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Obama Says U.S. Isn't Fighting Alone; Congress Ducks Public Debate on War; FBI Warning Law Enforcement of Lone Wolf Terrorists; How Will War Affect ISIS Recruitment?

Aired September 24, 2014 - 11:30   ET

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

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The crossroads between war and peace. President Obama faces the world, a pivotal address defending America's new war, asking it for help in the fight against terrorists in what he called "the cancer of violent extremism." As U.S. and coalition war planes pounded new targets in Syria and Iraq, President Obama spoke before the United Nations General Assembly. He stressed while America leads this fight, it's not America's fight alone.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For America, the choice is clear. We choose hope over fear. We see the future not out of control, but something we can shape for the better through concerted and collective effort. We reject fatalism or cynicism when it comes to human affairs. We choose to work for the world as it should be, as our children deserve it to be.

I have made it clear that America will not base our entire form policy on reacting to terrorism. Instead we waged a focused campaign against al Qaeda and its associated forces, taking out their leaders, denying them the safe havens they we lie on. At the same time, we have reaffirmed again and again that the United States is not and never will be as Islam at war with Islam.

First, the terrorist group known as ISIL must be degraded and ultimately destroyed. In this effort we do not act alone, nor do we intend to send U.S. Troops to occupy foreign lands. Instead, we will support Iraqis and Syrians fighting to reclaim their communities. We will use our military might in a campaign of air strikes to roll back ISIL. We will train and equip forces fighting against these terrorists on the ground. We will work to cut off their financing and to stop the flow of fighters into and out of the region and already over 40 nations have offered to join this coalition. Today I ask the world to join in this effort.

Second, it is time for the world, especially Muslim communities, to explicitly, forcefully and consistently reject the ideology of organizations like al Qaeda and ISIL.

Third, we must address the cycle of conflict, especially sectarian conflict that creates the conditions that terrorists prey upon. My fourth and final point is a simple one. The countries of the Arab

and Muslim world must focus on the potential of their people, especially the youth.

And at this crossroads, I can promise you that the United States of America will not be distracted or deterred from what must be done. We are heirs to a proud legacy of freedom, and we're prepared to do what is necessary to secure that legacy for generations to come. I ask that you join us in this common mission for today's children and tomorrow's.

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BERMAN: We want to bring in our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour.

Christiane, this was a big speech with big themes. The president not only saying that groups like ISIS that the only language they understand is a language of force, but also calling on Muslim nations and communities around the world to explicitly, consistently reject extremism. He also criticized the hypocrisy of major nations here.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, you're absolutely right. It was a call to arms in that regard in several fronts. One, him clearly asserting American leadership particularly on this issue of defeating ISIS and ideology of terrorism. But, two, making explicit demands that the Muslim communities also delegitimize these kinds of people.

And what you're seeing is that it's already started. There's a campaign underway by many people in the West and actually in some parts of the Arab world by many of the leaders who joined the Obama coalition against ISIS to stop even calling them anything that includes the word "Islamic." King Abdullah of Jordan said that I will not have the word Islam and ISIS in the same sentence. They have nothing to do with Islam. So the world leaders are on board and are speaking much more forcefully about this and about delegitimizing them than they ever did after 9/11. So that does mark a big shift.

BERMAN: You say the world leaders are listening. The president called this a generational battle, and he was speaking in some ways to the youth of the world, the Muslim world. Why will they listen to him? Why will that change their ways? It won't be just because he said so. How will they be convinced?

AMANPOUR: First of all, you're right about that. Why would the ISIS recruiters and recruits listen? Let's not forget we can't tar the entire Islamic world. The vast majority of the young are, in fact, moderate, peace loving, et cetera, want a decent life for themselves. They want employment and all the things we all want. It's a message actually that he hopes will inspire people to pass along and to try to say this is where we stand and it's time for you nations also to stand together.

I talked to, for instance, Secretary Kerry today just before the president's speech. He said this is something we are demanding of our coalition partners. It's not just delegitimizing and wiping this notion that it's some kind of attractive cult out of their public perception, but also cutting off the funding. That's a big, big deal as well. Because beyond the combating of a hateful ideology is the cutting off of the kind of funding from some of these nations and from some of their rich sympathizers. So that's a big deal they want to see coalition partners engage in as well.

BERMAN: Funding was the hypocrisy he was pointing the finger at. I think you're right, a lot of people around the world who will welcome this speech. We will be curious to see how it is received in many countries over the next few days.

Christiane Amanpour, at the United Nations.

I know you have many more big interviews surrounding this meeting in the next few days, so our thanks to you.

Just before the United States launched this new military effort, in some ways, this new war in the Middle East, what did Congress do? They fled. They left Washington, ducking the chance for public debate and discussion and, most importantly, a vote to support or not to support military action in Syria. Of course, the White House says it doesn't need a new vote from Congress to bomb targets in Syria. Is this political courage at its best?

I'm joined by Congressman Adam Smith, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Congressman, to your credit, you want a vote. You want Congress to come back into session really now and vote on authorizing these air strikes that have already begun.

REP. ADAM SMITH, (D), WASHINGTON: Absolutely. I mean, this is something where Congress should express its voice. The president under Article 2 has the authority to defend the nation and take these strikes, but the War of Powers Resolution, there's a limit on that. Congress ought to act. It's pretty widely accepted, maybe not every member of Congress, but the majority of them think we have to act against ISIL and not just in Iraq, but in Syria. To do that, there ought to be an Authorization for the Use of Military Force. The U.S. Congress ought to come together and pass one. And I'm working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to try to build support for that.

BERMAN: Do you think the president of the United States, the leader of the Democratic Party, should ask Congress to do so? On this day, it's interesting, he called on countries and communities around the world to explicitly reject al Qaeda and ISIL. But he hasn't called on Congress to vote on his military action to defeat ISIS.

SMITH: I don't think that's necessarily the president's responsibility. The legislative branch, Congress, House and Senate, has been widely and loudly complaining for a long time that the president has usurped our authority. We can act. We don't need the president to ask us. There's no reason that the legislative branch can't stand up for itself and act. The president has to do what he needs to do to protect us. He can't ask Congress and have Congress do nothing and delay necessary action. Congress can do this. We don't need the president to ask, and I think we should.

BERMAN: It's a great point, you don't need him to ask, but he's not asking and Congress is not acting, and neither side is really stepping up.

Congressman --

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SMITH: That's not true actually. The president is absolutely stepping up. You saw a speech in the U.N. You have seen what's happened in Syria and Iraq. He's confronting this challenge.

BERMAN: In terms of action in the Middle East, absolutely. In terms of congressional authorization in what goes on domestically in the terms of building support, I think you can make the case he's not doing everything he can to get congressional action. But let me leave that aside for just a moment.

SMITH: Sure.

BERMAN: Because what we have now seen over the last 30 hours are the beginnings of air strikes in Syria. We know what's happening on the ground now. The president has told us what the end game is, to degrade or destroy ISIS. The question is now, what happens in the middle? How do you get from today to that end game? How do you go from the bombing to destroying ISIS?

SMITH: The great difficulty and the key to that success is building local support. While it's certainly encouraging that Jordan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, other countries have been supportive of what we have done, we have built an Arab coalition for the bombing, that's a tiny step forward. What we really need is we need the Sunni tribes in Iraq to support the Iraqi government against ISIS. That's not yet happening. As bad as Maliki was as a prime minister in terms of forcing Sunnis out, the jury is still out on his successor, Abadi.

There's still concern that not enough has been done to have an inclusive government. That has to happen. We will not be successful unless the Sunni tribes turn on ISIS. They won't do that if they don't think Iraq is going to include them. Syria, a very similar challenge. We need moderate elements from the Free Syrian movement that we can fight with. As Assad is being clever in that he focuses his attacks on moderate elements, and in many instances he's left ISIS alone precisely because he knows that the real threat to his regime is if that moderate element emerges that we can support. So we have a long way to go to build a successful coalition. But this is where it has to start. There's just more work to be done.

BERMAN: Congressman, I really appreciate your time as the president gave that big speech in front of the United Nations and really the world. We appreciate your time. Good luck getting Congress to come back and vote.

SMITH: Thank you.

BERMAN: For us @THISHOUR, could U.S. operations overseas be the catalyst that turns an angry malcontent in his basement perhaps into a home-grown terrorist? We'll tell you how federal officials are telling authorities near you to be extra watchful.

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BERMAN: @THISHOUR, law enforcement across the United States on heightened alert watchful for so-called lone wolves. The FBI putting out a bulletin warning that the air strikes against the Islamic extremists overseas could inspire home-grown terrorists in this country and they might be difficult to detect. Police and other agencies are told to be vigilant and watchful of suspicious postings on social media.

Let's talk about this. Let's also talk about the status of the air strikes in general. I want to bring in Peter Brookes, a former CIA officer, now with the Heritage Foundation; and here with me in New York, our military analyst, Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona.

Peter, this warning to homeland security agencies across the country of what's going on in Syria might be an inspiration to lone wolf types. Is this seems like it would be standard operating procedure.

PETER BROOKES, HERITAGE FOUNDATION & FORMER CIA OFFICER: There may be some intelligence that they have that they are not sharing with us because of intelligence sources and methods that may be telling them to do this more than they would otherwise. Obviously the events overseas are critically important in this and especially that plot we had. We know al Qaeda is recruiting here. Syrian Islamic groups are recruiting here. ISIS is recruiting here. So it makes perfect sense that they do this.

BERMAN: We are still assessing the success level of that attack. The Tomahawk attack on the northwestern part of Syria, the United States says planning some kind of attack perhaps on the United States or Europe. So assuming that it was successful, which is to say that some of its leaders were killed, some of the stuff they were ma making was destroyed. How much of a setback is it to a group like that that is determined one way or another to hurt the United States?

BROOKES: You make a good point, John. We're going to have to see. This was a one plot. We have had nearly 60 plots against the United States since 9/11. Most of them have been foiled. But we had fort hood, the Boston Marathon bombers. Any time you can push them back, get them off balance, distract them. It's good. The fact is my bottom line view is that we have to earn our security one tough day at a time. That takes real professionalism on the part of our intelligence law enforcement, military and others to protect us and keep us safe here at home.

BERMAN: One tough day at a time, that's a good segue, Colonel. The first day of attacks on targets in Syria was big. Some 200 pieces of precision weapons mostly dropped first against Khorasan and then ISIS targets. The second days, we heard about one or two missile strikes against trucks in Syria. That seems not to be an accelerating pace.

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I'm a little concerned about this because we went in really big the first night. Normally, in one of these operations, what you want to do is continue that tempo throughout. You want to start big the first night, continue the next day, go in the second night and keep up the level of pressure on these guys so they want to disperse but make it difficult for them to do that. I'm not seeing that right now. We're not getting anymore announcements from the Pentagon. We're seeing social media chatter from ISIS, but we're not seeing the big strikes or the shock and awe or impact. And I think that's important. The Khorasan part was good. You got to knock them down while you can. But I think, as Peter said, they will reconstitute so there will be another plot.

BERMAN: I am interested in some of the targets against is, both the first day and over the last 24 hours we had these strikes against the trucks near the Iraqi border. It does seem that a lot of what the United States and its coalition partners are trying to do is disrupt the ISIS forces in Syria that were going to fight in Iraq.

FRANCONA: Yeah, I think it's really important that we look at this as one target set. A lot of people want to break this down to there's ISIS in Syria and there's ISIS in Iraq. They don't recognize that border. They're trying to resupply their forces in what we calling Iraq but they just call part of the Islamic State. They'll try to move things back and forth. It's important that we disrupt that.

Now, that said, we have an opportunity in Iraq to really hurt them if we can get the Iraqi army to get back in order, if we can support the Peshmerga and get them -- buy them some time and space. At some point, although we may have blunted what they're doing in Iraq, we have not stopped what they're doing and we have yet to take back any territory. The Iraqi army, every time they try and attack one of these cities, they're having a real problem with this. I think it's important that we help the Iraqis. So I think the air strikes in Syria are important but we shouldn't ignore what's going on in Iraq.

BERMAN: Colonel, Peter Brookes, hang on for a second. I want to ask you both about what the president's speech might do in this battle in the days ahead.

We'll continue the discussion right after the break.

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BERMAN: The president issuing not just a call to arms but a call to action in the battle against violent extremism.

I'm joined by former CIA officer, Peter Brookes; and in studio, retired Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona.

Peter, the president was speaking of this as a generational struggle, clearly trying to halt the recruitment or the attractiveness of this. This as the U.S. leads this new military effort, bombing ISIS, one of these extremist groups, in Syria. How do you think recruitment will be affected? BROOKES: I doubt it will be affected by the president's words,

unfortunately. I know his intent was the right one. But this is -- when you turn these words into action? That's the critical thing. It's not only what the United States does, but what others do abroad. Most of the radicalization comes from outside the United States. But we have to worry about that here as well. But we have to get beyond the rhetorical flourishes and how you are going to put this plan the president's laid out into action.

BERMAN: Colonel, you've traveled all over the world, particularly in the Middle East. You've dealt with many of these governments face to face. How do you think they will respond to being told it's time to end the hypocrisy of those who accumulate wealth on the one hand and then fund some of these terrorist groups on the others?

FRANCONA: Probably not well. But they understand the president has his own personal agenda and he's got his own manner of speaking. But the diplomacy, I don't think will suffer because of that. I think the words will resonate a little bit with the citizenry. But I think the youth is what's important. And I don't think the president is going to reach them. I think that, as Peter said, I think the recruitment probably is going to be picked up by these air strikes because those who are on the fence and were willing to join ISIS will probably now do so.

BERMAN: Peter, I want to give you the last word. We have yet to hear a response from ISIS, any kind of real response to this first round of air strikes led by the United States in Syria. What do you expect that they might do or say in the coming days?

BROOKES: That's really interesting. That's a good question. I think it's really going to see what they do, but it's hard to predict. But I think ISIS is probably rethinking their strategy of engaging the United States. This is going to be a huge strategic mistake for them.

Although I will say, John, that I think the president needs a Syria policy. He's only got half a policy for dealing with ISIS. And that's in Iraq. He still needs a Syria policy. And the opposition isn't going to be the one to do that.

So I think they're probably hunkering down, re-evaluating what they're going to do. We'll see in the coming days if they decide to speak out or not or just put their head down and continue what they're doing.

BERMAN: Peter Brookes, Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, thanks so much for being with us.

That's it for us @THISHOUR.

"Legal View" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right after the break.

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