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Obama to Ask Congress for War Authority; ISIS Struggles to Keep Strongholds in Iraq; Assad Says No Direct Talks with U.S. on Strikes; Roofs Collapsing Under Heavy Snow; "Obama Doctrine" Tested by ISIS

Aired February 10, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, asking Congress for war authority in the mission against ISIS.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: American leadership, including our military power, is stopping ISIL's advance.

COSTELLO: From a State of the Union promise.

OBAMA: We are leading a broad coalition including Arab nations to degrade and ultimately destroy this terrorist group.

COSTELLO: To a congressional request.

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is actually ISIS that is significantly under pressure militarily in this corner of northern Iraq.

COSTELLO: The big question, will the president ask for American boots on the ground?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: As another Western hostage sends an ominous message through one of the most recent propaganda videos from ISIS.

COSTELLO: Also, is this journalist John Cantlie's last appearance? And shattering snow records again.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has been weeks and not inches but feet of snow here in Boston.

COSTELLO: Millions buried by a monster storm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The amount of snow we got could fill up Gillette Stadium, home of the Patriots, 90 times over.

COSTELLO: Roofs crumbling under mountains of snow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was like a hissing sound and then like a creeping sound, and then all of a sudden the ceiling and everything started buckling underneath.

COSTELLO: Where the heck is Massachusetts going to put all that snow? Will they dump it in the harbor?

Plus, we're on the front lines of the war in Ukraine.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The streets that they leave littered with damaged armored vehicles.

COSTELLO: America weighs sending weapons to troops there.

OBAMA: The 21st century cannot have us stand idle and simply allow the borders of Europe to be redrawn at the barrel of a gun.

COSTELLO: As the Kremlin warns, don't put Putin in a corner.

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

As early as today President Obama could make a big request to Congress formally expand his authority to wage war on ISIS. The proposal comes six months after the White House launched its first military action against the terror group and will set new limits that could further test a deeply divided Congress.

Our chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash joins us now from Washington with more.

Good morning, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. And that, what you just said there is the thing to keep in mind about the time frame. This is a move to authorize a mission that is already underway and has been since August and that has some of even the president's fellow Democrats very frustrated because they say that this is just not the right thing to have been doing while Congress has not been involved.

Listen to what Democrat Tim Kaine told me on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM KAINE (D), VIRGINIA: I'll tell you what offends me about this. We've already lost American service members' lives in this operation. And we've done it without Congress being willing to do the job of having a vote. If we're going to ask people to risk their lives then Congress ought to do our job and put our thumbprint on this and say it's in the national interest.

I think the White House will send an authorization up. There's going to be some hard questions about it but I think the president will find strong support in both Houses for taking appropriate military action. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: OK. So strong support, Carol, but the question is support for what? And that is going to be the very intense debate as we go forward once the White House does actually send this to Capitol Hill.

First of all, how long is this going to be? We understand that the White House will likely ask for it just to last about three years and then it will end, but there are a lot of people on Capitol Hill who don't want that kind of timeframe. Then the key question is that middle one right there, ground troops.

Will there be an explicit ban on ground troops, with some exceptions, will it silent on ground troops? That is probably going to be the flash point of the debate on Capitol Hill.

And then the geographic restrictions. Should the troops be going into Syria, should it be Iraq if ISIS expands? Should it expand in the region? Those are the things that are big question marks as we go forward with this debate.

COSTELLO: All right. We're going to talk more about this through the -- in the next two hours in the NEWSROOM.

Dana Bash, thanks so much.

BASH: Thank you.

COSTELLO: ISIS releases a new hostage video and in it a British journalist says his appearance is, quote, "the last in this series."

John Cantlie is one of the last known Western hostage held by ISIS. He was kidnapped more than two years ago along with slain American, James Foley. And we're hearing from the parents of another man taken hostage in Syria. American freelance journalist Austin Tice is not believed to be held by ISIS. Actually it's unclear who has held him for more than 900 days. But for his parents, part of the frustration is the lack of answers from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC TICE, FATHER OF AMERICAN HOSTAGE IN SYRIA: We've experienced what other families have experienced in the course of Austin's captivity and working with the government, that there are not clear guidelines, clear directions, clear accountability for bringing hostages home safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: There's little doubt more American families will face the agony of a loved one taken captive. New intelligence shows ISIS is developing plans to abduct more Westerners from around the region.

The United Arab Emirates resuming its airstrikes on ISIS. Back in December the UAE suspended its role in the coalition strikes after the capture of a Jordanian pilot. It argued that Washington had not adequately formed a search and rescue plan for captured allies. ISIS later murdered that pilot in one of its most barbaric acts yet.

In northern Iraq ISIS is now facing new pressure to hold on to its strongholds of Mosul and Irbil. But for Kurdish fighters making gains, the toughest battles are still ahead.

CNN's Phil Black is in Irbil.

BLACK: Carol, as we've been touring the front lines of this region, it is very easy to see the confidence the Kurdish Peshmerga are now feeling. And that is because they believe very strongly that the military momentum in this region is with them and very much against ISIS.

In the latest important development those Kurdish fighters with the help of international air power have claimed three key military objectives -- bridge head to the north of the city of Mosul which remains under ISIS occupation.

This is all part of the ongoing effort by those Kurdish fighters on the ground, first of all to halt the ISIS advance through this region, which they have largely achieved, to roll back a lot of those ISIS gains. Again, significant achievement there.

But now their efforts are to dig in these defensive lines and hold them. What they believe they have done with the assistance of international air power is really reduce it, not take away entirely the ability of ISIS to launch offensive action and claim new territory, which it was doing so effectively, so quickly, looking so unstoppable when it first moved into this region last year.

All of this, it is significant and it very much changes the nature of the battle zone here, but it is only the first step, the next stage in this campaign will be as difficult if not more so. And it is an expected offensive action led by the Iraqi army involving those Peshmerga fighters and of course the international commission to clear the remaining ISIS controlled territory and that includes that major city of Mosul.

That will be a difficult street-to-street fight. One that ISIS is said to be building up defenses in preparation for.

The time frame is not entirely clear. It is entirely dependent on efforts to rebuild, retrain, re-motivate the Iraqi Army because that is the fighting force that fled this region, that really gave it up without any sort of a fight when ISIS first invaded here last year.

Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: All right. Phil Black reporting from Irbil this morning.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says when it comes to fighting ISIS on his home turf, the U.S. does not directly tell him anything. He tells the BBC he has to rely on third parties to keep from being left in the dark.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you talk to the Americans? There are American planes in the air above Syria at all time. Do you coordinate?

PRES. BASHER AL-ASSAD, SYRIA: No. They don't talk to anyone. Unless it's a puppet. And they easily trample over the international law, which is about our sovereignty now. So they don't talk to us, we don't talk to them.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: But I'm curious that at a time when there are -- as the American military in the air above Syria and your people are in the air, your air force, also the Syrian air force, is in the air above Syria, that there haven't been any incidents between the two. No shots seem to -- seemed to have been traded. No planes have been shot down. That suggests to me surely there's someone is talking to someone.

(CROSSTALK)

AL-BASHAR: That's correct. That's correct. But again, there's no direct operational --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Direct. Is it via Iraq? That's what some people have said.

AL-BASHAR: That's through a third party. More than one party. Iraq and other countries. Sometimes they convey message, general message, but there's nothing tactical.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So they don't tell you we're going to be bombing at Raqqa at 10:00 this evening, please keep out of the way.

AL-BASHAR: We knew about the campaign before it started. But we didn't know about the details.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And is that a continuing dialogue that you have through third parties?

AL-BASHAR: There's no dialogue. There's let's say information, but not dialogue.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: They tell you things?

AL-BASHAR: Something like that.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you tell them things?

AL-BASHAR: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So let's talk about this. CNN military analyst Colonel Peter Mansoor is with me now.

Good morning, sir.

COL. PETER MANSOOR, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: I'm glad you're here. So I would say that the United States is probably saying something like, poor Bashar al-Assad. I mean, the United States has no interest in talking to him, right?

MANSOOR: No. The -- the United States is not talking to Bashar al- Assad. We probably informed Syria through third parties when the air campaign was beginning. Any sort of major changes to the air campaign get communicated, but as he said, there's no tactical details. There's no coordination in the air space. And the fact that planes haven't shot at each other is simply explained by the fact that they're told not to shoot at other planes. ISIS doesn't have an air force. There's no reason to shoot at anything in the sky.

COSTELLO: It is kind of strange if you step back and look at it. Here's the leader of a country, Syria, and he's not even being informed of what's happening in his own skies, not by the United States or by Jordan.

MANSOOR: Well, of course we -- our president has said that Bashar al- Assad must go. He's a president of a country who's committed war crimes. I don't think the United States or our allies are going to communicate too much with him over our actions to destroy ISIS on his turf.

COSTELLO: He could complicate things, though, right? Because in that same interview with the BBC Assad denied using barrel bombs. They're filled with explosives and other objects like nails even though opposition activists say otherwise. So that could complicate things if he continues to fight whoever he's fighting on the ground in Syria.

MANSOOR: Well, his -- his battle against both ISIS, al-Nusra Front, the moderate opposition is at the heart of the civil war tearing Syria apart. It's not surprising that he claimed he doesn't use barrel bombs. No one is going to go on camera and say well, I'm a worker metal. And so that was not surprising. I think the facts on the ground speak differently given what we know about the operations of the Syrian Armed Forces and the various militias that support his campaign.

COSTELLO: So as Jordan's -- as Jordan continues using its military, the UAE is also conducting airstrikes. We're using their fighter jets, right? So as those things ramp up, might Bashar al-Assad go? Would they retaliate, those two countries retaliate against him?

MANSOOR: It's doubtful that Bashar al-Assad would pick a fight with Jordan or the UAE. You know, he has enough enemies as it is, and if he wants to bring the Arab world in against him, then -- then if he shoots down a Jordanian or a UAE jet, that's exactly what's going to happen. So I think he'll look the other way as the campaign against ISIS continues.

It's a campaign that really supports him because ISIS wants to topple him as well, and while we're taking care of ISIS, he'll focus on destroying the moderate opposition and solidify his hold on the western portion of Syria. COSTELLO: All right. Colonel Peter Mansoor, thanks for your insight.

I appreciate it.

Yesterday we ran a story about debate -- the debate among Western leaders about whether to send arms to Ukraine. During that segment, our banner mistakenly said "Obama Considers Arming Pro-U.S. Troops." Well, the debate in Western capitals is actually about whether the United States and other NATO countries should send arms to the Ukrainian military, which is trying to protect its territory from separatists the government in Kiev says are backed by Russia.

The recipients of any military equipment and aid would be the National Military of Ukraine, certainly not pro-U.S. troops. I regret that error. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: I just want you to look at that picture. Imagine, you open your door and this is what says hello -- a giant wall of snow. It is unbelievable.

Needles to say, Boston and all of Massachusetts is in a state of emergency. They are buried, and I'm not exaggerating. So far, more than 70 inches of snow has fallen.

To put it in perspective, that's enough plowed snow to fill Gillette Stadium 90 times over. It's crazy. That's almost an entire gronk high wall of snow.

All of Boston is reeling. Fire crews scrambling to clear snow from hydrants and roads, just so emergency vehicles can get through. Nearby buildings are collapsing. Public schools are closed again as public transportation comes to a near standstill.

According to a 2014 study, one, one major snowstorm with impassable roads will cost the state of Massachusetts $265 million. As you know, they've had three such storms. That's Rosa Flores. That's her cleaning off a car, unburying the car on the streets of Boston. And there she is live.

Rosa, how long could that take you?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It took me about 20 minutes, Carol. I've got to say, it was quite the workout, my friend. I feel muscles that I didn't know I had anymore but on a very serious note, that's exactly what Bostonians are dealing with this morning. They're having to dig out.

One of the biggest questions is where does the snow go. That's why I want to show you what's behind me, because an hour ago, we were able to walk down this sidewalk. Right now, you really can't because it's impassable. It's forcing pedestrians onto the street.

You can see there folks walking can't use this sidewalk. So, these homeowners, I'm not sure how they're accessing their homes. This is just one example of how the snow is wreaking havoc in Boston. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES (voice-over): This morning, history is blanketing Boston. Millions wake up to over six feet of snow falling in the city since mid-January, making the past 30 days the snowiest month in history.

MAYOR MARTY WALSH (D), BOSTON: No city administration has ever dealt with this much snow in a very short period of time.

FLORES: The region bearing the brunt of the third snowstorm in just three weeks, sending them into a statewide emergency and closing schools again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've learned one thing over the course of the past two weeks, it's mother nature makes the rules.

FLORES: So much snow, in fact, the Massachusetts governor says you could fill up the Patriots' home stadium 90 times over with the snow they've already removed.

On the road, vehicles buried as near whiteout conditions leave transportation at a standstill. This commuter train stuck after snow piles onto the tracks, forcing the more than 50 passengers to wait for a bus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were sending a rescue train in to try to push it back into the Quincy Station then that got stuck also.

FLORES: The massive snowfall weighing down roofs. With collapses inevitable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guy I was working with just started yelling, get out, get out, get out.

FLORES: Just south of Boston, construction workers say they had mere seconds to get out before this flattened building caved in behind them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The weight of the snow on buildings now is getting critical.

FLORES: The city working around the clock. Plows desperately trying to transfer snow to what's called snow farms -- vacant parking lots that house massive melting machines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES: Now, you saw those snow farms and how that machine melts the snow. Hear this -- the city is telling us they've already melted about 6,000 truckloads of that, and you can see around me there's still a lot of snow to go.

And, Carol, are you there?

COSTELLO: Yes. FLORES: You know how we showed that the car was under one of those

mounds? It's not always something so sexy, my friends. Look at this. This is trash because, of course, just the basics are a little tough here in Boston right now because of the amount of snow.

COSTELLO: Yes, because the garbage trucks can't get through so they're just going to have to wait, right?

FLORES: Yes. I mean, they're going to have to be very, very patient. I know that some pickups happened here and there.

But, you know, I saw postings from the city saying people are going to have to be really patient. They're going to have to wait a bit. There are going to be delayed pickups because of the obvious. There's a lot of snow.

You can see that the roads are very, very narrow. So, very difficult to maneuver in between these. We also saw some emergency vehicles, Carol, kind of maneuvering in and out, and it's very difficult for them.

COSTELLO: I know. You know, Bostonians are known for their patience.

So, good luck with that. I'm sure everyone's behaving.

Rosa Flores, thank you so much.

Still to come on the NEWSROOM: the U.S. military is not a one size fits all solution to the world's problems. That's what President Obama says guides his foreign policy. But with ISIS and Ukraine, does he need to rethink that strategy? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: President Obama perhaps today will ask Congress for new war powers. He wants the United States on the same page when it comes to fighting ISIS. The president's proposal comes six months after the White House launched its first military action against the terror group and would set new limits that could further test a deeply divided Congress.

That's because many lawmakers are confused about Mr. Obama's, quote, "doctrine" or his vision about how America will win the war against ISIS. It's not exactly through American military might.

Here's the president in an interview with Vox.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What I do think is accurate in describing my foreign policy is we don't have military solutions to every problem in the 21st century.

The biggest challenge that we have right now is disorder. Ending two wars was important, not because I was under any illusions that that would mean we wouldn't have any terrorist threat, it does mean though that by not having 180,000 people in Iraq and Afghanistan, it frees us up to be able to send a team to prevent Ebola, double down on our investments in things like cyber security, to look at the new threats and opportunities that are out there.

That's in no way a concession to this idea that America is withdrawing or, you know, there's not much we can do. It's just a realistic assessment of how the world works.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Here to talk about the Obama quote/unquote, "doctrine" -- CNN global affairs analyst Bobby Ghosh, CNN military analyst, General Mark Hertling, and CNN senior political analyst David Gergen.

Welcome to all of you.

Bobby, I want to start with you. Does President Obama have a doctrine?

BOBBY GHOSH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: It's hard to -- it's hard to find one in all of his actions. It would seem that he's a naturally cautious person when it comes to international affairs. Given America's recent history, with military adventures, I suppose that caution is understandable. He's also reflecting a larger national sort of reluctance to get involved in far away conflicts.

But that doesn't quite amount to a doctrine. That's much more of a wait and see what happens next view of things.

COSTELLO: Wait and see what happens next.

So, David, the president is going to go to Congress. He's going ask for a new power. So, a wait and see kind of attitude, let's see what happens, and then we'll decide? Doesn't that confuses things further when it comes to asking Congress for more authority to wage war?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's understandable. He would want more authority. I think this is a man who likes to keep all this options until the last month -- in terms of degrading and defeating ISIS, as he vowed he would do, that effort is the way the world expected. It's been -- we've made some progress in Iraq, but we don't seem to have a strategy in Syria.

More importantly, we haven't put together a coalition of Arab countries that really can do the fighting on the ground, so that I think from what the perspective of many of our friends in the Persian Gulf area, we do have friends there who have stood with us on numerous occasions are now asking us to stand with them.

I think they're scratching their heads saying, what is their plan to defeat and degrade ISIS? How are we going to put this effort down? Yes, we can do education, yes, we can empower and we can do all of the things for pluralism we should be doing, but that's a five or ten year project. What are we going to do in the next year or two to turn this around? COSTELLO: So, General, when the president presents his plan to Congress, it seems to include the limited use of ground troops. What does that mean, do you think?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think it's a very smart approach to applying the elements of national power, Carol. This has been one of those centuries so far where the military has appeared to be the solution to every problem. And I think, even from my own experience in Iraq, while the military was winning the tactical and the operational fight, there were discouraging events occurring in the diplomatic fight. The government of Iraq would not come around.