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U.S. Bombs al Qaeda Offshoot Group Khorasan; Allied Air Strikes on ISIS in Syria; Is Congress Evading Their Responsibility?

Aired September 23, 2014 - 10:30   ET

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

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not America's fight alone. Above all, the people and governments in the Middle East are rejecting ISIL and standing up for the peace and security that the people of the region and the world deserve.

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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The President's statement moments ago. More on our breaking news this morning: U.S. and allied air strikes on ISIS in Syria begin. Here's what we know.

Syria was informed in advance of the strikes which began with tomahawk land attack missiles fired from U.S. ships. Those strikes followed by bombers, fighter jets and drones focused primarily on the ISIS stronghold region of Raqqa. In a separate strike, the U.S. bombed al Qaeda offshoot group Khorasan said to be in an advanced stage of planning on attacks on the West.

At 11:00 Eastern this morning, the Pentagon will hold a briefing on the attacks on ISIS in Syria and at 12:50 Eastern time, President Obama will address the U.N. General Assembly.

Now, the U.S. is not just targeting is in Syria, it's also going after a new al Qaeda branch -- well not so new al Qaeda branch actually -- in Syria called the Khorasan group. It's actually been at work for quite some time. The U.S. carried out eight strikes against this group last night. A U.S. official says Khorasan was in the advanced stage of plotting an attack against the U.S. homeland.

Let's get right to CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr with more on that group. Good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. This is a group of al Qaeda veterans who have fought up and down the region for some time. The U.S. had been watching them and the U.S. intelligence community had information that the group was in perhaps the final stages of planning an attack against either a U.S. target here in the United States or a Western target somewhere in Europe. There was no very specific information about the target itself. But the feeling was according to sources CNN has spoken to that it was far enough long. There was a good deal of concern. If the U.S. let it go any further they might have trouble detecting it. The belief was that Khorasan was working essentially on what much of al Qaeda has been working on, non-detectable explosives. Explosives that cannot be detected by security measures, explosives that may be hidden in common electronic or toiletry items, things that you could get past security screening in airports and that sort of thing.

So the decision was made to move against them and very much the U.S. did last night, striking several times in western Syria near Aleppo against some of their leadership, their command and control, their munitions and factories; still to be determined exactly who and what got hit. At this point the U.S. does not yet know if it successfully killed any of the leadership -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon this morning. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the U.S. war on ISIS just expanded to Syria but as you know it started in Iraq. We're headed there live for the latest on what today's breaking news means for the United States' ongoing battle with the Islamic terror group within Iraq.

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OBAMA: We were joined in this action by our friends and partners -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar. America's proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these nations on behalf of our common security. The strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not America's fight alone.

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We're going to continue with the breaking news coverage of what the President just said, the U.S. launching effectively a new war on ISIS inside Syria. Overnight, the U.S. and several Arab nations -- you just heard five of them -- raining down bombs on the terror group inside Syria, not just in Iraq, in Syria as well. Air strikes focusing in on the Syrian city of Raqqa, the declared capital of ISIS self-proclaimed Islamic State but other areas were hit as well.

Until now, by the way, 190 plus air strikes, U.S. Air strikes against ISIS targets all in Iraq.

CNN's Anna Coren is joining us now live from Erbil in northern Iraq. So what's been the reaction, Anna, on the ground to this expanded war on is now moving from Iraq, staying in Iraq but also expanding into Syria?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, there really is a feeling of about time. Kurdish officials here in northern Iraq have been calling for air strikes in Syria since the get-go. They've said, you know, you cannot just focus on Iraq. You need to target ISIS in their safe haven, in their sanctuary otherwise this entire operation is a futile exercise.

They're certainly welcoming that news that those air strikes happened in the early hours of this morning. They're also encouraged by the fact that it was Arab countries involved with the United States in launching these air strikes. They believe that it's very positive certainly moving forward.

But Wolf they're calling for intensification of the air campaign here in Iraq. Yes, there have been more than 190 U.S. air strikes plus those French air strikes over the weekend making an impact on the battlefield but certainly not driving ISIS back. And that is where there's a great deal of frustration here in northern Iraq.

We need to remember, Wolf, that ISIS still controls one-third of the country. So there really is a feeling that they need to step up the air campaign which is so critical. Yes, the ground forces, they have that cover, they're taking the fight to ISIS, but they don't have the skills. The weaponry is slowly coming in, but they don't have necessarily that experience to take the fight to ISIS. So they are heavily relying on those air strikes and, Wolf, they are calling for more.

BLITZER: Anna, I don't know if you know the answer to this but I'm just curious. The Iraqi air force and the Iraqis do have an air force. Are they launching air strikes against ISIS targets at the same time or if they are, are they significant? What are you hearing?

COREN: Look, certainly over Amirli, if you remember the siege where the township of Amirli was surrounded by ISIS for some two months, the Iraqi air force was involved in air strikes there. And we do believe that they have been operating in other parts of the country. But certainly not at the scale that they need to see to really hurt ISIS in this country.

They have been relying heavily on the United States but, yes, certainly the Iraqis need to step it up. We heard from General Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff saying that half the Iraqi security forces are incapable of being a partner to the United States. So certainly very alarming -- they need to rebuild the other half of the Iraqi forces for them to tackle what is currently a huge threat in this country. That is what they're facing -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Certainly, our Anna Coren, in Erbil in northern Iraq for us doing good reporting for us as she always does.

We'll see what happens when the President comes to the United Nations. He arrives in a couple of hours. He'll be meeting between today and tomorrow with the new Iraqi prime minister, Haider al Abadi, we'll see what emerges from that meeting as far as future military cooperation and concerns.

Still to come, the United States emerging from more than a decade of combat -- certainly the U.S. war weary right now but it's certainly about to get ready for a new round in a war, a war expanding from Iraq into Syria.

We're about to take a closer look right after this break.

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COSTELLO: More on our breaking news now. U.S. and our allies conduct air strikes on ISIS targets within Syria. Here's what we know.

Syria was informed in advance of the strikes which began with tomahawk missiles launched from U.S. warships in the Red Sea. Those strikes were followed by bombers, fighter jets and drone which focused primarily on the ISIS stronghold region of Raqqa.

In a separate strike, the U.S. bombed an al Qaeda offshoot group called Khorasan, that group said to be in advanced stages of planning on attacks on the west. At 11:00 Eastern this morning the Pentagon will hold a briefing on the attacks on ISIS and Syria and at 12:50 Eastern time the U.S. will address the U.N. General Assembly.

So we are at war again, or maybe we never stopped. I read an op-ed for CNN.com titled "Are Americans ready for another war?" I, like many American civilians, worry. Our troops are amazingly skilled and courageous in theater but a stunning number of them do not fare well psychologically once they come home. 22 veterans commit suicide everyday -- that's a suicide every 65 minutes, that's 8,000 veterans a year.

To be clear, no American ground troops were used in the mission in Syria but you have to wonder. We conducted 190 air strikes over Iraq to defeat ISIS yet ISIS remains in control of large areas within that country.

So let's talk about that and more with Fareed Zakaria host of the CNN program "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS". Welcome, I'm glad you're here.

I know, actually -- we're going to put off talking about my op-ed for just a second because you just came from interviewing Iran's president and that must have been one fascinating conversation.

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: It was a conversation with a group of editors and reporters and it was fascinating but let's go to the point you were asking in your op-ed which is I think is very relevant. Why is it that all these air strikes in Iraq have not resulted in the defeat of ISIS?

Because the fundamental problem is political -- the Sunnis in Iraq are not yet battling ISIS. Basically, the way it works is the Sunnis say we've got the Shia government in Baghdad, we don't like it. Yes, we don't like ISIS either but we're not going to take sides.

The only way to change that is to get the Iraqi army to be more inclusive, the Iraqi government to be more inclusive. The administration keeps saying it has achieved that but it hasn't. All that happened was we got rid of the prime minister and we have a new prime minister -- he hasn't made any concessions. He hasn't included any Sunni members in his government and most importantly the Iraqi army doesn't have the generals who he used to have who would be more inclusive. Now, enter Iran. Iran can play a role here because they have a lot of influence in Iraq and the President Rouhani made clear that they were willing to use and had used influence in Iraq but they do tie everything back to the nuclear deal. They say, you know, all this would be much easier if we could get past this big obstacle of the nuclear deal.

COSTELLO: But I don't think that the United States can get past that big obstacle because it's a very important issue for us and we can't give an inch on that issue -- or can we?

ZAKARIA: Well, that's the interesting question. It seems as though the two negotiating teams have gotten quite close to actually coming up with a deal that would be fairly plausible, I think, to a lot of non-proliferation experts. The problem is that deal is probably going to produce a furious response in Washington from Republicans who will accuse the Obama administration of selling out and a furious response in Tehran among hard-liners who will accuse President Rouhani of selling out.

So both sides kind of have a deal that they could live with but they can't figure out whether they can sell it back home. And, again, he hinted at this. He actually was explicit for the first time I've ever heard him, President Rouhani of Iran. He said something like we've got hard-liners, too, you've got hard-liners. I know whatever deal we bring is going to be a tough sell in Tehran as it will be in Washington. I'm hoping, he said, referring to the Tehran side, that we'll get through it -- he called it a dust bowl. He said there will be an initial dust bowl and then people will begin to see all the roses on the other side. It was a kind of weird mixed metaphor.

COSTELLO: It's so hard to read Iran and what it really means. So should we be hopeful that Iran could help us fight ISIS? And actually, I think a lot of Americans would say we don't want Iran's help at all.

ZAKARIA: Well, they would be wrong in that case. Look, the truth of the matter is we're 7,000 miles away. We don't really want to micromanage the Middle East. We do need to figure out at the end of the day who are the regional players who are stable who are productive, who can play a constructive stabilizing role. They're not always going to agree with us. Clearly Turkey, Saudi Arabia would be two of them. Iran might be one.

Iran's interests, for example, in Afghanistan are exactly the same as the U.S. Iran doesn't like the Taliban, they like the northern alliance, they want stability. And they've tacitly cooperated with the United States. Iran's interest in Iraq is the same as the U.S. Single government, stable, no ISIS.

Syria we have some disagreements. This is where you get into the murky realm of diplomacy. Nobody is going to be allied with you 100 percent. The question is, can the United States and Iran -- you know how kids parallel play? Can they parallel play in some way?

COSTELLO: We'll see. Fareed Zakaria, thanks so much. I want to throw it back to Wolf Blitzer at the United Nations because very soon the Pentagon will come out and hopefully tell us what exactly happened in Syria with those air strikes -- Wolf.

BLITZER: We'll soon find out coming up in a few minutes. There will be a major briefing at the Pentagon. We'll, of course, have live coverage right here on CNN.

Overnight, U.S. air strikes hit ISIS targets inside Syria for the first time but what role will Congress play in the ongoing war against ISIS? Congress in recess right now for the next at least six weeks until after the midterm elections.

Joining us for a little discussion, the former Ohio governor Ted Strickland. Governor Strickland, thanks very much. What do you think about what the President of the United States is now doing, expanding the U.S.-led war from Iraq into Syria?

TED STRICKLAND, FORMER GOVERNOR, OHIO: Well, I think the President's doing what he feels needs to be done in the face of this threat. But I'm concerned that the Congress is AWOL, that they have not accepted their responsibility, they've not stepped up, they've not debated this issue. And I believe we need a unified country and a unified congress and these folks left town.

The President's got the full burden of making these decisions and I think that's not the way it ought to be. You know, Wolf, terrorists don't plan their activities based on the congressional calendar and in my judgment, the members of congress, the house and senate. should be engaged. They should be back here in Washington. This is a serious moment in our country's history, and this needs to be a partial responsibility at least of the Congress as well as of this President.

BLITZER: Before they went on -- into recess, both the house and the senate did pass various forms of legislation authorizing the President to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels inside Syria. Is that good enough for you? Do you think the President has the authority to engage in the war right now?

STRICKLAND: Well, as the commander-in-chief and given the information that's just come out in the last few hours that there was an imminent threat on the part of this splinter group from al Qaeda that was planning perhaps, you know, some kind of immediate attack upon our country or upon the Western allies, of course the President has the authority to take this action.

But I repeat myself. The Congress has the responsibility to declare war. The President has the responsibility to carry out the activities of that war. And the Congress is just simply evading its responsibilities in my judgment. They had almost no meaningful debate before they left town and so we find ourselves now with the President having to make this decision in the face of this threat and the Congress simply evading its responsibility.

They ought to be ashamed of themselves. They ought to be coming back to Washington and fulfilling their constitutional responsibilities when it comes to this war effort.

BLITZER: So you blame Harry Reid, the majority leader in the senate and John Boehner the speaker of the house for this, right?

STRICKLAND: Well, not only Harry Reid and John Boehner but the leadership certainly has a responsibility. But every member of the house and senate has responsibility to -- you know, they have a responsibility as elected representatives. Wolf, they find time to hold hearing after hearing after hearing on Benghazi but when it comes to something as serious as this country being engaged in another war, perhaps, the congress should be engaged.

And I think the President's doing what he must do in his role as the commander-in-chief and I think the country is behind him. I think he's set out 13 days ago telling the American people what he intended to the and now he has followed through. But he is doing it without the basic support of the congress.

Over at the Center for American Progress this afternoon, Senator Tim Kaine's coming over and talking to us about the need for congress to be more fully engaged in these efforts as we enter into this -- really this new and very dangerous phase of America's involvement in this part of the world.

BLITZER: And one thing the Democratic leadership and Republican leadership of the house and senate have in common, they all wanted to get out town even in the face of what's going on right now.

All right Governor. Thanks very much for joining us, Governor Strickland, former governor of Ohio. We're only minutes away from a major Pentagon briefing to give us the latest details on these new U.S. air strikes in Syria against targets from ISIS and other terror groups, a separate U.S. air strikes against Khorasan.

Carol Costello is here in New York, Jim Sciutto is with me here at the United Nations. We're watching all of this very, very carefully. Jim Sciutto, as we get ready for this Pentagon briefing, we're going to hopefully get some specific information on what they call BDA, bomb damage assessment.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. This will be the first indication but almost certainly not a complete indication. It's early, just a couple hours after the strikes but they'll have the first indication where they will work on what they learned from those first BDAs as you say to help plan the next strikes. And we know there will be next strikes to follow. This is the first day of what's going to be a very long campaign.

BLITZER: We'll be -- and Carol, we're of course going to stay on top of all the breaking news, the President getting ready to arrive here at the United Nations within the next couple.

COSTELLO: Hey Wolf, I wanted to ask you a question. You've covered so many wars. Does this one feel different to you?

BLITZER: You know, it's a little bit more modest. I remember in 1991 when the first Gulf War started, it started with an enormous amount of firepower. The U.S. had a half million ground troops in the Persian Gulf region, in Saudi Arabia, elsewhere to liberate Kuwait. It was a huge operation.

In 2003, I was in Kuwait when the U.S. launched the second Gulf War against Saddam Hussein; another 200,000 troops were in place in Kuwait that moved into Iraq. This is air power so it's obviously different. We'll see what happens in the next few days and weeks; I suspect it's going to escalate.

COSTELLO: I suspect you're right. Wolf Blitzer, thanks so much. And thank you for joining us for a special edition of NEWSROOM. I'm Carol Costello.

"@THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA" starts now.