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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

President Obama's Plan to Destroy ISIS; Leaders in Iraq Welcome American Help; Europe Reacts to Obama Address; Former FBI Director to Investigate NFL; Judgment Day for Oscar Pistorius

Aired September 11, 2014 - 05:30   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama announces his new plan to hunt ISIS. Taking out the terrorists in Iraq and now Syria. Authorizing airstrikes, training rebel soldiers and sending more U.S. troops back to Iraq. But will this be enough to stop the well-funded and well-trained terror organization?

Our live team coverage continues right now.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans. It's 30 minutes past the hour.

President Obama rolling out his strategy for taking on ISIS. He unveiled this approach in this big nationally televised speech calling it comprehensive, calling it sustained. Most notably the president will expand airstrikes into Syria along with other steps to curtail the terrorists who have posted their brutal crimes on the Web for the world to see. Among the first to get help, moderate Syrian rebels and the Iraqi military.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Across the border in Syria, we have ramped up our military assistance to the Syrian opposition. Tonight, I call on Congress again to give us additional authorities and resources to train and equipped these fighters. We will send an additional 475 service members to Iraq.

As I said before, these American forces will not have a combat mission. We will not get dragged into another ground war in Iraq, but they are needed to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces with training, intelligence and equipment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So did the president win over his critics on Capitol Hill? Did he convince the American people that he now has a strategy?

We're joined by Mark Preston, the executive editor of CNN Politics.

Mark, thanks so much for being with us. I think the big question for the president and this entire strategy is what now? MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: What now is exactly

right. And he has laid out what is a very broad plan to address ISIS. Did not go into specific details other than to say, of course, as you had laid out, he would increase counterintelligence terrorism against ISIS. He would add more money for humanitarian aid and of course he would increase airstrikes.

Right now, we've seen at least 150 take place right now from U.S. planes. We expect that to increase exponentially. But to the point of arming and equipping the Syrian rebels, that right now is a talking point of discussion here in Washington. In just a few hours, in the building behind me, you'll see House Republicans will meet behind closed doors to talk about how they can get behind President Obama heading into this election year.

BERMAN: And Mark, there might be a vote on that. There is a discussion. The president thinks he doesn't need a new vote, new authorization for airstrikes in Syria, but he is asking for direct congressional support for the issue of training and equipping these moderate Syrian rebels who will be trained, by the way, in Saudi Arabia.

PRESTON: Exactly right. And in his closed-door meeting, we expect that to be the topic. How will you move forward. There is this understanding right now, John, in the short-term that president has the ability to go in and to beef up the military presence right now to try to fight ISIS. But the question is, what happens in the long term strategy?

This is something that we've been told and we expect that it will be a battle that will last well beyond President Obama's presidency. And we've even heard from the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee said last night right after President Obama's speech, that in fact he would be holding hearings and they would be drafting a longer authorization of military force for President Obama. But in the short-term, he seems to have that authority -- John.

BERMAN: It was remarkable to hear this president who ran against the U.S. troop presence in Iraq in 2007 and 2008 --

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: -- now talking about a new presence in that nation in an enduring effort in the region which could last until the next administration.

ROMANS: Clearly the president thinks, the president seems to think the risks of not engaging are bigger than the risks of engaging. And there will be a lot of risks in engaging but you can't let this -- you can't let this threat grow unaddressed.

PRESTON: Of course. And the big question right now is -- and the big concern and fear is that if you do not nip it in the bud right now that it could, in fact, come here to the United States. Now they've been very clear that there is no immediate threat to the United States at this point. However, if it is not dealt with right now, where it is located, they are certainly afraid of it becoming farther widespread and ISIS becoming a bigger problem for the United States.

BERMAN: For the fact that he's acting when he says there is no direct threat --

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: -- in it of itself is a subtle shift in the Obama strategy over the years.

Mark Preston in Washington for us, thanks so much.

Now you heard the president talk about expanding the U.S. military presence inside Iraq. 475 more personnel will be deployed in about a week. What the president calls a noncombat role. Bringing the total number of U.S. troops on the ground to about 1700. The president insists they are badly needed in that region under siege by ISIS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: When we helped prevent the massacre of civilians trapped on the distant mountain, here is what one of them said. "We owe our American friends our lives. Our children will always remember that there was someone who felt our struggle and made a long journey to protect innocent people."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Already been more than 150 airstrikes inside Iraq over the last several months.

I want to go on the ground now to Irbil, in the northern part of that country.

Anna Coren, you will see more U.S. troops, about 475 more U.S. troops in Iraq in the coming weeks -- and including a stepped-up U.S. air effort there as well.

What difference do you expect that might make, Anna?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, as far as the troops on the ground, that will help enormously as far as leadership goes. Training, assisting, advising the Kurdish forces as well the Iraqi forces. And also the National Guard. This is the Sunni force that was suggested by the new Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, which President Obama mentioned during his address.

They need the Sunni population to really take ownership if you like because of course it is those populations where ISIS has walked into those towns and cities and taken full control. But what we are hearing from the Kurdish and Iraqi officials is that they welcome this strategy by President Obama. They were hoping to hear a long-term commitment. Well, as far as they're concerned, they got it.

The expansion of those U.S. airstrikes, they've been calling for that ever since they began five weeks ago. We now think under this systematic campaign that the president outlined, that we will see a more intensive campaign over the coming weeks and months ahead. They welcome that the fighters going into Syria. Obviously that is the safe haven, the sanctuary for ISIS. They're not really -- there is no longer a border between Iraq and Syria. So they feel that that is critical.

The other thing, too, of course, those U.S. soldiers taking that leadership role which has been so drastically lacking here in Iraq. Combining the forces of the Iraqis, the Kurdish forces together so that they are coordinated, cooperating and then working in line with those U.S. airstrikes which really are changing the situation here on the ground.

BERMAN: All right. Our Anna Coren in Irbil in northern Iraq which will see an increased U.S. military effort in the coming days if not weeks.

Thanks, Anna.

ROMANS: If ISIS has proven anything is that it doesn't take long to build a terror group worth of this much fear. The terror group expanded at a fever pace over the summer with recruits joining from all corners of the globe. That includes the man who killed two American journalists who is believed to be from Britain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: In a region that has known so much bloodshed, these terrorists are unique in their brutality. They execute captured prisoners. They kill children. They enslave, rape, and force women into marriage. They threatened the religious minority with genocide. And in acts of barbarism, they took the lives of two American journalists, Jim Foley and Steven Sotloff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Parts of Europe have already taken action to prevent homegrown terrorists from returning.

I want to go to London where Arwa Damon has reaction to the president's address.

And, Arwa, this is what's so troubling, the idea that you have got active and quite prolific participants in ISIS and its growth who come from Boston, who come from London, who come from the West.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. There are varying different estimates. But there are believed to be several thousand Western fighters who have joined the ranks of ISIS inside Iraq and Syria. About 500 of them believed to be from the U.K. The threat that they pose is on multiple levels. One is of course the threat we've been hearing about. Will they carry out attacks if they were to return back home?

According to an ISIS defector CNN recently spoke to yesterday would because now they consider the countries that they originally came from, that some of them actually grew up in, to be infidels and therefore legitimate targets. You also have this theory that was put forward by the ISIS defector that the reason why Westerners, these British voices are being used to front things like the horrific executions of the two American journalists and the various ISIS recruitment videos is to encourage those people that are of the same ideology to take action perhaps within their own countries, to tackle that.

That's a completely different kind of battle than what we need to see taking place in Iraq and Syria. That needs to happen in each individual country as it tries to address the issue that is allowing this radical ideology to nourish and develop. And then you also have the training that takes place. Some of these foreign fighters, yes, trained in the battlefield inside Syria, but some of them being trained outside of Syria and Iraq and Libya, for example. Completely lawless at this point in time with well known extremist training camps that are sending fighters into Syria.

An entire Libyan brigade is believed to be based there. And we're are also saying that flow of weapons. Very easily going across from Libya, from other battlefields into Syria and Iraq as well.

ROMANS: All right. Arwa Damon for us this morning in London. Thank you, Arwa.

BERMAN: All right. 40 minutes after the hour. A former FBI director now investigating the Ray Rice case. This as the Ravens owner breaks his silence about why they waited months to fire Rice. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: The NFL is bringing in the former director of the FBI to investigate the league's response to Ray Rice beating of his then fiancee. Robert Mueller will now conduct an independent investigation into the NFL's probe. This follows the Associated Press report that says a copy of the video showing the assault, a copy of the video inside the elevator, was sent to the NFL in spring. The league still maintains it never saw the footage from inside the elevator.

And now Ravens owner, Steve Bisciotti, is admitting he did not handle the situation properly after the February incident came to light.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BISCIOTTI, BALTIMORE RAVENS OWNER: I was picturing -- I was picturing her whaling on him, and him smacking her and maybe her head was this far from the wall and, with her inebriation, dropped. So why did I conclude all that? Because I wanted to. Because I loved him, because he had a stellar record, and the cops had already seen the video. So I assumed it wasn't a forceful blow that moved her head three feet into that wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: That's a really honest statement. I mean, he is -- he is saying that he assumed what he wanted to. That she did something to deserve it. And a lot of people are saying that's what we are learning from this whole Ray Rice case, is that in the domestic violence issue, there are all these people who want to believe that it was her fault and somehow to -- somehow to minimize the fact that somebody got knocked out cold.

The Ravens take the field tonight for the first time since Rice was cut.

BERMAN: Let's see what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Chris Cuomo -- actually Kate Bolduan.

ROMANS: Hi, Kate.

BERMAN: Impostor. A Cuomo impostor joins us now.

(LAUGHTER)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: I would argue a better Cuomo just arrived.

Hello, everyone.

(LAUGHTER)

Couldn't have been -- there he is. There we go.

We're going to be talking about President Obama's strategy to eliminate ISIS. A huge night for the president. Last night, he authorized airstrikes in Syria and plans to send more U.S. troops to Iraq to put forward his strategy. Today of course marks 13 years since the September 11th attacks and the U.S. is still facing the threat of terror from the Middle East.

So does the president's strategy go far enough to keep Americans safe? We're going to be breaking it down. We're going to talk to folks on both sides of the aisle, talk to military analysts, going to really take a closer look because this is a long-term engagement the United States is about to embark on, guys.

BERMAN: All right. Thanks so much, Kate. Look forward to that.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

BERMAN: A lot going on this morning, at this moment in South Africa. A judge is revealing her verdict in the Oscar Pistorius murder trial. This is happening right now. Does she believe that the Olympic hero murdered his girlfriend? We're live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Happening right now in South Africa, the judge reading the verdict in the Oscar Pistorius trial. Looking at live pictures right now. The legal process over there is a very, very long one. It may be hours before we actually hear the words guilty or not guilty. But the judge is already giving some hints about which way she could be leaning.

Let's go right to the ground there in Pretoria in South Africa. Kelly Phelps joins us now.

Kelly, give us a sense of what this judge has been saying.

KELLY PHELPS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, she's been weighing out all of the evidence and the balance so far and deciding which evidence she finds to be reliable and therefore worth facing her determination on and which is unreliable. Critically, she has essentially struck out the state's version of evidence that neighbors heard a woman screaming.

I say this is critical because it was claims that Reeva Steenkamp had been heard screaming that the state used to base their entire premeditated murder charge on. So essentially by disregarding that evidence, it becomes highly unlikely if not impossible, that she can now convict him of premeditated murder.

And perhaps for legal commentators watching, unsurprisingly, the murder charge is now going to end up revolving around the state's alternative murder claim which is even if you accept his version that he thought he was shooting at an intruder, he still intended to kill whoever was behind the door. And that will come down to the differing legal interpretations of this rule that either side have put forward and which one she finds as more speaks in the accurate law.

BERMAN: Has she given any hint which way she may be leaning there, Kelly, since as you say so far what she's been saying indicate that she's not going to say this was premeditated murder?

PHELPS: Yes, no, she has not given a hint about that yet. It's too early in the process of her evaluating the evidence to get an indication of that because she is now busy evaluating Pistorius' evidence himself. And that of course will be critical to making that determination. She also needs to evaluate the different legal doctrines that each sides put forward as complete and legal doctrines.

What she has given us an indication on, though, is that she is rejecting one of Pistorius' defenses. So in the head and the heads of argument the defense put forward two what they call complementary defenses,, the one of incapacity and the other one that this mistaken belief that there was an intruder and she has overtly rejects the incapacity defense. She does not believe the evidence supports that.

So we are left now entirely with this version of, does it constitute legal intention according to the definitions of the rules of law here, that if he believed he was shooting at an intruder, he still had intentions for a murder charge that led to the death of Reeva Steenkamp?

BERMAN: It's been a rollercoaster for us here in the United States, watching. We are not used to a verdict taking this long to lay out. A lot of twists and turns this morning.

Kelly Phelps, thank you so much for being with us. We will stay on this all morning.

ROMANS: All right. Money news when we come back. Should you buy Apple shares? I'll have that for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Let's get an EARLY START on your money this Thursday.

European stocks mostly lower. An independence vote in Scotland still causing a lot of uncertainty and now RBS, big bank, says it would move its headquarters to England if Scotland votes yes.

Asian stocks ended the day mixed. U.S. futures pointing down right now after a pretty good day yesterday. The Dow being more than 50 points.

Everybody loves Apple shares, right? Apple stock, Apple products. Apple led a surge in tech stock yesterday. The stock up more than 3 percent, back above $100 per share. A lot of excitement and some disappointments, frankly, surrounding Apple's product launch day. The stock has been up and down this week.

Now back very close to a record, John. It's up 26 percent for the year. You think you don't own it, you probably do because it's in a whole bunch of mutual funds. It's probably somewhere in your 401(k).

The iPhone 6 is expected to outsell previous models. But it's uncertain if customers are going to buy the Apple Watch starting at $350. And if Apple Pay can revolutionize payments.

I'm really watching that Apple Pay. I mean, there is some thought that if they do it right and they buy in from the retailers and the banks, that the old -- good old fashion credit card --

BERMAN: I still don't think Apple Pay is the sexiest to watch. I think people -- the watch may be important.

ROMANS: This is more about you and me.

BERMAN: Watches.

All right. Thanks for watching. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria as well as Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Call to arms. President Obama vows to hit ISIS wherever they are even inside Syria. Now more U.S. troops heading into Iraq. Will it work? We're going to break it down with our military experts.

Plus this. Senator John McCain and Jay Carney's heated exchange on CNN.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight. The NFL appoints a former FBI director to investigate the league's handling of the Ray Rice case. This as a new report on when the NFL did have the Ray Rice tape. Was the commissioner then lying?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: CNN exclusive. Explosive new video from right after the Michael Brown shooting. Two new witnesses say they saw Brown with his hands up and that there was a second cop at the scene with his gun drawn, too.

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY starts right now.

(END)