American Morning
Pakistani Hearts and Minds
By Kaj Larsen, Correspondent
Editor's note: Kaj is covering the aftermath of the flooding in Pakistan for American Morning. Watch his reports on AMERICAN MORNING at 6:00AM Eastern.
One way of describing the flood crisis in Pakistan is as two separate catastrophes: one in the north and one in the south.
The north's crisis can be described as destruction of infrastructure, including roads, bridges and homes. The crisis in the south can be described as desperation as a large portion of the country remains under water without access to food, shelter, clean water or the agriculture that provides daily sustenance for much of the population.
The water destruction is not the only thing that differentiates the northern and southern half of Pakistan. Complicated tribal, cultural, ethnic, religious and even geographical differences also separate the country.
Though neither region can be described as homogenous, many scholars and national security experts feel that the U.S. faces an uphill battle in winning support in the northern and tribal parts of Pakistan, while the more moderate middle and southern parts of the country could be fertile ground for finding Pakistanis who are friendly towards U.S. policy. Some have gone as far as to argue that we should target the flood aid towards the moderate middle and southern parts of the country, like the Sindh province and the Punjab region where the U.S. has the greatest chance of influencing people.
As I drove around the country covering the aftermath of the floods, I spoke to Pakistanis about their feelings on Americans and U.S. policy. Here is what they had to say.
Watch the rest of Kaj Larsen's reporting on the aftermath of the flooding in Pakistan on American Morning tomorrow at 6:00AM Eastern.
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Detained U.S. hiker could be freed as early as Monday
Tehran, Iran (CNN) - Sarah Shourd, one of three American hikers detained in Iran for more than a year, could be released as early as Monday once $500,000 is submitted to the Iranian judiciary.
"Everything is in place for the release," said lawyer Massoud Shafii, who got to see the hikers for the first time on Sunday. "It's up to the family when to deliver the money."
The official Islamic Republic News Agency reported earlier Sunday that Shourd will be released if bail worth about $500,000 for her is submitted to the Iranian judiciary.
"Naturally she was happy, but her wish is for all three to be released together," said the lawyer, who met the Americans at Tehran's Evin prison after the prosecutor for Tehran's Revolutionary Court announced the offer to release Shourd on bail.
"I saw them and spoke to them," Shafii told CNN. "They were doing well."
Shafii said he doesn't know when exactly the release would take place. Read more.
Hurricane Igor, Tropical Storm Julia churn the Atlantic
(CNN) - Hurricane Igor, which quickly intensified over the weekend, was poised on Monday to become a Category 5 storm - the most-powerful on the Saffir-Simpson scale that measures tropical weather.
The storm blossomed into a major Atlantic Ocean hurricane on Sunday with top winds of 150 mph (240 kph), but remained far from land, forecasters reported.
Igor, which started as tropical storm on Saturday, became a powerful Category 4 storm late Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center. Forecasters described it as "large and powerful."
As of 5 a.m. ET Monday, the storm was about 940 miles (1,515 kilometers) east of the northern Leeward Islands and was moving west at about 13 mph (20 kph), the center reported. Read more.
The Muslims who rescued my Jewish Ancestors
Editor's Note: David Levy is a proud U.S. Air Force Veteran. He is also a journalist and a graphic artist who lives in New York City.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/09/10/muslim.art.jpg caption="Jewish animosity and religious persecution continued for a century and culminated in the Spanish Inquisition in 1478"]
By David Levy, Production
My mother hates the fact that I live and work in New York City, especially when 9/11 comes around. She worries about Islamist terrorists attacking the city again. And yet, she also reminds me I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the moderate Muslims who rescued my Spanish-Jewish Ancestors.
Spanish Jews, or Sephardi, are Jews whose ancestors lived in Spain or Portugal in the Middle Ages until they were persecuted and forced to leave. My father is Sephardic. He came to America from Cuba in the 60's when Fidel Castro took power. My grandparents were born in Turkey, where the Levy family had lived for hundreds of years, ever since sometime around 1492.
Does that year, 1492, ring a bell? Of course, it's the year Columbus set sail for India with ships and money from the Spanish King and Queen, Ferdinand and Isabella. But that's not the only, or even the biggest, historic event in Spain that year. The same Ferdinand and Isabella we know from grade school also ordered the expulsion of Jews from Spain during the Spanish Inquisition, in 1492.
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