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CNN Sunday Morning

U.S., Iraqi Forces Begin Operation Lightning; 'Faces of Faith': Evangelicals in Ivy League Universities

Aired May 29, 2005 - 07:00   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.


TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Check point, house raids and intense searches are in store as Iraqi and U.S. forces put Operation Lightning into play to put an end to the insurgency in Baghdad.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is May 29th. Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Randi Kaye in for Betty Nguyen.

Let's begin with the headlines. Insurgents have targeted British troops in southern Iraq this morning. British defense officials tell CNN a roadside bomb hit a British military convoy, killing one soldier and damaging a vehicle. It happened near the town of Amara, an area where British troops have frequently clashed with Shiite militia.

Former President Bill Clinton plans to keep traveling. His spokesman says Clinton will continue his trip to tsunami hit regions of South Asia, despite earlier reports that he was canceling because of exhaustion. Clinton is in the Maldives Islands this morning. He heads to Indonesia next.

Thousands of people cheered the new pope this morning, as he kicked off his first papal trip. It's a brief, but symbolic outing to the city of Bari in Italy's east coast. Pope Benedict XVI celebrated mass there. Some 200,000 people turned out.

HARRIS: The latest now in the fight for Iraq. Iraqi forces are on the verge of launching a massive crackdown on insurgents in Baghdad. Operation Lightning involves more than 40,000 Iraqi police and soldiers, backed up by U.S. troops and war planes. They're putting up dozens of new checkpoints and plan to raid and search houses. Insurgents have stepped up attacks since Iraq's new government was announced in April. More than 600 people have been killed, mostly in car bombings. The planned operation hasn't deterred insurgent violence as attacks in and around Baghdad have killed 15 people just today.

We'll take you live to Iraq to Baghdad correspondent Jane Arraf later this hour.

KAYE: The thunder is still rolling through the nation's capitol this Memorial Day weekend. Hundreds of thousands of cyclists are in Washington for an annual event. This afternoon, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will address them at the National Mall. The group supports families of veterans as well as veterans issues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every day is Memorial Day to anyone who has lost their child in the service of their country. So there isn't a day that doesn't go by, that I don't think about Chris and I don't think about the other mothers and their losses also.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: This evening, hundreds will attend a Memorial Day concert on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. You can watch it live on Public Broadcasting stations tonight.

HARRIS: Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers addressed the graduating class of cadets at the nation's oldest military academy this Memorial Day weekend. Myers told the graduates it was their duty to help preserve the American way of life.

And as Alina Cho reports, West Point's class of 2005 faces a number of great challenges.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The so-called class of 9/11 has 911 graduates. Tom Pae...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tom Pae.

CHO: ... is one of them.

The army I went into was peacetime army, just training and standing there. And once 9/11 hit, totally new perspective, it changed everything. CHO: This class of 2005 began their career at West Point just weeks before 9/11. They had two years to decide whether they wanted to leave, but a majority, 77 percent, decided to stay. Cadets like Pae, who, like most of his classmates will likely be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan within a year.

(on camera): You had said that people might be come in here for the wrong reasons but leave for the right ones. What did you mean by that?

PAE: I guess a great example is myself. I just go into the army and get some great training and get some good leadership (INAUDIBLE). Who knows, after five years, get out and get job in the global world. You know, I think a lot of people, once 9/11 hit, they saw that this isn't just a 9:00 to 5:00 thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've earned it!

CHO (voice-over): Pae's parents are Korean immigrants and say American soldiers saved them during the Korean War. On this day, they are both proud of their son, and worried about his future.

ANDREW PAE, FATHER OF WEST POINT GRADUATE: I told him, if you want to leave West Point after two years well, that's fine to us, because we already were very much proud of you have already -- you know, two years finished. But he said, "No, dad, I just want to go, keep going."

CHO: Twenty-three West Point graduates have died since September 11th, 22 of them in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Alan Lefebvre mom, Cheryl, never forgets that.

CHERYL LEFEBVRE, MOTHER OF WEST POINT GRADUATE: Well, when I was up in the stands and looking down on the cadets, I definitely envisioned -- I counted off 23.

ALAN LEFEBVRE, WEST POINT GRADUATE: It definitely crosses your mind, but you definitely have to focus on, OK, what's ahead of me? What are the challenges I have to face.

CHO (on camera): Stay focused.

A. LEFEBVRE: Stay focused, because when it comes down to it, you're going to be in charge.

CHO (voice-over): All 911 graduates are now second lieutenants in the army, a day of celebration, and the beginning of a 60-day vacation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I might take a nap first. Spend some time with family and take a nap.

CHO: What about Tom Pae?

PAE: Well, first thing's first, I think I'm going to take a long nap. I'm really tired.

CHO: Good idea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Class dismissed!

CHO: These graduates will soon begin serving out their five-year commitment to the army, and most say they can't wait.

Alina Cho, CNN, at the U.S. Military Academy, at West Point.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: In our security watch this morning, tests will soon begin on a missile defense device to protect airliners from shoulder fired missiles. The Department of Homeland Security reportedly will run those tests on three commercial airliners.

According to The New York Times Web site, a 767 will be the first aircraft to get the $1 million device mounted on its belly. The test aircraft will not carry passengers. Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the latest news on your security.

HARRIS: We want to return now to the theme we've been pursuing this weekend, the sizzling home real estate market. What can you get for a cool $1 million these days?

CNN's Jerry Willis went house hunting to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHY BRADDOCK, BRADDOCK AND PURCELL: It is a terrific one- bedroom, totally renovated, move-in condition, one-bedroom apartment. The kitchen, as you can see, fabulous countertops, state-of-the-art appliances. And it even has a washer and dryer, which for us in New York is a big treat. One of the wonderful features of this apartment is clearly the view.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What is the square footage?

BRADDOCK: It's about 822 square feet, and very well-used square footage. Every single part is well used.

WILLIS: Eight hundred and twenty-two square feet, a million dollars.

BRADDOCK: Yes.

WILLIS (voice-over): Prices in Manhattan have risen 20 percent in the last year. And the Big Apple is not the only city overheating. Some 66 metro areas posted double-digit price increases this year, and many of them are in unexpected places, like Bradenton, Florida, a baby-boomer retirement mecca, where prices spiked 45 percent. West Palm Beach and Boca Raton make the top five list too.

The boom is making it tough for middle-income Americans to land a home. Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University says, 25 percent of middle class home owners, that's 9.3 million, are spending more than they should on housing. Take a look at this home on the market for $989,000 in Chicago's exclusive Lincoln Park. For the money, you get three bedrooms, two baths, and 2,500 square feet of space. But if you want a garage, you'll have to go elsewhere.

Don't look for easy pickings once you retire, either. This Miami condo on the market for $1.1 million has ocean views, but with just 1,400 square feet of space, it will be tough to accommodate the grandkids.

One house on the list delivered value for the money.

DAVID D'AUSILIO, REMAX REAL ESTATE BROKER: Well, Gerri, this is what $1 million buys you in Monroe, Connecticut.

WILLIS (on camera): It's pretty nice. Let's take a look.

D'AUSILIO: Absolutely.

WILLIS: So this is a pretty nice kitchen.

D'AUSILIO: Beautiful. The homeowners here did a lot of custom work, including the cherry cabinets. Beautiful granite counter tops and as you can see, gourmet Wolf Range with hood. WILLIS: Very high end and naturally the sub zero.

D'AUSILIO: High end appliances throughout.

WILLIS (voice-over): Four bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 3,800 square feet on one acre of level land. Price tag, $979,000.

But even here, where values appear to be better, D'Ausilio says the market has gone too far. This man, who makes his living selling homes, is a renter.

D'AUSILIO: We decided to rent for a few years. We think this housing market's going to cool down a little bit, and we'll be able to find a better value perhaps 24 months from now.

WILLIS: Experts warn, in the metro markets, where prices have gone up the most, prices could fall, and fall hard. That means, for some people, they could end up owing more than the house is worth if they had to sell.

In most of the rest of the country, though, the likelihood is that prices might flatten, but not collapse.

Gerri Willis, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Just doesn't go as far as it used to, $1 million these days.

So if you're feeling pinched by high home prices, you know, you can partly blame the neighbor who owns two homes. It is a little known fact that the weekend retreat is helping fuel the market. A real estate expert will explain why at 9:00 Eastern.

That brings us to our e-mail question this morning. Is there a better investment than real estate right now? A lot of folks don't think so. E-mail us your thoughts at weekends@cnn.com and we'll read your replies throughout the program.

KAYE: Now earlier this morning, we were telling you about Operation Lightning. This is a program that is about to set in place by U.S. and Iraqi forces, trying to put an end to the roadside bombs and the car bombing that is taking place around Iraq right now.

600 plus people dead so far since the new government in place. Our Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf is at a U.S. military base. And she joins us now by videophone to bring us up to date.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BUREAU CHIEF: Well it's said to be the biggest Iraqi operation so far. We're talking 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and Iraqi police in the capitol alone.

Now what they intend to do, Iraqi officials have said, is ring the city like a bracelet, making sure that nobody goes in or out unless they are checked. There will be mass searches. They'll be setting up emergency checkpoints. And we're seeing some of those checkpoints going up already.

Now this operation has not yet started. But what has started a few days ago is something called Operation Squeeze Play by U.S. forces here in Baghdad.

It's what's known as a show pin (ph) operation, which is meant to pave the way for this larger effort that's going on, shortly it seems, with Iraqi forces backed by U.S. forces.

And you're right, the violence is continuing, Randi. At least 17 people, caravans, five separate bombings in Iraq so far. They include word that a U.S. Marine has died in the Al Anbar province in the west of Iraq yesterday, as well as a British soldier, who lost his life in a bombing on the road near Hillah, south of Baghdad.

In addition, the policemen (INAUDIBLE) were shot dead in the street, it seems, in the neighborhood of Dura (ph) in Baghdad. And in Mosul in the north, eight people were killed by a bomb. Eight Iraqi civilians, including children -- Randi?

KAYE: And Jane, how massive of a job will this be to set up this security ring around this very large area?

ARRAF: It is going to be actually huge. (INAUDIBLE) huge. A challenge, to say the least.

Now imagine there were more Iraqi police in a lot of cases, more Iraqi soldiers the city of Kera (ph) has at the best of times. Traffic has come to a halt because of security measures, because of U.S. soldiers in the street. There's frequent gunfire. There are daily explosions in the city.

And as you add to that, 40,000 troops and police essentially it is going to cause absolute chaos. At the end of it, they will crack down on these bomb making factories. The prime minister says they have -- they can ship the car into a facility, have it hooked up with a bomb, and get it out within the hour. (INAUDIBLE) insurgency has gone to in the capital, and that's what they're trying to fight -- Randi?

KAYE: All right, Jane Arraf, live for us this morning in Baghdad. Thank you. Tony?

HARRIS: Teens behind the wheel. One man is on a mission to prevent every parent's nightmare from becoming a reality. We'll tell you how.

KAYE: And good morning, Washington. We'll have the weather forecast for you and the rest of the nation ahead on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Each week at this time, we bring you some of the most compelling stories from our CNN investigative unit. This morning, we introduce you to a retired cop, who's on a new mission. He's taking tragic lessons from the road and putting them on the printed page.

Our Sharon Collins has his story in our eye unit spotlight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHARON COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bill Richardson knows about every one of these teens in intricate detail. He knows about their love of sports, their musical talents. He knows about their prom nights, their little brothers and sisters, their moms and dads.

And he knows how each of them died, all of them killed in cars.

BILL RICHARDSON, AUTHOR, "IT WON'T HAPPEN TO ME": Karen, she was 16-years old. She had a license for 22 days. She was a cheerleader at Parkview High School. And she left -- one day after school, she was going up Highway 29. And it was raining very heavily.

For whatever reason, she drifted off on the shoulder. And before she even had a chance to try to steer the car back on the pavement, she hit the edge of a driveway, which caused her car to pivot and spin around. And she hit a tree. The tree impacted on the driver's door, and which is where she was sitting.

Her father, this is her driver's license, you can't see it. It's kind of a water mark there, he carries that everywhere he goes. He travels all around the world. And basically his statement was to me was Karen travels -- goes everywhere he goes. He carries her drivers license with him.

COLLINS: Bill gathered their stories in this book, "It Won't Happen to Me." He got the inspiration for the project while he was a police officer in Georgia.

RICHARDSON: Back in late '99, I was given a message to contact a girl who had recently graduated from Parkview High School. She had come by the precinct to talk to an officer about teen driving.

Well, when I met with her, she indicated that in the past year, she had lost three friends in driving accidents. And she wanted to know what else could we do to try to curb the, you know, the rash of teen fatalities on the roads.

COLLINS: The idea that came from that conversation is now Bill's mission. He hopes by giving teens a book full of powerful and heartbreaking stories, to convince them to drive more carefully when they get behind the wheel.

RICHARDSON: This is the one, his little brother wrote this story about the day that the police and the chaplain came to the door to tell him and his mother. And he talks about how his mother reacted.

He was very well liked in school. He was all county tennis player, very athletic. Apparently, he had a very good sense of humor, told a lot of jokes. And that was one of the things they wrote on the pavement where he lost his life, that once you get to heaven, make God laugh.

COLLINS: Bill retired after more than 25 years on the police force. But this father of two, who are now in their 20s, never gave up his focus on teenage driving, a project started when they were in their teens.

Bill often meets with parents and their kids. On this night, they gather at Shiloh High School near Atlanta, Georgia. Each teen gets a copy of the book. He's given away more than 50,000 copies in five years. And on this particular night, he's invited a parent who knows what it's like to lose a child.

JEFF MOWELL, KIRBY CRUCE'S FATHER: In the book, that's my daughter. Our last names are different and she was my stepdaughter, but I raised her since she was three. So she was my daughter.

That night, I did get to tell my daughter I loved her. It was the last thing I ever said.

COLLINS: The teens and their parents sit quietly, as a father's grief fills the auditorium.

MOWELL: I got to ID my daughter from a Polaroid photograph about this high off the ground. My daughter laying on the ground. The car rolled over my daughter.

COLLINS: Bill believes that as difficult as it is for him and the parents who help, teaching kids about the tragic results when they don't pay attention is making a difference. He's seen a dramatic decrease in teen traffic deaths in Gwinnett County, roads he patrolled for more than two decades.

MOWELL: Two thousand four, when we lost four, and only two of those teenagers were at fault. The other two just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. So basically we went from 13 to 2 in a year's time. And I hope that that's not a freak. I hope it's a trend.

COLLINS: A trend that would lead to fewer faces in the book, fewer stories of wasted youth, fewer deaths.

Sharon Collins, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Another report from CNN's investigative unit is next Sunday at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

HARRIS: The nation's housing market, is there a bubble? And is it about to burst? Whether you are buying or selling, watch CNN this weekend to find helpful advice.

Meanwhile, we are asking you this morning if there is a better investment than real estate. E-mail us your thoughts at weekends@cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAYE: Well, the French are the deciding factor in what could be a historic turning point for the future of Europe. Find out why next. We're going global when CNN SUNDAY MORNING returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: A historic moment for the future of Europe rests in the hands of the French this morning.

Welcome back. I'm Randi Kaye in for Betty Nguyen.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. That story in a minute. First, a look at the morning's headlines now in the news. American and Iraqi forces hope operation lightning will dry up the sweeping insurgency across Iraq. Preps for the massive crackdown are under way. It's expected to include scores of military checkpoints with thousands of Iraqi police and military conducting raids against suspected insurgents. We have a live report from Iraq for you in the next half hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

It's not lightning, but Rolling Thunder in our nation's capital this Memorial Day weekend. About half a million bikers and war veterans are in town for the annual ride meant to remind the nation of the sacrifices made by U.S. troops. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld addresses the crowd at 4:00 p.m. local time.

French voters go to the polls today to vote on a proposed landmark constitution for Europe.

KAYE: There are some who consider the vote so critical they say its outcome could decide the future direction of the continent. For the details, let's go to Anand Naidoo at the CNN international desk. Good morning.

ANAND NAIDOO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. French voters have already begun casting ballots in that referendum and opinion polls indicate they may reject that planned new European constitution. And there are some who say that would be a disaster for Europe. The constitution must be approved by all 25 EU members to take effect in 2006. Supporters say a European constitution would strengthen the continent. Opponents worry national identity and sovereignty may be compromised. Nine countries have so far approved that constitution. The Dutch will vote on Wednesday.

Now in the Middle East, the Israeli cabinet has approved the release of about 400 Palestinian prisoners. It's part of a cease-fire agreement reached between the Israeli government and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas at the summit that was held in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt last February. About 500 prisoners have already been released in the first phase of that agreement. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says that none of the 900 prisoners who have been released have been involved in any attacks that have killed Israelis. Moving now to Sudan, the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan visited a refugee camp in that country's embattled Darfur region. He described the situation there as heart wrenching. Annan wants the African Union to play a bigger role in ending the crisis. There are some estimates that say that 180,000 people have died in that crisis in Sudan and as many as two million people have been left homeless. That is all for me for now. I'll be back later. We'll look at the Lebanese election. For now back to Randi and Tony.

HARRIS: Anand, thank you.

KAYE: The Memorial Day weekend we are remembering those who paid the ultimate price.

HARRIS: Next on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, a look at one of so many lives that ended too soon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: This Memorial Day weekend we are all remembering the incredible sacrifices made by the men and women of our armed services. For many of us those sacrifices hit incredibly close to home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK ADAMOUSKI, JIMMY'S FATHER: Well, it will take a while to talk about Jimmy because he was one of those ideal children. When he was young, he was the one who always went to bed on time, always took his bath before he went to bed. When he got into school, he always did his home work after he came home to from school, before he went out to play. Jimmy was also a planner. I once asked him when was it, Jim, that you decided you wanted to go to West Point. He said, well, dad, he said, I think I was in the fourth grade. He just did so many really neat things.

When he was stationed in Germany, there was some avalanches in Austria and Switzerland and he flew his helicopter in an avalanche rescue down there. I'm so proud of him for that. He just never seemed to do anything wrong. He was always right. I get kind of emotional when I talk about him because he really was such a great kid.

He could talk to the pope or he could talk to a bum in the street and be equally at ease. Jimmy was the type of individual that would have made a great politician. His goal was to become a U.S. senator. And nobody in this family or anybody who knew him ever doubted that he would be able to do that. In Jimmy's case, did he believe in what he was doing? Certainly. He was totally convinced that taking a suppressive regime out of the world order was the right thing to do.

I had two individuals call me on the telephone and say, sir, you don't know me, but I knew your son in Germany. He inspired me to go back to college and both of them said, I'm graduating this month and I owe it to your son. And so there were things like that went on that were so emotional, really, to find out that he made such a difference in the lives of so many people during a very short life of only 29 years. And I think he did more in his 29 years than a lot of people do in 100. And we love him for that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Checking our top stores this Sunday morning, more than 40,000 Iraqi police and soldiers are preparing to launch operation lightning in Baghdad. Their target, the onslaught of insurgents who have killed hundreds of people and stepped up attacks recently. Iraqi forces are setting up dozens of checkpoints and raiding houses.

Hundreds more Palestinian prisoners will go free. This morning Israel's cabinet approved the release of about 400 inmates. This is the second round of releases promised by Israel under a February cease-fire deal.

A massive crowd turned out to greet Pope Benedict XVI this morning on his first papal trip. The pope is visiting the Italian port city of Bari where he and about 200,000 worshipers celebrated mass.

In our next hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING, they've learned the tragic lessons of war at a very young age. But now these kids aren't alone in their grief. We'll share their memories in our 8:00 a.m. Eastern hour.

HARRIS: It may be hard to believe, but we have been right here with you for the last 25 years bringing you the day's events, good and bad, tragic and heart warming. And as we celebrate our anniversary, we are focusing on some of the stories that moved us all. One such story, the successes and the failures of the American space shuttle program.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That day it was so bitterly cold. This was an enormous event because it was going to be the launch Christa McCullough, the teacher in space. She was so effervescent and had a great personality and smile.

GRACE CORRIGAN, CHRISTA'S MOTHER: She just loved life and she loved to encompass everybody around her. I think that's really the reason why she was chosen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything going very well in the countdown.

CORRIGAN: My husband looked out and you could see the shuttle, you could see icicles on it and he said that, you know, if I could go out there and take her off of that, I would.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just getting into about three minutes and they think they can do it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are counting. The ice has cleared away.

BOB FURNAD, FORMER CNN VICE PRESIDENT: The other networks had stopped covering shutting launches. They had become routine. But CNN because we are a news network, went ahead and covered it. And so nobody else had it and we did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one and liftoff, liftoff of the 25th space shuttle mission and it has cleared the tower.

ZARRELLA: Watching the ascent of the vehicle when it goes up and it was normal.

VOICE OF TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So the 25th space shuttle mission is now on the way.

ZARRELLA: Then you hear the call from NASA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Challenge" go with throttle up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flight controllers here looking very carefully at the situation, obviously a major malfunction.

ZARRELLA: Everybody was waiting for "Challenger" to emerge from behind the cloud of smoke that we could see. Of course, it never was going to happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a report from the flight dynamics office that the vehicle has exploded. The director confirms that. We are looking at checking with the recovery forces to see what can be done at this point.

ZARRELLA: First thing I did was just quick run up and get on the phone and try to report what I saw.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Silence. Get me in to Zarrella. He's live at the cape.

ZARRELLA: Everybody's just stunned. They're in shock. You could hear the chaos. As much chaos in the news room, people yelling and screaming as there was, you know, at the NASA press site.

FURNAD: I remember a really gripping piece of video. It was a camera that was trained on Christa's McCullough's parents. As the shuttle exploded, the expression on her mom's face instantly changed to one of, oh, my God, what has happened? It was clear her father didn't quite grasp it, because he had a look of puzzlement and then when it was clear that he realized what had happened, it became a look of oh, no.

CORRIGAN: Thinking back on it, I don't think it was that we didn't understand something very horrible had happened. I think it was the fact that we didn't want to. I think Christa would be very pleased to see the wonderful legacy that she has left. Challenger learning centers are wonderful, wonderful tools for education. That trip wasn't successful, but Christa's mission really was. It is her life.

"Challenger" was an education mission. She was going to teach two lessons in space. So it's continuing the "Challenger" mission. MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: After "Challenger" everybody paid a lot of attention to the launch. The first 8 1/2 minutes were OK. We're home free.

Got a little problem on the space shuttle "Columbia." It has been out of communication now for the past 12 minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did not copy your last.

O'BRIEN: And, of course, 17 years later, it was just the other end of the mission. It was the re-entry. Within a few minutes of the shuttle not appearing, WFAA fed that dramatic tape. I see multiple trails there, I count, one, two, three, four. It was obvious what we were watching was an in-flight breakup. Within a short period of time, NASA officially announced that the crew was lost. The real tragedy of the "Columbia" disaster is that if you substituted foam striking the leading edge of the wing for O rings in the solid rocket booster, it's an identical story to "Challenger." They repeated the same mistakes 17 years prior. Look at that piece right there. What was that? A problem cropping up, explaining it away, and then ultimately seeing that problem lead to a tragedy.

We were within two weeks of announcing that I was going to fly on the shuttle. We had put together a deal with NASA and I knew on that day my dream was certainly deferred, probably over, but in the grand scheme of what was lost that didn't amount to much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Next week, CNN celebrates 25 years of bringing you news from around the world. We will mark our anniversary as the original 24-hour news leader with a prime-time event. We will highlight 25 stories that have impacted people across the world over the last quarter century, defining moments, 25 stories that touched our lives begins Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

KAYE: Housing bubble? Is there one? How should you protect yourself from it? Whether you are buying or selling, watch CNN this weekend to find helpful advice. Meanwhile, we are asking you this morning if there is a better investment than real estate. E-mail us at weekends@cnn.com. We're reading your replies next hour on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

HARRIS: But first a CNN extra. Since 2000, the number of million dollar homes in the country has nearly doubled. The Census Bureau estimates that 1 percent of all American homes are now worth seven figures. If you are wondering who can afford them, get this, the number of millionaires in America is at a record high, above 7.5 million millionaires. This weekend on CNN, find out how to protect yourself from a housing bubble. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Wednesday is the official start of the six-month Atlantic hurricane season. Our dot com desk has put together a terrific database on last year's unforgettable onslaught plus everything you want and need to know about the 2005 forecast. For that here's CNN Christina Park.

CHRISTINA PARK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: CNN.com is helping you prepare for hurricane season. This year, seven to nine hurricanes could hit the United States between June and November. Last year alone, four hurricanes slammed into the Florida coast. Charlie, Francis, Ivan and Jean caused scores of deaths and tens of billions of dollars in damage. Scientists say this year's warmer waters in the Atlantic could spawn some fierce storms.

See how it all begins, our interactive hurricane guide explains how warmer climate can turn into a tropical storm and then a devastating hurricane. The east coast and the Gulf of Mexico are most vulnerable. If you think your family might be in danger from a hurricane, study our safety tips. Stay away from low-lying areas, evacuate mobile homes. If you live in a wooded area, make trees more wind resistant by cutting out weak limbs so that wind can blow through. And while you're online, click through our gallery of past hurricanes including the 10 worst ever.

If and when the hurricanes hit, find out what to call it. Check out the list of names for 2005 storms for the Atlantic and eastern north Pacific. But the only name you need to remember is CNN. We've got your online hurricane special at cnn.com/hurricanes. Reporting from the dotcom desk, I'm Christina Park.

HARRIS: I hope those folks in Florida, fingers crossed they get a break this hurricane season.

KAYE: You ever stand in one of those?

HARRIS: No. Here's the thing, wouldn't want to. If those folks there don't get a break, you're going to see scenes like this. Sorry. You're going to see scenes like this. Rob Marciano, tethered, not really tethered --

KAYE: Not really. Look at him.

HARRIS: Tossed around. Is there any real information being learned in this?

KAYE: Why is he out there?

HARRIS: Why would you do that to yourself? That's the question. Rob is here.

KAYE: The boss asked him to.

HARRIS: And goggles and goggles.

KAYE: Rob.

HARRIS: A pure affectation.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Can I jump in here?

KAYE: Can you explain yourself, please. MARCIANO: Well, obviously, I'm having to put up with this every weekend would throw me into the fiercest of storms just to get away from it.

HARRIS: It prepared you for the storm.

MARCIANO: It did. It's actually -- I mean, you talk about it so much in the studio but to actually be in it, you really get the feel for what a 70, 80, 90 mile an hour wind is and it puts things in perspective.

HARRIS: You were barely able to stand up there.

MARCIANO: Yeah and at times we just had to get out of there.

HARRIS: Yes.

MARCIANO: I want to talk about this year's forecast. Since 1995, we've been in increased activity, the amount of hurricanes that we've seen since then have been well above the 30-year average. So this year is expected to be no different. We do expect it to be an above average year, 12 to 15 named storms, seven to nine of those to become hurricanes, three to five of those to become major hurricanes and these are the averages over the last 30 years, so well above average.

By the way, last year we had the top range of these averages with six major hurricanes. Last year was just off the charts. We certainly hope that won't be the case again this year. We're starting to wind down severe weather season and that's been incredibly quiet. So we certainly hope maybe that hurricane forecast is wrong. This is the radar composite, a lot of stuff just spread out. So the good news is there is no real big, you know, isolated threat of seeing a tremendous tornado outbreak, not only today but tomorrow. So that's good news for the holiday weekend.

Area of low pressure around Texas has been giving them a headache for the past day and a half. Now most of the action has moved across southeast Texas. Galveston saw winds gust to 60 miles an hour early this morning. That severe thunderstorm warning has since dissipated and there's a bit of a hold here. Mid-Atlantic states up to about New York, not a bad looking day today, 73 degrees, 81 degrees in D.C. But right about here, north, real unsettled atmosphere. As the sun comes up, you might see a shower or two pop up in the afternoon.

Tomorrow, we do get a little bit most concentrated across the southeast, probably some heavier rains across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and then into Georgia as well. But note that there's going to be a slice probably in the northeast that looks to be pretty dry. West Coast looks nice for your holiday. Seventy degrees in Salt Lake City. It will be 64 tomorrow in Chicago, 79 degrees in D.C., 75 in New York, 70 in Boston. Boston, New York, some of those patriotic type cities, not a bad place to spend Memorial Day holiday.

Take a look at Washington, D.C., the lights, monuments, historic buildings against a cobalt blue sky. That's a pretty picture this morning.

HARRIS: Beautiful, beautiful.

MARCIANO: Old glory flapping in the wind there above the White House.

HARRIS: I got to tell you Rob, Randi.

KAYE: Yeah.

HARRIS: I give him a hard time because that's just what we do here.

KAYE: Sure.

HARRIS: I mean, you did a nice job down there. And he actually did provide a lot of information, as much as I hate to admit it, but he...

MARCIANO: Are we rolling on this tape?

KAYE: You better save this (INAUDIBLE), because that doesn't come around very often.

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: ...what we do here...

MARCIANO: I never knew.

HARRIS: You did a nice job.

KAYE: You did.

HARRIS: Hopefully you get a break and not have to go down there and cover that story again this year.

MARCIANO: It's a good day for me. Thanks, guys.

KAYE: Thanks Rob.

HARRIS: See you. The next hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING, this love fest begins right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: From the CNN Center, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is May 29th, 8:00 a.m. at CNN headquarters here in Atlanta, 5:00 a.m. on the West Coast. Good morning. I'm Randi Kaye.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Thank you for being with us.

KAYE: Let's get to the headlines.

A deadly explosion in southern Iraq this morning. A roadside bomb struck a British military convoy, killing a soldier. It happened on a highway near the town of Amara, the site of frequent clashes between British troops and Shiite militiamen.

About 400 Palestinian prisoners will be set free. This morning, Israel's cabinet approved their release. It's the second round of prisoner releases promised by Israel under a February cease-fire with the Palestinians. Israel says none of the freed inmates was involved in attacks on Israelis.

It was a small trip, but it drew a big audience. Some 200,000 people turned out this morning as Pope Benedict XVI celebrated mass in the Italian city of Bari. It marks the new pope's first papal journey outside of Rome.

HARRIS: Lots of reasons to stay with us this hour. Here are three. A fierce fight against a stubborn insurgency, 40,000 strong. Iraq gets ready for a massive crackdown on rogue rebels in Baghdad responsible for an uptick in violence. A live report straight ahead.

Feeling each other's pain. The story of one program that pairs up grieving children of military members killed in action. It's called the Good Grief Camp.

And the ivy towers of the Ivy League. Some students at elite schools are on a mission to spread Christianity. We'll introduce you to two of them.

KAYE: The latest now in the fight for Iraq. Iraqi forces are on the verge of launching a massive crackdown on insurgents in Baghdad. Operation Lightning involves more than 40,000 Iraqi police and soldiers backed up by U.S. troops and warplanes. They're putting up dozens of new checkpoints and plan to raid and search houses. Insurgents have stepped up attacks since Iraq's new government was announced in April. More than 600 people have been killed, mostly in car bombings. The planned operation hasn't deterred insurgent violence, as attacks in and around Baghdad have killed 15 people just today.

HARRIS: U.S. troops overseas and back home are remembering their fallen comrades on this Memorial Day weekend. You're looking at a live picture of Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington D.C., where soldiers took part in a very special mission this past week. They placed an American flag before each of the more than 220,000 graves.

Behind every one of the war dead is a family dealing with the loss. It's tough enough for parents and spouses, but what about for children? Now many of them are getting a helping hand thanks to a special camp. Our Kathleen Koch has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He'd do pushups and we'd all get on his back. And he'd pick us up. He'd go up and then down, and up and down.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Memories of a father no longer alive. Memories military children feel safe to share at Good Grief Camp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you miss now -- because (INAUDIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never got to know him.

KOCH: The Virginia program pairs children who've lost a loved one with a military mentor, some who've seen their own parents die in military tragedies.

MICKI KUZEWSKI, MENTOR: So, I had to step up and kind of take over and really be there for my mom. And whatever you guys do, don't ever lose your youth. Just enjoy it while you can.

KOCH: Airman First Class Mickey Kuzewski's father, Michael, died in 1996 in a helicopter collision at Camp Lejeune.

KUZEWSKI: I wanted to touch another child's life, and really help them out and guide them through the process of grieving.

PATRICIA LATHAM, GOOD GRIEF CAMPER: He was going to bomb this building, and when he did a piece of metal got right in here, and it got into things so they couldn't take it out.

KOCH: Micki was paired with Patricia Latham, whose father, William, died two years ago after being wounded in Iraq. And with Tori Hall, whose Father Kelly (ph), died in 1998 in a plane crash in Germany.

TORI HALL, CAMPER: I remember the funeral, you know, and -- the guys carried him in.

It's good to cry. It's not -- I'm not ashamed of it. Because if you keep it all bundled up, then eventually it's going to come out some way that you don't want.

KOCH: But the camp is about more than grieving. Children learn coping skills. They make crafts to celebrate their loved one's life. They even learn to build relationships with the parents some were too young to know.

BONNIE CARROLL, CAMP FOUNDER: Even if they were infants at the time that their dad was killed, we teach them how to create those memories, how to honor that person and make them a part of their lives.

KOCH: The children too are honored by top military brass.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You lose your daddy? Where?

HALL: In Germany.

KOCH: And they learn how to support one another.

LATHAM: It's different here, because I can talk about it, and I'm not the only one. There's other people that have -- know how it feels. HALL: It's hard, it's hard, but you'll make it through. I mean, you will go on. You will start over your life.

KOCH: Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: We have been talking to you this morning about a program called Operation Lightning. Iraqi and U.S. forces are getting ready to launch that, and they are targeting the insurgency there in Iraq, which is responsible for much of the car bombing and the roadside bombs. Our Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf is at a U.S. military base in Baghdad and joins us now by videophone -- Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Randi, we've seen signs that they're starting to prepare for this operation, at least, that in the form of checkpoints, increased checkpoints, going up across Baghdad.

And let me just tell you a little bit about the operation that Iraqi officials are threatening and promising. Forty thousand Iraqi troops, soldiers and police are going to spread out across the city and encircle it like a bracelet, one official says.

Now, this is an effort to crack down on the insurgency, and crack down, find, and arrest people responsible for a lot of the car bombs. The prime minister says it's got to a stage where they can put together a car bomb in as little as one hour.

The backdrop of this, of course, is continuing violence. At least 17 people were killed today and 23 wounded in five separate bombings. One of them in the northern city of Mosul, where eight Iraqi civilians were killed, including children. A British soldier was killed by a bomb on the road south of Baghdad near Hillah. And news that yesterday, a U.S. Marine has died in operations in Al Anbar province. Now, that's an area near the western -- near the border, the Syrian border, the western part of Iraq, where the insurgency just has not died down.

Operations like this one, Operation Lightning, are an attempt to cool it down in Baghdad, and then spread out to the rest of the country -- Randi.

KAYE: All right, our Jane Arraf for us this morning. Thank you, Jane.

And our Memorial Day weekend coverage continues with a "LATE EDITION" special. CNN's Wolf Blitzer goes behind the lines with U.S. troops on the ground in the Middle East. That's today at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time. You won't want to miss it.

HARRIS: And other news across America now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Holden's not saying much. Can you tell everybody thank you?

HOLDEN MODLIN: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Oh, and they all said, you're welcome. Three-year-old Holden Modlin vanished from his great grandmother's backyard Friday night in St. Joseph, Missouri. He was missing for 15 hours. After a frantic family search and an Amber Alert, Holden turned up in a far- off field with his dog. Holden said he'd slept in the field, curled up under his dog, unaware he had caused a scare.

In this drama, it's the people versus Oliver Stone. The Oscar- winning director is out of jail this morning after being arrested on alcohol and drug charges in Los Angeles Friday night. Police busted the director after suspecting him of driving while drunk. Police say they found an illegal drug while searching Stone's car.

And if the governor of Illinois has anything to do with it, your kids won't be playing violent videogames. The governor is likely to sign a bill that outlaws the sale of violent or sexual videogames to minors. The bill was already passed by the Illinois legislature.

KAYE: This weekend, we're talking about the so-called housing bubble. And what happens when a growing market suddenly bursts? Housing right now is a great investment, but when might this market cool off? It's a big question. Not any time soon if rates like these hold up. Right now, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate is 5.71 percent. That is below any annual average since 1973.

Still, we are asking you in our e-mail question this morning, is there a better investment than real estate? E-mail us your thoughts at weekends@cnn.com. We will read your replies throughout the program.

HARRIS: Still to come on CNN this Sunday morning, the growing prominence of evangelical Christians, and some of the places you'd least expect to find them. That's in the spotlight in today's "Faces of Faith."

KAYE: Also ahead, it's race day at Daytona, and there's one contender who's got everybody talking and not only about the fact that she's a woman.

HARRIS: And later on "HOUSE CALL," are you panicking over bathing suit season? Dr. Sanjay Gupta gets a celebrity trainer to share his tips on getting and staying in shape.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, D.C. this morning, on a beautiful Memorial Day weekend. A great Sunday morning. Two hundred twenty -- was it 220 or 260,000 American flags?

KAYE: I think it was about 260,000 grave stones that they put those flags out.

HARRIS: Work done by soldiers all over the past week. A wonderful tribute to fallen heroes at Arlington National Cemetery on this Memorial Day weekend. And a wonderful day, Rob Marciano. Just a wonderful day in Washington.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAYE: Checking our top stories this morning, Operation Lightning is ready to take Baghdad by storm. Iraqi forces will try to track down insurgents in and around the capital city. U.S. forces will back up the Iraqis.

Bill Clinton will continue his trip to tsunami-ravaged areas in southern Asia. Earlier reports said the former president was exhausted from his work as United Nations envoy. He'll travel to Indonesia before returning to New York tomorrow.

And today's Indy 500 will include 23-year-old rookie Danica Patrick. She's only the fourth woman to drive the race, and is a true contender. Five-hundred-mile contest begins today at noon Eastern.

Ivy League schools and evangelical Christians. Used to be you never heard those two things in the same sentence, but times, they are a-changing. Up next, a look at some of the new "Faces of Faith" on America's college campuses.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Today's "Faces of Faith" examines Christianity on today's college campuses, particularly Ivy League schools like Princeton and Yale. Our guests this morning are students Victoria Holowink and Cameron Young. They're joining us to talk about the role of faith amid the ivory towers. Good to see both of you.

CAMERON YOUNG, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Hi, how are you doing, Tony.

HARRIS: Well, Victoria, let's sort of set the slate here. Victoria, you're at Princeton. Cameron -- correct?

VICTORIA HOLOWINK, YALE UNIVERSITY: I'm at Yale.

HARRIS: You're at Yale?

HOLOWINK: That's right.

HARRIS: All right, let me turn that around. And Cameron, you're at Princeton?

YOUNG: Indeed, yes.

HARRIS: OK. Victoria, let me first start with you. How much of your decision to go to school where you're going to school was based on the kind of -- and I'm fishing a little bit here -- was based on the kind of religious experience you thought you might have? HOLOWINK: I have to say that wasn't really a big decision in terms of which college to attend. I wanted to attend a liberal arts university, which would get me thinking about just a whole host of issues, because, I guess, I believe that God wants you to develop your mind too. And so I knew that, if I go -- when I'd go to school, I would try to study for the Lord as well.

HARRIS: OK, I'm curious. You know where you are in terms of your faith. Were you curious on campus about exploring faith, exploring Christianity, and thoughts and expressions on faith in terms of tolerance on campus? You know where you are. Where is everyone else? Or were you a little more concerned about religious structure, and at an institution where you were going to spend a lot of time?

HOLOWINK: Well, I guess one of my concerns was just that there would be a group of Christians, kind of who shared my love for Jesus, and with whom I could kind of have fellowship and friendships and just kind of go through school and talk about God with. But...

HARRIS: That makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense.

HOLOWINK: Yes.

HARRIS: And Cameron, what's your thought? First of all, did you base your decision at all on faith?

YOUNG: No, like Victoria said, actually, I was just looking at coming to a liberal arts college. My older brothers and sisters had gone to a Christian college, you know, I had that option, but I decided I wanted to step up and go to a liberal arts college, and be involved in the world and in the world of a liberal arts college.

HARRIS: So how has the experience been for you? Not as an educational experience -- well, I'm sure it has been an educational experience -- but what has it been like for you in terms of practicing your faith and talking to others about your faith and finding friends who share your ideas and values?

YOUNG: I've been really quite surprised at the fellowship that's been at Princeton. The variety of different groups that I've been involved in, from Athletes in Action, Campus Crusade for Christ, to a smaller informal group called Crossroads. And they've just really given me an outlet to not only, you know, increase my faith in community, but to also share it with people that I care about, and to share it in a relaxed setting.

HARRIS: And Victoria, how about you?

HOLOWINK: Yeah. I'd echo Cameron on that. I think it's definitely been such a privilege to go to college and just to be so close with my friends and roommates, many of whom have completely antithetical beliefs to mine. But it's just been such a cool thing to -- through friendships, just to kind of share this part of our lives with each other, and just to have dialogues about it. Yeah, definitely.

HARRIS: Victoria, no difficult moments? Are you telling me there has been full acceptance of you, who you are, what you believe?

HOLOWINK: No. I mean, there definitely -- definitely are difficult moments. I think a lot of times, I'm a little even hesitant to admit that I'm a Christian, or it can get kind of uncomfortable.

HARRIS: Now, why is that?

HOLOWINK: Well, I think people tend to assume so many things about you when you say you're a Christian. You know, they'll assume that maybe you're really judgmental of other people and that you think other people's beliefs are wrong and kind of -- you know, that can be really...

HARRIS: That you're intolerant.

HOLOWINK: Yeah, yeah. People assume that, definitely. And I just like to, on that issue, you know, not kind of claim that I'm perfect at all, but just to kind of look together at Jesus in that issue and just look at the life of, like, love and utter service that he led. You know, and hanging around with just people in society that were complete outcasts, just loving everyone and having his kind of the desire of his heart be the eternal security of everyone. So, yeah.

HARRIS: And, Cameron, you know, the knock on evangelicals is that many folks say that as a group, you're intolerant, you're not willing to -- you've got this belief system, and you don't -- you don't agree with in any way, shape, or form the lifestyles of many people that you encounter on a college campus.

YOUNG: Yeah, I mean, for my experience at university, it's, you know, like Victoria's, but I think it's just got to be a mixture of love and truth. And doing it in a very respectful and humble way. And people are going to, you know, want to find out, you know, what makes you tick and what this faith is that's supposedly so important to you. And you know, I think I've had just great discussions with a lot of my friends, when they've been prompted just by looking at me to ask the questions, and not necessarily me forcing the questions or the issues upon them in many cases.

HARRIS: That's well thought out, well said. Victoria, Cameron, good to see you both.

YOUNG: Thank you very much.

HARRIS: We appreciate your time.

HOLOWINK: Thank you, Tony.

HARRIS: OK. On this Sunday.

KAYE: We are continuing our look this morning at the ins and outs of home buying. Coming up in the next hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING, we will talk about vacation homes and why their growing popularity may be hurting the rest of us.

HARRIS: But first, Dr. Sanjay Gupta uncovers the secret moves that give stars those heavenly bodies.

KAYE: You'll pay attention, right? Close attention there, Tony.

HARRIS: I need to. "HOUSE CALL" and your top stories are straight ahead.

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 29, 2005 - 07:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Check point, house raids and intense searches are in store as Iraqi and U.S. forces put Operation Lightning into play to put an end to the insurgency in Baghdad.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is May 29th. Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Randi Kaye in for Betty Nguyen.

Let's begin with the headlines. Insurgents have targeted British troops in southern Iraq this morning. British defense officials tell CNN a roadside bomb hit a British military convoy, killing one soldier and damaging a vehicle. It happened near the town of Amara, an area where British troops have frequently clashed with Shiite militia.

Former President Bill Clinton plans to keep traveling. His spokesman says Clinton will continue his trip to tsunami hit regions of South Asia, despite earlier reports that he was canceling because of exhaustion. Clinton is in the Maldives Islands this morning. He heads to Indonesia next.

Thousands of people cheered the new pope this morning, as he kicked off his first papal trip. It's a brief, but symbolic outing to the city of Bari in Italy's east coast. Pope Benedict XVI celebrated mass there. Some 200,000 people turned out.

HARRIS: The latest now in the fight for Iraq. Iraqi forces are on the verge of launching a massive crackdown on insurgents in Baghdad. Operation Lightning involves more than 40,000 Iraqi police and soldiers, backed up by U.S. troops and war planes. They're putting up dozens of new checkpoints and plan to raid and search houses. Insurgents have stepped up attacks since Iraq's new government was announced in April. More than 600 people have been killed, mostly in car bombings. The planned operation hasn't deterred insurgent violence as attacks in and around Baghdad have killed 15 people just today.

We'll take you live to Iraq to Baghdad correspondent Jane Arraf later this hour.

KAYE: The thunder is still rolling through the nation's capitol this Memorial Day weekend. Hundreds of thousands of cyclists are in Washington for an annual event. This afternoon, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will address them at the National Mall. The group supports families of veterans as well as veterans issues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every day is Memorial Day to anyone who has lost their child in the service of their country. So there isn't a day that doesn't go by, that I don't think about Chris and I don't think about the other mothers and their losses also.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: This evening, hundreds will attend a Memorial Day concert on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. You can watch it live on Public Broadcasting stations tonight.

HARRIS: Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers addressed the graduating class of cadets at the nation's oldest military academy this Memorial Day weekend. Myers told the graduates it was their duty to help preserve the American way of life.

And as Alina Cho reports, West Point's class of 2005 faces a number of great challenges.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The so-called class of 9/11 has 911 graduates. Tom Pae...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tom Pae.

CHO: ... is one of them.

The army I went into was peacetime army, just training and standing there. And once 9/11 hit, totally new perspective, it changed everything. CHO: This class of 2005 began their career at West Point just weeks before 9/11. They had two years to decide whether they wanted to leave, but a majority, 77 percent, decided to stay. Cadets like Pae, who, like most of his classmates will likely be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan within a year.

(on camera): You had said that people might be come in here for the wrong reasons but leave for the right ones. What did you mean by that?

PAE: I guess a great example is myself. I just go into the army and get some great training and get some good leadership (INAUDIBLE). Who knows, after five years, get out and get job in the global world. You know, I think a lot of people, once 9/11 hit, they saw that this isn't just a 9:00 to 5:00 thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've earned it!

CHO (voice-over): Pae's parents are Korean immigrants and say American soldiers saved them during the Korean War. On this day, they are both proud of their son, and worried about his future.

ANDREW PAE, FATHER OF WEST POINT GRADUATE: I told him, if you want to leave West Point after two years well, that's fine to us, because we already were very much proud of you have already -- you know, two years finished. But he said, "No, dad, I just want to go, keep going."

CHO: Twenty-three West Point graduates have died since September 11th, 22 of them in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Alan Lefebvre mom, Cheryl, never forgets that.

CHERYL LEFEBVRE, MOTHER OF WEST POINT GRADUATE: Well, when I was up in the stands and looking down on the cadets, I definitely envisioned -- I counted off 23.

ALAN LEFEBVRE, WEST POINT GRADUATE: It definitely crosses your mind, but you definitely have to focus on, OK, what's ahead of me? What are the challenges I have to face.

CHO (on camera): Stay focused.

A. LEFEBVRE: Stay focused, because when it comes down to it, you're going to be in charge.

CHO (voice-over): All 911 graduates are now second lieutenants in the army, a day of celebration, and the beginning of a 60-day vacation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I might take a nap first. Spend some time with family and take a nap.

CHO: What about Tom Pae?

PAE: Well, first thing's first, I think I'm going to take a long nap. I'm really tired.

CHO: Good idea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Class dismissed!

CHO: These graduates will soon begin serving out their five-year commitment to the army, and most say they can't wait.

Alina Cho, CNN, at the U.S. Military Academy, at West Point.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: In our security watch this morning, tests will soon begin on a missile defense device to protect airliners from shoulder fired missiles. The Department of Homeland Security reportedly will run those tests on three commercial airliners.

According to The New York Times Web site, a 767 will be the first aircraft to get the $1 million device mounted on its belly. The test aircraft will not carry passengers. Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the latest news on your security.

HARRIS: We want to return now to the theme we've been pursuing this weekend, the sizzling home real estate market. What can you get for a cool $1 million these days?

CNN's Jerry Willis went house hunting to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHY BRADDOCK, BRADDOCK AND PURCELL: It is a terrific one- bedroom, totally renovated, move-in condition, one-bedroom apartment. The kitchen, as you can see, fabulous countertops, state-of-the-art appliances. And it even has a washer and dryer, which for us in New York is a big treat. One of the wonderful features of this apartment is clearly the view.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What is the square footage?

BRADDOCK: It's about 822 square feet, and very well-used square footage. Every single part is well used.

WILLIS: Eight hundred and twenty-two square feet, a million dollars.

BRADDOCK: Yes.

WILLIS (voice-over): Prices in Manhattan have risen 20 percent in the last year. And the Big Apple is not the only city overheating. Some 66 metro areas posted double-digit price increases this year, and many of them are in unexpected places, like Bradenton, Florida, a baby-boomer retirement mecca, where prices spiked 45 percent. West Palm Beach and Boca Raton make the top five list too.

The boom is making it tough for middle-income Americans to land a home. Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University says, 25 percent of middle class home owners, that's 9.3 million, are spending more than they should on housing. Take a look at this home on the market for $989,000 in Chicago's exclusive Lincoln Park. For the money, you get three bedrooms, two baths, and 2,500 square feet of space. But if you want a garage, you'll have to go elsewhere.

Don't look for easy pickings once you retire, either. This Miami condo on the market for $1.1 million has ocean views, but with just 1,400 square feet of space, it will be tough to accommodate the grandkids.

One house on the list delivered value for the money.

DAVID D'AUSILIO, REMAX REAL ESTATE BROKER: Well, Gerri, this is what $1 million buys you in Monroe, Connecticut.

WILLIS (on camera): It's pretty nice. Let's take a look.

D'AUSILIO: Absolutely.

WILLIS: So this is a pretty nice kitchen.

D'AUSILIO: Beautiful. The homeowners here did a lot of custom work, including the cherry cabinets. Beautiful granite counter tops and as you can see, gourmet Wolf Range with hood. WILLIS: Very high end and naturally the sub zero.

D'AUSILIO: High end appliances throughout.

WILLIS (voice-over): Four bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 3,800 square feet on one acre of level land. Price tag, $979,000.

But even here, where values appear to be better, D'Ausilio says the market has gone too far. This man, who makes his living selling homes, is a renter.

D'AUSILIO: We decided to rent for a few years. We think this housing market's going to cool down a little bit, and we'll be able to find a better value perhaps 24 months from now.

WILLIS: Experts warn, in the metro markets, where prices have gone up the most, prices could fall, and fall hard. That means, for some people, they could end up owing more than the house is worth if they had to sell.

In most of the rest of the country, though, the likelihood is that prices might flatten, but not collapse.

Gerri Willis, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Just doesn't go as far as it used to, $1 million these days.

So if you're feeling pinched by high home prices, you know, you can partly blame the neighbor who owns two homes. It is a little known fact that the weekend retreat is helping fuel the market. A real estate expert will explain why at 9:00 Eastern.

That brings us to our e-mail question this morning. Is there a better investment than real estate right now? A lot of folks don't think so. E-mail us your thoughts at weekends@cnn.com and we'll read your replies throughout the program.

KAYE: Now earlier this morning, we were telling you about Operation Lightning. This is a program that is about to set in place by U.S. and Iraqi forces, trying to put an end to the roadside bombs and the car bombing that is taking place around Iraq right now.

600 plus people dead so far since the new government in place. Our Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf is at a U.S. military base. And she joins us now by videophone to bring us up to date.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BUREAU CHIEF: Well it's said to be the biggest Iraqi operation so far. We're talking 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and Iraqi police in the capitol alone.

Now what they intend to do, Iraqi officials have said, is ring the city like a bracelet, making sure that nobody goes in or out unless they are checked. There will be mass searches. They'll be setting up emergency checkpoints. And we're seeing some of those checkpoints going up already.

Now this operation has not yet started. But what has started a few days ago is something called Operation Squeeze Play by U.S. forces here in Baghdad.

It's what's known as a show pin (ph) operation, which is meant to pave the way for this larger effort that's going on, shortly it seems, with Iraqi forces backed by U.S. forces.

And you're right, the violence is continuing, Randi. At least 17 people, caravans, five separate bombings in Iraq so far. They include word that a U.S. Marine has died in the Al Anbar province in the west of Iraq yesterday, as well as a British soldier, who lost his life in a bombing on the road near Hillah, south of Baghdad.

In addition, the policemen (INAUDIBLE) were shot dead in the street, it seems, in the neighborhood of Dura (ph) in Baghdad. And in Mosul in the north, eight people were killed by a bomb. Eight Iraqi civilians, including children -- Randi?

KAYE: And Jane, how massive of a job will this be to set up this security ring around this very large area?

ARRAF: It is going to be actually huge. (INAUDIBLE) huge. A challenge, to say the least.

Now imagine there were more Iraqi police in a lot of cases, more Iraqi soldiers the city of Kera (ph) has at the best of times. Traffic has come to a halt because of security measures, because of U.S. soldiers in the street. There's frequent gunfire. There are daily explosions in the city.

And as you add to that, 40,000 troops and police essentially it is going to cause absolute chaos. At the end of it, they will crack down on these bomb making factories. The prime minister says they have -- they can ship the car into a facility, have it hooked up with a bomb, and get it out within the hour. (INAUDIBLE) insurgency has gone to in the capital, and that's what they're trying to fight -- Randi?

KAYE: All right, Jane Arraf, live for us this morning in Baghdad. Thank you. Tony?

HARRIS: Teens behind the wheel. One man is on a mission to prevent every parent's nightmare from becoming a reality. We'll tell you how.

KAYE: And good morning, Washington. We'll have the weather forecast for you and the rest of the nation ahead on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Each week at this time, we bring you some of the most compelling stories from our CNN investigative unit. This morning, we introduce you to a retired cop, who's on a new mission. He's taking tragic lessons from the road and putting them on the printed page.

Our Sharon Collins has his story in our eye unit spotlight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHARON COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bill Richardson knows about every one of these teens in intricate detail. He knows about their love of sports, their musical talents. He knows about their prom nights, their little brothers and sisters, their moms and dads.

And he knows how each of them died, all of them killed in cars.

BILL RICHARDSON, AUTHOR, "IT WON'T HAPPEN TO ME": Karen, she was 16-years old. She had a license for 22 days. She was a cheerleader at Parkview High School. And she left -- one day after school, she was going up Highway 29. And it was raining very heavily.

For whatever reason, she drifted off on the shoulder. And before she even had a chance to try to steer the car back on the pavement, she hit the edge of a driveway, which caused her car to pivot and spin around. And she hit a tree. The tree impacted on the driver's door, and which is where she was sitting.

Her father, this is her driver's license, you can't see it. It's kind of a water mark there, he carries that everywhere he goes. He travels all around the world. And basically his statement was to me was Karen travels -- goes everywhere he goes. He carries her drivers license with him.

COLLINS: Bill gathered their stories in this book, "It Won't Happen to Me." He got the inspiration for the project while he was a police officer in Georgia.

RICHARDSON: Back in late '99, I was given a message to contact a girl who had recently graduated from Parkview High School. She had come by the precinct to talk to an officer about teen driving.

Well, when I met with her, she indicated that in the past year, she had lost three friends in driving accidents. And she wanted to know what else could we do to try to curb the, you know, the rash of teen fatalities on the roads.

COLLINS: The idea that came from that conversation is now Bill's mission. He hopes by giving teens a book full of powerful and heartbreaking stories, to convince them to drive more carefully when they get behind the wheel.

RICHARDSON: This is the one, his little brother wrote this story about the day that the police and the chaplain came to the door to tell him and his mother. And he talks about how his mother reacted.

He was very well liked in school. He was all county tennis player, very athletic. Apparently, he had a very good sense of humor, told a lot of jokes. And that was one of the things they wrote on the pavement where he lost his life, that once you get to heaven, make God laugh.

COLLINS: Bill retired after more than 25 years on the police force. But this father of two, who are now in their 20s, never gave up his focus on teenage driving, a project started when they were in their teens.

Bill often meets with parents and their kids. On this night, they gather at Shiloh High School near Atlanta, Georgia. Each teen gets a copy of the book. He's given away more than 50,000 copies in five years. And on this particular night, he's invited a parent who knows what it's like to lose a child.

JEFF MOWELL, KIRBY CRUCE'S FATHER: In the book, that's my daughter. Our last names are different and she was my stepdaughter, but I raised her since she was three. So she was my daughter.

That night, I did get to tell my daughter I loved her. It was the last thing I ever said.

COLLINS: The teens and their parents sit quietly, as a father's grief fills the auditorium.

MOWELL: I got to ID my daughter from a Polaroid photograph about this high off the ground. My daughter laying on the ground. The car rolled over my daughter.

COLLINS: Bill believes that as difficult as it is for him and the parents who help, teaching kids about the tragic results when they don't pay attention is making a difference. He's seen a dramatic decrease in teen traffic deaths in Gwinnett County, roads he patrolled for more than two decades.

MOWELL: Two thousand four, when we lost four, and only two of those teenagers were at fault. The other two just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. So basically we went from 13 to 2 in a year's time. And I hope that that's not a freak. I hope it's a trend.

COLLINS: A trend that would lead to fewer faces in the book, fewer stories of wasted youth, fewer deaths.

Sharon Collins, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Another report from CNN's investigative unit is next Sunday at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

HARRIS: The nation's housing market, is there a bubble? And is it about to burst? Whether you are buying or selling, watch CNN this weekend to find helpful advice.

Meanwhile, we are asking you this morning if there is a better investment than real estate. E-mail us your thoughts at weekends@cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAYE: Well, the French are the deciding factor in what could be a historic turning point for the future of Europe. Find out why next. We're going global when CNN SUNDAY MORNING returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: A historic moment for the future of Europe rests in the hands of the French this morning.

Welcome back. I'm Randi Kaye in for Betty Nguyen.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. That story in a minute. First, a look at the morning's headlines now in the news. American and Iraqi forces hope operation lightning will dry up the sweeping insurgency across Iraq. Preps for the massive crackdown are under way. It's expected to include scores of military checkpoints with thousands of Iraqi police and military conducting raids against suspected insurgents. We have a live report from Iraq for you in the next half hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

It's not lightning, but Rolling Thunder in our nation's capital this Memorial Day weekend. About half a million bikers and war veterans are in town for the annual ride meant to remind the nation of the sacrifices made by U.S. troops. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld addresses the crowd at 4:00 p.m. local time.

French voters go to the polls today to vote on a proposed landmark constitution for Europe.

KAYE: There are some who consider the vote so critical they say its outcome could decide the future direction of the continent. For the details, let's go to Anand Naidoo at the CNN international desk. Good morning.

ANAND NAIDOO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. French voters have already begun casting ballots in that referendum and opinion polls indicate they may reject that planned new European constitution. And there are some who say that would be a disaster for Europe. The constitution must be approved by all 25 EU members to take effect in 2006. Supporters say a European constitution would strengthen the continent. Opponents worry national identity and sovereignty may be compromised. Nine countries have so far approved that constitution. The Dutch will vote on Wednesday.

Now in the Middle East, the Israeli cabinet has approved the release of about 400 Palestinian prisoners. It's part of a cease-fire agreement reached between the Israeli government and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas at the summit that was held in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt last February. About 500 prisoners have already been released in the first phase of that agreement. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says that none of the 900 prisoners who have been released have been involved in any attacks that have killed Israelis. Moving now to Sudan, the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan visited a refugee camp in that country's embattled Darfur region. He described the situation there as heart wrenching. Annan wants the African Union to play a bigger role in ending the crisis. There are some estimates that say that 180,000 people have died in that crisis in Sudan and as many as two million people have been left homeless. That is all for me for now. I'll be back later. We'll look at the Lebanese election. For now back to Randi and Tony.

HARRIS: Anand, thank you.

KAYE: The Memorial Day weekend we are remembering those who paid the ultimate price.

HARRIS: Next on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, a look at one of so many lives that ended too soon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: This Memorial Day weekend we are all remembering the incredible sacrifices made by the men and women of our armed services. For many of us those sacrifices hit incredibly close to home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK ADAMOUSKI, JIMMY'S FATHER: Well, it will take a while to talk about Jimmy because he was one of those ideal children. When he was young, he was the one who always went to bed on time, always took his bath before he went to bed. When he got into school, he always did his home work after he came home to from school, before he went out to play. Jimmy was also a planner. I once asked him when was it, Jim, that you decided you wanted to go to West Point. He said, well, dad, he said, I think I was in the fourth grade. He just did so many really neat things.

When he was stationed in Germany, there was some avalanches in Austria and Switzerland and he flew his helicopter in an avalanche rescue down there. I'm so proud of him for that. He just never seemed to do anything wrong. He was always right. I get kind of emotional when I talk about him because he really was such a great kid.

He could talk to the pope or he could talk to a bum in the street and be equally at ease. Jimmy was the type of individual that would have made a great politician. His goal was to become a U.S. senator. And nobody in this family or anybody who knew him ever doubted that he would be able to do that. In Jimmy's case, did he believe in what he was doing? Certainly. He was totally convinced that taking a suppressive regime out of the world order was the right thing to do.

I had two individuals call me on the telephone and say, sir, you don't know me, but I knew your son in Germany. He inspired me to go back to college and both of them said, I'm graduating this month and I owe it to your son. And so there were things like that went on that were so emotional, really, to find out that he made such a difference in the lives of so many people during a very short life of only 29 years. And I think he did more in his 29 years than a lot of people do in 100. And we love him for that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Checking our top stores this Sunday morning, more than 40,000 Iraqi police and soldiers are preparing to launch operation lightning in Baghdad. Their target, the onslaught of insurgents who have killed hundreds of people and stepped up attacks recently. Iraqi forces are setting up dozens of checkpoints and raiding houses.

Hundreds more Palestinian prisoners will go free. This morning Israel's cabinet approved the release of about 400 inmates. This is the second round of releases promised by Israel under a February cease-fire deal.

A massive crowd turned out to greet Pope Benedict XVI this morning on his first papal trip. The pope is visiting the Italian port city of Bari where he and about 200,000 worshipers celebrated mass.

In our next hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING, they've learned the tragic lessons of war at a very young age. But now these kids aren't alone in their grief. We'll share their memories in our 8:00 a.m. Eastern hour.

HARRIS: It may be hard to believe, but we have been right here with you for the last 25 years bringing you the day's events, good and bad, tragic and heart warming. And as we celebrate our anniversary, we are focusing on some of the stories that moved us all. One such story, the successes and the failures of the American space shuttle program.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That day it was so bitterly cold. This was an enormous event because it was going to be the launch Christa McCullough, the teacher in space. She was so effervescent and had a great personality and smile.

GRACE CORRIGAN, CHRISTA'S MOTHER: She just loved life and she loved to encompass everybody around her. I think that's really the reason why she was chosen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything going very well in the countdown.

CORRIGAN: My husband looked out and you could see the shuttle, you could see icicles on it and he said that, you know, if I could go out there and take her off of that, I would.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just getting into about three minutes and they think they can do it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are counting. The ice has cleared away.

BOB FURNAD, FORMER CNN VICE PRESIDENT: The other networks had stopped covering shutting launches. They had become routine. But CNN because we are a news network, went ahead and covered it. And so nobody else had it and we did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one and liftoff, liftoff of the 25th space shuttle mission and it has cleared the tower.

ZARRELLA: Watching the ascent of the vehicle when it goes up and it was normal.

VOICE OF TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So the 25th space shuttle mission is now on the way.

ZARRELLA: Then you hear the call from NASA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Challenge" go with throttle up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flight controllers here looking very carefully at the situation, obviously a major malfunction.

ZARRELLA: Everybody was waiting for "Challenger" to emerge from behind the cloud of smoke that we could see. Of course, it never was going to happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a report from the flight dynamics office that the vehicle has exploded. The director confirms that. We are looking at checking with the recovery forces to see what can be done at this point.

ZARRELLA: First thing I did was just quick run up and get on the phone and try to report what I saw.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Silence. Get me in to Zarrella. He's live at the cape.

ZARRELLA: Everybody's just stunned. They're in shock. You could hear the chaos. As much chaos in the news room, people yelling and screaming as there was, you know, at the NASA press site.

FURNAD: I remember a really gripping piece of video. It was a camera that was trained on Christa's McCullough's parents. As the shuttle exploded, the expression on her mom's face instantly changed to one of, oh, my God, what has happened? It was clear her father didn't quite grasp it, because he had a look of puzzlement and then when it was clear that he realized what had happened, it became a look of oh, no.

CORRIGAN: Thinking back on it, I don't think it was that we didn't understand something very horrible had happened. I think it was the fact that we didn't want to. I think Christa would be very pleased to see the wonderful legacy that she has left. Challenger learning centers are wonderful, wonderful tools for education. That trip wasn't successful, but Christa's mission really was. It is her life.

"Challenger" was an education mission. She was going to teach two lessons in space. So it's continuing the "Challenger" mission. MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: After "Challenger" everybody paid a lot of attention to the launch. The first 8 1/2 minutes were OK. We're home free.

Got a little problem on the space shuttle "Columbia." It has been out of communication now for the past 12 minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did not copy your last.

O'BRIEN: And, of course, 17 years later, it was just the other end of the mission. It was the re-entry. Within a few minutes of the shuttle not appearing, WFAA fed that dramatic tape. I see multiple trails there, I count, one, two, three, four. It was obvious what we were watching was an in-flight breakup. Within a short period of time, NASA officially announced that the crew was lost. The real tragedy of the "Columbia" disaster is that if you substituted foam striking the leading edge of the wing for O rings in the solid rocket booster, it's an identical story to "Challenger." They repeated the same mistakes 17 years prior. Look at that piece right there. What was that? A problem cropping up, explaining it away, and then ultimately seeing that problem lead to a tragedy.

We were within two weeks of announcing that I was going to fly on the shuttle. We had put together a deal with NASA and I knew on that day my dream was certainly deferred, probably over, but in the grand scheme of what was lost that didn't amount to much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Next week, CNN celebrates 25 years of bringing you news from around the world. We will mark our anniversary as the original 24-hour news leader with a prime-time event. We will highlight 25 stories that have impacted people across the world over the last quarter century, defining moments, 25 stories that touched our lives begins Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

KAYE: Housing bubble? Is there one? How should you protect yourself from it? Whether you are buying or selling, watch CNN this weekend to find helpful advice. Meanwhile, we are asking you this morning if there is a better investment than real estate. E-mail us at weekends@cnn.com. We're reading your replies next hour on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

HARRIS: But first a CNN extra. Since 2000, the number of million dollar homes in the country has nearly doubled. The Census Bureau estimates that 1 percent of all American homes are now worth seven figures. If you are wondering who can afford them, get this, the number of millionaires in America is at a record high, above 7.5 million millionaires. This weekend on CNN, find out how to protect yourself from a housing bubble. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Wednesday is the official start of the six-month Atlantic hurricane season. Our dot com desk has put together a terrific database on last year's unforgettable onslaught plus everything you want and need to know about the 2005 forecast. For that here's CNN Christina Park.

CHRISTINA PARK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: CNN.com is helping you prepare for hurricane season. This year, seven to nine hurricanes could hit the United States between June and November. Last year alone, four hurricanes slammed into the Florida coast. Charlie, Francis, Ivan and Jean caused scores of deaths and tens of billions of dollars in damage. Scientists say this year's warmer waters in the Atlantic could spawn some fierce storms.

See how it all begins, our interactive hurricane guide explains how warmer climate can turn into a tropical storm and then a devastating hurricane. The east coast and the Gulf of Mexico are most vulnerable. If you think your family might be in danger from a hurricane, study our safety tips. Stay away from low-lying areas, evacuate mobile homes. If you live in a wooded area, make trees more wind resistant by cutting out weak limbs so that wind can blow through. And while you're online, click through our gallery of past hurricanes including the 10 worst ever.

If and when the hurricanes hit, find out what to call it. Check out the list of names for 2005 storms for the Atlantic and eastern north Pacific. But the only name you need to remember is CNN. We've got your online hurricane special at cnn.com/hurricanes. Reporting from the dotcom desk, I'm Christina Park.

HARRIS: I hope those folks in Florida, fingers crossed they get a break this hurricane season.

KAYE: You ever stand in one of those?

HARRIS: No. Here's the thing, wouldn't want to. If those folks there don't get a break, you're going to see scenes like this. Sorry. You're going to see scenes like this. Rob Marciano, tethered, not really tethered --

KAYE: Not really. Look at him.

HARRIS: Tossed around. Is there any real information being learned in this?

KAYE: Why is he out there?

HARRIS: Why would you do that to yourself? That's the question. Rob is here.

KAYE: The boss asked him to.

HARRIS: And goggles and goggles.

KAYE: Rob.

HARRIS: A pure affectation.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Can I jump in here?

KAYE: Can you explain yourself, please. MARCIANO: Well, obviously, I'm having to put up with this every weekend would throw me into the fiercest of storms just to get away from it.

HARRIS: It prepared you for the storm.

MARCIANO: It did. It's actually -- I mean, you talk about it so much in the studio but to actually be in it, you really get the feel for what a 70, 80, 90 mile an hour wind is and it puts things in perspective.

HARRIS: You were barely able to stand up there.

MARCIANO: Yeah and at times we just had to get out of there.

HARRIS: Yes.

MARCIANO: I want to talk about this year's forecast. Since 1995, we've been in increased activity, the amount of hurricanes that we've seen since then have been well above the 30-year average. So this year is expected to be no different. We do expect it to be an above average year, 12 to 15 named storms, seven to nine of those to become hurricanes, three to five of those to become major hurricanes and these are the averages over the last 30 years, so well above average.

By the way, last year we had the top range of these averages with six major hurricanes. Last year was just off the charts. We certainly hope that won't be the case again this year. We're starting to wind down severe weather season and that's been incredibly quiet. So we certainly hope maybe that hurricane forecast is wrong. This is the radar composite, a lot of stuff just spread out. So the good news is there is no real big, you know, isolated threat of seeing a tremendous tornado outbreak, not only today but tomorrow. So that's good news for the holiday weekend.

Area of low pressure around Texas has been giving them a headache for the past day and a half. Now most of the action has moved across southeast Texas. Galveston saw winds gust to 60 miles an hour early this morning. That severe thunderstorm warning has since dissipated and there's a bit of a hold here. Mid-Atlantic states up to about New York, not a bad looking day today, 73 degrees, 81 degrees in D.C. But right about here, north, real unsettled atmosphere. As the sun comes up, you might see a shower or two pop up in the afternoon.

Tomorrow, we do get a little bit most concentrated across the southeast, probably some heavier rains across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and then into Georgia as well. But note that there's going to be a slice probably in the northeast that looks to be pretty dry. West Coast looks nice for your holiday. Seventy degrees in Salt Lake City. It will be 64 tomorrow in Chicago, 79 degrees in D.C., 75 in New York, 70 in Boston. Boston, New York, some of those patriotic type cities, not a bad place to spend Memorial Day holiday.

Take a look at Washington, D.C., the lights, monuments, historic buildings against a cobalt blue sky. That's a pretty picture this morning.

HARRIS: Beautiful, beautiful.

MARCIANO: Old glory flapping in the wind there above the White House.

HARRIS: I got to tell you Rob, Randi.

KAYE: Yeah.

HARRIS: I give him a hard time because that's just what we do here.

KAYE: Sure.

HARRIS: I mean, you did a nice job down there. And he actually did provide a lot of information, as much as I hate to admit it, but he...

MARCIANO: Are we rolling on this tape?

KAYE: You better save this (INAUDIBLE), because that doesn't come around very often.

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: ...what we do here...

MARCIANO: I never knew.

HARRIS: You did a nice job.

KAYE: You did.

HARRIS: Hopefully you get a break and not have to go down there and cover that story again this year.

MARCIANO: It's a good day for me. Thanks, guys.

KAYE: Thanks Rob.

HARRIS: See you. The next hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING, this love fest begins right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: From the CNN Center, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is May 29th, 8:00 a.m. at CNN headquarters here in Atlanta, 5:00 a.m. on the West Coast. Good morning. I'm Randi Kaye.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Thank you for being with us.

KAYE: Let's get to the headlines.

A deadly explosion in southern Iraq this morning. A roadside bomb struck a British military convoy, killing a soldier. It happened on a highway near the town of Amara, the site of frequent clashes between British troops and Shiite militiamen.

About 400 Palestinian prisoners will be set free. This morning, Israel's cabinet approved their release. It's the second round of prisoner releases promised by Israel under a February cease-fire with the Palestinians. Israel says none of the freed inmates was involved in attacks on Israelis.

It was a small trip, but it drew a big audience. Some 200,000 people turned out this morning as Pope Benedict XVI celebrated mass in the Italian city of Bari. It marks the new pope's first papal journey outside of Rome.

HARRIS: Lots of reasons to stay with us this hour. Here are three. A fierce fight against a stubborn insurgency, 40,000 strong. Iraq gets ready for a massive crackdown on rogue rebels in Baghdad responsible for an uptick in violence. A live report straight ahead.

Feeling each other's pain. The story of one program that pairs up grieving children of military members killed in action. It's called the Good Grief Camp.

And the ivy towers of the Ivy League. Some students at elite schools are on a mission to spread Christianity. We'll introduce you to two of them.

KAYE: The latest now in the fight for Iraq. Iraqi forces are on the verge of launching a massive crackdown on insurgents in Baghdad. Operation Lightning involves more than 40,000 Iraqi police and soldiers backed up by U.S. troops and warplanes. They're putting up dozens of new checkpoints and plan to raid and search houses. Insurgents have stepped up attacks since Iraq's new government was announced in April. More than 600 people have been killed, mostly in car bombings. The planned operation hasn't deterred insurgent violence, as attacks in and around Baghdad have killed 15 people just today.

HARRIS: U.S. troops overseas and back home are remembering their fallen comrades on this Memorial Day weekend. You're looking at a live picture of Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington D.C., where soldiers took part in a very special mission this past week. They placed an American flag before each of the more than 220,000 graves.

Behind every one of the war dead is a family dealing with the loss. It's tough enough for parents and spouses, but what about for children? Now many of them are getting a helping hand thanks to a special camp. Our Kathleen Koch has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He'd do pushups and we'd all get on his back. And he'd pick us up. He'd go up and then down, and up and down.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Memories of a father no longer alive. Memories military children feel safe to share at Good Grief Camp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you miss now -- because (INAUDIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never got to know him.

KOCH: The Virginia program pairs children who've lost a loved one with a military mentor, some who've seen their own parents die in military tragedies.

MICKI KUZEWSKI, MENTOR: So, I had to step up and kind of take over and really be there for my mom. And whatever you guys do, don't ever lose your youth. Just enjoy it while you can.

KOCH: Airman First Class Mickey Kuzewski's father, Michael, died in 1996 in a helicopter collision at Camp Lejeune.

KUZEWSKI: I wanted to touch another child's life, and really help them out and guide them through the process of grieving.

PATRICIA LATHAM, GOOD GRIEF CAMPER: He was going to bomb this building, and when he did a piece of metal got right in here, and it got into things so they couldn't take it out.

KOCH: Micki was paired with Patricia Latham, whose father, William, died two years ago after being wounded in Iraq. And with Tori Hall, whose Father Kelly (ph), died in 1998 in a plane crash in Germany.

TORI HALL, CAMPER: I remember the funeral, you know, and -- the guys carried him in.

It's good to cry. It's not -- I'm not ashamed of it. Because if you keep it all bundled up, then eventually it's going to come out some way that you don't want.

KOCH: But the camp is about more than grieving. Children learn coping skills. They make crafts to celebrate their loved one's life. They even learn to build relationships with the parents some were too young to know.

BONNIE CARROLL, CAMP FOUNDER: Even if they were infants at the time that their dad was killed, we teach them how to create those memories, how to honor that person and make them a part of their lives.

KOCH: The children too are honored by top military brass.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You lose your daddy? Where?

HALL: In Germany.

KOCH: And they learn how to support one another.

LATHAM: It's different here, because I can talk about it, and I'm not the only one. There's other people that have -- know how it feels. HALL: It's hard, it's hard, but you'll make it through. I mean, you will go on. You will start over your life.

KOCH: Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: We have been talking to you this morning about a program called Operation Lightning. Iraqi and U.S. forces are getting ready to launch that, and they are targeting the insurgency there in Iraq, which is responsible for much of the car bombing and the roadside bombs. Our Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf is at a U.S. military base in Baghdad and joins us now by videophone -- Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Randi, we've seen signs that they're starting to prepare for this operation, at least, that in the form of checkpoints, increased checkpoints, going up across Baghdad.

And let me just tell you a little bit about the operation that Iraqi officials are threatening and promising. Forty thousand Iraqi troops, soldiers and police are going to spread out across the city and encircle it like a bracelet, one official says.

Now, this is an effort to crack down on the insurgency, and crack down, find, and arrest people responsible for a lot of the car bombs. The prime minister says it's got to a stage where they can put together a car bomb in as little as one hour.

The backdrop of this, of course, is continuing violence. At least 17 people were killed today and 23 wounded in five separate bombings. One of them in the northern city of Mosul, where eight Iraqi civilians were killed, including children. A British soldier was killed by a bomb on the road south of Baghdad near Hillah. And news that yesterday, a U.S. Marine has died in operations in Al Anbar province. Now, that's an area near the western -- near the border, the Syrian border, the western part of Iraq, where the insurgency just has not died down.

Operations like this one, Operation Lightning, are an attempt to cool it down in Baghdad, and then spread out to the rest of the country -- Randi.

KAYE: All right, our Jane Arraf for us this morning. Thank you, Jane.

And our Memorial Day weekend coverage continues with a "LATE EDITION" special. CNN's Wolf Blitzer goes behind the lines with U.S. troops on the ground in the Middle East. That's today at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time. You won't want to miss it.

HARRIS: And other news across America now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Holden's not saying much. Can you tell everybody thank you?

HOLDEN MODLIN: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Oh, and they all said, you're welcome. Three-year-old Holden Modlin vanished from his great grandmother's backyard Friday night in St. Joseph, Missouri. He was missing for 15 hours. After a frantic family search and an Amber Alert, Holden turned up in a far- off field with his dog. Holden said he'd slept in the field, curled up under his dog, unaware he had caused a scare.

In this drama, it's the people versus Oliver Stone. The Oscar- winning director is out of jail this morning after being arrested on alcohol and drug charges in Los Angeles Friday night. Police busted the director after suspecting him of driving while drunk. Police say they found an illegal drug while searching Stone's car.

And if the governor of Illinois has anything to do with it, your kids won't be playing violent videogames. The governor is likely to sign a bill that outlaws the sale of violent or sexual videogames to minors. The bill was already passed by the Illinois legislature.

KAYE: This weekend, we're talking about the so-called housing bubble. And what happens when a growing market suddenly bursts? Housing right now is a great investment, but when might this market cool off? It's a big question. Not any time soon if rates like these hold up. Right now, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate is 5.71 percent. That is below any annual average since 1973.

Still, we are asking you in our e-mail question this morning, is there a better investment than real estate? E-mail us your thoughts at weekends@cnn.com. We will read your replies throughout the program.

HARRIS: Still to come on CNN this Sunday morning, the growing prominence of evangelical Christians, and some of the places you'd least expect to find them. That's in the spotlight in today's "Faces of Faith."

KAYE: Also ahead, it's race day at Daytona, and there's one contender who's got everybody talking and not only about the fact that she's a woman.

HARRIS: And later on "HOUSE CALL," are you panicking over bathing suit season? Dr. Sanjay Gupta gets a celebrity trainer to share his tips on getting and staying in shape.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, D.C. this morning, on a beautiful Memorial Day weekend. A great Sunday morning. Two hundred twenty -- was it 220 or 260,000 American flags?

KAYE: I think it was about 260,000 grave stones that they put those flags out.

HARRIS: Work done by soldiers all over the past week. A wonderful tribute to fallen heroes at Arlington National Cemetery on this Memorial Day weekend. And a wonderful day, Rob Marciano. Just a wonderful day in Washington.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAYE: Checking our top stories this morning, Operation Lightning is ready to take Baghdad by storm. Iraqi forces will try to track down insurgents in and around the capital city. U.S. forces will back up the Iraqis.

Bill Clinton will continue his trip to tsunami-ravaged areas in southern Asia. Earlier reports said the former president was exhausted from his work as United Nations envoy. He'll travel to Indonesia before returning to New York tomorrow.

And today's Indy 500 will include 23-year-old rookie Danica Patrick. She's only the fourth woman to drive the race, and is a true contender. Five-hundred-mile contest begins today at noon Eastern.

Ivy League schools and evangelical Christians. Used to be you never heard those two things in the same sentence, but times, they are a-changing. Up next, a look at some of the new "Faces of Faith" on America's college campuses.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Today's "Faces of Faith" examines Christianity on today's college campuses, particularly Ivy League schools like Princeton and Yale. Our guests this morning are students Victoria Holowink and Cameron Young. They're joining us to talk about the role of faith amid the ivory towers. Good to see both of you.

CAMERON YOUNG, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Hi, how are you doing, Tony.

HARRIS: Well, Victoria, let's sort of set the slate here. Victoria, you're at Princeton. Cameron -- correct?

VICTORIA HOLOWINK, YALE UNIVERSITY: I'm at Yale.

HARRIS: You're at Yale?

HOLOWINK: That's right.

HARRIS: All right, let me turn that around. And Cameron, you're at Princeton?

YOUNG: Indeed, yes.

HARRIS: OK. Victoria, let me first start with you. How much of your decision to go to school where you're going to school was based on the kind of -- and I'm fishing a little bit here -- was based on the kind of religious experience you thought you might have? HOLOWINK: I have to say that wasn't really a big decision in terms of which college to attend. I wanted to attend a liberal arts university, which would get me thinking about just a whole host of issues, because, I guess, I believe that God wants you to develop your mind too. And so I knew that, if I go -- when I'd go to school, I would try to study for the Lord as well.

HARRIS: OK, I'm curious. You know where you are in terms of your faith. Were you curious on campus about exploring faith, exploring Christianity, and thoughts and expressions on faith in terms of tolerance on campus? You know where you are. Where is everyone else? Or were you a little more concerned about religious structure, and at an institution where you were going to spend a lot of time?

HOLOWINK: Well, I guess one of my concerns was just that there would be a group of Christians, kind of who shared my love for Jesus, and with whom I could kind of have fellowship and friendships and just kind of go through school and talk about God with. But...

HARRIS: That makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense.

HOLOWINK: Yes.

HARRIS: And Cameron, what's your thought? First of all, did you base your decision at all on faith?

YOUNG: No, like Victoria said, actually, I was just looking at coming to a liberal arts college. My older brothers and sisters had gone to a Christian college, you know, I had that option, but I decided I wanted to step up and go to a liberal arts college, and be involved in the world and in the world of a liberal arts college.

HARRIS: So how has the experience been for you? Not as an educational experience -- well, I'm sure it has been an educational experience -- but what has it been like for you in terms of practicing your faith and talking to others about your faith and finding friends who share your ideas and values?

YOUNG: I've been really quite surprised at the fellowship that's been at Princeton. The variety of different groups that I've been involved in, from Athletes in Action, Campus Crusade for Christ, to a smaller informal group called Crossroads. And they've just really given me an outlet to not only, you know, increase my faith in community, but to also share it with people that I care about, and to share it in a relaxed setting.

HARRIS: And Victoria, how about you?

HOLOWINK: Yeah. I'd echo Cameron on that. I think it's definitely been such a privilege to go to college and just to be so close with my friends and roommates, many of whom have completely antithetical beliefs to mine. But it's just been such a cool thing to -- through friendships, just to kind of share this part of our lives with each other, and just to have dialogues about it. Yeah, definitely.

HARRIS: Victoria, no difficult moments? Are you telling me there has been full acceptance of you, who you are, what you believe?

HOLOWINK: No. I mean, there definitely -- definitely are difficult moments. I think a lot of times, I'm a little even hesitant to admit that I'm a Christian, or it can get kind of uncomfortable.

HARRIS: Now, why is that?

HOLOWINK: Well, I think people tend to assume so many things about you when you say you're a Christian. You know, they'll assume that maybe you're really judgmental of other people and that you think other people's beliefs are wrong and kind of -- you know, that can be really...

HARRIS: That you're intolerant.

HOLOWINK: Yeah, yeah. People assume that, definitely. And I just like to, on that issue, you know, not kind of claim that I'm perfect at all, but just to kind of look together at Jesus in that issue and just look at the life of, like, love and utter service that he led. You know, and hanging around with just people in society that were complete outcasts, just loving everyone and having his kind of the desire of his heart be the eternal security of everyone. So, yeah.

HARRIS: And, Cameron, you know, the knock on evangelicals is that many folks say that as a group, you're intolerant, you're not willing to -- you've got this belief system, and you don't -- you don't agree with in any way, shape, or form the lifestyles of many people that you encounter on a college campus.

YOUNG: Yeah, I mean, for my experience at university, it's, you know, like Victoria's, but I think it's just got to be a mixture of love and truth. And doing it in a very respectful and humble way. And people are going to, you know, want to find out, you know, what makes you tick and what this faith is that's supposedly so important to you. And you know, I think I've had just great discussions with a lot of my friends, when they've been prompted just by looking at me to ask the questions, and not necessarily me forcing the questions or the issues upon them in many cases.

HARRIS: That's well thought out, well said. Victoria, Cameron, good to see you both.

YOUNG: Thank you very much.

HARRIS: We appreciate your time.

HOLOWINK: Thank you, Tony.

HARRIS: OK. On this Sunday.

KAYE: We are continuing our look this morning at the ins and outs of home buying. Coming up in the next hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING, we will talk about vacation homes and why their growing popularity may be hurting the rest of us.

HARRIS: But first, Dr. Sanjay Gupta uncovers the secret moves that give stars those heavenly bodies.

KAYE: You'll pay attention, right? Close attention there, Tony.

HARRIS: I need to. "HOUSE CALL" and your top stories are straight ahead.

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