Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

U.N. Struggles to Find Cease-fire Solution for Middle East Crisis; Floyd Landis Speaks Out About Doping Results

Aired August 07, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Powerful explosions rocking Southern Lebanon this morning. Back and forth battles while the U.N. and the U.S. struggle to find a solution.
Expect gas prices to start going up soon. The biggest American oil field is shutting down. We'll tell you why.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, here's the question of the morning -- what does cyclist Floyd Landis have to say about another failed doping test? He tells his side of the story in a live interview in a few minutes from right now.

Also coming up...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even though we pay first class taxes, we're treated like second class citizens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The same-sex marriage debate from the pulpit. Two gay Episcopalian priests now ready to fight to be legally married.

All of those stories straight ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

I'm Soledad O'Brien.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris in for Miles O'Brien.

Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: And nice to have you.

Thanks for helping us out.

HARRIS: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: let's begin with what's happening in the Middle East this morning.

Explosions on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border. Hezbollah reportedly launching more than 80 Katyushas already and Israel pounding away in Southern Lebanon, looking for those rocket launchers.

Reports across the border.

Let's start with CNN's Paula Hancocks, who is in Haifa. Ben Wedeman is in Tyre. In fact, let's start with Ben -- Ben, good morning.

And obviously we're having some audio difficulties -- hey, Ben, it's Soledad.

Can you hear me?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Soledad.

I thought you were talking to somebody else.

OK, yes, here we've had a fairly steady day of bombardment to the south of Tyre. We just had an air raid to the east of here on a road. And it does seem to be that this city is bracing for a possible Israeli offensive in the area.

Overnight, Israeli aircraft hit the road leading from the north, north of here, to Beirut. Essentially, this city is now blocked off.

Now, relief agencies are preparing for the worst at this point. We've seen that, for instance, Doctors Without Borders has set a -- is setting up a combat hospital in Tyre's old corridors and the Red Cross is also bringing in more supplies.

Now, I'm being told there are more blasts to the south of here. It does look like what has changed in the last 24 hours is increasingly we're getting artillery bombardment. And I can hear -- I hope maybe you can also hear -- there are these distant thumps as these artillery rounds come crashing into this area.

And, of course, the area south of Tyre is where many of the Katyusha rockets fired into Israel have come from and it does appear that the Israeli artillery and aircraft are trying to soften up this area for potential military action.

We also know from Lebanese military intelligence that in the ridges to the south of here, the ridges that overlook this area, there have been three attempts by Israeli ground troops to gain a foothold on those ridges. According to those same sources, they -- those troops have been repulsed -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Ben Wedeman for us this morning.

Ben, thanks.

Let's get now to northern Israel and Haifa. The city, once again, being targeted by Hezbollah.

That's where Paula Hancocks is for us this morning -- hey, Paula, good morning.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, Hezbollah certainly hasn't let up in its rocket attacks across northern Israel this Monday. We know from the Israeli police 83 rockets have hit so far and we understand five just lightly wounded. So, not such a deadly day as it was on Sunday. Fifteen people -- sorry, that was Saturday. On Sunday, we know that three people were killed in Haifa itself, in this port city, the third largest city in Israel, in the Arab neighborhood of this city.

Now, this was just before 8:00 on Sunday evening, a little later than Hezbollah usually launches these rockets. And it took many people here by surprise, as there had not been a serious rocket attack in this area for at least a week and some people had been lulled into a false sense of security.

People were trying to get on with life as normal. But a deadly attack here.

And, also just north of Kiryat Shmona. This is the northernmost town in Israel. Just north of there in a kibbutz, 12 Reserve soldiers waiting to go across the border and waiting to start fighting in Southern Lebanon were killed by a shell, as well. And so today has been a bit quieter. It's still fairly early, though. But as the U.N. draft resolution is being discussed and as peace is being talked about, it really makes very little difference to those on the ground here in northern Israel and also in Southern Lebanon -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Paula Hancocks for us this morning.

Paula, thanks -- Tony.

HARRIS: And over to Beirut now, where the Arab League is meeting to show its support for Lebanon. The organization's leader has already criticized the U.N. resolution drafted by the U.S. and France.

CNN's Anthony Mills has more from Beirut -- Anthony.

ANTHONY MILLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, the Arab League foreign ministers are, indeed, meeting as we speak, only about 200 meters from where I stand in the prime minister's offices.

This, of course, against a background of continued violence, with reports of an air strike on a building in Hula, in Southern Lebanon, a village in Southern Lebanon.

Now, in his opening speech, the Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora, spoke of 40 deaths in that strike. We've had word from a high ranking Army official here in Lebanon saying that there are 18 people confirmed dead so far.

So we'll bring you more on that as the details come in.

Meanwhile, close to here, the Arab League meeting underway and before it, yes, a unified stance in the criticism of the resolution with not just Lebanese officials, but also the Syrian foreign minister, Walid Moallem, and also the head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, criticizing that resolution for a number of issues, but primary among them, the fact that it doesn't call on Israel to withdraw immediately from Southern Lebanon.

And Hezbollah officials have said as long as there is one Israeli soldier on the Lebanese soil, the fight will continue -- Tony.

HARRIS: But, Anthony, in the final analysis, if this draft resolution is passed by the United Nations Security Council, it is the draft and won't the members of the Arab League just have to live with it?

MILLS: Well, they will, absolutely. There's nothing really they can do if it is passed. But they are warning, Arab officials are warning that if it is passed in its current form, if it is passed in a form that is considered unacceptable both by Lebanon, by Syria, by other Arab countries and, more importantly of all, by Hezbollah, then it won't stop the fighting. The fighting will continue.

Hezbollah has said that. The speaker of Lebanon's parliament, Nabi Beri, has said so. And, indeed, yesterday, Syria's foreign minister, Walid Moallem, here in Lebanon, warning in a speech, in a press conference, saying that it was a recipe for a continuation of war, and, indeed, for civil war.

So, yes, they'd have to live with it, but they're already warning that the consequences could be more violence -- Tony.

HARRIS: CNN's Anthony Mills from Beirut for us.

Anthony, thank you.

And we are expecting to hear from the president and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice coming up at around 10:00 a.m. Eastern time.

President Bush spent the weekend going over possible plans for the Middle East with Secretary Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

The Bush administration was hoping to see a resolution in place today.

O'BRIEN: A sudden blow to America's oil supply could have a huge impact on what we pay for gas. B.P. has shut down the largest oil field in the U.S. indefinitely. Corrosion and a small oil spill have been discovered in a Prudhoe Bay pipeline on the north coast of Alaska.

Now, the shut down cuts production by 400,000 barrels a day, or about 8 percent of the country's oil supply. B.P. spokesman Daren Beaudo spoke to us by phone from Anchorage earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAREN BEAUDO, SPOKESMAN, B.P.: The current plan is, first of all, to safely, and with protection to the environment, take down the facilities. This is not a small operation. This is -- we're talking about several facilities that separate oil, gas and water. We're talking about adjoining pipelines. So it's really quite an undertaking.

And we're taking down the eastern operating area first, and that'll take a matter of hours, perhaps, you know, 24 to 36 hours. Overall, we could be talking, you know, a few days, to take the entire field safely down.

We won't resume operation of the field until we and government regulators are satisfied that they can be operated safely and pose no threat to the environment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: That was Daren Beaudo.

He is a spokesman for B.P.

Let's get right to the forecast now.

Chad's got that -- Chad, earlier, that map looked just lovely.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Much better than the map of the past couple of weeks, frankly.

MYERS: Absolutely.

Yes, nobody has a heat index today of 115. There is something to be said about that.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: And coming up next, embattled Tour de France champion Floyd Landis joins us live.

Another doping test has turned up positive. But he says he never cheated.

So what gives?

He'll offer his side of the story.

O'BRIEN: Also, a closer look at daily life in Baghdad, as violence in Iraq is getting worse. The situation is so bad, some people say it's life in hell.

HARRIS: And, Senator Joe Lieberman trails in the polls heading into tomorrow's Democratic primary.

How would a Liebermann loss affect the road to the White House in 2008?

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Floyd Landis could become the first champion in the Tour de France history to lose his title because of doping allegations. Landis has failed two doping tests now and he's been fired from his racing team. He says he's never taken a banned substance and that he is determined to prove his innocence.

We're going to talk live with Floyd Landis just ahead.

First, though, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us.

He's at the CNN Center in Atlanta this morning -- hey, Sanjay, good morning to you.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: What do you think is the essential, key question here for Floyd Landis?

GUPTA: Yes, sure. I've been listening to a lot of the interviews Floyd Landis has been doing. One thing he keeps talking about is the fact that all of the tests that have been done are actually measuring a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone.

In fact, that's true for the first couple of tests that he had. But this last test that we've been talking so much about confirmed, Soledad, that there is synthetic testosterone -- there was synthetic testosterone -- in his system, in his urine.

The question is how did that get there? Because regardless of the ratios at this point, it has now been confirmed that there is synthetic testosterone in the bloodstream -- sorry -- in the urine. How did it get there?

That would be the essential question at this point, I think, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay.

Then let's hear from Floyd Landis.

And, Sanjay, we're going to ask you to stick around so that we can follow up with you.

And, in fact, let's get right to CNN's Chris Lawrence.

He's in Los Angeles.

He's joined by Floyd Landis this morning -- hey, Chris, good morning.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning to you, Soledad.

And, Floyd, I just want to I guess jump right in following Sanjay's question. How did that synthetic testosterone get into your system?

FLOYD LANDIS, TOUR DE FRANCE WINNER: Here's another thing that I think has just been misrepresented by the doctor who just spoke. This test they used, which indicates, as they claim, synthetic testosterone, is also a ratio of two natural substances. It's a (AUDIO GAP)

It's a subjective test.

But as far as why did it happen that way? I cannot say. I've been accused of making different

And I felt like I should try to defend myself. And I think that was a mistake.

So rather than try to speculate on why this happened, I'm having people working on this, trying to figure out what happened.

LAWRENCE: But now the tests are generally, as far as I know, generally considered to be fairly standard, fairly reliable tests, that if a synthetic substance is found, it is what it is.

LANDIS: There's a myriad of reasons why these tests could have made a mistake, including -- which appears to be the case at this moment, some other agenda by the people doing the tests. They've broken their own rules in making this public from the beginning and forced me to make these statements as to why this may have happened.

Had they followed their rules, for example, in the Justin Gatlin case -- I assume he's innocent until this is finished -- but he was given three months to come up with a statement and try to figure out what happened before they made this public.

And in my case, I was given less than 24 hours before this was announced by the UCI and, you know, this is what's caused the confusion at this point.

LAWRENCE: You know, you say that maybe they have an agenda.

But what -- I guess people sitting at home would say, you know, in light of what they heard from baseball players, from track and field stars, in light of allegations that they've heard from other cyclists, what kind of agenda would they have to potentially damage their own -- their own sport?

LANDIS: Well, this isn't the first time that this same French lab has tried to bring down an American athlete. They did the same thing with Lance Armstrong last year. He proved that they had problems with their testing procedure. The testing is supposed to be completely objective and they have a number on the sample and they don't know the name. Otherwise, there could be a motivation to try to alter things.

Obviously tests not the case. Lance Armstrong proved that last year and we have evidence that tests the same again this time.

Clearly, the statement made by the UCI when they announced this indicated that. Pat McQuaid, the president of the UCI, in his own statement releasing this said he wanted to make this public before the lab did so. He knew that that would happen.

So there is a problem there, for sure.

LAWRENCE: But when you look at that and with what's gone on here, I guess my question would be if you accept the fact that a synthetic substance was found in your body, do you think it's more likely that a sample was switched, that there's a problem with the test or that someone from your team put it into your system, maybe inadvertently?

LANDIS: I'd have a hard time accusing someone on my team doing that. I trust them. I'm certain that that is not the case.

As to what may have happened, I can't say which is more likely. But I do think that the circumstantial evidence points to, like I said, some kind of agenda. Otherwise, if -- if the agenda here was just to catch the people who cheat, there would be no point in making bold public statements and breaking their own rules at the same time. You would just follow the procedure and let the system take care of it.

LAWRENCE: can you understand that for people at home, you know, nothing occurs in a vacuum -- and we've all heard these stories about baseball and track and cycling. When you say well maybe they had an agenda to get me, that people say hard time buying that?

LANDIS: I think that had I just made this up out of the blue, that would be hard to believe. But considering their past and their history and the things that they've done before and the fact that the UCI admits that there's a problem with their procedure there and it hasn't done anything to fix it -- if I had just made this up and had no evidence to that fact, yes, I think it would be unbelievable.

But this is a different story here.

LAWRENCE: One last question.

There is a possibility, a very real possibility, that you could become the first person to lose, you know, after winning the Tour de France, lose that yellow jersey because of using illegal substances. How do you feel about that right now?

LANDIS: I'll tell you what, I'm going to take that yellow jersey that I wore on the last day and I'm going to hang it on my wall, because I'm proud of what I did. I won that race with determination and heart. And I think anybody that watched that race will agree with me in that everything I did was according to the rules, exactly the way the rest of the race went. And I'm proud of the achievement that I have made.

LAWRENCE: All right, Floyd Landis, thank you very much.

LANDIS: Thank you.

LAWRENCE: Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Chris Lawrence for us this morning.

Chris, thanks.

Chris talking to Floyd Landis.

Up next, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to come back and continue our discussion about the Landis controversy. We'll get his thoughts on what you just heard from Floyd Landis.

That's right after this short break.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Well, as you just heard a moment ago, the embattled cyclist Floyd Landis now facing an uphill battle to explain his two failed drug tests.

Let's get right back with senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta -- hey, Sanjay, you heard what he had to say. Here's a couple of questions I have for you.

First of all, how accurate are these tests?

GUPTA: Well, you know, when it comes to the ratio tests, which, again, are the first two tests that were performed, they are fairly accurate. They give us a sense, sort of, of what the body's natural testosterone is to the epitestosterone. If it's raised above a certain level, then it raises some flags. So it's sort of a screening test, if you will, Soledad.

The other test that came back, the results came back on Saturday, basically says OK, now that we know the ratio is really high, the question is where did this extra testosterone come from? could it be some incredible act of nature or has the body actually produced all this extra testosterone or is it synthetic?

And there is sort of a fingerprint, if you will, for synthetic testosterone versus natural testosterone. That is a very reliable test. That basically shows we don't know how it got there, but there is artificial, synthetic, exogenous, whatever word you want to use, testosterone that's actually present in the body.

O'BRIEN: He said that that is also a ratio test. In fact, he's corrected you in his interview and said that you were mistaken.

Is that -- are you right or is he right?

GUPTA: Well, I like to, of course, say that I'm right. You know, we've talked to lots of experts about this. And, you know, understandably, it is somewhat confusing. And I wouldn't be surprised if even he was somewhat confused by all of this. He's had the same time as everyone else to learn about all this stuff, it sounds like.

But, again, when it comes to the first two tests, he's right, those were ratio tests. But the real question that needs to be asked, that the scientific community is trying to answer, where did all that extra testosterone come from?

Could it be, as he sort of said, you know, just his body's own way of making him such a hyper competitive athlete, producing so much testosterone? Or was it, in some way, artificial?

And, again, Soledad, this is a pretty -- this is one of the more reliable things when it comes to this sort of testing. This is almost a fingerprint. There is a carbon atom that sits in a different place in synthetic testosterone versus natural testosterone. You can find that. It's, like I said, like a fingerprint, almost.

O'BRIEN: Could somebody sneak testosterone to you in some way, shape or form that you would not know?

GUPTA: Yes. That's a good question and it is possible. I mean, we learned a lot about this with the BALCO investigation, talking about creams, talking about patches, talking about lozenges even.

Could a cream, for example, have been, you know, in a massage, for example, have been placed on the skin? Of course this is pure speculation.

But the answer to your question is yes. It doesn't have to be a shot. It is something that could have been inadvertent, so to speak.

O'BRIEN: What kind of advantage does testosterone give you?

GUPTA: Well, that's the sort of odd part about all of this. Unless you were taking testosterone sort of chronically over a long period of time, in which case it would have significant benefits in terms of muscle repair, in terms of some muscle building. It is an anabolic steroid. But unlike some of the other substances we talk so much about if we go to cycling, like EPO, which boost your red blood cell prediction and gives you a distinct advantage immediately, testosterone sort of is more of a chronic advantage.

So, the idea that someone would take it for a quick burst of energy, it's -- it wouldn't be the substance of choice. I think it's sort of an odd choice, if you will.

O'BRIEN: OK, so then let's speak hypothetically only, because obviously the jury is still out on what Floyd Landis did or did not do.

But you say, OK, someone who would be taking testosterone for the long haul and maybe potentially masking that testosterone so that when they got tested previously -- anybody, not specifically Floyd Landis -- it wouldn't show up on a test?

What would you do that would unmask the masking agent, potentially?

GUPTA: Good question. So let's say you potentially were taking -- you were taking testosterone, but you were taking it in way that increased both your testosterone and your epitestosterone levels. So the ratio really isn't that out of whack. And that was sort of at the heart of the whole BALCO investigation.

Then, for some reason, you took a little bit more of the testosterone to give yourself, you know, a little bit of an advantage in one of these particular -- particularly grueling cycles of the race. So you've already had a high testosterone level, then you boost yourself a little bit higher to give yourself a little bit more of a distinct advantage. That would all of a sudden throw the ratio out of whack.

How much of an advantage it would really be, that's still, you know, speculative, for sure. But that's, again, a possibility as to how this played out.

O'BRIEN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

I guess we won't know today but there's...

GUPTA: It could take a long time, yes, that's for sure.

O'BRIEN: Yes, I bet.

Thanks, Sanjay, as always.

GUPTA: Thank you.

HARRIS: Still ahead, a glimpse at daily life in Iraq as the violence in Baghdad grows worse. We will take a closer look at what some people call life in hell.

And later, Senator Joe Lieberman faces an uphill battle to reelection. We'll tell you what a loss could mean for the rest of the Democratic Party ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(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