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America Waiting for President's Speech on ISIS Threat; Apple Releasing New Watch; Anger in Ferguson, Missouri, at City Council Meeting; Scotland to Vote Next Week Whether to Stay in UK

Aired September 10, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BERAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In a prime time address, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, the president of the United States will tell us what we have to fear from ISIS and how he plans to destroy the terrorist group. The bar is high because Americans are frankly afraid. A CNN/ORC poll shows 90 percent believe ISIS poses a somewhat to very serious direct threat to their homeland. And 71 percent believe there are ISIS terrorists living among us in the United States. The president has already started to pave the way. He sent his Secretary of John Kerry to Baghdad. Kerry along with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is trying to shore up support to defeat ISIS. The Secretary of State tweeting "Wheels down in Baghdad, Iraq, back again for a second time in three months. Critical partner against ISIL. Inclusive government is big step."

With me now to talk about all this, John Avlon, CNN political analyst and editor in chief for "The Daily Beast" and Peter Neumann, he is the director of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence. Welcome to both of you.

PETER NEUMANN, DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF RADICALIZATION AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Thank you so much for being here, Peter. And to you, John, and John, I want to start with you. Americans are scared. Part of the president's job tonight is to ease our fears. You were a speech writer for Rudy Giuliani after 9/11. So, what should the president say?

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: The first thing you need to do is be honest and direct. You're always safer when you're willing to confront reality. And the reality is, though, there's no reason for hysteria. ISIS might not represent a clear an imminent danger to Americans on American soil today. What we have learned is that when there's a vacuum. When there's the Middle East (INAUDIBLE), when there are failed states that the problem of radical jihad can take root and ultimately you have got to believe these people take them at their own word represent a threat to Americans not just journalists like James Foley. So, the president needs to say this is a threat. The absence of structure in the region has enabled extremism. That we need to confront this militarily, economically, and also diplomatically in terms of education. It's a long-term strategy. He's going to be laying it out tonight. It needs to be comprehensive, but it needs to tell the American people the truth of why we must engage. Because if we don't, it will be a bigger problem later.

COSTELLO: Well, it's a little freaky that he's giving the speech on the eve of the anniversary of 9/11.

AVLON: Yeah.

COSTELLO: And that will definitely be in many Americans' minds.

AVLON: Absolutely. And I'm sure it will be in part of the speech's frame. But it's a reminder to us to not be complacent. You know, we don't live outside history. We need to engage the world. And when we get complaisant about the threat, a clear and present threat of radical Islam and terrorism that is dangerous. So you need to view it with a sense of perspective. We need to do it by building bridges within the Arab world, which I think is going to be a core part of how this president's strategy differs from some of his predecessors. But we need to be willing to deal with it and confront it.

COSTELLO: OK, so let's talk about dealing with it and confronting it. Peter, there's word the president will outline a plan to train and perhaps arm moderate rebels in Syria. Do you think there is such a thing in Syria as a moderate rebel? And if so, who are they?

NEUMANN: Well, it's difficult because over the past three years since that conflict began, a lot of the rebel factions have become more radical and more extremist. There are relatively moderate rebel groups. They are not moderate in the sense of supporting Western democracy and pluralism necessarily. They are still conservative Sunni Muslims, but they are people that America and the Western world can work with. And they need to be empowered. The really difficult bit is to prevent those moderate rebels from sharing their resources and sharing their weapons with the more extremist factions. I have been to the border region and I have seen that all of these rebel groups with the exception of ISIS are basically hanging out with each other. And it's going to be very difficult to prevent some of the weaponry and some of the equipment falling into the hands of the more extremist factions.

COSTELLO: OK, so with that in mind, John, Mr. Obama told Congress he has the authority to go into Syria, but it needs congressional authorization to set up rebel training camps in the region and he needs it now. So will Congress pony up? Will Congress act?

AVLON: I'll tell you, Carol. I mean every indication is that the Congress is willing to support the president on this. The Congress is not throwing themselves in front of any action against ISIS. They want the president to act as commander-in-chief. The president is mentioned previously a $5 billion counterterror partnership fund. My guess is that that's not only going to be appropriate, but a part of the speech tonight.

And so far, congressional leaders are really saying you're the commander-in-chief. This is a clear and present danger. Do what you will. That sets up a division. There are debates even within the Republican Party between the Dick Cheney types and the libertarian wing. But this is an interesting moment, because part of what we're looking at is incursions into Syria, whether it's airstrikes or Special Forces, that takes things into a new direction, a new dimension. And it's very interesting to see Congress basically take a hands off approach. And defer to the president on this from a constitutional perspective.

COSTELLO: It has been fascinating. So, so, Peter, the president is also expected to say he will go wherever he needs to wipe out ISIS. Besides Iraq and Syria, where does he need to go?

NEUMANN: So, we know, of course, that up to 12,000 foreign fighters are participating in that conflict. Many of which are with ISIS. So it's very important that action is not only taken in that particular theater of conflict, but that also the countries that are providing these foreign fighters are taking action by themselves in order to stop people going in order to arrest people, in order to stop the flow of foreign fighters into that conflict region. And only this week on Monday at the U.N. Security Council, the U.S. mission has actually taken an initiative to take that forward. The idea is to really involve every country in the world to stop foreign fighters from going to that conflict. That will be super important in terms of stemming the tide.

COSTELLO: So we all look forward to the president's speech tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. John Avlon, Peter Neumann, thanks to both of you.

And, as I said, for full coverage of the president's speech on ISIS, keep it on CNN. We'll bring you the president's remarks and then analysis that all begins at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll be right back.

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COSTELLO: Well, don't you know, it looks like the rumors approved to be true. Apple has announced the hotly anticipated smartwatch, calling it simply Apple watch. It kind of breaks up the iThis and iThat thing that is going, right? That was Apple's CEO Tim Cook's moment to shine. And he means no more than gushing over the company's latest shiny toy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM COOK, APPLE CEO: We have one more thing.

(CHEERS)

COOK: Apple watch, we placed extra functionality in this dial. It's called the crown. And on the Apple watch, it's called the digital crown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have designed six different straps and a mechanism that makes the straps easily interchangeable. We've also developed a smaller watch with matching smaller straps.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New selection of animated emoji that we've created. You can unlock your hotel room door by waiving your watch in front of the door. While you're walking, Apple watch will give you a tactic feedback on each turn. So, you will know whether it's time to turn left or to turn right. And those feelings are different for each direction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The activity app on Apple watch measures three separate aspects of movement with the goal of helping you sit less, move more and get some exercise.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: All right. Let's talk about this. Let's bring in a CNN business correspondent Alison Kosik and CNN technology analyst Brett Larson. It looks pretty swanky, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it depends on who you talk to. I talked to the few fashionista folks and one of them telling me this thing looks so masculine. It's not sexy feminine.

COSTELLO: Masculine watches are in. Look at my giant watch I'm wearing.

KOSIK: This is just one take, might due. You know, in many respects, you know, this wearable technology still has a fashion problem. Wait, and then came the jokes on Twitter. One person saying, this is not a watch if you're an ant. And like a little crawling ant. And Lindsay Lohan could wear it on her ankle. But you know what ... (LAUGHTER)

KOSIK: ... jokes aside, jokes aside, I talked to one analyst ...

BRETT LARSON, CNN TECHNOLOGY ANALYST: This is her ankle bracelet on though, for her ...

KOSIK: Exactly. She can match it with the other leg.

COSTELLO: OK.

KOSIK: But one analyst telling me, look, this is a game changer what Apple is bringing out. That this watch is better than many of the competitors out there meaning what Samsung has called Gear. And it's model 360. So it really is giving the other competitors a run for their money.

COSTELLO: Yeah, because I can send you an emoji that winks.

LARSON: Right. And I can - you can make it - customize it and yeah, and you can send me your heartbeat because that's what we want to do with - when we're near people. I thought that was a little on the odd side of like things you can do with your watch. Send someone your heartbeat.

KOSIK: Here's why -- well, here's actually why on that. I talked to one analyst who told me that you look at the price point for this watch at $349. That's where it's starting. And you see that heartbeat feature. That's very much geared to the younger set -- to the millennials. LARSON: They like to show up their heartbeat.

KOSIK: Yes.

LARSON: I mean I will say one thing about it that's different from all the others. Is it - it's actual jewelry. It's not -- you know, the fit bits and the gear that we have seen prior, it's very tech- looking. It's plastic, it's glass and plastic, it's some kind of, you know, stuff. It's basically like wrapping up an iPad and putting it on your hand. So, I will give them that they did do a very good job making it look very like something you'd see at the watch counter.

KOSIK: It certainly in my opinion, if you estimate, it definitely does look more sleek than the others out there.

LARSON: Yeah.

KOSIK: I say wearable technology is just improving with age. You know, remember this is just Apple watch 1.0. It's probably only going to get better with age. Remember this is just apple watch 1.0. It's probably only going to get better with age.

LARSON I agree. The one thing we have seen historically with Apple time and again, they are necessarily first at anything. They weren't the first to make an mp3 player, but they made the iPod sexy, and we had to have it. They weren't the first with an online music store but they made it something where we are like, alright I can get behind this. The same with tablets. People tried to do tablets for years and Apple made it sexy. One thing I will say while watching that video when they announced the watch with Jony Ive and they show it all coming together. You sit there and you think, I have to have this. I don't know why, but I have to have this. It doesn't do anything I need, but I have to have this.

KOSIK: Apple has a way of making you think, wait, I think I need this suddenly. And I didn't really need it yesterday.

COSTELLO: Well maybe this is Tim Cook's moment then.

LARSON: It could be. There's a lot of potential in this watch. We'll have to watch what happens. I've been waiting on that all day.

COSTELLO: Brett Larson and Alison Kosik, thank you.

Still to come, protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, tell city officials they are fed up and want change now. Emotions are on high at the first city council meeting since the Michael Brown shooting. CNN's Ana Cabrera is following that story for us. Good morning.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Carol. That's right, it's been a whole month since Michael Brown was shot and killed and people are still angry and frustrated. The city says it has a plan to restore that public relationship and public trust. They'll have details about that as well as a possible protest that could shut down Interstate 70 later today. That's coming up right after a quick break.

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COSTELLO: In Ferguson, Missouri, anger spilling over at the first city council meeting there since 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed one month ago.

As you can see, demonstrators stood up and held their hands in the air yelling shut it down and fired up. They want answers about why the officer who shot Michael Brown is not under arrest and they want the Ferguson Police Department overhauled.

CNN's Ana Cabrera joins us now with us more. So Ana, tell us about the anger at that meeting.

CABRERA: People are still angry and frustrated. It's been a month since Michael Brown was shot and killed and people still want justice for Michael Brown and they don't want to see things go back to business as usual. So they packed the city council meeting. This was the first formal meeting of these elected officials since the death of Michael Brown. This was held in a church to accommodate the large crowd that they anticipated. We're told people came in from even outside the Ferguson community. They had to walk through metal detectors, there was a heavy police presence because they expected this to be emotional and, indeed, it was. You can see people were really riled up, expressing their frustration early in the city council meeting. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have the Mike Brown movement in your face because of your ongoing neglect. None of us will be here if the Police Chief you guys put in office would have just came forward and said we apologize, this was handled wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: City officials said change is coming and they came prepared at this meeting to lay out a plan to try to build back that trust within this community. They say they plan to change policies to reduce court fines, to reduce and reform the court system that many have said, critics have said, unfairly targets and penalizes people who are low income who can't afford lawyers who can't even afford to pay fines and then are thrown into jail. They also plan to establish a citizen oversight board, or a citizen review board to increase transparency, to hold officials accountable. And they also pledged to pursue funding for the great streets project that would try to revitalize and create some improvements along the stretch of roads where the protests hurt the businesses there because of the looting we saw. So will this make a difference? Carol, that's the hope but clearly there's still a long way to go to heal this community.

COSTELLO: All right, Ana Cabrera reporting live for us this morning, thank you so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, voters set to head to the polls in Scotland next week to vote on independence from the United Kingdom. From Britain. And now Britain's Prime Minister is stepping in to make sure that separation doesn't occur.

Nic Robertson is live in Scotland for thus morning, good morning, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol, that vote too close to call. The leading politician from the south flocking to the north but can they sell their message? More after this.

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COSTELLO: In just over a week, voters in Scotland will decide whether to end the country's century-long union with England and Wales. Collectively, the countries are known as the United Kingdom but if the yes vote is successful, Scotland would become an independent nation of more than five million people. When the campaign began, many saw it as far-fetched but recent polls suggest the referendum could pass, leading British Prime Minister to deliver an impassioned plea against the separation.

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DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I care hugely about this extraordinary country, this United Kingdom that we've build together. And that's what I want to talk about today. Because I would be heartbroken if this family of nations that we've put together and that we've done such amazing things together, if this family of nations was torn apart.

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COSTELLO: Nic Robertson is live in Scotland with more this morning. Why is Scotland so angry at Britain?

ROBERTSON: You know, it feels misunderstood and underrepresented in London and it believes that the finances could be better run by an independent Scottish government that would cut all ties with London. We look at the North Sea oil fields and feel that England gets too much of that money and they could do a better job with more of that -- you know, the money from the gas and oil fields -- themselves.

What they're looking at here today, David Cameron, British Prime Minister, has come here, on a day when he should be in London, come to Scotland and it's not just him, it's the leaders of the other two main political parties have come north as well to deliver a message that you're betting being part of the United Kingdom, that you will if you vote no to stay part of the United Kingdom then you will get control of your taxes, you will get greater economic control.

This is absolutely historic. I had a lady here earlier in tears talking to me because she doesn't know which way to vote. People know they're voting for their children and their children's children and it's very hard for them to make up their minds. But the man leading the independence vote here is very clear. Essentially saying these politicians in London don't understand us, don't get us, they're rushing up here with their message, they're in fact in disarray. This is what he said.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I think it's counterproductive for their campaign. Not because I say so or the yes campaign says so but because their reaction in the streets and communities of Scotland sees us as a last gasp piece of desperation from the Westminster establishment and the Westminster establishment are not popular in England, never mind popular in Scotland.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: You know, when you look at it, Carol, the fact that these politicians have rushed up here barely a week before the vote really is indicative for people in Scotland that Westminster, London, the government there, doesn't understand the Scots. That they've misjudged it, left it to the last minute. They had opportunities to put these offers on the table, these economic offers on the table years ago. They haven't done it. And that, in essence, is what the Scots are saying, you don't understand us. Let us run our own country. Carol.

COSTELLO: Fascinating. Nic Robertson reporting live from Scotland, thank you.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.