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CNN Sunday Morning

American Returning From Iran; Pope Ending U.K. State Visit; Poverty in the U.S.

Aired September 19, 2010 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour here now. Good morning to you all.

Police in California searching for 13 people they say left behind letters suggesting they would commit mass suicide. And most of the missing are children.

Also, this morning -- poverty in the U.S. We just got the new staggering Census numbers last week. Coming up, though, not just numbers we're going to give you. We're going to introduce you to real people behind those numbers who are struggling day in and day out.

From the CNN Center, folks, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It's 7:00 a.m. where I sit here in Atlanta; 2:00 p.m. in Baghdad. I'm T.J. Holmes. Glad you're here with us.

And we have to start this hour in Baghdad, where police now telling us that there have been a couple of explosions that have killed at least 29 people this morning. Another 111 have been injured by these attacks. These were two separate attacks in Baghdad. Most of those killed were civilians.

One of these explosions came from a minibus that was parked outside of a mobile phone company. Another rocked a neighborhood in northwest Baghdad. Violence, as you know, has been kind of on an uptick here in the past, at least recently, even though over the past couple of years, it has gone down. This has come at a time when the U.S. has just ended its combat mission there, even though some 50,000 U.S. service members remain in an advisory role.

But this is a breaking story we have been on for you this morning. We'll bring you more details as they continue to come in.

I want to turn now to Sarah Shourd. She's the American that was held in Iran for about a year. Well, she is out now, and she is almost home. She was released Tuesday, expected back in the U.S. any time this morning. She and her two hiking companions were detained after allegedly straying into Iran from northern Iraq. That was in July of last year.

Iran demanded a $500,000 bail before releasing her from Tehran. On Tuesday, she flew to Oman, and Oman helped secure her release. She's going to be making a quick stop in Dubai, then heading over to New York. Again, we're expecting her any time this morning. Susan Candiotti is standing by for us in New York.

A long trip for her here to get back to the U.S., and she already has a schedule for when she arrives.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, sure. But her exact itinerary is still being kept under wraps. But, of course, it's got to be a great day for her and for her family.

She'll probably get some rest before she meets with reporters this afternoon here in New York. She's not expected to take any questions, again, will read from her prepared statement.

However, the mothers of her two friends, her fiance Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, they are expected to answer a few questions from reporters.

As you said, her freedom came with a price. We still don't know exactly where that half million dollars in bail came from. But there's also an emotional price. Sarah Shourd, of course, leaves behind Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal.

Before she headed to the United States, she thanked the U.S. for its role, as well as the government of Oman.

(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: Insha'Allah in Arabic means "God willing."

Now, again, the government of Iran had said, one of the reasons for her release was because of health concerns. Sarah has said that -- told her mother that she found a lump in one of her breasts. And so, of course, she'll probably get that looked at as soon as she gets back.

T.J., back to you.

HOLMES: All right. Susan Candiotti, on the story in New York, I know you'll be following it, waiting on her to arrive. Thank you so much.

Well, the Pope is wrapping up his trip to the U.K. He's wrapping it up with a mass, an apology, and a meeting with sex abuse victims. We're going to be talking to our Vatican analyst to get some perspective on the Pope's U.K. trip.

It's five minutes past the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Seven minutes past the hour now.

Pope Benedict ending a four-day state visit to Great Britain today in what has been a mission of healing for the image of the Catholic Church. He met with victims of sex abuse yesterday. He apologized with, quote, "deep sorrow," for how they suffered.

Our senior Vatican analyst, John Allen, is joining me live from London.

John, always good to have you.

It's never enough, and understandably so, for a lot of people -- certainly the victims. But they always say we hear apology after apology, but the apologies aren't enough. What else are they calling on him to do?

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SR. VATICAN ANALYST: Hey, T.J., this is the big difference between the Pope this week and Great Britain and when he came to the states back in '08. When he first apologized for the crisis and met with victims, as you remember, that was sort of a revolution and had an enormous impact. Now, what many people are saying is: we've seen all this before, and we want to see deeds to go along with these words.

What victims' groups are calling for in particular would be disclosure that they believe to be files the Vatican holds on accused priests. They want to see uniform global policy on abuse. And they want to see the Pope crack heads among bishops who covered up this abuse.

So, clearly, what Benedict has done this week in the U.K. has not been enough to satisfy his most determined critics, although it at least seems to have projected for the British an image of a Pope who gets it.

HOLMES: You're our analyst. So, analyze for me. He's there to help soften the image of the Catholic Church over all -- yes, in relation to the sex abuse. But just overall, present a new, a better image of the church. Has he accomplished any of that goal in any way over the past four days?

ALLEN: Well, you know, T.J., coming into this trip, I think the question was: who was going to win the war of words? Would it be the Pope or his critics?

In the end, I think they both had a pretty good four days. I mean, Benedict XVI has launched a kind of four-day national seminar about the role of religion in public life. But according to Prime Minister David Cameron, it's forced the very secular Brits to, quote, "sit up and listen."

Meanwhile, the Pope's critics mobilized the largest public protest this Pope has ever seen, one of the largest in modern times. In the streets of London last night, some 10,000 or 15,000 people showed up to protest the Pope's positions on things like gay rights and women and also to complain about the church's role in the sexual abuse scandals.

So, both sides have had their moment in the sun. You know, Britain has a robust democracy, and I suppose the Pope has gotten a taste of that this week.

HOLMES: All right. And I want you to hit on someone people might not be too familiar with, but this John Henry Newman. The pope is having -- and we're seeing these live pictures, we can go ahead and put it back up -- live pictures of a mass happening right now.

This is getting John Henry Newman, this cardinal of the 19th century, a step closer to possible sainthood. This guy has an interesting background, and it's important that the Pope is doing this, and this could help in the image, if you will, of the Catholic Church in Great Britain.

Just explain this guy's interesting background a little bit, if you can.

ALLEN: As you say, Newman was one of the great figures of Victorian Era England. He was born in 1801 and died in 1890, so, sort of almost the entire 19th century. He was an Anglican who converted to Catholicism in 1845, very controversial step at the time.

He's one of the towering intellectual figures of recent Catholic history. He's a hero to some liberal Catholics because he put a great deal of emphasis on conscience and also the development of doctrine, meaning that church teaching can change. He's also, however, a hero to many conservatives because he defended Catholic identity and put a lot of emphasis on forming Catholic laities so they can defend the faith, what's called apologetics.

So, in other words, Newman is one of those rare figures in Catholic life that appeals to both sides of the street. He's become more and more popular since his death.

And so, the fact that Benedict is going out of his way to beatify Newman because, let's remember, Benedict decided at the beginning of his papacy that he was no longer going to do beatifications. That was going to be done by local bishops. This is the first thing. And it could be the only beatification ceremony that Benedict is going to do.

The fact that he's chosen to do it for a figure that has so much contemporary appeal, you're right, does, I think, put a kind of happy capstone on the Pope's four-day trip to the U.K.

HOLMES: A happy capstone. Well, he is making an exception for a reason here.

John Allen, always, always good to talk to you. You are just an encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to the Catholic Church. We always appreciate having you. Good to see you, buddy. We'll talk to you soon. All right. Eleven minutes here past the hour now.

You have heard the numbers that were just unbelievable: nearly one in seven Americans living in poverty. We're going to throw out the numbers and introduce you to some folks who are struggling to get by day after day.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Thirteen minutes past the hour now.

On Tuesday, President Obama will award the Medal of Honor posthumously to Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Richard Etchberger. Etchberger was killed after the lives of his comrades at a then-secret base at Laos in 1968.

Our Jeanne Meserve has the story of this American hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Richard Etchberger died in 1968.

CORY ETCHBERGER, SON OF VIETNAM WAR HERO: 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. That was 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 mountain top. In 1967 and '68, Lima site 85 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 of 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 firefight. They kept throwing grenades and shooting, and we would pick up hand grenades and throw them back at them, or kicking 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 didn't 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)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Nineteen minutes past the hour now.

We got new Census numbers just a few days ago that show that more Americans than ever are living in poverty, one in seven people.

What does that number really represent, though? It represents women like Tanisha, Ann, and Joyce -- working mothers struggling right now, literally, to put food on the table.

Listen to them describe their situation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANN VALDEZ, LIVES BELOW POVERTY LINE: There's so much going on, and there's no jobs available. No one wants to live the way we have to live.

JOYCE WASHINGTON, SINGLE MOTHER: Poverty is not a look. Poverty is a way of life. And, yes, I am living it. When I go paycheck to paycheck and figuring how to spend that last penny, that's poverty.

TANISHA PHILLIPS, SINGLE MOTHER: I have faith that I am going to make it. That's what I'm praying. I really try not to focus on what I don't have and try to make the best of what I do have.

VALDEZ: I live on approximately $5,000 a year, which would come down to maybe $100 every two weeks for me and my 11-year-old son Brian. And you cannot live any poorer than we do. My son said that he wasn't deprived of anything as a child, and that's because I gave everything I can to my children. If I had to go without, it's OK as long as my children had.

PHILLIPS: There's so much more I want for my kids, so much more, so much further in life. I just want them to just be better than me. So, I have to show an example. And right now, I feel like I'm not showing an example because there's a lot that I can't do for them.

It's a struggle. Just trying to see if my checks are going to last long enough for me to provide for my kids, get diapers, pay bills, pay -- you know, just pay rent. I'm really just playing it day by day, trying to see if I'm going to be able to survive, trying to see if my kids still will be here with me, make sure they're not going to be taken from me because I was in the system.

They look at you differently, being in the system. So, they feel like, well, since whatever your parents did to you, whatever happened to you in the system, you're going to do the same to your kids. And not being able to provide, not knowing if you're going to have a home the next day, not knowing how much your check is going to be, are you going to be able to pay your rent, to have somewhere to stay, to just have food, have just the normal things in life.

WASHINGTON: I would like everyone to understand that it's not just hitting the very poor, poor. It hits everybody, even someone that's out like me that's working and trying hard to take care of their family, and I'm talking about not just any family. My kids are great kids. But it hits us hard, harder.

So, I want them to see a face on how this economy is affecting us. When we lost the house and could no longer stay here, my family found ourselves in a shelter for single mothers. That was -- I think that was the hardest thing that has ever happened to me, even going through what I went through with my daughter, with her bone marrow transplant.

Living in the shelter is a humbling experience. Having to get food from a food bank is humbling. But to have to live in a shelter with your children, you don't ever want to be like that.

So, we stayed there for a month, about a month and a half, and my landlord came to us and said, some money is better than no money. So, with the grace of God, we were able to come back into the same house that we were in.

What makes me happy is when Erin wakes up in the morning with a smile on her face, my daughter in college running track and field, my son playing football, Maya in the play, (INAUDIBLE). But my kids make me happy. My kids make me happy.

VALDEZ: Never judge a book by its cover. Never make assumptions. Come outside, meet the people in your community where you live, meet the people in the communities where you work, and meet the people in the communities where you represent.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See the face of poverty.

VALDEZ: See the face of poverty.

WASHINGTON: I have no idea how I manage every day, but we manage to pull it together. I try to do it with God's help and a lot of hope that I'm going to make it through. And every day, I turn around and look that we made it through another day.

PHILLIPS: There's so much more that I feel like I can do for my kids that I can't do it without money. These days, money goes a long way. I know money can't buy you happiness, but it will get you out of a lot of struggle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Just a reminder that if you want to help or learn more about the startling statistic, you can do that online. Go to CNN.com/Impact.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We're taking a look at some of the stories making headlines.

Freed American hiker Sarah Shourd is on her way back to the U.S. She could be home at any moment. She left Oman yesterday with warm words for the Arab nation and its help in brokering her release from Iran. The 32-year-old was held captive for more than a year. Her fiance and friend still remain in that prison in Iran.

President Obama urging black lawmakers to get their constituents fired up and remind them that more work has to be done to get this country moving forward. The president addressed the Congressional Black Caucus last night in Washington. President Obama called his 2008 election to the White House the changing of the guard and now says the guard -- need to guard the change, I should say.

The process also of permanently killing BP's ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico just about done. It's going to be dead once and for all once pressure tests, now being conducted, determined that there are no leaks, and then retired Coast Guard admiral, Thad Allen, will officially declare that well dead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. We'll be back at the top of the hour with more live news as we continue this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. We, as always, appreciate you being with us for this first 90 minutes of CNN SUNDAY MORNING. But we'll see you back here shortly. First, we want to hand it over to "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D.," which starts right now.