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CNN NEWSROOM

#NotInMyName Campaign Goes Viral; Belgium, Netherlands Join Strikes in Iraq; New Look Inside ISIS-Controlled City; American Begins North Korean Sentence; Attorney General Holder to Resign

Aired September 25, 2014 - 10:30   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I think many Americans though would rather hear from the leaders of Arab countries --

BOBBY GHOSH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, yes.

COSTELLO: -- denouncing these extremists. And they want them to say it loudly and clearly so the world hears. Why aren't they doing this?

GHOSH: That's a great point. I mean they need to hear more from Arab people, Arab countries and Arab leaders. The other people who need to hear more from the Arab leaders are the Arab people.

You know all these Arab countries that have joined the coalition against ISIS, that's a great thing to join the coalition. But you know what -- the President of the United States first went to the American people and explained himself to the American people.

The rulers of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, all these countries have not bothered to do that. They just sent their jets into the war. They haven't explained it to their own people. They haven't communicated to their own people. We're sending your people, you sons and daughters into war -- this is the reason why we're doing it. They don't even communicate to their own people, why are they going to communicate to us.

COSTELLO: And that's a shame. Bobby Ghosh, thanks so much for being here. I appreciate it.

GHOSH: Any time.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the newsroom, the U.S.-led air strikes on ISIS and Syria. The complaints grow louder, the coalition grows larger -- at least we think so. We'll talk about the confusing numbers coming from our government with our political panel next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: If there's one thing President Obama has been firm about, it's this. The U.S. is not and will not be alone in the battle against ISIS. Yesterday President Obama said more than 40 nations have offered to help fight the terrorist group, but it's not quite as cut and dry as it sounds. According to "The Washington Post", Secretary of State Kerry says the coalition numbers more than 50 nations and the State Department says it's actually 62. We do know Belgium and the Netherlands have offered to take part in some way in the air strikes. France is already carrying out air strikes over Iraq. The big question now, will France target militants over Syria?

The White House hasn't specified which countries are taking part in the coalition beyond the usual suspects. But we do know British Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to call on parliament tomorrow to join the fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I am, therefore, recalling the British Parliament on Friday to secure approval for the United Kingdom to take part in international air strikes against ISIL in Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So there you have it. Let's talk about all of this. With me now, Amy Holmes, she's an anchor for "The Blaze" and Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis joining me, too. Welcome to both of you.

CHRIS KOFINIS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Thank you.

AMY HOLMES, "THE BLAZE": Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So Amy, I'll start with you. Why no specific list from the White House on exactly who is in this coalition?

HOLMES: Well, a couple of reasons, Carol, the first reason is that the President was overpromising and possibly under-delivering when he first said that there was a coalition and he hadn't really firmed up that support. You also have now coalition members who initially were very reluctant to be identified with this effort, in particular, the Arab states. As CNN's own military analyst Rick Francona has pointed out, it is a really big deal that the Arab states are now involved in those air strikes.

Again, you also have another issue which is that of Iraq versus Syria. Iraq has actually now asked formally for intervention in fighting ISIS. But Syria, of course, is a different matter.

But again, with this president what is so disconcerting and I think is making a lot of Americans, you know, very fearful about this effort and not having a lot of confidence is how the President has backed into it every step of the way.

COSTELLO: Yes, why not come up with a specific number and have everyone on the same page, Chris?

KOFINIS: My guess is in terms of the actual names of the countries and actors involved that's going to be released, to me I don't -- to me it's not important to focus on whether it's 50 countries or 60 countries. The real focus is who is involved. I think what was a significant diplomatic coup for the President and for Secretary Kerry is when you have Sunni governments involved in UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, who are actually not just providing support by name but actually getting involved militarily. That's significant when you're going up against a group that is from the same, if you will, religious faith. That I think is significant.

Criticizing the President for not putting together the coalition faster or not naming the partners, the reality is, and this has been true for every time the United States has been involved militarily in that part of the world, we are going to bear the brunt of the responsibility. The key is do we have other coalition actors that are not only providing logistical and military support, but more importantly sending a political message to that part of the world and the broader community that this is not a fight just for the United States.

COSTELLO: Exactly. I think what bothers me, Amy, and I could be wrong and I have been before, but it seems as if the countries like France and Britain were sitting back and saying, well, I wonder if these air strikes over Syria will actually work and if people will be accepting of it. Now we might join in.

HOLMES: Absolutely. The President, of course, we know with Syria drew that red line which then ended up being a green light for Assad to go ahead and use chemical weapons on his citizens which he's actually still continuing to do with chlorine gas. I think the problem is, and that you're putting your finger on it, is that this White House doesn't seem to have its story straight and thus its act together.

And I think what we're seeing is that our allies, they were very concerned about that, too. And again, it doesn't inspire confidence when the President has said repeatedly there will be no U.S. boots on the ground. We have phase one with the air strikes, but no serious military analyst believes that you can defeat is by the air. When the U.S. says that they won't -- we won't put boots on the ground, why would any other country --

KOFINIS: Carol --

COSTELLO: Well -- I know what Chris is going to say, because boots on the ground must come from Arab nations, right, Chris?

(CROSSTALK)

KOFINIS: Well, actually you know, before I get to that I have to point out that you're right. I will say that. But, you know, this idea, this notion about criticizing France or the United Kingdom, criticizing the administration for somehow not involving them, here is the reality. The reason why you did not want France and the United Kingdom to be part of this coalition right off the top is you wanted this to be more than just western countries going back into the Middle East.

That is actually smart foreign policy, criticizing the President for that means you basically do not understand the politics of that region and what the administration was trying to accomplish. Now in terms of the question about boots on the ground, listen, the American people I think are clearly in support of the President on this. This is not a Republican/ Democrat thing, by the way. I would say you have wide support. The last thing the American people want is another reengagement and more and more Americans going in there potentially dying. That is not something that we want to do.

Now, at the end of the day, this is a conflict that's been going on for thousands of years. Who is going to determine it are the people on the ground there. Can we provide logistical support -- absolutely; intelligence support, of course. Can we provide air support militarily? But the idea that we're going to settle this on the ground, that is asking a lot from this country and the men and women who serve it who've already spent an enormous amount in blood and time already to serve this country.

COSTELLO: I'd have to agree with you there, Chris.

I want to show our viewers the cover of "The Economist" right now and I'm switching gears a little bit. This is the first time I've seen this. So we're all experiencing this for the first time together. It appears to be President Obama's head on George Bush's body, you know, when George Bush was on the aircraft carrier and said "Mission Accomplished".

HOLMES: Sure.

COSTELLO: That's what it appears to me. Amy, that's just weird.

HOLMES: Well, I think --

KOFINIS: That's weird, all right.

HOLMES: -- a lot of Democrats would actually agree with you that the man they made their candidate in 2008 who campaigned against, of course, war in the Middle East and a man who just said two years ago that the tides of war were receding, war is over, et cetera, is now a war-time president. We already of course, had the strikes in Libya, the Iraq strikes started a couple of weeks ago, President Obama of course, putting together this coalition to be reengaged in the Middle East which six years ago, would you have guessed?

COSTELLO: I don't think, Chris, that President Obama is in any way saying right at the moment "mission accomplished" because we've just begun and he says it's a long slog. And Admiral Kirby came out this morning and said it could take up to six years for this thing to be kind of, sort of finished.

KOFINIS: It is kind of amusing to me when I hear Republicans somehow smirk about how the President is now somehow a military president. The President has been a military president since the time he got in office. I'm not sure they got the news bulletin because of the situation that President Bush left for him.

Putting all that aside, the reality is we can sit here and play this politics about what should have been done earlier or not. The reality now is you have a serious threat that I think most people agree have to be dealt with. How you deal with it is important.

And I think the President has followed a very kind of very concerted, disciplined strategy here to involve multiple countries, not make this all about the United States or Western countries and when you're dealing with such a complex region that really is the right approach. It's not going to be solved quickly or easily. That's the frustrating thing I think for Americans to deal with. But that is unfortunate reality when you're dealing with such a complex, unstable part of the world.

COSTELLO: All right. We'll leave it there. Chris Kofinis, Amy Holmes -- thanks to you both. I appreciate it.

HOLMES: Thank you.

KOFINIS: Thank you.

COSTELLO: This morning we're getting -- you're welcome -- this morning we're getting a new look inside Syria. A video secretly shot by a woman walking through the heart of an ISIS -controlled area. Jim Clancy has been looking through this footage. He joins us now. What did you see?

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a pretty candid view of what's going on inside Raqqa, Syria -- now that's the so-called capital, if you will, of the Islamic caliphate that's been set up by ISIS there. This is a city that fell under their control. They exert maximum control over that, forcing the women to wear traditional dress, very conservative dress. This is an area that has long been disputed.

It was taken away from the Syrian government by ISIS, and we see this woman at one phase -- and this tells us a lot about what's going on, about how some of the people that are coming from Europe or other places are really experiencing all of this. Because there are women who want to go there.

This woman went into an Internet center in order to listen in as other women talked to their relatives back home in France. A lot of the conversation -- she's going past the guard -- a lot of the conversations are in French. And when you listen to it, you hear about concern, you hear about how willing these young women are to be there. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to come back because I feel good here. It's not a question of coming back or not. If I want, I can come back. I just don't want to come back because I feel good here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: Now, family members obviously aren't convinced by all of this. As they talk to the women it's revealed -- this is a secretly- held camera. And really, this young woman faced pretty serious penalties if she had been caught doing this. But listen to how she reacts with the family members who are just absolutely pleading with her to get out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop it. It doesn't help me if you're scared or if you cry. Do you hear me? I'm telling you. There's not point to you crying or being scared. What you see on TV is wrong. Do you understand? They're exaggerating everything on TV. They amplify everything, everything, everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: That is the young woman that's talking there to her relatives back in France describing why she feels safe there. These are young and enthusiastic women, some of them married to ISIS fighters and followed them over there, some accompanied them. And others have gone there seeking marriage or seeking to take care of the many, many orphans that have been left by this brutal civil war that has gripped Syria for the past three years or more -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I know you're still looking but it's really disturbing to me. Jim Clancy -- thanks so much.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you at 48 minutes past the hour.

South Carolina prosecutors want to know why a state trooper shot a motorist. We have dramatic video of the incident. And we warn you, you will find it disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I see your license please? Get out of the car, get out of the car.

Get on the ground. Get on the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just got my license. You said get my license. I've got my license right here. I've got my license right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put your hands behind your back, put your hands behind your back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Unbelievable, right? This happened on September 4th. The driver was shot in the hip but he's going to be ok. The trooper has been fired. He is now charged with aggravated assault and battery. He could get up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

An American being held in North Korea began a six-year sentence of hard labor today. North Korea released a photo of Matthew Miller with his head shaved and he was also wearing prison clothing. North Korea accuses Miller of ripping up his visa after arriving in the country so he could go to prison and expose human rights violations there. That's the story.

CNN's Will Ripley interviewed Miller earlier this month in Pyongyang. Miller said he deliberately committed his crime though he did not say exactly what that crime was.

Matthew Miller was able to call his family yesterday. He asked them to forward petition letters he wrote to high ranking U.S. officials so he could be released.

Lisa Ling joins me now. And Lisa, glad you're here. I know your sister was held hostage in North Korea for a time. And I just wanted to ask you about Matthew Miller and what he might be experiencing right now. He's been sentenced to hard labor. I guess he dig holes in fields for eight hours a day and then he's kept in solitary confinement.

LISA LING, CNN HOST: Yes. Well, my sister, fortunately, didn't have to actually go into a labor camp although she was kept for five months. She was treated fairly humanely aside from getting beat up right when she was dragged into the country.

But, you know, the North Korean -- I think the reason why they're releasing these photos is they're really wanting to have direct talks with the United States. Right now when the U.S. and North Korea communicate, they have to do so through the six-party talks or through intermediary countries. They have been for a long time wanting to engage the U.S. directly but the U.S. has not wanted to do so. So in many ways I think that this is a propaganda tool of theirs to try and get some kind of engagement with the U.S.

COSTELLO: I hate asking you this question but I feel that I must. Had your sister been taken hostage today, would it be the same for her as it is for Matthew Miller and the others being held in North Korea, where it would be so complicated to get a high profile person there because, of course, of nuclear weapons that you would just be struggling to get her released?

LING: You know, it's so hard to say. I mean the effort behind the scenes on our part was inexplicable. It was unlike anything that I ever had to do. But it is -- it's tough given what happened to my sister and her colleague. I don't think the North Koreans are going to be able to get the same kind of concession.

COSTELLO: Bill Clinton is not going to be going over there to --

LING: Yes, I don't think the U.S. is going to be as inclined to send a high-profile envoy to further boost their propaganda machine. But you know, I hope for the sake of the three Americans who are there now that they are able to be released to their families on humanitarian grounds.

COSTELLO: Gosh, I hope so. Of course, the main reason you're with me today is about your new CNN show, "THIS IS LIFE". It premieres on Sunday. LING: Yes.

COSTELLO: And you're going to be looking at Americans living outside the norm. So tell us more about that.

LING: Yes. So "THIS IS LIFE" -- and I'm so excited about -- is an exploration of different worlds that exist within our world. We profile people who could live next door to you, they could be in your family, but they're leading lives and they're part of communities that may be just a little bit different from the way you or I may live -- maybe not.

COSTELLO: I think we have a clip. Let's show our viewers that clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- and sent us so many positive thoughts and energy, we thank you. We could feel your love all the way in North Korea. To our loved ones, friends, colleagues and to the complete strangers with the kindest of hearts --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. That was the wrong video -- that actually was your sister and her friend upon their release from North Korea, which is moving video as well. Do we have the right clip of Lisa's show to show? We do not. I apologize for that.

LING: That's ok.

COSTELLO: Just tell us more about your show.

LING: Well, the first episode, it's called "Sugar Babies, Sugar Daddies" and it's about this recent phenomenon of young women seeking out older men to among other things help them pay for their college tuition.

COSTELLO: I've heard about this.

LING: It's interesting because as someone who considers herself a pretty staunch feminist, it was a little difficult to talk to these young women who had these intentions. But what they said to me and this is why this is sort of a reflection of what's going on in our economy is we're the first generation to be constantly told that we're not going to make as much money as our parents and we're constantly reminded of the dismal job prospects.

And so we see "sugaring", it's a new term, as a way to circumvent having to work three jobs and so we can focus on our studies a little bit better. So it's a perspective that frankly I have never thought about. That's why I love doing the series because I think when you hear these topics you have this immediate opinion or preconceived idea what the people are going to be like. But inevitably once you spend time with them, you realize no story is so black and white.

COSTELLO: I can't wait to watch. Lisa ling, thank you for being here.

LING: Thanks Carol.

COSTELLO: We appreciate it.

All right. I have some breaking news to share with you. Oh, "THIS IS LIFE WITH LISA LING", Sunday 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

Now to this breaking news and I'm telling you, when I first heard about it a couple of minutes ago, it took us a minute to confirm it. But the Attorney General, Eric Holder, is going to resign. This was first reported by NPR. And I want to go to our justice reporter Evan Perez. This is a shocker.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTIC REPORTER: Well Carol, you know, it's a bit of a shocker but frankly it's been rumored for some time. Every year around this time people look to the attorney general to try to decide whether or not he's going to leave. This year he finally decided. It's sort of his way of trying to go out on top.

He's had a few tough years, but also had very good times lately, especially with his visits to Ferguson, Missouri where he helped bring a message of racial healing, trying to calm the situation and give the authorities there the time that they need to do the investigation for the shooting of Michael Brown.

Obviously this is a bit of a surprise because every year around this time, Holder decides he wants to stay. But this time he's decided that he is going to leave. He's going to stay until his replacement is confirmed. So we might see him for a few more months still, but it is a big announcement from the Obama administration.

COSTELLO: I guess I'm surprised because he's always been so feisty in light of calls for his resignation, and there's been more than one -- Evan.

PEREZ: Right, exactly. And I think this is his way of trying to go out on his own terms. He did not respond to those calls for his resignation when he was down, when he was under fire for everything from "Fast and Furious" to the investigation of journalists and seizure of phone records in these investigations.

And now, when he was frankly, probably at the peak of his tenure is when he wants to go. He's still the third longest serving attorney general -- the first African-American to serve in that job. So it is a big moment here. The Attorney General has been a big confidant, a major confidant of President Obama. So it's going to be a big moment for the President as well because this is someone who has taken a lot of bullets for him and he trusts a lot overall these years.

COSTELLO: All right. Evan Perez reporting the surprising news, Attorney General Eric Holder is going to step down. He's going to resign from his post. Of course, we'll be talking a lot more about this on CNN throughout the day.

I want to thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. "@THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA" after a break.

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