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Memo in Newspaper First; Hagel Memo Slams Syria Strategy; Administration Not Focused Enough on Assad; Pentagon Briefing This Afternoon; Maine Nurse Defies Quarantine; Women Enslaved by ISIS

Aired October 30, 2014 - 13:00   ET

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


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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 5:00 p.m. in London, 7:00 p.m. in Jerusalem, 8:00 p.m. in Moscow. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We begin with breaking news. A report of a scathing memo from the defense secretary of the United States, Chuck Hagel, taking exception with the Obama administration's own strategy in Syria.

Let's go right to our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr. All right, Barbara, what have we learned about this memo? What did the secretary of defense say, what does he want to do?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, some of this was first reported in "The New York Times." But a senior U.S. official is now telling me, indeed, defense secretary Chuck Hagel, earlier this month, wrote a very private, very blunt memo to national security adviser, Susan Rice, expressing very direct concerns about the administration's policy regarding Syria.

Very few details, obviously, made available. Hagel is very private about these matters. But what we are told is that the secretary has some concerns that the administration policy is not sharply focused enough on how to deal with Assad, the Syrian leader, (INAUDIBLE) -- pardon me, Bashar Al Assad, and how to get him out of power. And that he feels there is a potential that the gains being made with air strikes in Syria could be at risk unless the U.S. can better deal with the question of how to get rid of Assad.

OK, all of that said, this is not coming out in public. There is no way this memo is likely to be made public by the Pentagon. They won't even talk about it. But what we know is this is coming out as there is a lot of political chatter in Washington this week, last week, going up to the midterm elections that White House politically is unhappy with Hagel, with secretary of state, John Kerry. And that a lot of White House loyalists are coming out and leaking stories to the news media about the concerns that the White House has with the national security team.

That said, nothing from President Obama so far has indicated he plans to make any changes. And right now, what we are told, is Hagel continues to offer his advice to the president and the White House team and continues to offer it very privately but it's a very interesting revelation. Certainly, there are Hagel defenders across Washington. The revelation, I think, is that the defense secretary, who doesn't talk about this a lot, has some very strong views about what is really happening here -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And correct me if I'm wrong, Barbara, but the defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Martin Dempsey, at the bottom of the hour, 1:30 Eastern, they're about to have a news conference. I assume this subject will come up?

STARR: I think you can sure bet it'll come up. They are scheduled in a half hour from now for one of their regular press conferences just down the hall from where I am in the Pentagon briefing room. Hagel probably, at this point, knows he's going to get asked and we'll see how much he is willing to show about his behind-the-scenes advice to the president and the White House, how much he is willing to say in public.

Both secretary Hagel, General Dempsey, secretary of state John Kerry, they know, right now, full well they are already answering many of the questions that are being put to them about this. They know that this political chatter in Washington is going on. These are very experienced men. They know the climate. They know the mid-terms are coming up. They know the White House is under tremendous political pressure to deal with these international crises.

The betting money, I would have, is that Chuck Hagel is going to keep his counsel to himself and to the president -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, I assume they won't say much. But we'll have live coverage at the bottom of the hour of secretary Hagel's news conference with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Martin Dempsey.

And very quickly, Barbara, do we know what Hagel would like the U.S. to be doing in Syria right now to have, from his perspective, a better policy?

STARR: Candidly, we do not have an answer to that. He appears, by all accounts, from the people I've spoken to in the administration, to want a more clear policy directed to getting Assad out of power. He does continue to support, we are told, the Pentagon's program to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels. That's a very difficult program. It's going to be a long time before that has any impact on getting Assad out of power. I asked and I am told, he's still very much supports that.

But the actual -- whether he made recommendations, whether he has specifics to the White House that he wants to get done and if there's any answer back from the White House to him, I'm going to be honest and tell you, Wolf, we don't know the answers.

BLITZER: All right, thanks very much. Barbara Starr's got the breaking news out of the Pentagon.

Let's get analysis now. Joining us, Bob Baer, CNN's National Security Analyst, he's a former CIA operative, also the author of a brand new book, which I recommend, "The Perfect Kill: 21 Laws for Assassins." Go ahead and check it out.

Also, joining us, our CNN Global Affairs Analyst, the former Delta Force officer and retired Lieutenant Colonel James Reese. Colonel Reese, what do you, first of all, make of this -- the news from Barbara Starr about Hagel's what's being described as a tough memo to the White House saying, you know what, guys, we need a better strategy as far as Syria is concerned?

LT. COL. JAMES REESE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS DELTA FORCE OFFICER: Well, Wolf, you know, six weeks ago, on "CNN TONIGHT," the night the bombs started dropping in Syria, we had that small round table, you know, discussion with Don Lemon. And right then, we said, the center of gravity, on this whole issue in the Levant between Iraq and Syria, is Assad and what we're going to do with Assad. That has been pushed to the side. I think secretary Hagel, I know the general officers know that down deep, but there's politics involved here, unfortunately, in this piece. We've seen the Turks, over the last couple weeks, asking, what is the long-term issue with Assad? And Assad is the center of gravity on this whole piece, from my perspective.

BLITZER: He makes a good point, Bob Baer, because the U.S. has been launching air strikes together with others but mostly the U.S. in Syria against ISIS targets. But they have deliberately avoided any targets associated with Bashar Al Assad's military regime. They're not going after any of those targets. Is that right?

ROBERT BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Absolutely, Wolf. I mean, we don't -- we don't have anybody to side with in Syria. That's the problem. The free Syrian army is not a capable fighting force. It's not going to win anything. We can't live with Bashar Al Assad. He slaughtered hundreds of thousands of people, including with chlorine gas. And, of course, we can't support ISIS.

So, -- and you look at the Kurdish situation. The Turks are furious that we are, in this essence, backing a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria because they don't want to see a Kurdish state there. So, there are no easy options.

And I think what Hagel has come down and said, listen, if this isn't working, we've -- we have to come up with a coherent policy. The problem for Hagel is that, I understand, he's been cut out of a lot of the decision making. It's top down. It's the president, the vice president, Susan Rice, who are making -- is making the policy. And they only bring him in at the end and he's unhappy about that.

BLITZER: We'll see what he says about this at the bottom of the hour. Colonel Reese, the whole -- there are a lot of U.S. allies in that part of the world who hate Bashar Al Assad's regime. They would like to see the U.S. launch air strikes against these Syrian positions that are associated with the regime there. But that hasn't happened over the past three years and probably is not going to happen. Maybe, in part, and I'm anxious to get your thoughts, because of this very close collaborative relationship that Bashar Al Assad's regime has with Iran. Is that right? REESE: Well, it does. You know, right now, we all know, for years,

the Assad regime gives the Iran regime a foothold within a large Sunni populace. And the other problem is, you know, and it a difficult task at hand here, you take Assad out with that -- with his Shia aspect backed by the Iranians, all of a sudden you have a vacuum because there are no strong, as we started to say, the free Syrian army, who really is the free Syrian army. There could become a vacuum if Assad take it -- is taken out. And then, who becomes the power player within that area now becomes an issue. And right now, ISIS is the power player.

BLITZER: So, when you -- when all is said and done, Bob Baer, the best friends the United States has in Syria right now are what's called the free Syrian army. And some of those troops, they're going to be trained by the U.S. and others inside Saudi Arabia. But that's going to take a long time to get them up to speed to make them a really capable fighting force. And these various Kurdish militias there, most of whom are really disliked by the NATO ally, Turkey. So, this doesn't seem like the U.S., as you correctly point out, has a whole lot of ground troops there that can -- that can bolster what the U.S. is trying to achieve in destroying ISIS?

BAER: Well, Colonel Reese is absolutely right. You know, with Bashar Al Assad gone, with the Alawite generals gone, what do we have? We don't have anything except pure chaos. And, frankly, if I were put in the White House today, I couldn't come up with an easy solution, other than dividing up the Middle East into new -- into new countries which is unthinkable for this president or for Congress or anybody else. We're just not prepared to deal with it.

And I think what we're seeing now is we're seeing Band-Aids put on Kobani, the bombing of ISIS, hoping it can get us through next week's election and then in 2016. But I think it's -- we can't wait that long.

BLITZER: Tell us about your book, very quickly, Bob, because the title is so intriguing.

BAER: I wrote this book because I was involved in an attempt on Saddam Hussein in 1995, so I had a certain engagement in it. And it was -- it was a failed attempt, of course. And I went back and looked at my mistakes and other people's mistakes on political murder. An assassination is justified. We killed Hitler in 1944 and we have saved a lot of lives and destruction. But it is so difficult to reach -- to meet all the rules I put down. It's almost -- you can't do it and expect to get anything. We could kill Baghdadi, the head of ISIS today, and we would still have a mess in Syria and Iraq. And so, it's just my personal narrative who assassin -- a modern assassination.

BLITZER: Bob Baer, I want you to stand by. James Reese, please standby as well. At the bottom of the hour, we're going to hear from the defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Martin Dempsey. They'll be speaking with reporters. You're looking at a live picture there from the Pentagon briefing room. We'll have live coverage and hopefully we can get your analysis right after that briefing. Other news we're following, in a -- in a move that surprised some,

angered others, Kaci Hickox defined the state of Maine's quarantine orders and, instead, hopped on a bike and went for a ride. You're going to hear from the nurse fighting an Ebola quarantine. That, and a lot more news, coming up.

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BLITZER: A defiant nurse, a state quarantine order and a showdown, playing at the Ebola crisis. The nurse, Kaci Hickox, is defying efforts by health officials in the state of Maine to keep her isolated in her home for 21 days. Earlier today, she and her boyfriend left the house on bicycles. They returned about an hour later. Hickox calls the quarantine order a violation of her rights. The state argues, it's a common sense approach to avoid putting others at risk.

Today, the federal government's top infectious disease specialist said he understands the intentions of local governments.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIR. NATL. INST. OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If you have a blanket, namely, just completely everybody can't do anything for 21 days, that we feel would be a major disincentive. But that doesn't mean that the people who are promoting that are doing anything wrong. I believe that the governors and others who have been pushing that, in good faith, are trying to protect their constituency. So there's no criticism of them. It's just that, as a health person, as a physician and a scientist, I would say that you look at the data and it tells you what the risk is.

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BLITZER: Our correspondent, Jean Casarez, is joining us now live from Fort Kent in Maine. That's right near the Canadian border. It's a pretty isolated part of the state.

Jean, what's the latest on this showdown between the nurse, Kaci Hickox, and the state of Maine?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we have just heard for the first time today from the governor of the state of Maine, Governor LePage. He has come out officially saying that he has tried to work with the health care worker, negotiate, but negotiations have broken down and so he will now exercise the fullest extent of his authority. He does not delineate beyond that, but what that means is going to court.

Now, we are right in front of the health care worker's home. Kaci is behind closed doors. She went for a bike ride this morning with her boyfriend and all of a sudden they just came out of the house. And that was, in essence, violating the state requesting her to voluntarily remain in her home for those 21 days. She was gone for about an hour, came back with the boyfriend, then went back into the house. And now we get this word from the governor. You know, this small town community, Wolf, it is on the northern part

of Maine, on the Canadian border. It is a logging community. It's very split in how they feel about this. Some believe that she should be able to mingle with the community. Some say let's respect what the state is asking. But here is what Kaci herself said when she came home from that bike ride.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why a bike ride?

KACI HICKOX, NURSE CHALLENGING QUARANTINE ORDER: This is something my partner and I like to do. Since we've moved here, this has been other trail.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you afraid with the state police around?

HICKOX: I'm not afraid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you heard anything from your lawyer?

HICKOX: I sure haven't. No, we're still waiting - waiting to hear from the state of Maine to see what they want to do. I hope that we can continue negotiations and work this out amicably.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And we have now heard from that governor of Maine saying that negotiations have broken down. He will exercise his authority to the fullest extent. And what that must mean is that he will now go to court and ask the judge for an order requiring a mandatory quarantine. But I have learned, Wolf, that that can be sealed, that can be confidential because this is a public health issue.

Wolf.

BLITZER: And the state of Maine is concerned, the governors is concerned, she's in the middle of this 21 day period, right? She still has another 10 days or so to go before it's over. They're concerned not only was she in West Africa, but while she was there, she was actually treating Ebola patients, is that the concern?

CASAREZ: I think that may be one of the concerns because the governor goes on in what he just released talking about a case-by-case basis. So there is some subjective here within the state of Maine. But when you're looking at someone just coming from West Africa versus treating actual Ebola patients, that is what this nurse did. And so that is why, quite possibly, there has been able to be no negotiation here.

BLITZER: All right, thanks very much. We'll check back with you and let us know what's going on. Jean Casarez is on the scene there in Maine.

Meanwhile, there's anger over the media coverage of Ebola, but wait until you see who's speak out against it. Also, ISIS is holding young women as sex slaves. Up next, we're going

to show you who's behind what's going on and why these young women are being targeted and being forced to do what they're doing.

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BLITZER: They have hopes and dreams like all young women, but because of ISIS, thousands of Yazidi women have abandoned their aspirations.

I want to show you these live pictures, though, in the meantime. This is the Pentagon briefing room. We're standing by to hear from the secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Martin Dempsey. They're going to be speaking about ISIS, what's going on in Syria and Iraq. A news conference coming up right at the bottom of the hour, in about 10 minutes or so, if not less.

This comes amid word Barbara Starr reporting now that there has been what's being described as a very tough memo from Hagel written to the White House complaining of a lack of clarity as far as U.S. policy towards Syria is concerned. We'll see what the secretary of defense has to say.

And presumably he'll be asked about the way ISIS is treating women. And we have a special report that's coming up right now. Women are not only being forced to leave their homes in Syria and Iraq, they are being humiliated, they are battered, they're being kidnapped and they are being brutally raped repeatedly by these ISIS terrorists. Teenagers, turned into sex slaves, by ISIS. Our senior international correspondent Ivan Watson spoke to one young victim.

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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Janna (ph) was a 19-year-old high school senior with dreams of becoming a doctor when ISIS first came to her village.

JANNA (through translator): They came to the village and said you have to convert to Islam or we will kill you.

WATSON: Janna, not her real name, is from the village of Cotcha (ph), a community of ethnic Kurds from the Yazidi religious minority, which were surrounded and occupied by ISIS early last August. Soon after, Janna says ISIS ordered the entire village to go to the school where they stole all the people's jewelry, money and cell phones and then separated the men from the women.

According to a United Nations report, ISIS then gathered all males older than 10 years of age, took them outside the village by pick-up trucks and shot them. A different fate lay in store for the women.

JANNA: They separated the girls and the women who had children and the old women. They took us girls to Mosul to a big three-story house.

WATSON: Janna says there were hundreds of girls in the house and they got visits from the men of ISIS. JANNA: They came to the room and looked around at the girls and if

they liked one, they chose her and took her. If the girls cried and didn't want to leave, they beat the girl. The guy who chose me was 70 years old and he took me to his house. There were four Yazidi girls there already. They hit us and they didn't give us enough to eat or drink. They told us we were infidels. He put me in a room and put a gun to my head and I was on the ground and he said, I will kill you because you won't convert to Islam. That night they came and took an 11-year-old girl away. And when she came back, she told me they raped her.

NAZAND BEGLKHANI, ADVISER TO KURDISTAN REGIONAL GOVERNMENT: These women have suffered severe psychological trauma. They've been systemically raped, not only by one person, but by different men at the same time.

WATSON: Dr. Nazand Beglkhani is an adviser to the Kurdistan regional government and an expert on gender violence. She says ISIS kidnapped more than 2,500 Yazidi women last August after mounting an offensive that triggered a mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of Yazidis and other Iraqi minorities. Since then, she says the captive women have been bought and sold across Iraq and Syria like cattle.

BEGLKHANI: They have two main aims. First, to recruit youngsters, by giving them these young girls and women, and, secondly, to humiliate and expose these women into slavery and systemic rape.

WATSON: That fits an account we heard from an ISIS fighter, held in a Kurdish prison in Syria.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When someone joins ISIS, they give them a girl, marry them off and maybe $2,000.

WATSON: Since August, Kurdish authorities succeed in rescuing only a fraction of the thousand of kidnapped Yazidi women.

BEGLKHANI: So far we managed to rescue about 100 women.

WATSON: Beglkhani says all of those rescued say they were raped.

WATSON (on camera): If you could say something to the men who took you to his house, what would you want to tell this guy?

JANNA: I don't want to tell him anything. I just want to kill him.

WATSON (voice-over): Ivan Watson, CNN, Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: As horrible as you think these ISIS terrorists might be, a report like that underscores the nature of what's going on in Iraq and Syria right now. I want to thank Ivan for the excellent reporting all week long.

Many have argued the focus of the fight against Ebola needs to be taken straight to West Africa. And among those making that argument is CNN's own Isha Sesay. Just ahead, we're going to ask her about her comments about the epidemic that has raised a lot of eyebrows, a lot of reaction. Isha is standing by live.

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