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Obama Considers Boots on the Ground in Syria, Iraq; Is Cryotherapy Safe; Behind the Scenes of Viral Videos. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired October 27, 2015 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, breaking news today, the president deciding whether to send Special Forces on the ground in Syria and Iraq. Hear what ISIS fighters told our own correspondent in the region about the possibility of Americans coming face to face with them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We're getting word today of a major shift in the U.S.-led war on ISIS. Defense Secretary Ash Carter today revealing the U.S. is now willing to, quote, "use direct action on the ground against ISIS" in both Iraq and, for the first time, we're hearing Syria.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASHTON CARTER, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We won't hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL or conducting such missions directly, whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[14:35:07]BALDWIN: After months of denying that the United States -- that the troops would be in any sort of combat role, the U.S. just admitted that Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler was killed, quote, "during combat," Carter's own words. New video showing the emotional aftermath from the 70 hostages here who were freed, all thanks to that raid from an ISIS-controlled prison in northern Iraq.
Joining me now is CNN global affairs analyst, Kim Dozier; and also our CNN senior international correspondent, in Turkey, Nick Paton Walsh.
Nick, let me begin with you.
You have been on the ground in the region and Iraq and Syria. What's your assessment of the situation right now? And with this news, how much would the landscape really change?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Months of clambering for the Obama administration to do more against ISIL, despite the White House not wanting to commit troops. They feel they need to up the ante slightly more. We don't know what the words from ash Carter mean. Direct action, this could mean more Special Forces missions like the one that happened last week in assisting Kurdish Special Forces. This was an advise-and-assist mission that ended at the front end of combat. We don't know if that's been happening before. Or we could see a larger intervention by Special Forces like we saw in Afghanistan potentially where they used every night to go. After middle and top ranking Taliban insurgent commanders disrupting the enemy. That may happen here. Highly unlikely we'll see American soldiers. But there's a feeling not getting into the fight and taking out ISIS on a regular enough basis -- you have seen one raid in Syria and this recent one in northeastern Iraq -- a feeling they need those options because Barack Obama wants to take this slightly up a notch -- Brooke?
BALDWIN: As they do so, more from secretary of defense today, Kim, that he said was three R's, Raqqa, the unofficial ISIS capitol; Ramadi, the capitol of Anbar Province; and Raids, as in heavier air campaigns. On Nick's point, would we see more intimate fighting here as in raid in northern Iraq on the ground level?
KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Nick is right. Ash Carter has left things very murky. Senators who were in that meeting complained he didn't fill out any details of what this expanded campaign would mean. And if you parse his words, he's describing what, in large part, they are already doing. The Raqqa campaign of partnering with the Syrian/Arab coalition on the ground, rebels already there. They announced that a couple weeks ago. And that doesn't put U.S. troops forward with those people, though that's allegedly something that's being recommended. The Ramadi campaign, he said we're partnering with the Iraqi government and Sunni tribes. They have been doing that. And raids, they have been saying yes to raids on a limited basis. I have heard some U.S. defense officials complain that Carter feels he could solve a lot with raids, whereas they would like to see more U.S. troops further forward at the brigade headquarters, that's been one recommendation inside Iraq --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: That would be news, moving more towards the front lines.
DOZIER: That would be news, but that's not them going as far forward as either the Iranian advisers or the Russian advisers in Syria or the Iranian advisors in Iraq. We're not there yet.
And to Nick's point, it doesn't look like we're going to have large numbers of U.S. troops in the Obama administration engaged in combat. You might just see the ones that are already there more active, further forward, more raids and closer to the fight, but still with their partners in the lead.
BALDWIN: Got it.
It's interesting.
Nick, to follow up on a point that our colleague, Clarissa Ward, was saying from the region, she says she has spoken with the Kurds. They don't want the U.S. on the ground. They say, this is our war. ISIS has a different take. This is what ISIS fighters told her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I have spoken to many ISIS fighters and they say they can't wait for U.S. boots to get on the ground. They believe that in terms of reframing the narrative that the American presence will be polarizing enough that, notwithstanding the military difficulties, that they would benefit from it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Can you expand on that, Nick?
[14:39:55] PATON WALSH: I think it's a lot of hypotheticals there. You aren't really going to see large enough numbers that it will be a repeat of Iraq happening, which is polarization she was referring to. You may see a lot of these raids and make some headway from that. As you saw in the video over the weekend, a lot of that is over in a flash, to some degree.
Going back to what Ash Carter was saying, his three Rs, the raids, they are supposed to already be happening from the sky. He may do more on the ground. Ramadi is a difficult challenge, indeed. They have been doing that for months and haven't made much headway. They keep briefing U.S. officials they are headed in a better direction, but we haven't really seen a change. In Raqqa, that's the capitol of the caliphate. If you're pressuring that and moving into urban combat to push ISIS out, that's a massive undertaking that even the Kurds would probably not be too keen to get involved in this early on. It's an extraordinarily ambitious project he's laid out. It doesn't seem the material is there at this stage. You may end up injecting U.S. soldiers more into the fight in a way that gives extra credence to ISIS's major thesis that they have been occupying for some time, in their parlance -- Brooke?
BALDWIN: Nick Paton Walsh and Kimberly Dozier with a bit of a reality check.
I appreciate both of you, both of your voices here. We have more on that next hour.
Coming up next, deep-freeze therapy. It's being touted as the fountain of youth. It's a technique celebrities and athletes use to burn calories and soothe sore muscles. But one woman died after going inside one of these freezing cold chambers. How safe is this really? We'll discuss, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:45:50] BALDWIN: Cryotherapy, have you heard about this? It's been touted as a fountain of youth. It's this type of deep freeze treatment. It's designed to ease your muscle pain, in some cases, burn calories, kind of like this icy bath. You spend a couple minutes in a chamber just like this one. Temperatures are below 240 degrees. A lot of professional athletes like to do this. But the therapy appears to have turned deadly for a Nevada sports clinic spa manager. CNN affiliate, KFNB, reports the worker was using one of the machines alone and was found inside of it dead the next day. Officials tell our affiliate the victim used the chamber after closing the spa for the night. And firefighters had to break the ice to remove her body. Officials say she actually may have suffocated.
Her death is raising safety concerns about these deep freeze chambers. Cryotherapy is a growing industry that is unregulated.
So joining me now is Dr. Joe Costello, a researcher on whole body cryotherapy.
Dr. Costello, let's being with, how does this work? You crawl into one of these chambers and what does it actually do to your body?
DR. JOE COSTELLO, RESEARCHER ON WHOLE BODY CRYOTHERAPY: What it involves is expose sure to extremely cold, dry air, temperatures below negative 110 degrees Celsius. What you typically wear in these chambers is gloves to protect your fingers and two pairs of socks to protect your feet, and just your swimming top. So what you're doing is going into temperatures that are anywhere up to 50 degrees Celsius cooler than the coldest temperature ever recorded on earth in just your swimming clothes.
BALDWIN: So if you can stand this, why do this?
COSTELLO: The range of claims being made about the effectiveness of the treatment so in my area of research in athletic recovery a number of high level and elite athletes are using the treatment as a method of recovery after intense exercise r or competition. This is to reduce muscle soreness and Inflammations experienced after intense exercise.
BALDWIN: Is this something you would do?
COSTELLO: This is something that's been the focus of my research for the last number of years. What I have recently done is systemically reviewed all the available evidence on this treatment, in particular, focusing on athletic recovery. What I found despite its widespread use and only four studies have assessed the effectiveness of the treatment. Currently, in the collaboration review I have published, we have found insufficient evidence to support the use of the treatment because scientific evidence is simply not there to support the claims being made about the treatment.
BALDWIN: So that's a no.
Let's put the pictures back up.
Why when you see these pictures of these people climbing into these chambers, what's with the smoke or the gas? Is that nitrogen?
COSTELLO: That's typically the cold air. That's the refrigerated cold air. So there's two methods of achieving this cold temperature. One is liquid nitrogen and one is refrigerated cold air. I suppose the use of cold, which is probably called cryotherapy, has been used since the time of the ancient Greeks. It's a very potent and effective analgesic to reduce pain. And more recently, I'm sure all your listeners and viewers will be familiar with using ice baths as a method of recovery. However, in the last couple of years, we have seen the increasing use of cold body cryotherapy as an alternative to ice baths.
BALDWIN: OK, Joe Costello, done all the years of research. You're the go-to guy. Thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate it.
COSTELLO: Thank you very much for having me on.
[14:50:00] BALDWIN: Coming up, an 11-year-old aspiring cheerleader fulfilled her dream, created a video, which became viral in the process. My colleague, Kyra Phillips, joins me next for the whole story.
Plus, Donald Trump losing his nationwide lead among Republicans. One of his rivals, who vowed he would not go negative on his opponents -- guess what -- he just broke that vow. He's frustrated. The entire Republican establishment is frustrated. You will hear that moment, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:55:10] BALDWIN: Have you seen the viral video here of this little girl who made a lot of headlines, and people absolutely love to see her. This is part of our -- we're going to get to that in a moment. Forgive me. Take a look at this, "Impact Your World."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Once dubbed the female Michael Jordan, Chamique Holdsclaw dominated women's basketball. On the court, she had the focus of a champion.
ANNOUNCER: Holdsclaw.
UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: But off, she spent decades in what she calls a mental prison.
CHAMIQUE HOLDSCLAW, FORMER BASKETBALL PRO: I was feeling like these e extreme highs and lows. When you're the star of a team, you sweep things under the rug.
UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: The National Alliance on Mental Illness says one in five Americans live with a mental disorder, but most don't seek treatment.
HOLDSCLAW: Ultimately, sweeping things under the rug, you explode.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
CALLER: The lady's name is Chamique Holdsclaw.
(END AUDIO FEED)
UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Holdsclaw made headlines when she took a baseball bat to her ex-girlfriend's SUV and shot out windows.
After a year of being misdiagnosed, Holdsclaw found out then she was bipolar. Holdsclaw is now an advocate for mental health.
HOLDSCLAW: Once I said I struggled with this, a realize lot of people are going through the same thing.
I had the same size feet as a 20-year-old. My feet haven't grown. So imagine these feet.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: She started a foundation and a program called Mentally Driven.
HOLDSCLAW: What I try to do is I use basketball as a decoy. I bring them in. I get them talking about their emotions and feelings. We champion for cancer. We champion for heart disease. We need a champion for mental health awareness because it's affecting a lot of people and taking a lot of lives.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Now let's get to this thing that I thought we were going to go to. The viral video here of the soldier saving some people from this massive fiery car that absolutely exploded wearing a Captain America T-shirt, or the hilarious reaction of the kid in the car seat who finds out his mother is pregnant. Videos like this get a ton of clicks for a reason. We laugh, we cry, we can't turn away. We never get to see and hear the stories behind them, until now.
Kyra Phillips joins me with a look at her new special report. Here's a sneak peek.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lacy Parker has her heart set is on being a cheerleader. And when she finds out she made her school's squad --
LACY PARKER, CHEERLEADER: I made it!
(CROSSTALK)
(SHOUTING)
PHILLIPS: It went viral. More than 35 million views.
(on camera): When people see your video, what do they tell you?
PARKER: It touched their heart.
PHILLIPS: What else does it tell them? It gives them what?
PARKER: Hope.
PARKER: So that's when we decided to do something special for Lacy. Behind these doors, a surprise from the Atlanta Hawks cheerleaders.
UNIDENTIFIED MOTHER OF LACY PARKER: Ready?
(SHOUTING)
UNIDENTIFIED MOTHER OF LACY PARKER: You get to try out for the cheerleading squad.
(SHOUTING)
UNIDENTIFIED MOTHER OF LACY PARKER: Can you wave to them?
(SHOUTING)
UNIDENTIFIED MOTHER OF LACY PARKER: Are you excited?
(LAUGHTER)
PARKER: Give me an "A."
(SHOUTING)
PARKER: Give me a "T."
SHOUTING:
PARKER: Give me an "L."
(SHOUTING)
PHILLIPS: Lacy is now an honorary member of the Atlanta Hawks cheerleading squad, and, of course, still touching every heart.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Oh, my goodness. I don't know how you kept dry eyes as she was walking in and meeting all those girls. That's incredible.
PHILLIPS: Here's the twist. She talked about how big her heart is, and I talked about how she's touching people heart. Here's the twist. She had five heart defects and she was born with Down's syndrome and her parents didn't think she was going to live another day. And she survived and blossomed into this beautiful young lady. I mean, she's on the cover of "Inside Cheerleading" magazine. She has three gold medals from the Special Olympics. This is just one example of an hour filled with these remarkable stories tonight, Brooke, of just adults and heroes and young kids that are doing remarkable things. We can't stop watching the videos.
BALDWIN: I known, we click, we click, we share, we like, we get it.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Exactly.
BALDWIN: And we get to watch the whole thing tonight together. Kyra Phillips, thank you so much.
Make sure you watch tonight, "Videos Gone Viral, 2," tonight, 9:00 eastern, here on CNN.
[15:00:00] All right. We roll on. Hour two. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
Let's begin with the fact that we're about to learn what Donald Trump is like in second place because he is no longer the Republican front runner, at least not today.
