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CNN NEWSROOM

New U.S. Airstrikes Against ISIS Underway; FBI Investigates Beheading Suspect; Police Continue To Search For Missing UVA Student Hannah Graham; President Obama Urges Rapid Global Response To Ebola Outbreak In West Africa; George Clooney Ties The Knot

Aired September 27, 2014 - 15:00   ET

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


DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Deborah Feyerick. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Coming up this hour, new U.S. airstrikes against ISIS are underway, as British forces also take to the skies above Iraq, offering air support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Is there a threat to the British people? The answer is yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And back home, new details emerging about who is behind the beheading in Oklahoma. Now one state trooper is sounding off about her encounter with Alton Nolen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wish I'd had killed him, you know? I was never afraid of him or I would have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And will he or won't he? Authorities want answers from Jesse Matthew, accused in the disappearance of 18-year-old Hannah Graham. We'll go live to the scene in just a few minutes.

But first, now fully engaged in the fight against ISIS is the United Kingdom. Two British fighter jets flew a recon and intelligence mission over Iraq today, just hours after parliament gave the thumbs up for British forces to fire on ISIS targets.

American forces attacked ISIS positions today. The Pentagon says fighters, bombers, and remotely piloted aircraft launched ten separate airstrikes in Syria and Iraq. Some of those combat missions took off from the deck of the aircraft carrier George H. W. Bush in the Persian Gulf.

CNN has people on the flight deck of the "Bush." A report from there coming up straight ahead. ISIS fighters battled it out with Kurdish troops on Syria's border with Turkey. The fighting sent a couple of hundred of thousands of people running for their lives. We've got a report from the Syrian-Turkish border also coming up.

But first, Karl Penhaul in London outside 10 downing street. And Karl, the UK is now saying all in with the growing coalition to fight ISIS, flying its first missions today over Iraq. How hard was it for David Cameron to really sell this to parliament, given how vocal he's been about the ISIS threat?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Deborah, first of all, all in may be overstating the British participation somewhat, and that really is a reflection as you say that Prime Minister David Cameron has had to go softly, softly on this to get parliament first of all to agree, Britain participating within this coalition at all.

Now, Britain's participation right now is limited to six fighter jets and their actions are restricted only to Iraq, against ISIS positions in Iraq, not at all in Syria for now. And that is because of the stiff opposition that Britain faces or the British prime minister faced against any involvement in Syria last year in 2013, even though the motion on the table at that stage was to fight the Assad regime directly.

And so right now, Prime Minister David Cameron is going bit by bit. And so, six British jets have been contributed to the coalition. That, putting it in perspective, is about the same number as the country of Jordan has, that Holland and Belgium are contributing, and one less than Denmark is contributing.

And today, in terms of the action that those fighter jets carried out, well, two fighter jets flying over Iraq and the minister of defense here says that they found no targets to engage. And so for that reason, simply conducted surveillance missions. We are told they will continue to do these missions to see what they can find in the coming days, Deborah.

FEYERICK: And Karl, at some levels it appears that the UK is leaving the heavy lifting really not United States as well as some of the Arab nation partners, who are fully engaged, who are taking out locations, both in Iraq and Syria. How did they decide that right now they were only going to provide surveillance and reconnaissance and nothing more?

PENHAUL: Well, no, Britain's mission is also to attack targets, to bomb targets. Those fighter jets that were in the air today were fully equipped with missiles and with laser-guided bombs. The minister of defense simply said that they did not find targets to hit. Now, that really speaks to the kind of enemy that ISIS is. ISIS is not going to stand around in large formations, waiting to be bombed, either by British fighter jets, Arab fighter jets, or the Americans themselves. They will break down into small, much more mobile guerilla units, something that they know very well how to do because that is their origin. It's a mobile insurgent group, not as a large, conventional army.

And so, really, Britain is going to have to watch how to engage in this fight. But certainly, right now, make no doubt about it, the United States is doing the heavy lifting, and the Arab nations, well, really, they are just playing a bit role, as is Britain and the European nations, Deborah.

FEYERICK: All right, Karl Penhaul, thank you so much. And we are going to be talking with our military experts on whether in fact ISIS had a lot of a heads up before this strike was launched. Thanks, Karl.

And we want you to take a look at this map. It is where the Pentagon is telling us that coalition airstrikes have focused over the past two days. Lots of ISIS targets deep inside Syria. The cities of Aleppo and Raqqa, the place ISIS considers its capital. The list of targets is varied, buildings and even individual vehicles. The air forces of Jordan, the UAE, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia also dropped bombs on ISIS targets in Syria and many of the U.S. combat flights started on board an aircraft carrier that's in the Persian Gulf.

CNN's Becky Anderson is there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What you're seeing behind me is the last of the fighter jets and helicopters coming back from their armed sorties. The f-18 hit the deck at 150 knots, in what is known as an arrested landing. And those traps effectively pull them back. You can see the end of the aircraft carrier with the white lights, just below me here. This is four and a half acres of vessel, just a very, very small area in which these pilots must land.

It's 10:00 at night, and it feels a lot more peaceful on what is a 24/7 operation. But believe me, earlier on in the day, it was hectic out here. And by tomorrow morning, as the sun rises, they'll be doing it all again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Remarkable precision, Becky Anderson, thank you. And one of those coalition airstrikes today hit a border crossing, separating Turkey and Syria. Turkey is now participating in military missions against ISIS, but they are now dealing with hundreds of thousands of Syrians, who have fled their homes when ISIS fighters simply got too close.

Yesterday, while CNN cameras caught a firefight between ISIS and Kurdish forces on the border. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: An extraordinary scene as dusk is falling here on the Syrian border. ISIS fighters in action. We just saw a trace of fire move across the skyline there. Something of an ooh and an ahh from the crowd here. This crowd of Turkish Kurds, when they have seen a lot of incoming fire going into that ISIS position. They've been cheering their Kurdish brothers on the other side. We can see from that trace of fire that they are still receiving

incoming fire, and it is at that position that our photo journalist, Claudia, has seen ISIS fighters take casualties, take hits. ISIS has been making progress. A few more miles each day. Just take a look up there now. What you're seeing is trace of fire moving into that ridgeline that is currently occupied by ISIS forces. And around me, the Kurdish crowd is cheering. Take a listen.

(CHEERING)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Remarkable theater there. CNN's Arwa Damon is on the Turkish-Turkish border today -- Arwa?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At one point, the only position that the Kurds had preventing ISIS from entering the town of Kobani to the west was that hilltop. But then we saw them using artillery and 50-caliber machine guns to drive ISIS fighters back, managing to gain another strategic hilltop in the process.

ISIS moved into this area of Syria well over a week ago. Very rapidly taking over dozens of villages and towns and sending around 200,000 people fleeing for their lives into Turkey. Kobani was and still is the last town standing.

Ever since the fighting broke out this close to the Turkish border, these various hilltops have been spilled with spectators watching the battle unfold in front of them. The Kurds managed to regain strategic territory by pushing ISIS off of the hilltop, that ISIS used to control.

Farther into the distance, we can barely see them from where we are. But those three villages, they are still under ISIS control and they were coming under sporadic small arm, heavy machine gun and artillery fire.

Despite the fact that the Kurds, at least at this front line, did manage to push ISIS back, they are still calling for additional support. They want those coalition aircraft to come and strike at these various targets. Because Kobani still remains a city under siege. The last town standing in this part of northwestern Syria that has not fallen to ISIS. But at this stage, without additional support, it is unclear how long this Kurdish fighting force can keep ISIS at bay.

Arwa Damon, CNN along the Turkey-Syria border.

FEYERICK: And a form of theater. That's what one leader in the U.S. coalition is calling airstrikes against Iran and Syria. We are going to discuss that. But first, new pictures of the man accused of beheading a coworker in Oklahoma. Now the FBI has stepped in to find out why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) FEYERICK: And now to Oklahoma, where the FBI is investigating a man accused of beheading one of his coworkers and severely injuring another. Alton Nolen is in the hospital after an off-duty sheriff's deputy shot him. Police say he had just lost his job, that he was also allegedly trying to convert his coworkers to Islam.

CNN's Nick Valencia reports that Nolen's facebook page paints an extremely disturbing picture.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Police say this is the facebook page of the man suspected of beheading a coworker in Moore, Oklahoma. The images and messages on the page of Alton Nolen, who goes by an alias here, appear to support Islamic radicals and ridicule Christianity.

In recent posts, Nolen writes about judgment day, and criticizes the United States and Israel. The posts are a mixed array, some more disturbing than others.

It was on Thursday that police say Nolen brought horror to his workplace. He had just been fired from his job that day, only to return shortly afterward with a knife.

SGT. JEREMY LEWIS, MOORE, OKLAHOMA POLICE: He encountered the first victim and began assaulting her with a knife. He did kill Colleen and did sever her head.

VALENCIA: According to police, the suspect than began attacking a second woman, when he was shot and stopped by an armed company executive. Mark Vaughan, son of the company's founder, is also a reserve sheriff's deputy. Officials say it was his actions that prevented more death.

LEWIS: It could have gotten a lot worse. This guy definitely wasn't going to stop. He didn't stop until he was shot.

VALENCIA: The barbaric nature of the crime has led some residents and others to speculate the act could be tie to something large and was perhaps influenced by Islamic extremists. Adding to the theory, police say that in recent weeks, Nolen had tried to convert his coworkers to Islam.

But in a statement to CNN, Oklahoma's governor warned not to jump to conclusions before the investigation is complete. The FBI is assisting local police.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: And Nick Valencia joins me now. And Nick, one of the outstanding questions, we had heard so much about being prepared for lone wolf attacks. How is it, given what you found on facebook, that nobody saw this previously and even flagged any kind of authority to the possibility that this man was acting in a very strange way, trying to aggressively convert his coworkers, anything like that. Isn't this what we're supposed to be doing, looking for these kinds of clues?

VALENCIA: Great points, Deb. And I called the FBI earlier today to ask them that if perhaps Alton Nolen was being monitored by the FBI. They still haven't spoken to him, as far as we know. Local police and the federal authorities waiting until he comes out of that sedation. Up until last night, he was in stable condition in the hospital after being shot by that CEO, I mentioned in my piece.

But we do know, Deb, that he has a lengthy criminal history that includes briefly leading police on a manhunt. There was a state trooper who had a run-in in with him four years ago. And she says after she found out what Alton Nolen is accused of, and she wished she would have killed him when she had the chance -- Deb.

FEYERICK: All right. And Nick Valencia, thank you so much.

Coming up, the state trooper who had that physical encounter with Alton Nolen back in 2010 says that in fact she is sorry that she did not kill him. She is going to join us live. That is coming up in the 5:00 hour.

And police are still searching for UVA student, Hannah Graham. The suspect in the case is now back in Virginia. Could he provide any answers? That's next.

But first, Anthony Bourdain getting a taste of China in the season premiere of "PARTS UNKNOWN." It comes your way tomorrow night at 9:00 eastern and you don't have to wait until then to get a preview. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST, PARTS UNKNOWN: Shanghai. Whatever you think of China, whatever you think you think of China, there's no way around it. It's one of the most dynamic, exciting, fast-changing places on earth.

I would like to know a lot about China. I would like to know everything about China. If I've learned anything, it's that it is just not enough time to even be reasonably conversational on the subject.

See, I've already learned something important here. It's just too big, too old, too deep. When you're confronted with this impossibly steep learning curve, that's fun, and the food. Did I mention the food?

What do I know about Chinese food? Really? I know nothing, other than it's really, really tasty. Delicious! And I want more of it. Lots more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: The University of Virginia community is holding out hope that missing college student Hannah Graham might still be found alive. She vanished two weeks ago. Police say Graham was last seen leaving a bar with suspect Jesse Matthew. He was arrested while camping on a beach in Texas. He is now in custody back in Virginia. Matthew's father says that he's shocked.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSE MATTHEW SR., SUSPECT'S FATHER: To kill or hurt somebody, that's not my son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Jean Casarez joins us from Charlottesville, Virginia. And Jean, police had questioned Jesse Matthew before and then they let him go. Have they spoken to him now? Have they had a chance to question what he was doing that night?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's interesting, because it was a week ago today that Jesse Matthew, who is behind me in the regional jail, by the way, on a no bond hold, but a week ago today, he walked into the police department. Why? We don't know. Because he asked for a lawyer. And so they had to get a list for him, and he checked a name, and that attorney came. They spoke, we believe. And then he left. So he never even talked to police.

And then one thing led to another, and he made his way to Galveston, Texas. That's confirmed. And you know, there is an emergency exception. I'm sure you remember this from the Tsarnaev case, where you can ask questions when you have an emergency situation. This is a missing person's case. They want to find Hannah. And so I'm sure they asked him questions, where is she? Is she alive? Where can we find her?

But at this point, what's happening today is it's an all-out search. And there are professional searchers at the command center, going out into the rural areas of this community. And the county is over 740 square miles. That's how large it is. So they're going to the desolate land, they're going to the abandoned homes. Any place that they think she could be. And remember, the charge is abduction, kidnapping, but it has nothing to do with someone who is deceased or a homicide.

FEYERICK: You know, it's so interesting, with all that's going on to try to find her, there's a $100,000 reward for any information. Is he cutting a deal right now? Do you get the sense that one reason that you haven't heard a lot is maybe his lawyer is negotiating on his behalf?

CASAREZ: Well, he hasn't even made his first court appearance yet, that will be next Thursday. And the reason it's that far long is because the court is closed on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. But as this case proceeds, I'm sure his attorney will look at every available avenue, because the point is to find Hannah, the point is to find her soon, and I think we never know what goes on behind closed doors, right? Prosecutors, though, are very intense. But I think the key is going

to be -- or the charges going to be elevated. That's what I'm looking for.

FEYERICK: Absolutely, no question. And clearly everybody desperate to know exactly where Hannah Graham is. And her parents have been so gracious to everybody who has been helping in the search for her.

Jean Casarez, thank you so much. We appreciate it. We'll check in with you a little later on.

CASAREZ: Thanks, Deb.

FEYERICK: And the Russian foreign minister just gave a blistering speech at the United General Assembly, the UNGA, and it was directly aimed at the United States and to President Obama. You are going to hear that straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Welcome back, everyone. We want to bring you up to speed on the international efforts to destroy ISIS.

Right now, the battle against the Sunni extremists is focused near a Kurdish village in Syria close to the Turkish border. Kurdish fighters with the help of coalition airstrikes have been holding the line against an ISIS advance.

About once a minute, U.S. war planes launch from the "USS George H. W. Bush" to bomb ISIS positions. Well, British jets also joined the fight today, providing reconnaissance and gathering intelligence. They were also ready to strike, however they didn't find any targets. But it's still too early to tell what impact the coalition air power is having against ISIS fighters on the ground.

But if Washington hopes that Moscow will back it up in regards to stopping ISIS, this terror group, well, Russia's foreign minister today, he nixed that idea, nixed any kind of cooperation. He made his remarks before the U.N. general assembly. We're going to play that sound for you in just a moment.

But first, we want to bring in CNN's Erin McPike. She is at the White House. And also senior United Nations correspondents, Richard Roth. He is at the U.N.

First to you, Richard. These were especially harsh and pointed words. No secret that they do not support the U.S., that they are supporting Syria, but these were particularly stinging words. What did he say and what was his objective?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: I mean this year, Deb, it seems like a cliche to say, it was like the cold war all over again. But it was a bruising speech filled with sharp, pointed rhetoric, naming the United States or Washington.

Sergey Lavrov, longtime Putin foreign minister, here on his old grounds as a former ambassador, blasting Washington for aggressive military tactics, which he says is not really conforming to international legitimacy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): The western U.S.-led alliance that portrays itself as a champion of democracy, the rule of law and human rights within individual countries, acts from a directly opposite position in the international arena, rejecting the democratic principles of sovereign equality of states and trying to decide for everyone what is good and what is evil.

Washington has openly declared its right to the unilateral use of the military force anywhere to advocate its own interests. Military interference has become a normal. Even despite the dismal outcome of all operations of force that the U.S. has carried out over recent years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: The visiting Russian did not specifically criticize attacks on ISIS. Russia has gone along with diplomatic moves in agreement with the security council against the Islamic extremists. However, he said, from Yugoslavia to Iraq to Libya and elsewhere, Washington has created chaos and instability by its military maneuvers. Also, sharp words of criticism regarding Ukraine involvement -- Deb.

FEYERICK: Interesting, Richard. You know, the U.S. has been very clear that this campaign against ISIS is really an anti-terrorism campaign. Russia does not see it as that. Do they see it as more an ability the to control parts of that region? If that were the case, wouldn't the U.S. want to put boots on the ground?

ROTH: Russia stresses the diplomacy, multilateral forums. Even though it has its own interests in fighting terrorists in its backyard in the caucuses. So a lot of this is rhetoric for back home. But it is also to explain Russian anger as what it's seen as maybe years of U.S. military muscle flexing, as the soviet union disintegrated. And as we know, president Putin trying to restore a little Moscow pride and big muscles on the world stage.

FEYERICK: All right. Richard Roth, thank you.

And Erin, let's go to you at the White House. First of all, what has been their reaction. Are they pleased with how the airstrikes have being carried out and are they saying it's been effective so far?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Deb, CNN's reporting on the ground says that these airstrikes have not made much of a difference yet, and what we're hearing from the Pentagon is that it has destroyed, they have -- these airstrikes have destroyed some ISIS buildings and some vehicles and they have done some damage to an airfield and some command posts.

But not taken anything out. And CNN's Arwa Damon has been in the area and she said it has not broken the siege over Kobani. But a U.S. defense official stresses to us that it's not too little, too late. And of course we heard from defense secretary Chuck Hagel yesterday, that this will take more than just airstrikes. They're also stressing that these are in some civilian areas, so they've had to be careful, Deb.

FEYERICK: All right. Erin McPike there at the White House. Certainly, a lot of coalition building, a lot of firepower. Now everyone's watching to see what kind of an effect, what kind of an impact it has.

Thank you so much. We'll check back with you in just a short while.

And a form of theater, that is how one world leader describes these coalition airstrikes against Iran and Syria. Who said that and why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, as we saw in both Afghanistan and Iraq, air power typically leads to ground forces. But President Obama has said repeatedly that he has no intention of sending American combat troops back into the region to fight ISIS. But at the same time, he and other U.S. officials acknowledge that airstrikes alone, they're simply not going to get the job done.

In an interview with CNN chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, Iran's president dismissed the airstrikes as theater with no real significance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HASSAN ROUHANI, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The Middle East has really the level of terrorism as really skyrocketed. It is relentless and savage and that does not have mercy against women, elders, children, or anyone. So it is a common threat for all of us and this requires unison efforts from all of us.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So you're fine with these strikes inside Syria and inside Iraq, against DAESH (ph), against the Islamic state.

ROUHANI (through translator): You're fully aware yourself that terrorist groups are always on the move, are constantly and highly mobile. They're not an organized army that can be damaged heavily or considerably through aerial bombardments. We need a vast campaign of operations. Two, three, four, a dozen, two, three dozen of aerial bombardments is probably insignificant against their installations and compounds. The aerial bombardments have more the form of a psychological than succeeding. So it's mostly a form of theater rather than a serious battle against terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And joining us to share his experience is the CNN military analyst, colonel Rick Francona and from London, Lina Khatib of the Carnegie Middle East Center.

Lina, we are going to start with you. You recently wrote an op-ed piece on CNN.com stating that airstrikes will not be effective. Why do you believe that?

LINA KHATIB, CARNEGIE MIDDLE EAST CENTER: Airstrikes, as the Iranian president has pointed out, would be effective if you have, for example, an organized army with recognized air bases. But ISIS is an organization that works on the ground and that is deeply embedded in the civil community or the civilian community in Iraq and Syria. So it would be impossible, even with precision bombing, to actually cause significant damage to ISIS.

FEYERICK: So, Colonel, let me go to you. In terms of what we're seeing, do you believe these airstrikes are, in fact, effective?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, it depends on where you are. In Iraq, they've been somewhat effective. Remember what was happening just a few weeks ago. ISIS was rolling up town after town. They were rolling down the too Euphrates valley, rolling down the Tigris valley. They were seizing dams, oil fields, border crossings. They're not doing that anymore.

The air powers, at least, was able to slow that momentum down, almost stop it. And now, we're getting the Iraqi forces on the ground to reengage. So they've been somewhat effective in that thing. Otherwise, they would have been further south of Baghdad by now.

FEYERICK: Do you think, and I'm going to ask you this question as well, Lina. Do you think, in fact, they're just going underground right now? That, in fact, they will resurface, Miss Khatib?

KHATIB: Yes. What has happened is that ISIS anticipated these airstrikes by going underground. They have evacuated whatever bases they had under their control. And they have hidden most of their leaders and their members. So, in a way, we can see that this airstrike is actually part of the ISIS strategy because it wants a defensive war.

FEYERICK: All right, so colonel, I see you not particularly agreeing with that comment. But let me ask you about that. Look, the U.S. was so vocal in projecting and broadcasting what it was going to do. It said it's building a coalition, said we're going to do an airstrike, we're not going to do this by our self, and all of a sudden, ISIS is watching. What's to say that they haven't gone so deep underground that they're simply waiting. That's the insurgent strategy.

FRANCONA: Well, of course. We announced this two weeks before we did anything. And we've talked about this. It's not anything revolutionary. We've been talking about it since the night that the president announced that. We said ISIS is going to disperse. And they've done that. They moved all their things out of their headquarters. But what's left we're hitting, you can't not do anything. What's a solution? Not do airstrikes? You have to take what action you can. Strike the forces you can find. And we were able to help the Kurds retake the Mosul dam. FEYERICK: Correct. So this is a disruption. Do you see this,

however, as a total sort of degradation, which is the objective of the this entire coalition, which is to get rid of ISIS?

FRANCONA: Well, this is the first step. No one has said air power was going to be the magic bullet that was going to solve everything, even Chairman Dempsey yesterday said that this is the air power is part of an overall plan. It needs to be boots on the ground. Everybody knows that. You've got to go in and root these guys out, in any asymmetrical warfare, you have to have troops that are trained to do this. And we're very good at this, but we're not going to do it. He wants other troops to do this. In Iraq, we know that's going to be. It's going to be the Iraqi army, it is going to be the Peshmerga. In Syria --

FEYERICK: It's clear. This is a multi-sided civil war.

FRANCONA: I think this is the weak part in the whole argument. If we're relying on the free Syrian army, the vetted moderates, to be our boots on the ground, I think that might be really problematic down the road.

FEYERICK: Exactly. Lina Khatib, what do you see as the solution -- nobody wants ISIS, it's seen as a global threat at this particular point in time. What is the solution then, if it's not airstrikes?

KHATIB: Airstrikes are very limited in what they can do. What we need to think about is a long-term strategy that goes beyond military action. What I mean is, looking at why people in Syria and Iraq have affiliated themselves with ISIS in the first place. And this means looking at economic grievances, political grievances, and social grievances that have made ISIS attractive to its recruits.

Once you tackle these issues and once you come up with a political transition plan for Syria that looks at who will hold Syria together once ISIS falls, then you begin to think of a truly comprehensive strategy that goes beyond military action. Because ISIS is so embedded within the civilian population, that even free Syrian army troops on the ground are only going to be engaging basically civilians if they do participate in this war. So the solution I'm suggesting is a very long-term one, not a short-term military solution.

FEYERICK: And the question, obviously, that we will get to later on in this hour, is whether, in fact, time is not on the coalition or on the United States' side at this point given the ISIS threat.

OK. Well, 1.4 million, that is how many people down infected by the end of the year if the Ebola outbreak in Africa cannot be contained. What is being done to keep that from happening? The director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases joins me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we move fast, even if imperfectly, then that could mean the difference between 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 deaths versus hundreds of thousands or even a million deaths.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: President Obama at the United Nations this week, urging a rapid global response to the Ebola outbreak in west Africa. It has been nearly a year since the first case was reported. More than 3,000 people have died in at least five countries. But that is nothing compared to what could lie ahead. The disease is spreading so quickly that the CDC warns that Ebola could infect 1.4 million people by next January if left unchecked. That would be the same as every man, woman, and child in the city of Phoenix contracting the disease.

And if you think Ebola is just something happening a half world away, President Obama had this to say to more than 40 world leaders who met yesterday at the White House for a health summit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: No nation can meet these challenges on its own. Nobody's that isolated anymore. Oceans don't protect you, walls don't protect you. And that means all of us as nations and as an international community need to do more to keep our people safe. And a that's why we're here. We have to change our mind-sets and start thinking about biological threats as the security threats that they are, in addition to being humanitarian threats and economic threats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And I want to bring in Dr. Anthony Fauci. He is director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases at NIH in Washington.

Let's get right to it. 1.4 million, the possibility of it spreading to that many people. How is it spreading so rapidly and is it something that can even be contained?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Well, certainly, it can be contained if we put the proper amount of resources of infection control. The reason we've seen this explosive nature of this outbreak in the countries involved is that the health care structure there is much that it's very difficult to effectively identify, isolate, and do contact tracing. And the more people that get infected it sort of compounds in an almost exponential way.

And that is the reason why the president's words just hold so true that we must dramatically escalate our response not only in the United States but many, many countries and organizations because as the president said no one nation and no one organization is going to be able to control this. It has to be a group together working synergistically together. And that is really what we need to do otherwise the numbers of large expansion of cases is something that is a real threat. FEYERICK: And also when you are talking about 1.4 million cases, you

are talking about the nexus that begins to spread out. There is no proof in cur for Ebola. But at least one doctor in the region is trying to use HIV medications as a treatment. It seems that it is working. You have spent so much of your career focused on AIDS and HIV. Is it surprising that these might be working to counter act this disease?

FAUCI: Well, couple of comments on that. First, the medication that the doctor was referring to is one that really has not been shown to work. He is empirically trying it. I can understand why when you are in a desperate situation and you don't have medications you try that.

What we need to do is determine -- and I had actually, hopefully, will be in communication with him to be able to test it in an organized way to see, in fact, if there is some benefit. But medications like that are not going to turn around this epidemic. What is going to turn it around is a marked acceleration of infection control response. That is the important thing. And that is what the president was referring to.

FEYERICK: What about advances in the medication that was used to treat those Americans who came back to the United States? What is the status of that? Why not try that to try to at least cure people who are there?

FAUCI: Well, it will be tried. That's the medication you are referring to is a medication called z map, made by map Popeye pharmaceutical . And there are no essentially no doses left. There was very little amount. They would distribute it to seven people. It has not been tested in a way to really definitively determine if it is effective, if it is safe or even paradoxically if it might do harm.

So as soon as more doses become available which will likely not be for a month and a half to two months then we have in an orderly fashion tested to make sure that, in fact, it does work. And if it does certainly get it to as many people as we possibly can.

FEYERICK: But if I hear you correctly, Doctor, it sounds like what you are saying is that curing this is not the immediate option. Containing it is, correct?

FAUCI: Absolutely, correct. That is precisely the issue and that is exactly what the president was talking about when he was addressing the U.N. as well as the many countries just yesterday.

FEYERICK: OK, Dr. Fauci, thank you so much. We appreciate your time on this.

FAUCI: You are welcome.

FEYERICK: And just in to CNN, George Clooney no longer America's most eligible bachelor. He has found happiness tying the knot just moments ago. A live report from his wedding straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) FEYERICK: Time now to meet this week's CNN hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIDGET CUTLER, CNN HERO: I love being a mom. It is the most rewarding thing I've ever experienced. On the flipside, the financial burden of having a child is just tremendous. So many people have such an abundance and so many other strive to afford even the basics.

All right, who wants to water?

I remember reading an article, and it was about a mother who decided to give her child up for adoption because she couldn't stand to hear her crying from hunger. I just thought that no mother should be faced with that choice. That was when I decided that I need to do something.

I started to collect excess baby gear. And that was when Moms Helping Moms was born.

Boys' clothes are to the right, girls' clothes to the left.

We have drives at our storage space. We like to call them shopping space because they are essentially shopping. They are just not paying anything for it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is really cool. I've been out of work about 10 months. New clothes, diaper and wipes. They are a constant expense.

CUTLER: These are great. Just take one more.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was hard to afford the things that I needed for my kids without an income. Thank God.

The things I got today will allow me to put that money towards rent or my bills.

CUTLER: Every child deserves a fair start. And if what we are doing helps bridge the gap between people from different backgrounds even in a small way it is definitely worth all the hard work.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: So what is that sound? I think it is hearts breaking all over after years of the world's most eligible bachelors, George Clooney, tied the knot.

CNN's Erin McLaughlin joins me now live from Venice. And Erin, so what are you hearing?

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. George Clooney's publicist confirming to CNN that he is a married man. The marriage took place in a private ceremony at a lavish seven-star hotel here in Venice along the Grand Canal. And I have to tell you these wedding celebrations have been incredible. Hollywood could not have scripted or cast them any better. Matt Damon, Bono, Emily Blunt, Vogue's Anna Wintour, have all been seen on high speed boats (INAUDIBLE) around the canals of Venice. And it is a four-day reportedly, a four-day event that's began on Friday (INAUDIBLE) today, George Clooney whisked away to his favorite hotel last night. His and her bachelor and bachelorette party and private wedding ceremony set tonight. Deb.

FEYERICK: All right. Incredible. And you know, I have to give George Clooney a lot of credit. He makes himself accessible enough so that people can get the picture and then he has a private ceremony. Well, they certainly look beautiful. They certainly look happy. Erin McLaughlin for us there in Venice. We're seeing pictures of Anna Wintour. We're seeing pictures of all the celebs who got that invitation. Well, anyway, we wish them well and we wish them good luck. You are in the "CNN Newsroom."