow once again.
NGUYEN: As we well know, the world of politics can change in just a moment. But with both the benefit of hindsight and long-term vision, we turn to CNN national correspondent Kelly Wallace for the latest focus on Rudy Giuliani.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Oh, how he dodges.
RUDOLPH GIULIANI (R), FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: We got to get out of 2004 first.
WALLACE: OK. It's 2005, and the normally matter-of-fact Rudy Giuliani still won't answer the question.
GIULIANI: I don't think we start thinking about the next one until some time from now.
WALLACE: That hasn't stopped Republicans in CNN's latest poll from declaring him the current front-runner for '08, with his rock- star status following his handling of the September 11 attacks.
He is a maverick of sorts. After all, he's for abortion rights, gay marriage, and gun control.
STEPHEN MOORE, PRESIDENT, FREE ENTERPRISE FUND: In some ways, in social issues, Rudy Giuliani is more of a Democrat than he is a Republican.
WALLACE: And to that, cultural conservatives say, Houston, we have a problem.
MATTHEW STAVER, PRESIDENT, LIBERTY COUNSEL: The only way Rudy Giuliani can win is if, in fact, he has a true conversion on the issue of marriage, he becomes pro-life, he supports the sanctity of human life, and he's strong on those issues...
WALLACE: But could his crowd-pleasing performance at the Republican National Convention...
GIULIANI: The president of the United States, George W. Bush.
WALLACE: ... his stumping for President Bush, and his razzle- dazzle celebrity lead conservatives to look past their differences?
Maybe, says Michael Daly, a columnist for the "New York Daily News," who has covered Rudy for years and was at the GOP convention.
MICHAEL DALY, COLUMNIST, "NEW YORK DAILY NEWS": It's interesting (UNINTELLIGIBLE) you talk, you'll be talking to some guy from Texas who, you know, is pro-life, you know, anti-gay, and you say to him, you say, well, you know, this is a guy who's pro-choice, who lived with two gay guys for a while. They look at you like, so what?
WALLACE: The gay men were his friends, by the way, who put him up after his separation.
And then there is this.
GIULIANI: Get lost. That's a, that, that's a, that's a, that's a sneaky way of trying to invade somebody's personal life.
WALLACE: City Hall sparing with the New York City press is one thing. But could he handle the scrutiny of a national race?
(on camera): To all of this, Giuliani's spokeswoman says the former mayor is focused on his business and not on presidential politics at moment. Those last three words, of course, leaving all of us political junkies wondering just what the future may hold.
Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Now this hour's developments in Iraq. The Muslim new year began violently in Baghdad where a powerful car bomb killed three people and wounded three others. Now, it apparently targeted a U.S. mill military convoy. A second bomb exploded here near a police patrol outside Baghdad. At least five officers were wounded in that blast.
Iraq will close its boards beginning one week from today. The security measure will last for five days. Now, the timeframe coincides with the major Shiite religious holiday that saw some major violence last year.
And in Washington, the new U.S. Army secretary, Francis Harvey, says he expects a substantial reduction in the number of National Guard troops sent to Iraq. That rotation is still 15 months away. Harvey made his comments before a hearing on the House Arms Services Committee. It began with concerns that too much is being asked of citizen soldiers.
SANCHEZ: Imagine what it must be like to actually prepare for war. In a story that you're going to see only on CNN, our Michael Shoulder offers this really intimate view of such a family as they deal with the angst and the uncertainty of the deployment to Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOWANDA SANDERS, WIFE: Hello, Garfield. Who sits there in the movie that you like with the fish? Nemo.
MICHAEL SANDERS, SON: Yes.
MAJOR TERRENCE SANDERS, U.S. ARMY: This is pre-training for my wife if I don't come back.
SHOULDER: Major Terrence Sander has spent the last year preparing to say good-bye.
T. SANDERS: Our love for each other goes beyond what we visually see, but in our hearts we know that we were the ideal person for each other.
SHOULDER: Major Sanders is leaving for his second deployment to Iraq. The Sanders have a 3-year-old son, Michael, but it is 14-year- old Brandon that makes the deployment to Iraq particularly hard on the family.
T. SANDERS: He has cerebral palsy.
BRANDON SANDERS, SON: For my knee.
SHOULDER: While the wheelchair is temporary, the result of a knee injury, Brandon's cerebral palsy presents a constant challenge.
T. SANDERS: I want you to understand that people are not going to always feel sorry for you. I told him to be the man of the house. And to whatever degree that is, just to support my wife.
B. SANDERS: Can you say north?
M. SANDERS: North.
B. SANDERS: Atlantic.
M. SANDERS: Atlantic.
B. SANDERS: Ocean. And where you going to next? To Iraq.
M. SANDERS: Yes.
SHOULDER: Now there's only one day left for a father to reinforce the lessons of a lifetime.
T. SANDERS: Don't allow yourself to go to school and not be smart. The key is to read and to read. Going to school and doing your work and listening to your teachers and...
B. SANDERS: Following instructions?
T. SANDERS: ... following instructions, that's one of the big ones.
SHOULDER: Only one day left before a father loses the power to protect his son.
T. SANDERS: He's going to high school next year, so I'm...
B. SANDERS: Eighth grade right now.
T. SANDERS: So I'm really nervous, because high school kids can be not as caring. And there are big kids at school that could try to take advantage of him. And Dad is not there to be the protector. That concerns me.
SHOULDER: Taking care of Brandon and Michael without her husband is only one aspect of this family's sacrifice. Terrence and Jowanda have been together since college. We arrived on their 18 wedding anniversary.
T. SANDERS: Eighteen beautiful years.
SHOULDER: Their 19th year will be spent apart.
J. SANDERS: Hopefully it will be a year. I don't think any further than that. I don't let my mind go past the other.
And I think of it for my boys, just them missing their father for that long. Not having his input and not having the role model of their father at home. I constantly talk about him all the time, because I want them to know the sacrifice he has to make for us to have the things that we have.
SHOULDER: With 24 hours left before he leaves for Iraq, Major Sanders goes to the Fort Stewart Library to videotape bedtime stories for his children.
T. SANDERS: Hello, Brandon, Michael. This is Dad. Just want to read a couple of stories to you while I am gone to Iraq.
I miss you when have you to go to work. And that's where Daddy is. Daddy is at work.
SHOULDER: He will leave them with a song.
T. SANDERS: And remember, what we do when it's time for bedtime. We sing our favorite song and that song is...
SHOULDER: All the training in the world cannot prepare a family for this.
T. SANDERS (singing): God you're so good. God you're so good. You're so good to us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
SANCHEZ: I'm going to take it from you, because we've got something we'd like to share with our viewers. In fact, it's a live look that we're going to give you now from Capitol Hill. Nice moment there, actually. It's just a short time ago, as we listen in a little bit. Member of the Senate Arms Services Committee are talking to top brass from all four branches of the military about the budget.
During the hearing, the army's top general, Peter Schoomaker, introduced three soldiers, men who served in Iraq and served in Afghanistan. Suddenly the whole room just stood and applauded. Let's do this -- take a listen to this together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... promised them that they would get a civic lesson here.
(APPLAUSE)
SANCHEZ: Politicians tend to do things because they want attention or votes. But in this case, it was actually just an impromptu moment that we thought we'd share with you. By the way, that's Sergeant First Class Bill Cubby (ph) of the 82nd airborne, a veteran of Afghanistan. He was awarded the bronze star. Next to him was Corporal Scott Carter (ph), he's out of North Carolina National Guard. And then there was Sergeant Andrew Carnahan (ph), as well. We're told he's from the U.S. Army Reserve. Glad to be able to...
NGUYEN: Share in that moment.
SANCHEZ: Yes. That was a wonderful moment.
NGUYEN: It was. And we're going to take you back now quite some years because it became the trial of the 19th century. Now a new book takes the first person approach to the landmark Supreme Court decision that denied a slave his freedom. The author of "I, Dred Scott" joins us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE CORRESPONDENT: Sunday March 7th, 1965. About 600 voting rights activists began a 50-mile march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol in Montgomery. Six blocks into the journey, state troopers and police attacked the marchers at Edmond Pettas Bridge (ph) while TV cameras rolled. After the footage aired, Americans in dozens of cities demonstrated to support the marchers.
Two weeks later, a few thousand activists protected by national guardsmen left Selma. By the time they reached Montgomery on March 25th, their number had swollen 25,000. Remembering Bloody Sunday, this Black History month.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Today we're talking about the fight for freedom. In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the Dred Scott decision, denying the slave and his wife their freedom. Now, author Sheila Moses tells Scott's story in a fictional first-person style aimed at young readers. And as part of our tribute to Black History Month, Sheila Moses joins us today to talk about this. Thank you so much for being with us.
SHEILA MOSES, AUTHOR, "I, DRED SCOTT": Thank you for having me.
NGUYEN: Well, before we talk about why you wrote the book, how did you first hear the story of Dred Scott?
MOSES: Well, throughout college, not a lot. But I did hear the name Dred Scott, but did not know a lot about him. In 1998 I was in St. Louis, Missouri, doing research for the Dick Gregory book, "Callous on My Soul," and I saw the little plaque outside of the courthouse that said Dred Scott. And it was only three paragraphs and I was curious.
And I went into the courthouse and I got a pamphlet and I held on to that. And over the years I would go back to St. Louis, working on Dick Gregory's book, and I started to gather information and decided I would write about him one day.
NGUYEN: You know, we've heard a lot about the court case. But you wanted to tell this in first person. Giving a man to the name. Tell us why.
MOSES: Because when you think about Martin Luther King, you know that he had a wife and he had four children. People didn't know about Dred Scott, the Dred Scott decision. But he was a person. He was a father. He had two daughters, a wife. And I wanted people to know and feel what he must have felt during those horrible 11 years that he fought for his freedom.
NGUYEN: To take you through the trials and tribulations.
MOSES: Yes.
NGUYEN: Well, Dred Scott died without knowing how to read or write, so he wasn't able to put down on paper his family's journey. Which means in this book, you're having to fill in a lot of blanks. Now, of course, it's a fictional narrative, but how did you go about filling in those blanks?
MOSES: Well, I found his voice in my grandmother, Babe Jones (ph), who could not read nor write. She died in 1974. I -- she was in her late 80s. So I assume that she was born -- well, we know -- in the late 1800s and she talked in the very, you know, "ain't", an ears language, but she was a very smart woman. But I also had to research slavery in the 1800s from other slaves that lived in St. Louis.
NGUYEN: And you use that exact language in this book.
MOSES: Exactly.
NGUYEN: Which really gives character to it, puts you back into that time.
MOSES: Yes.
NGUYEN: Now, you direct this book. It's a very -- it's only 86 pages long. The story itself.
MOSES: Yes.
NGUYEN: And you have written in a very simple, direct way for children. Why for children?
MOSES: Because my editor -- Image Ryten (ph) at Simon and Schuster, suggested that we do this and that was a very smart move on her part. Later we'll do the adult version. But students need to know now -- eighth graders are reading the book. So when they're in college, they won't hear Dred Scott's name the way I did and not know who he is.
NGUYEN: Now his grandson wrote the forward in this book. What was it like to meet the family of a man that you wrote about? The man that you brought to life in this book?
MOSES: They're beautiful. I mean, they have walked in shadow of the Dred Scott decision all their lives. And now, their grandfather's face has a heart and a name out there that they can talk about and not say the Dred Scott decision.
NGUYEN: Is there a lot of pressure for you, though?
MOSES: From them?
NGUYEN: Yes, to put -- to put that character behind the name, to put a real person behind the name?
MOSES: No, I had a good time. I liked the research. I like finding new voices. It wasn't hard.
NGUYEN: OK.
MOSES: And I felt really good working with his family. They're wonderful people.
NGUYEN: It's not hard when you're good at it and you enjoy it. Thank you so much.
MOSES: Thank you.
NGUYEN: The book is "I, Dred Scott." Sheila Moses, thank you.
MOSES: Thank you -- Rick, over to you.
SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks so much, Betty. It is 10:54 now on the East Coast and 7:54, of course, on the West Coast. We're going to be right back with a quick check of your morning forecast and some of those big stories that we've been following for you on this day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
SANCHEZ: We're going to be taking you to get some news out of Buckingham Palace. That's right. Why, you may ask? Well, believe it or not, there wedding bells in the air for the woman on the right.
NGUYEN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Yes, that's her. That is Camilla Parker-Bowles. A live report, no less.
NGUYEN: Stay tuned for that. Plus this: Saudi Arabia stages its first internationally-approved election. Hear who gets the vote and who does not. The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 10, 2005 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: You probably notice, there is a lot of new on this day, and we are now at the midpoint. I'm Rick Sanchez.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Betty Nguyen. Here's what's happening right now in the news.
New information just in to CNN. Pope John Paul II will leave the hospital and return to the Vatican this afternoon at approximately 1:30 Eastern Time. A spokesman says breathing problems, triggered by the flu, have been cured, and the pope's condition continues to improve.
Also a developing story out of North Korea. That country admittedly -- admitted for the first time in the public that it has nuclear weapons. Now, it's saying that it will shun talks on nuclear- arms control, and North Korea's foreign ministry expressed fear the U.S. plans to topple its political system.
Now, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says North Korea is deepening its isolation, and that the U.S. does not plan to attack them.
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles, have you heard about it, they will make their three-decade old romance legal, with the blessing of Queen Elizabeth too boot. They plan to Wed April 8th in a relatively private ceremony at Windsor Castle. Parker-Bowles will hold the title of royal highness, the duchess of Cornwall.
And U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan gets another vote of confidence from Prime Minister Tony Blair. Annan is in London to address a seminar on U.N. reform in the wake of the Iraq oil-for-food scandal. It has led to calls for the secretary-general's resignation.
And we want to give you a live shot right now of President Bush, who has just arrived in a Raleigh, North Carolina. He is there to do a townhall discussion, which of course would be focused on Social Security. He has been traveling the nation to garner support for his new Social Security plan. And there he is, just arriving in Raleigh, North Carolina.
After this stop, he continues to speak about Social Security. He will travel on later this afternoon to Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. Of course the president today in Raleigh, North Carolina. We'll keep on top of the story -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Let us stay with the presidential themes, if we may, shall we? And here we go. In case you want to know, yes, we know it's early still, but here's how the 2008 presidential race is shaping up. According to latest CNN/"Usa Today"/Gallup poll, Hillary Clinton leads Democrat choices with 40 percent support. John Kerry's second, his runningmate, John Edwards is coming in third, and then there's someone else who is doing very well. He's got 6 percent, considering he done have a name. Also -- no, that's the rest of the pack. Also Republicans, they're even more split. Look a this one, about a third want former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. In second place is Arizona Senator John McCain. Third is presidential brother and Florida governor, don't know which comes first, Jeb Bush. And the remainder of the Republicans are split between Bill Frist, and there's that someone else fellow once again.
NGUYEN: As we well know, the world of politics can change in just a moment. But with both the benefit of hindsight and long-term vision, we turn to CNN national correspondent Kelly Wallace for the latest focus on Rudy Giuliani.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Oh, how he dodges.
RUDOLPH GIULIANI (R), FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: We got to get out of 2004 first.
WALLACE: OK. It's 2005, and the normally matter-of-fact Rudy Giuliani still won't answer the question.
GIULIANI: I don't think we start thinking about the next one until some time from now.
WALLACE: That hasn't stopped Republicans in CNN's latest poll from declaring him the current front-runner for '08, with his rock- star status following his handling of the September 11 attacks.
He is a maverick of sorts. After all, he's for abortion rights, gay marriage, and gun control.
STEPHEN MOORE, PRESIDENT, FREE ENTERPRISE FUND: In some ways, in social issues, Rudy Giuliani is more of a Democrat than he is a Republican.
WALLACE: And to that, cultural conservatives say, Houston, we have a problem.
MATTHEW STAVER, PRESIDENT, LIBERTY COUNSEL: The only way Rudy Giuliani can win is if, in fact, he has a true conversion on the issue of marriage, he becomes pro-life, he supports the sanctity of human life, and he's strong on those issues...
WALLACE: But could his crowd-pleasing performance at the Republican National Convention...
GIULIANI: The president of the United States, George W. Bush.
WALLACE: ... his stumping for President Bush, and his razzle- dazzle celebrity lead conservatives to look past their differences?
Maybe, says Michael Daly, a columnist for the "New York Daily News," who has covered Rudy for years and was at the GOP convention.
MICHAEL DALY, COLUMNIST, "NEW YORK DAILY NEWS": It's interesting (UNINTELLIGIBLE) you talk, you'll be talking to some guy from Texas who, you know, is pro-life, you know, anti-gay, and you say to him, you say, well, you know, this is a guy who's pro-choice, who lived with two gay guys for a while. They look at you like, so what?
WALLACE: The gay men were his friends, by the way, who put him up after his separation.
And then there is this.
GIULIANI: Get lost. That's a, that, that's a, that's a, that's a sneaky way of trying to invade somebody's personal life.
WALLACE: City Hall sparing with the New York City press is one thing. But could he handle the scrutiny of a national race?
(on camera): To all of this, Giuliani's spokeswoman says the former mayor is focused on his business and not on presidential politics at moment. Those last three words, of course, leaving all of us political junkies wondering just what the future may hold.
Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Now this hour's developments in Iraq. The Muslim new year began violently in Baghdad where a powerful car bomb killed three people and wounded three others. Now, it apparently targeted a U.S. mill military convoy. A second bomb exploded here near a police patrol outside Baghdad. At least five officers were wounded in that blast.
Iraq will close its boards beginning one week from today. The security measure will last for five days. Now, the timeframe coincides with the major Shiite religious holiday that saw some major violence last year.
And in Washington, the new U.S. Army secretary, Francis Harvey, says he expects a substantial reduction in the number of National Guard troops sent to Iraq. That rotation is still 15 months away. Harvey made his comments before a hearing on the House Arms Services Committee. It began with concerns that too much is being asked of citizen soldiers.
SANCHEZ: Imagine what it must be like to actually prepare for war. In a story that you're going to see only on CNN, our Michael Shoulder offers this really intimate view of such a family as they deal with the angst and the uncertainty of the deployment to Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOWANDA SANDERS, WIFE: Hello, Garfield. Who sits there in the movie that you like with the fish? Nemo.
MICHAEL SANDERS, SON: Yes.
MAJOR TERRENCE SANDERS, U.S. ARMY: This is pre-training for my wife if I don't come back.
SHOULDER: Major Terrence Sander has spent the last year preparing to say good-bye.
T. SANDERS: Our love for each other goes beyond what we visually see, but in our hearts we know that we were the ideal person for each other.
SHOULDER: Major Sanders is leaving for his second deployment to Iraq. The Sanders have a 3-year-old son, Michael, but it is 14-year- old Brandon that makes the deployment to Iraq particularly hard on the family.
T. SANDERS: He has cerebral palsy.
BRANDON SANDERS, SON: For my knee.
SHOULDER: While the wheelchair is temporary, the result of a knee injury, Brandon's cerebral palsy presents a constant challenge.
T. SANDERS: I want you to understand that people are not going to always feel sorry for you. I told him to be the man of the house. And to whatever degree that is, just to support my wife.
B. SANDERS: Can you say north?
M. SANDERS: North.
B. SANDERS: Atlantic.
M. SANDERS: Atlantic.
B. SANDERS: Ocean. And where you going to next? To Iraq.
M. SANDERS: Yes.
SHOULDER: Now there's only one day left for a father to reinforce the lessons of a lifetime.
T. SANDERS: Don't allow yourself to go to school and not be smart. The key is to read and to read. Going to school and doing your work and listening to your teachers and...
B. SANDERS: Following instructions?
T. SANDERS: ... following instructions, that's one of the big ones.
SHOULDER: Only one day left before a father loses the power to protect his son.
T. SANDERS: He's going to high school next year, so I'm...
B. SANDERS: Eighth grade right now.
T. SANDERS: So I'm really nervous, because high school kids can be not as caring. And there are big kids at school that could try to take advantage of him. And Dad is not there to be the protector. That concerns me.
SHOULDER: Taking care of Brandon and Michael without her husband is only one aspect of this family's sacrifice. Terrence and Jowanda have been together since college. We arrived on their 18 wedding anniversary.
T. SANDERS: Eighteen beautiful years.
SHOULDER: Their 19th year will be spent apart.
J. SANDERS: Hopefully it will be a year. I don't think any further than that. I don't let my mind go past the other.
And I think of it for my boys, just them missing their father for that long. Not having his input and not having the role model of their father at home. I constantly talk about him all the time, because I want them to know the sacrifice he has to make for us to have the things that we have.
SHOULDER: With 24 hours left before he leaves for Iraq, Major Sanders goes to the Fort Stewart Library to videotape bedtime stories for his children.
T. SANDERS: Hello, Brandon, Michael. This is Dad. Just want to read a couple of stories to you while I am gone to Iraq.
I miss you when have you to go to work. And that's where Daddy is. Daddy is at work.
SHOULDER: He will leave them with a song.
T. SANDERS: And remember, what we do when it's time for bedtime. We sing our favorite song and that song is...
SHOULDER: All the training in the world cannot prepare a family for this.
T. SANDERS (singing): God you're so good. God you're so good. You're so good to us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
SANCHEZ: I'm going to take it from you, because we've got something we'd like to share with our viewers. In fact, it's a live look that we're going to give you now from Capitol Hill. Nice moment there, actually. It's just a short time ago, as we listen in a little bit. Member of the Senate Arms Services Committee are talking to top brass from all four branches of the military about the budget.
During the hearing, the army's top general, Peter Schoomaker, introduced three soldiers, men who served in Iraq and served in Afghanistan. Suddenly the whole room just stood and applauded. Let's do this -- take a listen to this together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... promised them that they would get a civic lesson here.
(APPLAUSE)
SANCHEZ: Politicians tend to do things because they want attention or votes. But in this case, it was actually just an impromptu moment that we thought we'd share with you. By the way, that's Sergeant First Class Bill Cubby (ph) of the 82nd airborne, a veteran of Afghanistan. He was awarded the bronze star. Next to him was Corporal Scott Carter (ph), he's out of North Carolina National Guard. And then there was Sergeant Andrew Carnahan (ph), as well. We're told he's from the U.S. Army Reserve. Glad to be able to...
NGUYEN: Share in that moment.
SANCHEZ: Yes. That was a wonderful moment.
NGUYEN: It was. And we're going to take you back now quite some years because it became the trial of the 19th century. Now a new book takes the first person approach to the landmark Supreme Court decision that denied a slave his freedom. The author of "I, Dred Scott" joins us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE CORRESPONDENT: Sunday March 7th, 1965. About 600 voting rights activists began a 50-mile march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol in Montgomery. Six blocks into the journey, state troopers and police attacked the marchers at Edmond Pettas Bridge (ph) while TV cameras rolled. After the footage aired, Americans in dozens of cities demonstrated to support the marchers.
Two weeks later, a few thousand activists protected by national guardsmen left Selma. By the time they reached Montgomery on March 25th, their number had swollen 25,000. Remembering Bloody Sunday, this Black History month.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Today we're talking about the fight for freedom. In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the Dred Scott decision, denying the slave and his wife their freedom. Now, author Sheila Moses tells Scott's story in a fictional first-person style aimed at young readers. And as part of our tribute to Black History Month, Sheila Moses joins us today to talk about this. Thank you so much for being with us.
SHEILA MOSES, AUTHOR, "I, DRED SCOTT": Thank you for having me.
NGUYEN: Well, before we talk about why you wrote the book, how did you first hear the story of Dred Scott?
MOSES: Well, throughout college, not a lot. But I did hear the name Dred Scott, but did not know a lot about him. In 1998 I was in St. Louis, Missouri, doing research for the Dick Gregory book, "Callous on My Soul," and I saw the little plaque outside of the courthouse that said Dred Scott. And it was only three paragraphs and I was curious.
And I went into the courthouse and I got a pamphlet and I held on to that. And over the years I would go back to St. Louis, working on Dick Gregory's book, and I started to gather information and decided I would write about him one day.
NGUYEN: You know, we've heard a lot about the court case. But you wanted to tell this in first person. Giving a man to the name. Tell us why.
MOSES: Because when you think about Martin Luther King, you know that he had a wife and he had four children. People didn't know about Dred Scott, the Dred Scott decision. But he was a person. He was a father. He had two daughters, a wife. And I wanted people to know and feel what he must have felt during those horrible 11 years that he fought for his freedom.
NGUYEN: To take you through the trials and tribulations.
MOSES: Yes.
NGUYEN: Well, Dred Scott died without knowing how to read or write, so he wasn't able to put down on paper his family's journey. Which means in this book, you're having to fill in a lot of blanks. Now, of course, it's a fictional narrative, but how did you go about filling in those blanks?
MOSES: Well, I found his voice in my grandmother, Babe Jones (ph), who could not read nor write. She died in 1974. I -- she was in her late 80s. So I assume that she was born -- well, we know -- in the late 1800s and she talked in the very, you know, "ain't", an ears language, but she was a very smart woman. But I also had to research slavery in the 1800s from other slaves that lived in St. Louis.
NGUYEN: And you use that exact language in this book.
MOSES: Exactly.
NGUYEN: Which really gives character to it, puts you back into that time.
MOSES: Yes.
NGUYEN: Now, you direct this book. It's a very -- it's only 86 pages long. The story itself.
MOSES: Yes.
NGUYEN: And you have written in a very simple, direct way for children. Why for children?
MOSES: Because my editor -- Image Ryten (ph) at Simon and Schuster, suggested that we do this and that was a very smart move on her part. Later we'll do the adult version. But students need to know now -- eighth graders are reading the book. So when they're in college, they won't hear Dred Scott's name the way I did and not know who he is.
NGUYEN: Now his grandson wrote the forward in this book. What was it like to meet the family of a man that you wrote about? The man that you brought to life in this book?
MOSES: They're beautiful. I mean, they have walked in shadow of the Dred Scott decision all their lives. And now, their grandfather's face has a heart and a name out there that they can talk about and not say the Dred Scott decision.
NGUYEN: Is there a lot of pressure for you, though?
MOSES: From them?
NGUYEN: Yes, to put -- to put that character behind the name, to put a real person behind the name?
MOSES: No, I had a good time. I liked the research. I like finding new voices. It wasn't hard.
NGUYEN: OK.
MOSES: And I felt really good working with his family. They're wonderful people.
NGUYEN: It's not hard when you're good at it and you enjoy it. Thank you so much.
MOSES: Thank you.
NGUYEN: The book is "I, Dred Scott." Sheila Moses, thank you.
MOSES: Thank you -- Rick, over to you.
SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks so much, Betty. It is 10:54 now on the East Coast and 7:54, of course, on the West Coast. We're going to be right back with a quick check of your morning forecast and some of those big stories that we've been following for you on this day.
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(WEATHER REPORT)
SANCHEZ: We're going to be taking you to get some news out of Buckingham Palace. That's right. Why, you may ask? Well, believe it or not, there wedding bells in the air for the woman on the right.
NGUYEN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Yes, that's her. That is Camilla Parker-Bowles. A live report, no less.
NGUYEN: Stay tuned for that. Plus this: Saudi Arabia stages its first internationally-approved election. Hear who gets the vote and who does not. The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now.
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