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CNN Sunday Morning
Pope Hailed as 'Unfailing' Leader at Easter Mass; 12 Dead as Three Separate Blasts Rock Baghdad; Civil-Rights Icon Returns to St. Augustine, Fla., as Documentary Video Premieres
Aired April 04, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, everybody. Good morning. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING on Easter Sunday. Happy Easter to you. I'm T.J. Holmes.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Happy Easter. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. It is 6 a.m. in Atlanta and 12 noon at the Vatican. Thanks for starting your day with us.
Any minute now, the pope will address tens of thousands of Catholic followers as Easter services get under way. We're going to take you around the world to show you all of the celebrations.
HOLMES: Also, 42 years later, this is the anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We're going to take a closer look at his visit to the nation's oldest city and how that helped shape the civil- rights movement.
But first, we want to get to some of the stories making news overnight, including a breaking story this morning. A violent start to Easter Sunday. Twelve dead, 27 injured in Baghdad. This is after three car bombs went off. And it all happened within five minutes of each other.
You can see in some of these pictures here, the thick black plumes of smoke filled the sky over that city. Firefighters, emergency crews responded to those blast zones. We'll continue to follow this developing story.
Again, breaking news this morning. We are going to be going live to Baghdad just ahead.
MALVEAUX: And police in Los Angeles are looking for the triggerman in a deadly shooting at a San Fernando restaurant on Saturday. Now, police say that four people were killed, two were wounded, with one of the victims in critical condition.
Police have a sketchy description of that suspect.
HOLMES: And a happy Easter Sunday for army linguist Isa Salome (ph). The 60-year-old returned home to San Diego yesterday after being held hostage in Baghdad for more than two months. And the military not elaborating on how Salome was freed. Salome not speaking about it either just yet.
He was kidnapped back in January, late January, reportedly by an extremist Shiite group.
MALVEAUX: And it's Easter, and Christians around the world are celebrating one of the holiest days on the Christian calendar. Sunrise services happening this morning in cities and towns everywhere. And they are celebrating - we're getting some pictures out of Vatican City, live pictures here to see some of those celebrations under way.
HOLMES: And we are going to be taking to a couple of celebrations, some live pictures. Of course, this one happening right now in Vatican City. The pope expected to come out and deliver his Easter Mass at any moment. A lot of people - you can tell by this picture here as well, people still gathered. Of course, they're going to gather even though it's a pretty rain day right now in Vatican City.
Again, the - the church right now, the Catholic Church really in a - in a tough time given what has been happening.
Here we are. Let's go ahead and listen to the crowd as they are greeting the pope.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
HOLMES: And we will continue to keep an eye on this. Again, just starting the service right now, this morning. Expecting his Easter Mass speech to take place.
Easter, of course - this is coming at a difficult time for the Catholic Church. The top bishops in Belgium as well as Germany condemning the church's role in covering up child abuse within its ranks.
CNN's Diana Magnay is there in Rome for us.
We are - some people, Diana, standing by, wondering if the pope will address some of the scandal in his speech today. What do we expect?
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, T.J.
Well, we have just been down at that square talking to people about whether they think it is appropriate for the pope to address the issue, the scandal overshadowing the church this week, of sex abuse. Some people said they thought it was a good opportunity, and they expected him to say something. Others said that - that he should wait until after Easter, and this wasn't the time.
But of course, Easter itself is a time for the - the day that Christ was resurrected, the forgiveness of sins. We can certainly expect the pope to be saying a lot about that in his "Urbi et Orbi" address, that the - an address he gives at Easter and at Christmas.
But other people, other bishops and other clergymen have used their Easter week Masses and their Easter week homilies to address the scandal, and there certainly has been a lot of expectation that on various occasions this week, the pope might have referred to it also. But so far, he hasn't, T.J. HOLMES: And Diana, there seems to be a bit of a split in some ways, where you have some coming out, really calling the - the - saying he's an unfailing leader. But then you have others - other parts of the church who are saying that there have been some failures, and pope's personal preacher came out and compared some of the attacks on the pontiff to anti-Semitism.
There has been some response. What are you picking up in the responses to that?
MAGNAY: Well, yes, that was a comment made in the Mass on - on Good Friday, with pope's personal preacher citing a Jewish friend of his, who had said that this campaign within the media against the pope was similar to the worst forms of anti-Semitism.
We - the Vatican distanced themselves immediately from that comment and said that they in no way equated this - what they have called a campaign of attack against the pope with anti-Semitism.
We then saw on Saturday, the head of the Anglican church, Archbishop Williams, referring to the situation in - in the Church of Ireland as having lost all credibility. Those comments immediately retracted after the archbishop of Dublin expressed his great concern and disappointment about those comments.
It has really been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, a lot of comments being retracted. But the pope so far has said nothing.
One thing that he will say, T.J, is in 65 languages, he is expected to say Happy Easter at the end of this address that is coming up. And the last two of those languages will be Icelandic and Kazakh, T.J.
HOLMES: Wow. All right. Diana Magnay for us there keeping an eye on things. Diana, thank you.
And again to our viewers, we will continue to follow - again, this is a live event right now, the pope just stepping out to deliver the Easter Mass. We will listen in to his message and certainly be dipping in to that throughout the morning.
MALVEAUX: And Easter is being celebrated in the Holy Land as well. Now, this is the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where the faithful gathered last night. A candlelight vigil was held in the church considered the traditional birthplace of Jesus.
Thousands of Christian pilgrims are celebrating this holy day as well at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Easter Sunday caps Holy Week.
HOLMES: Well, the president and his family heading out to church this morning. They're going to be attending church service this morning in Washington, even though we're not quite sure which church he's going to be heading to. We'll probably figure it out in a little while when we start seeing metal detectors go up at a particular church in D.C.
You saw some video there. This is the president at last year's Easter services at St. John's church. Again, don't know if the people who will be attending church with the president this morning know he's going to be there. It's a little different going to church with the president of the United States.
Again, last year, a couple of hours before that church service, some of those metal detectors started going up. So we'll keep an eye out for the president this morning,
MALVEAUX: More now on our breaking news. Three car bombs rocked Baghdad in what appears to be a coordinated attack. Two of those blasts in western Baghdad. Now, the third was reportedly in front of the Iranian embassy in the central section of the city.
I want to go right to CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom. He is in Baghdad.
And - and Mohammed, we are looking at some of the casualty figures early on, and we so far have 12 who have been killed, 12 dead, and 27 wounded. Is that right?
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Suzanne.
Interior Ministry officials are telling us 12 killed, 27 wounded. We do expect that number to rise throughout the day.
We also have some new information. The three car bombs happened around 11:15 a.m. local, within about five minutes of each other. We're now being told which exact buildings were being targeted, not just the Iranian Embassy in central Baghdad, which is close to the heavily fortified Green Zone - also two car bombs in the Mansour neighborhood in western Baghdad, one outside of the Egyptian Embassy, one outside of the Polish Embassy residence.
Now, nobody yet has claimed responsibility for these attacks. But certainly, it looks like it has the fingerprints all over of it of al- Qaeda in Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq, which is the umbrella group for al-Qaeda in Iraq.
In the past year, starting in August of 2009, we've seen these types of coordinated attacks going after government installations, a lot of them in central Baghdad. Scores of people killed. Really signaling a new type of insurgency. Since U.S. troops have withdrawn from the cities, al-Qaeda government buildings to underscore how vulnerable the Iraqi government is and to show people here in Iraq that their government can't protect them the way they should - Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Mohammed, is it unusual that no one has taken responsibility yet, or is this just - just a matter of authorities kind of waiting for a little bit before they announce who they think is responsible?
JAMJOOM: Right now, this is very typical. There's a lot of confusion after these types of attacks happen. There's a lot of rumors that swirl around.
You know, usually the claims of responsibility by al-Qaeda don't happen until a day or two afterwards. Typically, what you see, the trajectory of these things is, within several hours, Iraqi government officials will come out and sort of point the finger at one specific group. But that hasn't happened yet, and we don't expect it will for - for quite awhile yet, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Are we expecting some of those casualty figures to change? Do we think it's a lot worse?
JAMJOOM: Well, we don't yet know how - how high they will go. And clearly, everybody here is hoping that this will be one of the lower casualty figures for these types of attacks.
But in the past year, starting in August of 2009, when you've seen these attacks that have happened, you've seen hundreds of people killed and wounded. And right now, we just don't know - you know, these attacks - when - when this went off this morning, we heard them, we felt them. It really rocked central Baghdad. They were very, very big explosions.
When I've been out to the scene of these explosions in the past, last October, there were explosions at the Ministry of Justice, and the Baghdad government - I mean, these level entire city blocks. And when they happen at a time like this - this is the start of the workweek. It's 11:15.
MALVEAUX: OK.
JAMJOOM: A lot of people are coming into work. It's really done to maximize casualties - Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. Mohammed Jamjoom, thank you so much. Be safe.
HOLMES: We're going to turn to some weather here now. There's been some damaging weather across the country in the past week, in the Midwest, the flooding on the East Coast as well. Could be in for maybe another wild week possibly?
MALVEAUX: You know, I - that's what we're hearing. It could be severe weather in the forecast today as well.
Reynolds Wolf, obviously, you're tracking all of these things. And it looks like it could be pretty bad for some folks.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It could be interesting today, especially by late afternoon. When I say that, late afternoon into the early evening, from about 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. for places like the Show Me State of Missouri, where they could have some strong thunderstorms, maybe even some large hail and damaging winds.
We're going to give you more on that coming up in just a few moments.
HOLMES: All right. Reynolds, thanks. We'll see you shortly.
Also, what do you do? You mix 60,000 Easter eggs, 10,000 kids. You might be asking for some trouble, and this Easter egg hunt ended with some minor injuries.
Stay with us on this Easter Sunday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Well, we got new stories from the civil-rights movement coming to life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They started throwing everything they could find, and I know they had to bring a lot of them with them. And so many of our people got hurt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, a city whose civil-rights history was lost until now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: It's Easter Sunday, and millions of Christians are celebrating today.
Today's date has historical significance as well. It was just 42 years ago an assassin's bullet brought down America's civil-rights trailblazer Dr. Martin Luther King.
HOLMES: And while the names of some American cities like Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma have become kind of shorthand for the civil- rights movement, the role of the nation's oldest city, St. Augustine, Florida, has largely been forgotten.
But April Williams rekindles the memory.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
APRIL WILLIAMS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It started as a one- man sit-in, eventually sending people to jail and to the hospital, attracting non-violent leaders and violent ones.
It became one of the critical points of the 1960s civil-rights movement. Yet many have never heard about what happened in St. Augustine, Florida.
ANDREW YOUNG, FORMER U.N. AMBASSADOR: This is your story as much if not more than it's my story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Ambassador Young.
(APPLAUSE)
WILLIAMS: Civil-rights leader and former U.N. Ambassador Young recently returned to St. Augustine to show students at Flagler College a documentary he produced about those times.
YOUNG: By going back and telling the story and reliving it on film, we hope to start the process of healing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nightly demonstrations of from two to four hundreds Negro marches paraded through the downtown plaza around the old slave market, where as many as 1,000 people would gather and gangs of up to about 150 whites attempted to attack the Negroes.
WILLIAMS: Young's film, "Crossing in St. Augustine," weaves together both historic footage and interviews with those who were there.
JOE ANN ANDERSON OLMER, ARRESTED AS ONE OF THE "ST. AUGUSTINE FOUR": You know, it would take a whole lot of courage to stand up to hatred. Have you seen hatred when they throw bricks at you? Bottles? Chains? An ax? We all experienced that by just marching.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They started throwing everything they could find, and I know they had to bring a lot of them with them. And so many of our people got hurt.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They would pull out Caucasian friends out of the line first.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To all white guide (ph) with a lot of black faces, you know you were going to get hit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stay in your place and you'll be all right in St. Augustine.
WILLIAMS: Large protests began after six black students were arrested for trying to get service at a local lunch counter. Four were sent to an adult prison.
Fearing peaceful protesters would begin to retaliate against the violence and hatred, Martin Luther King sent Young to intervene.
YOUNG: King was afraid that if it exploded into violence, it would kill the civil-rights bill.
WILLIAMS: Young was savagely assaulted for his efforts.
YOUNG: It happened to be a first for me. If we had fought back, we would have been beaten down and we would have lost the movement.
WILLIAMS: Segregated beaches were also the target of demonstrations, as was the whites-only Monson Motor Lodge and Restaurant.
When a group of protesters jumped in the Monson pool, the owner reacted by pouring hydrochloric acid into it. The incident was captured by the national media.
President Lyndon Johnson, struggling to overcome a Senate filibuster and pass the 1964 civil-rights bill, voiced his concern to Attorney General Robert Kennedy.
LYNDON JOHNSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Our whole foreign policy and everything else will go to hell over this. Yesterday, in a swimming pool in St. Augustine, they jumped in and police jumped in with their clothes on and they started pouring acid in the pool.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A foreign audience of legislators and civil-rights leaders...
WILLIAMS: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed two weeks later.
YOUNG: It was probably the most rigorous test that non-violence had. And we passed it. If we had not passed it, we could have lost the Civil Rights Act.
WILLIAMS: And now, a new generation is getting a chance to learn Young's history lesson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks a lot.
YOUNG: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I appreciate all you did for us.
WILLIAMS: April Williams, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And also, we don't want you to miss this: Our Soledad O'Brien, with a CNN special: "EYEWITNESS TO MURDER: THE KING ASSASSINATION." You can see it right here tonight, 8:00 Eastern time. Again, our Soledad O'Brien, "EYEWITNESS TO MURDER," 7:00 Central time, right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, some things we're keeping an eye on this morning.
Of course, Christians everywhere celebrating Easter, one of the holiest days of the Christian faith. Going on right now, a live picture we can show you. It's dark out there now, but people are starting to gather for a sunrise service at Arlington National Cemetery. Again, the sun just starting to make its way up here in a little bit.
You see some of the - you see some of those flashbulbs going off as well. But just one of many services going on around the country. This is at the Memorial Amphitheater there, one of three annual services that are open to the public.
MALVEAUX: And NASA has given the green light for Shuttle Discovery's next mission. In exactly 24 hours, the shuttle will blast off for a rendezvous with the International Space Station.
Now, the 13-day mission has three planned spacewalks. And now this is the first time that four women have been in space all at once, at the same time. Just three more missions are planned before the shuttle fleet is retired.
HOLMES: And pull out your bracket. If you have Butler in the finals, you are a genius. Go ahead; tell your friends. Show it to them. You can brag about it.
But Butler, tiny Butler, the school that most people still probably don't know even where it is - it is, in fact, in Indianapolis - beat Michigan State last night to advance to the NCAA championship. Close game here last night. The Spartans certainly had their chances, but Butler denied them time after time by making their free throws.
So Butler, a fifth seed, small school, but got some big-time players. They beat Michigan State last night, 52-50.
Well, who will they be playing in the championship? It doesn't get any bigger than these big dogs, the Duke Blue Devils, the No. 1 seed, beating West Virginia last night pretty easily. Made 13 three-pointers last night, beat the game - beat the - or, the Mountaineers, 78 to 57. No. 1 seed going for its first title since 2001.
The championship game you can check out tomorrow night.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: You're looking at live pictures there of the pope giving the Easter blessing there at the Vatican. More than a billion Catholics celebrating Easter worldwide today. The blessing taking place each Easter and Christmas from St. Peter's Basilica.
The message earlier today to the city and the world, the pope had called for - to - to recognize those who are suffering in Iraq, and offering a blessing to those, saying, 'Peace be with you' and calling for a - a - what he called "a true exodus" from the conflict in the Middle East.
The pope there - you can see Vatican City, the -- celebrating the Easter Mass.
HOLMES: Always a beautiful picture, and they - and a calm picture, I should say. Much different from the one we're about to show you right now.
Everybody - kids love these Easter egg hunts, of course, around this time of year. Well, look at this one. This is one in Rochester, New Hampshire. It was an Easter egg hunt. There was going to be a prize giveaway. They had 60,000 eggs; they were expecting 2,000 people to show up.
They got 10,000, Suzanne. It got a little crowded.
MALVEAUX: And - and I - I - I see the Easter - the Easter eggs were dropped from - from choppers, and - and I'm not quite sure I understand that - that concept.
Because clearly - I mean, it looked like they - there were some - some who were hit by the eggs, and then some who were trying to get the eggs. And there - there were minor injuries. And so it just wasn't the kind of Easter egg hunt that you usually see.
HOLMES: You're supposed to hide the eggs, right? MALVEAUX: Right, and...
HOLMES: Not pelt the children with them, right?
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: And we should say, they weren't targeting the kids. They were supposed to just drop them and then - kind of let the kids go for it. And the kids....
MALVEAUX: They went for it.
HOLMES: They went for it.
MALVEAUX: Yes. So a little chaotic there in that - and - and I - I don't think that you're going to see the Easter Egg Roll at the White House look quite just like that. I think that's going to be a little less chaotic.
HOLMES: That's tomorrow.
MALVEAUX: That's happening tomorrow at the White House.
HOLMES: Yes. OK.
MALVEAUX: I'll - I'll be back in D.C. for that.
HOLMES: But wouldn't it be something if all - they decided to switch it up tomorrow, and we do see a helicopter dropping eggs (INAUDIBLE)?
MALVEAUX: You see Marine One throwing...
(LAUGHTER)
MALEVAUX: Throwing eggs out.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Well, all right. We're going to take a quick break here. We will continue our coverage right after the break here on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELISSA DAWN JOHNSON: Good morning. Welcome to another beautiful day. This is Melissa Dawn Johnson with your "Morning Motivation".
Amongst all the hustle and bustle of daily living, it's important to reconnect to what matters most. We all the want to be successful, but our significance is measured by the lives that we touch. So this week as you're going about your daily activities, spend some time reconnecting with a friend, possibility a little bit more time with your children, or even getting connected with yourself, and getting me time in. All of these ways are important as you build and connect with what matters most in your life.
Listen, I'd love to hear from you. Check me out on my blog at brandmelive.com. Share with me how you stay motivated. Until next week, make every single day brand-tastic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SUNDAY MORNING: Hey, everyone. Welcome back to CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SUNDAY MORNING: And I'm Suzanne Malveaux.
HOLMES: We want to get back to breaking news. A trio of deadly car bombings in Baghdad, two of the blasts in western Baghdad's Mansouri neighborhood; the third reportedly in front of the Iranian embassy. CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom is live for us in Baghdad.
Mohammed, I know we got some updates on how many dead and injured. But, tell us again, you actually felt these blasts today?
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: T.J., these were three huge suicide car bombings. They rocked central Baghdad. We felt and heard those blasts. The first went of around 11:15 a.m. local time. Within five minutes of that two other bombs had gone off. These are really the kind of coordinated attacks we've been seeing more of in the past year, starting last august.
Really significant that it happened after U.S. troops withdrew from Iraqi cities. And really underscoring how vulnerable, not just normal neighborhoods are here, but also government installations and embassies. It is really a new kind of insurgency that is going on, where the people who are doing these attacks-and mostly of them have been carried out by Al Qaeda in Iraq-are trying to say the Iraqi government is not protecting its people properly, T.J.
HOLMES: We have been talking to you for the past couple of weeks about the parliamentary elections there, and the vote counting, and just getting the stability back in that country. People maybe suspicious of the process, the longer it takes to get government in place there.
So, explain to us, what's the thinking about the timing of these bombings happening today? Some people might think there could be a connection to Easter. May not really the case, just a coincidence they happen to happen on Easter?
JAMJOOM: That's right. Right now the most significant thing about it, not so much that it would be on Easter Sunday, although it is celebrated by Christian Iraqis, more so because of the fact that the security is really heightened and it has intensified here right now because of the elections. There's been a lot of concerns surrounding the elections that there could be a return to violence. There is always a concern in Iraq, that there could be violence, that it could happen at anytime. Yes, overall violence is down, daily violence and monthly violence. But the fact that this happens at a time when they're trying to show that the government is stable, that there can be a transfer of power, really underscores how vulnerable it is here, T.J.
HOLMES: OK, Mohammed Jamjoom for us on the ground in Baghdad. Mohammed, thank you so much. We'll be checking in with you again later.
Want to get to some of the other stories making headlines this morning. Police in Los Angeles looking for a trigger man in a deadly shooting at a San Fernando restaurant on Saturday. Police say four people were killed, two more wounded. One of the victims in critical condition. Police only have a sketchy description of the suspect.
MALVEAUX: And in South Africa racial tension is rising after the killing of a white supremacist leader. Eugene Terrablanche was found beaten to death on his farm on Saturday. Now South African police arrested two employees who they say killed him after an argument over wages. President Jacob Zuma is appealing to the public to please stay calm.
HOLMES: Happy Easter Sunday for Army linguist Issa Salomi, the 60- year-old returned home to San Diego yesterday after being held hostage in Baghdad for more than two months. The military not elaborating on how Salomi was freed, Salomi not saying either. He was kidnapped back in late January reportedly by an extremist Shiite group.
MALVEAUX: And observing the Easter holiday in a war zone. That's what thousands of U.S. troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan are doing today. Our CNN's Chris Lawrence is live in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. That is where he is embedded with U.S. Forces stationed at Camp Leatherneck.
Hey, Chris, how are they doing with the holiday?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, a lot of the troops say they really enjoy and it's comforting to have the shared experience, where they can go to chapel here knowing their families back home, where you are, will also be going to church today.
But a lot of them say celebrating a holiday like Easter in a Muslim country is a very different experience.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice over): The church is a tent slapped together on a rough dusty road. And Camp Leatherneck's worshipers have to clear their weapons before coming inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to give you praise for protection you've offered throughout this deployment to those Marines who is are now returning home.
LAWRENCE: In Helmand Province there's no Easter Egg hunts or big ads announcing a holiday sale.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some people didn't realize it was Easter. If I didn't sing with the church group, I probably would have forgotten, too. Just because you don't have those reminders, those materialistic reminders, so out here when people do come to church, you know it's for the right reasons.
LAWRENCE: Inside it's a full-out celebration of Christ's resurrection. But outside this tent-
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You really have to watch what you say.
LAWRENCE: Sergeant First Class Jeffrey Davis says the counter- insurgency fight demands Christian troops be mindful of the Islamic land they live in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even here you're around a lot of interpreters and a lot of people that don't believe the same way you do. We are here in a coin fight, you know, we have to win the people and that includes the people that we work with.
LAWRENCE: It's a big adjustment after growing up with a calendar that revolves around holidays like Christmas and Easter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we are a minority and this isn't a place probably where Easter, I can't imagine is celebrated much at all.
LAWRENCE: But troops say they would celebrate alone if they had to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if you're Muslim in the States, I don't think Ramadan or anything means less or more to them. It just means what it is because it is a part of their faith.
LAWRENCE: And Easter Sunday service is part of theirs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The situation going on with us fighting and everything, it kind of puts me closer to Christ.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: Yeah, a lot of the troops tell me that just having that hour of break really kind of at least gave them a break from the war for at least a little bit of time. It really drives home exactly that it's not very far away. Because as you leave one of the churches, where a parking lot would be at a normal church, it's just a line full of mine resistant vehicles all ready to go back out on those patrols, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right, Chris. Thank you so much.
Easter services are going on as well this morning as Arlington National Cemetery. Those are very special services. You can see it's actually started. It started about 15 minutes ago, or so. It's a special sunrise service. We were seeing pictures earlier. It was quite dark. Now the sun has risen. People are listening to the prayer and that is being delivered there. It is a tradition that happens there at Arlington National Cemetery. A lot of people gathered, soldiers, as well as families of the military for a very special service.
We'll have more after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Just showing you another live picture, one of a number of services happening today. This is sunrise service at Arlington National Cemetery. A good crowd gathered there. They gathered there before the sun even came up. Around 6:15 is when the service started. But it is well underway, but this is one of three services happening at Arlington that are open to the public. We're keeping an eye on this, and other Easter celebrations going on around the country this morning. Including we'll be dipping back into the pope's mass that's happening right now at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.
MALVEAUX: We're also keeping our eye on NASA. That has give the green light for Shuttle Discovery's next mission. You are now looking at some live pictures of that, 24 hours from now Discovery will blast off for a rendezvous with the International Space Station. This is a 13-day mission. It has three planned space walks. And this is going to be the first time that four women have been in space at the same time, an historic occasion. Just three more missions are planned before the shuttle fleet is retired. Once again, taking a look at live pictures there of Discovery.
HOLMES: Gorgeous picture of it sitting there at night all lit up. Almost as gorgeous as when it blasts off. We'll looking forward to that tomorrow.
Also, could we be looking forward to a change on the Supreme Court? One justice, John Paul Stephens, hinting at retirement; telling two newspapers yesterday that he's considering whether to step down after almost 35 years on the bench. Stephens turns 90 later this month.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Welcome back to CNN SUNDAY MORNING. This is another live image of Miami compliments of WPLG where high temperatures today expected to go up to 81 degrees. Should be a great day this Easter Sunday in Miami. Any drives down to Key West should be picture perfect. However, as you make your way back over towards the center of the country, different story all together.
(WEATHER REPORT)
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HOLMES: OK, a lot of people out there, whether you smoke cigars or not, most people know that Cuban cigars supposed to be the top of the food chain. No brand out there more sought after or coveted. But in a recession cigar business is taking a bit of a hit. The industry now looking to tap into another market, people like Suzanne, women.
MALVEAUX: We've been talking about this. HOLMES: Yes.
MALVEAUX: We disagree on this one. But the Havano Cigar Company is now rolling out the Julietta, it is a slimmer elegant cigar they think will encourage more women to light up. It's getting mixed reviews in South America, Asia, as well Europe. One expert found the idea patronizing. A 50-year-old trade embargo, of course, bans the sales of Cuban cigars here.
I-I, you know, personally, I'm not seeing the appeal here. But a good cigar, I've been told, is a nice experience from time to time.
HOLMES: It is a nice experience, but if you make them smaller, thinner, sexier some may even say, it's more appealing.
MALVEAUX: I don't understand why that would be. But maybe it will work. Maybe some people will be drawn to it. Obviously, they're trying very hard in this campaign.
HOLMES: They're coming after you. They're coming after you, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: They got to go after somebody else. OK.
Well, an open challenge to movie critics, are you ready to put your money where your mouth is? That's because folks may soon be able to place bets on how films will fare at the box office.
HOLMES: Somewhat of a Hollywood stock exchange. It is an online trading platform that could begin operating in a few weeks pending regulatory approval. Big Hollywood blockbusters would even be given their own ticker symbol symbols. So, yes you are hearing this right, so like a Dow 30 if you will of Hollywood movies. Now, who would you imagine not liking this idea? Well, some big studios, they fear that some will actually some will actually bet against their rival's movies and try to hurt the film's profits.
So, maybe we will, maybe we won't see that.
MALVEAUX: I guess they can manipulate the system, if they did that.
HOLMES: Yes.
MALVEAUX: If they did that.
HOLMES: Just like we do and some people would do in the stock market, some would say.
We had this story we were looking forward to bringing you, it is about a lady, beat cancer. Now she's taking on another challenge to help others battling the same deadly disease.
MALVEAUX: Next we'll be talking with that woman. She's biking cross counted to raise money for research.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) In 2006 Anne Feeley was diagnosed with brain cancer. Doctors told her to say her good-byes. Instead she decided to say hello to cancer survivors, to chemotherapy and radiation. To an exercise regimen and continues to this day. And next week she's going to get on her bike, and yes, pedal across the country to help other cancer victims become survivors.
Anne joins us this morning from New York.
Anne, thank you so much for being here this morning. Obviously, love your story. You're just an inspiration to so many people. We're going to talk about your event. But first I want to talk a little bit about where this began, when you were first diagnosed with the same kind of cancer that killed Senator Ted Kennedy in just 16 months.
Why do you think you were able to beat this?
ANNE FEELEY, BRAIN CANCER SURVIVOR: It's pure luck. When I was diagnosed I was told I was going to die within the year. So it's just luck.
MALVEAUX: For those wondering about their own health, how did the symptoms come about? Did it come about suddenly?
FEELEY: Yes, it came about very suddenly. Though we found out later something had happened four months earlier, it was a signal. I had a terrible smell. I smelled something really God awful ugly that if I had really paid attention, maybe I would have gone to a doctor, but it's hard to take one smell that lasts two seconds that seriously. Then four months later I started slurring my words. Within the week it looked like I was having a stroke. I was rushed to the hospital.
MALVEAUX: You were rushed to the hospital?
FEELEY: Yeah.
MALVEAUX: Clearly this was surprising to you and your family. Because this is the kind of cancer that anyone is susceptible to. That family history doesn't even matter.
FEELEY: Yes, I'm the first person in my very large family to have cancer.
MALVEAUX: For two and a half years you actually underwent chemotherapy and radiation. And at the same time you, what was really quite remarkable is that you started this strenuous training program. Tell us what motivated you? Why did you decide you were going to start biking and running? How did you find the strength, even the energy to do all of this? To run, yoga, bike?
FEELEY: Well, I wanted to set a really good example for my kids. I also wanted to give it my best shot to survive. I felt the stronger I was, the better chance I would have. And also I felt really good when I exercised. Even when I didn't, even when I cried through it, it was very cathartic. MALVEAUX: Now you're going to start this three-month journey to bike across the country to starting in San Francisco, going all the way, to Washington, D.C., with your trainer, as well as your dog, Walter?
FEELEY: Yep.
MALVEAUX: What are you doing? How are you training?
FEELEY: Well, I've trained a lot in a hypoxic chamber, that takes the oxygen out, so you have to really work harder, when you're climbing hills. I've done a lot of outdoor cycling. I just love it. I feel like a kid again. I know some days will be horrible, but mostly it will be great.
MALVEAUX: With your determination, Anne, I think you'll probably be well on your way. We'll be watching and following your bike ride across the country, 14 months.
FEELEY: Fantastic.
MALVEAUX: Congratulations, Anne.
FEELEY: Thank you, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Thank you.
FEELEY: Thank you so much for having me.
HOLMES: I'll give you a look at some of the stories we're keeping an eye on. Three car bombs exploding in Baghdad Sunday morning, killing at least 20 people, injuring 55 others. The blasts were carried out by three suicide bombers within five minutes of each other all near embassy buildings. They are the fifth coordinated attack since August of '09.
MALVEAUX: And Pope Benedict celebrates Easter mass outside St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Easter is the holiest day on the Christian calendar, but the ongoing church child abuse scandal has cast a shadow over it Roman Catholic commemorations.
HOLMES: And, of course, Easter services happening all over the country, all over the world. This is at Arlington National Cemetery. A young man serenading the crowd, right now. We've been keeping an eye on this sunrise service. It started around 6:15 Eastern Time. We'll continue to check in at this service and others around the country as Catholics all over the world-Christians all over the world- continue to celebrate this Easter Sunday.
MALVEAUX: And NASA has given the green light for Shuttle Discovery's next mission in exactly 24 hours. You are looking at live pictures there out of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida there. It's going to blast off in the next 24 hours for a rendezvous with the International Space Station. It's a 13-day mission. It has three planned space walks. It's going to be first time that four women have been in space at the same time. Just three more missions are planned before the shuttle fleet retires.
