U.S. Mulls Military in Syria; NC City Fights Meals for Homeless
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.</s>BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour now. I'm Brianna Keilar, in for Brooke Baldwin. And let's talk about Syria. You may have heard him right here just a short time ago, Secretary of State John Kerry blasting Syria. He said that there's no credible doubt that the Assad regime used chemical weapons against its own people. He said the Syrian government will not walk away unpunished.</s>KERRY: President Obama has also been in close touch with leaders of our key allies, and the president will be making an informed decision about how to respond to this indiscriminate use of chemical weapons. But make no mistake. President Obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world's most heinous weapons against the world's most vulnerable people.</s>KEILAR: A very strong statement from John Kerry, but no clear actions outlined, no timetable attached. The U.S. Navy -- or, I should say, the U.S. now has four Naval destroyers in the Mediterranean within firing range of Syria. And Hala Gorani is joining us from Atlanta. It looks as though we're talking about a military response. The expectation obviously will be, as we've seen in other places like Libya, would be that the U.S. would not do this alone.</s>HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No. And we're hearing from France and the United Kingdom. They're saying quite clearly, in fact, Brianna, that they agree with the U.S. that chemical weapons were used. They agree that there should be a response. There are many phone calls that have taken place over the last 48 to 72 hours as we've heard. We know as well as far as the international response is concerned, Moscow once again, is very clearly and adamantly stating it does not side with the United States, the U.K and France with regards to Syria. Vladimir Putin spoke with David Cameron, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. We understand from that phone call that Vladimir Putin said there's no proof that the regime was behind this chemical attack and that there, in fact, is no proof that a chemical attack at this stage until we get results from an investigation took place. There is a division. Now the big question, Brianna, is what will the response be? We've heard from Chris Lawrence in his reporting at the Pentagon that most likely this would be, perhaps, take the form, if it does happen, of a cruise missile attack on some very strategically important locations in Syria. It could be runways. It could be depots where chemical arms are stored or that kind of thing. One thing I think people need to remember is this. There is no appetite from Western countries for intervention in Syria. They had hoped against hope until now that some sort of transition of power could take place. More and more as this war progressed, it became obvious, Brianna, that was not going to happen. Now I think rather reluctantly some sort of action will take place. What it is, though, still unclear.</s>KEILAR: You certainly get that sense, Hala, as he's talking about what's happened there being a moral obscenity.</s>GORANI: If I could add one thing, one of the latest poll numbers we've seen is that here in the United States, Americans do not want their country involved in Syria at all by a lot more than half of respondents. Only a tiny fraction of Americans when asked say they believe the U.S. should be involved militarily. As you know, there's no political pressure on President Obama to do anything with Syria right now.</s>KEILAR: Moral pressure seemed to be what John Kerry was saying today. Hala Gorani, thank you so much. A North Carolina city ordinance is pitting charitable work against the law. A group of Christian volunteers passes out free breakfast each week to more than 70 homeless people in downtown Raleigh. Sounds great, doesn't it? But Love Wins Ministry says it was banned by local police from giving out food in a park, and it was told that if it attempted to distribute food volunteers would be arrested. CNN is waiting to hear back from the police department, but Mayor Nancy McFarland weighed in on her Facebook page saying, "We will be taking this issue into the Law and Public Safety Committee immediately to bring all the partners together for a transparent discussion to work out a plan to address the questions surrounding this issue." And to address those questions, let me bring in criminal defense attorney Darren Kavinoky and former prosecutor, Faith Jenkins. Thanks for being with me, guys. Faith, I want to start with you. This group says it's been doing this for six years. It's not like it just started and got in trouble for doing it. Why would the police just now decide to enforce this ordinance?</s>FAITH JENKINS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: And the group is obviously addressing a need in the community in Raleigh. On the weekends, according to this group, there's no public place that the homeless can go and actually get meals. There are no meals provided by the government. So the group is going to the park where the homeless gather and they give out meals on the sidewalk. Now there's an ordinance in place that says you have to have a permit, and the permit requires certain types of inspections in terms of the food that you're providing to give to the homeless. This group believes it's because of some reorganization, revitalization of the park that the city wants to do. They want to sort of move the homeless away from this area. And that's the real reason why this ordinance is now all of a sudden being implemented.</s>KEILAR: OK. Darren, to you now, because let's talk about this ordinance. It says no individuals or group shall serve or distribute meals or food of any kind in or on any city park or greenway unless such distribution is pursuant to a permit issued by the parks recreation and greenway director. OK, so, those permits according to the nonprofit cost 800 bucks. Do you think this group has a legitimate case against this ordinance?</s>DARREN KAVINOKY, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I think they do. This story, Brianna, is just one of many reasons why people learn to hate lawyers. Because the government has a legitimate interest in regulating activities that happen on city property. From a liability standpoint, there are concerns. They certainly have the right to have people have permits to undertake activity there. The city needs to know what's going on on city property at all times. And it's that permit system that allows them to do it. The problem is, when people feel like -- like we're dealing with a disenfranchised population already or that this is done for some kind of an ulterior motive to just engage in beatification and moving the homeless people who are so desperately in need out of sight and out of mind, obviously skepticism can brew. So hopefully there really will be a transparent conversation where the legitimate need of this very hurting population can be addressed.</s>KEILAR: Certainly. 800 bucks for doing a good deed just kind of seems like a steep price there. Stand by. I want to ask you about another controversial case, a 10- year-old girl battling cancer has chosen to stop her chemotherapy. Her parents want her on holistic medications, instead. Her doctors are fighting to keep the treatments going. We'll chat about that, next.