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American Morning

Five U.S. Service Members Killed in Iraq; Strauss-Kahn Arraignment; Yemen on the Brink of Civil War; Larry King Live -- at the Improv

Aired June 06, 2011 - 07:59   ET

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


CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: It's back to court this morning for the disgraced former head of the International Monetary Fund.

I'm Christine Romans.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn is expected to plead not guilty to sexual assault charges. Strauss-Kahn is accused of trying to rape a New York hotel maid last month.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Doctors are calling it a breakthrough in the fight against cancer.

I'm Kiran Chetry.

Research shows that two new drugs can extend the lives of patients with melanoma. That's the deadliest form of skin cancer, and there's hope it will lead to more advances in the future.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Yemen teetering on the brink of civil war.

I'm Ali Velshi.

The president has fled the country, the people of Yemen are celebrating as a ceasefire holds for now. But a lot of anxiety here in the U.S, where there are worries that al Qaeda will rise up to fill the power vacuum -- on this AMERICAN MORNING.

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ROMANS: Good Monday morning to you. It is June 6th. And welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.

CHETRY: We have some breaking news out of Iraq this morning. Five U.S. service members have been killed. Iraqi security officials say that they were killed during an early morning mortar attack at a U.S. military base in southeastern Baghdad.

VELSHI: And that makes it the largest single loss of life among U.S. troops in Iraq in months.

Joining us on the phone from Baghdad, "New York Times" reporter, Jack Healey.

Jack, what do we know so far?

JACK HEALEY, "THE NEW YORK TIMES" REPORTER (via telephone): Well, we're still trying to find out some details about how this happened. At this point, the U.S. military is only saying that five service members, as you said, were killed today in central Iraq. Some Iraqi security officials are telling us that the attack occurred on an American military base, in the east part of town, and that somewhere between three and six mortars or rockets, you know, were fired into the base.

Now, militant groups, you know, have kept up these attacks against American military in recent months, even as violence has dropped. And you know, firing these kinds of explosives on to military bases is one of the tactics that they use. And then, frequently, you'll hear the air raid alarms go off, you know, outside of the Green Zone, where the American embassy and some other military installations are, rockets are lobbed in that direction.

CHETRY: That's the part that's curious about this situation, because there is some reporting that about 20 people may have been killed in this, five U.S. service members, that's at least being confirmed by our military.

As you said, this is a quite common thing. I mean, this is what some of the militants try to do. It seems that it's pretty startling that they actually got this many people -- they were able to kill this many people.

HEALEY: Yes, again, you know, we don't know the exact details of what happened. I should say that about 20 Iraqis died in attacks across the country today. There were a series of shootings, suicide bombings, and other sort of explosive attacks in different cities in Iraq that were aimed mostly at security officials, Iraqi army guys, and some of the militant groups -- excuse me, the militias that had joined up with American forces to fight al Qaeda.

So, those were -- that was the sort of 20 Iraqis that you alluded to earlier. And those, at this point, appear to be separate. But, again, you know, we're still trying to figure everything out.

VELSHI: OK, Jack Healy of "The New York Times" -- thanks for joining us, Jack. We'll stay on top of this story developing out of Baghdad right now.

ROMANS: All right. Just about a half hour or an hour and a half from now, Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be back in a New York courtroom.

VELSHI: He's being arraigned on sexual assault charges in connection with alleged attempted rape of a hotel maid last month. The former head of the International Monetary Fund is expected to plead guilty -- not guilty, I'm sorry, to the charges.

CHETRY: CNN's Deb Feyerick is outside of the courthouse in lower Manhattan.

Do they expect any surprises today, or is this procedural?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the arraignment itself is procedural, but we really want to sort set the scene for you down here at the courthouse. The spectacle of what is Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the incident continues.

Take a look at all of the media that's here. Many of them French. Of course, this is a man who was a presidential contender. He is credited with saving Portugal, Greece, and Ireland.

If you cross the street -- now, something unexpected that did happen and we apologize for the subway noise just below us, but a busload of housekeepers from hotels across the city got off, just a couple of moments ago. They say that they are here supporting the woman who is at the center of this alleged sexual assault.

You can see the front of the courthouse, we are told, by court officers that, in fact, Dominique Strauss-Kahn will arrive between 8:30 and 8:45. He will enter the main door, the front door. He's not going to be allowed to go from behind. He will have to go through the metal detectors.

Of course, he's wearing that ankle bracelet. So, that's likely to sound when he does go through.

But this is procedural. He will appear before the judge, enter a plea of not guilty. That's what his lawyers have been saying all along. They say that, in fact, when all the evidence comes to light, it will be very clear that perhaps this was not a forced encounter, as the housekeeper alleges it was. But, again, he is charged with seven counts, including attempted rape and forcible sexual assault.

You know, it's interesting. He is surrounded by a team of very high-powered attorneys -- one of them used to representing rap stars, also athletes. They know what they're doing. They fired their first salvo about 10 days ago when they accused the NYPD, the New York City Police Department, of misconduct, saying they've been leaking information that could potentially jeopardize their client's right to a fair trial, and that included potential forensic evidence on the housekeeper, DNA evidence that is alleged to match DSK. They want all those documents -- Christine, Ali, and Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Deb Feyerick for us with the latest developments, thanks so much.

Jail time was apparently the reason a possible plea bargain for John Edwards collapsed. A source is telling CNN that talks broke down when prosecutors insisted that Edwards serve six months for allegedly violating federal campaign finance laws. Edwards wanted the deal to have a, quote, "minimal impact" on his children.

The former North Carolina senator and presidential candidate has pleaded not guilty to using campaign funds to hide an extramarital affair.

CHETRY: In Orlando, week three in the Casey Anthony murder trial. The young mother is charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. So far, testimony has revealed a web of lies told by Casey. But prosecutors still must link the defendant to physical evidence in her daughter's death.

Well, this weekend, an FBI forensic expert testified about a 9- inch-strand of hair found in the trunk of Casey's car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN LOWE, FBI FORENSIC EXPERT: What I was looking for were any hairs that exhibited characteristics of apparent decomposition, and then that hair, I compared to hair recovered from the hair brush, which is identified as well belonging to Caylee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Karen Lowe also told jurors that based on her microscopic analysis, the strand of hair was consistent with hair found in Caylee's hairbrush and also consistent with signs of decomposition.

VELSHI: All right. He went from super bowl hero to behind bars in less than two years. Today, former NFL wide receiver Plaxico Burress will be walking out of a prison in New York. The former New York Giant accidentally shot himself in the leg with a pistol that he wasn't licensed to carry at a nightclub back in 2008. He's spent the past 20 months in prison. Burress caught the game-winning touchdown for the Giants against the undefeated Patriots back in 2008.

ROMANS: And he comes back to some uncertainty in the NFL.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: Right. His job prospect is not certain.

All right. Nintendo says hackers gained access to one of its servers here in the U.S. The gaming giant says no company or consumer information was stolen. A group that's also hacked into the servers of Sony Pictures and PBS has claimed responsibility for this new attack.

CHETRY: Promising news this morning in the war on cancer. Researchers say that two new drugs can extend the lives of patients with melanoma. That is the deadliest form of skin cancer.

Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, Dr. George Sledge, head of the American Society of Clinical Oncology talked about these drugs work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. GEORGE SLEDGE, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY: These are two very different drugs. One drug, in essence, gooses the immune system to help fight the cancer. The other drug is a drug that interferes with a critical growth pathway for the cancer.

Melanoma is a disease that starts in the skin, but spreads outside the skin to other organs, and once it does so, is uniformly fatal. These two new drugs are first drugs in decades that have significantly altered the course of the disease.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Dr. Sledge says that both drugs induce and prolong remissions and both increase survival for people with advanced melanoma.

VELSHI: Such a great development.

CHETRY: Because they hope they can use it earlier on for melanoma, and perhaps expand it out to other forms of cancers.

ROMANS: And targeted therapies in cancer is so exciting, the idea of being able to take a look at what you have and figure out ways to -- it's an exciting development, no question.

VELSHI: Scientists say that bean sprouts from Germany are the likely source of the E. coli outbreak that has spread across Europe. At least 22 people have died. More than 2,000 people have gotten sick. Officials say there's no indication yet that the outbreak has peaked.

ROMANS: OK. So, Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, will make a rare public appearance today. You know, he's on medical leave, doing -- you know, taking care of his health. But he will make a rare public appearance today to unveil the long-awaited iCloud. He tends to show up when something big --

VELSHI: Right. When he's coming out, it means there's going to be a big development.

Big developments in Yemen -- this country is on the brink of civil war. The president wounded in an attack on his compound on Friday. He flew out to Saudi Arabia.

What's going on in Yemen and how does it affect us? We'll discuss that on the other side.

CHETRY: Also, fire destroys country star Trace Adkins' home, but his wife says it was their family's fire plan that saved their kids.

It's ten minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Massive protests in Greece -- tens of thousands of people taking to the streets last night. They're upset about new taxes and spending cuts required to get a second international bailout package. The first aid package helped to get Greece to pay down its debt. It was worth nearly $161 billion, and now a sense that they may need a second one.

CHETRY: Bloodshed along Israel's border with Syria. Israeli forces firing on hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators on Sunday. The violence erupting on the anniversary of the 1967 war when Israel captured the Golan Heights. Syrian authorities say 25 people were killed and more than 350 others injured.

The U.N. is condemning the violence and calling on both sides to use restraint.

ROMANS: In Yemen, on the brink of civil war this morning, the country's president has fled, triggering celebrations in the streets.

VELSHI: Ali Abdullah Saleh is in Saudi Arabia. He's recovering from two surgeries after being wounded during an attack on his compound on Friday morning. His supporters insist that he's going to return.

CHETRY: Mohammed Jamjoom live from Abu Dhabi this morning.

So, technically who is in charge right now in Yemen?

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, right now, the country's vice president's is in charge. He's been so since President Saleh left for Saudi Arabia to undergo medical treatment.

But there's a real question as to how much power the vice president wields. And that's causing a lot of concern, because in Yemen, you still have a lot of the power concentrated in the hands of Saleh family members. I give you an example, the head of the republican guard there is Saleh's son. The head of the counterterrorism unit there is Saleh's nephew.

And one thing that the vice president is going to have to contend with, with the crisis -- the multiple crises in the country, are the security forces. In order to do that, he has to talk to the son and the nephew of President Saleh. Nobody knows what these two guys are going to do. So, that's raising a lot of concern.

More and more support is being expressed for the vice president at this point. More opposition leaders are coming out, saying they're willing to give him a chance. But that's, of course, seems very tentative, and even the ceasefire that's going on right now in the nation's capital seems very tentative, and a lot of people are concerned that that could basically -- that could basically devolve into utter chaos again at any time.

VELSHI: Mohammed, you know, it's very easy for us to look at governments versus the people in some of these Mideast countries, but the truth is that it's more complicated than that. The parties involved in Yemen make this a more complicated way of looking at it and wondering who should be in charge.

JAMJOOM: Oh, absolutely. You look around Yemen right now, Ali, there's so many different flashpoints. Now, you've got -- politically, you've got the opposition. These are political parties that are opposed to the president. They have been for quite some time.

Now, they're backing the vice president, at least tentatively. But you also have the tribesmen, you know, from very powerful tribes in Yemen that have been fighting government security forces for the last two weeks. Well now, there's a ceasefire. But, again, that seems tentative. That could be disrupted at any time.

Beyond that, you also have hundreds of thousands of anti- government demonstrators that have been emboldened, that have been encouraged to come out into the streets in various cities across Yemen for months now because of the "Arab Spring" uprising movement. They're saying no matter what they're going to continue their resolution until they get a functioning government, a non-corrupt government.

And even though yesterday they were celebrating that the President Ali Abdullah Saleh had left, today, they were realizing it wasn't because of the revolutionary movement, it was because of his injury. And they're saying to me, a lot of the members, maybe we were celebrating too soon.

So, so many different flashpoints. So many different bits of chaos in this country, which is chaotic on the good day -- and leaving many to wonder is the country on the verge of all-out civil war, how will that affect the region, how will that affect security for the rest of the world in a region where al Qaeda has a real hub -- Ali.

VELSHI: Yes. They've really got a foothold there and that certainly in Yemen, it does complicate things.

Mohammed Jamjoom in Abu Dhabi -- thanks very much, Mohammed.

ROMANS: Meanwhile, back here in the U.S., Goldman Sachs is on the offensive, planning to fight back against just the scathing report from a Senate committee about its behavior during the housing bubble and crash.

VELSHI: And you remember those hearings that led up to that.

And Larry King, the king of -- comedy?

CHETRY: Yes, he's going to be joining us right here on this couch. Forget the desk. He's going to be sitting right here with us, to talk about what he's up to, weigh in on some of his favorite interviews of all time, and tell us what he's up to.

VELSHI: And tell us a few jokes, we hope.

Seventeen minutes after the hour.

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ROMANS: Twenty minutes after the hour.

Minding your business this morning:

Goldman Sachs reportedly accusing the government of, quote, "drastically overstating" Goldman's role in the financial crisis. "The Wall Street Journal" this morning reporting that Goldman may release documents about its mortgage bets to show a Senate report was inaccurate and incomplete.

A new report expects state and local governments to cut as many as 110,000 jobs in coming months. Teachers and state employees will bear the brunt of those coming layoffs. The new fiscal year begins next month. Many states are facing multimillion dollar deficits.

The Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 futures down slightly this morning after five straight weeks of declines. You know, that's the longest losing streak for the Dow since July of 2004. The longest slump for the S&P since July of 2008.

The airline industry cutting its profit estimates in half because of higher oil prices. The International Air Transport Association estimates the industry will earn $4 billion this year. That's down from the estimated $8 billion back in March.

The world's largest passenger aircraft cleared for takeoff. Air France begins flying its Airbus 380 today. In fact, the first flight from Paris expected to touch down at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. this afternoon.

Despite being on medical leave, Apple CEO Steve Jobs will kick off Apple's annual conference today. He's expected to announce a new online service for storing music and other things, it's called iCloud.

Up next our question of the day: what is the single most important issue facing Americans today? We want to know what you think. Email us at CNN.com/AM. You can tweet us @CNNAM, or tell us on Facebook, Facebook.com/AmericanMorning.

AMERICAN MORNIGN back right after this break.

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CHETRY: A shot of the White House this morning, as we take a look at Washington, D.C. -- sunny and 71 right now. A little bit later, going up to a high of 84 in the nation's capital.

VELSHI: The Republican field for president getting bigger today. Former Pennsylvania senator, Rick Santorum, is expected to make the official announcement that he's in the race for the White House. He was already on TV this morning saying, quote, "I'm in it to win it."

Santorum has already hit early voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina several times.

ROMANS: Radio talk show host and former pizza executive, Herman Cain, is rising in the polls. The conservative GOP candidate will be in Iowa today, taking party in a family leader lecture series in Pella, Iowa City, and in Sioux City.

Wow, he's going to be making some -- those are three cities far apart, kind of.

A Gallup poll last week showed Cain with the highest voter intensity score of any Republican presidential contender. And his name recognition has nearly doubled since March, from 21 percent to 37 percent.

CHETRY: That's quite a jump.

VELSHI: So the voter intensity score means that people who like him really like him.

CHETRY: Right. And are going to be subject to changing their minds. And, of course, that's huge in those early voting states --

ROMANS: That's right.

CHETRY: -- like South Carolina and New Hampshire.

Well, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney coming off of his first official weekend on the campaign trail. And after sharing the spotlight, albeit, reluctantly with Sarah Palin in New Hampshire, who actually apologized, she said, if it seems that she was sort of stepping on his turf as he had made that announcement.

Well, he'll be one on one tonight with Piers Morgan. It is Romney's first prime-time interview since he made it official. Don't miss it, 9:00 p.m. Eastern tonight.

VELSHI: Now, she kind of came in the way of his announcement, and now, Rick Santorum is announcing today. But Sarah Palin is still in the news. She's trying to explain a little history lesson that she gave on the freedom trail this weekend. She said that Paul Revere's iconic midnight ride was, in fact, to warn the British.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: He, who warned the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms by ringing those bells and making sure, as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells, that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great, thanks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Super posing a couple of actual facts. It was a midnight ride. It was meant to be surreptitious, and he didn't ring any bells or shoot any shots.

Palin later defended her take on Revere's midnight right, saying she didn't mess up and that Paul Revere's warning was essentially a message to the British, that the revolutionaries were not going to back down.

ROMANS: Well, after he was captured, didn't he say, look, we've got a big militia, be afraid of us, we got a lot of guns --

VELSHI: Yes. Right. It was a superimposition of a couple of stories with the addition of bells and guns.

ROMANS: All right. Presidential candidate Ron Paul says no one's laughing at his ideas anymore. When he ran for president in 2008, Paul says he warned about rising deficits and out of control spending, but no one wanted to listen.

Yesterday on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," he blamed himself for that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RON PAUL (R), TEXAS: I came into the Congress a good many years ago and my goal was to shrink the size of government and balance the budget, pay the bills, have sound money, and live within our means, and mind our business. And I haven't done a very good job. It seems like we're going in the wrong direction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: As for the rest of the GOP field, Paul, he's not impressed. He says opponents all represent the status quo.

CHETRY: Well, be sure to join CNN exactly a week from tonight when seven GOP candidates for president debate. Hey, there's more room on the stage if anyone else wants to jump in between now and then. It's Monday night, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, live from New Hampshire, only on CNN.

ROMANS: Reliable sources tell us we can find more room on the stage and with the podium if necessary.

VELSHI: Hey, our question of the day, which will be useful for that debate, what is the single most important issue facing America today?

We've got some of your responses.

CHETRY: JWCrock from Twitter writes, "Unemployment." And we also got another one on our blog, from Tom McMahon, "A country can only be as great as its population is educated and its infrastructure is built and maintained to support commerce. We are failing at both."

VELSHI: STVZN on Twitter says, "Probably being at the forefront of innovation and creativity. Aside from the obvious, America needs to ensure more higher-degree students."

ROMANS: Travis on Facebook says, "Job creation and repealing the tax cuts!" And he has a exclamation behind that.

Also, Kahunahawaii on Twitter says, "America has lost its ability to dream." And ever since, Kahunahawaii, I read on Twitter, I keep thinking of Susan Boyle in that song. It's like ringing in my head.

Sing it for me, Ali. But you know, dreaming, the American dream --

CHETRY: It sort of goes in with the whole notion of innovation and making sure our future students are educated and future generations are educated. So a lot of people concerned about that, definitely.

We have some breaking news from Iraq. Five U.S. service members have been killed. This is a new video coming into us from -- coming into CNN from Iraq. Iraqi security officials say they were killed during an early morning mortar attack at a U.S. military base in southeastern Baghdad. It is the single largest loss of life among U.S. troops in Iraq in recent months.

Iraq's interior of ministry also telling CNN at least 17 people were also killed. There was some confusion as to whether or not it was the same attack, but the clarification is that people were killed in a series of other explosions that took place across Iraq today.

Also, just into CNN, former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn arriving at court for his arraignment. There is the picture that we just got. He's expected to enter a formal not guilty plea on sexual assault charges. He is accused of trying to rape a hotel maid in New York City last month.

And high winds blowing a massive wildfire across northern Arizona right now. The Wallow fire has already burned more than 180,000 acres. Containment is still at zero. And 2,200 people have been chased from their homes. It's proving to be a very, very difficult and treacherous fire to fight for those who are on the ground trying to fight it.

VELSHI: A lot of heat, no water, and high winds. Reynolds Wolf is in the extreme weather center for us right now. Any relief in sight for them, that will give them a hand from the weather side, at least?

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Unfortunately, none whatsoever. What we're going to see over this region, especially the four corners, where the fire is at its most intense, and zero containment, we'll have a storm system that will pass to the north that will bring not rainfall, but very strong wind, sustained winds of 30 to 40 miles an hour, some gusting approaching 50 miles an hour and stronger through those high mountain passes, so it's going to be fanning the flames, pushing those flames in many spots.

So dry conditions across the desert Southwest, Central Plains, more of the same, very warm conditions from the central plains westward into the plains of Texas. The southwest, very muggy conditions can be anticipated, maybe a few stray showers in central Florida, but for the most part, no real release from the heat whatsoever.

Great Lakes, different story. It should be fairly nice in terms of temperatures in some places. But I'd say 90s still in Chicago. I think that's going to come later on in the day. Detroit in the upper 80s. Storms developing and the southeast of Memphis, very warm with 97 degrees, the expected high, 100 in Dallas. It's going to feel like it's 103, in not a bit warmer. Salt Lake City, 81, San Francisco, 65, also, mid-60s in Los Angeles. That's your forecast. Let's pitch it back to you in New York.

VELSHI: Reynolds, thank you.

Parents and children still a little shaken this morning after a freak accident at a carnival in Long Island, New York. A gust of wind sent a bouncy house ride through the air with kid inside. Look at the parents. You'll see them in a second running toward this thing. A mother captured the video you're looking at with her cell phone camera.

ROMANS: The first house took flight and then took out two other inflatable bouncy houses, parents frantically trying to chase it down. 13 people wound up in the hospital, luckily, with mostly bumps and bruises. All of them walked out without any serious injuries. One little girl got one of the ropes -- nearly strangled by one of these ropes hanging down one of these bouncy houses.

CHETRY: She's OK as well, but I can't imagine -- the winds must have been fierce that day.

VELSHI: These things were tethered, they were on the ground.

CHETRY: And 13 people jumping inside, that's some weight on it.

ROMANS: Another reason to keep your kids at home in front of television.

CHETRY: Just a couple of weeks ago, country music star Trace Adkins was on our program and others, talking about raising money for tornado victims, now he's dealing with his own tragedy. A big scare, his home in Tennessee burned to the ground on Saturday. Adkins and his wife weren't home, but the children and the nanny were. He says everyone got out OK. They followed the family plan in place to meet at the tree. The nanny reportedly said she heard a spark, and that's when she grabbed the kids and ran out right before that fire. It's still unclear what caused it.

ROMANS: Do you have a fire plan?

CHETRY: I'll make one now.

VELSHI: It's a simple thing like that. Where do you go afterwards? A great idea.

The NAACP is suing the city of New York to stop them from closing schools and from changing some schools into charter schools. We're going to have a discussion about that after the break.

ROMANS: And what's so funny about Larry King? Well, 80 minutes of Larry king on stage, a one-man comedy show coming up, a new book, and of course, it's Larry. We love Larry. Larry will be with us here on the couch talking about all of that, his favorite interviews, and interviews that got away. We'll have that right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: The sun is still at a low angle in Atlanta. See those buildings in shadow, 77 degrees right now, mostly sunny, heading up to a toasty 92 degrees in Atlanta.

Let's bring it back to New York for a second. The NAACP has sparked controversy here in New York city Cy joining a lawsuit that would stop the city from closing 22 of its worst-performing public schools and allow 20 charter schools to set up shops in public buildings.

Advocates for charter schools says more charter schools means a better education. Some critics say the plan is a form of segregation, and that's where the NAACP gets involved. CNN education contributor Steve Perry is one of the critics of the NAACP's action. He's founder of the Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Connecticut. He joins us now. Steve, Capital Prep is not a charter school. You don't run a charter school.

STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: No, I run a public school. I have never worked in a charter school. I'm an advocate of school choice. I'm an advocate of children having access to quality education, the education that makes the most amount of sense to them.

And the NAACP has become a jobs program. What they're doing is they've come into bed with the teachers union for one purpose, and that's to protect teachers' jobs, not the children, but the teachers, who are making $70,000 a year on average and have a Master's degree. It's them who they're protecting, and not the children.

VELSHI: But there's something to be said for the fact that they are bringing it forward as a separate but unequal measure. And there are a lot of people who say charter schools may perform better in the same environment in the same buildings than regular public schools, it is separate and unequal, and not everybody gets access to a charter school.

PERRY: The reason why people don't get access is because organizations like the NAACP and the teachers union cut the amount of schools that can open. If they would get out of the way and allow the parents to get what they want, which is access to choice, then the children would have greater access.

The only reason why there are not more children participating in charter schools or public school vouchers is because the teachers union and the NAACP are fighting against that because at its core when the NAACP and teachers union form this unholy alliance, what it does is it allows them to maintain control of all the jobs in education, which means they can raise all the resources, which means they have the political clout.

VELSHI: The NAACP has responded to this discussion. And they've said, quote, with the focus on education reform, we find that there has been a rush to judge and condemn schools, and not enough effort to provide the quality of education." They of course are referring by the way back to Brown vs. Board of Education. That's the basis of their lawsuit.

The fact is how do you take all of the benefits we've gotten from your school and charter schools, and how do we make it accessible to everyone?

PERRY: Ali, these schools they're looking to protect, some of the have a 97 percent fail rate. It's over. We don't need to look at them anymore. Shut them down. We need to give children access to existing quality schools or allow for more quality schools to open. It's just that simple.

VELSHI: What's the endgame, Steve? Aren't we going to have disadvantaged, separate but unequal students.

PERRY: We have separate but unequal right now. This is the only way out now. The only way out is to provide children with access as we speak, not to wait for school reform.

Look at the way in which colleges work. We allow for full on competition, the public and a private option, and children get to choose between which one best fits them. It works at post-secondary level. Why can't it work at all the others?

The reason why is because the organization of labor says that they need to have all of the employees who work in the public school -

VELSHI: At Capital Prep you have unionized teachers, correct?

PERRY: I'm in a union. I don't have a choice. I work here in Connecticut in a public school and I'm in a public school union. Still I say I am for children. I am not for grown people. Grown people with degrees can find their own jobs. The NAACP is dead wrong. They're dead wrong and they know it. They need to pump the brakes and to look at why the organization was formed in the New York. It was because of the effort to help the most disadvantaged. And unfortunately they have decided to help the unions and not the children. And that's why black and Latino families in New York City are protesting their own NAACP.

VELSHI: Got to go. Steve, good to see you, as always.

It's is 45 minutes after the hour. We'll be right back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Its 46 minutes past the hour.

We're following breaking from Iraq this morning, five U.S. service members have been killed. The U.S. military did not say how they died. Iraqi security officials though, saying there was a rocket attack on a U.S. military base in Baghdad.

Yemen teetering on the brink of civil war; thousands taking to the streets to celebrate the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. He fled to Saudi Arabia, where he's recovering from two surgeries after an attack on his compound last week. Yemen's powerful Hashib tribe and possibly al Qaeda now poised to fill the power vacuum.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn arriving at court in New York City just minutes ago for his arraignment. The former International Monetary Fund chief is expected to plead not guilty in the alleged sexual assault of the maid at a New York hotel last month.

And doctors are calling it a breakthrough in the fight against cancer. Research showing two new drugs can extend the lives of patients with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, and there is hope it will lead to more advances for other types of cancers in the future.

The Republican field for president grows a little bit bigger today. Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum is expected to announce he's a candidate. Santorum has already visited Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina to test the waters.

Also, markets open in just 45 minutes. At last check, the DOW, NASDAQ, and S&P futures were all down after falling for a fifth straight week.

Well, you're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Fifty minutes past the hour right now. A look at New York City this morning, where it's sunny, it's 68 degrees. A little bit later, we're going up to high of nearly 80.

VELSHI: And no clouds, no rain, no nothing?

CHETRY: Beautiful.

VELSHI: Going back out in my Speedo; I'm going to Central Park.

ROMANS: Is that a threat or a promise?

VELSHI: Listen, his interviews have made us laugh and cry; Larry King these days more than just about the laughs.

CHETRY: That's right. The living legend is launching a new comedy stand-up tour actually and he also has this new book out, "Truth Be Told," with some fascinating nuggets about --

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: It's very good.

CHETRY: -- some of his most famous interviews.

ROMANS: Larry King is here this morning. (CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: What a shirt.

ROMANS: Yes, I love the shirt.

LARRY KING, FORMER CNN HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Yes, I'm shocking and it's a shocking thing. And this book will shock many.

ROMANS: It will shock many. But you've been looking for -- the big one that got away. You haven't done Castro yet. You would like to do an interview with Castro.

KING: I was -- we were in Havana last year, great city. Have you been in Havana?

ROMANS: Yes it's beautiful.

KING: Beautiful city and great people, fun, music. You stayed at the Nacional Hotel (ph). Where they have pictures downstairs of Mafia leaders who ran Cuba under Batista.

VELSHI: Right.

KING: And we met with some leaders of the government and we tried, we'd accept Raul or Fidel. I'm still trying. There's a story that Fidel may do one more interview, and we do four specials a year.

ROMANS: So you have space for him.

KING: Yes, we've got some nice ones coming, we got Johnny Depp coming. It is for an hour. And we've got a big one on Harry Potter's last movie. That will be in July. But Fidel would be my all-time. Only one that would top him would be the Pope.

VELSHI: Larry, let's talk about what's going on in the Middle East, the Arab Spring. You have interviewed --

(CROSSTALK)

KING: All of them.

VELSHI: All -- everybody there. In fact, one of your -- one of your most notable interviews was about the Middle East. Well, in fact we've got some pictures of this -- you -- you had the leaders of Jordan, of Israel, and -- and Palestine, Yasser Arafat at the time --

KING: They're all gone now.

VELSHI: They're all gone.

KING: That was historic in the sense that I got calls from the State Department, you're about to do diplomacy tonight. And it was really interesting because --

CHETRY: Yes, what year was that? KING: '92, '92, '94, in there.

CHETRY: Right.

VELSHI: Back when it looked like there could be some breakthroughs.

KING: Yes it was close.

VELSHI: Did you believe it was close? When you we're talking to these guys --

KING: Oh yes, sure, because they were all very decent and --

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: Yes.

KING: -- they all had interesting responses. The problem with the Middle East is you nodded when each one spoke.

ROMANS: Right.

KING: You know, they each had a point of view --

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: Yes.

KING: -- that made sense.

CHETRY: Exactly. And then today alone --

(CROSSTALK)

KING: The Palestinians says it was our land; Israel, we were born to this land.

CHETRY: Right.

KING: And I think as Bill Clinton told me once, this problem is almost at the point of insoluble.

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: Wow.

KING: It's just, these are -- these are cousins. These are cousins fighting --

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: Right.

KING: -- over land that the Bible, you know, it's not generally known, but Deane Atchison, when he was Secretary of State under Truman, had a deal worked out, and he brought this to Truman, that Brasilia, that huge portion of Brazil.

ROMANS: Right.

KING: Brasilia would be given to Israel.

VELSHI: Right.

KING: Given the nation of Brazil would give them the land and they would transform all the Jewish people from eastern Europe to there, because they would have productivity, and Brasilia -- make Brasilia something. And Truman said to Atchison, you don't understand, it's not about the place, it's their land.

ROMANS: Yes.

KING: Look at all the lives that would have been saved.

VELSHI: Yes.

CHETRY: That's amazing.

I also want to ask you about this comedy tour. Because I mean, you've done more than 50,000 interviews. And how different is a talk show, a television, a live television environment, and doing stand-up comedy?

KIONG: Well, for years, I've worked conventions. I spoke in the AMA, AARP, General Motors and I've always told funny stories.

So my nephew, Scott Zeiger who is a major theatrical Broadway --

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: A great Broadway guy.

KING: He's my brother's son and my father-in-law used to manage Marie Osmond and William Morris. They all got together and said well, look now you've got some free time, you write books, why don't you go out and do a comedy tour, we'll package it like a Broadway show.

So there's backdrops and the only thing is, I have to be disciplined. When I tell story "X," I have to follow with story "Y" --

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: Right.

ROMANS: Right.

KING: -- or the backdrop is going to be screwed up. But the difference -- and what I like better about it is when you stand on a stage, man, you walk out on stage, there's no moment like that.

VELSHI: Right.

ROMANS: Yes.

KING: If you know you're funny --

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: Yes.

KING: -- and you're going to get them going for you, the energy, the rush. I never get that on television.

ROMANS: A camera doesn't love you back, but a live audience loves you back.

KING: Like right now it's wonderful communicating and a I love this; that we're being seen all over that's terrific. But imagine standing in front, like this Saturday night I'll be at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.

VELSHI: Wow.

ROMANS: A different feeling isn't it?

KING: Going out on the stage and my wife's going to sing first and then I'm going to go out on stage and I've got an hour and 20 minutes. And if you know you've got good material and you're in sync with the audience, the heart starts pumping --

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: Yes.

KING: -- it doesn't matter how tired you are, and it's a high. It's better than sex. Well --

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: Oh interesting, oh it's a tie.

No, but I find it interesting, because there are people like me -- you're right, we're talking to thousands, potentially millions of people, and I'm not the least bit nervous. If there was a live audience here, I would be shaking in my boots.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: I mean, did you ever have that type of --

(CROSSTALK)

KING: No.

CHETRY: -- when people talk about stage fright, they don't usually talk about when you're just talking to a camera and people.

KING: You know what -- yes I know but -- you know, it's the number one fear of people, stage fright. VELSHI: Stage fright yes.

KING: The way to get over it, I wrote a book called, how to talk to anyone, anytime, anywhere, years ago. This by the way, "Truth Be Told", is my 16th book.

VELSHI: Wow.

KING: The truth is, you tune that out when you go on stage. You tune it out. Look above it. Or pick one person and do it for him or her. The rest will come around. But work off him or her. If you've got him going, that'll energize you.

But it's particular interesting, I'm doing Westbury in September, and that's in the round.

VELSHI: All right, I'm going to do that right now. Larry, good to see you. Thank you for being with us. Good luck.

KING: My pleasure.

VELSHI: We are going to enjoy looking forward to it. And to you out there, we're taking a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: We're back. We still have Larry King with us.

VELSHI: Larry's sticking around for a couple minutes because we're talking about this very important question of the day. What is the single most important issue facing America today? And we've got some of your responses.

ROMANS: That's right. @topcleric says, "Bad money management by Uncle Sam."

CHETRY: Darla at Twitter, "Stimulating the economy. Get off the deficit stuff, it's a red herring, we need infusion."

VELSHI: And we've got one from Twitter that says, "The biggest thing is jobs for people who want work but can't get it. It's depressing."

Larry King, you've talked about all these issues.

KING: Kids who misplace your clicker. No problem affects more. You want to know why?

CHETRY: Speaking from a dad of an 11 and 12-year-old, right?

KING: That's right. You know why? The problem with the deficit is, it don't call you. The deficit never bugged me today? Did the deficit bother you today?

VELSHI: Somebody told me about it.

KING: Did it call you?

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: This is why Larry King is going to be on a comedy circuit because he's 80 minutes of one-liners just like this.

KING: Who's angrier today? The guy with the deficit who never called him or the kid who took the clicker and you can't find the clicker. The most important thing in your life.

VELSHI: Good point. Good point.

ROMANS: If you just keep it on CNN, you don't need the clicker.

KING: That's right.

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: Larry, great to see you, as always.

KING: Same here guys.

VELSHI: Thanks a billion.

CHETRY: All right, Larry, great to have you with us.

Meanwhile, that's it for us. We'll see you back here tomorrow.

KING: Do you want me to toss it to him?

VELSHI: Yes, please.

CHETRY: Go for it.

KING: Hey, he's a great guy. I'm glad he's back with us. "CNN NEWSROOM" with Martin Savidge starts right now.