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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

ISIS Hostage Claims Kobani has Fallen; U.S. Army Personnel to be Quarantined in Italy; Hawaiians on the Run as Lava Flows; New Revelations about Washington Shooter

Aired October 28, 2014 - 12:00   ET

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

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: "LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts now.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: When the blindfolds come off, they talk candidly about car bombings and beheadings. ISIS militants captured, captured by Kurdish fighters, and face to face with CNN's Ivan Watson inside a Syrian prison.

Also ahead, what you haven't heard about Friday's school shooting. The text the shooter used to lure his victims, his shocking selfie and the message of forgiveness from the cousin he shot in the face.

And, a 2,000-degree river of lava has homes in its path and Hawaiians on the run. A couple of months ago it was miles away and suddenly it's just a couple hundred feet. And there is nothing that's going to stop it.

Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. And welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

We begin this hour with two new offensives for Kobani, a city under siege by ISIS. We're going to show it to you on the upper left of that creeping red blob that represents big portions of Iraq and Syria under ISIS control. As we speak, the Peshmerga forces, or the Kurdish fighters from northern Iraq, are making their way to the Kobani front by way of Turkey. Not, I repeat, not a Kurdish ally. Much more on that in just a moment.

And the other big push is from the ISIS propaganda machine. A new video of British hostage John Cantlie, this time in the guise of war, war correspondent, claiming Kobani has already fallen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN CANTLIE, BRITISH ISIS HOSTAGE: Hello. I'm John Cantlie. And today we're in the city of Kobani on the Syrian-Turkish border.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Because Cantlie is clearly under duress as a prisoner, we don't want to air any more of the scripted comments. But we will show you these aerial shots of a battle-scarred Kobani supposedly taken by an ISIS drone.

Now I want to get us to CNN's Nick Paton Walsh in southern Turkey and joining us from Baghdad, CNN's Ben Wedeman.

Nick, what do you make of this video of John Cantlie? It's difficult knowing that he's a prisoner and seeing that he almost speaks as though he's not.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is troubling to watch, bearing in mind you have no idea what kind of state of mind he must be in. But he seems relaxed. He seems to have warmed to his role as effective, as you mentioned, the war correspondent of ISIS in that town, giving their point of view that the $500 million of ISIS opinion of coalition air strikes have been wasted because, in their words, their mujahedeen continue to fight with light weapons house to house in urban warfare. It's clear he's in Kobani and it's clear from watching it too that the fact ISIS put such efforts into putting this video together, it's well resourced, it shows their adept use of social media too. It means that ISIS think Kobani is important. It means that the coalition air strikes haven't made them give up on it. It means that the fight for it will certainly continue.

And you've got to bear in mind, Ashleigh, we are seeing these Peshmerga leaving northern Iraq now. They're Iraqi Kurdish fighter, friendlier with Turkey, so Turkey's happy to let them go through their territory to go to the aid of Syrian Kurdish fighters fighting for Kobani who are not friendly with Turkey at all. This will be a key moment in the fight. It's symbolic, yes, because Turkey, Iraqi Kurds and Syrian Kurds are working together finally. But there's a lot of firepower going in. They're going to go in very openly. And ISIS has had quite a bit of time to prepare. So it's going to be messy when they potentially reach the Kobani town, Turkish-Syrian border crossing next to it in about the early hours potentially dawn tomorrow morning, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: So I want to take that conversation to Ben, who is in Iraq. You know, it would seem that there's no shortage of fighting for the Iraqi Peshmerga to deal with the ISIS forces who are in that country and yet they are on the move and they're headed to Syria. Are they going to be able to keep this battle alive on both fronts?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well certainly we're only talking about 160 men. So it's not a huge force. And, of course, the Peshmerga have thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of fighters at their disposal. And it really is for the Kurds, more an important act of solidarity and support for their brethren in Kobani rather than an actual concerted opening up of a new front for the Peshmerga.

Now, when I was in Erbil last month, you know, that was when Kobani was really kicking off and we did ask Kurdish officials, can you, will you be spending troops? At the time they said, we have our hands full already as it is what with ISIS at that point was only about an hour's drive to the west of Erbil, which is the de facto capital of the Kurdish regional government. But clearly the political dynamics have changed. So they're sending this group of men, 160 really in the grand scheme of things is more symbolism than real impact in terms of a fighting force. BANFIELD: So, Nick Paton Walsh, do you think that this hold-up - and

you just mentioned it, you reported that these forces are now unified in their battle against ISIS. But has it been the politics of Turkey all along that it's kept them and yet the public word has been, we have our own battles to fight where we are?

WALSH: Well, I mean, it's been a messy week as Turkish officials seem to have the message, talking about what's going to happen before Syrian Kurds or even Peshmerga knew about it. And for a while the Syrian Kurds wanted the heavy weapons the Peshmerga would bring but not the manpower. And then it seemed that the Peshmerga wanted to go and advise and supply the weapons rather than fight. But it's clear today they're going in to fight in Turkey.

BANFIELD: Well, you know what, we just lost that signal. Always incredible when you here the call to prayer at 6:00 in the evening where Nick Paton Walsh is. I want to thank both Nick and also Ben Wedeman for their terrific reporting on this story.

We also have another story that we've been following, and that is the Washington shooting, where we're now learning some pretty chilling new details about a school shooting there. We're going to tell you what the shooter sent in text messages to the victims before he showed up in the cafeteria with a loaded gun. And a grandfather's emotional reaction to the shooting of two -- two of his family members.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: New revelations about that 14-year-old homecoming prince who opened fire in the cafeteria at a high school in Marysville, Washington, on Friday and left two girls dead, three other students wounded. Before Jaylen Fryberg took his own life, he left that carnage.

But now we're learning what he did beforehand. That he texted these victims, invited them all to meet him at the same table at lunch. And shortly before the shootings, Fryberg sent a selfie to his ex- girlfriend showing himself holding a gun.

Fryberg shot his cousin, Nate Hatch, in the jaw. Now Hatch is in the hospital. He is walking with the help of a nurse. But due to his facial injuries, Nate is never going to be able to play football again. And despite the killer's actions, such an incredible display of forgiveness from Nate Hatch. He tweeted out, "I love you, I forgive you, Jaylen, rest in peace."

The amazing love and sympathetic response coming from many people who knew that killer, one of them saying, "that wasn't the kid I knew, he stood up to a bully for my little brother. I'm not saying what he did was right, but I know that wasn't him. He was a loving kid and was liked by many." Another tweet reads, "to the guy at Walmart who just looked at my shirt and said, I'm sorry you went to school with a psychopath, I will pray for you."

Nate Hatch's grandfather spoke with our Anderson Cooper last night and talked about how Nate is coping now. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, ANCHOR, CNN'S "AC 360": Does he remember what happened?

DON HATCH, GRANDFATHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM: He remembers, you know, the gun being pointed at him and, you know, him just freezing and just -- the other two getting shot. And, you know, he's -- I think things are coming closer to him. The healing is the easy part. The memories of everything and the friendship that he had with his cousin is going to be the toughest part.

COOPER: I saw a tweet that he sent out forgiving the shooter for doing this, his cousin. And, I mean -- technically he was his cousin, but you said they were more like brothers.

HATCH: Oh, yes. Yes. In fact, the other one, the one that got shot down in Seattle, Andrew Fryberg, all three of them were kind of inseparable. They did - if the two - you seen three of them together. But then you -- the two, it could have been Andrew and Jaylen or Nate and Jaylen or -- it's always the two of them together or three of them together.

COOPER: I understand also that Nate has told you or told the friends about one of the teachers and about some of the heroic things that she did.

HATCH: Yes, and how she did this right there. Everybody else run away. She ran to and really made things happen. And when they said that on TV, I didn't believe it. But here's my grandson saying, that was right there in the middle of the action, that she was it. And she's, I feel, is a hero's hero.

COOPER: The shooter's grandfather and you were first cousins. So that's the relation --

HATCH: We are. Yes.

COOPER: How are - how are you dealing with this? I mean it's your grandson who was shot and yet also you have this other link to a boy who shot himself and others.

HATCH: Well, I went over there - I think it was Sunday morning -- Saturday morning. And I went and talked to my cousin and his family and talked to him about, we're praying for them because they lost a grandson, too. And nobody knows why this happened because we could, you know, point the fingers every which way but I don't think there's anything we could point the finger at their grandmother and grandfather or the mom and dad. And we just have to forge ahead.

COOPER: I know you're a former school board president and I know your community is very close, the tribe is obviously, you know, all suffering through this together. Did you ever believe something like this could happen in your former school district?

HATCH: Sure, sure, I did. You know, it can happen anywhere. And we just have to take care of it. And we have to be more vigil (ph) and the children and watch what happens because sometimes we close our eyes and plug our ears over things that's out there. It takes a village to raise a child, but sometimes nobody wants to be at the village. Everybody wants to play the side role and not do nothing, let somebody else do it. And we, in our communities, whether it's in the United States or across the world, that we need to do a better job with our children, otherwise we're going to see more and more of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Just remarkably sad what that community and what that extended family is going through.

Moving on now to the latest on Ebola. U.S. troops being monitored now in Italy after helping out in Ebola hot zones. Coming up next, you hear from an Army general who is part of that group and what it's like.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Well, the CDC has come out with some brand-new guidelines that outline four different risk levels for Ebola. These brand-new guidelines recommend restricted travel for the highest level of exposure to the disease. People who have come in direct contact with infected bodily fluids.

In the meantime, despite all the news and confusion over the deadly disease, it seems that the public still has confidence in the federal government's ability to contain the virus. A CNN/ORC poll finds that most Americans think the government can prevent a nationwide epidemic. And more than eight in 10 believe at least one new case will pop up soon. But most doubt that it will happen to anyone they know or where they live.

Military officials say that dozens more U.S. Army personnel are about to be quarantined in Italy after delivering Ebola aid in West Africa. Now, they don't like the name quarantine, so instead they're calling it controlled monitoring. And 11 of them are already in it, that controlled monitoring, after spending a whole month setting up assistance in Liberia. So far there is no indication that any of them have the symptoms of Ebola. So the question would be, why are they isolated? Barbara Starr, with the answers hopefully, live at the Pentagon with more.

I get it, abundance of caution. I think I also get it, the fact that they're troops and you can kind of dictate where they go and how long they stay there. But is this their new normal every time they come back out of the hot zone?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's what we're waiting to see, whether this is extended beyond the U.S. Army, Ashleigh. I have to tell you, you know, we've all talked to U.S. military commanders from overseas in strange areas, in peculiar situations that are very unique. But this time, we just finished an interview with Major General Darryl Williams. You saw him there in the video. He has just returned to Italy with his initial team. And we spoke to him from his isolation area in Italy using a military Skype system.

And the problem here right now is, this is all going to grow. Williams came back with an initial team of 10. Thirty more left Liberia earlier today. Another 35 expected to take off in the next couple of days. So this movement of troops back to their home bases is really accelerating.

General Williams talked about the conditions in which they're being kept. And he specifically talked about what happened when meals are left for them to eat. It was pretty interesting. Have a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJOR GENERAL DARRYL WILLIAMS, U.S. ARMY: The food items that we ate off of are then discarded and burned later. We are - we're doing fitness. We -- fatigue provided us the ability to have exercise equipment. So the folks are eating well, they're exercising.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: So, I mean, just think about what you are looking at right there. That is a two-star Army general in isolation as he himself describes it being held separately from the rest of the world out of this abundance of caution, along with a number of other military personnel. The number's going to grow.

What General Williams told us is that, you know, they are well aware of the controversy throughout the United States about this. That they know people are concerned. They know military families are concerned and the Italians, where their base is, the Italians concerned as well. So they hope this move for 21 days at least adds some caution, some reassurance to the situation that they're taking it very cautiously.

There was even a light moment when General Williams said, he even had to talk to his mother about the protection measures and reassure her that everything was being done.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: That was very nice of him. I'm not sure if we know the answer to this, but are they being limited in the amount of time that they spend in the hot zone? I mean 30 days in, 21 days out. Are they keeping them pretty tight on schedule?

STARR: That's a great question. It's not really so much the amount of time. I think it's important to say that General Williams and his team, they were there for the initial 30 days. And they went everywhere. I mean you can see the video.

General Williams was out there. He told us he took a lot of precautions. There was constant hand washing. That he didn't -- he tried very hard not to get closer than three feet to local personnel. He never came into direct contact with anyone suffering from Ebola as far as he knows. And there are a lot of troops that will never see local people on the

ground. They will go there on construction jobs, put together these facilities to try and provide medical assistance. They're basically going to work construction logistics, port facilities. They may never see sick people. But, look, the level of concern the military knows is so tough right now --

BANFIELD: Acute, yes.

STARR: The level of concern by people.

BANFIELD: Yes.

STARR: And the Army, at least, is taking this stance. I think one of the big questions now for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is whether he goes the next step and he orders this mandatory 21-day monitoring quarantine, whatever you want to call it, for the rest of the military force going there.

BANFIELD: Yes.

STARR: There's about 1,000 troops on the ground right now.

BANFIELD: Well, like I said, it's not totally difficult given the fact that, you know, the military monitors the movements of their troops. It's not as though they're coming home to America, you know, to jump in -- back into their lives with their families. But, you know, it's really brave work. We've got to remember that this is very brave work that they're doing and where they're going. It's huge.

STARR: Absolutely. These people are really -

BANFIELD: Yes.

STARR: I just want to add very quickly, General Williams described what he and some of his men saw there and his women who are serving and he called it Ebola, the silent enemy of the U.S. military.

BANFIELD: Oh, God. Barbara, thank you for that. Appreciate it. Keep us posted on what the decision is to extend that, you know, that plan.

STARR: Sure.

BANFIELD: But here's the better news. Look, we've had such crappy news when it comes to Ebola. And this lady, the second Dallas nurse who became infected with it after treating Thomas Eric Duncan, she is set to be released from Atlanta's Emory University Hospital. And that is coming up any moment, too. We expect to hear from her. She's probably going to make a statement somewhere close to the top of the hour. And, of course, we're going to carry it live right here on CNN. Amber Vinson, admitted October 15th. Doctors say she is now free of the deadly disease. And that's just great.

People in one part of Hawaii have a very big problem, a big, slow- moving problem in the way of lava, burning, smoldering lava creeping closer and closer to their front yards and their worldly possessions and their families. And there is nothing that can stop that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Right now, a real ugly lava flow is threatening dozens of homes on the big island of Hawaii. Now, people have started evacuating and, believe it or not, looting is becoming a problem as the lava inches closer and closer, now within just a couple hundred feet of some houses, in fact. Our Martin Savidge is in Hawaii with a close-up look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been an anxious night here in the town of Pahoa. The lava is said to be within 70 yards of the first home here. It's actually coming from that general direction.

And let me show you something else. Right over here, that roadblock, that's the way the lava's headed. And this is the main road of town.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Lava on main street in Pahoa, on the big island.