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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Peaceful Protests in Ferguson; Secret Mission to Rescue Foley Failed; British Connection to ISIS; Israeli Airstrikes Pound Gaza
Aired August 21, 2014 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning for the first time in a week, protests remain peaceful in Ferguson, Missouri. The crowd there calm. Now controversy over the deadly police shooting of unarmed teenager, Michael Brown, is growing. And new witnesses are coming forward as the grand jury convenes. We are live in Missouri with the very latest.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: New information about the murder of kidnapped American journalist Jim Foley. The demands terrorists made before that execution, the failed military mission to rescue Jim Foley in the days before he was killed and why so many British Muslims are joining -- rushing to join ISIS.
Live team coverage from Iraq and London, ahead.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell in for John -- Berman, rather. Really got his name right when I'm sitting in this chair. Bottom of the hour now, we welcome our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.
The calm and order slowly but surely returning to Ferguson, Missouri. It was another night of mostly peaceful protests in this embattled town of 21,000. Steamy rain there kept crowds down and temperatures -- tempers cooled.
Earlier in the day, Attorney General, Eric Holder met with community leaders and the family of Michael Brown. He's the unarmed teenager whose deadly encounter with a Ferguson police officer has touched off nearly two weeks of violence now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Hopefully, we'll have a calming influence on the area. And people know that a federal thorough investigation is being done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Meanwhile, prosecutors have begun presenting evidence to a grand jury to determine whether the officer who shot and killed Michael Brown should be criminally charged.
Stephanie Elam live from Ferguson this morning.
Stephanie, to what are the officials there attributing the calm overnight? Was it mostly weather or folks just tired walking back hour after hour?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think it's probably a little bit of both, Victor. If you take a look at it, there were less people that showed up here last night. We did see that they sort of came in waves and groups. At one point, there was a group that was out marching in the designated oval they had been doing over and over again. And also they made a right -- we didn't know where they were going but we went along with them for the walk and they ended up going to the Ferguson Police station about probably maybe three miles away.
And when they got there, they embraced and did a circle, and they prayed and then they walked back to the main street on Florissant Avenue. So we did see people coming out. But just a different tone that we saw. And if you were to ask some of the protesters, and if you ask the police, overall it sounds like it was seen as successful on both sides. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are really the very brave. These young men are brave. They are the next freedom fighters. And it's just -- to me, it's refreshing to see young people get involved with this type of movement because this can spark a whole nation to look and say hey, listen, it really is inequality in America and it's not supposed to be like that.
CAPT. RON JOHNSON, MISSOURI STATE HIGHWAY PATROL: We go back every night and we set -- and we look at our operational plan and see how we can make it better, how we can do it better. And also part of that is, when we're out in the community and we're talking to the citizens out there, we are listening to what they're telling us and their concerns. And that goes into our thinking, also.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ELAM: And also we can tell you that there were six people arrested last night. Compare that to 47 the night before. Now tear gas, no pepper spray, no confrontations, police say, and that there were no bullets that were actually fired. So all in all, they're saying it's a better night. There was one person who showed up to show support for the officer involved in the shooting of Mike Brown. That woman was quickly removed by police, away from the scene. A little bit of a scuffle, but all in all, it was pretty darn quiet here last night -- Victor.
BLACKWELL: All right. Stephanie Elam there in Ferguson for us. Stephanie, thank you.
ROMANS: A St. Louis County police officer has been relieved of his duties, suspended indefinitely for pointing a rifle at peaceful protesters and threatening to kill them. The entire incident was captured on camera earlier this week. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll (EXPLETIVE DELETED) kill you, get back. Get back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to kill him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you trying to kill me?
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your name, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go (EXPLETIVE DELETED) yourself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your name is go (EXPLETIVE DELETED) yourself. All right. Go (EXPLETIVE DELETED) yourself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, Officer Go (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Yourself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: A county police sergeant eventually forced the officer to lower his automatic weapon and leave the area.
BLACKWELL: A new witness is coming forward claiming Michael Brown never rushed Officer Darren Wilson in the seconds before he was shot and killed. Officer Wilson claims Brown taunted him and then charged him after a confrontation near his patrol car. But listen to neighbor Michael Brady tell Anderson Cooper what he saw on that tragic day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: What the officer's claim is that Michael Brown was running toward the officer. Did you see him running toward the officer in any way?
MICHAEL BRADY, WITNESS: No, no, not after -- when he was running away, no, not at all. Like I said, by the time I come outside, I'm thinking that he's now hit after I seen the officer shooting at him while he was running away. So I'm thinking that he's hit because now he's turned around. Now like this, like he was going down. It didn't even look like that he was getting up. It just looked like, you know, I'm hit, you know, I'm going to go down now. That's what it looked like.
COOPER: That was your impression?
BRADY: Yes, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: And Brady goes on to tell Anderson Cooper he saw Officer Wilson get out of his car and immediately start firing at Michael Brown while he was trying to get away.
ROMANS: Another deadly case of force by St. Louis Police has been captured on camera and released to the public. This is 25-year-old Kajieme Powell came at police with a knife on Tuesday shouting, shoot me, kill me now.
Watch and listen for yourself as the two officers fire six shots each after the suspect refuses to drop his weapon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop the gun.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop it, bro.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The names of the officers who fired the fatal shots are being withheld for their own safety. The St. Louis police chief took the unusual step of releasing this video in the name of transparency in the wake of the Michael Brown shooting.
Stay with CNN all morning for continuing coverage of the very latest developments in Ferguson, Missouri.
BLACKWELL: And new information this morning about the execution of kidnapped American journalist James Foley. The demands terrorists made before the murder and new details about Britain's ties to the terror group ISIS. We've got live team coverage, that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: The Obama administration launched a secret nighttime mission to rescue American hostages in Syria earlier this summer but the operation failed. Among the captives the president was hoping to save American journalist Jim Foley. Two dozen Delta Force commandos raiding an oil refinery in northern Syria but the captives had apparently been moved before U.S. forces arrived.
Foley was beheaded by ISIS extremists earlier this week. According to his family, the terror group demanded a multimillion dollar ransom for his release. A ransom the Obama administration refused to pay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No just God would stand for what they did yesterday and what they do every single day. There has to be a common effort to extract this cancer so that it does not spread.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Meanwhile, U.S. military commanders in the Middle East are pushing the Pentagon to step up the air war against ISIS targets.
Nick Paton Walsh tracking the latest developments live from Irbil, Iraq -- Nick.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, news of that attempted rescue operation perhaps will bring some sense of relief to those who have seen so little activity possible to rescue those Americans held by ISIS but of course there's a downside to it, too, now that it's clear to ISIS that U.S. Special Forces were in action in Syria I should say for the first time that we're aware of since the Syrian civil war began.
It would be obviously clear to them they need to up any security they have for any remaining hostages held there as well. So it's a complicated choice, I'm sure, for everyone involved with revealing information about that operation. We're also hearing, too, that potentially $100 million was requested according to the "Wall Street Journal" citing the Global Post's chief executive, who James Foley was, at one point, working for briefly.
That was the ransom they requested and not uncommon in these situations of course but deeply troubling for this piece of information to be coming out now. I'm sure the Foley family hears that it must compound their trauma certainly.
But that rescue operation for U.S. Special Forces extraordinarily difficult. I mean, this is an area where we as journalists find almost impossible to get footage. ISIS banned filming by anybody apart from themselves. The only people coming out from there either ISIS sympathizers or those with little knowledge of what they're actually up to or those trying to flee from them. So a very difficult task to get clear enough information to launch the rescue operation, particularly when you're talking about the things ISIS clearly prized most valuably.
Of course their American hostages. So sadly, not much surprise to learn that that U.S. rescue operation didn't see much success. The hope of course being now that there's some other possible way maybe that the remaining Americans held, including that one American journalist live for us at the end of the Foley execution video, that somehow they might be -- find some way to rescue them in the weeks ahead.
ROMANS: That the raid was on an oil refinery, interesting because I think it highlights what the business model is, Nick, of ISIS. They have been taking control of oil supplies so that they cab fund up to $3 million a day, their terror campaign, and try to become self- financed and not have to rely on these -- on these fundraisers around the world whose assets have been frozen one after another. It's terrifying how they've been able to dig into the infrastructure of the region -- Nick.
WALSH: Certainly. I mean, many accuse ISIS of just being some sort of random, blood hungry machine and that simply isn't the case. If you observe them, they are methodical. They take a town, they start off moderate, then they ask people to slowly convert to their faith, then those who don't agree with them are punished. Then they started introducing their radical form of Sharia law.
But yes, as you say, as they've moved across Iraq, they've been targeting the oil infrastructure in many ways. It seemed also that their push of the south where I'm standing into Kurdistan may also have oil refineries in their crosshairs. So even with moving into that dam, too, they clearly are mindful of taking the key routes for resupply, the oil refineries to bring them resources and dividends. And then also things like that Mosul dam, a key part of the infrastructure, too.
A prized value made by the rest of Iraq because it feeds them electricity and power. So yes, ISIS, while on the surface seemingly psychopathic and hungry just for the murder of people who don't agree with them, deep down, potentially strategic, planning and plotting.
ROMANS: Nick Paton Walsh, thanks for that in Irbil.
James Foley's parents are pleading with the militants who killed their son to spare the lives of their other hostages. John and Diane Foley meeting with reporters outside their New Hampshire home, remembering their son as a proud journalist with deep courage and an incredible heart.
JOHN FOLEY, FATHER OF JAMES FOLEY: We know Jimmy is free. He's finally free. And we know he's in God's hands. And we know God's work and we know he's in heaven. So we're so proud of him. We have to be happy for him.
DIANE FOLEY, MOTHER OF JAMES FOLEY: We are the ones that --
J. FOLEY: We need the courage and the praise now that Jimmy -- without him.
D. FOLEY: Right.
J. FOLEY: Because he was an inspiration for us and for so many others. So we miss his courage, his love, his determination.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The Foleys say they believe ISIS chose to kill their son first because they knew he symbolized the best of America.
Breaks your heart.
BLACKWELL: Yes. We know the ISIS fighter who beheaded James Foley had a distinctive British accent. And now we're finding out there are twice as many British Muslim's fighting for ISIS than there are in the British military.
One member of Britain's parliament estimates that at least 1500 young Muslims from his country have been recruited by the terror group.
Erin McLaughlin has more on this story. She joins us live from London.
Erin, is the belief that the ISIS' -- I guess ranks in the West are deeper there in Levant or do they believe that those ranks are as deep in the U.S., in the U.K. as well?
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Victor. Well, British authorities are very concerned about extremism here in the U.K. And they're working furiously to try and identify the man in that video, honing in very much on that accent. Language experts saying that it sounds as though he comes from London or to the southeast of England. Yesterday, British Prime Minister David Cameron cutting his holiday short on the news. He had this to say about what appears to be a growing problem here in the U.K. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We know that far too many British citizens have traveled to Iraq and traveled to Syria to take part in extremism and violence. And what we must do is redouble all our efforts to stop people going, to take away the passports of those contemplating travel, to arrest and prosecute those that take part in this extremism and violence, to take extremism -- extremist material off the Internet and do everything we can to keep our people safe. And that is what this government will do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLAUGHLIN: Well, it's estimated that there are between 400 and 500 extremist British recruits in Syria and because the border between the two countries has all but been erased, unclear how many has actually crossed over into Iraq. And that this would not have been the first time a British extremist carried out a brazen ISIS attack.
Earlier this year, Britain's very first suicide bomber, a 41-year-old father of three from London blew up a truck bomb as part of an ISIS attack on a prison in Aleppo, Syria. His family saying that they thought he had gone to Syria for humanitarian work. They had no idea that he became an extremist. And it really does illustrate ISIS' ability to take British nationals and radicalize them. And there is an increasing concern here in the United Kingdom about what could possibly happen if some of the hardened fighters return back home -- Victor.
BLACKWELL: Understandably. Erin McLaughlin there for us in London.
Erin, thank you so much.
ROMANS: The value of that British passport, just priceless if you are in the business of terror.
All right, 40 minutes past the hour. The war in Gaza escalating with no end in sight. Israel increasing airstrikes on Hamas. What can be done to break the violence?
We're live in Gaza, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: And now to the latest on the bloodshed in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to ramp up attacks on Hamas targets. The Israeli military launching nearly 100 airstrikes on Wednesday. Hamas confirming the strike killed three of its top military leaders.
Gaza is now in ruins. The U.N. says 350,000 people have been displaced during six weeks of violence. The damage so severe it could take nearly 20 years to rebuild.
Let's go live to Gaza and bring in Frederik Pleitgen.
Could take 20 years to rebuild by that estimate but they haven't started rebuilding because the hostilities are still in full force.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, exactly. Those 20 years would be under perfect circumstances and certainly Gaza is far away from perfect circumstances at this point. Of course it's very hard to get any building material in here. And as you said the conflict is still going on.
And, Christine, it seems to me that this morning it seems to be escalating again. Overnight, there was very little activity. The Israeli Defense Forces saying only two rockets were fired towards overnight. This morning, however, that's different. In total, they say, since the cease-fire broke down, there's more than 243 rockets that were fired toward Israeli territory. There was also a bunch of mortars that were fired towards the town of Eshkol. Apparently severely wounding one person earlier today.
And then as you said, the Israeli Defense Forces seemed to be taking a two-pronged approach at this point. They're trying to suppress the rockets going towards Israel with their air force but they're also going after top Hamas leaders two days ago. They went after the head of the Qassam Brigade, Mohammed al-Deif. Unclear whether they killed. However, they did kill his wife and his son. And then this morning, they had those three top Hamas operatives for the south of Gaza that were apparently liquidated in an airstrike. Hamas is confirming that.
What we're seeing today is that there is additional rocket fire that seems to be going out. One of the prime targets that Hamas announced yesterday is, of course, the international airport in Tel-Aviv, Ben Gurion Airport. Hamas said it fired a large rocket towards that airport early this morning. The Israelis say they have absolutely no indication that that happened.
But we do have a crew in that area as well. They also say they have not seen any sort of rockets in the sky. They have not heard any sort of sirens go off in that area without certainly is something to keep -- to keep an eye on -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Frederik Pleitgen for us in Gaza. Thank you, Fred.
All right, 54 minutes past the hour. A data breach at UPS. Thousands of customers in 24 states affected. We're going to get an EARLY START on your money, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Good morning. Time for an EARLY START on your money this Thursday morning. It could be, could be a record day for stocks. U.S. stocks futures pointing higher this morning. Stocks very close to all-time highs. The S&P 500 ended the day yesterday just a few points shy of its record. European stocks right now, you could see they're higher. Asian stocks ended the day mixed. Hong Kong down a fraction.
If you have been to a UPS store this year, sorry, your information may have been compromised. UPS has discovered a computer virus on system that 51 stores in 24 states. That virus left information including customer credit and debit cards exposed. The data breach affects about 100,000 transactions from January until this -- earlier this month. The company says it is not aware of any fraud related to the hack.
But that is just the latest in a number of very big hacks and viruses this year to put your information in jeopardy.
BLACKWELL: All right. We'll watch out for those.
For our viewers around the world, "CNN NEWSROOM" is next. For our viewers here in the U.S., EARLY START continues now.
