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tv   Wolf  CNN  October 27, 2014 10:00am-11:01am PDT

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happening now, she's getting out twb nurse kaci hickox said her basic rights were violated when she was quarantined against her will. but after a heated war of words, the nurse who has been tested ebola free is being released. from a wisconsin food packing company to fighting on the front lines against isis, you're going to meet one american who left everything behind to join the kurds in
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syria. and could it be, another clinton versus bush battle. what just happened that makes this race look a little bit more likely. hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington, 6:00 p.m. in rome. thanks for joining us. the white house today responding to lots of ebola questions and taking direct aim at mandatory quarantine orders in new york, new jersey and illinois. our white house correspondent michelle kosinski is standing by. i know there's a briefing about to begin, the white house press secretary will be answer reporter's questions. set the scene for us. tell us what's going on. >> reporter: it's going to be front and center in the briefing. this is going to be what everybody wants to ask about since there's been so much change in the last 24 hours. the white house has not weighed
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in again on what these six states are doing above and beyond what the cdc is doing in response to health care workers coming back and dealing with this situation at home now. the white house has said, they sort of said a lot in just a few words as happens sometimes. they'll letting the governors know that the white house has concerns, as they put it, about the unintended consequences of policies that quote, aren't grounded in science. so in es essence without criticizing any particular governor, a slam on the actions they've taken. as is these actions a slam, you might say, on the policies so far that the federal government has enacted or not enacted. we had these six states, four of which have democratic governors. and they haven't directly criticized the federal government necessarily either or the white house in what it has done. but you hear people like new york's governor cuomo saying,
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well, if you're going to criticize what this state is doing, saying that it's too much, okay, i'll take that criticism. he also said that the white house hadn't put pressure on him at all to try to reverse what they've done over the weekend. so we're really seeing this evolve. and along those same lines, the white house is also saying that it too is looking at creating more guidelines for this situation. so it looks like once again we're going to see the response change. and it's changed over the last couple of weeks in response to criticism that's been out there. you know, we heard the questions over why don't you appoint an ebo ebola czar. first there was push back and then they did that a short time later. questions over why not travel conditions and now why not do something more about health care workers doing returning from the ebola infected areas.
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>> as soon as the briefing starts, let us know. we'll have coverage of that. michelle, thank you. let's go up to speed on some other major developments in the ebola crisis. a nurse kwrn teend is being discharged from a new jersey hospital. kaci hickox will be lay lowed to return to her home in maine. officials say she'll be under quarantine as a higher risk individual. hickox had been confined to a tent. she blasted the new jersey governor chris christie over the mandatory quarantine. >> the first thing i would say to governor christie is that i wish that he would be more careful about his statements related to my medical condition. i am not, as he said, quote unquote, obviously ill. i am completely elthy and with no symptoms. and if he knew anything about ebola, he would know that a
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symptomatic people are not infectious. i understand that people feel like they have a risk. and i think we can have a conversation about what further measures might look like. >> in other developments, a five-year-old boy who recently returned from the so-called ebola hot zone in west africa is being tested if are the disease at bellevue hospital. test results should be available within about 12 hours. and a new york doctor who treated patients in new guinea is in stable condition today. he's receiving a blood transfusion from the ebola survivor, nancy writebol. >> oversees, u.s. army major general and ten other troops are under controlled monitoring, that's what it's called, control monitoring for ebola. they returned from west africa to their mitt call base in italy
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over the weekend. let's go to our political correspondent barbara starr. what do officials mean by that term controlled monitoring. >> that means quarantined to the rest of us. they're now in a separate building on their military base. they cannot go home. they can no see their families. this will be for 2 is days. all of them arsymptomatic. now additional troops coming out of west africa, several dozen more expected to land in italy later tonight also will go into this quarantine status. this puts the military in a very awkward position. it's putting people in quarantine just as the white house and administration are saying it is not necessary for people who are showing in symptoms. the joint chiefs of staff is deciding whether to recommend to
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chuck hagel as to whether all people should face mandatory quarantine when they come back to the united states or their home base is overseas. and the pentagon has authorized up to 4,000 troops to go to west africa, about 900 are there now. it could be a massive personal disruption for so many troops and their families. wolf. >> so basically that's a huge decision they have to make. eventually they've authorized as many as you point out, 4,000 u.s. troops to head over to west africa to deal with the crisis and many of them are coming from bases in the united states and europe and elsewhere. would they be quarantined on their home bases for 21 days or would they be quarantined in west africa before leaving? >> at the moment that's another question that is simply not clear. vi to tell you the pentagon today struggling to find answers for the news media for all of these questions. for the troops returning to
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europe, what's becoming clear is those countries, italy, spain and germany, are very leery of just having the troops come back. there is concern in their countries with their governments and their communities. so it appears to be starting at least for quarantine procedure for troops going back to their bases in europe. those coming back to the united states, we don't have good answers about any of that, wolf. the pentagon openly admitting it is really not sure at this point how it is going to proceed with all of these issues. >> do we know how many of those u.s. troops -- let's say 4,000. and i see josh earnest walking in. let me listen briefly, all of us, and then we'll get back to you, barbara. >> sure. a quick announcement and then we'll get to questions. we discussed at some length on friday the president's meeting with the advanced manufacture partnership steering committee. so i thought i would bring a little information about it.
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just to let you know exactly what it is. i learned a little bit myself as i looked into this. the president's advanced manufacturing steer committee is part of a council of 19 ceos labor leaders and university presidents assembled by the president with the recognition that -- >> on ebola, barbara, of those 4,000 -- barbara starr if you're still there, i'm just trying to get some clarification -- unfortunately, barbara is no longer with us. the question i want to ask is of those 4,000 u.s. military personnel who will be heading over and hundreds are already there, building tents and facilities to treat ebola victims, how many of them will be in direct contact with 0 ebola patients, how many doctors, how many nurses among those 4,000 u.s. military personnel heading over to west africa, mostly in liberia we're told. they want to stop it there so the problem doesn't develop
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elsewhere. how many other countries are sending troops, sophisticated personnel to those three countries to deal with this crisis. obviously lots of questions going on. the united states about to get more deeply involved. but how many of these u.s. troops will be coming back. how many of the u.s. troops will be coming back and going into 21-day quarantine periods once they come back. those who dealt directly with the ebola patients or those who were simply buildings tents, hospitals, other facilities to try to get a handle on what's going on. that's where we stand. the white house press secretary getting ready to answer some questions on ebola. there are lots of questions to be asked because there's lots of confusion. let's listen in to the questions now. >> we've had over the past couple of days a number of
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states, meaning new york and new jersey, are taking steps to quarantine returning travelers from the infected ebola region. but more significantly today the pentagon is applying those same kind of quarantine measures to troops, including general darrell williams who has returned fr to italy. does the white house support the pentagon move and does the fact that these various states and now the pentagon are taking these steps suggest that the administration has been -- the steps that it has been taken have been inadequate so far given that these other entities are taking these more aggressive positions. >> there's a lot i want to respond to. the first is, the department of defense has not issued a policy related to their workers having
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spent time in west africa. i know there was a decision made by one office near the department of defense but it duds not reflect a department-wide policy. i would refer you to the department of defense for where that policy stands and what consequences that could have for their personnel. the second thing is the announcement from new york and new jersey that was followed by announcements from a couple of other states was specifically related to health care workers, not just returning -- just not people who were returning from the region and the distinction is important because it continues to be the view of this administration that stopping this ebola outbreak in its tracks in west africa is critically important to our national security and to the safety and health of american citizens. as we've seen many, many times, the likelihood of a wide spread outbreak in this country of
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ebola is exceedingly low. but the only way that we can entirely eliminate that risk is to stop this ebola outbreak in its tracks in west africa. and in order to succeed in stopping this outbreak in west africa, we're going to need doctors and nurses traveling to west africa to treat ebola patients. sadly, tragically even, this ebola outbreak in west africa has occurred in countries that have little to no modern medical infrastructure. and that is the reason that we have seen this ebola outbreak spiral so quickly, in a way that has claimed so many lives. so we want to make sure that whatever policies are put in place in this country to protect the american public do not serve as a disincentive to doctors and nurses from this country volunteering to travel to west after coto tre-- africa to trea
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ebola patients. first, it reflects a commitment from a doctor or a nurse to travel to west africa, reflect as generosity of spirit and a concern for common humanity that is worthy of praise. it also reflect as commitment to the ideal that stopping the ebola outbreak in west africa is the only way we can eliminate the risk to the american people from the ebola virus. and i guess this is the last thing i want to say about this, jim, is you will hear from the cdc later today some additional information about guidelines they believe should be in place as it relates to protocols for returning health care workers. or health care workers who are returning from west africa. we'll have additional guidelines from cdc. they'll make that announcement later this afternoon. but ultimately it's the responsibility, in fact the
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authority is vested with state and local officials to make decisions about how best to protect their visits. >> doesn't that kind of create a patch work of policies that can confuse the public, might even encourage people to play the system, lie about what they've encountered when they've been in west africa when you don't have an overarching federal policy that rules? >> well, i mean, we were talking about this a little bit earlier, jim, anticipating your question. in some ways you could take this up with james madison. we have a federal system in this country in which states are given significant authority for gochbing their constituents. that is certainly true when it comes to subly safety and public health. at the same time you've seen a strong working relationship between states across the
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country and the federal government. what we believe is important, and this is shared with governments across the country, is that these kiendz of policies should be driven by science. and the best scientific advice that is available. we have experts at the centers for disease control that have been dealing with ebola outbreaks for decades now. there is a body of medical science and research that should guide these policies. and we're going to work closely with the states and locality to do exactly that. the best evidence i can point to demonstrate this ongoing correlation is this morning's announcement that kaci hickox will be discharged from the hospital in new jersey and will be traveling via private transportation too her home in maine. >> let's take the case of the pentagon. you've talked about how the amendment has been aware and has acted on the ebola outbreak
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since march. and then shouldn't these -- shouldn't the policy had been in place when you decided to send troops to west africa? shouldn't how you were going to treat those returning troops been a matter of protocol then rather than what appears to be being made up on the fly? >> well, jim, the commitment of department of defense resources is something that the president announced just last month. this is an ongoing by the department of defense to use their expertise in west africa to assist the first responders who are treating the ebola patients. we have been clear that the role of american military personnel will not be to render medical assistance to the people of west africa. instead it's the logistical expertise will be deployed the assist the doctors and nurses
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and other experts from around the world who are responding to this. that was the commitment made by the president a month or so ago and we're already seeing important work being done in west africa by our military personnel. as needed they'll continue to put in place policies that they believe best protect members of the military and the members of the public back leer in the united states as well. >> is the white house concerned that the decision made by one commander officer is sending a mixed message to people about the need for these kinds of policies? >> no. we believe that -- i mean it's clear -- and if it wasn't clear before, it is now. that i've helped make it clear that the department of defense policy has not been settled and implemented yet. and they will ultimately -- that will be a decision that's driven by a variety of operational
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factors. what we are -- what this administration is working to do is to coordinate with state and local officials across the country to put in place the policies that scientific experts tell us are in the best interest of the american people. that's what we believe should guide the policy decisions that are made in this country. >> i'm confused, though, because we've known about this outbreak for some time. we're going to hear, as you say, from the cdc later today guidelines for protocols of returning medical workers and the pentagon, too, in the case of people who are being semi quarantined in italy. why weren't these kinds of decisions made earlier? >> i think what this reflects is a commitment by this administration to regularly review the guidelines that are in place to make sure that they, that they reflect what's necessary to protect the american people. we should not lose site of the fact that whatever guidelines and policy are put in place
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should not unduly burden the health care workers who are operating in west africa. they're putting themselves at risk to meet the needs of other people. that is a pretty remarkable show of charity. it also is an effort that is clearly in the best efforts of the american people. because we know that the only way to interlay eliminate the ebola virus to the american people is to stop the outbreak in west africa. there are americans using their own medical expertise in pursuit of that goal, these americans are heroes. and they commitment to their common man and to their country is one that should be respected. and we believe that we can both show them the respect that they have earned while also ensuring that we have protocols in place that protect the american people. >> one quick one on nitsa.
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did the white house have secondary thoughts to conduct the investigation? is the white house satisfied with nitsa's performance? >> i i can tell you that nitsa has been aggressive in responding to the defekictive a bags. there have been some issues that have cropped up around the announcement of the safety advisory last week. and the department of transportation ru view that has commenced is the right step to make sure that everyone is focused on learning from this situation and strengthening the response. >> this is something being led by the department of transportation. if you have a question about
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their review, i would refer to them. >> there you hear josh earnest, the white house press secretary trying to explain some confusion out there. what object u.s. military personnel when they come back from serve in west africa. will they be quarantined? won't they be quarantined? he seems to suggest this is still a work in progress. he's go to barbara starr, our pentagon correspondent. from what i understood, this is not a work in progress. what do you know? >> back on october 10th, the pentagon put out a multipage memo spelling out all of the rules for an all of the procedures and protocols for troops returning from the ebola mission in west africa. it set out minimum protection standards. what it says was there will be a 21-damon toring period when troops come home. if they're asymptomatic one no fever, show in signs of ebola, they will be allowed to return to work, go home, come home and
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resume their lives. their temperatures will be taken twice a day. that basic monitoring that we're familiar with now. what has happened this weekend is something very different. general williams, army two-star who was running the mission and his team came back and went to their home base in italy. they were put into quarantine. they are, at this point, asymptomatic. they show no signs of ebola. but general williams and his army team put into quarantine. right now the pentagon is taking a look at this. the joint chiefs of staff are looking at a recommendation that could put all u.s. troops returning from west africa into a 21-day quarantine period. no decisions have been made, we are told. but this is not what the administration by any measure really wants to see. that's why you're seeing some of this very awkward sensitive
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language across washington today because they're really not sure what they're going to do. and right now defense secretary chuck hagel may have to make a decision about whether or not to put all troops into quarantine even if they show no signs of ebola. >> the memorandum is very detailed. i read the memorandum, obviously you did as well. there's one sentence that stands out. all d.o.d. personnel moved out of the theater, that would be in west africa, due to elevated exposure risks will be quarantined for 21 days at a d.o.d. facility designated to monitor signs and symptoms of ebola. that's specific for those u.s. troops specifically who have been exposed, as they say, due to elevated exposure risks. >> exactly, wolf. they're going to, just like in the civilian health care system, they're going to assess them on the basis of their risk of
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exposure. general williams and his team were way out on the front line in west africa. they didn't hole up in some hotel. they went out there, saw everything that needed to be seen all over liberia. but they took protection measures. we know that. we know they are taking all of the precautions under cdc protocols. so they didn't come into any contact with the bodily fluids of anyone who was suffering from ebola. that would not have happened. and they remain asymptomatic. elevated risks. there are some personnel out there that potentially could come into contact. they will go into a more quarantined, more monitored environment. but what we're talking about now, we have no reason, no one has told us that general williams or his team were at any elevated risk. and in fact, several more dozen are expected to land back in italy, perhaps as soon as this evening. they too will go into
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quarantine. the pentagon says it's an abundance of caution. that is what they're telling us. that is what we know. a lot of questions, though, on this day, why the pentagon is going through the route of quarantine on a day when the administration is of course is politically and from a health care perspective so sensitive to that very question. >> it sounds like there might be a distinction, there might be some sort of standard for military personnel as opposed to civilians who have worked with ebola patients coming back to the united states. we're going to get more on this very sensitive issue for the obama administration for the d.o.d., department of defense, new york and new jersey as well. let's take a quick break. much more of the breaking news right after this. and even piano tuners were just as simple? thanks to angie's list, now it is. we've made hiring anyone from a handyman
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welcome back to you viewers in united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. the release of a nurse from quarantine in new jersey doesn't erase some of the legal questions raised by this case. let's bring in a law professor. a jonathon, thanks very much for coming in. she claims kaci hickox, the nurse, held in quarantine, now she's released, being flown on a private charter plane back to her home in maine. she believes her lawyers suggested that her civil rights were violated. were they in. >> i think they may have been. the state is on shaky ground in
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the policy it put 0 out, the assertion that it can hold people for 21 days or more on the mere chance that they could develop e be lap. the problem is this is an area that is dangerously vague on a legal basis. that is, the supreme court -- back into 1824 was referring to quarantines as being a state power. but the actual standard, still if you can believe it, remains a work in progress. the courts have been all over the field on when you can confine or detain someone as a civil matter. but what the particular new york and new jersey are suggesting is they have the discretion to hold someone who has not developed any symptoms of ebola for a very long period of time. and holding them is equivalent to incarceration. >> but the other argument that the states presumably will make or the federal government if they want to go down this road is yes there are civil rights, but the public's interest, the
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public health for example super seeds that. >> well the problem here is that the politics of the scandal are getting ahead of the science. the politicians ride the waves of hysteria and try to stay out front. you have a lot of experts who are saying this isn't based in any science that we know of we haven't really faced this, wolf, since about a hundred years ago when we dealt with spanish flu. we had a short type of crisis. we dealt with drug resistant tb. but a good example of that is that was challenged in court and the states had a tough time of it. the judges said they were not comfortable saying you could grab someone and hold them indefi indefini indefinitely. >> so when the white house says -- we just heard, you know what, this is an issue that the states are going to have to
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decide down the road. what do you make of that in. >> i was chuckling a little bit. this administration has fought state authority in the health care area where they barely acknowledge state authority and now they seem eager to say this is a state issue. they're right on this occasion. the constitution makes one reference to state inspections but it's always been accepted since the 1800s that quarantines and inspections are state issues. the government based its on the commerce clause that people traveling between states becomes a federal issue. i think the tune will change if the white house wants to invoke its jurisdiction. you'll see a 180-turn very quickly on that issue. >> we'll see if it makes it way up to the supreme court for a definitive decision count the road. so should health care workers returning from west africa to the united states, should they be the norm, should they be inspected, should they
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mandatory kwarn teens for health care workers returning from the so-called ebola hot zone has set up a a political
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and medical debate. former chief medical officer of the department of homeland security, currently the associate deen of the st. louis university of college of public health. dr. garza, thanks so much for joining us. i guess the bottom line question is, do you think there should be automatic kwarn teens for any health care professionals, doctors, nurses, others returning from the so-call ebola infected hot zone if they were dealing directly with ebola patients there? >> i think if it depends on what you mean by automatic quarantine. i think we see on one end of the spectrum, the decisions made by new york and new jersey which was, you know, we take these people and put them in extreme isolation. that's one end of the fence. the other end of the fence could be a self-imposed quarantine where the medical works who have been at high risk do self monitoring and are able to report in to public health officials.
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there's a wide span between those two and i think the public health folks and the policy oriented folks have to get together and come up with a reasonable plan to benefits everybody, that benefits civil liberties as well as protects the public. >> as you heard from the white house, there's a consideration now being given what to do with those nearly 4,000 u.s. military personnel that will be in liberia in that ebola hot zone helping to deal with the crisis. once they come back, should they be forced to go into 21-day quarantine periods on their bases. >> thauld shay not go through it? should there be one category for those directly involved with the ebola patients and another category for people indirectly working with the folks other there? >> as you know i'm an army reservist so i can't comment publicly on that. there's different risk.
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people who are not directly involved with ebola patients are at different risks. so coming up with a measured approach based on risk is very important for the pentagon to figure out at this time. >> we do know this one physician who just came back working with doctors without borders, he's got ebola and a that's obviously a source of great concern. the nurse who has now been released from quarantine on her way back to her home in maine, i guess she's allowed to stay in her own and sort of self quarantined. she was dealing with patients over there. a lot of americans are worried that these are the people that directly work with ebola patients that should at a minimum be self quarantined. >> i think that could be a reasonable approach. so again you see the two opposite ends of the spectrum. a person what was diagnosed with ebola and one who has exposure
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but doesn't have active disease. so how do you come up with a policy that fits both of those spectrum. let's not forget that dr. spencer was still at no risk to anybody as long as he was arks symptomatic. and one other things i think to bring up is the idea of trust for volunteer quarantine. you know, i think physicians and nurses are very well -- they very well understand the risks that come to them as well as putting the public at risk. and it's also within their own self interest to report problems as soon as they occur. so i think the notion of it being involuntary because we don't trust these individuals is on a little bit of shaky ground kwiek frankly. >> always good to get your perspective. thanks for joining us. >> thank you, sir. >> he's with the st. louis university college of public health. police say the man who carried out the attack against parliament made a video of himself shortly before he shot and killed a canadian shol jer
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in cold blood. we'll have more on that coming up.
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in ottawa canada, the plan who carried out the attack last week made a video of himself before he shot and killed a canadian soldier in cold blood. neither the video or the contents have yet been released. the police did comment on the shooter's motive pps they said, and i'm quoting, they've identified persuasive evidence that michael za half ba bowe was driven by political motives. he was killed after he stormed the parliament building. let's bring in tom fuentes. we don't know the details of the video, we don't know its contents. but we know that very often when some of these jihadists come out on a suicide mission, they do record a video in advance. >> right. essentially it's an electronic
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manifesto of putting out why he wanted to do what he did. >> they also say they're looking to try to find not just the motive but the money, as much as they can to make sure that he wasn't simply an individual inspired by a terror organization, but he didn't necessarily have any direct logistical contacts with others. >> right. that effort goes on every day by the canadian authorities, the u.s. authorities, our allies around the world to determine terrorists transmitting, and as we know, isis has a huge piggyback of money from the oil they sell illegally to the banks that they've overtaken in mosul. they actually pay a salary to the jihadists that show up and give them money each month for fighting. they have an enormous amount of money. the difficulty would be to transmit it around the world to
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support terrorism. >> they have hundreds of millions of dollars, if not a billion dollars, money that they stole from some of the huge banks in mosul, the second largest city in iraq, plus some of the money that were funneled in from the supporters of isis for whatever reason. they were getting a lot of money and they were able to pay soldiers in iraq, for example, saddam hussein's former military to come serve in the isis military. >> plus i don't haventhey don'ta huge amount of military equipment because they stole us. >> isis has tanks, armed personnel carriers were missiles, launchers, all sorts of weapons. what is the u.s. learning from what happened in canada last week? >> we're learning that it's just about unstoppable. you have thousands 0 people from around the world watching the
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videos, listening to the etiology, seeing this message that isis puts out that you don't have to be a soldier here. you don't have to learn thou make a bomb or do anything sophisticated. drive your car, run somebody over. grab a knife, cut their head off. grab a hatchet, anything at your disposal. in this case if you happen to have a firearm, fine. that's just about unstoppable ahead of time. in hindsight we can go back. if we have the metadata to go to see who the person has been in contact with over the past couple of years to identify the link chart of what's going on with that group. but that's not easy. we're always balancing how much data can the government collect, how long can they store it for versus civil liberties. >> it's sad to think that someone like myself who grew up
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in buffalo, new york, that unfortunately they're going to have to tighten security along the u.s./canadian border to make it more difficult for people to go back and forth out of those concerns. thanks very much. coming up, a 28-year-old's amazing journey from working in a meat packing company in wisconsin to mighting against isis in syria. this is kathleen. setting up the perfect wedding day starts with her minor arthritis pain, and two pills. afternoon arrives and feeling good, but her knee pain returns. that's two more pills. the evening's event brings laughter, joy, and more pain. what's that, like six pills today? yeah. .i could take two aleve for all day relief. really? for my arthritis pain, i now choose aleve. 2 pills. all day strong. all day long.
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the end of an era in afghanistan. a ceremony over the weekend ended 13 years of the british involvement. both the massive camps in southwestern afghanistan were turned over to the country's military. just hours later in northeast of afghanistan taliban fighters killed as many as seven people in an attack on a court building. in iraq, isis attack killed more than a shia militia fighters. that attack happened south of baghdad. in syria troops battling isis have added an american to their ranks. ivan watson has the story. >> reporter: armed men are a common sight here in kurdish controlled northern syria. a country embroiled in a vicious civil war. but one of the gunmen in this truck is not like the others. how do people react to you when
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they see you and realize you're from the u.s.? >> they ask me. >> reporter: jordan is a 28-year-old former u.s. army soldier from wisconsin. for the last month he's also been a volunteer fighter in the kurdish militia known here as the wpg. >> i got in contact with the wpg on facebook, and i prayed about it and for about a month or two and just really soul searched is this what i want to do. and eventually, you know, decided to do it. >> reporter: during his two years in the army he never once saw combat or deployment overseas. but soon after arriving here in syria, he says he ended up in a battle against isis. >> the second day in i got hit by a mortar in a fight.
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>> reporter: while recovering from shrapnel wounds he went to work online. recruiting more foreigners to help the wpg fight against isis. >> i had from eastern europe, western are europe, canada, australia, u.s., you name it they have been asking. isis has threatened all these countries i've named to push their agenda and the veterans of those nations that love their countries don't want to sit by while this is happening. >> reporter: back home in wisconsin, he used to work in a food packing company. >> other than that, we just hang out in here. >> reporter: now he lives in places like this former restaurant converted into a militia camp. what are the pictures? >> these are men that died fighting against isis. >> reporter: the wpg are lightly armed guerillas. >> is this your flap swrakt?
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-- jacket >> no this is a vest carrying ammunition. >> reporter: most people are running into battle without any armor. >> yes. >> reporter: u.s. law enforcement officials say it's illegal for an american to join a syrian militia. but he says being here, fighting isis alongside the kurds is a dream come true. you could not be further from home right now. >> yeah. i guess this is the other side of the world. all my life i wanted to be a soldier, i guess, growing up. so it fits well over here. >> ivan is joining us now from northern iraq. iv ivan, excellent reporting. is the u.s. government providing any direct assistance to this kurdish militia group the wpg? >> reporter: certainly did last week. they parachuted weapons and
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ammunition as well as medicine to wpg fighters in this syrian border town of kobani that they have been defending themselves for a month now in a siege against isis. that was a big policy shift for the u.s. military and the u.s. government to help this kurdish faction. >> because i know that the u.s. government, the state department lists at least the pkk, one of the kurdish groups as a terrorist organization, and some have suggested the wpg, the group that this american is fighting for was an offshoot, if you will, of the pkk and that's why it's illegal, according to u.s. law and you point this out in the piece for americans to go over there and volunteer to fight for this group. >> reporter: that's right. wpg fighters they insist they are a sister organization of the pkk, which the u.s. and europe list as a terrorist organization. the fact is as i met many fighters there who were former
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pkk fighters. they venerate the same man, the imprisoned leader of pkk hasn't has a lot of symbolism of the pkk and this kurdish movement has a history of changing their name to get around that terrorist designation. but they are very close to that organization and it seems that the u.s. is trying to fudge its own terrorism definition making the enemy of an enemy that being isis suddenly a friend. >> i know that so many of the kurds i've spoken to that are really upset that the state department still continues to list some of these kurdish militia groups as terrorist organizations and all the consequences that unfold from that. excellent explanation. we'll don't watch and you're absolutely right the fact that the u.s. is supplying the wpg with direct assistance represents a significant change. ivan watson reporting for us. that's it for me. thank you very much for
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watching. i'll be back at 5:00 p.m. for our international viewers a quick check of our headlines. in north america newsroom with brooke baldwin starts right at the top of the hour. you're driving along, having a perfectly nice day, when out of nowhere a pick-up truck slams into your brand new car. one second it wasn't there and the next second... boom! you've had your first accident. now you have to make your first claim. so you talk to your insurance company and... boom! you're blindsided for a second time. they won't give you enough money to replace your brand new car. don't those people know you're already shaken up?
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. hi there i'm brooke baldwin. here we go on this monday afternoon. the family of a 5-year-old boy in new york city is waiting to see if he'll become fifth case of ebola diagnosed in the united states. a couple of the other cases, remember they contracted ebola in west africa before flying to the states to be treated if you're curious about number there. this disease has set off a