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CNN NEWSROOM

Pentagon Plans Ebola Strike Force; Interview with Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii; Search for Hannah Graham Called Off; Pentagon Plans Ebola Strike Force; Nigerian Schoolgirls Set to be Released; Kurds Near Kobani Afraid of Entering Turkey; Pumpkin Festival Takes Wicked Turn

Aired October 19, 2014 - 18:00   ET

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


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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Sciutto in New York.

There is word this hour that the U.S. military is mobilizing to join America's fight against Ebola. A Defense Department official tells CNN that the Pentagon is forming a 30-person quick strike team to treat Ebola patients anywhere inside the United States on very short notice. We're told the group will include five doctors, 20 nurses and five trainers who specialize in the use of protective equipment used by medical personnel, both putting it on and removing it crucially. The team will train to deploy within 72 hours when ordered over this coming month.

This word comes as a cruise ship returned to a Texas port with a passenger linked to the only Ebola patient in the U.S. to die from the disease. That passenger had self-quarantined on the ship but she's now tested negative for Ebola.

And there is positive news from Spain as well. A nurse's aide who had contracted Ebola after caring for a patient for the disease there is now declared free of the virus. She's expected to remain hospitalized for a few more days to complete her recovery.

Meantime, in Ohio, the number of people being monitored for Ebola has climbed to 153 according to the state's emergency operations center. This is the group of people who came in contact with the infected Dallas nurse Amber Vinson. Three people in Ohio are currently under quarantine.

Want to head to Dallas now and get an update on the number of people there still being monitored for Ebola. CNN correspondent Alina Machado is standing by now.

Alina, this is a key 24-hour period because some of those people who came into contact with Duncan are about to clear that 21-day milestone. What are you hearing?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jim. But there are also still many people who will continue to be

monitored. It is our understanding that there are three separate groups of people who are being monitored right now. This is according to Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings.

The group that still has the longest to go is a group of undisclosed people. We don't know how many people are in this group. These are people who had direct contact with one of the two nurses, Nina Pham or Amber Vinson. There's also a group of 75 people whose 21-day monitoring period started the day Thomas Eric Duncan died.

So, that would be -- that started October 8th. They're monitoring period will likely go through around October 29th, and then there's the 48 people whose monitoring period expires by midnight tonight.

Among those people is Louise Troh. She is Thomas Eric Duncan's fiancee. Listen to what a pastor at her church told us today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. MARK WINGFIELD, ASSOCIATE PASTOR, WILSHIRE BAPTIST CHURCH: They feel like this is a tremendous miracle that's happened because they have not come down to be symptomatic, given the close exposure they had early on. And this is a long awaited day of celebration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACHADO: Now, this is a bittersweet day for this woman. Bittersweet because, again, she's very thankful that she is OK, but she's also grieving and mourning the loss of her fiance. By the way, she will not be returning to the apartment where Duncan became sick. We're told that several people in this community have gotten together to make sure that she has place to stay because her lease at that apartment was up -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, Alina, we reported earlier on the return of that cruise ship to Galveston earlier today. There was a passenger onboard who treated a specimen from Thomas Eric Duncan, self-quarantined now, tested negative. So, the risk there has been ruled out?

MACHADO: Correct. It is our understanding that she is among the 48 people who will be cleared by midnight tonight if she hasn't already been cleared today. But, yes, there were some blood tests that were connected by the state. It's also worth noting that even though she isolated herself during this cruise, she never experienced any symptoms indicating a problem with the infection.

SCIUTTO: Better safe than sorry in that case.

Thanks very much, Alina Machado, live in Dallas.

Well, 48 people in Dallas will complete that 21-day observation period exactly at midnight tonight, but not everyone believes that 21 days is long enough to make sure that the danger has passed.

Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii joins me now. Thanks very much for taking time out of your Sunday.

REP. TULSI GABBARD (D), HAWAII: Thanks, Jim. Aloha.

SCIUTTO: So, I know that you just issued a statement today calling for the CDC to increase the quarantine period for people that have been exposed, in fact, doubling it from 21 to 42 days. Why do you think 21 days is not long enough?

GABBARD: Well, Jim, it's a very simple fact. Our number one priority needs to be making sure that we don't allow further infections of Ebola to happen here in the United States both by those here who have been in contact with those who have been infected with Ebola, but also for those who still have open passage to come here to the United States from these West African countries who could also have had contact with Ebola patients.

Let's look at how the CDC has been handling this entire situation. It's been mishandled. There's been outdated standards have been used for everything from the personal protective equipment, for our healthcare providers, and also to this 21-day incubation period that CDC has put out and people are following.

We've got to look at the World Health Organization standard, which is 42 days, which is based on more recent scientific data and research to allow as close to 100 percent assurance and err on that side of caution, to make sure that those who either have been in contact, who've been suspected to be in contact, someone infected with Ebola are then not putting others in danger and risking, infecting others, and allowing this to grow and spread.

SCIUTTO: So, to be clear for our viewers, you're saying that there's medical evidence that for some cases -- and this is a disease that's been studied since 1976. So, there should be data out there. That it could present after that 21-day period?

GABBARD: There is scientific data out there looking at case studies over years and looking to the most recent situations that we've seen and the 21-day incubation period that these studies show do not -- it's not 100 percent coverage that shows that people do not get sick after that incubation period. There are studies that show that people are getting sick after that 21-day incubation period, which is why we need to follow the World Health Organization standard that they have in place which is a 42-day period.

SCIUTTO: So, you have two problems here really. You have the problem when you have a case in the States as we have had new three cases, what do you do with those contacts and how long to keep them controlled so it doesn't go forward, but then also, you have the possibility of new cases coming in.

What is your position on a travel ban preventing anyone from coming from the countries that have been most threatened with this disease in West Africa from coming to the U.S. Do you think that's necessary and justified? GABBARD: I think it's important that we do institute a travel ban for

people coming from these countries. We can come at this from a couple different directions. We can institute a 42-day incubation period before they're allowed to set foot here in our country, so we can be assured that they're not carrying the infection with them here to the United States or we cannot issue visas to people coming from those countries temporarily, until we get a handle on what's happening here with preparedness and readiness here at the United States.

It's in our best interest for the people of the United States but also to be able to help and provide assistance to these West African countries, to make sure that we are not having to deal with a larger outbreak here at home on our soil.

We've got some inconsistencies that I think absolutely need to be addressed. Right now, for example, we have American soldiers, healthcare workers for example, who may or may not have contact with people, and the work they're doing in West Africa, going through what is currently a 21-day incubation period and yet we have citizens from these West African countries who can get on a plane and fly here to the United States, and maybe they get their temperature taken and they say I haven't been in contact with anyone.

But we have no assurance of whether or not they're telling the truth first of all, or whether or not their temperature may be fine but they may be incubating this illness and they're giving free passage to jump on a bus, jump on the plane and travel anywhere in the United States which shows the difference in standards, and I think this is what is causing great confusion and frustration and anger on the part of the American people that we're not focusing our efforts enough on preventing further infections here at home, which is exactly where we should be focused.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this because you have these 48 people in Dallas who are about to pass that 21-day window -- in fact, at midnight tonight. Is it your view that if they are cleared and free to go home and travel and work, et cetera, after midnight tonight that that's too early?

GABBARD: I think it is too early. I think if we're looking at what is the possibility of someone falling sick after that 21-day period and within that 42-day period that the World Health Organization has set in which they are enforcing around the world, I think it is irresponsible for us to put the American people at that risk when we have this data and we have this information. It's more important for us to err on the side of caution, to make sure that we don't allow this possibility of further infections to continue across our country.

SCIUTTO: Congresswoman Gabbard from Hawaii, aloha. Thank you for joining us this Sunday.

GABBARD: Thanks, Jim. Aloha.

SCIUTTO: Well, with all this talk about the deadly Ebola virus, we know people at home are worried and still have a lot of questions. So, we're going to ask our experts for their answers next and do their best to get you the information you need.

Please stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BEAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. I'm Jim Sciutto in New York.

The Ebola virus, it is at the top of the minds for countless Americans. But are the fears over the virus scarier than the virus itself?

I want to bring up my panel of experts. We have Dr. Celine Gounder. She's infectious disease and public health specialist. As well as Michael Daly, he's a special correspondent for "The Daily Beast".

Dr. Gounder, we just had Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard on from Hawaii. She has suggested that the period, the quarantine period be expanded from 21 days to 42 days for people who have been exposed to folks with Ebola based on WHO recommendations.

Do you think that's a reasonable step? That would be a big step from three weeks to six weeks.

DR. CELINE GOUNDER, INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND PUBLIC HEALTH SPECIALIST: Yes. So, there's a study that came out recently looking at how long should we calculate the incubation period for Ebola to be. Based on previous outbreaks in Africa, we've seen 21 days is really the longest that we've seen. However, these are still estimates based on relatively small number of people.

This is a much larger outbreak we're dealing with right now. And there's always the outside chance, you know, when you're deal with statistics of the very rare event, the outlier, that might be outside of 21 days.

SCIUTTO: And does that mean -- this disease has been around since, what, 1976. Does that mean there have been cases where people have developed the disease after 21 days, or that they might be and they might be just allowing for that possibility?

GOUNDER: We have not seen it. They're essentially allowing for that possibility. The way I would think about it is, if you draw a bell curve, where are you going to draw the line, chop off the tail, and how much are you comfortable in terms of lack of knowledge, you know, some small tiny possibility of somebody having longer than 21-day incubation period.

SCIUTTO: That's a pretty big step to take if we haven't seen it yet. I mean, anything is conceivable. But if you had cases where someone presented after 21 days, and they would say, you know, it sounds reasonable. If you never had that case, that seems beyond the curve, does it not? Or is this normal in response to serious diseases like this?

GOUNDER: Well, I think this is another example of abundance of caution approach that's being taken with this. Normally, with most infectious diseases, we really wouldn't be quite so conservative and I think the reason this is being proposed and considered is because Ebola is such a severe infection.

SCIUTTO: That's the exactly the space we're in.

And, Michael, you and I were talking about this in a conversation that got somewhat heated when we talk about steps in response to that that fall into that category in an abundance of caution. So, let's talk about the step the government took today to step up a quick strike team from the Pentagon composed of soldiers to respond to cases in the U.S.

Do you think that's a reasonable step and are there things that military health specialist are capable of doing it that public health specialists are not?

MICHAEL DALY, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, THE DAILY BEAST: I mean, if it can help, why not? I don't think they're going in and take over hospitals. I think what they're going to do is they're going to bring expertise and they're also going to bring a checklist if you do this and you do this and you do this and you do this, and kind of bring standard precautions to places.

I think one of the problems they had in Texas, is they really didn't know what they were doing in the first couple days. Apparently, they just didn't.

SCIUTTO: And that was despite a lot of public proclamations from national health officials that our hospitals were so much better prepared than the ones in West Africa and while they certainly have resources, things fell through the cracks. Let's talk about this period that's going to come to an end tonight at midnight tonight, 21 days. We talked about that a little bit.

But for those contacts, initial contacts with Thomas Eric Duncan, they're going to pass that window, which is a key window and encouraging window. How encouraging is that? If we pass that point, does it begin to give the indication that we're getting this under control?

GOUNDER: Absolutely. To me it's a relief that we haven't seen any further cases among those initial contacts. Remember, this is a disease of caregivers and healthcare workers. So, caregivers in the sense of family, especially spouses who tends to be the ones immediately caring for a loved one and healthcare workers who are exposed to tremendous amount of infected body fluids and the fact that none of the immediate family in particular has come down with symptoms to me is tremendously reassuring.

SCIUTTO: Michael, if we can get a little bit at this question of easing the fear outpacing the actual threat of this disease, I'm just going to mention a tweet I got because I sent this out to our viewers and asked them to tweet back to me. And here's one from lee who says the fear of Ebola in the U.S. is definitely outweighing the reality. It's a horrible disease but in third-world countries in West Africa.

Is that accurate to say even though we had it jump the ocean, though only in a few cases?

DALY: We have had it here. These are people who were living with this guy for a period of time and they didn't get sick. So, I think there's a period in that there's a stage in that disease where the person is this huge virus factory where there's all kinds of infected fluids and all that, and that's really a hazardous time.

I think as long as people get to the hospital before that stage, when they're just have -- you know, their temperatures up a bit and then you have a good chance of containing it. The doctor would know better than me. But it seems from the nurses I have spoken to, it seems to be the case.

SCIUTTO: That must be some comfortable when someone responds that one Ebola exposed person flew on a plane, and here you have people living in close proximity at the worse time when Thomas Eric Duncan was most contagious, and they did not get the disease. It's an indicator, is it not, that at the end of the day, it is actually hard to get it.

GOUNDER: I think that's exactly what this demonstrates, is that, again, you need direct contact with somebody or with their infectious bodily fluids and it's also important to remember that the degree to which somebody is infectious, so how much virus they have in their body, increases as they develop symptoms and as they get sicker.

And so, by that point, Thomas Eric Duncan was in the hospital when he was most infectious and that's why we see two nurses get infected. But, you know, Amber Vinson on a plane with very mild symptoms is not terribly infectious.

SCIUTTO: Dr. Gounder, Michael Daly, thanks very much for joining us. We appreciate it.

Well, human remains have been found on an abandoned property in Virginia. Now, police are searching the crime scene and conducting forensic tests to determine if the victim is missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham. We're going to have more on that story after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: It is the end of a desperate search, a sad search, and possible closure under the saddest of circumstances for Charlottesville, Virginia. Authorities looking for Hannah Graham found human remains yesterday, eight miles from where the University of Virginia student was last seen on September 13th. Her parents have been told the news but forensic tests are still being conducted on the body.

CNN legal analyst Paul Callan is here with me in New York.

But, first, I want to go to CNN's Jean Casarez. She's in Charlottesville and just returned from the crime scene where police are combing over it for evidence.

What did you see there, Jean? What's the latest? JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, we got as close as we

could to that crime scene, which is not the crime scene itself.

But here's what I was told by a law enforcement official there. They are still processing that crime scene right now even though the sun has almost set here outside of Charlottesville, Virginia. They work continues. They will process the scene into the night I am told.

They will have a surveillance of it by law enforcement through the night if they find there's a time they cannot continue but it will resume when the sun comes up tomorrow.

Now, they also told me that this may go until Thursday, the processing of this crime scene. And we did learn because a local law enforcement official gave an interview to a local television station and in that interview he says that remains were fully skeletonalized. So, completely skeleton. There was no hair. There was no skin at all.

Now, the question is, where are those remains tonight? Well, no one has confirmed that they are with the medical examiner at this point in time. But the next step will be an autopsy. But I also asked this law enforcement official, how do you start an autopsy if you are still collecting parts of that skeleton? And the response was, well, you possibly cannot begin that autopsy because the recovery effort continues.

SCIUTTO: Paul, there's a tremendous amount that could be learned and collected from this site that could give an indicator as to who the killer was. What are you looking for? Footprints, tire tracks, explain to our viewers why they're going to take a number of days to go over this.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, this is critical evidence. Now, Jesse Matthew has been charged, of course, with abduction with intent to defile. So, police presumably to charge him with that have linked him to her already.

SCIUTTO: We know that from video camera. So, there is imagery.

CALLAN: That's right. But more than that, in order to turn it into a criminal case, which defiling means to rape or sodomized her, they had to physically link her to him. So, what this does is it potentially adds a murder charge, of course, if the body turns out to be Hannah.

SCIUTTO: So, are you saying, with that abduction to defile charge, they already would presumably have evidence linking him to her?

CALLAN: Oh, yes, because that charge is based upon her having been abducted by him. He was brought back, remember, into the jurisdiction based on that charge.

SCIUTTO: Maybe I should be more precise to say, not just that they were together spotted by witness, but evidence that there was defilement.

CALLAN: Yes, has to be. SCIUTTO: What could that be?

CALLAN: Well, the early reports were that there were DNA fragments in possibly his car. There were maybe things that were found in an apartment. We don't know what they were precisely.

SCIUTTO: So, now they try to build with what they already --

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAN: Yes, if we are assuming that they were acting in good faith with the initial arrest, really all that they have to find now is a body and that would probably be enough to support a murder case. They're going to find other things.

I mean, the skeletal remains may have his DNA. It may have fragments of his hair, fragment of his skin. There are all kinds of things that can be pulled from the skeletal remains if this turns out to be Hannah.

SCIUTTO: Jean, as you and I have talked about, there were other cases in this area, other cases in fact involving Jesse Matthew or at least accusations in the past and there are other unsolved cases of missing young women in that area. Beyond the immense sense of loss felt in that community, do you hear anger there as well that he wasn't caught earlier?

CASAREZ: I think potentially what I'm feeling is relief because so many young women have gone missing just as you said and I think this community believes that maybe this is the beginning of an answer. And you're talking about Morgan Harrington right there, another Virginia coed blonde who went missing in this area. Her remains were found not very far away from these brand new remains that were found.

And so, I think that this process begins again as the law enforcement officer says as this crime scene is now processed.

SCIUTTO: This is a remarkable case in that -- again, we're very early on. You can't say that he's the perpetrator. But there certainly is enough evidence to say that he abducted this girl and possible ties to other missing women, but someone who is very local. This body found four miles from his mother's house, a house where he spent time growing up. He's been there for years.

How often do you see cases like that where you have a killer acting very close to home?

CALLAN: It happens with surprising frequency, sadly. You do see it happen with killers. They work in the area where they live. And that's one of the reasons we have sex offender registries so that people can be alert to it.

And I think the thing I'm curious about is I'm hearing reports on this. This homicide is not that old and for this to be down to only skeletal remains and there were also --

SCIUTTO: Thirty-five days.

CALLAN: -- word that there was no hair left, that seems like there was a rather rapid decomposition of the body. Now, I'm not saying it's impossible, but I think it's going to be interesting to see with the medical examiner.

SCIUTTO: Just fair question. She went missing 35 days ago, five weeks ago.

Paul Callan, thanks very much, legal analyst. Jean Casarez on the scene in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Well, just ahead, the U.S. military is forming a team of 30 doctors, nurses and trainers to help fight Ebola here in the U.S. We'll talk about exactly what that means and why it might be necessary to stop the spread of the disease here and quickly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. I'm Jim Sciutto in New York.

The Pentagon is taking action today in the fight against Ebola here in the U.S. forming a military quick strike team, a 30-person team of medical experts at the ready if another Ebola case emerges on U.S. soil. They'll be tasked with providing support for civilian doctors.

Joining me now, retired Major General James Williams, he is former commander of the Fourth Marine Division.

General Williams, tell me what's your take on this strike team and is there any precedent for the Pentagon mobilizing a team like this here at home?

MAJOR GEN. JAMES WILLIAMS (RET.), FORMER COMMANDER, 4TH MARINE DIVISION: Well, absolutely. You know, back in the late '80s, you know, there was actually another Ebola outbreak. It was more a primate Ebola outbreak. That was in Manassas, Virginia, at one of the primate research facilities and of course we had one here around 1993 or so in Alice, Texas. Very similar situation.

And the Army's USAMRIID unit which based at Fort Detrick, Maryland, was responsible for doing that. So we do have a presence. And, you know, the military is very capable of these things, you know, with great training. Decontamination type events like this are not new to the military. I think because this is a big challenge here in the United States now, it's getting more and more attention.

But rapid deployed forces that are prepared and trained are absolutely necessary and certainly there is previous precedence for this.

SCIUTTO: Now I wonder if this team might help address a push that's out there right now, a question about introducing a travel ban on all people coming from West African nations most affected with this disease by putting the Pentagon in this position to say hey, listen, if anything breaks out here, we're going to get right on it with a team, you know, very well trained for this. Did that help address that other concern?

WILLIAMS: Well, I think so. It depends on how this team will be deployed and how it will support the forces that are already deployed in Liberia and in the region.

You know, working in the region for the military is not a new event so, you know, the military is always prepared for these types of events whether they are on a small scale or a much larger scale at this point.

SCIUTTO: Is this also a measure with the Pentagon taking this step of the level of concern? Because I think folks back home, you know, they hear everything will be fine and then you have some very serious steps taken.

Does that mean that our leaders are concerned that -- that measures taken so far aren't sufficient to control this disease?

WILLIAMS: Well, I think our leaders should always be concerned with anything that could turn out to be a pandemic such as this type of outbreak. You do want to contain it. Now the question of whether you want to have a travel ban that certainly is something that needs to be debated among the health professionals and certainly among the transportation folks, you know, if they decide to do that.

But, you know, based on everything that -- if it's done properly, there's not really a need to do a travel ban if you do the screening properly. So that's really the question. Will all the protocols be in place that will support this effort? And if they are, then there should be great possibility of containment.

SCIUTTO: Well, certainly a sign of the government taking this very seriously.

General, please stick with me because we're going to talk about after this break the latest on the Americans' fight against ISIS and reports today that at least 70 ISIS fighters have been killed near the Turkish border.

Also, a new controversy that's brewing over Turkey's role in the fight for Kobani in Syria.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: There is evidence at this hour that U.S. led airstrikes strikes appear to be working against ISIS. Sixty bombs have the key Syrian border city of Kobani over the past four days alone. And nearby the bodies of at least 70 ISIS militants have been dropped off at a Syrian hospital.

With the growth in airstrikes, there has also seen a buildup of Kurds fighting on the ground and fleeing the town as well just south of the Turkish border.

And as CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports, some are unwilling to cross afraid that they'll never be able to return home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sixty bombs in four days may for now have ground ISIS to a halt in Kobani. But to the city's west lies another trauma for those Kurds still inside at a hole poked by the desperate in the border fence that's now policed by the Turkish army.

They won't let us film up close yet daily we've seen dozens of Kurds caught on the dangerous other side of the fence. But strangely, even though the Turkish army will let them across, many still don't.

Why do they stay there?

(On camera): There is still fighting inside Kobani and this a very volatile place to be stranded on the other side of that border. We're told those there don't want to leave the city to leave their possessions because they are worried if they cross into Turkey, they won't be able to return home.

(Voice-over): We film discretely a little closer when bread was delivered. The men there said there were thousands still inside. Many we spoke to said they were not leaving their treasured homes and cars because they knew the army would not let them back in.

This man came out two days ago to bring back food but can't cross.

"Where do you think people can find bread inside there," he says. "The stores are closed and empty."

Some claim this is a calculated strategy that Turkey is deliberately stopping people from going back in a bid to weaken the defense of Kobani claim one Turkish military MP.

"If they turn back to Kobani," he says. "The resistance against ISIS will be strengthened and our combat against ISIS will be more efficient. Turkey doesn't want that. Turkey wants Kobani to fall. We're convinced about that," he says. "There's no other reason."

Fighters are still smuggled in we've been told and Turkish officials deny stopping people returning but as the fight drags on, all if ISIS comes back, Kurdish anger at what they see as Turkey's bid to weaken them risks growing.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, near Kobani.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Nick's reporting they are raising serious questions about Turkey's role in all this. Turkey, of course, a NATO ally.

Retired Major General James Williams is back with me.

General, is Turkey being a bad NATO ally with this all back and forth? The U.S. has come to ask for help but there's still been a lot of negotiation and real questions about how much they are responding to those calls for help.

WILLIAMS: Well, I think this is a real challenge. You know, Turkey has historic challenge with the Kurds and I think there is some question about even though they're a NATO ally is whether they would support the effort to protect the Kurds. And as you know, the Kurds for a long time have wanted to have their own country and territory of which a large majority of eastern Turkey is part of that area that is occupied by the Kurds.

So I think there are some challenges here. You know, talking with some of my friends in the region in Egypt and other countries in the Middle East, some of their perspective is that they think that Turkey is not being really a great ally to the West at this point and that there is some question about whether the president of Turkey, President Erdogan, is supportive of ISIS and/or of certainly the Muslim Brotherhood of which he has been very favorable for a long time.

So there's a mixed bag of issues here and, you know, this is going to be a great challenge especially to folks like General Allen who is trying to coordinate this 60-member coalition and certainly Turkey will be one of his great challenges.

SCIUTTO: There have been questions as well whether -- about how well Turkey is stopping that flow of foreign fighters to ISIS across its border into Syria.

Let me ask you because it does seem that the U.S. led coalition has seen its first big success inside Syria with ISIS largely being pushed out of the town of Kobani.

Is this a sign that the air campaign to some extent is beginning to work there?

WILLIAMS: Absolutely. You know, any time enemy forces mass, it gives the airpower a great opportunity to target those forces and break up the force that is being applied in the region especially on a city like Kobani. But at the end of the day, somebody eventually will have to get on the ground whether it's our forces or somebody else's forces to confront the ISIS forces and deal with them in a much more decisive way because eventually, you know, ISIS forces will continue to mix with the population and that will make air targeting very difficult without trying to hit civilian targets.

SCIUTTO: Exactly. That's a real fear inside Syria now and Iraq as well.

General Williams, thank you very much for joining us.

Well, ISIS militants are not the only ones terrorizing the world. Remember Boko Haram? That group that kidnapped nearly 300 school girls in Nigeria? You're seeing pictures of them there. Well, now a deal may finally have been reached to release at least some of those young hostages.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SCIUTTO: Six months after being kidnapped from their school, more than 200 Nigerian girls could be coming home this week. The Nigerian government has announced a deal has been reached with the Boko Haram insurgency group.

That April kidnapping kicked off a series of rallies and social media campaigns with the theme "Bring Back Our Girls."

Jessica King has more on the social media fire storm that helped set the stage for the girls' eventual release.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bring back our girls, the world has cried.

MALALA YOUSAFZAI, PAKISTANI ACTIVIST: Those in Nigeria are my sisters and it's my responsibility that I speak up for my sisters.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: Grown men attempting to snuff out the aspirations of young girls.

ANGELINA JOLIE, ACTRESS: It's infuriating and it's -- and it kind of goes beyond understanding that somebody could do this.

KING: This week marks six months since almost 300 girls were taken from their school in the dead of night, at the hands of Boko Haram, the Islamist terror group. The overwhelming majority of them remained unaccounted for.

More than five million have tweeted, "Bring back our girls." The social media campaign went viral in May, a month after the girls vanished and it hasn't stopped. And now the news Friday.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: There has been a huge breakthrough in the kidnapping ordeal that launched that global campaign, "Bring Back Our Girls."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The federal government and the Boko Haram have agreed to a ceasefire deal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The deal was expected to include the release of the more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls.

KING: The government announced a ceasefire, what they say is a step toward bringing the girls home.

MIKE OMERI, NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON: The terrorists have said that the girls are alive and well and that discussions will continue in this direction subsequently. All efforts are close to the release of the girls.

KING: One of the first people known to have tweeted "Bring Back Our Girls" says the social media fire storm made the difference.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course it did. It really and truly was a negotiation. I think the social media campaign will take us to what we have achieved.

KING: That skepticism is felt by many.

OBIAGELI EZEKWESILI, FORMER NIGERIAN MINISTER OF EDUCATION: We want to be able to see any evidence of this deal. It would help a lot. I'm sure that majority of Nigerians are thinking exactly the same thing.

KING: While Boko Haram hasn't yet responded to Nigeria's claim, the news has brought cautious optimism. But online campaigners say they won't stop until the girl are back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eventually, they are released, I think, the goal I set out for myself has been achieved.

KING: More than 180 days since their abduction, hope, and more waiting.

Jessica King, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Hopefully that story ends with relief for those families.

Well, back here in U.S., riot police use tear gas to control a crowd at a small-town pumpkin festival.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's ridiculous. This is a pumpkin fest. I'm from Rhode Island, this is supposed to have a fun weekend, and this is stupid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: So what led to the violence and destruction? We'll have that right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Nothing says fall better than a pumpkin festival. But in Keene, New Hampshire, this year's festival ended with tear gas, pepper spray, bonfires in city streets and dozens of arrests. The town's 24th annual festival was not the first in fact to see riots and rowdy behaviors.

So joining me now for more on the festival gone awry is Alexandra Field.

I was amazed, I was looking at Twitter, this is the number one trending topic right now. Pumpkin fest. What happened there? What went wrong?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, because people really can't believe that this happens at something called pumpkin fest.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

FIELD: It's billed as a family event, it attracts more than 20,000 people every year but it happens in Keene, New Hampshire, which is also the home of Keene State College, so it attracts a lot of young people, a lot of college people.

The events that you're looking on the screen have nothing to do with pumpkins. Look, this is a week of partying, we understand, in this community and it got wildly out of hand. You're going to see police coming in riot gear there. They tell us that they had to use pepper spray and then tear gas to subdue this wildly unruly crowd.

You can see that they've got bonfires going in the street. We're told that people were throwing rocks at each other, throwing bottles at each other, flipping over cars, pulling out lampposts and sign posts.

I want you to listen to what some people in that crowd say about what they experienced.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got hit with a Jack Daniels bottle, like across the face. Yes, I was in the health center for a little bit but I left.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These guys just came in with shields, started, I don't know, tear gassing me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's crazy, crazy stuff. Real, real crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ridiculous. This is a pumpkin fest. I am from Rhode Island, this is supposed to have a fun weekend, and this is stupid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: And Jim, we were seeing the problems unfold for the last couple of days really. On Friday night, there were 42 different arrests. Police say that had a lot to do with alcohol and partying and then last night was when you saw it really escalate to that level.

SCIUTTO: Some of these scenes were just -- I mean, it looked like a riot. It looked like a riot. And as you say, I was going to ask you, was there alcohol involved, and the answer is?

FIELD: Yes. When you see those pictures, you can tell that certainly there was alcohol involved. The school says that they're going to be looking to find out what students were involved in this. They're looking at social media pictures, a lot of the video that we're playing right now, they want to identify who's a part of this, who is perpetuating these acts, and they say that people could face not only, you know, charges and the arrest but also expulsion from the school.

SCIUTTO: Really? OK. And is it under control now? It's --

FIELD: Yes. They told us that kid had participated in the cleanup today. And also we should make a point that these weren't just students participating against those people from really over the northeast.

SCIUTTO: OK. Alexandra Field, on the pumpkin fest beat tonight.

(LAUGHTER)

A quick update on the main story we've been following throughout the day and that is on the battle against Ebola. A Defense Department official tells CNN that the Pentagon is forming a 30-person quick strike team. Five doctors, 20 nurses, five trainers who specialize in the use of personal protective gear will train to deploy on short notice nationwide.

And a cruise ship has returned to the U.S. with a passenger linked to the only Ebola patient in the U.S. to die from the disease. That passenger self-quarantined on the ship but she has now tested negative for Ebola.

For more on Ebola please stay with CNN and CNN.com for the very latest.

And tonight on CNN at 8:00 Eastern Anthony Bourdain eats his way through Paraguay. That's followed at 9:00 Eastern by an all-new episode of "PARTS UNKNOWN." That's on Vietnam.

And at 10:00 Eastern then, we Lisa Ling giving us a live look at the filthy rich in "THIS IS LIFE."

I'm Jim Sciutto, thanks for joining us this weekend. Right now a CNN special report. "SAN FRANCISCO SHAKEN: 25 YEARS AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE."