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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Taking on ISIS: Obama to Speak Before U.N.; Lone Wolf Threat; Ebola Outbreak Exploding

Aired September 24, 2014 - 04:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Taking on ISIS. President Obama makes his case before the United Nations today, a day after the first U.S. airstrikes in Syria. So, can he rally the world to the U.S. cause and work to destroy these terror groups?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Raising the alert. In the aftermath of those airstrikes, the new warning to watch out for lone wolf attacks in the U.S. Authorities now concerned self-radicalized terrorists are emboldened to attack.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. It is Wednesday, September 24th, 4:00 a.m. in the East.

And we do want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

The breaking story at this hour: President Obama delivers a crucial address at the United Nations this morning, and the world will truly be watching. A now wartime president will try to explain and justify a new mission for the United States and its Arab allies. That mission includes some 200 bombs and missiles hitting targets inside Syria.

He will also highlight the rising threats from new terror groups such as ISIS and Khorasan, that al Qaeda offshoot, and the new worries that these Islamic militant groups are training or inspiring Westerners to launch attacks in Europe or the United States.

We have complete coverage. First, CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta in New York with a preview of the president's long day ahead -- Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, later this morning, the president will give a major address here at the United Nations where a senior administration official says Mr. Obama will talk about the general unease that the world is feeling right now because of the dangers posed by these new terror groups, ISIS and Khorasan. The president will also go on to talk about the importance of building global coalitions, to take on these threats.

Later on today, the president will sit down with the new Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. They will, of course, talk about the airstrikes that had been taking place in his country, and also next door in Syria. Mr. Abadi ahs already told CNN he'd like to see more of those airstrikes in the weeks to come.

And then later on in the afternoon, the president will do something he's only done once before, and that is to chair a meeting of the U.N. Security Council. Before, he did it on the subject of climate change. This time around, it will be on the subject of foreign fighters. The president wants to talk about the dangers posed by those foreign fighters -- Americans and Westerners who go down to Iraq and Syria, train with ISIS and other terror groups and then come back to the United States, with the potential there of wreaking havoc on the home front -- John and Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Jim Acosta, thank you for that this morning.

We're learning more now about the air campaign against ISIS and other Islamist militant groups in Syria. Pentagon officials say the airstrikes involving the U.S. and five Arab allies began at 3:30 in the morning, local time, about 8:30 Monday evening Eastern Time. In all, some 200 bombs and missiles were dropped, about three quarters of them precision guided.

We're also learning a little more about who did what in Tuesday's airstrikes.

CNN's Becky Anderson is standing by live right now in the United Arab Emirates, one of those Arab nations that took part in the attacks.

Good morning, Becky.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. A very good morning to you.

You cannot underestimate the importance of these Arab allies of what is going on in Syria and to an extent or lesser extent in Iraq at the moment. Not the least because, Christine, of the logistics, intelligence in this region. But if you ask Jim, he'll tell you the delegations from this nation including UAE are absolutely huge in the U.N., and that is because there is so much talk about what happens next.

Look, you know, you have four nations that actively participates including the UAE here in airstrikes over Monday through Tuesday night, with Qatar in a supporting role, Jordan admitting to be very early on in the day on Tuesday morning, they flown sorties, they're in, they're out, they were safe. The reason for that, they said, was that this is their war. This is the Arab countries who in the past were asking for international intervention to go into Syria. They've then been talking about the international community about getting involved in destroying, degrading ISIS.

So without their help, without their intervention, this once again would be a war led by the U.S. and party for other international bodies. As we speak, I'm just hearing French planes taking off, flying sorties over Iraq. But the importance of these Arab allies, as I say, cannot be understated. And so, we know that they effectively participated in their own air forces, Bahrain, Saudi -- that's Qatar -- sorry, that's Jordan, and indeed, that's the UAE with us, as I say, Qatar in a supported role.

And we've already heard from some of those in the delegations yesterday at the UAE, at least the foreign minister from here saying this is a chilling threat, a chilling threat, not just to ISIS to Syria and Iraq, but to this entire region and to the world. So, we should expect to see more to come.

ROMANS: All right, Becky Anderson for us this morning in UAE -- thank you, Becky.

BERMAN: This morning, we know much more about that shadowy terror network called Khorasan, that U.S. forces hit separately in Tuesday's airstrikes. The White House says the group of al Qaeda veterans, one analyst called them an al Qaeda all-star team, was plotting an attack against the United States, possibly Europe. Officials say the plan involved a bomb designed to pass undetected through airports security.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby told our Anderson Cooper that the Khorasan attack was well along in development and imminent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: We know that they were very close to the end game in their planning. We don't know exactly where the attack that they were planning would go take place. That's why we said we think it was either in Europe or the homeland. So, there's some information that we probably didn't have all the way down to the exact detail.

That said, we know they were close. We know that they had a very serious intent to conduct an attack on Western targets. And that drove a lot of urgency last night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And while officials believe Tuesday, the airstrikes have at least temporarily disruptive attacks in the U.S. organized by ISIS and Khorasan, they're warning now that air campaign may spark attacks by homegrown violent extremists. A bulletin sent Tuesday by the FBI and Homeland Security urges law enforcement agencies to stay vigilant, to keep an eye on social media for anyone encouraging violence and reprisal for U.S. military action in Syria.

BERMAN: It is life in prison for Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith. He was sentenced to New York federal court on Tuesday. The 48-year-old was convicted back in March with conspiring to kill Americans and provide material support to terrorists. Prosecutors say Abu Ghaith acted as a spokesman for al Qaeda following the 9/11 attacks.

ROMANS: The Iraq war vet who scaled the White House fence and got into the executive mansion was questioned twice by Secret Service agents in the last two months. In July, Omar Gonzalez was arrested during a traffic stop with an illegal shotgun and a map of Washington, with the White House circled inside his car. In August, he was stopped outside the White House with a hatchet in is waist band. On both occasions, Secret Service agents interviewed Gonzalez, determined he was not a threat.

BERMAN: One-point-four million people in Liberia and Sierra Leone could be infected by the Ebola virus by the end of January. That grim scenario from the Centers for Disease Control which says that Ebola could kill hundreds of thousands of people and embed itself in populations for years to come. There's also this morning from the World Health Organization saying if we do not get this outbreak under control, Ebola could become a permanent part of life in West Africa, spreading as routinely as malaria or even the flu. Call to arms.

ROMANS: It really is.

The man described as the person of interest in the disappearance of Hannah Graham now officially a suspect. Police in Charlottesville, Virginia, issued an arrest warrant for 32-year-old Jesse Matthew. He's charged with abduction with intent to defile in the case of the University of Virginia student who went missing 11 days ago. Police believe Matthew was the last person to see Hannah Graham. A restaurant surveillance tape shows him following her.

BERMAN: In northeast Pennsylvania, the manhunt goes on for suspected cop killer Eric Frein. Schools in the Pocono Mountain district have reopened for the first time since last week, as the man who found Frein's Jeep that connected to the fatal shooting a Pennsylvania state trooper is speaking out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM NOVAK, FOUND ERIC FREIN'S ABANDONED JEEP: When you actually shoot somebody and kill somebody, a trooper, a conservation officer, federal agents, you attack all of us because those are the guys that watch us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Frein is a survivalist. He's been at large for nearly two weeks now. Police believe he could be hiding in a bunker that he built before the deadly ambush and say they're closing in on him.

Meantime, we're now learning that Frein appears in a documentary about the Vietnam War re-enactment. The film admits some of the actors were, quote, "on the edge of violence."

All right. Breaking news overnight: tensions flaring again in Ferguson, Missouri. Moments after the emotional city council meeting last night, protesters smashed windows in a local beauty shop. Witnesses say the store was later emptied. Gunfire could be heard nearby. They were chanting to arrest of Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot and killed unarmed teenager Michael Brown.

ROMANS: It's about 10 minutes past the hour. Time for an EARLY START on your money this Wednesday morning.

European stocks lower right now. Asian shares ended the day mixed. U.S. stock futures pointing higher. It looks like stocks could

reverse some of this week's losses if that holds. Last week, the Dow, of course, hit a record high. This week, it's down more than 200 points so far.

Maybe it's a correction, we heard it again, right? Maybe that correction that elusive correction is under way that would be a 10 percent drop. Concerns about growth in China and Europe are weighing on the markets and U.S. airstrikes in Syria adding to geopolitical risks around the globe.

Another factor sending stocks lower, Alibaba hype is over. The stocks fell again yesterday to about $87 a share. That's down more than 12 percent from Friday.

BERMAN: IPO beware.

ROMANS: I know. Buyer beware, everybody.

BERMAN: Coming up, today, President Obama meets with the new prime minister of Iraq. This is a very big meeting.

But before that even happened, our Christiane Amanpour sat down with the prime minister, spoke to him exclusively. So, does he now think the U.S. airstrikes and coalition airstrikes against ISIS are enough?

ROMANS: And the wife of a British hostage whose life are in the hands of ISIS, she just received an audio message from him. We're going to tell you what he said and will her desperate attempts to free him work?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Fourteen minutes past the hour.

Happening today, President Obama will meet with Iraq's new Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Both are in New York for the U.N. General Assembly. Now, this meeting comes at a pivotal time. Al-Abadi just assembled a new, more inclusive Iraqi government to fight ISIS threats.

In his first interview since his appointment, he sat down with our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour for a CNN exclusive. She asked him what he thinks the Arab coalition has joined in the fight against ISIS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAIDER AL-ABADI, IRAQI PRIME MINISTER: We have warned in last two years, this is a danger. This is a blood game. This will end in a bloodbath if nobody stops it, nobody listening. They thought everybody was immune from this danger and only Iraq sees this part of the danger.

But now, I think we're happy. Personally, I'm happy that everybody is seeing this danger so that they are going to do something about it. I hope they do something about it and they do it right, and they don't do it their own way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Al-Abadi says he hopes air strikes don't lead to the rise of another terrorist element instead of ISIS.

And later this morning, Christiane Amanpour will interview Secretary of State John Kerry. That is live on "NEW DAY."

BERMAN: Now to the effort to save the life of British aid worker Alan Henning. He's being held captive by ISIS terrorists who threatened to kill him. Henning's wife Barbara is speaking out because she says his kidnappers will not engage in an open dialogue. She said she did receive a chilling recording from them, audio of her husband pleading for his life.

Erin McLaughlin joins us now from London win the latest.

Good morning, Erin.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

That's right, the wife of 47-year-old Alan Henning pleading for her husband's life. Britain's foreign office releasing a message to ISIS on her behalf that reads in part, "I and people representing me continue to reach out to those holding Alan. Islamic State continued to ignore our pleas to open dialogue. I've been told he's been to a Sharia court and found innocent of being a spy and declared to be no threat. I implore the Islamic State to abide by the decisions of their own justice system. Please release Alan."

Now, Henning was known as the cabby with the heart of gold. A taxi driver from Manchester, turned aid worker. He traveled to Syria on Christmas to deliver food and water to people in need. He was taken captive by masked gunmen the very next day.

He was last seen wearing an orange jumpsuit in ISIS' latest grisly execution video. He was kneeling beside the man the British press has now nicknamed Jihadi John, the executioner with an apparent British accent.

And British authorities now saying they are getting closer to identifying Jihadi John. Take a listen to what British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond had to say in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILIP HAMMOND, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: Well, we're getting warm. We're working on it. There's a big investigation going on and we're getting warm.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: What does that mean? You don't know for sure?

HAMMOND: We're beginning to narrow down the field, but I don't want to say any more than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: Well, British-led participation over air strikes still a question. British Prime Minister David Cameron expected to address the U.N. General Assembly later today. And there is speculation that he could recall parliament on that question as early as Friday -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Erin McLaughlin for us in London, again, the outpouring of support for Alan Henning has been remarkable.

ROMANS: Absolutely.

This just into CNN, radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada expected to be freed today after a court in Jordan acquitted him on terror charges. He was accused of masterminding a thwarted plot to kill -- attack and kill terrorists in the year 2000. A court said there was insufficient evidence to convict. Abu Qatada was deported from United Kingdom last year to force him to face trial in his home country.

BERMAN: The annual Clinton Global Initiative wraps up in New York City today. The Clintons took center stage Tuesday at the yearly gathering of world leaders and corporate executives. CNN's Fareed Zakaria was on hand to moderate a panel on a deadly Ebola virus. He had the opportunity to ask Chelsea Clinton about her decision to keep the gender of her baby a mystery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHELSEA CLINTON: There are so few mysteries in life, Fareed, in which any answer is a happy one. And so, my husband and I decided that we would enjoy this mystery for the nine-plus months that we were granted. And we are eager to find out what God will have given us.

FAREED ZAKARIA, CN HOST: But isn't it strange that the doctors around you know that you don't know?

CLINTON: No, I think the doctors around me know lots of things that I don't know.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That's a good answer right there.

A lot of parents or prospective parents go through that decision.

ROMANS: (INAUDIBLE) life philosophy.

BERMAN: I was having twins, I don't want anymore surprises.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Clinton Global Initiative Conference.

You can see the full panel this Sunday in "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS", at 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Eastern. It will be interesting to see if the baby has arrived before today.

ROMANS: That's right.

BERMAN: In New York today, President Bill Clinton will be interviewed by CNN's Erin Burnett in a special town hall. See excerpts tonight on "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT." And at 9:00 p.m., the complete interview airs, "President Bill Clinton: A Special Town Hall with Erin Burnett."

ROMANS: All right. Let's get an early look at our weather. Chad Myers has that for us.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And good morning. Very cool across the Northeast this morning -- 30s and 40s for lows, 60s and maybe 70s for highs today. Showers across the Pacific Northwest, rain across the mid-Atlantic. But other than that, the rest of the country completely dry today. High, 74, New York City, 76 in D.C., and 65, the high in Boston this afternoon; 84 in Memphis and 79 in Atlanta.

The rain all the way up the East Coast, right along the coast, even into Long Island and to Boston for tomorrow. And that front drapes all the way down into Florida. Sunny skies behind it. Clear and cool behind it.

And still a little bit of rain into the Pacific Northwest for tomorrow's forecast. It warms up into the upper Midwest for tomorrow. We start to see the red all the way up into Canada, Billings, you get at 92, and Boston only 65.

Enjoy your day, guys. Back to you.

BERMAN: Thanks to Chad Myers for that.

So, coming up, there has been no word of an American journalist who went missing two years ago in Syria. His parents are now speaking out in a CNN exclusive. They're begging for answers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Parents of an American journalist kidnapped in Syria say they are fed up with the way the government is handling their son's situation.

ROMANS: Thirty-three-year-old Austin Tice was abducted from a Damascus suburb in 2012. Since then, his parents have waited for a word. It's a vigil they call excruciating.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Houston with that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The family of Austin Tice lives here in the city of Houston, Texas, this is where they've stood vigil, trying to get their son back for more than two years. But the Tice family says they've now grown increasingly frustrated with the U.S. response in handling their son's hostage situation. They say this is a process that's broken. They say they're frustrated with way the U.S. government has kept information they believe to be vital to her son's case close to the vest and haven't brought to his parents.

We sat down with them for an extensive interview to talk about this very issue.

You've been told the U.S. government has various pieces of information that you think would benefit you?

DEBRA TICE, MOTHER OF AUSTIN TICE: Absolutely, we've been told that.

MARC TICE, FATHER OF AUSTIN TICE: Yes.

D. TICE: We can't share this information with you because you do not have clearance.

M. TICE: We don't know what the information is, but we don't want to be treated or feel like we're being treated as a security risk.

D. TICE: To our own child. This is my son and my personality says the mother bear will find the cub, and I'm looking for my cub.

LAVANDERA: Marc and Debra Tice hope that speaking out publicly about their frustrations that it will help them in their efforts to get their son back home safely -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: The White House and the State Department did not respond to CNN's request for comment on the story on Tuesday.

ROMANS: All right. Coming up, President Obama makes his case to the world after the first air strikes in Syria. Can he rally support and build a global coalition against ISIS?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)