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U.S. Strikes Somalia; NATO Prepares to Take on Russia; Putin Mentions Nukes; Haliburton Agrees to Pay $1.1 Billion for Gulf Oil Spill; Ebola Outbreak Worsens; Fast Food Workers for National Walk- Out; Shareholders, Not Workers, Beneficiary of Low Wages in Growing Economy

Aired September 02, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

The Pentagon is extremely tight-lipped today about a U.S. military strike on terrorists in southern Somalia. We know the targeted group is al Shabaab. They're the al Qaeda-linked militants who carried out a braze attack on a shopping mall in Kenya last September. More than 60 people were killed. The air strike comes amid a busy time for U.S. involvement in the world's hot spots. As you can see in red, there it is, air strikes in Somalia and Iraq. The yellow marks the U.S. surveillance of Syria. And in green, the conflicts that demand strict attention from the United States, Nigeria, Libya, Ukraine, Israel and Gaza.

So, as the White House faces criticism of not doing more against Russia's involvement in Ukraine or the growing strength of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, we were wondering why is the United States going after this offshoot of al Qaeda, al Shabaab?

Paul Cruickshank is CNN's terrorism analyst. Good morning, Paul.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So why al Shabaab now?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, al Shabaab is seen as a regional threat by the United States. This is the group that was responsible for the Westgate attack against a shopping mall in Nairobi last year. The leader of the group, who may have been targeted in this strike, has signaled that the group wants to carry out more attacks again western and American interests in the region. So this may well have been a target of opportunity, a chance to take out some of the top leadership of the group. We don't know yet, however, if the top leadership was indeed killed in this strike, Carol.

COSTELLO: And the leadership of this group, did they seek to create an Islamic state just like ISIS is trying to do in Iraq?

CRUICKSHANK: Yes, they were trying to do much of that in Somalia, and succeeded in controlling much of southern and central Somalia several years ago. They've now been sort of pushed back from some of their strongholds. There's been an advance by African union troops there. But the group has responded by sort of trying to transform itself into a regional terrorist outfit rather than a sort of big militia group based in Somalia. And it's been responsible for some really quite major terrorist attacks in east Africa, in Uganda in 2010, the Westgate attack, but also an attack against a restaurant popular with westerners in Djibouti in June. So the Americans see this as a very serious, regional terrorist threat, Carol.

COSTELLO: Was there ever any threat from this group, direct threat to the United States?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, there's been some fiery rhetoric from the group's leaders that one day they might want to strike the United States. It does not really yet have the capability to do that. But there has been concern because there have been maybe around 20 Americans who have, over the last several years, joined the group. Some concerned that they may be able to train some of these people and send them back, but we haven't yet seen that happen, Carol.

COSTELLO: And if the leadership was killed, especially this Godane character, would that, in effect, I don't know, destroy the group's strength?

CRUICKSHANK: It would certainly weaken the group. Ahmed Godane is a very ruthless figure in the group. He dominates the group. You should -- you could see a kind of leadership struggle emerge if indeed he was killed. This is a group very much on the defensive within Somalia, but the problem is that it's now lashing out with terrorist attacks across the region, especially in Kenya because of Kenya's involvement in military operations against him in Somalia, Carol.

COSTELLO: Paul Cruickshank, thanks for your insight. We appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Vladimir Putin talking tough in (ph) face of scrutiny over Russia's actions in Ukraine, warning his country is among the most powerful nuclear nations in the world. Is that a threat? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A conflict not seen in Europe since World War II. That's what Ukraine's defense minister is warning could occur as tensions with Russia continue to escalate. Ukrainian officials say thousands of Russian troops are now in the eastern region of the country, helping pro-Russian rebels. For its part, Russia has denied such actions. And now NATO is stepping in. The agency expected to establish a special fighting force to handle Russian aggression in the region.

Reza Sayah is in Kiev, Ukraine. So, Reza, tell us more about that.

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we should point out that technically NATO is not directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, even though it weighs in on the conflict frequently. It says these units are part of a broader plan for NATO to bolster its capacity in the region. These units would be able to deploy in about 48 hours to hot spots in crisis situations. And this is important, they would be supported by additional bases in the region and in eastern Europe.

Now, if you know this conflict, if you know what irritates and angers Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin, you know that that's their big concern, NATO expansion towards the Russian border. Many say that's the crux of this conflict here in Ukraine. Moscow believes this is an encroachment in their security zone. A provocation they don't want it. Even so, NATO says they're going to talk about it in the summit in Wales. So it's going to be very interesting to see what the reaction will be from Moscow. They see this as a provocation.

Carol.

COSTELLO: What about the Ukrainian forces on the ground? An international monitor says they appear to be at a disadvantage in terms of weapons. Tell us more about that.

SAYAH: Well they're -- not only are they at a disadvantage, they've been taking a beating over the past several days. Hundreds of Ukrainian forces have either retreated or they're trapped or encircled, many injured, many killed, and they're losing significant turf battles. One of the significant losses, the Luhansk Airports that fell into the hands of the rebels. The Ukrainian forces retreated after they said the rebels attacked the airport, backed allegedly by Russian troops and tanks. Of course, Moscow still insists that they don't have tanks and troops on Ukrainian soil.

We're also watching the developments at Mariupol, the critical port city. To the east of that location, you have pro-Russian rebels bearing down, seemingly poised go in, Carol. And whether they go in or not depends a lot on what happens in the negotiating table in the coming days and the summit in Wales.

COSTELLO: All right, we'll keep an eye on those talks. Reza Sayah in Kiev this morning, thank you.

Joining me now, Gordon Chang, forbes.com columnist and author of "Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World."

Welcome, Gordon. Thanks for being here.

GORDON CHANG, AUTHOR, "NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN: NORTH KOREA TAKES ON THE WORLD": Thank you.

COSTELLO: I want to read you a quote from Vladimir Putin because it concerns many people. He recently warned, quote -- Vladimir Putin, quote, "Russia is one of the most powerful nuclear nations. This is a reality, not just words." And then Putin went on to add, "potential enemies should be aware it is better not to come against Russia as regards a possible armed conflict." So why is he bringing up nuclear weapons exactly?

CHANG: I think what he wants to do is intimidate the west, wants to intimidate Ukraine, because also when he talked about this, which was Friday, he also said he used a term for eastern Ukraine, which really meant new Russia. So what he's saying is, look, I'm going to keep Ukraine and if you come at me, I'm going to use nuclear weapons. So really what he has done is he's changed the world with one statement because up until this time everyone thought that nuclear weapons were defensive in nature. They were the instruments of deterrence. What he's now done is he's made them appliances of aggression.

COSTELLO: So he's serious about this?

CHANG: I think that he's relatively serious because also on August 14th he talked about Russia unveiling a new series of offensive nuclear weapons, and he's talking about renouncing the intermediate range nuclear weapons -- nuclear force agreement, which is a cornerstone of peace since the end of the Cold War. So you put all this together and you got to say, look, this guy means business.

COSTELLO: I don't know, part of me thinks it's really stupid to bring up nuclear weapons because wouldn't that bring more force to bear on Vladimir Putin and Russia?

CHANG: Well, that shows how out of touch is he, because I certainly agree with you. Really what he is doing is he's creating a coalition against him. You know, Putin is sort of very conspiratorial. He's seeing this. This is a strain of Russian foreign policy, which is really quite ugly. But nonetheless, this is what we have to deal with. And when you have statements from Putin like this, it's of concern because aggressors around the world are going to say, well, look, if Putin gets away with nuclear blackmail, why won't I? And we also know that the North Koreans and the Chinese have vaguely talked about nukes. Putin has talked directly about them and that really makes really things quite different from going forward now.

COSTELLO: I know, I'm having a feeling of deja vu all over again, right? Last question for you. So what can be done? What should be done in Ukraine to stop Russia because nothing seems to have worked?

CHANG: Yes, two things. I think we really need to tighten the sanctions much more. The Russian economy is vulnerable. Last year it was a disaster and we really can squeeze it. We see a lot of money coming out of Russia right now, tighten the sanctions and also give the Ukrainians weapons so they can fight. Those are two things we have to do right away.

COSTELLO: Gordon Chang, thanks so much for your insight. I appreciate it.

We're back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

COSTELLO: All right, this breaking news just in to CNN. We've learned that Haliburton agreed to pay $1.1 billion for the Gulf oil spill more than four years ago. That money will settle most of the plaintiffs' class claims. The company designed and built the well, the oil well, that led to the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Nearly 5 million barrels of crude oil poured into the Gulf before the leak was capped three months later. What's worse than that, of course, 11 workers died in that accident.

In other news this morning, for the first time, an experimental Ebola vaccine will be tested on humans. The vaccine will be administered at the National Institutes of Health to three healthy volunteer this is week after being fast-tracked by the Food and Drug Administration. Some pre-clinical trials for the vaccine were waived amid growing concerns about the rapid spread of Ebola in West Africa. In March, there were 132 confirmed and suspected cases with all but 10 confined to Guinea. Well, that number soared to more than 3,000 people infected and more than 1,500 deaths.

CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden just returned from West Africa. He appeared earlier this morning on CNN's "NEW DAY" and told Michaela Pereira the Ebola crisis is worse than he thought.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. TOM FRIEDEN, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: Absolutely. We've seen outbreaks of Ebola before. This is the first epidemic spreading widely throughout country and many countries, and it's spiraling out of control. It's bad now, much more than the numbers show. It's going to get even worse in the very near future and our window of opportunity to turn it around is closing. But it's not yet closed. The crucial thing we need to do is to act fast. Action today is worth much more than action in a couple weeks or a month or two.

PEREIRA: Explain why the window is closing.

FRIEDEN: What we're seeing is a spiraling of cases, really a hugely fast increasing cases that's harder and harder to manage. The more we can get in there and tamp that down, the -- the fewer cases we'll have in the weeks and months to come. Right now, the epidemic is completely out of control.

PEREIRA: You spoke to our Nima Elbagir, and you said, quote, "The world cannot isolate Liberia and West Africa", that it would not help and will make it harder to stop the outbreak. I think common sense would say, "Isolate! Isolate!" What do you mean by your comments?

FRIEDEN: Well, whether we like it or not, we are all connected. And even if we wanted to, we couldn't seal these countries off. In fact, the measures that have been taken that have it harder to fly in and fly out have made it harder to get help in, harder to control the epidemic, and therefore paradoxically have increased risks to other places.

I had to scramble to leave a day early because my flight was canceled. To get from one country to another, I had to hop on a U.N. plane because my flight was canceled. So this is making it really hard to get help in and to respond effectively to the outbreak.

We can't reject these countries. They're part of the world, and the longer the outbreak and epidemic goes on there, the more that all of us are potentially at risk.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: Further testing of the Ebola vaccine is planned on volunteers in the United Kingdom, as well as the African countries of Gambia and Mali.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, fast food workers are ready to walk off the job over their pay. CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans is following that story for you. Christine?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And, Carol, not only that, they're willing to get arrested for their cause. And what is that cause? They say work for multibillion dollar corporations and they don't make enough money to live on. I'll have that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Get ready for possibly long lines and delays at your favorite fast food spots. On Thursday, thousands of fast food workers from the likes of McDonalds, KFC, and Taco Bell, are threatening nationwide walk-outs, massive protests, and even some civil disobedience this week in their fight to get their wages doubled.

New York Workers Rising, one of the groups behind the campaign, says they're, quote, "committed to do whatever it takes to win $15 an hour and the right to form a union without retaliation."

CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins me now. So it seems like things have ratcheted up.

ROMANS: Yes, after Labor Day as a matter of fact. You're right. Coming back from the summer and going back to work is what these fast food workers, and the groups that are organizing them, are trying to do. 150 different cities.

Look, they make -- the median pay for fast food worker is $9 an hour. And these people say we cannot live on $9 an hour. That's $18, 500 a year, assuming you're working full-time. A lot of these people are working part-time at three different places, trying to cobble together a living. And they say they just can't do it.

And places like Seattle, the minimum wage has been raised to $15. 26 different states, you've got minimum wages raised. You can see, so even with sort of national inaction on this, you can see that minimum wage in some of these states and cities has been rising.

COSTELLO: Speaking of national inaction, the president yesterday talked about raising the minimum wage again, but he hasn't been able to do anything at the federal level.

ROMANS: No.

COSTELLO: Why?

ROMANS: They haven't. You know, there's been a very big lobby from the big restaurant groups who say the last time you raised the minimum wage in 2007, more than half of these restaurants had to -- had to raise prices and about 41 percent of them had to cut jobs or cut worker hours. So they say it's not a good time to be raising wages. They say that every time the minimum wage fight comes round.

But the White House has not been able to push this through with Congress. Congress just not has been able to do it. In the interim, you've seen these cities and states doing it instead, now more than half the country

COSTELLO: Well, I'll be curious to see how that goes, because I know that it's sort of controversial whether the minimum wage actually costs jobs or raises the quality of life for the middle class.

ROMANS: For these people, I mean, the people who you are seeing protest this, they say this is a human rights issue. This is what they say what an hour of life is worth, what an hour of your work is worth. They say it's not worth $7.25, it's not worth $9 an hour.

You look at wages overall, for everyone, stagnant or even falling when you put in inflation. So something is happening here where you've got corporate profits are doing well, companies are coming back, the economy is growing, but the worker's share of that -- not just fast food workers, but everyone -- the worker's share of that is stagnant to declining.

COSTELLO: Are you talking about economic patriotism? Because I thought that too.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: I thought that was interesting and probably won't fly with at least half the country, right?

ROMANS: Well, I can have a -- I mean, look, companies do what's best for their shareholders, right? That's what their job is to do. I mean, their job is to return value to their shareholders. If you want to -- you know, the beneficiaries of low wages in a growing economy are shareholders, not workers.

COSTELLO: All right. Christine Romans, thanks so much. I appreciate it. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.