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CNN Sunday Morning
Missing U.S. Service Member Confirmed Dead; Locking up Illegal Immigrants
Aired July 25, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Welcome to CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kate Bolduan. Thanks so much for joining us this morning.
HOLMES: And we are starting with breaking news out of Afghanistan. We have gotten word, in fact, those two missing American service members, now being told by government officials telling CNN that, in fact, one of them is dead and the other is now being held by the Taliban.
Our Atia Abawi is in Kabul for us. I see her standing by. I believe she can hear me now.
Atia, hello. This is T.J. in Atlanta. I think you can hear me all right. I know you just came from a briefing. Give us the very latest you can on these two missing, and now we are being told is one dead American service member.
ATIA ABAWI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, T.J. We actually just came from a briefing with the joint -- the head of Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who said that he can't comment further from the information that we received yesterday. But when I asked him if this was unusual, he did say that, yes, this is an unusual circumstance.
According to of an Afghan official in Logar province where these two -- they say -- Americans went mission. They say that one was actually killed and the other is now being held in captivity.
After that briefing, right as it ended, the Taliban spokesperson, Zabiullah Mujahid, called my cellphone and he also said that two days ago that members of the Taliban in Logar were able to catch two Americans in a civilian vehicle, not a military vehicle, a civilian vehicle, and that a fire fight broke, that the Taliban actually wanted to capture both of them alive. But because of that fire fight, one of them were killed and the other has been taken to a safe location, as he put it -- T.J.
BOLDUAN: Atia, it's Kate Bolduan here. You're also -- I believe you have spoken to a spokesperson with the Taliban, if I'm correct. Have they made demands as to what they want in return for this one serviceman they have in captivity? ABAWI: That's a very good question, Kate, because, usually, when the Taliban do take a hostage, they do have demands in returning the hostage and exchange usually for Taliban soldiers for, obviously, the withdrawal of NATO forces. When I Zabiullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, what he wanted in return for the body of the one American as well as for the American that's still alive, for his safe return, he said, right now, they have not figured out what their demands will be. And, right, they're still contemplating what they will bring forward to the NATO coalition, and particularly, the United States -- Kate, T.J.
HOLMES: Atia, you mentioned, again, Admiral Mullen even said, they called it an unusual circumstance for two service members, to drive an hour away in a nonmilitary vehicle. What possible scenario can we come up with, and certainly, our American viewers might not understand -- I mean, how often these guys really come and go in military, nonmilitary vehicles from their base. What explanation could there be for where these guys might have been going in a nonmilitary vehicle?
ABAWI: T.J., I got to tell you, we've been talking -- those of us who live in Afghanistan, who have been here for several years now, and we find that's baffling that two service members are able to go by themselves in a civilian vehicle. Yes, maybe it is armored. But usually, there are more armored vehicles following one and other to make sure they have safe route, especially if you're going to a place in Logar, if, in fact, they were abducted in the place called Charkh district. That is around one hour to two hours' drive from the capital of Kabul. That is very unusual.
Admiral Mullen today -- many western reporters asking him about these two missing service members, he didn't have much to say. He said he couldn't go beyond what ISAF had been saying. But when I asked him, with President Obama's new strategy and the ISAF forces actually going out to the population, interacting with the Afghans so they can win the hearts and minds -- does include two service members driving out on their own? Or is it an unusual circumstance? And he quoted my words by saying, "Yes, it is an unusual circumstance."
BOLDUAN: And real quick -- when you're in the briefing with the Admiral Mike Mullen, did he give any indication of really what the steps forward are? I mean, this is an unusual circumstance, as you've told us, what he believes they're going to be doing now. But I know he's being very careful with information -- but did he give any clue?
ABAWI: Well, what he did say is that they're very -- they're working very intently on finding these two individuals. ISAF, U.S. forces, all of them out right now, looking for them, a task force looking these two individuals. But he could not go into detail.
In fact, he said he wasn't fully briefed on what was going on because he just came back from India and Pakistan and he had just met with General Petraeus and other ISAF commanders here in the capital of Kabul. But, obviously, they're being very protective of the information. This is very odd for two U.S. service members to go missing and, in fact, for them to just leave their base in Kabul in a separate vehicle without other vehicles following them.
Many of us are trying to figure out answers to these questions that baffled many within the military as well as the journalists, as well as the civilian community.
HOLMES: And a reminder to our viewers maybe just joining us here on the CNN SUNDAY MORNING. In fact, two soldiers we told you about yesterday who had left their base and went missing. Now, a government official is telling us in Afghanistan that, in fact, one of them is dead, the other is now being held by the Taliban.
Our Atia Abawi is on the story for us.
Atia, another question for you. We know saw -- you clear up as well, a lot of people might be wondering about those other five? There was a separate incident on Saturday where five service members were killed. This incident is separate from those five being killed. But you also spoke about a Taliban spokesperson calling you.
That might sound strange to some people here in the U.S., but I want you to address the fact that the Taliban, that the U.S. is fighting there, does, in fact, have a heck of a P.R. infrastructure there, and spokespeople all around who certainly know to get hold of the media -- if can you address that for our viewers. And also, do we know the condition of the second soldier that's now being held?
ABAWI: Well, when we talk about the condition of the second soldier, let's get to that first, T.J. We don't know the condition of the second soldier. The Taliban spokesperson would not elaborate on that.
And you're absolutely right. When you look at the spokespeople of the Taliban, when you look at the infrastructure of the Taliban, although they are in separate groups, they are divided groups throughout the country, they have grown in power. They have their own propaganda machine. They reach out to all the Afghan networks, the U.S. networks, as well as the foreign networks. They have a strong operation.
Even in the last couple years, for instance, the Taliban spokesmen have been around and I talked to them back then. And even now, they decided to learn other languages. They're now just speaking in Pashtu, they're speaking in Dari, they know some English now, too. They're building up their operation as well, as this nine-year war goes on -- T.J., Kate.
HOLMES: All right. Atia Abawi, we know you are on the story for us there in Afghanistan. By all mean, we will check in with you again. I know you're still working the story and working your sources. We do appreciate it.
Atia Abawi for us there in Kabul this morning, but you heard the developments and it's amazing from Atia, a journalist saying they're baffled by the fact that two U.S. service members would leave base without any other military cover.
These guys leave in huge convoys when they go out to protect themselves. Two to take off in a nonmilitary vehicle --
BOLDUAN: Yes, probably in a civilian vehicle.
HOLMES: -- on their own some hour-plus away from base, they are -- everyone is baffled by that right now. She is on the story. We won't go too far away from that breaking story this morning.
Meanwhile, we still have our eyes on the Gulf, day 97 of the Gulf oil disaster. Work is now resuming to try -- to clean up in the Gulf. Work had stopped because we had that storm. Bonnie kind of fizzled out now. Also, the digging, the ship that's digging that relief well, it has returned to the scene. That is certainly good news.
BOLDUAN: But retired Admiral Thad Allen says they'll really be playing kind of a game of cat and mouse for the remainder of the hurricane season. It's very active down there.
Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is joining us live in Grand Isle, Louisiana, with the latest on the containment and cleanup.
Hey there, Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, guys.
It has been certainly kind of a lucky feeling that you have along the Gulf Coast with the remnant of Bonnie now moving onshore and thankfully will begin to die out. But it could have been a major storm. It could have been a major hurricane had it had more time in the Gulf of Mexico and had the atmospheric conditions been a little bit different, and we -- it could be a whole different scenario that we're telling you this morning.
As it is, there was the threat of the storm they came calling, a lot of ships were pulled into safe harbor, and now, they're going to start working their way back. And that effort actually started yesterday as the Developmental Driller III actually started its trip back into parts of the Gulf to resume its work.
That work is not something that can happen instantly. I mean, think of a surgeon going into surgery. It's not like they can just bring in a patient and start work immediately. You have to lay out your mat, you have to lay out your -- all your instruments. That's basically what they are doing is laying out those instruments in the next couple days before they can really get back to work and that work is really get underway I'd say in the next week or two.
And they got a lot to do. They are dealing with static kill. They're dealing with the bottom kill. Of course, they got to finish, the completion of the -- not one but two relief wells. So, certainly, a very busy times ahead.
Back to you.
BOLDUAN: Yes, dodging a bullet a little bit. Now, they really, really need to get back to work. They know it and we know it. And we're all watching. Thanks so much, Reynolds -- doing great work down in Louisiana, as always.
WOLF: You bet.
BOLDUAN: So, in the northeast -- in northeast California rather, some 300 firefighters have been able to knock down and snuff out seven wildfires that have rolled across Lassen County.
HOLMES: Crews are still working to get out two more fires. They have been burning and have burned more than 500 acres in the Sierra Mountains, that's 90 miles north of Reno. Lightning believed to be the cause of these fires.
BOLDUAN: And here's to celebrating the great indoors, between the heat waves and thunderstorms, much of the country will deal with today, you might want to rethink those outdoor activities. We want to tell you to stay indoors. But if you are, feel free to watch out.
HOLMES: Jacqui, what are you laughing at over there?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, you know, you think of the great outdoors, the great indoors, OK, that's good advice. I like it.
It is a good day for that across much of the country. When we're talking about so much heat and then all of the thunderstorms that we've been having, you know, it's more like today, we're thinking, hmm, where can we find a good place, unfortunately.
Well, the upper Midwest is looking good now. But check out these pictures from yesterday in the Chicago land area. Just incredible amounts of rain fell, bringing people to their weekend with heavy flooding across the area. Out in the suburbs, as well as in downtown, we have rising rivers, flooded roads, thousands of people were without power, and lots of basements had some flooding across the area. Five to eight inches of rain fell in the short period of time. We've had flooding all across parts of the Midwest.
Our weather pattern set up today, with those showers and thundershowers are a little further down to the south of there and we'll be focusing in on the middle of the Mississippi River Valley, through the Ohio valley, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast for the threat of heavy rainfall as well as severe thunderstorms, damaging wind could be a real concern late this afternoon and early this evening.
We're also watching the remnants of what was Bonnie, as we mentioned. This is going to be bringing showers and thunderstorms across Louisiana and Mississippi. And then remember that upper level area of low pressure we were talking about? We were trying to explain to why Bonnie really could not develop and get stronger? Well, that thing now is moving towards the southwest and it's going to bring some heavy rain and flooding across parts of New Mexico, as well as into Texas.
Unfortunately, that's not going to get up into the fire areas today. They could see what we called dry thunderstorms. So, that could ignite new fires with all of that lightning.
Now, let's talk a little bit more about this heat, a number of records here yesterday. Take a look at Richmond, Virginia, 105 degrees. Oh, that is brutal.
And heat advisories again today for New York down towards Atlanta, Georgia, T.J. and Kate, I'm thinking, the pool today, easy. Try the great outdoors for a few hours.
BOLDUAN: The way you think, my friend -- I like the way you think.
HOLMES: All right, Jacqui, we appreciate you and we'll talk to you again here shortly.
Well, we've been talking about it for quite some time. This week, it is finally a reality. Arizona's new controversial immigration bill is going to effect. We're talking to one sheriff who is ready to enforce that law.
BOLDUAN: Plus, we've all heard of that government waste -- that government waste is a problem. It may be bigger than you think -- a bigger problem than you think. In fact, $100 billion was wasted just last year. How a new law may put an end to this drain on the U.S. taxpayers.
It's 12 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: He's been housing convicts in Korean War era tents for almost two decades. But, now, a sheriff wants to expand his tent city to house illegal immigrants arrested under Arizona's new controversial immigration law.
HOLMES: Now, critics say the temperatures out there in that tent city get to some 100 degrees in the Arizona sun.
CNN Espanol's Valeria Fernandez examines this issue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VALERIA FERNANDEZ, CNN ESPANOL (voice-over): Controversial Maricopa County sheriff, Joe Arpaio, wants to put the people he arrests under Arizona's new immigration enforcement law in an outdoor facility he calls tent city.
SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO, MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA: Under the new law, they book them into this jail, and they are going into these tents. We have room for 100 to begin with. And if we have to make room for 500 to 1,000, we will do that.
FERNANDEZ: Arpaio has held illegal immigrants and other prisoners in the tent city for exactly 17 years. The expanded area will be called Section 1070 after the new law which goes into effect next week, and requires police to ask anyone stopped for a possible crime to prove their citizenship. Critics point out that temperatures under the tents could reach over 120 degrees Fahrenheit, 50 degrees Celsius during the summer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to see some of that people that put us in here to see what it's like in here, you know, have them to spend a day or two in here just to see what it's like in here, and it's really not right.
ARPAIO: Our men and women are fighting for our country. They are living in Iraq right now, the temperature is the same as here. Did you know that? So why don't they feel sorry for our soldiers? Why are they concerned about these convicted inmates living in tents?
FERNANDEZ: Activists oppose to the new law say the sheriff is going too far.
"He is playing with the law. In this country, how can we allow the sheriff to mistreat the people that he jailed?"
The sheriff has been accused of racial profiling as he's taken an aggressive stance against illegal immigrants.
Regardless of the law's future, Arpaio says he plans to continue his pursuit of illegal immigrants in his city and says he can make plenty of room in this tent city for those who are arrested.
For CNN International, Valeria Fernandez, Phoenix, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: We wanted to know what people out there feel about Arizona's new law, that bill 1070. So, we got a research a CNN/Research Opinion Poll surveyed, it shows 55 percent favor Arizona's law on immigration, and 40 percent oppose it. Also, when we asked further and broke this down a little bit, 71 percent of Latinos oppose the law, 50 percent of blacks against it, and 30 percent of whites do not like the law.
The Maricopa county sheriff, as you just saw in that piece, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, joins us now live from Arizona.
Sir, we appreciate you being up here early with us. We saw in the piece there, you have room for growth, if you will, at that tent city. Do you think once this law -- if it does fact go into effect this week, you will actually need that much more space to house people who are going to end up in jail over this new law?
ARPAIO: Well, we'll see if law enforcement pursues that law and arrests people. I will always have room. There should never be an excuse by police chiefs or politicians that I don't have room. That's the message I am sending.
We have room for 2,000 tents. So, I'm ready and we're ready to enforce the new law. We've been enforcing two other state laws anyway for the last three years without any problems, my deputies. So, on the 29th, whether that law goes into effect or not, we're going to do our 17th crime-suppression, illegal immigration enforcement.
HOLMES: So, it sounds
ARPAIO: Nothing is going to change.
HOLMES: It sounds like it won't change much of what you've been doing any way?
ARPAIO: We've been doing it for three years. So, a little controversy, but we survived and 40,000 illegal aliens that we have investigated and detained in our jails. So nothing will change.
HOLMES: Well, what will happen around the state in your opinion? You say not much of a change where you are, in Maricopa County. But around the state, everybody has been going back-and-forth, here, we finally are, the law goes into effect, what actually is going to happen on the 29th? Will we notice anything?
ARPAIO: Well, that's going to be interesting to watch whether cops are going to pursue that law and book them into our jails, turn them over to the federal government. We'll see. But, like I say, we'll have room for them and my deputy sheriffs will be enforcing that new law in the 29th.
HOLMES: What would you -- I talked to the vice mayor of Phoenix just a little while ago, and his argument was, in fact, this is the federal government's job to do this. We like it or not, it's the federal government's job. We can't come in and make our laws.
Do you find -- do you agree as well that this is the federal government's job to be enforcing immigration law?
ARPAIO: No. We got two state laws -- I have been enforcing illegal immigration -- that was passed by the legislature. We enforce many federal violations of the law.
This guy wants amnesty. That's the whole point. They want us not to enforce the illegal immigration laws, but we have authority to do that. For many years, we've had that authority.
HOLMES: Let's go away from the illegal argument here for a second. And, Sheriff Joe, you know a lot -- I mean, you've seen, you know more than anybody the criticism that's come down on you and, frankly, people have thrown all kinds of accusations your way.
But do you have some sympathy -- is there room for sympathy for a family who is here illegally? Doesn't mean anybody harm and they're just here trying to have a better life. Do you have sympathy for that family?
ARPAIO: Yes, I got compassion. I was the director and lived in Mexico City for the Federal Drug Enforcement, and all over the world, including Turkey and so on. Yes, I got compassion. My mother and father came here legally from Italy.
But you know what? I took an oath of office. My oath overrides that compassion.
HOLMES: It overrides the compassion. Sir, well, respond to those folks, and we just show that piece, a lot of people don't believe you have much compassion. But respond to those folks who do think you take up a racial mentality and even a racist mentality when it comes to illegal immigration.
ARPAIO: Well, I have been doing this for three years. The Department of Justice, 60 days into the Obama administration, launched investigations against my office, and that has been a year and a half. And we've arrested many -- thousands of people. Where's all the proof?
We know how to do our job. We are not racists. We will continue to do our job regardless of all the hype and the threats and everything else that the sheriff receives.
HOLMES: Are you concerned at all about -- if you did take every illegal immigrant out of the state, that's a lot of money that's going with them? Do you think it balances out? I mean, they do spend a lot of money, illegal immigrants spend a lot of the money in the country? Are you worried about any kind of economic impact this could have on the state of Arizona?
ARPAIO: No, it's going to open up more jobs. We raid businesses, 36 business we went into and arrested many, many illegal aliens, most for false identification. So, we are opening up jobs for people here that are U.S. citizens. I think I'm doing something good for the economy.
HOLMES: All right. Well, last thing here, sir, just want to get you on the record on, it might be the next battle in the immigration fight, birth right citizenship. A lot of people say, people -- just because you're born on the soil here, you're born to illegal parents, you should not necessarily be an American citizen. That might be the next fight that happens out in Arizona.
Are you in favor of doing away with birth right citizenship?
ARPAIO: Well, right now, I'm enforcing the present laws. We're going to have to look at that and see how that pans out.
HOLMES: All right. Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the 29th, we will see if a judge steps in, but if not, it will be in effect this Thursday.
Sheriff Joe, we know we'll be talking to you down the road, all right? You enjoy the rest of your Sunday.
ARPAIO: Thank you very much.
HOLMES: All right. Like I mentioned, I spoke Michael Nowakowski a little earlier. He's the vice mayor for the city of Phoenix, it has become America's kidnapping capital, presumably due to the rising level of violence from Mexico's feuding drug cartel. Nowakowski is not a supporter of the new bill.
Now, both, the vice mayor, he believes, the vice mayor, that this is just about politics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VICE MAYOR MICHAEL NOWAKOWSKI, PHOENIX, ARIZONA: I believe what our state of Arizona should do is wait for a nonelection year and let's find out if these politicians are going to end up fighting for 1070 during a nonelection year. They are using it as an election tool.
HOLMES: Mr. Nowakowski, you don't give them any credit for having good faith here? You don't give them any credit for trying to do with this in good faith. You're saying this is all politics.
NOWAKOWSKI: It's all politics. That's what it is. I mean, on a nonelection year, this would never happen in our state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: He went on to say in that 90-minute tape they have that actually trains the police officers in Arizona to how to arrest people and how to identify people without racial profiling, he says that is no good. Nowakowski compares that to the seven hours of instruction select officers currently get from Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
BOLDUAN: It is 25 minutes after the hour. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: President Obama has signed a new law aimed at cracking down on massive government waste.
HOLMES: And it is massive. The government lost more than $100 billion to mistakes and fraud last year alone. So, what's this new law going to do?
Josh, do tell.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These numbers are kind of amazing. We know there's a lot of waste in government, but when you hear it put this way, it really is stunning. About $110 billion in 2009 was lost in two major ways.
Here's what the president said when he was signing this legislation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sometimes these payments are the result of innocent mistakes or reflect valid claims that were paid at the wrong time. But sometimes, they result from abuses, by scam artists and crooked companies. And all told, they added up to $110 billion. I want everybody to understand just -- get some perspective on that. That is more than the budgets of the Department of Education and the Small Business Administration combined.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: And when you look at where some of the money is going, it's kind of amazing. A couple of examples here: over the last three years, $180 million in federal funds have been sent out to 20,000 dead Americans, and also for the last three years, $230 million went to 14,000 fugitives or incarcerated felons. Just some examples of places in which benefits were being sent out or some cases, contract money going into places it should not have been going.
Here's what this legislation will do. The basic idea here is the carrot and stick legislation. It is designed to make sure that all government agencies out there have to follow really strict rules. They have to follow their money. They have to check on it more often. They have to report back to the government.
But there's also something interesting in there for auditors. Those who audit the federal government books now have a financial incentive to make sure that they find more. The more fraud or errors they find, the more money they will be paid. It's an interesting twist in this law. Some people are saying why do we need a law it's already illegal to have waste and fraud? But the idea behind this is that it should crack down -- the President is hoping it'll save the government $50 billion.
And guys I will tell you there's a lot more details on CNN.com, including some of the places that are -- have lost the most money. Like Medicare and Medicaid, Medicare fee-for-Service lost $35 billion, and Medicare Advantage, $12 billion, Medicaid, $18 billion all in 2009 alone from fraud and waste and just plain old mistakes.
So hopefully we will see if this law will turn things around -- guys.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Josh we appreciate you.
LEVS: Thank you guys.
HOLMES: Thanks so much.
LEVS: Yes.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news out of Afghanistan. Details, coming up after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, hello, everybody. It's the bottom of the hour here on the CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BOLDUAN: And I'm Kate Bolduan. And it's been a busy morning unfortunately.
HOLMES: And -- unfortunately the wrong reasons; we got news. Of course yesterday in fact two U.S. service members have gone missing in Afghanistan after leaving their base; a word now this morning that in fact one of those service members is dead and the other is being held by the Taliban.
We caught up with our Atia Abawi who is in Kabul for us just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And I know you just came from a briefing. Give us the very latest you can on these two missing and now, what we are being told is one dead American service member.
ATIA ABAWI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, T.J., we actually just came up from a briefing with the Joint -- the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen who said that he can't comment further from the information that we received yesterday.
But when I asked him if this was unusual, he did say that yes, this is an unusual circumstance. According to an Afghan official in Logar province where this two -- they say Americans went missing. They say that one American was actually killed and the other one is now being held in captivity.
After that briefing, right as it ended, the Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid (ph) called my cell phone and he also said that two days ago that members of the Taliban in Logar were able to catch two Americans in a civilian vehicle -- not a military vehicle -- a civilian vehicle and that a firefight broke, that the Taliban actually wanted to capture both of them alive. But because of the fire fight, one of them was killed and the other has been taken to a safe location, as he put it -- T.J.
BOLDUAN: Atia, it's Kate Bolduan here. You also -- I -- I believe you had spoken to a spokesperson with the Taliban, if I'm correct. Have they made any demands as to what they want in return for this -- one service member they have in captivity?
ABAWI: That's a -- that's a very good question, Kate. Because usually when the Taliban do take a hostage, they do have demands in returning the hostage in exchange usually for Taliban soldiers for obviously the withdrawal of NATO forces.
When I asked Zabiullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson what he wanted in return for the body of the one American as well as the -- American that's still alive for his safe return, he said right now they haven't figured out what their demands will be. And right now they're still contemplating what they will bring forward to the NATO coalition and particularly the United States.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And we do need to point out here Kate that we talk about the two soldiers who left their compound, left their base in this nonmilitary vehicle. She said all of the other reporters there, everyone is completely baffled. That just does not happen. And the -- (CROSS TALKING)
HOLMES: And Mike Mullen called this -- Admiral Mullen said this is an unusual circumstance to have these two leave and drive some hour-plus away from base. No one understands why.
BOLDUAN: But he was being very careful --
HOLMES: We have to.
BOLDUAN: -- with his word choice here. So to say unusual, that's exactly what it is, plus some.
HOLMES: And -- and they have to right now because you still have one soldier out there. They don't know the condition of that other soldier --
BOLDUAN: Right.
HOLMES: -- right now, so still trying to be careful about things.
But also the Taliban spokesperson, we asked Atia about that as well, might seem strange to hear for us here in the U.S. to hear that the Taliban is picking up the cell phone and calling her. Well, they have a fierce PR apparatus that they do in fact keep in touch with media.
They know how to get a hold of people and know how to get a hold of reporters and get their message out. So they are always in contact with the reporters there on the ground. But that is still a developing story. You'll hear much more about that throughout the day.
BOLDUAN: At the same time -- I think we already mentioned that this comes after a very deadly weekend already.
HOLMES: Yes.
BOLDUAN: Five other U.S. soldiers were killed in a bombing in southern Afghanistan. This we reported on yesterday. So a very deadly and horrible weekend in Afghanistan. We'll be keeping on top of all of that for you as it comes to us.
Let's take a turn now.
Looking to the Korean peninsula, tensions are rising along the Korean peninsula where the U.S. and South Korea have begun military exercises this morning. The drill is both a show of strength and a reminder of the alliance between the two nations.
These images that you're seeing are from last year's exercises.
North Korea is unleashing its usual rhetoric saying it's ready to respond with quote, "Both dialogue and war". 8,000 U.S. and South Korean personnel are taking part in these exercises along with 20 ships and 200 aircraft.
HOLMES: Well, 19 people are dead and another 400 injured after a stampede at a concert in Germany. This was Duisburg, Germany, to be precise. They were expecting some 700,000 to 800,000. They got about a million and a half that showed up at this outdoor festival. It's called this "Love Parade 2010." It's a huge concert that happens there every year.
They opened a second area for people to come in, kind of the overflow area. But there was only a single tunnel for people to access, to get through and from the main event, the main stage where everything was happening. So you essentially had this tunnel with thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people trying to squish into and literally people were trampled.
The mayor there is now calling this one of the greatest tragedies in the contemporary history of that city and he is demanding an immediate investigation.
BOLDUAN: Those images.
Well, it's shaping up to be another busy week for President Obama and here are a few. The highlights just so you can keep track: tomorrow he hosts the White House event to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
And on Wednesday, the President travels to the area of Edison, New Jersey, he'll focus on the economy. You can expect him to do that a lot in the coming months. Same theme, different state on Friday; President Obama will visit Chrysler and General Motors plants in Michigan.
So Al Franken, you've known him probably for a couple of reasons now. He earns his fame first in comedy, but as a U.S. senator now he says, there are serious stakes in the upcoming midterm elections.
HOLMES: That as the Minnesota Democrat appeared before thousands of progressive activists in Nevada. He called on the Net Roots Nation Convention to continue supporting Democrats and prevent a Republican takeover in November.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. AL FRANKEN (D), MINNESOTA: If Republicans take back Congress they'll implement a truly dangerous agenda. Everything is on the table from repealing health care reform to privatizing social security. And we have seen what happens when Republicans take control of Congress with a Democratic president, and it isn't pretty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, Republican Congressman Darrel Issa fired back at Franken's comments and said lawmakers need to look more closely at waste and corruption in the bureaucracy.
BOLDUAN: And he says only Republicans will help rein in the growing size of government.
So another issue that we talk a lot about --
HOLMES: Yes.
BOLDUAN: -- and this is a different way of talking about it, music and God; how one band is using a very different approach to galvanize millions around the world.
HOLMES: Yes listen to it here, it's got some of the same rock 'n' roll sound you may hear, but the message is a lot different.
It's 41 minutes past the hour. Our "Faces of Faith" is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, on this week's "Faces of Faith, we want to introduce you to a rock band from Australia. Yes, we're going Down Under and talk about a rock band in this week's "Faces of Faith". Hillsong Live -- they're doing something a little different with their rock 'n' roll. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (voice-over): Hundreds of thousands of fans across the world, a sold out U.S. tour and 11 million albums sold. But this is not some sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll type of band.
REUBEN MORGAN, HILLSONG LIVE: Sex, drugs, whatever it was --
HOLMES: Ben Fielding and Reuben Morgan are the creative force behind Hillsong Live, a Christian band from Hillsong Church in Sydney Australia. More than 20 years ago the two friends started using their rock 'n' roll sound to express their faith.
MORGAN: The music is a medium, you know. And you can speak anything into that, you know. You can speak the life of Christ, and you can speak the love of God through there, or you can say, like you were saying, sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll.
HOLMES: Band members say they've never had a song on the radio but their latest album released this year "A Beautiful Exchange", debut at number 40 on the Billboard Charts. This speaks to their reach in congregations around the world. Fielding and Morgan say, they are humbled by the audience support, but for them it's not about that, it's about the message in their songs.
MORGAN: The goal is not a concert. This is not about the people on the stage. This is about, you know, God being present.
BEN FIELDING, HILLSONG LIVE: And we had to have songs kind of communicating that truth. And I think if -- if the lyrics of songs are confessing what is an age-old-truth which is the Bible, then -- that's the hope that the people of connecting with that truth and the truth of Jesus and who he is. HOLMES: Their music inspires congregations worldwide and sometimes their fans inspire them.
Fielding says one day they were at a church where the pastor told a story about a young girl whose Christian faith strengthened because of a song.
BEN FIELDING, HILLSONG LIVE: He says she is singing this song and it became like a confession of her faith. And he started to read the words of that song, and I realize it was that song.
HOLMES: That song was "Mighty to Say" (ph) one they co-wrote.
FIELDING: And I remember at that point, I mean I was just a mess. And I looked down and see Reuben was a mess, you know. And it is -- I will never forget that because you just never expect that, you know, that God would use you in that way to bless somebody that I don't even know. But what that meant to her, for her life and now for her family and it's just incredible. I am grateful for it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Again, they've never had a number one hit. They never had a number one anything out there, and they have not been on the radio, but still they are making a lot of money and they are reaching a lot of people with their album sales.
It's about 15 minutes to the top of the hour. A quick break here on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING and we're right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, we are about ten minutes to the top of the hour. We here at CNN SUNDAY MORNING serve proudly as the warm up act for the main event on Sundays here on CNN and that is Candy Crowley and "STATE OF THE UNION".
There she is.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": I don't think you really believe that actually.
HOLMES: Oh, yes, I do.
BOLDUAN: Oh, you know he does.
HOLMES: And management reminds me every week, Candy.
BOLDUAN: So Candy, we have the former CIA director Michael Hayden, talking homeland security and also the Shirley Sherrod controversy. You have an -- I would say -- insane run down, and some would say a very full run down. Where do you want to begin?
CROWLEY: I would call it very eclectic.
(INAUDIBLE) CROWLEY: Listen, I mean one of the things -- I mean there was a lot that happened this week and a lot that continues to happen. So we wanted to have Steve Forbes and we wanted to have Mort Zuckerman on to talk about the business environment.
As you know, every time we talk about the economy, it's well, why aren't businesses investing? Why aren't they re-hiring people? Why aren't they expanding? So we wanted two businessmen in to tell us why.
Obviously we wanted two African-American scholars to say what happened this week? What was it all about? And we wanted to talk to the former head of the NSA, the former head of the CIA, Hayden, and ask him what do you think about how President Obama is doing with terrorism, counterterrorism and that kind of thing? We just looked at it and thought we could do all that and we are.
HOLMES: Well, of course you can and you will, I'm sure, but all that stuff on your plate to talk about, big issues from jobs and economy and security, how upset was the White House this week, this past week that everything people were talking about was race, everything they did not want to talk about.
CROWLEY: And definitely not talking about Wall Street reform.
(CROSS TALKING)
BOLDUAN: Exactly.
CROWLEY: And what is interesting is, I think you can extrapolate from what happened that one of the reasons they moved so quickly and too hastily was that they -- with Shirley Sherrod and to take her out of the Agriculture Department was because they wanted to talk about all of these things.
And I think, they looked up, they saw that they had a mess on their hands or what they thought was going to be a mess and said, get rid of it. It's like politics 101, if you have a problem, solve. And they did and -- but it is the aftermath, when you found out that we did not know all the facts and that kind of thing. That everything just got blown out of the water.
It's not just financial reform. He got the unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed, which Republicans had been fighting because they said it wasn't paid for. And the new Supreme Court nominee -- guess what -- she moved up. We're very close to a final vote in the Senate.
So a lot of things happened, except for you would not know that.
BOLDUAN: Well, we talk about all of the stuff, especially I am interested to hear what they have to say on the economy, your guests that you're having on, because Friday, as you know, the White House comes out with some painful predictions. Maybe good for Republicans, I guess you would say. The deficit 1.4 trillion last year will exceed that this year and next unemployment hovering around 9 percent through 2012. I mean this seems like -- and I hate to use the catch-phrase we always use -- ammunition for Republicans which have to be on top of people's minds.
CROWLEY: Well, it is. And you know, first and foremost, because 14 million Americans are out of work, and that's a lot of people who are hurting. But you are perfectly right. It's an election year so everything is looked through, through the prism of what is going to happen in the election.
And I think the Obama administration -- it's interesting to me that they put this out now simply because it is pretty incendiary, when you think that when the President's people put out their stimulus plan, you know 700 plus billion, they said to Congress if you pass this, unemployment will stay below 8 percent. And now it's above 9 percent and they're saying it's going to stay about 9 until 2012. It's a problem but mostly for those people who are unemployment but certainly politically for this White House.
HOLMES: Well, Candy, we're looking forward to you getting it done this morning. We'll hand this thing over to you in about 8 minutes. Candy Crowley -- good to see you as always. Thanks so much.
CROWLEY: All right. Thank you, guys.
HOLMES: There she is "STATE OF THE UNION", coming your way at the top of the hour 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: It has been one busy morning.
HOLMES: Yes.
BOLDUAN: But let's get one last check of your Sunday weather outlook.
HOLMES: Jacqui, where -- again, there is a lot going on. We thought we would be talking about Bonnie all weekend, thank goodness we are not though.
(CROSS TALKING)
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's an important thing to talk about though guys, because believe it or not we could see an isolated tornado. There is lot of (INAUDIBLE) and a lot of spin still out there that's over parts of Louisiana and Mississippi today. So it's bringing showers and thunderstorms. We're not worried about what it's doing to the Gulf really anymore, but that's something to watch out for today.
Some big weather headlines to talk about in terms of heavy rain and flooding; we have had a lot of issues in the Midwest the last week or so. High pressure building in so, it's much better for those of you in Iowa dealing with your flood problems as well as the Chicago area. And the front is sinking slightly to the south, so the big focus today then will be across the Ohio River Valley into the Mid-Atlantic states and on up towards the northeast. Damaging winds, I think, we will be our primary concern, in excess of 6 miles per hour. But we can't rule out an isolated tornado here either. So we will continue to watch that system.
And you know that upper level system we were talking about yesterday to explain why Bonnie was falling apart and not really working? Well, that's pushing up towards the southwest today and so we're going to look for flood concerns across parts of New Mexico and into the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma.
All right. It's hot, I know. Who's hot? Raise your hand, ok. I think at least half of America raised their hand right there, right? We had a number of record highs yesterday. Richmond, 105 degrees, that is brutal. We have the heat advisories in effect again today. But I'm going to end it with a good note, guys. How about that?
The northeast and Mid-Atlantic cools down tomorrow -- 80s, up to maybe 90 degrees; the southeast, not so much. Again, glass half full, getting better up here.
HOLMES: You said cool down to 90. That's always funny.
JERAS: Better than 110, my friends.
HOLMES: Exactly.
BOLDUAN: Ok. Relative -- exactly. Glass half full.
HOLMES: Jacqui, thank you dear lady.
Quick break, we're right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Again, a reminder: we are following the breaking story of those two service member in Afghanistan, now getting word from Afghan officials that in fact one of those U.S. Service members is dead, and the other being held by the Taliban.
We will continue to follow this breaking story throughout the day right here on CNN.
But for now, time for us to say good-bye. Kate -- thank you for being here.
BOLDUAN: Thank you.
HOLMES: Candy Crowley, it's all yours.
