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NEW DAY

World Leaders Meet in Paris to Build Coalition Against ISIS; Does U.S. Need Troops on the Ground?; Ray Rice Expected to Appeal Suspension; Two More NFL Players Received Disciplinary Action Sunday

Aired September 15, 2014 - 06:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now -- world leaders meeting in Paris, building a coalition to take on ISIS. Even Arab countries now signing on for military action. This as another Western hostage killed over the weekend. We're tracking all the developments.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking new details -- Ray Rice reportedly set to appeal his suspension as star running back Adrian Peterson misses Sunday's game after being charged with child abuse. Now banners calling for Roger Goodell to go are flying over stadiums. We are live with the latest.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: She's back! Hillary Clinton makes a return trip to Iowa, the state that derailed her presidential campaign six years ago. With Bill by her side, did she win over the Hawkeye state this time?

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY starts right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michaela Pereira.

CUOMO: Good morning AND welcome to NEW DAY. it is Monday, September 15, 6:00 in the East. And right now Secretary John Kerry is in Paris along with his counterparts from Iraq and ten other Arab states, as well as the U.K., which is now uniquely motivated to fight after British aid worker David Haines was beheaded this weekend.

Now the outrage is obvious. Who will fight and how this attack on ISIS will go is not as clear. So far, Kerry says he does have some 40 nations pledging to help. The big question i, how will they help? And what will the U.S. have to give to get others to fight?

We have complete coverage starting with senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta. We were moving really fast here. Time to slow down and figure out how this is going to work, correct?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think that's right, Chris. And Secretary of State John Kerry, as you mentioned, is in Paris for this key meeting on how to deal with the ISIS threat as the Obama administration is making the bold claim that Arab countries are now prepared to conduct airstrikes on the terror group.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): The violent rise of ISIS is terrifying governments across the Middle East to the point that Secretary of State John Kerry says countries in the region are willing to step up with airstrikes.

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: We have countries in this region, countries outside of this region, in addition the United States, all of whom are prepared to engage if military assistance, in actual strikes, if that is what it requires.

ACOSTA: The Obama administration is so far unwilling to name those Arab partners. But as one senior State Department official put it, I don't want to leave you with the impression that these Arab members haven't offered to do air strikes, because several of them have.

That show of support comes as ISIS is threatening to kill more hostages after a third westerner, British aid worker, David Haines, was beheaded over the weekend.

MICHAEL HAINES, BROTHER OF DAVID HAINES: We hoped, we prayed in our way. Unfortunately, it was not in our hands. It was not in the hand of the government. It was in the hands of terrorists.

ACOSTA: British officials think Prime Minister David Cameron now knows the identity of the beheader.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: He's a part of a group sometimes referred to as the Beatles. That was a name their captives gave him. And he is one of, you know, 500 Brits who have gone to Syria to fight.

ACOSTA: Cameron says it's up to a global coalition to destroy ISIS.

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Islam is a religion of peace. They are not Muslims; they are monsters.

ACOSTA: A growing number of critics in Congress are questioning whether President Obama can defeat ISIS without putting U.S. combat troops on the ground. The White House says that job will go to Iraqi security forces and soon-to-be-trained Syrian rebels.

DENIS MCDONOUGH, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: What's most important here is that the Syrian opposition on the ground fighting ISIL can count on American and coalition air power to supercharge their effort.

ACOSTA: That's not enough for South Carolina GOP Senator Lindsey Graham.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: This is a turning in the war on terror. Our strategy will fail yet again. This president needs to rice to the occasion before we all get killed here back here at home.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ACOSTA (on camera): And this is a critical week for President Obama in facing the ISIS threat. H iss set to meet with the man he's tapped to lead the ISIS fight, Retired General John Allen, here at the White House tomorrow. And then it's off to Tampa on Tuesday for the president. He's meeting with top commanders at the Central Command in Tampa on Wednesday. They'll give him a briefing on what's being done right now to deal with the ISIS threat. Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Jim, thank you very much. This is the week to stay tuned to this. That's for sure. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And on to this very topic, let's turn to Paris now where 30 countries are meeting as we speak, working out just how to take on ISIS. Secretary of State John Kerry is in closed door meetings at this hour trying to build the coalition against the terror group.

Let's get right to Fred Pleitgen who's live at the international conference in Paris. Fred, what are we hearing, if anything, coming from those closed door meetings? Any sign that an announcement's going to be coming from the Secretary?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDNET: Well, we are expecting that there is going to be some announcement later today. What the French president, who's hosting this conference, has said, Kate, is that he believes that we're going to hear today is the specifics of what countries are willing to do as part of this coalition against ISIS. He says some of them are going to provide aid in stopping financing for ISIS. Others are going to provide humanitarian aid for the hundreds of thousands of refugees in Iraq and Syria. And, finally, some of these countries will be a part of a broader military coalition.

We've already talked about the fact that the Arab participation in this is very, very important, especially Sunni-led countries, Sunni- majority countries, simply because the area that we are talking about there in Iraq and Syria is one with a Sunni majority. So that's going to be very important.

The French today have announced that they are already conducting reconnaissance missions over Iraq. They joined the Brits in doing that. Both those countries, however, are still reluctant to provide airstrikes.

This isn't a very long conference; it only goes on for a couple of hours, but those hosting it say they hope that, by the end of this day, they will have commitments from all the countries that want to be a part of this coalition. So we are looking forward -- we're going to wait and see what we're going to hear from the Secretary of State just to see if there is more specifics about who is going to do what as part of this coalition. Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, Fred Pleitgen, watching it for us in Paris. Fred, thanks so much. Chris.

CUOMO: All right, it is easy to identify the bad guys. It is easy to want to fight them. The question is how do you get done?

Let's bring in CNN military analyst and retired Major General James "Spider" Marks. General, thank you very much. A full disclosure. You have been helping me understand the need to slow down and start asking questions about this situation from the beginning.

Let's start with the emotional pull. When we see someone having their head cut off, that sends an alarm that there is urgency. Now, we see it with this poor British man, this aid worker. He had no role as a combatant, yet he is killed, the third recently. However, in your experience, whether it's ISIS or ugly people by any other name, what is the reality to what happens to the captives?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, truly what you're seeing is the worst, the horrible outcome that can occur when you're dealing with an organization like ISIS. Captives know that there is an inevitable -- there could be an inevitable outcome that's going to be what we have seen.

The result of inactivity and the fact that we don't really -- have not really gotten ourselves totally engaged and wired and dialed in, in terms of how we're going to handle this threat, resulted in activities and these horrible kind of unspoken type of results that we see with the beheadings.

But clearly the key issue here is that, when we have non-combatants that are that close to the front lines, doing god's work in many cases, aid workers, embedded media trying to tell a story that needs to be told, there are inevitable risks. We know that and we see the terrible downside of those types of activities.

CUOMO: We're setting this up, though, as the motivation to go after them. When I say we, I mean the international community. You say, no, it's not. Because the reality is the beheadings probably won't stop. You probably can't stop them. Even if you catch this fool with the black mask on in the night, someone will just replace him. That's not the right basis for action, is it? As horrible as it is.

MARKS: Chris, exactly correct. We can't allow ISIS to set the tone of this engagement. But they have. They clearly have the momentum. We are now responding because of these horrific events that we see, when clearly the larger issue, as horrible as these personal tragedies are, the larger issue is this is an organization that has funding. It has structure. It has leadership. It has motive. And it is abhorrent to anything that we have ever seen before.

Because of all of the above, our strategy must be very broad, very fulsome. And it has to be able go after ISIS wherever it exists, and organizations like this. It will metastasize and grow into some other type of terrorist organization. But where there is ungoverned space, we have to be able to keep an eye on it and be able to apply pressure so this doesn't occur again.

CUOMO: Help us understand this, though, Spider, because there's not a lot of debate going on about this right now. You got these Congressmen and women -- they're carping a lot about it, but they don't want to come together and debate it and vote and come up with their own plan. And we know what that's about.

But we keep saying that, oh, this is a real risk. We have to get after them. No one really says convincingly that ISIS is a threat to the U.S. here at home and the people who it is a direct threat to don't seem to be jumping up and fighting. Why?

MARKS: Well, I think the neighborhood where ISIS exists has created so much terror, so much concern, that those that exist in that neighborhood don't want to poke that snake too greatly. They're petrified of it but they are afraid to reach out and grab it. When with you see a thistle , you got to grasp it firmly if you're going to eliminate it. That has not happened. They live in the neighborhood. They're concerned that this thing will grow if they poke at it.

It's counterintuitive. If you don't do something able to, it will, inevitably, grow. So the neighbors are very petrified of trying to get involved. They're trying to accommodate. They're trying to figure out some way other than to antagonize ISIS any more than they are. The only way to go after it is to uproot this thing and it has to be uprooted. You have to include ground forces in order to uproot this thing where it exists in Syria and where it will move.

CUOMO: Right.

MARKS: Air power is necessary, but it's not sufficient.

CUOMO: Here's my issue, Spider, and I think a growing number of Americans are starting to feel this way. I look different today. I have a lot more gray hair and I probably have less hair overall. I had this exact same discussion in 2003 where we knew where the bad guy was. We had to go get him. We do it mostly from the air. The whole region was on our side.

And then what wound up happening was our intel wasn't great. This time we have better intel; these are really bad guys. But the coalition fell away; it was mostly U.S. boots, blood and treasures, as you know too well, having been involved there. How do you stop the situation from going that way? Do you call on members of Congress to actually get in there, stop using their mouths, and actually just debate the issue and vote so we have a real plan? Or are we looking at a repeat?

MARKS: Yes, unfortunately, Chris, we could be going down the same path. We could be looking at a repeat if we're not careful.

Clearly, Congress has a lead role and clearly the administration must be able to cooperate. Congress can go forward. Its constitutional duty is to go forward and to say this is what we think we need to do. What we have done, historically, is the commander-in-chief states what his options are and Congress will vote on it one way or another.

What we need to be able to have, the President of the United States has stated his strategy. We need to be able to get behind that strategy, and we can adjust the strategy and make it more fulsome, not chip away at it. And that takes good, tough work. I think the appointment of John Allen to be really the State Department's emissary -- let's not be confused here. Lloyd Austin, the commander at Central Command, will continue command, be the combatant commander on the ground. He will have the ability and he'll be given the flexibility to exert power appropriately. John Allen's role, I think, will be to work for Secretary Kerry to ensure he can continue to work the neighbors in the region and get them to commit as best they can.

But let's not fool ourselves. If there isn't a commitment of forces to go on the ground in some form -- and it doesn't necessarily have to be U.S., but the U.S. has the lead. You've got to do what I do, not do what I say. So the U.S. has the lead; others will get behind it. Very tough call right now.

CUOMO: Very tough to get people to commit boots on the ground when they know the U.S. brothers and sisters won't be standing next to them. You know that as well, Spider. And we also know, we're talking about the easy part. You go in there and you clean house and you put a beatdown on these guys, but then what? How do you stop it from metastasizing, as you said. How do you stop them from coming back? How do you deal with the culture of extremism? How do you deal with the governments in that region being too weak to sustain peace of their own people?

Those are big questions. People want to avoid them because they're too differently. But not you. General Spider Marks, thank you for giving us your perspective. I'm going to lean on you heavy on this one. Good to have you on this Monday.

MARKS: Thanks, Chris.

CUOMO: Lots of news this morning. Let's get you right to Mick for that.

PEREIRA: All right, good morning, everyone. Here is a look alt your headlines.

Just into CNN, as Secretary of State John Kerry strategizes against ISIS with international partners overseas, Attorney General Eric Holder is sending a message the morning about a new program to fight violent extremism at home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: These programs will bring together community representatives, public safety officials, religious leaders, and United States attorneys, to improve local engagement, to counter violent extremism, and ultimately to build a broad network of community partnerships to keep our nation safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: As for U.S. military men and women, there are no plans to put troops on the ground to fight ISIS outside of local Iraqi forces and Syrian rebel groups.

Right now, American troops are in Ukraine for U.S.-led military exercises. Over a thousand troops from 15 countries are taking part in Exercise Rapid Trident to promote cooperation among NATO and partner nations. These exercises come as fighting escalates in Eastern Ukraine despite a fragile cease-fire.

President President Obama is planning a major U.S. effort to fight the African Ebola outbreak. The president will outline his plan in a visit to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta tomorrow. The administration is asking Congress to approve a request for $88 million to fight the virus. The World Health Organization says now at least 2,400 people have died in the outbreak.

Those are your headlines, guys.

BOLDUAN: Those numbers just keep rising. Thank you so much.

The problems just keep piling up for that National Football League. Three players suspended or sidelined for domestic abuse charges and the commissioner continues to be under fire. A look at how the NFL is managing the crisis and what it should be doing next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Some new developments for you.

The NFL policy has now six games for the first time a player commits an act of domestic violence. That's the suspension. So, why is Ray Rice suspended indefinitely? He doesn't get it. So, he's fighting to be reinstated.

Rice and his wife showed up at a high school game in his hometown this weekend. He is expected to appeal the suspension he received for knocking her out before they were married.

Now, meanwhile, two other NFL stars, the Vikings Adrian Peterson and the Panthers Greg Hardy, they were forced to sit out Sunday due to other violent incidents.

Peterson for beating his four-year-old son with a switch, also known as a stick. And Hardy for domestic violence.

CNN's Nischelle Turner is following the developments and joins us now. One thing is for sure, the game is not the headlines this Monday.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Certainly are not this Monday morning, Chris. This list just seems to keep growing.

NFL fans are used to playing Monday morning quarterback, and lamenting over what happened with their favorite players on the field. But once again this week, fans are playing for legal analysts and lamenting about what happened outside the lines. And football is America's favorite sports, but once again, a handful of players and also the commissioner himself are making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TURNER (voice-over): Multiple reports this morning saying Ray Rice is expected to appeal his indefinite suspension from the NFL, after a video surfaced of him punching his then fiancee unconscious in an Atlantic City casino elevator. Both ESPN and profootballtalk.com cite sources saying he'll file the appeal.

However, the players association tells CNN that an appeal decision has not been made, saying, quote, "We don't know if or when our filing will come."

This weekend, Rice was spotted on the sidelines of his high school football game, his wife Janay by his side. It's the first time they have been to a public event since the video of the attack surfaced.

Two other NFL players also seen disciplinary action on Sunday. Adrian Peterson, star running back for the Minnesota Vikings deactivated, after he was indicted on felony child abuse charges for whipping his 4-year-old son repeatedly with a switch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously, parents are entitled to discipline their children as they see fit, expect when that discipline exceeds what the community would say is reasonable.

TURNER: His attorney says Peterson never intended to harm his son, saying Adrian is a loving father who used his judgment as a parent to discipline his son.

ESPN's Chris Carter in an emotional pre-game rant says the Vikings did the right thing.

CHRIS CARTER, ESPN: You can't beat a kid to make them do what they want to do.

We are in a climate right now, I don't care what it is. Take them off the dang field, because you know what, as a man, that's the only thing we really respect.

We don't respect no women. We don't respect no kid. The only thing, Roger, take them off the field, because they respect that.

TURNER: Some fans came out if support, wearing Peterson jerseys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know what? It's a personal life. I only care about what he does on the field. It's all I care about.

TURNER: This Vikings fan supported her jersey, along with as switch to the game.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He didn't do anything bad. He just disciplined his kid in a way that most people don't even know what a switch is.

TURNER: Also absent from the field Sunday, Carolina's Panther defensive end Greg Hardy, who was found guilty in July by a judge, beating up and threatening to kill his girlfriend. He is now appealing that ruling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A decision was made, we believe this was in the best interest of the Carolina Panthers, this is a difficult situation that the leg is dealing with right now. Teams are dealing with this. We are doing the best we can.

TURNER: A troubling time for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell as calls for him to resign grow louder. Banners reading "Goodell must go" flying over several stadiums on Sunday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TURNER: Now, according to player's association, Ray Rice still has a couple days to decide whether to appeal his suspension. Now, on the facts, it would look like he has a good case for appeal. But in the court of public opinion, it could be a no-win situation for him.

You know, whether it's Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Greg Hardy, Ray McDonald, or Roger Goodell's woes, one thing the NFL cannot deny this morning is that they have a bona fide PR problem -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: That's exactly right. But what does that mean in the long run? That's the big question really.

Nischelle, thank you so much.

Let's bring in, let's continue the discussion with Kavitha Davidson, sports columnist at "Bloomberg View", and former NFL player, Don McPherson.

Good morning, guys. Remember, we were talking about Michelle's piece, because you see both sides of it. You see all of it summed up in one fan's responsive of, it's their personal life. They need to be dealing with it on their own, he is wearing the jersey of Adrian Peterson.

I mean, it really kind of sums up -- I don't know, do we call it a conundrum? Do we call it -- I don't even know what to call it. It's more than a PR problem, it's a societal problem, Don.

DON MCPHERSON, FORMER NFL PLAYER: It is a societal problem and we want these guys to be warriors on the field. We want them to do those things on Sunday afternoon, and we really don't care who they are off the field. And that's a big problem.

BOLDUAN: That's not OK, right?

MCPHERSON: No, it's not.

BOLDUAN: Right, but it's reality.

MCPHERSON: That's a reality. When I say we don't care, I really don't think, even if you go back to the college level, we don't care these guys get educated, we don't care that they leave college with a degree that allows them to further their lives. We want them to play ball on Saturday and Sundays, and entertain us and that's it.

BOLDUAN: And that's it.

Kavitha, so what do you make of Ray Rice appealing the suspension? What does it mean? What do you think it's going to mean in the long run? What do we make of it?

KAVITHA DAVIDSON, SPORTS COLUMNIST, BLOOMBERG VIEW: I think we had to do this, he and especially the players union had to do because they are afraid of the precedent that it sets. Goodell comes out and say, six games for a first offense, and a lifetime with a possibly to re- apply for reinstatement after two years and that completely flies in the face of everything he has been saying in the last month or that we've been dealing with this.

So, it does sets a dangerous precedent when it comes to disciplining players and collective bargaining and all that. So, the union had the responsibility to appeal this. In the long run, I can't imagine if he gets reinstated, any team wanting to touch him. I can't imagine them wanting to deal with this. But at the end of -- you know --

MCPHERSON: Michael Vick went to federal penitentiary on --

BOLDUAN: I was a part of that media scrum outside that federal courthouse when everyone said there is no way the guy is coming back. There is absolutely no way. And now --

DAVIDSON: Team owners keep finding new ways to find us for the worse --

BOLDUAN: That's true.

So, let's take Sunday just as an example. You got Ray Rice off the field. You got two other players off the field. You got other players still playing the game. Is the NFL playing catch up here? Because some of these charges are back from July, number one. It seems so haphazard and how this is being applied and what the penalty is being applied by the league? Is the league completely mishandling it or just kind of blindsided by the media storm?

MCPHERSON: I think the league has a problem that they can't control the players. Part of what roger was trying to do in that meeting back in June, it was trying to smooth thing over. It was trying to control the situation and get it wrong.

And you can't control water going on in the league right now. You can't control what's still out there. So they have a real problem.

BOLDUAN: You can control how you react to it, though. You are the league. You are the commissioner. You can't control your players. You can control how you punish them.

MCPHERSON: You can control, not entirely, because as you see, there are players still on the field. There is a legal process that needs to take place and there is a players association, who's going to protect the right of the players to due process.

So he can't control everything. He tried to and that's what got him in trouble with Ray Rice.

DAVIDSON: Also what Chris Carter was saying, there is nothing these players will respond to, that's the only discipline that seems to actually have any effect.

BOLDUAN: What do you make of the fan reaction then? I mean, you got women showing up wearing Ray Rice's jerseys and banners flying over the stadium saying Goodell must go.

Are fans -- is there going to be a tipping point where fans say enough is enough? Or do you think it just goes away quietly as time passes?

DAVIDSON: I don't actually think that would be the answer, frankly. Katie Nolan on FOX Sports had a really great point saying that the fans that would go away would be the critical thinkers that we really need to remain in this game, to actually keep things in perspective.

It is really infuriating to see a lot of these fans coming out especially --

BOLDUAN: But money seems to be the only thing that talks with these team owners.

MCPHERSON: It isn't. At some point, it's going to impact the sponsors, and it's going to impact some of those dollars. I think there is going to be some movement. I think the best thing to happen, I don't think Roger Goodell should lose his job. I think he should be held in place and held accountable. And I think that's the process I believe is best for everyone.

The NFL is not a domestic violence prevention organization. What they need to do is start working with domestic violence individuals who can help educate the league, help put a positive outcome to this problem.

The problem is bigger than just domestic violence. It is cultural of guys coming into the league who are not ready to handle this public presence. And a lot of that behavior now is being scrutinized like never before.

BOLDUAN: That's absolutely right and we're watching it play out in real time. But this cannot go. The discussion has to continue and it won't go.

Don, Kavitha, it's great to see you, guys. Thanks, so much.

The U.S. is building on coalition to take on ISIS right now at a conference in Paris. But will other countries contribute enough to get the job done. A former NATO commander joins us live.

And political intrigue was the main course as the annual stake fry in Iowa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Hello, Iowa! I'm back!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That's one way to put it. Did Hillary Clinton drop another hint of 2016 and then dial it back --

on her first trip back to the state since the 2008 campaign. We all know how that turned out. That's ahead.

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