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CNN Sunday Morning

Runaway Bride Returns Home; New Tactics in Fight Against Child Porn

Aired May 01, 2005 - 09:00   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.


BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: The woman nationally known as the runaway bride returns home with hopes of still walking down the aisle. It's 9:00 a.m. here in Georgia, 6:00 a.m. out West. Good morning, everyone. I'm Betty Nguyen.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. Thank you for joining us. Let's get you started with the morning headlines.

NGUYEN: Now in the news -- a runaway bride returns to Georgia. Family and close friends say they are relieved Jennifer Wilbanks is home safe. But the D.A. says he has some questions. He is considering whether to file criminal charges. And "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" reports Wilbanks may have bought her bus ticket more than a week ago.

Raids in Baghdad uncover possible evidence about the killing of a humanitarian worker. Iraqi officials say they have arrested 11 suspected insurgents and found what appears to be personal items belonging to Margaret Hassan.

And the wave of violence continues in Iraq for the third day in a row. Five civilians were killed by a suicide car bomb, and five Iraqi police died in a gun battle with insurgents in Baghdad.

Credible reports of terrorist threats against the U.S. have dropped to their lowest level since the September 11th attacks. That is according to today's "Washington Post." It says counterterrorism officials believe that al Qaeda and other groups are frustrated by tighter U.S. security, and they are focusing more on Iraq and Europe.

HARRIS: Here's what we have coming up for you this hour: New tactics in the age-old fight against child porn. Police take landmark steps to crack a tough case. We'll talk to one of the lead detectives straight ahead.

Also, 30 years ago, some of the youngest refugees aboard took a life-saving trip. Three decades later, we look back on their journey.

And in our "Soldier's Story," you think the Ironman competition is tough? You ain't seen nothing yet! All coming up in this hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

NGUYEN: The Julia Roberts movie had a happy ending, but this story is not over for a real-life runaway bride. Jennifer Wilbanks is back home in Georgia after a cross-country odyssey and a concocted story about being kidnapped. CNN's Charles Molineaux is live from suburban Atlanta with the latest on this story. And you are outside a church that is pretty important to this, isn't it?

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is really the church that was going to be conducting the wedding. They actually have planned to have it at a larger and a better facility church in Duluth, Georgia, but this is the Peachtree Corners Baptist Church in Norcross, and this is actually where the John Mason and Jennifer were based out of. This was -- their pastor was from this church. And today this congregation is coming together, well, a little red in the face over what happened.

And if you took a look at the scene last night at Atlanta's airport, you would have had an idea as to exactly what we're dealing with here. She came in pretty quiet last night. Jennifer Wilbanks flew in, and the flight attendant says she was escorted from her plane by police. Did not mingle with the other passengers, and apparently she won't be making any public statements for a few days.

Jennifer Wilbanks actually flew out of Albuquerque, having, well, traded in her veil for a towel over her head last night. Albuquerque was where she turned up late Friday night with a story about being kidnapped, until police and the FBI actually talked to her and determined that, in fact, she had hopped a bus Tuesday night in a fit of pre-wedding anxiety, which left her family, her fiance's family, and the whole community first terrified, then overjoyed that she was OK, then confused and angry, and feeling quite a bit of disappointment and embarrassment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. ALAN JONES, PEACHTREE CORNERS BAPTIST CHURCH: We feel betrayed, but nobody's talked to Jennifer. We don't know -- you know, we don't know what she was feeling, what kind of emotions she has. And I'm just amazed at the response of John Mason right now. You know, he's calm. He is peaceful. And he wants to see her and wants to talk to her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOLINEAUX: Well, Delta Air Lines flight attendant actually said that, according to Jennifer, she has spoken to her fiance. She cannot wait -- he cannot wait to see her. She says the wedding is not called off, just postponed.

Well, there could be some more complications, however. This morning, I just talked to the district attorney here in Gwinnett County, Georgia, and he says that he's got some questions which could very well lead to some criminal charges against Jennifer Wilbanks. He says that he's got to figure out exactly the circumstances under which she left.

This morning's "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" reports that she got that ticket on the bus as long ago as a week, which would mean she had planned this out in advance. Now, District Attorney Danny Porter says that if she just, as he put it, "freaked out and took off," he would be a lot less inclined to go after criminal charges than if this were an advanced planned deception.

NGUYEN: Charles, so let me get this straight. Does Jennifer still want to go on with the wedding, or is it John that still wants to go on with the wedding, her fiance?

MOLINEAUX: Well, what we are getting -- and keep in mind that all the statements we've gotten from both families and from both of them have been pretty vague and broad, but what she said was in this statement that she spoken to him, that he was very glad to hear from her, but also -- and she said that the wedding had merely been delayed and is not off. And, of course, in statements we heard after this entire scam came to light yesterday, what John Mason had said was that everybody's entitled to make a mistake and that there's lots of room for forgiveness. So we may yet see a reconciliation and this wedding go forward.

NGUYEN: Very interesting. We will be watching. Charles Molineavx in Norcross, Georgia. Thank you.

HARRIS: We turn now to a special focus you'll see all day on CNN. We're taking a look at how to protect your children from sexual predators in your neighborhood and on the World Wide Web. Child molesters in Florida, for example, will soon feel the consequences of several horrific high-profile crimes against children. Governor Jeb Bush will sign a new law tomorrow. It requires sex offenders who molest kids under 12 to spend more time in prison, and once they get out, the new law will force them to wear tracking devices for life. The measure comes on the heels of two heinous cases in the state. A sex offender allegedly snatched a 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford from her bedroom and buried her across the street from her home. A few weeks later, the body of 13-year-old Sarah Lunde was found in a pond; another sex offender is charged in her death.

The Internet is crawling with child pornography. Images of minors forcibly engaged in acts so unspeakably depraved as to defy belief. Yet for all of the countless victims, finding them and prosecuting their attackers is enormously frustrating for law enforcement. Some detectives are trying a different tact. Since they cannot publicly show the victim's faces, they are focusing instead on the room settings and other visual clues to generate leads. Detective Sergeant Paul Gillespie is with the Toronto Police Department, and he has been working closely with Florida authorities on a case believed to have occurred at Disneyworld. And he joins us from Toronto. Detective, good to see you. Thanks for talking to us.

DETECTIVE SGT. PAUL GILLESPIE, TORONTO POLICE DEPARTMENT: Good morning.

HARRIS: Well, let me begin with this question. Is the day coming, in your opinion, when we might, in your opinion, have to publish the pictures of victims?

GILLESPIE: I do believe we are moving in that direction. There are thousands and thousands of these victims out there. We're not doing a very good job at identifying them. Every other day in their life is another day of horrific harm and risk, and if we can build the right infrastructure to do it properly and carefully, I think we will probably end up doing just that.

HARRIS: Focusing instead on the room settings and other visual clues to generate leads. How is that working out, in particular in the Florida case that we just discussed?

GILLESPIE: Well, it certainly got us down to that area. We knew there was a victim being abused. So we know that one of the crime scenes is down in Orlando. However, the majority of the abuse has taken place at another area geographically.

HARRIS: I see. How concerned are you that releasing the pictures potentially down the road of victims might further endanger those victims?

GILLESPIE: That's very realistic, and I think we have to be aware of that, but, in thinking about what the options or alternatives are, if we don't do something, is it better to leave a child in horrific risk and endangerment for the rest of their life, to be constantly abused and reabused? I think if we put it in personal terms and thought of a loved one we had, we would want law enforcement to do anything they could to rescue that child.

HARRIS: Here's a question that cuts to the idea that the more you know about the people who do this kind of thing, the better your chances of catching them. What have you come to understand through your years of working on these cases about the people who molest these children, who engage in pedophilia?

GILLESPIE: Well, what I've come to understand is you can't generalize and lay any kind of a cookie-cutter template over them. They're males, by and large, almost every one of them, and it's impossible to determine what somebody's predisposition is towards sexual values or fantasies that they have. And it's very easy to hide, and on the other side you have children who are the perfect victims, and then you build in the Internet, which has allowed international exploitation of this en masse, and no effective body to coordinate an effort to respond to it. It really is a worst-case scenario for children, and I think we -- that's why we have to look at new ways of doing business and respond a little bit better. Rather than trying to be proactive or reactive, we're always chasing somebody, I think we just have to be responsive to a changing environment and do business differently.

HARRIS: So what do you need? What other tools would you like to have?

GILLESPIE: Well, the number one thing that I do believe we need is simply to get a more coordinated system in place. With the wonderful agencies in the United States, we're very close with Immigration and Customs, work closely with the FBI and U.S. Postal Service. And like, Orange County I think has taken a great leadership role in this particular case, and showing that they're a forward- thinking organization.

One of the reasons we have recently built a child exploitation tracking system with Microsoft is to coordinate worldwide, to roll it out as a global database. If we can get the investigators and law enforcement on the same page, we have to do whatever cultural shift here, because most agencies don't want to share information. I think if we can, it will make a huge difference. And in the meantime, I think we have to understand that the Internet in certain areas of it, there's a cesspool. Chat rooms, newsgroups, peer to peer at times, people using credit cards to buy child pornography. I think that we have to take some drastic measures in regards to law enforcement and what we have been doing. I think we have to understand that, you know, we've been swatting mosquitoes long enough; I think it's time to drain the swamp.

HARRIS: Well said. Detective Sergeant Paul Gillespie, with the Toronto Police Department, thanks for taking the time this morning.

GILLESPIE: Thank you.

NGUYEN: Protecting a young victim's identity is intended to spare the child from public shame, but some experts say those concerns are superseded by greater worries about the child's welfare. "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh addresses that issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN WALSH, HOST, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": The pictures do work, and I hope at some point they may release the picture of the little girl that's being abused, and that may lead to finding this lowlife that's been exploiting her and destroying her life for years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Now, you can hear much more from John Walsh later tonight right here on CNN. That interview will air at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 p.m. Pacific.

But right now, for more information about how to protect your children from sexual abuse, contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.

HARRIS: And that brings us to today's e-mail question. What should be done to protect America's children? Send us your thoughts at wam@cnn.com and we'll read your responses later in the hour.

Violence escalates in Iraq overnight. A car bomb targets a U.S. military convoy. The details straight ahead.

NGUYEN: Remembering Operation Baby Lift. One orphan's unexpected journey to freedom, and a woman who helped make it happen when CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And checking our top stories now. U.S. and Iraqi forces captured 11 suspected insurgents in overnight raids near Baghdad. Iraqi officials say they found evidence that may link some of them to the killing of British aide worker Margaret Hassan last fall. Meanwhile, it's been another bloody day in Iraq. At least 13 Iraqis have been killed and 12 wounded in three separate attacks in Baghdad.

And back in this country, runaway bride, Jennifer Wilbanks, is back home in Georgia. Now, she may have to face the music. Duluth police have said she won't face criminal charges in her kidnap hoax, but the Gwinnett County prosecutor says, not so fast, he has some questions for her.

And time right now to check out some of the other stories making news around the world.

NGUYEN: Insurgents showing again that they are still a force to be reckoned with. We want to get some details now on that, and the rest of the big international developments. We'll turn it over to Anand Naidoo at the CNN International Desk. Good morning.

ANAND NAIDOO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, a very good morning from me. That's right. It's been another bloody day in Iraq. A wave of attacks by Iraqi insurgents; at least 13 people are killed. Insurgents targeted a checkpoint in a Baghdad neighborhood, killing five policeman. The attack by about 30 insurgents occurred near a military college, which is now used as a U.S. military camp. The guerrillas stole the dead officers' weapons and fled the scene.

A late-morning car bombing in southeast Baghdad killed five Iraqi civilians, and among those five a 5-year-old child.

And this news coming in earlier this morning. A municipal manager in Baghdad was killed, and so were his two guards. And that happened in a drive-by shooting.

Moving on now to Israel. More diplomatic moves there. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives in Jerusalem, a significant visit, because his Justice and Development Party has strong roots in political Islam. Notwithstanding that, Turkey has relatively good relations with Israel. Those relations have been strained recently by comments that Erdogan has made, criticizing Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

Now to the Vatican, and Catholic faithful flocked to St. Peter's Square to witness Pope Benedict XVI make his first Sunday window appearance since being elected pope. The pontiff took formal possession of the official papal residence yesterday, and that appearance at the window is, of course, a long tradition, which is practiced -- was practiced, rather, by Pope John Paul II.

That is all for me. Now back to Tony and Betty.

NGUYEN: All right, thanks, Anand.

HARRIS: A bayonet assault course, a helicopter jump and a 15- mile run? All before lunch. It's the Army's toughest competition. They're searching for the best Ranger, and we have the winners here today. What these men had to endure to win the top spot. It is our "Soldier's Story" when CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So which of the stories are getting the most attention online this Sunday morning? Let me guess. My guess is that it has something to do with the wedding bell blues. The wedding bells that didn't -- say hello to Christina Park.

CHRISTINA PARK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, good morning.

HARRIS: Good morning, Christina.

PARK: Tony, you're always right. That's right, the runaway bride story still tops at cnn.com, especially after news that the wedding has not yet been called off, just postponed. It's our number one story right now. 32-year-old Jennifer Wilbanks is now back at home in Georgia, and her family has issued a statement saying that Wilbanks has spoken to her fiance, John Mason, and that Mason couldn't wait to see her last night.

On cnn.com, you can hear the 911 call that Wilbanks made, saying she had been kidnapped. And read the police report on why she made up that story, due to cold feet. Our experts also chime in on how wedding stress and the fear of disappointing others can really take a toll on a bride-to-be. The story has really caught the attention of our users on cnn.com, but, this -- I'm so excited -- out-of-this-world report is also in our top 10. Scientists say new images taken of an object five times the mass of Jupiter confirm it is a giant planet and not a star. Look at that. An international team of astronomers says the faint, reddish speck of light you see on the far left is the first time a planet outside our Solar System has been directly observed.

CNN.com's most popular stories list changes every 20 minutes, so to get there all you have to do is click on "most popular" on our site. It's at the top right-hand side of your screen. Back to you, Tony.

HARRIS: Beautiful. Christina, thank you.

PARK: Thanks.

HARRIS: Thanks.

NGUYEN: Remembering Operation Baby Lift -- babies and children crammed on a plane from Vietnam to America. Coming up, the deep bond between a woman who escorted one of them to freedom 30 years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His video of Communist East Germany -- crumbling, hopelessly polluted, restless -- helped topple the Berlin Wall. Amateur video journalist Aram Radomski spirited his tapes to Western TV, which beamed them back into Eastern Germany.

When the wall opens November 9th, 1989, 27-year-old Radomski was among the first to walk to the West. He photographed Checkpoint Charlie, a sullen, heavily fortified flashpoint of the Cold War, suddenly overrun with euphoria.

"Our pictures on TV were a reason people took to the streets," he says. "And they changed this land."

Fifteen years later, unemployment hovers around 20 percent in the East. "Capitalism isn't so easy," he says. "I try to look at it realistically, that you have to help yourself to find your place."

Radomski found his, designing wallpaper for homes, bars, theaters and film sets. After helping to tear down one wall, he is covering others -- his life now as free as his spirit.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Thirty years later, a war orphan looks back on the special mission that delivered him to a new life.

Welcome back, everyone. I'm Betty Nguyen.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. That story coming up; first, here's what is happening now in the news.

Runaway bride. Jennifer Wilbanks is back in Georgia with her family. She arrived last night, wearing a towel over her head to keep her face under wraps. The D.A. in Gwinnett County says he has got some questions for her. He says Wilbanks still may face criminal charges for her elaborate kidnapping hoax.

Newly elected Pope Benedict XVI delivered his first Sunday blessing to the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, and he paid tribute to Mayday. Benedict appealed for respect and dignity for working people around the world.

A high-level U.S. military investigation into abuse at Guantanamo Bay reportedly found several prisoners were mistreated or humiliated beyond, perhaps beyond the legal limits. Today "New York Times" reports the abuse may stem from military efforts to devise innovative methods to gain information. "The Times" quotes military and senior military and Pentagon officials.

NGUYEN: Thirty years ago this weekend, Saigon was falling to communism as the Vietnam War came to an end. In the midst of the chaos, an American effort to save orphaned children born of war. I spoke with one of them about his journey and the woman who helped make it possible.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREN RYAN, PART OF OPERATION BABY LIFT: Hello, Roger.

ROGER CASTILLO, BORN IN VIETNAM: Hi, Karen.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a relationship that began 30 years ago in a dangerous, war-torn country. Today, they live just 25 miles apart. Here in Montana, that's practically next door, thousands of miles away from where they first met.

It was the 1970s and Karen Ryan, young and beautiful, was living the glamour life, working for Pan Am. They called them stewardesses back then and Ryan signed up to see the world. Only, America was at war. And she often had the difficult job of shuttling nervous soldiers to Vietnam.

RYAN: You would just grab their hand and say, take care of yourself. And it was just like looking at doomed people sometimes.

NGUYEN: But, on April 4, 1975, an airport telegram changed her life.

RYAN: While we were driving to the hotel, we were reading this, that we had been rerouted the next day. It wasn't in big letters, where you volunteer for this. We just thought we were doing it. And then, later, they told us that it was voluntary basis only.

NGUYEN: That's because this mission was different. Saigon was falling to communism, the plane, packed with baby bottles, the plan, pick up not troops, but children, victims of war, abandoned and possibly marked for death because of their American fathers, children like this boy.

His name then Ng Si Cuong. Abandoned at birth, he was adopted by a Vietnamese family until his mixed features started to show. Then, at the age of 6, his adoptive mother took him on a sightseeing trip that ended at this Saigon orphanage.

CASTILLO: The gate opened. And I remember my mother said, why don't you go in and see what it is like? And I walked in not knowing, because she stood back. And I just walked in. And it seemed almost instant, that I just hear the gates closed. And I turn around and essentially my mother is gone.

And I remember that -- I really -- I don't know if maybe I thought she was kidding. Maybe I -- I didn't know, but I just wanted to get out.

NGUYEN: He never saw her again.

CASTILLO: I constantly tried to climb the gate or I tried to climb the fence. I was trying to find any way to get out and find my way home.

NGUYEN: Whether she did it out of love or fear, he believes his adopted mother saved him from the communists.

CASTILLO: They would have taken away my life. I think that they would have, because I essentially am half of the -- quote, unquote -- "enemy" to them.

NGUYEN: Fear for these infant enemies sparked a special American evacuation Operation Babylift, some 2,000 orphans with a ticket to the freedom, among them, Ng Si Cuong.

Tragically, the first flight out crashed in a rice field, killing some 135 people, mostly babies. But the mission was not abandoned. Karen's plane arrived the day after the crash and the children came piling up the steps, not knowing it would be a one-way trip and this would be the last memory of their homeland.

CASTILLO: It was very crowded. There was approximately about 100 of us, from the age of 6 to 8, and we were all into the back of the plane. The babies were up front.

And I remember the stewardess just running around.

RYAN: They were handing me babies, you know, two, three babies. And I get them in their seat belt and here would come more. And, of course, every baby is crying. The children are traumatized.

NGUYEN: And so was Karen. A snapshot captures the moment when this mercy mission became personal.

(on camera): What goes through your mind when you turn around and you have got three to four babies in your arms?

RYAN: I'm going, this can't be. There is so many of these babies. It was overwhelming. Gosh, it was amazing.

NGUYEN (voice-over): The sick children were taken upstairs to the 747's lounge, where, on regular flights, wealthy passengers would dine. Crammed in down below was the little boy who wondered if he would ever have a family on his way to an uncertain future. Everything in his life would soon change and change again, even his name.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: When we come back, the rest of his journey and how he found the woman who helped fly him to freedom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: It was called Operation Babylift and it was launched 30 years ago as the Vietnam war came to an end. For some 2,000 Vietnamese orphans, it was a ticket to a new life. But, would they find their American dream? Here's the rest of one orphan's story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN (voice-over): He was an orphan caught up in a war, the son of an American father and a Vietnamese mother and he was on his way to an uncertain future.

(on camera): Did you realize at the time what was happening? Did you realize that you were headed to America, into an American family that you would now call your own?

CASTILLO: I did not know that I was going to a family at all. All I knew I was going on a plane, I was taking a trip to a new place and that's going to be my home. But I did not know their names; I did not know how many kids they have. I didn't even know I was going to a specific destination.

NGUYEN (voice-over): And he wasn't the only one with questions. Karen was concerned, too.

RYAN: I was really worked about where they were going, what kind of parents they were going to get. Would they be loved, would they be received, would they be nourished -- nurtured?

NGUYEN: In America, Ng Si Cuong was given a new name, Larry. He had a family and a home on this farm in Iowa, but it just wasn't working out.

CASTILLO: My American life didn't start on April 5 of 1975, when I was 6. It didn't start there. The wheel was turning. I was getting there. I got here, but I think my real life didn't start until November of 1978 when I came to the Castillo's in California.

NGUYEN: Again, he was given a new name, Roger Castillo. The seventh child in a family full of adopted children from all over the world, he was finally home, but he will never forget how he got there.

(on camera): These sandals are 30 years old, the pair you wore when you boarded that plane. How special are they?

CASTILLO: They're very special. They're my only connection to that era and just to know that I've essentially walked out of my old life to a new life and these were what carried me.

NGUYEN (on camera): Today, Roger Castillo is married, father of two beautiful daughters who share his Vietnamese features, a constant reminder of an unfamiliar past and how parents never known can still shape their children.

CASTILLO: I have a image of who my father is and I want to uphold that image. I want to love my kids as though as if he was still there, would he love me? Would my mother would have kept me, if she would have had a spouse to help take care? So, I think it really challenges me to be a good father.

NGUYEN (on camera): And part of that challenge includes learning about his Vietnamese roots.

CASTILLO: Right now I can teach my kids the American way of living. But I can't teach them where I came from.

NGUYEN: Sometimes it's the present that links to the past. Roger made his home amid the mountains of Western Montana.

CASTILLO: Can you go...

NGUYEN: He's a physician assistant in an emergency room that serves the city of Missoula where just up the road, past the fly fishermen and the fields of sheep, lives a link to what was just a fading memory. He found Karen when she wrote about her plane load of babies in "Reader's Digest." And she hasn't stopped caring for children.

RYAN: Do you have somebody in mind?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah I do. I have about four baby nurses...

NGUYEN: She owns a company that places nannies in homes. Thirty years after their chance meeting, they have become like family. They share meals and watch their children grow. Karen even keeps pictures of the babies on her flight displayed as if they were her own. And she's made sure Roger never forgets the day they met, "Alive and well April 5, 1975" is inscribed on a pendant she gave him.

(on camera): That's pretty special and it's something the you guys are going carry with you forever?

RYAN: Sure.

CASTILLO: Forever.

RYAN: Yep.

CASTILLO: Forever. Because I look at Karen and I look at all the stewardess' who were on that flight, I look at the pilots as those were my angels. They're the ones that took us up. They're the ones that flew us out and they're the ones that gave us that new life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: It's really a remarkable story. And Roger hopes to one day very soon travel back to Vietnam to reconnect with his Vietnamese roots. He's an amazing man, Tony.

HARRIS: He really is. That's a great story. I love stat story, but I also love your story. I know a bit of it, but you need to take a moment here and share some of your own story of devaluation out of Vietnam.

NGUYEN: Well, like Roger, I am the daughter of an American serviceman and Vietnamese college student, born in Vietnam, a child of war. We evacuated in April, 1975, just like Roger, came in a little bit later than him. But, we didn't come out on a commercial jet, we came out on a cargo plane and it was jam-packed, crowded with so many people. There weren't even any seats on this plane. My mother had never been on a plane before, so what we had to do is we had to cram into the plane, sit on the floor any place we could find a spot and that would take us to this land called America, a place we didn't even know about. Here's a picture of me at the time. I was just a baby.

HARRIS: Is that you as a baby there?

NGUYEN: With the big ears and all.

HARRIS: Oh! NGUYEN: But, I don't remember many of the -- actually any of it. My mother recounts the story to me. There she is just 23 years old at the time. Can you imagine, Tony, leaving your country and your parents, having to say...

HARRIS: The fear of it, sure.

NGUYEN: Yeah, having to say good-bye to your parents not knowing if you would ever see them again. In fact, it was in one of the refugee camps, in the Philippines, where we learned Saigon had fallen to Communism.

HARRIS: What are we looking at?

NGUYEN: Those are my grandparents, right there.

HARRIS: Those are your grandparents? OK.

NGUYEN: And at that time my mother knew there was definitely no turning back at that point.

HARRIS: Let me ask you, you talk to us about your trips back to Vietnam and what that has meant for you.

NGUYEN: It's meant a lot going back to Vietnam. I went back for the first time in 1998 and it was just amazing to me to see how many people. I look in their eyes and I wonder what if? That could be me. What if that was me? I saw a lot of starvation; I saw a lot of people in desperate situations. We're looking at the flooding along the Mekong Delta, there, where the monsoons really just devastate the area. So, we started a charity called Help the Hungry and what we do is we go back and provide humanitarian aid so they can get through the three month of the monsoon season. It's basically like a lifeline.

HARRIS: Oh, you are living your life, young lady.

NGUYEN: Well, I've been so blessed and so proud to be a Vietnamese-American that I've got to do something to give back.

HARRIS: Well, I'm sure your family couldn't be more proud of you.

NGUYEN: Well, they're a part of it too, so I'm just as proud of them.

HARRIS: Yeah, we're proud of you here, too.

NGUYEN: Thanks. Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: Good job. Moving ahead now, competing to the be the best of the best. It is the Army's most grueling competition and in today's "Soldier Story," we're talking to the winners about just how they pulled it all off.

NGUYEN: And we want to say good morning, Washington. Oh, look at the sun come up there. We will have your complete weather forecast in about 13 minutes. CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And welcome back everyone to CNN SUNDAY MORNING, I'm Tony Harris checking our top stories. You've probably seen her face a lot this week, but not this time. Jennifer Wilbanks is back home in Georgia after leaving New Mexico with a towel over her head. Police say the bride-to-be made up a story about getting abducted because she got cold feet over her wedding.

Turning overseas now, a string of attacks in Baghdad leaves 13 Iraqis dead and a dozen wounded. The violence includes a suicide car bombing and an attack on a police checkpoint.

Back in the U.S., they're sunburned and dehydrated, but otherwise OK. Two teenage boys who went missing for a week while sailing off the South Carolina coast have been found. Fishermen spotted them off the North Carolina coast.

NGUYEN: This morning "Soldier Story" spotlights the Army's Best Ranger Competition. Oh, this is exciting stuff. It is one of the most grueling events in the world and we are not joking. And it showcases the physical and mental endurance of the most elite soldiers out there. Captain Corbett McCallum is the winner, the winner, of the Best Ranger Contest, and Captain Marc Messershmitt, finished second, which ain't too bad, I must say.

Congratulations, first of all.

CAPT. MARC MESSERSHMITT, 4TH RANGER TRAINING BATTALION: Thank you.

CAPT. CORBETT MCCALLUM, WINNER, BEST RANGER COMPETITION: Thank you.

NGUYEN: Thanks for being with us. Captain McCallum, first place. How'd you do it?

MCCALLUM: It really wasn't me, it's a team effort, it's a team man competition and my partner Jerry Nelson, he's -- I say, he just told me what to do and I did it, so.

NGUYEN: Well, it couldn't have been that easy. I mean, this is a grueling competition. Captain Messershmitt, you have placed, actually you were first, you came in No. 1 in 2000. You didn't compete in the past few years, but you competed this past year and you were second. Talk to us a little bit about how tough the competition is.

MESSERSHMITT: Well, it's like you said, this is our ranger Olympics, it kind of showcases all the physical, technical, mental aspects of being an Army Ranger. As a combat focus competition, less than half the teams who actually start will finish the competition. So there's a 50 percent attrition rate.

NGUYEN: Wow. MESSERSHMITT: I guess the best way to say it is it is the hardest the possible thing you could imagine. It's 60 hours, it's around the clock. One event starts right after the previous event had completed. There's no programmed time for sleep, there's no programmed to eat. You're eating on the move, you're sleeping when you can. It's pretty tough.

NGUYEN: So, exactly what do you do? I mean, we're looking at some video here, you're climbing up. What are some of the other parts of the competition? It's a mental competition, as well, right?

MESSERSHMITT: Right. For example, you know, the roadmarks we had walked all night long through thunder and lightning, down pouring rain, we came up to where we thought it was going to finish and it went another mile-and-a-half. So, you have to find out what kind of -- what you're actually made of to continue going when the you think the thing is about over. But it's, mentally, it's just as tough as it is physically.

NGUYEN: How got to dig deep and keep pushing on in this one. Captain McCallum, how do you train for this?

MCCALLUM: We looked historically what they did in past years. I competed last year so I had an idea of some of the things that are historically done the same. You know, roadmarks, land navigation, (INAUDIBLE). Those things you can train for and then we looked at, whether you're in combat, a lot of skills we do during the ranger stakes portion were skills they're using combat now. So, make sure we were good in first aid, we did weapon's assembly, grenade assault course, run and shoot. So, things that are used in, like, operation now...

NGUYEN: Yeah, it's a lot of different operations that you're having to undergo. So, how long do you have to train? How many times -- how many hours a day is it?

MCCALLUM: For the competition it's 60 straight hours. Training up to it, we train probably trained six or eight hours straight a day.

NGUYEN: Six or eight hours a day, that's a full-time job.

MCCALLUM: Yes it was. And we actually had the support from our superior officers in the battalion. We could actually train for it pretty well since January.

NGUYEN: Boy, my hat goes off to you. Captain Messershmitt, talk to me about how this compares to your duties in your deployments.

MESSERSHMITT: Like I said, everything is combat focused. One stations that they did during the competition was a first aid station where you had to find an injure soldier, do the life-saving steps, and evacuate that soldier and while they're doing this there's actually machine gun firing and smoke and it created a very realistic training scenario.

NGUYEN: Is it harder than a deployment, would you say or no? MESSERSHMITT: It is because of the pressure. Not only are you putting pressure on yourself, but there's the pressure of points, there's media there. So, there's a lot to it, in that aspect, would kind of make it harder than what you might do in regular training or even on a deployment. Now on the other side, you don't have bad guys shooting at you, it's pretty safe.

NGUYEN: Right.

MESSERSHMITT: It is, it's just physically and mentally a very demanding competition.

NGUYEN: You guys are the best of the best. You coming back next year to compete?

MCCALLUM: Probably not. This year...

NGUYEN: Not?

MCCALLUM: Well, this year I did because I was in a place where, I could train for it and do it.

NGUYEN: I see.

MCCALLUM: Next year I should be, I should (INAUDIBLE) in unit, so I'll be doing my job at the (INAUDIBLE) unit.

NGUYEN: Well, you got to do that job. We wish you the best of luck.

You, are you going to come back and compete?

MESSERSHMITT: I don't know. If I ever get the opportunity to do it again, I probably would. But for those people that haven't the competition or aren't familiar with it, it was covered by the military channel this year and they will do a three-hour segment on June 16...

NGUYEN: Yeah, we're going to talk about that in just a minute. But, I wanted to see, one last thing, for those who are looking at this video and thinking, boy, I might be able to handle that. First you have to be a ranger, you got to be among the elite, but what's your advice to them?

MCCALLUM: Nothing about the competition by itself is hard, it's just when they add those events, back to back, over the course of 60 hours that it becomes very difficult. If somebody thought they wanted to do this, they would need really do their research and look at what's historically been done in the competitions and train for previous competitions to be prepared for future competitions.

NGUYEN: This is a serious business, as we can see in that video. Well, we thank you both and congratulations. That is just a wonderful title to hold.

MCCALLUM: Thank you.

MESSERSHMITT: Thank you.

NGUYEN: Take care.

Civilians probably wouldn't last a minute in this contest. I know I wouldn't. The military takes us behind the scenes, though, of the Best Ranger Competition. It will air in a miniseries, "Best Ranger" which premiers on June 16. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Look at this, we're just getting this in to CNN.

HARRIS: Brand new video?

NGUYEN: Brand new video. Boy, we've been watching this story, following it and the Treasury Duck becomes a mommy. The mallard has been living outside the Treasury Department. Her ducklings, look at the little one there, well, they began hatching yesterday and they could be moved to a nearby park and set free some time today.

HARRIS: Mom, can you slide over, can you help me out here. Can you give me a little room to operate here?

NGUYEN: They're safe and sound underneath.

HARRIS: It's only our top story, right?

NGUYEN: Our top story.

HARRIS: To Washington, D.C. now, and to Kelly Wallace for a preview of "On the Story" at the top of the hour.

Good morning, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, "ON THE STORY": Hello to you, Tony. Not from Washington, myself, would you believe they canceled my flight this morning, so I'm here in New York with some of my colleagues, others in Washington, also Los Angeles. We'll also be going live to Atlanta for the latest "On the Story" the country's talking about, the saga of the runaway bride.

We'll also go to California and talk to Jane Velez-Mitchell about what she saw at the Michael Jackson trial, especially when his former wife and mother of his children took the stand.

Dana Bash talking about her travel with First Lady Laura bush, the woman who stole the show at last night's White House correspondence dinner. All coming up, all on "ON THE STORY."

Tony, I know you and Betty are watching the entire hour.

HARRIS: Oh yeah, and it doesn't matter where you are, as long as we get an opportunity to see you.

WALLACE: That's right.

HARRIS: See you at the top of the hour, Kelly.

WALLACE: OK.

HARRIS: And all morning long we have been asking for your thoughts in our e-mail question, here it is: What do you think should be done to protect America's children?

Here's our first e-mail response, "First-time offenders should get life in prison with no possibility of parole, regardless of age of the offender. Child molesters give victims a life sentence and offenders should get the same. Healing would be easier if victims know they are believed and can see the abuser does get punishment."

NGUYEN: This comes from a lady named Virginia who lives in Tennessee and she writes, "It ALWAYS had been the parent's responsibility to protect the children, it ALWAYS will be. Be smart; don't leave your child alone. Learn the danger signals that earmark pedophiles, whether it's a friend or family member. The government cannot protect your child the government can only enact laws to punish the perpetrator once caught."

We thank you for those e-mails, today. Very interesting topic.

HARRIS: And time for another quick check of weather with Jill Brown in for Rob Marciano, this morning.

Good morning, Jill.

JILL BROWN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Tony. Good morning, Betty.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Warm this thing up a little bit.

NGUYEN: Yeah, bring it on, Jill.

HARRIS: Jill thanks.

NGUYEN: OK thanks.

HARRIS: Thank you for watching. We'll see you back here next weekend.

NGUYEN: But, don't leave because "ON THE STORY" is next.

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


Aired May 1, 2005 - 09:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: The woman nationally known as the runaway bride returns home with hopes of still walking down the aisle. It's 9:00 a.m. here in Georgia, 6:00 a.m. out West. Good morning, everyone. I'm Betty Nguyen.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. Thank you for joining us. Let's get you started with the morning headlines.

NGUYEN: Now in the news -- a runaway bride returns to Georgia. Family and close friends say they are relieved Jennifer Wilbanks is home safe. But the D.A. says he has some questions. He is considering whether to file criminal charges. And "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" reports Wilbanks may have bought her bus ticket more than a week ago.

Raids in Baghdad uncover possible evidence about the killing of a humanitarian worker. Iraqi officials say they have arrested 11 suspected insurgents and found what appears to be personal items belonging to Margaret Hassan.

And the wave of violence continues in Iraq for the third day in a row. Five civilians were killed by a suicide car bomb, and five Iraqi police died in a gun battle with insurgents in Baghdad.

Credible reports of terrorist threats against the U.S. have dropped to their lowest level since the September 11th attacks. That is according to today's "Washington Post." It says counterterrorism officials believe that al Qaeda and other groups are frustrated by tighter U.S. security, and they are focusing more on Iraq and Europe.

HARRIS: Here's what we have coming up for you this hour: New tactics in the age-old fight against child porn. Police take landmark steps to crack a tough case. We'll talk to one of the lead detectives straight ahead.

Also, 30 years ago, some of the youngest refugees aboard took a life-saving trip. Three decades later, we look back on their journey.

And in our "Soldier's Story," you think the Ironman competition is tough? You ain't seen nothing yet! All coming up in this hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

NGUYEN: The Julia Roberts movie had a happy ending, but this story is not over for a real-life runaway bride. Jennifer Wilbanks is back home in Georgia after a cross-country odyssey and a concocted story about being kidnapped. CNN's Charles Molineaux is live from suburban Atlanta with the latest on this story. And you are outside a church that is pretty important to this, isn't it?

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is really the church that was going to be conducting the wedding. They actually have planned to have it at a larger and a better facility church in Duluth, Georgia, but this is the Peachtree Corners Baptist Church in Norcross, and this is actually where the John Mason and Jennifer were based out of. This was -- their pastor was from this church. And today this congregation is coming together, well, a little red in the face over what happened.

And if you took a look at the scene last night at Atlanta's airport, you would have had an idea as to exactly what we're dealing with here. She came in pretty quiet last night. Jennifer Wilbanks flew in, and the flight attendant says she was escorted from her plane by police. Did not mingle with the other passengers, and apparently she won't be making any public statements for a few days.

Jennifer Wilbanks actually flew out of Albuquerque, having, well, traded in her veil for a towel over her head last night. Albuquerque was where she turned up late Friday night with a story about being kidnapped, until police and the FBI actually talked to her and determined that, in fact, she had hopped a bus Tuesday night in a fit of pre-wedding anxiety, which left her family, her fiance's family, and the whole community first terrified, then overjoyed that she was OK, then confused and angry, and feeling quite a bit of disappointment and embarrassment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. ALAN JONES, PEACHTREE CORNERS BAPTIST CHURCH: We feel betrayed, but nobody's talked to Jennifer. We don't know -- you know, we don't know what she was feeling, what kind of emotions she has. And I'm just amazed at the response of John Mason right now. You know, he's calm. He is peaceful. And he wants to see her and wants to talk to her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOLINEAUX: Well, Delta Air Lines flight attendant actually said that, according to Jennifer, she has spoken to her fiance. She cannot wait -- he cannot wait to see her. She says the wedding is not called off, just postponed.

Well, there could be some more complications, however. This morning, I just talked to the district attorney here in Gwinnett County, Georgia, and he says that he's got some questions which could very well lead to some criminal charges against Jennifer Wilbanks. He says that he's got to figure out exactly the circumstances under which she left.

This morning's "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" reports that she got that ticket on the bus as long ago as a week, which would mean she had planned this out in advance. Now, District Attorney Danny Porter says that if she just, as he put it, "freaked out and took off," he would be a lot less inclined to go after criminal charges than if this were an advanced planned deception.

NGUYEN: Charles, so let me get this straight. Does Jennifer still want to go on with the wedding, or is it John that still wants to go on with the wedding, her fiance?

MOLINEAUX: Well, what we are getting -- and keep in mind that all the statements we've gotten from both families and from both of them have been pretty vague and broad, but what she said was in this statement that she spoken to him, that he was very glad to hear from her, but also -- and she said that the wedding had merely been delayed and is not off. And, of course, in statements we heard after this entire scam came to light yesterday, what John Mason had said was that everybody's entitled to make a mistake and that there's lots of room for forgiveness. So we may yet see a reconciliation and this wedding go forward.

NGUYEN: Very interesting. We will be watching. Charles Molineavx in Norcross, Georgia. Thank you.

HARRIS: We turn now to a special focus you'll see all day on CNN. We're taking a look at how to protect your children from sexual predators in your neighborhood and on the World Wide Web. Child molesters in Florida, for example, will soon feel the consequences of several horrific high-profile crimes against children. Governor Jeb Bush will sign a new law tomorrow. It requires sex offenders who molest kids under 12 to spend more time in prison, and once they get out, the new law will force them to wear tracking devices for life. The measure comes on the heels of two heinous cases in the state. A sex offender allegedly snatched a 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford from her bedroom and buried her across the street from her home. A few weeks later, the body of 13-year-old Sarah Lunde was found in a pond; another sex offender is charged in her death.

The Internet is crawling with child pornography. Images of minors forcibly engaged in acts so unspeakably depraved as to defy belief. Yet for all of the countless victims, finding them and prosecuting their attackers is enormously frustrating for law enforcement. Some detectives are trying a different tact. Since they cannot publicly show the victim's faces, they are focusing instead on the room settings and other visual clues to generate leads. Detective Sergeant Paul Gillespie is with the Toronto Police Department, and he has been working closely with Florida authorities on a case believed to have occurred at Disneyworld. And he joins us from Toronto. Detective, good to see you. Thanks for talking to us.

DETECTIVE SGT. PAUL GILLESPIE, TORONTO POLICE DEPARTMENT: Good morning.

HARRIS: Well, let me begin with this question. Is the day coming, in your opinion, when we might, in your opinion, have to publish the pictures of victims?

GILLESPIE: I do believe we are moving in that direction. There are thousands and thousands of these victims out there. We're not doing a very good job at identifying them. Every other day in their life is another day of horrific harm and risk, and if we can build the right infrastructure to do it properly and carefully, I think we will probably end up doing just that.

HARRIS: Focusing instead on the room settings and other visual clues to generate leads. How is that working out, in particular in the Florida case that we just discussed?

GILLESPIE: Well, it certainly got us down to that area. We knew there was a victim being abused. So we know that one of the crime scenes is down in Orlando. However, the majority of the abuse has taken place at another area geographically.

HARRIS: I see. How concerned are you that releasing the pictures potentially down the road of victims might further endanger those victims?

GILLESPIE: That's very realistic, and I think we have to be aware of that, but, in thinking about what the options or alternatives are, if we don't do something, is it better to leave a child in horrific risk and endangerment for the rest of their life, to be constantly abused and reabused? I think if we put it in personal terms and thought of a loved one we had, we would want law enforcement to do anything they could to rescue that child.

HARRIS: Here's a question that cuts to the idea that the more you know about the people who do this kind of thing, the better your chances of catching them. What have you come to understand through your years of working on these cases about the people who molest these children, who engage in pedophilia?

GILLESPIE: Well, what I've come to understand is you can't generalize and lay any kind of a cookie-cutter template over them. They're males, by and large, almost every one of them, and it's impossible to determine what somebody's predisposition is towards sexual values or fantasies that they have. And it's very easy to hide, and on the other side you have children who are the perfect victims, and then you build in the Internet, which has allowed international exploitation of this en masse, and no effective body to coordinate an effort to respond to it. It really is a worst-case scenario for children, and I think we -- that's why we have to look at new ways of doing business and respond a little bit better. Rather than trying to be proactive or reactive, we're always chasing somebody, I think we just have to be responsive to a changing environment and do business differently.

HARRIS: So what do you need? What other tools would you like to have?

GILLESPIE: Well, the number one thing that I do believe we need is simply to get a more coordinated system in place. With the wonderful agencies in the United States, we're very close with Immigration and Customs, work closely with the FBI and U.S. Postal Service. And like, Orange County I think has taken a great leadership role in this particular case, and showing that they're a forward- thinking organization.

One of the reasons we have recently built a child exploitation tracking system with Microsoft is to coordinate worldwide, to roll it out as a global database. If we can get the investigators and law enforcement on the same page, we have to do whatever cultural shift here, because most agencies don't want to share information. I think if we can, it will make a huge difference. And in the meantime, I think we have to understand that the Internet in certain areas of it, there's a cesspool. Chat rooms, newsgroups, peer to peer at times, people using credit cards to buy child pornography. I think that we have to take some drastic measures in regards to law enforcement and what we have been doing. I think we have to understand that, you know, we've been swatting mosquitoes long enough; I think it's time to drain the swamp.

HARRIS: Well said. Detective Sergeant Paul Gillespie, with the Toronto Police Department, thanks for taking the time this morning.

GILLESPIE: Thank you.

NGUYEN: Protecting a young victim's identity is intended to spare the child from public shame, but some experts say those concerns are superseded by greater worries about the child's welfare. "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh addresses that issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN WALSH, HOST, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": The pictures do work, and I hope at some point they may release the picture of the little girl that's being abused, and that may lead to finding this lowlife that's been exploiting her and destroying her life for years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Now, you can hear much more from John Walsh later tonight right here on CNN. That interview will air at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 p.m. Pacific.

But right now, for more information about how to protect your children from sexual abuse, contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.

HARRIS: And that brings us to today's e-mail question. What should be done to protect America's children? Send us your thoughts at wam@cnn.com and we'll read your responses later in the hour.

Violence escalates in Iraq overnight. A car bomb targets a U.S. military convoy. The details straight ahead.

NGUYEN: Remembering Operation Baby Lift. One orphan's unexpected journey to freedom, and a woman who helped make it happen when CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And checking our top stories now. U.S. and Iraqi forces captured 11 suspected insurgents in overnight raids near Baghdad. Iraqi officials say they found evidence that may link some of them to the killing of British aide worker Margaret Hassan last fall. Meanwhile, it's been another bloody day in Iraq. At least 13 Iraqis have been killed and 12 wounded in three separate attacks in Baghdad.

And back in this country, runaway bride, Jennifer Wilbanks, is back home in Georgia. Now, she may have to face the music. Duluth police have said she won't face criminal charges in her kidnap hoax, but the Gwinnett County prosecutor says, not so fast, he has some questions for her.

And time right now to check out some of the other stories making news around the world.

NGUYEN: Insurgents showing again that they are still a force to be reckoned with. We want to get some details now on that, and the rest of the big international developments. We'll turn it over to Anand Naidoo at the CNN International Desk. Good morning.

ANAND NAIDOO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, a very good morning from me. That's right. It's been another bloody day in Iraq. A wave of attacks by Iraqi insurgents; at least 13 people are killed. Insurgents targeted a checkpoint in a Baghdad neighborhood, killing five policeman. The attack by about 30 insurgents occurred near a military college, which is now used as a U.S. military camp. The guerrillas stole the dead officers' weapons and fled the scene.

A late-morning car bombing in southeast Baghdad killed five Iraqi civilians, and among those five a 5-year-old child.

And this news coming in earlier this morning. A municipal manager in Baghdad was killed, and so were his two guards. And that happened in a drive-by shooting.

Moving on now to Israel. More diplomatic moves there. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives in Jerusalem, a significant visit, because his Justice and Development Party has strong roots in political Islam. Notwithstanding that, Turkey has relatively good relations with Israel. Those relations have been strained recently by comments that Erdogan has made, criticizing Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

Now to the Vatican, and Catholic faithful flocked to St. Peter's Square to witness Pope Benedict XVI make his first Sunday window appearance since being elected pope. The pontiff took formal possession of the official papal residence yesterday, and that appearance at the window is, of course, a long tradition, which is practiced -- was practiced, rather, by Pope John Paul II.

That is all for me. Now back to Tony and Betty.

NGUYEN: All right, thanks, Anand.

HARRIS: A bayonet assault course, a helicopter jump and a 15- mile run? All before lunch. It's the Army's toughest competition. They're searching for the best Ranger, and we have the winners here today. What these men had to endure to win the top spot. It is our "Soldier's Story" when CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So which of the stories are getting the most attention online this Sunday morning? Let me guess. My guess is that it has something to do with the wedding bell blues. The wedding bells that didn't -- say hello to Christina Park.

CHRISTINA PARK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, good morning.

HARRIS: Good morning, Christina.

PARK: Tony, you're always right. That's right, the runaway bride story still tops at cnn.com, especially after news that the wedding has not yet been called off, just postponed. It's our number one story right now. 32-year-old Jennifer Wilbanks is now back at home in Georgia, and her family has issued a statement saying that Wilbanks has spoken to her fiance, John Mason, and that Mason couldn't wait to see her last night.

On cnn.com, you can hear the 911 call that Wilbanks made, saying she had been kidnapped. And read the police report on why she made up that story, due to cold feet. Our experts also chime in on how wedding stress and the fear of disappointing others can really take a toll on a bride-to-be. The story has really caught the attention of our users on cnn.com, but, this -- I'm so excited -- out-of-this-world report is also in our top 10. Scientists say new images taken of an object five times the mass of Jupiter confirm it is a giant planet and not a star. Look at that. An international team of astronomers says the faint, reddish speck of light you see on the far left is the first time a planet outside our Solar System has been directly observed.

CNN.com's most popular stories list changes every 20 minutes, so to get there all you have to do is click on "most popular" on our site. It's at the top right-hand side of your screen. Back to you, Tony.

HARRIS: Beautiful. Christina, thank you.

PARK: Thanks.

HARRIS: Thanks.

NGUYEN: Remembering Operation Baby Lift -- babies and children crammed on a plane from Vietnam to America. Coming up, the deep bond between a woman who escorted one of them to freedom 30 years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His video of Communist East Germany -- crumbling, hopelessly polluted, restless -- helped topple the Berlin Wall. Amateur video journalist Aram Radomski spirited his tapes to Western TV, which beamed them back into Eastern Germany.

When the wall opens November 9th, 1989, 27-year-old Radomski was among the first to walk to the West. He photographed Checkpoint Charlie, a sullen, heavily fortified flashpoint of the Cold War, suddenly overrun with euphoria.

"Our pictures on TV were a reason people took to the streets," he says. "And they changed this land."

Fifteen years later, unemployment hovers around 20 percent in the East. "Capitalism isn't so easy," he says. "I try to look at it realistically, that you have to help yourself to find your place."

Radomski found his, designing wallpaper for homes, bars, theaters and film sets. After helping to tear down one wall, he is covering others -- his life now as free as his spirit.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Thirty years later, a war orphan looks back on the special mission that delivered him to a new life.

Welcome back, everyone. I'm Betty Nguyen.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. That story coming up; first, here's what is happening now in the news.

Runaway bride. Jennifer Wilbanks is back in Georgia with her family. She arrived last night, wearing a towel over her head to keep her face under wraps. The D.A. in Gwinnett County says he has got some questions for her. He says Wilbanks still may face criminal charges for her elaborate kidnapping hoax.

Newly elected Pope Benedict XVI delivered his first Sunday blessing to the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, and he paid tribute to Mayday. Benedict appealed for respect and dignity for working people around the world.

A high-level U.S. military investigation into abuse at Guantanamo Bay reportedly found several prisoners were mistreated or humiliated beyond, perhaps beyond the legal limits. Today "New York Times" reports the abuse may stem from military efforts to devise innovative methods to gain information. "The Times" quotes military and senior military and Pentagon officials.

NGUYEN: Thirty years ago this weekend, Saigon was falling to communism as the Vietnam War came to an end. In the midst of the chaos, an American effort to save orphaned children born of war. I spoke with one of them about his journey and the woman who helped make it possible.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREN RYAN, PART OF OPERATION BABY LIFT: Hello, Roger.

ROGER CASTILLO, BORN IN VIETNAM: Hi, Karen.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a relationship that began 30 years ago in a dangerous, war-torn country. Today, they live just 25 miles apart. Here in Montana, that's practically next door, thousands of miles away from where they first met.

It was the 1970s and Karen Ryan, young and beautiful, was living the glamour life, working for Pan Am. They called them stewardesses back then and Ryan signed up to see the world. Only, America was at war. And she often had the difficult job of shuttling nervous soldiers to Vietnam.

RYAN: You would just grab their hand and say, take care of yourself. And it was just like looking at doomed people sometimes.

NGUYEN: But, on April 4, 1975, an airport telegram changed her life.

RYAN: While we were driving to the hotel, we were reading this, that we had been rerouted the next day. It wasn't in big letters, where you volunteer for this. We just thought we were doing it. And then, later, they told us that it was voluntary basis only.

NGUYEN: That's because this mission was different. Saigon was falling to communism, the plane, packed with baby bottles, the plan, pick up not troops, but children, victims of war, abandoned and possibly marked for death because of their American fathers, children like this boy.

His name then Ng Si Cuong. Abandoned at birth, he was adopted by a Vietnamese family until his mixed features started to show. Then, at the age of 6, his adoptive mother took him on a sightseeing trip that ended at this Saigon orphanage.

CASTILLO: The gate opened. And I remember my mother said, why don't you go in and see what it is like? And I walked in not knowing, because she stood back. And I just walked in. And it seemed almost instant, that I just hear the gates closed. And I turn around and essentially my mother is gone.

And I remember that -- I really -- I don't know if maybe I thought she was kidding. Maybe I -- I didn't know, but I just wanted to get out.

NGUYEN: He never saw her again.

CASTILLO: I constantly tried to climb the gate or I tried to climb the fence. I was trying to find any way to get out and find my way home.

NGUYEN: Whether she did it out of love or fear, he believes his adopted mother saved him from the communists.

CASTILLO: They would have taken away my life. I think that they would have, because I essentially am half of the -- quote, unquote -- "enemy" to them.

NGUYEN: Fear for these infant enemies sparked a special American evacuation Operation Babylift, some 2,000 orphans with a ticket to the freedom, among them, Ng Si Cuong.

Tragically, the first flight out crashed in a rice field, killing some 135 people, mostly babies. But the mission was not abandoned. Karen's plane arrived the day after the crash and the children came piling up the steps, not knowing it would be a one-way trip and this would be the last memory of their homeland.

CASTILLO: It was very crowded. There was approximately about 100 of us, from the age of 6 to 8, and we were all into the back of the plane. The babies were up front.

And I remember the stewardess just running around.

RYAN: They were handing me babies, you know, two, three babies. And I get them in their seat belt and here would come more. And, of course, every baby is crying. The children are traumatized.

NGUYEN: And so was Karen. A snapshot captures the moment when this mercy mission became personal.

(on camera): What goes through your mind when you turn around and you have got three to four babies in your arms?

RYAN: I'm going, this can't be. There is so many of these babies. It was overwhelming. Gosh, it was amazing.

NGUYEN (voice-over): The sick children were taken upstairs to the 747's lounge, where, on regular flights, wealthy passengers would dine. Crammed in down below was the little boy who wondered if he would ever have a family on his way to an uncertain future. Everything in his life would soon change and change again, even his name.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: When we come back, the rest of his journey and how he found the woman who helped fly him to freedom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: It was called Operation Babylift and it was launched 30 years ago as the Vietnam war came to an end. For some 2,000 Vietnamese orphans, it was a ticket to a new life. But, would they find their American dream? Here's the rest of one orphan's story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN (voice-over): He was an orphan caught up in a war, the son of an American father and a Vietnamese mother and he was on his way to an uncertain future.

(on camera): Did you realize at the time what was happening? Did you realize that you were headed to America, into an American family that you would now call your own?

CASTILLO: I did not know that I was going to a family at all. All I knew I was going on a plane, I was taking a trip to a new place and that's going to be my home. But I did not know their names; I did not know how many kids they have. I didn't even know I was going to a specific destination.

NGUYEN (voice-over): And he wasn't the only one with questions. Karen was concerned, too.

RYAN: I was really worked about where they were going, what kind of parents they were going to get. Would they be loved, would they be received, would they be nourished -- nurtured?

NGUYEN: In America, Ng Si Cuong was given a new name, Larry. He had a family and a home on this farm in Iowa, but it just wasn't working out.

CASTILLO: My American life didn't start on April 5 of 1975, when I was 6. It didn't start there. The wheel was turning. I was getting there. I got here, but I think my real life didn't start until November of 1978 when I came to the Castillo's in California.

NGUYEN: Again, he was given a new name, Roger Castillo. The seventh child in a family full of adopted children from all over the world, he was finally home, but he will never forget how he got there.

(on camera): These sandals are 30 years old, the pair you wore when you boarded that plane. How special are they?

CASTILLO: They're very special. They're my only connection to that era and just to know that I've essentially walked out of my old life to a new life and these were what carried me.

NGUYEN (on camera): Today, Roger Castillo is married, father of two beautiful daughters who share his Vietnamese features, a constant reminder of an unfamiliar past and how parents never known can still shape their children.

CASTILLO: I have a image of who my father is and I want to uphold that image. I want to love my kids as though as if he was still there, would he love me? Would my mother would have kept me, if she would have had a spouse to help take care? So, I think it really challenges me to be a good father.

NGUYEN (on camera): And part of that challenge includes learning about his Vietnamese roots.

CASTILLO: Right now I can teach my kids the American way of living. But I can't teach them where I came from.

NGUYEN: Sometimes it's the present that links to the past. Roger made his home amid the mountains of Western Montana.

CASTILLO: Can you go...

NGUYEN: He's a physician assistant in an emergency room that serves the city of Missoula where just up the road, past the fly fishermen and the fields of sheep, lives a link to what was just a fading memory. He found Karen when she wrote about her plane load of babies in "Reader's Digest." And she hasn't stopped caring for children.

RYAN: Do you have somebody in mind?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah I do. I have about four baby nurses...

NGUYEN: She owns a company that places nannies in homes. Thirty years after their chance meeting, they have become like family. They share meals and watch their children grow. Karen even keeps pictures of the babies on her flight displayed as if they were her own. And she's made sure Roger never forgets the day they met, "Alive and well April 5, 1975" is inscribed on a pendant she gave him.

(on camera): That's pretty special and it's something the you guys are going carry with you forever?

RYAN: Sure.

CASTILLO: Forever.

RYAN: Yep.

CASTILLO: Forever. Because I look at Karen and I look at all the stewardess' who were on that flight, I look at the pilots as those were my angels. They're the ones that took us up. They're the ones that flew us out and they're the ones that gave us that new life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: It's really a remarkable story. And Roger hopes to one day very soon travel back to Vietnam to reconnect with his Vietnamese roots. He's an amazing man, Tony.

HARRIS: He really is. That's a great story. I love stat story, but I also love your story. I know a bit of it, but you need to take a moment here and share some of your own story of devaluation out of Vietnam.

NGUYEN: Well, like Roger, I am the daughter of an American serviceman and Vietnamese college student, born in Vietnam, a child of war. We evacuated in April, 1975, just like Roger, came in a little bit later than him. But, we didn't come out on a commercial jet, we came out on a cargo plane and it was jam-packed, crowded with so many people. There weren't even any seats on this plane. My mother had never been on a plane before, so what we had to do is we had to cram into the plane, sit on the floor any place we could find a spot and that would take us to this land called America, a place we didn't even know about. Here's a picture of me at the time. I was just a baby.

HARRIS: Is that you as a baby there?

NGUYEN: With the big ears and all.

HARRIS: Oh! NGUYEN: But, I don't remember many of the -- actually any of it. My mother recounts the story to me. There she is just 23 years old at the time. Can you imagine, Tony, leaving your country and your parents, having to say...

HARRIS: The fear of it, sure.

NGUYEN: Yeah, having to say good-bye to your parents not knowing if you would ever see them again. In fact, it was in one of the refugee camps, in the Philippines, where we learned Saigon had fallen to Communism.

HARRIS: What are we looking at?

NGUYEN: Those are my grandparents, right there.

HARRIS: Those are your grandparents? OK.

NGUYEN: And at that time my mother knew there was definitely no turning back at that point.

HARRIS: Let me ask you, you talk to us about your trips back to Vietnam and what that has meant for you.

NGUYEN: It's meant a lot going back to Vietnam. I went back for the first time in 1998 and it was just amazing to me to see how many people. I look in their eyes and I wonder what if? That could be me. What if that was me? I saw a lot of starvation; I saw a lot of people in desperate situations. We're looking at the flooding along the Mekong Delta, there, where the monsoons really just devastate the area. So, we started a charity called Help the Hungry and what we do is we go back and provide humanitarian aid so they can get through the three month of the monsoon season. It's basically like a lifeline.

HARRIS: Oh, you are living your life, young lady.

NGUYEN: Well, I've been so blessed and so proud to be a Vietnamese-American that I've got to do something to give back.

HARRIS: Well, I'm sure your family couldn't be more proud of you.

NGUYEN: Well, they're a part of it too, so I'm just as proud of them.

HARRIS: Yeah, we're proud of you here, too.

NGUYEN: Thanks. Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: Good job. Moving ahead now, competing to the be the best of the best. It is the Army's most grueling competition and in today's "Soldier Story," we're talking to the winners about just how they pulled it all off.

NGUYEN: And we want to say good morning, Washington. Oh, look at the sun come up there. We will have your complete weather forecast in about 13 minutes. CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And welcome back everyone to CNN SUNDAY MORNING, I'm Tony Harris checking our top stories. You've probably seen her face a lot this week, but not this time. Jennifer Wilbanks is back home in Georgia after leaving New Mexico with a towel over her head. Police say the bride-to-be made up a story about getting abducted because she got cold feet over her wedding.

Turning overseas now, a string of attacks in Baghdad leaves 13 Iraqis dead and a dozen wounded. The violence includes a suicide car bombing and an attack on a police checkpoint.

Back in the U.S., they're sunburned and dehydrated, but otherwise OK. Two teenage boys who went missing for a week while sailing off the South Carolina coast have been found. Fishermen spotted them off the North Carolina coast.

NGUYEN: This morning "Soldier Story" spotlights the Army's Best Ranger Competition. Oh, this is exciting stuff. It is one of the most grueling events in the world and we are not joking. And it showcases the physical and mental endurance of the most elite soldiers out there. Captain Corbett McCallum is the winner, the winner, of the Best Ranger Contest, and Captain Marc Messershmitt, finished second, which ain't too bad, I must say.

Congratulations, first of all.

CAPT. MARC MESSERSHMITT, 4TH RANGER TRAINING BATTALION: Thank you.

CAPT. CORBETT MCCALLUM, WINNER, BEST RANGER COMPETITION: Thank you.

NGUYEN: Thanks for being with us. Captain McCallum, first place. How'd you do it?

MCCALLUM: It really wasn't me, it's a team effort, it's a team man competition and my partner Jerry Nelson, he's -- I say, he just told me what to do and I did it, so.

NGUYEN: Well, it couldn't have been that easy. I mean, this is a grueling competition. Captain Messershmitt, you have placed, actually you were first, you came in No. 1 in 2000. You didn't compete in the past few years, but you competed this past year and you were second. Talk to us a little bit about how tough the competition is.

MESSERSHMITT: Well, it's like you said, this is our ranger Olympics, it kind of showcases all the physical, technical, mental aspects of being an Army Ranger. As a combat focus competition, less than half the teams who actually start will finish the competition. So there's a 50 percent attrition rate.

NGUYEN: Wow. MESSERSHMITT: I guess the best way to say it is it is the hardest the possible thing you could imagine. It's 60 hours, it's around the clock. One event starts right after the previous event had completed. There's no programmed time for sleep, there's no programmed to eat. You're eating on the move, you're sleeping when you can. It's pretty tough.

NGUYEN: So, exactly what do you do? I mean, we're looking at some video here, you're climbing up. What are some of the other parts of the competition? It's a mental competition, as well, right?

MESSERSHMITT: Right. For example, you know, the roadmarks we had walked all night long through thunder and lightning, down pouring rain, we came up to where we thought it was going to finish and it went another mile-and-a-half. So, you have to find out what kind of -- what you're actually made of to continue going when the you think the thing is about over. But it's, mentally, it's just as tough as it is physically.

NGUYEN: How got to dig deep and keep pushing on in this one. Captain McCallum, how do you train for this?

MCCALLUM: We looked historically what they did in past years. I competed last year so I had an idea of some of the things that are historically done the same. You know, roadmarks, land navigation, (INAUDIBLE). Those things you can train for and then we looked at, whether you're in combat, a lot of skills we do during the ranger stakes portion were skills they're using combat now. So, make sure we were good in first aid, we did weapon's assembly, grenade assault course, run and shoot. So, things that are used in, like, operation now...

NGUYEN: Yeah, it's a lot of different operations that you're having to undergo. So, how long do you have to train? How many times -- how many hours a day is it?

MCCALLUM: For the competition it's 60 straight hours. Training up to it, we train probably trained six or eight hours straight a day.

NGUYEN: Six or eight hours a day, that's a full-time job.

MCCALLUM: Yes it was. And we actually had the support from our superior officers in the battalion. We could actually train for it pretty well since January.

NGUYEN: Boy, my hat goes off to you. Captain Messershmitt, talk to me about how this compares to your duties in your deployments.

MESSERSHMITT: Like I said, everything is combat focused. One stations that they did during the competition was a first aid station where you had to find an injure soldier, do the life-saving steps, and evacuate that soldier and while they're doing this there's actually machine gun firing and smoke and it created a very realistic training scenario.

NGUYEN: Is it harder than a deployment, would you say or no? MESSERSHMITT: It is because of the pressure. Not only are you putting pressure on yourself, but there's the pressure of points, there's media there. So, there's a lot to it, in that aspect, would kind of make it harder than what you might do in regular training or even on a deployment. Now on the other side, you don't have bad guys shooting at you, it's pretty safe.

NGUYEN: Right.

MESSERSHMITT: It is, it's just physically and mentally a very demanding competition.

NGUYEN: You guys are the best of the best. You coming back next year to compete?

MCCALLUM: Probably not. This year...

NGUYEN: Not?

MCCALLUM: Well, this year I did because I was in a place where, I could train for it and do it.

NGUYEN: I see.

MCCALLUM: Next year I should be, I should (INAUDIBLE) in unit, so I'll be doing my job at the (INAUDIBLE) unit.

NGUYEN: Well, you got to do that job. We wish you the best of luck.

You, are you going to come back and compete?

MESSERSHMITT: I don't know. If I ever get the opportunity to do it again, I probably would. But for those people that haven't the competition or aren't familiar with it, it was covered by the military channel this year and they will do a three-hour segment on June 16...

NGUYEN: Yeah, we're going to talk about that in just a minute. But, I wanted to see, one last thing, for those who are looking at this video and thinking, boy, I might be able to handle that. First you have to be a ranger, you got to be among the elite, but what's your advice to them?

MCCALLUM: Nothing about the competition by itself is hard, it's just when they add those events, back to back, over the course of 60 hours that it becomes very difficult. If somebody thought they wanted to do this, they would need really do their research and look at what's historically been done in the competitions and train for previous competitions to be prepared for future competitions.

NGUYEN: This is a serious business, as we can see in that video. Well, we thank you both and congratulations. That is just a wonderful title to hold.

MCCALLUM: Thank you.

MESSERSHMITT: Thank you.

NGUYEN: Take care.

Civilians probably wouldn't last a minute in this contest. I know I wouldn't. The military takes us behind the scenes, though, of the Best Ranger Competition. It will air in a miniseries, "Best Ranger" which premiers on June 16. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Look at this, we're just getting this in to CNN.

HARRIS: Brand new video?

NGUYEN: Brand new video. Boy, we've been watching this story, following it and the Treasury Duck becomes a mommy. The mallard has been living outside the Treasury Department. Her ducklings, look at the little one there, well, they began hatching yesterday and they could be moved to a nearby park and set free some time today.

HARRIS: Mom, can you slide over, can you help me out here. Can you give me a little room to operate here?

NGUYEN: They're safe and sound underneath.

HARRIS: It's only our top story, right?

NGUYEN: Our top story.

HARRIS: To Washington, D.C. now, and to Kelly Wallace for a preview of "On the Story" at the top of the hour.

Good morning, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, "ON THE STORY": Hello to you, Tony. Not from Washington, myself, would you believe they canceled my flight this morning, so I'm here in New York with some of my colleagues, others in Washington, also Los Angeles. We'll also be going live to Atlanta for the latest "On the Story" the country's talking about, the saga of the runaway bride.

We'll also go to California and talk to Jane Velez-Mitchell about what she saw at the Michael Jackson trial, especially when his former wife and mother of his children took the stand.

Dana Bash talking about her travel with First Lady Laura bush, the woman who stole the show at last night's White House correspondence dinner. All coming up, all on "ON THE STORY."

Tony, I know you and Betty are watching the entire hour.

HARRIS: Oh yeah, and it doesn't matter where you are, as long as we get an opportunity to see you.

WALLACE: That's right.

HARRIS: See you at the top of the hour, Kelly.

WALLACE: OK.

HARRIS: And all morning long we have been asking for your thoughts in our e-mail question, here it is: What do you think should be done to protect America's children?

Here's our first e-mail response, "First-time offenders should get life in prison with no possibility of parole, regardless of age of the offender. Child molesters give victims a life sentence and offenders should get the same. Healing would be easier if victims know they are believed and can see the abuser does get punishment."

NGUYEN: This comes from a lady named Virginia who lives in Tennessee and she writes, "It ALWAYS had been the parent's responsibility to protect the children, it ALWAYS will be. Be smart; don't leave your child alone. Learn the danger signals that earmark pedophiles, whether it's a friend or family member. The government cannot protect your child the government can only enact laws to punish the perpetrator once caught."

We thank you for those e-mails, today. Very interesting topic.

HARRIS: And time for another quick check of weather with Jill Brown in for Rob Marciano, this morning.

Good morning, Jill.

JILL BROWN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Tony. Good morning, Betty.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Warm this thing up a little bit.

NGUYEN: Yeah, bring it on, Jill.

HARRIS: Jill thanks.

NGUYEN: OK thanks.

HARRIS: Thank you for watching. We'll see you back here next weekend.

NGUYEN: But, don't leave because "ON THE STORY" is next.

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