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Ebola Virus Update; Deadline Looms for HK Protesters; New Search of MH370; Can The U.S. Contain Ebola Before It Spreads?; Will Supreme Court Address Same-Sex Marriage; New Memorial "Honors The Living"

Aired October 05, 2014 - 16:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Hello again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Welcome to the "CNN Newsroom.

Major developments today in the fight to contain the deadly Ebola virus in the United States. There is no outbreak in this nation and a little earlier today the head of the CDC vowed to keep it that way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. TOM FRIEDEN, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: Our top priority at CDC is to protect Americans from threats. We worked 24-7 to do that. In this case, we're doing that by many different ways. One of them is working to stop the outbreak at its source in Africa. Because as long as cases continue there, there's a possibility that someone will travel, infect someone else, come into this country or another country and possibly have another case of Ebola.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And now we have learned the Obama administration is considering beefing up screenings at major U.S. airports. The screening would be for travelers who are exhibiting signs of Ebola. The CDC director plans to brief President Obama on the Ebola crisis tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Tom Eric Duncan, the only person diagnosed with the deadly virus in the U.S. is fighting for his life. He is now in critical condition. Let's go to senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, in Dallas. So Elizabeth, police are working very hard to locate other people who have had contact with Duncan.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, exactly, Fredricka. There was a homeless man actually who they were searching for. And they have found him. We're told that there are two other contacts of Duncan's who they can't seem to find. They have their addresses, they have their phone numbers but hen they go to visit or when they call them, they can't reach them. So they're still looking for those two folks.

Now all three of these people, the homeless man and then these two contacts, all have the same kind of contact with Duncan and it's an unusual kind of contact. They were in the ambulance after he was. That was - went to Presbyterian Hospital. And they had a glucometer used on them. Fredricka, you probably had this used on yourself. It's a little thing that pricks your finger and gets a blood sugar measurement. Well, they changed the needles out between patients but there is a very small chance that some residual blood ended up on that device. And they want to get in touch with these two people to say "Hey, your exposure is very, very low risk but still you need to take your temperature twice a day." Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And in all, how many people may have come into contact with Duncan that officials are willing to reveal?

COHEN: Right. So let's go over what this sort of - what looks like sort of your hopefully final contact list for Thomas Eric Duncan. In all there are 48 people who had contact with Duncan. Seven of them are hospital workers and they are considered higher risk and three of them are family members. Thirty eight of them are considered lower risk and they would be a mix of different people. I imagine people who were at the apartment complex with him, ambulance workers, sort of a variety of different people.

WHITFIELD: And then the screening that the Obama administration may be entertaining now? What might it look like? What do we know?

COHEN: You know it might possibly looked a bit what I experienced when I left Liberia. When I left Liberia, they take your temperature. They have nurses who look at you to see if you look ill. When I arrived in the United States, Fredricka, I was shocked and really pretty horrified to see that there was basically no screening at all.

I have been talking about this on CNN for a week now and others have also been saying what is up with this. Well, finally the federal government is saying you know what, we're going to consider taking some stronger measures including taking of temperatures of people who are arriving from Ebola-affected countries and I was told that we should expect to hear more about this in the coming few days.

WHITFIELD: And it would likely not just be people who seem to be exhibiting symptoms but particularly those who may have come from, as you say, countries where Ebola has been an issue.

COHEN: Right. I mean really what they could be doing is they could say - I walked in and I said I'm a journalist and I just came back from Liberia, covering Ebola and I didn't seem to put off any red flag. I expected them to say did you get near anybody with Ebola? Did you get near any dead bodies? Did you attend any burial? And they didn't ask any of that.

So these concerns as you said will be just for people coming back from Ebola effected countries.

WHITFIELD: And then since you've been back, how are you self- monitoring?

COHEN: Right. So CNN follows the CDC guidelines which is to check your temperature twice a day and also just to monitor yourself for symptoms. So you know, if I were to feel ill, which thank goodness I haven't, you know, I would immediately do something about that. But so far so good, myself, my two colleagues who were in Liberia. We came back on September 26, we're all feeling great and our temperatures have been nice and low.

WHITFIELD: Oh, good. Let's keep it that way.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much. From Dallas.

COHEN: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: A missing 21-year-old marine is believed to be the first American casualty in the fight against ISIS. Corporal Jordan Spears bailed out of an (INAUDIBLE) military plane when it appeared it might crash into the Persian Gulf. He went missing Wednesday and the Pentagon said he was lost at sea. Spears has been declared dead but his death has not been classified yet so it's still not known if it will be considered a combat fatality.

And now to the latest in the battle against ISIS. The fighting continues around the Syrian town of Kabani (ph), along the border with Turkey. Despite coalition air strikes, ISIS fighters have reached the outskirts of the city. Some of the fiercest fighting is taking place between the British forces and the ISIS militants overlooking a hill just outside the city.

And a woman who started her own school for girls in Africa is facing Ebola right alongside them. But she says she sees hope on the horizon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A government deadline looms for student protesters in Hong Kong. After a week of disruptive protests, the students have been ordered to clear the way to government buildings by Monday morning.

CNN's Ivan Watson is there. Ivan, it's already 4:00 a.m. Monday morning and it looks like you have a lot of people behind you.

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It doesn't look like any of the people here are leaving any time soon. We have had thousands of demonstrators sleeping here on the pavement night after night, Fredricka, for eight nights.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

WATSON: The government has made numerous appeals for the people to disperse, to leave. It seems that the point in question here is whether or not government workers can get into the government buildings, the headquarters, the offices, which are right nearby where I am. Some of the student leaders have said "yes, we're going to let that happen, but we have also learned that sometimes what the student leaders say isn't really implemented on the ground by some of the rank and file protesters." So that will be a question to watch as daybreak approaches and the opening hour for offices comes. For the time being things do look rather static here. Some of the kids kind of tired after a week of sleeping on the pavement. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes. So what happens if these protesters don't leave. We know there's an ultimatum but what are they expecting to experience?

WATSON: Well, I mean, that has been one of the big questions all along. Will the government try to use the security forces to clean out this encampment that has been occupying this stretch of really an eight lane highway running to the center of Hong Kong? Will they use force? Will they use tear gas and pepper spray and perhaps rubber bullets?

We have not seen any signs of those types of tactics in the course of the eight days and if anything it was the use of tear gas that helped trigger this encampment, this protest movement in the first place. The reaction to it, which attracted a lot of sympathy to the demonstrators. So both sides are in a bit of a bind.

The demonstrators are increasingly coming under fire from some sectors of society who say enough is enough. You guys are snarling traffic. It's time for life to get back to usual. The security forces under pressure perhaps to find some way to get these demonstrators out of here with the full knowledge that if they use force in a city that has long had a reputation of stability, that could blow up in the police's face and once again they would become a target of criticism and that would give sympathy and put the protesters on the moral high ground.

So they're both kind of stuck. There had been some communications between some representatives of the Hong Kong government and some of the students that kind of have been talking to figure out how to talk, how to take those negotiations to the next level. So we just have to wait and see if that can help break this deadlock here.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ivan Watson, thank you so much. Keep us posted there from Hong Kong.

All right. Now to a rare and personal look inside the Ebola crisis. It comes from one remarkable woman who has lived in Liberia for nearly nine years. Liberia is one of three nations battling the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.

Katie Miler is the founder and CEO of More than Me, a non-profit that helps get girls off the streets and into schools. Her mission is to empower young girls, to be able to choose their own path. Katie, so good to see you. You have seen firsthand this Ebola crisis. Describe for us what you have witnessed because you have taken an awful lot of pictures that you have also shared on Instagram. So kind of explain to us what has been most notable to you and why you took photos.

KATIE MEYLER, CEO MORE THAN ME: I really like to story tell, but I want the world to see the faces and know the names and the people that exist behind all of these numbers that everybody is seeing and hearing about on the news. But in the ground here it's definitely, you know, it feels - it's pretty insane and intense. There are - five of my neighbors have died. I've seen, you drive by in the streets and you see dead people there. (INAUDIBLE) he was eight years old. He was dying by himself, he's an orphan, right outside one of the hospitals.

It feels -- it just feels like kind of the world wants to help and wants to know what to do but they don't know what to do. On the ground, it almost feels like everybody is so afraid that they have left these people to die on their own.

WHITFIELD: And then, you know, as we look at these pictures and you can see the sadness in these little children's eyes. You are seeing and interacting with little people whose parents, whose siblings at home are sick or are dying and what are they saying to you about what they are struggling with - these small kids, ages six, seven, eight? What are they sharing with you?

MEYLER: One of my moments that I will never forget until the day that I die was looking into a little boy's eyes who was dying. We were able to give him a blanket and some juice and just say that we love him and he's not alone and that he matters. With the little energy that he had he said god will bless you. When these children are sick and dying, they don't have a lot of energy to speak. It's unique that I've been able to talk to some of the family members before they know that they're sick but not so far that they can't speak any more. And they're afraid. I think people are deathly afraid and scared.

WHITFIELD: And then we know that the Obama administration is talking about or at least the Defense Department has approved possibly treatment centers being set up by U.S. troops that would come to Liberia and the two other West African nations. How do you see that as potentially helping? I mean, once you get the treatment centers up, do you worry about or are you concerned about who will actually be there to administer the health care?

MEYLER: Yes, I think that is one of the big issues. I mean, definitely, t/here is hope in the air. People are excited that someone is going to come and rescue and help. But the reality on the ground is we're not seeing that yet. But yes, I wonder who will - there's plenty of nurses here and there are people that want the jobs and want to do the work but hey need the training.

So we think it will be here. And I feel like - I know there are people landing and there are meetings happening and people are planning but as far as like on the ground it doesn't - there is not a huge impact at this point. But ETUs, that will be a game changer for here, the Ebola Treatment Unit that they're building. If there is a place to actually bring sick people, then it won't be - the Ebola won't spread as quickly within the community. That would be a huge help if we can get it up and going but it just needs to happen faster.

WHITFIELD: So then, Katie, how are you staying well? Or have you had any close calls?

MEYLER: Yes, I had a training by WHO and UNICEF on how to get Ebola, how to stay safe. Our team, our whole staff have had that training. But yes, I think regardless, if you're working in Liberia right now and you're confronting this issue. I mean, you're definitely, it's risky for everybody. We're trying to stay as safely as we can by washing our hands, as much as possible and not touching anybody who was sick. And that's what our staff is doing.

But of course there is always that little bit of fear. One of my friends actually who was supposed to move in today. He is an American that got Ebola. You know, I think that was a wake up call for us, all of us. Again, just another huge reminder that you can't see it but it's definitely there. And you have to be as careful as you possibly can. But at the same time we have to act and act as fast as we can at the same time as being careful.

WHITFIELD: And Katie, you're family is stateside and they - I'm sure they are very worried about you all the time.

MEYLER: Yes, my mother is in New Jersey and she keeps telling me about how I can do so much more from home and wants me to come back desperately but she also, she believes that I'm in god's hands and is trying to let me and my life be and remain there.

WHITFIELD: Well, I'm sure they are very proud of you. You're doing great work. I know the little kids are appreciative of all that you're doing while there and Liberia as well. Katie Meyler, thanks so much and all the best to you. Keep in touch with us.

MEYLER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: A new search for the missing Malaysian airliner is about to begin. But a brother of a missing passenger is not optimistic at all that they will find anything. We will tell you why next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It's been nearly seven months since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished and a new search for the missing airplane is scheduled to begin in the Indian Ocean. But come relatives of those on the plane are not very optimistic.

CNN's Paula Hancocks explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jack Son (ph) never dreamt he would still be wondering where his sister is. Song Chung Ling (INAUDIBLE) was a passenger on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH-370, a flight she was not supposed to be on. A mother and a grandmother, Song (ph) was booked on another flight but agreed to swap tickets to another passenger to help them out.

MH-370 with 239 people on board vanished from radar screens March 8th, on it's way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Despite an unprecedented search in the Southern Indian Ocean where the plane is believed to have run out of fuel, not a single trace has been found.

As a new phase of the search begins, Song criticizes what he considers to be a lack of open information and investigation. JACK SONG, SISTER WAS ON MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT 370: Without investigation, the search is no use (INAUDIBLE) not in the right direction. The search is - with time, I just say, waste of time.

HANCOCKS: But Australian officials in charge of the operation are cautiously optimistic the refined search area will bring results. It covers 60,000 square kilometers, roughly the size of West Virginia or Croatia. It could take up to a year and cost $48 million. So how will it work?

Three ships will be equipped with a tow fish that contain side scan sonar and a camera to be towed about 100 meters above the ocean floor. Data will then be transmitted to the ship and on a daily basis, via satellite to shore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How fast it goes depends essentially on the sort of terrain they're covering and that varies from quite flat (INAUDIBLE) to ravines and (INAUDIBLE) which require much closer (INAUDIBLE).

HANCOCKS: (INAUDIBLE) have spent months mapping the previously unknown ocean floor, finding dramatic challenges like underwater volcanoes.

Some families have lost confidence in the search. Some independent experts have even cast doubt on whether this is the right spot. The teams at sea are acutely aware that previous false starts raised false hopes.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Joining me now to talk about this new search for the missing airliner is CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo. Jack Song, the brother we just heard from whose sister was on MH-370, thinks this new search is useless. What do you think?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, I think the new search area is really all they have. It may turn out to be useless but I think it's very important that it is done. The Malaysian military just did a terrible, terrible thing when they allowed this search to go on in the South China Sea for four days and then said that they had tracked what they believed to be the plane and they saw it go out back across Malaysia and then head towards the South Indian Ocean.

In those days there was a chance to find wreckage and debris which is very important to analyze the drift of the sea and figure out where the plane went into the water. Without that data it's very, very difficult to find and that's why this mapping job at least helped and then the sonar will help narrow in. So they are looking in the only area they have to look. So that's why I can certainly sympathize with the family members, but this is it. This is the only place they have to search.

WHITFIELD: Wow and we're told this search could take up to a year to complete. I mean, that is pain staking. But you know, is there a reason why besides the fact that we're just talking about a vast area?

SCHIAVO: You're exactly right. It's such a vast area and we don't have any hope now, seven months later, (INAUDIBLE) any pingers. Remember so much focus was on the pingers. And the one the pings that they did have were the wrong frequency. So that couldn't have been the plane. But now without the benefit of that it is literally going be - the ships are going to be taking these towed sonar devices back and forth across the area with the NMARSAT data indicates is the most likely area. Now they have discounted some of the Malaysian military reports and have calculated several possible routes that it could be on and they are looking in the southernmost area. So I think without saying, it is clear that the researchers or the searchers themselves and the Australian government have discounted some of what the Malaysian military have said.

WHITFIELD: And the families are saying they're still not getting enough information? What kind of information should they be getting that they're not getting?

SCHIAVO: Well, I think what would go along a way and I talked with many family members, many of them have seen me on CNN have contacted me. It's amazing what they're not getting. They are getting any briefings at all right now, none whatsoever. They get their news - when CNN isn't blacked out in China and other places.

They're getting their news from television and contrast that with other countries where families of air crash victims or lost plane victims are given regularly scheduled briefings by their agencies. By the NTSB, for example or the AAIB in other countries. So it would be important at least to give them briefings as to what is going on but right now they're relying on the media.

WHITFIELD: All right. Seven months later. Is it your thinking that by now you would have hoped there would be some kind of information indicating where this plane is?

SCHIAVO: Yes. And if not any indication, just a daily briefing or not daily briefing, for these families, even a monthly briefing would be an improvement as to what they're doing and what is going on. But I do fear those four days that were lost in the search because of the Malaysian military's failure to inform them that they had seen the plane cross back across Malaysia, that did do a terrible blow to the search and that made it very effious if they're going to find it.

WHITFIELD: All right. Mary Schiavo, thank you so much.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up this Tuesday on CNN, Martin Savidge takes a closer look at what happened to MH Flight 370. Here's a sneak peak of "Vanished: Mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nineteen minutes after air traffic control's last communication with the cockpit, flight 370 has disappeared. A controller in Kuala Lumpur calls Malaysia Airlines for help.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: I think, fundamentally, you have to assume, nobody expects one of these planes to fall out of the sky. Nobody expects a 777 to vanish.

SAVIDGE: And Malaysia Airlines tells air traffic control a completely different story. They say MH-370 has not vanished at all.

According to their own internal flight tracking system -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Malaysia Airlines said the aircraft is fine. We know exactly where it is.

SAVIDGE: Yet they have had no communication.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had none. They had none. So their system was showing that the aircraft had continued to go on that heading.

SAVIDGE (on camera): Over the next hour and half, Malaysia Airlines gives air traffic control more promising messages. They had exchanged signals with the flight. The plane was in normal condition and the plane was flying off the coast of Vietnam along its scheduled flight path.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At that point the guard is let down. You start going in a different direction. You're not search and rescue anymore, you're just trying to communicate.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): But an hour and a half after that first reassuring message, a tragic realization. Malaysia Airlines now tells air traffic control the information was wrong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And you can see "Vanished, The Mystery of Flight 370," Tuesday 9:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: CDC Director Tom Frieden will brief President Obama tomorrow on the Ebola crisis. Today, he said the CDC will review entry screening at airports and that his agency is taking 800 calls and e-mails a day on the CDC hotline.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. TOM FRIEDEN, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: We're intensively informing everyone in the health care system who could have contact with somebody coming in to think about Ebola and keep it top of mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Dr. Jessica Snowden is a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Snowden, nice to see you again. DR. JESSICA SNOWDEN, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER: Thanks for having me back.

WHITFIELD: So if there was more of a serum, you know, that was used for the two Americans treated in Atlanta, which appears to have worked to bring them from the brink of death, why -- how was the patient in Dallas likely being treated?

SNOWDEN: Certainly the mainstay therapy for Ebola is going to be a support. Potentially supporting their fluid status. You will lose a lot of fluids through bleeding and other processes through the virus. So the biggest thing we will do is support their vascular supply.

Make sure they have enough blood to pump out to the rest of the body parts and that we're helping their heart pump as well as it can. The mainstay of therapy is really supportive care.

WHITFIELD: Now another patient was treated at your facility, at your hospital, Dr. Richard Sacra. And I understand that he actually received a blood transfusion from one of the American patients that was treated at the Emory University Hospital.

He did not receive that serum, that ZMapp, which is unavailable, but now we understand that he is in a Boston hospital. He is in isolation for a cough and fever, but it's not clear whether it's related.

Is this normal or was this the expectation that perhaps if someone may have rebounded from Ebola, there could be some residual effects?

SNOWDEN: It's not typical for the fever to rebound. Generally once you have recovered from the febrile part of the illness and you are considered recovered from the virus. I don't know anything about his specific case, but we do not expect someone to have a recurrent fever as the results of the Ebola.

WHITFIELD: What is it about your facility there in Nebraska that is suitable, you know, that is equipped to be able to handle patients with Ebola? We understand the NBC freelance photographer who will be leaving Liberia later this evening will be arriving there for treatment by tomorrow. What is it about your facility or is it the level of expertise in being able to handle this kind of infectious disease or virus?

SNOWDEN: We have an excellent and well craft bio-containment unit in the University of Nebraska, actually one of the largest in the country. And it allows us to provide a safe enclosed environment for taking care of the patient so there not going to be a risk to other patients in the hospital, other patients in the community.

We have staff that are excellently trained in taking care of these patients in terms of managing infection control as well as managing the patients themselves. We have outstanding physicians that have been taking care of the patients are world class.

So I think with those resources at our disposal, we have an excellent situation to take care of people. It is an undiscovered gem I think here at the University of Nebraska. We provide excellent care and something that people were not really aware of.

WHITFIELD: All right, Dr. Jessica Snowden, thank you so much and continue the good work there.

SNOWDEN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, to find out more information about how you can help fight Ebola, just log on to the web. Go to cnn.com/impact to get more information on that. And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Several U.S. Supreme Court justices attended the annual Red Mass, ahead of their new term that begins tomorrow. Many are wondering will same sex marriage be on the agenda.

CNN's Erin McPike says that's not the only hot button issue before the court.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Supreme Court's docket is dominated by one momentous, socially charge issue, whether gays and lesbians have a nationwide equal protection right to wed legally. The judges expected to decide in coming weeks whether to put same-sex marriage to the constitutional test.

THOMAS GOLDSTEIN, SCOTUSBLOG.COM PUBLISHER: In theory, the justices can avoid deciding any question particularly when there is no division and there isn't about same sex marriage yet. But this is just too important. They can't stay out. It would be ridiculous for the nation's highest court not to decide this issue.

MCPIKE: In 31 states ban same sex marriage. While homosexual couples seeking the right say their committed relationships deserve full legal recognition. Some states say the court should stay out of the fight after their citizens have voted to preserve traditional marriage.

CARRIE SEVERINO, SENIOR COUNSEL, JUDICIAL CRISIS NETWORK: When the court on such an issue where there are very strong opinions on both side like this. This is a huge issue of social change in our country. When the court steps in and makes it into a constitutional issue, it makes the court look significantly more political in the eyes of the American people.

MCPIKE: Other key disputes grabbing the court's attention, whether a no beards prison policy violates the religious liberty rights of Muslim inmates. When pregnant workers can bring workplace discrimination lawsuits against their employers, and policing speech crimes in the digital age. Just when do online threats cross the line from free speech into criminal conduct?

ELIZABETH WYDRA, CHIEF COUNSEL, CONSTITUTIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY CENTER: It often can be hard to judge the intent behind them comment. The question is whether you have to show in order to convict someone of a crime based on comments they've made on Facebook. That they intended to make a true threat of serious bodily harm or death or is the issue whether a reasonable person reading those Facebook posts would have considered him or herself to be seriously threatened.

MCPIKE: Erin McPike, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And Washington's newest memorial opened its doors today. It honors the nation's disabled veterans. We will take you there next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The newest memorial in Washington honors the nation's disabled veterans. The American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial was dedicated by President Obama today. He says those veterans are a big reason not to jump into any conflict unnecessarily.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Let's never rush into war because it is America's sons and daughters who bear the scars of war for the rest of their lives. Let's only send them into harm's way when absolutely necessary.

If we do, let's always give them the strategy and the mission and the support that they need to get the job done. When the mission is over and as our war in Afghanistan comes to our response blend in two months, let us stand united as Americans and welcome our veterans home with the thanks and respect they deserve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN talked to veterans about this new memorial.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ART WILSON, MEMORIAL CO-FOUNDER: It's the first and only memorial designed to honor the living. There are no other memorials that honor the living individuals. We honor the living today of nearly 4 million disabled veterans. The countless millions that have gone before us and those who will come after us.

The message is respect and be mindful of what the cost of freedom is morally to those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice and to those that come home wounded, injured or otherwise disabled, whose first day of their disability life begins when they come home from war.

And it goes on for the rest of their life and they have to deal with it every single day. The best form as Washington said of public justice is to honor them and take care of them.

BOBBY BARRERA, MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: To be the flame is a direct reflection of that undying spirit of patriotism that they had when they don the uniform, when they return home injured, disabled for life. That's what the flame represents.

The sculpture, the bronze, the entrance on the glass panels is the voice of America talking to those who visit the voice of disabled veterans, the voice of family members and it's saying we should never forget.

What it means to me it takes me back to all friends, all the disabled vet that I've met throughout my career, it makes me think of those individual who through blindness who will never see a beautiful sunshine that we take for granted.

Those that came home without legs will never be able to walk their daughters down the aisle. And for me personally as a disabled veteran, the fact that I will never be able to hold hands with my wife. To me all those are reflected in this memorial.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Gorgeous place of honor. All right, coming up, what if you want to be an underwater diver for a huge Las Vegas water show. I spoke with Mike Rowe about his new CNN show and found out why, as he says, somebody has got to do it.

But first this year's top ten CNN Heroes have been chosen. Now it's your turn to pick the one most deserving of the title CNN Hero of the Year. Here is Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "AC360": Now that we've announced the top CNN Heroes of 2014, I want to show you how you can choose who should be CNN Hero of the Year and receive $100,000 for their cause.

Take a look. This is the main page of CNNheroes.com where you'll see all the top ten and learn more about each one of them. Here's how to vote for your favorite. Once you've decided who inspires you to most, click down here on vote.

Then a new page comes up showing you all the top ten heroes. Choose the person to vote for. I'll randomly select Ned Norton. His photo shows up under your selection. Then just enter your e-mail address, type in the security code and click on the vote button right down there.

It's even easier to vote on Facebook. Click your selection and vote over here. You can vote once a day until November 16th. Rally your friends by sharing your choice on Facebook or on Twitter. We'll reveal your 2014 hero of the year during "CNN Heroes, An All-Star Tribute," a CNN tradition that promises to inspire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, you know him, you love him and now Mike Rowe is on CNN. His new show is called "SOMEBODY'S GOT TO DO IT" and it premiers Wednesday on CNN. Here is a preview of the first episode.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE ROWE, CNN HOST, "SOMEBODY'S GOT TO DO IT": This is Chris. Nice to meet you. So then essentially my life will be in your hands for the short term.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.

ROWE: You will be diving with me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right beside you.

ROWE: Promise?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Well, it depends if you behave yourself or not.

ROWE: You will be amazed at how excellent my behavior can be in a confined space where there is really nothing to breath but water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You will be surprised to see how bad I can be in such a situation.

ROWE: You're just filling me with confidence. All right, so can I slip into something --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wardrobe has your Speedo ready.

ROWE: That's right. Chris has told me that my wetsuits on backwards and I might care when I go down to depth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, everything squeezes? You may want to go change.

ROWE: It feels like a dream.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take two. Nicely done.

ROWE: Yes, thanks. How are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing?

ROWE: I feel great, thanks. Getting in the water here. That's complicated.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: He takes the plunge. So I talked with Mike Rowe this week about his new show and I asked him how he put this show together?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROWE: Really the question was in situations like that if you follow it up the food chain, you'll always find one person who is responsible for virtually everything. And in this show people drop from the ceiling 80 feet into a pool of water and sometimes the water, a stage rises up from the bottom and people are like dancing on the stage. People with no bones. It's very strange.

And scuba divers are underneath the stage with oxygen waiting for the people who dive in because they never resurface again and they give them air. And anyhow the whole thing struck me as amazingly complicated and dangerous. So I wanted to go see who is in charge and we did.

WHITFIELD: And then you got a chance to explore really from top to bottom. You sometimes were in the scuba gear as well getting a chance to experience and from that I guess there is a trapeze where you drop about 08 feet?

ROWE: Yes, they call it a trident and it lowers from the ceiling and it pulls people up and they spin and they whirl. I mean, we can talk for hours about the spectacle of the show. But to me the real point was, who were the people who were actually behind the scenes, and the further you go, the weirder it gets? And we shot there for 12 hours.

WHITFIELD: My gosh, and a lot of it was spontaneous.

ROWE: All of it spontaneous. We don't do take two. We're very, very transparent in the way we shoot. We always have a camera that never stops rolling. So when you see the challenges of production whether it's PR or technical, the viewers there are every step of the way. So it's a very honest show.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And it's so fun. The premier of "SOMEBODY'S GOT TO DO IT" Wednesday night at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

That's going to do it for me. Thanks for hanging out with me all day. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins now with Poppy Harlow in New York.