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Obama Vows to Destroy ISIS; Intelligence Analysts Poring Over Two ISIS Videos for Details; Remarks on Obama's Speech from Estonia

Aired September 03, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Nick Robertson, stand by. It's now the top of the hour. I just want to reset for our viewers here in the United States and around the world. President Obama just delivered a major national security speech in Estonia, trying to assure the other NATO allies who are on the border with Russia that the U.S., the other NATO allies are committed to their security.

He also issued very tough words against the Russia, what he called, aggression in Ukraine, saying the U.S., the NATO allies will never recognize Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea or any other part of sovereign Ukraine. And he promised that the United States and the other NATO allies will strengthen the defense capabilities of the Ukrainian military.

David Gergen is watching what's going on, our senior political analyst. David, if it weren't just Ukraine and Russia, what's going on there, that would be a huge problem. The president is also dealing with another enormous problem, namely what ISIS, the terrorist group, is doing in Syria and Iraq. It seems that so many parts of the world right now are on fire and the president has got a lot on his agenda.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: He sure does, and NATO, when he arrives there this week. He is going to be talking about ISIS, trying to round up a coalition of NATO countries and then having his secretary of defense and secretary of state go on to the Middle East to round up more Arab nations to put together this coalition, but it's a little unclear.

He left a little ambiguous what the goal was today. He, for the first time that I can recall, said we that should degrade and defeat ISIS. But, a little later then he said he sort of had a softer approach. It sounded more like containment. Let me go back to the critical issue of today and that was I agree with you, Wolf, and with Bill Richardson. The president delivered a strong, powerful message to the Baltics. He gave them the reassurances, exactly the reassurances they needed to hear.

But I respectfully disagree that he sent a powerful message to Vladimir Putin. He had tough words, but when it came to actions, not so tough. On the issue of arming the Ukrainians, he was purposely ambiguous. One could not tell what he had in mind. He had nothing about strengthening sanctions that many wanted, he had nothing about trying to pull out of games, various World Cup games with the Russians, other symbolic kind of actions that one might have expected. There was nothing in here, when it came to defending nations that are far away from Ukraine and our NATO allies, he was stout, but when it came to defending a nation that is under direct attack by the Russians, he was murky.

BLITZER: What does it say to you, David, that the president of the United States needs to go to Estonia, one of the Baltic states, a NATO ally, and deliver this kind of message, saying don't worry, we believe in our article 5 of the NATO charter. That if one NATO ally is attacked, all of the other NATO allies will come to their defense. They are very nervous right now that that may not necessarily be the case. He went there to try to hold their hands and reassure them, but the fact that he needed to do that, speaks volumes, I suspect, about what's going on. Especially in East Central and Eastern Europe, among some of those NATO allies.

GERGEN: You are absolutely right. They have been rattled by what's been happening in Ukraine, and by Putin's obvious, more aggressive stance toward the West in general. I think he did exactly the right thing by going to Estonia. I praise him for doing that in the Baltics. But, you know, Wolf? If you are going to Estonia, it would be really good and a surprise if he went to Kiev and Ukraine.

BLITZER: Yes, well, he's not doing that, but he has invited President Poroshenko to the White House, to the oval office, for a meeting in the coming days and presumably he will be reiterating what we heard today. Support for Ukrainian sovereignty. But, go ahead. You want to make one final thought, David?

GERGEN: No, I think now the action moves on to the end of the NATO summit. What comes out of this meeting? Is the president going to lead the NATO countries to make much stronger commitments to Ukraine, to beef up their military spending? They are not meeting the standards that they have set. The 2 percent standard is a low bar for how much they can provide for defense and we just heard the United States, we pay 3.8 percent of our GDP into defense and we pay 75 percent of the costs of NATO. 75 percent. We need our allies to step up here.

BLITZER: Alright, stand by David Gergen. Elise Labott is our global affairs correspondent. Elise, once this NATO summit ends, the secretary of state, John Kerry, the secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel, they're going to be heading to the Middle East to try to reassure some of the Middle Eastern allies of the United States, the friends there, Sunni Arabs in particular, that the U.S. knows what its doing in fighting ISIS. Not only in Iraq, but maybe even in Syria. I know you are going to be traveling with the secretary of state. Walk us forward a little bit. What's the latest on that front?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, what the secretary is going to try to be doing is implement what the president has been saying over the last few days in terms of putting together a regional coalition to combat ISIS. Clearly, the administration has said that it's in the stages of developing a strategy, but that's not just about the battlefield. That's about drawing up the financing, that's about working with other countries to see what they can do, and I think the president has the -- the secretary have the same issue that we've been talking about this morning about Ukraine. I think the world is looking for the U.S. leadership here and they

don't see this type of strategy. This has been going on for months with ISIS and there's been a lot of criticism of this president that he's been discussing and very deliberate and trying to develop a strategy. Meanwhile, you've seen this lightning advance of ISIS through Syria, through Iraq. You've seen these beheadings of two Americans and the criticism of this president, even by his staunchest supporters like Dianne Feinstein of the Senate intelligence committee, is that the president is too careful, is too cautious. And so when Secretary Kerry goes out to talk to these countries about what they can do, I think what the world is looking for is U.S. leadership.

Everyone is willing I think at times like this, Wolf, to get together and join some kind of coalition, but there needs to be a country that is willing to lead that coalition and this whole idea that the U.S. is leading from behind. I think the world kind of falls behind when they don't have the U.S. at the helm saying, okay, this is what we're prepared to do. This is how you can help us beat back ISIS. Because, Wolf, this group has no signs of stopping, and the question is, is the U.S. going to help eradicate ISIS? Is it going to just stop it from becoming a threat to the homeland? I think if there's no concerted effort to kind of beat this group back, you see this arc of instability that ISIS is looking to exacerbate from the Levant and through North Africa.

BLITZER: We'll see what the secretary of state and the secretary of defense can do in terms of forging some sort of Middle Eastern alliance in dealing with ISIS and this threat in Iraq and Syria. Let's bring in Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, retired. He's our CNN military analyst. I suspect, General, you agree that to a, degrade and then defeat ISIS, you can't just do that with air power. You need what they call boots on the ground, right?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: You do, Wolf, but you can certainly degrade it. Wolf, it I can I would like to join in the discussion, though, on the president's presentation because I think it was powerful. When I first heard he was going to Estonia, I thought what a powerful move because during the period he mentioned, in January of 1991 when Estonia and Latvia and Lithuania held hands against the Soviets, it was a monumental event in their history. The other things that he talked about in his speech, about Georgia, Moldova, both have been attacked by Russia. The breakaway republics, so to speak, of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia and in Transnistria and Moldova, those have all been Russian attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HERTLIN (voice-over):As well as the recent cyber attack on Estonia.

In fact, some people call it E-stonia to make the point that they have beefed up their defense. So I think his motive was to set the condition for values discussion for at the NATO summit. He can't say everything in a 30-minute speech, but he's going to shift that NATO summit from where it's been the last several years, talking about, as Nic Robertson said, the 2 percent defense budget and the contributions to ISAP, to let's take a global look at what NATO can do as an organization to fight evil. That certainly could play a part against ISIS. When you turn the whole table around, you are to see probably discussions on Ukraine, on ISIS, on Israel, on fighting extremists' flow into Europe. This is going to be an expanded conference like they have never seen before in NATO.

BLITZER (voice-over): So when the president talks about strengthening the military capabilities, the defense structure of Ukraine and then goes on, General Hertling, to talk about and I'll read it precisely, "We must do more to help other NATO partners, these are not allies, just partners, including Georgia and Moldova, strengthen their defenses as well." If you're Russian president Vladimir Putting and you hear the president of the United States talking about strengthening the military capabilities of Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, right on the doorsteps, next door neighbors of Russia. We see the president boarding Air Force One to leave Estonia and fly over to Wales for the NATO summit. When you hear that and you're Russian President Putin, what goes through your mind?

HERTLING: It's certainly not a nuanced message having dealt with all of those countries.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HERTLING (on camera): Having been in Georgia, they know what the Russians can do and they've prepared their forces to fight them the next time they come across their border. They've been serving with ISAF alongside of their NATO partners even though they are not a NATO member. The same with Moldova, they have contributed forces to ISAF over the last ten years. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have all done the same thing.

So I think it is a poke in the eye that is going to elicit more discussions at the summit, but I think Mr. Obama wanted to lay down the marker at this 30-minute speech and saying there's going to be a whole lot more talk about this and our values are such that we have to create order when others, ISIS, Russia, Hamas are all creating chaos. Its all an argument of order versus chaos, and I think it was a very good message to send.

We have been dealing with our NATO and non-NATO partners for many years and I think the NATO conference is going to pull together actions, not on the part of the military. The military can do the deployment. I've seen that. In fact, there's an exercise going on right now with 16 NATO and non-NATO members, but he wants the politicians to realize they got to pull it together.

BLITZER (on camera): General Hertling, stand by as well. I want to bring in Gordan Chang. He's a Forbes.com columnist and expert on nuclear proliferation. He wrote for "The Daily Beast" about Vladimir Putin threatening nuclear war over Ukraine. That's a huge, huge step obviously. But go ahead and explain, Victor, what you mean by that. Excuse me, Gordon, what you mean by that as far as a nuclear threat issued by the Russians.

GORDON CHANG, COLUMNIST, FORBES.COM: On Friday, Vladimir Putin talked about Russia being a strong nuclear power and he used the term nuclear deterrence. Also on Friday he talked about Easter Ukraine in a term that he used really means new Russia. So, you put all those statements together and really what he was saying was that he is prepared to use his most destructive weapons to protect what he has already grabbed from Ukraine. To put this into further context, two weeks ago on August 14th, Putin talked about unveiling a new offensive nuclear weapon. So on Friday, what Putin did was he took nuclear weapons, which for more than a generation have been considered to be defensive in nature, and he made them part of the appliances of aggression. This is going to be important because other countries in the region and countries around the world, like China and Russia and North Korea, are going to hear that and they are going to see whether Putin gets away with his nuclear threats.

BLITZER: Do you think this is going to escalate now this crisis?

CHANG: Well, I think it will escalate and one reason is in the 30- minute speech, which I thought was terrific and was pitch perfect, there was one line that I think Putin will take away, and that is when the president said there is no military solution in Ukraine. And I think that there is a military solution and Putin is actually implementing it, and what he's going to take away from that line is that he has a green light to continue provocations against Ukraine. I think this situation will escalate. Putin has some obvious goals that he wants to achieve and he's going to do and he's going to go and progress until he's stopped.

BLITZER: Gordon Change, thanks very much. Thanks to all of our correspondents and analysts for our coverage, our special coverage around the president's address. Let's go back to Carol Costello. "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello will continue right after a short break.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: And in addition to the measures we've already taken, the United States is working to bolster the security of our NATO allies and further increase America's military presence in Europe. It would mean more training and exercises between our militaries and it would mean more U.S. forces, including American boots on the ground, continuously rotating through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. President Obama in Europe, brushing aside diplomacy and vowing to destroy ISIS. Very early this morning, the United States intelligence in confirming the horror, the videotaped beheading of journalist Steven Sotloff, is indeed authentic. The president scorned the terrorist group and its slaughter of a second American in two weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: I want to say today the prayers of the American people are with the family of a devoted and courageous journalist, Steven Sotloff.

Overnight, our government determined that tragically Steven was taken from us in a horrific act of violence. We cannot even begin to imagine the agony that everyone who loved Steven is feeling right now, especially his mother, his father and his younger sister. So, today, our country grieves with them.

Like Jim Foley before him, Steve's life stood in sharp contrast to those who murdered him so brutally. They make the absurd claim that they kill in the name of religion, but it was Steven, his friend says, who deeply loved the Islamic world.

His killers tried to claim that they defend the oppressed, but it was Steven who traveled across the Middle East risking his life to tell the story of Muslim men and women demanding justice and dignity. Whatever the murderers think they'll achieve by killing innocent Americans like Steven, they have already failed. They have already failed because like people around the world, Americans are repulsed by their barbarisms. We will not be intimidated. Their horrific acts only unite us to stiffen our resolves to take the fight against these terrorists. And those who make the mistake of harming Americans we will not forget and that our reach is long and that justice will be served.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But how will justice be served and when? The president's vow now adds to the pressure of forming a strategy to confront ISIS and its war against the West. In the meantime, President Obama approves more U.S. forces deployed to Iraq. About 350 more troops will protect U.S. facilities and personnel as ISIS and its militant allies vow to erase all the gains that Americans died for.

Let's begin our team coverage with CNN terrorism analyst, Paul Cruickshank. Good morning, Paul.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Paul, what is ISIS really trying to do? They know these beheadings are not going to stop American air strikes on Iraq?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, I think this is a message to their supporters. We're fighting back. They're really trying to do a -- calibrate a response here, so the very minimum in order to appease the bloodlust of their supporters around the world. Of course, if they did something bigger, like launch a terrorist plot against the West, that could invite a much bigger Western and American response. And that could really jeopardize what they're trying to achieve in Iraq and Syria, which is to build this Islamic state, Carol.

COSTELLO: So you're saying it's unlikely they'll launch some major attack against the United States? CRUICKSHANK: I don't think they're quite there. I don't think that's

what the leadership of ISIS is going to do quite yet. But if the United States acts in Syria, if there are strikes in Syria, that may be a red line for ISIS. That's their strongholds, their leaders are there, most of their fighters are there. They may see that as an existential threat, and, at that point, they could train some of the thousand Westerners that they have to come back to the West to launch attacks and also call for people who are already in the West to launch attacks as well, Carol.

COSTELLO: I'm just reading this statement, we just got a statement from the Secretary of State John Kerry, and he's talking about the murder of Steven Sotloff and James Foley. He says, "The U.S. government has used every military, diplomatic and intelligence tool we have, and we always will. Our special operations forces bravely risked a military operation to save these lives. And we've reached out diplomatically to everyone and anyone who might be able to help."

Of course, as we know, ISIS is holding other Western hostages. I mean, are these efforts continuing?

CRUICKSHANK: Of course they will be continuing, but the prospects, unfortunately, for these hostages are very grim indeed. It's not like the United States is going to stop air strikes in Iraq any time soon, so we may see more of these grisly beheadings. We may even see escalation from ISIS. ISIS has quite a lot of reach into Jordan and Turkey and Lebanon and so it could actually attack U.S. interests there as well. So a lot of concern that that could be the next escalation from ISIS, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Paul Cruickshank. Thanks so much for your insight this morning; we appreciate it.

Intelligence analysts have pored over every agonizing detail of the two beheading tapes and they're hoping to find the clues that could identify the killers. Vital evidence could rest in the eyes, that glare from behind that black ski mask. This is an up close image and a freeze frame from the video released yesterday.

Now look at the side by side comparison from both the Sotloff killing and the execution of James Foley. The similar eyes are just part of the reason why U.S. officials believe the knife wielding man is the same man in both tapes.

CNN's Karl Penhaul has more for you.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, you may remember, almost two weeks ago, Britain's ambassador to the United States said Britain's intelligence services were close to identifying the black-clad jihadi on the James Foley execution video. Now, in the latest video to surface, the one that shows Steven Sotloff's execution, the British government believes the executioner is one and the same man.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVEN SOTLOFF, AMERICAN JOURANLIST: I'm sure you know exactly who I am by now.

PENHAUL: Time ran out for American journalist, Steven Sotloff, and ISIS knife man warned he'd be next to die in a propaganda video two weeks ago that showed the beheading of fellow reporter, James Foley.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision.

PENHAUL: Intelligence experts in Britain and the U.S. are analyzing the images. Several clues the two videos were shot several days apart. In the first, Sotloff's shaven-headed and in Tuesday's release he has stubbly hair and beard.

Another sign post, the black-clad Jihadi refers to U.S. air strikes on ISIS positions around the Iraqi town of Amerli. Bombing raids near Amerli took late Saturday, early Sunday indicating Sotloff was executed within the last three days.

Unmistakable similarities in the apparent executioner. In both videos, the same black uniform, ski mask, similar height and build. Same double-edged combat knife brandished in his left hand, and then that accent.

A forensic linguist consulted by CNN says the voice sounds the same in both videos, probably from a multi-cultural neighborhood of London. In the first video released on August 19 --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any attempt by you, Obama, to deny the Muslims their rights of living in safety under the Islamic caliphate, will result in the blood shed of your people.

PENHAUL: An excerpt from the second video released Tuesday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You, Obama, have yet again for your actions convicts another American citizen. As your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I ask you to please release my child.

PENHAUL: Words of hate that bear no comparison to a mother's love, her last-ditch plea to the kidnappers, testimony of a life cut short.

SHIRLEY SOTLOFF, MOTHER OF STEVEN SOTLOFF: Steven is a loyal and generous son, brother and grandson. We miss him very much. We want to see him home safe and sound and to hug him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL (on camera): Now British authorities are looking not only at the fine details to find out more clues about who killed Foley and Sotloff, but they've also now got to look at the bigger picture and see what action they take to back the United States in its fight against ISIS and what can be done to rescue a British hostage now known to be held by ISIS terrorists.

Carol.

COSTELLO: Karl Penahul, reporting this morning. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)