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David Haines Executed In Just-Released ISIS Video; ISIS Challenges British Prime Minister In Newest Video; Obama Vows That U.S. Will Work With The U.K. In "Broad Coalition" To Punish Haines' Killers; Newest ISIS Video Contains Threat To Another British Citizen

Aired September 13, 2014 - 21:00   ET

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

JONATHAN MANN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I am Jonathan Mann, welcoming our viewers in the United States and around the world to a special edition of CNN "Newsroom." ISIS has released another video showing the murder of, yet, another western hostage. A 44-year-old British subject, David Haines in a video ISIS released in just the past few hours.

We are not going to show you the most gruesome parts of what we have seen. But this video does go on to show an ISIS fighter beheading Haines and delivering a stark message to British Prime Minister, David Cameron.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE ISIS FIGHTER: Your evil alliance with America, which continues to strike the Muslims of Iraq and most recently bombed the Haditha dam will only accelerate your destruction and claim the role of the obedient lapdog. Cameron, it will only drag you and your people into another bloody and unwinnable war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: Haines was an aide worker abducted in March last year. An ISIS fighter with an apparent British accent threatened that the group would kill Haines if U.S. Air Strikes did not stop in Iraq. That threat, you may recall, came in with a video showing the beheading of an American Journalist, Steven Sotloff, earlier this month.

Saturday, before war came of Haines' killing, his family released a statement to ISIS through the British Foreign Office. They have said to ISIS, "We have sent messages to you to which we have not received a reply. WE are asking those holding David to make contact with us.

News of his death came just hours later. British Prime Minister, David Cameron, released this message via Twitter. The murder of David Haines, he wrote is an act of pure evil. My heart goes out to his family who have shown extraordinary courage and fortitude and we will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice, however long it takes.

The U.S. President Barack Obama also released a statement on the killing of David Haines. The President said, "The United States strongly condemns the barbaric murder of U.K. citizen, David Haines by the terrorist group ISIL. Our hearts go out to the family of Mr. Haines and to the people of the United Kingdom."

The United States stands shoulder-to-shoulder tonight with our close friend and ally in grief and resolve. The president also vowed that the U.S. will work with the U.K. in a broad coalition to punish Haines' killers, bring them to justice and destroy the threat of ISIS.

ISIS' latest victim, David Haines, was not a warrior, once again. He was a man of peace, who worked in a warzone and aid worker, who struggled to help refugees from the Syrian civil war. Atika Shubert has a look back at David Haines' devoted life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: David Haines was a father and a husband, but he was also a hostage of ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Captured in March 2013, working at a Syrian refugee camp for French aid group, ACTED.

Haines had more than a decade of experience doing aid work providing logistics to handicap international and working as an unarmed peacekeeper with nonviolence peace force. He grew up in Scotland, proudly wearing a kilt for his wedding. His family has declined to comment, but their plight is clear online. His wife, Dragana, waits with their 4-year-old daughter in Croatia where they live.

His teenage daughter from his first marriage makes it clear online how much he misses her father by answering just three questions. What is missing in your life that would make you very happy? My dad being at home," she answers. As his family waited, David Haines had become a pawn in the game of hostages now played by ISIS. Atika Shubert, CNN, London.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: Let us go now to Nic Robertson. He is covering the latest ISIS murder from London. Nic, a British subject, a very good and decent man by any standard has been brutally executed. What is the impact likely to be there?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is an expectation that this will stiffen perhaps British in peace and then resolve or not to commit British forces, perhaps air strikes to a coalition with the United States inside Syria. That is something Prime Minister David Cameron has not been able to do, has not been able to win that support yet.

There is a potential here that the impact of this is going to have on the people of Britain and those members of parliament will be significant. Right now, however, David Cameron to 10 Downing Street. Later in the morning, he will hold a Cobra meeting.

That is a tough-level, cabinet level security meeting with the security chiefs and intelligence chiefs; no doubt, to look at all the information that is available and realizing that there is also a threat contained in this video to another British citizen, believed to be an aid worker, Alan Henning from the North of Britain. So, this at the moment, for this David Cameron is another big crisis

in front of him, as well as dealing with this. He has a referendum in Scotland coming up. Potentially, sees Scotland pulling away from Britain, so this is going to be a huge challenge added in for him right now, Jonathan.

MANN: Doubly shocking. It is not only that the victim was British and as you mentioned another threat against another British subject. But the executioner, the masked man is now infamous because all we know about him is that his accent suggests he is British too. We were first introduced to him some weeks ago in another barbaric video. How much has the British Government released about him. How much does anyone know about him?

ROBERTSON: Well, the British government has not been able to say that they can positively identify him. When I spoke to David Cameron just last week and asked him, were they able to identify this man, who again in this gruesome video appears to be the very same person, the same British accent, sort of East London-type accent.

David Cameron told me that the government was working on it. They went about to make those details public. But, he said that they were sharing this information with their allies at that time seeming to imply the United States. Obviously, it becomes a much more pressing domestic issue here for him. Not just an international issue with identifying the man behind this.

MANN: As you talk about this as a domestic issue, how much does this execution contribute to fears that ISIS will send its fighters back to the U.K. to wreak havoc there.

ROBERTSON: It is a major concern. David Cameron just recently addressed this particular issue, talking about stronger powers for the police to detain people coming back from Syria into the U.K. to take their passports away from them for a limited period, a period that could be extended, he said when judges had reviewed the particular situation.

But, there is a real effort here to -- number 1, if they can stop people leaving. But, number 2, when they come back and stop them getting back into the communities from which they come from Britain, because there is an expectation that we have seen with Al Qaeda that is expected with the Islamic State that their fighters will come back with the intention and the training to perpetrate attacks in mainland Britain. And, in a way, what we are seeing in these videos now in this particular video, the murder of David Haines, now is really potentially a precursor for that, Jonathan.

MANN: In the United States, President Obama repeats over and over again that there will not be U.S. combat forces involved in what the White House is now calling war against ISIS. Americans do not want that possibility or at least the President does not want it addressed that possibility.

How great is the resistance to strong measures up to and including airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, up to and including even more measures on the ground among the people and the authorities in the U.K.?

ROBERTSON: You know, it does seem apparent that David Cameron would like to join the United States and support airstrikes actively with the British Air Force inside Syria. He does not have the backing of the parliaments, the members of parliaments.

We saw a year ago about this time when he went to parliament to try to get support for airstrikes in Syria, following the chemical weapons attack. He failed. That was a huge political embarrassment, a huge failure. And, he seems to be being more cautious in trying to build support for that again now.

It does seem likely that the murder of David Haines in this heinous video will perhaps aid him in that, but we also have to remember here that the British people took to the streets in the hundred of thousands before Britain became part of the coalition invading Iraq in 2003.

There was huge popular opposition to that and undoubtedly, should Britain try to more deeply engage in Syria other than airstrikes, which seems very unlikely right now to go deeper than that. There would also be a similar expression of an outpouring of popular anger against such a decision. Jonathan.

MANN: That is going to be very much on David Cameron's mind. I know it is very late there, I am not sure he is still awake at this hour. But, walk us through the next few hours and days. There will be a security meeting, I gather in the morning. And, how quickly would parliament normally be expected to meet to talk about what the Prime Minister is now going to ask for?

ROBERTSON: You know, this is happening at an extraordinary time. And, right now, there is a referendum in Scotland on Thursday that could see after 307 years of union. Scotland break away from the rest of the United Kingdom. And, that is a huge issue presents huge challenges for David Cameron. Opens a Pandora's box of constitutional issue for the rest of the country.

No Prime Minister would want to have this happen under their watch. That is probably foremost on David Cameron's immediate agenda. But, that said, he is having that security meeting a few hours from now, Sunday morning here. And, no doubt that he will be making a statement following that.

And, we can expect to see a more active canvassing of those members of parliament that he needs to win over from his party to get support for more active intervention inside Syria. But, again, I do have to stress that is this referendum in Scotland is such a big issue here right now. He is going to be stretched in several directions. Jonathan.

MANN: CNN's Nic Robertson, pillar of our coverage as it continues. I am going to ask you to stay with us. But, we are going to Baghdad now, where it is also in the middle of the night. And, frankly, this news will strike a very different note, I think. Jomana Karadsheh joins us now from the Iraqi capital. And, Jomana, you are in a place that has seen more of than its share

of death and tragedy. And, ISIS has carried out so many atrocities against Iraqis. Now, a third westerner has been beheaded, how is that news likely to be received there?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As we have seen in the past few weeks, Jonathan, when we speak to people here about that executions of James Foley and Steven Sotloff, people here would tell you that it is an unfortunate wake-up call to the world, that they can see the kind of brutality that Iraqis are subject to hear what they have been living through for a very long time now.

A scale of these ISIS attacks, the ISIS' barbarity that they have seen in the massacres that have taken place here. Those videos that have surfaced of the executions of hundreds of recruits here, hundreds of soldiers. This really had an impact on people here, and now they feel that the world's attention is being diverted back to Iraq.

There is always this feeling that this country, the threat from ISIS has been neglected for a long time. And, now the world is catching up to what Iraqi officials have been warning about for some time now with Iraqi people have been really worried about for a long time. So, really, this feeling of an unfortunate wake-up call.

MANN: I have to ask you about the timing of this, because the third execution comes after the United States is carried out more than 160 air strikes against ISIS targets. And, it makes me wonder if any of what the United States has done, if anything the president has said or planned or described about the future has had any impact on ISIS at all?

KARADSHEH: Well, if you look at what these airstrikes have been doing Jonathan, really, since they started on August 8th, they really have been focused and concentrated in the northern part of the country. We have seen, this past week, new airstrikes, at least for the first time that we know of, taking place in one of ISIS' biggest stronghold in this country on -- that is mostly controlled by the -- Haditha dam and of course that was mentioned by the executioner in that video, mentioning the Haditha dam air strike.

What these air strikes have done, they have really stopped this momentum that we saw in the past. They have halted that, those swift advances that ISIS has been carrying out in this country since June. But, also, Iraqi officials would tell you that it is not enough. What it is doing is, yes, it is helping them advances in certain areas, giving them that really lacking air cover that they do not have to carry out these operations and advance a bit.

Now, whether they are going to be able to hold this territory that they gain after these air strikes is something that is yet to be seen. But, if you look when these air strikes started, yes, it did halt the advances here in Iraq. But, at the same time, in Syria over that essentially nonexistent border for ISIS, it is one battlefield, really.

They were making advances over in Syria, taking over Raqa province pretty much when they captured the Tabqa airbase there and, also, gaining ground around Aleppo. So, these airstrikes have served a short-term goal of stopping that momentum, holding it. But, really, it has not weakened or it really changed anything for ISIS. It still controls large parts of this country including Iraq's second largest city, Mosul. And, many other major cities like Fallujah and Tikrit.

MANN: So, now, it is well known the U.S. President, the British Prime Minister, several nations, NATO members, among them are engaged in some kind of efforts, still taking shape to do more than just air strikes to train and list and insert, I guess you could say, and certainly arm forces on the ground, Syrian forces and Iraqi forces, other forces, perhaps.

All of which is to say, there are going to be other people fighting against ISIS in addition to the Kurds, and the Militias and the Iraqi army that have done it so far. But, here is another one of my questions. Unspeakably brutal people, is there anyone who is as ruthless as cold-blooded? -- I am being told. I am sorry, I am going to jump away from you, Jomana Karadsheh in Baghdad. We are going to Nic Robertson back in London. Nic, I gathered, you have some news source. What can you tell us?

ROBERTSON: Well, we now have a statement that was issued by the foreign office here and it is from David Haines family. And, I will just read you from it. We have just received it. It is by his brother, Mike Haines.

"My name is Mike Haines. I am brother to David Haines, who was recently murdered in cold blood. David, was like so very many of us, just another bloke. Born in 1970 to parents who loved us. Both our childhood was centered around our family. Holidays and caravans and tents days of were the family we fondly remember. David was a good brother. There, when I needed him, absent when I did not." --

And, it goes on. This is really talking -- His brother here talking about his life and how they remember him, his children, an elder daughter and a younger daughter by a second wife. "David was most alive and enthusiastic in his humanitarian roles. His joy and anticipation for the work he went to do in Syria is for myself and family the most important element of this whole sad affair. He was and is loved by all his family, who will miss him terribly." This is from David Haines' brother reacting to his brutal murder. Jonathan.

MANN: One thing that we have not really talked about, Nic -- it is easy to get caught up in the politics and the war, which is affecting so many people's lives is the life of that one good man, 44-year-old father of two. How did he end up in ISIS' hands?

ROBERGSON: He was visiting a refugee camp for a site he wanted to turn into a refugee camp. He had been helping people, people displaced from their homes. It was in the north of Syria. He was returning with two colleagues, work colleagues. They were driving away from this location. They were driving towards the border with Turkey. They were quite close to the border with Turkey. Then according to eyewitnesses, at least one vehicle with gunman in -- at least one gunman, sped up to his vehicle very quickly. The vehicle was stopped and they were taken away. It all happened

very, very quickly according to the witnesses. And, it seems to be absolutely targeting him because it become apparent he was an aid worker and a westerner that he was targeted and very speedly taken away from that. So, it happened very, very quickly at a time and place where he perhaps might have thought, because he was getting close back to the border with Turkey that he might have been almost sort of home and drive out of Syria into Turkey.

MANN: Nic Robertson, we will ask you to stay with us. Jomana Karadsheh is in Baghdad. And, we are going to take a break. Before we go on, I am just going to read a few more words from that remarkable letter from David Haines' brother. "He helped whoever needed help regardless of race, creed or religion. He was most alive and enthusiastic in his humanitarian roles." David Haines, 44-year- old aid worker, beheaded by ISIS in Iraq. Our extensive coverage continues after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MANN: Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the ISIS murder of British aid worker, David Haines. British Prime Minister David Cameron is vowing to hunt down the militants who beheaded Haines. A short time ago, a video surfaced that shows Haines' killing.

The man dressed in black, maybe the same man with a British accent, who appeared in video showing the beheading of an Americans James Foley and Steven Sotloff during the past few weeks.

Haines' family has asked from privacy, but just a short time ago, his brother, Michael, released a letter which says, in part, that "David was most alive and enthusiastic in his humanitarian roles. His joy and anticipation of the work he went to do in Syria is for myself and family, the most important element of this whole sad affair. He was and is loved by all his family and will be missed terribly." How might this beheading affect the U.S. plan to put together a coalition against ISIS.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in Cairo, Saturday, lobbying for support. CNN International Affairs Correspondent, Elise Labott is in the Egyptian capital and joins us now on the line. Elise, he has been going from capital to capital arguing and pleading for assistance for military contributions. This seems if anything to bolster every point he was trying to make. Is it too soon to ask about what impact it is likely to have?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think, unfortunately, Jonathan, it is going to have a very good impact. It is only going to harden people's resolve and show the message that no country is exempt, is immune from the brutality that is ISIS. And, I think that, that is the message that Secretary Kerry has been delivering up until now.

And, unfortunately, this is just another example. Here we are in Egypt where U.S. officials tell us that when foreign fighters are travelling through Egypt to actually stopping to train or give advice to some of the terrorists in the Sinai. And, so that is why he is saying that, you know, Egypt -- this is a threat to Egypt. Of course, unfortunately, you could also send the message to countries of warning about participating.

We were in Turkey and it is unclear what role Turkey is going to play in this coalition. And, that is because ISIS is holding 49 Turkish government employees hostage. And, the Turks have seen these videos, have seen what happened and do not want a repeat of that and that is why it have been very coy about what role they can lead on.

MANN: Now, from Cairo, the secretary of state is due to go to an international conference in Paris to address the crisis in Iraq. What is the point of that?

LABOTT: Well, it is just to get some more clarity nailed down on who is going to be contributing what. And, I think I am not really sure how much clarity we will have coming out of this conference, because then you have the week after you have the U.N. international general assembly.

And, now, the presidential meeting shared by President Obama on how to combat ISIS, that will be really at the top of the agenda. And, I think that is where a lot of decisions may also be made. So, it is a chance for coalition countries next week in Paris to get together and discuss the issue to further discuss how they could contribute. But, I think it is just another data point in the discussion. It is beginning of a long halt job.

MANN: Well, I am wondering if it feels like the beginning in places like Cairo. Egypt is no secrete has faced domestic Islamist terrorism for decades. Other countries in the region that the secretary of state have visited also know a thing or two about Islamic terrorism. Do they feel like the United States is just waking up to a problem they have already had to face and address sometimes against the advice that they have been getting from Washington.

LABOTT: Very much so. And, they also think, we have been asking you, you wants us to join your coalition against terror after, you know, they feel as if the U.S. kind of woke up after the horribly gruesome beheading videos outside of James Foley and Steven Sotloff, where they feel that they have been trying to talk to the U.S. for some time about Islamic extremism within a lot of their borders.

And, I think if you look at what is happening in Libya right now, if you look at what is happening in the Sinai right now, countries are saying, this needs to be a whole of legion approach to terrorism a whole. And, so countries, obviously, ISIS is the biggest threat, is the most immediate threat. But a lot of nations are saying, listen, if you want our help on combating this troop, we also want to know what is your plan post-ISIS for combating the whole idea of Islamic Extremism.

MANN: Elise Labott, Global Affairs Correspondent traveling with the secretary of state. Thanks so much for this. Let us bring in CNN National Security Analyst, Bob Baer, joining us now from Los Angeles. I wonder if I could just ask you the most basic question, which is why do they keep doing this? Why do they keep executing westerners in a way that seems designed to taunt and infuriate.

BOB BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, there are couple of things going on here we cannot miss. And, one is they would like to define themselves as being to war with the United States in the west. They want us to intervene. They want us to send troops and it draws recruits. It makes look like the United States is fighting Islam.

And, number 2, it is a perverted form of Islam, where they believe that they can purify what they consider the holy land of all foreign influence is including aid workers, including American troops, Shiite Muslims and anybody they defined as not poor Muslims, that they will have a genuine caliphate. This is prime evil. It does not accord with Islam, but it is what they think.

MANN: If they want to establish a caliphate, presumably, they want to win. What is astonishing is they are right now, and you can add to this list, and correct me if I am wrong, they are fighting against the government of Syria. They are fighting against some other militias in Syria. They are fighting against the Iraqi military. They are fighting against the Kurdish Peshmerga military and they are fighting against some militias insight Iraq as well.

Not to mention, the Iranians who are involved and they are fighting against. They are fighting against all of these forces and it seems -- And, you seem to be adding to the discussion, they want to fight more against more people. They want to fights against the United States and the U.K. What are they thinking?

BAER: Well, jonathan, they have a very strict interpretation of Islam. And, they look at the regime in Damascus, the Alawites as a post-states. They are not true Muslims. They have fallen away from Islam. They can be executed according to their reading of the Koran, the same way with Shiite in Baghdad.

And, they are against the Kurds, even though they are mostly Sunni Muslims, because they are taking aid from Iran. And, certainly, the Iranians are looked it as a post-states . They are the most important enemy. But, we as Christians, in the United States in the sense they looked as a Christian are another enemy and they would like to get rid of all of those people and they want to say purify these lands, then they would be able to set up a staple government.

I mean you and I know, Jonathan, this is going to fail, ultimately. But, in the meantime, how much damage can they do? And, you know, it does not look like this movement is losing any steam. They lost a little village called Armorly (ph), but that was, you know, in the periphery of it. They took Tabqa Air Force Base in Syria. And, the C.I.A. has upped their numbers, the corps members from 10,000 to 15,000 to 30,000 to 35,000.

So, they are picking up steam. And, this new execution, they will draw people in, even though this British aid worker has just come to help. It is completely irrational to us, but people that are reverting to prime evil form of whatever this is, it makes sense.

MANN: Bob Baer, thanks very much. They are killing innocent men, women and children just about everyday and now they have taken a life of another one, British aid worker, David Haines, beheaded, dead at 44.