ISIS Continues Advance into Iraq; JFK Airport Begins Enhanced Screening for Passengers Possibly Infected with Ebola
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Deborah Feyerick, thanks for joining us. We begin this afternoon with breaking news in the battle against ISIS. The militants are still advancing on two fronts in both Iraq and Syria. The situation is so desperate in Anbar province right outside Baghdad that leaders there are asking Iraq's central government to request U.S. ground forces to intervene and save Anbar right now. They claim that ISIS has seized control of 80 percent of the province, and without help they say collapse is imminent. If that happens, ISIS is will control a huge area from Iraq into Syria where the city of Kobani is also under siege and could fall. On the allied front U.S. and allied warplanes are hitting targets in Syria and Iraq since yesterday, striking a command-and-control facility, a staging building, a fighting position, and two small units north of Kobani. Warplanes killed more than 30 is fighters west of Ramadi earlier today. Let's bring in Erin McPike. She joins us live from the White House. Erin, Anbar says it is being overwhelmed by 10,000 ISIS fighters. It is asking for American boots on the ground. The air strikes, why aren't they targeting more forces, more troops, to try to stall their advance? What's the White House say?</s>ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Deb, again, these cries for American ground troops are coming from officials in Anbar province, local officials, not coming from the centralized government in Baghdad. The U.S. has been working closely with the Iraqi government on those air strikes, and they're continuing those air strikes. There were more air strikes overnight. The air strikes continue in both Iraq and Syria. But what we're hearing from the White House is simply, as they said before this is going to be a long fight. They know ISIS is very brutal, has very brutal tactics, and they warned at the beginning that this could go on for several years. And so right now what they're simply doing is digging in and sticking to the strategy that they laid out so far, Deb.</s>FEYERICK: So, if Anbar falls, ISIS will essentially be on Baghdad's doorstep. If Kobani falls, and we heard from one analyst who said Kobani really is really just a little bit sort of optics. But that means is will be on Turkey's doorstep. What is the sense of urgency? Is the White House reevaluating what it wants to do, what kind of resources it's going to be using in that area?</s>MCPIKE: I think what we're seeing is that it's giving the Obama administration the ability to apply more pressure to Turkey. And just yesterday Turkey committed to training the Syrian rebels, to giving Turkish troops so that they could train those Syrian rebels. And it may be that Turkey has to commit ground troops. That is under consideration. They have not done that just yet. But we did hear from Deputy National Security Adviser to the President Tony Blinken yesterday, and he said essentially they need to have troops. And by that he was referring to the Iraqis and the Syrian rebels forces, but also essentially saying that Turkey needs to help out in a greater way, Deb.</s>FEYERICK: Yes, one of the -- Turkey, meanwhile, is saying, look, we'll help you as long as you a, create a buffer zone and, b, continue the fight against Syrian President Bashar al Assad. They're not particularly friendly with the Kurds. All right, Erin McPike at the White House, thank you so much.</s>MCPIKE: Of course.</s>FEYERICK: And now to the Ebola crisis. It is roughly 4,500 miles from Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, to New York City, but a deadly virus has shortened the distance and expanded the fears in an area of the city that knows the human toll of Ebola much too well.</s>FEYERICK: At this small colorful market women from West Africa sell native products like palm tree oil and sweet potato leaves. The women say it supposedly replenishes blood. They talk about Ebola. Yet this is not West Africa. It's New York City. With roughly 10,000 immigrants Staten Island's Little Liberia is one of the largest Liberian communities outside of Africa. Many fled during the country's brutal 14-year civil war. Now they face a different war.</s>ORETHA BESTMAN YATES, PRESIDENT, LIBERIAN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: Ebola is worse than a civil war. With a civil war people could run to different African countries to seek refuge. With Ebola you cannot run nowhere. You got to sit and die.</s>FEYERICK: Oretha Bestman Yates heads the Liberian Community Association here. She says people regularly go back to see family or welcome those who come visit. In the last few months things have changed.</s>YATES: You tell someone from Liberia to get away from you.</s>FEYERICK: Following the death of the first Ebola patient in the U.S., Yates says there's more tension among immigrants now fearful about going to hospitals.</s>YATES: People are not being open about this whole thing. They are trying to keep it to themselves.</s>FEYERICK: That is a problem. Being able to identify symptoms quickly is crucial. At nearby Staten Island University Hospital which serves the Liberian community doctors, nurses, and administrators have no illusions. Ebola may come here.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First thing they come in, have you traveled? If yes within the last 21 days, where have you traveled?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it a risk? Of course, it's a risk. Of course, it's a risk. Do I think it's any more of a risk here than anywhere else? Well, maybe New York City, but not because there are West Africans here, because there are so many planes flying in.</s>FEYERICK: Dr. Brahim Ardolic is at the hospital's emergency medicine department. A decontamination room accessed from the emergency bay outdoors leads straight into an isolation room. So the patient never has to go anywhere into the general hospital. They are completely isolated. Isolation rooms are designed to keep infectious diseases like Ebola contained.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do have a plan in place where we'd actually be running a dirty emergency department and a clean emergency department, if that were to happen.</s>FEYERICK: And doctors and nurses are briefed every day on everything about Ebola. Do you feel that you're getting everything you need from the CDC or from the health department in terms of how you are supposed to respond to Ebola?</s>DR. OTAR DATIASHVILI, STATEN ISLAND UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: Yes, more so from our department. They kind of channel the information to us so we have a pretty good idea what to do.</s>FEYERICK: The hospital is prepared to expect the worst, while little Liberia hopes it will somehow be spared.</s>FEYERICK: Everyone watching and waiting. Well, still ahead, a rally in St. Louis today is bringing up familiar emotions, distrust between the community and law enforcement. A live report next.