>> good morning, everyone, i'm david schuster aljazeera america headquarters inner new york, and we're interrupting our regularly scheduled programming to bring you comments by president obama on the ebola epidemic in west africa. in just a few minutes, the president is going to address the latest efforts there. and in addition, we'll be

bringing you the pentagon briefing about the latest remarks on the attacks in syria. but the biggest news at this hour, president obama has -- the white house said that president obama will announce that eric holder, the u.s. attorney general, the fourth longest serving attorney general in the department's history, is going to resign. and that announcement is coming this afternoon. he's the first african-american attorney general, the longest serving member of president obama's cabinet. for more on this, randall pinkston joins us. >> reporter: yeah, this is a surprise for those of course who are not on the on the inside, but as you know, at the end of a first term of a president's office, there are changes in the guard, if you will, members of the cabinet in the private sector, and eric holder was among those who stayed on. and we had no idea this was going to happen. he has been in the office for six years, and he has been a

long time prosecutor. at one point serving as a prosecutor in the district of columbia, and eric holder is from new york, and he was not a close friend of the president's, but of course they became very close in the course of their work together. he launched a number of initiatives, and one of the most controversial issues during his term of office was the so-called guns along the mexican border, where he was called up before congress a number of times, accused of being complicit in allowing the sale of weapons that were later found to have been used in the deaths of u.s. law enforcement agents. but he got through that of late. and of course he has been directing the immigration service in its efforts to step the flow of illegal immigrants into the u.s., and he has also

made some recent moves with respect to terrorism. sign on with the recent announcement by the administration that this khorasan group has been under watch for a while. and of course the u.s. military moving in on them in syria. but again, eric holder, one of the longest serving u.s. attorney generals, the longest serving member of the frez's cabinet, will be stepping down, and we don't know what his future plans are. >> the timing is interesting because holder made it clear that he didn't want to essentially be tied in with the rest of president obama's term, that perhaps he felt that the midterms is a good breaking point, and that strikes me as normal for cabinet members. usually, if there's turn over midway through a term, to do it around the time of congressional midterm elections. >> yeah, that is of course the case for most cabinet members, and we also know that jay

carney elected to stay on a bit longer than usual. the former press secretary, and he left about a month or so ago. and jay carney, the former white house press secretary. and the timing is something that attorney general holder may wish to discuss, and he may wish to return to the private sector, he worked as a federal prosecutor. and there are obviously a lot of options open for him. and we never heard him mention as a potential political candidate for anything. so if i were going to guess, i would guess that he's going to return to the private sector. >> randall pinkston, and joining us is jimmy floyd. this is the rundown of the last five or six years, a lot of advances and security threats, and holder oversaw the reform

in the criminal justice system. and in fights with the republican-led house, what do you make in terms of what will be his legacy as you talk about him leaving the department of justice? >> as rand ol a randall said, oe longest serving members of not only president obama's cabinet, but attorney general, the 82nd attorney general and the first african-american in that position. this is the finalized, david, over the labor day weekend. so as pointed out, insiders new about it, though it's being made public today, as randall points out, guns and borders part of that. and as you point out, civil rights, and he worked -- though he's officially a prosecutor, he worked quite a bit with the defense community on issues related to defense work, and in fact, over the summer, quite a bit of work here in new york,

in fact reported just today, back in new york, faulting legal services for the poor, and then on the global stage, over the summer, urging europeans to step up anti-terrorism tactics, so very much an attorney general on the domestic front. and one thing that he and president obama could not button up, though they said on their very first day in office, david, they were going to close guantanemo, it remains open. and that has been a thorn in the attorney general's side as well as the president. >> legal contribute, jamie, thank you very much. and we were going to have more on eric holder's decision to resign today and this evening. and we want to bring you quickly, as president obama south getting ready to speak at the united nations, with ban ki-moon, they're talking about ebola. but before we go to the

president, we'll swing to the u.s. pentagon where the department of defense is providing the latest briefing on military operations in syria. >> 12 attacks. next slide. this is a breakdown of how it went by the numbers. 12 modular fighters in syria, and 16 total fighter aircraft participated in this, 10 from saudi arabia, and six from the united states. so most of the aircraft that participated in these strikes were not u.s. aircraft. muncisions, 41 total bombs were dropped, all precision guided. and the majority by aircraft, split between saudi arabia and uie and i don't have the break down by country what they dropped and i'm not sure that's relevant. if you look at the bottom. 80% of the tonnage of the bombs

dropped on those refineries, 80% of the explosive effect was caused by the coalition, and largely, that's because the bombs they were dropping were of greater weight. these uvus, these precision guided munitions come in various sizes of tonnage, and the coalition aircraft were flying with heavier tonnage bombs than we were. i don't think there were any 2,000-pounders in this. the highest, i can check on this, but i'm pretty sure that the highest weight went up to about 1,000. most of the ones that we dropped were 250 pounds. another reason why, how they came up with who was going to fly, but you're missing my whole point here. 80% of the tonnage, read the

box. okay, next slide. this is just a photo of one of the modular oil refineries, and i want to point something out. you can see the before and after, obviously, there's quite a bit of destruction there. but if you look at it, this is one of the towers here. you can see the shadow here, and you can still see the shadow in this shot, taken obviously sometime later. and obviously the tower is still there. we're trial real hard to be precise in that. it was not about obliterating the refineries off of the face of the map, but degrading their ability to use these refineries. we're still assessing, because 12 targets we have to assess. but by and large, the goal was to get their use of it. so much of the parts of the refineries we were going for, areas where their offices were,

and the communications equipment. and the towers are still there. i'm not sure of the process. because because these refineries were in place before isil came along, and i'm assuming that if syria gets to a point where it's better governed, we would like to preserve the flexibility for the refineries to contribute to a stable economy in what we hope will be a stable country when the assad regime is not in control. >> reporter: if you just preserve them. >> we preserve them. some capability in the

refineries, and if you're asking if a u.s. ground force is going to go in there, absolutely not. >> reporter: infrastructure intact? >> we want to keep some infrastructure available in the hopes that the refineries can be used one day by the moderate opposition. >> actually, where the "real money" comes from. >> whose money. >> the crude oil, the infrastructure, that's where the isis money comes from, so if you're really going to take out isis's capability -- >> they're not going to be using these refineries for some time. >> there are no ground tools, who is going to put up the vacuum? >> we talked about this before, joe, we're working on a train and equip program for a moderate opposition, and that's going to take sometime. you guys are thinking about these strikes in the wrong way.

we hit targets, and then there's this immediate surface that there's going to be some holding of ground. in syria, i tried to say this at the beginning. the kinds of attacks in syria are the strategic level. we're trying to remove the means through which this organization sustains itself. that's the goal. in iraq, it's a different goal. there are iraqi security forces on the ground. and they are responsible for defending and securing their own population and borders, so many of the strikes that we have taken in syria have been of the tactical nature, to help them take background, or iraqi citizens. it's a different type of mission, which is why we want to preserve a little bit of flexibility on the precision of these strikes. >> you said last week that training the opposition might take up to one year. who is going to fill the

vacuum? >> the vacuum for what? these refineries? they're not operable right now. we didn't completely obliterate them off the map, but you can see that they're not going to be pumping any refined oil, petroleum, any time soon. we're still assessing the results of the strikes. can we get through slides here? this is the next one. the oil facility is about 200 yards long, as you look from the northeast corner of the slide to the southwest corner of the slide, you can see that we hit where we needed to hit. that's just another example there, and i have a video that we can show the attack on this facility. so if you can show the slide and the footage.

we'll make this available to you. i only have video right now, and i'm sure we'll have more video available, but right now, this is all we have. it was just that corner of the compound. so again, very pre-cease, and very lethal and targeted. yes. i don't know any more than i know why we flew with certain bombs and airplanes. but the point was to render them incapable of using these

refineries. it was a significant stream of revenue for them. there are other refineries that they have. and i'm not announcing it future operations but we're going to continue to look at strategic targets against isil. >> that's the latest news about attacks in syria, the pentagon, attacks in syria last night. and we'll get to more of that, but the news is that saudi arabia, uae, landed those campaigns, but president obama is addressing the issue of ebola at the united nations. >> partners, and ladies and gentlemen, as we gather here today, people of liberia, sierra leone, and guinea, are

in crisis. as secretary general bonn and chad have indicate, the ebola virus is spreading at alarming speed. thousands of men, women and children have died. thousands more are infected, without check, this epidemic could kill hundreds [ audio difficulties ] disappeared. our courts dealt with that. i do think we have some precedence that enable us to say that this fight needs to be carried out in the legal framework and with respect to human rights that would

guarantee that we don't keep feeding this monster. thank you very much, mr. president. >> thank you your excellency nestor kirchner. i will say that we be respectful of time constraints here. i now turn it over to the excellency kagame president of rwanda. >> dished ladies and gentlemen.

terrorism has been a reality in africa and across the world for decades. and it continues to be . in some regions it has gotten worse. we must defeat these terrorists through concrete action and cooperation. one year ago this week as we know we remember the attack on the westgate mall in nairobi that claimed dozens of lives. >> hello, again, everyone, this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm tony harris with a look at today's top stories. right now president obam obama{^l" ^ling president

we have been following the united >> the military command in liberia to support civilian efforts across the region. today, that command is up and it is running. commanders on the ground in liberia, personnel, equipment, and supplies. we're working with senegal to set up an air bridge to get workers and medical supplies into west africa faster, and setting up a field hospital, which will be staff bid personnel from the u.s. health services, and a training facility where we're getting ready to train thousands of health workers from around the world. sending supplies and information kits to hundreds of thousands of families to protect themselves, together with our partners, we'll quickly build new treatment units across liberia, guinea and sierra leone, where thousands will be able to receive care. meanwhile, in just the past

week, more countries and organizations have stepped up their efforts, and so have the united nations. the secretary general has a new u.n.nition for ebola response last week, will bring all of the u.n.'s resources to bear in fighting the epidemic, and we thank you for your leadership. so this is all progress, and it is encouraging. but i want us to be clear, we're not moving fast enough. we're not doing enough. right now, everybody has the best of intentions, but people are not putting in the kinds of resources that are necessary to put a stop to this epidemic. there's still a significant gap between where we are and where we need to be. we know from experience that the response to an outbreak of this magnitude has to be fast.

and it has to be sustained. it is a marathon, but you have to run it like a sprint. and that's only possible if everybody chips in, and every organization takes this seriously. everybody here has to do more. international organizations have to move faster and cut through red tape and mobilize partners on the ground as only they can. more nations need to contribute critical assets and capabilities. whether it's air transport or medical evacuation, or healthcare work, or equipment or treatment. more foundations can tap into the networks of support they have, to raise funds and awareness, more businesses, especially those who already have a presence in the region, can quickly provide their own expertise and resources, from access to critical supply chains to tell communications, and more citizens of all

nations can call on their leaders to act. so everybody can do something, and that's why we're here today. even as we meet the urgent threat of ebola, nations need to stop future biological threats before we erupt into full-blown crises. tomorrow in washington, 40 nations are going to advance our security agenda, and we're interested in working with any country that shares this commitment. just to emphasize this again, when i was down at the cdc, and perhaps this has already been discussed, but i want to emphasize this, the outbreak is such where at this point, more people will die. but the slope of the curve, how

fast we can arrest the spread of this disease, how quickly we can contain it, if we move fast, even if imperfectly, then that could mean the difference between 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 deaths versus hundreds of thousands or even 1 million deaths. so this is not one where there should be a lot of wrangling and people waiting to see who else is doing what. everybody has to move fast in order for us to make a difference. and if we do, we'll save hundreds of thousands of lives. stopping ebola is a priority for the united states. i said that this is as important of a national

security priority for my team as anything else out there. we'll do our part and continue to lead, but this has to be a priority for everybody else. we can not do this alone. we don't have the capacity to do all of this by ourselves. we don't have enough health workers by ourselves. we can build the infrastructure and the architecture to get help in, but we're going to need others to contribute. my fellow leaders from liberia, sierra leone and guinea, the people of west africa, to the heroic health workers on the ground as we speak, putting themselves at risk, i want you to know that you're not alone. we're working urgently to get you the help you need. and we last name stop or relent until we hold this epidemic once and for all. so i want to thank you for your efforts that you made. but i hope that i'm properly communicating a sense of urgency here. do not stand by, thinking that

somehow because of what we have done, that it's taken care. it's not. if we don't take care of this now, we are going to see the fallout effects, and secondary effects from this that will have ramifications for a long time. above and beyond the lives that will have been lost. i urge all of you, particularly those who have direct access to your heads of state, to make sure that they're making this a top priority in the next several weeks and months. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> president obama at the united nations, and of course ambassador, susan rice, and john kerry, and the president is urging the nations there to stop the ebola virus. the president said that right now, the world is not moving fast enough, and more people are going to die, but the key question is whether the world moves fast, if imperfectly, and

there are only 10 or 20,000 people who die, or whether there's wrangling and perhaps as many as 1 million people die. and the president underscored that the united states does not have the capacity to address ebola alone. they can build some of the infrastructure and transportation to get supplies in there, and money and aid workers and doctors, and people on the ground to deal with the crisis. there has been a lot of news this morning regarding -- first, regarding the u.s. airstrikes in syria. the pentagon just had a briefing and it's still going on now. where the department of defense announced that the latest targets of islamic state in syria, where a series of oil refineries that have fallen into hands, and announcing that the latest round of strikes, 16 different missions, ten of them, the majority were carried out by bombers in saudi arabia,

and united arab ameris. [ audio difficulties ] randall, what are we expecting? >> well, we expect that the president [ audio difficulties ] back in february, he had to be rushed to the hospital. and it was a heart complication, but he's fine, but he's looking at doing other

things, and spending more time with his teenage son. eric holder, the u.s. attorney general, [ audio difficulties ] to find out more about his future when the announcement is made this afternoon. >> that's right, the announce. coming at 4:30 this afternoon, from the dining room of the white house, and we'll have more this afternoon with the pentagon. [ audio difficulties ] oh, i love pet day. you guys are just two big softies. cut it out... look at these guys. oh, you... [laughter] ohhh! they just unlocked our channels for a week! ohhh...and... they just made it free.

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necessary to the united nations. it is inside story. >> hello, i'm ray suarez. did an american aircraft appear