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Cops Won't Name Teen's Shooter; Debate Over Police Details of Williams' Death; Iraq Refugees Flee ISIS Brutality; Refugees Seek Safety on Iraq Border; U.S. Considering Air Evacuation in Iraq

Aired August 13, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO: Hey, hey, Kate. Good morning. Have a great day. NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): Happening now in the NEWSROOM.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will be no reintroduction of American combat forces into Iraq.

COSTELLO: The White House insisting we're staying out of combat in Iraq even as we send in more Marines and special ops. But jihadist militants are working to expand their reign of terror.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a part of a much larger wave of desperate people all across the north of Iraq who are fleeing ISIS militants.

COSTELLO: This morning, new questions about the future of America's role in Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If U.S. forces are not on the ground, I don't see how we're going to keep ISIS at bay.

COSTELLO: Also, no peace in Ferguson, Missouri, after an officer kills an unarmed teenager.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Disperse now. Go home. You'll be subject to arrest.

COSTELLO: Cops in riot gear, a no-fly zone in effect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let us all come together and do this right.

COSTELLO: After four days of protest the police department still protecting the identity of the cop who pulled the trigger.

Plus a husky voice. Those sultry eyes.

LAUREN BACALL, ACTRESS: You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.

COSTELLO: That trademark wit. This morning we remember Lauren Bacall. The Hollywood legend.

Let's talk live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We begin with breaking news out of Iraq.

The U.S. now weighing the option of air evacuations -- U.S.-led air evacuations for those tens of thousands of refugees stranded by ISIS militants which again raises the question whether we'll see American boots on the ground in Iraq. We do know that an additional 130 Marines and special ops are now in the country and they may help advisors in those air evacuations.

We'll get to the Pentagon in just a minute.

So far the U.S. has completed six air drops to those Yazidis threatened by ISIS militants. Nearly 100,000 meals and more than 27,000 gallons of water have now been delivered. In the meantime the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki slammed what he called a conspiracy to remove him from office and vowed to stay in power. But U.S. officials say he doesn't have enough support to pull off a coup. His successor has 30 days to form a new Iraqi government.

But political turmoil aside the question remains, what is the best way to help those tens of thousands of Yazidis who are fleeing ISIS?

CNN senior international correspondent Ivan Watson shows us the desperate situation along the Iraq-Syria border.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON (voice-over): The scene is almost biblical, a modern day exodus. Thousands of people trudge across a river to escape a violent enemy. Most of them move in silence. On occasions loved ones separated by war tearfully reunite.

Everyone is fleeing ISIS militants who many here refer to as Dash.

JAMAL JAMIR, UNIVERSITY STUDENT: When Dash and terrorists -- you know, Dash?

WATSON (on camera): Yes.

JAMIR: OK. They attack us and our neighbors they are hurt. They are hurt. Since terrorist (INAUDIBLE) they joined them. And actually they kill us. You understand me?

WATSON: People you know.

JAMIR: Yes, people. Our neighbors.

WATSON (voice-over): Many refugees are members of a Kurdish religious minority known as the Yazidis. One of them university student Jamal Jamir found his missing cousin here. JAMIR: We lost each other. We lost each other. Thank God they

arrived.

WATSON: Like many of the other refugees Jamir and his family fled to Sinjar Mountain more than a week ago after ISIS captured their town. They spent days camping on the mountain, desperately waiting for air drops of food and water until they escaped by foot, on a marathon 15- hour journey to Syria, a journey that claimed lives.

JAMIR: On the way, two of our brothers, small brothers. What we do? No (INAUDIBLE) actually I feel that I will die. We were put on the way, they die.

WATSON (on camera): Your brothers?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WATSON: Two of your brothers died?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Baby.

WATSON (voice-over): A senior Kurdish official here is calling on foreign governments and organizations to prevent genocide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Use your power. Through the international law. To save the Yazidis from the genocide.

WATSON: By the time these refugees reach Iraqi Kurdistan some are too sick and exhausted to walk. This family won't go any further. For the 11th night in a row they'll sleep out in the open but this time by the banks of the river. Their dinner, two plates of donated chicken for 12 people. Their beds, a few scraps of cardboard.

Ivan Watson, CNN on the Iraqi Kurdistan border with Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: We want to go to the Iraqi-Syrian border right now. Anna Coren is there. She joins us by phone.

What's the situation like this morning?

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Well, Carol, we are at a refugee camp in the outskirts of Zhako about five kilometers from where Ivan's report was filed. We were down there earlier. The stream of refugees that we saw in those pictures that has dried up. They are now here at this refugee camp. And as you can see they have erected makeshift shelter in this blazing sun.

Now beyond that is where the U.N. is setting up camps and this is something that is furiously happening because of the amount of people that have descended here on this refugee camp. This refugee camp, mind you, was set up months ago for the Christians who fled Mosul after the ISIS militants seized it back in June.

And the governor that I spoke to, of this region, he said they weren't expecting the Yazidis to arrive en masse. So they are (INAUDIBLE) trying to set up these tents. You can see the bulldozers leveling out the land as workers, you know, try and put these big tents up so people can get out of the blazing sun.

Now I must tell you, Carol, that the governor is extremely upset with the international community. He says that this is not just a crisis, it's a catastrophe and that the U.N. -- he singled out the United Nations -- is failing the Yazidis. Yes, we are at a UNHCR camp but as he said, not enough is being done to save the Yazidis, the oldest religion on earth. Where is the international community? He kept on telling me this over the phone. Where is the international community? We need them here to be now helping these people who are facing slaughter -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Anna Coren, reporting live for us this morning, thanks so much.

All right. More on that breaking news now out of the Pentagon. As I told you earlier American forces may participate in those refugee evacuations.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has been busy this morning getting us new information.

What have you found out, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. U.S. military personnel are now in Irbil overnight about 130 more to assess the situation but make no mistake they are looking at the options we are told for an evacuation of those Yazidis off that mountain top. Right now there are two options on the table. Get them out by ground, transport them out of there by vehicle and air.

A U.S. official tells me a good deal of the focus right now is on the air option, landing helicopters, landing small craft airplanes on the top of that mountain and starting an around-the-clock airlift. That may take some doing, however, because it's beginning to raise the question, are we -- is putting U.S. boots on the ground going to be the equivalent of U.S. boots being in combat?

I want to you have a listen to what the Pentagon press secretary had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: The president has been very clear. There's not going be boots on the ground in a combat role. We -- that's a very, very clear direction. But what he also told us to do was to take -- to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis there in northern Iraq and on and around Mount Sinjar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: But there seems to be no option at the moment but U.S. boots on the ground in some fashion because if you're going to do an air evacuation you're going to be landing aircraft on that mountain, you're going to have to have security and protection for the aircraft as they come in and take off. They will be based at an Iraqi air base. So have to be security for them there.

Why an air option and not ground? A lot of these people are in very poor shape. They may not be able to make a 15-hour journey and security is a big issue. They've got to keep ISIS back. They have to keep ISIS away from all of this to keep it secure. So also look possibly for U.S. airstrikes to be stepped up in the coming days to go against those ISIS positions near Mount Sinjar.

That would be the beginning of the effort, again, keep pushing ISIS back as they've been doing and get them away from the mountain and get an evacuation under way, all of this, of course, will require the approval of the president -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon. Many thanks to you.

I want to bring in Max Boot now. He's a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He's also advised U.S. commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Welcome, sir.

MAX BOOT, SENIOR FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Thank you.

COSTELLO: What do you think of this latest news that the United States is considering directly participating in these evacuations off the mountains? Doesn't that mean boots on the ground? Wouldn't you want American troops protecting these aircraft as they fly in?

BOOT: I think that sounds like it's very much called for but I think we need to look beyond the Yazidi issue, tragic and heartbreaking as it is, to look at the larger issue here which is that we are now involved in bombing ISIS positions. We are in fact in a war against ISIS which I think we have to be because ISIS is a terrorist state in the middle of the Middle East.

My question is, do we have a strategy to win the war beyond the issue of the Yazidis or protecting Irbil. I think we need to have a strategy for rolling back ISIS, to break their hold on so much of Iraq and Syria, and that's what I'm still waiting to see from the White House.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, the president keeps saying he's adamantly opposed to American boots on the ground, though. If -- I mean, if he comes up with a larger strategy, is he making a promise he can't keep?

BOOT: I think it's a mistake for any American president to go into a military intervention by ruling out certain options. He ought at the very least keep our enemies guessing. But I don't think anybody is calling here for a large number of American boots on the ground or American combat forces. I think what's necessary is a larger number of American advisers, special operators, aircraft.

I think we're basically talking about a force on the order of 10,000 to 15,000 personnel who would not be ground combat forces but would enable the fighting capabilities of the Kurdish Peshmerga of the Sunni tribes, of elements of the Iraqi Security Forces, and enable them to much more effectively attack ISIS and to break its devastating and genocidal grip on northern and western Iraq.

COSTELLO: Even with that strategy, though, you're putting American lives in danger and frankly many Americans feel Iraq is hopelessly broken and they should fight it out for themselves. Wouldn't it be better for the United States to arm the Kurds and the Iraqi military and let them fight for their own country?

BOOT: We should be arming the Kurds and the Iraqi military but what we've seen before is that the Iraqi military can collapse even with American arms unless they have American advisors and American aircraft on call, and we can't have American aircraft running bombing strikes unless we have American eyes on the ground from special operations forces.

Now I know there's a lot of frustration with Iraq. A lot of people want to throw up their hands and say it's hopeless. But we don't have the luxury of doing that because here you have a state much like Taliban in Afghanistan that is stretching across the Syria-Iraq border. This is an imminent threat to American interests and the interests of our allies in the region.

We can't simply allow this Islamic so-called caliphate to consolidate its authority unchecked. We need to do more to help the people on the ground resist. There's no question that the Iraqis and the Syrians need to take the lead role. But we need to do more to enable them to be effective.

COSTELLO: Matt Boot, thanks so much for your sight. I appreciate it this morning.

BOOT: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, as protesters take to the streets more violence breaks out in the Missouri suburb where police shot and killed an unarmed teenager.

CNN's Ana Cabrera live in Ferguson, following the developments for us.

Good morning, Ana.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Quiet here this morning but emotions are running very high in this small Missouri town. More violence overnight. The investigation still ongoing.

We'll have an update on both the investigation and the protests when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Violence exploding overnight in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson where an unarmed teenager was fatally shot by a police officer on Saturday. As protesters face off against police just blocks away, gunfire rang out, a woman was injured in a drive by shooting. And in another incident, an officer shot and critically injured a suspect who allegedly had pulled a gun on him.

Protesters in the meantime want to know the name of the officer who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown. Authorities say they will not disclose the name because of death threats.

I want to know what you think about this. I'm asking you on twitter do you think the officer's name should be released. Your responses are scrolling at the bottom of the screen. Thanks for your answers so far.

But let's get straight to Ferguson, Missouri, right now.

CNN's Ana Cabrera is there covering the story for us. Good morning, Ana.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

This is still a community very much on edge. Quiet here this morning. Calm. A rare break in what we've seen in the past several days. There were more violent protests overnight.

This community is angry. People are frustrated. They want answers. They want to know more details about what happened. They want to know why Michael Brown died.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA (voice-over): Peaceful demonstrations erupting into violence for the fourth straight night as angry protesters take to the streets, outraged over the death of Michael Brown, clashing with police, throwing bottles. Police in riot gear deploying tear gas to disperse the rowdy crowds.

Police still not releasing the name of the officer involved, saying they fear for his safety after threats on social media and because at this point he hasn't been charged.

Ferguson police chief saying the officer is horrified by what has happened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody comes to work saying, you know, I want to kill somebody. Nobody wants to go home from work having taken a life.

CABRERA: According to the medical examiner's office, Brown died of multiple gunshots wounds. Brown's friend, Dorian Johnson, who was with him in the moments leading to the shooting, says there was a scuffle at the police car after the officer asked him to get out of the streets.

DORIAN JOHNSON, VICTIM'S FRIEND: So, now, it was like officers pulling him inside the car. He's trying to pull away. At no time the officer said that he was going to do anything until he pulled out his weapon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a struggle over the officer's weapon. There was at least one shot fired within the car.

CABRERA: But Johnson says his friend never reached for the officer's gun, instead he said Brown broke free and started running down the street while the officer pursued him.

JOHNSON: His weapon was already drawn when he got out of the car. He shot again. Once my friend felt that shot he turned around and he put his hands on the air and started to get down but the officer still approached with his weapon drawn and fired several more shots and my friend died.

CABRERA: Was Brown's killing justified? Did his race have something to do with his death? In a town of 21,000 where 66 percent of the population is black, there are only three black officers out of 53 people on the Ferguson police force. There's still more questions than answers.

The FBI is investigating. The civil rights division of the Justice Department has opened an inquiry as well. Even the president is monitoring the situation saying in a statement we should comfort each other and talk with one another in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds. Brown's parents have called for peace as they continue to demand justice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need all of us to come together and do this right, the right way. The right way so we can get something done about this, no violence, man.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: But tensions still remain very high. So high, in fact, the FAA has now restricted the airspace banning any flights over the town of Ferguson until next Monday, over those safety concerns after some of the protesters at one point reportedly were firing shots into the air -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Ana Cabrera, reporting live for us from Ferguson, Missouri.

I still want to know what you think about releasing the identity of this officer who shot Brown. Should the name be released? Tweet me what you think @CarolCNN. We'll show your responses at the bottom of the screen later this hour and thanks so much.

Still to come on the NEWSROOM: fears on how the beloved comic Robin Williams died are confirmed. Suicide. But did the coroner's office go too far on how much detail he provided the public? Can anything be private? We'll talk about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LAUREN BACALL, ACTRESS: You know you don't have to act with me, Steve. You don't have to say anything or do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: I love that line. That unmistakable voice. It could not be anyone but Lauren Bacall.

And today, Hollywood is mourning the death of the iconic actress. She met her first husband Humphrey Bogart in her first film which catapulted her to stardom, "To Have and To Have Not". She also married fellow actor Jason Robards.

During her decades long career, she won two Tony Awards, an honorary Oscar, and was nominated for three Emmys. She told CNN's Larry King the stage was her first love, though.

Lauren Bacall's grandson said she died of a stroke on Tuesday. She was 89 years old and still quite fierce.

We've also been learning about the way actor Robin Williams died. Officials confirmed that he hung himself inside his California home. But there's also controversy over how many details were disclosed by Marin County officials.

Did the coroner's office really have to tell a live television audience that much information, especially after Williams' family repeatedly and explicitly asked for privacy?

I want to read a tweet from Twitter user Lisa. She said, "I really wish they didn't release the details of how Robin Williams was found. People will be focusing on that instead of the person he was."

So many took to social media with similar sentiments we wanted to talk about this with our entertainment correspondent Nischelle Turner and Dan Simon who has been covering the Williams suicide in California.

Welcome to you both.

Dan, I want to start with you, because you were present, Dan, at that press conference where reporters were asking the most insanely intimate questions. What was that like?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, typically that happens during news conferences. It doesn't necessarily happen on live television. I think that the difference in this case is that emotions are really raw, Carol, and this information came out just one day after we learned about Robin Williams passing.

I think if it came out, you know, a few weeks later perhaps the public reaction would be a bit different. Also the fact you had this live televised news conference added more drama to it.

If the sheriff's office had just sent the coroner's report to all the media organizations and then we reported it, I think you would be seeing a much different public reaction today.

COSTELLO: Some of the questions, just for an example -- was he clothed? What position was the belt in? This man committed suicide.

Normally, news organizations don't cover suicides. But in this case, it's a famous person so we do. I'm talking about those kinds of questions coming from reporters at that press conference, Dan.

SIMON: Yes. I mean, it's a high-profile case, perhaps the questions went over the line. But, remember, you know, authorities could have put an end to it saying listen we're not going to entertain any of these questions, we're going to cut this off right now.

You're also talking about tabloid organizations mixed in with mainstream news organizations. So you put all of them together and I don't think it's going to be all that surprising to hear all that, given who we're talking about.

COSTELLO: And, Nischelle, if there was a picture of this incident it would be published somewhere online.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Someone would do it.

COSTELLO: I don't know.

TURNER: But, you know, I think Dan touched on a couple of things. We're all journalists here. We get that sometimes we have to hear uncomfortable information, but I think he's right when he says and you're right when you say we don't normally cover suicides, so we don't hear this type of information. I think Dan is right where he says the timing of it was -- it's very sensitive because it was a day after.

But I tell you, Carol, listen, I've been in this business for a long time. I've been listening to this press conference yesterday, and I was really uncomfortable with the detail that the detective was giving. Just very -- like in the position of the body and how it was -- I just thought it was too much.

And I just thought -- and maybe we have some culpability too as a news organization because we took this press conference live. So, as journalist, if you're getting this information from the police and you have time to figure out what you're going to disseminate, that's one thing. But when you're just hearing the information live, you can't do that. So --

COSTELLO: But the sad thing is, is it's his quick - it paints a picture in your mind.