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Striking New Twist in Michael Jackson Death Investigation; Health Care Reform Debate Intensifies; How Stimulus Dollars are Being Spent; Blazing a New Trail in Peace Effort; Health Care Reform and You; Cycling Stars' War of Words

Aired July 28, 2009 - 12:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You know, there is a striking new twist in the Michael Jackson death investigation. A source inside the probe tells CNN Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, allegedly injected the entertainer with a powerful and dangerous anesthetic to help him sleep.

The drug known as Diprivan is usually used only in hospitals for sedating surgical patients. Authorities believe the drug might have led to Jackson's death. Dr. Murray says he never gave the entertainer anything that could have killed him.

Like so many people, Michael Jackson fought insomnia and was apparently desperate for a good night's sleep.

Last night, Anderson Cooper asked addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky about what might have gone wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Insomnia is a very common problem. Many people suffer from it. And this medication is not a medication that is commonly used for insomnia. There's many different ways to treat it. It wouldn't make sense for most physicians, for any physician, to use this in someone's home.

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "AC 360": Dr. Drew, have you ever heard of a situation where this drug was administered outside a medical facility in someone's home?

DR. DREW PINSKY, ADDICTION SPECIALIST: I have never heard of such a thing, A. B, I have seen Propofol addiction before in anesthesiologists and physicians. That's the only time I've ever seen it, because they're the only ones that are aware of this medication.

It doesn't exist outside of a hospital. It's a very dangerous medication that requires very careful monitoring.

And Anderson, there just isn't a protocol for the treatment of insomnia on this planet that includes Propofol, A. And, B, it is specifically a very serious problem for an addict, because when it's combined with other things, it's likely to cause breathing problems, and it's even been associated with very serious cardiac rhythm disturbances.

We hear stories about Michael taking other medicines. The combination may have been the thing that really did him in.

COOPER: Are there people who -- I mean, these people who do take it and who get addicted to it who are anesthesiologists you're talking about, I mean, do they like the feeling it gives them? Does it make them feel high? Or they like, what, a woozy feeling?

PINSKY: Yes, they like to feel high. They also like to feel disconnected.

People that are trauma survivors very often don't like to feel the pain that they walk around in day in and day out. There's also been a report of Michael Jackson been having a pain patient, and he may have had sleep problems related to pain, related to opiate withdrawal, God knows what. And this may have been a desperate attempt for relief, but not a safe one and not an appropriate one, and certainly never appropriate for somebody with a history of addiction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK. And let's bring in our Ted Rowlands. Ted is on the phone with us right now.

And Ted, I understand the investigation has taken you to Las Vegas. Tell us what you're following.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, right now, I'm outside of Conrad Murray's home, where a source familiar with the investigation tells us a search warrant is being served at this moment at his home. Another search warrant is expected to be served at his clinic here in Las Vegas. This comes after the warrant last week was served at his Houston clinic.

Clearly, they are looking for as much information as they can on Conrad Murray. And right now, there are police officers outside his home, sort of guarding his home. This is in a gated community in Las Vegas near the Red Rock area, sort of outside the town in Las Vegas. But they're, at this moment, serving another search warrant on Conrad Murray, this time at his private home in Las Vegas.

HARRIS: And Ted, if you would, remind us, has the doctor been clear on what he gave Michael Jackson, if anything, in the 24 hours before his death?

ROWLANDS: One thing that they right away came out on, Murray and his lawyers came out publicly and said, was, they did not give him Demerol and they did not give him Oxycontin. And then, also, they said that nothing that Dr. Murray prescribed or administered to Michael Jackson should have killed him.

And the key word is "should" there. That's been their statement from really the outset of all of this, but they have not talked specifically about Diprivan.

And yesterday, when the story came out that, indeed, Murray had been connected with Diprivan, they refused to comment on it, only to say that they won't comment on innuendo. But they did go on to say that -- this is Murray's lawyer -- that they do expect a case to be built against Murray because it's Michael Jackson.

HARRIS: All right. Ted Rowlands for us, following the trail of this investigation. He is in Las Vegas now.

Ted, appreciate it. Thank you.

Where is the stimulus, billions of dollars to rejuvenate the economy and create jobs? Where is your money going?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The search for common ground on health care reform intensifies on Capitol Hill. Democratic leaders trying to strike a deal with fiscal conservatives, the so-called Blue Dog Democrats.

Meanwhile, a Senate panel makes some progress toward a bipartisan alternative without -- key word here -- without a government insurance option.

Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash live from Capitol Hill for us.

And Dana, look, you're out -- you've been parked there the last week or so, it seems -- outside the room where Senate Finance Committee members have been meeting. This is this group of six. But, you know, there is also a lot going on over on the House side as well.

Tell us about that.

DANA BASH, CNN SR. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, if it's OK with you, Tony, let me just tell you what's going on here...

HARRIS: Oh, great. OK. Yes.

BASH: ... because since you and I last talked, we've had several Democratic senators come out of this room and talk to us about some of the discussions that they've been having. Specifically, I think what's most interesting is something that you and I talked about first last week, which is consensus building on how to raise revenue to pay for the near trillion-dollar price tag, and to control medical costs. It is building around the idea of taxing insurance companies. This is an idea that's been put forward by Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.

HARRIS: Senator Kerry, yes. Yes.

BASH: Exactly. So, we're getting a little more detail on that.

In fact, one of the senators coming out just told us that what they're talking about is taxing plans worth about $25,000. And they say that that could generate between $90 billion and $100 billion, and that could go a long way when you're talking about trying to chip away at the trillion-dollar price tag. So, that's something that has been interesting in listening to these Democrats come out. Look, many of the Democrats say that they -- on the issue of this government-run option, they say, look, of course that's their first priority, but they also realize -- several Democratic senators said they also realize that this is about trying to find compromise. So, if there is a way to have a so-called nonprofit co-op option instead of an actual government-run insurance plan, that might be something that they're just going to have to deal with. It just depends on how it's crafted. That's what we're hearing from Democrats.

HARRIS: Yes. All right. So, we're at least talking about a pay-for for whatever comes out of that committee.

Talk to us, if you would, about what's going on, on the House side, as well.

BASH: There is still a divide, big time, among Democrats. And what's going on is there are negotiations, hot negotiations, going on still between the House Democratic leaders and those so-called conservative Blue Dog Democrats.

Last night, the leaders gave those Blue Dog Democrats some options that they said they hope would go towards assuaging some of their concerns. And the biggest concern they have is that they don't think that the leadership's plan controls medical costs and controls costs in general enough.

The Blue Dog Democrats are taking this proposal that they got from their leadership. They're going to -- they're thinking about it. There could be some deal-or-no-deal action going on in the next 24 hours.

But listen to what one of those Blue Dog conservative Democrats told us a short while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BARON HILL (D), INDIANA: Last night, I think we did make some progress. But we're not there yet. And our biggest concern is making sure that we control costs, and that has to be determined by CBO. They have to give us a -- you know, what it's all going to cost. Until we get that information, we're not ready to support a bill yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So, that's what they're doing, those conservative Democrats. They are meeting. They are trying to figure out if there is some middle ground there. But in terms of the goal that the House Democratic leaders had initially, based on the president's deadline, that was to actually pass a health care bill by the end of this week. This is the week that they leave for August recess. That is looking more and more unlikely, that they can actually come up with a deal that gives them ultimately the votes that they need to pass it.

HARRIS: Yes. You know, and I ought to do a little more work on this. Do you see someone coming out that you want to maybe grab, Dana? BASH: Actually, we're waiting for senators to come out. I'm sorry to look distracted here.

HARRIS: No, no, no. That's OK.

BASH: No one's coming quite yet. Go ahead.

HARRIS: OK. I'm just thinking to myself -- when I hear the representatives say we've got to control costs, we've got to control costs, we've got to get more cost savings in the bill, you know, I have to drill down on that a little bit more. I need to find out what specifically is being talked about.

Is that the same as saying we've got to get a handle on Medicare, Medicaid, before we're talking about adding more people, insuring more people? Is that what of what's being talked about here?

BASH: That's part of it. But I think, look, they actually have a list of 10 problems, very concrete problems that they have with the leadership...

HARRIS: Ten of them?

BASH: Ten problems. They actually have a 10-item wish list, if you will. But I think the main issue that they have is something that we've heard the president talk about, and you and I have talked about this, that they say that the goal of reforming the health care system should be to bring down medical costs.

HARRIS: Yes.

BASH: Those medical costs that end up bankrupting so many people in this country. And they feel that the plan that their leadership has now doesn't go far enough to do that.

HARRIS: OK. And as always, Dana, if you want to grab one of the -- if one of the senators comes out and want to grab that senator, just give us a shout and we're right back to you double time.

BASH: OK. Will do. OK. Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: All right. Our senior congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, for us.

Seven hundred eighty-seven billion dollars of your money. So clearly, we are talking about the stimulus package. So, where is the money going, and is it helping to create jobs?

Christine Romans of our money team is following the dollars for you, and she joins us live.

And Christine, look, you did a great job yesterday following the money to specific projects. More of the same today?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: More of the same today. Let me show you first, Tony -- let's break it down and show you what recovery.gov shows you.

It shows you these bubbles that really show where the money is going. Most of it for tax relief, $288 billion for tax relief. That's what you're getting in your paycheck, $10 or $12 a paycheck. That's the tax relief. State and local relief, a lot of that's used to fill the budget gaps, education training.

Look down there on the bottom, infrastructure. Part of that money, $111 billion, I can report to you that about 48,600 jobs have been created in highway contracts, highway projects. This, according to the House Committee on Transportation Infrastructure.

They say 48,600 jobs created or saved. They can even go down the line and point out where they are.

A lot of jobs in Washington State, highway repairs pretty much across the country -- Oregon, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Texas, Utah, 1,795 jobs created in my home state of Iowa. So, those are all highway-related jobs. And so we're seeing those happen in that committee, that House committee which is tracking that money, Tony.

They say that a lot of projects have been started over the past months. So, if you seen those orange cones in your state, it's also -- you know, it's the season to patch the highways, but a lot of that stimulus money is going to do that.

And then I've got this other little one to tell you about, too. Your stimulus money also going to pay Social Security, a one-time $250 stimulus benefit for Social Security recipients. And the Social Security Administration confirming to us that 8,200 dead people received some of those checks, $2 million.

It's interesting, because on the one side of things, you know, it's not really that unusual to have checks go the wrong place. You know, they're facing a tight deadline and the like. On the other hand, conservatives say, look, let's track all of this money.

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: Button it up, yes.

ROMANS: Let's button it up. And I will say that the Social Security folks say most -- 84 percent of that money has been returned...

HARRIS: Good.

ROMANS: ... and not cashed. So, there you go.

HARRIS: Boy, a push/pull on the stimulus dollars getting out the door. You want to get the dollars out quickly, but you don't want to waste it. You gave us a number yesterday that was...

ROMANS: Fifty-five billion dollars.

HARRIS: Yes. ROMANS: Yes. You know, if you figure that seven percent of these projects are going to have fraud, waste, or some kind of really egregious mismanagement that turns out to be $55 billion, that is a whole lot of money. And look, I could tell you three projects.

HARRIS: Right.

ROMANS: And somebody would be wired in a way to say, well, that is absolutely wasteful. And someone else would say, well, that's good for America. So, it's so subjective, what you think about each of these projects.

HARRIS: Well, that's the same argument you hear with earmarks.

ROMANS: Yes, it's true.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

All right, Christine. Appreciate it. Thank you.

ROMANS: Bye-bye.

HARRIS: Let's get you to CNNMoney.com, our terrific money Web site. I'll tell you what, the team there, Christine Romans is a part of that terrific team at CNNMoney.com, just doing a terrific job of offering you the latest financial news, pinpoint, sharp analysis of what's going on with stocks, your money in particular.

CNNMoney.com is the destination.

Quickly, we want to get you to the New York Stock Exchange now for a quick peek at the Big Board.

Just moments ago, boy, we saw stocks were down. Still in the same range. It looks a bit off of session lows at this point. The Dow was down 64 last check -- down 65. And Nasdaq is down 14 points.

We're following the numbers with Susan Lisovicz throughout the day.

Is the president keeping his campaign promises when it comes to health care?

Josh Levs is here.

What are you finding, Josh?

JOSH LEVS, CNN.COM CORRESPONDENT: Tony, you know the Truth-O- Meter?

HARRIS: Yes. Yes, I love this.

LEVS: We like to check it once in a while; right? Yes, I know you love it.

In fact, let's zoom in for a second. It's Politifact.com. They are actually giving the president -- you can see right here -- a full flop for one of the issues involving health care.

They're also giving a claim cited by a Republican lawmaker "Pants on fire."

We will show you the latest in the Truth-O-Meter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The new role of the U.S. military in Iraq under review right now by defense chief Robert Gates. He arrived today unannounced in the war-torn country.

Let's go there live now to CNN's Arwa Damon in Baghdad.

Arwa, look, here's the thing -- and I want you to tell us about this -- you've been able to see first hand how the new U.S. role will look. Share with us your experience, what you saw.

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, we actually had the opportunity to see that first hand yesterday, when we were on an embed with a U.S. military unit that is based in northeastern Baghdad. This is a unit that was once a combat battalion and is now being called more of a supervisory unit. And effectively, though, the dynamics in the streets have changed completely.

This was a war that up until June the 30th, when the U.S. military withdrew its combat troops from Iraqi cities and towns, was run by America. That is no longer the case. The Iraqis run this war. The Iraqis now do have the final say.

The U.S. military has to run just about all of its missions past its Iraqi counterparts. They have to be notified of patrols, of convoys going out on logistical routes. The U.S. military, in many cases, is handing over all of its intelligence that it has gathered on some of the targets and giving those to their Iraqi counterparts.

HARRIS: Yes.

DAMON: And the Iraqis don't necessarily have to take a U.S. team out with them, although they do tend to ask the Americans for air support.

But it is shifting dynamics, and there has been some friction amongst the troops. There have been some misunderstandings of the security agreement that is governing this dynamic, and so that is actually what we have seen Secretary Gates coming here today. He went to one base to specifically look at a "prototype" of these souped-up advisory and assist units.

HARRIS: Well, Arwa, I'm sort of curious, you mentioned there have been some moments of friction here. What sort of interaction did you witness?

DAMON: Well, actually, the unit that we were out with had a very and has a very healthy relationship with their Iraqi counterparts...

HARRIS: Oh, good. Good.

DAMON: ... both the police and the army, because -- this is what they did. Because in getting ready for this mission and knowing that such a transition was going to take place, they pre-established their relationship.

So, we did ask them if they felt less secure because the Iraqis were out on the streets a lot more, because they couldn't necessarily patrol the neighborhoods as closely as they would have liked. We asked them if the friction had caused any problems for them on the ground. And they said, you know, it did the first few nights, because we had these different interpretations of what we were allowed to do, what they were supposed to be doing. But at the end of the day, they managed to work through it because they did already have this sort of partnership relationship.

Other units, though, are struggling a lot more, because, remember, the American military has always been on the offense here. It has been out there every day pounding the streets on these incredibly aggressive patrols, and now they have to take this back seat, more passive advisory role. And if the Iraqis don't want to take their advice, the Iraqis don't have to take it anymore. And that's something that's difficult for your average American soldier to comprehend.

HARRIS: Absolutely.

All right. Arwa Damon for us in Baghdad.

Arwa, thank you.

Defense Secretary Gates is also focusing on Iran during his trip to the region. Gates says the U.S. will seek international backing for much tougher sanctions on Iran if it rebuffs the offer of talks on its disputed nuclear program.

Live now to CNN's Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

Barbara, if you would, drill down on this point for us. What is the Pentagon saying?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Tony, as you pointed out, before Mr. Gates got to Iraq, he went to Israel and Jordan, and took the opportunity, make no mistake, to take a very hard, rhetorical line against Iran's nuclear program. In the Middle East, he was very strong in saying that President Obama's offer of talks with Iran is not open-ended, that the clock is running on all of that, that Iran is a threat to the region and the United States, if it pursues nuclear weapons. And he made clear what he thinks the next step will be.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: If the engagement process is not successful, the United States is prepared to press for significant additional sanctions that would be non-incremental. In other words, we would try and get international support for a much tougher position.

Our hope still remains that Iran will respond to the president's outstretched hand in a positive and constructive way. But we'll see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: A lot of people say we'll see. Very questionable about whether the Iranian regime really wants to engage in talks, whether they care, officials point out, whether they even care if they face more sanctions, because we've been down this road for so many years.

Even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, this week, making a case, taking a very hard line that the U.S. will not tolerate letting Iran have a nuclear weapon. All options remain on the table. You can read that to mean military options, but the U.S. and Israel both saying they really do hope a diplomatic solution can be found.

We'll see -- Tony.

HARRIS: We'll see.

Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us.

Barbara, thank you.

Is your health coverage going to change? Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes some of your questions.

That's next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So, just 30 minutes ago the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thirteen yeas and 6 nays.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D-VT), JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN: The nominee has been approved by the committee. The name will be sent to the full Senate for its action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Sotomayor will become the first Latina to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court and just the third woman. Only one Republican, South Carolina's Lindsey Graham, voted to approve Sotomayor.

The full Senate is expected to vote next week. And barring any bombshells, Sotomayor looks to be on her way to easy confirmation as the 111th justice. Lawmakers in the House and Senate trying to come up with a health care reform compromise. On the Senate side, a bipartisan group is making progress on a plan with no government insurance option. House plans include a government option, but the issue still a topic of debate among Republicans and Democrats in the House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: In order to attract Republicans, maybe even some conservative or moderate Democrats, are you willing to abandon that public option?

REP. STENY HOYER (D), MAJORITY LEADER: Well, no, we're not willing to abandon the public option. There are a number of different facets that it can take, but we're not willing to abandon it at this point in time. We believe it will be in the House bill.

REP. ERIC CANTOR (R), MINORITY LEADER: When you start to ask about a government plan, there is such resistance, not only on the part of the Republicans here in Congress, but across the country. Everyone knows that a government bureaucrat is not going to be able to keep down costs and keep up the kind of quality care that most Americans are used to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Bipartisan members of the Senate Finance Committee are proposing insurance cooperatives as an alternative to the public option.

So, who's telling the truth, and is the president keeping his promises?

Time to check the Truth-o-meter.

Here's Josh Levs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The health care debate is heating up. And, obviously, right now we've got claims flying back and forth, left and right, metaphorically, literally, and we need to reality check them. So, in order to do that, we will bring in Bill Adair from politifact.com.

There you are, Bill. How you doing?

BILL ADAIR, POLITIFACT.COM: Good. Thanks for having me, Josh.

LEVS: All right. Thanks for doing this.

I want to start today with something interesting. One of the latest ones you all have on politifact.com, you're giving President Obama a full flop on health care. What's that about?

ADAIR: Well, it has to do with something that he said back during the campaign. Back in the early part of the campaign for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards mandated that people get health insurance coverage as part of their health coverage plan. That was what led it to be universal. Obama did not. In fact, he made a point of saying that he would not mandate it because he was afraid that people couldn't afford it. Fast-forward to today, Obama's now supporting a mandate actually.

LEVS: This is one of the most memorable Clinton versus Obama moments of the entire presidential nomination campaign last year, when she was waving those flyers saying, Barack Obama, shame on you. And he had these ads out about her. That's what he was getting at, this idea of a mandate for everyone to have health insurance.

ADAIR: Exactly. And, yes, he criticized her for having that mandate and that led to the big "shame on you" response. So, you know, in our view, that makes this really a full flop. So, that's how we rated on it our flip-o-meter. Obama has acknowledged that much. And so a full flop for this one.

LEVS: Got to love politics.

All right. Let's look on the other side now. You have one on Republicans that's interesting. And this began, as I understand it, an editorial, but was picked up by a lawmaker. And you're giving this one your "pants on fire" rating. What's this about?

ADAIR: Yes, the claim is that on page 16, very precise, of the health care bill, is a provision that would outlaw private, individual health insurance. And that was in "Investors Business Daily" in an editorial and then has been picked up by Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and many bloggers to say, look, this health care bill that's pending is -- could be disastrous and it would outlaw your coverage, they say. Well, it's not true. If you go to page 16, as we did, it has no such thing. It's so ridiculous, we gave it our lowest rating, pants on fire.

LEVS: Bill Adair, thanks so much.

ADAIR: Thanks, Josh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: OK. About an hour from now, President Obama takes part in an AARP town hall meeting on health care. Live coverage of the event scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

You know, there is still plenty of debate over the tactics used to save the economy last fall, the billions in bailouts and a host of new regulations. Now, some Wall Street insiders are looking back at those harrowing times and they've talked to cnnmoney.com's Poppy Harlow. And Poppy is in New York with "The Breakdown."

Can't wait to hear what you learned from this discussion, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hey, Tony. Yes, it was a fascinating panel. We sat down with the former chief financial officer at Citigroup, also former New York Governor and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, to get their take on this crisis, the bailouts, the role of the regulators in it all. And Spitzer has really made news recently, Tony, by criticizes the Fed. He went so far as on national television to call the Fed a giant Ponzi people. He argues the Fed's lack of transparency during this recession is a huge cause for concern. So take a listen yourself to what he told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIOT SPITZER, FORMER GOVERNOR, NEW YORK: The Fed unilaterally has issued trillions of dollars of capital and guarantees, most of it guarantees, to the banks across Wall Street after they failed. Probably that needed to be done. But we don't know why, how, what the terms were, what the logic was.

SALLIE KRAWCHECK, FORMER CFO, CITIGROUP: I'm glad that we had the luxury of sitting here today and debating what they should have done and what they could have done, right? I think we -- if we bring ourselves back to last September . . .

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

KRAWCHECK: Make no mistake, it was terrifying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Oh, I think we -- all right. I think we just lost Poppy. Oh, shoot, we'll try to get Poppy back in just a couple of moments.

Changing our relationship with the Middle East. How the Obama administration's attitude is different than past presidents. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Hopscotching across the Middle East in pursuit of peace. Top U.S. Envoy George Mitchell is blazing a new trail. Our Cal Perry explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): A whirlwind trip for the envoy of an administration that seems set on changing the U.S.' relationship with the Middle East. The top American diplomat, George Mitchell, charged into the region on Saturday, not starting the trip with a visit to the U.S.' staunchest ally, Israel, rather beginning with Syria. The Bush administration considered Syria a renegade regime and a state sponsor of terror. The Obama administration has struck a very different tone.

GEORGE MITCHELL, MIDDLE EAST ENVOY: In terms of the Syrian/American relationship, the United States is committed to a dialogue based on mutual interest and mutual respect and a solid foundation for discussion of our shared goals and of our real differences, where they occur. Syria is a country blessed with talented people and a long and impressive history.

PERRY: Syria and the U.S. now share many goals. For starters, Obama is ramping down military action in Iraq, and ramping it up in Afghanistan. In order for that to be a success, the border between Syria and Iraq must be secure.

There is also the broader goal for Mitchell and Obama, Middle East peace. Syria controls access to the external leadership of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, men like Halid Mashal, who still resides in Damascus. But this weekend, Syrian officials were focusing on the new tone in talks with Washington. Buthaina Shaaban (ph), senior advisor to President Assad, said in a phone interview with CNN, "George Mitchell stressed a mutual peace among all parties. We welcome all of this. It is, of course, natural that we may have our difference, but we spoke about them. This is an attitude. One built on relations between countries. One that is based on dialogue, respect and the region at large."

Mitchell then few to Israel, where the U.S. finds itself dancing diplomatically around Israeli concerns over Iranian weapons. The secretary of defense, Robert Gates, seemingly standing by Israel's concerns.

ROBERT GATES, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: The nuclear-armed Iran would be profoundly destabilizing to the entire region.

We are in full agreement on the negative consequences of Iran obtaining this kind of a capability.

PERRY: Mitchell seems to have flexibility in this latest diplomatic push, even shifting his schedule mid trip, making a brief visit to Egypt before returning to Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Very interesting. All right, CNN's Cal Perry joining us live from Beirut.

And, Cal, look, George Mitchell is also getting in the middle of the sensitive settlement issue. How is that going?

PERRY: Yes, sensitive, I think is an understatement, Tony. I think you're absolutely right. This is a key issue to Middle East peace. And we've heard that the Israeli prime minister and George Mitchell met today. They both came out and they said they are making progress on this issue, but they gave no details.

And really when you look at the settlement issue, it's really twofold. There's a social aspect within Israeli society, and then there's the logistical issue. We're talking logistically about 300,000 settlers living in the West Bank. You remember the withdrawal from Gaza. That was incredibly difficult for the Israeli soldiers to literally pull the settlers off the rooftops of Gaza. Now imagine almost ten times that number in the West Bank.

The social issue is really quite fascinating. In Israel, everybody has to serve in the military except for the settlers. So when you speak to Israeli soldiers, you'll often find that there is this social issue where the soldiers feel like it's a bit unfair that these settlers are exempt from military service when they, themselves, men have to spend three years, women have to spend two years. And once you're in the Israeli military, you're a reservist forever. That's not true for the settlers. So it's a social issue for Israel as well. And certainly this is a country that does not want its own internal problems while it's looking at a broader Middle East peace.

Tony.

HARRIS: Boy, it gets so complicated. Cal Perry for us in Beirut. Cal, appreciate it. Thank you.

And seven men are under arrest in North Carolina, charged with trying to carry out terrorist-style killings overseas. They include this man, Daniel Boyd, and his two sons. Investigators say Boyd attended terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan and recruited the others to train with him in North Carolina. There were no known targets in the United States. Six of the seven suspects are U.S. citizens. And we heard earlier from a member of the Muslim American Society.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHALILAH SABRA, MUSLIM AMERICAN SOCIETY-FREEDOM: We know that Islam is always under the microscope. And these type of situations cause this religion to be misinterpreted. I feel sorry that her sons have been indicted. They're young. They have the rest of their lives they're going to have to deal with. I don't know if they'll ever be able to escape this. But, of course, we're sad and we're disappointed that this situation has occurred.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The suspects are due back in court Thursday.

The Tour de France winner blasts Lance Armstrong. Now Armstrong is fighting back. The public war of words between two champions. We will show you what they're saying. You'll hear it for yourself in just moments right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Health care reform. If you're like a lot of people, you don't have a clear idea of what it means. Wading through 1,000 pages of legislation is enough to send anyone running for an aspirin bottle. So, today, we're starting a new segment here in the NEWSROOM called "The Insider." Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, answers your questions about the government's plans to revamp health care. We start with Linda in Dallas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CALLER: Hello, Dr. Gupta. I'm Linda from Dallas, Texas. My dad had prostate cancer. And I suffered complications during pregnancy. Both of us benefited from procedures that technically were not classified as standard of care. Who decides what procedures are standard versus "experimental"? If the House health bill passes, will they only cover the costs of standard procedures?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, Linda, thanks for calling in.

This is obviously a hot topic and a lot of people trying to figure out the answer to your very question, how would my life change potentially as health care reform potentially happens.

Now, first of all, we don't know the details of the specific bill. And a lot of those details are going to be very important with respect to your questions. Also, there is a lot of satisfaction when it comes to Medicare, according to the Commonwealth survey. Take a look there. Only about 8 percent, less than 10 percent of people rate their Medicare quality of coverage as either fair or poor. Other people rank it higher than that.

But there are specific issues I think that might be relevant to you. For example, standard of care, when it comes to something like a pap smear examine, Medicare, on average, once every 24 months. Private insurance companies, once every 12 months. Private insurance companies are going to be all over the map on this, but that's, again, on average. When we talk about things like cholesterol and lipid testing, Medicare, once every five years on average. Private insurance, once every 12 months.

Does it make a difference to get it checked every year as compared to every five years? People don't really know the answer to that and that's going to be important. Again, if you have abnormalities, it's going to change.

Here's one that I found very interesting. Something known as virtual colonoscopy, a potential prevention test here. Medicare doesn't cover it. They say there's no utility in it. It doesn't lead to better outcomes. Many private insurance companies in many states will still cover it. But it gets to the root of this very question, what really makes a difference when it comes to your health care and what doesn't.

Now as things stand now, there are around 17 people, health care professionals, including doctors and nurses, who determine reimbursement rates and that dictates a lot of what is covered and what is not. What President Obama has suggested is creating an executive-level agency to try and deal with these same issues, figure out where money is best spent, make those recommendations to the president, make those recommendations to Congress and then have a waiting period to determine how this is all going to change.

Stay tuned, though, Linda, I'll tell you a lot more to come on this particular issue.

Back to you guys for now. (END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: All right, Sanjay, appreciate it. Thank you.

And if you are 50 or older, President Obama is focusing on you and your health care needs today. Your questions. In about 45 minutes, the president takes part in an AARP town hall meeting on health care reform. Live coverage of the event scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

Let's get to Chad Myers in the severe weather -- boy, are you going to focus in on all of that heat in the Pacific Northwest, Mr. Myers?

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Boy, boy, a war of words between the winner of the Tour de France and the biggest cycling gem of all-time. Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong having at it. You think it's hot out there in the Pacific Northwest, you ain't seen nothing yet. Josh Levs is here to tell us all about it.

What do you have, Josh. This is good.

LEVS: It's angry, Tony.

HARRIS: Yes, it is.

LEVS: You know sometimes you hear people say that, but it's actually not that angry.

HARRIS: Yes.

LEVS: This is angry.

HARRIS: This is heated.

LEVS: We're going to show you -- yes, and it's been one of the top stories on dot com. You know, we have photos of them. You can see them here together. And I'm just going to show you one of the headlines that's been one of our most popular stories right here, and here it is, "Contador - I will never admire Armstrong." Here's the idea. He went back after -- you know they were teammates.

HARRIS: Right. They're teammates. There you go.

LEVS: I mean he watched (ph) -- they were teammates. He went back after winning -- he went back to his town of Pinto (ph), which is near Madrid, and he said something. I have a graphic of his quote because I want everyone to see what his quote was that he said to the media when he got off there and it was about Lance Armstrong. Let's go to that right here. And this is what he said. Do you guys have it?

HARRIS: Where is it? LEVS: There you go. It says, "my relationship with Lance Armstrong is non-existent." And check this out, Tony. "Even if he is a great champion, I have never had admiration for him and I never will." And he goes on to say, let's look at one more. He goes on to say basically more of that. He says that he's just not respecting this man. That ultimately it hurt the team. It didn't help the dynamics. And he thinks that, in a sense, they paid a price for that.

Now, Lance Armstrong -- oh, we have to cut out?

HARRIS: No, we -- yes, I got to jump in just a moment. The chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, is speaking now. Let's listen in.

SEN. MAX BAUCUS, (D) CHMN., FINANCE COMMITTEE: It was a -- well, as we move toward a solution that is mark -- marked-up bill and so forth, it's very important, spent a lot of time with them, with all colleagues who really do want health care reform. That is all Democrats. It's most Republicans. And includes meetings with Democratic senators in the Finance Committee alone.

This is the second one we've had in the last couple months or so. And they're just -- they're very productive. They're very helpful. A lot of questions asked. What about this. What about that. And -- and I have the chance to see the time when they get the answer, they like it. Oh, gee, I didn't know that. That's helpful.

A couple areas -- one area we spent quite a bit of time on is a, you know, the fancy term is MedPAC on steroids. That is, you know, empowering either MedPAC or an independent agency with authority to in effect make the update -- the provider updates themselves, rather than, you know, Congress making them. That is that more authority is given to that agency. They make the updates, provider updates, and Congress then has to overturn it. A brac-like (ph). That that might be some way to help . . .

HARRIS: OK, here's what we'll do. We'll continue to monitor the comments here from Senator Max Baucus. He's a little bit in the weeds here on what's going on with the committee work. But he did mention that they're moving toward a markup, which means they're getting close to an agreement of some kind of a framework of a bill. So that's a bit encouraging. I'm not sure what else he was talking about there, but we'll continue to monitor his comments.

Want to get back to Josh.

Now, Josh, when we left you to get to the senator, you were talking about the comments from Alberto Contador. You want to finish there or do you want to get to what Lance Armstrong is saying?

LEVS: Yes. No, that's good. Yes, what have we got. So basically we established that, that, yes, he was criticizing Lance Armstrong. And so now we've got Lance Armstrong fighting back today. Take a look at this. I've got his Twitter page open. And this, again, one of the top stories on cnn.com. What he's saying right now. Look at what he says here. "Seeing these comments from A.C., if I were him, I'd drop this drivel and start thanking his team. Without them, he doesn't win." He goes on to say this.

HARRIS: Well, that's true. That's true.

LEVS: "Hey pistolero, there is no "I" in team. What did I say in March? Lots to learn." And this what Lance Armstrong ends with here. "A champion is also measured on how much he respects his teammates and opponents. You can win a race on your own, not a grand tour."

So you've got this back and forth, Tony. And, who knows, maybe it ends here. We're going to keep an eye on this. Obviously interesting for people all over the world.

HARRIS: OK, Josh, appreciate it. We'll be back in a moment after a quick break.

LEVS: You got it, Tony. Thanks.

HARRIS: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right. I believe we have some live pictures here now. Is that what we have, Scottie (ph)? Oh, just the house. OK, from a short time ago.

Investigators, we understand, although these pictures are from a short time ago, are right now with a search warrant in hand at the Las Vegas home of Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray. And, OK, these are live pictures from our affiliate KTNV.

Los Angeles Police and Drug Enforcement Agents are on the scene right now. And the search comes just one day after a source told CNN that Murray put Jackson to sleep with a powerful anesthetic in the 24 hours before he died. Now, last week, you may recall, authorities searched Murray's clinic, that in Houston, Texas. We will continue to follow these live pictures and the developments out of Las Vegas.

We are pushing forward now with the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM with Kyra Phillips.