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CNN Sunday Morning
Baghdad Bombings Kill 29; Freed Hiker Returns from Iran
Aired September 19, 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: Good morning!
Sarah Shourd is home. The American hiker held in Iran for more than a year has just arrived back in the U.S.
Also, Christine O'Donnell cancels. The Tea Party darling of Delaware backed out of two Sunday morning interviews. This comes after a video surfaces from a decade ago where she claims she, quote, "dabbled in witchcraft."
Plus, police in California say they are searching for 13 people led by this woman. They say letters left behind suggests they were planning a mass suicide, and most of the missing are children.
Good morning to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.
From the CNN Center, this is your CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Eight a.m. here in Atlanta; 3:00 p.m. in Baghdad -- where we do have breaking news that we want to get right to.
Our Arwa Damon is there live for us.
Arwa, hello to you once again.
We have a pair of blasts that have killed at least 29 people there. Tell us what happened.
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, T.J. One of those explosions happened when a minibus detonated in front of a cell phone shop; the other explosion is taking place at a fairly busy intersection -- them happening within a few minutes of one another, at around 10:15 in the morning. Now, Sunday in Iraq is the first day of the workweek, and while not full-on rush hour at that time, the streets still fairly busy.
We also had a few other incidents that are worth mentioning: a sticky bomb, or, rather, a magnetic bomb, was placed underneath the vehicle of a minibus driver and his son, killing both of them. Another magnetic bomb placed overnight underneath the vehicle of a Ministry of Interior official.
And this just goes to show that even though the U.S. military has declared its combat zone in Iraq over, the war here, especially for Iraqis, is far from coming to an end. Many of those who we speak to talk to us about how fearful they are whenever they're stuck in a traffic jam, especially at checkpoints, knowing that they could be targeted. Others say that part of their regular morning routine is to walk out of their home and check underneath their vehicles. They talk about this ongoing sense of fear and anxiety, especially since this nation remains without a new government, since we had those inconclusive elections back in March.
There is some intelligence that does suggest that al Qaeda is making something of a comeback, especially in the areas around Baghdad, to the east, to the west, and to the south. There is also intelligence that suggests that some of the Iranian-backed militias are also taking to the streets once again. All of this, some are saying, because the U.S. military has significantly decreased its footprint and Iraqis are greatly concerned that their own forces will not be able to hold on to these so-called security gains.
On a day like today, for example, how is it with so many checkpoints, so many police and army on the road, are explosives still able to get into the capital -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Our Arwa Damon on it for us this morning in Baghdad -- Arwa, we appreciate you, as always.
And after more than a year now in an Iranian prison, U.S. hiker Sarah Shourd is back on American soil. She was released to Oman last week on $500,000 in bail. She arrived at Washington's Dulles Airport just about an hour ago. Her two hiking companions, however, still remain jailed in Iran.
Our Susan Candiotti is in New York for us.
Susan, hello to you.
Once again, she got back to D.C. But do we have it right? Her schedule still has her doing something a little later in New York today, is that right?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. She's still on tap to make her first public appearance here in the United States this afternoon. She will be meeting with reporters. But it seems, at this point, that she's not prepared to take any questions. We expect her to be reading from a prepared statement and her mother as well.
However, we do understand that the mothers of her fiance, Shane Bauer, as well as the mothers of Josh Fattal, the two hikers and friends that she left behind, will be taking questions from the news media. And so, it will be interesting to ask them as many questions as we can, to try to talk about her experience. How many details might she give us? Or will she hold back and continue to be very guarded, as she was before.
As you indicated, her freedom came with a price: a half million dollars bail was paid. We don't know exactly where that money came from, but we are looking forward to hearing from Sarah this afternoon.
HOLMES: Susan, as well, do we --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SARAH SHOURD, FREED AMERICAN HIKER: I will always associate your country with the first breath of my freedom, the sweet smell of sandalwood, and the chance to stand by the ocean, listening to the waves. I thank the good, hospitable people of Oman for your support and ask you to please, please extend your prayers to my fiance, Shane, and my friend, Josh. Insha'Allah, they will soon be free.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: And that, of course, is what she said when before she left Oman, thanking the government there, as well as the United States.
She might be staying in New York, possibly, because the United Nations General Assembly will be meeting here. Perhaps she will try to lobby for the release of her companions.
Back to you, T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Susan Candiotti for us in New York on the story -- we appreciate you, as always. Thanks so much.
We want to give our viewers a look at some of the other stories that are making headlines today.
Including in Afghanistan, where NATO says Afghan and coalition troops have killed at least seven insurgents during a joint operation in the eastern part of that country. Among the dead: a suspected Taliban commander. Meanwhile, a bombing in southern Afghanistan killed two NATO service members.
Also, Pope Benedict XVI is wrapping up his four-day state visit to the U.K. The pontiff publicly apologized for the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church. Meanwhile, U.K. authorities have released six suspects arrested Friday on suspicion of possible terror activities. That's after a search of several homes and two businesses apparently turned up no evidence of wrongdoing.
And the process of permanently killing BP's ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico appears to be just about finished. They're going to be doing some pressure tests to determine that there are no leaks, want to make sure everything is done and this thing will officially be declared dead.
Also, we are following a story out of California. A disturbing story right now, where officials say 13 people are missing and they fear they may be on a suicide pact mission. Among the missing is this woman, Reyna Marisol Chicas. She's the leader of the group. Eight children are among the missing.
The group is from Palmdale. Two husbands of the missing alerted the police on Saturday. The children missing are between the ages of 3 and 17. Authorities say the group left behind notes indicating plans to commit mass suicide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEVEN WHITMORE, L.A. COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: There were notes, "We're going to go meet Jesus," as you said, "We're going to go meet our relatives," who are deceased, looking forward to it. There was personal belongings. There were deeds to homes. There was cash. There was items that would lead you to believe that somebody is leaving it behind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: We're keeping an eye on this story. We'll pass along the updates as we get them.
Well, as you may have seen, there is a new player in the Republican Party, ahead of the midterm elections. Christine O'Donnell, you have heard that name plenty over the past week. Going to be hearing it some more. She's a Tea Party-backed favorite who took the Republican nomination.
She's getting a lot of attention these days, but some of the limelight also exposes a candidate's past. She appeared on Bill Maher's talk show, "Politically Incorrect." That was back in the late '90s and she said something that may come back to haunt her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, FROM "POLITICALLY INCORRECT")
CHRISTINE O'DONNELL (R), DELAWARE SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I dabbled into witchcraft -- I never joined a coven. But, I did, I did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait a minute, you were a witch?
BILL MAHER, "POLITICALLY INCORRECT" HOST: Yes, she was a witch.
O'DONNELL: I was a witch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait a minute. How will you be a witch?
O'DONNELL: Because I dabbled into witchcraft. I hung around people who were doing these things. I'm not making this stuff up. I know what they told me they do. I mean, in one of my dates --
(CROSSTALK)
O'DONNELL: One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and I didn't know it. I mean, there was a little blood there and stuff like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your first date was on a satanic altar?
O'DONNELL: Yes. I went to a movie and then like had a little midnight picnic on a satanic altar.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: After that tape surfaced, O'Donnell canceled her appearance on two Sunday talk shows. O'Donnell's spokeswoman told "The Associated Press" she canceled those appearances so she could attend church events in a key county today.
Our CNN contributor John Avlon had this to say about that cancellation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: She was on a -- on a surge, giving a speech at Value Voters just the other day, talking about how, you know, some people out there call us wingnuts, but we represent "We the People," and getting a positive reception at the Value Voters forum. So, you know, news that this was coming down the pike is what causes campaigns to go into massive defensive mode. And when you're booked for the Sunday shows, and then you go into retreat, that is a sign of a candidate in panic mode.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: So, who exactly is Christine O'Donnell? She is the Republican Senate candidate from Delaware. She beat out the establishment GOP pick to fill Vice President Joe Biden's vacant seat. O'Donnell enjoys strong support from the Tea Party. Both Sarah Palin and South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint endorsed her. One day after her nomination, she saw $800,000 pumped in her campaign coffers. She's considered a conservative values candidate.
And Indiana Representative Mike Pence, he has a reason to smile at the Values Voter Summit. Pence was the top choice in the straw poll for the 2012 Republican candidates. The Republican got 24 percent of the vote, barely edging out former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who got 22 percent.
Coming in third, Mitt Romney at 13 percent. And fourth with 10 percent, the former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Sarah Palin did not attend the summit, but she did finish fifth in that poll with 7 percent.
Well, President Obama says his win in 2008 wasn't just about electing a black president. The president told the Congressional Black Caucus last night they should rally constituents and remind them that more work must be done to move the country forward, also took a swipe at Republicans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because everything that we are for, our opponents have spent two years fighting against. They said no to unemployment insurance, no to tax cuts for ordinary working families, no for small business loans, no to providing additional assistance to students who desperately want to go to school. That's their motto -- no, we can't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, the president also talked about his administration's accomplishments, including passing the health care reform and Wall Street reform bills, and also ending the combat mission in Iraq.
Let's take a look now at what the president has coming up this week. Tomorrow, noon Eastern, he takes part in a town hall meeting on jobs in Washington. Later, he goes to Philadelphia to help raise money for the Democratic National Committee, as well as Representative Joe Sestak.
On Tuesday, he awards the Medal of Honor posthumously to Air Force Sergeant Richard Etchberger for his actions during the Vietnam War.
Then on Wednesday, he hosts an event on the patients' bill of rights before heading to New York and the U.N.
Thursday, he addresses the U.N. and then later meets with the leaders of China and Japan.
Then Friday, the president attends the U.N. General Assembly meeting. He's also hosting a meeting with the association of Southeast Asian Nations in New York.
And as always, for the latest on political news, you know where to find it. You know where to find us -- CNNPolitics.com.
Well, Bermuda is still bracing for Hurricane Igor. We'll show you exactly where this category one hurricane is now and where we think it's headed.
It's 12 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Fifteen minutes past the hour.
Bermuda is hoping to avoid a direct hit from Hurricane Igor. Forecasters say the eye of the storm will pass over or very close to the island later tonight.
Our meteorologist, Reynolds Wolf, is there watching the storm from the beaches of Bermuda.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: When it comes to Igor, there are some good news and bad news with this tropical system. The good news: that it has weakened considerably. That's the good news. It is a category one at this time.
However, the bad news: this storm is still posing quite a threat to much of Bermuda. The storm remains well offshore at this point. It's getting closer.
We've had some scattered showers that have moved through. Some tropical storm-force winds, some hurricane-force gusts can be expected as it gets closer to us. And it may get closer, I would say, late Sunday evening and into Monday. However, because the storm is so expansive, because it is such a broad field of wind, we're going to be feeling some of those rough conditions long before the center comes close to Bermuda itself.
It is very different in comparison with Fabian in 2003. Hurricane Fabian was a much faster-moving storm. This storm will be affecting the island possibly two or three times longer than Fabian struck it.
This coast is still going to experience some monstrous waves, coastal flooding is possible throughout Bermuda. Power outages are certainly going to be expected. So, this storm is certainly going to be a force to be reckoned with for quite some time.
We're going to keep a very sharp eye on it. From Bermuda, let's send it back to you in the studio.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. And thanks to our Reynolds Wolf.
It's 17 minutes past the hour. Quick break here on the CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Twenty minutes past the hour now.
Improving your health by eating right -- it's a great idea, but it can cost a fortune to buy the right foods, the healthy foods. It doesn't have to, though.
In our "Fit Nation" report, CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, gets some tips from a world-famous French chef on eating healthy and saving some money.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the economy in a slump, families are struggling to make ends meet. But you don't have to sacrifice good nutrition. Where better to look for tips on healthy eating on the cheap than a five-star French chef?
CHEF ERIC RIPERT, LE BERNARDIN RESTAURANT: If you put some of your interest into the food, it's easy to find ways to eat for a budget which is not too expensive, good food.
GUPTA: World-renowned chef Eric Ripert says it's all about doing what works for you.
RIPERT: You can, for instance, buy a chicken, which is very inexpensive. Instead of buying the chicken already cut or cooked, you buy it whole. And therefore, you save a lot of money.
If you -- if you want something healthy and something inexpensive, you have to think seasonal. If you want to eat tomatoes in January, it's very expensive. Now, if in January, you eat root vegetables, if you make a soup with a squash, it's going to be very inexpensive.
GUPTA: So, how does this French chef extraordinaire stay healthy himself, surrounded by top-notch cuisine all day long?
RIPERT: Before I leave the house, I have a little bit of dark chocolate, of very good quality. I leave my house around 10:00 and I walk through the streets of New York. It takes about 40, 45 minutes. I think it keeps me in a certain good health and in shape.
GUPTA: The bottom line, says Ripert --
RIPERT: I'm a strong believer you can do a lot of things in terms of eating, which is, you can eat butter, you can eat chocolate, you can have a little dessert here and there. But again, it has to be in a quantity that is controlled and you have to compensate with some exercise.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. You've got to buy the kids the backpacks, the notebooks, the new clothes for school, the pen, the pencils, all that stuff they need. And then you got to shell out 400 bucks for the kid to ride the school bus. Sounds a little steep, but that's what parents in parts of Massachusetts may soon have to fork over to get their kids to class.
Our CNN Student News anchor Carl Azuz -- always good to have you here.
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Good morning, T.J.
HOLMES: This one will certainly have a lot of parents perking up this morning, what did he say?
AZUZ: It has a lot of parents, especially in Framingham, Massachusetts, perking up, because what we're seeing there, unlike a lot of school district where they're cutting bus routes, they're cutting field trips, they're cutting programs for students, this school district has cut bus service to students who live within two miles of school. And at least at the elementary level, a lot of parents are saying, that's too far for my kids to walk. So, parents are having to drop those kids of at school.
We have pictures from Framingham, Massachusetts, where you can see cars lined up for what looks like miles here -- parents of elementary schools dropping them off. And the school is talking about reinstating that bus service for students within two miles, but for a price. And that price is between $400 and $500 is what they're talking about right now. HOLMES: What? Would that be for the year?
AZUZ: That would be per student for the school year. So, if you have three kids in school right now, you could be looking at $1,500.
HOLMES: Oh, my goodness! So, the point there -- the parents went this route. They started to drop them off. That causes all that congestion around the school.
AZUZ: Oh, yes. Yes, sir.
HOLMES: Oh, my goodness. Now, when will we know whether or not this is actually going to happen?
AZUZ: Well, that's something that they're trying to work out right now, because this is a decision no school district ever wants to make. And we want -- you know, e wanted to look at how many kids actually ride the bus. We had a government statistic that said 25 million students ride the bus. It is the most popular form of transportation.
So, we asked our students audience at CNN Student News, "How many of you guys ride the bus?" You see the results right there. They're saying 37 percent. It is in line that the bus is the most popular route of transportation, but it's actually closer nationally to 50 percent.
HOLMES: Wow.
AZUZ: So, you understand how many students depend on bus service and why, especially, in a recession, you see the school cutting their bus service, trying to make ends meet. Obviously, a lot of parents are cutting their own budgets, trying to make ends meet. So, $1,500 is going to be a lot of tough for a lot of people to make.
HOLMES: But it's a two-mile radius, you say, around --
AZUZ: Within a two-mile radius. And so, the next step for us is, you know, what do you guys think of this? We're asking our student audience, what do you think?
Now, these are students at the middle and high school level. You got to keep in mind, $400 might be what they make in a month over the summer working part time. So, by and large, their comments were: this is absolutely out of the question. My family can't afford it.
But there were a couple interesting comments. The first one from Elani, who gave us a perspective by saying: if you walk to school, you get exercise, it might decrease obesity and decrease pollution. So, that was sort of an interesting perspective from her. Of course, that might be better at the high school level, where parents feel more comfortable with teenagers walking to school.
But there's one other comment I have from Ms. Turner. She wrote to us at CNNStudentNews.com, saying that her district has ads on the sides of buses to assist in the cost rather than the community paying more in taxes, or in this case, paying directly for buses.
And what's interesting about that story is we saw that about a year ago -- one school district putting ads on the side of buses. And at the time, people thought -- no, school buses should not have ads. I think as these budget cuts continue, I think you're going to see perception on that kind of shift over by saying, well, maybe not such a bad idea.
HOLMES: You got to find ways to bring in revenue and paying $400, $500 per kid to ride the bus --
AZUZ: Oh, yes.
HOLMES: -- that's just absurd. I know, things are tight, that people can't do that. Plus, like you said, the little ones, elementary school kids, they shouldn't be walking. Older kids, no problem. But the little ones can't walk.
AZUZ: Right.
HOLMES: All right. Carl, appreciate you as always, my man.
AZUZ: Thanks, T.J.
HOLMES: Good to see you. Thank you so much. See you next weekend, as always.
AZUZ: Yes, sir.
HOLMES: Well, coming up, we've got a conversation about Islam. And we're having this conversation with Deepak Chopra. He's going to be joining us live here.
There he is, standing by for us. He has a new book on the subject. You need to hear what he has to say.
Bottom of the hour here on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Now, taking a look at some of the stories making headlines this morning.
The breaking story we're watching out of Baghdad, where police say separate explosions killed at least 29 people this morning. More than 100 wounded. One of the blasts came from a mini bus parked outside a mobile phone company. Another rocked a neighborhood in northwest Baghdad.
Also, Sarah Shourd is back home in the U.S. She had spent more than a year locked up in an Iranian jail after Iran said she and two friends illegally crossed into the country from Iraq. She and her mother arrived at Dulles International Airport outside Washington about an hour ago.
You're seeing video of her yesterday right before she left on a flight from Oman.
Also, Israel does not plan to extend the moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank. This, despite a threat from Palestinian officials, to walk away from the current peace talks if building resumes. The ten-month freeze on construction in the West Bank expires at the end of this month. It has been a key point of contention in the peace talks between the two sides.
Well, Pope Benedict XVI, his state visit to the U.K. is ending today. He spent the last four days trying to repair the battered image of the Roman Catholic Church, but he did take time this morning to bring a Catholic cardinal one step closer to sainthood.
Atika Shubert has been covering the visit and she's joining us once again with the latest on the trip. And Atika the trip is almost over.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's almost over and the beatification of Cardinal John Newman was really the centerpiece of the entire visit. So they had mass this morning and it was actually the first beatification for this Pope, Pope Benedict, for him to oversee personally so -- and historic first for him.
Now he's off to meet with several private meetings with bishops, and then he's returning to Rome. Another highlight of his trip, however, has to be the fact that he did meet with several victims of child abuse yesterday on Saturday. And he also made mention of it on his -- at his mass on Saturdays, to apologizing once again for those victims of abuse and then saying how ashamed he was for what happened.
So that is, perhaps, one way he tried to reform the image of the church on this trip. But -- but probably wasn't enough for critics. At the same time that he was meeting with victims, protesters took to the streets, saying that really they need more than apologies. They want to see action and they haven't seen it yet during this trip -- T.J.
HOLMES: And another big story -- big headline apart of this trip was in fact that six people were arrested in an alleged terror plot and it seems that wasn't necessarily the case now.
SHUBERT: That's right. They made six arrests on Friday, but they released all six men on Saturday night and early Sunday morning, released them without any charge. And there's no explanation what or if there was any terror-related activities that in fact these men were involved with.
We simply don't know. According to the U.K. law, of course, they can arrest any suspected -- anyone suspected of terror-related activities for up to 28 days without charge. It appears in this case, there was no reason to keep them any longer, so they released them.
HOLMES: All right, our Atika Shubert for us in London, we appreciate you. Thank you so much.
Well, the world-renowned spiritual teacher, Deepak Chopra hopes to change possibly your perceptions of Islam. He's going to be here with us this morning. He has a new book out called "Muhammad: A Story of the Last Prophet." It's the tale of a man who shared a lot in common with humanity.
And the timeliness of this book -- of its release, at least -- no coincidence here. Deepak is joining us this morning. And good to have you, as always. Thank you for being here. Before we get to our conversation --
DEEPAK CHOPRA, AUTHOR & SPIRITUAL TEACHER: Thank you.
HOLMES: -- the publisher of your book made what they called an unprecedented move to release your book early as an eBook and this is why they did it.
They say, quote, "The move comes in direct response to mainstream media and blog postings that have been eager to bring Chopra and his portrayal of Muhammad into the larger national conversation about the proposed mosque and Islamic community center near Ground Zero in New York City."
So Deepak, you tell me, what do you think this the book, your book can possibly lend to this national debate we seem to now be having about Islam in America?
CHOPRA: T.J., the fact is that 65 percent of Americans state that they know nothing about the prophet Muhammad or about Islam. Twenty five percent say that they think that President Barack Obama is a Muslim. With that kind of lack of awareness, it's no wonder that we give in to bias and emotional reactivity. The rational things go by the wayside.
So it's -- I didn't plan to release the book right now. Actually, it was part of a trilogy that I was doing, Jesus and then Buddha and now Muhammad. But as you said, there are no coincidences. This seems to be a synchronicity. There's a lot of conversation around the mosque. And I think there are a lot of creative solutions around the mosque.
I was speaking with President Clinton the other day at a private function and he said why not dedicate the Islamic center to the victims of 9/11, including the 60 Muslims who died.
That would be a very creative solution.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHOPRA: After all, the imam and his wife are committed to interfaith dialogue, and this would be the right thing to do right now.
HOLMES: Now, you say that's an idea a lot of people say might be a good one, but do you think given the climate. And you named a number. I think you said 65 percent in a poll you quoted there don't know anything about Islam or Muhammad, so given the ignorance to Islam, if you will, that so many Americans have, is -- is -- can you expect them now to be so open and receptive to this, since they are -- they don't know a whole lot.
CHOPRA: T.J., we're having this conversation --
HOLMES: Yes.
CHOPRA: -- so we can enlarge the conversation.
I mean, there is no excuse for lack of awareness. The only way you can be violent against someone, and this holds true of the Islamic extremists as well, you have to demonize somebody in your mind in order to kill them or to harm them.
If you don't demonize them in your mind, it's impossible. Human beings, by nature, are compassionate and kind. So we need to stop this demonization, on all sides, and the only way we can do it is by knowing the other person. And when we know the other person, we realize that they are just like it.
HOLMES: And you think there's no doubt, when people find out more, you say people don't know a lot about Islam, when they find out more, do you think it's a no-brainer the conclusions they will come to and it will lead to more understanding or compassion, or do you think that could possibly backfire if people learned more about Islam in any way?
CHOPRA: I think more awareness leads to a contextual understanding, so that even some of the things that we have considered very dangerous in the past, we find creative solutions for those. You know, violence is not a solution for violence. We know that.
If the whole world believed that an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, we'd all be in the words of Mahatma Ghandi, we'd all be blind and toothless by now.
So there is always a creative solution for every problem and there's a creative solution for the mosque situation, the Islamic center, which can further interfaith dialogue, which is what the imam and his wife had been doing anyway.
But I think that needs to be the emphasis. The emphasis needs to be also that this Islamic center will dedicate itself to the memory and in honor of all the people who were victims of 9/11, including the 60 Muslims. Who can fight against that?
HOLMES: Deepak, do you --
CHOPR: And as --
HOLMES: -- and I didn't plan on spending so much time talking about the proposed Islamic center there, but do you think -- since we're on the topic -- do you think the imam and others who are planning that Islamic center and mosque have made some mistakes in that outreach? Could they have done a better job with the community and explaining to the American people what they're proposing to do there? CHOPRA: Yes. Yes. Yes, I think it could have been said better. But when you look at what they're doing and I've had them on my radio show, they are very much trying to reach people. And perhaps that has not been emphasized in the media as it should have been. Because, you know, everybody lumps all of -- all of Muslims in one basket.
If the Ku Klux Klan are Christians, that doesn't mean all Christians are the Ku Klux Klan.
HOLMES: One more thing here to you, Deepak. Is there a risk for you? Is there a risk involved in you writing this book, putting this book out at this time?
CHOPRA: Well, I considered that. And some people have said that, yes, there is a risk. But I wrote the book with respect, with honesty, looking at the facts of history. Beyond that, T.J., I can't control people's reaction.
HOLMES: Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad now. Do they have a whole lot more in common than they had differences? And you've gone through three of these books now on these three individuals? They have more in common than we ever realized?
CHOPRA: Well, at least Muhammad, Jesus, Moses, they come from what is called from the Abraham -- Abrahamic tradition. They have a common ancestor and they are called children of the book or people of the book.
And they -- you know all resort or at least have their insights from the mystery of Revelation. So here is Muhammad in a cave. He doesn't know how to read or write, and suddenly the angel Gabriel says to him, recite, "In the name of the lord who made humans from drops of congealed blood, recite. In the name of the lord, the bountiful, the merciful, recite, by the pen, I dictate the truth to you," or words to that effect.
This is the awe of Revelation, which you find in the Old Testament, which you find in Christianity. They're all children of the book, I said, and the Jews and the Muslims are first cousins. It's a family feud. It's time to end the family feud.
HOLMES: All right, Deepak Chopra, always good to chat with you. Thank you so much. Good luck on this next book. It's called "Muhammad" --
CHOPRA: Thank you.
HOLMES: -- it's out - you can get it electronically now. But it's going to be out in hard back I think you said just in a couple of days. Thanks so much. We will see you probably down the road.
CHOPRA: Thank you T.J., thank you very much.
HOLMES: All right, a quick break here.
We're right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Hurricane Igor has its sights set on Bermuda. People there hoping the Category 1 storm won't hit so hard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KALILAH ROBINSON, IMESERVE: As the receding surf from the hurricane gets bigger and bigger, it is absolutely mad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The eye of the storm, about 200 miles south of Bermuda right now. All right, I have a meteorologist here. I don't know why I'm trying to give the weather report. But the hurricane center says the island already feeling some tropical storm force winds. I have that right as well, here?
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
HOLMES: Ok. It's also producing large waves on the U.S. East Coast, has top sustained winds of about 85 miles an hour. This is the interesting part you were saying earlier. Even though it's huge, you hear Category 1, so you assume it's going to be -- maybe it's small, but that doesn't necessarily mean that.
MAGINNIS: This one has been enormous. We look at it on the satellite imagery, and it just looks like it engulfed such a big portion of the Atlantic, at least the western Atlantic. We've got a picture of it right there.
It is a Category 1 hurricane. We were looking at this, oh, a week or so ago, it was a Category 4. It became Category 3, and a 2 yesterday, and now it's 1, still supporting winds of about 85 miles an hour.
Right here is Hamilton. That's Bermuda. We're looking at this live weather imagery from weather.bm. They let us use this so we can show you what's going on. These are some of the outer bands that are moving across Bermuda now. And we had a top wind gust, in the past hour or so, of just about 50 miles an hour.
So this is really kind of kicking up a storm. And it's going to be fairly relentless, in that it's not going to give up very easily. Already it's situated about 200 miles to the south of Bermuda. And it's slowed down just a little bit. But we think that it's just kind of gearing up and may start to increase in intensity over the next 12 to 24 hours.
When do we expect landfall? Well, the computer models right now are saying, maybe early Monday morning, about 2:00 a.m. We think anywhere between the late hours of Sunday, going into the early morning hours of Monday. And that will be just about it.
Elsewhere across the U.S., we have temperatures mostly in the 90s. And T.J. I mentioned yesterday, officially, summer ends on Wednesday. It can't come soon enough. These 90s should be out of here.
HOLMES: It should be out. Well, on Wednesday, I'll try to get a summer vacation in before then. Thank you so much, as always. A quick break here folks. We're right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: President Obama says his win in 2008 wasn't just about electing a black president. The president told the Congressional Black Caucus last night, they should rally constituents and remind them that more work must be done to move the country forward.
The president also talked about his administration's accomplishments, including passing the health care and Wall Street reform bills, also ending the combat mission in Iraq. He also took a swipe at Republicans.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They want to take us backwards, we want to move forward. Their main strategy is they're betting you'll come down with a case of amnesia and you'll forget what happened between 2001 and 2009. What that agenda did to this country, when they were in charge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now the Congressional Black Caucus is a non-profit, nonpartisan group that serves African-Americans and underserved communities. The president spoke at their annual awards gala.
And one of the biggest political battles the president is facing right now is about your money. Tax cuts. President Obama wants to roll back the tax cuts for wealthier folks. How could all of this, though, affect you?
Josh, the debate seems to be over the wealthiest, but if they don't get this done, it's going to affect everybody.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's a debate inside his own party now as well, which is interesting coming out of that little clip that we just saw, the president talking about Republicans.
And we have heard the president talk about this a lot saying he believes that the Bush-era tax cuts on couples making more than $250,000 should be rolled back and the Republicans don't. But the fact is a lot of Democrats are now disagreeing with him as well.
Just the other day, 31 house Democrats signed a letter calling on him to keep the tax cuts for wealthier Americans as well. It was penned by four of those House Democrats -- I think we have a shot of them right here. It was Representatives Jim Matheson, Melissa Bean, Glenn Nye and Gary Peters -- all of them signing on to that. And they have the support from others who say they feel the same way.
Gary Peters actually joined us on "AMERICAN MORNING" and here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. GARY PETERS (D), MICHIGAN: Folks in the higher income brackets account for a large percentage of consumer spending. Seventy percent of the economy is consumer spending. Right now demand is still very soft on the consumer side. We want to make sure consumers are still out there spending, creating demand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
What we're really seeing here is the battle the president has inside the Democratic Party as well as with a lot of Republicans. And we want to boil all this down to how it might affect you. There's this cool tool, I'll show you in a second, called the tax calculator. We plugged in some information, we're using our friendly neighborhood avatars here.
I'm going to show you some examples of what could happen based on various scenarios of this debate over taxes right now. If we take a couple and put them right in the middle of the income in America -- the Tax Policy Center says this right here is the middle, $57,000. If they're paying taxes now, around $3,400 and those current tax cuts were to expire, they'd be paying $2,000 more each year. That's a big chunk of change. It would be for you if you're in this income range. But no one wants to take away those tax cuts because they're down in the $57,000 range.
Let's take a look at the wealthier Americans, over $250,000. What might happen under President Obama's plan? Well, we plugged this in. If they are making about $396,000 now, if they're paying taxes of about $102,000, you'd see those taxes go up about $6,000 in the (INAUDIBLE) we put in.
And one thing we keep hearing, a big buzz word in this debate. Millionaires -- that millionaires shouldn't be holding on to so much money at a time when the government has so many expenses.
Take a look at this example and on this. If their income is $1.75 million, we're making this couple really wealthy all of a sudden, their taxes are up here about $573,000. We found that their taxes would now go up $70,000 -- so $70,000 more in taxes.
And that's where you get to this debate. What we're looking at right now in the U.S. This idea of whether it makes more sense to leave that money in private hands for investment, for spending, or to give it over to the government and maybe actually do something about the national debt or pay off some of the projects that are currently being not fully paid for. This is the idea right here.
And you can check all this out at taxpolicycenter.org and see how those tax cut could affect you. I know coming up today on "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley, we'll be hearing a lot about this.
HOLMES: Absolutely, on all the Sunday talk shows, I'm sure.
Josh we thank you. We're getting closer to the top of the hour. Quick break -- we're right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: On Tuesday, President Obama will award the Medal of Honor to a man who died 42 years ago on a mountaintop in Laos. For decades, even his own children didn't know about his heroism. Now the whole world will.
Our Jeanne Meserve reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Richard Etchberger died in 1968.
CORY ETCHBERGER, SON OF RICHARD ETCHBERGER: So this is where your grandfather's buried.
MESERVE: Cory Etchberger was in third grade when he was told his father had died in a helicopter accident in Southeast Asia. Only at age 29 when the Air Force declassified his father's story did he learn the truth.
ETCHBERGER: I was stunned that, in fact, he wasn't killed in a helicopter accident. The first time I knew of anything of his heroic deeds.
MESERVE: During the Vietnam war, the U.S. military wasn't supposed to be in Laos. It was a neutral country. So Etchberger and others shed their uniforms and posed as civilians to run a super- secret radar installation on a Laotian mountaintop. In 1967 and '68, Lima site 85 (ph) guided U.S. bombing of North Vietnam.
In March of '68, North Vietnamese soldiers scaled the tall cliff and attacked. The technicians were trapped. Etchberger picked up an M-16.
TIM CASTLE, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: It's foggy. Weapons are going off all around him. He's got these comrades next to him, two of whom are shot and killed and fall off the cliff in front of him, and yet he continues to defend his men, his people.
MESERVE: One of them was Stanley Sliz.
STANLEY SLIZ, SAVED BY ETCHBERGER: I got hit in both legs and everybody was screaming and hollering. But they weren't able to get close, because of Etch, firing at them.
MESERVE: John Daniel still has the shrapnel wounds he got that day.
JOHN DANIEL, SAVED BY ETCHBERGER: He was the only one that did not get injured in this fire fight. They kept throwing grenades and shooting, and we would pick up hand grenades and throw them back at them or kick them over the side of the mountain.
MESERVE: When an American helicopter came to evacuate them, Etchberger braved enemy fire to get his wounded comrades including Sliz and Daniel on board first.
Daniel: If it was not for him, I would not be alive today.
MESERVE: But Etchberger did not survive. As the chopper pulled away, there was gunfire from the ground.
SLIZ: Etch had been sitting on the jump seat right above my head. That bullet went right through him, killed him instantly. I live it every day. I live it every day. It haunts me.
MESERVE: Etchberger was posthumously, secretly awarded the Air Force Cross for his heroism. But it was feared that giving him the Medal of Honor would expose the U.S. military presence in Laos.
Since his story became public, his hometown of Hamburg, Pennsylvania, has erected a memorial. His name is displayed proudly on the town sign. But only now, 42 years after his death, will he get the military's highest award for bravery, a tribute many feel he is due.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, she has made it home. Freed American hiker Sarah Shourd touched down in Dulles International Airport outside D.C. a little more than two hours ago. She left Oman yesterday. You've seen pictures of her yesterday before she got on the plane.
She's going to be talking to the media, 3:00 Eastern time today. We will bring you details of that right here on CNN.
Also, we're working our sources to find out more about a pair of bomb blasts that rocked the Iraqi capital of Baghdad earlier this morning. At least 29 people died, another 110 wounded.
I want to thank you, as always, for being with us here on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Now time for me to hand it over to Candy Crowley and "STATE OF THE UNION."
