Obama to Reverse Bush's Policy on Embryonic Stem Cell Research; Illinois Police Reviewing Church Audiotapes From Shooting; War Zone Troops to Reduce by 12,000 Within Six Months
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. Welcome back from your weekend. Hope it was a good one. It's Monday, it's the 9th of March. John Roberts together with Kiran Chetry, and big news today. The president is making a big announcement later on this morning.</s>KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and some big changes over a reversal from the prior administration. A lot to cover this morning, and here are the big stories topping our agenda right now. We'll be breaking them down for you in the next 15 minutes. In just a few hours, President Obama will overturn the Bush administration's ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. And while it holds great promise, it remains controversial. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is standing by live for us at the White House. Also developing, an Illinois church pastor gunned down during his Sunday sermon. Police say that Reverend Fred Winters deflected the first of the gunman's four rounds with his Bible. This morning, there are a lot of unanswered questions about the suspect and his possible motive for the shooting. Carol Costello is following that story for us. Also developing this morning, plans are now in the works for thousands of U.S. troops to soon leave Iraq. The U.S. military announcing 12,000 servicemen and women will be redeployed over the next six months. CNN's Nic Robertson is standing by in Baghdad with details on the drawdown.</s>ROBERTS: Now we begin this morning with major political developments and in just a few hours time, President Obama will reverse one of the most hotly debated policies of the Bush administration, restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The move will free up money for research, reigniting the bitter debate between science and politics, ethics and morality. Supporters believe the research could lead to cures and therapies for a wide variety of ailments, including Parkinson's disease, diabetes and potentially spinal cord industries. But embryos are destroyed when stem cells are extracted from them and critics say that is immoral. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is the only reporter live at the White House this early this morning. What's the administration hoping to accomplish with this announcement today, Suzanne?</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: ... here at the White House, and he said it really wasn't a matter if this was going to happen but just how it was going to happen. The president has been grappling over the last couple of weeks whether or not to go ahead and issue this executive order or to allow Congress to actually make this change. It's something that Congress could do, but really what White House officials are saying this morning is that this is something the president wanted to put a stamp on. He didn't want it to go through a long legislative process, but he wants to send a very clear signal that this administration believes the last eight years that President Bush put politics and policy over science. And he wants to say this is a clear break, this is not business as usual. This is something they believe that the Bush administration did with stem cell research with abortion, with climate change. So that is really the fundamental message this morning, John.</s>ROBERTS: People are saying, Suzanne, of the president's action today, OK, so he's going to announce stem cells today. He did a health care summit last week, but the economy is still tanking. Why doesn't he just focus on the economy? Is some of this designed to deflect attention away from the economy?</s>MALVEAUX: That's a very good question and it was something that the Office of Management and Budget, Director Peter Orszag, actually addressed over the weekend because this is so much on the president's plate. And he acknowledged, he said, look, this economic fix is going to take some time. It's going to take months, if not years. They're not going to sit on their hands and simply wait for this to happen. They're going to do other things. There's policy initiatives that they want to get done, get done, get in place. And so they're not necessarily waiting around for that to work. They're going to both at the same time. They say it's putting a lot on the grill, but they believe they can do it, John.</s>ROBERTS: All right. Suzanne Malveaux for us at the White House this morning. Suzanne, thanks so much. And President Obama's decision to lift restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. It's just the first step in the process because there are still laws on the books limiting the use of federal money. Here's more on that in an "AM Extra." Administration officials say the president does not intend to call for the repeal the legislation that bans the use of tax dollars to create human embryos for experimentation. That ban known as the Dickey-Wicker Amendment first became law in 1996. It has been renewed by Congress every year. The president has no power to overturn that ban. He's going to turn it over to Congress as to whether or not to lift that ban. As you can see, President Obama's on the economic order this morning live at 11:45 Eastern right here on CNN or on your computer at CNN.com/live.</s>CHETRY: Well, another developing story we're following for you. Police in Illinois are poring over audiotapes of a church shooting that has left a community in shock and mourning. It happened yesterday at the First Baptist Church of Maryville in southern Illinois, about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis. The congregation's beloved pastor, Fred Winters, was gunned down by a man who witnesses say entered the church, walked up to the pulpit and fired four shots. Police say the first shot was deflected by the pastor's Bible, unfortunately, the other three hit him. They know little about the suspect or his possible motive. Carol Costello is following the story for us this morning from Washington. Also, some efforts on the part of some churchgoers to try to tackle this guy to the ground but unfortunately it was too late.</s>CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But they were heroes nonetheless because they might have saved other lives, Kiran. You know people go to church for sanctuary, for peace and serenity and when the unthinkable happened at Illinois yesterday, some stunned congregants at first couldn't believe the horror was unfolding before them.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And at first we thought that it was confetti, but later we found that he shot through his Bible and disintegrated his Bible.</s>COSTELLO (voice-over): The relative quiet among the congregants inside the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Illinois, quickly turned to chaos Sunday morning. Police say an unidentified gunman calmly walked down the aisle during Reverend Fred Winter's sermon, exchanged a few words with the well-liked pastor, then pulled out a gun and opened fire.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The suspect said something to the pastor and the pastor said something back to him. We don't know what that was. It was almost as if the pastor may have recognized him, but we're not sure about that all.</s>COSTELLO: After the shots rang out, the Reverend Winters ran down the aisle before collapsing. Parishioners dropped for cover, praying and fearing they might be next.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were down on their knees on the floor screaming and praying. It was a terrible thing. It's just terrible.</s>COSTELLO: Police say the killer pulled a knife after his gun finally jammed. That's when two parishioners tackled him to the floor. In the struggle, all three were stabbed. Both the gunmen and one of those heroic churchgoers seriously injured. Besides his wife and two children, Pastor Winter leaves behind his flock, which had grown to some 1,000 members since he took over the church more than 20 years ago.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He knew your name when you walked in the door. Even with over 1,000 members, he knew your name.</s>COSTELLO: Very well-liked man. As for the two men who tackled the gunmen, one of them Terry Bullard remains hospitalized this morning. He's in serious condition. The other has been identified as Keith Melton. He's recovering at home. Police have yet to reveal the identity of the shooter, although we do know he's 27 years old. He's from nearby Troy, Illinois. He's also in serious condition with knife wounds to his neck. There are so many unanswered questions in this case. Of course, police will spend today listening to audiotapes from yesterday's service to see if they can figure out what words were exchanged between the gunman and Pastor Winters just before the shooting broke out, Kiran.</s>CHETRY: So disturbing though, Carol. All right, thanks so much.</s>ROBERTS: Developing details this morning on the drawdown in Iraq. The U.S. military will reduce the number of troops in the war zone by 12,000 over the next six months. President Obama's plan is to have all combat troops out of the country by August of 2010. Right now, there are 142,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, but news of the withdrawal comes amid a backdrop of new violence. CNN's Nic Robertson is live for us in Baghdad this morning. Nic, you've spent a lot of time in the country. Are things good enough on the ground for this withdrawal to happen? There was that big bombing in Baghdad at the police academy over the weekend?</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, General Odierno who's in charge of troops here, says that the situation is good enough for a drawdown, that there are enough Iraqi security forces and that are capable of doing the job. So this reduction of 12,000 troops by then end of September this year is a good and safe move but that does come at a time over the weekend where a suicide bomber attacked a police recruitment center. There are over a half a million policemen in the country at the moment and according to the ministry of interior here, they need to recruit another 60,000. So these recruitment centers are going to continue with lines of people outside of them, potential targets, but the reduction will go ahead of U.S. troops. Two combat brigade teams currently rotating out will not be replaced. So come the end of September this year, there will be about 130,000 U.S. troops and also 4,000 British troops we're told yesterday will be leaving the country by early summer -- John.</s>ROBERTS: All right. Nic Robertson for us in Baghdad this morning with the latest on the ground there. Nic, thanks so much.</s>CHETRY: And we're following breaking news, Asian stocks sinking overnight, a 26-year low in Japan. So, what will it mean for Wall Street's opening and your money? Our Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business." She'll be joining us in just a moment. It's eight minutes after the hour.