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The World Reacts To CIA Torture Report; Malala Yousafzai, Kailesh Satyarthi Receive Their Nobel Prizes

Aired December 10, 2014 - 08:00   ET

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

KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.

Now TIME magazine announces the person of the year and it's the Ebola fighters: the doctors and nurses at the front lines of the virus.

Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi received their Nobel Peace Prizes in Oslo and giving men the chance to experience what childbirth

feels like. We'll see whether David McKenzie could take the pain.

Just moments ago and TIME magazine has named the fighters of the deadly Ebola virus as the 2014 Persons of the Year. As TIME put it, they

risked and persisted, sacrificed and saved.

Now the virus has plagued the region for decades, but this year it turned into a rampant epidemic.

Now 6,000 people have died, but these front line health care workers, they have braved the contagion on the ground day after day. As TIME's

editor puts it, Ebola is a war.

Now the current outbreak, it began in March. Now doctors on the ground have helped more than 17,000 people who contracted the virus.

Our Nima Elbagir gives us a unique look at their work from the hard- hit Liberian capital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Blood-spattered and limp, too weak to hold up his head, a nurse struggles under the weight of a

desperately ill patient. The nurse agreeing to wear a camera to give us a glimpse as the bleak reality he witnesses daily. Here at this government

run treatment center. Today the nurse managed to get this patient to drink water.

It's a small victory.

For the last few months, Dr. Soka Moses and his team have worn their protective suits in unbearable heat, walking the high-risk wards to tend to

the patient in their care.

DR. SOKA MOSES, JFK EBOLA TREATMENT UNIT: Life is rough and then you die. What else can we do if we don't do it? Who will do it for us? So we

have to take the risk and take care of the patients or else our country will be wiped away.

So working in a high-risk zone is highly dangerous. And you have so many patients in agony. Patients are crying in pain. Some patients are

dying, unconscious. Some patients need help. Some patients cannot move any longer. And you see some patients; you cannot do anything for them. They

are dying. All you do is you watch them die; sometimes you pray for them and do the little you do. And just hope that something miraculous happens.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): Dr. Moses got one day's training before going into these wards and says that typical here. In a health care system

struggling to cope you do what you need here to survive.

The nurse forget the camera for a moment and begins to hum a hymn to himself, a comfort amidst the grimness.

An ambulance has arrived, bringing more patients. It begins again.

There is no room, so the stretcher goes on the floor for now next to a mattress where another critical patient lies. Here there are two patients

for every bed.

More patients. It is an unimaginably unrelenting.

But there are the success stories and that's what sustains the staff.

Around the back of the Ebola ward, patients spot the camera and begin to wave. They're recovering, maybe even going home soon. But for the staff,

there is no end in sight.

ELBAGIR: What happens when you go home at the end of the day?

MOSES: I can prepare for another day.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): And another day and another day until their prayers are finally answered.

Nima Elbagir, CNN, Monrovia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Dr. David Ho (ph) received the award in 1996 for his work in the fight against AIDS.

Now the award is usually given to specific people, but like this year, it is sometimes given to groups. In 1975, the award went to a fairly large

group, American women.

While the award often celebrates the best of people, it's given to the person that's made the most impact in the year, good or bad. Quite

infamously in 1938, TIME's person of the year was Adolf Hitler. And Josef Stalin won the award twice.

Now members of the U.S. military abroad are on alert for any violent reaction to a report detailing torture that the CIA used on prisoners.

A 6,000 page report contains explosive details of how interrogators handled terror suspects after the 9/11 attacks. Barbara Starr has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The brutality is shocking: the report reveals at least five detainees were subjected to what it calls

rectal feeding, interrogation procedures that went on for months. At least one died from hypothermia.

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, (D) CALIFORNIA: Stripped naked, diapered, physically struck and put in various painful stress positions for long

periods of time.

They were deprived of sleep for days. In one case, up to 180 hours.

STARR: One detainee had his lunch pureed and poured into his rectum. He eventually attempted to cut his wrist, chew into his arm and cut a vein

in his foot. Much of the information kept from President George W. Bush's own secretary of state.

FEINSTEIN: There are CIA records stating that Colin Powell wasn't told about the program at first, because there were concerns that, and I

quote, "Powell would blow his stack if he were briefed."

STARR: A former top CIA official says some details were held close, but that the agency did not engage in torture.

ROBERT GRENIER, FORMER DIR. CIA COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER: Absolutely not. People of conscience can disagree on this, but the people who are on

the front lines who are actually engaged in trying to defend America against terrorists, they have to rely on the legal advice that they are

given.

STARR: Some of the worst abuse occurred at a secret location called Cobalt where detainees were walked around naked or were shackled with their

hands above their heads for extended periods of time. CIA officers dragged detainees hooded down hallways, slapping and punching them.

And an admission in CIA documents that waterboarding did cause physical harm. Abu Zubaydah repeatedly waterboarded became completely

unresponsive with bubbles rising through his open, full mouth.

Internal CIA records called Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's waterboarding 183 times a series of near drownings.

Torture that wasn't even effective, according to the report.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: It produced little useful intelligence to help us track down the perpetrators of 9/11 or prevent new attacks and

atrocities.

STARR: The CIA issued a lengthy and detailed statement saying the program was legal and gained the country useful intelligence, but also

acknowledging mistakes were made.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now U.S. President Barack Obama defends the release of the report and brushed aside critics who called the findings biased and

inaccurate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've taken precautionary measures in our embassies and around the world. There's

never a perfect time to release a report like this, but it was important for us I think to recognize that part of what sets us apart is when we do

something wrong we acknowledge it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: And with more on the international reaction to the report, our correspondent Karl Penhaul joins us now live from London. And Karl, I

mean, some pretty shocking cases in the CIA report and they've been condemned worldwide. Tell us more about the international reaction.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is true that these findings are being condemned worldwide, Kristie, but it also has to

be said that a lot of governments internationally are keeping their heads down. They're really not wanting to point the finger too much, because

both through leaks, allegations and also court cases such as in the European courts, it has been shown that European government, other

international governments have been complicit, helping the United States torture victims or transport victims to torture facilities in third

countries, the so-called rendition programs or the outsourcing of torture to countries whose human rights records were already known to be absolutely

appalling.

Now we have heard one of the United States' strongest allies, British Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking on a trip to Turkey saying that

torture in any form is wrong and that this detracts from the moral authority of the person using torture.

But nevertheless take into account that Cameron is speaking in Turkey, a Muslim country. Those comment are probably made for public consumption,

because both the British government and its secret intelligence services have so far resisted an investigation into their own role into these kind

of torture techniques.

We have also heard incidentally from a former British Muslims who was a detainee both at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan and in Guantanamo for

around three years and what he says is well all well and good that this report comes out, but now it has to be acted on. Those guilty of torture

have to be brought to justice.

What he also goes on to say is that if the United States is using tactics that are illegal under the laws of war and under various torture

conventions, how can you expect any of its enemies to adhere to the laws of war as well, Kristie?

LU STOUT: Thank you for pointing out that many countries around the world have been complicit in these acts of torture. There needs to be some

sort of a meaningful response. There is a growing consensus internationally and inside the U.S. that torture is wrong, it's repugnant,

but will it lead to action?

PENHAUL: Well, people are paying lip service to these comments by U.S. politicians and also by the U.S. president himself that torture is not

the American way. And I think a lot of people may accept that at face value.

But then you look at the military manuals. And even Senator Diane Feinstein in her remarks proceeding the issuance of this report said that

torture and scandals involving torture are a generational problem for the United States.

We have this CIA report out right now, but remember the abuses and the tortures that we saw during the Abu Ghraib scandal. But also before the

war on terror even began, the kind of torture scanals that one saw at the United States School of Americas where again torture techniques were taught

both to U.S. personnel and to their foreign allies to a point that the School of the Americas had to be closed down in that form.

So it isn't really just a problem that's popped up now. It has been a problem that has come throughout the years. And in his report that is out

right now, there is no mention of the kind of legal action that will be taken against the perpetrators of this kind of torture, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Well, this new report, it serves as a new reminder of these brutal and horrific techniques that have been used. Karl Penhaul joining

us live from London, thank you Karl.

Now a girl who dared to stand up to the Taliban and a man who has fought to end child slavery are being honored in Norway this hour. We'll

go live to Oslo where the two have just received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Plus, protesters here in Hong Kong prepare for what could be the end of their lengthy demonstration in the heart of the city.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NOBEL PEACE PRIZE CEREMONY)

LU STOUT: An incredible moment to witness there on live televsion, the Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai speaking there live from

Oslo, an extraordinary moment to witness. We heard her speak. She comes across as being just so intelligent, deeply inspiring, determined and even

at times in that speech quite humorous as well.

And keep in mind Malala Yousafzai is only 17-years-old.

Now in that address just then, she said this, quote, "my hope is that this is the last time we fight for an education. Let's solve this once and

for all."

Now the Nobel Peace Prize has been handed out and also to Malala Yousafzai as well as Kailash Satyarthi for -- in the words of the Nobel

committee -- their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the rights of all children to an education.

Now you're looking at live pictures on your screen of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony underway in Oslo. A musical performance is up next.

Malala Yousafzai, she's the youngest recipient ever of the prize. She's only 17-years-old. As you recall, she came to global attention and

made headlines after she was shot in the head by the Taliban a few years ago for demanding an education.

But even after that, she said in her speech that she made a decision. She decided to speak up.

And we have Satyarthi, he was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. They were jointly awarded. He has been heading peaceful demonstrations in

India focusing on the rights of children and the exploitation of children there.

And earlier Malala Yousafzai said this. She said, quote, "we can work together and we can show the world that in both India and in Pakistan we

can achieve the goals of children's rights." She also said, "it is time to take action."

Now our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, she is there in Oslo. She's been watching events in that stirring speech just

now. She joins us on the line.

And Christiane, I mean, that as really an incredible moment to witness on live television, that inspiring and such an eloquent young woman making

this bold call for children's rights. Your thoughts on what we just heard.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They were both very rousing speeches. Malala, as you say, only 17, the youngest ever to

win a Nobel Prize, often seemed so much more mature than her years. She speaks with the oratorical skills of a practiced politician if you like.

And yet what she's doing is politics for children.

And she has told the Nobel committee and the world, which has been watching this on global television that what the Taliban did to her two

years ago -- shot her at pointblank range and tried to kill her and her cause -- has not caused her to shut up, it has caused her to speak even

louder.

And so from this day, she has laid down the gauntlet and has said loud and clear to all the militants, all the extremists, that no matter what

they do to try to silence the cause of girl's education it will not work.

And it is remarkably brave to stand up and address these militants head on, because we've seen what they have done and what they're capable of

doing. And yet she says it simply won't stop her.

And she called, really, a clarion call for the goal of making sure not one child is left out of school to start right now. And called on world

leaders who will meet again to put the next traunch of the so-called millennium development goals into practice next year to make sure that

education extends not just beyond basic education, but secondary education.

She told a lot of stories about her own friends who she knows from the Swat Valley who at younger than teenagers got married, girls forced to get

married and to have children and thus put their dreams and their human potential aside. And she said why should we just because we're girls not

be allowed to fulfill our dreams and our roles in society?

And she said very loudly why is it that it is easier to give people guns than to give books? Why is it that it's easier to make tanks than it

is to build schools?

So a very personal and yet very professional speech aimed at really shaming that part of the world that still does not give children, and

especially girls, a right to education.

And Kailesh Satyarthi did the same from his perspective. Her much older co-recipient from India who talked about having to make sure that the

indignity and the scourge of slave labor, of child labor, is abolished once and for all. And so both have used their Nobel appearances to say to the

world that this is a challenge we lay down. And we are going to continue the fight, now what are you going to do to help us -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Both fighting for the goals of children's rights. Deeply inspiring speeches both. Christiane Amanpour joining us on the line from

Oslo, thank you for that.

And be sure to tune in for our special on the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize awards. Chrstiane Amanpour will host the prize for peace live from Oslo.

It starts in less than three hours from now only on CNN.

And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout, but don't go anywhere. World Sport with Amanda Davies is next.

END