Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Crisis In The Middle East; U.N. Mideast Resolution; Iraq Rape- Murder?; Oil Pipeline Shutdown; Doping Tests

Aired August 07, 2006 - 07:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: To show their support for Lebanon. And a cease-fire resolution may be running into a little bit of trouble. The U.S. and France are pushing for a vote today, but Lebanon is unhappy that the resolution doesn't call for an Israeli troop withdrawal and that could delay the vote. We've got reports this morning from both sides of the border. Anderson Cooper in northern Israel. He's been embedded with the Israeli troops. And Ben Wedeman is live in Tyre in southern Lebanon. Let's get to Anderson. He joins us by phone.
Anderson, good morning.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Yes, as you just referred from a 14-hour embed (ph) inside south Lebanon, traveling with an Israeli combination engineering unit. What's interesting about it, I mean, you hear about the death toll of Israeli civilians and soldiers today from Katyusha rockets. Both sides really seem to be ratcheting up, sensing that some sort of diplomatic solution or diplomatic agreement may be reached in the coming days or week, so they're trying to achieve as much as they can, throw everything they can off the battlefield. We're really seeing that on this embed.

We are with this combat engineering unit to a Hezbollah out-port in a (INAUDIBLE) called Carcoon (ph). What's interesting about it, that it's only about a mile or so from the Israeli border, but it took about eight hours or nine hours just to drive there because the roads have been mined, booby trapped by Hezbollah. In fact, we actually saw the booby trap quite clearly when we got around them. So Israeli forces are finding themselves having to build new roads as they go. They travel with these enormous armored bulldozers.

They finally got to this outpost. They used several tons of C4 explosive. They blew it up. They also found some Hezbollah anti-tank missiles, some toe (ph) missiles, which Hezbollah has used very effectively against Israeli forces. So they considered it one successful operation, but they really didn't meet up any resistance, other than finding this cache of weapons, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Anderson Cooper and what's happening as he is embedded with Israeli forces.

Let's turn now to Ben Wedeman. He's in Tyre in southern Lebanon.

Ben, good morning again. BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Soledad.

Well, we've been seeing some intense artillery bombardment to the area south of Tyre. We can just show you, it's a fairly hazy, windy day, but the shells have been coming down fairly regularly and intensely for the last 10 or 15 minutes. Obviously, the Israeli artillery is moving, somehow moving closer to this area. There have been sporadic air strikes as well.

Now, obviously, one of the things the Israelis are looking for are these launch spots for the Israeli -- rather the Katyusha rockets being launched by Hezbollah. This area to the south and to the east of Tyre has been an active area for Hezbollah rocket launchers. In fact, last night, Soledad, we heard what sounded like out-going rockets. And minutes later, we heard that they hit Haifa. So this is an area, obviously, the Israelis would like to have a direct bird's eye view on to see if there are any further launchers. We're also hearing that Israeli commandos are approaching some of the ridges to the south of here that overlook this entire area.

In the meantime, preparations are being made for a possible siege of Tyre. The road to the north of the city has been bombed. We know that Doctors Without Borders is setting up a combat hospital in the city and the Red Cross has draped huge banners over its building here to let whoever wants to know that they are there and they are not a target.

Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Ben Wedeman in Tyre for us this morning. Ben, thanks.

Tony.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A U.N. resolution calling for a cease- fire in the Mideast could come as early as today, but it's already drawing some criticism from Hezbollah of the Lebanese government and some key Arab allies. CNN's senior United Nations correspondent, Richard Roth, joins us now.

Richard, good morning.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.

I'm not so sure you're going to see that resolution today. Tuesday maybe at the earliest. The words in the resolution that are drawing the most heat from Arab quarters, spoken by the French ambassador to the United Nations as he explained the terms of this proposed resolution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEAN-MARC DE LA SABLIERE, FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: The text calls for a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operation. That is to say naval, ground and air. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Lebanon and its supporters believes that it does not force Israel to withdraw under the terms of that resolution. The United States ambassador, John Bolton, on Saturday, after council meetings, thought that this resolution starts to deal with the crisis and its broader problems.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: The point we've made repeatedly is that the cease-fire, cessation of hostilities, has to be in the context of a fundamental transformation of the issue in the region. Otherwise, we will simply risk a repetition, as we have countless times before, without actually solving the problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Security Council permanent members, including Ambassador Bolton, met privately on Sunday, going over the resolution to see where Lebanon's concerns could be addressed. They will probably be negotiating throughout the day.

Tony.

HARRIS: Richard Roth for us this morning. Richard, thank you.

Well, the Bush administration wants a quick vote on the U.N. cease-fire resolution. The president is expected to make comments about the Mideast situation later this morning. For more on that, we turn to CNN White House correspondent Elaine Quijano.

Elaine, good morning.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Tony.

Well, the Bush administration is characterizing this draft resolution as a kind of prelude to the next step, one they hope will lead to the conditions for an eventual permanent peace in the Middle East. Now the high-stakes diplomacy has been underway throughout the weekend with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, as well as National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, with the president at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Now in addition to this first U.N. resolution, the administration would also like to eventually see a second one. One involving a multi-national force and having the Lebanese army move into southern Lebanon. And as U.S. officials push for passage of the U.N. measure, they are also insisting they are not compromising on their original goal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States has been very clear that we did have to have some political basis to make clear that that cessation of hostilities was not going to countenance a return to the status quo ante. This resolution does that. And now we're going to see who's for peace and who isn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now at the same time, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is also warning that periodic violence might continue. And as you noted, Tony, President Bush is expected to push for this draft resolution. He'll be making a statement from his Crawford ranch later this morning.

Tony.

HARRIS: White House correspondent Elaine Quijano. Elaine, thank you.

Once again, President Bush, as Elaine just mentioned, expected to address the proposed Security Council resolution a little later this morning. We're expecting to hear his remarks at around 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

Soledad.

O'BRIEN: The sound of gunfire and explosions rattled a neighborhood in eastern Baghdad for more than an hour today. At least three people were killed, more than a dozen injured, when U.S. and Iraqi forces raided a Shiite militia stronghold in the Sadr City district. The U.S. military says the fighting started when soldiers stormed the area, tried to catch extremists suspected of running torture cells. One coalition soldier was among those injured.

In Tikrit, at least 15 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a funeral procession. Police say the bomber mingled with the crowd before he detonated his explosive belt.

New testimony this morning in connection with rape and killings that some group of soldiers are alleged to have committed. They're going to face a court marshal in connection with that case. The soldiers, as I said, are believed to have raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and then killed the girl and her family. Let's get right to CNN's Harris Whitbeck. He's live for us in Baghdad with more.

Good morning to you, Harris.

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

The hearing taking place today is called an Article 32 hearing. It is being used for investigators to determine whether there are enough elements for a courts martial to proceed for these five U.S. soldiers. The hearing today centered around testimony from a military investigator who interviewed one of the accused soldiers.

The investigator said that the soldier told him in sworn testimony details about how two soldiers overpowered the young 14- year-old girl, took turns raping her, and then all five members of that family were killed and their bodies burned. The testimony was quite graphic at times. Now the defense brought up the issue of combat stress and asked the soldiers' unit commander if he believed that stress related to combat had anything to do with their actions on that night back in March.

Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Harris Whitbeck with an update on that investigation in that case. Thank you, Harris.

HARRIS: Well, back in the United States, there are real fears this morning that we could see gas prices just shooting up. BP is shutting down oil production on the eastern side of Alaska's Prudhoe Bay in order to find a pipeline leak. That takes about 8 percent of the nation's oil production offline. Andy is here following this important story for us.

And I remember the bulletin when it came over, we both thought the most interesting line in it was, we don't know how long it's even going to take us to shut it all down.

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Never mind fix it.

HARRIS: Never mind fix it.

SERWER: That is a problem. A significant snafu in U.S. oil production, Tony, you're right. BP is shutting down its production on the north slope in Alaska, in Prudhoe Bay, 400,000 barrels a day of production. That amounts to 8 percent of total U.S. production. There was a small leak discovered and a serious corrosion problem in its oil pipeline.

Just to give you a frame of reference. Last fall 1.4 million barrels a day was put offline during Katrina and Rita and the hurricanes. So this is not quite as bad as that situation. However, supply and demand, right now the relationship is so tight that any problem, even of this magnitude, is significant. And the price of oil, as you can see, up here over $76 a barrel, heading for that record perhaps of $78 a barrel. That means higher gas prices potentially for us in the United States.

The good news is that oil supplies here in the U.S. are at a five-year high. So initially, Tony, the problem is psychological more than anything else. But as you said at the top, we really don't know how bad this problem is. And as long as it's not quantifiable, it will have a psychological impact on the market and the price of oil will stay high.

HARRIS: And it will take a while for the market to sort of build in, factor in the loss of these barrels and adjust the prices accordingly. It will take a little bit.

SERWER: That's right. And the pipeline is hundreds of miles long.

HARRIS: Yes.

SERWER: And, you know, they're testing it electronically. They can't really walk it. I mean it's very, very -- it's a vast situation. A vast problem, I should say. And so we're going to be getting updates from BP. To their credit, they have been pretty good about providing information.

HARRIS: What are you paying here for a gallon?

SERWER: Well, in Connecticut I was paying -- I was lucky, I got $3.14 a gallon at a Valero gas station.

HARRIS: Is that pretty good?

SERWER: That was -- I hunted for that.

O'BRIEN: I paid $3.26 this weekend.

HARRIS: $3.26.

SERWER: Yes, you've got to look. You've got to hunt, right?

HARRIS: You've got to hunt. OK. Andy, thank you.

SERWER: Thank you.

Time for a check of the forecast now. Chad Myers is at the CNN Weather Center with an update. And that man is standing in front of a good-looking map. Look at that.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, we'll have more on the Middle East crisis. We'll take a closer look at why Lebanon is opposed to the cease-fire proposed in the U.N.

HARRIS: Also, cyclist Floyd Landis says he never cheated, despite another positive test for doping. Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us whether Landis' excuses, well, if any of them hold water.

O'BRIEN: And were a thousand girl scouts exposed to rabies? We're going to tell you what happened at a summer camp in Virginia just ahead. Stay with us. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Floyd Landis, fighting to keep his yellow jersey. Landis is lashing out against the international cycling union. In an interview with "USA Today," Landis says he's been treated unfairly and can't properly defend himself against the doping charges. Over the weekend, a second doping test came back positive once again confirming unusually high levels of testosterone.

Landis refuted the result, saying "I will fight these charges with the same determination and intensity that I bring to my training and racing. It is now my goal to clear my name and restore what I worked so hard to achieve."

Here to explain the doping test results, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Sanjay, good to see you. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.

HARRIS: Landis' testosterone ratio, 11 to 1. Now the one thing I have learned over the last couple of days following this story is that is unusually high, isn't it?

GUPTA: It is, Tony. And admittedly this is somewhat confusing for everyone who's been following this story, which is a lot of people. When it comes to testosterone, your body does naturally produce two substances. One is testosterone and one is epitestosterone. And it is the ratio between the two that people have been so focused on.

Typically that ratio is around 1 to 1. You know a normal human production is about 1 to 1. It can go up in some unusual cases higher than that, even 2 to 1, even as high as 4 to 1. What happens here, when it comes to testing, specifically is that a second test is triggered if the ratio is higher than 4 to 1. That just screams something funny is going on here. In this case it was 11 to 1 on two separate tests and that, obviously, is somewhat confusing, Tony.

HARRIS: OK. So, Sanjay, how important, significant, and some might say damning, is it that the second test on the B sample confirmed the results of the A sample?

GUPTA: It is pretty indicative that there's a problem here. One is, first of all, you have the actual sample confirming the high ratio. And then you have something probably even more important, Tony. This came back over the weekend actually saying, OK, now we know there's too much testosterone in the blood.

HARRIS: Right.

GUPTA: The real question is, where did it come from? Could it have been some remarkable, never heard before of ability for the body to produce that much extra testosterone, or was it simply given exogounously (ph)? Was it given synthetically in some way?

That's what the samples over the weekend confirm that, in fact, this is not natural testosterone. This is synthetic testosterone. That is why the ratio's so high. And that's basically what these tests over the weekend showed. So it's pretty hard to get out from underneath that, Tony.

HARRIS: OK. But the Landis camp is circulating some thoughts, some talking points, some explanations for the results. He was taking other medication for his hip. He drank too much. And then the other side of that is there was supposedly dehydration. Would any of these things cause this kind of elevated ratio?

GUPTA: Well, it's interesting. First of all, just take those one by one. First of all, the cotical (ph) steroids shots for the hip, they could raise some of the levels of hormones in the body. Typically what happens, when you give hormones like that, it actually might decrease your testosterone production. So I think that that argument probably doesn't hold a lot of water. There was a study that came out of Sweden specifically looked at alcohol and how that might possibly increase your testosterone level as well, specifically beer. And there was some indication that it could, but certainly not to the levels that we've seen here. And dehydration probably just, it would reduce both your testosterone and your epitestosterone levels, so it probably wouldn't change your ratio as dramatically as his has been changed.

HARRIS: Well, here's my real question. Because I'm thinking about this. What does a boosted level of testosterone -- how does it help these athletes perform?

GUPTA: That is probably the most odd part of this whole thing because, you know, if someone were picking a particular substance to use to dope in an event like this, testosterone probably wouldn't be that particular substance for a couple of reasons. One is that it typically works over the long-term. That it helps build muscle, as you can see there, it prevents breakdown of muscle as well. It might improve your recovery time from a particular injury.

But the thing about it is, that it's usually taken for a long time and for months in advance. And the thing that you've heard as well, Tony, in all this, is that he had other tests throughout the race that did not come back that high. So suggests that maybe just for a short-term he had that in his system in some way. The question is, why, really? It probably wouldn't be the substance of choice. I don't know. I mean, that's probably the most confusing part of this whole thing.

HARRIS: Is it possible that he had been using all along and had been taking some kind of masking agent?

HARRIS: That's a good question. And, you know, it's so interesting about when you follow these doping stories, is that they're constantly changing. There are new substances that come out. I'll give you an example. In the Balco case, for example, which you probably followed as well, they actually used a cream in that case that raised both the testosterone and the epitestosterone levels. The idea there was, hey, let's not mess with the ratio. Let's keep the ratio the same and let's just boost both.

So it's hard to know exactly what happened here. Was there a masking agent? Was there something else that he was taking altogether or that he was given in some way altogether? I'm choosing my words carefully here. I don't know, Tony.

HARRIS: All right. We'll find out shortly. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us from the CNN Center in Atlanta. Sanjay, good to see you.

GUPTA: Thank you.

HARRIS: And coming up in the next hour, Floyd Landis will join us live to respond to the test results.

O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, a death row inmate tries to get his conviction thrown out because of a smoking ban. We'll explain. And some scary news for the parents of nearly 1,000 Girl Scouts. Were they exposed to rabies at summer camp? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: General Motors preparing to flex a little muscle and get ready for the return of the Camaro. I remember that car. That was in the '70s?

O'BRIEN: Oh, Camaro.

SERWER: Did you have one?

HARRIS: No, I didn't.

O'BRIEN: Everybody in Long Island had a Red Camaro.

SERWER: Either that or a Trans Am.

O'BRIEN: Oh, yes.

HARRIS: That's right.

O'BRIEN: That's a cute car.

SERWER: Yes, one word is vroom this morning, Tony and Soledad. And, you know, you may remember -- this is interesting because back at the North American Auto Show in January, GM put out a Camaro pro-type. And it wowed the crowd. And then I remember Steve Kroft on "60 Minutes" asking CEO Rick Wagoner, he said, well, you're going to make this thing, right? And Wagoner said, well, we're not sure. And Steve Kroft looked at him like, why not?

HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

SERWER: I mean this is the whole thing, you've got to make cars that people want.

HARRIS: You want buzz, right?

SERWER: So now, according to the "Detroit Free Press," GM is set to make an announcement this week that they will produce this retro Camaro. It won't be ready until 2008, according to the newspaper, but I guess at some point is better than never.

O'BRIEN: Does Steve Kroft get a free one?

SERWER: I think he might for encouraging that or at least a commission or something. But, you know, for encouraging that. But, you know, this is the kind of thing, these muscle cars. The question is, you guys, you know it's going to be a niche car. I mean, you know you can sell some, but is it enough to make a difference? That's the question. Because you see these hot new Firebirds that -- Thunderbirds, I should say, that Ford has. And, you know, these Mustangs and stuff and are they big enough. HARRIS: But when they were popular, they were popular with the kids, right?

SERWER: They were very popular.

HARRIS: Your first car, your second car, it was a Camaro.

SERWER: And some people never grow up.

HARRIS: I'm a Toys r' Us kid, absolutely.

SERWER: Some people keep going. And they're asking about Trans Ams . . .

HARRIS: Oh, there it is.

O'BRIEN: That is a cute car.

SERWER: See, there's nothing wrong with that.

O'BRIEN: See, I'd buy a little car like that.

SERWER: At 400 horsepower, not so little, Soledad. Get out of her way.

O'BRIEN: I mean little as in it doesn't have a lot of seats in the back.

SERWER: I see what you're saying. She's taking off to town by herself kind of deal.

O'BRIEN: That's a cute car. I like that.

HARRIS: That's an update (ph) right? Alone. Yes.

O'BRIEN: Hey, what's the price of that car? Do you know yet?

SERWER: We don't know about that. No word on that yet.

HARRIS: And coming up, you're talking about -- what is this, another marriage that you're -- arrangement here?

SERWER: Yes, this is in a magazine called "Forbes" that I think I've heard of.

HARRIS: Yes.

SERWER: And it turns out that Bono may be investing in this magazine. It's an interesting thing.

HARRIS: All right.

O'BRIEN: Huh, that's interesting.

SERWER: Yes.

O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks.

SERWER: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, Lebanon, obviously, devastated by those Israeli air strikes. So why is that nation now opposing a U.N. plan for a cease-fire? We're going to check in with a top Lebanese official right after this break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com