Immigration Battle; Iraqi Army Recruits Attacked; Preacher's Wife to be Arraigned on First-Degree Murder Charges
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Miles O'Brien.</s>SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien. A wife accused of killing her preacher husband heads to court for the first time today. She's confessed, she's even apologized. But why did she do it? It's till a big question. We've got a live report straight ahead.</s>M. O'BRIEN: New developments in the case of those two missing boys. It's now a criminal case. We'll have the latest for you. Plus, we have seen those huge protests. Now the real fight in Washington begins over a proposed crackdown on millions of undocumented immigrants in America.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Then this morning, this: he's Hasidic, he's into hip-hop, and he's popular on the reggae charts. He's Matisyahu. He is all the rage. We've got his story just ahead. Also, how much would you pay for a little bling-bling for your baby? We're going to take a look on this</s>AMERICAN MORNING. M. O'BRIEN: Well, it is borderline political civil war in Washington as Republicans debate immigration reform in that city today. We saw protests and demonstrations last week. Now it all moves to D.C. The Senate today taking up some controversial proposals for the government's new immigration policy. CNN Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash joining us now. Dana, what are we going to see on the Hill today?</s>DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, today we are going to see how all of that emotion that you just talked about actually translates into any particular legislation. That is going to start in the Senate today. The focus of the drama will be in the Senate Judiciary Committee. And staffers worked all weekend trying to find some middle ground on the issue that rips Republicans apart. That is, whether or not illegal workers should be able to stay in the United States and on what terms. Now, the Senate Judiciary chairman, Arlen Specter, over the weekend seemed to indicate that he supports some kind of temporary worker program that would lead to a path to citizenship.</s>SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R-PA), CHAIRMAN, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: They are going to be checked out very, very carefully. They are not going to go ahead of people who have been waiting in line for citizenship. They are going to go to the end of the line for people who have stayed at home and have gone through the normal channels.</s>BASH: Now, there is yet another Republican proposal that would allow illegal workers to stay and work legally in the United States for five years, but then would have to leave the country and apply to reenter. But some other Republicans, some more conservative, I would say, Republicans, like Tom Tancredo of Colorado, say, Miles, all of this is akin to amnesty.</s>REP. TOM TANCREDO (R), COLORADO: When you reward millions and millions of people, which Senator Specter's bill does do, for coming across the border the wrong way, doing it illegally, then you -- it's a slap in the face to every single person who has done it the right way and to everybody who is waiting out there to do it the right way. It's bad policy.</s>BASH: There you hear one Republican saying it's bad policy. The Judiciary Committee in about an hour is going to start to debate this, and they could work well into the night trying to find the compromise, at least something to bring this particular bill to the Senate floor. But, Miles, they might not have to worry about that, because the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, says he has a measure that he's going to bring to the Senate floor for the full Senate to debate no matter what happens in the Judiciary Committee, and that could happen as soon as tomorrow -- Miles.</s>M. O'BRIEN: All right. We'll be watching that. Meanwhile, one of the proposals out there, Dana, is a 700-mile fence or wall along the border there. Does that idea really have much traction?</s>BASH: Well, that actually passed the House of Representatives, over $2 billion to build that wall. That is just one of the issues that maybe illustrates how difficult this is going to be to actually go to the president's desk, because it passed the House of Representatives, in the Senate there are lots of different proposals. At this point there doesn't seem to be a lot of support for that kind of broad</s>M. O'BRIEN: Dana Bash on the Hill. Thank you. The president's remarks on immigration reform scheduled for 10:00 Eastern this morning, right after our program, a little less than an hour from now. We'll bring it to you live, of course -- Soledad.</s>S. O'BRIEN: There has been a deadly suicide attack on a group of men lined up in an Iraqi army recruiting center. This videotape just into CNN. Take a look. At least 30 people are dead. At least another 30 injured. It happened in northern Iraq near Tal Afar. CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson is live for us in Baghdad this morning. Nic, good morning.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. The details of this attack have become clearer through the day. And we can see clearly now from these pictures that this was, as it was described to us, a mobile base with very little security around it. A mobile recruiting center for the Iraqi army that the insurgents have chosen to target. Thirty Iraqi army and civilians lined up waiting to sign up for the Iraqi army killed when a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest walked up to the line of would-be recruits, detonated his explosives. We're told 30 other people also wounded in the attack. We understand that no U.S. personnel were involved, were caught up in the casualty list there. But we do understand that a U.S. medical team came in very quickly to provide medical support for the -- for the Iraqis caught in the blast. But this appears to be an indication of the insurgents seeing what appears to be a relatively soft target and targeting these would-be army soldiers as they lined up to join the new Iraqi army -- Soledad.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson reporting from Baghdad for us this morning. Nic, thanks for the update -- Miles.</s>M. O'BRIEN: The preacher's wife who is accused of murdering her husband in court this afternoon. Mary Winkler to be arraigned on first-degree murder charges in Selmer, Tennessee. She is accused of shooting her husband, Matthew Winkler, last week. Live now to Selmer. Rusty Dornin is following it for us. Good morning, Rusty.</s>RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, the big question on everyone's mind is, why on earth would Mary Winkler, who was supposedly in a very happy marriage and a very loving couple, shoot her husband in the back, as she confessed to police over the weekend? Police are keeping it very close to the vest. They say they know what the motive was. Meantime, her colleague, Pam Killingsworth, visited Mary Winkler in jail over the weekend, said she seemed to be in pretty good spirits but seemed very upset about how what she had done might have an impact on others.</s>PAM KILLINGSWORTH, FRIEND OF MARY WINKLER: Just repeatedly through our conversation she was asking me to apologize to this one or that one for all the problems that she'd caused them, that she was so sorry that she had caused the church all the problems that we're going through right now.</s>DORNIN: Killingsworth said she never actually admitted to shooting her husband, and her attorney is now saying she will plead not guilty in her arraignment later this afternoon. He's saying he hasn't even seen the confession and won't see it until he sees the discovery. Meantime, funeral arrangements for Mathew Winkler will be taking place tomorrow -- Miles.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Rusty, tell us about members of his congregation. How are they doing? Did they have services yesterday, for example?</s>DORNIN: It's been very difficult for the congregation because apparently -- Pam Killingsworth just told me also -- they lost two other members of their congregation to natural causes, apparently, in addition to this. They had services yesterday. The deacon there saying please don't talk to anyone, don't speculate on the motive for what happened. And please have forgiveness, please forgive Mary Winkler for what she has done. So they are trying to stick together and trying not to apparently speculate on the motive in this case.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Very difficult time, to say the least. Rusty Dornin in Selmer, Tennessee. Thank you very much. Once again, that arraignment this afternoon. We'll keep you posted on that. Let's get to Carol Costello in the newsroom with some other stories we're looking at. Good morning, Carol.</s>CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Miles. Good morning to all of you. Two Americans and a British man held hostage for the past month in Nigeria will soon head home. Militants released the men earlier today. They're now with Nigerian officials. The men were abducted five weeks ago as part of a protest against oil companies in the region. Police have a name but no motive in a mass shooting in Seattle. Six people killed, two injured Saturday after a rave party. The suspect, Aaron Kyle Huff, apparently left the party but came back armed and opened fire on a house full of people. He then shot himself. Medical marijuana and the right to fight for life, that's the issue facing the federal appeals court in San Francisco. It's hearing arguments about whether marijuana should be legalized in very special, very serious cases. The Bush administration says the case is without merit. An Afghan man who faced the death penalty for converting to Christianity could be released today. The Afghan court dropped the case, saying there wasn't enough evidence. In the meantime, some 1,000 people in Afghanistan are protesting the court's dismissal. They say the Afghan courts caved in to Western pressure. Pretty incredible pictures from Brooklyn New York, to show you. Check out that -- that's an SUV in that hole. It's teetering on the edge of a manhole. There was a water main break underneath the street and that caused the street to literally cave in. A good old-fashioned sinkhole for you. The driver is fine. She was able to get out safely. The street, though, has been shut down. Subway service for that line that runs underneath the street now on hold. And Tillie is getting another chance at a crime-free life. Tillie is the mannequin a Colorado driver used to get into the HOV lane. He was caught. The mannequin was sold on eBay for $15,000. Proceeds benefit the teen safe driving group Alive at 25. That makes it a little better, doesn't it?</s>S. O'BRIEN: Fifteen thousand? Is that what you said? Fifteen thousand dollars?</s>COSTELLO: Fifteen thousand dollars. But it goes for a good cause, so maybe...</s>S. O'BRIEN: Oh, no, that's a great cause. I mean...</s>COSTELLO: ... that's why they spent that much money.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Wow. Just $15,000 for Tillie?</s>COSTELLO: Otherwise -- I know. Otherwise...</s>S. O'BRIEN: That he kind of put together with, like, spit and glue, pretty much? OK.</s>COSTELLO: Pretty much.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Maybe she looked like the Virgin Mary.</s>S. O'BRIEN: What?</s>M. O'BRIEN: Well, you know, remember that grilled cheese sandwich that...</s>S. O'BRIEN: Oh, I see. No, Tillie, nothing.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Nothing.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Looking nothing like the Virgin Mary. Carol, thank you. Let's get to the forecast. Chad has that. Tillie, $15,000 -- would you pay $15,000 for Tillie, Chad?</s>CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, somebody wanted that Breckenridge hat. That's all I can think. It was a very valuable hat, because the body was Styrofoam, wasn't it?</s>S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes, pretty much.</s>MYERS: OK. Whatever. I'm sure somebody will tattoo something...</s>M. O'BRIEN: What are we going to auction off here?</s>MYERS: Something -- someone will...</s>S. O'BRIEN: How much for my laptop?</s>MYERS: Exactly. Good morning, everybody.</s>MYERS: Back to you guys.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Chad, stay with us for a moment. We have a picture. We want to introduce you to a friend of ours.</s>S. O'BRIEN: A friend of Miles.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Hopefully -- check this out. This is a guy, he's got some kind of Pier One offering (ph) there, enjoying the sun, he's got a little drink. It looks like he's waiving at us. Does he have CNN out there or something? Now, pull back. Where are we, folks? Right in the middle of Columbus Circle.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Which for people who don't know, it's right in the middle of Manhattan. I mean, he's basically surrounded by a roadway, and Central Park, of course, right next to him. But it's kind of a strange place to sit, even on a beautiful day, Chad.</s>MYERS: I hope he has his sunscreen on.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes. And we were thinking about auctioning off that little Pier One cushy deal.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Yes, the lounger.</s>MYERS: The papa san?</s>M. O'BRIEN: The papa san. It's a papa san.</s>MYERS: That's right, supposedly.</s>S. O'BRIEN: What do you offer for that, Chad? We'll start at $100. We'll let our friend know that we're selling the chairs.</s>M. O'BRIEN: We'll give him a cut.</s>S. O'BRIEN: It's all fair.</s>MYERS: Ten bucks.</s>M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you, Chad.</s>MYERS: All right.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, a much more serious story for you: 911 from 9/11. New York City repairs to release emergency tapes from that fateful date, and many victims' families are angry about that. We'll tell you why.</s>S. O'BRIEN: I can imagine. Also this morning, we're going to find out today if Zacarias Moussaoui will testify in his sentencing trial. At least one legal expert says that would be a nightmare scenario. We'll ask him why.</s>M. O'BRIEN: And a Red Cross rip-off. The charity has fired three, but is the problem bigger than that? We'll ask the man at the top. Stay with us.